Politics

License to Kill? Intelligence Chief Says U.S. Can Take Out American Terrorists

The director of national intelligence affirmed rather bluntly that the U.S. intelligence community has authority to target American citizens for assassination if they present a direct terrorist threat to the United States. "We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community; if … we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee.
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Haiti Protesters Denounce Aid Corruption, Hoarding

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Hundreds of Haitian earthquake survivors protested in a suburb of the wrecked capital on Sunday, accusing a district mayor of corruption and hoarding food aid provided by relief groups, witnesses said. The protest in the Petionville neighborhood of Port-au-Prince was one of the largest since the January 12 quake that killed more than 200,000 people and left over 1 million homeless. It reflected still simmering anger among survivors over problems in the massive international relief effort. Aid agencies from around the world have moved tons of rice and other food into Haiti but distributions to the hungry and homeless have been slow and sometimes chaotic.
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Europeans Say Jews Exploit Past to Extort Money

Nearly half of western Europeans believe jews exploit their 'past persecution' in order to extort money, a new Israeli report says. The report, which the Jewish Agency conducted jointly with Israel's Information and Diaspora Ministry, found that 42 percent of those polled by the University of Bielefeld in Germany agreed that "jews exploit the past to extort money," Haaretz reported on Monday. The countries in which the highest percentage of the population agreed with that statement were Poland and Spain. There were more anti-Israeli incidents in 2009 than in any year since World War II, according to the annual Jewish Agency report released January 24.
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China's Hawks Demand Cold War on U.S.

More than half of Chinese people questioned in a poll believe China and America are heading for a new “cold war”. The finding came after battles over Taiwan, Tibet, trade, climate change, internet freedom and human rights which have poisoned relations in the three months since President Barack Obama made a fruitless visit to Beijing. According to diplomatic sources, a rancorous postmortem examination is under way inside the US government, led by officials who think the president was badly advised and was made to appear weak. In China’s eyes, the American response — which includes a pledge by Obama to get tougher on trade — is a reaction against its rising power.
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Russia Condemns US move to Put Missiles in Romania

The Kremlin said it was taken aback by news that Romania's top military body had agreed to host US SM-3 interceptor missiles and other military infrastructure in response to an alleged missile threat from Iran. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said he had demanded an "exhaustive explanation" from Washington, citing a treaty that would prevent US ships delivering the necessary equipment via the Black Sea. "How can we stay calm when alien military infrastructure, US military infrastructure, has come to the Black Sea area?" Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to Nato, told Russian state TV separately.
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Uganda Confronts 'Loud-mouthed Homosexual Lobby'

Cliff Kincaid / Accuracy in Media
A leading pro-family activist in Uganda says that Christians in that East African country need help resisting the schemes of the international homosexual lobby. Charles Tuhaise tells AIM that he is also disturbed by the general silence of conservatives in the U.S. to stand up for Uganda and its emerging Christian culture. The issue is consideration of a piece of legislation to discourage homosexual practices in Uganda. "Many Ugandans are shocked at the reaction to this bill and the extent to which homosexual activists can intimidate everyone to silence," Tuhaise said. "This is a bill written to control a problem that has largely gotten out of hand in western society and is now spreading tentacles worldwide. Perhaps Uganda has helped to highlight the danger that the homosexual movement poses to the world."
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Dubai Threatens to Arrest Israeli Prime Minister

DUBAI -- Dubai will issue an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Israel is found to be implicated in the murder of a top militant Palestinian in the emirate, The National newspaper reported on Friday. Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan has said that Israel's spy agency Mossad could have been behind the January 20 killing of Mahmud al-Mabhuh, a founder of the military wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas, in a luxury hotel room. Netanyahu "will be the first to be wanted for justice as he would have been the one who signed the decision to kill al-Mabhuh in Dubai," The National quoted Khalfan as saying.
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U.S. Commanders In Afghanistan Face Tougher Discipline For Battlefield Failures

