Tuesday, May 29, 2012
US Commerce Department to label Arab-Americans a 'disadvantaged minority'?
US Commerce Department to label Arab-Americans a 'disadvantaged minority'?(IsraelMatzav).Silly me. I thought the influence of Arab Americans in the US was based upon their middle and upper class status. Apparently not. The US Commerce Department is now considering labeling Arab-Americans a 'disadvantaged minority' (Hat Tip: Joe L).
The Commerce Department is considering naming Arab Americans a socially and economically disadvantaged minority group that is eligible for special business assistance.You have until June 27 to let the Commerce Department know how you feel about this.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) petitioned Commerce earlier this year to ask that Arab Americans be made eligible for the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), which helps minority entrepreneurs gain access to capital, contracts and trade opportunities.
The ADC petition cited “discrimination and prejudice in American society[,] resulting in conditions under which Arab-American individuals have been unable to compete in a business world.” The group claimed discrimination against Arab Americans increased after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
I think it's pretty hard to argue that there is significant anti-Arab discrimination, at least based on the hate crime statistics. The FBI hate crime statistics for 2010 are here. See for yourselves.The ADC wants any “American who traces his or her ethnic roots to one of the countries in the Arab World, including Algeria, Bahrain, Djoubti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen” to be eligible for MBDA services. Palestinians would also be included. .Hmmmm........I thought the black community was disadvantaged considering the unemployment numbers but apparently not for Barack HUSSEIN Obama.Or is it 'payback' for leading in Michigan?Read the full story here.
Israel Security Agency Shin Bet uncovers conspiracy by radical, Hamas-linked terror group 'Holy Warriors Brigades' to kidnap Israelis
Israel Security Agency Shin Bet uncovers conspiracy by radical, Hamas-linked terror group 'Holy Warriors Brigades' to kidnap Israelis.(Ynet).The Shin Bet has recently thwarted a terror group's attempt to abduct Israeli citizens. According to information released Tuesday, the Israel Security Agency (ISA) foiled an attempt by a terror group calling itself the "Holy Warriors Brigades," whose members planned to kidnap Israelis and use them as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners.The group's operatives are from Hebron and the Gaza Strip. The ISA suspects that the operation, which was partially planned from behind prison walls, was meant to mitigate the life sentences being served by some of the terror group's members.
"The Holy Warriors Brigades" is a radical splinter group of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing. It is headed by Assad Ibrahim abu Shariya, whose brother, Omar, is imprisoned in Israel.
The group reportedly receives substantial funds and weapons form Hamas.According to available information, it was Omar who instructed his brother to form a terror cell to carry out the abduction. The operation was to be funded by a Saudi contact.
The Shin Bet said that "The Holy Warriors Brigades" have been involved in several terror attacks against Israeli targets over the past few years, including RGP fire at IDF troops, planting roadside bombs and explosives near the security fence and firing rockets at Israeli communities.Hmmmm....Will Obama keep funding Palestine with taxpayer money against Congress its wishes when Hamas is in their unity gov?Read the full story here
Congressional investigators Probe Fast-Track Approval for Obama Connected Green Companies.
Congressional investigators Probe Fast-Track Approval for Obama Connected Green Companies.(Heritage).Congressional investigators are probing potential cronyism in a pair of federal green energy programs, including the Energy Department loan program that guaranteed a $535 million loan to now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sent on Tuesday, embedded below, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), chairman of the Budget Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, ask for information on federal support for six different companies: Abengoa Solar, BrightSource Energy, First Solar, Nevada Geothermal, NextEra Energy Resources, and SolarReserve.
Sessions initially requested the information last year, but DOI has yet to respond. The letter calls the department’s silence “unacceptable.”
Session and Issa are wondering whether DOI fast-tracked regulatory approval for a spate of green energy projects with notable political connections and ties to the Obama administration.
According to a Republican aide on the Senate Budget Committee, Salazar’s department has created a two-tiered system for energy companies looking to secure federal support. “Politically favored, and often connected, renewable energy plans [receive] less rigorous review than traditional energy projects,” the aide asserted.
Each of the companies mentioned in the letter has a significant political footprint. For instance, former BrightSource CEO John Bryson is now Commerce Secretary. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was instrumental in securing federal backing for Nevada Geothermal, even pressuring Interior to fast-track the company’s loan guarantee approval process.
