By CALVIN WOODWARD and LARRY MARGASAK
Protesters chanted “Our Congress” as their numbers grew and police faced off against them. Demonstrators later joined the masses marching from the Mall, halfway around Capitol Hill and back.
United for Peace and Justice, a coalition group sponsoring the protest, had hoped 100,000 would come. Police, who no longer give official estimates, said privately the crowd was smaller than that.
A sea of signs from Saturday’s Iraq war protest on the Washington Mall (AP Photo)
Former White House spokesman Ari Fleisher received immunity from prosecution in the investigation of the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame and now defense attorneys for former Vice Presidential chief of staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby want to know why.
Writes Matt Apuzzo of The Associated Press:
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Civil rights attorneys asked an appeals court to ignore the US government and to hear their legal challenge to warrantless wiretaps of US citizens.
US federal government attorneys argued the terrorist surveillance program has been placed in the hands of a secret court in early January, making the suit groundless.
But the American Civil Liberties Union opposed an adjournment Friday.
President George W. Bush met privately with House Republicans on Friday and agreed to an alternative resolution to set “benchmarks” for progress in his plan to send more troops to Iraq, party officials said.
Conferring with lawmakers from his party, which lost control of the House of Representatives last November, Bush was confronted with their plan to hold him accountable for the revised strategy, which has been widely criticized by Democrats and some Republicans.
Presidential political guru Karl Rove and White House Communications director Dan Bartlett have been subpoenaed to testify for the defense in the perjury trial of former Vice Presidential chief of staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
The subpoenas have White House lawyers scrambling to find a way to stop Rove and Bartlett from testifying and are also sending shock waves through the West Wing.
Reports Michael Isikoff of Newsweek: