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Why Do Libya and Egypt Hate America? by Sherif Mansour , thedailybeast.com | September 13, 2012
Tuesday’s dramatic attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that left four American diplomats dead was a big surprise to many, but not to me. Coming on the heels of the anniversary of 9/11 and continued public outcries in Egypt and Libya over an “insulting” U.S.-produced movie about the Prophet Muhammad led many in the Arab world to brace themselves for escalating violence as well as the inevitable rehashing of the “Why do they hate us?” debate. I am also sure that almost no one will focus on why the masses in Egypt and Libya, two countries of the Arab Spring that have recently gained greater freedoms, continue to have negative views toward America. The question then is, why do these societies continue to hate the U.S., even when so many on the streets share our values and are becoming freer and more empowered as a result? I am afraid the answer is still the same. read more »Legitimate Criticism by Andrew Rosenthal, takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com | September 13, 2012
Stung by the furious response to Mitt Romney’s attack on President Obama over the killings in Libya, some right-wing commentators have defended Mr. Romney’s right to challenge Mr. Obama on foreign policy. Just for instance, Jennifer Rubin wrote in The Washington Post that “Obama has no right to insist he is beyond criticism.” She added: “If [the media] are going to insist that holding a president accountable for his national security is out of bounds, then perhaps journalism is now farce.” Of course Mr. Obama is not beyond criticism. Of course Mr. Romney has the right to hold the president accountable for his national security. But this story isn’t about that. It’s about the fact that he made something up. He accused the Obama administration of sympathizing with those who waged the attacks, when it did no such thing. read more »I Smell John Bolton by Digby , OurFuture.org | September 12, 2012
To those still wondering if Romney might be a kinder, gentler foreign policy president, think again: read more »When You Learn They’re Not Ready by Josh Marshall, consortiumnews.com | September 12, 2012
Some moments show you when a candidate is ready or not to become President of the United States. I suspect last night will become one of those moments for Mitt Romney. The verdict will not be positive. Politics is hardball. Everything is, in some sense, fair. But campaigns are also a prism into the judgment and steadiness under pressure of a person who would be president. This was amateur hour for the opposition campaign last night, reminiscent of John McCain’s rash call four years ago to cancel the presidential debates and the campaign itself to deal with the unfolding economic crisis. There was nothing ignoble or dishonorable about McCain’s suggestion. It just showed a certain rashness that was widely viewed as unpresidential. Romney’s moment was quite different — rash and shameful. Not worthy of a president. Crass, undignified and troubling on many levels. read more »Mitt's Shameful Libya Statement by Steve Kornacki, salon.com | September 12, 2012
That it’s fundamentally dishonest hasn’t stopped Mitt Romney from repeating his central critique of Barack Obama’s foreign policy over and over – the idea that the president “went around the world and apologized for America.” So it shouldn’t be surprising that Romney’s response to the attacks on U.S. diplomatic installations in Egypt and Libya was rooted in the same caricature of Obama as apologizer-in-chief. “It’s disgraceful,” Romney’s statement, which was released late Tuesday night, read, “that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” The foolishness of Romney’s reaction is glaring. But this hasn’t stopped other Republicans from echoing the Romney line. Again, it probably shouldn’t be surprising. This is the kind of nonsense you’ll get when one party spends four years convincing itself that a president is something he isn’t. read more »The Neocons and 9/11 by Robert Parry, consortiumnews.com | September 11, 2012
Eleven years after the fact, the key relevance of 9/11 to Campaign 2012 is that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has surrounded himself with neoconservative foreign policy advisers much as George W. Bush did in 2001, when the neocons let their ideological obsessions blind them to the threat from al-Qaeda. In spring and summer 2001, the CIA and counterterrorism experts frantically rang warning bells, trying to get President Bush to order a full-court press aimed at stopping an attack that al-Qaeda was plotting. U.S. intelligence agencies weren’t sure exactly where al-Qaeda would strike but they were sure that something big was coming. The neocons, however, had regarded the Clinton administration’s fear about al-Qaeda terrorism as a distraction, a relatively minor concern when compared to the neocon certainty that the far greater Middle East danger came from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. read more »The Deafness Before the Storm by Kurt Eichenwald, The New York Times | September 11, 2012
It was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history. On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning’s “presidential daily brief” — the top-secret document prepared by America’s intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal. The administration’s reaction to what Mr. Bush was told in the weeks before that infamous briefing reflected significantly more negligence than has been disclosed. In other words, the Aug. 6 document, for all of the controversy it provoked, is not nearly as shocking as the briefs that came before read more »Obama’s “Smart Power” Foreign Policy Not Smart at All by John Feffer, tomdispatch.com | September 6, 2012
