memeorandum: FDL Book Salon: The Thumpin' (Matt Stoller/Firedoglake)

6:45 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

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: The Jawa Report

Jason Straziuso / Associated Press:

Taliban chief's death a big U.S. victory — KABUL, Afghanistan — The killing of the top Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged fighter who orchestrated suicide attacks, beheadings and an ethnic massacre, marks a major victory for the U.S. campaign at a time of flagging Afghan support over civilian killings.

Discussion: Jules Crittenden

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Report: "Taliban Zarqawi" killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan; Update: NYT, BBC reporters view body; Update: NATO confirms; Update: Video of body added — No confirmation yet from NATO but an Afghan official claims to have seen the body. Another official (or the same one?) …

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

Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:

Mullah Dadullah, Taliban top commander, killed in Helmand — The corpse of Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah. Click to view. — Afghan officials, ISAF confirm the Taliban's most senior military leader was killed during fighting in the south — NATO and Afghan forces struck a major blow to the Taliban's military leadership.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, QandO and Middle East Times

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

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

Discussion: Redstate

Klaus Marre / The Hill:

Hagel hints at independent White House bid — Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel on Sunday hinted at the possibility of running for the White House as an independent, saying a credible third party ticket would be beneficial to the country. — "I am not happy with the Republican Party today …

Discussion: Donklephant

Michael Abramowitz / Washington Post:

Bush's Relations With Capitol Hill Chilly — Despite President's Efforts to Reach Out, Democrats and Republicans Are Wary — Every few weeks, President Bush invites House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and their GOP counterparts to the White House …

Discussion: MyDD

Satyam / Think Progress:

Hagel: Republican Meeting With Bush Is 'Just The Tip Of The Iceberg' Of Conservative Dissent — Last week, a group of 11 congressional Republicans met with President Bush to express their frustration with the state of the Iraq war, pleading with Bush to change his unpopular Iraq policy.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Matt Stoller / Firedoglake:

FDL Book Salon: The Thumpin' — (Ordinarily we have book authors on Book Salon to discuss their works. We were approached by the publisher to review the book and we invited author Naftali Bendavid to join us but did not hear back. We decided to review the book anyway — JH) — Hi FDL!

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!, CorrenteWire, the talking dog, Unqualified Offerings, ProfessorBainbridge.com ®, Wizbang and Donklephant

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Troy Scheffler And Hamline University — Mitch Berg and I had the opportunity to invite Troy Scheffler to our studio yesterday to talk about his suspension from Hamline University for his protest against the gun-free zone policy of the school. After the Virginia Tech massacre …

Discussion: shotinthedark.info/wp …

Mark Kleiman / The RBC:

Make that "Almost no disclosure" — Headline and photo from ABC News: — No Disclosure: Presidential Candidates Defy Tradition, Refuse to Release Taxes — Just one little thing: as only the tiny minority of readers who bother to go to page 2 of the story will discover …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Roger L. Simon and Captain's Quarters

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

SDRAWKCAB YROTSIH GNIHCAET....Via MoJoBlog, The Progressive has a story this week about Michael Baker, a high school teacher in Lincoln, Nebraska, who was let go after showing the HBO documentary "Baghdad ER" to his geography class. Stupid. But that's not what caught my eye.

Discussion: MotherJones.com

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