International:
Iran: Uranium centrifuge goal reached

Iran's president claimed Sunday that his country is now running 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium for its controversial nuclear program — a long-sought Iranian goal.

The claim contradicted a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Thursday that put the number much lower — at close to 2,000. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said enrichment had slowed and Iran was cooperating with its nuclear probe, which could fend off calls for a third round of sanctions.

"The West thought the Iranian nation would give in after just a resolution, but now we have taken another step in the nuclear progress and launched more than 3,000 centrifuge machines, installing a new cascade every week," Ahmadinejad told a group of students in remarks carried by the state television Web site. Read more here

Pentagon reportedly completing plans for three-day airstrike on Iran

The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert in Sunday’s edition in the Times of London. Click here to read the full story from the Times of London.

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military,” he said.

National:
Mexico trucks to roll on U.S. highways...

The Bush administration can proceed with a plan to open the U.S. border to long haul Mexican trucks as early as next week after an appeals court rejected a bid by labor, consumer and environmental interests to block the initiative.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco late on Friday denied an emergency petition sought by the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and consumer group Public Citizen to halt the start of a one-year pilot program that was approved by Congress after years of legal and political wrangling.

The Transportation Department welcomed the decision and said in a statement that allowing more direct shipments from Mexico will benefit U.S. consumers.

In Book, Bush Peeks Ahead to His Legacy

When President Bush is asked what he plans to do when he leaves office, he often replies curtly: “I don’t have that much time to think beyond my presidency” or “I’m going to sprint to the finish.”

But in an interview with a book author in the Oval Office one day last December, he daydreamed about the next phase of his life, when his time will be his own.

First, Mr. Bush said, “I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.” With assets that have been estimated as high as nearly $21 million, Mr. Bush added, “I don’t know what my dad gets — it’s more than 50-75” thousand dollars a speech, and “Clinton’s making a lot of money.”

Then he said, “We’ll have a nice place in Dallas,” where he will be running what he called “a fantastic Freedom Institute” promoting democracy around the world. But he added, “I can just envision getting in the car, getting bored, going down to the ranch.” Details

White House Seeks to Shield Telecom Firms From Wiretapping Lawsuits

The Bush administration wants the power to grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that are slapped with privacy suits for cooperating with the White House's controversial warrantless eavesdropping program.

The authority would effectively shut down dozens of lawsuits filed against telecommunications companies accused of helping set up the program.

The vaguely worded proposal would shield any person who allegedly provided information, infrastructure or "any other form of assistance" to the intelligence agencies after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. It covers any classified communications activity intended to protect the country from terrorism.

In Other News…

Bush’s plan to help homeowners ‘less than it appears.’ McClatchy reports that most of what Bush announced Friday simply duplicates what Congress is already doing

Rove: Bush Will Be Remembered As A ‘Far-Sighted Leader’. Yesterday, outgoing White House adviser Karl Rove penned a piece in the National Review devoted to extolling President Bush’s greatness and predicting that “history will provide a more clear-eyed verdict on this president’s leadership than the anger of current critics would suggest.”

From The Right: Robert D. Novak: Worrying About Hillary Clinton's opponents don't raise the question in public. But there is such underground talk in Iowa, the state opening the battle for convention delegates, questioning her "electability."

From The Left: Robert Parry: Iraq's Endless "False Hopes" "Two-and-a-half years ago at another 'turning point' in the Iraq War, columnists at the Washington Post and other leading American newspapers were ecstatic over how the Iraqi national election was finally fulfilling the neoconservative dream of remaking the Muslim world. Now, however, some of the same columnists who praised the January 30, 2005, election are denouncing it as a failure that must be undone so George W. Bush's newest 'turning point' - the American troop 'surge' - can achieve its fullest potential."

Quote Of The Day: [He] “watched through the window as the grenades exploded near the plane. He said he felt the blasts.” [Asked if he was frightened, Inhofe responded] “Not a bit. I was kind of excited.” -Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), after his plane was forced to take evasive maneuvers to avoid rocket-propelled grenades while taking off from Baghdad. Read article

(Sources: AP, Reuters, DrudgeReport, FOXNews, ThinkProgress, NYT, National Review , TruthOut, TownHall, TimesOfLondon, McClatchy)