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Monday, April 27, 2009
Iranian Weapons Ship Sunk near Sudan
Sunday, April 26, 2009
PETER ROFF — THE FIRST 100 DAYS: An Administration Filled With Far-Left Extremists
Longtime conservative leader Morton Blackwell, a Reagan administration alumni and once the youngest Goldwater delegate at the GOP convention, is perhaps best know as the originator of the phrase “Personnel is policy.”
Blackwell’s observation speaks a great truth about American government. Since no one man or woman can do it all, alone, we have followed the French in the development of bureaucratic systems that allow for power and authority to be delegated to subordinates who are responsible, on a daily basis, for the administration of public policy. It is these people, even more than the president, who directly impact the way policies are developed and carried out.
Almost everywhere you look in the Obama administration you can find appointees whose beliefs are clearly outside the mainstream.
The people chosen to fill positions within an administration, no matter how minor those positions might be, matter; they matter because they are being handed the tools with which to make real decisions that have an effect on the American people, the American economy, our legal system, our national defense and just about any other issue you can name on a day-to-day basis.
Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama presented himself to the American people as a change-oriented centrist, slightly to the left of the middle of the road. The way he has governed over his first 100 days, however, shows him to be anything but the image he projected, particularly where many of his appointments are concerned. And it is these appointments that will determine the direction of policy in his administration over the next four years.
Some of the names and some of the circumstances are already familiar. Obama may have a Cabinet that, to borrow a phrase from Bill Clinton, “looks like America.” But they certainly don’t pay taxes like the rest of us. Several of his most high level appointees, chief among them Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have been exposed as having failed to pay the taxes they owed at the time these should have paid them.
Then there is Attorney General Eric Holder, who prior to his appointment may have been best known for helping fugitive financier Marc Rich obtain a pardon in the waning days of the Clinton administration. Since coming into office, however, he shocked the nation when, during a presentation to mark Black History month, he called America a “nation of cowards” on the issue of race. Writer Joe Klein, who is generally sympathetic to the liberal point of view, denounced Holder for his remarks, saying they provided “absolutely no acknowledgement of the incredible progress that has been made over the last 40 or 50 years.”
Janet Napolitano, who leads the Department of Homeland Security, similarly came under fire after her department released a report on so-called rise of right-wing extremism in America that lumped returning veterans and anti-abortion activists into the same group as white power organizations and Timothy McVeigh, who helped mastermind the 1995 bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. Embarrassed, she met with veterans groups in Washington on Friday and gave what an American Legion representative characterized as a “heartfelt” apology.
But it’s not just the apples at the top of the barrel that are reason to be suspicious that a leftward drift is underway. There are plenty of secondary appointments, not all of which are subject to the Senate’s advice and consent, which make up the new administration’s gallery of liberal rogues.
White House Science Advisor Dr. John P. Holdren is a noted alarmist where the idea of global catastrophes is concerned. In 1971, he predicted that “some form of eco-catastrophe, if not thermonuclear war, seems almost certain to overtake us before the end of the century.” That same year Holdren also claimed that “population control, the redirection of technology, the transition from open to closed resource cycles, the equitable distribution of opportunity, and the ingredients of prosperity must all be accomplished if there is to be a future worth living.”
More recently, in 2006, Holdren suggested that global sea levels could rise by 13 feet by the end of this century. The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report suggests a potential sea level rise of just 13 inches.
Another Obama appointee clearly outside the mainstream of American thought and values is Harold Koh, the Yale Law School dean whom Obama tapped be the State Department’s legal adviser.
Koh is, as columnist Andy McCarthy has written, “a radical trans-nationalist.” His view is that the United States is not, in essence, an independent nation with a natural right to govern its own national security. Rather Koh’s view is this country should be governed by a “trans-national jurisprudence” that “assumes America’s political and economic interdependence with other nations operating within the international legal system.” In Koh’s world, U.S. law should be subordinate to some kind of international code.
Then there is Rosa Brooks, who has been tapped to be a key adviser to the undersecretary of defense for policy. A former columnist with The Los Angeles Times, Brooks once compared the work product of Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel to “the so-called Big Lie theory of political propaganda, articulated most infamously by Adolf Hitler.” In 2007, according to various sources, she characterized Al Qaeda as “little more than an obscure group of extremist thugs, well financed and intermittently lethal but relatively limited in their global and regional political pull.” And she once wrote “George W. Bush and Dick Cheney shouldn’t be treated like criminals who deserve punishment. They should be treated like psychotics who need treatment…. Because they’ve clearly gone mad.”
Hardly the calm, rational and reasoned approach one has every right to expect from a senior Pentagon adviser.
Almost everywhere you look in the Obama administration you can find appointees whose beliefs are clearly outside the mainstream, who are, in a word, extremists. David Ogden, the nominee for the No. 2 job at the U.S. Department of Justice, who, according to FOXNews.com once filed a brief on behalf of a group of library directors arguing against the Children’s Internet Protection Act. The act ordered libraries and schools receiving funding for the Internet to restrict access to obscene sites. But Ogden’s brief argued that the act impaired the ability of librarians to do their jobs. He called it “unconstitutional,” though the Supreme Court later disagreed with him and upheld the act.” He also “argued, on behalf of several media groups, against a child pornography law that required publishers of all kinds to verify and document the age of their models (which would ensure the models are at least 18). The provisions were struck down. — Ogden was quoted at the time saying the potential reach of the law was ‘mind-boggling’ and even ‘terrifying.’”
And then there’s Dawn Johnson, who was nominated to be assistant attorney general and head of DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, who has written that “abortion restrictions reduce pregnant women to no more than fetal containers” and who has opposed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a ban on partial birth abortion.
Rather than an administration of centrists, the Obama presidency is shaping up to be one in which the dominant voice is that of the American far-left. Right before our eyes, based on the appointments thus far, we are seeing “Changing we can believe in” being transformed into “Change we can’t believe.”
Iraqi government rushes to defend Iranian-backed jihadists
"I always knew my man Nouri would carry my water for me"
The Iraqi Democracy Project, which I thought was doomed even before it started, was always liable to create a Shi'ite client state for the benefit of Iran, since the Shi'ites have the numbers on their side in Iraq. The whole thing was predicated on a misapprehension of the importance within Islam of the imperative to impose Sharia. Now, in any case, the Shi'ites and Iran are clearly in the driver's seat.
