Early Bird summary
Wednesday’s Early Bird leads with the New York Times reporting that President Obama is nearing a decision that would order American combat forces out of Iraq by August 2010 as he seeks to finally end a war that has consumed and polarized the United States for nearly six years, senior administration officials said Tuesday.The timetable would give the military three months more to withdraw than the 16-month pullout Mr. Obama promised last year on the campaign trail. Officials said he was prepared to make that shift because he agreed with the concerns of ground commanders who wanted more time to cement security gains, strengthen political institutions and make sure Iraq did not become more unstable again.
The Washington Post reports that President Barack Obama may have no choice but to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to buy a new fleet of White House helicopters, defense analysts say.The existing 19 helicopters built by United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft are more than 30 years old, and several have broken down on presidential trips. But most worrisome is that the current fleet does not meet the communication and protection needs of the White House, according to military analysts.
National Journal's CongressDailyPM publication reports that Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, who just completed a yearlong assignment as the top commander in western Iraq, said today he believes the Iraqi people "have made a commitment to government over violence" and that President Obama's proposal to withdraw most combat forces in 16 months "is very doable" in most of the country. Kelly, who was commander of Multi-National Forces West and deputy commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, said the war in Iraq would go on, but as "a war to establish a lasting democracy."Kelly, who has done three tours in Iraq since 2003, conceded Iraq may never have an American-style democracy. But the general, speaking at a defense writers' breakfast, said he believes that even the Sunni leaders in Anbar province, once considered the heart of the anti-American insurgency, were committed to settling differences politically rather than resorting to violence. He said that the Iraqi army and police had assumed virtually total responsibility for security in the previously volatile region, describing the level of violence there as "meaningless."
The New York Times reports that American missile strikes have reduced Al Qaeda’s global reach but heightened the threat to Pakistan as the group disperses its cells and fights to maintain its sanctuaries, Pakistani intelligence officials said.The officials acknowledge that the strikes and raids by the Pakistani military are proving effective, having killed as many as 80 Qaeda fighters in the past year. But they express growing alarm that the drone strikes in particular are having an increasingly destabilizing effect on their country.
Rep. Michael McCaul called the moment chilling and eerie, according to the Houston Chronicle. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said she froze in place. And Rep. Pete Olson stared through the one-way glass, thinking, “My God, that’s the man who planned the attacks.”There he was in a stark cell at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, kneeling on a prayer rug, head bowed, wearing the white cap of faithful Muslim men worldwide.Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 44, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 al-Qaida attacks on the United States, appeared thinner than in the photos taken the 2003 night of his capture in Pakistan.
The Pentagon’s weapons tester says he doesn’t have “high confidence” that the Boeing Co.-managed U.S. missile defense would be effective against even a rudimentary North Korean missile, according to an article at Bloomberg.com.Testing against the possible trajectories and altitudes of a North Korean missile has been limited and hasn’t generated enough data to run the thousands of computer simulations needed to predict performance, Charles McQueary wrote in his annual report to Congress.
North Korea on Tuesday dressed up its planned test of a long-range ballistic missile -- which may be able to reach Alaska -- as a benign research project, according to the Washington Post."Outer space is an asset common to mankind, and its use for peaceful purposes has become a global trend," said a spokesman for the North Korean Committee of Space Technology.North Korea's announcement comes amid warnings from the United States not to test the missile. A U.N. resolution, passed after North Korea exploded a nuclear device in 2006, bans the country from any ballistic missile activity.
The London Times reports that Iran moves a step closer to joining the nuclear club today by beginning a test run of its Russian-built atomic power plant. Officials in Tehran said that the Bushehr plant would undergo operational tests during a visit by Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia’s state atomic energy corporation.Mr Kiriyenko is travelling to Iran to discuss completion of the $1 billion (£695 million) project, which is running almost three years behind schedule after repeated delays caused by disputes over payment. Iran’s atomic energy organisation said that the power station was now expected to start work in the first half of this year. Russia said that today’s test would not involve nuclear fuel.
