Clinton begs China to keep buy U.S. bonds?
Posted By: If they don't, we are in BIG TROUBLE. on 2009-03-04
In Reply to:
Yet if I were the Chinese, I wouldn't. A lot of manipulation tactics going on.
China to heed Clinton's call on buying US bonds: economists
SHANGHAI (AFP) — China has little choice but to follow Hillary Clinton's call and continue buying US Treasuries, as reversing course would lead to the value of its investments plunging, economists said Monday.
While in Beijing on her first overseas trip as US secretary of state, Clinton urged China on Sunday to keep buying US debt, saying it would help jumpstart the flagging US economy and stimulate demand for Chinese exports.
In fact, China has to keep investing in the United States if it wants to protect the value of its trillions in dollar holdings, said Lu Feng, an economist at Peking University's China Center for Economic Research.
"China is sitting on huge piles of foreign exchange and it will increase its holdings of US Treasuries," Lu said. "Objectively speaking, helping the US economy is good for both China and the US."
China overtook Japan last year as the United States' biggest foreign creditor, and had 696.2 billion dollars of Treasury Bills in December, according to the latest official data from Washington.
Its world-largest foreign exchange reserves, which stood at 1.95 trillion dollars as of the end of December, also mean it is the world's biggest foreign holder of the US currency.
Clinton sought to highlight the importance of the ever-building inter-dependency between the world's biggest and third biggest economies.
"By continuing to support American Treasury instruments the Chinese are recognising our interconnection. We are truly going to rise or fall together," Clinton said at the US embassy in Beijing on the weekend.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also indicated on Saturday after talks with Clinton that China would not drastically change its US Treasury policies.
However, the countries' interconnectedness has attracted criticism within China, particularly as the global economic crisis slowed the Asian giant's remarkable growth and its high profile US investments showed dismal returns.
Critics have charged that, as a developing country, China should be investing its cash at home instead of subsidizing the world's richest country, or else diversifying into other foreign assets.
China's economic planners also understand the dilemma of investing so heavily in US debt.
"If it ceased to buy US treasuries, the value of existing holdings of dollar-denominated assets would drop sharply," said Su Chang, Beijing-based economist with CEBM Group, a consulting firm.
"(But) if China continues to buy them, it needs to worry about the possible depreciation of the dollar in future."
Brad Setser, an economist with the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, calculated that China provided close to 500 billion dollars in financing to the United States last year -- too much, he argued.
"China now has more exposure to the US than is in its long-run interest," Setser wrote on Monday. Economists argue China risks being trapped as the value of its US assets would fall if it reversed course.
"I also believe the US relies far more on a single government for financing than is in its long-run interest."
Both countries, he said, should have an interest in China gradually providing less ongoing financing to the United States.
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That's right China. We basically support China in everyway, and
don't hear two words uttered about their communist society. But, no mention of any wrong doing from China, I mean where else can you get a shirt made for ten cents?
Robertson though has hijacked a good Christian show (I guess it's his show), but it would be a good show to watch if he wasn't on there throwing politics everywhere. I don't like the mix.
which begs the question...
if it is not alive in utero, why have to cut it to ribbons, why does it bleed when it is cut to ribbons, and why have to suck out its brain until the skull collapses...it has a BRAIN but is not alive? Hellooo? I don't get your line of thinking. Not at all. Abortion is grisly, horrible, and murder most foul of the most innocent and undeserving of such treatment among us.
Begs the question. How much of a leader can he be if
x
They said they didn't like China.....that China would
--
China
They're the ones we need to worry about. They're the ones holding the purse strings.
And what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?sm
As if there was a crisis in the travel department under Clinton.
Whatever gets you through this.
What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
We're all Americans and we've all contributed in some way. I'm not into oneupmanship.
OMG who gives a frick about China
:)
Sorry, China OWNS us...
they have major holdings in our financial institutions and hold a lot of weight here in real estate, etc, and I don't just mean a few houses. Also, when you shop at WalMart, where do you think all those items (and most we buy) come from? You better give a "frick" about them.
