Obama to target US government spending

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama, after a weekend at the Americas summit in Trinidad, warned of "significant" risk to the US economy ahead of his first full cabinet meeting Monday to hash out plans to cut spending.At the White House meeting, three months to the day after his inauguration, Obama plans to ask for specific proposals from his cabinet members to cut government spending and "restore a sense of responsibility and accountability" to the US federal budget.Faced with mushrooming budget deficits, Obama Sunday called for "aggressive action" to counter the persistent credit jam that still clogs the financial system."While there have been some encouraging signs that our economy may be stabilizing, the risks remain real and significant," Obama said in an interview published in Fortune magazine Sunday."History has shown repeatedly that when nations do not take early and aggressive action to get credit flowing again, they have crises that last for many years instead of many months," he said.The cabinet meeting comes on the heels of a whirlwind weekend of diplomacy on the Caribbean island of Trinidad at the Summit of the Americas where, by the end, Obama tempered speculation that a historic thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba was around the corner.Back in Washington, however, domestic priorities are set to shape the agenda in coming weeks, as the Obama administration keeps up its efforts to reshape the economic outlook.The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecast last month the budget deficit could hit 1.845 trillion dollars for the whole year, based on Obama's 3.5-trillion-dollar budget plan approved by Congress.The CBO said its budget deficit estimate for fiscal 2009, which ends on September 30, would be four times the 2008 record shortfall and amount to 13.1 percent of the country's total economic output.The Obama budget forecasts a 1.750 trillion dollar deficit in fiscal 2009.The United States, Obama told Fortune, needs a revision of its economic priorities to "reward drive and innovation instead of shortcuts and abuse."The latest government figures showed the economy contracted by 6.3 percent in the last quarter of 2008, following a home-mortgage meltdown that triggered financial turmoil and slammed the brakes on economic growth.A modest return to growth is not expected by economists until the third quarter of 2009.In his weekly address on Saturday, Obama said the process of finding ways to cut government spending had already begun, with his administration scouring the budget line by line for programs that do not work and can be replaced with more efficient ones.Obama praised Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for ending contracts to create new seals and logos for her department that would have cost the Treasury three million dollars, as well as Defense Secretary Robert Gates for finding ways to eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in spending.Obama's top economic aide meanwhile said Sunday the administration was backing Democratic lawmakers who plan to crack down on credit card companies accused of imposing abusive interest rates on unsuspecting consumers.In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, Larry Summers said Obama was concerned "with the way people have been deceived into paying extraordinarily high rates that they wouldn't have paid if they knew what they were getting themselves into."The US leader, Summers added, was "pushing very hard for a strong program of regulation" aimed at preventing a repeat of the current financial crisis.Fortune reported in its latest edition that 2008 was the worst year ever for the 500 largest corporations tracked by the business magazine, with a massive 84.7 percent earnings drop -- the largest ever one-year decline

Obama:"We are on an unsustainable course"

