International:Iraq vs. Afghanistan...What Are The Stakes?
"I would argue that the stakes in Afghanistan are much larger in the near term than they are in Iraq," former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Monday at Singapore's Institute for Southeast Asian Studies. Armitage asserted that while violence in Iraq would likely remain internal for some time, a failure in Afghanistan could mean the disastrous spillover into neighboring Pakistan, where "Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan will not be successful in moving to invite moderation." In that scenario, Pakistan's hard-line Muslims would gain control of the nation's nuclear weapons, leading to escalation with neighboring India. Armitage called on the international community to pay more attention to Afghanistan, where violence this year is the heaviest since 2001, opium production is fueling a Taliban resurgence and efforts to curtail the heroin trade have "done little to hamper the drug industry and have hurt the countries poorest people," a new United Nations report shows.
Political Arm-Twisting?
"Saudi Arabia is so concerned about the damage that the conflict in Iraq is doing across the region that it basically summoned Vice President Cheney for talks over the weekend, according to U.S. officials and foreign diplomats," the Washington Post reports. "The visit was originally portrayed as U.S. outreach to its oil-rich Arab ally." Cheney's spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride told reporters over the weekend that the vice president had gone to discuss a "range of regional issues," and the Associated Press reported that Cheney was "seeking the key powerbroker's help in violence-torn Iraq and a string of other crises across West Asia."
Ayatollah Blasts U.S. for Chaos in Iraq, Pledges Iran's Help to End Sectarian Violence Iran's supreme leader on Tuesday blamed the United States for the chaos in Iraq and demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces, but also pledged his country's help in quelling the violence.
In a meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the United States of hiring terrorists and former members of Saddam Hussein's regime to destabilize Iraq, according to a state television report. More here.
Pentagon Considers Moving Troops From al-Anbar Province to Baghdad ABC News has learned that Pentagon officials are considering a major strategic shift in Iraq, to move U.S. forces out of the dangerous Sunni-dominated al-Anbar province and join the fight to secure Baghdad.
The news comes as President Bush prepares to meet with Iraq's president to discuss the growing sectarian violence.
National:
US setbacks see dollar plunge to near 15-year low
The dollar tumbled to a near a 15-year low against sterling yesterday on fresh signs of economic trouble in the United States.
An 8.3pc crash in US industrial orders and an admission by the Federal Reserve chairman that Washington does not know how bad housing really is set off another day of wild gyrations on the currency markets. More at the Telegraph UK
Bush, Webb Get Off To Testy Start...
President Bush has pledged to work with the new Democratic majorities in Congress, but he has already gotten off on the wrong foot with Jim Webb, whose surprise victory over Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) tipped the Senate to the Democrats.
President Bush has pledged to work with the new Democratic majorities in Congress, but he has already gotten off on the wrong foot with Jim Webb, whose surprise victory over Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) tipped the Senate to the Democrats.
Webb, a decorated former Marine officer, hammered Allen and Bush over the unpopular war in Iraq while wearing his son’s old combat boots on the campaign trail. It seems the president may have some lingering resentment.
At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.
Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb. “I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.More here...
Hastings won’t head House intelligence panel.
CQ reports, “House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi was to meet with Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) late Tuesday to close the door on his bid to become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, a congressional aide said. But Pelosi, D-Calif., has not yet decided who will get the job, according to the aide.”
CQ reports, “House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi was to meet with Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) late Tuesday to close the door on his bid to become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, a congressional aide said. But Pelosi, D-Calif., has not yet decided who will get the job, according to the aide.”
In Other News…
At a "First Amendment awards dinner," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) said yesterday "the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism." He said a "different set of rules" may be needed to limit "terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech."
The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America "has stepped down, saying the group resisted his efforts to broaden its agenda to include reducing poverty and fighting global warming." Rev. Joel Hunter said of the split, "When we really got down to it, they said: 'This just isn't for us. It won't speak to our base, so we just can't go there.'"
A classified Marine Corps intelligence report concludes that in Western Iraq, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar."
Rumors are floating in Florida GOP political circles that outgoing Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL), one of the most disastrous Senate candidates in a very long time, is secretly plotting an '08 House campaign, Roll Call reports.
From The Right:
Phyllis Schlafly: Middle class will look for a friend in either party
The biggest electoral bloc of the "they" who are seeking friends is the middle class, which includes people variously labeled blue-collar workers, skilled workers or Reagan Democrats. They are the swing voters, often called the moveables.
From The Left:
Jason Leopold: DOJ Probes NSA Spying, Democrats Suspicious
The Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General announced Monday that it will immediately launch a probe into the agency's involvement with the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, raising suspicions among Democrats, who believe the timing of the investigation is an attempt by the Bush administration to circumvent Congressional hearings into the issue when they assume control of the House in January.
Quote Of The Day:
"Stay the course is gone. We’re going to try and devise some new strategies, hopefully with the President’s concurrence…Our soldiers, sailors and airmen should not be in there, risking their lives, losing their lives to stop a Civil War.”
Sen. John Warner (R-VA), once one of the staunchest supporters of the administration’s Iraq policy, speaking today in Charlottsville, Virginia.
(Sources:, Hindu.com, Reuters, IHT, FOXNews, TownHall, NYT, RollCall, CQ, TruthOut, UnionLeader, WashingtonTimes, Center For American Progress, Washington Post, CBS News, ChicagoTribune, USA Today, TheHill, Telegraph UK, ABCNews, PoliticalCartoons.com)
At a "First Amendment awards dinner," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) said yesterday "the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism." He said a "different set of rules" may be needed to limit "terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech."
The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America "has stepped down, saying the group resisted his efforts to broaden its agenda to include reducing poverty and fighting global warming." Rev. Joel Hunter said of the split, "When we really got down to it, they said: 'This just isn't for us. It won't speak to our base, so we just can't go there.'"
A classified Marine Corps intelligence report concludes that in Western Iraq, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar."
Rumors are floating in Florida GOP political circles that outgoing Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL), one of the most disastrous Senate candidates in a very long time, is secretly plotting an '08 House campaign, Roll Call reports.
From The Right:
Phyllis Schlafly: Middle class will look for a friend in either party
The biggest electoral bloc of the "they" who are seeking friends is the middle class, which includes people variously labeled blue-collar workers, skilled workers or Reagan Democrats. They are the swing voters, often called the moveables.
From The Left:
Jason Leopold: DOJ Probes NSA Spying, Democrats Suspicious
The Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General announced Monday that it will immediately launch a probe into the agency's involvement with the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, raising suspicions among Democrats, who believe the timing of the investigation is an attempt by the Bush administration to circumvent Congressional hearings into the issue when they assume control of the House in January.
Quote Of The Day:
"Stay the course is gone. We’re going to try and devise some new strategies, hopefully with the President’s concurrence…Our soldiers, sailors and airmen should not be in there, risking their lives, losing their lives to stop a Civil War.”
Sen. John Warner (R-VA), once one of the staunchest supporters of the administration’s Iraq policy, speaking today in Charlottsville, Virginia.
(Sources:, Hindu.com, Reuters, IHT, FOXNews, TownHall, NYT, RollCall, CQ, TruthOut, UnionLeader, WashingtonTimes, Center For American Progress, Washington Post, CBS News, ChicagoTribune, USA Today, TheHill, Telegraph UK, ABCNews, PoliticalCartoons.com)
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