"By exploiting the politics of fear, instigating an optional war in Iraq before finishing a necessary war in Afghanistan and instituting policies on torture, detainees and domestic surveillance that fly in the face of our values and interests, President (George W) Bush divided Americans from each other and from the world," Senator Joseph Biden said in Washington in a campaign speech on 'Renewing American Leadership'.
The Bush administration has informed the Pakistan government that it would like it to initiate 'prosecution with sufficient efforts to ensure conviction' of those behind the Mumbai incident, the Dawn newspaper quoted US sources as saying. The move is a 'clear change' in the attitude of the US, which earlier had backed the Indian demand that some of the suspects be extradited to India.
The nonproliferation and disarmament lobby in the United States, which has been vehemently opposed to the India-US civilian nuclear agreement, is ready to pop open the champagne to celebrate.The nonproliferation lobby is elated as the demise of the agreement is close at hand, with even senior members of the Bush administration acknowledging that the clock has all but run out on the deal.
Naveed Musharraf, the president's brother, and Irum Bilal Musharraf, his daughter-in-law, have reportedly given donations to Obama instead of Bush's Republican Party's presumptive candidate Senator John McCain.
On whether President Bush will leave this (the agreement) up to the next President -- as far as final bureaucratic things are still on his table -- Perino said, "Well, I think that the next administration will be able to decide for itself whether or not they want to continue that relationship that we've established with India. But I would see no reason why they shouldn't."
The UK daily reported that in Britain security officials say there is genuine concern that al-Qaeda will attempt a "spectacular" in the transition period, but suggested it may be aimed more at President George W Bush than the incoming African-American President-elect.
The US military since 2004 has used this secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda. These were authorised by a classified order that Defence Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the New York Times, quoting US officials, said
The Bush Administration has rejected suggestions that the United States is "stage-managing" the internal politics of Pakistan, and defended Islamabad's failure to rein in militants in the country's lawless tribal areas, saying the military was making "real efforts" against extremism.
Terming the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal as "unique to India and not a model to replicate", a senior Bush administration official said the United States is committed to cooperate with Pakistan in enhancing its energy needs but "a civilian nuclear deal with it was not on the table".
The meetings were held by members of the National Security Council's Principals Committee, which at that time included Vice President Richard Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, apart from CIA director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft. The principals not only discussed the tactics, but also approved them, reports ABCNews.com
"Every country, whether it be India, United States, other country, could be potentially part of this small network of countries where terrorists can obtain material or expertise," said a senior US official.
US Senate on Wednesday passed the $700 billion financial bailout package by a wide margin of 74-25 votes.
We are not worried about what happened today. We are worried what will happen tomorrow, says a senior BofA official recounting the blackest day in US markets history.
The $700 billion, however, will not be given to the Treasury in one go to bail out the troubled financial institutions and the distribution of money will come about in three stages, the first of which will be in the magnitude of $250 billion followed by a tranche of $100 billion and finally of $350 billion.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday hours after President George Bush spoke at the same forum, he predicted the defeat of American and NATO alliance in Afghanistan and advised the next rulers of the United States to keep "their interference" in their own borders. The people of Afghanistan, he said, are victims of efforts by NATO member states to "dominate the regions surrounding India, China and South Asia."
The crucial civil nuclear cooperation will be high on the agenda of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his 10-day visit to the United States and France, which begins on Monday.The prime minister will attend the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he would pitch for collective and multilateral approaches to deal with global challenges like food and energy crises and terrorism.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Camp, said, "We are not saying that the F-16s have only a counter-terrorism use. They are obviously a part of Pakistan's national defence and they always have been, and what we have said very confidently is that the sale of these F-16s is not going to upset the regional balance."
The administration is leaving no stone unturned as it races against time to have the US-India civilian nuclear agreement completed by the Congressional adjournment date of September 26 even if indications are there that the lawmakers may return for a Lame-Duck Session after the November 4 presidential elections.
United States President George W Bush has secretly given the go ahead to American special forces to carry out ground attacks inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the country's government.American officials were quoted as saying that they will notify Pakistan when they conduct limited ground attacks like the Special Operations raid last Wednesday in a Pakistani village near the Afghanistan border, but that they will not ask for its permission.
