March 30, 2007
Internet Won't Get Red-Light District
A plan to create a Web address specifically for adult-entertainment sites -- ".xxx" -- was rejected today by an Internet governing body called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
MarketWatch reports that "the decision sends the broader message that" ICANN "refuses to assume a new role as regulator of content found on the Internet."
MarketWatch paraphrases ICANN's chairman as explaining that "the board's decision had nothing to do with the actual content of the sites in question. Rather, the rejection came because the proposal could be seen as ICANN creating rules affecting Internet content, which is at odds with its mandate to oversee the way Internet operates."
Posted at 4:08 PM
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DOJ: Gonzales Hanging On
Looks like there won't be any classic Friday-afternoon resignations today. Instead, earlier this afternoon, President Bush offered up another chorus in the song he's been singing since the U.S. attorney scandal broke weeks ago: He supports Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino predicted today that Gonzales "will survive the crisis," the Washington Post reports, and she said that Bush "believes the attorney general can overcome the challenges that are before him."
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Posted at 3:58 PM
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Attorney Scandal
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Hicks Found Guilty On Terror Charges
Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks was found guilty "of providing material support for terrorism, marking the first conviction at a U.S. war-crimes trial since World War II," AP reports.
The 31-year-old Australian's plea agreement requires him to serve seven years in prison on the condition that he "drop any claims of mistreatment by the U.S. government since he was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo Bay, said the judge, Marine Corps Col. Ralph Kohlmann."
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Posted at 11:35 AM
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Guantanamo Bay, Terrorism
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Earlybird Roundup
U.S. Attorneys. Yesterday's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee from Kyle Sampson directly contradicted statements from his old boss, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, about his knowledge of the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors, the Washington Post reports. (Slate suggests that Sampson "tried to stand by his man today. But he just couldn't.") Also, CongressDailyAM reports "that he had once suggested that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald should be fired in the midst of his Special Counsel CIA leak probe."
Iraq, Part I. The Boston Globe reports on the looming showdown between the White House and Congress over the supplemental war funding bill that includes a withdrawal timetable for U.S. troops in Iraq. The Senate passed the bill Thursday, 51 to 47, on the heels of a similar House bill.
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Posted at 9:51 AM
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March 29, 2007
DOJ: Sampson Implicates Gonzales In Firings
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff contradicted his former boss during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today. Kyle Sampson said he remembered discussing the dismissals of the eight U.S. attorneys with Gonzales, and that Gonzales was present at a November meeting where the matter was discussed.
In fact, the AP reports that Sampson said Gonzales knew about the proceedings "from the beginning," in early 2005.
That contradicts Gonzales' repeated statements that he didn't know about the firings. Documents about the Justice Department meeting back up Sampson's testimony, the New York Times reports.
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Posted at 3:01 PM
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Attorney Scandal
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Sampson Stands Up
The former top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended his old boss in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning.
In his opening statement, CNN reports, Kyle Sampson said "the decisions to seek the resignations of a handful of U.S. attorneys were properly made, but poorly explained. This is a benign rather than sinister story, and I know that some may be indisposed to accept it. But it is the truth as I observed and experienced it."
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Posted at 10:57 AM
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Attorney Scandal
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Middle East: Israel Likely To Reject Arab Proposal
Arab leaders presented a unified front today at the Arab League summit in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, reviving a plan from a 2002 summit in Beirut that asks Israel to accept a land-for-peace deal and enter into direct negotiations.
But the plan -- at least, as it currently stands -- doesn't look likely to succeed. Israel already rejected it once in 2002 on the grounds that it included a return to the borders before the 1967 war, which divided Jerusalem in two, and guaranteed the right of return for Palestinians. AP reports that "Israel has said it could accept the offer with some changes, but the Arab leaders refused the amend it.
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Posted at 10:38 AM
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Middle East
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March 28, 2007
John Kerry: Swift Boat This
President Bush has withdrawn the nomination of a major donor to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the 527 group that rocked 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry's ultimately doomed campaign for the presidency. Sam Fox, the CEO and chairman of an equity management company, was Bush's pick to be U.S. ambassador to Belgium.
"'We received word that because of politics some members of the Senate were going to vote against'" Fox, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a Bloomberg News report.
