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20090108
Dick Cheney - Douglas J Feith - "Scooter" Libby - Noteworthy - Military - Politics - History - Book - Petroleum - Money - US - Israel - Palestine -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - 
"Neoconservatism dies in Gaza: he recent Israeli offensive has put the final nail in the coffin of the [Republican President] Bush administration's Middle East fantasy." ... "The Gaza War of 2009 is a final and eloquent testimony to the complete failure of the neoconservative movement in United States foreign policy. For over a decade, the leading figures in this school of thought saw the violent overthrow of [Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein and the institution of a parliamentary regime in Iraq as the magic solution to all the problems in the Middle East. They envisioned, in the wake of the fall of Baghdad [Iraq's capital], the moderation of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the overthrow of the Baath Party in Syria and the Khomeinist regime in Iran, the deepening of the alliance with Turkey, the marginalization of Saudi Arabia, a new era of cheap petroleum, and a final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on terms favorable to Israel. After eight years in which they strode the globe like colossi, they have left behind a devastated moonscape reminiscent of some post-apocalyptic B movie. As their chief enabler prepares to exit the White House, the only nation they have strengthened is Iran; the only alliance they have deepened is that between Iran and two militant Islamist entities to Israel's north and south, Hezbollah and Hamas." ... "The neoconservatives first laid out their manifesto in a 1996 paper, "A Clean Break," written for an obscure think tank in Jerusalem [Israel's capital] and intended for the eyes of far right-wing Israeli politician Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party, who had just been elected prime minister. They advised Israel to renounce the Oslo [Norway's capital] peace process and reject the principle of trading land for peace, instead dealing with the Palestinians with an iron fist. They urged Israel to uphold the right of hot pursuit of Palestinian guerrillas and to find alternatives to Yasser Arafat's Fatah for the Palestinian leadership. They called forth Israeli airstrikes on targets in Syria and rejection of negotiations with Damascus [Syria's capital]. They foresaw strengthened ties between Israel and its two regional friends, Turkey and Jordan." ... "They advocated "removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq," in part as a way of "rolling back" Syria. In place of the secular, republican tyrant, they fantasized about the restoration of the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, and thought that a Sunni king might help moderate the Shiite Hezbollah in south Lebanon. (Yes.) They barely mentioned Iran, though it appears that their program of expelling Syria from Lebanon and weakening its regime was in part aimed at depriving Iran of its main Arab ally. In a 1999 book called "Tyranny's Ally: America's Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein," David Wurmser argued that it was false to fear that installing the Iraqi Shiites in power in Baghdad would strengthen Iran regionally." ... "The signatories to this fantasy of using brute military power to reshape all of West Asia included some figures who would go on to fill key positions in the Bush administration. Richard Perle, a former assistant secretary of defense under Reagan, became chairman of the influential Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, a civilian oversight body for the Pentagon. Douglas J. Feith became the undersecretary of defense for planning. David Wurmser first served in Feith's propaganda shop, the Office of Special Plans, which manufactured the case for an American war on Iraq, and then went on to serve with "Scooter" Libby in the office of [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney." ... "The neoconservatives used their well-funded think tanks, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP, an organ of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, and the Hudson Institute, among others, to promote this agenda of the conquest of Iraq as a solution of all ills." ... "The biggest danger facing the United States is that there will be no true "Clean Break" -- that the neoconservatives will somehow find a way to survive the Bush administration, and continue to influence American foreign policy." (1, 2) -By Juan Cole -Salon