American only and China
I read an article recently that stated that relations between our government and China's are tense since they added the Jobs for Americans only to the stimulus bill and that since either 95% or 98% of our debt is owned by China that will make it hard to keep that part in the bill because China would then demand to be paid in full and also not let us borrow any more, which we need to fund this stimulus plan. Now, don't flame me, I'm all for work coming back to America and I would love to make more than I made 10 years ago in this job, I'm just stating what I read and to me it makes sense that the Chinese would be pissed...they loaned us money and the majority of our mfg jobs have gone to them so then they would be out the money and their people would not have jobs so I doubt that jobs for Americans only will stay in the bill.
If China wanted to do that...(sm)
they would have already done it when the economic crisis hit. We already owe them tons of money. I think they would make out better collecting interest off us than spending their resources trying to "control" us, which would eventually lead to yet another war. What I think should be in the bill is help for those who need it immediately (the ones who have already lost jobs and extending state funds to make budgets) and infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure, green job advancement. This can't be outsourced, it generates revenue, it provides jobs, and its needed. The more people we put back to work or keep at work, the better chance we have of paying these bills off through taxable income.
I know it looks like an enormous amount of money to be going into debt for (and it is), but at this point I don't think we have any choice. If you want to talk national security, a depression would leave us much more vulnerable than being in debt. Being vulnerable is not an option at this point.
China, India, Europe.....
I was in Italy once and couldn't swim because the local shoe factory had just poured all their dye into the Med and it was red. Most of the world drive cars with leaded gasoline. We do more to preserve the environment than many countries.
I watched a whole thing on China
and how we can buy things so cheap at Walmart because the Chinese work for little money. If the things we bought at Walmart were actually made here in the USA by Americans.....it would be a lot more expensive because Americans demand higher paying jobs. That is the thing. We are kind of screwed both ways. Do we keep the job here in American and pay a heck of a lot more money for things we get cheap now or do we continue to keep China in business by sending our jobs over there. Kind of a double-edge sword when you think about it.
I personally think that we should bite the bullet and pay more for American made goods so we can keep jobs here in America. The more we want cheaper stuff, the more we will be buying stuff made in China and the less jobs we have in America.
The stuff from China may be cheap
But it's junk! When I got married, I got an electric can-opener as a gift. (We're talking way back in the dark ages...the 70s). Anyway, it lasted almost 20 years til it quit and I had to replace it. Guess how long it's replacement lasted? Less than a year. Ditto my other appliances. Sure it's cheap, but you get what you pay for.
Add to that the recalls caused by the poisons in pet food and baby formula, all the leaded paint scares from Chinese toys....
We're better off without them. Buy American! You might pay more, but the stuff lasts longer and you're helping to keep our people working.
They'll just take out another loan from China to pay for it
they should be ashamed. And Obama can't be blamed for this one.
Already heavily indebted to China...sm
...which has been the biggest foreign purchaser of our Treasury bonds and notes. Now, I see that they're also over here snapping up foreclosure properties. America is for sale.
I don't think most Americans realize that the nation would actually be declared bankrupt if normal accounting methods that are required of businesses were used by the government. Our total forward indebtedness (which is different from "the deficit") is something like $16 trillion dollars - a sum that is greater than the combined gross domestic product of the entire world. "Indebtedness" includes anticipated obligations under various welfare programs, Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, and our contractual obligations represented by Treasury bonds, notes and bills - which are nothing more or less than loans we have to repay. When you hear people talking about the Federal Reserve "selling" these instruments, they're not selling anything...they're borrowing! If you "purchase" a $1000 Treasury bill at par value, you give the government $1000 dollars, in exchange for which you will be paid a stated rate of interest and, then at some stated time in the future the government will pay you the face value of the bill ($1000). In other words, you have loaned the government $1000 for a certain period of time.
Foreign governments "buy" these instruments just like citizens do. To make a long story short, we (the government = taxpayers = you and I, my kids, my grandkids and any kids they have) owe the world about a $kajillion worth of these loans.
.
China sucks. Too bad our country keeps on
They're gross polluters.
Asian countries are over-fishing the earth's oceans.
China's population keeps expanding by the billions.
Their human rights policies suck, and so do all their tainted/poisoned food products.
They eat dogs and cats. And they don't even have the common decency to kill them before they skin them alive.
They contribute to the poaching of endangered species by buying things made from them (Tigers, elephant tusks, etc.)
They might have been a great culture thousands of years ago, but their glory days are over. Now that country is just cruel and dishonest.
Maybe that is why China bought Hummer?
x
China gave (or "loaned") sm
us money, so we owe them. I think my statement and yours is saying the same thing, just from a different perspective.
