Americans Stand with Israel

Friday, September 27, 2013

Afghanistan Says It Needs U.S. Troops to Battle the Taliban

U.S. troops went to Afghanistan to battle al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden in retaliation for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Now, 12 years later, will they stay to battle the Taliban?

During his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday, President Obama said the core of al Qaeda – the terror group that U.S. and NATO troops have been battling for more than a decade – has been dismantled. Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul said he agrees with that assessment, but his country still needs help battling the Taliban.
“[The] Taliban is not powerful enough in Afghanistan, but they continue to disturb our security,” Rassoui told CNN’s Situation Room on Thursday. “One thing that we're focusing on now is the peace process to convince those in Taliban to come to the peace process, join Afghanistan and stop fighting.”

On Monday, a Taliban ambush on a border post in southern Afghanistan killed 11 police officers. And earlier this month, Taliban militants used car bombs to attack a U.S. consulate in western Afghanistan, killing two Afghans and wounding 17 other Afghans.

The remaining 60,000 U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014, but both sides are still trying to hammer out a deal to keep a small number behind to continue to train and advise the Afghan army and police. At issue is whether those troops would be immune from prosecution under Afghan law while they remain in the country – the same issue that derailed an agreement to leave U.S. troops behind in Iraq.

“The transition of the security has been fairly finished. The third phase has started. We need not a sudden disruption of the security. By the time our security forces are fighting and replacing the NATO forces, we need their training and equipping the Afghan security force,” Rassoui said. “We're in discussions with United States on a security agreement to which a number, a limited number of United States forces and also other NATO forces would stay in Afghanistan.”

Rassoui said he believes that about 10,000 U.S. and NATO troops would stay past 2014, about the same number that top U.S. generals have been floating. But the two sides have yet to be able to sign a Bilateral Security Agreement that sets out immunity and other conditions. U.S. officials ideally would like that agreement in place before next spring’s presidential elections to replace Hamid Karzai. Rassoui is a top candidate to run for the nation’s highest office, but he said he hasn’t yet decided.

Still, as negotiations continue, Rassoui said Afghan-U.S. relations are “solid.”

Deal reached on U.N. resolution on Syria weapons

MILITARY TIMES
September 27, 3013

UNITED NATIONS — The inspectors responsible for tracking down Syria’s chemical arms stockpile and verifying its destruction plan to start work in Syria by Tuesday. They will face their tightest deadlines ever and work right in the heart of a war zone, according to a draft decision obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The decision is the key to any U.N. resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons program.The five permanent members of the deeply divided U.N. Security Council reached agreement Thursday on a resolution to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, British and U.S. diplomats said, and the full council was set to discuss it Thursday night.

The agreement represents a major breakthrough in addressing the 2 ½-year conflict, which has killed more than 100,000 people.

Divisions among the permanent members have paralyzed council action on Syria since the conflict began.

U.N. diplomats said this resolution would be the first legally binding one on Syria in the conflict if adopted, which now appears virtually certain.

Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, tweeted that Britain, France, the U.S., Russia and China had agreed on a “binding and enforceable draft ... resolution.”

He said Britain would introduce the text to the 10 other council members Thursday night.

Friday, September 27th: The Beauty of Israel (Music Video)

Bee's note: This morning, I would like to share more beauty of Israel. All photos are from my friend, Kol Yehuda - Hanoch's Israel:

The lower portion of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) in on the left, the Jordan Valley begins on the right. The mountains in the background? On the left is the beginning of the Golan, and on the right - the mountains of Gilead; in what is today, Jordan

This is a view from Yodfat, the town that Josephus made famous during the Great Revolt against the Romans (I'll write more about that next week) - I thought it provided an interesting contrast in colors

הַמַּלְאָךְ הַגֹּאֵל אֹתִי מִכָּל רָע יְבָרֵךְ אֶת הַנְּעָרִים וְיִקָּרֵא בָהֶם שְׁמִי וְשֵׁם אֲבֹתַי אַבְרָהָם וְיִצְחָק וְיִדְגּוּ לָרֹב בְּקֶרֶב הָאָרֶץ: (מ"ח, ט"ז)
may the angel who redeemed me from all harm bless the youths, and may they be called by my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and may they multiply abundantly like fish, in the midst of the land."
Genesis 48, 17

Hanoch YoungOptions for this story
Shabbat starts within the hour, and this week, it is Parshat Bereishit - the very first portion in the annual cycle of reading the Torah. The translation of the first word (in English it becomes 3 words) is: "In the beginning..." And that is the way we should look at it - not just to BEGIN reading the entire Torah again, but to truly BEGIN, all over again - in all areas of life.

