News: Iraq, social security, Syria, Afghanistan

Least surprising headline: Bush says that America will bear the costs of going into Iraq. He claims that it's worth it to bring Democracy into the region. Me, I am all for democracy. My problem with the Iraq war was that we didn't have a proper excuse for going in. Oh, and we're screwing everything up now that we're there.
A lot of people didn't like the Pope, but I'll agree with him on this: going into Iraq was wrong. He called it "a defeat for humanity", infact.
Domestic: who else doesn't like Bush's Social Security plan? Trade Unions. And Medicare's having some problems: they'll have to raise their premiums by eleven dollars.
Syria's supposed to pull out of Lebanon by April 30th..but does the pull out include the security forces? It's implied that they're part of the deal, but it's just that--an implication. (yes, the security forces _do_ make a big difference, as I understand it. If they don't leave on April 30th, people will be right pissed.)
For once, we're pulling out of a country too *early*: out of Afghanistan, though, not Iraq.
Following last week's story on Israelis and Palestinians uniting against a gay pride parade in Jerusalem: both sides mourn the passing of the Pope. A much nicer way to unite, I think.