Obama to fill Gitmo with Americans as NDAA law passes

Thursday, December 15, 2011
Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) The right to due process in America is coming to a sudden end as traitorous members of Congress have now passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which gives the U.S. military the power to arrest, detain, interrogate, torture and murder U.S. citizens inside the United States, with no due process.

President Obama, who had previously said he would oppose the bill (because he claimed he already had the power to kill Americans outside the law), now says he will support it and presumably sign it. The White House even issued a statement, which is one of the most astonishing and Big Brother-ish examples of doublespeak yet observed coming out of the Obama administration:

"We have concluded that the language does not challenge or constrain the President's ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists, and protect the American people, and the President's senior advisers will not recommend a veto..."

Of course, by "protect the American people" what they really mean is that they will shred the Peoples' protections under the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

"It's something so radical that it would have been considered crazy had it been pushed by the Bush administration," said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. "It establishes precisely the kind of system that the United States has consistently urged other countries not to adopt. At a time when the United States is urging Egypt, for example, to scrap its emergency law and military courts, this is not consistent."

Obama's Christmas gift to Americans: Complete nullification of the Bill of Rights
Under the NDAA:

• You may be arrested and indefinitely detained merely for being "suspected" of any involvement whatsoever with "terrorism" -- a term that can be twisted to mean almost anything, including protesting against animal testing laboratories or chaining yourself to a tree as an environmental protester.

• You no longer have a right to legal representation.

• You can be held for life without ever being charged for any crime.

• You no longer have a right to a trial by a jury of your peers.

• You can be murdered by the government -- legally! -- without ever being charged with a crime.

• The government does not have to present ANY evidence against you to take all these actions. The government merely has to assert that you are "suspected" of being involved in "terrorism." Such suspicion, of course, could be dreamed up against anyone! Political opponents, Free Speech proponents, protesters, dissenters... anyone at all...

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/034414_NDAA_military_detention_Bill_of_Rights.html.

Obama nominates new defense, CIA chiefs

May 26, 2011

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday formally nominated Leon Panetta as his new secretary of defense and David Petraeus, who commands the international force in Afghanistan, as Panetta's successor at the CIA.

Obama had first said he planned to nominate Panetta and Petraeus on April 28, just days before US commandos entered Pakistan and shot and killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The US Senate must confirm both men, but neither is expected to encounter any serious opposition there.

The White House hopes that Panetta, whose mission would include cutting spending at the Defense Department, would be able to move into the job on June 30, the day current Defense chief Robert Gates is set to leave.

Petraeus will continue to lead the international force in Afghanistan until his successor, General John Allen, takes over in September. Petraeus will retire from the military before moving to the CIA.

The United States began troop withdrawals from Afghanistan this year, making good on a promise by Obama to reduce US troop levels there, although it is not clear how soon or how many additional troops will leave.

A new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is the president's top military adviser, is also expected to be nominated next month. General Martin Dempsey, the current Army chief of staff, is considered Obama's likely choice to replace Admiral Michael Mullen, according to Pentagon officials.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Ron Paul Counters Obama Policy on Israel, Middle East

by Thomas R. Eddlem
Friday, 20 May 2011

Congressman Ron Paul issued a blistering critique of President Obama's recent proposal for Israel to surrender its territory to pre-1967 borders and create a Palestinian state.

“Unlike this President, I do not believe it is our place to dictate how Israel runs her affairs," the Texas Republican wrote in a May 20 press statement. "There can only be peace in the region if those sides work out their differences among one another. We should respect Israel’s sovereignty and not try to dictate her policy from Washington." Representative Paul has announced an electoral challenge to Obama as a Republican, and will face Obama in November 2012 if he can win the GOP nomination.

Obama had proposed May 19 that "We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states." The proposal rocked the relationship between the United States and Israel, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed Obama in person the next day from an Oval Office press conference, complaining that "while Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines — because these lines are indefensible; because they don’t take into account certain changes that have taken place on the ground, demographic changes that have taken place over the last 44 years."

Obama also promised some $2 billion in additional direct foreign aid to Egypt in the May 19 address. Egypt was until the 1980s an enemy of the Jewish state. Obama pledged an additional $2 billion investment from the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to North Africa and the Middle East.

By way of contrast, Rep. Paul has proposed eliminating all foreign aid. “I am not the only one who can see the absurdities of our foreign policy. We give $3 billion to Israel and $12 billion to her enemies," Paul wrote. "Most Americans know that makes no sense.... We are facing $2 trillion dollar deficits, and the American taxpayer cannot afford any of it."

