The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: 05/21/2006 - 05/28/2006

Friday, May 26, 2006

Reagan's SDI Deployed Against Iran, North Korea

Democrats and their media minions derided Ronald Reagan back in 1983 when he announced the Strategic Defense Initiative. "Star Wars," they called it, claiming it would never work.

Two decades later, however, U.S. defense planners are now turning to Reagan's system as the last, best line of defense against a nuclear missile strike launched by the madmen running Iran and North Korea.

Reports London's Financial Times:

"In a move that is raising hackles in Moscow, the U.S. is proposing to install an anti-missile defense system in central Europe to counter any future attack from a nuclear-armed Iran"


The Pentagon, says the Times, is planning to install 10 anti-missile interceptors in central Europe over the next five years. Each interceptor will contain a 155-pound "kill vehicle" designed to intercept enemy missiles as they careen toward London, Paris and Berlin - not to mention New York and Washington, D.C.

The anti-Iranian SDI deployment isn't just a pipe dream. An anti-missile system modeled on Reagan's vision is already under construction on the U.S. West Coast - with an eye toward heading off a North Korean nuclear attack.

The Times reports:

"So far, nine interceptor rockets are in place at Fort Greely in Alaska, and two more at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California."

Along with Reagan, President Bush deserves credit for pulling the U.S. out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty four years ago, making the ultimate deployment of SDI legal.

With Democrats salivating over the prospect of returning to power, perhaps now would be a good time for a few of them to acknowledge how valuable the program they sought to kill has turned out to be.

Radio Host Mark Larson Decries War Reporting

Award-winning broadcaster Mark Larson, who is heard on over 2,500 radio and television outlets worldwide, believes much of what Americans are learning from the mainstream media belies real progress in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Larson recently returned from a tour of Afghanistan with an unprecedented round of interviews with top American generals and local officials.

"I heard this last week from another senior official over there that they are very concerned about a lot of these network reporters who will sit there in the hotel in Baghdad and never go out and see anything,� Larson recounted.


"What they are doing is buying all of the nastiest footage that they can get . . .�


In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last summer, General John Abizaid, head of Central Command, confirmed: "I can tell you that when my soldiers . . . ask me the question whether or not they�ve got support from the American people or not, that worries me.�

That concern of Abizaid got Larson invited inside a commanders summit, which he described as "a bonus that we didn�t expect and that was phenomenal in terms of understanding . . .�

Larson said he was able to ask a number of coalition partners that if the U.S. hadn�t stirred things up by getting Saddam out of there, would the region be better off?

According to Larson, the universal answer was that even without the catalyst of the U.S. intervention, the fanatic Jihad against the West would have grown and would have by no means stayed localized.

Part of that new world of understanding that Larson came away with he said was perhaps best articulated by Abizaid, who told him about the grim reality of Central Command: "When I talked with him [Abizaid] in September, he said, �Listen, when you talk about the whole area of influence in Central Command - 27 nations - this is a rough neighborhood.��

Larson got the opportunity to visit the Afghan West Point and witness its first anniversary.

"So, three years from now they will have the first graduating class,� Larson said. "This was the first time that any of these locals had gotten a chance to see something other than the poverty and the years of war, strife, and Taliban.�

Afghanistan, Larson noted, is a couple of years ahead of the progress curve (having been invaded ahead of Iraq by coalition forces).

"I was very impressed with what is happening,� Larson explained. "I spent a whole day with the military police and they just routed out about 20-30 percent of the corruption there. They figure they got a good handle on that.

Larson took umbrage with how, in his opinion, CNN has been reporting as if Afghanistan "is coming unglued.�

To those in the know on the ground, said Larson, the recent Taliban upsurge is nothing but the usual spring offensive.

The broadcaster recounted a talk he had with the Afghan Defense Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, a former Soviet-fighting mujahideen who also received some military training in the U.S. "He laughed, shrugged it off and said they have been doing this for years.�

Larson told of a recent chat he had with Gen. John M. Custer, U.S. Central Command director of intelligence, who talked with him about how the U.S. had reduced the number of operating bases in Iraq from 80-plus to fewer than 60.

