International:Thousands of U.S. weapons given to Iraq missing
The Pentagon cannot account for 14,030 weapons -- almost 4 percent of the semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons it began supplying to Iraq since the end of 2003. The missing weapons will not be easy to track. The Defense Department registered the serial numbers of about 10,000 of the 370,251 weapons it provided -- less than 3 percent. Missing from the Defense Department's inventory books were 13,180 semiautomatic pistols, 751 assault rifles and 99 machine guns. The audit on logistics capabilities said there is a "significant risk" that the Iraqi Interior Ministry "will not be capable of assuming and sustaining logistics support for the Iraqi local and national police forces in the near term." That support includes equipment maintenance, transportation of people and gear, and health resources for troops and police. Full story located here.
CapitolHillBlue, however, has a conflicting report stating that a quarter-million American weapons are missing in Iraq and the U.S. military cannot account for about 278,000 weapons destined for 325,500 members of the Iraqi Security Forces. Link here.
Iran warns of response to nuke sanctions
Iran's firebrand president warned on Monday that his country would respond with an "appropriate and firm response" to any U.N. sanction over its nuclear program. The comments by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came as key United Nations Security Council members were considering a draft European resolution that would impose punishing measures on Iran over its disputed nuclear program.
"Efforts by the big powers will only incite anger and hatred," the hard-line leader told a large crowd on the outskirts of Tehran. "The Iranian nation will respond to restrictive activities with an appropriate and firm response," he said without elaborating. Read more here
Cheney Claims That Insurgents Are Timing Attacks to Influence U.S. Elections
Today on Fox News’ Your World With Neil Cavuto, Vice President Dick Cheney said it was his belief that insurgents were increasing their violence to try to influence the midterm elections. (Watch the video)
President Bush has admitted this that there isn’t “any intelligence” that suggests terrorists are trying to influence U.S. elections. Also, Maj. Douglas Powell, a military spokesman in Baghdad, told United Press International that there was no intelligence for the claim.
While there is no reported intelligence for Iraqi insurgents trying to sway the current election, the CIA did conclude that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda tried to manipulate the 2004 elections with the release of a videotape message. But the intelligence indicated that terrorists were trying to help Bush win re-election — not aid his opponents. Media Matters, citing Ron Suskind’s One Percent Doctrine, notes that CIA analysts concluded that bin Laden’s message in the days before the Nov. 2004 contest “was clearly designed to assist the President’s reelection.”
National:
Reality Check
Yesterday on ABC's "This Week," host George Stephanopoulos asked House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) if he thought Rumsfeld should go. "Rumsfeld is the best thing that's happened to the Pentagon in 25 years," Boehner replied (see video here). "Let's not take the problems in Iraq, the tough fight that we're in there and blame it on anyone." Other conservatives have called for Rumsfeld's resignation. "Secretary Rumsfeld offered his resignation on two separate occasions to the president of the United States," Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said last week during a televised debate. "The president refused. If I had been in his place I would have accepted it." Rep. Anne Northrup (R-KY) added, "I don't want to depend on the same team, meaning Rumsfeld." Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), Senate candidates Mike McGavick (R-WA), and Tom Kean, Jr. (R-NJ) have said Rumsfeld should step aside, as have Reps. Pat Tiberi (R-OH) and JoAnn Davis (R-VA). Yesterday, Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) responded to Rumsfeld telling his critics they should "relax" and "understand that it's complicated, it's difficult." "Now, I would just say that the president and the Congress, however the election comes out, will have a lot to do with our leadership and who does what," Lugar said. "But for the moment, it seems to me we've got to keep our eye on the ball. It is urgent. We cannot relax."
Pentagon sets up a media “bullpen.”
The Defense Department has set up a new unit to fight “inaccurate” news stories, using “new media” channels to push its message. CNN reports that the unit would likely be run by political appointees.
…In Other News
The U.S. military on Monday announced the death of the 100th servicemember killed in Iraq this month. October is the fourth deadliest month for American troops since the war began.
Returning to Baghdad after a year's absence, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony Shadid found the city "now is convulsed by hatred, paralyzed by suspicion; fear has forced many to leave. Carnage its rhythm and despair its mantra, the capital, it seems, no longer embraces life." Shadid writes, civil war is "perhaps too easy a term, a little too tidy."
State Department career diplomats are in an uproar over the recent appointment of Diane Zeleney, a mid-level civil servant, to a top job running the new Public Diplomacy Rapid Response office in Brussels. Zeleny lacks the usual veteran experience, but is married to Reuel Marc Gerecht, a neocon author who was an early participant in the Project for the New American Century.
From The Right:
Nathan Tabor: What's really scary this Halloween
This Halloween I find myself contemplating something scarier than any Halloween fright mask -even a Nancy Pelosi "Speaker of the House" mask. It's the thought of how money is spent in the name of educating the next generation
From The Left:
The Independent UK: Bush and Blair: Two Leaders Searching for a Way out of Iraq, and Finding NoneTheir credibility undermined, their moral authority shot, their populatrity in tatters, yet still they fight on. Rupert Cornwell on the bleakest week of the bloodiest month for the war leaders.
Thought To Ponder:
On the morning of 9/11/01, five war games and terror drills were being conducted by several U.S. defense agencies, including one "live fly" exercise using REAL planes. Then-Acting Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard B. Myers, admitted to 4 of the war games in congressional testimony -- see transcript here or video here (6 minutes and 12 seconds into the video).
Quote of the Day:
A surreal facet of the Iraq fiasco is the lag between when a fact becomes obvious and when the fiasco's architects acknowledge it.
George F. Will (preview his Nov 6th newsweek column here)
(Sources: CNN, ThinkProgress, FOXNews, TownHall, st911.org, WashingtonTimes, TruthOut, CBSNews, USAToday, AP, NYTimes, WashingtonPost, Drudge, MediaMatters, CapitolHillBlue, MSNBC, UPI, BBC, Newsweek)
No comments:
Post a Comment