What Caught My Eye Today

Sudan - A federal judge ruled that Sudan is responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole but he needs more time to determine damages for the families of the 17 sailors killed when terrorists bombed the ship in 2000. "There is substantial evidence in this case presented by the expert testimony that the government of Sudan induced the particular bombing of the Cole by virtue of prior actions of the government of Sudan," the judge said. Sudan sought unsuccessfully to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that too much time had passed between the bombing and the filing of the lawsuit in 2004. I don't know much about international law, but I'm not seeing how this ruling is going to have much of an impact on the Sudanese government. How is the ruling supposed to be enforced?

Iraq - Bomb deaths have gone down 30 percent in Baghdad since the U.S.-led security crackdown began a month ago. Execution-style slayings are down by nearly half. The once frequent sound of weapons has been reduced to episodic, and downtown shoppers have returned to outdoor markets. Since the crackdown began, weekly totals have dropped to about 80 bodies--hardly an acceptable figure but clearly a sign that death squads are no longer as active as they were in the final months of last year. I wonder if statistics like this will qualify as the type of 'certification' Congress is trying to get Bush to provide to justify continue military operations in Iraq. If I had to guess, Congress will likely only pay attention to the statistics that bolster it position, rather than the President's. Time will tell.

Congress - Speaking of Congress, the Senate began its first formal debate on the Iraq war since Democrats took control of Congress, taking up a measure calling for President Bush to withdraw combat troops by the end of next March. The White House swiftly issued a veto threat. Let's focus on the positive here. The Senate actually did something. Admittedly, it was just a vote to break a parlimentary roadblock, but it is a start. Next up, actual legistlation. Yeah, so like I don't think I'm going to hold my breath on this one.

Bush - President Bush said he is troubled by the Justice Department's misleading explanations to Congress of why it fired eight U.S. attorneys and expected his attorney general to fix them. Bush said he stood by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales amid calls for his ouster. "Mistakes were made. And I'm frankly not happy about them," Bush said. Is he unhappy that mistakes were made or unhappy that the mistake was getting caught in the first place. He wasn't exactly specific was he?

Britain - Britain's parliament is expected to approve a new nuclear arsenal on Wednesday but British Prime Minister Tony Blair may have to rely on opposition votes to push his plans through. Blair is due to step down in the next few months and is convinced Britain needs to renew its nuclear deterrent. Blair dismissed opponents' arguments that Britain is undermining hopes for international nuclear disarmament by buying a new generation of nuclear missiles. "There is absolutely no evidence whatever that if Britain now renounced its independent nuclear deterrent that would improve the prospects of getting multilateral disarmament ... I think the reverse is the case," he told parliament. This probably isn't going to help dispel the perception that Blair does whatever Bush tells him to do. I'm not saying the dude is wrong, but this certainly isn't going to win him any popularity contests.