Top Items:
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Obama Makes Unannounced Visit to Iraq — BAGHDAD — President Obama made an unannounced trip to Baghdad on Tuesday, punctuating his week-long overseas trip with a stop to talk to American troops and Iraqi leaders. — Air Force One landed at Baghdad International Airport under heavy security …
Discussion:
Reuters, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Raw Story, D-Day, Newshoggers.com, ATTACKERMAN and The Caucus
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ABCNEWS:
President Obama Lands in Baghdad for Surprise Visit to Troops — President to Hand Out Medals of Valor to U.S. Soldiers — President Obama made a surprise detour on his way home from his European trip, stopping in Baghdad today to meet with U.S. commanders and consult with Iraqi officials.
CNN:
Obama makes unannounced visit for meetings in Iraq — (CNN) — President Obama made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Tuesday. — The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, met Obama shortly after Air Force One landed in Baghdad about 4:42 p.m. local time (9:42 a.m. ET).
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
President Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq — President Obama made a surprise visit to Iraq Tuesday afternoon, landing on Air Force One in Baghdad at 4:42 p.m. local time after concluding an eight-day overseas tour through Europe. — The unannounced visit to a war zone was a closely guarded secret …
Burlington Free Press:
Vt. legalizes gay marriage with veto override — FREE PRESS STAFF REPORT — VIDEO: House vote passes gay mariage bill . — MONTPELIER — Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage — and the first to do so with a legislature's vote. — The Legislature voted Tuesday …
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Burlington Free Press:
Live video, blog: Gay marriage vote — FREE PRESS STAFF REPORT — From Terri Hallenbeck's story: — MONTPELIER — Gov. Jim Douglas vetoed same-sex marriage legislation Monday evening, sending the bill back to the Legislature today, where the votes to override the veto could teeter either way.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama, the ICRC Report and ongoing suppression — (updated below) — Following up on the latest extremist Cheney/Addington/Yoo arguments advanced by the Obama DOJ in order to shield Bush lawbreaking from disclosure and judicial review — an episode I wrote about in detail yesterday …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Cup O' Joe, Think Progress, Law Librarian Blog, Wake up America and The Daily Dish
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Washington Post:
Report Calls CIA Detainee Treatment ‘Inhuman’ — Medical officers who oversaw interrogations of terrorism suspects in CIA secret prisons committed gross violations of medical ethics and in some cases essentially participated in torture, the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Daily Dish, TalkLeft, TPMMuckraker, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The BLT, Raw Story, Emptywheel and Balloon Juice
Scott Shane / New York Times:
Report Outlines Medical Workers' Role in Torture
Report Outlines Medical Workers' Role in Torture
Discussion:
White House Watch, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, The Washington Independent, Balloon Juice, ABCNEWS and The Daily Dish
Washington Post:
Obama Holds a Town Hall in Istanbul — PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much. Well, it is a great pleasure to be here. Let me begin by thanking Professor Rahmi Aksungur — did I say that properly — who is director of the university here. And I want to thank all the young people who've gathered together.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Lieberman-Obama honeymoon stops at missile defense — Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) has tried to mend his relationship with President Obama in recent months but their reconciliation hit a snag Monday over ballistic missile defense. — Lieberman, the self-described independent Democrat …
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Pentagon Chief Calls for Cuts; Congress Opens Fire
Pentagon Chief Calls for Cuts; Congress Opens Fire
Discussion:
Reuters, cab drollery, Los Angeles Times, Stars & Stripes, DownWithTyranny!, abu muqawama, Danger Room and Matthew Yglesias
ABCNEWS:
Pilot of Stolen Cessna Wanted U.S. Fighter Jets to Shoot Him Down — Trooper Said Yavuz Berke, Now in Custody, Wanted U.S. Military to Kill Him — The Canadian man wholed fighter jets on a chase across six states yesterday flew his stolen plane into the U.S. in hopes the military would shoot …
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Reality hits Obama Express — President Barack Obama, after a lightning-quick start for his agenda on Capitol Hill, is bracing for a much slower pace and big changes in his proposals as early urgency and excitement give way to the more languid rhythms that are the norm for Congress.
Michael Ausiello / EW.com:
‘House’ exclusive: The shocking story behind last night's big death — DEFCON 1 spoiler alert! If you haven't seen last night's House, stop reading now. Everyone else, onward and downward! — Here are the six things you need to know up-front about last night's House:
Discussion:
Anne Schroeder's Blog, The Politico, Lynn Sweet, Us Weekly, Political Machine, Swampland and New York Magazine
Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
‘No-Risk’ Insurance at F.D.I.C. — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was set up 76 years ago with the important but simple job of insuring bank deposits. — Now, because of what could politely be called mission creep, it's elbowing its way into the middle of the financial mess as an enabler of enormous leverage.
CBS News:
Poll: Obama Approval Hits New High - 66% — CBS/NY Times Survey Finds Most Believe World Leaders Respect President, Though They Maintain U.S. Is Not Respected Overall — (CBS) As President Obama concludes his well-publicized trip to Europe, Americans are more positive about the respect accorded …
Kevin Drum / MoJo Blog Posts:
Fun With Phosphates — The blogosphere had a few laughs last week at the expense of RedState head honcho Eric Erickson, who warned that revolution was coming and told residents of Washington state, “I'd be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots …
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Jerusalem Post:
'When Marlon Brando made me a Pessah offer I couldn't refuse' — A few weeks ago, as he began preparing material for our Pessah supplements, The Jerusalem Post's Managing Editor Steve Linde placed a small ad in the paper inviting readers to submit amazing but true Pessah stories.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Washington Post:
New Data Show Rapid Arctic Ice Decline — Proportion of Thicker, More Persistent Winter Cover Is the Lowest on Record — The Arctic sea ice cover continues to shrink and become thinner, according to satellite measurements and other data released yesterday, providing further evidence …
Melissa Grace / NY Daily News:
DA's office foils plot to smuggle nuke materials to Iran — The Manhattan district attorney's office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned. — Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing …
Ezra Klein / Los Angeles Times:
When it comes to healthcare, the U.S., Britain and Canada are hurting — Healthcare in all three countries has the same problem. They just feel it in different places. — When asked by the New England Journal of Medicine to detail his healthcare vision during the campaign …
Marisa Taylor / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Judge: U.S. hid witness' mental illness in Guantanamo cases — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department improperly withheld important psychiatric records of a government witness who was used in a “significant” number of Guantanamo cases, a federal judge has concluded.
Rod Liddle / Times of London:
Taleban-style law for women in Afghanistan is dropped after outcry — A controversial law condoning marital rape and reintroducing Taleban-era rules for Afghan women has been shelved after an outcry in the West. — The Afghan Foreign Ministry said that the law had not been enacted …