The common sense question is this: How could Cheney include Iraq’s oil resources as part of our energy policy if we had no diplomatic or business relationship with them? Iraq was under sanctions. What business did Cheney have with Iraq’s energy infrastructure? No dealings with Iraq were possible unless something drastic were to happen, like an invasion and occupation. How could he have anticipated such a change when only an event like 9/11 would have made that possible?
New study sees declijne in US power in next 20 years
The risks of a nuclear weapon being used and wars being fought over dwindling resources will grow during the next 20 years as diminishing U.S. power, a shift of wealth from West to East, the rise of India and China and climate change reshape the world, a new U.S. intelligence study warned Thursday.
The report, the fourth in a series that examines the forces that are driving international developments, was written by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, which is composed of the top U.S. intelligence analysts, with input from experts around the world.
Popular Radio Host Has Drug Company Ties
An influential psychiatrist who served as the host of public radio’s popular “The Infinite Mind” program earned at least $1.3 million between 2000 and 2007 giving marketing lectures for drug makers, income not mentioned on the program.
The psychiatrist and radio host, Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, is the latest in a series of doctors and researchers whose ties to drug makers have been uncovered by Senator Charles E. Grassley, a Republican from Iowa. Dr. Goodwin, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is the first media figure investigated.
New Rule Would Discount Warming as Risk Factor for Species
The Bush administration is finalizing changes to the Endangered Species Act that would ensure that federal agencies would not have to take global warming into account when assessing risks to imperiled plants and animals.
The main purpose of the new regulations, which were first unveiled in August, is to eliminate a long-standing provision of the Endangered Species Act that requires an independent scientific review by either the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of any federal project that could affect a protected species. Under the administration's proposal, individual agencies could decide on their own whether a project would harm an imperiled species.
Associated Press to slash 10 percent of staff
The Associated Press, like virtually every business in the world, is defining strategies for operating in these complex and difficult financial times," the company added in a statement.
"All areas and ways of doing business are being reviewed," it said. "The AP, which recently instituted a strategic hiring freeze, may need to reduce staff over the next year.
"If so, it hopes to achieve much of the reduction through attrition," the statement said. "While we are looking for new efficiencies in the way we operate, AP's mission as the essential global news network does not change."
Contractors in Iraq could face charges in earlier incidents
Private security contractors operating in Iraq could face Iraqi prosecution for acts committed when they supposedly had immunity from Iraqi law, U.S. officials said Thursday.
A new U.S.-Iraq security agreement doesn't specifically prevent Iraqi officials from bringing criminal charges retroactively in cases such as the September 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians by contractors protecting a State Department convoy, officials told security company officials during meetings in Washington Thursday.
Government warns of "catastrophic" U.S. quake
People in a vast seismic zone in the southern and midwestern United States would face catastrophic damage if a major earthquake struck there and should ensure that builders keep that risk in mind, a government report said on Thursday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said if earthquakes strike in what geologists define as the New Madrid Seismic Zone, they would cause "the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States."
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