political nonsense

A federal judge ruled two provisions of the USA Patriot Act allowing secret wiretapping and un-substantiated searches are unconstitutional.
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US Defence Secretary Robert Gates ordered a review of the way private security firms operate in Iraq and the oversight given by the US military, car bombs killed 27 people and wounded more than 90, the US government began a new battle with Congress after demanding the unprecedented sum of 189 billion dollars to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Prime Minister Al-Maliki pointed out that the vision of national reconciliation in Iraq is plagued by a tenacious insurgency and sectarian warfare.
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Raytheon unveiled Silent Guardian, a device that radiates unbearable pain which the US plans to use in Iraq. “You don’t have time to think about it,” said an executive. “You just run.”

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The US Senate urged the Bush administration Wednesday to declare Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group to help the United States roll back Iranian influence in Iraq.
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The Bush administration planned to increase its 2008 financing request for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere by almost $50 billion and it was reported that the Iraq war is costing $500,000 a minute, fourteen Iraqis were killed during separate operations and raids by US army and Iraqi police, the UN considered a greater role in Iraq, the Iraqi government rejected calls to expel the US firm Blackwater which is under investigation over a shooting which killed 11 Iraqis claiming it would leave a “security vacuum” in Baghdad, while the Iraqi Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki noted that Blackwater has been linked to at least seven incidents involving gunfire on Iraqi civilians- “There are serious challenges to the sovereignty of Iraq,” he said.
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A Government official was charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend using homeland security data.
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The Canadian dollar surpassed the value of the American dollar.
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Al-Sadr’s movement announced it would withdraw from the largest political bloc in Parliament- a coalition of Shiite parties, a group of gunmen killed a leader from Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in west Baghdad, while the militia retaliated by killing four Iraqis and causing scores of families from the region to be displaced, new figures showed that the number of displaced Iraqis his risen by about fifty-thousand since July, the US security firm Blackwater has resumed limited operations in the Iraqi capital Baghdad four days after a deadly shootout involving the company, and the Senate has overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would cut off funding for combat operations in Iraq by next June as well as a measure that would haven given U.S. troops longer rest periods in between deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Former President Bill Clinton said he might slit his throat if his wife got elected president.
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President George W. Bush skipped all events related to the UN discussions on global warming, except for dinner, because he was holding his own summit later in the week.
harpers weekly

Alan Greenspan said the Iraq war was largely about oil.
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A march by thousands of protesters demanding an end to the Iraq war turned chaotic yesterday afternoon near the Capitol, where hundreds sprawled on the ground in a symbolic “die-in.” Police arrested 189 people.
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Lincoln D. Chafee, who lost his Senate seat in the wave of anti-Republican sentiment in last November’s election, left the Republican party. “It’s not my party any more,” he said.
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In a prime-time address last night, Bush said he foresees what he called “an enduring relationship” between Iraq and the United States, a long-negotiated deal over a new Iraqi oil law collapsed, two of seven soldiers who co-authored an article last month criticizing the US occupation were killed in a car accident, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki ordered the release of Iranian prisoners convicted of drug smuggling, stealing and destructive actions in Iraq, and a high-profile Sunni Arab sheik who collaborated with the American military in the fight against jihadist militants in western Iraq was killed in a bomb attack .
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General David Petraeus said he wasn’t sure if the War in Iraq has made America safer. “I don’t know,” he said. He later changed his mind and said yes.
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Rudy Giuliani said every day is the anniversary of 9/11. “For me every day is an anniversary of Sept. 11,” he said after reviewing emergency response equipment at the Pinellas Sheriff’s Office.

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A new Zogby International poll finds a majority of Americans still await a Congressional investigation of President Bush’ and Vice President Cheney’s actions before, during and after the 9/11 attacks. Over 30% also believe Bush and/or Cheney should be immediately impeached by the House of Representatives.
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Osama Bin Laden urged Americans to embrace Islam.
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Two policemen were injured and three protesters arrested as thousands marched under tight security through Sydney on Saturday in a protest against visiting US President George W. Bush and the Iraq war.
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N. Korea announced it would be taken out of the axis of evil.
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