The U.S. military has reprimanded an unusually large number of commanders for battlefield failures in Afghanistan in recent weeks, reflecting a new push by the top brass to hold commanders responsible for major incidents in which troops are killed or wounded, said senior military officials. The military does not release figures on disciplinary actions taken against field commanders. But officials familiar with recent investigations said letters of reprimand or other disciplinary action have been recommended for officers involved in three ambushes in which U.S. troops battled Taliban forces in remote villages in 2008 and 2009. Such administrative actions can scuttle chances for promotion and end a career if they are made part of an officer's permanent personnel file.
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Senate Passes AIPAC Sponsored Iran Sanctions Act

Last week the Senate passed legislation to impose economic sanctions against Iran. The House version of the bill sponsored by Reps. Barney Frank and Mark Kirk passed in December. There is a separate Petroleum Sanctions act sponsored by Ileana Ros Lehtinen and Howard Berman that passed the House in October. The Senate bill was sponsored by Democrat Chris Dodd and Republican Richard Shelby. The sanctions would target oil which Iran's economy is dependent on. The bill would also ban trade with companies that do business with Iran. The President has not stated whether he will sign the bill into law but did warn Iran that it would suffer "growing consequences" if they ignored international obligations. Obama introduced similar legislation when he was Senator.
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Death Toll of Christians in Jos, Nigeria Clash Hits 48

Outbreak of violence in Plateau state results in burning of 10 church buildings.
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Two pastors and 46 other Christians have been confirmed killed in the outbreak of violence 10 days ago in Jos, Plateau state in Nigeria, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In the religious clash, triggered when Muslim youths on Jan. 17 attacked a Catholic church, 10 church buildings were burned and 27 Christians are still missing, CAN officials said at a press conference in Jos today. Police estimate over 300 lives were lost in the clash. The Plateau state CAN chairman, the Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, said the CAN Directorate of Research has carefully investigated the clash "without any sentiment and come out with a factual account."
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North Korea to Free American Missionary

The Associated Press
North Korea announced Friday that it will free an American missionary detained on Christmas Day for illegally crossing the border from China. Robert Park, of Tucson, Arizona, slipped across the frozen Tumen River from China into the North carrying letters calling on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to close the country's notoriously brutal prison camps and to step down from power, rights activists in Seoul said. North Korean media reported in a brief dispatch Dec. 29 that authorities had detained an American suspected of illegal entry, but said nothing more about it until Friday, leaving his fate in question for weeks.
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UK: Refuse Naked Body Scan and You'll Be Barred From Flights

Air passengers who refuse to submit to controversial full body scans will be barred from boarding their flights. The technology - which has been strongly condemned by civil liberties campaigners - began operating at Heathrow and Manchester airports yesterday. Birmingham will follow suit later this month before the anti-terror devices are rolled out nationally. The move - strongly criticised by civil liberties campaigners who say the scanners are an invasion of privacy - follows the attempted Detroit bomb attack on Christmas Day. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a bomb on a flight as it was about to land in the U.S. city. Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said: 'In the immediate future, only a small proportion of airline passengers will be selected for scanning.
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Copts in Cyprus Nervously Monitor Shootings

A youmg man enters the office where I sit, followed by the sweet smell of incense from the church downstairs. As he sets down the cup of tea, the priest opposite me says: "Now you can write about this man in the paper too!" The young man looks worried for a moment, then, after reassurance that he won't be named, returns to his duties. A third man in the room with us, who is translating for the priest, Father Zacharias, explains: "Even here many people are afraid that if they engage (in protests) their families in Egypt will be exposed to more dangers."
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Christian in Egypt: 'They Try to Kill Us'

Egyptian Maher El-Gowhary and his 15 year old daughter Dina never pray twice at the same church, never stay longer than a month in any one apartment. They are constantly under threat, always on the run because they converted to Christianity in a largely Muslim country. Maher and Dina nervously agreed to meet us at a Church in Cairo. The priest at the Church said he feared problems from the Egyptian authorities and while he agreed to have us watch his Sunday mass, the Priest declined to speak to us about what is happening in Egypt and to the El-Gowhary's. They tell their story out of fear and desperation. Born Muslims they chose to convert to the Christian Church after both claim they had religious visions. Now Maher says "Muslims try to kill us, and will kill us if they find us."
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British Army May Patrol Streets To Confront Terror Threat

