Morning copy 02.16.2006

Iraq

The International Crisis Group has released a report that the Iraqi insurgencies "are well organized, produce regular publications, react rapidly to political developments and appear surprisingly centralized." CNN's story. The ICG executive summary. And the ICG report .pdf.

The Chicago Tribune has this disturbing report: "Death squad of Iraqi cops found, U.S. says"

Birdshot day five (feels like twelve)

Howard Kurtz makes a very interesting point this morning:

There was one line in Cheney's interview that really jumped out at me.

Here he was, telling Brit Hume about the awful experience of pulling the trigger and seeing your friend fall, rushing over to find his 78-year-old companion bloodied, and yet he couldn't resist a shot at the national press.

Dick Polman of the Phila. Inquirer also makes an interesting point:

Hume, who is often friendly to the administration, didn't buy it: "But there were some things you knew. I mean, you knew the man had been shot, you knew he was injured, you knew he was in the hospital, you knew you'd shot him."

Cheney wouldn't budge. And, as the mysteries linger, his stance has put him at odds with the President himself. It was Bush who, in his autobiography, recalled a 1994 hunting incident in which he mistakenly shot a killdeer, a protected bird. He put out the news right away, and wrote that, in politics, "people watch the way you handle things; they get a feeling they like and trust you, or they don't."

Oh does he now?

A.P.:

WASHINGTON Feb 16, 2006 (AP)— Vice President Dick Cheney says he has the power to declassify government secrets, raising the possibility that he authorized his former chief of staff to pass along sensitive prewar data on Iraq to reporters.

That's a very interesting idea about the vice-chief-executive's powers. John Adams -- and every other disenchanted V.P. -- must feel a little better about his (their) time as Veep.

Democrats, throwing stones, living in glass houses

The legal woes of one Louisiana Dem are on page A01 of today's Washington Post.