Seven pilgrims killed in attack in Iraq

The pilgrims, all males, were carrying black flags and chanting religious songs before the attack, the official said.

Authorities are searching for the assailants, the official said.

Salman Pak — also referred to as al-Madaen — is a predominately Sunni town. It was controlled by al Qaeda in Iraq before the Iraqi security forces managed to gain control of much the area. Still, there are al Qaeda in Iraq cells in villages around the town.

Over the past few days, hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims started walking toward Kadhimiya, a Shiite neighborhood, for the annual commemoration of al-Kadhim’s death. Many have traveled — either by foot or by car — from across the country, especially southern Shiite provinces.

Brig. Gen Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, said at a news conference Sunday, “A large number of security forces have deployed to provide security for the pilgrims by establishing checkpoints and by sending foot patrols and preparing additional forces to deal with emergencies.”
Atta said people going into Kadhimiya are not allowed to carry weapons, bags, cell phones or any type of communication devices like radios.

He also warned pilgrims about taking food or drinks from people they don’t know and not to believe rumors about suicide bombers. During the pilgrimage in 2005, about 1000 pilgrims died in a stampede that grew from a rumor of a suicide bomber.

Atta said he has more than 200 women conducting searches in Kadhimiya because of a rise in female suicide bombers.

The Imam Moussa al-Kadhim’s shrine is one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/27/iraq.main/index.html

India on alert as death toll from bombs rises

“There hasn’t been any outbreak of violence,” said Ahmedabad police Cpl.-in-charge M.N. Raghela. “The army, police and paramilitary forces are patrolling the city, and residents are being very supportive.”

Seventeen low intensity blasts went off within a span of 70 minutes Saturday night, all within a 6-mile (10-km) radius.

By 4:15 p.m. Sunday (6:45 a.m. ET), the death toll had climbed to 49. The official number of wounded is 114, according to Ahmedabad police, but Raghela said the number of injuries surpassed 200.
The serial blasts occurred barely 24 hours after nine similar explosions rocked Bangalore, known as the Silicon Valley of India. Two people were killed and six injured in those explosions.

In both cities, bicycles, bags and lunch boxes were repositories for the bombs, authorities said.

“It is a conspiracy to unsettle the country,” Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal told CNN-IBN Saturday.
Police recovered two unexploded bombs around Ahmedabad Sunday. One was found in a garbage receptacle; the second by the side of the road, police said.

One of Saturday’s explosions hit a bus stop, while others detonated at a railway station and on a bus. Several also went off at, or close to, hospitals where the injured were being taken.

Authorities raided an apartment rented by an American in Mumbai, 338 miles (545 km) away after tracing an e-mail that claimed responsibility for the blasts, CNN’s sister network CNN-IBN reported Sunday.

The apartment resident claimed that his Internet account had been hacked a few days ago, the television station said.

Authorities are also investigating another email sent to Muslim actors who are part of the Mumbai-based Indian film industry. The email reportedly asked them to stop working, the television station said.

No arrests have been made, although police reportedly rounded up 30 individuals in connection with the blasts, CNN-IBN added.

The network was among several media outlets to receive an e-mail, purportedly from the Muslim militant group Indian Mujahedeen, warning about an attack. The message was also sent to the country’s Intelligence Bureau.
But afterward, the Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJi) — or the Movement of the Islamic Holy War — claimed responsibility for the bombings, CNN-IBN said.

Analysts say that cross-pollination between terror groups can make it difficult to distinguish between them.

India ranks among the countries where terrorism is most common, according to the U.S. State Department.

Authorities do not know the motive for the Ahmedabad blasts but have blamed past attacks on Islamic militants, alleging they were fomenting unrest between the country’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority.

Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat state, was the scene of deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 that left about 1,000 people dead.
The violence was sparked after 60 Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire. While the cause of the blaze was not clear, some Hindus blamed Muslims for the blaze and retaliated.

