A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Fires damage D.C. treasures - Two D.C. landmarks were heavily damaged yesterday in separate fires, saddening longtime residents and historians and leaving merchants and employees uncertain about their future. (READ MORE)
Democrats conceding on war bill - Democratic leaders in Congress are slowly backing down from a standoff with the White House over tying war funding to a troop-withdrawal timetable, saying they can use other bills to confront President Bush on Iraq. (READ MORE)
5 Britons get life sentences in terror plot - A judge sentenced five men to life in prison yesterday for plotting to attack targets in London, including a popular nightclub, power plants and shopping malls, with bombs made from a half-ton stockpile of fertilizer. (READ MORE)
Corpses held for ransoms in Baghdad - Criminals in Baghdad are stealing corpses from the scenes of car bombings and killings in order to extract ransoms from grieving relatives. (READ MORE)
Voters cool to Bush, but challengers falter - Poll after poll shows dissatisfaction with President Bush and an "enthusiasm gap" working against Republicans heading into next year's elections, yet the top Republican presidential candidates are running even with or ahead of the top Democrats... (READ MORE)
NAACP to give 'n-word' a funeral - The NAACP will hold a symbolic funeral for the "n-word" at the organization's annual convention in July as a part of its national Stop Campaign to end the prevalence of racist and sexist language, images and concepts in the media. (READ MORE)
Justices Again Refuse Guantanamo Bay Cases - For the second time in a month, the Supreme Court decided yesterday not to hear appeals from terrorism suspects imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, refusing to call a halt to the military commissions they face after Congress authorized the trials last fall. (READ MORE)
Venezuela Set to Assume Control of Its Oil Fields - President Hugo Chavez's government will take control Tuesday of what might be the world's richest oil fields, a huge swath known as the Orinoco Belt that Big Oil has spent a decade and nearly $20 billion developing. (READ MORE)
Officers Testify Against Accused U.S. Colonel - A senior U.S. military officer accused of aiding the enemy gave gifts to the daughter of a "high-value" detainee, angering the prisoner by violating cultural norms and acting as a father figure, a witness said Monday in the opening day of a hearing to determine whether the officer will stand trial. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
The Calm Before the Sand: The War Hits Home “Garrett Knoll is dead. Pfc. Garrett C. Knoll, a combat medic, died outside of Baghdad a week ago, after a truck bomb detonated inside the perimeter of his patrol base. He was 23 years old. He was two months into his first deployment. I sat behind him in high-school Algebra.” (READ MORE)
Desert Flier: (Video) Ortho/Trauma Team “Ready, willing, and able. You call, we answer.” (READ MORE)
Michael Fumento: More on FOB Mizan “Looking inside this compound is like looking at stop action photography -- you know, like when they make the flower appear to bloom right before your eyes. In the few days I've been here I've seen both sides of the ‘safe house’ (the soldiers' quarters) reinforced extending the roof on both sides and building two new walls of sandbags. The dining facility (DFAC) has been sandbagged about half way up but only because they keep running out of filled bags.” (READ MORE)
Badger 6: Michigan "Once again we are driving down Michigan, Route 10, the secondary highway between Ar Ramadi and Al Falluja that will take us by and through the areas of Habbaniyah and Khalidiyah.Passing Hurricane Point and crossing the Euphrates, which is a beautiful emerald color, we find ourselves on the approaches to downtown Ramadi. There is nothing like a trip into Ar Ramadi, Iraq to remind you how far we have come since the Task Force arrived last year." (READ MORE)
Acute Politics: Breaking News- Developing "Iraqi tribesmen are reporting the death of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri, according to Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Malaki. Al-Masri is the Egyptian who took over AQI after al-Zarqawi was killed last June by a coalition airstrike. The report of Masri's death have not been confirmed by either the Iraqi government or by coalition forces. A search for the body is ongoing, in the hope that DNA testing will confirm al-Masri's demise." (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Kat in GA: Operation: Thanks For Freedom in the News “Another wonderful article has been written about Operation: Thanks for Freedom! This appeared in the Sunday edition of the Gwinnett Daily Post. Sending letters shows troops your support:” (READ MORE)
Joel Mowbray: Mad TV “Testifying under oath recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled Congress in her strong defense of Al-Hurra, the taxpayer financed Arab TV network. It was unwitting, though. She herself was misled. During the March 21 House Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Rep. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) pressed Ms. Rice on the wisdom of providing a platform to Islamic terrorists, citing Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's Dec. 7 speech, which Al-Hurra aired live.” (READ MORE)
Christopher Orlet: True Unbelievers “A recent Associated Press story, headlined ‘Atheists Split on How Not to Believe,’ has set fingers tapping throughout the blogosphere. The gist of the story as I read it is that there are soft atheists and fundamentalist atheists, and the softies are concerned that the fundies are becoming too outspoken, too uppity, indeed that they are giving unbelievers a bad name--a good trick that, like trying to give a bad name to an oil slick.” (READ MORE)
