Clinton Downplays Karzai Comments

By Lisa Kellman

During an appearance Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attempted to downplay Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s claim that his country would side with Pakistan if the neighboring nation was threatened by the U.S.

Amidst uproar from many congress members, Clinton assured that America and Afghanistan were on good terms.

President Karzai and I had a very productive meeting when I was in Kabul last week” said Clinton, “We are making progress on a lot of issues and we are coordinating closely on both fighting the insurgents and trying to test out this Afghan-lead reconciliation.”

After Clinton heard Karzai’s comment, she sent Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, to uncover the truth behind the statement.  Karzai, he reported, was talking about the long history of cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“It was not at all about a war that anyone was predicting and it was both taken out of context and misunderstood,” said Clinton.

Clinton informed the committee that during her recent visit to the middle east, she explained to Pakistan and Afghanistan the need to fight terrorists like the Haqqani Network and build capacity and opportunity  for lasting stability and security.

Committee members, however, continued to voice concerns over America’s future relations with those in the region.

“Its hard to be optimistic” conceded Committee Chairman Ros-Lehtinen.  “All the options on the table appear deeply unappetizing. All run the risk of being ineffectual, counterproductive, or both.”

“It was not at all about a war that anyone was predicting and it was both taken out of context and misunderstood,” said Clinton.

Clinton informed the committee that during her recent visit to the middle east, she explained to Pakistan and Afghanistan the need to fight terrorists like the Haqqani Network and build capacity and opportunity  for lasting stability and security.

Committee members, however, raised concerns over America’s future relations with those in the region.

“Its hard to be optimistic” conceded Committee Chairman Ros-Lehtinen on the future of Americas relations with the middle east.  “All the options on the table appear deeply unappetizing.  All run the risk of being ineffectual, counterproductive, or both.”

Bush Returns To His Old "Hood," Announces Women's Health Initiative

By Adrianna McGinley 

President George W. Bush returned to Washington on Wednesday where he announced a new initiative aimed at preventing and treating cervical and breast cancer in developing nations.

Together with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Joint United Nations Prgramme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the George W. Bush Institute announced the “Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon” initiative, which will introduce accessible women’s health care in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The program begins with initial commitments of at least $75 million over five years and comes on the heels of PEPFAR’s success in combating HIV/AIDS in developing nations.

“There’s been a lot of progress made,” Bush said in reference to HIV prevention and treatment, “but there’s still a lot of problems that remain, and one such problem is cervical cancer. Turns out many women who seek AIDS services face the challenge of cervical cancer. It’s not enough to save a woman from AIDS and have her die from cervical cancer, it’s just unacceptable.”

President Bush also addressed those who claim the U.S. is not responsible for disease prevention in other nations.

“We got our own problems here at home, they say. This is isolationism which is dangerous, it’s dangerous because one of the lessons of September the 11th is what happens overseas matters here at home. When there’s hopelessness it affects the security of the United States of America…and there’s nothing more hopeless to a child who loses a mom or dad to AIDS to watch the wealthy nations of the world sit back and do nothing.”

Also speaking at the event were Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Susan G. Komen for the Cure CEO and Founder Nancy Brinker, who also serves as U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control.

“My sister Suzy made me promise I would do everything I could to help women not die of breast cancer, but that promise wasn’t limited to our borders, it was for all women, because where you live shouldn’t determine whether you live,” Brinker said. “We can’t afford to wait, the urgency of this crisis grows by the hour…More than 60 percent of all deaths by cancer occur in low and middle income countries, yet only 5 percent of the global resources are spent in the developing world.”

African leaders and doctors involved with the program were also present at the event and reiterated the urgency and need for this kind of assistance. 

White House Downplays Rumors Of An Obama-Clinton Ticket

The White House is attempting to play down rumors that President Obama could consider picking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as his running-mate in the 2012 Presidential election.

“It is … absolutely untrue,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters during a gaggle Wednesday. “It’s not a discussion that’s happening.”

Although rumors that Clinton could replace current Vice President Joe Biden have circulated since the early days of the administration, an interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward on CNN Wednesday evening, wherein Woodward said the idea was on the table, reignited them.

Gibbs emphasized Wednesday that Biden continues to play a key role in the administration.

“The President would tell you that the decision to pick Joe Biden to be the Vice President was one of the best decisions he’s made,” Gibbs said. “Joe Biden is doing an extraordinary job handling an array of very difficult issued.”

The Press Secretary added that he was unsure where the rumors sprang from.

“This was a little bit of a head scratcher,” he said.

Obama: Koran Burning Is ‘Contrary To Our Values’

President Barack Obama weighed in Thursday on a Florida pastor’s proposal to burn copies of the Koran this Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

“If he’s listening, I hope [Pastor Terry Jones] understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans,” Obama said during an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that aired this morning. “I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women who are in uniform,” the president added.

Obama certainly is not the first major political leader to comment on the controversy, yet he may have had good reason to show up late to this particular party. His remarks during an Iftar dinner at the White House last month supporting the rights of a group seeking to build a mosque just blocks from Ground Zero sparked a national debate on the issue that has still not ended.

This time around, however, Obama had plenty of precedent. Earlier this week his top general in Afghanistan, David Petraeus, a man who doesn’t normally interject himself into political matters, rebuked the church’s proposal, saying it would endanger the lives of U.S. troops fighting abroad. The president echoed Petraeus’ sentiment during this morning’s interview, saying, “this is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaida. You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Jones, who heads up the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has drawn worldwide scorn since he announced his proposed stunt back in July. Despite that, the Christian pastor has defended his church’s idea to burn hundreds of copies of the Muslim holy book by arguing that it is constitutional as well as an appropriate response to the 9/11 attacks, in which Islamic terrorists hijacked and crashed four U.S. airplanes, killing 3,000 Americans.

The death threats Jones alleges he has received are disputable, but the global ire he has drawn is not. Several top U.S. leaders have openly condemned the church, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who called the plan “regrettable,” to Attorney General Eric Holder, who called the idea “idiotic.” An editorial that ran recently in Dublin’s Irish Times equated the proposal to Nazi book burning.

A Facebook page created by the church to promote the event currently has over 13,000 ‘fans,’ yet it is unclear how many of them actually support the the idea. Locally, the church has been confronted over its plan by government and businesses alike. The fire department in Gainesville, a small college town in the north central part of the state, refused to grant the church a burning permit, stating the open burning of books is a fire hazard and is not allowed. Meanwhile, the bank where Dove has a mortgage loan has demanded that the church immediately repay its balance.

US and South Korea to Hold Large Scale Naval Excercise

The United States and South Korea are set to hold a massive naval excersise in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea on July 25, in wake of high level diplomatic meetings in Seoul involving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who announced more sanctions against North Korea, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.  The large scale war games are directed at North Korea in wake of the sinking of a South Korean ship, the Cheonan, but also have drawn a negative response from China.

By Philip Bunnell