Free Republic

WASHINGTON - A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war. The 51-46 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of the same bill a day earlier, fell far short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the president's threatened veto. Neverthe less, the legislation is the first binding challenge on the war that Democrats have managed to send to Bush since they reclaimed control of both houses of Congress in January.

From last night’s Special Report with Brit Hume: —On Harry Reid and Iraq— MORT KONDRACKE: But, you know, you have a dynamic going where everybody is ratcheting up their rhetoric and ratcheting up their position or making it more [confrontational], and I wonder whether there’s going to be a deal reached here. If there’s not a deal reached, the troops don’t get their money. If troops don’t get their money then they begin hurting as of a certain point. And I got to say, you know, if al Qaeda is watching American television, watching what’s going on in the United...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic lawmakers voted on Wednesday to subpoena Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to testify about administration justifications for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. On a party-line vote of 21-10, the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee directed Rice to appear before the panel next month. Republicans accused Democrats of a "fishing expedition." But Democrats said they want Rice to explain what she knew about administration's warnings, later proven false, that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger for nuclear arms.

The Star Tribune has already removed Curt Brown's page-one Star Tribune article on the coming of Sharia to the Minneapolis Community and Technical College from public access. Here is the paragraph I quoted from the article in ("Sharia in Minnesota"): "Minneapolis Community and Technical College is poised to become the state's first public school to install a foot-washing basin to help the school's 500 Muslim students perform pre-prayer rituals. "We want to be welcoming," MCTC President Phil Davis said, noting a student was hurt trying to wash in a regular sink." I predicted:The Star Tribune can get unusually exercised about...

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said Tuesday that America needs to ask Israel to help change the status quo in its conflict with the Palestinians, the only candidate at a National Jewish Democratic Council conference to suggest that there is any onus on the Jewish state when it comes to making peace with its neighbors. "The United States government and an Obama presidency cannot ask Israel to take risks with respect to its security," he told the crowd of Democratic activists and campaign contributors. "But it can ask Israel to say that it is still possible for us to allow...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced three articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney on Tuesday, saying the vice president lied to America to get into a war in Iraq. Kucinich, a 2008 presidential candidate, said Cheney misled the nation about Iraq's having weapons of mass destruction; he had been deceitful about a nexus between Iraq and Al Qaeda and was being aggressive toward Iran "absent any real threat" from the Islamic Republic.

Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. THE VICE PRESIDENT: I usually avoid press comment when I'm up here, but I felt so strongly about what Senator Reid said in the last couple of days, that I thought it was appropriate that I come out today and make a statement that I think needs to be made. I thought his speech yesterday was unfortunate, that his comments were uninformed and misleading. Senator Reid has taken many positions on Iraq. He has threatened that if the President vetoes the current pending supplemental legislation, that he will send up Senator Russ Feingold's bill to de-fund...

Come September, an Arabic-language public secondary school is slated to open its doors in Brooklyn. The New York City Department of Education says the Khalil Gibran International Academy, serving grades six through 12, will boast a "multicultural curriculum and intensive Arabic language instruction." This appears to be a marvelous idea, for New York and the country need native-born Arabic speakers. They have a role in the military, diplomacy, intelligence, the courts, the press, the academy, and many other institutions — and teaching languages to the young is the ideal route to polyglotism. As someone who spent years learning Arabic, I...

WASHINGTON - A tough U.S. Marine stationed in one of the most hostile areas of Iraq has a message for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid: "We need to stay here and help rebuild." In raw and emotional language from the bloody front lines, Cpl. Tyler Rock, of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, skewered Reid for being far removed from the patriotism and progress in Iraq. "Yeah, and I got a quote for that [expletive] Harry Reid. These families need us here," Rock vented in an e-mail to Pat Dollard, a Hollywood agent-turned-war reporter who posted the comment on his Web...

Ali Allawi's memoir The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace certainly deserves the praise and attention it has been getting (even from writers like Maureen Dowd, so eager to score cheap points against the Bush administration that—even while rebuking others for having insufficient grasp of Iraqi reality—she confused the author with his cousin Iyad Allawi and called him a "puppet" into the bargain). The book is written with a very strong combination of heart and mind by someone with an enviable command of English who both knows and cares a good deal about Iraq. He does not...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A historic veto showdown assured, Democratic leaders agreed Monday on legislation that requires the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. "No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration's incompetence and dishonesty," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a speech in which he accused the president of living in a state of denial about events in Iraq more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion. Bush, confident of enough votes to sustain his veto, was unambiguous in...

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a vocal critic of the Bush administration's war in Iraq, plans to introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday.Kucinich, a Democrat who is again running for president, said Monday that he will hold a news conference in Washington to discuss his bid to oust Cheney. Kucinich spokeswoman Natalie Laber declined further comment. Under the House impeachment process, Kucinich's articles would be reviewed by the House Judiciary Committee, which would decide whether to conduct an impeachment inquiry. The committee would seek authority from the entire House before beginning an inquiry. Cheney spokeswoman Megan McGinn...

It's a simple question.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s diplomatic travels to Syria, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries, against the express wishes of the White House, are not merely unwise. They also, because she expressly engaged in efforts to shape foreign policy abroad, are illegal under a statute adopted early in the republic’s history. The Logan Act, adopted in 1799 and enforced on numerous occasions since, is designed to reinforce the constitutional separation of powers. There can be only executive speaking for the nation abroad. That’s why the power to make foreign policy is vested in the president and, by extension, his appointees...

Lantos Quote:"Just a reminder to the predominantly Muslim-led government[s] in this world that here is yet another example that the United States leads the way for the creation of a predominantly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe. This should be noted by both responsible leaders of Islamic governments, such as Indonesia, and also for jihadists of all color and hue. The United States’ principles are universal, and in this instance, the United States stands foursquare for the creation of an overwhelmingly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe."

LUXEMBOURG – The European Union agreed on Monday to inform groups and people why they are put on its list of terrorist organisations, a move aimed at avoiding decisions being overturned in court. Europe's second-highest court last year annulled an EU decision to freeze the funds of the People's Mujahideen, the armed wing of France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, for failing to give it a fair hearing or adequate reasons. The European Union has kept the group on its blacklist, having sent it a letter explaining its reasons. EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday agreed that...

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Iran to take part in a meeting on Iraq next month, telling the Financial Times it would be a "missed opportunity" if Tehran failed to attend. In an interview published in Monday's edition of the newspaper, Rice also denied the Iran policy of President George W. Bush's administration had been directed at "regime change". Egypt will host the high-level meeting of a group of countries that includes Syria, Turkey and the United States in the first week of May to discuss how to stop the violence in Iraq. The conference is a follow-up...

WASHINGTON - Defying a fresh veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass legislation within days requiring the start of a troop withdrawal from Iraq by Oct. 1, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) said Monday. The legislation also sets a goal of a complete pullout by April 1, 2008, he said. In remarks prepared for delivery, Reid said that under the legislation the troops that remain after next April 1 could only train Iraqi security units, protect U.S forces and conduct "targeted counter-terror operations." Reid spoke a few hours after Bush said he will reject any legislation...

April 23, 2007, 0:40 a.m. Bush Surge vs. Reid SurgeReckless rhetoric can kill. By Mackubin Thomas Owens When Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, trekked to Damascus not too long ago to meet with the thug dictator of Syria, it occurred to me that she was essentially taking a page from a scene in The Godfather — the one in which Sonny dissents from a decision made by his father, Don Corleone, during a meeting with a representative of another mafia family. The representative — an assassin for the Tattaglias — immediately concludes that if the...