Britain's armed forces could be used on a regular basis on the streets of Britain to confront the threat of terrorism, under the terms of a strategic defence review announced yesterday. Two of the six "key questions" to be considered by the SDR will focus on domestic threats which "cannot be separated from international security", according to a Green Paper setting out the grounds for a full scale review to start after the election. Decisions need to be made on the "balance between focusing on our territory and region and engaging threats at a distance" and "what contribution the armed forces should make in ensuring security and contributing to resilience within the UK".
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Obama Ups Pakistan Drone Strikes in Assassination Campaign

News reports said a volley of missile strikes from US drones killed 16 alleged militants in Pakistan on Tuesday. The use of drones to assassinate Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan has soared under President Barack Obama. Several US unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, fired a volley of missiles at houses in a village in Pakistan’s northwest on Tuesday and killed roughly 16 alleged Taliban militants, news agencies reported. Information on civilian casualties, if any, was not immediately available. Agence France-Presse cited an unidentified Pakistani security official as saying that about 18 US missiles were fired at targets in the village of Dattakhel. Earlier news reports put the death toll at about 10. A later report by CNN claimed 29 killed.
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National Tea Party Convention opens in Nashville

The Washington Post
The grass-roots movement that exploded across the nation last year in revolt against Obama's economic policies and health-care agenda is reaching a critical milestone Thursday as hundreds of conservative activists converge here for the start of the inaugural National Tea Party Convention. But the first gathering of a sprawling movement, made up of hundreds of disparate Tea Party groups, has been marred by controversy. Some high-profile speakers and activist groups have canceled their appearances in protest of alleged profiteering by the convention organizers. Attendees have been charged $549 a ticket (plus hotel and transportation) to gather for three days at the luxurious Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center -- an expense that critics say is out of reach for the average grass-roots activist. Some of the proceeds will go to cover former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's reported $100,000 fee to deliver Saturday's keynote address.
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Healthcare Will Eat Up One In Five Dollars of US GDP by 2020, Medicare Says

Rogue Government
WASHINGTON -- Health care legislation may be on the back burner, but a new report released today underscores its spiraling upward trend. In 2009, health care spending consumed an record high 17.3 percent of the nation's GDP, according to a study published in Health Affairs by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The figure is up from 2008, when health care costs constituted 16.2 percent of the gross domestic product. Health spending in 2009 totaled $2.5 trillion, a growth rate of 5.7 percent in a year when overall GDP contracted.
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House Passes Cybersecurity Bill

The House overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at building up the United States’ cybersecurity army and expertise, amid growing alarm over the country’s vulnerability online. The bill, which passed 422-5, requires the Obama administration to conduct an agency-by-agency assessment of cybersecurity workforce skills and establishes a scholarship program for undergraduate and graduate students who agree to work as cybersecurity specialists for the government after graduation. As officials puzzle over how to defend the nation from enemies that are often impossible to pinpoint, the lawmakers behind the bill said education and recruitment are crucial.
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China Threatens U.S. Sanctions Over Taiwan Arms Sale

Sydney Morning Herald
China will erect trade sanctions against Boeing and other large US companies unless the US Congress blocks the Obama administration's planned $7.2 billion weapons sales program to Taiwan, a senior defence strategist said. Rear Admiral Yang Yi told the Herald yesterday China was prepared to hurt itself in order to teach the administration a lesson. ''We're waiting for the reaction from US Congress and if they don't have a U-turn then the follow-up of sanctions will come soon,'' said Admiral Yang, who previously co-wrote Chinese defence white papers while director of international strategic studies at the National Defence University.
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Obama Justice Department Clears Bush's Torture-Memo Lawyers of Wrongdoing

We've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for news to come down from the Justice Department on what might become of John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the two Bush administration lawyers largely responsible for authoring the famous torture memos. Well, we finally have word. And it appears that the DOJ will largely let the pair go with little more than a slap on the wrist. Click here for the story from Newsweek, which broke the news; here for a followup from over the weekend from the Washington Post. (Hat tip: Nuts & Boalts) According to a forthcoming ethics report issued by the DOJ’s ethics-watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility, Yoo and Bybee will be wrist-slapped for exercising poor judgment but will not be referred to authorities for possible sanctions.
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U.S. Illegally Fires Missiles Into Pakistan Killing 16 People

