memeorandum: The New Money Pit — It started with subprime mortgages. (Daniel Gross/Newsweek)

11:55 AM ET, September 3, 2007

Top Items:

Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — President Bush greeted his war commanders with salutes Monday during a surprise visit to a U.S. air base in Iraq's Anbar province. — Air Force One touched down at Al Asad Air Base at 3:43 p.m. (7:43 a.m. EDT) under a blazing sun.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Captain's Quarters, Outside The Beltway, Wake up America, Daily Kos, Main and Central, Gateway Pundit, QandO, PoliBlog (TM) and CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:

Bush, Advisers Make Surprise Visit to Iraq — AL ASAD AIRBASE, Anbar Province, Iraq, Sept. 3 — On the eve of major administration decisions on U.S. strategy in Iraq, President Bush, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and top U.S. military leaders including …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, Hot Air, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Agonist, AMERICAblog, WTF Is It Now?!? and Corrente

Associated Press:

Bush makes war assessment in Iraq — AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - President Bush and his national security team made a first-hand assessment of the war in Iraq and prospects for political reconciliation Monday before a showdown with Congress over the U.S. troop buildup.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, National Review, Mixter's Mix and Dependable Renegade

Nancy A. Youssef / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Combat deaths in Iraq decline; reasons aren't clear — WASHINGTON — American combat deaths in Iraq have dropped by half in the three months since the buildup of 28,000 additional U.S. troops reached full strength, surprising analysts and dividing them as to why.

Discussion: Back Talk, Jules Crittenden, Connecting.the.Dots, Sister Toldjah, Show Me Progress and Blue Girl, Red State

David S. Cloud / New York Times:

Bush Visits Iraq Ahead of Assessment — President Bush and his top national security advisers made a surprise joint visit to Iraq today for talks with Gen. David H. Petraeus and top Iraqi officials a week before the American commander is scheduled to deliver a long-awaited assessment of the situation in Iraq.

Discussion: Norwegianity

Jules Crittenden:

Bush in Iraq — NPR reporting he's landed, enroute to an econmic summit in Australia. Web reports now coming in. — AP: He's in Anbar, landed at Al-Asad. — CNN here, BBC here. More on-air from Beeb, currently reporting he's expected to meet with al-Maliki and Sunni tribal leaders who've joined …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, JammieWearingFool and Don Surber

Chris Hawley / Arizona Republic:

Strong words for America, stern warnings for Mexico — MEXICO CITY - Mexico's president drew a standing ovation from legislators as he chided Americans for new border fences and their "humiliating treatment" of illegal immigrants during his State of the Union speech on Sunday.

Traci Carl / Associated Press:
Calderon blasts U.S. immigration policies

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Right Wing Nut House, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Blue Crab Boulevard, Doug Ross, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, ImmigrationProf Blog, Flopping Aces and Wake up America

Manuel Roig-Franzia / Washington Post:
State of Mexico Addressed, by Invitation Only

Discussion: Hot Air and Fausta's blog

Amy Lorentzen / Associated Press:

Edwards backs mandatory preventive care — TIPTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care. — "It requires that everybody be covered.

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM), Six Meat Buffet, Althouse, Outside The Beltway, Redstate, Betsy's Page, protein wisdom, Liberal Values, The American Pundit, The Democratic Daily, Upper Left and QandO

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Edwards in Pittsburgh for steel, mine worker nods

Discussion: The Politico

Ralph Peters / New York Post:

WHAT EXIT? FALLUJAH! — JERSEY MARINES DO U.S. PROUD — Jersey rules. The Marines of 1st Platoon, Fox Company, 3rd Battal ion, 3rd Marines aren't living large, but they're making a huge difference. Bunking in a police precinct headquarters in Fallujah, they're at the forward edge of our current successes in Iraq.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard

Daily Mail:

Soldiers evacuate babies from Israeli daycare centre as Islamic Jihad rockets fall — Soldiers scrambled to evacuate babies from a day care center in rocket-scarred Sderot today after a projectile fired by Palestinian militants thudded into the courtyard. — None of the 15 babies at the center was hurt.

Discussion: Wake up America and Jihad Watch

Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times:

Chaos in Darfur on Rise as Arabs Fight With Arabs — Some of the same Arab tribes accused of massacring civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan are now unleashing their considerable firepower against one another in a battle over the spoils of war that is killing hundreds of people and displacing tens of thousands.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Instapundit.com

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: Snow Job in the Desert — It appears that many influential people in this country have learned nothing from the last five years.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Middle Earth Journal and Prairie Weather

Bradley S. Klapper / Associated Press:

Report: U.S. workers are most productive — GENEVA - American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year. — They also get more done per hour than everyone …

Discussion: The Glittering Eye, The Mahablog, Blue Crab Boulevard and Corrente