A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention updated throughout the day…so check back often. This is a weekend edition so updates are as time and family permits.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Two GOP Senators Defy Bush On Iraq - The Republican revolt against President Bush's war strategy accelerated yesterday as two of the party's most respected voices on national security proposed legislation envisioning a major realignment of U.S. troops in Iraq starting as early as Jan. 1. (READ MORE)
Detainee Transfers Concern Senators - As the Bush administration accelerates discussions about closing the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a growing chorus of Democrats on Capitol Hill is imploring the State Department not to transfer detainees to countries that may torture them. (READ MORE)
Six Iraqi Officers Die In U.S. Raid Seeking Militiaman in Police - U.S. soldiers killed six Iraqi policemen and seven gunmen Friday during a street battle that began when the troops captured a police lieutenant accused of directing a Shiite militia group, the military said. (READ MORE)
McCain Rips Democrats for 'Defeatism' - John McCain, fresh off a trip to Iraq, attacked Democrats yesterday for a "choose to lose" approach to the war, as the Arizona senator tries to find common ground with the Republican primary voters who have deserted him in recent months. (READ MORE)
Troops Deployed to Hunt for Militants - Thousands of soldiers rolled across northwestern Pakistan yesterday, a day after President Pervez Musharraf vowed to follow the storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque by eliminating extremism from "every corner" of the country. (READ MORE)
Militias, Graft Stall Afghan Roadways - Six years after the fall of the Taliban, road-building efforts are advancing so slowly that coalition troops and U.N. and civilian aid workers still move around this mountainous country primarily by aircraft. (READ MORE)
U.S. Kills Six Iraqi Policemen in Firefight - American troops battled Iraqi police suspected of links to Iranian-backed Shi'ite militiamen yesterday, killing six in a rare firefight between American soldiers and their Iraqi partners. The clash underscored the deep infiltration of militants in the country's security forces. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Those Wacky Iraqis: Overreactions “OK, the powers that be in the exalted castles on high have overreacted to the issue and consequently so did a lot of us. What we are basically being told is, ‘Be very, very careful. Don't post pictures from facilities, of equipment, of personnel. Don't discuss detail of movement, numbers, unit names, etc.’ I have no problem with any of that and in reality I think I have done a pretty good job of that in the past. I know that there are some world class idiots over here who think that the bad guys are dumb and dont know how to link facts to make a bigger picture, They are wrong about this. The bad guys are as smart as us, they just are not wired like us.” (READ MORE)
Acute Politics: /Rant "I got up this morning and went to breakfast. I sat and ate eggs and half of a grapefruit, while the tv news helped Sen. Reid tell me I'm a failure. The surge is not working, the newest current strategy is not working, and the war is lost. I gathered via the internet today that he later stepped back from some of his harsher statements- I don't know for sure whether that is true or not. If so, it only adds to my disgust." (READ MORE)
My Desert Adventure: The Flag "Some time ago, I was at the US Base in Balad, Iraq. It looks like everywhere else in Iraq—concrete barriers, dirt and a few trees. One thing that really made a difference to me though: on every flag pole on that base, the U.S. Flag was flying. I felt a touch of pride every time I saw one.Here at my base, you may see one being raised momentarily on Flag Day or the 4th of July, but you never see one permanently flying. I guess 'the powers that be' are afraid of offending someone. Funny, I think our guys getting blown up is offensive. Of course, folks a lot smarter than me come up with these things." (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Robert D. Novak: Valerie Plame's Testimony “Rep. Tom Davis, ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is puzzled by the House Intelligence Committee's claim that Valerie Plame Wilson has been consistent in her sworn testimony. He is asking the Intelligence Committee for documents to back up their contention.” (READ MORE)
Carl Horowitz: Corporate Diversity Training “If prostitution is the world's oldest profession, then corporate diversity training has to rank as one of the nastiest as well as newest. And it's considerably less honest. At least with a prostitute, a customer usually knows what he's getting in advance. A diversity trainer, on the other hand, is full of surprises -- at least for unsuspecting white employees. And they're not very pleasant surprises at that.” (READ MORE)
Kathryn Jean Lopez: Severed heads beat report cards to the truth “If the public cannot get a true view of the brutality and horror the enemy is capable of, then how can it be expected to reasonably assess our involvement?” (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: Support Us by Soldier Hard “One of the artists who is featured on To The Fallen Records: Volume I, is Soldier Hard. Soldier Hard is an active duty soldier, a Sergeant in the US Army, currently stationed at Fort Bliss, Tx. He’s a 19K or Armor Crewman on M1-M2 tanks, so he’s seen the best and the worse of combat during his tour in Iraq. Music has always been a part of Soldier Hard’s life, an outlet for him to express his thoughts and feelings. That didn’t change when he deployed to Iraq, where he continued to write and record music.” (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Purifying the World of Ourselves “Britain's Optimum Population Trust warned that Britain’s birthrate is growing at its fastest for nearly 30 years – at 1.87 children per couple and is, according to Professor John Guillebaud, an environmental liability. ‘Each new UK birth, through the inevitable resource consumption and pollution that UK affluence generates, is responsible for about 160 times as much climate-related environmental damage as a new birth in Ethiopia.’ The Optimum Population Trust suggests that if voluntary restraints do not work then governments should impose mandatory restraints.” (READ MORE)
