Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Yet another al Qaeda #3 goes down: “Abu Laith al-Libi, a top al-Qaida commander in Afghanistan who was blamed for bombing a base while Vice President Cheney was visiting last year, has been killed in Pakistan, according to a militant Web site. Al-Libi was a key link between the Taliban and al-Qaida and was one of the Americans’ 12 most-wanted men with a bounty of $200,000 on his head. ‘He was martyred with a group of his brothers in the land of Muslim Pakistan,’ said the Web site, which frequently carries announcements from militant groups. ‘Though we are sad for his loss, he left a legacy that will inflame the enemy nation and religion.'”
* I can’t believe ABC’s Jake Tapper is defending his shoddy work today. Suck it up, Jake, admit your mistake, correct it, and try to do better next time. Mistakes are understandable, but defending them isn’t.
* It looks like the right will have one less thing to complain about: “Congressional leaders are taking extra measures to make sure the economic stimulus bill has clear language to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving tax rebate checks.”
* As expected, the surveillance bill in the Senate is going to come down to one main provision: “According to a source on the Hill, discussions have been progressing. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made an offer on how to proceed, to which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made a counteroffer. Most of the details of those discussions are unknown. But, as might be expected, the Dodd/Feingold amendment, which would strip retroactive immunity for the telecoms that collaborated with the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, is at the center of the dispute. According to the source, McConnell’s counteroffer included votes on seven of the proposed amendments … but, crucially, Dodd/Feingold was not one of them.”
* Apparently, no one at Fox News has read, or even heard of, the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. It’s a shame, because it makes the network’s reporting on a nuclear apocalypse sound pretty silly.
* Count on 130,000 U.S. troops being in Iraq by the time Bush leaves office: “Senior U.S. military commanders here say they want to freeze troop reductions starting this summer for at least a month, making it more likely that the next administration will inherit as many troops in Iraq as there were before President Bush announced a ‘surge’ of forces a year ago.”
* On a related note, this is tragic beyond words: “Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a draft internal study obtained by The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006. At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began. Last year, about 2,100 soldiers injured themselves or attempted suicide, compared with about 350 in 2002, according to the U.S. Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan.”
* More discouraging economic news: “The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for state unemployment benefits rose by 69,000 last week to 375,000, the Labor Department said. It was the biggest jump since September 2005 after Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast. However, the department cautioned that the data may have been skewed because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, and analysts agreed, even though many thought the underlying trend in jobless claims might be moving higher.” (thanks to SW for the tip)
* Cooperation is a two-way street: “Senate Democrats plan to delay a floor vote on President Bush’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the Justice Department until the department responds to several Judiciary Committee oversight letters. Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., said Thursday that the nomination of Mark Filip for deputy attorney general will be ‘held on the floor’ until the panel receives responses, adding that Democrats have notified the department of the demand.”
* Backsliding? “It used to be that surge enthusiasts would at least hint at the unachieved strategic objective of the surge. As Bush himself put it, the surge was meant to provide the Iraqi government “the breathing space it needs to make progress” on sectarian reconciliation. But reconciliation hasn’t happened, and, in important respects, sectarianism has deepened over the past year. So surgeniks are now simply declaring victory by the sheer fact of reduced violence itself, unmoored to any strategic goal. But even accepting that lowered standard, there are growing signs of backsliding in Iraq — even before the surge brigades depart in July.”
* Obama has a lot of young voters to thank.
* How on earth does Michael Savage stay on the air?
* And finally, rumor has it that Keith Olbermann will have one of his “special comments” tonight. Be sure to tune in. The topic: Bush’s warrantless surveillance.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.