Clock ticking for Obama's security team

Washington (CNN) -- When President Obama unveiled his revamped national security team in the East Room, he quickly joked about how badly Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been itching to finally get serious about retirement.
"When I took office, Bob Gates had already served under seven presidents, and he carried a clock that counted down the days, hours, and minutes until he could return to Washington state with his wife, Becky," Obama said. He added that he felt lucky to get Gates to keep pushing the exit date back to deal with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as some major budget decisions confronting the nation.
First it was Obama during the presidential transition in December 2008 getting Gates to stay on for just one more year for continuity's sake. Then that grew to staying on for first 2½ years of the administration.
Senior officials tell me that Obama had even been hoping to somehow persuade Gates to stay on through all four years of the first term for the good of the country, but the president finally gave in and then set his sights to twisting the reluctant arm of CIA Director Leon Panetta to delay his own retirement to take the top spot at the Pentagon.
Obama shuffles familiar faces in key security roles
As Obama noted to laughter about his lobbying of Gates, "At some point along the way, Bob threw out that clock."
It was an apt metaphor, because top defense analysts say the clock is ticking on the Obama administration as its first -- and possibly only -- term in office winds down.
"The timing right now is really critical in terms of how the resources will get sorted out," said David Berteau, head of the defense industrial practice at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Berteau is referring to the fact that Panetta and the rest of the new team will have just 18 months to deal with the arduous task of somehow squeezing hundreds of billions of dollars out of the planned Pentagon budget for the next decade or so -- it's pretty much impossible to find a way to get the numbers in Obama's deficit-cutting plan to add up without significant defense savings.
And they have to do this while winding down two very expensive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, trying to help finish the mission in Libya, preparing for possible conflicts anywhere from Syria to North Korea, all the while trying to figure out how things will settle down in the Mideast.
No wonder Panetta had to have his arm twisted to take this job, and he even joked to the crowd that the departing Gates was easy to spot at the event because he was the "guy with the big smile next to me" on the platform.
Panetta immediately noted the mind-numbing change the world has witnessed in recent months. "As the son of immigrants, I was raised to believe that we cannot be free unless we are secure," he said. "Today we are a nation at war. And job one will be to ensure that we are the strongest military power in the world to protect that security that is so important to this country."
Panetta's other big task will be trying to deal with the contradictory goals of protecting America's military superiority and drastically reducing the Pentagon's $550 billion annual budget. The former White House chief of staff and budget director in the Clinton administration said he is committed to finding that balance.
New men, new missions at Pentagon and CIA
He called it "a time for hard choices."
"It's about ensuring that we are able to prevail in the conflicts in which we are now engaged," Panetta said. "But it's also about being able to be strong and disciplined in applying our nation's limited resources to defending America."
Panetta emphasized that "none of this will be easy," and administration officials say privately this is a major reason why the president was so heavily focused on picking experienced old hands to round out the new(ish) national security team, with Gen. David Petraeus nominated to replace Panetta at the CIA.
While some critics have dismissed the changes as a game of musical chairs, it's worth noting the people filling those chairs are heavily respected on both sides of the aisle. When was the last time you heard a Republican touting the "honesty and integrity" of an Obama nominee as House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, did?
"While I'm sorry to see Mr. Panetta go (from the CIA), his talent and leadership will be put to great use leading the Defense Department," Rogers said. "Mr. Gates is leaving huge shoes to fill at the Pentagon, and I can't imagine a better candidate to replace him."
There has also been praise for the selections from Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee who will vote on the nominations of Panetta and Lt. Gen. John Allen, who has been nominated to replace Petraeus as the allied commander of the war in Afghanistan.
Obama also nominated the highly respected Ryan Crocker to serve as the new U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan ahead of the July deadline that is fast approaching, which the president has held up as a pivot point for starting to bring home U.S. troops.
Besides being experienced, many of these players know each other very well. When the war in Iraq was falling apart, it was then-President George W. Bush's decision to install Petraeus as the commander on the ground and Crocker as the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad -- with Allen serving under Petraeus on the military side -- that was one of the pivotal moments that got the mission back on track.
"I mean Petraeus and Crocker were the 'Dream Team' in Iraq," Berteau said. "These guys have all worked together."
That is significant because an administration can sometimes waste months and months getting key players to gel. "It provides the opportunity to get things done because you don't have to waste your time in transition," said Berteau.
The time needs to be used wisely to tackle all of the challenges the team will face in the next year and a half, including nothing short of the most momentous transformation of the American military in a couple of decades.
Bennett: Why Panetta, Petraeus are smart choices
"We are about to embark on the next big defense drawdown," Berteau said. "Panetta is uniquely qualified because he was at the White House during the last big drawdown in the early 1990s."
Indeed, Panetta served as White House chief of staff and the budget director during the Clinton administration and helped balance the federal budget. He was able then to benefit from his previous tenure as chairman of the House Budget Committee, and he will be able to draw upon that deep reservoir of respect again now.

We are about to embark on the next big defense drawdown. Panetta is uniquely qualified because he was at the White House during the last big drawdown in the early 1990s.
--David Berteau, Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"I am pleased that my friend Leon Panetta will bring his long record of service, first in Congress and then in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, to the job of secretary of defense," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. "Director Panetta is taking the helm at a crucial time for the Pentagon, in the midst of two wars and as we close in on our July deadline to begin the drawdown of troops from Afghanistan. We need the kind of experienced leadership he can provide."
The budget battles ahead will only be further complicated by the 2012 campaign, of course, as both parties trade charges and potentially move farther from compromise. And if Obama ends up losing the race, the clock is ticking on Panetta to leave the administration's imprint on the Pentagon budget for the next decade to come.
Obama, of course, hopes to win a second term. And just as Gates jokingly thanked Obama for "inviting me to stay on -- and on and on," the president seems to already be lobbying Panetta to stay beyond the next 18 months.
At the East Room event, Obama noted that after 40 years in public service, Panetta had wanted to go home to retirement with his wife.

"Leon, I know that you've been looking forward to returning now to Sylvia and your beautiful Monterey, so I thank you for taking on yet another assignment for our country," Obama said, adding with a sly smile: "And I hope you don't have a clock."