Representative Paul also noted that U.S. foreign aid has often worked at cross-purposes with freedom in the Islamic world. Paul pointed out that for 30 years U.S. aid propped up the corrupt Mubarak regime in Egypt, a regime overthrown by the peaceful "Jasmine revolution" this spring. “As the President prepares to send even more support to Egypt, we should be reminded that it was our foreign aid that helped Mubarak retain power to repress his people in the first place. Now we have to deal with the consequences of those decisions, yet we keep repeating the same mistakes."

Obama's May 19 speech also took special note of the Jasmine revolution sweeping the Islamic world, a revolution that began in December in Tunisia and has since touched just about every Islamic nation. Obama claimed that "the people of the Middle East and North Africa had taken their future into their own hands." Obama even acknowledged that the United States and its policies had nothing to do with the peaceful demonstrations: "It’s not America that put people into the streets of Tunis or Cairo -– it was the people themselves who launched these movements, and it’s the people themselves that must ultimately determine their outcome."

But despite traditional U.S. foreign aid support for dictatorships, Obama implicitly threatened further intervention in Islamic nations and devoted particularly harsh criticism to Syria. "Most recently, the Syrian regime has chosen the path of murder and the mass arrests of its citizens. The United States has condemned these actions, and working with the international community we have stepped up our sanctions on the Syrian regime –- including sanctions announced yesterday on President Assad and those around him." Syria has indeed launched a month-long bloody campaign against peaceful protesters, a campaign that appears to be getting bloodier.

Obama stressed that the United States stood for "universal human rights" and that "Our support for these principles is not a secondary interest. Today I want to make it clear that it is a top priority that must be translated into concrete actions, and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic and strategic tools at our disposal." To many observers, "strategic tools" is a code word for U.S. military action.

Representative Paul, by way of contrast, has opposed Obama's Libyan war and strongly condemned the implicit threat to attack Syria. “The President also defended his unconstitutional intervention in Libya, authorized not by the United States Congress but by the United Nations, and announced new plans to pressure Syria and force the leader of that country to step down," Paul wrote. “Our military is already dangerously extended, and this administration wants to expand our involvement. When will our bombing in Libya end? Is President Obama seriously considering military action against Syria?...We need to come to our senses, trade with our friends in the Middle East (both Arab and Israeli), clean up our own economic mess so we set a good example, and allow them to work out their own conflicts."

Source: The New American.
Link: http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/7567-ron-paul-counters-obama-policy-on-israel-middle-east.

Taliban downplay Obama's decision on troops drawdown, call for complete withdrawal

KABUL, June 23 (Xinhua)-- Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan on Thursday downplayed U.S. President Barack Obama's troops withdraw announcement as a trick to deceive public opinion and called for the complete pull out of foreign forces, a Taliban statement said.

"Obama and his war mongers want to deceive their nation and with this announcement, while in reality, they have no respect for their nation's demands of waiting to bring this war and occupation to an end nor do they want to fulfill their promise," the statement sent to media added.

In the statement written in Pashtu language, spoken largely among the Taliban fighters, and English, the Taliban outfit vowed to continue armed struggle till the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama announced in Washington Wednesday night that 10,000 U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan by the end of this year and another 23,000 will come back home by September 2012.

"Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the name of Taliban ousted regime) once again wants to make it clear that the solution for the Afghan crisis lies in the full withdrawal of all foreign troops immediately and until this does not happen, our armed struggle will increase from day to day," the statement emphasized.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-06/23/c_13946127.htm.

Obama Sees Libya 'Stalemate,' Qaddafi's Eventual Departure

By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Patrick Donahue - Apr 16, 2011

Forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi shelled Libya’s rebel-held coastal city of Misrata as U.S. President Barack Obama said the conflict has become a “stalemate on the ground militarily.”

Qaddafi is “getting squeezed” in many ways, Obama said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I think over the long term, Qaddafi will go and we will be successful.”

The attacks on Misrata, the main rebel-held city in the west, have made Libya’s third-largest city a symbol of the limitations of NATO’s air campaign to protect civilians. Qaddafi’s forces have fired ground-to-ground Grad rockets and cluster bombs, a type of anti-personnel munition that scatters small bomblets over a wide area, into residential areas, the New York Times and Human Rights Watch reported.

Cluster bombs “pose a huge risk to civilians, both during attacks because of their indiscriminate nature and afterward because of the still-dangerous unexploded duds scattered about,” said Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch.

Obama acknowledged the limits to what air power can do in situations such as Misrata. “The fact of the matter is that, in the absence of actual soldiers on the ground, Qaddafi’s forces are still going to be able to at least defend their current positions, particularly when we’re concerned about collateral damage, civilian casualties,” he said in the interview.