Indeed, with three Democratic WH '08 candidates plus Kerry sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Fox's nomination was in trouble from the start. The White House informed the committee of its decision just before members were to vote on the nomination.
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Posted at 3:04 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Democrats, John Kerry, Mitt Romney, President Bush, WH 2008
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Iran: 'The Lady Will Be Released'
Iran said the lone female among the 15 British sailors the country is holding captive will be released, AP reports.
"Today or tomorrow, the lady will be released," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, referring to Faye Turney, 26.
AP also reports that Iran plans to broadcast video of the 15 hostages. Doing so for the purposes of humiliation or propaganda is generally seen as a violation of the Geneva Conventions, and British officials said they had received assurances that images of the hostages would not be aired.
Posted at 11:58 AM
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Iran
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Earlybird Roundup
In today's Earlybird (subscription):
Washington. ITT Corp. pleaded guilty to selling night-vision technology to countries including China, making it the largest U.S. contractor convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act, the Washington Post reports.
Attorney Firings. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales demanding to know if several top aides who might be called as witnesses were still DOJ employees, CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
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Posted at 8:30 AM
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March 27, 2007
News Roundup
Iraq: At least 65 people were killed in a series of bombings throughout Iraq, AP reports. Meanwhile, CNN reports that the new leader of the U.S. Central Command, Adm. William J. Fallon, said the country is not engaged in a civil war. And Senate Democrats forged ahead with legislation calling for a troop pullout by August 2008 despite President Bush's veto threat.
Military: The U.S. Navy began "its most extensive manoeuvres in the Gulf region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq," sending two aircraft carriers to the region, BBC News reports.
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Posted at 2:03 PM
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Poll Track: Edwards Sees Movement In Static Field
When John Edwards announced he would continue to seek the Democratic nomination for president even though his wife was again battling cancer, this time in an incurable form, many wondered (though few would say aloud) a rather uncomfortable thought: Will this help him politically?
A very preliminary answer seems to be: Yes.
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Posted at 11:51 AM
Posted to:
Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, John Edwards
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Snow Diagnosed With Liver Cancer
After undergoing surgery yesterday in Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow has been diagnosed with cancer in his liver and lower abdomen, Bloomberg News reports.
Snow was treated for colon cancer in 2005. Yesterday's surgery was to remove a growth discovered in a routine exam.
Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters this morning that Snow "seemed in good spirits and had a request for the White House press corps: 'Don't bug him.'"
Posted at 10:43 AM
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Tony Snow
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Earlybird Roundup
In today's Earlybird (subscription):
Mideast. "Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to begin limited, biweekly peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but balked at the request from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the negotiations encompass the entrenched three 'final status' issues which have bedeviled peace negotiators since 1979," the New York Times reports.
Attorney Firings: In an interview with NBC News Monday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged "that he had a role in approving an aide's recommendation to dismiss several U.S. attorneys last year," the Los Angeles Times reports. And senior DOJ aide Monica Goodling "has decided against testifying before lawmakers about her role in the ousters of eight federal prosecutors," AP reports.
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Posted at 8:34 AM
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March 26, 2007
Official: No Charges In Tillman Killing
A Defense Department investigation into the friendly-fire killing of Army Ranger Pat Tillman found there was no criminal negligence involved in the 2004 incident. Tillman, a former Arizona Cardinals safety who enlisted following the Sept. 11 attacks, was gunned down by members of his platoon in Afghanistan. His death ignited a furor because the Pentagon initially attributed his death to enemy fire, and continued to stand by that account even after officials knew what really happened.
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Posted at 3:06 PM
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Pat Tillman
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Mideast: Packing Crocodiles
Security officers who monitor border crossings in Gaza know to look out for bulky clothing. So when border guards noticed a woman who looked "strangely fat" at the Rafah station along the Egypt-Gaza border, they pulled her aside.
What they found was cause for alarm. But not, exactly, the kind of alarm they are used to.
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Posted at 2:22 PM
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Middle East
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Earlybird Roundup
In today's Earlybird (subscription):
Attorney Firings. President Bush reiterated his support for Alberto Gonzales, but before new documents were released showing the attorney general was more involved in the U.S. attorneys firings than previously disclosed. Three Republicans joined the chorus of Gonzales critics, the New York Times reports, and the Los Angeles Times reports that three of the fired attorneys chafed at pressure from the White House to seek the death penalty.
