"Praying for a mistake:

The administration is signaling the Iranians that they need to stop supplying and training Shiite militias in Iraq -- or run the risk of U.S. retaliation. The Maliki government in Baghdad, worried about the danger of escalation, is passing this message to Tehran, but so far the only consequence has been that the Iranians have broken off talks in Baghdad that were aimed at stabilizing the situation.

...

The risk of a U.S.-Iranian confrontation is growing in part because Saudi Arabia and other U.S. allies in the Middle East are so eager for it. "Behind closed doors, we are praying that the Iranians will make a mistake so that you will have a reason to attack," one Saudi told me this week. Another prominent Arab official said he hopes the United States will strike Iranian training camps just over the border from Iraq.

Posted by: Ace at 01:22 PM | Comments (44)
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The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq (yes Senator Obama, in Iraq) picked up by Iraqi forces according to Iraq Defense Ministry. No confirmation from U.S. military.

UPDATE: Allah's skeptical, listing a couple of other claims of big scores that didn't pan out, although he also notes they're running the story on state TV.

Update 2 [ace]: The Jawas are now "predicting" this will turn out to be false, hinting they have undisclosed sources who say so.

Thanks to DPUD for that.

Update 3 [DiT]: US says it ain't him.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 12:44 PM | Comments (28)
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Interesting theory. With one mole soundly whacked, Iran pops up another one to saber-rattle at the US.

But ever since Prime Minister Maliki launched Operation Cavalry Charge on March 25 in Basra, the Iraqi government, with some U.S. air cover and logistical support, has been engaged in a war of attrition with the Mahdi Army; witling away the once-sharp and threatening capability of Iran’s investment in terror. Whereas these ‘Special Groups’ could launch 30 to 40 projectiles into the Green Zone a few weeks ago, today they can only manage one or two rockets. The Iraqi Army and the US military have pushed on into all the redoubts of the Sadrists, notably Sadr City where some 1200 fatalities (a significant number of them non-combatants) have occurred.

Maliki has also ordered the Iraqi Red Crescent to prepare an initial contingency plan to absorb 100,000 refugees from Sadr City, indicating that he is not backing down. Moreover, there’s word from parliament that the government has asked for the removal of legal immunity from several parliamentarians, some of whom are Sadrists, over charges of inciting violence against government troops. Particularly vulnerable is Sadrist MP Baha’ al-‘Araji.

Clearly, Maliki feels that heÂ’s come out on top in his scuffle with the Sadrists, and recent confrontations in Basra, Kut, Hillah, Shatrah, Karbala, Shula City (Baghdad), Nassiriya and Suq al-Shuyush have shown that the Sadrists are no match for the Iraqi Army and police who continue to arrest Sadrist leaders and evict the movement from its offices.

The Sadrists and the Iranians have been reduced to bravado and PSY-OPS: one account has it that the Sadrists have a plan to take over the Green Zone within seven hours, and that they can take over Basra within 24 hours. Another is that General Suleimani of IranÂ’s Revolutionary Guard actually controls events in Iraq.

But in effect, Iran has lost the deterrence value of its investment in the Sadrists.

ThatÂ’s why Iran needed to flex its might in downtown Beirut, to embarrass the Saudis and others who can do very little to bail-out SinioraÂ’s government.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 12:21 PM | Comments (15)
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I'm sure we can trust him to remain in constant contact with the courts.

An extremist Muslim cleric regarded as "Osama bin Laden's spiritual ambassador in Europe" must be released on bail, a judge ruled today.

Abu Qatada, 48, who won his legal fight against deportation to Jordan last month, will be freed from prison under strict bail conditions amounting to 22-hour house arrest despite the fact that he is still deemed to be a threat to national security.

The cleric applied to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) for bail on the grounds that it was inhumane to detain him indefinitely if there was no prospect of his being deported.

The order to release him is the latest in a series of judicial decisions which undermine the Government's stance on terrorism.

In the past year, the courts have effectively rewritten sections of terrorism legislation and ruled that financial sanctions on terror suspects were absurd and unlawful.

Hmm... I imagine that "22 hour house arrest" means 22 hours a day.

Gee, I wonder which hours he'll use to flee the country.

It gets worse. Another major terrorist is about to get sprung, too.

Posted by: Ace at 11:52 AM | Comments (18)
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Heh.

Mike Huckabee has introduced legislation to federalize monkeys

I don't know. Is that a tail peeking out from under that fat bastard's rump, or is he squeezing one out?

Thanks to MattM.

Posted by: Ace at 11:48 AM | Comments (39)
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Not for him, but to be dedicated to educating "eligible" Mexican-American voters, and, presumably, for educating the ineligible ones about how to evade eligibility requirements.