Bret Stephens: Notes on a Scandal “Meet Dennis de Tray. In the summer of 1998, the University of Chicago-trained economist had his 15 minutes of fame when, as director of the World Bank's mission in Indonesia, he was called by The Wall Street Journal to account for the bank's performance amid that country's economic collapse. After 30 years and $25 billion of loans to the Suharto dictatorship, it turned out that ‘World Bank officials knew corruption in bank-funded projects was common, but never commissioned any broad reports tracking how much money was lost to it,’ according to Journal reporters Marcus Brauchli and Jay Solomon.” (READ MORE)
Dennis Prager: Even If Entering Iraq Was a Mistake, Leaving Is Worse “Even if the war was a major blunder and even if everything the Left charges -- including ‘Bush lied’ -- were true, none of these contentions has any bearing on the question of what should be done now.” (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: More Red Herrings Fall Into Dems' Laps “The entire WMD issue has been a Democratic diversion from the get-go. It has allowed Democrats immeasurable cover for their irresponsible absence of policy on Iraq and has provided endless fodder for their libelous claims against the administration.” (READ MORE)
Jack Kemp: What would Ronald Reagan do? “As the Republican candidates all gather at the Reagan Library for their first debate of the presidential campaign, what follows is my advice on ‘what would Ronald Reagan do?’” (READ MORE)
Patrick J. Buchanan: The Dark Side of Diversity “In stories about him, we learn he had no friends, rarely spoke, and was a loner, isolated from classmates and roommates. Cho was the alien in Hokie Nation. And to vent his rage at those with whom he could not communicate, he decided to kill in cold blood dozens of us.” (READ MORE)
Fred Thompson: Sticks and Stones “It bothers Americans when we're told how unpopular we are with the rest of the world. For some of us, at least, it gets our back up -- and our natural tendency is to tell the French, for example, that we'd rather not hear from them until the day when they need us to bail them out again.” (READ MORE)
Gregory Koukl: Political Passivity ‘Vice or Christian Virtue’ “It’s not only the left that sounds the alarm when Christians ‘jeopardize the separation of church and state’ by engaging in political action. Some Christians object, too. One evangelical leader offered this stern warning: ‘There should not be even a hint of anything political in our public discourse.’” (READ MORE)
Phil Harris: Democrats in Charge, Like Shooters - Just a Different Weapon “The analogy in my title may strike some as insensitive and/or offensive. Such a reaction is understandable; nevertheless, it describes Washington from my perspective with morbid precision. Some might compare my supposition to the oft-spewed claim by the loony-left, that President Bush is Adolph Hitler’s equal.” (READ MORE)
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Where are the liberal non-Muslims? “Since 9/11, many of us have wondered: Where are the moderate Muslims? If they are out there, why are we not hearing more, and getting more help, from them in the fight against our common foe -- the totalitarian Islamists?” (READ MORE)
Doug Wilson: Tax Freedom Day “Tax Freedom Day arrived two days later this year than last, and Americans aren’t happy about it. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed in a Tax Foundation poll said that the amount of federal income tax they pay is too high. Respondents also expressed dissatisfaction with estate, gasoline, and property taxes, among others.” (READ MORE)
The Anchoress: “No Media” Gore strikes again “I hope someone, somewhere, is keeping count of all the times Al Gore has blocked the press from covering him. I recall he ‘taught a class’ at Columbia University whereby the press was barred and if memory serves, students were warned not to talk to media. Then last year Gore closed the press to a speech he was giving, I can’t recall the particulars, but it was about Global Warming. Now, Gore is addressing the AIA and barring the press, again.” (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Where Have All The Soldiers Gone, Long Time Passing? “Austin Bay and Phil Carter debate what the size of the US military should be to fight the war on terror. Not really so much the size, but the shape. The Counterterrorism Blog says forget the lack of boots on the ground in Afghanistan or Iraq: there aren't enough even at home. Recently disclosed information shows MI5 had nowhere near the men needed to track 1,600 militants and 50 terror networks in Britain alone and the same was true in Spain. Ian Buruma argues that Islam is in the West to stay and there are simply too many to fight without reaching some sort of accommodation.” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: McCain Ditching The UN? “File this one under Conservative Red Meat -- John McCain wants to form a League of Democracies to take action when the UN fails to do so. Warning that the US has to find a global structure for its security policies, McCain told a Stanford University audience that lasting peace comes from spreading freedom:” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Democrats surrender “S.A. Miller of the Washington Times had some good news: ‘Democratic leaders in Congress are slowly backing down from a standoff with the White House over tying war funding to a troop-withdrawal timetable, saying they can use other bills to confront President Bush on Iraq.’” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: "The Great American Boycott" “‘Immigrant rights’. I am sick and exhausted of those who seek to undermine United States sovereignty. And I'm someone who has not taken a hardline on this debate. I believe in seeking practical, compassionate solutions, and not the emotional angry-as-hell-conservative non-solution that rants how we should round-up and kick out 12 million illegals to the proverbial curb. That is not a solution. It is a pipe-dream.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: The Baghdad Security Operation Order of Battle: April 30, 2007 “The city of Baghdad continues to see a drop in sectarian violence attributed to death squads, while suicide car bombings remain al Qaeda's most deadly tool. After prior week's car bomb offensive by al Qaeda, which included 11 major suicide attacks over five days, the past week inside the city has been relatively free of major attacks. While roadside bombs, mortar attacks and other small scale attacks remain a regular occurrence inside Baghdad, al Qaeda was unable to pull off any large scale attacks which threaten to reignite the sectarian bloodshed.” (READ MORE)
