The Woman that Wants to be President. LOL

Sen. Clinton Blasts Bush on Eavesdropping
Jan 25 2:29 PM US/Eastern
By RON FOURNIERAP Political Writer
WASHINGTON

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday called President Bush's explanations for eavesdropping on domestic telephone calls "strange" and "far-fetched," launching a blistering attack on the White House ahead of the president's State of the Union address.
Whats strange and far-fetched Hillary that someone would use the powers of his office to defend the Country, Didn't your Husband do the same thing when he SEARCHED Aldrich Ames house WITHOUT A WARRENT ?
"Obviously, I support tracking down terrorists. I think that's our obligation. But I think it can be done in a lawful way," the New York Democrat said. What the president has authorized is Lawful.
Clinton, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, told reporters she did not yet know whether the administration's warrantless eavesdropping broke any laws. But the senator said she did not buy the White House's main justifications for the tactic. If you DON'T KNOW if any laws were broke than how come you just said it was NOT lawful ?
"Their argument that it's rooted in the authority to go after al-Qaida is far-fetched," she said in an apparent reference to a congressional resolution passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.Why don't you even know what YOU voted for? The Bush administration has argued that resolution gave the president authority to order such electronic surveillance as part of efforts to protect the nation from terrorists.
"Their argument that it's rooted in the Constitution inherently is kind of strange because we have FISA and FISA operated very effectively and it wasn't that hard to get their permission," she said.Bullshit The super-secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was established by Congress to approve eavesdropping warrants, even retroactively, but Bush has argued that the process often takes too long. It also doesn't apply to situations that would hinder the President in his abilities involving foriegn TERRORISTS
Clinton leveled her criticism at a meeting of the nation's mayors while Bush toured the National Security Agency, which conducts the eavesdropping. The tour was part of the White House's aggressive campaign to defend the practice of eavesdropping on calls and other communications made overseas from the United States.
Polls suggest the public is divided on whether the administration should be able to eavesdrop on suspected terrorist calls, no they're not a practice that has draw criticism from many congressional Democrats, human rights and civil liberties groups. Bush and his political team have signaled that the eavesdropping program will be a campaign issue in November, part of a broader strategy to cast Democrats as weak on terrorism. Which sure as hell ain't going to be hard to do.
A majority of people _ 56 percent _ said the Bush administration should be required to get a warrant before monitoring phone conversations and Internet communications between American citizens and suspected terrorists, according to an AP-Ipsos poll earlier this month. Who did they poll the names on the Hilliry in 08 mailing list?
But when people have been asked in other polls to balance their worries about terrorist threats against their worries about intrusions on privacy, fighting terror is the higher priority. No Shit Sherlock

Texas-Mexico Border Standoff Reported

Texas-Mexico Border Standoff Reported
Jan 25 9:41 AM US/Eastern
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press Writer

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas
Texas law enforcement officers faced off with men dressed as Mexican Army soldiers and apparent drug suspects near the U.S.-Mexican border Tuesday, after three SUVs attempted to flee state authorities, officials said.
Andrea Simmons, an agency spokeswoman in El Paso, told The Associated Press that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chased three SUVs, believing they were carrying drugs, to the banks of the Rio Grande during Monday's incident.
Men dressed in Mexican military uniforms or camouflage were on the U.S. side of the border in Texas, she said.
Simmons said the FBI was not involved and referred requests for further details to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., reported Tuesday that the incident included an armed standoff involving the Mexican military and suspected drug smugglers. The incident follows a story in the Bulletin on Jan. 15 that said the Mexican military had crossed into the United States more than 200 times since 1996.
In a news conference, Rick Glancey of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said three Hudspeth County deputies and at least two Texas Department of Public Safety troopers squared off against at least 10 heavily armed men from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
U.S. officials who pursued three fleeing SUVs to the Mexican border saw what appeared to be a Mexican military Humvee help one of the SUVs when it got stuck in the river, he said.
When that didn't work, a group of men dressed in civilian clothes started unloading what appeared to be bundles of marijuana from the SUV, and the stuck vehicle was then torched, he said. A second SUV had a flat tire and was left behind in the United States and its occupant ran across the border, he said.
Glancey said he could not confirm whether the armed men seen at the site were Mexican Army, police officers, or drug dealers, and would not detail what markings deputies may have seen on the men's uniforms or the Humvee.
Chief Deputy Mike Doyal of the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department said that Mexican army personnel had several mounted machine guns on the ground more than 200 yards inside the U.S. border, the Daily Bulletin newspaper reported earlier.
"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years," Doyal said. "When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us."
Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, whose officers were involved in a similar incident last year, said he is certain that Mexican authorities know who was involved.
After the newspaper reported on Mexican military crossings earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the report was overblown and most of the incursions were just mistakes.
In eastern California, Arizona and New Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico border is largely unmarked. But in Texas, the Rio Grande separates the two countries and even when dry, is a riverbed about 200 feet wide.
In November, Doyal said Border Patrol agents in the border town of Fort Hancock called for help after confronting more than six men dressed in Mexican military uniforms. The men allegedly were trying to bring more than three tons of marijuana across the Rio Grande, Doyal told the newspaper.

