memeorandum: Afghanistan Called 'Key Priority' for NATO (Michael Abramowitz/Washington Post)

5:35 PM ET, November 30, 2006

Top Items:

Rumors and reporting in Iraq — ***scroll for updates...NYTimes blogger Tom Zeller Jr weighs in...plus: bloggers note the significance of the capture of Mazer Al-Jubouri, aka the Baghdad Sniper, and his group...*** — I've been following up with CENTCOM on the Associated Press/sketchy sources brouhaha.

Discussion: Townhall.com, NewsBusters.org, Dean's World, On Deadline, small dead animals, BLACKFIVE, Wake up America, Democracy Project, Riehl World View, Bookworm Room and PrairiePundit

Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report:

"Juba" the Baghdad Sniper Captured! — The Iraqi Ministry of the Interior announced that it has captured the Baghdad sniper known as Ali Nazar al Jubori. The name sounds eerily familiar. al Jubori....could this be the original Juba sniper? That is the claim being made.

Discussion: In the Bullpen

Tom Zeller Jr / The Lede:

So Just Who Is Capt. Jamil Hussein? — Against the backdrop of the civil war, occupation, Baathist insurgency, sectarian conflict, and struggle against terrorists in Iraq, to borrow a few descriptors, in addition to the historic meeting between President Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri …

Discussion: In the Bullpen, Dean's World, Media Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Belmont Club

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

As promised: Iraqi spokesman says AP police source is phony; Update: NYT blog picks up the story; Update: AP responds, ducks the issue — Centcom said he'd mention it at today's MOI presser, and so he did: … An AP reporter was there but there's nothing on the wire yet. I'll update when there is.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Confederate Yankee, A Blog For All, Don Surber, Ace of Spades HQ and JunkYardBlog

Curt / Flopping Aces:
Getting The News From The Enemy, Update IV

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Confederate Yankee and PrairiePundit

American Thinker:
Fanning the flames — Our contributor Sharon Tosi Moore …

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House

Patterico / Patterico's Pontifications:
A "Third Way" on Fake Iraqi Cops?

Discussion: Bill's Bites

Washington Post:

Bush: Calls for Troop Drawdowns Unrealistic — At Summit, President Stands by Iraqi Prime Minister, Discusses Speeding Up Security Handover — President Bush delivered a staunch endorsement of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Thursday morning and dismissed calls for U.S. troop withdrawals …

Discussion: Washington Times, New York Times, Andrew Sullivan, Melanie Phillips's Diary, The Moderate Voice, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air and Blue Crab Boulevard

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Bush Proclaims Support for Iraqi Premier — President Bush today proclaimed Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki "the right guy for Iraq," and said the two had agreed to speed the turnover of security responsibility from American to Iraqi forces. But Mr. Bush dismissed a reported decision …

Discussion: Washington Post, Reason Magazine, Iowa Voice, The Heretik, PrairiePundit, FP Passport, PoliBlog (TM), The News Blog and Decision '08

White House:

President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq — Joint Statement by the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Iraq — PRESIDENT BUSH: Good morning. It's good to be in Amman. I first want to thank His Majesty King Abdullah for his gracious hospitality.

Discussion: Hot Air, CFR.org, On Deadline and First Draft

Washington Post:
Study Group to Call for Pullback

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Captain's Quarters, The Huffington Post, CBS News, First Read, Wake up America, The Carpetbagger Report, The Democratic Daily, About U.S. Politics, American Footprints, New York Times, NewsHog, Discourse.net, Bill's Bites and Sister Toldjah

Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
Bush agrees to speedy turnover in Iraq

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

ABCNEWS:

EXCLUSIVE: Iranian Weapons Arm Iraqi Militia — Hezbollah Training Also Linked to Iraq Violence — U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq: brand-new weapons fresh from Iranian factories. According to a senior defense official …

Discussion: Hot Air, INDCJournal, Power Line, Hyscience, Wake up America, Riehl World View, The Sundries Shack, Iowa Voice, Tammy Bruce, Atlas Shrugs, Ed Driscoll.com, Macsmind, Blue Crab Boulevard, PrairiePundit and this blog is full of crap

