A8 Friday, March 30, 2007

NATIONAL

The Hutchinson News

Dems, Bush ready to battle Recognition thats long overdue

BY DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON A defiant, Democratic-controlled Senate approved legislation Thursday calling for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq within a year, propelling Congress closer to an epic, wartime veto confrontation with President Bush. The 51-47 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of a separate, more sweeping challenge to Bushs war policies a week ago, fell far short of the twothirds margin needed to overturn the presidents threatened veto. It came not long after Bush and House Republicans made a show of uni-

ty at the White House. With passage of this bill, the Senate sends a clear message to the president that we must take the war in Iraq in a new direction. Setting a goal for getting most of our troops out of Iraq is not not, not cutting and running, said Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W .Va., shortly before the vote. Passage cleared the way for negotiations on a compromise with the House. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky rebutted quickly . Nothing good can come from this bill, he said. Its loaded with pork that has no relation to our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it includes a deadline for evacuation that amounts to sending a Save the Date card to al-Qaida.

Several blocks away , the commander in chief stood with Republican House members and told reporters they were united. We expect there to be no strings on our commanders, and that we expect the Congress to be wise about how they spend the peoples money , he said. In private, Bush was more emphatic, according to participants at a closed-door session in the White House East Room with the GOP rank and file. He said he will veto a bill that comes to his desk with too many strings attached or too much spending, said one official in attendance, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed to the press.

Tuskegee Airmen get their due from D.C. some 60-plus years after their heroic World War II feats
BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE
The Associated Press

Ex-aide rebukes Gonzales claims

BY LARA JAKES JORDAN
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was briefed regularly over two years on the firings of federal prosecutors, his former top aide said Thursday , disputing Gonzales claims he was aware of the dismissals from afar and newly undercutting his already shaky credibility . Gonzales and former White House counsel Harriet Miers made the final decision on whether to fire the U.S. attorneys last year, said Kyle Sampson, the attorney generals former chief of staff. I dont think the attorney generals statement that he was not involved in any discussions of U.S. attorney removals was accurate, Sampson told a Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry into whether the dismissals were politically motivated. I remember discussing with him this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign, Sampson said. Sampsons testimony , for the first time, put Gonzales at the heart of the firings amid everchanging Justice Department accounts of how they were planned. Gonzales has said, repeatedly , that he was not closely involved in the firings and largely depended on Sampson to orchestrate them.

Sampson resigned March 12. A day later, Gonzales said he never saw documents. We never had a discussion about where things stood in the firings. The White House stepped back from defending Gonzales even before Sampson finished testifying. Im going to have to let the attorney general speak for himself, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said as Sampson entered his third hour in front of senators. Perino made it clear that Gonzales needs to explain himself to Congress and quickly . The attorney general is not scheduled to appear publicly on Capitol Hill until April 17.

I agree three weeks is a long time, Perino said. The Justice Department did not have an immediate comment about Sampsons testimony . A growing number of Democrats and Republicans have called for Gonzales to step down. Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Thursday the attorney general has no plans to resign. Senate committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy , D-Vt., stopped short of calling for Gonzales ouster. But Leahy reminded a reporter Thursday , I voted against him, when the Senate confirmed the Gonzales as the nations top law enforcer in 2005.

WASHINGTON President Bush saluted the Tuskegee Airmen on Thursday , six decades after they completed their World War II mission and returned home to a country that discriminated against them because they were black. Even the Nazis asked why African American men would fight for a country that treated them so unfairly , President Bush told the group of legendary black aviators, who received a Congressional Gold Medal the most prestigious Congress has to offer. These men in our presence felt a special sense of urgency . They were fighting two wars. One was in Europe and the other took place in the hearts and minds of our citizens. Bush then saluted the airmen, saying he wanted to offer the gesture to help atone for all the unreturned salutes and unforgivable indignities they endured. Bush, members of Congress and other dignitaries joined some 300 airmen, widows and other relatives for the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda. Hours ahead of the event, Tuskegee Airmen some walking with the aid of canes, others pushed in wheelchairs flooded Capitol hallways on their way to being recognized for their long-ago heroism. Its never too late for your country to say that youve done a great job for us, retired Col. Elmer D. Jones, 89, of Arlington, Va., said. Jones was a maintenance officer during the war. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the highest-ranking black member of Congress, echoed McCrearys sentiment. Many of the Tuskegee Airmen also trained at Walterboro Army Airfield in his congressional district. The Tuskegee Airmen were recruited into an Army Air Corps program that trained blacks to fly and maintain combat aircraft. President Roosevelt had overruled his top generals and ordered that such a program be created. But even after they were admitted, many commanders continued to believe the Tuskegee Airmen didnt have the smarts, courage and

Associated Press

President Bush salutes members of the Tuskegee Airmen Thursday at a ceremony at the White House.
patriotism to do what was being asked of them. Nearly 1,000 fighter pilots trained as a segregated unit at a Tuskegee, Ala., air base. Not allowed to practice or fight with their white counterparts, the Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves from the rest by painting the tails of their airplanes red, which led to them becoming known as the Red Tails. Hundreds saw combat throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, escorting bomber aircraft on missions and protecting them from the enemy . Dozens died in the fighting; others were held prisoners of war. It long had been thought that the Tuskegee Airmen had amassed a perfect record of losing no bombers to the enemy during World War II. But new research has cast doubt on that theory .

Briefs
from wire service reports

Dems budget plan gets through House, with caveat

WASHINGTON House Democrats pushed their budget blueprint to passage Thursday , promising a big surplus in five years by allowing tax cuts passed in President Bushs first term to expire. The plan would award spending increases next year to both the Pentagon and domestic programs, but defers difficult decisions about unsustainable growth in federal benefit programs such as Medicare. The 216-210 vote sets up negotiations with the Senate, which last week passed a budget blueprint with spending increases similar to the House plan. The Senate plan would not generate surpluses since it assumes lawmakers will renew the most popular of the tax cuts due to expire at the end of 2010. Twelve Democrats, mostly from GOP-leaning states such as Indiana, opposed the budget plan.

Man confesses to trying to silence witness to shooting

NEW YORK A man has confessed to trying to stop a lastminute witness from testifying before a grand jury probe investigating the police shooting of a bridegroom on his wedding day , officials said Thursday . Police said Melvin Cordero admitted to them that he warned the witness he could be deported and he was going to be arrested and fired if he cooperated. Cordero, 46, was arraigned Thursday on charges of intimidating a witness, coercion and witness tampering. Bail was set at $5,000. Authorities said Cordero was a supervisor for a cleaning service that also employed the witness, whose identity has not been disclosed. Cordero, a convicted drug dealer, allegedly told investigators he feared the cleaning company might find out about his own criminal record if the witness came forward.