● Shelby Steele: The Exploitation of Trayvon Martin... ● Protecting You From The UN-Frendly Skies... Prohibited Items Found 3/2 to 3/8... ● Congressional earmarks sometimes used to fund projects near lawmakers' properties... ● Public Law List (112st Congress - 2012)... ● Congress's Phony Insider-Trading Reform... ● Obama denounces Senate vote to block Cordray at consumer watchdog agency... ● Walker signs 'castle doctrine' bill, other measures... ● Holder faces House Republicans over health-care law, ‘Fast and Furious’... ● Postal workers behaving badly!... ● The supercommittee failed because Democrats insisted on $1 trillion in new taxes...
PositiveReform header image 4
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; When the government fears the people, there is liberty.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

 

Entries Tagged as 'Fix US First then others'

Biden warned Obama during Afghan war review not to get ‘locked into Vietnam’

September 28th, 2010 · Accountability, Deception, Defense, Democrats, Dissention, Ethics, Foreign Policy, Government Control, Homeland Security, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US

By Bob Woodward Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 28, 2010; 2:04 AM

The second of three articles adapted from “Obama’s Wars” by Bob Woodward.

On Thanksgiving weekend in 2009, as President Obama was crafting his final Afghan war strategy, Vice President Biden fired off six handwritten memos by secure fax from Nantucket island in Massachusetts, where the Biden family traditionally gathered to celebrate the November holiday.

As Biden had for months, he was keeping the pressure on, urging Obama to avoid a dramatic escalation of the war.

The president, still engaged in intense discussions at the White House, told Biden by secure phone: There’s no good option.

It would not be that bad if Hamid Karzai’s government in Afghanistan fell, Biden said.

No, Obama replied. The downside was too great. Obama said he was going with 30,000 more troops, a significant escalation but less than the 40,000 that the military kept advocating.

Biden faxed another memo to the president. “It’s not the number, it’s the strategy.”

This was a moment of decision for the first-year president, and Biden was in a rented house in Nantucket, away from the nonstop discussions in Washington.

Finally, Obama told Biden: “I want to have a meeting Sunday.” The president would call the national security team to the Oval Office and give members the six-page, single-spaced “terms sheet” he had dictated that precisely listed his new orders.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ···········

No Comments

Defense contractors on offensive

September 27th, 2010 · Deception, Economy, Federal Spending, Greed, Money Lost, Non-Transparency, Stimulus, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Terrorism from Within, War on Terrorism

By Marjorie CenserCapital Business Staff Writer
Sunday, September 26, 2010; 6:06 PM

Washington area defense contractors are buying and selling companies at an increasingly high rate as they seek to position themselves for a realignment in Pentagon spending priorities.

BAE Systems, which bases its U.S. operations in Arlington County, is the latest to make some changes. The company recently picked up Stamford, Conn.-based L-1 Identity Solutions’s intelligence services business for $295.8 million, just as its parent company confirmed it is considering selling the U.S.-based “platform solutions” business, which builds aircraft and buses, among other equipment.

For defense contractors – whose budgets have surged since Sept. 11, allowing them to invest in a broad range of technologies – now is the first time they’re expecting a flattened defense budget, said William Farmer, co-head of Lazard’s U.S. aerospace and defense group.

Consequently, these firms are being forced to reexamine their portfolios and decide “long-term what makes strategic sense,” Farmer said.

In BAE’s case, the moves reflect the company’s continued focus on beefing up its services business – which includes such areas as cybersecurity – rather than its equipment work. John Gannon, president of BAE’s intelligence and security business, said the purchase advances BAE in areas the company has identified as “sweet spots,” like analyzing intelligence data.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ···········

No Comments

Military thwarted president seeking choice in Afghanistan

September 27th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Deception, Defense, Economy, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Terrorism from Within, War on Terrorism

By Bob WoodwardWashington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 27, 2010; 12:34 AM

President Obama was on edge.

