Top Items:
ABCNEWS:
New Documents from Saddam Hussein's Archives Discuss Bin Laden, WMDs — U.S. Government Releases Papers From Saddam's Reign — March 16, 2006 — Following are the ABC News Investigative Unit's summaries of four of the nine Iraqi documents from Saddam Hussein's government, which were released by the U.S. government Wednesday.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog, GOP Bloggers, PoliPundit.com, AMERICAN FUTURE, NewsBusters.org, Ace of Spades HQ, Iowa Voice, Wizbang and Blogs for Bush
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The Aardvark / Abu Aardvark:
Iraqi document release
Iraqi document release
Discussion:
Natalie Solent, The Washington Monthly, The Anchoress, Informed Comment, The Strata-Sphere and Flopping Aces
Unclaimed Territory:
The new Nixon Law is introduced — that which the President does is legal — (updated below) — Michael DeWine yesterday introduced what he is calling The Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006 (.pdf), co-sponsored by those independent maverick Republicans Olympia Snowe, Chuck Hagel and Lindsay Graham.
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Charles Babington / Washington Post:
Bill Would Allow Warrantless Spying — GOP Plan Would Bring Surveillance Under Review of Congress, FISA Court — The Bush administration could continue its policy of spying on targeted Americans without obtaining warrants, but only if it justifies the action to a small group of lawmakers …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Carpetbagger Report, Balloon Juice, The Huffington Post, Vichy Democrats, Decision '08 and Truthdig
apnews.excite.com:
Witness Tampering Cited in Moussaoui Case — WASHINGTON (AP) - Lawyers for two airlines being sued for damages by 9/11 victims prompted a federal lawyer to coach witnesses in the trial of al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui so the government's death penalty case would not undercut their defense, victims' lawyers allege.
Discussion:
Big Lizards
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Dafydd / Big Lizards:
Moussaoui Case - Shocking Allegation
Moussaoui Case - Shocking Allegation
Discussion:
The Glittering Eye, Wizbang, Flopping Aces, Below The Beltway and The Pink Flamingo Bar Grill
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Pandora and Polygamy — And now, polygamy. — With the sweetly titled HBO series "Big Love," polygamy comes out of the closet. Under the headline "Polygamists, Unite!" Newsweek informs us of "polygamy activists emerging in the wake of the gay-marriage movement."
Discussion:
The Corner on National …, Andrew Sullivan, Sister Toldjah, Minneapolis Star Tribune and PoliBlog
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Senate Approves Budget, Breaking Spending Limits — WASHINGTON, March 16 — The Senate narrowly approved a $2.8 trillion election-year budget Thursday that broke spending limits only hours after it increased federal borrowing power to avert a government default.
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Jim Dwyer / New York Times:
Police Memos Say Arrest Tactics Calmed Protest — In five internal reports made public yesterday as part of a lawsuit, New York City police commanders candidly discuss how they had successfully used "proactive arrests," covert surveillance and psychological tactics at political demonstrations in 2002 …
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Christopher / Back to Iraq 3.0:
Operation Overblown — BAGHDAD — Operation Swarmer is turning out to be much less than meets the eye, or the television camera, for that matter. … That sounds exciting! But according to a colleague of mine from TIME who traveled up there today on a U.S. embassy-sponsored trip …
New York Times:
Time for Facts, Not Resolutions — We understand the frustration that led Senator Russell Feingold to introduce a measure that would censure President Bush for authorizing warrantless spying on Americans. It's galling to watch from the outside as the Republicans and most Democrats refuse …
Investor's Business Daily:
Declassified Truth — The War On Terror: The government is finally getting around to unloading some of Saddam Hussein's secret documents. A look at just a few pages already leads to some blockbuster revelations. — In the early stages of the war that began three years ago …
New York Times:
U.S. and Iranians Agree to Discuss Violence in Iraq — TEHRAN, March 16 — Iran and the United States agreed Thursday to hold direct talks on how to halt sectarian violence and restore calm in Iraq, offering the first face-to-face conversation between the sides after months of confrontation over Iran's nuclear program.
Discussion:
Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, QandO, The Heretik, The Moderate Voice, Preemptive Karma and State of the Day
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Jack Shafer / Slate:
Judith Miller's New Excuse — The former Times reporter tells Vanity Fair the "slanderous" bloggers destroyed her. — Judith Miller has a new alibi—the blogs done her in! — Writer Marie Brenner presents Miller's latest defense in an April Vanity Fair feature story about the fallout from the Valerie Plame investigation.
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Fighting Smarter In Iraq — BAGHDAD — Three years on, the U.S. military is finally becoming adept at fighting a counterinsurgency war in Iraq. Sadly, these are precisely the skills that should have been mastered before America launched its invasion in March 2003.
Jamie Coomarasamy / BBC:
US evangelicals warn Republicans — Prominent leaders from the Christian right have warned Republicans they must do more to advance conservative values ahead of the US mid-term elections. — Their message to Congress, controlled by Republicans, is "must do better".
Michael Kinsley / Slate:
To Your Health — Why modest reform is preferable to single-payer health care. — In the March 23 New York Review of Books, Paul Krugman makes the case for a health-care system that is not only "single payer," meaning that the government handles the finances, but in some respects …
Leslie Wayne / New York Times:
Same Washington, Different Office — WASHINGTON — As attorney general, John Ashcroft was a model of moral rectitude to his conservative supporters. To his liberal detractors, he was overly self-righteous. Mr. Ashcroft sees himself simply as a man of integrity, and to him that is worth a lot.
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
Campaign Finance and Blogs: A Simple and Non-Legal Explanation — I updated this to include the media exemption, which I had forgotten. — Ok, so campaign finance regulations make my head hurt, so I'm going to try to explain the basic idea behind the differing bills instead of the legal ins-and-outs …