"People don�t hear those figures,� Larson lamented. "You know, they say we are making a bigger footprint and we are enlarging some of the bases, which is true on some of those, but that [reduction in number] is significant and that gets continually ignored.�

Larson sees the U.S. presence in the Middle East as anything but ill-advised.

"Imagine if either Saddam was in charge, or Saddam and the Taliban were in charge, and you have Iran going where they are going . . .�


His pragmatic approach owes at least in some measure to the troops he encountered � troops who typically told him, "Sure, I�d like to go home, but I�ve got a job to do.�

"You see that kind of inspiration, and you see on the other side all of the stuff that the national media thinks is boring,� Larson said. "Forget the good news, let�s do the body count.�

But Larson�s personal perception of his nation at war is unshakably optimistic, and he said that it was in no small measure due to the servicemen and women he met.

Case-in-point, a female warrior he encountered at a Central Command airbase, emotionally told the broadcaster how she and her comrades spent their spare time going into the villages bringing toys and treats to the kids.

Then there was the big burly soldier who drove an oil truck from Kuwait into Iraq on a regular basis: "Here�s this gruff kind of down-home southern guy who . . . says how much fun it is to reach out to the people and earn their good will.�

And there�s the guy in the U.S. Blackhawk helicopter whose eyes shined as he described how the crew drops new soccer balls to the kids.

"You never hear about it,� Larson said with disgust.

"The thing that is frustrating to me is that you hear from people who say �I was for the war in Iraq, and, OK, Saddam was bad, but what else is on TV - I�m kind of tired of this.� Well, you know, anything worth doing is not going to be something that is immediately neat and tidy and done tomorrow morning.

"It wasn�t exactly tidy up right after Germany surrendered. We are so into gratification that we want it done yesterday.�


When asked if mainstream media ever got it right, he recalled a recent article in The New York Times concerning the area in Iraq where ancient Babylon once thrived � the place where Saddam Hussein was going to build a special palace.

The broadcaster noted that the area was about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad and that the Times wrote that it was one of the most peaceful spots in the country.

"I thought, �They are admitting that there are peaceful spots in the country.� This is progress, but then, they had some archeologist saying U.S. Marines and coalition people are filling sandbags without regard to archeological treasures. So they had to get in a hit.�

Still, with Larson and those like him, the other side of story will be told.

His radio show is broadcast on AM news radio 600 KOGO, in San Diego, Calif. For more on Larson's insightful experience, visit his Web site: www.marklarson.com.

Capitol locked down after gunfire

Capitol was briefly in lockdown mode after sounds coming from garage

Police briefly sealed off the Capitol on Friday amid reports that shots were fired in the garage of a House office building.

Capitol police were investigating �the sound of gunfire in the garage level of the Rayburn House Office Building,� said an announcement on the internal Capitol voice alarm system.

The Senate was in session at the time, but the House was not.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., conducting a House Intelligence Committee hearing, interrupted a witness to request those attending the meeting to remain in the room and said the doors must be closed.

�It�s a little unsettling to get a Blackberry message put in front of you that says there�s gunfire in the building,� he said.

No confirmation
There was no confirmation of gunfire.

Shortly after police sealed off the Capitol, four ambulances arrived at the garage entrance to the Rayburn House Office building and police expanded the area being sealed off.

�They said they heard gunfire in the Rayburn garage but this is a huge building, I�m guessing it�s a car backfiring or balloons popping,� said Gene Smith, chief of staff to Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who has an office in Rayburn.

U.S. Capitol Police Department�s Containment & Emergency Response Team maintains an indoor shooting range in the basement of the Rayburn building, according to the department�s Web site.

Jeff Connor, a spokesman for Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., said Capitol Hill police notified the office that gunfire was heard in the Rayburn building garage.

�They specifically said there was the sound of gunfire on one of the garage levels of the Rayburn House office building and asked staff to remain in their offices,� Connor said.

While the House was adjourned for the Memorial Day weekend, at least one committee was meeting.

Enron Founder Lay 'Shocked' at Conviction

Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were known as visionaries, hands-on executives, corporate titans directing the high-flying ship at Wall Street darling Enron Corp. Add another title: convicted felons.

"Certainly we're surprised," a shaken Lay said Thursday after a jury capped a four-month-long fraud and conspiracy trial and in its sixth day of deliberations returned guilty verdicts against him and Skilling. "I think it's more appropriate to say we're shocked. This is not the outcome we expected."