At least 42 dead as storms slash through Southern states

(CNN) -- Severe storms pummeled Alabama and cut a path of destruction across several other southern states Wednesday, killing dozens of people, leveling buildings and trapping residents in their homes.
Authorities said at least 42 people died in storms across the region. Alabama appeared to be the hardest hit Wednesday night, with at least 25 people killed in severe storms and tornadoes, emergency management director Art Faulkner told CNN.
The National Guard dispatched hundreds of personnel to some of the state's hardest hit areas.
"This has been a very serious and deadly event that's affected our state, and it's not over yet," Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told reporters Wednesday evening.
In a statement released by the White House late Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced he had approved Bentley's request for emergency federal assistance including search and rescue support.
"While we may not know the extent of the damage for days, we will continue to monitor these severe storms across the country and stand ready to continue to help the people of Alabama and all citizens affected by these storms," Obama said.
"Michelle and I extend our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives because of the tornadoes that have swept through Alabama and the southeastern United States," he said.
At least one strong tornado swept through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, leaving dozens of roads impassable and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.
Video from CNN affiliates there showed a massive whirling cloud darkening the sky as it approached.
"It literally obliterated blocks and blocks of the city," Mayor Walter Maddox said, describing Tuscaloosa's infrastructure as "decimated."
An apparent tornado blew out windows, ripped off siding and damaged cars as it hit the DCH Regional Medical Center there, Command Center Coordinator Janet Teer said.
Soon afterward, witnesses reported tornado touchdowns in Birmingham, Alabama.
"It looked like it was probably a mile wide," Birmingham Mayor William Bell said.
The northwest corner of the city was particularly devastated, he said, with hundreds injured and many others missing.
A "particularly dangerous situation" tornado watch from the National Weather Service remained in effect Wednesday night for parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia -- including metro Atlanta.
Several meteorological conditions combined Wednesday to create a particularly dangerous mix, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said. A storm system that brought severe weather to parts of the South Plains earlier this week was heading east, a cold front was moving across the Deep South and upper levels of the atmosphere were conducive for severe storms.
"It is tornado season, but an intensive event like this only will occur maybe once or twice a year," he said. "It's very rare to have all these ingredients come together."
Earlier Wednesday a tornado was believed to have struck the northern Alabama community of Cullman, damaging a hospital, ripping the roof off the courthouse and pummeling a number of residences, authorities said.
Mayor Max Townson told CNN it appeared a tornado touched down on the west side of Cullman and then cut through the heart of the city, which has about 15,000 residents.
"Downtown was hit pretty hard," said Freddie Day of the Cullman police department. He said a number of ambulances had been dispatched throughout the city. It was not immediately known how many people were injured.
Reports of people trapped in homes or overturned vehicles along with reports of downed power lines were coming in from every state in the region, according to emergency management officials.
At least 11 people were killed in storm-related incidents in Mississippi Tuesday night and Wednesday, according to the state Emergency Management Agency, which revised its death toll down from six earlier in the day.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost loved ones or property in this devastating storm," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who declared a state of emergency in 39 of the state's counties. The declaration allows the state to offer aid to the counties during recovery efforts.
The state was also bracing for flooding along the Mississippi River.
A local coroner reported three people were killed in Ringgold and eight were taken to the hospital after a twister swept through the town in the northwestern part of the state. Some buildings were completely demolished.
A fourth died in nearby Trenton, Georgia, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
Arkansas and Tennessee reported that at least one person had died in storms in each of those states.
Barbara Martocci with the Tennessee Valley Authority said the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama automatically shut down after losing off-site power. Power has since been restored, however the plant has not been brought back online, the official said.
In Cullman, the severe weather caused a natural gas line to rupture, though the extent of the damage was not immediately known, said Day of the Cullman police department.
Officials at Cullman Regional Medical Center were assessing damage after declaring a "code d" -- a disaster -- at the facility, switchboard operator Sharon Barnett told CNN. There were no immediate reports of storm-related injuries at the hospital.
One witness said the damage at the hospital was confined to the roof. "There's no actual building damage, just stuff that fell off the roof," said Summer Frost, who works at a Subway restaurant inside the hospital.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, iReporter Erika Dunn said a tree fell on her great-aunt's home. She said her great-aunt reported the storm was so bad she could see a white wall of water coming toward the house. She was headed for her basement and was closing the door of her screened porch when the tree fell.
"It got really strong, really fast," Dunn said.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the region were without power, including 269,000 in Birmingham, said Michael Sznajderman, spokesman for Alabama Power.

"We're chipping away" at restoring power, he said, but crews may be forced to halt work as a second line of storms approach.

Once nearly extinct, the California condor nears new milestones

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Almost 25 years after the California condor went extinct in the wild and dwindled to just 27 birds in captivity, North America's largest flying bird is on the verge of a watershed moment: Its total population is projected to hit 400 this spring, including 200 birds thriving in the wild later this year.
The projections come as curators are reporting a successful hatching season unfolding at breeding centers in California and elsewhere.
"At the end of the breeding season, we should be at 400 if all goes to projection," said Michael Mace, curator of birds at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. "At the end of this year, we could have 200 birds in the wild. Both would be significant milestones."
The 400 mark hasn't been seen since the 1920s or 1930s, Mace said. Right now, the condor population is 394, including 181 in the wild -- a marked improvement since 1987 when the condor was wiped out in the wild and only 27 lived at the San Diego Zoo, he said.
Status of wolf populations debated
The success hasn't been without new challenges.
The nearly 200 birds in the wilderness are returning to feeding activities that were last seen during the Lewis and Clark Expedition of the early 1800s. But that also means the condor is now ingesting the toxin DDE when eating marine carcasses, Mace said.
The toxin causes the shell of condor eggs to thin, so conservationists are replacing the thin-shelled eggs laid in the wild with thicker-shelled eggs from breeding centers, Mace said. The thin-shelled eggs are taken to incubators in breeding facilities for hatching, he said.
"Condors are doing what they normally do: They feed on marine animal carcasses," Mace said. "We are excited that condors are doing activities that Lewis and Clark observed more than 100 years ago. But it turns out these marine animals are feeding on DDE, and now the condors are feeding on them, and the shells of their eggs are thin and break."
Brown pelican long a symbol of survival
DDE is formed when the pesticide DDT breaks down. DDT is banned in the United States, but enters the environment through its use in other countries.
"Some of these factors we're dealing with right now weren't factors five, 10 years ago," Mace said.
For example, California condors are now being vaccinated for the West Nile virus, Mace said.
The California condor lives only in the isolated areas of California, Arizona and Baja California, Mexico, where mankind reintroduced them after they were effectively eradicated from the wilderness, according to Mace.
They weigh up to 29 pounds, have a wingspan reaching up to 9½ feet and live up to 60 years. Their habitat is wooded mountains and scrub lands, according to the San Diego Zoo.
For all the worldwide attention they enjoy, the condor's feeding habit is among the most inelegant: They are vultures that feed on carrion, large and small. They will eat big animals -- deer, cattle, sheep. And they will eat small animals -- rodents, rabbits and fish. The carrion has sometimes been killed by a hunter's gunshot. The lead from the buckshot can also poison the condor, Mace said.
The condors gorge themselves on two to three pounds of carrion at a time and can fast for several days until they find another carcass.
The ignominious status of scavenger aside, the condor still holds the high stature of flagship species, which the polar bear also enjoys.
In their ecosystem, the California condor is part of Mother Nature's cleanup crew, feeding on dead animals to prevent them from spreading disease to other wildlife and plants.
Because the condor is thriving in parts of California, Arizona and Mexico, about 50 other endangered animals and plants are able to thrive -- thanks to the condor, Mace said.
Four breeding centers are hatching condor eggs: the San Diego Zoo, the zoo's Safari Park, the Oregon Zoo in Portland, and the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, Mace said.
The hatching season runs from March until May, he said.
"This is the peak season for us," Mace said.
The warmer weather in Oregon has led to a banner year for condor eggs at Oregon Zoo, with a total of nine chicks so far, the most since the zoo began participating in the condor conservation effort in 2004, said Kelli Walker, a condor keeper at the zoo's Jonnson Center for Wildlife Conservation.
She also credited the growing maturity of the zoo's condors.
"It sounds silly, but we had some really nice weather," Walker said. "This year, we had some of the first eggs because they bred earlier.

