Former President Gerald Ford told Bob Woodward in a July 2004 interview that was embargoed until Ford’s death that he would not have gone to war in Iraq. He also criticized how President Bush, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney justified the war.
“Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq,” Ford said. “They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction. And now, I’ve never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do.”
Ford also said, “I just don’t think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security.”
Ford’s observations of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were interesting. “Henry publicly was a gruff, hard-nosed, German-born diplomat, but he had the thinnest skin of any public figure I ever knew,” Ford said, adding that “any criticism in the press drove him crazy.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
John Edwards announced his 2008 presidential bid today in New Orleans, arguing against a troop surge in Iraq and in favor of ending poverty, guaranteeing health care and fighting global warming. It’s interesting that Edwards seems a viable 2008 candidate when his top of the ticket in 2004, John Kerry, does not. Edwards’ star is brightest in Iowa, where he came in second to Kerry in the 2004 Iowa caucus. But it’s not as if Edwards has gained more applicable job experience in the past two years. He’s still a much-maligned “trial lawyer” with a brief “record in the Senate that’s not very distinguished,” as Vice President Dick Cheney famously noted in their 2004 running mate debate.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
If Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and the Legislature need some easy money, they might check out the “untapped source of revenue” reported by the Bulletin of Cannabis Reform, which recently claimed that Kansas has the nation’s 31st largest marijuana production among states, estimated at $64 million of the nation’s total $35.8 billion crop. (That compares with $23.3 billion for corn and $7.4 billion for wheat.) But don’t hold your breath. (Or inhale.)
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Our editorial Wednesday noted some costly consequences of Jessica’s Law, including the need for 1,880 more prison beds over the next 10 years, at a possible cost of $192.4 million in construction and $63 million a year for operations, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. The 2007 legislative session could see action on two other tough-on-crime measures: one for repeat drunken drivers that could add 4,000 inmates over the next decade and one sending registered sex offenders back to prison if they are caught in places where kids can be found. Expect more debate on whether Kansas should get into the private prison business but little talk of freeing up capacity by cutting sentences for nonviolent offenders. (Remember the attorney general campaign fight over Senate Bill 323, anyone?)
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Democrats’ demands for more transparency in federal funds to home-district projects and a required pledge that no earmarks personally benefit a member of Congress could put a bad spotlight on Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the Washington Post reported. Murtha helped create and secured federal funding for a nonprofit group called the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities (PAID). And though the group has helped people with disabilities find jobs, it also has been a conduit for lobbyists and others trying to gain assess to Murtha and his influence on the defense appropriations subcommittee. The Post reported: “That arrangement over the years has yielded millions of dollars in federal support for the contractors, businesses and universities, and hundreds of thousands in consulting and lobbying fees to Murtha’s favored lobbying shops, according to Federal Election Commission records and lobbying disclosure forms. In turn, many of PAID’s directors have kept Murtha’s campaigns flush with cash.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Nothing like the prospect of imminent death to change one’s outlook. In the case of Saddam Hussein, it’s made the Butcher of Baghdad start sounding like Mahatma Gandhi.
A day after an Iraqi appeals court upheld his death sentence and ordered him hanged sooner rather than later, a farewell letter from Saddam was posted on the Baath party’s Web site, urging Iraqis “not to hate.”
“Hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking,” the letter said.
Meanwhile, some Saddam loyalists — apparently unmoved by his message — are threatening to avenge his execution by hitting U.S. interests everywhere.
Posted by Dave Knadler
International exchange students can help American kids learn about other cultures and boost good will between countries. So here is hoping that the Coldwater school district in southwest Kansas doesn’t end up hurting exchange programs by using these students to boost its enrollment and gain more state funds. Of the 81 students in Coldwater’s high school, eight are exchange students, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. These students will generate $60,000 in additional state funds for the district this year. If many more small districts follow suit, the Legislature may have to intervene.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
