Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The de-Baathification law passed in Iraq might not be quite as encouraging as once thought. Spencer Ackerman explains that the measure is basically “phony”: “The Sunnis are outraged: one Sunni parliamentarian calls the law “a sword on the neck of the people.” But the Shiites throw their hands up and say What do you want from us? It took us over a year of arduous compromise to get to this point. That’s as far as we can go! ”
* I’ll have more on this tomorrow, but John Solomon, who’s been doing some pretty awful work for the Washington Post is moving on … to the far-right Washington Times. Given the quality of Solomon’s work, and the journalistic standards of the Moonie newspaper, it’s an unusually good match.
* The Hill: “Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is strongly criticizing the EPA’s failure to produce documents regarding its decision to reject California’s effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The lawmaker, who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs, had asked EPA for the documents in December and requested that their delivery begin on Jan. 10.”
* In related news: “Both Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and House sleuth Henry Waxman (D-CA) have set their sights on EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, who made the unprecedented and arbitrary decision (over the unanimous recommendation of the staff) to deny California’s petition to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. They both requested documents related to the decision. But Johnson is apparently having real trouble getting all those documents together…. [Waxman] says that the committee will be interviewing a host of EPA employees about Johnson’s decision. If the reports are correct, all of them will be telling Waxman about how they told Johnson there was no legal justification for blocking California’s law and he overruled them anyway.”
* AP: “The chief of the U.S. military said Sunday he favors closing the prison here as soon as possible because he believes negative publicity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been ‘pretty damaging’ to the image of the United States. ‘I’d like to see it shut down,’ Adm. Mike Mullen said in an interview with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October.” Mullen added, however, that he’s “not aware that there is any immediate consideration to closing Guantanamo Bay” from the Bush administration.
* Who spun the Strait of Hormuz incident? Cernig has a great post on the subject.
* Whether you’re in Michigan or not, you’re likely to enjoy this short video, explaining why Dems should vote for Mitt Romney in tomorrow’s Michigan GOP primary. Tag line: “Michigan, do you want this primary season to be over? Or do you want this primary season to be hilarious?”
* On a related note, Kevin asks a very good question about Dems and Romney: “Would Romney really be worse than, say, McCain or Giuliani from a liberal perspective? That’s hard to believe, frankly. But that’s what Hugh Hewitt thinks, and his fealty to the conservative cause isn’t really open to question. So who’s right?”
* AP: “The nation’s intelligence chief says that waterboarding ‘would be torture’ if used against him, or if someone under interrogation was taking water into his lungs. But Mike McConnell declined for legal reasons to say whether the technique categorically should be considered torture. ‘If it ever is determined to be torture, there will be a huge penalty to be paid for anyone engaging in it,’ the director of national intelligence told the New Yorker in this week’s issue, released today.”
* WaPo: “In its first couple of weeks after it returns tomorrow, the House is likely to take up contempt-of-Congress resolutions against White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers for their refusal to appear before Congress for questioning about the 2006 removal of nine U.S. attorneys, Democratic leadership aides said.”
* Part of the flap regarding BET’s Robert Johnson going after Barack Obama has as much to do with the messenger as the message. (I got a note from a friend today that said, “I don’t care what Johnson implied — why is Clinton hanging around with Bob Johnson”?) What’s so offensive about Johnson? Take a look at Jonathan Chait’s devastating profile from 2001 (written before Johnson endorsed Bush’s Social Security privatization scheme.)
* And finally, David Letterman listed the other night the “Top Ten Things Overheard on George W. Bush’s Trip To The Middle East.” There are a few gems in there, but personal favorite was #3: ‘That’s not a kitty, sir, it’s a Sphinx.’
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.