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 …
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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 …
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 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 …
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press, PrairiePundit, Big Brass Blog, CorrenteWire, Gun Toting Liberal, ParaPundit and The News Blog
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.
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, Captain's Quarters, The Heretik, Balloon Juice, Redstate, TAPPED, Unclaimed Territory, PoliBlog (TM), The Corner, TalkLeft, TIME, Done With Mirrors, CorrenteWire, The Hill, The Reaction, NewsBusters.org, Decision '08 and Legal Fiction
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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.
Scott Helman / Boston Globe:
Romney plans campaign base in North End — Governor Mitt Romney, erasing any doubt that he intends to make a White House bid in 2008, is laying plans to run his presidential campaign from a three-story waterfront building at the edge of Boston's North End, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the proposed deal.
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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 …
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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.
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 …
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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.
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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.
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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, Classical Values, Power Line, Oliver Willis, BobGeiger.com and Gateway Pundit
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.
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 …
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.
Discussion:
BBC, The Belmont Club, Vox Popoli, Blogs for Bush, The Dread Pundit Bluto and Daimnation!
Think Progress:
Powell: Bush Should Stop Denying That There Is A Civil War In Iraq — Speaking with CNN reporter Hala Gorani in Dubai today, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraq's violence meets the standard of a civil war and thinks President Bush needs to acknowledge that.
Discussion:
Eschaton