"Iraq: US raid 'crime' that breaks security pact," by Brian Murphy for AP, April 26 (thanks to Maxwell):
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister denounced a deadly U.S. raid on Sunday as a "crime" that violated the security pact with Washington and demanded American commanders hand over those responsible to face possible trial in Iraqi courts.The U.S. military, however, strongly denied that it overstepped its bounds and said it notified Iraqi authorities in advance — in accordance with the rules that took effect this year governing U.S. battlefield conduct.
The pre-dawn raid in the southern Shiite city of Kut ended with at least one women dead after being caught in gunfire and six suspects arrested for alleged links to Shiite militia factions....
The fallout marks the most serious test of the security pact so far and could bring new strains during a critical transition period....
A statement from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — in his role as commander general of Iraqi forces — called the raid a "violation of the security pact."
He asked the U.S. military "to release the detainees and hand over those responsible for this crime to the courts," according to an Iraqi security official who read the statement to The Associated Press.
The cascade of protests and questions began just hours after the sweep into Kut, which the U.S. military said targeted suspected backers of Shiite militias believed to have links to Iran.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the mosque in Kut, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, to decry the American action and demand an investigation....
U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency Over Swine Flu Outbreak
By CAM SIMPSON
WASHINGTON -- Federal officials declared a health emergency on Sunday, as they confirmed 20 cases of swine flu in five states, mobilized medicine stockpiles, and warned the public that the number and severity of incidences were likely to increase.
The officials urged calm, saying the declaration was largely meant to free up resources and precautionary in nature. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, appearing with other officials at a news conference at the White House on Sunday, compared it to the kind of alert that goes up before officials know how severe a gathering storm might become. ....
Gates to Nominate NSA Chief to Head New Cyber Command
By SIOBHAN GORMAN
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to nominate the director of the National Security Agency to head a new Pentagon Cyber Command, which will coordinate computer-network defense and direct U.S. cyber-attack operations, according to a draft memo by Mr. Gates.
The move comes amid rising concern in the government about attacks on U.S. networks. The command will run military cybersecurity operations and provide support to civil authorities, according to the memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.....
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Joint Chiefs Chmn. Adm. Mullen: Islamic Takeover in Pakistan 'Closer'
Pentagon to Release Hundreds of Detainee Pics
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon will soon release "hundreds" of photographs showing alleged abuse by US personnel at prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush administration, a US official said Friday.
"I think it will be in the hundreds," said the Pentagon official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, referring to the number of photos to be released for the first time.
The Defense Department confirmed the Pentagon had agreed to release a "substantial" number of photographs by May 28 in response to a long-running Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the New York-based rights group, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The photographs come from more than 60 criminal investigations from 2001-2006 of military personnel suspected of abusing detainees, the defense official said.
But the Pentagon rejected the portrayal of the photos by the ACLU as showing widespread abuse of detainees.
"What this demonstrates is that we have always been serious about investigating credible allegations of abuse," spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. ....
Democrats Refuse to Allow Skeptic to Testify Alongside Gore At Congressional Hearing
Washington, DC -- UK's Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, claimed House Democrats have refused to allow him to appear alongside former Vice President Al Gore at a high profile global warming hearing on Friday April 24, 2009 at 10am in Washington. Monckton told Climate Depot that the Democrats rescinded his scheduled joint appearance at the House Energy and Commerce hearing on Friday. Monckton said he was informed that he would not be allowed to testify alongside Gore when his plane landed from England Thursday afternoon.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Obama: The Grand Strategy
By Charles Krauthammer
Unified theory of Obamaism, fifth (final?) installment:
In the service of his ultimate mission -- the leveling of social inequalities -- President Obama offers a tripartite social democratic agenda: nationalized health care, federalized education (ultimately guaranteed through college) and a cash-cow carbon tax (or its equivalent) to subsidize the other two.
Problem is, the math doesn't add up. Not even a carbon tax would pay for Obama's vastly expanded welfare state. Nor will Midwest Democrats stand for a tax that would devastate their already crumbling region.
What is obviously required is entitlement reform, meaning Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. That's where the real money is -- trillions saved that could not only fund hugely expensive health and education programs but also restore budgetary balance.
Except that Obama has offered no real entitlement reform. His universal health-care proposal would increase costs by perhaps $1 trillion. Medicare/Medicaid reform is supposed to decrease costs.
Obama's own budget projections show staggering budget deficits going out to 2019. If he knows his social agenda is going to drown us in debt, what's he up to?
He has an idea. But he dare not speak of it yet. He has only hinted. When asked in his March 24 news conference about the huge debt he's incurring, Obama spoke vaguely of "additional adjustments" that will be unfolding in future budgets.
Rarely have two more anodyne words carried such import. "Additional adjustments" equals major cuts in Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
Social Security is relatively easy. A bipartisan commission (like the 1983 Alan Greenspan commission) recommends some combination of means testing for richer people, increasing the retirement age and a technical change in the inflation measure (indexing benefits to prices instead of wages). The proposal is brought to Congress for a no-amendment up-or-down vote. Done.
The hard part is Medicare and Medicaid. In an aging population, how do you keep them from blowing up the budget? There is only one answer: rationing.
Why do you think the stimulus package pours $1.1 billion into medical "comparative effectiveness research"? It is the perfect setup for rationing. Once you establish what is "best practice" for expensive operations, medical tests and aggressive therapies, you've laid the premise for funding some and denying others.
It is estimated that a third to a half of one's lifetime health costs are consumed in the last six months of life. Accordingly, Britain's National Health Service can deny treatments it deems not cost-effective -- and if you're old and infirm, the cost-effectiveness of treating you plummets. In Canada, they ration by queuing. You can wait forever for so-called elective procedures like hip replacements.
Rationing is not quite as alien to America as we think. We already ration kidneys and hearts for transplant according to survivability criteria as well as by queuing. A nationalized health insurance system would ration everything from MRIs to intensive care by myriad similar criteria.
The more acute thinkers on the left can see rationing coming, provoking Slate blogger Mickey Kaus to warn of the political danger. "Isn't it an epic mistake to try to sell Democratic health care reform on this basis? Possible sales pitch: 'Our plan will deny you unnecessary treatments!' . . . Is that really why the middle class will sign on to a revolutionary multitrillion-dollar shift in spending -- so the government can decide their life or health 'is not worth the price'?"
