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Insider Report: Hillary Disavows Her Iraq War Vote Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Hillary Disavows Her Iraq War Vote Sen. Hillary Clinton has for the first time said she would not have voted to authorize the 2002 attack on Iraq if she had known then what she knows now. Previously the likely presidential candidate in 2008 has said that if the Senate had all the information it has today — about Iraq's weapons program and the current difficulties in pacifying the nation, for example — there would never have been a vote on the Senate floor. During a Dec. 18 appearance on NBC's "Today" show, Clinton repeated that refrain. But this time she added: "And I certainly wouldn't have voted that way."
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Clinton's change of heart regarding the war comes as she is facing an increasing threat from Sen. Barack Obama, who as a state official in Illinois, spoke out against the Iraqi invasion as Clinton was voting for it. Two of her other potential presidential rivals, Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards, also voted to authorize the invasion, but then publicly declared they had made a mistake and called for troops withdrawals. As recently as September, when Clinton was asked on ABC's "Nightline" about supporters who wanted her to say she was sorry for voting for the war, Hillary stated: "I don't think that's responsible." And in June, Clinton was actually booed during a Washington appearance when she said it was wrong to set a strict timetable for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Editor's Note:
2. 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Doesn't Work Many U.S. military personnel (nearly one in four) say they know for certain that someone in their unit is gay or lesbian, according to a new Zogby International poll of troops who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. According to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, service members are not allowed to say that they are gay. But of those respondents who said they knew someone in their unit was gay or lesbian, 59 percent said they learned the individual's sexual orientation directly from that person. And more than half of the troops who know a gay peer, 55 percent, said the presence of gays or lesbians in their unit is well known by others. The Zogby poll also included these findings:
Editor's Note: 3. Chess Legend Kasparov Moves to Oust Putin Former chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has set up headquarters in Florida to begin raising funds for his efforts to oust Russian President Vladimir Putin and possibly run for the Russian presidency himself. Kasparov's longtime agent, Owen Williams, told Palm Beach Post columnist Jose Lambiet that Kasparov established a nonprofit organization, Freedom for a Democratic Russia, in a Palm Beach office building. He is launching an English-language Web site to spread the word about "how crooked the current Russian regime is," according to Lambiet. It was widely reported that police on Dec. 13 raided Kasparov's Moscow office searching for "extremist literature." Lambiet writes: "With some Putin opponents turning up poisoned these days, other tenants in the Palm Beach building have grown wary. Some said they've seen guys in dark suits and government cars hanging out, but FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said Thursday she couldn't confirm they were G-men." On Saturday, Dec. 16, Kasparov led an anti-government rally in Moscow calling for free elections next year. About 2,000 took part, but activists said hundreds of others were detained to prevent them from attending. Editor's Note: 4. District Attorney Drops DUI Charge Against Clintonista Drunk driving charges against a Clinton insider have been dropped under curious circumstances more than eight months after her arrest. Suzanne Magaziner is the wife of Ira Magaziner, an adviser to former President Clinton. Ira was the architect of Hillary Clinton's doomed health-care reform effort, and a fund-raiser for Sen. Ted Kennedy and other Democrats in Massachusetts, according to noted talk-radio host Mark Williams, who has devoted airtime to the story. Suzanne was arrested by Massachusetts police on April 4 of this year after she was pulled over for driving erratically and failed a field sobriety test. The arrest took place in Bristol County, neighbor of Duke County, where the district attorney's office slapped Kennedy on the wrist for the Chappaquiddick incident in 1969. On Dec. 15, the Bristol County district attorney's office announced that it was dropping the charges against Susan. A spokesman for the office said: "It wasn't a strong case. I think we were going to lose that one" — even though Susan's breath-alcohol test showed her to be 50 percent over the legal limit and she slurred her speech, according to a police statement reported by the Attleboro (Mass.) Sun Chronicle. Asked if the defendant's background was a factor in dropping the charges, the assistant district attorney who handled the case, Roger Ferris, told the paper only that he was "directed" to drop the charges "based upon the merits of the motions that were filed," although he would not reveal who directed him. On his Web site, Williams — who is also a contributor to Fox News Channel and MSNBC — said he contacted the offices of both Ferris and Bristol County District Attorney Paul Walsh to ask who ordered the case dropped and why, but had not received a reply. Editor's Note: 5. New York Post Picks Up NewsMax's U.N. Report NewsMax's exclusive coverage of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's departure from office has been prominently cited by the New York Post's Page Six, one of the nation's most-read columns. "Among those bitter at Annan are 7,000 members of the U.N. Staff Union in New York," Richard Johnson writes in the lead item of his Dec. 16 column. "He has refused to schedule an official goodbye meeting with them to discuss their concerns, offering to hold only an 'informal encounter in the U.N. cafeteria,' union Vice President Emad Hassanin told NewsMax.com." Page Six was referring to an exclusive Dec. 7 report from NewsMax's U.N. correspondent Stewart Stogel, headlined "Annan Refuses Final Farewell to Staff."
