Top Items:
Washington Post:
Gates Coaxes Iraq on Political Front — Defense Secretary, in Baghdad, Reiterates That U.S. Street Patrols Aren't Indefinite — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, unsatisfied with the pace of political reconciliation in Iraq, laid down an implicit deadline Friday by urging Iraqi leaders …
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New York Times:
U.S. Erects Baghdad Wall to Keep Sects Apart — American military commanders in Baghdad are trying a radical new strategy to quell the widening sectarian violence by building a 12-foot-high, three-mile-long wall separating a historic Sunni enclave from Shiite neighborhoods.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Cernig / The Newshoggers:
The West Bank Of The Tigris — Welcome to the West Bank - of the Tigris. … Now I understand that the counter-insurgency theory behind this is based on McMaster's temporarily successful work in Tal Afar. I can "get" the idea and it even looks good on paper.
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Impolitic, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Moderate Voice and The Heretik
Faiz / Think Progress:
Limbaugh: Conservatives Should 'Circle The Wagons' Around 'Idiot,' 'Weak Attorney General' — On his radio show Friday, Rush Limbaugh encouraged conservatives to "circle the wagons" around Alberto Gonzales, recycling his argument that winning elections is more important than governing.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, NewsMax.com, CBS News, PoliBlog (TM), DownWithTyranny!, Couric & Co. and Michael P.F. van der Galiën
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Todd Pitman / Associated Press:
Iraqi insurgents now fighting each other — MUQDADIYAH, Iraq — At least two major insurgent groups are battling al-Qaida in provinces outside Baghdad, American military commanders said Friday, an indication of a deepening rift between Sunni guerrilla groups in Iraq.
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Wretchard / The Belmont Club:
Deliver us from evil — According to the AP. Iraqi insurgents are now fighting each other, as "moderate" Sunni terrorists tangle with "extremist" al-Qaeda whose brand of Islam is so radical that it prohibits placing cucumbers beside tomatoes because these vegetables have different genders.
Discussion:
Middle East Times
Glenn Thrush / Newsday:
Rutgers team skips Clinton meeting — NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton finally dropped by Rutgers to meet with the school's women's basketball coach — but the players themselves skipped the half-hour meeting, citing their studies and Imus fatigue.
Discussion:
Classical Values, NewsBusters.org, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Cadillac Tight and Right Voices
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Abdul Sattar / Associated Press:
Jihadist video shows boy beheading man — KILI FAQIRAN, Pakistan - The boy with the knife looks barely 12. In a high-pitched voice, he denounces the bound, blindfolded man before him as an American spy. Then he hacks off the captive's head to cries of "God is great!" and hoists it in triumph by the hair.
Discussion:
The Newshoggers, Dr. Sanity, Gateway Pundit, Riehl World View and Michael P.F. van der Galiën
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John R. Wilke / Wall Street Journal:
Land-Swap Plan Causes Trouble For Congressman — Mr. Renzi Offers Field — To Mining Companies; — Grand Jury Is Active — SUPERIOR, Ariz. — As they dig for nickel, copper and other commodities in the far corners of the earth, the world's largest mining companies …
Bob Geiger:
The Saturday Cartoons — All cartoons are posted with the artists' express permission to BobGeiger.com. Please visit the following sites to see more work from these fine cartoonists: — Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle — Tony Auth, The Philadelphia Inquirer — Justin Bilicki, City Pulse
Discussion:
Firedoglake
David Lightman / Connecticut News …:
Lieberman Scolds Reid For 'War Lost' Remark — WASHINGTON — Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman rebuked Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on Friday, saying he strongly disagreed with Reid's assessment that the Iraq war is "lost." — "This is exactly the wrong time to question our strategy in Iraq …
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Courtney Long / Yale Daily News:
Weapons to go offstage — Trachtenberg cites Virginia Tech attack — In the wake of Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech in which a student killed 32 people, Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg has limited the use of stage weapons in theatrical productions.
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Brad Wong / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Iraqi doctor who disputes official death tolls is denied visa to visit UW — An Iraqi doctor who made international headlines after stating that civilian deaths in the Iraq war far exceeded officially reported numbers is not being allowed to travel to North America to meet other academics.
Howie Klein / Firedoglake:
Blue America: This Year, We Will Put A Doctor In the House — Victoria Wulsin — [FDL is so pleased to welcome Victoria Wulsin back for a chat. Please stop by in the comments and give her a big FDL welcome, but be polite and stay on topic. Any off-topic conversations should be taken to the prior thread.
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!
Amit R. Paley / Washington Post:
Key Initiative Of 'No Child' Under Federal Investigation — Officials Profited From Reading First Program — The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading initiative at the center of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law, another blow to a program besieged …
Discussion:
The Gun Toting Liberal™
CNN:
Gunman knew engineer he killed at NASA, police say … HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) — A NASA engineer Friday shot and killed another engineer and then turned the gun on himself at the Johnson Space Center, police and NASA officials said. — The shootings occurred in a single office in Building 44 on the sprawling campus.
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