Senior U.S. military officials presented their first public evidence for the assertion that Iran is supplying Shiite extremists in Iraq with lethal weapons.
By this point, the basic details of the biography of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, are well known (and examined here). With only two years of experience in the Senate, his record is just developing, though he has put forward a number of bills and resolutions and is proving himself an effective coalition builder, cosponsoring initiatives with Republicans. Obama, 45, seems to be acting on the ideas espoused in his bestselling book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.
The 1992 election of Carol Moseley Braun brought three more firsts: the first female African-American senator, the first female senator from Illinois, and the first black to be elected senator as a Democrat. "That last part is what surprises people the most," the former senator says, laughing, in a telephone conversation from Chicago, where she recently launched Ambassador Organics, a line of organic foods named in honor of her appointment, from 1999 to 2001, as ambassador to New Zealand, Samoa, and the Cook Islands.
When Edward William Brooke III ran for senator from Massachusetts in 1966, it was a first in more ways than one. He was the first elected black attorney general of a state, trying to become the first black senator elected by popular vote. And he succeeded in a state whose population was less than 3 percent black.
AP - Pentagon chief Robert Gates vowed Monday that the United States will not neglect Pakistan and will work with the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to combat the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
AP - This village in upstate New York's snowbelt gets a lot of snowfall during the winter, but last week's total — more than 11 feet, unofficially — might be an all-time record.
AP - U.S. military officials on Sunday accused the highest levels of the Iranian leadership of arming Shiite militants in Iraq with sophisticated armor-piercing roadside bombs that have killed more than 170 troops from the American-led coalition.
The Dixie Chicks, shunned by country radio after singer Natalie Maines slammed President Bush, were the big winners at tonight's Grammys, taking home five trophies. It was also a big night for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who picked up four awards, and Mary J. Blige, who won three. Double award winners were John Mayer, T.I. and Ludacris.
The U.S. military today presented evidence it says shows an elite Iranian force under the command of Iran's supreme leader is behind bombings that have killed at least 170 U.S. troops in Iraq. The officials focused on EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators, as evidence that Iran is involved in arming Iraqi insurgents. EFPs can punch through heavily armored vehicles.
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