Steve Black, a senior official at DOI, leads the Renewable Energy Policy Group, which also includes NextEra lobbyist Manal Yamout. Black and Yamout are reportedly in a romantic relationship.
The lead lobbyist for First Solar, vice president of government relations Kathleen Weiss, has had numerous meetings at the White House, according to visitor logs. She has met with senior White House official Valerie Jarrett, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Heather Zichal, among others.
While Interior has yet to respond to the request for information on these and other companies, the appearance of political favoritism in DOI’s review of green energy projects fits with a pattern of cronyism in the administration’s “green” initiatives.Here is the full text of the letter to Salazar:
Sessions Issa Letter to Salazar.
Read the full story here.
AG Eric Holder, the IRS, and the liberal lawyers at the ACLU to brief black pastors on what may be said during campaign 2012.
AG Eric Holder, the IRS, and the liberal lawyers at the ACLU to brief black pastors on what may be said during campaign 2012.(WE).Attorney General Eric Holder, the IRS, and the liberal lawyers at the ACLU will brief several hundred pastors in the African American community on how to participate in the presidential election -- which the Congressional Black Caucus chair expects will help President Obama's campaign. "We will have representatives from nine denominations who actually pastor somewhere in the neighborhood of about 10 million people, and we're going to first of all equip them with the information they need to know about what they can say and what they cannot say in the church that would violate their 501c3 status with the IRS," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., told MSNBC today. "In fact, we're going to have the IRS administrator there, we're going to have the Attorney General Eric Holder there, we're going to have the lawyers' organization from around the country, the ACLU -- all giving ministers guidance about what they can and cannot do," he noted. Cleaver said they would not tell pastors which candidate to support. They will let them know who to regard as the bad guys, though (hint: not Democrats). "We're going to talk about some of the draconian laws that have cropped up around the country as a result of the 17 percent increase in African American votes," Cleaver said, describing voter ID laws as a form of Jim Crow-style "poll tax" on seniors and black voters.The CBC chairman is confident that "President Obama is going to get 95 percent of the [African American] vote," and wants to keep that turnout high. "We want to let them know that there is a theological responsibility to participate in the political process, at least in the Judeo-Christian tradition," he said.Hmmmm.....Obama "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother."Read the full story here.
Chasing the Sun - German and Chinese Solar Firms Battle for Survival, Obama pushes for Solar Energy.
Chasing the Sun - German and Chinese Solar Firms Battle for Survival, Obama pushes for Solar Energy.(Spiegel).Germany was proud of its supposedly future-proof solar industry and subsidized it to the hilt. But then the Chinese got in on the act and started making much cheaper solar cells. Now, following a glut in production, companies in both countries are fighting for survival.
Michael Zhu gazes at the watch he's placed in front of him on the glass table in his office. He'll have to get a move on. He has to walk over to the factory and continue to work on forcing the Germans out of the very market they've created. Zhu is the vice president of Suntech Power, which has an annual output of 10 million solar panels. No company in the world makes more than his, and no country in the world buys more than Germany. "We really have to thank Germany," says Zhu, whose office is in Wuxi, a city on China's eastern coast. He raves about Germany -- about the clean air, about the politicians who decided early on to subsidize the production of green energy, and about the country's eco-conscious customers. Nearly one-third of the modules from his factory are sold to Germany.