"Oregon is having the biggest year we have ever had," she added. "We got eight eggs in eight days."

Japan faces lengthy recovery from Fukushima accident

Tokyo (CNN) -- The worst may have passed in the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl, but cleaning up when it's finally over is likely to take decades and cost Japan an untold fortune.
A six- to nine-month horizon for winding down the crisis, laid out by plant owner Tokyo Electric Power this week, is just the beginning. Near the end of that timeline, Japan's government says it will decide when -- or whether -- the nearly 80,000 people who were told to flee their homes in the early days of the disaster can return.
Friday marks six weeks since the March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that triggered the crisis.
Some of those who have already spent six weeks in emergency housing, like Tomioka funeral director Kazuhiro Shirato, say they don't expect to return to what was home.
"I've been told by TEPCO since I was very small that the nuclear power plant was safe, so I never imagined this would happen," Shirato told CNN. "I hope now that the whole town will move to another place and rebuild."
Many of those displaced by the disaster have spent a month living in government shelters -- sometimes just gyms -- and are running low on money. Tokyo Electric has promised to make a down payment on compensation of 1 million yen (about $12,000) per household, with the intention of sending out checks by late April.
Another 66,000 have been told to prepare for evacuations in towns where radiation readings are at levels that could increase the long-term risk of cancer for anyone who stays. That will certainly add to what is likely to be a staggering tab for the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric, the country's largest utility.
"We are mobilizing our resources in order to tackle the situation, to relieve the burdens on those people who have evacuated from the area," Cabinet spokesman Noriyuki Shikata said. "We know that it's going to cost a quite significant amount. But at this juncture, I don't think we have come to a specific kind of budget size."
The shadow cast by Fukushima Daiichi has inflicted yet-unknown losses on farmers, fishermen and shopkeepers. And looming compensation costs have darkened the future of Tokyo Electric, a $157 billion company that may be driven into some form of government receivership.
For those displaced, Japanese authorities have promised to decontaminate "as much of an area as possible," as Goshi Hosono, an adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, told reporters earlier this week. But they have no decontamination plans prepared, and no real model for trying to clean up whole municipalities.
"We may be talking about something very new," Shikata said. "We will have to be creative."
The few precedents that do exist are daunting.
In Hanford, Washington, a plutonium plant built during the Manhattan Project created 43 million cubic yards (33 million cubic meters) of radioactive waste over four decades of fueling the U.S. nuclear weapons program, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The United States is projected to spend at least $77 billion and another 30-plus years to fully decontaminate the surrounding area, according to a 2009 report by congressional auditors.
After Chernobyl -- the worst nuclear disaster to date -- the former Soviet Union and now-independent Ukraine essentially abandoned a 30-kilometer radius around the plant. A quarter-century later, a forest is reclaiming the city of Pripyat, where nearly 50,000 people lived before the accident. About 116,000 were resettled, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and published estimates put the cost of cleanup at more than $350 billion.
Shikata said the situation at Fukushima Daiichi was "somewhat different" than at Chernobyl, were the amount of radioactivity released was 10 times higher that is believed to have escaped from Fukushima Daiichi.
The biggest city covered by the evacuation orders so far is Minami Soma, with a population of about 70,000. The twin disasters of March 11 have already driven away most of its population, most of those remaining have been told they will be evacuating soon and the rest have been told to stand by.
"We will rebuild," said Shinkoh Ishikawa, a Buddhist monk at the Senryu temple just outside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone. "I'm confident about that because we had done the same after the second World War."
For those displaced, there are social concerns as well. For decades, the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- known as "Hibakusha" -- complained of discrimination due to fears of radiation. Reports that evacuees from Fukushima were getting similar treatment brought a high-level chiding from Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, on Tuesday.
"I would like to ask the public to understand that the radiation would not transfer from person to person by touching the person or his or her clothes," said Edano, the government's point man for the crisis.
As for Fukushima Daiichi itself, fully closing up the crippled plant may take decades, said Jack DeVine, a U.S. nuclear engineer who helped lead the cleanup of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. There, it took about three years for engineers to get a look inside the damaged core of the reactor that suffered a partial meltdown in 1979 -- and what they found was "absolutely shocking" at the time, he said.
"A substantial amount of core had melted and burned its way into the reactor vessel, which we previously didn't know about," said DeVine, now retired. About 25 percent of the fuel assembly had melted, leaving behind a depression in the center of the core "like a giant ice-cream scoop."
Cleaning up and shutting down the damaged Unit 2 took 10 years, Devine said -- and unlike Fukushima Daiichi, little radiation was released at Three Mile Island. In Japan, workers are dealing with "essentially four Three Mile Islands," plus levels of radioactivity "which will be an impediment for all the work on-site."

"What we're hearing about over there is very, very different in that respect," he said.