Media summary
1. Leading newspaper headlines: President Obama told the American people last night that the country is in trouble, but he vowed that the United States would recover and emerge stronger than before. (Slate Magazine)
2. Change slow for isolated Afghans: A dirt road lined with crumbling stone walls weaves its way through Afghanistan's snowy Hindu Kush peaks. (BBC)
3. Fortress Technologies supports wireless reach-back project: Fortress Technologies, a leading provider of secure wireless solutions, today announced that it is supporting a Wireless Reach-Back (WRB) project for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Program Manager for Training Systems (PMTRASYS), Orlando, Fla. (MSNBC)
Leading newspaper headlines
President Obama told the American people last night that the country is in trouble, but he vowed that the United States would recover and emerge stronger than before. In his first address to a joint session of Congress (don't call it a State of the Union), Obama gave a "sobering speech" but also "sought to spark optimism and confidence in his plan for recovery," notes USA Today. The Wall Street Journal declares that Obama "straddled the divide between fear and hope" throughout his speech, and the New York Times describes it as a mixture of acknowledging the seriousness of the economic problems "with a Reaganesque exhortation to American resilience." The Washington Post points out that Obama's optimistic tone had "been absent from his speeches in recent weeks," a fact that many, including former President Bill Clinton, had criticized. In what the Los Angeles Times calls "a significant departure from the George W. Bush years," Obama barely mentioned foreign policy and focused squarely on the economy and other domestic priorities.
In his 52-minute speech, Obama declared that the "day of reckoning has arrived" and called on Americans to "take responsibility for our future once more." He said it was time to bring an end to the era where people inside and outside Washington avoided making tough decisions in order to maximize short-term gains. He never implicated his predecessor by name, but the message was clear enough when he declared that his budget would reflect "the stark reality of what we've inherited." Obama pointedly noted that everyone in Washington, "and that includes me," will have to sacrifice some "worthy priorities" in order to deal with the burgeoning deficit. But he insisted that getting out of the current mess won't be possible unless the country starts to deal with some long-term issues, such as health care and energy policy.
Obama acknowledged the anger that many people feel over the costly bailouts of banks and automakers but warned that the "cost of inaction will be far greater." He also warned that more money would probably be needed but said that the U.S. economy won't recover until the country's financial system has stabilized. "It's not about helping banks," he said, "it's about helping people." Obama once again repeated that he plans to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term but made it clear that won't stop him from pursuing an ambitious agenda that was at the centerpiece of his campaign, and yesterday he spent lots of time talking about energy, education, and health care. But he mostly stuck to broad strokes and didn't reveal any significant details about his policy initiatives or how he plans to cut the deficit beyond repeating the tired mantra about how his administration is going "line by line" through the federal budget to find wasteful and ineffective programs.
Inside, the WSJ's Gerald Seib notes that Obama's address was directed more at regular Americans than at the lawmakers who were sitting in front of him. Ultimately, the president "faced a choice between making his big speech a Bill Clinton-like policy manifesto or a Franklin Roosevelt-like fireside chat," writes Seib. "He chose the latter." The LAT declares that Obama "tried to strike a balance that escaped" former Presidents Herbert Hoover, who was criticized for being too optimistic, and Jimmy Carter, who was panned for being too negative, "while also capturing some of the inspirational oratory typical of Ronald Reagan."
Some have warned that Obama runs the risk of not getting anything done by trying to do too much, but the president made it clear last night that he intends "to use the urgency of the moment and his considerable political capital to ... transform the way politics is done," says the WP in its front-page analysis. USAT notes that an already-difficult challenge "is all the greater because he's presiding over an incomplete government." Plus, it seems unlikely he'll get much support from the other side of the aisle. The NYT points out that "the vision he articulated was in some ways anything but unifying." Obama proposed "a more activist government than any other since Lyndon B. Johnson," and some of his most important ideas "represent a philosophical agenda that strikes at the heart of the other party's core beliefs."
Obama wasn't alone in dishing out hope yesterday. Earlier in the day, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a Senate panel that the economy could end its contraction by the end of the year, and 2010 could be a "year of recovery." Of course, his "carefully hedged comments," as the WP puts it, made it clear that it all depends on whether the government succeeds in stabilizing the financial system. But that sliver of optimism was enough for investors. Markets soared even as new figures indicated that consumer confidence reached its lowest level in more than 41 years. Bernanke also helped the markets by playing down the prospect that the government is about to nationalize major banks, saying he doesn't see a particular need for that extreme course of action just yet. "We can work with them now to get them to do whatever is necessary to restructure," he said. "We don't have to take them over to do that."
