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 Deflects Pressure To Give Libby a Pardon “President Bush said yesterday that he is "pretty much going to stay out of" the case of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby until the legal process has run its course, deflecting pressure from supporters of the former White House aide to pardon him for perjury and obstruction of justice.” (READ MORE)
As Iraq Exit Plan Arrives, Democrats' Rift Remains “Even in her conservative Kansas district, calls and letters to freshman House Democrat Nancy Boyda show a constituency overwhelmingly ready for U.S. troops to come home from Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Monetary, Staff Problems Suspected at Hospital “The co-chairman of an independent panel investigating problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center said yesterday that the hospital may lack adequate funding and staff for rehabilitative services.” (READ MORE)
Iran to meet U.S., Iraq neighbors “Iran said yesterday it will attend a meeting with the United States and Iraq's neighbors in Baghdad on Saturday, and U.S. officials said they may use the occasion to hold bilateral talks with Iran that would be limited to Iraq's security.” (READ MORE)
Homeland Security revives supersnoop “Homeland Security officials are testing a supersnoop computer system that sifts through personal information on U.S. citizens to detect possible terrorist attacks, prompting concerns from lawmakers who have called for investigations.” (READ MORE)
Bickering stalls secretive forum in Maryland “Political battling between the Democratic leaders of the Maryland House and Senate has stopped meetings for one of the state's most powerful -- and secretive -- committees.” (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Jack Army: Slow-Burn in Training Hell “One of the things I like most about my job (being an NCO) is guiding young Soldiers. It is a great feeling when a young Soldier thanks you for all you do when all you did was help him see his own potential and then attempt to achieve it. He does all the hard work but feels like you made it all happen for him. Of course, I know that all I did was point them in the right direction and try to tell them what to expect. The young Soldier had to actually make the decision to take that first step on the road to success and then push himself along each and every step after that.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten: On the Record with IDF Intelligence “I spoke recently with an Israeli Defense Forces intelligence officer about last summer’s war between Israel and Hezbollah in South Lebanon. He still serves in the IDF and therefore must remain anonymous. I’ll call him David, which isn’t his name. David works in a fire control unit stationed in the Northern Command. During the war he managed intelligence pertaining to Hezbollah rocket fire, selected targets for air and artillery strikes, and occasionally assisted in real-time control of fire.” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: Hope Rides Alone - From Sgt. Eddie Jeffers in Iraq “This was written by one of our brave heroes currently serving in Iraq. Feel free to spread it around - it's time America heard the OTHER side of the story...Hat Tip to FreeRepublic! ‘I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.’” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Featured Embedded Report: Chris Muir from Iraq “In mid-February, Chris Muir, the talented cartoonist behind day by day, a political comic strip prevalent in the blogosphere, embedded in Mosul for five days. Public Multimedia, Inc, my non-profit media company, was proud to sponsor Chris for this embed. Chris is the first of several embeds Public Multimedia will put into the field this year. Chris provides notes and photographs from his travels and time Iraq. His experiences will be shown in the strip this month.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Ken Blackwell: Is speech McCain's problem with conservatives? “It's an odd situation for a leader of McCain's stature. Especially when you factor in the enormous amount of time he spent campaigning for Republican candidates during the 2006 midterm elections. In fact, McCain backed my candidacy for Ohio governor during a hard fought primary.” (READ MORE)
Michael Fumento: Why I'm not embedded in Iraq “Most people would rather suffer a jaw’s worth of root canals than go to Iraq. Most reporters, too. But there are a tiny number who actually feel the need to do so - even to the extent that they're willing to pay all their own expenses in the hope, but nothing more - of recovering part or all of those expenses through donations and selling articles about their experiences.” (READ MORE)
Joel C. Rosenberg: Epicenter “But one thing is increasingly certain: the eyes of the nations are riveted upon Israel and the Middle East, the epicenter of the momentous events shaking our world and shaping our future. And now a new crisis is brewing.” (READ MORE)
