Rockefeller 'Troubled' by Negroponte's Switch to State Department

(CNSNews.com) - A top Democrat said Thursday he was "troubled" by the timing of the news that National Intelligence Director John Negroponte will assume the number two post at the State Department.

Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it was unacceptable for top two posts in the intelligence community to be vacant at the same time. He cited the departure last May of Gen. Michael Hayden, Negroponte's then deputy, who left to head up the CIA.

Rockefeller said the leadership of the intelligence community was "too important."

He would work with Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), incoming head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to plan confirmation hearings for Negroponte and Hayden's replacements, while making sure Negroponte does not leave his post prior to his successor's confirmation, Rockefeller said in a statement.

"Director Negroponte deserves credit for building the office from scratch and starting the process of creating a true intelligence community. His successor will need to accelerate that process in order to realize the vision of the intelligence reform legislation passed two years ago," he said.

Retired Adm. Mike McConnell - senior vice president at strategy consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and director of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996 - is reportedly being considered as Negroponte's replacement.

Rockefeller called McConnell "a career intelligence professional" and said he looked forward to meeting with him soon.

Negroponte is considered "a disaster" by people in the intelligence community, an unnamed government official told Fox News.

"He's a foreign service officer to the bone," the official said, saying Negroponte feels more at home in a State Department setting.

"Everyone knows he's not doing well," the official was quoted as saying. "Nothing's gone on since he got there but another layer of bureaucracy. He did nothing to revive the intelligence agencies."

But another official, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters, painted a different picture.

"John Negroponte's done a great job. He is also somebody who is a career diplomat who is going to be able to continue to use those skills in the No. 2 position at State," the official said.

"This is something where the president went to John and asked him to take the job because it was that important," the official added.

President Bush is expected to nominate Negroponte on Friday to deputy secretary of state, serving under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and will likely nominate McConnell as his replacement.

UN Child Sex Slave Scandals Continue

Full article + more links @ infowars.com

The UN is to investigate itself again after it was revealed by the London Telegraph today that more than twenty different cases of child sex slavery involving UN staff have been reported in southern Sudan.

The Telegraph reports that it has learned of dozens of victims' accounts claiming that some peacekeeping and civilian staff based in the town are regularly picking up young children in their UN vehicles and forcing them to have sex. The Telegraph states that it is thought that hundreds of children may have been abused.

The UN has up to 10,000 military personnel in the region, of all nationalities and the allegations involve peacekeepers, military police and civilian staff.

The Telegraph also states that the Sudanese government, which is deeply opposed to the deployment of UN troops to Darfur, has evidence of child sex slavery, including video footage of Bangladeshi UN workers allegedly having sex with three young girls.

Stating that such events are ultimately the work of "a few bad apples", a UN spokesperson promised that they will be thoroughly investigated.

Over the past few years, however, there seems to have been a hell of a lot of rotting fruit in the UN barrel.

Last November a BBC Investigation found that children as young as 11 have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia. A previous BBC investigation in Liberia discovered systematic abuse, involving food being given out to teenage refugees in return for sex. In both instances the UN promised to investigate.

In 2003 the AP reported that UN officials were identified as using a ship charted for 'peacekeepers' to traffick young girls from Thailand to East Timor as prostitutes.

In the same year it was also revealed that UN staff were guilty of raping women on a systematic scale in Sierra Leone.

Previous to this, in early 2002 a massive pedophilia scandal within the UN was uncovered involving sexual abuse against West African refugee children in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. UPI reported that Senior U.N. officials knew of the widespread pedophilia and not only did they not take action against the perpetrators, they covered up the atrocities.

It was later reported that after The UN's' investigating arm had cleared several U.N. workers of charges of sexual abuse against West African refugee children, it substantiated 10 new cases against aid workers.

Damning cases involving workers making home porn movies and so called weapons inspectors having bizarre sadomasochistic, pansexual and leather fetishes also emerged at this time.

In 2004 The New York Post reported that the UN was trying to block the publication of a book by three United Nations fieldworkers that detailed sex, drugs and corruption inside multiple U.N. missions. "Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story from Hell on Earth" chronicles the experiences of a doctor, a human-rights official and a secretary in U.N. operations in Cambodia, Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, Liberia and Bosnia. It also alleged that the UN knowingly hired freed criminals to serve as peacemakers.

We have also previously reported on the intimate involvement of Dyncorp, the contractors of the international police force, in such sex scandals. One Dyncorp employee, Kathryn Bolkovac, was sacked for detailing UN workers' involvement in the sex trade in Bosnia. Bolkovac was sacked after disclosing that UN peacekeepers went to nightclubs where girls as young as 15 were forced to dance naked and have sex with customers, and that UN personnel and international aid workers were linked to prostitution rings in the Balkans.

