Obama, Congress Fail to Avert Sequester Cuts

President Obama and congressional leaders today failed to reach a breakthrough to avert a sweeping package of automatic spending cuts, setting into motion $85 billion of across-the-board belt-tightening that neither had wanted to see.

Obama met for just over an hour at the White House today with Republican leaders House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Democratic allies, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Vice President Joe Biden.

But the parties emerged from their first face-to-face meeting of the year resigned to see the cuts take hold.

"This is not a win for anybody," Obama lamented in a statement to reporters after the meeting. "This is a loss for the American people."

READ MORE: 6 Questions (and Answers) About the Sequester

Officials have said the spending reductions immediately take effect Saturday but that the pain from reduced government services and furloughs of tens of thousands of federal employees would be felt gradually in the weeks ahead.

Federal agencies, from Homeland Security to the Pentagon, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Education, have all prepared to notify employees that they will have to take one unpaid day-off per week through the end of the year.

Obama Warns of Sequester Cuts: 'Pain Will Be Real' Watch Video

Sequestration Deadline: Obama Meets With Leaders Watch Video

The staffing trims could slow many government services, including airport screenings, air traffic control, and law enforcement investigations and prosecutions. Spending on education programs and health services for low-income families will also get clipped.

"It is absolutely true that this is not going to precipitate the crisis" that would have been caused by the so-called fiscal cliff, Obama said. "But people are going to be hurt. The economy will not grow as quickly as it would have. Unemployment will not go down as quickly as it would have. And there are lives behind that. And it's real."

The sticking point in the debate over the automatic cuts -- known as sequester -- has remained the same between the parties for more than a year since the cuts were first proposed: whether to include more new tax revenue in a broad deficit reduction plan.

The White House insists there must be higher tax revenue, through elimination of tax loopholes and deductions that benefit wealthier Americans and corporations. Republicans seek an approach of spending cuts only, with an emphasis on entitlement programs. It's a deep divide that both sides have proven unable to bridge.

"This discussion about revenue, in my view, is over," Boehner told reporters after the meeting. "It's about taking on the spending problem here in Washington."

Boehner: No New Taxes to Avert Sequester

Boehner says any elimination of tax loopholes or deductions should be part of a broader tax code overhaul aimed at lowering rates overall, not to offset spending cuts in the sequester.

Obama countered today that he's willing to "take on the problem where it exists, on entitlements, and do some things that my own party doesn't like." But he says Republicans must be willing to eliminate some tax loopholes as part of a deal.

"They refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit," Obama said. "We can and must replace these cuts with a more balanced approach that asks something from everybody."

Can anything more be done by either side to reach a middle ground?

The president today claimed he's done all he can. "I am not a dictator, I'm the president," Obama said.

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Turkish PM's Zionism comments "objectionable:" Kerry

ANKARA (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday the United States found a comment by Turkey's prime minister, likening Zionism to crimes against humanity, "objectionable", overshadowing their talks on the crisis in neighboring Syria.

Kerry, on his first trip to a Muslim nation since taking office, met Turkish leaders for talks meant to focus on Syria's civil war and bilateral interests from energy security to counter-terrorism.

But the comment by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan at a U.N. meeting in Vienna this week, condemned by his Israeli counterpart, the White House and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has clouded his trip.

"We not only disagree with it, we found it objectionable," Kerry told a news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, saying he raised the issue directly with Davutoglu and would do so with Erdogan.

Kerry said Turkey and Israel were both key U.S. allies and urged them to restore closer ties.

"Given the many challenges that the neighborhood faces, it is essential that both Turkey and Israel find a way to take steps in order to bring about or to rekindle their historic cooperation," Kerry said.

"I think that's possible but obviously we have to get beyond the kind of rhetoric that we've just seen recently."

Washington needs all the allies it can get as it navigates the political currents of the Middle East, and sees Turkey as the key player in supporting Syria's opposition and planning for the era after President Bashar al-Assad.

