BAGHDAD (AP) — Frequent bombings, assassinations and a resurgence in violence by Shiite militias have made Iraq more dangerous now than it was just a year ago, a U.S. government watchdog concludes in a report released Saturday.
The findings come during what U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. called “a summer of uncertainty” in Baghdad over whether American forces will stay past a year-end withdrawal deadline and continue military aid for the unstable nation.
“Iraq remains an extraordinarily dangerous place to work,” Bowen concluded in his 172-page quarterly report to Congress and the Obama administration on progress – and setbacks – in Iraq. “It is less safe, in my judgment, than 12 months ago.”
The report cited the deaths of 15 U.S. soldiers in June, the bloodiest month for the U.S. military in Iraq in two years. Nearly all of them were killed in attacks by Shiite militias bent on forcing out American troops on schedule.
It also noted an increase in rockets launched against the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where government offices and foreign embassies are located, as well as constant assassination attempts against Iraqi political leaders, security forces and judges.
Additionally, the report called the northeastern province of Diyala, which borders Iran and has an often volatile mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Kurds among its residents, “very unstable” with frequent bombings that bring double-digit death tolls.
Bowen accused the U.S. military of glossing over Iraq’s instability, noting a statement in late May by the U.S. military that described Iraq’s security trends as “very, very positive” – but only when compared to 2007, when the country was on the brink of civil war. In contrast, Bowen talked of “the very real fragility” of national security in Iraq today.
A spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq declined to respond.
If the U.S. military leaves on schedule, the American Embassy in Baghdad will pick up the responsibility of training Iraqi police. Bowen called the job “challenging” for the fewer than 200 advisers who would be based in three sites but tasked with supporting Iraqi police in 10 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. There are an estimated 400,000 policemen in Iraq.
BAGHDAD (AP) — Frequent bombings, assassinations and a resurgence in violence by Shiite militias have made Iraq more dangerous now than it was just a year ago, a U.S. government watchdog concludes in a report released Saturday.
The findings come during what U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. called “a summer of uncertainty” in Baghdad over whether American forces will stay past a year-end withdrawal deadline and continue military aid for the unstable nation.
“Iraq remains an extraordinarily dangerous place to work,” Bowen concluded in his 172-page quarterly report to Congress and the Obama administration on progress – and setbacks – in Iraq. “It is less safe, in my judgment, than 12 months ago.”
The report cited the deaths of 15 U.S. soldiers in June, the bloodiest month for the U.S. military in Iraq in two years. Nearly all of them were killed in attacks by Shiite militias bent on forcing out American troops on schedule.
It also noted an increase in rockets launched against the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where government offices and foreign embassies are located, as well as constant assassination attempts against Iraqi political leaders, security forces and judges.
Additionally, the report called the northeastern province of Diyala, which borders Iran and has an often volatile mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Kurds among its residents, “very unstable” with frequent bombings that bring double-digit death tolls.
Bowen accused the U.S. military of glossing over Iraq’s instability, noting a statement in late May by the U.S. military that described Iraq’s security trends as “very, very positive” – but only when compared to 2007, when the country was on the brink of civil war. In contrast, Bowen talked of “the very real fragility” of national security in Iraq today.
A spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq declined to respond.
If the U.S. military leaves on schedule, the American Embassy in Baghdad will pick up the responsibility of training Iraqi police. Bowen called the job “challenging” for the fewer than 200 advisers who would be based in three sites but tasked with supporting Iraqi police in 10 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. There are an estimated 400,000 policemen in Iraq.
Once again the Senate refuses to go on the record and vote on a debt crisis bill. This body of politicians wants a collapse of the U.S. economy. They want you to eat dog food and drink rain water. They are all in with President Obama's Socialist-Marxist Utopia. Republicans have now sent TWO bill to the Senate and they refuse to vote on BOTH! They are cowards and do not deserve your vote in 2012.
Government Senate Votes to Table House Debt Bill Without Even Debating on its Merits
Friday night the Senate voted to table House Speaker Boehner’s debt bill 59 to 41.
This does not mean that the bill has died, but has rather been put aside to be used by Majority Leader Harry Reid as the underlying vehicle from which he will draft a counter-plan. The Reid plan will then be submitted back to the House.
WASHINGTON (The Blaze/AP) — In an unforgiving display of partisanship, the House passed emergency legislation Friday night to avoid an unprecedented government default and the Senate scuttled it less than two hours later.
The final outcome – with the White House and Senate Democrats calling anew for compromise while criticizing Republicans as Tuesday’s deadline drew near – was anything but certain.
“We are almost out of time” for a compromise, warned President Barack Obama as U.S. financial markets trembled at the prospect of economic chaos next week.
The House vote was 218-210, almost entirely along party lines, on a Republican-drafted bill to provide a quick $900 billion increase in U.S. borrowing authority – essential to allow the government to continue paying all its bills – along with $917 billion in cuts from federal spending.
