Le Show; 2009-08-30

Here it is! From deep inside your radio. So, back at the Lesho Dom, ladies and gentlemen, and we start with a buried lead. Those of you who don't know what that means, that's an item in a news story, which should be the lead, the first part of the news story, but that somehow finds itself way down near the bottom, where only the sharp eyed or the people with too much time on their hands will notice it. So, in a Washington Post story this week, about the detention of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed information, I guess, from the new CIA documents that were made public this week. A very good reporter for the Washington Post, Walter Pinkas writes a very long story, and buries the lead. Here we go. This is way, way, way, you need a minor's helmet to read this far down. Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told interrogators that after the September 11th attacks his overriding priority was to strike the United States,

but he realized that a follow-on attack would be difficult because of security measures. Most of the plots as a result were opportunistic and limited, according to the summary. And more, one former agency official called the Mohammed was once asked to write a summary of his knowledge about al-Qaeda's efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. The terrorist group had explored buying either an attack nuclear weapon or key components, although there is no evidence of significant progress on that front. So, we knew that at some point, but opportunistic and limited, which would answer Dick Chayne, you know, in 19, sorry, 2003, Tony Blair in May, as the Iraq war was moving into its post-mission accomplished phase, Tony Blair said, well, why else would Saddam Hussein have not been forthcoming on weapons of mass destruction? There's no other possible reason.

And on this broadcast, the host, me, I opined that, well, yeah, there's another possible reason. Maybe he's in a bad neighborhood and he doesn't want his neighbors to know how weak he is, which, as Henry Kissinger once observed in a different context, turns out to have had the added advantage of being true. So, on his Fox News Sunday interview this week, Dick Chayne repeated the long repeated chant of the Bush administration supporters, well, why, why else hasn't there been a big follow-on attack since 9-11? To which opportunistic and limited would be the answer, although, you know, maybe the other answer would be just guessing, maybe they got a longer time frame, maybe the fact that eight years transpired between the first World Trade Center attack in the second means a Clinton administration did a great job too. Dick, any? Now, ladies and gentlemen, the Army Corps of Engineers.

Because this is August 30th, this is the anniversary of the day, not that Katrina made landfall, but that New Orleans woke up to discover it was under water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced the New Bedford Fairhaven Acushnet Hurricane Barrier Project. This is not in New Orleans. We'll receive nearly one million dollars in stimulus funds. Sorry, in, yeah, stimulus funds, compared to not a penny for the levy rebuilding in New Orleans. But this Hurricane Barrier provides a gated barrier spanning the New Bedford Fairhaven harbor, as well as supplementary dikes in the New Bedford and Fairhaven areas. My favorite part of this story, however, is, you know, the Army Corps is very big on cost-benefit ratios. I won't build anything unless there's a good cost-benefit ratio. So this New Bedford, I guess it's Massachusetts,

Hurricane Barrier completed in 1966 at a cost of 18.6 million. The Corps says it is prevented $20.1 million in damages. I don't know which dollars they're using for that, but in current dollars, of course, 18.6 million in 1966 would be a lot more than the $20 million it prevented. And the Corps wants another million. So it's a wash. In Placaman Parish, which is southeast of New Orleans and is rural, vast stretches of levy topsoil are still barren, rutted, and cracked from erosion, despite assurances by the Corps of Engineers. The problem would be fixed by the middle of this hurricane season. The problem salt in the soil used to repair the levy three years ago. The salt keeps grass from growing. It's grass that armors the levy preventing levy failures in the event of overtopping. The Corps, ladies and

gentlemen, this is the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It says it did not test for salt in the soil. It did not realize why the grass was not growing. Despite previous problems with salty soil, in adjacent parishes, parishes are counties, of course. The county, the parish has been trying to get the Corps to fix the problem for the past three years. The Corps told the Paris problem would be fixed by the end of August. The Corps says they have grass growth on only a quarter of the problem area after hauling in dirt. John Greyshaber of the Corps says bad weather and funding. He always blamed funding. Didn't have a problem getting funding in New Bedford. In many areas, the Corps has had to erect hay bal barriers to keep the top soil out of people's yards as it washes off the levy's. The pits from which the Corps took the soil to repair the damaged levy's was at one point under 25 feet of salt water after the flooding in 2005. A local television station channel six asked Dr. Greyshaber of the Corps why it didn't occur

to someone at the Corps that that may be a problem. Well, he said, I think that nobody really thought through it. As a result, the Corps now requires all soil used in levy construction to be tested for the presence of salt. It's a work in progress, ladies and gentlemen. And finally, on that subject, this material was submitted to this broadcast in June. And anybody who's listening to this program for any length of time knows that I'm prone to be a bit skeptical about the prowess of the United States Army Corps of Engineers as the previous story just demonstrated as their catastrophic failure to build a hurricane protection system in New Orleans was demonstrated in 2005. So I tried to bend over backwards because of my prejudice, I called a couple of authoritative people to check this story. I said, if you read this stuff, what do you think? One is a

scientist, kind of. One is a journalist, definitely. They both said, yeah, it's true, not significant. So it was not until USA Today ran the story this week. I realized, well, okay. And another public radio station here in Los Angeles has also done it than this story. But in case you haven't heard huge flood control pumps installed in New Orleans after Katrina don't protect the city adequately, the Army Corps of Engineers could have saved 430 million half a billion in replacement costs by buying proven equipment, this according to a federal investigation by the Office of Special Council, which found there was little logical justification for the core's decision to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the untested hydraulic pumps, which are meant to empty the city during storm related floods. The course now plans to spend almost half a billion to replace these pumps by 2012 just five years after they were installed. The special council then concludes

a proven direct drive pump design would have been less prone to corrosion and breakdowns. The council says direct drive pumps could have been purchased more quickly, more reliably, and without the need for replacement. The findings were sent to President Obama on June 12th, maybe he's checking with the same people I did. The investigation confirmed serious allegations about the reliability of the pumping equipment that were raised in a whistleblower complaint two years ago by core engineer Maria Garzino. The findings raised concerns about whether a major storm could overwhelm rebuilt flood controls that the core set up in New Orleans. The core has declined to comment. Garzino was a supervisor on the pump project before she turned whistleblower. The Defense Department's Inspector General has reviewed her concerns twice ruling each time that the pumps, though not as well tested as they could have been, were a reasonable choice and should provide adequate protection. That's so reassuring, reasonable, adequate. Thanks. Until

they're replaced, each time the special council, an independent office that investigates whistleblower complaints has disputed the Pentagon's conclusions. The Pentagon, by the way, relied on an evaluation by Parsons, an engineering firm that regularly contracts with the Pentagon, raising questions about the study's independence. Hopefully, I'll have an opportunity to discuss this in further depth in a future broadcast of Hello. Welcome to the show. I love my man like nobody can. Don't try what you're going to pay.

You've been getting too close, you've been going too far. Do you think you're far? Sometimes not. You're hidden for a bad guy. Hard guy. Bad guy. Time or mine. Bad guy. Hard guy. Bad guy. Time or mine. Bad guy. Time or mine. That's all I can see I just hardly care Now you isn't the man here in the buildings And you You You You

You You You You But if you playin' or hangin' around, I'll let it all startin' you cold Cause I'm glad it's your birth and I'm glad it's your growth I'm glad you're not a fool, you got the flow Go ahead and pour red light, hot night, bad night, time on mine Oh, red light, hot night, bad night, time on mine Bad night's the color, hot night's the fever I got I didn't know that people hadn't used that, and it's all I can say I just held back, I think you wouldn't be bad, you wouldn't be

Don't mess with me nothing, you're gonna die me crazy Don't mess with me, ah, don't mess with me You got the flow, you got the flow, you got the flow You got the flow, you got the flow, you got the flow Oh, red light, hot night, time on mine I give you such a thing of a fight, yeah.

I'm trying to take my men. I won't know where I can. Yeah, I work so hard to get me a man. Don't try to take him away. I love my men like nobody had. When I try, are you gonna pay? I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. Took out the flow, flow, flow. It's a bad night. Hard night. Bad night. Time your mind. A bad night. Hard night. Bad night. Time your mind. It's a bad night. Bad night. Oh, oh, oh, oh, just a smile like this.

It's a bad night. Oh From the edge of America from the home of the homeless I'm Harry Scherer welcoming you to this edition of the show. Ladies and gentlemen, um, Monique, who is the board op here at the Luchotto pointed out she now has a converter box to get digital television and get some all except for Fox. Can we look into this please? What is going on here? Dear Harry Jeff writes we love your show fall asleep to it every Sunday in Chicago. What wake up?

We are artists and don't feel we have any money to spend on healthcare reception and news so we get our subsidized we got our subsidized converter boxes I made the antenna I heard about on your show and found on the internet. I got it up and working fine in May we got reasonable reception but we're in the center of Chicago's north side so why shouldn't we expect that on the day of the switch over. We immediately lost public TV and ABC became weak and impossible to view I often get the other public TV station in time lapse stops and starts when Friday last month that same channel went blank from 3 to 9 30 when I called the station their line was busy so I knew they knew about it but not a word was said later on any other press that I saw which acknowledged the dead air period which went right through the news. Finally I contacted channels 20 and 7 leaving messages asking for an explanation of what they're doing to improve reception I received no answer as of yet from the PBS station I did receive an email message from ABC since you're the only person I know paying attention to this issue here's the copy Jeff thanks for contacting ABC 7 Chicago we do appreciate questions or comments we are regulated by the FCC they allocated us at 4.75 kilowatts of power for whatever their reasons were we have requested it submitted reports of the FCC we're waiting to hear back from them here misspelled.

On what we will be allowed to do since being regulated we cannot do anything without permission thanks engineering. I'll keep you informed says Jeff. The digital wonderland latest gentleman now what's our friend Pakistan doing. Acucon is free a Pakistani judge ruled Friday that nuclear scientist Acucon should be allowed freedom of movement more than 5 years after being put under house arrest for his role in a nuclear proliferation scandal. He lodged an appeal with a high court as the authorities had confined him to his home despite a court order lifting his house to house arrest last February on that Fox News interview former vice president. Cheney did acknowledge that Acucon was a major proliferator he only in the context of saying the CIA is now being having their morale destroyed by the Obama administration so that you know they can't they should be paying attention to Acucon instead of hiring lawyers.

But moments later he talked about North Korea as a major proliferator and said well Bill Clinton shouldn't have gone there to get the journalist out because that's rewarding bad behavior and bad behavior like proliferating nuclear weapons technology should carry a price tag. Acucon is free and now ladies and gentlemen. Well freedom in Pakistan is not all it's cracked up to be let's be the CIA and Obama administration continue to keep secrets some of the most shocking allegations involving the spy agencies interrogation program. Despite the release this week of the inspector generals report from the CIA in 2004 where he looked into those programs three deaths and several other detainees whose whereabouts could not be determined are those shocking allegations according to a former senior intelligence officials who has read the full unredacted version.

The blackout portions hide the inspector generals findings on the circumstances that led to the deaths of at least three of the detainees in the CIA's program according to the official two of the men reportedly died in CIA custody in Iraq the third died in Afghanistan. Where would you rather die in CIA custody hands and be a fun poll wouldn't it the inspector generals findings about a fourth death involving a prisoner in Afghanistan were made public in the report a CIA contractor employee was convicted of assault in that case and is now in prison. He's a bad apple. The still secret portions of the IG's report described fears that the waterboarding of Kali chick Muhammad came close to killing him. He was water boarded 183 separate times the unredacted version of the report makes a reference to the unsafe nature of waterboarding but makes no mention of its actual effects on Muhammad or the two others water boarded the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee represented Pete Hoekstra says he thinks more the CIA's blacked out information be made public. My bias would be toward transparency.

He says also hidden from public scrutiny according to the official was the discovery by the CIA inspector general John Helgerson that the CIA could not act adequately account for several of the 100 suspected al Qaeda members who were part of the detainee program that the CIA has always maintained was well administered. The official said quote a few just got lost and the CIA doesn't know what happened to him because it's an intelligence agency see ladies and gentlemen. So they don't know what happened to the people in their custody the environmental protection agency should move immediately to adopt enforceable limits on the release of nutrient pollutants such as fertilizer and sewage into rivers and streams to halt the creation of dangerously low oxygen areas dead zones in bodies of water. And the one in the Gulf of Mexico should be the first target according to the environmental protection agencies inspector general. We believe selecting nationally significant waters and acting to set standards for nutrients in them is a minimal first step if the EPA is to meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act which last time I looked is a law. Critical national waters such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River require standards that once set will affect multiple upstream states.

The IG report says these states have not yet set nutrient standards for themselves consequently it's the EPA's responsibility nutrient pollution is regulated under the federal Clean Water Act with requiring federal and state governments to assure that rivers streams estuaries and coastal waters are fishable and swimmable. They report studied states which dump enough stuff in the Mississippi that gets carried to the Gulf because excess nutrients have resulted in the Gulf having one of the largest dead zones in the world. Aside from places where you and I all work and the cost of running the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is projected to rise in the coming years as the world's largest diplomatic mission weens itself from support it gets from the U.S. military. That according to the State Department's acting inspector general Harold Geisel is knee doctor Seuss also said an embassy office that oversees infrastructure projects worth hundreds of millions is chronically understaffed and may be unable to complete its work by May when it's supposed to go out of business. In a separate report Geisel noted the State Department has no plans to open consulates in Iraq despite glooming closures of provincial embassy offices as the military withdraws.

Officials that anticipate security expenses will contribute at a higher cost of running the embassy over the next couple of years even as the U.S. troops withdraw. The embassy will need more than well around 2 billion each year to 2010 and 2011 for an embassy compared with this year's estimated billion and a half budget. Because right now the embassy depends heavily on the military for security. I say call black oh they're not called black water anymore. Planning by embassy Baghdad for this transition is essential Geisel wrote at the time of the review although several sections of the embassy were involved in planning at the operational level. There was no overall transition plan anticipating the U.S. military drawdown and no senior level coordinator for these activities. This report was finished in June. No overall transition plan sounds like the war itself so it's consistent it's a it's a it's of a peace.

And now it is the news of the inspector general is known as a copyright feature this broadcast. A lot of news about nuclear waste this week. A radioactive particle in two shovels worth of radioactive waste have been found in grazing land near a nuclear power site and great Britain for the first time. The field next to Dune Ray on the Scottish coast has been earmarked for a low-level waste dump. A Scottish EPA said the particle did not represent a significant risk however it is requested further investigation of land surrounding the plant. The plant is being decommissioned. Livestock had previously grazed in the field and two shovels worth of radioactive waste were removed from the field. More more stuff came out of that plant that's being decommissioned. Particles have been found on three beaches used by the public on cliff tops between the site and the shore on the shore itself and on the sea bed. The metallic fragments of reprocess new reactor fuel are linked to a rogue historic discharge from the plant.

A rogue historic discharge, so far 115 particles have been recovered from the bed of the Pentland Firth, 29 where in the higher hazard category defined by independent experts as a significant threat to health. They have sent a remotely operated vehicle to recover more than 100 fragments of spent fuel from the sea bed as a part of the cleanup and shutdown of the Dune Ray reactor. Further 16 suspected fragments detected gave readings in the significant risk to health category but were not retrieved. Six could not be targeted accurately and ten were buried deeper in the settlement than the remotely operated vehicle could recover it. I'm reaching to far to catch controversy over a long term nuclear waste storage site in Germany took a new term this week when it emerged that the former government of Chancellor Cole brushed over scientific objections to this nuclear waste storage plan in the 1980s.

A report by a frankfurter newspaper claimed the Cole government had sugar coated an experts report saying that the underground salt dome in lower Saxony was not in fact suitable for long term storage of dangerous nuclear waste. The Cole cabinet in 1983 put pressure on the scientists advising the government on the options for nuclear waste storage to approve the lower Saxony site and then paraphrase the report making it appear more positive. Apparently in an effort to save money well we were trying to save money. The site has never become operational for long term waste storage despite some billion and a half euros having been spent on research there since 1979. A moratorium was placed on work there in 2000. The scientific objections to the site centered on concern that the sediment around the salt cave was not strong enough to prevent the escape of radiation. And a little more. It's among the nasty substances on earth more than 14,000 tons of highly radioactive waste left over from the building of the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal.

That's of course at Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington. There is now fear that Hanford could become the de facto dump site along with facilities in Idaho and South Carolina for nuclear waste after the Yakka mountain site has been closed down. And a chance discovery bio worker involved in a nuclear cleanup has revealed a $3 bottle of kitchen spray can tackle plutonium. Also at that Dunray cleanup site. Used a product called silet bang after seeing it on a TV commercial. One employee saw the commercial where the product is used to remove grime from a coin and suggested using it for wiping off plutonium from steel before it's cut up for removal. And that's what they're doing. They're wiping off the plutonium with something that Billy Mays would have been selling had he lived. And what are they doing with the towels used for the wiping?

Oh, please. So, ladies and gentlemen, I've mentioned a couple of times now the interview that Dick Cheney did on Fox News Sunday, where those questions that I posed to you about what price AQ Khan might be paying for nuclear proliferation or why there might not have been a follow on attack after 9-11. These questions were not posed by interviewer Chris Wallace. One might wonder about that. And one might want to find out more. In which case, one would have to go subterranean. Next, intimate tales of America's first underground vice president, the action-packed diary of a man who was just a heartbeat away. From history, Dick Cheney.

Confident, confident, confident, confident, confident. I never was a summertime kind of guy. Quim suits, suntans, mosquitoes. The whole exercise has always seemed to me like nothing more than an excuse for the non-serious minded to goof off. To me, the ideal summer vacation is four days at the desk, followed by three days of shooting at something dumber than my ex-friend Harry. This summer has been an unusual one. My first such season outside the corridors of power, since the days when my heart beat without mechanical assistance, and it hasn't been pleasant. In a way this summer has been in time when I've had to begin spending some considerable energy on what you might call, the undark side. The place where sophisticated ideas and policies go to be subjected to the production vulgar indignities of public exposure. Not that there's anything wrong with semi-informed and ill-tempered mobs of like-minded patriots.

I just prefer to spend my time with the other players, not the fans. But this year, out of the secure, disclosed everything. Life hasn't been about my preferences. It's Lyon who prepares my meals now, not the Navy Seals, and the difference is palpable. And one thing I don't enjoy doing with my food is palping it. This week I had a particularly public assignment, appearing on one of the Sunday morning talk shows. Sure, that's one of my least favorite things to do, right behind serving time in jail. So as part of Operation Avert Prosecution, my advisors, i.e. my daughter Liz and myself, felt that treapsing down to the Fox studio was as mandatory as blood thinner in my diet coke. It didn't mean I wasn't going to get a pound or two of flesh in the process. It just wouldn't be my style. Friday, 217 pm. And three, two. I'm Chris Wallace. Welcome to this very special edition of Fox News Sunday.

We're just re-cuing past the opening package. Yeah, it's great. Listen, Mr. Wallace, we stop the tape, turn the cameras and microphones off for just a minute. Well, Mr. Vice President, is there anything wrong? We've just got everybody finally together here. Yeah, yeah, there's something wrong, little matter of ground rules. Let's kill everything, shall we? Well, if it were up to me, of course, sir, but I think we lose this studio to Glenn Beckett for... Wait a minute. According to what I've been told on numerous occasions, he does his show from New York. Yes, he does indeed, but the Washington Bureau feeds photos of mistreated animals down the line during his broadcast just in case he has trouble tearing up. You know, I'd shut everything off right about now, Mr. Wallace, before you find yourself with about 25 minutes of air that's deader than health care reform. Jimmy, that's a five, everybody.

Okay, sir. What's the problem? Your phone falling out, Mike, too close to your pacemaker? Mr. Wallace, as I understand it, you're this close to catching meat the press and the readings. I think we're in the phrase you used to use. We're making good progress. My so-called boss used to say that. It embarrassed me. You thought it was redundant? I thought it was an oxymoron. And this interview will be an important attractant for your audience. Oh, it will. So it might be important to make sure your interviewee is happy. You didn't like the bagels in the green room? You might want to check your briefing papers, sir. I seriously doubt you'll find any indication that I'm a bagel eater. Look, Mr. Wallace, let's just make sure we understand our rules here. I'm on television to deliver a message. You're on television to be on television. You get in the way of meat delivering my message. A lot of folks who care about the continued safeguarding of this country aren't going to be happy. Well, you know, Mr. Vice President, I say this with all respect because, of course, Fox News has always had great respect for you. You know, it's in our DNA.

But obviously, I'm going to ask you some questions during the interview. That, after all, is why it's called an interview. And I think that that history of respect might alay any fears that you might have. My fears would be far more completely elayed if you choose your questions from the list. My office supplied. You know, I thought you were kidding with that. Yeah, that's me, King of the Great Iron Dinner, Clown Prince of the nation's capital. You got that right. I'm a regular boy dad. Okay, okay, point well taken. But you know, if I'm totally invisibly in the tank for you, that's bad for both of us. I mean, me more than you, I suppose, but still. Chris, there's a Mr. Wallace in this business that I really do admire. You're dead. Well, we all. He's what? In his early 90s now. He is, and he's an amazingly great shine. So I read from the cable traffic. Just think that so soon after losing two other giants of the industry, Mr. Cronkite and Hewitt, be a particular shame if anything happened to Mike Wallace, wouldn't it?

Well, it would be a shame at any time. And secondly, and frankly, sir, if I'm picking up a little bit of a threat in what you're saying, I don't think it out of work, Vice President. Is even in a position to know that's right, Chris. I forgot. I totally lost perspective. I thought I'd spent eight years planting people loyal to the agenda deep in the interstices of the career bureaucracy where they nicely survived a little change in power up on the service. And that they stood ready to do whatever, whenever my mistake, you're right. Ask away. Coming back. You don't mind if I rephrase your officer's question. Go rephrase till the cows come home, my friend. Just rest assured that the people who care most deeply about the safety of this country will be very grateful to you. And you're dead. Now, they're not good at expressing gratitude. It's not what they do, but take it from me. They'll be very concerned about your family's safety too. In a good way.

Oh, that's a relief because we're back firing up. Oh, you might get somebody to put this damn earpiece back. Oh, flying in, starting on Chris in three, two, I'm Chris Wallace. Welcome to a special edition of Fox News Sunday. Yes, sir. Very special. Nothing scares a guy who thinks he's a Washington Newsman, like hearing the phrase cable traffic reminds these folks of the first CIA movie they ever saw. And the last. In the partial diary for late August 2009, sincerely yours, Dick Cheney, confident, confident, confident.

I know this super highway. Despite familiar song. You vote that tie your cheeks on. Say it off this peaceful Sean. You think you've heard this one before. Well, the danger on the rocks is shown in hand.

Still, I remain tied to the mask. Could it be that I have found my home at last? Home at last. She serves the stupid. She keeps me safe and warm.

Call in my resolution. So long if that's my friend. I guess I try my luck again. Well, the danger on the rocks is shown in hand. Still, I remain tied to the mask. Could it be that I have found my home at last? Home at last. I guess I have found my home at last.

I guess I have found my home at last. I guess I have found my home at last. Well, the danger on the rocks is shown in hand. Still, I remain tied to the mask. Could it be that I have found my home at last? Home at last.

I guess I have found my home at last. I guess I have found my home at last. And now, ladies and gentlemen, news from outside the bubble.

From Jonathan Landay of McClatchy newspapers, who if you go read what he wrote in the run-up to the Iraq War, tended to be right. Deadline, Boglan, E.Jadid, Afghanistan, Taliban insurgents, not insurance, even worse, insurgents have taken over parts of two northern provinces, from which they were driven in 2001, threatening to disrupt NATO's new supply route from Central Asia, and expand a war that's up to now largely been confined to Afghanistan's southern half. Violence up north has been on the rise in recent months, as the Taliban and al-Qaeda linked foreign fighters have staged hit and run attacks, bombing and rocket strikes, on German, Belgian and Hungarian forces, in Boglan and neighboring Kunduz provinces.

The insurgents now control three Pashtun-dominated districts in those provinces, a foothold in a region that was long considered safe. They operate checkpoints at night on the highway in the north, now a major supply route local officials said, and are extorting money, food and lodging from villagers. You're starting money, you can pay for lodging. Stupid Taliban. The Taliban want to show the world, and not only can they make chaos in southern Afghanistan, but in every part of Afghanistan, said Boglan Governor, Muhammad Akbar Barakhazi. Barakhazi, this is a big problem, we don't have sufficient forces here, really. For the U.S. commanders who stretched forces have been unable to pacify the south, and are taking record casualties, it's another looming problem. What can we do to mitigate the risk? It's a question of means, since the senior U.S. defense official, who requested anonymity, clearly the main effort is in the south, but we can't allow other areas of the country to be destabilized. Yeah, it's such a good deal over there. Such a good idea, because nobody's failed at that before.

General Sir David Richards, who took over his head of the British Army this week, warned about troop shortages in Afghanistan three years ago when he commanded the NATO force. I caused a pit of an upset in NATO by forcefully pointing out we had insufficient troops for the task given us, and that the international community's effort there was approaching something close to Anarchy, he told the times of London, owned by Rupert Murdoch. So we were warned, or he was, they were warned. I think it's generally said that I made the very best of a bad job, including leading NATO in this first and still on the traditional ground attack at brigade-class level on a dug-in and discerned enemy southwards of Kandahar, which vitally established in the minds of the Taliban, that it would not succeed in using symmetric, conventional tactics against us, he said. Meaning now they're totally insurgents and gorillas. That taught them, by the time I left Kabul, there were a coherent mechanisms and concepts in place that remained the basis of the operation today, and we charted the manner in which the Taliban might be defeated. Should sufficient resources be found and applied? Don't quote me any further.

And finally, outside the bubble, from the age in Australia, the number of obese young Australians undergoing gastric banding surgery has almost doubled in the past two years with surgeons revealing the parents of children as young as 12 are requesting the operation. It's expected demand for the procedure among obese adolescents will soar when the results of a first in the world trial and Melbourne are published in the next few months. The number of morbidly obese 15 to 24-year-olds who have gone under the knife has nearly doubled in the past financial year. All right then. That's the cure. That's the fix. Start doing cosmetic surgery in the kids when they're 12, as opposed to, what else are we supposed to do when they're fat? Learn how to eat? It was some outside the bubble, ladies and gentlemen, a copyrighted feature of this broadcast, and now the apologies of the week.

A Republican Congresswoman apologized this week for saying that her party is looking for a great white hope to counteract President Obama's political agenda. Kansas Representative Lynn Jenkins told the Lawrence journal world she did not intend to make a racist comment, and was simply saying Republicans have been suffering in recent years and we need a bright light. Read the history of the quote, lady. Upon receiving thousands of emails and letters CNN International has realized how serious a mistake it made and apologized for showing a map on Campbell Brown's program where large swathes of Turkey and her neighbors were labeled Kurdistan. A map said to CNN. Statement. A map showed an area labeled Kurdistan. It wrongly suggested there was a country of that name while large numbers of Kurds live in all three countries. Iran, Iraq and Turkey. There is no state of Kurdistan are apologies for the mistake. Keep it honest.

