HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007!!!!!!

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U.S. Official Overseeing Oil Program Faces Inquiry

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 — The Justice Department is investigating whether the director of a multibillion-dollar oil-trading program at the Interior Department has been paid as a consultant for oil companies hoping for contracts.
The director of the program and three subordinates, all based in Denver, have been transferred to different jobs and have been ordered to [...]

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Democrats vow to restore political integrity

WASHINGTON (AP) — A California Democrat newly elected to Congress promised Saturday that his party will restore integrity and civility to the House when it assumes control in January.
“In this election, the American people clearly called for change,” Rep.-elect Jerry McNerney said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address. “As our first responsibility in fulfilling the [...]

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Saddam Hussein put to death

Refusing to have his face covered and uttering curses upon his perceived foes, condemned Iraqi ex-dictator Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging early Saturday morning in a Baghdad square outside the Green Zone.
The Associated Press reports that Hussein’s half-brother, Ibrahim Barzan al-Tikriti, and the former Revolutionary Court chief justice, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, were also to [...]

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Hussein transfer to Iraqi authorities questioned, time of execution may depend on religious question

Earlier reports from various news organs that deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been transferred from US custody to Iraqi control have now been cast into doubt, according to reports from Agence France Presse and Reuters.
Speculation continued on the timing of the execution, with some sources reporting that Iraq’s Prime Minister was seeking a judgment [...]

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WH: bin Laden Capture "A Success That Hasn’t Occured Yet"

Five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Osama bin Laden is still at large — but that’s not a failure of White House policy, says Frances Fragos Townsend.
As she explained to CNN’s White House correspondent Ed Henry last night:
HENRY: You know, going back to September 2001, the president said, dead or alive, we’re going to [...]

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Many soldiers say troop surge a bad idea

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Many of the American soldiers trying to quell sectarian killings in Baghdad don’t appear to be looking for reinforcements. They say the temporary surge in troop levels some people are calling for is a bad idea.
President Bush is considering increasing the number of troops in Iraq and embedding more U.S. advisers in [...]

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Defense Secretary Is Wary of Adding More Iraq Troops

WASHINGTON — With President Bush leaning toward sending more soldiers to pacify Iraq, his defense secretary is privately opposing the buildup.
According to two administration officials who asked not to be named, Robert Gates expressed his skepticism about a troop surge in Iraq on his first day on the job, December 18, at a Pentagon meeting [...]

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Edwards shoots for White House again

NEW ORLEANS – Former vice presidential nominee John Edwards said Thursday that he is a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, promising “a grass roots, ground-up campaign where we ask people to take action.”
Clad in blue jeans, an open-necked shirt and with his sleeves rolled up, Edwards chose the backyard of a victim of [...]

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‘This is no longer America’s war in Iraq,’ says U.S. commander of Iraqi military training unit

Thursday’s edition of The New York Times includes a story which records the frustrations of some commanding officers in charge of training Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad, who fear that “sectarian ties” may be almost insurmountable in a country where “everyone, to some extent, is influenced” by the Shiite militias.
“I have come to the conclusion that [...]

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Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. “I don’t think I would have gone to war,” he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford’s own administration.
In [...]

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Novak: McCain’s ‘aggressive surge’ stance backfiring

In the latest Evans-Novak Political Report, conservative columnist Robert Novak suggests that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) “aggressive” push for a U.S. troop expansion – or “surge” – in Iraq may be costing the top 2008 GOP contender in the polls, especially when matched against another presumed front-runner, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
“The decline in the polls [...]

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Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. “I don’t think I would have gone to war,” he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford’s own administration.
In [...]

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Long-rumored shuffle of generals expected

A shuffle of top American generals in Iraq is likely to accompany the shift in U.S. policy that President Bush is considering.
Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has submitted plans to go ahead with a retirement that is months overdue, according to the U.S. Central Command.
And the top [...]

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U.S. ready to send 3,500 troops: sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon is expected to send 3,500 troops into Kuwait to stand ready for use in Iraq, senior defense officials said on Tuesday as the Bush administration weighs adjusting force levels in the war.
The “call-forward” force was requested by Army Gen. John Abizaid, head of the military command responsible for the Middle [...]

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