Washington D.C., November 25, 2011 – President Ronald Reagan was briefed in advance about every weapons shipment in the Iran arms-for-hostages deals in 1985-86, and Vice President George H. W. Bush chaired a committee that recommended the mining of the harbors of Nicaragua in 1983, according to previously secret Independent Counsel assessments of "criminal liability" on the part of the two former leaders posted today by the National Security Archive.

Twenty-Five years after the advent of the "Iran-Contra affair," the two comprehensive "Memoranda on Criminal Liability of Former President Reagan and of President Bush" provide a roadmap of historical, though not legal, culpability of the nation's two top elected officials during the scandal from the perspective of a senior attorney in the Office of Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh. The documents were obtained pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the National Security Archive for the files compiled during Walsh's six-year investigation from 1987-1993.

The posting comes on the anniversary of the November 25, 1986, press conference during which Ronald Reagan and his attorney general, Edwin Meese, informed the American public that they had discovered a "diversion" of funds from the sale of arms to Iran to fund the contra war, thus tying together the two strands of the scandal which until that point had been separate in the public eye. The focus on the diversion, as Oliver North, the NSC staffer who supervised the two operations wrote in his memoirs, was itself a diversion. "This particular detail was so dramatic, so sexy, that it might actually-well divert public attention from other, even more important aspects of the story," North wrote, "such as what the President and his top advisors had known about and approved."

Ronald Reagan with Caspar Weinberger, George Shultz, Ed Meese, and Don Regan discussing the President's remarks on the Iran-Contra affair, Oval Office. 11/25/86. Source credit: Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library

The criminal liability studies were drafted in March 1991 by a lawyer on Walsh's staff, Christian J. Mixter (now a partner in the Washington law firm of Morgan Lewis), and represented preliminary conclusions on whether to prosecute both Reagan and Bush for various crimes ranging from conspiracy to perjury.

On Reagan, Mixter reported that the President was "briefed in advance" on each of the illicit sales of missiles to Iran. The criminality of the arms sales to Iran "involves a number of close legal calls," Mixter wrote. He found that it would be difficult to prosecute Reagan for violating the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) which mandates advising Congress about arms transfers through a third country-the U.S. missiles were transferred to Iran from Israel during the first phase of the operation in 1985-because Attorney General Meese had told the president the 1947 National Security Act could be invoked to supersede the AECA.

As the Iran operations went forward, some of Reagan's own top officials certainly believed that the violation of the AECA as well as the failure to notify Congress of these covert operations were illegal-and prosecutable. In a dramatic meeting on December 7, 1985, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger told the President that "washing [the] transaction thru Israel wouldn't make it legal." When Reagan responded that "he could answer charges of illegality but he couldn't answer charge that 'big strong President Reagan passed up a chance to free hostages," Weinberger suggested they might all end up in jail. "Visiting hours are on Thursdays," Weinberger stated. As the scandal unfolded a year later, Reagan and his top aides gathered in the White House Situation Room the day before the November 25 press conference to work out a way to protect the president from impeachment proceedings.

On the Contra operations, Mixter determined that Reagan had, in effect, authorized the illegal effort to keep the contra war going after Congress terminated funding by ordering his staff to sustain the contras "body and soul." But he was not briefed on the resupply efforts in enough detail to make him criminally part of the conspiracy to violate the Boland Amendment that had cut off aid to the Contras in October 1984.

Mixter also found that Reagan's public misrepresentations of his role in Iran-Contra operations could not be prosecuted because deceiving the press and the American public was not a crime.

On the role of George Herbert Walker Bush, Mixter reported that the Vice President's "knowledge of the Iran Initiative appears generally to have been coterminous with that of President Reagan." Indeed, on the Iran-Contra operations overall, "it is quite clear that Mr. Bush attended most (although not quite all) of the key briefings and meetings in which Mr. Reagan participated, and therefore can be presumed to have known many of the Iran/Contra facts that the former President knew." But since Bush was subordinate to Reagan, his role as a "secondary officer" made it more difficult to hold him criminally liable.

Mixter's detailed report on Bush's involvement does, however, shed considerable light on his role in both the Iran and Contra sides of the scandal. The memorandum on criminal liability noted that Bush had a long involvement in the Contra war, chairing the secret "Special Situation Group" in 1983 which "recommended specific covert operations" including "the mining of Nicaragua's rivers and harbors." Mixter also cited no less than a dozen meetings that Bush attended between 1984 and 1986 in which illicit aid to the Contras was discussed.

Despite the Mixter evaluations, Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh continued to consider filing criminal indictments against both Reagan and Bush. In a final effort to determine Reagan's criminal liability and give him "one last chance to tell the truth," Walsh traveled to Los Angeles to depose Reagan in July 1992. "He was cordial and offered everybody licorice jelly beans but he remembered almost nothing," Walsh wrote in his memoir, Firewall, The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up. The former president was "disabled," and already showing clear signs of Althzeimers disease. "By the time the meeting had ended," Walsh remembered, "it was as obvious to the former president's counsel as it was to us that we were not going to prosecute Reagan."

The Special Prosecutor also seriously considered indicting Bush for covering up his relevant diaries, which Walsh had requested in 1987. Only in December 1992, after he had lost the election to Bill Clinton, did Bush turn over the transcribed diaries. During the independent counsel's investigation of why the diaries had not been turned over sooner, Lee Liberman, an Associate Counsel in the White House Counsel's office, was deposed. In the deposition, Liberman stated that one of the reasons the diaries were withheld until after the election was that "it would have been impossible to deal with in the election campaign because of all the political ramifications, especially since the President's polling numbers were low."

In 1993, Walsh advised now former President Bush that the Independent Counsel's office wanted to take his deposition on Iran-Contra. But Bush essentially refused. In one of his last acts as Independent Counsel, Walsh considered taking the cover-up case against Bush to a Grand Jury to obtain a subpoena. On the advice of his staff, however, he decided not to pursue an indictment of Bush.

Among the first entries Bush had recorded in his diary (begun in late 1986) was his reaction to reports from a Lebanese newspaper that a U.S. team had secretly gone to Iran to trade arms for hostages. "On the news at this time is the question of the hostages," he noted on November 5, 1986. "I'm one of the few people that know fully the details. This is one operation that has been held very, very tight, and I hope it will not leak."

Read the Documents:

Document 1, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Office of the Independent Counsel, C.J. Mixter to Judge Walsh, "Criminal Liability of Former President Reagan," March 21, 1991, 198 pages.

In this lengthy evaluation, Christian Mixter, a lawyer on the staff of the Independent Counsel, provides Lawrence Walsh with a comprehensive evaluation of the legal liability of President Ronald Reagan in the Iran-Contra operations. The memorandum reviews, in great detail, not only the evolution of the operations, but Reagan's central role in them. It includes "a summary of facts" on both the sale of arms to Iran, in order to free American hostages held in Lebanon, and the evolution of the illicit contra resupply operations in Central America, as well as the connection between these two seemingly separate covert efforts. The report traces Reagan's knowledge and authorization of the arms sales, as well as his tacit authorization of the illegal contra resupply activities; it also details his role in obtaining third country funding for the Contras after Congress terminated U.S. support in 1984. The document further evaluates Reagan's responses in two official inquiries to determine whether they rise to the level of perjury. For a variety of reasons, Mixter's opinion is that "there is no basis for a criminal prosecution" of Reagan in each of the areas under scrutiny, although he notes that it is a "close legal call" on the issue of arms sales to Iran.

Document 2
Office of the Independent Counsel, C.J. Mixter to Judge Walsh, "Criminal Liability of President Bush," March 21, 1991, 89 pages.

In this assessment, Mixter traces then-Vice President Bush's involvement in both sides of the Iran-Contra operations, including his meeting with a high Israeli official on the sales of arms to Iran in July 1986, and his presence at no fewer than a dozen meetings during which illicit assistance to the Contras was discussed. The legal evaluation also contains a detailed overview of Bush's role in arranging a quid pro quo deal with two Presidents of Honduras in order to garner Honduran support for allowing the Contras to use that country as a base of operations against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. "It is quite clear that Mr. Bush attended most (although not quite all) of the key briefings and meetings in which Mr. Reagan participated, and therefore can be presumed to have known many of the Iran/Contra facts that the former President knew." But since Bush was subordinate to Reagan, his role as a "secondary officer" rendered him less likely to be criminally liable for the actions he took.

The Mixter memo on Bush was written before the existence and cover-up of the Vice President's diaries became known in late 1992. The Independent Counsel's office did launch an investigation into why the diaries were not previously turned over and considered bringing charges against the former Vice President for illegally withholding them.

