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McKeon: State didn't ask for help before Benghazi

UPDATED 21:25 PM EDT, May 21, 2013 | RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior House Republican says U.S. military forces weren't in a position to help those under attack at a U.S. diplomatic post in Libya because the State Department had failed to ask the Pentagon for help in securing the compound before the raid.

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, also says billions of dollars in cuts to the Defense Department's budget raise the potential for greater risk at U.S. posts overseas because there won't be enough troops and equipment available to provide security.

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UPDATED 7:47 AM EDT, May 21, 2013

Kerry challenges Congress on diplomats' security

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry challenged Congress on Monday to go beyond its investigations of embassy security and help ensure that U.S. embassies and consulates abroad have the resources they need for appropriate security. His comments come as the Republicans continue to press for answers about the Obama administration's handling of last year's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.

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UPDATED 6:50 AM EDT, May 10, 2013

Kerry says he'll answer questions on Benghazi

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday he's determined to answer any questions related to the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as the House Republican leader pushed for more information from the Obama administration.

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UPDATED 22:55 PM EDT, May 6, 2013

Israel airstrikes loom over US diplomacy on Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel's willingness to hit Syrian targets it sees as threats to its own existence has complicated the Obama administration's internal debate over arming President Bashar Assad's foes and may change the way U.S. approaches allies as it tries to boost the rebels, including with possible military aid.

As Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Russia on Monday for talks with the Assad regime's most powerful ally, the administration remained tight-lipped on both Israel's weekend air strikes and their implications for Washington decision-making.

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UPDATED 7:34 AM EDT, April 29, 2013

Iran's ex-president softens stance toward Israel

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's influential former president says his country is not at war with archenemy Israel, the media reported Monday, in the latest departure by a high-profile politician from the strident anti-Israel line traditionally taken by many senior Iranian leaders.

The remarks by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani follows calls from figures across the political spectrum to repair the damage to Iran's international reputation they said had been caused by outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called Israel a doomed state and questioned the extent of the Holocaust.

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UPDATED 9:29 AM EDT, April 27, 2013

Red line: Obama cautious on Syria chemical weapons

WASHINGTON (AP) — Proceeding cautiously, President Barack Obama is insisting that any use of chemical weapons by Syria would change his "calculus" about U.S. military involvement in the 2-year-old civil war — but said too little was known about a pair of likely sarin attacks to order aggressive action now.

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UPDATED 19:11 PM EDT, April 23, 2013

GOP report faults State, Hillary Clinton on Benghazi security

WASHINGTON (AP) — An interim report released Tuesday by House Republicans faults the State Department and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for security deficiencies at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, prior to last September's deadly terrorist attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

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UPDATED 17:46 PM EDT, April 18, 2013

Months after Benghazi, Kerry says US chasing leads

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven months after the attack on a U.N. diplomatic mission in Libya, the Obama administration on Wednesday insisted that it was making progress in holding accountable those responsible for killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. has identified people it believes were involved in the Benghazi attack. FBI investigators are still combing through video and other evidence gathered from largely lawless eastern Libya, he said.

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UPDATED 7:37 AM EDT, April 16, 2013

Chavez heir begins 6-year term with weak mandate

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Nearly half Venezuela's voters don't want Nicolas Maduro in the presidential chair. He's inherited a dysfunctional economy, a deteriorating power grid and one of the world's highest homicide rates. And a glimmer of discontent already has surfaced in the movement of Hugo Chavez, who picked him to carry on the socialist revolution.

Maduro was certified the winner of a disputed presidential election Monday amid questions about his ability to lead after he squandered a double-digit lead in the race despite an outpouring of sympathy following Chavez's death.

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UPDATED 21:50 PM EDT, April 14, 2013

Israel at 65: Success still plagued by uncertainty

JERUSALEM (AP) — In 65 years, Israel has surpassed the dreams of its founders, emerging as the Middle East's strongest military force, a global high-tech powerhouse and a prosperous homeland for the Jewish people.

Yet it remains a divided society, and its most intractable problem — peace with its Arab neighbors — has yet to be resolved.

On the eve of the 65th anniversary of its creation, the Jewish renaissance in the Holy Land remains a work in progress.

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