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)
Warner Calls for Pullouts By Winter - Sen. John W. Warner, one of the most influential Republican voices in Congress on national security, called on President Bush yesterday to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in time for Christmas as a new intelligence report concluded that political leaders in Baghdad are "unable to govern... (READ MORE)
Villagers Battle Insurgents After Attack on Sheik Near Baqubah - An insurgent attack Thursday on a Sunni sheik who has cooperated with U.S. forces escalated into an extended street battle involving the sheik's militiamen, local villagers and Iraqi forces, according to police and the U.S. military. Thirty-two people were killed and 15 kidnapped, police said. (READ MORE)
New Photos Indicate Arms Flow to Darfur - Recent photographs purportedly showing Sudanese soldiers in the Darfur region moving containers from a Russian-made Antonov cargo plane onto military trucks reinforce suspicions that Sudan continues to violate a U.N.-imposed arms embargo, the London-based human rights group Amnesty International said. (READ MORE)
Insurgents Attack Iraq Police - Dozens of masked fighters launched a coordinated attack on police in Samarra, an official said today, entering the city at dusk in 20 machine-gun mounted pickups then splitting up to assault checkpoints and a headquarters building. (READ MORE)
DHS Hid Data from Probers - Department of Homeland Security administrators — fearing additional scrutiny — concealed from federal investigators information-sharing breakdowns that left the U.S. vulnerable to terrorists, internal DHS memos and e-mails show. (READ MORE)
Report: Iraqi Stability Growing - Growing Sunni opposition to al Qaeda and in some cases the perception that U.S. troops will leave the country are key factors behind recent and growing stability in Iraq, according to a major U.S. intelligence report based on findings from 16 agencies... (READ MORE)
China Moves Against Christian Groups - Authorities have increased arrests on Christian groups operating outside China's sole official government church following a crackdown ordered last month, an overseas monitoring group reported today. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
IraqPundit: Making a Political U-Turn - One of the things that make certain Bush-haters such a spectacle is how they've lately been switching arguments so as to stay opposed to administration policy. For example, it seems like just yesterday that such critics were urging Bush to take the advice of his pessimistic generals, whereas now, with the "surge" showing encouraging signs of progress, these critics are urging us all to ignore a more optimistic military. (READ MORE)
Those Wacky Iraqis: Bravest Woman This Year - In our PC world of apologists and revisionist historians we never seem to get straight answers or straight talk from anyone in the media or on TV. It seems that most people are concerned about stating what the masses want to hear, whatever liberal stance is the popular one, or whatever will not offend loud radicals. We hear shrill voices arguing for everything except exterminating the bad guys which would just stop everything in its tracks. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Mike Gallagher: Headed to Texas - With the Iowa Straw Poll, there?s no political drama, no surprises, just a wonderful gathering of good-hearted Republicans who watch the candidate who spent the most money take the prize. But in Texas, it will be quite different. (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: The Desperate Presidential Housewives Of 2008 - The 2008 election season has been a bit short on dramatics so far. We've had lots of mostly dull debates, not a single candidate has been caught making out on a yacht with his mistress, and hordes of third rate candidates with no chance to ever get elected, are refusing to get off the stage -- until they've checked every couch in their campaign headquarters for enough change to keep them going for another week or two. (READ MORE)
Lisa De Pasquale: Are We Hypocrites for Not Enlisting? Part 2 - In my column last week I asked whether those that support the global war on terrorism are hypocrites for not joining the military. Several comment posters thought so. They don’t seem to grasp the point that the reason we don’t want all supporters of the war in the military is because we want to win. Their goal is different - the humiliation of America just so they can say ‘We told you so.’ We want the strongest, most intelligent military of the willing in order to ensure victory. As Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC) said, that’s ‘a real big problem’ for Democrats. (READ MORE)
Burt Prelutsky: In praise of competition - Lately, there have been a lot of nasty rumors floating around about Rudy and Judith Giuliani. I’ve heard, for instance, that he’s been having an affair. I’ve also heard that she, wife number three, is a royal pain in the butt who goes berserk if anyone dares call her Judy. (READ MORE)
Lorie Byrd: Gwen Stefani Dresses Down - Recently pop singer Gwen Stefani made news by making what she referred to as a ‘major sacrifice’ by performing her concert in Malaysia with shoulders, legs and belly completely covered. The reason for ditching her usual attire, which often consists of short skirts and midriff-revealing halter tops, was in reaction to protests from the 10,000-member National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students who said such clothing would clash with Islamic culture and values and provide a poor role model for Malaysian youth. (READ MORE)
Mike S. Adams: Keep Your Laws off My Doggie – I’m a big supporter of Michael Vick. Not the old Michael Vick who used to play football. I’m talking about the new Michael Vick who’s getting railroaded by the man. You may think I’m being sarcastic but I’m not. Give me a few hundred more words to explain and I’ll make you a supporter of Michael Vick, too. (READ MORE)
