Press Briefing

Aug 17, 2010

The White House Blog - Slowing Large Health Insurance Premium Increases
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/16/slowing-large-health-insurance-premium-increases

Comrade Duch and the Killing Fields - When will justice come to more senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395052402779036.html

The White House Blog - New Battery Technology and New Jobs in Wisconsin
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/16/new-battery-technology-and-new-jobs-wisconsin

Uncle Sam, Venture Capitalist - Meet the battery company that Obama visited yesterday
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433882374313148.html

Japan as Number Three - Beijing's rise, Tokyo's fall and the wealth of nations
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433212314778700.html

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145997.htm

The Future of Housing Finance - We'll never get a rational mortgage system until the government's affordable housing mandates are ended
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425231311880538.html

Press Briefing

Aug 16, 2010

Exploring the Many Facets of Deterrence, by Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/145954.htm

The Fed Can't Solve Our Economic Woes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575418964014417740.html

US Groundbreaking Effort to Provide Emergency Food Assistance to Earthquake Victims in Haiti - Two New Grants Utilize Cash and Food Vouchers to Complement In-Kind Food Aid
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100813.html

Subsidy As a Way of Life - In the U.S. it's 'work, work, work.' A rock drummer in France gets a state stipend.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703960004575427731291231298.html

Presidential Memorandum--Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/12/presidential-memorandum-continuation-us-drug-interdiction-assistance-gov

How Not to Win Hearts and Minds - In a U.N. survey, 52% of Afghans said foreign aid organizations 'are corrupt and are in the country just to get rich.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703999304575399422302747074.html

Press Briefing

Aug 13, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145945.htm

State Sec Clinton On New START Treaty Ratification
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/08/145879.htm

Awlaki vs. Predator - American members of al Qaeda aren't merely criminal suspects. They're active enemy combatants who can be targeted like other terrorists.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704901104575423253031580156.html

Obama Administration Announces Additional Support For Targeted Foreclosure-Prevention Programs To Help Homeowners Struggling with Unemployment
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg823.htm

Georgia and the Limits of Russian Power - Moscow's occupation forces remain in the country, but the future looks bright for Tbilisi
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425090664809722.html

White House: Teaching Our Way to a Stronger Economy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/teaching-our-way-a-stronger-economy

Rosty and Reagan - A lesson in tax reform and bipartisanship
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704407804575425661456858140.html

Are Plastics Making Us Fat? - Health gurus claim chemicals—not calories—are the cause of obesity
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703545604575407201305888876.html

How did Sudan implode so catastrophically?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421901117532376.html

Hezbollah, Radical but Rational
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100811_hezbollah_radical_rational

The Dodd-Frank Bailout is Already Here
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/12/morning-bell-the-dodd-frank-bailout-is-already-here/

Nanostructured Metamaterial Enables Invisibility Cloak, Amplifies Light, Reduces Dramatically Absorption
http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/nanostructured-metamaterial-enables-invisibility-cloak

Press Briefing

Aug 12, 2010

Why Obama Is Still the Favorite in 2012 - Hispanic voters hold the balance of power—and Republicans aren't winning their support
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409300064389276.html

Europe Jumps Off the Keynesian Bus - The economy is looking bright in Britain and Germany after those governments announced plans to reduce spending
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421231390302638.html

Nuclear Reactor Renaissance - Nuclear reactor design is poised for a desperately needed revival. Here are seven contenders.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/nuclear-reactor-renaissance

The White House Blog - Another Step Towards Sustainable Recovery
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/another-step-towards-sustainable-recovery

No Bad Idea Left Behind - Congress turns even a border security bill into a job killer
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575422293810650232.html

Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore a Stimulus Success Story; Project to Add Desperately Needed Highway Capacity
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/caldecott-tunnel-fourth-bore-a-stimulus-success-story-project-add-desperately-needed

Gay Marriage: Leave It to the Voters - I support it as a policy matter, but having the courts mandate it promises trauma of the sort that followed Roe v. Wade
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421223725915454.html

Commerce Secretary: The Cost-Saving Census
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/10/cost-saving-census

Washington vs. Paul Ryan - What happens when a politician is more honest than his critics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419473063003094.html

Press Briefing

Aug 11, 2010

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145860.htm

Washington Post economics columnist Robert Samuelson on avoiding the economic fate of Western Europe
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421721525088464.html

Pakistan's Project of Renewal - The floods are only the latest challenge to hit my country, says President Zardari
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419632502446788.html

