Terrorism Archive:

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"– Voting against making anti-choice violence a federal crime. As the Jed Report notes, McCain voted in 1993 and 1994 against making “bombings, arson and blockades at abortion clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses who perform abortions” federal crimes."

"– Opposing Colorado’s “Bubble Law.” McCain said he opposed Colorado’s “Bubble Law,” which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within 8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. The law was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court."

"– Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties by declaring bankruptcy. NARAL Pro-Chioce America notes that McCain “voted to allow perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health clinics to avoid paying the fines assessed against them for their illegal acts by declaring bankruptcy.””

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"His [McCain's] campaign officials said Liddy's character will appeal to many voters because he was following orders from [Republican] President Nixon and kept silent afterward."

""His (Liddy's) judgment might be in question, but I don't think his character is," said Ed Walker, the York County chairman of McCain's campaign. "He was following orders just like any good soldier, and he didn't tell on anybody. He felt like he was on a mission and kept his silence.""

"What McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers -- in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him."
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"Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.""

"Which principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn't disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention? The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist?"

"Liddy was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history -- and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner of war.""

[Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman]

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"What you see in a terrorist -- that's called the invisible enemy. There has always been an invisible enemy. What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what's going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. ... We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. ... Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die. Listen, you know we can't even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode." Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he's like the good shepherd, he's loving all the time and he's kind all the time. Oh yes he is -- but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war."

"The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001. It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq –- thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al Qaeda, something the vice president’s office [Republican Dick Cheney] had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link."

-MSNBC

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Opinion - Noteworthy

Corporate - Media

-FaceTheNation -CBSNews

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"But as McCain greets two breakfast-eating business partners, one from Stamford [Connecticut] and the other from Bridgeport [Connecticut], the topic turns to the presidential race. The two men tell the senator they support [Republican] President George W. Bush, and to that end, McCain says, "(Osama) Bin Laden may have just given us a little boost. Amazing, huh?".... " ... "The two men, who requested anonymity, nod their heads in agreement. Later, while riding with Shays on an RV to a rally at the Stamford Government Center, McCain further explains, "(The video) is helpful to President Bush because it puts the focus on the war on terrorism.""

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• "We got the wrong guys."
• "'I guess you can call it torture'."
• "A school for Jihad."
• "'Due process is legal mumbo-jumbo'."
• "'You are the king of this prison'."
• +"Archive of investigation documents."

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"CLARKE: Well, there may be some other kind of remedy. There may be some sort of truth and reconciliation commission process that’s been tried in other countries, South Africa, Salvador and what not, where if you come forward and admit that you were in error or admit that you lied, admit that you did something, then you’re forgiven. Otherwise, you are censured in some way."

"Now, I just don’t think we can let these people back into polite society and give them jobs on university boards and corporate boards and just let them pretend that nothing ever happened when there are 4,000 Americans dead and 25,000 Americans grieviously wounded, and they’ll carry those wounds and suffer all the rest of their lives"
WATCH VIDEO: "Clarke on Iraq War Architects."

"- Last fall, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was named a “distinguished visiting fellow” at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he focuses on “issues pertaining to ideology and terror.”"

"- After a controversial tenure as the president of the World Bank, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank."

 "- Richard Perle, the chairman of Defense Policy Board during the run up to the Iraq war, also landed on the payroll of the American Enterprise Institute, where he is a resident fellow."

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"[N]either the Administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] and the trial lawyers, understand were Constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001. [...]"

"We do not know what lies ahead in our nation’s fight against radical Islamic extremists, but John McCain will do everything he can to protect Americans from such threats, including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance to collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as authorized by Article II of the Constitution."

Scott McClellan - Books- Counterterrorism - US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Politics - Marketing - "Scott McClellan Apologizes for Bashing Richard Clarke." ... "In an encounter last night in the lobby of a New York hotel, former [Republican President Bush] White House press secretary Scott McClellan apologized for denouncing a former White House colleague, Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism adviser, after Clarke wrote a book ["Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror"] highly critical of the Bush administration in 2004." ... "Now McClellan is facing a similar denunciation from the White House for his own highly critical book." ... "In 2004, McClellan said Clarke's book, asserting the Bush administration failed to take timely action against al Qaeda, was "flat-out wrong." He told reporters at a March 22, 2004 briefing, "Ask yourself why, one and a half years later, after he left the administration, he's all of a sudden, coming forward with these grave concerns? If he had such grave concerns, why didn't he come out with them sooner?"" ... "Now White House aides are saying much the same thing about McClellan's assertions, in his book "What Happened," that President Bush waged a deceitful propaganda campaign to promote the war in Iraq. " ... "Clarke appeared Thursday night on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" to talk about his new book, "Your Government Failed You," and was asked about McClellan's criticism of him in 2004. "I think there is a box in the White House that, if anyone escapes and tells the truth, they break open for talking points about what to say," Clarke told Stewart." (1, 2) -By Brian Ross with contributions by Mark Mooney -ABCNEWS.com 

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John McCain - Jon Kyl - 2008 Election - Arizona - Massachusetts - US - Iraq - Military - Terrorism - Politics - "In An Iraq-Related Hole, McCain Keeps On Digging." ... "Both the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Senator [John McCain] and his aides sought to brush away his factually inaccurate statement that American troops in Iraq were down to pre-surge levels." ... "Reminded that troops in Iraq currently number 155,000, well above the pre-surge level of 130,000, McCain refused to acknowledge on Friday that he had misspoke." ... ""I said we had drawn down," the Senator declared during a press conference ([]watch video). "I said we have drawn down and we have drawn down three of the five brigades. We have drawn down three of the five brigades. We have drawn down the marines. The rest will be home the end of July. That's just facts, the facts as I stated them."" ... "But that isn't what he stated. On Thursday, in fact, he made a very specific measurement as to the extent of troop reductions." ... ""I can tell you that it [the mission in Iraq] is succeeding," said McCain. "I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels."" ... "And that was just the beginning. McCain's gaffe had already been exacerbated during a conference call earlier in the day, when aides to the Arizona Republican insisted that he had not misspoke, even while McCain surrogate [Arizona Republican Senator] Sen. Jon Kyl acknowledged on the same call that he had: "What he said was not entirely accurate. OK. So what?"" ... "During the same Thursday conference when he [McCain] misstated troop levels, he also argued that conditions were "quiet" in Mosul [Iraq]. That same day, three suicide bombers killed 30 in the city." ... ""It is very disturbing to have John McCain continue to raise questions about what he knows and what he bases his judgments on," [Massachusetts Democratic Senator] Sen. John Kerry said. "If you don't know the number of troops, it is difficult to make a judgment as to whether they are overextended. ... It raises serious questions about his comprehension of this challenge."" -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

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WATCH "John McCain Misrepresents The Facts On The Ground," where he made the false assertion: "I can tell you that it [the Surge] is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City are quiet." --John McCain, Town Hall meeting, May 28, 2008.

