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FORT LESLEY J. MCNAIR, D.C., Sept. 9, 2008 – The United States will continue to reduce its troop strength in Iraq, but will increase its footprint in Afghanistan, President Bush said here today. The president accepted the recommendations of military leaders to reduce U.S. troop levels in Iraq by 8,000 through January. If security conditions continue to improve in the country, further reductions will be possible, Bush said at the National Defense University. Bush also announced plans to deploy a Marine battalion to train Afghan National Army troops in November and to send an Army brigade to Afghanistan in January....

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2008 – Documents released by U.S. military officials in Iraq detail the deterioration of al Qaeda in Iraq, as hundreds of its fighters have deserted to fight alongside the coalition or have been killed or captured. Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, briefed reporters today on a letter and a diary recovered in raids by coalition forces, both thought to be written by senior leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq. The documents are believed to have been written last year, and detail a shift in support as citizens who formerly supported al...

BAGHDAD - The abandoned apartment block known as the Pepsi building vanished in seconds, leaving a 30-foot-deep blast crater and a ring of destruction for a quarter mile in every direction through a shanty district in Mosul. Then on Thursday — even before the final death count was tallied — came more bloodshed: A suicide bomber killed a police chief and two other officers as they toured the devastation from the previous day. Residents with insurgent sympathies taunted the chief moments before the attack. Two deadly days have underscored what some U.S. military commanders fear is ahead for the northern...

CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 20 -- Three months ago, beauty shop owner Shanaya Hammond was a somewhat reluctant supporter of Sen. Barack Obama. A campaign aide persuaded her to put two Obama posters in the window of her Passion Slice salon and she planned to vote for him, but, she allowed, "I won't be mad if Hillary wins." No more. She is all in for Obama now, having been convinced after the senator from Illinois won the Iowa Democratic caucuses that America is ready to vote for a black man for president. "I was like, okay, it's happening for us," said...

Two new Rasmussen polls show movement in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. Fred Thompson has begun to ascend, but mostly at the expense of Mike Huckabee after his takedown of the Arkansas governor in the last debate. Hillary Clinton has eaten up half of Barack Obama's previous lead as well, with only eight days to go before the primary: Over the past several days, the only real movement in South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary has been a four-point gain for Fred Thompson and a five-point decline for Mike Huckabee. The big winner from that trade-off is John McCain. The...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Democrat Barack Obama cast himself Saturday as the leader the United States needs for it to stand up to and engage renegade nations such as North Korea. 'We need a president who'll have the strength and courage to go toe to toe with the leaders of rogue nations, because that's what it takes to protect our security," the Illinois senator told Democrats at a rally. "That's what I'll do as your next commander in chief." Obama and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton have had a running argument since clashing in last week's debate over how far the...

WASHINGTON - Republican and Democratic congressional leaders both forecast a change in President Bush's Iraq war policy as the president prepared to sign legislation Friday providing funds for military operations through Sept. 30. "I think the president's policy is going to begin to unravel now," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), who described the just-passed measure as a disappointment because it did not force an end to U.S. participation in the conflict. At a separate news conference, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) predicted a change, and said Bush would show the way. "I...

With great fanfare, in March, Al Gore took Capitol Hill like a conquering hero as he testified on Global Warming before both houses of Congress. Fresh from conquests at the Academy Awards where his adoring Hollywood elites showered him with coveted golden statues for spreading their favorite propaganda, Gore was determined to turn his personal conquest into draconian federal law and ultimate human misery. Gore's words to Congress were predictable. The earth is warming. The polar ice caps are melting. Polar bears are on the run. And it's man's fault. Solution? Ban or control human activities. The mantra of the...

The petrodollar pipeline that recycles billions from oil producers back to the U.S. economy has turned crude-laden nations from Norway to Iran into the world’s biggest sources of global savings. These nations are also key sources of foreign demand for U.S. assets. Now new research predicts a trend that could affect the U.S. economy nearly as much as swings on crude exchanges: Oil producers might be looking to diversify how they spend and invest their cash. Such changes are worth watching — mainly because the flood of money generated for oil exporters by sustained high crude prices has become a...

OSLO (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore predicted on Tuesday that President George W. Bush would shift to do more to fight global warming, under Republican pressure from California to New York. "I think there is a better than 50-50 chance that President Bush will change his policy in the next two years," Gore told an audience in Oslo after showing his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" about global warming during a tour of Europe. "Many of his strongest supporters are changing their positions and are becoming vocal in asking him to change," Gore told about 300 people including...

