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FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Historic aircraft escorted a B-17 bomber before it dropped flowers over the Statue of Liberty in a public Memorial Day tribute to seven CIA employees killed in Afghanistan.

Two World War II aircraft from the American Airpower Museum on Long Island took off with the bomber and flew with it before breaking formation because of strong winds as the bomber approached a site in new York Harbor near where the World Trade Center stood.

Museum spokesman Gary Lewi said officials decided to honor the fallen CIA employees after it appeared no other Memorial Day commemoration in the country had been planned. Museum president Jeff Clyman said such a public acknowledgment is rare.

“The knowledge that seven CIA personnel were killed at the hands of a terrorist compels us to pause and remember these patriots who fully understood the mortal danger they faced and yet deliberately went into harm’s way to protect our homeland and our lives,” Clyman said in a statement.

A CIA spokeswoman said it was the only memorial to all seven the agency hasbeen told about.

The seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a tightly secured CIA base in Khost province, a dangerous region southeast of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The CIA had cultivated the bomber, a Jordanian doctor, in hopes of obtaining information about al-Qaida’s second in command, but he turned out to be a double-agent.

President Barack Obama honored the seven at CIA headquarters in February at a memorial service that was closed to the media. The names of those killed have not been revealed, reflecting the confidentiality under which the CIA operates.

Michael J. Sulick, director of the National Clandestine Service of the CIA, and U.S. Rep. Steve Israel participated in the Memorial Day service.

Sulick spoke on a ramp filled with World War II aircraft before a crowd of about 250 people. He said, given his title, the idea of appearing in public was unusual but so was the loss of so many agents, so he made an exception.

“The CIA is deeply grateful to the museum for honoring our colleagues who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan while courageously serving our nation,” Sulick said. “I’m honored to represent the agency at the Memorial Day event, which promises to be a fitting tribute to their strength and dedication.”

The museum president’s son, Major Scott Clyman, an F-16 fighter pilot who served in Afghanistan, presented Sulick with an American flag he carried aboard the fighter while serving in the area where the suicide bombing took place.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

B-17 drops flowers in NY to honor CIA casualties – Action 3 News …

In a fitting show of solidarity for International Women’s Day, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made light of the brutal 2008 battle Clinton conducted to defeat Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. as Michelle Obama launched a State Department commemoration of International Women’s Day, she briefly stumbled over Clinton’s job title. “Let me thank my dear friend, Senator – Secretary Clinton. I almost said, ‘President Clinton,’ ” said the first lady to laughter and applause. “But let me thank you for that kind introduction, and most of all thank you for your friendship, thank you for your support, and thank you for your indispensable advice in getting me through this first year and helping me figure out how to get my family settled in our new life in D.C.”

The exchange stood as another rebuke to a favored theme of the Beltway pundit set: that tensions between the Obamas and the Secretary of State still run high. More than that, though, the series of events that the first lady presided over drew wider attention to the stubborn lags in gender equality beyond the developed Western world. both women stressed this issue in their respective speeches. as Secretary Clinton put it, the world “can’t solve problems of financial crisis, climate change, disease and poverty if half of the population is left behind.”

Monday marked the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. The day doesn’t get a great deal of attention within the United States, but many other countries honor it with a national holiday. Nations that officially honor it are far flung, ranging from China and Russia to Macedonia and Vietnam. Some countries will encourage men to lavish gifts on the women in their lives, in the tradition of greeting-card holidays like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. Other countries promote women-only commemorations of the day, with all-female parties and dinners.

The first lady also picked up on these ideas of stronger public recognition for women in her remarks on Monday, when the White House hosted its own event marking the importance of the March 8th holiday. “I get to speak while he stands and watches,” the first lady announced, as the president looked on. She then told the president, “Look at me adoringly,” to laughter from the crowd. He obliged with the reply, “I can do that”-whereupon she mock-chided him with the follow-up command, “With sincerity.”

Still, as the more sober event at the State Department drove home, International Women’s Day is still an occasion of danger, rather then levity, in some parts of the world. in 2007, numerous men and women were beaten and arrested by government officials in Iran for merely planning to celebrate the holiday.

–Brett Michael Dykes is a regular contributor to Yahoo! News

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First Lady marks International Women’s Day with Hillary ‘President’ joke

March 2nd, 2010

WASHINGTON – Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is likely to attend an international nuclear summit which is scheduled to be held here from April 12 to 13.

The focus of the conference hosted by President Barack Obama is on securing vulnerable nuclear materials and preventing acts of “nuclear terrorism”.

Talking to reporters in Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan would also send a high-level delegation for the forthcoming meeting but he did not revealed the composition of the delegation.

The White House has invited 44 countries to the summit, though the list of delegates has not been finalised yet, The Dawn reports.

“The purpose of the summit is to discuss steps we can collectively take to secure vulnerable nuclear materials and prevent acts of nuclear terrorism,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs had said earlier. (ANI)

Filed under Politics | Tags: Barack Obama, Washington | Comment below

Gilani urges EU to treat Pak at par with India

February 14th, 2010 ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has urged the European Union (EU) to treat Pakistan at par with India. during a meeting with EU Ambassadors comprising the envoys of Sweden and Spain, Gilani said the Pakistan should also get access to the same civil nuclear technology that India has.

