Top Items:
Max Boot / Opinion Journal:
Another Vietnam? — President Bush's analogy to Iraq is not inaccurate, just incomplete. — Ever since the mid-1970s, critics of American military involvement have warned that any decision to deploy armed forces abroad—in Lebanon and El Salvador in the 1980s, in Kuwait, Somalia …
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Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The Iraqi Convergence — After months of surreality, the Iraq debate has quite abruptly acquired a relationship to reality. Following the Democratic victory last November, panicked Republican senators began rifling the thesaurus to find exactly the right phrase to express exactly …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
HOAGLAND, NOT WHACKED — Perhaps there's something wrong with me. But Jim Hoagland's column in Friday's Post seems remarkably lucid and well-reasoned. I'd quibble with a few points. There are a few others where I don't know the details well enough to judge.
Jim Hoagland / Washington Post:
Bush's Vietnam Blunder — Desperate presidents resort to desperate rhetoric — which then calls new attention to their desperation. President Bush joined the club this week by citing the U.S. failure in Vietnam to justify staying on in Iraq. — Bush's comparison of the two conflicts …
Los Angeles Times:
Top general to urge Iraq troop cut — Advice by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs poses a potential clash with supporters of the buildup. — WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half …
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker, Think Progress, Outside The Beltway, Riehl World View, QandO, Wake up America, D-Day, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, TIME: Swampland, CNN, The Carpetbagger Report, Taylor Marsh, The Swamp, Washington Monthly, JoeTrippi.com, AMERICAblog, Say Anything, The Washington Note, Prairie Weather and Booman Tribune
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Matt / Think Progress:
Kristol: Let's 'Stretch Our Army And Marines' For 'Another Year Or So' In Iraq — On Fox News this morning, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol said that the escalation in Iraq should be extended at least "another six months" or even "another year or so."
Discussion:
The Swamp
Geoff Earle / New York Post:
HILL: TERROR WOULD BE GOP BOOST — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday raised the prospect of a terror attack before next year's election, warning that it could boost the GOP's efforts to hold on to the White House. — Discussing the possibility of a new nightmare assault while campaigning …
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The Atlantic Online:
Policy Failure: Good for the GOP? — This is, I think, a disaster: … Two points in response. The first is that I think the Democrat best positioned to deal with GOP political mobilization in a post-attack environment is going to be the one who isn't reflexively inclined …
Christina Davidson / iraqslogger.com:
Fmr Bush Iraq Envoy Helping Undermine Maliki — As Bush Voices Support for the Iraqi PM, Republican Lobbyists Aid Top Maliki Foe — Republican lobbyists with close ties to the Bush administration are aiding and supporting the efforts of an Iraqi opposition leader who is calling for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker, Political Punch, Rising Hegemon, Salon, New York Times, Red/Blue Impressions, The Raw Story, Think Progress, The Garlic and Alternate Brain
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Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
GOP Lobby Firm's Allawi Contract Worth $300K for 6 Months
GOP Lobby Firm's Allawi Contract Worth $300K for 6 Months
Discussion:
On Deadline
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
THE SURGE....Is the surge working? That is, even if you ignore the lack of political progress, are we even making tactical progress? Since violence in Iraq tends to be seasonal, the only reasonable comparison is one between summer 2006 and summer 2007, so I went to the latest Brookings Iraq Index to check out the most recent numbers.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Newshoggers, rubber hose, Liberty Street, The Moderate Voice and Kay Steiger
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Brian Baird / Seattle Times:
Our troops have earned more time — The invasion of Iraq may be one of the worst foreign-policy mistakes in the history of our nation. As tragic and costly as that mistake has been, a precipitous or premature withdrawal of our forces now has the potential to turn the initial errors …
Discussion:
Don Surber, Wake up America, Macsmind, Say Anything, Blue Crab Boulevard, Political Radar and michellemalkin.com
Steven Thomma / TwinCities.com:
Romney's health care fix: states, market — Presidential candidate wants insurance for all, but not with a mandate — WASHINGTON - Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will propose today doing for the country what he did as governor of Massachusetts - helping the uninsured get health insurance …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online
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Weekly Standard:
Iraq Vets Respond — ...to the New York Times seven. — ON SUNDAY, seven soldiers from the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Iraq penned a passionate opinion piece in the New York Times that further illustrates the complexity of what is "really" happening in Iraq.
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Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:
'To Old Times' — A toast to American troops, then and now. — Once I went hot-air ballooning in Normandy. It was the summer of 1991. It was exciting to float over the beautiful French hills and the farms with crisp crops in the fields. It was dusk, and we amused ourselves calling out …
Avi Zenilman / The Politico:
Historian: Bush use of quote 'perverse' — A historian quoted by President Bush to help argue that critics of the administration's Iraq policy echo those who questioned the U.S. effort to bring democracy to Japan after World War II angrily distanced himself from the president's remarks Thursday.
Rasmussen Reports:
War on Terror Update — War on Terror Confidence Inches Up in August — Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Americans now believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. That's up three points from a month ago and just a point shy of the highest level of confidence measured in 2007.
Josh White / Washington Post:
Haditha Investigator Urges Dropping of Marine's Case — An investigating officer has recommended that a Marine Corps general drop all charges against a Marine accused of murdering civilians in Haditha, Iraq, finding again that the 2005 shootings were "tragedies" but that the Marine did not violate the laws of combat.