U.S. Should Not Scale Back Efforts In Afghanistan In Face Of Election Cancellation, Says Analyst

By Ravi Bhatia - Talk Radio News Service

Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C., told Talk Radio News Service Monday that it would be a mistake for the United States to scale back its military efforts in Afghanistan after Hamid Karzai was declared President for another term by Afghanistan’s election commission.

“The whole election debacle was a setback for international efforts in Afghanistan,” Curtis said in a telephone interview. “That said, U.S stakes in the region are far too high to allow the imperfect election to cause us to think about scaling back the mission there.”

Karzai’s competitor, Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the race Sunday, citing the risk of voter fraud.

General Stanley McChrystal has requested 44,000 more troops in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama is expected to adopt a military strategy in the coming weeks.

Republicans Concerned About Proposed Consumer Finance Protection Agency

By Ravi Bhatia-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and other Republican Congressmen delivered statements today at the U.S. Capitol opposing the proposed Consumer Finance Protection Agency.

The bill that would lead to its establishment, pushed by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), would create an agency to oversee nearly all facets of consumer lending. The Committee will vote on the bill by the end of the week.

“Increased government regulation isn’t always the answer,” Cantor said. “We need, perhaps, smart regulation, but more [isn’t always] the right solution.”

Supporters of the bill say that the agency will pull together consumer oversight powers scattered among various agencies, making consumer interests a higher priority.

“The new Consumer Financial Protection Agency that I've asked Congress to create will have just one mission:  to look out for the financial interests of ordinary Americans,” said President Barack Obama in a statement released Oct. 9. “It will be charged with setting clear rules of the road for consumers and banks, and it will be able to enforce those rules across the board.”

However, the Republicans at today's briefing are concerned that the agency will concentrate too much power into one organization, or possibly even one person.

“What has been proposed by the Democrats is a new consumer finance rationing and design authority,” said Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. “It gives one person - a credit rationing czar - the right to make all types of decisions. Of all the losers, the greatest loser, if this legislation passes, is going to be small business, because small business [is already] having trouble getting financing.”

UPDATE: By a tally of 32-29, the House Financial Services Committee voted to approve the Consumer Financial Protection Agency on Thursday.

Obama: It's Essential To Make More Credit Available To Smaller Banks

At a speech he delivered Wednesday afternoon, President Barack Obama made clear that "it is essential to make more credit available to smaller banks and community financial institutions that these businesses depend on". (0:21)

The George C. Marshall Foundation Honors Defense Secretary Robert Gates

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was honored with the George C. Marshall Foundation Award today, on the 50th anniversary of Marshall’s death. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gates both delivered remarks at the luncheon remembering Marshall's legacy.

“He has a humility and an aptitude for quiet but strong leadership, he has a devotion to the men and women of the United States military and he is a public servant with a Marshall view of the world," Clinton said of Gates.

“Thanks to George Marshall’s leadership ... the Marshall plan was as bold and visionary a demonstration of American leadership as any in our history,” said Clinton. “There didn’t seem to be a challenge that he ever faced that he couldn’t determine a way forward,” she added.

During his career, Marshall held both positions currently occupied by Secretaries Gates and Clinton. Marshall also served as U.S. Army Chief from 1939 through WWII.

“Receiving this award is a true honor. The placement of my name anywhere near that of George Marshall is incredibly humbling,” said Gates.

Robert Gates was named Secretary of Defense in December 2006. He was appointed then by President George W. Bush and was renominated earlier this year by current President Barack Obama.

Sec. of State Clinton Previews U.S. Agenda For U.N. General Assembly

By Ravi Bhatia, Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed Friday the U.S agenda for the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), touching on issues such as the Obama administration’s missile defense strategy, the conflict in the Middle East, nuclear proliferation and the threat posed by Iran.

While she read her speech at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., she discussed the “ambitious” intentions of the Obama administration at next week’s UNGA in New York, and alluded to a long term goal of a world “with no nuclear weapons.” While fielding questions, she reflected on the state of American foreign policy today.

“For many years, [the U.S] outsourced our policy and concerns about the nuclear program to others to try to intervene with and persuade Iran to change course,” she said. “So we were on the sidelines...we were just trying to figure out how to get other people to go on the field and deal with this problem and look where we are today. We’re really nowhere.”

Clinton also discussed the Obama administration’s missile defense strategy, which was retooled to focus on defending the United States and its allies in Europe from short and mid-range missile attacks. The strategy rejects the Bush administration's plan to station interceptors in the Czech Republic and Poland that were intended to stop long-range missiles that the current administration believes Iran does not have. Since Poland and the Czech Republic will no longer have land-based interceptors, the new plan eases pressure on Russia, displeasing some Republican members of Congress upon Obama’s announcement of the strategy on Thursday.

“This decision was not about Russia,” she said. “It was about Iran and the threat its ballistic missile program poses. Because of this position, we believe we will be in a far stronger position to deal with that threat and to do so with technology that works and a higher degree of confidence that what we pledge to do we can actually deliver.”

She later discussed Iran and the repercussions the country must face for not revealing its intentions to the international community for nuclear technology.

“Our concern is not Iran’s right to develop peaceful nuclear energy, but its responsibility to demonstrate that it’s program is intended exclusively for peaceful purposes,” she said. “This is not hard to do. The Iranian government seeks a sense of justice in the world, but stands in the way of the justice it seeks.”

In response to a question from Brookings Institute President Strobe Talbott, Clinton also discussed the U.S. government’s strategy for restructuring the country’s health care policy.

“It’s interesting that what we are proposing is fundamentally so conservative compared with so many of our friends and allies around the world, who do a much better job then we do in covering everybody and keeping costs down,” Clinton said. “And yet some of the political opposition is so overheated. We have to calm down here, take two aspirin, go to bed, think about it in the morning. But I’m optimistic.”