"BAGHDAD, April 19 — Bombs ravaged Baghdad in five horrific explosions aimed mainly at Shiite crowds on Wednesday, killing at least 171 people in the deadliest day in the capital since the American-led security plan for the city took effect two months ago."
"Abramoff, who was a Doolittle campaign contributor, allowed Doolittle the use of a luxury sports box that he paid for, which the congressman did not initially report. More than that, federal officials have been puzzled by payments Abramoff's firm made to Doolittle's wife by way of her company, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions Inc. "
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman said he was unsure when Blair had last used the phrase.In other words, America needs to get back to being a beacon of hope rather than a bludgeon of despair.
“We all use our own phraseology, and we talk about terrorism, we talk about the fight against terrorism, but we also talk about trying to find political solutions to political problems,” he said on condition of anonymity, in line with government policy.
According to the advance text, Benn urged Americans to use the “soft power” of values and ideas as well as military strength to defeat extremism.
"Bombs struck today in three other areas of Baghdad as well, killing more than 20 people, making the day one of the deadliest in Iraq since American and Iraqi forces began a new effort to secure the capital two months ago."Looks like the insurgents and surging too.
President Bush has reneged on his promises to Katrina’s victims. Shamefully, the president has chosen the interests of bureaucracy over those of American towns on the brink of failure.Because, you know, those people didn't help get him elected any.
Over a year and a half later, there are 64,000 people still sleeping in trailers in Louisiana and far too many communities without schools, hospitals and other basics. These are unacceptable failures. At least part of the problem is a law that requires states to contribute 10 percent of the cost of most federally financed reconstruction projects. Mr. Bush waived that requirement after the Sept. 11 attacks (as his father did after Hurricanes Andrew and Iniki) but he refuses to do so for the Gulf Coast.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House should be able to recover an undetermined number of e-mails - perhaps millions of messages - that accidentally disappeared from its servers during a program conversion, an administration official said Monday.Just kidding, folks. No need to get all up in arms about this, nosiree. We'll go through those tapes for ya' and find the emails for ya' and
'We are aware that there could have been some e-mails that were not automatically archived because of a technical issue,' said White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino.
'But given the complex nature of this issue, it might take us a little while to identify those. We do, however, know that most - all of those e-mails should be available on backup tapes. And so we'll continue to look at it.'
This issue is separate from the White House acknowledgment that aides to President Bush have improperly used e-mail accounts created by the Republican Party to conduct official White House business, and that an undetermined number of these e-mails have been lost.
Separately, Perino has confirmed that White House e-mails could have been lost accidentally when staffers' accounts were converted to Microsoft Outlook from Lotus Notes in the early years of the administration. She wouldn't rule out there were perhaps 5 million e-mails lost, as one watchdog group has suggested.
The insurgency’s remarkable ability to terrorize residents, killing those who help Americans while coercing others, is undeniably one of its biggest weapons. It appears to be well financed, too.You can't beat such a movement with soldiers and tanks. It's a heart and minds phenomenon that won't be dismissed through force.
“Some guys will give you $300 to put this in a hole in the ground and attach a wire,” said John M. Jones, head of the provincial reconstruction team in Diyala, explaining how insurgents recruit bomb emplacers. “Where are the other incentives?”
With the combination of threats and money, Mr. Jones said, the insurgents’ offers are hard for residents to refuse. “You might not agree with the philosophy of what he’s saying, but he’s got the big guns, and they live in the same neighborhood. It’s you, your wife and kids. What can you do?”
Such intimidation makes progress impossible. “We are not able to make even baby steps,” he said. “I hope we’re laying the framework for future baby steps. Right now, I’d say we are pretty much frustrated.”
"WASHINGTON, April 15 — Paul D. Wolfowitz’s struggle to remain as president of the World Bank was dealt a crippling setback on Sunday when its most powerful oversight committee delivered an unusually public rebuke of his leadership, expressing “great concern” about the institution’s future and the need to preserve its credibility and staff morale."
