Day: November 26, 2006

Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders called on Sunday for an end to Iraq’s sectarian conflict and vowed to track down those responsible for the war’s deadliest attack.

But as they went on national television to try to keep Iraq from sliding into an all-out civil war, fighting between Iraqi security forces and Sunni Arab insurgents raged for a second day in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province north of Baghdad.

Zach Plante is close with his parents — he plays baseball with them and, on weekends, helps with work in the small vineyard they keep at their northern California home. Lately, though, his parents have begun to notice subtle changes in their son. Among other things, he’s announced that he wants to grow his hair longer — and sometimes greets his father with "Yo, Dad!"

"Little comments will come out of his mouth that have a bit of that teen swagger," says Tom Plante, Zach’s dad.

The incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is promising an array of oversight investigations that could provoke sharp disagreement with Republicans and the White House.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., pledged that Democrats, swept to power in the Nov. 7 elections, would govern "in the middle" next year. But the veteran lawmaker has a reputation as one who has never avoided a fight and he did not back away from that reputation on Sunday.

Among the investigations he said he wants the committee to undertake:

The motorcade of Iraq’s prime minister was pelted with stones on Sunday by fellow Shi’ites in a Baghdad slum when he paid respects to some of the 200 who died there last week in the deadliest attack since the U.S. invasion.

The anger in Sadr City, stronghold of the Medhi Army Shi’ite militia, boiled over on the third day of a curfew imposed on the capital by Nuri al-Maliki’s U.S.-backed national unity coalition as it scrambled desperately to stop popular passions exploding into all-out civil war between Shi’ites and the Sunni minority.

Three Democratic congressmen who are about to take important leadership posts said on Sunday they plan to pass popular legislation blocked by Republicans but would refrain from pushing some of the most controversial elements on the liberal agenda.

The three, appearing on Fox News Sunday, are among the most liberal Democrats who will take over key committee chairmanships when Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives in January.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally authorized torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the prison’s former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday.

Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told Spain’s El Pais newspaper she had seen a letter signed by Rumsfeld which allowed civilian contractors to use techniques such as sleep deprivation during interrogation.

Karpinski, who ran the prison until early 2004, said she saw a memorandum signed by Rumsfeld detailing the use of harsh interrogation methods.

The war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the U.S. involvement in the war that President Bush’s father fought in, World War II. As of Sunday, the conflict in Iraq has raged for three years and just over eight months.

Only the Vietnam War (eight years, five months), the Revolutionary War (six years, nine months), and the Civil War (four years), have engaged America longer.

So, the Democrats will put a stop to the pork barrel spending that escalated out of control during 12 years of Republican control of Congress, right?  Don’t bet on it.

Democrats love pork too and they aren’t about to eliminate a time-proven political practice that brings votes back home.

Writes David D. Kirkpatrick in The New York Times:

He does not come armed with posies and poetry, but when it comes to courting Democratic activists, John Edwards is a determined suitor.

The former North Carolina senator and 2004 presidential running mate never fails to propose when he calls Jim Demers — and he calls often.

"I don’t think there’s ever been a time I’ve talked to him when he hasn’t concluded by point-blank asking if I’ll sign on to his team," said Demers, a Democratic activist in New Hampshire.

The folklore of war features many weapons: the flintlock rifle of the Revolutionary War, the Henry repeaing rifle in the Civil War and the M-series rifles that served American soldiers from World War I through modern times.

But no hand-held weapon has impacted the history of conflict more than the Soviet-designed AK-47.

Writes Larry Kahaner in today’s Washington Post: