Nouvelles en Langue Anglaise

Rappel du premier message :

U.S. clamps down on banking transactions; terror group finds new funding

By Robert Windrem and Garrett Haake
NBC News
updated 7:56 a.m. ET Nov. 14, 2008
Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. intelligence officials believe they've won many small victories against al-Qaida's ability to finance its operations, but they remain unable to put a concrete dollar figure on their impact.

That's because they have no reliable estimate of al-Qaida's overall budget, according to current and former U.S. counterterrorism officials, which means the only measures of the organization's economic health are sporadic, anecdotal and fragmentary.

"When you see a cell complaining that it hasn't received its monthly or biannual stipend and it's unable to pay the salaries of the people in the cell, unable to make the support payments to the families of terrorists living or dead, that's a tremendous indicator we have pressured the financial channel," said Adam Szubin, the director of the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and the man in charge of tracking terrorist finance.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27644191

Shansaa a écrit:

Sylvette a écrit:

La source: http://serendipity.vox.com/library/post/democracy-20.html ?

Often wrong, never in doubt

Une autre version plus simplifiee si vous voulez (Il y en a d'autres, chacune avec sa variante, je vous laisse chercher, ca a l'air de vous plaire )
mais elles portent toujours le meme message

Dear World

The United States of America, your quality supplier of ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for its 2001-2008 service outage.
The technical fault that led to this eight-year service interruption has been located.
Replacement components were ordered Tuesday night, November 4th, and have begun arriving.
Early tests of the new equipment indicate that it is functioning correctly and we expect it to be fully operational by January 20th.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage and we look forward to resuming full service and hopefully even to improving it in years to come.

Thank you for your patience and understanding,

The USA

C'est que generalement, par courtoisie et/ou par ethique, on met la source d'un texte que l'on pique sur un site, vous ne le faites pas, j'en conclus que vous en etes l'auteur

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Vous avez remarque, ca n'a pas plus a tout-le-monde. Maintenant, la table est tournee...

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Au fait surprenant le choix de l'ensemble de Michelle Obama!


Michelle Obama's Dress: A Bold Choice in Designer Isabel Toledo
By Kate Betts Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009


President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, who wore an Isabel Toledo ensemble to the Inauguration

C'est que generalement, par courtoisie et/ou par ethique, on met la source d'un texte que l'on pique sur un site, vous ne le faites pas, j'en conclus que vous en etes l'auteur.

Vous me faites trop d'honneur Surtout sur un forum ou on poste principalement en langue Francaise......
Mais ne concluez pas trop vite, epargnez-vous cette peine je vous rassure, je ne l'ai pas ecrit pas plus que les articles en anglais que je pourrais poster ici.
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Vous avez remarque, ca n'a pas plus a tout-le-monde. Maintenant, la table est tournee...

Tout le monde c'est vous ?


Au fait surprenant le choix de l'ensemble de Michelle Obama!

Bof, aucun interet. Ni la robe ni le sujet.

Bonne journee, moi je vais me coucher

Les media americains sont tellement obnubiles a faire de Michelle Obama une seconde Jackie Onassis pardon Kennedy, qu'ils sont prets a dire tout et n'importe quoi. Les deux premieres photos: en quoi l'elegance du fourreau a droite a-t-elle quoi que ce soit de comparable avec le sac fait d'un rideau a pompons de gauche. Idem pour la pluspart des exemples suivants.

Get Michelle's First Lady Style for Less

et la .....

Sylvette: C'est que generalement, par courtoisie et/ou par ethique, on met la source d'un texte que l'on pique sur un site, vous ne le faites pas, j'en conclus que vous en etes l'auteur.

Shansaa: Vous me faites trop d'honneur Surtout sur un forum ou on poste principalement en langue Francaise......
Mais ne concluez pas trop vite, epargnez-vous cette peine je vous rassure, je ne l'ai pas ecrit pas plus que les articles en anglais que je pourrais poster ici.

Aucun honneur, SHansaa au contraire alors puisque vous ne citez pas vos sources.

En quoi le fait que ce forum soit un forum de langue francaise change quoi que ce soit a l'importance de citer l'auteur d'un texte que vous avez poste meme en anglais.

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Sylvette: Vous avez remarque, ca n'a pas plus a tout-le-monde. Maintenant, la table est tournee...

Shansaa: Tout le monde c'est vous ?

Mais non, je n'ai meme pas discute le contenu, je faisais reference au 118 d'Eddie

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Sylvette: Au fait surprenant le choix de l'ensemble de Michelle Obama!

Shansaa: Bof, aucun interet. Ni la robe ni le sujet.

Mais si puisque la presse s'en est saisi et nous explique deja que (telle Pirincess Di - ca c'est moi qui le dit, mais ca ne saurait tarder) Michelle Obama semble vouloir n'utiliser que des jeunes designers americains etc.. etc.. ce qui est tres bien,ca n'empeche toutefois pas de choisir des vetements qui mettent en valeur, et la...

J'ai vu une photo d'elle en buste avec une tres jolie robe du soir de ton rose, qui lui allait tres bien. Ca aurait ete mieux que cette robe de brides' maid.

Les media sont offerts corps et ames au nouveau couple presidentiel et ca se voit, voila c'est tout. De la haine nous allons passer dans l'idolatrerie.

Alors oui ca a son interet

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Bonne journee, moi je vais me coucher

Bonne Nuit!

Warns against bipartisan kumbaya
By CAROL E. LEE

Colin Powell, returning from a bipartisan dinner last night, warned against too much Democrat-Republican kumbaya.

Reduce...Colin Powell, fresh from the bipartisan dinner where Barack Obama honored him Monday, warned against too much Democrat-Republican kumbaya.

“Let’s not take this bipartisanship too far,” Powell said on MSNBC this morning, noting that the Founding Fathers championed spirited debate. “Let’s fight it out.”

Powell, who issued a pivotal endorsement of Obama just weeks before the election, also had a message for the new administration: enjoy the day, but get to work tomorrow.

That’s not to say the man many believed would be the first African American president *is unfazed by the moment.

“It’s emotional,” Powell said. “You almost start tearing up when you talk about it.”

He also predicted the influence of the new first family – grandmother and all -- will be vast.

“The Huxtables have come to town,” Powell said.

* Colin Powell avait decline l'offre du GOP d'etre candidat a la presidentielle expliquant que son epouse y etait parfaitement opposee. Elle n'a sans doute pas pu s'empecher au moins une fois de penser pendant les festivites d'hier, que ca aurait pu etre eux.

Un partie du discours d'Obama (celle ou il est question du communisme!) disparait a la traduction, c'est un peu comme certains tissus qui retrecissent au lavage

Obama's inauguration References to communism and dissent veered into politically sensitive territory for China's ruling Communist Party.



AP

Wednesday, January 21, 2009


BEIJING - The official Chinese translation of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech was missing his references to communism and dissent, while a live broadcast on state television Wednesday quickly cut away to the anchor when the topic was mentioned.

The comments by the newly installed U.S. president veered into politically sensitive territory for China's ruling Communist Party, which maintains a tight grip over the Internet and the entirely state-run media. Beijing tolerates little dissent and frequently decries foreign interference in its internal affairs.

Les media americains sont tellement obnubiles a faire de Michelle Obama une seconde Jackie Onassis pardon Kennedy, qu'ils sont prets a dire tout et n'importe quoi. Les deux premieres photos: en quoi l'elegance du fourreau a droite a-t-elle quoi que ce soit de comparable avec le sac fait d'un rideau a pompons de gauche. Idem pour la pluspart des exemples suivants.

Sur la robe blanche ce n'etait pas des pompons mais des petales. Cela dit et meme si je prefere et de loin le fourreau de droite, Michelle Obama a un gabarit un peu
....particulier et je doute que meme ce fourreau ait fait le meme effet sur elle. Le mannequin de la photo de droite doit faire un 34 a peine ce qui n'est pas le cas
de Mme Obama.

