Top Items:
New York Times:
More Questions as Rice Asserts Detainee Policy — WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 - Responding to pressure at home and abroad to set clearer standards for the interrogation of terrorist suspects, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that the policy of the United States was not to allow its personnel …
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Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Rice Clarifies U.S. Interrogation Methods — Statement Appears to Mark Significant Shift in Policy — KIEV, Ukraine, Dec. 7 — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the United States had banned all of its personnel from conducting cruel or inhumane interrogations of prisoners.
Discussion:
Balkinization, the talking dog, Liberty Street, The Sideshow, The Next Hurrah and Two Babes and a Brain
New York Times:
In Poll, Bush Improves on Economy but Iraq War Looms — After months of political erosion, President Bush's approval rating improved markedly in the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, largely tracking Americans' more positive attitudes toward the economy.
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Sarah Lyall / New York Times:
Playwright Takes a Prize and a Jab at U.S. — LONDON, Dec. 7 - The playwright Harold Pinter turned his Nobel Prize acceptance speech on Wednesday into a furious howl of outrage against American foreign policy, saying that the United States had not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq but had also …
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Nigel Reynolds / Telegraph:
Pinter rails against US in Nobel prize speech — Age and sickness have not wearied him. Harold Pinter used the platform of his Nobel prize for literature yesterday to call for the prosecution of George W Bush and Tony Blair for the invasion of Iraq. He called it "a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism".
Washington Post:
In Cities Bush Cited, Progress Is Relative — In a tale of two cities, President Bush yesterday heralded progress in northern Mosul and southern Najaf as new models for rebuilding Iraq. — But last Friday, Iraq's government imposed emergency law and a curfew in Sunni-dominated Mosul …
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John Pain / Associated Press:
Air Marshal Kills Passenger, Citing Threat — MIAMI (AP) - An agitated passenger who claimed to have a bomb in his backpack was shot and killed by a federal air marshal Wednesday after he bolted frantically from a jetliner that was boarding for takeoff, officials said. No bomb was found.
Daniel Williams / Washington Post:
Police Attack Voters During Last Day of Egypt Election — BADAWAY, Egypt, Dec. 7 — Police firing tear gas and rubber bullets blocked voters from reaching polling stations in several electoral districts around the country Wednesday and at least eight people were reported killed on the violent …
Discussion:
Informed Comment
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Jonathan Finer / Washington Post:
In Iraq, Signs of Political Evolution — Parties That Shunned January Vote Are Now Embracing the Process — BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 — Tucked into a bunker-like former headquarters of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, a type of war room unfamiliar in this country buzzed with life Wednesday.
Shane Harris / govexec.com:
Army project illustrates promise, shortcomings of data mining — In the spring of 2000, a year and a half before the 9/11 attacks, Erik Kleinsmith made a decision that history may judge as a colossal mistake. — Then a 35-year-old Army major assigned to a little-known intelligence organization …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta
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Media Matters for America:
O'Reilly promised to "bring horror" to alleged "anti-Christian forces" who oppose Christmas … On the December 2 broadcast of Fox News' The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, host Bill O'Reilly stated that he would "use all the power that I have on radio and television to bring horror into the world of people" …
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Peter Heinlein / Voice of America:
US Blasts Security Council for Failing to Condemn Terror Attack in Israel — Washington's ambassador to the United Nations has criticized the Security Council for failing to condemn the latest terrorist attack in Israel. — The envoy singled out Algeria for blocking a U.S. drafted statement.
Lawrence O'Donnell / The Huffington Post:
Rove's Lawyer an On-the-Record Liar — At Arianna's HuffPo party last month, Mickey Kaus was surprised when I told him I did not think Bob Luskin was a liar. In several posts here, I've had my fun with Luskin's endless media spinning on behalf of his most famous client, Karl Rove, but I have never said he is a liar.
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Neil Tweedie / Telegraph:
Fighter ace sells medals to spare wife long wait for hip replacement — One of the most decorated British fighter pilots of the Second World War has sold his medals, diaries and other memorabilia partly to pay for a hip replacement operation for his wife who faced at least a six-month wait on the National Health Service.
OSM:
Iraq the Model goes deep inside the Iraqi election — By Mohammed of Iraq the Model, for Pajamas Media — In spite of the wide variety of political bodies competing in the December elections, making speculations and estimations is not difficult at all when one realizes that most Iraqis …
Discussion:
Roger L. Simon
Richard Lloyd Parry / Times of London:
How do you tackle an invasion of giant jellyfish? Try making sushi — THEY are called echizen kurage and they sound like monsters from the trashier reaches of Japanese science fiction. — They are 6ft wide and weigh 450lb (200kg), with countless poisonous tentacles …