I don't know what you mean by not being able to "help" me with my last statement. It speaks for itself and does not require any help. If, by your statement, you mean you don't understand, this has been discussed many times on this board and the faith board. If you don't understand, I would be happy to help you.
The Great Firewall of China
Interesting.....
China has vowed to crack down on Internet content that it deems unhealthy, which has included pornography and information critical of authorities, a censorship system dubbed the "Great Firewall of China". Computer makers were notified by the government recently that all personal computers sold from July 1 must be shipped with anti-pornography software, a move that has led to widespread censorship fears both inside and outside China.
China has the world's largest online population at nearly 300 million Web users and the country's Communist Party rulers have struggled to control a proliferation of online content in recent years.
China is not industrialized? That would be a real surprise to them, I am sure. nm
China Leads the New World Order
China leads the New World Order.
Don't believe it? Look at Bush toasting the commie leaders... all of our trade deals with them...Who has us by the balls financially.... A huge component of the creation of the North American Union is megaports on the Western coast to accommodate huge Chinese tankers.... Look at Paulson and his ties with commie China.... The lone Republican lawmaker who voted against Berancke's confirmation says that Bernacke has extensive ties to commie China so it is a conflict of interest...
The above is just a sampling. The bottom line is that we will wind up just like China, with slave labor, before it's all over with.
And now we have a huge trade imbalance with china..
because China has bought up all of our securities in the form of loans. That's why kids toys are full of lead. If you're smart, you will check the labels on ALL products you buy. Did you know that in China they string their chicken coops over shrimp ponds? The chicken feed is supplemented with shavings, dust, particles from plastics and fiberglass plants (to save money) and the chicken droppings are what the shrimp feed on. Crest toothpaste is made in Mexico. Hepatitis A outbreaks came from Mexico. Dollar store brands? Check the labels on vitamins, aspirin, EVERYTHING (China - they put ANYTHING in their products). Even Birdseye frozen vegetables are grown and packaged in Mexico. The only store I have found that the labels inevitably say: Grown and manufactured in the USA is SAVE-A-LOT!!! What happened to the FDA? Remember when Bush said we couldn't buy our medications from Canada? Guess who is making most of our meds now................
You should move to China and take your cut and paste skills
Outsourcing/China (warning - rant)
Hubby was telling me last night that China's economy is now tanking because ours is. Factory workers over there were showing up for work only to find their business had closed because of lack of orders from the U.S. India may be next. You never know. I don't see it happening with MT but like I said, you just don't know. Did you see their work days? 6 days a week and something like 12 or 14 hours a day?
I hear lip service from Nobama/Maobama about cutting taxes to bring our businesses back but don't see him acting on it. He's a one-termer. Carter got us in a heap of trouble which Reagan (I know union employees aren't fond of him) had to get us out of. All Nobama is doing is having construction/building jobs sprout up here and there. And where does the money come from to pay for his multi-trillion dollar spending? You got it - us. Those jobs will eventually fizzle out, our country will be poorer and those people will once again be unemployed..
Dems coined the phrase Voodoo Economics for Reagan's Trickle Down Economics. Whether or not you liked the man, he did a world of good for this country. He did cut capital gains taxes and cut taxes for the rich. Trickle down 101: You cut taxes for the rich, they can afford to hire more employees, more often than not, at better wages. Unemployment is down. People go out and spend more money because they are employed and can afford to. During Reagan's terms in office, he cut taxes immensely yet the government took in more money. People would much rather spend their money the way they want than have the government take it and spend it.
Folks, we work for our government. Our government should be working for us. We should not live in fear of the IRS. I attended a TEA party on April 15 and will attend more such events. We should have a government for the people, of the people and by the people. The protest was very peaceful and guess what? Not a bit of litter was left to be found when it ended, like the disgrace that was left after the inauguration in Washington, DC.
We are getting so far away from a constitutional government, it's not funny. Actually, my opinion is that we are currently a socialist government. You know the next step after socialism? Communism.