Tanks, Rockets

Rebels have struggled for weeks to take and hold cities in central Libya, which have been the focus of most of the fighting since the uprising began in February. Opposition forces today advanced once again on the strategic oil town of Brega after four days of NATO airstrikes there, Al Jazeera television reported.

Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the opposition Transitional National Council, said he disagreed with Obama’s comments about a stalemate. “The revolution is continuing all over Libya, in Misrata, in Zentan and the Amazeegh area, even in Tripoli,” he said today in an interview in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Berlin, where NATO foreign ministers met to try to resolve differences over Libya, that the alliance has a “solid and sustainable” consensus on objectives and that “we all need to be a bit patient.”

Clinton said that while she wasn’t aware of the use of cluster bombs over Misrata, “I am not surprised by anything that Colonel Qaddafi and his forces do.”

Fighting in Misrata at close quarters makes things “difficult,” she added.

Long Mission

North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders “are now realizing that this is not a very short mission,” German Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer said in an interview yesterday. “It takes much longer, it’s much more complicated, it’s much more demanding than some had expected.” Germany is one of the NATO members opposed to the military action, although it backs economic and political measures to force Qaddafi from power.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, challenging the extent of the military operations, said NATO must move “urgently” toward a political solution. “Using excessive military force will lead to additional casualties among civilians,” he said in Berlin where he joined talks with NATO foreign ministers.

Oil Markets

Oil rebounded as U.S. consumer sentiment and industrial output increased, signaling higher fuel demand in the world’s biggest crude-consuming country. Crude oil for May delivery increased $1.55, or 1.4 percent, to settle at $109.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday.

Elsewhere in the region, activists said Syrian security forces blocked roads to thwart protesters whose defiance of President Bashar al-Assad persisted for a fifth Friday after the announcement of Cabinet changes two days ago. Routes to the Damascus suburbs of Douma and Harasta were blocked by vans and concrete blocks as thousands of people took to the streets, Damascus-based human-rights activist Razan Zaitouneh said on her Facebook page. There were rallies in Homs, Aleppo, Qamishli, the port city of Latakia and Daraa, a flash point for dissent last month, she said.

Clashes between protesters and authorities in Jordan left 83 security officers and eight civilians injured, Al Arabiya television said, citing the country’s head of general security.

Regional Unrest

In Yemen, protesters around the country rejected a Gulf Cooperation Council plan to end political turmoil because it doesn’t insist on President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s immediate departure.

Foreign ministers from NATO’s 28 member states and leaders from other allied nations took part in the talks in Berlin.

“We are also searching for ways to provide funding for the opposition so that that they can take care of some of these needs themselves,” including helping the rebels sell oil, Clinton said. The rebels are seeking to borrow $2 billion secured by Libyan government assets abroad that have been frozen.

The opposition has drafted a constitution that calls for full equality regardless of race or religion and freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website, citing Abdel Moneim Bendardf, a senior adviser to the movement’s leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil. The document was drafted by a group of intellectuals for the interim Transitional National Council, the newspaper said.

Allied Participants

Only 14 NATO members -- plus Sweden, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- are participating in some aspect of the military operation known as “Unified Protector,” most under rules preventing them from attacking Qaddafi’s forces except in self-defense. About five NATO nations, led by France and the U.K., are known to be targeting Qaddafi’s ground forces.

Obama said the international intervention, under a UN Security Council mandate, has averted an assault on rebel-held Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city.

“Some civilians may be still getting killed, but we don’t have wholesale slaughter in places like Benghazi, a city of 700,000” and Qaddafi “is getting squeezed in all different kinds of ways,” Obama said in the AP interview.

“He’s running out of money. He is running out of supplies. The noose is tightening, and he is becoming more and more isolated,” Obama said. “And my expectation is, is that if we continue to apply that pressure and continue to protect civilians, which NATO is doing very capably, then I think over the long term, Qaddafi will go and we will be successful.”

‘Goof Participation’

Obama said he sees no need to increase the U.S. military role “at this point.”

“We’ve gotten good participation from our coalition partners. They are doing exactly what they promised they would do,” he said. “They are still striking at targets, Qaddafi targets, particularly those that start moving on the offensive against opposition areas. And what we’re doing is we’re still providing jamming capacity, intelligence, refueling.

“So we’ve still got a lot of planes in the air up there,” he said. “We’re just not the ones who are involved in the direct strikes on the ground for the most part.”

