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 …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Hullabaloo, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Huffington Post, Big Brass Blog, The American Street, Confederate Yankee, Balkinization, Bring it On!, The Smirking Chimp, Democrats.com, Don Surber, The Democratic Daily, Jesus' General, Obsidian Wings, TalkLeft, Crooks and Liars, DownWithTyranny!, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Think Progress and The RBC
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New York Times:
House Passes Detainee Bill as It Clears Senate Hurdle — Congress took major steps on Wednesday toward establishing a new system for interrogating and trying terror suspects as the House approved legislation sought by President Bush and the Senate defeated efforts to alter the measure.
Charles Babington / Washington Post:
House Approves Bill on Detainees
House Approves Bill on Detainees
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, Let Freedom Ring, The Strata-Sphere, Salon: War Room, MyDD and First Draft
Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake: Truth And Patriots — I'm paraphrasing on this, as I take notes during …
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.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Times of London, Global Guerrillas, The Heretik, ParaPundit and Informed Comment
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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.
Jim Krane / Associated Press:
Saudis plan long fence for Iraq border — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with plans to build a fence to block terrorists from crossing its 560-mile border with Iraq — another sign of growing alarm that Sunni-Shiite strife could spill over and drag Iraq's neighbors into its civil conflict.
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.
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Mary Katharine Ham / Townhall.com Blog's TownHall Blog:
Webb/Allen: No, He's a Racist! — A guy who describes himself as an old friend of Jim Webb's now says he heard Webb use the n-word in his presence. The friend is also a Republican and says he will vote for Allen, and it sounds as if the Allen campaign directed reporters to Cragg …
Amit R. Paley / Washington Post:
Heralded Iraq Police Academy a 'Disaster' — A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, U.S. investigators have found.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, NO QUARTER, Political Animal, All Spin Zone, Booman Tribune, Middle Earth Journal and Hit and Run
BBC:
Iraq war 'recruiting extremists' — The Iraq war has acted as a "recruiting sergeant" for extremists, a research paper prepared for the Ministry of Defence's Defence Academy says. — The paper on Pakistan admitted serious failings in the war on terror, the BBC's Newsnight programme has learned.
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James Bone / Times of London:
Bin Laden is alive and hiding in Afghanistan, insists Musharraf
Bin Laden is alive and hiding in Afghanistan, insists Musharraf
Discussion:
OxBlog
Patrick Quinn / Associated Press:
Iraq terror leader recruits scientists — CAIRO, Egypt - In a new audio message Thursday, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called for explosives experts and nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war against the West. He also said that more than 4,000 foreign insurgent fighters …
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Iraqi AQ leader releases new tape, calls for release of "blind sheikh"
Iraqi AQ leader releases new tape, calls for release of "blind sheikh"
Discussion:
Counterterrorism Blog
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
The Star-Ledger / nj-community:
Menendez Dumps Key Adviser Caught On Tape Seeking 'Favors' — U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's closest political adviser was secretly recorded seven years ago boasting of political power and urging a Hudson county contractor to hire somone as a favor to Menendez, according to a transcript obtained by The Star-Ledger.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
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Keith Olbermann / MSNBC:
Threatening letter no joke — Keith Olbermann responds to the New York Post's report — The Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, The New York Post, may have just impeded an FBI investigation into terroristic threats. — I know this because I was a recipient.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The American Mind, Captain's Quarters, A Blog For All and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Arnold's Turnaround — A GOP Governor Finds the Key: Independence — SACRAMENTO — The Terminator has rescued himself from political ruin by reinventing his approach to government, thus demonstrating in the most dramatic way possible the value of political independence.
Dennis Cauchon / USA Today:
Marriage gap could sway elections — Residents' status often predicts district's vote — The wedding band could be crucial in this fall's congressional elections, according to a USA TODAY analysis of 2005 Census data. — House districts held by Republicans are full of married people.
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 …
Discussion:
QandO, TAPPED, History News Network, Democracy Project, All Spin Zone, Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit and Decision '08
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 …
Bryan Bender / Boston Globe:
Cost of Iraq war nearly $2b a week — WASHINGTON — A new congressional analysis shows the Iraq war is now costing taxpayers almost $2 billion a week — nearly twice as much as in the first year of the conflict three years ago and 20 percent more than last year — as the Pentagon spends …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog
Bruce Ackerman / Los Angeles Times:
The White House Warden — Congress may give the president the power to lock up almost anyone he thinks is a terror threat. — BURIED IN THE complex Senate compromise on detainee treatment is a real shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects in the Guantanamo Bay fortress.