The two groups claiming responsibility for Saturday’s blasts have a history of similar acts.

HuJi is blamed for several attacks inside India, including one at the American Centre in Calcutta that killed five policemen in 2002.

It is also banned in neighboring Bangladesh where the group is accused of carrying out several attacks, including a foiled plot to kill the country’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in 2002.

The United States considers Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJi) a terrorist organization.

The second group, Indian Mujahedeen, claimed responsibility in May for near-simultaneous bomb attacks that killed 63 people in the northwest Indian city of Jaipur. In that attack, the group declared “open war” against India in retaliation for what it said were 60 years of Muslim persecution and the country’s support of United States policies.
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The group also claimed responsibility for a series of similar attacks outside courts in three north Indian cities in the state of Uttar Pradesh in November 2007. More than a dozen people were killed and 80 injured.

In May, security analysts described Indian Mujahedeen as a relatively unknown group. It may be a new home-grown terror network, an alias for an existing group or a foreign militant organization.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/27/india.blasts/index.html

Obama in London for talks with UK leaders

The pair made the most of the sunshine by sitting outside on the patio, even taking a stroll toward adjacent St. James’s Park — much to the surprise of nearby tourists.

“The prime minister’s emphasis, like mine, is on how we can strengthen the transatlantic relationship to solve problems that can’t be solved by any single country individually,” Obama told reporters outside Downing Street after the meeting.

Those problems, Obama said, include climate change, international terrorism and turmoil in world financial markets. Obama and Brown also discussed cooperation in resolving the problems in the Middle East and burden-sharing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It was a spectacular day and I’m glad to be here,” Obama said.

Earlier, Obama met with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who now serves as the Middle East envoy for the “quartet” of the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations.

Following his meeting with Brown, Obama met with opposition leader David Cameron, head of the Conservative Party, before heading back to the United States.

Obama’s trip has taken him through the Middle East and Europe, starting with Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank and finishing with Germany, France and Britain.

Though Obama joked with the British press that London was the highlight for him, his trip has included several other moments that have garnered positive international headlines — most recently a Friday news conference in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and a speech in Berlin on Thursday to some 200,000 people.
The Democratic candidate admitted his ratings may have slipped in the United States since he’s been away, as Americans focus more on domestic problems like gas prices and home foreclosures than on his travels abroad. But he said he still considers the trip important.

“The reason that I thought this trip was important is that I am convinced that many of the issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad and unless we get a handle on Iraq and Afghanistan,” Obama said.

The military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, are costing America money that could be better spent on rebuilding the U.S. economy.

“This was important for me not only to try to highlight or amplify how the international situation affects our economy back home, but also hopefully to give people at home and also leaders abroad some sense of where an Obama administration might take our foreign policy,” he said.
Obama’s staff has repeatedly said the tour is not political and not intended as a campaign trip, although Obama’s meetings with troops and world leaders were designed to boost his foreign policy credentials and help voters back home envision him as commander-in-chief.

The warm atmosphere in Paris — where Sarkozy repeatedly called Obama a friend — continued in London, and not just because of the warm summer temperatures that finally settled on the British capital this week.
Obama and Brown were shown laughing and smiling as they walked together, and Obama reiterated to reporters that the special relationship between Britain and America continues.

“I think there’s a deep and abiding affection for the British people in America and a fascination with all things British that is not going to go away any time soon,” Obama said.

He countered criticism from his rival, Republican John McCain, for abruptly canceling a visit to see U.S. troops stationed in Germany as he traveled through the country this week. An Obama spokesman initially said it was deemed “inappropriate” to meet with the troops, to which a McCain spokesman said it should never be inappropriate.
The Democrat explained he canceled the visit out of concern it would be perceived as a campaign opportunity.

“That triggered, then, a concern that maybe our visit was going to be perceived as politics,” he said. “The last thing that I want to do is have injured soldiers and the staff at these wonderful institutions having to sort through whether this is political or not.”

