HomelandSecurityLeader.com

For Americans who may have been hungry for a credentialed conservative candidate in the 2008 Presidential contest, the wait is over.

Bob Barr today announced his candidacy for the presidency. Barr will run as a Libertarian and have to secure the their party’s nomination at a convention in Denver in two weeks.

In discussing the 2008 race earlier this year, GOP insider Andy Card said the early primaries and potential candidate overexposure in the media may have voters looking for options by summer.

“This year will present the perfect storm for an independent candidate,” Card advised.

Barr clearly hopes to take advantage of exactly that kind of opportunity. And, as a former CIA officer, a Reagan appointed U.S. Attorney and a Congressman who was known for hardcore conservative principles, Barr is a long way from the pro-pot fringe some may associate with the early days of the Libertarian Party.

Any honest assessment of his voting record in Congress will make both Obama and McCain look like liberals and his long time leadership on Second Amendment issues is not likely to be forgotten by the legions of N.R.A. loyalists. Finally, Barr’s pro-life credentials are certainly equal to John McCain’s, if not stronger.

As a campaigner, Barr is a thick skinned and seasoned professional. Having run severally hotly contested races in Georgia, his former opponents have come to understand that there are simply no skeletons or scandals to be found in Bob’s long history of public service.

On the major issues, Barr said he would look for a way to begin bringing troops home from Iraq and would evaluate other ways to reduce the military’s footprint abroad. He also said he doesn’t want to see America ushered into a war with Iran. On illegal immigration, he said that major reforms are needed because, “The United States of America is not a charity.”

In announcing his candidacy, Barr said that as President, he would focus on reducing the size of government, supporting original intent of the Constitution and restoring checks and balances between the three branches of government.

One thing is for sure, this race has just gotten a lot more interesting.

10:00 AM EDT Transportation Security Administration Administrator Kip Hawley will testify before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on budget oversight (508 Dirksen Senate Office Building).

12:15 PM CDT Secretary Michael Chertoff will participate in a press availability with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator David Paulison and Okalahoma Governor Brad Henry following a tour of local damage caused by recent tornados in Picher, OK.

1:00 PM CDT U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers will deliver remarks on the Student Exchange Visitor Program’s proposed fee rule increase to presidents, provosts and administrators of schools and universities in the greater Chicago area at an event hosted by the University of Illinois Chicago.

2:00 PM CDT Secretary Michael Chertoff will participate in a press availability with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator David Paulison and Missouri Governor Matt Blunt following a tour of local damage caused by recent tornados in Seneca, MO.

1:00 PM CDT  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers will deliver remarks on the Student Exchange Visitor Program’s proposed fee rule increase to presidents, provosts and administrators of schools and universities in the greater Chicago area (University of Illinois Chicago).

1:45 PM EDT  Transportation Security Administration Administrator Kip Hawley will tour Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and receive a briefing on the security infrastructure at the airport with Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Representative Bennie G. Thompson
(Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport).

11:30 AM EST U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Citizenship Chief Alfonso Aguilar will deliver keynote remarks at the 2008 Florida Literacy Conference (Lake Buena Vista, FL).

From Al Jazeera

Paul Bremer was appointed by George Bush, the US president, as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority immediately after the invasion of the country by US-led forces, taking up his position on May 11, 2003, until June 2004 when limited sovereignty was restored.

As part of Al Jazeera’s special series War Without End, he told Hoda Abdel Hamid about the challenges he faced in trying to restructure Iraq’s government institutions and infrastructure.

“In my very first meeting with president [George] Bush, which was on May 3 2003, he made it very clear that we were going to take our time to try to put Iraq on a long-term programme for political reconstruction and, of course, rebuild the economy.

But the clear message was let’s take our time and try to get it right in terms of political reconstruction.

Two things were pretty quickly apparent. One was that we did not have adequate security even in Baghdad because the looting was going on virtually from the day I arrived.

Within a week it became clear to me that we had a major problem that I had not anticipated which was how badly deformed the economy was, how much devastation Saddam had done to the economy.”

Full Story…

From http:ArubanBoycott.Blogspot.com

New statements by Aruban Tourism officials proves Boycott Watch caught Aruba in a lie, and that Aruba wanted to cash in on the disappearance of Natalee Holloway

Boycott Watch was first to break the story that Aruba lied about its tourism numbers, claiming tourism was up despite the boycott of Aruba called after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. An article in eTurboNews dated January 16, 2008 was just brought to our attention in which an Aruba official clearly indicates Boycott Watch was right all along.

In the article by Hazel Heyer, Aruba’s minister of tourism and transportation, Edison Briesen was quotes saying “We were strongly hit by this incident … In the Caribbean, this is the first time an island has been pounded this long by a single event. It’s been over a year and a half now and the publicity has not ended.”

Full Story…

By Ron Kessler, NewsMax.com

The FBI gets at least several dozen cases a year involving weapons of mass destruction, Dr. Vahid Majidi, the bureau’s assistant director in charge of the WMD Directorate, tells Newsmax.

Full Story

From Military.com

WASHINGTON - The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making such heavy use of the nation’s Green Berets and other elite warriors that they cannot fulfill their roles in other parts of the world, the military’s top commando told The Associated Press.

Full Story

9:00 AM Local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Policy and Strategy Chief Carlos E. Iturregui will participate at the Regional Conference on Migration Vice-Ministerial Meeting in Tela, Honduras.

10:00 AM EDT Chief Procurement Officer Thomas Essig will testify before the House Committee on Homeland Security on performance based service acquisitions at the Department of Homeland Security (311 Cannon House Office Building).

12:00 PM EDT U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad W. Allen will deliver remarks on creating a culture of preparedness at the International Oil Spill Conference in Savannah, GA.

Washington, DC - At a packed meeting of the American Conservative Defense Alliance on Wednesday, Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R-TX) addressed a wide range of national security issues.

During the meeting he expressed serious concerns about what the Patriot Act has meant to the liberty of Americans stating, “What’s left of the 4th Amendment? Not much really.”

He called on Americans to unite behind candidates who support the Constitution, conservative fiscal policies and limited government.

He also expressed concern that President Bush would attack Iran before leaving office.  He believes a conflict with Iran would lead “overnight” to $200 a barrel oil prices and a cascading collapse of the American economy.

Congressman Paul also said that the President is provoking Russia by attempting to place missiles in former satellites of the USSR, an act he compared to Russia placing nuclear arms in Mexico.

Finally, he expressed concern over the expanding number of lobbying ”complexes” that wield enormous power in Washington. Congressman Paul said in addition to the traditional lobbying power of the Defense Industrial Complex, that other special interest alliances representing the healthcare, insurance and finance industries have garnered massive amounts of power in recent years.

Congressman Paul details these and other issues in his best selling book, The Revolution: A Manifesto.