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20081007
Sarah Palin - Terrorism - Politics - Alaska - Iran -  - History - US - Federal - Law -Enforcement - Earth - Environment - 2008 Election
"The Palins' un-American activities." ... ""My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."" ... "The quote is from Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American who founded the Alaska Independence Party. Inconveniently for [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah] Palin, that's the very same secessionist party that her husband, Todd [Palin], belonged to for seven years and that she sent a shout-out to as Alaska governor earlier this year. ("Keep up the good work," Palin told AIP members. "And God bless you.")" ... "AIP chairwoman Lynette Clark told me recently that Sarah Palin is her kind of gal. "She's Alaskan to the bone ... she sounds just like Joe Vogler."" ... "So who are these America-haters that the Palins are pallin' around with?" ... "Before his strange murder in 1993, party founder Vogler preached armed insurrection against the United States of America. Vogler, who always carried a Magnum with him, was fond of saying, "When the [federal] bureaucrats come after me, I suggest they wear red coats. They make better targets. In the federal government are the biggest liars in the United States, and I hate them with a passion. They think they own [Alaska]. There comes a time when people will choose to die with honor rather than live with dishonor. That time may be coming here. Our goal is ultimate independence by peaceful means under a minimal government fully responsive to the people. I hope we don't have to take human life, but if they go on tramping on our property rights, look out, we're ready to die."" ... "This quote is from "Coming Into the Country," by John McPhee, who traipsed around Alaska's remote gold mining country with Vogler for his 1991 book. The violent-tempered secessionist vowed to McPhee that if any federal official tried to stop him from polluting Alaska's rivers with his earth-moving equipment, he would "run over him with a Cat and turn mosquitoes loose on him while he dies."" ... "Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue." ... "That's right ... Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages." ... "AIP leaders allege that Vogler, who was murdered that year by a fellow secessionist, was taken out by powerful forces in the U.S. before he could reach his U.N. platform." -By David Talbot -Salon

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McCain - Terrorism -Finance - History - Secret - Government - Intelligence - Military - Politics - Iran - Nicaragua - Foreign - Arizona - US -2008 Election
"McCain linked to private group in Iran-Contra case." ... "GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair." ... "The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America." ... "The council's founder, retired Army [Major General] Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career in Arizona." ... "Covert arms shipments to the rebels called Contras, financed in part by secret arms sales to Iran, became known as the Iran-Contra affair. They proved to be the undoing of Singlaub's council." ... "In 1987, the Internal Revenue Service withdrew the tax-exempt status of Singlaub's group because of its activities on behalf of the Contras." ... "Elected to the House in 1982 and at a time when he was on the board of Singlaub's council, McCain was among Republicans on Capitol Hill expressing support for the Contras, a CIA[Central Intelligence Agency]-organized guerrilla force in Central America. In 1984, Congress cut off CIA funds for the Contras." ... "Months before the cutoff, top [Republican President] Reagan administration officials ramped up a secret White House-directed supply network and put National Security Council aide Oliver North in charge of running it. The goal was to keep the Contras operational until Congress could be persuaded to resume CIA funding." ... "Singlaub's private group became the public cover for the White House operation." ... "Secretly, Singlaub worked with North in an effort to raise millions of dollars from foreign governments." -By Pete Yost -AP via -Yahoo

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20080925
John McCain - Barack Obama - Financial - Law - Veterans - Housing - Energy - 2008 Election - US - Iran
"McCain has not sponsored a banking bill this Congress." ... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential nominee John McCain has not introduced any banking or housing bills in the 110th Congress, while [2008 Election Presidential] Democratic rival Barack Obama has proposed five." ... "Obama’s legislation calls for bolstering housing assistance for veterans, amending the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation, halting mortgage transactions that promote fraud, authorizing local and state governments to crack down on companies that invest in Iran's energy sector and authorizing a pilot program to prevent at-risk veterans from becoming homeless." -By Bob Cusack -TheHill.com

