an eerie echo of phony pre-war Iraq intelligence

* teemu has outsourced his thinking to ted rall. (he also has some ideas for the College Republicans)

* australia is in the news again. yay, us.

* laura on strobel:

"Interesting Warren Strobel/John Wolcott piece on an eerie echo of phony pre-war Iraq intelligence from discredited exile groups and figures being injected into the system via unconventional US government offices, this time on Iran
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And they nod to a piece I reported in the LAT a couple months back -- that a new "Iranian directorate" has been set up inside the same Pentagon policy shop that oversaw the Office of Special Plans.
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It's hard to imagine that this office would wittingly use Ghorbanifar directly for Iran intelligence; but you don't have to go far to find the model that is more likely to being employed. Check out how Ghorbanifar worked with Congressman Curt Weldon -- using a cut-out, "Ali," Ghorbanifar's longtime business partner. And read the Chalabi section of the new Senate Intel committee Phase II report to see the pattern writ large -- the system by which almost a dozen fabricators were pushed forward by the INC to ply their wares on the US government, echoing and providing "confirmation" for the fabrications put forward by an earlier one; some of them have now totally disappeared. Some were pushed forward by the likes of Jim Woolsey through the DOD. I would think that responsible parties in the US government, say at the National Security Council where Stephen Hadley should by now know about Ghorbanifar because he approved the origial Pentagon meetings with him in 2001, would want to be very careful with what they're getting this time on Iran from places like DIA and DoD, and be pressing back hard to question the validity and chain of custody of the original sources."

* the blogosphere has gone nuts about jessica. drifty joins in. more here, here, here etc. if it wasnt for althouse's involvement, the corpmedia would be all over this 'story' - but apparently they only like this shite when the lefties are eating their own. and for those of you who asked whether that was ew next to aravosis, nope, i think it is McJoan from dkos (who i dont really know)

update from larisa:

" I am amazed that with all of the things going on in the world, Althouse would focus on someone who happens to have breast, as women tend to do and that while posing with others in a tight group, those breasts happen to be in the picture, since most women cannot remove them. Shame on Althouse and Ann, who needs to take a closer look at herself and ask what she really is reacting to. I know Jessica and she is no Monica Lewinsky. I don't know Ann, but it is clear that she is not an intelligence or honest woman, which is a shame. We as women have many adversaries, including our own kind. It is sad to see yet another such adversary added simply because breasts are more important to her mind than the wonderful work Jessica has been doing. Shame on you Ann. You owe Jessica an apology."