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John McCain - Randy Scheunemann - Political - Semantics - People - Accounting - US - Iraq - Military - Terrorism - 2008 Election - "McCain, the Surge, and 'verb tenses'." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain got ahead of events this week in claiming that the United States military has gone down to "pre-surge levels" in Iraq. That will not happen until later this year, even by the most optimistic scenario. He is also wrong about the city of Mosul [Iraq] being "quiet", unless you exclude car bombs and other mayhem. His advisers attempted to spin his remarks as a simple matter of "verb tense." But there is a big difference between "Mission Accomplished" and "We expect the mission to be accomplished soon."" ... "The Facts:" ... "The McCain campaign organized a rapid-response conference call with reporters in an attempt to limit the fallout from the senator's erroneous claim that "we have drawn down to pre-surge levels" in Iraq. The Obama folks pointed out that there are at present around 155,000 troops in Iraq, compared to a January 2007 force level of 128,569. The Pentagon is planning to get down to 140,000 by the end of July." ... "In a conference call with reporters, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said the issue was a "question of semantics," and that McCain would have been right if he had said that the Pentagon had "taken a decision" to draw down the troops or was in the process of drawing them down." ... "But verb tenses matter, particularly in the case of Iraq, where it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen next week, let alone next month. By the Scheunemann standard of linguistic analysis, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Bush administration's claim of "Mission Accomplished" back in May 2003. As we now know, a few things happened after that date to make the claim somewhat premature." ... "Taking a decision to do something and actually implementing it are two very different matters. To claim the contrary reminds me of the motto from the Ministry of Information in George Orwell's 1984: "He who controls the past controls the future; and he who controls the present controls the past."" ... "Similarly Orwellian is McCain's claim that all is "quiet" in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul, despite two car bomb attacks yesterday in the Mosul area that killed at least 20 people. News reports depict the town as the "last urban bastion of al-Qaeda" in Iraq. In the conference call, Scheunemann acknowledged that al Qaeda was still active in the area." [The Washington Post gives McCain's accounting numbers three Pinochio's out of a possible four, calling the statements by Candidate McCain "Significant factual error[s] and/or obvious contradictions."] -By Michael Dobbs with contributions by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost

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WATCH "John McCain Misrepresents The Facts On The Ground," where he made the false assertion: "I can tell you that it [the Surge] is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City are quiet." --John McCain, Town Hall meeting, May 28, 2008.

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John McCain - 2008 Election - Wisconsin - Arizona - US - Iraq - Military - Terrorism - "McCain Declares Mosul "Quiet" On Same Day As Three Suicide Attacks (Video)." ... "Speaking about Iraq at a townhall event on Thursday evening in Greensdale, Wisconsin, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain declared, "I can tell you that it is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr city are quiet and it's long and it's hard and it's tough and there will be setbacks..."" ... "McCain was wrong on two points. First, U.S. [United States] forces have not returned to pre-surge levels. Before the surge, there were 130,000 troops in Iraq; even if the scheduled troop reductions are carried out as planned, there will still be 140,000 troops in Iraq in August." ... "Moreover, McCain's claim that Mosul [Iraq] is "quiet" was disproved earlier today in grim fashion. Three suicide bombings -- two in Mosul and another in a surrounding town -- left 30 Iraqis dead and more than two dozen injured, according to press_reports. " -By Nico Pitney -HuffingtonPost.com

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John McCain - Rod Parsley - John Hagee - Military- Terrorism - Religion - Politicians - Homosexuals - Racism - Television - Media - Ohio - Texas - 2008 Election - "In Rebuking Minister, McCain May Have Alienated Evangelicals." ... "The [Republican televangelist, Reverend] Rev. Rod Parsley paces the stage, wiping his forehead and shouting to his congregation in a taped sermon that marriage is under attack by "tortured and angry homosexuals."" ... "During another of his nationally broadcast television shows, he compares Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan, saying that its goal is to "eliminate" blacks. And at another service at his 12,000-member World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, he punches the air and calls Islam a "false religion" that God has told America to destroy." ... ""We were built for battle! We were created for conflict! We get off on warfare!" he adds." ... "Images of one of the nation's rising stars of television evangelism are widely available on DVDs and Web sites, with sermons that are almost certain to inflame some segment of the voting public. But in its quest to secure support from evangelical Christians, the campaign of presumptive [2008 Election] Republican presidential nominee John McCain did not note a long record of inflammatory statements by Parsley and the [Republican televangelist, Reverend] Rev. John Hagee of Texas, another TV evangelist, until long after McCain had accepted their endorsements." ... "The move backfired last week when clips of the ministers' sermons gained national attention, prompting McCain to reject their support. The candidate's abrupt turnabout brought criticism not only from secular viewers, who questioned why he had aligned himself with controversial religious voices, but also from evangelicals, who said he may have alienated a powerful bloc of potential Republican voters." ... "In February, McCain appeared with Parsley to accept his endorsement and called him a "spiritual guide."" ... "He [Parsley] and his family reside in a 7,462-square-foot house, valued at more than $1 million, on a 24-acre gated property." ... "In 2005, Parsley created a voter registration organization called Reformation Ohio, telling Christians that it was time to "lock and load" and to prepare for a "Holy Ghost invasion" of government." (1, 2) -By Kimberly Kindy with contributions by Alice Critics, Meg Smith, and Madonna Lebling -WashingtonPost

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WATCH Rod Parsley, McCain's "Spiritual Guide" who claims God wants America to destroy Islam, and screamed, "We get off on warfare."

McCain Parsley McCain's "Spiritual Guide" Rod Parsley "We get off on warfare!"

