Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:29

FIGHTING DEMS NEWS SERVICE

foreign policy * national security * military & veterans affairs

 

February 7, 2007

Vol. 2 No. 4      

 

THE NEWS HEADLINES

 

Syria Wants Talks

Campaign To Pressure Blair On Iran

New Military Command For Africa

Short & Sweet

 

THE OP/ED HEADLINES

 

The New Iraq NIE: Pig Ugly, Little Lipstick

The Cheney-Libby Trial

The Impoverishment Of Ideas

About Fighting Dems News Service

 

THE ARTICLE SUMMARIES AND LINKS

 

SYRIA WANTS TALKS
While the Bush administration clings to its claim that nothing useful would come out of direct talks with Iran or Syria, Syrian President Bashar Assad told ABC's Good Morning America that direct Syria-U.S. talks were Iraq's only hope in a broadcast aired Monday.
FDNS Report At: http://tinyurl.com/yod2ma

 

CAMPAIGN TO PRESSURE BLAIR ON IRAN
A campaign to pressure British Prime Minister Tony Blair to publicly oppose any U.S. military attack on Iran has erupted in Britain with three retired American generals firing a very public salvo.
FDNS Report At: http://tinyurl.com/ytfs7o

 

NEW MILITARY COMMAND FOR AFRICA
The U.S. divides the globe into military command regions that consist of the Northern Command (North America), European Command, Pacific Command, Central Command (Middle East and Horn of Africa) and the Southern Command (South America).  With the exception of the Horn of Africa, the African continent has generally been under the European Command but due to growing U.S. military involvement on that continent Africa will now have a separate military commend it was announced Tuesday.
FDNS Report At: http://tinyurl.com/2ytzsq

 

SHORT & SWEET

 

GOP Candidates Lead Dems In Multiple Spouses

 

Those seeking the presidential nomination of the party that ballyhoo's itself as the party of family values lead their democratic counterparts in one arena -- multiple spouses.

 

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has one divorce and one annulment under his belt while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is twice divorced with Sen. John McCain bringing up the rear with one divorce.  Among GOP presidential hopeful at present only former Gov. Mitt Romney, a Morman, has not had multiple wives.

 

On the Democratic side, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is twice divorced while Sen. Chris Dodd has one divorce on his record.

 

February 11

 

Anniversary of the day Vice-President Dick Cheney accidentally gunned down a fellow hunter in Texas.

 

A 2007 Troop Pullout?

 

From the Republican Evans-Novak Political Report:  "Although President George W. Bush officially is opposed to setting any time table for getting out of Iraq, senior administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress privately say there cannot be U.S. boots on the ground or blood being spilled in Iraq when 2008 begins if Republicans are to have a chance in next year's elections. That effectively sets a December 2007 deadline for getting out."

 

THE OP/ED SUMMARIES AND LINKS

 

THE NEW IRAQ NIE:  PIG UGLY, LITTLE LIPSTICK
Despite concerted pressure on the Intelligence Community to adopt the sunny optimism about Iraq's future touted by that visionary, Dick Cheney, the analysts held their ground and provided the nation this grim assessment in the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq
Commentary By Larry C. Johnson At: http://tinyurl.com/38uq8t

 

THE CHENEY-LIBBY TRIAL
For the judge and jury, it is the Libby trial.  For America and American politics, it is the Dick Cheney trial and the stakes are far higher than reported in the media.
Commentary By Brent Budowsky At: http://tinyurl.com/2oxuvh

 

THE IMPOVERISHMENT OF IDEAS
I heard John and Elizabeth Edwards up here in New Hampshire the other day and found their new ideas about poverty to be oddly familiar.  Then I realized John seemed to be talking about the same set of ideas which I had written about in 1975 in Philadelphia; naive ideas which created an almost permanent underclass and a culture of welfare in the U.S.  They are ideas which almost ruined the Democratic Party and sent millions to Reagan a few years later.
Commentary By Bernie Quigley At: http://tinyurl.com/2dwy6z