Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Last week, the White House agreed to support a Democratic bill that would require Senate confirmation for U.S. Attorney replacements. Apparently, Senate Republicans didn’t get the memo — Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) still “intends to object” to the bill. Whether that means he’ll filibuster the measure remains to be seen. A spokesperson for Harry Reid said the Dems plan to bring the legislation to the Senate floor “as quickly as possible.”
* The Washington Post ran an op-ed today hailing the success of the so-called “surge” policy in Iraq and harshly criticizing reporters who failed to come to the same conclusion. Neither the Post nor the writer happened to mention to readers that the author of the column, Robert Kagan, is the brother of the man who came up with the “surge” idea.
* After Cheney’s recent visit to Pakistan, the media reported that the Musharraf government quickly arrested Obaidullah Akhund, the Taliban’s third in command. It was proof, we were told, that Cheney get-tough style produced results. Now we’re learning that Akhund is free and may not have even been apprehended in the first place.
* “The Army, forced by five years of war to expand its ranks, faces a critical shortage of midlevel officers, interviews and military records show,” USA Today reports. “Those officers — majors and lieutenant colonels — manage troops at war. The Army estimates it has about 13,900 majors and 8,750 lieutenant colonels this year. It expects to have an annual shortage of 3,000 such officers through 2013 as it increases its ranks by 40,000 soldiers.”
* Jurassicpork, a Carpetbagger regular, has the Post of the Day today with a compilation of terrific screen-shots from Fox News. Don’t miss this one.
* An eighth newspaper has dropped Coulter’s column, while some of the editors at papers keeping her column are explaining why.
* Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) still has some unanswered questions for Condoleezza Rice about Iraq and Niger. Good for him for sticking with this.
* The LATimes believes the Dems’ Iraq bill, based on benchmarks and timelines, is flawed because Bush needs the “ability to maneuver” diplomatically. Didn’t we hear this exact same argument before — in 2002 when Congress was debating the Iraq war resolution?
* Halliburton is on the move — from Texas to Dubai. Time’s Karen Tumulty asks, “Is this about tax breaks? Getting beyond the reach of congressional subpoenas? And what about all that sensitive information that Halliburton has had access to? At a minimum, reincorporating in Dubai would mean that Halliburton will be paying less taxes to the U.S. Treasury, even as it collects billions from government contracts.”
* CNN’s Jack Cafferty thinks Alberto Gonzales is a “weasel.”
* Lost in Babylon: “An Iraq War translator’s inside take on America’s failure to communicate.”
* A new attempt to ban abortion, this time in North Dakota.
* And finally, here’s the Bushism of the Day: “I’m a strong proponent of the restoration of the wetlands, for a lot of reasons. There’s a practical reason, though, when it comes to hurricanes: The stronger the wetlands, the more likely the damage of the hurricane.” — Bush, discussing post-Katrina wetland improvements in New Orleans, March 1, 2007
If these items aren’t of any interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.