A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Berger took papers to a hiding place “Former National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger, fined $50,000 for taking classified documents from the National Archives, hid the papers under a construction trailer where they later could easily be retrieved, a report yesterday said.” (READ MORE)
Bush concedes U.S. not ready for Iraq “President Bush yesterday conceded that U.S. forces were inadequately prepared to handle sectarian violence that broke out in Iraq after the fall of Baghdad…” (READ MORE)
CIA exercise reveals consequences of defeat “The CIA this month conducted a simulation of how the Iraq war affects the global jihadist movement, and one conclusion was that a U.S. loss would embolden al Qaeda to expand its ranks of terrorists as well as pick new strategic targets…” (READ MORE)
Contention Increases on Troop Numbers in Iraq “President Bush signals that he will listen but not necessarily defer to military officers, as skeptical Gen. Abizaid announces his retirement.” (READ MORE)
Militant Shiites' Rivalry Deepens “White House is pursuing a Hakim-led moderate coalition to isolate extremists, in particular al-Sadr.” (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Soldier, Outflanked “Gen. John P. Abizaid rose to become the top American commander for the Middle East in July 2003 with impeccable credentials for the job: A Lebanese American who speaks Arabic with a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies from Harvard, Abizaid was considered a soldier's soldier.” (READ MORE)
Iran President Facing Revival of Students’ Ire “The Iranian student movement is reawakening and may be spearheading a widespread resistance against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.” (READ MORE)
Bush Asserts That Victory in Iraq Is Still ‘Achievable’ “President Bush warned Americans on Wednesday that the war in Iraq would require “difficult choices and additional sacrifices” in the coming year, but he firmly rejected the notion that the war could not be won and vowed that the United States would not be “run out of the Middle East” by extremists and radicals.” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
U.S. transfers security to Iraq in Shi'ite south “U.S. forces ceded control of southern Najaf province to Iraqi police and soldiers, who marked the occasion yesterday with a parade and martial-arts demonstrations.” (READ MORE)
Nick Grace writing at Bill Roggio writes Somalia Panel Discussion - Global Crisis Watch “Dahir Mirreh Jibril, Permanent Secretary in Charge of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and Niagara University's Dr. Abdiweli Ali join Nick Grace to dissect the situation on the ground inside Somalia.” (READ MORE)
Omar of Iraq the Model writes Understanding the question is half of the answer... “That's what we used to say back in school then when we became dentists and doctors we changed that to 'diagnosis is half the treatment', and it looks that's where we're standing right now. Everyone now seems to agree that any plan to fix the situation in Iraq has to have a military component along with a political one. The latter, as I understood, is supposed to bring together or facilitate a set of compromises and mutual concessions among the political powers in Iraq in order to achieve an acceptable level of stability and allow for sustained progress…” (READ MORE)
GWOTdotUS writes Breaker, breaker one-nine; America, where are you? “I have been doing a great deal of thinking about this war, how support for it keeps slipping into nothingness lately. I simply don’t understand the rationale behind many of my fellow Americans’ thinking. Never in our nation’s history, have we been attacked and the majority of Americans not been behind the proceeding war.” (READ MORE)
Charlie Munn of OPFOR (Deployed) writes Holiday Wishes “Hi folks, Your friendly neighborhood staff officer reporting from abroad. First of all, I have to say that being in an infantry battalion is hands-down the best place to be as a young officer. My dealings with the folks up at brigade (only one echelon up) have proven to me that experience at a lower level unit is an absolute necessity. Lots of officers don’t get the opportunity to serve at my level. An officer of my rank at a division or above command would be relegated to “assistant to the chief coffee fetcher” or some other functionally bereft position. Here, I’m in charge…”(READ MORE)
On the Web:
Victor Davis Hanson writing at Townhall.com writes Why radical Islam - and why now? “Read any newspaper or turn on any news broadcast and you're bound to encounter stories of Islamic radicals fighting, killing and threatening each other - and just about everyone else.” (READ MORE)
