Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday September 12 2007 - (813)

Wednesday September 12 2007 edition
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Bush's Endorsement Petraeus Withdrawal Plan Draws Fire 2007-09-12 03:27:44 Democrats, some Republicans seek a faster withdrawal of troops. Plans by President Bush to announce a withdrawal of up to 30,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by next summer drew sharp criticism Tuesday from Democratic leaders and a handful of Republicans in Congress, who vowed to try again to force Bush to accept a more dramatic change of policy. A second day of testimony by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker yielded some of the most biting Republican objections since the president announced his troop buildup in January. Several Republicans joined Democrats in saying that Petraeus' proposal to draw down troops through the middle of next summer would result only in force levels equivalent to where they stood before the increase began, about 130,000 troops. After meeting with Bush Tuesday at the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nevada) expressed similar dismay with the Petraeus plan. The general has refused to commit to further reductions until he can assess conditions on the ground next March. Pelosi said she told Bush that he was essentially endorsing a 10-year "open-ended commitment." Reid said the president wants "no change in mission - this is more of the same." Read The Full Story Editorial: Running On Empty 2007-09-12 03:27:04 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Wednesday, September 12, 2007. The dangers of America’s Faustian bargain with Pakistan’s military dictator are growing more obvious by the day. Gen. Pervez Musharraf was on his way to declaring a state of emergency last month until Washington rightly warned him that such a move could set off a political explosion. This week General Musharraf defied Pakistan’s Supreme Court and blocked the return of his longtime political rival, Nawaz Sharif, and then arrested nearly the entire top leadership of Mr. Sharif’s party. Mr. Sharif is no Washington favorite, and this time the Bush administration’s criticism of the general’s overstepping has been pro forma. The violent street protests in Pakistan, however, are raising new fears of cataclysmic political upheaval in a country that is both armed with nuclear weapons and the fault line in the fight against terrorism. Mr. Sharif, a wealthy industrialist, is certainly no hero. His two stints as prime minister were seriously marred by corruption. And there is particular irony in his self-promotion as an opponent of military rule, since the military first helped put him in office. That is until General Musharraf decided to oust him in a bloodless coup. General Musharraf has spent the eight years since squandering his popular support. Pakistanis - professionals, ordinary people and even some in the military - have made clear that they are now sick of the general’s rule. Most want a return to civilian democracy. That should include elections in which all candidates, even deeply flawed ones like Mr. Sharif, can participate. Read The Full Story Japanese Prime Minister Abe Will Resign 2007-09-12 03:26:15 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Wednesday he will resign, ending a year-old government that has suffered a string of damaging scandals and a humiliating electoral defeat. Abe, whose support rating has fallen to 30 percent, cited the ruling party's defeat in July 29 elections for the upper house of parliament, and said he had instructed party leaders to immediately search for a new premier. "In the present situation it is difficult to push ahead with effective policies that win the support and trust of the public," Abe said in a nationally televised news conference. "I have decided that we need a change in this situation." Abe, 52, a nationalist who entered office as Japan's youngest postwar premier, did not announce a date for his departure from office. Read The Full Story World Health Organization Confirms Ebola Outbreak In Congo 2007-09-11 17:42:36 The lethal Ebola virus has resurfaced in central Congo, United Nations officials said on Tuesday, and health experts were rushing supplies and doctors into the remote, densely forested area to contain the disease. Five samples taken from sick people in Congo have tested positive for Ebola, said Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the World Health Organization (W.H.O.); but another disease may be involved because some patients have responded to antibiotics, which would not work on a virus like Ebola. Already, more than 150 people have died. “It wouldn’t be surprising if something else was going on,” said Hartl. “But because Ebola is involved, we have to be on high alert.” Ebola is one of the deadliest pathogens, killing 50 to 80 percent of the people it infects. In severe cases, victims hemorrhage all over and bleed from body orifices before dying. Read The Full Story Commentary: A War Still Seeking A Mission 2007-09-11 15:18:33 Intellpuke: The following commentary is written by columnist George F. Will and appears in the Washington Post  edition for Tuesday, September 11, 2007. Mr. Will's commentary follows: Before Gen. David Petraeus' report, and to give it a context of optimism, the president visited Iraq's Anbar province  to underscore the success of the surge in making some hitherto anarchic areas less so. More significant, however, was that the president did not visit Baghdad. This underscored the fact that the surge has failed, as measured by the president's and Petraeus's standards of success. Those who today stridently insist that the surge has succeeded also say they are especially supportive of the president, Petraeus and the military generally. But at the beginning of the surge, both Petraeus and the president defined success in a way that took the achievement of success out of America's hands. The purpose of the surge, they said, is to buy time - "breathing space," the president says - for Iraqi political reconciliation. Because progress toward that has been negligible, there is no satisfactory answer to this question: What is the U.S. military mission in Iraq?  