The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: 12/31/2006 - 01/07/2007

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With Students

An Orange middle school teacher accused of having sexual contact with two 13-year-old boys who were former students was arraigned Thursday.

Sarah Suzanne Bench-Salorio, 28, of Orange, was charged with 20 counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old. The suspect, who taught for two years at Santiago Charter Middle School, was arrested Tuesday, a day after one of the boys told his parents about the alleged contact with his former teacher, Sgt. Dave Hill said.

Bench-Salorio, who taught reading and English, was booked Wednesday at the Orange County Jail, with bond set at $1 million, a jail clerk said.

"Our investigation indicates that the teacher initiated the sexual contact, and that this contact took place over a period of several months," Hill said. "We're looking at events that spanned several months throughout 2004, and part of that investigation is to determine if it happened sooner than that. We believe the contact took place at various locations and we're investigating whether it was at the parties' homes or the school."

After the one boy came forward, a follow-up investigation "determined there was a second victim," Hill said, but he did not know if both boys knew about each other.

"We are confident in the solidity of our charges," he said.

The district attorney said Bench-Solorio seduced the students over dinner, and through e-mails and phone calls, during a series of months before the alleged sexual contact.

An attorney for Bench-Solorio said she is "embarrassed."

She did not enter a plea Thursday. Another court appearance is scheduled for next week.

Orange Unified School District Superintendent Robert French said Bench-Salorio has been placed on administrative leave, and the district is cooperating in the investigation.

"This is a personnel matter, and on that basis the district can give no additional information. However, the primary concern of the district is always the safety and welfare of its students," French said.

Under provisions of the California Penal Code, police notified the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing of Bench-Salorio's arrest, Hill said.

Investigators are trying to determine if there are other victims, he said. Anyone with information that may be pertinent to the case is asked to call the Orange Police Department at (714) 744-7444.

Central Command Launches NEW Podcast on Website


U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM)has launched a new podcast on their website. The weekly podcast will feature stories from around Central Command�s area of responsibility. The weekly episodes will provide visitors to the CENTCOM website a readymade means of accessing information about events in the Middle East, Southwest Asia and the Horn of Africa, as well as RSS feeds with up to the minute news. The Central Command podcast is available at www.centcom.mil to download as an MP3 audio file, or via subscription to the podcast RSS syndication feed.

CENTCOM�s unique access to the region will take you to the Iranian border in Iraq and hear from coalition members working with the Iraqi Border Patrol to the villages of Somalia to features about post-earthquake Pakistan.

The inception of this medium to the website accommodates a diverse audience and provides them with another method of acquiring news and information about Central Command and the units on the ground.

"We are really excited about the addition of podcasting to the CENTCOM web site. This brings a whole new dimension to our capabilities and allows our users to access information that is not available anywhere else" said Central Command Public Affairs Director Colonel Jerry Renne.

The content of the weekly podcasts include a look at coalition forces fighting the Global War on Terror within the region, an opportunity to hear from Central Command�s top leaders, interviews with troops on the front lines in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa and specials from the 27 countries within the command.

USCENTCOM is one of the five geographically defined unified commands within the Department of Defense. The command is responsible for planning and conducting United States military activity in a region consisting of 27 countries that make up the CENTCOM AOR.

We also want to encourage you to subscribe to our latest news and press release feeds delivered directly to your email inbox via FeedBurner.

Subscribe to US CENTCOM News by Email
Subscribe to US CENTCOM Press Releases by Email

Or, if you use a feed reader, you can subscribe directly by clicking here.

Hillary Planning to Derail Obama

Hillary Clinton regards fellow Senator Barack Obama as her biggest obstacle to the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, and is already mapping out strategy to derail an Obama campaign.

Clinton believes enthusiasm for an Obama run would diminish as voters get the message about his lack of experience in government and foreign affairs.

In meetings with fellow Democrats, Clinton and her aides � without mentioning Obama by name � stress that experience will be a major factor in determining a successful candidate during difficult times, "an argument that her team will no doubt make in a stronger way against Mr. Obama if they both jump into the race,� the New York Times reports.

McCain, Lieberman Support Troop Increase

Warning that failure would be "catastrophic" and spread instability throughout the Middle East, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., on Friday expressed their support for a troop "surge" in Iraq - the plan reportedly being developed by the Bush administration to address growing insurgent violence.

Putting additional troops on the ground in Iraq would help quell the violence and boost efforts to train Iraqi security forces, the two said in a joint press conference at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, D.C.

"I believe that the war is still winnable, but to prevail we'll have to do everything right and the Iraqis will have to do their part," McCain said.

He said withdrawing troops would leave Iraq without security, making it impossible for the nation to make political progress and economic development.

"The surge must be substantial, and it must be sustained," McCain said, recommending an increase of four to six brigades, mostly concentrated in Baghdad, which has seen the greatest amount of violence. It could mean an increase of around 20,000 troops.

"Even if we send additional troops to Iraq in large numbers for a sustained period," McCain said, "there is no guarantee for success in Iraq." He added, however, that he believed success was "still possible" even though it would be difficult.

Lieberman said a withdrawal would signal concession. If the United States hoped to win the broader war on terrorism, it must finish the job in Iraq.

"Only if one decides that everything in Iraq has been lost, that there is no hope ... will you decide that the goal should be to get out instead of trying to make it work," he said.

Lieberman said a withdrawal would "lead to Iranian expansionism, the creation of an al Qaeda base in Iraq and even more significantly the intimidation of the moderate forces throughout the region and a drop of confidence in the credibility and the strength of the United States of America."

Their speeches came as the conservative AEI released a report also supporting a troop surge.

"Victory in Iraq is still possible at an acceptable level of effort," it said. "We must adopt a new approach to the war and implement it quickly and decisively."

AEI proposed a surge of seven Army brigades and Marine regiments beginning in spring 2007 to "improve security and set conditions for economic development, political development, reconciliation, and the development of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) to provide permanent security."

In a letter to Bush Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote that a troop surge would be more of the same of Bush's "failed" policy.