Barack Obama - History - Author - Foreign - Military - Terrorism - Torture - Guantanamo - Cuba - Iraq - US - 2008 Election - "Fukuyama backs Obama for US presidency." ... "He is one of America's most famous neo-conservatives and his ideas on the spread of democracy have informed the [Republican President] Bush administration's foreign policy." ... "But Francis Fukuyama, the author of The End of History and Professor of International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, is now a sharp critic of US President George W Bush and has even come out as a supporter of [2008 Election] Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama for president." ... "ELEANOR HALL: So what advice do you have for the next president of the United States on foreign policy?" ... "FRANCIS FUKUYAMA: I think that the US as a result of Iraq has really alienated itself from a good deal of the global public. Not just people in the Middle East where anti-Americanism is at an all-time high but from its European allies, from a lot of publics in places where there ought to be a lot of sympathy." ... "So I think the United States needs to reconnect with the world. It needs to do some symbolic things like, we shouldn't torture people, so as a first symbolic gesture I think the new president ought to close Guantanamo [Cuba] and I think in general what you need is a shift." ... "There needs to be great downplaying of the whole war on terrorism. To call it a war I think has over-militarised our objectives and the means that we have used to prosecute it, and I think there has to be a greater shift to the use of soft power in projecting American influence and then there are large areas of the world where we have kind of neglected thinking about things like east Asia where you have obviously got some very big changes going off. " -By Eleanor Hall -Yahoo 

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John McCain - John Hagee - Terrorism - Racism - Politician - Military - Religion - History - Germany - Israel - Palestine - Book - Arizona - US - 2008 Election - "McCain Backer Hagee Said Hitler Was Fulfilling God's Will (AUDIO)." ... "[Republican televangelist] John Hagee, the controversial evangelical leader and endorser of [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain, argued in a late 1990s sermon that the Nazis [Germany] had operated on God's behalf to chase the Jews from Europe and shepherd them to Palestine. According to the Reverend, Adolph Hitler was a "hunter," sent by God, who was tasked with expediting God's will of having the Jews re-establish a state of Israel." ... "Going in and out of biblical verse, Hagee preached: "'And they the hunters should hunt them,' that will be the Jews. 'From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.' If that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the holocaust you can't see that."" ... "He goes on: "Theodore Herzl is the father of Zionism. He was a Jew who at the turn of the 19th century said, this land is our land, God wants us to live there. So he went to the Jews of Europe and said 'I want you to come and join me in the land of Israel.' So few went that Hertzel went into depression. Those who came founded Israel; those who did not went through the hell of the holocaust." ... ""Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says -- Jeremiah writing -- 'They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,' meaning there's no place to hide. And that might be offensive to some people but don't let your heart be offended. I didn't write it, Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel." (Listen to the audio below.)" ... "The sermon, which was first posted by Bruce Wilson on his site, Talk To Action, adds another element to Hagee's controversial stance on the state and history of Israel." ... "Since McCain secured the endorsement, both his campaign and Hagee have been pressed to explain a series of derogatory remarks the Reverend made about the Catholic Church, including his reference to the institution as "the Great Whore."" ... "As Wilson notes, in his 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown", Hagee proposed the theory that "anti-Semitism, and thus the Holocaust, was the fault of Jews themselves -- the result of an age old divine curse incurred by the ancient Hebrews through worshiping idols and passed, down the ages, to all Jews now alive." He also wrote that "Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews."" -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

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(Audio) "McCain Endorser Hagee: God Sent Hitler, Jews Have Dead Souls"

McCain Hagee:

Barack Obama - John McCain - Military - Terrorism - Iran - Palestine - Israel - Afghanistan - Foreign - South Dakota - Illinois - W.Va. - US - 2008 Election - "Obama criticizes McCain, Bush on appeasement talk." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama rebuked Republican [2008 Election Presidential] rival John McCain and [Republican] President Bush for "dishonest, divisive" attacks in hinting that the Democratic presidential candidate would appease terrorists, staunchly defending his national security credentials for the general election campaign." ... ""I'm a strong believer in civility and I'm a strong believer in a bipartisan foreign policy, but that cause is not served with dishonest, divisive attacks of the sort that we've seen out of George Bush and John McCain over the last couple days, " Obama told about 2,000 voters at a town hall-style meeting in a livestock barn [in South Dakota]." ... "Obama said McCain had a "naive and irresponsible belief that tough talk from Washington will somehow cause Iran to give up its nuclear program and support for terrorism."" ... ""They [Bush and McCain] aren't telling you the truth. They are trying to fool you and scare you because they can't win a foreign policy debate on the merits," said Obama. "But it's not going to work. Not this time, not this year."" ... ""That's exactly the kind of appalling attack that's divided our country and that alienates us from the world," Obama said." ... ""If they want a debate about protecting the United States of America, that's a debate I'm ready to win because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for," Obama said. He blamed Bush's policies for enhancing the strength of terrorist groups such as Hamas [in Palestine] and "the fact that al-Qaida's leadership is stronger than ever because we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan," among other failings." ... "Other Democrats accused McCain of hypocrisy Friday, saying the certain GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] presidential nominee had previously been willing to negotiate with the militant Palestian group Hamas." ... "In Charleston, W.Va. [West Virginia], speaking before Obama's speech, McCain told reporters: "I made it very clear, at that time, before and after, that we will not negotiate with terrorist organizations, that Hamas would have to abandon their terrorism, their advocacy to the extermination of the state of Israel, and be willing to negotiate in a way that recognizes the right of the state of Israel and abandons their terrorist position and advocacy."" -By Mike Glover with contributions by Glen Johnson -AP via -SeattleTimes

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Obama - McCain - Osama bin Laden - US - Iraq - Iran - Palestine - Israel - Russia - China - Foreign - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Politics - History - Illinois - 2008 Election - "Obama Strikes Back at Bush On Diplomacy." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama pushed back Friday against [Republican] President Bush's implicit criticism of his approach to foreign policy, condemning his administration for not capturing Osama bin Laden and blaming its Iraq war policy for strengthening and emboldening Iran." ... ""If [Republicans] George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America, that is a debate that I'm happy to have anytime, anyplace, and that is a debate I will win because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for," the Democratic front-runner said." ... "At a news conference later Friday, Obama called it "disingenuous" to assert that he was not the clear target of the president's comments. Obama then used the exchange to link Bush's foreign policy record to McCain's stance toward the Middle East, and to outline the ways his own approach to the world's most vexing problems would differ from those of the current administration." ... "His list of grievances included a war fought on the premise of weapons of mass destruction that were never found, the failure to capture bin Laden and turning Iran into the "greatest beneficiary" of the Iraq war." ... "He said McCain will "need to answer" for a strengthened al-Qaeda leadership, Hamas's control of the Gaza Strip [Palestine], and Iran's ability to fund Hezbollah and pose "the greatest threat to America and Israel and the Middle East in a generation."" ... ""That's the Bush-McCain record on protecting this country," Obama said. "Those are the failed policies that John McCain wants to double down on."" ... "In a later appearance, Obama added that he is "puzzled" that the concept of meeting with controversial foreign leaders is a point of debate "when this has been the history of U.S. [United States] diplomacy until very recently."" ... "He pointed to [Democratic] President John F. Kennedy's meetings with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev when the United States and Russia were on the brink of nuclear war, and to [Republican] President Richard M. Nixon's meeting with China's Mao Zedong, "with the knowledge that Mao had exterminated millions of people." " -By Matthew Mosk with contributions by Perry Bacon Jr., Michael D. Shear and Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost

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Barack Obama - John McCain - Osama bin Laden - US - Iran - Iraq - Palestine - Foreign - Military - Terrorism - History - Arizona - Illinois - 2008 Election - "Obama Links Bush and McCain on ‘Failed Policies’." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois] Senator Barack Obama responded sharply on Friday to attacks on his foreign policy, linking [Republican] President Bush and [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Senator John McCain as partners in “the failed policies” of the past seven years and criticizing them for “hypocrisy, fear peddling, fear mongering.”" ... "Confronting a major challenge to his world view, Mr. Obama tried to turn the tables on his critics, saying they were guilty of “bluster” and “dishonest, divisive” tactics. He cited a litany of what he called foreign policy blunders by the Bush administration and accused Mr. McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, of “doubling down” on them." ... "“George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for,” Mr. Obama said at a midday forum here, listing the Iraq war, the strengthening of Iran and groups like Hamas [in Palestine] and Hezbollah, Osama bin Laden’s being still at large and stalled diplomacy in other parts of the Middle East among their chief failings." ... "“If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America,” Mr. Obama said, “that is a debate I am happy to have any time, any place.”" (1, 2) -By Larry Rohter with contributions by Michael Powell -NYTimes 

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Opinion - John McCain - Clinton - Obama - US - 2008 Election - Israel- Palestine - Military - Terrorism - Politics - "[McCain] Hypocrisy on Hamas: McCain Was for Talking Before He Was Against It." ... "Two years ago, just after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections, I interviewed [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain for the British network Sky News's "World News Tonight" program. Here is the crucial part of our exchange:" ... "I asked: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"" ... "McCain answered: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."" ... "Given that exchange, the new John McCain might say that Hamas should be rooting for the old John McCain to win the presidential election. The old John McCain, it appears, was ready to do business with a Hamas-led government, while both [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidates Hillary] Clinton and [Barack] Obama have said that Hamas must change its policies toward Israel and terrorism before it can have diplomatic relations with the United States." ... "Even if McCain had not favored doing business with Hamas two years ago, he had no business smearing Barack Obama. But given his stated position then, it is either the height of hypocrisy or a case of political amnesia for McCain to inject Hamas into the American election." -By James P. Rubin -WashingtonPost

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WATCH "McCain on Hamas in 2006: Going to Have to Deal With Them." John McCain: "They're the government; and sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, in one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas is because of their dedication to violence and the the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. And I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, then they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

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-NYTimes

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Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - John McCain - Terrorism - Military - History - Israel - Iran - US - 2008 Election - "Barack Obama says President Bush falsely accused him of appeasement in speech in Israel." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama accused [Republican] President Bush of "a false political attack" Thursday after Bush warned in Israel against appeasing terrorists — early salvos in a general election campaign that's already blazing even as the Democratic front-runner tries to sew up his party's nomination." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain, the Republican nominee in waiting, said Obama was showing "naivete and inexperience and lack of judgment" in his willingness to meet with U.S. [United States] foes." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Rodham Clinton then called Bush's original comments "offensive and outrageous, especially in light of his failures in foreign policy."" ... "By tradition, partisan politics comes to a halt when a U.S. president is on foreign soil, and Bush's remarks led Obama to quickly cry foul. The first-term Illinois senator responded to the comments as if they were criticism of his position that as president he would be willing to personally meet with Iran's leaders and those of other regimes the United States has deemed rogue." ... ""It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack," Obama said in a statement his aides distributed. "George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel.["]" ... ""It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel," Obama said in his statement. "Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what (Presidents) Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power — including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy — to pressure countries like Iran and Syria."" -By Liz Sidoti with contributions by Jennifer Loven and Glen Johnson -AP via -StarTribune 

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Barack Obama - 2008 Election - US - Israel - Iran - Palestine - Terrorism - Military - "Obama attacks Bush over Iran barb." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama has accused [Republican] George W Bush of attacking him after the US president compared those in favour of talking to terrorists to Nazi appeasers." ... "The White House has denied that the remarks - from a speech to the Israeli parliament - were aimed at Mr Obama." ... "Mr Obama, who is the frontrunner to become the Democrats' presidential nominee, has argued in favour of negotiating with the Iranian regime." ... "But he has ruled out talking to militant organisations like Hamas [in Palestine]." -BBC/News 

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John McCain - Terrorism - Politics - Palestine - US - 2008 Election - Barack Obama - Illinois - Arizona - "Exclusive Video: McCain Was For Talking To Hamas Before He Was Against It...." ... "Two years ago, in an interview with James Rubin for Sky News, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain expressed a willingness to negotiate with the terrorist group Hamas [Palestine] -- the very group that McCain has been relentlessly_using to smear [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama over the last several weeks." ... "Rubin has written an op-ed in Friday's Washington Post about his exchange with McCain, and The Huffington Post has obtained exclusive video. Here's the key excerpt:"

"RUBIN: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?""

"McCAIN: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that.""
WATCH "McCain on Hamas in 2006: Going to Have to Deal With Them"

