Top Items:
New York Times:
Dubai Company Delays New Role at Six U.S. Ports — WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 — The Dubai company at the center of a political furor over its plans to take over some terminal operations at six American ports said Thursday night that it planned to close the deal next week, but that it would …
Discussion:
The Glittering Eye, The Anonymous Liberal, The Carpetbagger Report, AMERICAblog and AMERICAN FUTURE
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Rowan Scarborough / Washington Times:
Chertoff unaware of ports deal until after OK — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was not aware a Dubai-owned company was seeking to operate terminals in six U.S. ports and that his agency was leading the review until after the deal's approval, an administration official said yesterday.
Clark Kent Ervin / New York Times:
Strangers at the Door — WHO could have imagined that, in the post-9/11 world, the United States government would approve a deal giving control over six major American ports to a country with ties to terrorism? But this is exactly what the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has done.
Edward Epstein / San Francisco Chronicle:
Showdown looms over U.S. ports deal — Washington — The Bush administration and a key congressional ally tried today to quell the outcry against the contract for a firm owned by the United Arab Emirates government to manage six major U.S. ports, but in the Senate their efforts ran …
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Taste of the Future — "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." The acidulous wisdom of Mark Twain speaks to us across the ages, and never more than this week during the great congressional mobilization to save America's ports from the dreaded hand of Dubai.
Discussion:
TAPPED
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:A Dubai Finesse — If only Churchill were alive today, none of this would be happening.
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Violent Cycle of Revenge Stuns Iraqis — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 23 — After a day of violence so raw and so personal, Iraqis woke on Thursday morning to a tense new world in which, it seemed, anything was possible. — The violence on Wednesday was the closest Iraq had come to civil war, and Iraqis were stunned.
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National Review:
Standoff in Iraq — The insurgency in Iraq has no military capability either to drive the United States military from Iraq or to stop the American training of Iraqi police and security forces — or, for that matter, to derail the formation of a new government.
Zeyad / Healing Iraq:
Samarra Attack, the Last Straw? Part 2 — Movement today was sparse. The government announced it a day off yesterday, while Sistani, the supreme religious Shi'ite authority, called for his followers to close their businesses for 7 days in mourning. Both he and Muqtada Al-Sadr have urged …
Andrew Cochran / The Counterterrorism Blog:
Terrorists Attack Saudi Oil Facility (updated) — One of the "nightmare scenarios" in the counterterrorism community apparently almost happened, with an attempted terrorist attack on a major oil refinery in Abqaiq (a.k.a. Buqayq) in eastern Saudi Arabia today.
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BBC:
Saudis 'foil oil facility attack' — Saudi security forces have foiled an apparent suicide car bomb attack on a major oil production facility in the eastern town of Abqaiq. — Guards opened fire on at least two cars carrying explosives as they tried to ram the gates, Saudi officials said.
Salah Nasrawi / Associated Press:
Attack Fails at Huge Saudi Oil Site — CAIRO, Egypt - Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars attacked the world's largest oil processing facility Friday, but were prevented from breaking through the gates when guards opened fire on them, causing the vehicles to explode, officials said.
MSNBC:
Oil refinery attack foiled, Saudis say — Vehicles reportedly were packed with explosives; pipeline fire started — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars attempted to attack an oil processing facility that handles about two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's petroleum output on Friday …
Discussion:
Running Scared
CBS News:
S. Dakota Moves Toward Abortion Ban — (CBS/AP) South Dakota moved closer to imposing some of the strictest limits on abortion in the nation, as the state Senate approved legislation that would ban it except when a woman's life is in danger. — The bill, designed to wage a national legal fight …
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Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Anti-gay fury mars funeral of a soldier in Anoka — Protesters from Kansas say God is killing our soldiers because the U.S. tolerates homosexuality. — On her way into the church where the funeral was to be held for her 23-year-old son Thursday morning, Deirdre Ostlund approached six men …
Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Special Counsel in Plame Case Invalid, Libby Contends — Attorneys for Vice President Cheney's former top aide argued yesterday that a federal court should dismiss all charges against him because a special prosecutor lacked the legal authority to bring the charges.
Shane Harris / nationaljournal.com:
TIA Lives On — A controversial counter-terrorism program, which lawmakers halted more than two years ago amid outcries from privacy advocates, was stopped in name only and has quietly continued within the intelligence agency now fending off charges that it has violated the privacy of U.S. citizens.
David Kaspar / Davids Medienkritik:
SPIEGEL's Karen Hughes Translation Nightmare: Bush "A Wonderful Führer" — (By Ray D.) — After releasing it's English version of an interview with US Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, SPIEGEL ONLINE today released its German version of the same interview.
Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:
Democrat voters low on enthusiasm — Democrats, after 11 years as the minority party in Congress, still can't get it right with their own voters, a poll shows. — By objecting to virtually every initiative and proposal of the Bush administration and congressional Republican majority …
Lori Aratani / Washington Post:
'Gifted' Label Takes a Vacation in Diversity Quest — Middle school magnet programs in Montgomery County have traditionally operated as schools within schools, offering specialized curriculum to a few select students — who have been mostly Asian and white. — But this fall, educators decided to try a different approach.