Britain was a low-key stop on Obama’s itinerary, in part because no major events were planned. Brown also decided not to greet the U.S. senator on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street because he didn’t grant the same honor to McCain when the Republican visited in March.

That protocol comes at a difficult time politically for the British prime minister, who could have benefited from a photo opportunity with a man so hugely popular in Europe. Brown’s Labor Party lost a local election this week in what had been considered safe territory for the party, adding to existing political woes for Brown and raising questions about his future as prime minister.
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Asked by a British reporter whether he had any advice for Brown, Obama said no — but he said elected officials must always be prepared to deal with a fickle public.

“You’re always more popular before you’re actually in charge of things and then, once you’re responsible, then you’re going to make some people unhappy. That’s just the nature of politics,” he said. “Even during the course of this campaign, there have been months when I’m (considered) a genius and there are months when I’m (considered) an idiot.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/26/obama.london/index.html

Investigation into Qantas jet emergency begins

According to early reports, a section of the fuselage separated in the forward cargo compartment, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said in a written statement.

“Our preliminary checks on this indicate that there was no corrosion anywhere near where this hole occurred in the aircraft,” Geoff Dixon, Qantas CEO, said in Sydney.

Video of the plane after it landed on Friday showed a large hole where the leading edge of the wing attaches to the fuselage.
The section of the fuselage separated at about 29,000 feet, and the cabin began to rapidly decompress, ATSB said in the statement released Friday.

The crew brought the plane down to 10,000 feet and diverted the aircraft to Manila International Airport, where it landed safely about 11:15 a.m. (11:15 p.m. ET Thursday).

The airline said it received no reports of any injuries among the 346 passengers and 19 crew members.
Dixon called the incident a “hugely serious issue” and one that investigators would sort out. “We can’t speculate on what happened.”

Oxygen masks were deployed during the emergency. Passengers said their ears popped because of the plane’s rapid descent to a lower altitude.
“There was an almighty crack,” one passenger said. “We dropped a bit in the air, but other than that it was fine.”

“There was a big bang,” said another. “I knew there was a hole somewhere, but I didn’t know what was going on.” iReport.com: See photos of the ‘nasty’ damage

The Boeing 747-400 flight originated in London. It had just taken off from Hong Kong and was en route to Melbourne, Australia, when it was forced to land.

A U.S. Transportation Security Administration official, who asked not to be identified because his agency is not leading the probe into the incident, told CNN that a preliminary investigation found no connection to terrorism.

The damage appears to be related to a mechanical issue, based on examination of the aircraft on the ground, the official said.

The official said a TSA representative based in Manila is assisting in the investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board also is sending investigators, and an NTSB spokesman said the agency also does not suspect terrorism.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/26/jet.emergency/index.html

Karadzic lawyer quiet on extradition appeal

Lawyer Svetozar Vujacic was quoted by the Politika daily as saying the appeal was mailed from a post office, but he declined to say which one, so the letter could not be immediately identified and rushed to the court handling Karadzic’s extradition.

But, speaking with reporters on Saturday, Vujacic declined to give any details.

“I cannot say anything about the appeal, where or when I filed it or what is in it,” he said. “Had I talked about it, the appeal would already be rejected and Radovan Karadzic would already be on his way to The Hague.”

Karadzic faces charges including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide, for allegedly masterminding the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica — Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.
Once Serb judges decide on the appeal, the case will be handed over to the Serbian government, which issues the final extradition order.
Karadzic was a fugitive for over a decade before he was arrested. Government officials say he was captured Monday but Vujacic claims Karadzic was apprehended the previous week on a Belgrade bus and held incommunicado by unknown kidnappers for three days.
Vujacic has filed a lawsuit against Karadzic’s alleged abductors. Responding to the lawsuit, a prosecutor spoke to Karadzic about the claims Friday, Vujacic said.

Vujacic also says his client plans to defend himself against U.N. genocide charges, just as his mentor, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, did. Milosevic died in 2006 while on trial on genocide charges.
In Serbia, Karadzic’s arrest has sparked nationalist anger.

Several hundred ultranationalists — chanting Karadzic’s name and denouncing Serbian President Boris Tadic — marched Friday for the third straight day of protests in downtown Belgrade in support of Karadzic.

The demonstrators briefly scuffled with riot police and hurled burning torches at the Belgrade City Council building.

Since his capture, more possible news on Karadzic’s nearly 13 years under cover emerged.

Serbia’s Vecernje Novosti newspaper Saturday published an interview with Karadzic’s nephew, Dragan Karadzic, claiming he was the only one who knew his uncle the fugitive had assumed a false identity of “Dragan Dabic.”

“I was his only link to the family and to the outside world,” the nephew was quoted as saying, adding he regularly met with Karadzic, helped him with renting different apartments over the past six years and bringing him supplies.
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“I am not afraid of the consequences,” Dragan Karadzic said. “To me, he isn’t a fugitive, he is my uncle, my father’s brother.”

On Friday, Austrian police Col. Rudolf Golia told The Associated Press that anti-terror units found a man who looked exactly like the fugitive Karadzic’s assumed identity while searching an apartment in Vienna for a murder suspect last year. The man was not connected to the killing, and he was let go without being fingerprinted
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/26/karadzic.fallout.ap/index.html

Hamas arrests Fatah rivals after Gaza blasts

The Islamist group Hamas blamed the Friday attacks on members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

Fatah has denied the charges.

The two factions have been bitterly divided since Hamas drove Abbas’ security forces from Gaza last year.

Five of the deaths resulted from an explosion Friday night behind a tent on the beach, a hospital spokesman said. He said 20 people were wounded in that blast, which occurred about 9:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET).

Among the dead was Amar Musubah, a Hamas military commander, who has been the target of numerous assassination attempts by the Israeli military.
Earlier in the day, a man died and two people were wounded when a bomb exploded at a coffee shop.

A Hamas politician escaped injury from a separate explosion Friday morning outside his home.

Man whose ID was used by Karadzic is found

Radovan Karadzic assumed Dabic’s identity as a cover during the autocratic rule of his mentor Slobodan Milosevic, officials said Thursday, promising to track down anyone who helped the Bosnian Serb warlord stay on the run from genocide charges for nearly 13 years.

The true Dabic lives in Ruma, a Serbian town just north of Belgrade, according to Rasim Ljajic, a government official in charge of war crimes.
“Dabic’s ID differs from Karadzic’s only in the photographs of the two,” Ljajic said.

Will the real Dragan Dabic stand up?
That discovery certainly altered Dabic’s plans for the day.

“Instead of working in the garden, I’m being besieged by reporters and answering telephone calls,” Dabic said in Ruma, adding that he had no idea how the copy of his ID ended up in Karadzic’s hands.

“This is unfair. Instead of finding out who really cooked this up, I’m being questioned by police,” said Dabic, who has no physical resemblance to Karadzic.

It also meant that all earlier reports on other Dragan Dabics — one official said there were seven dead or alive in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo alone — were tossed aside as false leads.

Officials were trying to figure out whether Karadzic’s ID was a fake or an official copy of Dabic’s original.
Authorities said Karadzic was captured in Belgrade on Monday and is awaiting extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. However, Karadzic’s lawyer insisted his client was captured last Friday.

Lawyer Sveta Vujacic said Karadzic told him to file a lawsuit against “unidentified persons” who abducted Karadzic last Friday. Vujacic said Karadzic was taken off a public bus in a Belgrade suburb, hooded and transferred to an unknown location where he was kept for three days.

“We have three witnesses who have contacted us, who saw all this,” Vujacic said.

The comments were seen as an attempt to postpone Karadzic’s extradition as long as possible.

Bruno Vekaric, spokesman for Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor, said Karadzic obtained the false papers while Milosevic’s regime was still in power. Milosevic was ousted in a popular revolt in October 2000.

Those who helped Karadzic face prosecution
Those suspected of helping Karadzic evade justice will be prosecuted, Vekaric said, adding that authorities hoped they could also help track down the remaining war crimes fugitives, including Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic.

Several hundred ultranationalists — chanting Karadzic’s name and denouncing Serbia’s new pro-Western government — marched Thursday in downtown Belgrade in support of the former Bosnian Serb leader.

Karadzic sent word he plans to defend himself against U.N. genocide charges. But his fellow Serbs were more enthralled with details of his secret life: a mistress, a bogus family in the U.S. and regular visits to the Madhouse bar, where a photo showed him during his beardless days as wartime political leader of Bosnian Serbs.

The capture of Karadzic capped an extraordinary turnaround for Serbia, where just a few months ago thugs outraged at Kosovo’s independence set part of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade on fire, and ultranationalists prepared to seize power.

In May, after decades of frustration with nationalists, a pro-Western bloc won national elections on a promise to bring the impoverished nation closer to mainstream Europe.

On Thursday, the government announced plans to reinstate ambassadors withdrawn from the 20 EU countries that supported Kosovo’s independence. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said the return of ambassadors will help Serbia’s attempts to one day join the European Union.

Serbia has no plans to return its ambassador to Washington or other non-EU states that recognized Kosovo.

In all, 42 nations have recognized Kosovo’s independence, including the United States and 20 of the 27 EU members. Serbia, with strong Russian backing, remains vehemently opposed to Kosovo’s split.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25829508/

The NBA’s burgeoning trade deficit just took a troubling turnThursday. At least as far as the Lakers are concerned.

Just days after Atlanta Hawks guard Josh Childress shocked the NBA to sign a lucrative, three-year deal with the Greek team Olympiakos,

rumblings began surfacing about European clubs being interested inLakers guard Sasha Vujacic.

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said Thursday that he was still “hopeful we can make a deal sometime in the near future,” but acknowledged that there was concern about European teams making a pitch to Vujacic.

“‘There is a vibrant European market that we’re aware of, much more so of late,” Kupchak said.”I don’t think it’ll go away soon. Until you have a players’ signature on a contract, you’re always concerned.

“I do believe he wants to play in the NBA, but he has an obligation to seek out a deal that fits what he wants as a free agent and only he knows what that is.”

Vujacic, a Slovenian national who played in Italy before coming to the NBA, is a restricted free agent, meaning the Lakers would have seven days to match any offer sheet he signed with another club.

This summer — with all but three or four teams maxed out by the NBA’s salary cap– that status has been tough going. Clubs are reluctant to offer a contract to a restricted free agent, because of the seven-day waiting period, where their money is tied up.

Vujacic, frustrated by the lack of interest he was receiving around the league, dropped
his agent, Bill Duffy, and switched to Rob Pelinka about ten days ago.

Since then, Kupchak said he has been in daily contact with Pelinka.

“As a former player, I can tell you it takes time to get these things done unless you’re one of the top two or three free agents. It takes time for the market to thin,” Kupchak said. “When he changed agents, it set the process back because we had to start over. But we’ve been in daily contact with his new representative.”

Garbajosa to Russia: Also Thursday, Jorge Garbajosa, once an offseason interest of the Lakers, was prepared to sign a contract with Khimki Moscow, according to the Spanish-language website as.com

!Bynum “looks great”:There was one bit of good news from Lakers camp this week. Young center Andrew Bynum was in town on Monday to meet with Kupchak and Lakers team doctor, Steven Lombardo.

Kupchak said that Bynum –who was cleared by his personal doctor, David Altcheck in New York, last week — looked great.

