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

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (762455)	5/25/2007 1:45:49 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Richardson takes congressional Democrats to task in Seattle THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Last updated May 25, 2007 9:01 a.m. PT seattlepi.nwsource.com SEATTLE -- Congress should vote to "de-authorize" the war in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said in a Western Washington campaign swing. In a meeting with about 100 Democrats on Thursday in his first visit to the state since he formally entered the race, the New Mexico governor also criticized congressional Democratic leaders over a compromise on immigration legislation. With 86 Democrats in the House and 37 in the Senate voting yes, Congress on Thursday passed a $120 billion emergency war-spending bill without a withdrawal timetable. Instead, Congress should essentially repeal authorization for the war, Richardson said. "Since there are no weapons of mass destruction, there is no support of the American people for this war, you de-authorize this war," Richardson said. Under the war powers provision of the Constitution, he asserted, "The president could not veto it." Richardson also spoke to several hundred Microsoft Corp. employees in Redmond, appeared at three fundraisers in the Seattle-Tacoma area and attended meetings with labor leaders and political bloggers. Without mentioning better financed and more well-known candidates by name, the former House member, energy secretary and United Nations ambassador said, "This race should not be about celebrity status or money or legacies." On immigration, Richardson said he couldn't support legislation that includes a guest worker program without labor protections for those workers, as proposed in a Senate bill supported by Democrats. Temporary workers should have health care benefits, the right to join unions and protection under workplace safety laws, he said. He also criticized a provision to require that illegal immigrant heads of families now working in the United States return to their home countries and obtain a visa before being able to return to the U.S. legally, saying that would divide families.

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (762455)	5/25/2007 1:53:37 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Poll Shows View of Iraq War Is Most Negative Since Start May 25, 2007 By DALIA SUSSMAN nytimes.com Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time since the invasion more than four years ago, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Sixty-one percent of Americans say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq and 76 percent say things are going badly there, including 47 percent who say things are going very badly, the poll found. Still, the majority of Americans support continuing to finance the war as long as the Iraqi government meets specific goals. President Bush’s approval ratings remain near the lowest of his more than six years in office. Thirty percent approve of the job he is doing over all, while 63 percent disapprove. More Americans — 72 percent — now say that “generally things in the country are seriously off on the wrong track” than at any other time since the Times/CBS News poll began asking the question in 1983. The number has slowly risen since January 2004. Then, 53 percent said the country was “seriously off on the wrong track,” and by January of this year it was 68 percent. Public support for the war has eroded. In December 2003, 64 percent of Americans said the United States did the right thing in taking military action in Iraq and 28 percent said the United States should have stayed out. The current numbers are nearly reversed, with 35 percent saying the United states did the right thing and 61 percent saying the country should have stayed out. In January of this year, 58 percent said the United States should have stayed out of Iraq and 38 percent said going in was the right thing. The nationwide telephone poll was conducted Friday through Wednesday with 1,125 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points. A majority, 76 percent, including 51 percent of Republicans, say additional troops sent to Iraq this year by Mr. Bush either have had no impact or are making things worse. Twenty percent of all respondents say the increase is improving the situation. Most Americans support a timetable for withdrawal. Sixty-three percent say the United States should set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq sometime in 2008. While troops are still in Iraq, Americans overwhelmingly support continuing to finance the war, though most want to do so with conditions. Thirteen percent want Congress to block all money for the war. Sixty-nine percent, including 62 percent of Republicans, say Congress should allow financing, but on the condition that the United States sets benchmarks for progress and the Iraqi government meets those goals. Fifteen percent of all respondents want Congress to allow all financing for the war, no matter what. The poll found Americans are more likely to trust the Democratic Party than the Republican Party to make the right decisions about the war in Iraq. Slightly more than half of those polled, 51 percent, said the Democratic Party was more likely than the Republican Party to make the right decisions about the war. More broadly, 53 percent of those polled say they have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, while 38 percent have a favorable view of the Republican Party. The Republican Party has not had a majority positive rating in Times/CBS News polls since December 2003. As for Mr. Bush, 23 percent approve of his handling of the situation in Iraq, 72 percent disapprove; 25 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy, 65 percent disapprove; and 27 percent approve of his handling of immigration issues, while 60 percent disapprove. On the economy, 36 percent approve of his handling of the issue, and 56 percent disapprove. In the campaign against terrorism, 42 percent approve, and 52 percent disapprove. Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (762455)	5/25/2007 2:33:14 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Sadr reemerges, demands U.S. pullout from Iraq By Saad Fakhrildeen and Alexandra Zavis Special to the Times 8:26 AM PDT, May 25, 2007 latimes.com KUFA, Iraq — Influential cleric Muqtada Sadr resurfaced today after months in hiding and delivered a fiery sermon in this Shiite Muslim holy city in which he reiterated his demand for the swift departure of U.S. forces. The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the deaths of six more soldiers. Sadr's return to a public stage comes at a time when the radical cleric has been building his national profile, capitalizing on the political impasse gripping Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government. Aides report that Sadr has reached out to Sunni leaders in recent months and purged extremist elements within his own ranks. Last month, he pulled his six ministers out of Maliki's coalition cabinet, but did not withdraw his 30 legislators from the governing Shiite bloc. Sadr may also want to reassert control over his Mahdi militia, in which divisions have emerged over his order to pull back and avoid a head-on collision with the U.S. military during the ongoing crackdown. U.S. officials have said that Sadr fled to Iran ahead of the crackdown's launch Feb. 13. But the cleric's followers have insisted that he was in hiding in Iraq. An emotional crowd surged forward and showered Sadr with candies when he arrived at the western gate of Kufa mosque, surrounded by bodyguards, to deliver the midday sermon for the first time in more than four months. He began by asking his followers to chant three times: "No to injustice. No to Israel. No to America. No to the devils." "I renew my request that the occupiers should withdraw or schedule their withdrawal," Sadr said. "The (Iraqi) government should not allow the occupiers to extend their stay in Iraq, not even for one more day." Word of the latest U.S. deaths came hours after President Bush warned that a bloody summer lay ahead. Military officers in Baghdad predict that insurgents will seek to inflict maximum casualties before the top commander, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, delivers a review of the troop buildup in September. One soldier was killed by small arms fire and four others died in explosions Thursday in Baghdad and north of the capital, the military said. One of the blasts also killed an Iraqi translator. Another U.S. soldier was killed in an explosion that happened near his vehicle Tuesday in Baghdad province. The deaths brought the number of U.S. personnel killed in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003 to 3,441, according to the website icasualties.org, which tracks military casualties. At least 90 U.S. troops have died so far this month, putting May on track to being one of the deadliest months for the U.S. military in Iraq. Last month, 104 soldiers were killed in Iraq, only the sixth time that more than 100 troops were killed in a single month. zavis@latimes.com Special correspondent Fakhrildeen reported from Kufa and Times staff writer Zavis reported from Baghdad.