Santorum defends 'theology' remark, Hitler inference; blames media

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By NBC’s Andrew Rafferty

Uploaded by freedomsfool2009 on Feb 19, 2012 UPDATE: This just popped up on YouTube and is one of his speeches yesterday from which the 'theology' comments were taken from. The so-called controversial part comes just before the 5 min mark, and it's clear in his comments that he only mentioned the Bible because he said the word 'theology' simply to note that he wasn't talking about Biblical theologies. But of course the MSM twisted this to mean an attack on Obama and his so-called Christian faith when it wasn't even about that.


STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- Facing newfound scrutiny as a frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, Rick Santorum today fired back at national media who he says have given undue attention to comments he made this weekend questioning the president's theology. He also defended comments about World War Two that some saw as linking Hitler and President Obama.
On Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, Santorum told a Tea Party crowd, "It's not about you. It's not about you. It's not about your quality of life. It's not about your job. It's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology, but no less a theology. "

But in front of a crowd of more than 500 people here on Monday, he said the comments were not meant to question the president's religious beliefs, rather a critique of what he called the "extreme" environmental regulations of the Obama administration.

"I referred to it the other day,” he said, “and I got criticized by some of our less than erudite members of the national press corps.”
When pressed by reporters after Saturday's comments, the former Pennsylvania senator maintained he did not mean to suggest that the president is not a Christian. But he did say the president is trumping religious freedoms.
"You may want to call it a theology; you may want to call it secular values,” Santorum said. “Whatever you want to call it, it’s a different moral values. And the president of the United States is exercising his values and trumping the values of the church.”
Today, Santorum did not use the word "theology," instead attacking the president's "ideology."
He was also asked about comments made last night in Georgia that compared America now to Europe during World War Two.
“I’m sure some of you have ancestors who were part of the Greatest Generation,” Santorum said last night. “Why were they the Greatest Generation -- because they were better than we were? Smarter? More courageous? They were they greatest generation, because when their country needed them, at a time of great peril, they met the challenge. Your country needs you. It’s not as clear a challenge. Obviously, World War Two was pretty obvious. But at some point, they knew. Remember, the greatest generation for a year and a half, sat on the sidelines while Europe was under darkness.
“While our closest ally Britain was being bombed and leveled, while Japan was spreading its cancer all throughout Southeast Asia … America sat in 1940 when France fell, December of 1941…Because we’re a hopeful people. We think, well, you know it’ll get better. Yeah, he’s a nice guy. I mean, it won’t be near as bad as what we think. This will be okay. I mean, yeah, maybe he’s not the best guy after a while, after a while you find out some things about this guy over in Europe who’s not so good of a guy after all. You know what … we’ll just take care of our own problems. We’ll just get our families off to work and our kids off to school and we’ll be okay. So with the optimistic spirit of America, sometimes, sometimes it’s not okay. It’ll be harder for this generation to figure it out. There’s no cataclysmic event.”

Santorum defended the comments today. "It’s a World War Two metaphor,” Santorum said. “It's one I've used 100 times."

In response to whether he meant to compare the president to Hitler, Santorum said, "No, of course not."
Those comments were not the only ones from the weekend that the former Pennsylvania senator found himself explaining. In front of the Ohio Christian Alliance, he said the 2010 health-care bill signed by the president encourages aborting children with disabilities by requiring prenatal testing that can detect if a child will not be born healthy. It is an assertion he did not back down from.
"I was criticized for making the comment about prenatal testing when it came to amniocentesis,” he said. “Amniocenteses are done by-in-large later in pregnancy whether the child in the womb has a disability.” And he claimed, “[A]s we all know, 90 percent of Down Syndrome children in this country are aborted once the mother and father find out that that child is going to be less than what they wanted it to be.”
The candidate, now surging in the polls, has focused almost all his attention on the White House and not so much as mentioning chief rival Mitt Romney. Stumping in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio, Santorum has focused his message on manufacturing and environmental issues like hydrofracking and the Keystone pipeline. Both are issues in which Santorum argues the president has ceded to environmentalists, costing the country jobs.
Just 40 miles outside his hometown of Pittsburgh today, Santorum played up his blue-collar roots growing up as the grandson of a coal miner.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we need someone who understands, who comes from the coal fields, who comes from the steel mills, who understands what average working people in America need to be able to provide for themselves and their families,” he said.

