memeorandum: AMERICAN CITIZEN CHARGED WITH TRAINING IN SOMALIA WITH AL QAEDA … (Daniel Maldonado/Fox News)

4:45 PM ET, February 14, 2007

Top Items:

John Bresnahan / The Politico:

House Democrats' New Strategy: Force Slow End to War — Led by Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., and supported by several well-funded anti-war groups, the coalition's goal is to limit or sharply reduce the number of U.S. troops available for the Iraq conflict, rather than to openly cut off funding for the war itself.

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House, Confederate Yankee, The Strata-Sphere, PoliPundit.com, QandO, Chicago Boyz, Bill's Bites, The Caucus, "7.62mm Justice" ™, The Influence Peddler, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Carpetbagger Report, Power and Control, The Huffington Post, Power Line, First Read and Washington Post

Bryan / Hot Air:

Murtha and the Democrats: A new low — Disgusting. … If they do what they're apparently planning to do, "slow bleed" will be a very apt description. Those doing the bleeding, slowly, will be US troops. … This is the strategy of a corrupt, dishonorable man. Yes, I realize I'm talking about a former Marine.

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, Ed Driscoll.com and Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Matt Stoller / MyDD:

Grace Time is Over — It's pretty obvious at this point that the Democratic leadership isn't serious about ending the war in Iraq. They won't defund the war, and keep repeating the meme that cutting off funding for the war means cutting off funding for the troops. — It's time for the blogs to stop giving them a pass.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Redstate, The Impolitic and The American Mind

White House:

Press Conference by the President — THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming in on an icy day. I have just finished a conversation with General David Petraeus. He gave me his first briefing from Iraq. He talked about the Baghdad security plan. It's the plan that I described to the nation last January …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, First Draft and My Left Wing

Mark Memmott / On Deadline:

Bush: 'Preposterous' to suggest intelligence on Iran is wrong — President Bush just held a press conference at the White House. Some highlights: — 11:58 a.m. ET. Sitting down with Iran wouldn't work: The last question was why — if the U.S. could negotiate with the former Soviet Union …

Discussion: The Raw Story, White House, NewsHog, Michelle Malkin, The Impolitic, Pajamas Media and CorrenteWire

CNN:
Bush: U.S. aims to protect troops, not wage war with Iran

Discussion: The Heretik, protein wisdom, Decision '08 and State of the Day

Bill Gertz / Washington Times:
Bolton hits agreement as 'bad signal' to Iran

Discussion: New York Times

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

U.S. Says Powerful Iraqi Cleric Is Living in Iran — The powerful Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has left Iraq and has been living in Iran for the past several weeks, senior Bush administration officials said Tuesday. — With fresh American forces arriving in Baghdad as part of the White House plan …

Discussion: INTEL DUMP, Ace of Spades HQ, Hot Air, The Corner and Brilliant at Breakfast

Juan / Informed Comment:
On the Mystery of Muqtada al-Sadr's Disappearance

Discussion: Political Animal and The Heretik

Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Officials linked to al-Sadr deny he fled

Discussion: AMERICAblog, Right Wing Nut House, Flopping Aces, Confederate Yankee, MSNBC, The Impolitic, Think Progress, alphabet city, NewsHog, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, Decision '08, ABCNEWS and Captain's Quarters

Los Angeles Times: Sadr aides deny the cleric is in Iran

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:

Bush: Who Cares if Iran Ordered EFP Attacks? — The Iran innuendo continues. In his press conference today, President Bush said that the U.S. knows "with certainty" that the EFPs coming in from Iran for attacks on U.S. forces originate with the Qods Forces — a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Discussion: Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, The Anonymous Liberal and Political Animal

Gateway Pundit:
Explosion in Iran Kills Busload of Al Quds Members!!

Discussion: Independent, The Huffington Post, Yourish.com and QandO

Boston Globe:
Doubts raised on linking of Iran to US deaths in Iraq

Discussion: Nitpicker, The Huffington Post and The Corner

Betsy Rothstein / The Hill:

Rep. Ellison calls the cops to snuff Tancredo's cigar — Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) believes it is his right as a Muslim to be sworn into Congress with the Quran. But apparently, the freshman lawmaker doesn't believe it's Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-Colo.) right to smoke a cigar in his congressional office.

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, TPMCafe blogs, Hot Air, Blue Crab Boulevard, Redstate, "7.62mm Justice" ™ and theneweditor.com

Baltimore Sun:

America's view of Republicans crumbles in Iraq — According to the latest Gallup survey, Republican self-identification has declined nationally and in almost every American state. Why? The short answer is that President Bush's war of choice in Iraq has destroyed the partisan brand Republicans spent the past four decades building.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Sadly, No!, Eschaton, INSTAPUTZ and Faithful Progressive

driftglass:

I'm Spartacus. — Shakespeare's Sister has announced that she is bowing out of the Edwards campaign. — Needless to say this is a very sad and sobering development. — And needless to say that she is doing it with orders of magnitude more grace and élan than either …

Discussion: Lean Left, QandO, Balloon Juice, The Mahablog, Althouse, The Navel of the Internet, PSoTD, Shakespeare's Sister, Patterico's Pontifications and The Impolitic

Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal:

Candidates Find A New Stump In the Blogosphere — Nearly a year before the first caucuses and primaries take place, the 2008 presidential campaign advertising war is under way online. — Candidates of both parties are already buying space on search engines, blogs and other Internet sites popular …

Discussion: protein wisdom, DonkeyRising, Gun Toting Liberal ™ and Liberal Values

Steve Kornacki / New York Observer:

Why Al Gore Won't Let the Rumors Die — It's too much to say that Al Gore has decided to run for President in 2008. — But it does seem that he wants to preserve the option. — Certainly, the recent buzz about a possible Gore campaign in 2008 doesn't seem to be spontaneously generated.

Discussion: Liberal Values

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Neoconservatives hate liberty as much as they love war — Frank Gaffney, one of the country's most influential and well-connected neoconservatives, has a column in today's Washington Times in which he argues that the debate taking place in Congress over the war in Iraq constitutes treason.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Gateway Pundit, Dr. Sanity, Washington Times, If I Ran the Zoo, Left in the West, The Heretik, The Carpetbagger Report, Liberal Values, The Strata-Sphere, MaxSpeak, Hullabaloo, Bloggasm, Roger Ailes and Rising Hegemon

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:

Military grants more waivers to recruits — WASHINGTON - The Army and Marine Corps are letting in more recruits with criminal records, including some with felony convictions, reflecting the increased pressure of five years of war and its mounting casualties.

Discussion: New York Times, The Huffington Post and The Carpetbagger Report

Deseret News:

6 minutes of horror … In just six minutes, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic left a tragic path of destruction that forever changed the lives of dozens of people. — "His intent was to shoot as many people as he possibly could," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank.

Discussion: Classical Values, BizzyBlog, Blue Crab Boulevard, Jihad Watch and Little Green Footballs

Anne Applebaum / Telegraph:

War with Iran is in no one's interests — 'War in Iraq, war in Iran? " That's a headline I saw in Britain earlier this week. In Washington, the headlines read more like "Tentative nuclear deal reached with North Korea" and "Obama must show more than potential", but never mind …