The High Costs of Very Low Interest Rates - Money that should be invested to create jobs is instead funding government debt, while worried consumers sit on the sidelines
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405592876165452.html

The Case For Birthright Citizenship - Since the abolition of slavery, we have never denied citizenship to any group of children born in the U.S. Why change now?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421222258065684.html

Urging Iran to Respect the Fundamental Freedoms of its Citizens, by State Sec Hillary Clinton
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/08/145857.htm

Recusal Refusal - NLRB appointee Craig Becker's evolving definition of ethics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421702003156386.html

Discussion on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145855.htm

Quantitative Easing 2 - The Fed revs up the helicopter
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421670983872464.html

Implementation of Iran Sanctions, by Robert J Einhorn, Special Advisor Nonproliferation and Arms Control
http://www.state.gov/t/isn/rls/rm/145348.htm

End of the Net Neut Fetish - What the Google-Verizon deal really means for the wireless future
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421434187090098.html

New START Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC)
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/145830.htm

Stimulus Pushers - The latest bailout for public unions and spendthrift states
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421613093659730.html

Press Briefing

Aug 10, 2010

Karachi's complex culture of violence
http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/08/09/karachis_complex_culture_of_violence

President Obama on Higher Education in Austin: "We Are Not Playing for Second Place"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/09/president-obama-higher-education-austin-we-are-not-playing-second-place

Hillary for Vice President? The movement is gaining traction.
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052748704388504575419421407147424.html

The White House Asks: How do the Women You Know Continue to Break Barriers?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/09/white-house-asks-how-do-women-you-know-continue-break-barriers

Joel Kotkin on California as a "failed state."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419561240207650.html

The Calm Amidst the Smoke - I've never lived in a city where the bizarre is so interwoven into daily routines as in Moscow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419263127245830.html

Statement of President Barack Obama on Secretary Gates Reform Agenda
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/09/statement-president-barack-obama-secretary-gates-reform-agenda

In Lebanon, a Power Struggle and Pitiable Choices - A young prime minister pays court in Syria, while Iran also jockeys for more influence
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575418881692455798.html

The White House Blog - Top 5 Things You Should Know Before Heading Back to College
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/09/top-5-things-you-should-know-heading-back-college

Of CEOs and Congressmen - Private vs. public accountability
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419550839726076.html

Confronting China's Snarl - Beijing's truculence warrants a firm American response
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703309704575413112417865690.html

Compensation in Bell, California - Want $600,000 a year in retirement? Work for the government.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419600042368596.html

The False Fed Savior - Monetary policy can't make up for failed fiscal and regulatory policy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704388504575419231591024478.html

Unlocking The Genetic Secrets Of Autism
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.1903/healthissue_detail.asp

Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145814.htm

Naomi Campbell and the 'Blood Diamond' Hoax - Diamonds aren't a major reason for Africa's conflicts, and the Kimberley Process is no guarantee of a stone's pedigree in any case
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703589404575417460834079500.html

Critical Role of Women in Peace and Security, by Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues
U.S. Institute of Peace, Washington, DC
http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/145786.htm

Building on Iran Sanctions - With the regime under pressure, now is not the time to ease up
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575408872075399544.html

Press Briefing

Aug 09, 2010

Tough new global financial rules are a must
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/08/AR2010080802478.html

Canada, Land of Smaller Government - Its corporate income tax rate is 18% and falling. America's is 35%
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703977004575393221638794924.html

Libertarians: Medicare's chief actuary vs. President Obama on the ObamaCare facts
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703309704575413263344491010.html

White House: The Employment Situation in July
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/06/employment-situation-july

Fairness and the Capital Tax Fetish - No serious economist thinks higher dividend and cap gains taxes are efficient ways to raise revenue. Why not limit deductions for high earners instead?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703700904575391463715177240.html

The Ongoing Administration-Wide Response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill
http://app.restorethegulf.gov/go/doc/2931/840851/

Why I'm Not Hiring - When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409733776372738.html

Will Iraq Fall Victim to the Oil Curse? - The Baghdad government runs a top-down command economy and only pays lip service to private jobs and economic diversification
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703748904575411231275371108.html

John Fund on Medicare's questionable financial condition
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703309704575413491311091442.html

Honoring Elena Kagan
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/06/honoring-elena-kagan

Government and the Uncertainty Trap - It's not a lack of liquidity that's holding back our economy. Investors and business leaders are waiting to learn more about future taxes and regulations.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405302726656506.html

Federal President's Weekly Address: Medicare Officially Safer After Health Reform
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/07/weekly-address-medicare-officially-safer-after-health-reform

The World Drills On - There's no ban in Norway, Brazil, Australia, Canada . . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339290774710032.html

Deutsche CEO: West's Levies on Banks May Lift Asia's Role

Deutsche CEO: West's Levies on Banks May Lift Asia's Role. By ALISON TUDOR And PETER STEIN
WSJ, Jul 18, 2010

HONG KONG — Asia's already rising importance as a profit center for financial services could gain more momentum as governments in the U.S. and Europe levy new taxes on global banking profits, according to Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Josef Ackermann.

