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Al Gore, who has reversed his political fortunes to become a potential contender in the 2008 presidential race, made an emotional return to Congress Wednesday in an appeal for an even more dramatic rescue—saving the planet. Gore—who is one of voters' top choices for the Democratic presidential nomination even though he says he's not running—implored lawmakers to adopt a list of policy prescriptions to stop global warming. Fresh off a triumphant Academy Awards appearance in which his climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won two Oscars, Gore drew overflow crowds as he testified before House and Senate panels about a...

The most outspoken critics of the $124 billion wartime spending bill in the House are facing withering support in their fight to defeat it. California Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey said that many of their liberal colleagues were caving under pressure from Democratic leaders who, according to at least one congressman, have threatened to block requests for new funds for his district. They also cited MoveOn.org's endorsement of the measure Monday as a blow to their efforts. "For people who are undecided and looking for a reason to vote for the supplemental, MoveOn is going to make a...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic-controlled House issued a symbolic rejection of President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq on Friday, opening an an epic confrontation between Congress and commander in chief over an unpopular war that has taken the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops. The vote on the nonbinding measure was 246-182.

DURHAM, N.H. -- In his first stumble, White House hopeful Barack Obama on Monday took back words from the day before, when he said the lives of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq were "wasted." Following his Springfield launch on Saturday, Obama wrapped up a three-day swing in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, ending at a University of New Hampshire rally where he assailed the "trivialization of politics" where "it is all about who makes a gaffe." In this case, that would be Obama, the Illinois Democrat. During his first press conference as a presidential candidate at...

PRIME Minister John Howard has blasted US presidential candidate Barack Obama, saying his policy of withdrawing troops from Iraq will destabilise the entire Middle East. Senator Obama, who is aiming to be the first black American president, has vowed to withdraw US forces if elected. But first, he must secure the Democratic nomination by overcoming his chief rival, Hillary Clinton. Senator Obama has introduced a bill to remove US combat forces from Iraq by March 31 next year - but the legislation has virtually no chance of becoming law while George W Bush is president, and the presidential election is...

What a mess: A Feb. 9 front-page article about the Pentagon inspector general's report regarding the office of former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith incorrectly attributed quotations to that report. References to Feith's office producing "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" and that the office "was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda" were from a report issued by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) in Oct. 2004. Similarly, the quotes stating that Feith's office drew on "both reliable and unreliable reporting" to produce a link between al-Qaeda and Iraq "that was much stronger than that assessed...