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Obama takes tougher stance on higher education

By KIMBERLY HEFLING | Associated Press – 8 hrs ago

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Access to college has been the driving force in federal higher education policy for decades. But the Obama administration is pushing a fundamental agenda shift that aggressively brings a new question into the debate: What are people getting for their money?

Students with loans are graduating on average with more than $25,000 in debt. The federal government pours $140 billion annually into federal grants and loans. Unemployment remains high, yet there are projected shortages in many industries with some high-tech companies already complaining about a lack of highly trained workers.

Meanwhile, literacy among college students has declined in the last decade, according to a commission convened during the George W. Bush administration that said American higher education has become "increasingly risk-averse, at times self-satisfied, and unduly expensive." About 40 percent of college students at four-year schools aren't graduating, and in two-year programs, only about 40 percent of students graduate or transfer, according to the policy and analysis group College Measures.

College drop-outs are expensive, and not just for the individual. About a fifth of full-time students who enroll at a community college do not return for a second year, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to an analysis released last fall by the American Institutes for Research.

There's been a growing debate over whether post-secondary schools should be more transparent about the cost of an education and the success of graduates. President Barack Obama has weighed in with a strong "yes."

During his State of the Union address, Obama put the higher education on notice: "If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down," he said. "Higher education can't be a luxury— it's an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford."
He wants to slightly reduce federal aid for schools that don't control tuition costs and shift it to those that do. He also has proposed an $8 billion program to train community college students for high-growth industries that would provide financial incentives to programs that ensured their trainees find work. Both proposals need congressional approval.
At the same time, the administration is developing both a "scorecard" for use in comparing school statistics such as graduation rates as well as a "shopping sheet" students would receive from schools they applied to with estimates of how much debt they might graduate with and estimated future payments on student loans.

American's higher education system has long been the backbone of much of the nation's success, and there's no doubt that a college degree is valuable. It's now projected that students with a bachelor's degree will earn a million more dollars over their lifetime than students with only a high school diploma, Education Secretary Arne Duncan says.

But Obama's statement to Congress jolted the higher education establishment, which believes that college isn't just to create foot soldiers for industry and that the use of measured outcomes would hurt the humanities, meaning fewer students will turn to Shakespeare and instead study engineering, said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University. The community has already been reeling over an earlier administration decision to require career college programs — many of which are at for-profit institutions — to better prepare students for "gainful employment" or risk losing federal aid.
"It's the notion that the ...federal government will begin to say we want to know what we're paying for and we want to make sure that people don't pay for education programs that take them nowhere, especially if the program is supposed to get them a job, we want it to get them a job, Carnevale said.
Some fear that Obama might want to apply the "gainful employment" standards to traditional four-year degree programs. Robert Moran, director of federal relations at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said reporting requires time and resources, and it's even more difficult to gauge the success of a graduate with an English degree than someone with a very specific career certificate.
Duncan said in an interview he doesn't see a big need to go in that direction now, although he does think it's important to track factors such as graduation rates and tuition costs. He said he tracked his graduates while serving as chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools and noticed that some universities were graduating them at rates of 75 percent or more, while others were graduating them at a small fraction of that.
"Colleges aren't too dissimilar to high schools. Some have done a great job building cultures around completion and obtainment and some haven't," Duncan said.
Historically, policy conversations have centered on getting students into college. Duncan said graduating is just as important.
"To be real clear, I think that's been the problem with federal policy in the past is 100 percent has been focused on the front end on inputs, that's clearly important, but that's the starting point. That gets you in the game. The goal isn't to get to the game, the goal is to get to the finish line," Duncan said.
Obama isn't the first president to encourage dialogue on making higher education more affordable and accountable. In addition to convening a commission to study higher education in America, Bush's administration issued grants to states to link transcript data with other records to better track the success of graduates from public institutions. The Obama administration has continued the program.
But Obama is taking the conversation to another level. That doesn't mean, however, he's abandoning the issue of accessibility. His administration has expanded the availability of Pell grants, supported a tax credit for tuition costs and is attempting to make it easier for some graduates to pay back loans.
Experts say some of the challenges in higher education result from too many students entering the doors without basic math and English skills. There's also the question of how to measure how effective colleges are and whether tuition increases are appropriate — especially for public institutions facing dramatic budget cuts.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the former president of Mayland Community College, said the issues raised by Obama are being addressed at the state and local level, where she said they should be handled, and that many schools are coming up with innovative ways to cut costs and to find ways to work with local industry. As an example, she recalled developing, while a community college president, a course in supervisory training after local industry sought it.

