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Jake Thompson / Omaha World-Herald:
Hagel is calling it quits — WORLD-HERALD BUREAU, COPYRIGHT 2007 OMAHA WORLD-HERALD — WASHINGTON - Chuck Hagel will announce Monday that he is retiring from the U.S. Senate and will not run for president next year, people close to the Nebraska Republican said Friday.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, TPM Election Central, Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Caucus, TIME, Wake up America, The Influence Peddler, Riehl World View, Booman Tribune, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Blue Crab Boulevard, No More Mister Nice Blog, JammieWearingFool, Don Surber, Daily Pundit and Swing State Project
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David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Hagel to Retire at End of Term, Aides Say — Senator Chuck Hagel, the Nebraska Republican and outspoken critic of the Iraq war who had been mulling a run for president, will retire at the end of his term in early 2009 and drop his bid for the White House, aides said today.
Discussion:
CNN Political Ticker
Matt / Think Progress:
Brooks: In His New Tape, Bin Laden Sounds Like He's Been 'Reading Lefty Blogs' — Last night on PBS' The NewsHour, New York Times columnist David Brooks compared 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden's latest video message to "lefty blogs," saying the al Qaeda head is like "one of these childish …
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Brent Baker / NewsBusters.org:
Olbermann Likens bin Laden's 'Rant Without a Point' to Hannity, Crankiness to Bozell — In what he no doubt considered cutting edge humor, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Friday night contended that Sean Hannity, just like Osama bin Laden, "rants without making a specific threat or point," …
Satyam / Think Progress:
CRS: Bush Administration Has Intensified False Reporting On Al Qaeda Since 'Surge' Began — Attempting to drum up public support for the war in Iraq in July, President Bush referred to al Qaeda 95 times in a single speech, claiming the war in Iraq has become the central front in the fight against al Qaeda (AQI):
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Associated Press:
Bush urges united support on Iraq — SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — President Bush, facing a critical juncture in the war, urged Democrats and Republicans on Saturday to unite and back the war strategy he'll lay out shortly for the next chapter of U.S. involvement in Iraq.
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Sunnis Return To Iraqi Assembly — With the focus on political progress heightening in advance of the testimony of General David Petraeus, the Iraqi National Assembly has come under pressure to start approving legislation from the agreement two weeks ago between the leaders of the various factions on reform.
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Bassem Mroue / Associated Press:
Bombing in Baghdad's Sadr City kills 12
Bombing in Baghdad's Sadr City kills 12
Discussion:
Sweetness & Light
Bill Richardson / Washington Post:
Why We Should Exit Iraq Now — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have suggested that there is little difference among us on Iraq. This is not true: I am the only leading Democratic candidate committed to getting all our troops out and doing so quickly.
Discussion:
The Newshoggers, TalkLeft, The Glittering Eye, DownWithTyranny!, Liberal Values, skippy the bush kangaroo, Eschaton and Daily Kos
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Erik Kirschbaum / Reuters:
German suspects had deadline for attacks-report — BERLIN (Reuters) - Three suspected Islamist militants who were planning to attack American targets in Germany had orders to act by Sept. 15 and knew police were hot on their trail before their arrest, a magazine said on Saturday.
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters
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Matthias Küntzel / Weekly Standard:
Jew-Hatred and Jihad — The Nazi roots of the 9/11 attack. — The idea of using suicide pilots to obliterate the skyscrapers of Manhattan originated in 1940s Berlin. "In the latter stages of the war, I never saw Hitler so beside himself as when, as if in a delirium …
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
THE MASTER OF DISASTER....In Slate, Fred Kaplan takes a crack at figuring out just who it was that ordered the disastrous policy of disbanding the Iraqi army shortly after the invasion. His piece includes this fascinating tidbit, which as far as I know has never been reported before: … Unanimous!
Discussion:
Rook's Rant
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
F.B.I. Data Mining Went Beyond Targets — The F.B.I. cast a much wider net in its terrorism investigations than it has previously acknowledged by relying on telecommunications companies to analyze phone-call and e-mail patterns of the associates of Americans who had come under suspicion, according to newly obtained bureau records.
Michel Hoebink / Radio Netherlands Worldwide:
'Dutch left must be more articulate in Islam debate' — Interview with Malaysian Muslim thinker Farish Noor — The Dutch Labour party (PvdA) has often been criticized in the past for not speaking out about Islam. But now the party seems to have rediscovered its voice in the Dutch Islam debate.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Guardian:
Melting ice cap triggering earthquakes — The Greenland ice cap is melting so quickly that it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break off. — Scientists monitoring events this summer say the acceleration could be catastrophic in terms of sea-level rise …
Discussion:
Corrente
New York Times:
Troop Buildup, Yielding Slight Gains, Fails to Meet U.S. Goals — Seven months after the American-led troop "surge" began, Baghdad has experienced modest security gains that have neither reversed the city's underlying sectarian dynamic nor created a unified and trusted national government.
Donna Goodison / Boston Herald:
Bar-exam flunker quits suit over gay-wed question — A Boston man has asked a federal court to dismiss his lawsuit in which he claimed that his refusal to answer a Massachusetts bar exam question related to gay marriage caused him to fail the test. — Stephen Dunne, 30 …
Discussion:
Wizbang
Kimberly Strassel / Townhall.com:
Feinstein Should Be Thrown Out Of The Senate Right Now — How could anyone take Feinstein at her word ever again? Does she care about the troops? She wants to bring them home, care for them, and make life pretty. On her website, she states her goals on Iraq: — Iraq: U.S. forces were sent to Iraq as liberators.
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