by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.
In a surprising conclusion, the nation's intelligence services said Iran stopped actively pursuing nuclear weapons in 2003, a finding that evidently knocked the legs out from under Bush Administration efforts to portray the Islamist nation as a growing threat.
News photos taken during a media visit to the Iranian facility at Natanz contributed to U.S. intelligence analysts' determination that Iran hadn't advanced its efforts far enough to create working nuclear weapons in the near term.
The economy has become a leading issue for many voters as the mortgage and credit crunch, falling real incomes, crushing debt levels and the fear of recession loom larger for many households.
The prospect of Sen Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee scares numerous House Democrats who represent Republican-leaning districts who believe her presence at the top of the ticket will harm their re-election chances.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson provided some details of his plan to help some homeowners hit hardest by the mortgage meltdown, which would include allowing localities to refinance the loans of some of the worst cases.
The suicide of an Air Force procurement official following the disclosure that the department, in a curious move, asked a private contractor to pay his government salary for months before Congress officially confirmed him to the post, highlights some of the irregularities in Pentagon contracting.
Voter support fell sharply for the frontrunners in both major parties, Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democrats and Rudy Giuliani for the Republican, in the last month even though both still lead in a USA Today/Gallup poll.
Phoenix's mayor reversed an immigration-related local policy, now saying that the city's police should notify federal immigration authorities if they believe someone they've arrested is in the U.S. illegally. He was influenced by the outcry following the shooting death of a police officer by an illegal immigrant.
Mitt Romney's planned Thursday speech on his Mormon faith could be the most politically dangerous speech on religion a presidential candidate has delivered since John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 speech to Baptist preachers in Houston.
An aide to Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state was fired after being arrested in a sex sting in which he allegedly thought he was going to meet a 13-year old boy for purposes of sex.
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Comments
What?
Administration policy undercut by intelligence?
Posted by: San Miguel | December 4, 2007 10:04 AM
The prospect of Sen Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee scares numerous House Democrats. Scares me too. Hillary says she'll be ready on day one. She lives only blocks from the White House, still has all the furniture, even has an ex-president. And, oh, look, the government is broken. How convenient. Somebody will have to fix that: http://theseedsof9-11.com
Posted by: Peggy McGilligan | December 4, 2007 10:50 AM
Meanwhile, in the real world, Radio Netherlands is quoting a NATO general that not only is the Taliban failing in Afghanistan, but that Al Qaeda operatives are fleeing to Afghanistan to escape their "defeats" in Iraq. See
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/5543647/ISAF-says-Taliban-resistance-has-failed
The Democrats refuse to admit what Al Qaeda already is admitting--the surge in Iraq is working. Which merely shows just how invested the Democrats are in U.S. defeat.
Posted by: Bruce | December 4, 2007 12:32 PM
Bruce,
I thought al-Qaeda got there talking points from the Democrats and vice versa? Get your stories straight. I admit it is kind of funny when you prove that your ilk and al-Qaeda have found common ground. Don't forget your friends and al-Qaeda are protecting the life of Osama Bin Laden. Did you forget who that is?
Posted by: john | December 4, 2007 12:59 PM
John,
Al-Quaeda and the far left democrats are still blaming America for everything while fleeing from their other previous positions. Leaders lead, they don't poll for public opinion.
Posted by: whatnow | December 4, 2007 2:39 PM
Bruce,
You aren't REALLY applauding the fact that Al Qaeda in Iraq, a group that didn't even exist before our invasion, is now being forced to flee to the next best safe haven- AFGHANISTAN??!?!?!?
So, I guess the mission ISN'T accomplished where this whole thing started, is it?
Seems to me more evidence that we should have finished the job in Afghanistan/ Pakistan before electing to open an unrelated second front in the Middle East.
Keep grasping at those straws, buddy.
Posted by: Jones | December 4, 2007 3:13 PM
Swamp reports the prospect of Hillary scares some Democrats. Good reason. Another shoe dropped on Hillary big toe today. A federal grand jury indicted Hillary's fund raiser, Norman Hsu, accused of cheating investors of at least $20 million and using some of the money to make illegal donations to Hillary and other Democrats. If she
knowingly accepted stolen money, it is a crime. So what did Hillary know and when did she know it? Will she be called as a witness in the trial? Stay tuned Demo candidates. And keep your resumes' updated.
Posted by: Grover C. | December 4, 2007 4:16 PM
The surge in Iraq has worked.
More testimony as to the incompetence of Donald Rumsfeld and his war planners.
The time for the surge was at the beginning of the war, not at the end.
Posted by: San Miguel | December 5, 2007 9:05 AM