It was rewritten hastily overnight to say that before any additional increase in the debt limit could take place, Congress must approve a balanced budget-amendment to the Constitution and send it to the states for ratification. That marked a concession to tea party-backed conservatives and others in the rank and file who had thwarted House Speaker John Boehner’s attempt to pass the bill Thursday night.
“Today we have a chance to end this debt limit crisis,” Boehner declared, his endgame strategy upended by rebels within his own party.
Once again the Senate refuses to go on the record and vote on a debt crisis bill. This body of politicians wants a collapse of the U.S. economy. They want you to eat dog food and drink rain water. They are all in with President Obama's Socialist-Marxist Utopia. Republicans have now sent TWO bill to the Senate and they refuse to vote on BOTH! They are cowards and do not deserve your vote in 2012.
Government Senate Votes to Table House Debt Bill Without Even Debating on its Merits
Friday night the Senate voted to table House Speaker Boehner’s debt bill 59 to 41.
This does not mean that the bill has died, but has rather been put aside to be used by Majority Leader Harry Reid as the underlying vehicle from which he will draft a counter-plan. The Reid plan will then be submitted back to the House.
WASHINGTON (The Blaze/AP) — In an unforgiving display of partisanship, the House passed emergency legislation Friday night to avoid an unprecedented government default and the Senate scuttled it less than two hours later.
The final outcome – with the White House and Senate Democrats calling anew for compromise while criticizing Republicans as Tuesday’s deadline drew near – was anything but certain.
“We are almost out of time” for a compromise, warned President Barack Obama as U.S. financial markets trembled at the prospect of economic chaos next week.
The House vote was 218-210, almost entirely along party lines, on a Republican-drafted bill to provide a quick $900 billion increase in U.S. borrowing authority – essential to allow the government to continue paying all its bills – along with $917 billion in cuts from federal spending.
It was rewritten hastily overnight to say that before any additional increase in the debt limit could take place, Congress must approve a balanced budget-amendment to the Constitution and send it to the states for ratification. That marked a concession to tea party-backed conservatives and others in the rank and file who had thwarted House Speaker John Boehner’s attempt to pass the bill Thursday night.
“Today we have a chance to end this debt limit crisis,” Boehner declared, his endgame strategy upended by rebels within his own party.
JUNEAU, Alaska (The Blaze/AP) — A federal wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article. Newser has more:
Charles Monnett is being investigated for unspecified “integrity issues” apparently linked to his report that polar bears could face an increased threat of death if they’re forced to swim farther as Arctic ice recedes.
Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, was told July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into “integrity issues.” But he has not yet been informed by the inspector general’s office of specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
On Thursday, Ruch‘s watchdog group plans to file a complaint with the agency on Monnett’s behalf, asserting that Obama administration officials have “actively persecuted” him in violation of policy intended to protect scientists from political interference.
Monnett, who has coordinated much of the agency’s research on Arctic wildlife and ecology, has duties that include managing about $50 million worth of studies, according to the complaint, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press.
The complaint seeks Monnett’s reinstatement along with a public apology from the agency and inspector general. It also seeks to have the investigation dropped or to have the charges specified and the matter carried out in accordance with policy. The complaint also says that investigators took Monnett’s computer hard drive, notebooks and other unspecified items from him, which have not been returned.
A BOEMRE spokeswoman declined to comment on an “ongoing internal investigation.” Ruch said BOEMRE has barred Monnett from talking to reporters.
Documents provided by Ruch’s group indicate questioning by investigators has centered on observations that Monnett and fellow researcher Jeffrey Gleason made in 2004, while conducting an aerial survey of bowhead whales, of four dead polar bears floating in the water after a storm. They detailed their observations in an article published two years later in the journal Polar Biology; presentations also were given at scientific gatherings.
In the peer-reviewed article, the researchers said they were reporting, to the best of their knowledge, the first observations of polar bears floating dead offshore and presumed drowned while apparently swimming long distances in open water. Polar bears are considered strong swimmers, they wrote, but long-distance swims may exact a greater metabolic toll than standing or walking on ice in better weather.
They said their observations suggested the bears drowned in rough seas and high winds and “suggest that drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice and/or longer open water periods continues.”
The article and presentations drew national attention and helped make the polar bear something of a poster child for the global warming movement. Al Gore’s mention of the polar bear in his documentary on climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth,” came up during investigators’ questioning of Gleason in January.
In May 2008, the U.S. classified the polar bear as a threatened species, the first with its survival at risk due to global warming.
According to a transcript, investigator Eric May asked Gleason his thoughts on Gore referencing the dead polar bears. Gleason said none of the polar bear papers he has written or co-authored has said “anything really” about global warming.
“It’s something along the lines of the changing environment in the Arctic,” he said. Gleason said others put their own spin on research or observations.
