The controversyover Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) Islamophobic witch-hunt was kicked off by a series of letters from her and colleagues demanding that the Inspectors General of four government agencies investigate “deep penetration” by the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. government. But during an interview with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), CNN’s Anderson Cooper reported that two of the agencies have no intention of launching investigations.
During the interview, Cooper said:
We called the inspectors general involved here. Two of the five [sic] agencies, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, told us they had no plans to investigate. And both were clear that a request like this is outside the inspectors general mandate, saying that they look at the effectiveness of programs. They look for waste, fraud, abuse.
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner (OH) said his positions on whether or not to intervene militarily in Syria were closer to the Obama administration’s than to fellow Congressional Republicans.
Blitzer asked Boehner directly about U.S. military intervention and whether his position put him closer to the Obama administration than McCain:
BLITZER: Would you support U.S. military action, not necessarily troops on the ground, but air power, cruise missiles, arming of the rebels?
Would you go that far at this point to get rid of Bashar al- Assad?
BOEHNER: I don’t think that — that we ought to go that far. Now, it’s clear that the opposition is making progress. It’s also clear that they are receiving assistance from their friends in the region.
And I don’t think, at this point that it calls for that type of military intervention on our part.
BLITZER: So, on this issue, you’re with the Obama administration, basically, and not, let’s say, with John McCain?
BOEHNER: I’ve — probably correct, because I believe that Assad has to go. But I don’t think that we need to overly involve ourselves to the extent of direct military action.
Boehner’s position puts him in line with U.S. public opinion. A CNN poll last month found that, overall, six in ten Americans don’t want to get militarily involved in the civil war. According to those results, Boehner is also in line with adherents of his own party. 58 percent of Republicans agreed that the U.S. shouldn’t get involved.
POLL: Israelis Don’t Want To Go It Alone Against Iran |
A poll by the Israeli daily Maariv showed that Israelis are less-than-thrilled by the prospect of an attack on Iran’s nuclear program without the support of the U.S. Only 19 percent opted for a unilateral strike, while 26 percent said Israel should only strike with U.S. backing. Of the more than 500 respondents, 29 percent said Israel should take no action and 26 percent said they didn’t know what Israel should do.
- American officials told the New York Times that the suicide bomber who killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria was carried out by the Lebanese group Hezbollah “acting under broad guidance” from Iran in “tit for tat” retaliation against alleged attacks inside Iran. Israeli officials kept up promises to respond, likely, analysts say, in the form of covert action.
- Despite, for months since its leadership change, denying plans to significantly advance its nuclear program, a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign ministry said U.S. hostility was causing the isolated dictatorship “to totally reexamine the nuclear issue.”
- Russian authorities detained four people in relation to attacks on Muslim leaders in a restive province. President Vladimir Putin has called for religious tolerance amid fears that extremists operating in the province might seek to destabilize the situation.
The controversy over Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) Islamophobic witch-hunt was kicked off by a series of letters from her and colleagues demanding that the Inspectors General of four government agencies investigate “deep penetration” by the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. government. But during an interview with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), CNN’s Anderson Cooper reported that two of the agencies have no intention of launching investigations. 
