Terror Watch

Panel calls for new war powers legislation

07.08.08 -- 5:51 AM

By ANNE FLAHERTY - AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former secretaries of state James Baker III and Warren Christopher say the next time the president goes to war, Congress should be required to say whether it agrees. The co-chairmen of a bipartisan study group have proposed legislation that would require the president to consult lawmakers before initiating combat lasting longer than a week, except in cases of emergencies. In turn, Congress would have to act within 30 days, either approving or disapproving of the action.

The plan, outlined by Baker and Christopher in an essay published Tuesday in The New York Times, would not necessarily prevent future debate on the so-called "war powers" issue. Instead, it would create a new consultative process between the White House and Congress to help prevent a potential constitutional showdown.

Adviser denies Obama showed naiveté on Jerusalem

06.18.08 -- 6:08 AM

By Claudia Parsons - Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama misused a "code word" in Middle East politics when he said Jerusalem should be Israel's "undivided" capital but that does not mean he is naive on foreign policy, a top adviser said on Tuesday.

Addressing a pro-Israel lobby group this month, the Democratic White House hopeful said: "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."

The comment angered Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of a future state. "He has closed all doors to peace," Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said after the June 4 speech.

Obama Meets With National Security Advisory Group

06.18.08 -- 5:52 AM

By NEDRA PICKLER - AP

Barack Obama is answering a question he faced often on the campaign trail. Whom would he turn to for advice when making foreign policy decisions?

The Democratic White House hopeful has scheduled the inaugural meeting Wednesday of what he's calling his Senior Working Group on National Security. It includes former members of Congress and high-ranking Clinton administration officials.

Among them are three who advised Hillary Rodham Clinton and had served in her husband's Cabinet - former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher and former Defense Secretary William Perry.

Obama also was meeting Wednesday with nearly 40 retired admirals and generals to discuss the state of the military and the challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Attorney General would consider spy bill deal

03.21.08 -- 8:44 PM

By Richard Cowan - Reuters

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said on Friday he was open to compromise with Congress on renewing an anti-terrorism spy bill that has been deadlocked over whether telephone companies should be shielded from lawsuits.

"If somebody has some brilliantly creative compromise, I'm happy to hear that," Mukasey told reporters.

His remarks came one week after the Democratic-led House of Representatives ignored White House veto threats and passed a bill permitting lawsuits against phone companies that participated in President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program that was secretly launched after the September 11 attacks.

Report: 1 In Every 99 Americans Now Behind Bars

02.28.08 -- 10:49 AM

By CBS/AP

Don't ask the U.S. prison system if this is indeed "the land of the free."

For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population.

The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

Bin Laden and Omar operating in Pakistan: U.S. official

02.08.08 -- 5:34 PM

By Tabassum Zakaria - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders are directing insurgency operations in Afghanistan from the Pakistani city of Quetta, while al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is operating from Pakistan's tribal areas, a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday.

Bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and others are operating out of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

"Just as Mullah Omar is giving strategic direction for the Taliban from Quetta, al Qaeda senior leadership is in the FATA doing its planning," the official said, without giving the source of the intelligence.

"The iconic leaders of al Qaeda -- Zawahri, bin Laden and people like (Abu Laith) al-Libi are in the tribal areas of Pakistan," the official added.

Qaeda recruit Padilla sentenced to 17 years

01.22.08 -- 5:46 PM

By Reuters

Jose Padilla, a Chicago gang member once accused by the Bush administration of plotting a radioactive bomb attack, was sentenced by a U.S. court on Tuesday to 17 years and four months in prison for supporting terrorism.

Padilla and two co-defendants were convicted in August on charges of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people abroad, conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism, and providing material support for terrorism.

The case tested U.S. presidential authority in the war against terrorism and the convictions were hailed by the Bush administration as an important reminder of the threat the nation faced.

Iran says Bush's accusations "words without value"

01.14.08 -- 9:08 AM

By Reuters

Iran denounced on Monday as "words without value" President George W. Bush's remarks that the Islamic state was threatening security around the world by backing militants.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, Bush said Iran was the world's top sponsor of terrorism and accused it of undermining peace by supporting the Hezbollah guerrilla group in Lebanon, Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Shi'ite militants in Iraq.

"Bush should understand that the hatred towards his policies exists ... it has real and logical roots," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted as saying by state radio.

"Bush's remarks display his desperation and disappointment because of his failures in the region ... He is trying to divert attention from his failed policies," he said, adding Bush's comments were "repeated words without value".

The military's reliance on unmanned aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents has soared

01.02.08 -- 7:24 AM

By Associated Press

The military's reliance on unmanned aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents has soared to more than 500,000 hours in the air, largely in Iraq, The Associated Press has learned. And new Defense Department figures obtained by The AP show that the Air Force more than doubled its monthly use of drones between January and October, forcing it to take pilots out of the air and shift them to remote flying duty to meet part of the demand.

The dramatic increase in the development and use of drones across the armed services reflects what will be an even more aggressive effort over the next 25 years, according to the new report.

The jump in Iraq coincided with the build up of U.S. forces this summer as the military swelled its ranks to quell the violence in Baghdad. But Pentagon officials said that even as troops begin to slowly come home this year, the use of Predators, Global Hawks, Shadows and Ravens will not likely slow.

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

12.27.07 -- 11:13 AM

By Associated Press

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday by an attacker who shot her after a campaign rally and then blew himself up. Her death stoked new chaos across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.

At least 20 others were also killed in the attack on the rally for Jan. 8 parliamentary elections where the 54-year-old Bhutto had just spoken.

Her supporters erupted in anger and grief after her killing, attacking police and burning tires and election campaign posters in several cities. At the hospital where she died, some smashed glass and wailed, chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf.

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