The complaint alleges Gleason and Monnett were harassed by agency officials and received negative comments from them after the article was published. Gleason eventually took another Interior Department job; he didn‘t respond to an email and a BOEMRE spokeswoman said he wouldn’t be available for comment.
Ruch also claimed the investigation is being done by criminal investigators with no scientific background, even though the case is an administrative matter.
PITTSBURGH (The Blaze/AP) — A remote-controlled, unmanned reconnaissance blimp launched from Ohio by defense contractor Lockheed Martin was brought down Wednesday in a controlled descent in the woods of southwestern Pennsylvania after it was unable to climb to the desired altitude:
The HALE-D blimp was designed to float above the jet stream at 60,000 feet and can be used for reconnaissance, intelligence and other purposes often accomplished by satellites, but at lower cost. The blimp was being tested as a communications relay device as part of a contract Lockheed Martin has with the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Ala., Lockheed spokesman Keith Little told The Associated Press.
The blimp got to 32,000 feet but couldn’t climb higher, so controllers in Akron, Ohio, decided to bring it down with a “controlled descent” in a sparsely populated area, some heavy woods near New Freeport, about 45 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
The ship is 270 feet long, 70 feet in diameter and filled with helium and air, which were released gradually to bring the ship to Earth.
“There is no way for the airship to come down with it all filled,” Little said. “That’s how we bring it down.”
Could new NASA data deal a blow to some of the statements and predictions that have been made by global warming adherents? According to James M. Taylor, a senior fellow for environmental policy at The Heartland Institute, the answer is a resounding “yes.”
In Forbes, Taylor writes about some intriguing analysis of NASA satellite data that spans from years 2000 until 2011. Interestingly, the data show that the Earth’s atmosphere is actually allowing more heat to be released into outer space than global warming computer models previously predicted.
A new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing has found that United Nations computer models may be incorrect in overstating the amount of global warming that will occur in the future. The study also finds that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps much less heat that global warming enthusiasts have claimed. Taylor writes:
Study co-author Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer flying on NASA’s Aqua satellite, reports that real-world data from NASA’s Terra satellite contradict multiple assumptions fed into alarmist computer models.
“The satellite observations suggest there is much more energy lost to space during and after warming than the climate models show,” Spencer said in a July 26 University of Alabama press release. “There is a huge discrepancy between the data and the forecasts that is especially big over the oceans.”
But, this research doesn‘t only show that there’s less heat being trapped in the first place; it also shows that the atmosphere unloads heat into space long before United Nations computer models predicted. If true, this means that the Earth‘s atmosphere isn’t holding on to warmth as long as some climate scientists say it is. Taylor continues:
Alarmist computer models assume human carbon dioxide emissions indirectly cause substantial increases in atmospheric humidity and cirrus clouds (each of which are very effective at trapping heat), but real-world data have long shown that carbon dioxide emissions are not causing as much atmospheric humidity and cirrus clouds as the alarmist computer models have predicted.
If it is true that more heat is escaping and less warmth is being trapped in the atmosphere than previously predicted, skeptics could gain a leg up in the debate over climate change. While Taylor claims that these findings “…are extremely important and should dramatically alter the global warming debate,” climate change critics will likely disagree.
At the least, though, scientists on all sides of the debate should take heed of the research, explore its implications and examine whether current predictors and commonly held views hold up to healthy scrutiny. Taylor contends that it would be wise for the media, elected officials and climate scientists to recognize the “huge discrepancy” between global warming predictors and NASA’s satellite data.
Leaning against a wall during a recent Birmingham, Alabama, public hearing, Bryant listened to an overflow crowd pepper federal officials with concerns about businesses polluting the drinking water and causing cases of cancer.
After two hours, Bryant—a coal mine owner from Jasper—had heard enough and, in a moment being described as “right out of Atlas Shrugged,” took his turn at the microphone:
“Nearly every day without fail…men stream to these [mining] operations looking for work in Walker County. They can’t pay their mortgage. They can’t pay their car note. They can’t feed their families. They don’t have health insurance. And as I stand here today, I just…you know…what’s the use? I got a permit to open up an underground coal mine that would employ probably 125 people. They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work. And my only idea today is to go home. What’s the use? I see these guys—I see them with tears in their eyes—looking for work. And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them. So…basically what I’ve decided is not to open the mine. I’m just quitting. Thank you.”
“We take care of our equipment and take care of our people,” Douglas said. “The regulations make coal miners out to be criminals; but we’re not outlaws. Coal mining is an art. I have a civil engineering degree; Ronnie has a mining engineering degree. It’s not wildcat whiskey we’re making; this is drinking whiskey we got.”
Bryant pointed to less stringent environmental regulations in countries such as China, saying that the U.S. is falling behind even though it has abundant resources. “But you can’t get to them,” he said, adding that while there are concerns over dwindling wildlife populations, “people are becoming the endangered species.”
Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming, regional administrator for EPA’s Southeast Region, attended the Birmingham public hearing but could not be reached for comment.
