As a fairly liberal Democrat, I don't know how to talk about Iraq anymore. The old progressive language seems like fairy talk. Lisa Stone just wrote a really comprehensive post on the three remaining candidates' positions on Iraq. One of our community's original Voter Manifesto questions on Iraq was "Will you work to end the Iraq war before the 2008 election?

Despite the talk among public figures and commentators about the need for unifying ideas in today's political arena, the presidential candidates and their policies regarding Iraq couldn't be less suited to cross the aisle of partisan politics. In the presidential race, Senators Clinton and Obama have both put forward proposals to end the military conflict-- by bringing troops home or redeploying them elsewhere. Senator McCain believes that we need to stick with the status-quo and advocates sending even more troops.

I love that "criticizing" the war in Iraq passes for doing something leaderly. Hillary Clinton has falsely stated that, when Barack Obama joined her to serve in the US Senate in January 2005, she "criticized" the war in Iraq before Obama did. From ABC News:

If you have five minutes today to mark the five years Iraq has been bankrupting this country: 1) Listen to this interview on NPR's "Here and Now" with Linda Bilmes. She offers the most concise, searing reason why this war has to end: It's financed entirely on borrowing. Given recent lessons learned on the dangers of too much credit, this packs extra punch right now. More:

In late October and again this past week, the American Anthropological Association's (AAA) executive board issued recommendations on whether, or in what contexts, anthropologists should collaborate with or be employed by the U.S. military.

1) Returning veterans and health care: Although media coverage of veterans' health care has died down, the problem persists because in Iraq 17 wounded troops survive for every one killed. Update: Daniel Zwerdling, who has been covering vets with PTSD all year, recorded a great interview with On Point's Tom Ashbrook. Worth listening to.

Bloggers concerned about possible infringements on their First Amendment rights have a new resource to turn to: the new Legal Threats Database from the Citizens' Media Law Project. A joint project of Harvard's Berkman Center for the Internet and Society and the Center for Citizen Media, the database archives information about lawsuits and other attacks on bloggers and citizen journalists. If you've been threatened because of your online speech, you're invited to submit your case to the database, or send a message using the CMLP's contact form. That's a sample of some of the interesting news and commentary out there in the legal blogosphere. Here's more.

Update: I don't usually agree with Chris Matthews (because he can be such a sexist blowhard), but here goes: Petraeus can't vouch for whether our military activity in Iraq is making America any safer...tonight on Hardball, Matthews asked, "then what are we fighting for? What are people dying for?..this is the real news of the Petraeus report." Townhall.com's Amanda Carpenter covers it here. "General Betrayus" refers to a controversial MoveOn.org ad in yesterday's New York Times that has somehow managed to overshadow the more weighty issue at hand: What Petraeus and Crocker are actually recommending. I think it's a testament to the overly polarized, over-spun political environment that an ad from a liberal group is getting equal press (at least on cable news) to a major story. But we will see if the bold ad furthers the discussion about actually getting out of Iraq, and not just cutting the "surge" troops, which is one of Petraeus' initial recommendations. As the Petraeus report further unfolds, I'm going to cover it throughout the day by posting links, articles, and blog posts. Please comment and add to the "library." I'm posting and catching up in between classes, so feel free to add. If you're watching the Senate hearings, in particular, add your thoughts. See: Townhall.com's Mary Katharine Ham posts some photos of protesters, including the Code Pink women. Mary, I don't understand what Code Pink has to do with supporting the troops? Arianna Huffington: "I was in Miami last night for the Univision-hosted Democratic debate. Listening to their responses on Iraq left no doubt that the candidates have gotten the message that, no matter what Gen. Petraeus says during his testimony, the American people -- including the Hispanic community -- are done with this war." Barbara O'Brien has a wonderful post about 9/11. On the National Review Online, Elaine Donnelly writes "The greatest need, however, is for men for the combat arms." She says Bush should ask more young men to serves, and politely requests that the Bush Administration to no longer "allow the Pentagon to violate policy and law regarding women in or near direct ground combat." AP Poll: The public sees Iraq as a failure