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POPSThree Senators Opened The Door For Iraq Oil Contracts For Red China but the resulting media hooraw in Iraq led to the cancellation of the contracts, and helps to explain why Iraq is doing oil deals instead with China. Senators Schumer, McCaskill, and Kerry claimed: “It is our fear that this action by the Iraqi government could further deepen political tensions in Iraq and put our service members in even great danger.” For that reason, presumably, Schumer went so far as to ask the senior vice president of Exxon “if his company would agree to wait until the GOI produced a fair, equitable, and transparent hydrocarbon revenue sharing law before it signed any long-term agreement with the GOI.” Exxon naturally refused, but Schumer managed to get the deal killed anyway.
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POPSObama Tried To Stall GI's Iraq Withdrawal His latest position is that US combat troops should be out by 2010. Yet his effort to delay an agreement would make that withdrawal deadline impossible to meet. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Bush administration have a more flexible timetable in mind. According to Zebari, the envisaged time span is two or three years - departure in 2011 or 2012. That would let Iraq hold its next general election, the third since liberation, and resolve a number of domestic political issues. Even then, the dates mentioned are only "notional," making the timing and the cadence of withdrawal conditional on realities on the ground as appreciated by both sides. Iraqi leaders are divided over the US election. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (whose party is a member of the Socialist International) sees Obama as "a man of the Left" - who, once elected, might change his opposition to Iraq's liberation.
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POPSObama’s Shifting Positions on Iraq: A Rezko Connection? Obama was at a party on April 3 — two days before the video– with Nadhmi Auchi, a London-based Iraqi billionaire who attended a Tony Rezko party in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune blog covered Obama’s recollection of the party in depth. Late last week, Sen. Barack Obama said he didn’t recall meeting a controversial Iraqi-born billionaire at a party held at the home of his former friend and fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, on April 3, 2004, because it was in the midst of his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. But a check on the senator’s calendar showed he had no campaign activities on the day of the Auchi party. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that despite Obama’s inability to recall meeting Mr. Auchi, two sources said the senator was present. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/04/obamas_rezkoauchi_recollection.html http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/894559,CST-NWS-rezko15.article
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POPSWar Mom Takes Hard Line: Warns U.S. Foes When asked whether the United States should be able to invade ally Pakistan in pursuit of terrorists along the Afghanistan border, Palin said, "I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hellbent on destroying America and our allies." He son Track, 19, joined the Army last summer and is part of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks. As governor, Palin spoke at a ceremony there yesterday marking the brigade's 12-month deployment to Iraq beginning next week. Palin spoke at a ceremony there yesterday marking the brigade's 12-month deployment to Iraq beginning next week. Yesterday's ceremony coincided with the seventh anniversary of 9/11. Calling the Iraq mission a "just and vital cause" and predicting victory, Palin said, "America can never go back to that false sense of security that came before Sept. 11, 2001."
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POPSCharles Gibson's Gaffe Charles Krauthammer I was the first to use the term. In the cover essay of the June 4, 2001, issue of the Weekly Standard entitled, "The Bush Doctrine: ABM, Kyoto, and the New American Unilateralism," I suggested that the Bush administration policies of unilaterally withdrawing from the ABM treaty and rejecting the Kyoto protocol, together with others, amounted to a radical change in foreign policy that should be called the Bush Doctrine. Until Iraq. A year later, when the Iraq war was looming, Bush offered his major justification by enunciating a doctrine of preemptive war. This is the one Charlie Gibson thinks is the Bush doctrine. It's not. It's the third in a series and was superseded by the fourth and current definition of the Bush doctrine, the most sweeping formulation of the Bush approach to foreign policy and the one that most clearly and distinctively defines the Bush years.
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POPSSafer Iraq Attracts Foreign Investors Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's crackdown on Shiite militias this Spring led to a thaw in relations with Sunni governments in the Gulf. That has encouraged investors such as Aqeela to turn to Iraq without fear of falling out of favor with their own governments, says Majed Michel, vice president of the Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce. The projects seek to address long-standing needs in Iraq, such as a severe housing shortage and under-investment in public utilities. Najaf is visited by millions of Shiite tourists a year but infrastructure there is poor. "This is an extraordinarily undercapitalized society," said Todd Schwartz, an economic counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. "There's no question that Iraq can absorb $74 billion and hundreds of billions more." There is plenty of money available as well, added Schwartz, in Gulf monarchies awash in petrodollars.
