A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Interrogation Research Is Lacking, Report Says “There is almost no scientific evidence to back up the U.S. intelligence community's use of controversial interrogation techniques in the fight against terrorism, and experts believe some painful and coercive approaches could hinder the ability to get good information, according to a new report from...” (READ MORE)
Some at Guantanamo Mark 5 Years in Limbo “Shackled at the wrists and blinded by special goggles, the first captives from the U.S. war in Afghanistan were ushered to makeshift prison cells thousands of miles from the battle, at the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, five years ago last week.” (READ MORE)
Iraqi Hangings Bring More Denunciations “BAGHDAD, Jan. 15 -- By the time the corpses of Saddam Hussein's half brother and another top official, hanged before dawn Monday, arrived in the village of Auja for burial, the word had spread among the mourners: The head of Hussein's brother had been severed from his body.” (READ MORE)
Choice of Martinez sparks GOP rebellion “Rebellion is brewing among conservatives on the Republican National Committee over President's Bush's attempt to ‘impose’ Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida as ‘general chairman’ of the party, who favors ‘amnesty’ for illegal aliens.” (READ MORE)
Pakistan will close four camps to foil Afghan terror “Pakistan's government will close four refugee camps near its border with Afghanistan to help prevent Afghan insurgents from gunrunning and seeking safe haven in the country, Islamabad's ambassador to the United States said yesterday.” (READ MORE)
Saddam kin beheaded by hanging “The head of Saddam Hussein's half brother Barzan Ibrahim was ripped from his body when he and another top aide to the former Iraqi dictator were hanged before dawn yesterday, a government official said.” (READ MORE)
34,452 Iraqi Civilians Killed in 2006, U.N. Says “The same day the figure was released, two back-to-back explosions killed at least 15 people and wounded 74.” (READ MORE)
51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse “For what experts say is probably the first time, more U.S. women are living without a husband than with one.” (READ MORE)Warming of Greenland “Arctic melting reveals uncharted islands and threatens to raise seas.” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
Acute Politics writes Walking On History “Here I stand, in modern-day Iraq. I have come further to fight here than any soldier of any nation before me, and I fight with weapons and equipment that lay pale the panoply of earlier armies. I represent the pinnacle of force projection and decisive battle, and yet I fight here, where unnumbered young warriors have fought and died through time stretching out of memory.” (READ MORE)
Badger 6 writes 24 - Part I “A mid-morning departure from the FOB. Today and tomorrow we have back-to-back mission sets. We will work two discrete operations in this time frame, but we will not return to the main camp until both of them are complete. This is not the usual course of action, but we have a plan that will hopefully provide is with some rest.” (READ MORE)
Badger 6 writes 24 - Part II “Team Badger is heading south. We have been on mission for 16 hours plus and we still have a ways to go. It’s after midnight and we are driving down a road that is heavily traveled during the day and we would be surprised to find anything along this route, although it is certainly not out of the realm of possibility. We keep a watchful eye as we move along.” (READ MORE)
ELF2006 writes Soldiers need immunity “If it’s good enough for the CIA (pardon...OGA) and M.I. it’s good enough for the rest of us. This has to be the first Army in history where the soldiers are threatened routinely, in fact relentlessly with dire consequences if victorious.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio writes Iranian Qods Force Agents Detained in Irbil Raid “Thursday's raid on an Iranian liaison office and the subsequent arrest of five Iranians has provided further evidence of the Islamic Republic's interference in Iraqi affairs and involvement with the insurgency. Multinational Forces - Iraq has reported the Iranians are members of Qods Force.” (READ MORE)
Omar of Iraq the Model writes What? Already running away!? “Insurgents and terrorists are already abandoning some of their positions in Baghdad and moving to Diyala, al-Sabah said. Actually the people in Diyala have every reason to worry about such migration of terror cells because in fact even without reading what those eyewitnesses and officials had to say one would expect insurgents and terrorists to choose hiding in Diyala rather than other provinces until the security operations are through.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Jules Crittenden writes Coup “It is increasingly clear that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will continue to obstruct U.S. efforts to take down the greatest threat to stability in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. At present, the U.S. military is in fact strengthening al-Sadr in Baghdad with attacks on Sunni insurgents in the Haifa Street area. Nothing wrong with taking down Sunni insurgents, but not if al-Sadr and his militia are allowed to survive and benefit from it.” (READ MORE)
Dinesh D’Souza writes Pornography -- The Real Perversion “On a recent trip to Istanbul I encountered a group of Muslim students who insisted that American culture was morally perverse. They called it ‘pornographic.’ And they charged that this culture is now being imposed on the rest of the world.” (READ MORE)