“Everything we’ve heard the last few weeks has been very, very encouraging,” Kupchak said. “It’s all been good.”

After the meeting in Los Angeles, Bynum flew to Atlanta to workout with his personal trainer. He has been cleared for basketball activities and conditioning, Kupchak added.

Earlier in the day, Bynum’s agent David Lee affirmed the positive status report.

“He’s absolutely fine, he’s going to come in as a beast,” Lee said. “He’s got no atrophy anywhere. The kid’s in great shape. Maybe it comes with being 20 years of age.”

As for the negotiations on Bynum’s contract status, Lee said that the discussions have been tabled until September.

“We aren’t going to talk again until September until they have a chance to see what they’re getting,” Lee said. “But I don’t have any concerns about it.”

Lee said that once negotiations begin, it was “very important” that the extension be completed by the time the season starts. Lee is seeking a max (five years, $80 million) extension.

“I know what we want, I know what the rest of the league thinks of Andrew. I just hope the Lakers are on the same page,” Lee said.
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9990507

McCain camp: Obama taking a 'premature victory lap'

McCain was campaigning Thursday in Ohio, focusing on health care.

Speaking to reporters outside Schmidt’s Restaurant and Banquet Haus, a German eatery in Columbus, Ohio, McCain responded to Obama’s Berlin speech, which attracted large crowds at the Victory Column.

“Well, I’d love to give a speech in Germany … a political speech or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in,” he said. “But I would much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for the office of the presidency.”
Later Thursday, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded to Obama’s Berlin speech.

“While Barack Obama took a premature victory lap today in the heart of Berlin, proclaiming himself a ‘citizen of the world,’ John McCain continued to make his case to the American citizens who will decide this election,” he wrote. “Barack Obama offered eloquent praise for this country, but the contrast is clear. John McCain has dedicated his life to serving, improving and protecting America. Barack Obama spent an afternoon talking about it.”

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee also took a veiled swipe at Obama’s meetings with foreign leaders during the Democrat’s weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East.

“I have very good relations with … many of the European leaders. … It’s not my first meeting with them or with the leaders in Israel and the Palestinians,” McCain said.
“I’m very happy that a lot of these new leaders in Europe, particularly in France and Germany, are much more pro-American than their predecessors were. That’s just a fact. So I intend to work with them. … I have relations with them for many years standing, and they’re important, particularly in Afghanistan.”

McCain also lashed out at Obama’s policy on Iraq.

“It is very clear that Sen. Obama does not understand what’s at stake here, what was at stake in Iraq, and his refusal to acknowledge that the surge has succeeded is again a graphic demonstration of his lack of understanding of national security issues,” he said, referring to the 2007 escalation of U.S. troops in Iraq.

“So it is pretty obvious he’s taken this position in order to secure the nomination of his party by taking the far left position.”

McCain and Obama have different views on how to handle the situation in Iraq. McCain says troop withdrawal should be based on conditions on the ground, but Obama advocates removing all combat brigades within 16 months of taking office.

Obama is firing back at his Republican challenger for saying, “it seems to me that Sen. Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.”

Obama told NBC News that he was disappointed by McCain’s language.

“For him to suggest that I don’t, for him to suggest that I’m somehow less concerned about the safety of my wife and my daughter, was unfortunate,” he said Wednesday.

One political observer says McCain’s suggestion that Obama is more interested in winning the election than the war could backfire.

“It’s red meat for the Republican base,” University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato said. “But this election, as all elections, will be decided by swing independent moderates, and they tend not to like language like that.”

The speech — and McCain’s criticism — comes on the same day a new CNN “poll of polls” shows that Obama holds a lead of 4 percentage points over the GOP senator.

The average of the three most recent national surveys of registered voters shows the senator from Illinois with 47 percent and McCain with 43 percent. About 10 percent say they are undecided. There isn’t a margin of error in the poll of polls.

