Saturday news

The war over the war in Iraq

Senator Joe Biden has an Op-Ed in the Washington Post calling for a timetable to withdraw from Iraq. He details a step by step political process as well.

Bryan Bender in the Boston Globe reports that "US and Iraqi leaders are pressing their military allies in Iraq to postpone withdrawing troops, warning against a pullout until the new government is capable of securing the country on its own."

Paul Richter and Tyler Marshall in the Los Angeles Times recap the week of withdrawal news:

"You've got the convergence of domestic pressures, Iraqi pressures and Pentagon [withdrawal] plans that have been in the works for a while," said the former official, who requested anonymity. "This is serious."

A senior U.S. official said that in signaling hopes for a large drawdown next year, Rice was only "stating the obvious" this week.

Abramoff, (Sc)Alito, Aliens

Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi in the Washington Post:

The Justice Department's wide-ranging investigation of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has entered a highly active phase as prosecutors are beginning to move on evidence pointing to possible corruption in Congress and executive branch agencies, lawyers involved in the case said.

David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times:

During his 15 years as an appellate judge, President Bush's Supreme Court nominee has written decisions in favor of Muslim police officers in Newark, N.J., who wore beards; a Native American from Pennsylvania who raised sacred black bears; and a Jewish professor who said she was pushed out of her job for refusing to attend faculty events on Friday evenings and Saturdays, her Sabbath.

Stephen Dinan in the Washington Times:

A draft immigration bill from Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter calls for dramatic increases in legal immigration, far beyond any of the other major proposals now before Congress.