memeorandum: A Calmer Iraq: Fragile, and Possibly Fleeting (Alissa J. Rubin/New York Times)

11:15 AM ET, December 5, 2007

Top Items:

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Huckabee not aware of NIE report on Iran — My colleague David Paul Kuhn attended an on-the-record dinner with Mike Huckabee and a group of reporters tonight in Des Moines. — The transcript speaks for itself:

Robert Kagan / Washington Post:

Time to Talk to Iran — Regardless of what one thinks about the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003 — and there is much to question in the report — its practical effects are indisputable. The Bush administration cannot …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Hot Air, New York Times, Horses Mouth, Foreign Policy Watch, The Reaction, Obsidian Wings, Danger Room, ArmsControlWonk, Political Machine and Commentary

Joshua Mitnick / Washington Times:

Israel challenges report on nukes — TEL AVIV — Israeli officials yesterday disputed the conclusions of Monday's surprise U.S. assessment of Iran's nuclear program, citing "clear and solid intelligence" that Iran is continuing to develop nuclear weapons to threaten Israel and Europe.

Discussion: Cheat Seeking Missiles

CNN:
Dems aren't buying Bush's account of Iran report

Discussion: Political Machine, Suitably Flip and The Politico

Maureen Dowd / New York Times: Seven Days in December?

New York Times:
Good and Bad News About Iran

Discussion: American Footprints

Elaine Sciolino / New York Times:
Monitoring Agency Praises U.S. Report, but Keeps Wary Eye on Iran

Discussion: MyDD, RealClearPolitics, Macsmind, protein wisdom and Daniel W. Drezner

Byron York / The Corner:
NIE? What NIE? — The Politico's David Paul Kuhn was among …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money, Obsidian Wings and DownWithTyranny!

Robert Baer / Time:
Was Bush Behind the Iran Report?

Discussion: Washington Post, Haaretz, Cato-at-liberty, Israel Matzav, New York Times, PoliGazette, The Agonist, The Strata-Sphere, Outside The Beltway, Yourish.com, Macsmind, Buck Naked Politics, The Heretik, Redstate and Commentary

New York Sun:
The Van Diepen Demarche

Discussion: Opinion Journal, Power Line, Washington Post, Wolf Howling, The Tank and Los Angeles Times

Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:

Which Democrat's Health Plan Really, Truly Covers More People? — While the leading Democratic presidential candidates agree on most policy issues, a sharp dispute has emerged: Who would do more to provide health coverage for the uninsured? — Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama …

Discussion: MSNBC

Paul Krugman:

Nonpartisan AEI — I have a lot of problems with this Kit Seelye piece. It's kind of weird that the usual "both sides may have a point" reporting gave way to a clear declaration that one side is right — precisely on an issue where many, many health experts believe that Obama is wrong …

Discussion: TalkLeft

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Clinton Attack on Obama Overlooks Some Realities

Discussion: TIME and The New Republic

Julie Bosman / New York Times:
Edwards Takes Step Back as Two Others Slug It Out

Discussion: MSNBC and MyDD

Jay Cost / HorseRaceBlog:
On Clinton's Attacks — The consensus seems to be that Hillary's …

Discussion: Don Surber, TIME, Betsy's Page, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Jawa Report, Spin Cycle, Time and Associated Press

Murray Waas / The Huffington Post:

Documents Expose Huckabee's Role In Serial Rapist's Release — Little Rock, Ark — As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee aggressively pushed for the early release of a convicted rapist despite being warned by numerous women that the convict had sexually assaulted them or their family members, and would likely strike again.

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, TPMmuckraker, Think Progress, Reason Magazine, The Blotter, Lean Left, Shakespeare's Sister, AMERICAblog, National Review, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Agonist, LewRockwell.com Blog and Associated Press

Jules Crittenden:

Bush-Bashing Is Fun — But here's what you missed amid the Iranapalooza excitement. Some of the elusive and much sought-after political progress in Iraq: … Meanwhile, in Baghdad: … Incremental, though significantly more progress than, say, Congress has made lately. On anything.

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:

Hill Democrats Explore New Strategy on Iraq — Plan Would Link Funding to Political Gains — Facing increasing evidence of military progress in Iraq, some Democratic congressional leaders are eyeing a shift in legislative strategy that would abandon a link between $50 billion …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and The Atlantic Online

Michael O'Hanlon / USA Today:
A new course on Iraq (for Democrats, that is)

Discussion: The Corner

Alissa J. Rubin / New York Times:
A Calmer Iraq: Fragile, and Possibly Fleeting

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Swamp, Think Progress, NEWS.com.au, The Carpetbagger Report, democracyarsenal.org and Prairie Weather

Adam Sherwin / Times of London:

BBC 'took terrorist trainers paintballing' — The BBC funded a paintballing trip for men later accused of Islamic terrorism and failed to pass on information about the 21/7 bombers to police, a court was told yesterday. — Mohammed Hamid, who is charged with overseeing a two-year radicalisation programme …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Jawa Report, The Corner, USS Neverdock, JammieWearingFool and michellemalkin.com

Robin McDowell / Associated Press:

More than 10,000 jet into Bali for global warming conference — U.N. official rejects notion attendees adding to problem — BALI, Indonesia — Never before have so many people converged to try to save the planet from global warming, with more than 10,000 jetting into this Indonesian resort island …

Discussion: A Blog For All, Maggie's Farm and Outside The Beltway

John Bresnahan / The Politico:

Lott says retirement not tied to brother-in-law's indictment — Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), whose sudden retirement announcement caught Senate GOP leaders by surprise last week, strongly denied any link between his decision and the indictment of Mississippi lawyer Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, who is Lott's brother-in-law.

Regina Medina / philly.com:

THE PARTY'S OVER — medinar@phillynews.com 215-854-5985 Staff writer Gloria Campisi contributed to this report — JOCELYN SARAH Kirsch had planned to throw a 25th birthday party tonight at an upscale Rittenhouse Square eatery for her live-in love, Edward Kyle Anderton.

Washington Post:

Poll Shows Romney With Wide Lead in New Hampshire — Mitt Romney holds a sizeable lead in New Hampshire in a new Washington Post-ABC poll, with 37 percent of likely Republican primary voters, compared to 20 percent for John McCain, 16 percent for Rudy Giuliani and 9 percent for Mike Huckabee.

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, MSNBC, Boston Globe, Pollster.com, New Hampshire Presidential … and The Corner

Michael Calderone / The Politico:

Wash. Post Obama story under fire — The Washington Post is accustomed to criticism of its coverage from the right and left blogospheres, but a Nov. 29 front page story about Barack Obama's rumored Muslim ties came with a twist: Many voices within its own newsroom joined in the firestorm.

Discussion: FishBowlDC and Hot Air