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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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Here's the breaking story at this hour...Dateline Milan, Italy..."A small plane with
only the pilot on board crashed Thursday into a 30-story landmark skyscraper, killing
at least two people and injuring at least 30. The interior minister said the crash
appeared to be an accident." (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20020418/ap_on_re_eu/italy_plane_crash_20
And here's another one...U.S. bomb kills 4 Canadian soldiers...Four Canadian soldiers
died in Afghanistan Wednesday when a U.S. F-16 warplane dropped one or two 500-pound
bombs on them during a training exercise with U.S. forces near Kandahar, a Canadian
military statement said.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/627086.asp
More details on that below...
Of course we'll get you the latest on these two stories...Plus a special gravitas
laden treat for you...Buchanan and Perle debate Bush's performance on the War on
Terrorism...How's it going? Has he lost focus? That'll be in the A block...Last time
we has those two on it rocked...
By the way, how about Chris slamming Ibish last night: "Excuse me sir, but you're
flacking...You're flacking." Wouldn't that be great in one of those MSNBC promo
commercials?
Here's the B block...We'll talk to a couple of relatives who were at this meeting and
heard the tapes... "'Compelled to listen,' relatives of those who died Sept. 11 aboard
hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 heard cockpit audio tapes Thursday from the final
minutes of the doomed jetliner"
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020418/ap_on_re_us/attacks_flight_93_9
Apropos of nothing...For those of us who love General Tso's chicken..."Who Was General
Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken?" (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59302-2002Apr16.html
The D block will be Post and Yossef doing the latest bin Laden video...A slice and
dice segment...Not quite sure what the debate is persay...
The Buzz block will be Hitchens...We'll do the "Has Bush lost his focus on the War on
Terrorism?" question plus he tells me there's a neocon split in the White House...You
know Chris won't pass up that discussion!
Gotta run and grab lunch...See ya tomorrow...The Briefing was compiled and edited by
Dominic Bellone in Washington, DC
This story struck me as particularly interesting..."Search for Oil Targets
Rockies...Administration Takes Steps to Loosen Drilling Curbs" (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2799-2002Apr17.html?referer=email
U.S. denies bin Laden got away...Despite a massive number of tips and other
intelligence, the U.S. military has never had enough information on Osama bin Laden's
whereabouts to go after him, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/738848.asp
Bush: 'Axis' will follow Taliban...President Bush said yesterday that Afghanistan's
former Taliban government is just "the first regime to fall in the war against
terror." http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020418-931680.htm
Bush: We'll Kick Your �Axis' http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/45946.htm
U.S. bomb kills 4 Canadian soldiers...Four Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan
Wednesday when a U.S. F-16 warplane dropped one or two 500-pound bombs on them during
a training exercise with U.S. forces near Kandahar, a Canadian military statement said.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/627086.asp
"The U.S. defense official, who asked not to be identified, said the pilot of the F-16
plane that dropped the laser-guided bomb received permission to do so before the
strike was launched." (Reuters)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020418/ts_nm/afghan_canada_bombing_dc_5&printer=1
"A mood of shock, bewilderment and disbelief descended on the camp where more than 800
Canadian soldiers are based with other coalition forces at an airfield south of
Kandahar" (Canoe) http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSAttack0204/18_cdntroops2-cp.html
"Prime Minister Jean Chretien pledged an investigation to answer questions about the
deaths of four Canadian soldiers killed by a U.S. laser-guided bomb Thursday during a
training exercise in Afghanistan." (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20020418/ap_on_re_ca/canada_mistaken_bombing_7
Powell to brief Bush on Mideast...Only hours after returning from a week-long Mideast
peace mission, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was scheduled to brief President
Bush on Thursday on his failed visit to the region.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/677951.asp
"Secretary of State Colin Powell returns home today from a Middle East still in
turmoil after his 10-day diplomatic mission failed to broker a truce between Israel
and the Palestinians." (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020418/4038416s.htm
"Powell, who arrived at Andrews Air Force Base a little after 2 a.m. Thursday, was due
at the White House barely eight hours later for a meeting with Bush and other members
of the president's national security team to report on his trip." (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20020418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_mideast_1445
Post Analysis...Powell's Trip Leaves Mostly Doubts...U.S. Influence in Middle East
Could Suffer From Mission's Limited Results"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5031-2002Apr17.html
"Chiseling away at Israel's attempt to isolate Yasser Arafat, Jordan's foreign
minister met with the Palestinian leader Thursday, while a U.N. envoy toured the
battle-torn Jenin refugee camp, saying conditions there were 'horrifying beyond
belief.'" (AP)
http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/news/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0563_BC_Israel-Palestinians&&news&clmideast
"President Bush said Thursday that Israel is keeping its promise to withdraw troops
from Palestinian cities and turned up the pressure on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
to crack down on terrorism." (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid=703&e=3&u=/ap/20020418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_mideast_1460
"Democrats see Bush slipping...Democrats are stepping up attacks on President Bush in
the belief that growing criticism from his conservative base has begun to weaken him."
(The Washington Times) http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020418-86016012.htm
"Byrd Holds Firm...As the White House continues to resist calls for Homeland Security
Director Tom Ridge to testify formally before Congress, Senate Appropriations Chairman
Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has urged his Democratic colleagues not to participate in
informal briefings offered by the administration." (Roll Call)
http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/2002/04/news0418b.html
"Ridge Lacks Power To Do His Job, Says Panetta at Hearing...Cabinet Rank, Budget Clout
Urged" (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4961-2002Apr17.html
"Senate Nears Vote on Arctic Drilling...Barring a big shift in sentiment, Senate
Republicans are likely to fall short in their push to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge
to oil drilling, which has been one of President Bush's top energy priorities." (AP)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5949-2002Apr18.html
"A candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination unleashed a barrage of
criticism against Gov. George Pataki for his response to the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, saying he stood by Rudolph Giuliani's side while the mayor emerged as the
real leader." (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid=703&e=7&u=/ap/20020418/ap_on_el_gu/new_york_governor_16
"The House Ethics Committee yesterday formed a four-member panel to investigate
whether actions that led to Rep. James Traficant's recent felony convictions also
violated House rules." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
http://www.cleveland.com/world/plaindealer/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/101912278723324351.xml
"DeLay's college advice...Don't send your kids to Baylor or A&M" (Houston Chronicle)
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/metropolitan/1371848
Opinion/Editorial
The Bush family and the Jews...George W. Bush is the first in his family of
politicians to craft a pro-Jewish image, writes Anne Kornblut in Slate. His
grandfather was accused of being a Nazi collaborator, and his father outraged the
Jewish community with a series of perceived insults.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/740127.asp
The Wall Street Journal: "The U.N.'s Refugees...The international body gives aid and
comfort to terrorists."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=105001943z
Rosett: "Is There a Doctrine in the House?...It may take another attack for Bush to
get serious about terror."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/cRosett/?id=105001942
Will: GM's Car Guy, in overdrive
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will.html
Babbin: "Returning empty-handed...Powell�s Mideast mission failed, and rightly so"
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20020418-96501792.htm
Kagan: "Can NATO Patrol Palestine?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5261-2002Apr17.html
Coulter: Nine out of 10 Caribou support drilling
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/coulter.html
Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/viewdb.cfm?uc_full_date=20020418
Mallard http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mallard.asp
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