Cal Thomas: March Madness “It's time for that annual ritual known as March Madness. No, this March Madness isn't about college basketball. It's about how much money Congress plans to attach to appropriations bills to curry favor back home with their pet projects.” (READ MORE)
Robert D. Novak: The Lost Scandal “George W. Bush lost control of this issue when he permitted a special prosecutor to make decisions that, unlike going after a drug dealer or mafia kingpin, turned out to be inherently political.” (READ MORE)
Emmett Tyrrell: What's In A Lie? “I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, has been found guilty of lying and faces many years in prison. Joseph C. Wilson, his tormentor, has been found guilty of lying, and out in Hollywood they are going to make a movie of his life. He is Hollywood's idea of a hero.” (READ MORE)
Ann Coulter: Shooting elephants in a barrel “This makes it official: It's illegal to be Republican. Since Teddy Kennedy walked away from a dead girl with only a wrist slap (which was knocked down to a mild talking-to, plus time served: zero), Democrats have apparently become a protected class in America, immune from criminal prosecution no matter what they do.” (READ MORE)
David Strom: The Left: Character Assassins “Just to be clear: Scooter Libby faces jail time for trying to cover up the fact that he did not commit a crime. In fact, at no time does the Special Prosecutor ever allege that the underlying crime he was investigating ever took place. It never happened.” (READ MORE)
Kobayashi Maru: Self-Serving Double Standard Alert “When half your political base is eroding and the other half is running over the edge of a cliff, what do you do? Impose Big Brother (W$J subscribers only): ‘In a largely party-line vote last week, Democrats in the House passed the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure that rewrites the rules for union organizing by eliminating secret-ballot elections.’” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Confirmed: Senior U.S. official says Iranian general is in custody “We got him. If Israel is encompassed by ‘we.’ Which I think it is. ‘A former Iranian deputy defense minister who once commanded the Revolutionary Guard has left his country and is cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, providing information on Hezbollah and Iran’s ties to the organization, according to a senior U.S. official.’” (READ MORE)
Bryan: Shock-Guess who wants Libby pardoned? Update: Video added “Nobody important. Just one of the jurors who convicted him. Spoken on Hardball: ‘Ann (juror): Yeah, I think in the big picture, um, it kind of bothers me that there was this whole big crime being investigated and he got caught up in the investigation as opposed to in the actual crime that was supposedly committed.’” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Can I question his patriotism and support for the troops without being sent to rehab? “I've complained about Truthout.org's spamming, but I think I finally found the pearl in the daily steaming pile of offal they've been leaving in my inbox. The one thing that makes the whole hemorrhoidal experience almost worthwhile. Dr. Camillo Mac Bica is a professor of philosophy at New York City's School for Visual Arts. He is also a "recovering" Viet Nam veteran of the Marine Corps. He's apparently transmogrified himself from a gung-ho Marine into a full-blown moonbat.” (READ MORE)
GayPatriotWest: Using Matt Sanchez’s Past to Dismiss Conservative Ideas “Every now and again, I chance upon (if chance is the right word) an article (or post) on the web which seems to get at some essential aspect of being human. Sometimes, it’ll be an article a reader e-mails me. This time, it was a story that two of our readers, one straight (Democracy Project’s Bruce Kesler), the other gay (Peter Hughes), e-mailed me.” (READ MORE)
William Teach: Thursday Linkfest: Ex-Navy Muslim Busted On Terror Charges “Unfortunately, I cannot find the original article from the AP that the Washington Post uses, to see if it says the word ‘Muslim,’ or whether the WP inserted it: ‘A former Navy sailor was arrested yesterday on suspicion of releasing classified information that ended up in the hands of a Muslim accused of financing terrorism.’” (READ MORE)
Patterico: Open the Floodgates! With Hate Speech Redefined by Greenwald, We’ll Be Here All Year “Glenn Greenwald and his sycophants have made it clear: hate speech (at least on the right) doesn’t just mean racist comments and threats of violence and death. According to the Greenwald crowd, it’s ‘hate speech’ when Ann Coulter says: ‘Liberals want mass starvation and human devastation.’ This (along with many similarly innocuous, if silly, statements) was cited as an example of hate speech by a Greenwald sycophant, in a post that Greenwald linked with approval. Thus, Greenwald has redefined hate speech to include any silly and over-the-top expression of disdain for the other side.” (READ MORE)