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20080727
Barack Obama - John McCain - Media - Politics - Iraq - Pakistan - Afghanistan - Iran - Kuwait - Britain - US - Nuclear - Military - Terrorism - Gas - Money - 2008 Election
"How Obama Became Acting President." ... "The growing [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama clout derives not from national polls, where his lead is modest. Nor is it a gift from the press, which still gives free passes to its old bus mate [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain. It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”" ... "Never mind. This election remains about the present and the future, where Iraq’s $10 billion a month drain on American pocketbooks and military readiness is just one moving part in a matrix of national crises stretching from the gas pump to Pakistan." ... "First, on July 7, the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, dissed [Republican President] Bush dogma by raising the prospect of a withdrawal timetable for our troops. Then, on July 15, Mr. McCain suddenly noticed that more Americans are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq and called for more American forces to be sent there. It was a long-overdue recognition of the obvious that he could no longer avoid: both Robert Gates, the defense secretary [of Republican President Bush], and [Admiral] Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had already called for_more American troops to battle the resurgent Taliban, echoing the policy proposed by Mr. Obama a year ago." ... "On July 17 we learned that [Republican] President Bush, who had labeled direct talks with Iran “appeasement,” would send the No. 3 official in the State Department to multilateral nuclear talks with Iran. Lest anyone doubt that the White House had moved away from the rigid stand endorsed by Mr. McCain and toward Mr. Obama’s, a former Rumsfeld apparatchik weighed in on The Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page: “Now Bush Is Appeasing Iran.”" ... "Within 24 hours, the White House did another U-turn, endorsing an Iraq withdrawal timetable as long as it was labeled a “general time horizon.” In a flash, as Mr. Obama touched down in Kuwait, Mr. Maliki approvingly cited the Democratic candidate by name while laying out a troop-withdrawal calendar of his own that, like Mr. Obama’s, would wind down in 2010. On Tuesday, the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, announced a major drawdown of his nation’s troops by early 2009." -By Frank Rich -NYTimes

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20080714
Barack Obama - Military - Police - US - Iraq - Afghanistan - Iran - Pakistan - Terrorism - Intelligence - Government - Money - Political - McCain - Arizona - 2008 Election
"My Plan for Iraq." [By 2008 Election Democratic Presidential Canidate Barack Obama] ... "The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States." ... "The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike [2008 Election Republican Senator and Arizona] Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban [in Afghanistan] by invading a country [Iraq] that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown." ... "In the 18 months since [Republican] President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly weakening its effectiveness." ... "But the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we’ve spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq’s leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge." ... "The good news is that Iraq’s leaders want to take responsibility for their country by negotiating a timetable for the removal of American troops. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. [Lieutenant General] James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq’s security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready to assume responsibility for security in 2009." ... "Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis’ taking responsibility for the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government." ... "Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been. As Adm. [Admiral] Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq." ... "As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq. " -By Barack Obama -NYTimes

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20080613
Tim Russert - Barack Obama - John McCain - Internet - EMail - Media - - Politics - Religion - Indiana - Illinois - US - Iraq - Iran - Military - Money - Social Security - 2008 Election
[NOTE: On the day MSNBC's Meet the Press television political journalist Tim Russert died, MSNBC published this interview with Tim Russert:]
"Vigilance needed on campaign claims: Big issues, not smears, need to be the focus." ... "Msnbc: Tim, www.fightthesmears.com is a web site launched by the [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama campaign to combat potentially damaging rumor about the candidate and his wife, Michelle. Is this necessary?  How big of a problem is this really?" ... "Tim Russert: It’s amazing how much the Internet has changed our lives.  People get emails that make accusations without foundation and they are circulated around the country within seconds and suddenly become topics of conversations around water coolers or in lunchrooms." ... "I remember being in Indianapolis [Indiana's capital] covering the Indiana primary and a man came up to me and said he wasn’t going to vote for [Illinois] Senator Obama because he was very concerned about the comments made by Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor.  I said, “That’s interesting.  As a reporter, I’m curious what comments particularly bothered you?”  He said, “Well, I can’t think of any that come to mind, but I also read on the Internet that he’s a Muslim.”  And I said, “Now wait a minute.  You can’t have both.  You can’t be offended by his Christian minister and then say he’s a Muslim.  You’ve got to pick one.”" ... "But that just underscores what we’re dealing with in this modern era." ... "Now I’m told there’s a counter organization with a very similar name that is going to be positioned and posted to spread the rumors, so that people that go to the Internet to get clarification will go to the wrong web site and get confused." ... "It’s a virus.  You have bloggers on both sides, liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats all trying to utilize this vehicle without any kind of fact checking and without any kind of editorial control." ... "Msnbc:  Given the way people use the Internet, do you wonder if there are going to be some things said or done during the course of this campaign that will be very unsettling?" ... "Russert:  That’s what we have to be conscious of and vigilant against, particularly at the end of the campaign as things are put out there.  We’ve already had a few fake videos with different words dubbed in and people say, “This must be true because I saw it on the Internet.”" ... "What we hope to do in this campaign is recognize there are big differences on big issues between John McCain and Barack Obama – the war in Iraq, Iran, Social Security, taxes.  You don’t need to get into this other stuff.  If it does surface, then I think the mainstream media has an obligation not to just instinctively put it out there without vetting it.  Or, if it is something that is manufactured as a virus, report on that – who did it and why.  But sometimes it’s very hard to trace it back to its original source." -MSNBC

