memeorandum: I Think the U.S. Military Should Kill TerroristsAn Editorial by Frank J. (IMAO)

2:40 PM ET, September 12, 2007

Top Items:

Two of Seven Soldiers Who Wrote 'NYT' Op-Ed Die in Iraq — NEW YORK The Op-Ed by seven active duty U.S. soldiers in Iraq questioning the war drew international attention just three weeks ago. Now two of the seven are dead. — Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance Gray died Monday in a vehicle accident …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, Horses Mouth, The Gun Toting Liberal™, About.com U.S. Politics, Debsweb, Three Wise Men, All Spin Zone, Shakespeare's Sister, Beautiful Horizons, Kiko's House, Central Sanity, On Deadline, Attytood, Comments From Left Field and DownWithTyranny!

Think Progress:

Two Of Seven Soldiers Who Wrote New York Times Op-Ed Die In Iraq — On Aug. 19, seven active duty soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division wrote an op-ed in The New York Times called "The War As We Saw It." The piece expressed skepticism about "recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable":

Discussion: Houston Chronicle, Firedoglake, Associated Press, AMERICAblog, The Carpetbagger Report and WorkingForChange

Brandon Friedman / Daily Kos:

Two of the Seven NYT Op-Ed Soldiers Have Died in Iraq — Two of the seven soldiers who wrote the New York Times op-ed piece criticizing U.S. counterinsurgency strategy 3 ½ weeks ago have been killed in Iraq. Yance T. Gray and Omar Mora died Monday in a vehicle accident in Baghdad.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Firedoglake, KHOU-TV, Montana's News Station …, The Washington Note, The Next Hurrah, Pam's House Blend, Horses Mouth, Cliff Schecter and Rising Hegemon

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

The Assault on Petraeus — There is a long American tradition of savaging failed generals, from George McClellan to William Westmoreland. It is a more novel tactic to attack a successful one. Sen. Dick Durbin accuses Gen. David Petraeus of "carefully manipulating the statistics."

Discussion: The Politico, democracyarsenal.org, Don Surber, Corrente, SWJ Blog, Gateway Pundit, Althouse and Obsidian Wings

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
The Dispensable Man — David Petraeus has admitted David Petraeus doesn't matter.

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Interesting Times and Cliff Schecter

The Nation:
Petraeus: I "Don't Know" If Iraq War Makes U.S. Safer

Discussion: My Left Nutmeg, Shakespeare's Sister, Alternate Brain, QandO, Comments From Left Field, The Heretik, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots and The Atlantic Online

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
(Updated) Petraeus Shouldn't Know if Iraq Makes Us Safer

Discussion: Balloon Juice and TPMmuckraker

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
That's More Like It! — THE SENATE GRILLS PETRAEUS AND CROCKER.

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, Washington Monthly, The Mahablog and Alternate Brain

Wall Street Journal:

'60s Figure Says He Financed Donor Hsu — Where did Norman Hsu get his money? — That has been one of the big questions hanging over the prominent Democratic fund-raiser, as reports have surfaced about hundreds of thousands of dollars he made in political donations, plus lavish parties …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Captain's Quarters, Don Surber, Flopping Aces, Hot Air, Daily Pundit, Right Wing Nut House, Wizbang, Suitably Flip, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Swamp

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Clinton Sees Fear Realized in Trouble With Donor — Of all the possible vulnerabilities facing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, Mrs. Clinton has long believed that the one of the biggest was money, friends and advisers say. Some sort of fund-raising scandal that would echo …

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Los Angeles Times, Betsy's Page, Sweetness & Light, Washington Post, Blue Crab Boulevard, Sister Toldjah, Liberty Pundit, Taegan Goddard's …, MSNBC, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Politico

NY Daily News:

Team Clinton can't explain ignoring warnings on Hsu — WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton's campaign couldn't explain yesterday why it blew off warnings about felon-turned-fund-raiser Norman Hsu - and the Daily News learned FBI agents are collecting e-mail evidence in the widening scandal.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Right Wing Nut House, michellemalkin.com, Liberty Pundit and JammieWearingFool

Robert Stacy McCain / Washington Times:
Flip side of Hsu case

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

WNCN-TV:

High School Bans American Flag — SAMPSON COUNTY, N.C. - On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American Flag. — Under a new school rule, students at Hobbton High School are not allowed to wear items with flags …

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, michellemalkin.com, On Deadline, Comments From Left Field, Right Wing News, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Liberty Pundit, Stop The ACLU, Blue Crab Boulevard and Weasel Zippers

Ynetnews:

Report: Israel spots nuclear installations in Syria — Washington official says Israeli surveillance shows possible Syrian nuclear installation stocked by North Korea, Israeli Arab newspaper claims target of alleged raid last week was Syrian missile base financed by Iran

Discussion: Redstate, Liberty Pundit, The Strata-Sphere and Daily Pundit

New York Times:

U.S. Confirms Israeli Strikes Hit Syrian Target Last Week — After days of silence from the Israeli government, American officials confirmed Tuesday that Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes inside Syria last week, the first such attack since 2003. — A Defense Department official …

Discussion: Telegraph, Hot Air, Captain's Quarters, Israel Matzav and Ynetnews

Kim Chipman / Bloomberg:

Thompson Says He's No Churchgoer, Won't Tout Religion on Stump — Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) — Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson, who has based his campaign on appealing to conservative voters, said he isn't a regular churchgoer and doesn't plan to speak about his religion on the stump.

Discussion: Hot Air, Shakespeare's Sister, The Carpetbagger Report and Daily Pundit

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Rudy's Support Slipping In Multiple Polls

Discussion: The Fix, CNN Political Ticker, The Right's Field and MSNBC

Kay S. Hymowitz / Opinion Journal:

Freedom Fetishists — The cultural contradictions of libertarianism. — More than perhaps any other American political group, libertarians have suffered the blows of caricature. For many people, the term evokes an image of a scraggly misfit living in the woods with his gun collection …

Discussion: Maggie's Farm, The Atlantic Online, alicublog and Unqualified Offerings

BBC:

Led Zeppelin confirm reunion gig — Rock group Led Zeppelin are to reform for a tribute concert to the Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun. — Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will perform together for the first time in 19 years.

Discussion: Attytood

Tony Mauro / The BLT:

Just in: Justice Thomas to go on 60 Minutes — Legal Times has confirmed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has agreed to be interviewed by the CBS News show 60 Minutes later this month to kick off promotion of his new autobiography, set for publication October 1.

Discussion: Law Blog

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

Best of Luck to Tony Snow — This is Tony Snow's last day at the White House, and it's a good time to say he is a class act and wish him well. — I do not agree with many things he says, and suspect some of them he does not agree with either, but must say because of his position.

Discussion: The Swamp and The Politico

Associated Press:

Russia tests 'dad of all bombs' — MOSCOW, Russia (AP) — The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia's state television reported Tuesday. — It was the latest show of Russia's military muscle amid chilly relations with the United States.

Discussion: MoJoBlog, The Moderate Voice and Blue Crab Boulevard