Top Items:
Eli Lake / New York Sun:
Iran Is Found To Be a Lair of Al Qaeda — Intelligence Estimate Cites Two Councils — WASHINGTON — One of two known Al Qaeda leadership councils meets regularly in eastern Iran, where the American intelligence community believes dozens of senior Al Qaeda leaders have reconstituted …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Michael J. Totten, Macsmind, Outside The Beltway, Gateway Pundit, JammieWearingFool and Jihad Watch
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Washington Post:
Exit Strategies — Would Iran Take Over Iraq? Would Al-Qaeda? The Debate About How and When to Leave Centers on What Might Happen After the U.S. Goes. — If U.S. combat forces withdraw from Iraq in the near future, three developments would be likely to unfold.
Associated Press:
Report says al-Qaida seeks to attack U.S. — WASHINGTON - The terrorist network Al-Qaida will likely leverage its contacts and capabilities in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil, according to a new National Intelligence Estimate on threats to the United States.
Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
Democrats Maneuver To Force Iraq Votes — Senate Democratic leaders are planning a rare all-night session tonight, employing theatrics and scheduling votes that they hope will chip away at Republican resolve to back President Bush's Iraq war strategy. — Majority Leader Harry M. Reid …
Discussion:
MSNBC, The Moderate Voice, AMERICAblog, State of the Day, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Democratic Daily, Don Surber and Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:
No Magic Bullets For Iraq — Leave Washington in the winter, return in midsummer. First you'll be surprised by the heat, then by the humidity. Then you'll be surprised by the certainty. — Out in the world, there are shades of gray. Here inside the Beltway, there are black-and-white solutions.
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Democrats Plan to Keep Senate in Session All Night for Iraq Vote
Democrats Plan to Keep Senate in Session All Night for Iraq Vote
Discussion:
TIME
Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:
On Tour to Highlight Poverty, Edwards Tries to Shift Race's Focus — From the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to the Mississippi Delta to this town where Martin Luther King Jr. began his Poor People's Campaign almost four decades ago, John Edwards's message has been the same …
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Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Romney spent $300 on makeup 'consulting' — What kinds of things do you think of when you hear "communications consulting"? — Speechwriting? Message strategy? — Well, "communications consulting" is how presidential candidate Mitt Romney recorded $300 in payments to a California company …
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Lydia Saad / Gallup Poll:
2008 Nomination Contests Holding Steady With Clinton and Giuliani on Top — No further decline in McCain's support despite rough patch on campaign trail — PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup survey, conducted July 12-15, 2007, finds little change from earlier this month in public preferences …
New York Times:
The Hand That Controls the Sock Puppet Could Get Slapped — Correction Appended — On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog — or the chief executive of a Fortune 500 company. — Or so thought John Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods Market, who used a fictional identity …
Sarah Ellison / Wall Street Journal:
Dow Jones, News Corp. Set Deal — Tentative $5 Billion Pact — Gets Board Vote Tonight; — Family to Meet Thursday — News Corp. reached a tentative agreement for the purchase of Dow Jones & Co. at its original $5 billion offer price. The deal will be put to the full Dow Jones board …
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
Belabor the Point — Democrats find one government office they want to cut back. It's the one that exposes union corruption. — The new Democratic Congress has finally found a government agency whose budget It wants to cut: an obscure Labor Department office that monitors the compliance of unions with federal law.
Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
Habeas Restoration: Down To The Razor Thin Wire — I am told by a source who knows the head count that we are within a slim margin on the habeas restoration amendment — and that the vote could still go either way. It is a razor thin margin right now, which means there is no Senator whose vote can be taken for granted.
Cornelia Dean / New York Times:
Islamic Creationist and a Book Sent Round the World — In the United States, opposition to the teaching of evolution in public schools has largely been fueled by the religious right, particularly Protestant fundamentalism. — Now another voice is entering the debate, in dramatic fashion.
Peter Whoriskey / Washington Post:
Georgia Board Grants Stay Of Execution to Consider Case — One day before he was to die by lethal injection, convicted cop killer Troy Davis received a 90-day stay of execution Monday from a Georgia clemency board, allowing him time to press his case that he has been the victim of mistaken identity.
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Bush to Bolster Abbas and Seek Peace Talks — President Bush announced an initiative on Monday to shore up the Palestinian president and to begin building a Palestinian state, signaling that his administration will use its remaining months to make a major push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.