"All of these things the president talks about can be done at the local and state level, and are being done at the local and state level," Foxx said. "It isn't the role of government to guarantee somebody a good job after they graduate from college or community college."

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., takes a different view.

"Right now, the information about the potential of various careers, the track records of colleges and the like is essentially strewn all over the countryside," said Wyden, who authored a bill on making college costs more transparent.

He added, "I think students and their parents are now saying in addition to accessibility, we want to wring the maximum value out of every dollar we're spending on education."

_____

Follow Kimberly Hefling on Twitter at http://twitter.com/khefling

_____

College Measures: http://collegemeasures.org/

American Institutes for Research: http://www.air.org/

Education Department: http://www.ed.gov/

American Association of State Colleges and Universities: http://www.aascu.org/

Rep. Virginia Foxx: http://foxx.house.gov/

Sen. Ron Wyden: http://wyden.senate.gov/

‘My Child Was Not Stillborn!’: Rick Santorum Gets Heated With Bob Schieffer During Prenatal Testing Discussion

The Blaze – Sun, Feb 19, 2012

Rick Santorum clashed with CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer Sunday, which included a tense exchange about the death of the GOP presidential candidate's infant son.

After asking Santorum about his comments regarding President Barack Obama's "theology," Schieffer seized on remarks Santorum had made about prenatal testing the day before.

"One of the mandates is they require free prenatal testing in every insurance policy in America," Santorum said during a campaign stop in Ohio Saturday. "Why? Because it saves money in health care. Why? Because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and therefore less care that has to be done, because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society."

Schieffer asked:"You sound like you're saying the purpose of prenatal care is to cause people to have abortions...I think any number of people would say that's not the purpose at all."

"The bottom line is that a lot of prenatal tests are done to identify deformities in utero and the customary procedure is to encourage abortion," Santorum said. Clarifying that he had only referred to prenatal testing, not prenatal care, added: "We’re talking about specifically prenatal testing and specifically amniocentesis, which is a -- which is a procedure that creates a risk of miscarriage when you have it and is done for the purposes of identifying maladies of a child in the womb, which in many cases, in fact, most cases, physicians recommend, particularly if there’s a problem, recommend abortion.”

He continued, getting increasingly passionate: "90 percent of Down Syndrome children in America are aborted. So to suggest where does that come from? I have a child who has Trisomy 18. Almost 100 percent of Trisomy 18 child are encouraged to be aborted. So I know what I'm talking about here."

"I know you know what you're talking about, I know that well, I know you also had another child that was stillborn," Schieffer said.

" -- no he was not stillborn, hold on Bob, whoa whoa whoa," Santorum said.

"Just a minute, just a minute," Schieffer said, "Didn't you want to know -- "

"Just hold on," Santorum interjected. "My child was not stillborn -- my child was born alive. He lived two hours and by the way, prenatal testing was done, we had a sonogram, they detected a problem and yes, the doctor said you should consider an abortion. This is typical Bob. This is what goes on in medical rooms around the country. Prenatal testing, amniocentesis, does in fact result more often than not result in abortion."

Schieffer, first acknowledging that Santorum was "absolutely right" about his son, asked Santorum whether he was advocating to "turn our back on science?"

Santorum said no, but he disagreed with a government mandate.

"People have the right to do it but to have the government force people to provide it free just to me has -- is a bit loaded," he said.

The death of Santorum's infant son has been raised before during the campaign: Fox News' Alan Colmes apologized after saying the former Pennsylvania senator and his wife took the body of the two-hour-old baby home and "played with it."

Watch below, via Mediaite:

Ron Paul’s ‘Fascist System’ Statement Draws Cheers

By William Browning | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 22 hrs ago

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, made a campaign stop in Missouri at Kansas City's historic Union Station. The Kansas City Star reports around 1,000 people attended the rally. The placement and timing of the rally were no mistake, even though Missouri's caucus is four weeks away.

Paul's speech was rare in terms of GOP presidential hopefuls in Missouri.

* The Texas representative said, according to the Associated Press, "We've slipped away from a true Republic. Now we're slipping into a fascist system where it's a combination of government and big business and authoritarian rule and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen."

