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POPS‘Hook’ Imam Denied Extradition Appeal: To Stand Trial In U.S. They also say he assisted extremists who kidnapped 16 foreign tourists in Yemen in 1998. Three British tourists and one Australian visitor were killed in a shootout between Yemeni security forces and the captors. Al-Masri also is accused of facilitating terrorist training in Afghanistan. The former imam at London’s Finsbury Park Mosque, al-Masri is one of Britain’s best-known Islamist radicals. The Egyptian-born preacher is blind in one eye and has hooks in place of the hands he says he lost fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Under his leadership the Finsbury Park mosque became a magnet for extremists. Its worshippers included Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and “shoe bomber” Richard Reid.
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POPSBlackwater Is Here to Stay
Anyone who thinks Blackwater is in serious trouble is dead wrong. Even if - and this is a big if - the company pulled out of Iraq tomorrow, here is the cold, hard fact: business has never been better for Blackwater, and its future looks bright. More on this in a moment. Back to the matter at hand. Complaining that negative media attention and congressional and criminal investigations are hurting business and that the Blackwater name had become a catch-all target for anti-war protesters, the company’s brass told the AP that Blackwater was shifting its focus to its other areas of government contracting, like law enforcement and military training, as well as logistics. ”The experience we’ve had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk,” said Erik Prince, Blackwater’s reclusive, 39 year-old founder and owner. Company president Gary Jackson said Blackwater has become like the “Coca-Cola” of war contractors, a b
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POPSAnother McCain Gaffe McCain has made so many mistakes, perhaps it should be considered newsworthy when he gets something right.
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POPSWhy can't Obama admit the obvious Even USAToday (who thinks the world would be a better and safer place if Saddam was still in charge of Iraq) is baffled by Obama's reluctance to admit the truth.
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POPSGreen ‘Peace Party’ positions against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars compared to pro-occupation Clint
“The occupation of Iraq will continue whether a Democrat or a Republican moves into the White House in January 2009,” said Jason Wallace, Green candidate for Congress in Illinois’ 11th District <http://www.electwallace.us> and a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War <http://ivaw.org/index.php>. IVAW has announced ‘Winter Soldier’ (March 13-16), a four-day event bringing together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan <http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier>. “The ILWU action planned for May 1 is evidence that working people are impatient with vague promises to end these wars. Will Ms. Clinton or Mr. Obama endorse the ILWU protest and pledge to call home all US military personnel immediately?” “By calling the Iraq War a matter of military preparedness and botched strategy, Democrats are sidestepping the premise of the war,” said Bob Kinsey, Green candidate for the US Senate in Colorado <http://www.kinseyforsenate.org>. “While it’s true that
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POPSThis is my Kind of Guy--Inyerface, in the Army and Green The banner remained hanging for seven hours, which speaks volumes about the sentiment among enlisted personal on the base. The fact this incident wasn’t reported also tells something about the attitude of the press. The accomplishment of which Bartelli feels most proud from his service was when he was assigned to design an infrastructure that would bring low cost power, solar and wind, to remote Afghan villages. “I spent a considerable amount of time writing and talking with vendors from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, coming up with a plan that was affordable and as locally based as possible. By giving them solar and wind, fully sustainable, we could bring electricity to the villages.” While the chain of command eventually rejected it, there was little doubt Bartelli’s commanding officer chose him for this project because of his outspokenness on the environment.
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POPSA USAF Captain’s Observation Of Obama’s Visit To Afghanistan So really he was just here to make a showing for the Americans back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you. I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States . I just don’t understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-in-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country. If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake. In service, CPT J Bagram, Afghanistan
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POPSMessiah Lies About His Senate Committee Assignment John explains the rest: But Obama is not a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Obama just made that up so he could count the committee's action as one of "my deeds." If committed by a Republican, this would be a gaffe of historic proportions. Even a Senator as inattentive to his duties as Obama certainly knows what committees he serves on. For him to fabricate the claim, out of whole cloth, that the Senate Banking Committee is " committee," strikes me as another sign of Obama's megalomania. That, plus more evidence that he is totally at sea without a teleprompter. Illinois Senator's Record Of Inaction Leaves Him Discredited WASHINGTON, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by the Republican National Committee: As Chairman Of The Subcommittee With NATO Oversight, Obama Has Failed To Hold Any Hearings On Afghanistan:
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POPSThe Truth About Afghanistan Every American Should Know The pre-9/11 plan to invade Afghanistan and the oil pipeline deal behind it, that neither McCain nor Obama will discuss as relevant. Again 9/11 was the pretext for both Iraq and Afghanistan regime change and arranged prior to that "catalyzing event". pre-911: Unocal lavished money and attention on Taliban, flew a senior delegation to Texas Now: Afghanistan just signed a major deal to launch a long-planned, 1680 km long pipeline project expected to cost $ 8 billion. "Mission accomplished". Note the role that Karzai played prior to his installment. Note also how Pakistan fits into this equation which has nothing to do with terrorism. But there are only two practical ways to get gas and oil out of land-locked Central Asia to the sea: through Iran, or through Afghanistan to Pakistan. For Washington, Iran is tabu. That leaves Pakistan, but to get there, the planned pipeline must cross western Afghanistan
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POPSMcCain Blunders Again on Foreign Policy The "Iraq-Pakistan Border"? No expert on foreign policy clearly, or even geography. McCain made a big deal about going to Iraq many times before Obama, but he apparently did not learn very much about its location. Maybe that's how he got his plane shot down in Viet Nam.