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POPSOuch!... Palin Slams Obama On His Ridiculous Surge Stands Experienced Governor Palin blasted him on his surge stands today: Watch MSNBC video at site: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/09/ouch-palin-slams-obama-on-his.html In more bad news for the democratic media conglomerate-- 10,000 subscribers called Us magazine to cancel their subscriptions after their hit piece on Sarah Palin. Hat Tip Andy B. And, Patrick corrected my earlier numbers... Over 40 million watched Sarah Palin on Wednesday not 37 million. The Nielsen ratings showed that Palin attracted a huge female audience of 19.5 million women, nearly 5 million larger than the third day of the Democratic convention when Hillary Clinton spoke. Sarah better look out. The media is hot on her tail and not because they like her. http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/09/one-is-two-palin-now-more-popular-than.html
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POPSNow The Surge Is Succeeding? .......continued... But the National Intelligence Estimate of Jan 2007 said this: Coalition capabilities, including force levels, resources, and operations, remain an essential stabilizing element in Iraq. If Coalition forces were withdrawn rapidly during the term of this Estimate, we judge that this almost certainly would lead to a significant increase in the scale and scope of sectarian conflict in Iraq, intensify Sunni resistance to the Iraqi Government, and have adverse consequences for national reconciliation. OK, so Obama opposed a surge that succeeded and advocated a policy that the NIE said at the time would lead to a disaster in Iraq. As to whether anyone could have predicted that the surge would be effective - well, Bush did introduce it this way in his January 2007 speech: President's Address to the Nation http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070110-7.html
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POPSHope and Change—for McCain [Victor Davis Hanson] He played well off the serial Obama gaffes like the tire-pressure sermon, while solidifying the base on abortion, drilling, and now his VP pick. He looks the relaxed candidate with the magnanimous reference to Obama's nomination in contrast to the herky-jerky ankle-biting from the Obama handlers over the Palin appointment. Now the pairing of the septuagenarian warhorse, alongside the youthful mom of five from Alaska contrasts well with two doom and gloom, DC natty liberal senators. The 72-year old McCain is still running behind the Messiah, and who knows whether the sudden 3.3 GDP good news on the economy, the stability in Iraq, and cooling off of gas price spikes will hold or play a role. But given the Democratic dynamics this year, the overt bias of the media, and the rock-star quality of Obama, being this close as September nears is a tribute to McCain's toughness and the savvy of his staff.
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POPSGov. Sarah Palin: On The Issues New Alaska Governor Is Strong Conservative Economy: She supports reducing property taxes and taxes for small businesses to grow the economy. Climate: However, she has been a vocal critic of scientists who suggest that climate change is leading to the decrease in polar bears in Alaska. She has also threatened to sue to have polar bears not listed as a threatened species. Immigration: Being that her state only borders Canada and is thousands of miles from the Mexican border, Palin has not often expressed her views publicly on illegal immigration. Health Care: According to her campaign Web site, Palin supports flexibility in government regulations that allow competition in health care. She believes it will drive down health care costs and reduce the need for government subsidies. Palin also feels patients should have access to full medical billing information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXzY1FvYpnE YouTube: 10:19
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POPSCongressNow: Sestak Seeks Bipartisan Approach to Ending War He was an early and ardent backer of the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and served on former President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council in the mid-1990s. Sestak has since backed Obama’s campaign, although he admits he’s not among Obama’s core group of national security advisers. Still, several Democratic lawmakers have suggested Sestak’s views carry weight among House Democrats. “When he speaks, he has the ear of everyone on the committee,” said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Calif.), a senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), also a member of the committee, said Sestak has already emerged as as leader on military strategy. “He’s got the expertise. Democrats should welcome his experience.” Sestak said, “My belief is that those that have more recent experience and time in the military can help explain why certain polices” are needed, he said.
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POPSJoe Biden, Friend of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps And the IRGC and its Quds Force were both designated “supporters of terrorism” in October 2007. Though the latter two designations would not have been so had Biden had his way. And most importantly – for the sake of sanctions and the unequivocal denial of any form of support to terrorists and terrorist supporters – the amendment said, “the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization … and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.” The text of the amendment included Congressional testimony from then-commander of Multi-National-Force Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, who said, “Iran, through the use of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps Quds Force, seeks to turn the Shiia militia extremists into a Hezbollah-like force to serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq.”
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POPSCoalition Forces Capture Two Key al-Qaeda Leaders in Baghdad Abu Uthman was initially a leader in another extremist group where he handled the group’s finances and oversaw a group of 100 subordinates. He is alleged to have participated in both battles in Fallujah in April and November 2004, when other terrorists began calling him “Abu Nimr,” meaning “The Tiger.” “The capture of Abu Tiba and Abu Uthman eliminates two of the few remaining experienced leaders in the AQI network,” said Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, MNF-I spokesman. “Iraqi and Coalition forces have made great strides in improving security in Iraq, especially in Baghdad.”
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POPS Russia to Light Up Iraq while the actual requirement is 10,000MW during a year and up to 12,000MW in summer. The Iraqi authorities specified earlier that rebuilding the electricity sector calls for between $10 billion and $15 billion.
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POPSAmerican Airlines Charge Soldiers Bag Fee on Travel to War VFW seeks airline waiver, not reimbursement form "That's a lot to ask when the service member has much more important things on their minds, such as staying alive and keeping those around them alive," he said. The VFW is asking the Air Transport Association (ATA) to urge member airlines to exempt military personnel traveling on official orders from all excess-baggage fees. "This should not be a very difficult decision to make," Mr. Davis said.
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POPSIraq Could Have $79 Billion Budget Surplus - Report The GAO said Iraq had an estimated cumulative budget surplus of about $29 billion from 2005 to 2007 and could have another surplus of up to $50 billion this year. The expected surplus could be lower if Iraq passes stalled legislation for a $22 billion supplemental budget for 2008 - and if the government then executes the budget. The report also estimated that this year Iraq could generate $67 billion to $79 billion in oil sales. Other US officials previously had said they expected the oil windfall to be about $70 billion.
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POPSThe End Of Rakan Hassan's War said he suspects insurgents put a bomb in or next to the house. He believes the house was targeted either because of his associations with the Iraqi government or because the family had accepted help for Rakan from Americans. But the truth is, we don't know why. We only know Rakan is dead. Larry Ronan has been heartsick for weeks, as he awaited final word. I have been, too. Ronan is a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital with thousands of patients, but for six months in fall 2005 and winter 2006 you would have thought his only patient was Rakan. Rakan's case caught the eye of humanitarians because his shooting was captured in a series of haunting photographs by Chris Hondros, a photographer for Getty Images who was embedded with the platoon from the First Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, which opened fire on a car they thought was carrying suicide bombers.Continued...
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POPSFINALLY! Wartime Opposition To War Is Explained Clearly
and was almost key in 2008, but something happened. Success in Iraq. Barry's War Obama supporters and blissed-out Barry-heads everywhere: Are you ready for some righteous war? Are you prepared to step up and get fucking medieval in Afghanistan, and perhaps in Pakistan as well? You’d better be, for the man whose feet you’re currently kissing has big plans to expand the War On Terror, and now is not the time for faint-hearted second-thoughts. Polish those boots, clean your weapons, and get in formation. The moment of truth is arriving soon. Big drop in casualties security success success against the Al Queda in Iraq groups and growing political success It was undeniable, so the left denied it, and ignored it, and now… …now that both the Democrats and Republicans are coming to consensus on how to proceed in Iraq, those who opposed are revealing that their opposition really was just based on partisanship…not patriotic dissent as earlier claimed.