WATCH - Noteworthy - Terrorism - Politics - War Crimes - US - Freedom - Iraq - Intelligence - Military - Families - Sports - McCain - 2008 Election - "Mr. President, the war isn’t about you — or golf: Olbermann: [Republican President] Bush's claim he gave up game to honor dead GIs is ludicrous." ... "President Bush has resorted anew to the sleaziest fear-mongering and mass manipulation of an administration and public life dedicated to realizing the lowest of our expectations. And he has now applied these poisons to the 2008 presidential election, on behalf of the party at whose center he and [Republican Candidate] John McCain lurk." ... "Mr. Bush has predicted that the election of a Democratic president could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States." This ludicrous, infuriating, holier-than-thou and most importantly bone-headedly wrong statement came during a May 13 interview with Politico.com and online users of Yahoo." ... "The question was phrased as follows: "If we were to pull out of Iraq next year, what's the worst that could happen, what's the doomsday scenario?"" ... "The president replied: "Doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States. The biggest issue we face is, it's bigger than Iraq, it's this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives."" ... "Mr. Bush, at long last, has it not dawned on you that the America you have now created, includes "cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives?" They are those in — or formerly in — your employ, who may yet be charged some day with war crimes." ... "Through your haze of self-congratulation and self-pity, do you still have no earthly clue that this nation has laid waste to Iraq to achieve your political objectives? "This ideological struggle," Mr. Bush, is taking place within this country." ... "It is a struggle between Americans who cherish freedom, ours and everybody else's, and Americans like you, sir, to whom freedom is just a brand name, just like "Patriot Act" is a brand name or "Protect America" is a brand name." ... "But wait, there's more: You also said "Iraq is the place where al-Qaida and other extremists have made their stand and they will be defeated." They made no "stand" in Iraq, sir, you allowed them to assemble there!" ... "As certainly as if that were the plan, the borders were left wide open by your government's farcical post-invasion strategy of "they'll greet us as liberators." And as certainly as if that were the plan, the inspiration for another generation of terrorists in another country was provided by your government's farcical post-invasion strategy of letting the societal infra-structure of Iraq dissolve, to be replaced by an American viceroy, enforced by merciless mercenaries who shoot unarmed Iraqis and then evade prosecution in any country by hiding behind your skirts, sir." ... "Terrorism inside Iraq is your creation, Mr. Bush!" ... "Then came Mr. Bush's final blow to our nation's solar plexus, his last reopening of our common wounds, his last remark that makes the rest of us question not merely his leadership or his judgment but his very suitably to remain in office." ... ""Mr. President," he was asked, "you haven't been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?"" ... ""Yes," began perhaps the most startling reply of this nightmarish blight on our lives as Americans on our history. "It really is. I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander in Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as — to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."" ... "Golf, sir? Golf sends the wrong signal to the grieving families of our men and women butchered in Iraq? Do you think these families, Mr. Bush, their lives blighted forever, care about you playing golf? Do you think, sir, they care about you?" ... "You, Mr. Bush, let their sons and daughters be killed. Sir, to show your solidarity with them you gave up golf? Sir, to show your solidarity with them you didn't give up your pursuit of this insurance-scam, profiteering, morally and financially bankrupting war." ... "Sir, to show your solidarity with them you didn't even give up talking about Iraq, a subject about which you have incessantly proved without pause or backwards glance, that you may literally be the least informed person in the world?" ... "Sir, to show your solidarity with them, you didn't give up your presidency? In your own words  "solidarity as best as I can" is to stop a game? That is the "best" you can do?" ... "Four thousand Americans give up their lives and your sacrifice was to give up golf!" ... "The great Bushian sacrifice — an Army private loses a leg, a Marine loses half his skull, 4,000 of their brothers and sisters lose their lives — and you lose golf, and they have to pull you off the golf course to get you to just do that?" ... "If it's even true." ... "... CBS News has records of you playing golf as late as [October] Oct. 13 of that year, nearly two months later [two months after Bush claimed that he had given up golf "in solidarity" with the families of American troops.]." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Keith Olbermann -MSNBC

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US - Military - Families - Iraq - Afghanistan - Israel - Consumer - Business - Terrorism - Politics- History - "Bush Says He's Not A Golfer In Wartime." ... "[Republican] President Bush said yesterday that he gave up golfing in 2003 "in solidarity" with the families of soldiers who were dying in Iraq, concluding that it was "just not worth it anymore" to play the sport in a time of war." ... "Democrats have criticized Bush for allegedly not requiring Americans to sacrifice enough while waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and for urging people to keep shopping as a way to fight terrorism after the [September] Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush was also widely criticized in August 2002 when he decried terrorist bombings in Israel while golfing and then told reporters: "Now watch this drive."" ... "... [Presidential historian Robert] Dallek, who is critical of the current president's legacy, said Bush's remarks about Iraq "speak to his shallowness." Dallek added: "That's his idea of sacrifice, to give up golf?"" -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost

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WATCH: "Now watch this drive," video of Republican President Bush golfing immediately after explaining that "We must stop the terror. I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers, thank you. Now watch this drive."

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Barack Obama - 2008 Election - Illinois - US - Israel - History - Terrorism - Politics - "House Republican Leaders Twist Obama Statement on Israel." ... "In an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. [Democratic-Illinois], talked a great deal about Israel. He was rather effusive in his support for the Jewish state." ... "Apparently given nothing of substance to criticize, House Republican leaders then took a statement Obama made and twisted it to act as if the Democrat had insulted the Jewish state. Which he had not." ... "After describing some of the first times he thought about Zionism, Obama said "the idea of a secure Jewish state is a fundamentally just idea, and a necessary idea, given not only world history but the active existence of anti-Semitism, the potential vulnerability that the Jewish people could still experience."" ... "He talked about how "the idea of Israel and the reality of Israel is one that I find important to me personally. Because it speaks to my history of being uprooted, it speaks to the African-American story of exodus, it describes the history of overcoming great odds and a courage and a commitment to carving out a democracy and prosperity in the midst of hardscrabble land."" ... "He assailed Hamas as a terrorist organization and said the United States "should not be dealing with them until they recognize Israel, renounce terrorism, and abide by previous agreements."" -By Jake Tapper -ABCNEWS.com 

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Barack Obama - John McCain - 2008 Election - Military - Terrorism - Israel - Palestine - Iraq - Pakistan - US - Indiana - North Carolina - "Obama: McCain is 'losing his bearings'." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama chastised [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain Thursday for engaging in “smear” politics, and defended himself from critics who question whether he is capable of being commander-in-chief, during a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer — his first sit-down since the Indiana and North Carolina primaries." ... "“This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing,” Obama told Blitzer, when asked his thoughts about McCain’s comments that the terrorist organization Hamas wants Obama to be president. “Because John McCain always says ‘I am not going to run that kind of politics,’ and to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his." ... "“I’ve said it’s a terrorist organization and we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and unless they are willing to abide by previous accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis. So for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name calling in this debate.”" ... "(Related: Obama: World wants to see U.S. lead)" ... "On the topic of national security, Obama said that the American people are looking for a leader with “good judgment” — a trait the Democratic presidential hopeful said he possessed." ... "“Whether it’s my judgment on Iraq and recognizing that that was going to be a strategic blunder, to my insistence that we need to talk not just to countries we like, but countries we don’t, to my assessment in terms of how we had over-invested in the Musharraf government in Pakistan and that was going to be setting us up for failure later on,” Obama said. “I think I’ve consistently displayed the kind of judgment that the American people are looking for in the next president.”" -By Mark Preston and Alexander Mooney -CNN