The WSJ points out that the low consumer confidence is just one sign of how "the recession and financial crisis are feeding on each other in ways that worsen both." In what is being called an "adverse feedback loop," the recession is causing more companies and individuals to default on their loans, which is hurting banks in ways that are unrelated to the mortgage-related programs that began this national nightmare.
In a front-page piece, the WSJ takes a look at the anything-but-sunny relations between Citigroup and the government. At a time when the government is considering taking a larger stake in Citigroup, it seems clear that their relationship "is off to a very rocky start," declares the WSJ. Executives complain that they're trying to help Citigroup come back from the brink while also pleasing federal officials, but they're getting mixed messages. At times it seems the government wants to micromanage Citigroup's operations, but then ignores it for long periods. "In trying to be neither an active nor a passive investor, the U.S. is directing the business without a firm strategy or particular expertise," declares the WSJ. Privately, federal officials describe the banking giant as "unmanageable," while executives complain there's no one person or federal entity that is in charge of overseeing Citigroup that they can go to with questions or concerns. In a particularly poignant image, one "person close to the company compared the government's role to the sword of Damocles, an ever-present evil hanging over their heads," reports the WSJ.
The NYT fronts, and the LAT goes inside with, word that Obama will soon announce a 19-month withdrawal plan of American combat forces from Iraq. The plan would order combat forces out of Iraq by August 2010, which represents a three-month extension of the 16-month withdrawal timetable that Obama outlined during his campaign. The shift is being billed as a compromise between Obama and military leaders who wanted a 23-month time frame for withdrawal. Obama still plans on keeping a "residual force" in Iraq that the LAT says could consist of up to 50,000 soldiers, but the number is far from clear.
Top of the Document
Change slow for isolated Afghans
The village of Darbaw has seen few of the promised changes
By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Takhar province, Afghanistan
A dirt road lined with crumbling stonewalls weaves its way through Afghanistan's snowy Hindu Kush peaks.
On one side of the rutted track runs a shallow river, on the other a natural pistachio forest is sprinkled across the craggy, rising slopes.
But at the end of the road there is a harsh counterpoint to the natural beauty of the Farkhar valley - a decaying, isolated Afghan village.
With little of the infrastructure long promised by the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai, this village, like many others throughout Afghanistan, is on the verge of collapse.
Unseen by aid-workers, the village of Darbaw has been largely left to fend for itself in one of the world's most unforgiving landscapes.
Seven years after the fall of Taleban, this mountainous valley of 300 families still does not have access to clean drinking water and lacks even the crudest of medical clinics.
Villagers in Darbaw complain they hardly see any of the substantial profits made from the pistachio forest, let alone Takhar province's relatively lucrative salt and coal mine.
Chronic battle
In recent years, government aid work has introduced a small electrical power plant in Darbaw, allowing villagers to make the switch from kerosene lamps to electrical light bulbs.
Afghans in the Farkhar valley describe their plight
In pictures
But while the introduction of the light-bulb has certainly made a difference to the lives of the villagers, Darbaw's power supplies remain minimal at best, unable to provide enough electricity to sustain even one fridge.
There is here an unyielding determination to survive but there is a chronic battle with disease and hunger.
Darbaw is one of thousands of villages still waiting for the government and the international community to deliver on its promises of a better life.
The Afghan government points to its achievements - the northern highways have been asphalted, newly built bridges connect villages across valleys and hospitals and schools have been constructed.
"When the Taleban were removed, everything was destroyed. Today we have thousands of kilometres of asphalted road," says one senior Afghan official in Kabul.
"The Afghan police and army replaced the Taleban and warlords. Did Afghanistan get enough troops and money from America and the West?
Karzai made a lot of promises to us. We trusted him and his foreign friends about reconstruction and peace. Look what has happened since then
Sayed Abdul Rahman
"No, we didn't and now everyone blames it on the Afghan government."
For the most part, people's lives have not changed in post-Taleban Afghanistan, including in the north.
"Unemployment is very high, corruption is in the government and we live in poverty. I don't like this kind of democracy," says 72-year-old village elder Sayed Abdul Rahman.
Like in other parts of Afghanistan, most northerners are living below the poverty line, despite billions of dollars of foreign aid.