"The American people demonstrated in the November elections that they do not believe your current Iraq policy will lead to success and that we need a change in direction for the sake of our troops and the Iraqi people," Reid and Pelosi wrote. "Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried and that has already failed."

They wrote that "there is only a political solution" and urged Bush to "begin the phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months, while shifting the principal mission of our forces there from combat to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror."

MoveOn.org contends that the midterm elections that gave Democrats control of both houses of Congress gave them a mandate to get America out of Iraq. "Voters sent a clear message to Congress in November," Matzzie said in a news release. "Get out of Iraq."

A 21 Percent Mandate

A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted after the election, however, found that a majority of Americans do not support an immediate withdrawal of troops.

Twenty-one percent of the more than 1,000 respondents said they favored an immediate pullout while 33 favored scheduling a pullout for December 2007 and 32 percent said to keep troops there "as long as needed." Only 11 percent of respondents favored sending more troops.

Nearly half of respondents - 46 percent - said the U.S. needs to make "major changes" to its strategy for handling Iraq, with 27 percent calling for a "complete overhaul."

The AEI report criticized calls for an immediate withdrawal, saying it "will lead to immediate defeat. The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are entirely dependent upon American support to survive and function. If U.S. forces withdraw now, the Iraqi forces will collapse. Iraq will descend into total civil war that will rapidly spread throughout the Middle East."

Another CNN poll, conducted over the first three days of 2007, found that few Americans are confident that Democrats are ready to lead change on the war.

More than 80 percent of respondents in the most recent poll said they did not think Democrats in Congress "have developed a clear plan for dealing with the situation in Iraq." More than half - 51 percent - do not believe Bush and Democrats will be able to work together to find a solution.

Reid, Pelosi: Pull Troops From Iraq Within Six Months

Congress' new Democratic chiefs criticized plans President Bush is considering to boost U.S. troop strength in Iraq as the White House reshuffled its military leaders in the Middle East and its national security team.

In a letter sent to Bush on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged him to begin pulling troops out of Iraq in four to six months. They also asked the president to begin shifting the mission of U.S. forces there from combat to training and logistical support of the Iraqis.

"We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq," Pelosi, D-Calif., and Reid, D-Nev., wrote a day after their party took control of Capitol Hill.

The Democrats' criticism of a troop buildup was not new. But the letter underscored a new reality for Bush: With the new congressional leadership, his Iraq policy will be challenged at every turn by lawmakers.

Ex-DNC Chief: Kerry 'Incompetent'

Former Democratic Party boss and Clinton friend Terry McAuliffe is lambasting John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign, calling his effort to unseat President Bush "one of the biggest acts of political malpractice in the history of American politics."

In his scrappy memoir, McAuliffe criticizes the 2004 campaign that he was responsible for defending but ultimately lost to what he describes as a more organized Republican machine. McAuliffe calls the Kerry campaign gun-shy, distracted and incompetent.

McAuliffe served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005, although he says Kerry's aides wanted to oust him once the Massachusetts senator secured the nomination. He said he was never invited to a single meeting at Kerry headquarters.

Kerry spokesman David Wade said although many people wish the outcome of the 2004 election had been different, Kerry is proud of the hard work of his campaign staff and McAuliffe's efforts as party chairman. "It's time to look forward, not backwards," Wade said.

McAuliffe said Kerry's camp was so afraid of offending swing voters that it didn't defend his record or criticize Bush. He said he was muzzled by Kerry's aides from assailing Bush's military record.

He said the campaign also ordered speeches at the Democratic National Convention to be scrubbed of any mention of Bush's name or his record - although McAuliffe privately encouraged firebrand Al Sharpton to go ahead with his attacks on the president in his crowd-pleasing speech.

"I thought the decision of the Kerry campaign to back off any real criticism of Bush was one of the biggest acts of political malpractice in the history of American politics," he said.

Meanwhile, Republicans went on a sharp tirade against Kerry at their convention. But when Bush said in an interview on the first day that he didn't think the U.S. could win the war on terror, Kerry did not respond. The Massachusetts senator was windsurfing off Nantucket, unaware of the president's comments.

McAuliffe said Kerry later told him that was one of the biggest mistakes of his campaign. "I should have gotten off the island," McAuliffe quotes Kerry as saying.

McAuliffe said he was "flabbergasted" to learn after the election that Kerry had $15 million left that he could have spent in the final push. "It was gross incompetence to hoard that money when the race was bound to be so close," McAuliffe said.

McAuliffe said Republicans told him they were shocked that Kerry just took the attacks on his military record, but also overjoyed. He said Bush called President Clinton while he was recovering from his heart attack in September 2004 and said, "The Kerry campaign is the most inept group I have ever seen in politics. Don't let them ruin your reputation."

He said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., asked him why Kerry wasn't fighting back more. "My guy (Bush) is no great shakes, but your guy (Kerry) looks like a wimp," McAuliffe quotes McCain as saying.

Poll: Iraq Coverage Biased

Most Americans are convinced that media coverage of the conflict in Iraq is inaccurate and portrays the situation as being worse than it actually is, a new survey shows.

According to the Gallup News Service, a December survey of a representative sample of 569 adult Americans revealed that fully 56 percent believe that major news media coverage of the situation in Iraq is generally inaccurate while only 4 out of 10 Americans agree that it is accurate.

Moreover, the survey showed that by a 61 percent to 36 percent margin, those who feel that the Iraq coverage is inaccurate say it is because the media make the situation there appear worse than it actually is.

Responses from survey participants showed that two-thirds of Republicans believe that the news media's coverage of Iraq is both inaccurate and makes the situation there appear worse. Only one-quarter say that news media coverage is accurate.

On the other hand, a majority of Democrats (55 percent) say that news media coverage of the situation there is accurate, with most of the rest saying that it is inaccurate and biased toward making the situation there appear better than it really is.

Other survey results:

56 percent believe the news media provide an inaccurate account of the situation in Iraq while 41 percent see it as accurate.

35 percent believe the media makes the situation appear worse than it is, while only 20 percent think it makes the situation better than it is. Three percent had no opinion and 1 percent were unsure.

Broken down by party affiliation, barely 5 percent of Republicans think the media makes the situation appear better, while 25 percent of independents and 32 percent of Democrats take the position that it does.

