U.S. war costs in Iraq rising

January 23, 2008
U.S. war costs in Iraq rising

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Iraq war may not dominate U.S. news reports as the carnage drops, but a new report underscores the financial burden of persistent combat that is helping run up the government's credit card.

"Funding for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other activities in the war on
terrorism expanded significantly in 2007," the Congressional Budget Office said in a report
released on Wednesday.

War funding, which averaged about $93 billion a year from 2003 through 2005, rose to $120
billion in 2006 and $171 billion in 2007 and President George W. Bush has asked for $193 billion
in 2008, the nonpartisan office wrote.

Mukasey Won't Comment on Waterboarding

January 29, 2008
Mukasey Won't Comment on Waterboarding

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday he will refuse to publicly say whether the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding is illegal, digging in against critics who want the Bush administration to define it as torture.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, Mukasey said he has finished a review of Justice Department memos about the CIA's current methods of interrogating terror suspects and finds them to be lawful. He said waterboarding currently is not used by the spy agency.

Tom Ridge: Waterboarding Is Torture

January 18, 2008
Tom Ridge: Waterboarding Is Torture

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first secretary of the Homeland Security Department says
waterboarding is torture.

"There's just no doubt in my mind — under any set of rules — waterboarding is
torture," Tom Ridge said Friday in an interview with the Associated Press. Ridge had offered the
same opinion earlier in the day to members of the American Bar Association at a homeland security
conference.

John Negroponte: U.S. used waterboarding

January 28, 2008
John Negroponte: U.S. used waterboarding

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States used waterboarding in terrorism interrogations but no longer does, a former U.S. spy chief said in the Bush administration's clearest confirmation of the technique's use.

U.S. officials have been reluctant to acknowledge the CIA's use of the simulated drowning technique, which human rights groups call an illegal form of torture.

The remarks by former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte in an interview with National Journal magazine come as senators are expected on Wednesday to grill Attorney General Michael Mukasey on a promised review of the legality of interrogation methods.

Foreclosures up 75% in 2007

January 29, 2008
Foreclosures up 75% in 2007

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of foreclosures soared in 2007, with 405,000 households losing their home, according to a report released Tuesday.

Total foreclosure filings soared 97% in December alone compared with December of 2006, according to RealtyTrac, an online seller of foreclosure properties. For the year, total filings - which include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions - grew 75%.

Nevada had top foreclosure rate in 2007

January 29, 2008
Nevada had top foreclosure rate in 2007

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The number of U.S. homes that slipped into some stage of foreclosure in 2007 was 79 percent higher than in the previous year, a real estate tracking company said Tuesday. Many homeowners started to fall behind on mortgage payments in the last three months, setting the stage for more foreclosures this year.

About 1.3 million homes received foreclosure-related warnings last year, up from 717,522 in 2006, Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc. said. Foreclosure filings rose 75 percent from the previous year to 2.2 million.

FISA Law Undermines Democracy

January 26, 2008
FISA Law Undermines Democracy

The House has passed a reasonable new bill — fixing FISA without further endangering civil liberties. But Mr. Bush wants to weaken FISA as much as he can. And the Senate leadership has been only too happy to oblige.

With the help of Republican senators and the misguided chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller, the White House got a bill that, once again, reduces court supervision of wiretapping. It also adds immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with the illegal spying.

Mr. Bush says without amnesty, the government won't get cooperation in the future. We don't buy it. The real aim is to make sure the full story of the illegal wiretapping never comes out in court.

Housing prices to free fall in 2008

January 23, 2008
Housing prices to free fall in 2008

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The worst housing financial crisis in decades is only going to get worse, a Merrill Lynch report said Wednesday.

The investment bank forecasted a 15 percent drop in housing prices in 2008 and a further 10 percent drop in 2009, with even more depreciation likely in 2010.

By contrast, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) expects housing prices to remain flat in 2008. NAR did cut its home price estimate for the current quarter, however, to a 5.3 percent year-over-year decline, which represents the steepest drop in that price measure on record. But NAR sees an uptick in home prices in the last two quarters of 2008.

U.S. budget deficit likely to hit $250 billion

January 23, 2008
U.S. budget deficit likely to hit $250 billion

WASHINGTON - The overall U.S. budget deficit could hit $350 billion this year, largely due to a weakening economy and the costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Congressional Budget Office and a top Senate official.

The non-partisan CBO says that once the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is added to its "baseline" deficit estimate of $219 billion, the deficit would be about $250 billion.

Hurt GIs' medical status altered

January 29, 2008
Hurt GIs' medical status altered

COLORADO SPRINGS — Army Staff Sgt. Jack Auble was in the process of being medically discharged after serving nearly 20 years in the military when he was sent to Baghdad last year.