Reiner Beutel stands in his solar technology plant 8,500 kilometers (5,300 miles) away, in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, and says he's not prepared to simply admit defeat. "We intend to undercut the Chinese on price," says Beutel, who is CEO of German solar cell maker Sovello. He raps on the aluminum frame and says, in English: "Made in Germany." Beutel wants to save the German solar panel. Though he's fighting an uphill battle, he still believes he has a chance. Nevertheless, he was hit by yet another setback when his company filed for bankruptcy two weeks ago. Now he's hoping to find new investors who, under the more favorable terms of the insolvency proceedings, are prepared to put money into this future-oriented industry. Beutel is engaged in a fight being waged between two continents and two economic systems. In China, the communist government controls the economy, meaning that it steers and supports large, private companies, including manufacturers of solar panels, like Suntech. Its competitors, German manufacturers of solar technology, suspect that companies like Suntech have only grown so powerful thanks to government assistance and that China is providing its solar companies with cheap loans. In a sense, it's a battle of state capitalism versus market capitalism. But there's not a genuine market for solar modules in Germany, either. Instead, there's a market that politicians created in 2000 with the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), which promised tens of thousands of green jobs and now steers half of its €14 billion ($17.6 billion) in annual funding toward the solar industry. People in Germany aren't buying all these solar modules because the sun shines particularly often in their country. They're buying them because they will receive subsidies known as feed-in tariffs for the electricity for 20 years. The state has guaranteed every producer of solar power a price that was initially 50 euro cents per kilowatt hour higher than the market price. Since making solar modules is no longer difficult, more and more companies have entered the sector in recent years, not only in Germany and China, but also in Japan and Korea. However, the subsidies available in Germany have not been limited to electricity produced by German-made solar panels, as politicians did not specify where the modules should come from. In Italy, by contrast, power customers receive a bonus for installing solar panels made in Europe. As a result, the German subsidy program has had an effect across the world, and primarily in Asia. This led to a bubble in the solar-technology market. Manufacturers worldwide were soon making far more modules than customers wanted to purchase, and they started to undercut each other's prices, which fell by 50 percent last year. Since then, one manufacturer after the other has filed for bankruptcy, more than half a dozen in Germany alone since December.
Many solar-panel production facilities are in eastern Germany, in Brandenburg, Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, where Bitterfeld is located. In April, the town lost Q-Cells, the city's first and best-known solar company. Its production halls are located across from Beutel's factory in Solar Valley.
By contrast, there are 12,000 people working in the production halls underneath Zhu's office in Wuxi. Every morning and every evening, when their long shifts begin, the company picks them up with 55 shuttle buses that circulate through the various districts of this city of over 6 million.Zhu is in charge of product development, which these days mostly means he has to find a way to produce solar panels even more cheaply. Zhu's strategy for combating falling prices -- which, in turn, could lead to yet another deterioration in prices -- is "aggressive cost-cutting." The idea is for the workers to assemble the modules even more quickly. Laminating a solar panel -- that is, gluing the cells between films -- takes 18 and sometimes up to 20 minutes. Perhaps 15 minutes would be enough, Zhu says.
They also have to reduce the amount of materials they use, he says, so they've made the modules' aluminum frames even thinner. Sensing that this could prompt some criticism, he points to a document with a blue and white emblem and the words "top brand." Since just recently, his modules have been allowed to bear this emblem. It's awarded by a company that tests photovoltaic products, and the best thing about it is the fact that the tester is based in the western German city of Bonn. "A German seal of quality," Zhu says, pausing briefly for effect.As the union representative explains, whether men or women, all workers who start out at Suntech should be high school graduates and healthy. The starting wage is 2,500 yuan a month -- a bit more than €300 ($430) -- without overtime or bonuses and before tax. There are five days of paid vacation per year as well as health insurance.Germany will soon no longer be the most important market for his solar panels, Zhu says. Over the past eight years, Germany's market share of the global photovoltaic industry has dropped from nearly 70 percent to less than 20 percent. But if the Germans decide to continue supporting sales in their country for a while, he'd be happy. Inexpensive modules plus government subsidies add up to excellent deals for his German customers.The Germans have shelled out over €100 billion alone in funding for the solar panels that have been installed to date. This is paid for by all electricity customers, who will soon be shelling out 4 cents per kilowatt hour on their utility bills to support solar power. "Everyone wants to beat the competition -- that's normal," says Zhu in Wuxi. The Chinese-American entrepreneur has learned how capitalism works. When the state intervenes, he says, capitalism is always smart enough to ensure that something other than what the state wanted is ultimately achieved. No, he says, he's not afraid of the Germans anymore. What worries him are the competitors in his own country.Hmmmm.....America better be prepared to pay very high energy bills if Obama is reelected.Read the full story here.
Iran Overhauls Russian-Built Sub Tareq (Kilo SSK) with Russian weapons System?
