House Democratic leaders circulated a nonbinding resolution Monday saying that Congress "disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush ... to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq." The measure, expected to come to a vote by Friday, also says that "Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States armed forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq."
President Bush said Monday that free-trade policies making it easier for U.S. companies to sell their products around the globe are an important ingredient to the economy's vitality. Bush projected another year of good -- though somewhat slower -- economic growth.
The Australian prime minister on Monday denied having a political motive when he said terrorists in Iraq would be praying for Democratic hopeful Barack Obama to become U.S. president. John Howard, a supporter of President Bush in the Iraq war, insisted his criticism of Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. combat troops in Iraq by March 31, 2008, was in Australia's national interest because Obama's plan would represent a defeat for Australia's most important military ally.
Three car bombs ripped apart a crowded marketplace Monday in a Shiite neighborhood in central Baghdad, setting off secondary explosions and killing at least 71 people, police said. A suicide bombing nearby killed at least nine. The blasts shattered the city center on the first anniversary, according to the Muslim lunar calendar, of the bombing last year of the important Shiite Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, north of the capital.
The snow just won't stop. Intense lake-effect snow squalls that buried communities along eastern Lake Ontario for nine straight days diminished Sunday -- then started up again early Monday. Unofficially, the squalls have dumped 12 feet, 2 inches of snow at Redfield. If accurate, that would break the state record of 10 feet, 7 inches of snow that fell in nearby Montague over seven days ending Jan. 1, 2002.
