Weekly Review

By Roger D. Hodge

President George W. Bush made a televised address to the nation and declared that Iraq was now the "central front" in the war on terrorism. He called for national resolve and national sacrifice and said that he will ask Congress for $87 billion in emergency funds for the occupation. It was noted that this new request, which comes on top of $79 billion already approved, will probably push the current budget deficit up to $600 billion. Howard Dean said the speech, which made no mention of Osama bin Laden, was "outrageous" and said it reminded him of Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War. Senator Bob Graham observed that Bush now wants to spend more on Iraq this year than the federal government will spend on education.¹ Gunmen fired on a Sunni mosque in Baghdad just after morning prayers and injured three people, a car bomb exploded near the headquarters of the Baghdad police department, a British bomb squad expert was killed, an American Humvee was blown up, and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said that attacks on American forces were down to about 14 or 15 a day. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was touring Iraq and Afghanistan, complained that the news media was ignoring "the story of success and accomplishment" in Iraq.² Rumsfeld acknowledged that he still doesn't know who is carrying out the guerrilla attacks but said that the intelligence community is working on it. "They're not comfortable at the moment with what we don't know."³ A man died and several others were injured while riding Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.⁴ The World Council of Churches denounced the invasion of Iraq as "immoral" and "ill advised" and called for the withdrawal of American forces.⁵ A congressional study found that the occupation of Iraq is unsustainable given the current size of the U.S. military, and the United States released a draft resolution calling on the United Nations to create a multinational peacekeeping force for Iraq that would remain under American military and political control.⁶ Heavy fighting continued in Afghanistan,⁷ and surface-to-air missiles were fired at a transport plane in Baghdad. Donald Rumsfeld, who was nearby, said that such attacks are just a cost of doing business. Rumsfeld claimed that there has been "breathtaking" progress in Afghanistan since the war ended. "I'm not being Pollyannaish," he said. "I'm telling the truth." ⁸

President Bush, apparently worried about the fact that the American economy has lost almost 3 million jobs since he took office, promised to appoint a "manufacturing czar" who will watch out for blue-collar jobs.⁹ The Labor Department announced that 93,000 jobs were lost in August,¹⁰ and a new study found that the federal workforce is at its highest level (12.1 million) since the Cold War.¹¹ The Census Department reported that the number of poor people increased last year by 1.3 million.¹² The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced a settlement with energy companies that benefited from market manipulation in the California energy crisis two years ago. The companies agreed to pay about $1 million in fines, or about 3 cents for every Californian, though the energy scam cost the state $8.9 billion, or $250 per citizen.¹³ The Environmental Protection Agency relaxed restrictions on selling land contaminated with PCBs,¹⁴ and an astronomer argued that Venus once had a climate similar to Earth's, prior to its transformation by the greenhouse effect.¹⁵ A federal appeals court blocked the FCC's new rules expanding the freedom of media monopolies,¹⁶ and Jessica Lynch, the former Army private who was captured by Iraqis and became the subject of an elaborate heroic fiction, signed a book deal and reportedly received a $1 million advance. Lynch will share the advance with her co-author Rick Bragg, a former New York Times reporter.¹⁷ Seattle was considering a tax on espresso.¹⁸

North Koreans danced in the streets holding bunches of flowers to celebrate the reelection of Kim Jong Il as chairman of the National Defense Commission, his primary office; Kim Il Sung, who has been dead for almost ten years, is still officially the head of state.¹⁹ The Bush Administration retreated from its position that North Korea must simply submit to American demands; one State Department source said that the policy shift was accomplished while many of the Pentagon officials who have driven the administration's hard-line stance were on vacation.²⁰ There were rumors of a coup plot in the Philippines.²¹ The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt condemned gay marriage.²² An Israeli commission of inquiry concluded that police used excessive force in putting down a riot by Israeli Arabs three years ago in which 13 people were killed. The commission suggested that the police stop using snipers armed with rubber-coated steel bullets to disperse Arab crowds.²³ Three Israeli F-15 fighter jets piloted by the descendants of Holocaust survivors flew over the Auschwitz death camp in Poland during a memorial service. The Auschwitz Museum had opposed the flyover, saying that a military display was inappropriate on such an occasion.²⁴ Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, resigned, and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, was injured in an Israeli airstrike.²⁵ A car bomb blew up in a market outside Srinagar, Kashmir, killing at least six people and wounding dozens.²⁶ A train was blown up in Chechnya.²⁷ Twin sisters in Morocco were arrested for plotting a suicide attack.²⁸ Charles Bronson died.²⁹ Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy said that judges are lunatics and are anthropologically different from other people.³⁰ Paul J. Hill, a Christian who murdered an abortion doctor in Pensacola, Florida, was executed by lethal injection. Hill said that he was looking forward to getting his reward in heaven.³¹ Christians holding signs wept outside the prison; one sign read "Dead Doctors Can't Kill."³² Interrogators at Camp Delta, the American penal colony in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were said to be using Twinkies and McDonald's Happy Meals to make the prisoners talk.³³ Britney Spears, a pop star, declared her faith in President Bush: "Honestly," she said, "I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that."³⁴ A large silo filled with human excrement exploded in the Bronx.³⁵