It is a chance to 'RETURN' or 'RESTART' - for us to 'RENEW' both ourselves, and our mission(s) in life. Yes, a chance to focus, or refocus, to determine our priorities, for us to concentrate on what is truly important and meaningful.

Let us not waste this chance to 'Begin' - and let's make it a fresh 'BEGINNING' - for this Shabbat, for now, for the rest of the year, for the rest of our lives....it is up to us - we've been given (another) fresh start - let's make the most of it!

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom from the Chosen Land

I think that the decorations on this home are pretty subtle, don't you?

NEIL CAVUTO CRUSHES OBAMA OVER LATEST ATTACK AGAINST FOX NEWS

TPNN
Posted 09.26.13 by Matthew Burke, TPNN News Editor

Neil Cavuto - Fox News

Neil Cavuto responded today, in a powerful opening statement, to Obama’s latest attack against the First Amendment and freedom of the press. Obama, fresh from using the NSA to spy on the Associated Press and James Rosen, a FOX News reporter, is back to attacking one of his favorite targets, FOX News, the only major network who doesn’t completely work for the Obama regime. Watch below (followed by text) to see Cavuto’s response:

NEIL CAVUTO: This just in. This has just got to stop:

Iran's foreign minister buys at least another year for nuclear program

WORLD JEWISH DAILY
8:39 AM on Friday, September 27, 2013 - Tishrei 23, 5774

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appears to have succeeded in buying significant time for Iran to continue its nuclear program.

The Times of Israel reported Friday that following a meeting between Zarif and several top diplomats, including a sidebar with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the foreign minister stated,

We agreed to jump-start the process so that we could move forward with a view to agreeing first on the parameters of the end game… and move toward finalizing it hopefully within a year’s time.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran is, at best, half a year away from enriching enough uranium to build a nuclear weapons. He has said that he will not allow the Iranian nuclear program to continue beyond this point.

It seems, then, that Iran's recent charm offensive has succeeded in buying the country enough time to achieve nuclear capability, should it choose to do so. Buy spinning this as a "jump-start," Zarif has positioned this to look like a concession on Iran's part - an intelligent if dishonest move.

Thus far, Iran appears to have achieved what it set out to do when it embarked on its current diplomatic push, combined with an intense propaganda campaign by President Hassan Rouhani.

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http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/years-delay.php

UNBELIEVABLE: OBAMA’S IRS MISPLACES $67 MILLION FROM SLUSH FUND

Bee's note: "Brother, can you spare a dime?" Add the "slush fund" and missing IRS money to the Washington, DC "phony" scandal's ongoing list.
"this is the same IRS that has been stonewalling Congress in revealing who is responsible for the IRS targeting of conservative and Tea Party organizations." ....

Posted 09.26.13 by Greg Campbell,

TPNN Political Analyst

Don’t you just hate it when you go to pay for a cup of coffee only to discover that you have somehow misplaced that $10 bill you thought you had in your pocket?

The IRS, who has been charged with the task of overseeing the enforcement of Obamacare, has done exactly that. Only it’s not a $10 bill; it’s $67 million they have misplaced.

In April of 2012, the Obama Administration shifted half a billion dollars from the DHS to the IRS to disguise the fact that the IRS had run out the necessary funds to enforce the Obamacare mandates that were not even in effect. The Obama Administration set up this slush fund for the IRS to dip from to offset their costs, but have, somehow, been unable to account for $67 million that appears to have been siphoned off bit-by-bit.

A U.S. treasury report outlines the larceny. According to Americans for Tax Reform,

The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today.

The “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law. The fund, totaling some $1 billion of taxpayer money, was used to roll out enforcement mechanisms for the approximately 50 tax provisions of Obamacare.

According to the report: “Specifically, the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify approximately $67 million [from the slush fund] of indirect ACA costs incurred for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2012.”

The report also found several other abuses of taxpayer funds, including:

Travel abuse: The report states, “Specifically, we identified 38 IRS employees in two judgmentally selected business units whose travel was charged to the HIRIF in FY 2012, but no portion of their salary and related benefits was charged to the HIRIF.” In short, the IRS was not making sure that employee travel reimbursements had anything to do with the purpose of the fund. This is not the first time that IRS employee travel has created a scandal for the agency.