Oliver North: A Clear Path? - This week in Kansas City, Mo., the commander in chief received something he's not getting a lot of lately: multiple standing ovations. The applause came from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) when he told their convention, "A free Iraq" is within reach and that "here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility -- but the terrorists see things differently." (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: Defeatist Dems Sing Same Song, Different Key - The Democrats' latest ploy of shifting the goal posts to dampen Gen. Petraeus's anticipated report of military successes in Iraq by emphasizing the slow progress on the political side makes it increasingly hard to deny they are working for defeat at all costs. (READ MORE)
Charles Krauthammer: The debate on Iraq takes a turn - After months of surreality, the Iraq debate has quite abruptly acquired a relationship to reality. Following the Democratic victory last November, panicked Republican senators began rifling the thesaurus to find exactly the right phrase to express exactly the right nuance to establish exactly the right distance from the president's Iraq policy, while Murtha Democrats searched for exactly the right legislative ruse to force a retreat from Iraq without appearing to do so. (READ MORE)
Jonah Goldberg: Man's best, and man's best friend - Readers keep asking me what I think about Michael Vick, the disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarterback who this week agreed to plead guilty to a number of charges relating to his aspiration to be the Don King of dogfighting. (READ MORE)
Michael Reagan: Just Shut Up, Go Home, and Take Your Kid with You - Her name is Elvira Arellano and whatever else she may be, she?s a master propagandist who knows full well just which buttons to push to unleash a flood of liberal do-gooder tears. (READ MORE)
Stuart Epperson: The Fairness Doctrine: A Brief History and Perspective - The First Amendment states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. (READ MORE)
John McCaslin: Clinton's Prayer Cell? - The senator's "collaborations with right-wingers such as Senator Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican, and former Senator Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican, grow in part from that connection," reveals the report, recalling regular meetings over one eight-year period beginning in 1993 "with a Christian 'cell' whose members included Susan Baker, wife of Bush consigliere James Baker; Joanne Kemp, wife of conservative icon Jack Kemp; Eileen Bakke, wife of Dennis Bakke, a leader in the anti-union Christian management movement; and Grace Nelson, the wife of Senator Bill Nelson, a conservative Florida Democrat." (READ MORE)
John Boehner: What I’m Hearing – There’s no better way to get a beat on what Americans are thinking than to get out of Washington, DC. I’m halfway through an 11 state swing in support of House Republicans that’s taking me to 18 different Congressional Districts throughout the Midwest. So far, the questions I’m hearing most are ‘who will secure the borders?’ ‘Who has a plan to reduce gas prices and make us less dependent on foreign oil?’ ‘Who will make health care more affordable?’ And ‘who will defend America from the threat of terrorism?’ (READ MORE)
Kimberly A. Strassel: Native Sons - History students call it a teaching moment: A week before the general election in 1884, fiery Protestant minister Samuel D. Burchard warned about the perils of allowing his party to identify with "Romanism." Standing by his side in New York was Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine. Catholic voters were furious. (READ MORE)
Peggy Noonan: 'To Old Times' - Once I went hot-air ballooning in Normandy. It was the summer of 1991. It was exciting to float over the beautiful French hills and the farms with crisp crops in the fields. It was dusk, and we amused ourselves calling out "Bonsoir!" to cows and people in little cars. We had been up for an hour or so when we had a problem and had to land. We looked for an open field, aimed toward it, and came down a little hard. The gondola dragged, tipped and spilled us out. A half dozen of us emerged scrambling and laughing with relief. (READ MORE)
Max Boot: Another Vietnam? - Ever since the mid-1970s, critics of American military involvement have warned that any decision to deploy armed forces abroad--in Lebanon and El Salvador in the 1980s, in Kuwait, Somalia, and Kosovo in the 1990s, and more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan--would result in "another Vietnam." Conversely, supporters of those interventions have adamantly resisted any Vietnam comparisons. (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Economic Geneva - The New York Times has details of this interesting story. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled the US violated Antigua's rights by prohibiting Americans from gambling over Internet sites based in Antigua. Now the lawyer for Antigua is asking the WTO to compensate the island nation by allowing it to set aside US intellectual property laws and to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products, among others with impunity. (READ MORE)