More – The Top 5 Declassified Iran-Contra Historical Documents:

Document 1
NSC, National Security Planning Group Minutes, "Subject: Central America," SECRET, June 25, 1984

At a pivotal meeting of the highest officials in the Reagan Administration, the President and Vice President and their top aides discuss how to sustain the Contra war in the face of mounting Congressional opposition. The discussion focuses on asking third countries to fund and maintain the effort, circumventing Congressional power to curtail the CIA's paramilitary operations. In a remarkable passage, Secretary of State George P. Shultz warns the president that White House adviser James Baker has said that "if we go out and try to get money from third countries, it is an impeachable offense." But Vice President George Bush argues the contrary: "How can anyone object to the US encouraging third parties to provide help to the anti-Sandinistas…? The only problem that might come up is if the United States were to promise to give these third parties something in return so that some people could interpret this as some kind of exchange." Later, Bush participated in arranging a quid pro quo deal with Honduras in which the U.S. did provide substantial overt and covert aid to the Honduran military in return for Honduran support of the Contra war effort.

Document 2
White House, Draft National Security Decision Directive (NSDD), "U.S. Policy Toward Iran," TOP SECRET, (with cover memo from Robert C. McFarlane to George P. Shultz and Caspar W. Weinberger), June 17, 1985

The secret deals with Iran were mainly aimed at freeing American hostages who were being held in Lebanon by forces linked to the Tehran regime. But there was another, subsidiary motivation on the part of some officials, which was to press for renewed ties with the Islamic Republic. One of the proponents of this controversial idea was National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, who eventually took the lead on the U.S. side in the arms-for-hostages deals until his resignation in December 1985. This draft of a National Security Decision Directive, prepared at his behest by NSC and CIA staff, puts forward the argument for developing ties with Iran based on the traditional Cold War concern that isolating the Khomeini regime could open the way for Moscow to assert its influence in a strategically vital part of the world. To counter that possibility, the document proposes allowing limited amounts of arms to be supplied to the Iranians. The idea did not get far, as the next document testifies.

Document 3
Defense Department, Handwritten Notes, Caspar W. Weinberger Reaction to Draft NSDD on Iran (with attached note and transcription by Colin Powell), June 18, 1985

While CIA Director William J. Casey, for one, supported McFarlane's idea of reaching out to Iran through limited supplies of arms, among other approaches, President Reagan's two senior foreign policy advisers strongly opposed the notion. In this scrawled note to his military assistant, Colin Powell, Weinberger belittles the proposal as "almost too absurd to comment on ... It's like asking Qadhafi to Washington for a cozy chat." Richard Armitage, who is mentioned in Powell's note to his boss, was an assistant secretary of defense at the time and later became deputy secretary of state under Powell.

Document 4
Diary, Caspar W. Weinberger, December 7, 1985

The disastrous November HAWK shipment prompted U.S. officials to take direct control of the arms deals with Iran. Until then, Israel had been responsible for making the deliveries, for which the U.S. agreed to replenish their stocks of American weapons. Before making this important decision, President Reagan convened an extraordinary meeting of several top advisers in the White House family quarters on December 7, 1985, to discuss the issue. Among those attending were Secretary of State Shultz and Secretary of Defense Weinberger. Both men objected vehemently to the idea of shipping arms to Iran, which the U.S. had declared a sponsor of international terrorism. But in this remarkable set of notes, Weinberger captures the president's determination to move ahead regardless of the obstacles, legal or otherwise: "President sd. he could answer charges of illegality but he couldn't answer charge that 'big strong President Reagan passed up chance to free hostages.'"

Document 5
NSC, Oliver L. North Memorandum, "Release of American Hostages in Beirut," (so-called "Diversion Memo"), TOP SECRET/SENSITIVE, April 4, 1986

At the center of the public's perception of the scandal was the revelation that the two previously unconnected covert activities -- trading arms for hostages with Iran and backing the Nicaraguan Contras against congressional prohibitions -- had become joined. This memo from Oliver North is the main piece of evidence to survive which spells out the plan to use "residuals" from the arms deals to fund the rebels. Justice Department investigators discovered it in North's NSC files in late November 1986. For unknown reasons it escaped North's notorious document "shredding party" which took place after the scandal became public.

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The Obama Achievements List… Thus Far

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Arts and Culture  

1. Increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to the highest level since 1992. ref, ref, ref
2. Created an artist corps for public schools. ref
3. Championed the importance of arts education. ref
4. Promoted cultural diplomacy. ref
5. Section curator: ^pash

Banking and Financial Reform  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Established the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. ref
3. Established President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability to assist in financial education for all Americans. ref, ref , ref
4. Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010. ref, ref
5. Dodd-Frank (DF) Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the biggest financial reform law since the Great Depression. ref
6. Managed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) ref
7. Assigned a Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Act of 2009. ref
8. Pension relief Act of 2010. ref
9. Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act. ref, ref
10. Played a lead role in G-20 Summit re: financial crisis. ref
11. Reformed deferral rules to curb tax advantages for investing overseas. ref
12. Established new offshore investment policy that promotes in-sourcing. ref, ref
13. FUNDING:
14. Cut salaries for 65 bailout executives (Pay Czar). ref
15. Banks have repaid 75% of TARP funds, bringing the cost down to $89B as of June 2010. ref
16. Closed offshore tax safe havens, tax credit loopholes. ref , ref , ref
17. TARGETED ACTIONS:
18. Created the Financial Stability Oversight Council to monitor stability of the financial system and individual firms (DF). ref
19. New requirements for reporting financial data (DF). ref
20. Created self-funded Office of Financial Research (OFR) to collect information from financial firms (DF). ref
21. OFR employees must wait a year before working for certain financial firms. ref
22. Provided for orderly liquidation of financial companies (DF). ref
23. Limited trading activities of banks (Volcker Rule) beginning 2 yrs after passage (DF). ref
24. Swaps Pushout Rule prevented federal assistance to swaps (including derivatives) traders (DF). ref
25. Derivatives must be traded transparently through a clearing house (DF). ref
26. Defined the amount and nature of assets required to meet capital requirements (DF). ref
27. Originators of asset-backed securities must retain 5% ownership/risk (DF). ref
28. Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (DF). ref
29. Stronger client fiduciary duty for broker-dealers (DF). ref
30. Higher standards for securities advertising and disclosures (DF). ref
31. Expanded “insider loans” (DF). ref
32. Higher standards for sytemically important ($50 billion assets ) institutions, including annual stress tests and restrictions on bank acquisitions (DF). ref
33. Executive compensation must be determined by an independent committee (DF). ref
34. Issued compensation guidelines for bank executive salary and bonuses. ref , ref
35. Financial agencies must establish Offices of Women and Minorities to promote more diverse hiring (DF). ref
36. Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. ref, ref
37. Credit CARD Technical Corrections Act of 2009. ref
38. Established a credit card bill of rights. ref
39. Reformed credit card swipe fees. ref
40. Created new criminal penalties for mortgage fraud. ref
41. Congress pursued Goldman Sachs for securities violations. ref
42. Permanently extended Research and Experimentation Tax Credit for domestic investments. ref
43. RESULTS:
44. (Treasury) Sold 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup at a profit. ref
45. G-20 summit produced a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis. ref
46. Negotiated deal with Swiss banks to permit US government to gain access to records of tax evaders and criminals. ref
47. Financial reform has ‘strongest consumer financial protections in history.’ ref
48. Section curator: ^dellalee

Civil Rights  

1. FUNDING:
2. Provided $12.2 billion in new funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Act though the American Recovery and investment Act. ref
3. TARGETED ACTIONS:
4. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; Instituted equal pay for women. ref, ref, ref
5. Presidential Memorandum extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. ref , ref , ref , ref
6. Presidential Memorandum protecting gay and lesbian partners’ visitation/healthcare decision-making rights (4/15/2010). ref
7. Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to include gender, sexual orientation and disability. ref
8. Supported the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT). ref
9. Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act. ref
10. Established White House Council on Women and Girls (Executive Order 13506 ). ref
11. Financial agencies must establish Offices of Women and Minorities to promote more diverse hiring.
12. Increased minority access to capital. ref
13. Pushing through settlement in the black farmers lawsuit against USDA. ref, ref
14. Signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. ref
15. Increased Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities (Exec Order)(celebrating 20th anniversary of the ADA). ref, ref
16. Section curator: ^roytoric

