memeorandum: Top Level Taliban Commander Reaches Room Temperature (Ed Morrissey/Captain's Quarters)

4:50 PM ET, May 13, 2007

Top Items:

Top Taliban commander killed in fighting — KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban's most prominent military commander, a one-legged fighter who orchestrated an ethnic massacre and a rash of beheadings, was killed in a U.S.-led military operation in southern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

Discussion: Secular Blasphemy

The New / New York Times:

Top Taliban Commander Is Killed in Clash — Afghan government officials showed the body of Mullah Dadullah, the top operational commander for the Taliban insurgency, to reporters here Sunday morning, saying he had been killed in a joint operation of Afghan and coalition forces.

Discussion: Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Report: "Taliban Zarqawi" killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan; Update: NYT, BBC reporters view body; Update: NATO confirms — No confirmation yet from NATO but an Afghan official claims to have seen the body. Another official (or the same one?) tells Reuters it's in Kandahar, presumably in the government's possession.

Discussion: StrategyPage, Fausta's blog, NO QUARTER and Riehl World View

Ismail Sameen / Reuters:

Taliban commander Dadullah killed in Afghan clash — KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's top operational commander in southern Afghanistan, was killed during a clash with Afghan and western forces in Helmand province, Afghan officials said on Sunday.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Fourth Rail, The Jawa Report and Middle East Times

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Top Level Taliban Commander Reaches Room Temperature — The improbably named Mullah Dadullah, almost certainly the most important field commander in the Taliban, died while fighting NATO forces in Helmand. Coalition forces showed the body to reporters, who immediately recognized Dadullah's amputation and black beard:

Discussion: Redstate

Cernig / The Newshoggers:

Pakistan On Brink Of Disaster — The headline for this post is taken from the UK's extremely conservative Sunday Telegraph newspaper and is no hyperbole - the current situation will either bring down Musharaff or bring down any hope that Pakistan can become a more democratic nation in the short to medium term.

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast, The Heretik and Pakistan Daily Times

Telegraph:

Pakistan on brink of disaster as Karachi burns — Chaos gripped the streets of Karachi yesterday as gun battles left at least 31 people dead and hundreds more injured, threatening a complete breakdown of law and order in Pakistan's largest and most volatile city.

Discussion: Shakesville and State of the Day

Alex / The Blue State:
Unrest in Pakistan — Pervez Musharraf fired the Chief Justice …

Discussion: The Newshoggers and The Moderate Voice

Bruce Kesler / Democracy Project:

Batiste Lays With Dogs, Gets Fleas — Sunday's New York Times features former Army Major General John Batiste's reasoning for appearing in a TV ad the NYT's describes as "openly challenging President Bush on his management of the war." The ad says:

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, the talking dog and Wizbang

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

U.S. Aims to Weaken G-8 Climate Change Statement — Negotiators from the United States are trying to weaken the language of a climate change declaration set to be unveiled at next month's G-8 summit of the world's leading industrial powers, according to documents obtained yesterday by The Washington Post.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Associated Press:

5 from U.S.-led forces killed in Iraq — Three missing after attack on patrol south of Baghdad — BAGHDAD - Seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter came under attack Saturday morning during a patrol of a Sunni insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad, leaving five dead and three missing, the military said.

Kim Gamel / Associated Press:

Search ongoing for 3 missing U.S. troops — BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi troops searched house-to-house and combed fields with their bare hands Saturday after American troops and their Iraqi interpreter came under attack in the notorious "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, leaving five dead and three missing.

Discussion: BBC, The Moderate Voice, The Gun Toting Liberal™ and Gateway Pundit

WRAL-TV:

Church's Sign Against Islam Sparks Controversy — SPRING HOPE — Words like "bomb" and "die" draw attention to the small sign in front of Good News Independent Baptist Church. — Rev. Gary Murrell put up the sign, which on one side claims the message of Islam is "submit, convert or die."

Michelle Malkin:
Church sign about Islam offends Muslims

Discussion: Central Sanity and Michael P.F. van der Galiën

Jennifer Rubin / ABCNEWS:

No Disclosure: Presidential Candidates Defy Tradition, Refuse to Release Taxes — Since Watergate, Only Clinton Refused to Release Income Information — Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.,worked for a hedge fund while heading a poverty center in between his presidential campaigns.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Should Candidates Release Their Tax Returns?

Discussion: Roger L. Simon

Neil the Ethical Werewolf / Ezra Klein:

Strange But Sweet Polling Treat — On May 2, SurveyUSA released some interesting single-state head-to-head primary polls featuring Clinton, Obama, and Edwards against Rudy Giuliani. Unfortunately, SUSA has recently become resistant to putting all their data on a single easy-to-use chart …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Jules Crittenden:

Motherthink — I always thought Mother's Day was about being nice to Mom. Making her breakfast, making her a card, giving her a kiss. — Wrong. — I never understood, but I am beginning to grasp it now. Mother's Day is about millennia of male domination and warmongering.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Daily Kos