Free Republic

WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- U.S. Secret Service agents have tagged Sen. Barack Obama with the code name "Renegade." Obama, an Illinois Democrat and seeker of his party's 2008 presidential nomination, received the name in the time-honored tradition of giving "secret" code names to protected high-level dignitaries. Obama's presidential rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., retains the code name "Evergreen" -- given to her when her husband, and former president, Bill Clinton became a protectee and was named "Eagle." Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts was named "Minuteman" after winning the 2004 Democratic nomination, while former vice president Al Gore...

Prime Minister Tony Blair believes the manner of Saddam Hussein's execution was "completely wrong". Blair has been under fire for refusing to speak on the subject, and criticism of his silence mounted after both his deputy and his finance minister condemned the hanging of the deposed Iraqi dictator as "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable". In his first engagement since returning from a New Year holiday in Miami, Blair said he would speak about the execution next week. Downing Street declined to say when and how Blair would make his comments on Saddam's hanging. "In terms of what he will say next...