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Secret - Government - Intelligence - Terrorism - Politics - Illegal - Surveillance - Investigation - Internet - Archive - Library - Electronic - Civil Liberties - Brewster_Kahle - Censorship - San Francisco - California - Student- Health - Consumer - Telephone - Electronic - Data - National Security Letter - "FBI Targets Internet Archive With Secret 'National Security Letter', Loses." ... "The Internet Archive, a project to create a digital library of the web for posterity, successfully fought a secret government Patriot Act order for records about one of its patrons and won the right to make the order public, civil liberties groups announced Wednesday morning." ... "On November 26, 2007, the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] served a controversial National Security Letter (.pdf) on the Internet Archive's founder Brewster Kahle, asking for records about one of the library's registered users, asking for the user's name, address and activity on the site." ... "The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Internet Archive's lawyers, fought the NSL [National Security Letter], challenging its constitutionality in a December 14 complaint (.pdf) to a federal court in San Francisco [California]. The FBI agreed on April 21 to withdraw the letter and unseal the court case, making some of the documents available to the public." ... "The Patriot Act greatly expanded the reach of NSLs, which are subpoenas for documents such as billing records and telephone records that the FBI can issue in terrorism investigations without a judge's approval. Nearly all NSLs come with gag orders forbidding the recipient from ever speaking of the subpoena, except to a lawyer." ... "Brewster Kahle called the gag order "horrendous," saying he couldn't talk about the case with his board members, wife or staff, but said that his stand was part of a time-honored tradition of librarians protecting the rights of their patrons." ... ""This is an unqualified success that will help other recipients understand that you can push back on these," Kahle said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning." ... "Though FBI guidelines on using NSLs warned of overusing them, two Congressionally ordered audits revealed that the FBI had issued hundreds of illegal requests for student health records, telephone records and credit reports. The reports also found that the FBI had issued hundreds of thousands of NSLs since 2001, but failed to track their use. In a letter to Congress last week, the FBI admitted it can only estimate how many NSLs it has issued." -By Ryan Singel -Wired 

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Terrorism - Politics - US - International - South Africa - Race - History - "U.S. has Mandela on terrorist list." ... "Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA." ... "The requirement applies to former South African leader Mandela and other members of South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC), the once-banned anti-Apartheid organization. In the 1970s and '80s, the ANC was officially designated a terrorist group by the country's ruling white minority. Other countries, including the United States, followed suit." -By Mimi Hall -USATODAY 

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US- Pakistan - Afghanistan - Iraq - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - "US report says al-Qaida gaining strength." ... "Al-Qaida has rebuilt some of its pre-[September]Sept. 11 capabilities from remote hiding places in Pakistan, leading to a major spike in attacks last year in that country and neighboring Afghanistan, the [Republican President] Bush administration said Wednesday." ... "Attacks in Pakistan more than doubled from 375 to 887 between 2006 and 2007, and the number of fatalities jumped by almost 300 percent from 335 to 1,335, the State Department said in its annual terrorism report." ... "In Afghanistan, the number of attacks rose 16 percent, to 1,127 incidents last year, killing 1,966 people, 55 percent more than the 1,257 who died in 2006, it said." ... "The report said attacks in Iraq dipped slightly between 2006 and 2007, but they still accounted for 60 percent of worldwide terrorism fatalities, including 17 of the 19 Americans who were killed in attacks last year. The other two were killed in Afghanistan." -By Matthew Lee -AP via -SeattleTimes

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US - Worldwide - Intelligence - Terrorism - Politics - "More Suicide Bombers, New Tactics, More Victims: U.S. [United States] Has Bad News on Terror War." ... "Are we winning? Looking at the just-released State Department report on terrorism, the answer appears to be "no."" ... "The number of terror victims killed or injured is on the rise worldwide, according to the report, and al Qaeda's senior leadership has restored some of its control over the terror group's operations, and increased its mobility and ability to plan attacks." ... "Most dramatically, there was a 50 percent increase worldwide in suicide bombings last year. All told, 66,995 people were killed or wounded in terror attacks in 2007 (up from 59,327 in 2006 and 39,469 in 2005)." -By Jonathan Karl and Kirit Radia -ABCNEWS.com 

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US - Pakistan - Afghanistan - Global - Usama bin Ladin - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - "Country Reports on Terrorism 2007." ... "Chapter 1 -- Strategic Assessment." ... "AL-QA’IDA AND ASSOCIATED TRENDS: Al-Qa’ida (AQ) and associated networks remained the greatest terrorist threat to the United States and its partners in 2007. It has reconstituted some of its pre-9/11 operational capabilities through the exploitation of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), replacement of captured or killed operational lieutenants, and the restoration of some central control by its top leadership, in particular Ayman al-Zawahiri. Although Usama bin Ladin remained the group’s ideological figurehead, Zawahiri has emerged as AQ’s strategic and operational planner." ... "AQ and its affiliates seek to exploit local grievances for their own local and global purposes. They pursue their own goals, often at large personal cost to the local population. These networks are adaptive, quickly evolving new methods in response to countermeasures. AQ utilizes terrorism, as well as subversion, propaganda, and open warfare; it seeks weapons of mass destruction in order to inflict the maximum possible damage on anyone who stands in its way, including other Muslims and/or elders, women, and children." ... "Despite the efforts of both Afghan and Pakistani security forces, instability, coupled with the Islamabad [Pakistan's capital] brokered cease-fire agreement in effect for the first half of 2007 along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, appeared to have provided AQ leadership greater mobility and ability to conduct training and operational planning, particularly that targeting Western Europe and the United States. Numerous senior AQ operatives have been captured or killed, but AQ leaders continued to plot attacks and to cultivate stronger operational connections that radiated outward from Pakistan to affiliates throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe." -State.gov 

