Top Items:
Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
Bush Adviser's Memo Cites Doubts About Iraqi Leader — A classified memorandum by President Bush's national security adviser expressed serious doubts about whether Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had the capacity to control the sectarian violence in Iraq and recommended that the United States …
Discussion:
MSNBC, Redstate, War and Piece, The American Street, AMERICAblog, Bill's Bites, Pajamas Media, The News Blog, The Road to Surfdom, Political Animal and First Draft
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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 …
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:
Captain's Quarters, MSNBC, Associated Press, The Caucus, Redstate, The Corner, TAPPED, PoliBlog (TM), Reuters, Unclaimed Territory, The Reaction, TalkLeft, Done With Mirrors, NewsBusters.org, Michelle Malkin, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, Legal Fiction, Decision '08, QandO and Don Surber
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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.
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.
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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 …
Glenn Harlan Reynolds / TCS Daily:
A Second American Civil War? — Is America in danger of civil war? Not immediately, perhaps, but famed science fiction writer Orson Scott Card thinks that we're in enough danger that he's authored a cautionary tale entitled Empire that's set in more-or-less present times.
Discussion:
Sadly, No!
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Washington Times:
Iraq exit via Iran? — The Iraq war, civil or not, is costing $226 million a day — or $8 billion a month, $76 billion a year. It's hard to figure out what to call it when Iraqis are killing Iraqis by the score every day and when the U.S. has been fighting and dying there longer than its involvement in World War II.
Discussion:
Vox Popoli
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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.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Bill's Bites, f a t c a t politics, The Belmont Club, Iowa Voice and CorrenteWire
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Examiner:
Prophets of Iraq defeat are rushing judgment — The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper, The Examiner — WASHINGTON - President Bush was right to declare yesterday in Latvia that he will not withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq until the "mission is complete" because "we can accept nothing less …
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Ahmed Rashid / Telegraph:
Accept defeat by Taliban, Pakistan tells Nato — Senior Pakistani officials are urging Nato countries to accept the Taliban and work towards a new coalition government in Kabul that might exclude the Afghan president Hamid Karzai. — Pakistan's foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri …
Discussion:
The Fourth Rail, The Blotter, Don Surber, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Bill's Bites and AMERICAN FUTURE
Robert Samuelson / Real Clear Politics:
Globalization Makes an Easy Scapegoat — WASHINGTON — We may be about to shoot ourselves in the foot — or maybe the chest — on trade. In the name of "fair trade,'' we may punish our own exporters. In 2005, worldwide exports exceeded $10 trillion. Since 1980, they've more than tripled while the overall global economy doubled.
Discussion:
Angry Bear
Cindy George / Houston Chronicle:
Houston man admits trying to help Taliban — A second man, in U.S. illegally, faces similar conspiracy and weapons charges — One of two Houston men accused of training to fight with the Taliban pleaded guilty this afternoon in federal court. — Kobie Diallo Williams, 33 …
Ian / Hot Air:
Pelosi defends al Qaeda, chastises Bush (Update: Video added) — Pelosi is mad Bush is blaming violence in Iraq on al Qaeda: … If it's not al Qaeda's fault that they are killing soldiers and innocent civilians, then who should be blamed? Bush? U.S. Soldiers? America?
Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon Considers Moving Troops From al-Anbar Province to Baghdad — Major Strategic Shift Considered to Secure Iraqi Capital — ABC News has learned that Pentagon officials are considering a major strategic shift in Iraq, to move U.S. forces out of the dangerous Sunni-dominated …
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.
Joshua Rozenberg / Telegraph:
Sharia law is spreading as authority wanes — Islamic sharia law is gaining an increasing foothold in parts of Britain, a report claims. — Sharia, derived from several sources including the Koran, is applied to varying degrees in predominantly Muslim countries but it has no binding status in Britain.