I read the most recent list of who they consider a terrorist. Hoarding food? Um, yep. Better buy it now in case a depression hits. Glad I have a breadmaker. Wouldn't want to have to spend $50 on a loaf of bread. Buying lots of ammo? Sure, but then again, we do competition shooting. Guns? Yeah, we have our share, but variety is the spice of life (Hubby bought me a Macarov but I didn't care for the way it operated (too hard to load the mag), especially after the slide came back and sliced my thumb open 5 times, bad lacerations - my fault, was handling it wrong, so I got a Glock). My husband is an Iraqi war vet. That makes us both domestic terrorists. Yet neither one of us even has the heart to even discipline our dogs. We're both very gentle people. Of course if someone broke into our home, we would defened ourselves.
I'm sorry for the rant but I just don't see Nobama caring much about outsourcing. I really really really hope I am wrong and what he is doing for our country is the right thing but I truly resent being labeled a domestic terrorist because I see us headed for a depression and am stocking up on food, and my husband happened to be in the military during the Gulf war.
Thanks for listening. 
China! Guess who bought Hummer?
I bet China and every other country is really laughing at us.
China has 'given' us untold amounts of
money? I think the US 'owes' huge amounts of money to China. China owes 50% of US's indebtness.
Your last statement in your post is just your opinion and I cannot help you with that.
Why weren't they returned to Afghan/Pak or China ? ..nm
nm
Wall street, China, Japan, whoever they gave
@
Foreign investors. China and Russia insisted on Fannie Mac bail out.
dd
clinton
You mean wonderful super intelligent President Bill Clinton and his lovely super intelligent lawyer wife, Hiliary? So much better than the dufus warmonger and Stepford wife in the WH right now..Jerks, both of them, backward thinking monsters, Bush and Stepford.
clinton
I think Clinton should have been impeached. He is to be a role model? Please, what kind of a role model is that cheating on his wife.
No on Clinton as VP
No way can Obama offer VP to Queen Hillary. He should remember what happened to JFK (with Johnson being involved). What a better way for the Queen to annoint herself to the presidency by getting rid of him. Don't put it past her either - just remember Ron Brown, Vince Foster, Eric Fox, Sandy Hume, Danny Casolaro, Ronald Rogers, John Wilson, Gandy Baugh, Mary Mahoney, Suzanne Coleman, Judy Gibbs, Gary Johnson, Kathy Ferguson, Bell Shelton, Sally Perdue (didn't mysteriously die but was told if she didn't keep her mouth shut they would break her legs), Jon Walker, Johnny Franklin, Ed Willey, Barbara Alice Wise, Jerry Parks, C. Victor Raiser, L.J. Davis, Herschel Friday, Ron Brown, and the list goes on and on an on....
So no, I would not put it past either of them that something would happen and she would swear herself in as the anointed queen. Lets just hope Obama has more sense - which I believe he does.
Clinton
Where do I start? I love Bill Clinton. Hs is very intelligent, he can talk about anything and knows what he is talking about. He did what the first person posted. He was impeached but he could not be removed from office because he was impeached for was not govenment and it has to pertain to the government to be removed from office. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he earned everything he got. He has worked very hard. Funny, but I get the same sick feeling in my stomach whenever I see George Bush's face on TV and the man cannot even speak so how he can do anything else. The trillion dollar debt, people with no jobs, and the list goes on and on. Put us in a war we had no business being in. He has never done anything on his own that turned out good. Whatever he did was with the help of his father or someone else doing it for him. He will not return to Crawford, they are going to build a house, but I forgot the location, and he will not be traveling around the world working to get meds for AIDS patients, starving children, etc. Maybe he can help bring back other countries to like us again like they used to until Bush told just about everyone of them he did not need their help and made them angry with us. I could go on and on but I am tired and going to bed.
This has been going on even when Clinton
was in office. This has been going on for years. Shoot, I lived in Arizona for 25 years and illegals were everywhere. Finally, Arizona will NOT hire anyone that is illegal. The companies have to hire people who show BC and if the employees do not, they are not hired. So most illegals moved to other states. Also the companies are audited and have to show proof that each employee is legal or the company will be fined. Arizona has border patrol that runs along Mexico and Arizona and that should have been up years ago. Even tried putting up border control when Clinton was in office, but everyone ignored her plea until a few years ago. Also work for a company that outsources to India. This has been going on for years and years. When the O takes over, he will probably sell our country out and will be worse. He says he will help the the middle class yet cause electricity rates to skyrocket and so on. I do not trust O with ANYTHING. He is a smooth talker, the ones I do not trust. If McCain wins, at least I know he will try to make our country safe from nukes of Iran.