High gasoline prices prompt Justice Department to eye energy industry

Washington (CNN) -- Prodded by growing public frustration over sharply rising gasoline prices, the Justice Department on Thursday announced the formation of a team -- the "Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group -- tasked with the goal of ensuring consumers are not victims of price gouging.
Gas prices exceeding $4 per gallon or higher are "tough" for most Americans, President Barack Obama told an audience in Reno, Nevada. "We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of American consumers for their own short-term gain."
"This gas issue is serious," the president said. "It hurts."
CNNMoney: Why is gas outpacing oil in price?
Attorney General Eric Holder made no secret the move is a direct response to public angst, not to current evidence of any illegal conduct.
"Rapidly rising gasoline prices are pinching the pockets of consumers across the country," Holder said in a written statement released at the Justice Department.
Gas price jumped while he was still pumping
"We will be vigilant in monitoring the oil and gas markets for any wrongdoing so that consumers can be confident they are not paying higher prices as a result of illegal activity," he said.
The working group will report to the existing Financial Fraud Task Force, which in turn reports to the attorney general.
The new working group will be composed of representatives of the Justice Department, the National Association of (State) Attorneys General, the Treasury Department, the Energy Department, and several financial regulatory agencies.
Holder said he is asking the group to explore "whether there is any evidence of manipulation of oil and gas prices, collusion, fraud, or misrepresentations at the retail or wholesale levels that would violate state or federal laws."
iReport: What are gas prices like where you live?

While promising official vigilance, the attorney general acknowledged regional differences in gasoline prices, and said, "It is also clear that there are lawful reasons for increases in gas prices, given supply and demand."

Military to pursue first capital prosecution against terror suspect

Washington (CNN) -- Military prosecutors have recommended the death penalty for the accused mastermind of the deadly 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole.
The announcement Wednesday from the Defense Department is another signal the case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri will be moving closer to trial before a military commission. As one of 16 "high-value" detainees, he has been held for years at the U.S. Navy's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. If approved, this would be the first death penalty trial in the reconfigured military trial system.
Intelligence sources have said al-Nashiri headed al Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf region before his 2002 capture by U.S. intelligence agents. CIA Director Michael Hayden confirmed six years later that al-Nashiri and two other high-value terror suspects were subjected to waterboarding, a harsh interrogation technique.
The chief prosecutor recommended capital charges against the 46-year-old Saudi native. He has been formally recharged with planning the bombing attack on the U.S. Navy vessel, which was in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen.
Two suicide bombers rammed a garbage barge full of explosives into the USS Cole during a refueling stop. Seventeen sailors were killed, and 47 others were injured. The blast left a 40-by-40-foot hole in the port side of the Norfolk, Virginia-based guided-missile destroyer, which was carrying a crew of 293.
Al-Nashiri also is charged with heading the aborted attack on the destroyer USS The Sullivans that same year.
The decision to formally move ahead with the prosecution had been expected for weeks, ever since Defense Secretary Robert Gates in January lifted a previous order that had prevented any new cases from moving forward.
The final decision about whether the death penalty can be pursued is now in the hands of retired Vice Adm. Bruce McDonald. In military terminology he is the convening authority of the military commissions, the equivalent of a civilian criminal court.
The American Civil Liberties Union, however, said the "broken military commissions system" should not be used to try al-Nashiri.
"We are deeply disturbed that the Obama administration has chosen to use the military commissions to try a capital case in which much of the evidence is reportedly based on hearsay and therefore not reliable enough to be admissible in federal court," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project. "Allowing hearsay is a backdoor way of allowing evidence that may have been obtained through torture.
"All of our concerns about the inherent unfairness of the military commissions are compounded in cases like this one, in which the result could be death," Shamsi said. "The Constitution and international law rightly require enhanced protections in death penalty cases, but the military commissions are incapable of providing those necessary protections."
Yemen had separately sentenced the man to death in absentia for his alleged role in the Cole attack.
His four-year custody in secret overseas CIA prisons before his 2006 transfer to Guantanamo is expected to be a key point of contention in any trial, since al-Nashiri did not have access to legal counsel for months nor had any charges been filed against him. It is unclear what rules of evidence the government could present that would withstand judicial scrutiny. Military justice rules allow al-Nashiri to have defense counsel represent him.
He was charged in December 2008 before a military commission in Guantanamo, but the charges were suspended a few months later when the Obama administration took over and sought a fresh review of all detainees at the overseas prison. Later that year Attorney General Eric Holder announced al-Nashiri, alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and several other key terror suspects would face prosecution in the military justice system.
The Obama administration had considered transferring some terror suspects to the United States for prosecution in either special military or civilian courts. But the president earlier this month announced all prosecutions would be in military courts in Guantanamo.
The CIA has admitted tapes of al-Nashiri's interrogation at a secret location in 2002 were destroyed in 2005. Waterboarding involves strapping a person to a surface, covering his or her face with cloth and pouring water on the face to simulate the sensation of drowning. Critics have called it torture.
Destruction of CIA tapes sparked concerns
During his Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- a preliminary court proceeding -- at Guantanamo in March 2007, al-Nashiri acknowledged knowing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and said he had accepted money from him. But bin Laden gave many people money to help them get married or conduct businesses, al-Nashiri said.
Al-Nashiri said he is not a member of al Qaeda, according to the 4-year-old documents. He said he knew the perpetrators of the bombing because he had business dealings with them in the fishing industry.
The suspect said he "was tortured into confession, and once he made a confession his captors were happy and they stopped questioning him," according to a statement read during a 2007 hearing. "Also, the detainee states that he made up stories during the torture in order to get (the torture) to stop."
In addition to Mohammed, charges could be forthcoming against Ahmed al-Darbi -- a Saudi man accused in the failed plot to bomb oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz; and Obaydullah, an Afghan accused of planting explosives.

The last military execution was in 1961, involving a U.S. Army private who had been convicted of rape and attempted murder of an Austrian girl.

Is Obama ready to mess with Texas? 'Not a chance'

(CNN) -- When President Obama sat down at the White House with a Texas television station Monday, one of the four interviews he did with local TV reporters, he may have also raised speculation that Democrats think solidly red Texas might be in play in 2012.
Democrats think the state's surging Latino population, 37.6% of Texans in the 2010 Census, which voted nearly 2-1 for Obama in 2008, could be the key to victory.
The increases in Latinos in Texas helped fuel the state's population gains in the past decade and have led to the largely Republican state adding an additional four seats in Congress.
Even some diehard Democrats have a hard time buying it.
"Given the fact that Democrats have won Texas only three times in the last 15 presidential elections, it seems a bit of an uphill climb to me," said Democratic strategist Paul Begala, a CNN contributor and native Texan. In 2008, Obama lost the state by an 11-point margin.
Begala, who said he wasn't privy to Obama's campaign strategy, points out that all 29 statewide elected officials are Republican and 101 of the 150 members of the state House of Representatives are, too.
Asked about Obama's chances, Republican strategist and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos is a bit more succinct: "Not a chance."

