political nonsense

It was reported that Iraq needs about $50 billion dollars to fix it’s oil and electrical infrastructure, a second British general criticized the US’ Iraq war strategy calling it a “fatally flawed” policy, a new independent assessment reported Iraq’s security forces will be unable to take control of the country in the next 18 months and Baghdad’s national police force is so rife with corruption it should be scrapped entirely, U.S. Representative Jon Porter warned that premature evacuation from Iraq would cause American gas prices to rise, and President Bush said we were kicking ass in Iraq. “We’re kicking ass,” he said.
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The US military banned soldiers from accessing thinkprogress.org after an Aug. 22 column in which Ret. Maj. Gen. John Batiste posted an op-ed that was strongly critical of the President’s policies and advocated a “responsible and deliberate redeployment from Iraq.”

President Bush named a new press secretary on Friday, replacing the high-profile showman Tony Snow with his quieter, stickler-for-detail deputy, Dana Perino. ‘’He leaves very big shoes to fill, and I only wear a size 6,'’ Perino said, who is ‘’almost 5-feet-1.'’
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Despite a stepped-up commitment from the United States to take in Iraqis who are in danger because they worked for the American government and military, very few are signing up to go, resettlement officials say. The reason, Iraqis say, is that they are not allowed to apply in Iraq.
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The Bush administration prepared to ask Congress for an additional fifty billion dollars for the war in Iraq, a military jury exonerated the only officer facing trial for abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib, shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Wednesday ordered a six-month shutdown of his militia in what his aides described as an attempt to reform the organization, President Bush said Tehran’s atomic ambitions could put the Middle East “under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust,” Iran rejected US accusations it was fomenting instability in Iraq, and northern Iraq was hit by major cholera outbreak.
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Opium production in Afghanistan is at record levels for the second consecutive year.
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has lashed out at Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin for calling for his replacement. “I don’t agree with Hilary,” he said.
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The Associated Press reported the death toll for Iraqi civilians is double what it was a year ago.
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The CIA’s inspector general released a report recommending that former CIA director George Tenet and other senior officials be held accountable for failing to prepare for the threat of Al Qaeda before the September 11 attacks.
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Alberto Gonzales resigned as Attorney General.
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President Bush refused to endorse the Al-Maliki Government as several key US politicians called for it’s ousting, and Al-Maliki responded by saying US politicians have no right to impose timetables on his elected government and that his country can find friends elsewhere.
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President Bush tried to argue for staying in Iraq using Vietnam as a historical example. “Does he think we should have stayed in Vietnam?” asked Vietnam historian Stanley Karnow.
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A 1994 interview with Dick Cheney regarding the first Gulf war was released to the web in which he said we shouldn’t invade Baghdad.
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The American Psychological Association (APA) voted to reject a measure that would have banned its members from participating in interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and other US detention centers. While not banning psychologists from participating in interrogations, the council approved a resolution prohibiting involvement in interrogations that use at least 14 specified methods, including sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation and mock executions.
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Texas is preparing to execute a thirty-year old African American for a crime he’s openly known not to have committed.
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The governor of the province of Muthanna was killed in a roadside bombing, two key US senators suggested that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government be replaced if it fails in a “last chance” bid for political reconciliation, a new study found that corporate news coverage of the Iraq war has dropped sharply in the last four months, Iraq’s Prime Minister made his first official visit to Syria to discuss security issues, a July Gallop poll found that 57% of the public consider the decision to invade Iraq a mistake, and new images have been released showing hundreds of Iraqi prisoners packed into cramped wire cages. “Those who are outside are no better than you, at least you have security,” the Iraqi Vice President said to prisoners.
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US-funded herbicide aerial sprayings of coca plantations in Colombia near the Ecuador border has severely damaged the DNA of local residents, according to a new study.
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Cuban President Fidel Castro said the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay is occupied ‘illegally’ and the US must hand it over to Cuba.
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Democrats pointed out that the Bush Administration has borrowed more money than the previous 42 presidents combined.
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The Bush administration said Monday the constitutionality of its warrantless electronic eavesdropping program cannot be challenged.
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