General Defends Army Chief Who Spoke Out  —  WASHINGTON, April 16 — Gen. Richard B. Myers, who retired six months ago as the nation's top military officer, said today that senior administration officials had been wrong to publicly criticize the former Army chief just before the invasion …

To Bomb, or Not to Bomb  —  WHEN I WAS RECENTLY in Paris, a French diplomat explained to me why he—and many others in the French foreign ministry—thought the United States would, in the end, bomb Iran's nuclear-weapons facilities.  Owing to Chinese and Russian obstreperousness …

'Speak softly, don't argue and slow down'  —  Loud and brash, in gawdy garb and baseball caps, more than three million of them flock to our shores every year.  Shuffling between tourist sites or preparing to negotiate a business deal, they bemoan the failings of the world outside the United States.

Hiltzik of the LA Times - Unethical Or Just Ignorant?  —  I've had fun reading Michael Hiltzik in the past, mostly because he's an interesting case of a major newspaper trying on the blog form.  He manages, I think to combine the worst of both - the overweening arrogance of the MSM and the casual …

Another radioactive environmentalist  —  In one of the early Democratic Presidential debates of 1992, when the late Paul Tsongas — then a Senator from Massachusetts with an impeccable environmental record — dared to express the opinion that nuclear power was preferable to coal on environmental grounds …

The frightening truth of why Iran wants a bomb  —  Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gatecrashed "the nuclear club", President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappeared for several hours.  He was having a khalvat (tête-à-tête) with the Hidden Imam …

More enemies of the enemy  —  Regular readers should feel free to tune out.  Yes, it's time to remind people that Arabs and other Muslims are essential to victory over the jihad.  —  Since we can't sort the jihadis from the innocents even when we can reach across jurisdictional lines, we need Arabs and Muslims to do it.

FEMA deemed these homes habitable  —  Labeling Katrina homes as livable makes owners ineligible for more aid, but officials here call structures unfit  —  A New Orleans house flattened but for a concrete staircase on a crumbling facade was among many storm-ravaged structures …

Aravosis vs Goldberg  —  Aravosis vs Goldberg  —  John Aravosis debated Jonah Goldberg on "Reliable Sources," today about Iran, the Biolabs and the Presidential leaker in chief..  —  I had never seen Goldberg before so it was interesting indeed.  —  (transcript from CNN)

Joe Klein: Nukes should be on the table  —  Joe Klein: "Nukes should be on the table"  —  Joe Klein started off today on "THIS WEEK," sounding fairly reasonable in the discussion about Iran and then veered off into neocon, kool-aid drinking lunacy.  George Stephanopoulos was even caught off guard by Klein's statements.

Iran pledges $50m Palestinian aid  —  Iran will donate $50m (£28m) to help fund the Palestinian Authority, after the withdrawal of aid from the West, the Iranian government has announced.  —  The US and EU cut funding after Hamas - which they consider a terrorist group - won Palestinian elections in January.

Below the fold  —  Three very interesting reports from the Middle East.  The first, from the Jerusalem Post describes an Israeli proposal to swap Jonathan Pollard for .... Marwan Barghouti. … The second report is even more interesting, and also from the Jersualem Post.

Liberal Bloggers Who Need To Laying On A Psychologist's Couch  —  One of the hot topics around the blogosphere this week-end was a WAPO piece on an extremely angry, liberal blogger by the name of Maryscott O'Connor — and did I say angry?  I meant enraged, furious, a regular little, glowing ball 'o' hate 'n' rage:

Ah, It Was A Bad Leak  —  The NY Times responds to last week's controversial WaPo editorial titled "A Good Leak" with their own "A Bad Leak".  [And we see that the WaPo ombudsman tackles this as well.]  The topic is the news that Bush chose to declassify a portion of the NIE so that Libby …

Iran suicide bombers 'ready to hit Britain'  —  IRAN has formed battalions of suicide bombers to strike at British and American targets if the nation's nuclear sites are attacked.  According to Iranian officials, 40,000 trained suicide bombers are ready for action.

Redefining Property Values  —  By Design, Status Seekers and Tree-Huggers Don't Have to Commune  —  The survey went to thousands of people who'd called a number on highway billboards announcing that Ladera Ranch, a new planned community in Orange County, Calif., was coming soon.

How to Lose Your Job at a Saudi Newspaper  —  I was unceremoniously fired this month by my Saudi newspaper, a leading English-language daily called Arab News.  —  It didn't matter that I had been the senior columnist on the op-ed page for nine years or that my work was quoted widely …