It is 2008 and that means its Election Year. This is the 56th consecutive presidential election and a very peculiar one as the Democratic political party has elected the first woman to run for president, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, whom was former US First Lady. The Democratic party has aslo elected the first African American whom is the former Illinois State Senator, Barack Obama. It is a "Battle of the Firsts" for the Democratic party in 2008.
Hilary Clinton
At age 60, Hilary Clinton is a representative for the democratic party. She was born in Chicago, IL. She is married to former president Bill Clinton, and they have one daughter, Chelsea Clinton. She attended Wellesley College and obtained a Bachelor's degree in Political Science in 1969. She then attended Yale University Law School and became Juris Doctor in 1973. In 1973 she was staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund. Then in 1974 she became staff attorney for the presidential impeachment inquiry and House Judiciary Committee. Next, in 1975 she became a faculty member at the University of Arkansas Law School in Fayetteville, Ark. From 1976 to 1979 she was an associate at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Ark. Then in 1979 to 1992 she made partner at the same Rose Law Firm. Prior to being a U.S. senator, from 1993-2001 she was First Lady of the United States.
Barack Obama
The democratic candidate Barck Obama has great steam as the election year closes. Obama's campaign has put him in a good position to be elected. However, republicans are hoping for this and looking at this as an advantage. Why? Well while many people think that Obama's black skin color is his biggest disadvantage, it is truly at the bottom of the list of his weak points. The republican party is hoping that Obama WILL win the democratic ticket. WHY? Well they feel that this will be a great advantage for them to win the overall election. As part of their strategy, if Obama wins the democratic ticket they will pick Obama apart, therefore minimizing his chances of winning the election as president. They will jump on the bandwagon and criticize Obama about his lack of experience. They will also speak about his support for abortion and stem cell research. Next they will bring light to his objection to the war in Iraq. Finally they will bring in his skin color or the issue of him not being fully American. If Obama won the democratic nomination, the republican party truly feels it will be to their advantage.
Election overall
During the 2008 presidential election the war in Iraq, the immigration bill, social security, health care, and oil prices are just a few of the hot topic issues that Americans are concerned about.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
U.S Death Toll Hits 4,000
Four U.S. soldiers died in a roadside bombing in Iraq on Sunday, military officials reported, bringing the American toll in the 5-year-old war to the grim milestone of 4,000 deaths.
The four were killed when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device while patrolling a neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq reported Sunday night. A fifth soldier was wounded in the attack, which took place about 10 p.m. (3 p.m. ET).
The U.S. milestone comes just days after Americans marked the fifth anniversary of the start of the war.
"No casualty is more or less significant than another; each soldier, Marine, airman and sailor is equally precious and their loss equally tragic," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, the U.S. military's chief spokesman in Iraq, said.
"Every single loss of a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine is keenly felt by military commanders, families and friends both in theatre and at home," Smith said.
Of the 4,000 U.S. military personnel killed in the war, 3,263 have been killed in attacks and fighting and 737 in non-hostile incidents, such as traffic accidents and suicides.
Eight of the 4,000 killed were civilians working for the Pentagon.
Many of those killed over the years, like the four soldiers slain on Sunday in Baghdad, have been targeted by improvised explosive devices -- the roadside bombs that have been described as the weapon of choice for insurgents and a weapon that has come to symbolize Iraq's tenacious insurgency.
The existence of the Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization has been developed to counter the threat of IEDs in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. The group calls IEDs the "weapon of choice for adaptive and resilient networks of insurgents and terrorists."
Meanwhile, estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to the hundreds of thousands, with another 2 million forced to leave the country and 2.5 million people displaced within Iraq, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
President Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq on March 19, 2003, after months of warnings that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was concealing stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and efforts to build a nuclear bomb.
U.N. weapons inspectors found no sign of banned weapons before the invasion, and the CIA later concluded that Iraq had dismantled its weapons programs in the 1990s.
Hussein's government fell in early April 2003, and Iraq's new government executed him in December 2006.
The news of the 4,000 mark came on the same day that Iraq's national security adviser urged Americans to be patient with the progress of the war, contending that it is "well worth fighting" because it has implications about "global terror."
"This is global terrorism hitting everywhere, and they have chosen Iraq to be a battlefield. And we have to take them on," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."
"If we don't prevail, if we don't succeed in this war, then we are doomed forever," he said. "I understand and sympathize with the mothers, with the widows, with the children who have lost their beloved ones in this country.
"But honestly, it is well worth fighting and well worth investing the money and the treasure and the sweat and the tears in Iraq."
Nearly 160,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers about $600 billion, according to the House Budget Committee.
The conflict is now widely unpopular among Americans: A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll out Wednesday found only 32 percent of Americans support the conflict. And 61 percent said they want the next president to remove most U.S. troops within a few months of taking office.
In the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said President Bush "took us to war on the wings of a lie."
Menendez said that the war has depleted the resources and morale of the U.S. military; diverted national attention away from the war in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda is regrouping; and hurt the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The Iraq war has not made Americans safer, Menendez said, but has instead hurt the U.S. economy.
