by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.
Nearly a million people were evacuated and more than a thousand homes destroyed by the southern California wildfires as the White House ordered federal officials and assets to the area and announced that President Bush would visit the stricken area Thursday, in an effort to not repeat the mistakes that followed Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, there were questions about the region's preparedness.
The Iraq and Afghanistan wars may cost taxpayers as much as $2.4 trillion by the end of the decade or $8,000 for each person in the country, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.
The State Department announced additional oversight for private security firms in Iraq, including the establishment of an agency "go team" to immediately visit the site of any shooting incident to establish the facts and an incident review board.
Despite recent efforts to portray himself as a fiscal conservative, President Bush is the second-biggest spender in the White House since Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s, and under some measures, an even bigger spender, according to fiscal experts.
The use of private contractors by the State Department has quadrupled over the past four years to nearly $4 billion but the agency has added few officials to oversee the contracts.
The U.S.'s terror watch list has expanded to a nearly eye-popping 800,000 names, leading critics to question whether any list with so many names is worth much.
Senate Democrats have scheduled a test vote for the DREAM Act, legislation meant to assist the children of undocumented immigrants by granting them legal status so long as they complete at least two years of college or military service.
This week's mistrial in the terror-financing trial of the defunct Islamic charity known as Holy Land Inc. underscores the reduced success the federal government has had in prosecuting terror-related cases since 9/11 compared with beforehand, somewhat a function of the government prosecuting more difficult cases.
President Bush was expected to warn Cuba against transferring power from Cuban President Fidel Castro to his brother Raul instead of the Cuban people.
Former U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, a Republican, said the Bush Justice Department targeted Democrats in corruption cases while ignoring Republicans, citing the federal prosecution of Cyril Wecht, a well-known forensic pathologist, for allegedly misusing his public office of Alleghany County coroner.
• 
• 
• 
• 
Comments
Well now, $2.4 trillion by the end of the century.
Can we afford it? Of course?
But is shoring up corrupt,
lazy Iraqi and Afghani politicians really the best way to spend our money. Do we really want to be Santa Claus for a bunch of really despicable, greedy Middle Eastern pols like Maliki and Karzi, who are busy feathering their nests with
barrels of cash direct from the American taxpayer?
Apparently, we do. Outrage over the war has decreased markedly in recent months,
although Iraqi and Afghani corruption has not.
Can't blame it all on Bush/Cheney. Hillary and Barack have made it clear that they want to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan indefinitely as well. And Bush must be enjoying the spectacle of the leading Dem candidates trying to out-hawk each other.
Posted by: Helena | October 24, 2007 10:54 AM
[quote]
President Bush was expected to warn Cuba against transferring power from Cuban President Fidel Castro to his brother Raul instead of the Cuban people.
[/quote]
Castro should warn Bush against transferring power from himself to Cheney instead of the American people.
Posted by: BC | October 24, 2007 11:25 AM
$2.4 trillion. Or we could shore up Social Security, or provide health care to children and let the people of the middle east fight their own religious wars.
800,000 people on the terror watch list? We'd better expand our off-shore prison system. Are these people all in this country? If so, we are done for.
Posted by: San Miguel | October 24, 2007 11:48 AM