memeorandum: No Big Shifts Planned After Report on Iraq (Michael Abramowitz/Washington Post)

6:20 PM ET, August 25, 2007

Top Items:

Michael Abramowitz / Washington Post:

No Big Shifts Planned After Report on Iraq — White House Senses Recent Political Gains — Despite political pressure for a change of course in Iraq, the White House hopes to keep in place its existing military strategy and troop levels there after the mid-September report from Army …

Discussion: Make Them Accountable, Wake up America, the talking dog and MSNBC

Associated Press:

Pentagon to start Iraq info hub — Office to distribute data ahead of military progress report due in Sept. — WASHINGTON - Shaping the Bush administration's message on the Iraq war has taken on new fervor, just as anticipation is building for the September progress report from top military advisers.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Wake up America, Balloon Juice, Middle Earth Journal and AMERICAblog

Ralph Peters / New York Post:
SENATOR WARNER'S BAD WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS

Discussion: Instapundit.com and The Corner

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:
By any reasonable measure, Sen. John Warner's (R-Va.) …

Discussion: Make Them Accountable, The American Pundit and Wake up America

Martin Lewis / The Huffington Post:

General Peter Pace can save US - by arresting Bush for "Conduct Unbecoming" — I note with admiration your courage in making clear your private concerns about the safety of the US military and the longterm danger to US national security caused by the President's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the quagmire in Iraq.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Blue Crab Boulevard

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
HuffPo Calls For Military Coup In USA

Discussion: Hot Air and A Second Hand Conjecture

Mike Allen / The Politico:

DNC threatens to sanction Florida Dems — The Democratic Party has taken a swipe at the nation's fourth biggest state, stripping Florida of all of its '08 delegates as punishment for jumping the gun with its primary, which is forcing other states to crowd Christmas in the quest to be first.

Discussion: Wake up America, Open Left, Hot Air and MichiganLiberal

Roger Simon / The Politico:

DNC sanctions Florida Dems — Florida will lose all its delegates to the Democratic National Convention unless the state moves its primary from Jan. 29 to Feb. 5, the Democratic Party decided Saturday. — While the one-week change may seem trivial to outsiders, the decision …

Discussion: Donklephant

Normanm / CNN Political Ticker: Florida Dems may be barred from '08 convention

Michael O'Hanlon / Washington Post:

The Work Behind Our Iraq Views — How can one gather and assess information about Iraq — collected on a trip or from any other source? Information from a war zone is difficult to attain and interpretation is open to many views. — Unfortunately, much of the blogosphere and other media outlets …

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Atlantic Online, Think Progress, Burkean Reflections, Wake up America, Blue Crab Boulevard, Washington Monthly and Rising Hegemon

The Atlantic Online:

O'Hanlon + Post = Well, The Same — Someone at The Washington Post editorial pages decided that despite the fact that Michael O'Hanlon (PDF) "has appeared on the major television networks more than 150 times since September 11, 2001 and has contributed to CNN, MSNBC, BBC …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Monthly and democracyarsenal.org

Tina Susman / Los Angeles Times:

GIs' morale dips as Iraq war drags on — With tours extended, multiple deployments and new tactics that put them in bare posts in greater danger, they feel leaders are out of touch with reality. — YOUSIFIYA, IRAQ — In the dining hall of a U.S. Army post south of Baghdad …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Flopping Aces, Burkean Reflections, Greatscat! and Prairie Weather

MSNBC:

Iraq fraud whistleblowers vilified — Cases show fraud exposers have been vilified, fired, or detained for weeks — One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted. — Or worse.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Universal Health, The Sideshow and Rising Hegemon

Steven R. Hurst / Associated Press:

Iraq body count running at double pace — BAGHDAD - This year's U.S. troop buildup has succeeded in bringing violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago.

Discussion: My Two Sense and Middle Earth Journal

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:

Bill Maher Can't Get NYT Baghdad Correspondent to Bash Bush — As the new season of HBO's "Real Time" began Friday night, I watched with great trepidation, especially given host Bill Maher's disgraceful special on that network back in July wherein he spent virtually two-thirds …

Discussion: Hot Air and Villainous Company

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Terror Suspect List Yields Few Arrests — The government's terrorist screening database flagged Americans and foreigners as suspected terrorists almost 20,000 times last year. But only a small fraction of those questioned were arrested or denied entry into the United States …

Discussion: Concurring Opinions, The Impolitic and Prairie Weather

Adam Howard / AlterNet.org:

Tim Robbins: "If You F**k Things Up You Can No Longer Be An Expert" [VIDEO] — Tim Robbins and Bill Maher clash with Cheney biographer Stephen Hayes about the rationale for the Iraq War. — On the first episode of this season of Real Time with Bill Maher, actor Tim Robbins …

Discussion: Cliff Schecter

Associated Press:

ACLU sues DEA on behalf of truck whose money was seized — ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A trucker has sued the Drug Enforcement Administration, seeking to get back nearly $24,000 seized by DEA agents earlier this month at a weigh station on U.S. 54 in New Mexico north of El Paso, Texas.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The Impolitic, Liberal Values and Cliff Schecter