In northern Afghanistan, the danger is not posed by the Taleban but by a slew of warlords who maintain illegal militias.
Residents in Takhar province have reported a number of recent skirmishes between warlords that have resulted in the killing and displacement of residents.
"These commanders are still powerful. They don't like peace and stability - they want to take this country back to the war days," says 54-year-old Mohammad Ebrahim from the remote district of Rustaq.
"Some are in parliament, others have money and guns."
Taleban demise
When questioned on the lack of progress, provincial government officials point to the fact that a court in Takhar recently convicted a number of criminals for involvement in killings, abductions and armed robberies.
One Afghan security official in the provincial capital, Taloqan, said: "These warlords are powerful in districts and villages where we are not present in greater numbers.
"But we can arrest and jail anyone in Takhar province. The Afghan government is much more powerful than we were few years ago.''
Such assertions do not mean much to the villagers of Darbaw, who still crave the basic necessities of life and more often than not appear disaffected by government inaction.
"Karzai made a lot of promises to us. We trusted him and his foreign friends about reconstruction and peace. Look what has happened since then," says Mr Rahman.
"We voted for Hamid Karzai because he promised to put an end to the suffering of our people. But where is my road, my clinic and my clean drinking water?"
A local teacher from Khawaja Bahawodeen district listed the problems of the north.
"We may not have suicide attacks, but there is corruption, little reconstruction and we still have warlords who do terrible things."
But some in Darbaw do welcome the change that has been achieved and remember fondly the demise of the Taleban.
''Men and women, young and old went to vote. After so many years of war, we finally saw a chance for peace. We didn't get everything, but look we have electricity and a road from Taloqan to our district," says Haji Abdul, 65.
Mohammad Akram, 31, adds: "When the electricity arrived at our village from the Afghan government's National Solidarity Programme (NSP), villagers in Darbaw celebrated for days.
"I couldn't believe it that our village will someday get electricity. But we were promised a lot of other things also.''
The NSP is widely considered to be the most successful government programme in recent years but Afghanistan will need many more like it to achieve peace and stability.
Top of the Document
Fortress Technologies supports wireless reach-back project
Company supports range modernization and transformation efforts
LANSDOWNE, VA - Fortress Technologies, a leading provider of secure wireless solutions, today announced that it is supporting a Wireless Reach-Back (WRB) project for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Program Manager for Training Systems (PMTRASYS), Orlando, Fla. WRB will provide wideband wireless capabilities in support of fixed and mobile users on USMC tactical training ranges, enabling them to pass critical information in a dynamic environment.
"The aim of the WRB project is to improve ground and air tracking capability on training ranges," said Don Gunnell, Lead Project Engineer for the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division. "This program provides voice, video and data communications to military personnel on the range -- whether on foot or in vehicles -- ensuring important information is being relayed during training exercises. WRB will make these exercises safer and more effective."
As part of the project, Fortress teamed with Luxul Wireless, a leading innovator of patented high-performance wireless signal technologies, to enable the wireless signals to transmit over the 4.4 GHz band, which is specifically authorized for federal government users and limits interference that could negatively affect network performance. Fortress' Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) validated ES520 Secure Wireless Bridges were combined with Luxul Shock-WAV(TM) Frequency Translating Amplifiers (FTAs) to provide the secure wireless capability over the alternative spectrum. The Fortress solution was selected because it was able to meet both the distance and AES security requirements for the project.
"ES520s will be placed in National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) enclosures on towers on five mountain tops and other fixed user locations across the first training range," said Dana Kuntz, Vice President, Federal Sales, Fortress. "Combined with the Luxul FTAs, the solution provides high bandwidth voice, video and data functionality across long distances. In addition, the Fortress/Luxul combination received operational J/F-12 spectrum certification from the Department of Defense (DoD) for this solution, which enables the use of the 4.4 GHz band. This allows us to potentially replicate WRB at other DoD ranges within the United States and Possessions (US&P)."
The ES520 is an "all-in-one" network access device that combines the features of a wireless access point, bridge, Ethernet switch and FIPS 140-2 validated AES encryption in a small, rugged, weatherized form factor. The Luxul Shock-WAV(TM) FTA converts commercial-off-the-shelf 5 GHz wireless LAN technologies to the 4.4 GHz government protected band by using its bi-directional frequency translator and amplifier.
