Top Items:
New York Times:
Bombs That Would Backfire — WHITE HOUSE spokesmen have played down press reports that the Pentagon has accelerated planning to bomb Iran. We would like to believe that the administration is not intent on starting another war, because a conflict with Iran could be even more damaging …
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William M. Arkin / Washington Post:
The Pentagon Preps for Iran — Does the United States have a war plan for stopping Iran in its pursuit of nuclear weapons? — Last week, President Bush dismissed news reports that his administration has been working on contingency plans for war — particularly talk of the possibility …
By Michael DeLong / Donald Rumsfeld News:
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR; A General Misunderstanding — AS the No. 2 general at United States Central Command from the Sept. 11 attacks through the Iraq war, I was the daily "answer man" to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. I briefed him twice a day; few people had as much interaction with him as I did during those two years.
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Donald Rumsfeld News:
Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics — WASHINGTON, April 15 — The Defense Department has issued a memorandum to a group of former military commanders and civilian analysts that offers a direct challenge to the criticisms made by retired generals about Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
McCain Agrees With Retired Generals: No Confidence In Rumsfeld...BUT
McCain Agrees With Retired Generals: No Confidence In Rumsfeld...BUT
Discussion:
Publius Rendezvous
Mark Steyn / Chicago Sun Times:
Policy on Iran nukes seems to be off-target — Happy Easter. Happy Passover. But, if you're like the president of Iran and believe in the coming of the "Twelfth Imam," your happy holiday may be just around the corner, too. President Ahmadinejad, who is said to consider himself …
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Amir Taheri / Telegraph:
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 …
Discussion:
Roger L. Simon
Craig Whitlock / Washington Post:
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 …
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Aqeel Hussein / Telegraph:
Iraqi Sunni leader turns his guns on foreign insurgents — He looks every inch the face of the Iraqi resistance: a tribal leader from the Sunni badlands west of Baghdad, who once served in Saddam Hussein's feared intelligence network. — But Sheikh Osama Jadaan's dislike of foreign occupation …
Mickey Kaus / Slate:
All Burkle, All the Time! — Revenge is bloggy at Gawker. — All Burkle, All the Time: Meow! The decision to let slimebag Jared Paul Stern guest-edit gawker.com over this weekend initially seemed a cheap attention-getting move by an ambitious Brit blog owner gravely ignorant of American libel law.
Discussion:
Riehl World View
George F. Will / Washington Post:
The GOP's Betrayal On Speech — If in November Republicans lose control of the House of Representatives, April 5 should be remembered as the day they demonstrated that they earned defeat. Traducing the Constitution and disgracing conservatism, they used their power for their only remaining purpose — to cling to power.
Jerusalem Post:
US denies Pollard-Barghouti release deal — The United States has denied a reported proposal to release Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from jail in exchange for the release of imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti's sentence, held in Israeli prison. — According to Army Radio …
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Sarah Baxter / Times of London:
US plots 'new liberation of Baghdad' — THE American military is planning a "second liberation of Baghdad" to be carried out with the Iraqi army when a new government is installed. — Pacifying the lawless capital is regarded as essential to establishing the authority of the incoming government …
Fawaz Turki / Washington Post:
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 …
Dan / Riehl World View:
Hobbs Controversy: Good Journalism, Or Political Hit Piece? — Conservative blogger Bill Hobbs resigned his position with Belmont University after John Spragens wrote critically of an admittedly controversial post of Hobbs. That post included a stick figure and the text Mohammed Blows.
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Eduardo Porter / New York Times:
Cost of Illegal Immigration May Be Less Than Meets the Eye — CALIFORNIA may seem the best place to study the impact of illegal immigration on the prospects of American workers. Hordes of immigrants rushed into the state in the last 25 years, competing for jobs with the least educated among the native population.