Administration plans to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan; House
approves intelligence bill requiring that Congress members be briefed on
most
sensitive covert actions before those operations are funded; The New York
Times on Barack Obama's "sensible and comprehensive" Iraq plan; Ramon
Castellblanch on the holes in McCain's immigration proposals; sharp
geographical disparities in life expectancy are worsening in US; and more
...
Browse our continually updating front page at http://www.truthout.org
t r u t h o u t | 07.17
US Prepares to Boost Its Afghan Forces
http://www.truthout.org/article/us-prepares-boost-its-afghan-forces
In the Los Angeles Times, Peter Spiegel and M. Karim Faiez re****t: "Senior
US
military officials are developing plans to speed the deployment of
thousands
of additional troops to Afghanistan, including possibly pulling the next
brigade scheduled to go to Iraq this fall and sending it to Afghanistan
instead. President Bush has already committed to beefing up the US
presence in
Afghanistan next year. But Defense Department officials said the recent
efforts of military planners would accelerate the process and could allow
the
new brigade of 3,500 soldiers to deploy there before the end of this
year."
House P***** Intelligence Authorization Bill
http://www.truthout.org/article/house-p*****-intelligence-authorization-bill
Walter Pincus re****ts for The Wa****ngton Post: "The House yesterday passed
by
voice vote the fiscal 2009 intelligence authorization bill, which limits
the
funds available for covert actions next year until all members of the
House
intelligence panel are briefed on the most sensitive ones already
underway. As
included in the bill, 75 percent of money sought for covert actions would
be
held up until the briefings are held."
The New York Times | Talking Sense on Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/article/talking-sense-iraq
In a staff editorial, The New York Times states, "It has been obvious from
the
start of the 2008 campaign that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the
biggest foreign policy challenges awaiting the next president. But there
has
been precious little detailed discussion of them on the campaign trail.
Until
this week, when Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee,
offered a sensible and comprehensive blueprint for dealing with the mess
that
President Bush created by bungling the war of necessity against al Qaeda
in
Afghanistan, which could have made Americans safer, and starting a war of
choice in Iraq, which made the world more insecure."
Ramon Castellblanch | McCain Not a Hero on Immigration
http://www.truthout.org/article/mccain-not-a-hero-immigration
For The Progressive, Ramon Castellblanch writes: "Senator John McCain is
no
hero on immigration. His 2006 immigration proposal, which he has disowned
in
front of anti-immigrant audiences, would have meant cheap labor on both
sides
of the border and would have made a joke of the idea of integrating
immigrants
into our way of life. And it would have allowed the heartless immigration
raids on Latino workplaces to continue, breaking up families and
disrupting
communities. McCain's proposal would have done nothing to address the root
causes behind the immigration problem: low-wage businesses here and south
of
the border and a US trade policy that is devastating the Mexican
countryside."
American Inequality Highlighted by 30-Year Gap in Life Expectancy
http://www.truthout.org/article/american-inequality-highlighted-30-year-gap-life-expectancy
Leonard Doyle re****ts for The Independent UK: "The United States of
America is
becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the average
life
expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in
prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income,
health
and education depending on where people live in the US, according to a
re****t
published yesterday."
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