Mexican migrants to get US maps
A Mexican government agency is to issue some 70,000 maps marking main roads and water tanks for people wanting to cross illegally into the US.
Sourced @ Drudge

Do you want to get disgusted ?

Go Read this Story by this little weasel

Warriors and wusses

by Joel Stein
I DON'T SUPPORT our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on. "LINK"

Free Jack Idema Blogburst

Last week, I talked about the way in which the September 2004 trial which landed U.S. Special Forces soldier Jack Idema and his men in prison was actually conducted by the very terrorists he'd spent three years hunting down.
But there's another side to the story of how Jack,; Brent; and Ed; wound up in the infamous Pulacharke prison, and this involves elements within FBI and U.S. State Department, both of which have done everything within their power to hinder Jack Idema's efforts to gain his freedom.

Idema's problems, as those following this story know, appear to stem from his arrest of a senior Afghan judge, Sidiq, in July 2004. At this point in time, Jack was working with the Northern Alliance, operating a safe house where terror suspects could be held for interrogation prior to transfer to U.S. authorities. (There were fifty such safe houses in operation in Afghanistan, and their existence was not a secret from either the U.S. or Afghan authorities.) Although Idema knew the arrest of Sidiq might raise some eyebrows, he had good reason for believing the judge was a high-value suspect -- At the time of the arrest, Sidiq was found to be in possession of the following items:

• Photographs of Sidiq with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
• Bomb plans
• Explosive detonators
• al-Qaida and Hezb-i-Islami documents and recruiting cards
• A letter from Taliban leader Mullah Omar

Unfortunately for Idema, the arrest of Judge Sidiq seems to have prompted the Afghan interim government to move against Jack and his men. Sidiq was, after all, an important man, and his detention perhaps alarmed not only those 'ex'-Taliban who were now working with the interim government, but also those sections of the FBI and State Department who still cling to myths like 'containment' and 'realpolitik'.
Idema, it should go without saying, is very much the sort of man who believes that terrorists cannot be appeased or given settlements -- They must, he says, be captured or killed. This difference of opinion came to a head in the following way:

Instead of a "friendly meeting" the men were arrested at Kabul NDS Headquarters and turned over to former Taliban officials at NDS. When first "arrested," the men were placed in the NDS' underground torture chamber where Jack and Zorro were subjected to beatings until they were unconscious. Jack sustained a broken sternum, torn rotator cuffs, both eyes had detached retinas, etc. Major Ezmerai was electrocuted for days, and the screams could be heard throughout NDS. Syhail and Sherzai were beaten, threatened, and Sherzai finally drugged when he refused to sign a statement against Jack. Bennett was interrogated relentlessly, and threatened with death repeatedly shown a knife and told his ears and nose would be cut off. (To date Bennett has lost 8 teeth because of those beatings.) The torture was with the full knowledge and sanction of the FBI who were directing it, using the Afghans as proxies. FBI agents were at some points laughing about it in the hallway.

