Good news, an interesting item and two negative items

1. Hillary Clinton came out and said what the high-ranking Democratic Party members (Especially those from the DSCC) needed to say from Day One of the Joe Lieberman-Ned Lamont primary (Joe has served three terms as Connecticut's senator, Ned is challenging him for that seat) "...that it's important to respect the will of Connecticut voters and that she will commit to support the Democratic candidate -- whoever that is -- in November." Three cheers for someone who usually displays a tin ear for important issues like this!

2. Conservative bloggers very grudgingly concede, with all sorts of caveats and qualifications (David Horowitz is especially amusing, Billmon comments on Horowitz's ramblings. See note at bottom.) that well, gee, er, they might, possibly, conceivably have been a bit, er, WRONG about the NY Times endangering the security of VP Cheney and SecDef Rumsfeld by photographing the entrances to their vacation homes in Maryland. Many right-wing bloggers have not admitted to any sort of error. Greenwald points us to an especially amusing televised rant by the blogger who writes Atlas Shrugged. Whoooo! This woman actually contests the idea that Bush's is the most secretive Administration since Nixon's!

3. 07-03-2006, 12h27
BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Iraqi Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the head of parliament's largest bloc, has told AFP that he favours extending an amnesty to insurgents who may have killed US troops. (Emphasis added)

"Yes, they should be covered regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliations," Hakim said in an interview when asked if he would support extending a reconciliation and amnesty plan unveiled by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to those who may have attacked US-led troops in Iraq. Hakim's position would contradict that of his government ally Maliki, also a Shiite, who said on Wednesday that there would be no amnesty to those who killed US troops, foreigners or journalists.

Iraqs largest single political grouping wants American troops to depart their country. The "Battle for Hearts and Minds" is long since over and the US has decisively lost. It's time to go. It's long since been time to go. And in what I guess is good news:

At the same time Hakim said he would categorically oppose any dialogue with "Saddamists and takfeeris", catchall terms used by hardline Shiites to refer to loyalists of ousted leader Saddam Hussein and extremist Sunni Arab militants who regard Iraq's majority Shiites as apostates. Hakim, who also heads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) party, visited Tehran last month where he met with the top leadership of the Islamic republic.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on US and other foreign troops to leave Iraq following his meeting with Hakim.

They have no use for any thought of returning to their Saddamist past. Cool! The Iranian leader agrees with them. Hmm.


4. In grimmer news, Orcinus points out that the use of "eliminationist" language among conservatives is getting louder and louder and is being voiced more and more insistently.

5. And yes, we have more bad news to report from Iraq about US soldiers raping and killing a 15-year-old girl and "Before leaving, the attackers fatally shot the four family members -- two of Abeer's brothers had been away at school -- and attempted to set Abeer's body on fire." Very interestingly, Iraqi Justice Minister demands UN oversight of rape-murder prosecution (Emphasis added). Gee, Iraqis not trusting American investigators? I wonder why that is?

Note: Bwah-hah-hah!! "David Horowitz, an important American writer and thinker since the 1960s, has been called “the Left’s most brilliant and articulate nemesis.” Oh mannnn! If ol' Davey is the most brilliant...ha, ha,ha!!!