State Department

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Al-Sadr Urges 'Revenge' Attacks Against US for Gaza

Cleric tells militia to hit American targets in Iraq

(Newser) - The anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has urged radical Shi’ite militants to strike American targets in Iraq as retaliation for US support of Israeli’s attack on Gaza, the Times of London reports. Al-Sadr also called on nations with Israeli consulates to close those missions in solidarity with Palestine. A...

USS Pueblo Crew Awarded $65M

Judge awards damages against North Korea for torture

(Newser) - In a distant echo of the Cold War, a federal judge has ordered north Korea to pay $65 million in damages to four crewmen from a US ship captured in 1968, reports AP. The USS Pueblo was seized by North Korea on an intelligence-gathering mission, and crew members were severely...

White House Frets Over Gaza Fighting

Administration pressuring Israel to end attacks

(Newser) - A deeply worried Bush administration is privately pushing Israel to settle on a Gaza exit strategy, despite the White House's public support of the offensive, insiders tell the Los Angeles Times. Amid rising international pressure to end the fighting, administration officials fear that rather than crushing Hamas, Israel's assault could...

Clinton Moves to Beef Up State
Clinton Moves
to Beef Up State
Dec 23, 2008 8:20 AM CST

Clinton Moves to Beef Up State

Bigger budget, expanded role sought for department that withered under Bush

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton is already working to restore some of the strength sapped from the State Department under the Bush administration, the New York Times reports. Clinton is seeking a bigger budget for the department and wants to restore the role played by high-profile special envoys. Officials say Clinton also wants...

Fire Blackwater: State Dept. Panel

Security firm's contract should not be renewed, advisory group says

(Newser) - The US military should stop using contractors from Blackwater Worldwide, concludes a report by a State Department advisory panel, obtained by the AP. In light of numerous allegations of violent misconduct, Blackwater’s contract to defend American diplomats should not be renewed when it expires next year, the panel recommends....

Portugal Offers to Take Gitmo Detainees

Move may help close prison

(Newser) - Portugal is willing to resettle some detainees freed from Guantanamo Bay, and it urged its fellow European countries to do likewise. It’s a diplomatic breakthrough that could help close the controversial US prison, the New York Times reports. Of the 250 detainees still in Guantanamo, 60 have been cleared...

Team of Rivals Starting to Crack

Separate visits to State Dept by Rice, Clinton suggest competition

(Newser) - Separate visits to the State Department by Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice yesterday suggest that the rift between Barack Obama’s two highest-level diplomats may not have healed, reports the AP. Rice, the incoming UN ambassador, bucked her former Clinton administration bosses to support Obama in the primaries. Now she’...

Guard: Blackwater Baghdad Massacre Was Unprovoked

Chilling details emerge in indictments of five guards in deaths of 17 Iraqis

(Newser) - Five guards working for the Blackwater security company in Baghdad opened fire without provocation and massacred Iraqi civilians on a busy Baghdad intersection in 2007, according to chilling indictments filed against the men. The guards, protecting a convoy, used automatic weapons and grenade launchers to fire on cars, houses, a...

Blackwater Guards Charged With Manslaughter

(Newser) - Five former Blackwater guards involved in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead turned themselves in today and were charged with voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and using firearms in the commission of a crime, CNN reports. The men, all in their 20s, were arraigned in Salt Lake City...

'You Won't Hear From Me'
 'You Won't 
 Hear From Me' 
Dec 2, 2008 1:52 AM CST

'You Won't Hear From Me'

A Clinton fan, Rice plans to hand off, then back off

(Newser) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will offer some private advice to her successor—then get out of Hillary Clinton's way, she tells AP. Rice briefed Clinton on the terrorist attacks in India before leaving for Mumbai on what is likely to be her last official trip overseas. 

Bill Reveals Donors to Clear Path for Hillary

Obama will nominate his secretary of state on Monday

(Newser) - President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state on Monday, said Democratic officials. To clear the way for his wife to take the job, former President Bill Clinton agreed to disclose the names of every contributor—more than 200,000 in all—to...

