A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Libby found guilty on 4 counts “A federal jury yesterday found former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Jr. guilty on four counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.” (READ MORE)
Bush lauds 'surge' results “President Bush yesterday touted positive early results of his troop "surge" in Iraq and urged patience with the plan, though the administration says privately it knows it has only a short time to produce substantive results.” (READ MORE)
U.S. tells N. Korea to 'come clean' “The chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea predicted yesterday that the North will meet its obligations under the first phase of last month's agreement to shut down its nuclear programs, but warned that the next stage will be much more difficult.” (READ MORE)
McCain seeks independents' primary votes “Sen. John McCain's campaign is mounting a stealth effort to change Republican presidential nomination rules in California to allow independents to vote in the Feb. 5 primary, party and campaign officials in the state have told The Washington Times.” (READ MORE)
College returns cross to chapel “Administrators at the College of William & Mary, responding to months of harsh criticism from alumni, ordered the immediate return of a cross to the Williamsburg school's historic Wren Chapel yesterday.” (READ MORE)
U.S. prepares for thousands to flee Cuba “Fearing a potential mass exodus of Cubans when Fidel Castro dies, dozens of federal, state and local agencies, along with the military, will participate in a massive two-day training exercise beginning today to hone migrant-interdiction skills.” (READ MORE)
For an Opaque White House, A Reflection of New Scrutiny “Shortly before he was inaugurated for his second term, President Bush was asked why no one was held responsible for the mistakes of the first. ‘We had an accountability moment,’ he replied, ‘and that's called the 2004 elections.’” (READ MORE)
Libby 'Pilloried' For Leak, Panel Members Believed “The jurors who huddled around two pushed-together conference tables for 10 days, meticulously filling 34 pages of facts from the trial on a large flip chart, believed that Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff had been ‘pilloried’ for a CIA leak that other top White House aides had committed...” (READ MORE)
118 Shiite Pilgrims Killed in Iraq Attacks “At least 118 Shiite pilgrims were killed in a series of attacks across central Iraq on Tuesday, a wave of violence on the eve of one of Shiite Islam's most sacred holidays that appeared intended to widen Iraq's sectarian divide.” (READ MORE)
From the Front:
GWOTdotUS: The Spring Offensive “Well it seems that the Taliban has held true to their word (when they vowed to start a fresh Spring offensive). Activity has been on the increase around my little FOB. Four IED’s have been found in the past 2 weeks, all within 15km of where I rack out for the night. Sadly, one of them claimed the life of a female combat medic of the Spanish Army variety, this same IED wounded 2 other Spanish troops as well.” (READ MORE)
Bill Ardonlino: What it's Like to be a Cop in Fallujah “Captain Tad Scott of the Fallujah Police Transition Team e-mailed regarding an attack on an Iraqi police officer I'd met during my embed: ‘The insurgents attacked his home, shot his wife, his mother in law, his cousin, and also tried to set his 4 year-old boy on fire in front of him. Reportedly his 12 year-old niece was being carried away by insurgents when his cousin was shooting at the bad guys that were attempting to take her away.’” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Walter E. Williams: Regrets for slavery “Both chambers of the Commonwealth of Virginia's General Assembly passed a resolution saying government-sanctioned slavery "ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history.” (READ MORE)
Michael Medved: Addition or subtraction? Ann Coulter and the conservative crossroads “In the run-up to the fateful election of 2008, conservatives face a clear-cut choice: we can rebuild our movement as a broad-ranging, mainstream coalition and restore our governing majority, or else settle for a semi-permanent role as angry, doom-speaking complainers on the fringes of American politics and culture.” (READ MORE)
Jon Sanders: Reparations for Coulter “Howard Dean wants Republican presidential candidates to apologize for Ann Coulter's insinuation that Edwards is a ‘faggot.’” (READ MORE)
Austin Bay: Maliki's Political and Economic Bullet “Petroleum is the resource that dominates discussion of Iraq's economy. However, water and rich agricultural land make the country much more than a desert oil spigot.” (READ MORE)
