Iraq

A U.S. general called the controversial raid last Sunday "hugely successful." Shiite leaders are ticked. As talks on forming a government stall, Bush basically tells Jaafari to not be Prime Minister. The LAT reports that sectarian divides are seeping into Iraqi TV stations.

Peter Bergen in the NYT: Time to give up on the al Qaeda/Saddam link.  

Oh Snap. Krauthammer v. Fukuyama in the WaPo:

For Fukuyama to assert that I characterized it as "a virtually unqualified success" is simply breathtaking. My argument then, as now, was the necessity of this undertaking, never its ensured success. And it was necessary because, as I said, there is not a single, remotely plausible, alternative strategy for attacking the root causes of Sept. 11: "The cauldron of political oppression, religious intolerance, and social ruin in the Arab-Islamic world -- oppression transmuted and deflected by regimes with no legitimacy into virulent, murderous anti-Americanism."

Israel election links later in the day...

France: As expected, massive strikes and protests in France (pictures). Samuelson writes that -- surprise -- the French are in denial.

Iran is pretty quiet this morning...but I'll round it up more extensively tomorrow.

The Afghan Christian is now free, apparently. 

In Kiev, the Orange Revolution must seem like ancient history, with the poor showing of Yushchenko. We kind of saw this coming in a January Web Exclusive.

White House Chief of Staff Andy Card resigns, and Joshua Bolten takes his place.