memeorandum: Flash! President Bush Says He Reads Papers (Katharine Q. Seelye/New York Times)

4:55 PM ET, December 26, 2006

Top Items:

Christopher Torchia / Associated Press:

U.S. toll in Iraq surpasses that of 9/11 — BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 36 Iraqis died Tuesday in bombings, officials said, including a coordinated strike that killed 25 in western Baghdad. Separately, the deaths of six U.S. soldiers pushed the American toll beyond the number of victims in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Discussion: The Horse's Mouth, Little Green Footballs, Liberal Values, Outside The Beltway, The Democratic Daily, BlondeSense, State of the Day, Matthew Yglesias, Liberty Street, The Impolitic, Democrats.com and Brilliant at Breakfast

Associated Press:

Military Deaths in Iraq Exceed 9 / 11 Toll — NEW YORK (AP) — In a span of a few hours, 2,973 people were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In a span of 45 months, the number of American troops killed in Iraq exceeded that grim toll as the war continues.

Marc Santora / New York Times:

Abuse Seen at Iraqi Jail Puts New Focus on Rogue Police — Hundreds of British and Iraqi soldiers assaulted a police station in the southern city of Basra on Monday, killing seven gunmen, rescuing 127 prisoners from what the British said was almost certain execution and ultimately reducing the facility to rubble.

Discussion: Think Progress, Needlenose and Suburban Guerrilla

Macranger / Macsmind:
(A)pple (S)ause - AP uses our war dead to make political points

Discussion: Wake up America and Little Green Footballs

Washington Post:
British Troops Raid, Raze Station House In Southern Iraq

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Press Association

Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:

Court: Execute Saddam within 30 days — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's highest appeals court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein in his first trial and said it must be carried out within 30 days. The sentence "must be implemented within 30 days," chief judge Aref Shahin.

Discussion: All Spin Zone and A Blog For All

Reuters:

Iraq court says Saddam should hang within 30 days — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi appeals court on Tuesday upheld Saddam Hussein's death sentence for crimes against humanity and said he should hang within 30 days. — Human rights activists condemned his trial as seriously flawed and called …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Nancy Trejos / Washington Post: Court Upholds Saddam's Death Sentence

CNN:
Iraqi appeals court upholds Hussein death sentence

Discussion: The Impolitic, AMERICAblog, The Moderate Voice and Bill's Bites

Reuters:
Saddam loses death sentence appeal: govt official

Discussion: Bill's Bites

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Baltimore Sun:

Bush is bracing for new scrutiny … WASHINGTON // President Bush is bracing for what could be an onslaught of investigations by the new Democratic-led Congress by hiring lawyers to fill key White House posts and preparing to play defense on countless document requests and possible subpoenas.

Discussion: Firedoglake, DownWithTyranny!, Booman Tribune, The Carpetbagger Report and Political Animal

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

War Critics See New Resistance by Bush — Immediately after the beating his party took in November, President Bush indicated that he had received the message that voters wanted change, and that he would serve some up fast. He ousted his defense secretary, announced a full-scale review …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Daily Pundit and Prairie Weather

Charlotte Raab / Agence France Presse: Iraq quagmire erodes Bush's confidence and power

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
AFP recycles Iraq "quagmire" story three weeks later

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Little Green Footballs

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Forget Polls, Long Shots Say It's About the Message

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times:

Islamist Forces in Somalia Are on the Retreat — Islamist forces in Somalia beat a hasty retreat today to their stronghold in Mogadishu, Somalia's battle-scared capital, crumbling faster than anyone expected after a week of attacks by Ethiopian forces. — Burhakaba, a large inland city …

Discussion: Washington Post, Riehl World View, Wake up America, toohotfortnr, In the Bullpen and Matthew Yglesias

International Herald Tribune:

In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy war — NAIROBI: Undeterred by the horrors and setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, the Bush administration has opened another battlefront in the Muslim world. With full U.S. backing and military training, at least 15,000 Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia …

Discussion: About U.S. Politics, Hot Air and New York Times

Salad Duhul / Associated Press:

Islamic forces on the retreat in Somalia — MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic fighters were in a tactical retreat Tuesday, a senior Islamic leader said, as government and Ethiopian troops advanced on three fronts in a decisive turn around in the battle for control of Somalia.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Captain's Quarters, A Blog For All, Outside The Beltway and jules crittenden

Michael van der Galien / The Moderate Voice:
Brave Islamists Withdrawing

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Ezra Klein / Los Angeles Times:

Going universal — The American healthcare system is, simply put, a mess, but we may finally be ready to fix it. — THE STATISTICS, by now, are well known. Forty-seven million uninsured Americans. Premium increases of 81% since 2000. Small businesses failing, big businesses foundering …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Political Animal, The Agonist, The Glittering Eye, DonkeyRising, The Moderate Voice, The Carpetbagger Report, Andrew Sullivan, Ezra Klein and The Impolitic

David Lightman / Hartford Courant:

Lieberman Defends Video-Game Money — WASHINGTON — It has become a holiday ritual: Joe Lieberman and family-research officials hold a well-attended press conference to decry the impact on children of excessive video game sex and violence. — And, again in 2006, Lieberman indulged …

Discussion: ConnecticutBLOG, The Carpetbagger Report and The Left Coaster

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

Flash! President Bush Says He Reads Papers — Is there hope for newspapers after all? Readers may be abandoning the printed versions, but over the last couple of years, at least one person seems to have started reading them, at least sometimes. He lives in the White House.

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Political Animal, The Heretik, DownWithTyranny!, Redstate, Liberal Values and Liberty Street

Rachel L. Swarns / New York Times:

Bipartisan Effort to Draft Immigration Bill — Counting on the support of the new Democratic majority in Congress, Democratic lawmakers and their Republican allies are working on measures that could place millions of illegal immigrants on a more direct path to citizenship than would a bill that the Senate passed in the spring.

Discussion: MyDD, ParaPundit, The Strata-Sphere and Hot Air

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

Consultant Helps Democrats Embrace Faith, and Some in Party Are Not Pleased — As Democrats turn toward the 2008 presidential race, a novice evangelical political operative is emerging as a rising star in the party, drawing both applause and alarm for her courtship of theological conservatives in the midterm elections.

Discussion: Political Animal, The Carpetbagger Report, No More Mister Nice Blog, Brilliant at Breakfast and The Horse's Mouth