Top Items:
Ralph Peters / realclearpolitics.com:
Myths of Iraq — During a recent visit to Baghdad, I saw an enormous failure. On the part of our media. The reality in the streets, day after day, bore little resemblance to the sensational claims of civil war and disaster in the headlines. — No one with first-hand experience of Iraq …
Discussion:
QandO, The Strata-Sphere, Blogs for Bush, Right Wing Nut House, Sister Toldjah, Austin Bay Blog and Iowa Voice
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Peter Baker / Washington Post:
Bush Sets Target for Transition In Iraq — Country's Troops to Take Lead This Year — President Bush vowed for the first time yesterday to turn over most of Iraq to newly trained Iraqi troops by the end of this year, setting a specific benchmark as he kicked off a fresh drive …
Discussion:
Rantingprofs, Donklephant, The Heretik, QandO, The Strata-Sphere, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, State of the Day, Prometheus 6 and The Mahablog
New York Times:
Reprisal Killings Leave 87 Dead Throughout Baghdad — BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 14 — The police reported finding 87 bodies today scattered around the city, as the wave of reprisal killings in the wake of Sunday's attack on Shiite civilians appeared to gain steam.
Alexandra Zavis / Associated Press:
Iraqis Find 85 Bodies in 24-Hour Period — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Police in the past 24 hours have found the bodies of at least 85 people killed by execution-style shootings — a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal slayings, officials said Tuesday. — The dead included at least 27 bodies stacked …
CNN:
More than 80 dead in apparent reprisal killings — Bodies found around Baghdad in 30-hour period — BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Authorities said at least 86 bodies were found in the Iraqi capital during a 30-hour period ending midday Tuesday, sparking fears that sectarian reprisal killings are continuing at a grisly pace.
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Bush, Conceding Problems, Defends Iraq War
Bush, Conceding Problems, Defends Iraq War
Discussion:
Andrew Sullivan
New York Times:
For Bush's Ex-Aide, Quick Fall After Long Climb — WASHINGTON, March 13 — Claude A. Allen often said his religious upbringing took him from a two-room apartment in a poor neighborhood of Washington to a post at the White House. — "Probably the vast majority of the kids who grew …
Discussion:
Sadly, No!, Michelle Malkin, Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, Washington Post, The Heretik, THE NEWS BLOG and BrothersJudd Blog
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Wall Street Journal:
Bush's Approval Ratings Slip In the Latest Harris Poll — President Bush's job-approval ratings continue to slip, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll, while job-approval ratings for most of his key cabinet members also remain low. — Mr. Bush's current job-approval ratings stand at 36% in March …
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CBS News:
Poll: Americans Pessimistic On Iraq — (CBS) A CBS News poll finds the American public is increasingly convinced that the war in Iraq is going badly and may not get any better. An overwhelming number say Iraq is currently in a civil war, and nearly half think the U.S. effort there will not succeed.
Insight:
Bush delegates most issues, focuses only on Iraq, '06 campaign — President Bush has decided to stay out of the lion's share of decisions made by his administration. — Sources close to the administration said that over the last year, Mr. Bush has chosen to focus on two issues …
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Erin Carlson / Associated Press:
Isaac Hayes Quits 'South Park' — NEW YORK - Isaac Hayes has quit "South Park," where he voices Chef, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion. — Hayes, who has played the ladies' man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed.
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Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Chef Gets Huffy, Leaves South Park
Chef Gets Huffy, Leaves South Park
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications
New York Times:
Web Magazine Raises Doubts Over a Symbol of Abu Ghraib — The online magazine Salon is challenging the identity of a man profiled by The New York Times in a front-page article on Saturday who says he is the iconic hooded figure in a published photograph who was abused by Americans at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.
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Stephanie Saul / New York Times:
Study Links Ambien Use to Unconscious Food Forays — The sleeping pill Ambien seems to unlock a primitive desire to eat in some patients, according to emerging medical case studies that describe how the drug's users sometimes sleepwalk into their kitchens, claw through their refrigerators …
Discussion:
The Heretik
Associated Press:
Informant: Zawahiri Attended Lodi Mosque — SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An FBI informant testified Monday that a top Al Qaeda official lived in California's Central Valley in the years before the 2001 terrorist attacks, but the statements were attacked immediately as unreliable.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Captain's Quarters, Michelle Malkin, The Strata-Sphere and The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta
Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:
US postwar Iraq strategy a mess, Blair was told — Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos. — John Sawers, Mr Blair's envoy in Baghdad …
Daniel Pipes / Front Page Magazine:
Sudden Jihad Syndrome — "Individual Islamists may appear law-abiding and reasonable, but they are part of a totalitarian movement, and as such, all must be considered potential killers." I wrote those words days after 9/11 and have been criticized for them ever since.
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Judge Calls Halt to Penalty Phase of Terror Trial — ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 — An angry federal judge delayed the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui on Monday and said she was considering ending the prosecution's bid to have him executed after the disclosure that a government lawyer had improperly coached some witnesses.
New York Times:
Drop Out of the College — The Electoral College is an antidemocratic relic. Everyone who remembers 2000 knows that it can lead to the election of the candidate who loses the popular vote as president. But the Electoral College's other serious flaws are perhaps even more debilitating for a democracy.