A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Race and Gender Make Democrats' Field Historic “Democrats moved a step closer yesterday to what shapes up as one of the most historic and compelling contests ever for their party's presidential nomination, a study in contrasting styles and candidacies in which race and gender play central roles in the competition.” (READ MORE)
The Second 100 Hours “Nancy Pelosi may soon see why Newt Gingrich described his Contract With America agenda in terms of days, not hours.” (READ MORE)
Lawmakers' Lobbying Spouses Avoid Hill Reforms “When Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) rose to the Senate floor last summer and passionately argued for keeping the federal estate tax, he left one person with an interest in retaining the tax unmentioned.” (READ MORE)
Ban vows reform at U.N. “New U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday pledged to complete much-needed reforms at the United Nations and urged all nations to make efforts to secure Iraq, saying the war-torn nation ‘is the whole world's problem.’”(READ MORE)
Ex-U.N. official indicted in oil-food scam “A federal grand jury in New York yesterday indicted Benon Sevan, former administrator of the United Nations' oil-for-food program, on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.” (READ MORE)
Arab states raise doubts about al-Maliki “Arab governments are skeptical about the ability of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to improve the security situation in his country, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday after a series of meetings with leaders in the Middle East.” (READ MORE)
Obama takes 1st step to '08 run “Sen. Barack Obama yesterday formed a presidential exploratory committee, citing a fundamental desire to change the ‘bitter and partisan’ nature of politics and positioning himself as an anti-war candidate, drawing implicit contrasts with Sen. Clinton.” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
Michelle Malkin writes What I Saw in Iraq “Last week, I embedded with U.S. Army troops at Forward Operating Base Justice in northern Baghdad…There's nothing glamorous or romantic about these missions. No one will make a movie about our men and women in uniform engaged in the tedious, painstaking business of moving Iraq toward stability and governability.” (READ MORE)
Bryan of HotAir writes Assessing Iraq “Michelle and I spent four days patrolling the environs around Forward Operating Base Justice in north and west Baghdad last week. FOB Justice is near one functional neighborhood, Khadimiyah, one mostly recovered neighborhood, Al Salam, one dysfunctional neighborhood, Al Hurriyah, and an al Qaeda-influenced area the name of which I never learned.” (READ MORE)
Buck Sargent writes SURGING AHEAD WITH THE NEW STRATEGERY “Whenever you hear someone state that there is ‘no military solution in Iraq, only a diplomatic or political one,’ consider that code for ‘I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about.’ There is indeed still a military solution; it simply has never been tried. ‘Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons,’ admitted the man Newsweek calls the Man Who Blew Too Much. ‘There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents. And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have.’” (READ MORE)
Badger 6 writes The Gathering Storm “Recently you may have seen reports of a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadineja to several Latin American countries, most notably Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. Mr. Ahmadineja made the rounds of all the new and hip left-wing governments in South America. So what, you may ask, does this have to do with the blog of Soldier in Iraq? Indulge me please.” (READ MORE)
Bill Ardolino of INDC writes An Interview with a Fallujan Police Officer “The difficulty of obtaining this interview underscores the political and cultural complexities of the American effort in Fallujah. In order to get a few minutes of alone candor with an Iraqi patrolman, the Marines had to coordinate a task that excused his visit to the American wing of the station. Some Iraqi policeman - typically the ones who are in positions to work most closely with the Marines and civilian advisors - like the Americans, some tolerate the Americans, some dislike the Americans, and it's widely believed that a few actually (at least passively) work with insurgents. Paradoxically in most cases, the majority want Americans to leave, but not yet. (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio writes Reviewing the Waziristan Accord: Negotiating with the Taliban Shura “Just one day after helicopter strikes on a Taliban and al-Qaeda training camp in Zamazola, South Wazirstan, which killed upwards of 30 Taliban and al-Qaeda, Dawn reports on a meeting held last month between Jan Aurakzai, the governor of the Northwest Frontier Province, and the tribal jirga from North Waziristan.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten writes The Liberal Cleric of the Dahiyeh “HARET HREIK, LEBANON – In the dahiyeh, the suburb, of Haret Hreik south of Beirut, where Hezbollah built its command and control center and the “capital” of its illegal state-within-a-state, lives Sayyed Mohammad Ali El Husseini, a moderate Shia cleric with a doctorate in religion from Qom in Iran, who steadfastly and publicly opposes Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s doctrine of war and jihad. He uses the Koran and the Islamic religion as the basis for an alternative vision of peace, independence, and democracy for the people of Lebanon.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Jules Crittenden writes Saudis in Iraq? “The Saudis would very much like us to stay in Iraq. We're holding Iran at bay, and preventing a Sunni bloodbath. We are doing their work for them. Again. Thus far, they've paid lip service to those goals, but reportedly have failed to stop money from flowing to the Sunni insurgents who kill Americans and Shiites, outcomes that do nothing to help us help them.” (READ MORE)
