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

To: PROLIFE who wrote (751197)	10/6/2006 2:17:28 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

Leading Republican offers dismal view of Iraq Senate Armed Services chairman says 'bold decisions' may be needed Updated: 7:45 a.m. PT Oct 6, 2006 CAPITOL HILL - The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, a Bush loyalist offered his darkest assessment of Iraq yet on Thursday, suggesting the war there was “drifting sideways” without a firm commitment from its government to disarm militias and rebuild the country. Returning from a recent trip to the region, Sen. John Warner said the military had done what it could, and if after three months the Iraqis have made no progress to calm ethnic violence and hasten reconstruction, then Congress will have to make some “bold decisions.” Warner did not say what he thinks Congress should do but said all options will be considered. Lawmakers have suggested various remedies, including a timetable to pull out U.S. troops and dividing the country into smaller, independent ethnic states. “There is progress being made in certain areas,” Warner said, but “you just find that so many communities don’t even have drinking water. ... It seems to me that the situation is simply drifting sideways.” Growing misgivings among Republicans While Warner has expressed grave worries about Iraq in the past, his description of a nation hobbled by violent ethnic killings and an ineffective government was his most pessimistic yet. It underscored growing misgivings among Republicans facing elections in November that will decide whether their party maintain control of Congress. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 of the 100 in the Senate are being decided, and Democrats could win the House with a pickup of 15 seats and the Senate by gaining six. Facing dismal approval ratings for the Iraq effort in opinion polls, Republicans have become increasingly less reticent to suggest that President George W. Bush should change course. Most recently, House moderate Republican Chris Shays urged Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign. Warner’s suggestion that the Iraqi government be given a deadline to settle its inner differences echoed a message delivered this week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She said the security situation was “not one that can be tolerated, and it is not one that is being helped by political inaction.” Pressure on the Iraqi government comes as both U.S. casualties and ethnic killings in Iraq are on the rise. Warner said he sees the next 60 to 90 days as most critical yet in the war because Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki finally is growing into the job and says he is committed to disarming militias. U.S. generals in Iraq have refused to speculate when U.S. troops might be able to come home. Warner said he was told on his latest trip that, at the earliest, U.S. and Iraqi forces may have an agreement at the end of this year outlining when and how responsibility could begin to be transferred to the Iraqis. © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

To: PROLIFE who wrote (751197)	10/6/2006 7:52:33 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Some 'ally'! 7/11 blasts: US gets a proof of Pak role [7 Oct, 2006 0051hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK] timesofindia.indiatimes.com NEW DELHI: India has given the US a sneak preview of the evidence gathered after the 7/11 Mumbai blasts which established Pakistani involvement. Talking to newspersons, US ambassador David Mulford said the two sides had held "discussions" on the investigations and the evidence, after Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy made the dramatic announcement of Pakistani involvement. India also lodged a strongly-worded protest against US ambassador to Pakistan Ryan Crocker’s recent statements in Islamabad to visiting US official Steven Mann. The message was given by senior MEA officials when Mann visited South Block on Friday. Mulford, meanwhile, said the US had offered assistance to India on aspects of counter-terrorism, including forensics, after the terror incidents. "We are working with the Indian government," he said. Trying to put a brave face on counter-terrorism cooperation with India, he said it could be better. Having committed to provide "evidence" that Pakistan-sponsored terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and the ISI were behind the blasts, the onus — some say unfairly — falls on India to prove its case. Diplomatic sources say, given Pakistan's virtually indispensable positioning of itself as a bulwark against terror, India's case needed to be rock solid. According to sources, India’s evidence builds a solid case against the LeT. A supposedly banned organisation, both LeT and its political wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, are known to function openly in Pakistan. In 1999, when India claimed that it was the Pakistan army fighting on the Kargil heights, the NDA government had to back up the claim by giving ambassadors of key countries select briefings on the war, including satellite photos. Later, the Indian government even gave a group of ambassadors a tour of the heights to buttress its claims. Clearly, a similar win-international confidence operation will be mounted by India again. On Friday, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Mahmud Ali Durrani, said in Washington, "To the best of my knowledge, Lakshar-e-Taiba is a banned organisation. They are no more in Pakistan." However, even two years ago, the LeT had money collection boxes in the markets of Rawalpindi, he said. "There were hundreds and thousands of these boxes. That is finished and LeT does not have the luxury of those funds... and the organisation has been banned," the Pakistani envoy claimed. Terrorism analysts are clear that LeT is a fully-owned subsidiary of the ISI. In an interview after the Mumbai blasts, national security adviser M K Narayanan expanded on the fact that Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders who control the Indian operations live in Pakistan.