My own preference is for a highly competitive, privatized health insurance system with a government-subsidized transition to portability, breaking the absurd and ruinous link between health insurance and employment. But if you believe that health care is a public good to be guaranteed by the state, then a single-payer system is the next best alternative. Unfortunately, it is fiscally unsustainable without rationing.
Social Security used to be the third rail of American politics. Not anymore. Health-care rationing is taking its place -- which is why Obama, the consummate politician, knows to offer the candy (universality) today before serving the spinach (rationing) tomorrow.
Taken as a whole, Obama's social democratic agenda is breathtaking. And the rollout has thus far been brilliant. It follows Kaus's advice to "give pandering a chance" and adheres to the Democratic tradition of being the party that gives things away, while leaving the green-eyeshade stinginess to those heartless Republicans.
It will work for a while, but there is no escaping rationing. In the end, the spinach must be served.
Entire GE CEO Confrontation!
"Factor" producer (and GE shareholder) Jesse Watters attended the annual GE shareholder meeting on April 21 in Orlando, Florida. During the Q&A period, Watters asked Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt about the recent ugly comments by Janeane Garofalo on MSNBC. Here is how Immelt - and the room full of stockholders - responded to the confrontation.
Defense Department to Release Photos Showing Detainee Treatment in Iraq, Afghanistan The Department of Defense announced late Thursday that at least 4
.... The images were part of the military's investigation of potential abuse of detainees by U.S. personnel at facilities other than Iraq Abu Ghraib, though the photos apparently aren't as shocking as those that set off a prisoner abuse scandal in 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Even so, Defense officials say they worry that the new release of photos could set off a backlash in the Middle East against the United States, the Times reports.
The Bush administration had refused to disclose the images after the ACLU's request made in 2003, claiming that the public disclosure of such evidence would generate outrage and would violate U.S. obligations towards detainees under the Geneva Conventions.
The decision to release images comes on the same day that congressional aides said President Obama resisted pressure from Democrats to investigate Bush-era interrogation techniques, though Obama also has been under fire since last week from Republicans and former Bush advisers for releasing memos from 2002 and 2005 justifying the interrogation techniques used by the CIA. ....
FAA: Bird Strikes More Than Double at Major U.S. Airports
WASHINGTON — Airplane collisions with birds have more than doubled at 13 major U.S. airports since 2000, and New York's Kennedy airport and Sacramento International report the most incidents with serious damage, according to Federal Aviation Administration data released for the first time Friday.
The FAA list of wildlife strikes, published on the Internet, details more than 89,000 incidents since 1990, including 28 cases since 2000 when a collision with a bird or other animal such as a deer on a runway was so severe that the aircraft was considered destroyed. ....
Iraq Progress 'Fragile and Reversible' After Bombings, Petraeus Warns
Gen. David Petraeus says the U.S. military is nevertheless set to withdraw from Iraq on schedule.
Progress in Iraq is still "fragile and reversible," Gen. David Petraeus warned Friday after back-to-back homicide bombings killed nearly 80 people one day earlier in Iraq's deadliest day in more than a year.But the U.S. military is nevertheless set to withdraw from the war-torn country on schedule, he told a House appropriations subcommittee.
Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, addressed the lingering extremist threat in Iraq as he outlined his approach to the escalating campaign against extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. ....
Petraeus says Pakistan should focus on Taliban
Pakistan's leaders should focus on the looming threat posed by a stronger Taliban and extremists within their nation's borders, instead of their rivalry with India, a top U.S. military official said Friday. Gen. David Petraeus urged Congress to approve $3 billion in aid to Pakistan for training its troops to fight insurgents in tribal areas.
"The most important, most pressing threat to the very existence of their country is the threat posed by the internal extremists and groups such as the Taliban and the syndicated extremists," Petraeus told a House panel Friday. Petraeus is the top U.S. commander overseeing troops in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military needs to fight extremists "rather than strictly focus on the conventional threat that has been traditionally the focus of the military, to their east, which is India," he said.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars over the Kashmir border region, and their continuing enmity has been the dominant factor affecting foreign policy for both nuclear-armed rivals. ....
Border incursions rocket 359% 'Our agents are being attacked and our sovereignty violated at alarming rates'
Foreign government incursions into the United States rocketed 359 percent from 2007 to 2008, and the nation is under attack in San Diego, according to a new report from Judicial Watch.
"These new Homeland Security documents indisputably show there is a crisis on our border with Mexico," said Tom Fitton, president of the Washington watchdog organization.
"Our agents are being attacked and our sovereignty violated at alarming rates," he said.
The public interest organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption said the new 2008 report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, "BorderStat Violence, FY 2008 Year in Review," reveals a sharp increase in violence on the U.S. border with Mexico.
The violence has been highlighted in the news recently, with armed Mexican drug armies battling it out on a daily basis, leaving bodies strewn throughout border cities in Mexico and even extending their impact into the U.S.
Judicial Watch said the Obama administration was forced to release the document through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security.
The report, linked on the Judicial Watch website, includes these highlights:
- The largest increase in assaults on U.S. agents and officers was in the San Diego district, where attacks rose 48 percent from 2007 to 2008.
- There were 147 incursions at or between ports of entry for Customs and Border Protection components in 2008, up from 32 in 2007, an explosive rise of 359 percent.
- There were 1,325 incidents of violence occurring at or between the Ports of Entry against CBP agents and officers, resulting in a 23 percent increase from 1,073 in FY 2007.
- Ninety-seven percent of all incidents of violence against CBP agents and officers occurred on the southwest border.
- There were 227 assaults against CBP officers at the Ports of Entry in FY 2008 as compared to 85 in FY 2007, an increase of 167 percent.
Secretary of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, already under fire for a department report condemning those who oppose abortion, worry about lax border security or support the 2nd Amendment as "extremists," recently turned down an offer for increased funding from the Senate Committee on Homeland Defense to address the problem of violence on the southern border, Judicial Watch said.
The Obama administration also rejected an appeal from Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to help quell border violence, the organization reported.
"When will the Mexican government be held to account for its purposeful incursions into our sovereign territory?" asked Fitton.
"Unfortunately, this sort of behavior by Mexican military personnel has been going on for years," a statement from Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council said at the time.
