memeorandum: Silence After the Storm — Life Has Yet to Return to Much of a City Haunted by Katrina (Peter Whoriskey/Washington Post)

5:00 PM ET, August 27, 2006

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Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Centanni, Wiig freed (Update: Conversion video added) (Update: A Gilad Shalit connection?) — The boss never sleeps. — "Khaled" celebrates his freedom: — There'll be some sort of video here soon. Stand by for updates. — Update: There are four different video clips in the sidebar of Fox's article on this.

Discussion: The Indepundit, Riehl World View, Peaktalk, Wizbang and Suitably Flip

Ibrahim Barzak / Associated Press:

Kidnapped Fox News Journalists Freed — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Militants freed two Fox News journalists on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, ending a nearly two week hostage drama in which one of the former captives said they were forced at gunpoint to make statements, including that they had converted to Islam.

Jules Crittenden / Boston Herald:

The War Tourists — My profession is an easy one to kick around.It isn't brain surgery: going places, asking questions, taking pictures, writing it up, broadcasting it.There are some skills.There are some things you have to learn.But it isn't hard for anyone, looking at what we do, to say, "I could do that."

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Hyscience

DEBKAfile:

A Hostage Affair in Gaza is Ended by a Three-Part Ransom — DEBKAfile Exclusive Report — On the face of it, conversion to Islam would appear to provide a painless escape device for any hostage who happens to fall into fundamentalist terrorist hands. After all, once free …

Discussion: The American Princess and A Blog For All

Doug Struck / Washington Post:

Fox News Journalists Released in Gaza — Two Fox Television journalists held for 13 days in the Gaza Strip were released Sunday after they were shown on a videotape saying they converted to Islam. — The two journalists, American Steve Centanni, 60, and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig …

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, TVNewser and Romenesko

Michelle Malkin:

Fox crew: Freed, forced to convert at gunpoint; "Halec" and "Yaco"..."Inshallah" — ***scroll for updates...Fox News Sunday interviewing Centanni...Allah with all the latest and the conversion vid (thanks to Rusty)...we've YouTubed the conversion video...embedded below...*** — Thank God.

Discussion: Dr. Sanity, Sister Toldjah and Cold Fury

Reuters:

Kidnapped Fox journalists convert to Islam on video —Text+GAZA (Reuters) - Two kidnapped Fox journalists appeared on a new videotape released by their captors on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, in which the reporters said they had converted to Islam, the Fox News Channel said.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily and The Corner

CNN:

Kidnapped Fox journalists released — GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) — Two Fox journalists kidnapped by militants two weeks ago in Gaza have been released and appear to be in good health. — Fox reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig were released shortly after noon Sunday and dropped off …

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Hyscience

Tim McGirk / Time: The High Price of the Fox Kidnapping Release

Ms Underestimated: Breaking News: FREE AT LAST! Centanni & Wiig Released! (VIDEOS)

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters: Centanni, Wiig Released After 'Conversion'

Michael Isikoff / Newsweek:

The Man Who Said Too Much — A book coauthored by NEWSWEEK's Michael Isikoff details Richard Armitage's central role in the Valerie Plame leak. — Katsumi Kasahara / AP (l.) ; Lawrence Jackson / AP — According to a new book, the State Department has known for years that Armitage (left) outed Plame

Discussion: The Next Hurrah, Sister Toldjah, USS Neverdock, The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, The American Thinker, Flopping Aces, Althouse, The Democratic Daily, TPMmuckraker, The Heretik, The Nation and Liberal Values

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Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

The 'Hubris' Of Richard Armitage — Newsweek sneak previews an upcoming Isikoff/Corn book confirming the non-news that then-deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was Bob Novak's primary source for the Plame leak. We certainly believe Armitgae was Novak's primary source for the Plame leak …

Discussion: Angry Bear

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:
Just A Plame Waste Of Time — Michael Isikoff and David Corn …

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ

David Corn: HUBRIS: The Armitage Leak and What It Means (Plus More Info on the Book)

Swopa / Needlenose:
The trapping of the accidental leaker

Discussion: PBD

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake: Something's Missing... Michael Isikoff has an intriguing glimpse …

TalkLeft: Richard Armitage Named as Plame Leaker

Jerusalem Post:

Nasrallah: Contacts underway for possible prisoner swap — Hizbullah's leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed in the first post-war interview on Sunday that contacts were being held to bring about a prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbullah. — Nasrallah, who spoke with Lebanese NTV television …

Discussion: Power Line and Liberty and Justice

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Telegraph:
UN will not stop Syria sending weapons to Lebanon

Discussion: Argghhh!

Zeina Karam / Associated Press:
Hezbollah head didn't foresee such a war

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and The Big Pharaoh

Adam Entous / Reuters:
Key US legislator says will block aid to Lebanon

Discussion: Pajamas Media

CBS News:

U.S.: Comair Jet Used Wrong Runway — Pilots Made 'Fatal' Error In Crash That Killed 49, CBS News Learns — (CBS/AP) Pilots of the Comair commuter jet that crashed with 50 people aboard near Lexington, Ky., used the wrong runway, CBS News has learned. — Forty-nine of the 50 people aboard were killed.

Discussion: BluegrassReport.org

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Jeffrey McMurray / Associated Press:
Ky. plane crash kills 49 of 50 on board

Discussion: NewsHog

Holly / The Moderate Voice: Local Airplane Disaster

Washington Post:

Democrats Split Over Timetable For Troops — In Close Races, Most Reject Rapid Pullout — Most Democratic candidates in competitive congressional races are opposed to setting a timetable for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, rejecting pressure from liberal activists to demand a quick end to the three-year-old military conflict.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Captain's Quarters, Daily Kos and Blue Crab Boulevard

Lori Lowenthal Marcus / Weekly Standard:

What did you do in the war, UNIFIL? — DURING THE RECENT month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel, U.N. "peacekeeping" forces made a startling contribution: They openly published daily real-time intelligence, of obvious usefulness to Hezbollah, on the location, equipment, and force structure of Israeli troops in Lebanon.

Discussion: Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Hot Air, Texas Rainmaker and protein wisdom

Robert Kuttner / Boston Globe:

The Cheney presidency — GEORGE W. BUSH has been faulted in some quarters for taking an extended vacation while the Middle East festers. It doesn't much matter; the man running the country is Vice President Dick Cheney. — When historians look back on the multiple assaults …

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal, Liberal Values, The Left Coaster and The Gadflyer

Washington Post:

A Father's Ode to His Lost Son — David Grossman, a leading Israeli novelist and peace activist, lost his soldier-son, Uri, earlier this month. Uri was serving on the front lines in Lebanon and was killed two days before the U.N.-brokered cease-fire. He died two weeks before his 21st birthday.

Telegraph:

Compliant and subservient: Jimmy Carter's explosive critique of Tony Blair — Tony Blair's lack of leadership and timid subservience to George W Bush lie behind the ongoing crisis in Iraq and the worldwide threat of terrorism, according to the former American president Jimmy Carter.

Discussion: Hot Air, Blue Crab Boulevard and Daily Pundit