See-Dubya: RED ON RED: AQ in Iraq Mastermind Reported Dead “Fox is reporting that Zarqawi’s successor as leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Egyptian born Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been killed ‘near a bridge in Northern Baghdad’, apparently bumped off by his own Al Qaeda crew. US sources can’t confirm his death for certain yet, so we will update this post as soon as we know more. Obviously, if true, this is huge news and cause for great celebration.” (READ MORE)
Dean Barnett: Why Do I Mock John Edwards? “Every time I write a piece mocking John Edwards, I get a few letters from my liberal readers saying, ‘Such things are beneath you.’ They try to butter me up by saying I’m such a high quality thinker I shouldn’t stoop to such depths. But I’m on to their game. I know they’re just trying to play on my well-known massive ego.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: League of Blah Blah Blah “Now, which democracies is McCain talking about? France? Germany? Spain? Apparently not Russia, which is a democracy, just a … special one. What about Iran? That’s a democracy. A bogus rigged one, but a democracy. No theocracies need apply? What are we gonna do with Israel? This could get messy.” (READ MORE)
La Shawn Barber: Diversity: Black American Only? “Check out my latest Washington Examiner column, where I expand on ‘Super Tuesday of Equality’ and quote Shelby Steele’s impressions of an affirmative action debate. Once all states eliminate government preferences based on race, problems like the ones addressed in this post will be relics of the past, at least at public colleges. Read on…” (READ MORE)
Patterico: Scott v. Harris: The Video Makes All the Difference “The amazing thing to me about yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling in Scott v. Harris is that it would have been a completely different case without the videotape. Consider the basic facts. A deputy attempts to pull over a speeding motorist, who takes police on a high-speed chase. In an attempt to stop the suspect, a deputy eventually bumps the suspect’s car, causing it to spin out of control. The driver ends up a quadriplegic, and he sues the deputy, alleging excessive force.” (READ MORE)
McQ: George Tenet’s attempt to clean up his legacy “It has almost become predictable and George Tenet is no exception. As quoted in Dale’s post, even Arianna Huffington recognizes the ploy - which, btw, isn’t limited to ‘Bush administration’ flunkies. It is retire or get fired and then, before the administration in questions is out of power, write their own versions of events and get it out there first. Legacies aren’t just for presidents. And George Tenet wants his legacy spun clean.” (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: None So Blind “Tomorrow, in yet another demonstration of their deeply non-serious approach to the world we live in, the Democratic led Congress will send the emergency spending bill, laden with pork and crippled by time-lines, to the President who will veto it. It requires a degree of myopia bordering on blindness to miscalculate so badly as the Democrats have done. David Brookes summarizes in brief some of the inherent contradictions in the Democratic narrative about Iraq, who keep repeating we need to focus on Afghanistan apparently unaware that in Iraq we are now primarily fighting al Qaeda, who are being aided and abetted by Iran; Congress & Iraq: Declaring Defeat:” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: What The GOP Immigration Strategy Should Be In The Senate “In the next couple of weeks, the Senate is probably going to take up illegal immigration. As we speak, a panel of Democrats and Republicans, led by Ted Kennedy is working on a bill that in all likelihood will be an even bigger nightmare than the bill than the one that made it through the Senate in 2006. And, if it gets through, George Bush -- who might as well be an employee of the Mexican government when it comes to illegal immigration issues -- will most assuredly sign it.” (READ MORE)
Cassandra: A Willful Blindness, II “Tuesday dawns slowly as I eye my alarm clock with loathing. Raindrops drum on the roof like giant fingertips on some invisible tabletop as a lone bird pipes merrily in the tree just outside my bedroom window, cheekily ignoring the now slackening shower. Any moment now I shall spring forth with alacrity from betwixt the marital sheets to do battle with the ungodly. Any moment now...” (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: One Muslim’s View Of Terrorism "Yesterday, I received this email and I found it quite interesting. I have no idea why it was sent to me at my personal email address, but I must say that I’m glad it was. It definitely sheds a different perspective on this entire situation. The terrorists are NOT just now deciding that they hate America because of our presence in Iraq or Afghanistan. It has nothing to do with that at all. Instead, IF we look at history, this hatred has been festering for many many years and is more about these evil people’s twisted ideas of religion, than Muslim against non-Muslim. Despite the constant discourse by some, on this blog and others, that our presence in Iraq, is what’s causing the increase in terrorism, this email plainly puts the blame for the evil hatred of all non-Muslims, directly where it belongs." (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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