Besides all six counts in the main trial, Lay, Enron's founder, also was convicted of four charges of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake related to his personal finances.

Skilling was convicted of 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading at a trial spawned by one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history, the toppling of a high-profile energy trader that once was the nation's seventh-largest company.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed," the former Enron chief executive said. "But that's the way the system works."

Lake set Sept. 11 as sentencing date for Skilling and Lay. Legal experts, while not questioning the pair eventually would be spending time behind bars, predicted another fierce courtroom battle over the duration of their likely prison time.

Skilling faces a maximum of 185 years in prison. For Lay, the fraud and conspiracy convictions carry a combined maximum punishment of 45 years. The bank fraud case adds 120 years, 30 years on each of the four counts.

While the reality is the sentences will be considerably less under federal sentencing guidelines, for Lay, 64, a likely double-digit term could be the equivalent of a life sentence, said Kirby Behre, a former federal prosecutor in Washington who wrote the government's white- collar sentencing guide.

"They're both facing 20-plus years," he said. "You do 20 years, and that's entirely conceivable, you're looking at life. And people don't age well in prison.

"Lay may catch a break, but Skilling doesn't have that. He's looking well north of 20 years."

"They'll each be in a prison uniform," agreed Douglas Young, a San Francisco-based white collar defense lawyer who's followed the case. "But I don't think 100 years or 50 years."

Whatever their incarceration, he said, it could be stalled for a year or more.

"They have excellent defense lawyers," Young said. "I think they performed extremely well. They tried a heck of a good case. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. That same quality is going to go into post-trial motions, advocacy motions.

"Expect the same level of intensity."

The common practice will be for lawyers to ask the judge to allow them to self report, giving them time to get their affairs in order and show up on their own.

"Whether the judge lets them depends on the strength of post-trial motions," Young said.

He said one avenue for appeal could be Lake's instruction to jurors that Lay and Skilling could be found guilty even if they did not know about the fraud if the facts showed they should have known and were willfully ignorant of it.

"Chances are very slight," Behre said of appellate success. "You need a total screwup and that would have been something you heard about, some outrage from the trial.

"Nothing has jumped out from what I've seen that would make it appear there's some very good appellate issues."

Jurors found the men, who received tens of millions in pay and stock options, repeatedly lied to cover up accounting tricks and business failures that led to the company's 2001 demise. The collapse wiped out more than $60 billion in market value, almost $2.1 billion in pension plans and 5,600 jobs.

Senate OKs citizenship for illegal aliens

The Senate yesterday easily approved an immigration bill that allows 10 million illegal aliens to become citizens, doubles the flow of legal immigration each year and will cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $54 billion over the next 10 years.

The leaders of both parties hailed the 62-36 passage as a historic success.
Majority Leader Bill Frist said the vote represented the "very best" of the Senate.

"This is a success for the American people," the Tennessee Republican said. "It is a success for people who hope to participate someday in that American dream."

Four Democrats -- Sens. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan -- joined 32 of the chamber's 55 Republicans, including several members of the GOP leadership, to vote against the bill. Three of the four Democrats who opposed the bill face voters in November.

Opponents said that the Senate is ignoring clear public will and that the bill would have disastrous consequences for decades to come.

"We will never solve the problem of illegal immigration by rewarding those who break our laws," said Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican. "We must stop illegal immigration by securing the border and creating a temporary-worker program that does not reward illegal behavior with a clear path to citizenship and voting rights."

In the moments before the vote, Mr. Frist and about a dozen senators, from both parties, tearfully congratulated one another for all their hard work in producing the legislation. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and the leading proponent of the bill, called it "the most far-reaching immigration reform in our history."

After the vote, more than a dozen giddy lawmakers from both sides of the aisle gathered before television cameras to again commend one another.

"I am so proud of the Senate," Minority Leader Harry Reid said as those around him smiled broadly. "This is the way we should legislate -- on a bipartisan basis."

As he spoke, a television screen behind him showed a live picture of the Senate floor, where fellow Democrats were at that moment trying to mount a filibuster against President Bush's latest judicial nominee.

