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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (458671)	2/22/2009 6:51:41 PM
From: longnshort	1 Recommendation Respond to of 1588296

What is this about????? PRESIDENT HUSSEIN FORCES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO SHUT UP: DOD MUST SIGN SECRECY BUDGET VOW atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com What doesn't President Transparency want the American people to know? What is his secret plan for the military? Very scary, folks. When did the President turn emperor -- where are the checks and balances? Where are our elected officials? This is the thug administration. Memo to Dod: take a page from the leftards and LEAK! W. House: DoD Officials Must Vow Secrecy on Budget Defense News hat tip Dorothy The Obama administration has directed defense officials to sign a pledge stating they will not share 2010 budget data with individuals outside the federal government. In an undated non-disclosure agreement obtained by Defense News, the administration tells defense officials that "strict confidentiality" must be practiced to ensure a "successful" and "proper" 2010 defense budget process. The secrecy pact comes as dozens of Bush-era Pentagon appointees remain on the job, asked to stay on by the Obama administration until replacements are confirmed to ensure continuity during wartime. The Pentagon and Office of Management and Budget have agreed on a fiscal 2010 defense budget top line figure of $537 billion. That level is nearly $50 billion lower than the $585 billion defense plan created during the final months of the Bush administration, and $24 billion higher than the already enacted $513 billion 2009 defense budget. The pledge covers any data about the 2010 budget, including: "planning, programming and budgeting system documents and databases, and any other information" that concerns the administration's internal discussions about "the nature and amounts of the president's budget for fiscal year 2010, and any supplemental budget request during the current fiscal year." The administration is requiring defense officials to promise they will not divulge the kinds of information covered in the document "to any individual not authorized to receive it." "Under no circumstances will I disclose such information outside the Department of Defense and other government agencies directly involved in the defense planning and resource-allocation process, such as the Office of Management and Budget," the agreement said.

To: Alighieri who wrote (458671)	2/22/2009 8:20:27 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 1588296

U.S. drones widen attack on militants inside Pakistan In the past week, the Obama administration has expanded the covert war run by the CIA inside Pakistan, launching attacks against a militant network seeking to topple the Pakistani government. Saturday, February 21, 2009 By MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID E. SANGER The New York Times seattletimes.nwsource.com WASHINGTON — In the past week, the Obama administration has expanded the covert war run by the CIA inside Pakistan, launching attacks against a militant network seeking to topple the Pakistani government. The two missile strikes on training camps run by Baitullah Mehsud represent a broadening of the U.S. campaign inside Pakistan, which has been largely carried out by unmanned drone aircraft. Under President George W. Bush, the United States frequently attacked militants from al-Qaida and the Taliban involved in cross-border attacks into Afghanistan but stopped short of raids aimed at Mehsud and his followers, who have played less of a direct role in attacks on U.S. troops. Mehsud was identified last year by U.S. and Pakistani officials as the man who orchestrated the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister and the wife of Pakistan's current president, Asif Ali Zardari. Bush did include Mehsud's name in a classified list of militant leaders the CIA and U.S. commandos were authorized to capture or kill. It is unclear why the Obama administration decided to carry out the attacks, which U.S. and Pakistani officials said occurred last Saturday and again Monday, hitting camps run by Mehsud's network. The U.S. strikes may have been prompted by growing concern that the militant attacks are increasingly putting the civilian government of Pakistan, a nation with nuclear weapons, at risk. For months, Pakistani military and intelligence officials have complained about the U.S. refusal to strike at Mehsud, even while CIA drones struck al-Qaida figures and leaders of the network run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a militant leader believed responsible for a campaign of violence against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. According to one senior Pakistani official, Pakistan's intelligence service twice in recent months gave the United States detailed intelligence about Mehsud's location, but, he said, the United States did not act on the information. Bush administration officials had said it was the Pakistanis who were reluctant to take on Mehsud and his network. The strikes came after a visit to Islamabad last week by Richard Holbrooke, the special U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a telephone interview Friday, Holbrooke declined to talk about the attacks on Mehsud. The White House also declined to speak about Mehsud or the new strikes. Under standard policy for covert operations, the CIA strikes inside Pakistan have not been publicly acknowledged either by the Bush or Obama administrations.