Top Items:
Washington Post:
Bloc Led by Shiite Cleric Quits Iraqi Government — Lawmakers Loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr Protest Prime Minister's Summit With Bush — A bloc of Iraqi lawmakers allied with militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr announced Wednesday that they were suspending their involvement in the government …
Discussion:
Associated Press, New York Times, Outside The Beltway, PoliBlog (TM), TPMCafe blogs and Obsidian Wings
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New York Times:
Text of U.S. Security Adviser's Iraq Memo — Following is the text of a Nov. 8 memorandum prepared for cabinet-level officials by Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, and his aides on the National Security Council. The five-page document, classified secret, was read and transcribed by The New York Times.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, TAPPED, The Corner, The Heretik, Unqualified Offerings, The Carpetbagger Report and On Deadline
Washington Post:
As Iraq Deteriorates, Iraqis Get More Blame — From troops on the ground to members of Congress, Americans increasingly blame the continuing violence and destruction in Iraq on the people most affected by it: the Iraqis. — Even Democrats who have criticized the Bush administration's conduct …
Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
Bush Adviser's Memo Cites Doubts About Iraqi Leader
Bush Adviser's Memo Cites Doubts About Iraqi Leader
Discussion:
Washington Times, American Footprints, Firedoglake, Associated Press, Redstate, FP Passport, Early Warning, CBS News, Macsmind, Wake up America, War and Piece, The American Street, The Carpetbagger Report, PBD, On Deadline, Gateway Pundit, Wonkette, PoliBlog (TM), AMERICAblog, Pajamas Media, Bill's Bites, Think Progress, The Road to Surfdom and Sister Toldjah
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
In Following His Own Script, Webb May Test Senate's Limits — At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken …
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Emily Heil / The Hill:
Son also rises in testy Webb-Bush exchange — President Bush has pledged to work with the new Democratic majorities in Congress, but he has already gotten off on the wrong foot with Jim Webb, whose surprise victory over Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) tipped the Senate to the Democrats.
New York Times:
Pelosi Won't Pick Tainted Lawmaker for Key Post — Representative Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday that she would not award the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee to Representative Alcee L. Hastings of Florida, who was a leading contender for the post.
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Washington Post:
Pelosi Passes on Hastings, Harman for House Intel Chair — House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has decided against naming either Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, or Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), the panel's No. 2 Democrat …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, Associated Press, The Caucus, Dick Polman's American Debate, Balloon Juice, The Heretik, In From the Cold, Captain's Quarters, TAPPED, PoliBlog (TM), Redstate, TalkLeft, Professor Bainbridge's Journal, Lawyers, Guns and Money, TIME, Unclaimed Territory, The Corner, Done With Mirrors, CorrenteWire, The Hill, NewsBusters.org and The Reaction
Nawaf Obaid / Washington Post:
Stepping Into Iraq — Saudi Arabia Will Protect Sunnis if the U.S. Leaves — In February 2003, a month before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, warned President Bush that he would be "solving one problem and creating five more" if he removed Saddam Hussein by force.
Discussion:
The Sideshow, TAPPED, The Washington Note, David Corn, Outside The Beltway, TPMCafe blogs, The Glittering Eye and Booman Tribune
Washington Post:
Economics Experts Join Romney's PAC — He hasn't even formed his presidential exploratory committee, but Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has already signed up an economic brain trust to advise him, led by two former chairmen of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.
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Dennis Prager / Townhall.com:
America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on — Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.
David Espo / Associated Press:
Frist will not seek presidency in 2008 — WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Wednesday he will not run for president in 2008, a high-profile campaign dropout more than a year before the first convention delegates are chosen. — "In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season …
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KHOU.com Astros:
Local men accused of conspiring to help terrorists — From 11 News Staff Reports — Two Houston men have been charged with planning to aid the Taliban, U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced Tuesday. — Adnan Babar Mirza, 29 and 33-year-old Kobie Diallo Williams …
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Media Matters for America:
O'Reilly falsely claimed to have "coined the term 'San Francisco values' " … In his November 22 nationally syndicated column, titled "Here Comes the Left," Fox News host Bill O'Reilly attacked the San Francisco Board of Education for "vot[ing] to ban Junior ROTC in the city's high schools" …
Victor Davis Hanson / Opinion Journal:
Losing the Enlightenment — A civilization that has lost confidence in itself cannot confront the Islamists. — Our current crisis is not yet a catastrophe, but a real loss of confidence of the spirit. The hard-won effort of the Western Enlightenment of some 2,500 years that …
Linda Deutsch / Associated Press:
Judge strikes down Bush on terror groups — LOS ANGELES - A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.
Steven R. Hurst / Associated Press:
Witnesses detail Iraq burning deaths — BAGHDAD, Iraq - The attack on the small Mustafa Sunni mosque began as worshippers were finishing Friday midday prayers. About 50 unarmed men, many in black uniforms and some wearing ski masks, walked through the district chanting "We are the Mahdi Army, shield of the Shiites."
Discussion:
CBS News, Riehl World View, PrairiePundit, Oliver Willis, Classical Values, Power Line, BobGeiger.com and Gateway Pundit
Ali Waked / Ynetnews:
Report: Syrian network planned to kill Lebanese officials — Al-Mustaqbal newspaper reports Lebanese security forces exposed network of 200 members which trained in refugee camps in Lebanon, planned to assassinate 36 senior Lebanese officials — The Lebanese security forces exposed a network …
Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
Gingrich: Free Speech Should Be Curtailed To Fight Terrorism — A former House speaker, Newt Gingrich, is causing a stir by proposing that free speech may have to be curtailed in order to fight terrorism. — "We need to get ahead of the curve rather than wait until we actually literally lose a city …
Manuel Roig-Franzia / Washington Post:
Surge in Violence Shocks Even Weary Mexico — Drug Killings Nearly Doubled In Past Year — ZIHUATANEJO, Mexico — Andr?s Sauzo collects newspapers, astoundingly grisly newspapers. — There's the one with the close-up shot of a severed human head. There's the one with the wide-angle of a man hacked to death with a machete.
Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Citizenship Agency Lost 111,000 Files — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has lost track of 111,000 files in 14 of the agency's busiest district offices and processed as many as 30,000 citizenship applications last year without the necessary files, congressional investigators reported yesterday.