The President Then Made His Decision

Mullen cites 'rigorous' debate on Iraq - 31 Jul 2007 at 7:57am - WASHINGTON -- The White House decision in January to pour as many as 30,000 more U.S. forces into Iraq followed rigorous debate involving President Bush, according to his nominee to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In written answers to prepared questions, Mullen earlier said he and other Joint Chiefs met with the president and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to discuss the plan last January to pour as many as 30,000 more U.S. forces into Iraq. "We had rigorous and thorough discussions and debates" of the troop buildup plan, he said in the written response. "The president then made his decision, and I am in support of that decision and working to make it succeed."

Rigorous debate, with a foregone conclusion?

U.S. unable to win new pledges for Iraq - 31 Jul 2007 at 8:38am - The United States won no specific new promises of Arab help for struggling Iraq after a gathering Tuesday of several nations listed as recipients of an expanded aid and weapons package for friendly states in the region.

Rice, Gates in Egypt to persuade Arabs - 31 Jul 2007 at 8:34am - SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Egypt on Tuesday with promises of weapons for allies in the Middle East, saying it would help counter al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran.

GI slain in Iraq; U.S. July toll at 75 - 31 Jul 2007 at 10:54am - The U.S. military said Tuesday that a Marine was killed in fighting west of the capital, pushing the American death toll for July to at least 75, the lowest in eight months.

Bancroft family accepts News deal: DJ executive - 31 Jul 2007 at 10:44am - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Dow Jones & Co. Inc.'s controlling Bancroft family "has accepted" News Corp.'s $5 billion offer to buy the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, an executive of a Dow Jones unit said on Tuesday.

This development should have some impact on the Wall Street Journal's status as "most liberal newspaper".

Punishments coming in Tillman case - 31 Jul 2007 at 2:37pm - WASHINGTON -- Retired Army Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger is expected to bear much of the service's blame for the chain of errors that followed the friendly fire death in 2004 of Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

Thought for the day:
"The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war."- E. B. White (1899 - 1985)