Nigerian Times

Time for a Kitchen Table Conversation: Iraq War Funding Bill Costs $500 per U.S. Family WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congress returns to work this week under pressure from the Administration and congressional Republicans to provide more funding for the Iraq war. One of the things Americans should consider: The bill to fund further operations in Iraq would cost a little over $500 per U.S. family, according to WashingtonWatch.com. "American families should have a kitchen table conversation about the Iraq war," said WashingtonWatch.com webmaster Jim Harper. "It may be hard for families to assess our strategy in Iraq, but it's easy to grasp what it means for the government to spend $500 of their money. This is one of the things Americans should weigh on the Iraq issue." WashingtonWatch.com uses government predictions about the costs or savings from proposed laws to calculate the significance to average Americans - in dollars and cents - of proposed ...

Less Than Half of Pakistani Public Supports Attacking al Qaeda, Cracking Down on Fundamentalists WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pakistanis show only weak support for using force against Islamic militants and overwhelmingly oppose allowing outside forces to combat al Qaeda on Pakistani territory. A WorldPublicOpinion.org (http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/) poll finds that just 44 percent of urban Pakistanis favor sending the Pakistani army to the Northwestern tribal areas to "pursue and capture al Qaeda fighters." Only 48 percent would allow the Pakistan army to act against "Taliban insurgents who have crossed over from Afghanistan." In both cases, about a third oppose such military action and a fifth decline to answer. Pakistanis reject overwhelmingly the idea of permitting foreign troops to attack al Qaeda on Pakistani territory. Four out of five (80%) say their government should not allow American or other foreign troops to enter Pakistan to pursu...