al-Zawahri Declares Victory

From Reuters: Al Qaeda's number two man pours it on. $Q: "I congratulate the Muslims on Islam's victory in Iraq. I said more than a year ago that the Americans' departure from Iraq is only a matter of time," said the bespectacled Zawahri, who wore a white turban and sat next to an assault rifle. "But they are justifying their withdrawal by saying that the Iraqi forces have reached a satisfactory level." Had the President been truly focused on the murderers of 9/11 they would not be in a position to gloat today—they'd be dead or in jail, not enjoying themselves in a new homeland that Bush accidentally created for them at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.

Report: Bush Spy Case Weak

From WaPo: a report from Congress' bipartisan research arm finds the administration's legal justification for the NSA spy program wanting. $Q: "It appears unlikely that a court would hold that Congress has expressly or impliedly authorized the NSA electronic surveillance operations here," the authors of the CRS report wrote. The administration's legal justification "does not seem to be . . . well-grounded" Raw Story has the full document here. Helpful in that it runs through a lot of the cases the right wing are trying to cite in the President's defense.

Insurgency was Unexpected

According to Paul Bremer via KOS. The primary reason for the war, of course, was it was supposed to be easy—after Shock and Awe install a Chalabi-ish puppet gov and let the Pesident enjoy his photo op. As Iraq lurches towards civil war it's clear the only thing they got right was the photo op.

Whistleblower Comes Forward

From the Washington Times, via Drudge. Russ Tice has come forward and offered to testify before Congress. $Q: "I intend to report to Congress probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts conducted while I was an intelligence officer with the National Security Agency and with the Defense Intelligence Agency," The article mentions he was dismissed by the NSA last year, which means the republican angle will be somewhere along the lines of 'disgruntled employee pursues vendetta and recklessly endangers national security'. If James Risen is correct there are many more sources—it's imperative more come forward so that Mr.Tice doesn't have to bear the brunt of the Joe Wilson/Cindy Sheehan/Richard Clarke treatment for having the courage to go on record against an abusive and vindictive presidency.

Whistleblower to Step Forward?

Breaking on Drudge: Gertz says NSA leaker asks to testify. If true, the official must be very confident he witnessed abuse serious enough that it would preclude his prosecution for the leak. Given that Risen says there are more than a dozen involved it begs the question: will the flood gates open? The administration is sure to play the national security card to stifle any embarrassing news, whether justified or not—it'll be interesting to see if any of the leakers will both step forward and talk publicly outside an official hearing.

Dozen Plus Revealed NSA Program

The administration's attempt to make the leak the issue has been complicated by James Risen's contention that more than a dozen officials blew the whistle on the illegal NSA activity. The weight of the administration on the shoulders of one leaker might be enough but if there are more the task becomes exponentially more difficult for the President and his handlers (especially if the whistle blowers were not acting in collusion with one another). The usual character assassination, no matter how effectively it's disseminated by Fox News and talk radio, will be difficult if a dozen men and women of conscience make their voices heard en masse.

Amanpour Spied On?

From Atrios: does Andrea Mitchell know something? She asked James Risen in an interview on NBC if Christiane had been spied on—a curiously specific question that ended up on the cutting room floor when NBC published a transcript. If there is something to it, the administration's PR battle just got worse. It's a short step from going after a single journalist to listening in on those who are politically adversarial. Bush is in no position to say 'trust me' here or anywhere else—like the phantom WMD, CIA prisons, Abu Ghraib and the NSA scandal, the truth will come out sooner or later.

O'Reilly on Letterman

After a half hour of filler, some terrific tv broke out on David Letterman's show tonight. Bill O'Reilly was the guest, and Letterman came right at him on the non-war on Christmas, Cindy Sheehan and the war in Iraq. $Q from Letterman: "I think about 60% of what you say is crap"

O'Reilly Threatens NYT

Marginal Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly is fed up and he's not going to take it anymore. Crooks and Liars has the hilarious clip. Seems Frank Rich has taken one too many swipes at the President for O'Reilly's liking, and editor Bill Keller is culpable for allowing it to happen. BO is a little vague on what exactly he's going to do about it, but it involves looking into their personal lives (he knows first hand how much an attack like this hurts after his experience with the Smoking Gun). $Q from O'Reilly on Rich and Keller: ...we'll just have to get into their lives.

Public Growing Skeptical

In a bad sign for the administration, the misinformation about Saddam and his alleged ties to Al-Qaeda is not sticking as well as it used to. It's still shocking that nearly a quarter of Americans still believe there were Iraqi hijackers and that Saddam was behind 9/11, but the truth is gradually sinking in (the percentages are the respondents who answered 'true' to the statements below): Saddam Hussein had stronglinks with al-Qaeda 41% Dec. 2005 64% Feb. 2005 62% Oct. 2004 Several of the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11 were Iraqis 24% Dec. 2005 44% Feb. 2005 37% Oct. 2004 Saddam Hussein helped plan and support the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001 22% Dec. 2005 47% Feb. 2005 41% Oct. 2004 Source: Harris InteractiveMethodology: Telephone interviews with 1,961 American adults, conducted from Dec. 8 to Dec. 14, 2005. Margin of error is 3 per cent.