And yes, you read that correctly. After the arrest of Idema and his team, the FBI assisted 'former' Taliban guards in torturing American citizens and the Northern Alliance soldiers who fought with us to liberate Afghanistan.
The FBI's involvement didn't stop there:

On or about this time, NDS, acting with agents of the FBI [Unnamed Agents 2 & 3], and possibly Ingram [more on her later] herself, removed Bennett's and Idema's dog tags, removed the their Geneva Convention Identity Cards, and removed Idema and Bennett's U.S. passports. The FBI also removed crucial exculpatory evidence from NDS headquarters; including approximately 50 rolls of 35mm film, 200 videotapes, and 500 documents, many of which were official documents which were evidence of actual innocence.

This process of removing evidence of Idema's innocence continued even after the initial trial -- When Jack and his men were granted leave to appeal their sentences, more evidence was disappeared by the FBI.

Then there's the U.S. State Department, who have acted in a similarly illegal fashion throughout Idema's imprisonment:

Sandra Ingram, Acting US Consul, not only refused to acknowledge Idema's assertion [of his POW status], she refused to pass his request on to the appropriate authorities, and refused to provide him with a copy of the Geneva Conventions as required by law. Idema also asserted their POW status and right to protection to NDS, the FBI, and various Karzai officials. During a subsequent visit by Ingram, Idema put his request in writing and demanded she make an entry in her Embassy notebook (Ingram refused to sign a receipt for Idema's POW protected status request). Further, Ingram refused to forward this request to the Red Cross, stating her DOS bosses "ordered" her not to.

This sort of behaviour continues today, with U.S. authorities refusing to relay mail to Idema, Brent and Ed, and even going so far as to deny them access to food parcels, clean drinking water and medical supplies.

Why? There are two reasons:

1. As stated above, there are those in the State Department, the FBI and the Karzai government who believe that the best way to deal with the Taliban is to incorporate them into the democratic process. To a very limited degree, this makes sense, though only if the Islamofascists are serious about renouncing violence. Judging by the bomb plans and detonators he was carrying at the time of his arrest, Sidiq clearly didn't get the memo on that one.
2. There was Abu Ghraib. During the latter half of 2004, the people involved in Idema's arrest feared the U.S. would take a propaganda hit by refusing to pursue any allegations of torture by its forces, however baseless those allegations turned out to be. By allowing the Taliban to stage a show-trail and imprison Idema, it seems likely that people such as Consul Sandra Ingram felt they could earn Muslim goodwill and remove an obstacle to the political games they were playing with the Karzai government and its 'ex'-Taliban members at a single stroke.

It should go without saying that this is a shameful way for a Green Beret to be treated. After all, while the FBI and State Department in Afghanistan were playing politics, deciding on which Islamofascists it would be useful in the short term to ally themselves with, Jack was on a very different kind of mission. In his own words:

You can't fight terrorists with law enforcement and prosecution, Clinton tried that for eight years. You can't do it, they are animals– they are not human, just ask the families that lost their loved ones on 9/11. When the terrorists capture us they cut off our heads on television. When we capture them they complain that we don't let them p*ss for twelve hours. Well, sorry about that motherf*cker, you were about to drive explosive rigged gas tankers into Bagram and kill 500 American soldiers in a ball of flames. You should be glad I didn't defenestrate you. I believe that real Americans want real counter-terrorist operations, not bullsh*t press junkets and canned PR stories from PAOs that shot a gun once in their life on the basic training qualification range. I didn't start this f*cking war, not the one with bin laden, nor the one with the press, they started it, but I will finish it, or die in the process.

Just so.

Anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots;, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

You can also contact the following people and make your feelings known:

Secret US EMBASSY Fax: – 301-560-5729 (Local US Fax: Goes RIGHT TO Ambassador)
c/o US Ambassador Ronald Neuman
6180 Kabul Place
Dulles, VA 20189-6180

US Consul Russell Brown – 011-93-70201908 (Fired)

US Consul Addie Harchik- 011-93-70201908 (denied them water and mail at Thanksgiving)

US Embassy Translator Wahid – new – 011-93-70201902

US Embassy Translator Bashir Momman– 011-93-70201923

US Consul (friend of Jack's Now fired) Dawn Schrepel– 011-93-70201908

Embassy of Afghanistan (Good guys, Northern Alliance)
2341 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Ph: 202-483-6410, Fax: no. 202-483-6488

Ambassador Massoud Khalili (wounded with Massoud)
Islamic State of Afghanistan
Embassy of Afghanistan
New Delhi, India

