Washington Stalemate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress retreated Friday from the world's biggest environmental concern — global warming — in a fresh demonstration of what happens when nature and business collide, especially in an election year. It was no contest. A bill the Senate was debating would put a price on carbon emissions, targeting "greenhouse gases" that contribute to the warming that many scientists say could dramatically change the Earth. Opponents wanted to talk about higher gasoline prices. And higher taxes. That kind of talk spooks Washington.

Senate Democratic leaders couldn't overcome Republican opponents who managed to block the most serious effort in Congress to date to address the warming of the planet. The legislation called for cutting greenhouse gases by 71% from power plants, refineries and factories over the next 40 years. The opponents first filibustered the bill, requiring supporters to get 60 votes, and at the same time attacked it on a gut issue making daily headlines: gasoline prices that have surged past $4 a gallon in many parts of the country. "At the beginning of the summer driving season (you) offer a bill that would send gas prices up another 53 cents a gallon for goodness sake," Republican leader Mitch McConnell needled the Democratic majority. "This is a massive tax increase on the American people," proclaimed Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who is among Congress' dwindling skeptics when it comes to global warming, having once called it all a hoax..

Washington Mea Culpa

WASHINGTON — The Air Force's top two officials resigned under fire Thursday following a report that criticized the service for "an overall decline in nuclear weapons stewardship." Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, in his resignation letter, acknowledged a new report by Adm. Kirkland Donald that criticized the service for an incident in which nuclear warhead fuses were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan. In another incident in August, Air Force personnel unwittingly flew nuclear weapons across the country. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley said events "highlighted a loss of focus on certain critical matters" in his resignation letter and concluded that the "honorable thing to do is to step aside." Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters he accepted the resignations based solely on the report's findings and called guarding nuclear weapons the Air Force's "most sensitive mission." "We needed a change of leadership to bring a new perspective and especially to underscore the importance of accountability," Gates said.

Washington Deception

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new Senate report gives a fresh shot of adrenaline to the election-year debate over the Iraq war. President Bush and his top officials deliberately misrepresented secret intelligence to make the case to invade Iraq, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The panel put a new spin on old charges, comparing claims made in five speeches by top Bush administration officials with intelligence reports. The committee says officials wrongly linked Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11 attacks and al-Qaeda; claimed Iraq would give terrorist groups chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, and said Iraq was developing drone aircraft to spread chemical or biological agents over the United States. None was borne out by intelligence.

The report released Thursday follows, by years, an earlier committee effort that assessed the quality of pre-war intelligence on Iraq and found it severely lacking. This report is known as "phase II" and spawned a nasty partisan fight in the committee. It plows well-tread political ground by contrasting what Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said between October 2002 and March 2003, when the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began, with intelligence reports that since have been released. According to the committee's chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va, the problem was the Bush administration concealed information that would have undermined the case for war. "We might have avoided this catastrophe," he said. Bush's press secretary, Dana Perino, said the problem was flawed intelligence heading into the war. "We had the intelligence that we had, fully vetted, but it was wrong. And we certainly regret that," she said.

Washington Deception

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new Senate report gives a fresh shot of adrenaline to the election-year debate over the Iraq war. President Bush and his top officials deliberately misrepresented secret intelligence to make the case to invade Iraq, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The panel put a new spin on old charges, comparing claims made in five speeches by top Bush administration officials with intelligence reports. The committee says officials wrongly linked Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11 attacks and al-Qaeda; claimed Iraq would give terrorist groups chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, and said Iraq was developing drone aircraft to spread chemical or biological agents over the United States. None was borne out by intelligence.

The report released Thursday follows, by years, an earlier committee effort that assessed the quality of pre-war intelligence on Iraq and found it severely lacking. This report is known as "phase II" and spawned a nasty partisan fight in the committee. It plows well-tread political ground by contrasting what Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said between October 2002 and March 2003, when the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began, with intelligence reports that since have been released. According to the committee's chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va, the problem was the Bush administration concealed information that would have undermined the case for war. "We might have avoided this catastrophe," he said. Bush's press secretary, Dana Perino, said the problem was flawed intelligence heading into the war. "We had the intelligence that we had, fully vetted, but it was wrong. And we certainly regret that," she said.