War Historian: Why Military History Matters “Of all fields of history, military history is among the most popular. In most bookstores it is not uncommon for half the history section to be devoted to books about great commanders, campaigns, battles, and the weapons with which wars are fought. The droves of readers who buy them have, for the most part, no particular agenda. They read military history because they enjoy it, in the same way that others read fantasy and science fiction.” (READ MORE)
Technicalities: And Then I Realized... “I was appalled for the wrong reason! I was perusing Instapundit when I ran across this link: Churchill dropped from England's history syllabus. The first thought that comes to mind... ‘What could they possibly be thinking?!?!’ Then I read the article which starts like this: ‘Britain's World War II prime minister Winston Churchill has been cut from a list of key historical figures recommended for teaching in English secondary schools, a government agency says.’” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: A Crossroads For The Surge “The Times of London reports on a crossroads in Jabour that demonstrates the successes and the dangers of the surge in Iraq. While the soldiers would prefer to be elsewhere, the efforts to close down lines of communication for al-Qaeda and other terrorists has created an ‘Iraqi surge’ in the area -- the creation of a new police unit from tribal volunteers who want the momentum to stay against the terrorists. The tribal leaders remain cautious about cooperating too much with the Americans, however, because they are afraid we're leaving:” (READ MORE)
Zachary Abuza: Beheadings in Basilan: Untangling the Allegations “On 10 July, a group of 80 Philippine Marines were patrolling Guinanta village in the Tipo Tipo area of Basilan, Island, just south of Zamboanga, when they were ambushed by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and quite possibly members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). 14 marines were killed, 10 of those were decapitated, and nine more were wounded. That the MILF and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) clashed is not in doubt and both have acknowledged the conflict. But those are about the only facts the two sides agree.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Al Qaeda and its role in the Iraq insurgency “The attempts to minimize the role played by al Qaeda in Iraq in the larger Sunni insurgency took a significant step over the past week. Clark Hoyt, the public editor of the New York Times, claimed that the media had become complicit in the government's attempts to paint the entire Sunni insurgency with an al Qaeda brush. Also this week, Malcolm Nance published an article at the Small Wars Journal claiming al Qaeda is being given too much credit for the violence in Iraq. In the article, titled "Al Qaeda in Iraq--Heroes, Boogeymen or Puppets?," Nance claims al Qaeda is but a bit player in the Iraqi insurgency and is largely controlled by the Baathist remnants of Saddam Hussein’s regime. To Nance, al Qaeda is both a U.S. Boogeyman and Baathist Puppet.” (READ MORE)
Gunslinger's Journal: Optimism “We've heard for a long time now how bad it is that Congress can't get anything ‘done’. We say that we want the two parties to get along, and get something "done". Newflash: Anything they get ‘done’ is invariably bad for the rest of us. They are full-time, professional politicians, no longer the ‘citizen legislators’ Jefferson visualised. They spend all their time thinkng up new ways to interfere in the lives of Americans. I finally realized that the best thing that can happen is for Congress to be gridlocked for the rest of my life. The less they ‘do’, the freer we are.” (READ MORE)
La Shawn Barber: No Apology “Whenever I hear a man apologize for telling the truth because some idiotic group puts pressure on him, I want to vomit. But I won’t be retching today. Pat McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, wrote that too many black youth were imitating the gangster lifestyle in their behavior and dress, a true statement. (Charlotte Observer) McCrory noted that 60 percent of Charlotte’s gang members are black.” (READ MORE)
Hugh Hewitt: ABC News' Jake Tapper wants evidence of monolithic MSM bias? Look no further than coverage of Iraq. “There are several places in the epic Jake Tapper-Hugh Hewitt podcast that warrant comment, but this statement near the end of the interview by Mr. Tapper really stands out. ‘I do think that you need to…I understand that you think that we’re all this, and we’re all that, and I do think that I would ask that you, as somebody who is influential with many Americans, with your radio show and your blog and your column, sometimes reporters are honestly trying to do the job, to be as objective as possible, to get stories out there, to inform the American people of all stripes, and I don’t think you give us the benefit of the doubt.’” (READ MORE)
