A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
3 Doctors Detained in British Plots - At least three physicians were among the suspects arrested in Britain's car-bomb plots, and authorities announced three new arrests — including a doctor in Australia — as the investigation spread overseas yesterday. (READ MORE)
Bush Commutes Libby's Prison Sentence - President Bush yesterday commuted the 30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, just hours after a federal appeals-court panel said the former White House aide could not remain free on bond pending an appeal. (READ MORE)
Putin Pushes Radar Site in Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday surprised the Bush administration again, proposing a new alternative to a planned U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe by offering to let the U.S. build a new radar facility in southern Russia. (READ MORE)
Security On Alert Ahead of Attacks - Security aboard flights into Glasgow Airport was beefed up two weeks ago with protection by U.S. air marshals who are now on board every inbound and outgoing European flight, according to a Homeland Security official. (READ MORE)
Clinton Hails Hillary as Lone Leader in Pack - Former President Bill Clinton told voters here his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is the only 2008 presidential candidate who is prepared to lead the country. (READ MORE)
A Decision Made Largely Alone - President Bush limited his deliberations over commuting the prison term of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to a few close aides, opting not to consult with the Justice Department and rebuffing efforts by friends to lobby on Libby's behalf, administration officials and people close to Bush said yesterday. (READ MORE)
Attempts Seen As Model for New Attacks On U.S. Soil - The next terrorist assault on the United States is likely to come through relatively unsophisticated, near-simultaneous attacks -- similar to those attempted in Britain over the weekend -- designed more to provoke widespread fear and panic than to cause major losses of life, U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials believe. (READ MORE)
Standoff at Pakistan Mosque Leaves 3 Dead - A long-simmering standoff between the government and a radical mosque in the heart of the Pakistani capital exploded into a vicious street clash on Tuesday, with a soldier and two students dying and dozens more injured. (READ MORE)
N.Korea's Kim Urges Each Party to Take Steps on Deal - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said on Tuesday each party should take "initial actions" in an aid-for-disarmament deal, Xinhua news agency reported amid signs Pyongyang was preparing to shut down its main nuclear plant. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Desert Flier: One “Sitting in EVAC with Tim watching the Buick Open on the Armed Forces Network. Not a big golf fan, but I'll take any distraction at this point. 'Just past midnight. We finally hit one July.' 'Yeah. The month you're in doesn't count, and the month you go home doesn't count either. Guess that means we only have one month left in Iraq?' Tim's laughing and not quite agreeing at the same time. Either way, we both herald the disappearance of June as we crawl one month closer to home. 'Four casualties inbound. Mikes unknown; still engaged in a firefight.' says one of the EVAC platoon medics.” (READ MORE)
Lee Smith: The Islamist's War Against Liberalism “In an article in the June 4 New Republic, Who’s Afraid of Tariq Ramadan, Paul Berman reviewed some of the writings of Tariq Ramadan, and his career among the Western intelligentsia, specifically the New York Times, which has run several pieces on Ramadan, including a profile written by Ian Buruma. Berman concluded his article arguing that something in Western intellectual culture has changed. When journalists and intellectuals glide over the illiberal ideas of illiberal ideologues like Ramadan and attack liberal activists like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, then something has changed.” (READ MORE)
Matt Sanchez: Hear it "In Their Own Words" “George Quinton Rhubi was born to be a Marine. After all, his father was a Marine and he says, ‘It's all I know.’ Rhubi is stationed in Fallujah and just before a day of handing out softballs to the children of a neighborhood, he sat down for this interview to talk about his life as a Marine and his goals after he leaves the service.” (READ MORE)
LTC Rich Phillips: Week 23--Soldier On “During these slow weeks it's hard to think about anything to say in the blog. No drama and just the regular trauma, another hot summer week in FOB Salerno, Khowst Province, Afghanistan. It's weeks like this where we just Soldier On, doing our jobs and waiting for that magical day when we can redeploy. Most of us spend an inordinate amount of time planning our redeployment, our return home. No matter how many times the Chaplain tells us not to idealize things back home, we do it anyway.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Hassan Butt: My Plea to Fellow Muslims "When I was still a member of what is probably best termed the British Jihadi Network, a series of semi-autonomous British Muslim terrorist groups linked by a single ideology, I remember how we used to laugh in celebration whenever people on TV proclaimed that the sole cause for Islamic acts of terror like 9/11, the Madrid bombings and 7/7 was Western foreign policy. By blaming the government for our actions, those who pushed the 'Blair's bombs' line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology." (READ MORE)
