European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday april 1 2007 s t a s and s t r i p e s Page 17 in the states Bush visits Walter Reed vows improvements by Jennifer Loven the associated press Washington president Bush apologized Friday for the shoddy conditions at the a mys flagship Hospital and prom ised during a visit to the facility for War veterans that were going to fix the critics questioned the timing of Bush visit six weeks after poor conditions and neglect of Veter ans were exposed there Bush toured the main Hospital at the Walter Reed army medical Center in Washington and Abrams Hall where soldiers were transferred after they were removed from the facility build ing 18 where moldy Walls rodent infestation and other problems went unchecked until reported by the Media he said his conversations with those who had been in building 18 left him disturbed by their the problems at Walter Reed were caused by bureaucratic and administrative the pres ident said at the end of a More than two hour visit the system failed you and it failed our troops and were going to fix also during the More than three hour visit Bush awarded 10 purple hearts to soldiers re covering from serious wounds suffered in Afghanistan and Iraq retired maj Gen Paul Eaton among retired military officers who took part in a conference Call about Bush visit praised the president for seeing wounded sol Diers but he added in con Vinced he would Honor them More if he would refrain from using soldiers As props in political Bobby Muller president of vet Erans for America said Bush int going to see areas of the Hospital most in need of change he cited Ward 54 where soldiers Are suf Fering from acute mental health conditions and outpatient hold ing facilities where soldiers see Long Waits to get out processed White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush visited Walter Reed with the intention of Gerald president Bush shakes hands with the prosthetic Arm of 1st it Scott song out Hamor needs to be Quity during a visit with patients at the physical therapy Wing of Walter done Reed army medical Center in Washington on Friday Congress must reconcile draw Down plan by Noam n Levey los Angeles times Washington before they can present president Bush with any time line for with drawing troops from Iraq democrats in con Gress face the daunting task of reconciling the Senate withdrawal plan passed thursday with the one approved last month by the House the senates time of the Bil lion War spending Bill that passed 5147 largely along party lines requires the president to begin bringing troops Home within 120 Days of enactment and sets a nonbinding goal to have most combat forces out of Iraq by the end of next March the proposals have prompted repeated veto threats from presi Dent Bush who said he will not sign Legisla Tion that limits what military commanders can do in Iraq democratic lawmakers Are gearing up for a High stakes showdown with the president the House plan mandates a far More restrictive timeline for drawing Down forces re Quiring the president to begin withdrawing troops As soon As july 1 and to Complete the process no later than next March Senate majority Leader Harry Reid and House speaker Naicy Pelosi have played Down the differences Between their plans As they present a United front against the White House under the House plan the administration will have to certify on july 1 that the iraqi government is making substantial Progress in meeting a set of benchmarks to achieve Politi Cal reconciliation and reduce sectarian Vio Lence if the president cannot do that he would have to withdraw most combat troops by the end of the year even if the iraqi government meets All the benchmarks troop withdrawals must begin no later than March and be completed by the end of that August i think you know if we said or announced that we were going to withdraw forces that the iraqis would make every Effort to and Marine maj Gen Walter Gaskin com Mander of multinational Force West said Friday however Gaskin added the fact of the matter is you cannot buy remove experience you have earn it you have to live it you have to be there to work through we have to give the iraqis the time to develop the capacity to do the things they have to Gaskin who also commands the ii Marine expeditionary Force said from his Headquarters in fal Lujah stars and stripes Lisa Burgess contributed to this report Gonzales wont resign says Hes fighting for the truth by Lara Jakes Jordan the associated press Washington attorney general Alberto Gonzales vowed Friday to remain on the Job dig Ging in even As lawmakers questioned whether he could effectively run the Justice department with no setup in the controversy Over the firings of prosecutors Gonzales sought to explain weeks of inconsistencies about How closely involved he had been in decisions to dismiss the eight attorneys he said he had been aware his staff was drawing up plans for the firings but did not re Call taking part in discussions Over which people would actually be told to go i believe in truth and accountability and every step that Ive taken is consistent with that Gonzales said when questioned at a Boston event about preventing child sex abuse at the end of the Day i know what i did and i Gonzales know that the motivations for the decisions that i made were not based upon improper asked Why he had not re signed As some democrats and republicans have demanded he said i am fighting for the Gonzales credibility took a fresh hit this week with the sen ate testimony of his former chief of staff Kyle Sampson who said the attorney general was regularly briefed about plans to fire the prosecutors and was involved with discussions about this pro Cess of asking certain attorneys to lawmakers impatient to hear Gonzales Side of the Story said the embattled attorney general needed to explain himself quickly or risk More damage to his department the quicker that can happen the better it will said sen Johnny Isakson adding that he would wait until hearing from Gonzales to decide whether the attorney general should re sign Gonzales is to testify on Capitol Hill on april 17 More than two weeks from now the White House said it continued to Back Gonzales 100 per three boys attack homeless Day labourer Daytona Beach Fla a homeless Day labourer was recovering in a Hospital Friday after two 10yearold boys and an older teen were accused of attacking him on a Street and smashing a Concrete Block into his face the three boys each charged by police with aggravated Bat Tery face a hearing this week to determine if they should remain in juvenile detention they Are the 57yearold Vic Tim John Damico said recalled pet foods show plastics chemical Washington recalled pet foods contained a chemical used to make plastics but govern ment tests failed to confirm the presence of rat Poison Federal officials said Friday the food and drug administration said it found melamine in samples of the menu foods pet food Giuliani admits error of recommending Kerik new York Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani acknowledged again Fri Day that he made a mistake when he recommended Bernard Kerik to be the nations Homeland Secu Rity chief the acknowledgement followed a report in the new York times that the former new York City mayor was warned about Kerikas relationship with a company with suspected ties to organized crime even before Giuliani appointed Kerik As new York City police commissioner from the associated press Nasa worries about five year Gap Between space flights after 2010 the associated press Cape canaveral Fla sometime in 2010 the worlds leading space explore ing nation will say goodbye to manned space flight for More than four years and that has policymakers Wor ried the flight Gap will occur because Nasa is winding Down its space shuttle program near the end of 2010 to move into the next phase of space exploration the Moon and Mars the next generation spacecraft the Orion capsule wont be ready for manned flight until March 2015 during those Gap years the United states must rely on the Good will of other nations if it wants to Send astronauts and cargo to the International space station who knows what the geopolitics is going to be like in 2015 asks sen Bill Nelson the Florida Democrat who chairs the space aeronautics and related sciences subcommittee is Russia still going to be Allied with us would they possibly be Al lied with Clirina at that Point the space Agency has been in this Posi Tion before there was a six year Gap be tween the last Apollo flight in 1975 and the first shuttle night in 1981 in the meantime Nasa will have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to Russia for a lift to the space station although Pri vate companies also May be hired for trips to Howearth orbit it is not a very desirable said John Logsdon director of the space policy Institute at George Washington University