Remember: Get Osama -- Dead or Alive

[Remember the good old days when Bush promised to get Osama bin Laden for masterminding the 9/11 attacks? Now, after invading Afghanistan and failing to capture bin Laden five years ago, our short-attention-span leader seems about as interested in our number one terrorist foe as he is in those nonexistent Iraqi WMDs].

Bush again vows to capture Osama 'dead or alive'

December 29, 2001--President George W Bush again vowed to capture Osama bin Laden 'dead or alive' and said the United States will keep the terror suspect on the run.

Bush, speaking at a news conference at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, said if bin Laden has fled to Pakistan, the US can count on the support of President Pervez Musharraf.

"We believe he (Musharraf) will help us, if in fact he (bin Laden) happens to be in Pakistan," said Bush.

"Who knows where he is. But one thing is for certain: He is on the losing side of a rout," he said.

He said, "The US is on the hunt and he knows that we are on the hunt. And I like our position better than his."

Asked whether he believes bin Laden is still in control of the Al Qaeda network, Bush said: "Who knows?"

Bush Loses to Constitution on Wiretaps

DETROIT - A federal judge ruled that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

"Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution," Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets of the program, which involves secretly listening to conversations between people in the U.S. and people in other countries.

The government argued that the program is well within the president's authority, but said proving that would require revealing state secrets.

The ACLU said the state-secrets argument was irrelevant because the Bush administration already had publicly revealed enough information about the program for Taylor to rule.

[Two reasons Bush did not gloat over the August 10th roundup of terror suspects in London: (1) The police work and the arrests were done completely by the British and (2) they caught the suspects by following money trails to fake charities in Pakistan, not by eavesdropping illegally on their citizens.]

Bush Milestone Iraq Death Toll

On May 1, 2003, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln aboard an S-3B Viking jet, emerged from the aircraft in full flight gear, and proceeded to declare that "[m]ajor combat operations in Iraq have ended," all the while standing under a banner reading: "Mission Accomplished."

The U.S. death toll passed the 2,600 mark...and Bush seems to have as much interest in developing an exit strategy as he has in capturing or killing Osama bin Laden.


U.S. Military Death Toll in Iraq: 2,601

WMDs Found in Iraq: Zero

(c) Time Magazine

DeLay Desperate to Get

Name Off Ballot

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Tuesday he is taking the necessary steps to remove his name from the November ballot, giving his party a chance to field a write-in candidate in hopes of holding the House seat.

Buffeted by scandal, DeLay said his June 9 resignation from Congress was ''irrevocable'' and maintained that he's no longer a Texan.

''As a Virginia resident, I will take the actions necessary to remove my name from the Texas ballot. To do anything else would be hypocrisy,'' DeLay said in a statement.

DeLay was forced to act after Republicans lost several court fights to remove his name from the ballot in the Houston-area district and replace him with a GOP-chosen nominee. Republicans ended their legal battles Monday when Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia refused to hear their case, letting the appeals court decision stand.

Lawyers Against Bush

Lawyers' Group Attacks Bush Revisions

HONOLULU (AP) -- The American Bar Association approved a resolution condemning President Bush's practice of writing exceptions to legislation he signs into law.

Delegates, representing 410,000 members, at the ABA's annual meeting approved the resolution objecting to any president using bill signing statements as a way of diluting or changing laws rather than using an outright veto.

Bush has vetoed only one bill, on stem cell research, but written exceptions to some 800 legislative provisions, more than all previous presidents combined.