“Scott Thomas:” The new Winter Soldier?
Michelle Malkin

... For the past few days, debate has bubbled on the right side of the blogosphere about “Scott Thomas,” an alleged soldier serving in Baghdad who penned a piece for The New Republic about war atrocities he allegedly witnessed. Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard first raised questions and asked bloggers to look into the charges. Milbloggers dissect Thomas’s tales: Read Greyhawk and Blackfive, where troops at the FOB where “Scott Thomas” is allegedly stationed respond to Thomas’s claims that a female civilian contractor with a “more or less melted” face works there and was ridiculed by cruel soldiers. Read them all. ...

Scott Johnson has more.

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Come clean, New Republic; Update: TNR investigating
Bryan Preston

Set your BS detector on its lowest possible setting. If you know anything about Iraq or guns at all, your detector will bury the needle when you read this:

Someone reached down and picked a shell casing up off the ground. It was 9mm with a square back. Everything suddenly became clear. The only shell casings that look like that belong to Glocks. And the only people who use Glocks are the Iraqi police.

That’s from Dead of Night by “Scott Thomas,” the pseudonymous soldier whose claims have raised much suspicion among the blogs of late. It’s completely insane. ...

Tipster shields lifted by Democrats
By Audrey Hudson

Congressional Democrats yesterday declined to protect tipsters who report suspicious behavior from nuisance lawsuits.

"This is a slap in the face of good citizens who do their patriotic duty and come forward, and it caves in to radical Islamists," said Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Republicans tried to write the protection provision included in final homeland security legislation, crafted yesterday by a House and Senate conference committee, to implement final recommendations from the September 11 commission. ...

See also: Video: Peter King rips the Democrats for voting against “John Doe”

Audio: Iraqi ambassador can't believe U.S.
would walk away from the mess it's made
Allahpundit

Believe it. Biden gave Ryan Crocker a message at the Senate briefings today to take back with him to Baghdad: “We’re not staying. We’re not staying. (There’s) not much time.” So much for Odierno’s estimate that he won’t be able to properly assess the merits of the surge until November. As I write this, there’s a report on the wires of our great moral tutor, the Messiah himself, shrugging off the prospect of genocide as a justification for continuing the troop presence on grounds that genocide’s happening in Africa too and we’re not traipsing off to prevent that. That’s an odd subject on which to take a hard egalitarian line, and god only knows where it leaves the left’s table-pounding about Darfur, but it’s also flatly, knowingly incorrect. Click here and listen to Iraqi ambassador Samir al-Sumaidaie explain the difference. If you can’t spare five minutes to listen to the whole thing, fast forward to the second half. Money: ...

Undersecretary of Defense to Hillary Clinton:
Stop Helping the Enemy
Kim Priestap

The Undersecretary of Defense tells it like it is and points out in a letter that Hillary Clinton reinforces enemy propaganda when she insists we need to prepare to surrender to the terrorists in Iraq: ...

Drums of War

From CNN: Americans held in Iran on alleged security offenses shown on state TV.

Two detained Iranian-Americans were shown on state television Wednesday night in a program contending they tried to foment regime change in Iran with the support of the U.S. government.

The 50-minute program showed a montage of disparate quotes from Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh combined to form what could be interpreted as incriminating statements, which their supporters and the U.S. government called illegitimate and coerced.

The scholars appeared alongside footage of anti-government protests in the former Soviet Union and of President Bush saying that the "untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world."

From AP: US takes a step toward talks with Iran. ...

Al Qaeda said to operate across Pakistan
By Josh Meyer, LAT Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Al Qaeda has strongholds throughout Pakistan, not just in the areas bordering Afghanistan that were emphasized in a terrorism assessment this week, according to U.S. intelligence officials and counter-terrorism experts who say Osama bin Laden's network is more deeply entrenched than described.

The National Intelligence Estimate on the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland, which reflects the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, described Al Qaeda as having "regenerated key elements" and freely operating from bases in northwestern Pakistan. But several officials and outside experts interviewed since the document's release this week say the situation is more problematic. ...