The senator called for a "responsible new direction" regarding Iraq.
CNN learned last week, from several U.S. military officials familiar with the recommendations but not authorized to speak on the record, that senior U.S. military officials are preparing to recommend to Bush a four- to six-week "pause" in additional troop withdrawals from Iraq after the last of the "surge" brigades leaves in July.
"If the conditions on the ground dictate that we have to have a pause, then we will have to have a pause," al-Rubaie said.
The return of all five brigades added to the Iraq contingent last year could reduce troop levels by up to 30,000, but still leave approximately 130,000 or more troops in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie emphasized Sunday that any drawdown of U.S. troops "has to be based on the conditions on the ground."
"It depends on the development and the growth and the equipment and the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, and the preparedness of the Iraqi security forces," he said. "This should not be a purely political decision. It should be also a technical, military and intelligence decision."
But there has been too much "foot-dragging on key governance questions in Iraq," Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said on CNN on Sunday. "It seems to me you put off those troop withdrawals, you send exactly the wrong message to the Iraqis."
On Wednesday, Bush will visit the Pentagon to be briefed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chaired by Adm. Michael Mullen.
The American troop level in Iraq "depends on the negotiations that we are engaged in now between the government of Iraq and the United States government," al-Rubaie said.
When conditions warrant the withdrawal of American troops, the Iraqis will say "'Thank you very much, indeed,' " al-Rubaie said. "A big, big thank you for the United States of America for liberating Iraq, for helping us in sustaining the security gains in Iraq ... and we will give them a very, very good farewell party then."
Responding to recent remarks from U.S. presidential candidates that Iraqis are not taking responsibility for their own future, al-Rubaie said Iraqis are making political and security gains.
"Literally by the day and by the week, we are gradually assuming more responsibility," he said, noting that Iraqis have taken responsibility for security in many provinces.
Other developments:
• U.S. troops raided a suspected suicide bomber cell in Diyala province on Sunday, killing a dozen militants, half of whom had shaved their bodies -- which the U.S. military says indicates they were in the final stage of preparation for a suicide attack. Diyala province stretches north and east of Baghdad and has been a major front for U.S. troops fighting militants.
• Several mortars landed in Baghdad's International Zone on Sunday, according to the Interior Ministry. A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said there were no major casualties.
• A suicide car bomb exploded at a fuel station Sunday in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in northwest Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 12 others, the Interior Ministry said.
• A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives outside the main gate of an Iraqi military base in Mosul, killing at least 10 Iraqi soldiers and wounding 35 people, including 20 soldiers, Mosul police said. The U.S. military put the death toll higher, at 12.
A mortar round landed in a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing seven people and injuring nine others, a ministry official said. Six more mortar rounds landed in other Baghdad neighborhoods Sunday night, killing three people, the Interior Ministry said.
In southeastern Baghdad, gunmen riding in at least two cars opened fire on a crowded outdoor market, killing at least three people and wounding 17 others, the Interior Ministry said.
• A suicide bomber detonated a small truck rigged with explosives outside a local Awakening Council leader's house just east of Samarra on Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding 13 others, a Samarra police official said. Awakening Councils are largely Sunni security groups that have been recruited by the U.S. military.
The four were killed when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device while patrolling a neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq reported Sunday night. A fifth soldier was wounded in the attack, which took place about 10 p.m. (3 p.m. ET).
The U.S. milestone comes just days after Americans marked the fifth anniversary of the start of the war.
"No casualty is more or less significant than another; each soldier, Marine, airman and sailor is equally precious and their loss equally tragic," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, the U.S. military's chief spokesman in Iraq, said.
"Every single loss of a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine is keenly felt by military commanders, families and friends both in theatre and at home," Smith said.
Of the 4,000 U.S. military personnel killed in the war, 3,263 have been killed in attacks and fighting and 737 in non-hostile incidents, such as traffic accidents and suicides.
Eight of the 4,000 killed were civilians working for the Pentagon.
Many of those killed over the years, like the four soldiers slain on Sunday in Baghdad, have been targeted by improvised explosive devices -- the roadside bombs that have been described as the weapon of choice for insurgents and a weapon that has come to symbolize Iraq's tenacious insurgency.
The existence of the Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization has been developed to counter the threat of IEDs in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. The group calls IEDs the "weapon of choice for adaptive and resilient networks of insurgents and terrorists."
Meanwhile, estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to the hundreds of thousands, with another 2 million forced to leave the country and 2.5 million people displaced within Iraq, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
President Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq on March 19, 2003, after months of warnings that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was concealing stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and efforts to build a nuclear bomb.
U.N. weapons inspectors found no sign of banned weapons before the invasion, and the CIA later concluded that Iraq had dismantled its weapons programs in the 1990s.
Hussein's government fell in early April 2003, and Iraq's new government executed him in December 2006.
The news of the 4,000 mark came on the same day that Iraq's national security adviser urged Americans to be patient with the progress of the war, contending that it is "well worth fighting" because it has implications about "global terror."
"This is global terrorism hitting everywhere, and they have chosen Iraq to be a battlefield. And we have to take them on," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."