But the collapse of Ankara's ties with Israel have undermined U.S. hopes that Turkey could play a role as a broker in the broader region.

Erdogan told the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations meeting in Vienna on Wednesday: "Just as with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it has become necessary to view Islamophobia as a crime against humanity."

Erdogan's caustic rhetoric on Israel has in the past won applause from conservative supporters at home but raised increasing concern among Western allies.

Ties between Israel and mostly Muslim Turkey have been frosty since 2010, when Israeli marines killed nine Turks in fighting aboard a Palestinian aid ship that tried to breach Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"If we must talk about hostile acts, then Israel's attitude and its brutal killing of nine of our civilian citizens in international waters may be called hostile," Davutoglu said, adding Turkey had always stood against anti-Semitism.

"No single statement carries a price higher than the blood of a person ... If Israel wants to hear positive statements from Turkey it needs to reconsider its attitude both towards us and towards the West Bank," he told the news conference.

Turkey has demanded a formal apology for the 2010 incident, compensation for victims and their families and for the Gaza blockade to be lifted. Israel has voiced "regret" and has offered to pay into what it called a "humanitarian fund" through which casualties and relatives could be compensated.

SUPPORT FOR SYRIAN OPPOSITION

Turkey's relations with the United States have always been prickly, driven more by a mutual need for intelligence than any deep cultural affinity. And Erdogan's populist rhetoric, sometimes at apparent odds with U.S. interests, is aimed partly at a domestic audience wary of Washington's influence.

But the two have strong common interests. Officials said Syria would top the agenda in Kerry's meetings with Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, building on the discussions in Rome between 11 mostly European and Arab nations within the "Friends of Syria" group.

After the Rome meeting, Kerry said on Thursday the United States would for the first time give non-lethal aid to the rebels and more than double support to the civilian opposition, although Western powers stopped short of pledging arms.

"We need to continue the discussion which took place in Rome ... in terms of the main goals there is no daylight between us and the Americans," a senior Turkish official said.

"A broad agreement was reached on supporting the opposition. Now our sides need to sit down and really flesh out what we can do to support them in order to change the balance on the ground," he said.

Turkey has been one of Assad's fiercest critics, hosting a NATO Patriot missile defense system, including two U.S. batteries, to protect against a spillover of violence and leading calls for international intervention.

It has spent more than $600 million sheltering refugees from the conflict that began almost two years ago, housing some 180,000 in camps near the border and tens of thousands more who are staying with relatives or in private accommodation.

Washington has given $385 million in humanitarian aid for Syria but U.S. President Barack Obama has so far refused to give arms, arguing it is difficult to prevent them from falling into the hands of militants who could use them on Western targets.

Turkey, too, has been reluctant to provide weapons, fearing direct intervention could cause the conflict to spill across its borders.

(Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Golf: McIlroy pulls out of PGA event with toothache

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida: World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy withdrew from the US PGA Honda Classic during his second round on Friday, saying he was struggling due to pain from a sore wisdom tooth.

McIlroy struggled through the back nine on Friday, his opening nine holes of the round, and hit his approach at the 18th into water. He then walked off the course and quickly departed the grounds with his coach and caddie.

"I sincerely apologise to The Honda Classic and PGA Tour for my sudden withdrawal," McIlroy said. "I have been suffering with a sore wisdom tooth, which is due to come out in the near future."

It was the first time in his career that McIlroy withdrew from a tournament and it comes as the 23-year-old from Northern Ireland struggles to find his form after switching to Nike equipment for this season.

McIlroy is a 6-1 co-favorite with 14-time major champion Tiger Woods in next month's Masters, but the tooth issue could dim his bid to add to a major haul that includes the 2011 US Open and 2012 PGA Championship.

"It began bothering me again last night," said McIlroy. "It was very painful again this morning, and I was simply unable to concentrate. It was really bothering me and had begun to affect my playing partners."

McIlroy gave no hint as to how the injury might impact his plans for playing in the weeks leading up to the year's first major tournament at Augusta National.

He had plans to play next week in a World Golf Championships event at nearby Doral and the Houston Open in the week before the Masters.

Especially gutting for McIlroy was the fact the pain flared as he was trying to defend the title he won a year ago to put himself atop the world rankings for the first time in his career.

"I came here with every intention of defending my Honda Classic title," said McIlroy. "Even though my results haven't revealed it, I really felt like I was rounding a corner. This is one of my favorite tournaments of the year and I regret having to make the decision to withdraw, but it was one I had to make."

McIlroy endured a horror-show start on Friday alongside South Africa's Ernie Els, the reigning British Open champion, and American Mark Wilson.

At the par-4 11th, he nearly put his approach into the water, then chipped across the green on his way to a double bogey.

On the par-4 13th, McIlroy went way to the right off the tee and missed a six-foot par putt.

After a pair of pars, he put his tee shot into the water at the par-4 16th, then took a drop and put his third shot into the water as well on the way to a triple bogey.

At the par-3 17th, the Northern Irishman three-putted from 42 feet for bogey to stand seven-over par for the round through eight holes.

McIlroy, who missed the cut in his first 2013 start at Abu Dhabi and lost in the first round of the WGC Match Play Championship last week, opened with a par-70 on Thursday but admitted he was still working on his timing and adjusting to his new clubs.

"It's hard to commit to the shot that you need to play every time," McIlroy said Thursday. "I felt like I hit the ball OK, not as good as I can, but it's getting there."

-AFP/ac

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A look ahead at next year's Mobile World Congress 2014

The lights are on -- it's time to go home. Mobile industry trade show Mobile World Congress is winding down, with new phones and
tablets and software dominating the headlines. But what does this year's show tell us about what to expect at MWC 2014?

The standout trend of this year's show that has the potential to be fully realised next year is the arrival of new operating systems, to challenge iOS and especially
Android. Mobile manufacturers and carriers have got behind
Firefox and OS as a way to stop Android siphoning your app and downloads cash to Google, with Ubuntu Touch also in the mix.

All three promise new phones this year. Firefox is furthest along, appearing on the Alcatel One Touch Fire and ZTE Open among others. By this time next year all three new operating systems should be ready for primetime, so I'm expecting a range of new phones at MWC 2014 endowed with Firefox OS, Tizen, and -- fingers crossed -- Ubuntu Touch too.

On a related note, Firefox OS and Tizen are aimed at low-end, wallet-friendly devices. As high-end phones head for market saturation and feature phones becoming smarter, there's a lot happening at the budget end. I'm expecting that to continue with more cheap devices -- and I'd be pleased if that has a knock-on effect, lowering the prices of high-end phones, a process already started by the Google Nexus 4.

High-end phones will continue to get more powerful, too. The new Nvidia Tegra 4 chip will be in hardware by this time next year, so there'll be Tegra-powered behemoths chomping through the show next year.

And we'll see more phones that work as hubs for your life, like the incredibly powerful LG phone that streams 4K video to a TV.

Finally, one thing we won't see is a flagship announcement from any of the major players. Microsoft, Apple and BlackBerry all snubbed the show in favour of standalone launches, while Samsung limited its involvement, also holding back its biggest announcement -- the Samsung Galaxy S4 -- until away from the show.

At first glance that might seem like a bad thing, but I'm optimistic: without a heavy-hitting flagship sucking up the attention, we were able to explore other aspects of the show. It's a great opportunity to other manufacturers to step up and steal the glory with something exciting, like Nokia did last year with the PureView 808 -- or come up with something divertingly wacky, like the crazier kit we saw at this year's show.

Whatever we see at MWC 2014, you'll see it too right here in CNET. In the meantime stick with us for more news, reviews and videos than you can shake a stick at. Right, we've got a plane to catch!

