Thu, 23 May 2013 18:28:30 -0400 Obama sees narrower terror threat, defends drones
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama sought Thursday to advance the U.S. beyond the unrelenting war effort of the past dozen years, defining a narrowing terror threat that still imperils the nation but now is defined by smaller networks and homegrown extremists rather than the grandiose plots of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida. He defended his controversial drone-strikes program as a linchpin of the U.S. response to the evolving dangers.
|
Thu, 23 May 2013 18:10:29 -0400 The Drone Speech and the Hyperexcited Return of Intellectual Obama
President Obama's speech on counterterrorism on Thursday won rave reviews among some who seemed to see it as a return of the liberal constitutional law professor who ran for president in 2008. MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who had soured on Obama earlier in the week, said Obama was at "the top of his form ? speaking logically and authentically." On how to balance security with liberty, The Washington Post's Greg Sargent writes, "The speech was the most ambitious and detailed effort to answer this question that he has yet attempted. ...
|
Thu, 23 May 2013 17:15:31 -0400 Syrian opposition scrambles to save credibility ahead of peace talks
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Syrian opposition in exile met on Thursday to decide whether to attend a peace conference that the United States and Russia see as a crucial path to ending two years of civil war. Under international pressure to swiftly resolve internal divisions, the Syrian National Coalition began talks in Istanbul to elect a coherent leadership and decide on the conference which could take place in Geneva in the coming weeks. ...
|
Thu, 23 May 2013 16:59:59 -0400 The Bachelorette: Meet 5 Of Desiree's Men
Desiree Hartsock's season of "The Bachelorette" premieres on ABC on Monday night and AccessHollywood.com's Laura Saltman got to know five of the men vying for the single lady's heart.
|
Thu, 23 May 2013 16:05:06 -0400 Insight - In attacker's argot, Londoners shocked to hear one of their own
By Michael Holden and Peter Graff LONDON (Reuters) - In the lurid scene of the red-handed knifeman describing his motives for hacking to death a British soldier in broad daylight, perhaps the most chilling aspect for many Londoners was the man's unmistakably familiar accent. Michael Adebolajo, 28, who was filmed wielding a bloody meat cleaver and butcher's knife as the soldier lay dead on the road behind him, was not a maladjusted immigrant like Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but a true Londoner born and bred. ...
|
Thu, 23 May 2013 15:48:04 -0400 Full transcript of President Obama?s speech on counter-terrorism policy
The following is the text as prepared for delivery of President Obama?s speech on U.S. counter-terrorism policy at the National Defense University, as provided by the White House:
|
Thu, 23 May 2013 15:33:20 -0400 Sweden's riots raise questions about inequality
HUSBY, Sweden (AP) ? Sweden has long been a bastion of generous social welfare and an egalitarian political culture. So many people were shocked when scores of youths hurled rocks at police and set cars ablaze during rioting in several largely immigrant areas near Stockholm this week.
|
Thu, 23 May 2013 15:09:45 -0400 A Global War on Terror by Another Name Doesn't Tell Us How to Succeed
President Obama rejected the Bush-era term Global War on Terrorism in a major speech justifying and announcing changes to his counterterrorism policies at the National Defense University on Thursday. "Beyond Afghanistan, 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 said. Never mind that the Obama administration stopped using the term in early 2009. ...
|
Thu, 23 May 2013 15:01:19 -0400 Obama defends drone strikes but says no cure-all
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Thursday defended America's controversial drone attacks as legal, effective and a necessary linchpin in an evolving U.S. counterterrorism policy. But he acknowledged the targeted strikes are no "cure-all" and said he is haunted by the civilians unintentionally killed.
|