Top Items:
New York Times:
Report Cites Grave Concerns on Iraq's Government — The administration is planning to make public today parts of a sober new report by American intelligence agencies expressing deep doubts that the government of the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, can overcome sectarian differences.
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New York Times:
'Free Iraq' Is Within Reach, Bush Declares — President Bush delivered a rousing defense of his Iraq policy on Wednesday, telling a group of veterans that "a free Iraq" is within reach and warning that if Americans succumb to "the allure of retreat," they will witness death and suffering of the sort not seen since the Vietnam War.
Associated Press:
Report Will Be Critical of Iraq Leader — NEW YORK (AP) - A new assessment on Iraq may shed some negative light on Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The New York Times is reporting on its Web site that U.S. intelligence agencies will issue a new assessment Thursday expressing doubt …
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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Romney Struggles to Define Abortion Stance — Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said this week that as president he would allow individual states to keep abortion legal, two weeks after telling a national television audience that he supports a constitutional amendment to ban the procedure nationwide.
Discussion:
The Corner, Captain's Quarters, New York Times, The Caucus, MSNBC, TIME and Taylor Marsh
New York Times:
Militias Seizing Control of Iraqi Electricity Grid — Armed groups increasingly control the antiquated switching stations that channel electricity around Iraq, the electricity minister said Wednesday. — That is dividing the national grid into fiefs that, he said, often refuse …
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Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Did Clinton Lie About Targeting Bin Laden? — It appears that Bill Clinton may have exaggerated his record when it came to strategizing against Osama bin Laden. Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball take a look at the Inspector General's report of the pre-9/11 intelligence failures at the CIA and find an interesting nugget.
Discussion:
National Review, Gateway Pundit, Fausta's blog, A Second Hand Conjecture and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
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John M. Broder / New York Times:
Rule to Expand Mountaintop Coal Mining — The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.
George F. Will / Washington Post:
What September Won't Settle — Come September, America might slip closer toward a Weimar moment. It would be milder than the original but significantly disagreeable. — After the First World War, politics in Germany's new Weimar Republic were poisoned by the belief that the army …
Bloomberg:
Armored Trucks' Delivery Delayed — The United States military said Wednesday that it would deliver less than half the number of blast-resistant trucks to Iraq by year's end than planned. — A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, said 1,500 vehicles, rather than 3,500 …
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker
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Amanda Ripley / Time:
Behind Giuliani's Tough Talk — Islamic terrorists are at war with us," Rudy Giuliani told about 300 people at a synagogue in Rockville, Md., one evening in July. He likes to say it that way—that they are at war with us, not the other way around. " They want to kill us," he warned a group in New Hampshire the same month. "
US News:
Political Bulletin — Momentum Shifting To GOP In Iraq Debate — With congressional Democrats still groping for a unified Iraq withdrawal strategy, the eyewitness reports from individual Democratic lawmakers who've recently visited Iraq appear to have changed the dynamic in the debate over the war.
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
White House Declares Office Off-Limits — Administrator of Missing E-Mails Not Subject to Open-Records Law, It Says — The Bush administration argued in court papers this week that the White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act as part of its effort …
Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
McConnell: Fewer Than 100 Secret U.S. Wiretaps — Law enforcement officials are targeting fewer than 100 people in the United States for secret court-approved wiretaps aimed at disrupting terrorist networks, the top U.S. intelligence official said in an interview published yesterday.
Discussion:
MoJoBlog, The Carpetbagger Report, Crooks and Liars, Balkinization, Hullabaloo, TPMmuckraker and El Paso Times
Melinda Deslatte / Associated Press:
Furor Over Religion in La. Gov's Race — BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A political ad from the Louisiana governor's race is drawing a storm of criticism for accusing Republican Rep. Bobby Jindal of calling Protestants "scandalous, depraved, selfish and heretical."
Kathryn Jean Lopez / The Corner:
Joe Lieberman vs. the Dems again: — "Some of these opponents of the war are now turning their harshest criticism on our allies in Iraq instead of our enemies."
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online
Associated Press:
Stephen Colbert to auction autographed cast — Proceeds will benefit charity that assists injured service members — NEW YORK - Stephen Colbert will auction the cast that helped mend his broken left wrist to benefit the Yellow Ribbon Fund. — The cast will be auctioned on eBay after Thursday night's …
Discussion:
mediabistro.com