International:

Snow: Americans ‘Out of Touch With Reality’ In Iraq
Just weeks ago, President Bush insisted that the United States was “absolutely” winning in Iraq. Recently, as the casulties have mounted, he’s toned back his sunny rhetoric slightly, saying the United States was not “winning or losing.”

This prompted a reporter to ask White House Press Secretary Tony Snow if Bush was “fundamentally out of touch with what the reality is on the ground in Iraq?” Snow responded that “we may be out of touch with reality because we sit around and we look at fractional pictures on the screen.” Bush, on the other hand, “knows more than anybody in this room about what’s going on there.” Watch it here

U.S. Navy Vessels Head to Somalia Coast to Patrol for Al Qaeda Militants

U.S. Navy vessels are deployed off the coast of Somalia to make sure Al Qaeda and allied jihadists are not able to escape the country by sea now that the once-dominant Islamist forces in Somalia are in retreat, the State Department said Wednesday.

Of particular concern is the fate of three militants who were believed by U.S. officials to be under the protection of the Islamic Courts Union in Khartoum until Ethiopian forces drove the Courts from power in recent days. More here

National:

Operation Been There, Done That

The Washington Times reports, "One official who was sent the briefing slides for various surge options said he was struck with the lack of new ideas after an intense three-month review process inside the Bush administration." Indeed, during "the last six months the United States has increased, or 'surged,' the number of American troops in Baghdad by 12,000, yet the violence and deaths of Americans and Iraqis has climbed alarmingly, averaging 960 a week since the latest troop increase." From Feb. 2004 to March 2005 we increased the number of U.S. troops from 115,000 to 150,000. There was no impact on the amount of violence in Iraq. Since June, we've increased the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by about 14,000, from 126,000 to 140,000. Violence has only increased.

Bush & Cheney Were For Gen. Casey, Before They Were Against Him

Yesterday, the New York Times published a long analysis of Bush administration policy in Iraq during 2006. The article, based largely on interviews with administration officials, states that "over the past 12 months," President Bush "increasingly found himself uneasy" with Gen. George Casey’s strategy of focusing on shrinking the U.S. presence as Iraqis built up their military forces. Casey is the top U.S. commander in Baghdad. The Times reports that Bush "grew concerned that General Casey, among others, had become more fixated on withdrawal than victory." But just this past fall, Bush and Vice President Cheney gave high praise to Casey and CentCom commander Gen. John Abizaid. On September 15, Bush said, "I've got great confidence in General John Abizaid and General George Casey. These are extraordinary men who understand the difficulties of the task." Cheney told NPR on October 20 that Casey was a "first class officer," "outstanding," and a "very good adviser to the President."

Negroponte resigns to become Rice deputy.
“National Intelligence Director John Negroponte will resign to become deputy secretary of state, a government official said Wednesday night,” the AP reports. “Negroponte took over in 2005 as the nation’s first intelligence chief, responsible for overseeing all 16 U.S. spy agencies. He will return to his roots as a career diplomat to become the No. 2 to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the official said.” The timing of the shift is unknown, and Negroponte must be confirmed to the State Dept. position.

In Other News...

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dislikes being the country's leader and wishes he could leave his job. "I wish I could be done with it even before the end of this term. I didn't want to take this position," he told the Wall Street Journal.

The Pentagon is increasingly relying on "emergency" supplemental funding requests, using them "to acquire future weapons that normally would be funded through the regular Pentagon budget." An army official involved in budget planning says "It's a feeding frenzy."

Six months ago, U.S. forces in Diyala province "hoped security would improve" with the death of Abu Musab Zarqawi. "Instead, security has collapsed" in the area and "attacks have more than doubled in the last year." "Violence has devastated the provincial police force and brought reconstruction to a virtual standstill."

Sheehan, Iraq War Protesters Break Up House Democrats' Press Conference

Iraq war protesters broke up a press conference by House Democrats on Wednesday with chants to bring American troops home from Iraq.

Chanting "de-escalate, investigate, troops home now," the protesters disrupted a briefing aimed at outlining priority goals when Democrats take over the House and Senate on Thursday.

From The Right:

David Limbaugh: GOP at crossroads
Rank-and-file Republicans are justifiably focused on their party's potential slate of presidential candidates in 2008, but I think they ought to be more concerned with the more fundamental issue of the direction of the party itself.

From The Left:

Jon Alpert: Interview With Saddam Hussein
Shortly after the first Gulf War, filmmaker Jon Alpert traveled to Baghdad and became one of the last American journalists to interview Saddam Hussein. The interview was originally slated to air on ABC but it was never broadcast.

Quote Of The Day:

"I went to their homes. I know all of them by name. Their story is my story,"

Oprah Winfrey on opening her $40m school for South African girls. She also said she had chosen "every brick, tile, sheet and spoon" in the academy herself, she added.more here

(Sources: WashingtonTimes, Center For American Progress, BrookingsInstitute, FOXNews, TPM, NYT, Whitehouse website, BBC, WSJ, LATimes, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, AP, DemocracyNow, UK Guardian, PoliticalCartoons.com)