Top of the Document
Wednesday’s Early Bird leads with the New York Times reporting that President Obama is nearing a decision that would order American combat forces out of Iraq by August 2010 as he seeks to finally end a war that has consumed and polarized the United States for nearly six years, senior administration officials said Tuesday.The timetable would give the military three months more to withdraw than the 16-month pullout Mr. Obama promised last year on the campaign trail. Officials said he was prepared to make that shift because he agreed with the concerns of ground commanders who wanted more time to cement security gains, strengthen political institutions and make sure Iraq did not become more unstable again.
The Washington Post reports that President Barack Obama may have no choice but to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to buy a new fleet of White House helicopters, defense analysts say.The existing 19 helicopters built by United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft are more than 30 years old, and several have broken down on presidential trips. But most worrisome is that the current fleet does not meet the communication and protection needs of the White House, according to military analysts.
National Journal's CongressDailyPM publication reports that Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, who just completed a yearlong assignment as the top commander in western Iraq, said today he believes the Iraqi people "have made a commitment to government over violence" and that President Obama's proposal to withdraw most combat forces in 16 months "is very doable" in most of the country. Kelly, who was commander of Multi-National Forces West and deputy commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, said the war in Iraq would go on, but as "a war to establish a lasting democracy."Kelly, who has done three tours in Iraq since 2003, conceded Iraq may never have an American-style democracy. But the general, speaking at a defense writers' breakfast, said he believes that even the Sunni leaders in Anbar province, once considered the heart of the anti-American insurgency, were committed to settling differences politically rather than resorting to violence. He said that the Iraqi army and police had assumed virtually total responsibility for security in the previously volatile region, describing the level of violence there as "meaningless."
The New York Times reports that American missile strikes have reduced Al Qaeda’s global reach but heightened the threat to Pakistan as the group disperses its cells and fights to maintain its sanctuaries, Pakistani intelligence officials said.The officials acknowledge that the strikes and raids by the Pakistani military are proving effective, having killed as many as 80 Qaeda fighters in the past year. But they express growing alarm that the drone strikes in particular are having an increasingly destabilizing effect on their country.
Rep. Michael McCaul called the moment chilling and eerie, according to the Houston Chronicle. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said she froze in place. And Rep. Pete Olson stared through the one-way glass, thinking, “My God, that’s the man who planned the attacks.”There he was in a stark cell at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, kneeling on a prayer rug, head bowed, wearing the white cap of faithful Muslim men worldwide.Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 44, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 al-Qaida attacks on the United States, appeared thinner than in the photos taken the 2003 night of his capture in Pakistan.
The Pentagon’s weapons tester says he doesn’t have “high confidence” that the Boeing Co.-managed U.S. missile defense would be effective against even a rudimentary North Korean missile, according to an article at Bloomberg.com.Testing against the possible trajectories and altitudes of a North Korean missile has been limited and hasn’t generated enough data to run the thousands of computer simulations needed to predict performance, Charles McQueary wrote in his annual report to Congress.
North Korea on Tuesday dressed up its planned test of a long-range ballistic missile -- which may be able to reach Alaska -- as a benign research project, according to the Washington Post."Outer space is an asset common to mankind, and its use for peaceful purposes has become a global trend," said a spokesman for the North Korean Committee of Space Technology.North Korea's announcement comes amid warnings from the United States not to test the missile. A U.N. resolution, passed after North Korea exploded a nuclear device in 2006, bans the country from any ballistic missile activity.
The London Times reports that Iran moves a step closer to joining the nuclear club today by beginning a test run of its Russian-built atomic power plant. Officials in Tehran said that the Bushehr plant would undergo operational tests during a visit by Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia’s state atomic energy corporation.Mr Kiriyenko is travelling to Iran to discuss completion of the $1 billion (£695 million) project, which is running almost three years behind schedule after repeated delays caused by disputes over payment. Iran’s atomic energy organisation said that the power station was now expected to start work in the first half of this year. Russia said that today’s test would not involve nuclear fuel.
