US lawmakers target Pakistan aid, Iran central bank

2011-12-14T18:30:23Z

With the White House's blessing, the US House passed legislation to freeze some Pakistan aid, slap harsh new sanctions on Iran, and endorse indefinite imprisonment of suspected terrorists.

The Republican-led House of Representatives ...

Deal near to extend surveillance tactics: aide

2011-05-19T18:00:05Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional leaders have struck a deal to extend key anti-terrorism surveillance tactics for four years, a senior Democratic aide said on Thursday, a move that would avoid a potentially contentious fight over the tactics.

The three tactics, initially approved by Congress in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, were set to expire later this month. Under the dea...

Palin slams Obama over WikiLeaks handling

2010-11-29T16:31:20Z

Conservative standard bearer Sarah Palin accused US President Barack Obama on Monday of not doing enough to prevent the latest release of secret US documents by WikiLeaks and compared the founder of the whistleblower website to The White House on Tuesday welcomed the killing of Al-Qaeda number three Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, and said it was "unquestionably a severe blow" to the global terror network.

"We welcome his demise," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, after a Pa...

US 'actively' hunting Yemeni cleric Al-Awlaqi: White House

2010-06-12T18:14:15Z

The United States is "actively" hunting Anwar al-Awlaqi, the White House said Sunday, after the radical Yemeni cleric urged all Muslims serving in the US military to kill their comrades.

A video posted on the Internet earlier Sunday showe...

Quotations of the day

2010-06-26T03:23:40Z

"Republicans fought on behalf of the American people this week and will continue to fight until this bill is repealed and replaced with commonsense ideas that solve our problems without dismantling the health care system we have and without burying the American dream under a mountain of debt." — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of

Time columnist finds D.C. is a mess

2010-04-16T06:56:53Z

If You Go

Where: Moskow Distinguished Speaker Series featuring Time magazine columnist Joe Klein

When: 10 a.m. today

Where: UNLV Student Union Theater

Joe Klein has been writing about American politics for four decades, first at

Obama to announce plan to respond to bioterrorism

2010-06-25T18:45:46Z

President Barack Obama will use his State of the Union address to unveil a new plan for a better and quicker response to bioterrorism threats and attacks, the White House said Tuesday.

The announcement came just hours after the release of a report critical of the government's ability to prepare and respond to bioterrorist attacks.

Obama will be asking governme...

Obama discusses troop levels for Afghanistan

2010-04-16T09:59:30Z

White House session on Afghanistan turns to discussion of troop levels in 8-year-old war

Hours after winning a Nobel Peace Prize, President Barack Obama assembled his war council in the White House basement to talk about how many ...

Obama war council focuses on Pakistan

2010-04-16T09:56:32Z

President Barack Obama and his Afghanistan war council turn to Pakistan Wednesday, exactly eight years after the first thunderous US air raids heralded a conflict that still lacks an exit strategy.

Obama will gather top security, military and political advisors in the s...

Obama meets top lawmakers on Afghanistan

2010-06-25T20:23:25Z

US President Barack Obama Tuesday sat down with senior lawmakers driving a raging debate on US Afghan strategy, as he works towards a decision on whether to send thousands more troops to war.

Democratic and Republican leaders plus top members of key congressional committees met the president at the White House

Lawmakers seek Obama's ear on Afghanistan

2010-06-25T20:24:05Z

Senior lawmakers parade conflicting visions of US Afghan strategy before President Barack Obama on Tuesday, as he agonizes over a fateful decision on whether to send thousands more US troops to war.

Democratic and Republican leaders plus top members of key congressional committees are due at the White House f...

FAITHFULLY EXECUTING THE LAWS INTERNAL LEGAL CONSTRAINTS ON EXECUTIVE POWER

2010-10-22T11:10:14Z

...

Clinton warns Eritrea, backs Somali leader

2010-04-16T10:57:24Z

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday threw her support behind Somalia's embattled president and warned Eritrea to stop sponsoring Al-Qaeda inspired insurgents turning the country into a terror hub.

Clinton held the highest-level US meeting yet with Reuters) - The Bush administration debated testing the U.S. Constitution by sending troops into the suburbs of Buffalo, New York to arrest a group of men suspected of plotting with al Qaeda, The New York Times report...

