Too Much News, Too Little Time

Bill in DC sent of several good links this morning and I don't have time to post on all of them all so here they are.

• Rumsfeld Seeks Broad Review of Iraq Policy

  The Pentagon is sending a retired four-star Army general to Iraq next week to conduct an unusual "open-ended" review of the military's entire Iraq policy, including troop levels, training programs for Iraqi security forces and the strategy for fighting the insurgency, senior Defense Department officials said Thursday.



• Education Dept. paid commentator to promote law

  Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.



• Bush Rejects Growing Pessimism on U.S. Foreign Policy

  President Bush today rejected growing pessimism in the U.S. foreign policy establishment about stability in Iraq, asserting that "we're making great progress" there and that elections at the end of the month will be "an incredibly hopeful experience" for Iraqis.

  
  
  We discussed this below this morning.


• General Warns of 'Spectacular' Iraq Plots

  A U.S. general warned Friday that insurgents may be planning "spectacular" attacks to scare voters in the three weeks before Iraq's landmark elections, and Shiite and Sunni religious leaders voiced sharply divergent views on whether the vote should be held at all.
  
  Air Force Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, who is deputy chief of staff for strategic communications in Iraq, said the United States has no intelligence indicating specific plots, but he said American leaders expected a rise in attacks.

  
  
  More of the "bad" news dubya doesn't want to hear.


• Bush Dismisses Growing Concerns Over Elections in Iraq

  President Bush rejected any suggestion today that the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq would do more harm than good. He declared that they would constitute a landmark, not only in American policy toward Iraq but in that country's road to democracy.
  
  "Democracy is hard," Mr. Bush said in a brief question-and-answer session in the White House. "Our own country's had a history of kind of a bumpy road toward democracy."

  
  
  More denial of reality by dubya. There has to be someone in the administration that realizes this dry drunk is a threat.