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 Keeps Vow to Veto War Funding Bill - President Bush vetoed a $124 billion measure yesterday that would have funded overseas military operations but required him to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq as early as July, escalating the most serious confrontation between the White House and Congress over war policy in a generation. (READ MORE)
Intelligence Director Urges Expansion of Surveillance Law - A Bush administration proposal to expand a 29-year-old intelligence surveillance law that governs eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails to and from the United States should be approved by Congress because the law is badly outdated, National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell said today. (READ MORE)
Calls Mount for Olmert to Step Down - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced rising calls Tuesday for his resignation, a defection from his governing coalition and rumblings of insurrection within his own party a day after an official investigation found "serious failings" in his conduct of the war in Lebanon last summer. (READ MORE)Bush vetoes war deadline - President Bush last night rejected Democratic plans to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, vetoing an emergency spending bill that included a timeline to begin withdrawing forces as soon as July. (READ MORE)
Syrians bolstered by visit of 'good American' Pelosi - The second most popular politician in Syria these days may be an American: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (READ MORE)
Republicans lobby Pelosi to protect 'John Does' - Key Republicans are lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to protect legislation that prohibits airline passengers from being sued if they report suspicious behavior that foreshadows a terrorist attack. (READ MORE)
Castro a no-show at May Day event - Hundreds of thousands of cheering workers marched through Cuba's Revolution Plaza yesterday, but Fidel Castro was nowhere to be seen. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Acute Politics: Awkward First Dates ‘Friday was a day of firsts for me. First time driving a Cougar, first time riding with EOD, first overnight stay in an Iraqi house, and first time I didn't have my camera on mission. The last was the one I would regret. I was unsure about driving the Cougar- it's a lot bigger than the RG-31 I've driven before, and the visibility is considerably more limited. There was no one else to do it, though, and so I agreed to my "trial by fire". When we left, I had no idea of how accurate that phrase would become.” (READ MORE)
Michael Fumento: Exhausted but Home “My route back was tortuous to say the least. I grabbed a helo from FOB Mizan to FOB Lagman, whereupon a few hours later the same helo comes back and takes me south to Kandahar Air Force Base. For some reason it seems you can fly into Kandahar from Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base but you can't go in the reverse direction.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten: Transcript of Interview with Peshmerga Colonel Salahdin “Below is a transcript of my video interview with Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga Colonel Salahdin Ahmad Ameen. Most of the questions were edited out of the video, so they aren’t present in the transcript either. Questions were only included when they were necessary for context.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Austin Bay: Exploiting Al-Qaida's Weaknesses “Fearing an American and Iraqi strategic victory (creating a democracy defending itself against terrorists), Zarqawi saw only one strategic option: exploit Iraq's Shia-Sunni religious divide by slaughtering Iraqi Shia civilians.” (READ MORE)
Walter E. Williams: Rules of Engagement “The March 23 Iranian capture of 15 British Royal Navy sailors should raise a number of questions.” (READ MORE)
Ben Shapiro: Stalin-Esque Show Trial At Tufts University “On Monday evening at Tufts University, I attended a long, grueling show trial -- the kind of show trial that doubtless will be repeated at campuses across the United States.” (READ MORE)
Kathleen Parker: Those 27 Words “Of all the words spilled during the recent Democratic presidential debate, the most interesting were 27 of Hillary Clinton's in response to a question about the candidates' biggest mistakes.” (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin: A Lesson in Open-Borders Math “The New York Times is always ready and willing to serve as lead public relations staffers for the open-borders movement. On May Day, the day of mass illegal alien protests across the country, the paper saw fit to print a front-page sob story decrying rising illegal alien deportations.” (READ MORE)
Brent Bozell III: Back to Bias Basics at PBS “A few years ago, the left pulled several muscles exerting itself with the strange theory that the Public Broadcasting Service was lurching dangerously to the right.” (READ MORE)
Tony Blankley: A Rising Tide of Fury “Whenever I refer to the threat of radical Islam, I am inundated with e-mails chastising me for unjustified alarmism. This week, even the esteemed and often accurate British Economist accused me, by name, of overestimating the threat and being alarmist on the topic.” (READ MORE)
Chuck Colson: What the Hate Crimes Law Would Do “Last week the House Judiciary Committee, egged on by radical homosexual groups, passed what can only be called a Thought Crimes bill. It’s called the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. But this bill is not about hate. It’s not even about crime. It’s about outlawing peaceful speech - speech that asserts that homosexual behavior is morally wrong.” (READ MORE)
Sandy Froman: Why You Should Care About Parker v. District of Columbia “There is a case moving towards the High Court that will likely give us such a precedent on your right to own a gun - a precedent that is either good or bad, depending on your point of view. That case is Parker v. District of Columbia.” (READ MORE)
Harvey C. Mansfield: The Case for the Strong Executive “Complaints against the ‘imperial presidency’ are back in vogue. With a view to President Bush, the late Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. expanded and reissued the book of the same name he wrote against Richard Nixon, and Bush critics have taken up the phrase in a chorus. In response John Yoo and Richard Posner (and others) have defended the war powers of the president.” (READ MORE)
Michael Young: Syrian Endgame “This week Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh with representatives of states having an interest in Iraq. Among the participants will be Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. The gathering comes amid reports that Ms. Rice's State Department wants a breakthrough in relations with Tehran before President Bush's departure from office. Ms. Rice did not rule out meeting with Mr. Mottaki, although Iran's deputy foreign minister subsequently lowered expectations that any negotiations would take place.” (READ MORE)
WSJ Review & Outlook: Immigration Spring “Yesterday's May Day immigration demonstrations dominated cable TV, but they were more sound than substance. The bigger news is the recent Wall Street Journal report that illegal border crossings have slowed by more than 10% this year. The Bush Administration credits stepped-up enforcement, but our guess is that the cause is mostly labor supply and demand.” (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: They Have A Plan For Iraq… Kinda Sorta “We’ve all been waiting to hear exactly what the ‘plan’ for withdrawing troops from Iraq is, from some of the Democrats, who right now are probably some of the most vocal against our troops being in that country. That long wait is over now…. well kinda over. I really don’t see anything that’s well thought out, our well planned. Apparently the Associated Press has asked the Democratic Presidential hopefuls that question too. Six of them, kinda sorta gave their answer to what their plan would be.” (READ MORE)
American Ranger: The Warrior Prince: Harry Goes to Iraq “The war in Iraq involves thousands of soldiers from America and its Coalition partners. During my own tour in 2004, I was in charge of the personal security detachment for then-Brigadier General Sandy Davidson of the 350th Civil Affairs Command. My team and I also escorted officers from several Coalition countries including Great Britain. The British officers with whom we interacted were professional and dedicated soldiers. We were also impressed with their courage.” (READ MORE)
American Soldier: The experience of Walter Reed Part 1. AS Point of View “I’ve been sent to Walter Reed to receive some medical treatment. I will say that the ride was long and tiring. My wife has accompanied me on this trip. I don’t think I would have done very well if I drove alone. Flying would have been fine but not driving. So we left last week and have setup a few miles from the hospital. We are on the government rate so there is nothing fancy but the accommodations are decent.” (READ MORE)
Austin Bay: Culture of Corruption: Conflict of Interest Charges Leveled at Diane Feinstein “Duke Cunnigham move over.At least that’s the pitch made in this op-ed from The Hill by David Keene of the American Conservative Union. Key graf: ‘…director of the Project on Government Oversight who examined the evidence of wrongdoing assembled by California writer Peter Byrne told him that “the paper trail showing Senator Feinstein’s conflict of interest is irrefutable.”’” (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Kill All Americans “‘To the very last one’. The Jerusalem Post reports that the acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, gave a sermon at a Sudanese mosque calling for the annihilation of America and Israel asked Allah to kill Jews and Americans ‘to the very Last One’. Captain Ed and Atlas Shrugged have commentary:” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Military Already Feels The Consequences Of Delayed Funding “One of the points in dispute about the Iraq war supplemental bill about to get vetoed by the President is whether the delay has affected military operations. Harry Reid said that the current funding will cover operations until mid-July, while the White House insists that it has already begun degrading operations and readiness. A Congressional Research Service analysis supports the Democrats -- but only by saying that robbing Peter to pay Paul will still have impact on a broad range of activities (emphases mine):” (READ MORE)
