memeorandum: Officer: Drop murder charges against Haditha Marine (Michelle Malkin)

2:45 PM ET, October 4, 2007

Top Items:

Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations — When the Justice Department publicly declared torture "abhorrent" in a legal opinion in December 2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited presidential authority to order brutal interrogations.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Swamp, TalkLeft, TPMmuckraker, Los Angeles Times, The Politico, Associated Press, Firedoglake, The Atlantic Online, Booman Tribune, Think Progress, The Gate, Neptunus Lex, CNN, Obsidian Wings, Last Left Turn …, Wake up America, The Carpetbagger Report, Salon, Daily Kos, WorkingForChange, Blue Girl, Red State, Norwegianity, Empire Burlesque, WTF Is It Now?!?, Three Wise Men, The Rude Pundit, The Sundries Shack, DownWithTyranny!, Captain's Quarters, Chris Dodd National Blog, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The Texas Blue, Obama HQ, The Heretik, cab drollery, Jules Crittenden, The Poor Man Institute, Talking Points Memo, rubber hose, Crooks and Liars, Macsmind, Lean Left, Balkinization, Washington Times, All Spin Zone, Shakespeare's Sister, Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, On Deadline, Truthdig, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, First Draft, Corrente and The Next Hurrah

Washington Post:

White House Denies Torture Assertion — Bush administration officials acknowledged today that the Justice Department issued a secret legal opinion in early 2005 allowing specific interrogation techniques to be used on CIA terrorism suspects, but denied that the tactics violated earlier government decrees against torture.

Discussion: TalkLeft

Adam Zagorin / Time:

Selective Justice in Alabama? — On may 8, 2002, Clayton Lamar (Lanny) Young Jr., a lobbyist and landfill developer described by acquaintances as a hard-drinking "good ole boy," was in an expansive mood. In the downtown offices of the U.S. Attorney in Montgomery, Ala., Young settled into his chair …

Discussion: MoJoBlog

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Perino: We Don't Torture Because We Say We Don't Torture

Discussion: The Lede, The Swamp, The Carpetbagger Report and The Gate

Laura McGann / TPMmuckraker:
Time: In Alabama, Prosecutors Chased Dem Ex-Gov, Ignored Allegations against GOPers

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Rasmussen Reports:

27% of Republicans Would Vote for Pro-Life Third Party Instead of Giuliani — If Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination and a third party campaign is backed by Christian conservative leaders, 27% of Republican voters say they'd vote for the third party option rather than Giuliani.

Discussion: Election Central, Taegan Goddard's …, TIME: Swampland, MyDD, Liberal Values and Democratic Strategist

James C. Dobson / New York Times:

The Values Test — REPORTS have surfaced in the press about a meeting that occurred last Saturday in Salt Lake City involving more than 50 pro-family leaders. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss our response if both the Democratic and Republican Parties nominate standard-bearers who are supportive of abortion.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Right Wing Watch, MSNBC, Daily Kos, The Carpetbagger Report, Democratic Strategist, Middle Earth Journal, Macsmind and The Right's Field

CNN Political Ticker:
Dobson to social conservatives: No pro-choice candidate

Discussion: The Hill

John Harwood / Wall Street Journal:

Republicans Grow Skeptical On Free Trade — WASHINGTON — By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the U.S. economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles under a new president.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Huffington Post, SCSUScholars, The Hill, Wonkette, The Atlantic Online, Jezebel, CBS News, Middle Earth Journal, MSNBC, Fraters Libertas, Beliefnet, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Pollster.com and Cliff Schecter

Roger Cohen / New York Times:

The New L-Word: Neocon — A few years back, at the height of the jingoistic post-9/11 wave, the dirtiest word in the American political lexicon was "liberal." Everyone from President Bush to Ann Coulter was using it to denote wimplike, Volvo-driving softies too spineless for dangerous times and too given to speaking French.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Daniel W. Drezner, Booman Tribune, The Van Der Galiën Gazette and The Atlantic Online

Tristero / Hullabaloo:

Dear Roger Cohen — I find it hard to maintain my composure when confronted by your blatantly misleading, self-serving, and malicious essay. … Let's stop right there. "Ousting Saddam Hussein" is not, and never was the issue. Roger, my friend, the world knows the truth …

Discussion: Eschaton and The Sideshow

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Romney spends heavily, loans himself $8.5 million — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney at an "Ask Mitt Anything" session at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., today. No word on whether anyone asked Romney for $8.5 million. AP Photo by Jim Cole — by Mark Silva

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

Robert Novak / Real Clear Politics:
Romney's Religion — When Mitt Romney appeared last week …

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, The Trail, Beliefnet and Election Central

Jonathan Turley / USA Today:

A liberal's lament: The NRA might be right after all — This term, the Supreme Court may finally take up the Voldemort Amendment, the part of the Bill of Rights that shall not be named by liberals. For more than 200 years, progressives and polite people have avoided acknowledging that following …

Discussion: RIGHTWINGSPARKLE, Blue Crab Boulevard and Of Arms and the Law

Garance Franke-Ruta / American Prospect:

COULTER COMES OUT AGAINST WOMEN VOTING. — Most of the time I ignore aging would-be pin-up Ann Coulter, but this week she came out with a whopper that could be as much of a gift to the Democratic Party as MoveOn.org's advertisement on Gen. Petraeus was for the G.O.P. More of a gift, even.

Discussion: IMAO, Jezebel and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Multi-National Force:

Iraqi Forces, U.S. Special Forces detain al-Qaeda financier, one other — Multi-National Corps - Iraq — Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory — APO AE 09342 — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — RELEASE No. 20071004-02 — Iraqi Forces, U.S. Special Forces detain al-Qaeda financier, one other

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Wake up America, The Long War Journal, Gateway Pundit, Kiko's House, Riehl World View and The Newshoggers

Edward T. Pound / National Journal:

Questionable Contracts — In April last year, Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson traveled to Dallas to deliver a speech to a group of minority real estate executives. The event should have been pretty routine stuff. But Jackson — and these are his words — shot off his mouth by describing …

Washington Post:

Iraqis to Pay China $100 Million for Weapons for Police — Experts Fear More Will Go to Insurgents — Iraq has ordered $100 million worth of light military equipment from China for its police force, contending that the United States was unable to provide the materiel and is too slow …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Corner, The Road to Surfdom, Sweetness & Light, The Swamp and The Gate

DealBreaker.com:

That Craigslist Ad (The One Posted By The Enterprising Young Woman) — Most of you have seen this (and forwarded to us) already but, for the record, this was the question: … And this is the answer:

Discussion: The Corner, TigerHawk and Punditry