Commerce, Trade and technology  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Promoted internet freedom as part of U.S. foreign policy. ref, ref , ref
3. Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009. ref
4. Satellite Television Extension Act of 2010. ref
5. FUNDING:
6. Expanded loan programs for small businesses. ref
7. TARGETED ACTION:
8. Small Business Act. ref
9. Small Business Investment Act. ref
10. Proposed tougher meat industry antitrust rules. ref , ref
11. Denied federal contracts to tax delinquents. ref
12. Appointed the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer. ref
13. Established Federal IT Dashboard. ref
14. Modernized the USA.gov portal to connect people to the services they require. ref
15. Launched the National Export Initiative, with the goal of doubling US exports by 2015. ref , ref
16. Provided National Export Initiative/Progress report and named President’s Export Council. ref, ref
17. Launched piracy crackdown. ref
18. Section curators: ^dellalee

Conservation  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Amendments Act of 2009. ref
3. Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. ref
4. North American Wetlands Conservation Act. ref
5. Stewardship of the Ocean (established National Ocean Council ), our Coasts and the Great Lakes (Executive Order). ref
6. Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance (Executive Order). ref, ref
7. Established partnerships to share environmental technology with other countries. ref
8. FUNDING:
9. Increased funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. ref
10. Increased funding for national parks and forests. ref
11. $175 million of ARRA allocated for water conservation, $135 million of that in the West. ref
12. TARGETED AREAS:
13. Reengaged in the treaties/agreements to protect the Antarctic. ref, ref
14. Expanded access to places to hunt and fish. ref
15. Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration (Executive Order). ref, ref
16. Led effort to phase out whaling. ref
17. Pursued a wildfire management plan. ref
18. Encouraged more controlled burns to reduce wildfires. ref
19. Ordered removal of more brush, small trees and vegetation that fuel wildfires. ref
20. Section curator: ^pash

Economy  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA): a $789 billion economic stimulus plan. ref
3. US auto industry rescue plan. ref, ref
4. Start-Up activity now higher than it was during the dotcom boom. ref
5. Created task force to fight deficit. ref
6. Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009. ref
7. Temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958. ref
8. FUNDING:
9. Increased minority access to capital. ref
10. $26 billion aid to states package (Aug 2010). ref
11. TARGETED ACTIONS:
12. Raised the small business investment limit to $250,000 through the end of 2009. ref
13. Created an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to invest in peer-reviewed manufacturing processes. ref
14. Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act – establishes a Federal “Do Not Pay” list. ref
15. Extended and indexed the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch. ref
16. Adopted Economic Substance tax doctrine. ref
17. Extended unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits. ref ref
18. Economy grew 5.9% in 4th quarter. ref
19. U.S. Economy: Manufacturing grew by most since 2004. ref
20. U.S. GDP up 3.2% in first quarter. ref
21. Consumer spending showed biggest rise in 3 years. ref
22. Orders for most durable goods rose. ref
23. Wholesale inventories and sales rose in March. ref
24. $26 billion state aid bill triggered a surge of private municipal investment. ref
25. EXHIBITS – THE STIMULUS ONE YEAR LATER:
26. Success of the stimulus–how do you illustrate ‘could have been worse’? ref
27. Distribution of ARRA funds by year. ref
28. Need for financial education: Investors who act on their own do worse than T-bills; market timers earn negative returns. ref
29. Consumer debt patterns (revolving and non-revolving) through end of 2009. ref
30. Growth of the national debt from 2000-2009. ref
31. Bar chart showing increases in national debt by President (since Carter). ref
32. Pie chart: 2009 annual deficit contrasting large Bush tax cuts and relatively small ARRA. ref
33. THE LEGACY: AUGUST 2010
34. The Economy Has Been Growing – seasonally adjusted change in GDP by quarter 2007-2010. ref
35. The Private Sector Has Begun to Add Jobs – Monthly change in nonfarm employment 2008-2010. ref
36. GDP would have been lower without the Recovery Act (2007-2013 projection) (scroll down to Part III to see chart). ref
37. Unemployment would have been higher without ARRA (2008-2010). ref
38. The gap between actual and full-employment GDP would have been much larger without TARP and ARRA (2008-2010). ref
39. MISCELLANEOUS EXHIBITS:
40. Public Sector Lost 316,000 jobs October 09-July 10 (state aid negotiated out of ARRA by GOP). ref
41. Section curator ^roytoric

Education: College  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Enacted largest reform of student aid in 40 years. ref, ref
3. Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010. ref
4. Established President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability to assist in financial education for all Americans. ref, ref, ref
5. FUNDING:
6. Increased funding for land-grant college. ref
7. Provided means for students struggling to make college loan payments to refinance. ref
8. TARGETED ACTIONS:
9. Expanded Pell grants for low-income students. ref
10. Expanded Pell grant pool by eliminating private lender subsidies for student loans. ref
11. Section curators: ^ejoyce ^Kroth

Education: Health of Children  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Created the Race to the Top Fund ($4.35 billion) to reward States that create comprehensive education reform plans. ref
3. Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 . ref
4. FUNDING:
5. Provided funding for high-speed, broadband Internet access to K-12 schools. ref
6. Established State Equalization Fund; new funds for school construction (ARRA). ref
7. Provided $77 Billion for reforms to to strengthen Elementary and Secondary education. ref
8. Fully funded the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). ref
9. Provided $12.2 billion in new funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Act through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. ref
10. $26 billion state aid package saved 160,000 teacher jobs (Aug 2010) ref
11. Provided over $2.3 billion in additional funding to Head Start and Early Head Start programs in 2009. ref
12. Provided $5 billion dollars for Early Learning Programs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. ref
13. Roughly doubled the amount available in Federal Child Care Block Grants. ref
14. Established “Promise Neighborhood” Grants (modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone). ref , ref
15. Eliminated abstinence-only funding in budget. ref, ref
16. TARGETED ACTIONS:
17. Helped rebuild schools in New Orleans. ref
18. Established school programs to highlight space and science achievements. ref
19. Recruited math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession. ref
20. Expanded the Nurse-Family Partnership to all low-income, first-time mothers . ref
21. Provided affordable, high-quality child care. ref
22. Unveiled initiatives to help men be better fathers. ref
23. Section curators: ^ejoyce ^Kroth

Employment: Jobs  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Jobs for Main Street Act (2010). ref
3. American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010. ref
4. National Export Initiative ref
5. FUNDING:
6. (DOL) Dedicated $100 million in Energy Training Partnership green jobs training grants. ref
7. (DOL) Dedicated $150 million for Pathways Out of Poverty green jobs training grants. ref
8. $33 billion-dollar jobs package (March 2010). ref , ref
9. $26 billion aid to states package (Aug 2010). ref
10. $5,000 tax credit for every new worker. ref
11. New Health IT Workforce Grants (ARRA). ref
12. TARGETED ACTIONS:
13. Job training programs in clean technologies for displaced workers. ref
14. Green Vet Initiative to promote environmental jobs for veterans. ref
15. Financial agencies must establish Offices of Women and Minorities to promote more diverse hiring (DF).
16. Recruited math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession. ref
17. Initiated a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses. ref, ref
18. Required new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliations or contributions. ref, ref
19. RESULTS:
20. CBO found 3.7 Million jobs created by stimulus (May 2010). ref
21. Job loss exploded under Bush, improves under Obama. ref
22. 682,370 jobs created under the Recovery Act Between January 1 — March 31,2010. ref, ref, ref
23. New jobless claims tumble. ref
24. March payrolls surge by 162,000 US says . ref
25. March jobs data showed biggest growth in three years .ref
26. U.S. economy added 90000 jobs in April . ref
27. Jobless rates dropped in 34 states and DC (AP). ref
28. Section curator: ^roytoric

Energy: Green  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Established an Energy Partnership for the Americas. ref
3. Established the Biofuels Working Group to develop a comprehensive approach to alternative fuels. ref
4. Additional measures to advance clean energy/solar investments and job creation (ARRA). ref
5. Launched new Climate Service. ref
6. Worked toward deploying a global climate change research and monitoring system. ref
7. Implemented renewable fuels mandate of 36 billion gallons by 2022. ref
8. FUNDING:
9. More than doubled federal spending for research on clean fuels. ref
10. $60 billion in spending and tax incentives for renewable and clean energy. ref
11. Invested in all types of alternative energy. ref
12. Increased funding for the Environmental Protection Agency. ref
13. Invested $2 billion in solar power, hailed new jobs. ref, ref, ref
14. Established consumer tax credit for plug-in hybrid cars. ref, ref
15. Provided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes. ref
16. Doubled funding for bicycling, walking projects ref, ref
17. (DOL) Dedicated $100 million in Energy Training Partnership green jobs training grants. ref
18. (DOL) Dedicated $150 million for Pathways Out of Poverty green jobs training grants. ref
19. $8 billion combined public/pvt funding committed to develop Smart Power Grid (part of ARRA). ref
20. Incentivized farmers to use more renewable energy and be more energy efficient. ref
21. TARGETED ACTIONS:
22. Purchased fuel efficient American-made fleet for the federal government. ref
23. Ordered 5,000 hybrids for federal fleet. ref
24. (NIST) Completed first release of Smart Grid framework. ref
25. Created job training programs in clean technologies for displaced workers. ref
26. Created Green Vet Initiative to promote environmental jobs for veterans. ref
27. Established program to convert manufacturing centers into clean technology leaders. ref
28. RESULTS:
29. First President to create detailed vision for clean energy economy. ref
30. Wind power growth up 39% due to government stimulus. ref
31. Study: Almost 5 million charging stations by 2015. ref
32. Section curator: ^pash