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Manning makes sudden admission in WikiLeaks case

Updated at 12:57 p.m. ET

FORT MEADE, Md. An Army private charged in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history offered guilty pleas Thursday to 10 of 22 charges against him and a military judge said she would allow the soldier to read a statement explaining his actions.

Pfc. Bradley Manning would plead guilty to sending hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, in violation of military regulations but not in violation of federal espionage laws.

Manning said he wanted Americans to know what was going on in Iraq and Afghanistan because he wanted the government to be more transparent.

"I believe that if the general public ... had access to the information ... this could spark a domestic debate as to the role of the military and foreign policy in general," Manning said in court, according to the Reuters news service.

Manning said that after he released some information he was happy that other people were as alarmed as he was.

The judge, Col. Denise Lind, must decide whether to accept the guilty pleas, which could carry a sentence of 20 years in prison. Prosecutors could still pursue a court-martial on the remaining charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.

12 Photos

WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning

The 25-year-old Manning is accused of sending hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports, State Department diplomatic cables, other classified records and two battlefield video clips to WikiLeaks in 2009 and 2010 while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad.

The Obama administration has said releasing the information threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America's relations with other governments. Experts say that by seeking to punish Manning, the administration is sending a strong message that such leaks will not be tolerated.

Manning supporters — who held events Saturday to mark his 1,000 days in confinement — consider him a whistleblowing hero whose actions exposed war crimes and helped trigger the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring in late 2010.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Manning has submitted a written statement about the leak and the motive behind it that he wanted to read in court during Thursday's hearing. Prosecutors objected to the statement, but the judge said Thursday she would allow him to read it.

Manning has won few significant victories in his lengthy pretrial proceedings, which included testimony from the soldier about how he was deprived of his clothing and told to stand at attention naked while on suicide watch at the maximum-security Marine Corps brig at Quantico, Va. He has since been transferred to medium-security confinement at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The judge ruled that Manning was illegally punished for part of the time he spent at Quantico and that 112 days should be cut from any prison sentence he receives if convicted.

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Benedict Departs Vatican for the Last Time as Pope

Pope Benedict XVI bade his final farewell to the faithful today, lifting off from the Vatican in a white helicopter as the first pope to resign in six centuries.

Just before 5 p.m. local time, Benedict, 85, walked out of the Vatican for the last time as pope, waving to a cheering crowd in the Courtyard of San Damaso as he entered a black Mercedes for the short drive to a nearby heliport.

In a tweet sent from Benedict XVI @Pontifex as his motorcade rolled to the heliport, Benedict said, "Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives."

READ MORE: Pope Benedict XVI Delivers Farewell Address

With church bells ringing across Rome, he then embarked on the 15-minute flight to Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence just south of the city and his home for the coming months when he'll be recognized by the church as His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus.

When Benedict landed in the gardens at Castel Gandolfo, he was greeted by a group of dignitaries, including the governor of the Vatican City state Giovanni Bertello, two bishops, the director of the pontifical villas, and the mayor and parish priest. Off the helicopter and back into a car, Benedict headed to the palace.

Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI's Helicopter Ride to Castel Gandolfo Watch Video

Pope Benedict XVI Says Goodbye to Cardinals Watch Video

In the plaza at Castel Gandolfo, a crowd of supporters, many waving flags or banners, some peering out of windows, gathered to welcome Benedict. When Benedict finally appeared on the balcony, the crowd erupted in applause.

"Thank you for your friendship, your affection," Benedict told them.

Benedict said he was "just a pilgrim starting the last lap of his earthly journey."

After his brief address to the crowd, Benedict waved one last time and walked back into the palace as the sun set around the square.

9 Men Who Could Replace Pope Benedict XVI

In his final remarks earlier in the day to colleagues in the Roman Catholic Church, Benedict had promised "unconditional reverence and obedience" to his eventual successor.