Media summary
1. Leading newspaper headlines: President Obama told the American people last night that the country is in trouble, but he vowed that the United States would recover and emerge stronger than before. (Slate Magazine)
2. Change slow for isolated Afghans: A dirt road lined with crumbling stone walls weaves its way through Afghanistan's snowy Hindu Kush peaks. (BBC)
3. Fortress Technologies supports wireless reach-back project: Fortress Technologies, a leading provider of secure wireless solutions, today announced that it is supporting a Wireless Reach-Back (WRB) project for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Program Manager for Training Systems (PMTRASYS), Orlando, Fla. (MSNBC)
Leading newspaper headlines
President Obama told the American people last night that the country is in trouble, but he vowed that the United States would recover and emerge stronger than before. In his first address to a joint session of Congress (don't call it a State of the Union), Obama gave a "sobering speech" but also "sought to spark optimism and confidence in his plan for recovery," notes USA Today. The Wall Street Journal declares that Obama "straddled the divide between fear and hope" throughout his speech, and the New York Times describes it as a mixture of acknowledging the seriousness of the economic problems "with a Reaganesque exhortation to American resilience." The Washington Post points out that Obama's optimistic tone had "been absent from his speeches in recent weeks," a fact that many, including former President Bill Clinton, had criticized. In what the Los Angeles Times calls "a significant departure from the George W. Bush years," Obama barely mentioned foreign policy and focused squarely on the economy and other domestic priorities.
In his 52-minute speech, Obama declared that the "day of reckoning has arrived" and called on Americans to "take responsibility for our future once more." He said it was time to bring an end to the era where people inside and outside Washington avoided making tough decisions in order to maximize short-term gains. He never implicated his predecessor by name, but the message was clear enough when he declared that his budget would reflect "the stark reality of what we've inherited." Obama pointedly noted that everyone in Washington, "and that includes me," will have to sacrifice some "worthy priorities" in order to deal with the burgeoning deficit. But he insisted that getting out of the current mess won't be possible unless the country starts to deal with some long-term issues, such as health care and energy policy.
Obama acknowledged the anger that many people feel over the costly bailouts of banks and automakers but warned that the "cost of inaction will be far greater." He also warned that more money would probably be needed but said that the U.S. economy won't recover until the country's financial system has stabilized. "It's not about helping banks," he said, "it's about helping people." Obama once again repeated that he plans to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term but made it clear that won't stop him from pursuing an ambitious agenda that was at the centerpiece of his campaign, and yesterday he spent lots of time talking about energy, education, and health care. But he mostly stuck to broad strokes and didn't reveal any significant details about his policy initiatives or how he plans to cut the deficit beyond repeating the tired mantra about how his administration is going "line by line" through the federal budget to find wasteful and ineffective programs.
Inside, the WSJ's Gerald Seib notes that Obama's address was directed more at regular Americans than at the lawmakers who were sitting in front of him. Ultimately, the president "faced a choice between making his big speech a Bill Clinton-like policy manifesto or a Franklin Roosevelt-like fireside chat," writes Seib. "He chose the latter." The LAT declares that Obama "tried to strike a balance that escaped" former Presidents Herbert Hoover, who was criticized for being too optimistic, and Jimmy Carter, who was panned for being too negative, "while also capturing some of the inspirational oratory typical of Ronald Reagan."
Some have warned that Obama runs the risk of not getting anything done by trying to do too much, but the president made it clear last night that he intends "to use the urgency of the moment and his considerable political capital to ... transform the way politics is done," says the WP in its front-page analysis. USAT notes that an already-difficult challenge "is all the greater because he's presiding over an incomplete government." Plus, it seems unlikely he'll get much support from the other side of the aisle. The NYT points out that "the vision he articulated was in some ways anything but unifying." Obama proposed "a more activist government than any other since Lyndon B. Johnson," and some of his most important ideas "represent a philosophical agenda that strikes at the heart of the other party's core beliefs."
Obama wasn't alone in dishing out hope yesterday. Earlier in the day, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a Senate panel that the economy could end its contraction by the end of the year, and 2010 could be a "year of recovery." Of course, his "carefully hedged comments," as the WP puts it, made it clear that it all depends on whether the government succeeds in stabilizing the financial system. But that sliver of optimism was enough for investors. Markets soared even as new figures indicated that consumer confidence reached its lowest level in more than 41 years. Bernanke also helped the markets by playing down the prospect that the government is about to nationalize major banks, saying he doesn't see a particular need for that extreme course of action just yet. "We can work with them now to get them to do whatever is necessary to restructure," he said. "We don't have to take them over to do that."