The 2007 documentation revealed dozens of armed incursions by Mexican soldiers and police into the U.S. during fiscal year 2007.U.S. plans to accept several Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo: he Uighurs would be the first detainees from the prison to settle in America. Challenge
CDC says too late to contain U.S. flu outbreak
CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing it was likely too late to try to contain the outbreak, by vaccinating, treating or isolating people. "There are things that we see that suggest that containment is not very likely," he said. He said the U.S. cases and Mexican cases are likely the same virus. "So far the genetic elements that we have looked at are the same." But Besser said it was unclear why the virus was causing so many deaths in deaths in Mexico and such mild disease in the United States.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Patricia Zengerle)
Remote Murtha airport lands big bucks from Washington
JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Located outside a small Pennsylvania city, John Murtha airport may not see many passengers. But it's seen plenty of arrivals of tax dollars from Washington, most recently economic stimulus funds.
he airport offers three commercial flights. In between the arrivals and departures, airport officials admit there are few faces around the facility.
"When the flights are coming in, there are people. Other than that, it's empty," said Scott Voelker, manager of the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.
But one face is everywhere. Rep. John Murtha, the airport's namesake, is hard to miss.
Considered one of "the kings of pork" on Capitol Hill by taxpayer watchdog groups, the 19th-term Pennsylvania Democrat has piloted almost $200 million from Washington to Murtha airport. Much of the funding has come in the form of legislative earmarks that are attached to bills before Congress.
Taxpayer watchdogs have said earmarks -- often derided as "pork-barrel" spending -- are designed to fund congressional pet projects.
"[Murtha's] dumped in nearly $200 million into this project that has virtually no passengers. It's practically a museum piece," said Steve Ellis with the Taxpayers for Common Sense. 
Murtha declined CNN's request for an interview. His staff issued a statement saying Murtha airport is vital infrastructure designed to "attract additional business" to the Johnstown area.
On his House Web site, Murtha strongly defends earmarks, saying it's his "job" to direct federal funds to his district.
Earlier this year, the airport found a new revenue stream, receiving $800,000 from the stimulus to repave a crosswind runway that's used as a backup to the facility's main landing runway.
Even though Voelker said the runway is perfectly safe, he said he believes the stimulus project "makes a lot of sense." He noted the runway hasn't been repaved since the 1980s. "Asphalt and concrete need to be replaced," Voelker added.
In December, Murtha made a direct appeal to the Federal Aviation Administration to fund the runway project. The request was rejected. At the time, the airport did not meet FAA criteria for funding because the facility had fewer than 10,000 passengers.
But earlier this year, the FAA notified Murtha airport officials the facility had been approved for stimulus funding. The FAA said Murtha did not request the stimulus money.
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said Murtha airport received stimulus money because it was "shovel-ready." It "met all of the requirements for the use of the stimulus money," Brown said.
Murtha airport is not the only remote airport landing stimulus funds. According to the FAA's Web site, hundreds of big and small airports across the country are slated to receive $1 billion in stimulus upgrades. Many of the airports are in such far-flung places as U.S. territories Guam and American Samoa. Even King Salmon, Alaska, (population 447) is expecting $9.7 million, according to FAA records. See the records
Taxpayer watchdogs said they wonder if some of that's pork.
"The problem is you're not getting the multiple bang for your stimulus buck that you're looking for," Ellis said.
He added, "when you see deadbeat airports getting cash so they can do their second runway, it really feeds cynicism around the country about the stimulus and about the projects."
Brown defends the use of stimulus money for other remote airports such as Guam.
"Guam is a U.S. territory and is part of the U.S. economy as far as I know," she said.
Murtha airport's manager said taxpayer money is going to waste at his facility, but not on the runway project.
He points to an unstaffed $8 million air traffic radar system installed in 2004.
"It's been sitting over there, and that radar has been spinning for all those years with no purpose. Just sitting there," Voelker said. Voelker said he has brought the matter up with both the FAA and Pennsylvania Air National Guard, which uses the air traffic control facility.
Congress Knew About the Interrogations: Obama should release the memo on the attacks prevented.
(Compiler's note: This is absolutely a must read.)
By PETER HOEKSTRA
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair got it right last week when he noted how easy it is to condemn the enhanced interrogation program "on a bright sunny day in April 2009." Reactions to this former CIA program, which was used against senior al Qaeda suspects in 2002 and 2003, are demonstrating how little President Barack Obama and some Democratic members of Congress understand the dire threats to our nation.
George Tenet, who served as CIA director under Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, believes the enhanced interrogations program saved lives. He told CBS's "60 Minutes" in April 2007: "I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency put together have been able to tell us."
Last week, Mr. Blair made a similar statement in an internal memo to his staff when he wrote that "[h]igh value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa'ida organization that was attacking this country."
Yet last week Mr. Obama overruled the advice of his CIA director, Leon Panetta, and four prior CIA directors by releasing the details of the enhanced interrogation program. Former CIA director Michael Hayden has stated clearly that declassifying the memos will make it more difficult for the CIA to defend the nation.
It was not necessary to release details of the enhanced interrogation techniques, because members of Congress from both parties have been fully aware of them since the program began in 2002. We believed it was something that had to be done in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to keep our nation safe. After many long and contentious debates, Congress repeatedly approved and funded this program on a bipartisan basis in both Republican and Democratic Congresses.
Last week, Mr. Obama argued that those who implemented this program should not be prosecuted -- even though the release of the memos still places many individuals at other forms of unfair legal risk. It appeared that Mr. Obama understood it would be unfair to prosecute U.S. government employees for carrying out a policy that had been fully vetted and approved by the executive branch and Congress. The president explained this decision with these gracious words: "nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past." I agreed.
Unfortunately, on April 21, Mr. Obama backtracked and opened the door to possible prosecution of Justice Department attorneys who provided legal advice with respect to the enhanced interrogations program. The president also signaled that he may support some kind of independent inquiry into the program. It seems that he has capitulated to left-wing groups and some in Congress who are demanding show trials over this program.
Members of Congress calling for an investigation of the enhanced interrogation program should remember that such an investigation can't be a selective review of information, or solely focus on the lawyers who wrote the memos, or the low-level employees who carried out this program. I have asked Mr. Blair to provide me with a list of the dates, locations and names of all members of Congress who attended briefings on enhanced interrogation techniques.
Any investigation must include this information as part of a review of those in Congress and the Bush administration who reviewed and supported this program. To get a complete picture of the enhanced interrogation program, a fair investigation will also require that the Obama administration release the memos requested by former Vice President Dick Cheney on the successes of this program.
An honest and thorough review of the enhanced interrogation program must also assess the likely damage done to U.S. national security by Mr. Obama's decision to release the memos over the objections of Mr. Panetta and four of his predecessors. Such a review should assess what this decision communicated to our enemies, and also whether it will discourage intelligence professionals from offering their frank opinions in sensitive counterterrorist cases for fear that they will be prosecuted by a future administration.
Perhaps we need an investigation not of the enhanced interrogation program, but of what the Obama administration may be doing to endanger the security our nation has enjoyed because of interrogations and other antiterrorism measures implemented since Sept. 12, 2001.
Mr. Hoekstra, a congressman from Michigan, is ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
The Clinton-Bush-Obama sellout
We found out this week that computer spies, who experts suspect are from China, have infiltrated the production process of the F-35 fighter jet. It turns out, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal, that part of the production process for the F-35 takes place in Turkey. Our new Muslim ally. The same country which just a few weeks ago Barack Obama visited. Remember when he went to the mosques in Turkey and took off his shoes? You know, that Turkey.
Now when George W. Bush tried to give the port contracts for the United States of America to the Kingdom of Dubai, I Michael Savage told you that they would try to use that position to infiltrate security and get at national secrets. I knew at that time there was a serious threat that they could sneak a Trojan Horse through the port security system.
Well, thanks to the alert members of The Savage Nation, the Dubai Ports fiasco was defeated. But now it looks like the Chinese have snuck a Trojan Horse through our computer security system. And how did they manage to do it? If the information from the Wall Street Journal this week is correct and Turkey now makes many of the components for the F-35 fighter, it seems very likely that the Muslim Trojan horse, which was stopped during the Dubai ports scandal, has now found a way to penetrate our systems through the auspices of our good Muslim allies in Turkey.
So how on earth did it happen that key components for one of our top military projects got outsourced to a Muslim nation? Nobody seems to know. Although maybe the fact that George W. Bush, the good conservative, pushed for closer trade relations with Turkey. For George W. Bush apparently it was all about the bottom line.
Not our national line of defense. In the 1940s Arthur Miller wrote a play called "All My Sons." It depicted a corrupt war profiteer who knew he had manufactured a set of faulty aircraft parts, but sent them to the Air Force to be put in airplanes anyway. As a result, the airplanes crashed, killing American troops. But truth is stranger than fiction. In the story the corrupt war profiteer gets his just desserts, but in this case, it seems that the villains got only rewarded. George W. Bush, who opened up close trade relationships with Turkey, has now retired to Texas where he lives in luxury off of speaking fees and will get Secret Service protection for the rest of his life.
What do we get? What does the citizens of the United States get? We get compromised security. We get a fighter jet that the Chinese can take out at any time because of their intimate knowledge of it. We get a bill for a 3 or 4 trillion-dollar bailout. And we get to kiss the behind of our so-called Muslim allies in Turkey to thank them for helping the Chinese destroy our national security. In short, we get screwed. We get sold out. All for the bottom line. The same bottom line that Clinton sold us out for by signing NAFTA. The same bottom line that Bush sold us out for when his cronies gobbled up the profits from Turkey. The same bottom line that Obama is selling us out for when he takes his shoes off in the mosque of the country that stabbed us in the back.
Another Fine Anti-Terror Mess
Britain continues to fumble in the fight against Jihadist terrorism. Will the U.S. take note of their mistakes? ....
How Control of Major Banks and Financial Institutions Means Socialism
President Obama showed his hand this week when the New York Times wrote that he is considering converting the stock the government owns in our country's banks from preferred stock, which it now holds, to common stock.
If Obama gets his way, it means that the federal government will control all of the major banks and financial institutions in the nation. It means socialism. ....
Show Me the Leadership – Why Is Obama Still Voting ‘Present’?
While Obama dithers, precious opportunities involving our national security are frittered away. Did we elect a leader or a political opportunist? ....
Importance of being judgmental
by Alan Keyes
Another question asks about God's forgiveness of sin. God's reply: "I do not forgive anyone because there is nothing to forgive. There is no such thing as right or wrong and that is what I have been trying to tell everyone, do not judge people. People have chosen to judge one another and this is wrong, because the rule is 'judge not lest ye be judged.'"
I received this report of the contents of books in the Neale Walsch series "Conversations with God" from one of my e-mail correspondents. (Reportedly, Walsch's work is one of Oprah Winfrey's particular favorites.) I was struck by the self-evident contradiction that has Walsch's god saying, "There is no such thing as right or wrong" in one breath, and "this is wrong" in the next. Obviously Walsh's god has no problem applying a concept while declaring that it doesn't exist.
I'd be tempted to think Walsch meant this as a joke, but this kind of silliness is typical of the shallow nonsense that passes for spirituality with the Oprah/Obama set. Mere mortals such as I have a hard time understanding how it's possible to recognize something as wrong when there's no such thing as right or wrong. Like eating a cake that's no longer there, it's a trick that can apparently be mastered only by the glamorous few.
Anyone who asserts that people should not be "judgmental" and then decries racism or "homophobia" is guilty of the same illogic. The word "judgment" traces its roots to Latin, jus dicare, meaning to say or pronounce what is right. Judgment assumes that right exists and can be recognized as such. If someone decries racism as an injustice (a word that also includes the reference to right or jus), they are invoking a concept or standard of right that makes it so. If "there is no such thing as right or wrong," this standard cannot exist. Their opposition to racism (or any other injustice) is groundless emotionalism. It has no more claim to respect than the opposite view – that racial superiority legitimizes oppression of those who are inferior.
This careless illogic barely disguises the reassertion of the law of the jungle (might makes right; superior force creates legitimacy), a form of fatalism that encourages submission to whomever happens to enjoy success at the moment, with no standard to inspire opposition to their will except the promise of superior power. Though the Oprah/Obama crowd poses as compassionate people who care about the weak, it represents the reassertion of a purely power-based order in human society, a concept of law and government most fully codified under ancient Roman rule.
