Top Items:
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Lieberman Assails Lamont Over Supporter's Blog Post — The bitter Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut erupted in fresh controversy Wednesday over a doctored photo of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) in blackface that was posted by a blogger who has been an influential promoter of challenger Ned Lamont.
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David Segal / Washington Post:
True Blue, Or Too Blue? — Senate Hopeful Ned Lamont Is Challenging Joe Lieberman — And the Democratic Party — On a low-rise stage in front of a delicatessen, a blues band is taking a moment between songs to set up a chair and keyboards. Ned Lamont takes a seat and plays a few tentative notes, as if trying to jog his memory.
Discussion:
Cato-at-liberty, Democrats.com, NewsBusters.org, BitsBlog, Christian Science Monitor, The American Street, Media Blog and Wizbang
Susan Haigh / Associated Press:
New poll shows Lieberman losing ground — HARTFORD, Conn. - Millionaire businessman Ned Lamont opened a double-digit lead over veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman less than a week before Connecticut's Democratic primary, according to a poll released Thursday. — Lamont, a political novice …
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Ned Lamont On Jane Hamsher - When In Trouble, Lie
Ned Lamont On Jane Hamsher - When In Trouble, Lie
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, Captain's Quarters, The Peking Duck, TPMCafe blogs, Blue Crab Boulevard and Ace of Spades HQ
BBC:
Iraq civil war warning for Blair — Civil war is a more likely outcome in Iraq than democracy, Britain's outgoing ambassador in Baghdad has warned Tony Blair in a confidential memo. — William Patey, who left the Iraqi capital last week, also predicted the break-up of Iraq along ethnic lines.
Haaretz:
Lebanese hospital: Number of casualties from Qana air strike is 28, not 52 — A Tyre hospital on Thursday revised the number of casualties resulting from Israel's air strike on the south Lebanese village of Qana from 52 down to 28. — On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch questioned the death toll in the Qana attack.
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Yoav Stern / Haaretz:
Hezbollah claims of combat successes become less and less believable — If Hezbollah-run media are to be believed, then 35 Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed or wounded in Ayta a-Shab , militants downed an Israeli helicopter and destroyed a house in which IDF soldiers were hiding …
Associated Press:
Nearly Complete Haditha Probe Supports Accusations Against Marines — WASHINGTON — Evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Murtha wants an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon — Once again, Pennsylvania Democratic congressman breaks with Bush — By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Pennsylvania's Rep. John Murtha said yesterday that he favored an immediate cease-fire in the fighting in Lebanon.
Damien Cave / New York Times:
In Iraq, It's Hard to Trust Anyone in Uniform — A Baghdad tailor worked on military and police uniforms. The government plans to introduce new uniforms that will be difficult to copy. — The camouflaged Iraqi commandos who kidnapped 20 people from a pair of central Baghdad offices …
R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:
Top Military Lawyers Oppose Plan for Special Courts — The military's top uniformed lawyers, appearing at a Senate hearing yesterday, criticized key provisions of a proposed new U.S. plan for special military courts, affirming that they did not see eye to eye with the senior Bush administration …
Vital Perspective:
Video: Hezbollah Terrorist Fires Rockets on Israeli Cities from Civilian Position — This is a video that was shot yesterday by Israeli forces in Lebanon. It shows a Hezbollah terrorist driving up to a home, parking his car, walking next door to another civilian building where he proceeds to fire several rockets on Israeli cities.
Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
Harry Reid May Ask Senator Clinton to Preempt Presidential Ambitions to Succeed Him as Senate Majority/Minority Leader — Some high level Democratic Party political insiders have shared with TWN details of a potential shift in vectors for several of the major political stars in that party.
Discussion:
The Agonist
Robert Pape / New York Times:
Ground to a Halt — ISRAEL has finally conceded that air power alone will not defeat Hezbollah. Over the coming weeks, it will learn that ground power won't work either. The problem is not that the Israelis have insufficient military might, but that they misunderstand the nature of the enemy.
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Doubling Two Bad Bets? — If you think there is an echo in the air when officials discuss the twin crises in Iraq and Lebanon, you're not hearing things. In both cases the argument for carrying on the destructive current policy comes down to a claim that "we can't afford to let the other guy win."
David Stout / New York Times:
Grief and Sacrifice Reach Into the Halls of Congress — "We loved him dearly, and we'll miss him more than words can ever express," said a man from Montana on Tuesday upon learning that his nephew had been killed in Iraq. — Words like those have been uttered thousands of times in big cities …
Washington Post:
RUMSFELD: IRAQ ISN'T IN "A CLASSIC CIVIL WAR AT THIS STAGE...CERTAINLY ISN'T LIKE OUR CIVIL WAR"... Defense Department News Briefing: — QUESTION: And the question, Mr. Secretary, after your most recent visit and this spike in violence, do you believe that Iraq is closer than ever to the brink of civil war?