memeorandum: Two of the Seven NYT Op-Ed Soldiers Have Died in Iraq (Brandon Friedman/Daily Kos)

1:00 PM ET, September 12, 2007

Top Items:

Two of Seven Soldiers Who Wrote 'NYT' Op-Ed Die in Iraq — NEW YORK The Op-Ed by seven active duty U.S. soldiers in Iraq questioning the war drew international attention just three weeks ago. Now two of the seven are dead. — Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance Gray died Monday in a vehicle accident …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Horses Mouth, The Gun Toting Liberal™, About.com U.S. Politics, Three Wise Men, All Spin Zone, Debsweb, Shakespeare's Sister, Central Sanity, On Deadline, Beautiful Horizons, Kiko's House, Attytood, Comments From Left Field, DownWithTyranny! and Washington Post

Think Progress:

Two Of Seven Soldiers Who Wrote New York Times Op-Ed Die In Iraq — On Aug. 19, seven active duty soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division wrote an op-ed in The New York Times called "The War As We Saw It." The piece expressed skepticism about "recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable":

Discussion: Firedoglake, Houston Chronicle, Associated Press, AMERICAblog and The Carpetbagger Report

Brandon Friedman / Daily Kos:

Two of the Seven NYT Op-Ed Soldiers Have Died in Iraq — Two of the seven soldiers who wrote the New York Times op-ed piece criticizing U.S. counterinsurgency strategy 3 ½ weeks ago have been killed in Iraq. Yance T. Gray and Omar Mora died Monday in a vehicle accident in Baghdad.

Discussion: TalkLeft, KHOU-TV, Montana's News Station …, Firedoglake, Horses Mouth, The Washington Note, The Next Hurrah, Cliff Schecter and Rising Hegemon

The Nation:

Petraeus: I "Don't Know" If Iraq War Makes U.S. Safer — Did General David Petraeus today suggest that the war in Iraq may not make the United States safer? — During his second day of appearances on Capitol Hill, Petraeus this afternoon appeared before the Senate armed services committee.

Discussion: QandO, Comments From Left Field, Shakespeare's Sister, Hot Air, The Atlantic Online, Connecting.the.Dots, D-Day, Daily Kos, INSTAPUTZ, AMERICAblog and TPMmuckraker

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:

(Updated) Petraeus Shouldn't Know if Iraq Makes Us Safer — Lefty blogs are making a huge deal of the fact that Petraeus didn't have an opinion on the wisdom of fighting a war in Iraq. Here, from DailyKos: … And here's Andrew Sullivan: … But the key point for these folks prior …

Discussion: TPMmuckraker and Balloon Juice

Wall Street Journal:

'60s Figure Says He Financed Donor Hsu — Where did Norman Hsu get his money? — That has been one of the big questions hanging over the prominent Democratic fund-raiser, as reports have surfaced about hundreds of thousands of dollars he made in political donations, plus lavish parties …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Swamp, Right Wing Nut House, Wizbang, Suitably Flip and Blue Crab Boulevard

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Clinton Sees Fear Realized in Trouble With Donor — Of all the possible vulnerabilities facing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, Mrs. Clinton has long believed that the one of the biggest was money, friends and advisers say. Some sort of fund-raising scandal that would echo …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, TPMmuckraker, Washington Post, Betsy's Page, Taegan Goddard's …, Blue Crab Boulevard, Sweetness & Light, Liberty Pundit, Sister Toldjah, MSNBC, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Politico and Maggie's Farm

NY Daily News:
Team Clinton can't explain ignoring warnings on Hsu

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House, michellemalkin.com and JammieWearingFool

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Hsu Ran With The Money

Discussion: Washington Wire, Don Surber and Daily Pundit

Ynetnews:

Report: Israel spots nuclear installations in Syria — Washington official says Israeli surveillance shows possible Syrian nuclear installation stocked by North Korea, Israeli Arab newspaper claims target of alleged raid last week was Syrian missile base financed by Iran

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Liberty Pundit and Daily Pundit

New York Times:
U.S. Confirms Israeli Strikes Hit Syrian Target Last Week

Discussion: Telegraph, Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, Israel Matzav, Ynetnews and CNN

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

The Assault on Petraeus — There is a long American tradition of savaging failed generals, from George McClellan to William Westmoreland. It is a more novel tactic to attack a successful one. Sen. Dick Durbin accuses Gen. David Petraeus of "carefully manipulating the statistics."

Discussion: Don Surber, Corrente, SWJ Blog, Gateway Pundit, Althouse, The Politico, Obsidian Wings and National Review Online

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
The Dispensable Man — David Petraeus has admitted David Petraeus doesn't matter.

Discussion: Cliff Schecter and democracyarsenal.org

WNCN-TV:

High School Bans American Flag — SAMPSON COUNTY, N.C. - On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American Flag. — Under a new school rule, students at Hobbton High School are not allowed to wear items with flags …

Discussion: Comments From Left Field, michellemalkin.com, Right Wing News, Stop The ACLU, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Liberty Pundit, Blue Crab Boulevard and Weasel Zippers

Associated Press:

Russia tests 'dad of all bombs' — MOSCOW, Russia (AP) — The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia's state television reported Tuesday. — It was the latest show of Russia's military muscle amid chilly relations with the United States.

Discussion: MoJoBlog

Adrian Blomfield / Telegraph:
Russian army 'tests the father of all bombs'

Discussion: Tim Worstall

Kay S. Hymowitz / Opinion Journal:

Freedom Fetishists — The cultural contradictions of libertarianism. — More than perhaps any other American political group, libertarians have suffered the blows of caricature. For many people, the term evokes an image of a scraggly misfit living in the woods with his gun collection …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, alicublog and Unqualified Offerings

The Independent:

The 'proxy war': UK troops are sent to Iranian border — British soldiers return to action as tensions between US and Iran grow — British forces have been sent from Basra to the volatile border with Iran amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran is fomenting a "proxy war".

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, Hot Air, Empire Burlesque, Brilliant at Breakfast, Claremont Institute, Riehl World View, The Raw Story, The Van Der Galiën Gazette and Fox News

CNN:

Poll: Bin Laden tops Musharraf in Pakistan — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf — a key U.S. ally — is less popular in his own country than al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to a poll of Pakistanis conducted last month by an anti-terrorism organization.

Discussion: Think Progress, MoJoBlog, Middle Earth Journal, The Blotter, Donklephant, Weasel Zippers and The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Peter Baker / Washington Post:
9/11 Linked To Iraq, In Politics if Not in Fact

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, New York Times, USA Today and Pissed On Politics

Jonathan E. Kaplan / The Hill:

Woolsey calls for attacks on colleagues — Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) is encouraging anti-war activists to find challengers to centrist Democrats, with the aim of moving the party to the left and ramping up opposition to the war in Iraq, to the chagrin of top Democratic aides.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Heading Right, The Politico, The American Street, Hot Air, Right Wing News and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Tony Mauro / The BLT:

Just in: Justice Thomas to go on 60 Minutes — Legal Times has confirmed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has agreed to be interviewed by the CBS News show 60 Minutes later this month to kick off promotion of his new autobiography, set for publication October 1.

Discussion: Law Blog

New York Times:

Bush Nearing Choice to Lead Justice Dept. — The White House is closing in on a nominee to replace Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, with former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson considered one of the leading candidates, administration and Congressional officials said Tuesday.