A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Iraq army recruitment to hit mark “The general in charge of training the much-needed Iraq army and police said yesterday that the final target of 325,000 personnel will be met before the end of this month, with "dramatic improvement" in performance envisioned by July.” (READ MORE)
Rice eyes 'sets of actions' by North “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday rejected a one-for-one approach in any deal with North Korea to dismantle its nuclear programs in exchange for individual incentives.” (READ MORE)
U.S. not waiting for Palestinian unity “The United States will not wait for Palestinians to agree on a unity government or to hold elections in order to push for a renewed peace effort with Israel and will step up its support for President Mahmoud Abbas, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.”(READ MORE)
Road to White House may cost $1 billion “The chairman of the Federal Election Commission yesterday predicted that 2008 will produce the first $1 billion presidential race and that the $500 million that each party's candidate will need to compete will severely limit the field of contenders.” (READ MORE)
U.S. Not Winning War in Iraq, Bush Says for 1st Time “President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the "stressed" U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists.” (READ MORE)
Bush Sees 'Opportunities' on Social Security, Immigration “President Bush said yesterday that he intends to work with the new Democratic majority in Congress on a broad range of domestic issues, declaring that despite the impending power shift there are "some wonderful opportunities" to address concerns that have long festered without a political solution.” (READ MORE)
Premier Wants U.S. Forces to Target Sunni Insurgents “Maliki Would Attempt To Contain Shiite Militias” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
Bill Roggio writes Spirit of America at Work in Fallujah “While walking a patrol with the Iraqi Army in Fallujah last week, I ran across a group of young children heading to school. Many of them had backpacks, and all of the backpacks were identical. This immediately made me think of Spirit of America's school backpack program, so I contacted Jim Hake and Michele Redmond.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio writes The Military Transition Teams and the Development Iraqi Army -
The MTT Mission; Successes and setbacks with the Iraqi Army “FALLUJAH, IRAQ: While critics of the Iraq Army continue to question the capabilities of the units and soldiers, a real move towards operational independence is occurring within the Iraqi Army. Last year, I embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines (the Teufelhunden) in Husaybah, as well as the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (The Raiders) in the Haditha Triad.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Austin Bay writing at Townhall.com writes Operation call home “Military service always entails self-sacrifice, ranging from the loss of holidays to the rugged test of a year-long deployment away from family, to the greatest of all, one's life.” (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin writing at Townhall.com writes 2006: The year of perpetual outrage “It began with the Danish cartoons. It ended with the flying imams. Two thousand six was a banner year for the Religion of Perpetual Outrage.” (READ MORE)
Terence Jeffrey writing at Townhall.com writes Ten principles of conservatism “As a very political year approaches an end, and a new presidential election cycle looms, it's a good time for conservatives to step back from partisan politics and reflect on their cause.” (READ MORE)
Linda Chavez writing at Townhall.com writes Finally, A plan for Iraq “When it comes to Iraq, there may be no good options. But at least one man believes that we still have a chance to make matters better in Iraq” (READ MORE)
Debra J. Saunders writing at Townhall.com writes Death penalty decision a bad first step “The latest federal judge to rule against the constitutionality of a state's death penalty is U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, who issued a ruling Friday that found California's lethal injection protocol to be "intolerable under the Constitution." Chalk up the ruling as a victory for Michael Morales, who was sentenced to death for raping and murdering 17-year-old Terri Winchell of Lodi, Calif., in 1981.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden writes Thank God “I'm guessing it was a gaggle of idiot editors who decided this Washington Post article needed to get bogged down at the outset in an irrelevant semantic gotcha about whether Bush has ever said we're winning or losing in Iraq. They so much want him to say we're losing. Because that's what it's all about. Getting him to say that.” (READ MORE)
