Day: November 29, 2006

Over White House objections, The New York Times and other U.S. news outlets have adopted the term "civil war" for the fighting in Iraq, reflecting a growing consensus that sectarian violence has engulfed the country.

After NBC News’ widely publicized decision on Monday to brand the conflict a civil war, several prominent newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, pointed to their use of the phrase.

U.S. President George W. Bush’s national security adviser has raised serious doubts about Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s ability to control sectarian violence, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

National security adviser Stephen Hadley told Bush and other top administration officials in a November 8 classified memo that the United States may have to take steps to strengthen the Iraqi leader politically, the newspaper said in an article posted on its Web site at www.nytimes.com.

A federal judge in Los Angeles, who previously struck down sections of the Patriot Act, has ruled that provisions of an anti-terrorism order issued by President George W. Bush after September 11 are unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins found that part of the law, signed by Bush on September 23, 2001 and used to freeze the assets of terrorist organizations, violated the Constitution because it put no apparent limit on the president’s powers to place groups on that list.

Is the conflict in Iraq a civil war? And: Does it matter?

The answers: Yes and no. And: Yes and no.

The Los Angeles Times began calling it that last month. The New York Times says it will do so "sparingly." The Washington Post is agnostic. Other news organizations use the term as they see fit, although not, as a matter of policy, consistently.

Congressional Democratic leaders acknowledge they will need some Republican support to get major legislation approved in the next session. But with so many moderate Republicans ousted in the midterm elections, it remains to be seen whether the new lineup will be able to govern in the middle.

The Republicans’ senatorial campaign arm, which lagged behind other national party committees in fundraising the past two years, emerged from the Nov. 7 election in debt and is soliciting donations to get out of the red.

In an urgent appeal to donors this week, Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, the chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, beseeched contributors to "help us retire our debt."

Senate Majority Leader-elect Harry Reid said Tuesday he’s doing away with the "do-nothing Congress" that Democrats campaigned against and plans to keep senators working long hours — focusing first on ethics, the minimum wage and stem cell research.

The Nevada Democrat said he would tackle those priorities after cleaning up the "financial mess" the outgoing Republican Congress is leaving behind, a reference to nine long-overdue spending bills covering 13 Cabinet departments for the budget year that began Oct. 1.

Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday rejected a bid by a lawmaker earlier ousted as a federal judge on corruption charges to head a congressional panel that helps protect America’s security.

Pelosi, preparing her party to take control of the House from President George W. Bush’s Republicans when the 110th U.S. Congress convenes on January 4, told Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat, of her decision during a closed-door meeting.

"I advised him that I would select someone else as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee," Pelosi said.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry, considering a second bid for the U.S. presidency, finished dead last in a poll released on Monday on the Likeability of 20 top American political figures.

Among those placed ahead of Kerry were about a dozen potential 2008 White House rivals, including Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

"This is bad bad news for Kerry," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Connecticut, which conducted the survey.