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)
President Unbowed as Benchmarks Are Unmet - President Bush, delivering a mixed report to Congress on political and military progress in Iraq, insisted yesterday he would not be rushed into an early withdrawal, even as lawmakers voted to begin pulling troops from Iraq in the coming months. (READ MORE)
Commuting Libby's Sentence 'Fair,' Bush Says - President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that "somebody" in his administration leaked the name of an undercover intelligence officer but declined to say whether he was disappointed in such an action and contended that it is time to move on. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Military's Readiness Slips - Despite stepped-up training, the readiness of the Iraqi military to operate independently of U.S. forces has decreased since President Bush's new strategy was launched in January, according to the White House progress report released yesterday. (READ MORE)
U.S. Official Defends Pakistan's Efforts Against Al-Qaeda - A senior State Department official defended efforts by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to undermine al-Qaeda's presence in the country's northwest tribal areas, a day after senior U.S. intelligence officials depicted the terrorist group as operating from a "safe haven" in the region. (READ MORE)
Bush Asks For More Time - President Bush yesterday said that he realizes that the American people are suffering from "war fatigue" but that the U.S. military must stay in Iraq long enough to give fighting Iraqi factions a chance to reconcile politically, or Iraq will become a haven for terrorists and will destabilize the region. (READ MORE)
House Approves April Troop Pullout - The Democrat-led House yesterday passed a bill to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by April — gaining two new Republican supporters in three months but leaving it well shy of the votes needed to override President Bush's promised veto. (READ MORE)
Pakistan Pledges to Fight Militants - President Pervez Musharraf yesterday vowed to crush Islamist extremists across the country and move strongly against religious schools after a bloody standoff at a mosque in the capital left scores dead. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Hugh Hewitt: Michael Yon reports from Baquba, Iraq that the surge appears to be working. “Now Michael Yon, a lot of people don’t know the significance of Baquba. And so can you explain what peace in Baquba means for the larger war effort? ‘Well, it’s huge, because al Qaeda had claimed Baquba as their capitol, their worldwide capitol. And you might recall one of the things that kind of upsets people about my reporting is I said Iraq was in a civil war, and I said that way back in February of 2005, and I continue to do so. But when I first wrote that, I was in Baquba, in 2005, and I spent two or three months here. And it was just total…you could see it, and you could see al Qaeda was trying to foment that civil war, because that’s their underlying strategy, is to do that. And so getting, fracturing al Qaeda here, and al Qaeda alienating so many Iraqis, it’s helping us to put a damper on the civil war.’” (READ MORE)
IraqPundit: Damned if you stay and damned if you leave “Veteran NYT columnist Tom Friedman describes (Times $elect) Iraq as a case of damned if you leave and damned if you don't leave. ‘Staying in means simply containing the Iraq civil war, but at the price of Americans and Iraqis continuing to die...’ he writes. ‘Getting out, on the other hand, means more ethnic, religious and tribal killings all across Iraq.’ Friedman offers four reasons why getting out is a better idea than staying.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten: Embracing the Suck to Kuwait “I have no breaking news to report. I haven’t even made it inside Iraq. No one should expect a smooth and comfortable trip to Baghdad and Anbar Province – especially not in July – but things shouldn’t have gone south as soon as Chicago. While listening to my iPod and waiting for my flight at the gate in Ohare Airport, I noticed some teenagers pointing in amazement at the sky outside the window. I pulled out my earbuds. ‘They can't make me get on an airplane right now,’ one of them said. The sky boiled with evil black clouds. Lightning zotted across the heavens.” (READ MORE)
Matt Sanchez: Fallujah--From Near, from Afar “My first embed in Iraq was actually my second embed in Iraq, which of course doesn’t make sense, but like a lot of things in Saddam’s former police state, a broad explanation is always needed and even then you’ll often contradict yourself. The same way the vision slowly adjusts after a burst of light, from the United States, I saw the after-image of hazy objects and movement, all out of context and jumbled.” (READ MORE)
Those Wacky Iraqis: On Hiatus - Maybe Forever “The powers that be have issued an ultimatum regards blogging that it just about shuts down everything. Rather than be punished for my stress relief I will simply go on stand by mode until this is lifted or revised. Sorry but it is getting tight regards this issue. You may have read some about it in the media by a few who are outraged.” (READ MORE)
