From the GOP Talking Points-addled mind of Fred Hiatt:

As painful and costly as the war in Iraq has been, the United States stands to lose far more if it simply abandons a country in the heart of the Middle East and hands a victory to al-Qaeda and other extremists.

A victory for Al Qaida and other extremists? The Al Qaida part is . . . well, just idiotic. Non-dirty effing hippie Fareed Zakaria writes:

The first thing to admit is that our mission in Iraq has substantially failed. . . . If anything, Iraq has become a model in exactly the opposite sense from what Bush had hoped. It has become a living advertisement of the dangers of illiberal democracy. . . . It would be far better for us to reduce our exposure to the current civil war, draw down our forces, let Iraq's internal political forces play themselves out and restrict our troops to certain limited but core missions. . . .

It's Sunday and site traffic will be down today, so I'm going to go off-topic and self-indulgent.

With Steve Gillard's untimely passing and the 40 year anniversary of the release of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper, I've been contemplating today how fast life goes. And how much we change physically over time, but in many other respects, stay the same .

As my eye doctor would say when he's testing my vision, "Better now? Better then?" And just like I usually tell him, I can't tell.

I'd be curious to see how other bloggers and commenters have evolved over time. Here's me:

• 1967
• 1981
• 2002
• 2007

Now I'm off to see my mother (who at 84, has really changed over time) and will be back in time for the New Hampshire Democrats Debate and the Sopranos.

J sends me this link to the complete, unfirewalled text of the Frank Rich column where Rich writes:

What the angriest proselytizers on the left and right have in common is a conviction that their political parties will commit hara-kiri if they don’t adhere to their bases’ strict ideological orders. “If Democrats do not stick to their guns on Iraq,” a blogger at TalkLeft.com warns, there will be “serious political consequences in 2008.” In an echo of his ideological opposite, Mr. Limbaugh labels the immigration bill the “Comprehensive Destroy the Republican Party Act.”

In all seriousness, it was very gracious of Mr. Rich to include the link, though I take serious issue with his characterization of what some of us favor regarding the Iraq Debacle.

Via andgarden, Frank Rich seems to believe that those of us agitating for the Democratic Congress ending the Iraq Debacle by setting a date certain for not funding, what I term the Reid-Feingold framework, are being unrealistic and unreasonable. Like the Democrats in Congress and many pundits and bloggers, Mr. Rich believes Republicans will end the Debacle:

Contrary to Mr. Edwards, only Republicans in Congress can overcome presidential vetoes and in so doing force Mr. Bush’s hand on the war. As the bottom drops out of Iraq and the polls, those G.O.P. votes are starting to line up.

If only this were true. Mr. Rich must know that Republicans have been singing this song for a while. Mr. Rich's colleague, David Broder, has told us that John Warner is the key. And Senator Warner is illuminative on the subject. Senator Warner has made noises for some time about ending the Debacle, but always votes for the Bush plan, whatever it is at the time, including the Surge. A review of Senator Warner's statements and actions is instructive:

In light of today's JFK bust, and the soon to come call for further restrictions on our constitutional rights and civil liberties in the name of the war on terror, I thought it would be a good evening to begin reading ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero's new book, In Defense of America: The Fight for Civil Liberties in the Age of Terror, which he co wrote with award winning journalist Dina Temple-Raston.

I am really liking this book. First because it tells stories, as opposed to reciting statistics. Second, because of the way it is written, in succinct, non-rambling, straight forward sentences. There's new details I hadn't known about the NSA warrantless spy program, the John Walker Lindh case, and it's great to see the authors leave a lot of the legalese behind. This is not a book just for lawyers.

Do yourselves a favor and buy a copy. You won't be sorry.

Rudy Giuliani spoke in Florida today, after the JFK terror bust. After his predictable comments about how the Democrats are in denial about terror threats facing the U.S., he spoke on some other issues.

Giuliani railed against Democrats in Washington pushing for a deadline to withdraw troops from Iraq. He also predicted that a Democratic president would bring higher taxes and ``socialized medicine.''

With the changes to various states' primary dates, and knowing he can't win in Iowa, Rudy has shifted his attention to Florida:

More...

