61.   But the Kurdish leader, whose alignment with Saddam outraged his opponents and alarmed the West, again defended his decision to seek backing from the Iraqi government.

62.   But the bishop defended the decision to ask Nugent and Sister Gramick to end their ministry.

63.   But Victoria Toensing, a former Justice Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, defended the decision.

64.   But Thursday, Reno vigorously continued to defend her decisions, saying that the Miami relatives had appeared to be waffling during last-minute negotiations.

65.   CBS and NBC defended their decisions not to broadcast the speech, saying the White House had not specifically asked the networks to clear their schedules.

66.   City officials defended their decision to suspend subway service, saying they did not want to imperil people on the block where the brownstones were in danger of collapsing.

67.   Clinton defended his decision to take part in Tiananmen Square welcoming ceremonies at a news conference on Tuesday with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

68.   Clinton, defending his decision, cited arguments by distinguished lawyers that the government should have moved against Rich civilly rather than in a criminal prosecution for fraud.

69.   Chirac vigorously defended the decision Wednesday on the grounds that the only political message it conveyed was that French soldiers in Africa were not fair game for anybody.

70.   Conrades defended the decision by saying that Lightsteam required millions of dollars to set up a distribution network.