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Indian Premier Manmohan Singh Friday urged the international community to "stay the course" in violence-wracked Afghanistan. ... "We appreciate the efforts of international community to stabilise Afghanistan and it is our sincere hope that the international community will stay the course."

Looking for Taibbi’s article on the healthcare reform bill out this week and came across his latest blog post on Truth Slant: “I’ll say this for George Bush: you’d never have caught him frantically negotiating against himself to take the meat out of a signature legislative initiative just because his approval ratings had a bad summer. Can you imagine Bush and Karl Rove allowing themselves to be paraded through Washington on a leash by some dimwit Republican Senator of a state with six people in it the way the Obama White House this summer is allowing Max Baucus (favorite son...

We can and will win this thing. Vote like your country depends on it. Because it does. My fellow Patriots.

It's clear what major liberal media outlets such as the New York Times and CNN, driven by their more unhinged counterparts on the left end of the blogosphere, are trying to do. They are slinging as much manure as they can wallow in at Sarah Palin, John McCain's choice to run with him as the GOP's vice presidential nominee, hoping enough of it will stick to force McCain to pull a McGovern. Some of the us older hands remember very well the campaign of 1972. The Democrats' presidential nominee George McGovern had at the last minute picked Tom Eagleton, a...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday pledged to continue the fight in Afghanistan while attending a state funeral in Paris for the 10 French soldiers killed in a Taliban ambush earlier in the week. Sarkozy, who was accompanied by other French leaders at the funeral ceremony in a church at Les Invalides, said France will not give up its fight against terrorism in Afghanistan "We don't have the right to lose over there, we cannot renounce our values," he said. "We cannot let the barbarians triumph because a defeat at the other side of the world will be paid for...

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2008 – The United States and its allies are making progress in Afghanistan, but there is a long, tough road ahead, President Bush said during a White House Rose Garden news conference today.The Taliban and its al-Qaida allies continue to fight in Afghanistan and want to re-impose an “incredibly dark” regime in the country, the president said. The recent Taliban assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai is their latest attempt to retrieve their failing campaign, he added. “It's very important for the American people to remember what life was like in Afghanistan prior to the...

For thousands of troops who have seen the war in Iraq first hand, the mission is a personal one even after they take off the uniform. Concerns about where that war may be heading is putting some local veterans face to face with lawmakers, fighting a different side of Operation Iraqi freedom. For retired Navy Veteran Chris Chilson, time with family is a luxury he's still getting used to. Afternoons spent together were few and far between during his 20 years on board aircraft carriers, some of them spent in the searing heat of the Iraqi desert. Chilson says, "It...

Iraq War: Gen. David Petraeus made it clear enough: We are winning this war, but we need to keep troops in Iraq because the job isn't done. But Democrats don't get it. To them, success means only one thing: leaving."We haven't turned any corners, we haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel," Petraeus told Congress on Tuesday. "The champagne bottle has been pushed to the back of the refrigerator. And the progress, while real, is fragile and is reversible." In that one statement, Petraeus showed why the Democratic preoccupation with withdrawal is as naive as it is...

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. (Applause.) General Metcalf, thanks, thanks for welcoming me back here. I am really pleased to be back to Wright-Patt, and it's great to be on the inside of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, which is a fabulous place. I hope our fellow citizens come and see it. It is a great tribute to the airmen who've flown the missions and secured the skies, and defended America's freedom. I want to thank the folks who maintain this shrine. I thank you for giving me a place to park Air Force...

BASRA, Iraq (AP) — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is promising to pursue his fight against Shiite militias in Basra to "the end." Al-Maliki made his pledge to Basra area tribal leaders Thursday as military operations against the militias continued for a fourth day despite stiff resistance. Al-Maliki told the leaders "we have made up our minds" to enter the fight "and we will continue until the end. No retreat." Tens of thousands of Shiites took to Baghdad's streets to protest the government crackdown on militias.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday it was "a sober moment" as the U.S. death toll in Iraq climbed to 4,000. President Bush received a lengthy update on the war and aides said he was likely to embrace recommendations for a pause in troop withdrawals beyond those already scheduled. Bush was to participate in a two-hour conference by secure video hookup with Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Petraeus and Crocker are due to testify on Capitol Hill on April 8-9. Patraeus is expected recommend no additional troop...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2008 – The 3,200 Marines on their way to help Afghanistan indicate the depth of the U.S. commitment to the country, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said in Kabul yesterday. The United States is proud to have helped liberate Afghanistan and will continue to work with the elected government and NATO allies to build the Afghan security forces and rebuild the nation, Cheney said in a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. U.S. reconstruction aid to Afghanistan also points to that commitment, Cheney said, noting that last year’s aid level has tripled. There has...