NATO said in a statement April 14 that allies taking part in the conflict set three conditions for ending air strikes on Qaddafi’s forces: an end to all attacks by Qaddafi loyalists on civilians, withdrawing soldiers to bases, and allowing aid into the country.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-15/obama-sees-libya-stalemate-on-the-ground-qaddafi-ousted-over-long-term-.html.

Obama declares himself candidate for re-election

By Jeff Mason and Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON | Mon Apr 4, 2011

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama declared himself a candidate for re-election in 2012 on Monday, jumping ahead of a slow-starting Republican field and hoping an economic recovery will boost his case for a new term.

Obama's announcement, made through an email and video sent to supporters, set in motion a plan to tap donors and raise as much as $1 billion, which would shatter the $750 million campaign finance record he set in 2008.

Five months after his Democrats were routed by Republicans in November congressional elections, Obama looks in fairly good shape for re-election when paired against any of a group of potential Republican challengers.

It is early yet. The economic recovery has picked up pace in recent weeks but could be slowed by rising gasoline prices or any number of unpredictable events in the next 18 months, such as an unexpected expansion of the Libya conflict.

The stubbornly high jobless rate was the leading factor in Republican victories last November and Americans weigh the state of their pocketbooks far more than anything else when they vote. The jobless rate has dropped a full percentage point to 8.8 percent in the last five months.

"If the economy does chug along the way it is now a lot of people may be more comfortable going with Obama," said Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri.

Obama became the first black U.S. president in 2009, and scored big legislative victories when Congress approved reforms of healthcare and financial regulation laws last year. But the economy has been slow to recover from recession despite a stimulus package of more than $800 billion.

Obama's path to re-election will depend greatly on how he fares with independent voters, who were crucial to his 2008 victory but who abandoned Democrats last November.

The president has adopted a more centrist tone in recent months in response to that midterm election loss, emphasizing his desire to work with both Democrats and Republicans.

While the president is publicly trying to distance himself from politicking, his every move now will be viewed through a re-election prism, such as two trips he is taking this week to states that he won in 2008 and will need in 2012: Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Obama said in an email to supporters that he was filing papers to start his re-election bid in a formal way.

"So even though I'm focused on the job you elected me to do, and the race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the foundation for our campaign must start today," he said in the email.

"WE AREN'T FINISHED"

He has been sounding the themes of his campaign in fund-raising speeches, telling Democratic loyalists, "the promise that we made to the American people has been kept. But we aren't finished. We've got more work to do."

Republicans acknowledge it will be a difficult task to defeat an incumbent Democratic president. Only two incumbents have been defeated in the last 30 years -- Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992.

"Obama's the favorite, but 18 months in advance, you'd be foolish to call anybody a lock," said Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia.

Several Republicans are willing to try, including former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, both of whom are planning campaigns.

Reacting to Obama's announcement, Pawlenty released a 35-second video of his own highlighting high unemployment, weakness in the housing market and surging federal debt.

"How can America win the future, when we're losing the present?" Pawlenty asks in the video. "In order for America to take a new direction, it's going to take a new president."

The Republican field is off to a slow start as potential candidates work quietly to build networks of donors and supporters and visit early voting states. By holding off on campaign announcements, they are saving money that will be needed in the months ahead.

Early polls show Obama leading potential Republican rivals. The first scheduled debate of the Republican nominating race was postponed last week from May until September because of a lack of candidates.

Events taking place now in Washington may play a role in the campaign battle to come. Republicans elected on pledges to cut government spending are attempting significant reductions that Democrats oppose.

If the two parties cannot find common ground, it could force a government shutdown that the White House says could hurt the nascent economic recovery.

(Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/04/us-usa-election-obama-idUSTRE7312G620110404.

Obama says reforms in Egypt 'absolutely critical'

Thu, 27 Jan 2011

Washington - Political and economic reforms are "absolutely critical" for Egypt's future, US President Barack Obama said Thursday, as mass protests seeking the ouster of President Hosny Mubarak entered their third day.

Obama, in a question-and-answer session on YouTube, said he has continued to press Mubarak to introduce reforms, while acknowledging the Egyptian leader has been a close ally on "a lot of critical issues" and a partner in the Arab-Israeli peace process.

"President Mubarak has been very helpful on a range of tough issues in the Middle East," Obama said.

Obama said the protests indicate "pent-up frustrations" about the state of Egyptian society and it is essential people in any country are free to "express legitimate grievances."

"I have always said to (Mubarak) that making sure that they are moving forward on reform - political reform, economic reform - is absolutely critical to the long-term well being of Egypt," Obama said.

So far seven people have died in violence as the Egyptian government has cracked down on protesters. Obama said neither side should resort to violence.

