memeorandum: The Point Of No Return (Captain Ed/Captain's Quarters)

Nasteex Dahir Farah / Associated Press:

Somali troops capture Islamic stronghold — KISMAYO, Somalia - Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and fighter jets captured the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement Monday, while hundreds of Islamic fighters — many of them Arabs and South Asians — fled the town.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Sahra Abdi / Reuters:

Somali Islamists flee stronghold — KISMAYU, Somalia (Reuters) - Defeated Somali Islamists fled their last stronghold and headed toward the Kenyan border on Monday in what looked like the end of nearly two weeks of war with the Ethiopian-backed government. — Several thousand Islamist troops …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Nasteex Dahir Farah / Associated Press:

Islamists quit last bastion in Somalia — KISMAYU, Somalia - Islamist fighters abandoned the last major town they held early today and were seen heading south toward the Kenyan border while government forces approached slowly because of land mines, residents and a government spokesman said.

Discussion: PrairiePundit

Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times:
Islamists Abandon Final Stronghold in Somalia

Discussion: Hot Air

Associated Press:
SOMALI TROOPS CLOSE IN ON 3 WANTED FOR U.S. EMBASSY BOMBINGS

Discussion: Op For

Hindrocket / Power Line: MORE GOOD NEWS FROM SOMALIA

New York Times:

Rush to Hang Hussein Was Questioned — BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 — With his plain pine coffin strapped into an American military helicopter for a predawn journey across the desert, Saddam Hussein, the executed dictator who built a legend with his defiance of America, completed a turbulent passage into history on Sunday.

Discussion: the talking dog, NewsBusters.org, Blinq, Don Surber, Atlantic Free Press, The Impolitic, On Deadline, Bark Bark Woof Woof, AMERICAblog, Prairie Weather, Right Voices and Unqualified Offerings

Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:

For Sunnis, Dictator's Degrading End Signals Ominous Dawn for the New Iraq — BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 — For Sunni Arabs here, the ugly reality of the new Iraq seemed to crystallize in a two-minute segment of Saddam Hussein's hanging, filmed surreptitiously on a cellphone.

Discussion: Informed Comment, Prairie Weather and Rook's Rant

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:

Iraqis learn the art of legal "workarounds" — This depressing New York Times article by John Burns and Marc Santora details the frantic, reckless manner in which Saddam Hussein was shoved into the noose in clear violation of Iraqi law. We can't even get a hanging right.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Reuters: Saddam Hanged but No Let - Up in Iraq Violence

Michael Abramowitz / Washington Post:

GOP Lawmakers Divided About 'Surge' in Troops — Republican lawmakers appear uneasy about — and in some cases outright dismissive of — the idea of sending many more troops to Iraq, as President Bush contemplates such a "surge" as part of his new strategy for stabilizing the country.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Macsmind, Booman Tribune, AMERICAblog and Think Progress

Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:

A 'Surge' Faces Trouble In the Senate — Sen. John McCain, leading a blue-ribbon congressional delegation to Baghdad before Christmas, collected evidence that a "surge" of more U.S. troops is needed in Iraq. But not all his colleagues who accompanied him were convinced.

Discussion: Larisa Alexandrovna's …, DownWithTyranny!, skippy the bush kangaroo, Middle Earth Journal and The Impolitic

Gregory / The Belgravia Dispatch:

"SURGE" QUERY — The Keane/Kagan duo write in the Weekly Standard that a meaningful "surge" has to consist of at least 30,000 men and for at least 18 months. OK, nothing surprising there, this has been a Fred Kagan type outlook for many moons now. What caught my eye, however, was this snippet at the concluding graf:

Discussion: Larisa Alexandrovna's …

Ezra Klein:

Reds Everywhere — Ankush points me towards an article in the Business section of The New York Times arguing for single-payer health care. That's not exactly a common pairing, so seeing such an unexpected marriage of section and socialism does my heart good.

Discussion: TAPPED, Lawyers, Guns and Money and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Anna Bernasek / New York Times:
Health Care Problem? Check the American Psyche

Discussion: Democrats.com

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:

Chief Justice Advocates Higher Pay for Judiciary — WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. made judicial pay the sole topic of his second annual report, issued on Sunday, declaring that the failure by Congress to raise federal judges' salaries in recent years has become a …

Discussion: Angry Bear

David Millward / Telegraph:

US 'licence to snoop' on British air travellers — Britons flying to America could have their credit card and email accounts inspected by the United States authorities following a deal struck by Brussels and Washington. — By using a credit card to book a flight, passengers face having …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, PoliPundit.com and The Daily Brief

MSNBC:

MTP Transcript for Dec. 31 — MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: This is the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, where the remains of the 38th president of the United States lie in state. What is Gerald Ford's legacy? What is the story behind the story of his pardon of Richard Nixon?

Discussion: Political Animal and SOTUblog

Nancy Trejos / Washington Post:

U.S. Toll In Iraq Reaches 3,000 — The number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003 reached 3,000 on Sunday, a symbolic milestone at a time when the Bush administration is rethinking its strategy for the increasingly violent conflict.

Discussion: The Heretik, The Carpetbagger Report, Air America Radio, MSNBC, Rox Populi and Riehl World View

Nancy Benac / Associated Press:

AP poll: Americans optimistic for 2007 — WASHINGTON - The news from Iraq and other national headlines may be grim, but in Greenville, N.C., John Given has a new baby and his first home, and life is good. — So, too, for Sandra Trowbridge in tiny Magnet Cove, Ark. The situation in Iraq makes …

Darlene Superville / Associated Press: Poll: Americans see gloom, doom in 2007

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:

The Point Of No Return — With all of the assaults on free political speech that have come as a result of the McCain-Feingold Act (or the BCRA), one has to wonder how much farther we can go before reversing the damage becomes impossible. Mark Tapscott shows us just how far this law reaches …