Again I will say it. Clinton and his
cronies cooked the books. There was no surplus. It came out after an audit after Bush got in office.
I really do wonder how Clinton will
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480126,00.html
U.S. Obtains New Evidence of Iranian Nuclear Intrigue
Friday, January 16, 2009
Iran Presidency Office
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inspects the Natanz nuclear plant in central Iran.
WASHINGTON — U.S. security and law-enforcement officials say they have fresh evidence of recent efforts by Iran to evade sanctions and acquire metals from China used in high-tech weaponry, including long-range nuclear missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Iran's efforts are detailed in a series of recent emails and letters between Iranian companies and foreign suppliers seen by The Wall Street Journal. Business records show one Iranian company, ABAN Commercial & Industrial Ltd., has contracted through an intermediary for more than 30,000 kilograms (about 66,000 pounds) of tungsten copper — which can be used in missile guidance systems — from Advanced Technology & Materials Co. Ltd. of Beijing. One March 2008 email between the firms mentions shipping 215 ingots, with more planned.
The United Arab Emirates has informed the U.S. that in September it intercepted a Chinese shipment headed to Iran of specialized aluminum sheets that can be used to make ballistic missiles. A month earlier, UAE officials also intercepted an Iran-bound shipment of titanium sheets that can be used in long-range missiles, according to a recent letter to the U.S. Commerce Department from the UAE's Washington ambassador.
Evidence of Iran's efforts to acquire sensitive materials also is emerging from investigations by state and federal prosecutors in New York into whether a number of major Western banks illegally handled funds for Iran and deliberately hid Iranian transactions routed through the U.S. One focus of the inquiries is the role of Italy, including the Rome branch of Iran's Bank Sepah and Italy's Banca Intesa Sanpaolo Spa. Banca Intesa said it is cooperating in the inquiries.
Iran Produces Enough Uranium to Build Nuclear Weapon
The developments could present President-elect Barack Obama with an early test in responding to what many Washington security officials now say is a rapidly growing threat to the region, including U.S. allies Israel and Saudi Arabia.
All of the high-performance metals Iran has been acquiring also have industrial uses such as commercial aviation and manufacturing, making it difficult for intelligence agencies to be absolutely certain how the materials are being used.
"We can't say we know it would, or would not, be used for military purposes," said proliferation expert Gary Milholland of the nonprofit Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, noting that broad economic sanctions on Tehran led by the U.S. mean Iran has to go to unusual lengths to find high-grade materials for industrial use as well as weapons.
Still, he added, "There doesn't seem to be any real doubt or debate whether Iran is going for the bomb or whether Iran is using front companies to import things. Everyone agrees on that around the world."
Officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency said they believe Iran could have enough fissile material for an atomic weapon sometime this year, though it would need to be further processed into weapons-grade uranium. That assessment was echoed Thursday by Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael V. Hayden. U.S. and European governments have grown increasingly alarmed in recent months at the speed they believe Iran is developing ballistic-missile and nuclear capabilities. Last year the United Nations Security Council, which includes China, formally imposed sanctions on Iran's military and most of its banks for nuclear proliferation activities.
A spokesman for Iran at its U.N. mission in New York declined to comment. China "has been strictly implementing" U.N. proliferation sanctions on Iran, said a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing. The export of restricted items such as high-grade metals, which include specialized aluminum and titanium, is prohibited, he added.
Wow, Clinton
Probably had Monica hiding under the desk. LOL. Sorry, could not resist.
No, Clinton just used
the Oval Office (that I pay for) and ''company time'' to get Lewinskyed on a regular basis. He may even have gotten a Lewinsky on Fathers Day, who knows?
I believe it is called Fathers Day for a reason. Obama went golfing on the sacred day, and I don't think Michelle and the kids were with him. On Fathers Day, it's Daddy that gets the gifts, otherwise it would be called Family Day or Wife and Children's Day or something else.
Some men give their wives a day at a spa for Mothers Day...should she be required to spend all day with Hubby and kids instead? Technically, I think the honoree gets to spend their time the way s/he chooses on that day.
Sanford having his trist in Argentina was quite bad enough, do you really have to pile on with Fathers Day as well?
Well, how did you feel about Clinton
get a B.J. just outside the Oval Office and then lying under oath about it? Oh, but that was his personal life though...
Yes, Clinton lied, and I
thought it was terrible when he did.