The margin between the two presidential candidates has narrowed slightly over the past week. In a CNN poll of polls July 16, Obama and McCain were separated by 6 percentage points.

The latest poll of polls includes recent surveys from Gallup, NBC/The Wall Street Journal, and ABC/The Washington Post.

McCain’s campaign is doing what it can to keep Obama from using the overseas trip to burnish his foreign policy credentials.
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The German capital wasn’t the only Berlin to be front and center in the presidential campaign Thursday: The Republican National Committee aired radio ads promoting McCain’s candidacy in Berlin, New Hampshire; Berlin, Pennsylvania; and Berlin, Wisconsin.
They’re not the most expensive media markets for the RNC but perhaps a clever way to gain some national press and buzz in three battleground states while Obama delivered one of the biggest speeches of the campaign cycle in the European capital.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/24/mccain.criticism/index.html

Obama: New walls need tearing down

On Thursday, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the White House used a speech in Berlin — the German city that once symbolized Cold War division — to warn about the dangers of allowing new walls to come between the United States and its allies.

Obama highlighted what he sees as common transatlantic goals while also accepting the differences of the Bush years.

He is on the latest leg of an international trip intended to bolster his foreign policy credentials at home and set out his vision for a new era of transatlantic cooperation.

In an echo of former President Ronald Reagan’s speech when he demanded the Berlin Wall be pulled down, Obama said: “The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.”

Obama introduced himself to the Berlin crowd as a proud U.S. citizen and a “fellow citizen of the world.”

He said: “This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.”
He touched on issues that have generally divided Europe and the U.S. such as climate change as well as comparing Berlin’s Cold War struggle with today’s international challenges like fighting terrorism.

“People of the world – look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one,” he said.

Obama said: “While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.”

He said the fall of the Berlin Wall offered hope as the world faces up to international challenges such as terrorism, climate change and loose nukes

“In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided,” Obama said.

He also addressed differences between the U.S. and Europe but added: “In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common.

“In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth…
“In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.”

Turning to global warming, Obama said: “This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet.

“Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations – including my own – will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere.”

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said despite the pro-Obama crowd who gathered at the Victory Column in Berlin’s Tiergarten Park hours before the speech, many had serious questions about his policies.

Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for Obama’s Republican rival John McCain, said: “John McCain has dedicated his life to serving, improving and protecting America. Barack Obama spent an afternoon talking about it.”

Obama earlier played down suggestions he was delivering a campaign speech but conceded that his performance was intended as much for an American audience as for the gathering German crowds.

He had originally hoped to speak in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate, where U.S. President John F. Kennedy was photographed during a visit in 1963 shortly after the Berlin Wall had been built. Expressing solidarity with the people of the divided city during the same trip, Kennedy declared “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

The gate was also the site of a speech by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1987 in which he memorably urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the wall.

But use of the landmark was apparently vetoed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who a spokesman Wednesday said disapproved of plans to co-opt it as a “campaign backdrop.”

CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley said Obama enjoyed widespread popularity in Europe, partly because of his optimism and partly because he is not President George W. Bush.
But Oakley said Obama needed to prove to Americans that he could defend U.S. interests abroad. Republican rival John McCain’s campaign team has frequently criticized Obama as being inexperienced on foreign policy and a recent poll suggested just 48 percent of Americans thought he would make a good commander in chief, compared to 72 percent for McCain.

Germany’s ties with the Bush administration have warmed since a fallout over the Iraq war, which Germany opposed. Germany and the U.S. have also disagreed over NATO member Germany’s refusal to send troops into combat zones in southern Afghanistan.
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Oakley said European leaders would be seeking confirmation that Obama, if elected, would be a “listening president.” In addition to Merkel, Obama is slated to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and opposition leader David Cameron as well as French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Obama’s arrival in Europe follows earlier stopovers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel and the Palestinian territories. He says he is making the trip as a U.S. senator rather than a presidential contender.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/25/obama.trip/index.html