Top Items:
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.
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BBC:
US forces storm Iranian consulate — US forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized six members of staff. — The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior local officials.
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:
Early Warning, The Mahablog, AMERICAblog, Majikthise, American Footprints and FP Passport
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Associated Press:
Al-Maliki gives Mahdi Army blunt choice: disarm or face American onslaught — Canadian Press: STEVEN R. HURST AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA — BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's prime minister has told Mahdi Army militiamen they must surrender their arms or face an all-out assault by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces …
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:
jules crittenden, Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, Flopping Aces, The Jawa Report, Townhall.com Blog's …, Don Surber, alicublog, Jay Reding.com, protein wisdom, Right Voices, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Right Wing Nut House, Mensa Barbie Welcomes You, Blogs of War, Riehl World View, Sister Toldjah and Gateway Pundit
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.
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Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:Bush's Strategy for Iraq Risks Confrontations
Discussion:
Newsweek, Slate, Associated Press, Washington Post, Althouse, QandO, The Democratic Daily, PoliPundit.com, BAGnewsNotes, Wake up America, Don Surber and PBD
Confederate Yankee:
J-DAMN — And so a major Associated Press claim in "Jamilgate" takes an apparently fatal hit. — According to Bill Costlow of CPATT (Civilian Police Assistance Training Team) in Baghdad, and as forwarded by Lt. Michael Dean of Multinational Corps-Iraq/Joint Operations Command Public Affairs …
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Jamilgate non-bombshell: AP allegedly used pseudonym — Flopping Aces and Confederate Yankee consider this big news. I do not, notwithstanding the fact that AP's own standards and practices forbid the use of fake names and the arguments laid out to the contrary by CY here.
Associated Press:
Poll: 70 percent oppose more troops in Iraq — Only 35 percent of respondents believe going to war was the right call — WASHINGTON - Americans overwhelmingly oppose sending more U.S. forces to Iraq, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll that serves as a strong repudiation of President Bush's plan to send another 21,500 troops.
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!
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Jonah Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:
At least Bush wants to win — Bush sticks to his goal of winning in Iraq. The Democrats are just stuck. — AMERICANS ARE torn between two irreconcilable positions on the Iraq war. Some want the war to be a success — variously defined — and some want the war to be over.
Discussion:
Liberal Values
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Hotline On Call:
Breaking: Dean Chooses Denver — The labor pains were hard, but the DNC finally has its 2008 convention city locked down: Denver. — A Democrat who was briefed said that chairman Howard Dean made the final decision yesterday, weeks later than planned. DNC comm. dir. Karen Finney declined to confirm the choice.
Dan / Riehl World View:
Jerry Monaco Jr Is Busted! — Following up to an Allah post, it appears someone looking at a potential lawsuit against Disney is more likely to wind up with Tigger doo on their face. … The allegation is that Tigger simply struck out at Jerry Monaco. While Allah has some video on the matter …
John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
Liveblogging The Bush Speech — (8:55) OK, 5 minutes until the Bush speech. Let's hope that he has spent a few hours getting prepared. — (9:00) Back in October 25, 2006 — I wrote a piece called The Way Forward in Iraq. In it, I wrote: … It sounds like that's what we're doing.
Hindrocket / Power Line:
HOW DID HE DO? — In the past, I've often said that President Bush has been more effective in televised speeches than he has been given credit for. Not tonight. I thought he came across as stiff, nervous, and anxious to get it over with. The importance of the issue seemed to overwhelm the President's ability to communicate.
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.
Russ Feingold / JSOnline:
Use the power of the purse — Keeping our brave troops in Iraq indefinitely is having a devastating impact on our national security and military readiness. — That's why I have consistently advocated that we set a timetable to redeploy our troops from Iraq.
Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:
The Mess at State — Members of the Senate intelligence committee, Republicans and Democrats alike, were alarmed last week that John Negroponte was leaving as director of national intelligence after less than two years to become deputy secretary of state. By way of explanation …
Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Federal Way schools restrict Gore film — 'Inconvenient Truth' called too controversial — This week in Federal Way schools, it got a lot more inconvenient to show one of the top-grossing documentaries in U.S. history, the global-warming alert "An Inconvenient Truth."
Tom Shales / Washington Post:
A Few Choice Words, Including 'Mistakes' — Looking tense, rigid and, appropriately enough, unyielding, George W. Bush gave what CBS anchor Katie Couric called "arguably his most important speech ever" from the library of the White House last night, calling for more troops to be sent to Iraq …
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