Former speaker says energy independence is key
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/03/07
Washington — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday the Bush administration is waging a "phony war" on terrorism, warning that the country is losing ground against the kind of Islamic radicals who attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001.
A more effective approach, said Gingrich, would begin with a national energy strategy aimed at weaning the country from its reliance on imported oil and some of the regimes that petro-dollars support.
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"None of you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we are winning this war," the ex-Georgian told a group of about 300 students attending a conference for collegiate conservatives.
Gingrich, who led the so-called Republican Revolution that won the GOP control of both houses of Congress in 1994 midterm elections, said more must be done to marshal national resources to combat Islamic militants at home and abroad and to prepare the country for future attack. He was unstinting in his criticism of his fellow Republicans, in the White House and on Capitol Hill.
"We were in charge for six years," he said, referring to the period between 2001 and early 2007, when the GOP controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. "I don't think you can look and say that was a great success."
Thursday's National Conservative Student Conference was sponsored by the Young America's Foundation, a Herndon, Va.-based group founded in the 1960s as a political counterpoint to the left-leaning activists who coalesced around the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War.
Gingrich retains strong support among conservatives and ranked fifth among possible Republican nominees behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, with the backing of 7 percent of those queried in a ABC News/Washington Post poll taken last week. The poll surveyed 403 Republicans and Republican-leaning adults nationwide and has a 5 percentage-point margin of error.
"I believe we need to find leaders who are prepared to tell the truth ... about the failures of the performance of Republicans ... failed bureaucracies ... about how dangerous the world is," he said when asked what kind of Republican he would back for president.
Gingrich has been promoting a weekly political newsletter he calls "Winning the Future." It's available free to those who leave their e-mail addresses at
www.winningthefuture
.net, one of several Web sites he is connected with or operating. Gingrich began writing the newsletter in April 2006, and it now goes out to 311,000 readers each week, said Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler.
Political salon
At another Web site — www.americansolutions
.com — Gingrich is running a virtual political salon, with video clips, organizational information and contacts revolving around his conservative vision for the country's future. It asks supporters to join in an Internet "Solutions Day" on Sept. 27, the anniversary of Gingrich's so-called Contract With America, a slate of conservative policies he led through Congress as speaker of the House a decade and a half ago.
"What I'm trying to start is a new dialogue that is evidence-based," Gingrich said Thursday. "It doesn't start from the right wing, it doesn't start from the left wing," he said, but is an effort to get politicians and voters to "look honestly at the evidence of what isn't working and tell us how to change it."
Gingrich was interrupted with applause once, when he called for an end to the biting partisanship critics say has polarized national politics and paralyzed the workings of government.
"We have got to get past this partisan baloney, where I'm not allowed to say anything good about Hillary Clinton because 'I'm not a loyal Republican,' and she's not allowed to say anything good about me, or she's not a 'loyal' Democrat. What a stupid way to run a country."
He reserved his most pointed criticism for the administration's handling of the global campaign against terrorist groups.
"We've been engaged in a phony war," said Gingrich. "The only people who have been taking this seriously are the combat military."
His remarks seemed to reflect, in part, the findings of a National Intelligence Estimate made public last month.
In the estimate, the U.S. intelligence community concluded that six years of U.S. efforts to degrade the al-Qaida terrorist group had left the organization constrained but still potent, having "protected or regenerated" the capability to attack the United States in ways that have left the country "in a heightened threat environment."
"We have to take this seriously," said Gingrich.
"We used to be a serious country. When we got attacked at Pearl Harbor, we took on Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany," he said, referring to World War II.
"We beat all three in less than four years. We're about to enter the seventh year of this phony war against ... [terrorist groups], and we're losing."
Successful approach
Gingrich said he would lay out in a Sept. 10 speech what a successful U.S. approach to this threat would have looked like over the past six years.
"First of all, we have to have a national energy strategy, which basically says to the Saudis, 'We're not going to rely on you,' " he said.
The United States imports about 14 million barrels of oil a day, making up two-thirds of its total consumption.
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MUST SEE VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhPDyi9LB1U
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DEBKAfile: Big US Armed Forces integrated Valiant Shield exercises simulate possible operation against Iran
August 6, 2007, 1:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
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The maneuvers beginning Monday, Aug. 6, in waters off Guam include the simultaneous deployment of three carriers and their air and naval strike groups: USS Stennis, USS Nimitz and USS Kitty Hawk, altogether 30 warships, 280 warplanes and 22,000 soldiers and sailors. The exercise is commanded by Adm. Robert Willard, Pacific Fleet chief.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report: This will be America’s last major combined sea-air war game before during Bush presidency which ends in Jan. 2009 and last opportunity for drilling large-scale combined units should the president decide on a military operation against Iran.
