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Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — President Bush greeted his war commanders with salutes Monday during a surprise visit to a U.S. air base in Iraq's Anbar province. — Air Force One touched down at Al Asad Air Base at 3:43 p.m. (7:43 a.m. EDT) under a blazing sun.
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Bush, Advisers Make Surprise Visit to Iraq — AL ASAD AIRBASE, Anbar Province, Iraq, Sept. 3 — On the eve of major administration decisions on U.S. strategy in Iraq, President Bush, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and top U.S. military leaders including …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Brilliant at Breakfast, Hot Air, The Agonist, AMERICAblog, WTF Is It Now?!? and Corrente


Combat deaths in Iraq decline; reasons aren't clear — WASHINGTON — American combat deaths in Iraq have dropped by half in the three months since the buildup of 28,000 additional U.S. troops reached full strength, surprising analysts and dividing them as to why.

Bush in Iraq — NPR reporting he's landed, enroute to an econmic summit in Australia. Web reports now coming in. — AP: He's in Anbar, landed at Al-Asad. — CNN here, BBC here. More on-air from Beeb, currently reporting he's expected to meet with al-Maliki and Sunni tribal leaders who've joined …


Bush makes war assessment in Iraq — AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - President Bush and his national security team made a first-hand assessment of the war in Iraq and prospects for political reconciliation Monday before a showdown with Congress over the U.S. troop buildup.


Bush Visits Iraq Ahead of Assessment — President Bush and his top national security advisers made a surprise joint visit to Iraq today for talks with Gen. David H. Petraeus and top Iraqi officials a week before the American commander is scheduled to deliver a long-awaited assessment of the situation in Iraq.
Discussion:
Norwegianity

Strong words for America, stern warnings for Mexico — MEXICO CITY - Mexico's president drew a standing ovation from legislators as he chided Americans for new border fences and their "humiliating treatment" of illegal immigrants during his State of the Union speech on Sunday.
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Edwards backs mandatory preventive care — TIPTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care. — "It requires that everybody be covered.
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[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: Snow Job in the Desert — It appears that many influential people in this country have learned nothing from the last five years.

Soldiers evacuate babies from Israeli daycare centre as Islamic Jihad rockets fall — Soldiers scrambled to evacuate babies from a day care center in rocket-scarred Sderot today after a projectile fired by Palestinian militants thudded into the courtyard. — None of the 15 babies at the center was hurt.


WHAT EXIT? FALLUJAH! — JERSEY MARINES DO U.S. PROUD — Jersey rules. The Marines of 1st Platoon, Fox Company, 3rd Battal ion, 3rd Marines aren't living large, but they're making a huge difference. Bunking in a police precinct headquarters in Fallujah, they're at the forward edge of our current successes in Iraq.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
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Report: U.S. workers are most productive — GENEVA - American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year. — They also get more done per hour than everyone …


Chaos in Darfur on Rise as Arabs Fight With Arabs — Some of the same Arab tribes accused of massacring civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan are now unleashing their considerable firepower against one another in a battle over the spoils of war that is killing hundreds of people and displacing tens of thousands.


Transformed By Her Bond With Bush — Rice's Loyalty Brings Power and Pitfalls — It was just two days after President Bush's reelection in 2004, and Condoleezza Rice was planning her move back home to California and to the tranquility of life at Stanford University. — But Bush had other plans.

The Biography As A Comic Book — Slate will serialize the latest biography of Ronald Reagan this week — a "graphic" biography that will appear in five installments. After reading the first installment, I can report that it's everything one would expect from a comic book.