US President Barack Obama, faced with mushrooming budget deficits, announced he will convene his first full cabinet meeting Monday and ask his secretaries for specific plans to cut spending.He also added to his administration two new officials, Jeffrey Zients and Aneesh Chopra, whose task will be to streamline processes, cut costs and make the government more efficient."And this Monday, at my first, full cabinet meeting, I will ask all of my department and agency heads for specific proposals for cutting their budgets," Obama said in his weekly radio address Saturday.The announcements came after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecast last month the budget deficit could hit 1.845 trillion dollars for the whole year based on Obama's 3.5-trillion-dollar budget plan approved by Congress early this month.The CBO said its budget deficit estimate for fiscal 2009, which ends on September 30, would be four times the 2008 record shortfall and amount to 13.1 percent of the country's total economic output.The Obama budget forecasts a 1.750 trillion dollar deficit in fiscal 2009, but foresees that figure falling to 1.171 trillion dollars in 2010.The plan sees the deficit soaring to the largest percentage of gross domestic product since World War II, but the president touted a string of cost savings designed to lay new foundations for the US economy.In his address, Obama said that the future of America will depend not only on building a more efficient economy, controlling health care costs and improving the education system, but also on "restoring a sense of responsibility and accountability" to the US federal budget."Without significant change to steer away from ever-expanding deficits and debt, we are on an unsustainable course," he stressed.Obama said that in the coming weeks, he will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective -- and vowed to be tough."In this effort, there will be no sacred cows, and no pet projects," he promised. "All across America, families are making hard choices, and it's time their government did the same."The president said the process of finding ways to cut government spending had already begun, with his aides scouring the budget line by line for programs that do not work and can be replaced with more efficient ones.He noted that they are focusing on ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, ending fraud and abuse in the Medicare program that serves the elderly, and reforming the health care system to cut costs for families and businesses.According to Obama, his administration is also looking for ways to strengthen protections for government employees who step forward to report wasteful spending and wants to reinstate the pay-as-you-go rule that mandates that any new spending program must be offset by cuts elsewhere.Obama praised Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for ending contracts to create new seals and logos for her department that would have cost the treasury three million dollars as well as Defense Secretary Robert Gates for finding ways to eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in spending.Earlier this month, Gates proposed halting production of F-22 fighter jets, canceling a new presidential helicopter and delaying ship building plans.He also called for cutting 1.4 billion dollars from missile defense weaponry in the 2010 budget, canceling plans for more C-17 transport aircraft and scrapping a US Army vehicle that forms part of a hi-tech network known as Future Combat Systems.Obama also announced that Zients, a management consultant and entrepreneur, will join his administration as chief performance officer and deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget.Meanwhile, Chopra, Virginia's secretary of technology, will serve as the chief technology officer."With the leadership of these individuals, I am confident that we can break our bad habits, put an end to the mismanagement that has plagued our government, and start living within our means again," Obama pointed out. "That is how we will get our deficits under control and move from recovery to prosperity."This video was published to YouTube by WhiteHouse.gov on April 18, 2009

Obama to release OLC torture memos;promises no prosecutions for CIA officials

In a just-released statement, Barack Obama announced that -- in response to an ACLU FOIA lawsuit -- he has ordered four key Bush-era torture memos released, and the Associated Press, citing anonymous Obama sources, is reporting that "there is very little redaction, or blacking out, of detail in the memos." Marc Ambinder reports that only the names of the CIA agents involved will be redacted; everything else will be disclosed. Simultaneously, and certainly with the intent to placate angry intelligence officials, Attorney General Eric Holder has "informed CIA officials [though not necessarily Bush officials] who used waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects that they will not be prosecuted," and Obama announced the same thing in his statement.
I will add more detailed commentary, along with an interview with the ACLU's lead counsel, Jameel Jaffer, as soon as the documents themselves are available. If the report about the OLC memos are accurate, Obama will have done exactly the right thing here and will deserve real credit. My analysis earlier today of the issues surrounding disclosure is here. Here is part of what Obama said in his statement:
The Department of Justice will today release certain memos issued by the Office of Legal Counsel between 2002 and 2005 as part of an ongoing court case. These memos speak to techniques that were used in the interrogation of terrorism suspects during that period, and their release is required by the rule of law. . . .
While I believe strongly in transparency and accountability, I also believe that in a dangerous world, the United States must sometimes carry out intelligence operations and protect information that is classified for purposes of national security. I have already fought for that principle in court and will do so again in the future. However, after consulting with the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, and others, I believe that exceptional circumstances surround these memos and require their release.
First, the interrogation techniques described in these memos have already been widely reported. Second, the previous Administration publicly acknowledged portions of the program – and some of the practices – associated with these memos. Third, I have already ended the techniques described in the memos through an Executive Order. Therefore, withholding these memos would only serve to deny facts that have been in the public domain for some time. This could contribute to an inaccurate accounting of the past, and fuel erroneous and inflammatory assumptions about actions taken by the United States.
In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution. The men and women of our intelligence community serve courageously on the front lines of a dangerous world. Their accomplishments are unsung and their names unknown, but because of their sacrifices, every single American is safer. We must protect their identities as vigilantly as they protect our security, and we must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs.
This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past. Our national greatness is embedded in America’s ability to right its course in concert with our core values, and to move forward with confidence. That is why we must resist the forces that divide us, and instead come together on behalf of our common future.
The United States is a nation of laws. My Administration will always act in accordance with those laws, and with an unshakeable commitment to our ideals. That is why we have released these memos, and that is why we have taken steps to ensure that the actions described within them never take place again.
Just to get a sense for the pressure being exerted on Obama, here is Gen. Michael Hayden -- the NSA Director when the illegal spying program was implemented and then CIA Director -- arguing vehemently against release of the memos today on MSNBC. He clearly does not believe in open government and these are the objections Obama had to override:

