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.
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.
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 …
Kimberley A. Strassel / Opinion Journal:
Senator Feingold's Sin — The backseat generals are exposed. — The Senate is teeming with courageous souls these days, most of them Republicans who have taken that brave step of following the opinion polls and abandoning their president in a time of war.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
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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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Alex Morales / Bloomberg:
Global Warming Very Likely Caused by Humans, UN Says (Update5) — Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) — Global warming is ``very likely'' caused by humans, and world temperatures and sea-levels will increase by the end of the century, the United Nations said in its most comprehensive report yet on climate change.
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?"
Discussion:
Redstate
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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 …
Haaretz:
Fatah and Hamas agree in principle to revive truce — Hamas and Fatah officials said Friday afternoon that they had agreed in — principle to a new cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, but needed more meetings to work out the details of a pullback of forces. — 15 Palestinians …
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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.
Discussion:
Think Progress
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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 …
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
F.B.I. Agent Says Libby Denied Being Leak Source — An F.B.I. agent told a jury Thursday that I. Lewis Libby Jr. "claimed" during formal interviews she conducted that he had not disclosed to two reporters the identity of Valerie Wilson, a Central Intelligence Agency operative.
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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
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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 …
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.
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 …
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, Andrew Sullivan, A Spork in the Drawer, Crunchy Con, Eschaton, Soccer Dad, Instapundit.com and It Shines For All
Maggie Haberman / New York Post:
ISRAEL FANS GROAN OVER HILL SPEECH — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton drew grumbles at a pro-Israel dinner in Times Square last night when she encouraged "engaging" with Iran before taking stronger action to keep it nuke-free. — Clinton said she wasn't sure "anything positive would come out of it" …