Democrats Abroad New Zealand
4.12.2007
Bush Looks to Appoint a War 'Czar'(NZHerald.co.nz)
5:00AM Thursday April 12, 2007
WASHINGTON - The White House wants to appoint a high-profile overseer to manage the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but has had trouble finding someone to take the job, the Washington Post reported.
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have turned down the position. The war "czar" would report directly to United States President George W. Bush and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and would have authority to issue directions to the Pentagon and the State Department.
Retired Marine General John "Jack" Sheehan, a former top Nato commander, was among those who rejected the job. "The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," Sheehan told the Post. He said he believes that Vice-President Dick Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the Administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq.
(More ... New Zealand Herald > World) ¶ 08:49 0 comments
WASHINGTON - The White House wants to appoint a high-profile overseer to manage the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but has had trouble finding someone to take the job, the Washington Post reported.
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have turned down the position. The war "czar" would report directly to United States President George W. Bush and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and would have authority to issue directions to the Pentagon and the State Department.
Retired Marine General John "Jack" Sheehan, a former top Nato commander, was among those who rejected the job. "The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," Sheehan told the Post. He said he believes that Vice-President Dick Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the Administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq.
(More ... New Zealand Herald > World) ¶ 08:49 0 comments
3.02.2007
National Guard Not Fully Equipped at Home (Reuters.com)
Fri Mar 2, 2007 1:58am ET
By JoAnne Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is not adequately equipping the National Guard and has not adapted to the increasingly important security role it plays in the post-September 11 environment, an independent commission said in a report to Congress on Thursday.
The report said the global war on terrorism had placed increased demands for the National Guard to provide forces for both overseas and domestic missions, but added that the Defense Department, or DOD, had been slow to adapt to the change.
"DOD's failure to appropriately consider National Guard needs and funding requirements has produced a National Guard that is not fully ready to meet current and emerging missions," the commission concluded.
Among its findings, the 13-member panel said the Defense Department was not adequately equipping the Guard for its domestic missions.
The National Guard's 458,000 citizen-soldiers have a dual mandate to protect the United States both at home and abroad.
Nearly 90 percent of Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready," partly because of equipment shortages, according to Guard data and the findings of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, The Washington Post reported.
National Guard units deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been required to leave large quantities of gear behind when they return home, the newspaper said.
(More ... Reuters > News > U.S.)
By JoAnne Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is not adequately equipping the National Guard and has not adapted to the increasingly important security role it plays in the post-September 11 environment, an independent commission said in a report to Congress on Thursday.
The report said the global war on terrorism had placed increased demands for the National Guard to provide forces for both overseas and domestic missions, but added that the Defense Department, or DOD, had been slow to adapt to the change.
"DOD's failure to appropriately consider National Guard needs and funding requirements has produced a National Guard that is not fully ready to meet current and emerging missions," the commission concluded.
Among its findings, the 13-member panel said the Defense Department was not adequately equipping the Guard for its domestic missions.
The National Guard's 458,000 citizen-soldiers have a dual mandate to protect the United States both at home and abroad.
Nearly 90 percent of Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready," partly because of equipment shortages, according to Guard data and the findings of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, The Washington Post reported.
National Guard units deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been required to leave large quantities of gear behind when they return home, the newspaper said.
(More ... Reuters > News > U.S.)
Labels: GWOT, National Guard, Reuters, U.S. Military
¶ 21:39 0 comments
2.20.2007
Global Poll Finds Religion and Culture Not to Blame (WorldPublicOpinion.org)
The global public believes that tensions between Islam and the West arise from conflicts over political power and interests and not from differences of religion and culture, according to a BBC World Service poll across 27 countries.
While three in ten (29%) believe religious or cultural differences are the cause of tensions, a slight majority (52%) say tensions are due to conflicting interests.
The poll also reveals that most people see the problems arising from intolerant minorities and not the cultures as a whole. While 26 percent believe fundamental differences in cultures are to blame, 58 percent say intolerant minorities are causing the conflict – with most of these (39% of the full sample) saying that the intolerant minorities are on both sides.
The idea that violent conflict is inevitable between Islam and the West is mainly rejected by Muslims, non-Muslims and Westerners alike. While more than a quarter of all respondents (28%) think that violent conflict is inevitable, twice as many (56%) believe that “common ground can be found.”
The survey of over 28,000 respondents across 27 countries was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated the fieldwork between November 2006 and January 2007.
(More ... PIPA > World Public Opinion) ¶ 07:56 0 comments
While three in ten (29%) believe religious or cultural differences are the cause of tensions, a slight majority (52%) say tensions are due to conflicting interests.
The poll also reveals that most people see the problems arising from intolerant minorities and not the cultures as a whole. While 26 percent believe fundamental differences in cultures are to blame, 58 percent say intolerant minorities are causing the conflict – with most of these (39% of the full sample) saying that the intolerant minorities are on both sides.
The idea that violent conflict is inevitable between Islam and the West is mainly rejected by Muslims, non-Muslims and Westerners alike. While more than a quarter of all respondents (28%) think that violent conflict is inevitable, twice as many (56%) believe that “common ground can be found.”
The survey of over 28,000 respondents across 27 countries was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated the fieldwork between November 2006 and January 2007.
(More ... PIPA > World Public Opinion) ¶ 07:56 0 comments
1.09.2007
On FBI's Wanted List - All of Your Fingerprints (NZHerald.co.nz)
Monday January 08, 2007
By David Eames
The tens of thousands of New Zealanders who visit the United States each year will soon have their fingerprints recorded and stored on FBI databases as they arrive.
