Bush Countdown II

Bush Countdown II

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged Turkey not to carry out cross-border strikes on Kurdish rebels in Iraq, advice shrugged off by lawmakers in Ankara who greenlighted such attacks.

"We are making it very clear to Turkey that we don't think it is in their interests to send troops into Iraq," the embattled US president said, in a mild rebuke to a key US ally in the war-torn country. ......

Saladin.

But bucking angry Chinese objections, the US president staunchly defended his decision to meet with the Dalai Lama and lead an unprecedented official tribute to Tibet's spiritual leader at the US Capitol.

The US president urged China to open talks with the 1989 Nobel Peace laureate, whom Beijing considers a dangerous separatist seeking independence for Tibet.

Bush also downplayed a simmering disagreement with Russia over Iran's nuclear program, while saying that anyone "interested in avoiding World War III" must support efforts to keep Tehran from acquiring atomic weapons.

Bush said that while he and Russian President Vladimir Putin "don't agree on a lot of issues. We do agree on some -- Iran is one" and said he hoped to hear from Putin on his historic trip to Iran.

Bush declined to predict what Putin, who has suggested he may become prime minister after stepping down as president before elections next year, would do, saying he had "no idea" what the Russian leader would do.

The US president also declined to predict whether democratic reforms would survive in Moscow, saying it was difficult "to reprogram the kind of basic Russian DNA, which is a centralized authority."

Even as he spoke, Turkey's parliament brushed aside worries from Washington and Baghdad and overwhelmingly approved possible military strikes on Kurdish separatists like the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, which has struck at targets in Turkey from its bases in northern Iraq, has waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives....

"There's a better way to deal with the issue than having the Turks send ... massive additional troops into the country," said Bush, who noted that Turkey already has forces in Iraq to help US-led efforts.

Turkey says the PKK enjoys free movement in northern Iraq, is tolerated by local Kurdish leaders and obtains weapons and explosives there for attacks across the border in Turkey.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Geoff Morrell said Turkey had "not a great deal of appetite" for a military incursion in Iraq and insisted there was no "rush to war" in Ankara.

Asked why US forces in Iraq did not take on the PKK, which Washington has designated a terrorist organization, Morrell said "there is only so much we can do at one time," citing US efforts against other extremist groups.

Bush also said he was upbeat about a US-sponsored Middle East peace conference, saying that "now is the time" for Israelis and Palestinians to "lay out a vision of what a (Palestinian) state could look like."

Bush Countdown III

Senate and Bush Agree On Terms of Spying Bill - washingtonpost.com: "But conservative Democrats worried about Republicans' charges that the Democratic bill extended too many rights to suspected terrorists. 'There is absolutely no reason our intelligence officials should have to consult government lawyers before listening in to terrorist communications with the likes of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and other foreign terror groups,' said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). The measure 'extends our Constitution beyond American soil to our enemies who want to cut the heads off Americans,' said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.). An adroit Republican parliamentary maneuver ultimately sank the bill. GOP leaders offered a motion that would have sent it back to the House intelligence and Judiciary committees with a requirement that they add language specifying that nothing in the measure would apply to surveilling the communications of bin Laden, al-Qaeda or other foreign terrorist organizations. Approval of the motion would have restarted the legislative process, effectively killing the measure by delay. Democratic leaders scrambled to persuade their members to oppose it, but with Republicans accusing Democrats of being weak on terrorism, a 'no' vote proved too hard to sell, and so the bill was pulled from the floor."
And then there is the idiocy of Bush vetoing the chikd health bill. See the video!