Representative John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, said that the Iraq war is a is a “leading cause” of the United State’s recent economic troubles. The Iraq war cost “more than half-a-trillion dollars,” money that he said could and should be used on problems within the United States and not wasted on the improgress associated with the Iraq war effort. “Across America, our roads and bridges are crumbling and are in desperate need of repair, yet taxpayer dollars are being squandered on an Iraqi government that is riddled with waste, fraud and corruption…The cost of one month in Iraq could extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which the president vetoed, to 10 million children of working families for a full year,” he said.

Former United States President Jimmy Carter said that he will likely meet with the militant group Hamas during a trip to Syria. “It’s likely that I will be meeting with the Hamas leaders,” Carter told ABC News.

He says he hopes for cooperation from Hamas in pushing forward the Israeli peace initiative.

The decision was not taken in warmly by Israeli leaders, who said that they have no plans to meet with him during his trip to the mideast.

U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Israel on Jan. 9, for his first trip during his presidency. The reason for the trip is to promote peace talks he initiated for the region late last year. During their discussion, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert mentioned that Israel does will tolerate attacks on it’s civilians. “And we made it clear to everyone that we’ll take all the necessary measures in order to reach out for those who are responsible for these attacks, and we will not hesitate to take all the necessary measures in order to stop them.” Olmert stated that if the attacks continue, Israel will not be able to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians. “As long as there will be terror from Gaza it will be very, very hard to reach any peaceful understanding between us and the Palestinians.” President Bush said that the new talks presented an “opportunity to spread freedom as a great alternative to their ideology,” referring to terrorism by extremists and radicals, and to build “a society based upon human rights and human dignity, a society in which every man, woman and child is free.”

Bush stated:
I believe that two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace is in the best interests of America and the world. I believe it’s in the long-term security interests of Israel, and I know, to provide a more hopeful society for the Palestinians. And that’s why I articulated this vision early in my presidency. And that’s why I’m so pleased to have — to watch two leaders, you and President Abbas, work hard to achieve that vision.

The leaders also discussed the Iranian threat, with Bush saying that “Iran is a threat to world peace…and Iran will be a threat if the international community does not come together and prevent that nation from the development of the know-how to build a nuclear weapon. A country which once had a secret program can easily restart a secret program.

Israeli media is reporting that for the first time during his presidency, George W. Bush plans to visit Israel. The visit is supposedly scheduled for mid-January. The visit has not yet been confirmed by government officials. He is planning on visiting the leaders of Israel and leaders of the Palestinian Authority. The visit will be to further the ongoing peace talks, which were initiated recently in Annapolis, Maryland.

President Bush invited Israel and the Palestinian leaders to a meeting on November 27 in an attempt to launch peace talks for the creation of a Palestinian state. Although Bush is set to leave office in just 14 months, he obviously still feels obligated to see that this issue reaches a resolution. Dozens of countries, particularly those neighboring Israel, are to send over 100 delegates and representatives to the meeting to provide political leverage to both sides. Saudi Arabia was also asked to attend. The meeting will take place in Annapolis, Maryland. This is the first new series of negotiations to take place since the year 2000.

On Friday, senate Republicans blocked a bill from passing which would have given President George W. Bush only a small portion of the $196 Billion he requested for the War on Terror, and would have set December of 2008 as a goal for withdrawal of U.S soldiers from Iraq. The bill only received 53 out of the required 60 votes, with 43 votes against it, only two of which were from Democratic Senators. This was just one of many failed attempts to set a date for Iraq troop withdrawal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion — roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee. more…

Via AP / USA Today > 

AFP is reporting that during a visit Tuesday by Israeli President Ehud Olmert, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that Britain “will push for further sanctions against Iran.” He voiced his support for the United Nations on their standoff with Iran. This is the Olmert’s first visit with the British Prime Minister since he took over Tony Blair’s position in June. The stance against Iran’s nuclear program has drawn cheers from many Western nations. “We take this seriously, we are determined on our course,” he asserted.

We’ve received word that a bunch of activist organizations are planning to hold a national “Stop Iran” rally in New York City. The message is: “Ahmadinejad is coming to the UN. Will you?” Also, “He funds and supports terror around the world. He wants a world without the US and Israel. He is developing nuclear weapons. He denies the Holocaust.”

Time: The rally is set to take place on Monday, September 24th at 12 o’clock noon.

Place: 2nd Avenue at 42nd street, across the street from the United Nations. In NYC.

The Pentagon announced that it can’t account for about 190,000 AK-47 rifles and pistols that were given to Iraq security forces in 2004 and 2005. The Government Accountability Office said in a report released on July 31 that the Defense Department is also missing 135,000 body armor items and 115,000 helmets. There are concerns of a possibility that some of the weapons might have accidentally fallen into the hands of Iraqi insurgents, but that has not been confirmed. The Pentagon says that this is probably a result of poor record keeping, and promises is improve it’s tracking. The Government Accountability Office said that proper records were not kept due to the need to rapidly equip Iraqi force.

Read>