Yeah... Well, Obama doesn't need it and Hillary can't afford it. So.

Posted by: Ace at 11:43 AM | Comments (17)
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Silly stunts to get into pants a half-second quicker (minus the long set-up time). more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:38 AM | Comments (5)
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Remember all the worries about drought in the southeast a few months back?

It turns out residents did a good job of conserving water. Too good in fact.

Since usage dropped so much, water rates have to go up because according to the Fulton Country Director of Public Works, the county ‘just can’t swallow this reduction in revenue’.

Residents will have to make do with less money but not government. Nope, never government.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:19 AM | Comments (21)
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The already-mysterious moon gets weirder still.

Earth may once have had more than one moon, most probably two more, NASA scientists think.

Prevailing scientific consensus holds that the existing Moon was formed when a Mars-sized planet collided with the Earth 4.5 billion years ago, when the solar system was very young.

So much matter would have been thrown up into space that it recollected under its own gravity to form the Moon, which for millions of years would have glowed red-hot as the molten rock from the planetary collision cooled.

However, researchers Jack J. Lissauer of NASA's Ames Research Center near Mountain View, Calif., and John E. Chambers of the Carnegie Institution of Washington figure quite a bit of that ejected matter would have recollected into two other small moons at the so-called "Lagrangian points" or "Trojan points."

Those are fixed places in the Moon's orbit around the Earth where the gravity of both large bodies would keep smaller objects in stable positions.

...

Lissauer and Chambers figure the two small moons would have orbited Earth for about 100 million years before the slight gravitational tugs from the solar system's other planets sent them spiraling off course, either to crash into the Moon or Earth or to drift off into space.

Crashed into earth? Like, maybe a kill-the-dinosaurs sort of crash?

Thanks to Jack M.

Posted by: Ace at 10:43 AM | Comments (59)
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The declarations of defeat and quagmire will be deafening.

Sorry to steal so much from Hot Air today, I just can't seem to find crap on my own.

Iraqi soldiers for the first time warned residents in the embattled Sadr City district to leave their houses Thursday, signaling a new push by the U.S.-backed forces against Shiite extremist who have been waging street battles for seven weeks.

Iraqi soldiers, using loudspeakers, told residents in some virtually abandoned areas of southeastern Sadr City to go to nearby soccer stadiums, residents said. UNICEF says about 6,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Sadr City, most of them from the southeastern section.

That article seems to have been rewritten since posted on Hot Air. It now says this:

Some residents of Sadr City claimed Thursday that Iraqi soldiers warned them to leave their houses and go to nearby soccer stadiums for security reasons. The U.S. military denied the claim and called it as a "rumor."

Not sure if that's the straight dope, or the US military just doesn't know, or they're denying intelligence to the enemy.

Instapundit writes about the coming media counter-surge, and notes the basic flaw in their narrative: "The basic rule of press coverage is that if there's fighting, we must be losing."

This is a childish conceit they cling to -- that, as is the moral of WarGames, "the only way to win [in war] is not to play at all." It's a thoroughly pacifist notion, and I don't mind that our press is personally pacifist, but they continue injecting their goofball worldview into what should be straight accounts in the news.

19 Mahdi Thugs Die of Diverticulitis and US Special Forces, But Mostly US Special Forces: The Special Forces were only responsible for a couple of the sad deaths, but I'm running out of things to follow the "but mostly."

US and Iraqi forces have reported heavy fighting during multiple engagements in Sadr City and the surrounding districts. Nineteen Mahdi Army fighters have been killed and nine were captured during clashes and raids in Baghdad.

US and Iraqi troops and US air weapons teams killed 17 Mahdi Army fighters during a series of engagements in the Baghdad districts of Sadr City, New Baghdad, Adhamiyah, Kadhamiyah, and the Taji Qada northwest of Baghdad.

Many of the Mahdi Army fighters were killed as they attacked barrier emplacement teams and planted roadside bombs in Sadr City on the night of May 7 and the morning of May 8. US Special Forces units killed an additional two Mahdi Army fighters as the US teams were providing security for engineers "making safety infrastructure improvements in Sadr City."

The US and Iraqi military have been concrete constructing barriers around the southern third of Sadr City to cut off the Mahdi Army from the area and provide security and humanitarian assistance. The US military has described the barrier as a "magnet" for Mahdi Army attacks as they seek to stop the construction effort.

A total of 539 Mahdi Army fighters have been confirmed killed in and around Sadr City since March 25, according to numbers compiled by The Long War Journal.

Obviously we're losing then. It demeans and demoralizes our troops every time they kill a bad guy, you know.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 10:25 AM | Comments (18)
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