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WASHINGTON - The United States and Russia have resolved a major hurdle in their negotiations to dispose of tons of excess plutonium, announcing an accord Friday on a liability issue that has long stymied the program. The two countries signed a protocol that provides a framework for dealing with the liability problem, the Energy Department announced. However, there are other issues still to be worked out, including details on how Russia is going to dispose of its 34 metric tons of plutonium from its weapons stockpile under the agreement. At the same time, the future of the U.S. disposal program...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2006 -- The commander of the Army’s 3rd Corps and Fort Hood used the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States as an opportunity to remind his troops -- most of whom have played active roles in the global war on terror -- about the importance of their mission in keeping America safe. Soldiers and first responders at Fort Hood, Texas, drape a large flag over the second story balcony in the east atrium of the 3rd Corps Headquarters building during a Sept. 11 ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Sept. 11, 2006 – Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee led Little Rock’s Freedom Walk today, marking the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States. The Freedom Walk was established Sept. 11, 2005, as an opportunity to reflect on the lives lost Sept. 11 and to honor U.S. military members past and present and pay tribute to emergency responders who put their lives on the line every day. Little Rock’s Freedom Walk was among more than 130 local Freedom Walks being held today and this past weekend throughout the United States. Huckabee, joined...

“The terrorists are absolutely convinced that they can break our [the American people’s] will,” said Vice President Cheney. This statement coincides with the commentary essays of many political and international analysts such as Clifford May who wrote “Time to Unite and Fight” for The Washington Times on Saturday, September 9, 2006.Clifford May wrote, in part, “On Tuesday, the White House released what it called an ‘updated’ National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. The document asserts –rightly, I believe — that America is ‘at war with a transnational movement … extremist organizations, networks and individuals — and their state and non-state supporters...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2006 – It was an “eerie feeling” returning to the United States after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace. Pace, then the commander of U.S. Southern Command, had just been confirmed as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was in Bogota, Colombia, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. “First, like all Americans I felt shock and anger,” Pace said during a recent interview. That was followed by determination “and the certain knowledge … that...

By VOA News07 September 2006 George W. Bush speaks to audience in Atlanta, Ga., Thursday President Bush has vowed to keep steady pressure on members of the al Qaida terrorist group, to find them, and to bring them to justice.Mr. Bush spoke to an audience in the southeastern U.S. city of Atlanta, Georgia Thursday, in a speech he billed as a progress report in the war on terror. He said efforts to fight terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States have resulted in two countries that once harbored terrorists - Iraq and Afghanistan - now...

Bush Arrives in Utah to Reaffirm Resolve in Terror WarBy Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2006 – Nearly five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, America still has enemies determined to harm it because of what it stands for, President Bush will tell the American Legion’s annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, today. Bush arrived in Salt Lake City last night, telling Utah National Guardsmen who met him he’s looking forward to telling the veterans how much he and the nation appreciate their service. “And I’m going to thank...

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is adapted from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's speech yesterday at the American Legion National Convention. The American Legion has achieved a great deal for our country since its founding in the months following World War I. That year, 1919 turned out to be one of those pivotal junctures in modern history - the beginning of a period where, over time, a very different set of views would come to dominate discourse and thinking in the West. A sentiment took root that contended that, if only the growing threats that had begun to emerge in Europe and...

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused critics of the Bush administration's Iraq and counterterrorism policies of lacking the courage to fight terror. In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration's critics as suffering from "moral and intellectual confusion" about what threatens the nation's security. In remarks prepared for delivery to the American Legion's national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failed efforts to appease the Adolf Hitler regime in the 1930s. "I recount this history because once again we face the same kind of challenges in...

Rumsfeld: American Grit Will Mean Victory in War on TerrorBy Sgt. Sara Wood, USAAmerican Forces Press Service RENO, Nev., Aug. 29, 2006 – As the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, approaches, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld last night stressed the need for determination in the war on terror. "Today we are engaged in conflicts that are again testing whether or not our country believes that the defense of liberty is worth the cost," Rumsfeld said while addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention here. The enemy in the war on terror is ruthless and...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2006 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will call upon Americans in a speech later today to “work hard to keep a ‘Blame America First’ mentality from undermining our efforts” in the global war on terror. Pentagon officials released excerpts of a speech the secretary will deliver to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno, Nev. Officials expect more than 2,300 veterans to attend the event. Rumsfeld disputes critics who say the United States should not be in Iraq. “The extremists openly call Iraq the ‘epicenter’ in the war on terror,” his speech asserts. “And they...

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday vowed the United States will not give up in Iraq "so long as I'm the president" and said advocates of a troop pullout do not "see the world the way it is." In a hastily called news conference, Bush said retreat from Iraq would turn the fledgling democracy into a "safe haven for terrorists and extremists." "We're not leaving, so long as I'm the president. That would be a huge mistake," Bush insisted. "If you think it's bad now, imagine what Iraq would look like if the United States leaves before this government can defend...

He's not backing down folks.

One way to measure how the world has changed in these last five years is to consider the extraordinary address to his nation by General Musharraf on Sept. 19, 2001. Pakistan was one of just three countries in the world (along with "our friends the Saudis" and the United Arab Emirates) to recognize the Taliban -- and, given that the Pakistanis had helped create and maintain them, they were pretty easy to recognize. President Bush, you'll recall, had declared that you're either with us or you're with the terrorists -- which posed a particular problem for Musharraf: He was with...

One way to measure how the world has changed in these last five years is to consider the extraordinary address to his nation by General Musharraf on Sept. 19, 2001. Pakistan was one of just three countries in the world (along with "our friends the Saudis" and the United Arab Emirates) to recognize the Taliban -- and, given that the Pakistanis had helped create and maintain them, they were pretty easy to recognize. President Bush, you'll recall, had declared that you're either with us or you're with the terrorists -- which posed a particular problem for Musharraf: He was with...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 12, 2006 – The will of the United States is the only question in whether the nation’s effort in Iraq and Afghanistan will succeed, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. “There is no way to militarily lose this war,” Marine Gen. Peter Pace said, speaking to reporters traveling with him while en route here. “The only way we can lose is if we decide that we just don’t want to do it. And if we decide that, that would not end the involvement, it would simply shift it from its current battlefield in Iraq...

I had one of those truly amazing days. I had the honor to travel with millions of fellow Americans today, a day after the 24 terrorists were arrested in the UK and a day that was supposed to be filled with mayhem at airports across the nation. Well, I am here to tell the story I saw this day, which was very different. An amazing story of Americans sending a signal to Al Qaeda that is very different from the one the media and many on the left are sending. Especially Ned Lamont. But I will get to him in...

Yesterday, British authorities broke up an alleged terror plot to blow up as many as ten commercial airliners as they flew to the United States. In response, the Department of Homeland Security upped the alert level on commercial flights from Britain to "red" and boosted the alert to "orange" for all other flights. In a completely unscientific poll, AOL asked subscribers: "Are you changing your travel plans because of the raised threat level?" At mid-afternoon about a quarter of the respondents had said yes. Such polls do reflect the kinds of anxieties terrorist attacks, even those that have been...

As war continues to rage in Iraq and Lebanon, appalling pictures of human suffering and death fill our front pages and television screens. Some people who have previously supported the Bush administration's foreign policy and who are generally pro-Israel are concluding that the human costs of the war on terror as currently conducted—both in terms of direct casualties and human rights abuses—are unacceptably high. Meanwhile, others are making the startling argument that we may have become too soft for our own good when it comes to the human costs of war. A recent column by John Podhoretz in the...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2006 – Watching TV coverage of Marines from their former unit helping Americans leave Beirut churns up a host of emotions for former Marines who served there when a barracks was bombed in October 1983. Marine Gen. P.X. Kelley (left) and Col. Tim Geraghty (right) take then-Vice President George H.W. Bush on a tour around the site of the Beirut barracks bombing two days after the Oct. 23, 1983, explosion killed 241 servicemembers, mostly Marines, at the Beirut International Airport. Photo by Randy Gaddo   Randy Gaddo was a Marine staff sergeant with the 24th Marine Amphibious...