Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

Meanwhile, Back At The Gulag

by digby

We knew this, but it’s still good that the AP is investigating and reporting it:

The Pentagon called them “among the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth,” sweeping them up after Sept. 11 and hauling them in chains to a U.S. military prison in southeastern Cuba.

Since then, hundreds of the men have been transferred from Guantanamo Bay to other countries, many of them for “continued detention.”

And then set free.

Decisions by more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, Europe and South Asia to release the former detainees raise questions about whether they were really as dangerous as the United States claimed, or whether some of America’s staunchest allies have set terrorists and militants free.

[…]

But through interviews with justice and police officials, detainees and their families, and using reports from human rights groups and local media, The Associated Press was able to track 245 of those formerly held at Guantanamo. The investigation, which spanned 17 countries, found:

Once the detainees arrived in other countries, 205 of the 245 were either freed without being charged or were cleared of charges related to their detention at Guantanamo. Forty either stand charged with crimes or continue to be detained.

Only a tiny fraction of transferred detainees have been put on trial. The AP identified 14 trials, in which eight men were acquitted and six are awaiting verdicts. Two of the cases involving acquittals — one in Kuwait, one in Spain — initially resulted in convictions that were overturned on appeal.

[…]

Overall, about 165 Guantanamo detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo for “continued detention,” while about 200 were designated for immediate release. Some 420 detainees remain at the U.S. base in Cuba.

Clive Stafford Smith, a British-American attorney representing several detainees, said the AP’s findings indicate that innocent men were jailed and that the term “continued detention” is part of “a politically motivated farce.”

“The Bush administration wants to be able to say that these are dangerous terrorists who are going to be confined upon their release … although there is no evidence against many of them,” he said.

[…]

The United States insists that the fact that so many of the former detainees have been freed by other countries doesn’t mean they weren’t dangerous.

“They were part of Taliban, al-Qaida, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners,” said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

But Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, a lawyer representing several detainees, says the fact that hundreds of men have been released into freedom belies their characterization by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as “among the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth.”

“After all, it would simply be incredible to suggest that the United States has voluntarily released such ‘vicious killers’ or that such men had been miraculously reformed at Guantanamo,” Colangelo-Bryan said.

I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that a nation that has more people in jail than totalitarian communist China (which has four times our population), would do such a thing, but it still is. I can only assume that these officials think throwing innocent people in jail to be tortured and driven half mad is just the price that these people have to pay for being the wrong nationality, race or religion.

And they’ve assigned another psychopath to run the place:

As the first detainees began moving last week into Guantánamo’s modern, new detention facility, Camp 6, the military guard commander stood beneath the high, concrete walls of the compound, looking out on a fenced-in athletic yard.

The yard, where the detainees were to have played soccer and other sports, had been part of a plan to ease the conditions under which more than 400 men are imprisoned here, nearly all of them without having been charged. But that plan has changed.

“At this point, I just don’t see using that,” the guard commander, Col. Wade F. Dennis, said.

After two years in which the military sought to manage terrorism suspects at Guantánamo with incentives for good behavior, steady improvements in their living conditions and even dialogue with prison leaders, the authorities here have clamped down decisively in recent months.

Security procedures have been tightened. Group activities have been scaled back. With the retrofitting of Camp 6 and the near-emptying of another showcase camp for compliant prisoners, military officials said about three-fourths of the detainees would eventually be held in maximum-security cells. That is a stark departure from earlier plans to hold a similar number in medium-security units.

Officials said the shift reflected the military’s analysis — after a series of hunger strikes, a riot last May and three suicides by detainees in June — that earlier efforts to ease restrictions on the detainees had gone too far.

The commander of the Guantánamo task force, Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., said the tougher approach also reflected the changing nature of the prison population, and his conviction that all of those now held here are dangerous men. “They’re all terrorists; they’re all enemy combatants,” Admiral Harris said in an interview.

He added, “I don’t think there is such a thing as a medium-security terrorist.”

Admiral Harris, who took command on March 31, referred in part to the recent departure from Guantánamo of the last of 38 men whom the military had classified since early 2005 as “no longer enemy combatants.” Still, about 100 others who had been cleared by the military for transfer or release remained here while the State Department tried to arrange their repatriation.

[Shortly after Admiral Harris’s remarks, another 15 detainees were sent home to Saudi Arabia, where they were promptly returned to their families.]

Harris was quoted earlier saying:

MORAN: So no man who ever came to Guantanamo Bay came there by mistake [or] was innocent?