"If we don't prevail, if we don't succeed in this war, then we are doomed forever," he said. "I understand and sympathize with the mothers, with the widows, with the children who have lost their beloved ones in this country.
"But honestly, it is well worth fighting and well worth investing the money and the treasure and the sweat and the tears in Iraq."
Nearly 160,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers about $600 billion, according to the House Budget Committee.
The conflict is now widely unpopular among Americans: A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll out Wednesday found only 32 percent of Americans support the conflict. And 61 percent said they want the next president to remove most U.S. troops within a few months of taking office.
In the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said President Bush "took us to war on the wings of a lie."
Menendez said that the war has depleted the resources and morale of the U.S. military; diverted national attention away from the war in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda is regrouping; and hurt the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The Iraq war has not made Americans safer, Menendez said, but has instead hurt the U.S. economy.
The senator called for a "responsible new direction" regarding Iraq.
CNN learned last week, from several U.S. military officials familiar with the recommendations but not authorized to speak on the record, that senior U.S. military officials are preparing to recommend to Bush a four- to six-week "pause" in additional troop withdrawals from Iraq after the last of the "surge" brigades leaves in July.
"If the conditions on the ground dictate that we have to have a pause, then we will have to have a pause," al-Rubaie said.
The return of all five brigades added to the Iraq contingent last year could reduce troop levels by up to 30,000, but still leave approximately 130,000 or more troops in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie emphasized Sunday that any drawdown of U.S. troops "has to be based on the conditions on the ground."
"It depends on the development and the growth and the equipment and the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, and the preparedness of the Iraqi security forces," he said. "This should not be a purely political decision. It should be also a technical, military and intelligence decision."
But there has been too much "foot-dragging on key governance questions in Iraq," Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said on CNN on Sunday. "It seems to me you put off those troop withdrawals, you send exactly the wrong message to the Iraqis."
On Wednesday, Bush will visit the Pentagon to be briefed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chaired by Adm. Michael Mullen.
The American troop level in Iraq "depends on the negotiations that we are engaged in now between the government of Iraq and the United States government," al-Rubaie said.
When conditions warrant the withdrawal of American troops, the Iraqis will say "'Thank you very much, indeed,' " al-Rubaie said. "A big, big thank you for the United States of America for liberating Iraq, for helping us in sustaining the security gains in Iraq ... and we will give them a very, very good farewell party then."
Responding to recent remarks from U.S. presidential candidates that Iraqis are not taking responsibility for their own future, al-Rubaie said Iraqis are making political and security gains.
"Literally by the day and by the week, we are gradually assuming more responsibility," he said, noting that Iraqis have taken responsibility for security in many provinces.
Other developments:
• U.S. troops raided a suspected suicide bomber cell in Diyala province on Sunday, killing a dozen militants, half of whom had shaved their bodies -- which the U.S. military says indicates they were in the final stage of preparation for a suicide attack. Diyala province stretches north and east of Baghdad and has been a major front for U.S. troops fighting militants.
• Several mortars landed in Baghdad's International Zone on Sunday, according to the Interior Ministry. A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said there were no major casualties.
• A suicide car bomb exploded at a fuel station Sunday in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in northwest Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 12 others, the Interior Ministry said.
• A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives outside the main gate of an Iraqi military base in Mosul, killing at least 10 Iraqi soldiers and wounding 35 people, including 20 soldiers, Mosul police said. The U.S. military put the death toll higher, at 12.
A mortar round landed in a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing seven people and injuring nine others, a ministry official said. Six more mortar rounds landed in other Baghdad neighborhoods Sunday night, killing three people, the Interior Ministry said.
In southeastern Baghdad, gunmen riding in at least two cars opened fire on a crowded outdoor market, killing at least three people and wounding 17 others, the Interior Ministry said.
• A suicide bomber detonated a small truck rigged with explosives outside a local Awakening Council leader's house just east of Samarra on Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding 13 others, a Samarra police official said. Awakening Councils are largely Sunni security groups that have been recruited by the U.S. military.
U.S Death Toll Hits 4,000
Four U.S. soldiers died in a roadside bombing in Iraq on Sunday, military officials reported, bringing the American toll in the 5-year-old war to the grim milestone of 4,000 deaths.
The four were killed when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device while patrolling a neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq reported Sunday night. A fifth soldier was wounded in the attack, which took place about 10 p.m. (3 p.m. ET).
The U.S. milestone comes just days after Americans marked the fifth anniversary of the start of the war.
"No casualty is more or less significant than another; each soldier, Marine, airman and sailor is equally precious and their loss equally tragic," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, the U.S. military's chief spokesman in Iraq, said.
"Every single loss of a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine is keenly felt by military commanders, families and friends both in theatre and at home," Smith said.
Of the 4,000 U.S. military personnel killed in the war, 3,263 have been killed in attacks and fighting and 737 in non-hostile incidents, such as traffic accidents and suicides.
Eight of the 4,000 killed were civilians working for the Pentagon.
