Special Edition
Today, clouds part, moresunshine, recent gloom passes. Tonight, strong leftward
winds. Tomorrow, a new day.
Weather map throughout.

“All the NewsWe Hope to Print”

VOL. CLVIV . . No. 54,631

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 4, 2009

Nation Sets Its Sights on
Building Sane Economy
True Cost Tax, Salary Caps, Trust-Busting Top List

FREE

IRAQ WAR ENDS
Troops to Return
Immediately

By T. VEBLEN

The President has called forswift passage of the Safeguards
for a New Economy (S.A.N.E.) bill.
The omnibus economic package
includes a federal maximum wage,
mandatory “True Cost Accounting,” a phased withdrawal fromcomplex financial instruments,and other measures intended toimprove life for ordinary Americans. (See highlights box on Page
A10.) He also repeated earlier calls
for passage of the “Ban on Lobbying” bill currently making its way
through Congress.
Treasury Secretary Paul Krugman stressed the importance ofthe bill. “Markets make great servants, terrible leaders, and absurdreligions,” said Krugman, quoting
Paul Hawken, an advocate of corporate responsibility and authorof “Blessed Unrest, How the Largest Movement in the World Came
into Being and Why No One Saw ItComing.”“At this point, the market is ourleader and our religion. No wonder the median standard of living
has been declining so much for solong.”
Krugman said that the newTreasury bill seeks to ensure theprosperity of all citizens, rather
than simply supporting large corporations and the wealthy. “Themarket is supposed to serve us.
Unfortunately, we have ended upserving the market. That’s verybad.”
Much as Roosevelt, after theGreat Depression, put the brakeson C.E.O. wages and irresponsiblebanking practices, administration
officials claim that today we needto rein in the industry that hascaused such chaos and misery.
“The building blocks of postWorld War II American middleclass prosperity have all been
swept away,” said House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, who initially opContinued on Page A10

Maximum Wage TreaSury
Law Succeeds announCeS
Salary Caps Will Help
Stabilize Economy
By J.K. MALONE

By JUDE SHINBIN“True CoST”
Tax PLan
By MARCUS S. DRIGGSWASHINGTON — After long andoften bitter debate, Congress has
passed legislation, fiercely foughtfor by labor and progressive
groups, that will limit top salaries
to fifteen times the minimum wage.
Tying the bill to a plan of overall
reform of the U.S. economy, thebill echoes a similar effort enacted
by President Franklin Roosevelt in
1942, which was followed by thelongest period of growth for the
middle class in U.S. history.
“When C.E.O. salaries remain
stable thanks to high taxation ofhigh salaries, there’s little incentive
to take big risks with shareholders’money, and the economy remains
in a steady growth mode,” said Senator Barney Frank, one of the bill’s
co-sponsors. “But when C.E.O. salaries can fly through the roof, there’s
a very strong incentive for C.E.O.s

The long-awaited “True Cost”
plan, which requires product prices to reflect their cost to society,has been signed into law.
Beginning next month, throwaway items like plastic waterbottles and other items which arewasteful or damaging to the environment will be heavily taxed, as inmany developed countries. Steeptaxes will also apply to large carsand gasoline.
The new plan calls for a 200 percent tax on gasoline, comparable
to the one long in effect in most European countries. Companies andconsumers are already switchingin droves from inefficient gas vehicles to new electric cars. “We suddenly have a waiting list 200 names
long for the EV1,” said Jake Cluber,
the owner of Cluber Chevrolet inContinued on Page A10

Continued on Page A10

COURTESY ARMY.MILU.S. Army helicopters begin moving troops and equipment from Saddam Hussein’s former Baghdad palace.

Recruiters Train for New Life

USA Patriot Act Repealed

As a ban is imposed on recruiting
minors, ex-recruiters nationwide
look for new work. The Times follows one on his job-hunt odyssey
through Manhattan and surrounding areas.

Eight years later, a shamefaced
Congress quietly repeals themuch-maligned USA Patriot Act,
unanimously… or almost.

BY BARRY GLOAD, PAGE A12

Evangelicals Open Homes toRefugees

BY SYBIL LUDINGTON, PAGE A8

Up to a million Iraqi exiles —nearly half of the total — will findsanctuary in Christian homes
across the U.S., vows the National
Association of Evangelicals. Otherdenominations are expected tofollow.

Two proportional monuments —one to the Iraqi dead, 300 feethigh, and one to the Americandead, 15 feet high — are unveiledin Baghdad, and a five-year-oldboy whose lifespan coincidedwith that of the Iraq War isremembered.
BY J. FINISTERRA, PAGE A5

Continued on Page A6Continued on Page A5

The public relations industry has
been criticized for misleading
the American people, corrupting
politicians, and even helping tostart wars. Now, it’s beginningthe process of shutting down forgood.
BY LOUIS BECK, PAGE A10

Study Cites Movements for Massive Shift in DC
By SAMUEL FIELDEN

See nytimes-se.com for more

The report includes extensive interviews with House and Senate
staff, who speak of “unimaginablechange,” a “dramatic policy shift,”and “a new era of accountability”
since the elections.
“Not since the Great Depression
has the interaction between popular movements and public leadersbeen so robust,” said Jorge Lazaro, head of the U.S. Government
Accountability Office. Lazaro cited, in particular, the Wagner Act,
also known as the National Labor
Relations Act of 1935, which recognized the right of workers toorganize and bargain collectivelywith their employers.
“Roosevelt showed no interestin the Wagner Act until it became
clear the unions were going toforce it through regardless,” Mr.
Lazaro noted. “At that point hejumped on it and helped push it
into law.”
Mr. Lazaro also pointed to theDepression-era organizing of theFarmers’ Holiday Association,
when farmers refused to sell or bid
on crops, blockaded roads, andeven once used a torpedo to halt atrain carrying livestock into Iowa.
Such direct actions helped pushcourts and legislatures to adopt

INTERNATIONAL A4-5Gitmo, Other Centers Closed

The notorious Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
detention camp will be closed, along witha network of secret C.I.A.-run facilities
in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and elsewhere. PAGE A24

KC IVEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Protests organized by Witness Against Torture helped pave the way
for the close of the Guantánamo facility.
measures that granted relief fromdebt caused by low crop prices.
“The similarities between thetwo periods are remarkable, andthe lesson that emerges is simple:
if you want change, keep our feetto the fire.”
Dr. Wellmon agrees. “The only
reason the current President andCongress have been able to implement all these changes, was because of pressure from popularleaving their companies, and public
officials from accepting management
positions at large corporations for thesame period. Coupled with the Ban on
Lobbying bill, the bill will reduce theinfluence of large corporations on public
policy. PAGE B1

Two million Iraqi exiles, and three million
internal refugees, celebrated the end of
hostilities and began making plans toreturn to their homes. PAGE A4

NEW YORK A12

Health Insurance Act Clears House
While almost all are celebrating thepassage of the National Health Insur-An initiative to abolish limited liability will make shareholders pay for thecrimes their corporations commit —even if they only own one or two sharesin a mutual fund. PAGE A11

Nationalized Oil
To Fund Climate
Change Efforts
By MARION K. HUBBERTCongress has voted to place
ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, andother major oil companies underpublic stewardship, with the bulkof the companies’ profits put ina public trust administered by
the United Nations, and used foralternative energy research anddevelopment in order to solve theglobal climate crisis.
While unusual, this is not thefirst time the government has chosen to take control of large corporations. From 1942 to 1944, U.S. car
factories were retooled in order toproduce tanks for the war effort.
And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
were both created as “government
sponsored enterprises” with a significant amount of government
oversight.
“We can do what needs tobe done,” said Senator Charles
Schumer, Democrat of New York.
“Our planet’s survival is at stake.
Plus, public pressure hasn’t given
us much of a choice.”
Not everyone felt the move wasa good idea. “The climate crisis
may or may not be real,” declared
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas. “I’m an agnostic
and I’m staying that way. But sea
Continued on Page A5

EDITORIAL A13

The Ban on Lobbying bill is not without victims. PAGE A13

Thomas L. Friedman
The columnist resigns, and will put
down his pen to take up a screwdriver.

Bush to Face Charges

Corporate Personhood Gets RealContinued on Page A5

A Lobbyist Defends Lobbying

PAGE A13

A Baboon Troop’s Experience
A particularly peaceful baboon troop
may have lessons to teach us. PAGE A13
More Inside The Times.

BUSINESS A10-11

NATIONAL A6-9

The “Revolving Door” bill will prohibit
high-ranking corporate officers fromholding public office for ten years uponance Act, which finally brings the U.S.
up to par with other developed nations,representatives of Kaiser, Cigna and other
health insurance companies are vowing
to “fight tooth and nail” to protect theirinterests. PAGE A7

Most observers weren’t surprised by thehigh treason indictment itself, but rather
by the party that brought it. The casecould also provide an unexpected boost
to the International Criminal Court, paving the way for more indictments. PAGE A5

Iraqi Refugees Worldwide
Celebrate Withdrawal

Conflict of Interest Law Will Stop
Revolving DoorBy FRANK LARIMORE

movements that made them haveto.”
The Plains report, due out nextmonth, cites the work of groups
associated with United for Peace
and Justice, an umbrella for antiwar groups, for galvanizing public
support for ending the war, andfor pushing the Administration toresist the oil lobby and other interest groups. It also cites the work

