12/08 Morning Report

Flag Gazer had a pretty good write up on Multilateralism. He’s going to start a series on all the forces serving alongside American troops. Should be quite a series. As a matter of fact, here is his report on the contribution of Albanian forces in iraq and Afghanistan.

This was a surprise. NY Times reporter says the Iraq Study Group report is a lot of fiction based on “wannabe” political realities. Citing several military sources, Michael Gordon points out several fallacies—and the reasons they are fallacies—in the reports conclusions.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post also published an article on the ISG report. It seems there are several senators, on both sides, who aren’t happy with the conclusions. Why not? Well, it’s probably because of the testimony of the principle authors:

They conceded that their 79 recommendations carry a good deal of risk, but they essentially said no one else had a better idea. "We think it is worth a try," said Baker

(…reminds me of the famous last words joke, “uummm, what does this do?”…)

Yankee Mom had a pretty good post, listing the thoughts of various Islamic groups and leaders on politics in America lately. One thing about Islamists—they do let you know where they stand.
(…it’s a pity no one on the Left chooses to believe them…)

And, while I’m at it, Basil had this rather extensive list of Democrats who lied along with Bush. It would be nice if the media would remember just exactly who all has told lies on this.. I’ve seen various other lists, but none this long before.
(…I did like Perri Nelson’s title for a cross link: Democrats Lied, People Died…

Here was an interesting read on the clash of cultures going on between Islam and the West. In a related article, CNS also reported on why the ISG conclusions that Iraq and Israeli/Palestinian should not be linked.
(…but, of course, there wouldn’t be any media bias involved in the report…right?...)

Speaking of bias and spin, a little closer to “home”, New Jersey legislators approved a bill to allow civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, but won’t call them marriages. Pardon me? And the point of these semantics is…? It doesn’t change what it is, and please don’t mention that old Shakespeare saying. This is just political spin to assuage people’s sensibilities.
(…the problem is, it’s likely to work…)

Then there are the weird news items. Like…well…how is this for bizarre stupidity?
(…there are reasons to keep maps in the glove box...thanks to the Castle for the link…)