Iran Overhauls Russian-Built Sub Tareq (Kilo SSK) with Russian weapons System?(OSG).Today, RIA Novosti reported that the Iranian Navy had finished the overhaul of Tareq, one of Iran's four Kilo (SSK) submarines acquired from Russia in the early 1990s. Unfortunately, little is currently known about what type of overhauls and upgrades have occurred since the Kilo went into the dry dock at Bandar-e Abbas. However, it was reported in 2005 that Rosoboronexport had planned to upgrade the submarines for Iran with the potential of receiving the Klub weapon system. Although such an upgrade would substantially enhance Iranian naval capabilities, what's more interesting is that maintenance (and possible upgrades) occurred locally while Iranian engineers have been working simultaneously on constructing Qaaem: Iran's 1,000+ ton submarine reportedly capable of launching subsurface-to-surface cruise missiles. It's very possible Iran may be trying to replicate the Kilo's capabilities in its own submarine construction in addition to the Klub weapon system.
While that's certainly the best case scenario for Iran, little beyond the completion of the overhaul has been actually confirmed. If Iran has been successful at acquiring the Klub, the possibility of an unreported offset agreement may have provided the technology transfer from Russia. In addition, if this type of technology can now be put into newer Iranian submarines, then Iran has certainly moved up the value chain in fabrication capabilities, something OSGEOINT has speculated on for some time.MSI on 29 January 2011 acquired from Geo Eye show Iran's Bandar-e Abbas and the position where Tareq has been under covered storage since at least 2008, possibly earlier. OSGEOINT previously reported on this activity here.
Low resolution MSI on 24 May 2012 acquired from Digital Globe show Iran's Bander-e Abbas dry docks and the absence of the covering where the previous Kilo was being overhauled. Due to low fidelity imagery, it's difficult to confirm if the submarine is still present. However, the absence of the covering may further support Tareq's launching as previously reported.
Possible Iranian upgrades to the Klub weapon
system increase Iranian capabilities in the Strait as well as provide a
strategic first strike option if Iran is able to acquire nuclear weapons. In
addition, certain upgrades may help Iran move up the value chain for future
submarine fabrication.Unfortunately, acquiring the Klub, if true, increases
Iranian threat perceptions in the West which may lead to a greater risk for
conflict.The other two Kilo-class subs are the Nooh (1993) and the Yunes (1997).Read and see the full story here.
'Allah's enemy!'Russian Radio host slash-attacked for anti-Islam rant on air.
'Allah's enemy!'Russian Radio host slash-attacked for anti-Islam rant on air.(RT).A radio host has been hospitalized after being cut 15 times by an unidentified criminal. Two weeks ago the journalist ventured to criticize the founder of Islam, the Prophet Mohammed, on air.
Sergey Aslanyan, 46, was brought to Moscow’s hospital with numerous non-penetrating knife wounds to the chest, neck and arm. According to the police report, on late Monday evening an unknown man called to Aslanyan’s flat over the building intercom and called him outside for a talk. When the journalist stepped out of the entranceway he was knocked over the head with a heavy object, after which the assailant brought the knife into play. Aslanyan claimed that the attacker was shouting “you are Allah's enemy!” while slashing at the victim. Police say the abuser was a slim man of about 30, while according to some witnesses there were several attackers.
As of now the journalist is conscious and his condition is stable. His relatives and friends are free to visit him in his flat, which is guarded by police. Investigators say they do not have a primary lead, but hope to identify the perpetrator using porch surveillance camera data. Still, Izvestia newspaper made a guess that the attack could be linked to recent statements made by the journalist in a radio show. While discussing religion in general he made some “from zero to hero” remarks towards the Prophet Mohammed. “The Prophet Mohammed, as we know, was not a religious figure. He was a businessman, but after getting considerable financial support built plans as to how to get to the top,” Aslanyan disclosed.
He also said that the Prophet “rewrote the Bible” so that “now everyone would know the Prophet Mohammed was not a market shopkeeper, but an outstanding political figure.” According to Aslanyan, the idea of Islam was a “business project from the very beginning,” and turned out to be successful due to “handsome financing.”