Mais non, je n'ai meme pas discute le contenu, je faisais reference au 118 d'Eddie

Il me semble qu'Eddie faisait reference a : your top quality supplier of ideals of democracy en parlant des
US qui n'etaient pas.........tres modestes

Mais si puisque la presse s'en est saisi et nous explique deja que (telle Pirincess Di - ca c'est moi qui le dit, mais ca ne saurait tarder) Michelle Obama semble vouloir n'utiliser que des jeunes designers americains etc.. etc.. ce qui est tres bien,ca n'empeche toutefois pas de choisir des vetements qui mettent en valeur, et la...

C'est pour moi que le sujet des robes de Michelle Obama n'a pas d'interet.

J'ai vu une photo d'elle en buste avec une tres jolie robe du soir de ton rose, qui lui allait tres bien. Ca aurait ete mieux que cette robe de brides' maid.

Probablement. Elle n'a pas le corps d'une Jackie Kennedy, tout ne lui ira certainement pas, mais bon....

Les media sont offerts corps et ames au nouveau couple presidentiel et ca se voit, voila c'est tout. De la haine nous allons passer dans l'idolatrerie.
Alors oui ca a son interet

Idolatrerie, vous y allez un peu fort. Attendons de voir ce qui va se
passer quant aux decisions politiques interieures ou exterieures. Pour
l'instant tout le monde est soulage et heureux d'etre passe a autre
chose.



Vous ne comprenez pas la "haine" envers Bush, vous en etes une partisante (de Bush... :lunettes:
). Pour les autres, le bilan de Bush parle tout seul. Rares ont ete les
presidents qui ont si peu fait cas des citoyens du pays, de leur
mecontentement, de leur droits. Le mepris, l'arrogance dont a fait
preuve cette administration a atteint des sommets. Idem envers
l'exterieur ou notre reputation est en lambeaux malgre cet aveuglement
typique de Bush a croire ou faire semblant de croire qu'elle n'a pas
bouge.

Je n'ai jamais vu un president sortant partir avec autant de
soulagement de la part de ses propres citoyens et du reste du monde.
J'ai parle de Nananana hey hey good bye hier. Parce que c'etait ce
qu'on entendait dans une partie de la foule alors qu'il partait vers
son helicoptere. Il m'aurait presque fait pitie, l'espace d'une
seconde.



Bonne retraite a Dallas (a Bush pas a vous )!

231-

En effet, on dira bientôt "Le chemin de Dallas" !!!!

Je n'ai jamais vu un president sortant partir avec autant de
soulagement de la part de ses propres citoyens et du reste du monde.

Auriez-vous oublie Carter? Quoi que les Republicains presents a l'inauguration aient eu la politesse de ne pas le "boo"er. Les memoires s'estompent aidees par les media, n'est-ce-pas?. J'allais presque dire que Pres. Bush aurait peut-etre lui aussi droit aura la reconnaissance des Americains dans quelques annees, mais je pense que les media (toujours les memes) n'auront de cesse de continuer a le critiquer afin que ca ne se passe pas.

Quant aux gens dans les rues, evidemment ils etaient Democrates, des lors... Quant aux Republicains, certains n'en pouvaient plus de cette situation haineuse, oui, ils en sont arrives a souhaiter autre chose.

En ce qui me concerne, et je ne suis pas la seule, je regrette le depart de Pres. Bush et n'accepte pas ce bilan negatif qui nous est jete regulierement a la figure. La vie m'a appris a resister et a etre determinee. (C'est sans doute une des choses que j'admire beaucoup chez Pres. Bush, car tout absolument tout etait critique par la gauche que ce soit ses decisions en tant que president comme sa personnalite et ce pendant 8 ans.)

Je ne vais pas refaire ici la liste de ses accomplissements, il l'a deja faite la semaine derniere (quoi qu'il soit important de rappeler que le fait que nous n'ayons pas eu d'attaque terroriste depuis 7ans 1/2 soit deja un succes en soi), mais avec l'aide du Congres (que la gauche demande maintenant - on croit mal-entendre parfois!), il aurait pu tellement plus faire en particulier au niveau des assurances sociales, mais non, c'est un "agenda" Democrate alors la gauche n'allait certainement pas lui faire ce cadeau meme si c'etait aux depends des Americains. Mais bon

Nous avons un nouveau president et puisqu'il nous a promis le CHANGEment, voyons.

Evidemment, son choix de reprise d'anciens clintoniens et la nomination de personnes un peu douteuses aux postes de secretaire est un peu surprenant, mais bon, attendons.

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N.B.: Crawford, village a cote duquel se trouve le ranch de Pres. Bush, est presqu'a mi-chemin entre Dallas et Austin, pres de Waco. Je rappelle egalement que la superficie du Texas egale celle de la France plus celle de la Belgique

(mais bon vu de loin c'est tout la meme chose, hein, d'autant que Dallas est connu JFK, JR...? )

Citation :

N.B.: Crawford, village a cote duquel se trouve le ranch de Pres. Bush, est presqu'a mi-chemin entre Dallas et Austin, pres de Waco. Je rappelle egalement que la superficie du Texas egale celle de la France plus celle de la Belgique

(mais bon vu de loin c'est tout la meme chose, hein, d'autant que Dallas est connu JFK, JR...? )

Tsk, tsk, tsk Sylvette, j'ai bien mis Dallas, en toute connaissance de cause. George et Laura Bush (enfin plutot elle car elle prefere Dallas) ont achete une maison a Preston Hollow, quartier du Nord de Dallas, environ 8 miles du centre ville. Il me semble meme qu'ils ont parle d'une maison a Dallas avec Larry King.
La maison est prete et Crawford serait utilisee comme maison de week end.

Ce ne sera pas tres loin de SMU a University Park ou sa library sera erigee et pas loin de Highland Park (au nord de la ville a 4km du centre) que je connais bien.

En attendant, il me semble qu'ils sont rentres a Crawford.

Shansaa a écrit:

Sur la robe blanche ce n'etait pas des pompons mais des petales. Cela dit et meme si je prefere et de loin le fourreau de droite, Michelle Obama a un gabarit un peu
....particulier et je doute que meme ce fourreau ait fait le meme effet sur elle. Le mannequin de la photo de droite doit faire un 34 a peine ce qui n'est pas le cas
de Mme Obama.

Ah, la robe vous interesse donc un peu? Franchement je n'ai pas lu les infos a son sujet, je n'ai donne que ma reaction personnelle a la photo que j'ai vue et on dirait bien des pompons! mais bon

Je serais plutot de votre avis, mais loin de moi le desir de faire des commentaires sur le physique de Michelle Obama, ce que j'essayais de faisais remarquer c'etait que les media souhaitent faire d'elle une sorte de modele a suivre au moins au point de vue vestimentaire (entre nous, elle n'arrive pas a la cheville de JKO et de toutes facons pourquoi les comparer? Or 1) son choix de vetements est personnel, oui, mais pas forcement d'un gout extraordinaire et pas forcement tres seillant 2) certaines des robes qu'ils nous proposent pour "Copier" la nouvelle dame de la Haute Couture n'a rien a voir avec la robe portee par Michelle Obama.

Alors je me dis qu'une fois encore cette folie obama fait ses preuves. Ca ne marche peut-etre pas mais on ne peut pas dire que les media n'essaient pas.

apparemment, ce n'est pas elle qui restreint son budget de garde-robe

Que dites-vous la?

Quand les Reagan etaient a la Maison Blanche. Nancy etait regulierement attaquee pour ses tenues et pour les depenses qu'elle faisait dans la maison americaine.

Ici, on va vous expliquer que ce n'est pas l'argent des contribuables, que de c'est de l'argent prive mais pas trop prive parce que le nouveau president a dit qu'on n'avait plus droit aux cadeaux.

En d'autres termes, ne vous inquietez de rien, les Democrates sont a Washington, ils s'occupent de tout et eux sont "clean"!

refaire quelques papiers peints dans 4 pièces, on nous a parlé de 100 000 dollars

ils auraient dû m'appeler, je ne prends pas autant pour faire du papier peint

Ben c'est le decorateur des stars qui va s'occuper des appartements prives, alors...

s'il veut continuer avec ses bonnes idées, il doit donner du boulot à une entreprise qui est en difficultés non ??

bon il est comme les autres finalement.

La, vous etes injuste!

C'est comme si vous disiez que vous ne comprenez pas qu'il envoie ses enfants dans une ecole privee (la meme que celle ou allait Chelsea Clinton), seulement parce que Clinton, a l'epoque, et Obama, maintenant, sont POUR les ecoles publiques.

Vous voyez, ca ne serait pas juste non plus.

mélanger les torchons avec les serviette, là vous poussez un peu

Bon, peut-etre que ca aussi un peu, mais bon...

Let's not celebrate more ordinary speeches.

By JUAN WILLIAMS

With the noon sun high over the U.S. Capitol, Barack Obama yesterday took the oath of office to become president of the United States. On one level, it was a simple matter of political process -- the symbolic transfer of power. Yet words alone cannot convey its meaning.

The calloused hands of slaves, the voices of abolitionists, the hearts of generations who trusted in the naïve promise that any child can become president, will find some reward in a moment that was hard to imagine last year, much less 50 years ago. Our history, so marred by the sin of slavery, has come to the day when a man that an old segregationist would have described as "tea-colored" -- the child of a white woman and an African immigrant, who identifies as a member of the long oppressed and despised black minority -- was chosen by a mostly white nation as the personification of America's best sense of self as a nation of power and virtue.

At the end of the 1965 march calling for passage of the Voting Rights Act, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said politics held the potential to reflect the brilliance of the American creed of justice for all, and a "society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience." Years of hard work lay ahead to shift racist attitudes born of political power being limited to white Americans, he said, then added that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. How long? Not long. Because mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!"
It is neither overweening emotion nor partisanship to see King's moral universe bending toward justice in the act of the first non-white man taking the oath of the presidency. But now that this moment has arrived, there is a question: How shall we judge our new leader?

If his presidency is to represent the full power of the idea that black Americans are just like everyone else -- fully human and fully capable of intellect, courage and patriotism -- then Barack Obama has to be subject to the same rough and tumble of political criticism experienced by his predecessors. To treat the first black president as if he is a fragile flower is certain to hobble him. It is also to waste a tremendous opportunity for improving race relations by doing away with stereotypes and seeing the potential in all Americans.

Yet there is fear, especially among black people, that criticism of him or any of his failures might be twisted into evidence that people of color cannot effectively lead. That amounts to wasting time and energy reacting to hateful stereotypes. It also leads to treating all criticism of Mr. Obama, whether legitimate, wrong-headed or even mean-spirited, as racist.

This is patronizing. Worse, it carries an implicit presumption of inferiority. Every American president must be held to the highest standard. No president of any color should be given a free pass for screw-ups, lies or failure to keep a promise.

During the Democrats' primaries and caucuses, candidate Obama often got affectionate if not fawning treatment from the American media. Editors, news anchors, columnists and commentators, both white and black but especially those on the political left, too often acted as if they were in a hurry to claim their role in history as supporters of the first black president.

For example, Mr. Obama was forced to give a speech on race as a result of revelations that he'd long attended a church led by a demagogue. It was an ordinary speech. At best it was successful at minimizing a political problem. Yet some in the media equated it to the Gettysburg Address.

The importance of a proud, adversarial press speaking truth about a powerful politician and offering impartial accounts of his actions was frequently and embarrassingly lost. When Mr. Obama's opponents, such as the Clintons, challenged his lack of experience, or pointed out that he was not in the U.S. Senate when he expressed early opposition to the war in Iraq, they were depicted as petty.

