In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Pakistan Truce Appears Defunct - A controversial peace deal between the Pakistani government and local tribal leaders in an area where al-Qaeda is known to be regrouping appeared to collapse Sunday, as tensions escalated and a fresh wave of bombings killed at least 44 people. (READ MORE)
Campaigns Raise, Burn More Cash, More Quickly - Candidates for the White House are not only raising far more than ever before, many are also spending that money as fast as they get it, leaving some close to being forced from the race almost six months before the first votes are cast. (READ MORE)
DHS Plagued By Turnover In Top Positions - The Department of Homeland Security lost senior leaders at twice the rate of the rest of the federal government over the past two years, including 23 of 26 top officials who report to the secretary, according to a new government report and DHS officials. (READ MORE)
Mahdi Army, Not Al-Qaeda, is Enemy No. 1 in Western Baghdad - The lights were on in Baghdad. Something was wrong. Two platoons were creeping through the southwestern neighborhood of al-Amil well past midnight last week. Headlights snapped off, night vision lenses lowered into place, they maneuvered their Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles down narrow streets, angling for surprise. (READ MORE)
Hadley Sees Improved Iraq By September - National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley yesterday said he expects the situation on the ground in Iraq to improve by September and, therefore, rejected a proposal from two Republican senators that calls for starting to draft redeployment plans for American forces before then. (READ MORE)
Brown Aims to Quell Talk of Split of U.S., British - Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on a visit to Washington this month, will seek to soothe reported Bush administration irritation over remarks from two of his ministers suggesting that he intends to distance Britain from its steadfast alliance with the United States. (READ MORE)
North Korea Says Reactor Shut Down - A North Korean diplomat said his country had shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor after receiving an initial shipment of oil aid and that U.N. inspectors would start verifying the closure today. (READ MORE)
Two Sites Eyed for Day-Laborer Center in D.C. - A D.C. Council member says city officials have settled on two possible sites near a Northeast shopping plaza for a center to help reduce problems created by the crowds of people who gather daily looking for work. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Acute Politics: /Rant Part 2 “Michael Yon provides pictures, video, grid coordinates and interviews to verify a mass grave, and the most definite news byte that the Associated Press will print is that mass graves ‘reportably’ exist in Baqouba? That isn't even up to the level of the common complaint that the media fails to report good news. That's failing to report the bad news correctly. In response to an email wondering why the AP did not pick up Yon's excellently sourced story, the AP replied that no military press release had been issued, so they would not print the story.” (READ MORE)
Outlaw 13: Using Dead Soldiers For Fun and Political Gain “As I have stated in the past I usually don't give a whole lot of my time to watching the news over here. I discovered the last time I was in this monkey house (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) that what is presented on the news is not an entirely accurate picture of events on the battlefield and it remains true today...from what little I am exposed to while trying to eat in the DFAC. So I missed Sunday's Meet the Press, where SENs Lindsey Graham and Jim Webb had an exchange about the war.” (READ MORE)
Jason's Iraq Vacation: Wishful thinking “Good News! Apparently, I can come home now! No, seriously - just ask the Iraqi Prime Minister, who says we can go anytime we want. I want, I want! Honestly though, this article is frustrating as hell but not at all a surprise. Even at my level, the Iraqi's seem to hate metrics or benchmarks.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten: In Country “I finally made it to Baghdad and am scheduled to begin an embed with a unit in a couple of hours. Getting from the U.S. to Kuwait was a royal pain, but it was as luxurious as a stay in a palace compared with getting from Kuwait to Baghdad in July during a war. If you're a ‘princess,’ don't ever come here. I'll have some fresh material posted as soon as it is possible for me to do so.” (READ MORE)
The Gunner's World: Teufelhunden "I do the time conversion in my mind, I am 8 hours ahead of the east coast, as I glance at my watch it is 4:00pm my time so 8:00am back home. My wife and daughter should be seated on a United Airlines flight right now leaving Dulles bound for the Midwest. They are headed to spend time with my wife’s parents, a break for my wife while I am deployed and an opportunity for my daughter to spend time with her Grandparents and Uncle. Strangely I am more concerned about them getting out safely than I am about myself as I glance down at the M4 carbine fully locked and loaded between my legs." (READ MORE)
