Congressional Democrats Subpoena Top Bush Aide Karl Rove

By Paula Wolfson White House 26 July 2007

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Congressional Democrats are stepping up pressure on the White House as they investigate charges the Bush administration has been using the Justice Department as a political tool. VOA White House correspondent Paula Wolfson reports they have issued a subpoena for a top presidential aide, and are calling for an independent investigation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove waves upon his return to the White House in Washington, 24 July 2007

Perhaps no one at the White House is closer to President Bush than his long-time political adviser Karl Rove.

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas for Rove and another White House aide, Scott Jennings.

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont made the announcement on the Senate floor:

"There is a cloud over this White House and a gathering storm," he said.

The subpoenas stem from an investigation into whether nine federal prosecutors were fired by the Justice Department for purely political reasons.

Leahy said the prosecutors resisted attempts to influence political corruption cases to benefit Republican candidates. He rejected White House arguments that they were sacked simply because their legal performance was not good enough.

"The evidence shows that senior officials were apparently focused on the political impact of federal prosecutions and whether federal prosecutors were doing enough to bring partisan voter fraud and corruption cases," he added.

President Bush has already refused to permit testimony on the matter from other former and present White House officials. Mr. Bush has told Congress that he has the right to withhold public testimony by those who offer him private advice.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 24 July 2007

The president has also stressed that he stands behind Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. But the chorus of complaints about Gonzales is growing louder by the day. Shortly before the latest subpoenas were issued, four Democrats on the Justice Committee called for an independent investigation into allegations that Gonzales knowingly and willingly lied under oath in congressional testimony.

Senator Charles Schumer of New York said the attorney general has engaged in a pattern of lies.

"The attorney general took an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Instead, he tells the half-truth, the partial truth and everything but the truth," he said.

The formal request for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of perjury came in a letter to the U.S. government's top lawyer, Solicitor General Paul Clement.

At a Capitol Hill news conference, Senator Schumer was asked if any Republicans support the request. He replied that he had talked to Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Justice Committee, and a critic of the attorney general but he gave no details of the conversation.

A short time later, Specter said an independent investigation is not warranted and he questioned Schumer's intentions.

"Senator Schumer is not interested in looking at the record," said Mr. Specter. "He is interested in throwing down the gauntlet and making stories in tomorrow's newspapers."

Specter said he still hopes a compromise can be worked out with the White House so that Congress can find out if indeed the administration has sought to politicize the Justice Department.

In addition to hiring and firing practices, lawmakers are also looking into a controversial domestic surveillance program and whether the White House took action to mislead Congress and to silence opposition within the Justice Department.

US and Pakistan Differ on Cleaning Out Terrorist Sanctuaries

By Gary Thomas Washington 26 July 2007

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U.S. officials now publicly say that the possibility of U.S. military action against al-Qaida and Taleban safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas cannot be ruled out. The U.S. has criticized Pakistan for what U.S. officials consider its soft approach to the safe haven issue. But as VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, the criticism may mask some quiet cooperation.

When the Taleban and their al-Qaida guests were ousted from Afghanistan in 2001, their leaders managed to escape across the border to the rugged and lawless tribal areas of Pakistan.

Until now, Washington has nudged Islamabad behind closed doors to get tough about cleaning out the terrorist sanctuaries. But after a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate earlier this month concluded that al-Qaida had regrouped in the tribal areas, U.S. criticism became more public and pointed.

Nicholas Burns (file photo)

In a Senate hearing Wednesday, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns raised the possibility that the U.S. might act in the tribal areas if Pakistan does not.

"Given the primacy of the fight against al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, if we have in the future a certainty of knowledge, then of course the United States would always have the option of taking action on its own," said Burns. "But we prefer to work with the Pakistani forces, and we in most situations, nearly every situation, do work with them."

In Islamabad Thursday, Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri called talk of a unilateral U.S. attack "irresponsible and counterproductive."

Analysts agree that any large-scale U.S. incursion into the tribal areas is extremely unlikely. But Daniel Markey, who was until recently on the South Asia Policy Planning staff at the State Department, says the United States is already involved in attacks inside Pakistan in an indirect way.

"I think the United States is involved, if not directly, then indirectly by providing intelligence, surveillance, satellite photos, and so on that would allow the Pakistanis to be more effective," said Markey. "So in that narrow sense, the United States already has been involved in attacks in Pakistan."

Some analysts believe U.S. actions may already be more direct. Larry Goodson, a professor of Middle East Studies at the U.S. Army War College, says Pakistani officials may be turning a blind eye to U.S. cross-border pursuit of terrorist suspects so long as such operations remain low-key and secret.