Just 25 percent of Republicans think the coverage is accurate, but 42 percent of independents and as many as 55 percent of Democrats think it is accurate.

Friday, January 05, 2007

WHERE IS A.P.'S BAGHDAD SOURCE?

More than a month after U.S. military officials denied a widely broadcast and published A.P. report that described how a group of Shiite militiamen grabbed six Sunni worshipers as they left a Baghdad mosque and burned them alive as Iraqi soldiers stood by, the A.P continues to refuse to provide further details about the source of its story.

Originally, the wire service said that the source was an Iraqi police captain named Jamail Hussein, who, it said, had been the source of more than 60 stories during 2006. But military officials have maintained that there is no record of the existence of the police captain, and the New York Times has reported that it was unable to find anyone who could corroborate the reported incident. A spokeswoman for the A.P. told Editor & Publisher Tuesday that it stands by its story and that "it would be highly unusual for any news organization to provide sources on the demands of critics."

But Paul McLeary, who has reported from Iraq for the Columbia Journalism Review, observed Tuesday that this is an unusual case, and that the A.P must produce the source that it has already named "or provide documentation that he exists, or tell us why no one can find a record of his employment by the Iraqi police."

McLeary commented in conclusion: "The A.P. is hurting itself every day it refuses to acknowledge its critics."

167,000 Jobs Added to Payrolls in Dec.

Employers stepped up hiring last month, boosting payrolls by a brisk 167,000 and keeping the unemployment rate steady at a still historically low 4.5 percent. Workers' wages grew briskly.

The latest snapshot of the nation's employment climate, released Friday by the Labor Department, showed that the jobs market ended 2006 on a strong note and provided fresh evidence that the troubled housing and automotive sectors aren't dragging down employment across the country.

The tally of new jobs added to the economy last month exceeded analysts' forecasts for a gain of around 115,000 and was the best showing since September. Analysts were predicting the politically sensitive jobless rate would remain unchanged from November, which it did.

Some observers had predicted an even lower number in part because on Wednesday, Automatic Data Processing (nyse: ADP - news - people ) forecast a decline of 40,000 jobs (see "U.S. Jobs Could See Decline").

Court Allows Suit Against Air America

Government contractor CACI International Inc. has won bankruptcy court approval to proceed with its defamation lawsuit against liberal talk radio network Air America and one of its hosts, Randi Rhodes.

The company sued Air America and its parent company, Piquant LLC, as well as Rhodes in the fall of 2005 for defamation. The suit stemmed from comments Rhodes made Aug. 25-26, 2005 on her radio show. According to CACI's complaint, she accused CACI employees of raping and murdering Iraqi civilians at Abu Ghraib prison, claims that CACI said were "false and defamatory."

CACI is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. An Air America spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit.

A U.S. District Court dismissed the case, but CACI appealed that ruling. The bankruptcy court's decision allows the appeal to proceed.

Cairo hints at nuke weapons if Iran Develops Nuclear Power

Is Egypt declaring its intentions to develop nuclear weapons? Thus it appeared in a speech delivered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Thursday on the occasion of meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Sharm e-Sheikh.

�We don�t want nuclear weapons,� Mubarak stated, �But since they appear highly present in the area, we must defend ourselves."

Recently Egypt announced that it was striving to attain nuclear capabilities. President Mubarak himself, as well as his son Jamal, were questioned on the issue and declared that their nation needed nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and Egypt's nuclear program would be aimed at overcoming the deficiency in fuel and natural gas reserves.

However, now it appears that if Iran develops nuclear power, Egypt will no longer be satisfied with devoting its nuclear resources to peaceful purposes alone.

Iran amassing material for uranium enrichment

Iran's top nuclear official said on Thursday that United Nations sanctions would not restrict its atomic program, and that it was continuing to amass the raw material for uranium enrichment.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on December 23 to impose sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology in an attempt to stop enrichment work that could produce the material for nuclear explosives.

"They [the West] should accept that this [nuclear work] is our national right and is irreversible," Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA.

"This technology is Iranian-made and cannot be limited by sanctions."

Analysts say that to achieve its goal of "industrial-scale" enrichment with 54,000 centrifuge enrichment machines -- only around 350 are known to be operating experimentally so far -- Iran may still need to acquire equipment abroad.

Aghazadeh said Iran had now stockpiled 250 tonnes of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), the feedstock that is injected into centrifuges for enrichment into fuel.

"Today we have produced more than 250 tonnes of UF6, kept in tunnels that are almost unique in the world," he said.

The latest figures from the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] say Iran had stockpiled a total of 165 tonnes of UF6 as of early November 2006.

Mark Fitzpatrick, nuclear non-proliferation analyst at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, said 250 tons of UF6, if enriched to 90 percent or higher, would yield enough fuel for up to 50 nuclear warheads.

Iran has so far enriched token amounts of UF6 only to the 3-5 percent level required for power plant fuel. It says it has no intention of refining UF6 to the high level needed for bombs.

Aghazadeh repeated Iran's call for talks to resolve the dispute with the West, which believes Tehran wants to build nuclear warheads despite Iran's insistence that it wants to make fuel to generate electricity.

"We are ready to build confidence," he said.

In reaction to the UN resolution, Iran's parliament passed a bill last week obliging the government to revise its level of cooperation with the IAEA and to accelerate its nuclear work.

The bill gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government a free hand to decide whether it wanted to quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if pressured.

But Aghazadeh said Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, had no intention of pulling out of the NPT.

North Korea prepping atomic weapons test

North Korea appears to have made preparations for another nuclear test, according to U.S. defense officials.

"We think they've put everything in place to conduct a test without any notice or warning," a senior U.S. defense official told ABC News.

The official cautions that the intelligence is inconclusive as to whether North Korea will actually go ahead with another test but said the preparations are similar to the steps taken by Pyongyang before it shocked the world by conducting its first nuclear test last Oct. 9.

Two other senior defense officials confirmed that recent intelligence suggested that the North Koreans appear to be ready to test a nuclear weapon again, but the intelligence community divides over whether another test is likely.