Many of those killed over the years, like the four soldiers slain on Sunday in Baghdad, have been targeted by improvised explosive devices -- the roadside bombs that have been described as the weapon of choice for insurgents and a weapon that has come to symbolize Iraq's tenacious insurgency.
The existence of the Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization has been developed to counter the threat of IEDs in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. The group calls IEDs the "weapon of choice for adaptive and resilient networks of insurgents and terrorists."
Meanwhile, estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to the hundreds of thousands, with another 2 million forced to leave the country and 2.5 million people displaced within Iraq, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
President Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq on March 19, 2003, after months of warnings that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was concealing stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and efforts to build a nuclear bomb.
U.N. weapons inspectors found no sign of banned weapons before the invasion, and the CIA later concluded that Iraq had dismantled its weapons programs in the 1990s.
Hussein's government fell in early April 2003, and Iraq's new government executed him in December 2006.
The news of the 4,000 mark came on the same day that Iraq's national security adviser urged Americans to be patient with the progress of the war, contending that it is "well worth fighting" because it has implications about "global terror."
"This is global terrorism hitting everywhere, and they have chosen Iraq to be a battlefield. And we have to take them on," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."
"If we don't prevail, if we don't succeed in this war, then we are doomed forever," he said. "I understand and sympathize with the mothers, with the widows, with the children who have lost their beloved ones in this country.
"But honestly, it is well worth fighting and well worth investing the money and the treasure and the sweat and the tears in Iraq."
Nearly 160,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers about $600 billion, according to the House Budget Committee.
The conflict is now widely unpopular among Americans: A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll out Wednesday found only 32 percent of Americans support the conflict. And 61 percent said they want the next president to remove most U.S. troops within a few months of taking office.
In the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said President Bush "took us to war on the wings of a lie."
Menendez said that the war has depleted the resources and morale of the U.S. military; diverted national attention away from the war in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda is regrouping; and hurt the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The Iraq war has not made Americans safer, Menendez said, but has instead hurt the U.S. economy.
The senator called for a "responsible new direction" regarding Iraq.
CNN learned last week, from several U.S. military officials familiar with the recommendations but not authorized to speak on the record, that senior U.S. military officials are preparing to recommend to Bush a four- to six-week "pause" in additional troop withdrawals from Iraq after the last of the "surge" brigades leaves in July.
"If the conditions on the ground dictate that we have to have a pause, then we will have to have a pause," al-Rubaie said.
The return of all five brigades added to the Iraq contingent last year could reduce troop levels by up to 30,000, but still leave approximately 130,000 or more troops in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie emphasized Sunday that any drawdown of U.S. troops "has to be based on the conditions on the ground."
"It depends on the development and the growth and the equipment and the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, and the preparedness of the Iraqi security forces," he said. "This should not be a purely political decision. It should be also a technical, military and intelligence decision."
But there has been too much "foot-dragging on key governance questions in Iraq," Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said on CNN on Sunday. "It seems to me you put off those troop withdrawals, you send exactly the wrong message to the Iraqis."
On Wednesday, Bush will visit the Pentagon to be briefed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chaired by Adm. Michael Mullen.
The American troop level in Iraq "depends on the negotiations that we are engaged in now between the government of Iraq and the United States government," al-Rubaie said.
When conditions warrant the withdrawal of American troops, the Iraqis will say "'Thank you very much, indeed,' " al-Rubaie said. "A big, big thank you for the United States of America for liberating Iraq, for helping us in sustaining the security gains in Iraq ... and we will give them a very, very good farewell party then."
Responding to recent remarks from U.S. presidential candidates that Iraqis are not taking responsibility for their own future, al-Rubaie said Iraqis are making political and security gains.
"Literally by the day and by the week, we are gradually assuming more responsibility," he said, noting that Iraqis have taken responsibility for security in many provinces.
Other developments:
• U.S. troops raided a suspected suicide bomber cell in Diyala province on Sunday, killing a dozen militants, half of whom had shaved their bodies -- which the U.S. military says indicates they were in the final stage of preparation for a suicide attack. Diyala province stretches north and east of Baghdad and has been a major front for U.S. troops fighting militants.
• Several mortars landed in Baghdad's International Zone on Sunday, according to the Interior Ministry. A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said there were no major casualties.
• A suicide car bomb exploded at a fuel station Sunday in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in northwest Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 12 others, the Interior Ministry said.
• A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives outside the main gate of an Iraqi military base in Mosul, killing at least 10 Iraqi soldiers and wounding 35 people, including 20 soldiers, Mosul police said. The U.S. military put the death toll higher, at 12.
A mortar round landed in a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing seven people and injuring nine others, a ministry official said. Six more mortar rounds landed in other Baghdad neighborhoods Sunday night, killing three people, the Interior Ministry said.
In southeastern Baghdad, gunmen riding in at least two cars opened fire on a crowded outdoor market, killing at least three people and wounding 17 others, the Interior Ministry said.
• A suicide bomber detonated a small truck rigged with explosives outside a local Awakening Council leader's house just east of Samarra on Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding 13 others, a Samarra police official said. Awakening Councils are largely Sunni security groups that have been recruited by the U.S. military.
The four were killed when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device while patrolling a neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq reported Sunday night. A fifth soldier was wounded in the attack, which took place about 10 p.m. (3 p.m. ET).
The U.S. milestone comes just days after Americans marked the fifth anniversary of the start of the war.
"No casualty is more or less significant than another; each soldier, Marine, airman and sailor is equally precious and their loss equally tragic," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, the U.S. military's chief spokesman in Iraq, said.
"Every single loss of a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine is keenly felt by military commanders, families and friends both in theatre and at home," Smith said.
Of the 4,000 U.S. military personnel killed in the war, 3,263 have been killed in attacks and fighting and 737 in non-hostile incidents, such as traffic accidents and suicides.
Eight of the 4,000 killed were civilians working for the Pentagon.
Many of those killed over the years, like the four soldiers slain on Sunday in Baghdad, have been targeted by improvised explosive devices -- the roadside bombs that have been described as the weapon of choice for insurgents and a weapon that has come to symbolize Iraq's tenacious insurgency.
The existence of the Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization has been developed to counter the threat of IEDs in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. The group calls IEDs the "weapon of choice for adaptive and resilient networks of insurgents and terrorists."
Meanwhile, estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to the hundreds of thousands, with another 2 million forced to leave the country and 2.5 million people displaced within Iraq, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
President Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq on March 19, 2003, after months of warnings that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was concealing stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and efforts to build a nuclear bomb.
U.N. weapons inspectors found no sign of banned weapons before the invasion, and the CIA later concluded that Iraq had dismantled its weapons programs in the 1990s.
Hussein's government fell in early April 2003, and Iraq's new government executed him in December 2006.
The news of the 4,000 mark came on the same day that Iraq's national security adviser urged Americans to be patient with the progress of the war, contending that it is "well worth fighting" because it has implications about "global terror."
"This is global terrorism hitting everywhere, and they have chosen Iraq to be a battlefield. And we have to take them on," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."
"If we don't prevail, if we don't succeed in this war, then we are doomed forever," he said. "I understand and sympathize with the mothers, with the widows, with the children who have lost their beloved ones in this country.
"But honestly, it is well worth fighting and well worth investing the money and the treasure and the sweat and the tears in Iraq."
Nearly 160,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers about $600 billion, according to the House Budget Committee.
The conflict is now widely unpopular among Americans: A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll out Wednesday found only 32 percent of Americans support the conflict. And 61 percent said they want the next president to remove most U.S. troops within a few months of taking office.
In the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said President Bush "took us to war on the wings of a lie."
Menendez said that the war has depleted the resources and morale of the U.S. military; diverted national attention away from the war in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda is regrouping; and hurt the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The Iraq war has not made Americans safer, Menendez said, but has instead hurt the U.S. economy.
The senator called for a "responsible new direction" regarding Iraq.
CNN learned last week, from several U.S. military officials familiar with the recommendations but not authorized to speak on the record, that senior U.S. military officials are preparing to recommend to Bush a four- to six-week "pause" in additional troop withdrawals from Iraq after the last of the "surge" brigades leaves in July.
"If the conditions on the ground dictate that we have to have a pause, then we will have to have a pause," al-Rubaie said.
The return of all five brigades added to the Iraq contingent last year could reduce troop levels by up to 30,000, but still leave approximately 130,000 or more troops in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie emphasized Sunday that any drawdown of U.S. troops "has to be based on the conditions on the ground."
"It depends on the development and the growth and the equipment and the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, and the preparedness of the Iraqi security forces," he said. "This should not be a purely political decision. It should be also a technical, military and intelligence decision."
But there has been too much "foot-dragging on key governance questions in Iraq," Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said on CNN on Sunday. "It seems to me you put off those troop withdrawals, you send exactly the wrong message to the Iraqis."
On Wednesday, Bush will visit the Pentagon to be briefed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chaired by Adm. Michael Mullen.
The American troop level in Iraq "depends on the negotiations that we are engaged in now between the government of Iraq and the United States government," al-Rubaie said.
When conditions warrant the withdrawal of American troops, the Iraqis will say "'Thank you very much, indeed,' " al-Rubaie said. "A big, big thank you for the United States of America for liberating Iraq, for helping us in sustaining the security gains in Iraq ... and we will give them a very, very good farewell party then."
Responding to recent remarks from U.S. presidential candidates that Iraqis are not taking responsibility for their own future, al-Rubaie said Iraqis are making political and security gains.
"Literally by the day and by the week, we are gradually assuming more responsibility," he said, noting that Iraqis have taken responsibility for security in many provinces.
Other developments:
• U.S. troops raided a suspected suicide bomber cell in Diyala province on Sunday, killing a dozen militants, half of whom had shaved their bodies -- which the U.S. military says indicates they were in the final stage of preparation for a suicide attack. Diyala province stretches north and east of Baghdad and has been a major front for U.S. troops fighting militants.
• Several mortars landed in Baghdad's International Zone on Sunday, according to the Interior Ministry. A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said there were no major casualties.
• A suicide car bomb exploded at a fuel station Sunday in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in northwest Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 12 others, the Interior Ministry said.
• A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives outside the main gate of an Iraqi military base in Mosul, killing at least 10 Iraqi soldiers and wounding 35 people, including 20 soldiers, Mosul police said. The U.S. military put the death toll higher, at 12.
A mortar round landed in a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing seven people and injuring nine others, a ministry official said. Six more mortar rounds landed in other Baghdad neighborhoods Sunday night, killing three people, the Interior Ministry said.
In southeastern Baghdad, gunmen riding in at least two cars opened fire on a crowded outdoor market, killing at least three people and wounding 17 others, the Interior Ministry said.
• A suicide bomber detonated a small truck rigged with explosives outside a local Awakening Council leader's house just east of Samarra on Saturday, killing at least five people and wounding 13 others, a Samarra police official said. Awakening Councils are largely Sunni security groups that have been recruited by the U.S. military.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Rangers Arrested For Killing Gorilla
A senior wildlife park official in Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested amid claims that he organised the killing of rare mountain gorillas. The Congolese Nature Conservation Institute (ICCN) is reported to have brought the charges against Honore Mashagiro - one of its members.
Ten gorillas were killed in 2007 in the Virunga National Park, a Unesco world heritage site.
The park is in a volatile region where rebels have set up a base.
The area is also home to more than half of the world's last 700 mountain gorillas living in the wild.
Six other foresters could be questioned over the killings, and their role in trapping and slaughtering the animals on the alleged orders of Mr Mashagiro, reports say.
Precedent
At the time, conservationists described the killings as "executions" because the gorillas' bodies were left at the scene, whereas poachers would have sold the carcasses as either food or trophies.
Local environment experts told AFP news agency that the killings could be linked to mining and trafficking of a coal-like mineral called makala.
They suggested that the gorillas could have been killed to create a diversion from this illicit trade.
Mr Mashagiro, head of the southern section of the Virunga park, was arrested in the eastern town of Goma on Tuesday.
The conservation group Wildlife Direct, which works in the park, said the arrest was a positive sign for wildlife protection in DR Congo.
"The national parks have suffered during this period of instability which DR Congo has gone through," said Congo programme manager Amir Bazarbacha.
"After more than a decade of civil war and conflict, ICCN has been considerably incapacitated.
"This arrest shows that ICCN has clearly regained control of its management and is making the effort to purge itself of any person responsible for weakening the organisation by favouring the bushmeat trade or any other illegal activities."
Ten gorillas were killed in 2007 in the Virunga National Park, a Unesco world heritage site.
The park is in a volatile region where rebels have set up a base.
The area is also home to more than half of the world's last 700 mountain gorillas living in the wild.
Six other foresters could be questioned over the killings, and their role in trapping and slaughtering the animals on the alleged orders of Mr Mashagiro, reports say.
Precedent
At the time, conservationists described the killings as "executions" because the gorillas' bodies were left at the scene, whereas poachers would have sold the carcasses as either food or trophies.
Local environment experts told AFP news agency that the killings could be linked to mining and trafficking of a coal-like mineral called makala.
They suggested that the gorillas could have been killed to create a diversion from this illicit trade.
Mr Mashagiro, head of the southern section of the Virunga park, was arrested in the eastern town of Goma on Tuesday.
The conservation group Wildlife Direct, which works in the park, said the arrest was a positive sign for wildlife protection in DR Congo.
"The national parks have suffered during this period of instability which DR Congo has gone through," said Congo programme manager Amir Bazarbacha.
"After more than a decade of civil war and conflict, ICCN has been considerably incapacitated.
"This arrest shows that ICCN has clearly regained control of its management and is making the effort to purge itself of any person responsible for weakening the organisation by favouring the bushmeat trade or any other illegal activities."
Thursday, March 13, 2008
US election and The Power Of World Wide Web
What can World Wide Web do really effects US election history? This time is really big, US presidential makes internet as the medium source of political funds and i believe that US election history marks the evolution of technological advantages in many forms of election matters.
One of the big factor is the political fund raising campaign in which each candidate can now reach their supporters across the states including global supports. Aside from Senator Clinton, Senator Obama now has reach the all time high $55 Millions political funds, 85% of that funds where raised through internet and continue sly growing his funds. I believe that before this march month end, He will probably have enough money to spend for campaign till November.
Other factors that benefited to this technology are those in the areas of political agendas, Debates, Poll Surveys, fast communication and information exchange. Undoubtedly, That internet evolution gives a big lift in the American Election history. This powerful emerging technology gives us the outlook that we can make anything happen in many general form of ways in life.
The excitement and the great atmosphere between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Obama democratic race to final boost and increase the heat due to internet news and information exchanges especially that right now Blogging habit are rapidly spreading across the web. And concerning this Election is definitely one of the most talked subject in the internet. Aside from American people, I can see other people from media to ordinary folks in any countries around the globe are watching and continuesly monitoring this great event. Truly WWW is still one of the best / amazing invented technology in the 21 Century.