"The relative importance of Asia will even increase" as a result of regulatory moves against banks in the West, Dr. Ackermann said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "Asian countries would be well advised not to copy levies which are so popular in many other parts of the world."

The German bank's chief , who has become a prominent voice for bank interests in the wake of the financial crisis and heads the global lobby group Institute of International Finance, was in Hong Kong to attend the listing ceremony Friday for Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.

The levies cumulatively could translate into a substantial hit for lenders with branches in many countries, such as Deutsche Bank, which generates about three-quarters of its revenue outside of its home market, Dr. Ackermann said. Instead, he called for a home bias to the levies because the country of domicile was the one called on most to help out in the banking crisis.

Emerging markets could even take advantage of the backlash against banks in the West to grab market share in financial services, he said. "A lot of governments are determined, including the Chinese, to build up financial hubs at a time when other countries are more skeptical about the financial sector," he said, noting that Turkey and Russia are making similar advances.

Dr. Ackermann also warned that the war for talent in Asia is causing a bubble in bankers' compensation that is detrimental to the industry, even as he hired another rainmaker to keep business flowing.

Late Sunday, Deutsche Bank named Henry Cai its corporate-finance chairman for Asia as well as head of its corporate and investment bank in China. Mr. Cai is known as one of China's most consistent deal makers and is well-connected with the business and political elites in Beijing. He resigned from UBS AG in recent weeks as investment-banking chairman for Asia. It isn't known how much he will be making at Deutsche Bank.

Other senior banking executives in Asia complain that increasing competition for talent in the region is leading to excessive pay packages for bankers working in such areas as mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings. Compensation, a key cost for banks, can cause serious problems for management when one division's or one region's pay is out of kilter with the rest. The buzz over bankers' pay in Asia comes at a time when governments in the U.S. and Europe are seeking to curb excesses that in recent years contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

"If the industry pushes compensation levels up by just poaching people from each other, in the long term it is not a sustainable model and not good for the culture of banks in the region," Dr. Ackermann said.

To combat this problem, Deutsche Bank has started recruiting more Asian graduates with the aim of steeping them in the bank's culture and later returning them to the region to run its businesses.

"It's not a short-term solution. It may take up to five years to see the first successes, but that is what we are working on," said Dr. Ackermann, who was also in Asia to give a speech at an International Monetary Fund conference in South Korea.

Like other banks weighing the prospects of the global economy, Deutsche Bank has made boosting its operations in Asia a top priority. "Europe's slow economic growth and the very competitive environment in the U.S. means Asia is a very attractive market, so it would be unwise not to do everything we can to be part of the market," Dr. Ackermann said.

The German bank is targeting four billion euros ($5.17 billion) in annual revenue from the Asian-Pacific region excluding Japan by next year, about double the amount it generated from the region in 2008.

Deutsche Bank already has a strong foothold, with operations in 17 Asian countries and over 17,000 employees.

Local regulators restrict foreign banks in ways that allow them to earn only about a third of their potential revenues, according to a recent report by consultancy McKinsey & Co., so the banks need to be careful not to compete in the same niches, such as high-profile underwriting deals in financial centers like Hong Kong. Deutsche Bank says only about 5% of its revenue in Asia comes from "public" deals such as initial public offerings.

One such deal that Deutsche Bank was involved in was the IPO for AgBank, which began trading Friday in Hong Kong. Clients like AgBank and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., which Deutsche Bank also helped take public four years ago, are potential competitors as their business grows in scope and sophistication.

"I have no doubt [China's banks] want to first strengthen their domestic operations by moving towards more fee income then expand internationally gradually," Dr. Ackermann said. "We will also be confronted with stronger competitors coming from China."

Somali Militant Group Built Training Camps, al Qaeda Links

Somali Militant Group Built Training Camps, al Qaeda Links. By WILL CONNORS in Kampala, Uganda, SIOBHAN GORMAN in Washington, D.C., and SARAH CHILDRESS
WSJ, Jul 17, 2010

The terror group behind last weekend's deadly Uganda blasts recruited a local man to coordinate the attacks and received funds from al Qaeda, say investigators, as it extends its reach beyond lawless Somalia.

Al Shabaab, the Somalia-based group that has claimed responsibility for July 11's triple suicide blasts that killed 76 people in Uganda's capital, Kampala, has in recent months built up Pakistan-style terror training camps. One top leader, Sheikh Muktar Robow, has helped to transform the group from a local insurgency into a global jihadist organization modeled on, and swearing allegiance to, al Qaeda.

That picture of the group, and its development under Mr. Robow, emerged from interviews with Ugandan, Kenyan and U.S. investigators; current and former U.S. intelligence officials; and Somalis, including a member of the militant group.

A U.S. intelligence official said information gleaned from militant communications shows links between al Shabaab and al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Yemen. U.S. officials also see evidence of overlap in training and membership and say their working assumption is that al Shabaab has several hundred core members, similar to the numbers in al Qaeda in Pakistan and in al Qaeda's Yemeni outpost.

Intelligence officials say they believe al Qaeda is using the Somali group as a symbiotic host body, allowing its operatives access to other African countries. "As much as we're looking at al Shabaab, they are riding on the back of a more experienced player," said Col. Herbert Mbonye, the director of counterterrorism for Uganda's military intelligence body.

That relationship has raised red flags at U.S. intelligence agencies. In the past 18 months, militant training camps have emerged in Somalia similar to those that developed in Pakistan's tribal areas, a U.S. intelligence official said. Intelligence officials are now following about two dozen individuals from the U.S. and other Western countries who may have been affiliated with al Shabaab, or gone through these camps.

"It's quite an alarming story," the U.S. intelligence official said.

Al Shabaab's relationship with al Qaeda appears to have been cultivated in part by Mr. Robow, a top commander. Also known as Abu Mansur, he is among the U.S. government's most wanted terrorists.

Mr. Robow offered a warning of sorts ahead of Sunday's blasts, which hit a restaurant and a sports club where people had gathered to watch the final match of the World Cup. Speaking during a public address at Friday prayers earlier this month, Mr. Robow called for attacks against countries that had sent some 6,000 troops under African Union auspices to support the Somali government's offensive against al Shabaab. "We tell the Muslim youths and Mujahedeen, wherever they are in the Muslim world, to attack, explode and burn the embassies of Burundi and Uganda," Mr. Robow said, according to local media reports.

Mr. Robow grew up in southern Mogadishu as a devoted student of the Quran, according to public speeches he has made. He studied law at the University of Khartoum in Sudan, and then returned to Mogadishu to teach Arabic for several years. He is about 40, U.S. officials believe, based on a birth date on an Eritrean passport he used.

In 2000, Mr. Robow traveled to Afghanistan to train with the Taliban and al Qaeda, which used the strife-torn South Asian country to plot the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. In Afghanistan, Mr. Robow learned to fight, fire a sniper rifle and conceal roadside bombs, an al Shabaab official in Somalia said. He stayed less than a year, leaving before U.S.-led forces swept into Afghanistan.

Back in Somalia, Mr. Robow became a member of the Union of Islamic Courts, which aimed to establish strict Shariah law in the country, which had been largely lawless for a decade. The group came to power in 2006. Mr. Robow helped to establish an Islamist government and founded al Shabaab, a youth brigade that would serve as the union's armed wing.

The Islamist government soon collapsed. Al Shabaab endured. Mr. Robow, a skilled orator, became an al Shabaab spokesman and eventually deputy commander.

Al Shabaab, which controls vast territory in Somalia, has been engaged in a running battle with Somalia's transitional federal government. The group has pinned the government to a strip of the capital, Mogadishu, and largely prevented officials and parliament from meeting.

Beyond his ambition to overthrow Somalia's government, Mr. Robow has advocated linking the group's ambitions to global jihad. Through media interviews and in videos posted online, he sought to attract fighters in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Iraq, largely because foreign recruits could replenish al Shabaab's ranks and aid its finances. In a 2008 interview, he lamented that there "are not enough non-Somali brothers."

The same year, the U.S. Treasury Department declared al Shabaab a terrorist group and named Mr. Robow its "spiritual leader." Mr. Robow later released a statement saying the group was "honored" to be included on the list but expressed disappointment al Shabaab wasn't ranked higher.

