Netanyahu’s Unexpected Concession To Obama

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

In a sharp break from his previous foreign policy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made key concessions to U.S President Obama in today’s meeting

Still, Netanyahu did not shift his stance on the two state solution which would allow the Palestinians to have their own legitimate territory and the Israelis could keep most of theirs.

Such was the conclusion of former United State Institute of Peace President and CEO and former U.S Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis and former Israeli Ambassador to Jordan and the European Union Oden Eran following the analysis of President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meeting today.

The meeting gained mixed reviews after the analysis of the success of the meeting was observed.

Oren Eran said on Netanyahu that “politically speaking, he passed this particular hurdle but from the press conference at least you an judge that this is not the end of the story.”

Samuel Lewis on his part said “I can’t help saying that we won’t know really know how important this meeting was for some time.”

The meeting was the first between the two nations since President Obama’s election and was significant as it signaled a continuation in the relationship between the U.S and Israel despite the change in the American administration.

Lewis observed that “The number one purpose for Obama and for Netanyahu was the issue of trust, and whether they achieved at the beginning at least a trusting relationship between the two of them that has proved historically to be crucial in this relationship between Presidents and Prime ministers.”

Lewis added that “it hasn't yet been achieved if it’s going to be achieved.”

In addition, Lewis said, “I understood that emissaries were trying to work out a written agreed statement. Well it didn't come out as far as I know, which means they didn't agree, and that I think reinforces my opinion that there were a lot of disagreement in practice.”

However, both Eran and Lewis agreed that Netanyahu made a surprise concession as Eran said, “Obama said that from his point of view, the ability to make peace between the Israelis and the palestinians only strengthen the capability of the international community to wrestle with the Iranian threat.”

FBI Agent: Bush Lied On Torture

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News service

Ali Soufan, a former FBI supervisory agent, confirms that the George W. Bush administration lied on its use of torture in its interrogation
processes.

In 2005, President Bush said that “America does not condone torture”,
a statement that has been put into question following the recent
decision by President Barack Obama to publish four memos which detail
the legal justification used by the Bush administration to justify the
methods employed in the interrogation process led by the CIA.

Chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the
Courts Sheldon Whitehouse said “John Yoo (former official in the Department of Justice) told Esquire Magazine that waterboarding was only done ‘three times’ when public reports now indicate that two detainees were waterboarded 83 and 183 times”.

This revelation has hindered the American reputation abroad, resulting
in a struggle between institutions of the government such as the
intelligence agencies and the Department of Justice on who is to blame
the most for having carried out these seances.

Philip Zelikow, former counselor of the State Department, said that “
Attorney General John Ashcroft and his Department of Justice, along
with the White House Counsel, Alberto Gonzalez, assured the
government’s leaders that the proposed program was lawful.”

Whitehouse said that “We were told that waterboarding was
determined to be legal, but were not told how badly the law was
ignored, bastardized and manipulated by the Department of Justice’s
Office of Legal Counsel, nor were we told how furiously government and military lawyers rejected the defective OLC opinions-but we ignored.”

In parallel, Soufan said that “The interrogation team was a
combination between the FBI and the CIA. All of us had the same
opinion that contradicted with the contractor.”

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said “I’m also proud of the fact that
the United states of America, when its made mistakes, has not been
afraid to admit these mistakes and learn from them and pledge not to
make the same mistakes again.”

Larger Vision for Americas Future

By Candyce Torres, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service. President Barack Obama’s speech on Wednesday morning at Georgetown University regarding the current efforts of the new administration to confront the economic crisis.

Bond “cautiously optimistic” over Obama approach to Pakistan

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio New Service

This morning at a discussion on issues related to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-MO) broke away from his Republican colleagues by praising one of President Barack Obama’s policies.

The plan that was unveiled last Friday would increase U.S. support in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bond says the only way to address the long-term threat of terrorism in the region is to take a “smart power-counter insurgency approach.”

Recent attacks in Pakistan “underscore that the threats emanating from the region are one of the greatest national security threats and challenges of our time,” Bond said.

“The reason my optimism is guarded is because the President has split the baby between two competing camps in Washington and I believe in the White House today. The first camp focuses strictly on counter terrorism, or CT, and the second which takes a counter insurgency or coin strategy approach,” Bond said.

“We will not have success eliminating extremist elements in Afghanistan if we cannot confront them in western Pakistan. To do this we must fully engage Pakistan,” he said, adding that cooperation from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is vital to success.

“NATO must supply more military and civilian assistance personal and remove cumbersome constraints on their people in the field,” Bond said.

But, Bond said, the U.S. “must work with Pakistan to find out what will be required to achieve genuine and measurable progress against terrorists and insurgents in the federally administered tribal areas and other border regions in Pakistan.

“There are three legs of the stool that need to be addressed in the region; security, development and governance,” said Bond, adding that security will only be truly established when local Afghan and Pakistan security forces are able to hold territory themselves and when they have the incentives to do so.

Additionally, “We need to have USAID and other development organizations coordinate better with our military forces to provide what local leaders want and not just deliver to them, one year later, what we tell them they need. This means working with local councils or tribal gurges to insure we are meeting their needs.”

Usher's foundation soars to new heights

by Candyce Torres, Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico & Talk Radio News Staff

At the Education and Labor Committee hearing yesterday Members of Congress expressed why they believed that the panel was one of the best in all of their careers.

Among the witnesses was top music artist Usher Raymond IV, Chairman of the New Look Foundation. “The platform for what I’ve done for so many years gave me this opportunity to be here more than anything simply to be of a service to under served communities and give them the opportunity to know that there is opportunity there for them to track them throughout their careers...This is purpose over platform,” he said. Their signature program, Camp New Look, was created to expose youth to the business side of sports and entertainment. The program guides them to higher education and provides internships and shadow opportunities.

James Harris, a 19-year-old, who before becoming involved with the foundation said he grew up in a neighborhood where he took a lot of negative things as just being the norm. “I think the important thing is to incorporate service in to the school curriculum and reach them, educate them and get that appeal to the motion, get them into it, because once you connect the kids that want to work with the opportunity to work you will get an outstanding performance,” he said. Harris, who is attending Johnson Community College in North Carolina stated that young adults need to start getting motivated at a young. “You got to start in the school because in junior high school and high school, it may not seem like it because of the age bracket but that is a critical point in a kids life and really the experiences that they have then will determine who will be in
adulthood.” he concluded.


President Barack Obama’s Joint Congressional speech was a hot topic of conversation in the hearing and Chariman George Miller (D-CA)
expressed why he was gratified to hear the President make national service a key part of his agenda. “He called for Congress to take urgent, bipartisan action to launch a new era of American service for current and future generations-making it clear that improving service must be one of the next actions we take to help lift our economy out of this crisis. I look forward to working with all members of this committee to deliver him this legislation as quickly as possible.” Miller concluded.