My Desert Adventure: Getting Better "I watched the news yesterday and a bunch of politicians were saying that the “surge” has failed and the war is lost. Of course, the last of the “surge” got in place less than a month ago. I guess they are so heavily invested in defeat, the refuse to see progress. As far as being a failure: 'Just the other day, the commander of collation forces in Northern Iraq stated that he can start reducing troops by January.'" (READ MORE)
Michael Yon: Superman "Route Tampa is the major supply route for Coalition forces in Iraq. Billions of dollars’ worth of gear and supplies are pumped up the northbound artery, while rumbling down the southbound vein back to Kuwait are damaged vehicles, units returning from a year or longer at war and convoys of empty trucks. Along the way, thousands of blue, black and clear plastic bags twirl, swirl and skitter in the hot dusty winds. The bags ramble about like so much plastic tumbleweed; aligning along the wind, drifting along the desert currents until they catch on nettles, concertina or the shards of wreckage." (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Iraq War Today: Saying Goodbye in Brookfield... "Saturday morning was beautiful. A little cool, sunny, with a slight breeze. I left my house at eight a.m. to make sure I was there early. It was a great day for a motorcycle ride, but this wasn't an ordinary ride.I was going to help bid farewell to a Hero.Jason Dale Lewis' funeral was Saturday morning in the town I grew up in. It was the first ride I was able to make with the PGR since joining, due to my work schedule. This one I had decided to be there for, no matter what." (READ MORE)
Paul Greenberg: The Newest Nixon: The Comeback Ghost “Americans of a certain age will remember the procession of New Nixons that once marked American politics. Richard Nixon, it turns out, was the original Comeback Kid. He was about to be dropped as the Republican vice-presidential candidate in 1952 because of an overrated and now forgotten scandal (the Nixon Fund) but just about forced Ike to keep him on the ticket by delivering a televised appeal that shamelessly exploited every red-blooded American's love for man's best friend (the Checkers Speech).” (READ MORE)
Debra J. Saunders: This State Can Take Your Dreams, Too “When states and cities, in search of a richer tax base, can take your land and give it to a private developer -- they have license to trample on everyone's rights.” (READ MORE)
Donald Lambro: The Incredible Shrinking Deficit “There is some very good news in the battle to slay the budget deficit. It is being cut in half well ahead of forecasts, offering fresh evidence that reducing federal tax rates does not undermine government revenues. The Bush administration has a lot of problems on its plate, both foreign and domestic, but the budget deficit is not one of them. This is one area where President Bush's policies have been a resounding success; though don't expect to see this reported on the nightly network news shows.” (READ MORE)
Robert D. Novak: Sham Earmark Reform “As bipartisan majorities overwhelmed all attempts to eliminate pork barrel earmarks during a recent House session, one effort actually passed -- comfortably, though unnoticed by the public.” (READ MORE)
Michael Barone: Don't Pull the Plug on the Surge “The current debate about what we should do in Iraq is intellectually far from satisfying. The surge of troops ordered by Bush last January and completed June 15 and the new strategy of forward action against al-Qaida forces has produced or accelerated encouraging developments:” (READ MORE)
Harry R. Jackson, Jr.: Freedom Held Hostage “Last week I was surprised by an underhanded attack on our nation’s freedom. This attack did not occur on foreign soil or in the Middle East. The attack did not occur as a result of terrorists, radicals, or extremists. This attack against freedom was covered on C-SPAN and occurred on the floor of the Senate...” (READ MORE)
Ken Blackwell: The Supreme Court Giveth, the Supreme Court Taketh Away “The Supreme Court teeters on a knife’s edge regarding lawsuits against faith expression in the public square. So, conservatives better redouble their efforts to restore a court faithful to our Founders’ vision, or lose all that has been gained in recent decisions after the 2008 presidential sweepstakes.” (READ MORE)
Peter Berkowitz: The New New Atheism “‘There is nothing new under the sun,’ proclaims the Book of Ecclesiastes. The rise of the new new atheism confirms this ancient biblical wisdom. Of course the famous words of Ecclesiastes should not be taken in a slavishly literal sense, a technique that is all-too-common among those who think they can refute belief in God by showing that the Bible abounds in demonstrably false and self-contradictory statements.” (READ MORE)