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20080605
Dick Cheney - Secret - Government - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Politics - Investigation - Osama bin Laden - Nuclear -  - US - Iraq - Iran - Czech
"Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq claims weren't true." ... "[Republicans] President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials promoted the invasion of Iraq with public statements that weren't supported by intelligence or that concealed differences among intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday in a report that was delayed by bitter partisan infighting." ... "A second report found that a special office set up under then-secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld conducted "sensitive intelligence activities" that were inappropriate "without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department." That report revealed that Pentagon counterintelligence officials suspected that Iran might have tried to use the group to influence administration policymakers." ... "The Senate report, the first official examination of whether top officials knew that their public statements were unsubstantiated when they made them, reviewed five speeches by Bush, Cheney and former Secretary of State Colin Powell between August 2002 and February 2003. It also dissected key statements made by them and other top officials, including Rumsfeld and then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice." ... "The committee found that the administration's warnings that former dictator Saddam Hussein was in league with Osama bin Laden, a highly inflammatory assertion in the wake of the [September] Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaida attacks, weren't substantiated by U.S. intelligence reports. In fact, it said, [United State] U.S. intelligence agencies were telling the White House that while there'd been sporadic contacts over a decade, there was no operational cooperation between Iraq and al Qaida, the report said." ... "The administration's repeated statements "suggesting that Iraq and al Qaida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al Qaida with weapons training, were not substantiated by intelligence," it said." ... "Contentions by Bush and Cheney that Saddam had to be removed because he could give terrorists weapons of mass destruction to strike the United States were "contradicted by available intelligence information" that found that the late Iraqi dictator was unlikely to make such transfers, the report said." ... "Cheney's assertions that Mohammad Atta, the chief Sept. 11 hijacker, had met months before the attack with an Iraqi intelligence officer in the Czech capital, Prague [Czech Republic], were also unsubstantiated, the inquiry found." ... "The committee said that Bush and Cheney "failed to reflect concerns and uncertainties" expressed in intelligence analyses that questioned administration assertions that Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops as liberators and warned that American forces could face violent resistance." ... "Statements by Bush, Cheney and other top officials that Saddam had stockpiled chemical and biological weapons in violation of U.N. resolutions were "generally substantiated" by what turned out to be erroneous U.S. intelligence analyses, the report said." ... "However, while intelligence reports "generally substantiated" their claims that Iraq had secretly restarted a nuclear weapons program, the committee said, Bush and other officials failed to disclose that the State Department disputed that finding." ... "The administration's statements also failed to disclose that the Energy Department joined the State Department in rejecting allegations that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa, the report said." ... "The reports released Thursday brought to an end a lengthy investigation into how U.S. intelligence appeared to be so wrong in the run-up to the Iraq war." -By Jonathan S. Landay with contributions by Nancy A. Youssef and Mark Seibel -McClatchyDC.com

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[PDF] - "Senate Intelligence Iraq Phase II Report (Phase 2 a): REPORT on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated by Intelligence Information."
[PDF] - "Senate Intelligence Iraq Phase II Report (Phase 2 b): REPORT on Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans Within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy."
[PDF] - "Phase I Senate report on Iraq Intelligence."