Energy: Old  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Ended the previous policy of not regulating and labeling carbon dioxide emissions. ref
3. Created Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage. ref
4. Set national standards for fuel economy and first ever greenhouse gas emission levels for passenger cars and light trucks. ref
5. Set smog limit: new strict proposal to replace Bush-era rule (EPA). ref ref
6. Regulated greenhouse gases for large industrial sources (EPA). ref
7. Raised fuel economy standards. ref
8. Required states to provide incentives for utilities to reduce energy consumption. ref
9. Allowed states to enact tougher fuel efficiency standards than federal standards. ref
10. Established Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. ref
11. FUNDING:
12. Pledged more than $8 billion for new nuclear reactors. ref
13. Tax breaks to promote public transit. ref
14. TARGETED ACTIONS:
15. Dismantled the Minerals Management Service, cutting ties between industry and government. ref , ref
16. Reengaged in global warming and greenhouse gas emissions talks. ref, ref
17. Offered 17% U.S. emissions cuts at climate summit. ref
18. Pledged 28% cut in federal greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. ref
19. Expanded greenhouse gas reduction targets for Federal operations -13% reduction from indirect sources by 2020. ref
20. (FTC) Toughened anti-greenwashing rules. ref
21. Instituted “Cash for Clunkers” to spur auto sales and promote fuel efficiency . ref, ref
22. Ordered inspections of mines with poor safety records. ref
23. Closed loophole that allowed drilling in Rockies without environmental review. ref
24. (EPA) Sharply limited mountaintop mining. ref
25. (EPA) Announced historic plans to regulate coal ash. ref
26. Required electric utilities to produce 20% of their electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2020. ref
27. (EPA) Limited mercury emissions. ref ref
28. Section curator: ^pash

Energy: Oil  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Introduced Oil Spill Recovery Bill to remove oil company liability cap. ref ref
3. Created offshore drilling safety review board. ref
4. Created new drilling agency with investigative arm. ref
5. Ended previous practice of having White House aides rewrite scientific and environmental rules, regulations and reports. ref
6. FUNDING:
7. Ordered $20 billion escrow fund by BP to reimburse lost incomes in Gulf. ref
8. Ordered $100 million to compensate those hurt by drilling moratorium. ref
9. TARGETED ACTIONS:
10. Dismantled the Minerals Management Service, cutting ties between industry and government. ref , ref
11. Mandated new safety rules for offshore drilling. ref
12. Opened civil and criminal investigations into Gulf oil spill. ref, ref
13. (Congress) Launched investigation into gas drilling practices. ref
14. Established the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. ref
15. Amended Oil Pollution Act of 1990 authorizing advances from Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. ref
16. Expanded oil rig workers’ families abilities to sue and recover. ref
17. Fined BP subsidiary $5.2 million for false reporting. ref
18. (EPA) Barred Texas’ authority to issue refinery operating permits. ref
19. Section curator: ^pash

Foreign Affairs and International Relations  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Re-established the United States standing in the world. ref, ref, ref
3. Poll: World’s opinion of U.S. has “improved sharply” under Obama. ref
4. 47 nations rise to Obama’s challenge at US nuke summit and agree to four years of non-proliferation efforts. ref
5. Visited more countries and world leaders than any first year president. ref
6. G-20 Summit produced a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis. ref
7. Launched an international Add Value to Agriculture initiative (AVTA). ref
8. Created a rapid response fund for emerging democracies. ref
9. Bolstered the military’s ability to speak different languages. ref
10. BY REGION:
11. West Hem: Returned the rights of Americans to visit and assist their families in Cuba. ref , ref , ref
12. Middle East: Appointed envoys to the Middle East and AFPAK affirming the power of American diplomacy. ref
13. Middle East: Renewed loan guarantees for Israel. ref
14. Middle East: Pledged $400 million in aid to Gaza civillians. ref
15. Middle East: Pressured Israel to end Gaza blockade. ref
16. Middle East: Refused to give Israel a “green light” to strike Iran, augmenting Mid-East stability. ref
17. Middle East: Iran Sanctions Act. ref
18. Asia: Authorized President Bill Clinton’s mission to secure the release of two Americans held in North Korea. ref
19. Asia: Authorized discussions with Myanmar and mission by Sen. Jim Webb to secure the release of an American held captive. ref
20. Asia: Renewed import restrictions under Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003. ref
21. Asia: Nuclear arms agreements with India (5/4/2010). ref
22. Africa: Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009. ref
23. Africa: Helped stabilize Somalia (Exec Order). ref
24. Aus: Nuclear arms agreements with Australia (5/5/2010). ref
25. Europe: Nuclear arms agreement with Russia. ref , ref, ref, ref
26. Europe: Agreed with Switzerland to bolster tax information exchange ref, ref
27. Section curators: ^arrghPaine

Government Efficiency  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Established the President’s Management Advisory Board. ref
3. Streamlined and modernized government to save taxpayer dollars. ref
4. Ended previous practice of having White House aides rewrite scientific and environmental rules, regulations and reports. ref
5. SPECIFIC CUTS:
6. Cut salaries of senior White House aides. ref
7. Made $20 Billion in budget cuts. ref
8. Provided that Members of Congress shall not receive a cost of living adjustment in pay during fiscal year 2011. ref, ref, ref
9. Eliminated F-22 fighter jet program after lobbying Senate vote to strip financing for more jets from a defense funding authorization bill. ref, ref, ref
10. Canceled contract for new Presidential helicopter fleet (28 helicopters, $11.2 billion). ref
11. OTHER TARGETED ACTIONS:
12. Enhanced payment accuracy through a “Do Not Pay” list. ref
13. Cracked down on tax cheats (Exec Order). ref
14. Returned taxpayer monies for refurbishment of White House offices and living quarters. ref , ref
15. Established the USA.gov portal connecting people to the services they require. ref
16. Section curator: ^roytoric

Health and Wellness  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Established HealthCare.gov, a web portal for determining and comparing all consumer health insurance and health care options ref, ref
3. Established an independent health institute to provide accurate and objective information. ref
4. Established the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council . ref, ref
5. Established President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. ref
6. Ended previous policy of cutting the FDA and circumventing FDA rules. ref
7. Implemented a National HIV/AIDS Strategy 7/13/10 ref
8. FUNDING:
9. Provided $20 billion increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. ref
10. Provided $500 million in expanded funding for Health Professions Training Programs. ref, ref
11. Provided funding to strengthen hospital preparedness and emergency response ref
12. Expanded funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners. ref
13. Increased funding to expand community based prevention prog: rams. ref
14. TARGETED ACTIONS:
15. First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off anti-obesity effort. ref
16. Established a New Patient’s Bill of Rights. ref
17. Established Patient Safety and Medical Liability Demonstration Projects. ref , ref
18. Questioned Prestigious Hospitals in Electronic Health Records Probe (DHHS). ref
19. Established Standards For Accessible Medical Diagnostic Equipment ref
20. Expanded vaccination programs. ref , ref
21. Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009. ref
22. Engaged global efforts on HIV/AIDS issues. ref
23. (FDA) Now regulating tobacco. ref, ref
24. Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. ref
25. (FDA) Ordered Tobacco Companies to Disclose Cigarette Ingredients. ref , ref , ref
26. Banned sale of “light” cigarettes. ref
27. Increased Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities (Exec Order)(celebrating 20th anniversary of the ADA). ref, ref
28. (FDA) to discuss stricter guidelines for tanning beds due to skin cancer. ref
29. (FDA) Issued new guidance limiting antibiotic use in cattle to preserve efficacy in humans (6/28/2010). ref
30. FDA) Reconsidered safety of Bisphenol A, initiates study. ref
31. Section curator: ^roytoric

