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Iraq Study Group Report Released — Download the official report just released by the Iraq Study Group titled The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach. USIP is the facilitating organization for the Iraq Study Group (ISG), co-chaired by James A. Baker, III, and Lee H. Hamilton.
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No Middle Ground — The Iraq Study Group calls its prescription "responsible transition;" there's nothing responsible about it. — Given the specific lineup of the 10 wise men and women serving on the Iraq Study Group, the most conspicuous absence is that of supermodel Heidi Klum.
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Booman Tribune, jules crittenden, Dymaxion World, Defense Tech, The Reaction, Daily Kos and Matthew Yglesias


Feingold Cuts Through The ISG Hype on Countdown — Keith Olbermann had Russ Feingold on to give his assessment of the now very famous Iraq Study Group report. — Video - WMV Video -QT — Feingold said what I have felt all day. This report does not give us a clear path in Iraq and leaves the future of the war up in the air.

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.
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Whiskey Fire, Media Blog, Sirotablog, The American Scene, The Horse's Mouth, Daily Kos, Legal Fiction, PrairiePundit and Middle Earth Journal


Threats Wrapped in Misunderstandings — The Iraq Study Group's prescriptions hinge on a fragile Iraqi government's ability to achieve national reconciliation and security at a time when the country is fractured along sectarian lines, its security forces are ineffective and competing visions threaten …
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The Moderate Voice

Iraq Panel Calls Conditions 'Grave and Deteriorating'
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Excerpts of Iraq Study Group Report
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Legal Fiction, neo-neocon, Redstate, A Blog For All, Little Green Footballs, Matthew Yglesias and Ezra Klein

ABOUT AS BAD AS ADVERTISED — I've read the executive summary …
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Townhall.com Blog's …, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Tammy Bruce, The Caucus, TigerHawk, Macsmind and A Blog For All

U.S troops just don't have the means to stop Iraq's death squads.
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Outside The Beltway

Senate approves Gates as defense secretary … WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate voted 95-2 Wednesday to approve Robert Gates as President Bush's choice to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary. — The vote came a day after the nomination sailed through the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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Senate Confirms Gates as Defense Secretary — Robert M. Gates, President Bush's nominee to be defense secretary, was confirmed by the Senate this afternoon, hours after the Iraq Study Group offered recommendations meant to gradually reduce the United States' role in Iraq and stem the increasing violence there.


Enter the Grown-Up — ROBERT GATES' IMPRESSIVE—AND REASSURING—CONFIRMATION HEARINGS. — The most eyebrow-raising moment—of many such moments—in Robert Gates' confirmation hearings today came when Sen. Robert Byrd, the stentorian Democrat of West Virginia, asked if he favored attacking Iran.


Panel: Bush Iraq policy 'not working' — WASHINGTON - President Bush's policy in Iraq "is not working," a high-level commission said bluntly on Wednesday, prodding the administration to use diplomacy to stabilize the country and allow withdrawal of most American combat troops by early 2008.

Best of the Web — Today's Video on WSJ.com: James Taranto discusses …

Baker panel's mention of Palestinian "right of return" raises eyebrows
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Democracy Project

Gates confirmed as secretary of defense
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Outside The Beltway

Hamas smuggled $66 million in 8 months — Hamas officials have managed to smuggle more than $66 million in cash through the Rafah border crossing in the past eight months, a member of the Hamas-led government revealed Wednesday. — Meanwhile, sources close to the Hamas-led government claimed …
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Report: Hamas met delegation of Democrats — Source claims U.S. party willing to hold dialogue with terror group — JERUSALEM - Hamas met with a delegation of "important Democrats" who expressed interest in relations with the Palestinian terror group even if it doesn't recognize the right …

Arrest Warrant Issued in Denver for Oregon Blogger — Many of you will remember the Deb Frisch - Protein Wisdom blog drama. — Dr. Frisch has removed her website, but many of her posts and comments can still be found on Technorati and Google. — After the Frisch-Goldstein drama …
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Flopping Aces, Michelle Malkin, Patterico's Pontifications, Blue Crab Boulevard and Done With Mirrors


Justices Breyer and Scalia Converse on the Constitution — On December 5, 2006, ACS and the Federalist Society co-sponsored A Conversation on the Constitution: Perspectives from Active Liberty and A Matter of Interpretation with U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia.


NBC: 10 U.S. service members killed in Iraq — Meanwhile, mortar attack kills 8 Iraqis, wounds 40 in Sadr City district — Residents look at a minibus destroyed in a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad's Sadr City on Wednesday. — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Ten American service members were killed …
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THE CUNNING REALIST

Bikini march sparks retort — MUSLIMS, socialists, unions and other groups will conduct a counter-rally against bikini protesters who plan to march on a Brunswick mosque on Saturday. — Police will monitor the demonstrations, with white supremacists claiming to have infiltrated bikini protest ranks …

5-day work week is a Capitol Hill culture shock — Democrats seek a businesslike image; many in GOP decry effect on families — WASHINGTON - Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own …


Iranian Students Protest Regime... Shout "Death to Dictators!" — ** Thousands of Iranian students rallied against the regime today in Tehran! Iranian Students at Tehran University gathered earlier today to commemorate "Students Day" and protest the brutal regime. — The students shouted, "Death to the Dictatorship!"
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