An Arms Dealer’s U.S. Ties | Newsweek Scope

An Inconvenient Truth Teller
Holly Bailey 10/10/2009 12:00:00 AM
Joe Biden had a question. During a long Sunday meeting with President Obama and top national-security advisers on Sept. 13, the VP interjected, "Can I just clarify a factual point? How much will we spend this year on Afghanistan?" Someone provided the figure: $65 billion. "And how much will we spend on Pakistan?" Another figure was supplied: $2.25 billion. "Well, by my calculations that's a 30-to-1 ratio in favor of Afghanistan. So I have a question. Al Qaeda is almost all in Pakistan, and Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And yet for every dollar we're spending in Pakistan, we're spending $30 in Afghanistan. Does that make strategic sense?" The White House Situation Room fell silent. But the questions had their desired effect: those gathered began putting more thought into Pakistan as the key theater in the region.
A Bunch of Hypocrites?
Holly Bailey 10/3/2009 12:00:00 AM
Nancy Pelosi likes to brag that she's "drained the swamp" when it comes to corruption in the House, but ethics problems could come back to haunt Democrats in 2010. Democrats are currently the subject of 12 of the 16 complaints pending before the House ethics committee. Two of the lawmakers under scrutiny—Reps. Jack Murtha and Charlie Rangel—have close ties to Pelosi, who has come under criticism for not asking them to resign their committee posts. Murtha, chairman of a key defense-appropriations subcommittee, is is not formally under investigation but the ethics committee is reviewing political contributions he and other House lawmakers received from lobbying firm whose clients received millions of dollars in Defense earmarks. Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, is facing scrutiny for not fully disclosing assets. The ethics committee is also looking into ties between Rangel and a developer who leased rent-controlled apartments to the congressman, and whether Rangel improperly used his House office to raise funds for a public policy institute in his name. Rangel and Murtha deny any wrongdoing. (Another lawmaker under investigation: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who, according to the committee, "may have offered to raise funds" for then–Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich in exchange for the president's Senate seat—a charge Jackson denies. The panel deferred its probe at the request of the Justice Department, which is conducting its own inquiry.)
Why Don’t Liberals Care About Health Care?
Eleanor Clift 10/2/2009 12:00:00 AM
Railing about Afghanistan is a loser politically, but it gets liberal juices going in a way the Baucus health-care bill never will. The left is more focused on pressing President Obama not to escalate in Afghanistan than it is in convincing Congress with a real grassroots push on health care. It's in the party's DNA. Liberal Democrats are more emotionally invested in war and peace issues than in sausage-like compromise on health-care legislation. ( Click here to follow Eleanor Clift )
Who Really Runs Washington?
9/29/2009 12:00:00 AM
You already know the star players and big names in President Obama's regime. You've heard about David Axelrod, the campaign guru, and Larry Summers, the controversy-prone former president of Harvard, who both now serve as top White House advisers. Obama's campaign nemesis, Hillary Clinton, is of course, a household name. But sometimes it's the lesser-known figures who make the biggest mark.
Slower Than a Melting Ice Cap
Katie Connolly 9/24/2009 12:00:00 AM
The night that the American Clean Energy and Security Act passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Ed Markey, one of the bill's authors, got a phone call from Rahm Emanuel. The significance of the legislative feat achieved by Markey and committee chair Henry Waxman—persuading a relatively conservative committee filled with coal-state representatives to approve a comprehensive climate-change bill—is a fact oft forgotten in the rowdy world of climate politics. But it wasn't lost on a seasoned political operative like Emanuel. "Congratulations," the sharp-tongued White House chieftain told Markey. "I really wasn't sure you had the votes."
Ahmadinejad’s Nuclear Offer
Lally Weymouth 9/23/2009 12:00:00 AM
In an exclusive wide-ranging hour-and-a-half interview with NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth and editors from The Washington Post, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed his upcoming talks with the United States, his opinion of President Obama, and his continued denial of the Holocaust, as well as the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan, which he views as doomed. In it he previewed his offer to purchase enriched uranium from the United States for medicinal purposes, which proliferation experts say is likely a nonstarter. Excerpts: