A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Suicide bomber kills 3 at Israeli bakery “A Palestinian suicide bomber attacked a bakery in this southern Israeli resort town on Monday, killing three other people, police said. It was the first suicide bombing in Israel in nine months and the first ever to hit Eilat, Israel's southernmost city.” (READ MORE)
Israeli Cabinet approves Muslim minister “Israel was on the verge of installing the first Muslim Cabinet minister in its 58-year history Monday after the government overwhelmingly approved the appointment.” (READ MORE)
Iraqis: At least 200 insurgents killed “Iraqi officials claimed Monday that at least 200 militants were killed in a fierce battle between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and a religious cult allegedly plotting to kill pilgrims at a major Shiite Muslim religious festival, while bombings and mortar attacks targeting Shiites elsewhere killed at least 15 people.” (READ MORE)
Iraq war foes mass on Mall “Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters led by several Hollywood celebrities converged on Capitol Hill yesterday and railed against President Bush and his plan to send thousands of additional troops to Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Mixed Reviews For Clinton In Iowa “Lynda Waddington met Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton twice this weekend as the Democratic senator from New York made her initial campaign visit to the state with the nation's first presidential caucuses. Clinton, she said, is nothing like the politician she sees portrayed...” (READ MORE)
Vietnam Shades Warner's Iraq Stand “Virginia Sen. John W. Warner's words betray the guilt he still carries about the Vietnam War and help explain why this pillar of the Republican establishment is leading a bipartisan revolt against the war plans of a president in his own party.” (READ MORE)
Iraqi Soldiers Clash With Insurgents “Iraqi soldiers supported by U.S. helicopters on Sunday clashed with a gathering of insurgents hiding out amid date palm orchards near the southern holy city of Najaf, according to Iraqi officials.” (READ MORE)
Iraqis Raid Insurgents Near Shiite Holy City “Iraqi soldiers, backed by U.S. helicopters, stormed an encampment of hundreds of insurgents hiding among date palm orchards in southern Iraq in an operation Sunday that set off fierce, day-long gun battles during the holiest week for the country's Shiite Muslims.” (READ MORE)
Hillary defends her vote on war “Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday defended her 2002 vote to authorize the war in Iraq, a vote that Democratic activists have said could doom her campaign for the presidency.” (READ MORE)
GOP getaway focuses on return to roots “House Republicans spent most of their 48 hours at last week's retreat here examining why they lost the congressional majority and trying to formulate a winning way forward.” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
Michael Yon writes Desolate Roads Part 2 of 2 “The wind hasn’t blown hard in Mosul since 2005, but there are still a lot of holes in the lumber that frames its slow but undeniable reconstruction. Only about a single battalion of American soldiers is left here. There has been indisputable progress in building ISF in Mosul.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio writes Iraqi Army battles Shia cult, Sunni insurgents in Najaf “Iraqi led operation results in over 300 deaths of enemy fighters. Iraqi security forces, backed by American tanks and air support, attacked what appears to be a mixed group of Sunni insurgents and a Shia end-times cult known as the ‘Soldiers of Heaven.’ The battle occurred in the suburbs and orchards north of Najaf.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten writes Busted “Lebanese bloggers Rampurple and Jeha, who both show up at times in my comments section, busted Hezbollah and Michel Aoun for peddling a blatantly doctored photograph on Hezbollah's An Manar TV channel. Here is a screen shot of Aoun holding up the photo on TV.” (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten writes They Had Machine Guns Welded in Windows “I went to South Lebanon looking for Lebanese civilians who witnessed the July War between Israel and Hezbollah and who could, perhaps, clarify some controversial claims. Did Israel bomb indiscriminately? Did Hezbollah use human shields? Some civilians did testify that Hezbollah used people in their village as human shields. And I found evidence that Israel at least sometimes struck with precision, if not at all times.” (READ MORE)
Omar writes Sources: Operation Baghdad starts on February 5. “The preparations for Baghdad's security operations and the reactions of politicians, people and militant groups are still taking the most prominent headlines of local news in Iraq. The head of one of the two city councils in Sadr city told AFP that he's ready to cooperate with the Iraqi forces in implementing the security plan.” (READ MORE)