Senior U.S. administration officials said some foreign fighters who answered Mr. Robow's calls—some of whom have "close links" with al Qaeda—came with experience, funding and the agenda of establishing Somalia as a base from which to attack Western targets.

The foreigners also brought new tactics. Roadside bombs and suicide blasts, once unheard-of in Somalia, are now part of al Shabaab's armory. The group's commanders have banned dancing, mustaches and, most recently, watching World Cup games on television. Fighters punish offenders with floggings or public amputations.

On Wednesday, armed al Shabaab fighters drove through towns in southern Somalia, blaring a warning to residents through megaphones mounted on their vehicles, according to witnesses contacted by telephone. "You must collaborate with [us] and allow your sons to fight the enemy of Allah," Abu Maryama, a senior al Shabaab official told crowds in the southwestern town of Baidoa. "If you pay no heed to this …you will be considered as another enemy and face punishment."

Harsh retribution and indiscriminate deaths have sapped public support for the group, and created rifts within it. Mr. Robow has been caught between those who want to focus the insurgency in Somali—and retain a measure of popular support— and the global jihadists who don't care about local backing, according the al Shabaab colleague. Mr. Robow, a Somali who has long opposed foreign intervention in his country, may not be considered radical enough for the new agenda, according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels based think tank.In the Uganda attack, the group's two factions apparently found middle ground.

The blasts have presented U.S. officials with a quandary. They see a need to step up support and involvement in the region, but they haven't determined the best course. "Violence always breeds urgency," the U.S. intelligence official said. "The question is: What [to do]?" The U.S. has been tracking al Shabaab and al Qaeda in Somalia for years, officials say. The Central Intelligence Agency works with military special forces units to collect intelligence and pinpoint targets, a former senior intelligence official said. The U.S. also works closely with the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments on counterterrorism operations.

Those efforts have grown in recent years as U.S. officials discovered as many as 20 Americans from Minnesota making their way to Somalia, including one who was determined to have been among five suicide bombers in an October 2008 attack in northern Somalia.

The intelligence-gathering paid off last year when U.S. Special Forces killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a top operative linked to both al Qaeda and al Shabaab who was believed to be linked to 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

But U.S. Special Forces units and intelligence officials have been grappling with a broader response to the growing terror threat from Somalia. Calling in airstrikes could fuel retaliatory measures against a weak Somali government. It could also stir up anti-U.S. sentiment that would advance the group's agenda, said the U.S. intelligence official.

"If you strike a camp, it makes you feel good, but what do you do the next day?" the official said. "You don't effectively eliminate the threat."

On Thursday, an al Shabaab leader underscored that point, delivering a message on the radio in Mogadishu congratulating what he called the Martyr Saleh Nabhan Brigade for the Kampala attacks.

Intelligence agencies have warned about al Shabaab's growing ambition to attack other countries—particularly Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya—as well as the West, the U.S. intelligence official said.U.S. intelligence hadn't picked up many direct threats against Uganda, but there has been a general concern about attacks targeting countries that supply troops to A.U. forces.

Investigators in Uganda say they are questioning a Ugandan man, Ali Isa Ssenkumba, who they say has confessed to helping plan the attacks.

Mr. Ssenkumba, who is in his late thirties and hails from a farming community outside Kampala, told investigators he was recruited by Somali men who persuaded him that he could have success in business in Somalia, according to a Ugandan military official close to the investigation.

Posing as a businessman, Mr. Ssenkumba made frequent trips to Somalia, where he attended an al Shabaab training camp, the Ugandan official said. Mr. Ssenkumba told investigators many other Ugandans are at al Shabaab's Somalia training facilities.

This person says Mr. Ssenkumba become familiar with guards at the borders between Uganda and Sudan and Uganda and Kenya, and received money and coordinated logistics for roughly two dozen al Shabaab members in Uganda who are suspected of plotting the triple suicide blast. Mr. Ssenkumba said, and investigators say they separately determined, that the attack was partially funded by informal money transfers from al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Police in Kenya said they arrested Mr. Ssenkumba last week, before the attack, and handed him over to Ugandan investigators Tuesday, after the bombings.

According to Nicholas Kamwende, the commanding officer of Kenya's anti-terrorism police unit, Mr. Ssenkumba walked up to an immigration officer on the Kenya-Somalia border some time before the Kampala attacks and turned himself in.

