IRS ousts Lerner, who oversaw targeting
May 24, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel News
WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after she refused to answer questions at a congressional hearing, Lois Lerner has been replaced as director the Internal Revenue Service division that oversaw agents who targeted tea party groups.
Danny Werfel, the agency’s new acting commissioner, told IRS employees in an email Thursday that he has selected a new acting head of the division.
Ken Corbin will be the acting director of the agency’s exempt organizations division. Corbin is currently deputy director of submission processing in the wage and investment division.
A congressional aide said Lerner has been placed on administrative leave. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/irs-replaces-official-oversaw-targeting-214522874.html
Amid heckling, Obama defends drone use
May 24, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel News
“America is at a crossroads. We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us,” he warned in remarks at National Defense University.
Obama defiantly defended his use of drones to assassinate suspected extremists overseas, including Americans, but he asked lawmakers to join him in setting modest new safeguards. He renewed his call for shuttering the Guantanamo Bay prison for alleged terrorists. And he announced efforts to find a better balance between investigations of national security leaks and the freedom of the press.
“Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end,” Obama said in a speech plainly shaped by his awareness of the place drones and Guantanamo Bay could occupy in his legacy.
“Unless we discipline our thinking, our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don’t need to fight, or continue to grant presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation-states,” he warned.
Obama was heckled at length by Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink and a leading (and highly recognizable) critic of the so-called war on terrorism.
“Can you tell the Muslim people their lives are as precious as our lives?” she shouted as she was finally ushered from the hall. “Will you apologize to the thousands of Muslims that you have killed? Will you compensate the innocent family victims? That will make us safer!”
After trying and failing several times to get her to sit quietly, Obama went off script and enlisted her protest to reinforce his message about the need to close the Guantanamo facility.
“The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to,” the president said, to applause. “Obviously, I do not agree with much of what she said. And obviously she wasn’t listening to me and much of what I said. But these are tough issues. And the suggestion that we can gloss over them is wrong.”
Here are some major points from his address:
= On drones
Obama offered an unapologetic defense of his use of drones, saying they are legal, generally moral and a last resort for getting terrorists when capture is out of the question, sending in American special forces is impossible and a local government cannot—or will not—act. “These strikes have saved lives,” he said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that civilian casualties can serve as a powerful recruiting tool for terrorist groups.
He warned against the temptation to see drone strikes as “a cure-all for terrorism” and invited Congress to help him set modest new safeguards, perhaps like setting up a new court that would vet potential targets or erecting an independent body inside the executive branch to do so.
He also had a message to those who, like Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, have warned against using drones at home.
“For the record, I do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen—with a drone or with a shotgun—without due process,” Obama said. “Nor should any president deploy armed drones over U.S. soil.”
(Paul was underwhelmed. “I’m glad the President finally acknowledged that American citizens deserve some form of due process,” Paul said. “But I still have concerns over whether flash cards and PowerPoint presentations represent due process; my preference would be to try accused U.S. citizens for treason in a court of law.”)
Obama did not directly challenge critics who have noted that the White House has redefined “imminent threat” to the point of meaninglessness. A Justice Department memo, revealed in February, declares that “‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against the United States … does not require clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future.”
Nor did he address a May 2012 New York Times report that the administration minimizes civilian casualties by counting “all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants.”
“What’s needed on drones is not a ‘kill court’ but rejection of the radical redefinition of ‘imminence’ used to expand who can be killed as well as independent investigations of alleged extrajudicial executions and remedy for victims,” Zeke Johnson, director of Amnesty International USA’s Security with Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.
= On Guantanamo Bay
Obama called on Congress to lift restrictions on transferring detainees that the Pentagon has cleared for release back to their home countries—”Release them today!” Benjamin shouted—and said he was ending the moratorium on sending about 50 Yemenis home. U.S. officials have long considered Yemen a hot spot for reradicalization.
Obama said he was appointing senior officials at the State Department and the Pentagon to oversee the process.
He said some of the 166 Guantanamo detainees would be tried either in civilian courts or by military commissions, noting there was no reason not to hold them in prisons on American soil. Dozens of other terror suspects have been tried, convicted and jailed in the U.S., he said.