The WSJ points out that the low consumer confidence is just one sign of how "the recession and financial crisis are feeding on each other in ways that worsen both." In what is being called an "adverse feedback loop," the recession is causing more companies and individuals to default on their loans, which is hurting banks in ways that are unrelated to the mortgage-related programs that began this national nightmare.
In a front-page piece, the WSJ takes a look at the anything-but-sunny relations between Citigroup and the government. At a time when the government is considering taking a larger stake in Citigroup, it seems clear that their relationship "is off to a very rocky start," declares the WSJ. Executives complain that they're trying to help Citigroup come back from the brink while also pleasing federal officials, but they're getting mixed messages. At times it seems the government wants to micromanage Citigroup's operations, but then ignores it for long periods. "In trying to be neither an active nor a passive investor, the U.S. is directing the business without a firm strategy or particular expertise," declares the WSJ. Privately, federal officials describe the banking giant as "unmanageable," while executives complain there's no one person or federal entity that is in charge of overseeing Citigroup that they can go to with questions or concerns. In a particularly poignant image, one "person close to the company compared the government's role to the sword of Damocles, an ever-present evil hanging over their heads," reports the WSJ.
The NYT fronts, and the LAT goes inside with, word that Obama will soon announce a 19-month withdrawal plan of American combat forces from Iraq. The plan would order combat forces out of Iraq by August 2010, which represents a three-month extension of the 16-month withdrawal timetable that Obama outlined during his campaign. The shift is being billed as a compromise between Obama and military leaders who wanted a 23-month time frame for withdrawal. Obama still plans on keeping a "residual force" in Iraq that the LAT says could consist of up to 50,000 soldiers, but the number is far from clear.
Top of the Document
Change slow for isolated Afghans
The village of Darbaw has seen few of the promised changes
By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Takhar province, Afghanistan
A dirt road lined with crumbling stonewalls weaves its way through Afghanistan's snowy Hindu Kush peaks.
On one side of the rutted track runs a shallow river, on the other a natural pistachio forest is sprinkled across the craggy, rising slopes.
But at the end of the road there is a harsh counterpoint to the natural beauty of the Farkhar valley - a decaying, isolated Afghan village.
With little of the infrastructure long promised by the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai, this village, like many others throughout Afghanistan, is on the verge of collapse.
Unseen by aid-workers, the village of Darbaw has been largely left to fend for itself in one of the world's most unforgiving landscapes.
Seven years after the fall of Taleban, this mountainous valley of 300 families still does not have access to clean drinking water and lacks even the crudest of medical clinics.
Villagers in Darbaw complain they hardly see any of the substantial profits made from the pistachio forest, let alone Takhar province's relatively lucrative salt and coal mine.
Chronic battle
In recent years, government aid work has introduced a small electrical power plant in Darbaw, allowing villagers to make the switch from kerosene lamps to electrical light bulbs.
Afghans in the Farkhar valley describe their plight
In pictures
But while the introduction of the light-bulb has certainly made a difference to the lives of the villagers, Darbaw's power supplies remain minimal at best, unable to provide enough electricity to sustain even one fridge.
There is here an unyielding determination to survive but there is a chronic battle with disease and hunger.
Darbaw is one of thousands of villages still waiting for the government and the international community to deliver on its promises of a better life.
The Afghan government points to its achievements - the northern highways have been asphalted, newly built bridges connect villages across valleys and hospitals and schools have been constructed.
"When the Taleban were removed, everything was destroyed. Today we have thousands of kilometres of asphalted road," says one senior Afghan official in Kabul.
"The Afghan police and army replaced the Taleban and warlords. Did Afghanistan get enough troops and money from America and the West?
Karzai made a lot of promises to us. We trusted him and his foreign friends about reconstruction and peace. Look what has happened since then
Sayed Abdul Rahman
"No, we didn't and now everyone blames it on the Afghan government."
For the most part, people's lives have not changed in post-Taleban Afghanistan, including in the north.
"Unemployment is very high, corruption is in the government and we live in poverty. I don't like this kind of democracy," says 72-year-old village elder Sayed Abdul Rahman.
Like in other parts of Afghanistan, most northerners are living below the poverty line, despite billions of dollars of foreign aid.
