Headlines for 03-14-08

US veterans urge soldiers to speak out against Iraq war At the "Winter Soldier" event in Washington, some 200 soldiers like Coppa and Mejia will give eye-witness testimonies about what they lived through during their deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and afterwards.


U.S. faces severe recession: NBER's Feldstein The United States is in a recession that could be "substantially more severe" than recent ones, National Bureau of Economic Research President Martin Feldstein said on Friday.


Gas, diesel rocket to new records


Weak dollar costs U.S. economy its world No. 1 spot We are in no position to continue to start wars in the Middle East. It's time to bring the boys home and start taking better care of the matters of THIS nation, because things aren't looking so hot.


Warriors welcome Fallon's resignation


Baghdad's Romeo and Juliet find love in Iraq war Neither the army nor the State Department keep the figures. Some 1,400 visas for Iraqi spouses have been issued since 2003, but that figure is largely made up of couples with double-nationality.


Why OPEC Won't Boost Oil Supplies Washington argues that a deep economic downturn in the United States - which consumes a quarter of the world's energy - could drive down global demand for oil, and wind up hurting oil-rich countries. But OPEC's 13 oil ministers - whose countries account for about 40% of the world's oil supply - have heard that argument from U.S. officials before, and have rejected it at three meetings in the past six months


State Dept: Criticism of Israel = Anti-Semitism? In the most recent edition of its annual "Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism" released Thursday, the State Department - and hence the U.S. government - moves ever more closely to a long-standing neo-conservative tenet: that criticism of Israel or Israeli policies often, if not always, equals anti-Semitism. The Israeli lobby has succeeded in getting our government to equate criticism of Israel with 'anti-Semitism'. It may only a matter of time now before it's illegal (in this country) to do so.


Fallon's Fall Is Bad News


House challenges Bush on surveillance Bush has spent weeks pressuring the House to grant retroactive legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in the program, initiated after the September 11 attacks.


John McCain told to dump spiritual guide in row over "war" on Islam In a chapter titled "Islam: The Deception of Allah," Mr Parsley speaks of Allah as a "demon spirit" and urges "war between Islam and Christian civilisation". There is no difference between violent Islamist extremists and moderate Muslims, he argues.


Islamic summit favours dialogue not clash with West


Israel vulnerable to cruise missiles -newspaper Israel's air defences could fend off long-range ballistic missiles of the kind deployed by Iran and Syria but the Jewish state remains vulnerable to cruise missiles, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.


Israel secretly warned Syria about Hezbollah Israel recently conveyed a warning to Syria through a third party that it would hold Damascus accountable if Lebanese Hezbollah launched attacks on the Jewish state, Israeli and European sources said on Friday.


Cheney's Mideast trip about Israel-Palestinians, Iraq, Iran and oil The first stop on Cheney's schedule is the U.S.-allied Arab monarchy of Oman, which has supported the U.S.-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The sparsely populated oil-producing state, which allows the United States the use of its four air bases, is situated on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz from Iran.



The Wright Stuff I've been a member of a conservative Jewish congregation for 25 years. I love the rabbi but not his sermons on Israel and the Palestinians. He is a total Israel hawk. To put it mildly, I am not. I am all about the two-state solution (the so-called Clinton plan). Even worse, the congregation has become the favorite of Washington's neocons including the worst warmonger of all: Douglas Feith. The idea of communing with God together with a thug like Feith is sickening to me. Then there is Charles Krauthammer who, in 2001, disrupted Yom Kippur services by bellowing at the rabbi for expressing, in the most general terms, the desire for Middle East peace.



Israel makes another bid for F-22 jets Israel is also holding high-level talks with the Pentagon concerning a future Israeli acquisition in a time of war of the Lockheed Martin-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defense system. A delegation of officials from Israel's Homa Missile Defense Agency were in Hawaii recently to view a successful test of the system. The US Congress recently allocated $200 million subsidy for Israel's use if it decides to purchase the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
The US Congress - Israeli-occupied territory.