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By Mark Egan
NEW YORK - Iraq war veterans on the sidelines of the Republican convention say they are sick of the bickering over the Vietnam War records of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry and want a serious discussion of Iraq and veterans’ issues instead. "We want to force both candidates to give us some answers here," said Paul Rieckhoff, a platoon leader in Iraq and executive director of Operation Truth, which is lobbying to highlight the Iraq war as an election issue. "Bush hasn’t (…)

by Marcella Bombardieri NEW YORK — A year and a half ago, Robert Sarra was a Marine sergeant in Iraq, where, he says, he once fired his M-16 at a black-cloaked old woman who failed to stop when she was told. Instead of a suicide bomb, the bundle she carried to her death held only bread, tea, and a white flag.
From that day in a tiny town called Ash Shatra, Sarra says, he journeyed through dark territory — heavy drinking, violent outbursts, therapy — and finally from his temporary job in (…)

Bernard Weiner
The Republican Party — in a shameless , all-too-obvious attempt to manipulate the tragedy of 9/11 for partisan ends — chose New York City for its nominating convention. Must have seemed like a great idea at the time.
Their coming to Manhattan not only infuriates New Yorkers, who were badly played by Bush&Co. after the attacks, but enables the rest of us in the country to use Ground Zero as the backdrop for examining the gross failures and crimes of the Bush (…)

The widow of a Bush family confidant says her husband gave the future president an Alabama Senate campaign job as a favor to his worried father. Did they see him do any National Guard service? "Good lord, no."
By Mary Jacoby
NEW YORK — Before there was Karl Rove, Lee Atwater or even James Baker, the Bush family’s political guru was a gregarious newspaper owner and campaign consultant from Midland, Texas, named Jimmy Allison. In the spring of 1972, George H.W. Bush phoned his friend and (…)

Activists donned pig snouts, climbed trees and targeted Fox News Channel in protests yesterday during a day of civil disobedience aimed at the Republican convention. Police arrested 260 people.
Officers with orange netting encircled scores of demonstrators during a protest near the former site of the World Trade Center. Detained protesters were loaded onto an off-duty city bus, and police put the count at about 200. The demonstrators insisted they were following police orders.
The (…)

by Barbara Schoetzau
Protests are continuing throughout New York City on the third day of the Republican Presidential Nominating Convention. A handful of AIDS activists briefly disrupted an informal morning session inside the convention hall.
The AIDS activists made it past security to the convention floor where they interrupted a speech by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, blowing whistles and shouting before they were taken away by police. Questions are being raised about how (…)

Protesters disrupt convention event From Jonathan Wald and Laura Dolan, CNN
NEW YORK (CNN) — Eleven protesters were arrested Wednesday on the floor of Madison Square Garden, site of the Republican National Convention, law enforcement officials said.
The protesters were members of the AIDS activist group ACT UP and will face trespassing charges. They shouted and carried signs on the convention floor during a speech by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
A protester, wearing a (…)

By Grant McCool
NEW YORK - Five thousand people protesting high job losses have formed a 3 mile (5 km) unemployment line in Manhattan and AIDS activists disrupted a Republican meeting on the third day of the party’s convention to nominate the president to a second term in office.
Police arrested 19 people in several incidents on Wednesday, bringing the total of those detained so far during seven days of relentless convention-related protests to more than 1,760, a record for a U.S. (…)

US Vice-President Dick Cheney is taking centre stage at the Republican convention in New York, with an attack on Democratic candidate John Kerry.
Mr Cheney’s speech to delegates in New York contrasts President Bush’s "decisiveness" to Mr Kerry’s "confusion", a Cheney spokeswoman said.
The speech comes on the third day of a convention marred by street protests.
On Wednesday thousands of people staged a peaceful demonstration blaming Mr Bush’s policies for job losses.
A three-mile (…)

by Marc Morano , CNSNews.com
New York (CNSNews.com) - About a thousand protesters descended on Fox News Channel’s headquarters in New York City on Tuesday afternoon and blasted the network as a fascist arm of the Republican Party.
The crowd chanted slogans such as "Fox News lies," "Fox News, get off the air," "Fair and balanced is a lie," "Shut the Fox up," and "Anti-peace, Anti-Gay, Rupert Murdoch, Go Away." The protesters billed the event as a "Fox News Shut-Up-A-Thon."
Protester (…)