The New York Times reported Sunday that the administration "is considering the withdrawal of additional combat forces from Iraq beginning in September, according to administration and military officials, raising the prospect of a far more ambitious plan than expected only months ago." If implemented, the withdrawal would "be a striking reversal from the nadir of the war in 2006 and 2007." The strategic shift is seen as, at least in part, a response to the "pressing need for additional American troops in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and other fighters have intensified their insurgency and inflicted a growing number of casualties on Afghans and American-led forces there." On CBS's Face the Nation, Democratic Sen. Carl Levin was asked to comment on the story, and said, "That would be very good news if it's true. ... It's the only way to force the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own government."
The Politico's Roger Simon, on CBS's Face the Nation, said that the withdrawal of troops from Iraq "may be an October surprise in July. I think anything that signals that the war in Iraq is genuinely winding down would be good news for John McCain. He has always said that he wants to leave Iraq, too, but he wants to leave it with victory and honor. And if a drawdown of troops is seen to be militarily justified because we're winning, because the surge is working, and not a political trickery because Republicans need it for the fall elections, that is likely to be effective."
This week's Newsweek, meanwhile, reports that a "forthcoming Pentagon-sponsored report will recommend an even steeper drawdown in less time. ... If adopted, the 300-page report by a defense analysis group at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., could transform the debate about Iraq in the presidential election. Expected to be completed in about a month, it will recommend that U.S. forces be reduced to as few as 50,000 by the spring of 2009, down from about 150,000 now."
Yesterday, the Washington Post reported "US and Iraqi negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency...effectively leaving talks over an extended U.S. military presence there to the next administration." Instead of the a Status of Forces Agreement, the US and Iraq are discussing a "bridge" document, "more limited in both time and scope, that would allow basic US military operations to continue beyond the expiration of a U.N. mandate at the end of the year." However, Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie was asked about the report on CNN's Late Edition, and he said, "I don't think this is true, to be quite honest with you. Over the last few months or few weeks as well we were trying to secure what is the best approach. What is the best way of getting to the same goal, if you like, and I think we are very clear now what we want to do."
The Financial Times reports, "The White House on Sunday said it remained hopeful of striking a deal with the Iraqi government over the future status of US forces in the country but failed to deny reports it had abandoned efforts to negotiate a long-term agreement." The Christian Science Monitor puts the debate in the context of the upcoming elections in Iraq, saying "a key question is whether any deal can be sold to Iraq's political factions in an election year. The Iraqi government is beset by divisions and conflicting agendas with regard to the status of US forces that are playing out both in the media and in private." There is "strong opposition to any deal from the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as well as from Iran, which exercises large sway over Shiite factions inside and outside the government and objects to any US troop presence in Iraq."
Obama: Remove "Combat Brigades" In 16 Months In an op-ed titled "My Plan For Iraq," Sen. Barack Obama writes in the New York Times this morning, "The same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we've spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq's leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge." Obama goes on to urge "safely" redeploying "combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 -- two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, a residual force in Iraq would perform limited missions: going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces."
U.S. News and World Report, in an article titled, "Afghan Warlords, Formerly Backed By The CIA, Now Turn Their Guns On US Troops," reports, "Amid a well-coordinated assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and large-scale bombings last week in the capitals of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. forces are keenly aware that they are facing an increasingly complex enemy here -- what U.S. military officials now call a syndicate -- composed not only of Taliban fighters but also powerful warlords who were once on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency."
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Corrected on 7/17/08: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the source of a quote. Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd said "we should be worried about our GSEs...they're not in deep trouble. ... To suggest, somehow, they're in major trouble is not accurate." .
The storm had been brewing all weekend. After Friday's failure of the California bank IndyMac, fears were spreading that mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could collapse. Wall Street was nervous. So last night in time for the opening of the markets this morning the Federal Reserve and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a plan to assume investors that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will be kept afloat. USA Today reports the proposal underscores the officials' "alarm about their deteriorating outlook and determination to provide a strong federal backstop." Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson "wants Congress to approve a three-part plan to shore up the huge companies: giving Treasury authority to take an ownership position in the firms if needed; temporarily increasing their existing line of credit at Treasury, currently $2.25 billion; and giving the Fed a role in setting capital requirements and other standards. Separately, the Fed said it would lend to Fannie and Freddie, if necessary."