"My main hope right now is, is that violence is not the answer in solving these problems in Egypt," Obama said. "So the government has to be careful about not resorting to violence, and the people on the streets have to be careful about not resorting to violence."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/364641,reforms-egypt-absolutely-critical.html.

Obama: Sudan elections 'an inspiration to the world'

Sun, 16 Jan 2011

Washington - US President Barack Obama on Sunday lauded the referendum held in Southern Sudan on its independence as "an inspiration to the world."

The peaceful polling process and the high turnout were "a tribute to the determination of the people and leaders of south Sudan to forge a better future," the president said in a statement.

Independent observers had "been extremely encouraged by the credibility of the process to date," he continued.

Polls closed on Saturday in a referendum that is widely expected to see the Christian and Animist south vote in favor of splitting from the mainly Muslim north.

Preliminary results are expected to be released by February 2, according to the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/362599,elections-an-inspiration-world.html.

Obama bypasses US Senate to appointment ambassador to Syria

Wed, 29 Dec 2010

Washington - President Barack Obama bypassed the US Senate on Wednesday to appoint the United States' first ambassador to Syria in more than five years.

Obama used a recess appointment to name veteran diplomat Robert Ford to the post in Damascus, which has been vacant since early 2005 in the aftermath of the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Ford, who has previously served in the Middle East as the deputy ambassador to Iraq, was first nominated as ambassador to Syria in February. But his appointment was held up in the Senate by a number of Republican senators who oppose re-establishing such high-level diplomatic relations with the government of Syria.

Ford was one of six people that Obama used his executive powers to appoint on Wednesday while the Senate is in holiday recess. Others included James Cole as deputy attorney general for the Justice Department and ambassadors for the Czech Republic, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Obama's maneuver means the officials will still have to get the Senate's approval by the end of 2011 in order to remain in their positions.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360097,senate-appointment-ambassador-syria.html.

EXTRA: Obama, Medvedev pledge close ties after 'historic' deal

Thu, 23 Dec 2010

Washington - US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday pledged to continue their close cooperation as the two countries were set to implement an "historic" nuclear arms reduction treaty.

In a morning telephone call, Medevedev congratulated Obama on the Senate's ratification Wednesday of the New START Treaty, the White House said in a statement. The Russian Duma could ratify the accord after January 10.

"The two leaders agreed that this was an historic event for both countries and for US-Russia relations," the White House said. The two leaders also "pledged to continue their close partnership" in 2011.

New START was signed by Obama and Medvedev in April and binds the two sides to cut their numbers of active warheads to 1,550 within seven years, or by about 30 per cent from the 1991 treaty that expired in December 2009.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359520,close-ties-historic-deal.html.

Obama offers 'condolences,' aid in fighting Israel fire

03/12/2010

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed his "deepest condolences" for the victims of a massive forest fire in Israel and said the United States had offered to help fight it.

The blaze engulfed a forest near the northern Israeli city of Haifa, killing 40 people, most of them prison guards on board a bus that was trapped in the inferno, the worst in Israel's 62-year history.

"I want to begin by offering our deepest condolences to the families, loved ones, of all of those who died," Obama told some 500 guests during a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony at the White House.

"As rescuers, firefighters are continuing their work, the United States is acting to help our Israeli friends in this time of disaster," he said, adding that the government was looking into what kinds of aid it could provide.

The Israeli fire service has urgently called up all 1,500 firefighters in the country, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an urgent appeal for international assistance in containing the fire.

Offers have poured in, with Greece pledging to send four firefighting planes, Cyprus offering a helicopter and another firefighting aircraft, and Bulgaria reportedly sending 90 firefighters.

Israel's foreign ministry said it had also received pledges of help from Romania, Azerbaijan, France, Russia, Croatia and Turkey.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338435.

Obama awards Merkel highest US civilian honor

Wed, 17 Nov 2010

Washington - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is among 15 people named by President Barack Obama to receive America's highest civilian award.

Obama will present Merkel with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony early next year, the White House said Wednesday.

Also slated to receive the award is former president George Bush, who served as president 1989-93, billionaire investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet, as well as civil rights activists, athletes and members of the culture and arts community.

These outstanding honorees come from a broad range of backgrounds, and they have excelled in a broad range of fields, but all of them have lived extraordinary lives that have inspired us, enriched our culture and made our country and our world a better place," Obama said in a statement.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors, the White House said.

Others notables receiving the award are cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Congressman John Lewis, an icon of the black civil rights movement of the 1960s, and author and poet Maya Angelou.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354047,highest-us-civilian-honor.html.