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Military - Terrorism - Language - US - International - Politics - Religious - Vocabulary - "'Jihadist' booted from government lexicon." ... "Don't call them jihadists any more." ... "And don't call al-Qaida a movement." ... "Federal agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter Terrorism Center, are telling their people not to describe Islamic extremists as "jihadists" or "mujahedeen," according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Lingo like "Islamo-fascism" is out, too." ... "The reason: Such words may actually boost support for radicals among Arab and Muslim audiences by giving them a veneer of religious credibility or by causing offense to moderates." ... "For example, while Americans may understand "jihad" to mean "holy war," it is in fact a broader Islamic concept of the struggle to do good, says the guidance prepared for diplomats and other officials tasked with explaining the war on terror to the public. Similarly, "mujahedeen," which means those engaged in jihad, must be seen in its broader context." ... "U.S. [United States] officials may be "unintentionally portraying terrorists, who lack moral and religious legitimacy, as brave fighters, legitimate soldiers or spokesmen for ordinary Muslims," says a Homeland Security report. It's entitled "Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims."" ... ""Regarding 'jihad,' even if it is accurate to reference the term, it may not be strategic because it glamorizes terrorism, imbues terrorists with religious authority they do not have and damages relations with Muslims around the world," the report says." ... "Language is critical in the war on terror, says another document, an internal "official use only" memorandum circulating through Washington entitled "Words that Work and Words that Don't: A Guide for Counterterrorism Communication."" ... "The memo, originally prepared in March by the Extremist Messaging Branch at the National Counter Terrorism Center, was approved for diplomatic use this week by the State Department, which plans to distribute a version to all U.S. embassies, officials said." ... ""It's not what you say but what they hear," the memo says in bold italic lettering, listing 14 points about how to better present the war on terrorism." -By Matthew Lee -AP via -SeattleTimes

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Terrorism - Language - Radio - Politics - 2008 Election - Denver - Colorado - "Rush Limbaugh Calling For Riots In Denver." ... "Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments calling for riots in Denver [Colorado] during the [2008 Election] Democratic National Convention this summer." ... "He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens." ... ""Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don't elect Democrats," Limbaugh said during Wednesday's radio broadcast. He then went on to say that's the best thing that could happen to the country." -TheDenverChannel.com 

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Barack Obama - Hillary Rodham Clinton - Karl Rove - Terrorism - Politics - Osama bin Laden - Television - Ad - Money - History - Pennsylvania - Illinois - New York - Iran - Israel - US - Military - 2008 Election - "The Low Road to Victory." ... "The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it." ... "Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York] Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election." ... "If nothing else, self interest should push her in that direction. Mrs. Clinton did not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus of the Democratic race. It is true that [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois] Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs. Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering a good part of what was once a 20-point lead." ... "On the eve of this crucial primary, Mrs. Clinton became the first Democratic candidate to wave the bloody shirt of 9/11. A Clinton television ad — torn right from Karl Rove’s playbook — evoked the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, the cold war and the 9/11 attacks, complete with video of Osama bin Laden. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” the narrator intoned." ... "If that was supposed to bolster Mrs. Clinton’s argument that she is the better prepared to be president in a dangerous world, she sent the opposite message on Tuesday morning by declaring in an interview on ABC News that if Iran attacked Israel while she were president: “We would be able to totally obliterate them.”" -NYTimes

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Corporate - Government - Psychological - Military - Intelligence - Television - Radio - Media - Politics - Classified - US - History - Guantánamo- Prison- Cuba - Human Rights - Justice -  - Iraq - Terrorism - Cheney - Gonzales - "Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand." ... "In the summer of 2005, the [Republican President] Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay [US military prison in Cuba]. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure." ... "The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo." ... "To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-[September]Sept. 11 world." ... "Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found." ... "The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air." ... "Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized." ... "Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks." ... "Analysts have been wooed in hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over contracting and budget matters, records show. They have been taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence. They have been briefed by officials from the White House, State Department and Justice Department, including Mr. Cheney, Alberto R. Gonzales and Stephen J. Hadley." ... "In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access." ... "A few expressed regret for participating in what they regarded as an effort to dupe the American public with propaganda dressed as independent military analysis." ... "Many also shared with Mr. Bush’s national security team a belief that pessimistic war coverage broke the nation’s will to win in Vietnam, and there was a mutual resolve not to let that happen with this war." ... "This was a major theme, for example, with Paul E. Vallely, a Fox News analyst from 2001 to 2007. A retired Army general who had specialized in psychological warfare, Mr. Vallely co-authored a paper in 1980 that accused American news organizations of failing to defend the nation from “enemy” propaganda during Vietnam." ... "“We lost the war — not because we were outfought, but because we were out Psyoped,” he wrote. He urged a radically new approach to psychological operations in future wars — taking aim at not just foreign adversaries but domestic audiences, too. He called his approach “MindWar” — using network TV and radio to “strengthen our national will to victory.”" (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, DOCUMENTS) -By David Barstow -NYTimes 

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WATCH - "How the Pentagon Spread Its Message." ... "David Barstow, an investigative reporter for The Times, examines primary source documents detailing the Pentagon’s response to criticism of then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld by a group of prominent retired generals." -By David Barstow -NYTimes 

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US - Iraq - Iran - Military - Intelligence - Terrorism - Politics - "Pentagon institute calls Iraq war 'a major debacle' with outcome 'in doubt'." ... "The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt" despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. [United States] forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute." ... "The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about [Republican] President Bush's projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions." ... "The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins, a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in prewar preparations." ... "It was published by the university's National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Defense Department research center." ... ""Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle," says the report's opening line." ... "The report said that the United States has suffered serious political costs, with its standing in the world seriously diminished. Moreover, operations in Iraq have diverted "manpower, materiel and the attention of decision-makers" from "all other efforts in the war on terror" and severely strained the U.S. armed forces." ... ""Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there (in Iraq) were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East," the report continued." -By Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott-McClatchyDC.com

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[PDF REPORT] "Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath." ... "Errors in Decisionmaking and Execution: Problems in planning on the ground and in Washington contributed to serious shortcomings in U.S. performance in Operation Iraqi Freedom. With 4½ years of hindsight, it is clear that these shortcomings included:"

• "underestimation of the problems of occupying a fractious Muslim country the size of California"
• "ineffective civil and military plans for stability operations and reconstruction"
• "inadequate on-scene manpower and poor military reaction to rioting and looting in the immediate postconflict environment, which further encouraged lawlessness and insurgency"
• "provision of inadequate forces to occupy and secure Iraq, which encouraged the initiation and continuation of an insurgency"
• "slow civil and military reaction to the growing insurgency
• "problematic funding and contracting mechanisms that slowed services and basic reconstruction, both of which were a partial antidote to insurgency"
• "failure to make effective use of former Iraqi military forces, which, when coupled with de-Ba ’athification, alienated the Sunni minority"
• "slow and often ineffective development of new Iraqi security forces"
• "continuing inability to provide enough trained civilian officials, diplomats, and aid workers to conduct effective stabilization and reconstruction activities"
• "slow creation of an interim Iraqi authority that could have minimized the perception of occupation and enhanced the perception of liberation."