One of the big factor is the political fund raising campaign in which each candidate can now reach their supporters across the states including global supports. Aside from Senator Clinton, Senator Obama now has reach the all time high $55 Millions political funds, 85% of that funds where raised through internet and continue sly growing his funds. I believe that before this march month end, He will probably have enough money to spend for campaign till November.
Other factors that benefited to this technology are those in the areas of political agendas, Debates, Poll Surveys, fast communication and information exchange. Undoubtedly, That internet evolution gives a big lift in the American Election history. This powerful emerging technology gives us the outlook that we can make anything happen in many general form of ways in life.
The excitement and the great atmosphere between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Obama democratic race to final boost and increase the heat due to internet news and information exchanges especially that right now Blogging habit are rapidly spreading across the web. And concerning this Election is definitely one of the most talked subject in the internet. Aside from American people, I can see other people from media to ordinary folks in any countries around the globe are watching and continuesly monitoring this great event. Truly WWW is still one of the best / amazing invented technology in the 21 Century.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton is not only known as a brilliant public servant but a good and loving mother to her only daughter, Chelsea. Her longtime political career did not hold her back in fulfilling her duties as a mother. She is a devoted mother to Chelsea as she was a devoted First Lady, senator and now an aspiring US president.
In her younger years, Hillary had already shown signs of becoming a good mother in the future. She has this firm belief that no child should be mistreated and that every child deserves to be loved. This belief has led to her passion and advocacy for children, women and families. This also helped her to become a caring mother to Chelsea. Even with her busy schedule, Hillary tried to fulfill her duties to her family especially to her daughter. According to a friend, she never missed any of Chelsea's ballet recitals. When she was the First Lady, she made it a point to spend one whole day with her daughter in the White House. They shared bonding moments through cooking, playing cards and watching movies in the family theater.
This mother-daughter bond surely goes all the way through the campaign trail as Hillary aims for the White House. She could be the first female president of the United States while Chelsea could well be the first "first child" twice over.
Nobody knows if Chelsea might just as well follow her parents' path and become a successful politician in the future. She has promised in one of her essays that she will somehow serve her country. If that happens, Hillary would surely give her daughter useful advices that she has learned in her life as a daughter, mother and public servant.
Hillary Clinton is a Woman of Power-Do You Agree?
“There cannot be true democracy unless women's voices are heard. There cannot be true democracy unless women are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives. There cannot be true democracy unless all citizens are able to participate fully in the lives of their country.” By: Hillary Rodham Clinton
The Senator from New York, former first lady and currently one of the Democratic Party's presidential nominees has always been a staunch advocate of women's rights. This lady from Park Ridge, Illinois who was once rejected to be a NASA astronaut because of her gender has then committed to uphold equal rights among men and women.
Some analysts say that the possibility of having a female president in the White House for the first time has given Hillary an advantage among her rivals especially in getting the women's votes. Based from this observation, the Hillary camp has openly regarded the women as their weapon in this highly contested election. According to a senior adviser to the Clinton campaign, 54 percent of the electorate in 2004 was women and that figure could go up in this year's election. The Hillary camp must note that women votes alone could not ensure their victory. Balancing their campaign strategy is important to woo not only the women but the men's votes as well.
However, the recent results of the Democratic primaries show that Barack Obama has edged out Hillary Clinton among women in the states of Maryland and Virginia, winning 59 percent of the women's votes. With these alarming results, Hillary and her campaign advisers should immediately find a way to entice the women voters back to her side.
Most women already know her as a defender of their rights. They want to see her now as a defender of peace. Women feminists say that a strong position on the Iraq war is needed for Clinton to bring back the women's votes on her side.
In her younger years, Hillary had already shown signs of becoming a good mother in the future. She has this firm belief that no child should be mistreated and that every child deserves to be loved. This belief has led to her passion and advocacy for children, women and families. This also helped her to become a caring mother to Chelsea. Even with her busy schedule, Hillary tried to fulfill her duties to her family especially to her daughter. According to a friend, she never missed any of Chelsea's ballet recitals. When she was the First Lady, she made it a point to spend one whole day with her daughter in the White House. They shared bonding moments through cooking, playing cards and watching movies in the family theater.
This mother-daughter bond surely goes all the way through the campaign trail as Hillary aims for the White House. She could be the first female president of the United States while Chelsea could well be the first "first child" twice over.
Nobody knows if Chelsea might just as well follow her parents' path and become a successful politician in the future. She has promised in one of her essays that she will somehow serve her country. If that happens, Hillary would surely give her daughter useful advices that she has learned in her life as a daughter, mother and public servant.
Hillary Clinton is a Woman of Power-Do You Agree?
“There cannot be true democracy unless women's voices are heard. There cannot be true democracy unless women are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives. There cannot be true democracy unless all citizens are able to participate fully in the lives of their country.” By: Hillary Rodham Clinton
The Senator from New York, former first lady and currently one of the Democratic Party's presidential nominees has always been a staunch advocate of women's rights. This lady from Park Ridge, Illinois who was once rejected to be a NASA astronaut because of her gender has then committed to uphold equal rights among men and women.