Obama hails Suu Kyi as a 'hero' - Summary

Sat, 13 Nov 2010

Washington - US President Barack Obama welcomed the release Saturday of Myanmar's leading democratic activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, and called for all of the country's political prisoners to be freed.

"She is a hero of mine and a source of inspiration for all who work to advance basic human rights in Burma and around the world," Obama said in a statement while traveling in Japan.

He called the release "long overdue."

Myanmar's junta released Suu Kyi from house arrest almost a week after staging a general election widely criticized as a sham by the international community.

The Southeast Asian country is also known as Burma. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest. She was locked up after her National League for Democracy party won the 1990 election.

"Whether Aung San Suu Kyi is living in the prison of her house, or the prison of her country, does not change the fact that she, and the political opposition she represents, has been systematically silenced, incarcerated, and deprived of any opportunity to engage in political processes that could change Burma," Obama said.

"It is time for the Burmese regime to release all political prisoners, not just one," he added. "The United States looks forward to the day when all of Burma's people are free from fear and persecution."

Obama in May extended US sanctions on Myanmar that have been in place for years over the regime's repressive policies and the detentions of Suu Kyi and members of the National League for Democracy. His predecessor, George W Bush, had tightened the sanctions.

Bush's wife, Laura, took up Myanmar as one of her personal causes during her years as first lady. She released a statement Saturday calling Suu Kyi the "democratically elected leader" of Myanmar.

"President Bush and I join with those around the world celebrating her freedom and urge for her release to be without condition," she said.

"Suu Kyi's peaceful protest is an example for the strength of nonviolent opposition," she added. "We fervently hope that the day of a free Burma for all its citizens is soon a reality."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353394,a-hero-summary.html.

Singh disagrees with Obama on Kashmir

Tue Nov 9, 2010

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has disagreed with US President Barack Obama's stance on the India-Pakistan negotiations over the Kashmir issue.

"We're not afraid of the K-word," Singh declared. "But talks can only happen when Pakistan has ceased its policy of terror-induced coercion. You (Pakistan) cannot simultaneously be talking while the terror machine is active as ever before," Singh said at a joint press conference with Obama in New Delhi on Monday.

However, the Indian prime minister said it is no secret that he would like to resolve disputes with Islamabad during his term in office.

He also took issue with US media outlets' claims that India has taken jobs away from the US, saying, "Indians are not in the business of stealing jobs from Americans."

Before coming to India, Obama and the US media had spent the last couple of days talking about a perception in the United States that jobs were being shipped out to India through outsourcing.

In recent months, Obama has also spoken about outsourcing to India, warning the US against being "Bangalored," in reference to the city of Bangalore, the hub of India's IT industry.

"The outsourcing industry, I believe, has helped to improve the productive capacity and productivity of American industries", The Times of India quoted the Indian prime minister as saying.

Before the joint press conference, the two leaders emphasized the importance of their global strategic partnership and pledged to deepen cooperation between the two nations.

Singh and Obama agreed to promote bilateral ties, cooperate in advanced technology and innovation, expand prosperity in both countries and global economic growth, and support sustainable development.

The two leaders called their meeting a "historic milestone."

On Monday, it was also announced that Singh would travel to Washington in 2011.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/150196.html.

Obama unveils India deals, pays tribute to Mumbai victims - Summary

Sat, 06 Nov 2010

New Delhi - US President Barack Obama announced business deals worth 10 billion dollars to support over 50,000 jobs in the US on the opening day of his India tour Saturday.

The US president also paid tribute to the Mumbai attacks victims and vowed to deepen anti-terrorism cooperation with New Delhi.

Obama spoke about the contracts at a business summit in Mumbai, India's financial hub, where he arrived on the first leg of a four- nation tour of Asia, eying economic opportunities days after the Democratic Party received a drubbing in midterm polls largely due to voter anger over high unemployment and slow economic recovery.

Several of the 20 deals Obama referred to were already on the cards and it was not clear how many new jobs would be created.

A White House release said the deals included a preliminary agreement between Boeing and the Indian Air Force for 10 C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft, valued at 4.1 billion dollars and expected to support 22,160 jobs.

Another order, by commercial carrier Spicejet, for 33 Boeing 737s was valued at 2.7 billion dollars, the White House statement said.

General Electric had received a supply and maintenance contract valued at 750 million dollars from India's Reliance Power Limited and another for engines for light combat aircraft produced by the state- run Indian Aeronautical Development Agency for 822 million dollars.

"The relationship between the United States and India is the defining relationship of the 21st century," Obama said, adding that the two democracies should work together to provide their people broad-based economic growth.