Obama to drop uranium precondition for Iran nuclear talks

• End of precondition a major policy shift

• Concession means Iran can continue uranium enrichment

• Concern grows over unilateral action by Israel

The US and Europe are preparing to make a major concession to Iran to end the deadlock over its nuclear programme, according to American and European sources.
In what amounts to a major policy shift, the Obama administration is set to drop a precondition for the start of negotiations on the nuclear issue - that Iran first suspends its uranium enrichment process.
The precondition has been the biggest stumbling block in efforts over the past few years to open talks. The Bush administration insisted upon it but Tehran adamantly refused.
An announcement is imminent of a location and date for the first direct talks between the US - alongside Europe - with Iran on the nuclear issue.
Negotiations have been given added urgency by threats by the new Israeli government, led by Binyamin Netanyahu, to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent it achieving a nuclear weapons capability. Israel predicts Iran could reach this point by the autumn.
The Israeli president, Shimon Peres, in a radio interview on Sunday, urged the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to enter into the talks proposed by President Obama. If Ahmadinejad failed to back down over the nuclear issue, "we'll strike him", Peres said.
The US, Europe and Israel allege Iran is intent on building a nuclear weapon and say that this is unacceptable. Tehran denies this, claiming its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only, to help generate electricity.
Iran is so far down the road towards achieving a nuclear weapons capability that it is becoming increasingly hard for the US to force Tehran to suspend its nuclear activities.
The best that Obama may secure is a fudge in which Iran has the know-how but stops just short of building nuclear weapons and agrees to intensive United Nations weapons inspections.
Last week the European foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, offered Iran the chance to sit down with the US for direct talks, along with Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, was reported to have agreed to the talks.
The Tehran Times said that Jalili, who spoke to Solana on Monday, welcomed the talks, saying all parties should "take account of the realities" and recent developments in the world.
A US state department official could not confirm Iran's response today, but said the US remained ready to meet Iran. "These discussions provide an opportunity for serious engagement on how to break the log-jam of recent years and work in a co-operative manner to resolve the outstanding international concerns about Iran's nuclear programme," he said.
A British official declined to comment on the dropping of the precondition but said: "Britain in general welcomes the direction of travel of the US policy towards Iran."
On a smaller scale, relations between the US and Iran were strained today when Iran put aUS journalist on trial behind closed doors.
The US has pressed for the release of Roxana Saberi, 31, who is accused of spying. A judiciary spokesman, Ali Reza
Jamshidi, said the court would issue a verdict within the next two to three weeks.

Can Obama clear out america from crises

so far obama is acting on bush policies but he has changed some of his policies like guantanamo jail has closed but still rumours r coming that it will continue to work......america is also facing problems in afghanistan due to low budget for NATO s expenses and it is also facing it s own economy crises so its better for them to leave afghanistan...

Obama policies of war against terror

Barak obama has announce his new policies of war against terror specially for iraq,afghanistan and pakistan but he is continuing bush's policies as he did not withdrew forces from iraq and afghanistan.....what do u think?