"I am the same man and do not alter, it is you who change, since in fact you took my advice while unhurt, and waited for misfortune to repent of it . . . But you must not be seduced by citizens like these nor be angry with me -- who, if I voted for war, only did as you did yourselves." -- Pericles's funeral oration, "The Peloponnesian War" by Thucydides Wars have never been easy to defend. Even in "heroic" cultures, men and women applauded wars then grew weary of them. This Iraq war, too, was once a popular...

Five years after launching the invasion of Iraq, President Bush strongly signaled Wednesday that he won't order troop withdrawals beyond those already planned because he refuses to "jeopardize the hard-fought gains" of the past year. As anti-war activists demonstrated around downtown Washington, the president spoke at the Pentagon to mark the anniversary of a war that has cost nearly 4,000 U.S. lives and roughly $500 billion. The president's address was part of a series of events the White House planned around the anniversary and next month's report from the top U.S. figures in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan...

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2008 – The United States must continue operations in Iraq until the job is done, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said today in Baghdad. “I think given the enormous effort that's been made and the sacrifices that have been made -- both in terms of lives and national treasure -- to succeeding in Iraq, it's very, very important that we succeed,” he said, “(and) that we not quit before the job is done. “We need to remember that our objective here is victory and that we need to be prepared to do whatever it takes in...

The presidential election presents a clear choice on the Iraq war. Republican Sen. John McCain vows to stay. Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama promise to begin a withdrawal. Still, when asked in New Hampshire if they would promise to have all U.S. troops out by the end of their first term, Obama and Clinton both refused.Since the invasion five years ago, Iraq has delivered enough surprises and overturned enough certainties - and the candidates have left themselves enough wiggle room - that there is reason to believe the United States could still be in Iraq five years...

On August 9, 2001, President Bush announced a compromise decision on the contentious question of whether the federal government should provide financial support for research into the curative properties of human stem cells extracted from embryos. Bush’s compromise allowed funding for research into embryonic stem cells that had already been harvested. At the same time, he disallowed funding for procedures that would collect stem cells from frozen (but still living) embryos, since doing so would require their destruction. In the case of those already collected, he said, “The life-or-death decision has already been made.” But that life-or-death decision would not...

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." — George Santayana from "Reason in Common Sense" Despite the hope that we can learn from past mistakes and not repeat them, history suggests it is counterintuitive to actually believe it could be so. We won every military engagement of the Vietnam War yet Walter Cronkite and the American media conspired with the enemy to do what the North Vietnamese could not do on the battlefield. General Võ Nguyên Giáp, who was the commander of the North Vietnamese army, has published his memoirs. He has confirmed what most Americans...

American foreign policy has been nothing like as interventionist as its critics like to think. Critics of George W. Bush's Middle East policy are hoping for a change in direction once America's 43rd President has left the White House. The foreign offices of Europe all hope for more multilateralism. More realpolitik. Less sabre-rattling. The critics have a problem, however. In reality, Team Bush has largely been following European approaches to foreign policy for most of the world's troublespot nations. Take Pakistan. The “realist school” couldn't honestly disapprove of any aspect of Bush's dealings with Islamabad. American taxpayers have financed a...

Poland not deserting Iraq, says PM Tuesday, October 9. 2007 Poland should leave Iraq as part of a political plan and wait for a move on the part of the allies, especially keeping an eye on what happens after elections in the USA, Poland’s Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński has told Polish Radio. He was reacting to the recent series of attacks on the Polish embassy in Baghdad. “We should leave the Iraq within a framework of a political plan, and not run away or desert because this would mean that we lose everything we already gained there. And we will...

