In the News: May-29

Prosecutor: Marine covered up Iraqi civilian killings - 29 May 2008 at 12:32pm - A Marine intelligence officer lied to investigators to help cover up a squad's illings of 24 Iraqis, including women and children, a prosecutor said Thursday during opening statements in the officer's court-martial. First Lt. Andrew Grayson is the first of three defendants in the Haditha, Iraq, killings to go to trial.

Military confirms that a Marine gave Bible verses to Iraqi Muslims - 29 May 2008 at 12:45pm - BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. military confirmed Thursday that a Marine in the Iraqi city of Fallujah was passing out coins with Gospel verses on them to Sunni Muslims, a U.S. military spokesman in Fallujah told McClatchy Thursday.

New York state agencies recognize gay marriages - 29 May 2008 at 10:03am - NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state has instructed all state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages conducted out of state or abroad and to give the same benefits to gay married couples as to other married couples.

Army suicides reported at 2-decade high - 29 May 2008 at 10:18am - WASHINGTON -- Pentagon officials say there were fewer Army suicides last year than they had feared. But it was still the highest number in almost two decades.

Rice says Bush clear about Iraq war - 29 May 2008 at 10:04am - STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday rejected allegations from a former White House spokesman who says the Bush administration misled the American public into going to war with Iraq. Rice would not comment specifically on charges made by ex-press secretary Scott McClellan in a new book, but said President Bush was honest and forthright about the reasons for the war. She also said she remained convinced that toppling Saddam Hussein was right and necessary. "The president was very clear about the reasons for going to war," she told reporters at a news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in Stockholm where she is attending an international conference on Iraq. Chief among those reasons was the belief, shared widely before the war, that Saddam Hussein had or was developing weapons of mass destruction, Rice recalled, suggesting the international community shouldn't have backed harsh sanctions against Iraq if it doubted the threat.

What was the basis for that belief? Is Rice claiming that a basis sufficient for backing sanctions is sufficient for initiating a war? Even if she thought so at the time, it should be clear to her now that making such a leap of logic would be a monumental mistake.

Rice says Iraq war was right thing to do - 29 May 2008 at 9:32am - STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended on Thursday the Bush administration's record in Iraq after sharp criticism of the war in a new book by a former White House spokesman.
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"So the story is there for everyone to see. You can't now transplant yourself into the present and say we should have known things that we in fact did not know in 2001, 2002, 2003. The record on weapons of mass destruction was one that appeared to be very clear," Rice said.

The question is why, in 2001, in 2002, and in 2003, did members of the Bush administration claim to have known things that they did not know.

U.S. Commander: Iran War Would Be 'Disastrous' - May 28, 2008 - The top U.S. Navy official in the Persian Gulf warned in an interview with ABC News that war with Iran would be "pretty disastrous," with "echoes and aftershocks" reverberating throughout the region. Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, the top U.S. Navy official in the Persian Gulf, told ABC News that war with Iran would be "disastrous," and that the ideal way to interact with the country is through diplomatic methods. "Nobody I've spoken to suggests that going to war with Iran is a good thing," Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff told ABC News. "The preferred path by far is the diplomatic path, keep working with the international community to bring the right sort of pressure to bear on the Islamic Republic of Iran."

H/T Lynn Samuels

Gas prices keep climbing even as oil prices drop - 29 May 2008 at 7:58am - NEW YORK (AP) -- The gasoline price record keeps getting broken with each passing day. AAA puts the national average for a gallon of regular at a record $3.95. It's jumped 35 cents in the past month and is 76-cents-a-gallon higher than a year ago....

Thought for the day:
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened. -Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)