Asking the Indian government to take a "courageous" decision on the civil nuclear deal considering the "short timelines", the Bush administration has cautioned it against attempting such an arrangement with other nations ignoring the United States..
'The Bush administration, through a gag order on its written responses to Congressional questions, had sought to keep the Indian public in the dark on the larger implications of the nuclear deal, lest the accord run into rougher weather. But now its 26 pages of written answers have been publicly released by a senior United States Congressman.'
"I will take a new policy toward Pakistan, one that builds on the democratic yearnings expressed by the Pakistani people in the elections last week and recognises that the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan are among the most important and dangerous in the world," she said.
The Bush administration may fail to save its most trusted friend because the PPP and PML-N are determined to form a coalition and clip all those powers through which a president can dissolve parliament.
Burns was responding to the opening remarks by Senator John F Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, who said it was imperative that the United States "...must consider Pakistan's relationship with India, especially when it comes to Kashmir."
"President Musharraf has been a good ally and everyone knows that we disagreed with his decision in terms of the state of emergency that he declared. But he was just to his word, he took off his uniform. It is now a democratic government in Pakistan," she said. "I want to keep our focus on what we must do with the democratic government of Pakistan," she said while answering a question on the political crisis in Pakistan.
Shays asked Boucher that if any of it is true, how does the United States justify continuing its "unconditional support" for Musharraf's government?
Khan also echoed the complaints of the PPP delegation, led by Bhutto's close friend and confidante Sherry Rehman, which is also visiting Washington. He alleged that Musharraf and his regime were planning on rigging the elections and hence his party was boycotting the February 18 elections.
United States President George Bush and his top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the threat posed by Iraq in the two years following the 9/11 terror attack, according to a study by the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit journalism organisation.The false statements were made by Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Refusing to comment on an emissary being sent to Pakistan to confront concerns about the Inter Services Intelligence working with militants, the Bush administration on Thursday said the United States was working with Islamabad in its fight against terror."I have no comment on that story," White House press secretary Dana Perino said, adding that she was not in a position to comment on how Pakistan was faring on the war on terror."We will continue to work with them," she said.
The US Senate is likely to approve the vote on nomination of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State after a Republican lawmaker, who a day before voiced concern over foreign donations to her husband Bill Clinton's foundation, on Wedensday said he would vote in favour of the former First Lady.
"We continually review our strategy with respect to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. So it is something that is occupying quite a bit of our time at the State Department, DOD, as well as the White House," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
In a two-page notification to Congress, the State Department said that upgrading the avionics, electronics and radar systems of Pakistan's older F-16s would 'increase the survivability of the aircraft in a hostile environment' and make the 'F-16s a more valuable counter-terrorism asset that operates safely during day and night operations'.
As India finalised its steps to open up the economy for investing and trade, Bush cleared the way for US companies to set up shop in India. The rise of India's IT and BPO industries -- which today are synonymous with India the world over -- owes a great deal to the policies pursued by George W Bush, says Matthew Schneeberger in his ongoing series summing up the Bush administration
Pro-deal lawmakers like Congressman Gary Ackerman continue to express their angst over the close India-Iran ties. The lawmakers have warned that this could be a spoiler to the envisaged strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi.
In a setback to the Bush administration, the US Justice Department has ordered a formal criminal probe into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes of terror suspects under the supervision of a federal prosecutor.
The Indian American community and US business that had lobbied feverishly for the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, are euphoric over the recent developments where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to go ahead with the accord come what may and even in the wake of the Left coalition partners withdrawing their support and leaving the country in a state of political uncertainty.
The historic India-United States civil nuclear agreement, which 'reshaped the relationship between' the two countries, is one of the major achievements of the eight-year-long Bush administration, the White House has said.With less than three weeks for incumbent George W Bush to hand over the presidency to Barack Obama, the White House has published two documents highlighting the major achievements of Bush's eight years (2001 to 2009) of rule as the President of the US.
With Pakistan's ruling coalition gunning for President Pervez Musharraf, the United States has said that he made a "number of mistakes" during his eight-year reign including imposing a state of emergency last year.
Describing India as an emerging global power and an ally, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Washington has a vital stake in New Delhi's rise.
'He views a partnership with India as one of the building blocks of our relationships in the 21st century,' says Randy Scheunemann, director of foreign policy for the John McCain campaign.
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