The federal judge in California who issued a ban on California executions until the lethal injection issues were fixed, has extended the moratorium.

California's 15-month-old moratorium on executions was extended at least until October on Friday to give a federal judge time to visit a planned new death chamber at San Quentin and consider an array of proposed changes in the state's lethal injection procedures.

At a hearing in San Jose, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said he needs to see the rebuilt execution chamber before hearing arguments on the state's revisions in prison staff selection, training and infusion of the lethal chemicals.

Judge Fogel will visit San Quentin in October. After that, appeals are likely.

Here's why California needed a moratorium:

John Dean writes about Bush's dilemma in granting Scooter Libby a pardon and Fred Thompson's role in Libby's pardon-seeking process.

I have to take issue with one sentence. Dean writes,

Criminal defense attorneys with whom I have spoken expect that Judge Walton will choose a sentence of roughly 30 months (two-and-a-half years), and to give Libby at most a couple of days to get his affairs in order before surrendering to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Self-surrender doesn't work that way. There's no question the Judge will grant Libby a voluntary surrender to the designated institution. But, it's a matter of weeks, not days. Libby has to first be designated to a particular institution and that will be done by the Bureau of Prisons. They will consider any recommendation the Judge makes (which, if he makes one, will be based on wherever Libby asks to go) and then make a final decision.

More...

According to the U.S. Supreme Court, even if the police know that an arrestee's family has hired a lawyer for the arrestee, and know that the lawyer doesn't want the arrestee to be interrogated without counsel, the police may interrogate the arrestee if the arrestee agrees to answer questions without a lawyer. The arrestee must knowingly waive the right to counsel, but the police aren't required to tell the arrestee that a lawyer has been hired for him; it's up to the arrestee to ask for a lawyer even if the arrestee doesn't know that he already has one. (Many state appellate courts have concluded that their state constitutions are more respectful of the right to counsel.)

A prosecutor's ability to question a suspect under the same circumstances is a different story. At least in most places, a prosecutor (like other lawyers) is ethically prohibited from speaking to an adverse party who is represented by a lawyer about matters that fall within the scope of the lawyer's representation. A violation of that rule led to the suppression of Darren Mack's admission that he shot his wife.

Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick failed in his duties as a prosecutor by not telling Darren Mack during conversations they had while he was on the run in Mexico that he was represented by lawyers, a judge ruled Friday.

More ...

Via teddysanfran, Michael Kinsley drinks from the cup of Steve Gilliard on funding the Iraq Debacle:

What are you supposed to do, according to supporters of the Iraq war, if you think that the war is a dreadful mistake? Suppose you are a member of Congress, elected by constituents who also, like most Americans, according to opinion polls, oppose the war. Is there any legitimate action you can take? Or must you simply allow the war to go on and let young Americans die in what you regard as a bad cause? What are your options?

NOT funding the war of course. And Kinsley gets to the point of how Democrats can not let the Republicans cow them on this point:

The blogger and good friend to many of us, Steve Gilliard, has passed away.

Steve was an inspiration to many of us; one of the clearest thinking, biggesthearted, straight talking persons you could possibly run across.

Speaking personally, I often took my cues from how Steve did it. Telling the truth was what Steve was about. Always.

May he rest in peace. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Update (TL): Jane has a very moving tribute to Steve. I only got to meet him once, at the 2004 Republican convention in New York when we were all live-blogging at The Tank. We only chatted for a few minutes. My loss.

One of my favorite Steve Gilliard posts: Rudy and Judi Forever.

Update: DOJ press release here. The criminal complaint is here.

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An FBI - Joint Terrorism Task Force news conference will be underway within minutes.

Three people have been arrested, including a U.S. citizen in connection with an alleged terror plot at JFK airport. Another of those arrested served in the Guyana Parliament. A fourth suspect is being sought.

This was a long-term investigation. The suspects allegedly targeted the infrastructure around the airport (fuel tanks and gas pipe lines), not airplanes.

The plan was aspirational, not operational. It was a preventive bust. It appears the group tried to recruit an FBI agent.

Russell Defreitas, the airport worker, will be arraigned this afternoon. The FBI has released wiretaps to the media.

Here's the main conversation the media is focusing on: