The New York Times‘ Carlotta Gall catalogs what seem to be many obvious instances of fraud in the Afghanistan presidential election. Gall’s account is that most of the fraud was done by supporters of current President Hamid Karzai. This is different than a Washington Post piece this weekend that showed both supporters of Karzai and his top opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, heavily engaged in voter fraud.

Whatever the case, the fallout from the Afghanistan election is a huge blow for the U.S./NATO Afghanistan occupation. Elections are one of the things occupying U.S. forces are supposed to do well, as evidenced by successful elections in Iraq even when violence there was at its peak. U.S. officials had nonchalantly compared possible election problems with the Minnesota Al Franken-Norm Coleman Senate race. But it’s clear that less than democratic elections took place. The U.S. now has to decide how much money and resources it wants to pour into rectifying this voter fraud, possibly through an entirely new election. On the other hand, the election debacle could be used as a reason for the U.S. to abandon its broader government-building mission in Afghanistan and instead more narrowly focus on vanquishing Taliban leadership.-MB

Here is a potentially positive shift in foreign policy from the Bush to Obama administration: the New York Times’ Judy Dempsey and Peter Baker reported this weekend that Barack Obama might want to scrap the missile defense shield George W. Bush wanted to build in Poland and the Czech Republic. The shield is supposed to cost at least $4 billion and its purpose is unclear: stopping a potential Iranian nuclear attack? Stopping a Russian nuclear attack?

Not surprisingly, Russia is happy that the U.S. might not have a missile defense shield in two former Soviet bloc states, after all. Besides relations with Russia, there’s another reason Obama should can this program: missile defense doesn’t work. Even if Iran were to develop the nuclear weapon needed to attack Poland and then decided it would be a great idea to attack Poland (and be subsequently annihilated), the technology isn’t there to actually shield Poland from such an attack.-MB

One of the Obama administration’s new rules to restrict the influence of lobbyists is not exactly off to a high-flying start. Rita Beamish of the Associated Press reports that a rule was put in place so if lobbyists met with federal agencies about competitive grant money in the stimulus bill that meeting had to be disclosed. But these meetings are mostly not being disclosed — the Pentagon, for example, has reported that only one lobbyist has met with defense officials this entire year. The Pentagon controls $7.4 billion in stimulus spending.

It would be nice to know what lobbyists are getting access to the government officials who determine what states and contractors get these grants. But even if the disclosure rules get enforced, they are still deeply flawed: only meetings with registered lobbyists have to be reported. A meeting with, say, a state government official or head of a private construction company doesn’t have to go reported. The rule arguably promotes greater public transparency, but it also demonizes lobbyists at the expense of disclosing how access and influence-peddling in Washington actually takes place.-MB

The New York Times has happy news on its front page this morning about federal government intervention into banks and the Wall Street Journal has not so happy news. The Times’ Zachary Kouwe reports that the government has now made a $4 billion profit from eight bailed out banks who have returned their Troubled Asset Relief Program money. “The mere hint of bailout profits for the nearly year-old Troubled Asset Relief Program has been received as a welcome surprise,” Kouwe writes. “It has also spurred hopes that the government could soon get out of the banking business.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Damien Paletta, though, reports that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is actually ratcheting up its involvement in the banking business. FDIC has agreed to share about $40 billion in losses on behalf of banks that take over failing banks. Paletta’s piece doesn’t necessarily discredit the Times’ report, but it instead shows the big gap between the big banks and other banks. The days of direct government intervention into, say, the workings of Goldman Sachs, might soon be over. But, overall, bank failures skyrocketed last month. It is up to the FDIC to clean up the mess of medium-sized and community banks that keep collapsing — a job that will not end anytime soon.-MB

By Norman Kelley

During the recent town-hall-rage portion of the great American health-care debate, skeptics demanded examples of successful government-operated programs. Some of our congressional representatives tepidly talked up the National Park system and the Postal Service. When you cite these as examples, you are not making a very convincing case regarding the benefits of taxpayers’ dollars. However, think of the following programs that have wide and successful use by the American public.

First, the US Interstate Highway System, initiated by that raving socialist Dwight Eisenhower. Then, there’s Medicare (which, according to one poll, 39% of the US public didn”t even know was a government program). Another government health program? The VA Hospital system. Want another health-based system? The US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Finally, the biggest public service, employment/job creation program operated by the federal government: the United States military, featuring the US Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and the Air Force (each with an four year-training program for its officers corps), not to mention the Coast Guard and other uniformed services at Homeland Security. All of this employs nearly two million people, who, unlike mercenary organizations such as Blackwater (now called Xe) serve a greater, public good: the defense of the nation — and not at the behest of the Almighty Dollar.

Joelle Tessler of the Associated Press reports that the FCC is planning to analyze the wireless telephone industry, possibly with an eye towards improving service and limiting exploitative practices of users by the nation’s mobile phone providers.

Carrie Johnson and Anne E. Kornblut of the Washington Post draw a nuanced portrait of Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision, taken over several weeks of deliberation and conversation with the White House, to launch an investigation of CIA interrogation techniques. Our own Matthew Blake has a proposal for how Holder could avoid targeting only the CIA interrogators and thus avoid bad blood between CIA and DOJ in the continuing battle against terrorism.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which experienced major flooding in August 2008, has gotten less help from the government than citizens believe the region is due, according to this report by Susan Saulny of the New York Times, which includes the following poignant words from a local government official:

“We really feel that we are the forgotten disaster,” said Greg Eyerly, the city’s flood recovery director. “We don’t make sexy products. We make starch that goes into paper, we make foodstuffs, ingredients in crackers and cereal. We make ethanol. The sexiest thing we make is Cap’n Crunch. We’re not a beachfront property. We make an anonymous contribution to our country, and people forget about us.”

Among the federal agencies charged with helping the region’s recovery include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Small Business Administration.