But Clinton's lies didn't result in a war. Clinton created a surplus. Bush squandered it all and created a huge deficit with his war. I'm amazed that you can't see the huge difference between the two lies. Bush's lies are placing every single American in danger of a terror attack because he refuses to do anything about the borders. This is here. This is now. Why don't you care about TODAY and the futures of your children and their children? We're living in the most dangerous era that America has known, yet you're more concerned about the sexual practices of a former President? I truly don't understand your way of thinking.
Clinton's Lies
Clinton made his worst mistake by not taking Osama bin Laden when he was offered to him on a silver platter by the Sudan. In case you have forgotten, he was major planner and money man of 9-11. Had Bill not been afraid of the political fallout...he might have been able to stop 9-11. And when it all comes out about Able Danger...he is finished and so, hopefully, is his wife, as far as politics are concerned. And the surplus you drone on about was a PROJECTED surplus, if spending was frozen for the next 10 years. Like THAT was going to happen. Sheesh.
Clinton/Bush
Again, GT brought the whole subject up about presidential integrity. I just wanted to see GT's feeling about what Clinton did, but of course, GT justified Clinton's lies which was what I fully expected. Again, Bush hasn't been proven to lie. Like I have said several times before on this board I will be the first to cry uncle if Bush is proven to have lied by investigation and that doesn't include accusations and conjecture by liberal politicians, grieving mothers, or leftist bloggers.
Clinton/Bush
Again, GT brought the whole subject up about presidential integrity. I just wanted to see GT's feeling about what Clinton did, but of course, GT justified Clinton's lies which was what I fully expected. Again, Bush hasn't been proven to lie. Like I have said several times before on this board I will be the first to cry uncle if Bush is proven to have lied by investigation and that doesn't include accusations and conjecture by liberal politicians, grieving mothers, or leftist bloggers.
Well, are they back up since the Clinton adm.
You used the word now, so I assume they are still at these levels and maybe even lower.
The point was that while everybody is again noticing poverty and thinking that Bush had done a dismal job in fighting poverty. The numbers just don't back that up. While there are some people living in poverty because of life circumstances beyond their control MOST are there because of bad life choices. You can throw all the money you want at it, but until morality is advocated and pushed for in this country then you will always have poverty. Jesus even said you will always have the poor among you. Now, is that a reason not to try and do something about poverty? No, but just throwing more and more money their way through higher taxation of the work force will not fix it either. It will only make more people classified as poor.
WHATever and thank you, Bill Clinton
with a thriving economy, an honest attempt at protecting our environment, and peace.
can we forget about clinton?
When you need a punching bag, bring up Clinton..If in doubt, bring up Clinton, if a republican is being investigated, bring up Clinton. Who cares about Clinton. He is not in office, however, Delay, Frist and Rove are all working in the govt.
She has a point about Clinton. SM
We had a porn star for president! Big deal. Who cares.
When Clinton did this did you have a problem with it
When he tracked financial records of terrorists during his admin.: See below.
******
From the August 28, 1998, edition of the Washington Post in an article entiteld “Bin Laden’s Finances Are a Moving Target; Penetrating Empire Could Take Years” by John Mintz:
Last week, President Clinton announced the addition of bin Laden’s name to a list of terrorists whose funds are targeted for seizure by the U.S. Treasury. Clinton aides said one of their goals is to locate bin Laden’s bank accounts and make him so radioactive in the eyes of global bankers that they won’t handle his funds. Some U.S. officials also suggested they could drain his accounts using highly classified means of information warfare involving electronic networks.
“We want to take financial action against him,” a senior administration official said. “The objective is to take down the infrastructure.”
Bin Laden’s money is the key to his power, U.S. officials say. He needs his fortune to pay his thousands of Muslim followers, bribe officials and plan terrorist strikes.
“If you go after his money, you’ll hurt him,” said Larry Johnson, a former CIA official and now a security consultant. “You need cash to make his system run.”
The United States has never launched such a financial attack on terrorists. In 1995 Clinton banned U.S. financial institutions from dealing with several dozen suspected terrorist individuals and groups, and Americans from donating funds to them.
But until last week the U.S. Treasury, which continually updates this list of “sanctioned” terrorists, never placed bin Laden on the list, despite the fact that the U.S. government had identified him since 1995 as the world’s leading terrorist paymaster. A senior administration official said the government’s understanding of his role “was evolving.”