HARRIS: I believe that to be true

Admiral Harris also thinks that these prisoners are committing an act of terrorism when they commit suicide. I guess the logic is that embarrassment for the United States government is equivalent to the deaths of innocent people in a suicide bomb. In fact, he thinks that any resistence to their captivity is terrorism.

Rear Admiral Harris is adamant that the people in his care are well looked after and are enemies of the United States.

He told me they use any weapon they can – including their own urine and faeces – to continue to wage war on the United States.

I wrote about this last fall:

When heavily guarded people in cages throwing feces is considered assymetrical warfare, we have gone down the rabbit hole. (Either that or a couple of toddlers I know are in training to be the next Osama bin Laden.) Does this man think he’s actually fighting terrorists down there?

The men being held in Guantanamo might have been terrorists, but when they are under the total control of the most powerful military in the world they are most definitely not combatants, they are prisoners. It’s not an act of war to dislike your jailers or resist your imprisonment. That’s absurd.

According to the NY Times today, Harris has really straightened things out down there:

Several military officials said Admiral Harris took over the Guantánamo task force with a greater concern about security, and soon ordered his aides to draw up plans to deal with hostage-takings and other emergencies.

He and Colonel Dennis both asserted that Camp 4 — where dozens of detainees rioted during an aggressive search of their quarters last May — represented a particular danger.

Admiral Harris said detainees there had used the freedom of the camp to train one another in terrorist tactics, and in 2004 plotted unsuccessfully to seize a food truck and use it to run over guards.

“Camp 4 is an ideal planning ground for nefarious activity,” he said.

But according to several recent interviews with military personnel who served here at the time, the riot in May did not transpire precisely as military officials had described it. The disturbance culminated with what the military had said was an attack by detainees on members of a Quick Reaction Force that burst into one barracks to stop a detainee who appeared to be hanging himself.

But officers familiar with the event said the force stormed in after a guard saw a detainee merely holding up a sheet and that his intentions were ambiguous. A guard also mistakenly broadcast the radio code for multiple suicide attempts, heightening the alarm, the officers said.

“Nefarious activity?” They send in one more bizarre, psychotic warden down there after another. Maybe that’s the only kind of person who is willing to do it.

We know that they paid bounties in Afghanistan to rival clans who sold out their enemies who had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. We know that they knew this very early on and yet kept the prisoners there for years. There may very well still be some of those guys down there. Some of them mayh ave died in prison or killed themselves.

We know that they used the prison as a training camp for green, unskilled interrogators. We know they used excessive force and violence and even blinded prisoners with pepper spray. There has been sexual humiliation and torture.

Even a guard suffered a brain injury while pretending to be an inmate in a training exercise.

Guantanamo is a stain on America that is going to haunt us forever. Its very existence is an affront to the constitution upon which our government is built and the philosophy of human rights that inform it. For years now we’ve known what was happening down there and yet it still continues. In fact, from today’s report, it’s taken a recent turn for the worse. I can hardly believe it.

All the sordid evidence of Guantanamo abuse is laid out here and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Amnesty has more.

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Up Escalator

by digby

Bill Richardson uses the “e” word and calls out St. John:

“The leading advocate for escalating the war is Senator John McCain. I have served with John in Congress and I respect him. But John McCain is wrong, dead wrong to think that we can solve Iraq’s political crisis through military escalation.”

Yes, yes, yes. If Bush does what he’d like to do, which is send in more troops, then this will no longer be Bush’s war —- it’s McCain’s war too and he needs to have it strung around his neck like a neocon albatross. Bush and McCain want to “escalate” the war at a time when 70% of the public believe we should at least begin a process of withdrawal. Don’t let him worm his way out of it when he gets his way and it doesn’t work.

St. John and The Last Honest Man are both over there right now along with their dapper houseboy, Huckleberry Graham. They are all slavering over the opportunity to commit more troops to the meatgrinder:

McCain said conditions in some areas of Iraq have improved since his last visit in March, but “I believe there is still a compelling reason to have an increase in troops here in Baghdad and in Anbar province in order to bring the sectarian violence under control” and to “allow the political process to proceed.”

Two other senators in the delegation, Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., agreed.

“We need more, not less, U.S. troops here,” Lieberman said.

So the great bipartisan lions of the Senate, the captains of the sensible Gang of 14 continue to insist that we just haven’t spilled enough blood to get the job done despite the fact that they are out of step with the vast majority of the nation and the world.

