memeorandum: Taliban Admits Defeat (StrategyPage)

12:10 PM ET, June 26, 2007

Top Items:

A GOP Plan To Oust Cheney — The big question right now among Republicans is how to remove Vice President Cheney from office. Even before this week's blockbuster series in The Post, discontent in Republican ranks was rising. — As the reputed architect of the war in Iraq …

blog.washingtonpost.com:

A Strong Push From Back Stage — Air Force Two touched down at the Greenbrier Valley Airport in West Virginia on Feb. 6, 2003, carrying Vice President Cheney to the annual retreat of Republican House and Senate leaders. He had come to sell them on the economic centerpiece of President Bush's first term: a $674 billion tax cut.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Donklephant, On Deadline, The Next Hurrah, PBD, State of the Day, Daily Kos, Extreme Mortman and Hullabaloo

Logan Murphy / Crooks and Liars:
MSNBC's David Shuster Grills A Cheney Apologist

Discussion: The Next Hurrah and The Sideshow

Roxana Tiron / The Hill:

Out-of-Afghanistan rumblings on the Hill — When they won control of Congress in November, Democrats pressed their case to withdraw troops from Iraq and refocus on Afghanistan, but some are growing impatient with U.S. operations in Afghanistan as well. — A few congressional Democrats …

Discussion: Power Line, Captain's Quarters, The Moderate Voice, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Outside The Beltway, PoliBlog (TM), Blue Crab Boulevard and Gateway Pundit

StrategyPage:

Taliban Admits Defeat — The Taliban has admitted defeat, in their own unique way. In recent media interviews, Taliban spokesmen announced a shift in emphasis to suicide bombings. The Taliban also admitted that the Americans had infiltrated their high command, which led to the death …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Outside The Beltway and Dr. Sanity

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Inevitable: Some Democrats now calling for withdrawal from Afghanistan

Discussion: The American Mind and QandO

James Taranto / Opinion Journal:

The Truth About Guantanamo — Proposals to treat detainees as criminal defendants make a mockery of international humanitarian law. — Was it wishful thinking? On Thursday the Associated Press reported that, according to sources it did not name, "the Bush administration is nearing …

Discussion: INTEL DUMP, Brendan Nyhan and Betsy's Page

ACLU:
What You Should Know About Habeas Corpus

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Standards of American justice under George W. Bush

Discussion: ABC News

Morris D. Davis / New York Times:
The Guantánamo I Know — LINDSEY GRAHAM, a Republican senator …

Discussion: ACLU and TalkLeft

CNN:

Lugar urges Bush to change course on Iraq … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republican support for President Bush's Iraq war policy suffered a significant crack Monday evening when Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana urged the president to change course in Iraq "very soon."

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, The Moderate Voice, Indianapolis Star, Middle Earth Journal, Daily Kos, Heading Right and PSoTD

David Rogers / Wall Street Journal:

Republicans Add Further Pressure On White House — WASHINGTON — President Bush faced a double barrel of dissent from Republicans who challenged the administration to change course on its two biggest initiatives at home and abroad: immigration policy and the Iraq war.

Nico / Think Progress:
Lugar: U.S. Must Reduce Military Presence In Iraq

Discussion: On Deadline, Cliff Schecter, The Carpetbagger Report, Comments From Left Field, The Atlantic Online, AMERICAblog, Oliver Willis, The Reaction and TalkLeft

Washington Times:

Rough road ahead for immigration bill — Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times From left, Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Jim DeMint of South Carolina voiced their opposition to the immigration-reform bill yesterday on Capitol Hill.

Discussion: reid.senate.gov, MSNBC, Don Surber, Macsmind and PoliPundit.com

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
GOP Backers Offer Immigration Bill Change

Discussion: Hot Air, Captain's Quarters, New York Times, Right Wing Nut House, Examining Presidential …, National Review, Air America Radio and Day In, Day Out

Michelle Malkin:
Shamnesty on the Senate Floor, Take 2 Plus: Is your senator …

Discussion: National Review and 24thstate

New York Times:

Justices Loosen Ad Restrictions in Campaign Finance Law — The Supreme Court on Monday took a sharp turn away from campaign finance regulation, opening a wide exception to the advertising restrictions that it upheld when the McCain-Feingold law first came before it four years ago.

Discussion: Slate, Washington Post, DownWithTyranny!, The Heretik and Althouse

Joan Biskupic / USA Today:
Court's newcomers lead a measured push to the right

Discussion: New York Times, New York Times, Bench Conference and Washington Post

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

The Cheese Stands Alone — "We'll make statements only today," President Bush announced to reporters yesterday as he sat with the Estonian president in the Oval Office. — No surprise there. Vice President Cheney's recent declaration that he is not part of the executive branch …

Discussion: Think Progress, Comments From Left Field, White House and The Carpetbagger Report

The Hill:
Secrecy may cost Cheney, Dems warn

Discussion: Think Progress

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

How the GOP Could Win — There are two ways to predict the winner of the 2008 presidential race: Check the polls or read some history. The polls tell you that with George Bush's approval ratings abysmally low; with the war in Iraq becoming increasingly unpopular; with the GOP lacking a dominant candidate …

Discussion: Carry on America, Roger L. Simon, Roger Ailes and Sadly, No!

Sudarsan Raghavan / Washington Post:

Iraqi Youth Face Lasting Scars of War — Conflict's Psychological Impact on Children Is Immense, Experts Say — BAGHDAD — Marwa Hussein watched as gunmen stormed into her home and executed her parents. Afterward, her uncle brought her to the Alwiya Orphanage, a high-walled compound nestled …

Discussion: Think Progress, Unqualified Offerings and Just a Bump in the Beltway

Walter Pincus / Washington Post:

Judge Discusses Details of Work On Secret Court — At 3 a.m. on Aug. 8, 1998, the day after the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the chief judge of a special court that supervises applications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was awakened at home in order …

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings and TIME: Swampland

Thomas B. Edsall / Huffington Post:

Fred Thompson: The Philip Morris Candidate — If Fred Thompson is elected president, he will be the first federally registered lobbyist to become Commander in Chief. Since his days as top minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, Thompson has collected over $1 million in lobbying fees.

Discussion: The American Mind, TIME: Swampland, Democratic National Committee and The Politico

Agence France Presse:

Iranian forces crossed Iraqi border: report — Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces have been spotted by British troops crossing the border into southern Iraq, The Sun tabloid reported on Tuesday. — Britain's defence ministry would not confirm or deny the report, with a spokesman declining to comment on "intelligence matters".