* Paul also touted entitlement programs for Americans must end because the government has no money to spend on them. Once again, he used the word "revolution" when talking about his campaign.

* Paul received more than 30,000 votes in Missouri's primary on Feb. 7. He finished in third place out of three major candidates since Newt Gingrich wasn't on the ballot. The votes from that primary don't count as Republicans chose to caucus March 17 so they can choose delegates.

* The Missouri caucus is in four weeks. Kansas holds its caucus March 10. A stop in Kansas City supports both states.

* Missouri Republicans were meeting at an annual Lincoln Days gathering not far from Union Station. Some Republicans slipped out of the banquet to hear Paul speak. Kansas GOP leaders were also meeting on the Kansas side of the border at the same time as Paul's rally. Although the national candidate claimed he didn't know about the previously set gatherings, his aides did, according to CBS News.

* Among four mainstream candidates, Paul is the only one who has yet to win a nominating contest. His best showing has been in Maine, where he lost to Mitt Romney by fewer than 200 votes and just 3 percent. The New York Times reports Paul has 18 delegates out of the 1,144 needed to secure the nomination at the Republican National Convention in August. Romney leads with 105 delegates, not even 10 percent toward winning the nationwide nomination for his party.

* Missouri has 52 delegates at stake when GOP members caucus. Kansas has been allocated 40 delegates for its caucus event. Paul's campaign stop is one stepping stone to try to earn more delegates towards his goal of winning the right to take on incumbent Barack Obama in the November general election.

William Browning, a lifelong Missouri resident, writes about local and state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Born in St. Louis, Browning earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri. He currently resides in Branson.

Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, in Muskegon, outlines differences with Obama, Romney

Published: Monday, February 20, 2012, 7:34 PM

By Eric Gaertner | egaertne@mlive.comThe Muskegon Chronicle

MUSKEGON – Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum took aim at President Barack Obama and chief GOP rival Mitt Romney during his campaign stop Monday in Muskegon.

Ken Stevens | ksteven2@mlive.comThe crowd of approximately 500 supporters listen to Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum during a town hall-style event Monday afternoon, February 20, 2012 at the Muskegon Harbor Holiday Inn, 939 Third, in downtown Muskegon.

The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania focused on several issues – manufacturing, domestic energy, family values, the size of government – and outlined the specific differences he sees between himself and the two men he will likely have to defeat to become the next president.
Santorum spoke for more than 80 minutes and took some questions, drawing several rounds of applause from the audience at the Muskegon Harbor Holiday Inn in downtown Muskegon. The event drew about 500 people and kicked off a three-town tour of West Michigan.
Santorum, before leaving Muskegon for a Holland rally, asked the audience members for their votes in the Feb. 28 presidential primary, describing himself as the conservative to lead the Republican ticket in the fall against Obama.
Santorum described himself as a candidate where "you know where I stand" rather than a “well-oiled weathervane” on such issues as his stance on Iran.
“Wow, this is a big week coming up between now and what could be a sound heard 'round the world,” Santorum said. “Conservative West Michigan has a chance to speak loudly.”
Santorum spoke of his commitment, if elected president, to increasing America’s manufacturing sector, creating more energy independence, limiting government’s size and focusing on social issues, including the importance of the family unit.
Santorum’s stance on improvements to the manufacturing industry drew some of the loudest applause in Muskegon, a city that lost many manufacturing jobs in recent years, although some have returned.
He blamed Obama for the government regulations, “Obamacare” and other interference that he claims is limiting the American manufacturers. He said “making things matters” and his plan would mean more opportunity for Muskegon and other small towns.
“We’re going to repeal every one of those regulations,” Santorum said, taking aim at the current administration’s policies. “We’ve got to get businesses growing. We’re going to shrink the public sector and grow the private sector.”

Ken Stevens | ksteven2@mlive.comRepublican presidential candidate Rick Santorum signs an autograph for Phoebe Whitbeck, 10, of Montague after his town hall-style event.