In the end, Democrats failed and a final vote was set for today on the nomination of White House lawyer Brett M. Kavanaugh, named to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. After speaking to reporters, Mr. Reid returned to the Senate floor and cast his vote in favor of the filibuster.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Talk Show America Show 5/25/2006

Listen to Podcast




Rep Jefferson and "Situational Journalism", Speaker Hasert being probed as well according to ABC, not so says Justice Department, Iraqi troops ready to take over in 18 months, Phased Iraq withdrawal to start in July ?, ACLU 's hypocrisy over free speech of their own.

send to a friend |Download | Permalink

U.S. ECONOMY SURGES IN FIRST QUARTER

The 5.3 percent economic growth rate reported today for the first quarter of 2006 shows that the U.S. expansion remains robust, Chairman Jim Saxton said today. The first quarter growth rate was revised upward from an earlier estimate of 4.8 percent.

"The figures out today show that the U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders and is the envy of the world," Saxton said. "Among the reasons for the healthy growth is the strength of equipment and software investment.

"The swing in investment is critical to understanding the improvement in economic performance in recent years. In the wake of the bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000, investment declined, becoming a drag on economic growth. After the 2003 investment tax incentives were proposed and enacted, investment rebounded. Whereas investment had been a negative factor in the economy, it then became an important source of economic strength.

"As the Federal Reserve has noted, the economy has performed well in recent years, and the outlook remains positive," Saxton concluded.

Iraqi PM: Troops will be ready in 18 months

Listen to Podcast



Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Wednesday that Iraqi forces are capable of taking control of security in all of Iraq within 18 months, but that they still need more recruits, training and equipment.

Meanwhile, U.S. forces killed seven insurgents in two operations outside the capital, and a bomb set fire to an oil pipeline south of Baghdad, officials said.

After meeting with Denmark�s prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, al-Maliki issued a statement welcoming the Danish visit and saying: �Our forces are capable of taking over the security in all Iraqi provinces within in a year and a half.�

His brief statement praised Iraqi forces for their fighting against insurgents, but said his military needs more manpower, training and equipment.

It was the latest of several deadlines that have been discussed recently regarding Iraq�s plans to take over more of the security of the country from the U.S.-led coalition.

On Monday, during British Prime Minister Tony Blair�s visit, al-Maliki said Iraqi security forces would start assuming full responsibility for some provinces and cities next month, beginning a process leading to the eventual withdrawal of all coalition forces.

Blair and al-Maliki declined to set a timetable for that withdrawal, but British media quoted an unidentified senior British official traveling with Blair as saying coalition forces should be out of Iraq within four years.

The British and Iraqi leaders said �responsibility for much of Iraq�s territorial security should have been transferred to Iraqi control� by December. At that point, al-Maliki said, two of Iraq�s most violent provinces, Baghdad and Anbar, may be the last where coalition forces maintain control.

Blair will be holding a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush later this week to discuss several issues, including the coalition strategy in the Iraq war.

Phased Iraq Withdrawal to Begin in July

Listen to Podcast



US President George W.Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet in Washington this week to discuss plans for an accelerated withdrawal of troops from Iraq, starting in July.

Reports in London said that in a phased pullout, in which the two countries would act in tandem, Britain would hand over to Iraqi security forces in Muthanna province in July and the Americans would follow suit in Najaf, the Shia holy city.

Other withdrawals would follow quickly over the remainder of the year in a much faster and more ambitious withdrawal than expected.

The reports came after Mr Blair paid a surprise visit to Baghdad to meet Iraq's new Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

US and British officials hope Britain's 8000 troops in Iraq can be cut to 5000 by the end of the year and the US's 133,000 troops to about 100,000. Iraqi security forces could be in charge of much of the country by the year's end.

Buoyed by the formation of Iraq's new unity Government at the weekend, senior officials travelling with Mr Blair said all foreign troops should be out of the country within four years.

Mr Blair is to hold further discussions on withdrawal at a White House summit with Mr Bush later this week.

Mr Blair flew in to support the new Government as Mr Maliki embarked on the daunting task of rescuing the country from spiralling violence and the threat of sectarian partition.

Mr Blair declined to give a precise countdown for the removal of the British forces in Iraq, saying only that "we want to move as fast as we can" without jeopardising security.