"He said he didn't want to stay any longer with al Shabaab, that he wanted to go home," Mr. Kamwende said. "We didn't have anything to hold him on and we thought the Ugandans would be in a better position to exploit what he knew."

Mr. Ssenkumba wasn't made available to comment and it wasn't immediately apparent whether he was represented by a lawyer. Neither Mr. Kamwende nor Ugandan officials would say whether Mr. Ssenkumba provided information before the impending attack. Ugandan officials say Mr. Ssenkumba didn't turn himself in voluntarily.

—Nicholas Baryio in Kampala and Keith Johnson in Washington contributed to this article.

Press Briefing

Jul 16, 2010

We Need an Einstein Immigration Policy - When Americans see the benefits of a 'brain gain,' they'll view newcomers more favorably
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111704575355330311370068.html

Al Qaeda Goes Viral - The terrorists' latest recruiting device: an English language Internet magazine
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575363492443581352.html

The Natural Gas Revolution - Experts are so focused on analyzing the BP spill that they're overlooking the next big thing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704103904575337140742410702.html

Diplomacy Briefing Series: Sudan and sub-Saharan Africa. By Tim Shortley, Deputy to the Special Envoy to Sudan
http://www.state.gov/s/sudan/rem/2010/144664.htm

The Uncertainty Principle—II - Only 30 times more complicated than Sarbanes-Oxley
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369402612040086.html

The Yo-Yo Market and You - The stock market will suffer dizzy spells until the fog of monetary policy uncertainty is lifted
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703792704575366642167190202.html

Avandia on Trial - An FDA review panel shows more wisdom than the drug's critics
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369232879016248.html

Welcome for South Asian Seeds of Peace Participants, by Judith A. McHale, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
http://www.state.gov/r/remarks/144666.htm

Youth Has Outlived Its Usefulness - American politics is desperately in need of adult supervision
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369513252243680.html

Agent Orange in Vietnam: Recent Developments In Remediation. By Matthew Palmer, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment Committee on Foreign Affairs
http://www.state.gov/p/eap/rls/rm/2010/07/144702.htm

How to Liberate the NHS - Andrew Lansley's plan to break the bureaucracy of th National Health Service is bold, but risky
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575368823492682634.html

How Do International Financial Flows to Developing Countries Respond to Natural Disasters?
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24050.0

Europe has implemented Feed-In Tariffs. Shouldn’t We Learn from their Experience?
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/07/15/shouldn%E2%80%99t-we-learn-from-europe/

From the Lisbon Treaty to the Eurozone Crisis: A New Beginning or the Unraveling of Europe?
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2010/0602_cuse_conference.aspx

Why Can't We Fire Failed Financial Regulators?
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11969

Thinking outside the box to avoid a double-dip recession
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071405031.html

Why the Obama Stimulus Failed
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/07/15/morning-bell-why-the-obama-stimulus-failed

CBO’s Economic Forecasting Record: 2010 Update
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/115xx/doc11553/ForecastingAccuracy.pdf

Press Briefing

Jul 15, 2010

PEPFAR Programs in Uganda: An Update
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/update_pepfar_uganda

New Hope For Alzheimer's Disease
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1636/news_detail.asp

New Delhi Will Deploy Resources In Fight Against Marxist Insurgents
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703792704575366463084633640.html

Progress Report on Cybersecurity
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/14/progress-report-cybersecurity

How Can the International Community Maximize Human Rights Within Public Health Practices?
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/q_health_human_rights

Obama's School Reforms Are a Priority - Congress shouldn't divert the funds the president needs to improve public education. By J Klein, chancellor of New York City schools; M Lomax, president and chief executive of the United Negro College Fund; J Murguía, president and chief executive of the National Council of La Raza. They are co-chairs of the Board of the Education Equality Project.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704075604575356711939305970.html

A Chicago-Style Peace Disturber - 'Community organizer' Saul Alinsky lumped politicians in with gangsters
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518904575365182312206078.html

Cultivating a Federal Workforce that Reflects the Diversity of the American People
http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/workforce_diversity

The Air Force Needs a Serious Upgrade - Here are five steps to ensure that the U.S. remains the dominant force in the sky
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703571704575341363579338610.html

The White House Blog: Prevention is a Priority -- Now It's a Reality
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/14/prevention-a-priority-now-its-a-reality

A Bill Lerach Tax Cut - Treasury mulls a break for contingency fee lawsuits
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704220704575367133749523548.html

Federal civil servants - Preparing for Afghanistan: Training in Muscatatuck
http://blogs.state.gov/ap/index.php/site/entry/training_muscatatuck