"I speculate that there is a backroom deal about you guys coming across, do what you've got to do, quietly, and as long as there's plausible deniability, we'll put up with it," said Goodson. "I don't know; that's just speculation. But I suspect that since there have been these kinds of cross-border operations that no one talks about, that there is something of -- it's not a green light, maybe sort of a yellow light -- for some of that activity to go forward.

Daniel Markey says the argument over the sanctuary issue centers on the different views that Washington and Islamabad have about the threat residing in the tribal areas.

"The United States and Pakistan don't necessarily see the problem of the tribal areas in identical ways," said Markey. "The United States is much more interested in the global terrorist threat, whereas Pakistan is much more interested in kind of local challenges to Pakistani stability and its influence in the region."

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf cut deals with tribal leaders for their help in rooting out terrorist strongholds. Peter Rodman, who was assistant secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Bush administration, says this approach did not work.

"The government of Pakistan reached some agreements on the ground last year with certain of the tribes, sort of non-aggression pacts," said Rodman. "I mean, the army backed away and made little treaties with some of these tribes, which were designed to deal politically with this problem. And we were very disappointed with that. We thought this really gave the Taleban a free hand. And that is how it has worked out, unfortunately, in some of these cases."

According to a report published earlier this year, a U.S. covert operation was planned to snatch al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri from his Pakistani safe haven in 2005.

However, the operation was called off at the last minute by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as being too risky after what was envisioned as small U.S. paramilitary team had ballooned into a large force.

VOASE0726_Economics Report

26 July 2007

Trying to Renew Trust in 'Made in China' Label
Chinese officials move to strengthen food safety laws, but also accuse some foreign media of overstating the problems with exports.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

China has recently been faced with serious issues of product safety. Some

In May, the Costa Rican Health Ministry ordered the removal of this Chinese toothpaste and other kinds made in China.

cases have brought attention internationally to the increased use of imported ingredients to make food and medicine.

In Panama, medicine made with a poisonous chemical killed or sickened more than one hundred people. A Chinese company had identified the additive as glycerin, a safe sweetener and thickener. But it was really diethylene glycol, a low-cost substitute commonly used in automobile antifreeze.

Some countries have banned Chinese-made toothpaste containing diethylene glycol. China has now told companies to discontinue this use, even though it says the toothpaste is safe.

Another industrial chemical, melamine, was found in wheat flour used to make pet food in North America. Thousands of dogs and cats died or became sick.

The United States has restricted some imports of Chinese seafood because they contained banned substances. And questions have been raised about other products, including children's toys covered in lead paint.

The European Union is China's biggest trading partner. Meglena Kuneva, its commissioner for consumer protection, was in Beijing this week. Chinese officials promised her they would provide the European Union with detailed reports on enforcement efforts against unsafe goods.

China agreed in January of last year to do this every three months. She said China has not done so.

Li Changjiang is director of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. She said China will work to guarantee the quality of its products.

China recently closed three companies linked to the Panama deaths and the pet food scare. And it executed the former head of its food and drug administration. He was found guilty of corruption for approving unsafe drugs.

This week, China said a conference of the State Council approved a proposed special measure on the supervision of food safety. The Xinhua news agency said it calls for stronger controls over producers, greater responsibilities for government and more serious punishment for illegal activities.

But Chinese officials have accused some foreign media of overstating problems with goods made in China. They say food imports from the United States also fail inspection sometimes. Next week, American and Chinese food safety officials plan to hold five days of meetings in Beijing to discuss cooperation.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.

VOASE0726_American Mosaic

26 July 2007

Sandra Bullock: Film Star, Producer, Wife
Also: Hershey's celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the chocolate kiss. And listen to the orchestral music of Pink Martini.

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

We listen to music from Pink Martini …

Answer a question about actress Sandra Bullock …

And report about a sweet anniversary.

Hershey's Anniversary

HOST:

People around the world know and enjoy the chocolate candy from the Hershey Company. Company officials say they export Hershey's products to more than ninety countries. The Hershey Company celebrated an anniversary earlier this month in its hometown of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Faith Lapidus tells us about it.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

The street lights in Hershey, Pennsylvania are shaped like the candies the company is most famous for -- Hershey’s Kisses.

July seventh was the one hundredth anniversary of the Hershey's Kiss. The company

A Hershey's kiss

held a birthday party in its honor. Part of the celebration was the world’s largest Hershey's Kiss. The huge piece of chocolate weighed almost fourteen thousand kilograms. It was more than three and one-half meters tall. A representative from the Guinness Book of World Records officially named it the world’s largest piece of chocolate.