H.E. Said Tayeb JAWAD (Afghan Ambassador- powerful in US)
Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington
2341 Wyoming Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: (+1-202) 483 6414
Fax: (+1-202) 483 9523

Mr. Jahed Hamrah, Consul General (pro-Taliban)
CONSULATE GENERAL OF
AFGHANISTAN IN NEW YORK
360 Lexington Avenue,
11th Floor New York,
New, York, NY 10017
Tel.: (+1-212) 972 2276 or 972 2277
Fax: (+1-212) 972 9046

Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E880
Washington, DC 20301-1000
Ph: (703) 692-7100
Fax: (703) 697-9080

Lt General William Boykin
Deputy Undersecretary
of Defense for Intelligence
1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E836
Washington, DC 20301
Ph: (703) 697-0170
Private Fax: (703) 697-9080

Stephen Cambone
Principle Deputy Secretary for Intelligence
1800 Defense Pentagon – Room # 3E
Washington, DC 20310-0100

General Peter J. Shoomaker
Chief of Staff, Department of the Army
200 Army Pentagon – Room # 3E528
Washington, DC 20310-0200
Ph: (703) 695-2077 / Fax: (703) 614-5268

The Honorable John D. Negroponte
Director National Intelligence
New Executive Office Building
725 17th Street, N.W., Room 4203
Washington, DC 20503

The Committee
On Homeland Security
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Chairman Peter Hoekstra
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
H-405, U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20515-6415;
Office: (202) 225-4121 / Fax: (202) 225-1991
Toll Free: (877) 858-9040

M. Cherif BASSIOUNI
Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights
On the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR;
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Ph: +41(0)22 917 97 27 Fax: +41(0)22 917 90 18
Email

Senator Steven Saland (Jack's Rep and Neighbor)
9 Jonathan Lane
Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

Senator Elizabeth Dole (Jack's Rep)
United States Senate
310 New Bern Avenue, Suite 122
Raleigh, NC 27601
Ph: 919.856.4630
Fax: 919.856.4053

Senator Elizabeth Dole (Jack's Rep)
United States Senate
555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Ph: 202.224.6342
Fax: 202.224.1100

Senator Richard Burr (of Interest)
United States Senate
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154 / Fax: (202) 228-2981

Senator Bill Nelson (in the fight on Jack's Side)
United States Senate
Hart Senate Office Building
Room 716
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-5274 / Fax: 202-228-2183
FL Fax 407-872-7165

Senator Dianne Feinstein (Bennett's Representative)
United States Senate
Hart Office Building, Room 331
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3841

Representative Mike McIntyre (Jack's Representative)
United States Congress
2437 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2731 / Fax (202) 225-5773

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (reference Captain Bennett- CA citizen)
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841 / Fax: 916-445-4633

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots; and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US;