Checks, balances ignored

2010-04-16T11:16:53Z

New disclosures suggest secret CIA program borne of rash decision-making

More information is being learned about a CIA program created after 9/11 that was kept hidden from Congress until last month when the agencyÕs director, Leon Panetta, first learned of it and immediately shut it down.

Officials: Panetta canceled CIA effort to find, kill al-Qaida leaders up close

A secret intelligence program canceled by CIA Director Leon Panetta in June was meant to find and then capture or kill al-Qaida leaders at close range rather than target them with air strikes that ri...

Bin Laden says Obama planted "seeds of hatred"

2010-06-25T22:04:29Z

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden said U.S. President Barack Obama had planted the seeds of "revenge and hatred" toward the United States in the...

Bin Laden tape slams Obama policy on Islam

2010-06-25T22:04:36Z

Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has issued a new audiotape in which he takes aim at Barack Obama's policy towards the Islamic world, Al-Jazeera television announced shortly after the US...

Ex-FBI interrogator says harsh methods didn't work

2010-06-25T22:24:05Z

Former FBI interrogator of al-Qaida leader says harsh methods didn't work

A former FBI interrogator who questioned al-Qaida prisoners testified Wednesday that the Bush administration falsely boasted of success from extreme techniques like waterboarding, when those methods were slow, unreliable and made an important witness s...

US agrees to release another Gitmo detainee

2010-04-16T15:53:48Z

Detainee at Guantanamo Bay to be released when a country can be found to take him

The Obama administration has agreed to release another Guantanamo detainee, but officials aren't saying yet where he'll go.

The Justice Department and lawyers for 38-year-old Aymen...

US top court dismisses Al-Qaeda case

2010-04-16T16:11:35Z

The US Supreme Court Friday dismissed a constitutional challenge brought by alleged Al-Qaeda sleeper agent Ali al-Marri as to whether "enemy combatants" can be held indefinitely on US soil.

The case involves Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, an alleged Al-Qaeda sleeper agent who has been held as an "enemy combatant" in ...

Editorial Roundup

2010-04-16T14:19:03Z

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

Feb. 13

Chicago Sun-Times, on autism and vaccines:

Forget vaccines, hunt for real autism cause.

... In a highly anticipated ruling, three federal judges concluded that childhood vaccines do not cause autism, despite claims otherwise by a powerful grass-roots moveme...

Judge reviewing GTMO detainees OKs detention of 2

2010-04-16T13:39:13Z

Judge OKs detention of suspected bin Laden bodyguard as Guantanamo Bay review continues

Two Guantanamo Bay detainees, including a Yemeni man accused of being a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, were correctly labeled as enemy combatants and are being held lawfully at the U.S. prison in

Foes ready to test Obama overseas

2010-10-13T14:23:08Z

From al-Qaida to Russia's president, critics ready to test Obama overseas

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev chose the day after Barack Obama's election victory to brandish a threat of ballistic missiles. Vene...

Better Left Unsaid

2010-04-16T14:13:36Z

Shall we play a game?

It's Friday. Yes, we shall.

Let's call this one "MSM or Amateur?" We'll supply a quote and you guess if it comes from a professional journalism organization—you know, the kind of place that wins Pulitzer Prizes and whatnot—or some amateur on the Internet with no editor, no oversight, and no idea what he or she is saying.

Got it? Here we go: MSM or Amateur?:

No...

Al-Qaida No. 2 insults Obama with racial epithet

2010-04-16T14:17:36Z

Al-Qaida No. 2 insults Obama, using racial epithet to describe president-elect

Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites. The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not repres...

Govt defends right to hold accused enemy combatant

2010-06-26T00:49:44Z

Federal prosecutors defend administration's right to hold accused enemy combatant

A lower court should be able to resolve a challenge to President Bush's authority to detain the only suspected enemy combatant held on U.S. soil, the federal government said in a brief filed Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court.

White House 'approved waterboarding of suspects'

2010-06-12T10:44:10Z

The White House gave explicit written approval for the waterboarding treatment of captured al-Qaida suspects by their CIA interrogators, according to a report yesterday.

