Tuesday 5th of November 2024

shades for the blind, one-eyed cyclops .....

shades of a blind, one-eyed cyclops .....

General's Report on Iraq Progress Has Competition

By DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER

Published: June 24, 2007

WASHINGTON, June 23 - Last month, Congress set a deadline for the American commander in Iraq, declaring that by Sept. 15 he would have to assess progress there before billions more dollars are approved to finance the military effort to stabilize the country. The commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, said in recent days that his report would be only a snapshot of trends, strongly suggesting he will be asking for more time.

But even before he composes the first sentences of the report, to be written with the new American ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan C. Crocker, the administration is commissioning other assessments that could dilute its conclusions about the impact of the current troop increase. The intent appears to be to give Mr. Bush, who publicly puts great emphasis on listening to his field commanders, a wide range of options.

The assessments are likely to conclude that the Iraqi government has failed to use the troop increase for the purpose the president intended, to strike the political accommodations that he said would stabilize the country. That and other views expected in the various reports could also provide some rationale for beginning a reduction of troops in Iraq under conditions far short of the "victory" President Bush, for the past four years, has said was his ultimate goal. Mr. Bush has used that word with far less frequency recently.

General’s Iraq Progress Report Has Competition

Bushit toy taken away...

From Al Jazeera

Bush to lose special trade powers          

The US Congress will take back its full trade authority from President George Bush, the majority Democratic leadership said while dismissing White House pleas to let him keep his special power.
   
The expiration of the Trade Promotion Authority [TPA], which lets Bush negotiate trade agreements that cannot be amended by Congress, could deal a major blow to the nearly collapsed Doha Round of World Trade Organization [WTO] talks.
   
The TPA, also known as "fast-track," was extended for two years in 2005 and expires at midnight on Saturday.

"Our legislative priorities do not include the renewal of fast-track authority," Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives Speaker, and other leading Democrats said on Friday in a statement.

The House Democrats said they had a plan to improve US trade policy, while at the same time addressing increased economic insecurity felt by American families.