My Desert Adventure: Starting to See the Light "After many months of daily blogs, I’m starting to run out of things to write about. I guess it is a good thing that I’m headed home soon. If all goes according to plan, the guy that is relieving me is on his way to Kuwait as I write this. Of course I won’t know for sure when I’m coming home until a week before I leave Iraq. The main reason for the uncertainty is that 'the powers that be' don’t take into account that some people fall out of training or are disqualified prior to coming over here." (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Charles Krauthammer: Growing With Time “Finally, after four terribly long years, we know what works. Or what can work. A year ago, a confidential Marine intelligence report declared Anbar province (which comprises about a third of Iraq's territory) lost to al-Qaeda. Now, in what the Times' John Burns calls an ‘astonishing success,’ the tribal sheiks have joined our side and committed large numbers of fighters that, in concert with American and Iraqi forces, have largely driven out al-Qaeda and turned its former stronghold of Ramadi into one of most secure cities in Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Diana West: Limited war gives us nothing “This is a how-to column: how to win in Iraq by changing course, dissing Democrats, ignoring the Iraq Study Group and altogether eradicating Al Qaeda in Iraq, Iran in Iraq, not to mention Iran in Iran.” (READ MORE)
Mike Gallagher: Conservatives Shouldn't Abandon Bush “Watching a steady stream of Democrats like Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, and Chuck Schumer each take their turn delightedly pummeling President Bush over the war in Iraq today, I couldn’t help but think of fellow conservatives who are starting to give aid and comfort to these Democrat Party loyal oppositionists.” (READ MORE)
Michael Reagan: A Culture War of Words “If anybody doubts America is engaged in a culture war and losing it they need only to take a look at the series of concerts promoting Al Gore?s global warming hoax last weekend. They would have learned that the war is being waged in the sewers.” (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson: Upside-Down Politics in the Middle East “Jimmy Carter - a self-proclaimed champion of human rights and nonviolence - has called the U.S.'s unwillingness to accept the 2006 Palestinian election of the terrorists of Hamas ‘criminal.’” (READ MORE)
Debra J. Saunders: Bad Timing on Iraq “During a teleconference from Iraq with reporters last week, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of coalition forces operating in the region south of Baghdad, explained, ‘Lynch's rules of war fighting.’ Rule 1 is, ‘Everything is timing, and the second rule is, everything takes longer than you think it's going to take.’” (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: The Democrats' Entrenched and Immovable Antiwar Posture “The Democrats' long-entrenched position, partisan interests and ideological inclinations militate against them changing their mind on Iraq, regardless of the facts on the ground.” (READ MORE)
Lorie Byrd: How Bush Can Save Iraq “Over the past four years President Bush has failed to effectively communicate to the public the importance of succeeding in Iraq, and now some Republican senators are going wobbly in the face of low poll numbers. They appear prepared to deny our military even the few months they were told would be given before the September report on the progress of the counteroffensive. The President needs to use everything at his disposal to make the case to the American people that failure in Iraq is not an option. He needs to do it immediately.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Fixing Illegal Immigration In 10 Common Sense Steps “One of the common refrains from the supporters of the Senate amnesty plan was that the people who opposed the bill weren't offering any alternatives. However, nothing could be further from the truth.” (READ MORE)
John McCaslin: Climate Terror “‘The last time I checked, global warming didn't have one single thing to do with putting a bomb in Piccadilly Circus or trying to blow up the JFK airport,’ says Rep. Marsha Blackburn. ‘Global warming didn't bomb the USS Cole or take down the Twin Towers. Climate change can be studied, but it need not be done at the expense of human intelligence needed to help eliminate international terrorism. We need to adjust our priorities.’” (READ MORE)
Micahel O'Hanlan & Jason Campbell: Measuring Progress in Iraq “In conventional warfare, it is fairly obvious if a war is being won. Movement of the front lines, industrial production of war material and logistical sustainability of forces in the field provide fairly clear standards by which to assess trends. But counterinsurgency and stabilization operations like the ones in Iraq are much more complex. How do we measure progress in such a situation? The administration has just done so on an interim basis. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will be asked to do so again in September, just before the expected showdown between Congress and President Bush over the 2008 war budget.” (READ MORE)
Peggy Noonan: American Grit “It's been a slow week in a hot era. I found myself Thursday watching President Bush's news conference and thinking about what it is about him, real or perceived, that makes people who used to smile at the mention of his name now grit their teeth. I mean what it is apart from the huge and obvious issues on which they might disagree with him.” (READ MORE)
Kimberly A. Strassel: The McCain-Feingold Effect “John McCain's campaign fell into disarray this week, kicked off by the news it had raised a scant $24 million so far. Mark these money woes down to any number of problems, but don't entirely discount the McCain-Feingold effect. Let's stipulate that most of the good senator's troubles stem from high-profile policy disagreements he's had with his own base. He's tweaked noses on global warming and slapped faces on immigration.” (READ MORE)