There was one killjoy among the manly warriors:

Another senator in the group, moderate Republican Susan Collins of Maine, was more cautious.

“Iraq is in crisis. The rising sectarian violence threatens the very existence of Iraq as a nation,” she said. The current U.S. strategy in Iraq has failed, but “I’m not yet convinced that additional troops will pave the way to a peaceful Iraq in a lasting sense,” Collins said.

She’s facing a tough re-election campaign in ’08. (And maybe she’s sane, who knows?)

Among the punditocrisy these four Senators are considered the perfect “moderates” of the ruling class — the leaders who best represent the mainstream thinking of “real Americans.” And yet they are alone with the radical, failed neocons like William Kristol and Frederick Kagan (who are lobbying with everything they have to try to rescue their tattered reputations) in their view that the war needs to be escalated.

Bravo to Richardson for calling it what it is and calling out John McCain on this right now. We’ll see if Dean Broder and his fellow court scribes begin to see him as a dirty hippie now that he’s separated himself so boldly from the “centrists” who represent the most radical 10% of the country.

The good news is that Lieberman is no longer a Democrat or he would have reached a new pinnacle of liberal perfidy with this latest gambit. After all, this is the man who ran his last campaign saying “no one wants to end the war more than I do.” It takes a lot of chutzpah to turn around two months later and say “we need more, not less, US troops here.”

And to think we called him a liar.

Update: McCain says we can send more troops to Afghanistan too. On ponies!

He hedged a little bit though:

“If it’s necessary, we will, and I’m sure we would be agreeable, but the focus here is more on training the Afghan National Army and the police, as opposed to the increased U.S. troop presence.”

I’m not sure where we’re going to get all these troops. Maybe that’s what they’re going to do with all those illegal immigrants they’ve been rounding up and shipping to parts unknown.

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Bye-Bayh

From WaPo:

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) announced today that he will forgo a run for president in 2008, citing the “long odds” he would face as a candidate who is not well-known nationally has blood on his hands, and whose war vote helped extinguish a large part of the human race.

One down and two to go.

Why Would They Do That?

by digby

Kevin Drum and Steve Benen wonder why the wingnuts haven’t come up with anything good with which to smear Obama. Good question.

It reminds me of some earnest and straightforward analysis Bill Bennett dispensed earlier today:

BENNETT: Well, I mean, as a Republican partisan, let me just say that, for sure, I would rather face Al Gore than Hillary Clinton…

BLITZER: Why?

BENNETT: … or Barack Obama.

Because I think it’s an easier win for a Republican. But, by the way, when they got it tuned into the Al Gore channel tomorrow night, if they flip by accident, and they get Obama, people are not going to go back.

Do you believe Bill Bennett is being honest about this?

I have no idea which candidates really scare the Republicans. But I do know one thing. When lying sacks of discarded table scraps like Bill Bennett tell you that they are afraid to face certain Democrats and don’t fear the others — be skeptical. Be very skeptical. I know it sounds mean and partisan, but experience should tell everyone that he is not a sincere man trying to dispassionately analyze the political scene. Everything he says is designed to benefit the Republican Party.

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Illuminating Yawp

by digby

For days I have been half-heartedly trying to draft a post about Christopher Hitchens’ flaccid and shrunken sense of self-awareness, but couldn’t quite work up any enthusiasm. (I doubt this is the first time first time he’s evoked that response.) Lucky for me I don’t have to waste even one more frustrated nanosecond trying to find the inspiration to refute his sterile sociological effusion. Lance Mannion says everything that needs to be said.

Thank you Lance. I don’t feel dirty anymore.

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Armistice

by digby

I’m listening to Rick Warren (“A Purpose Driven Life”) talking about how people everywhere are tired of partisanship and want civility. He says that he thinks it’s time for both sides to stop being mean to each other — and he says that base politics are completely out of fashion.Isn’t that terrific? We can all put the partisan ugliness of the past two decades behind us a work together.

But I can’t help but wonder just a little bit about why all these people never said anything about this when the Republicans held a majority in both houses? After all these years of toxic right wing radio and Fox TV and Ann Coulter, you would have thought these fine non-partisan people would have spoken up sooner. Odd, don’t you think?

Oh well. I hear Lucy is getting up a nice game of football for all of us. Anybody up for a rousing chorus of Kumbaaya?

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Natural Order

by digby

Most of you probably saw this already over at Kos, but I think it’s worth taking another look at. It is interesting that nobody has mentioned this before:

Democrats now have 233 seats in the 110th congress, more than Republicans have had since 1952. The Republican “revolution” never secured this large a majority in the House.

