The planned troop draw down will be easier if we have more troops to draw down from:

• U.S. to Send 1,400 Extra Troops to Afghanistan (Reuters)

“[H]is supervising officer had written to the Punjab home department saying he should be removed from VIP detail”:

• Salmaan Taseer Bodyguard’s Supervisor Warned of Extremist Views (Guardian)

“I liked the way the Muslims students I knew conducted themselves. It’s nice to think about people having one partner for life and not doing anything harmful to their body. … [F]rom there I looked into the Qur’an. I was amazed to see Islam’s big emphasis on science”:

• The Islamification of Britain: Record Numbers Embrace Muslim Faith (Independent)

Stephen Walt says veteran administration officials are repeating  their old mistakes in the Middle East negotiations:

• Starting the New Year Off Wrong (Foreign Policy)

“The online Nasim News Agency said Talayan was found with ‘espionage equipment,’ including a recording device supposedly hidden in her teeth.”:

• Iran Reports American Woman Arrested as Spy (abc News)

“[N]o stranger to making wildly unsubstantiated claims,” Frank Gaffney tops himself by accusing Grover Norquist of being a secret agent for the Muslim Brotherhood:

• Conservatives Claim Anti-tax Crusader Secretly Leading Muslim Indoctrination (Raw Story)

Shiela Musaji takes a look at Peter King’s credentials to investigate Muslim radicalism, noting that his past fundraising for the IRA would be illegal under current terrorism statutes:

• Rep. Peter King’s Muslim Phobia (The American Muslim)

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