Roman imperial rule epitomized the human social order based on self-legitimizing power. As advocates of a moral understanding that implies returning to this social order, the Oprah/Obama crowd profoundly rejects the moral understanding Jesus Christ asserted against it. The biblical Creator God is the transcendent, absolute power who provides the basis for a concept of right that limits the claims of every human power, whatsoever. However powerful or successful any human or humans become, the weak and powerless have recourse to this standard of justice as a rallying point against the claim of the more powerful to rule without respect for any will but their own. This standard becomes the basis for the idea of "limited government," not just as a particular matter of fact, but as the conceptual test of just government as such. This means that any government not intrinsically constrained to respect the right established by God's will has no legitimacy.It's no accidental coincidence that this return to the ancient Roman understanding of power involves promoting the false notion that personal liberation mainly involves the free play of sexual and other physical passions. In fact, the paradigm of such liberation is the wealthy drug addict's freedom to get high – a condition that, in fact, involves a degrading form of subjection and slavery. Moreover, as the capacity for self-control in the face of passion erodes, so does the ability to control fear (which is, after all, a physical passion) when confronted with danger. This reinforces the ability of the more powerful to cow and manipulate those less well endowed.
Christian faith proved to be an effective antidote to this preparation of the will for tyranny. The image of Christian martyrs singing hymns as they faced wild animals in the Roman arena testifies to its ability to rouse their courage. Thanks to Christianity, the virtues usually reserved for trained warriors, like the Spartans, were made available to all kinds of people, including those previously regarded as naturally weak and, therefore, inferior.
As contemporary elites strive to recreate the inegalitarian forms of government and society that remove all constraints from their vainglorious ambitions, Christianity therefore poses an infuriating obstacle. The conviction that any individuals who put their faith in Christ have access to the wisdom and power of the Creator God defeats the psychologically intimidating effect of physical superiority, thereby depriving the superior few of their most important advantage. Jefferson was right when he swore eternal enmity against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. Unconstrained rule by the superior few becomes impossible when many people are imbued with the mental independence derived from a faith that makes the greatest power imaginable the reliable ally of their right actions (rights).
The Oprah/Obama crowd may pose as champion of the masses, but it serves an agenda that must ultimately reinstate the routine oppression of the many by the few. Before the meaning of Christ's incarnation was accurately translated for the benefit of the common people, such oppression was characteristic of societies everywhere. I believe that the American republic has been the primary and most successful result of that translation. As it now faces what may be the last crisis of its existence, its fate heavily depends on whether those who profess to be Christians will understand the indispensable role that must be played by the courage their faith makes available to all. This may be the most important practical prerequisite of the equality America's founders asserted on behalf of all humankind.
'Put al-Qaida in room with Hillary'
By Bob Unruh
 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton |
A lawyer who has been a watchdog on Washington for two decades has suggested a replacement for the so-called "torture" techniques used by the U.S. to obtain critical information about pending attacks from captured terrorists: Put them in a room with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
After all, the lawyer said, that treatment prompted former President Bill Clinton to confess his misbehavior with Monica Lewinsky.
The suggestion comes from Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch. He started out his watchdog work with the organization Judicial Watch then left to pursue a seat in the U.S. Senate and subsequently launched Freedom Watch.
In a statement released today, Klayman said it's "politics as usual in the corrupt cesspool of Washington, D.C." He commented on President Obama's decision to release to the public some of the previously classified memos regarding "enhanced" interrogation techniques such as waterboarding that were used during the administration of President Bush.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has called for the release of other documents he says would verify the value of the information received from the enhanced techniques. One of the plots defused reportedly was a massive attack on Los Angeles.....
Pelosi briefed on waterboarding in '02 [UPDATED]
by Glenn Thrush
Nancy Pelosi denies knowing U.S. officials used waterboarding — but GOP operatives are pointing to a 2007 Washington Post story which describes an hour-long 2002 briefing in which Pelosi was told about enhanced interrogation techniques in graphic detail.
Two unnamed officials told the paper that Pelosi, then a member of the Democratic minority, didn't raise substantial objections.
Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen wrote:
In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.
Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.
UPDATE: A Pelosi spokesman passes along her response to the article when it first appeared, claiming that Pelosi's successor on the intel committee -- Yep, Jane Harman -- lodged a protest with the CIA when she learned waterboarding was in use.
"On one occasion, in the fall of 2002, I was briefed on interrogation techniques the Administration was considering using in the future. The Administration advised that legal counsel for the both the CIA and the Department of Justice had concluded that the techniques were legal.
I had no further briefings on the techniques. Several months later, my successor as Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman, was briefed more extensively and advised the techniques had in fact been employed. It was my understanding at that time that Congresswoman Harman filed a letter in early 2003 to the CIA to protest the use of such techniques, a protest with which I concurred."
Lower down in the article, the authors and their sources acknowledge Pelosi & Co. were severely constrained in what they could do with the information — and had no way of knowing how the techniques would ultimately used or abused in a pre-Abu Gharaib era.
Congressional officials say the groups' ability to challenge the practices was hampered by strict rules of secrecy that prohibited them from being able to take notes or consult legal experts or members of their own staffs. And while various officials have described the briefings as detailed and graphic, it is unclear precisely what members were told about waterboarding and how it is conducted. Several officials familiar with the briefings also recalled that the meetings were marked by an atmosphere of deep concern about the possibility of an imminent terrorist attack.
"In fairness, the environment was different then because we were closer to Sept. 11 and people were still in a panic," said one U.S. official present during the early briefings. "But there was no objecting, no hand-wringing. The attitude was, 'We don't care what you do to those guys as long as you get the information you need to protect the American people.'"
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Gates takes reform agenda to military officers
Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week is lobbying what is arguably his most important constituency to accept his reform agenda as embodied in the Obama administration's 2010 defense budget proposal -- the men and women who will lead troops on tomorrow's battlefields.
"These recommendations are less about budget numbers than they are about how the United States military thinks about and prepares for the future," Gates told officers at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, on Wednesday. The officers are students at the Air War College, Command and Staff College, and School of Advanced Air and Space Studies.
Gates' budget proposals would significantly reprioritize investments in major weapons programs; increase spending on programs that benefit troops, notably in medical research, health care and family support; and reform contracting.
Fundamentally, the proposals reflect how Gates believes military leaders should prepare for future warfare and care for troops and their families. They would institutionalize support for the men and women on the battlefield, and compel the services to work together to buy the most effective weapons, he said.
