memeorandum: U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia (Washington Post)

10:10 AM ET, March 28, 2008

Top Items:

Thomas Fitzgerald / Philly.com:

Bob Casey to endorse Obama, join bus tour — Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president today in Pittsburgh, sending a message both to the state's primary voters and to undecided superdelegates who might decide the close race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Discussion: The Swamp, Ben Smith's Blogs, Talking Points Memo, The Caucus, Comments from Left Field, Washington Times, Pennsyltucky Politics, TPM Election Central, The Page, Balloon Juice and positivelyBarack.com

Mike Allen / Ben Smith's Blogs:

BREAKING: Dean wants closure by July 1 — A potential game-changer from CBS News and “The Early Show.” Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says he wants superdelegates to make a decision by JULY 1 — the most specific he has been in his effort to prod the party …

Discussion: The New Republic and Pam's House Blend

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:

Pennsylvania voters feeling ‘neglected’ — PITTSBURGH - After envisioning Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama stumping from one end of the state to the other, dipping into diners and delis, all but taking up residence here in the run-up to the state's critical April 22 primary …

Discussion: The Page

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Obama to Begin Push in Pennsylvania in Hope of Offsetting Clinton Advantages

Discussion: Associated Press and The Page

James Hider / Times of London:

Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides — Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra. — His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report, Washington Post, The Newshoggers, Jules Crittenden, Time, American Street, Middle Earth Journal, Last of the Few, Salon and Balloon Juice

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

Warlord vs. Warlord — WHAT ARE THEY FIGHTING ABOUT IN BASRA? — The wars in Iraq (the plural is no typo) are about to expand and possibly explode, so it might be useful to have some notion of what we're in for. — Here is President George W. Bush, speaking this morning in Dayton …

Discussion: Swampland, Talking Points Memo, Outside The Beltway, White House and In Depth with The Post …

Washington Post:

U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia — Americans Appear To Take the Lead As Iraqi Units Wait — U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress, Los Angeles Times, The Newshoggers, Firedoglake, The Impolitic, CNN, Hot Air, Reuters, democracyarsenal.org, abu muqawama, New York Times, American Street, DownWithTyranny!, Swampland, Guardian and Global Guerrillas

Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
US jets drop bombs in Basra

Discussion: Danger Room and American Footprints

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
WHO'S WHO....Can't tell the players without a program in the 2-way …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Associated Press:

Obama would have left if Wright stayed — WASHINGTON - White House hopeful Barack Obama suggests he would have left his Chicago church had his longtime pastor, whose fiery anti-American comments about U.S. foreign policy and race relations threatened Obama's campaign, not stepped down.

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House, MyDD, Don Surber, Taylor Marsh, Redstate, Daimnation!, Sweetness & Light and Cliff Schecter.com

Mike Allen / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama now says he might have left church — In appearance taped for airing this morning on “The View,” Senator Obama makes news by saying he might have left Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ if the Rev. Jeremiah Wright had not retired. — In a clip posted by ABC, Obama says …

Discussion: The Swamp, Spin Cycle and The Strata-Sphere

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Let's Just All Agree That Wright Apologized And Move On — Can someone help me with what looks like the latest fantasy from Obama as he explains his Reverend Wright (emphasis added): … Let's make the working assumption that this excerpt is accurate and in context - time will tell, since the show airs tomorrow.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Hot Air and The Trail

Jennifer Parker / ABCNEWS:
Obama Defends Wright's Reputation, Not Words

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Loans and Leadership — When George W. Bush first ran for the White House, political reporters assured us that he came across as a reasonable, moderate guy. — Yet those of us who looked at his policy proposals — big tax cuts for the rich and Social Security privatization — had a very different impression.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Trail and Corrente

Tahman Bradley / Political Radar:

Bill Clinton: Caucuses ‘Killing Us’ — ABC News' Teddy Davis, Sarah Amos, and Talal Al-Khatib Report: While speaking by phone Thursday to his wife's Texas supporters, former President Bill Clinton downplayed the importance of caucuses and argued that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. …

Discussion: American Street, The Reaction, Political Punch and Donklephant

Steven Emerson / Articles by the Investigative Project …:

Exclusive Photos Show Al-Hanooti's Political Clout — Before he was alleged to have become a spy for Saddam Hussein's regime, Muthanna Al-Hanooti's charity work and political activism provided him with access to the highest echelons of government. — Newsletters collected by the Investigative Project …

Discussion: The Corner, Little Green Footballs, On Deadline, Israpundit, Counterterrorism Blog and Detroit Free Press

Ira Stoll / New York Sun:
Accused Saddam Agent Says He Met With Hillary at White House

Discussion: Power Line, Don Surber, Hot Air and Tim Blair

NEWS.com.au:

Woman forced to rip out nipple ring — A WOMAN in the US says she was forced by airport security guards to remove her nipple rings with a pair of pliers before she could board a flight. — Mandi Hamlin, 37, is demanding a civil rights investigation, as well as an apology from federal security agents …

Discussion: Althouse

Greg Risling / Associated Press:
Woman says TSA forced piercings removal

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM)

Slate:

The Hillary Deathwatch — GAUGING THE ODDS THAT CLINTON WILL WIN THE NOMINATION. — Hillary Clinton is as good as dead. This became the consensus over the past week, when the media awoke en masse to the dual reality that 1) Clinton can't close the pledged-delegate gap and 2) Obama has her beat in the popular vote.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Brendan Nyhan, Patterico's Pontifications, Spin Cycle and The New Republic

Avi Zenilman / Ben Smith's Blogs:

MoveOn responds to Pelosi letter — MoveOn responds to the letter Clinton donors sent yesterday to Nancy Pelosi by sending out a letter of their own: … Full letter after the jump. — Dear MoveOn member, — This is pretty outrageous: a group of Clinton-supporting big Democratic donors …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Daniel Finkelstein / Times of London:

Rev Jeremiah Wright lands Barack Obama in trouble again — Barack Obama faced fresh controversy yesterday over the anti-Israel views propagated by his former pastor even as he was being welcomed to New York by Michael Bloomberg, the city's Jewish Mayor. — The disclosure of articles published …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Don Surber