William Voegeli: Crisis of the Old Liberal Order “Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., who died in February at the age of 89, spent 60 years being famous as an emblem and arbiter of American liberalism, though his importance waned as liberalism's did. ‘It's amazing, in retrospect,’ Nicholas Lemann wrote in The Atlantic Monthly in 1998, ‘what a long string of Presidents--from Truman all the way to Carter--felt a twinge of terror at the possibility of . . . incurring the disapproval of Arthur Schlesinger.’ Schlesinger's good opinion was tantamount, Lemann notes, to the ‘good opinion of the centrist-liberal establishment.’” (READ MORE)
Najam Sethi: Musharraf's Problem -- And Opportunity “On July 3 Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf surrounded Islamic extremists at the Red Mosque-Jamia Hafsa compound in the capital of Islamabad. Last Wednesday, government troops raided the compound, killing nearly 100 people, including Taliban/al Qaeda fighters. In response, extremists over the past two weeks have sparked anti-government protests and carried out a string of bloody attacks. Yesterday alone some 70 soldiers and policemen were killed.” (READ MORE) *REG REQ*
Dadmanly: Hold Firm “The ‘surge against the surge’ in Washington politics reached a seeming high tide this week. As the rhetoric swells, Congressional surfer dudes (and even some Republicans) fixate on polls, presumed mandates, and each new breaker of partisan advantage. War opponents bob up and down on the ‘wave,’ and the media frames the action at the beachfront with an almost universal storyline of the surge against the surge, reflected in ‘increasing GOP resistance to the war.’” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Fred’s ‘loophole’ “ABC News reported that unnamed opponents are crying foul because Fred Thompson is exploiting a ‘loophole’ in campaign finance reporting laws. The loophole? Fred hasn’t officially announced.” (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: Iraq Video Essay: Why liberals should love this war “What will victory look like in Iraq? How will we know if we’re getting closer to victory, or farther from it? Back in January I spent some time with the US Army’s Ist Division, Task Force Dagger at Forward Operating Base Justice in Baghdad, and came away with a small picture of what a peaceful, stable Iraq might look like. More importantly, I saw how we might be getting there.” (READ MORE)
Patterico: A Pilot on Airline Security “As background, no conversation about airline security should take place without at least trying to conceive of the almost incomprehensible size of the air transportation system. The size of the system is the reason everything the public and policymakers ‘think’ should work in airline security doesn’t, and the reason our entire approach to airline security is almost completely ineffective against a threat like Al Qaeda — and the reason security almost always fails when tested by covert testers, innocent civilians and, occasionally, persons with intent.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: The Trouble About Tehran “UK Guardian: Cheney wants to whack Iran. Apparently there is concern that Iran, as a partner for peace, is full of it, and Bush doesn’t want to leave the mullahs and their efforts to dominate the region with nuclear weapons and terrorism unaddressed. The article suggests no action until 2008.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Conservative “hunger” for Fred dooms LA Times abortion takedown “Dude is bulletproof, reports an exasperated Politico. ‘The sound of silence tells an interesting tale when it comes to Fred Thompson. A week after reports emerged suggesting that the former Tennessee senator once lobbied for an abortion rights group, few leaders of the GOP’s conservative wing have expressed concern.’” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Consorting with the enemy “I've said on far, far too many occasions that I have tremendous admiration for Peter David. The man is a hell of a great writer, and a staunch champion for his beliefs. His dedication to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is exceptional, his commitment to his fans is virtually unrivalled, and he's one of the most approachable authors I know of. And his mind works in delightfully twisted ways.” (READ MORE)