Obama: Hold me, Washington accoeuntabl

It's not unusual for a campaign to put money into a state it knows it's going to lose just to keep the other party from being able to take it for granted and making it spend some of its money there.
But not in Texas, Castellanos said.
"Republicans won't really take his threat to campaign there seriously," he said.
James Henson, director of The Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, said the intensity of Obama's disapproval ratings in Texas makes the idea of him turning the state far-fetched.
"His negatives are through the roof," Henson said.
A UT-Texas Tribune poll in mid-February showed 46% of Texans strongly disapproved of the job Obama is doing, 9% disapproved somewhat, and 35% approved.
Castellanos suggested any effort the Obama campaign makes in Texas could be part of a larger strategy.
"It might be a good way to campaign for the Hispanic vote nationally: 'I'll fight for the Hispanic vote -- even in Texas.'
"But this is not about Texas. If his electoral strategy is predicated on winning George Bush's home state, he's toast."
Henson has a different idea.
"I'm sure (Democrats) would like to fire a few shots across the bow but it's still awfully early for that to carry water," he said. "I suspect this is mostly for fund-raising.
Obama did four interviews with four local stations as part of his road trip to pitch his debt-reduction plan. In addition to Dallas station WFAA, a CNN affiliate, the president did interviews with stations in Denver, Colorado; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Indianapolis, Indiana -- all battleground states that Obama won in 2008.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said that political considerations had nothing to do with which stations got interviews.
"The campaign doesn't weigh in on it. We make our decisions on where the president should give interviews right here at the White House," Carney said.
Sen. John McCain carried Texas in 2008, 55% to 44%. Obama won the Hispanic vote, 63% to 35%. He won 98% of the black vote. But he got only 26% of the white vote while McCain got 73%.
The percentage of Latinos in Texas has grown by 41% since 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, or 65% of population increase in Texas since 2000. And the surge shows no signs of subsiding -- the Latino percentage of Texas population increased from 36% to 37.6% just since 2008.
But Latinos in Texas didn't turn out to vote like in other states -- in California in 2008, the turnout rate for Latinos was 57%. Nationally, about half of Latinos voted. In Texas, it was 37.9%.
Henson said there are two factors at work: traditionally low turnout among Latinos and Democrats' failure to mobilize them. Ironically, it has been the growth in Texas Latinos who have traditionally leaned much more Democrat that has fueled the new House seats for the very Republican state.
And the middle class and affluent among Latinos behave just like any other group and begin to take a closer look at Republican candidates.
"All they have to do is peel off 5 to 10% and that's enough," he said.
In the WFAA interview, Obama didn't reveal any campaign strategy, only saying that he never gives up on any state.
Watch the WFAA interview
"I love Texas," he said.
But the last time the president visited the state -- in the midst of Tea Party anger over his health care bill and three months before the midterm elections -- he didn't find much love, even from Democrats. Former Houston Mayor Bill White, the Democratic candidate for governor who would go on to lose to incumbent Rick Perry, was at a state fair across the state and couldn't hook up with Obama.
Begala hoped that Texas one day would return to the Democratic fold.

"Sadly, I just don't think that day is upon us," he said.

Exchange student slain after frantic friend watches webcam attack

(CNN) -- A 23-year-old exchange student, attacked in her Toronto apartment while a friend in China watched via computer webcam, was found dead there hours later, police say.
Toronto Police on Monday identified the student as Qian (Necole) Liu of Beijing. She was talking early Friday morning to a male friend from home when a man allegedly knocked on her door, asking to use her phone, police said in a news release.
The online witness said he saw Liu and the unknown man struggle for a time before the attacker turned off her laptop, the news release said.
The friend in China then started a desperate bid to find out what happened, CNN-affiliate CTV reported.
Ten hours later, police arrived at the basement apartment to find Liu's body, naked from the waist down. Her laptop was missing.
"It was obvious that she had been dead for some period of time," Detective Sgt. Frank Skubic said in the news release.
The cause of the death is yet to be determined, the news release said. There were no obvious signs of sexual assault or severe physical trauma, and police are awaiting toxicology reports, it said.
Police are unsure whether Liu, an exchange student at York University, knew the man. The attacker was described as white, age 20 to 30, 6 feet tall, weighing 175 to 200 pounds, with a muscular build and medium-length brown hair, and wearing a blue crew-neck T-shirt.
With no suspects and no one in custody, police have been questioning neighbors, CTV reported. A cell phone found in the apartment is also undergoing forensic examination, police said.
York University President Mamdouh Shoukri released a statement saying, "Qian's death is a terrible tragedy and our entire community mourns the loss of a promising young student."
Liu's family is currently on their way to Canada from China, CTV reported.
A call to police seeking further comment was not immediately returned.

This is not the first time a crime has been captured by webcam. In the most notorious incident, Meleanie Hain of Lebanon, Pennsylvania was shot dead in 2009 while talking to a friend via webcam. The friend was looking away when he heard a shot and a scream, police said. Upon looking back at the screen, the friend saw Hain's husband firing a handgun at where his wife had been, they said. Police later found both Hain and her husband dead in their home.

Iran helping Syria quell protests, U.S. says

Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. State Department accuses Iran of helping the Syrian government's efforts to suppress protests that have taken place there in recent weeks.
"We believe that there is credible information that Iran is assisting Syria" in quelling the protesters, department spokesman Mark Toner said Thursday.
U.S. officials said the Iranian assistance includes gear used to suppress crowds, as well as equipment and technical advice for monitoring and blocking e-mail, cell phones, text messaging, and internet postings by and among activists.
Syria's Foreign Ministry told the nation's official news agency, SANA, that the claim is "absolutely untrue."
An official at Iran's mission to the United Nations said Iran "categorically rejects" the accusation as "totally baseless and unfounded."
He added, "This and similar allegations are in line with the mainstream anti-Iranian propaganda masterminded and propagated by known circles in the United States to tarnish the image of Iran and Syria."
But Toner said of the Iranians, "They continue to play a meddling role in the region."
American officials said Iran's government is also sharing with Syria the best practices it developed during Tehran's crackdown on the "green movement" protesters in 2009.
One security tactic Iran has developed, according to former Pentagon intelligence analyst Michael Rubin, is arresting protesters days later, rather than in the middle of heated street protests.
"What Iran does is, they take photos" of anti-government protesters, Rubin said. "Then they come, over the next two or three weeks, and they will round up people in the middle of the night, where you won't create a spark, where you won't create a backlash.
"That may be what they're trying to teach Syria right now."

The U.S. allegation was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.

