If I were President I would restore the role of the Federal Government to it's original roles:

1. Defend the Country
2. Protect and Regulate the Borders
3. Regulate and mediate interstate commerce.

The jettisoning of massive amounts of welfare and special interest spending would be used to:

1. Eliminate deficit spending
2. Pay off the national debt
3. Restore the Social Security Funds spent by congress
4. Rebuild Nationally owned infrastructure
5. Reduce and simplify taxes
6. Encourage extremely rich Americans to contribute as much additional tax as they choose
7. Secure the borders

As a part of the National Defense I would

1. Reduce and eventually eliminate stationing of US Troops in Japan, Europe and Korea.
2. Correspondingly Increase troop strengths in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait (other Middle East Countries as needed).
3. Make a major push in Iraq to seize upon the strengths of the surge with the goal of leaving by fall of 2012.
4. In January 2013 begin the phased removal American Troops from the Middle East
5. Pass the "Assured Destruction" initiative. This would let belligerent States like Iran know that if the US is attacked and it is tracked back to them, we will level their 3 largest cities and destroy their infrastructure from the air.

To make keeping troops in the middle east past 2012 unnecessary I would engage in a National Energy independence initiative with he goal of being energy independent by 2050.

1. Immediately Fund a new "Manhattan Project" to discover/invent a new fuel for cars, trucks and power plants
A. Offer the technology to the car companies for free to incorporate it into their products
B. Seed the buildout of privately owned National distribution so consumers can get fuel for the new vehicles
2. Incentivize consumers and industry to continue to upgrade to green technologies and make energy conservation a National Priority.
3. Continue to use foreign oil and keep our own as a reserve until a suitable replacement is found.

Just a start.

Here is an excerpt of comments made by Katy Couric on statements made by Iran's President:

Couric referenced comments made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday’s “The Charlie Rose Show,” and said she actually agreed with Ahmadinejad on one point. “Oftentimes Westerners don’t really understand fully the values of this particular culture,” said Couric. “And I think the jury is still out as to whether democracy can really thrive in Iraq.”

Here is an excerpt from Time.com on a celebrity dinner put on by President Ahmadinejad of Iran:

This is now an annual ritual for the President of Iran. Every year, during the U.N. General Assembly in New York, he plots out a media campaign that — in its shrewdness, relentlessness, and quest for attention — would rival Angelina Jolie on a movie junket. And like any international figure, Mr. Ahmadinejad hones his performance for multiple audiences: in this case, the journalists and academics who can filter his speech and ideas for a wider American audience.

This illustrates the understanding of playing the media in the US where first ammendment guarantees give even despots a platform. There are no such visits by American Presidents to Iran, followed by speeches at prominent universities, followed by dinners with celebrities.

We are being played.

Columbia University's allowing the President of Iran to speak is perplexing at best.

Columbia will provide a forum for the President of a country that has publicly supported the destruction of Israel, denies the holocaust took place, supports terrorists, and is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Yet Columbia says it is a free speech issue. Students regularly shut out or shout down those they disagree with from the right of the American political spectrum. Why is the President of a nation that is the opposite of all the students claim to hold dear given so much lattiude? Will they shout down Ahmadinejad, or show him the respect they reserve for those they agree with?

The university claims military recruiters should not be allowed on campus because of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policies regarding gays in the military. Ahmadinejad is the President of a country that is said to execute homosexuals, and where women are stoned to death for doing what Monica Lewinsky did to President BIll Clinton in the White House.

Claiming it's a freedom of speech issue seems a thin veil, but for what?

How could we the people know?

Did you know that 47 countries' have reestablished their embassies in Iraq?

Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?

Did you know that 3100 Iraqi schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been "completed" in Iraq?

Did you know that Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating?

Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the reestablished Fulbright program?

Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational? They have 5 - 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.

Did you know that Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers?

Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?

Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?

Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?

Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.

Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?

Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?

Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%?

Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?

Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?

Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently?

OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW! WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW?

OUR MEDIA WOULDN'T TELL US!

Instead of reflecting our love for our country, we get photos of flag burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing snowballs at the presidential motorcades.

Tragically, the lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves two purposes:

It is intended to "undermine" the world's perception of the United States thus "minimizing" consequent support, AND it is intended to "discourage" American citizens.

---- Above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site http://www.defenselink.mil/

From the Jerusalem Post:

Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in Jane's Defence Weekly, which reported that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.

According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas.

Read the rest here.

The headline from the Drudge Report reads: Iran Prepared to Fill Iraq Power Vacuum

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Tuesday that a power vacuum is imminent in Iraq and said that Iran was ready to help fill the gap.

"The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Tehran, referring to U.S. troops in Iraq. "Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbors and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation." source: Breitbart.com

Credit goes to the Democrat Party who's incessant calls for immediate troop withdrawal and Maliki's resignation emboldens the Iranians and Al Qaeda, and prolongs the war.

Last month American soldiers captured a Mahdi Army death squad leader in Baghdad -- only to be forced to turn him loose on order of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Two weeks ago, we were ordered, again by Maliki, to take down the barricades we had established around Sadr City in search of another notorious death squad leader and a missing American soldier.-source, Charles Krauthammer

A decisive victory in Iraq is still the best possible outcome, but without the political will on either the Iraqi or American side to do what is necessary, staying is madness. With the Democrats in power and Bush rolling over for them (not that he had the initiative anyway), there is no mission. Not another American soldier's life should be wasted in Iraq under these circumstances.

We were better off with Saddam in power. He was easily containable and prevented the Iranians from having their run of the region.

This should be a clear message to any country that supports terrorists who threaten or attack the US. We will come into your country, kill you and destroy your government, and leave you with the mess.

Is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a true President or common terrorist?

I am thinking he is the latter.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council on Saturday over fears it wants to produce nuclear arms, raising the stakes in the diplomatic confrontation and prompting Tehran to threaten immediate retaliation.

"The path chosen by Iran's new leaders � threats, concealment, and breaking international agreements and IAEA seals � will not succeed and will not be tolerated by the international community," President Bush said in a statement.

Iran remained defiant, threatening to do precisely what referral was meant to prevent. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the resumption of uranium enrichment and an end to snap IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities, according to state television.

"As of Sunday, the voluntary implementation of the additional protocol and other cooperation beyond the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has to be suspended under the law," Ahmadinejad said in a letter to Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who also is the head of the nation's nuclear agency.

Javed Vaeidi, deputy head of Iran's powerful National Security Council, also said his country "now has to implement fuller scale of enrichment."

The following are comments he made that come right of Aljazeera.Net:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

"The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world," the president told a conference in Tehran on Wednesday, entitled The World without Zionism.

"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land," he said.

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran's revolutionary leader Ayat Allah Khomeini.

His comments were the first time in years that such a high-ranking Iranian official has called for Israel's eradication, even though such slogans are still regularly used at government
rallies.

If we are not careful, we are soon going to be dealing with a terrorist in posession of a nuclear bomb.