Besides that, the journalist, who was an external expert at this radio show, speculated that the Prophet had some sort of sexual disorder. Reportedly, the journalist later apologized on air for the harsh statements he had made, but that did not change public opinion much.Despite being disappointed with the journalist’s position, representatives of the Muslim clergy of Tatarstan refused to have anything to do with the assault on the journalist. “Islam does not recognize the resort to force – for this there are authorities and courts,” the spokesperson of the Clerical Administration of the Republic of Tatarstan told Izvestia. The radio host’s colleagues say Sergey Aslanyan was always extremely cautious about what he was saying and, despite being a well-known agitator, had never got into trouble and had even won several cases against him in court – only because of his close attention to the facts he was voicing.Hmmmm......Did you hear of any 'Russian Orthodox' believers slashing up members of the 'Pussy Riot' group?Read the full story here.
Obama’s Memorial Day Photo-Op Blocks Families, Vets From D.C. Vietnam Memorial Wall For 7 Hours
Obama’s Memorial Day Photo-Op Blocks Families, Vets From D.C. Vietnam Memorial Wall For 7 Hours.(5440Fight).Obama’s secret service shut down the memorial for most of the day, as families and veterans who had come to pay their respects to fallen loved ones were forced to stay hundreds of feet away. Why? So that the Narcissist-in-Chief could show up for 15-minute speech and photo-op with his carefully selected fans in the audience.
In his
Wow. How did our veterans ever get their benefits before the benevolent Obamessiah came to office? Is that his argument for why they should vote for him? Because their benefits are only available “as long as I’m president?”
Perhaps he’s hoping they’ll forget that he he suspended hazard pay for deployed U.S. troops, terminated 157 Air Force Majors without retirement benefits,, and proposed a budget that would cut healthcare benefits for active duty and retired US military while protecting union benefits.
Kristinn at Free Republic confirms the story:
So this is how Obozo honors those who served….I just had this passed on from a friend who was at the wall this morning:
I normally try to avoid political statements, but this one is a bit different. This was received by Colonel Wayne Morris just a few moments ago, who was refused access to the Vietnam War Memorial, where he has visited his fallen comrades for the last 15 years. Today is Memorial Day and I went to the Vietnam Memorial and something happened there that upset me greatly and I want to pass it on. For over 15 years I had been going with my dear Marine buddy, Larry Cullen. Since he passed away last year and was interned at Arlington Cemetery, I went this year accompanied by my grandson, Cameron. I had my list of Recon Marines, school classmates, and Larry’s fallen buddies to visit but, as we got close to the area of the National Mall where the Wall is located, we saw huge white tents. We also saw barricades all along Constitution Ave and for a couple blocks in each direction from the Wall. They even closed down all of Constitution Av from the Lincoln Memorial all the way to the WW-II Memorial and there was a virtual army of uniformed and plain-clothes security everywhere. The biggest tent was right at the west end of the Wall entrance and there was a covered walkway leading right up to The Wall. It was so close, you couldn’t get to the Wall on that side so, my grandson and I went all the way around to the eastern entrance to the Wall and walked down along the Wall to the first of my names and I began telling my grandson about my buddies and how each one died. In short order, a guy in a dark suit and earpiece in his ear told us we had to leave as it was 0730 and they were closing Memorial until at least 1400 so the President could drop by. I asked if he was serious and he assured me he was. We and all the other veterans and families were forced to leave and it was locked down. The Vietnam Memorial is the most visited site on the entire National Mall. Memorial Day has more visitors to the Vietnam Memorial than almost any other day. Even at the rather early hour Cameron and I were there, there were a lot of veterans and family members down there. In the midst of all that, Obama decides to close it for over seven hours just so he can roll by for 30 minutes in the afternoon for a campaign appearance with Democrats, supporters, and campaign donors? This is an incredulously arrogant, egotistical, and inconsiderate thing to do. What in hell was Obama thinking? Hey President Obama: Since you ran me (and all the other veterans and family members) out of the Memorial before we finished our business there, how about doing me a favor. If you can take a short break from all the grippin’, grinnin’, posin’ and pontificatin’, how about taking a minute or two to stop by and say hello to my fellow Recon Marines and other classmates on the Wall. I suspect you’ll be too busy with photo ops, campaigning, and stroking donors to be troubled with a couple minutes doing what the Memorial was built for but, just in case, here’s a list so you can have your man find them and point them out to you. Hope you have a Meaningful Memorial Day.