Greg Sargent / tpmcafe.com:

George Will Distorts WaPo's Own Reporting To Smear Jim Webb — This has to be one of the rankest displays of journalistic dishonesty I've seen in some time on the part of any columnist, large or small. — In today's Washington Post column, George Will assails Dem Senator-elect Jim Webb …

Discussion: Reason Magazine, The Huffington Post, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Political Animal, Balloon Juice, PrairiePundit and KC Buzz Blog

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Already Too Busy for Civility — That was certainly swift. Washington has a way of quickly acculturating people, especially those who are most susceptible to derangement by the derivative dignity of office. But Jim Webb, Democratic senator-elect from Virginia, has become a pompous poseur …

Discussion: Althouse, The Huffington Post, AMERICAblog, The Carpetbagger Report, The Agonist, TBogg, Extreme Mortman, JustOneMinute, Blue Crab Boulevard, Suburban Guerrilla, Middle Earth Journal and PrairiePundit

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr / American Spectator:

The Gentleman From Virginia — WASHINGTON — When Ronald Reagan's former secretary of the navy, James Webb, eked out victory against the Republican Senator George Allen in Virginia, what did the Democrats gain? To be sure they gained control of the Senate. That has been widely noted.

Discussion: Inactivist, Hot Air and WuzzaDem

Sky News:

Spy Radiation Fears Grow — Traces of radiation have been detected at 12 locations during a probe into the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. — Home Secretary John Reid said 24 unnamed locations have been or are currently being monitored by experts.

Discussion: Hot Air, Guardian, Security Watchtower, The Sun and Ace of Spades HQ

BBC:
Russian ex-PM has mystery illness

Discussion: The Political Pit Bull and Guardian

Duncan Gardham / Telegraph:
33,000 BA passengers alerted over radiation

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs

Jennifer Quinn / Associated Press:
12 sites in U.K. show radioactive traces

Discussion: The Political Pit Bull and Hot Air

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:

Democrats Reject Key 9/11 Panel Suggestion — Neither Party Has an Appetite for Overhauling Congressional Oversight of Intelligence — It was a solemn pledge, repeated by Democratic leaders and candidates over and over: If elected to the majority in Congress, Democrats would implement …

Sister Toldjah:
Promises made, promises broken - a retrospective on Pelosi's 9-11 …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

Benchwarming — THE SUPREME COURT MELTS DOWN OVER GREENHOUSE GASSES. — If there is anything stranger than writing up your story on global warming in a T-shirt ... in late November ... in the District of Columbia, I can't quite think what it is. In fact nothing about this morning's oral argument …

Discussion: Think Progress, Opinion, SCOTUSblog, The Moderate Voice and NPR Topics

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:
Justices' First Brush With Global Warming

Discussion: Washington Post, Abovethelaw.com, Althouse, ShopFloor.org and Dean's World

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:

FEMA Told to Resume Storm Aid — Judge's Ruling May Affect Thousands On the Gulf Coast — The Bush administration unconstitutionally denied aid to tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and must resume payments immediately, a federal judge ordered yesterday.

Discussion: Firedoglake, the talking dog, Facing South, The Mahablog, The Democratic Daily and DownWithTyranny!

yct-ut.org:

Conservative Students to Display "ACLU Nativity Scene" — Contact: Kevin Potter, Director of Communications - 469.231.4327 — Conservative Students to Display "ACLU Nativity Scene" — Young Conservatives of Texas at UT Austin — Contact: Tony McDonald, Chairman 512.923.6893

Discussion: Hot Air and In the Bullpen

Lindsay Beyerstein / New York Press:

COVER UP — How New York's buildings are disappearing beneath a blanket of never-ending scaffolds and backroom deals — For many residents of the oft-termed New New York, the post-9/11 building boom represents prosperity, regeneration and renewed vitality.

Discussion: Unfogged and James Wolcott's Blog