The Fort Lewis Memorial
Patrick Oppmann
CNN All Platform Journalist
More than 2,500 miles from Fort Hood, the US Army also honored fallen soldiers at a ceremony at Fort Lewis in Washington state today.
Seven soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, were remembered in a service that family, soldiers and Vice President Joe Biden attended.
All seven soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device attack in Afghanistan last month. Fort Lewis officials said they believe the attack was the largest loss of life for the post since the wars began in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“As hollow as it sounds to say,” Biden said, ”we grieve with you. We don't have the sense of the profound grief you're experiencing today, but we grieve with you. And we owe you - we owe you more than you can ever be repaid.”
Speaking of his own experience as the father of a National Guard member who served in Iraq, Biden told the crowd, “In a sense, those of us who've had children, husbands and wives who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, I guess we all share a sense of relief and a sense of guilt that we're here, having our loved ones back.”
The seven soldiers were remembered by fellow soldiers, some of whom had returned to Fort Lewis, some of whom were still serving in Afghanistan.
Video: Biden a key part of Obama's inner circle
Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent
Apparently you can take the vice president out of the Senate, but you just can't take the Senate out of the vice president, and that might be the secret to Joe Biden's influence in President Obama's inner circle.
As I waited Friday in the ornate rooms of the old Department of War near Biden's office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, I kept wondering which Biden was going to show up for our exclusive interview.
Would it be the old Joe that I used to cover as the Senate correspondent for Roll Call newspaper many years ago, who would throw an arm around me in a Capitol hallway and be happy to give a - let's face it - fairly long answer about any subject I'd throw at him?
Biden had this habit of dropping flattery as well as a reporter's name into the answers for familiarity in his gosh-darn-it manner: "Look Ed, I'm literally not just blowing smoke, but you know as much about the Bush tax cuts as I do. ..."
Why Joe Biden Should Resign
Program Note: Ariana Huffington will be on the show tonight on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.
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Arianna Huffington
The Huffington Post
Joe Biden met with CENTCOM chief Gen. David Petraeus this morning to talk about Afghanistan - an issue that has pushed the vice president into the spotlight, landing him on the cover of the latest Newsweek.
I have an idea for how he can capitalize on all the attention, and do what generations to come will always be grateful for: resign.
The centerpiece of Newsweek's story is how Biden has become the chief White House skeptic on escalating the war in Afghanistan, specifically arguing against Gen. McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops to pursue a counterinsurgency strategy there.
The piece, by Holly Bailey and Evan Thomas, opens with details of a September 13th national security meeting at the White House. Biden speaks up:
Interactive: Who has Obama’s ear on Afghanistan?
CNN
The flag-draped coffins of at least four U.S. soldiers killed during a weekend onslaught against a U.S. military outpost in Afghanistan were scheduled to arrive Tuesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the military said.
The bodies will include Sgt. Joshua J. Kirk of South Portland, Maine; Spc. Michael P. Scusa of Villas, New Jersey; Spc. Christopher T. Griffin of Kincheloe, Michigan; and Pfc. Kevin C. Thomson of Reno, Nevada, according to the Air Force mortuary affairs office. The dignified transfer ceremony also might include other fallen service members.
Coverage of the troops' return is allowed with the permission of their families under a policy the Obama administration instituted this year.
Click here to keep reading and find out where some of the key players in the debate stand...
John Boehner says Joe Biden's lying about stimulus
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/07/08/biden.health.care/art.vp.biden.cnn.jpg caption="John Boehner is redoubling his attacks, accusing the vice president of lying about the economy."]
Alex Isenstadt
Politico
Vice President Joe Biden is invading House Minority Leader John Boehner’s back yard tomorrow to tout the success of the stimulus package, but Boehner is redoubling his attacks, accusing the vice president of lying about the economy.
“I found it ... interesting over the last couple of days to hear Vice President Biden and the president mention the fact that they didn’t realize how difficult an economic circumstance we were in,” Boehner said. “Now this is the greatest fabrication I have seen since I’ve been in Congress.”
“I’ve sat in meetings in the White House
with the vice president and the president. There’s not one person that sat in those rooms that didn’t understand how serious our economic crisis was,” Boehner said.
Boehner also took a shot at the idea of a second stimulus – something Biden said he was open to last week.
“All of this talk of a second stimulus bill, I think, is an admission on the part of the administration that their stimulus plan is not working,” Boehner said.
Can Obama and Medvedev reset superpower relationship?
[cnn-photo-caption image="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/europe/07/06/russia.us.summit.analysis/art.souvenirs.gi.jpg" caption="A Moscow merchant displays Russian nesting dolls painted with portraits of Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev."]
Jill Dougherty
CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent
It was a catchy phrase when U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden first used it in February: "Press the reset button." A month later U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed her counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a red plastic "reset" button. The Russian translation printed on top turned out to be wrong, but by that time Russians were using the phrase, too.
The only problem was no one seemed to know precisely what "resetting" the U.S. relationship really meant. During the Cold War, if you talked about Russian and U.S. presidents pressing buttons, it usually meant potentially blowing up the world with nuclear weapons.
Now, at this two-day summit in Moscow between presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev which begins Monday, we'll get to see whether this "reset" button actually sets a new, cooperative relationship in motion or whether it's short-circuited.
Why you should keep an eye on June 7
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/meast/05/26/lebanon.analysis/art.hezbollah.afp.gi.jpg caption="Hezbollah supporters at a Beirut rally holding a poster of leader Hassan Nasrallah. "]
Joe Von kanel
CNN Writer/Editor
You may have noticed that Vice President Joe Biden was in Lebanon last Friday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit last month. What's the sudden attraction of going to Lebanon? An upcoming election there could be very interesting!
Lebanon's Parliament is up for grabs and unlike any legislative body in the U.S., all 128 seats in the Lebanese Parliament are determined by religion: Christians and Muslims each get 64 seats – exactly half. Since Christians haven't been united for centuries, various Christian denominations are guaranteed a certain number of seats. The largest single bloc, 34 seats, goes to the Maronite Christians.
Of course, Muslims aren't united either. The two major sects - the Sunni and Shia– get 27 seats each. Lebanon's Shiite political party Hezbollah - yes, the same Hezbollah that the U.S. has labeled a "terrorist organization - has brokered a coalition of Shiite parties that has thrown-in with the Maronite Christians. The groups are running on a "reform" agenda, promising to clean-up corruption. Guess who could win? And guess who the U.S. really doesn't want to win? The U.S. is backing a Sunni-dominated counter-alliance.
The election is on June 7th. We'll be watching!
Video: Obama and Biden go for burgers
The president and vice president make an unscheduled stop for burgers in Washington.
Obama, Biden agree on immigration?
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Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Special to CNN
The Obama administration's stance on immigration reform is like a never-ending telenovela with multiple plot twists –sometimes more than one in the same news cycle.
One minute the administration is saying it's going to push for immigration reform this year; the next, the message is that it won't push that hard.
According to an article in Wednesday's New York Times, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country's immigration system this year, and those plans will include looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal.
The article quotes Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House, as saying that Obama will frame the new push as "policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system."
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