memeorandum: Sectarian Strife in Iraq Imperils Entire Region, Analysts Warn (Ellen Knickmeyer/Washington Post)

10:15 AM ET, November 16, 2006

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Pelosi Splits Democrats With Push For Murtha — Speaker-to-Be Accused Of Strong-Arm Tactics — A showdown over the House majority leader's post today has Democrats bitterly divided only a week after their party took control of Congress and has prompted numerous complaints …

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Los Angeles Times:

Democratic leadership hopefuls marked by ethical questions — The two candidates for House majority leader know how to leverage their connections. — WASHINGTON — Though incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to push through ethical reforms in Congress, both of the Democrats vying …

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jules crittenden:

Murtha vs. Hoyer: Sit Back and Enjoy ... Today offers the kind of spectacle that is a small consolation prize for a party out of power: the victors pummeling each other over the spoils. The election having been lost, today's majority leadership race is a win-win.

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Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Many Say Leadership Race Damages Democrats' Image — House members acknowledged on Wednesday that the increasingly bitter contest for majority leader was sullying the image of unity and new direction that Democrats hoped to convey. — "It's four days that we haven't talked about our message …

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David Sirota / The Nation:
Wanted: A Real Leader

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New York Times:
Trent Lott Wins Back Senate Leadership Slot

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Lesley Clark / Miami Herald:
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Chris Matthews / MSNBC:
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Simon Tisdall / Guardian:

US plans last big push in Iraq — Strategy document calls for extra 20,000 troops, aid for Iraqi army and regional summit — President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning …

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New York Times:

General Warns of Risks in Iraq if G.I.'s Are Cut — The top American military commander for the Middle East said Wednesday that to begin a significant troop withdrawal from Iraq over the next six months would lead to an increase in sectarian killings and hamper efforts to persuade …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Unclaimed Territory, Reuters, Think Progress and Democratic Veteran

Austin Bay / strategypage.com:

James Baker and the Desert Storm Legacy — Iraqis haven't forgotten the aftermath of Desert Storm. With Saddam's troops forced to retreat from Kuwait, Shia Arabs throughout southern Iraq rose up against Saddam's tyranny. Kurds in the north also rebelled.

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David Stout / New York Times:
Top General Warns Against Iraq Timetable

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Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:

Whither The GOP? — After the midterm elections, many of us hoped that the Republican Party would return to conservative First Principles in an attempt to recapture the energy that propelled them to majority status in 1994. Refocusing on the bedrock principles of limited government …

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Mark Leibovich / New York Times:
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Perry Bacon Jr / Time:
What Trent Lott Brings to the Party

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Ellen Knickmeyer / Washington Post:

Sectarian Strife in Iraq Imperils Entire Region, Analysts Warn — BAGHDAD — While American commanders have suggested that civil war is possible in Iraq, many leaders, experts and ordinary people in Baghdad and around the Middle East say it is already underway, and that the real worry ahead …

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Newsweek:

A Confession? — With a new book and TV special, O. J. Simpson is reviving the controversy over his acquittal for the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman 12 years ago. — Is O. J. Simpson confessing? That's what powerhouse publisher Judith Regan teasingly promises from a new book …

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Edward Wyatt / New York Times:
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David P. Barash / Chronicle of Higher Education:

The Social Responsibility in Teaching Sociobiology — Socrates was made to drink hemlock for having "corrupted the youth of Athens." Is sociobiology or — as it is more commonly called these days — "evolutionary psychology" similarly corrupting? Although the study of evolution is …

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Carl Bialik / Wall Street Journal:

Grading the Pollsters — Political polling has come a long way since "Dewey Defeats Truman." — Pollsters earned high marks in last week's elections: Surveys correctly predicted that the Democrats would win control of the House of Representatives, that the Senate would be closely contested …

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PR Newswire:

Airport Arrest Turns Up Nuclear Info — A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide. — Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen …

John Whitesides / Reuters:

Some tight U.S. House races still undecided — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven races for the U.S. House of Representatives were still undecided on Wednesday, more than a week after Democrats decisively won control of both chambers of Congress. — Five House races across the country were too close to call …

Scott Helman / Boston Globe:

Romney hires ex-Bush ad man — Producer noted for tough tactics — Governor Mitt Romney, who continues to sign up big-name political consultants for a probable presidential run, has hired bare-knuckles GOP ad man Alex Castellanos, a veteran of presidential campaigns known for his tough ads against Democratic candidates.

Discussion: AMERICAblog

BBC:

Turkey ends French military ties — The commander of the Turkish army says his country has suspended all military ties with France. — Gen Ilker Basbug said this was in protest at a bill passed by the French National Assembly to make it a crime to deny the Armenian "genocide".