John Stossel: Terror Porn “Politicians and security analysts constantly remind us that a terrorist attack is just a matter of time.” (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin: The "Peace" Brigade vs. the Stryker Brigade “In Washington state this week, the peace brigade held a dress rehearsal at the Port of Tacoma -- where they showed support for our troops by taunting the Stryker Brigade and local police guarding against obstruction of the convoys headed to Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Matt Barber: Did Ann Coulter say ‘Bag it’? “Lefty word-watchdogs and their allies in the mainstream media have hurt feelings - again. As per usual, liberals are frothing at the mouth in a fit of very selective, self-righteous indignation over provocative comments made by Ann Coulter and are hunting the conservative firebrand with pitchforks, torches and rope in hand.” (READ MORE)
Phil Harris: Global Warming: Caused by Pepsi, Coke, and Al Gore? “Now, before the corporate lawyers for these beverage giants suffer the effects of knotty underwear, let me state for the record that these two companies are not implicated by any scientific study that I am aware of, for causing global climate change.” (READ MORE)
Bruce Thornton: The Word Police “Legislating words is silly, arbitrary, and a danger to freedom. The New York City Council recently passed a resolution banning the use of the word ‘nigger.’ The resolution, of course, is entirely symbolic, since trying to control language by fiat is like King Canute trying to stop the tide. Language isn’t legislated, but grows and changes organically through the people who speak it. That’s why the grammar police always fight a losing battle.” (READ MORE)
Kobayashi Maru: Overplaying Their Hand: The Global Warming Bubble Bursts “Great piece over at American Thinker just out today on how and why the latest chapter in the global warming campaign has failed to capture the beachead it was seeking. Money quote: ‘Of course, weather is not climate - but the distinction is irrelevant, as far as public attitudes are concerned.’” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: (Video) Michelle talks Coulter and Maher on O’Reilly; Update: (Video) Ann Coulter responds on H&C “We’re all Coulter-ed out by now, I hope, but duty calls for the boss so she had a last go at it tonight with O’R and KP. There’s not much here about Ann that’s not in her post, but it’s worth watching anyway for the shots at Maher and the near outbreak of hostilities towards the end between our two fair heroines. An MM/Coulter war would be a headache, but an MM/KP war? Heart-ache.” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: When it says Libby, Libby, Libby, on the verdict, verdict, verdict... “...then Scooter, Scooter, Scooter is a convict, convict, convict. I'm sorry, but I've been saving that line since the whole trial began. Now that the trial is over (not counting the inevitable appeals), I think it's time to take a hard look at certain facts of the whole matter. 1) Absolutely no law was broken in the publication that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA.” (READ MORE)
GayPatriotWest: Libby Verdict & Adminstration’s Clumsy Handling of Wilson’s Lies “Today, many on the left will be gloating that Vice President Cheney’s ‘former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted Tuesday of lying and obstructing a leak investigation.’ Some on the left — and in the media — will contend that this convictions is proof that Bush Administration officials lied. While others will hope it leads to the imminent indictment of impeachment of the Vice President. But, the prosecutor, Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, said he doesn’t ‘expect to file any further charges.’” (READ MORE)
IraqPundit: A few signs of progress. “Am I hypersensitive, or is that a minimizing, almost self-nullifying way to put it? Of course, in the NYT's world, even seemingly welcome news from Iraq isn't really good news at all. When the revolting Moktada Al Sadr went into hiding, for example, the Times saw it as an opportunity for somebody even worse to come along.” (READ MORE)
The Sundries Shack: Here are the Moderate Muslims “Often times on this blog I’ve asked where all the Moderate Muslims are. Well, a whole bunch of them are in St. Petersburg, Florida at the Secular Islam Summit, doing their dead-level best to reclaim their religion from the Islamists who have laid claim to it for decades.” (READ MORE)
Cardinalpark: Early Revisionism...an Open Door “I have held rather tenaciously to the view that the war in Iraq was 1) well chosen; 2) noble; 3) well fought and 4) won. That has elicited some wonderfully amusing and sometimes nasty criticism, primarily from the left. I happen to believe -- completely smugly and to the utter annoyance of my critics -- that they will eventually come around.” (READ MORE)
