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Inhofe ‘excited’ by attempted attack on his plane in Iraq.
After his plane was forced to take evasive maneuvers to avoid rocket-propelled grenades while taking off from Baghdad, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said “he watched through the window as the grenades exploded near the plane. He said he felt the blasts.” Asked if he was frightened, Inhofe responded, “Not a bit. I was kind of [...]

Rove ‘overcome with emotion’ on his last day.
CNN reports: Karl Rove was nearly overcome with emotion Friday as colleagues privately paid tribute to the political adviser as he leaves the White House, senior officials say.At the closed-door senior staff meeting at 7:30 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room, Rove was surprised with a slide show of photos chronicling his nearly seven years at [...]

Commanders convey concern about troop strain to Bush.
Today, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke to President Bush about their growing conern of the “strain on troops and their families from long and repeated combat tours.” Currently, many U.S. soldiers are serving 15-month tours of duty with just 12 months at home.

Craig to announce ‘future plans’ tomorrow.
AP is reporting that Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) will announce whether or not he intends to resign tomorrow. “daho Gov. C.L. ‘Butch’ Otter already appears to have settled on a successor - Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations.”

Bush’s Legacy Under Tony Snow: All-Time Low Poll Numbers, Legislative Defeats
When Tony Snow took over as White House Press Secretary on April 26, 2006, the media and pundits predicted that he would turn around the President’s image and help push forward his agenda: Bush’s first press secretary, Ari Fleischer, said Snow and other staff changes offer the chance to show Americans that “something new [...]

Lawmakers Who Were Almost Shot Down Declare ‘Significant Progress’ In Iraq
Yesterday, a plane carrying three U.S. senators and a member of the House was forced to take evasive maneuvers to avoid rocket-propelled grenades as they took off from Baghdad. “It was a scary moment,” said Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL). “There were a few minutes there where I wondered: ‘Have we been hit? Are we [...]

First gay couple legally marries in Iowa.
This morning, a minister married two men, “sealing the state’s first legal same-sex wedding. Less than 24 hours earlier, a judge had thrown out Iowa’s ban on gay marriage.” More than a dozen gay couples tied the knot in Iowa this morning.

Petraeus Attempts To Manipulate Australian Election With False Claims About Iraq
On Monday, President Bush will visit Australia to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The White House is using the trip to try to influence the Australian election, where Bush’s good friend John Howard is pitted in a contest against Labor leader Kevin Rudd.Howard was an early supporter of the Iraq invasion and [...]

Sen. Warner retires.
Sen. John Warner (R-VA), who has served five terms in the Senate, has announced that he is retiring and won’t run for re-election.

Rep. Meek blasts Bush’s $50 billion Iraq request.
Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) just returned from a trip to Iraq yesterday and gave an interview criticizing the recent news that the Bush administration plans to request another $50 billion to fund the war in Iraq:The American people are asking for our troops to come home. I think that should be the goal of [...]

U.S. Military Censors ThinkProgress
ThinkProgress is now banned from the U.S. military network in Baghdad. Recently, an avid ThinkProgress reader — a U.S. soldier serving his second tour in Iraq — wrote to us and said that he can no longer access ThinkProgress.org. The error message he received:The ban began sometime shortly after Aug. 22, when Ret. Maj. Gen. [...]

White House ‘e-mail mystery deepens.’
ABC’s The Blotter reports:The White House will not identify a private company which appears to be involved in the disappearance of millions of White House e-mails.The company was responsible for reviewing and archiving White House e-mails, a White House official told congressional staff in May, according to a letter yesterday from House Oversight and Government [...]

O’Hanlon Hopes Final GAO Report On Iraq Will Be ‘Improved’ To Reflect WH Claims Of Progress
Yesterday, a leaked draft of an upcoming Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on progress in Iraq painted a “strikingly negative” picture of the war-torn country. The draft contradicts “the Bush administration’s conclusion in July that sectarian violence was decreasing as a result” of the surge. It concludes, “The average number of daily attacks against civilians [...]

Breaking: Tony Snow stepping down on Sept. 14.
CNN reports that White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino will be taking his place. Digg It!

Gen. Tommy Franks as the next vice president?
Three of the eight announced 2008 Republican presidential candidates are considering retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks as their vice presidential running mate. Franks has been strongly criticized for his closeness to Donald Rumsfeld and his lack of pre-invasion planning for Iraq. A book by a highly commended active duty Army officer said that Franks was [...]

Petraeus to acknowledge low troop morale.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently had dinner in Baghdad with Gen. David Petraeus, at which time he expressed concerns that “troops were being pushed to the limit.” Durbin told the Chicago Tribune that “Petraeus concurred,” and will likely tell President Bush about the problem in his report next month. “I expect the general to acknowledge [...]

U.S. Troops Given Misleading, Inaccurate Bios Of Democratic Lawmakers Visiting Iraq
This morning, the Washington Post has a story on how lawmakers are being “slimed in the Green Zone” when they travel to Iraq for congressional delegation trips. Reps. James Moran (D-VA), Jon Porter (R-NV), and Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) recently returned from such a trip. While there, Tauscher and Moran noticed sheets of paper that “seemed [...]

ThinkFast: August 31, 2007
Today is Karl Rove’s last day on the job at the White House. Bush will visit Pentagon commanders today who are reportedly divided over what to do about Iraq. He “is expected to hear deep concerns about the long-term impact on U.S. forces of maintaining a heavy troop presence in Iraq in 2008 and beyond.”One [...]