Official: Afghan buildup involves 30,000 troops
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama plans to send 30,000 more troops to be deployed over six months, a senior administration official told The Associated Press Tuesday, escalating the 8-year-old war. In his prime-time speech to the nation Tuesday night, Obama also will lay out a rough timeframe, including some dates, for when the main U.S. military mission will end.
Defense official communicated with WH crashers
WASHINGTON (AP) — The couple who crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denies that she helped the couple get in. Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House on Monday evening that she never said or implied she would get Michaele and Tareq Salahi into the Nov. 24 White House dinner.
Salahi denies he and wife were gate-crashers
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who made his way uninvited into a White House state dinner is denying that he and his wife are gate-crashers. In his first nationally broadcast interview since the incident, Tareq Salahi (TAH'-rehk sah-LAH'-hee) told NBC's "Today" show that the whole experience has been "the most devastating thing that has ever happened" to he and his wife, Michaele.
Obama described as 'angry' over security breach
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says both President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, were angry that two univited people were able to get into a state dinner at the White House. Interviewed Tuesday on MSNBC, Gibbs said "it's safe to say he was angry. Michelle was angry." Gibbs was asked about the incident in which a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi (mih-KEL' sah-LAH'-hee), crashed the state dinner for visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Gibbs: Deployment to Afghan will be accelerated
WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House spokesman says President Barack Obama is ready to lay out an end-game scenario for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan because "we can't be there forever." Robert Gibbs also told MSNBC that Obama's prime-time West Point speech also will lay out a faster deployment plan than initially envisioned in a war review written by commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Gibbs said the troop build up "will be accelerated. We're going to get in there quickly" and transfer responsibility for security to the Afghans quickly. Gibbs called that "an end game" for the American commitment. He said, "They're going to get in sooner, quite frankly, than the original assessment asked them to get in" — less than the two year deployment that was once under consideration.
Long, bitter debate ahead for health care bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats called it a historic opportunity. Republicans called it a sham. Long-awaited debate over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul kicked off in the Senate with lawmakers trading bitter partisan words over the measure to remake one-sixth of the U.S. economy.
PROMISES, PROMISES: Friday is still WH `trash day'
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama entered the White House promising a new era of openness in government, but when it comes to bad news, his administration often uses one of the oldest tricks in the public relations playbook: putting it out when the fewest people are likely to notice. Former White House environmental adviser Van Jones' resignation over controversial comments hit the trifecta of below-the-radar timing: The White House announced the departure overnight on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, when few journalists were on duty and few Americans awake, much less paying attention to the news.
Clinton daughter, Chelsea, engaged to be married
NEW YORK (AP) — Turns out those discredited rumors of a possible Chelsea Clinton wedding last summer were mostly just premature: The 29-year old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has become engaged to her longtime boyfriend, 31-year old investment banker Marc Mezvinsky. The couple sent an e-mail to friends Friday announcing the news, saying they were looking at a possible wedding next summer. Matt McKenna, a spokesman for the former president, confirmed the engagement Monday.
Court won't disturb $82.6M award in SUV rollover
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has left in place an $82.6 million award to a woman who was paralyzed after her Ford Explorer rolled over. The justices on Monday rejected Ford Motor Co.'s challenge to the portion of the award, $55 million, that was intended as punitive damages. Ford argued that it should not be punished because its design of the vehicle met federal safety standards.
Doctors in training still learn from cadavers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Color-coded denim cloths cover the row upon row of black body bags atop cold metal tables. Blue means a body that eventually will go into a common grave. Tan, the family wants those remains back for burial, eventually. These are bodies donated to science, awaiting one of the most sensitive rites in becoming a doctor. Before first-year medical students lay their hands on the living, they learn anatomy from the dead.
