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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (742424)	6/12/2006 2:42:51 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Hussein's Witnesses Admit Lying in Their Testimony By JOHN O'NEIL Published: June 12, 2006 Four witnesses for the defense in the Saddam Hussein trial have admitted lying in their testimony, saying they had been bribed or threatened, according to statements read in court today. One of the witnesses said he agreed to testify on behalf of the defense after one of his sons was kidnapped. He said that a son of one of Mr. Hussein's co-defendants, Mohammad Azzawi Ali, told him, "You have three days to decide whether to testify or not, otherwise we'll kill your youngest son." Other witnesses told of being paid $500 and coached in their testimony. The claims of perjury, read out in court by a judge, was the latest disruption of a tumultuous trial that began in October. Mr. Hussein and seven other men are charged with crimes against humanity stemming from the executions and reprisal killings that followed an attempt on the former president's life in the Shiite village of Dujail in 1982. The defense denied any witness-tampering, and Mr. Hussein suggested today that it was the prosecution who had threatened the witnesses, to force them to say they lied in their testimony. According to a pool report of the day's proceedings, Mr. Hussein gave an impassioned speech about the violence that stalks the country, citing reports of police officers dragging Iraqis, whose bodies were later found by the side of a road, from their homes. "How do you expect people, thinking they're going to be subjected to the same fate, not to change their testimony?" Mr. Hussein demanded. Earlier in the session, before the witnesses' statements were read, an American lawyer assisting the defense team complained to the judges about the arrest of four witnesses 10 days ago on suspicion of perjury. The lawyer, Curtis F.J. Doebbler, charged that the four had been beaten. It appeared that Mr. Doebbler was referring to the four witnesses whose recanting statements were read later. He also complained about restrictions imposed by the court, saying that the legal team had not been able to visit Dujail or visit essential witnesses. "Your honor, we struggled under severe disabilities in calling witnesses," Mr. Doebbler said. Defense lawyers have also charged prosecution witnesses with perjury. In particular, they have focused on one witness, Ali al-Haidari, and sought to undermine the credibility of both Mr. Haidari and the chief prosecutor in the case, Jaafar al-Mousawi. In March, the defense played a DVD of Mr. Haidari giving a speech in 2004 praising the attempted assassination in Dujail and appearing to contradict his courtroom testimony. Defense lawyers assert that Mr. Mousawi appears in the video and that he therefore was aware of the contradiction. In the statements read today, several of the recanting witnesses said they were pressured to testify that they recognized Mr. Mousawi in the video. One charged that he was held against his will in Tikrit, Mr. Hussein's hometown, and threatened by Mr. Hussein's bodyguard and his chief lawyer in the case, Khalil al-Dulaimi. If he testified as they directed, Mr. Hussein's associates said, according to the statement, he would be given a permanent job in Syria; if he didn't, his family would be killed. The witness said he was told not to worry about perjury, because the tribunal has no authority, and was paid $500 for his testimony. The witness who said his son was kidnapped described coming to the government Green Zone to meet with members of the defense team, who brought him to a safe house and drilled him in his false testimony. Another witness said he had contacted the defense team voluntarily for a "personal" reason. But he said that Mr. Dulaimi coached him in what to say, and promised him a meeting with Mr. Hussein, a large amount of money, help in relocating his family outside of Iraq and a permanent job if he testified as directed. The fourth witness had testified earlier that 21 of the Dujail villagers whose deaths have been cited by prosecutors were actually still alive. In the statement read today, the witness said that the 21 names had been given to him by Mr. Dulaimi. Mr. Dulaimi denied any witness tampering. "We did not reach out at anybody or contact anybody," he said.

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (742424)	6/12/2006 3:13:21 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Look at the outlays number here....yes, tax revenues are up but if we keep spending it faster than it comes in, no economic recovery is gonna help us eventually dig out. And God help us when the economy weakens! Come on Republican fiscal conservatives....let's hold the line on spending. ___________________________ Budget deficit larger-than-expected 55 minutes ago news.yahoo.com WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government posted a larger-than-expected $42.83 billion federal budget deficit in May, a Treasury Department report showed on Monday. The May deficit compared with a $35.42 billion funding gap in May 2005. Wall Street economists polled by Reuters were expecting a $39 billion budget deficit for May. The cumulative deficit for the first eight months of fiscal 2006, which began October 1, was $226.97 billion, down from the $272.34 billion deficit in the first eight months of fiscal 2005. May outlays rose to $235.49 billion from $188.15 billion in May 2005, while receipts were $192.66 billion, up from $152.73 billion in May a year ago. Receipts for the fiscal year to date were $1.545 trillion, up from $1.369 trillion over the same period a year ago.