Top Items:
New York Times:
Rushing Off a Cliff — Here's what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism …
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Charles Babington / Washington Post:
House Approves Bill on Detainees — 253 to 168 Vote Backs Bush on Prosecution Of Terrorism Suspects — The House approved an administration-backed system of questioning and prosecuting terrorism suspects yesterday, setting clearer limits on CIA interrogation techniques but denying access …
Anne Plummer Flaherty / Associated Press:
House approves bill on terror detainees — WASHINGTON - The House approved legislation Wednesday giving the Bush administration authority to interrogate and prosecute terrorism detainees, moving President Bush to the edge of a pre-election victory with a key piece of his anti-terror plan.
Discussion:
Kennedy v. The Machine, Brilliant at Breakfast, News Hounds, The Jawa Report and Don Surber
Barry Schweid / Associated Press:
Poll: Iraqis back attacks on U.S. troops — WASHINGTON - About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, a poll finds. — The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden …
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Fouad Ajami / Opinion Journal:
Infidel Documents — Intelligence, jihadists and the Iraq war debate. — The scaffolding of the Iraq war is under renewed attack. So there had been no meeting between Mohamed Atta and Iraqi intelligence operative Ahmad al-Ani in Prague; and Saddam's regime was "intensely secular" while al Qaeda was steeped in religious doctrine.
History News Network:
Deja vu — Judith Apter Klinghoffer — POLL: AL QAEDA LOST IN IRAQ — Al Qaeda has desicively lost the Iraqi battlefield. … Iraqi confidence in Iraqi forces (as opposed to militias) is increasing while its confidence in US forces is decreasing. Given US policies there can be little doubt …
Discussion:
The Fourth Rail, Flopping Aces, The Belmont Club, Blue Crab Boulevard, Democracy Project, Dean's World and USS Neverdock
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Cleric Said to Lose Reins of Parts of Iraqi Militia — The radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has lost control of portions of his Mahdi Army militia that are splintering off into freelance death squads and criminal gangs, a senior coalition intelligence official said Wednesday.
Robin Toner / New York Times:
New Hope for Democrats in Bid for Senate — Six weeks before Election Day, the Democrats suddenly face a map with unexpected opportunities in their battle for control of the Senate. — In Virginia, a state that few expected to be seriously competitive, Senator George Allen, a Republican …
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Rachel Kapochunas / CQPolitics.com:
Ford Pulls Even With Corker in Tennessee Senate Contest
Ford Pulls Even With Corker in Tennessee Senate Contest
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker
Richard Norton-Taylor / Guardian:
Iraq war was terrorism 'recruiting sergeant' — The Iraq war has acted as a "recruiting sergeant" for extremists in the Muslim world, according to a paper prepared for a Ministry of Defence thinktank, which also said the British government sent troops into Afghanistan "with its eyes closed".
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Pamela Constable / Washington Post:
In Tribal Pakistan, an Uneasy Quiet
In Tribal Pakistan, an Uneasy Quiet
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere
Anne Gearan / Associated Press:
Bush urges bickering allies on terrorism
Bush urges bickering allies on terrorism
Discussion:
The Jawa Report
John Riley / Newsday:
Pirro bugged over tap flap — FBI probing AG candidate's spy try on hubby she thought was cheating; she says it's nobody's business — In a jaw-dropping disclosure that could shatter her campaign to become New York's attorney general, Jeanine Pirro said yesterday she is under investigation …
Discussion:
The Corner
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wnbc.com:
Jeanine Pirro Under Criminal Investigation — ALBANY, N.Y. — NewsChannel 4's Jonathan Dienst has learned Jeanine Pirro, the Republican candidate for New York Attorney General, has been under state and federal criminal investigation. — Images: Pirro Probed For Alleged Spy Plan
brusselsjournal.com:
Brussels Returns to Normal, for Now — Last night Brussels police arrested 39 youths, including 15 minors, in the Marollen neigbourhood. The area had seen heavy rioting the previous nights. Some of the arrested immigrants were carrying combustibles. One schack was set alight and one car was torched.
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, Samizdata.net, Hyscience, A Blog For All, Snapped Shot, Atlas Shrugs, Tammy Bruce and Drinking From Home
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Webb Denies Ever Using Word as Epithet — Racial Slur Overshadowing All Else in Contest — Democratic Senate candidate James Webb on Wednesday sought to explain remarks he had made a day earlier, in which he refused to say whether he had used the "N-word," but he insisted he has never used it as a racial epithet aimed at anyone.
Discussion:
Virginia Centrist
Associated Press:
Chairman seeks review, possible removal of memorial inscriptions — PHOENIX — A state commission that authorized placement of the Arizona 9-11 Memorial in Wesley Bolin Plaza will review controversial laser-cut inscriptions "and see if some of them could be removed," the panel's chairman said Wednesday.
Pete Du Pont / Opinion Journal:
What Do You Know? — If you're an American college student, probably not much. … So how is America's modern education system doing in this regard? Are our citizens enlightened enough to exercise the powers of our democracy? Do our colleges and universities provide their students …
Daily Mail:
Opera featuring Mohammed's head may take place after German leader intervenes — Germany's conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday led political and arts world uproar at the scrapping of a Mozart opera that features the head of the prophet Mohammed rolling across the stage.
Discussion:
Hyscience
Jules Crittenden / Boston Herald:
Estimating our national intelligence — The events of the last few days have created some misunderstandings regarding U.S. intelligence in the War on Terrorism, its appropriate uses and interpretation, and the role of politicians and the press in that process.
Nico / Think Progress:
Musgrave: Gay Marriage 'Is The Most Important Issue That We Face Today' — Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), the lead sponsor of the constitutional ban on gay marriage in the House, spoke this weekend at the Family Research Council's "Values Voter Summit." (Other virulently anti-gay speakers were featured at the event.)