Iraq, Iran, Bush Budget

    Due to technical problems, posting at this sight will more than likely be minimal. I'm having to upgrade my operating system and since it is a Microsoft product, I am sure that there will be problems.

   However, problems or not, I should be back to normal within a few hours. I will be posting from a different computer but since it doesn't have the software that I work with, this will be time consuming.

   Those of you who have dealt with this kind of crap, know how annoying it can be!

   Here's a short version of the news today, without my usual comments added.

Associated Press:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms seized an Iranian diplomat as he drove through central Baghdad, officials said Tuesday.
Iran said it held the United States responsible for the diplomat's "safety and life."

One Iraqi government official said the Iranian diplomat was detained Sunday by an Iraqi army unit that reports directly to the U.S. military. A military spokesman denied any U.S. troops or Iraqis that report to them were involved.

WaPo:

Tuesday, February 6, 2007; 8:08 AM

LONDON, Feb. 6 -- Dramatic cockpit video leaked to a British newspaper shows a distraught American pilot in Iraq saying he fears he'll be imprisoned after mistakenly firing on and killing a British soldier.

"We're in jail, dude," the pilot can be heard saying to his co-pilot after the "friendly-fire" incident on March 28, 2003. Neither pilot, however, has been court-martialed, an Air Force spokesman told the Associated Press.

McClatchy:

Posted on Mon, Feb. 05, 2007

WASHINGTON - Highlights of President Bush's proposed fiscal 2008 budget:

-$2.9 trillion total, a 4.2 percent increase over this year.

-$93.4 billion more for war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2007; another $141.7 billion for war costs in fiscal 2008. To date Congress has enacted $426.8 billion for war costs. This request would drive the total to $661.9 billion through fiscal 2008. Another $50 billion is marked as a placeholder for fiscal 2009.

-$624.6 billion for defense.

-$36.6 billion for medical care for U.S. veterans, up 83 percent since 2001. Includes $3 billion for improved mental health services.

-Making his first-term tax reductions permanent, costing the Treasury $1.6 trillion over 10 years.

-Cutting $66 billion from projected Medicare costs over five years by slowing the growth of payments to health-care providers and charging wealthy beneficiaries higher premiums. Medicare spending still would grow at a 6.7 percent annual rate rather than a now-projected 7.4 percent annual rate.

-Cutting projected Medicaid spending by $25 billion over five years.

-Eliminating or sharply reducing funding for 141 other programs to save $12 billion over five years.

-Deficits of $239 billion in fiscal 2008, down from $244 billion this year and $248 billion in 2006.

-Balancing the budget by fiscal 2012.

 

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