Top Items:
Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Report Rebuts Bush on Spying — A report by Congress's research arm concluded yesterday that the administration's justification for the warrantless eavesdropping authorized by President Bush conflicts with existing law and hinges on weak legal arguments. — The Congressional Research …
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New York Times:
Basis for Spying in U.S. Is Doubted — WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - President Bush's rationale for eavesdropping on Americans without warrants rests on questionable legal ground, and Congress does not appear to have given him the authority to order the surveillance, said a Congressional analysis released Friday.
New York Times:
Report Questions Legal Basis for Bush's Spying Program — WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - President Bush's rationale for authorizing eavesdropping on American citizens without warrants rests on questionable legal ground and "may represent an exercise of presidential power at its lowest ebb," …
Michael Moss / New York Times:
Extra Armor Could Have Saved Many Lives, Study Shows — A secret Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 …
Discussion:
Rantingprofs, AMERICAblog, NewsHog, Defense Tech, The Washington Note, BlondeSense, This Modern World, King of Zembla, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Brilliant at Breakfast, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Taegan Goddard's …, TalkLeft, Pam's House Blend, Why Are We Back In Iraq? and Factesque
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Greyhawk / Mudville Gazette:
MURTHA VS THE ARMY — The Army has been meeting it's recruiting goals for several months. This must be deeply disturbing to Congressman John Murtha - he's now urging Americans to avoid military service: … Murtha's comments beg the question "But if you had it to do over again, would you enlist for Vietnam?"
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James Taranto / Opinion Journal:
Best of the Web — Nothing to Fear but Victory Itself — Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, who became a media darling in November by calling for immediate withdrawal from Iraq (though he voted against his own proposal when Republicans brought it to the House floor), elaborated on his views last night …
New York Times:
Americans Said to Meet Rebels, Exploiting Rift — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 6 - American officials are talking with local Iraqi insurgent leaders to exploit a rift that has opened between homegrown insurgents and radical groups like Al Qaeda, and to draw the local leaders into the political process …
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Nelson Hernandez / Washington Post:
In Video, Al Qaeda's No. 2 Tells Bush to Admit Defeat in Iraq — Accusations Fly Day After Lethal Insurgent Attacks — BAGHDAD, Jan. 6 — Al Qaeda's second-in-command said President Bush had admitted defeat in Iraq by announcing plans to reduce the American troop presence in the country, saying the move would be a victory for Islam.
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
Saddam's Terror Training Camps — THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq.
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Daniela Deane / Washington Post:
White House Denounces Robertson's Remarks on Sharon — Television Evangelist Said Prime Minister's Illness Was Deserved — The White House today criticized television evangelist Pat Robertson's remarks that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's severe illness was deserved, calling the comments "wholly inappropriate and offensive."
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BBC:
My Lai massacre hero dies at 62 — Hugh Thompson Jnr, a former US military helicopter pilot who helped stop one of the most infamous massacres of the Vietnam War has died, aged 62. — Mr Thompson and his crew came upon US troops killing civilians at the village of My Lai on 16 March 1968.
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Byron York / New York Times:
Money Always Finds a Way — IN a meeting with top Republican lawmakers in November, the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, decided to make lobbying reform a priority for 2006. As leadership decisions go, it was a no-brainer: everyone in the room knew that the Jack Abramoff scandal was festering …
Discussion:
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Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:Abramoff Scandal Turns a Spotlight on the Charitable Foundation Dodge
Associated Press:
Poll: Democrats favored to control Congress — Following Abramoff scandal, public uneasy with Republican Party, AP finds — WASHINGTON - In an ominous election-year sign for Republicans, Americans are leaning sharply toward giving Democrats control of Congress, an AP-Ipsos poll finds.
Brock N. Meeks / MSNBC:
Homeland Security opening private mail — Retired professor confused, angered when letter from abroad is opened — WASHINGTON - — Brock N. Meeks — In the 50 years that Grant Goodman has known and corresponded with a colleague in the Philippines he never had any reason to suspect …
Reuters:
Bremer says U.S. did not expect insurgency in Iraq — WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, has admitted the United States did not anticipate the insurgency in the country, NBC Television said on Friday.
Discussion:
The Left Coaster, Informed Comment, Middle Earth Journal, Needlenose and Brad DeLong's Semi …
Edward M. Kennedy / Washington Post:
Alito's Credibility Problem — Every Supreme Court nominee bears a heavy burden to demonstrate that he or she is committed to the constitutional principles that have been vital in advancing fairness, decency and equal opportunity in our society. As Judge Samuel Alito approaches …