Meanwhile Karl Rove is telling people “the election was awful darn close.” Right.

Those arrogant Republicans thought they were building the thousand year Reich and the Dems managed to build a bigger majority in one go. But the truth is that Republicans are not a majority party and never really have been — when they get into power they can’t seem to help themselves and they become excessive and out of control. Power doesn’t become them.

But that doesn’t mean they (the Republicans) aren’t able to advance their cause; they are very effective as a minority party and they know how to advance their agenda as the opposition. In some respects they govern more effectively from the minority position than from the majority. The Dems never mastered that skill and don’t function any better out of power than the Republicans do when they are in power. So we are probably heading back to a more natural state of things, but I would caution that it doesn’t mean that the Democrats will easily be able to enact a progressive agenda. They have to outsmart an opposition that knows exactly how to manipulate things to get their way while blaming Democrats for the inevitable fallout.

The good news is that the Democrats have spent some time in the wildreness and hopefully they’ve grown more savvy. With some coattails next time, they could start to get something real done starting in 2009.

edited slightly for clarity.

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Fuggedaboudit

by digby

Oh for gawd’s sake. Why does anyone even pretend that Bush is going to listen to reason?

The president signaled Wednesday that neither the study group’s pessimistic assessment nor the bleak situation in Iraq nor the results of the midterm elections have shaken his belief that victory in Iraq is possible.

“We’re not going to give up,” said Bush, who plans to announce his new strategy early next year.

While some key decisions haven’t been made yet, the senior officials said the emerging strategy includes:

-A shift in the primary U.S. military mission in Iraq from combat to training an expanded Iraqi army, generally in line with the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations.

Huh? Isn’t that what they’ve been saying for years? If I recall correctly, the slogan (er… strategy) two slogans before last was “we’ll stand down when the Iraqis stand up.”

– A possible short-term surge of as many as 40,000 more American troops to try to secure Baghdad, along with a permanent increase in the size of the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps, which are badly strained by deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Awesome! Doubling Down on St John McCain! Now who’s got the bigger codpiece, huh?

[…]

-A revised Iraq political strategy aimed at forging a “moderate center” of Shiite Muslim, Sunni Muslim Arab and Kurdish politicians that would bolster embattled Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. The goal would be to marginalize radical Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents.

What a good idea. They should send Joe Lieberman over to show them how it’s done. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to hear from him. Barring that we could hire a witch doctor to put a spell on the Iraqi government. Either way, I’m sure it will work.

-More money to combat rampant unemployment among Iraqi youths and to advance reconstruction, much of it funneled to groups, areas and leaders who support Maliki and oppose the radicals.

Excellent. We really can’t spend enough money on this. And our history of smart spending in Iraq by these people should give the American public a lot of confidence (and Halliburton a lot of bonuses.)

-Rejection of the study group’s call for an urgent, broad new diplomatic initiative in the Middle East to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reach out to Iran and Syria.

Instead, the administration is considering convening a conference of Iraq and neighboring countries – excluding Iran and Syria – as part of an effort to pressure the two countries to stop interfering in Iraq.

I’m sure they’ll be very impressed.

I have always thought that Bush’s temperament was such that he would not withdraw from Iraq. And that temperament is being stoked these days by some very impressive people:

Bush appears to have been emboldened by criticism of its proposals as defeatist by members of the Republican Party’s conservative wing and their allies on the Internet, the radio and cable TV.

But we knew that didn’t we?

The Braintrust that is running America:

Two more years…

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Aid And Comfort

by digby

So the White House is having a little fit that some Senators are going to Syria. I guess they feel their diplomatic efforts have been so successful that they can’t take a chance of anyone mucking things up:

The White House on Thursday stepped up its pressure on senators who are engaged in direct talks with Syrian leaders, saying their trips to Damascus risk undermining U.S. efforts to encourage democracy in the Middle East.

[…]

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow suggested Thursday that just by engaging Syrian President Bashar Assad in diplomatic dialogue, visiting senators could dilute Washington’s hard-line approach, even if they adopt the administration’s language.

“The Syrians have been adventurous and meddlesome in Iraq and in Lebanon and working against the causes of democracy in both of those countries,” Snow said.

On Wednesday, the administration criticized Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) shortly after he met with Assad in Damascus.

On Thursday, Snow extended that criticism to two other Democratic senators, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, and a Republican, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

All of them are planning visits to Damascus, the Syrian capital, in coming weeks.

