A first-term congressman from Michigan who compared parts of Iraq to Detroit and Harvey, Ill., an economically depressed Chicago suburb, defended the comments Thursday. Rep. Tim Walberg said those were just two examples of communities where safety and city services are comparable to 80 percent to 85 percent of Iraq. Walberg, a Republican, said on Detroit radio station WJR-AM that U.S. troops in Iraq tell him the military is succeeding. "People are walking around communities (in Iraq) as safe as they are walking around at the very least in Detroit and Chicago and other places," he said. Walberg made similar comments Monday on a Lansing radio show, drawing criticism from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's office and Harvey Mayor Eric J. Kellogg. ...
http://abcnews.go.com
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Editor - 13:55:00 03-22-07
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 Bolton says force may be needed against Iran |
Bush’s former envoy to the United Nations says using military force against Iran would be preferable to allowing the country to acquire nuclear weapons. John Bolton gained a reputation for speaking out during his 17 months as U.S. ambassador to the world body. But his remarks Tuesday night were some of his boldest yet, especially concerning Tehran. “I believe that ultimately the only real prospect of getting Iran to give up nuclear weapons is to change the regime,” Bolton told reporters after an off-the-record speech to the Hudson Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization. “By the force of the Iranian people themselves,” Bolton replied. “But if the alternative is a nuclear Iran, as unpleasant as the use of military force would be, I think the prospect of a nuclear Iran is worse.” The U.N. Security Council is considering new sanctions against Tehran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fissile material for ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17717396/
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Editor - 11:55:00 03-22-07
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| Ramadi diary: Tale of two Ramadis |
This is a tale of two Ramadis. In one, violence is still routine. In the other, it is starting to become rare. The question is which one is going to win out. Things appear to be at a tipping point, although that has been said about Ramadi plenty of times before. The Americans see it as a "centre of gravity" in Sunni-dominated Anbar province, the beating heart of the insurgency. They hope success here against the insurgents who have controlled the city for much of the past four years could have knock-on effects across Anbar. That is why thousands of extra troops are being sent to Ramadi under President Bush's surge plan. The first Ramadi woke me with a jolt the other day. A large explosion somewhere near our base. The shipping container-style huts in which I and my two BBC colleagues are staying shook with the force. A short while later, there was another blast. Then gunfire, which grew in volume and intensity over the next few hours. The sharper, ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6477949.stm
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Editor - 11:43:00 03-22-07
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| Iraq Reconstruction |
The U.S. government must learn from its multi-million-dollar mistakes of poor contract oversight and bad planning in its Iraq reconstruction effort or risk repeating them there and elsewhere, investigators say. The audit released Thursday by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the first to list in one place the series of mistakes, delays and missed opportunities in a four-year-old Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost taxpayers nearly $400 billion. Characterizing the U.S. effort as chaotic and poorly managed, Bowen found the Bush administration's rebuilding effort riddled with problems — from a lack of strategy and unclear lines of authority to confusion and disarray between the Defense and State Departments. Bowen said the two departments must learn how to work more closely together. If their cultures prove too resistant to change, Congress should consider legislation to force better cooperation between them in ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/22/iraq/main2595518.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2595518
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Editor - 11:25:00 03-22-07
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| Motorola `Running Out of Scapegoats' as Profit Fades |
Motorola Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ed Zander, once heralded as a turnaround artist for reviving the mobile-phone maker, may be falling out of favor. Zander yesterday forecast a loss for this quarter and the first sales decline in four years. The stock slid to its lowest level in almost two years. ``He's running out of scapegoats,'' said John Krause, an analyst at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Minneapolis, which owns 1 million Motorola shares. ``The buck's got to stop at the top. People are losing patience.'' Earnings and revenue this year will be ``substantially'' below its forecasts because of plunging mobile-phone prices, Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said yesterday. Zander, who already is cutting 3,500 jobs, said the company will overhaul marketing and product design to make its prices competitive without sacrificing earnings. ...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=abx9rCqs1W68&refer=exclusive
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Editor - 11:22:00 03-22-07
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| Big powers negotiate changes in Iran sanctions text |
Major powers worked on amendments on Thursday to get votes from South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar on sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment that can be used in a nuclear weapon.No vote has been set and could be delayed until next week as any changes have to be sent to the governments of the 15 U.N. Security Council members for approval. But U.S. Deputy Ambassador Alexander Wolff said a vote late on Friday was "still possible." Indonesia proposed a call for "a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East," said its U.N. ambassador, Rezlan Ishar Jenie. But so far the United States has qualms about this, presumably because Israel would be included. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2973580
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Editor - 11:21:00 03-22-07
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