"Earlier this year, [outgoing U.N. Ambassador John] Bolton showed his solidarity with the union by meeting with leaders to discuss reforming the U.N. bureaucracy," the Post also reported. "Later, NewsMax reports, Bolton said he had 'more in common with the staff union than he had with the 38th floor,' where Annan's office is located . . . "Others are mad that Annan reportedly plans to exit his position 11 days early so he can get a jumpstart on his Christmas holiday — a decision that may impact the fate of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah last July. Under terms of a U.N. Security Council-brokered cease-fire, Annan was directed to secure the release of the two Israeli soldiers, NewsMax reports." Editor's Note: 6. Jeb Bush Launches Pro-Ethanol Group Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has made his first major post-gubernatorial commitment, launching the Inter-American Commission on Ethanol with two Latin American associates. Bush joins Roberto Rodrigues, Brazil's former minister of agriculture, and Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, on the commission, which seeks to increase the Western Hemisphere's commitment to ethanol use. Alternative fuels such as ethanol, Bush said, "promise to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, strengthen our national security, spur economic development, and protect the environment," according to the Jacksonville Business Journal. Bush has pushed a "15 by '15" initiative to his brother, President Bush, with the goal of 15 billion gallons of ethanol production in the U.S. by 2015. The U.S. produced about 4.3 billion gallons in 2005. As governor, Bush also heavily promoted the Florida Renewable Energy Technologies & Energy Efficiency Act, which offers up to $6.5 million per year in ethanol plant construction tax credits through 2010. As for his political future after leaving the governor's post, Jeb recently told a group of reporters in Miami: "I have no future." Editor's Note: 7. We Heard . . . THAT the Grinch arrived early at Time Inc. this holiday season — the publishing company axed 27 people just days before Christmas. CEO Ann Moore "once again tossed aside one of the few sacred rules left in corporate America: Do not fire people in the week before Christmas," Keith Kelly declared in the New York Post's Media Ink column. The layoffs came in the firm's consumer-marketing department on Dec. 19. Last year, Moore lowered the boom on 105 employees on Dec. 16. The new cuts bring to 577 the number of people who have been ousted at Time Inc. since this time last year. THAT North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is a big fan of the "Desperate Housewives" TV show. Time magazine reporter Nathan Thornburg told CNN: "It is said that 'Desperate Housewives' DVDs are brought into North Korea for their leader. "Kim is known for his sunglasses and hairstyle, and is known to be a fan of American pop culture." Time reportedly considered Kim for its 2006 Person of the Year award before deciding the give the honor to "You." THAT Hillary Clinton misspoke when she suggested it was time for a "mother" to run for president. In an apparent effort to score points with women — and moms — Clinton said, "We've never had a mother who ever ran for or held that position," referring to the presidency during an appearance on ABC's "The View." Hillary needs to go back to her history books. Victoria Woodhull, a leader of the woman's suffrage movement, ran for president in 1872 after being nominated by the Equal Rights Party. She had two children. THAT a deal is in the works to bring Melanie Morgan's poignant book "American Mourning" to the big screen. Morgan is a popular talk-radio host on KSFO in San Francisco and a leader of the group Move Forward America, the conservative answer to MoveOn.org. Last year she published "American Mourning: The Intimate Story of Two Families Joined by War, Torn by Beliefs," with co-author Catherine Moy. "I am so pleased to announce that Catherine Moy and I have a deal in the works with a Hollywood production company that would turn our book into a major motion picture," Morgan said. The book tells the story of two families who lost sons in Iraq in April 2004. Justin Johnson's father responded to the tragedy by volunteering for an Army National Guard unit earmarked for Iraq. Casey Sheehan's mother responded by becoming a Bush-bashing war protester. "At a time when so many films are coming out of Hollywood with anti-American and anti-military messages," said Morgan, "it would be an honor to be behind a film that celebrates the honor, courage, and dignity of the men and women of the United States military." Editor's Notes:
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