But loose timetables were beginning to emerge. In a joint statement, the two prime ministers said that "by the end of this year, responsibility for much of Iraq's territorial security should have been transferred to Iraqi control".

ACLU Called Hypocrites Over Free Speech

Listen to Podcast



New York - The American Civil Liberties Union has proposed new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization's policies and internal administration, according to Fox News Channel.

"Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement," the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals.


"Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the ACLU adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising," the proposals state.


Given the organization's longtime commitment to defending what they call free speech, many people were shocked by the proposals, according to Fox News.

"This is just one more example of the left-wing group's hypocrisy. They use the first Amendment to lord it over Americans, but when it comes to criticizing their own organization, some members want to stifle free speech," says political analyst Mike Baker.

"The ACLU defends the most vile, vulgar and treasonous language, but when it comes to their own organization they try to stifle freedom to criticize the ACLU. How hypocritical is that?"

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Bribery case puts Demos in tight spot

Listen to Podcast



Democrats' plans to make Republican corruption a central theme of their election strategy this year were complicated by alleged wrongdoing in their own ranks, leading the party to try on Monday to blunt the political effects of the unfolding case against Rep. William Jefferson.

Democratic leaders sought to distance the party from Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who has been accused by the FBI of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. In doing that the leaders tried to draw a distinction between the allegations against him and what they said was a much broader pattern among Republicans of trading legislative influence for campaign donations, trips and other perks.

Jefferson appeared on Capitol Hill to deny any wrongdoing. Facing a bank of television cameras down the hall from his congressional office, which was raided by federal agents on Saturday night, Jefferson said he would not resign and that he expected to be cleared.

In court documents made public on Sunday, the FBI said Jefferson had taken bribes to help a small technology company win federal contracts and to help the company with businesses in Africa. The FBI said he had concealed $90,000 from the scheme in the freezer of his home in Washington.

"There are two sides to every story," Jefferson said, without providing any details.

For all the intense partisanship that has surrounded the wave of legal and ethical cases on Capitol Hill, the Jefferson case brought some Democrats and Republicans together on one point: that the all-night search conducted by the FBI raised questions about whether the executive branch had violated the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers by carrying out a raid on the official office of a member of Congress.

Sen. Bill Frist, the Republican majority leader, said Monday that he had concerns about the constitutionality of the search and was seeking a legal opinion.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader in the House, said that "Justice Department investigations must be conducted in accordance with constitutional protections and historical precedent." Some House Republicans said they were also disturbed by the way the search was handled.

"I think it is really outrageous," said Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., who is chairman of the Rules Committee.

The constitutional question aside, some Democrats acknowledged that the headline-grabbing case involving a colleague they know as "Jeff" had the potential to dilute one of their core political arguments against the Republican majorities in the House and Senate. No prominent Republican spoke out against Jefferson on Monday, apparently judging that the news coverage would make their point for them.

But Democrats harbored no hope that Jefferson would not become part of a Republican counterattack against Democratic efforts to portray the Republicans as a party that has lost its ethical bearings.

"There is no doubt that the charges, the conduct of any Democrat is going to be raised by those who question our attacks on a culture of corruption, as a way to divert attention from that," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas.

"They are different scales," said Emanuel. "One is a party outlook and operation; the other is an individual's action. They have institutional corruption."

But even before the case against Jefferson became public, Republicans were pointing to ethical questions about the activities of another Democrat, Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, who is under FBI scrutiny for his personal finances and his efforts to steer millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations that he helped to control. And on Monday, Democratic leaders were considering steps to isolate Jefferson, including the possibility of removing him from his seat on the Ways and Means Committee. Pelosi had already endorsed the idea of an ethics inquiry against Jefferson and one was initiated last week.

Jefferson said he intended to "continue to represent the people who have sent me here to try to respond to their needs and their issues." He said he expected to seek re-election, though potential challengers are emerging back home in New Orleans.

Jefferson also called the search, which evidently was the first ever executed at an official congressional office, an intrusion into the separation of powers. But Pelosi suggested the lawmaker bore some responsibility.

"Members of Congress must obey the law and cooperate fully with any criminal investigation, if they don't, they will be held accountable," she said in a statement.

