By SANDY PRICE
It is bad enough that our American soldiers are thrown into a terrible sectarian fight in Iraq but is it possible our own American people may be witnessing a civil war within the Republican Party? I’ve never understood how or why any major political party would change their platform in mid stream.
By HAL BROWN
The lead editorial in the New York Times ( A Bleak Assessment on Iraq ) today ends as follows:
By ANNE FLAHERTY
House Democratic leaders are considering a straightforward approach to next week’s Iraq war debate, planning a short and simple measure opposing President Bush’s decision to send more forces into combat.
The bare-bones approach is intended to persuade Republicans to break ranks with the GOP and express their frustration with a war without turning off Democrats who want to end the war by cutting funding.
The United States set up a task force to tackle the mounting Iraq refugee crisis, after Washington came under criticism for not doing enough to help millions of people displaced by the war it unleashed nearly four years ago.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the creation of the task force, to be headed by Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky and including the State Department’s top Middle East and Iraq officials.
By ANNE FLAHERTY
A lengthy Senate floor debate on the Iraq war is inevitable, despite a Republican effort to block it, Democrats say.
Following a procedural vote Monday that sidetracked a resolution on the war, Democrats said they would eventually find a way to put each senator on record. On the table is a nonbinding resolution backed by several Republicans and most Democrats that would state Senate opposition to President Bush’s plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.
By DAVID ESPO
Democratic critics of the Iraq war seized the offensive at both ends of the Capitol on Tuesday, disclosing plans for a symbolic rejection by the House of President Bush’s decision to deploy additional troops and filing legislation in the Senate to require withdrawal of U.S. military personnel.
By DAN K. THOMASSON
Congress has no more important function than controlling the nation’s purse strings. That is, of course, when it chooses to fulfill that duty — which recently has been more than a bit haphazard.
Last year it failed to pass nine of the 11 annual money measures relying instead on a string of temporary resolutions to fund the government.
By JOHN CRISP
The scent of war with Iran is in the air. This is surprising, since many experts agree that our military options for Iran lie somewhere between very, very few and nonexistent. Journalist James Fallows, for example, reported in the December 2004 “Atlantic Monthly” on a group of experts and strategists who convened a war game with options for military action against Iran. Their conclusion: Prudent military alternatives for Iran do not exist.
By M.J. ANDERSEN
What makes people happy?
For most individuals, that’s a long conversation. But for large groups, researchers have been able to tease out some interesting general findings. By surveying some 80,000 people across the globe, social psychologists were recently able to chart collective levels of satisfaction with life (officially, “subjective well-being”). Thus was born the first ever World Map of Happiness, published last year by the University of Leicester, in England.
By DAVID ESPO
Republicans blocked a full-fledged Senate debate over Iraq on Monday, but Democrats vowed they still would find a way to force President Bush to change course in a war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 U.S. troops.
“We must heed the results of the November elections and the wishes of the American people,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Reid, D-Nev., spoke moments before a vote that sidetracked a nonbinding measure expressing disagreement with Bush’s plan to deploy an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.