Obama acknowledged the most daunting obstacle to closing Guantanamo Bay is what to do with about 80 prisoners that his administration has decided cannot be tried in court and are too dangerous to be released. And he offered no concrete solution.
“But once we commit to a process of closing GTMO, I am confident that this legacy problem can be resolved, consistent with our commitment to the rule of law,” the president said.
Republicans immediately denounced the plan. “The president’s speech today will be viewed by terrorists as a victory,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the top GOP lawmaker on the Senate Intelligence Committee. To keep suspected terrorists from attacking Americans in the future, Chambliss said, “GTMO must stay open for business.”
It was unclear how Obama would overcome bipartisan objections to closing Guantanamo Bay. The first lawmaker to deal a major blow to Obama’s promise to close the facility was a Democrat, then-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey. And with the campaign ahead of the 2014 midterms already heating up, vulnerable Democrats may not rush to support the president’s approach.
= On the scope of the global war on terrorism
Obama’s remarks came as key lawmakers have begun debating whether to revise and update the post-9/11 law that underpins most of the so-called war on terrorism, legislation known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF. Critics worry the executive branch has interpreted the AUMF as a blank check for a global campaign over which lawmakers have only limited oversight.
“The AUMF is now nearly twelve years old,” Obama said. Deadly attacks on the American compound in Benghazi, Libya, and the Boston Marathon show terrorists still hope to kill Americans, but the Afghanistan war is winding down and central al-Qaida “is a shell of its former self.”
“I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further,” he said. “We must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror’—but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America.”
Obama’s comments came one week after Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Michael Sheehan told the Senate Armed Services Committee in a May 16 hearing that the conflict will last “at least 10 to 20 years.”
= On recent investigations into the media
In the face of recent revelations of government investigation of journalists—which included the comparison of reporting to spying—Obama declared that “journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs.”
He said he had tasked Attorney General Eric Holder with reviewing Justice Department rules governing probes that affect reporters and report back by July 12. As part of that process, Holder will meet with “a group of media organizations to hear their concerns.”
He also left some unanswered questions:
— How will America respond to drone strikes by other countries?
The Obama administration has argued that it has the right to kill suspected terrorists inside other countries, with or without the host country’s green light. The president reaffirmed that right in May 2011 when he ordered the raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.
So what happens when China or Russia assassinates someone they consider a terrorist? It’s hardly an idle concern. Countries are racing to make up lost time in the race for drones. U.S. ally France, for instance, is in talks to buy drones from the United States and Israel. Others aren’t far behind.
There are related questions: Will Obama push for some kind of global regulatory structure affecting drone sales, something akin to nonproliferation regimes affecting the transfer of nuclear or chemical weapon technology?
— How many Americans, total, have been killed by their government since 2009?
The administration revealed late Wednesday that four Americans have been killed in drone strikes “outside of areas of active hostilities” since 2009: radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and three others who were “not specifically targeted.” What about inside areas of active hostilities, like Iraq or Afghanistan? What about with means other than drone strikes?
— How does an American get off Obama’s “kill list”?
Apart, of course, from the way that results in drone pilots half a world away high-fiving each other? If there are no formal charges to contest, where do you go if you think your government has wrongly targeted you for assassination? Or, as the author of a harrowing book on Obama’s counterterrorism strategy, Jeremy Scahill, puts it: “How do you surrender to a drone?”
— Why can’t the next president just roll back any changes Obama makes?
Obama said he had signed a “presidential policy guidance” on Wednesday laying out his ground rules for using drones.
But presidents have a tough enough time fulfilling their own campaign promises (see: Guantanamo Bay, Obama’s pledge to close), never mind abiding by their predecessors’ rules. Whatever unilateral steps Obama announces on Thursday, a future president could likely undo.
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/questions-obama-drones-guantanamo-counter-terrorism-speech-141259101.html
Boy Scouts vote to end ban on gay youth
May 24, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel News
Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas. (Jason Sickles/Yahoo News)
[Updated at 6:55 p.m. CT]
DALLAS – The Boy Scouts of America, one of the country’s largest and oldest youth organizations, decided on Thursday to break 103 years of tradition by allowing openly gay members into its ranks.
The controversial move was approved by more than 60 percent of the approximate 1,400 votes cast by the BSA’s national council. According to the new resolution, beginning Jan. 1, 2014, “no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”
“The resolution also reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting,” the BSA stated in a press release.
Lifting the organization’s ban on gay adult volunteer leaders and paid staff was not considered and remains in place.
Pascal Tessier, a gay Scout from Maryland, told Yahoo News that he was ecstatic with the outcome.
“Proud, happy and on top of the world,” he said.
Tessier, 16, had feared that a no vote would mean he would not earn his Eagle award next year.
“The delegates proved me wrong,” Tessier said.
Texas Governor Rick Perry told the Texas Tribune, “While I will always cherish my time as a Scout … I am greatly disappointed with this decision.”
The emotionally charged issue has seen those for and against it wage costly public relations campaigns, and has fostered intense debate from coast to coast.
In a statement, John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout and leader of a coalition of people who opposed the change, accused the BSA of caving to polls, politics and public opinion.
“It is with great sadness and deep disappointment that we recognize on this day that the most influential youth program in America has turned a tragic corner,” Stemberger stated in a press release. “The vote today to allow open and avowed homosexuality into Scouting will completely transform it into an unprincipled and risky proposition for parents. It is truly a sad day for Scouting.”
Stemberger, founder of On My Honor, stated his group and other like-minded organizations will meet in Louisville, Ky., next month to discuss creating a new character-development organization for boys.
The historic change comes 13 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that BSA is a private club that is allowed to set its own rules for membership. Since then, public pressure has mounted for the Texas-based organization to change the exclusion, especially last year, when a gay California teen was denied his Eagle Scout award and an Ohio lesbian was removed as a den mother from her son’s troop.
Still, just 10 months ago, the Scouts reaffirmed their stance, saying a two-year confidential review revealed a majority of the organization’s parents wanted to keep the policy. The about-face to put it to a vote came “out of respect for the diverse beliefs of Scouting’s chartered organizations,” according to the BSA website.
After the vote, the Scouts stated there would be no plans to revisit the issue.
“While people have different opinions about this policy, we can all agree that kids are better off when they are in Scouting,” they stated in a press release. “ … America’s youth need Scouting, and by focusing on the goals that unite us, we can continue to accomplish incredible things for young people and the communities we serve.”
News of the change brought tears of joy to Melanie Gerken, the mother of an Eagle Scout and a longtime volunteer with Cleveland-area troops.
“It’s about time,” said Gerken, choking back tears.
She said she hopes the organization takes it a step further by allowing gay volunteers to work with Scouts.
“Being homosexual doesn’t make you a pedophile,” Gerken told Yahoo News. “I don’t care what goes on in your bedroom behind closed doors. What can you do for other people and youth?”
Boy Scouts’ Membership Standards Resolution by Jason Sickles, Yahoo News
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/boy-scouts-vote-end-ban-openly-gay-youth-221438621.html
Going for the travel deal of the century — CURT YEOMANS – News
May 24, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel Deals
Who doesn’t like a deal?
Who hasn’t waited outside a store for hours to take advantage of a deal?
Who wouldn’t give up an arm and a leg for a deal?
OK, maybe the last question was a bit extreme but the reality is everyone loves a deal. The bigger the deal, the happier we are.
And when we get a deal that allows us to go on a vacation of our dreams? Well that’s just the icing on the cake. We’ll do the happy dance over a travel deal.
But where can you find a deal on travel?
Well, that’s simple. Travel deals abound everywhere.
Airlines often offer special deals on their web sites, but many of the deals offered on them this week required travel reservations to be made by Thursday. Considering this column is published on Friday, mentioning the deals offered by the airlines would be pointless.
Those web sites are still worth looking at on a regular basis to find a great deal.
However, there are plenty of other travel web sites who always have travel deals going on.
Hotels.com has several Memorial Day deals for 10 cities.
Actually, Hotels.com always has deals going on so it is a good place to start looking. At least you’ll be able to save a few bucks on the place you lay your head at every night.
Memorial Day starting prices are Oklahoma City for $39 per night, Kansas City for $55, St. Louis for $64, Houston for $65, Denver for $67, New Orleans for $71, Austin for $87, Dallas for $97, Chicago for $99 and San Antonio for $103.
Kayak.com has a great section that compiles travel deals from various web sites. That helps travelers get the best rate possible on everything from rental cars to hotels.
For example, you can find a deal that will let you rent from major car rental agencies for as little as $7 per day. You could also access a 99-hour sale for trips to Cancun, which included a $64 per night savings on a four-star beach front resort that is connected to an eco-archeological park. The special per night rate for the resort, called the Occidental Grand Xcaret, was $93.
Travel isn’t entirely out of everyone’s reach. A nice vacation can be had if travelers know where to look. It might take some time, but it can be worth the effort when you get half-off on a luxury hotel room.
Look at it this way. At least you won’t have to wait outside in the cold on Thanksgiving to get a decent price.
Curt Yeomans is a senior reporter for the Clayton News Daily and an avid traveler. He can be reached at (770) 478-5753, ext. 247, via Email at cyeomans@news-daily.com or on Twitter at @CYeomansCND.
Article source: http://www.news-daily.com/news/2013/may/23/going-travel-deal-century-curt-yeomans/
Get ready for a ‘extremely active’ hurricane season
May 23, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel News
A house leveled during superstorm Sandy in Fairfield, Conn. (Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News)
A year after superstorm Sandy, residents along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts should prepare for “an extremely active” 2013 hurricane season, U.S. forecasters say.
There will be between three and six major hurricanes this year with winds above 111 mph, according to the 2013 hurricane outlook unveiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center on Thursday.
During the six-month hurricane season, which begins June 1, forecasters anticipate between 13 and 20 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, between seven and 11 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher).
Those ranges are above normal. According to the National Hurricane Center, the seasonal average is 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
The dire forecast comes as many shoreline residents—particularly in New York and New Jersey—are still recovering from Sandy, which killed 147 people and caused more than $75 billion in damage—the second costliest hurricane U.S. history—in October 2012.
The 2012 hurricane season produced 19 named storms, including 10 hurricanes and two major hurricanes—Sandy and Michael, a Category 3 storm that stayed over the open Atlantic. The number of named storms and hurricanes were above average, but the two major hurricanes was below the average of three.
Climate factors—including warmer-than-average water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean—contributed to 2013′s active forecast, the NOAA said.
And homeowners should begin their storm preparations now.
“Take time to refresh your hurricane preparedness plan,” Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA acting administrator, said during a news conference in College Park, Md., on Thursday. “Bottom line is become weather-ready now—that means starting today.”
NOAA also unveiled plans for a new “super computer” that will run an “upgraded Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) models.” That, combined with new Doppler technology from NOAA’s “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft, is expected to improve forecast accuracy “by 10 to 15 percent,” the NOAA said.
The seasonal hurricane outlook does not predict how many storms will hit land or where a storm will strike. For people living on the shorelines, Sullivan said, “this is your warning.”
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/hurricane-season-2013-forecast-175638720.html
More arrests after grisly London terror attack
May 23, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel News
By Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) – British police arrested two more people on Thursday in a hunt for accomplices of two British men of Nigerian descent accused of hacking a soldier to death on a London street in revenge for wars in Muslim countries.
The two suspected killers, now under guard in hospitals, had been known to security services before Wednesday’s daylight attack, security sources said. Another man and a woman, both aged 29, were detained on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
One of the assailants, filmed calmly justifying the killing as he stood by the body holding a knife and meat cleaver in bloodied hands, was named by acquaintances as 28-year-old Londoner Michael Adebolajo – a British-born convert to Islam.
So frenzied was the attack, some witnesses thought they were trying to behead and disembowel the victim, who was named as a 25-year-old Afghan war veteran working as an army recruiter.
The attack, just a month after the Boston Marathon bombing and the first Islamist killing in Britain since local suicide bombers killed 52 people in London in 2005, revived fears of “lone wolves” who may have had no direct contact with al Qaeda.
