International:Groups: Bin Laden plans video on 9/11
Osama bin Laden will release a new video in the coming days ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in what would be the first new images of the terror mastermind in nearly three years, al-Qaida's media arm announced Thursday.
Analysts noted that al-Qaida tends to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary with a slew of messages, and the Department of Homeland Security said it had no credible information warning of an imminent threat to the United States.
Still, bin Laden's appearance would be significant. The al-Qaida leader has not appeared in new video footage since October 2004, and he has not put out a new audiotape in more than a year, his longest period without a message. Get the whole story here.
Norwegian, British Fighters Scramble to Monitor Russian Bombers
Norwegian and British fighters scrambled Thursday to intercept eight Russian bombers that neared the Nordic country's territory in the latest show of air power by the Kremlin, defense officials said.
The Tu-95 strategic bombers rounded Norway's northern tip over the Barents Sea and flew south over the North Atlantic before turning back, Norwegian defense officials said.
The Russian planes, known as "Bears" in NATO lingo, stayed inside international air space during the maneuvers, which officials described as an assertion of Russia's increasingly assertive posture on the world stage.
"This is a message that Russia is back as a superpower," Norwegian Deputy Defense Minister Espen Barth Eide said. Read more here.
US force levels in Iraq have grown to an all-time high of 168,000 troops, a senior Pentagon official said Thursday, as the US administration gears up to defend its surge strategy before Congress.
Major General Richard Sherlock, director of operational planning for the Joint Staff, said the higher number of troops was the result of overlapping troop deployments.
The total rose from 162,000 troops, the previous high of the nearly four and a half year old war.
Oil price tests at all-time high
The price of oil has risen close to a record level, putting more pressure on Opec to give a positive signal about production levels at its meeting in Vienna next week.
The price increase was triggered by claims that Israeli warplanes had penetrated Syrian airspace.
Patraeus For President?
The GOP presidential field seemed complete last night when former senator Fred Thompson finally announced he was jumping into the race. But apparently the right-wing isn’t satisfied with its choices and is hoping that the race may have room for one more candidate — Gen. David Petraeus.
Today, the New York Sun has an editorial entitled “Petraeus for President?” In the piece, the editorial writers pen the speech they would like Petraeus to give on the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
America Under Invasion ... by Mexican Trucks
Mexican trucks are rolling over the U.S. border, freely bound for anywhere in America, and it seems that nothing -- not furious Teamsters nor angry environmentalists, not even Congress -- can stop them.
Are the drivers properly licensed and sober or well-rested with the legal amount of down time? Do they speak English or understand U.S. road signs? Will the trucks be carrying illegal immigrants, drugs, terrorists, nuclear or biological weapons or other contraband? Will they belch tons of banned pollutants into America’s air? Will lower-paid Mexican drivers put American truckers out of work? Will the trucks gut the tax base which supports the U.S. highway infrastructure?
Frankly, no one knows. But, like it or not, the trucks are rolling. It’s a done deal. Details...
'08 Democrats reuse, recycle rivals' best lines
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, the Democratic presidential hopefuls sure do like each other — a lot.
As the candidates meet on debate stages across the country and speak to voters in town squares, they have adopted many of the same refrains. Read on by clicking here.
Fed injects 31.25 billion dollars MORE into markets
The Fed has injected some 200 billion dollars into the financial system since August 9 in a bid to boost credit flows which have seized up due to problems linked to the distressed US mortgage market. [did you know that the Federal Reserve was NOT "Federal"?] Read more here...
In Other News…
Intelligence analysts dispute the Bush administration's claims that sectarian violence has dropped in Iraq, noting the selective way the military categorizes deaths. "If a bullet went through the back of the head, it's sectarian," a senior intelligence official said. "If it went through the front, it's criminal."
"[T]he program devised to rebuild Iraq at the provincial level has gone through three directors in the past four months, and much of the staff hired to organize the effort in Baghdad has left." Just "29 of the 610 people deployed in Iraq as part of the provincial reconstruction program have extensive knowledge of Arabic culture, history and language."
Intelligence analysts dispute the Bush administration's claims that sectarian violence has dropped in Iraq, noting the selective way the military categorizes deaths. "If a bullet went through the back of the head, it's sectarian," a senior intelligence official said. "If it went through the front, it's criminal."
"[T]he program devised to rebuild Iraq at the provincial level has gone through three directors in the past four months, and much of the staff hired to organize the effort in Baghdad has left." Just "29 of the 610 people deployed in Iraq as part of the provincial reconstruction program have extensive knowledge of Arabic culture, history and language."
Identifying 171 "performance expectations," a new report from the Government Accountability Office concludes that the "Homeland Security Department has failed to meet even half its performance expectations in the four years it has been in existence."
From The Right: Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: Hillary's Hypocrisy The winner of the Hypocrite of the Year award goes to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). Even though the year is far from over and is likely to have its fair share of hypocrisy, Mrs. Clinton?s comment on the need to compromise to achieve political and social progress has to outclass any other current or future entrant.
From the Left: CBSNews/ AP: Judge Strikes Down Parts of Patriot Act CBS News and The Associated Press report that "a federal judge struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional Thursday, saying courts must be allowed to supervise cases where the government orders Internet providers to turn over records without telling customers."
Quote Of The Day: So good I had to make it a video...
(Sources: TownHall, TruthOut, AP, FOXNews, ThinkProgress, NewsMax, DrudgeReport, NYT, Breitbart, NYSun, FinancialTimes, PoliticalWire, YouTube)
From the Left: CBSNews/ AP: Judge Strikes Down Parts of Patriot Act CBS News and The Associated Press report that "a federal judge struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional Thursday, saying courts must be allowed to supervise cases where the government orders Internet providers to turn over records without telling customers."
Quote Of The Day: So good I had to make it a video...
(Sources: TownHall, TruthOut, AP, FOXNews, ThinkProgress, NewsMax, DrudgeReport, NYT, Breitbart, NYSun, FinancialTimes, PoliticalWire, YouTube)
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