Bill Clinton got hit hard when he called Mr. Obama's claims to be a long-standing opponent of the Iraq war "the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." The former president accurately said that there was no difference in actual Senate votes on the war between his wife and Mr. Obama. But his comments were not treated by the press as legitimate, hard-ball political fighting. They were cast as possibly racist.

This led to Saturday Night Live's mocking skit -- where the debate moderator was busy hammering the other Democratic nominees with tough questions while inquiring if Mr. Obama was comfortable and needed more water.
When fellow Democrats contending for the nomination rightly pointed to Mr. Obama's thin proposals for dealing with terrorism and extricating the U.S. from Iraq, they were drowned out by loud if often vacuous shouts for change. Yet in the general election campaign and during the transition period, Mr. Obama steadily moved to his former opponents' positions. In fact, he approached Bush-Cheney stands on immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperate in warrantless surveillance.

There is a dangerous trap being set here. The same media people invested in boosting a black man to the White House as a matter of history have set very high expectations for him. When he disappoints, as presidents and other human beings inevitably do, the backlash may be extreme.

Several seasons ago, when Philadelphia Eagle's black quarterback Donovan McNabb was struggling, radio commentator Rush Limbaugh said the media wanted a black quarterback to do well and gave Mr. McNabb "a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve." Mr. Limbaugh's sin was saying out loud what others had said privately.

There is a lot more at stake now, and to allow criticism of Mr. Obama only behind closed doors does no honor to the dreams and prayers of generations past: that race be put aside, and all people be judged honestly, openly, and on the basis of their performance.

President Obama deserves no less.



Mr. Williams, a political analyst for National Public Radio and Fox News, is the author of several books, including "Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965" (Penguin, 1988), and "Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America -- and What We Can Do About It" (Crown, 2006).

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Il en va de meme du traitement par les media du chic vestimentaire de Michelle Obama mardi dernier (Mon 225) plus haut.)

Politico

INAUGURAL APOLOGY: The fallout continues from the “Purple Tunnel of Doom,” as Inaugural chairwoman Dianne Feinstein apologizes and promises an investigation into why so many people were stuck or turned away. Politico’s Sarah Abruzzese quoting Feinstein: “The specific incidents include the report that a decision was made to cut off access to purple and blue standing areas, which meant that a large number of ticketholders could not reach their designated areas,” Feinstein said in a statement. “I am also aware of the incident involving the 3rd Street Tunnel, where thousands of people were stuck for several hours and apparently without any law enforcement presence.”

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Toujours Politico

Inaug is over, the disorganization won't stop

Everyone is still reeling from their Purple Ticket experience

The blue section apparently had near-riot conditions after a generator went out for the TSA screening. Apparently some national guardsmen tossed folks around for a while in this area, too. Many did not make it into the section in time, even though they were present at the gate hours prior to the ceremony.

...

We had similar disorganization in Springfield, IL when Barack announced Biden as his VP. There was 1 water tent for the tens-of-thousands of people and they were charging $2 for a cup of water. With the number of people (see images above as it was very similar), some couldn't get to the water tent, causing many to faint, pass out, and otherwise become ill from the heat.

...

J'ai trouve ca tres drole:

Posted By: | January 22, 2009 at 02:12 PM Doesn't sound like Obamanation TO ME. It's sound MORE like the leadership that we endured the last 8 years. Oh, and the disorganization part defiantly goes to the McCain/Palin's campaign. What a complete joke

Dans ce cas, il est OU le CHANGEment?

6 signs Gitmo policies may not change

By JOSH GERSTEIN | 1/23/09 4:28 AM EST

There may be less than meets the eye to the executive orders President Obama issued yesterday to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and prohibit the torture of prisoners in American custody. Those pronouncements may sound dramatic and unequivocal, but experts predict that American policy towards detainees could remain for months or even years pretty close to what it was as President Bush left office.

