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Video: Dick Cheney’s Full Speech To AEI
This was a great speech by the former vice president:
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Anti-War Crowd Encouraging Obama To Dump Gates
The anti-war loons are in a fit over president-elect Obama’s likely decision to keep Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Instead, they’re pushing for him to name a more anti-war voice.
Arms control advocates and anti-war activists are ratcheting up pressure on President-elect Barack ObamaDefense Secretary Robert Gates and replace him with a more strident anti-war voice. to dump
Nominating Gates to stay, “would be a violation of the mandate for change that Obama says he represents,” said Medea Benjamin, cofounder of the anti-war group CodePink.
How can you have a Secretary of Defense that’s anti-war? Isn’t that kind of an oxymoron? Secondly, the idea that anyone would take national security advice from the code pinkos is laughable at best. Bob Gates is about as moderate as they come. He’s not anti-war, but he’s certainly not pro-war either.
The least Obama can do to assure the country that he’s not a total peacenik pushover is to keep someone competent like Gates in the Sec Def spot. All Americans with the exception of the pinkos will sleep much better at night.
White House Announces “Enduring Relationship” with Iraq
The White House today announced an agreement reached between President Bush and Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki regarding the U.S. presence in Iraq.
This is a gentle way for the President to let the American people know that we have a long-term commitment to Iraq. The President will bring the troops home eventually, but we will have a continuing presence there just like we do in Japan, South Korea, Europe, Kuwait, and elsewhere.Democrats are already acting shocked by this announcement, but I can’t imagine anyone really believing we would sacrifice all the blood and treasure that we have, and not at least get a few military bases out of the deal.
That’s the way it has always worked and the way it should work. We liberated Kuwait, and in return we have permanent bases there. Iraq is extremely important strategically, and it’s a major advantage for the U.S. to have fully functioning military bases there.
It should be funny watching “dingy” Harry Reid stomp his foot and cry about this agreement. I’m sure Code Pink will throw themselves into the middle of the street or impale themselves on the capital steps in response as well. Meanwhile, Republicans and Joe Lieberman will point and laugh at the silly hippies.
-Chris Jones
** Read the full text of the White House statement by clicking the link above
John Aschcroft Talks Telecom Immunity in Op-Ed
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft has a very good Op-Ed in the NY Times today about immunity for telecom companies that cooperated on the War on Terror.
The National Security Agency asked the various telecommunications companies in the U.S. for assistance in listening to terrorist phone calls. The Justice Department sent each company a letter assuring them that it would be totally legal for them to cooperate and they need not fear legal reprisals should the programs ever become public.
Of course as with everything the program did become public. Now Democrats want angry, left wing customers of the telecom companies to have the right to sue for hundreds of millions of dollars for invasion of privacy.
The ultimate goal of the Democrats is not for customers to win big money, but to have the details of our intelligence programs exposed in open court.
This will serve to make President Bush look bad, and weaken our National Security which just happens to be the two most important things to Democrats.
-Chris Jones
Nuclear Plant Lockdown: Worker With Explosives Detained
Security officials at the nation’s largest nuclear power plant detained a contract worker with a small explosive device in the back of his pickup truck.
The worker was stopped and detained at the entrance of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. Officials then put the entire plant on lock-down barring anyone from entering or exiting the facility.
Authorities described the device as a small capped pipe that contained suspicious residue. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office rendered the device safe and investigators began interviewing the worker.
Pakistan New Safe Haven for Militants
A large conflict may be looming as terrorists expand their control in Pakistan. Militants who once primarily controlled the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan/Pakistan border region are now in control of vast portions of Northern Pakistan.
The increased influence of the Islamic radicals was highlighted this week by intense fighting between local gunmen and government troops. The government said about 180 people have been killed, mostly militants, in violence including bombings, abductions and shootouts.
Taliban and al-Qaida were pushed back after the U.S. and its Afghan allies toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001. Today, residents say Arabs, Uzbeks and Tajiks have rejoined the ranks of the local radicals, mostly Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan.
Terrorists now control Swat, which is a 4,000 square mile province in Northern Pakistan. Pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah has set up a virtual mini-state in Swat, a province of 4,000 square miles. He uses an FM radio station to help spread fundamentalist Islam in an area once known to tourists as the “Switzerland of Asia” for its stunning, snow-covered mountains.
Fazlullah and his followers have imposed strict Sharia law in Swat just as the Taliban did in Afghanistan. They have bombed girls schools and blown up video and CD shops. They drilled holes into the face of a 20-foot- tall stone Buddha, obliterating the features of the 1,300-year-old sculpture.
One of the biggest problems the Pakistani government faces is corruption within the military, Police, and intelligence service. Many within these organizations are at the very least sympathetic or at the worst actively assisting the terrorists.
Sooner or later the U.S. military is going to have to go into Northern Pakistan and clean out the terrorists. They now have a base of operations there just as they did in Afghanistan. If President Bush is serious about denying a safe haven for terrorists to plan attacks from then something must be done.