Joseph J. JONES; 53-W-02
Sherwood David Kreis, 42-W-40
Dale Kagebein, 34-W-50
Jerry Bock, 25-W-95
Larry Daniels, 09-E- 66
Joe Mack Kemp, 09-E-69
Rhonda L. Raglan, 09-E-70
Robert L. Studards, 09-E-71
Jose D. Flores, 09-E-74
Arthur Willie Greene, 14-E-56
Eric Barnes, 17-E-41
Godfried Blankenship, 17-E-48
Michael Ray Smith, 19-E-113
Ervin Lovell, 19-E-120
William D. Martin, 25-E- 87
Michael L. Laporte, 26-E-1
Ronald Frederick Kitzke, 32-E-76
Charles Harris, 34-E-48
Robert Tracy, 34-E-72
Michael G. Murdock, 36-E-57Maybe it would have been better for everyone if Obama had just gone golfing like last year. Unfortunately, this is what veterans and their families have to suffer when Obama is in full campaign mode.No wonder a recent Gallup poll showed veterans prefer Mitt Romney to Obama, 58% to 34%.Read the full story here.
Obama: “America will be there for you", Rising number of homeless female US veterans.
Obama: “America will be there for you", Rising number of homeless female US veterans.(WP).By Annie Gowen.Four years ago, Veronica Witherspoon was stationed in Baghdad, enduring roiling sandstorms and nearly daily rocket fire as she worked as a Navy petty officer at Camp Victory.
By January, she had left the military, lost her job as a civilian contractor, split with her husband and ended up virtually homeless, bunking with family members. Deeply ashamed of her predicament and desperate for a way out, she ran across a story on a military Web site about a new program for female veterans called Final Salute.
The shelter for female vets opened its doors in a quiet Fairfax County cul-de-sac in November. The group home, the brainchild of an Army captain who was once homeless, is one of a small but growing number of women-only shelters that have opened up across the country to cater to a rising number of women who have wound up on the street after their military service.
In recent years, the Department of Veterans Affairs has made strides in a campaign to end veteran homelessness by 2015. Although the overall number of homeless veterans declined 12 percent between 2010 and 2011, the number of homeless female veterans is increasing, the VA said in a draft report this month. Women are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless veteran population.Officially, homeless female veterans number 3,328, a figure that doubled from 2006 to 2010, according to an estimate from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO says the data are incomplete and that the number is probably higher. Many of these homeless women are mothers, middle-aged or suffering from a disability.
Last year, the VA served an estimated 14,847 female veterans who were homeless, formerly homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, according to Stacy Vasquez, deputy director of the department’s homeless-veterans initiative.Hmmmm........Obama:"As long as I’m president, we will make sure you and your loved ones will receive the benefits you’ve earned and the respect you deserve,” Obama said. “America will be there for you."Read the full story here.
Michelle Obama sponsors Navy’s first submarine with all-female crew.
Michelle Obama sponsors Navy’s first submarine with all-female crew.(TheHill).The USS Illinois, the first Navy submarine to be staffed by an all-female crew, received the support of the White House on Memorial Day. On Monday, First Lady Michelle Obama officially sponsored the Virginia-class submarine, which will be one of the newest nuclear-powered boats scheduled to enter the fleet by 2015, according to a White House statement. “It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as sponsor of the USS Illinois,” the first lady said, according to the statement. “This submarine is a tribute to the strength, courage, and determination that our Navy families exhibit every day." The Illinois is the second ship the First Lady has sponsored since coming to the White House. She sponsored the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, based in Alameda, California, earlier this year, according to administration officials. Former First Lady Laura Bush sponsored another Virginia-class attack sub, named the USS Texas, in 2004. In 1994, then First Lady Hillary Clinton sponsored the Los Angeles-class sub USS Columbia. Obama's endorsement of the Illinois, particularly its all-female crew, comes as women in the military are pushing the Pentagon for a larger role in combat operations. The Pentagon announced in February that it was opening up 14,000 new positions, most in the Army, to women after a review of its policies on women in combat. But the Defense Department kept in place a ban on women serving in units below the battalion level with primary combat roles and specialties like infantry or special-operations units.Read the full story here.
Assad meets Annan on heels of massacre; Russia:Both sides have blood on their hands.
