Morning News Roundup (20 Sept)

BushCo's Wars

• Bombings near an army base and a police building killed at least 28 people and wounded at least 56. A bomb in a parked car detonated last night near an Iraqi army base in Sharqat, about 45 miles from the northern city of Mosul, police said. A suicide bomber then detonated his explosives as a crowd gathered at the scene. At least 21 people were killed and 50 wounded. [BoGlobe]
  
  
• In a sober assessment, Gen. John P. Abizaid, who has overseen the U.S. military strategy in Iraq since July 2003, said he had hoped six months ago for the withdrawal of several thousand U.S. troops from Iraq by now. "We clearly did not achieve the force levels that we had hoped to," he said, citing sectarian unrest, ongoing weaknesses in the capabilities of Iraqi security forces -- in particular the police -- and the five-month political void in the country after the December 2005 national elections.
  [...]
  The general's comments effectively ended hopes for a big troop withdrawal from Iraq this year, which had long been the military's target for reducing forces. As violence has intensified over the spring and summer, military leaders and the Pentagon's official assessment of the war have delivered increasingly tough characterizations of conditions in Iraq. [WaPo]
  
  
• If you've got a few minutes, check out this NPR report from Anne Garrels from today's Morning Edition, which starts out its focus on the disruption at Saddam Hussein's trial when a witness appeared wearing a Kurdish flag lapel pin (instead of the Iraqi flag) but then goes on to describe the relative peace that the Kurdish region is experiencing and the potential conflicts that could arise with the growing call for separatism.

Climate Crisis

• The global sea level rise caused by climate change, severely threatening many of the world's coastal and low-lying areas from Bangladesh to East Anglia, is proceeding faster than UN scientists predicted only five years ago, Professor Chris Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey.
  [...]
  The present prediction of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, from its third assessment report in 2001, is that global sea levels will rise by between 9cm and 88cm by 2100, depending on a number of factors including how far emissions are controlled, with a best guess of about 50cm over the century. [The Independent]
  
  
• Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has documents/emails that show that a government scientist was passed over for a media appearance because he didn't toe the administration's line on global warming. TPM Muckraker has the emails and more details.
  
  
• First it was Michael Crichton, now Senator James Inhofe, head of the Environment and Public Works Committee, has invited author and climate change skeptic Bjorn Lomborg (The Skeptical Environmentalist) to speak to the committee. The Jim Inhot Water blog has the details; here's a tidbit:
  

  The Skeptical Environmentalist challenged the claims of the world’s environmentalists, characterizing them as grossly exaggerated. The book received much criticism from the scientific community. (Oregonian, 8/21/06) In fact, after a group of scientists brought formal complaints against the assertions made in the book, the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty, a body under Denmark’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, found that the book was scientifically dishonest, citing among other things: fabrication of data, distorted interpretation of conclusions, plagiarism, and deliberate misinterpretation of others’ results. (BBC News, 12/22/03)

• Restricting or taxing greenhouse gas emissions would be the “most cost-effective” global warming policy, according to a new Congressional Budge Office report. The report says climate change policy should “reduce carbon emissions by increasing the costs of emitting carbon... to reflect the damages that those emissions are expected to cause.” [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  

Domestic Potpourri

• “A state judge yesterday rejected a Georgia law requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification, writing in his decision, ‘This cannot be.‘” The judge said the law, which critics call a modern day poll tax, “disenfranchises citizens who are otherwise qualified to vote.” [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• As expected, Maria Cantwell easily rolled over Tran, one of four Democrats and five Republicans who were eliminated from the race Tuesday. But the freshman senator and Republican nominee Mike McGavick, the former chief executive of Safeco Corp., have been running general election campaigns all along, paying virtually no attention to their primary rivals.
  
  McGavick, in an interview after addressing supporters at his Seattle headquarters Tuesday night, said voters "really want robust conversation" between the two candidates about three issues: the Iraq war as part of the fight against Islamic terrorism; the federal deficit, and saving Social Security.
  
  Cantwell, in an interview, pointed to some of the same issues, saying the country has "gone from record surpluses to record deficits" under President Bush. As for Bush's plan to privatize Social Security, she said, "I just think that should be off the table." [Seattle P-I]
  
  
• Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) said for the first time publicly yesterday that he has Jewish ancestry, a day after responding angrily to an exchange that included questions about his mother's racial sensitivity and whether his family has Jewish roots.
  
  At a campaign debate with Democratic challenger James Webb on Monday, a reporter asked Allen whether his mother's father, Felix Lumbroso, was Jewish. He became visibly upset, saying his mother's religion was not relevant to the campaign and chiding the reporter for "making aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs."
  
  Allen's campaign manager said the senator believed the question was hostile because it followed another one about whether Allen had learned the word "macaca" from his mother. The word, which Allen used last month to describe a Webb volunteer, is a French slur for a dark-skinned person. Allen's mother, Henrietta "Etty" Allen, is a native of Tunisia and speaks French. [WaPo]

Big Blue Marble

• More than 5,000 people have attended a memorial service for the Australian television naturalist, Steve Irwin. The service, at Mr Irwin's Crocoseum stadium in Queensland, was broadcast by three of Australia's TV networks. Employees of Mr Irwin's zoo staged a guard of honour as his pick-up truck drove past, bearing the late naturalist's camping gear and favourite surfboard. The employees then laid yellow flowers on the ground of the stadium, spelling out Irwin's catchphrase, "Crikey". [BBC]
  
  
• While the Thai prime minister is away in New York for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, the Thai military stages a coup back home, surrounding several key government buildings and dissolving the constitution. The military leaders, who apparently have the support of the monarchy, have announced a national holiday today, banning public gatherings and urging farmers and students to stay out of politics [Foreign Policy's Passport]