As the Senate prepares to consider anew the nomination of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador, Senators Schumer and Clinton are facing increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups to renounce another Democratic filibuster in light of the escalating war in the Middle East. The Foreign Relations Committee is set to hold a hearing on the nomination tomorrow, and several Democrats on the panel have voiced their unswerving opposition to Mr. Bolton's nomination. From New York's senators, however, there has been nothing but silence. Mr. Schumer and Mrs. Clinton voted to block Mr. Bolton's confirmation a year ago, but they have not...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2006 – Commanders will shift U.S. forces in Iraq to deal with insurgent threats, but this does not mean more American troops will go into the country, nor that the announced rotation will change. Multinational Force Iraq commander Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. will shift forces already in Iraq to Baghdad, Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said in an interview with New York Times reporter Michael Gordon. "There is a very serious effort to make sure that it is not just weighted with additional U.S. capability, but also additional Iraqi capability,"...

NEW YORK - An important wind circulation pattern over the Pacific Ocean has begun to weaken because of global warming caused by human activity, something that could alter climate and the marine food chain in the region, new research suggests. It's not clear what climate changes might arise in the area or possibly beyond, but the long-term effect might resemble some aspects of an El Nino event, a study author said. El Ninos boost rainfall in the southern United States and western South America and bring dry weather or even drought to Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere in the western Pacific....

Rice signals shift in Iran policy Rice says she wants to support the aspirations of Iranians The US secretary of state is seeking new funds for a policy aimed at putting pressure on Iran's government and promoting internal opposition to it. Condoleezza Rice asked Congress for $75m to increase TV and radio broadcasts and fund dissident groups. Correspondents say the move comes amid US fears that the world community will not countenance tough action over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Critics of the US plan say the funds are not enough to make a difference. Former Clinton administration official Martin Indyk told...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Earth's north magnetic pole is drifting from North America at such a clip that it could end up in Siberia in the next 50 years, scientists said Thursday. Despite accelerated movement over the past century, the possibility that Earth's fading magnetic field will collapse or that the magnetic poles will flip is remote. But the shift could mean that Alaska may no longer be able to see the high-altitude shimmering displays of colorful lights called the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Scientists have long known that magnetic poles migrate and in rare cases, swap places. But exactly

Will Schiff Shift? "To shift, or not to shift: that is the question." -- Schiffspeare Today Alabama Senator Richard Shelby (Republican) said he would be willing to give up some of his allotted Federal monies for pork projects in his state to help fund recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina. Which raises the question whether California Congressman Adam Schiff (Democrat-29th District) would be willing to shift funds as well? Do you think Schiff should shift $500,000 from Children's Hospital cancer research to aid children's real-time medical needs in the Gulf? Should he shift $1 million for Griffith Park Observatory for "educational"...

ABORTION STAND HALTS CLINTON'S SHIFT TO MIDDLE By IAN BISHOP Post Correspondent May 6, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is putting the brakes on her move to the political middle by opposing legislation that would bar helping underage girls cross state lines for an abortion without their parents' consent. Clinton — despite preaching moderation in recent speeches — will toe the Democratic line in the Senate in an effort to block a GOP-backed bill that just passed the House and makes it illegal for anyone to help a girl get a secret out-of-state abortion. "I don't believe...

SACRAMENTO -- A day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed his willingness to postpone the start of new legislative districts, a major backer of his ballot measure blasted the governor Thursday for retreating from his earlier demand for swift change. Los Angeles businessman Bill Mundell said his committee has gathered 900,000 signatures to place the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot, and added he is not interested in delaying its implementation past 2006. "We believed the governor when he told us that the timeline was non-negotiable," Mundell said in a prepared statement. "The people want redistricting reform now. The people have...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A major shift in the century-old policy for suppressing the wildfire danger in Southern California's national forests could be coming this summer. Unchecked growth has left the region's woodlands dangerously overgrown and the new plans will be part legacy of 2003's deadly firestorms, part science and part popular opinion. U.S. Forest Service planners have worked three years on the new management guidelines and they are now poring over nearly 11,000 separate concerns contained in more than 3,000 letters and e-mails sent in response to an initial draft released last year. Plans for the San Bernardino, Cleveland, Los...