Blind Ambition: McCain Sees Progress in Iraq

What next, since a veto awaits:

The US Senate on Tuesday for the first time approved a measure tying funding for the war in Iraq to a timetable for withdrawing US troops.

By vote of 48 to 50, the Senate rejected a Republican measure that would have stripped language imposing a March 2008 deadline from an emergency funding bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.

You would think he'd know better given his Vietnam experience. I guess presidential ambition trumps duty to country:

Republican presidential contender John McCain said Tuesday, "we are starting to turn things around" in the Iraq war, as he broke off campaigning in Florida to vote against a proposed troop withdrawal timeline.

In a speech on the Senate floor, the Arizona Republican said President Bush's decision to dispatch additional troops last winter "is working far better than even the most optimistic supporter had predicted. Progress is tangible in many key areas despite the fact that only 40 percent of the planned forces are in Iraq," he added.

McCain spoke on a day in which two nearly simultaneous attacks outside Baghdad killed at least 48 Iraqis, and he said he did not want to paint an overly optimistic picture. He added, "I have been critical of the conduct of this war since 2003, and very much regret that only now, four years into the conflict, are we beginning to implement the kind of strategy that was necessary from the start."

Article 6 of the constitution requires the president abide by international treaties, which prohibit torture:

A U.S. federal judge dismissed on Tuesday a lawsuit seeking to hold former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking military officers liable for the torture and abuse of Afghan and Iraqi prisoners, including some at Abu Ghraib prison.

In throwing out the lawsuit, U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas Hogan ruled in the 58-page opinion that the defendants are entitled to immunity.

The plaintiffs had said they were stabbed, sexually abused, dunked in freezing water, and beaten while being hung upside down from the ceiling in Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison and other U.S.-run facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Why this obsession with democracy in Egypt all of a sudden:

The White House criticized Egypt, a close ally in the Middle East, on Tuesday for a referendum on changes to its constitution, saying a "vast majority" of Egyptians did not vote.

The most controversial changes would help the government exclude from the political system Islamists, who pose the most serious challenge to President Hosni Mubarak's party.

"While the approval of these amendments is a question for the Egyptian people to decide, it is evident that the vast majority of Egyptians did not choose to participate," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

The President is desperate to wag the dog. And Iran is giving him the gift of war:

The U.S. Navy is offering a huge show of military might near the location where Iran seized 15 British sailors and marines five days ago, in what is seen as a clear effort to send a message to Iran, a senior military official told ABC News' Martha Raddatz in Bahrain.

Twelve ships, 100 aircraft and 12,000 sailors are taking part in the war games designed to get the attention of Iran.

The naval exercise went on all day today and will continue Wednesday, with F-18 fighter jets roaring from the deck of both aircraft carriers in the first appearance of two U.S. carriers in the Gulf simultaneously since 2003.

Tension with Iran is having an unsettling impact on the stock market. Already oil prices shot up again because of the hostilities:

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday said it had no information to substantiate a market rumor that Iran had fired at a U.S. naval vessel in the Gulf.

"Navy has nothing to substantiate that report right now," a Navy official said. "At this juncture, there is no validity to it."

"We have no information at this time that indicates any incident taking place," said White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

There are other factors concerning the stock market:

Stocks stumbled Tuesday as investors grew wary when new data raised the possibility that the nation's weak housing market would seep into the broader economy and crimp consumer spending.

A housing index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's showed that prices of single-family U.S. homes fell in January compared to a year ago, in their worst showing since January 2004. Also, Lennar Corp., one of the nation's largest homebuilders, said its first-quarter profit plummeted 73 percent and warned that it probably won't meet its 2007 earnings guidance.

Wall Street has been nervous lately that a drop in housing values will further weaken subprime mortgage lenders, who make loans to people with poor credit, and make consumers feel less wealthy and rein in spending. Consumer spending makes up about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

All this news is impacting the consumer's optimism:

Consumers sent up a warning signal in March that rising gas prices, falling home values and a volatile stock market could hurt spending in the coming months, a widely watched index showed on Tuesday.

The New York-based Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 107.2, down from the revised 111.2 in February. Analysts had expected a reading of 109. The March index was the lowest since November 2006 when the reading was 105.3.

"Apprehension about the short-term future has suddenly cast a cloud over consumers' confidence," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.

Just another consequence of the Iraq war:

The Army's new acting surgeon general said Tuesday she is concerned about long-term morale because the military lacks money to hire enough nurses and mental health specialists to treat thousands of troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"When the original plans were made, we did not take into consideration we could be in a long war," said Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock. She became surgeon general earlier this month after Kevin Kiley was forced to resign in a scandal over poor treatment of war-wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The scandal keeps growing:

An FBI agent was warned to keep quiet about the dismissal of a U.S. attorney after he told a newspaper her firing would hurt the agency's ongoing investigations and speculated politics was involved, a U.S. Senate panel heard on Tuesday.

FBI Director Robert Mueller defended the handling of the incident, saying: "I do not believe it's appropriate for our special agents in charge to comment to the media on personnel decisions that are made by the Department of Justice."

Oh, yea, this is going to make people safer in Texas. Ever hear of road rage:

Criminals in Texas beware: if you threaten someone in their car or office, the citizens of this state where guns are ubiquitous have the right to shoot you dead.

Governor Rick Perry's office said on Tuesday that he had signed a new law that expands Texans' existing right to use deadly force to defend themselves "without retreat" in their homes, cars and workplaces.

"The right to defend oneself from an imminent act of harm should not only be clearly defined in Texas law, but is intuitive to human nature," Perry said on his Web site.

The new law, which takes affect on September 1, extends an exception to a statute that required a person to retreat in the face of a criminal attack. The exception was in the case of an intruder unlawfully entering a person's home.

Move to higher ground. Republicans will buy your houses:

More than two-thirds of the world's large cities are in areas vulnerable to global warming and rising sea levels, and millions of people are at risk of being swamped by flooding and intense storms, according to a new study released Wednesday.

In all, 634 million people live in the threatened coastal areas worldwide — defined as those lying at less than 33 feet above sea level — and the number is growing, said the study published in the journal Environment and Urbanization.

This explains a lot. Both sides in the current wars in the Middle East claim the religious higher ground:

Does believing that "God is on our side" make it easier for us to inflict pain and suffering on those perceived to be our enemies? If we think God sanctions violence, are we more likely to engage in violent acts?

The answer to both those questions, according to new research, is a resounding "yes," even among those who do not consider themselves believers.