by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, Benjamin Armbruster, and Matt Duss

IRAN

Reaping The Benefits Of Bush's War

In a trip fraught with political meaning, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Baghdad on Sunday for a two-day visit. Ahmadinejad's presence in Iraq was a major propaganda victory. Not only was it the first visit to Iraq by an Iranian leader since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, it was the first by any Middle East leader since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. The manner of Ahmadinejad's arrival was striking. Unlike President Bush's surprise appearances in Iraq, which are kept secret until the last minute, Ahmadinejad announced his trip weeks ago. While most foreign officials visiting Iraq normally travel by helicopter to avoid the dangerous airport highway, Ahmadinejad, after "descend[ing] the stairs of his presidential jet smiling and waving," traveled by motorcade to the home of  Iraqi President Jalal Talibani. There, in "Iraq's first full state welcome for any leader since the US-led invasion," the two men "clasped hands and exchanged traditional kisses on the cheeks before walking together down a red carpet to review an honor guard as a military band played the two national anthems."

DRAWING BAGHDAD CLOSER TO TEHRAN: Ahmadinejad's visit underscores how Iran has emerged as the chief beneficiary of the 2003 U.S. invasion and removal of Saddam Hussein, against whom Iran fought a massively destructive war between 1980-88. Tehran maintains ties to most of Iraq's Shia political parties. The dominant Shia party -- the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC, formerly the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI) -- was founded in Iran by Iraqi exiles in the early 1980s, with the support of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. SIIC continues to enjoy a close relationship with Iran; the party's leader, Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim received a personal visit from Ahmadinejad. At a news conference, flanked by Hakim and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Ahmadinejad responded to U.S. accusations of Iranian intervention in Iraq by saying, "Iran has no need to intervene in Iraq. ... Isn't it ridiculous that those who have deployed 160,000 troops in Iraq accuse us of intervening there?" Ahmadinejad also directed criticisms at Bush: "You can tell Mr. Bush that accusing others will only complicate America's problems in the region. They must come to terms with the realities: the Iraqi people do not like Americans." Commenting on Iraq-Iran relations, Maliki said, "I think that the level of trust is very high. ... And I say frankly that the position Iran has taken recently was very helpful in bringing back security and stability."

A BLOW AGAINST ISOLATION AND REGIME CHANGE: Ahmadinejad's warm Baghdad welcome signifies a serious blow against U.S.-led efforts to isolate and sanction Iran for its lack of transparency on the nuclear issue. During the visit, "Tehran and Baghdad signed seven pacts in areas such as industry, trade and transport." Iran is funding construction of a large airport for the millions of pilgrims who visit the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, further cementing ties between the two countries' Shia communities. Iraqi officials confirmed discussion of an Iran offer of as much as "$1 billion in interest-free loans that would go toward reconstruction projects to be carried out by Iranian firms." The visit represents a major propaganda victory for Ahmadinejad going into the March 14 Iranian parliamentary elections. Despite the rejection of hundreds of reformist candidates, Ahmadinejad's conservative faction was seen as threatened because of Iran's troubled economy. In January, Ahmadinejad drew a rare public rebuke from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, because of his government's failure to provide heating gas to remote villages.

A BLOW AGAINST SECTARIAN RECONCILIATION: Ahmadinejad's visit also laid bare the divisions that continue to stymie political progress in Iraq. While he was embraced by his fellow Shiites as well as Kurdish leaders like Talibani, Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi did not meet with Ahmadinejad, and no Sunni politicians were present at the welcome ceremonies. The fact that Ahmadinejad is the first Middle East leader to visit Iraq since the 2003 invasion is not lost on Iraq's Sunni minority, who formerly ruled Iraq. Hundreds of Sunnis demonstrated against Ahmadinejad in Fallujah. Expressing the anger of many Iraqi Sunnis, Sunni cleric Abdul Kareem al-Samarai announced during a Friday sermon: "I have a message to the Arab leaders, where are you? Where are your ambassadors?" While several Arab states have missions in Iraq, none have sent permanent ambassadors. The closer relations between Tehran and Baghdad threaten to further alienate members of the Sunni tribal "Awakening" from the central government. Sheikh Jabbar al-Fahdawi, one of the tribal leaders, condemned Ahmadinejad's visit, declaring, "Iran is the No. 1 enemy of Iraq. I would have never let a man like this enter Iraq." Another tribal leader, Salman Abdullah Al-Hamad, also expressed outrage. "How can we tolerate this? ... Today we live under the regime of the clerics. The Iranian revolution has been exported to Iraq." While Sunni tribal groups have been credited with helping to reduce violence, they have expressed deep dissatisfaction with what they see as the Baghdad government's unwillingness to accommodate them. American officials have tried to present the Awakenings phenomenon as a revolt against al Qaeda, but many Sunni militiamen "say they joined partly to get support from the Americans so they can prepare to resist Iranian efforts to dominate Iraq.

