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Steven R. Weisman / New York Times:
Powell Speaks Out on Domestic Spy Program — WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 - Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said on Sunday that it would not have been "that hard" for President Bush to obtain warrants for eavesdropping on domestic telephone and Internet activity, but that he saw "nothing wrong" with the decision not to do so.
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Shakespeare's Sister, The Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report and Ace of Spades HQ
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Josh Meyer / Los Angeles Times:
Iraq Contingent May Grow if Attacks Persist, Pace Says — WASHINGTON — Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace said Sunday that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase next year, not decrease, if the insurgency continued. — Pace's comments on "Fox News Sunday" …
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Charles Lane / Washington Post:
No Date Is Set for Troop Withdrawal From Iraq — General Says Insurgency Affects Timing; Powell Calls Current Levels Unsustainable — As American troops marked their third Christmas in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer said their number …
Reuters:
Gas attack poisons dozens of Russian shoppers — ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - A gas smelling of garlic hurt dozens of Russian shoppers when it was released into a supermarket on Monday in the city of St Petersburg, but police ruled out a terrorist attack.
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Washington Post:
Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War — U.S. Recruits Advocates to the Front, Pays Iraqi TV Stations for Coverage — BAGHDAD — Retired soldier Bill Roggio was a computer technician living in New Jersey less than two months ago when a Marine officer half a world away made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Bush Presses Editors on Security — President Bush has been summoning newspaper editors lately in an effort to prevent publication of stories he considers damaging to national security. — The efforts have failed, but the rare White House sessions with the executive editors of The Washington Post …
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Betsy's Page, The Sideshow, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, mediabistro, Hugh Hewitt, IntoxiNation-News …, NewsHog, Michelle Malkin, Booman Tribune ~ Boo!, The Belmont Club, Hit and Run, The Next Hurrah, Daily Kos, WTF Is It Now??, Donklephant, TalkLeft, Pam's House Blend, AMERICAN FUTURE and Economist's View
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Peter Slevin / Washington Post:
Scholar Stands by Post-9/11 Writings On Torture, Domestic Eavesdropping — Former Justice Official Says He Was Interpreting Law, Not Making Policy — John Yoo knows the epithets of the libertarians, the liberals and the lefties. Widely considered the intellectual architect …
Discussion:
firedoglake, The Corner on National …, The Heretik, Talking Points Memo, PBD and TalkLeft
MSNBC:
Transcript for December 25 — MR. TIM RUSSERT: And on this Christmas morning, we have a very special program. We'll talk about the biggest news stories of the year, and perhaps the stories that didn't receive enough attention. And we'll reflect on the ethical and legal challenges confronting the media.
Discussion:
Angry Bear, The Heretik, mediabistro, NewsBusters.org, The Corner on National … and PSoTD
Anne Gearan / Associated Press:
Analysis: Rice's Stock Is on the Rise — WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has become the most popular member of the Bush administration and a potential candidate to succeed her boss in the White House, even as Americans lose confidence in the president she serves and patience with the Iraq war she helped launch.
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
Travels with Cheney — The Vice President visits the front lines of the war on terror — On a cool December morning, Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad waited for their distinguished guests on the sidewalk outside of the ambassador's residence in the heart …
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Shiites Decline Sunni Bid for More Iraq Parliament Seats — Baghdad, IRAQ, Dec. 25 - Sunni Arab political leaders asked the main Shiite political block today to give them 10 Shiite seats in the new parliament in an early attempt to defuse tensions over the results of last week's election.
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Alastair Macdonald / Reuters:Bombs, protests as Iraq election mood sours
Discussion:
Running Scared, The Mahablog, Daily Kos, Gateway Pundit, Donklephant and skippy the bush kangaroo
Robert Steinback / Miami Herald:
Fear destroys what bin Laden could not — One wonders if Osama bin Laden didn't win after all. He ruined the America that existed on 9/11. But he had help. — If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that four years after bin Laden's attack our president would admit that he broke U.S. law …
Michael Janofsky / New York Times:
Professors' Politics Draw Lawmakers Into the Fray — While attending a Pennsylvania Republican Party picnic, Jennie Mae Brown bumped into her state representative and started venting. — "How could this happen?" Ms. Brown asked Representative Gibson C. Armstrong two summers ago …
Discussion:
Neil Shakespeare, Unclaimed Territory, BlondeSense, firedoglake, TBogg and Ace of Spades HQ
Gina Holland / Associated Press:
White House Aids Playboy Playmate in Court — WASHINGTON - Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith has an unusual bedfellow in the Supreme Court fight over her late husband's fortune: the Bush administration. — The administration's top Supreme Court lawyer filed arguments on Smith's behalf …
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Attytood
Thomas Bray / realclearpolitics.com:
And You Think America Is Repressive? — Spying on e-mail and cell phone traffic without a warrant. Searching offices and residences without a court order. Locking citizens away for weeks or months without filing charges. — Sound like your worst nightmare about the supposedly lawless Bush administration?
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Courts Criticize Judges' Handling of Asylum Cases — Federal appeals court judges around the nation have repeatedly excoriated immigration judges this year for what they call a pattern of biased and incoherent decisions in asylum cases. — In one decision last month, Richard A. Posner …