Democratic politicians are either far more insightful than your average Republican, or, uniformly more political. I'd opt for the latter conclusion. How to explain that there is not one Democratic leader that sees any merit in our struggle in Iraq? There is no such uniformity among Republicans, and, after all, the commander-in-chief, who is leading this effort, is from their own party. We've got a Republican candidate for president, Ron Paul, who self identifies as the "anti-war candidate." And we've got highly credible and outspoken Republican doubters who have no political calculations to make. I'm talking about guys like Chuck...

PRIME Minister John Howard has reaffirmed his leadership after fresh rumours he will stand down as early as this week. Speaking after visiting the Armenian Cultural Festival in Sydney, Mr Howard rejected speculation he will announce his retirement on Tuesday. “Well, that's news to me,” Mr Howard said. “My position was outlined last week and you know me, it hasn't changed.”

An American president is constitutionally limited by the 22nd amendment, passed in 1951, to two terms in office. This amendment was pushed by the Republican-led 80th Congress elected in 1946, and in some measure was a response to the Democrat Franklin Roosevelt's winning four presidential elections between 1932 and 1944. Many Republicans later would regret this term-limiting amendment as it made lame ducks of presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, each of whom most likely would have won third terms and Americans will never know what this would have meant for their country. If Eisenhower, a war-hero and five-star...

Good evening. In the life of all free nations, there come moments that decide the direction of a country and reveal the character of its people. We are now at such a moment. In Iraq, an ally of the United States is fighting for its survival. Terrorists and extremists who are at war with us around the world are seeking to topple Iraq's government, dominate the region, and attack us here at home. If Iraq's young democracy can turn back these enemies, it will mean a more hopeful Middle East and a more secure America. This ally has placed its...

War In Iraq: Gen. David Petraeus' realistic report on Iraq demonstrates why the public trusts the military more than a Congress that wants, once again, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Petraeus delivered news that should be celebrated by both sides in the Iraq debate. In his long-awaited report to Congress Monday, he said the troop surge will enable the U.S. to slowly cut the number of troops in Iraq from 168,000 troops now to 130,000 troops by mid-2008, about the level before the surge began. Better still, the drawdowns can start immediately, he said, and proceed "without...

Not sure if this has been posted already, but this is a clip of a US Congresswoman causing an uproar in the Congress by her words. Can you guess who is bleating? U.S. Congress IN Uproar By Womans Choice of Words

As opposition politicians scramble to score political points on Afghanistan, Stephane Dion's position bears the most scrutiny because his party has the only chance of replacing the government. On the Liberal party website, we read: "In the face of a mounting insurgency in Afghanistan, and with fading support from our NATO partners, our troops are facing an increasingly difficult mission. We owe it to our soldiers to develop a strategy that will achieve real results in establishing a lasting peace." But last week Dion said: "I want the prime minister to say right away that we are out of the...

It won't exactly be a ticker-tape parade, but expect a considerable amount of support for the troops, the mission and Gen. David Petraeus as he presents his long-awaited report on Iraq next week. Some of that backing is grounded in politics, but the motivation for many is the strong belief that wars should be won, commitments to allies should be honored, and any attempt to dishonor those who serve should not go unanswered. There are already TV ads featuring Iraqi war veterans and Gold Star moms, courtesy of Freedoms Watch. Move America Forward has a pro-troop, cross-country caravan under way,...

JOHN Howard is going nowhere - except to an election - and he's not convinced that means he is going to his political doom. The Prime Minister and a senior leadership group believe the election can be won by the Coalition despite a string of opinion polls handing victory to Labor leader Kevin Rudd. Liberal sources yesterday rejected suggestions victory would first require Mr Howard to stand aside for Treasurer Peter Costello on the eve of the poll. However, they acknowledged a major opinion survey next week - the first after his hosting duties at APEC - would increase pressure...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's senior advisers on Iraq have recommended he stand by his current war strategy, and he is unlikely to order more than a symbolic cut in troops before the end of the year, administration officials told The Associated Press Tuesday. The recommendations from the military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker come despite independent government findings Tuesday that Baghdad has not met most of the political, military and economic markers set by Congress. Bush appears set on maintaining the central elements of the policy he announced in January, one senior administration official...