Dadmanly: Wishful Thinking, and Just Wishes “By now, many have taken in The Washington Post editorial today, describing ‘wishful thinking’ on both sides of the latest debate over our efforts in Iraq. The Post offers helpfully: ‘If American men and women were dying in July in a clearly futile cause, it would indeed be immoral to wait until September to order their retreat. But given the risks of withdrawal, the calculus cannot be so simple.’” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Will the most ethical Congress evah censure Murtha for his Haditha comments? “Hope springs eternal for MM, but not for me. Last May he insisted that ‘they killed innocent civilians in cold blood’; fast forward 14 months and the charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt are hanging by a fraying thread. So why not censure him for jumping the gun? Because that’s not the way things work for Nancy’s fair-haired boy...” (READ MORE)
American Ranger: Intel Estimate: Al Qaeda is Coming “An Associated Press report quotes a Draft National Intelligence estimate that Al Qaeda is stronger than ever and is targeting the U.S. by trying even harder to sneak its operatives into this country. The estimate also says that the terrorist group has most of what it needs to strike us here. It's also suggested that one of the main reasons for this enemy capability is Al Qaeda’s use of their safe haven along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. There they can train, recruit and plan attacks in peace. The terrorists are safe because the Pakistanis won’t fight them and we won’t go after them either.” (READ MORE)
Richard Landes: On Just What Not to Do: The Honor-Shame Logic of Walt-Mearsheimer “I posted a long essay on Kramer’s response to Walt-Mearsheimer, and one of my commenters posted a formulation of what I think represents a fairly standard line of thinking, what we might call the ‘commoner’s Walt-Mearsheimer,’ the simple argument: ‘Now that the cold war is over, Israel and the Jews have ended up on the wrong side of America’s interest. I am not sure I agree with Kramer. I think it is arguable whether or not Israel is in America’s long term interest. There are over a billion Muslims whose main beef with America is its support for Israel. If the next president came in and announced a U-turn in America’s policy and sacrificed Israel, it would do much to ease the shame in the Arab world, and the move could probably be used to get help with the Iraq situation as well as create a unified front against Iran.’” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: 'This Bill Is About Politics' “The House just passed a resolution that demands a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. The final vote had more Democrats crossing over to oppose it (10) than Republicans crossing the aisle to support it (4), and it faces a certain veto if it even gets through the Senate: ‘Iraq has achieved only spotty military and political progress toward a democratic society, the Bush administration conceded Thursday, an unenthusiastic assessment followed quickly by a House vote to withdraw U.S. troops by spring.’” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: We're Better Then That “Excellent article by Robert Cox in the San Francisco Examiner.....bam!....Sorry, floored once again....about the fact that no matter the reason, al-Qaeda is in Iraq, so how in the world could liberals want us to leave the field of battle to our enemy? ‘The case is often made these days (especially by my friends on the left) that because the majority of Americans surveyed in opinion polls do not support a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq, the Bush administration should “listen to the people” and bring U.S. troops home. The same people advancing this argument point to each American and Iraqi casualty as “proving” that the U.S. should withdraw.’” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Iraq and benchmarks, a mixed assessment “The Initial Benchmark Assessment Report, the interim report prior to the September assessment of the Iraqi government's progress on the security and political fronts, was released today. The report assesses 18 benchmarks and rates them as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The report was mixed, with the Iraqi government receiving satisfactory marks on seven benchmarks, unsatisfactory marks on another eight, one was split down the middle, while two of the benchmarks were considered premature to implement in light of the security situation. Not surprisingly, the Iraqi government was more successful in the security sphere than the political sphere.” (READ MORE)
Paul Mirengoff: Lag the dog “The White House has released its Initial Benchmark Assessment Report to Congress. The report assesses whether satisfactory progress has been made with respect to a series of benchmarks established by Congress. As one would expect of an honest assessment in this context, the report finds that progress is satisfactory in some areas and unsatisfactory in others. In essence, the administration reports that progress on the security front exceeds progress on the political front. This was to be expected.” (READ MORE)
McQ: A "Surge of Facts" “One of the more persistent critiques of the administration has been how poorly it has gotten its story out there as it relates to the war in Iraq. A perfect example is to be found just below this post, where most Americans think the Surge is over and it failed, when in fact, it has barely begun. I made that very point to Tony Snow at my first opportunity on a blogger conference call today. In fact most of the bloggers on the call made that point. And he acknowledged its validity.” (READ MORE)