Few analysts believe the mortgage giants will actually collapse. As Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money on CNBC, said on NBC Nightly News, (7/13, story 2, 2:25, Holt, 9.87M), the move by the Fed "will make people feel very good tomorrow," because it "takes off the table the idea that Fannie and Freddie will evaporate." ABC World News, meanwhile, interviewed its "financial contributor Mellody Hobson, president of Aerial Investments and our in-house voice of reason and calm." Hobson said she "would not be concerned" about the news, because "the American banking system is sound." Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, on CNN's Late Edition, also said that "the facts are that Fannie and Freddie are in sound situation. They have more than adequate capital -- in fact, more than the law requires. They have access to capital markets. They're in good shape." And Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, also on CNN's Late Edition, said that although "we should be worried about our GSEs...they're not in deep trouble. ... To suggest, somehow, they're in major trouble is not accurate."
Rather, the federal action appears to be about reinforcing perception that the system remains solid. McClatchy notes "the announcement came ahead of what had been expected to be a volatile day Monday on Wall Street, where the share price of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been taking a hit amid growing concerns that they do not have the financial resources to cover billions of dollars in housing loans they've purchased should those loans go bad." Freddie Mac "is scheduled to try to raise $3 billion in short-term debt. If it fails to find buyers, that would renew doubts about both institutions, and Monday could have been be an ugly day for the US economy. And it might still be."
The Wall Street Journal reports the plan "placed the federal government firmly behind the battered mortgage giants," and "reinforced the notion that investors can always count on the government to bail out Fannie or Freddie in a crisis -- a belief the Bush administration until recently tried hard to quash." The AP also says the steps announced last night are "intended to send a signal to nervous investors worldwide that the government is prepared to take all necessary steps to prevent the credit market troubles that started last year from engulfing financial markets and further weakening the economy and housing markets."
The Washington Post reports that "if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac collapsed, it could cripple the US housing market, dealing a staggering blow to the wider economy, and would saddle the federal government with massive debts if it chose to seize control of either firm. ... A failure of either company would also rattle global financial markets because their shares and debt are widely held by pension funds, mutual funds and foreign governments. Both companies said they were financially sound but were grateful for the confidence-building efforts."
The New York Times, Financial Times, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post run additional stories on the plan unveiled last night. In an analysis piece, meanwhile, the New York Times says the plan "reflects a reality that has reshaped major spheres of American life: the government has in recent months taken on an increasingly dominant role in assuring that Americans can buy a home or attend college. ... In short, in a nation that holds itself up as a citadel of free enterprise, the government has transformed from a reliable guarantor into effectively the only lender for millions of Americans engaged in the largest transactions of their lives."
Congress, Bush Ready To Work Together The Washington Post reports "Treasury officials said last night that they were confident Congress will be able to pass the new laws they seek by the end of the week as part of a broad housing bill under consideration on Capitol Hill." The Politico notes that "in a statement Sunday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he also had spoken to Paulson about the Treasury proposal and was prepared to help in easing the stress on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 'Senate Democrats stand ready to work with the administration to quickly and effectively address the situation currently facing these institutions,' Reid said." Meanwhile, The Hill reports, "House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) stated that they 'stand ready to work with Secretary Paulson and congressional Democrats to take appropriate steps to ensure the soundness of our mortgage markets.'"
Earlier Sunday, AFP reported White House press secretary Dana Perino "said that 'Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play an important role in our housing finance system, and they should continue to play this role in their current forms as shareholder-owned companies.'" In a statement, Perino added, "It is crucial that Congress quickly works to enact this legislation as a complete package along with the strong oversight reform legislation recently passed in the Senate."
Tony Snow's death over the weekend sparked an outpouring of sympathetic media coverage. The AP reports the "conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room" died "at 2 a.m. at Georgetown University Hospital." In a statement, President Bush said, "America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character. It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work." This AP story is carried by well over 600 newspapers and websites around the world, including the Arizona Daily Star, Baltimore Sun, Buffalo News, Charlotte Observer, Connecticut Post, Denver Post, Detroit Free Press, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Hartford Courant, Houston Chronicle, Indianapolis Star, Kansas City Star, Kentucky Post, Las Vegas Sun, Los Angeles Daily News, Madison Capital Times, Miami Herald, Minneapolis Star Tribune, New Orleans Times-Picayune, New York Post, Oklahoman, Oregonian, Orlando Sentinel, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Rocky Mountain News, Salt Lake Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tampa Tribune, and Toledo Blade.
All three networks covered the story, as did major newspapers on their front pages, including the Washington Post, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and The Politico. In the Washington Times, Arnaud de Borchgrave wrote, "It was the best decision in my 62 years of professional life as a journalist. I was The Washington Times' editor in chief and looking for a new editorial page editor. Tony Snow was the first and last recommended name I interviewed. The year was 1987. Tony was 32 years old." In an editorial this morning, the Wall Street Journal says that "as White House press secretary, he cheerfully but forcefully sparred with reporters in making the President's case on policy. No doubt because he was confident in his own convictions, he wasn't defensive about his answers. This has not been universally true during the Bush Presidency."
Vice President Dick Cheney, on Fox News Sunday, said of Tony Snow, "I, frankly, agreed with him on nearly everything, and I'm generally viewed as pretty conservative. I'm not sure that that's saying something nice about Tony in some circles, but I always thought of him as a guy who understood very well the purposes of government, and that they were limited, and that there were some things government shouldn't do, that we are best able to do for ourselves. And I thought Tony was an effective articulator of that."
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Sen. Barack Obama is set to address the NAACP convention in Cincinnati tonight, while Sen. John McCain will speak to the group on Wednesday. The media focus today is on the conflict between Obama and "some civil rights activists and African-American academics" that was highlighted by Rev. Jesse Jackson's comments. McClatchy says some have "taken quiet umbrage at Obama's proposal to expand President Bush's faith-based initiative and his comments about the moral responsibilities of African-American fathers, saying his remarks are designed more to woo and soothe white voters than to address issues impacting the African-American community." Similarly, ABC World News reported, "At a time when the black electorate is more unified than ever, opinions have never been more diverse, a curious dynamic made loud and clear with a whisper." The Jackson-Obama "rift has turned up the volume on a conversation simmering in the black community for years. A debate over ideas and legacy between the civil rights lions of Jackson's generation and the younger moderates in this multicultural age of Obama." NBC Nightly News simply noted that the convention is "big for Barack Obama in particular because there he will see Jesse Jackson, the first time the two men will meet face to face since Jackson's gaffe last week."
On the other side of the aisle, USA Today reports McCain's speech "is likely to do more to boost him among white voters, particularly women - an approach that helped Republican George W. Bush in 2000. The Texas governor addressed the NAACP convention that year and called himself a 'compassionate conservative.' An academic study by professors at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas after the election concluded that those appeals helped Bush among white women even though he failed to get many black votes."
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are waging a high-profile battle for the backing of the nation's Hispanic voters. To that end, they are both addressing their third Hispanic conference in as many weeks. Obama spoke yesterday at the National Council of La Raza convention in San Diego, while McCain will address the group today. During his appearance yesterday, the Washington Times reports, Obama "received a rock-star welcome." Meanwhile, the San Diego Union-Tribune notes Obama "promised Sunday he would make immigration reform a top priority of his first year in office if he is elected" and also hit at McCain, saying, "I know Senator McCain used to buck his party on immigration in fighting for comprehensive reform and I admired him for it and joined him in it. But when he was running for his party's nomination, he abandoned that courageous stand and said that he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote." The Washington Post reports Obama also noted the importance of Hispanic voters in key states, saying, "Some of the closest contests this November are going to be in states like Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico -- states with large Latino populations."
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After Phil Gramm, a top economic adviser for Sen. Barack Obama, drew negative attention last week for saying the US had become a "nation of whiners," the AP reports that another top surrogate, former H-P CEO Carly Fiorina, dismissed the impact of surrogates on NBC's Meet the Press yesterday. Fiorina said, "Outside of Washington, where this is an interesting parlor game, I think most Americans are not really focused on what a bunch of surrogates are saying. They're focused on what the candidates are saying." Fiorina also said, "I think John McCain has been real clear that Phil Gramm wasn't speaking for him, and in fact John McCain has said now for many months that he believes the economy is in a recession." Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that the McCain camp is sidelining Gramm, according to two top McCain advisors.
Three sets of polling data out over the last few days show a tight presidential contest nationally. A Newsweek poll of 1,037 registered voters taken July 9-10 shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain 44%-41% with 15% undecided. NBC Nightly News (7/13, story 5, 3:00, Holt, 9.87M) reported that the presidential race "appears to be getting tighter. A new 'Newsweek' poll shows Barack Obama and John McCain virtually neck and neck with Obama ahead by only three points, just one more reason why the stakes are so high with every statement."
The Gallup daily presidential tracking poll of 2,635 registered voters taken July 10-12 shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain 46%-43%.
The Rasmussen Reports automated daily presidential tracking poll of 3,000 likely voters taken July 10-12 shows McCain and Obama tied at 43% apiece, and if leaners are included, tied at 46% apiece.
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Jay Leno: "Whew! Hot in the valley this week, wasn't it? Over 100 degrees. In fact, actually, Phil Gramm said it was a mental heat wave and we're all a bunch of whiners."
Jay Leno: "Earlier this week the Senate approved a new eavesdropping bill, which means they're now allowed to listen to what you say without you knowing it. Yeah, yeah. You know who is really upset about this? Jesse Jackson."
Conan O'Brien: "This week, Barack Obama was endorsed by the US Black Golfers Association. Yeah. Could make the difference, yeah. Not only that, Obama was also endorsed by the Association of Asian Hockey Players."
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