Late Monday evening, Speaker Dennis Hastert issued a statement highly critical of the search.

"Insofar as I am aware, since the founding of our Republic 219 years ago, the Justice Department has never found it necessary to do what it did Saturday night, crossing this Separation of Powers line, in order to successfully prosecute corruption by members of Congress," said Hastert, promising to seek a means to restore "the delicate balance of power."

Donald Ritchie, a historian with the Senate, said his office could find no record of a similar search, though the homes and business offices of lawmakers have been searched in the past.

At an unrelated news conference, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales called the search "unusual steps that were taken in response to an unusual set of circumstances. I'll just say that."

In their affidavit, federal prosecutors said they had taken special steps in conducting the raid to "adopt special procedures in order to minimize the likelihood that any potentially politically sensitive" material unrelated to the inquiry would be seized in either paper form or from office computers.

Iran promises 'historic slap' to any attacker

Listen to Podcast



Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted Wednesday that the Islamic republic had mastered the entire nuclear fuel cycle and that it would give an "historic slap" to any attacker.

"Today, Iran has mastered the entire nuclear fuel cycle, from start to finish, thanks to young Iranian scientists," the president said in a speech in the southwestern border town of Khorramshahr.

"The enemies are looking to plot and want to create differences among Iranians to stop us getting our rights," Ahmadinejad said.

"But if they do the slightest damage to the Iranian people, if they commit the slightest aggression, they will receive an historic slap."


The president was speaking during commemorations of the 1982 recapture from Iraqi forces of Khorramshahr, one of the bloodiest battles of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Iran test-fires long-range missile

Rocket capable of reaching Israel, U.S. targets in region

Listen to Podcast




Iran conducted a test launch Tuesday night of the Shihab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile, which is capable of reaching Israel and US targets in the region, Israel Radio reported. The test came hours before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with US President George W Bush in Washington to discuss the Iranian threat.

Military officials said it was not clear if this most recent test indicated an advance in the capabilities of the Shihab 3. They said the test was likely timed to coincide with the Washington summit and with comments made by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah during celebrations in Beirut marking the 6th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

"What deters the enemy from launching an aggression is the resistance's continuous readiness to respond," Nasrallah told scores of supporters. "Northern Israel today is within the range of the resistance's rockets. The ports, bases, factories and everything is within that range."


The Shihab test was only "partly successful," according to news reports. The nature of the difficulties was not clear. The Iranians have been working to extend the Shihab 3's current maximum range of 1,300 kilometers. A year ago, they successfully tested a solid fuel motor for the missile.

In December, Israel's defense against an Iranian ballistic missile strike, the Arrow 2 missile system, succeeded in intercepting an incoming rocket simulating an Iranian Shihab 3 at an altitude higher than in the previous 13 exercises.

Maj. Elyakim, commander of the Arrow missile battery at Palmahim, told The Jerusalem Post last month that the missile crews were always on high alert, but that they were recently instructed to "raise their level of awareness" because of developments on the Iranian front.


The Arrow missile, he said, could intercept and destroy any Iranian missile fired at Israel, including ones carrying non-conventional warheads. Experts believe that if Iran is attacked by Israel or the US, Teheran would respond by firing long-range ballistic missiles at Israel.

'Iran believes Israel to strike in year'

Listen to Podcast



Iran estimates Israel will strike Tehran's nuclear facilities within a year, and has been planning retaliatory attacks against Israeli, American and British interests, according to senior Lebanese political sources.

The sources, speaking to WorldNetDaily on condition of anonymity, said Iran believes Israel has been practicing raids in Iraq. They said Tehran has held a series of meetings with leaders of the Hezbollah terror group � based along Lebanon's border with Israel � about attacking the Jewish state in the event of any Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear sites.

The sources said while Iran is expecting lone Israeli military action, Iranian intelligence estimates the Jewish state is coordinating a planned attack with the U.S.

"The Iranians currently are operating under the working assumption that Israel is going to strike in less than a year and that this strike is highly coordinated with America," said a senior Lebanese politician.


Lebanese political sources said Iran has been attempting to organize Shiite tribes in Iraq to stage repeated large-scale attacks against American and British forces stationed there during any Israeli strike. They said Iran believes attacks in Iraq, including hits against soft targets such as oil fields, will prompt a British or American retreat.