[…]

Snow said that Nelson had been told before he met with Assad of the administration’s displeasure with his plans and that his public comments should serve to notify Dodd, Kerry and Specter of the White House’s opposition to their meetings in Damascus.

“The Syrians should have absolutely no doubt,” Snow said, “that the position of the United States government is the same as it has been, which is: They know what they need to do. They need to stop harboring terrorists. They need to stop supporting terrorism in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere.”

He said that regardless of the message delivered by the senators, “the Syrians have already won a PR victory” because the visits were “lending … legitimacy” to the Assad government.

That’s interesting. And it makes you wonder why they never said anything about this guy after 9/11. (Yes, it’s that time again):

Evidence of Rohrabacher’s attempts to conduct his own foreign policy became public on April 10, 2001, not in the U.S., but in the Middle East. On that day, ignoring his own lack of official authority, Rohrabacher opened negotiations with the Taliban at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, Qatar, ostensibly for a “Free Markets and Democracy” conference. There, Rohrabacher secretly met with Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, an advisor to Mullah Omar. Diplomatic sources claim Muttawakil sought the congressman’s assistance in increasing U.S. aid—already more than $100 million annually—to Afghanistan and indicated that the Taliban would not hand over bin Laden, wanted by the Clinton administration for the fatal bombings of two American embassies in Africa and the USS Cole. For his part, Rohrabacher handed Muttawakil his unsolicited plans for war-torn Afghanistan. “We examined a peace plan,” he laconically told reporters in Qatar.

To this day, the congressman has refused to divulge the contents of his plan. However, several diplomatic sources say it’s likely he asked the extremists to let former Afghan King Zahir Shah return as the figurehead of a new coalition government. In numerous speeches before and after Sept. 11, Rohrabacher has claimed the move would help stabilize Afghanistan for an important purpose: the construction of an oil pipeline there. In return, the plan would reportedly have allowed the Taliban to maintain power until “free” elections could be called.

The idea was outlandish and even provocative. Though he is a member of the same ethnic tribe as the Taliban leadership, the 87-year-old exiled former king—who lost his throne in 1973—is known not for his appreciation of democracy, but for his coziness to Western corporate interests. With good reason, he was considered a U.S. puppet by the Taliban.

After Taliban-related terrorists attacked the U.S. last September, Rohrabacher associates worked hard to downplay the Qatar meeting. Republican strategist Grover Norquist [he was there too — ed] told a reporter that the congressman had accidentally encountered the Taliban official in a hotel hallway.

But that preposterous assertion is contradicted by much evidence:

•Qatari government officials who told Al-Jazeera television on April 10, 2001, that Rohrabacher sought the meeting in advance and that they had assisted in the arrangements. Muttawakil said he agreed to the meeting “on the basis of allowing each party to express their point of view.”

•The congressman himself told other Middle Eastern news outlets that his discussions with the Taliban were “frank and open” and their officials were “thoughtful and inquisitive.” Hardly a casual chat in the hallway.

•Similarly, in an interview with Agence France-Presse, Rohrabacher’s entourage described the meeting as “a high-level talk.”

What’s remarkable is not only Rohrabacher’s attempt to rewrite history after Sept. 11, but there’s also his glaring naivete, evident in his bungling assessment of the Qatar meeting. One member of his entourage, Khaled Saffuri, executive director of the Islamic Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based group that partially bankrolled Rohrabacher’s trip, said he was impressed by how “flexible” Taliban officials appeared. Rohrabacher came away equally impressed. He announced he would travel to Afghanistan to work out details with the Taliban.

But Rohrabacher was out of his league. In the Afghan capital of Kabul the next day, Muttawakil presented Rohrabacher’s plan to the Taliban. Mullah Omar immediately issued a statement denouncing American efforts to orchestrate a new Afghanistan government. “The infidel world is not letting Muslims form a government of their own choice,” he declared.

Try to imagine what would have happened if it had been a Democrat who did such a thing. (Yes I know, ropes and pitchforks come to mind.)

Despite his secret meetings with the Taliban, and despite the fact that Rohrabacher is one of Jack Abramoff’s best friends and biggest defenders, and despite the fact that his office has been involved in one of the most sordid child molestation cases in Orange Country history, Rohrabacher has been re-elected three times since 9/11.

I don’t know if the government has allowed him to travel to Iraq or Afghanistan after what he did. But he certainly travels in the best circles.