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan -- At least 16 militants were killed on Tuesday after US drones fired numerous missiles at a village in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said. The strike, which officials said involved 18 missiles fired from eight of the unmanned planes, is the latest in a series of US attacks on the lawless tribal area, which Washington calls the most dangerous place on earth. It is a known stronghold of home-grown Islamist militant groups and extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.
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Female Pakistani Scientist Convicted of Trying to Kill Americans

WSJ.com
NEW YORK -- A Pakistani woman trained as a scientist in the U.S. was convicted Wednesday of trying to kill U.S. Army soldiers and FBI agents at an Afghan police compound in July 2008. In their third day of deliberations, jurors convicted Aafia Siddiqui of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault of U.S. officers and employees, using a firearm during a crime of violence and three additional counts of assault. "This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America," Ms. Siddiqui said after the verdict was read and as the jury was exiting the room. "Your anger should be directed where it belongs. I can testify to this. I have proof." Ms. Siddiqui, who remains in custody, faces as much as 20 years in prison on the attempted murder charge and up to life in prison on the firearms charge.
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Israelis Finally Admits to Using White Phosphorus In Gaza

Israel's military has reprimanded two senior officers for an artillery attack last January in the Gaza Strip that involved the use of white phosphorus, a chemical condemned by human rights groups. The barrage came as part of the assault on Hamas by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), during which the Gaza Division Commander, Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg, and former Givati Brigade Commander Colonel Ilan Malka ordered artillery units to fire at areas near a United Nations’ compound, where 600-700 Palestinians were seeking refuge. The white phosphorus rained down on the UN Relief and Works Agency location, causing a fire to break out and burning several people.
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Pentagon's Black Budget Tops $56 BILLION

The Defense Department just released its king-sized, $708 billion budget for the next fiscal year. Much of the proposed spending is fairly detailed -- noting exactly how many helicopters the Pentagon plans to buy and how many troops it plans on playing. But about $56 billion goes simply to "classified programs," or to projects known only by their code names, like “Chalk Eagle” and “Link Plumeria.” That’s the Pentagon’s black budget. Cobbling together this round figure for the military’s hush-hush projects is easier than it seems. The Pentagon’s separate ledgers for operations, research and procurement all contain line items for “classified programs.” Add those to the nonsensically-named programs, and you’ve got yourself an estimate for the Pentagon’s secretive efforts.
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U.S. Launches Largest Asian War Games in Thailand

THE US military began its largest war games in the Pacific region Monday -- an annual training exercise with troops from Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, now joined by South Korea. At the opening ceremony in the eastern Thai province of Rayong, US Ambassador Eric G. John said that the "Cobra Gold" exercise, now in its 29th year, had become a "multinational showcase event." "The US continues to view this exercise, which is our premier training event in Thailand, as an important symbol of US military commitment to maintaining peace and security in Asia," he told the audience. John welcomed South Korea's participation in the event, which runs until February 11 and will see soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen from the six countries taking part in operations across Thailand.
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Island Residents Sue U.S., Saying Military Firing Range Made Them Sick

VIEQUES, Puerto Rico -- Nearly 40 years ago, Hermogenes Marrero was a teenage U.S. Marine, stationed as a security guard on the tiny American island of Vieques, off the coast of Puerto Rico. Marrero says he's been sick ever since. At age 57, the former Marine sergeant is nearly blind, needs an oxygen tank, has Lou Gehrig's disease and crippling back problems, and sometimes needs a wheelchair. The decorated former Marine is now the star witness in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit by more than 7,000 residents of this Caribbean island -- about three-quarters of its population -- who say that what the U.S. military did on Vieques has made them sick. For nearly six decades, beginning right after World War II, Vieques was one of the Navy's largest firing ranges and weapons testing sites.
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UK: Refuse Naked Body Scan And You'll Be Barred From Flights

