Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she would not support a short-term increase in U.S. troop presence in Iraq unless it was part of a more comprehensive plan to stabilize the country.
Clinton also offered the broadest indication yet that she was close to a decision on whether to enter the 2008 Democratic presidential field.
Sen. Tim Johnson has been conscious at times since his emergency brain surgery last week, his spokeswoman said Monday. But he is currently being sedated so he can rest.
The South Dakota Democrat has made it through the first 72 hours since the Wednesday evening brain surgery, spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said, a benchmark that doctors consider a good sign for recovery. The senator remains in critical but stable condition, she added.
Fisher said the next "target" for doctors is to watch his progress over the next week.
Vice President Dick Cheney Friday called departing Donald Rumsfeld "the greatest Secretary of Defense in history."
Honest. That’s what the man said. Standing on the podium in a lavish going-away ceremony that seemed more like a coronation, Cheney heaped so much praise on Rumsfeld that I thought maybe I had missed the outgoing defense secretary’s ascension to sainthood.
Robert Gates was sworn in Monday as secretary of defense at a crucial juncture in the Iraq war, a conflict that cost Donald H. Rumsfeld his job and likely will define Gates’ Pentagon tenure.
 Robert Gates (AP Photo) Read More » Powell says U.S. Army ‘about broken’
December 18, 2006
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is casting doubt on a plan under consideration by President Bush that would increase troops in Iraq, calling the U.S. Army overextended and "about broken."
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