Friday, March 20, 2009

SPB News for Friday.



Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Approve Obama's Iraq Plan

Obama Admin To Honor FOIA Requests Unless Harm Foreseen

Obama Schedules Primetime News Conference For Tuesday

Obama Envoy Holbrooke Was On AIG Board

Senate Confirms Kagan As Solicitor General

LAT: Obama Wavers On Pledge To Declare Armenian Genocide

Panel Approves Johnsen For DOJ Legal Counsel Post

Obama On Energy: 'Turn Challenge Into Opportunity'

Steele Taps McCain/Romney Vet As Political Director
MPs 'deliberately' misled over causes of Iraq war, say former Government officials A Government expert in weapons of mass destruction who leaked information to the media ahead of the Iraq war has criticised MPs for failing to investigate the reasons behind the conflict. A former diplomat also said it was "disgraceful" that there had not been a formal inquiry. Brian Jones, an adviser to the Defence Intelligence Staff who gave evidence to the Hutton inquiry about the WMD claims, said that MPs had bowed to the Government in its desire not to have a formal public inquiry.

Foreign companies would get majority stake in Iraq oil and gas projects --Iraq would be open to bids from Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell for 75 percent stakes in new development projects Iraq's new government for the first time is proposing to give foreign oil companies a majority stake in projects to develop oil and gas fields. A top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki on Wednesday confirmed statements made by the Iraqi oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, in Vienna earlier in the day that foreign companies could bid for as much as 75 percent of the profit from new oil and natural gas development projects. The adviser also confirmed that Iraq might offer new and existing fields for development by foreign oil companies, outside of formal bidding rounds for new fields, which had previously been open to only a small number of major oil companies.

KBR keeps witness info concealed, lawyer says A lawyer for the parents of an electrocuted soldier on Tuesday accused defense contractor KBR Inc. of concealing information from unnamed witnesses interviewed after his 2008 death in Iraq. Court papers show those witnesses might be current or former KBR employees and subcontractors... who performed electrical work in the Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Baghdad, where Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Shaler, died Jan. 2, 2008. Records show his death is one of 18 electrocutions in Iraq since 2003.

'Torture' Guidelines to Be Made Public The Government is to reveal the guidance it gives to intelligence officers and the military about detention and interviewing of detainees overseas. In a written statement, Gordon Brown said the Intelligence Services Commissioner Sir Peter Gibson will monitor compliance with the guidance and report to him annually. The Prime Minister said he wanted to publish the guidance to protect the reputation of the country's security and intelligence services.

Judge: Abu Ghraib detainees can sue Va. contractor --Four allege torture and other crimes at the hands of CACI interrogators hired by the Army. A federal judge rejected a defense contractor's claims that it was immune from lawsuits by four alleged torture victims at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In a ruling made public Thursday, U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee rejected claims made by Arlington, Va.-based CACI that it couldn't be sued because its interrogators were performing their duties as the government required... The ruling allows four Abu Ghraib prisoners -- who were later released without being charged -- to go forward with their lawsuit against CACI.

Ex-Bush admin official: Many at Gitmo are innocent Many prisoners locked up at Guantanamo were innocent men swept up by U.S. forces unable to distinguish enemies from noncombatants, a former Bush regime official said Thursday. "There are still innocent people there," Lawrence B. Wilkerson, a Republican who was chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, told The Associated Press. "Some have been there six or seven years." Wilkerson told the AP he learned from briefings and by communicating with military commanders that the U.S. soon realized many Guantanamo prisoners were innocent but nevertheless held them in hopes they could provide information for a "mosaic" of intelligence

Commanders: US ready for any North Korean missile Two senior U.S. commanders said Thursday that the military is ready if called upon to shoot down North Korea's planned rocket launch next month. The top U.S. commander in the Pacific, Adm. Timothy Keating, told senators at a hearing that there was a "high probability" that the United States could knock down a North Korean missile. Gen. Walter Sharp, the U.S. commander in South Korea, said the threat "is real."

Gates says US may insert more spies into Pakistan US Secretary of Defence , Robert Gates, has said the US may increase its covert operations in Pakistan. Saying the operation may be necessary to defeat Taliban activity in and around Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southern Baluchistan province, he said the Obama Administration was still debating the matter.

Auto parts workers occupy closed plant in Windsor, Canada --CAW moves to block broader struggle against layoffs By Jerry White Hundreds of workers rallied yesterday in front of a Windsor, Ontario auto parts plant, which autoworkers have been occupying since Tuesday night. Workers at the Aradco factory seized control of the plant a week after its parent company, Catalina Precision Products, shut it down, throwing 90 workers out of their jobs without severance and vacation pay and other benefits.

Obama unveils $2.4-billion grant program to aid electric cars --In Pomona, Obama visits an electric-vehicle testing center and announces a program for companies to compete for grant money. He pledges to put a million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. On the second day of his tour of Southern California, President Obama highlighted his environmental jobs agenda with a visit to an electric-vehicle testing facility in Pomona, where he announced a $2.4-billion competitive grant program to make the electric vehicles more widely available.
AIG Sues US for Return of $306 Million in Tax Payments
‎The claim also covers $119 million in penalties and interest that AIG says it is due back from the government.
UN: $750b may revive world economy through environmental programs.
By at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)