Bill Murchison: A Victory For Judicial Restraint “That Americans, after all these years of tearing their hair out and trying everything in the wide world else, still can't iron out their racial predicaments tells us numerous things we need to understand.” (READ MORE)
Paul Weyrich: What a Day Last Week “This has been an extraordinary week. The people have spoken twice - both against the leadership. In the United States Senate, the leadership of both parties by and large was on one side. The people, as reflected by the Senators who cast votes on that final cloture roll call, were with the people. In the House of Representatives all the leaders of the Majority Party voted against the wishes of the people. ALL of the leaders of the Minority Party were with the people. The people prevailed. Over 100 Members of the Majority Party joined every member of the Minority Party to prevail in lopsided fashion. In my more than four decades in our Nation's Capital I never remember a day such as we had last week.” (READ MORE)
Cal Thomas: Patriotism “It's a long way from Washington, D.C., to Washington, Ind., where my father was born a century ago next January and where I am attending a Thomas family reunion. On the drive from Indianapolis, one passes towns that could fill a Norman Rockwell album. My favorite is named Freedom because, though the town has only a single flashing caution light, it displays many flags. If I don't slow down, I will miss both.” (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell: Upsetting the Elite “With the White House, the leaders of both political parties, and the media all solidly behind the ‘comprehensive’ immigration ‘reform’ bill, how could it be stopped in the Senate, as it was last week?” (READ MORE)
Dennis Prager: America Needs a July Fourth Seder “When Jews gather at the Passover Seder -- and this is the most widely observed Jewish holiday -- they recount the exodus from Egypt, an event that occurred 3,200 years ago. We Americans have difficulty keeping alive the memory of events that happened 231 years ago.” (READ MORE)
Patrick J. Buchanan: In Defeat, a Bush Opportunity “A defeat like this is almost unheard of in Washington. For when the establishment unites -- as it did behind the Panama Canal giveaway and NAFTA -- it almost always wins.” (READ MORE)
Rich Lowry: The eagle has landed “It's appropriate that the symbol of a great democracy has come back as a matter of popular demand and intelligent democratic action. The bald eagle has always been a source of pride. Its recovery should be too.” (READ MORE)
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: The Path to...? “In the wake of this weekend’s spate of actual and attempted car-bombings in the U.K., I watched the uncut version of ‘The Path to 9/11’ ABC’s dramatic portrayal of the events that contributed to, and culminated in, the deadliest attacks on U.S. soil to date.” (READ MORE)
WSJ Review & Outlook: Bush and Libby “President Bush's commutation late yesterday afternoon of the prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will at least spare his former aide from 2 1/2 years in prison. But by failing to issue a full pardon, Mr. Bush is evading responsibility for the role his Administration played in letting the Plame affair build into fiasco and, ultimately, this personal tragedy.” (READ MORE)
Brendan Mimiter: Escape From New York “In 1776 Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton seemed to be precisely the kind of military officer the American military needed to win the Revolution. He was a veteran of the French and Indian War two decades earlier. He proved to be a supreme leader of men in combat outside Boston. And he was tapped by Gen. George Washington to start a new elite military unit--Knowlton's Rangers--that was capable of operating behind enemy lines.” (READ MORE)
Bret Stephens: A Veiled Threat “Last October, Jack Straw, then the leader of the House of Commons and a former foreign secretary, touched off a furor in Britain when he suggested there was something amiss with the growing trend among Muslim women to wear the face-covering, head-to-toe garments commonly known as the niqab. ‘Insensitive and surprising,’ sniffed Simon Hughes, party chairman of the Liberal Democrats, about Mr. Straw's remarks. ‘A dangerous doctrine,’ added Oliver Letwin of the Tories. ‘Jack Straw has unleashed a storm of prejudice and intensified division,’ opined columnist Madeleine Bunting in the Guardian.” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Law, Justice, and Libby “Last night, President Bush partially commuted Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice, dispensing with the prison term but leaving intact the fine, probation, and other sanctions that go with being a convicted felon. He did so mere hours after Libby's request to remain free on bail while his appeal was being prepared was rejected, and the former vice-presidential aide was getting ready to go behind bars.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Selective Civil Libertarianism and Your Reprehensible Nationalist Racist Religious Hatred “I’m reading Victor Davis Hanson on why people who are worked up about the duly enacted Patriot Act don’t seem to give a damn about actual law-breaking and civil rights trampling. Then I look around to see who he’s talking about, and I trip over a Fourth-of-July bashing piece by Howard Zinn, who wants to have a chat with you about your reprehensible nationalist racist religious hatred.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: CBS: British jihadis were recruited by leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq “I was set to lead with the news from the BBC that all eight suspects are medical professionals — seven of them doctors — and all are linked to Britain’s NHS. Turns out that’s just a footnote to the real scoop, though. ‘British intelligence services increasingly believe that the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow bare the fingerprints of al Qaeda in Iraq, CBS News has learned.’” (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: (Video) Steyn and Ijaz on the UK plot and the margin between terrorist clowns and killers “Much wisdom to be found in this clip. Mark Steyn and Mansour Ijaz join Neil Cavuto to discuss terrorism and its possible imminence here in the US. In the early part of the segment, which I didn’t catch, Steyn seemed to agree that the attacks in London and Glasgow were motivated in part as a welcome to UK PM Gordon Brown. Steyn’s argument that the margin between clown terrorists and lethal terrorists is slim is particularly noteworthy, as is Ijaz’s sobering conclusion at the end.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Republicans move on illegal immigration “House Republicans are seizing the border patrol issue. Lamar Smith of Texas and Pete King of New York are pushing an Enforcement Only bill to put teeth back in Ted Kennedy’s Immigration Reform Act of 1986, which President Reagan signed into law in an effort to rid the nation of 3 million illegal aliens.” (READ MORE)
Ron Winter: Whack a Terrorist! Win a Trip to Scotland! Break Out the Glen Morangie “Did you see on the news that when one of the two Islamo-fascists who rammed a burning vehicle into Glasgow International Airport this weekend was struggling with Scottish cops, a Scotsman observing the melee ended it all with a well-placed punch to the terrorist's face, leveling the cretin and enabling police to complete the arrest? Talk about putting political correctness in its place! I say well done cousin and tonight I'll break out a wee dram of Glen Morangie and toast your courage and style. I bet the guy is a highlander.” (READ MORE)
The Tygrrrr Express: Rosie, Scooter, Dubya, and Monique–Huh? “Rosie, Scooter, Dubya and Monique…Before some people ask ‘How is he going to tie them together? This I would like to see.’ The answer is, maybe I will not. I remember in college reading the sports column ‘Notes on a Scoreboard,’ by the late Alan Malamud. Like a Seinfeld episode, by the time Malamud was done, all the random comments somehow ended up tied up in a nice little bow. There are so many things going on in the news lately, that rather than give each issue a thoughtful column, I figured a slightly less than half-@ssed stab at each issue may add up to slightly less than a complete quality column.” (READ MORE)
The Sundries Shack: Iran is Killing Our Soldiers. Can We Do Something About It, Please?? “We now know that Iran, using their Hezbollah soldiers, killed five of our soldiers earlier this year. This is not a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. Iran has been directly killing our soldiers in Iraq pretty much since we got there. The Iraqi interim government (that’s how far back this goes) was publicly naming Iran as directly involved in destabilizing things in Iraq. That passed and we along with the rest of the world did nothing at all about it. Iran’s gotten far more brazen. Now they think nothing of sending in their own people, their own equipment, and their own cash without even attempting to hide it.” (READ MORE)
Stop the ACLU: Socializing the Free Market of Ideas “In response to the Center for American Progress's hit piece on talk radio imbalance, various Senators have expressed support for resurrecting the Cold War era ‘Fairness doctrine’ which requires equal airtime for opposing points of view. Senator Feinstein (D-CA) specifically rejects she said they wanted a legislative fix for conservative talk radio, but still suspiciously supports the fairness doctrine as does Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Senator Kerry (D-MA) has also expressed his support.” (READ MORE)