Health Care Reform (See also Taxes)  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act // Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (March 2010). ref , ref
3. Required large employers to contribute to a national health plan. ref
4. Required insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. ref , ref
5. Required health plans to disclose how much of the premium goes to patient care. ref
6. Established an independent health institute to provide accurate and objective information. ref
7. Provided minimum essential health care coverage by Veteran’s Affairs. ref
8. Expanded eligibility for State Children’s Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP). ref, ref
9. Prevented children from being refused health insurance coverage. ref
10. Established Early Retiree Reinsurance Program. ref
11. Increased regulation of drug manufacturers. ref, ref
12. Cut prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients by 50% and began eliminating the plan’s gap (“donut hole”) in coverage. ref
13. TRICARE Affirmation Act. ref
14. Extended COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) to provide for a continuation of health care. ref, ref, ref
15. Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009. ref , ref , ref, ref
16. Section curator: ^roytoric

Housing  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Unveiled $275 billion dollar housing plan ref
3. Established “Opening Doors” – a federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. ref , ref
4. FUNDING:
5. Provided $510 Million for the rehabilitation of Native American housing. ref
6. Provided $2 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization Program . ref
7. Provided $5 billion for Weatherization Assistance Program for low income families. ref
8. Provided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes. Ref
9. TARGETED ACTIONS:
10. Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act. ref
11. Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, helping millions avoid foreclosure . ref, ref
12. Established the Making Home Affordable Plan, which will provide for the refinance or loan modification for 9 Million homeowners. ref
13. RESULTS:
14. New-home sales saw biggest jump in 47 years. ref, ref
15. Foreclosures fall 2%. ref
16. Section curators: ^roytoric

Humanitarianism  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Supported the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT). ref
3. Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009. ref, ref
4. FUNDING:
5. Accelerated tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for Haiti earthquake relief. ref
6. Made Haiti donations tax deductible for 2009. ref
7. $60 million for flood victims in Pakistan (8/19/10).
8. TARGETED ACTIONS:
9. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; instituted equal pay for women. ref, ref, ref
10. Presidential Memorandum extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. ref, ref, ref, ref
11. Increased federal employment of individuals with disabilities (Exec Order)(celebrating 20th anniversary of the ADA). ref ref
12. Presidential Memorandum extending benefits to Same-Sex Partners of Federal Employees. ref, ref, ref, ref
13. Presidential Memorandum protecting gay and lesbian partners’ visitation/healthcare decision-making rights (4/15/2010). ref
14. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act. ref
15. Awarded the Presidential Medal of freedom to Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King. ref
16. The Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act, advancing press freedom and safety for journalists. ref, ref,
17. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to include gender, sexual orientation and disability. ref
18. Established White House Council on Women and Girls (Executive Order 13506 ). ref
19. Awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. ref
20. Signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. ref
21. The Native American Heritage Day Act of 2009. ref
22. Appointed an American Indian policy adviser. ref
23. (EPA) Reversed Controversial “Human Guinea Pig” Rule. ref
24. Section curators: ^rmuse

Immigration  

1. Requested emergency funding of $600 million for Border Security. ref
2. Deployed more drones on Mexico border (Homeland Security). ref
3. Deported higher numbers of Illegal Immigrants. ref
4. Section curators: ^roytoric

Infrastructure  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Introduced plan to expand broadband Internet across U.S. ref, ref
3. FUNDING:
4. $8 billion combined public/private funding committed to develop Smart Power Grid (ARRA.) ref
5. $800 million to fund rapid rollout of rural broadband expansion (7/2010). ref
6. Provided funding for high-speed, broadband Internet access to K-12 schools. ref
7. Increased infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, power plants) after years of neglect. ref
8. $290 million in funding for 53 grants to “fund new streetcars, buses, and transit facilities.” ref ref
9. Invested $13 Billion (ARRA: $8B $1B 5-year federal budget) in high speed rail projects in 13 major corridors ref, ref, ref
10. Provided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes. ref
11. Created a social investment fund network. ref
12. Funded a major expansion of AmeriCorps. ref
13. TARGETED ACTIONS:
14. (NIST) Completed first release of Smart Grid framework. ref
15. Opened 500 MHz of wireless spectrum over next 10 years to expand wireless/mobile broadband use. ref
16. Commenced 10,000th road project, Columbus, OH (part of ARRA); June 2010. ref , ref
17. Airport and Airway Extension Act. ref
18. Initiated modification to Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) regulations. ref, ref
19. Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which expands the volunteer program. ref, ref ref
20. RESULTS:
21. Study: Almost 5 million charging stations by 2015. ref
22. 10,000th highway project (ARRA). ref
23. Section curator: ^roytoric

Labor  

1. Established POWER Initiative – protects government workers, ensures reemployment, reduces worker’s comp claims and payments. ref
2. Restored funding to the EEOC and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. ref

Law and Justice  

1. BROAD POLICY:
2. Outlined new federal drug control policy. ref ref
3. Ordered review of mandatory minimum sentences. ref
4. FUNDING:
5. Restored funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program. ref
6. TARGETED ACTIONS:
7. Appointment of first Latina to the Supreme Court. ref, ref
8. Appointed first black Attorney General, Eric Holder. ref
9. Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to include gender, sexual orientation and disability. ref
10. Established crimes programs for the new Orleans area. ref
11. Brought greter alignment to sentencing guidelines for powdered versus crack cocaine. ref
12. Denounced SCOTUS ruling in Citizens United. ref
13. Pushing through settlement in the Black Farmers Lawsuit against USDA . ref, ref
14. DTV Delay Act. ref
15. Criminal History Background Checks Pilot Extension Act of 2009. ref
16. Tribal Law and Order Act. ref, ref, ref, ref
17. RESULTS:
18. U.S. jail population declined for first time in decades. ref
19. Section curators: ^roytoric

Pretty Good if you ask me...... considering the huge mess he inherited

Sidi Bouzid

28 01 2011

I tend not to cover protests until they turn into actual revolutions, but where does one draw the line? It is clear that something pretty special is happening in the Middle East at the moment so I feel it would be disingenuous, not to mention churlish, not to cover it.

A recurring theme of this blog appears to be me suggesting that we all calm down and that things aren’t as serious or as substantial as they seem. I’m not going to say that about these protests. In fact I think they could be the most important event of the century (I know, I know). Of course it might not be, it could all be a flash in the pan – it is simply far too early to tell (like Zhou Enlai I think the jury is still out on the French Revolution so I’m not expecting history to rush to any snap judgements).

Sidi Bouzid

Sidi Bouzid is a fairly dull little town in central Tunisia with a population of about 40,000; it is a fairly unlikely location for the genesis of a social movement which threatens to change an entire region. Up until now its only real claim to fame was that it leant it’s name to the nearby WW2 “battle of Sidi Bouzid”, an engagement during the first few weeks of 1943 in which a surprisingly spirited German counter-attack drove back the advancing US army some 60 miles and so delayed the allied reconquest of north Africa by a couple of months.

As I wrote here, there had been widespread protests in Tunisia for some time but they stepped up a gear after a street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi burnt himself alive in protest on December 17th. That brought an end to the Ben Ali regime, but protests have now spread across the region. It’s hard to generalise about such a large and diverse movement ,but here is a summary of a few key observations on what has become known as the Sidi Bouzid movement:

1. It is genuinely of the people. As far as it is possible to tell such a thing. It seems to be spontaneous, and due to its spontaneity, there seem to be no obvious leaders yet. Like all mass movements, there are many disparate agendas at work here.
2. It is indigenous. Allegations of foreign interference are well wide of the mark. Indeed, in many, if not all, of these countries the western powers have been implicitly supporting the dictators against the people for many years – based upon the flawed premise that the politics of the middle east exists in a dichotomy between pro-western dictatorship and extremist Islamist democracy. One of the most powerful impacts of the Sidi Bouzid demonstrations in the west has been in publicly demonstrating how flawed and reductive that thinking is. That said we still see western governments taking a cautious approach towards the demonstrations and not willing to abandon their erstwhile allies so easily – and some on the right have even been actively hostile.
3. It is not led by Islamists. One of the impacts of viewing middle eastern politics as a dicotomy has been that is has considerably strengthened the Islamists hand. With all opposition, including secular democratic opposition banned, the only outlet for dissent had previously been the underground Islamist network. However what these demonstrations have shown is that when safety in numbers allows ordinary people to demonstrate most of them, in fact, are not Islamists. In the main the demands have been simply for the introduction of greater democracy, economic reform (more jobs), and an end to corruption. That said Islamist groups are certainly taking part, and more are jumping on the bandwagon. As most opposition groups haven’t been allowed to openly organise, Islamists might be able to cash in in any post-revolutionary chaos, or fresh elections, but at the moment they are certainly not the leading force, or even as strong a force as they were, say, in the 1979 Iranian revolution.
4. The internet has been helpful, but this is a revolution in the real world. Twitter, facebook, Anonymous, Wikileaks etc.. have all performed a role in publicising and organising the protests and an even more important role in reporting on them. However, in many cases the protesters have been amongst the poor, the unemployed, and ethnic minorities (such as the Bedouin in Egypt) who don’t  have much in the way of internet access – with workers and the middle classes only joining in later. Conventional methods, such as this pamphlet, and short wave radio, have played a major and overlooked part.