"That would surprise me," a senior intelligence official said when asked if North Korea is likely to soon conduct another test.

Another official had a different view, predicting North Korea would conduct a test sometime over the next two or three months.

In the weeks before the Oct. 9 test, U.S. spy satellites witnessed the unloading of large cables at a suspected test site in P'onggye, in northeastern North Korea. The more recent activity has been observed in the same area as the Oct. 9 test.

In October, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution that imposed harsh sanctions against North Korea just six days after Kim Jong Il's regime declared that it conducted an underground nuclear test. The sanctions were designed to coerce North Korea into giving up its nuclear program.

Resolution 1718 specifically called for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons completely and irreversibly, as well as to put an end to its biological and chemical weapons, weapons of mass destruction, and ballistic missile programs.

Blue-dog Democrat tells Pelosi of differences

The former NFL and University of Tennessee quarterback was sworn into office Thursday as a member of the 110th Congress, joining 41 other freshmen Democrats taking seats in the House during ceremonies in the nation's capital.

The pro-gun, anti-abortion politician ran on a platform of socially conservative and fiscally liberal values, both of which resonated in a religious district hit hard by the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs.

Shuler has become a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of conservative Democrats who favor a balanced budget and fiscal discipline. He holds some views that starkly contrast those held by newly elected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Several Republicans cheered when Shuler was sworn in, though he downplayed his differences with Pelosi after meeting with the liberal California Democrat on Thursday.

Shuler said he told Pelosi they would disagree on some issues, including gay marriage and abortion. But he said he supported raising the minimum wage and using existing embryos for stem cell research.

"I'm here to represent the people of my district," Shuler said. "She's here to represent hers. She said, 'If we vote against each other it's because we're voting with our districts.'"

In his first order of official business, Shuler planned to introduce a bill Friday on fiscal responsibility drafted by members of the Blue Dog caucus, said Shuler's district director Bruce Peterson. The bill is intended to mandate a "pay-as-you-go" approach to government spending and to control congressional earmarks.

Guardsmen overrun at the Border

A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.

The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired. However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident.

The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.

See Video Report Here:
National Guard unit stormed while patroling the border

Thursday, January 04, 2007

The Saddam Video Everyone is Sniveling About

Coaltion Kills 4 Terrorists;Iraqi Troops Detain 21 in Recent Raids

Coalition forces killed four terrorists and detained six others, while Iraqi army soldiers detained 21 suspects as the result of a series of operations conducted in Iraq yesterday.

Coalition forces killed four terrorists and detained six other suspected terrorists during a morning raid in Thar Thar. Intelligence reports indicated known al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists with links to foreign fighters were operating at the targeted building. As coalition troops approached the building, armed terrorists appeared to maneuver against them in a threatening manner. A firefight left three terrorists dead and another injured. One armed terrorist attempted to fire at the coalition troops and was killed inside the structure.

Inside the building, coalition forces discovered a weapons cache consisting of multiple grenades, machine guns and pistols, which was destroyed on site to prevent future use by terrorists. This operation was part of ongoing efforts to eliminate al Qaeda terrorists and disrupt their operations in the Thar Thar area.

Elsewhere yesterday, 1st Iraqi Army Division forces with coalition advisors detained 15 suspected insurgents during operations near Habbaniyah. The target was an insurgent network responsible for improvised-explosive-device and small-arms attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces. The insurgents are tied to al Qaeda in Iraq and are suspected of involvement in small-arms and IED attacks against convoys in the Habbaniyah and Fallujah areas.

In another operation, 1st Iraqi Army Division forces with coalition advisors detained five suspects during operations in Fallujah yesterday. The Iraqi forces were looking for a suspected insurgent allegedly linked to improvised-explosive-device attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces. The insurgent also is believed to have been selling IEDs to other insurgents and al Qaeda in Iraq as well as smuggling foreign fighters into the country to facilitate attacks in the Fallujah area.

Iraqi,Coaltion Troops Detain Suspects;Find Weapons

Iraqi and coalition forces detained five suspected terrorists and found numerous weapons caches in operations throughout Iraq today and in recent days, military officials reported.

Iraqi army troops from the 5th Special Troops Company, 2nd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, teamed with soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, and Macedonian forces to find three weapons caches today in Fehamah, a village near Taji.

The Iraqi-led operations involved a cordon-and-knock mission and cache searches conducted after coalition forces observed suspicious activity in the area, officials said.

The 37th Field Artillery Regiment soldiers found one of the caches while searching a car parked in the village and the other caches while searching homes in the area. Some of the items found during the operation included mortar tubes, mortar rounds, rockets, rocket launchers and a video camera.

Elsewhere in Iraq, officials reported that soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division(Light Infantry), detained three suspected terrorists during an operation in Albu Farris Jan. 1.

The operation, coined "Terminator Lasso," was conducted to detain an improvised explosive device cell in Abu Farris. The combined force air assaulted into the target area and searched specified locations for IED-making materials and individuals linked to attacks in the area.

During the operation, Iraqi troops entered a mosque, with permission from the imam, near the targeted location. No contraband was found and the soldiers left the mosque after thanking the imam for his support.

At the target house, the soldiers discovered a false wall containing IED timers, triggers and detonators and two shovels. They detained the owner of the house for further questioning.

On the return route, the troops found two men at a known IED trigger area and detained the two suspected triggermen for questioning. One was found with a 9 mm pistol and the other with a camera flash IED detonator.


In another operation, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), along with the Rasheed Iraqi police, detained two suspected terrorists and found IED-making materials during an operation in Rasheed Jan. 1.

The operation was conducted following a tip identifying a possible IED cell based out of Rasheed.

The troops and Iraqi police found bomb-making materials in a Rasheed residence. The items uncovered included two shovels, electronic circuit boards, various wires and telephone, cell phones and radio parts. The radio and phone parts were consistent with those typically used in fabricating remote-controlled IED detonators. Two gas masks were also found in the house.

The detainees were taken into custody for further questioning.

Separately, Marine engineers attached to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, uncovered 12 large caches during Operation River Sweep west of Habbaniyah Jan. 1.

