Top Items:
Richard Norton-Taylor / Guardian:
Iraq: the British endgame — All British troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of 2008, starting with the withdrawal of 1,000 in the early summer, the Guardian has learned. — Tony Blair is to announce the moves - the result of months of intense debate in Whitehall - within 24 hours …
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Tony Blair's abrupt reversal on Iraq — Tony Blair, January 24, 2007 (from The Los Angeles Times) … A "deeply irresponsible" Tony Blair, today (from Associated Press) … That rather striking reversal does not appear to reflect much confidence in the prospects of success for the President's Glorious AEI Surge currently underway.
MSNBC:
BBC: Blair to announce troop pullout from Iraq — At least 1,500 to return home within the next several weeks, report says — LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce Wednesday a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, with 1,500 to return home in several weeks, the BBC reported.
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
In Closing Pleas, Clashing Views on Libby's Role — Defense lawyers and prosecutors in the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr. made their final summations on Tuesday, offering the jury two starkly different ways to evaluate the evidence presented over the last few weeks.
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Faiz / Think Progress:
Tony Snow and White House Reporters Slam The 'Hateful,' 'Polarized' Blogosphere — In a press roundtable at the National Press Club tonight, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow led a discussion with White House correspondents about the impact of the internet on their respective jobs. Their conclusion?
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James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
Iraq War Attitudes — Public Opinion Strategies* has released a survey [PDF file here] of likely voters' attitudes toward the Iraq War that finds that most voters think the country is going in the wrong direction (67%) and President Bush is doing a poor job (60%), and that Iraq will never be a stable democracy (60%).
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Right Wing Nut House, No More Mister Nice Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard, Daily Pundit, Power Line and QandO
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Andy Soltis / New York Post:
AMERICA SAYS LET'S WIN WAR — POLL SUPPORTS KEEPING U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ — In a dramatic finding, a new poll shows a solid majority of Americans still wants to win the war in Iraq - and keep U.S. troops there until the Baghdad government can take over. — Strong majorities also say victory …
Josh White / Washington Post:
Guantanamo Detainees Lose Appeal — Habeas Corpus Case May Go to High Court — A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that hundreds of detainees in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, do not have the right to challenge their imprisonment in federal courts, a victory for the Bush administration …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, the talking dog, Obsidian Wings, Gun Toting Liberal ™, Balkinization, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns and Money
James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
Black President More Likely than Mormon or Atheist — A recent Gallup poll reveals that Americans are much more likely to elect a black man or a woman president than a Mormon or an old man. More interestingly, they'd rather be governed by a homosexual than an atheist: — Now, these numbers are prospective.
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Matthew Yglesias / American Prospect:
Fitting the Bill — Why isn't Bill Richardson's presidential candidacy taken seriously? — On Thursday, February 8, Bill Richardson delivered a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on "The New Realism and the Rebirth of American Leadership," laying out the foreign policy vision …
Washington Post:
The Woman in the Middle — Moderate Democrat Is New Target of Liberal Bloggers — The Democratic majority was only three weeks old, but by Jan. 26, the grass-roots and Net-roots activists of the party's left wing had already settled on their new enemy: Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) …
Frankie Edozien / New York Post:
LET ALIENS VOTE: ACTIVISTS — Immigrant-rights activists yesterday renewed their push to allow legal noncitizens to vote in the Big Apple. — A bill that would grant permanent residents and other legal immigrants the right to vote in municipal elections has been stalled in the City Council since last year.
Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
Mitt Romney's Extreme Makeover — Precisely two years ago, Mitt Romney, then the governor of Massachusetts but already eyeing a 2008 presidential bid, sat in the coffee shop of a Washington hotel, doing his best not to explain his views on abortion. — Romney was speaking to a few of us from The Post …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters
AlterNet:
Maybe We Deserve to Be Ripped Off By Bush's Billionaires — While America obsessed about Brittany's shaved head, Bush offered a budget that offers $32.7 billion in tax cuts to the Wal-Mart family alone, while cutting $28 billion from Medicaid. — What was she thinking? How about nothing?
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Bush Friends, Loyal and Texan, Remain a Force — Israel Hernandez was a fresh-faced college graduate from the Texas border town of Eagle Pass in the summer of 1993 when he landed a job in Dallas as the personal aide to the part-owner of the Texas Rangers George W. Bush.