The Lebanese sources said Iran claims it has intelligence information indicating Israel has been carrying out military exercises related to an attack against it from bases in Kurdish sections of Iraq. Israeli security officials said the claims are baseless.

Iran has instructed Hezbollah to stage retaliatory raids and missile attacks against Israeli military and civilians targets during any Israeli strike against Tehran, the Lebanese political sources added.

Hezbollah is stationed alongside Israel's northern border and boasts it has over 10,000 missiles pointed at the country's civilian population centers.

Officially, Israel denies it is planning military action against Iran. Israeli leaders regularly call Iran a "world problem" and urge the international community to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions through diplomacy and the threat of economic sanctions.

At a joint press conference yesterday in Washington, President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said they still had faith in diplomacy. They stated Iran's nuclear ambitions must be halted.

"We have a variety options, one of which is of course the United Nations Security Council. Our primary objective is to solve this problem diplomatically. On all issues I'll try diplomacy first and exhaust diplomacy," said Bush.


Olmert called Iran a "major threat. This is something that must be stopped. There is a need to stop it and we reviewed the different ways to do it."

Iran is openly defying international calls to halt uranium enrichment activities. After Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was inaugurated last August, the country rejected European proposals aimed at curbing its nuclear programs and resumed nuclear projects, reopening a major uranium conversion plant in Isfahan. In January, Iran escalated the international confrontation by removing U.N. seals at one of its uranium-enrichment plants and resuming nuclear research.

So far, Tehran has scorned most diplomatic initiatives. Last week, it rejected an European Union proposal to cease uranium enrichment in exchange for economic incentives and the construction of a light-water energy reactor. Unlike the heavy-water plant Iran is building in the city of Arak, a light-water reactor wouldn't produce plutonium � another ingredient for weapons � as a waste product. Such a reactor would still need enriched uranium for fuel, though, which could be refined to weapons-grade material.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Poll: McCain-Hillary Would Be 2008 Nail-Biter

If Hillary Clinton squares off against John McCain for president in 2008, the race could very well come down to the wire, a new poll reveals.

In the latest FOX News national poll of registered voters, Republican Sen. McCain beats Democratic Sen. Clinton by a margin of 4 percentage points � 46 percent to 42 percent, with the rest unsure.

Given the poll�s 3-point margin of error, that means the race could go either way.

"The nation has witnessed two very close elections in a row, and right now it looks like a third may be shaping up,� said John Gorman, chairman of Opinion Dynamics Corp., which conducted the poll.


"Of course, the last two times the Democrats took the office, the winner was an obscure Southern governor who wasn�t even on the radar screen at this point in the election cycle. So speculation is fun at this point but hardly predictive.�

If the choice is between Clinton and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the Republican wins by a wider margin, 49 percent to 40 percent, the poll disclosed.
Clinton does beat one potential Republican challenger, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. If the election were held today, Clinton would top President Bush�s brother 51 percent to 35 percent.

Only about one in five (22 percent) think the governor would make a good choice for president and 57 percent disagree. The poll also found that Giuliani would top Al Gore by a margin of 50 percent to 37 percent, and McCain would best Gore 48 percent to 36 percent.

Other poll results include:

Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of Giuliani and 15 percent unfavorable, giving him a 49-point net positive rating.

McCain has a 24-point positive rating � 49 percent favorable, 25 percent unfavorable.

Clinton has an 8-point positive rating - 50 percent favorable, 42 percent unfavorable.

For more Listen to the:

'Network Analysis' Could Have Prevented 9/11

Amid the furor over the National Security Agency�s monitoring of telephone calls in the U.S., a report by an expert reveals that "network analysis� by the NSA might have turned up enough information to prevent 9/11.

Network analysis is a computer-aided method of tracing where and how information moves within an organization, and who is connected to whom.

One expert in the field, Valdis Krebs, usually works for Fortune 500 companies. But after the 9/11 attacks, he began plugging information about terrorists into his computer and examining it with network analysis software he developed, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Krebs began with two terrorist suspects linked to al-Qaida, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who in 2000 were photographed attending a meeting of known terrorists in Malaysia before returning to Los Angeles. A chief suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen was also present at the meeting.

