Top Items:
Washington Post:
Rice Rejects Overture To Iran And Syria — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday rejected a bipartisan panel's recommendation that the United States seek the help of Syria and Iran in Iraq, saying the "compensation" required by any deal might be too high.
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Charles Krauthammer / Townhall.com:
What did the Iraq Study Group tell us? — As a result of the Iraq Study Group, President Bush has been given one last chance to alter course on Iraq. This did not, however, come about the way James Baker intended. It came about because the long-anticipated report turned out to be such a widely agreed-upon farce.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
Independent:
Diplomat's suppressed document lays bare the lies behind Iraq war — The Government's case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
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Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Ill Senator Is Called Responsive; Capital Is Riveted — Senator Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Dakota, was said to be in critical condition but "responsive" Thursday after an operation to stop bleeding in his brain, and Democrats declared that his condition would not imperil the narrow majority …
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Scott Macleod / Time:
Ahmadinejad's Ambitions — In an exclusive interview, the Iranian President — and Person of the Year candidate — discusses his conference questioning the Holocaust, his letter to the American people and the state of his nuclear plans — On Wednesday evening I sat down with Iranian …
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Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Castro Near Death, U.S. Intelligence Chief Says — Cuban President Fidel Castro is very ill and close to death, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said yesterday. — "Everything we see indicates it will not be much longer . . . months, not years," Negroponte told a meeting of Washington Post editors and reporters.
Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:
'The Man From Nowhere' — What does Barack Obama believe in? — We are getting very excited. Barack Obama is brilliant, eloquent and fresh. He is "exciting" (David Brooks), "charming" (Bob Schieffer), "my favorite guy" (Oprah Winfrey), has "charisma" (Donna Brazile), and should run now for president (George Will).
Commentary:
Getting Serious About Iran: A Military Option — By Arthur Herman From issue: November 2006 — As the impasse over Iran's nuclear-weapons program grows inexorably into a crisis, a kind of consensus has taken root in the minds of America's foreign-policy elite.
Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
Today's Rationale? — Nine days until Christmas...and Mommy just got dragged away in handcuffs for a bunch of show arrests. Nice. — The shifting rationale for the ICE raids on the Swift Meatpacking plants is making me very peeved. What began as a "raid on illegal immigrants" …
Reuters:
Smart children "more likely to become vegetarians" — LONDON (Reuters) - Children with high IQs are more likely to be vegetarians when they grow up, according to research reported on Friday. — A British study of more them 8,000 men and women aged 30 whose IQs had been measured when they were 10 …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
Nadezhda / American Footprints:
Facts on the Ground — Reality keeps racing ahead of any of the options the Bush Administration might consider for Iraq. Though both the ISG Report and the Adminstration throw cold water on a de jure partition strategy, even the soft Gelb-Biden version, the sectarian laundry that's …
Spencer Ackerman / American Prospect:
Final Fantasy — Fred Kagan's disastrous plan for "victory" in Iraq. — There's a line from one of Johnny Cash's final songs that adequately sums up the new Iraq strategy proposal released yesterday by Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute. Go tell that long tongue liar …
Discussion:
Eschaton
onejerusalem.org:
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE :: Bring Ahmadinejad to Justice!! — Today, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations along with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs hosted an international symposium entitled: Bring Ahmadinejad to Justice For Incitement to Genocide.
Judith Kohler / Casper Star Tribune:
Is Denver ready to turn blue? — DENVER — This one-time cow town at the foot of the Rockies is two time zones and 1,500 miles away from the power centers of New York and Washington, but city and state officials say it can handle the demands of 35,000 visitors and the intense spotlight …
Daniel Henninger / Opinion Journal:
Comedy Goes Clean — The F-word finally falls from favor. — The most positive trend of 2006 (surely there had to be one) was described in The Wall Street Journal earlier this month by Jeff Zaslow in a piece titled, "Comedy Comes Clean." Notwithstanding the fact that the movie "Borat" …
Curt / Flopping Aces:
Typical Kerry — Can someone please tell me when Kerry will get it through his Herman Munster head that no one cares what he thinks anymore? He is a loser......period: … This is how our elected Democrat leaders now conduct themselves when abroad. Dixie chicks are one thing …
Ali Waked / Ynetnews:
Hamas: Abbas declared war on Allah — Chairman of Hamas faction in parliament slams Palestinian president during mass Gaza rally, warns his movement will strike 'with an iron fist' those who hurt its members. Meanwhile, escalating tensions in Palestinian Authority deteriorate into gunbattles in streets - 20 people reported wounded