Top Items:
Washington Post:
Iraq Panel Calls Conditions 'Grave and Deteriorating' — Conditions in Iraq are "grave and deteriorating," with the prospect that a "slide toward chaos" could topple the U.S.-backed government and trigger a regional war unless the United States changes course and seeks a broader diplomatic …
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Ed Henry / CNN:
Iraq Study Group: Pull most troops from combat by '08 … WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Iraq Study Group will urge President Bush to move most U.S. troops out of combat roles by early 2008, according to two sources who have seen the executive summary of the group's report.
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister, On Deadline, The American Street, The News Blog, QandO, Think Progress, The Reaction and Booman Tribune
Washington Post:
Panel To Urge Pressure On Iraq — Study Group to Present Its Report to Bush Today — The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend to President Bush that he threaten to reduce economic and military support for Iraq's government if it fails to meet specific benchmarks intended …
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
A Study In Comity — Whatever the final impact of the Iraq Study Group report being issued today, for the 10 commission members this was an exhilarating experience, a demonstration of genuine bipartisanship that they hope will serve as an example to the broader political world.
Associated Press:
Excerpts of Iraq Study Group Report — Here are excerpts from portions of the Iraq Study Group report, which was being released Wednesday: — ''The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. There is no path that can guarantee success, but the prospects can be improved.''
White House:
President Bush Receives Report from the Iraq Study Group — THE PRESIDENT: I just received the Iraq Study Group report, prepared by a distinguished panel of our fellow citizens. I want to thank James Baker and Lee Hamilton and the panel members for spending a lot of time on this really difficult issue.
Discussion:
Dick Polman's American Debate, AMERICAblog, Outside The Beltway, Don Surber and Brendan Nyhan
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Iraq Study Group report released — It's available for download here. The press conference has just started — and is being carried live by all three networks. An anxious media wonders: will Baker be able to encapsulate the pessimism of the report in one killer pithy soundbite? [Update: Bingo.
Discussion:
Reuters, ABCNEWS, Suitably Flip, Right Wing Nut House, worldpublicopinion.org, Confederate Yankee and The American Mind
Lyndsey Layton / Washington Post:
Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week — Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January. — The horror.
Discussion:
Sunlight Foundation blogs, USA Today, Firedoglake, Captain's Quarters, TPMCafe blogs, The Carpetbagger Report, DownWithTyranny!, The Moderate Voice, Gun Toting Liberal, The Corner, The Caucus, The Democratic Daily, TPMmuckraker, Shakespeare's Sister, Talking Points Memo, Joust The Facts, Air America Radio, Attytood and FishBowlDC
The Big Trunk / Power Line:
ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INVENTIONS AND FALSEHOODS — A reader writes that he received the email message below sent by Professor Kenneth Stein of Emory University and the Carter Center. Professor Stein's expertise lies in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Discussion:
Soccer Dad, BLACKFIVE, Blue Crab Boulevard, BizzyBlog, Blogs for Bush, Dean's World, The Corner, protein wisdom, Althouse and PoliPundit.com
Debra Burlingame / Opinion Journal:
On a Wing and a Prayer — Grievance theater at Minneapolis International Airport. … Those are the words that started it all. Six bearded imams are said to have shouted them out while offering evening prayers as they and 141 other passengers waited at the gate for their flight out of Minneapolis International Airport.
Discussion:
NY Daily News, Washington Times, Power Line, The Heretik, QandO, Riehl World View, Hot Air, Captain's Quarters and Blue Crab Boulevard
Daily Mail:
Does water STILL flow on Mars? — Dramatic new photographs of Mars have revealed the possible existence of water on its surface. — The images - released for the first time on Wednesday by the US space agency NASA - were taken earlier this year in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the Red Planet.
Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
Bush Denies Reaching Out to Dad — Even as Washington's punditocracy relishes the storyline of the elder-statesman father riding to the hapless son's rescue, President Bush insisted yesterday that he doesn't talk shop with his dad — and certainly doesn't ask for his advice.
Discussion:
The Mahablog, The Democratic Daily, NO QUARTER, Brad DeLong's Semi …, The Huffington Post and Daily Kos
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Ed At Aft / NCLB:
Build It Up — "[We have] leaks and even the occasional icicle from my computer lab ceiling, asbestos coming up off the floor, the exterior walls are crumbling. We feel forgotten ...." —a Minnesota technology coordinator — "Our school has been built on a former landfill. …
Washington Post:
Mary Cheney and Partner Are About to Be Moms — Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter, is pregnant. She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are "ecstatic" about the baby, due in late spring, said a source close to the couple. — It's a baby boom for grandparents Dick …
David Rogers / Wall Street Journal:
Some Republicans Take a Scorched-Hill Tack — Leaving Budget Decisions — To Democrats Could Disrupt — New Leadership's Agenda — WASHINGTON — Like a retreating army, Republicans are tearing up railroad track and planting legislative land mines to make it harder for Democrats …
William Caldwell IV / Washington Post:
Why We Persevere — BAGHDAD — I don't see a civil war in Iraq. I don't see a constituency for civil war. The vast majority of the people want hope for their families, not to massacre their neighbors or divide their country. A poll conducted in June by the International Republican Institute …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Political Animal, Sic Semper Tyrannis 2006, PrairiePundit and Blue Crab Boulevard