“Suspected al-Qaida insurgents on Wednesday destroyed the two minarets of the Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra, authorities reported, in a repeat of a 2006 bombing that shattered its famous Golden Dome and unleashed a wave of retaliatory sectarian violence that still bloodies Iraq.”
A senior U.S. military commander said yesterday that Iraq’s army “must expand its rolls by at least 20,000 more soldiers than Washington had anticipated,” and that even then, “Iraq will remain incapable of taking full responsibility for its security for many years — five years in the case of protecting its airspace — and will require a long-term military relationship with the United States.”
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) yesterday “defended his role in helping steer tens of millions of dollars” to a San Diego-based aerospace firm to “develop a military jet the Pentagon did not want.” Hunter “aggressively supported the program over decades” while receiving large contributions from the firm “even though the Pentagon repeatedly questioned the jet’s feasibility and lambasted the contractor’s work.”
“As motorists face near-record gasoline prices, the Senate took up an energy bill Tuesday that would raise vehicle fuel-economy standards for the first time in nearly 20 years and make oil-industry price gouging a federal crime.”
The Pentagon-run system voting system for American soldiers and citizens living abroad “remains slow, confusing and plagued with security and privacy problems. And that has left many of the five million Americans overseas uncertain that their vote will be counted.”
Undocumented immigrants who are taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement often do not receive proper medical care, “leading to disfigurement and even death.”
“The U.S. military is probing how guards failed to prevent the death of a Guantanamo Bay detainee last month, an apparent suicide in one of the most closely monitored detention camps for suspected al-Qaida and Taliban members.”
“The Bush administration proposes cutting 1.5 million acres from Northwest forests considered critical to the survival of the northern spotted owl,” a continuation of Bush efforts that were “stymied by court rulings, including several that tossed out plans to log in critical owl habitat.”
And finally: Yesterday was a “big day” for Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), whose appropriations bill was being marked up by the full committee. To “lighten the mood,” ranking member Zach Wamp (R-TN) “delivered a whole load of Little Debbie snack cakes to the room as she took the gavel.” Wamp said they were in honor of “Big Debbie.” “Victory on passage of the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill was made even sweeter when the loyal opposition served up dessert,” said Wasserman-Schultz after the hearing.
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