by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning’s most important or most interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.
In a prime-time televised speech, President Bush vowed an “enduring relationship” with Iraq and that U.S. troops in Iraq would “return on success,” saying some troops would be leaving without replacement later this year. But Democrats rejected the president’s approach as just a return to the pre-surge strategy.
The White House didn’t want to be pinned down on the number of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq after the surge-related troops are withdrawn because of the support troops needed required by the remaining combat forces.
Presidential candidates campaigning in Iowa used the Petraeus-Crocker report on progress in Iraq to try and rally voters to their side, with Democrats calling for withdrawal of troops sooner rather than later and Republicans urging voters to focus on reports of progress. Active and retired military officers differ on the level of troops required in Iraq, with some saying a lower number would force the Iraqis to provide more of their own security.
Bush’s Iraq speech didn’t do much to reassure some anxious congressional Republicans, with one senior GOP aide dubbing it “happy talk.”
The divide in Iraqi society is illustrated by the tale of two brothers, one who was arrested for a rocket attack on a U.S. military base, the other offering to help U.S. troops fight insurgents.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards switched investments away from the part of a private-equity firm that invested in subprime mortgages, foreclosing on homeowners who couldn’t keep up with payments, while the presidential candidate also bankrolled a fund to help Hurricane Katrina victims.
Norman Hsu, who was a major Democratic Party fundraiser before his recent arrest on an old California felony conviction, was the unintended creation of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law which limited individuals’ contributions, causing a heavy reliance on bundlers like Hsu who could gather money from a number of sources.
A Chinese American and a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who was part of the team that investigated Chinese espionage, believes she came under suspicion as a Chinese mole because of her ethnicity even though it was he boss who was eventually revealed as the security risk.