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POPSStrategy Or Magic Numbers And Stump Politics? Yet, unlike the Iraq surge he opposed (and still opposes), where increased numbers were based on a mission transition in 2007 and requirements to fulfill that mission, Senator Obama’s surge plan for Afghanistan appears on its face to have little concrete vision beyond sending in more troops. What’s more telling is that there is little in the way of detailing how that specific number of additional troops was arrived at. The lack of accompanying explanation - suggests it may be just that, a number. This, if so, is not a plan. Perhaps his military advisors may want to sharpen their pencils and share a thought or two. Perhaps we simply missed them amid the frequent criticism. Or perhaps the senator may reverse course and return to his once-stated predisposition to send US troops into Pakistan. Otherwise, it all rings as hollow criticism without serious alternative. That’s not a plan. And it’s not a strategy. That’s simply stump politics.
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POPSSecret US-Iranian Dialogue Shakes Up Mid East Alliances and the Sunni guerrilla insurgents in Iraq, to allow President Bush to claim his Iraq campaign had ended successfully before leaving the White House. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Tehran ordered Iranian intelligence officers working undercover in Iraq to halt attacks on US troops by pro-Iranian militias, including Moqtada Sadr’s Mehdi Army. This has left US and Iraqi government force with free hands for large-scale operations against al Qaeda. Read Full Article
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POPS Finger-Licking KFC In Fallujah, Iraq Full Meal $3.50 “I remember when I was here last in July 2004 and things were much different than they are now,” said Sgt. Steve J. Arnoux, a 25-year-old vehicle commander from Browning, Mont. “When we would go out on convoys in the city, the attitude was a lot different. It seemed like we were just waiting to get ambushed. Now we stop at KFC.”
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POPS The Goodwill Of Nancy Pelosi continued when the fighting would end, they negotiated that cessation of hostilities-the Iranians.” Of course, Basra had nothing to do with the surge in the first place and in the second Iran has been, along with al Qaeda, the chief facilitator of terrorism in post-Saddam Iraq. You’d think after giving credit for American success to America’s sworn enemies, the Speaker of the House would back off from flattering the mullahs. She might even attempt to clarify or correct the record. A mere “‘goodwill’ was the wrong term” would have gone a long way. Yet no clarification or correction was issued. And Pelosi’s comments this morning confirm the reason: She gives Iran the benefit of the doubt. After the kidnappings, the terrorist activities that have killed Americans over three decades, the threats to destroy Israel, the attempts to destroy Iraq, the training and support of Hezbollah, the torture and murder of thousands of Iranians,
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POPSDark Horse Challenging Murtha Turns Out To Be A Thoroughbred It challenged the signatures on Russell’s petition in court. Just enough signatures were removed to assure that Russell would not be on the primary ballot-–which was the plan. Undeterred, Russell asked voters to write in his name on the primary ballot to be the Republican candidate in the upcoming general election. He received more than 4,000 write-in votes in the GOP Primary and another 1,000 in the Democrat Primary, enough to once again make him a candidate, Luksik said. It is an impressive performance in a district with approximately 345,000 registered voters. Instead of the "dark horse" Murtha’s machine expected, they encountered a thoroughbred who apparently knows how to run. A Haditha Marine father joins "Murtha Must Go" Darryl Sharratt is the father of former LCpl Justin Sharratt; last year his son was exonerated and publicly lauded for his remarkable courage by Gen James N. Mattis. Murtha Must Go Blog http://murthamustgo.blogspot.com/search/label/Jack%20Murtha
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POPSGOP Fights For Expedited Delivery Of Ballots To Military In 2000 military ballots were targeted for challenge in the famous Florida recount , and only 48% of the overseas members of the military who requested absentee ballots for the 2006 election had their ballots counted, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Conservatives believe that members of Congress should fight as hard for the right of our military to vote as our military has fought to allow Iraq to have a constitutional democracy. Sens. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), along with Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are engaging in legislative combat for the rights of our military to vote in the 2008 election.
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POPSDefining “Victory” In Iraq Part of the problem here is that the war in Iraq is usually thought of as a single war in Iraq. But there have been at least three wars in Iraq since 2003 – the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party regime, the civil war between Sunni and Shia militias, and the insurgencies against government and international forces waged by a constellation of guerrilla and terrorist groups. All three wars are distinct from each other, and two of the three are already over. The war against Saddam Hussein and his government ended when the regime was overthrown and what remained of its army was disbanded. You might say it didn’t officially end until he was captured in December of 2003, but he effectively lost when he was demoted from absolute dictator to fugitive. No matter what else might happen, Saddam Hussein will never be considered victorious.
