Morning Links

A suicide bomber struck a busy commercial center in a major Shiite city south of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens as the streets were packed with shoppers and people on their way to work, police and hospital officials said. [Link]

House Democrats on Monday targeted two of President Bush’s longtime aides for criminal contempt against Congress, escalating a legal fight over executive privilege and access to White House deliberations on the firings of federal prosecutors. Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said his panel would vote Wednesday on citing White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former Counsel Harriet Miers for contempt of Congress. [Link]

While Washington is mired in political debate over the future of Iraq, the American command here has prepared a detailed plan that foresees a significant American role for the next two years. The classified plan, which represents the coordinated strategy of the top American commander and the American ambassador, calls for restoring security in local areas, including Baghdad, by the summer of 2008. “Sustainable security” is to be established on a nationwide basis by the summer of 2009, according to American officials familiar with the document. [Link]

About one in three people living in Southern coastal areas said they would ignore hurricane evacuation orders if a storm threatened their community, up from about one in four last year, a poll released Tuesday shows. The survey found the most common reasons for not evacuating were the same ones that topped last year’s Harvard University poll: People believe that their homes are safe and well-built, that roads would be too crowded and that fleeing would be dangerous. Slightly more than one in four also said they would be reluctant to leave behind a pet. [Link]

A roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan killed four American soldiers yesterday, while two NATO soldiers died elsewhere and a battle in the country’s poppy- growing heartland killed more than 50 suspected militants. [Link]

Under a bill the House approved Monday, members of Congress would no longer be able to put their spouses on their campaign payrolls, a practice criticized as a way for lawmakers to profit from political donations…Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, found that at least 64 House members paid relatives from their campaign funds or PACs during the last three election cycles. [Link]

The kidnapping of 23 South Korean aid workers last week on one of Afghanistan’s major highways is the latest evidence that the Taliban is extending its reach closer to the capital, Kabul. The insurgency, which has blossomed in provinces bordering Pakistan – where the Taliban is widely believed to receive support – is spreading inland. [Link]

After persistent criticism of its policies regarding evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration announced an extension of aid yesterday for some of those still unable to return to New Orleans. Housing assistance for those evacuees who lived in federally subsidized housing before the storm has been extended through June 2008. [Link]

American assertions that military action remained an option to quell militants in Pakistan’s frontier regions drew mounting protests from the government and its critics here on Monday, as clashes continued in the tribal areas where the United States says Al Qaeda has been allowed to set up a safe haven…The statement was promptly countered by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Tasnim Aslam, on Monday. “We do not want our efforts to be undermined by any ill-conceived action,” Ms. Aslam said, adding that any military strikes would be deeply resented in the tribal areas and the rest of the country….Newspaper editorials over the past several days have pointedly criticized American suggestions of military action, taking note of American troops getting “bogged down” in Iraq and Afghanistan. “So in their own interest and in the interest of Pakistan’s battle with the Taliban,” read an editorial recently in Dawn, an English language daily newspaper, the Americans “better keep themselves out of it.” [Link]

A growing list of states and universities across the country are pulling their investments from foreign companies that deal with Sudan, Iran and other nations accused of government-supported genocide or terrorism. It could be the largest wave of public divestment activity since efforts targeting South Africa and apartheid in the 1980s. Michigan is among the states that soon could join the effort. The state Legislature on Tuesday was to hold hearings on bills that would restrict the state’s pension fund investments. [Link]

Lawmakers acknowledged that there were still many differences on a proposed law to manage oil revenue, the country’s most lucrative resource, making it unlikely they would approve a law before September, when the Bush administration must report to Congress on Iraq’s progress toward meeting certain legislative benchmarks. The report is expected to have an impact on whether Congress continues to support the Iraq war. [Link]

Non-combat U.S. troop deaths in Iraq have fallen for three years — largely because of fewer vehicle accidents — and account for the smallest percentage of fatalities for any war except the Korean conflict. A USA TODAY analysis of Pentagon data shows 105 U.S. troops died in non-combat incidents, including suicide and illness, in the year ending June 30 — 11% of U.S. troop deaths in Iraq for that period. During the first year of the war, there were 193 non-combat deaths, about half of U.S. casualties in Iraq. The falloff in non-combat deaths comes amid a spike in battle fatalities. There were 939 U.S. combat deaths in the year ending June 30, the most for any 12-month period of the war. In the first year, 387 troops died in combat. [Link]