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*** Is Al Qaeda implementing an Exit Plan in Iraq?

Al Qaeda in Iraq and its presumed leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, have conceded strategic defeat and are on their way out of the country, a top U.S. military official contended yesterday. The group's failure to disrupt national elections and a constitutional referendum last year "was a tactical admission by Zarqawi that their strategy had failed," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands the XVIII Airborne Corps. "They no longer view Iraq as fertile ground to establish a caliphate and as a place to conduct international terrorism," he said in an address at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Fingers crossed.

(Via Ace)

*** Cracker wisdom:

It's tedious hearing Republicans called evil (usually in my newspaper) and it's just as ridiculous to hear it said of the Democrats. It sells, though. Whether they're drinking grape or orange, all Koolaid drinkers like to attend their little political white nights.

You know what else sells like crazy? Those little I-Pods! Like hotcakes! I mean, they're all over the place!

They're apolitical though, as far as I know.

*** James Joyner:

Amir Taheri has an interesting op-ed in yesterday's London Telegraph arguing that the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is hoping to run out the clock until President Bush leaves office.

He's also, apparently, even nuttier than most of us guessed:

Hoo boy.

*** Another face transplant, this time in China?

A Chinese hospital claims to have performed the world's second face transplant. The patient was mauled by a bear two years ago; the transplant from a brain-dead donor reportedly covers two-thirds of his face. The procedure was performed by a "unit in the Chinese People's Liberation Army specializing in plastic surgery." According to Agence France-Presse, "In December last year, the doctors succeeded in a face transplant conducted on a rabbit, and subsequently decided to try it on a human." Hospital's spin: "This surgery was even more complex and meticulous than the one performed by the French." Skeptics' warning: China has a history of cutting ethical corners to look like a biomedical leader. (For Human Nature's previous updates on the French face transplant, click here and here.)

I have to say, I'm less than impressed with the results of this one:

Posted by Bill at April 17, 2006 10:00 AM | TrackBack (3)

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