Michael McBride writing at Townhall.com writes What did you do when America was attacked? Part II-The Santini Effect. “My mom begged me to read The Great Santini, which I finally did immediately after completing OCS. It is a powerful book on ego and matriculation into manhood.” (READ MORE)
Emmett Tyrrell writing at Townhall.com writes Bust the joint up “The Democrats' abandonment of this war makes it apparent that an entirely new strategy is necessary if our military is to be used to achieve our diplomatic goals.” (READ MORE)
Mary Grabar writing at Townhall.com writes The girls on The View “After watching The View and following the inane statements made on the program, I’ve come to the conclusion that it really is true what Aristotle, Saint Paul, and John Milton said: Women, without male guidance, are illogical, frivolous, and incapable of making any decisions beyond what to make for dinner.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden writes Now We're Talking “George Bush and Tony Blair, rather than cave to the pressure to treat with our terrorist-supporting, nuke-wanting enemies and beat a rapid retreat from Iraq, are redirecting the conversation and couching it in their own terms.” (READ MORE)
Crazy Politico writes Want Social Justice? Shop Wal-Mart! “How does the social justice crowd live with itself? On one hand they want policies in the US that would cost workers jobs, and freeze a lot of folks at lower wages (indexing the minimum wage). Oh, they claim it's to help the current 1.5% of the workforce that paid that amount, but the truth is, it will end up hurting 5-10% of them as they lose their jobs. More above them will end up with their pay frozen, and pegged to the minimum wage as companies try and keep expenses for labor in line.” (READ MORE)
Ian of HotAir writes Report says Sandy Berger hid Archive documents “Just as we all suspected: ‘Former national security adviser Sandy Berger removed classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them under a construction trailer, the Archives inspector general reported Wednesday.’” (READ MORE)
Don Surber writes Give It To Them “AP reported tonight ‘Pentagon wants $99.7B more for wars.’ So give it to them. Congress authorized the war in Afghanistan 5 years ago and the war in Iraq 4 years ago. This is not ‘M*A*S*H.’ Wars are not sitcoms. You cannot cancel them after a few seasons because they are unpopular.” (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House writes Boehlert Missing the Point About AP Sourcing “As the quest to unravel the mystery surrounding Captain Jamil Hussein as a source for approximately 61 AP stories originating from Iraq continues, several critics from the left have weighed in to denounce the effort – most by using the curious logic that it doesn’t really matter, that things are so bad in Iraq what’s the difference if a couple of stories turn out to be created out of whole cloth by the enemy?” (READ MORE)
Greyhawk writes January, 2006 “In the blogosphere news seems to be ‘old’ after about 15 minutes. But here at Mudville, we think the passage of time often reveals even more about a story than was immediately clear when it was new. With that in mind, it's time to take a look back at the year that was, as we reported it here. Like me, you might rediscover some forgotten stories here, or see some that you can't believe are already a year old. You might even find something you missed the first time around, back in January, 2006.” (READ MORE lots more)
Michelle Malkin writes Tracing "Jamil Hussein's" footsteps and ignoring anti-blog hatred "After receiving initial reports from a Civilian Police Advisory Training Team (CPATT) source two days ago and investigating further, here's what I can tell you: According to two CPATT officials--one in the U.S, one in Iraq--there is no one named ‘Jamil Hussein’ working now or ever at either at the Yarmouk or al Khadra police stations. That is what they have said all along and nothing has changed.” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes Sadr Reconsiders, Part 37B “With the US talking about sending more troops to Baghdad and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani organizing a coalition to strip Nouri al-Maliki of his position as Prime Minister, Moqtada al-Sadr has apparently blinked yet again. The radical Shi'ite cleric has begun to consider a unilateral cease-fire in the sectarian war that he has masterminded in an attempt to bolster his political viability in Iraqi politics:” (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
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