In addition to manufacturing, affordable energy was described by Santorum as key to his plan for revitalizing the economy. He pointed to several domestic options, including hydro-fracking in shale, the proposed Keystone Pipeline project from Canada to Texas and natural gas deposits.
Santorum claimed environmentalists and Obama shut down several options to increase domestic energy supplies by inciting fear about potential pollution. Santorum said the country has an obligation to protect the earth and, at the same time, use its resources to improve life for humans.
“Folks, we have an opportunity to call out these radicals that are in the White House right now,” Santorum said.
Some of the people who attended the Muskegon event liked Santorum’s message and the direction he envisions for the country. The event also drew some protesters.
Chad Stewart, 39, of Custer, preferred the consistency he hears from Santorum as opposed to the different “pitches” he believes come from other candidates.
“I’ve never heard a candidate like that speak before,” said Stewart, who is anti-abortion and who has followed Santorum’s career for the last five years. “To hear it live, it changes your life. The sincerity was there; it’s not a sales pitch.”

Ken Stevens | ksteven2@mlive.comThe crowd of approximately 500 supporters listen to Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum

Shirley George, 89, of Norton Shores, said she liked that Santorum talked about the issues and not his biography. She also was intrigued by Santorum’s call to repeal “Obamacare.”
“It’s key to be able to choose your own coverage and not have it chosen for you,” George said.
Tom VandenBosch, 41, of Grand Rapids, attended the Muskegon event with his family. He is a father of six children, all 13 and younger.
“It’s the family values he speaks of,” VandenBosch said. “He’s conservative through and through. That’s what it is all about for me.”
VandenBosch said he thinks Santorum can win.
“He has a lot of good people on his side,” Santorum said. “He’s building momentum.”
Rondi Fry, 64, of Lansing, is a military mother who enjoyed Santorum’s criticism of the cuts to military spending. She has a son and son-in-law in the U.S. Air Force.
Santorum’s visit to Muskegon was added recently to his schedule and surprised some who consider Muskegon a Democratic town. Some Muskegon County Republicans said the county does have thousands of Republican voters and Santorum’s Pennsylvania roots play well with working-class men and women.
Santorum recently took over front-runner status from chief rival Mitt Romney in the race to win the Republican nomination for president. The latest results from a Gallup poll show Santorum with an 8-point lead nationwide.
In Michigan, a battleground state for the nomination, Santorum also enjoys a lead in recent polls despite Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, being a Michigan native. Romney also won the Michigan primary in 2008.
Santorum’s Muskegon campaign stop came just over a week before Michigan’s Feb. 28 presidential primary.

        Hye Soo Nah | MLive.com

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum greets supporters after his town hall-style event Monday afternoon, February 20, 2012 at the Muskegon Harbor Holiday Inn in downtown Muskegon. Chronicle photo by Hye Soo Nah

Iran Oil Ministry: Exports cut to Britain, France

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The Obama administration believes Iran "is a rational actor" and that talks could prevent a nuclear bomb. Israel disagrees. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Oil Ministry said Sunday, in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on Iran's crucial fuel exports.
The EU imposed tough sanctions against Iran last month, which included a freeze of the country's central bank assets and an oil embargo set to begin in July. Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had warned earlier this month that Tehran could cut off oil exports to "hostile" European nations. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 percent of Iran's oil exports.
According to the BBC, Qassemi reaffirmed his stance, claiming the suspension posed no problems for Iran.

---

Targeting Britain and France appeared to be a political decision by Iran to punish the two countries for supporting tougher sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

"Crude oil exports to British and French companies have been halted," Oil Ministry spokesman Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar said on the ministry's website. "We have our own customers and have no problem to sell and export our crude oil to new customers."
Britain's Foreign Office declined comment, and there was no immediate response from French officials.
The European Commission said last week that the bloc would not be short of oil if Iran stopped crude exports, as they have enough in stock to meet their needs for around 120 days.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Iran continues to flex its military muscle but appears willing to resume talks with world powers. NBC's Ali Arouzi reports.

Industry sources told Reuters on Feb. 16 that Iran's top oil buyers in Europe were making substantial cuts in supply months in advance of European Union sanctions, reducing flows to the continent in March by more than a third - or over 300,000 barrels daily.
France's Total has already stopped buying Iran's crude, which is subject to fresh EU embargoes. Market sources said Royal Dutch Shell has scaled back sharply.
Greece, Turkey and Saudi Arabia
Among European nations, debt-ridden Greece is most exposed to Iranian oil disruption.
Motor Oil Hellas of Greece was thought to have cut out Iranian crude altogether and compatriot Hellenic Petroleum along with Spain's Cepsa and Repsol were curbing imports from Iran.
Iran was supplying more than 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the EU plus Turkey in 2011, industry sources said.
By the start of this year imports had sunk to about 650,000 bpd as some customers cut back in anticipation of an EU ban.
Saudi Arabia says it is prepared to supply extra oil either by topping up existing term contracts or by making rare spot market sales. Iran has criticized Riyadh for the offer.
Iran said the cut will have no impact on its crude sales, warning that any sanctions on its oil will raise international crude prices.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