“I think the administration’s commitment to close Guantanamo is heartening; the fact they want to give themselves a year to do it, not so much,”, said Ramzi Kassem, a Yale Law School lecturer who represents prisoners like inmate Ahmed Zuhair, who was captured in Pakistan in 2001. “That would bring men like my client to eight years imprisonment for no apparent reason.”

Here are a few of the delays, caveats and loopholes that could limit the impact of Obama’s orders:

1. Everyone has to follow the Army Field Manual—for now…
Obama’s executive order on interrogations says all agencies of the government have to follow the Army Field Manual when interrogating detainees, meaning the CIA can no longer used so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, which have included waterboarding, the use of dogs in questioning, and stripping prisoners.

However, the order also created an interagency commission which will have six months to examine whether to create “additional or different guidance” for non-military agencies such as the CIA. One group that represents detainees, the Center for Constitutional Rights, deemed that an “escape hatch” to potentially allow enhanced interrogations in the future.

White House counsel Greg Craig told reporters such fears are misplaced. “This is not an invitation to bring back different techniques than those that are approved inside the Army Field Manual, but an invitation to this task force to make recommendations as to whether or not there should be a separate protocol that's more appropriate to the intelligence community,” he said.

The distinction Craig made between “protocols” and “techniques,” though, seems less than clear.

“For now, they’re punting, saying they’ll comply with what’s in the Army manual…but at some point in the future this commission may revert to the executive” to recommend harsher techniques, said Kassem, adding that he was concerned about how transparent the commission’s recommendations would be.

“I’m happy to postpone that discussion [on “enhanced interrogation”]… on the condition that [it] happens transparently,” he said.

A Columbia law professor who worked on detention issues at the State Department under President Bush, Matthew Waxman, said Obama is wise to leave open the possibility of different guidance for the CIA’s experienced interrogators. “I’ve worked on drafts of the Army Field Manual,” Waxman said. “It’s designed to be in the hands of tens of thousands of people who may not have a lot of training or supervision.”

...

Libere de Guantanamo, un saoudien devient un des leaders d'al qaida!

Freed by U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief
By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: January 22, 2009

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.
His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official.

“They’re one and the same guy,” said the official, who insisted on anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence analysis. “He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, but his movements to Yemen remain unclear.”
The development came as Republican legislators criticized the plan to close the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp in the absence of any measures for dealing with current detainees. But it also helps explain why the new administration wants to move cautiously, taking time to work out a plan to cope with the complications.
Almost half the camp’s remaining detainees are Yemenis, and efforts to repatriate them depend in part on the creation of a Yemeni rehabilitation program — partly financed by the United States — similar to the Saudi one. Saudi Arabia has claimed that no graduate of its program has returned to terrorism.

...

Ah bon, et Abu Sayyaf al-Shihri?

...

A Saudi security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Shihri had disappeared from his home in Saudi Arabia last year after finishing the rehabilitation program.

A Yemeni journalist who interviewed Al Qaeda’s leaders in Yemen last year, Abdulela Shaya, confirmed Thursday that the deputy leader was indeed Mr. Shihri, the former Guantánamo detainee. Mr. Shaya, in a phone interview, said Mr. Shihri had described to him his journey from Cuba to Yemen and supplied his Guantánamo detention number, 372. That is the correct number, Pentagon documents show.

... et il n'est la que depuis 3 jours, et la presse l'adore... imaginez Pres. Bush apres 8 ans de haine mediatique et lui, toujours aussi... cool..

President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with a substantive question

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

"Ahh, see," he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here."

Pressed further by the Politico reporter about his Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III, Obama turned more serious, putting his hand on the reporter's shoulder and staring him in the eye.

"Alright, come on" he said, with obvious irritation in his voice. "We will be having a press conference at which time you can feel free to [ask] questions. Right now, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you guys - that's all I was trying to do."

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et pourtant: "c'est qu'ils l'aiment"...

The president was quickly saved by a cameraman in the room who called out: “I’d like to say it one more time: ‘Mr. President.’ ”