Some Fixin's

* Ron Suskind, the author of the new book The One Percent Doctrine, claims that the US deliberately bombed the Al Jazeera offices in Kabul during 2001. The obvious follow-up questions, as raised by the Committee to Protect Journalists: what about those Baghdad offices? And what about that infamous memo?

* E&P's Greg Mitchell points out that while Republicans go on yelling about the danger of "cutting and running" from Iraq, opinion polls show rather consistent and wide support for an expedited withdrawal of US troops amongst the American public.

* Daniel Schulman revisits Sam Gardiner's "Truth From These Podia" report in the CJR. Long story, short: Americans were hit with a boatload of propaganda in the run-up to the Iraq war, the consequences of which resonate deeply to this day, particularly in the Pentagon's renewed efforts to manipulate the press.

* Mike Whitney provides a nice, succinct history of the Iraq war. Not a pretty picture, by any means.

* Killing Zarqawi sure looks like it broke the back of the insurgency...oh, wait. Quite the opposite, actually.

* Bill Blum makes a compelling and disturbing case that things in Iraq are much worse under the aegis of the US than they were under Saddam Hussein.

* Question: is there a greater horse's ass in the US Senate than Rick Santorum? I know there's plenty of illustrious company on the Hill, but he seems to take the cake everytime he's given an opportunity to open his mouth.

* When Iran allegedly interferes in Iraq's internal affairs, it's a dastardly act. Of course, when the US allegedly interferes in Iran's internal affairs, it's the implementation of wise and judicious policy.

* Sam Huntington should take heart. The "Clash of Civilizations" is slowly being realized, according to a recent Pew survey.

* Ray McGovern asks, "Which will it be: Iran or North Korea?" Plus: "There's method in the missile madness."

* I can't imagine what we'd see if Israel didn't use "restraint."

* Jim Hansen, the NASA whistleblower on climate change who Bushists would no doubt like to stick in a drawer somewhere and forget about, has a rather sobering essay in the NYRB. His conclusion: we're essentially killing the planet, folks. See also: "The Earth is running a slight fever..."

* Cheap labor conservatives: a label that fits like a glove.

* Everytime I read an article like this one about "end time" religionists, I shake my head. Not having much contact with these people, I tend to think I underestimate the breadth of their following, as well as their influence over the culture. Scary stuff.

* American cities are increasingly the domain of either the rich or poor, with little room in between, concludes a new Brookings study.