Archive for November, 2005
Dead Ahead and man the bodybags!
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (CNN) — President Bush countered diminishing support for the U.S.-led Iraq war on Wednesday in a speech outlining what he believes must be accomplished before withdrawing any forces.
The president did not satisfy critics who’ve called for a definitive timetable for troops to pull out, saying it would send the wrong message to terrorists and certain conditions must be met first.
"As Iraqi forces gain experience and the political process advances, we will be able to decrease our troop level in Iraq without losing our capability to defeat the terrorists," Bush said in his address before students at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. (Watch Bush speak before enthusiastic students at Annapolis — 4:57)
Abortion case. (All the court groupies are there…)
WASHINGTON (AP) — New Hampshire’s attorney general urged the Supreme Court Wednesday to uphold the state’s parental notification law, as the court heard its first abortion rights case in five years.
The stakes are significant in the dispute over the law requiring a parent be told before a daughter ends a pregnancy, although the case does not challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that said abortion is a fundamental constitutional right.
The court, starting with Justice David Souter, a New Hampshire native, wasted little time before firing questions at Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire’s attorney general, about how the state’s law deals with situations where a minor’s health — but not life — is in danger and she needs an immediate abortion.
It’s only activism if it’s againts your interests..
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito told senators Wednesday that federal judges must constantly guard against slipping into judicial activism to get the results they want, especially when dealing with the nation’s highest law, the U.S. Constitution.
"Our constitutional system relies heavily on the judiciary to restrain itself," Alito said in a 64-page response to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.
"To do this, judges must engage in a continual process of self-questioning about the way in which they are performing the responsibilities of their offices," he continued. "Judges must also have faith that the cause of justice in the long run is best served if they scrupulously heed the limits of their role rather than transgressing those limits in an effort to achieve a desired result in a particular case." (Read Alito’s questionnaire — PDF)
Game of the day! Count The Contradictions
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush is scheduled to deliver a speech Wednesday at 9:50 a.m. ET that will launch a new White House strategy to bolster public support for the increasingly unpopular U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Just hours before the speech, the White House went on the offensive by releasing a 35-page plan titled "Our National Strategy for Victory in Iraq."
The plan says increasing numbers of Iraqi troops have been equipped and trained, a democratic government is being forged, Iraq’s economy is being rebuilt and U.S. military and civilian presence will change as conditions improve, according to The Associated Press. (Watch: Bush set to deliver strategy speech on Iraq — 1:42)
(*FatherStorm’s Note.. The image tag says it’s for ’National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza-PDF’)
Not until they draft my daughters!
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) — The White House held out the prospect Tuesday that U.S. troop levels in Iraq could be reduced soon, but President Bush insisted he would not withdraw U.S. forces "without having achieved victory."
Bush is scheduled to make a Wednesday address that will launch a new series of speeches aimed at bolstering public support for the increasingly unpopular conflict.
On Tuesday, during a visit to the U.S.-Mexican border, he said any decisions he makes will be based on the recommendations of top U.S. commanders. (Watch: Bush effort to reassert control — 2:15)
Sure to be clear as the very finest mud
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the U.S. government will clarify reports that the CIA transported terror suspects on covert flights via European airports, the new German foreign minister said after a meeting with her.
"I am happy that we addressed this issue at length. It was right not to avoid this conversation," Steinmeier said. "I am especially delighted that it was understood that there are concerns in the European public but also in the parliaments."
Steinmeier also said that the U.S. government had agreed to meet European concerns and that "they will seek clarification — this has been assured to us."
Keep ’em out, let ’em in, and distract the rest of us
CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) — President Bush will make stops in Arizona and Texas this week to address an issue that has divided some members of his own Republican Party — illegal immigration.
After spending the holiday weekend with family at his Crawford ranch, the president will visit Tucson, Arizona, on Monday, and El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday.
A senior administration official said that the president, in a speech on immigration, will focus on three areas: border security, enforcement and a temporary worker program.
Welcome to our troop’s world
MACON, Georgia (AP) — A military vehicle carrying U.S. politicians overturned on the way to the Baghdad airport Saturday, injuring two congressmen, a fellow congressman traveling with them said.
Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pennsylvania, was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck, and Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Missouri, was sent to a Baghdad hospital, said U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall. Marshall, a Georgia Democrat, was in the vehicle but was not hurt.
Glad we could help. (Mission almost accomplished)
LONDON, England — Human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein if not worse, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said.
"People are doing the same as (in) Saddam’s time and worse," Allawi said in an interview published in Britain on Sunday.
"It is an appropriate comparison," Allawi told The Observer newspaper. "People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things."
They learned their political process from us!
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Insurgents in Iraq killed four people and wounded 17 others Saturday in three separate attacks, officials said.
The violence comes as the December 15 general elections to name a new national assembly approach.
In the day’s deadliest attack, a blast from a suicide car bomb ripped through a gas station in the Iraqi city of Samarra, killing three people and wounding nine others, according to the city’s police chief.
The bombing also destroyed five cars, the chief said. Samarra is north of Baghdad in Salaheddin province.
