Top Items:
New York Times:
U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis — WASHINGTON, July 21 — The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.
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Robin Wright / Washington Post:
Rice Plans Talks on Crisis With Mideast Leaders — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday announced plans for talks with Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese leaders as part of a new U.S. diplomatic effort in the Middle East conflict, but warned that the United States would not support …
Anne Gearan / Associated Press:
Rice rejects quick fix in Mideast — WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rejected the "false promise" of an immediate cease-fire in the spreading war between Israel and Hezbollah on Friday and said she would seek long-term peace during a trip to the Mideast beginning Sunday.
Bloomberg:
Rice Seeks `Robust' Lebanon Force to Oust Hezbollah (Update2)
Rice Seeks `Robust' Lebanon Force to Oust Hezbollah (Update2)
Discussion:
Blue Star Chronicles
Yaakov Katz / Jerusalem Post:
IDF forces gathering in North for possible ground incursion — The IDF was gearing up for a large-scale ground incursion into Lebanon on Friday. Thousands of reservists were being mobilized to the North throughout Friday to beef up forces stationed in the area in preparation for a possible operation.
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Yaakov Katz / Associated Press:
5,000 called up in latest mobilization — The IDF sent out emergency calls for 5,000 reserve soldiers on Friday in addition to the reserves already called up. — OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam stated that the move was done in order to relieve some of the forces currently operating in northern Israel.
BBC:
Israel calls up army reservists
Israel calls up army reservists
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, Liberty and Justice, The Reaction, Mere Rhetoric, PoliBlog, The Big Pharaoh, FP Passport and A Blog For All
Oliver Poole / Telegraph:
Violence may bring partition of Baghdad — Iraq's politicians were reported yesterday to be drawing up provisional plans to divide Baghdad into Sunni and Shia halves after a week of bloodshed that has left the government's security plan to pacify the capital in tatters.
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MSNBC:
Bush vetoes stem cell bill; House can't override — President says measure 'crosses a moral boundary' society needs to respect … WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday failed to muster enough votes to override President Bush's veto of a bill to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research.
Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
Centrist Democrats Ponder How To Counter Netroots — At a time when centrism has become a dirty word in some Democratic Party circles, hundreds of the party's avowed moderates are convening in Denver this weekend to discuss their agenda for this fall's election and the presidential contest in 2008.
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PR Newswire:
Blogger Media at the Forefront of the Middle East Coverage War — Pajamas Media's Politics Central Leverages Global Editors for Continuous Stories and Exclusive Podcast Interviews — EL SEGUNDO, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire/ — Pajamas Media (PJM) is providing special extended coverage …
Richard Norton-Taylor / Guardian:
Afghanistan close to anarchy, warns general — The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan today described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption.
Discussion:
The Arabist
Liz Sly / Chicago Tribune:
Humanitarian toll hits southern Lebanon as violence continues — BEIRUT — Fears mounted Thursday that a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in southern Lebanon as Israel sustained its intense bombardment of the area and U.S. Marines landed on the beaches near Beirut to help speed the evacuation of Americans from the war-zone.
Editor and Publisher:
Congressman 'Admits' Using Cocaine and Prostitutes on Colbert Show — Really? — NEW YORK By now, members of Congress ought to know that appearing on Stephen Colbert's "Better Know a District" segment on his nightly Comedy Central program is like walking across a minefield.
Fausta / faustasblog.com:
A sign of courage in Madrid — El Manifestómetro (in Spanish) has video of the lone Israel sympathizer at a peace demonstration in Madrid. — The young man was alone, holding a sign that said, — on one side, "Israel wants peace! Stop the killing!" — and on the other side, "Don't let them fool you!
Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
White House Calls on Jewish Groups to Line Up Behind John Bolton — It's hard to imagine something more cynical than the White House exploiting Middle East convulsions — in which many innocents on all sides are dying in real time — to divide Americans at home in order to try and squeeze through …
wsbradio.com:
Cynthia McKinney Missing In Action — Rep. Cynthia McKinney was a no-show this week in the U.S. House, as WSB Washington Correspondent Jamie Dupree reports that the Georgia Democrat missed all four days of legislative business and every vote on the House floor as well.