Top Items:
Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times:
Islamist Forces in Somalia Are in Retreat — Ethiopian-backed forces continued to beat back Islamist fighters in Somalia today, advancing to within 15 miles of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, as diplomatic pressure increased for the Ethiopians to pull out. — The African Union …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Townhall.com Blog's …, Matthew Yglesias, PrairiePundit and Hot Air
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Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:
U.S. Signals Backing for Ethiopian Incursion Into Somalia — The United States on Tuesday signaled its support for the Ethiopian offensive in Somalia, calling it a response to "aggression" by Islamists who have since the summer been consolidating power in the country.
allAfrica.com:
Somalia: We Will Attack Mogadishu Tomorrow From Balad And Afgoye, Says Mohammed Dheere — Aweys Osman Yusuf — Mogadishu — Mohammed Dheere, former chairman of Jawhar, accompanied by Somali and Ethiopian forces have regained the Middle Shabelle main town of Jawhar.
Jonathan Stevenson / Opinion Journal:
What's Going On in Somalia? — A guide to the latest terror-war front. — Though 98% Muslim and long without a functioning government, southern Somalia has not, so far, ripened into the fully fledged terrorist threat that many have feared it would. This week, however …
Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
John Edwards joins presidential race — WASHINGTON - Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race Wednesday a day earlier than he'd planned, prodded by an Internet glitch to launch a candidacy focused on health care, taxes and other domestic issues.
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Associated Press:
Edwards' Web site jumps gun on presidential run … WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards is running for president for a second time, his campaign said Wednesday. — The former North Carolina senator plans to formally announce his candidacy Thursday …
Discussion:
Democrats.com
MSNBC:
John Edwards joins presidential race — Senator who ran in 2004 bidding for Democratic nomination, campaign says — Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards volunteers in New Orleans on Wednesday, a day before his scheduled presidential run announcement. — Slide show
Discussion:
Centerfield
Associated Press:
Saddam Hussein's Baath party threatens to retaliate if their leader is executed — AMMAN, Jordan: Saddam Hussein's Baath Party threatened Wednesday to retaliate if the ousted Iraqi leader is executed, warning in an Internet posting it would target U.S. interests anywhere.
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Kristin Roberts / Reuters:
U.S. ready to send 3,500 troops: sources — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is expected to send 3,500 troops into Kuwait to stand ready for use in Iraq, senior defense officials said on Tuesday as the Bush administration weighs adjusting force levels in the war.
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Matthew Yglesias:
The Pardon — Because you're all dying to hear what I have to say about Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon: — Here's the thing. Promoting "healing" and a sense of "moving on" was, in fact, arguably more important than seeing Richard Nixon spend years in a jail cell.
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Washington Post:
The Right Type of 'Surge' — Any Troop Increase Must Be Large and Lasting — Reports on the Bush administration's efforts to craft a new strategy in Iraq often use the term "surge" but rarely define it. Estimates of the number of troops to be added in Baghdad range from fewer than 10,000 to more than 30,000.
Justin Rood / TPMmuckraker:
At The Corner, Iraq News That Isn't — Reader SB points us to an entry today at The Corner, a blog belonging to National Review magazine, entitled "FROM IRAQ: A MARINE'S NOTES." — Among other things, the unnamed Marine tells the National Review that:
Editor and Publisher:
White House to Joe Biden: Hold Your Horses on Rejecting Iraq Troop Surge — NEW YORK At today's press gaggle in Crawford, Texas, Scott Stanzel, pinch-hitting for White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, described the president's reaction to the death of Gerald R. Ford and his upcoming meetings to discuss his next moves in Iraq.
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Carl Hulse / New York Times:
With Promises of a Better-Run Congress, Democrats Take on Political Risks — Republican rule on Capitol Hill drew to an exhausted end just before dawn on Dec. 9 after lawmakers dispatched a pile of bills that few had read and even fewer had helped write. Democrats say the era of such chaotic …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Carpetbagger Report, Ezra Klein, NewsBusters.org and Prairie Weather
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Opinion Journal:
A Dirty Game — The Duke "rape" case unravels. — It's no secret that hugely disproportionate numbers of the innocent people oppressed by abusive prosecutors and police in this country are African-Americans. Now one of the most outrageous cases of law-enforcement abuse is unfolding in Durham, N.C., home of the Duke lacrosse case.
Hassan Abdel Zahra / Agence France Presse:
Tension after US soldier shoots Sadr supporter — NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Tension was mounting in the Iraqi city of Najaf after an American soldier killed a senior ally of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a raid on his house. — Sadr supporters and local police told AFP Wednesday …
Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
Obama Shapes an Agenda Beyond Iraq War — Senator Obama's early opposition to the war in Iraq is the best known of his views, but voters taking his measure as a potential president will discover that he is a leader in securing stray weapons from the former Soviet Union …
Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns and Money:
Bias: It's Holding That Legal Texts Conflict With The Platform of the Texas Republican Party — Steve Benen points us towards some twelfth-rate agitprop by a sitting judge, which repeatedly uses the term "femifascist," presumably to apply to people who believe that the state shouldn't coerce (poor) women to carry pregnancies to term.
Washington Post:
Clone on the Range — The FDA is about to make another controversial decision. It's long overdue. — WHEN YOU TRY your first clonedog, you might not even notice. The Post's Rick Weiss reported Monday that the Food and Drug Administration is expected to vouch this week for the quality …
Reuters:
Taliban confirm top commander killed in U.S. strike — CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Taliban commander confirmed on Wednesday that the rebels' military chief in southern Afghanistan had been killed in a U.S. air strike on December 19, adding his death was a blow for the Islamist movement.