During a Senate hearing Tuesday with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) chided President Bush for using the term "appeasement" to describe talking with Iran.
The White House is expressing outrage over an article in the Jerusalem Post that is prominently featured on the Drudge Report claiming President Bush plans to attack Iran before the end of his term.
A statement from White House Press Secretary Dana Perino says the article "is not worth the paper it's written on."
"Let me respond by reaffirming the policy of the Administration: We, along with our international allies who want peace in the Middle East, remain opposed to Iran
Sources tell NBC that the U.S. military has cut ties with one-time neoconservative favorite Ahmad Chalabi who helped administration officials make the case for war.
The military told the network it dropped the controversial Iraqi politician because of "unauthorized" contacts with Iran.
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former White House lawyers John Yoo and David Addington will testify to the House Judiciary Committee on Bush Administration interrogation and torture policy following a long legal bout with the committee.
Earlier this morning the committee voted to subpoena Addington, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and one of the legal architects of the administration's war on terror policies.
The AP reported earlier that Yoo and Ashcroft agreed late Monday to appear in front of the committee.
Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, and former Assistant Attorney General Dan Levin will also testify.
Former CIA Director George Tenet has not yet agreed to appear, but is reportedly negotiating with the committee.
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, has been picked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to head all U.S. forces in the Middle East.
Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno will reportedly be nominated to replace Petraeus.
If confirmed by the Senate, Petraeus would replace Adm. William Fallon who resigned in March.
Fallon was pressured to resign after an Esquiremagazine article portrayed the Admiral as the lone voice within the military opposing a war with Iran.
At the press conference announcing the decision, Gates said he recommended Petraeus because he is "absolutely confident" Petraeus is "the best man for the job."
"I don't know anybody in the United States military better qualified to led that effort."
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) hailed the Petraeus pick, saying he has "the utmost confidence [Petraeus's] leadership."
"Once confirmed, our nation will be fortunate to have General Petraeus guide our strategy to protect American interests in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and the wider region of the world," the Republican leader said.
Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was less enthusiastic. Reid said the challenges facing the next President "will require fresh, independent and creative thinking and, if directed to by a new President, a commitment to implementing major changes in strategy."
"The Senate will carefully examine these nominations and I will be looking for credible assurances of a strong commitment to implementing a more effective national security strategy," Reid said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized former President Jimmy Carter Tuesday for meeting with Hamas leadership over the weekend.
Carter met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in an attempt to foster peace talks between Meshaal, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
According to Reuters, at a conference on Iraq that is being held in Kuwait Rice told reporters:
The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we certainly told President Carter that we did not think that meeting with Hamas was going to help the Palestinians.
We wanted to make sure there would be no confusion and there would be no sense that Hamas was somehow a party to peace negotiations which Abu Mazen has undertaken with the Israeli prime minister.
Despite the White House's warm reception, and President Bush congratulating the pope on his "awesome speech," his holiness wasn't able to find time in his schedule to actually attend a White House dinner being held in his honor Wednesday night.
But unlike the pope, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown apparently will make time for his White House dinner Thursday.
From today's press gaggle with White House spokesman Tony Fratto:
At 6:50 p.m. this evening, the President and Mrs. Bush will welcome the Prime Minister and Mrs. Brown at the North Portico, and then they will have a social dinner at 7:00 p.m. in the Yellow Oval.
Quick --
Q: Brown actually will attend the dinner in his honor?
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated today the the Colombia Free Trade Agreement may not be dead yet. Pelosi was speaking to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and, according to Reuters, said:
Perhaps we can get some of the trade agreements through. We did get the Peru trade agreement recently in a bipartisan way.
I've told the White House we stand ready to discuss with them how we can proceed in bringing this legislation to the floor. I said "you want to do it the way you want to do it, it will lose. You just want to jam it down the throat of Congress, it will lose."
On Monday, The Hill's Mike Soraghan reported that President Bush said the Colombia FTA "is dead unless the Speaker schedules a definite vote."
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