------------------------------------------------------
The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
------------------------------------------------------
TGIF folks...You know what that means? Call your date...Invite him/her over for a
romantic dinner in front of Hardball and let the majic begin...A guaranteed recipe for
success...Your significant other will be impressed by your sophistication and it'll be
cheaper than eating at a fancy restaurant...Trust me, it works..
Anywho, I woke up this morning, grabbed my Post and was immediately struck by this
front page, above the fold piece...I'm throwing it into the "must read" category
because it details the split in the adminstration on foreign policy that we've been
discussing for months now...."Policy divide thwarts Powell....State Department
officials say Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has been repeatedly undercut by other
senior policymakers in his effort to break the Middle East deadlock, warning this has
left U.S. diplomacy paralyzed at an especially volatile moment."
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/743823.asp
We'll probably do something with that in the buzz...I'm told we got a line on Janet
and Rendell or Rahm...Remember them for the old days?
In the A block we'll do the Jenin-UN investigation with Anne Bayefsky, a Columbia Law
Professor and a member of the board of UN Watch...She wrote a column highly critical
of the UN..."Why we shouldn't trust the UN...When the world body comes calling with
Israel as its target, its ability to be fair has to be proved, says Anne Bayefsky"
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=anne&option=&start_row=1¤t_row=1&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_start=1
Here's some more background...WashPost: Israeli reservists tell of Jenin assault....It
was the second day of the battle for the Jenin refugee camp, and things were going
badly for the Israelis. Palestinian gunmen, firing from sandbags hidden behind
curtained windows, had pinned down advancing Israeli troops on the camp's western
edge. http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/743824.asp
We'll also do the DeLay-White House split on the Israeli resolution with a Member
(that's Washington speak for a "Member of Congress")..."White House, DeLay at
Odds...House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) is promoting a strongly worded
declaration of congressional support for Israel over the objection of Bush
administration officials."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50644-2002Apr25.html
The B block is going to be a "headliners and legends" if you will of Saddam
Hussein...It was the man's birthday this week so tonight we take a look the man behind
the dictatorship...We'll do Post, Jerrold that is, and Charles Duelfur, a former
weapons inspector dude...
The softer side of Saddam: "Iraq stages play based on book thought to be written by
Saddam" (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020426/ap_wo_en_ge/iraq_saddam_s_play_1
Hey it's Saddam's birthday, what should we do? I know, lets get married!
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020425/170/1gc0h.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020425/168/1gebc.html
Scarborough: "The commander of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf has told senior
Pentagon officers that a new war against Iraq would likely take five divisions and
200,000 troops." http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020426-41274916.htm
Rahman and Pinkas will do the Middle East stuff...
"Israeli troops re-entered a West Bank town Friday to grab suspected militants, while
four Palestinian policemen surrendered to Israeli troops ringing Bethlehem's Church of
the Nativity and two men in the compound were wounded by Israeli snipers." (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=3&u=/ap/20020426/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians_3603
Bush, Abdullah mull Mideast peace...Emerging from a meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown
Prince Abdullah, President Bush said Thursday that the leaders had spent most of the
time talking about how to "defuse the current situation" in the Mideast.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/743431.asp
"Even as he relayed a message that the United States must do more to restrain Israel,
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah assured President Bush on Thursday that he would not
punish the United States by withholding oil." (Houston Chronicle)
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory2/1384256
Join us and don't forget to pickup that bottle of wine for dinner! Dominic Bellone
compiled and edited this Briefing from his perch overlooking Capitol Hill in DC
"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saw firsthand Friday the cooperation from a new
strategic partner in Central Asia, a foothold for U.S. and allied airpower in the war
on terrorism. En route to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Rumsfeld warned of the pending threat
to regional stability from al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, whom he said
were regrouping to launch a spring offensive against Kabul�s interim government and
western troops there." http://msnbc.com/news/743341.asp?0dm=C21LN
The search for Osama bin Laden has found neither "hide nor hair" of America's No. 1
terrorist target since December, but the fight to rid Afghanistan of his al-Qaida
network will continue for months, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020426/ap_on_re_as/afghan_rumsfeld_6
"The Vatican's Congregation of Bishops has begun an examination of how it will
determine whether Cardinal Bernard F. Law has lost his capacity to govern the
Archdiocese of Boston, according to two Vatican sources." (The Boston Globe)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/116/nation/Bishops_at_Vatican_reportedly_discussing_the_future_of_Law+.shtml
"In crisis, Israel rallies behind settlers...Polls say most Israelis believe that now
is not the time for compromise on settlements." (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0426/p01s04-wome.html
"This weekend, Georgia Sen. Zell Miller will become the first Democrat in more than a
decade to give the keynote address to the National Rifle Association's annual
meeting." (AP) http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020426-60694164.htm
Washington Whispers: "Leno lineup: Here's Ari...White House funnyman�just kidding�Ari
Fleischer goes Hollywood next Monday when he's Jay Leno's guest on the Tonight Show."
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/whisphome.htm
"Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) underwent five hours of surgery yesterday to replace a
leaking pig valve installed in his heart 10 years ago and to repair another heart
valve." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49656-2002Apr25.html
Orin: "President Bush pushed Israel to 'finish its withdrawal' from Palestinian towns
after a "very cordial" meeting yesterday with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at his Texas
ranch." http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/41997.htm
Today: Lyndon Johnson, 'Master of the Senate'
Author Robert Caro writes about the early rise to power of the nation's 36th president.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/743082.asp
Opinion/Editorial
Voices of the far right...Was Jean-Marie Le Pen's strong showing in the first round of
French presidential elections an odd fluke or a lesson for all of us? By Eric Alterman.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/743691.asp
McCain: "United in Freedom...America must stand with Israel against Arab tyranny and
terror." http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=105001979
Lewis: "A War of Resolve...American kowtowing to "moderate" Arabs may embolden bin
Laden." http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=105001985
Brandt: "Karen, We Hardly Knew Ye...With Hughes stepping down, the president loses a
close confidant and the White House an advocate for common sense"
http://www.msnbc.com/news/742615.asp
Greenberg: "U.N.'s point man in Jenin...The U.N.'s Terje Roed-Larsen is speaking in
the hallowed tradition of another great Norwegian, Vidkun Quisling. Think of all the
lives he spared by cooperating with the Nazis, and the only thing lost was freedom."
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020426-77684740.htm
Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/viewdb.cfm?uc_full_date=20020426
Mallard Fillmore http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mallard.asp
=========================================
This email is never sent unsolicited. You have received
The Hardball Briefing Newsletter because you subscribed to it or,
someone forwarded it to you.
To remove yourself from the list (or to add yourself to the list if this
message was forwarded to you) simply go to
http://www.msnbc.com/tools/newstools/e/emailextra.asp?nfeature=19
