The Brian Lehrer Show

What are Hillary and Obama's stand on the Sibel Edmonds issue?

According to Edmonds the Turks and Israelis were bribing both democrats and republicans and were stealing US nuclear secrets and were working with the Pakistani ISI and A.Q. Kahn.

The Sunday times in London had a big story on this.

FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3216737.ece

For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3137695.ece

Found in Translation

FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds spills her secrets.

http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_01_28/article1.html

The "surge" has not done anything - the reason the violence is down is because the ethnic cleansing is largely complete. Hundreds of thousands dead, millions of refugees in Jordan, Syria, and elsewhere ... what a success! Four more wars!

So US policy in Iraq hinges on the safety of translator?

well, the history has been written: "the surge has worked"

let's just forget the fact that we started a war for no reason, based on the lies of the Bush administration and let's ignore that we invaded a country that we were not attacked by (or even were threatened by) making us act more like an imperial state than the democracy we claim to be. Let's just sweep that under the rug because "the surge has worked".

Gimme a break!

Both Eisenhower (Korea) & Nixon (Vietnam) ran claiming they would & could clean up messy wars started by their Democratic predecessors - perhaps Hillary or Mitt will take inspiration.

If Iraq continues to calm down into the summer/fall campaign season & if it appears that the Iraquis are gradually making accomodations amongst themselves to build some stability, it is hard to imagine Americans picking up & leaving. America's support for (or even indifference to) our enterprise in Iraq will depend wholly on the appearance of chaos or progress. US & Iraqui casualties up, support down....and vice versa. So for all u anti-war folks .... if u want us out, do what u can to spike American & Iraqui casualties.

George Packer: An intelligent voice.

A question to George Packer and I suppose to the show as well as a possible subject.

George Packer was saying that one of the reasons there isn't much push from the White House to help these Iraqis translators to get into this country and to whom we and our soldiers owe such a debt is because it would hurt politically.

It would appear that these individuals have skills our government should very much want to employ here in this country. Why not bring them into this country to help our various intelligence agencies in the fight against terrorism by working as translators. They are from that part of the world, I believe there is still a shortage of translators here in this country. Their understanding of the language is not simply book learned, and not dealing just with the literal translation of words, but often might be sensitive to the subtext and hidden meanings of what the words may really mean. Beyond that, most of them have already been cleared from a security standpoint and have proved their value by risked their own lives to help us. Couldn't expediting their opportunity of coming to America be a win-win for everybody concerned?

Barry Downes

According to "The Looming Tower", the U.S. act that really enraged Bin Laden (and I'm sure other extremists and Arab not-so-extremeists) was the fact that U.S. maintained a military presence in the form of bases in Muslim Saudi Arabia years beyond the end of the first Gulf War. Shortly after 9/11, per the Saudi's request, U.S. pulled out of Saudi Arabia with little fanfare. A major goal of Bin Laden was achieved. Won't maintaining bases in Iraq just push more extremist's buttons for decades to come. This isn't Japan, S. Korea or Germany.

In the end will this agreement end up as ploy to get McCain elected by our permanently-terror-frightened American citizenry.

Please ban Gloria Gaynor I Will Survive. Thank you