Schoolchildren in Tunisia wearing Guy Fawkes masks in the fashion of Anonymous

Al Jazeera are loving it. Maybe this is unfair. Maybe they are just doing their job as the region’s premier objective broadcaster. But I think I’ve been detecting a certain amount of delight in Al Jazeera’s reporting, certainly amongst individual journalists (Al Jazeera journalists tend to be a liberal and pro-democratic lot), This is important as they have been giving it their all to make sure that the protesters and their demands get fair coverage, in Arabic, across the region. What will be interesting will be to see what happens if the protests spread to Qatar, if the Qatari regime put pressure on AJ to change their tone, and if they can resist that pressure. Of course we’re a way off that happening yet.

It is going to be a while before anything happens. Mass demonstrations take time to build momentum; the French revolution didn’t just happen on Bastile day. It took more than a month for the Tunisian government to fall, and the Iranian revolution took more than two years. The fact that the media only turned up for the last three days of the Tunisian demonstrations has raised expectations unrealistically that regimes are going to fall overnight. They are not. Be patient. They key here is momentum, if the protests keep escalating to the point where a nation becomes ungovernable the regime will fall, if the protests fizzle out it won’t,

Here then is a run around the protests of the region:

Tunisia

As I said before now Ben Ali is gone, the key question will be whether the RCD follow suit. The  RCD are determined to cauterize the wound, discarding those seen as Ben Ali allies in the hope that this will be enough to satisfy the mob and they themselves will get back in in emergency elections. It remains to be seen whether they will.

Algeria

I wrote about Algeria before all this here. It was thought that Algeria would be the next site for the protests, particularly after there were five self immolations in three days between the 13th and 16th of January. Whilst events in Egypt have overshadowed the Algerian protests they are still continuing. There was a major spate of protests in the week leading up to 10th January. Then the protests thinned somewhat but opposition groups plan to restart the movement with a major demonstration on February the 9th. The size and scale of that demonstration should give us some idea what to expect in the coming months. Meanwhile a socialist opposition group, the FFS, has suggested that rather than demonstrating, they should attempt to build an alternative consensus through a series of meetings across the country.

Egypt

Egypt has some great posters:

l

It had previously been thought that Egypt would be one of the least likely regimes to fall, simply because the government was so entrenched and the police so strong. However, the protests which as I write are entering a fourth day, seem to have that most vital quality: momentum. Everyone is getting very hopeful at the moment, with stories of many thousands on the streets, NDP headquarters being sacked, Bedouin seizing soldiers, and the police (and even a tank) changing sides. But it’s still a very strong regime so let’s wait and see what happens.

As I said here, and here last year’s elections were a pyrrhic victory for Mubarak because, by so utterly denying the opposition any seats, he pushed his many millions of opponents outwith the processes of state. The main victims of that rigging, the Muslim Brotherhood, are certainly involved in these protests but they don’t seem to be the ringleaders. It seems to started amongst Bedouin and, for a while, largely Bedouin cities like Ismaïlia and Suez were the only sites of demonstrations. However it now seems to have genuinely spread to all sections of Egyptian society, with all religions and all ages represented across the country.

A potential leader for the movement emerged when Mohamed ElBaredi announced that he was returning to Egypt. He made it clear that he was not leading the protests, but that he would participate in them, and that he was not seeking the presidency directly (although, if asked, he would serve as an interim leader) but merely reiterating the position he has long held that Egypt needs to embrace significant electoral and constitutional reform to hold free elections which everyone, including the Muslim Brotherhood can participate in (ElBaredi has the Voltairesque view – one I happen to share – that whilst by no means an Islamist, he will fight for the Islamists right to exist). And that were that to happen he would run for the presidency in those elections.

ElBaredi is a fascinating individual. He has been campaigning for democratic reform in Egypt since 1964, although for much of the last 30 or so year he has done so from the confines of his day-job in New York. Educated in Sweden and with a PhD from the New York School of Law (where he lectured for a while), he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. He served in the UN for 30 years including three terms (twelve years) as the director of the International Atomic Energy Authority – the UN’s anti proliferation body. In this role he came up against the Bush regime on several occasions for:

1. Agreeing with his predecessor Hans Blix that the evidence for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq did not amount to a case for war, but merely a case for fresh inspections.
2. Rubbishing some of the claims for evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, in particular the Niger enriched uranium link, as implausible (it turned out he was right).
3. Saying it would be “utterly crazy” to attack Iran (this was perceived as “being soft on Iran” by the Bush regime).
4. Criticizing Israel for preventing UN weapons inspectors from inspecting their weapons programme for over 30 years, and raising concerns that the Arab world might think that a double standard was being applied.
5. Stating that ”We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction, yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security – and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use.” In context it was clear that he was not advocating nuclear proliferation (which would be an odd viewpoint for the head of the UN non-proliferation unit to have) but merely decrying nuclear diplomacy and calling for disarmament.

Based upon these, to my mind entirely reasonable, statements and the aforementioned defence of the Muslim Brotherhood’s right to exist some on the right seem to have got the idea ElBaredi – to all intents and purposes a New Yorker – is anti-western. I find that somewhat ludicrous.

Back to the protests themselves, as I say they do seem to be gathering momentum and the Egyptian government does seem to be embarking upon some suicidally counterproductive policies. They have shut down the internet (really), suspended some mobile phone networks, taken the local cable and terrestrial franchises of Al Jazeera off air (there’s nothing they can do about the satellites), arrested ElBaredi and various other “ringleaders”, and banned Friday prayer in some areas. The last move was particularly boneheaded as it has a) enraged Muslim sentiment, b) meant that most Egyptians have had nothing to do on Friday morning and so thought they might as well join a demo and c) meant that there have been a spate of people protesting by praying in, and blocking, the street.

Yemen

The protests don’t seem to be as strong in Yemen yet but it is early days and the situation in Yemen is highly volatile. Yemen is split across religious lines (the 50% living in the north are Zaidi “fiver” Shia whereas the southern 50% and the government are Sunni), there are active insurgencies in parts of the country, and Yemen has powerful opposition movements (a hangover from the different governments of former-Ottoman North Yemen and former-British South Yemen and the left wing rebellions in both halves).

Elections are two years overdue and the ruling General People’s Congress have been under mounting pressure from both the Shafi Islamist Islah party and the left wing Yemeni Socialist Party (the former government of South Yemen. Thus whilst there aren’t yet that many people on the street, it may take fewer people to topple the government. So far the Yemeni protests have been more political than those in other countries, with the opposition coalition taking the lead in proceedings.

Jordan

There have been some surprisingly large demonstrations in Jordan. Jordan had always been thought of as one of the more moderate regimes in the region, but as I wrote here and here, the regime has taken a turn for the authoritarian of late – something which some have attributed to the rise of hard-liners PM Samir Rifai and his deputy Rajai Muasher. The Monarchy have taken a different approach to the regimes in other countries, King Abdullah II saying that reforms are needed and should be sped up:

“All officials concerned should shoulder their responsibilities and take their decision in a daring, transparent and clear manner. I don’t want to hear someone says that he has directions from the head. All files should be opened to the public, doubts should be cleared and mistakes corrected.”

Interestingly this has by no means ended the protests, the total bodging of last year’s elections have left a lot of people very angry. But we could see a different kind of reform in Jordan, regimes not toppling but slowly adapting as hard-liners lose the ear of the king and long promised democratic reforms finally take place. Or maybe not, in which case there will be consequences…

Where else?

There have been reports of riots and immolations in Saudi Arabia and Mauritania. In addition Bahrain (which I wrote about here, here, and here) is clearly worried enough about the issue (or maybe just wanting to build some new alliances) to suggest a regional symposium to discuss democratic reform. But it’s fair to say that we don’t really know where will be next, or if it will spread at all.

How do I find out what’s going on?

Online Al Jazeera have been peerless and the Guardian have been pretty good. On twitter you’ll find a lot by searching #jan25 (Egypt) or #sidibouzid. I also recommend @ajenglish for news, @aslanmedia also worth a follow and has had some scoops. @dilma_khatib is an Al Jazeera journalist who often tweets before AJ themselves do and indulges in the occasional editorial comment. For Tunisia I recommend @voiceoftunisia @revolution_isnow and @LiberateTunisia. For Egypt @nefermaat, @jan25live (warning, this translates Arabic reports tweets and rumours, not all of which have been independently authenticated, and some of which are clearly a way off the mark) and @jan25voices who use phones to get round the internet blockade.

