ASHINGTON, June 23 — President Bush today made another trip to Pennsylvania, a politically vital state, where he announced that Vietnam was being added to the list of countries in the administration’s AIDS-relief program.

“After a long analysis by our staff, we believe that Vietnam deserves this special help,” Mr. Bush said in announcing that Vietnam would become the 15th country on the list. “We’re putting a history of bitterness behind us with Vietnam.”

Addressing a Baptist church gathering in Philadelphia, Mr. Bush called acquired immune deficiency syndrome “one of the great tragedies of human history.”

Continue reading In Visit to Pennsylvania, Bush Extends AIDS Relief to Vietnam

ASHINGTON, June 22 — The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it had completed one of the biggest changes in the history of the food stamp program, replacing paper coupons with electronic benefits and debit cards.

At the same time, the administration said it wanted to rename the program because the term “food stamps” had become an anachronism. It is inviting the public to suggest how to update the name of a program that became a permanent part of the government, and the nation’s vocabulary, during Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society era.

Electronic benefits have replaced food stamp coupons in all states, and more than half the states now issue electronic benefits in place of welfare checks as well. In addition, some states are using debit cards for Medicaid and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.

Continue reading Electronic Cards Replace Coupons for Food Stamps

ASHINGTON, June 22 - President Bush has authorized a team of American negotiators to offer North Korea, in talks in Beijing on Thursday, a new but highly conditional set of incentives to give up its nuclear weapons programs the way Libya did late last year, according to senior administration officials.

The proposal would be the first significant, detailed overture to North Korea since Mr. Bush took office three years ago.

Under the plan, outlined by American officials on Tuesday evening, in response to pressure from China and American allies in Asia, the aid would begin flowing immediately after a commitment by Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, to dismantle his plutonium and uranium weapons programs. In return, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea would immediately begin sending tens of thousands of tons of heavy fuel oil every month, and Washington would offer a “provisional” guarantee not to invade the country or seek to topple Mr. Kim’s government.

Continue reading U.S. to Offer North Korea Incentives in Nuclear Talks

ASHINGTON, June 22 — Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy, said Tuesday that the Pentagon had underestimated the violent tenacity of an insurgency that formed after Baghdad fell, and he acknowledged that the United States may be forced to keep a significant number of troops in Iraq for years to come.

But even under questioning from House Democrats, Mr. Wolfowitz never wavered from an optimistic posture as he cited “enormous progress” in the effort to stabilize Iraq and hand over responsibility for governing and security to the Iraqis.

Mr. Wolfowitz, who just returned from a five-day visit to Iraq, told House Armed Services Committee members that he heard military personnel from the United States and its allies, as well as Iraqi citizens, say the world does not realize the successes achieved as Iraq moves toward sovereignty on June 30.

Continue reading Wolfowitz Testifies Pentagon Misjudged the Strength of Iraqi Insurgency

ASHINGTON, June 22 — In a February 2002 directive that set new rules for handling prisoners captured in Afghanistan, President Bush broadly cited the need for “new thinking in the law of war.” He ordered that all people detained as part of the fight against terrorism should be treated humanely even if the United States considered them not to be protected by the Geneva Conventions, the White House said Tuesday.

That statement of principle, which has been described publicly but never before released in its entirety, came at a time of intense debate within the Bush administration over how far the military and the intelligence agencies could and should go in using coercive interrogations and torture to extract information from detainees, administration officials said as they released hundreds of pages of previously classified documents related to the development of a policy on the detainees.

Continue reading White House Says Prisoner Policy Set Humane Tone