A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Bush Works To Rally Support for Iraq 'Surge' “President Bush yesterday began promoting his plan to send more troops to Iraq, bringing more than 30 Republican senators to the White House as part of a major campaign to rally the American people behind another effort to stabilize the country.” (READ MORE)
House Bill Backs Additional Reforms From 9/11 Report “House Democrats announced legislation yesterday aimed at implementing many of the remaining reforms suggested by the Sept. 11 commission, including calls for more thorough cargo screening, better emergency communications and more money for cities at the highest risk of terrorist attack.” (READ MORE)
Bush to reveal new Iraq strategy “President Bush is hoping to reset the political debate tomorrow night and spur Congress to reconsider what can be accomplished in Iraq when he lays out his new war strategy, which is expected to include a temporary increase of 20,000 troops.” (READ MORE)
Illegals become repeat criminals “Criminal aliens set free on the streets of America -- instead of being deported after serving their time -- are being rearrested as many as six more times by U.S. authorities, according to a government audit released yesterday.” (READ MORE)
Chavez to nationalize 'strategic' sectors “President Hugo Chavez announced plans yesterday to nationalize Venezuela's electrical and telecommunications companies, pledging to create a socialist state in a bold move with echoes of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.” (READ MORE)
Tenet memoir under scrutiny “The CIA has submitted portions of a book manuscript by George J. Tenet to the White House for review amid speculation the former CIA director's memoirs will be critical of President Bush.” (READ MORE)
Democrats Split Over Iraq Approach “Democrats are exploring ways to block financing for a military expansion without being accused of abandoning U.S. forces.” (READ MORE)
House Democrats’ Security Bill Draws Doubts “Some Senate Democrats and the Bush administration object to security mandates in the plan, citing concerns about cost and practicality.” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
U.S. launches airstrike in Somalia “U.S. airstrike hit targets in southern Somalia where Islamic militants were believed to be sheltering suspects in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies, Somali officials and witnesses said Tuesday. Many people were reported killed.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio writes U.S. Gunship fires on al-Qaeda Leader and Operative in Somalia
“The United States forces of Combine Joint Task Force Horn of Africa based out of Djibouti have actively weighed in on the fighting in Somalia. CBS News reports an AC-130 gunship has struck at al-Qaeda's command cell in Somalia.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten writes So This Is Our Victory “BINT JBAIL, SOUTH LEBANON – I drove to Hezbollah’s stronghold in South Lebanon to survey the devastation from the war in July, to check in on the United Nations peacekeeping force, and to talk to civilians who were used as human shields in the battle with Israel. My American journalist friend Noah Pollak from Azure Magazine in Jerusalem went with me.” (READ MORE)
Omar of Iraq the Model writes A new crackdown is about to begin... “A new security plan has been made and action is on the way to Baghdad's streets. Our experiences with the various previous plans weren't exactly good and results were almost always below expectations for several reasons including the bad guys working around plans, incompetence of the Iraqi security element and in the last case political orders and one of the most recent examples to such interference among many others was when Maliki ordered the removal of barricades from around Sadr city.” (READ MORE)
Marine Historian writes HONOR, COURAGE, COMMITMENT “[N]ot just a bumper sticker." I spent most of the past week with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines in their area of operations near Fallujah. My final interview of the week was with their Battalion Commander. In response to a question about his Marines and their actions and approach in the difficult area that they have been assigned, he described how proud he was of them.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Jules Crittenden writes Democratic War Plan “Democratic War Plan here. Because the Democratic majority in Congress is the President of the United States. And the Democrats have a plan. It's here.” (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson writes A War of Endurance “As we begin a new year, with a new Congress being sworn in Thursday, it's a good time to take stock of the ‘global war on terror.’ The enormous conventional military power of the United States probably ensures that we will not lose in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond. Yet the considerable advantages of the jihadists suggest that we might not necessarily win, either.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit writes U.S. gunship attacks Al Qaeda in Somalia; Update: Success? “The left gets a new root cause, the rest of us get that rush of well being that invariably comes with payback. Everybody wins.” (READ MORE)
Tammy Bruce writes Fox This Morning on the Dems and War Funding “Why am I not fond of the Most Excellent Grandmother Who Does Everything for Kids and Being in Congress is Really Just a Hobby for Granny? Because she has a voting record that exposes her hypocrisy on issues of war and safety for this nation. While she voted in support of Bill Clinton's adventure in bombing the bejesus out of the former Yugoslavia (to save Muslims, mind you) she voted against the war in Iraq in 2002. Here's a small sample of her positions:” (READ MORE)