Badger 6 writes Sounds of War “War here in Iraq has generated an entire set of sounds that are unique, whether in origin or presentation. They come from the mundane and the deadly, but they all have their own particular flavor. The most common sound we all share is the drone of the generator. Large or small, every building has its electrical power provided by generators.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Dinesh D'Souza writes Giving radical Islam its start “Recently Jimmy Carter was on television, denouncing President Bush’s policies in Iraq. I find this highly ironic, because Jimmy Carter and his liberal advisers helped the Ayatollah Khomeini to come to power in Iran a quarter of a century ago.” (READ MORE)
Paul Greenberg: By The Book: What's Next In Iraq? “Month after month, official Washington downplayed the trickle and then constant stream of bad news out of Iraq, content to advertise hopeful signs like free elections. But even this president finally had to face the bloody facts and draw the obvious conclusion: The coalition of the ever less willing in Iraq was losing the war. And to leave the conduct of this war to the same generals with the same minimal strategy would lead to the same defeat.” (READ MORE)
Donald Lambro: Troop surge debate signals weakness, instability “The battlelines were carved into the Senate floor over a Democratic resolution condemning President Bush's war plans to send more troops to Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Michael Barone: Empty Words From the U.S. Senate “What the resolution tells us is that most members of Congress, echoing what they think is the view of most voters, yearn to return to the holiday from history that we thought we were enjoying between the fall of the Berlin Wall and Sept. 11, 2001.” (READ MORE)
W. Thomas Smith, Jr: False claims undermining U.S. troops “How can anyone honestly say they support the troops when they make false claims that a majority of both military leaders and the rank-and-file no longer support what their organization is doing, particularly when the majority does?” (READ MORE)
Doug Wilson: Three truths for victory “Keith Olbermann is no stranger to cynicism, but he reached a new low this month when he described the hit television show 24 as the type of ‘fear tactic’ ‘beloved’ by the Bush administration, an exercise in ‘naked brainwashing,’ and a ‘program-length commercial for one political party.’” (READ MORE)
Kobayashi Maru writes 444 Days in Reverse “Even as a politically clueless (and leftist) teenager, it was obvious to me at the time--and still more obvious today--that Iran's release of the American hostages 26 years ago this week was in direct response to their fear of what Reagan would do once inaugurated. It was an equally stark illustration of the utter contempt in which the Islamofascists held America while Carter was in charge. Now we are seeing the reverse.” (READ MORE)
Ian writes Video: Missing ‘Path to 9/11′ scenes “On his Sunday show, Sean Hannity aired the following scenes that were removed from ABC’s docu-drama, ‘The Path to 9/11′:” (READ MORE)
Bruce Kesler writes Rules of Engagement for Conscience and Sense “I’ve heard those conservatives or to-now Iraq war supporters express their misgivings about the ‘surge.’ Those misgivings, that lack of confidence, have strong grounds in the too often vacillating and confused course of our engagement. Still, not only is there no alternative that doesn’t promise even worse outcomes, but the misgivings ignore the unavoidable problems of any war.” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea writes John Kerry: some things never change “One of John Kerry's more notable characteristics is his tendency to ‘flip-flop,’ to change his position on an issue when it becomes convenient. It's also rather remarkable how he can rationalize it as not contradictory, but entirely consistent and logical and correct. But in many other ways, Kerry is remarkably unchanging. In those ways, his fundamental character just shines through.” (READ MORE)
GayPatriot writes The Lie of Modern Liberals: Human Rights “Progressive liberals no more care about extending human rights than I do about scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush and soapy water. Self-proclaimed ‘progressive’ liberals have never once praised the efforts of the United States and its allies for liberating 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq from two murderous dictatorships that were poster children in their suppression of human rights.” (READ MORE)
William Teach writes Bush 43: Smartest, Most Eloquent Man On Earth “Yes, I am serious, including the eloquence part. Those on the Left constantly state that Bush is an idiot. A moron. Dumb. And we all know about W's speaking issues. But, is that really the case? Let's see the evidence.” (READ MORE)
Blue Crab Boulevard writes A Severe Case “This op-ed from the Los Angeles Times astounds me. David Bell is a professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and a contributing editor for the New Republic magazine. And he appears to be trying to reframe 9/11 and the aftermath of that day by arguing it wasn't really all that bad and we're over-reacting. Hell, it was only 3,000 or so Americans. No big deal. Nothing to see, move along.” (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House writes Karbala Attack: A Very Disturbing Day “When I first read about the attack on our men in Karbala, the details seemed rather incredible. The enemy, speaking English and dressed in American uniforms, attacked a group of soldiers holding a meeting with local leaders on reconstruction issues.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden writes Clearing the Earth of the Depraved “Outside Najaf, U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have engaged and killed an estimated 250 insurgents who were preparing attacks on Shiite pilgrims. Their goal? Clearing the way the arrival of the Mahdi. Not the Shiite militia of that name. The guy:” (READ MORE)
Texas Rainmaker writes Another Day, Another Corrupt Democrat “Looks like Nancy Pelosi’s swamp has a clog in the drain. From the party that brought you Alcee ‘Impeached Judge’ Hastings and William ‘Dollars in the Freezer’ Jefferson, now comes Diane Feinstein who’s been turning a nice profit using her position in Congress to appropriate money for her husband.” (READ MORE)
Iraq War Today writes My Two Cents - The Enemy Within: Abetting with Apathy “I, and a lot of other people, have been saying it for a long time. The "Anti-war" crowd, no matter how much they'll tell you they support the troops, inevitably shows themselves to be anti-troop. There are the more subtle methods - inviting speakers to events, a poorly-worded headline. And then there are the not-so-subtle methods - a nasty email, a nasty blog comment, efforts to kick recruiters off of campuses, spitting, and assault.” (READ MORE)
Michelle writes Republicans will not filibuster the Senate resolution “I thought McConnell said that he would. This man is probably getting thousands of calls to filibuster and yet he isn't going to do it which tells me he doesn't have the votes. What a sorry state the party is in. We've always known that the Republican senators have no backbone and now, when we need them the most they wimp out.” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl writes Beware Hillary “If you had asked me on Friday what I thought of Hillary Clinton's chances to be elected president, I would have probably said slim to none. But I made a decision to watch a large portion of her first effort in Iowa via C-Span. Perhaps I was feeling masochistic. There was the usual ‘government of white men’ liberal platitudes and the questioners for her non-discussion discussion couldn't have been more hand-picked. But she did manage to put the slick back in Clinton in a way I didn't think she could.” (READ MORE)
Cassandra writes NY TimesWatch: The Times Discovers Bullets! “5 a.m. we step outside to retrieve the daily fishwrap but to our utter surprise, it's dark outside. And cold. Very cold. This is just another thing for which we can thank the stupid Chimp. Since he refused to ratify Kyoto, the weather seems prone to ever more alarming and unpredictable fluctuations.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins writes The Disgraceful Anti-War March In DC This Week-End “The anti-war march this week-end in Washington was as repulsive as one of those ‘God hates f@gs’ funeral protests. American traitor, Jane Fonda, was welcomed there: ‘Those people who would try to undermine her credibility will fail. We welcome her back to the peace community," said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chairman of the Out of Iraq congressional caucus.’” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes The Cure Is Worse Than The Disease “Earlier, I posted about the pressure on bloggers that the early start to the 2008 Presidential nomination has created, and what I believe the solution to that pressure should be. Does the early start and long campaign constitute a serious problem for the United States? The New York Times believes it does, and its editors believe the federal government should fix it for all of us:” (READ MORE)
Conservative Propaganda writes UFPJ March on Washington, Jan 27, 2007 "Normally, Tantor observes anti-war marches with a detached amusement but the Truthers, who are a feature of the wacky Left, disturb the usual imperturbable Tantoric calm with their wacky rants that America attacked itself on Sep 11. Most of all, it sets the genial Tantor, Air Force veteran, off considerably when the Truthers claim the Air Force was part of a conspiracy to attack the United States. It's one thing to be a hammerhead, it's another to be a hammerhead conspiracy nut, and yet another to be a hammerhead conspiracy nut traitor." (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
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