Cal Thomas writes New Jersey to veterans: Drop dead? “The New Jersey legislature thinks setting aside a day on which to remember those who have bought our freedom with their blood is not as important as it used to be.” (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell writes Another Vietnam? “Nothing is easier than to second-guess decisions made in wartime. Anyone who has bothered to read the history of wars knows that very few wars have been without disastrous surprises, often on both sides.” (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh writes The Left's Tiresome "Chicken-hawk" Mantra “Senator Barbara Boxer has mastered the art of rudeness much better than she has cultivated wisdom on weighty matters of state.” (READ MORE)
Rich Galen writes Rooting for Failure “The new Democratic majority in the House is pretending to accomplish a bunch of things during the first 100 hours of the 100th Congress.” (READ MORE)
Patrick J. Buchanan writes Mr. Bush: Meet Walter Jones “America is four years into a bloody debacle in Iraq not merely because Bush and Cheney marched us in, or simply because neocon propagandists lied about Saddam's nuclear program and WMDs, and Iraqi ties to al-Qaida, anthrax attacks and 9-11.” (READ MORE)
Some Soldier's Mom writes Wednesday Morning “…The same thought keeps playing across my brain like an old movie marquee: ‘He’s going back.’ It circles and appears again, ‘He’s going back.’ I can feel my chest tighten. I find it a little hard to breathe. I can hear my heart beat in my ears. I recognize the classic slither and squeeze of anxiety. I was preoccupied with these thoughts all day. I should have been working on our tax records. I should have been working on the meeting notes of the last Board meeting I attended. I couldn’t concentrate.” (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson writes Whose Fiasco? “It should be said at the outset that this volume belongs to a fast-growing genre of such journalistic exposés about Iraq in which military officers — openly when retired, usually in private while on duty — former civilian bureaucrats, and Middle East diplomats castigate the three-year American experience in Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit writes Jihadi warriors heroically car-bomb college students, killing 65 “They were occupiers. They were occupying the bus stop. A car bomb and a suicide bomber killed 60 people and wounded 110, including many students blown up as they waited at the entrance to a university in Baghdad on Tuesday, police said…” (READ MORE)
Kim Priestap writes A Cruel Stroke of Fate to be Born to into Radical Islam “I know that's not a surprise to any of us, but when I read actual details of what life is like, particularly for women, in Saudi I can't help but feel horrified. Take for example this article in the NY Sun. Allahpundit linked to the piece because it reports of the possibility that the Saudis may ban the letter X because it looks too much like a Christian cross - and Allah has determined from research that the report is accurate. As crazy and outrageous as that is, what sickened me came a few paragraphs later:” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes Kucinich To Bring Back The Fairness Doctrine “The continuing impact of the Democratic takeover of Congress has just gotten worse. In a little-noticed development from this weekend, Dennis Kucinich announced that he would use his position on a House government-reform subcommittee to focus on the Federal Communications Commission -- and that the Fairness Doctrine may make a comeback:” (READ MORE)
The Anchoress writes Lamb & Dragon: Counter Terrorism with Love “I think I can count on my hands the number of times I have revisited a past post specifically to discuss a response to it, but my post on reassessing Iraq generated a great deal of email (very little of it the usual “hate” mail, which surprised me), and a few interesting blogger responses. Nate of The Lamb and Dragon blog took some issue with me, from a Catholic perspective and wondered if I have lost sight of the supernatural componants of this war:” (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped writes The Use and Mis-use of Psychology “Recently, Psychology Today, a mass media news-magazine which has published for many years and attempts to popularize Psychological ideas, published The Ideological Animal, by Jay Dixit. The premise of the article is laid out in the subtitle: ‘We think our political stance is the product of reason, but we're easily manipulated and surprisingly malleable. Our essential political self is more a stew of childhood temperament, education, and fear of death. Call it the 9/11 effect.’” (READ MORE)
Wretchard writes Call and Raise 2 “The explosively formed projectiles referred to in Call and Raise said to have been supplied from Iran to Shi'ite militias are specially designed to attack armored vehicles. Essentially, these devices consist of an explosive designed to deform a block of metal and shoot it forward, still molten, in the direction of the target vehicle.” (READ MORE)
Rightwing Guy writes Cut and Run Democrats? You Better Believe It! “Why would any sane and supposedly intelligent person openly advocate in defense of their own enemies? Would this type of extreme dysfunctional behavior be characterized as insane?” (READ MORE)
Kat in Ga writes ROCK ON! (Memorial Garden for PFC Aaron Kincaid) "Towards the end of September, 2006, PFC Aaron Kincaid was killed in Iraq. He left behind a wife and two small children, his mother, his brother, and his father. From what his mom, Marcia, has told me, he was very much an "outdoorsy" person. She is in the process of putting together a memorial garden for Aaron, and is trying to collect a rock from every state." (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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