Top Items:
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 …
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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."
Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
The Lost Year — A new national intelligence estimate concludes that President Bush's troop surge shows no signs of accomplishing its goal of encouraging political reconciliation in Iraq. — An influential Republican senator and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff now favor a troop withdrawal.
Faiz / thinkprogress.org:
Is The Prospect Of Withdrawal Responsible For The Modest Security Gains In Iraq? — Yesterday, the National Intelligence Estimate reported "measurable but uneven improvements" in the security situation in Iraq. While the White House has rushed to suggest that the modest gains were the result of escalation …
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:
Associated Press, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, TPMmuckraker, All Spin Zone, FP Passport, Consortiumnews.com, Northwest Progressive …, CNN, DownWithTyranny!, Riehl World View, Outside The Beltway, Wake up America, Watching Those We Chose, The Carpetbagger Report, Middle Earth Journal, MoJoBlog, Taylor Marsh, D-Day, The Swamp, Redstate, QandO, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, Think Progress, The Washington Note, Donklephant and AMERICAblog
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 …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Jules Crittenden, New York Times, NewsBusters.org, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, CNN Political Ticker, Liberal Values, Hot Air, Comments From Left Field, Central Sanity, Left in the West, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Liberty Pundit, Watching Those We Chose, The Carpetbagger Report, The Huffington Post, Brilliant at Breakfast, Brian Beutler and Oliver Willis
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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 …
Val Prieto / Babalu Blog:
BREAKING: FIDEL CASTRO IS DEAD — My cellphone has not stopped ringing for the past ten minutes. Various sources inform that an announcement will come within the next few minutes from the Cuban government on Cuban TV and media. Stay tuned and we'll see if we've been manipulated once again …
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Thom Shanker / New York Times:
Number of Iraqis Held by U.S. Is Swelling — The number of detainees held by the American-led military coalition in Iraq has swelled by 50 percent under the troop increase ordered by President Bush, with the inmate population growing from 16,000 in February to 24,500 today, according to American military officers in Iraq.
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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.
Discussion:
Comments From Left Field, The Carpetbagger Report, Grasping Reality … and The Atlantic Online
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Janine Zacharia / Bloomberg:
Brzezinski Embraces Obama Over Clinton for President — Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) — Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the most influential foreign-policy experts in the Democratic Party, threw his support behind Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, saying the Illinois senator has a better global grasp than his chief rival, Hillary Clinton.
Discussion:
New York Times
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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.
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Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
Allawi's Muscle: The CIA-Controlled Iraqi National Intelligence Service
Allawi's Muscle: The CIA-Controlled Iraqi National Intelligence Service
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
MORE ON BILL KRISTOL: — Over at National Review yesterday, Ramesh Ponnuru—a conservative I respect and enjoy reading—criticized Jonathan Chait's column on Bill Kristol. In particular, Ramesh said, Jon has unfairly seized upon a particular passage in Kristol's recent editorial about liberals and the troops.
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Josh Kraushaar / The Politico:
Liberal blogger targets 'Bush Dog' Dems — A leading liberal blogger has declared political war against centrist Democrats - the latest move in an intensifying show of dissatisfaction with the Democratic Congress by the once-friendly blogosphere. — Matt Stoller, who blogs …
Discussion:
Liberty Pundit, ArchPundit, The Reaction, Booman Tribune, The American Street and Ian Schwartz
Atrios / Eschaton:
More and Better Democrats — Here's Darcy Burner on the FISA collapse. — Here's Joe Wilson introducing the upcoming Monday virtual town hall with Burner. — You can go here for info about how — to send your question, etc. — Most importantly, the worst president in history …
Faiz / Think Progress:
White House Moving The Goal Posts On Escalation, Drops Demands For Iraqi Political Reconciliation — When President Bush announced the escalation on January 10, 2007, he claimed the purpose of adding more troops into Iraq's civil war was to enable political reconciliation:
Rahm Emanuel / New York Times:
Don't Get Rid of Earmarks — DEMOCRATS made earmark reform a campaign issue in 2006 — and a reality in 2007 — because earmarks were at the heart of corruption scandals in Washington. Democrats never promised to eliminate earmarks. We promised to reform them.
Discussion:
The Influence Peddler, Redstate, Norwegianity, A Second Hand Conjecture and A Chequer-Board of Nights …
The Raw Story:
CIA said to step up operations against Iran as hawks seek to tie Iraq bombs to Tehran — In an effort to build congressional and Pentagon support for military options against Iran, the Bush administration has shifted from its earlier strategy of building a case based on an alleged Iranian …
Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:
Scarborough OK With Wolf Equating Bushies With Nazis — Joe Scarborough prides himself on being an independent thinker. Apparently that extends to not uttering a peep of protest, and indeed tending to concur, when a left-wing guest flatly accuses the Bush administration of using Nazi tactics to suppress democracy.