More states restrict abortions; group says trend 'unparalleled'

(CNN) -- As two states imposed the latest rounds of laws against abortion or its providers this week, a new study contends "hostility" toward abortion rights is on the rise in legislatures across the country, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The trend has been buoyed by GOP victories in last year's elections, as well as how federal health care reform encouraged states to adopt their own laws regarding abortion coverage under plans offered by health exchanges, said Elizabeth Nash, public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, an advocacy group for abortion rights.
"It's pretty much an all-out, anti-abortion, free-for-all out there," Nash told CNN. "I've been doing this for almost 12 years now, so I feel like I have some historical sense. This year is just unlike any other year we've seen before."
Add the success of states' anti-abortion laws passed in the last couple of years with the Republican sweep of statehouses last fall, "and you end up with a year that is unparalleled in what we have been seeing in regard to abortion restrictions," Nash said.
Just this week, Kansas became the second state in the nation, following Nebraska, to sign a "fetal pain" law that bans abortions after 21 weeks based on the viewpoint that "fetuses can feel pain beginning after the 21st week of pregnancy," according to a statement by Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's office.
Brownback also signed into law Tuesday a bill requiring minors who seek abortions to obtain consent from both parents. The law also places certain prohibitions on late-term and partial birth abortions.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, also signed into law Tuesday a ban on state tax credits for donations to Planned Parenthood or other abortion providers. The law also prohibits public funding for abortion training at universities and hospitals for physicians, said state Rep. Debbie Lesko, a Republican who was the prime sponsor of the new laws.
Lesko disputed Guttmacher's characterization that a trend of "hostility" against abortion is running through state legislatures.
"I certainly wouldn't say there's hostility," Lesko told CNN. "I think it's a severe word. I think it's passionate. Pro-life people are passionate about what they believe in. They believe that the fetus is a human, and they do not believe it should be killed."
Lesko called the ban on tax credits for Planned Parenthood -- which is also being considered in Kansas -- as closing "a loophole" in state laws.
"Planned Parenthood was opposed to this bill," Lesko said. "If they truly want the money to be used for other services besides abortions, they could set up a whole other business entity that wouldn't have anything to do with abortion."
A Planned Parenthood Arizona leader said the law discriminates against his organization. The tax credit allowed for donations to fundamental safety-net health care, such as annual gynecological exams, breast cancer screenings and Pap smears, the group said.
"This bill discourages generous, community-minded Arizonans from giving to Planned Parenthood, where their money is being used to provide low-income women, men and teens with essential health care," Bryan Howard, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona, said in a statement. "Abortion services are not funded by these donations. There are other funds provided by donors specifically for abortion care."
Planned Parenthood suggests the measure won't stand legally, saying the Arizona and U.S. Supreme Courts have ruled that tax credits are private contributions not owed to the state and aren't public funds because they pass directly from taxpayer to private organization.
Because the new Arizona law also prohibits tax credits to any organization that even provides referrals to abortion providers, it will "gag" other charitable organizations such as domestic violence agencies from referring their clients to Planned Parenthood Arizona, the group said.
"Ninety percent of the services Planned Parenthood Arizona provides are prevention health care and education," Howard said. "Women and families of Arizona should not have their access to this life-saving care overlooked because of a politically motivated bill."
In a statement to CNN, Brewer said government should never allow public funds or tax credits to subsidize abortion providers or train medical professionals to perform abortions.
"I look forward to the day when there is enough support in the Congress and White House to emulate Arizona's example," Brewer said.
Arizona's ban against state taxpayers taking a credit for donations to Planned Parenthood and other groups serving the working poor comes after a congressional Republican effort failed this month to strip $317 million in federal funding from Planned Parenthood.
At the same time, congressional Democrats turned back Republican attempts to get federal dollars currently set aside for family planning and women's health turned into block grants for states -- which would give states more ability to cut services opposed by conservatives.
Now, states are taking up anti-abortion measures on their own initiative -- and enjoying success, according to Guttmacher's Nash.
Brownback called his signing of this week's two abortion restrictions "an historic day."
"So many determined people have worked long and hard to get these bills passed and I am happy to sign them into law," Brownback said in a statement. "These bills are a reflection of the culture of life that is being embraced all across Kansas. They represent a mainstream, bipartisan and common-sense approach to a divisive issue."
Sixteen other states are now considering a law patterned after Nebraska's law, one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in recent years, according to a Guttmacher report this week.
In those 16 states plus Kansas, a total of 35 proposals were introduced, and 27 of them paralleled Nebraska's abortion ban beginning at 20 weeks. Two would ban abortion beginning at 18 weeks, and the other six would restrict abortion after 22 weeks, according to the Guttmacher report.
Twenty-nine of the bills allow "the extremely narrow health exception included in the Nebraska law," according to the Guttmacher report. The other six measures would permit "a slightly broader exception," typically permitting abortion where the woman's mental health is threatened.
The states seeking laws mirroring Nebraska's are Idaho, Indiana, Iowa and Oklahoma, where at least one legislative chamber in those states has already passed a similar measure, Nash said.
"They want to ban abortion in any way they can: if they can do it at 20 weeks, they will do it at 20 weeks," Nash said. "There are other scientific reports that say fetuses cannot feel pain at 20 weeks.
"It flies in the face of Supreme Court holdings," Nash added. "What the Supreme Court has said is you cannot ban abortion beyond viability. What's different about these bans is that they are much earlier than viability, which tends to be between 24 and 28 weeks."

Every fetus develops differently, Nash said, "so using a specific cutoff doesn't make sense."

Hamas' Powerful New Weapon Alters Strategic Calculations Along the Gaza Strip

Hamas’ recent use of a Russian-made, laser-guided anti-tank missile against a school bus marks a clear change in the strategic balance along the fragile Gaza-Israel border: By either fate, or perhaps design, the Hamas attack comes just as Israel deployed its “Iron Dome” missile defense system that has rendered Hamas’ Grad rockets almost useless against civilian targets.

Israel called the use of the of the advanced weaponry a “red line,” now putting in danger the tens of thousands of Israelis who drive on roads with a line of sight view from the Gaza Strip. Until now, drivers only had to worry about highly inaccurate mortar fire that had to be launched from relatively open areas.

“We are talking about sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry, sophisticated anti-tank weaponry and long-range rockets that can hit even north to Tel-Aviv. Now Hamas was restrained so far not to use many of them in order not to force Israel with its back to the wall to initiate another huge military ground operation against Hamas,” said Ronen Bergman, an Israeli security expert who has written extensively on the Jewish state, its security services and its relationship to the Islamic world.

