General Defends Army Chief Who Spoke Out  —  WASHINGTON, April 16 — Gen. Richard B. Myers, who retired six months ago as the nation's top military officer, said today that senior administration officials had been wrong to publicly criticize the former Army chief just before the invasion …

The Pretty American  —  or, how to avoid an international incident for less than $20,000US a day!  —  Americans tourists have pretty much always been regarded as "ugly" in the sense that we have the temerity to be wealthy enough to afford vacations to foreign countries …

The frightening truth of why Iran wants a bomb  —  Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gatecrashed "the nuclear club", President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappeared for several hours.  He was having a khalvat (tête-à-tête) with the Hidden Imam …

Another radioactive environmentalist  —  In one of the early Democratic Presidential debates of 1992, when the late Paul Tsongas — then a Senator from Massachusetts with an impeccable environmental record — dared to express the opinion that nuclear power was preferable to coal on environmental grounds …

Are We There Yet?  —  Following up on my post from Friday highlighting Colonel Sam Gardiner's statement on CNN that the US already has troops in iran, I see (via robelicit at kos) that Dennis Kucinich has sent a letter to the president asking if such reports are true.  He says:

Hiltzik of the LA Times - Unethical Or Just Ignorant?  —  I've had fun reading Michael Hiltzik in the past, mostly because he's an interesting case of a major newspaper trying on the blog form.  He manages, I think to combine the worst of both - the overweening arrogance of the MSM and the casual …

Joe Klein: Nukes should be on the table  —  Joe Klein: "Nukes should be on the table"  —  Joe Klein started off today on "THIS WEEK," sounding fairly reasonable in the discussion about Iran and then veered off into neocon, kool-aid drinking lunacy.  George Stephanopoulos was even caught off guard by Klein's statements.

Below the fold  —  Three very interesting reports from the Middle East.  The first, from the Jerusalem Post describes an Israeli proposal to swap Jonathan Pollard for .... Marwan Barghouti. … The second report is even more interesting, and also from the Jersualem Post.

FEMA deemed these homes habitable  —  Labeling Katrina homes as livable makes owners ineligible for more aid, but officials here call structures unfit  —  A New Orleans house flattened but for a concrete staircase on a crumbling facade was among many storm-ravaged structures …

Ah, It Was A Bad Leak  —  The NY Times responds to last week's controversial WaPo editorial titled "A Good Leak" with their own "A Bad Leak".  [And we see that the WaPo ombudsman tackles this as well.]  The topic is the news that Bush chose to declassify a portion of the NIE so that Libby …

Redefining Property Values  —  By Design, Status Seekers and Tree-Huggers Don't Have to Commune  —  The survey went to thousands of people who'd called a number on highway billboards announcing that Ladera Ranch, a new planned community in Orange County, Calif., was coming soon.

How to Lose Your Job at a Saudi Newspaper  —  I was unceremoniously fired this month by my Saudi newspaper, a leading English-language daily called Arab News.  —  It didn't matter that I had been the senior columnist on the op-ed page for nine years or that my work was quoted widely …

The Battle for Baghdad II, The Three Block War & Iraq Ops  —  The London Times reports plans are in the works for "the second liberation of Baghdad" after the new government forms; operational developments in Iraq  —  The political process remains a major front in the war in Iraq …

Bill Cosby's sermon: Stand for something  —  Welcome to the First Reformed Interdenominational Methobyterian Bapti-Catholic Church of Truth That Sets You Free.  The Most Honorary Rev. Bill Cosby is in the pulpit with a message for Easter.  —  "We're letting Jesus drag that cross and we're standing there saying 'Isn't it terrible?

Keeping Al-Qaeda in His Grip  —  Al-Zawahiri Presses Ideology, Deepens Rifts Among Islamic Radicals  —  CAIRO — In January 2003, one of the two most wanted men in the world couldn't contain his frustration.  From a hiding place probably somewhere in South Asia, he tapped out two lengthy e-mails …