Iraq, Afghanistan War Costs Top Vietnam
Congress’ approval Wednesday of $70 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mean the twin conflicts are now more costly to American taxpayers than the war in Vietnam. According to a study by the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Congress has now approved nearly $700 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Strategy that is making Iraq safer was snubbed for years
Efforts to stop IEDs by targeting the insurgent networks that finance, build and plant the bombs showed results only after the Bush administration adopted a broader counterinsurgency strategy this year — and sent 30,000 more troops to Iraq to support it. But a USA TODAY investigation shows that the strategy now used to defeat the bombmaking networks and stabilize Iraq was ignored or rejected for years by key decision-makers.

Bush: Principles key for president
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 Principles “that you stand on in good times and bad” are important for a leader, U.S. President George Bush said Thursday. “(You) can’t be the president unless you have a firm set of principles to guide you as you sort through all the problems the world faces,” Bush said during a news conference, responding to a question about what he thought was important in running for president.
Read a fairly complete list of Bush’s failures to adhere to basic principles at Hugh’s List.

Bush considers becoming a lobbyist someday. (Think Progress)
This week as Trent Lott prepared to retire from the Senate, he “found himself yukking it up with the president at the White House.” According to the Washington Post, Bush “joked” with Lott that “he may join the Mississippian in the lobbying sector.”

Who Obstructed Justice? (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
[O]n 7 May 2003 during a CIPA (i.e., Classified Information Procedures Act) hearing … Judge Leonie Brinkema … ordered the government to determine if interrogations of suspected terrorists were recorded. Two days later, 9 May 2003, Judge Leonie Brinkema asked, “whether the interrogations are being recorded in any format”? The Department of Justice, based on info from the CIA, said “NO”… There are at least two felonies here–obstruction of justice and lying to a federal law enforcement official.

Congress Reviews CIA Videotape Documents
The CIA opened its files to congressional investigators Thursday, inviting them to the agency’s Virginia headquarters to begin reviewing documents and records relating to the destruction of interrogation videotapes.

Pentagon sets trial date for one Guantanamo detainee, charges another
A military judge declared Osama bin Laden’s former driver an “unlawful enemy combatant” in a ruling released Thursday, clearing the way the driver to be tried on war crimes charges in May before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hours later, the military filed charges against another Guantanamo detainee, an alleged al Qaeda conspirator whose brother-in-law reportedly was among the hijackers who slammed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

Payments vary greatly for new veterans with mental illness
WASHINGTON — Veterans coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with debilitating mental ailments are discovering that their disability payments from the government vary widely depending on where they live, an exclusive McClatchy analysis has found.

FEMA ranks at bottom of public approval. (Think Progress)
In a public approval poll of federal agencies, FEMA came in last, followed by the IRS. Two years after the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, FEMA’s distribution of toxic trailers was labeled one of the top ten worst ethics scandals of 2007, and the agency’s staged press conference ranked as the year’s top PR blunder. 

GOP Blocks Vote on FEC Nominees (by Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) … called for a vote on the individual nominees to the Federal Election Commission. But the Republican leadership, as they have from the beginning, insisted on voting on the four nominees, both Democratic and Republican, together, thus protecting [DOJ vote suppressor Hans von] Spakovsky from being voted down, but also preventing the confirmation of any of the other nominees… [Reid:] “… the responsibility for a defunct FEC rests on their shoulders.”
A defunct FEC?  In an election year?  SURELY the Republicans don’t want THAT!

Guantanamo prisoner is not POW, U.S. judge says
Osama bin Laden’s driver is not a prisoner of war as defined by the Geneva Conventions and can be tried by a Guantanamo war crimes tribunal, a U.S. military judge ruled in a decision made public on Thursday. The judge said Yemeni prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan is an “unlawful enemy combatant” under the law passed by Congress last year to provide a legal basis to try non-Americans on terrorism charges in a special war crimes court at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Are Bloomberg and Hagel Planning a White House Bid?
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) “have been conducting regular, private phone conversations over the past few months in an effort to ‘feel each other out’ for a possible presidential run,” according to the Huffington Post. “It has been widely speculated that the two men could mount a third-party White House ticket. And while the maverick Republican and the independent mayor have met in the past, the private phone calls provide the clearest indication yet that they are considering such a move.”

McKinney Launches Presidential Bid (Political Wire)
Former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), “who was ousted from office last year after a headline-grabbing scuffle with a Capitol Hill police officer, has decided to seek the presidency — as a Green Party candidate,” the AP reports.

Kerrey apologizes to Obama: ‘I meant no disrespect’
Three days after setting off some controversy by pointedly referring to Sen. Barack Obama’s middle name — Hussein — and the Muslim roots in Obama’s family tree, former senator Bob Kerrey has apologized to the Democratic presidential candidate.
I’m so sorry I called you a MUSLIM!  I shouldn’t have said “MUSLIM”!  I wouldn’t have said “MUSLIM”, except by mistake.  Please forgive me for calling you a MUSLIM.

Democrats in Dead Heat in Iowa (Political Wire)
A new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows the Democratic race for president in a statistical tie. Sen. Hillary Clinton leads with 30%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 28% and John Edwards at 26% — all within the poll’s margin of error of four points. Yesterday, we noted that three recent polls of the Democratic race have shown three different leaders. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee leads with 33%, followed by Mitt Romney at 25%, and Rudy Giuliani at 11%.

Lakota withdraw from treaties, declare independence from U.S.
The Lakota Sioux Indians, whose ancestors include Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from all treaties their forefathers signed with the U.S. government and have declared their independence. A delegation delivered the news to the State Department.

New Orleans police, protesters clash
Police used chemical spray and stun devices as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of public housing in New Orleans tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall. Some people were arrested as officers tried to establish order and an ambulance arrived on the scene.
“We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.” – Rep. Richard H. Baker (R-LA), reported September 10, 2005