ADMINISTRATION -- WHITE HOUSE GUTS INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT BOARD: Last Friday, the White House issued a new executive order effectively stripping the Intelligence Advisory Board's (IOB) powers to investigate illegal intelligence activities. The IOB -- a five member-board composed of private citizens -- was created in 1976 "in the wake of widespread abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies" and "was given full investigative powers and the authority to report potentially illegal activities to the attorney general." But President Bush's executive order transfers many of the IOB's investigative powers to Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, a Bush administration appointee. Moreover, Bush's order "gives the president the power to hand pick the chairman and members of the board." The AP noted that "[r]ather than intelligence agencies reporting their activities to the board for review, they will now report them to McConnell." Suzanne Spaulding, former assistant CIA general counsel, said, "The order seems to establish greater presidential control over the board" and "reduces" the IOB's credibility. IRAQ -- WILL BUSH CRITICIZE IRAQIS FOR 'HUGGING' THEIR NEIGHBOR?: Last week, President Bush sharply attacked Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) argument that the president "should never fear to negotiate" with U.S. adversaries. Bush (hypocritically) alleged that such diplomacy legitimizes "tyrants," such as those leading Iran and Cuba. Just days later, Iraq hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in one-on-one talks. Discussing the talks beforehand, Bush said, "The message [from Iraq] needs to be: 'Quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing our citizens.'" Nevertheless, Bush ally Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared to have rejected this demand, instead praising Iran's "helpful" position. Bush has slammed Obama for wanting to engage Iran, but he has not leveled similar criticism at al-Maliki for "sitting down at the table" and "having pictures taken" with a "tyrant." ENVIRONMENT -- GLOBAL WARMING DENIERS GATHER IN NEW YORK: Today marks the second day of the "International Conference on Climate Change," a "skeptics" conference hosted by the right-wing Heartland Institute. Using the slogan "Global warming is not a crisis!," Heartland -- which is heavily funded by ExxonMobil -- has gathered some of the most notorious climate change deniers who all share similar perspectives -- "from those who see a human influence but think it is not dangerous, to others who say global warming is a hoax, the sun's fault or beneficial." Discussing the conference on Fox and Friends yesterday, Fox News's Steve Doocy insisted that, with what he called "the worst winter" for some parts of America, "we should be worried now about global cooling." In fact, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, December was the 13th warmest on record since 1880, and U.S. temperatures in January were "near average." The National Wildlife Foundation is live blogging the Heartland conference, as is DeSmogBlog and ExxonSecrets.

Right-wing radio host Melanie Morgan -- who once called for the editor of The New York Times to be "sent to the gas chamber" -- has been fired from her job at KSFO 560 AM, but will continue her World Net Daily column. "[J]ust because Melanie Morgan is off the air doesn't mean she's off our radar," said Media Matters spokesman Karl Frisch. Commenting on the climate change deniers conference in New York City, Princeton University geosciences professor Michael Oppenheimer said that climate skeptics "have to get together to talk to each other, because nobody else is talking to them." Federal Communications Commission commissioner Michael Copps has asked the board's chair to open an inquiry into "the blacking out of a politically charged segment of the CBS News magazine '60 Minutes' by a local television station in Alabama." "Was this an attempt to suppress information on the public airwaves, or was it really just a technical problem?" asked Copps. "House Democrats said a civil lawsuit could be filed as early as this month that challenges the Bush administration's claims of executive privilege in curtailing aides from testifying on Capitol Hill." Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is pursing civil litigation because Attorney General Michael Mukasey refuses to enforce contempt citations against two White House aides. Vanity Fair writes that the Bush administration's plan to arm and train Palestinian fighters loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas backfired and led to the Hamas takeover of Gaza. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the central premise of the article "ludicrous" and said it was necessary to counteract Iranian influence.  Exhausted by exposure to the violence of religious extremism, Iraqi youths "have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach." Iraqis -- both poor and middle class -- have "blamed clerics for the violence and the restrictions that have narrowed their lives." James Clark, the chief of staff under former Alaska Gov. Frank H. Murkowski (R), agreed yesterday "to plead guilty to concealing donations made to Mr. Murkowski's 2006 re-election campaign" by the VECO Corporation, an oil company accused of bribing much of the Alaskan political establishment. Clark arranged for VECO to pay $68,500 without it being publicly disclosed. The Senate yesterday confirmed Mark R. Filip, a federal judge from Chicago and former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, as deputy attorney general. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) had previously placed a hold on Judge Filip's nomination over...waterboarding but lifted it." In prepared testimony, CentCom chief William Fallon said "multiple strains of violent extremism remain a threat to the government and populace" in Iraq. Fallon added that when Gen. David Petraeus testifies next month, "the chain of command" and "our inputs, along with his" will be sent to the President. And finally: "If you want to prevent skin cancer, you don't get to the beach. And if you want to avoid corruption, you don't go to Vegas, right?" Next month, however, Sin City will host Campaigns & Elections magazine's two-day conference for lobbyists called "All Things Ethical." Panels include "Using Phones Ethically" and "The Ethics of Deception."

Associated Electric Cooperative "announced they are 'postponing indefinitely' their plans to build a massive new coal-fired power plant near Norborne in Northwest Missouri," to "pursue wind, energy efficiency and natural gas instead."

OREGON: "Oregon is conducting a one-of-a-kind lottery, and the prize is health insurance."

WYOMING: Technology being used to help the Wyoming antelope.

MILITARY: Texas and Ohio, the sites of today's presidential primaries, "have something more tragic in common -- high numbers of military casualties in Iraq."

THINK PROGRESS: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) explains caging: an "especially nefarious voter suppression tactic."

DESMOG BLOG: On-the-ground reports from the Heartland Institute's climate deniers conference.

DAILY KOS: Communications trade group opposes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.

WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT: The Bush administration has buried the Center for Disease Control in bureaucratic red tape.

"[T]his is the worst winter in some parts of America and around the world, and perhaps we should be worried now about global cooling."
-- Fox News host Steve Doocy, 3/3/08

VERSUS

"The eight warmest years in the GISS record have all occurred since 1998, and the 14 warmest years in the record have all occurred since 1990."
-- NASA, 1/16/08