Adebolajo and the other man, who may have been born abroad and later naturalized as British, were shot by police at the scene. Officers on the case raided six homes on Thursday.
Prime Minister David Cameron held an emergency meeting of his intelligence chiefs to assess the response to what he called a “terrorist” attack; it was the first deadly strike in mainland Britain since local Islamists killed dozens in London in 2005.
“We will never give in to terror or terrorism in any of its forms,” Cameron said outside his Downing Street office.
“This was not just an attack on Britain and on the British way of life, it was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country.”
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned it “in the strongest terms”, adding in a statement: “The United States stands resolute with the United Kingdom, our ally and friend, against violent extremism and terror.”
A source close to the investigation told Reuters that both attackers were known to Britain’s MI5 internal security service. Adebolajo had handed out radical Islamist pamphlets but neither was considered a serious threat, a government source said.
Another source close to the inquiry said the local backgrounds of the suspects in a multicultural metropolis – nearly 40 percent of Londoners were born abroad – and the simplicity of the attack made prevention difficult:
“Apart from being horribly barbaric, this was relatively straightforward to carry out,” the source said. “This was quite low-tech and that is frankly pretty challenging.”
Anjem Choudary, one of Britain’s most recognized Islamist clerics, told Reuters Adebolajo, was known to fellow Muslims as Mujahid – a name meaning “fighter”: “He used to attend a few demonstrations and activities that we used to have in the past.”
He added that he had not seen him for about two years: “He was peaceful, unassuming and I don’t think there’s any reason to think he would do anything violent,” Choudary said.
A man called Paul Leech said on Twitter he was at school in the suburb of Romford with the man seen claiming the attack: “Michael Adebolajo u make me sick,” he wrote. “How could someone who was a laugh and nice bloke at school turn out like that.”
DAYLIGHT ATTACK
The two men used a car to run down Drummer Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks in southeast London and then attacked him with a meat cleaver and knives, witnesses said. The pair told shocked bystanders they acted in revenge for British wars in Muslim countries. Rigby, who had a two-year-old son, was not in uniform. The bandsman was working locally as an army recruiter.
A dramatic clip filmed by an onlooker showed one of the men, identified as Adebolajo, his hands covered in blood and speaking in a local accent apologizing for taking his action in front of women but justifying it on religious grounds:
“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day,” he said. “This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
The attack revived fears of “lone wolves”. These may have had no direct contact with al Qaeda but are inspired by radical preachers and by Islamist militant Web sites, some of which urge people to attack Western targets with whatever means they have.
Images of the blood-soaked suspect were splashed across the front pages of newspapers; so too were links to his clearly spoken, matter-of-fact video statement, made as the pair chatted calmly to bystanders before police arrived many minutes later.
“We have all seen images that are deeply shocking,” Cameron told reporters before visiting the barracks in Woolwich. “The people who did this were trying to divide us.”
In Nigeria, with a mixed Christian-Muslim population and where the authorities are battling an Islamist insurgency, a government source said there was no evidence the Woolwich suspects were linked to groups in west Africa.
British investigators are looking at information that at least one of the suspects may have had an interest in joining Somalia-based Islamist rebel group al Shabaab which is allied to al Qaeda, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
Al Shabaab linked the attack to the Boston bombing and last year’s gun attacks in the southern French city of Toulouse: “Toulouse, Boston, Woolwich … Where next? You just have to grin and bear it, it’s inevitable. A case of the chickens coming home to roost!” the rebels said on Twitter.
IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN
The grisly attack took place next to the sprawling Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, a south London working class district which has long-standing historic links to the military and is home to many immigrant communities, including Nigerians.
Rigby, who served in Afghanistan in 2009, was wearing a T-shirt reading “Help for Heroes”, the name of a charity formed to help wounded British veterans. Britain has had troops deployed in Afghanistan since 2001 and had troops in Iraq from 2003-2009.
Witnesses said they shouted “Allahu akbar” – Arabic for God is greatest – while stabbing the victim and trying to behead him. A handgun was found at the scene.
Some onlookers rushed to help the soldier and one woman engaged the attackers in conversation to calm them down.