Auble, 43, suffers from severe osteoporosis of the spine, bulging discs and compression fractures.

Auble had a "permanent" profile, meaning his condition would not improve, and because of his limitations, he did not meet the Army's retention standards.

Nevertheless, Auble's medical paperwork was changed. He received a new, "temporary" status, used to indicate his condition would improve, and he was redeployed. He said he was not re-examined by a medical professional at Fort Drum, N.Y., before receiving a new profile.

Army recruits with diplomas hit 25-year low

January 23, 2008
Army recruits with diplomas hit 25-year low

WASHINGTON - The share of Army recruits with a high school diploma - which has shown to be a key indicator of future success in the military - dropped more than 12 percent between 2005 and 2007, reaching a 25-year low, according to an analysis of government data published yesterday.

The percentage of Army enlistees who joined the service with a high school diploma went from almost 84 percent in 2005 to less than 71 percent last year, according to the analysis by the nonprofit National Priorities Project.

The data also revealed a steep decline in what the Army considers "high-quality" recruits, an assessment based on a combination of their education levels and scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test; in fiscal year 2005, for example, 56 percent of enlistees were designated by the Army as high quality, while last year 45 percent were, the analysis found.

The foolishness of economic 'stimulus'

January 24, 2008
The foolishness of economic 'stimulus'

Fairfax, Va. - A consensus is building that America's economy is sliding – perhaps plummeting – into recession. In December the unemployment rate jumped to 5.0 percent, up 3/10ths of 1 percent from its November level. And of course investors are now growlingly bearish.

To no one's surprise, politicians are rushing in with various plans for helping the economy. Most of these plans involve "stimulus." The calls are loud to put more money into the hands of ordinary Americans in hopes that they will spend – not save – it, thereby boosting the overall economy.

Army Effort to Retain Captains Falls Short of Goal

January 26, 2008
Army Effort to Retain Captains Falls Short of Goal

WASHINGTON -- An expensive Army effort to retain young officers with big cash bonuses has fallen short of its target, underscoring the military's continuing struggle to recruit and keep troops.

The program persuaded 11,933 captains to commit to additional Army service, short of the 14,184 goal. The military will pay out more than $349 million in bonuses to the officers who took the incentives.

All told, 67.6% of those eligible for the program -- which offered officers cash bonuses of as much as $35,000, the ability to choose their next assignment or military-funded graduate school -- agreed to serve an additional one to three years in the Army. The military had hoped that 80.5% of the eligible captains would extend their time in the Army.

Australian minister says country withdrawing Iraq troops

January 25, 2008

Australian minister says country withdrawing Iraq troops

NEW YORK - Australia's new foreign minister said Friday that though the "very strong alliance" between his country and the United States transcends political changes his new government will proceed with plans to withdraw troops from Iraq this year.

"We want to do that in a way which sees minimal disruption, which causes the least inconvenience to our allies there, both the United States and the United Kingdom," Stephen Smith said Friday in New York.

Four decades of GOP deficits

January 26, 2008
Four decades of GOP deficits

Since Nixon-Ford, the big spenders haven't been Democrats

Fiscal conservatives are right when they say that a leaner government is good for the economy -- if by "lean" they mean a government that operates within its means: The more government borrows, the less money there is for the private sector to invest.

That's not to say that government borrowing is bad in and of itself. Sometimes deficit spending is necessary, even wise, if used to pull an economy out of recession or to power it forward. In that sense, deficit spending is like a business borrowing to expand, or an individual borrowing to earn a degree that'll bring its own rewards. The problem is when deficit spending becomes a deliberate substitute for wise economic policy -- when it's used to bankroll an ideology rather than improve the national economy.

The Top 100 Private Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan

January 2008
The Top 100 Private Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan

KBR, Inc., the global engineering and construction giant, won more than $16 billion in U.S. government contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004 to 2006—far more than any other company, according to a new analysis by the Center for Public Integrity. In fact, the total dollar value of contracts that went to KBR—which used to be known as Kellogg, Brown, and Root and until April 2007 was a subsidiary of Halliburton—was nearly nine times greater than those awarded to DynCorp International, a private security firm that is No. 2 on the Center's list of the top 100 recipients of Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction funds.

Another private security company, Blackwater USA, whose employees recently killed as many as 17 Iraqi civilians in what the Iraqi government alleges was an unprovoked attack, is 12th on the list of companies and joint ventures, with $485 million in contracts. (On November 14, the New York Times reported that FBI investigators have concluded that 14 of the 17 shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, and that Justice Department prosecutors are weighing whether to seek indictments.) First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting, which immediately precedes Blackwater on the Top 100, came under fire in July after a pair of whistleblowers told a House committee that the company essentially "kidnapped" low-paid foreign laborers brought in to help build the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad. First Kuwaiti and the U.S. State Department denied the charges.