"The importance of the find deals directly with the insurgents' ability to wage anti-coalition force insurgent warfare," said 1st Lt. David Bradt, the 3/2 engineer platoon commander. "By taking away the materials that the insurgents use to conduct attacks, be they IEDs, indirect fire, or small-arms fire engagements, we are making the local area that much safer for Marines and Iraqis."

The engineers, who were operating in concert with elements of the 1st Iraqi Army Division and 3/2, discovered the stockpiles in a combined cache hunt designed to interrupt insurgent activity in the area.

The Marines discovered three Soviet-made hand grenades, four type 86P grenades, two TM 57 antitank mines, two 57 mm high explosive antitank rockets, one 107 mm high-explosive rocket, 14 120 mm high-explosive mortars, eight 122 mm high-explosive projectiles, one 160 mm high-explosive mortar, 12 130 mm high-explosive projectiles, 100 7.62 X 54 rounds, 12 warheads, five 50 kg bombs, four acetylene tanks, one 60 mm high-explosive mortar and one guided missile.

The Marines destroyed all of the caches.

Elsewhere in Iraq, soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, "Polar Bears," 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), captured and extracted two anti-aircraft systems during a combat operation in Yusufiyah Jan. 1, officials reported.

The operation, dubbed "Polar Pounce," was intended to seize anti-aircraft weapons identified by aircraft earlier in the afternoon.

Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd BCT found the two 57 mm anti-aircraft weapons and evacuated them from the area. During the same operation, soldiers of Task Force Iron Claw discovered an IED made from a 120 mm mortar, a bottle of homemade explosives and a crushed wire initiator as they were clearing the route for the crane and trucks to load and extract the guns. They took the guns to Patrol Base Yusufiyah.

Six Terrorists Captured;Weapons Cache Found

Six terrorists, including two IED cell members, were captured in Iraq yesterday, and troops discovered a weapons cache.

-- Special Iraqi Police forces, with coalition advisors, detained three suspects during operations yesterday near Hit, Iraq. One detainee is allegedly a member of a bombing cell conducting attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces.

-- Coalition forces captured a suspected insurgent during operations in Baghdad yesterday. The suspect is allegedly part of an insurgent network responsible for car bombing attacks in the Baghdad area. The suspect is also believed to have recently made arrangements to purchase explosives used for car bombing attacks, military officials said.

-- U.S. Army soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, and elements of 6th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, rescued two hostages and detained the two kidnappers yesterday during a raid in the al-Doura neighborhood.

-- Paratroopers of Company C, 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, found a large amount of 23 mortar rounds and 33 propellant sticks yesterday while on patrol near Bahbahani, Iraq. An explosive ordnance team arrived and conducted a controlled detonation, destroying the munitions.

Six Terrorists Killed;32 Captured in Iraq

Coalition and Iraqi forces killed six terrorists and captured 32 suspected terrorists today, military officials reported.

Coalition forces killed two terrorists and detained two others during a raid against al Qaeda terrorists today in Baghdad. While moving toward the targeted building, coalition forces encountered two armed men who had exited nearby buildings. Coalition forces assessed the two armed men as an immediate threat and engaged them. Both men were wounded.

Coalition forces immediately rendered first aid and transported the two men to a nearby medical facility. Upon further investigation, coalition forces determined the men were local nationals. The men are in stable condition.

Additional forces performing security outside the targeted building were confronted by two armed terrorists during the raid. The terrorists began maneuvering toward coalition forces despite the ground troops' repeated attempts to halt the men. The terrorists were noncompliant and continued to maneuver toward the coalition forces who engaged, killing the two armed terrorists.

Ground forces entered the targeted building and found a weapons cache consisting of AK-47s, which was seized. Two suspected terrorists were also detained during the raid.

Elsewhere, coalition forces killed four terrorists and destroyed two buildings along with nearby cache sites containing improvised explosive device equipment during a raid today in Thar Thar.

Intelligence reports indicated roadside bombs were being produced in the targeted buildings. Upon entering the first building, coalition forces were engaged by armed terrorists. Coalition forces returned fire, killing four terrorists.

While searching the targeted buildings and surrounding area, ground forces found a significant cache consisting a large amount of IED-making material, including 16 pounds of homemade explosives, one 60-pound and one 80-pound bomb.

Also found on the site were multiple batteries, blasting caps, a rocket-propelled grenade,100 feet of detonation cord, suicide vests, grenades and machine guns.

Coalition forces coordinated an air strike that destroyed the buildings containing the weapons cache.

In another operation, special Iraqi police forces, with coalition advisers, captured two suspected insurgent cell leaders during operations today in Bahbahani, near Iskandariyah. The suspected insurgents are allegedly responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Iraqi civilians in the area.

The insurgent cell leaders, who are tied to al Qaeda in Iraq, are also implicated in numerous roadside bomb attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in the Babil and Karbala provinces.

In other developments, coalition forces detained two suspects during operations today in the Ad Dawrah area of southern Baghdad to capture a suspected member of al Qaeda in Iraq who allegedly plans and participates in the kidnapping of Iraqi civilians. He is also alleged to advise on and facilitates violent activities, kidnappings and murders perpetuated by other insurgents.

Additionally, special Iraqi army forces detained 13 suspects during operations today in Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad, to capture the alleged commander of illegal armed group elements responsible for sectarian violence and attacks against Iraqi civilians in the area.

The Iraqi-led operation, with coalition advisers, involved entry into the Salman Pak mosque. The mosque was reportedly used as a base of operations for planning and conducting attacks, kidnappings and murder. Credible intelligence also indicated the mosque was being used by illegal armed groups as a place to store and traffic weapons.

Iraqi forces entered the mosque and confiscated a large weapons cache consisting of 21 armored vests, two rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, three heavy machine guns, 10 assault rifles and 12 grenades.

Twenty RPG rounds were also found, but destroyed near the objective after explosive ordnance disposal personnel determined their condition prevented transport. The rounds were destroyed in a location that minimized any damage to the mosque.

Raids in Iraq Yield Terrorists and Leaders

Nine terrorists, including an al-Qaeda leader, were killed during raids conducted by coalition forces in Baghdad today and yesterday. Also, one terrorist was wounded, and three were detained during the raids.