Dyncorp was ordered to pay Kathryn Bolkovac £110,000 by an employment tribunal, yet both the British and the US governments as well as the UN continue to contract Dyncorp.

It was later revealed by the Chicago Tribune that Halliburton subsidiary KBR and Dyncorp lobbyists are working in tandem with the Pentagon to stall legislation that would specifically ban trafficking in humans for forced labor and prostitution by U.S. contractors.

On March 11th 2005, Representative Cynthia McKinney grilled Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers on the Dyncorp scandal.

"Mr. Secretary, I watched President Bush deliver a moving speech at the United Nations in September 2003, in which he mentioned the crisis of the sex trade. The President called for the punishment of those involved in this horrible business. But at the very moment of that speech, Dyncorp was exposed for having been involved in the buying and selling of young women and children. While all of this was going on, Dyncorp kept the Pentagon contract to administer the smallpox and anthrax vaccines, and is now working on a plague vaccine through the Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program. Mr. Secretary, is it [the] policy of the U.S. Government to reward companies that traffic in women and little girls?"

The response and McKinney's comeback was as follows.

Rumsfeld: "Thank you, Representative. First, the answer to your first question is, is, no, absolutely not, the policy of the United States Government is clear, unambiguous, and opposed to the activities that you described. The second question."

McKinney: "Well how do you explain the fact that Dyncorp and its successor companies have received and continue to receive government contracts?"

Rumsfeld: "I would have to go and find the facts, but there are laws and rules and regulations with respect to government contracts, and there are times that corporations do things they should not do, in which case they tend to be suspended for some period; there are times then that the - under the laws and the rules and regulations for the - passed by the Congress and implemented by the Executive branch - that corporations can get off of - out of the penalty box if you will, and be permitted to engage in contracts with the government. They're generally not barred in perpetuity."

McKinney: "This contract - this company - was never in the penalty box."

Rumsfeld: "I'm advised by DR. Chu that it was not the corporation that was engaged in the activities you characterized but I'm told it was an employee of the corporation, and it was some years ago in the Balkans that that took place."

Watch the video here .

Rumsfeld's effort to shift the blame away from the hierarchy at Dyncorp and onto the Dyncorp employees was a blatant attempt to hide the fact that human trafficking and sex slavery is a practice condoned by companies like Dyncorp and Halliburton subsidiaries like KBR.

Why should the UN be continually allowed to investigate itself and, those that it contracts, on these issues? The UN has an abysmal track record on this issue and a long history of covering up such cases. It is time for a thorough independent inquiry of the UN and its agencies and affiliates to be carried out.

Do something!

William Cooper was Assassinated in 2001. In this speech, William Cooper attempted to motive his audience to spread the truth. Its so very important that we tell the truth in this time. Go create a newspaper, Film/documentary, radio show, blog, music, painting, comic book, novel, article, flyers, pamplets, i mean, it doesnt matter... Just create something and spread the truth! If more people become aware of whats happening, we can slow down or even stop these globalists from their corporate takeover! I'm not trying to scare you, thats the farthest thing in the world from what im trying to do. This is my attempt at helping, but I need you to help me. We're in this together! Lets all draw the universal sword of truth and cut down the New World Order!

Fed housing fears rattle market

ARTICLE

WASHINGTON -- Minutes of the Federal Reserve interest rate committee's last meeting, released Wednesday, suggest policymakers might be more worried about the housing slump than previously thought.

The bleak assessment unnerved investors who were betting that the sector's problems wouldn't necessarily spill over into other portions of the economy and sapped strength from the market on a day that had seen triple-digit gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged more than 117 points, but then pulled back sharply to close at 12,474.52, up just 11.37 points.

"The concern is that the Fed was seeing something at their last meeting that suggested potentially more pronounced weakness than we had all been anticipating in the economy," said Drew Matus, senior economist at Lehman Brothers Inc.

Policymakers kept interest rates steady at the December meeting. But the central bank left open a possible rate increase, if needed, to thwart inflation.

"All members agreed that the risk that inflation would fail to moderate as desired remained the predominant concern," the minutes said.

But one Fed member, who is not identified in the minutes of the meeting, thought the Fed should have held out the possibility of a rate cut as well.

In its Dec. 12 policy statement, however, the Fed did not speculate about a rate cut. Rather, the policymakers hewed to previous language about the possibility of a rate increase, which most economists think unlikely.

The wording on possible interest rate moves that was suggested by the Fed member might be viewed by some investors "as a first step toward changing the forward-looking language, a sentiment with which we do not entirely disagree," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital.