 

The next step in Iran sanctions: cutting off the bank

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By Olivier Knox | The Ticket – Fri, Feb 17, 2012

The White House is welcoming a potentially critical step in the international effort to squeeze Iran over its suspect nuclear program: A statement by the Belgium-based SWIFT network that it is ready to implement sanctions against Tehran. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) handles most international transactions between banks.

"We note SWIFT's intention to stop transactions involving EU-designated Iranian banks when new EU sanctions regulations are in place," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told Yahoo News in an email. "We welcome this step and will be in contact with our European partners."
SWIFT processes the bulk of cross-border inter-bank transmissions—more than 15 million of them in more than 200 countries. Curbing Iran's access to the system would deepen the Islamic Republic's isolation from world finance and notably make it harder for Tehran to import or export goods.

"Sanctions on financial services have been particularly useful in interfering with illicit Iranian conduct," said Vietor. "We are in conversations with allies and partners about additional ways to increase the cost of their behavior, including by targeting services such as that provided by SWIFT and similar entities."
Western powers led by the United States have charged that Iran hopes to use its nuclear program to develop the ability to make an atomic arsenal. Tehran has denied the allegation.

As Yahoo News reported Thursday, SWIFT's general counsel is due in Washington next week, and will meet Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, key author of a legislative proposal to drive Iranian banks, including its central bank, out of SWIFT.

US, Britain urge Israel not to attack Iran

Strike could spark reprisals against U.S. targets in the Gulf or Afghanistan

Iran Oil Ministry: Exports cut to Britain, France

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The International Atomic Energy Agency pushes for talks with Iran over its nuclear program as the government says it will ban all oil exports to France and Britain after European sanctions. NBC’s Stephanie Gosk reports.

By JOSEF FEDERMAN

updated 2/20/2012 8:34:39 AM ET2012-02-20T13:34:39

JERUSALEM — The U.S. and Britain on Sunday urged Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear program as the White House's national security adviser arrived in the region, reflecting growing international jitters that the Israelis are poised to strike.      

In their warnings, both the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and British Foreign Minister William Hague said an Israeli attack on Iran would have grave consequences for the entire region and urged Israel to give international sanctions against Iran more time to work. Dempsey said an Israeli attack is "not prudent," and Hague said it would not be "a wise thing."

Both Israel and the West believe Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb — a charge Tehran denies. But differences have emerged in how to respond to the perceived threat.

The U.S. and the European Union have both imposed harsh new sanctions targeting Iran's oil sector, the lifeline of the Iranian economy. With the sanctions just beginning to bite, they have expressed optimism that Iran can be persuaded to curb its nuclear ambitions.

On Sunday, Iran's Oil Ministry said it has halted oil shipments to Britain and France in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union. The semiofficial Mehr news agency said the National Iranian Oil Company has sent letters to some European refineries with an ultimatum to either sign long-term contracts of two to five years or be cut off. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 percent of Iran's oil exports.

Israel has welcomed the sanctions. But it has pointedly refused to rule out military action and in recent weeks sent signals that its patience is running thin.

Israel believes a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to its very existence, citing Iran's support for Arab militant groups, its sophisticated arsenal of missiles capable of reaching Israel and its leaders' calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Sebastian Scheiner / AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit the White House next month.

Last week, Israel accused Iran of being behind a string of attempted attacks on Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia and Thailand.

There is precedent for Israeli action. In 1981, the Israeli air force destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor. And in 2007, Israeli warplanes are believed to have destroyed a target that foreign experts think was an unfinished nuclear reactor in Syria.

Experts, however, have questioned how much an Israeli operation would accomplish. With Iran's nuclear installations scattered and buried deep underground, it is believed that an Iranian strike would set back, but not destroy, Iran's nuclear program.

There are also concerns Iran could fire missiles at Israel, get its local proxies Hezbollah and Hamas to launch rockets into the Jewish state, and cause global oil prices to spike by striking targets in the Gulf.

