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Gen. Jones: ‘Yes,’ we can begin to withdraw from Iraq.
In a House Armed Services Committee hearing this afternoon, Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) asked Gen. James Jones to comment on his report’s recommendation that the U.S. should reduce its footprint in Iraq. The Jones report suggests “significant reductions” in the “size of our national footprint in Iraq.” Skelton asked Jones if this is a call [...]

39 percent:
Number of Americans who believe the White House report on Iraq will honestly reflect Gen. David Petraeus’s “true assessment of the situation in Iraq,” according to a new Rasmussen poll.

O’Reilly: Media Matters, MoveOn are ‘vicious assassins.’
On his radio show yesterday, Bill O’Reilly called Media Matters and MoveOn.org “the most vicious element in our society today” and referred to their employees as “assassins.” He also claimed that there is “no corresponding level of this kind of vitriol on the right.” Listen to the full segment HERE.

Government’s terrorist screening system full of errors.
The Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), the government’s terrorist screening database that monitors 270 million people each month, “continues to be marred by errors and inconsistencies that can result in the detention of innocent people and increase the chances a terrorist could slip through,” according to Justice Department auditors.

Jones Report Reveals ‘Progress’ In Shia Ethnic Cleansing Campaign
Bush’s “surge” has escalated ethnic cleansing. Shiites have cleared the western half of Baghdad of thousands of Sunnis, who once dominated the area. Newsweek reports: The surge of U.S. troops — meant in part to halt the sectarian cleansing of the Iraqi capital — has hardly stemmed the problem. The number of Iraqi civilians killed [...]

The J. Dennis Hastert Center.
This December, Wheaton College, outgoing Rep. Dennis Hastert’s (R-IL) alma mater, will “unveil a new academic program and center to house the documents and create an education legacy for Hastert.” The J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy will have “a conference room in the new center that will double as an [...]

O’Hanlon Rips GAO Report: It Is ‘Flat-Out Sloppy’
Last week, Gen. David Petraeus alleged a 75 percent reduction in “sectarian violence” in Iraq and is expected to say the same before Congress. In contrast, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office recently reported that daily attacks in Iraq have “remained unchanged” throughout the escalation.The Washington Post reports today that national security analysts are questioning the [...]

White House celebrates Rosh Hashanah a week early.
Last night, President Bush issued a statement wishing “greetings” to those “celebrating Rosh Hashanah“:The sound of the Shofar heralds the beginning of a new year and a time of remembrance and renewal for the Jewish people. During these holy days, men and women are called to reflect on their faith and to honor the blessings [...]

Right Wing Pushing Petraeus For President
The GOP presidential field seemed complete last night when former senator Fred Thompson finally announced he was jumping into the race. But apparently the right-wing isn’t satisfied with its choices and is hoping that the race may have room for one more candidate — Gen. David Petraeus. Today, the New York Sun has an [...]

Judge strikes down part of Patriot Act.
Today, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero struck down part of the revised Patriot Act, ruling that investigators must obtain a court’s approval before the order Internet providers to turn over records without telling customers. Marrero said the “recently rewritten Patriot Act ‘offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers.’”

‘Bush knew Saddam had no WMD.’
Sidney Blumenthal reports in Salon that President Bush ignored a 2002 Oval Office briefing in which CIA director George Tenet provided him with intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction. “Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam’s inner circle, although it turned out [...]

Bush: ‘No military guy is gonna tell a civilian how to react.’
In April, President Bush defended his plan to veto a bill mandating a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq by arguing that he would not “substitute the judgment of politicians in Washington for the judgment of our commanders on the ground.” But in Robert Draper’s new Bush bio, Dead Certain, the President’s opinion on the wisdom [...]

ThinkFast: September 6, 2007
Al Gore is working on a new environmental book entitled The Path to Survival, a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth that offers a blueprint on what can be done to fight global warming. The book will be released on Earth Day, April 22, 2008. Intelligence analysts dispute the Bush administration’s claims that sectarian violence has [...]

Report: Massive U.S. ‘Footprint’ In Iraq Conveys ‘Permanence,’ ‘Opposite Impression Is Needed’
A report released yesterday by a 20-member commission, headed by retired Marine Gen. James Jones, reported it will be at least 12 to 18 months before Iraq’s army and police can take charge.The New York Times reports that “allies of the White House are likely to point to the report as evidence of the dangers [...]

2007 monthly U.S. fatalities in Iraq surpass 2006 levels.
Frank de Libero posts a chart showing that monthly GI deaths in 2007 are higher than in 2006. As Matthew Yglesias points out, “the ’surge’ strategy specifically contemplated risking higher American death rates…in order to accomplish some larger political goals. Unfortunately, those goals weren’t achieved so we just have more dead people.”