Kim Priestap: Bill Kristol - Why Bush will be a Winner “Bill Kristol has a must read article about why President Bush will end up being a successful president. Right now the Democrats and their willing accomplices in the media are so consumed with Bush Derangement Syndrome that all the good this president has done and is doing is being drowned out. ‘I suppose I'll merely expose myself to harmless ridicule if I make the following assertion: George W. Bush's presidency will probably be a successful one.’” (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: Your Mileage Will Vary “The next level of moral equivalence. Stoning is more than acceptable under Iranian human rights because that's how they interpret it. A top Iranian official Sunday defended the use of execution by stoning after a sentence was carried out on an adulterer, saying the punishment was legal and in line with Iran's rights commitments.” (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: Painting Troops In Negative Light, Based On Actions Of A Few “Many of us have had conversations, sometimes very heated one about the War in Iraq and our reasons for supporting our Troops and the mission that they been tasked with. Most of us here believe passionately in the job that our Troops are doing and know the positive things that they’re accomplishing each and every day. We know full well, the compassion and kindness displayed by the majority of our troops, for the people in Iraq. Unfortunately, some people are trying to color our Troops in a much different light.” (READ MORE)
American Ranger: And Then There Was One... “Although I am on active duty, I attended part of the monthly drill for our weekend reservists. I learned that Master Sergeant Harvey Warshawsky was retiring and it was his last drill. ‘Ski’ is also a Vietnam veteran and he first went into the Army in 1966. He retired as a corrections officer from the State of New York and now he will be putting away the Army uniform as well. He was the only other remaining ‘old soldier’ in our unit and he had a great time reminding me that I was now the last Vietnam veteran in our battalion.” (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Are The Democrats Imploding? “The Democratic presidential field, like the Republican field, is full of people who want to be the next president of the United States. Many of these candidates do not have a chance of winning and yet they linger on. This is a problem for the front runners who must pay attention to those of lesser status to avoid a costly mistake. John Edwards and Hillary Rodham think the field is too large and that it should be pared down to those ho have a chance of winning. After a recent debate an open mike caught their conversation about this issue:” (READ MORE)
Blue Crab Boulevard: Fear “Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, writes his weekly column for Real Clear Politics about the subject of fear. Specifically, Brown looks at the hyper-partisan attacks on Fred Thompson and reaches the conclusion that someone in the Democratic camp is scared of Thompson. Badly scared.” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: A Tale Of Two Cities “The City Journal has a fascinating look at the counterterrorism operations in the nation's two largest metropolitan areas, New York and Los Angeles. Judith Miller, formerly of the New York Times, compares and contrasts the approaches both take in protecting their residents from terrorist attacks. Differing geography, laws, and culture make the effort unequal in ways that Angelenos may not know -- but which could put them at a much higher risk:” (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee: Definitive Surge Progress Could Lead to Troop Reductions “The Coalition counterinsurgency strategy dubbed the ‘surge’ has been so successful that U.S. soldiers in one part of Iraq could be halved by January, 2008: ‘Now at full strength, the U.S. troop surge in Iraq is showing "definitive progress" and the number of forces serving in Iraq’s Multi-National Division-North could be halved by summer 2009, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon said. A reduction of U.S. forces under the general's command could begin as early as January 2008, he told Pentagon reporters via videoconference.’” (READ MORE)
Jeffery Imm: Newly Released Message: Osama Bin Laden Calls for Islamic Martyrdom “Osama Bin Laden appeared in a 50 second clip in an As Sahab video posted on Jihadi web sites today, promoting Islamic martyrdom and quoting Muhammad. CNN and Laura Mansfield have released translations of the Bin Laden comments today. The video is linked at Laura Mansfield's web site here. In today's video message, Osama Bin Laden stresses the importance of martyrdom for Muslim causes, quoting Muhammad per translations by both Laura Mansfield and CNN:” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: Iraqi Government Meets MORE Benchmarks than U.S. Congress! “Here's the President's interim report on the benchmarks for success required by Congress in the bill which funded the surge of troops in Iraq passed by the Congress on May 24. Less than two months later, President Bush reports that Iraq has made satisfactory progress in 8 of the 18 benchmarks with unsatisfactory progress on 8 and 2 indeterminate. Not bad in such a short period of time.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Two more suicide strikes in Pakistan's northwest [Updated] “One day after a Taliban suicide attack on a military convoy in North Waziristan, the Taliban hit hard in Dera Ismail Khan and Swat. In Swat, a pair of suicide bombers struck another military convoy. Sixteen were killed, including 12 Pakistani soldiers and four civilians, and 40 were wounded after the suicide team rammed their cars into a convoy near the town of Matta. In Dera Ismail Khan, a suicide bomber attacked near the main hall of the police recruitment center as about 200 recruits were being tested. Up to 20 recruits were killed and 50 wounded, the Kuwaiti News Agency reported.” (READ MORE)
