memeorandum @ 12:10 PM ET, January 11, 2007

12:10 PM ET, January 11, 2007

Top Items:

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.

Michelle Malkin:

In the slums of Baghdad — My Hot Air colleague Bryan Preston and I have been in Iraq, embedded with an incredibly dedicated Army unit in Baghdad tasked with training Iraqi security forces (both Shia and Sunni) conducting counterinsurgency operations, and carrying out civil affairs work.

Discussion: alicublog, Don Surber, Right Voices, Sister Toldjah and Mensa Barbie Welcomes You

New York Times:

Promising Troops Where They Aren't Really Wanted — As President Bush challenges public opinion at home by committing more American troops, he is confronted by a paradox: an Iraqi government that does not really want them. — The Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Defense Tech, The News Blog, FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog, Brilliant at Breakfast, All Spin Zone, Grasping Reality …, Daily Kos, TPMmuckraker, The Democratic Daily, The Heretik, Wonkette and Matthew Yglesias

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Bush Adds Troops in Bid to Secure Iraq — President Bush embraced a major tactical shift on Wednesday evening in the war in Iraq when he declared that the only way to quell sectarian violence there was to send more than 20,000 additional American troops into combat.

Discussion: Washington Post, FP Passport, The Huffington Post, Balkinization, Reason Magazine, Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report and Jon Swift

Juan / Informed Comment:

Bush Sends GIs to his Private Fantasyland — To listen to Bush's speech on Wednesday, you would imagine that al-Qaeda has occupied large swathes of Iraq with the help of Syria and Iran and is brandishing missiles at the US mainland. That the president of the United States can come …

Discussion: The Mahablog, FP Passport and American Footprints

Bryan / Hot Air:

On Patrol in Baghdad; Update: Photos posted at Michelle's site — 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 …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Right Wing Nut House, Blogs of War, Patterico's Pontifications, Gateway Pundit and Suitably Flip

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Bush's Strategy for Iraq Risks Confrontations — By stepping up the American military presence in Iraq, President Bush is not only inviting an epic clash with the Democrats who run Capitol Hill. He is ignoring the results of the November elections, rejecting the central thrust …

Discussion: Washington Post, Althouse, USA Today, QandO, PoliPundit.com, BAGnewsNotes and PBD

Washington Post:

Intensified Combat on Streets Likely — President Bush's plan to send tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi reinforcements to Baghdad to jointly confront Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias is likely to touch off a more dangerous phase of the war, featuring months of fighting in the streets …

Discussion: The Belgravia Dispatch and The Heretik

Telegraph:

3,000 British troops to pull out of Iraq by May — By Thomas Harding in Basra and Toby Harnden in Washington — Thousands of British troops will return home from Iraq by the end of May, The Daily Telegraph can reveal today. — Tony Blair will announce within the next fortnight …

Discussion: FP Passport and Secular Blasphemy

Associated Press: Al-Maliki gives Mahdi Army blunt choice: disarm or face American onslaught

Associated Press:
Iraq PM cracks down in Shiite militiamen

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, AMERICAblog, TPMCafe blogs, Right Wing Nut House, Riehl World View, Michelle Malkin, A Blog For All, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Jawa Report

New York Times:
The Real Disaster — President Bush told Americans last night …

Discussion: Decision '08 and Tennessee Guerilla Women

William M. Arkin / Early Warning:
War With Syria and Iran = Peace With Iraq?

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Unqualified Offerings, Brilliant at Breakfast and LiberalOasis

Eason Jordan / The Huffington Post: Dissecting Bush's Iraq Speech: A Graph by Graph Critique

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
Bid to Secure Baghdad Relies on Troops and Iraqi Leaders

Discussion: The Belgravia Dispatch

Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:
Bush rhetoric hard to square with facts

Discussion: The Liberal Avenger and Blogcritics Section

Washington Post:

Democrats Aim to Block Funds for Plan — Senior House Democrats said yesterday that they will attempt to derail funding for President Bush's proposal to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq, setting up what could become the most significant confrontation between the White House and Congress …

Discussion: Slate, NY Daily News, Hot Air, MyDD, The Strata-Sphere, AMERICAblog, Think Progress, Swampland, Sirotablog, DownWithTyranny! and Political Satire Fake News

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Democrats Plan to Fight Expansion of Troops

Discussion: In From the Cold and The Horse's Mouth

Terence Hunt / Associated Press:
Bush takes blame in Iraq, adds troops

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister

Washington Post:

Report: U.S. Troops Raid Iranian Consulate in Iraq — U.S. troops raided an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq late Wednesday night and detained several people, Iran's main news agency reported today, prompting protests from Tehran just hours after President Bush pledged to crack down on the Islamic Republic's role in Iraqi violence.

Discussion: Riehl World View, Unclaimed Territory, jules crittenden, The Jawa Report, The Belmont Club, The Reaction and Israel Matzav

BBC:
US forces storm Iranian consulate

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Attytood

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:

The Glenn and Helen Show: Mitt Romney on the War, the Campaign and the Future — Mitt Romney has officially declared his interest in the 2008 Presidential election. In this interview, he responds to a controversial YouTube video about his positions on abortion and other social issues …

Discussion: Hot Air, ElephantBiz, Power Line and BuzzMachine

RADAR:

DLC TAPS HAROLD FORD AS NEXT CHAIR — Young, black, and good-looking, Harold Ford is the kind of comer that the Democratic Party latches onto. But last November, after losing the closest Senate race in Tennessee history to Republican Bob Corker, the 10-year congressman suddenly found himself out of a job.

Discussion: Booker Rising, KnoxViews and Daily Kos

Alan Sipress / Washington Post:

Too Casual To Sit on Press Row? — Bloggers' Credentials Boosted With Seats at the Libby Trial — When the trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice opens next week, scores of journalists are expected to throng the federal courtroom …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Outside The Beltway, Media Blog, Beltway Blogroll, Blue Crab Boulevard, Wonkette and Romenesko

Dennis Conrad / Associated Press:

Most in Democratic field want troop cuts — WASHINGTON - The growing field of Democratic presidential candidates is almost uniformly in favor of reducing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq — the reverse of President Bush's plan. Most Republicans stand behind Bush.

Discussion: The Caucus