Foreign Policy

Sen. Frank Lautenberg calls for an investigation into whether commercial interests played a role in the Lockerbie bomber's release.

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I'm not exactly sure how to interpret this, but check out this paragraph from a BBC report on Tim Geithner's speech at Beijing University today:

In a speech at Beijing University at the start of his two-day visit, Mr Geithner reassured his Chinese hosts that they need not worry about the estimated $770bn (

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is hailing the rescue of three American defense contractors from Colombian rebels.

Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Thomas Howes had been held by rebels, along with kidnapped presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, since 2003 when their surveillance plane crashed in the Colombian rainforest.

Colombian spies rescued the hostages yesterday, posing as rebels and tricking their captors into handing them over.

"The news that three Americans and their fellow captives held by Colombian rebels have been freed is the answer to the hopes and prayers of so many," Pelosi said in a statement last night.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) today called on President Bush to declassify information regarding plans for U.S. military bases in Iraq, expressing concern about speculation of permanent bases.

The administration's critics have speculated that Bush intends to establish permanent bases, as the administration pushes for a security deal between the U.S. and Iraq. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat in Iraq, has denied any such plans.

In a letter to Bush today, Waxman asked that "in light of these [Crocker's] statements, I respectfully request that you exercise your authority under Executive Order 12958 to declassify information regarding the plans for military bases in Iraq."

"Mr. President, many Americans believe that a plan exists to establish military bases in Iraq that will remain indefinitely.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) today asked the Defense Department to investigate what he says may be thousands of criminal cases involving fraudulent contracting in Iraq.

Waxman's committee received a report in May from Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General for Audit Mary Ugone finding that the U.S. Army had not provided enough documentation for its disbursements in Iraq, Egypt, and Kuwait. The audit centered on concerns of waste, fraud, and abuse related to over $10.7 billion in Army payments.

More than 7,000 of the audited transactions may indicate criminal behavior, Waxman said today in a letter to DoD Inspector General Claude Kicklighter.

In the letter, Waxman officially requested an investigation and asked Kicklighter to make recommendations to DoD and Congress on how to identify, investigate, and prosecute criminal activity in Army contracting in Iraq.

A former State Dept. official told the Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) today that the department has misled Congress and the American public about corruption in the Iraqi government.

Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the State Dept's Office of Accountability and Transparency in 2007 according to the Associated Press, told Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) that Ambassador Ryan Crocker is either misleading the American public about corruption in Iraq, or is unaware of the corruption due to his own negligence.

Brennan made his statements at a DPC hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The DPC circulated a video of the exchange today; see it below:



When contacted for response, State Dept. spokeswoman Nancy Beck told The Hill, "As we

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) is asking the U.S. Inspector General to look into the Pentagon's program of having generals defend Bush administration foreign policy on talk shows, which was first reported by the New York Times.

"This extensive propaganda program should have been revealed, not by a newspaper, but long-ago by the DoD Office of the Inspector General, which is responsible for eliminating waste, fraud and abuse at the department, as well as promoting integrity and serving the public interest," wrote DeLauro in a letter to the Inspector General. "Now that the program has been halted, we must take the next steps to determine how high-ranking officials within the Pentagon were allowed to operate a program aimed at deceiving the American people."

DeLauro was joined by 40 other House Democrats in her letter, Think Progress reports. In the Senate, Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) has asked the General Accountability Office to determine whether the Pentagon's program was illegal.

Gen. David Petraeus used charts during his Senate testimony to make his case against a timetable for withdrawing troops.

Download the charts here