Assad meets Annan on heels of massacre;Russia:Both sides have blood on their hands.(AlArabiya).Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with peace envoy Kofi Annan, the state news agency SANA said on Tuesday, following a massacre which Syria’s government blamed on Islamist militants, while the global body suggested government forces played a role. Annan is attempting to salvage a six-week-old peace plan that has U.N. and Arab League backing, but which has barely slowed the bloodshed in a 14-month-old uprising against Assad that began with mass protests and now has an armed insurgency. As many as 21 people have been killed by the gunfire of Syrian forces on Tuesday, Al Arabiya reported citing activists at the Syrian Revolution Commission.
The Syrian National Council (SNC), meanwhile, urged the United Nations and the Security Council to apply Article 7 regarding the protection of civilians in Syria and to force the Syrian regime to implement the international decisions, Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday. The SNC criticized the Security Council’s statement on al-Houla massacre, noting that it is so weak compared to the grave massacres committed by the regime. The SNC called for providing the Syrians liable tools for self-defense, after the international community failed to protect them. The SNC also criticized the Syrian stand in the U.N. and called on Moscow to frankly support the Syrian people and endorse their right to choose their political regime, according to Al Arabiya. The SNC also called on Annan to announce the failure of his plan, especially after the Houla massacre. In Damascus on Monday, Annan called on the authorities to act to end the killing after what the special envoy called the “appalling crime” late last week at Houla, near Hama, in which at least 108 people, many of them children, were killed. Russia and China, long defenders of Assad against Western lobbying for U.N. sanctions, backed a non-binding Security Council text on Sunday that criticized the use against the town of artillery and tanks -- weaponry Syria’s rebels do not have. But on a day when opposition activists said at least another 41 people had died in shelling of the city of Hama, Moscow and Beijing showed little sign of adopting the Arab and Western view that Assad should go.
Both sides must come together to ensure a peaceful resolution, Russian and Chinese officials said, according to Reuters. Annan called on the Syrian government to “take bold steps to signal that it is serious in its intention to resolve this crisis peacefully” before adding: “This message of peace is not only for the government, but for everyone with a gun.” In an open letter to the Security Council, Syria’s Foreign Ministry flatly denied any army role in the killings at Houla, an atrocity that shook world opinion out of growing indifference to a 14-month-old conflict that has killed over 10,000. Instead, the government blamed knife-wielding Islamist militants. “Not a single tank entered the region and the Syrian army was in a state of self-defense,” it said in the letter published by state media. “Anything other than this is pure lies.” “The terrorist armed groups ... entered with the purpose of killing and the best proof of that is the killing by knives, which is the signature of terrorist groups who massacre according to the Islamist way.” It said three Syrian soldiers were killed and 16 wounded.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had said U.N. observers who visited the site after the massacre “saw artillery and tank shells and as well as fresh tank tracks,” adding that many buildings were destroyed by heavy weapons. But U.N. monitors could not determine who had shot and stabbed many of the dead. Witnesses and opposition activists said Assad’s forces, including “shabbiha” militiamen from his Alawite minority sect, carried out the massacre of the Sunni Muslim civilians in Houla.
The sectarian dimension to a conflict that began with mainly peaceful demonstrations among the Sunni majority has raised fear of a breakdown of society similar to that seen in Iraq -- fear which has drawn many Syrians, including wealthier Sunnis, into defense of the four decade-rule of the Assad family. However, in a sign of cracks in that solidarity, activists reported a widespread shuttering of shops and market stalls in the capital on Monday in what they described as a protest by the Sunni merchant class over the killings at Houla and elsewhere. One activist, Amer Momen, said security police forced open dozens of shops. But he added: “The merchants are a crucial power center,... the core of the silent majority. If they no longer remain silent, then the revolt has hit a milestone.” China said it was “deeply shocked by the large number of civilian casualties in Houla, and condemns in the strongest terms the cruel killings of ordinary citizens, especially women and children.” Premier Wen Jiabao said support for the Annan truce, and a peaceful resolution, should be stepped up. That deal calls for heavy weapons to be pulled out of towns and cities, followed by an end to fighting, and dialogue. But the attack on Hama was a reminder that the plan, policed by just 300 U.N. monitors, has done little to stem the violence. “We are dealing with a situation in which both sides evidently had a hand in the deaths of innocent people,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.Read the full story here.
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