For two exhausting months, he had been asking military advisers to give him a range of options for the war in Afghanistan. Instead, he felt that they were steering him toward one outcome and thwarting his search for an exit plan. He would later tell his White House aides that military leaders were “really cooking this thing in the direction they wanted.”

He was looking for choices that would limit U.S. involvement and provide a way out. His top three military advisers were unrelenting advocates for 40,000 more troops and an expanded mission that seemed to have no clear end. When his national security team gathered in the White House Situation Room on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2009, for its eighth strategy review session, the president erupted.

“So what’s my option? You have given me one option,” Obama said, directly challenging the military leadership at the table, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, then head of U.S. Central Command.

“We were going to meet here today to talk about three options,” Obama said sternly. “You agreed to go back and work those up.”

Mullen protested. “I think what we’ve tried to do here is present a range of options.”

Obama begged to differ. Two weren’t even close to feasible, they all had acknowledged; the other two were variations on the 40,000.

Silence descended on the room. Finally, Mullen said, “Well, yes, sir.”

Mullen later explained, “I didn’t see any other path.”

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ··············

No Comments

Unions work to defend federal pay from politicians’ proposals

September 26th, 2010 · Accountability, Change of Power, Deception, Democrats, Economy, Federal Spending, Non-Transparency, Tax Dollars, Taxes, Unemployment

By Joe Davidson Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 22, 2010; 10:44 PM

If federal employees, in particular their pay and number, become a political football this election season, their unions plan to play strong defense.

Already, there’s been a vigorous preseason, with politicians, mostly Republicans, getting in shape for the campaign by making numerous attempts to freeze or cut federal compensation or the workforce.

“I think this is going to be a major issue,” said John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

The issue got a good workout several weeks ago when repeated attempts to block a 1.4 percent pay increase, hardly extravagant, were stopped.

But the efforts continue.

[View Complete Article →]

Tags: ········

No Comments

Obama urges Congressional Black Caucus to drum up grass-roots support

September 22nd, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Economy, Ethics, Federal Spending, Government Control, Greed, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US

Reference:

  • Maxine Waters, a 2nd Democrat from the Black Caucus, will go on trial for Ethics violations.
  • Despite 13 charges, Rep. Charles B. Rangel says he won’t resign:More Democrat Delusions

    • By Nia-Malika Henderson – Monday, September 20, 2010; 1:29 AM

    President Obama rallied a crowd of black lawmakers on Saturday night, telling them to “guard the change” his administration has begun and calling for a return to the kind of vigorous grass-roots organizing that drove the civil rights movement forward.

    In a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama warned that Republicans want to “turn back the clock” and said: “I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and barbershops and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do.”

    While many Democratic lawmakers facing election are keeping their distance from Obama, polls show that the president enjoys a 91 percent favorability rating among African-Americans, and the Democratic National Committee is eager to tap into that enthusiasm to stave off major losses in November.

    With the GOP hoping to regain power on Capitol Hill, Obama made a direct appeal to this crucial voting block.

    “It’s not going to be easy,” he told the black-tie crowd at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. “I said back on the campaign that change would be hard. It wasn’t just a matter of me getting elected, and suddenly, our problems all go away. It was a matter of all of us getting involved, all of us staying committed, all of us sticking with our plan for a better future until it was complete. That’s how we’ve always moved forward in this country.”

    Ticking off his administration’s achievements, including the health care and financial regulatory overhauls, Obama linked his achievements to the long struggle for civil rights.

    [View Complete Article →]

    Tags: ··················

    No Comments

    Obama envisions no major changes in Afghan strategy despite disapproval rate

    September 20th, 2010 · Deception, Defense, Democrats, Economy, Ethics, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, Government Control, Homeland Security, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Terrorism from Within, Treason, War on Terrorism

    By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
    Saturday, September 18, 2010; 3:48 AM

    Despite discouraging news from Afghanistan and growing doubts in Congress and among the American public, the Obama administration has concluded that its war strategy is sound and that a December review, once seen as a pivotal moment, is unlikely to yield any major changes.

