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October 21, 2011 | | REVELATIONS Stephanie Madoff Mack on her husband's suicide, Ruth's pathetic life in hiding, and how her father in law Bernie came clean to the family: “It's all one big lie.” POTUS President Obama has announced that all American troops in Iraq will return to the U.S. by the end of the year. "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," Obama said in a press conference at the White House, adding that most U.S. troops will be "home for the holidays." In a telephone conference this morning, the president confirmed the news with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, with whom the U.S. is now in "full agreement" to move forward with the drawdown. Officials from both countries had since discussed keeping U.S. troops there to train security forces against potential Iranian terror plots. However, the Pentagon changed its mind after Iraqi political leaders refused to grant U.S. troops legal immunity in Iraqi courts. Obama noted that he'd vowed to end the war in Iraq during his 2008 election campaign. The fact that he kept that promise will be a crucial appeal to voters during his difficult 2012 reelection campaign. PHONE HACKING Rupert Murdoch's company is finally paying for one of the most shocking allegations of phone hacking at its now-defunct News of the World tabloid. News International will pay $3.2 million to the family of Milly Dowler, the 13-year-old murdered girl whose phone messages were hacked by reporters after she went missing in 2002, leading her family to believe she was still alive. Murdoch's company and Dowler's family confirmed the settlement on Friday in a statement, which also said that Murdoch will donate $1.6 million to charities chosen by the family in Dowler's honor.
"Nothing that has been agreed will ever bring back Milly or undo the traumas of her disappearance and the horrendous murder trial earlier this year," the Dowlers said in the statement. POSTMORTEM The body of Muammar Gaddafi is being kept in a shopping-center freezer until his death can be investigated and a burial site chosen. The U.N. human-rights office called for an investigation into his death, prompting Libyan authorities to delay the burial scheduled for today. Libyan officials say Gaddafi died in a cross-fire between loyalists and rebels, but there are videos showing him wounded, stumbling among a crowd of NTC soldiers, and begging for mercy. Other photographs show Gaddafi with a bullet hole in his head that forensics experts say looks like a shot fired at close range. BAIL Michele Bachmann's campaign scrambled late Friday to deny rumors that five members of her New Hampshire team quit Friday. Campaign manager Keith Nahigian said the rumors are "crazy," and said he had "just talked to two of them and they don't know what's going on." A local television station said the team left because they said they felt "constantly betrayed and even lied to." All of the staffers claim that they remain devoted to Bachmann, but her refusal to spend time in New Hampshire may have played a role. According to one report, "Bachmann came to the state last week for the Dartmouth debate. It was her first trip to New Hampshire since late June, and it was the final straw for the local staff." | | 
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