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WASHINGTON - Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a nonpartisan research group. The review of lawmakers' 2006 financial disclosure statements, by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, suggests that members' holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members earning money from these contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy...

A giant Orange County mortgage company accused of duping low-income homeowners has pumped more than $7 million into California politics since 2002, including contributions to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic Attorney General Bill Lockyer and dozens of other state legislators, members of Congress and political committees. Ameriquest's top executive, Roland Arnall, also has been one of President Bush's top fundraisers, generating $12 million for the president's political efforts during the past four years. On July 28, Bush nominated Arnall, a billionaire who was ranked No. 106 in the 2004 Forbes magazine list of the wealthiest Americans, as ambassador to the...

Redesign yields heavily protected Freedom Tower Last modified Thursday, June 30, 2005 12:27 PM PDT This artist rendering shows a night view from Hudson River of the updated design for the 'Freedom Tower' for the World Trade Center Site in New York, unveiled on June 29, 2005. The centerpiece building was redesigned due to security concerns presented by the New York Police Department. (Reuters - Handout) NEW YORK (AP) — Hurriedly redesigned to make it less vulnerable to a truck bomb, ground zero's Freedom Tower will lose its distinctive, twisting look but will be the safest skyscraper in the world,...

White House Heavily Redacts Clinton Papers Bush Administration Blacks Out Almost All Information in Documents on Clinton Pardons The Associated Press WASHINGTON Mar 19, 2005 — The Bush administration blacked out almost all the information in hundreds of documents before releasing them to a conservative organization looking into President Clinton's controversial pardons four years ago on his last day in office. The only items not deleted from the material are the names of the person who wrote the document and the person it was sent to. The government accountability group Judicial Watch said Friday that it received the Justice Department...

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Are these the detailed battle plans for the most heavily trailed military attack in modern history? By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 23 September 2002 The plans are on the President's desk. The variants are several, and no final, irrevocable decision has been taken by George Bush. But there is every sign that Washington wants the seemingly inevitable Gulf War II to topple Saddam Hussein to be a nimbler, more focused and even fiercer enterprise than the campaign waged by Mr Bush's father to drive him from Kuwait in 1991. A spate of news stories in Washington at the weekend provided...