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Terence Hunt / Associated Press:
Bush wants 'clarity' on interrogations — WASHINGTON - Facing a GOP revolt in the Senate, President Bush urged Congress on Friday to join in backing legislation to spell out strategies for interrogating and trying terror suspects, saying "the enemy wants to attack us again."
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William Branigin / Washington Post:
Bush Pushes for Terror Legislation — Warning that "time's running out" for Congress to act, President Bush urged lawmakers today to pass legislation that would create special military tribunals to try terrorist suspects and allow the CIA to continue a program in which captured al-Qaeda leaders …
CNN:
Bush: Without my plan, detainee questioning won't continue … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Questioning of suspected terrorists "won't go forward" unless Congress clarifies a U.S. standard for the treatment and interrogation of detainees, President Bush warned on Friday.
Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
At Last, the Issue is Publicly Joined . . . and When All the Smoke has Cleared, the Central Question is Quite Simple — And it is this: Should the CIA be legally authorized to breach the Geneva Conventions by engaging in the following forms of "cruel treatment" prohibited by "common" Article 3(1)(a) of those Conventions?:
Washington Post:
A Defining Moment for America — PRESIDENT BUSH rarely visits Congress. So it was a measure of his painfully skewed priorities that Mr. Bush made the unaccustomed trip yesterday to seek legislative permission for the CIA to make people disappear into secret prisons and have information extracted …
Discussion:
New York Times, Discourse.net, TBogg, Middle Earth Journal, RIGHTWINGSPARKLE, The Heretik and Macsmind
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Tony Snow says Colin Powell is confused: So was every other reporter — Olbermann had a good round up on Countdown last night. Tony Snow seems to think that Colin Powell is just a little bit confused over Article 3. He might have been used in the run up to the war, but I think he understands this issue quite well.
Suzan Fraser / Associated Press:
Muslims Assail Pope's Remarks on Islam — Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted party joined a wave of criticism of Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, accusing him of trying to revive the spirit of the Crusades with remarks he made about Islam. Muslim leaders in the Middle East expressed dismay …
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Zogby:
Zogby: Battle for Congress Tightens — Republican Candidates Trail Democrats by Just 3%; Bush Job Approval Climbs to 39% — Following an aggressive media blitz, the latest Zogby America poll finds the standing of President Bush and congressional Republicans climbing as the November elections rapidly approach.
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Democrats Meander in a New New Direction — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the woman who will become speaker of the House if Democrats get lucky in November, began her weekly news conference yesterday holding up a red-white-and-blue brochure. — "I hope you all received 'A New Direction for America …
Discussion:
Donklephant, The Carpetbagger Report, Blue Crab Boulevard, BrothersJudd Blog and JustOneMinute
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The Tehran Calculus — In his televised Sept. 11 address, President Bush said that we must not "leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons." There's only one such current candidate: Iran.
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White House:
Press Conference of the President — THE PRESIDENT: It's always a pleasure to be introduced into the Rose Garden. Thank you, Wendell. Thank you for coming. I'm looking forward to answering some of your questions. — This week our nation paused to mark the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Townhall, Shakespeare's Sister, The Carpetbagger Report, First Draft, Hoffmania! and Wizbang
Washington Post:
Rep. Ney Agrees to Plead Guilty — Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio) agreed today to plead guilty to conspiring to commit multiple official acts for lobbyists in exchange for campaign contributions, meals and luxury travel, sports tickets and gambling chips. He became the first elected official …
Discussion:
The Right Angle
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Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
In a Volatile Region of Iraq, U.S. Military Takes Two Paths — AL-FURAT, Iraq — With a biker's bandanna tied under his helmet, the Special Forces team sergeant gunned a Humvee down a desert road in Iraq's volatile Anbar province. Skirting the restive town of Hit, the team of a dozen soldiers crossed …
Discussion:
Political Animal, Thomas P.M. Barnett, The Belgravia Dispatch, Pajamas Media and Say Anything
Rebecca Santana / Associated Press:
Iraq to dig trenches around Baghdad — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi security forces will dig trenches around Baghdad and set up checkpoints along all roads leading into the city to reduce some of the violence plaguing the capital, the Interior Ministry said Friday.
US News:
Numbers crunching in Maryland — Let me do a little number crunching on the Maryland Democratic Senate primary. Rep. Ben Cardin beat former Rep. and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume by just a 44-to-40 percent margin. — Turnout was 535,604, about the same as the last time Maryland …
Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:
Ace of Spades Reader Spotted Wanted Terrorist? (Updated: Limited Confirmation From FBI) — TKS alerts me of an interesting comment posted here: … Name withheld (and I hope she used a pseudonym). — Later, after Purple Avenger provided the contact information for the Texas FBI, — she reported:
Stuart Steers / Rocky Mountain News:
Ritter tops in poll — Democrat holds 17-point lead over Beauprez for guv — Democrat Bill Ritter has a remarkable 17-point lead over Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez in the race for Colorado governor, according to a Rocky Mountain News/ CBS 4 poll of likely voters.
Richard Miniter / New York Post:
A DEADLY KINDNESS — AT GITMO, PC RULES LET QAEDAS PLOT ON — RICHARD MINITER — ON the military plane back from America's most fa mous terrorist holding pen, the in-flight film was "V for Vendetta," a screed that tries to justify terrorism. It was a fitting end to a surreal, military-sponsored trip.
Denis Horgan / Colin McEnroe:
Citizen Lanny — Lanny Davis is currently flogging a new book about how "Gotcha" politics are destroying America. This is mildly paradoxical because Davis is famous for exactly nothing else except his willingness in 1998 to be the publicity point man for Bill Clinton in the whole Lewinsky mess.