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POPSCoalition, Iraqi Forces Detain Five, Find Weapons Coalition and Iraqi forces located weapons caches during separate operations July 21 and 22 in Baghdad. In all, the troops found more than 2,000 AK-47 rounds, 300 automatic machine gun rounds, 50 mortars, 13 homemade bombs and two rocket-propelled grenades, officials said. (Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
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POPSThe Democrats' Fairy Tale And the improvements in Anbar could never have been sustained without aggressive American military efforts — efforts that were more effective in 2007 than they had been in 2006, due in part to the addition of the surge forces. Last year’s success, in Anbar and elsewhere, was made possible by confidence among Iraqis that U.S. troops would stay and help protect them, that the U.S. would not abandon them to their enemies. Because the U.S. sent more troops instead of withdrawing — because, in other words, President Bush won his battles in 2007 with the Democratic Congress — we have been able to turn around the situation in Iraq. And now Iraq’s Parliament has passed a de-Baathification law — one of the so-called benchmarks Congress established for political reconciliation. For much of 2007, Democrats were able to deprecate the military progress and political reconciliation taking place on the ground by harping on the failure of the Iraqi government to pass the benchmark legislation
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POPSAfghanistan: Obama Sees Problems; McCain Sees A solution The differences are not small ones, and reflect a distinction between the kind of staff-driven, laundry-list mush that sees the immensity of a problem and a leader-driven set of priorities that sees a solution. It is the distinction between Obama's opposition to the Iraq surge and McCain's support for it: not just the courage to make the tough choice, but the clarity to follow the right course. It's also the distinction between winning the war and simply ending it. Thomas Donnelly is the Resident Fellow in Foreign & Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
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POPSMaliki's Bet Mr. Obama, he is also placing one on Mr. McCain, which is that in the event the Republican is elected, he will place principle and the national interest over politics and petty vindictiveness. For our part we see the emergence of an Iraq making its own choices in these matters rather than having them dictated by the American ambassador or American generals as yet another sign of victory in the Battle of Iraq. The Iraqis want America as their friends whether Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain is president. For all the talk by critics of how the Iraq War supposedly alienated America from the world, here is an administration in Baghdad maneuvering for a friend in the White House.
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POPSSupport Of Obama Shaped By Ahmad Chalabi Advice security decisions of Iraq's army to forward a Shiite confessional agenda. The role of Mr. Chalabi, whose party failed to gain any seats in the 2005 federal parliamentary elections, should be of interest to close watchers of the Bush administration. While Mr. Chalabi has clashed with both the American embassy and at times with Mr. Maliki, he nonetheless is still regarded among the Shiite political class as knowledgeable of American politics from his days lobbying for the Iraq Liberation Act in Washington. At the time, in the late 1990s, Senator McCain was one of Mr. Chalabi's biggest supporters. Mr. Brooke yesterday pointed out that Mr. Chalabi was appointed in 2007 by Mr. Maliki to chair a special committee aimed at restoring basic services to the citizens of Baghdad. "Maliki was number two in the Debaathification commission from the beginning when it was started in 2003. He has been in constant contact with Dr. Chalabi since that time," Mr. Brooke said.
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POPSGeneral Obama Calls For Shift Of U.S. Forces To Afghanistan Obama, who has made his opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq five years ago a centerpiece of his campaign, was in Baghdad to assess security in Iraq, where violence has fallen to its lowest level since early 2004. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Obama did not mention his pledge to remove U.S. combat troops within 16 months if he takes office in talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. But in comments suggesting Iraq and Obama are not far apart on the timeframe, Dabbagh said Baghdad's goal was for foreign combat forces to leave by the end of 2010 if security conditions allowed. Dabbagh has floated a similar timeframe before. "We cannot give any timetables or dates but the Iraqi government believes the end of 2010 is the appropriate time for the withdrawal of the forces," Dabbagh told reporters. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080721/pl_nm/iraq_dc
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POPSHezbollah Brigades Propaganda Specialist Captured In Baghdad Shia terror groups have launched a handful of IRAM attacks on US and Iraqi outposts in Baghdad. http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/06/mahdi_army_uses_flyi.php Hezbollah Brigades also posted video of an attack on a US patrol with an Iranian-supplied, armor-piercing, explosively formed projectile, or EFP. The capture of the Hezbollah Brigades propaganda expert is the latest in a series of raids against Shia terrorists. Scores of Special Groups operatives have been captured over the past month, including senior leaders, weapons smugglers, financiers, trainers, and cell leaders.