Benedict, in a morning meeting at the Vatican, urged the cardinals to act "like an orchestra" to find "harmony" moving forward.

Benedict spent a quiet final day as pope, bidding farewell to his colleagues and moving on to a secluded life of prayer, far from the grueling demands of the papacy and the scandals that have recently plagued the church.

His first order of business was a morning meeting with the cardinals in the Clementine Hall, a room in the Apostolic Palace. Despite the historical nature of Benedict's resignation, not all cardinals attended the event.

Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, thanked Benedict for his service to the church during the eight years he has spent as pontiff.

Pope Benedict's Last Sunday Prayer Service

For some U.S. Catholics in Rome for the historic occasion, Benedict's departure is bittersweet. Christopher Kerzich, a Chicago resident studying at the Pontifical North American College of Rome, said Wednesday he is sad to see Benedict leave, but excited to see what comes next.

"Many Catholics have come to love this pontiff, this very humble man," Kerzich said. "He is a man who's really fought this and prayed this through and has peace in his heart. I take comfort in that and I think a lot of Catholics should take comfort in that."

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Football: 'Business as usual' for Chelsea after Rafa blast

LONDON: Chelsea insisted Thursday would be just another day at the office despite interim manager Rafael Benitez hitting out at the club's fans and management the day before.

Benitez launched a broadside following his side's 2-0 win at Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday, criticising fans for protesting against him and questioning why he was only appointed on a temporary basis.

His outburst sparked speculation on social media that his position was in immediate danger, but a spokesperson for the club said: "It's business as usual."

Benitez was expected to take training as scheduled on Thursday as the European champions began preparations for Saturday's league game with West Bromwich Albion.

The 52-year-old Spaniard has risked the wrath of owner Roman Abramovich by asking why the club insisted on making him an 'interim' manager when he replaced the sacked Roberto di Matteo in November.

"I have a title. Someone decided the title would be 'interim'. Why? Just in case?" he said on Wednesday.

"If they want to blame me for everything that is wrong and then they say, 'We will put interim just in case,' fine, that is your decision.

"I don't agree, but it's your decision and now everybody has to take responsibility. If we are in the Champions League, I will be the happiest man in the world.

"But next year, I will leave anyway because I have finished my contract, so they (his critics) don't need to be worried about me. What they have to do is concentrate on supporting the team.

"I have a contract until the end of the season, that's it, so they don't need to be worried about me."

Benitez has faced opposition from a core of disillusioned Chelsea fans ever since he arrived at the club but he says those supporters have unrealistic expectations about the current squad.

"It's a team in transition -- they don't realise," said the former Liverpool manager.

"In the past, we had (Didier) Drogba, (Michael) Essien, (Salomon) Kalou. These players, it was a very strong squad, players with experience in the Premier League.

"Now we have a group of players with talent, really good players with talent, but they need time. It's a time of transition.

"But they don't realise it was a time of transition when I came here."

Benitez received support from some of his fellow Premier League managers, with Fulham's Martin Jol expressing sympathy for the Spaniard's predicament.

"I feel for any manager who is not well-liked and he wasn't well-liked from the start, so I feel for him," said Jol.

"He is a professional so he will probably do his job until the end of the season."

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew agreed that being installed as an 'interim' manager had undermined Benitez from the start.

"The title probably didn't do him any favours," Pardew said.

"It probably didn't help Chelsea, and perhaps even upstairs, they might regret that title, if you want to call it that.

"He's a great manager; they are a great club. They will sort it out."

West Brom manager Steve Clarke, whose side visit Stamford Bridge on Saturday, also spoke out in support of Benitez.

"It is difficult for me to say whether it was a rant or not by Rafa because I didn't hear the interview," said the former Chelsea player and assistant coach.

"I read it and seeing a transcription is different to hearing someone say something.

"But I didn't see a lot wrong in what he said. The script, as it was written down, was OK.

"I think by and large we are all interim. Someone is going to come and take your position at some stage."

