memeorandum: How the Obama administration bungled the Iraq withdrawal negotiations (Josh Rogin/Foreign Policy)

2:35 PM ET, October 22, 2011

Top Items:

How the Obama administration bungled the Iraq withdrawal negotiations — The Obama administration is claiming it always intended to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this year, in line with the president's announcement today, but in fact several parts of the administration appeared …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wake up America, The White House, American Spectator, americanthinker.com, Maggie's Farm, CBS San Francisco, National Review and The Enterprise Blog

New York Times:

Despite Difficult Talks, U.S. and Iraq Had Expected Some American Troops to Stay — BAGHDAD — President Obama's announcement on Friday that all American troops would leave Iraq by the end of the year was an occasion for celebration for many, but some top American military officials were dismayed …

Discussion: Hot Air, Booman Tribune and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:

Iraq rejects US request to maintain bases after troop withdrawal — Obama announces the full withdrawal of troops from Iraq but fails to persuade Nouri al-Maliki to allow US to keep bases there — The US suffered a major diplomatic and military rebuff on Friday when Iraq finally rejected …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and The Gateway Pundit

Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:
Romney Opposes Troop Withdrawal From Iraq (UPDATED)

Discussion: Opinion L.A., Zandar Versus The Stupid and 2012 US Elections

Ben Feller / ABCNEWS:
Iraq War Over, US Troops Coming Home, Obama Says

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The News Tribune and The Politico

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Romney: Mission not accomplished

Discussion: Washington Post, The Maddow Blog, The Politico and The Hill

Spencer Ackerman / Danger Room:
The Iraq War Ain't Over, No Matter What Obama Says

Discussion: Firedoglake, Political Mojo, The Daily Dish, Wonkette, thenation.com/blogs/163255, Hullabaloo, Outside the Beltway and New York Times

Adam Andrzejewski / Big Government:

Lech Walesa Not Attending #OccupyWallStreet in New York After Discovering Hard-Left Organizers — The Polish champion of freedom and liberty, founder of Solidarity, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, and first President of modern Poland Lech Walesa had been rumored to possibly be traveling …

Discussion: Wake up America, The Gateway Pundit and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Matt Yglesias / The New Republic:

How Occupy Wall Street Is a Rational Response to a System That's Failed — The basic economic premise of modern American liberalism, as I understand it, is that with appropriate regulation and taxation a market economy can be made broadly beneficial to the overwhelming majority of citizens.

Discussion: American Power, Booman Tribune, The Gateway Pundit, Crooked Timber, Prairie Weather and ThinkProgress

New York Post:

Neighbors ‘not surprised’ ‘hippie’ left family to join Wall Street protesters — By BOBBY MARTINEZ in DeLand, Fla., and LIZ SADLER in New York — The Florida mom who ditched her banker husband and four kids to live in Zuccotti Park squalor is a hippie homemaker whose neighbors are horrified …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Runnin' Scared, Don Surber, JammieWearingFool, Gothamist, Althouse, Fire Andrea Mitchell! and nation.foxnews.com

Emily Friedman / ABCNEWS:

Tea Party Activist Christine O'Donnell Donates to Romney, Says Movement Isn't Being Fair to Him — Christine O'Donnell, the former Republican Senate candidate and a Tea Party favorite during the 2010 election, said in an exclusive interview with ABC News that she has not only given money …

Kate Zernike / New York Times:

Wall St. Protest Isn't Like Ours, Tea Party Says — At a Republican candidate forum outside Fort Worth last week, a Tea Party activist turned Senate candidate proclaimed the Occupy Wall Street protesters “unemployed, uneducated and uninformed.” To which the conservative radio host moderating …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Prairie Weather

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

Public Parks Should Be Occupied — Lurking at the end of an article about how McPherson Square is a more friendly tent camp cite than Freedom Plaza, Lydia DePillis offers a more provocative point: … New York City doesn't have this problem, but Washington, DC and some other American cities …

Lydia DePillis / Housing Complex: Want to Hold A Revolution? Don't Do it In Freedom Plaza.

Telegraph:

St Paul's Cathedral announces closure due to ‘Occupy’ protesters — It seemed a gesture of Christian tolerance when a clergyman at St Paul's Cathedral told police to allow anti-capitalist protesters camped outside to continue their demonstration. — But the alliance appeared …

Discussion: Power Line

Spiegel Online:

Estonia Lives the European Dream — The Estonians, with little debt, an enthusiastic attitude toward Europe and a stoic approach to austerity measures, are a model EU nation in the midst of a crisis. They live in a digital republic defined by a business-friendly atmosphere and government transparency …

Discussion: RedState

Sarah Huisenga / CBS News:

Key aide leaves Bachmann for Perry in mass exodus of N.H. campaign staff — The entire paid New Hampshire staff for Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has resigned, in another blow to the Minnesota congresswoman's foundering campaign. — Jeff Chidester, Bachmann's former …

Discussion: Mediaite and New York Magazine

John DiStaso / unionleader.com:
Primary Status: After NH mutiny, Bachmann national campaign manager re-emphasizes that her …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, americanthinker.com, Washington Wire and Daily Kos

Eli Clifton / ThinkProgress:

Iraq By The Numbers: The World's Costliest Cakewalk — Powell's infamous presentation at the U.N. — The Obama administration's announcement of a withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of the year offers the possibility of a definitive conclusion for the U.S. military's involvement in Iraq.

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG