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Sources tell ABC News that the president will announce today that US troops in Iraq will draw down to zero by the end of the year. A White House official says that at approximately 11:30am today, President Obama convened a secure video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to talk with him about this news.

President Obama has deployed combat troops to central Africa to aid in the fight against the Lord's Resistance Army. In a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, Obama says 12 troops with "appropriate combat equipment" were deployed on October 12 and approximately 100 in total will be deployed including a second combat team and headquarters, communications and logistics personnel. The forces will provide information and advise and assist "select partner nation forces," Obama explains. The troops will not fight except in self-defense. The full letter is after the jump.

Stinking Up Wall Street: Protesters Accused Of Living In Filth As Shocking Pictures Show One Demonstrator Defecating On A POLICE CAR Bloomberg: 'Protesters are taking jobs away from the city' By HANNAH ROBERTS 8th October 2011 This are the shocking scenes that have led some people to accuse the Occupy Wall Street protesters living rough in New York's financial district of creating unsanitary and filthy conditions. Exclusive pictures obtained by Mail Online show one demonstrator relieving himself on a police car. Elsewhere we found piles of stinking refuse clogging Zucotti Park, despite the best efforts of many of the protestors...

Senate Republicans tried to make Democrats hold a quick vote on President Obama's jobs-stimulus bill Tuesday, but were blocked by Senate Majority Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is sponsoring Mr. Obama's bill but who said other matters take priority.

Another Hawaii source with inside knowledge has asserted that Obama supporters placed a forged 1961 long-form birth certificate in the vault of the Hawaii Department of Health. Talk-radio host and former Nixon White House operative G. Gordon Liddy told WND that one of his trusted informants in Hawaii reported to him that while the document was forged recently, there may have been tampering with official Obama birth records as far back as 1978. Liddy's warning came in response to WND reports that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is mobilizing a law enforcement unit with the authority to investigate allegations that...

Hundreds of protesters in Cairo on Friday were tearing down a newly built wall around the building that houses the Israeli Embassy, a show of political rage on another tense day in Egypt's capital. CNN saw soldiers and police stand by as demonstrators tried to destroy the wall, built for the high-rise building's protection. The makeshift wall surrounds another wall around the building. Protesters cheered the demolition and chanted for the ouster of Israel's ambassador. State TV said some protesters tried to scale the inner wall after they worked to take down the outer wall.

Hamas co-founder Mahmoud Zahar hinted Tuesday there may be attempts on Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas should he visit Gaza. In an interview with the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi, Zahar added Abbas would not be visiting Gaza. Zahar stressed that Hamas was not interested in jeopardizing the internal security situation in the Gaza Strip should Abbas decide to visit and cause internal Fatah violence to occur as a result of "unsettled accounts." According to al-Quds al-Arabi, Zahar may have been referring to the ongoing conflict between the Palestinian Authority chairman and ex-Fatah official and strident Abbas critic Muhammad Dahlan. Recently, pointing...

Iran "discreetly" provided humanitarian aid to Libyan rebels before the fall of Tripoli, Jam-e-Jam newspaper quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday as saying. "We were in touch with many of the rebel groups in Libya before the fall of (Moamer) Kadhafi, and discreetly dispatched three or four food and medical consignments to Benghazi," Salehi told the daily. "The head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, sent a letter of thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for having been on their side and helping," he added. Since the Libyan uprising erupted in mid-February, Iran has adopted a...

The rebel military leader of Tripoli, Abdelhakim Belhaj, has said that one of Gaddafi's son al Saddi called him two hours ago and asked if he can surrender. Al Jazzera's James Bays, reporting from Tripoli said: “We asked him [Abdelhakim Belhaj] about the military situation, remaining members of the Gaddafi family, and he said that he believes one of Gaddafi's sons, al Saddi, is preparing to surrender. "According to Belhaj, Saddi doesn't want to leave Libya, he wants to talk to the national council and negotiate his surrender. He thinks he knows the whereabouts of Saddi Gaddafi from the phone...

