Monday, September 17, 2007

Conservative sues pro-Bush group

WASHINGTON - Larry Klayman, once a hero of conservatives for persistently taking Bill Clinton to court, sued former aides and financial backers of President Bush on Monday for using the name "Freedom's Watch" to mount a multimillion-dollar campaign in support of the war in Iraq.

In the federal lawsuit, Klayman accuses the group of appropriating a name he has used to promote his own public interest legal work. Klayman, who lives in Miami, said he first used the name Freedom Watch in 2004 on behalf of his nonprofit legal and educational activities and later registered it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

What's more, Klayman said, he opposes the ongoing war in Iraq. He said he supported toppling Saddam Hussein, but he said he believes the United States should now "let the Iraqis sort everything out."

"The Iraq war does not promote freedom, it promotes chaos and anarchy and instability," he said in an interview.

Freedom's Watch is a new organization formed last month and financed by former Bush aides and Republican fundraisers. It is mounting a $15 million advertising campaign across the country to pressure Democrats and wavering Republicans not to interfere with Bush's Iraq strategy........

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