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POPSMcCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on McCain's mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age? And what could that mean in the Oval Office? Voters, thinking about their own relatives, can be expected to scrutinize McCain’s debate performances for signs of slippage
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POPSObama is wrong While the United States has an interest in preventing the resurgence of the Afghan Taliban, the country's strategic importance pales beside that of Iraq, which lies at the geopolitical center of the Middle East and contains some of the world's largest oil reserves. If Mr. Obama's antiwar stance has blinded him to those realities, that could prove far more debilitating to him as president than any particular timetable.
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POPSMedia "Obamathon" Couric Showcases Obama Over McCain The Media Is In Love With Barack It's pretty obvious that the media has a bizarre fascination with Barack Obama. Some may even say it's a love affair. Watch the video 2:56 http://www.johnmccain.com/ It has been an Obamathon ever since the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee touched down in Afghanistan. At today's press conference in Amman, a throng of reporters recorded his every move. In total, 200 journalists requested seats on “Air Obama” -- 40 of them were accepted. The bill for the trip? About $20,000 each.
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POPSGet Your Morning Laugh Here The Young Turks is a show that can really give you a few chuckles. The host Cenk Uygur, is a funny guy. He sure called the shots on McCain describing him as a mumbling, grumbling, bumbling old man. Thanks Cenk, I needed that pick-me-up. Sorry McCain, if the shoe fits... Wear It! ;-) ---- (If the shoe fits, wear it) If something belongs or pertains to you, accept it. This proverb first appeared as “if the cap fits,” which may have referred to a fool’s cap. The later version has become more common and is associated with the glass slipper in the fairy tale, “Cinderella.”
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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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POPSObama would still oppose the surge
OK. This clinches it. Obama is utterly incapable of rational leadership. The terrorists were wreaking havoc in Iraq and killing hundreds daily. Now there is relative calm. Iraq is turning around. al Qaeda is out of Iraq. al Qaeda describes the situation as lost and say they can no longer recruit in the region. Iran is no longer having their way with propping up the insurgency. Intelligence tells us we are winning the hearts and minds of the Middle East. We have basically won in Iraq. However, Obama says he would still not support the surge after originally saying prior to the surge that he did not support the surge because it would have the "opposite effect" and increase violence. He is saying now that we should have let the situation in Iraq fester, withdrawn troops, hand the terrorists a victory in Iraq, allow the violence in Iraq to continue and instead concentrate on the few Taliban incapacitated in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan. What a complete fool!
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POPSNASA 'wants to buy Japan's cargo spacecraft' NASA had only just started helping US companies with such a ship. Too late. A reflection of the uncertainty of funding due to the Iraq/Afghanistan invasions. Seeing all that money going to greed and corruption must really hurt scientists.
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POPSObama's Foreign Policy Goes Neocon--Unjust Wars Will Continue
The real Obama policy. Must see video interview (at link) where Obama 1) legitimizes the "war on terrorism" (as necessary and true war); 2) escalate war in Afghanistan (regime change, like Iraq continues); 3) willing to attack targets inside Pakistan--i.e. invade any sovereign country to kill and destroy alleged 'terrorists' (think collateral damage on civilians or wrongly accused from missiles and UAV drones). Watch the interview, Obama does not answer one "why?" question of Lara Logan about the "necessity" of the "war on terrorism", he simply dodges and assumes its legitimacy without reason or debate. UNJUST WAR is the problem here. Where is the protest? The "war on terrorism" is not a true or legal constitutional war, and enabling Obama to do the same as Bush without criticism is hypocritical and partisan blindness. It has always been the goal to finish Iraq and legitimize and spread the war on terrorism. Note the media: War = Patriotism
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POPSRon Paul's GOP Counter-Convention Continues to get his revolutionary message out that the GOP is way off the mark in regard to their own traditional republican principles of limited government and individual liberty which the neoconservatives have trampled entirely. The popularity of the message cannot be overlooked and demonstrates the latent great dissatisfaction with the presumptive party nominees of McCain and Obama (who is continuing the talk of the "war on terrorism" as if it is a legitimate and constitutional war--see comments on Afghanistan). This might be the year of the greatest number of alternative candidates on the Presidential ticket: Constitution Party, Libertarian Party, Green Party, will probably be on every state ballot.
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POPSEverything he touches... Our president that is... I am for the ethical treatment of prisoners: no matter who they are or what they've done. Our morality doesn't depend on the actions of others (no matter how henous). That's part of the very definition of morality. But our "moral" president has likely made it difficult, if not impossible to prosecute some of these people... Some that are likely a real threat. Chock it up to incompetence... once again.
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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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POPSGeography John McCain Style It's amazing that this man believes he is actually more skilled in foreign policy than Barack Obama. There are teenagers that don't make the errors that John McCain makes routinely.