I believe President Musharraf is trying to help us as much as he can. The extremists are as much a threat to him and his government as they are to the West. I think it speaks volumes that Musharraf doesn’t have a single Pakistani in his personal security detail. He uses third country mercenaries with no personal or political ties to Pakistan.
At this moment there is no greater threat to the U.S. and its interests than extremist elements within Pakistan. If President Bush chooses to ignore this gathering danger or allows politics to get in the way, he is doing so at our peril.
-Chris Jones
The Hot Joints
Putin Makes Idle Threats Again
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday chastised the United States over its policy in Iraq and Iran, and announced “grandiose” military plans, including development of a new nuclear weapon.
In a nationally broadcast link-up with ordinary Russians across the country, Putin called the US intervention in Iraq a “dead end” and called on Washington to set a deadline for the withdrawal of troops.
Putin suggested that Iraq had been invaded because of its oil wealth and assured one caller that energy-rich Russia could not suffer the same fate. To think so, he said, was “political erotica.”
I don’t know anything about “political erotica” that must be something they only have in Russia. What I do know is that Putin is a lot of talk and little else.
In a video link-up with servicemen at the Plesetsk nuclear missile base, Putin said that Russia would build another nuclear submarine next year and was also planning a “completely new” atomic weapon.
The Soviet Union could use threatening rhetoric, because they had a powerful military. Besides, its nuclear stockpile Russia’s military is in complete tatters. The average soldier in Russia earns less than $2.00 a day and over half are serious alcoholics.
Putin likes to talk about America being bogged down in Iraq, but he should try not to throw stones when he lives in a glass house. Putin has over 100,000 troops occupying Chechnya and fighting a gruesome gorilla war with Muslim militants.
Russia’s army lives in horrible conditions and when a soldier is killed in Chechnya, the Russian Government can’t even afford to ship the corpse back. The other soldiers take up a collection if they can to pay for the shipment, otherwise it’s up to the family.
Every single branch of the Russian military is an absolute mess, so Putin just makes himself look like a jackass when he talks tough.
By Chris Jones
Israel Struck a Nuclear Project in Syria, Analysts Say
Israel’s air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports.
Illegal Weapons Exports Up, US Says
U.S. missile technology, fighter jet parts and other wartime equipment increasingly are being illegally smuggled to China and Iran.
In the last week, two Utah men were charged with trying to illegally sell parts for F-4 and F-14 fighter jets over the Internet to Canadian buyers. Iran is the only nation that still flies the F-14.
Additionally, Pittsburgh company SparesGlobal, Inc., was sentenced last week for lying about exporting equipment used in nuclear reactors and ballistic missiles in 2003 that ended up in Pakistan.
-Chris Jones
Putin: No Proof Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons
President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday there is no proof Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, but emphasized that Tehran must be encouraged to make its nuclear program fully transparent.
Russia has opposed the U.S.-push for tougher sanctions against Iran and called for more checks and inspections of Iranian facilities by International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
”We have worked cooperatively with our partners at the United Nations Security Council, and we intend to continue such cooperative work in the future,” Putin said.
But he said that with no ”objective data” showing Iran is developing nuclear weapons, ”we proceed from an assumption that Iran has no such plans.”
Democratic Concessions Are Expected on Wiretapping
Two months after vowing to roll back broad new wiretapping powers won by the Bush administration, Congressional Democrats appear ready to make concessions that could extend some of the key powers granted to the National Security Agency.
Bush administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened wiretapping authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess, and some Democratic officials admit that they may not come up with the votes to rein in the administration.
As the debate over the N.S.A.’s wiretapping powers begins anew this week, the emerging legislation reflects the political reality confronting the Democrats. While they are willing to oppose the White House on the conduct of the war in Iraq, they remain nervous that they will be labeled as soft on terrorism if they insist on strict curbs on intelligence gathering.
Poll: Most Israelis support using nukes
Approximately 72 percent of Israelis support the use of nuclear weapons in certain circumstances, according to a Canadian survey released recently.
The survey – conducted jointly at the end of July by the Simons Foundation and Angus Reid Strategies – was answered by adults in six countries and showed that 37% of Israelis believed the use of nuclear weapons to prevent a war would be justified, while 35% believed the weapons could be justifiably used during a war.
In addition, the survey found that Israel had the lowest public support for destroying nuclear weapons out of all the countries questioned.
Israel also had the highest percentage in favor of the country using its “power and influence in a way that serves its own interests” – approximately 55% – as opposed to “coordinat[ing] with other countries to do what’s best for the world as a whole.”
Nearly 72% also agreed that “nuclear weapons place Israel in a unique position, so it is not in our interest to participate in treaties that would reduce or eliminate our purported nuclear arsenal.”
About three-quarters of Israelis also said they would feel safer if they knew for certain that Israel had nuclear weapons. Israel has thus far maintained its policy of nuclear ambiguity.
The organizers of the study suggested that Israel accorded greater importance to the nuclear form of defense due to the Iranian threat, Army Radio reported.
The study spanned a sample of 1,000 adults in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the US along with Israel.
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