Daily News Roundup, 10/23/07: Executive Problems

The State Department finds it can't really account for just a bit over $1.2 billion in paid invoices to private firms, and Bush would like more money, including some for nonessential projects, even after vetoing children's health care.

It is apparently a rough day for the Executive Branch. First, the State Department: after some serious criticism of how the State Department was managing its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, it engaged in some internal oversight. Doing so revealed some record-keeping difficulties and security problems:

A State Department review of its own security practices in Iraq assails the department for poor coordination, communication, oversight and accountability involving armed security companies like Blackwater USA, according to people who have been briefed on the report. In addition to Blackwater, the State Department’s two other security contractors in Iraq are DynCorp International and Triple Canopy.

At the same time, a government audit expected to be released Tuesday says that records documenting the work of DynCorp, the State Department’s largest contractor, are in such disarray that the department cannot say “specifically what it received” for most of the $1.2 billion it has paid the company since 2004 to train the police officers in Iraq.

The more recent Blackwater debacles aren't even included in the security ops probe. These reports aren't officially out yet and may contain more surprises than just these incidences.

Second, Bush's "emergency" funds request came down yesterday, and it has immediately raised some eyebrows because of what else is in the request. Brought under the banner of emergency funds for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, money for other projects is included as well in the $46 billion ask. The economic development stuff included in the foreign aid sections might end up being points of contention in the forthcoming domestic money battles between Congress and the President, but that isn't slowing him down. He even wants $500 million to fight the War on Drugs in Mexico, and he would like it now.

Yesterday I talked briefly about Matt Drudge and Hillary Clinton's relationship, as covered in the mainstream media. Last night, the Huffington Post offered some additional clarification on how the two have helped each other over the course the campaign. Jason Linkins' further illustration is quite interesting, even though the message is essentially the same: that Clinton and Drudge are helping each other out.

Our friends at Environment Texas are in the news today, as they are working to prevent the sale of a huge swath of Christmas Mountains Ranch to anyone other than the National Park Service, for addition to Big Bend. The land was donated to the people of Texas, and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson isn't hot on the idea of selling to the National Park Service because of what he calls the "unconstitutional" requirement that firearms not be carried in their holdings. This editorial in the Statesman explains it all, and why Environment Texas is on the right side of the issue.

Fred Thompson is getting grumpy. The bad news is that he will probably have to answer questions from the press a few more times if he wants to keep doing this whole "running for President" thing. Someone should let him know that being mean to the press isn't a good strategy.

Lastly today, if you're in California, look out for yourself. My brother and his wife live in North Hollywood, and I'm worried about them. These fires are a serious problem, and weather conditions indicate that they aren't going to get better any time soon. 300,000 people so far have ended up within ordered evacuation areas and almost 150 square miles of land have burned so far, but those numbers won't mean much in a few hours, as they keep going up. So be safe and pay attention, whether you're out in the Southland or not.