Video: UPI's Pentagon reporter says media is ignoring consequences of withdrawal  —  You've read the Instapost, now watch the video.  Takeaway: "[I]f as a reporter you do ask the national security question, all of a sudden you're carrying Bush's water."  —  Exit question: Is Bush about to repeat …

IS FOX SET TO BLOW THE NUKES ON '24'?  —  As Washington continues to raise concerns about terror threats on The Homeland — a recent CIA report outlined a scenerio of possible "series of explosions using 'low charge' nuclear weapons" — Hollywood and FOX-TV are set to up the ante with the new season of 24!

Two Alliances  —  President Bush has managed to divide and conquer the Middle East.  —  It was the hugely ambitious project of the Bush administration to transform the entire Middle East by remaking Iraq into an irresistible model of prosperous democracy.  Having failed in that worthy purpose …

MTP Transcript for Jan. 14, 2007  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: The president admits mistakes in Iraq and outlines a new strategy.  —  PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: I've committed more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.  —  MR. RUSSERT: What now?  With us, the president's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley.

Bloggers Take on Talk Radio Hosts  —  A San Francisco talk radio station pre-empted three hours of programming on Friday in response to a campaign by bloggers who have recorded extreme comments by several hosts and passed on digital copies to advertisers.  —  The lead blogger …

Administration leaving out important details on Iraq  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush and his aides, explaining their reasons for sending more American troops to Iraq, are offering an incomplete, oversimplified and possibly untrue version of events there that raises new questions about the accuracy …

Economists upgrade US outlook after surprisingly strong data  —  Economists are hastily upgrading their forecasts for the US economy after a series of surprisingly strong reports suggesting the so-called "soft landing" may be over and growth is accelerating.

U.S. and Iraqis Are Wrangling Over War Plans  —  Just days after President Bush unveiled a new war plan calling for more than 20,000 additional American troops in Iraq, the heart of the effort — a major push to secure the capital — faces some of its fiercest resistance from the very people …

The Best We Can Hope For  —  NOBODY will quibble with President Bush's line Wednesday night that in Iraq, "Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved; there will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship."  —  Of course, that calls to mind …

"SURGE" MATH  —  Fred Kagan, writing on 12/04/06: … Fred Kagan (w/ Keane) writing on 12/27/06: … Just around 3 weeks between the two articles, and Kagan goes from 80,000 (or 50,000*, see below) to 30,000 as to what's needed to secure Baghdad (as Frank Rich quips in today's NYT, "whatever")!

What?  Already running away!?  —  Insurgents and terrorists are already abandoning some of their positions in Baghdad and moving to Diyala, al-Sabah said: … Actually the people in Diyala have every reason to worry about such migration of terror cells because in fact even without reading …

Cheney on Fox News: Criticism of War Plan Undercuts Troops — And Iran, Watch Out  —  NEW YORK Appearing on Fox News this morning, VicePresident Dick Cheney said that attempts to stem President Bush's new Iraq plan, announced this week, were undercutting U.S. troops in Iraq.

The Educator in Grief  —  There they were in their open collared blue shirts, George W. and Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes, sitting on some dinky looking colonial style dining chairs, schmoozing about the war and the need for victory.  All that was missing was a corncob pipe, a cracker barrel and the truth.