"These are just the kind of basic questions you will be dealing with as you go on to staff and command positions," he told the audience. For that reason, Gates said he was visiting each of the service war colleges to explain his decision-making and address questions officers might have.
Gates said his budget decisions reflected his frustrations as Defense secretary during the past two years: "Whether the issue is fixing outpatient care, getting better armored vehicles or sending more [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] capability into the theater, I kept running into the fact that the Department of Defense, as an institution which routinely complained that the rest of government wasn't at war, was itself, not on a war footing, even as young Americans were fighting and dying every day."
The needs of combat troops were not much championed at the Pentagon, especially in comparison with the services' conventional modernization programs, which too often took precedence in the department's budget, according to Gates. The needs of combat troops were relegated mostly to supplemental funding requests to Congress, he said.
"One of the things I've learned since entering government 43 years ago is that the best way to ensure that an organization really cares for and fights for something, as a lioness does for her cubs, is to put that thing in its base budget," Gates said.
As such, he has moved funding for many items into the Pentagon's base budget that formerly were paid for through supplemental funding requests -- things such as medical research and brain injury and psychological health treatment programs. Likewise, investments in helicopters, transport aircraft for moving troops and equipment on the battlefield, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance -- resources that are needed in Iraq and Afghanistan -- will be shifted from supplemental funding to the Pentagon's base budget under Gates' proposal.
Shaping Gates' thinking about what weapons programs to cut or accelerate was his conviction that the old definitions of conventional and irregular war are no longer useful. "We face a more complex future than that," where nation-states will be as apt to employ irregular tactics as terrorists, and where nonstate actors may have weapons of mass destruction. "This kind of warfare will require capabilities with the maximum possible flexibility to deal with the widest possible range of conflict," he said.
That is the reason behind Gates' decision to halt the Air Force's F-22 fighter program at 187 aircraft in 2010. "The F-22 is, in effect, a niche, silver-bullet solution required for a limited number of scenarios," he said. Instead, Gates wants to accelerate the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a cheaper, multiservice fighter, eventually purchasing more than 2,400 of the aircraft. While the F-22 is a more sophisticated aircraft, the F-35 will provide strength in numbers and be suitable for a broader array of missions.
Gates' remarks were "very well-received," said Maxwell spokesman Phil Berube. A transcript of the event showed a number of officers expressed appreciation for Gates' decisions and his explanation of them. It was the Defense secretary's first visit to the service's premier officer training school since June 2008, when he flew there to explain his unprecedented decision to fire Michael Donley and Michael Mosley, who were Air Force secretary and chief of staff at the time, because he had lost confidence in their leadership, Berube said.
Gates conducted similar briefings at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia and the Army War College in Pennsylvania. He planned to visit the Naval War College in Rhode Island on Friday.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
I Am an Extremist
Semper Fidelis)
According to the
Apparently, all this makes me a "rightwing extremist." At least that's what it says in the April 7, 2009 "Assessment" issued by the Office of Int
Evidently neither you nor I were ever supposed to read this "Assessment." At the bottom of the cover page is a warning that it is "not to be r
The "Assessment" purports to alert law enforcement officials that "rightwing extremists" -- the term is used more than 35 times -- are intent on exploiting Americans who have strongly h
Though the report proffers a passing reference to the First Amendment, it is replete with bias against conservative thought, writing and communications. On page 3, law enforcement authorities are warned, "Rightwing extremist chatter on the Internet continues to focus on the economy, the perceived (emphasis added) loss of
This is a frightening acknowledgement that political speech is being monitored in
In its "Key Findings" the DHS manuscript boldly charges "rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues" and warns that "The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."
Under the heading "Disgruntled Military Veterans" the report alleges, "rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists -- including lone wolves or small terrorist c
Thirteen lines after this egregious, unconscionable slander against those of us who are military combat veterans, DHS makes the stunning charge that, "lone wolves and small terrorist c
According to this DHS "Assessment," the most dangerous threat we face here at home isn't from radical imams preaching violence in
Mr. Obama should publicly disavow this report and fire the officials responsible for issuing it. Those who prepare his remarks for the occasion should insert in the t
Blair: 'High Value' Information Obtained in CIA Interrogations
Obama's national intelligence director says in a private memo that information obtained from harsh interrogations resulted in "a deeper understanding of the Al Qaeda network." ....
Disturbing New Development in Obama Birth Certificate Issue: Listen Now
Click here to listen.
Islamists and the Left Working Together in Muslim-majority Countries?
Recently, there have been several signs of rapprochement between Islamists and the Socialist left in countries where Muslims are in the majority. This should concern us greatly. ....
Is Janet Napolitano Up to the Task of Keeping Americans Safe? (Part One of Two)
(Compiler's note: A must read article.)
Dr. Robin McFee
Secretary Napolitano – weak on security and immigration enforcement, strong on appeasement. How can we defeat terrorism when we can no longer name it?....
U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Announces Expanded ‘Coalition’
Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report
By constructing “coalitions” of its own front organizations, the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood gives a false appearance of more broad-based support than it actually enjoys. ....
Texas lawmakers consider telling U.S. gov't to 'cease and desist'
By ANNA M. TINSLEY
AUSTIN -- Note to Washington, D.C.: Texas is a sovereign state.After Gov. Rick Perry's recent comments about some Texans talking secession from the union made national news, legislators are considering issuing a "cease and desist" order to the federal government.
"This state prefers, to the greatest extent possible, to control our own destiny," said Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, one of several members co-sponsoring the measure. "We prefer that federal government limit the amount of federal mandates it forces upon the people of Texas."
House Concurrent Resolution 50, which claims sovereignty for Texas under the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment, was one of several proposals to go before the House State Affairs Committee late Tuesday.
Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, filed the bill, saying that more than a dozen states have proposed similar efforts amid concern that the federal government may be overstepping its boundaries.
"From restrictions on gun and ammunition sales, to freedom-of-choice issues, to the Real ID Act, the federal government is passing laws that limit a state's ability to govern itself," Creighton has said. "Texas simply wants to send the message that we want to govern ourselves and decide for ourselves how our money is to be spent."
Under this resolution, the 81st Legislature "hereby claim[s] sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States."
"This serve[s] as notice and demand to the federal government ... to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers."