The Redhunter: Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Al-Qaeda in Waziristan “If you're not watching the Pentagon Channel, you should be. Here's the Iraq Briefing 11 July 2007, conducted by Brigadier General Kevin Bergner spokesman for the Multi-National Force-Iraq. This one is about 48 minutes long, with most of the time devoted to Q & A with reporters. If you're used to watching the press conferences in Washington, you're in for a nice surprise here. The briefing is better, and the questions from the journalists a lot smarter. In addition, instead of just the usual CNN/Fox/WaPo bunch, you've got journalists there from around the world, so you get an international perspective from their questions.” (READ MORE)
ROFASix: Che Guevara Chic from Hollywood “Would you wear a tee-shirt with Hitler, Pol Pot or Idi Amin on it? How about a tattoo with Osama bin Laden or Tomas de Torquemada on your body? I can hear you thinking ... ‘What a dumb question, I have too much self respect to glorify psychopaths.’ Yet Che Guevara's image, replete with fashionable beret, has become ubiquitous: his figure stares out from coffee mugs and posters, jingles at the end of key rings and jewelry, pops up in rock songs, operas, art shows and Hollywood productions. And let's not forget his image on kids clothing and even CD cases at Target.” (READ MORE)
Vox Veterana: Q&A Friday “As promised today is the day I answer the questions posed throughout the week. I am sure I will answer most of them unsatisfactorily, but I will try to do my best. Some of the time I just don’t have a good answer so I will be sure to say so when it applies. The first question comes from reader JEP- Q. ‘Why is it that you think that the MSM is wholly unreliable regarding Iraq & Afghanistan?’” (READ MORE)
John Donovan: The House having voted... “to require the start of redeployment, let's take a look round the 'net on that subject... The Christian Science Monitor: President Bush Says "Progress On Security Will Pave The Way For Political Progress" In Iraq. "In unveiling the report, Bush said at a press conference Thursday that the military progress is laying the groundwork for the necessary political advances.” (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: Musharraf's Gambit "While Pakistanis are trying to sort out just how many people were killed and injured in the Lal Masjid siege, Musharraf is not waiting for the dust to settle after declaring that he would no longer tolerate the Islamists in his country and vowed to eliminate them. He's in the fight for his life." (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: To The Fallen Records: It’s Not About Politics … It’s About The Music "The sentence above speaks volumes, on so many levels. It’s also the slogan for a new record military/veteran only record label called To The Fallen Records that just released their first CD on February 15, 2007. The first CD, To The Fallen Records: Volume I, is a compilation of Rap music written and performed by members of the Armed Forces representing all branches and veterans as well. All music on the CD is as originally recorded by the artist… many times coming straight from the front lines, without any editing or censoring." (READ MORE)
Basil: Tell me again why this war is illegal "This whole Cindy Sheehan coming to town has sparked some angry feelings … on both sides … in the local newspaper. One thing that keeps coming up again and again by the looneys on the left is "this illegal war." Somebody with some sense explain that one to me." (READ MORE)
Baron Bodissey: The Piecemeal Surrender of Sovereignty "The armies of Aztlan will not fight their way up Constitution Avenue and plant the Mexican flag triumphantly atop Capitol Hill. General Petraeus is not going to meet Osama bin Laden aboard an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf to sign our articles of surrender. No, we will surrender (and are surrendering) our sovereignty as a nation-state in little bits and pieces." (READ MORE)
GayPatriotWest: Where’s the Smear? "It is absolutely amusing listening to Administration critics ranting about the ham-handed effort of White House officials to discredit a dishonest critic. Hillary Clinton thinks they were trying to 'stifle dissent' while others claim they were trying to “smear” that disingenuous man (Joe Wilson) by telling the truth to reporters to rebut the distorted information he provided to the New York Times, both in comments to a columnist for that paper and in a piece he penned on his own." (READ MORE)
Donald Sensing: Who speaks for the people? "Captain’s Quarters provides a snippet of a debate between Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Norm Coleman on the so-called 'fairness doctrine,' which was once law and empowered the federal government to regulate media broadcasts regarding political coverage to ensure (it was claimed) 'balance' and 'fairness.' There are member os the Congress of both parties who want the “fairness doctrine” reestablished in law. So over to Dick Durbin:" (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: al-Guardian shows its true colors "The Iranian press issues propaganda statements on a daily basis. I read them when they come across my radar, or when I want to see what’s going on in the official version of 'truth' in Iran. But I don’t believe them, and most legitimate newspapers don’t pass along their propaganda as news." (READ MORE)
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