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)
KSM, the Victim - On Monday, some six years after 9/11, military prosecutors filed charges against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al Qaeda's foreign-operations chief, along with five of his conspirators. They will stand before a military tribunal, and if convicted they could face execution. And as if to prove that the U.S. has lost its seriousness and every sense of proportion, now we are told not that KSM is a killer, but a victim. (READ MORE)
Fowl Lawsuit - Conservatives have long opposed the liberal abuse of class action lawsuits to punish business and redistribute income. But that hasn't stopped some on the anti-immigration right from resorting to the same abuse, and this Wednesday they were appropriately thrown out of court. (READ MORE)
Blacks in Congress Torn Over Candidates - African American members of Congress, many under enormous pressure from their constituents, are grappling with the question of whether they should abandon their support of Hillary Rodham Clinton and back Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. (READ MORE)
Evolution Of a U.S. General In Iraq - CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- When Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno first came to Iraq in 2003, the division he led was quickly accused of overly aggressive tactics that did more to fuel the insurgency than quell it. (READ MORE)
Moussaoui Deprived of Constitutional Rights, Attorneys Say - Zacarias Moussaoui's guilty plea and life prison term for conspiring in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks should be overturned because his case was riddled with errors that deprived him of his constitutional rights, his attorneys said in court papers unsealed yesterday. (READ MORE)
U.S. Scrambled To Find Observers For Pakistani Vote - With Pakistan's critical parliamentary election fast approaching, Bush administration officials began scrambling late last month to find a U.S. monitoring group willing to travel to Pakistan and observe the Feb. 18 vote. (READ MORE)
Service Union to Back Obama - The nation's largest union said yesterday it will mobilize more than 150,000 of its members to go door to door and work the phones for Sen. Barack Obama in the upcoming Democratic primary states, as former President George H.W. Bush prepared to endorse Sen. John McCain in the Republican race. (READ MORE)
Analysts Say FISA Will Suffice - Many intelligence scholars and analysts outside the government say that today's expiration of certain temporary domestic wiretapping laws will have little effect on national security, despite warnings to the contrary by the White House and Capitol Hill Republican leaders. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Kevin Ferris: Philly's War on the Boy Scouts - As Michael Nutter was sworn in as the city's 98th mayor last month, he called for a new wave of public service to clean up drug-infested neighborhoods. If he is serious about renewing volunteerism, he'll start by putting an end to the city's campaign against the Boy Scouts. On May 31, the Cradle of Liberty Council, the local Boy Scout chapter, will be evicted from its headquarters on 22nd and Winter Streets -- a space it has occupied since 1928. (READ MORE)
Mark A Siegel: Benazir's Legacy - This week's publication of Benazir Bhutto's "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West" is bittersweet to me, her friend and collaborator on the book, which was written in her last days. Many mullahs may hate the book, but so might many in the U.S. State Department. It takes on both the West and the Islamic world equally, exposing the dysfunctions of their respective world views, and puts Pakistan at the epicenter of the dual crises that were Benazir's themes -- the internal crisis within Islam and the crisis between Islam and the West. (READ MORE)
Peter Berkowitz: The Neocons and Iraq - In the foreign policy establishment, among progressives of all stripes, and even for significant segments of the conservative movement, "neoconservatism" has come to stand for all that has gone wrong in American foreign policy over the last seven years -- especially in Iraq. Yet much of the criticism misses the mark. For starters, it's worth noting that the president, vice president, secretary of defense, secretary of state and the national security adviser all lacked neoconservative roots. (READ MORE)
Bill O'Reilly: Some Excellent Advice for McCain and Obama - As a pundit who gets paid to give his opinion whether you want it or not, it is my civic duty to dispense some worthy advice to the current front-runners in the presidential race. Let's start with Barack Obama. Senator, there is a good chance you will pull off one of the biggest upsets in modern political history and defeat Hillary Clinton for the democratic nomination. So far, your theme has been: "Give Hope a Chance." And it's working. Good for you. (READ MORE)