In northern Afghanistan, the danger is not posed by the Taleban but by a slew of warlords who maintain illegal militias.
Residents in Takhar province have reported a number of recent skirmishes between warlords that have resulted in the killing and displacement of residents.
"These commanders are still powerful. They don't like peace and stability - they want to take this country back to the war days," says 54-year-old Mohammad Ebrahim from the remote district of Rustaq.
"Some are in parliament, others have money and guns."
Taleban demise
When questioned on the lack of progress, provincial government officials point to the fact that a court in Takhar recently convicted a number of criminals for involvement in killings, abductions and armed robberies.
One Afghan security official in the provincial capital, Taloqan, said: "These warlords are powerful in districts and villages where we are not present in greater numbers.
"But we can arrest and jail anyone in Takhar province. The Afghan government is much more powerful than we were few years ago.''
Such assertions do not mean much to the villagers of Darbaw, who still crave the basic necessities of life and more often than not appear disaffected by government inaction.
"Karzai made a lot of promises to us. We trusted him and his foreign friends about reconstruction and peace. Look what has happened since then," says Mr Rahman.
"We voted for Hamid Karzai because he promised to put an end to the suffering of our people. But where is my road, my clinic and my clean drinking water?"
A local teacher from Khawaja Bahawodeen district listed the problems of the north.
"We may not have suicide attacks, but there is corruption, little reconstruction and we still have warlords who do terrible things."
But some in Darbaw do welcome the change that has been achieved and remember fondly the demise of the Taleban.
''Men and women, young and old went to vote. After so many years of war, we finally saw a chance for peace. We didn't get everything, but look we have electricity and a road from Taloqan to our district," says Haji Abdul, 65.
Mohammad Akram, 31, adds: "When the electricity arrived at our village from the Afghan government's National Solidarity Programme (NSP), villagers in Darbaw celebrated for days.
"I couldn't believe it that our village will someday get electricity. But we were promised a lot of other things also.''
The NSP is widely considered to be the most successful government programme in recent years but Afghanistan will need many more like it to achieve peace and stability.
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Fortress Technologies supports wireless reach-back project
Company supports range modernization and transformation efforts
LANSDOWNE, VA - Fortress Technologies, a leading provider of secure wireless solutions, today announced that it is supporting a Wireless Reach-Back (WRB) project for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Program Manager for Training Systems (PMTRASYS), Orlando, Fla. WRB will provide wideband wireless capabilities in support of fixed and mobile users on USMC tactical training ranges, enabling them to pass critical information in a dynamic environment.
"The aim of the WRB project is to improve ground and air tracking capability on training ranges," said Don Gunnell, Lead Project Engineer for the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division. "This program provides voice, video and data communications to military personnel on the range -- whether on foot or in vehicles -- ensuring important information is being relayed during training exercises. WRB will make these exercises safer and more effective."
As part of the project, Fortress teamed with Luxul Wireless, a leading innovator of patented high-performance wireless signal technologies, to enable the wireless signals to transmit over the 4.4 GHz band, which is specifically authorized for federal government users and limits interference that could negatively affect network performance. Fortress' Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) validated ES520 Secure Wireless Bridges were combined with Luxul Shock-WAV(TM) Frequency Translating Amplifiers (FTAs) to provide the secure wireless capability over the alternative spectrum. The Fortress solution was selected because it was able to meet both the distance and AES security requirements for the project.
"ES520s will be placed in National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) enclosures on towers on five mountain tops and other fixed user locations across the first training range," said Dana Kuntz, Vice President, Federal Sales, Fortress. "Combined with the Luxul FTAs, the solution provides high bandwidth voice, video and data functionality across long distances. In addition, the Fortress/Luxul combination received operational J/F-12 spectrum certification from the Department of Defense (DoD) for this solution, which enables the use of the 4.4 GHz band. This allows us to potentially replicate WRB at other DoD ranges within the United States and Possessions (US&P)."
The ES520 is an "all-in-one" network access device that combines the features of a wireless access point, bridge, Ethernet switch and FIPS 140-2 validated AES encryption in a small, rugged, weatherized form factor. The Luxul Shock-WAV(TM) FTA converts commercial-off-the-shelf 5 GHz wireless LAN technologies to the 4.4 GHz government protected band by using its bi-directional frequency translator and amplifier.
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