“He had what looked like butcher’s tools — a little axe, to cut the bones, and two large knives. He said: ‘Move off the body,’” said French-born former teacher Ingrid Loyau-Kennett.
“He said: ‘I killed him because he killed Muslims and I am fed up with people killing Muslims in Afghanistan.’”
A trained first aider and Cub Scout leader, Loyau-Kennett was on a bus which was held up by the incident and she got off to try to help the victim. She found he was already dead.
Her attitude and that of other passers-by who remonstrated with the attackers was held up by Cameron as an example of resistance to attempts to terrorize the population:
“When told by the attacker that he wanted to start a war in London,” Cameron said, “She replied, ‘You’re going to lose. It’s only you versus many.’ She spoke for us all.”
London was last hit by a serious militant attack on July 7, 2005, when four young British Islamists set off suicide bombs on underground trains and a bus, killing 52 people and wounding hundreds. A similar attack two weeks later was thwarted.
In 2007, two days after police defused two car bombs outside London nightclubs, two men suspected of involvement, a British-born doctor of Iraqi descent and an Indian-born engineer, rammed a car laden with gas into the Glasgow Airport terminal, setting it ablaze. One of the attackers died and the other was jailed.
Britain has long known political violence on the streets. In 2009, two British soldiers were shot dead outside a barracks in Northern Ireland in an attack claimed by Irish republicans.
Woolwich, too, has seen attacks before. A soldier and a civilian were killed by an IRA bomb at a local pub in 1974. The barracks itself was bombed in 1983, wounding five people.
Peter Clarke, who led the investigation into the 2005 bombings, popularly known as 7/7, said that if the Woolwich attackers did turn out to be acting alone, it showed the difficulty the security services faced in trying to stop them.
“An attack like this doesn’t need sophisticated fund raising and sophisticated communications or planning,” he told Reuters. “It can be organized and then actually delivered in a moment.”
(Additional reporting by Kate Holton, Andrew Osborn, Costas Pitas, Estelle Shirbon, Peter Griffiths, Mark Hosenball and Mark Anderson; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Maria Golovnina; Editing by Peter Graff and Alastair Macdonald)
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-soldier-hacked-death-suspected-islamist-attack-060253278.html
Live: Obama’s counterterrorism defense
May 23, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel News
President Barack Obama will defend his counterterrorism policies in a speech at National Defense University on Thursday afternoon, looking to reassure Americans concerned about his hugely controversial targeted assassination strategy with drones and revive efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for suspected extremists.
Obama’s remarks come as key lawmakers have begun debating whether to revise and update the post-9/11 law that underpins most of the so-called war on terrorism, legislation known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF. Critics worry the executive branch has interpreted the AUMF as a blank check for a global campaign over which lawmakers have only limited oversight.
Ahead of the speech, here are some questions about Obama’s approach to the anti-terror campaign begun when al-Qaida militants slammed hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
— How long does Obama think the conflict against al-Qaida will last?
It’s been called “the forever war.” Some critics have scoffed at the very idea of a “war on terrorism,” arguing that because terrorism is a tactic, the United States might as well be fighting a “war on flanking maneuvers.” Obama shares this view, at least based on these remarks from 2004.
What does he think now? Does he agree with Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Michael Sheehan, who told the Senate Armed Services Committee in a May 16 hearing that the conflict will last “at least 10 to 20 years” from today?
— Are drones creating more extremists than they are killing?
At an April 30, 2013, press conference, Obama renewed his call to close the detention facility for suspected extremists at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Why? “It is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe. It is expensive. It is inefficient. It hurts us in terms of our international standing. It lessens cooperation with our allies on counterterrorism efforts. It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed.”
Will he address that same question now for drones? There’s ample evidence that America’s drone strikes are vastly unpopular across the Muslim world. While U.S. officials play down civilian casualties and insist that the United States takes every precaution to minimize them, such tragedies occur and plainly fuel anti-U.S. sentiment.
There is precedent for a president asking the U.S. intelligence community to make such an assessment. A formal 2006 study by America’s intelligence community found that the Iraq invasion and occupation was creating terrorists faster than U.S. forces could take them out.