Mideast. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Mideast again for talks, the Los Angeles Times reports, as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would welcome a regional summit of moderate leaders, AP reports.
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Posted at 8:47 AM
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March 23, 2007
Snow To Have Surgery For Growth
White House spokesman Tony Snow said today he is going to have a small growth in his lower abdomen removed next week, but warned reporters not to overreact, saying that the growth was not cancerous and he was having the procedure done "out of an aggressive sense of caution." Snow is a colon cancer survivor.
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Posted at 2:57 PM
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Tony Snow
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House OKs Spending Bill With Pullout Deadline
By a six-vote margin -- 218 to 212, the narrowest possible for passage -- the House today approved a war spending bill that includes a timeline for U.S. troops to leave Iraq by Aug. 31, 2008. CNN reports that the measure is "unlikely to pass the Senate," and President Bush has vowed to veto the bill.
Bush has also scheduled a 1:45 p.m. press conference to address the measure.
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Posted at 1:26 PM
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Congress, Iraq
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Snow: Congress Has No Oversight Over White House
In a largely overlooked exchange with reporters yesterday, White House press secretary Tony Snow said that Congress does not have oversight authority over the White House.
"The Congress does have legitimate oversight responsibility for the Department of Justice. It created the Department of Justice," Snow said during the daily briefing. "It does not have constitutional oversight responsibility over the White House."
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Posted at 11:36 AM
Posted to:
Attorney Scandal, Constitution
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Earlybird Roundup
In today's Earlybird (subscription):
White House. Soon after assuming his current job, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates repeatedly argued that the Guantanamo detention facility be shuttered, but was shot down by administration officials including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney, the New York Times reports.
Mideast. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves today for a trip to the Middle East aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Reuters reports.
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Posted at 8:50 AM
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March 22, 2007
North Korea: The Going Gets Gone
The North Korean delegation to the six-party talks over its country's nuclear program has walked away from the latest round of negotiations. The sticking point this time around was money.
The Bush administration arranged for about $25 million in cash frozen in a Macau bank to be released to Pyongyang. But South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that "the money transfer was being delayed because Macau authorities were having difficulty confirming the ownership of 50 North Korean accounts, most of which are under the names of the heads of Zokwang Trading Co., a North Korean-run firm in Macau that U.S. officials have long suspected of being involved in money-laundering," according to AP.
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Posted at 5:11 PM
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Asia, North Korea
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Reaction To The Edwards Announcement
These are the first statements released after John and Elizabeth Edwards' press conference this afternoon:
“I spoke with Elizabeth Edwards today and shared my heartfelt belief that she serves as an inspiration to the entire nation. Both Cindy and I wish John and Elizabeth the very best, and our thoughts and prayers are with them.” -- '08 candidate Sen. John McCain (R)
"Elizabeth is a wonderful, strong individual and my thoughts and prayers are with her, John, and their children during this difficult time. I admire her optimism and strength in the face of adversity, and I look forward to seeing them both on the campaign trail." -- '08 candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
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Posted at 3:36 PM
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John Edwards
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Edwards: 'The Campaign Goes On'
Democratic presidential contender John Edwards today confirmed that his wife, Elizabeth, had fallen ill again with cancer, but put to rest speculation that he would suspend his campaign as a result.
"The campaign goes on. The campaign goes on strongly," said Edwards, with his wife at his side, during a press conference in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Earlier reports quoted sources close to the campaign saying John Edwards was expected to drop out of the race in order to be with his wife. Newsday originally reported that Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer had spread to her lung.
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Posted at 12:51 PM
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John Edwards
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Earlybird Roundup
In today's Earlybird (subscription):
Special Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen Jr. asserts in a new report that the White House and Pentagon were woefully unprepared for reconstruction in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the Washington Post reports.
Poor conditions such as those found at Walter Reed Army Medical Center were found throughout the Veterans Affairs health system, AP reports. In the District, the GA
Since U.S.-led forces implemented a new security plan for Baghdad and other restive parts of Iraq, targeted killings of individual civilians