Now that Hamas has shown a willingness to use a next-generation weapon against a civilian target, experts say Israel will have to re-evaluate how it looks at the hot truce that exists on the border.

Currently, there is a tit-for-tat relationship between Hamas mortar and rocket attacks answered by Israeli air strikes taking out various militant targets, depots and the occasional target assassination of a cell leader.

Hamas says the missile attack was making good on a promise to retaliate against Israel for killing three of its leaders in a targeted assassination earlier this month. While the attack only wounded two people -- the bus had just dropped its students off -- militants fired more than 100 rockets and mortars into southern Israeli. The Israeli Air Force raised the normal reciprocity multiplier a couple of times in what was called a clear message to Hamas that attacks with this new type of weapon would carry an overwhelming price tag.

“Because the conditions of the cease-fire are very flexible, this is not a cease-fire. This is a low level, a very low-level-intensity conflict. The interpretation of the conditions of this very low-intensity conflict are different, and they can lead to another deterioration,” Bergman said. 

In the weekend exchange, Israel killed at least 20 Palestinians, including civilians and at least a few Hamas leaders. Even still, it took a few days for Hamas leaders to gain control of the various militant groups within Gaza, many of whom are seemingly unconcerned with the Israeli counterattacks or their collateral damage and are singularly focused on harassing Israel and threatening its southern residents. 

Many of the more hawkish members of Israel’s political and defense establishment argued for Israel to continue the attacks on Gaza. It's generally accepted that it’s a question of when, not if, the skirmish will escalate and the Israeli Army will once again invade Gaza to try and root out the Hamas weaponry.

For years, Israel has warned that Iran and Syria are smuggling not only mortars, rocket propelled grenades and AK-47s to Hamas but also more sophisticated weapons capable of giving Hamas a significantly better chance against the Israeli military. Israel enters the urban war zone against a dug-in, well trained and now even better-supplied group of militants.

“Like Iran and Syria supplied Hezbollah with sophisticated anti tank rockets – Matisse, Cornet and other RPG's that caused great damage to Israeli tanks and Israeli infantry in 2006 -- they did the same in Gaza with Hamas. Now Israel is well prepared. This is why we saw they're looking for another target, a non military target. This is why they hit the bus with the Kornate,” said Bergman.

Hamas poked the sleeping lion just as the lion finished thickening its fur. In the hour and days after the bus attack as Israel fighter jets and helicopters pounded targets in Gaza, Hamas and some of the more radical organizations lets loose their usual barrage of unguided rockets and mortar shells at towns in southern Israel. The mortars landed as they often do in unpopulated areas. The rockets, including some of the larger Grad rockets, met a new fate as they were intercepted mid-flight by Israel’s Iron Dome. 

Built largely in response to the 2006 war with Hezbeollah in Lebanon when thousands of rockets rained down on civilian populations, the Iron Dome is capable of shooting down missiles as they head for Israel’s towns. Last weekend was the systems first “battlefield test,” and it performed better than many expected or even hoped, shooting down at least eight rockets and only missing one.

At $40,000 a shot, a lot was riding on this deployment, shooting down rockets that often don’t cause more than $400 in damage. 

However, proponents of the system argue that it is able to calculate an enemy rocket's probable target after launch and then decide if its worth sending an interceptor to protect a civilian population or allow it to destroy a few crops or trees as they often do. 

“Like Israel, Hamas is testing the system. I think Hamas is trying to find ways how to bypass the system or how much missile at one time at one launching can the system take,” Bergman said.

Again the latest weaponry appears to have altered the strategic balance, both in the sense that civilian populations no longer feel helpless and thus demand large-scale Israeli counterattacks, and with the high publicized success of the system, it's harder for Israel to justify its airstrikes in the court of public opinion. which is often less than favorable to the Jewish state.

The new balance of power must then be looked at through the lens of the broader Middle East, which itself seems to be changing like a kaleidoscope. Hamas is largely a proxy of Syria and Iran, Bergman said. There may not be the kind of direct control that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard exercises over Hezbollah to Israel’s north in Lebanon, but there is real fear that either Syria or Iran could turn Hamas loose to launch attacks on Israel as a distraction from their own internal security problems.

Over the weekend both sides publicaly said they wanted a cease-fire, and Hamas’ foreign minister made the all-but-unprecedented move of going on Israeli radio and asking in Hebrew for the airstikes to stop. 

While it seems that would bring a quick calm to any conflict, it took at least 48 hours for both sides to stop, as they attempted to find their new equilibrium. The balance of power shifted in just a few days. 

While Monday and Tuesday brought an eerie calm to the skies above the Gaza border, it appears that with Hamas willing to use a new class of weapons and Israel’s technology making their traditional ones largely irrelevant, it will be even more difficult to find that calm once the next round of bullets, mortars or missles fly.

“Everybody should bear in mind that if this missile would have been fired five minutes before (when the bus was filled with children), we would have been witnessing a full-scale war between Israel and the Gaza strip today,” Bergman said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/04/12/iron-dome-weaponry-alters-strategic-balance-gaza-strip/#ixzz1JQZfE4fA

No Government Shutdown: Officials Agree to Deadline Deal

"We will cut $78.5 billion below the president's 2011 budget proposal, and we have reached an agreement on the policy riders," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wrote in a joint statement.
The agreement would cut $37.67 billion from the 2010 budget baseline and keep intact funding to Planned Parenthood, a Reid staffer said.
"We protected the investments we need to win the future," President Obama said after the deal was struck. "At the same time, we also made sure at the end of the day this was a debate about spending cuts -- not social issues like women's health and the protection of our air and water. These are important issues that deserve discussion, just not during a debate about our budget."
The House and Senate passed temporary resolutions to keep the government funded beyond midnight, when it was scheduled to run out, until the full agreement could be drawn up and passed by Congress. That short-term bridge included the first $2 billion in cuts, officials said.
Though the House vote came after midnight, the Office of Management and Budget said there would be no shutting down of government agencies because agreement had been reached and funding was anticipated.
"I would expect the final vote on this to occur mid-next week," Boehner said. "This has been a long discussion and a long fight, but we fought to keep government spending down because it really will, in fact, help create a better environment for job creators in our country."
Obama hailed the deal as "the biggest annual spending cut in history," and Reid told the Senate, "This is historic, what we've done."
Senate Republicans pointed out that as recently as February, Democratic leaders denounced even more modest cuts than those in the deal as "draconian," "extreme" and "unworkable." They had to go the brink of a shutdown, the Republicans said, but Boehner's hard line, in the end, forced Democrats to agree to several billion more in cuts.
However, Democratic officials tried to portray the deadline deal as one in which Boehner blinked. They argued the level of cuts were similar to what were discussed during a meeting at the White House the night before. The officials said Boehner came back during Friday asking for more cuts, but Obama refused.
Plus, money will not be taken from programs the president favors, such as Head Start, but instead from the automatic "mandatory spending" appropriated for departments such as the Pentagon and the Department of Transportation.
"They gave on the EPA, NPR, and Planned Parenthood riders," a Democratic official said.
However, the deal does include an abortion funding ban for Washington, D.C., which President Obama has signed into law before. And, bipartisan sources added, the agreement calls for the Senate to hold votes on rescinding the health care law and eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood.
Republicans added the agreement denies additional funding to the IRS, requires yearly audits of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and mandates additional study of the health care law that they believe will aid their fight to repeal it.