"There is still tremendous untapped potential," the US president said.

"The US sees Asia, and especially India, as a market of the future, Obama said earlier, adding, "We don't simply welcome your rise - as a nation, and a people - we ardently support it".

Obama also said US would be easing controls on exports to India to boost trade in high technology items.

Meanwhile, Washington would support India's membership of four global non-proliferation organizations like the Nuclear Suppliers Group, in a phased manner.

Earlier Saturday, in his first engagement after landing in Mumbai, Obama paid homage to the 2008 massacre victims and praised the resolve and resilience of Indians in standing up to the attacks.

Obama and his wife Michelle are staying at Mumbai's Taj Hotel, one of the targets of the three-day siege that killed 166 people across the metropolis.

Obama drew a parallel between the Mumbai and the 9/11 attacks. "We will never forget," he said.

"Indeed, today the US and India are working more closely than ever to keep our people safe and I look forward to deepening our counter- terrorism cooperation even further, when I meet with Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh in New Delhi," he said.

After jobs and creating economic opportunities, Obama's focus is expected to shift to consolidating the political and strategic relationship with India.

After interacting with students and attending a technology exposition in Mumbai, Obama will depart to Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan as well as Delhi's troubled ties with nuclear neighbor Pakistan are to feature prominently in the Obama-Singh summit slated for Monday.

Washington wants to strengthen its strategic ties with New Delhi as it views the South Asian country as a counterbalance to the growing economic and military might of China, foreign policy experts said.

India and US have built strong ties over the past decade, a marked transformation from strained relations during the Cold War when New Delhi was seen as close to Moscow.

The US has held more joint defense exercises with India than any other nation, 50 of these being held in the past eight years, while it has also emerged as a leading supplier of military hardware to India with sales totaling up to 13 billion dollars over the 10 years.

Bill Clinton's 2000 visit to the South Asian country broke years of mistrust and estrangement between the two democracies.

The high-point in India-US ties came under the George Bush administration when the two countries signed a landmark deal for civilian nuclear cooperation, which allowed for the lifting of a three-decade ban on trade in nuclear material with India.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352274,mumbai-victims-summary.html.

Obama visits Gandhi museum, pays tribute to his hero

Sat, 06 Nov 2010

New Delhi - Mahatma Gandhi was an inspiration to the world, US President Barack Obama wrote Saturday in the visitor's book at a museum dedicated to the Indian leader in Mumbai.

Obama and his wife Michelle, who are in India on a three-day visit spent half an hour at Mani Bhavan, the house in which Gandhi lived off and on between 1917 and 1934. It has now been turned into a museum and library for Gandhi memorabilia.

Obama has on several occasions said Gandhi, who honed his philosophy of non-violent protest and self-reliance during his days at Mani Bhavan, is one of his political and ideological heroes.

"I am filled with hope and inspiration as I have the privilege to view this testament to Gandhi's life. He is a hero, not just to India but to the world," Obama wrote in the visitor's book at Mani Bhavan.

Obama has often said he admired Gandhi for changing the world just by the power of his ethics.

"The America of today has its roots in the India of Mahatma Gandhi and the nonviolent social action movement for Indian independence which he led," Obama said during an interaction with American schoolchildren in 2009, according to a White House transcript.

Another of Obama's heroes, Martin Luther King, visited Mani Bhavan with his wife Coretta in 1959 and stayed there for two days. On Saturday, Obama spent a few minutes reading comments written by King in a visitor's book during that visit.

Obama is also scheduled to visit a memorial to Gandhi in the Indian capital Monday where he would be holding talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The US president is in India on the first leg of a 10-day Asia tour that will take him to Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352234,museum-pays-tribute-hero.html.

Obama's visit to mark a milestone in India-US ties, official says

Wed, 03 Nov 2010

New Delhi - US President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to India would result in consolidating the countries' strategic partnership and would mark an important milestone in their relations, India's top diplomat, Nirupama Rao, said.

"We will see concrete and significant steps in a wide range of areas that will expand the long-term strategic framework of the relationship in a way that we can create a productive partnership for the mutual benefit of our two countries and, equally important, to give substantive content and shape to our global strategic partnership," she said.

"The visit could be an important milestone in our shared journey," Rao added in the speech made at a diplomatic function Tuesday night in New Delhi.

Obama is to arrive Saturday in the western city of Mumbai for a four-day tour of the South Asian country.

Key issues that were expected to be covered in his talks with Indian leaders were the global economic situation, terrorism, the security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and stability in Asia.

Rao played down expectations of major announcements during the tour, saying the visit would not result in "dramatic breakthroughs and big bang."

