by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.
A suicide bomber walked into the supposedly secure lobby of popular hotel in downtown Baghdad and killed 12 people, including four Sunni sheiks who had worked with the U.S. military in Anbar province to fight al Qaeda.
U.S. soldiers face not just buildings but entire neighborhoods that are booby trapped with explosives as they attempt to rid Baquba north of Baghdad of insurgents and al Qaeda fighters.
Sen. Richard Lugar, a reliable conservative and a highly respected expert on foreign affairs, said the U.S.'s current course in Iraq wasn't in the nation's interest and urged both President Bush and Congress to downsize the military effort there while increasing efforts to resolve the Israel-Arab dispute and achieve energy independence.
The Supreme Court weakened the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law with a ruling that would allow corporations and unions to broadcast TV issue ads in the weeks before primary and general elections.
The immigration-reform bill was scheduled to return to the Senate floor Tuesday with a critical vote requiring 60 votes which will decide if the controversial bill survives or dies for good in the current Congress.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel will propose cutting all funding for Vice President Cheney's office in response to recent reports that Cheney's office refused to let National Archives officials review its handling of classified material as required then proposed abolishing that oversight office.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called for a congressional hearing to investigate unsafe toys imported from China, following reports that the Consumer Products Safety Commission failed to respond swiftly to complaints of dangerous Chinese-manufactured toys on the market.
Federal and state regulators said 450,000 Chinese-made tires, and perhaps many more, lack a safety feature that could allow the tread to separate from the rest of the tire, leading to deadly accidents.
Alabama's ex-Democratic governor, Don Siegelman, who's facing a 30-year sentence, says he was targeted in a federal bribery case that was spurred by White House political strategist Karl Rove.
The Fish and Wildlife Department proposed decreasing the protected habitat of the spotted owl by 22 percent, a move critics of the proposal say is a retreat on behalf of the timber industry.
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Comments
"a suicide bomber walked into the supposedly secure lobby of popular hotel in downtown Baghdad and killed 12 people, including four Sunni sheiks who had worked with the U.S. military in Anbar province to fight al Qaeda".
Once again Bruce will say...The liberal biased media again portrays the war as a blunder and does not mention anywhere that a NEW soccer field was built and as soon as the Iraqis aren't afraid to come out of their houses...they will use it.
Posted by: bill r. | June 26, 2007 8:43 AM
There may be hope for this nation yet....
"AP) WASHINGTON President Bush was presented with a letter Monday signed by 50 high school seniors in the Presidential Scholars program urging a halt to "violations of the human rights" of terror suspects held by the United States."
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/topstories_story_176192549.html
Damn brave kids. Their parents should be proud.
Posted by: Tony | June 26, 2007 8:51 AM
Regarding Rahm Emanuel's concern about the National Archives and VP Cheney's records, Emanuel should just ask fellow Clinton administration associate Sandy Burglar, to get whatever Emanuel needs. Berger is the expert when it comes to N.A. files.
Posted by: Shanika | June 26, 2007 10:26 AM
Tony,
"violations of the human rights" of terror suspects held by the United States."
I am curious, if Obama or Hillary becomes president in 2008, how they will handle terror suspects.
I have already shown how Franklin D Roosevelt handled them. Execution.
Posted by: S. Sherman | June 26, 2007 11:03 AM
"a suicide bomber walked into the supposedly secure lobby of popular hotel in downtown Baghdad and killed 12 people, including four Sunni sheiks who had worked with the U.S. military in Anbar province to fight al Qaeda".
How does this fit with the liberal line that Iraq is not part of the war on terror and is just a civil war?
Posted by: S. Sherman | June 26, 2007 11:10 AM
S. Sherman-
Torture is wrong. Period.
It doesn't matter if people are tortured by the orders of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, FDR, Stalin, Hitler, Saddam, Osama Bin Ladin, or anyone else. Torture is unequivacably wrong.
It's sad that the Republican party, and apparently you, don't hold that position.
Posted by: Tony | June 26, 2007 11:42 AM
Tony,
You still have not said how a Democratic president will handle terror suspects. It is one thing to criticize and quite another to have the responsibility to stop these maniacs. What are they going to do if and when THEY have the responsibility?
Posted by: S. Sherman | June 26, 2007 1:17 PM
S. Sherman-
I can't answer for them. But if their answer is "torture" then I will be as critical of them as I am of Bush.
There is also not much reason to believe torture is an effective strategy.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14924664/site/newsweek/
Posted by: Tony | June 26, 2007 1:35 PM
S. Sherman, you self-declared expert on old murder investigations you, isn't it obvious how the Dem nominee would handle terror suspects?
1.Pre-emptive predator or cruise missile strikes on any discovered terrorist training or other encampments.
2.For any captured terror suspect, prolonged detention and interrogation but under humane conditions with no use of torture methods including dogs, white noise, or having to look at Pvt. Lynndie English. Suspension of habeas rights as already approved by the Congress.
3. Closing of Gitmo and the use of overseas facilities in Afghanistan or elsewhere.
4. Intensified administrative review of the state of the evidence that the prisoner poses a terrorist threat, and if he no longer appears to pose a threat, he's released to his home country. If we can't tell if he poses a threat, well, that's a tough choice, and my guess is he'd continue to be detained.
Not really different than this Administration, or much better, from the civil libertarian's point of view, but not all bad either. I agree that neither of the front-runners has really said this, out of fear of angering the party's far left. I would like them to be honest and admit that they are not going to authorize blanket releases and will not order a stop to continued detention of viable terror suspects. I would like them to admit that they would permit continued interrogation but not torture, and please no Pvt. English pointing at anyone's genitals.
Posted by: S. Sherman | June 26, 2007 7:53 PM