memeorandum: CBS: Military Tells Bush It Has Only 9,000 Troops Available For 'Surge' (Nico/Think Progress)

10:00 PM ET, January 5, 2007

Top Items:

Congressional Leaders Call on President to Reject Flawed Iraq Troop Surge — Washington, DC—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi today sent the following letter to President Bush urging him to reject his reported plan to escalate the war in Iraq by increasing troop levels …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Wake up America, The Carpetbagger Report, BobGeiger.com and AMERICAblog

President George W. Bush / Huffington Post:

DEM LETTER TO BUSH: "WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO REJECT ANY PLANS THAT CALL FOR OUR GETTING OUR TROOPS ANY DEEPER INTO IRAQ".... Dear Mr. President: — The start of the new Congress brings us opportunities to work together on the critical issues confronting our country.

Discussion: Hot Air, NewsMax.com, jules crittenden and Wonkette

David Stout / New York Times:

Top Democrats Oppose More Troops in Iraq — As President Bush prepares to present his new strategy on Iraq to the American people, Democratic Congressional leaders said today they will fight any approach that calls for deploying more United States troops there.

Discussion: TalkLeft and On Deadline

Tom Curry / MSNBC:

McCain calls for substantial, sustained surge — Cites Lieberman's re-election as proof Americans don't want Iraq exit — WASHINGTON - The 2006 election has not changed Sen. John McCain's support for victory in Iraq one iota. — While some Democrats have interpreted their party's triumphs …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Brilliant at Breakfast

AJStrata / The Strata-Sphere:
Democrats Complete First Item On Their Contract With Al Qaeda - Surrender Iraq

Discussion: Don Surber and Wizbang

Bill Brubaker / Washington Post:
Democrats Urge Bush Not to Increase Troops in Iraq

Discussion: Daily Kos

Nico / Think Progress:

CBS: Military Tells Bush It Has Only 9,000 Troops Available For 'Surge' — A State Department official leaked word this week that President Bush is considering sending "no more than 15,000 to 20,000 U.S. troops" to Iraq. "Instead of a surge, it is a bump," the official said.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, rubber hose, Real Cities, KnoxViews, Eschaton and Daily Kos

Oliver North / Human Events:

More Troops = More Targets — For months, advisers to President George W. Bush have been trying to convince the commander in chief that more U.S. troops in Iraq will improve prospects for victory. Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), both recently returned from Iraq …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, PoliPundit.com, Reason Magazine and Stop The ACLU

Hindrocket / Power Line:
SURGE LITE?

Discussion: Riehl World View

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

In which I annoy you once again with the asssertion that I'm a moderate. — I took this test — recommended by Andrew Sullivan — and scored a 21 on a political scale that ran from 0 (100% liberal) to 40 (100% conservative). Sullivan scored 26, by the way. — UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds takes the test and, like me, gets a 21.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Transterrestrial Musings and Mick LaSalle

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:

TRUST TEST: Andrew Sullivan, InstaPundit, and Ann Althouse link to this quiz that purports to measure where you stand on the liberal-conservative spectrum. I tend to agree with InstaPundit: "it was a pretty dumb test." — "Which do you trust more: The Pentagon or The U.S. Postal Service?," the test asks.

Discussion: StephenBainbridge.com and Daily Pundit

Washington Post:

House Warming — For Democrats and Deadheads, the Gilded Party — Despite the promised "new direction for America," getting the money out of politics and all of that, some facts of Washington life appear immutable and eternal. — "One hundred hours to make this the most honest …

Discussion: Redstate and Wonkette

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Reid Takes Center Stage, but He's Hardly the Star of the Show

Discussion: Power Line, The Caucus, CNN Political Ticker and NewsBusters.org

Alexis Debat Reports / The Blotter:

American Passports Found on Bodies of Al Qaeda Fighters in Somalia — Alexis Debat Reports: — A senior official in the Somali government's new Ministry of the Interior told ABC News government forces had recovered "dozens of foreign passports," including several American passports …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, PrairiePundit and Blue Crab Boulevard

Reuters:

Cleric gunned down in Gaza after plea for calm — GAZA (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Muslim cleric after he delivered a sermon in the Gaza Strip on Friday calling for an end to fierce factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah, hospital officials and local residents said.

Associated Press:
Critic of Hamas gunned down near mosque

Discussion: Secular Blasphemy

Bryan / Hot Air:

The Lonely Senator, Update — Via InstaPundit, the intrepid reporter whose site insinuated that the photo of John Kerry sitting alone in a chow hall in Iraq was itself bogus, has now verified that the photo is real, but the absence of troops in it is misleading: … And he backs it up by talking to the reporters involved.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Riehl World View, The Horse's Mouth, Little Green Footballs, The American Mind and The Democratic Daily

Bryan / Hot Air:

Barney Frank accuses Bush of genocide "ethnic cleansing" Major Update — There's no other way around it: When you accuse someone of perpetrating "ethnic cleansing" in any way, shape or form, you are accusing them of genocide. — Genocide. Let that word work its way around your mind for an moment.

Discussion: WILLisms.com, JunkYardBlog, SevenStripes.com, Wizbang, The Jawa Report, Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, Townhall.com Blog's …, Dr. Sanity, Cold Fury, Sister Toldjah, Ace of Spades HQ, jules crittenden and Redstate

United States Central Command:

Jihadist Website: Al-Zawahiri Urges Somalis, Muslims To Fight Ethiopian Forces — A jihadist website is observed on 5 January to post several links to 5-minute and 30-second audio message by Al-Qa'ida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri entitled "Rise up and Support Your Brothers in Somalia."

Discussion: Times of London, PrairiePundit, Hot Air and Secular Blasphemy

Howie / The Jawa Report:
Zawahiri Whines, Begs For Help in Somalia

Discussion: Flopping Aces and Counterterrorism Blog

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:

ARE TODAY'S ELECTRONIC GADGETS WORTH THE MONEY? USA Today says that some are and some aren't: … I'm going to be attending the Consumer Electronics Show myself, as part of the Popular Mechanics contingent — and yes, it was awfully nice of the PM folks to invite me along.

Discussion: USA Today

Think Progress:

William J. Fallon: Wrong Man For The Job — At a time when the United States is engaged in protracted ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the worst moves the Bush administration could make is to appoint someone with no background in land warfare to oversee these operations.

Discussion: Early Warning, Pen and Sword, pacom.mil, Hullabaloo and The Next Hurrah

Pete Yost / Associated Press:

White House visitor records closed — WASHINGTON - The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, The Carpetbagger Report, Prairie Weather and Shakespeare's Sister

Joe Strupp / Editor and Publisher:

AP's Editor Criticizes Those Who Questioned Iraq Source — NEW YORK Associated Press Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll on Friday criticized those who questioned the existence of an AP Iraq source, who was proven this week to be real, saying the scrutiny has now endangered the man's life.