Some analysts say that the possibility of having a female president in the White House for the first time has given Hillary an advantage among her rivals especially in getting the women's votes. Based from this observation, the Hillary camp has openly regarded the women as their weapon in this highly contested election. According to a senior adviser to the Clinton campaign, 54 percent of the electorate in 2004 was women and that figure could go up in this year's election. The Hillary camp must note that women votes alone could not ensure their victory. Balancing their campaign strategy is important to woo not only the women but the men's votes as well.
However, the recent results of the Democratic primaries show that Barack Obama has edged out Hillary Clinton among women in the states of Maryland and Virginia, winning 59 percent of the women's votes. With these alarming results, Hillary and her campaign advisers should immediately find a way to entice the women voters back to her side.
Most women already know her as a defender of their rights. They want to see her now as a defender of peace. Women feminists say that a strong position on the Iraq war is needed for Clinton to bring back the women's votes on her side.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Obama Leads Delegates
Sen. Barack Obama extended his lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton in the delegate count having pick up delegates in Mississippi and Texas on Tuesday.The Illinois Democrat got a major victory in the Mississippi Democratic primary Tuesday. Obama beat Clinton 61 percent to 37 percent with 99 percent of the precincts reporting.Victory in The Mississippi makes it 2 wins in a row for Sen.Barack Obama, having won the Wyoming caucuses Saturday.
It is also projected that Obama was the winner of the Texas Democratic caucuses that occurred March 4. Obama will be awarded 38 of Texas's delegates, while Clinton will win 29 delegates as a result of the caucuses.
Clinton had won the Texas primary that was also held on March 4, but Obama was estimated to win a majority of the 228 Texas delegates due to his caucus win.
Two-thirds of the state's 193 delegates were at stake at the primary, while the remaining third were decided by the caucuses.
With the wins in Mississippi and Texas, Obama now leads Clinton 1,608 to 1,478 in the total delegate coun. Neither candidate is expected to obtain the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination outright before the national convention in August.
"What we've tried to do is steadily make sure that in each state we are making the case about the need for change in this country. Obviously the people in Mississippi responded," Obama said after his win.
Clinton's campaign issued a statement congratulating Obama on his win, and said they "look forward to campaigning in Pennsylvania and around the country as this campaign continues."
The exit polls indicated a major division among voters along racial lines.As has been the case in many primary states, Obama won overwhelming support from African-American voters. They went for him over Clinton, 91 percent to 9 percent.
The state has a larger proportion of African-Americans (36 percent, according to the 2000 census) than any other state in the country. And black voters make up nearly 70 percent of registered Democrats.
But white Mississippi voters overwhelmingly backed the New York senator, supporting her over Obama, 72 percent to 21 percent.
According to The Associated Press, only two other primary states were as racially polarized -- neighboring Alabama, and Clinton's former home state of Arkansas.
The exit polls also indicated roughly 40 percent of Mississippi Democratic voters said race was an important factor in their vote, and 90 percent of those voters supported Obama.
In Ohio, roughly one in five voters said race factored into their decision. About 60 percent of those voters picked Clinton over Obama.
Pennsylvania is the next battleground for the Democrats. It holds its primary April 22 and has 158 delegates at stake.
It is also projected that Obama was the winner of the Texas Democratic caucuses that occurred March 4. Obama will be awarded 38 of Texas's delegates, while Clinton will win 29 delegates as a result of the caucuses.
Clinton had won the Texas primary that was also held on March 4, but Obama was estimated to win a majority of the 228 Texas delegates due to his caucus win.
Two-thirds of the state's 193 delegates were at stake at the primary, while the remaining third were decided by the caucuses.
With the wins in Mississippi and Texas, Obama now leads Clinton 1,608 to 1,478 in the total delegate coun. Neither candidate is expected to obtain the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination outright before the national convention in August.
"What we've tried to do is steadily make sure that in each state we are making the case about the need for change in this country. Obviously the people in Mississippi responded," Obama said after his win.
Clinton's campaign issued a statement congratulating Obama on his win, and said they "look forward to campaigning in Pennsylvania and around the country as this campaign continues."
The exit polls indicated a major division among voters along racial lines.As has been the case in many primary states, Obama won overwhelming support from African-American voters. They went for him over Clinton, 91 percent to 9 percent.
The state has a larger proportion of African-Americans (36 percent, according to the 2000 census) than any other state in the country. And black voters make up nearly 70 percent of registered Democrats.
But white Mississippi voters overwhelmingly backed the New York senator, supporting her over Obama, 72 percent to 21 percent.
According to The Associated Press, only two other primary states were as racially polarized -- neighboring Alabama, and Clinton's former home state of Arkansas.
The exit polls also indicated roughly 40 percent of Mississippi Democratic voters said race was an important factor in their vote, and 90 percent of those voters supported Obama.
In Ohio, roughly one in five voters said race factored into their decision. About 60 percent of those voters picked Clinton over Obama.
Pennsylvania is the next battleground for the Democrats. It holds its primary April 22 and has 158 delegates at stake.
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