AmericasBlood.com

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)

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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.

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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)

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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’) 

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