ROFASix: Contemplating Failure in Iraq “The website, Foreign Policy, recently posted a memo for 1967 which stemmed from a CIA director's request for a review of predicted consequences if the US should fail to achieve its objectives in Vietnam. This time, wherever 'Vietnam' appeared it was crossed out and replaced with 'Iraq.' ‘Soviet-American relations’ was replaced with ‘Iranian-American relations’, while ‘US and Third World’ becomes ‘US and the Muslim World’. As you read it the parallels to today's conflict are eerie. It is an interesting approach, but I wonder whether it is a case of 'apples and oranges'.” (READ MORE)
Matt Margolis: What About The Leaker? “As expected, Democrats began foaming at the mouth following the commutation of Scooter Libby's jail sentence by President Bush. Republicans, on the other hand, seem rather please, though some of us would have liked to have seen a full pardon. But Democrat grandstanding on this issue doesn't change the fact that they seem more interested in Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief-of-staff than they are in the actual leaker of Valerie Plame's name to the media, Richard Armitage.” (READ MORE)
Reformed Chicks Blabbing: I am so thankful I have other sources of information “Because if I had to rely on the MSM, I wouldn't know what was going on. I just watched both Eyewitness News and Nightline and I'm amazed that not once in their reports about Bush commuting Libby's sentence did they mention Armitage and the fact that he was the one who actually leaked Plame's name.” (READ MORE)
McQ: Where’s the bright line in the war debate? “Kevin Ferris notes that Robert "Buzz" Patterson, a retired Air Force Colonel and former White House military aide, has authored a book that is anything but nuanced or subtle. From the title on, it is red meat for the right. But he asks some questions, or at least Ferris poses some questions, which need answers because they get to the crux of the argument between those who think that opposition to the war is nothing more than debate and an exercise of our 1st Amendment rights and those who think what is said at times goes to far and causes morale problems, a feeling of abandonment and isolation within the military, and, in some cases, gives the enemy hope of eventual victory.” (READ MORE)
John Hinderaker: Calling Out the U.N. “Minnesota's Norm Coleman has been the number one advocate in Congress for holding the United Nations accountable. He has continued that effort by introducing S. 1698, the Human Rights Council Funding Reform Act of 2007. The operative portion of Coleman's proposed statute reads: ‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds appropriated or otherwise made available by any Act for contributions for international organizations may be made available to support the United Nations Human Rights Council.’ The following is an excerpt from Norm's statement on the record in support of his proposed legislation:” (READ MORE)
Slab @ OPFOR: Recon By Fire “Herschel Smith of The Captain's Journal has made several posts about the Rules of Engagement in Iraq. Some of his more notable posts were The NCOs Speak on Rules of Engagement, Rules of Engagement and Pre-Theoretical Commitments. Herschel and I have disagreed a bit over the ROE - he believes that the ROE are insufficient for the prosecution of this war. I believe that the Rules, as they are written, are sufficient yet are being incorrectly applied by some local commanders. Obviously, neither of us have been able to trot out much in the way of specifics due to operational security concerns, and pretty much agreed to disagree.” (READ MORE)
Kobayashi Maru: That's Rich “I've been trying to hold back: staying away from the keyboard and mouse lest I cover them with paint from a sleepless, chemically induced fugue of productive activity redecorating our kitchen from dawn to dusk. Now however, with the She Snake weighing in on the Scooter Libby pardon, I absolutely cannot keep silent. The phrase 'bald-faced cynical hypocrisy' doesn't even begin to cover this one.” (READ MORE)
Fjordman: Muslim Violence “In Denmark, Muslims are attacking the Inuit people, the indigenous people of Greenland, who have been a part of the Kingdom of Denmark for centuries. Whenever Muslims target non-Muslims with violence, this is blamed by the media on past legacy of colonialism, US foreign policy, Israeli aggression etc. Well, Muslims are now attacking… Greenlanders. And we all know they are evil, Zionist Crusaders with a long history of colonial aggression in the Middle East, right?” (READ MORE)
