memeorandum: Who's to Blame for The Killing (Charles Krauthammer/Washington Post)

7:10 PM ET, February 2, 2007

Top Items:

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:

NIE: The Surge Can't Work — Wow, this is grim. According to the just-released Key Judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, political reconciliation is likely a bridge too far over the next year and a half. — The Sunnis remain "unwilling to accept minority status" …

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Obsidian Wings, CANNONFIRE, Taylor Marsh, Larisa Alexandrovna's …, Cato-at-liberty, Wake up America, The Carpetbagger Report, State of the Day, AMERICAblog and Reason Magazine

Washington Post:

Iraq at Risk of Further Strife, Intelligence Report Warns — A new National Intelligence Estimate depicts an Iraq involved in a multi-faceted struggle among religious groups and sects and says that without a sharp reversal in the violence and changes among the Shiite, Sunni and Kurd leadership, the situation could further deteriorate.

Discussion: Once Upon a Time, TPMmuckraker, Taylor Marsh and democracyarsenal.org

Think Progress:

Hadley Ignores NIE, Says White House Will Still Not Call Iraq A 'Civil War' — At a press briefing this morning, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the White House will continue to avoid using the term "civil war" to describe events in Iraq, despite the findings of the new National Intelligence Estimate.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and The Heretik

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

Admin Official: "The Best Plan Is To Have This Plan Succeed" — During a press conference this afternoon, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley spun the National Intelligence Estimate's key findings to support the president's "surge" plan in Iraq. — As we reported earlier …

Discussion: Wake up America

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
NIE: It's worst than a civil war

Discussion: Fox News

New York Times:

Climate Panel Issues Urgent Warning to Curb Gases — The world is already committed to centuries of warming, shifting weather patterns and rising seas from the atmospheric buildup of gases that trap heat, but the warming can be substantially blunted by prompt action, an international network of climate experts said today.

Discussion: Flopping Aces, NewsBusters.org, Associated Press, The Huffington Post, The Left Coaster, The Strata-Sphere, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Agonist, DownWithTyranny!, Attytood, It's Getting Hot In Here, Texas Rainmaker, Sister Toldjah, Don Surber and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Alex Morales / Bloomberg:
Global Warming Very Likely Caused by Humans, UN Says (Update5)

Discussion: protein wisdom and One Hand Clapping

Jonathan Adler / The Volokh Conspiracy:
THE IPCC'S FRAGILE "CONSENSUS": Today the Intergovernmental Panel …

Discussion: New York Times, ipcc.ch and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Dana Blanton / Fox News:

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS MOST COMFORTABLE WITH RUDY GIULIANI AS PRESIDENT — NEW YORK — More voters say they would be comfortable with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as president than other top 2008 contenders, though majorities would also be comfortable with other leaders from both parties …

Discussion: The Corner, No More Mister Nice Blog, Ace of Spades HQ and Pollster

Craig Gordon / Newsday:

On paper, Rudy's unsure — Giuliani's government filings don't lend hints to his presidential run - he hasn't submitted a declaration form or checked the Republican box — WASHINGTON - Republicans looking at Rudolph Giuliani's campaign for president always ask two questions - is he really running, and is he a "real Republican?"

Discussion: New York Post, Redstate and The Caucus

Washington Post:

Senate Democrats Split on Measure Opposing Bush — Compromise Called Weak; Report Raises Estimate of Troops Needed for 'Surge' — Senate Democratic leaders who decided to back a Republican resolution against President Bush's Iraq war plan in hopes of winning broad bipartisan support ran …

Discussion: New York Times, TPMmuckraker, The Carpetbagger Report, The Heretik, The Caucus, The Impolitic and Wake up America

Charles Hurt / Washington Times:
Majority in Senate support 'stay the course' resolution

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Sirotablog, Booman Tribune and Reason Magazine

David Lightman / Hartford Courant:
Dodd, Lieberman On Opposite Sides In Iraq Debate

Discussion: Dick Polman's American Debate, Daily Kos and Blogometer

Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:

Bush administration seeks $245B for wars — WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will ask for another $100 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and seek $145 billion for 2008, a senior administration official said Friday.

Discussion: Think Progress

New York Times:
A Bipartisan Trade Policy

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Beat the Press

Michael Yon:

The Hands of God — A Village, North of Mosul: Friday 26 January 07 — He was dressed as a woman as he walked down the alley toward the mosque full of worshippers. It was Friday, just before Ashura, and the air was chilled. — The bomb strapped to his body was studded with ball-bearings …

Discussion: Op For

KC Johnson / Durham-in-Wonderland:

The Edwards-Marcotte Fiasco — An astute observer of this case recommends analyzing events through the prism of what he's termed the "courage-meter." People in positions of authority have displayed little or no courage to do the right thing throughout this affair.

Discussion: Reason Magazine, Outside The Beltway, Overlawyered, Vox Popoli and LieStoppers

Michelle Malkin:

Mohammed Cartoon updates — The lying, jihadist Danish imam who helped instigate the Mohammed cartoon riots by touring — the Middle East with bogus pictures it attributed the Jyllands-Post has died (hat tip: Sugiero). — Abu Laban had cancer: … "Was thrust?" Actually, he thrust himself.

Discussion: EU Referendum

Associated Press:
Controversial Danish imam Abu Laban dies

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Who's to Blame for The Killing — This week the internecine warfare in Iraq, already bewildering — Sunni vs. Shiite, Kurd vs. Arab, jihadist vs. infidel, with various Iranians, Syrians and assorted freelancers thrown into the maelstrom — went bizarre. In one of the biggest battles of the war …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, A Spork in the Drawer, Andrew Sullivan, Political Animal, Crunchy Con, Eschaton, Instapundit.com, Soccer Dad and It Shines For All

Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:

F.B.I. Agent Says Libby Denied Being Leak Source — An F.B.I. agent told a jury Thursday that I. Lewis Libby Jr. "claimed" during formal interviews she conducted that he had not disclosed to two reporters the identity of Valerie Wilson, a Central Intelligence Agency operative.

Discussion: TalkLeft, TPMmuckraker, Media is a Plural and Washington Post

Michael J. Sniffen / Associated Press:
Agent: Libby may have talked of outing operative with Cheney

Discussion: The Next Hurrah and Firedoglake

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

Edwards On Iran — TAP talks to John Edwards about America's foreign policy challenges in the Middle East. … EK: So, the Iran speech to Herzliya. That caused me to think a little bit more about what we had spoken about Iraq [in a previous interview]. And so I wanted to talk to you for a minute about —

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Hullabaloo, Unfogged and Shakespeare's Sister

James Pethokoukis / US News:

Perky Economy Starts to Relieve Worker Angst — Maybe the U.S. economy added 111,000 jobs last month, but maybe it didn't. Given that the Labor Department later revised higher its monthly jobs numbers 75 percent of the time last year, there's a good chance the final number for January will be somewhere north of 111,000.

Associated Press:

Defense Official Resigns Over Detainee Remarks — WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Pentagon official resigned Friday over controversial remarks in which he criticized lawyers who represent terrorism suspects, the Defense Department said. — Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Charles ''Cully'' Stimson …

Discussion: TalkLeft