• Years of debate preceded announcement of secret prison closing, sites could be ready to use again on minutes notice. [WP]

• Military tribunals also taking years to prepare. Republicans split on classified evidence issue, no consensus on horizon. [NYT, CNN, W$J]
• Tomato/tomáto argument continues over “terrorist surveillance” or “warrantless eavesdropping” program as Bush asks congress for more authority to catch devious email-using criminals. [WP]
• John Bolton still unconfirmed, spittle collecting in mustache as he grumbles his discontent. [WP, USAT]
• Richard Armitage is so sorry. “I value my ability to keep state secrets. This was bad, and I really felt badly about this.” [NYT]

• Military requests $3.9b to prepare Iraqi forces for a reduced American presence; Bush’s “strategy for victory” would rely on a “smaller, more lethal” American force. [NYT]
• Bush: “I want to defeat the terrorists, and I want our troops to come home, but I don’t want them to come home without having achieved victory. . . Quitting is not an exit strategy.” [WP]
• Administration vows to respond to E.U. questions concerning secret CIA prison locations in Europe. [WP]
• Republicans strongly denounce Rep. Randy Cunningham’s conduct in an effort to distance themselves from bribery scandal. [NYT, LAT]
• Businessman under investigation in Cunningham case supported 32 House members or candidates and raised over $100,000 for Bush’s re-election. [USAT, USAT]
• Bush continues promotion of his border security plan; raises $1.3m for Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and $450,000 for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO). [WP, NYT]
• R. Glenn Hubbard, the former chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, calls the president’s Medicare plan “unwise”: “The current Social Security and Medicare systems are on an unsustainable path. . . The drug benefit is a new entitlement. This isn’t sustainable over the long haul and I don’t think it’s sustainable even over the next five years.” [WSJ]

MORE »