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Cato Daily Dispatch for June 3, 2005

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Syria Tests Scud Missiles
Dean Accuses GOP of Social Security Dishonesty
Jackpot Justice Ruling Awaited

Syria Tests Scud Missiles

"Syria test-fired three Scud missiles last Friday, including one that broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts down onto unsuspecting Turkish farmers, Israeli military officials revealed Thursday," the New York Times reports.

"These were the first such Syrian missile tests since 2001, the Israelis said, and were part of a Syrian missile development project using North Korean technology and designed, the Israelis contend, to deliver air-burst chemical weapons. The missiles included one older Scud B, with a range of about 185 miles, and two Scud D's, the Israelis say they believe, with a range of about 435 miles."

In the Cato Policy Analysis "The Syria Accountability Act: Taking the Wrong Road to Damascus," United Press International foreign editor Claude Salhani writes: "Although the Syria Accountability Act provides the United States with a new collection of sticks with which to beat Damascus, there are precious few carrots to encourage continued cooperation by Syria in the fight against Al Qaeda. The Syria Accountability Act leads in the wrong direction in the fight against anti-American terrorists by escalating an unnecessary conflict in the Middle East that will only strengthen those who wish us harm."

Dean Accuses GOP of Social Security Dishonesty

"Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean delivered a broadside at President Bush and the Republican Party yesterday, accusing the president of failing to protect private pensions in the United States and the GOP of embracing a 'dark, difficult and dishonest vision' for the country," reports the Washington Post.

"[Dean] suggested that Bush is responsible for the failure of private industry to protect those pensions. 'The president wants to take away our Social Security,' he said, 'and then he's going to take away the private pension plans, too? What does he think ordinary Americans live on after they get to be 65 years old?'"

"[T]here is no reason why Social Security reform has to be a partisan issue," writes Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Choice, in "Social Security: The Red and the Blue." "In fact, there is a long history of Democrats offering workers more choice, ownership and control over their retirement funds. ... The challenge is to bring this nationwide, bipartisan support for individual accounts inside the Beltway. That will require Republicans to reach out to sympathetic Democrats -- taking into account their concerns that any reform plan be fiscally responsible -- and for Democratic moderates to be willing to break with the entrenched 'do nothing' wing of their party."

Jackpot Justice Ruling Awaited

"After eight months, hundreds of witnesses, thousands of documents and hundreds of millions of dollars in costs, testimony in the government's conspiracy case against the nation's leading tobacco companies ended on Thursday as the defense called a final witness," according to the New York Times.

"[C]ompanies could be forced to pay billions of dollars if Judge Kessler agrees that they have engaged in fraud for more than 50 years, hiding the adverse health effects of smoking, as the government contends. If the judge rules for the tobacco companies, the Justice Department will lose an investment of more than $130 million and six years spent preparing for and prosecuting the case."

In "Republicans Take Their Shot at Tobacco Jackpot Justice," Robert Levy, a Cato senior fellow in constitutional studies, argues that if smokers are victimized by the tobacco industry, then they should sue for damages in private lawsuits; however, this current federal lawsuit is intended to punish cigarette companies: "Plain and simple, the Justice Department is engaged in double dipping--a failed criminal investigation by the government has given way to a new civil suit by that same government for the same charges originally found wanting. Whether the government functions as criminal prosecutor or civil plaintiff, if the same charges are leveled, then the defendant should be entitled to the protections of the criminal law. That means, at a minimum, a higher burden of proof. Even better, in civil litigation we should rely on private remedies with redress sought by, and for the benefit of, the injured party, not the state."

Greg Garner, editor, ggarner@cato.org