memeorandum: McCain: Iraq War Was 'Easy' (Faiz/Think Progress)

11:35 PM ET, January 10, 2007

Top Items:

Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:

Troop Surge Already Under Way — 90 Advance Troops from 82nd Airborne Arrive in Baghdad — President Bush's speech may be scheduled for tonight, but the troop surge in Iraq is already under way. — ABC News has learned that the "surge" Bush is expected to announce in a prime time speech tonight has already begun.

Discussion: Sirotablog, Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft, Hardblogger, Firedoglake, Wake up America, Wonkette and Donklephant

Drudge Report:

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY: ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION — Good evening. Tonight in Iraq, the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war on terror - and our safety here at home.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Outside The Beltway, Don Surber, PoliBlog (TM), The Swamp, PoliPundit.com, A Blog For All, The Political Pit Bull, Wake up America, Stop The ACLU, Instapundit.com, Daimnation!, Daily Pundit, Unqualified Offerings and State of the Day

White House:

The President's New Iraq Strategy Is Rooted In Six Fundamental Elements: — Create space for political progress; — Diversify political and economic efforts; and — Iraq Could Not Be Graver - The War On Terror Cannot Be Won If We Fail In Iraq. Our enemies throughout the Middle East are trying to defeat us in Iraq.

Discussion: Associated Press, Right Wing News, The Huffington Post, Democracy Project, Winds of Change.NET, SevenStripes.com, Nitpicker, Wizbang, The Carpetbagger Report, Middle Earth Journal, Donklephant, One Hand Clapping and Andrew Sullivan

Deacon / Power Line:

A PREVIEW OF TONIGHT'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS ON IRAQ — Tony Snow conferred by telephone with conservative bloggers this afternoon to preview what President Bush will say tonight. Essentially, the president plans to send an additional 20,000 troops or so troops to Baghdad and about 4,000 additional troops to Anbar province.

Discussion: Redstate, Right Wing News, FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog and TigerHawk

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters:

Bush Speech Live Blog — I will live-blog the President's speech, which starts as 8 pm CT, at this link. — 7:32 PM CT - I will appear on CHQR's The World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge at 8:40 pm CT. We'll be discussing the speech and its implications.

Discussion: Riehl World View and Bill's Bites

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Bush's surge speech

Discussion: The Agonist

Jay Reding.com: Bush On Iraq — I'll be liveblogging the President's speech on Iraq tonight.

Newsweek:

Don't believe all the hype. What Bush really hopes to accomplish in his Iraq speech. — After all the hype, all the leaks, and all the punditry, what more can the president say on Wednesday night that hasn't been said already? — The answer, according to senior Bush aides, is quite a lot.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Los Angeles Times, Sister Toldjah, Hullabaloo, The Impolitic, The Carpetbagger Report, Political Animal and Wonkette

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:

A Change in Tactics, Not Strategy — As Washington journalists debate whether to call President Bush's plan to send 20,000 more American troops into Iraq a "surge" or an "escalation," they are letting the White House get away with a much more momentous semantic scam.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, The Mahablog and slacktivist

John O'Neil / New York Times:

Troops Sent in Surge to Have Limited Role, Bush Aide Says — President Bush will announce tonight that the additional American troops he plans to send to Baghdad will act only in support of Iraqi forces, and that they are being sent only because the Iraqi government has promised a "fundamental" …

Discussion: Think Progress, Reuters, Defense Tech, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Tammy Bruce, Don Surber and Ace of Spades HQ

Washington Post:
Bush to Warn That New Iraq Campaign Could Be Bloody

Discussion: The Horse's Mouth and toohotfortnr

Faiz / Think Progress:

McCain: Iraq War Was 'Easy' — As the Carpetbagger Report noted, today on MSNBC, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended his statement from Oct. 2002 when he claimed, "I believe that the success [in Iraq] will be fairly easy." McCain told Tim Russert, "It was easy, it was easy. I said the military operation would be easy."

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Heretik

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:

Everything after May 2003 doesn't count — I'll post the transcript when it's available, and link to the video if someone posts it, but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was part of a bizarre interview on MSNBC this afternoon with Tim Russert that might come back to haunt him. — The topic, of course, was Iraq.

John Amato / Crooks and Liars: McCain says the US was greeted as liberators in Iraq and the war was easy...

San Francisco Chronicle:

MATIER AND ROSS — New Year's nightmare for visiting Yale singers — How's this for an only-in-San Francisco story: — Members of the Baker's Dozen, the renowned, all-male a cappella singing group from Yale, are pummeled outside a New Year's Eve party after singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Discussion: Gay Patriot and Power Line

Agence France Presse:

Yale barbershop singers recovering after ambush — NEW YORK (AFP) - Members of a close-harmony group from Yale University are recovering after being ambushed and beaten up while on tour in California. — Members of the a cappella Baker's Dozen were performing at a party in San Francisco …

Discussion: WCTX-TV, Hot Air, Shakespeare's Sister and protein wisdom

David Wood / Baltimore Sun:

Better armor lacking for new troops in Iraq — WASHINGTON // The thousands of troops that President Bush is expected to order to Iraq will join the fight largely without the protection of the latest armored vehicles that withstand bomb blasts far better than the Humvees in wide use, military officers said.

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Obsidian Wings, Daily Kos and Left in the West

Fox News:

OFFICIAL: BUSH TO ADMIT IRAQ MISTAKES — WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush will tell the nation Wednesday night that he should have sent more troops to Iraq to fight the war during the earlier stages of the nearly four-year conflict, a senior administration official revealed.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, Right Voices, DownWithTyranny!, Macsmind, No More Mister Nice Blog, Bill's Bites, CorrenteWire, Decision '08 and Sister Toldjah

CNN:
Bush blames failure to secure Baghdad on lack of troops

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Dean's World, Blogs of War and Unclaimed Territory

brownback.senate.gov:

Brownback Comments on Troop Surge — Says more troops are not the answer — BAGHDAD - U.S. Senator Sam Brownback today commented on President Bush's proposal to increase the number of troops deployed to Iraq. — "I do not believe that sending more troops to Iraq is the answer," said Brownback.

Discussion: The New Editor

Matt Stearns / Wichita Eagle:
Brownback opposes sending more troops to Iraq

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and AMERICAblog

David Pogue / Bits:

Some Hands-On Time With the iPhone — Macworld attendees check out the iPhone. — Today, I had meetings with Steve Jobs and then Phil Schiller, Apple's director of worldwide marketing. I basically played with the iPhone the entire hour. — Here are some of the things …

Discussion: Althouse, Engadget and Unfogged

Bryan / Hot Air:

On Patrol in Baghdad — Michelle and I are embedded with a unit in Baghdad that's responsible for the "standing up" part of the US plan to get Iraq ready to become master of its own destiny. This unit trains Iraqi army and police, which are co-located on the base here …