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POPSPolitical Theater al-Maliki Style As the security situation has improved, Iraqis increasingly are calling for the drawdown of American troops, and it probably will be a top issue in the provincial elections. Maliki has tried to balance voters’ preference for the departure of foreign forces with the Bush administration’s opposition to a timeline. In an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine this week, Maliki seemed to endorse Obama’s troop-withdrawal proposal, drawing the ire of the White House. The prime minister's office later backed away from the interview. But Monday’s statement by Maliki’s spokesman suggested that he's speaking with an audience different from the White House in mind: Iraqi voters.
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POPSObama Now Supports The Bush Policy?...And How 'Bout The Worshipping Media The press isn’t just acting like Obama is already president - they’re exceeding the sort of international coverage they have given the sitting president, who could barely buy a headline while in Africa and whose recent trip to Japan - which occurred during his birthday - went widely unnoted. But that’s the honest, balanced, unbiased mediating intelligence” of the modern day mainstream media. You do realize, don’t you, that if a GOP candidate with weak foreign policy was doing the same thing - making a “world tour” with dramatic backdrops - the press would be sneering about how the whole thing is a “stunt” meant to “deflect his inexperience.” I know you know it, but I had to say it, anyway. But hey, no bias here.
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POPSWill Washington Betray Anti-Regime Iranians? and I believe that that should lead to a review of whether they are still a terrorist organization or not." Since then, an interagency group of the U.S. government, led by the FBI, has exonerated the Iranians at Ashraf of terrorism. After a British court ruled that the group was not "concerned in terrorism," the U.K. government in June removed the group from its terrorist list. The Iranian regime is determined to destroy its main opponent and, with some success, has pressured the Iraqi government to disband Camp Ashraf and turn MEK members over to Iran. Then, on July 9, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that the Iraqi government had decided to expel members of the MEK. The Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kezemi-Qomi, specified that the Iraqi cabinet had agreed quickly to expel the MEK from Iraq. Iranian television reported on July 6 that "American military forces have announced their readiness to hand over" Camp Ashraf to Baghdad.
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POPSMcCain Hits Obama On Iraq, Outlines Afghanistan Plan some of whose members have national restrictions on where their troops can go and what they can do. This is no way to run a war.” The Arizona senator touted the Afghan army as a “great success story” and said it needs to be expanded. He added that the global community should share the cost of doubling the size of the Afghan army. “We must convince Pakistanis that this is their war as much as it is ours. And we must empower the new civilian government of Pakistan to defeat radicalism with greater support for development, health and education,” McCain said. “Sen. Obama has spoken in public about taking unilateral military action in Pakistan. In trying to sound tough, he has made it harder for the people whose support we most need to provide it,” he added. “I will not bluster, and I will not make idle threats. But understand this: When I am commander in chief, there will be nowhere the terrorists can run, and nowhere they can hide.”
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POPSLurching With Abandon The senator had previously promised to filibuster the bill if it contained the immunity clause. There has been a reluctance among blacks to openly criticize Senator Obama, but behind the scenes, there is discontent among African-Americans, as well, over Mr. Obama’s move away from progressive issues. There’s even concern that he’s doing the Obama two-step on the issue that has been the cornerstone of his campaign: his opposition to the war in Iraq. But the senator denied that any significant change should be inferred from his comment that he would “continue to refine” his policy on the war. He seems to believe that his shifts and twists and clever panders — as opposed to bold, principled leadership on important matters — will entice large numbers of independent and conservative voters to climb off the fence and run into his yard. Time flies and the Iowa caucuses seem a very long time ago.
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