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's Iraq Plan Meets Skepticism On Capitol Hill “President Bush's proposal to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq encountered strong bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill yesterday, and his top national security advisers, dispatched to defend the strategy, were greeted with a skepticism not seen from Congress over the past six years.” (READ MORE)
U.S. Troops Went Into Somalia After Raid “NAIROBI, Jan. 11 -- A small team of American military personnel entered southern Somalia to try to determine exactly who was killed in a U.S. airstrike Monday that targeted suspected al-Qaeda figures thought to be hiding in swampy mangrove forests along the Indian Ocean, U.S. sources said Thursday.” (READ MORE)
Waiver Plan Would Aid Some Asylum-Seekers “The Bush administration yesterday announced a plan to grant waivers to foreign nationals whose applications for refugee status and asylum have been hindered by strict interpretations of anti-terrorism laws.” (READ MORE)
Rice, Gates face Hill heat over Iraq plan “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met hostility yesterday on Capitol Hill when they tried to defend President Bush's decision to send about 21,500 more combat troops to Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Senate Democrats stall pork-reform vote “Senate Democrats backed off promises to reform pork spending yesterday, using procedural tactics similar to ones they attacked Republicans for employing in past Congresses.” (READ MORE)
Rocket fired at U.S. embassy in Athens “ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The U.S. Embassy in Athens came under fire early Friday from a rocket that exploded inside the modern glass-front building.” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
Bill Roggio writes Iraq: The greatest enemy is the time “After spending two months out of the last 12 in the land between the two rivers, one thing I've learned is nothing is simple about Iraq, and there are no easy solutions to the vast array of problems. But despite the constant media portrayal of Iraq as a hopelessly violent nation, Iraq is not a nation without hope.” (READ MORE)
GWOTdotUS writes The Iran Campaign “I have been catching a lot of talk from the wire about the case for war with Iran. While, admittedly, I haven’t thought too long or hard about this particular subject, I will offer my two cents of what little I have thought about it.” (READ MORE)
Acute Politics writes Walking on History “I am a shameless romantic, a slightly better than average student of history, and there is a current of idealism under my skin that has not yet been dulled by reality. Sometimes, these qualities come together and leave me thinking to myself of times long gone and stories all but forgotten. Lately, I've been thinking of the paradoxical enormity and insignificance of my presence here.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Lorie Byrd writes Replace pity with true support “I have been married to a Marine Corps veteran for the past 15 years, and I am confident in saying that sympathy is not what those in the U.S. armed forces want. They want the support and the respect of those they risk life and limb to protect.” (READ MORE)
Oliver North writes POTUS gets tough “Despite recommendations to the contrary in this column last week, President Bush announced Wednesday night that he's ‘committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq.’” (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh writes Choosing victory over surrender “President Bush has now done what Democrats have been demanding of him for years. But are they satisfied? Of course not.” (READ MORE)
Jonah Goldberg writes At least Bush wants to win “Americans are torn between two irreconcilable positions on the Iraq war. Some want the war to be a success - variously defined - and some want the war to be over.” (READ MORE)
Mona Charen writes Are We Doing Everything to Win? “A White House official involved in developing policy on Iraq tells me that the Bush administration is unanimous on one subject, namely, that defeat in Iraq would be a catastrophe for the United States.” (READ MORE)
Rich Galen writes Rooting for Failure “On Canadian television, yesterday, I was asked whether I thought the plan presented by President Bush would work in Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden writes Top 10 Things You Can Do to Keep Guantanamo Open “Amnesty International is celebrating the 5th anniversary of free tropical vacations for terrorists away from all the cares of martyrdom with a call to close the place.” (READ MORE)
