memeorandum: Today's Must Read (Paul Kiel/TPMmuckraker)

11:30 AM ET, October 9, 2007

Top Items:

Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets — Firm Says Administration's Handling of Video Ruined Its Spying Efforts — A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month …

Eli Lake / New York Sun:

Qaeda Goes Dark After a U.S. Slip — Enemy Vanishes From Its Web Sites — WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda's Internet communications system has suddenly gone dark to American intelligence after the leak of Osama bin Laden's September 11 speech inadvertently disclosed the fact that we had penetrated the enemy's system.

Discussion: Don Surber, Macsmind, Take Our Country Back and Gateway Pundit

The Big Trunk / Power Line:

AL QAEDA GOES DARK — Eli Lake has the story of the day in today's New York Sun: "Qaeda goes dark after a U.S. slip." Lake reports that the September 7 Osama bin Laden video (the one with the funny looking black beard) was picked up by Rita Katz's SITE Institute and provided to the National Counterterrorism Center:

Rusty / The Jawa Report:

Uh, About that "Leak" That Burned Our al Qaeda Intel — I know what the NY Sun and Washington Post are saying about a major source of intel being burned by a leak, but it just isn't so. Rita Katz and the SITE Institute do a great job, but attributing the interception of this video to them is just false.

Discussion: Hot Air and Right Wing News

Opinion Journal:
Tortured Arguments — Giving al Qaeda an interrogation-resistance manual.

Discussion: PrairiePundit

New York Times:

Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers — Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Discussion: The Swamp, Wake up America, Brilliant at Breakfast, PoliBlog (TM), Outside The Beltway, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Prairie Weather, The Politico, Sister Toldjah, QandO, The Reaction, The Sideshow, TalkLeft, Macsmind, PrairiePundit and Jules Crittenden

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

Today's Must Read — Call it a deal with the devil, but the House Democrats are set to offer compromise legislation that would allow the administration to conduct warrantless surveillance. The trade-off seems clear. — The bill would allow so-called "umbrella" warrants from the FISA Court …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE

Salon:
Greenwald takes a closer look at FISA revisions

Discussion: TalkLeft and JammieWearingFool

John Yoo / Opinion Journal:

The Real Clarence Thomas — His fidelity to the Constitution often leads to results liberals like. — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas again finds himself in the crosshairs of liberals. After 16 years of diligently avoiding the press, he has written a memoir, "My Grandfather's Son …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, The American Street, Betsy's Page and Bench Memos

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Court grants no new cases, turns down CIA case

Discussion: ACSBlog

Robert Barnes / Washington Post: Political Parties, Under Challenge, Seem to Have Justices' Sympathy

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

What Is Wrong With You?!? — The difference between the far right wing and the far left wing: the far right will do anything — anything — so long as the ends justifies the means. The far left folks have ethical boundaries that they try very hard not to cross: things like attacking …

Discussion: Think Progress, Crooks and Liars, Wake up America, The Mahablog, Comments from Left Field and Dependable Renegade

The Corner:
The new poor — Over the weekend, I posted a couple …

Lydia Saad / Gallup Poll:

Bush's Approval Rating Returns to Low 30s — Matches his average rating since July — PRINCETON, NJ — According to a new Gallup Poll, conducted Oct. 4-7, 2007, President George W. Bush's job approval rating from the American public is an anemic 32%. That is slightly below his previous reading …

Discussion: Think Progress

Irenep / Michael Yon:

Under Distant Stars — In his book, Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield offers the following translation of the epitaph engraved on a commemorative stone placed on top of the burial mound of the Spartans at Thermopylae: … CSM James Pippin — He was shot; four months ago—nearly to the day …

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:

Mahmood: U R SO KEWL!!!!! — Who would have imagined that the march of technology would eventually force Mahmood Ahmadinejad to confront trolls on his blog. Nevertheless, a lively debate has broken out among the commenters—you might even call it a flamewar. — There are the critics:

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:

Netroots Doing the Work of the NRCC—A Continuing Saga — We've chronicled the shift in recent months in the attitude among the netroots towards moderate and conservative Democrats. Just a few months ago, the paramount goal of the left was achieving Congressional majorities …

Newsday:

British pullout in Iraq leaves Basra in chaos — BY TIMOTHY M. PHELPS.timothy.phelps@newsday.com; This story was supplemented with wire reports. — WASHINGTON - The British troop pullout from Iraq announced yesterday leaves Basra, Iraq's second largest and most strategically important city …

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:

Court Identifies Eleven Inaccuracies in Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' — Here's something American media are virtually guaranteed to not report: a British court has determined that Al Gore's schlockumentary "An Inconvenient Truth" contains at least eleven material falsehoods.

Discussion: Flopping Aces and Right Wing News