Lot’s of news regarding Iran this weekend. Most of it is from a new Seymour Hersh article (via Think Progress): In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some [...]

From the Washington Post: Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan’s room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The [...]

From Kevin Drum: Remember all that talk about how Iraq had no impact on Afghanistan and the search for al-Qaeda? Not true. At CENTCOM, anyway, winding down the effort in Afghanistan was apparently considered a prerequisite to action in Iraq. And then there’s this slide, showing the “Phase IV” plans. That’s mil-speak for “after the [...]

This is a little out of the neighborhood, but Ken Silverstein has the first of a three-part series online regarding the possibility of war with Iran. Today features thoughts from independent analysts. A. Richard Norton: Remember that in 1990–91 and then again in 2003 the very fact that the United States assembled a formidable array [...]

From Clay Bennett and the Christian Science Monitor.

Via Laura Rozen comes this NY Times chart: From the Op-Ed: In January more than 1,900 people — soldiers, security officers and civilians — were killed in the insurgency in Iraq, up from 800 in January 2006. Many corpses showed signs of torture, meaning the victims were probably killed by religious and tribal death squads.

Digby on Iran: I feel, once again, as if I’m watching this take place under water. It’s all there, I can see it, but it’s all a bit distorted and everything is moving in slow motion. I’m screaming, but it comes out muffled and imprecise. The Bush administration is provoking a war with Iran, in [...]

Via Think Progress comes this first-hand account: Wearing a pair of stylish safety glasses–at least more stylish than most safety glasses–Bush got a mini-tour of the factory before delivering remarks on the economy. “I would suggest moving back,” Bush said as he climbed into the cab of a massive D-10 tractor. “I’m about to crank [...]

Via Laura Rozen, new details emerge about highly coordinated attacks against U.S. and Iraqi targets: U.S. officials confirmed Monday that five Americans were killed in Saturday’s attack, but they revealed no information about how the gunmen obtained a top Iraqi official’s license plate, U.S. and Iraqi army uniforms and identification cards and vehicles like the [...]

Kevin Drum over at Washington Monthly has two posts on the troop “surge” which lend some additional light to the situation (President Bush tonight is expected to announce he’s sending an additional 20,000 troops). The first is almost heartbreaking: More troops in Iraq will almost certainly not make any noticeable difference there. More troops in [...]

Clay Bennett manages to:

With Bill Richardson expected to announce in the next 10 days whether he’ll run for president, I’m starting to wonder about his choice of time frame. Next week, Democrats in the House will be looking to push their “First 100 Hours” agenda, which includes: Tuesday, January 9 – Implement the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Wednesday, January [...]