Prime Minister John Howard has promised to stand by the United States in terms of Australia's presence in Iraq on the eve of an American reassessment of the recent military surge in the troubled nation. US President George W Bush will return home early next week from the APEC summit in Sydney to hear a report from General David Petraeus, the US commander in Baghdad. Mr Howard said Australia should stand by its ally in difficult times. "It's very difficult times for the US," Mr Howard told reporters in Sydney. "One of the things that influenced my thinking is the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2007 – Defeating extremists in the Middle East is essential to America’s security, and the most important way to counter these extremists is to win the fight in Iraq, President Bush said today. “The challenge in Iraq comes down to this: Either the forces of extremism succeed, or the forces of freedom succeed. Either our enemies advance their interests in Iraq, or we advance our interests,” Bush said at the 89th Annual American Legion National Convention in Reno, Nev. The violent ideology that inspires extremists in the Middle East has two main strains, Bush said: Sunni...

CRAWFORD, Tex. - Despite political pressure for a change of course in Iraq, the White House hopes to keep in place its existing military strategy and troop levels there after the mid-September report from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, administration officials said. Even as the administration faced a new call this week from Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), a leading ally, to begin at least a symbolic withdrawal of troops by Christmas, White House officials said privately that they are not contemplating making major shifts before early next year. They said that next month's report...

The new comfort zone for many politicians and leader-writers appears to be the notion that if Britain withdraws its troops from Iraq and sends all the freed-up forces to Afghanistan, then all will be well. Siren voices are insisting that honour would be satisfied by such a move and we would still be pulling our weight in what Gordon Brown refuses to call ‘the war on terror’ or ‘the war against Islamist extremism’. Afghanistan, say those voices, is the crucial place to be engaging al-Qa’eda. Iraq is a sideshow. This is no comfort zone at all. The war against Islamist...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - President Bush resurrected Vietnam's agonizing legacy yesterday, vowing to fight on indefinitely in Iraq to avoid the bloodbath he predicted would follow a U.S. withdrawal without victory. "Then, as now, people argued the real problem was America's presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end," Bush reminded in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention. "As long as I am commander in chief, we will fight to win," he vowed to cheers and applause. Bush also dialed back on earlier remarks widely perceived as signaling lukewarm support for embattled Iraqi...

In a cacophonous political environment, it matters a great deal that on the largest questions of the day, the president is right. For anyone who was willing to invest 43 minutes to actually listen, President Bush during an appearance yesterday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention cut through the cacophony to remind Americans of why we are in Iraq – and why the conventional storyline is wrong.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. It's good to be with you again. I understand you haven't had much of a problem attracting speakers. (Laughter.) I thank you for inviting me. I can understand why people want to come here. See, it's an honor to stand with the men and women of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. (Applause.) The VFW is one of this nation's finest organizations. You belong to an elite group of Americans. (Applause.) You belong to a group of people who have defended America overseas. You have fought in places from Normandy to Iwo Jima,...

"For the past few months, Vets for Freedom has been on the front lines of the Iraq war debate in America, with only a few allies. But this morning, in a very real sense, the cavalry appeared on the horizon in the form of a new organization called Freedom's Watch. Freedom's Watch has launched a multi-state advertising campaign featuring powerful stories from veterans and families that every household in America should hear. It's time that the rest of America heard the words of soldiers who have served (and been wounded) in Iraq and the stories of families who have lost...

President George W Bush has warned a US withdrawal from Iraq could trigger the kind of upheaval seen in South East Asia after US forces quit Vietnam. "The price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens," he told war veterans in Missouri. Mr Bush said the Vietnam War had taught the need for US patience over Iraq. His speech comes amid an apparent rift with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, but Mr Bush said Mr Maliki was a "good man with a difficult job". The ideals and interests that led America to help the Japanese turn defeat...

I want to open today's speech with a story that begins on a sunny morning, when thousands of Americans were murdered in a surprise attack -- and our nation was propelled into a conflict that would take us to every corner of the globe. The enemy who attacked us despises freedom, and harbors resentment at the slights he believes America and Western nations have inflicted on his people. He fights to establish his rule over an entire region. And over time, he turns to a strategy of suicide attacks destined to create so much carnage that the American people will...

9:46 A.M. CDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. It's good to be with you again. I understand you haven't had much of a problem attracting speakers. (Laughter.) I thank you for inviting me. I can understand why people want to come here. See, it's an honor to stand with the men and women of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. (Applause.) The VFW is one of this nation's finest organizations. You belong to an elite group of Americans. (Applause.) You belong to a group of people who have defended America overseas. You have fought in places from Normandy...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Former White House aides are joining Republican fundraisers in bankrolling a $15 million, five-week advertising campaign putting pressure on lawmakers whose backing of President Bush's Iraq war strategy may be wavering. The group, Freedom's Watch, launched the ads Wednesday, even as Bush delivered a renewed call for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq. The money will pay for ad placements on national cable and local television stations as well as on radio and the Internet. The ads will run in 20 states and will urge viewers to ask their member of Congress to stand by Bush's plan. Organizers...

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Friday, August 17, 2007 Days after returning from his second trip to Iraq, U.S. Rep. Brian Baird is rethinking his position on the timing of U.S. troop withdrawals from the war-ravaged country. Three times this year, the Vancouver Democrat has supported legislation calling for troop withdrawals to begin by a set date. In May, he supported beginning the pullout as early as Oct. 1. Now he believes that setting a date to withdraw at this moment could drive Iraq into the arms of Iran and cut short real progress by Iraqis who are at last taking on al-Qaida and other...

Is it just me, or did the New York Times just drop a bombshell? By the headline of its editorial this morning, Wrong Way Out of Iraq, and its introductory paragraphs -- about how the British model of withdrawing to bases in Basra hasn't worked, I was sure we were headed for a demand for total, rapid withdrawal. When suddenly came this conclusion: The United States cannot walk away from the new international terrorist front it created in Iraq. It will need to keep sufficient forces and staging points in the region to strike effectively against terrorist sanctuaries there or...

It’s time to declare victory and go home. That was the formula that Senator George Aiken famously suggested for Vietnam in 1966. Today, it bears relevance to Iraq. No, not to the U. S. military presence in that country, but to the Democrats in Congress. Since November, the Pelosi-Reid Democrats have demonstrated shocking disdain for the well-being of our country. Their only concern has been to defeat or embarrass George W. Bush. Once, one of the noblest American traditions held that politics stops at the water’s edge. But, for the Pelosi-Reid Democrats, it seems that the inverse is true: namely,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush laid out a strong case for staying in Iraq Thursday, saying it is imperative to change the conditions in that part of the world. In his first news conference at the White House since July 12, Bush argued U.S. intervention in Iraq will make the world safer in the long run.

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2007 – The United States will retain some presence in Iraq for the foreseeable future, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said today. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus told Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the American people understand that the United States cannot completely “unhook” from Iraq. “The question is, ‘What is the nature of our support, and what is the level of that support?’” Petraeus said. The general said he is not an optimist or a pessimist. “I’m a realist,” he said. He noted there have been times for optimism in Iraq over...

The threat posed by terrorism is a "struggle for the soul of the 21st Century", Gordon Brown has said. "It is a war. We have had to fight a very big campaign," he said in an interview with NBC Nightly News.... Mr Brown told NBC: "I have got no doubt we are facing major campaigns by al-Qaeda inspired terrorists. "We know a large number of people would, if they could, destroy life and put at risk our infrastructure and we have got to be vigilant." He also said there would be no change of policy on Iraq and said an...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday rejected Italy's call to end the US military mission in Afghanistan over what Rome termed "morally unacceptable" civilian casualties. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema had told a parliamentary committee that lack of coordination between US and NATO-led international forces are to blame for civilian deaths. But US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack blamed the enemy for the civilian casualties. "Taliban forces, Al-Qaeda forces, will very often use innocent civilians, including children, as human shields with the thought that that will prevent an attack," he said. McCormack said the US mission,...