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As if the Taliban wasn’t bad enough. KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — The US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan on Sunday confirmed a meeting with the Haqqani insurgent group, as signs of a dialogue between the United States and rebels continue to grow. ‘We had one meeting with Haqqani network,’ Marc Grossman told a news conference in Kabul. His remarks come after US and the Taliban militants confirmed preliminary talks for opening an liaison office for the Taliban in the Qatari capital of Doha – increasing speculation of an end to the decade-long bloody insurgency in this war-torn country.

Secrets of the CIA A former colleague says the fired Mary McCarthy ‘categorically denies’ being the source of the leak on agency renditions. WEB EXCLUSIVE By Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff Updated: 7:07 p.m. ET April 24, 2006 April 24, 2006 - A former CIA officer who was sacked last week after allegedly confessing to leaking secrets has denied she was the source of a controversial Washington Post story about alleged CIA secret detention operations in Eastern Europe, a friend of the operative told NEWSWEEK. The fired official, Mary O. McCarthy, “categorically denies being the source of the leak,” one...

Sunday March 3, 2002 'Bombing Saddam is ignorance' Robert Baer, the ex-CIA man in Iraq during the failed uprising in 1995, says the US is not in a position to strike against Iraq because it does not understand anything about the country Robert Baer's objections to an attack on Iraq could hardly be principled. As the CIA's point man in Iraq during the failed uprising in 1995, he encouraged dissident groups to believe that the United States wanted the overthrow and death of Saddam Hussein. Yet Baer, whose memoir of life in the CIA, See No Evil, is published ...

I've been unlucky enough to catch TV appearances by Kerry's spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter lately. For a fairly attractive, seemingly intelligent young woman, she spews such absolute garbage and lies, it's almost laughable. I began to wonder if she actually believed the stuff she says, so I ran some internet searches on her background. She's the real deal alright -- started in the Clinton WH -- need I say more. However, I did find a very interesting article from Dec. 2003 in kos (not familiar with the site) which is VERY revealing about not only Ms Cutter but THE KERRY CAMPAIGN....

Stephanie Cutter, the controversial John Kerry for President mouth who was eviscerated by Newsweek and who was blamed for some of the campaign's worst blunders, reportedly is negotiating a return to Ted Kennedy's Senate staff. Sources say Cutter's second stint in Kennedy's communications office is a done deal, a development that has seasoned politicos shaking their heads. ``It's a mystery,'' said one Senate snitch. ``It's very puzzling. People don't know how to digest it.'' But the senior senator is apparently a big fan of the thirtysomething blonde. ``Stephanie is one of the best in the business and would be a...

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign has hired a new director of religion outreach, who is being described by a Catholic group as "a curious choice." Mara Vanderslice, who formerly worked as religion outreach director for Democrat Howard Dean, was raised without any faith and didn't become an evangelical Christian until she attended Earlham College, a Quaker school known for its adherence to pacifism, the Catholic League said on Monday. According to Catholic League President William Donohue, when Vanderslice was in college she was active in the Earlham Socialist Alliance, a group that supports convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and...

Aaron Brown of CNN fame had Randy Beers, the key Kerry foreign policy advisor, on his show tonight to discuss the future of Iraq. Well, all he talked about was doom & gloom. Beers mentality was that the US was an occupier, not a liberator. The US was evil (my words). It was pure defeatism. Aaron asked him when should US troops leave Iraq. He said at the end of this YEAR or after UN sponsored elections which would be early 2006(my guess). So, Comrade Kerry’s policy in Iraq would have been cut and run. A Kerry Presidency would have...

NEWSWEEK: In the Months Before 9/11, Justice Department Curtailed Highly Classified Program to Monitor Al Qaeda Suspects in the U.S.Sunday March 21, 10:51 am ET 'They Came in There With Their Agenda and [Al Qaeda] was not on it,' Says Former Counterterrorism Chief Clarke of Bush Administration NEW YORK, March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Newsweek has learned that in the months before 9/11, the U.S. Justice Department curtailed a highly classified program called "Catcher's Mitt" to monitor Al Qaeda suspects in the United States, after a federal judge severely chastised the FBI for improperly seeking permission to wiretap terrorists. During the...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — John Kerry was politely received by the American Legion yesterday, delivering a speech focused on veteran pocketbook issues and President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq without addressing the attacks leveled against him last month by fellow veterans.     "I'm proud to be here, and I'm proud to be a Legionnaire," he said after saluting the several thousand veterans seated in the giant hall. [snip]The audience politely responded to most of Mr. Kerry's pauses for his applause lines and gave him a standing ovation.     It was the candidate's first appearance before a major national veterans group since...

John Kerry's spokesman on veterans issues, John Hurley announced on Fox News Sunday August 22 that John Kerry was right when he accused US troops of committing atrocities against civilians "on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." Why would Hurley continue to repeat John Kerry's malicious slanders knowing that they had been completely discredited? Furthermore, why is the media trying to give credibility to the views of this John Kerry spokesman on veterans issues even though he has been exposed as a calculating liar? Well, I don't think I need repeat...

Sandy Berger has met much of the day with attorneys.Among those he has hired is former Clinton administration lawyer Lanny Breuer.Sources say Breuer has been in contact with prosecutors.Sources also say Berger is stressing a willingness to cooperate, but investigators have not yet asked to speak with him.Mr. Berger serves as an informal advisor to Senator John Kerry on national security matters.

(snip)....U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan... unsealed an order that demands the "confinement" of Time reporter Matthew Cooper, who has refused to testify in the probe... ... Hogan also issued an Aug. 6 order confining Cooper "at a suitable place until such time as he is willing to comply with the grand jury subpoena," and ordered Time to be fined $1,000 a day. ... ... While NBC fought a subpoena issued May 21 and was included in the opinion, it avoided a contempt citation after Tim Russert, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," agreed to an interview over the...

Five days before the war began in Iraq, as President Bush prepared to raise the terrorism threat level to orange, a top White House counterterrorism adviser unlocked the steel door to his office, an intelligence vault secured by an electronic keypad, a combination lock and an alarm. He sat down and turned to his inbox. "Things were dicey," said Rand Beers, recalling the stack of classified reports about plots to shoot, bomb, burn and poison Americans. He stared at the color-coded threats for five minutes. Then he called his wife: I'm quitting.