Barack Obama is a smart guy. So why has he spent the last four years executing such a dumb foreign policy? True, his reliance on “smart power” -- a euphemism for giving the Pentagon a stake in all things global -- has been a smart move politically at home. It has largely prevented the Republicans from playing the national security card in this election year. But “smart power” has been a disaster for the world at large and, ultimately, for the United States itself. read more »Afghanistan’s Base Bonanza by Nick Turse, tomdispatch.com | September 4, 2012
Afghanistan may turn out to be one of the great misbegotten “stimulus packages” of the modern era, a construction boom in the middle of nowhere with materials largely shipped in at enormous expense to no lasting purpose whatsoever. With the U.S. military officially drawing down its troops there, the Pentagon is now evidently reversing the process and embarking on a major deconstruction program. It’s tearing up tarmacs, shutting down outposts, and packing up some of its smaller facilities. Next year, the number of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition bases in the southwest of the country alone is scheduled to plummet from 214 to 70, according to the New York Times. But anyone who wanted to know just what the Pentagon built in Afghanistan and what it is now tearing down won’t have an easy time of it. read more »Republicans Hate Obama’S Defense Cuts. The Trouble Is, They Voted For Them. by Dylan Matthews, The Washington Post | August 30, 2012
In his speech tonight, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) decried Obama for cutting defense, saying, “We can’t afford another $500 billion in cuts to our defense budget — on top of the nearly $500 billion in cuts that the president is already making…And yet, the president is playing no leadership role in preventing this crippling blow to our military.” There’s just one problem: John McCain, and most other Republicans in the House and Senate, voted for the cuts in question. The Budget Control Act, passed as a condition for Republican support for raising the debt ceiling last summer, contains a 10 percent across-the-board cut in defense spending – the cut that McCain was referencing. It comes out to $30 billion in cuts next year and $510 billion in cuts over the next ten years. Republicans are now trying to reverse those cuts. read more »
The Latest
Panel Fines Lax Oversight of Wartime Contracting, Associated Press | June 8, 2009
The Defense Department has failed to provide adequate oversight over tens of billions of dollars in contracts to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, says a new report by an independent commission investigating waste and fraud in wartime spending. U.S. read more »
U.S. Warns North Korea Over Terror List, BBC News | June 8, 2009
The U.S. is considering reinstating North Korea on its list of states viewed as sponsors of terrorism, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said. North Korea was removed from the list in October 2008 after it began disabling a nuclear reactor, but has since carried out a nuclear test. Mrs. Clinton told ABC News the reason for being removed from the list "is being thwarted by their actions". read more »
Economic Crisis Making for More Unstable World, ipsnews.net | June 3, 2009
The world has become a slightly more dangerous place in the past year, said the new Global Peace Index (GPI), which points to the economic crisis as the main factor. read more »
U.S. To Set Cyber Security Plan, BBC News | May 29, 2009
U.S. President Barack Obama is to set out plans for securing American computer networks against cyber attacks. In a speech that follows a 60-day review, Mr Obama is expected to announce the creation of a cyber security office in the White House. Both US government and military bodies have reported repeated interference from hackers in recent years. read more »
FBI Planning Bigger Role In Terrorism Fight, Los Angeles Times | May 28, 2009
The FBI and Justice Department plan to significantly expand their role in global counter-terrorism operations, part of a U.S. policy shift that will replace a CIA-dominated system of clandestine detentions and interrogations with one built around transparent investigations and prosecutions. FBI agents will have a central role in overseas counter-terrorism cases. read more »
White House Merging National and Homeland Security , Associated Press | May 27, 2009
President Barack Obama announced he is combining White House staffs dealing with international and homeland security, predicting the change will make Americans safer. Obama also is creating a new office intended to communicate more effectively with other countries about U.S. security policy. The Homeland Security Council, created after the Sept. read more »
Rampage Hints at Stress of Repeated Deployments, Christian Science Monitor | May 13, 2009
Military police charged Sgt. John Russell, a soldier on a 15-month tour to Iraq – his third deployment to the country – with murder in the shooting deaths of five soldiers at an American base. In an interview Russell's father said his son was facing financial difficulty and feared he was about to be discharged from the Army. read more »
Gates Ousts U.S. Commander in Afghanistan, Christian Science Monitor | May 12, 2009
Defense Secretary Robert Gates abruptly removed the top US commander from Afghanistan Monday, replacing him with a general whose background in special operations may signal a desire to further refine the military strategy there. Gates's nominee, Lt. Gen. read more »
U.S. Faces Iraq-Like Spending Problems in Afghanistan, Christian Science Monitor | May 4, 2009
The U.S. government is pouring vast amounts of new resources into Afghanistan for security and reconstruction projects. But it's running the risk of repeating some of the same mistakes it made in Iraq where government auditors have said it wasted billions of dollars. The U.S. read more »
Homeland Security Chief Defends Report , USA Today | April 17, 2009
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano dismissed criticism of her agency's intelligence assessments and defended a recent report that says some military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or lone acts of violence. read more »