'Not prudent'In an interview broadcast on CNN Sunday, Dempsey said Israel has the capability to strike Iran and delay the Iranians "probably for a couple of years. But some of the targets are probably beyond their reach."

He expressed concern that an Israeli attack could spark reprisals against U.S. targets in the Gulf or Afghanistan, where American forces are based.

"That's the question with which we all wrestle. And the reason that we think that it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack Iran," Dempsey said.

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Video: Iran remains defiant  Iran continues to flex its military muscle but appears willing to resume talks with world powers. NBC’s Ali Arouzi reports

.

Describing Iran as a "rational actor," Dempsey said he believed that the international sanctions on Iran are beginning to have an effect. "For that reason, I think, that we think the current path we're on is the most prudent path at this point."

The arrival of White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon was the latest in a series of high-level meetings between Israel and the U.S. Last month, Dempsey visited Israel, and next month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit the White House.

Donilon was set to meet with Netanyahu late Sunday, and with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday before leaving.

Asked whether he believed Israel could be deterred from striking, Dempsey said: "I'm confident that they understand our concerns, that a strike at this time would be destabilizing and wouldn't achieve their long-term objectives. But, I mean, I also understand that Israel has national interests that are unique to them."

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Video: US hopes for talks with Iran  The Obama administration believes Iran “is a rational actor” and that talks could prevent a nuclear bomb. Israel disagrees. NBC’S Andrea Mitchell reports.

Hague delivered a similar message in Britain. Speaking to the BBC, he said Britain was focused on pressuring Iran through diplomatic means.

"I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran," he said. "I think Israel like everyone else in the world should be giving a real chance to the approach we have adopted on very serious economic sanctions and economic pressure and the readiness to negotiate with Iran."

In a sign that the diplomatic pressure might be working, Iran's foreign minister said Sunday that a new round of talks with six world powers on the nuclear program will be held in Istanbul, Turkey. didn't give any timing for the talks.

The last round of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany were held in Istanbul in January 2011 but ended in failure.

Top Defense Chiefs Defend DoD Budget(Senate)

Cuts are "acceptable risk

Senate Armed Services Cmte. Hearing

Washington, DC
Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey reviewed the department's $525 billion proposed budget for the 2013 fiscal year during a Senate Armed Services hearing.
In addition to detailing the budget, Panetta and Dempsey spoke to lawmakers for authority to close several domestic military bases.  Bloomberg News also reports that "Panetta will propose reducing military personnel and canceling the U.S. Army's C-27J transport plane."
The Defense planned 2013 spending is $51 billion lower than an earlier White House spending plan of $576 billion.
The Pentagon is under a threat of additional budget cuts as a result of last year's deficit-reduction deal. If Congress is unable to agree on a new plan for spending cuts or additional taxes, the Defense budget will be cut by $1 trillion over the next ten years.

Defense Dept. Continues to Tout $525.4B Budget(House)

House Armed Service Hearing on DoD Budget
 
Washington, DC
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Following up on yesterday's Senate appearance, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta detailed his department's proposed 2013 budget. Joining the Secretary before the House Armed Services Committee was Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.
The 2013 spending plan calls for $525.4 billion in discretionary funding for the base Department of Defense budget, a decrease of 1 percent, or $5.1 billion, below the 2012 enacted level. These savings are as a result of canceled or delayed department projects.
Both witnesses continue to cautioned Committee lawmakers against making deeper spending cuts than those already proposed.
On Tuesday, Secretary Panetta told Congress that the new budget comes with some risks. He said, “You can’t take half a trillion dollars out of the budget without risk” and called a potential sequestration a “meat-axe approach” that would severely affect the national defense.



President's 2013 Budget Proposal

The White House has released its FY2013 Budget proposal. Pres. Obama made the initial announcement and the OMB and other Administration Budget Executives briefed on the budget details. View the President's FY2013 proposed budget See below for more information about cabinet department and agency budgets.