Ready or not here she comes. New Yorkers are scrambling for last minute provisions today as Hurricane Irene draws closer to the city. The forceful storm — a Category 1 with ferocious 85 mph winds — is expected to wallop the city by 4 a.m. tomorrow. -snip- "How can I get out of Coney Island?" said Abe Feinstein, 82, from an apartment with view of the boardwalk. "What am I going to do? Run with this walker?"

NAGS HEAD, N.C. —Irene became the first hurricane since 2008 to make landfall in the continental United States on Saturday morning when it came ashore just east of Cape Lookout in North Carolina. It was the first stop for a storm that, though weakened to a Category 1, is expected to lumber slowly and soggily up the East Coast, bringing flooding rains to a dozen states. Debris floated along the roads after Hurricane Irene hit Topsail Island in North Carolina on Friday. More Photos » Shingles and pieces of siding began to peel off beach houses in Nags Head, about...

No one in the Obama Administration was hanging a "Mission Accomplished" sign in front of the White House yesterday as it became obvious that the Libyan rebels had all but taken complete control of the country. But, this isn't a game of "capture the flag." The rebels now have control of nearly all the land area of Libya, but it is not at all clear they control the sewer systems, the electricity production facilities, or a police force. The man recognized by NATO forces as the opposition leader is named Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who is the chairman of the Transitional...

A vacationing U.S. President Barack Obama accused Congress on Saturday of holding back the U.S. economic recovery by blocking "common sense" measures he said would create jobs and help growth. In remarks recorded on Wednesday on his campaign-style bus tour in Illinois and aired during his holiday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Obama said the stalled construction, trade and payroll tax bills could give a boost to the economy. "The only thing preventing us from passing these bills is the refusal by some in Congress to put country ahead of party. That's the problem right now. That's what's holding this country...

U.S. intelligence analysts, like most American observers, have often referred to the process unfolding in the Middle East as the "Arab Spring," with its implicit message of democratic rebirth and freedom. But some senior analysts are said to have argued for a more neutral term, such as "Arab Transition" — which conveys the essential truth that nobody can predict just where this upheaval is heading. The uncertain transition rumbled on last week in Syria: President Bashar Assad's hold on power appeared to weaken, with his military stretched to the breaking point in an attempt to control the protests. President Obama,...

A careful audit of combat support and reconstruction contracts reveals that at least $360 million in US tax dollars has gone to fund the Taliban and terrorist operations in Afghanistan. Corrupt contractors and subcontractors are responsible for the diversion of funds which have surely resulted in harm to soldiers and civilians throughout the region. LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - The losses demonstrate one of the challenges the US faces in Afghanistan, specifically, rampant corruption. Private Afghan corporations are providing many support services to the US and NATO forces and are collecting payments from the military for their services. However, the...

Published: 08.17.11, 14:59 / Israel News The United Nations has withdrawn non-essential staff from Syria where President Bashar al-Assad is seeking to crush a five-month uprising against his rule, a senior UN official said on Wednesday. UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said in a statement to Reuters that the 26 non-essential international staff members and their families had left Syria.

At a town hall meeting on his campaign-style tour of the Midwest, President Obama claimed that his economic program "reversed the recession" until recovery was frustrated by events overseas. And then, Obama said, with the economy in an increasingly precarious position, the recovery suffered another blow when Republicans pressed the White House for federal spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the national debt limit, resulting in a deal Obama called a "debacle." "We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, gotten the economy moving again," Obama told a crowd in Decorah, Iowa. "But over the last six months...

An hour ago on C-SPAN's "Book TV" uber-puke Eric Alterman went on a semi-coherent tirade about Free Republic.While in the process of flacking his book..."The Myth of Liberal Bias" (or sumpin like that), he claimed that, during the Florida recount, the saint-like members of this forum posted the phone numbers and home addresses of the Florida Supremes for the expressed purpose of harassment and/or "whatever". The "whatever" was obviously the suggestion of violence.He also said Free Republic was repsonsible for the flood of Republican activists who descended on the state and therefore was responsible for the Bush presidency.This is one...