A known al-Qaeda weapons dealer was among those killed during today's Baghdad raid, according to officials. Another terrorist was wounded in the action, while two more were detained. The wounded terrorist was provided first aid and transported to a nearby medical facility. Coalition forces had targeted the weapons dealer, whose body was identified by his wife.

In other news, coalition troops killed six terrorists and detained one suspect during a fierce morning firefight in Baghdad yesterday, officials reported.

Intelligence reports indicated the targeted location was used as a possible al Qaeda in Iraq safe house for terrorists to conduct operational planning.

While approaching the targeted area, coalition troops were attacked with heavy automatic weapons fire and hand grenades from the top of several nearby buildings, officials said. Coalition forces returned fire, killing two terrorists. Several armed men fled to a third building.

Coalition forces received fire from the top of the third building and returned fire, officials reported. Coalition forces were able to establish a foothold in one of the adjacent buildings, killing four more terrorists and detaining one.

In other news, 1st Iraqi Army Division forces, with coalition advisors, captured a suspected insurgent during operations in Na'Amiyah, near Fallujah, yesterday. Officials said the detainee is suspected of providing improvised explosive devices to al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists. The suspect is also implicated in kidnapping Iraqi civilians for ransom and having close ties to al Qaeda in Iraq leaders.

Also, soldiers from the 2nd and 4th Iraqi Army Divisions, with coalition advisors, detained two suspects during operations in Ash Sharqat in the northern Salah Ad Din province, officials reported.

One of the detainees is suspected of leading a cell that supported insurgent and al Qaeda in Iraq operations, providing weapons and supplies that helped them carry out attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces.

Earlier during the past weekend, U.S. soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team uncovered a site in eastern Baghdad suspected of being used by insurgents to make improvised explosive devices during a Dec. 31 patrol.

Officials reported that the troops found wires, timers, explosives and other items consistent with making IEDs. Two flash-bang grenades were also recovered. U.S. military personnel confiscated the seized items.

In other weekend events, Special Iraqi Police Forces, with coalition advisors, captured three suspected members of an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist cell during Dec. 31 operations southwest of Mosul.

Officials said the suspects are responsible for kidnapping and murdering Iraqi civilians and security forces and are believed to be involved in car bombing attacks in and around Mosul. They are reportedly linked to foreign fighters and facilitate their violent, criminal operations in the area.

Also on Dec. 31, a joint Iraqi and coalition operation resulted in the capture of six individual, officials reported.

Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and a squad from the 4th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, conducted a joint search-and-attack operation near Al-Thobat, about four kilometers southwest of Yusufiyah, officials reported.

The operation targeted three separate objectives near the village, where IED cells were suspected of operating and finding safe haven.

Elements of Company C, 4-31 and Troop A, 2nd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment, paired with the Iraqi Army squad to detain the suspects. Two of the men were wanted for their connection to IED operations in the area. The other four individuals were detained for their belligerence when the two wanted men were confronted. Officials said the detainees are being held for further questioning.

In other developments, soldiers of the Iraqi Army's 7th Division detained two suspects during operations Dec. 31 near Karabilah to capture the leaders of an insurgent group.

Officials said the group is responsible for small-arms attacks and IED emplacements and attacks in the Al Qa'im area targeting Iraqi security forces and coalition forces. The group is also suspected of helping foreign fighters move into Iraq and is tied closely to the al Qaeda in Iraq terror network.

U.S. Toll in Iraq Lower Than Past Wars

Americans may question this war for many reasons, but their doubts often find voice in the count of U.S. war deaths. An overwhelming majority - 84 percent - worry that the war is causing too many casualties, according to a September poll by the nonpartisan research group Public Agenda.

The country largely kept the faith during World War II, even as about 400,000 U.S. forces died - 20,000 just in the monthlong Battle of the Bulge. Before turning against the wars in Korea and Vietnam, Americans tolerated thousands more deaths than in Iraq.

Has something changed? Do Americans somehow place higher value on the lives of their Soldiers now? Do they expect success at lower cost? Or do most simply dismiss this particular war as the wrong one - hard to understand and harder to win - and so not worth the losses?

The Associated Press recently posed these questions to scholars, veterans, activists, and other Americans. Their comments suggest that the public does express more pain over the deaths of this war.

A death toll of 3,000 simply sounds higher to Americans in this war than it did in other prolonged conflicts of the past century, for a number of reasons, the interviews suggest.

"As fewer Americans die in war, their loss is more keenly felt, not necessarily at a personal level, but at a collective and public level," says historian Michael Allen at North Carolina State University.

Jeffrey Greenwood, 17, of Plymouth, Mass., though unsure of the exact number of Iraq war deaths, says, "I know it's enough to make people angry."

John Mueller, a political scientist at Ohio State University, calls this casualty sensitivity "the Iraq syndrome." He described it in an influential journal article last year: "Casualty for casualty, support has declined far more quickly than it did during either the Korean War or the Vietnam War."

In the weeks after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, public backing was powerful. But opinion began to shift quickly once the Iraqi army was beaten, its leader was forced into hiding, and chemical, biological or nuclear weapons were not found.

- By late 2003, public support for the occupation began to seesaw around 50 percent, according to Richard Eichenberg, a political scientist at Tufts University.

- In September 2005, 55 percent of Americans favored stronger efforts to withdraw because of the losses, a Gallup poll found.

- Last October, 54 percent of registered voters believed the war wasn't worth the U.S. casualties or cost, a Hart-McInturff poll found. In November, voters reversed the congressional balance of power in an election viewed as a referendum on Iraq.

Polling analysts believe Americans are more sensitive to casualties than in the past because they neither see vital interests at stake nor feel the "halo effect" from a clear prospect of success.

At the same time, scholars suggest that America's instant technologies and its global power have conditioned its population to expect quick, painless results in almost any war.

"In a world of smart bombs and so on, you just expect the military to be able to insulate the military from getting killed - and to a large extent they have," says Christopher Gelpi, a casualty researcher at Duke University.