At the December meeting, Fed policymakers said economic growth had slowed over the course of 2006, partly reflecting a "substantial cooling" of the housing market. That description went beyond the Fed's previous assessment in late October and suggested a sharper slump in housing.

Policymakers cited the need to stay alert for signs that weakness in the housing sector could seriously infect the rest of the economy.

"Considerable uncertainty regarding the ultimate extent of the housing market correction meant that spillovers to consumption could become more evident, especially if house prices were to decline significantly," the minutes said.

Policymakers left their key interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent at the December meeting. It was the fourth straight meeting without a rate change.

Many economists believe the Fed will do the same at its next meeting, Jan. 30-31, and further into the new year. Many analysts and investors predict an interest rate cut later in 2007

Skepticism from the Military on an Iraq Surge

Without a broader new political and economic strategy, many officers at the Pentagon worry Bush's idea of sending 30,000 additional troops to Baghdad won't change anything

time/cnn

When President Bush dumped Donald Rumsfeld after the midterm elections in November, many officers in the Pentagon were elated to be rid of the domineering Secretary of Defense. They looked forward to a day when their views on such crucial issues as the Iraq War might carry more weight with the White House. But as the Administration prepares to announce its latest new Iraq strategy, those same officers may no longer be so optimistic. Bush is widely expected to call for the so-called surge option: injecting some 30,000 new soldiers and Marines into Iraq. But many officers at the Pentagon, including some of the most senior, aren't sure such an increase in the force is a good idea.

The head of the Marine Corps has openly questioned the wisdom of the move without an overarching strategy. "We would fully support, I think, as the Joint Chiefs, the idea of putting more troops into Iraq if there is a solid military reason for doing that, if there is something to be gained," Gen. James Conway, who became Commandant of the Marine Corps six weeks ago, said to reporters recently. "We do not believe that just adding numbers for the sake of adding numbers — just thickening the mix — is necessarily the way to go."

Now other members of the military's top brass are quietly questioning the lack of a clear-cut strategy. "What is the objective? Does the President want Iraq to look like Iowa?" asks one retired senior officer. "What has finally put some backbone in the Joint Chiefs is that, to date, there has not been a realistic endstate identified that matches the reality on the ground. They still don't get it. Tactics without a strategy are a recipe for disaster."

A recent report overseen by former Army Major General John Batiste, who headed the 1st Infantry Division and has been a vocal critic of the Administration's handling of the war, says the choice Bush faces in Iraq is stark: "We have reached the point where we need to ask the question whether it is more important to preserve the country of Iraq with its façade of democratic government, or protect our own national security interests."

Virtually every expert who has followed Iraq for the last four years says a military surge without accompanying political and economic progress would be a waste. They believe some essential steps need to be taken first: the U.S. should openly declare it has no long-term intention of staying in Iraq, the Iraqi government should soon announce provincial elections, and the U.S. should back a large-scale jobs program. They also advocate putting more pressure on the Iraqi government for a political reconciliation schedule, as well as a serious discussion of sharing oil revenues among the different ethnic regions.

But for a surge of new troops to make a real difference, change has to come in Washington, not just in Baghdad, argues retired Gen. Tony Zinni. Like many other active duty and retired officers, Zinni has been disappointed in the failure of other government agencies like State, Justice and Energy to devote resources to the reconstruction effort. "Washington needs almost as much work as Iraq does," Zinni says. "First and foremost, it needs to establish a viable interagency structure. Doing more of the same — either in Iraq or Washington — won't work. There have never been enough troops, but if there is a new strategy which includes political reconciliation and economic development, then more U.S. troops could gain some momentum so those programs could take hold." Zinni estimates it will take five to seven more years to achieve "a reasonably stable" Iraq.

And like the Iraq Study Group, which called for reaching out to Iran and Syria, Zinni and other officers believe that diplomacy is key to any turnaround in Iraq. "I think we have lost ground in the region. Potential allies have been burned. But we need to work at getting them and the rest of the international community back. The Administration has to work every angle. You've got to light 1,000 fires out there and hope something takes."

Regardless of what Bush decides, he will very likely have two new men to implement his plan, to be announced later this month. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is currently interviewing candidates to replace Army Gen. John Abizaid, who has headed the U.S. military's Central Command since July, 2003, and Army Gen. George Casey, the commander in Iraq since 2004. Although Pacific Command Chief Adm. William Fallon and Marine Lt. Gen. James Mattis are in the running, some retired senior officers, as well as active duty officers who have served in Iraq, believe that the frontrunners are two Army Lieut. Generals, Dave Petreaus and Peter Chiarelli. "The Army has run the Iraq war since before it was launched," says a senior officer, who points out that every senior position has been held by an Army general - no one from the Marines, Navy or Air Force "Perhaps it's time for a fresh look."