Top Items:
New York Times:
Younger Clerics Showing Power in Iraq's Unrest — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 25 — American officials have been repeatedly stunned and frequently thwarted in the past three years by the extraordinary power of Muslim clerics over Iraqi society. But in the sectarian violence of the past few days …
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Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:
Iraq "Civil War" Sitrep — A status report on the violence in Iraq and prospects for civil war; Sadr's role — Four days after the destruction of the dome of the Golden Mosque, the threat of an all out civil war in Iraq seems to have abated. Saturday's violence resulted in over sixty deaths …
Christopher / Back to Iraq 3.0:Where Things Stand Tonight
Discussion:
Crescat Sententia, Say Anything, UNCoRRELATED, Flopping Aces and California Conservative
Time:
A Face-saving Dubai Deal in the Works? — GOP officials are apparently mulling over a deal that would allow for a new review of the Dubai Ports World contentious acquisition — Moving toward a deal that could allow President Bush and congressional GOP leaders to save face and avert …
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New York Times:
Gaps in Security Stretch From Model Port in Dubai to U.S. — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 25 — To some American officials, the sprawling port along the Persian Gulf here, where steel shipping containers are stacked row after row as far as the eye can see, is a model for the post-9/11 world.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Louie Estrada / Washington Post:
Don Knotts, TV's Barney Fife, Dies — Don Knotts, the rail-thin comic actor who was perhaps best known to millions of television viewers as the bungling Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife in "The Andy Griffith Show" and the squirrelly landlord in "Three's Company," died of lung cancer Feb. 24 at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
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Jeremiah Marquez / Associated Press:
Don Knotts, TV's Barney Fife, Dies at 81 — LOS ANGELES — Don Knotts, who kept generations of TV audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" and would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on "Three's Company," has died. He was 81.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
Andrew Davies / Telegraph:
Judge rules that doctors must let ill baby die — The parents of Charlotte Wyatt have been told that doctors are to be allowed to let their profoundly ill baby daughter die if they feel it is in her best interests. — A High Court judge yesterday lifted a previous ruling that she should always …
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Sydney Morning Herald:
Power to the people: now everyone can make a difference — Democracy, the internet and NGOs are fuelling a global empowerment of ordinary citizens, writes Bill Clinton. — THREE things have happened since the end of the Cold War to give private citizens an unprecedented capacity to do public good.
Mick Stockinger / UNCoRRELATED:
Buckley Sends Up the White Flag — Perhaps surprisingly, I am not surprised by William Buckley's declaration that Iraq is a failure. — The postulates he refers to are seldom discussed because people might actually learn something and politically we can't have that.
Discussion:
Blogs for Bush, Flopping Aces, The Corner on National …, Below The Beltway, Wizbang and Gina Cobb
CBS News:
Montana's Coal Cowboy — (CBS) The governor of Montana says he can turn the billions of tons of coal under his state into enough diesel fuel to greatly reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. — And there's an added benefit, says Gov. Brian Schweitzer: the United States will be sticking it to the …
Peter Baker / Washington Post:
Russian Relations Under Scrutiny — U.S. Concerned About G-8 Talks With Putin as Host — The Bush administration is quietly exploring ways of recalibrating U.S. policy toward Russia in the face of growing concerns about the Kremlin's crackdown on internal dissent and pressure tactics toward its neighbors …
Discussion:
The Left Coaster
John Markoff / New York Times:
Taking Spying to Higher Level, Agencies Look for More Ways to Mine Data — PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 23 — A small group of National Security Agency officials slipped into Silicon Valley on one of the agency's periodic technology shopping expeditions this month.
New York Times:
A Judicial Green Light for Torture — The administration's tendency to dodge accountability for lawless actions by resorting to secrecy and claims of national security is on sharp display in the case of a Syrian-born Canadian, Maher Arar, who spent months under torture because of United States action.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
TRAINING REPORT....Four months ago the Pentagon reported that the number of "level one" Iraqi battalions had dropped from three to one. On Friday they reported that although that number has now dropped to zero, 53 battalions are at level two, up from 36 in October. There's reason to be skeptical that this is good news, though.
Discussion:
Big Lizards, battlepanda.blogspot.com, IntoxiNation-News …, Obsidian Wings and Democrat Taylor Marsh …
Charles R. Babcock / Washington Post:
Contractor Pleads Guilty to Corruption — Probe Extends Beyond Bribes to Congressman — Washington defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade admitted yesterday in federal court that he attempted to illegally influence Defense Department contracting officials and tried to curry favor with two House members …
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Justin Webb / BBC:
Democrats fail to find a message — President Bush's popularity ratings have plummeted, but why, asks Justin Webb, is it that the opposition, the Democrats, are not surfing the opinion polls, capitalising on the Republicans' misfortunes and preparing to take over Congress when the election comes in the autumn?
Discussion:
USS Neverdock