Badilocks writes A Warning To The Right “I’m tired of it all. I’m tired of the insinuations about Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) because his dead father was a Muslim. I’m tired of the insinuations about his middle name—Hussein—and the racist/bigoted insinuations that I’ve seen on the Right that flow from there.” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes The Kurds Respond To The ISG “The Iraq Study Group delivered its recommendations for changing strategies in Iraq at the beginning of the month, a report that has received criticism from all sides -- liberals for not demanding an immediate withdrawal, and conservatives for its recommendation to turn to the sponsors of terror to ‘stabilize’ Iraq. Some of the strongest criticism came from Iraq itself, and today the Washington Post hosts a column from Mansour Barzani, a leading Kurd, on the lack of credibility of the ISG:” (READ MORE)
CDR Salamander writes Poseur's Appeal for Peace “Drudge offers this link that based on an article from The Nation will take you to ‘The Appeal for Redress from the War.’ The first link is kind of funny from the military perspective being that some of the entries are obviously poseurs. At the Appeal site, it states that it:”(READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin writes Laura Bush Derangement Syndrome “I, for one, was glad to hear that the surgery to remove the skin cancer tumor from First Lady Laura Bush's right shin in early November was successful. My relief seems not to have been shared by female members of the White House press corps, who tried to instigate a David Gregory-style swarm and imitate their male WH press corps counterparts' VP Cheney accidental shooting feeding frenzy.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber writes Bush: 'We're not winning, we're not losing' “President Bush gave an interview to Peter Baker of the Washington Post. Here is what Bush said: ‘We're not winning, we're not losing.’ Here is what most people heard: ‘We're not winning, we're not losing.’” (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House writes Obama Fails Religious Test: Schussel “Senator Barak Obama may as well save his time and money and abandon any thoughts he may have had about being President of the United States. You see, the internet’s Mother Superior of Religious Intolerance and Hysterical Exaggeration has decided that Obama can’t pass muster when it comes to the Constitution’s well known and time honored religious test.” (READ MORE)
Shrink Wrapped writes Stupid Politician Tricks “There is a populist strain to the Democratic Party which appeals to the resentments and envy of worried and anxious voters and promises some short term palliation in exchange for long term damage. One of the areas in which Americans feel most insecure is health care. All but the very wealthy understand that a severe illness can not only destroy one's health but can also destroy one's financial security. This is a real problem, in part caused by the success of American medicine in treating illnesses which were once thought to be beyond human intervention.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins writing at Human Events Online writes An Open Letter To George Bush “Dear Mr. President: It goes without saying that the last couple of years have been tough for you and the Republican Party. The GOP lost 6 Senate seats and 30 House seats; you're currently sitting on an average approval rating of 36.3% and you haven't cracked 50% all year. Moreover, 63% of the country thinks we're going in the wrong direction while only 29% thinks the reverse is true.” (READ MORE)
Texas Rainmaker writes Hillary Pretends to be John Kerry For a Day “Positioning herself for the run for the White House in 2008, Hillary is continuing to clean her closet of all those past actions she thinks will cost her votes. Always the consummate politician. Today, she’s conducting a John Kerry-esque backpeddling of her vote for the Iraq war.” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl writes Cut And Run Harry Reid Back Stabs Troops And Bush “Yesterday Harry land shark Reid was talking about supporting a surge. I imagine he was waiting for the leak today about some allegedly in the Joint Chiefs not supporting that option. So today we get the unvarnished cut and run program from Harry scumbag Reid. What a posing political piece of crap this guy is.” (READ MORE)
Rightwing Guy writes Victory Is Our Goal “Most in the drive by media and the liberal pundit talk shows talk as if we have already lost the war. That our military endeavor in Iraq has been merely a huge failure and we would be better off if we packed it up and came home right now and forget what happens in the part of the world.” (READ MORE)
Celestial Junk writes Construction more Deadly than Combat “It sometimes takes time to expose falacious arguements. In the combat versus reconstruction (construction) debate, it has taken a bit of time to expose the truth, but we finally have some very compelling evidence that the Jack Layton/progressive mantra of ‘construct don't destruct’ has a sinister side.” (READ MORE)
Kim Priestap writing at Wizbang writes New Al Qaeda Video Released “Ayman Al-Zawahiri aired a video today in which he admonished the US to negotiate ‘with the real powers’ He doesn't say who those ‘real powers’ are, but we can speculate that he's referring to his group, al Qaeda. ‘Al-Zawahri also told the United States on Wednesday that it was negotiating with the wrong people in Iraq.’” (READ MORE)
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