memeorandum: Iraq's Military Seen as Lagging (New York Times)

9:45 AM ET, April 10, 2008

Top Items:

Sources: Top Bush Advisors Approved ‘Enhanced Interrogation’ — Detailed Discussions Were Held About Techniques to Use on al Qaeda Suspects — By JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG, HOWARD L. ROSENBERG and ARIANE de VOGUE — In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House …

Discussion: The Reaction, DownWithTyranny!, The Carpetbagger Report, Macsmind, The Gun Toting Liberal™, RADAMISTO, American Street, War in Context, First Draft, The Mahablog, Think Progress, AMERICAblog, Comments from Left Field, Balkinization, Concurring Opinions and The Impolitic

Marc Ambinder:

War Crimes — A provocative headline, I know, perhaps needlessly so, but it remains one of those hidden secrets in Washington that a Democratic Justice Department is going to be very interested in figuring out whether there's a case to be made that senior Bush Administration officials were guilty of war crimes.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Right Wing Nut House, Newshoggers.com, Comments from Left Field, The Strata-Sphere and Weekly Standard Blog

Reuters:
Top Bush aides approved interrogation tactics: report

Discussion: Cliff Schecter … and Shakesville

Balkinization: War Crimes Prosecutions in the U.S.? Dream On

Rebecca Dana / Wall Street Journal:

CBS News, Katie Couric Are Likely to Part Ways — Barring a Change, Departure Could Follow the Election; — A Successor to Larry King? — After two years of record-low ratings, both CBS News executives and people close to Katie Couric say that the “CBS Evening News” …

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, New York Magazine, Outside The Beltway, Gawker, The News Junkie, Below The Beltway, Ed Driscoll.com, Truthdig, Romenesko and Wizbang

New York Times:

Iraq's Military Seen as Lagging — WASHINGTON — The recommendation by the top American commander in Iraq to suspend troop reductions reflects a bleak assessment that Iraqi forces remain unprepared to take over the mission of securing their own nation, senior administration and military officials said Wednesday.

Discussion: The Swamp, Jules Crittenden, Washington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, Weekly Standard, Times of London, Wall Street Journal, RADAMISTO and Christian Science Monitor

Washington Post:

Bush to Cut Army Tours to 12 Months — President Supports Suspending Pullout Of Forces in Iraq — President Bush plans to announce today that he will cut Army combat tours in Iraq from 15 months to 12 months, returning rotations to where they were before last year's troop buildup in an effort …

Discussion: The Long War Journal, Real Clear Politics, Wall Street Journal, The Page, NY Daily News, Intel Dump and The Belmont Club

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Elton John: ‘To hell with them’ — There's a real crowd at Radio City, complete with scalpers, and lines around the block for Elton John and the Clintons. — Toward the back of one line: Frank Luntz, Lanny Davis, and Doug Schoen. ("I used to be in business with Mark Penn," Schoen joked.)

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, NY Daily News, The Swamp, Althouse, The Democratic Daily, The Other McCain, Don Surber and The New Republic

Julie Bosman / New York Times:
Sir Elton and Democratic Friends

Discussion: City Room

Steyn Online:

Hey, why bother with a trial? — As revealed here a few weeks ago, the investigative unit of the Ontario “Human Rights” Commission recommended to the Commissioners that they not proceed against Maclean's for having the temerity to publish an excerpt from my book.

Discussion: Dr. Sanity and National Post

Canada NewsWire Group:
Commission Issues Statement on Decision in Maclean's Cases

Discussion: Overlawyered

PewResearch.org:

Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life — Executive Summary — This report on the attitudes and lives of the American middle class combines results of a new Pew Research Center national public opinion survey with the center's analysis of relevant economic and demographic trend data from the Census Bureau.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Outside The Beltway, Below The Beltway, American Street and Washington Wire

Matthew Yglesias:
Pew on the Middle Class

Discussion: Eschaton

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Former President Carter to Meet With Hamas Chief — Former president Jimmy Carter plans to meet next week in Damascus with Khaled Meshal, the head of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in a direct rebuke of the Bush administration's campaign to isolate it.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah

Peter Wallsten / Los Angeles Times:
Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Obama

Discussion: The Swamp, The Caucus and Top of the Ticket

Ed O'Keefe / ABCNEWS:

EXCLUSIVE: Powell Praises Obama, Fears Afghanistan Growing ‘More Difficult’ Than Iraq — General Says Next President Will Face Long Struggle, Troop Strain in Two-Front Battle — Retired Gen. Colin Powell insists he hasn't yet decided who he'll back in the 2008 presidential election.

Discussion: The Swamp, Spin Cycle and The Page

Cathryn Khalil / KLTV-TV:

Athens School ‘Attack’ Proven To Be False, Girl To Be Charged — There are major new developments today in the case of a supposed beating of a student from Athens Middle School. — Charges are being filed against 13 year old Melanie Bowers by Athens ISD through the Henderson County District …

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, skippy the bush kangaroo, Tyler Morning Telegraph, Immigration Chronicles and michellemalkin.com

Associated Press:
Texas Teen Hurt After Bringing Anti-Illegal Immigration Sign to School

Discussion: Roger Ailes

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:

Gay press frustrated by Obama approach — Mark Segal didn't want to wait. After weeks of requests to interview Barack Obama, the publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News concluded the senator's aides may never make him available. — So even as the Obama campaign held out the possibility …

Discussion: Shakesville

Roger Simon / The Politico:

McCain not yet golden in California — Here are four things you need to know about John McCain and California: — 1. If McCain wins California in November, he almost certainly will become the next president of the United States. — The Democratic nominee would find it extremely difficult …

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Other McCain and MSNBC

Wall Street Journal:

Pelosi's Bad Faith — The Democratic Party's protectionist make-over was completed yesterday, when Nancy Pelosi decided to kill the Colombia free trade agreement. Her objections had nothing to do with the evidence and everything to do with politics, but this was an act of particular bad faith.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Betsy's Page

Roger L Simon / Pajamas Media:

Reverend Eric Lee's Anti-Semitism: A Personal Story [video] — On April 4, 2008, at a Los Angeles event commemorating the assassination of Martin Luther King, the African-American fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi gave Israeli-American Daphna Ziman its Tom Bradley Award for community service.

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air, Classical Values and Roger L. Simon

Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho / Marist Poll:

ü Democrats' “Dream Ticket” is a nightmare against McCain/Rice in New York ü NYS voters take a wait and see approach to new governor — Contact: Dr. Lee M. Miringoff — This WNBC/Marist Poll of New York State reports: — Presidential Campaign 2008

Discussion: Spin Cycle and Examining Presidential …

David S. Broder / Washington Post:

The Sports World in Foul Territory — Having made a living for almost 50 years covering politics, I've never been under any illusions about where it stands in the larger scheme of things. Politics has its fans, but it holds nothing like the fascination that millions of Americans have with sports.

Discussion: Firedoglake