Syria Wants Talks
Campaign To Pressure Blair On Iran
New Military Command For Africa
Short & Sweet

THE OP/ED HEADLINES

THE ARTICLE SUMMARIES AND LINKS

SYRIA WANTS TALKS
While the Bush administration clings to its claim that nothing useful would come out of direct talks with Iran or Syria, Syrian President Bashar Assad told ABC's Good Morning America that direct Syria-U.S. talks were Iraq's only hope in a broadcast aired Monday.
FDNS Report At: http://tinyurl.com/yod2ma

CAMPAIGN TO PRESSURE BLAIR ON IRAN
A campaign to pressure British Prime Minister Tony Blair to publicly oppose any U.S. military attack on Iran has erupted in Britain with three retired American generals firing a very public salvo.
FDNS Report At: http://tinyurl.com/ytfs7o

NEW MILITARY COMMAND FOR AFRICA
The U.S. divides the globe into military command regions that consist of the Northern Command (North America), European Command, Pacific Command, Central Command (Middle East and Horn of Africa) and the Southern Command (South America). With the exception of the Horn of Africa, the African continent has generally been under the European Command but due to growing U.S. military involvement on that continent Africa will now have a separate military commend it was announced Tuesday.
FDNS Report At: http://tinyurl.com/2ytzsq

SHORT & SWEET

GOP Candidates Lead Dems In Multiple Spouses

Those seeking the presidential nomination of the party that ballyhoo's itself as the party of family values lead their democratic counterparts in one arena -- multiple spouses.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has one divorce and one annulment under his belt while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is twice divorced with Sen. John McCain bringing up the rear with one divorce. Among GOP presidential hopeful at present only former Gov. Mitt Romney, a Morman, has not had multiple wives.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is twice divorced while Sen. Chris Dodd has one divorce on his record.

February 11

Anniversary of the day Vice-President Dick Cheney accidentally gunned down a fellow hunter in Texas.

A 2007 Troop Pullout?

From the Republican Evans-Novak Political Report: "Although President George W. Bush officially is opposed to setting any time table for getting out of Iraq, senior administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress privately say there cannot be U.S. boots on the ground or blood being spilled in Iraq when 2008 begins if Republicans are to have a chance in next year's elections. That effectively sets a December 2007 deadline for getting out."

THE OP/ED SUMMARIES AND LINKS

THE NEW IRAQ NIE: PIG UGLY, LITTLE LIPSTICK
Despite concerted pressure on the Intelligence Community to adopt the sunny optimism about Iraq's future touted by that visionary, Dick Cheney, the analysts held their ground and provided the nation this grim assessment in the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq
Commentary By Larry C. Johnson At: http://tinyurl.com/38uq8t

THE CHENEY-LIBBY TRIAL
For the judge and jury, it is the Libby trial. For America and American politics, it is the Dick Cheney trial and the stakes are far higher than reported in the media.
Commentary By Brent Budowsky At: http://tinyurl.com/2oxuvh

THE IMPOVERISHMENT OF IDEAS
I heard John and Elizabeth Edwards up here in New Hampshire the other day and found their new ideas about poverty to be oddly familiar. Then I realized John seemed to be talking about the same set of ideas which I had written about in 1975 in Philadelphia; naive ideas which created an almost permanent underclass and a culture of welfare in the U.S. They are ideas which almost ruined the Democratic Party and sent millions to Reagan a few years later.
Commentary By Bernie Quigley At: http://tinyurl.com/2dwy6z

ABOUT FIGHTING DEMS NEWS SERVICE
Web: www.fighting-dems.com
Email: contact@fighting-dems.us

Publisher: Noel Schultz
Editor: Randy Risener
Associate Editor: Fred Seamon
Contributing Editor: Brent Budowsky
Contributing Editor: Larry C. Johnson
Contributing Editor: Bernie Quigley
Webmaster: Rich Westcott

The Fighting Dems News Service (FDNS) is published weekly by Fighting Dems at www.fighting-dems.com. Originally begun as a candidate and campaign support service for the Fighting Dem candidates, FDNS has evolved into a rapidly expanding independent circulated news service covering below the network headlines news primarily in the areas of foreign policy, national security, military and veterans affairs. FDNS' circulation is email direct, on the website, through free subscription at the website and through selected listserves and to Democratic party leaders throughout the country. FDNS desks and archives are located at http://tinyurl.com/ydmfp4.

About The Staff & Contributors

Publisher Noel Schultz is an Air Force veteran of the Korean War era who served in Libya and Texas and was one of the original organizers of the Fighting Dems candidates in 2006. His degree is in anthropology and linguistics and he is currently an Associated Professor in the Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Chi Nan University, Puli in the mountains of central Taiwan.

Editor Randy Risener is a former newspaper and wire service reporter who later worked in private sector intelligence and research in support of companies involved with exporting and foreign operations. He served with the National Security Agency's Army component in Vietnam and East Africa/Middle East.

Associate Editor Fred Seaman is a retired Army Intelligence officer who began his career as a case officer in Germany followed by tours on the faculty of the Army Intelligence School and with special operations in Vietnam. He served on the staffs at U.S. Army Europe Headquarters and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He currently manages a government sponsored program to commercialize technology developed at a nuclear weapons laboratory in the former Soviet Union.

Contributing Editor Brent Budowsky was Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, and worked for the House Democratic Leadership as Legislative Director to Rep. Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Majority Whip. He serves on the International Advisory Committee of the Intelligence Summit, and was a principal author of the CIA Intelligence Identities Act originally sponsored by Senator Bentsen.

Contributing Editor Larry C. Johnson is an internationally recognized counter-terrorism expert who served several years with the CIA's Directorate of Operations and later become deputy director of the State Department's Office of Counter Terrorism. He is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, an international business consulting firm which specializes in threat management in areas such as terrorism and money laundering. He is editor of the blog NO QUARTER.

Contributing Editor Bernie Quigley is a prize-winning writer and has worked more than 30 years as a book and magazine editor, political commentator and book, movie, music and art reviewer. He lives in the White Mountains with his wife and four children.

Webmaster Richard Westcott has over fourteen years of Information Systems experience in areas of Clinical Trials, Survey Research, Energy Deregulation and Education. He has served as Director of Informatics for the Allegheny Health Education Research Foundation Clinical Trials Research Center, the Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups as well as administrative oversight for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Chairman's office. His Clinical Trials locator is available at The National Cancer Institute.