The most compelling evidence suggesting the Bush administration, at the highest levels, approved the specifics of the in...

A downward spiral

2010-04-16T12:56:41Z

Failed Bush policy has made a mess of Afghanistan for the next president to clean up

After the 9/11 attacks, there was strong bipartisan support in the United States to fight al-Qaida and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan. Initially, U.S.-led forces pre...

McCain Is Wrong On Afghanistan

2010-10-21T09:41:47Z

...

Quotes on the House hearing on Iraq

2010-09-09T20:05:16Z

Quotes From and About the House Joint Hearing on Progress in Iraq

Some quotes from and about Monday's hearing on progress in Iraq featuring testimony from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker:

___

"The surge was intended to provide breathing space, breathing space for the Iraqis to bridge...

Obama expresses sympathy for Musharraf

2010-09-09T13:34:44Z

Democratic Presidential Contender Barack Obama Talks of Pakistan as 'Constructive Ally'

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said Wednesday it's critical for Pakistan to be a constructive ally in fighting al-Qaida, one week after threatening military action to hunt down terrorists if Gates Says Political Stability in Iraq Unlikely Before September, Says a Drawdown Possible

Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged Sunday that political stability in Iraq won't likely happen before the Bush administration makes its critical September assessment on whether its war strategy is working.

But Gates declined to predict that a drawdown of Gates Says Political Stability in Iraq Unlikely Before September, Says a Drawdown Possible

But Gates declined to predict that a drawdown of Summary Box: Bush Issues Executive Order for Interrogation Techniques

INTERROGATION ORDERS: President Bush signed an executive order Friday prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment in question terror suspects.

INTENDED: The order targets captured al-Qaida terrorists who might have information on attack plans or the whereabouts of the group's leaders.

Failed terror trials raise new questions

2010-09-09T00:21:44Z

Failed Terrorism Trials Leaves Pentagon Scrambling, Emboldens Democratic Critics

Failed attempts to charge two terror suspects left the Pentagon scrambling Tuesday to determine a next step and emboldened Democrats who said the rulings exposed a flawed court system.

Military judges ruled Monday that the Pentagon could not prosecute...

APTOPIX Mideast Egypt Church Attack

2011-01-04T14:32:25Z

Two Coptic men, center and unseen, warn off two others wielding kitchen knives, left and right, who were trying to kick down the doors of a mosque, seen behind, during heavy clashes between Coptic youths and riot police, in the streets outside the Saints Church and a neighboring hospital, in Alexandria, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011. A powerful bomb, possibly from a suicide attacker, exp...

Egypt Al Qaida

2011-01-04T14:32:23Z

FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2010 file photo, Egyptian Coptic activists light candles and hold flowers during a protest against the October al-Qaida militant attack on a Baghdad church, in front of the Iraqi embassy in Cairo, Egypt. In the weeks before the New Year's Day suicide bombing of an Egyptian...

Mideast Egypt Church Attack

2011-01-03T10:00:46Z

Egyptian plainclothes police arrest two Coptic Christian youths, who were part of a noisy protest at night near the bombed church, in Alexandria, Egypt Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011. The police investigation into the New Year's church bombing that killed 21 people is focusing on a local group of Islamic hard-liners inspired by al-Qaida, Egyptian sec...

Mideast Egypt Elections

2011-01-02T07:00:22Z

Egyptian Muslims and Christians raise a copy of the Quran and a Cross in Shubra district, Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Jan.1, 2011 to protest against the terrorist attack on a Coptic Christian church in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria. A powerful bomb, possibly from a suicide attacker, exploded in front of a Coptic Christian church as a crowd of worshippers emerged ...

Mideast Egypt Christians Threatened

2010-12-26T11:01:14Z

FILE - In this Monday, Nov. 8, 2010 file photo, Egyptian Coptic activists light candles and hold flowers during a protest against the October al-Qaida militant attack on a Baghdad church, in front of the Iraqi embassy in Cairo, Egypt. The wives of two Egyptian Coptic priests, forbidden by the Church from divorcing their abusive husbands, desperat...

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