Ex-Obama Aide Now Helping 'Monster' Hillary

Samantha Power joined State team after slamming Clinton

(Newser) - Samantha Power will have plenty of time to tell Hillary Clinton how she really feels. The former Obama foreign policy adviser, who was forced to resign during the campaign after calling Clinton “a monster,” is now working on the State Department’s transition team, Politico reports. With Clinton...

Rice Has Nothing Left to Prove
 Rice Has Nothing Left to Prove 
OPINION
Nov 27, 2008 10:41 AM CST

Rice Has Nothing Left to Prove

Rice focuses on being an educator, writing books

(Newser) - Condoleezza Rice is headed back to Stanford, ready for a new challenge and harboring no obvious regrets. "I'm an educator who took a detour," she tells Washington Post op-ed columnist David Ignatius, who hears echoes of Dean Rusk, LBJ's embattled secretary of state. "I have no desire...

Indian Army in Gunfights With Terrorists at Hotels

American officials safe: state department

(Newser) - The Indian army is engaged in gunfights with terrorists at two five-star hotels and a hospital in the financial hub of Mumbai, IBNLive.com reports. The fate of hostages—media reports say Americans and Britons are being held, but details are impossible to pin down—remains unclear. The city remains...

Clinton's Great, But Not a Fit at State
 Clinton's Great, 
 But Not a Fit at State 
OPINION
Nov 19, 2008 10:25 AM CST

Clinton's Great, But Not a Fit at State

Obama needs 'an agent, not an author'

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton would probably do a good job as secretary of State, but giving her the post would be a mistake, writes David Broder in the Washington Post. “It’s not the best use of her talents, and it’s certainly not the best fit for this president.”...

Report: Clinton Will Be Secretary of State

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton will accept Barack Obama's offer to become secretary of state, the Guardian reports. The president-elect's team does not anticipate problems arising from an ongoing examination of the records of Bill Clinton's foundation, clearing the way for Obama's fiercest primary rival to embody his stated ambition to assemble a...

Picking Hillary: Pros and Cons
 Picking Hillary: 
 Pros and Cons 
OPINION
Nov 15, 2008 10:30 AM CST

Picking Hillary: Pros and Cons

Pundits split on merits of Clinton as Obama's most powerful cabinet member

(Newser) - Barack Obama is widely reported to be considering Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, causing a storm of speculation over the pros and cons of the choice.
  • The case for Clinton is plain, Jake Tapper writes at ABC News. She's smart, strong, experienced, reasonably diplomatic—and she's familiar with many
...

Obama Mulls Richardson, Clinton for Sec. of State

President-elect offered job to former rival at last night's meeting: source

(Newser) - Barack Obama is considering Hillary Clinton and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for the job of Secretary of State, the Huffington Post reports. Democratic officials say he met with Clinton yesterday and Richardson today to weigh which former foe to bring into his administration. Two officials say he offered Clinton...

Diplomats See Risk in Handing Posts to Obama Pals

Friends, big donors often get cushy ambassadorships, to chagrin of lifers

(Newser) - Could Barack Obama make Oprah Winfrey an ambassador? It’s an all-too-plausible scenario, the Chicago Tribune reports, assuming Winfrey was willing to leave her TV career. Presidents typically give out roughly a third of the 200 ambassadorships to friends and political allies, and, in a first, the American Academy of...

Obama Held Secret Meeting With Hillary

Clinton's visit to Chicago last night turns up volume on Secretary-of-State buzz

(Newser) - Barack Obama held a hush-hush meeting with Hillary Clinton yesterday, fueling rumors his former rival could be offered the Secretary of State post in his Cabinet. Journalists following Obama last night spotted an unidentified motorcade of about three SUVs pulling out of Obama’s transition headquarters in Chicago, minutes before...

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