Hershey officials say the huge chocolate Kiss took one hundred fifty-two people nine days to produce. And they say the chocolate in it is equal to that of more than three million normal Hershey's Kisses.

The company began producing the chocolate with the unusual shape in nineteen-oh-seven. Officials today do not really know why the new candy was named a Kiss. One possible story is that the name came from the sound or motion of the chocolate during the manufacturing process.

Workers used to wrap each candy in a small piece of silver foil paper by hand until nineteen twenty-one. Then a machine was developed to do that. Today, the company produces more than eighty million Hershey’s Kisses every day. And modern wrapping machines finish the job. They can wrap more than one thousand Kisses every minute.

Some Hershey’s Kisses have remained the same over the years. But there are also many new versions. There are Kisses with an almond nut inside. Dark chocolate Kisses. And Kisses filled with caramel or peanut butter. There are also similarly shaped brown and white candies called Hugs.

Hershey’s Kisses are produced in Pennsylvania, California and Virginia. Recent news reports say the company will soon close one of its factories in California. The reports say the Kisses will be produced at a new Hershey factory in Mexico. They also say the candy company has closed at least three other factories this year.

Sandra Bullock

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Brazil. Anderlon Rocha de Oliveira wants to know more about actress Sandra Bullock.

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock is one of the most popular movie stars in America. She is especially famous for her work in funny love stories. But she has also proven herself a fine dramatic actress in movies like "Crash," and "Infamous."

Sandra Bullock was born in Arlington, Virginia in nineteen sixty-four. Her mother was a German-born opera singer. She died of cancer in two thousand. Bullock's father was a voice teacher and Defense Department employee. He now leads her production company, Fortis Films.

Sandra Bullock began performing as a young girl, often in music shows with her mother. She was involved in theater in high school. Then she studied acting at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

Bullock lived in New York City for a short time after college. She moved to Los Angeles, California after winning her first big job, a part in a movie made for television.

Sandra Bullock has performed in more than forty films. She has played a police officer, an alcoholic, a witch, a single mother, a rich lonely wife and many other characters. Her most recent movie, "Premonition," was released earlier this year.

Next up is a romantic comedy called "All About Steve." Bullock will play a woman who decides a reporter she sees on television is her true love. She starts to follow him all around the country hoping to persuade him that he loves her too.

Sandra Bullock does not have to do this kind of thing in real life. Two years ago she married Jesse James, the star of a television show called "Monster Garage."

Sandra Bullock is also known for helping others in need. She witnessed the terrorist attack on New York City in two thousand one. She was staying at a hotel several blocks away when the twin towers were destroyed. She gave one million dollars to the Red Cross to help those affected.

Bullock gave the organization another one million dollars to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in two thousand four. And she continues to give time and money to help the city of New Orleans. That city is still recovering from the severe damage that Hurricane Katrina caused in two thousand five.

Pink Martini

HOST:

Pink Martini may sound like a kind of drink. But it is really a small orchestra of twelve musicians. A classically trained pianist, Thomas Lauderdale, created the group. He says the members of Pink Martini are like musical archeologists. They like to bring together sounds from different periods and parts of the world. Barbara Klein has more.

(MUSIC: "Tempo Perdido")

BARBARA KLEIN:

That was Pink Martini’s main singer China Forbes performing “Tempo Perdido” in

Pink Martini

Portuguese. It is from the group’s latest album, “Hey Eugene!” The song was first performed in nineteen thirty-four by the famous Brazilian actress and singer Carmen Miranda. The beat of the song captures the sounds of another time period.

China Forbes and Thomas Lauderdale met in college. Several years later, Lauderdale asked her to join his new band.

Pink Martini skillfully recreates older songs from around the world in a modern and fresh way. Sometimes they find long forgotten favorites. Other times, China Forbes and Thomas Lauderdale write their own music and give it a special sound from the past. They have sung in many languages including French, Spanish, Japanese and Italian. At times they even sing in English. Here is China Forbes singing a song she wrote called “Everywhere."

(MUSIC)

Thomas Lauderdale says Pink Martini is very much an American band. But the band members spend a lot of time in other countries. He says his band tries to show that Americans are serious about being involved with the rest of the world.

We leave you with “Bukra Wba’do.” This is Pink Martini’s first song in Arabic. The song title means “tomorrow and the day after.” A professor of Arabic helped China Forbes and the group of twenty-five singers learn the correct pronunciation. The resulting song shows off Pink Martini’s musical as well as language skills.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Dana Demange, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver, who also was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.