Dadmanly: Not So Widely Remembered - President Bush delivered a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) National Convention yesterday, following in the footsteps of several presidential candidates for 2008. Bush, like Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, praised the US Military and Veterans, and noted recent remarkable successes of so-called “surge” operations in Iraq. Bush, like Obama and Clinton, warned against a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. All suggested that more work lays ahead, work that our military can successfully accomplish, as well as companion efforts by US and Iraqi Governments. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Baird: ‘Our troops have earned more time’ - The Surge is working according to those who are returning from Iraq. Bill Kristol said so on the “Today” show this morning (I have the video). Democratic Congressman Brian Baird — who voted against the war — wrote today in the Seattle Times: “Our troops have earned more time.” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Taxing My Patience - For some time, I've let Joel Schwartzberg and his work for the PBS "news" show, NOW, get under my skin. Twice it's annoyed me to the point of writing about it -- first, when they covered voter fraud (as long as it was being done by Republicans), and this week, when they did their puff piece on military deserters. It finally "clicked" in my head just why these semi-regular crappings in my inbox annoy me so much. It's that they manage to push my buttons on so many levels. (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: The eastern Afghanistan offensive - The battle at the Tora Bora mountains in Nangarhar province has completed its first week, the fighting has intensified as Afghan Army and US forces hunt Taliban and al Qaeda fighters who have infiltrated the region. Scores of Taliban and al Qaeda operatives are reported to have been captured after upwards of 50 terrorists were killed in the initial fighting. A senior al Qaeda leader was also reported to have been wounded in the attack. (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: The National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq and strategic redeployment - As Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker prepare to give testimony to Congress on September 11 on the state of the security situation in Iraq, the Director of National Intelligence has released the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq titled, “Prospects for Iraq’s Stability: Some Security Progress but Political Reconciliation Elusive.” The Fourth Rail has obtained a copy of the declassified version, which is reproduced in full below, and is available for download in PDF format. The NIE sees uneven progress on the security front and a stall of progress on the political front at the national level, and states that switching from a counterinsurgency mission to a counterterrorism mission would damage the past year’s gains. (READ MORE)
Ron Winter: DC Insiders Tiptoe Around Real Iraq/Vietnam Connection - President Bush gave a great speech at the VFW national convention earlier this week, linking our actions in Iraq and the wider War on Terror with what we had done as a nation in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He made the point that when Congress, through the Case-Church Amendment in 1973, cut off all funding to South Vietnam, Southeast Asia fell, and millions suffered at the hands of the communists as a result. Among the many outrages and tragedies of this devastating turn of events was that only the previous year our South Vietnamese allies had successfully fought off a major offensive from the communist north using its ground troops backed by our air power. (READ MORE)
Some Soldier's Mom: Mortality - Confronting your own mortality at any time is hard... at age 20 in the form of 2400 lbs. of C4 in a yellow dump truck is impossible to fathom for the uninitiated and the unbelievers... but you are forced to look the inevitable by the force of the blast... and again moments later -- after someone has dragged you from under the rubble that used to be the outer wall and ceiling of the room you were in... and again as your cheek is burned by an RPG as it races by and slams into the wall immediately behind you... and for a second time you have been dragged from under concrete chunks and blocks and you have a fleeting thought about feeling like being hit by a truck... (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: A Recurrent Theme: On Moderate Muslims - When I write about our current struggle with Radical Islam, I try to maintain a careful differentiation between the Radical Islamists (Islamic fascists) who desire to kill as many of us as possible and impose their will upon us, and those "Moderate" Muslims who are more willing to live and let live. On a fairly regular basis, such posts are met with comments that are variations on a theme: “Moderate Islam is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as Moderate Islam. Islam itself is an imperialistic, intolerant, and murderous ideology.” Sadly enough, such comments may be accurate, if we accept the words of such an authority on the subject as the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan: (READ MORE)
ROFASix: The Vietnam-Iraq Convergence - When President Bush invoked the legacy of Vietnam to the VFW the other day, one got a glimpse into two things. First, politicians can selectively twist history about anyway they want. Second, most people will let them get away with it. Vietnam offers a number of lessons. Not tactical ones for the military aspects of Vietnam and Iraq are much too disparate. Instead the lessons are political ones relating to of leadership and ethics of those who lead us and the nation we are today. (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: Brian Baird: we need to stay in Iraq - There’s dissension in the ranks today, as DEMOCRATIC Congressman Brian Baird writes this op-ed piece in the Seattle Times. I write this today as a counterbalance to a report in the Washington Post that Senator John Warner is calling for President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. The main premise is this: we live in a topsy-turvy world when a Democrat issues a call to maintain our hefty presence in Iraq when a Republican calls for a pullout. We’ve castigated the Democrats for pandering to the anti-war, far-Left fringe groups, but we must cast a disapproving look towards Senator Warner as well. (READ MORE)
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