By Staff
President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair May 25 acknowledged mistakes in Iraq. Bush identified the abuse scandal at the U.S.-operated Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad as the biggest mistake of the war.
Bush also said he regretted some of his own “tough talk,” including saying Osama bin Laden was “wanted dead or alive” and his challenge in the summer of 2003 - “Bring 'em on” - as insurgents stepped up attacks on U.S. troops.
Top Marine Gen. Michael Hagee flew to Iraq May 25 to caution troops on the danger of becoming “indifferent to the loss of a human life” as investigators look into allegations that Marines killed civilians.
United in starting a war to topple Saddam Hussein and impose democracy on the Middle East, Bush and Blair now share low approval ratings and discontent within their own parties.
Some members of Blair's Labour Party called on him to step down in favor of Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer, or finance minister.
Blair said it is the duty of the international community to set aside differences over the 2003 invasion and get behind Iraq's new government.
For both politicians, as Iraq goes, so go their legacies.
850: Number of Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since last Memorial Day.
Average gas price: 75 cents higher than 2005. Texas May 25 boosted speed limits on two stretches of rural highways from 75 to 80 mph.
A lawsuit filed May 22 seeks to stop AT&T from giving customer phone records to the National Security Agency without a court order. Plaintiffs include Dowagiac visitor Studs Terkel.
Quips, quotes and qulunkers: “Now we know what it takes to make Congress mad enough to stand up for constitutional rights. When the government snoops on your phone calls and records without warrants, lawmakers barely kick up a fuss. But when the target is a fellow congressman - one under investigation for taking a bribe, no less - they're ready to rumble. Witness the bipartisan frenzy set off after the FBI searched the Capitol Hill offices of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. The FBI had a court order. According to an FBI affidavit, he was videotaped taking $100,000 in cash … Agents found $90,000 of it stuffed in his freezer at home … What a pity Congress' leaders haven't used their clout to protect the public's rights as eagerly as they defend their own.”
James Pinkerton
25 years and counting: Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale surpass John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as the president and vice president who lived the longest after leaving office. As of May 23, Carter and Mondale lived 25 years and 123 days since leaving the White House in 1981 - a day longer than Adams and Jefferson, who both died July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Anniversary: The 47,000-mile interstate highway system, 50.
Jurors find ex-execs incredible: In Houston May 25, former CEOs Ken Lay, 64, and Jeff Skilling, 52, were found guilty on all counts of conspiracy to conceal Enron's financial condition in 2000 and 2001. Sentencing is set for Sept. 11.
For the nation's seventh-largest company's December 2001 collapse into bankruptcy, which erased more than $60 billion of market value, $2.1 billion in pension plans and 5,600 jobs, both men could spend their rest of their lives in prison.
A “shocked” Lay said, “I firmly believe I am innocent of the charges against me.”