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Dick Cheney - Stephen A Cambone - Larry Franklin - Noteworthy - US - Italy - Iraq - Iran - Military - Politics - Investigation
"Did Iranian agents dupe Pentagon officials?" ... "Defense Department counterintelligence investigators suspected that Iranian exiles who provided dubious intelligence on Iraq and Iran to a small group of Pentagon officials might have "been used as agents of a foreign intelligence service ... to reach into and influence the highest levels of the [United States] U.S. government," a Senate Intelligence Committee report said Thursday." ... "A top aide to [Republican President Bush's] then-secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, however, shut down the 2003 investigation into the Pentagon officials' activities after only a month, and the Defense Department's top brass never followed up on the investigators' recommendation for a more thorough investigation, the Senate report said." ... "The revelation raises questions about whether Iran may have used a small cabal of officials in the Pentagon and in [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney's office to feed bogus intelligence on Iraq and Iran to senior policymakers in the [Republican President] Bush administration who were eager to oust the Iraqi dictator." ... "Iran, which was a mortal enemy of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and fought a bloody eight-year war with Iraq during his reign, has been the primary beneficiary of U.S. policy in Iraq, where Iranian-backed groups now run much of the government and the security forces." ... "The aborted counterintelligence investigation probed some Pentagon officials' contacts with Iranian exile Manucher Ghorbanifar, whom the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] had labeled a "fabricator" in 1984. Those contacts were brokered by an American civilian, Michael Ledeen, a former Pentagon and National Security Council consultant and a leading advocate of invading Iraq and overthrowing Iran's Islamic regime." ... "Stephen Cambone, then the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, shut down the counterintelligence investigation after only a month, the Senate report said." ... "The Senate committee also found that Pentagon officials concealed the contacts with Ghorbanifar from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department. Pentagon officials also provided Senate investigators with an inaccurate account of events and, with support from two unnamed officials in Cheney's office, continued meeting with Ghorbanifar after contact with him was officially ordered to stop." ... "The first meetings with Ghorbanifar, which were disclosed in August 2003 by the Long Island, N.Y. [New York], newspaper Newsday, took place in Rome [Italy's capital] in December 2001. They were attended by two Pentagon Iran experts, Harold Rhode and Larry Franklin; by an Italian military intelligence official, and by Ledeen." -By John Walcott -McClatchyDC.com

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20080602
US - Iran - Foreign - Military - Politics
"Americans Favor President Meeting With U.S. Enemies: Six in 10 think it’s a good idea to meet with president of Iran." ... "Large majorities of Democrats and independents, and even half of Republicans, believe the president of the United States should meet with the leaders of countries that are considered enemies of the United States. Overall, 67% of Americans say this kind of diplomacy is a good idea." -By Lydia Saad -Gallup.com

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John McCain - Barack Obama - US - Iran - Military - Technology - Intelligence - Politics - Terrorism - Iraq -  - Ariz - Ill - 2008 Election
"Both McCain, Obama exaggerating Iran's nuclear program." ... "The presumptive Republican nominee for president and the leading contender for the Democratic nomination are exaggerating what's known about Iran's nuclear program as they duel over how best to deal with Tehran." ... "[2008 Election Presidential Candidates and Senators] Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz. [Republican-Arizona], and Barack Obama, D-Ill. [Democratic-Illinois], say that Iran is developing nuclear weapons." ... "The U.S. intelligence community, however, thinks that Iran halted an effort to build a nuclear warhead in mid-2003, and the [United Nations] U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, which is investigating the program, has found no evidence to date of an active Iranian nuclear-weapons project." ... "The candidates' comments raise questions about how carefully the two have studied the public record on what's become a major campaign issue and is one of the most difficult foreign-policy challenges likely to confront the next president." ... "The issue is also significant because the [Republican President] Bush administration inflated assessments of the Iraqi nuclear threat and the possibility that former dictator Saddam Hussein could pass nuclear weapons to terrorists as it sought to whip up public support for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq." ... "Iran has been expanding an industrial-scale uranium enrichment program in defiance of U.N. Security Council demands that it be suspended. Enrichment is the process that produces low-enriched uranium fuel for nuclear generating stations and highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons." ... "Iran, whose known enrichment facilities are under IAEA monitoring, says it's making low-enriched uranium reactor fuel and has no intention of developing weapons. Few experts, however, think that Iran has come clean about all its nuclear activities." -By Jonathan S. Landay -McClatchyDC.com