    This resolve arises amid a flurry of reports from outside experts and former officials who are convinced that the administration’s path in Afghanistan is unsustainable and its objectives are unclear. Lawmakers from both parties are insisting that they be given a bigger say in assessing the war’s trajectory.

    The White House calculus is that the strategy retains enough public and political support to weather any near-term objections. Officials do not expect real pressure for progress and a more precise definition of goals to build until next year, with the approach of a July deadline President Obama has set for decisions on troop withdrawals and the beginning of the 2012 electoral season.

    “The fundamentals are in the place where they should be,” a senior administration official said. Any adjustments will be akin to “moving the rabbit ears around a little bit to get better reception,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll be changing the channel come December.”

    [View Complete Article →]

    Tags: ·············

    No Comments

    Clinton’s history of controversial statements on Mideast

    September 20th, 2010 · Deception, Democrats, Government Control, Non-Transparency, Obama Nominees, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Treason

    By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer
    Friday, September 17, 2010; 2:13 AM

    AMMAN, JORDAN – As Hillary Rodham Clinton took her first stab at substantive Middle East diplomacy over the past few days, she drew on her record of controversial statements about Israel and the Palestinians – and depicted it as an asset.

    It is a tricky balancing act that attests to the secretary of state’s talent as a politician, as well as her predilection for getting into hot water with bold, sometimes ill-timed pronouncements.

    Clinton has long taken apparently contradictory positions on the Middle East. As first lady, she hugged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s wife. As a senator from New York she staunchly defended Israel. And as President Obama’s chief diplomat, she has publicly upbraided – and also bolstered – Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

    Her diplomacy this week, which ended Thursday with a quick stop in Jordan to have lunch with King Abdullah II, was mostly behind closed doors. The results, if any, remain unclear. But there are enough past public statements from Clinton that both Israelis and Palestinians can claim her as a potential supporter.

    [View Complete Article →]

    Tags: ··············

    No Comments

    Karzai rift prompts U.S. to reevaluate anti-corruption strategy in Afghanistan

    September 14th, 2010 · Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Treason

    By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Staff Writer
    Monday, September 13, 2010; 3:18 AM

    Senior Obama administration officials have concluded they need to step back from promoting American-style law enforcement as the main means of fighting corruption in Afghanistan because of the rift it has caused with President Hamid Karzai.

    President Obama’s top national security advisers, who will meet with him this week to discuss the problem, do not yet agree on the contours of a new approach, according to U.S. civilian and military officials involved in Afghanistan policy. But the officials said there is a growing consensus that key corruption cases against people in Karzai’s government should be resolved with face-saving compromises behind closed doors instead of public prosecutions.

    “The current approach is not tenable,” said an administration official who, like others interviewed, agreed to discuss internal deliberations only on the condition of anonymity. “What will we get out of it? We’ll arrest a few mid-level Afghans, but we’ll lose our ability to operate there and achieve our principal goals.”

    Relations between Karzai and the United States have nosedived since the arrest of one of his palace aides on bribery charges six weeks ago. The arrest – made by an Afghan anti-graft task force that has received extensive financing, training, equipment and intelligence support from the FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies – proved embarrassing for the Afghan leader. Karzai responded by ordering the aide released and instructing his Justice Ministry to impose new rules limiting international involvement in corruption investigations.

    “We need to convince him we’re not on a witch hunt but that we need his cooperation,” said the U.S. official. The Bush and Obama administrations have had to adjust their policies in Afghanistan on several occasions after resistance from Karzai.

    [View Complete Article →]

    Tags: ·······

    No Comments

    U.S. effort to help Afghanistan fight corruption has complicated ties

    September 10th, 2010 · Corruption, Deception, Democrats, Economy, Federal Spending, Foreign Policy, Government Control, Greed, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Tax Dollars, Treason

    By Greg Miller Washington Post Staff Writer
    Friday, September 10, 2010; 1:04 AM

    In the span of several months, U.S.-backed investigative teams have assembled alarming evidence of rampant corruption in Afghanistan and the extent to which it reaches the highest ranks of that nation’s government.

