memeorandum: Debating The Delusion of Victory (Scarecrow/Firedoglake)

12:30 PM ET, February 19, 2007

Top Items:

Al Qaeda Chiefs Are Seen to Regain Power — Senior leaders of Al Qaeda operating from Pakistan have re-established significant control over their once battered worldwide terror network and over the past year have set up a band of training camps in the tribal regions near the Afghan border …

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross / Counterterrorism Blog:

N.Y. Times: Al-Qaeda Gaining Strength in Pakistan, Waziristan Accord Has Failed — A report in today's New York Times discusses American intelligence and counterterrorism officials' view that al-Qaeda's senior leadership has "re-established significant control" over the worldwide terror network.

Discussion: INSTAPUTZ

StrategyPage:

Why Al Qaeda Central is Immune from Attack — Al Qaeda is fighting back against the Pakistani tactic of bombing terrorist camps along the Afghan border. In the last few weeks, terrorists bomb attacks have killed over a hundred people. Police have also prevented several additional bombings …

Muneeza Naqvi / Associated Press:

66 die in India-Pakistan train attack — DEWANA, India - A pair of explosions on a train headed for Pakistan set off a fire that killed at least 66 people, some of whom became trapped when a train door was fused shut by the heat of the flames. Officials said the attack was aimed at disrupting improving relations between the rivals.

Discussion: NewsHog

Allahpundit / Hot Air: NYT: Everything comin' up roses for Al Qaeda in Waziristan

Michael van der Galien / The Moderate Voice: Al Qaeda Leaders Regaining Power

Jim Davenport / Associated Press:

McCain: Roe v. Wade should be overturned — SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain (news, bio, voting record), looking to improve his standing with the party's conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, TAPPED, MyDD, Roger L. Simon, The Moderate Voice, The Reaction, DownWithTyranny!, Gold-Plated Witch on Wheels, Sister Toldjah, The Right's Field, digg, Street Prophets, Gun Toting Liberal ™, Shakespeare's Sister, Liberal Values and CorrenteWire

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
In Limbo in Washington, McCain Comes Alive in Iowa

Discussion: Power Line and The Caucus

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
McCain Runs a Different Race

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Power Line and New York Times

Bushra Juhi / Associated Press:

Two Soldiers Killed in Iraq Base Attack — BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents launched a brazen coordinated attack on a U.S. combat post Monday, sending in a suicide bomber and clashing with American troops. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 17 wounded, the military said.

Discussion: TIME: Swampland, Obsidian Wings and skippy the bush kangaroo

Washington Post:
Rice tells Iraq U.S. patience is limited

Discussion: Think Progress and Once Upon a Time

Associated Press:
Explosions Rattle Baghdad Neighborhoods

Discussion: The Political Pit Bull

CNN:

Reid: Iraq war 'worst foreign policy mistake' in U.S. history … WASHINGTON (CNN) — After months of heated rhetoric slamming President Bush's Iraq policy, the Senate's top Democrat moved into new terrain by declaring the Iraq war a worse blunder than Vietnam. — "This war is a serious situation.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Decision '08 and Angry Bear

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Debating The Delusion of Victory

Discussion: Flopping Aces

Michael Slackman / New York Times:
Iran's Chance: U.S. Troubles in Iraq Create Opening for Regional Shift

Discussion: NewsHog

Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:

Murtha in Command — After 16 undistinguished terms in Congress, Rep. John P. Murtha at long last felt his moment had arrived. He could not keep quiet the secret Democratic strategy that he had forged for the promised "second step" against President Bush's Iraq policy (after the "first step" …

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, Salon, Norwegianity, Daily Kos, Decision '08, PrairiePundit and The Political Pit Bull

William Wan / Washington Post:

Maryland to Unveil the Page That Began a New Chapter — George Washington's Resignation Speech Left the U.S. Military in Civilians' Hands — It was a speech so moving the crowd wept. It was a speech so personally important George Washington's hand shook as he read it until he had to hold the paper still with both hands.

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Gold-Plated Witch on Wheels and Blue Crab Boulevard

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

As Clinton Runs, Some Old Foes Stay on Sideline — Back when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was first lady, no one better embodied what she once called the "vast right-wing conspiracy" than Richard Mellon Scaife. — Mr. Scaife, reclusive heir to the Mellon banking fortune …

Discussion: Is That Legal?, CNN Political Ticker, Political Animal, PrairiePundit, Brendan Nyhan and Brilliant at Breakfast

Bill Sammon / Examiner:
Some mull idea of Sen. Bill Clinton

Discussion: Hot Air, PoliPundit.com, Wizbang, Macsmind, The Right Angle, Gun Toting Liberal ™ and Fausta's blog

James Glanz / New York Times:

Iraqi Sunni Lands Show New Oil and Gas Promise — In a remote patch of the Anbar desert just 20 miles from the Syrian border, a single blue pillar of flanges and valves sits atop an enormous deposit of oil and natural gas that would be routine in this petroleum-rich country except for one fact: this is Sunni territory.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Prairie Weather, rubber hose, TPMCafe blogs and PrairiePundit

Alessandra Stanley / New York Times:

It's Reported, They Mock, You Decide — Making fun of the president is not ideological. Not making fun of the president, on the other hand, is. — And that's what distinguishes "The ½ Hour News Hour," a Fox News version of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," from most other satirical shows.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Tom Shales / Washington Post:
Fox News Channel's '1/2 Hour News Hour': Right Funny, in Spots

Discussion: Hot Air

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Open thread: "The Half-Hour News Hour"; Update: Video added

Discussion: Hog On Ice and WuzzaDem

John Solomon / Washington Post:

Romney Supports 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' — Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R), who once advocated allowing gays to serve openly in the military, said yesterday that he does not think the Pentagon should change its "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the midst of the Iraq war.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

John Linder / Washington Times:

Global-warming theory and the eugenics precedent — "Global Warming" had a precursor in capturing the hearts and minds of the world. Michael Crichton, in his novel "State of Fear," brilliantly juxtaposes the world's current political embrace of "global warming" with the popular embrace of the "science" of eugenics a century ago.

Discussion: She Flies With Her Own Wings, PrairiePundit and Redstate

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:

Campaign Strengthens For a Voting Paper Trail — Efforts are intensifying in Congress to pass legislation that would require electronic touch-screen voting machines used in federal elections to provide paper trails that could be checked in the case of a recount.

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Diane Sawyer, On the Ground And in High Gear — Eight days ago, amid shouts of "Death to America!," Diane Sawyer waded into a huge demonstration in Tehran and asked a group of boys, "Do you not like me?" They thought for a moment and switched to "Death to George Bush!"

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Romenesko

Michael Barone / Real Clear Politics:

The Misuses of Intelligence — Last week, we had a couple of object lessons in how to use — or misuse — foreign intelligence. — The first emerges from reports by U.S. military authorities in Iraq that weapons have been used there against American forces which seem highly likely to have come from Iran.

Discussion: Dr. Sanity and PrairiePundit