Top Items:
Eric Lipton / New York Times:
White House Knew of Levee's Failure on Night of Storm — WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that a levee had broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans.
RELATED ITEMS:
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Ex-CIA Official Faults Use of Data on Iraq — Intelligence 'Misused' to Justify War, He Says — The former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision …
Jim VandeHei / Washington Post:
Lobbyist Told Reporter of Nearly a Dozen Contacts With Bush — President Bush met lobbyist Jack Abramoff almost a dozen times over the past five years and invited him to Crawford, Tex., in the summer of 2003, according to an e-mail Abramoff wrote to a reporter last month.
Discussion:
Just a Bump in the Beltway
Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
Former FEMA Director to Testify About Katrina — Denied Executive Privilege, Brown Plans to Discuss Communications With Bush — Michael D. Brown, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was rebuffed in his request for a claim of executive privilege and plans to testify …
Discussion:
The RCP Blog
The Hill:
Small typo, big headache — A typo in the budget-reconciliation bill may give congressional Democrats another shot at making political hay out of the $39 billion deficit-reduction measure President Bush signed yesterday. — Democratic leaders could block an attempt by Republicans to correct …
RELATED ITEMS:
Charles Babington / Washington Post:Patriot Act Compromise Clears Way for Senate Vote
Discussion:
volokh.com
New York Times:
Bush Gives New Details of 2002 Qaeda Plot to Attack Los Angeles — WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — President Bush offered new information on Thursday about what he said was a foiled plot by Al Qaeda in 2002 to fly a hijacked airplane into the tallest building west of the Mississippi …
RELATED ITEMS:
Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Libby Testified He Was Told To Leak Data About Iraq — Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff testified that his bosses instructed him to leak information to reporters from a high-level intelligence report that suggested Iraq was trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction, according to court records in the CIA leak case.
RELATED ITEMS:
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Ex-Cheney Aide Testified Leak Was Ordered, Prosecutor Says — WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, told a grand jury that he was authorized by his "superiors" to disclose classified information to reporters about Iraq's weapons capability …
Toni Locy / Associated Press:Libby: White House 'Superiors' OK'd Leaks
Discussion:
TalkLeft, truthout.org, Andrew Sullivan, The Huffington Post, The Reaction and The Reality-Based Community
Porter Goss / New York Times:
Loose Lips Sink Spies — AT the Central Intelligence Agency, we are more than holding our own in the global war on terrorism, but we are at risk of losing a key battle: the battle to protect our classified information. — Judge Laurence Silberman, a chairman of President Bush's commission …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Dr. Sanity, GOP Bloggers, California Conservative, No More Apples and Betsy's Page
RELATED ITEM:
Daniel Henninger / Opinion Journal: Can We Talk? — If al Qaeda phones, tell them we can't take the call.
Paul Reynolds / BBC:
Bloggers: an army of irregulars — World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website — For many in the "mainstream media", as bloggers call us, weblogs are at best a nuisance and at worst dangerous. — They are seen as the rantings and ravings either of the unbalanced or the tedious.
Discussion:
Harry's Place
Associated Press:
Abramoff Team and Reid's Office Had Frequent Contact, Records Show — Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid wrote at least four letters helpful to Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, and Reid's staff had frequent contact with the disgraced lobbyist's team about legislation.
RELATED ITEM:
Scott Shields / MyDD:Smearing Harry Reid
Discussion:
The Mahablog, Outside The Beltway, ed fitzgerald's unfutz, Shakespeare's Sister, Daily Kos and KnoxViews
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Curse of the Moderates — As much of the Islamic world erupts in a studied frenzy over the Danish Muhammad cartoons, there are voices of reason being heard on both sides. Some Islamic leaders and organizations, while endorsing the demonstrators' sense of grievance and sharing their outrage …
Andrew C. Revkin / New York Times:
NASA Aide Who Resigned Over Warming Offers Defense — George C. Deutsch, the young NASA press aide who resigned on Tuesday in the center of a storm over claims that he had tried to keep keep the agency's top climate scientist from speaking publicly about global warming, defended himself today in his first public interviews.
Antonio Regalado / Wall Street Journal:
Academy to Referee Climate-Change Fight — Scientists' Group Agrees — To Congressional Request to Study — Temperature-History Charting — Seeking to resolve a scientific dispute that has taken on a rancorous political edge, the National Academy of Sciences said it had agreed …
Discussion:
Dean's World
The Anchoress:
NY Times illustrates cartoon story — Faced with an ethical dilemma, the New York Times has chosen to illustrate a report on the so-called Cartoon Wars with an image which is offensive to some with religious sensibilities. — The picture they have chosen is Chris Ofili's portrait of of the Virgin Mary, painted with elephant dung.
Michelle Malkin:
THE WAR ON THE FREE PRESS — The Cartoon Jihadists are winning... Malaysia: … New: Malaysia bans possession of Prophet cartoons — Yemen: … South Africa (via VOA): … Ukraine: Editor-in-chief of popular Ukrainian newspaper "Today" apologizes before Muslims for publishing cartoons, satirizing Prophet Muhammad
