neocon-turned-war-critic Eliot Cohen

* FP:

"Reports are out today that Condoleezza Rice has hired neocon-turned-war-critic Eliot Cohen to be policy counselor at the State Department. Cohen will replace Philip Zelikow, who left the department earlier this year. Cohen was long one of the most-outspoken advocates for war in Iraq, but he surprised his neocon brethren when, in a 2005 piece for the Washington Post, he lambasted the way the war had been executed and discussed his conflicted feelings as his own son was being deployed to Iraq.

At the time, much was made of Cohen's harsh words on the handling of the war. But you have to be Dick Cheney to think the war is going well, so the only thing that's really surprising is that Cohen went public. He's now biting his tongue around reporters, but his paper trail over the last year suggests that his presence at State won't necessarily introduce much nay-saying on current policies, no matter how much Rice claims she wants opinions to be unfiltered. Cohen was vocal in his disdain for the Iraq Study Group and its recommendation to sit down with Iran and Syria. And a WSJ op-ed Cohen wrote last October shows mild enthusiasm for the surge (unsurprising since Cohen's famous treatise Supreme Command suggests that war is too important to be left to generals) and even greater enthusiasm for hunkering down. Cohen admits that Iraq can't be won in the way he thought possible in 2003. But it's clear that he still thinks it can be won, which is exactly what the West Wing wants to hear."

* henley:

"I haven’t written much about the Walter Reed story - Mona has done more - but man, it’s more infuriating than buying Sudafed."

lol.

* Baltimore Sun:

"Seeking to woo Jewish votes and contributions, Sen. Barack Obama ☼ told an audience in Chicago yesterday that he considers Iran "one of the greatest threats to the United States, Israel and world peace" and pledged to try to end Iran's uranium-enrichment program."

soto adds:

"Can at least one Democrat stand up and resist the temptation to slobber over AIPAC, and say the truth: that any threat from Iran is secondary to the threats we face from a foreign and military policy driven by Saudi Arabia and Israel, and the Bush/Cheney-instigated Sunni/Shia civil wars for oil?

None of the three leading Democrats have shown the intellectual dexterity necessary to differentiate between the strategic opportunity of an opening to Iran, and the real threat from 1) Al Qaeda; 2) wars for oil; and 3) the Sunni/Shia civil wars. Instead, each of these three midgets adopt the Neocon narrative about Iran, diminishing themselves while they have their hands out for campaign cash."

* simbaud:

"Why Mr. Bush Backed Off His Initial Pledge to Fire Anyone Involved in the Outing of Valerie Plame ...
He would have been so very, very lonely."

* scott goes coulter:

"I wish the 9/11 hijackers had crashed into the Grey Lady’s face and killed them instead of all those innocent people in the towers."

* Olbermann via eli:

""What if the story that Jesus was resurrected and rose to heaven had somehow been contradicted by new, conclusive proof, other than, you know, the laws of physics? Would any Christian denomination really call it a day and pack up shop?

"No matter what you think of the number two story on our COUNTDOWN tonight, if anyone ever hoped to use hard physical evidence to disprove Christianity, or any other established religion, that ship ascended long ago.""

* mizgin details that the Turks are apparently trying to kill Abdullah Öcalan with radiation poisoning while he is in jail. have they learned something from the KGB?