Dangerous Incompetence

It's not just that the new Super Bug is stalking us that is so scary. The real nightmare on Elm street is that our government is.... er.... masking the problem.... and when finally unmasked offers nothing more than a "boo!"

Take yesterday's headline for instance, "Drug-Resistant Staph Germ's Toll is Higher Than Thought." (WaPo) Why aren't we surprised?

Because, undoubtedly someone you know who has had surgery in the last few years has contracted a serious infection from their stay. The prevalence of new antibiotic resistant infections has been widely reported. That the public is just now being alerted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC).... undoubtedly because it is now increasingly striking our youth....is astounding.

The new Super Bug, referred to as MRSA, is now called "a significant public health problem," by Scott K. Fridkin of the CDC. He adds that "We should be very worried."

Worried for good reason. It now seems that the CDC is just discovering that MRSA has been killing more people than AIDS. Those especially at risk are blacks (67 people per 100,000) and those older than 65 (128 in 100,000). And, it is now spreading to our schools.

Although it is estimated that MRSA is yearly responsible for 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths, "It's really just the tip of the iceberg," according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.... the statistics include only the most serious infections.

As troubling as the CDC's inability to identify widespread MRSA-type of infections is the gaping hole of unaccountability, by not only the CDC, but the department of Homeland Security to spot deadly contagions.

"Man crisscrossed border with TB" (WashingtonTimes) documents the case of a Mexican national infected with a highly contagious, multi-drug resistant form of tuberculosis (MDR-TB) who crossed the U.S. border 76 times and took multiple domestic flights in the past year!

The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency warned Homeland Security on April 16 that this frequent traveler was infected, but it took Homeland Security officials more than six weeks to issue a May 31 alert, and then a further week to tell its own Transportation Security Agency!

Finally, on June 7, Homeland Security officials notified the Transportation Security Administration "that a person infected with MDR-TB may be attempting to use the U.S. transportation system."

And, to add real insult to the whole alarming situation, it turns out that the Mexican government had known for more than five years of the condition of their citizen, Amado Isidro Armendariz Amaya, a businessman from Juarez, which is across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.

Want to know the reaction of Homeland Security in June after they finally got their act together.... their employees were told that they would be fired if the situation went public.

Just where did this Mexican national fly with this deadly form of TB that can be transmitted with a single cough? He flew on Delta Airlines to Atlanta and Salt Lake City, he flew on US Air/AM West to Phoenix during 2006 and January and May of 2007. May of 2007! Weeks after the CBP agency alerted Homeland Security!

Lots of questions come to mind.... why couldn't the CBP just take action on April 16 when they discovered the infected frequent traveler? Why isn't Mexico sharing information about their infected nationals? What are the Iraq-obsessed Bush government and the profit-bloated drug companies doing to develop antibiotics for these monstrous diseases?

And.... why aren't Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security and CDC officials being held accountable?.... people should be fired, starting with Chertoff.

As Allen Greenspan noted in his recently published memoir, Washington is "harboring a dysfunctional government.... Governance has become dangerously dysfunctional." Emphasis on "dangerously."

Terrorism in Transit

Remember in July when Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had a "gut feeling" about an increased terrorism risk this summer based on patterns and intelligence he wouldn't disclose?

Then this week we had two unsettling events.... first, another Osama bin Laden "boo." Although this pre-9/11 video (transcript) reads more like a U.S. history lesson and Islam conversion screed.

And, CIA Director, Gen. Michael Hayden, spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations.... at his request, decked out in his military uniform.... and defended his agency's controversial program of detaining terrorism suspects in secret jails abroad.

Then, Hayden cited the findings of the recent National Intelligence Estimate.... the one issued in July... saying that "Al-Qaeda is focusing on targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction, and significant economic aftershocks." (WaPo) When pressed on this warning, he wouldn't give details.

So, just what did that NIE report say that was so upsetting to Chertoff's guts and now elicits warnings from Hayden?

The published public NIE report, "The Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland," of July, 2007 is short. The "Key Judgments" just a terse page and a half. And, yes, it did give Hayden's warning.

And, this sobering assessment too: "... globalization trends and recent technological advances will continue to enable even small numbers of alienated people to find and connect with one another, justify and intensify their anger, and mobilize resources to attack - all without requiring a centralized terrorist organization, training camp, or leader."

Interesting. So, our government is taking extra precautions.... right?

No. Just the opposite.

Because... and this really is unbelievable.... Thursday our own Department of Transportation started allowing Mexican trucks to roll over the U.S. border, freely roaming anywhere in the U.S. No need to spell out the terrorism risks, the economic and safety pitfalls, or the unbelievable joy of the Mexican drug dealers.

Just as nothing changes the course set by the The Decider's "vision" for the Middle East (more on that in a moment).... not the cost in blood and treasure, not the outrage of the American public.... also, nothing deters Bush in his determination for open borders with Mexico and his covert push toward a North American Union.

Now, if you can stand it, this last tidbit today from the Columbia Journalism Review, called "An Iran Plan?"

