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Attacks Could Erode Faction's Support — Pressure Building Against Shiite Militia — BEIRUT, July 13 — The radical Shiite movement Hezbollah and its leader, Hasan Nasrallah, hold an effective veto in Lebanese politics, and the group's military prowess has heartened its supporters at home and abroad in the Arab world.
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Israel's Invasion, Syria's War — ISRAEL'S incursion into Lebanon after the kidnapping on Wednesday of two Israeli soldiers by the militant group Hezbollah is far more than another flare-up on a tense border. It must also be seen as a spinoff of a general counterattack against American …
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Necessary Steps for Israel — Confronting State Sponsors of Terror Is the Only Option — JERUSALEM — For the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel is facing hostilities on two fronts. The exceedingly volatile situation is liable to embroil other Middle Eastern states …


Israel Blockades Lebanon; Wide Strikes by Hezbollah — BEIRUT, Lebanon, Friday, July 14 — Israel imposed a full naval blockade on Lebanon on Thursday and put Beirut's international airport out of commission, and the militant group Hezbollah loosed a hail of rockets and mortar shells that killed …
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Behind the Crisis, A Push Toward War — After Hezbollah guerrillas captured Israeli soldiers Wednesday, a furious Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz warned that the Israeli army would "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years." Unfortunately, that statement was truer than he may have intended.

Iran Attacking Israel Is Really Attack on U.S.
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Hullabaloo, The Moderate Voice, LiberalOasis, Hyscience, Crooks and Liars and Calling All Wingnuts

DEBKAfile reports: Iran's national security adviser Ali Larijani flies …
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Silflay Hraka

An Ominous Choice Of Words
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Obsidian Wings, Informed Comment, Murdoc Online, Counterterrorism Blog and A Blog For All

Valerie Plame Wilson and Ambassador Joseph Wilson Initiate a Civil Action Against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby for Violations of their Constitutional and Other Legal Rights — WASHINGTON—(BUSINESS WIRE)—July 13, 2006—Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband …
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Vice President Sued by Plame And Husband
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Bush Would Let Secret Court Sift Wiretap Process — WASHINGTON, July 13 — After months of resistance, the White House agreed Thursday to allow a secret intelligence court to review the legality of the National Security Agency's program to conduct wiretaps without warrants on Americans suspected of having ties to terrorists.
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Poll: Americans want Democrats in power — WASHINGTON — Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold …

Watching Finances Of Terror Suspects Discussed in 2002 — At a House subcommittee hearing five months after the Sept. 11 attacks, plans were openly discussed to give the government a highly secure, real-time electronic capability to request and receive data from financial institutions …
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The Strata-Sphere, RedState, Counterterrorism Blog, PostWatch, FishBowlDC, Secrecy News and Demagogue


President Bush and German Chancellor Merkel Participate in Press Availability — President's Trip to Germany and Russia — CHANCELLOR MERKEL: (As translated.) Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to be able to welcome the President of the United States here to Stralsund yet again.
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Story of 'Joe's dead intern' began Harris' slide, insiders say — When Katherine Harris attacked a TV pundit, insiders say the incident revealed the depth of problems with her campaign — which was hit again by six staff departures. — mcaputo@herald.com

Baghdad starts to collapse as its people flee a life of death — As I hung up the phone, I wondered if I would ever see my friend Ali alive again. Ali, The Times translator for the past three years, lives in west Baghdad, an area that is now in meltdown as a bitter civil war rages between Sunni insurgents and Shia militias.


PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Senate Panel Asks For Testimony on Impact of Federal Spending Database on Journalism … There will be two panels, with the first consisting of senators John McCain, R-AZ, and Barack Obama, D-IL, who are with Coburn co-sponsors of the Oklahoma senator's proposal to create …

Pak's ISI masterminded 11/7, says intelligence — Forty-eight hours after bombs ripped through Mumbai, the needle pointed to Pakistan. Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the "mastermind" of the blasts that killed about 200 people.