Legislation due to arrive on the U.S. House floor later this month will propose legislation requing the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the fall of 2008, and even earlier if the Iraqi government does not meet security and other goals, Democratic officials said Wednesday.

The conditions, described as tentative until presented to the Democratic rank and file, would be added to legislation providing nearly 100 billion U.S. dollars the Bush administration has requested for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the officials said.

The legislation would be the most direct challenge the new Democratic-controlled Congress has posed to the president's war policies.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office did not provide details, but announced plans for a Thursday morning news conference to unveil the measure. It said she would be joined by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and other key lawmakers. Murtha is chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Pentagon's budget and is among the House's most outspoken opponents of the war.

Democrats familiar with the emerging legislation said the bill would require President Bush to certify the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was making progress toward providing for his country's security, allocating its oil revenues and creating a fair system for amending its constitution.

They said if Bush certified the Iraqis were meeting these so-called benchmarks, U.S. combat troops could remain until September of next year. Otherwise, the deadline would move up to the end of 2007.

The legislation also calls for the Pentagon to adhere to its standards for equipping and training U.S. troops sent overseas and for providing time at home between tours of combat.

At the same time, it permits Bush to issue waivers of these standards. Democrats described the waiver provision as an attempt to embarrass the president, but their effect would be to permit the administration to proceed with plans to deploy five additional combat brigades to the Baghdad area over the next few months.

The measure emerged from days of private talks among Democrats following the repudiation of Murtha's original proposal, which would have required the Pentagon to meet readiness and training standards without the possibility of a waiver.

Two of Coastal Georgia's most prestigious law firms have recently merged. The merger of Gilbert, Harrell, Sumerford & Martin, P.C., and Smith & Floyd, P.A., expands each of their respective practices. The combined firm now consists of 20 attorneys with offices in Brunswick, St. Marys, and St. Simons Island.

Founded in Brunswick in 1871 by Charles P. Goodyear, Gilbert Harrell has served clients in Southeast Georgia for more than 130 years. The firm engages in all aspects of civil and commercial law and has specific practice groups dedicated to litigation, trusts and estates, corporate matters, and real estate.

The Smith & Floyd law firm was founded in 1985 by Charlie Smith Jr. and Terry Floyd. Jan Mallory joined the firm following Floyd's death in 2005. Smith has practiced law in St. Marys since 1976, with a primary focus in real estate. Formerly State Representative for District 175, Smith was legislative floor leader for Gov. Roy Barnes. Smith and Mallory are both graduates of the University of Georgia School of Law.

"We look forward to working together with Charlie and Jan to better serve our clients," said Gilbert Harrell Managing Partner Rees Sumerford. "I've known Charlie for more than 35 years. He's an outstanding attorney and person, and I cannot overstate how pleased I am to become professionally associated with him."

Smith added, "Joining forces with the Gilbert Harrell firm makes a lot of sense for us. It will enable us to better serve our clients in Camden County and to greatly expand the types of legal services we offer, to include estate planning, civil litigation, and other areas."

The firm will continue to be known as Gilbert, Harrell, Sumerford & Martin, P.C. 

http://www.gilbertharrelllaw.com

The US State Department announced Tuesday that once again the United States will not run for a seat on the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. The US said last year that it would not seek election because some of the other countries vying for council seats "systematically abuse human rights," but this year US officials cited an anti-Israeli bias as its reason for not running. Spokesman Sean McCormack said that the council has not proven itself to be a credible body, and has had a "nearly singular focus on issues related to Israel." When asked why the US didn't run and try to take a leadership role in the council, McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thought it would be more effective to work outside the group as an example of what the Human Rights Council should be. Last year a number of observers speculated that if the US ran it risked an embarrassing loss or at least a visible lack of general support because of harsh US treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Iraq. The same concerns could apply again this year.

The Democratic chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs decried the decision, calling it an "act of unparalleled defeatism" that would allow rogue states to continue to control the world's human rights machinery."

Members of Congress were visibly frustrated Wednesday as they questioned an administration official about the slow pace of action on keeping invasive species out of the Great Lakes.

"Here you have these international boats dumping these critters all over the place and you can't do anything," Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, said at a hearing by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

The hearing was called to examine the problems posed by the zebra mussel, the sea lamprey and other creatures that threaten native species by gobbling up their food.

"It's an ecological and environmental disaster," said Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids, a scientist and longtime champion of Great Lakes issues.

Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency, told lawmakers his agency and others are researching how nonnative species enter the lakes so they can come up with a way to keep them out.

"We all recognize we need to do much more in terms of the invasive species threat," Grumbles said.

Jennifer Raper, a 45 year old woman living in Boston, filed a complaint last week in Suffolk Superior Court. All appeals have to be reviewed before being processed so it's not clear whether or not this case will actually go to trial.

In 1990 the state's high court approved suing in situations as Rapers but only when the resulting child had expensive medical conditions. However, according to the documented report filed with the courts, Jennifer Rapers now two-year-old is a perfectly healthy child.

The three page medical malpractice report filed with the court indicates that Raper found out she was pregnant in March of 2004 and went to Planned Parenthood seeking an abortion in April of 2004. She claimed she was financially unable to care for a child and wished to end the unwanted pregnancy.

At Planned Parenthood she was seen by Dr. Allison Bryan who was a physician working there at the time. The abortion attempt was performed on April 9, 2004 but unknown to Raper at the time, failed and she remained pregnant.

Raper ended up seeing Dr. Benjamin Eleonu at Boston Medical Center in July of 2004 when she was 20 weeks pregnant. Why she went has not yet been released but at the time of the visit the Doctor did not detect the pregnancy. He is the other Doctor being sued by Raper for lack of proper medical care and negligent in missing her pregnancy. Generally, 20 weeks gestation is hard for a trained doctor to miss, and even more so for the pregnant mother.

Jennifer Raper ended up in the emergency room at New England Medical Center in late September with symptoms of pelvic pain. It was then that she finally realized that she was indeed still pregnant. At that point a legal abortion was not possible and she gave birth to a baby girl on December 7^th of 2004.

Planned Parenthood has refused to comment as the case is pending legislation and neither Doctor has responded publicly about Rapers' claims. After the court reviews the medical neglect report a decision will be made as to whether or not it will be processed. The Doctor who performed the failed abortion no longer works for Planned Parenthood but is still a licensed practicing Physician.

Raper is suing for damages including the costs of raising her daughter.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday criticized the poor human rights records of several US allies and denounced the genocide in Darfur while announcing the publication of the 2006 US State Department Country Reports on human rights. Despite the fact that Afghanistan and Iraq have received hundreds of millions of dollars in US aid for democracy and human rights programs, the reports indicate that widespread sectarian violence, weak central administrations and abuses of authority have thwarted respect for rights in those countries. Among the other countries with poor reports in the annual DOS exercise were North Korea, Pakistan, Cuba , Venezuela, and Myanmar.

In addition to Afghanistan and Iraq, the reports also criticized Russia and China, with which the US has recently worked in pressuring Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear programs. The State Department reports criticized those countries' records of cracking down on dissent and investigating the killings of government critics.