Read The Full Story 'Dad Of All Bombs' Tested By Russia 2007-09-11 15:17:23 The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia's state television reported Tuesday. Channel One television said the new ordnance, nicknamed the "dad of all bombs" is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs." "The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," Alexander Rukhsin, a deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said in televised remarks. Read The Full Story	Britain's MI5 And MI6 Sued For First Time Over Torture 2007-09-12 03:27:24 A British man who was held in Guantanamo Bay has begun a civil action against MI5 and MI6 over the tactics that they use to gather intelligence. The suit has been brought by Tarek Dergoul, 29, who claims he was repeatedly tortured while he was held by the U.S., and that British agents who had also questioned him were aware of the mistreatment. He wants a high court ruling that will ban the security services from "benefiting" from the abuse of prisoners being held in detention outside the U.K. If Dergoul wins, it would mean that MI5 and MI6 could not interrogate British nationals while they are being held and tortured abroad. Read The Full Story Carlyle Group Puts Off Sale Of Cable Company 2007-09-12 03:26:41 The Carlyle Group has indefinitely postponed the sale of a cable communications company because bidders did not meet the District private-equity firm's price, sources said Tuesday. Carlyle pulled Insight Communications off the market after bidders that included Time Warner Cable had difficulty getting enough bank financing, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because none of the parties in the negotiations has released any public statements. The failure of Carlyle to attract a sufficient offer for Insight is the latest credit-market-related setback for the private-equity giant, which is hosting its annual investors' meeting this week in the District. Carlyle has about $76 billion under management. Read The Full Story E.U. Panel Calls For Bomb Recipes To Be Blocked On Internet 2007-09-11 17:42:48 Internet searches for bomb-making instructions should be blocked across the European Union, the bloc's top security official said on Monday. Internet providers should also prevent access to any site giving instructions on how to make a bomb, E.U. Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said in an interview. "I do intend to carry out a clear exploring exercise with the private sector ... on how it is possible to use technology to prevent people from using or searching dangerous words like bomb, kill, genocide or terrorism," Frattini told Reuters. The E.U. executive is to make this proposal to member states early in November as part of a raft of anti-terrorism proposals. Read The Full Story In New Video, Bin Laden Wants Caravan Of Martyrs 2007-09-11 15:18:47 Osama bin Laden urged sympathizers to join the "caravan" of martyrs as he praised one of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers in a new video that emerged Tuesday to mark the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Al-Qaeda traditionally issues a video every year on the anniversary, with the last testament of one of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. This year's video showed hijacker Waleed al-Shehri addressing the camera and warning the U.S.: "We shall come at you from your front and back, your right and left." The new message, which A.P. Television News obtained from the IntelCenter monitoring group in suburban Washington, D.C., came days after the world got its first current look at bin Laden in nearly three years, with the release of a video Saturday in which the terror leader addressed the American people. Later in the day it appeared on militant Web sites, with a note from al-Qaeda's media production wing al-Sahab saying it was intentionally sent to television stations before being placed on the Internet. Read The Full Story OPEC Agrees To Increase Crude Output By 500,000 Barrels A Day 2007-09-11 15:18:16 OPEC agreed late Tuesday to boost its crude output by 500,000 barrels a day in an effort to calm markets roiled by high oil prices and worried that supplies could grow tight by the end of the year. The surprise move would take effect Nov. 1, said the oil cartel. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, spokesman for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said the increase would be based on the group's current production - meaning the 12-nation group was adding actual oil to the market. Read The Full Story
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