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Get a load of this Wacko

America is making enemies in Pakistan

PAKISTANI officials say three or four top al-Qaida operatives died in the U.S. airstrike in Pakistan. The reported 13 civilians killed in the attack faded behind America's arrogant contrition. What contrition Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona on Thursday told MSNBC, "I understand how this would upset the Pakistanis, and we regret it. And obviously, we should do whatever we can to compensate the families of the innocent people who were killed. But for us to say that al-Qaida has sanctuary any place in the world would put us at a significant disadvantage. Again it's a tough situation. But if we don't take these guys out when we have the chance ..."
President Bush has yet to comment on the 13 civilians, which included women and children. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan turned the deaths upside down, saying, "We are engaged in a war on terrorism against a deadly and determined enemy, an enemy that continues to target innocent civilians. In this war, we go out of our way to target the enemy, to target the terrorists, those who want to do harm to innocent civilians in Pakistan, in that region, in the United States. We work very hard to minimize the loss of civilians. And we go out of our way to minimize civilian loss." Now check out this wacks analyses
Let us assume that we got some of the key commanders and weapons experts in al-Qaida. The incident remains bloody proof that we are repeating the Vietnam mistake of destroying villages to save them. No Village was Destroyed it was a precise hit If the current reports hold up, we still killed three times more civilians than terrorists in the attack, a ratio we would not accept from our local police, no matter how desperate we are to curb youth violence or organized crime. This is NOT a police action it is a war That is a gruesome parallel to conservative estimates that American forces killed at least three times as many innocent civilians in invading and occupying Iraq than were killed on our shores on Sept. 11, 2001. By whose numbers and the one has nothing to do with the other
For all the real dangers that foreign terrorism poses, we will not win the hearts of the world and secure global peace by following the mentality of William Westmoreland. We are NOT trying to win the hearts of anyone we are killing TERRORISTS The late American commander in Vietnam famously dehumanized civilian slaughter in our 10-to-1 kill ratio of enemy soldiers by saying, "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner ... life is cheap in the Orient." Once again wrong War ya git
Kill ratio is not the only way we declare life cheap in the rest of the world. It was curious that McCain talked about compensating families of innocent victims in Pakistan. We have barely done that in Iraq. McCains an idiot and is running for President, what would you expect him to say?
According to a 2004 report by Newsday, the U.S. military had given out an average of $393 to Iraqi families whose loved ones were killed or maimed by our bombs and bullets. Later an award-winning feature by the Dayton Daily News found contradictory evidence of American restitution to Iraqi civilians. Who gave them the award the terrorists?
While the Army claimed that 79 percent of 14,000 claims were paid, the Daily News found through the Freedom of Information Act that only about 25 percent of cases in the Army database resulted in a payment. Prior to that, Newsday had reported that the military denied compensation in a little over half the cases. Here is a good one he can't report the facts like we aren't going to pay the families of those that are shooting at us because we killed the family member for shooting at us. The ones that were justified are being compensated.
Contrast that to the Sept. 11 Victims Compensation Fund. It gave out an average of $2.1 million to families of 2,880 people who were killed and an average of $400,000 to the 2,680 people who were injured. So in his mind are troops killing the enemy are equal to
terrorists
Contrast that to what happens when cities are forced to compensate for mistakes by the police.
Boston made a $5 million settlement with the family of Victoria Snelgrove, the woman who was killed by a pepper pellet during a rowdy Red Sox victory celebration. New York City made a $3 million settlement with the family of Amadou Diallo, who was hit with 41 bullets when police mistook his wallet for a gun. Riverside made a $3 million settlement with the family of Tyisha Miller, who was hit in her car with 12 of 24 shots, accompanied by racist comments. These aren't police or police acts, these are soldiers fighting a war you ASS
On Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke in New York, again mixing 9/11 with Saddam Hussein and his nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Cheney said again that we face "a loose network of committed fanatics ... enemies who hate us, who hate our country, who hate the liberties for which we stand." I like this he implies that Cheyney said Saddam was involved with 9/11 didn't happen fool His response is fanatical acts of needlessly invading countries and destroying a village to kill a terrorist. Once again in this clowns eyes were the enemy and once again he repeats his LIE that we destroyed a village to kill a terrorist. Soon, it will not be just our enemies who hate us. It's obvious that this idiot already hates his country. The bottom line is that a terror supporting family that just happens to be friendly with the top leaders of Al-Qaida invited them over for diner and got killed along with them. Oh well no tears shed here. What gets me is that newspapers pay this nutcase to write this crap.

Derrick Z. Jackson writes for the Boston Globe.

A balanced view of the Abramoff Mess

January 24, 2006
Democrats Want It Both Ways on Abramoff Scandal
By Jack Kelly
It was no way to treat a lady. Washington Post ombudswoman Deborah Howell wrote a column praising her paper for exposing crooked lobbyist Jack Abramoff. She was deluged with so much obscene email from outraged liberals the Post had to shut down one of its Web sites.
"I heard that I was lying, that Democrats never got a penny of Abramoff-tainted money, that I was trying to say it was a bipartisan scandal," a stunned Ms. Howell wrote in her column last Sunday.
"Records from the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Public Integrity show that Abramoff's indian clients contributed money to 195 Republicans and 88 Democrats between 1999 and 2004," Ms. Howell noted. Still, Democrats are trying to portray this as strictly a GOP scandal.
Mr. Abramoff is front page news. But there was virtually no news coverage when one of Sen. Hillary Clinton's fund-raising committees agreed Jan. 5th to pay a $35,000 fine for failing to report $722,000 in contributions.
This is guilt by association. Mr. Abramoff is a crook. Therefore anyone to whom he gave money or socialized with must be a crook, too. But the steps Sen. Reid and other Democrats took on behalf of Mr. Abramoff's clients complicate their efforts to portray this as purely a GOP scandal.
Democrats received about a third of the money donated by Mr. Abramoff's clients and by employees of his lobbying firm. Among those receiving the most were Rep. Robert F. Kennedy of Rhode Island ($128,000, 2nd overall); Sen. Reid ($40,500), and Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee ($67,000).
There is so far nothing to indicate that in his relations with lawmakers, Mr. Abramoff behaved much differently than the other 34,750 lobbyists in Washington. All expect something in return for the favors they bestow and the campaign cash they give.
Read the Full Story