This is the end of the line up introductions before Washington's preseason game against the Patriots. Sellers says he meant no disrespect to the flag on Friday night and he did it in the heat of the moment. Sellers says he's aware of the proper conduct when it comes to the flag and should have known better having grown up in an army family. This is the end of the line up. This thing in Taiwan refuses to die. The presidential office, you know, there was an apology for not going to the scene of the damage of the recent typhoon. Now the presidential office this week said president Ma had apologized for the inconvenience he caused during a recent visit to a typhoon struck area by helicopter and would donate $100,000 to fund the repairs. He's sorry for not going. He's sorry for going.

U.S. police have admitted they missed an opportunity to bring earlier closure to the case of abducted girl J.C. Lee Dugard. Sheriff Warren Rupp said an emergency phone call on November 30 reported that people including young children were living in tents in the grounds of the rear of the house where J.C. was hidden. The sheriff apologized to the victims and described the police in action as not acceptable. By the way, missing from last week's broadcast. Lieutenant Callie of the United States Army has apologized for the me-lie massacre only 40 years after it occurred. So, of course, I waited a week to report it because what's the hurry? The St. Louis Police Department has apologized and agreed to play a settlement of four citizens who were among potential protesters targeted in a raid just before the 2003 World Agricultural Forum in St. Louis. The citizens filed a federal lawsuit just after the formal edging that cops violated their civil rights in an attempt to dissuade them from participating in protests. They claimed police damaged their property, performed illegal searches, and inappropriately arrested them. The six-year battle ended with settlement agreement that the St. Louis Police Commissioners approved as part of the agreement the police board issued an apology letter.

The department sincerely regrets the grievances of plaintiffs. The letter says, including the extended detentions or damages of personal property that plaintiffs infringement of civil liberties was not warranted by what may have transpired at protests in other cities. The department recognizes and values the importance of civil discourse. Please, your honor, dismiss the case. Famed British novelist Sebastian Fulkes apologized this week for any offence he has caused Muslims with his remarks about the grand insisting he was misquoted. I unreservedly apologize to anyone who does feel offended by comments offered in another context. He told the Guardian, I offer a simple but unqualified apology to my Muslim friends and readers for anything that has come out sounding crude or intolerant. This came a day after his interview with the Sunday Times, dirt controversy after he reportedly described the Quran as a, quote, depressing book just the rantings of a schizophrenic. He said it, I didn't, and he's saying, he's sorry, don't kill him.

The federal government of Australia will formally say sorry to the hundreds of thousands of people who were abused and neglected his children after being placed in institutions or foster care. The government will, by the end of the year, formally acknowledge and apologize to generations of so-called forgotten Australians and child migrants who suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse while in the care of government institutions, foster care, and church organizations. Families, Minister Jenny Macklin said the level of abuse and neglect had been unacceptable. Minister, what's an acceptable level of abuse and neglect when you get a chance? And it was now time to issue a former, a formal apology. And finally, Microsoft has apologized for crudely photoshopping an image on the Polish version of its website. The original photo featured three business people, one white, one black and one Asian smiling as they attended a meeting. It was published on Microsoft's main US site to advertise the company's business productivity software. But in the version doctor to appeal to Polish customers, the black man's face was replaced with that of a white man, although the original model's hand remained clearly visible.

Microsoft apologized for the waste, race swap in a message on its official Twitter feed and said it was investigating who was responsible. The apologies of the weak latest German, a copyrighted feature of this broadcast. Right here, oh baby, black is my heart. It was my heart. It was my heart.

It was my heart. It was my heart. It was my heart. It was my heart.

It was my heart. It was my heart. It was my heart. It was my heart.

It was my heart. It was my heart. It was my heart. It was my heart.

It was my heart.