On this Friday

* Jim Lobe argues that the Bush administration is taking a gamble by hitching the GOP's political fortunes directly to the Iraq war.

* That Zarqawi document "find" is looking more suspicious by the minute.

* Nothing to see here: the Iraqi VP allegedly is asking Bush for a withdrawal timetable.

* An aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki who let slip that the newly formed government is considering an offer of amnesty to members of the insurgency, including those who likely attacked and killed US troops, has resigned his post. Apparently, that's not a news item fit for public discussion.

* Bill and Kathy Christison have an extended review of the historical influence of the Israel lobby, which takes particular aim at the more prominent left critics of the Walt/Mearsheimer thesis (eg., Finkelstein, Chomsky, Massad, & Zunes). Additionally, the Christisons go to lengths to show how the lobby's influence extends back before the '67 war.

* Did Ahmadinejad really call for Israel to be "wiped off the map"? Juan Cole points to recent articles that shed doubt on this, claiming instead that the Iranian President was misquoted. Earlier, ICH posted an analytic article that proffered similar claims.

* "As the crisis over Iran unfolds," Michael Klare argues in a piece that builds on a previous TomDispatch essay of his, "most of the news commentary will continue to focus on the war of words between Washington and Tehran. Political insiders understand, however, that the most significant struggle is the one that remains just out of sight, pitting Washington against Moscow and Beijing in the battle for global influence and energy domination. From this perspective, Iran is just one battlefield -- however significant -- in a far larger, more long-lasting, and momentous contest."

* Some government is better than no government in Somalia, it seems.

* In the LA Times, David Cole tackles the recent NY court decision that, essentially, authorizes a "repeat of the Japanese internment — as long as the internment is limited to foreign nationals charged with visa violations (a group that at last count numbered about 11 million people)."

* Philip Weiss has an extended article on the Juan Cole-to-Yale debacle in The Nation this week.

* Wal-Mart is us, concludes John Lanchester in a review essay in the LRB.