Three Million Imaginary Jobs - The White House says the stimulus worked beyond even its hopes. Seriously.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703394204575367421573463984.html

The U.S.-South Korea Alliance: Outdated, Unnecessary, and Dangerous
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11965

Speaking Up for American Capitalism - Business has taken a pounding on Capitol Hill and at the White House and for the most part has remained silent. It's time to make our case.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518904575365161631063340.html

Budget Consolidation: Short-Term Pain and Long-Term Gain. IMF Staff Study
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=24044.0

Rove: My Biggest Mistake in the White House - Failing to refute charges that Bush lied us into war has hurt our country
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518904575365793062101552.html

Remarks to Members of the U.S. Delegation to the New START Negotiations and Nuclear Posture Review Department Staff. By State Sec Clinton, Ellen Tauscher,    Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, and Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation. Dean Acheson Auditorium, Washington, DC
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/07/144577.htm

New START: Beyond the Rhetoric
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/07/New-START-Beyond-the-Rhetoric

Press Briefing

Jul 14, 2010

Notable & Quotable: John Fund explores whether the illegal votes of felons determined the outcome of the 2008 Minnesota Senate election
WSJ, Jul 14, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518904575365340434975952.html

Did illegal felon voters determine the outcome of the critical 2008 Minnesota Senate election? The day after the election, GOP Senator Norm Coleman had a 725 vote lead, but a series of recounts over the next six months reversed that result and gave Democrat Al Franken a 312 vote victory.

The outcome wound up having a significant impact, giving Democrats the critical 60th Senate vote they needed to block GOP filibusters. Mr. Franken's vote proved crucial in the passage of ObamaCare last December in the Senate. . . .

Ever since Mr. Franken was declared the victor, the conservative watchdog group Minnesota Majority has combed through records comparing lists of those who voted with criminal rap sheets. It found that at least 289 convicted felons voted in Minneapolis's Hennepin County, the state's largest, and another 52 voted illegally in St. Paul's Ramsey County, the state's second largest. Dan McGrath, head of Minnesota Majority, says that only conclusive matches were included in the group's totals. The number of felons voting in those two counties alone exceeds Mr. Franken's victory margin. . . .

Minnesota Majority says it has been "stonewalled" by Hennepin County officials to whom it presented its findings. But in neighboring Ramsey County, Phil Carruthers of the local District Attorney's office says he takes the charges "very seriously" and found that Minnesota Majority "had done a good job in their review." His office has asked for 15 investigators to be hired to pursue the information. "So far we have charged 28 people with felonies, have 17 more under review and have 182 cases still open," he said.


The White House Blog - Wall Street Reform: Final Votes Approach
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/13/wall-street-reform-final-votes-approach

Real Government Efficiency - When a liberal pundit fawns over China's global-warming policies, one sees the Hobbesian within
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518904575365090478493142.html

The Taliban War on Women Continues - When 22-year-old Hossai was told to quit her job by the Taliban, she refused to be bullied. She was shot and killed.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575362980304254578.html

The Failure of the Live Aid Model. By JOHN-CLARK LEVIN
Better government is the key to preventing famine.
WSJ, Jul 14, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575363400690371326.html

Twenty-five years ago yesterday, rock stars and charity organizers from both sides of the Atlantic came together for an unprecedented fund-raising event. Simultaneous concerts at London's Wembley Stadium and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia were joined via satellite linkup for a global television audience. Ethiopians were suffering from dire famine, and promotional posters proclaimed this would be "The day the music changed the world." They called it Live Aid.

In monetary terms, the event was considerably more successful than expected, raising £150 million ($283 million). There was an extended round of global self-congratulation and a knighthood for organizer Bob Geldof. More than ever, the attention of the world was focused on the famine and poverty afflicting Africa.

Yet despite the massive financial outpouring, the raised awareness and the cultural impact, Live Aid must be considered a failure.

Recently released CIA documents from 1985 (and a subsequent BBC investigation) suggest that so much of the money went to arms instead of food that it may have prolonged and deepened Ethiopia's humanitarian catastrophe. Live Aid also focused the developed world on a flawed approach to charity that ignores the governmental causes of Africa's misery.

Seven years later, the United Nations pledged to relieve the serious famine in Somalia brought on by its civil war. The U.N.'s first mission in 1992 was purely humanitarian—providing food, medicine and other vital supplies to a population in critical danger of starvation. Yet the country was so thoroughly in the grip of chaos that 80% of the food aid was stolen. Much of the remainder was unable to pass through the ruined Somali infrastructure to reach those who needed it.