Pak’s nukes in safe custody: Gilani

January 16th, 2010 ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Prime Minister has stressed that the country’s nuclear assets are in safe custody. Speaking during a meeting of the Strategic planning Division’s (SPD) here, Gilani said Pakistan is a responsible state and that it believed in the policy of minimum deterrence.

US can’t succeed in Afghanistan without Pak: Gilani

January 15th, 2010 ISLAMABAD – Underlining Pakistan as an important ally of the US, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said international forces led by America cannot succeed in Afghanistan without Islamabad’s assistance. Addressing the National Assembly, Gilani said America cannot win the ‘war on terror’ by sidelining Pakistan.

I’ll stand by Zardari in his rise and fall: Gilani

January 9th, 2010 ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has clarified that he doesn’t have any differences with President Asif Ali Zardari, and he would stand by the PPP chairman in his “rise and fall.”The Daily Times Gilani as telling a private TV channel that he would support Zardari through thick and thin. Gilani added that he did not think that there were any conspiracies being hatched against the PPP-led government, as the people of Pakistan were supporting the country’s leadership despite the surfacing of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases against them.

Official: World leaders may change schedules to join Obama at Copenhagen climate summit

November 30th, 2009 Official: Leaders may join Obama at climate summitWASHINGTON — An administration official says some world leaders may change their schedules so they can attend an upcoming climate conference the same day as President Barack Obama. Obama will attend the Copenhagen summit on Dec.

Gilani likely to attend nuclear summit in Washington

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The Nobel committee said they wanted to support mr Obama’s approach

US President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Committee said he won it for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”.

The committee highlighted mr Obama’s efforts to support international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament.

Mr Obama – woken up with the news early on Friday – said in an address at the White House that he was “surprised and deeply humbled” by the award.

He said he did not feel he deserved to be in the company of some of the “transformative figures” who had previously received the award.

Speaking outside the White House, he said he would accept the prize as a “call to action”.

There were a record 205 nominations for this year’s peace prize. Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Chinese dissident Hu Jia had been among the favourites.

Instead the committee chose mr Obama, who was inaugurated less than two weeks before the 1 February nomination deadline.

There was widespread surprise at the committee’s decision. While world leaders were largely supportive of the award, thousands of people have contacted the BBC with more sceptical views.

An estimated 75% of comment sent to the BBC expressed surprise at the award. Some said awarding the prize to mr Obama was plain wrong, others that the decision had come too soon, before he had made any concrete foreign policy achievement.

The Nobel laureate – chosen by a five-member committee – wins a gold medal, a diploma and 10m Swedish kronor ($1.4m).

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the Norwegian committee said in a statement.

“His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”

Asked why the prize had been awarded to mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel Committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: “It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve”.

“It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done,” he said.

He specifically mentioned mr Obama’s work to strengthen international institutions and work towards a world free of nuclear arms.

‘New climate’

Reaction to the committee’s decision from around the world was swift and varied.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said he could not think of anyone more deserving of the award.

“In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself,” mr ElBaradei said.

At the other end of the spectrum, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the Reuters news agency the award was ridiculous.

“The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won the ‘Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians’,” he said.

Since taking office in January, President Obama has pursued an ambitious international agenda including a push for peace in the Middle East and negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme.

But critics say he has failed to make breakthroughs. Domestically, mr Obama has been working to tackle an economic crisis and win support for healthcare reform.

Some said they saw the prize as a way of encouraging the US leader early in his presidency.

“It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama’s message of hope,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, a former winner.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the award confirmed “America’s return to the hearts of the people of the world”.

The statement from the Nobel Committee said mr Obama had “created a new climate in international politics”.

“Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play,” it said.

The committee added that the US was now playing a more constructive role in meeting “the great climatic challenges” facing the world, and that democracy and human rights would be strengthened.

Mr Obama is the first US president to win the prize since former US President Jimmy Carter in 2002. Former vice-president Al Gore shared the prize in 2007.

Among earlier US leaders, Theodore Roosevelt won the prize in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won it in 1919.

The Nobel prize was invented by the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel, and was first awarded in 1901.

He designated the parliament in Norway, which at the time was united with Sweden, to elect the peace prize committee. Swedish academies are responsible for other prizes.

The prize-giving ceremony for the peace award is due to take place on 10 December in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

Fox News anchor calls the Obamas’ fist pound ‘a terrorist fist jab.’

Last week, when Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination, he and his wife Michelle exchanged a fist pound greeting before he gave his speech. Teasing an upcoming “body language expert” segment on Friday, Fox News host E.D. Hill referred to the exchange as a possible “terrorist fist jab“:

HILL: A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? the gesture everyone seems to interpret differently. We’ll show you some interesting body communication and find out what it really says.

As Media Matters notes, at no point during the ensuing segment did Hill explain her earlier reference to “a terrorist fist jab.”

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Fox Anchor Calls Obamas’ Fist Pound a “Terrorist Fist Jab”