By ANNE GEARAN
Republican and Democratic senators warned Tuesday against a drift toward war with an emboldened Iran and suggested the Bush administration was missing a chance to engage its longtime adversary in potentially helpful talks over next-door Iraq.
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
Reporter Judith Miller testified Tuesday that former vice presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby identified a CIA operative to her on two occasions on dates earlier than he has told investigators he first heard the name from another reporter.
Miller, the former New York Times reporter who spent 85 days in jail trying to avoid revealing these conversations, said Libby identified the wife of a prominent Iraq war critic as a CIA employee in face-to-face meetings on June 23 and July 8, 2003.
By LAURIE KELLMAN
A Senate Republican on Tuesday directly challenged President Bush’s declaration that “I am the decision-maker” on issues of war.
“I would suggest respectfully to the president that he is not the sole decider,” Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said during a hearing on Congress’ war powers amid an increasingly harsh debate over Iraq war policy. “The decider is a shared and joint responsibility,” Specter said.
By DALE McFEATTERS
The Bush White House sternly and piously denounced leaks of classified and sensitive information even as the president and his aides were assiduously and selectively leaking secrets that would help make their case.
By DAN K. THOMASSON
The dilemma is such that, when facing it, one is left with a tremendous feeling of impotence. How can this nation extricate itself from what increasingly is becoming a sequel to Vietnam, the most divisive affair in the 20th century? What is the best way to end a misguided adventure that once again threatens to tear the political and social fabric to such an extent that it will take years to repair?
By ROB HOTAKAINEN
McClatchy Newspapers
If campaign talk means anything, there’d be at least one sure vote on the House Judiciary Committee to impeach President Bush if the matter ever came up.
It would come from freshman Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, the Minneapolis lawyer and former state legislator who got a plum assignment when he was named to the storied House panel earlier this month. It has jurisdiction over impeachment.
By JOHN M. CRISP
Radio talk show host Sean Hannity recently had Ann Coulter on one telephone line and a representative from the Young Democrats of America on another. The Young Democrat was unflustered in the face of a double-teamed attack, and Hannity, in the style of modern talk radio, interrupted often.
Having already established the most powerful executive branch in American history, President George W. Bush recently signed new executive orders giving him the right to place new political appointees in oversight roles of key government agencies.
The move, in effect, gives the White House absolute, unchecked control, over rules and policies that govern public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy.
By ANNE FLAHERTY
Adm. William Fallon, who is poised to become the top American commander in the Middle East, says the United States miscalculated the ability of Iraqi forces to take control and underestimated the enemy’s persistence.
“Securing the stability of the country has been more difficult than anticipated,” Fallon said in a written statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Our ability to correctly assess the political, economic and security situation in Iraq has been lacking.”