Dadmanly: A Tale of Tenets “Glenn Reynolds debated between two potential sets of ‘last words,’ linking to them both at Instapundit. Reynolds suspects that Tenet may want to opt for the first, contained in commentary from Roger Simon: ‘My conclusion: an inept organization was led by a stupefyingly inept man.’ Simon prefaces his comment with a pretty clear-cut case of fabrication in Tenet’s narrative, in which he claims that Richard Perle on 9/12/01 told him, ‘Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday. They bear responsibility.’” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: Ignoring The Facts On The Iraq/Al-Qaeda Connection “While liberals love to paint those of us who believe, and have proven, that there was indeed a connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam, as believing that Saddam was behind 9/11 this point of view is intellectually dishonest. Imagine that, a liberal who is intellectually dishonest. Shocker huh? I know of no one who states unequivocally that Saddam was behind 9/11 but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Iraq and al-Qaeda were tied in more ways then one.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Iraq Report: Al Masri Rumored Dead, Oil Law Clears the Cabinet “The big news from Iraq is the purported killing of Abu Ayyub al Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and the newly "appointed" Minister of War for al Qaeda's political front, the Islamic State in Iraq. The claim that al Masri was killed by tribal forces near Taji in Salahadin province has yet to be confirmed by Multinational Forces Iraq. The Iraqi Interior Ministry as well as the Deputy Prime Minister have not confirmed al Masri's death, but only claim to have intelligence he was killed. The Iraqi Interior Ministry has claimed al-Masri has been killed in the past, most recently in February of 2007. Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq are denying al Masri was killed.” (READ MORE)
Gribbit: Angela Mcglowan Tells The Truth “Author Angela Mcglowan has a new book out, ‘Bamboozled: How AMERICANS are being EXPLOITED by the LIES of the LIBERAL AGENDA’, that promises to remind us (Americans) of the hypocrisy of the leftist agenda. In a scathingly truthful editorial that appears today on Human Events Online, she discusses despicable past of the Democratic Party in the United States.” (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: Digg Riot in Progress Updated “Is this the first full blown online riot? I don’t know. But I do know that it’s funny. Digg has been plagued with leftwing mishchief-makers who bury posts by conservatives originating from this site as well as the boss’ blog and LGF, and Digg’s owners haven’t really done much to stop it. But now there’s what amounts to a digital prison riot going on because a Digger posted the hacked HD-DVD code in a post.” (READ MORE)
Dean Barnett: Back to Torture “My post the other day on torture (or coercive interrogation techniques if you prefer) has provoked hysteria in some corners on the web. One guy even called me a ‘false prophet,’ which at least represents a much more dignified dive into name-calling than you’ll typically find on many other blogs. Even though I mentioned this nugget before, it bears repeating since several people have perhaps inadvertently mischaracterized my comments:” (READ MORE)
The Jawa Report: The Spring Defensive “Every year since we kicked the Taliban out, the media has brought forth the dreary prediction of a ‘Spring Offensive’ which will crush our forces, drive us before them, and hear the lamentations of our women. Taste the crow, media. Feast on its succulent juices.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Another Grunt’s Rant on Iraq “George Bush vetoed the surrender bill with a pen given to him by the father of Marine Cpl. Dustin Derga, killed in Anbar May 8, 2005. Robert Derga was in the group of Gold Star families who met Bush in the Oval Office two weeks ago. He wanted Bush to use the pen to veto that bill, and called back to make sure he was going to do it.” (READ MORE)
Andi: Army Issues New OPSEC Guidelines “I haven't had time to read the entire 79 pages of the Army's new OPSEC guidelines, which apparently cover uniformed personnel as well as civilian contractors and family members, however I have read this piece and it is cause for concern if some of Noah's characterizations are correct.” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: The Words Are Just as Powerful Four Years Later “I am sick of the continuous bleat of hatred from Americans against President Bush. I am also sick of reading about the "Mission Accomplished" speech given by the President 4 years ago today. The President never declared the war over - he never uttered the words "Mission Accomplished" despite the banner. But what he did say was so much more powerful than how it is portrayed in the media. Even more so today with the political minstrel show from the failuremongers Reid and Pelosi. Here's a reminder...” (READ MORE)
John Donovan: The War at Home. “They pop into my mailbox, the notices. Just slip in when I'm not looking. They wait patiently. Another Blue Star turned to Gold. The heartbeat of the war, in a sense. They pulse into my mailbox with the tempo of operations.” (READ MORE)
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