"There has been far too much focus on the transactional aspects of this visit," she said. "All relationships entail transactions, but sustained, long-term partnerships are built on certain basic principles."

India and the United States have built strong ties over the past decade, a marked transformation from strained relations during the Cold War when New Delhi was seen as close to Moscow.

Indian officials said trade, defense, counterterrorism, educational and scientific ties have grown rapidly in recent years.

In 2008, the countries signed a landmark deal for civilian nuclear cooperation, which allowed for the lifting of a three-decade ban on trade in nuclear material with India.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351678,india-us-ties-official-says.html.

Gandhi high on Obama's agenda on India visit

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

New Delhi - US President Barack Obama was scheduled to arrive in India November 6 with peace apostle Mahatma Gandhi on his agenda - along with business, politics and terrorism.

Obama, an admirer of the leader of India's independence movement, who advocated non-violent protest, was scheduled to visit a Gandhi museum in Mumbai and a memorial in Delhi, the White House said.

"One thing I can tell you, he has inquired a lot about Mahatma Gandhi ahead of the trip," the Indian Express newspaper quoted an unnamed US embassy official as saying. "He wants to know more about Mr Gandhi while he is here."

Obama, as a senator, kept a framed picture of Gandhi in his office. "He is quite fascinated with how Mahatma Gandhi influenced the civil rights movement in the United States," the embassy official said.

One of the first events on Obama's agenda after he lands in Mumbai on a three-day visit, his longest stay in a foreign country as president, was a statement at the Taj Mahal hotel in memory of the victims of a terrorist attack in November 2008, who included six US citizens.

Obama, who is to stay at the Taj, was scheduled to attend meetings with Indian and US business leaders, visit a school, and hold townhall-style meetings with university students and roundtables on agriculture, food security and democracy before he leaves for the Indian capital November 7.

First lady Michelle Obama, who is to accompany the president, reportedly wished to see the Taj Mahal in Agra. But given their packed schedule, the couple instead were due to visit the medieval Humayun's tomb in Delhi, on which the architecture of the Taj is said to be based.

The final day of the US president's visit would be devoted to bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other officials, followed by a speech in India's Parliament.

Obama was scheduled to depart for Indonesia on November 9.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350784,obamas-agenda-india-visit.html.

Obama calls Syria a threat, renews ban

US President Barack Obama has renewed the country's sanctions against Syria, branding it as a source of threat to Washington.

In a letter to the US Congress on Monday, extending the nearly six-year-old embargo against Syria, Obama claimed Damascus was "continuing support for terrorist organizations and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and missile programs," AFP reported.

Such alleged activities, he added, “continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States."

The former George W. Bush administration had also accused Syria of “sponsoring terrorism” before burdening it with economic sanctions.

Washington has adopted harsh anti-Syrian rhetoric since Israeli President Simon Peres accused Damascus last month of supplying Russian-made Scud missiles to the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

The allegations of the Israeli regime have been fiercely rejected by the governments of Syria and Lebanon as well as the Hezbollah movement.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem have likened the accusations to Washington's claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which was used as the main pretext to attack and occupy Iraq in 2003.

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that no evidence had been presented — by Israel or the US — to support their claims.

Lebanese officials have, meanwhile, have warned that the Israeli accusation is yet another psychological warfare aimed at launching another war against its territory. The country lost about 1,200 of its citizens to the 2006 Israeli offensives.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125367§ionid=351020206.

Muslim nations join Obama for entrepreneur conference

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Washington - The United States began hosting a summit with business leaders and others from the Muslim nations on Monday as part of President Barack Obama's plan to mend ties and promote economic growth.

The two-day summit in downtown Washington includes up to 250 participants from nearly 60 countries gathering to discuss ways to strengthen business and entrepreneurship to build the economies of Muslim nations.

Obama announced his plan to host the summit during his June 2009 speech in Cairo that was designed to repair the US image in the Islamic world following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the poor views Muslims hold of the United States. Obama was to address the gathering Monday evening.

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke opened the conference by saying that boosting business in Muslim countries is in the best interest of the United States and those nations, pointing out that the potential of the talent is not being adequately tapped.

"The stronger the economies of the world and the more middle class in all of our nations, the more international markets there will be for each of our nations," Locke said.

The participants include entrepreneurs, investors, academics, non-profits organizations, and businesses already involved in promoting business in Muslim communities around the world.

"When innovators and entrepreneurs can easily turn their ideas into business, jobs and economic opportunity follow closely behind," Locke said. "Entrepreneurs are a powerful force for change."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320676,muslim-nations-join-obama-for-entrepreneur-conference.html.