Raiders Of The Lost Wingnuts

by digby

I think if there is one thing I find more infuriating than anything else in politics it’s obvious, phony spin that fools no one but which everybody nonetheless pretends is normal discourse. It’s insults the intelligence.

Here’s an example. Last night the Lehrer Newshour did a report on the meat packing immigration raids. They quoted Michael Chertoff at the big press conference saying:

Now, this is not only a case about illegal immigration, which is bad enough; it’s a case about identity theft and violation of the privacy rights and the economic rights of innocent Americans.

It’s so beautiful to see one of the architects of America’s new police state suddenly so concerned about the privacy rights and economic rights of innocent Americans, don’t you think? He’s keeping the babies safe and at the same time looking out for our rights, which is so inspiring. I feel like singing “We Shall Overcome.”

Gwen Ifill then interviewed his adorable crony and (former head of the joint chiefs of staff) Dick Myers’ completely unqualified daughter Julie, who is now head legal counsel for DHS. (Even Holy Joe opposed her!)

JULIE MYERS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Yesterday’s actions, however, were about ICE enforcing the law. Each and every one of the individuals that were arrested yesterday on administrative charges was using a stolen, a real Social Security number of a U.S. citizen.

We took appropriate action; we behaved appropriately. And until the law changes, we’re here to enforce it.

GWEN IFILL: I was confused about the identity theft argument. There were 1,200, almost 1,300 people arrested; 65 of them — maybe 5 percent of them — were charged with identity theft. Yet that was the emphasis today at your news conference about why this whole thing was being pursued. Was that the main impetus for this raid, this series of raids?

JULIE MYERS: Well, this action started as a worksite enforcement action. And as it was noted in your initial segment, it was the largest worksite enforcement action we’ve ever had.

GWEN IFILL: Enforcing what, immigration laws or…

JULIE MYERS: Enforcing immigration law. But what we’re finding is that a number of people who are here illegally, working illegally, they used to use just phony documents. And now they’re using real documents, documents of U.S. citizens who in many cases may not know they’re being used. And that’s providing real harm to these U.S. victims.

There was an example this morning about a victim who was pulled over and was arrested because someone who was working at a Swift plant had been using his Social Security number and got a criminal record under his name. These people have gone out, they’ve gotten telephone bills under their fake identities, and all sorts of problems.

GWEN IFILL: Is this an organized ring which has been trying to do this, that has been selling this stolen information, or is this just something which has sprung up over time?

JULIE MYERS: In the Swift instance, we actually found a number of different document vendors and document rings, and it’s very important to us that we track down those rings and prosecute those individuals.

Last month in Minnesota, we tracked down one that was actually providing U.S. birth certificates for individuals from Puerto Rico and Social Security cards, and they were all ending up for individuals who then went to work at the Swift plants.

Even Ifill seems a little non-plussed and she’s usually right with the program. There is only one reason to spin this like this. They are trying to create a belief among the American people that there is a big problem with Mexicans stealing their identities. They are going out of their way to create a more substantial and identifiable sense of victimhood and in the process are stoking resentment and racism. I don’t know if they’ve focus-grouped this or if they’re operating purely on instinct, but it’s going to hit the primitives hard: “Mexicans are trying to steal my life!!!!”

I don’t doubt that there is some identity theft going on. But it is not rampant and it’s not going to affect average white Republicans named Bubba. (It’s far more likely that it would hit Mexican Americans named Ricardo.) By making it the major emphasis of the story and conflating it with the fact that they arrested more than a thousand undocumented workers who spend their days up to their knees in blood and sinew so that we can enjoy our cheap hamburger, they betray their real agenda. Right wingers just don’t feel alive if they aren’t being victimized by somebody or other.

It reminds me of the old “Saddam had WMD and ties to Al Qaeda” dodge. They don’t come right out and say it. But look for polls to reflect the idea that identity theft is mainly perpetrated by illegal immigrants very soon.

To be clear, I think identity theft is a very serious problem. As a major privacy advocate I’m all for enforcement of the laws against it. But the problem is huge and getting bigger in the US not because of illegal immigration but because of con artists and nasty relatives. By trying to turn this into an immigration problem they are misleading the public and unfairly targeting the immigrats with something that most of them don’t even know exists.

The good news, however, is that even though the Mexicans are stealing their lives, there are now available a whole bunch of those great jobs working with cow and pig guts all day so they can improve their lives and get rich like all the Republicans promise them! Is this a great country or what?

More on the raids from FDL, here.

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