Feb 15 2012 10:00 AM

FY13 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Department of Defense

Full Committee

Rayburn House Office Building - 2118

Permalink: http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/2012/2/fy13-national-defense-authorization-budget-request-from-the-department-of-defense

Click play to view the video or follow this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E06dXza5F1E

Majority Statements

• Chairman Buck McKeon

Witness Panel 1

• General Martin Dempsey USA
  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• The Honorable Leon Panetta
  Secretary of Defense   

Date	Title
2/17/12	Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Department of the Army
2/16/12	FY13 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Department of the Navy
2/16/12	Governance, Oversight, and Management of the Nuclear Security Enterprise
2/15/12	Current record
2/6/12	Doing Business with DOD: Contracting and Regulatory Issues
2/3/12	Joint Hearing: Update on accountability at Arlington National Cemetery
2/1/12	The Use of Afghan Nationals to Provide Security to U.S. Forces

Date	Title
1/24/12	Department of Defense Perspectives on Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Efforts
1/23/12	Doing Business with DOD: Getting Innovative Solutions from Concept to the Hands of the Warfighter
1/17/12	Doing Business with DOD: Unique Challenges Faced by Small and Mid-Sized Businesses

Israel holds 18 after tourists stoned

AFP – 11 hours ago

Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian man outside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem. Police arrested 18 Palestinians in the grounds of the flashpoint mosque complex on Sunday after tourists visiting the site under police escort were stoned, police said. (AFP Photo/Ahmad Gharabli) 

 

Israeli police arrested 18 Palestinians in the grounds of Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque complex on Sunday after tourists visiting the site under police escort were stoned, police said.

"Stones were thrown at tourists and police officers. We have made 18 arrests in all of people suspected of involvement," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that calm was restored.

Nasser Kos, a resident of Jerusalem's Old City who witnessed the incident, said a group of Christian tourists entered the compound. Among them, Palestinians spotted religious Jews and began hurling stones at police, he said.

Police used tear gas to disperse the Palestinians, none of whom was hurt, Kos said.

Rosenfeld said one policeman was lightly injured by a stone that hit him on the head, and he was treated at the scene.

A Palestinian protest was staged a week ago at the site, revered by Jews as the site of their biblical Jewish temple, when a group of Jewish nationalist hardliners attempted to visit it but were prevented by police from doing so.

The Al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, is home to the third-most sacred place in Islam. It is venerated by Jews as their holiest site, where King Herod's temple once stood before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Iran Oil Ministry: Exports cut to Britain, France

1

day

ago

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The Obama administration believes Iran "is a rational actor" and that talks could prevent a nuclear bomb. Israel disagrees. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Oil Ministry said Sunday, in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on Iran's crucial fuel exports.
The EU imposed tough sanctions against Iran last month, which included a freeze of the country's central bank assets and an oil embargo set to begin in July. Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had warned earlier this month that Tehran could cut off oil exports to "hostile" European nations. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 percent of Iran's oil exports.
According to the BBC, Qassemi reaffirmed his stance, claiming the suspension posed no problems for Iran.

---

Targeting Britain and France appeared to be a political decision by Iran to punish the two countries for supporting tougher sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

"Crude oil exports to British and French companies have been halted," Oil Ministry spokesman Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar said on the ministry's website. "We have our own customers and have no problem to sell and export our crude oil to new customers."
Britain's Foreign Office declined comment, and there was no immediate response from French officials.
The European Commission said last week that the bloc would not be short of oil if Iran stopped crude exports, as they have enough in stock to meet their needs for around 120 days.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Iran continues to flex its military muscle but appears willing to resume talks with world powers. NBC's Ali Arouzi reports.

Industry sources told Reuters on Feb. 16 that Iran's top oil buyers in Europe were making substantial cuts in supply months in advance of European Union sanctions, reducing flows to the continent in March by more than a third - or over 300,000 barrels daily.
France's Total has already stopped buying Iran's crude, which is subject to fresh EU embargoes. Market sources said Royal Dutch Shell has scaled back sharply.
Greece, Turkey and Saudi ArabiaAmong European nations, debt-ridden Greece is most exposed to Iranian oil disruption.
Motor Oil Hellas of Greece was thought to have cut out Iranian crude altogether and compatriot Hellenic Petroleum along with Spain's Cepsa and Repsol were curbing imports from Iran.
Iran was supplying more than 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the EU plus Turkey in 2011, industry sources said.
By the start of this year imports had sunk to about 650,000 bpd as some customers cut back in anticipation of an EU ban.
Saudi Arabia says it is prepared to supply extra oil either by topping up existing term contracts or by making rare spot market sales. Iran has criticized Riyadh for the offer.
Iran said the cut will have no impact on its crude sales, warning that any sanctions on its oil will raise international crude prices.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.