International:
Turkey approves Iraq incursion plan, allies anxious
Turkey's parliament resoundingly approved a motion on Wednesday allowing troops to cross into northern Iraq to hunt down Kurdish rebels there, but its Western allies and Baghdad urged Ankara to refrain from military action.

As parliament voted in Ankara by 507 votes to 19 in favor of the motion, U.S. President George W. Bush said it would not be in NATO member Turkey's interests to send troops into Iraq and the Pentagon said it did not think Ankara had the appetite for such a move.

Washington fears a Turkish incursion could destabilize the most peaceful part of Iraq and possibly the wider region by encouraging others such as arch-foe Iran to intervene. Details

Syrian Slip-Up DisclosesExistence of Nuke Facility
In U.N. document, Damascus envoy refers to Israel's air raid 'against nuclear facilities, including ... July attack in Syria'

Japan and China lead flight from the dollar

Japan and China led a record withdrawl of foreign funds from the United States in August, heightening fears of a fresh slide in the dollar and a spike in US bond yields. Read on...

IMF says dollar ‘overvalued’

National:

Head of Counterterrorism Agency Resigns

Vice Adm. John Redd, the head of the U.S. agency responsible for analyzing intelligence on terrorism and developing counterterrorism strategies, announced his resignation on Wednesday.

Redd, first director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in a letter to staff he was stepping down as of November 10 for "long-delayed surgery which I can no longer neglect."

Redd needs replacement surgery on both knees, which would require a prolonged absence if he were to stay as director, center spokesman Carl Kropf said. Full story here.

Pentagon to alert 8 Guard units for duty
The Pentagon is preparing to alert eight National Guard units that they should be ready to go to Iraq or Afghanistan beginning late next summer, The Associated Press learned Wednesday.
The U.S. military is reaching out to more Guard units in an effort to maintain needed troop levels, ease some of the strain on the active duty Army and provide security for ports, convoys and other installations.

According to defense officials, seven of the units would deploy to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the orders had not yet been signed and the announcement is not expected until the end of this week. Read the full story here...

Plame speaks out
On Tuesday, outed CIA operative Valerie Plame will release her book, Fair Game — My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, marking the first time she will publicly detail the leak scandal. AP previews:

In Other News…

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said he was not prepared to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies for their participation in the warrantless wiretapping program. "I certainly would not give them immunity retroactively on programs that we don't know what they are," he said.

The White House agreed yesterday to give Senate intelligence committee members and staff access to internal documents related to its domestic surveillance program. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said that when one of her staff members reviewed the documents, "he wasn't impressed."

24 percent: President Bush's approval rating in a new Reuters/Zogby poll, which sets yet another record low for the President.

Prior to his confirmation hearing today, Attorney General nominee Mike Mukasey was introduced "before the cameras" by a "tripartisan" group of senators: Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

In a special election yesterday, Niki Tsongas (D), the wife of the late Sen. Paul Tsongas (D), beat out Republican Jim Ogonowski to fill former Rep. Martin Meehan's (D-MA) vacant 5th district House seat, "becoming the first woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress in nearly 25 years."

And finally: Colbert throws his hat in the ring. On the Daily Show last night, comedian Stephen Colbert "made a surprise appearance" to officially announce he was considering a run for president. About 20 minutes later on his own show, Colbert announced "Yes, I'm doing it!" He then welcomed CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield to analyze his impact on the race "in the past three minutes."

From The Right: Brent Bozell III: Al Gore's Nobel Propaganda Prize Today, the Nobel committee seems especially interested in using the Peace Prize to tweak American conservatives, honoring Jimmy Carter in 2002 (when it excluded him from Camp David accords honors in 1978) and now Al Gore in 2007. People are asking the obvious: How has Gore's alarmism on global warming aided world "peace"?

From the Left: John Cory: America, Land of Fear? They have presented us with their sinister box gift-wrapped in a thobe and ghutra tied in a bow with a chapan and pakol. And when the package loses its luster, they light the ribbon-fuse and toss the sparkling box into the air for all to see and remember and shudder. Such a lovely parcel, this box of fear; carefully packaged and marketed with shiny toys of death inside and extra coupons on the back to order more. Don't be the only kid on the block without one.

Quote Of The Day: "We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," ..."So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon" [President Bush said at a White House press conference after Russia cautioned against military action against Tehran's supect atomic program] 'smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud'> More here

(Sources: TownHall, TruthOut, AP, FOXNews, ThinkProgress, NewsMax, DrudgeReport, NYT, Breitbart, AFP, Telegraph UK, FinancialTimes, Guardian, ABCNews, EditorAndPublisher, PoliticalCartoons.com)