Kathryn Jean Lopez writes The Democratic "Vision" “I'll be the first conservative to admit it's a depressing time to be one. November hurt. To add insult to injury, San Fran Nan's coronation this month made me a bit woozy. Even so, listening to the liberal Iraq non-strategies, I'd be more depressed if I were a Democrat.” (READ MORE)
Michael Medved writes Pro-Pelosi coverage: Born of consensus, not conspiracy “The opening days of the new Democratic Congress provide a forceful reminder that America’s most powerful media outlets don’t play fair and won’t cover partisan politics with anything approaching objectivity.” (READ MORE)
Austin Bay writes "Unified Action" in the 21st Century's War for Modernity “The War on Terror does not have a Winston Churchill, a bulldog poet defending civilization with both visceral determination and energizing eloquence.” (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell writes Another Vietnam? Part II “Critics of the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq have long demanded that he admit his mistakes. But they have not admitted their own past mistakes, much less admit the potentially catastrophic mistake they will make in the future if they make it impossible to sustain military operations there.” (READ MORE)
Debra J. Saunders writes Boxer's Personal Hit on Personal Price “Last week's exchange between Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice turned into the chew toy of cable news shows over the weekend -- with Democrats arguing that Boxer was right to point out that Rice, a single woman, has no children fighting in Iraq, and White House spokesman Tony Snow indignant that Boxer had made ‘a great leap backward for feminism.’” (READ MORE)
Baron Bodissey of Gates of Vienna writes Beyond the Pale “Move over, Virgil Goode! You have just been ousted from your position as the most racist, bigoted, hateful Rethuglican politician in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The new holder of the title is state delegate Frank D. Harwood, of Hanover County.” (READ MORE)
Gaius of Blue Crab Boulevard writes Some Hopeful Signs “It is only a beginning, and not a particularly strong one at that. Nonetheless it is the most open public support that the US has received to date from Middle Eastern Arab states. A somewhat vaguely worded resolution has been issued by eight governments working in concert with the US to condemn Iran's meddling in Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express writes Pictures That Never Make The Front Page “Today was a bloody day in Iraq - over 100 killed by terrorists making the journey to visit the 72 virgins. Most of those killed were college students - Iraqi college students. They were killed by terrorists - most likely Iraqi. The media has pictures of the blackened cars and the blood in the street. It is a tragedy that the innocents are killed by their fellow Muslims. But while flipping through the pictures over at Yahoo this evening I came across a couple of pictures that fly in the face of the ‘Iraq is going to Hell’ theme that the media and the Dems have been trumpeting for months.” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl writes Moderate Islam: Advocating Hate And Pedophilia “Want to see the face of some so-called moderate Islamists from America and mostly Britain who talk moderation and preach hate and jihad behind closed doors when the Kuffar, that's you, isn't looking? Good Lord, can you imagine the moonbats trying to debate these hateful idiots? They certainly don't seem to want to fight them. Perhaps that's why they live in denial of the global threat from an increasingly radicalized Islam.” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes French Diplomat Puts An End To Latest Appeasement “Despite the involvement of Iran in both sides of the sectarian strife and their development of nuclear weapons, France's Jacques Chirac decided that Iran could partner with him to settle the troubles in Lebanon -- troubles that Iran has deliberately fomented. He resolved to send his diplomats to Teheran despite the sanctions that the UN had just voted to impose on the mullahcracy. It fell to his chief diplomat, Phillipe Douste-Blazy, to tell Chirac that he needed his head examined:” (READ MORE)
Rightwing Guy writes Is Obama a Real Player? “What is it exactly that Barack Hussein Obama has accomplished that has garnered him this much attention from the liberal leaning mass media? He has been in the Senate all of 2 years and for some reason he has the credentials already to run this country?” (READ MORE)
Celestial Junk has The Little Mosque in London “I keep waiting for the groundswell of moderate Muslim opposition to Islamic Totalitarianism to sweep aside the extremists. The crickets chirp; the apologists whine; and all the while more children and more adults are radicalized.” (READ MORE)
Hugh Hewitt writes You Can't Be For Victory After You Were Against It “This AP story details how the Democrats intend to get the GOP representatives and senators on record about the president's war policy. Good. That will indeed be a useful marker of seriousness on the war that will matter a great deal to the GOP base.” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea writes The only "draft" is the one blowing through Rangel's Ears “Once again, like the proverbial bad penny, Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) is filing yet another "bring back the draft" bill. His motive is transparently clear, and one he's repeatedly stated: by forcing people into the military, he hopes to end the war in Iraq -- and any future military entanglements.” (READ MORE)
Yankeemom writes Needing Attention “As we all are aware, we have a ‘New Plan’ regarding the war in Iraq. Well, better thinkers than I have stated their thoughts on this and you can surf the milblogs and political blogs to read opinions and analysis in all shapes and sizes. I have many thoughts on this myself but the bottom line for me is let the military do what it does best - win! And come home!” (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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