The Traitor McCain says something Good for once

John McCain can even get something right once in awhile

McCain: U.S. can't be dependent on 'wackos' in Venezuela
January 22, 2006
BY FOSTER KLUG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON

A top Republican lawmaker said Sunday that America must explore alternate energy sources to avoid being held hostage by Iran or by "wackos" in Venezuela-- an apparent reference to Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's populist president.
Sen. John McCain, a potential presidential contender in 2008, said recent action by "Mr. Chavez" and by Iran's leaders make it clear that the United States will be vulnerable as long as it remains dependent on foreign energy.
"We've got to get quickly on a track to energy independence from foreign oil, and that means, among other things, going back to nuclear power," McCain said on Fox News Sunday.
"We better understand the vulnerabilities that our economy, and our very lives, have when we're dependent on Iranian mullahs and wackos in Venezuela," said McCain, who challenged President George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000.
Iran is OPEC's second-largest producer. Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, with the largest proven oil reserves outside of the Mideast.
Chavez, a frequent U.S. critic, accuses foreign oil companies of having looted Venezuela. He has promised that his socialist "revolution" is freeing the country from "imperialist" interests and restoring its sovereignty.

If there is any DOUBT that Russia will Veto Sanction AGAINST Iran

This Following Article out of Iran Should dismiss that DOUBT now pay close attention...

Iran, Russia stress political, economic cooperation
Moscow, Jan 24,

IRNA
Iran-Russia-Ties Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Mehdi Safari in a meeting here Monday with his Russian counterpart Alexander Alexiev explored the latest developments on bilateral relations, regional issues as well as cooperation on global trends.
The two sides stressed on economic relations and cooperation in transportation sector and other areas with potentials.
It was also decided to hold the joint economic commissions session or upgrading mutual trade and investments.
Alexiev also said Moscow is determined for implementing its obligations on Bushehr nuclear powerplant.
The Russian official said the powerplant operation will be carried out according to set schedule, adding "I think we are approaching the timeline," he added.
Safari said that Iran and other nations have the right to acquire peaceful nuclear technology as has been enshrined in the Non-Proliferation-Treaty.
"Tehran will continue its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and will answer outstanding questions." However, politicizing the issue on the part of some nations has created problems, Safari added.
The Russian officials expressed hope that the issue will be resolved within the framework of IAEA guidelines and without referral to the UN Security Council.
Safari and Alexiev also discussed Central Asia, Caucasus and Caspian Sea.
Safari arrived in Moscow Monday for talks with Russian foreign minister and his deputy. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a meeting with Safari, called upon Iran to resume nuclear talks.
He said that Russian officials continue to hope that Iran will act in a manner conducive to resolving the dispute on its nuclear programs and resume negotiations. *
In the latest development on bilateral cooperation, a Russian official said here last week that Iran's nuclear dossier will not prevent the continuation of Iran-Russia military cooperation.
Head of Russian Military Forecasting Center Anatoli Tesiganouk told the news agency Ria-Novatsi that the cooperation may take the form of delivery of defensive weapons as long as they do not contravene international agreements and conventions on exports of military armaments.
Iran has entered into a contract to purchase 29 TOR M1 mobile surface-to-air missile defence systems from Russia worth more than USD 700 million (EUR 600 million).