1,272 IRS Obamacare enforcement agents: The report estimates that total slush fund spending cost taxpayers the equivalent of 1,272 new full time IRS agents.

The IRS requested an additional 859 IRS Obamacare enforcement agents for Fiscal Year 2013: According to the report, “The IRS informed us that it requested $360 million and 859 FTEs for FY 2013 to continue implementation of the ACA. However, the IRS did not receive this requested amount for FY 2013.”

The IRS has claimed that they will cooperate with the investigation into the missing money, but as the money has already been spent, it’s unlikely that any remedy can be sought. Further, this is the same IRS that has been stonewalling Congress in revealing who is responsible for the IRS targeting of conservative and Tea Party organizations.

The recent revelation concerning the IRS’ misuse of $67 million is seething with irony. This is the same organization that has been entrusted with the task of responsibly enforcing Obamacare mandates. Further, as a tax-collecting organization that relies on accurate accounting, it’s ironic that they would misplace $67 million.

If any American citizen misplaced a significant amount of money and omitted it from their tax filings, would the IRS just shrug it off as an innocent mistake? Doubtful.

http://www.tpnn.com/unbelievable-obamas-irs-misplaces-67-million-from-slush-fund/

CNN and Rouhani Fever

Bee's note: ... Love of the Land has posted the best reason why we "blog" - to keep the Media honest!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
LOVE OF THE LAND

As news organizations blatantly mischaracterize statements recently made by Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, a number of Farsi-speakers challenge CNN's account of his supposed "acknowledgment" of the Holocaust.

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA Media Analyses..
26 September '13..

It is hard to imagine what would compel a serious journalist to sit at her laptop after Hassan Rouhani delivered his speech at the United Nations yesterday and type the phrase, "The Iranian president's first speech to world leaders was absent anti-Israel rhetoric."

When the Associated Press's national security reporter Lara Jakes wrote this passage, the Iranian president had just finished telling the General Assembly that Israel is guilty of "brutal repression," "structural violence," and "institutionalized aggression" against innocents, to the extent, Rouhani insisted, that "apartheid" is not a strong enough descriptor.

The anti-Israel rhetoric was clearly present.

It is also hard to imagine why a sober reporter would view Rouhani's interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour and claim that Rouhani proffered "frank acknowledgment and condemnation of the Holocaust." Even according to the most sympathetic translation, Rouhani had responded to Amanpour's question about the Holocaust by insisting, clearly and repeatedly, that he couldn't comment on the "dimensions" of Nazi atrocities against the Jews because he is not a historian. In other words, the Nazis did something bad, but he doesn't quite know what it was.

That prompted Marc Tracy to make the following analogy:

Imagine that a company or some other kind of organization with a history of believing that the world is flat appoints a new CEO who is more open to alternative beliefs about the shape of the world. "The world is not flat," he says. But he doesn't then say: "In fact, the world is a globe with a circumference of 24,901 miles." He says: "I don't know whether it is a globe. Maybe it is. Or maybe it is curved. Maybe it is jagged, like one of its many mountain ranges. Maybe it dips, like a crater. Maybe it is a series of steps hurtling through the cosmos. I am not qualified to judge."

Tracy's takeaway: You wouldn't say this person's view conforms to the known facts about the earth — and you can't say that Rouhani acknowledged the Holocaust. "It is Holocaust denial," he bluntly concluded.

Chemi Shalev noted that, according to the criteria laid out by the Holocaust History Project, "Rohani might still be considered a Holocaust-denier, albeit a much smoother one than Ahmadinejad."

And Michael Moynihan likewise concluded, "Using the definition accepted by mainstream scholars of Nazism, Rouhani is a moderate Holocaust denier."

But to New York Times reporters Mark Landler and Thomas Erdbrink, the Iranian president's rhetoric amounted to "frank acknowledgment."

There is something terribly unhealthy in journalism when reporters from two of the most prominent American news organizations feel comfortable seeing something but reporting the exact opposite. In the space between Rouhani's mouth and the journalists' pens, a powerful, distorting force managed to neutralize, and then replace, journalistic ethics and concern for the facts.

