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Insider Report: McCain's Private Comments on Miers Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Condi Is Old Pal of Miers It's been widely reported that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is a long-time close friend of the man who nominated her, President George Bush. What's less known is that she's also close to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - who likely played a role in her selection. In fact, in the past five years Miers and Rice have often enjoyed a "girls' night out" along with Ann Veneman, the former agriculture secretary who's now the executive director of Unicef. The three got together last month at the Bull and Bear steakhouse at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. They've met at the restaurants Olives and Galileo in Washington, listened to concerts together from the president's box at the Kennedy Center, and even sat down to a home-cooked meal at Veneman's house. Last year, Miers was a guest at a surprise birthday party for Rice at the British Embassy in Washington.
Story Continues Below
Miers and Rice share an "intense devotion" to President Bush, according to the New York Times, which quoted a friend of the two women as saying it was "reasonable to speculate" that Rice played a role in Miers' selection. As to what the women discuss on their "girls' night out," a friend said: "There's a lot of girl talk. It's about life, not business." Editor's Note:
2. Confirmed: China's 'Unrestricted Warfare' The congressionally mandated U.S.-China Security Review Commission has indicated that the Chinese military is attempting to hack into computer networks at the U.S. Defense Department as part of its "unrestricted warfare" - confirming earlier reports from NewsMax. "It is believed that China is attempting to exploit perceived vulnerabilities to launch viruses, crash networks, collect intelligence and spread disinformation," according to the Transnational Threats Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). NewsMax reported in August: "Chinese Web sites are being used to target computer networks in the U.S. Defense Department and other federal agencies ... "Some analysts in the Pentagon believe the attacks constitute a coordinated effort by the Chinese government to spy on U.S. databases." The CSIS revelations confirm that the Chinese hacker ring has been dubbed "Titan Rain," and refer to a book written in 1999 by two Chinese colonels, entitled "Unrestricted Warfare," which describes "understanding and employing the principle of asymmetry correctly to allow us always to find and exploit an enemy's soft spots." According to the CSIS, "Officials believe this signals cyber espionage against the United States." NewsMax was the first media organization to call attention to the book "Unrestricted Warfare." In October 2001 - just a month after the 9/11 attacks - NewsMax disclosed that security officials believed the attacks were probably based on ideas presented in "Unrestricted Warfare," which was published by the People's Liberation Army. Additionally, the Chinese press hailed the book and its authors after the Sept. 11 attacks. The book states that an enemy can do maximum harm to a developed nation by hijacking civilian aircraft and turning them into "flying bombs." It also specifically stated that if Osama bin Laden were to bomb the World Trade Center, it would be a perfect example of the new "unrestricted warfare." The report from the CSIS suggests that in addition to military networks, Chinese hackers could also target civilian communications systems and economic institutions such as the New York Stock Exchange. South Korea claims its security institutions have also been attacked by hackers operating in China, the CSIS disclosed, adding: "Cyber attacks against Korean sites are up almost twofold from 2004." Editor's Note:
3. U.S. Won't Cede Control of the Internet The United States runs the World Wide Web - and despite some international complaints, it has no plans to relinquish control. In the late 1990s, the U.S. established the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and promised that the American government would slowly give up control of the servers that underlie the Internet. "That hasn't happened, and in June the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it won't," the Atlantic Monthly reported. Some developing countries, including China, India, South Africa and Brazil, want control out of the hands of ICANN and instead placed with an intergovernmental group, possibly under the United Nations. Several nations with tightly controlled media, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, also want to see the U.S. give up control. Now critics of ICANN's dominance have begun efforts to dislodge the U.S. as the sole keeper of Web addresses and give other governments control over their country-code domain names - such as .ca for Canada. The issue will be discussed at the UN's World Summit on the Information Society, which begins in Tunisia in mid-November. But the U.S. has made it clear that it will fight any attempt to put the UN or another international body in charge of the Internet. As NewsMax reported in September, ICANN's president Paul Twomey said his organization doesn't want to see "the Internet's technological future politicized."
4. Ted Kennedy's Anti-Hillary Agenda Newspapers across the country have reported that Ted Kennedy will back John Kerry for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 even if Hillary Clinton also seeks the nomination. But that vow - divulged in an interview - comes as no surprise to readers of the Insider Report. The June 4 edition of the Insider revealed that Kennedy, along with Kerry, Al Gore and Howard Dean - the so-called "Gang of Four" - were intent on stopping Hillary's 2008 presidential bid. Then in our June 26 edition, in an article about Edward Klein's book "The Truth About Hillary," we disclosed that the Gang of Four were likely delighted by the Clinton-bashing book. "These four liberal Democrats detest Hillary Clinton and have pledged to stop her no matter what from getting the Democratic nomination," the article read in part. "Each member of the Gang has his own motive. Kennedy is disgusted by the Clintons' moderate politics, and he has already endorsed Kerry for 2008. Kerry has his own presidential ambitions. Gore blames his 2000 loss on Hillary, who he says siphoned off key resources from her Senate race. And Dean blames the Clintons for his 2004 campaign woes." In the recent interview, Kennedy told the Associated Press that his loyalty is to Kerry, his fellow Massachusetts Democrat, and said: "If he runs, I would support him." Kennedy's headline-making interview is most likely an effort to stop the Hillary 2008 juggernaut. Kennedy is signaling Democratic activists and donors: Hillary is not the only candidate, so don't throw your support to her yet.
5. McCain: Bush Backed Down on Court Pick President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers has split the Republican Party's conservative base, Sen. John McCain concedes. Chatting with a small group of people before a Burbank, Calif., press conference backing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives, the Arizona Republican was overheard to say that John Roberts was "perhaps the best choice" for the Court.
But he said that Miers' selection had disappointed the GOP base, which was looking for a fight in support of a more openly conservative pick. McCain said that conservatives wanted a choice that would energize them for the 2006 elections - a choice like appeals court judge Janice Rogers Brown, who would have guaranteed a fight, according to McCain. If this had happened, "money would be rolling in," he stated. McCain smiled as someone said it's obvious that the president has lost his "swagger." McCain also mentioned that First Lady Laura Bush is very good friends with Miers, and he suspects that Laura was pushing the president strongly to pick not only a woman, but Miers. And in a conversation about the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, the former POW said as a result of the abuse revelations he'd "hate to be the next American captured by the enemy." Editor's Note:
CLARIFICATION: Last week the Insider Report stated, in an article about the Marines advertising for recruits on the Web site craigslist.com, that posting on the site is free. In fact, anyone posting a job ad in the New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles areas must pay a small fee; all other job postings are free. Editor's Notes:
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