U.S. General in Iraq Outlines Troop Cuts  —  WASHINGTON, June 24 — The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

NY Times columnist Brooks attacks 'Kingpin' of Daily Kos  —  In Sunday's paper, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks attacks the founder of Daily Kos for acting like a "Kingpin" who "commands his followers" to "unleash their venom on those who stand in the way," RAW STORY has found.

HARD FASCISM, SOFT HEADS  —  Admittedly, I don't circulate as much as Mickey Kaus, who I gather is moonlighting as the Jerry Zipkin for fright-night bachelorettes, but you would think that by now I would have come across some of those Angry Bloggers I keep reading about …

Warnings on WMD 'Fabricator' Were Ignored, Ex-CIA Aide Says  —  In late January 2003, as Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to argue the Bush administration's case against Iraq at the United Nations, veteran CIA officer Tyler Drumheller sat down with a classified draft of Powell's speech to look for errors.

The boys who cried wolf  —  By any reasonable measure, the Bush administration's track record on exposing dangerous terrorist plots isn't terribly impressive.  When Abu Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan in March 2002, the president described him as al Queda's chief of operations and emphasized the significance of his capture.

Patterico Cancels his Subscription to the L.A. Times  —  I cancelled my subscription to the Los Angeles Times this morning.  —  I explained to the person who answered the phone that I was cancelling because I am outraged that the newspaper revealed classified details of a successful anti-terror operation.

'Brights'  —  Since it was brought up in the comments, I thought I'd bring back my statement on the "Brights."  —  There's a lot of noise on the net right now about The Brights, the idea that we can invent a pleasant new name for godless atheists and thereby improve our image.

Why Did Bush Blink on Iran?  (Ask Condi)  —  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran knows what he wants: nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them; suppression of freedom at home and the spread of terrorism abroad; and the "shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the liberal democratic systems."

Powerline's John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson on the New York Times' story blowing another weapon in the War On Terror.  —  HH: The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times did a very bad thing.  They endangered American lives, they assisted terrorists.  And to discuss the consequences of that …

Lieberman, Lamont differ on Iraq  —  (East Hartford-WTNH, June 23, 2006 6:00 PM) _ The man looking to force Sen. Joseph Lieberman out of his job is using the war in Iraq as the catalyst.  But Lieberman says his Democratic primary opponent Ned Lamont is waffling over ending the war in Iraq.

I've Done A Lot More Television Than Geraldo Rivera  —  Crooks and Liars has the video of Geraldo Rivera saying he's "seen a lot more combat than John Kerry."  He uses his "foxhole cred" to support the eternal occupation of Iraq.  I'll just say this:  —  I've done a lot more television than Geraldo Rivera.

Bank Surveillance  —  The Treasury Department should be monitoring overseas bank transfers.  Congress should make sure it's done right.  —  THE TREASURY Department's just-disclosed program of searching records of overseas bank transfers may provoke outraged comparisons …

Duncan Hunter and the Swiftboating of Jack Murtha  —  It began yesterday and kept on rolling when I was directed to yet another vile spewing Republican anti-veteran blog.  —  Then reader Vanmojo wrote this little beauty in the comment section this afternoon.

GREAT STRATEGY!  —  The Scratching Post documents the effects on the New York Times of "Compromising National Security as a Marketing Strategy."  The chart below shows the NYT's stock price over the last five years:  —  From a business standpoint, the Times' embrace of far-left politics on page one has been a disaster.

One Party's Lawmaking Is Another's Electioneering  —  The Republican-controlled Congress seems to be struggling lately to carry out its most basic mission: passing legislation.  A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage failed miserably.  Long-debated immigration legislation has reached an impasse.