Krebs used such information as whom the suspects called or e-mailed, who visited with them and where their money came from.

The structure of their extended network begins to emerge as data is discovered via surveillance,� Krebs writes in his report, which appears on orgnet.com.
Krebs turned up direct links between the two men � who were both 9/11 hijackers � and nine of the other hijackers.

Krebs then went a step further and constructed a grid showing the links between those 11 hijackers and other hijackers and their associates. What was immediately clear in this grid was the central role played by 9/11 ringleader Mohamed Atta � he was linked to so many of the others that the grid resembled an airline flight map with Atta as a major hub.

That marked Atta � one of those who flew the first jet to hit the World Trade Center � as "an information broker and a key to the 9/11 operation,� the Plain Dealer reports.

Such intelligence on Atta, had it been put to use, might have led to the other three pilots among the hijackers, and possibly disrupted the entire operation.
"If intelligence showed an attack was imminent,� according to the Plain Dealer, "taking out the terrorists that network analysis targeted as the central planners or key information conduits could topple the plot.�

As Krebs points out, there have been reports that a similar network grid of 9/11 terrorists was created by a military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger� in 2000.

But its findings were not shared with the FBI due to concerns about the legality of gathering and sharing information on people in the U.S.

For more Listen to the:

Media Denounces English as Official Language

On the Sunday shows, three top journalists mocked and ridiculed the Thursday Senate vote to make English the official national language, and thus prevent demands for government agencies to provide official forms and processes in other languages.

On ABC's This Week, Cokie Roberts dismissed it as "a very silly debate" and Fareed Zakaria, Editor of Newsweek International, castigated the bill as "nonsense" and "nativist populism that is distasteful."

In his end of show commentary on Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer also derided the vote as "silly."

Read More Here

For more Listen to the:

Monday, May 22, 2006

Talk Show America 5/22/2006

Talk Show America 5/22/2006
May 22, 2006 08:24AM



Judith Miller says she was tipped off about 9/11, US Military thwarts escape attempt at Gitmo. US Miltary 10, Gitmo detainess 0, More successes in war on terror.



[PLAY]

Download the MP3
Here


Talk Show America Podcast Feed

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Judith Miller: I Was Tipped Off About 9/11

Judith Miller, The New York Times reporter at the center of the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby case, reveals that she received advance word about a terrorist plot that turned out to be 9/11 - but the Times spiked the story.

Miller began investigating al-Qaida after the terrorist group's October 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole in the harbor of Aden, Yemen.

Over the weekend before July 4, 2001, there were strong indications that terrorists were planning to attack the U.S. or a major American target elsewhere, Miller said in an interview with Scott Malone and Rory O'Connor that appeared on the Web site NavySEALS.com.

The attack never materialized. But that weekend "I did manage to have a conversation with a source," she told the interviewers.

"The person told me that there was some concern about an intercept that had been picked up. The incident that had gotten everyone's attention was a conversation between two members of al-Qaida. And they had been talking to one another, supposedly expressing disappointment that the United States had not chosen to retaliate more seriously against what had happened to the Cole.

"One al-Qaida operative was overheard saying to the other, "Don't worry; we're planning something so big now that the U.S. will have to respond.'

"I was obviously floored by that information. I thought it was a very good story - the source was impeccable, the information was specific, tying al-Qaida operatives to, at least, knowledge of the attack on the Cole, and they were warning that something big was coming, to which the United States would have to respond. This struck me as a major Page 1-potential story."


However, when Miller met with her editor Stephen Engelberg, he was critical, noting that Miller didn't know who the operatives were, where they were overheard or what attack they were planning.

"At that point I realized I didn't have the whole story," Miller said. She continued to probe, but couldn't turn up enough information to satisfy Engelberg.


The story never ran. And two months later came al-Qaida's Sept. 11 attacks.

Engelberg, now managing editor of The Oregonian in Portland, told the Columbia Journalism Review: "More than once I've wondered what would have happened if we'd run the piece. A case can be made that it would have been alarmist and I just couldn't justify it, but you can't help but think maybe I made the wrong call."

Said Miller: "Sometimes in journalism you regret the stories you do; but most of the time you regret the ones that you didn't do."


Listen to Talk Show America 5/22/2006 for more.