"Only Sir Alex (Ferguson) and maybe Arsene Wenger can say they are in it for the long haul, but eventually someone is going to take your job so we are all temporary managers."

-AFP/ac

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Tim Cook doesn't like Apple's falling share price, either

Apple's iPhone 5.

(Credit:
CNET)

If you're an Apple shareholder and are pretty pissed about the company's recent stock drop, you can at least take comfort in knowing you're not alone.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook says today during the electronics giant's annual shareholder meeting that he knows people are upset about the stock drop.

"I don't like it either," Cook said. Nor does the board and management, he added.

But what investors are likely still wondering is what Apple's going to do about it. Shares have tumbled roughly 35 percent from their peak in September, and it's unclear what could spur another run higher. Many investors have become worried about increased competition from the likes of Samsung and others, and some shareholders, like David Einhorn, have demanded that Apple return more cash to investors.

Cook today says the company is focused on the long term and making the very best products. He noted that Apple is working harder than ever and "has some great stuff coming."

Apple shares recently slid 1 percent to $444.29 as investors await more news from the shareholder meeting.

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Anti-virus firm makes new revelation on Stuxnet

Updated at 11:22 a.m. ET

LONDON The sophisticated cyberweapon which targeted an Iranian nuclear plant is older than previously believed, an anti-virus firm said Tuesday, peeling back another layer of mystery on a series of attacks attributed to U.S. and Israeli intelligence.

The Stuxnet worm, aimed at the centrifuges in Iran's Natanz plant, transformed the cybersecurity field because it was the first known computer attack specifically designed to cause physical damage. The precise origins of the worm remain unclear, but until now the earliest samples of Stuxnet had been dated to 2009.

Security experts generally agree that Stuxnet was an attempt to sabotage Iran's uranium enrichment centrifuges, which can be used to make fuel for reactors or weapons-usable material for atomic bombs. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Play Video

Stuxnet: Computer worm opens new era of warfare

Play Video

Stuxnet copycats: Let the hacking begin

As "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft reported last year, Stuxnet was incredibly complicated and sophisticated, beyond the cutting edge. By the time it was first detected in June 2010, it had been out in the wild for a year without drawing anyone's attention, and seemed to spread by way of USB thumb drives, not over the Internet.

By the fall of 2010, the consensus was that Iran's top secret uranium enrichment plant at Natanz was the target and that Stuxnet was a carefully constructed weapon designed to be carried into the plant on a corrupted laptop or thumb drive, then infect the system, disguise its presence, move through the network, changing computer code and subtly alter the speed of the centrifuges without the Iranians ever noticing, Kroft reported.

"Stuxnet's entire purpose is to control centrifuges," Liam O Murchu, an operations manager for Symantec, told Kroft. "To make centrifuges speed up past what they're meant to spin at and to damage them. Certainly it would damage the uranium enrichment facility and they would need to be replaced."

Last June, The New York Times traced the origins of the top-secret program back to 2006.

In a new report issued late Tuesday, Symantec Corp. pushed that timeline further back, saying it had found a primitive version of Stuxnet circulating online in 2007 and that elements of the program had been in place as far back as 2005.

One independent expert who examined the report said it showed that the worm's creators were particularly far-sighted.

"What it looks like is that somebody's been thinking about this for a long, long time — the better part of a decade," said Alan Woodward, a computer science professor at the University of Surrey. "It really points to a very clever bunch of people behind all of this."

Nuclear Iran: Sites and potential targets

A look at the locations where Iran carries out work linked to its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons

The Times reported that President George W. Bush ordered the deployment of Stuxnet against Iran in a bid to put the brakes on its atomic energy program, detailing how the worm tampered with the operation of Natanz's centrifuge machines to send them spinning out of control.

President Obama, who succeeded Bush shortly after the first attacks, expanded the campaign, the report said.