Air passengers who refuse to submit to controversial full body scans will be barred from boarding their flights. The technology - which has been strongly condemned by civil liberties campaigners - began operating at Heathrow and Manchester airports yesterday. Birmingham will follow suit later this month before the anti-terror devices are rolled out nationally. The move - strongly criticised by civil liberties campaigners who say the scanners are an invasion of privacy - follows the attempted Detroit bomb attack on Christmas Day. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a bomb on a flight as it was about to land in the U.S. city. Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said: 'In the immediate future, only a small proportion of airline passengers will be selected for scanning.
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Gates Asks for $33 BILLION In War Supplemental

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Monday urged Congress to approve a $33 billion war supplemental bill by spring to fund increased operations in Afghanistan. The request for more war money will immerse Congress in an intense debate over the war in Afghanistan. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) already said that she won't ask members of her party, and in particular liberal Democrats, to vote for another war supplemental. Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said Monday that the Pentagon will need the additional money by Memorial Day, at the end of May. Hale said that the Pentagon could stretch beyond that date.
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Gates Shakes Up Leadership for F-35

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that he was replacing the general in charge of the Pentagon’s largest weapons program — the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — and withholding $614 million in award fees from the contractor, Lockheed Martin. The surprise announcement came from a Pentagon chief who has sought to impose accountability across the department’s senior leadership and who himself had promoted plans for the new plane last year in persuading Congress to kill the more expensive F-22 fighter jet. But a special Pentagon review team has since warned of possibly billions of dollars in cost overruns on the plane, and Gates announced that he was restructuring the program and requiring the company to cover some of the extra costs. Gates disclosed the reshuffling on the F-35 program as he released the Pentagon’s proposed $708.3 billion spending package for the fiscal year 2011.
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U.S. Shifts Military Focus to Militants, Hi-Tech Weapons

The Pentagon on Monday shifted its strategy to focus on the threat of Islamist militants and the spread of hi-tech missiles, warning that US military power faced new limits and constraints. In a long-term strategy document, the Defense Department tossed out a doctrine entrenched for decades that the American military should be prepared to fight two wars at the same time against conventional armies. Instead, the military must prepare for a range of threats in an "uncertain security landscape" where extremists or "non-state actors" are gaining access to missile technology and trying to secure weapons of mass destruction, the Quadrennial Defense Review said.
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Sikorsky to Develop Unmanned Black Hawk

The Associated Press
HARTFORD, Connecticut -- Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is launching a $1 billion venture featuring a pilot-less Black Hawk helicopter as military demand rises for technology to fight two wars. The Stratford-based helicopter maker and military contractor announced Monday the creation of Sikorsky Innovations, intended to speed the transformation of the mechanical helicopter into a computerized aircraft. It also will promote projects that are now designing helicopters to fly faster, simulate vision and monitor their own performance. The Black Hawk is a military workhorse, used in Afghanistan, Iraq, Grenada in 1983, Panama in 1989 and the Gulf War in 1991. It's also part of military packages sold to other nations and has been used in civilian missions such as rescuing snowbound mountain climbers.
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Libya Strikes Billion-Dollar Russian Arms Deal

MOSCOW — Libya has struck a deal to buy Russian arms worth almost two billion dollars, Russian news agencies quoted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as saying Saturday. "Yesterday (Friday), a contract worth 1.3 billion euros (1.8 billion dollars) was signed. It does not only involve firearms", Putin was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti and Interfax. Putin was speaking following a meeting with the head of the Izhmash factory, which manufactures Kalashnikov rifles. Russian officials said early this week that negotiations were underway with the Libyan Defence Minister Younes Jaber in Moscow over the sale of Russian weapons.
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Pentagon To Be Part Of The Global Warming Fraud

The Pentagon will for the first time rank global warming as a destabilising force, adding fuel to conflict and putting US troops at risk around the world, in a major strategy review to be presented to Congress tomorrow. The quadrennial defence review, prepared by the Pentagon to update Congress on its security vision, will direct military planners to keep track of the latest climate science, and to factor global warming into their long term strategic planning. "While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden on civilian institutions and militaries around the world," said a draft of the review seen by the Guardian.
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