Little Green Footballs: France: Hizballah Is Not A Terror Group “Looks like it's back to business as usual for France, as the French Foreign Ministry reverses a position taken by Nicolas Sarkozy and releases a statement saying Hizballah is not a terror group. Hizbullah is part of Lebanese politics and must not be regarded as a terror organization, said the French ...” (READ MORE)
McQ: Socialism is the answer ... “Or so claims Hugo Chavez, dictator of Venezuela. Amir Taheri gives us a progress report as to how that’s working out south of the border. Chavez now has unfettered access to Venezuela’s oil wealth to the tune of 180 billion in net oil revenues. He’s added 30 billion in borrowing, not to mention other revenues from taxes, customs duties, etc. So life is good, eh? And poverty is on the run?” (READ MORE)
Thomas @ RedState: I Say Again, They Are Cowards and Tucktails “To the men and women who would do this, I maintain that you are nothing but a group of tucktails. If the Iraq War is so bad, so immoral, do everything in your power to stop it. Allocate no funds. Bush vetoes? Keep allocating no funds. Force Bush to choose between literal force protection and a staredown. Stupid, immoral, cowardly excuses for human beings, the lot of you. If this war is merely a waste of lives and treasure, you are honor-bound to stop it at all costs. So do it. Relive the 1970s. Show us that you accept the inevitable slaughter of millions as irrelevant so that we can all watch the evening news without being bothered.” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl: Economic Double Talk From The NY Times “Today in this editorial the New York Times tells us that America is no longer the Land of Opportunity. What they don't tell you is how to find this 114 pages of mostly liberal-socialist academic tripe from the Paris-based OECD upon which their short editorial is based. And the real issue is that the research is far from clear, except for the Times' fondness for wealth transfer and public programs another portion of the analysis suggests don't even work. To be fair, the OECD is actually far more forthright than is the NY Times.” (READ MORE)
Right Truth: America's plans for the Middle East “Does the United States actually have a long-term plan for the Middle East, and if so exactly what is it. On the subject of long-term plans, I'm also wondering about any plans Israel has -- and Syria, and Iran, and ... I'm not the only one wondering about these potential plans. We've been hearing rumors about Syria arming along the border, rumors about a possible summer war between Israel and Syria, or perhaps Israel and Lebanon again.” (READ MORE)
The Torch: Afstan: Why we're losing the war... “[A]t home. READ THIS. And, as has often been raised at this blog, reflect on the role of our media. There is reason to examine the mission critically. But do so intelligently and with some knowledge--which is what our media are almost completely incapable of doing. Rather the death watch. Read the first paragraph in the quote here; and see the last para at this link. All that need be said. Damn it.” (READ MORE)
The Tygrrrr Express: Hillary Clinton was right about something…My head may explode “I often refer to the blinking VCR theory, which states that even people who are almost always wrong can accidentally be right twice a day. I now need to offer the supernova theory, which allows for even the arbitrarily volatile among society to accidentally show a glimmering flash of truth every incredibly long once in a while. Hillary Clinton is wrong about virtually everything that matters in this world. It is not because she is stupid. Far from it, she is an intelligent woman who seems to soak up policy information. It is that her conclusions on most issues are simply impractical, unrealistic, and recycled ashes of past failures of others.” (READ MORE)
Cassandra: Murtha: Wrong Again “In the rarefied atmosphere of Capitol Hill, a certain... shall we say... flexibility is the key to political survival. Few Congressional power players demonstrate that maxim better than our fave expert on all matters military, Rep. Jack Murtha. So wise (nay, prescient - who else could announce the verdict of 8 murder trials before indictments were issued or a jury selected) is Rep. Murtha that the media pick up his slightest utterance and repeat it reverently for our edification.” (READ MORE)
Kim Priestap: Quitting is Not an Option for Many Severely Wounded Soldiers “I'm amazed at the tenacity and commitment of so many of our military men and women. A growing number of troops severely injured in Iraq are insisting on remaining on active duty. Sgt. John Keith is one of those troops. His story is inspiring:” (READ MORE)
The Redhunter: Determined to Lose "Charles Krauthammer, I think, summed up the situation pretty accuratcly when he said that: 'Finally, after four terribly long years, we know what works. We don't yet know if this strategy will work in mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods. Nor can we be certain that this cooperation between essentially Sunni tribal forces and an essentially Shiite central government can endure. But what cannot be said -- although it is now heard daily in Washington -- is that the surge, which is shorthand for Gen. David Petraeus's new counterinsurgency strategy, has failed. The tragedy is that, just as a working strategy has been found, some Republicans in the Senate have lost heart and want to pull the plug.'" (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: About Those Benchmarks "Much of the reporting last week was about mixed results and failure to make significant progress, a lot on the futile flailing of an impotent Congress and not much on what the guy who is actually running the war had to say. Via Small Wars Journal, here is the progress report, with links and a roundup." (READ MORE)
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