Dymphna: And The Beat Goes On… But WHY? “I don’t pretend to understand the practices of Islam or the differences in its various sects. But one thing that seems increasingly odd is the willingness of Shia pilgrims to permit their enemies to blow them up:” (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House: What Joe Wilson's Lies Have Wrought “Scooter Libby a fall guy? Vice President Cheney the puppeteer who pulled strings in order to discredit heroic, anti-war critics? Karl Rove, evil mastermind, burrowing into the dark recesses of government and spreading lies about Joe Wilson to the press? Award winning journalists rising to the bait offered by Libby, Cheney, and Rove – printing their lies while failing to do their duty and question the justification for war?” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Monkey “Did not actually care to write about Libby tonight, except out of a sense of obligation, the whole thing being too sordid. I’ve been distracted by other things, starting with Teflon Don’s post that I linked below. War like a drug. I remember that feeling, being totally high on it. Not euphoric or tripping, just in another place while it was happening. War has the capacity to overcome you and take you away exactly like a drug, in all the ways a drug does.” (READ MORE)
Paul Mirengoff: Conservatives can overdo the Bush-bashing thing too “I missed this piece by Dartmouth professor emeritus Jeffrey Hart when it appeared in the Washington Monthly late last year. Professor Hart's thesis is that President Bush is the antithesis of a conservative because he ‘has taken the positions of an unshakable ideologue: on supply-side economics, on privatization, on Social Security, on the Terri Schiavo case and most disastrously, on Iraq.’ While I don't consider Bush a true conservative either, the matter is far more complex than Hart allows.” (READ MORE)
Dale Franks: Plamegate: The Denouement “So, Scooter Libby's looking at doing a quarter in a Federal pen. I honestly don't know whether to yawn, say ‘screw 'im’, or be disgusted at the prosecutor's overzealousness in bringing this case to trial. A bit of all three I guess. This actually brings a lot of things to mind, which I want to address in no particular order.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Keeping the Waziristan Accord “Business as usual as the situation in Pakistan deteriorates - The U.S. pressure campaign to get Pakistan to clean up the Taliban and al-Qaeda strongholds in the western and southern provinces has had a limited effect at best. After arresting Mullah Obaidullah and two other senior Taliban commanders in Quetta, Pakistan indicated it will go no further.” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: What Party Do You Think The Terrorists Would Vote For? “Ahmadinejad seems to have found a new friend. By Robert Farrow “Freshman Sen. James H. Webb Jr. yesterday introduced legislation to force President Bush to seek congressional authorization before using force against Iran.’” (READ MORE)
Cassandra: An Odd Notion Of Justice “At last the mystery of why Scooter Libby was alone in the dock is solved. Apparently, according to Patrick Fitzgerald, though ‘any lie under oath is a serious threat to the judicial system’, lies by media figures are to be swept under the rug via Justice Department deal making. It's just as well to get that out into the open.” (READ MORE)
Blackfive: Saying Goodbye at Ft. Bragg “Below is the story of one of our readers who went to Ft. Bragg to say goodbye to a paratrooper (a family friend in the 508th PIR): ‘On our way back to the hotel, I decided there were two ways most Americans would recall this event. The defeatist Democrat (is there any other kind) would say ‘This is just horrible sending these poor babies to war and stripping them from their families.’ The patriot would say ‘These young men are truly our National Treasure and I cannot support them if I do not support their mission.’” (READ MORE)
Dadmanly: Fascism of the Bureaucracy “Mark Steyn, writing at NRO, responds to the Libby verdict with an indictment of both American ‘politicized justice’ and too-cautious Bush Administration when controversy erupted over his ‘16 fateful words.’ ‘I never feel more foreign than when observing contemporary American justice, which seems to the outsider to have absolutely no sense of proportion. Mr Libby has been convicted of lying about his recollection of a conversation.’” (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: The Iraqi Security Plan “I participated for the first time at a roundtable telephone conference with Maj Gen William Caldwell, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Effects of MNF-I, attended by approximately half a dozen bloggers. The major message was that the security plan in Iraq is working, but needed time -- months at least -- to fully achieve its goals, a fact the nation needed to understand if it were to have the patience to allow the plan to succeed.” (READ MORE)
Cool, Calm & Collected: Farther Along... “After work today, I went to his grave for the first time... That was a time that was filled with so many emotions, I just sat there next to him and cried. I felt so strange talking to him, but I did anyways... ‘Hey Baby, I sure do miss you. I'm trying to be strong for you, I really am, But I was going to marry you, I just don't know what to do now…’” (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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