And there’s a problem with past Obama promises to use deadly force only in response to imminent danger of attack. The White House has redefined “imminent threat” to the point of meaninglessness. A Justice Department memo, revealed in February, declares that “‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future.”
And a May 2012 New York Times report said the administration minimizes civilian casualties by counting “all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants.”
— How will America respond to drone strikes by other countries?
The Obama administration has argued that it has the right to kill suspected terrorists inside other countries, with or without the host country’s green light. The president reaffirmed that right in May 2011 when he ordered the raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.
So what happens when China or Russia assassinates someone they consider a terrorist? It’s hardly an idle concern. Countries are racing to make up lost time in the race for drones. U.S. ally France, for instance, is in talks to buy drones from the United States and Israel. Others aren’t far behind.
There are related questions. Will Obama push for some kind of global regulatory structure affecting drone sales, something akin to nonproliferation regimes affecting the transfer of nuclear or chemical weapon technology?
— How many Americans, total, have been killed by their government since 2009?
The administration revealed late Wednesday that four Americans have been killed in drone strikes “outside of areas of active hostilities” since 2009: radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and three others who were “not specifically targeted.” What about inside areas of active hostilities, like Iraq or Afghanistan? What about with means other than drone strikes?
— How will Obama overcome bipartisan opposition to closing Guantanamo Bay?
The first lawmaker to deal a major blow to Obama’s promise to close the facility was a Democrat, then-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey. And with the campaign ahead of the 2014 midterms already heating up, vulnerable Democrats may not rush to support the president’s approach.
— How will Obama deal with the Guantanamo detainees that his administration has decided cannot be tried in court and are too dangerous to be released?
This has always been a policy nightmare. No U.S. president wants to free someone who might turn around and attack Americans. And it’s not clear what’s to be gained from simply transferring the detainees to another facility to end their days there.
— How does an American get off Obama’s “kill list”?
Apart, of course, from the way that results in drone pilots half a world away high-fiving each other? If there are no formal charges to contest, where do you go if you think your government has wrongly targeted you for assassination? Or, as the author of a harrowing book on Obama’s counterterrorism strategy, Jeremy Scahill, puts it: “How do you surrender to a drone?”
— Why can’t the next president just roll back any changes Obama makes?
A White House official said late Wednesday that Obama’s speech would coincide with “the signing of new Presidential Policy Guidance that lays out the standards under which we take lethal action.”
But presidents have a tough enough time fulfilling their own campaign promises (see: Guantanamo Bay, Obama’s pledge to close), never mind abiding by their predecessors’ rules. Whatever unilateral steps Obama announces on Thursday, a future president could likely undo.
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/questions-obama-drones-guantanamo-counter-terrorism-speech-141259101.html
Escapon.com Offers a Selection of Top Travel Bargains Picked from Internet’s …
May 23, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel Deals
San Francisco, CA — (SBWIRE) — 05/22/2013 — For many people, traveling is one of the world’s most enjoyable activities. Some people travel to experience complete relaxation, while others travel to discover new cultures.
But no matter why people travel, a website called Escapon.com wants to help travelers get to wherever they need to go without paying too much to get there. Escapon.com offers a number of unique travel deals for locations throughout the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world. The website collects deals from across the internet and features those deals on the front page of the site.
Some deals involve destinations in the UK. A recent promotion offers 50% off a 3 day, 2 night vacation in Cornwall, for example. But many visitors will be interested in discovering some of the more exotic destinations they can discover at substantial discounts.
A spokesperson for Escapon explained just a few of the places visitors to Escapon.com can visit:
“Visitors come to our website hoping to see some of the most exciting destinations in the world, and we want to deliver on those expectations. Our travel deals cover popular tourist countries throughout Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, as well as more exotic destinations like Egypt, Morocco, Thailand, and Turkey.”
Those who are having trouble deciding where to go may want to browse through the list of popular destinations found on the right hand side of the page. That section breaks popular travel destinations into the top cities, countries, and UK destinations currently available through the site.