Robert D. Novak: Hillary's "McGovern" Problem - WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Strategists for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign believe it is imperative to identify her high-flying opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, with the "McGovern wing" of the Democratic Party -- but they want to keep their candidate's fingerprints off the attack. During the two weeks remaining before the important Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4, Clinton insiders want to spread the message that Obama represents the radical left-wing politics of George McGovern's 1972 candidacy, which won only one state. But they don't know how to accomplish this. When Clinton herself has launched past attacks on Obama, it has hurt her with voters. (READ MORE)
Jonah Goldberg: A Few Minutes Well Spent - Less than five minutes. That's the total amount of time the United States has waterboarded terrorist detainees. How many detainees? Three. Who were these detainees? One was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, "the principle architect of the 9/11 attacks" according to the 9/11 Report, and the head of al-Qaeda's "military committee." Linked to numerous terror plots, he is believed to have financed the first World Trade Center bombing, helped set up the courier system that resulted in the infamous Bali bombing, and cut off Danny Pearl's head. (READ MORE)
Kathryn Jean Lopez: 'Hope' and 'change' a gimmick - Are YOU paying attention to this election? Have YOU heard what Barack Obama has to offer? If you listen to Obama, this election is the biggest ego boost ever to hit American politics. Like best sellers "You: The Owner's Manual," "You: On a Diet," and "You: Staying Young," this presidential campaign season is all about YOU. It's hard not to see the attraction. Obama talks about hope and change. Who is against hope and change? You? Not me. (READ MORE)
Lee Culpepper: It's All About the Vice President Now - While the mainstream media wallows in the unpleasant effect John McCain’s apparent nomination is having on the GOP, are liberals also intentionally ignoring the undeniable void of influence the two Democratic candidates pose in the Middle East? No, it’s not that Barrack and Hillary both completely lack foreign policy experience or that they have far-out, socialist ideologies. Their handicaps are even more outrageous than that. Islamic terrorists hate average, American infidels pretty much equally -- but how much do they hate the ex-Islamic infidel who converts to Christianity? (READ MORE)
Rich Tucker: Smarter Steps to Stimulate the Economy - Who’s ready for some stimulating conversation? This week, President Bush signed a $168 billion measure aimed at “stimulating” our supposedly sluggish economy. In effect we’re borrowing money from future taxpayers and giving it to Americans to spend today. The package will deliver tax rebates of up to $1,200 per working couple, plus $300 per child. “We have come together on a single mission and that is to put the peoples’ interests first,” Bush announced at the signing ceremony. (READ MORE)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison: D.C. Gun Ban Affects Entire U.S. - The right to keep and bear arms is secure in Texas, but in our nation's capital it has been taken away. In 1976, the Washington City Council passed the nation's toughest gun control law, banning handguns completely and requiring rifles and shotguns to be registered, stored unloaded and locked or disassembled. The D.C. murder rate was declining before this law; in the next 15 years it jumped 200 percent. Besides being ineffective, the ban was simply incomprehensible. (READ MORE)
Amanda Carpenter: FISA Law Expires At Midnight - The House of Representatives left for a full week of President’s Day recess without authorizing a law that permits the government to monitor terrorist communications that will expire Friday night. President Bush pleaded with the House to quickly pass the Senate version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reauthorization that was agreed upon with bipartisan support, but House Democratic Leadership refused to call a vote on it. (READ MORE)
DJ Drummond: Can a Regular American Win the White House? - There is one truth this year that I believe people of all parties and political opinion can agree upon - there is no one candidate in the race for President, which perfectly embodies the ideals of what the job needs. One candidate is too vague in his policies, another is too strident in hers, still another attacks the base of the party whose icon he claims to hold as his mentor, and yet another pretends his record supports his promises, even though the actual facts work against his claims. It is no surprise, that even as both major parties stress the need for high turnout in the elections, both parties are risking a significant 'stay-home' protest from disillusioned voters. And almost no one is really comfortable with the remaining selection of candidates. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Who Is Killing All Of The Great Jihadis Of The Ummah? - First Umad Mughniyeh takes the 72-virgin ride with a Bashar Assad Special. Now Ayman Atallah Fayed gets blasted in the most literal sense of the word. Both men were high-ranking members of terrorist groups arrayed against Israel. Coincidence? “A powerful blast went off in the house of a senior Islamic Jihad activist Friday, killing him, his wife and daughter, along with three neighbors, medics and an Islamic Jihad spokesman said.” (READ MORE)
Dafydd: She's a Self-Made Fool - Squeaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Haight-Ashbury, 95%) said, just a few days ago, that despite the now impossible to deny military success of the "surge" (how I hate that misleading word, whether Democrat or Republican uses it), the entire Iraq war is lost because the Iraqi government hasn't made any political progress. Then Wednesday, as if on cue, the Iraqi parliament enacted legislation for provincial elections... resolving one of the three central political -- er -- quagmires standing in the way of building a relatively free and relatively democratic Iraqi nation. (READ MORE)
The Captain's Journal: The Role of International Intelligence in the Mughniyeh Assassination - As expected, there is world wide buzz over the involvement of the international intelligence community in the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh. In addition to the public claims by Hezbollah that the Mossad directed the event, there is the assertion that the U.S. masterminded the plan. “A Kuwaiti newspaper reports that Hizbullah terrorist chief Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car-bomb attack in Damascus on Tuesday, was in the midst of planning major terrorist attacks in moderate Arab countries when he was killed.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten: Obama Imitates Olmert - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has one of the lowest approval ratings in his country’s history thanks to his disastrous prosecution of the July 2006 war in Lebanon against Hezbollah. Nevertheless, and contrary to Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s delusional and arrogant boasts, Hezbollah didn’t win. I toured South Lebanon and the suburbs south of Beirut – Hezbollah’s two major strongholds – after the war. The magnitude of the destruction was stunning. It looked like World War II blew through the place. (Click here and here to see photos.) Nasrallah survived and replenished his arsensal stocks, but, as Israeli military historian Michael Oren put it, “If he has enough victories like this one, he’s dead.” (READ MORE)
Dale Franks: Superdelegates: Now They’re a Problem - Last week, on the news, I was watching Susan Estrich talking about the superdelegates for the DNC. Estrich—who was against the idea—was on the DNC rules committee that promulgated it back in the early 80s. The whole point of the superdelegates was to intentionally put some adult supervision into the nomination process. The worry at the time was that the activist whack-jobs might take over the nominating process, and nominate some commie freak to run for president. In order to forestall that, the DNC created superdelegates, which consist of all the state governors, all members of congress, and then a smattering of what Estrich calls party hacks. (READ MORE)
Cassandra: Hope Is Not a Blank Slate - Watching the producers of the trance-like video Yes I Can struggle to articulate precisely what makes them so hopeful about the candidacy of Barack Obama, I was reminded of a favorite film from the 1990s. I heard a lot of talk about hope, and change, and inspiration; about emotion and belief. What I did not hear was an answer to the question: “What policies of Senator Obama’s do you support?” Listening to the video, my mind drifted back to that long ago film. What made L.A. Story so memorable was the delightful juxtaposition of Shakespearean allusions, Steve Martin's comedic skills, and the screenplay's deft parodies of southern Californians. (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Hey, Republicans: Leave It To The Pros - Last week, the Senate Ethics Committee voted to rebuke Senator Larry Craig, whose infamous "wide stance" in an airport men's room got himself arrested for "disorderly conduct." This reminded me of former Representative Mark Foley, who resigned after he was caught getting drunk and sending crass come-ons to barely of-age Congressional pages. There is a common thread here, and it's not "Republican sex offenders." It's that both were incredibly pathetic. It's the rare Republican who can really pull off a good sex scandal. There's usually a sense of self-loathing that taints the scandalous politician from truly reveling in their debauchery. (READ MORE)
Steve Schippert: The New Violent Veteran Victim Class - There are two kinds of war veterans: The poor dumb saps who only wanted money for college, and the violently transformed raging infernos who just can’t transition from ‘Bush’s War’ to Bellevue, Washington. So sayeth our print and broadcast media. LTC Steve Russell, US Army, (Ret.), had no earthly idea how imbalanced and prone to homicidal violence he was. He was instructed of precisely how ‘on the edge’ he and his brothers really are. “On the Edge?” he asks. “IN THE LAST several weeks I have learned a great deal about myself, thanks to all the wonderful media reports about serving and returning war veterans. For example, I have learned that I might want to kill my wife because of the trauma of war. Or, if I have no beef with my family, that I might go after my neighbors instead. Or if there are no other handy targets for my aggression, I might go after myself.” (READ MORE)
J.R. Salzman: Going Back -I've always said I would like to go back to Iraq someday. I'm very interested to see what the country has turned into in 20 or 30 years. More importantly, I would like to go back to the place where I nearly lost my life. Fortunately due to the advent of modern satellite technology, I don't have to wait 20 years. Courtesy of Google Earth, I am able to go back right now and view the very spot. Click on the below images to enlarge (this will open a new window). (READ MORE)
czs @ Redstate: The Death of an Obasm - Promoted by Jeff. Again, *where* else can you get this kind of pure gold? That's what I thought. I am having trouble fully appreciating the phenomenon that is Senator Obama. Certainly, Obama’s overpowering charisma has an amazing effect on any listener, such as spontaneous tears or quasi-erotic tingling in one’s leg. (The latter phenomenon is dubbed the "Matthews syndrome” after a man whose capacity for rational thought has been completely destroyed by the syndrome’s effects.) For me, however, any such tingling is immediately recognized and countered by my brain, which forces the nascent Obasm to a premature and unsatisfying conclusion. (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Countdown - To new racism charge starts … now! Bill’s being mean again. ABC: “ABC News’ Sarah Amos reports that former President Bill Clinton — despite myriad promises he would stop assailing his wife’s opponent given how it has backfired on her — upped his harsh attacks today in Tyler, Texas.” OK, so apparently Bill promised never to be mean to Obama ever again. I must have missed that when I was ROTFLMAO the last time various parties were attacking him for campaigning during a campaign. (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: The obligatory “people keep fainting at Obama rallies” post - Just a tad too Truther-y for my taste. Like the man says, “I give a good speech.” Is it some shock that morons who think he’s the messiah might get panicky at being so close to the Word? Taranto notes that it’s arguably more worrisome if this is all on the level, but be honest: If women were swooning for Fred (like, er, some of our commenters), we’d shrug it off as proof of his immanent awesomeness, no? (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: NYT blog uses the Illinois shooting in the predictable way - The Times isn’t a newspaper so much as it’s an organ of far left politics. Today’s evidence is an unserious blog post that sets out to smack a few Republicans, the Interior Department and the NRA for pushing to make it legal to carry firearms in national parks. “A Worse Day Than Usual to Promote Guns in National Parks - The Interior Department was expected to announce today that it would begin re-evaluating regulations that currently prohibit visitors from carrying loaded weapons in America’s national parks.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Rule of law: Phoenix - Police will check to see if an arrestee is an illegal alien. Why is this not standard operating procedure in every major city? I will start from the bottom of the New York Times story with its last paragraph: “Antonio D. Bustamante, a member of Los Abogados, a Hispanic legal group in Phoenix, said the policy changed ‘only because of xenophobia’ and people ‘who hate the undocumented without understanding the huge contribution they make to the city and the economy.’” (READ MORE)
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