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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (261964)	4/19/2008 9:25:44 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

If changing Social Security is as easy as you say it is, why wasn't the Bush administration successful in its attempt to loot it and privatize it? If it is only part of the federal government's general budget, why weren't they able to turn the entire amount (at least for new monies) into the equivalent of an IRA which is exactly what they wanted to do?

To: TimF who wrote (261964)	4/19/2008 9:37:49 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 281500

Pakistan's ambassador held by Taliban: TV Sat Apr 19, 2008 12:34pm EDT FACTBOX: Pakistan's kidnapped ambassador to Afghanistan 11:51am EDT Related News By Augustine Anthony ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, who went missing in February in the Khyber region, appeared on Arabic television on Saturday saying he was being held by the Taliban and urged Islamabad to meet their demands. Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin appeared in a video tape on Al Arabiya television surrounded by armed militants to make his first public statement since going missing. "We were kidnapped by mujahideen from the Taliban," the ambassador, wearing an open-necked shirt and looking calm, said in the remarks which were translated from Urdu into Arabic. "I suffer health problems such as high blood pressure and heart pains," said the bespectacled and grey-bearded ambassador, who gestured to his armed captors in an arid, hilly region. Scores of people have been kidnapped in the dangerous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the ambassador's disappearance highlighted instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan -- a major ally in the U.S.-led crackdown on militants. The Pakistani government had not publicly confirmed he had been kidnapped but a senior government official said on Saturday Azizuddin was being held by militants who were demanding the release of their arrested colleagues. In a message to Pakistan's foreign ministry undersecretary, its envoys to China and Iran, and his brother, Azizuddin said: "Because of my health condition I ... appeal to them to do all they can to preserve our lives and meet the demands of the Taliban mujahideen as soon as possible."