Top Items:
Christine Hauser / New York Times:
Shiite Militia Seizes Control of Iraqi City — A Shiite militia that has been accused of a wave of sectarian attacks on Iraq's Sunni minority has seized control of the city of Amara in southeastern Iraq, attacking police stations and erecting checkpoints, witnesses in the city said today.
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Christopher Bodeen / Associated Press:
Shiite militia takes over Iraqi city — BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Shiite militia run by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized control of a southern Iraqi city on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, All Spin Zone, AMERICAblog, Shakespeare's Sister, The Glittering Eye and Jihad Watch
Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:
Iraqi Army, Sadr's Mahdi Army Battle in Amara — Sheikh Mazen Saedi, Muqtada al-Sadr's aide in Baghdad. Photo from AFP. Click image to view. — Sadr's Mahdi Army attacked Iraqi police in Amara "after police arrested a member of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia …
Kevin Tillman / Truthdig:
After Pat's Birthday — Editor's note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
During National Character Counts Week, Bush Stumps for Philanderer — So it has come to this: Nineteen days before the midterm elections, President Bush flew here to champion the reelection of a congressman who last year settled a $5.5 million lawsuit alleging that he beat his mistress during a five-year affair.
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Associated Press:
Poll: Lieberman's Lead Growing in Conn. — HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) — Sen. Joe Lieberman has built a 17-point lead over Democratic challenger Ned Lamont, according to the first Quinnipiac University poll since the two faced off in a debate this week. — Lieberman, running as an independent …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Beltway Blogroll, Scared Monkeys, The Strata-Sphere, In From the Cold, Roger L. Simon and Donklephant
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quinnipiac.edu:
Polling Results — October 20, 2006 - Lieberman Opens 17-Point Lead In Connecticut, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Dem Challenger Gains Slightly On Rell — Candidate debates this week did not help the two principal challengers in the Connecticut Senate race, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman now holds a 52 …
Discussion:
MyDD, Daily Kos, Colin McEnroe, Bull Moose, Connecticut Local Politics, Brainster's Blog and Blue Crab Boulevard
John F. Burns / New York Times:
U.S. Says Violence in Baghdad Rises, Foiling Campaign — The United States military command in Iraq acknowledged on Thursday that its 12-week-old campaign to win back control of Baghdad from sectarian death squads and insurgents had failed to reduce violence across the city.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Corner, Multi-National Force, No More Mister Nice Blog and INTEL DUMP
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Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
John McCain unveils his Grand Plan for Victory in Iraq — (updated below) — When pro-war advocates talk about Iraq these days, what they say is not only misguided and false, but almost always incoherent. In explaining why we ought to stay, they are reduced to a form of babbling …
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Jeffrey Zaslow / Wall Street Journal:
America's Next Top Pundit — What does it take to be a talking head? — Whenever news breaks — on the fall campaign trail, in North Korea, in the most trivial corners of Hollywood — thousands of pundits have something to say. What most of them don't have is somewhere to say it.
Hindrocket / Power Line:
DID THE DEMOCRATS LEAK THE NIE? — One of the Democrats' several September Surprises was the highly selective, and highly misleading, leak of a small portion of the recently-completed National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. The Associated Press reported today that House Intelligence Committee …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, TigerHawk and The Jawa Report
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Sonya Geis / Washington Post:
Calif. Campaign in Turmoil Over Letters — Aide to GOP Candidate Sent Mailing Saying Immigrants Are Barred From Voting — A California Republican's congressional campaign went into meltdown Thursday after he said a staff member was responsible for sending thousands of letters to new voters …
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Think Progress:
EXCLUSIVE: Lewis Falsely Implies Mass Suspension Of Committee Investigators Was 'Bipartisan' — Powerful House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) has abruptly suspended the contracts of "60 investigators who had worked for his committee rooting out fraud, waste and abuse, effective immediately."
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Agence France Presse:
Top US general says Rumsfeld is inspired by God — MIAMI (AFP) - The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God. — "He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country," said Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Discussion:
Confederate Yankee, NewsHog, Andrew Sullivan, The Agonist, Shakespeare's Sister and Balloon Juice
Frances D'Emilio / Associated Press:
Priest: I was nude with young Foley — But says naked massage didn't count as sex — ROME — A priest acknowledged Thursday that he was naked in saunas and went skinny-dipping with Mark Foley decades ago when the former congressman was a boy in Florida, but denied that the two had sex.
Steven Lee Myers / New York Times:
Putin's Flippant Comments on Israeli Scandal Are Heard — President Vladimir V. Putin has a penchant for making pithy, acerbic, sometimes coarse comments. On Wednesday, a microphone inadvertently left on during a brief appearance with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel captured his views …
Discussion:
Publius Pundit
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John Keegan / Telegraph:
Bush is wrong: Iraq is not Vietnam — President Bush has for the first time conceded a similarity between events in Iraq and those in Vietnam 40 years ago. Asked in a television interview on Wednesday if he now saw a similarity between the recent escalation of American losses in Iraq …
Discussion:
AMERICAN FUTURE, EU Referendum, Dinocrat, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Corner and Kesher Talk
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Republican Woes Lead to Feuding by Conservatives — Tax-cutters are calling evangelicals bullies. Christian conservatives say Republicans in Congress have let them down. Hawks say President Bush is bungling the war in Iraq. And many conservatives blame Representative Mark Foley's sexual messages to teenage pages.
Discussion:
TAPPED, Redstate, Balloon Juice, Cato-at-liberty, The Corner, Andrew Sullivan, LiberalOasis, Bull Moose, PoliPundit.com, Don Surber, Air America Radio, Hit and Run, KnoxViews and AMERICAblog
Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases — Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds …
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, politburo diktat 2.0, The Heretik, The Strata-Sphere, CorrenteWire and Hit and Run
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