memeorandum: 233 Dead in Civil War Carnage — Health Ministry Besieged (Juan/Informed Comment)

3:25 PM ET, November 24, 2006

Top Items:

Assault on Iraqi Civilians Is Deadliest Since 2003 — A barrage of car bombs, mortar attacks and missiles battered the Shiite Muslim slum of Sadr City on Thursday afternoon, killing around 200 people and injuring as many more in the single deadliest assault on Iraqi civilians since the start of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Taylor Marsh and PoliBlog (TM)

New York Times:

Iraq Toll Rises; Shiites Warn of Government Withdrawal — As the death toll from a series of devastating car bombs in a Shiite district here rose today to more than 200, a powerful legislative bloc loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr threatened to withdraw from the government …

Discussion: the talking dog, toohotfortnr, AMERICAN FUTURE and Talking Points Memo

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:

Why I hate, rather than dislike, the Bush movement — Dick Cheney, October 24, 2006 … UPI, October 23, 2006 … George Bush, October 18, 2006 … Don Rumsfeld, October 26, 2006 … John Hinderaker, November 10 … New York Times, today … Boston Globe, yesterday … Washington Post, today

Discussion: Eschaton

Steven R. Hurst / Associated Press:

Baghdad attack death toll rises to 202 — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Muslim insurgents blew up five car bombs and fired mortars into Baghdad's largest Shiite district Thursday, killing at least 202 people and wounding 252 in a dramatic attack that sent the U.S. ambassador racing to meet …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Shakespeare's Sister, Right Wing Nut House, Healing Iraq, Daily Kos, Democrats.com and AMERICAblog

Walter Pincus / Washington Post:

1,000 Iraqis a Day Flee Violence, U.N. Group Finds — Refugees Cite Lack of Security Along With the Growth of Armed Militias and Criminal Gangs — More than 1,000 Iraqis a day are being displaced by the sectarian violence that began on Feb. 22 with the bombing of the Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra …

Juan / Informed Comment:
233 Dead in Civil War Carnage — Health Ministry Besieged

Discussion: UPI, The Road to Surfdom, New York Times, Flopping Aces, CorrenteWire, Liberty Street and The News Blog

Kirk Semple / New York Times:
Sectarian Attack Is Worst in Baghdad Since Invasion

Discussion: The Heretik and THE CUNNING REALIST

Associated Press:
Iraqi militias take revenge for slaughter of 215

Discussion: CorrenteWire and Dick Polman's American Debate

Gregory / The Belgravia Dispatch:
THE IRAQ CONUNDRUM ON THIS THANKSGIVING

Discussion: Hullabaloo and AMERICAN FUTURE

BBC:

Radiation found after spy's death — Police probing the death of Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko have found above-normal levels of radiation at three locations in London. — Mr Litvinenko's death has been linked to the presence of a "major dose" of radioactive polonium-210 in his body.

Discussion: On Deadline and Blue Crab Boulevard

Sky News:

Spy 'Poisoned By Radiation' — A large quantity of radiation, probably from a substance called Polonium 210, has been found in the body of dead ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. — The "major dose" of alpha radiation was detected in his urine, said Government experts, who added that Polonium 210 is only dangerous if ingested.

Discussion: GINA COBB, Daimnation! and The Political Pit Bull

Jill Lawless / Associated Press:
Radioactive substance in ex-spy's body

Discussion: Times of London and Power Line

Philip Stephens / libertypost.org:
Title: Democracy falls victim to foreign policy realism

Discussion: The Huffington Post

BBC:
Spy's death-bed Putin accusation

Discussion: Winds of Change.NET and Fausta's blog

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters: A Nuclear End For A Putin Critic

Patterico / Patterico's Pontifications:

Is the L.A. Times Repeating Enemy Propaganda? Or Is There Another Reason The Paper Is Getting Basic Facts Wrong and Failing to Report the Military's Side? — Is the L.A. Times reporting unconfirmed enemy propaganda from an Iraqi stringer with ties to the insurgency?

Discussion: Power Line, Captain's Quarters, Wake up America, Hot Air and JunkYardBlog

Robert Pear / New York Times:

Drug Industry Is on Defensive as Power Shifts — Alarmed at the prospect of Democratic control of Congress, top executives from two dozen drug companies met here last week to assess what appears to them to be a harsh new political climate, and to draft a battle plan.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny! and Attytood

Andrew Bridges / Associated Press:
Congress seen pushing for imported drugs

Discussion: Sirotablog and Don Surber

David Johnston / New York Times:

Senate Democrats Revive Demand for Classified Data — Seeking information about detention of terrorism suspects, abuse of detainees and government secrecy, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are reviving dozens of demands for classified documents that until now have been rebuffed …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Andrew Sullivan, PBD, TPMmuckraker, The Democratic Daily and The Heretik

Agence France Presse:

Russian rocket deliveries to Iran started — Russia has begun deliveries of the Tor-M1 air defence rocket system to Iran, Russian news agencies quoted military industry sources as saying, in the latest sign of a Russian-US rift over Iran. — "Deliveries of the Tor-M1 have begun.

Discussion: protein wisdom and Macsmind

E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

An Electronic Canary — Americans can be grateful that Sarasota County is in Florida and not in Montana or Virginia. — There's nothing wrong with Sarasota, a lovely place. But if the voting snafus in the contest for Florida's 13th District had hung up either of this year's two closest Senate races …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Crooks and Liars and Election Law

John Podhoretz / New York Post:

DOUBLE THUMP — GOP WOES DEEPENING — PRESIDENT Bush contributed a new word to the political lexicon when he called the GOP defeat on Election Day a "thumpin'." Now, two weeks after the election, the full nature of the "thumpin' " is coming through pretty clearly …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

The Big Trunk / Power Line:
HOW BAD WAS THE DAMAGE? PART 3

Discussion: Townhall.com and Dinocrat

Agence France Presse:

Policeman kills PSG fan in post-match racist violence — A French police officer — a black man in plain clothes — shot dead a Paris-Saint Germain football fan after being turned on by a mob during racist violence that followed the team's defeat by Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Discussion: Melanie Phillips's Diary, Done With Mirrors, Little Green Footballs and Infidel Bloggers Alliance

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Just an Anti-Semitic Laugh? Hardly. — "Borat" is many things: a sidesplitting triumph of slapstick and scatology, a runaway moneymaker and budding franchise, the worst thing to happen to Kazakhstan since the Mongol hordes, and, as columnist David Brooks astutely points out …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Wake up America, Blue Crab Boulevard, Atlas Shrugs, toohotfortnr and Secular Blasphemy

ABC News:

AWB given advance warning of Iraq troop deployment — Previously secret AWB documents have revealed that the wheat exporter was told Australia would join the war against Iraq a year before the Federal Government says it decided to commit troops. — The information came from Australia's Ambassador to the United Nations, John Dauth.

Discussion: Gun Toting Liberal