John McCain - Osama bin Laden - Terrorism - 2008 Election - Arizona - US - Iraq - Afghanistan - Military - Politics - "McCain reveals confusion over Petraeus role." ... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate [Senator] Sen. John McCain of Arizona may not have been paying the closest of attention last week during hearings on the [Republican President] Bush administration’s Iraq policy." ... "Speaking Monday at the annual meeting of the Associated Press, McCain was asked whether he, if elected, would shift combat troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to intensify the search for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden." ... "“I would not do that unless Gen. [David] Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that,” McCain said, referring to the top U.S. [United States] commander in Iraq." ... "Petraeus, however, made clear last week that he has nothing to do with the decision. Testifying last week before four congressional committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee on which McCain is the ranking Republican, Petraeus said the decision about whether troops could be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan was not his responsibility because his portfolio is limited to the multi-national force in Iraq." ... "Decisions about Afghanistan would be made by others, he said." ... "“I’ve been sort of focused on another task,” Petraeus said when pressed about whether more troops should be diverted to Afghanistan rather than Iraq." -By Rick Maze -ArmyTimes.com

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China - Military - Police - Terrorism - Religious - Censorship - Oil - Sports - Human Rights - "As world watches Tibet, China's Muslim Uighurs face growing repression." ... "Almost unnoticed amid the wide-scale protests by Tibetans over the past month is the social unrest among the 8 million or so Muslim Uighurs in China's resource-rich far western territory." ... "Recently, hundreds of Muslim women in black veils gathered outside the market in this oasis city [Khotan, China] in an impromptu protest. Some carried signs demanding an independent state." ... ""I saw the demonstration myself. There were 500 to 700 women in black, waving placards for East Turkestan," said Wu Jiangliang, a hydroelectric company employee." ... "China handled the unrest forcefully, ensuring the stability of a region rich in oil, coal and minerals. Police moved quickly to quell the March 23 protest, arresting numerous women and shooing others away. It drew only minor notice." ... "China also has broken up what it said were two terrorist rings that intended to disrupt the Beijing [China's capital] Summer Olympic Games and thwarted what it said was a terrorist attempt last month on a commercial airliner." ... "But as state officials employed a firm hand against restive Uighurs, pronounced WEE-gers, they also publicly demonized those behind the social unrest. Critics now say that while the state has stabilized ethnic areas, the harsh language may exacerbate tensions." ... ""The problem is that China's policies are alienating," said Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group. "They are efficient in that political repression works. But they increase ethnic tensions."" -By Tim Johnson -McClatchyDC.com

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Dick Cheney - John Ashcroft - Torture - Government - Military - Intelligence - Terrorism - Politics - US - International - Law - War Crimes - "Bush Aware of Advisers' Interrogation Talks: President Says He Knew His Senior Advisers Discussed Tough Interrogation Methods." ... "[Republican] President Bush says he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to an exclusive interview with ABC News Friday." ... ""Well, we started to connect the dots in order to protect the American people." Bush told ABC News White House correspondent Martha Raddatz. "And yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."" ... "These top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding, sources told ABC news." ... "At the time, the [National Security Council's] Principals Committee included Vice President Dick Cheney, former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft." ... "The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of "combined" interrogation techniques -- using different techniques during interrogations instead of using one method at a time -- on terrorist suspects who proved difficult to break, sources said." ... "Critics at home and abroad have harshly criticized the interrogation program, which pushed the limits of international law and, they say, condoned torture." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Jan Crawford Greenburg, Howard L. Rosenberg and Ariane de Vogue -ABCNEWS.com

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Dick Cheney - John Ashcroft - Jay Bybee - Michael Mukasey - Torture - War Crimes - Government - Military - Intelligence - Terrorism - Politics - Secret - Law - History - US- Overseas - "Cheney, Others OK'd Harsh Interrogations." ... "[Republican President] Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned." ... "The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved." ... "Between 2002 and 2003, the Justice Department issued several memos from its Office of Legal Counsel that justified using the interrogation tactics, including ones that critics call torture." ... "The meetings were held in the White House Situation Room in the years immediately following the [September] Sept. 11 attacks. Attending the sessions were Cheney, then-Bush aides Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice." ... "The principals eventually authorized physical abuse such as slaps and pushes, sleep deprivation, or waterboarding. This technique involves strapping a person down and pouring water over his cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning." ... "The Office of Legal Counsel issued at least two opinions on interrogation methods." ... "In one, dated [August] Aug. 1, 2002, then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee defined torture as covering "only extreme acts" causing pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure. A second, dated March 14, 2003, justified using harsh tactics on detainees held overseas so long as military interrogators did not specifically intend to torture their captives." ... "Both legal opinions since have been withdrawn." ... "The department issued another still-secret memo in October 2001 that, in part, sought to outline novel ways the military could be used domestically to defend the country in the face of an impending attack. The Justice Department so far has refused to release it, citing attorney-client privilege, and Attorney General Michael Mukasey declined to describe it Thursday at a Senate panel where Democrats characterized it as a "torture memo."" -By Lara Jakes Jordan and Pamel Hess contributed to by Pete Yost -AP via -SeattleTimes

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Dick Cheney - John Ashcroft - Jay Scott Bybee - Torture - War Crimes - Military - Government - Intelligence - Terrorism - US - International - Law - Secret - Politics - Prisoners - "Sources: Top Bush Advisors Approved 'Enhanced Interrogation': Detailed Discussions Were Held About Techniques to Use on al Qaeda Suspects." ... "In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the [Republican President Bush] White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News." ... "The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of "combined" interrogation techniques -- using different techniques during interrogations, instead of using one method at a time -- on terrorist suspects who proved difficult to break, sources said." ... "Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding." ... "The high-level discussions about these "enhanced interrogation techniques" were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic." ... "The advisers were members of the National Security Council's Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy." ... "At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft." ... "Critics at home and abroad have harshly criticized the interrogation program, which pushed the limits of international law and, they say, condoned torture. Bush and his top aides have consistently defended the program. They say it is legal and did not constitute torture." ... "Lawyers in the Justice Department had written a classified memo, which was extensively reviewed, that gave formal legal authority to government interrogators to use the "enhanced" questioning tactics on suspected terrorist prisoners. The August 2002 memo, signed by then head of the Office of Legal Counsel Jay Bybee, was referred to as the so-called "Golden Shield" for CIA agents, who worried they would be held liable if the harsh interrogations became public." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Jan Crawford Greenburg, Howard L. Rosenberg and Ariane de Vogue -ABCNEWS.com 

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