Don Surber writes How many people will the peace movement kill this time? “Last time out, Cindy Sheehan and her ilk led to the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Michael Dickey put the carnage since 1975 by the North Vietnamese government and its proxies at 7.5 million people including up to 3 million in the killing fields of Cambodia.” (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped writes Know Your Enemy “Last week I wrote a post about the chronic failure of American Intelligence Agencies to recognize the nature of the people we are fighting. I traced this from our State Department's past perfidy in covering up Yasser Arafat's direct involvement in the murder of American Diplomats to the current minimization of Iran's role in the violence in Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Scott Johnson writes The protocols of "the New York money people" “James Taranto refers to Wesley Clark's recent statement as ‘the protocols of 'the New York money people.' Here is what Clark said as recounted by Arianna Huffington: ‘Clark was really angry about what he'd read in this column by UPI Editor at Large Arnaud de Borchgrave. In the piece, which Clark quickly forwarded to my BlackBerry from his Trio [sic], de Borchgrave details Bibi Netanyahu leading the charge to lobby the Bush administration to take out Iran's nuclear facilities, and paints U.S. air strikes against Iran in 2007/08 as all-but-a-done deal.’” (READ MORE)
Some Soldier’s Moms writes Dear Mr. President... “[A] few thoughts from a Soldier’s Mom in a time of war with all the talk of increasing troop levels. I’ve been losing sleep the last few nights… my mind racing at 85 mph about the whole ‘new strategy’ about to be announced. I’m not only anxious about the President’s announcement -- I’m agitated at all the politicians and ‘experts’ popping up for 15 seconds in the limelight before the news is -- well, news.” (READ MORE)
Curt of Flopping Aces writes The Anti-War Soldier Who Wasn't “A few days ago Rusty from The Jawa Report came across a website that is owned and operated by the Islamic Army of Iraq that purported to have a video of a US Marine telling the viewer how wrong the Iraq war was:” (READ MORE)
Dymphna of Gates of Vienna writes Rep. Keith Ellison’s Excellent Opportunity “…You have been elected to serve the Fifth District of Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives. This is a crucially important opportunity, not only for all of your district’s constituents, but also for Muslims in America — even Muslims worldwide, who watch American politics with close attention.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins writes Glenn Greenwald's Chickenhawk Argument “Over at Unclaimed Territory, lefty blowhard Glenn Greenwald is advancing the same old, tired, chickenhawk argument libs have been using for years, but in case, he's taking 2200 words to say the same thing most libs can do in two sentences.” (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex writes Surge “I’ve been agnostic on the issue of a troop surge that’s been kicked around Washington in the last several weeks, at least as it has been described thus far and at least partly because I’m ill-qualified to speak on the issue of ground force end strength. That hasn’t seemed to stop anyone else however, including various pundits and retired general officers, none of whom speak with any degree of consensus. With all that in mind I thought I might as well plunge right in.” (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee writes What Happened to the AP's Hurriyah Mosque Attack Video?
“Kathleen Carroll continues to attack those questioning her news organization’s ability to turn four burned mosques and several homes into one burned mosque, and their ability to turn 24 dead men, women and children into six, while still not acknowledging that they cited an al Qaeda-linked source to get the number up to 24 in the first place. The Associated Press and Executive Editor Carroll are still claiming to stand behind their reporting when the ‘facts’ of the story have been rewritten in the neighborhood of 75-percent...” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes The Addiction Remains Strong “The new Democratic majority in Congress has made ethics reform one of their centerpiece issues for the 110th session, and they have some good ideas about how to clean up the legislative branch. One of their proposals contains a ban against the use of corporate jets at commercial rates, a huge discount on charter rates. Unfortunately, Democrats in the Senate have exhibited less enthusiasm for this reform:” (READ MORE)
Blackfive writes The Surge (of Information) “In Preparation for the President's Announcement on Wednesday...and the subsequent infighting among our politicians who should ALL be focused on winning this freaking thing instead of staying the course or pulling out...it is my hope that these links to thoughts about winning in Iraq might help the discussion.” (READ MORE)
JonJayRay writing at Stop the ACLU writes Naughty Virgil Goode “Virginia Republican Congressman Virgil Goode has come under a lot of fire for a letter he wrote to constituents about immigration last December. He wants to stop illegal immigration and cut back on legal immigration — particularly immigration from Muslim lands. You can read the letter here. What he says seems a fairly mainstream viewpoint to me.” (READ MORE)
Wretchard of The Belmont Club writes Is a Democratic Iraq Still Attainable? “Bing West is his literate, clear thinking self. It is superfluous to add to his exposition and the reader is best served by Reading the Whole Thing. Gerecht's argument is less straightforward, expressed in a rich but somewhat academic manner, compounded in equal parts of history and policy analysis. But the key idea is that America's only hope lies in the Shia commitment to democracy, which is real for all of its defects. And therefore America must build on it and not allow Shi'a radical elements to hijack the process.” (READ MORE)
Celestial Junk Blog has Saddam’s Execution; and Our Loss of Humanity “The wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Saddam hanging seem to be going on unabated. From the UN’s new Secretary General to heads of state and ordinary folks, the ‘disgust’ over the circumstances surrounding the execution and the fact that the hanging took place at all don’t seem to be letting up.” (READ MORE)
T.F.Boggs writes Why A Troop Increase Isn’t That Bad of an Idea “Lots of talk has been made lately of the majority Republican idea of sending more troops to Iraq in an attempt to quell terrorism once and for all. Democrats (most of them at least) want us to pull out of Iraq and come home so that not one more soldier will die, or something like that. My real guess at what the democrats want is for the troops to come home so John Kerry will stop putting his foot in his mouth when he refers to them thus making potential voters angry.” (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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