Public Relations Industry
Starts to Shut Down

Popular Pressure Ushers
Recent Progressive Tilt
The spate of reform initiatives
undertaken by the Administration
and both houses of Congress canbe attributed directly to grassroots advocacy, according to acomprehensive study due out thismonth.
“In education and health care,most notably, but also in housing,banking, and the environment, wehave documented unprecedented
responsiveness on the part ofpolitical leaders,” said Dr. Joyce
Wellmon, director of the Plains Institute for Policy Analysis, a New
York-based think tank. “Our data
show a direct correlation between
the level of activity of particularcoalitions, on the one hand, andspecific legislative action, on theother. It’s popular pressure that isresponsible for the swiftness andscope of legislation emerging fromthe White House and Congress.”
The institute’s report showsa three-fold increase in the incidence of letters, phone calls, faxes, and email received by congressional offices, 88 percent of whichwere from people who identified
themselves as new members ofparticular activist organizations.

300,000 Troops Never Faced
Risk of Instant Obliteration
Ex-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice reassured soldiers that theBush Administration had known
well before the invasion that Saddam Hussein lacked weapons ofmass destruction.
“Now that all of you brave
servicemen and women are returning, it’s important to us toreassure you, and the American
people, that we were certain Hussein had no W.M.D.s and that hewould never launch a first strikeagainst the U.S.,” Ms. Rice told agroup of wounded soldiers at a
Veterans’ Administration hospitalyesterday.
“I want you to know that if we
had had the slightest suspicion
that Saddam could use W.M.D.s
against you, we never would havesent hundreds of thousands ofyou to be sitting ducks on the Iraqi
border for several months.”
Mr. Rice was referring to the factthat by August 2002, eight months
before the ground invasion, the US
had over 100,000 troops stationed
in countries throughout the Gulf, anumber that grew to over 300,000
shortly before the 2003 attack on
Baghdad. Most of these were within range of the Scud missiles usedby Mr. Hussein in the 1991 Gulf
War, that could easily have been
fitted with chemical or biologicalweapons if they had existed.
Rice noted that in the 1991 Gulf
War, Hussein had used missiles tolaunch attacks on Israel, which
made him popular with Arab citizens throughout the Middle East.
“Do you really think we would
have given Saddam a major public relations coup by allowing him
to annihilate tens of thousands ofyou right there on holy territory?”
asked Ms. Rice.
Former Secretary of State HenryA. Kissinger responded to Ms.
Rice’s revelation without surprise.
“Of course this was the case.
When Israel believed Iraq had nuclear weapons in 1981, they didn’t
attack on the ground — theybombed from the air. That’s a preemptive attack. If you believe deterrence will not prevent an attack
and that your enemy has W.M.D.s,
then the last thing you do is station your troops right next door.”
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos

BY W. WILBERFORCE, PAGE A7

Last to Die

Ex-Secretary
Apologizes forW.M.D. Scare

WASHINGTON — Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom were brought toan unceremonious close todaywith a quiet announcement by theDepartment of Defense that troops
would be home within weeks.
“This is the best face we can put
on the most unfortunate adventure in modern American history,”
Defense spokesman Kevin Sites
said at a special joint session ofCongress. “Today, we can finallyenjoy peace — not the peace ofthe brave, perhaps, but at leastpeace.”
As U.S. and coalition troops
withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan, the United Nations will movein to perform peacekeeping duties
and aid in rebuilding. The U.N. will
be responsible for keeping the twocountries stable; coordinating therebuilding of hospitals, schools,highways, and other infrastructure; and overseeing upcomingelections.
The Department of the Treasury
confirmed that all U.N. dues owed
by the U.S. were paid as of thismorning, and that moneys previously earmarked for the war would
be sent directly to the U.N.’s Iraq
Oversight Body.
The president noted that theIraq War had resulted in the burning of many bridges. “Yet our history with our allies runs deep,” hesaid, “and we all know that friends
forgive friends for anything. Ornearly.” A spokesperson for theFrench Ministry of Defense confirmed that France would assist
the U.S. withdrawal. “The U.S.
helped the Soviet Union defeat
Hitler. We do recognize that.”
In conflict zones worldwide,leaders and rebels pledged peace.
(See ”In Conflict Zones Worldwide,Peace Moves,” on Page A4.)
On Wall Street, reactions weremixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 84 points, to close
at 4,212. While KBR stock wasquickly downgraded to a “junk”
rating of BBB-, defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin andNorthrop Grummon started up.

PAGE A2 ➤Bicycle Lanes Inaugurated
With the completion of the 9th Avenue
bike lane and groundbreaking on otheravenues, New York is on the (bike) path
to becoming as livable as other world
cities. PAGE A12

HELP MAKE THE NEWS, TODAY