But at least in the cases of AP and The New York Times, public attention caused some slight improvement in the condition. CAMERA prompted the Associated Press to amend its copy by removing the claim that Rouhani's speech was "absent anti-Israel" and instead asserting the Iranian president "toned down" his language. It was a needed step away from a blatant falsehood. And perhaps as a result of negative attention directed at the New York Times on Twitter, the newspaper quietly changed the phrase "frank acknowledgment" of the Holocaust to merely "acknowledgment," thus turning a frankly terrible description into a merely terrible one.

Many other reporters at many other organizations seem to have caught Rouhani fever. But the main source of the contagion seems to be CNN. And they have a bad case.

A story on Amanpour's blog, which included an excerpt of the Rouhani interview with an English voice over, is titled "Iran's new president: Yes, the Holocaust happened." According to the voice over, Rouhani told Amanpour:

I've said before that I am not a historian and that when it comes to speaking the dimensions of the Holocaust, it is the historians that should reflect on it. But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews, is reprehensible and condemnable. Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn.

But Iran's Fars News Agency quickly cried foul. They insisted CNN mistranslated Rouhani, elaborating that the president never referred to the Holocaust but rather "historical events." Furthermore, they claimed, CNN inserted the word "reprehensible" although Rouhani said no such thing.

But CNN stood by its translation. An unnamed CNN source apparently told the Washington Free Beacon that it did not mistranslate the comments. And the morning after the interview was posted online, when Anderson Cooper asked Amanpour about Fars News Agency's claims, she laughed it off, sayingthat the claim is "piffle," adding that she would not dignify it with a comment. Indeed, she did not comment on the substance of the translation challenge.

If CNN indeed mistranslated Rouhani so dramatically, it would be a major failure of journalism. It would require a strong dose of corrective medicine. But if it had mistranslated Rouhani and allowed one of its star reporters to breezily stand by the mistranslation on the air, that might be cause for major surgury.

To be sure, there are reasons to doubt Fars' commitment to accuracy. The agency, after all, once republished an Onionpiece as truth, and had reported in all seriousness that an Iranian had invented a time machine. And perhaps if it were only Fars that challenged CNN's translation, the dismissive response by Amanpour, who speaks Farsi, would be reasonable.

But other Farsi speakers, none of whom are especially aligned with Fars News Agency's world view, quickly agreed that CNN is guilty of mistranslation. On Twitter, Wall Street Journal editor Sohrab Ahmari, who speaks Farsi, insisted repeatedly that Fars's translation was accurate. His newspaper threw its weight behind that assessment, stating in an editorial, "Our independent translation of Mr. Rouhani's comments confirms that Fars, not CNN, got the Farsi right."

Arash Karami, a columnist for Al Monitor's Iran Pulse, provided his own translation, which, in contrast with the the CNN account, showed Rouhani referring to "historical events" and not "the Holocaust."

Finally, Iranian-born Ali Alfoneh, a senior researcher for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CAMERA that Karami's translation, which contrasted sharply with that provided by CNN, was essentially accurate. He also pointed out that the Farsi transcription posted on the Iranian president's website is accurate.

But Amanpour, at least, continues to stand by her translation. It is time for CNN's senior editors to forthrightly address this controversy. They need to either stand by their translation by going through word by word and showing where the word "Holocaust" appears and where the word "reprehensible" appears. Viewers deserve a straightforward answer from the network. If CNN does not disagree with Fars — or with the translations by Ahmari, Karami and Alfoneh — the public deserves a prominent, clear correction and apology.

Link: http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=2&x_article=2553

More from CAMERA at: http://www.camera.org

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
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Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Ugly United Nations

Israel is the 'perennial punching bag'

WORLD JEWISH DAILY

11:29 PM on Thursday, September 26, 2013 - Tishrei 22, 5774

With eyes on the United Nations General Assembly gathering in New York this week, Tablet Magazine takes a look at how the U.N. has treated Israel during the years. In a word--badly.

Quoting U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee responsible for the Middle East, Israel is the "perennial punching bag" at the United Nations.

The magazine cites 4 examples of bigotry and hatred against Israel at the international body.

1: In 1975, the U.N. adopted a resolution claiming "Zionism is racism," the first time it had ever declared one form of nationalism as racist. The U.N. repealed the resolution in 1991, but it remains a stain.

2: Twenty percent of U.N. member states do not accept Israel's right to exist. In 2012, the General Assembly passed 22 resolutions condemning Israel, and only 4 against other countries.

3: The U.N. Human Rights Council, made up of some of the world's

worst human rights abusers, condemns Israel at its meetings.