Under plans to combat terrorism, the US Government will demand that visitors have all 10 fingers scanned when they enter the country. The information will be shared with intelligence agencies, including the FBI, with no restrictions on their international use.
At present, US airport scanners take only two fingerprints from travellers. The move to 10 allows the information to be compatible with the FBI database.
The Department of Homeland Security is expected to roll out the measures from the middle of the year, with 10 airports - including New York, Washington, and Miami - leading the way.
Countries subject to the new scheme include New Zealand, Australia, Japan and European Union nations.
Travel statistics website Asmal shows that as many as 139,000 New Zealanders visited the US in the 12 months to September, 3 per cent more than the previous year.
The 10-print plan has infuriated civil liberties groups in New Zealand and overseas.
(More ... New Zealand Herald > National News)
By David Eames
The tens of thousands of New Zealanders who visit the United States each year will soon have their fingerprints recorded and stored on FBI databases as they arrive.
Under plans to combat terrorism, the US Government will demand that visitors have all 10 fingers scanned when they enter the country. The information will be shared with intelligence agencies, including the FBI, with no restrictions on their international use.
At present, US airport scanners take only two fingerprints from travellers. The move to 10 allows the information to be compatible with the FBI database.
The Department of Homeland Security is expected to roll out the measures from the middle of the year, with 10 airports - including New York, Washington, and Miami - leading the way.
Countries subject to the new scheme include New Zealand, Australia, Japan and European Union nations.
Travel statistics website Asmal shows that as many as 139,000 New Zealanders visited the US in the 12 months to September, 3 per cent more than the previous year.
The 10-print plan has infuriated civil liberties groups in New Zealand and overseas.
(More ... New Zealand Herald > National News)
Labels: Civil Liberties, GWOT, New Zealand Herald
¶ 08:31 0 comments
12.22.2006
Bush Developing Illegal Bioterror Weapons For Offensive Use (Scoop.co.nz)
Wednesday, 20 December 2006, 4:22 pm
Opinion: Sherwood Ross
In violation of the U.S. Code and international law, the Bush administration is spending more money (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to develop illegal, offensive germ warfare than the $2-billion spent in World War II on the Manhattan Project to make the atomic bomb.
So says Francis Boyle, the professor of international law who drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 enacted by Congress. He states the Pentagon “is now gearing up to fight and ‘win’ biological warfare” pursuant to two Bush national strategy directives adopted “without public knowledge and review” in 2002.
The Pentagon’s Chemical and Biological Defense Program was revised in 2003 to implement those directives, endorsing “first-use” strike of chemical and biological weapons(CBW) in war, says Boyle, who teaches at the University of Illinois, Champaign.
Terming the action “the proverbial smoking gun,” Boyle said the mission of the controversial CBW program “ has been altered to permit development of offensive capability in chemical and biological weapons!” (Original italics)
The same directives, Boyle charges in his book “Biowarfare and Terrorism”(Clarity Press), “unconstitutionally usurp and nullify the right and the power of the United States Congress to declare war in gross and blatant violation of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution.”
For fiscal years 2001-04, the Federal government funded $14.5-billion “for ostensibly ‘civilian’ biowarfare-related work alone,” a “truly staggering” sum, Boyle wrote.
Another $5.6-billion was voted for “the deceptively-named ‘Project BioShield,’” under which Homeland Security is stockpiling vaccines and drugs to fight anthrax, smallpox and other bioterror agents, Boyle wrote. Protection of the civilian population is, he said, “one of the fundamental requirements for effectively waging biowarfare.”
(More ... Scoop > Top Scoops > Article)
Opinion: Sherwood Ross
In violation of the U.S. Code and international law, the Bush administration is spending more money (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to develop illegal, offensive germ warfare than the $2-billion spent in World War II on the Manhattan Project to make the atomic bomb.
So says Francis Boyle, the professor of international law who drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 enacted by Congress. He states the Pentagon “is now gearing up to fight and ‘win’ biological warfare” pursuant to two Bush national strategy directives adopted “without public knowledge and review” in 2002.
The Pentagon’s Chemical and Biological Defense Program was revised in 2003 to implement those directives, endorsing “first-use” strike of chemical and biological weapons(CBW) in war, says Boyle, who teaches at the University of Illinois, Champaign.
Terming the action “the proverbial smoking gun,” Boyle said the mission of the controversial CBW program “ has been altered to permit development of offensive capability in chemical and biological weapons!” (Original italics)
The same directives, Boyle charges in his book “Biowarfare and Terrorism”(Clarity Press), “unconstitutionally usurp and nullify the right and the power of the United States Congress to declare war in gross and blatant violation of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution.”
For fiscal years 2001-04, the Federal government funded $14.5-billion “for ostensibly ‘civilian’ biowarfare-related work alone,” a “truly staggering” sum, Boyle wrote.
Another $5.6-billion was voted for “the deceptively-named ‘Project BioShield,’” under which Homeland Security is stockpiling vaccines and drugs to fight anthrax, smallpox and other bioterror agents, Boyle wrote. Protection of the civilian population is, he said, “one of the fundamental requirements for effectively waging biowarfare.”
(More ... Scoop > Top Scoops > Article)
Labels: Bush, CBRN, GWOT, Scoop
¶ 19:41 0 comments