To indicate that outside eyes were not desired, foreign observers who attended the Pacific exercises last year were not invited this year. US military sources in the region said that invitations to officers of regional nations to watch the drills would have had to include Malaysia, which has close ties with Iran.
According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources, the exercises will be held in conditions resembling as closely as possible those in Iran and practice assaults of the kind that may be executed against the Islamic Republic.
When he spoke of the drills, Willard may well have been describing the realities expected to prevail in a real-life offensive against the Islamic Republic..
Valiant Shield, he said, will “include the complexities of operating three aircraft carriers in the same area while at the same time adding in the operations of another component – the fighters, bombers and tankers of the US Air Force.”
He said the exercise will not detract from the Navy’s “real world” missions in the Persian Gulf but help drill the Navy and its crews [for that real world.]
Valiant Shield’s commander’s words may have been meant to answer the sharp criticism coming from Persian Gulf governments.
“Washington may be sending the USS Enterprise Strike Group to the Persian Gulf. It has not yet arrived. The other two American carriers, Nimitz and Stennis, have gone to take part in an exercise far away in the Pacific.”
“So where does that leave us?” asked a Gulf military official. “Vice President Dick Cheney and Robert Gates promised three American air carriers to protect us plus naval, marine and air forces. Now all the carriers are gone.”
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Olmert: Immediate goal is Palestinian state
During meeting in Jericho, Abbas and Olmert agree to meet regularly to prepare for Mideast peace summit in US scheduled for this fall. Olmert: Our aim is to achieve Bush's vision of two states for two peoples, based on the roadmap, living in security and peace side by side... Attila Somfalvi Published: 08.06.07, 18:50 / Israel News
The Israeli and Palestinian leadership will meet regularly to prepare for a Middle East peace summit in the United States scheduled for this fall, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud agreed during a meeting Monday.
The two leaders met in the West Bank city of Jericho, marking the first time an Israeli prime minister visited the Palestinian Authority since the outbreak of the intifada seven years ago.
After a private one-and-a-half hour meeting between the two men, Olmert and Abbas convened with their Israeli and Palestinian delegations for a wider scale conference.
"We don't want conferences for the sake of photo-ops, but to reach a comprehensive peace agreement," chief Palestinian negotiator Dr Saeb Erekat told a press conference after the meeting.
Former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas), however, was not thrilled by the meeting, and called it "a gimmick that will lead to nothing."
Working model
At the end of the private meeting, Olmert said he and Abbas discussed establishing strong foundations for a Palestinian state.
"We decided to increase contacts to advance understandings and reach a working model that will allow progress towards establishing a Palestinian state," Olmert said.
"The aim is to achieve US President George Bush's vision of two countries for two peoples, living in security and peace side by side," Olmert said. This process, based on the mutually agreed-upon Roadmap, must occur as soon as possible, he noted.
Meanwhile, efforts will be immediately boosted towards rebuilding the Palestinian security forces, with the aid of the United States. Israel will also renew security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.
'Start on major issues'
According to Erekat, Abbas stressed the Palestinian aim to start discussions on the major issues. "Abbas demanded Israel stop settlement activity and activate joint Israeli-Palestinian staffs on all the issues at hand."
He also noted that the Palestinians demanded a timetable be set regarding the steps to be taken. Erekat called the meeting "intensive, positive and serious."
"We made clear that we want a permanent solution based on the international decisions. We focused on the issues that will bring about the establishment of a Palestinian state, and we don't need (US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice's interference but rather decisions by the leadership of both sides, to end the occupation and establish a Palestinian state.
The leaders examined current security cooperation, and the Palestinians reported seizing dozens of pounds of explosives transferred to Israel and arresting hundreds of terror suspects. Abbas said during the meeting that Israel's release of Palestinian security prisoners in July had great influence on Palestinian public opinion.
He asked the prime minister to consider releasing additional prisoners, and Olmert promised to weigh the issue. The Palestinians also requested the removal of roadblocks in the Palestinian territories, and Olmert said the defense establishment would examine the matter.
The two leaders agreed to encourage cooperation between ministers of both governments.
According to Ereket, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad also settled with the Israelis how Palestinian tax money collected in Israel should be transferred to the PA.
