Free Republic

The US government is buying bad debt for $700 billion. Now Washington is asking other countries to jump in and help, too, but the Germans are bowing out. Believing that the rescue package sends the wrong signal, experts from the country's leading economics think tanks argue it's the right call.It's not a call for assistance; it's a scream for help. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is asking other countries to help buy up bad US debt. The US government is putting up $700 billion in taxpayer money in the hopes that the measure might restore stability in the financial system....

Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, the Army general who wrote the report detailing abuses of Iraqi detainees by American soldiers, told a Senate panel today that rampant failures of leadership, training and discipline led to the violations at Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad. He said leadership failures could be traced as high as the brigade commander: Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the 800th Military Police Brigade, which oversaw the prison during the time the abuses were committed. "Failure in leadership from the brigade commander on down, lack of discipline, no training whatsoever, and no supervision"...