memeorandum: Agent: Libby may have talked of outing operative with Cheney (Michael J. Sniffen/Associated Press)

5:05 PM ET, February 2, 2007

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" …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, CANNONFIRE, Wake up America, The Carpetbagger Report, AMERICAblog, Reason Magazine and State of the Day

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.

Discussion: Once Upon a Time, TPMmuckraker, Taylor Marsh and democracyarsenal.org

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker: Admin Official: "The Best Plan Is To Have This Plan Succeed"

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

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 …

Discussion: The Corner, Ace of Spades HQ, No More Mister Nice Blog and Pollster

New York Post:
MCCAIN TO CRASH RUDY'S MANHATTAN PARTY

Discussion: The Caucus and race42008.com

Charles Hurt / Washington Times:

Majority in Senate support 'stay the course' resolution — A bipartisan majority in the Senate yesterday united behind a firm "stay the course" resolution on the war in Iraq, despite searing public criticism from both sides in Congress over President Bush's handling of the war.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Sirotablog, Booman Tribune and Reason Magazine

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: New York Times, The Impolitic, TPMmuckraker, The Carpetbagger Report, The Heretik, The Caucus and Wake up America

David Lightman / Hartford Courant:

Dodd, Lieberman On Opposite Sides In Iraq Debate — WASHINGTON — Connecticut's U.S. senators today placed themselves squarely on opposite sides of next week's debate over the course of the Iraq war, as Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman vowed to lead the fight for a Senate statement supporting …

Discussion: Dick Polman's American Debate, Daily Kos and Blogometer

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.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Huffington Post, The Agonist, DownWithTyranny!, It's Getting Hot In Here, Don Surber, Attytood, Sister Toldjah, Texas Rainmaker, On Deadline, Guardian Unlimited, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and UN Dispatch

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.

Discussion: protein wisdom and One Hand Clapping

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 …

Discussion: Ynetnews, Associated Press, alphabet city, On Deadline and Jay Currie

Jules Crittenden: The Road from Teheran, a Two-Way Street

Ali Waked / Judeoscope: Iranian general supervised Hamas arms, source says

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.

New York Times:

A Bipartisan Trade Policy — The newest Democratic members of Congress have arrived in Washington with an important message from the voters: American workers are feeling economically insecure, and globalization and trade are heightening their fears. The White House and the new Congress still …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Beat the Press

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 …

Michael J. Sniffen / Associated Press:

Agent: Libby may have talked of outing operative with Cheney — WASHINGTON — Former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby acknowledged he may have discussed with Vice President Dick Cheney whether to tell reporters that a prominent war critic's wife worked at the CIA, an FBI agent testified yesterday.

Discussion: The Next Hurrah and Firedoglake

Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
F.B.I. Agent Says Libby Denied Being Leak Source

Discussion: Firedoglake, TalkLeft, TPMmuckraker, Media is a Plural and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:

Gays Should Be Allowed to Serve Openly in Military, Poll Finds — A new poll from Harris Interactive found that 55% of Americans think gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military. — By comparison, 19% of the 2,337 Americans polled said gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve …

Washington Wire:
New Poll on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

Associated Press:

Controversial Danish imam Abu Laban dies — COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Ahmed Abu Laban, Denmark's most prominent Muslim leader and a central figure in last year's uproar over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, has died from cancer, his organization said Friday. He was 60.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Michelle Malkin:
Mohammed Cartoon updates

Discussion: EU Referendum

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: Andrew Sullivan, A Spork in the Drawer, Crunchy Con, Soccer Dad, Instapundit.com and It Shines For All

Clifford Krauss / New York Times:

Exxon and Shell Report Record Profits for 2006 — Oil prices have fallen, but Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell left their smaller competitors in the dust and reported record annual profits Thursday. — By making $180 million a day between them, the two largest publicly traded oil companies displayed …

Discussion: AFL-CIO Weblog, ACSBlog and TAPPED

Maya Angelou / Washington Post:

Molly Ivins Shook the Walls With Her Clarion Call — The walls have not come down, but they have been given a serious shaking. — That Jericho voice is stilled now. — Molly Ivins has been quieted. — The writer and journalist, dearly loved and admired by many, hated and feared by many …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Liberty Street, Pottersville, The Democratic Daily and Ace of Spades HQ

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