Instead of simply offering travel deals from one or two different sites, Escapon.com scans popular online travel deal websites in order to find the best deals for visitors:
“We want our visitors to save the maximum amount of money on their next vacation. And in order to do that, we’ve collected offers from a wide range of online services, including deal websites like Mighty Deals and Living Social as well as exclusive travel sites like Secret Escapes. The goal is to give visitors a wide range of reasonably-priced options when it comes to planning their next vacation.”
Along with featuring travel deals for countries around the world, the Escapon.com website also features top deals for various types of services in the UK. One recent promotion allowed users to save 20% on car servicing and diagnostic checks, for example.
Whether ready to travel the world for the first time or simply interested in a relaxing beach holiday, Escapon.com wants to help connect travelers with some of the best travel deals the internet has to offer. Visitors can access any of these deals simply by clicking on the links throughout the Escapon.com website.
About Escapon.com
Escapon.com is an online travel deal website that collects travel offers from all over the internet. The website offers substantial discounts on travel packages in a number of countries, including Thailand, Egypt, Morocco, Germany, France, and dozens more. For more information, please visit: http://www.escapon.com
Article source: http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/escaponcom-offers-a-selection-of-top-travel-bargains-picked-from-internets-best-deal-websites-255250.htm
Travel Deals: Hotel bargains from Hawaii to Florida to Mexico and beyond
May 23, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel Deals
It’s called the Planes, Trains Automobiles promotion, offering airline, gas and train vouchers with qualifying stays through June 30 at Holiday Inn Resorts properties. But since Holiday Inn realized that non-U.S. travellers might not find U.S.-based transportation deals so useful, Canadian guests (and other international travellers) get the benefit of pre-paid VISA gift cards instead. The deal ramps up with the duration of your stay, with a $25 (all prices U.S.) gift card for a two night getaway, $50 for three nights, $75 for four nights and $100 for five nights or more. Several Florida properties are taking part, in Daytona Beach, Lake Buena Vista and Pensacola Beach, plus the Holiday Inn Waikiki Beachcomber Resort, the Holiday Inn Resort Galveston on the Beach, The Beach House A Holiday Inn Resort on Hilton Head Island, SC and a handful of Caribbean and Mexico resorts. To qualify you must be a member of IHG’s free loyalty program, PriorityClub Rewards. Sign-up is at the site; see holidayinnresorts.com/100back .
Article source: http://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2013/05/23/travel_deals_hotel_bargains_from_hawaii_to_florida_to_mexico_and_beyond.html
Travel deals galore
May 23, 2013 by admin
Filed under Travel Deals
group of hotels, told HT. “While occupancies haven’t been very badly hit, room rates have dropped.”
Average room tariffs at star-rated hotels are under pressure in the leisure hotel segment and are estimated to have dropped by 10% to 15% this year compared to 2011-12.
However, the budget segment is still doing well. “There is no pressure on tariffs in this segment; even occupancy levels are up,” said Sabina Chopra, co-founder of travel portal yatra.com.
Most large hotel chains, including The Oberoi, Taj Group of Hotels, ITC Hotels, Hilton Group, The Lalit and Lemon Tree Hotels, among others, are making an all out effort to woo customers.
So, this summer, you could be thrown additional benefits like free meals, spa or a free room for your children or even a complimentary room for yourself if you happen to spend a few days at a stretch. These will be in addition to a discount.
Sample this: Hilton has decided to do away with the so-called “blackout dates” such as the peak period between December 25 and January 31 when hotels, typically do not offer any discounted rates. So, discounts will be on offer through the year.
“Our effort always is to offer a very compelling proposition through special promotions,” said Hilton Worldwide’s India spokesperson
The Taj Group of Hotels, Oberoi Hotels, the Lalit Group and most other large chains have introduced packages providing extended stays, room upgrades and more.
“Travelers are still keen on holidays but since costs have risen they want more value and are willing to compromise on ‘star’ categorization,” said Raghuvinder Pal Singh, director, D. Paul Travels and Tour, a leading travel agency.
A recent report on the India hotel industry by rating agency ICRA mentioned a significant addition of hotel rooms. “Supply addition in 2013-14 is expected to be robust, which, coupled with muted demand, is expected to lead to continued pricing pressure,” the report said.
Article source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/WorldEconomy/Travel-deals-galore/Article1-1064961.aspx