The Armorer: LTG Kiley, kindly resign your position and retire. Now, you clueless pusillanimous jerk. “And as a Brigadier, the last rank at which you served competently. You unmitigated, self-absorbed failed excuse for a leader. You shame the Army. You shame the uniform. You shame me. You shame the system that has given you so much. Most of all, you shame yourself, yet you haven't a clue.” (READ MORE)
Uncle Jimbo: Cpl Sanchez and the intolerant haters on the right “The left has always awarded themselves the moral high ground as the ones who care so much for all creatures, and who are tolerant and love diversity and....forget it I'm gonna yak. Those of us who do not share their progressive, socialist view of the world are haters, making all our decisions specifically to keep the ‘others’ down. It's always been BS, but the shameless hypocrisy of the left in this regard has rarely been so starkly portrayed.” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed: The Friends Of Ali Reza Asgari “Iranian intelligence general and former Foreign Ministry official Ali Reza Asgari is among friends, the Washington Post reports, and enjoying the conversation. The Iranians had asked Turkey to help locate Asgari after he disappeared from there in February, but now US officials confirm that ‘Western intelligence agencies’ have been meeting with Asgari and discussing Iran's ties to terrorism:” (READ MORE)
Omar: Back to Politics! “The political scene in Iraq these days is registering a level of activity like we haven’t seen since right after the elections, when the blocs squabbled over who got to be the new premier. Political alliances are being redrawn right now —and three developments are shaping the change and dominating local news headlines at stories of violence’s expense. A new political bloc has emerged. It’s not a fourth bloc as Mohammed anticipated some time ago; it’s a union of, so far, two existing blocs.” (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: A foolish consistency “Everything you need to know about the fall of a once-great newspaper - tangibly reflected in its declining market share and stock cap - can be found in the difference between the way that the editorial pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post dealt with the Scooter Libby trial result.” (READ MORE)
Cassandra: A Non-Trial For A Non-Crime “Before he ever took the case, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald knew no crime had been committed because he already knew who the leaker was and furthermore he knew the leak did not qualify as a crime under the IIPA. Therefore, there was nothing for the grand jury to investigate. Why, then, did he continue to waste the taxpayers' money and mislead the public for years? Why did he throw Judy Miller in jail?” (READ MORE)
Kat in MO: The Road to Walter Reed, Paved with Good Intentions - Part II “During the 1990's, the problems facing Gulf War veterans had become a national issue. While no one has yet to medically identify the causality of the numerous illnesses suffered by these vets, it was still clear that the system had allowed the vets to be outprocessed from the military without proper identification and treatment of many illnesses that may have been managed to recovery if treated aggressively in the first few months or weeks of onset.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Pressing Petraeus “Petraeus meets the press. The press meets Petraeus according to their wont. ‘Encouraging signs’ and ‘sensational attacks inevitable’ … ‘no military solution’ and ‘military action is necessary’ … ‘tough days’ with ‘demons’ and ‘thugs with no soul.’ Discussion of surge realities and withdrawal wishes follows the roundup:” (READ MORE)
Augean Stables: The Silence that Kills: Thomas Friedman “Friedman has a good column to cuts to the heart of the matter. Strangely, B12 Solipsism doesn’t get why Friedman wasted precious column space on this and the attached ‘rant.’ De gustibus non diputandum… I guess some people don’t like red pills. And in this silence we go to the core of what’s wrong. Muslims are caught in the pathological honor-shame condition of humiliation that has them cheering the very forces that would devour them (their own Jihadi fanatics) because they give black eyes to the humiliatingly superior West.” (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House: Let's Not Screw Up This Defection “News that a retired Iranian General has defected to the west may prove to be one of the most significant events in the War on Terror to date. While questions surround the issue of who assisted his defection and exactly who he’s talking to, the fact remains that if reports of his past postings and potential knowledge of some of the most closely guarded secrets of the Iranian regime are correct, this defection could lead to an intelligence bonanza that will shake up the Iranian regime while filling in some of the gaps in our knowledge of some of their most secretive programs:” (READ MORE)
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