Quick Hits

Here's a collection of some interesting stuff:

• The blogosphere is abuzz about the top British general in Iraq's assessment that the continuing presence of coalition troops in Iraq only "exacerbates the security problems" and contributes to the "moral and spiritual vacuum" that is opening up in Western society, damaging our efforts to fight Islamic extremism.

He lambasts Tony Blair's desire to forge a "liberal democracy" in Iraq as a "naive" failure and he warns that "whatever consent we may have had in the first place" from the Iraqi people "has largely turned to intolerance."

Why does Sir Richard Dannatt hate America? And Britain?

• I thought that this Dana Milbank piece was revealing.

President Bush has always been a disciplined man, but yesterday he set a new standard for self-control: He moderated an hour-long discussion about the rash of school shootings in the past week without once mentioning the word "guns."

Wouldn't want to piss off the NRA, now, would you?

• This story is purportedly about Iranian rhetoric toward the US, but it's MUCH darker than all of that, hinting in its final paragraphs at the coming wider civil war within Islam:

In his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei also accused Jordan's leader King Abdullah II of being a "dependent" spokesman for the US.

King Abdullah, a Sunni, accused Iran in 2004 of trying to create a "Shia crescent" of power from Iran to Lebanon.

The Middle East is on the precipice of a chaos that will last a decade. Better get gas for your car TODAY, because it mightn't be there to get tomorrow.

• Glenn Greenwald had a good piece on the mission creep of the war on privacy. Did you know that it's now illegal to engage in a leisure activity over the Internet, in your own home, which harms no one? Not masturbation, online poker. It was tucked into a defense bill. Now, gambling is addictive and dangerous and has powerful consequences from those who get caught up in it, but regulating what is an individual activity within the home shows you just how far the war on privacy is going.

• More good polling news. This reflects a definite trend, as all the polls suggest a shift to the Democrats. Plenty of time to go, however, and no time for complacency.

• Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks had a good piece in the Huffington Post about Lt. Commander Charles Swift, the lawyer who won the Hamdan decision over the White House and was promptly fired by the military.

Where's the uproar? Where was the uproar when General Eric Shinseki and Army Secretary Thomas White were moved out of the Pentagon for having the courage to tell Don Rumsfeld the truth about troop levels? Where was the uproar when Bunnatine Greenhouse was removed from her job as chief procurement officer for the Army Corps of Engineers when she complained that Halliburton was unfairly receiving no-bid contracts and was getting away with overcharging the US government? Where is the uproar now that we have lost the service of yet another American hero?

• George Allen's got a rap sheet. Does it mean anything? Dunno. But I'll tell you, Allen-Webb may be the dirtiest Senate race I've ever seen.