Congressional Blame Game Begins Before Government Shutdown Starts

As a potential federal government shutdown looms, there are parallel efforts underway -- one to figure out how to reach an agreement, and another to cast blame in case there isn't one.

And as both parties focused on a temporary measure to avoid a shutdown, lawmakers were already pointing fingers.

“This is no longer about budget issues it's about bumper stickers,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., echoed the sentiment that if there is a shutdown, it won’t be because of budget issues.

“It would be a tragic mistake to force a government shutdown, but doubly tragic if the shutdown were on issues not related to spending,” Schumer said.

Democrats argue this is no longer a fight over numbers but rather about ideology, an attempt to blame the Tea Party. As evidence, Democrats point to a rider in the temporary extension of spending that would outlaw federal funds for abortions in Washington, D.C. which they say they cannot support.

But Republican leader Mitch McConnell dismissed that as an attempt to shift blame, claiming Senate Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev., Durbin and even the president have embraced the very same language before.

The policy prescriptions it contains have been previously agreed to by Democratic leaders and signed by this president,” he said.

McConnell charges that if a shutdown does occur, Democrats would have "no one to blame but themselves."

During the federal government shutdowns in the mid-1990's under President Clinton, then House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the Republicans were blamed by a two to one margin.

But a lot has changed since then, in part because the deficits are now so much larger.

Ernest Istook, a distinguished fellow in government studies at the Heritage Foundation, was a Republican congressman from Oklahoma during the last shutdown and he notes how the tone in Washington has changed.

“We have a very different political environment than we did in 95 and 96. Just look at the emergence of the Tea Party and the number of people all across the country who are saying, 'get control of spending, stop all the borrowing, stop all the spending.’”

And that may be why the public has a very different view today.

A recent Washington Post poll asked who should be blamed in the case of a shutdown. Thirty-seven percent blamed Republicans and 37 percent blamed the Administration. Another 15 percent blamed both equally.

And Republicans were careful today to mention the White House role.

“The White House has been late in coming to the aid of their party,” said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky. “The White House has been absent from the battle until the last few days.”

So the current situation is very different from the 1990's, with lawmakers in both parties now acknowledging that something has to be done about spending.

In fact, deficits were a major reason Democrats lost control of the House in the last election.

That may be why polls this time show no clear advantage to anyone from a shutdown, making the blame game harder to play.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/07/congressional-blame-game-begins-government-shutdown-starts/#ixzz1IxS9AW8J

Body of second American found in Japan

(CNN) -- The body of a second American has been found in Japan, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs said Wednesday.
"Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family," the bureau said in a statement, identifying the American as Monty Dickson. "Out of respect for their wishes, we do not have further comment."
It was unclear when Dickson's body was found. In the areas hardest-hit by the March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, all U.S. citizens are accounted for, the embassy said, although others may be missing in areas that were not among the hardest hit.
Dickson, 26, taught English at schools around Rikuzentakata, according to the Anchorage Daily News in Anchorage, Alaska, where he was from. He was part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, the newspaper said.
Rikuzentakata is in Iwate Prefecture on Japan's northeastern coast.
"It's really sad, but the torture of not knowing was just unbearable," relative Gloria Shriver told the Daily News on Tuesday. She said the family was working on getting to Japan this week to bring home his body.
"It's been difficult, to say the least," she said.
The body of Taylor Anderson, 24, was found March 21. Anderson taught English to elementary and middle school students in Ishinomaki, a coastal city in Miyagi Prefecture, also as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.

The death toll in Japan stands at 12,596, according to Japan's National Police, with 14,747 others missing.

CNN's Kyung Lah contributed to this report

Ex- U.S. congressman Weldon says he will meet with Gadhafi

(CNN) -- In an opinion piece he wrote for The New York Times, former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon said he is set to meet with Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday in an attempt to convince the embattled Libyan ruler to step down.
"I've met him enough times to know that it will be very hard to simply bomb him into submission," wrote Weldon, who said he is in Libya at the invitation of Gadhafi. U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is aware of the trip, the former Republican representative from Pennsylvania said.
CNN did not immediately get a response late Tuesday night from the U.S. State Department or the White House about the trip.
In 2004, Weldon led a congressional delegation to the Libyan capital of Tripoli and met privately with Gadhafi after the Libyan leader renounced terrorism in an effort to establish warmer ties with the West. In his New York Times piece, Weldon said he went to support Gadhafi's decision to give up Libya's nuclear weapons program, though neither he nor the White House wanted to support Gadhafi himself.
Weldon told CNN in 2004 that he had 14 meetings with "everyone in the administration" and toured a nuclear complex.
Libya remains in a deadly stalemate as pro-Gadhafi forces battle rebel fighters demanding an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42-year-rule.
In his piece, Weldon called for an immediate United Nations-monitored cease-fire, "with the Libyan Army withdrawing from contested cities and rebel forces ending attempts to advance."
"Then we must identify and engage with those leaders who, if not perfect, are pragmatic and reform-minded and thus best positioned to lead the country."
He added that Gadhafi's son Saif, "a powerful businessman and politician, could play a constructive role as a member of the committee to devise a new government structure or Constitution."
Opposition leader: Compromise not an option with Gadhafi
Though Saif al-Islam Gadhafi was once viewed as a leading reformer in the Libyan government, the 38-year-old has become one of his father's most outspoken defenders since the start of the unrest.
Weldon wrote that the country's prime minister and the head of Libya's rebel Transitional National Council should meet with the U.N. envoy to the Libya "and work out a schedule for fair elections for a new president and legislature."
Libyan rebels disappointed by NATO's efforts

Weldon's proposal also suggests free elections within 12 months overseen by the U.N., according to Larry Mendte of CNN affiliate WPIX-TV. Mendte traveled with Weldon to Libya.