Top Items:
Anthony Shadid / Washington Post:
Attacks Could Erode Faction's Support — Pressure Building Against Shiite Militia — BEIRUT, July 13 — The radical Shiite movement Hezbollah and its leader, Hasan Nasrallah, hold an effective veto in Lebanese politics, and the group's military prowess has heartened its supporters at home and abroad in the Arab world.
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Michael Young / New York Times:
Israel's Invasion, Syria's War — ISRAEL'S incursion into Lebanon after the kidnapping on Wednesday of two Israeli soldiers by the militant group Hezbollah is far more than another flare-up on a tense border. It must also be seen as a spinoff of a general counterattack against American …
Discussion:
AMERICAN FUTURE, QandO, Captain's Quarters, The Mahablog, Blue Crab Boulevard, Done With Mirrors and The Beirut Spring
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Behind the Crisis, A Push Toward War — After Hezbollah guerrillas captured Israeli soldiers Wednesday, a furious Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz warned that the Israeli army would "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years." Unfortunately, that statement was truer than he may have intended.
New York Times:
Israel Blockades Lebanon; Wide Strikes by Hezbollah — BEIRUT, Lebanon, Friday, July 14 — Israel imposed a full naval blockade on Lebanon on Thursday and put Beirut's international airport out of commission, and the militant group Hezbollah loosed a hail of rockets and mortar shells that killed …
Michael Oren / Washington Post:
Necessary Steps for Israel — Confronting State Sponsors of Terror Is the Only Option — JERUSALEM — For the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel is facing hostilities on two fronts. The exceedingly volatile situation is liable to embroil other Middle Eastern states …
Charles Krauthammer / Real Clear Politics:
Israel's Existence at Stake — WASHINGTON — Next June will mark the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War. For four decades we have been told that the cause of the anger, violence and terror against Israel is its occupation of the territories seized in that war. End the occupation and the "cycle of violence'' ceases.
Aaron Klein / WorldNetDaily:
Jumblatt: Don't bomb Beirut
Jumblatt: Don't bomb Beirut
Discussion:
Austin Bay Blog, Israellycool, Associated Press, protein wisdom, Captain's Quarters, Instapundit.com and A Blog For All
Business Wire:
Valerie Plame Wilson and Ambassador Joseph Wilson Initiate a Civil Action Against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby for Violations of their Constitutional and Other Legal Rights — WASHINGTON—(BUSINESS WIRE)—July 13, 2006—Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband …
Discussion:
RedState, Firedoglake, Ankle Biting Pundits, The Next Hurrah, Macsmind, Media Blog on National …, Dr. Sanity, NO QUARTER, The All Spin Zone, Wonkette, Wizbang and TBogg
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Washington Post:
Vice President Sued by Plame And Husband
Vice President Sued by Plame And Husband
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker, Villainous Company, The Strata-Sphere, PostWatch, The Washington Note, FishBowlDC and Wizbang
Associated Press:
Plame sues Cheney, Rove, Libby
Plame sues Cheney, Rove, Libby
Discussion:
Editor and Publisher, The Carpetbagger Report, Thomas Joscelyn, Hyscience, True Blue Liberal and Wizbang
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Bush Would Let Secret Court Sift Wiretap Process — WASHINGTON, July 13 — After months of resistance, the White House agreed Thursday to allow a secret intelligence court to review the legality of the National Security Agency's program to conduct wiretaps without warrants on Americans suspected of having ties to terrorists.
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Donna Cassata / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Poll: Americans want Democrats in power — WASHINGTON — Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold …
White House:
President Bush and German Chancellor Merkel Participate in Press Availability — President's Trip to Germany and Russia — CHANCELLOR MERKEL: (As translated.) Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to be able to welcome the President of the United States here to Stralsund yet again.
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Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Watching Finances Of Terror Suspects Discussed in 2002 — At a House subcommittee hearing five months after the Sept. 11 attacks, plans were openly discussed to give the government a highly secure, real-time electronic capability to request and receive data from financial institutions …
David Sirota:
The Chutzpah & Lies of Joe Lieberman — "Desperate politicians do desperate things" should be written on the political gravestone of Sen. Joe Lieberman (D) come this election season when he finally loses his job. Lieberman is so desperate, he's now dispatching his top political consultant to create a blog …
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Times of London:
Baghdad starts to collapse as its people flee a life of death — As I hung up the phone, I wondered if I would ever see my friend Ali alive again. Ali, The Times translator for the past three years, lives in west Baghdad, an area that is now in meltdown as a bitter civil war rages between Sunni insurgents and Shia militias.
Hindustan Times:
Pak's ISI masterminded 11/7, says intelligence — Forty-eight hours after bombs ripped through Mumbai, the needle pointed to Pakistan. Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the "mastermind" of the blasts that killed about 200 people.
Mark Tapscott / Tapscott's Copy Desk:
PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Senate Panel Asks For Testimony on Impact of Federal Spending Database on Journalism … There will be two panels, with the first consisting of senators John McCain, R-AZ, and Barack Obama, D-IL, who are with Coburn co-sponsors of the Oklahoma senator's proposal to create …
DEBKAfile:
Eight Israeli troops killed in heavy fighting sparked by Hizballah kidnap of two Israeli soldiers under heavy rocket-mortar fire early Wednesday. Eleven civilians and soldiers injured — The names released: Master Sgt. Eyal Benin, 22, from Beersheba; Master Sgt. Shani Turjeman, 24 …