Precision air power helped the U.S. military succeed in the former Yugoslavia and the first war with Iraq, and scholars say that lowered the expectation of casualties in future wars. Improvements in body armor may have contributed to the same expectation.

Speed-of-light consumer conveniences, like cellular phones and digital cameras, also reinforce expectations of fast results that spill over into war, some scholars say. In what's called "the CNN effect," the unblinking eye of video news and unending chatter of the Internet quicken and maybe intensify the public's reaction to the carnage of battle.

"The American people have never been known for their patience, and I suppose with these 24-7 news cycles and access to the Internet, everything seems to have accelerated," says Richard Melanson, who teaches a class on public opinion and foreign policy at the U.S. military's National War College, in Washington, D.C.

America's young no longer feel personally threatened, either. The military draft is history. These days, mostly working-class teenagers volunteer to do the fighting.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

A Balanced Budget by 2012 & Earmark Reform

Increased Tax Revenues From A Strong Economy Coupled With Spending Restraint Will Reduce The Deficit And Balance The Budget

"By balancing the budget through pro-growth economic policies and spending restraint, we are better positioned to tackle longer-term fiscal challenges facing our country, namely the entitlement programs� Another area where we can work together is to reform the earmark process. One important message we all should take from the elections is that people want to end the secretive process by which Washington insiders are able to get billions of dollars directed to projects, many of them pork barrel projects that have never been reviewed or voted on by the Congress."


- President George W. Bush, 1/3/07

Today, The President Announced He Will Propose A Balanced Budget. On February 5, the Administration will present its five-year budget proposal, which will show reducing budget deficits and balance in 2012. The Budget will achieve balance while addressing the Nation's most critical needs, including support for the Global War on Terror and sustaining the strength of our economy through permanent tax relief.

The President Also Called For Earmark Reform. The time has come for both political parties to work together on comprehensive earmark reform that produces greater transparency and accountability to the congressional budget process, including full disclosure for each earmark and cutting the number and cost of all earmarks by half.
Pro-Growth Policies Are Fueling The Robust U.S. Economy And Increasing Tax Revenues

The President's Tax Relief Has Spurred Robust Economic Growth, Millions Of Jobs, And Rising Wages. Immediately after the President's tax relief took full effect in 2003, economic growth accelerated and job growth resumed.

The economy has grown nearly three percent over the last four quarters � faster than any other major industrialized country.

More than 7 million American jobs have been created since August 2003.

Americans are feeling the effects of a strong economy through bigger paychecks � real wages have grown 2.3 percent in the past 12 months, well above the average of 1990s.

A Strong U.S. Economy Is Fueling Higher Tax Revenues. Tax revenues are up 11.8 percent in 2006 following a 14.6 percent increase in 2005. Receipts have increased nearly 35 percent since the tax relief was fully implemented in 2003, and 70 percent of the reduction in the deficit last year was attributable to increased tax revenues.

Better Spending Restraint Is Helping Achieve A Balanced Budget

While Funding Priorities, We Must Keep Spending Under Control. We can achieve a balanced budget while maintaining our priorities: a strong national defense; tax relief needed to keep the economy strong; enhancing energy security; making health care more affordable; and further improving the quality of education.

As We Fund Our National Priorities, We Must Continue To Restrain Spending. That means restraining spending growth, doing more with less and eliminating programs that are not getting the job done.

Earmark Reform And The Line-Item Veto Will Help Eliminate Wasteful Spending. Earmarks often lead to wasteful Federal spending.

They have tripled in number over the last decade and have increased spending by billions of dollars. The time has come for comprehensive earmark reform that brings greater transparency and accountability to the congressional budget process, including:

Disclosing the sponsors, costs, recipients and justification for each earmark;

Stopping the practice of concealing earmarks in so-called report language instead of placing them in the actual language of the bill; and

Stopping all wasteful and unnecessary earmarks, starting by cutting the number and cost of all earmarks by half.

Providing the President the power that 43 of the Nation's governors have to help tackle wasteful spending: the line-item veto.

Rising Entitlement Spending Is A Long-Term Challenge That We Must Address Now. A balanced budget better positions us to deal with the unsustainable growth in entitlement spending. While the near-term fiscal outlook is bright, entitlement reform is needed to help address our long-term budgetary challenges and ensure these vital programs are available for future beneficiaries. The President has led the way in focusing attention on this problem and in promoting real solutions, but forging a solution will require bipartisan cooperation.

Osama is 'Obama' ?




CNN is apologizing today after the cable news outlet confused Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., with terrorist Osama bin Laden in on-screen graphics last night reading, "Where's Obama?"

The error took place on Wolf Blitzer's news program, "The Situation Room, " and both Blitzer and CNN's Soledad O'Brien offered separate apologies during the network's morning show today.

CNN blamed its graphics department for what it called a "bad typographical error."

"We want to apologize for that bad typo," Blitzer said. "We also want to apologize personally to Sen. Barack Obama. I'm going to be making a call to him later this morning to offer my personal apology."

According to the Associated Press, Tommy Vieto, Obama's press secretary, said he appreciated the bloggers and activists who brought the error to light so quickly and helped make sure it was corrected.

"Though I'd note that the 's' and 'b' keys aren't all that close to each other, I assume it was just an unfortunate mistake, and don't think there was any truly malicious intent," Vieto told AP.

This is not the first time Obama has been confused with Osama bin Laden.

Obama's fellow Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts had trouble distinguishing the two at the National Press Club in January 2005.

Kennedy had given a speech and was asked a question, to which he responded: "There you go. Why don't we just ask Osama bin Laden? Uh, Osama Obama! (giggles) Obama what is � since he won by such a big amount."

Obama's past: "Pothead,Junkie"

Long before the national media spotlight began to shine on every twist and turn of his life's journey, Barack Obama had this to say about himself:

"Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. . . . I got high [to] push questions of who I was out of my mind."


The Democratic senator from Illinois and likely presidential candidate offered the confession in a memoir written 11 years ago, not long after he graduated from law school and well before he contemplated life on the national stage. At the time, 20,000 copies were printed and the book seemed destined for the remainders stacks.

