WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army has replaced al Qaeda in Iraq as "the most dangerous accelerant" of the sectarian violence plaguing Iraq for nearly a year, according to a Pentagon report.

al-Sadr biggest crime is that he has been consistently against the American occupation. He never cared about America one way or the other until we invaded his country, jailed, tortured and raped his people and wreaked havok on his land.

The big irony/tragedy here is that he is the most likely one to bring peace to Iraq. We wouldn't want that now, would we?

CNN

and the WH censoring of Flynt Leverett's NYT op-ed.

He has written numerous books, manuscripts, working papers, and many dozens upon dozens of some of the most important public policy op-ed commentary on American engagement in the Middle East and has always dutifully submitted his materials to the CIA's review process. Never -- not even once -- has been a word or item changed in anything submitted.

The White House has now forced the CIA to heavily censor a 1000 word op-ed draft planned for the New York Times that is based on a much larger product he produced under the sponsorship of the Century Foundation titled "Dealing with Tehran: Assessing US Diplomatic Options Toward Iran."  (A pdf of the article can be downloaded here.)

Leverett believes that the White House is now politicizing the "secrets review" process and is rewarding those who support Bush's policies and punishing those don't.

TWN

A "surge" of the size possible under current constraints on U.S. forces will not turn the tide in the guerrilla war . . .

...Analogies come to mind: the Bulge, Stalingrad, the Battle of Algiers. It will be total war with all the likelihood of excesses and mass casualties that come with total war....

W. Patrick Lang and Ray McGovern

"Progress will be measured by the pace of killing and, yes, by body counts. Not the fatuous body counts of Vietnam, but precise counts that will run to extremely large numbers. The piles of dead will include as many or more civilians as combatants because our enemies wear no uniforms . . ."

"And with that assurance, India will invest multiple millions of dollars based on the word of Mr. Bush?

    My approval of the Act does not constitute my adoption of the statements of policy as U.S. foreign policy. Given the Constitution's commitment to the presidency of the authority to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs, the executive branch shall construe such policy statements as advisory. "

I'm not saying Deadeye capped this deer, lying dead in his D.C. lawn, from his living room window.  But, it is there and has been, for a couple days, it looks like.

Here's what the NYDN has to say:

Has "Deadeye" Dick Cheney turned his home into a happier hunting ground?
People passing by the vice president's residence over the weekend were shocked to see a dead deer on his lawn. "Who killed it!?" asked one horrified witness. ...
Another source confirmed the carcass on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory, where the vice president lives. "I was walking to work and tried my best to look away," the deer-spotter told Wonkette.com.
"It is a mystery why it was there so long," said the source. "Wouldn't the Secret Service have removed it?"
We called Cheney's office to see if the deer might have wandered into the cross-hairs of the avid hunter, who in February accidentally wounded his friend Harry Whittington while shooting grouse in Texas.
Cheney's office referred us to a spokesman for the Naval Observatory, whose Web site features a photo of a fawn on its lawn.

(and, now, we get some buck-passing)

"There are deer all over the area," said the Navy spokesman. "It could have been hit by car."
"If you want to know anything about that, call the city," added the rep, who said the Navy has twice called District of Columbia officials to remove the deer.
Asked if it was open season on deer, a D.C. police spokesman said, "We don't have a hunting season, per se. It's a unique situation because we're a municipality. ... You can't even have a handgun."

All we can say is "Run, run, Rudolph!"

A little more seriously, though.  When one wants to find out how it is that, say, Lindsay Graham has been such a reliable shill for, say, the torture policies of this administration, one need only know he's considered at least as reliable as Scalia.  From the NYDN article:

Earlier this month, the Veep was hunting with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Thank you for your recent communication. When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.

The Ten Commandments and "In God We Trust" are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, "As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office." Thank you again for your email and thoughts.

Evolution warnings don't stick
By Jenny Jarvie, Times Staff Writer
December 20, 2006

ATLANTA -- A suburban school board has abandoned its four-year legal fight to place stickers in high school biology textbooks that say "evolution is a theory, not a fact."

In a settlement announced Tuesday in federal court, the Cobb County Board of Education agreed never to use any similar "stickers, labels, stamps, inscriptions or other warnings," or to undermine the teaching of evolution in science classes.
...
The case was one of several recent battles over the teaching of evolution. In 2005, a federal judge barred the school board of Dover, Pa., from teaching "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution. In 2004, Georgia school Supt. Kathy Cox removed the word "evolution" from the state curriculum, in favor of "changes over time," but reversed her decision a week later after teachers and scientists protested.