by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker faced tough questioning from mostly skeptical senators yesterday about the prospects for meaningful progress in Iraq and the need for a continued large U.S. presence.
President Bush's plan to adopt Gen. Petraeus's plan of reducing by next summer U.S. military forces in Iraq only to pre-surge levels was criticized by Democrats and some Republicans who want a faster withdrawal.
In a policy reversal, U.S. military and diplomatic officials trying to reduce violence levels, have held meetings with elements of controversial Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al Sadr's militia, a group which has frequently attacked U.S. troops.
Six years after the 9/11 attacks, those atrocities remain connected to the U.S.'s political debate about Iraq even though investigators and experts say there were no links between the attacks and the former Saddam Hussein regime.
President Bush is nearing the naming a new attorney general, with Ted Olsen, the former solicitor general, and a reliable conservative, said to be the leading candidate.
Shinzo Abe stepped down as Japan's prime minister, in part because of significant opposition in Japan to the support role the Japanese military is playing for U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Norman Hsu, the felon who as a fugitive was a big-time donor to the political campaigns of Sen. Hillary Clinton and many other Democrats, received $40 million from an investment fund run by Joel Rosenman, one of the creators of the 1969 Woodstock musical festival, money which is now missing.
The behavior of some air travelers has returned to the rude, obnoxious, unruly and sometimes illegal levels that existed before 9/11, an event which, for a time, brought relative all-around civility to commercial aircraft cabins.
Most Americans believe the nation's Founding Fathers established Christianity as the national religion in the Constitution and don't believe freedom of religion extends to religious groups they find distasteful, according to a poll.
Some Internet savvy individuals have figured out how to find and disseminate to the public at large al Qaeda video messages, even some meant for distribution only within jihadist circles.
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Comments
Why can't we ever leave Iraq? Because we need it for a base on the war on Iran.
Don't believe me? Listen to what Condeleeza Rice has to say:
"That is what is at stake here," Rice said. "What we are prepared to do is to complete the security gains that we've been making, to create circumstances in which an Iraqi government and local officials can find political accommodation, as they are doing in Anbar, and to be able then,from Iraq, with allies in the war on terror, to resist both terrorism and Iranian aggression."
A vote for a Republican is a vote for unending war in the mid-east.
Posted by: Tony | September 12, 2007 9:34 AM
More details on the Clinton-Hsu fundraising scandal that you won't read in the Tribune:
1) financier Joel Rosenman, who "lent" Norm Hsu $40 million without performing any background checks, is also a longtime and large contributor to the Clintons.
2) Mr. Rosenman now claims that he only discovered Hsu's defrauding him Sept. 7th, well after news reports on Hsu hit the front pages.
3) the loan was supposed to be to enable Hsu to manufacture shirts in China. Yes, yet another Clinton connection to Communist China.
4) the Washington Post reports that "Irvine, Calif., businessman Jack Cassidy told the FBI that he sent at least three e-mails to a Clinton campaign official on the West Coast this summer, specifically raising concerns that Hsu was engaged in a risky investment scheme and was using Hillary Clinton’s name “in vain” to solicit people for his business proposition, according to a person directly familiar with the matter." The Clinton campaign was warned, but as we know even after that warning didn't investigate and vouched for Hsu.
5) While Hsu contributed millions to Democrats, he was so little interested in politics that he never voted in elections and never bothered to register to vote. Why, then, was he contributing so much?
A good summary of the latest Hsu-Hillary news is at http://hotair.com/archives/2007/09/12/has-the-wsj-tracked-down-hsus-cash/
Posted by: Bruce | September 12, 2007 9:49 AM
Again, where is the story on the $850,000 and Hillary?
Posted by: ljb | September 12, 2007 10:17 AM
I just keep asking myself .. what was it about the Clintons that America was so weary about that Al Gore didn’t even want them to campaign for him back in 2000 ?
Now I remember .. it was everything.
Posted by: Neo | September 12, 2007 10:19 AM
Bruce,
What's the sweat over the Hsu chump-change for Clinton? Let's talk about how Cheneybush let Paul Bremmer "misplace" $8 billion stacked and neatly shrink-wrapped on pallets of $100 bills in Baghdad.
What's your take on that, Bruce? Did you buy Mr. Bremmer's offhand remark about "some payroll irregularities?"
Posted by: snalg | September 12, 2007 11:18 AM
Since Hillary has announced she'll return the dirty money, will anyone in the media check to see if she actually returns the dirty money?
And will the media insist the Hillary disclose the names of the persons who funnelled Hsu's dirty money to her? Or will the media give her a pass--as they always do?
Posted by: Bruce | September 12, 2007 1:28 PM
Brucie...... you still haven't answered the question of the missing $8 billion! Whad-up?
Posted by: snalg | September 12, 2007 2:02 PM
Bruce, let's take your points one at a time:
1) Your definition of "large" is very different from mine, because according to OpenSecrets.org, Rosenman has given a total of $8400 to Hillary.
Big whoop de do.
2) It's Mr. Rosenman's duty to investigate Mr. Hsu, not Hillary's.
3) See 2)
4) Not Hillary's fault in any way, shape of form. No crime being committed by Mr. Hsu in name-dropping.
5) The total that OpenSecrets.org has for Mr. hsu is $246,970 going back to 2002 - nowhere near the "millions" you claim.
Posted by: BC | September 12, 2007 2:38 PM