The Black Informant

Translation: The whole thing was a big joke

ISG moves from consensus to conflict
By DANIEL LIBIT
politico.com

In December 2006, in an effort to build a national consensus on a “new way forward in Iraq,” the Iraq Study Group painted itself as a portrait of bipartisan chumminess, with all political hackery checked at the door.

Sixteen months later, seven of the 10 ISG members are backing presidential candidates with radically different views about how to proceed in Iraq.

Republicans James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger and Ed Meese are supporting Sen. John McCain, who argues that the United States should be sending more troops to Iraq. Democrats Vernon Jordan, Leon Panetta and William Perry have endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has vowed to start bringing U.S. troops home immediately. Earlier this month, Democrat Lee Hamilton endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, who vows to start bringing the troops home and to engage in “aggressive personal diplomacy” with Iran.

Consensus?

Panetta, who served as President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, says Hillary Clinton and Obama are closely aligned with the Study Group’s recommendations. “The only one who is not, obviously, is John McCain,” he says.

Meese cries hogwash. McCain’s Iraq views are “by far” the closest to the ISG’s, says the former attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. “I think the principal, the primary, part of the report was we should go on to support the effort in Iraq and we should not cut and run or surrender,” he says. “John is the only one of those three that has taken that position.”

[…]

Moreover, in returning to the partisan fray, ISG members may be guilty of doing exactly what they said shouldn’t be done: cherry-picking some of their report’s recommendations and bending others to fit the political angles of the candidate they now support.

[…]

While Baker has endorsed McCain, he has tellingly avoided commenting publicly on the Arizona senator’s war stance, focusing more on the candidate’s character than on his policies. Through a spokesman at his Houston law office, Baker declined to speak for this story.

Baker’s co-chairman, Hamilton, says that when it comes to interpreting and applying the report in the context of the 2008 presidential race, “every member of the Iraq Study Group has to speak for themselves.

“I hold firm to the principal recommendations,” Hamilton says, adding that he doesn’t feel “constrained” by the consensus reached two years ago. “It doesn’t give me any heartburn,” he says.

Says Eagleburger: “What that means is he’s walked away from the report, too. We all have.” (source)

Cherokee nation faces battle over funding

Frank sides with CBC, holds fast on Cherokee funding
By Kevin Bogardus
thehill.com

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has threatened to block housing legislation for Native Americans if the final bill does not include a funding ban against the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma .

Frank shares a concern first raised by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), whose members have proposed several measures to punish the tribe for changing its constitution last year to exclude the Freedmen — a group of largely black Americans who are descendants of freed slaves once owned by tribe members — from its ranks.

The tribe’s actions have led to an intense fight between the Cherokee Nation and the CBC. The tribe has hired a number of lobbyists to push back against punitive legislation as it also battles the issue in federal and tribal court. The powerful House Financial Services Committee chairman is yet another obstacle for the Cherokee.

“We would not pass the bill. We would not acquiesce to give funding to the Cherokees,” said Frank, whose committee has jurisdiction over the legislation. Frank said he would not bring a conference report to the floor for a final vote without the ban firmly in place.

The House version of the bill passed in September with an amendment by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) that would bar housing funds for the Cherokee. Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.), however, amended Watt’s provision so that it would not take effect until a tribal court battle between the Cherokees and the Freedmen is resolved.

That has been a primary argument of the tribe: Let the courts, not Congress, decide the issue. If the bill sponsored by Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) becomes law, Watt’s measure would cut $30 million of federal housing funds for close to 7,400 Cherokee, according to the tribe’s estimates. (more…)

Related:

Future unclear for ‘freedmen’ descendants
Cherokee Nation votes to expel 2,800, clouding economic prospects (MSNBC)

Quick look at the Democratic presidential debate in Pennsylvania

I did not watch the debate last night, but from what I have been hearing ABC finally grew a pair and asked some tough questions to both candidates. The funniest thing I have been seeing on the net is how all of a sudden George Stephanopoulos is NOW being questioned about his loyalties. Yes, the same Stephanopoulos who used to work for the Clintons in the first place. The criticisms are nothing more than a FULL admission that he and others have been in lock step with the Democratic party for a long time (which was not a problem when he was skewering Republicans).

Anyway, the San Francisco Chronicle posted a decent play by play coverage of the debate in case you missed it.

[Link]

Another man free because of DNA testing

DNA frees man who spent almost 23 years in prison for rape
By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press Writer

DALLAS - After spending nearly 23 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, Thomas Clifford McGowan on Wednesday heard the words that set him free
“Words cannot express how sorry I am for the last 23 years,” said state District Judge Susan Hawk, moments after overturning his convictions. “I believe you can walk out of here a free man.”

McGowan, 49, won his freedom after a DNA test this month proved what he had always professed: that he did not rape a Dallas-area woman in 1985 and then burglarize her apartment. He was convicted of both crimes in separate trials in 1985 and 1986 and sentenced to life each time. The primary evidence against him turned out to be misidentification by the rape victim.

“I’ve been living a life of a living hell and my nightmare is finally over with,” McGowan said after the hearing. “This is the first day of my life. I’m going to go forward.”

Hawk’s ruling, which now must be affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, makes McGowan the 17th Dallas man since 2001 to have his conviction cast aside because of DNA testing. That’s the most of any county in the nation, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.

Overall, 31 people have been formally exonerated through DNA testing in Texas, also a national high. That does not include McGowan and at least two others whose exonerations will not become official until Gov. Rick Perry grants pardons or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issues its rulings.

[…]

McGowan’s wrongful imprisonment began in May 1985 when a Richardson woman returned home and came upon a burglar in her apartment. The man bound her hands with his belt, raped her at knifepoint and then loaded his car with several items stolen from her apartment, according to court documents.

Police eventually presented the woman with a photo array of seven men. She picked out McGowan’s photo, saying she “thought” he was the attacker. But police told her she had to be certain and “couldn’t just think it was him,” she testified in court. It was then that she said McGowan was “definitely” the attacker, according to court documents.

Just a few words from a police officer can significantly influence whether a witness identifies the wrong person, Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said.

“It’s not that the police officer involved in this matter was intentionally doing anything wrong. He wasn’t,” Scheck said. “That kind of a forced choice response … is very, very damaging.” (more…)