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20080520
• 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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20080519
• Barack Obama - John McCain - 2008 Election - Montana - Illinois - US - Russia - Cuba - Iran - Military - Nuclear - History - "Obama Responds To McCain: "Strong" Presidents Aren't Afraid To Meet With Enemies." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama, in Montana, responded moments ago to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain's  ridicule of the Illinois Senator for saying that Iran is a minuscule threat compared to the former Soviet Union [now Russia]." ... "McCain said this revealed Obama's "inexperience and reckless judgment." Here's the key part of Obama's reply..."
""Here's the truth: the Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons, and Iran doesn't have a single one. But when the world was on the brink of nuclear holocaust, Kennedy talked to Khrushchev and he got those missiles out of Cuba. Why shouldn't we have the same courage and the confidence to talk to our enemies? That's what strong countries do, that's what strong presidents do, that's what I'll do when I'm president of the United States of America.""
"Obama also said: "What are [Republicans] George Bush and John McCain afraid of"?" -By Greg Sargent -TPMElectionCentral.TalkingPointsMemo

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WATCH: "John McCain and Barack Obama Trade Blows on Foreign Policy."

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20080517
• 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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20080516
• Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - New York - South Dakota - Illinois - Nevada - California - US - Israel - Iran - Syria - Military - Terrorism - Politics - History - 2008 Election - "Bush Assails ‘Appeasement,’ Touching Off Storm." ... "[Republican] President Bush used a speech to the Israeli Parliament on Thursday to liken those who would negotiate with “terrorists and radicals” to appeasers of the Nazis — a remark widely interpreted as a rebuke to [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois] Senator Barack Obama, who has advocated greater engagement with countries like Iran and Syria." ... "The comments created an angry tussle back home, as Democrats accused Mr. Bush of breaching protocol by playing partisan politics overseas." ... "Mr. Obama delivered a quick and pointed response, saying in an e-mail statement to reporters that he had no intention of dealing with terrorists and accusing Mr. Bush of using his visit, timed for the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence, to “launch a false political attack.”" ... "On Thursday, other Democrats leapt to the Illinois senator’s defense. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, called Mr. Bush’s remarks “reckless and irresponsible.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Mr. Bush had behaved in a manner “beneath the dignity of the office of president.” Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, accused Mr. Bush of violating the unwritten rule against playing politics overseas." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York] Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Obama’s rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, joined him in taking issue with Mr. Bush. Weighing in from South Dakota, Mrs. Clinton said: “President Bush’s comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is offensive and outrageous, especially in the light of his failures in foreign policy. This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address.”" -By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jim Rutenberg -NYTimes 

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  WATCH Pelosi's comment on Bush's criticism of Democrats while in Israel, "What the President did in that regard is beneath the dignity of the office of the President and unworthy of our representation at that observance in Israel. And I would hope that any serious person would disassociate themselves from the President's remarks who aspires to leadership in our country."

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20080515
• US - Iran - Military - Politics - "Gates: U.S. Should Engage Iran With Incentives, Pressure." ... "The United States should construct a combination of incentives and pressure to engage Iran, and may have missed earlier opportunities to begin a useful dialogue with Tehran [Iran's capital], [Republican President Bush's] Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday." ... ""We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them," Gates said. "If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us."" ... "In the meantime, Gates told a meeting of the Academy of American Diplomacy, a group of retired diplomats, "my personal view would be we ought to look for ways outside of government to open up the channels and get more of a flow of people back and forth." Noting that "a fair number" of Iranians regularly visit the United States, he said, "We ought to increase the flow the other way . . . of Americans" visiting Iran." ... ""I think that may be the one opening that creates some space," Gates said." ... "Gates was also a member of the bipartisan 2006 Iraq Study Group, which advocated reaching out to Iran." ... "A number of senior U.S. military officials have emphasized the need for robust diplomacy toward Iran, while not ruling out the use of force. "I'm a big believer in resolving this diplomatically, economically and politically," [Admiral ] Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a recent interview with The Washington Post. "The military aspect of this, which I think is a very important part of the equation and must stay on the table," Mullen said, is an option of "last resort."" -By Karen DeYoung -WashingtonPost

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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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