Take a look at the stories from around our area and world that are making news today.
Obama sets high bar for US military action in Iraq: Lara Jakes of the Associated Press reports: President Barack Obama vowed Friday that the United States would not be “dragged back” into military action in Iraq as long as leaders in Baghdad refuse to reform a political system that has left the county vulnerable to a fast-moving Islamic insurgency. The president ruled out the possibility of putting American troops on the ground in Iraq, but said he was considering a range of other options drawn up by the Pentagon. Administration officials said those include strikes using drones or manned aircrafts, as well as boosts in surveillance and intelligence gathering, including satellite coverage and other monitoring efforts.” Read more.
At Republicans’ new ideas summit, an old one surfaces: Mitt Romney:
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post reports: “Mitt Romney’s ideas summit here was intended to be a passing of the torch to the Republican Party’s would-be saviors, with five potential 2016 presidential candidates jetting in to schmooze with many of the GOP’s biggest donors and present their agendas for the country’s future. Instead, the scene at a luxury resort in the Rocky Mountains quickly became a Romney revival. Minutes after the 2012 Republican presidential nominee welcomed his 300 guests, Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC host and former GOP congressman, urged them to begin a “Draft Romney” movement in 2016.”
Palin: Immigration debate ‘just about driving me to renounce my Republican ties’: Catherine
Thompson of Talking Points Memo reports: “News of poor conditions at a holding center in Arizona for undocumented, unaccompanied minors whipped Sarah Palin into a fury Friday — so much so that she said she was on the verge of renouncing her ties to the Republican Party. ‘Finally, they have won me over. I actually agree with the liberals’ war whoop,’ the former Republican vice presidential nominee wrote on her Facebook page. ‘I, too, demand that this issue of young illegal aliens flooding across our border into horrendous conditions be taken care of. Now!'” Read more.
Veterans watch as gains their friends died for are erased by insurgents: Richard A. Oppel, Jr. of the
New York Times reports: “A few weeks before their battalion was to get new mine-resistant vehicles, Capt. Adam P. Snyder, Pvt. Dewayne L. White and Sgt. Eric J. Hernandez were speeding toward a mission in Baiji, Iraq, when a roadside bomb engulfed their Humvee in flames, killing the two enlisted men. Captain Snyder, 26, died the next day, Dec. 5, 2007. Matthew Adkins, then a self-described “butterbar” lieutenant, regarded the captain as a mentor, and his death leveled him. Hearing this week that Baiji was on the brink of being overrun by Sunni militants, he immediately thought of Captain Snyder, phoned his girlfriend, and cried.” Read more.