Top Items:
Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
NIE: The Surge Can't Work — Wow, this is grim. According to the just-released Key Judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, political reconciliation is likely a bridge too far over the next year and a half. — The Sunnis remain "unwilling to accept minority status" …
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Washington Post:
Iraq at Risk of Further Strife, Intelligence Report Warns — A new National Intelligence Estimate depicts an Iraq involved in a multi-faceted struggle among religious groups and sects and says that without a sharp reversal in the violence and changes among the Shiite, Sunni and Kurd leadership, the situation could further deteriorate.
Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Admin Official: "The Best Plan Is To Have This Plan Succeed" — During a press conference this afternoon, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley spun the National Intelligence Estimate's key findings to support the president's "surge" plan in Iraq. — As we reported earlier …
Discussion:
Wake up America
Think Progress:
Hadley Ignores NIE, Says White House Will Still Not Call Iraq A 'Civil War' — At a press briefing this morning, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the White House will continue to avoid using the term "civil war" to describe events in Iraq, despite the findings of the new National Intelligence Estimate.
New York Times:
Climate Panel Issues Urgent Warning to Curb Gases — The world is already committed to centuries of warming, shifting weather patterns and rising seas from the atmospheric buildup of gases that trap heat, but the warming can be substantially blunted by prompt action, an international network of climate experts said today.
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KC Johnson / Durham-in-Wonderland:
The Edwards-Marcotte Fiasco — An astute observer of this case recommends analyzing events through the prism of what he's termed the "courage-meter." People in positions of authority have displayed little or no courage to do the right thing throughout this affair.
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Dana Blanton / Fox News:
FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS MOST COMFORTABLE WITH RUDY GIULIANI AS PRESIDENT — NEW YORK — More voters say they would be comfortable with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as president than other top 2008 contenders, though majorities would also be comfortable with other leaders from both parties …
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Craig Gordon / Newsday:
On paper, Rudy's unsure — Giuliani's government filings don't lend hints to his presidential run - he hasn't submitted a declaration form or checked the Republican box — WASHINGTON - Republicans looking at Rudolph Giuliani's campaign for president always ask two questions - is he really running, and is he a "real Republican?"
Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:
Bush administration seeks $245B for wars — WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will ask for another $100 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and seek $145 billion for 2008, a senior administration official said Friday.
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Michael Yon:
The Hands of God — A Village, North of Mosul: Friday 26 January 07 — He was dressed as a woman as he walked down the alley toward the mosque full of worshippers. It was Friday, just before Ashura, and the air was chilled. — The bomb strapped to his body was studded with ball-bearings …
Discussion:
Op For
Danny / Beltway Blogroll:
Anti-Blog Hysteria In The State Capitols — First Texas, now Tennessee. There's something strange in the state legisaltive air, as lawmakers keep introducing anti-blog bills and then backing down when bloggers start screaming. — I mentioned the Texas story in passing a couple of months ago in one of my blog bits roundups.
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Abraham Rabinovich / The Australian:
Iranians seized in attack on Hamas enclave — JERUSALEM: Seven Iranian weapons experts were seized yesterday in a raid by Fatah-affiliated security forces on the Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold in Gaza City. — Amid an escalation in the confrontation between Hamas and Fatah Palestinian factions …
RELATED:
Ali Waked / Judeoscope:Iranian general supervised Hamas arms, source says
Discussion:
Jules Crittenden
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
Edwards On Iran — TAP talks to John Edwards about America's foreign policy challenges in the Middle East. … EK: So, the Iran speech to Herzliya. That caused me to think a little bit more about what we had spoken about Iraq [in a previous interview]. And so I wanted to talk to you for a minute about —
Michelle Malkin:
Mohammed Cartoon updates — The lying, jihadist Danish imam who helped instigate the Mohammed cartoon riots by touring — the Middle East with bogus pictures it attributed the Jyllands-Post has died (hat tip: Sugiero). — Abu Laban had cancer: … "Was thrust?" Actually, he thrust himself.
Discussion:
EU Referendum
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Senate Democrats Split on Measure Opposing Bush — Compromise Called Weak; Report Raises Estimate of Troops Needed for 'Surge' — Senate Democratic leaders who decided to back a Republican resolution against President Bush's Iraq war plan in hopes of winning broad bipartisan support ran …
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker, New York Times, The Carpetbagger Report, The Heretik, The Caucus, The Impolitic and Wake up America
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Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Who's to Blame for The Killing — This week the internecine warfare in Iraq, already bewildering — Sunni vs. Shiite, Kurd vs. Arab, jihadist vs. infidel, with various Iranians, Syrians and assorted freelancers thrown into the maelstrom — went bizarre. In one of the biggest battles of the war …
Tina Kelley / New York Times:
Student's Recording of Teacher's Views Leads to a Ban on Taping — After a public school teacher was recorded telling students they belonged in hell if they did not accept Jesus as their savior, the school board has banned taping in class without an instructor's permission …
Slate:
Dispatches From the Scooter Libby Trial — My former Time colleague Matt Cooper took the stand Wednesday and faced what no journalist wants to—a display of his notes and e-mails on a big TV screen. It's not just journalists who don't want this: I'm sure Scooter Libby doesn't like seeing his notes up there either.
James Pethokoukis / US News:
Perky Economy Starts to Relieve Worker Angst — Maybe the U.S. economy added 111,000 jobs last month, but maybe it didn't. Given that the Labor Department later revised higher its monthly jobs numbers 75 percent of the time last year, there's a good chance the final number for January will be somewhere north of 111,000.
Associated Press:
Defense Official Resigns Over Detainee Remarks — WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Pentagon official resigned Friday over controversial remarks in which he criticized lawyers who represent terrorism suspects, the Defense Department said. — Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Charles ''Cully'' Stimson …
Discussion:
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