4: Israel has historically been excluded from all regional groups. Thirteen years ago, Israel was finally admitted to one such group, after it was rejected by the Arab states from joining a regional caucus.

A profile of Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the U.N., in Tablet revealed his strategy for dealing with all the anti-Israel sentiment: a sense of humor.

As the General Assembly opened this week, Prosor gave his reaction to the news Syria and Iran had announced their candidacies for the U.N. Human Rights Council.

"Putting Iran and Syria on a Human Rights Council is like putting the Godfather in charge of a witness-protection program,” he said.

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http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/ugly-united-nations.php

Calling America.

Bee's note: My friend Robert has moved his blog over to Word Press. I hope you take a moment to drop by and check out his "new" look and while you're there, you will find Robert's thoughts informative, as his article I am sharing here this evening.

"Moving Day" is an exciting time for a blogger. It revives our own interest, since so much time is spent at the computer. The one I am using now, "Google Blogger" has worked out fine for me, but it does not have functions available that would make blogging a little less time-consuming.
When I left my previous blog, I had close to 100 "followers" and growing. I have been here almost two years and find that while there is "interest", my blog is not growing. Perhaps all news is old news and people are just tired of hearing the same old cry-baby, whining from this White House and its corrupt federal agencies - so many under investigation, but the process is so slow, none of us expect anyone in DC to take responsibility for IRS, NSA, BENGHAZI, FAST AND FURIOUS, etc.
I do enjoy sharing news that is not reported by most of our journalists and newspapers and so, I plan to give it my best shot one last time before shutting this computer down.
I found a new web hosting site and absolutely love the appearance and capabilities, but it is taking time to work out all its functions. It will be my final move, as I do plan on pursuing other interests outside this political arena, once we wave a last "good bye" to Barack HUSSEIN Obama.
Meanwhile, my very best wishes to Robert; here's his newest article:

Roberts Thoughts2
September 24, 2013

Aren’t you sick and tired of the lies, the games. smoke and mirrors, gutter politics’?

Remember when it used to be about issues, respectful debate, integrity, principles, honor and the country?

Believe it or not for those that don’t remember it used to be like that.

I just found this site yesterday morning, never heard about it before. They look to be about as non partisan as you can be.

They don’t take money from politicians, special interest. All the work is done by volunteers from all sides.

Check this out from: Project Vote Smart .

It’s time, let’s take our country back. 2014 is a place to start. Don’t let them take us into the gutter any more, we are better then that. Let’s help the politicians out of the gutter.

They have all the info on the politicians. Just the fact’s, voting records, speeches just about anything you need to know about them, issues, voting record’s, you know like what they said and then actually did. PLEASE take a look at: Project Vote Smart .

Whether you’re democrat, republican liberal or conservative check them out.

The politicians don’t like it much. Their excuse is they don’t want to give their enemy ammunition. Excuse me. If you had a record to run on why would you not want the public to know about it. Isn’t that who you’re serving anyway?

Why would you not want what you stand for and you’re record out their?

Interpol issues alert for ‘White Widow’ sought in relation to Kenya terrorist plots

"White Widow" - Lewthwaite

GLOBAL TIMES
Reuters | 2013-9-27 1:03:01
By Reuters
Interpol issued a wanted persons alert at Kenya's request on Thursday for Samantha Lewthwaite, a British citizen dubbed the "White Widow," without mentioning her suspected role in the Nairobi mall attack.

The international police agency's so-called "red alert" notice said Lewthwaite, 29, is wanted by Kenya on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony dating back to December 2011.

Lewthwaite, also believed to use the alias "Natalie Webb," is the widow of Germaine Lindsay, one of the Islamist bombers who carried out attacks on public transport in London in July 2005, and is thought to have left Britain several years ago.

South African Interior Minister Naledi Pandor told a news conference in Pretoria on Thursday that Lewthwaite had entered South Africa in July 2008 with an illegal passport, which she last used in February 2011.

She is wanted in connection with an alleged plot to attack luxury hotels and restaurants in Kenya.

British police have cited Lewthwaite as a possible suspect in last week's siege of a Nairobi shopping mall by Islamists from Somalia's al-Shabaab movement.

Some witnesses said that women were among the attackers in the four-day mall attack, which killed 67 people. But al-Shabaab denied on its Twitter feed using "our sisters" in its military operations.