Bruce Thornton writes Just Deserts - Separating Hussein's execution from therapy. “In Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, a ‘committee of sappy women’ petition the governor to pardon the murderous Injun Joe. ‘If he had been Satan himself,’ Twain snorts, ‘there would have been plenty of weaklings ready to scribble their names to a pardon petition, and drip a tear on it from their permanently impaired and leaky waterworks.’ I thought of this passage as I read with disgust the international reaction to the hanging of Saddam Hussein.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit writes Video: The last decent man in Iraq “It’s Iyad Jamal al-Din. He’s a secularist Shiite MP. He pops up from time to time on MEMRI dressed like a Sadrist but displaying the most astonishingly incongruous good sense and decency you’ll ever see on Arab television.” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea writes Suppose they gave a peace and nobody came? “This morning's Boston Globe has a column that said that it was long past time for the United States to once again ‘be a partner for peace in the Middle East.’ The gist of the piece is that the US must push for more negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, with an eye towards a ‘real’ peace agreement. I find myself astonished. But then I remember that I'm reading the Boston Globe, and I am disappointed with myself.” (READ MORE)
Blue Crab Boulevard writes Tidal Wave “Oh, please. The Associated Press is doing it's all-out level best here but their article really fails the stink test. They write an approving article about the huge wave of anti-war protests ‘across the country.’ And then they actually report what happened. San Francisco managed to muster ‘several hundred protesters.’ But there's more!” (READ MORE)
Don Surber writes Terrorists react to the president’s speech “President Bush told Americans on Wednesday, OK, give me one last shot at pacifying Iraq, and I’ll bring the troops home. The reaction from the Least Generation was waaaah, we want the troops home yesterday.” (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House writes The 'Glorious' Burden “I must start by stating the obvious. I am not a psychiatrist, psychologist, or liberal know it all who tries to play at psychoanalyzing political opponents by ascribing laughable motivations or evil intent to people whose only psychological malady is that they fail to see the brilliance and simple goodness of liberals and left wing dogma. Armchair Freuds and Jungs abound on the left and it can get rather tiresome being told that you suffer from some kind of mental disease simply because you disagree with someone politically.” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express writes The President and The War Hero “While standing with the family while the citation was read, Corporal Dunham's mother was bravely trying to hold back her tears. The President of the United States of America reached over and clasped the hand of this grieving mother. When it seemed as if Mrs. Dunham's control was fading, the President asked her if she was okay. All the while the President of the United States struggled to hold in his emotions until a few tears streaked his own cheeks.” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl writes So, If Nancy Pelosi Is So Smart ... “For months we've been told about how sharp is our nation's newest and first female Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) Wealthy CA. So, what is it in her genuinely Machiavellian political instincts that would compel the Speaker to combine these public relations would-be gems?” (READ MORE)
Cassandra writes The Hopeful vs. The Hopeless “After the President's historic speech Wednesday night, the media rushed to demonstrate they would pay any price, bear any burden to assure the defeat of his proposal. Those who expected some attempt at balance or open mindedness were sadly mistaken.” (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee writes AP: Discrediting Jamil's Sources “A wise and well-traveled journalist spoke with me via email yesterday regarding the stupidity of mistakes made by the large and the arrogant Goliaths of our world: ‘...One thing they ALWAYS do, in my experience, is make MAJOR mistakes in the very beginning. Mistakes that are so major that people say, "Nope, that can't be true. They never would do something that stupid." But they do. And then the big people usually rely on intimidation...and if that doesn't work (and it's not with you on this), those initial huge errors they make become HUGE and inescapable...’” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes Arab Nations Support The Surge “Not everyone opposes the Bush administration's surge plan for Iraq, not even in the Middle East. Arab nations that do business with the US have quietly pressed the White House to find ways to stay engaged in Iraq, fearful of both the collapse of the keystone nation in the region and the rise of Iran:” (READ MORE)
Dafydd writes Building a Case for Casus Belli “It's a sad fact that in today's world, no good deed goes unpunished. America is the most generous of all countries, not just of our treasure but our blood: no other country on earth would have led a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein when it was so much easier just to mass troops along Iraq's border and threaten war -- in order to extort a huge oil-lease jackpot, like everyone else was doing.” (READ MORE)
Belmont Club writes The Departure of the Elves “One commentator named Abdikarim, bristling at ouster of the Islamic Courts Union from Somalia remarked in a newspaper that one day the Christians, not the Muslims would be hunted. He is somewhat behind the times. The Christians are already being hunted. Der Spiegel talks about the unacknowledged ethnic cleansing: the latest and perhaps final departure of Christians from the Middle East.” (READ MORE)
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