It was not until a U.S.-led military mission was sent to restore order by force that the aid finally started getting through. The famine soon abated, and the conflict subsided considerably—until American forces pulled out after suffering 19 casualties in the Battle of Mogadishu the following year. Since the final withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers in 1995, Somalia has known nothing but hunger, disease, anarchy and now piracy.

By contrast, when severe drought struck the Horn of Africa in 2006, Kenya and Ethiopia—with their relatively stable governments—were able to cope. They faced less serious food shortages than lawless Somalia, and what aid they did require from the U.N. and international relief agencies usually reached their people successfully. The easing of food shortages in the Congo in the past five years can similarly be attributed to the stability that came with the end of the region's six-year war. The quarter-century since Live Aid has borne out irrefutably that famine and poverty cannot be solved with charity alone. We can only stop them by putting an end to corruption and instability.

Even singer-turned-humanitarian Bono has conceded that these structural issues are the heart of the problem. He told NBC's "Meet the Press" in 2005, "This is the number one problem facing Africa, corruption; not natural calamity, not the AIDS virus. This is the number one issue and there's no way around it . . . So no one is talking about aid in the old sense . . . It makes matters worse, not better." Yet less than a week after that interview, Bono headlined a massive rehash of Live Aid called Live 8.

Although Live 8 branded itself as a new, "smarter" approach to charitable giving, the event shared the same misunderstanding of Africa's problems with its 1985 predecessor. The rockers and celebrities who turned out for Live 8 made high-minded calls for debt relief, monetary aid increases and trade renegotiation.

The U.N. recently announced an aid package for famine-stricken and unstable Niger. Sadly, there's little reason to think aid alone will do more good here than it has in other troubled lands over the past 25 years.

Mr. Levin, winner of the 2010 Eric Breindel Collegiate Journalism Award, is an intern at the Journal this summer.



President Obama Announces a New OMB Director: Jacob Lew
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/13/president-obama-announces-a-new-omb-director-jacob-lew

Victor Cha: North Korea ‘A Real Dilemma’
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/news-center/east-west-wire/victor-cha-north-korea-a-real-dilemma/

Remarks by the President on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-national-hivaids-strategy

Iran and the Missile Defense Imperative - U.S. intelligence now sees Tehran developing intercontinental missiles by 2015. If we continue our current strategy, we will not be able to counter the threat.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575362840121771862.html


Special Briefing On Upcoming Kabul Conference, by Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
http://www.state.gov/s/special_rep_afghanistan_pakistan/2010/144537.htm

A Welcome Veto Threat - The White House takes on the left over education
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704518904575365144086073072.html

State Dept Spokesman: Iranian Scientist Shahram Amiri (Taken Question)
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/07/144541.htm

The White House’s Continuing War on Affordable Energy
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/07/12/the-white-houses-continuing-war-on-affordable-energy/

The Uncertainty Principle - Dodd-Frank will require at least 243 new federal rule-makings
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575363162664835780.html

Journalism Needs Government Help - Media budgets have been decimated as the Internet facilitates a communications revolution. More public funding for news-gathering is the answer
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575324782605510168.html

Shareholders of large, publicly traded banks have a higher appetite for risk than is compatible with our regulatory system
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704288204575363231856250218.html

Obama Needs to Change Budget Dialogue Along with Budget Director
http://progressive.org/radio13july10.html

Obamacare’s Exploding Medicaid Costs
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/07/07/side-effects-obamacares-exploding-medicaid-costs

How Inequality Fueled the Crisis, by Raghuram Rajan
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rajan7/English

One State/Two States: Rethinking Israel and Palestine
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=3254

U.S. National Space Policy. By Frank A. Rose, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Verification, Compliance, & Implementation. Conference on Disarmament, Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/144493.htm

The Obama Tax and Spend Threat to Economic Recovery
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/07/13/morning-bell-the-obama-tax-and-spend-threat-to-economic-recovery

The determinants of cross-border bank flows to emerging markets: new empirical evidence on the spread of financial crises, by Sabine Herrmann and Dubravko Mihaljek. BIS Working Papers No 315
http://www.bis.org/publ/work315.htm

Chris Matthews: What Percentage of Republicans Would You Put In the 'Nut Bag?'
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2010/07/12/matthews-democrat-what-percentage-republicans-would-you-put-nut-ba