CJR reported that Barnett Rubin, a New York University professor and widely-respected Afghanistan expert and fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, wrote that just before the Labor Day weekend, the Office of the Vice President had issued "instructions" to a group of right wing think tanks and media outlets, asking them to mount an anti-Iran PR offensive after Labor Day with the goal of building support for U.S. military action.

When the assistant editor, Clint Hendler, at the CJR contacted Rubin to see if any journalists had contacted him to run down the story, Rubin replied, "Let's say I have not been overwhelmed with the volume. No one has contacted me from the NYT, WP, WSJ, or FT. No wire services."

It all just doesn't make sense.... administration warnings about homeland terrorism yet opening our borders to Mexican trucking.... in over our heads in Iraq yet serious saber rattling on Iran.

Congress.... it's up to you to stop this runaway White House and their monstrous hidden agenda.

At Last... Bedtime for Gonzo

The resignation of our disgraced Attorney General Gonzales feels like a hollow victory.... just like it will feel when we at last rid ourselves of The Decider and the rest of his toxic administration. Because, even with their leave taking, the destruction they wrought will remain far, far into the future....

.... The politicizing of the law. The breaking down of Constitutional safeguards. The distrust of government. The sullying of our reputation around the world. The backbreaking debt. The unbridled rise of corporate influence and corruption. The gutting of our manufacturing base. The weakening of the middle class. The trashing of our the environment.... and the reckless, unwinnable, deadly, costly war in Iraq.

The thought most expressed about the "legacy" of this administration is, "will our country survive?"

No, there's no joy in Gonzo's departure. Especially when the first name mentioned for his replacement is the head of the department as discredited as Justice, Michael Chertoff, who heads the bloatedly-inept political creation of this administration, the Department of Homeland Security.

As the old saying goes, you can tell a lot about a person by his friends, or in the case of a president, by those he trusts and with whom he surrounds himself. The Decider's first-named ally was Vice President Cheney, the demented wizard behind the curtain. The cabal surrounding the deadly duo allowed no justice to escape their power-grabbing black hole.

Thus Gonzo, as the most powerful law enforcer in the country, was the perfect tool for this administration, placing his loyalty to the White House and their political agenda above and beyond the very law he took an oath to uphold, and was himself the object of congressional investigations into misconduct.

Goodbye Gonzo. We desperately hope we'll never see your like again.

Will Someone Wake Me Up?

Here's the nightmare.... al Qaeda is Sunni. Saudi Arabia is Sunni... and supposedly our friends, even though Osama bin Laden and most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi nationals.

Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's powerful Mahdi Army is a Shiite militia. Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is Shiite. Iran is majority Shiite.

Shiite militia has been infiltrating Iraqi police units, and the Iraq military.

"Mahdi Army, Not Al-Qaeda, is Enemy No. 1 in Western Baghdad." It's no longer the case that the "Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq is the city's most formidable, the Mahdi Army has transformed the composition of the district's neighborhoods by ruthlessly killing and driving out Sunnis...." (WaPo)

There has been an ethnic cleansing of Sunnis in the 10-square mile district of West Rashid, home to about 700,000.... the Shiites have taken over.

The Shiites already control Iraq in the east on the Iran border, and in the south.

Although the bloody toll continues to rise in attacks across Baghdad, and in the Kurdish north, we heard Maliki assert on Saturday that Iraqis were ready to take over security operations "any time" American forces choose to leave.

How?.... because the Shiite militias with Iran's help will be the ones taking over, with Maliki's blessing?

Oh sure, today we hear lots of backtracking and explaining by Maliki over his comment, and not unsurprising really, the main thrust of his clarification is a defense of al-Sadr as being good for Iraq. Is anyone in Washington listening to this?

Meanwhile, our troops are still dying in the 103 degree heat while the Iraqi government takes an August vacation. So, between now the the September report from Gen. Petraeus, nothing much will happen from Maliki's government to bring the factions together, there will be more cleansing, and the Shiites will grow even stronger.

And, the Sunni al-Qaeda.... "Pakistan Truce Appears Defunct." (WaPo) A peace deal between the Pakistani government and tribal leaders in the north where al-Qaeda is known to be regrouping is over. Last weekend, 70 mainly soldiers and police were killed after the Taliban fighters announced an all-out guerrilla war against the Parkistan army.

So, this is the effect of what Bush and Cheney have wrought with their misbegotten Middle East adventure.... they are handing Iraq to the Shiites, and thus to Iran, while al-Qaeda is gathering strength in Pakistan.... a country with nuclear weapons and a weakened President Musharraf.

It's too late for what they should have done after 9/11.... gone after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and made THAT country a bastion of freedom from terror.

What we should be doing now is strengthening our own borders and ports, and aggressively rebuilding our military.... not because Homeland Security's chief Chertoff's gut is rumbling.... but because while we're over there, the terrorists will show up here, "Big Time."

Homeland Insecurity....

The quote of the day from Frank Rich of the New York Times.... "Though Mr. Chertoff may be the man standing between us and Armageddon, he is seen as a leader of stature only when standing next to his cabinet mate Gonzo."

And, don't miss Maureen Dowd's column in the NYT today either.... priceless.