READ MORE: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/814398.shtml#.UkTsgIasim4

NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander slams 'sensationalized' reporting

Bee's note:

Well, General Alexander makes some great points, but unfortunately this administration has been caught with their hands in the "cookie jar" more than once, spying and intimidating American citizens. The scandals, in spite of what Obama says, are NOT "phony"; and unless the United States has incorporated laws that would make Hitler's pre-WWII laws and intimidation envious, Washington does need to get a grip on what is and is not intelligence to keep America safe from terrorists.

IRS, another federal program that used its power before elections of 2012, is another example of abuse of power, as they targeted American citizens not affiliated with the "Obama" gang of liberals and sheep.

Sorry, General, but you can cry a river of tears and Americans refuse to accept what is happening under Obama's "watch". Intelligence has nothing to do with an overbearing, anti-Constitutional agenda from this so-called "transparent" White House.

He says NSA doesn't listen to Americans’ phone calls or read their emails. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

POLITICO

By TONY ROMM | 9/25/13 10:08 AM EDT Updated: 9/25/13 5:28 PM EDT

The leader of the embattled National Security Agency doubled down Wednesday against calls from Capitol Hill to restrict U.S. government surveillance programs — a campaign he attributed to “sensationalized” reporting and “media leaks.”

On the same day that key Senate lawmakers pledged to bring new oversight to the NSA, Gen. Keith Alexander mounted a public defense of his agency: He stressed the intelligence community isn’t “listening to Americans’ phone calls and reading their emails,” and he urged technology and government leaders to help “get the facts out” and “get our nation to understand why we need these tools” in the wake of Edward Snowden’s disclosures.

Speaking at a cybersecurity conference in Washington, Alexander also commended companies for cooperating with the federal government, and he made a plea for more power — particularly to thwart terrorists who have elevated their activities to cyberspace.

“Over 950 people were killed in Kenya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan,” Alexander said at the Billington CyberSecurity Summit, referencing recent violence in the region, “and we’re discussing more esoteric things here. Why? Because we’ve stopped the terrorist attacks here.”

“We’ve been fortunate, and it’s not been luck,” the general continued. “It’s our military that’s out [front], and it’s our intelligence community back here. They can’t do it without tools. So we’re going to have a debate in this country: Do we give up those tools? I’m concerned we’ll make the wrong decision.”

(WATCH: NSA reaction in under 60 sec)

Alexander gave the speech before attending a classified meeting with lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee — whose chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), just this Tuesday called for sweeping changes to the NSA’s surveillance powers.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and other lawmakers later unveiled their own blueprint for surveillance reform. The package would reform the secret court that authorizes government surveillance requests while limiting the NSA’s ability to collect U.S. phone call logs in bulk.

“It is designed to set a high bar and serve as a measure for true intelligence reform,” Wyden said at a news conference, emphasizing the proposed legislation is “not cosmetic.”

Senators push bill to end phone record collection

MILITARYTIMES

Sep. 25, 2013 - 08:42PM

WASHINGTON — Spying by the National Security Agency has cost the United States economically and angered allies, a bipartisan group of senators said Wednesday in unveiling legislation that would end the collection of millions of Americans’ phone records and data on Internet usage.

Three Democrats — Ron Wyden, Mark Udall and Richard Blumenthal — and Republican Rand Paul outlined their legislation to end longstanding NSA surveillance practices and open up some of the actions of the secret federal court that reviews government surveillance requests.

The lawmakers argued that their bill is the appropriate response to disclosures this past summer about the sweeping surveillance programs — one that gathers U.S. phone records and another that is designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism.

Wyden said the programs and revelations have undercut U.S. businesses required to provide data to the intelligence community while infuriating foreign leaders. Earlier this week, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff accused the United States of violating her country’s sovereignty by sweeping up data from billions of telephone calls and emails that have passed through Brazil, including her own.

In protest, Rousseff scuttled a scheduled state visit to the United States.

“This is not a small hiccup,” Wyden told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Efforts to rein in the once-secret surveillance programs have attracted an unusual coalition of liberal Democrats and libertarian Republicans, pitting them against House and Senate leaders who have expressed strong support for the NSA programs.

The bipartisan group unveiled the bill on the eve of a Senate hearing with the nation’s top intelligence officials, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Army Gen. Keith Alexander, the director of the NSA, in hopes of jump-starting the debate over the programs.

“Americans with no link to terrorism or espionage should not have to worry that the NSA is vacuuming up their private information,” Udall said.