News roundup 03.27.2006

Sorry that this post is so late...

The war in Iraq

CNN:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 30 people were killed and more than 30 wounded Monday by a suicide bomber outside a northern Iraq recruitment center for security forces, the U.S. military said.

The New York Times:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 27 -- American and Iraqi government forces clashed with Shiite militiamen in Baghdad on Sunday night in the most serious confrontation in months, and Iraqi security officials said 17 people had been killed in a mosque, including its 80-year-old imam.

Howard Kurtz:

What is undeniable is that the tone of much of the coverage matches the public-opinion polls showing that a majority of the country has turned against the conflict.

The Los Angeles Times:

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Arab countries promised Sunday to consider reopening diplomatic missions in Iraq, after the nation's foreign minister accused them of not doing enough to support his country's efforts toward peace and stability.

Despite the pledge, bitterness remained between Iraq and other Arab states before an Arab League summit that begins Tuesday in the Sudanese capital.

The Los Angeles Times: "War May Hurt GOP in Heartland"

The New York Times: "In an Election Year, a Shift in Public Opinion on the War"

The New York Times: "Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says"

Chicago Sun Times: "Reservists fight to keep jobs"

The Guardian: "Blair: anti-Americanism is madness"

Immigration

The New York Times:

When members of the Senate Judiciary Committee meet today to wrestle with the fate of more than 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, they can expect to do so against a backdrop of thousands of demonstrators, including clergy members wearing handcuffs and immigrant leaders in T-shirts that declare, "We Are America."

The Boston Globe:

WASHINGTON -- With the fate of more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the balance, the Senate Judiciary Committee is prepared to work into the night tonight to craft a historic immigration bill that would allow the unlawful workers to earn their way to legal status in the United States, committee chairman Arlen R. Specter said yesterday.

The Christian Science Monitor:

WASHINGTON – How does the United States count the cost of at least 11 million immigrants living and often working outside the law?

The Houston Chronicle:

Seventy-one percent of Americans asked say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who favors tighter controls on illegal immigration, compared with 11 percent who would be less likely, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted in mid-March. The poll also found that 59 percent oppose President Bush's proposal to allow illegal immigrants who hold jobs to apply for legal, temporary worker status.

Censure

Ron Brownstein in the Los Angeles Times:

On a broader level, Democratic leaders are drifting toward a midterm message that indicts Bush more on grounds of competence (on issues such as Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and prescription drugs) than ideology. It wasn't a coincidence when three senior Senate Democrats marked the third anniversary of the Iraq war last weekend by employing variations on the phrase "dangerous incompetence" to describe Bush's record there.

Such language is a tip-off that Democrats want Americans to cast their ballots this November looking backward, at the missteps and setbacks that have depressed Bush's approval ratings to anemic levels.

Ukraine

The Christian Science Monitor: "Two faces of democracy: Belarus, Ukraine"

The Guardian: "Reeling Ukraine president considers coalition"

Big oil

The New York Times: "Vague Law and Hard Lobbying Add Up to Billions for Big Oil"

2006

The Chicago Tribune:

Democrats around the country are counting on the stem cell issue to give them a boost in November's congressional elections. On Monday, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), who heads the Democratic effort to retake the House, is to visit New Jersey to join Stender in unveiling Internet ads targeting Ferguson and six other Republican candidates, including Illinois state Sen. Peter Roskam and Rick O'Donnell in Colorado, who oppose stem cell research.