    But the American effort to increase Afghanistan’s capacity to combat corruption has also had unintended consequences, aggravating the U.S. relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and producing embarrassing revelations that have undermined attempts to build popular trust in the government in Kabul – a key component of the Obama administration’s counterinsurgency campaign.

    After pouring more resources into the anti-corruption effort over the past 18 months – including teams of advisers and sophisticated wiretapping technology – administration officials said there is growing concern that rooting out graft is paradoxically reinforcing perceptions that the problem is endemic.

    “Our big push to help build Afghan institutions for transparency and anti-corruption has had the dismaying effect of bringing a lot of stuff to light that has sparked political crises,” said a senior administration official. “Afghan institutions are growing more capable” of fighting corruption, the official said. But their work has the potential to “set us back.”

    The quandary in many ways reflects the extent to which the U.S. government has operated at cross-purposes in Afghanistan, doling out vast sums of money to win over warlords and buy security for military convoys, then cracking down on abuse in a system awash in American cash.

    After nearly nine years of nation-building in Afghanistan, experts said, the U.S. government faces mounting evidence that it has helped to assemble one of the most corrupt governments in the world.

    “I don’t know how you can disaggregate the way in which [the U.S. government] has funneled money into Afghanistan from the crisis of corruption that presents itself today,” said C. Christine Fair, an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service who has monitored the U.S. role in Afghanistan. “We are a government at odds with ourselves.”

    [View Complete Article →]

    Tags: ···············

    No Comments

    Political controversy over Islam tarnishes 9/11 anniversary: How quickly we forget.

    September 9th, 2010 · Deception, Democrats, Ethics, Homeland Security, National Security, Non-Transparency, Obama's Scheme, Selling Out the US, Terrorism from Within, Terrorist Attack, Treason

    Islamic protesters burned US Flag and chanted "Death to America."

    By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen Washington Post Staff Writers
    Thursday, September 9, 2010; 12:02 AM

    For almost a decade, the annual commemoration of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been seen as a day of national unity and sober remembrance. This year, contentious issues of religious freedom and national identity threaten to color the ninth anniversary of those tragic events.

    Controversies over calls to burn the Koran and an ongoing debate over a proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero in New York are drawing particular attention as the anniversary nears, sparking questions about how 9/11 became so politicized.

    Islamic Radicals did THIS!

    The reality is that, with rare exceptions, the meaning of those attacks has rarely been free of political overtones or debate. Common ground in the months after the attacks quickly gave way to partisan division over combating terrorism. What may be different this year is that earlier debates about who was “strong” in the fight against terrorism and who was not have been supplanted by questions about Islam and religious freedom.

    Terry Jones, the pastor of a small church in Florida, wants to build a bonfire out of copies of the Koran on Saturday. That has brought condemnation across the spectrum. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has warned that images of Islam’s holy book in flames could endanger the lives of U.S. forces. Both the White House and conservatives such as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin have criticized Jones’s plan.

    But experts on public opinion say the controversy does not represent a significant new shift in attitudes. Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, said fresh signs of a backlash against Muslims are not showing up broadly in national surveys. “Attitudes are mixed and not as positive as they were eight years ago,” he said, “but there’s no sign of an upswing in anti-Muslim fervor.”

    Jones may epitomize the ease with which someone on the political fringe can draw attention and spark controversy. The debate over the proposed Islamic center represents more genuine divisions in the country over the limits of religious freedom and the sacred nature of the ground around where the World Trade Center once stood.

    A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that two-thirds of Americans oppose building the Islamic center near the former site of the twin towers. Four in five of those opposed say their opposition is strictly because of the location. But 14 percent of the opponents (or 9 percent of all Americans) say they would oppose building it anywhere in the country.

    [View Complete Article →]

    Tags: ··········

    No Comments