Baron Bodissey: “You Are Being Cheated” “We all know that success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan. So the European Union must be a great success, right? So many people took part in the creation of the EU Constitution, and its fathers are the cream of the European welfare-state nomenklatura. One of the proudest of the daddies was the former president of France, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. No one was more determined than he that the whole of Europe should share his 400-page vision of the future of Europe — or 380 pages, or 200, or 500, depending on whose account you read. But M. d’Estaing has changed his mind. The latest European farrago, the revised constitution masquerading as a ‘treaty’, is too much even for him.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Clash at Islamabad's Red Mosque “Pakistani security forces have clashed with the followers of Taliban supporters Maulana Abdul Aziz and Ghazi Abdul Rasheed at the notorious Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the hear of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. One member of the Rangers, a paramilitary police force, was killed and two wounded, and seven students of the Lal Masjid were wounded after the students initiated the fighting. ‘The clashes began when around 150 students attacked a security picket at a government office near the capital's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, snatched weapons and took four government officials hostage,’ police told Reuters.” (READ MORE)
DJ Elliott: Training the Iraqi National Police “The development of the Iraqi Police, at the local, provincial, and national levels, is crucial to the counterinsurgency campaign and allowing security to transition to the Iraqi Security Forces. The Iraqi police, particularly the National Police units, have had numerous problems, including infiltration by Shia militias, a lack of professionalism and leadership, poor training and logistics, a lack of equipment and ammunition, and a lack of Coalition supervision. While 2006 was designated as The Year of the Police, the sectarian violence brought about by al Qaeda’s destruction of the dome of the al Askaria mosque in Samarra derailed the advancement of the police. Despite these problems, the National Police has slowly progressed from an ad hoc paramilitary Shia militia to a professional federal police force due to changes by the Interior Ministry and Coalition trainers.” (READ MORE)
Fortress of Solitude: More bad news for Gore “I don’t know why I have to continually come back to this subject. I suppose it’s just compulsive. Or, perhaps it’s due to the non-stop hype surrounding the Church of Global Warming. With all of the religious indoctrination taking place in the media, it’s important to balance the fantasy with reality. So, once again, I have some bad news for the Global Warming believers. James Taylor, with the Heartland Institute, wrote a piece for the Chicago Sun-Times. In his article, he calls on Al Gore to practice what he preaches – honesty.” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: Rich Liberal Upset That He Doesn't Pay Enough Taxes “Another fat cat liberal decries the fact that he is allowed to make so much money and pay his secretary only 60 thousand dollars a year. Woops, guess this article didn't say that. Silly me. What it does say is that Warren Buffet, the 3rd richest man in the world is hopping mad that he is only taxed at a 17% rate while his 60 grand a year secretary is taxed at 30%. I don't hear the rich socialist liberals like Hillary Clinton getting upset about a man who is worth 52 billion only paying his secretary 60 grand, but that's beside the point. This is a free society and he has every right to pay what he chooses. What I question is this figure of 30%. Well, I don't question it as much as think it's pure lunacy. There is no way a person making 60 grand a year can be paying at a 30% rate. Investors Business Daily agrees:” (READ MORE)
Crazy Politico: Kudo's To Cohen “Kudo's go out today to Richard Cohen of the Washington Post, for his column "A Local Lesson That Democrats Fail". His column concerns the debate the Democrats held in Washington DC last week, and their concern for education. Specifically he jabbed John Edwards for his comments on two school systems; one for the rich and one for the poor; reminding him that DC spends over $13,000 per year per student, who are largely poor.” (READ MORE)
Blackfive: Command Sergeant Major Ciotola on Harry Reid - MUST READ of the DAY “This is about as tough a chops bustin' as you will hear in the papers. Can't believe they printed it. The Command Sergeant Major (top enlisted soldier in Iraq) is sick and tired - like you - of defeatist politicians, throwing whole countries, their own troops, and the best interests of this country, under the bus to serve their political needs. First, a General reacts to them. Now, a Command Sergeant Major. I sure hope the Senate has their ears open today.” (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: Doctors of Death “It is a historical fact, and an abiding conundrum, that so many organizations dedicated to the slaughter of innocents have numbered Physicians among their most devout and murderous adherents. One can draw a line directly from Dr. Mengele choosing life and death at Auschwitz to Dr. Zawahiri choosing death for thousands at a whim. The Palestinians, the modern day masters of terrorism, have numerous Physicians among their leadership.” (READ MORE)
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