Rep. Mark Shelton, R-Fort Worth, also signed on as a co-sponsor.
"Texans should have the right for their representatives in Austin to decide what is best for Texas," Shelton said.
Perry -- who stirred a firestorm last week with secession talk -- said he supports this bill, especially since the federal government "has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state." "I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our union."
Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, said that he initially considered serving as a co-sponsor as well but that he changed his mind because of Perry.
"The concept has been corrupted by gubernatorial politics," he said.
Taliban Tighten Their Grip on Pakistan's Northwest
ISLAMABAD — Taliban militants have extended their grip in northwestern Pakistan, pushing out from a valley where the government has agreed to impose Islamic law and patrolling villages as close as 60 miles from the capital.
Police and officials appear to have fled as armed militants also broadcast radio sermons and spread fear in Buner district, just 60 miles from Islamabad, officials and witnesses said Wednesday.
Pakistan's president signed off on the peace pact last week in hopes of calming Swat, where some two years of clashes between the Taliban and security forces have killed hundreds and displaced up to a third of the one-time tourist haven's 1.5 million residents.
Critics, including in Washington, have warned that the valley could become an officially sanctioned base for allies of Al Qaeda — and that it may be just the first domino in nuclear-armed Pakistan to fall to the Taliban.
"The activities in the Swat do concern us. We're keeping an eye on it, and are working daily with the Pakistan military," Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker told Pentagon reporters in a 35-minute videoconference call from Afghanistan.
Supporters of the deal say it will allow the government to gradually reassert control by taking away the militants' rallying cry for Islamic law. Many residents are grateful that a semblance of peace has returned. A handful of officials are back in Swat.
The agreement covers Swat and other districts in the Malakand Division, an area of about 10,000 square miles near the Afghan border and the tribal areas where Al Qaeda and the Taliban have strongholds.
The provincial government agreed to impose Islamic law in Malakand, and the Taliban agreed to a cease-fire that has largely held.
In recent days, the Swat militants have set their sights on Buner, a district just south of the valley, sparking at least one major clash with residents. The moves indicate the militants want to expand their presence beyond Swat to other parts of Malakand at the very least, under the guise of enforcing Islamic law.
Many in Buner are now too frightened to speak to reporters. However, a lawmaker from the area told The Associated Press that the militants had entered the district in "large numbers" and started setting up checkpoints at main roads and strategic positions.
"Local elders and clerics are negotiating with them to resolve this issue through talks," Istiqbal Khan said.
The militants in Buner also are using radio airwaves to broadcast sermons about Islam, and have occupied the homes of some prominent landowners, said a police official who insisted on anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation. He said the militants have also warned barbers to stop shaving men's beards and stores to stop selling music and movies.
The militants have established a major base in the village of Sultanwas and have set up positions in the nearby hills, the police official said. Militants also have taken over the shrine of a famed Sufi saint known as Pir Baba, he said.
The Taliban move into Buner left the Swat deal hanging from a thread, said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences.
"If the Taliban continue to expand in different directions and establish fiefdoms as they did in Swat, then probably the deal is not going to work and the government will be forced to scuttle that deal and go back to operations" by security forces, Rais said.
The provincial government's chief executive said authorities were prepared to use force if the Taliban didn't "pack up and go home" from Buner. But Haider Khan Hoti also pleaded for patience and rejected Western calls for a more aggressive approach.
U.S. missile attacks on militant targets in the northwest were undermining Pakistan's efforts to find a peaceful solution, he said.
"This is our country, we will have to look at our own priorities and our own interests," Hoti said. "We should not enter any friendship at the cost of our own destruction."
Since the provincial government agreed to the deal in February, Taliban fighters had adopted a lower profile and stopped openly displaying weapons in Swat as part of a cease-fire.
But on Tuesday, upon the radio-broadcast orders of Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah, the militants began roaming parts of the valley with rifles and other weapons. An AP reporter saw the patrols in Mingora, the valley's main city.
Residents from nearby towns in Swat said militants were setting up checkpoints on several roads. The residents requested anonymity out of fear for their lives.
Fazlullah ordered his fighters to withdraw again in a broadcast on Wednesday. He didn't explain why.
Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan could not be reached for comment.
Khan said recently that Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden and other militants aiming to oust the U.S. from Afghanistan would be welcome and protected in Swat — a statement the government condemned.
He also said the militants want to see all of Pakistan under Islamic law — a cry echoed by several other Islamist firebrands. sharia
Rais, the professor, said there was concern that Islamists may have concluded from the Swat deal that authorities will cave in to violent demands for Islamic law elsewhere.
"They have natural allies in the religious political parties in other parts of the country. They have social and religious networks that have support their suicide attacks and attacks against the security forces," Rais said.
"It is about the identity of Pakistan and the future direction that Pakistan can take
Probes of Bush Officials Loom
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama raised the possibility of prosecuting Bush administration lawyers who approved so-called enhanced interrogation techniques on terror suspects.
Mr. Obama, speaking to reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office, also laid out the parameters for a bipartisan commission to examine government tactics used in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, although he was careful to say he wasn't endorsing such a panel.
Together, the remarks put the president squarely in the center of a growing battle between liberals who want to hold Bush administration officials accountable for what they call torture, and conservatives who say Mr. Obama has damaged national security by revealing interrogation secrets.
The president last week overruled objections from Central Intelligence Agency officials and released documents that described such interrogation tactics as waterboarding, slamming prisoners against walls and confining them in cramped spaces -- sometimes populated with insects -- to induce fear.
Mr. Obama drew a distinction Tuesday between those who carried out the interrogations and those who argued for them, reiterating that he didn't think those who followed legal guidance should be prosecuted. "With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the attorney general, within the parameters of various laws, and I don't want to prejudge that," the president said.
The CIA memos, he said, "reflected, in my view, us losing our moral bearings."
The comments were a marked contrast with the tone set by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who said Sunday that the people who formulated the Bush policies wouldn't be subject to prosecution. On ABC's "This Week," Mr. Emanuel said, "It's time for reflection. It's not a time to use our energy and our time in looking back in a sense of anger and retribution."
Even Mr. Obama's director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, defended the harsh practices. He wrote in a letter to colleagues last week that "high-value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qaeda organization that was attacking this country."
The letter also expressed some sympathy for Bush administration officials operating in the months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