U.S. and Israeli officials have long declined to comment publicly on Stuxnet or their alleged involvement in creating and deploying the computer worm.

Symantec's report suggests that an intermediate version of the worm — Stuxnet 0.5 — was completed in November 2007. That worm lacked some of the sophistication of its descendant, Symantec said, and was designed to interfere with the centrifuges by opening and closing the valves which control the flow of uranium gas, causing a potentially damaging buildup in pressure.

That approach was dropped in later, improved versions of the Stuxnet code.

Symantec said the servers used to control the primitive worm were set up in November 2005, suggesting that Stuxnet's trailblazing authors were plotting out their attack at a time when many parts of the Internet now taken for granted were not yet in place. Twitter did not exist, Facebook was still largely limited to U.S. college campuses, and YouTube was in its infancy.

Woodward said that had troubling implications.

"Clearly these were very forward-thinking, clever people that were doing this," he said. "There's no reason to think that they're less forward-thinking now. What are they up to?"

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Bring on the Cuts: Some Want the Sequester

Mark Lucas wouldn't mind seeing America's defense budget cut by billions.

"There's quite a bit of waste within the military," Lucas, who serves as Iowa state director for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity (AFP), told ABC News. "Being in there for 10 years, I've seen quite a bit of it."

With the budget sequester set to kick in on Friday, the former Army ranger is among a small chorus of conservatives saying bring on the cuts.

Read more: Bernanke on Sequester Cuts: Too Much, Too Soon

Lucas cited duplicative equipment purchases, military-run golf courses and lavish food on larger bases -- unlike the chow he endured at a combat operations post in Afghanistan with about 120 other soldiers.

"These guys would have very good food, and I'm talking almost like a buffet style, shrimp and steak once a week, ice cream, all this stuff," Lucas said. "They had Burger Kings and Pizza Huts and McDonald's. And I said to myself, 'Do we really need this?'"

Lucas and AFP would like to see the sequester modified, with federal agencies granted more authority to target the cuts and avoid the more dire consequences. But the group wants the cuts to happen.

"We're very supportive of the sequestration cuts but would prefer to see more targeted cuts at the same level," said the group's spokesman, Levi Russell.

As President Obama and his Cabinet members are sounding the sequester alarm bells, AFP's willingness shows that not everyone is running for the hills.

Charles Dharapak/Pool/AP Photo

Speaker Boehner Hopes Senate 'Gets Off Their Ass' Watch Video

Sequester Showdown: Automatic Spending Cuts Loom Watch Video

President Obama Details Consequences of Sequester Cuts Watch Video

Read more: 57 Terrible Consequences of the Sequester

Obama traveled to Norfolk, Va., on Tuesday to speak at a shipyard about cuts and layoffs to defense contractors. In his most recent weekly radio address, he told Americans that the Navy has already kept an aircraft carrier home instead of deploying it to the Persian Gulf. And last week, he spoke before national TV cameras at the White House, warning that first responders would be laid off.

Homeland Security Secretary Jane Napolitano has warned that the sequester will "leave critical infrastructure vulnerable to attacks." Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has warned that air travel will back up after the Federal Aviation Administration furloughs air traffic controllers. And the heads of 18 other federal agencies told Congress that terrible things will happen unless the sequester is pushed off.

Some Republicans have accused the president of scaremongering to gin up popular support for tax hikes. Obama has warned of calamity and demanded compromise in the next breath, and a few Republicans have rejected this as a false choice.

Read more: Boehner Hopes Senate 'Gets Off Their Ass'

"I don't think the president's focused on trying to find a solution to the sequester," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. "For 16 months, the president's been traveling all over the country holding rallies, instead of sitting down with Senate leaders in order to try to forge an agreement over there in order to move the bill."

After Obama spoke to governors at the this week, Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told ABC News' Jonathan Karl outside the White House that the president is exaggerating the sequester's consequences.

"He's trying to scare the American people," Jindal said. "He's trying to distort the impact."

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