And finally … Gabon

There’s been an utterly botched coup in Gabon. It doesn’t appear to be linked to the Sidi Bouzid protests although it’s not entirely clear what was going through Andre Mba Obame’s head. He was, until a couple of days ago, leader of the Gabonese opposition until, apropos of absolutely nothing at all he declared that he should have won the August 2009 presidential election and that as a result he was unilaterally declaring himself president. The African Union expressed its “surprise and concern” and everyone else blithely ignored him. The election, which saw President Ali Bongo (son of Omar Bongo, president 1967-2009) elected with 42% of the vote probably wasn’t entirely fair, but just announcing yourself President 18 months after the fact doesn’t make it so.

Obame turned up at the headquarters of the UNDP demanding that the UN either a) recognise his regime or b) give him asylum. They went with option b.

 

UPDATE

So it now seems a case of when, not if, Mubarrak goes. I say that for three reasons, firstly as I said before, the key currency here is momentum and the Egyptian protests have that in spades. Secondly, for the first time in his 30 year career Mubarrak has appointed a vice-president. This is clearly the mark of someone who knows his days are numbered and is trying, probably unsuccessfully, to ensure an NDP succession. Thirdly the police have been replaced by the Army on the streets and Egypt has a conscripted Army in which everyone does a stint of national service. In other words whist the police are loyal to the regime insofar as they are on the payroll, the army are a largely random subset of the people and so their loyalties are much more with the people. Thus the last couple of days have seen the army in many cases openly siding with the people against the government. Of course, being the army, they have also been a bit more trigger happy and death tolls have been creeping upwards.

As for the big “where next” question, there is speculation about Morocco and Sudan but it doesn’t seem to have much basis. As well as the places mentioned above Syria is going to have a day of mass demonstrations on February the fifth. A week ago I would have said there is absolutely no chance of the Syrian regime falling, but if Egypt can fall then seriously anywhere can. We’ll know better on the fifth how seriously to take this.

Someone asked me over twitter if it is true that this all started as a dispute over oranges. The answer is yes and no. Whilst it’s easy to say with hindsight, it now appears that the entire region was as well primed and ready to blow as a firework at a well-organised display. Mohamed Bouazizi was a barrow boy, and he did sell oranges, and he did burn himself alive after a police officer – on the lookout for a bribe he couldn’t afford to pay – closed down his orange stand for not having a licence. That took place in the context of a demonstration which was already in process: it was a talismanic event, but maybe this would have happened anyway; maybe someone else would have set themselves on fire over something else.

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Author : whoruleswhere-->
• Date : January 28, 2011
• Tags: Algeria, Egypt, Gabon, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen
• Categories : Uncategorized

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28 01 2011

whoruleswhere (15:40:01) :

Some extraordinary videos:

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28 01 2011

whoruleswhere (15:41:28) :

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29 01 2011

whoruleswhere (15:30:50) :

Some amazing photos: http://bit.ly/elQCC2 http://bit.ly/hqWYax http://bit.ly/gfk0e3 http://bit.ly/hAKfiF http://bit.ly/ht8aVB http://bit.ly/hfAkGp http://bit.ly/dTDfQv http://bit.ly/ebzVnw

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30 01 2011

whoruleswhere (13:45:23) :

Rich collection of photos from Saturday’s protests. Opt for FULL SCREEN. http://nyti.ms/gJyeBO

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1 02 2011

whoruleswhere (14:54:40) :

I was right about something! That makes me feel good. Jordan’s King Abdullah has dismissed the government of Samir Rifai and Rajai Muasher and will appoint a more moderate government in the hope of heading protests off at the pass.

Yemen has increased police pay, smart move.

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1 02 2011

whoruleswhere (14:57:30) :

The new Jordanese PM is Marouf al-Bakhit. He’s done the job before – not that well – and isn’t thought to be that moderate, but far less hardline than Rifai.

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2 02 2011

whoruleswhere (11:52:45) :

A great blog on Egypt here (and kind enough to link to me) http://fakeconsultant.blogspot.com/2011/01/on-view-from-egypt-part-five-or.html

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8 02 2011

Hubris and Ozymandias « Who rules where (16:44:45) :

[...] two most powerful advocates of this path are ElBaredi – who I discussed at length last time, and the “April 6th movement” and their leader Mohamed Adel. They are a pro-democracy, [...]

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Just in case you were wondering about #sidibouzid

December 8, 2010  |  

John Tanton

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The mainstream media is finally exposing “the man behind the curtain” of America’s anti-immigrant movement. This week, Village Voice Media published a piece entitled, “FAIR-y Tales

” by Terry Greene Sterling, an award winning journalist and Writer-in-Residence at Arizona State University. Sterling’s in-depth investigative journalism blows the lid of off the John Tanton network and its anti-immigrant organizations—CIS, FAIR, IRLI (drafters of SB1070), Social Contract Press and Numbers USA. It even includes an interview with John Tanton, the unapologetic architect of the anti-immigrant movement in America.

Sterling writes:

Even today, John Tanton sees nothing wrong with associating with white nationalists. He says he doesn’t necessarily agree with them, but reaching out to them is part of his “coalition building.”

And he’s not ashamed of soliciting $1.5 million in unrestricted donations during FAIR’s early days from the Pioneer Fund, an American foundation that has long financed research in “race science.” FAIR doesn’t take Pioneer money anymore, though the creepy foundation still is going strong.

The Pioneer Fund’s current president, J. Philippe Rushton, is a Canadian college psychology professor who still studies race-intelligence connections.

Not since Rachel Maddow interviewed

Dan Stein of FAIR, after passage of SB1070, has a journalist taken on the John Tanton anti-immigrant movement in America so directly.

Sterling also unpacks the fuzzy way these groups produce “data” on immigration and then pass it on to their friends on Capitol Hill

and in state legislatures. Using the example of a FAIR report that attempted to enumerate the costs of undocumented immigration in Arizona (a report that buoyed passage of SB1070), Sterling points out that FAIR boosts the cost of illegal immigration in Arizona (by nearly $2.7 billion) by counting the U.S. children of undocumented immigrants.

And upon questioning, the author had a difficult time justifying his methodology:

Longtime FAIR staffer Jack Martin, who is not an economist but rather “a retired U.S. diplomat with consular experience,” put the Arizona report together.

In July, Martin said that he included in his report U.S. children born to undocumented immigrants as a cost of illegal immigration because they “wouldn’t be here” if their parents hadn’t been in the country illegally.

And if Mom and Dad returned to Mexico, they’d take their American children with them, Martin declared.

Asked why these same American kids mysteriously disappear from his report once they become adults and offset the cost of their educations by paying taxes, consuming, and working, Martin offered no rational answer. He posited that once these children reach adulthood, they no longer represent a “cost of illegal immigration” because if their parents were to be deported, the adult children probably would stay in the United States.

In short, Martin could not explain away the accounting trick at the heart of the “report” that helped justify SB 1070.”

Despite these groups’ nefarious associations and outright lies over the years, they have been able to gain incredible traction and harness a strong movement against sensible immigration reform in America. Even Tanton is surprised by his success.

Sterling writes:

Sometimes, when Tanton looks at how FAIR, NumbersUSA, the CIS, and other groups he’s touched have succeeded in turning the immigration debate his way, the old man feels a certain satisfaction about his life’s work.

“It is amazing,” he says, “how well we’ve done.”