GayPatriot: Iraqi Civilians Are Tapping Their Way To Freedom “There are so many great things about this report from Iraq by John Burns of the New York Times, I wasn’t sure where to start commenting. First, General Rick Lynch gives an honest assessment of what is required to keep security in Iraq. Second, Lynch and his fellow Americans have promised the Iraqi civilians they will not leave them in the hands of terrorists any longer. Congress needs to make that same promise. But it was this passage that really caught my attention.” (READ MORE)
Baron Bodissey: Islam is a Part of Our Culture “Last year Jens Orback, the Democracy Minister in the former Social Democratic government of Sweden, caused a stir by saying on a state radio program, ‘We must be open and tolerant towards Islam and the Muslims so that when we become the minority they will be the same towards us.’ (Vi måste vara öppna och toleranta mot Islam och muslimerna för när vi blir i minoritet kommer de att vara det mot oss.) Now a Dutch government minister has added her own voice to the chorus of accommodation, capitulation, and dhimmification in Europe.” (READ MORE)
Gunslinger's Journal: One Shining Knight “I'm on a roll here. Things keep occurring to me. Hang with me. It's important. This relates to my recent posts Optimism II and A Word About Optimism II (if you haven't read them, scroll down and do it, I'll wait)
OK...Here's the thing, people are starving for clarity, leadership, heroism, honor, glory. Don't think so? Ask Hollywood. Why do they keep making movies like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter?” (READ MORE)
Knee Deep in the Hooah!: Sticks and stones are nothing compared to the truth! “Remember the old adages your mother used to use on you? You know you can hear them ringing the in your memories of old, and you also know (now that you are older) that she was right! How about this old one? ‘Sticks and Stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you.’ How many of them can you recite? Many I am sure! So, let's talk about sticks and stones today. That is the one that feels appropriate to me.” (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: One trick pony “Chris Hedges is one of those tender and enlightened sorts, who - when not writing books comparing Christian fundamentalists in America with fascists - worries terribly about what the war in Iraq is doing to America’s soul. The Mother Jones columnist was against the war in Iraq from the start, you see, although not against war per se. He found the humanitarian interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo quite appropriate since they helped to stop the genocidal slaughter of people whose centuries-old religious differences set them murderously at each other’s throats. I know, but trust him. It’s complex.” (READ MORE)
Amy Proctor: Despite Hardships, Iraq Families Want U.S. Troops to Stay “Bottom Line Up Front: Most Iraqis still want a U.S. presence until greater stability is achieved in Iraq. In this CNN report on Thursday’s Morning America, Baghdad citizens are asked whether U.S. troops should stay or leave Iraq.The majority of violence in Iraq comes from within Baghdad. Al-Sadr supporters, estimated at 1 million, are in southern Baghdad. All respondents are grateful for the end of Saddam’s regime. Majority say troops should stay.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Hillary Would Be Nothing If She Didn't Ride Bill's Coattails “Democratic feminist Margery Eagan, who writes for the Boston Herald, gave Hillary a savage thrashing from the left that Hilldog richly deserves. OK, sisters, how will it feel when the supposed ‘first feminist,’ if she does get the nomination, gets it not on her own but on the coattails of her serial-adulterer husband? Bill and Hill is now morphing into Hill and Bill, for obvious reasons. The road show came to New Hampshire yesterday. Bill stared at Hill adoringly, rapt, like Nancy Reagan in drag, for God’s sake, except Nancy actually felt it.” (READ MORE)
The Tygrrrr Express: War is for tough guys–bring on the 80s rock music “Where are the Pro-war movies? Long before Hollywood made it’s living aiding and comforting the enemies of the nation that pays their mostly undeserved salaries, there was a time when the entertainment industry loved America. During World War II, they loved America as it was, not the obscure utopian society they wished it to be. The movie industry showed America and the Allies as the good guys, the Axis of as the bad guys, and the twain did not meet. Patriotic movies had rich soundtracks with music designed to pump up emotions and tug at heart strings. It is time to write that movie today.” (READ MORE)
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