U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan guerrilla war can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Taliban and their supporters into the Afghan government.

He said the only way to win in places like Qalat is to "assimilate people who call themselves Taliban into a larger, more representative government."


British troops in secret truce with the Taliban

BRITISH troops battling the Taliban are to withdraw from one of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan after agreeing a secret deal with the local people.

Over the past two months British soldiers have come under sustained attack defending a remote mud-walled government outpost in the town of Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan. Eight have been killed there.

It has now been agreed the troops will quietly pull out of Musa Qala in return for the Taliban doing the same.


Iraq lawmakers extend state of emergency

The U.S command said Monday that three American Marines died in Iraq's western Anbar province on Saturday two in combat and the third in a vehicle accident. With their deaths, at least 73 American service members died in Iraq in September making it the second deadliest month this year, after April when at least 76 died.

The attack on the Shat Al-Arab hotel in Basra came Sunday afternoon, Burbridge said. Fifteen mortar shells were fired at the compound and three landed inside.


Iraq: the week the truth was told (except by Tony Blair)

President George Bush is forced to release a secret US intelligence report that says the Iraq war has increased the threat of terrorism. An MoD think-tank, aided by MI6, says the Iraq war has served as a "recruiting sergeant" for extremists in the Muslim world. Former foreign secretary Jack Straw tells Question Time the situation in Iraq is "dire" because of Bush's mistakes.
 

Military service by prominent Republicans:

George W. Bush - Texas National Guard, went AWOL twice, released from service contract.
Dick Cheney - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Joe Lieberman - avoided the draft, did not serve
John McCain, Senator (AZ) - Navy, the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
John Ashcroft, Attorney General - did not serve.
Colin Powell. Secretary of State, General. US Army
Don Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense - served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor.
Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Tom Delay, House Majority Leader - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Roy Blunt, House Majority Whip (MO) - did not serve
Dick Armey, Former House Majority Leader - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader (TN) - did not serve.
Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Whip (KY) - did not serve.
Rick Santorum, Senator (PA) - did not serve. (1)
Trent Lott, Senator, Former Senate Majority Leader (MS) - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Jeb Bush, Governor - did not serve.
Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the House - avoided the draft, did not serve.
Bill Bennett - did not serve.
Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court Justice - did not serve.
Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice - did not serve.
Ken Starr - did not serve.
Phil Gramm, Senator. - did not serve.
Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense - did not serve.
Spencer Abraham, Secretary of Energy - did not serve.
Henry Hyde, Representative (IL) - did not serve.
Jack Kemp - did not serve.
Don Nickles, Senator (OK) - did not serve.
J. C. Watts, Representative (OK) - did not serve.
Bill Simon - did not serve.
Saxby Chambliss - did not serve.


Republican preachers and pundits

P. J. O'Rourke (author of Give War a Chance) - did not serve.
Bill Kristol - did not serve.
Bill O'Reilly - did not serve.
Sean Hannity - did not serve.
Wolf Blitzer - did not serve.
David Horowitz - did not serve.
Mike Savage - did not serve.
George Will - did not serve.
Ralph Reed - did not serve.
Jerry Falwell - did not serve.
Gary Bauer - did not serve.
Alan Keyes - did not serve.
Roger Ailes - did not serve.


Military service by prominent Democrats:

Bill Clinton - did not serve.
Al Gore - enlisted August 1969; sent to Vietnam January 1971.
Wesley Clark - General, US Army.
Tom Daschle, Senate Minority Leader - 1st Lt., U.S. Air Force SAC 1969-72 .
Tom Harkin, Senator (IA) - Lt., U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74. (1, 2)
Fritz Hollings, Senator (SC) - served as a U.S. Army officer in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
Daniel Inouye, Senator - US Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, World War Two.
Ted Kennedy, Senator (MA) - U.S. Army, 1951-1953.
John Kerry, Senator - Lt., U.S. Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat.
Jack Reed, Senator (RI) - U.S. Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91 (1)
Max Cleland, Senator - Captain, U.S. Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam
Bob Kerrey, Senator - Lt. j.g., U.S. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
Richard Gephardt, former House Minority Leader - Missouri Air National Guard, 1965-71.
David Bonior, Representative (MI) - Former House Minority Whip - Staff Sgt., Air Force, 1968-72
Mike Thompson, Representative (CA) - Staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, U.S. Army; was wounded and received a Purple Heart.
Pete Stark, Representative (CA) - served in the Air Force 1955-57
Jack Murtha, Representative (PA) - Marine, volunteered for Vietnam, serving from 1966 to 1967. He served as a battalion staff officer (S-2 Intelligence Section), received the Bronze Star with Valor, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He retired from the Reserves as a colonel in 1990, receiving the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.
 

Leadership...

Flanked by about 30 children of supporters and as many parents, Reynolds defended his actions at a news conference late Monday in Amherst.

When a reporter suggested to Reynolds that the children step outside in order to have a frank discussion of the sexually charged case, Reynolds declined.

"It's astounding to me as a parent or a grandparent that anyone would insinuate that I would seek to cover up inappropriate conduct between an adult and a child," Reynolds said.
 

Hastert issued a written statement as Majority Leader John Boehner said the speaker had assured him months ago the matter had been taken care of. "It's in his corner. It's his responsibility," Boehner, R-Ohio, said in an interview

Top soldier quits as blundering campaign turns into 'pointless' war

Worried CIA Officers Buy Legal Insurance
Plans Fund Defense In Anti-Terror Cases


The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country's western Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there