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U.S. And Justice for Few William Fisher NEW YORK, 14 Dec (IPS) - Poor defendants on death row, immigrants in unfair deportation proceedings, torture victims, domestic violence survivors and victims of racial discrimination - all these groups are consistently being denied access to justice while those responsible for the abuses are protected, according to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union. Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU Human Rights Programme, told IPS, "Access to justice is a fundamental human right and bedrock tenet of American democratic system - it was even codified by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the U.S. championed 62 years ago." "Unfortunately, access to the courts and effective remedy have been severely curtailed over the last decade, especially for those who need it most," he said. "It is time for our government and judiciary to recommit to respecting and promoting this essential right." According to the report, "Slamming the Courthouse Doors", the "actions of the executive, federal legislative, and judicial branches of the United States government have seriously restricted access to justice for victims of civil liberties and human rights violations, and have limited the availability of effective (or, in some cases, any) remedies for these violations." For example, the report details how individuals convicted of capital crimes who seek to present newly found evidence of their innocence or claims of serious constitutional violations are being denied recourse in the courts. Federal legislation, most prominently the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), and Supreme Court decisions, has greatly limited access to federal review of state court death penalty convictions, the report says. It also charges that victims of rape, assault, religious rights violations and other serious abuses in prison are having their claims thrown out of court because of a restrictive federal law. Immigrants who may have legitimate claims to remain in the U.S. are unknowingly waiving their opportunity to pursue these claims and are being swiftly deported because of unfair procedures, the report charges. It also notes that victims of domestic violence are being denied the opportunity to seek civil remedy under the Violence Against Women Act because of recent court decisions. Similarly, victims of torture and "extraordinary rendition" have been denied their day in court. The administration of President Barack Obama has sought to extinguish lawsuits brought by torture survivors through use of "judicially-created doctrines such as the so-called 'state secrets' privilege and qualified immunity to dismiss civil suits alleging torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, forced disappearance, and arbitrary detention, without consideration on the merits," the report says. It charges that by invoking the "state secrets" privilege, the Obama administration can not only restrict discovery but can quash an entire lawsuit - without demonstrating the validity of their claim to a judge. Immigrants also are systematically denied access to justice, as they face monumental obstacles to obtaining review of removal orders. The U.S. government has claimed that there is no right to judicial review of diplomatic assurances when it has sought to transfer individuals to countries known to employ torture. Federal immigration officials also have used a procedure known as stipulated removal to deport non-U.S. citizens without a hearing before an immigration judge. "There is a lack of meaningful safeguards to ensure people with mental disabilities facing possible deportation from the United States are afforded fair hearings. As a result, legal permanent residents and asylum seekers with a lawful basis for remaining in the United States may have been unfairly deported from the country because their mental disabilities made it impossible for them to effectively present their claims in court," the report says. The ACLU's recommends that Congress amend the habeas-related provisions of AEDPA so that federal courts are more accessible to prisoners asserting claims of constitutional violations. It also urges the creation of and adequate funding for state defender organisations that are independent of the judiciary and that have sufficient resources to provide quality representation to indigent capital defendants. Congress should pass legislation that creates procedures to prevent the abuse of the state secrets privilege, and the Obama administration should prohibit the reliance on "diplomatic assurances" to deport or otherwise transfer persons from the United States. The ACLU also urged Congress to enact the End Racial Profiling Act, which would ban racial profiling and provide for government monitoring and documentation of racial profiling. Frances Boyle, a legal expert familiar with the report, told IPS, "Because of the deliberate U.S. federal court-packing scheme undertaken by the [Ronald] Reagan, [George] Bush Sr. and [George] Bush Jr. administrations, today about 60 percent of U.S. federal judges at all levels - up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court - have been members of the Federalist Society, and/or were vetted by the Federalist Society." Boyle, a law professor at the University of Illinois, described this organisation as "right wing, racist, bigoted, reactionary, elitist, sexist, warmongering and totalitarian". For example, he said, almost all of the lawyers involved in the Bush Jr. administration's torture scandal were and still are members of the Federalist Society. (END/2010)

 

Money may not buy you happiness but it will buy you Justice

Praise for The Other Side of Immigration...

“There are inevitably real people behind the strident slogans and ideological labels in today’s immigration debate. Roy Germano’s The Other Side of Immigration does more than any other work to give people otherwise disparaged as ‘threatening’ and ‘illegal’ a human face and to reveal the devastating personal effects of U.S. immigration and economic policies on our closest neighbors.”

-Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University

About the film... The Other Side of Immigration is an award-winning documentary based on over 700 interviews with men and women of the Mexican countryside. The film explores why so many people leave small Mexican towns to work in the United States and what happens to the families and communities they leave behind. By understanding “the other side” of the story, we’ll begin to think about new and more creative ways that the U.S. and Mexican governments can work together to solve our undocumented immigration problem. Filmmaker Roy Germano holds an M.A. in international relations from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Texas at Austin. He has conducted extensive research in the Mexican countryside with support from the National Science Foundation. The Other Side of Immigration emerged from his research and has screened at over fifty film festivals, universities, and community events throughout the United States and Europe. Learn more.

55 minutes, in Spanish & English with English & Spanish subtitles

Written, directed, shot, edited, and produced by Roy Germano

with music from My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst, and Cuarteto Latinoamericano

More praise for The Other Side of Immigration...

“The Other Side of Immigration is an intelligent, thought-provoking, beautiful, and caring look at the costs of policies in Mexico and the United States that lead to illegal immigration by so many. It is an understatement to say that the film has made me think...” 

-  Liza Finkel, Portland State University

“I recommend The Other Side of Immigration with enthusiasm for a wide range of audiences, including community groups, higher education institutions, public schools, and policy makers.” 

- Scott Fletcher, Lewis & Clark College

“The humanity oozes from this film--from the sadness of the mother who has not seen her daughter in seven years to the anguish of would-be mayor trying to deal with the endemic corruption holding back much needed development... It would be no surprise to me to see his work as a source of inspiration for policy makers on both sides of the border.” 

-  Bill Davies, American University

U.S. Immigrant Groups Converge in Mexico, Join Global Call to End Criminalization and Exploitation of Migrants

NNIRR

by Colin Rajah

.
U.S. Immigrant Groups Converge in Mexico, Join Global Call
for End to Criminalization and Exploitation of Migrants

Contact:
Colin Rajah (415) 203-8763 crajah@nnirr.org
Catherine Tactaquin (510) 459-4557 ctactaquin@nnirr.org

(Mexico City, Mexico) Dozens of U.S. immigrant groups are heading to the 5th People’s Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (PGA) being held in Mexico City Nov. 2-5. The PGA is a community-based gathering to develop and advocate alternatives to the 4th intergovernmental Global Forum on Migration and Development, meeting a week later in Puerto Vallarta on Nov. 10-11.

Led by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR), close to 80 groups from around the U.S. will join an estimated one thousand other civil society delegates from around the world at the PGA. This will be one of the largest international civil society gatherings focused on one of the most contentious issues worldwide, migration. NNIRR is a co-founder of the PGA.

“There is an unprecedented increase in hostility towards migrants around the world, including in the U.S.,” declared Colin Rajah, director of NNIRR’s program International Migrant Rights & Global Justice and a member of the PGA international coordinating committee. “As governments discuss ways and means to maximize the development benefits of migration, migrants themselves are being traded as cheap and disposable labor commodities.”

Raising the World's Migrant Voices for Justice & Human Rights

During the PGA, community- based, human rights, women’s, faith-based, labor, migrant workers and other organizations from Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe will share their experiences, strategize and develop action plans to counter the growing government attacks undermining the rights and safety of migrants. Key PGA representatives will also attend the Civil Society Days Nov. 8-9 at the GFMD, and will be delivering one of four international civil society presentations during the government forum.

The PGA serves as a broad-based civil society forum exposing governments’ repressive and inhumane criminalization of migrants around the world and the increasing exploitation of migrant workers in vulnerable and precarious conditions. The PGA also advocates for better global governance and adherence to human rights protections of migrants.

U.S. Will Attend GFMD for First Time

For the first time, the U.S. State Department will be leading an inter-agency delegation of a dozen government representatives to the GFMD. Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz, heading the delegation, is expected to deliver a speech in New York on Nov. 8, in conjunction with the opening of the GFMD.

Rajah commented, “While we applaud the Obama Administration’s reversal of the previous U.S. government policy of non-participation in international fora such as the GFMD, we are concerned that there is little if any indication that the U.S. will modify it trade and migration policies, which drive the forced displacement of communities and violate the rights of migrants. We will be pushing the U.S. to turn around these policies and end the repressive and inhumane treatment of migrant communities. The U.S. must comply with the international human rights protections of all migrants around the world, including in our own country.”

The GFMD was created in 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly, upon the recommendation of then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. While its mandate seeks to overcome the limitations of strictly national approaches to key migration issues, the GFMD has become a key site for developing migration and development policy at the expense of the rights of migrants and countries in the Global South.

The inaugural GFMD was held in Brussels in 2007, followed by Manila in 2008 and Athens in 2009. The Swiss government is expected to host the GFMD next year.

The PGA: Creating a Shared Vision & Action Plan for Human Rights without Borders

The PGA was jointly created by regional migrant and migrant rights networks from around the world. Recognizing the limitation of the GFMD’s framework approach, it sought to raise the level of broad civil society engagement as key stakeholders in the debate, and more importantly, to promote the central role of human rights as a framework for migration and development.

[http://nnirr.blogspot.com/2010/10/us-immigrant-groups-converge-in-mexico.html]

The DREAM Act would provide a pathway to legalization for undocumented youth brought to America as minors who attend college or join the military.

However, the original bill also allowed youth to gain legal status through community service, an option that was replaced to push young people into the military.

Undocumented youth, especially those for whom college attendance is outside their means, should be permitted a peaceful means to serve their adopted country and earn legalization.

Tell your Congressperson to support the DREAM Act with the original community service option.

Photo credit: ChoiceCamps.com