Top Items:
Washington Post:
The Abuse Can Continue — THE GOOD NEWS about the agreement reached yesterday between the Bush administration and Republican senators on the detention, interrogation and trial of accused terrorists is that Congress will not — as President Bush had demanded — pass legislation …
Discussion:
The Peking Duck, Blue Crab Boulevard, Talking Points Memo, The American Street and Brad DeLong's Semi …
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New York Times:
A Bad Bargain — Here is a way to measure how seriously President Bush was willing to compromise on the military tribunals bill: Less than an hour after an agreement was announced yesterday with three leading Republican senators, the White House was already laying a path to wiggle out of its one real concession.
Discussion:
Lean Left, Political Animal, The Next Hurrah, Shakespeare's Sister, TPMmuckraker and Matthew Yglesias
Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
Senators Snatch Defeat From Jaws of Victory: U.S. to be First Nation to Authorize Violations of Geneva — I hope that that headline is a gross exaggeration, but based on a few quick seconds purusing the "compromise" on Common Article 3, I'm afraid it's not. [The Administration appears to agree.
Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Republicans Reach Deal on Detainee Bill — The Bush administration and Congressional Republicans reached agreement Thursday on legislation governing the treatment and interrogation of terrorism suspects after weeks of debate that divided Republicans heading into the midterm elections.
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Punked — The "compromise" will, as I predicted, allow the "tough interrogations" by amending the war crimes act. And they will reportedly create a new JAG office to review classified information and determine if terrorist suspects can see it if it's being used against them in a trial.
Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
Three of the Most Significant Problems with the "Compromise" — Here's the Agreement Upon Common Article 3. And here's the Agreements on Classified Information, Self Incrimination and Coercion, and Hearsay, in military commission trials. — These are probably the most significant problems with the …
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Detainee Interrogation Deal Short-Circuits GOP Division (UPDATED)
Detainee Interrogation Deal Short-Circuits GOP Division (UPDATED)
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Power Line, The Glittering Eye, Ace of Spades HQ and The Gun Toting Liberal
Eliana Johnson / New York Sun:
Columbia Withdraws an Invitation to Ahmadinejad — Overruling a prominent dean, the president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, yesterday withdrew an invitation to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. — The dean of Columbia's school of international and public affairs …
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nationalinterest.org:
Crazy like a Fox: Business Leader Maurice R. Greenberg Describes Ahmadinejad's Performance — On September 20, the Council on Foreign Relations hosted a small meeting of select council members with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Several members of the Nixon Center's Board …
Investor's Business Daily:
Much Too Cozy With Chavez — Politics: It's good to see Democrats put country above politics, as many did in repudiating Hugo Chavez's lunatic attacks on our president. But too many are still in the thug's debt and must dissociate with more than words. — That's important …
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Jon Henke / The Allen Blog:
Webb's Dirty Tricksters: push-blogging — This is George Allen telling the deeply moving story of the recent conversation with his mother about the Jewish heritage she'd been afraid to reveal. — This is Jim Webb on Hardball, denying that his campaign has pushed the story …
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Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Tolerance: A Two-Way Street — Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god, invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly about themselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well. — Today's Islamists seem to have not even a sense of irony.
Roger Aronoff / aim.org:
The Return of Dan Rather — In an unusual moment of candor, Dan Rather has admitted what many of us already knew-the media treat terrorist organizations like Hezbollah as equivalent to democratic governments. So enough of the bloviating by various liberal and Arab-American commentators …
StrategyPage:
Iraqi Tribes Turn on al Qaeda — Coalition forces in Iraq have suddenly received the manpower equivalent of three light infantry divisions. They did not suffer any repercussions in domestic politics as a result, and now have a huge edge over al-Qaeda in al-Anbar province. How did this happen?
Top MSNBC Headlines:
• Fitzgerald given way out of Libby leak case — Judge says he can dismiss case if classified secrets will be revealed — WASHINGTON - The judge in the CIA leak case ruled Thursday that if Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald feels that admitting certain classified documents …
Dave Lindorff / The Nation:
War Signals — As reports circulate of a sharp debate within the White House over possible US military action against Iran and its nuclear enrichment facilities, The Nation has learned that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have issued orders for a major "strike group" of ships …
Larisa Alexandrovna / The Raw Story:
Senior intel official: Pentagon moves to second-stage planning for Iran strike option — The Pentagon's top brass has moved into second-stage contingency planning for a potential military strike on Iran, one senior intelligence official familiar with the plans tells RAW STORY.
Gerard Baker / Times of London:
Confronted by the Islamist threat on all sides, Europe pathetically caves in — LATE LAST YEAR, at the invitation of Nato, and in the company of a small band of globetrotting pundits, I travelled to Afghanistan to witness first-hand the allied operation to reconstruct the benighted country.
New York Times:
Strained, Army Looks to Guard for More Relief — Strains on the Army from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become so severe that Army officials say they may be forced to make greater use of the National Guard to provide enough troops for overseas deployments.