Russia and Iran Blame US for INSTABILITY in Region. LOL

Iran, Russia say foreign forces cause of instability in region
Moscow, Jan 23, IRNA
Iran-Russia-Ties Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Mehdi Safari and Head of Russian Duma for Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Andre Kokoshin discussed here Monday Central Asia, Caucasus and Caspian Sea.
Russian official said that Iran-Russia have common and beneficial cooperation.
Safari said Tehran and Moscow have constructive relations for peace and stability in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
They also said that the presence of foreign forces in the region is the cause of instability and stressed the need for cooperation to delineate a legal regime for Caspian Sea.
Another issue of discussions was the peaceful nuclear cooperation between the two states.
Safari arrived in Moscow Monday for talks with Russian foreign minister and his deputy.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a meeting with Safari, called upon Iran to resume nuclear talks.
He said that Russian officials continue to hope that Iran will act in a manner conducive to resolving the dispute on its nuclear programs and resume negotiations. *
For his part, Safari said that Iran and Russia will continue their political talks in this regard.
Turning to the recent visit of the Secretary of Russia's National Security Council Igor Ivanov to Tehran, he hoped that talks that began will continue and witness more high-level meetings.

*Did you also notice the Russian "Disclamer" in both Stories.

Plus Meetings with both Cuba and Venezuela, Does it look like they're lining up for a war to anyone but me?

Former NSA Chief Says Surveillance Limited

Jan 23 11:35 AM US/Eastern
By KATHRYN SHRADER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON

In a wide-ranging defense of the National Security Agency's controversial surveillance program, the government's No. 2 intelligence official said Monday that the spy agency's operations are not a drift net over U.S. communities.
Gen. Michael Hayden, the former NSA director, described the 4-year-old program as narrowly targeted, using the same tools and techniques employed to decide whether to drop a 500-pound bomb on a terrorist target.
Hayden now holds the second-ranking job in the Office of the National Intelligence Director, John Negroponte.
"Had this program been in effect prior to 9/11, it is my professional judgment that we would have detected some of the al-Qaida operatives in the United States," Hayden said in an appearance at the National Press Club.
Hayden's comments came as the Bush administration kicked off three days of public events aimed at defending the highly classified surveillance program.
First disclosed last month, the program approved by President Bush allowed the NSA to eavesdrop, without warrants, on communications of individuals within the continental United States, whose calls and e- mails were believed to have involved al-Qaida.

The Legal Left's War on National Security

Good Article by Laksin

By Jacob Laksin
FrontPageMagazine.com January 23, 2006

No small leap of faith is required to imagine the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), those two bastions of the “legal Left,” as paladins of the Constitution and guardians of American legal norms. CCR, after all, has consistently opposed the enforcement of U.S. immigration statutes, even vying against restrictions on immigrants who “endorse or espouse terrorist activity.” The ACLU meanwhile has waged a concerted attack against all measures aimed at holding the enemies of American liberties—from radical Islamic mosques to terrorist suspects—to account.
But that has not kept both groups from posturing as the last line of defense against an oppressive and invasive American government. In their latest gambit, CCR and the ACLU this Tuesday filed twin lawsuits, one in New York and one in Detroit, seeking to terminate the Bush administration’s warrantless electronic surveillance of American citizens with suspected terrorism ties. In keeping with the groups’ longtime strategy, the lawsuits charge that the surveillance amounts to an “illegal and unconstitutional program.”

In effect—and presumably by design—the lawsuits constitute a full-bore assault on the country’s security apparatus. The New York suit, filed by the CCR, names President Bush; the Detroit suit, filed by the ACLU, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Greenpeace, as well as several individuals, including writer Christopher Hitchens, targets National Security Agency director Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander and the heads of all other major security agencies. To claims of unconstitutionality CCR attorney Rachel Meeropol, the granddaughter of executed spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, has added the further argument that the surveillance program impedes the center’s ability to represent its most prominent clients: the enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay. The thrust of their arguments is jarringly clear: America lacks the fundamental right to defend itself.

The law is not on the plaintiffs’ side. As John Schmidt, a former associate attorney general in the Clinton administration, has convincingly argued, the principal source of authority for the two suits—the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requiring court authorization of surveillance of individuals—fails to support their contentions. Schmidt has noted that the supervisory court established by that law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, has most recently upheld the president’s authority to conduct warrantless searches of suspected members of foreign terrorist groups. Notwithstanding the suits’ claims to the contrary, any objective interpretation of legal precedent argues that the NSA surveillance program falls well within the president’s constitutional prerogatives.
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