Today, Obama, 45, is near the top of polls on potential Democratic presidential contenders, and "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" has regularly been on the bestseller lists, with 800,000 copies in print. Taken along with his latest bestseller, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," Obama has become a genuine publishing phenomenon.

Obama's revelations were not an issue during his Senate campaign two years ago. But now his open narrative of early, bad choices, including drug use starting in high school and ending in college, as well as his tortured search for racial identity, are sure to receive new scrutiny.

As a potential candidate, Obama has presented himself as a fresh voice offering a politics of hope. Many say he offers something new in American politics: an African American with a less-than-traditional name who has so far demonstrated broad appeal. What remains to be seen is whether the candor he offered in his early memoir will be greeted with a new-style acceptance by voters.

It was not so long ago that such blunt admissions would have led to a candidate's undoing, and there is uneasiness in Democratic circles that "Dreams From My Father" will provide a blueprint for negative attacks.

"This is not the kind of book you would ever expect a politician to write," said GOP consultant Alex Vogel. "Anyone who has a career in politics has to be concerned with what's in their past, but there is no question that Americans have an appetite for redemption."

In fact, Bush himself has been a beneficiary of those sympathies. He has suffered little criticism from his conservative base after acknowledging that he drank too much in the past and is now a teetotaler.

Obama's partisan opponents and experts said it is too early to know whether the admissions will be a liability because the public seems to be enthusiastically embracing his openness at this point. What's more, they note that it is better for a politician to disclose his own transgressions, rather than be put on the defensive by revelations.

A senior Republican strategist who will be advising a GOP presidential candidate in 2008 said he did not see anything in the book that would be a "disqualifier," but he cautioned that Obama has not yet gone through an intense vetting process and that a problem could arise if there is more to his story than he has chosen to share. The strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also suggested that there will be high tolerance for marijuana use among voters because many baby boomers probably tried the drug in the '60s.

"Who's going to cast that first stone?" asked Anita Dunn, a veteran Democratic political consultant, who has advised Obama's political committee.

Rhodes Cook, a independent political analyst, said that Democratic primary voters, who are typically more liberal, would be more understanding of his drug use -- "and if he makes it to a general election, it will be old news."

Obama's supporters said his admissions in the book could work to his advantage.

"I think it will be received as refreshing," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Obama's fellow Democrat from Illinois. "If you compare similar books, many of us in the political business tend to have selective memories."

In the book, Obama acknowledges that he used cocaine as a high school student but rejected heroin. "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though," he says.

In an interview during his Senate race two years ago, Obama said he admitted using drugs because he thought it was important for "young people who are already in circumstances that are far more difficult than mine to know that you can make mistakes and still recover.

Only 6 of 75 Cities Ready for Disaster

Only six of 75 U.S. cities and surrounding areas rate top grades for their emergency agencies' ability to communicate during a disaster, according to a federal report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

A draft portion of the report, to be released Wednesday, gives the highest ratings to Washington, San Diego, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Columbus, Ohio; Sioux Falls, S.D., and Laramie County, Wyoming.

The lowest scores went to Chicago; Cleveland, Baton Rouge, La.; Mandan, N.D., and American Samoa.

In the study, communities were judged in three categories: operating procedures in place, use of communications systems and how effectively local governments have coordinated in preparation for a disaster.

Most of the areas surveyed included cities and their surrounding communities, based on the assumption that in a major crisis emergency personnel from all local jurisdictions would respond.

The areas with the six best scores were judged "advanced" in all three categories. The cities with the lowest grades had reached the early implementation stage for only one category.

Chicago, Cleveland and Baton Rouge, for example, were judged to have accomplished the early stage of governance coordination. Mandan, N.D., and the territory of American Samoa were both found to have gotten to the early stage of their actual usage of interoperable emergency communications.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Poll: Terror Attack on U.S. Likely in 2007

Another terrorist attack, a warmer planet, death and destruction from a natural disaster. These are among Americans' grim predictions for the United States in 2007.

Only a minority of people think the U.S. will go to war with Iran or North Korea over those countries' nuclear ambitions. An overwhelming majority of those surveyed think Congress will raise the federal minimum wage. One-third see hope for a cure to cancer.

These are among the findings of an Associated Press-AOL News poll that asked people in the U.S. to contemplate what 2007 holds for the country.

Six in 10 people think the U.S. will be the victim of a terrorist attack. An identical percentage thinks it likely that a biological or nuclear weapon will be unleashed somewhere else in the world.

Seventy percent of people in the U.S. predict a major natural disaster in the country and an equal percentage expects worsening global warming. Also, 29 percent think it likely that the U.S. will withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Among other predictions for the U.S. in 2007:

35 percent predict the military draft will be reinstated.

35 percent predict a cure for cancer will be found.

25 percent anticipate the second coming of Jesus Christ.

19 percent think scientists are likely to find evidence of extraterrestrial life.
With Democrats poised to take control of Congress this week, eight in 10 people predict lawmakers will raise the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage. It would be the first increase since 1997.

Democratic leaders have proposed raising it in stages to $7.25 an hour. President Bush has said he supports the idea, with some protections for small businesses.

Fewer than half the public think it likely the U.S. will go to war with Iran or North Korea. Should it come down to that, 40 percent think the battle will be with Iran while 26 percent said North Korea.

Higher gas prices, legalized gay marriage and the possible arrival of bird flu also are seen as being in the cards.

More than 90 percent of people think higher gas prices are likely. A gallon of self-serve regular gasoline averaged $2.29 last week, compared with $3 over the summer.

Also, 57 percent said it is likely that another state will legalize gay marriage. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts; four other states offer civil unions or domestic partnerships.

People were split on whether 2007 will bring the U.S. its first bird flu case. More than 150 people worldwide have died from the disease. Health officials fear a pandemic if the virus mutates into a form easily passed from person to person.

Women generally were more likely than men to expect some of the more dire predictions to come true, such as a worldwide terrorist attack and war with Iran or North Korea. Democrats and people under 35 were more likely than Republicans and older people to say global warming will worsen in 2007.

The telephone poll of 1,000 adults was conducted Dec. 12-14 by Ipsos, an international polling firm. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.