So we’ve been going after bin Laden’s financing and the al-Qaeda money network for eight years now. But that doesn’t really blow the whole case open about the Bush administration’s “secret program.” This does:
The CIA and agents with Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network also will try to lay tripwires to find out when bin Laden moves funds by plugging into the computerized systems of bank transaction monitoring services — operated by the Federal Reserve and private organizations called SWIFT and CHIPS — that record the billions of dollars coursing through the global banking system daily.
Call me crazy, but that looks pretty gosh darn similar to what the New York Times and Los Angeles Times are freaking out about and calling a Bush administration “secret program.”
This isn’t news. This is just an attempt by these two newspapers and the associated reporters to “expose” the Bush administration’s attempts to keep this country safe from terrorism and root out those who would do us harm. The ACLU, the Democratic Party, and the “netroots” will proceed to go bananas about a program that’s been tracking bin Laden and al-Qaeda financial transactions for eight years–and was established under none other than Bill Clinton.
This is what Clinton was impeached for:
This is what he was impeached for:
The House voted 228 to 206 to approve proposed Article I of Impeachment (Perjury before a Federal Grand Jury), and voted 221 to 212 to approve proposed Article III of Impeachment (Obstruction of Justice).
And he was guilty of both. His impeachment had nothing to do with cigar dates with MOnica Lewinsky, though it should have...it had to do with lying under oath before a grand jury, and obstructing justice. Against the law in ALL 51 states. Also, he broke his presidential oath of office to uphold and defend the laws of the United States all to pieces. But that is okay, because he is Bill Clinton? How is it you liberals check any moral values you might have at the door whenever it suits you?
Clinton and Somalia...
The article was clear, and in military circles the truth is known. When Blackhawk Down happened, Clinton, instead of doing the right thing and stamping on Al Qaeda when he had the chance, chose to run. Al Qaeda was emboldened by that, and were left alone to grow, plan, etc. They felt they scored a great victory in Mogadishu, and in fact, because Clinton ran, they did. You say the country would not have supported a war in the middle east before 9-11. Perhaps not. The people might not have supported a war in Somalia either, as there are some people, like yourself, who believe war is never the answer. As I have said ad nauseam, until the enemy shares your belief (which will never happen), we must defend ourselves or be overtaken or having our cities turn into East Baghdad. They cannot defeat us in a real war, and they know this. I personally do not feel we should accept having 3000 people murdered. Had we smashed them in Somalia, we probably would not have had the issues we now have in Iraq, because the *insurgency* is fueled by Al Qaeda and we all know that. The rank and file Iraqi people would have had no idea how to put forth a guerilla war. Point being...Clinton's administration, or he himself, bear a great burden of responsibility for what we now face. AL Qaeda did the same thing in Somalia they are doing in Iraq now...arming and training. And we had the chance to stop it, and our President chose not to. Sudan offered bin Laden to Clinton later, and again he chose not to take it. You choose to take Bush to task for Iraq. I continue to take Clinton to task because I think he is more wholly reponsible. Not because he is a leftist or a Democrat, but because he made a decision based on keeping his political popularity than on doing what was right at the time for the security of this country. Anything else Clinton did, while reprehensible, pales in comparison to that as far as I am concerned. However, that is past, there is nothing I can do to change it. I do, however, resent the fact that the left totally dismisses all that and instead pounces on Bush for at least trying to do the right thing for this country, regardless of the political consequences. But, that takes moral courage, and something Bill Clinton never had and never will have
What I see regarding staying in Iraq is trying to finish what Clinton should have finished in Somalia. And not to abandon those rank and file Iraqis who desperately do want freedom. The insurgents do not speak for the majority of the Iraqi people. The majority of the Iraqi people are almost like children...they have no clue how to fight or defend themselves because they were so oppressed for so many years. It is those people who will be hurt horribly if we go now. But you seem willing to abandon them to it. That is what I do not understand. For someone who professes compassion, I don't know how you justify that. It could be that we are never able to do what we want to do and at some point need to withdraw. I am willing to give Petraeus a chance. I prefer to look at it like he does...stop looking through the rear view mirror and look out over the hood...and let's win this thing. He still believes it can be done. I have a great deal of respect for him, and I think he deserves the chance, and the Iraqi people deserve the chance, to see if he can.
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