This reaction fascinates me. You would think having a country that's no longer at war would be some kind of terrible tragedy, a major blow to our self-esteem. Oh noes, who will we be without the war?

The minions of the corporate media seem to be even more upset than the administration over the release of the Wikileaks documents, and I think I know why: They just can't bear the thought that they are no longer the gatekeepers.

WASHINGTON — The disclosure of a six-year archive of classified military documents increased pressure on President Obama to defend his military strategy as Congress prepares to deliberate financing of the Afghanistan war.

The disclosures, with their detailed account of a war faring even more poorly than two administrations had portrayed, landed at a crucial moment. Because of difficulties on the ground and mounting casualties in the war, the debate over the American presence in Afghanistan has begun earlier than expected. Inside the administration, more officials are privately questioning the policy.

"Earlier than expected"? Honey, some of us have been questioning this rotten war since Day One. And we've certainly been questioning it for the last year. You must not get out much.

In Congress, House leaders were rushing to hold a vote on a critical war-financing bill as early as Tuesday, fearing that the disclosures could stoke Democratic opposition to the measure. A Senate panel is also set to hold a hearing on Tuesday on Mr. Obama’s choice to head the military’s Central Command, Gen. James N. Mattis, who would oversee military operations in Afghanistan.

Administration officials acknowledged that the documents, released on the Internet by an organization called WikiLeaks, will make it harder for Mr. Obama as he tries to hang on to public and Congressional support until the end of the year, when he has scheduled a review of the war effort.

“We don’t know how to react,” one frustrated administration official said on Monday. “This obviously puts Congress and the public in a bad mood.”

May I make a suggestion? Do that review now. What's the point of dithering on this?

Mr. Obama is facing a tough choice: he must either figure out a way to convince Congress and the American people that his war strategy remains on track and is seeing fruit — a harder sell given that the war is lagging — or move more quickly to a far more limited American presence.

I wish I could remember where I read it, but yesterday I saw something somewhere where a blogger was trying to discuss the Wikileaks report with someone he knew who was a Hill staffer. The staffer told him he didn't want to know -- because it would be harder to defend his Member's vote if he did.

That's the game, ladies and gentlemen. Politics above truth, winning over doing the right thing.

Suicide Bomber Kills 12 in Attack on Iraqi Police

By Andrew Marshall

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber plowed into policemen waiting to collect their salaries at a police station west of Ramadi Monday, killing 12 people in the latest insurgent attack on Iraq (news - web sites)'s beleaguered security forces. At least 10 people were wounded in the blast, and 90 percent of the casualties were policemen, said Nazar al-Hiti, a doctor in the town of Hit around 125 miles west of Baghdad, where the dead and wounded were taken.

In Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded as a U.S. patrol went past, killing two American soldiers and wounding three. Thirteen U.S. soldiers and two foreign civilians were also wounded in a mortar attack south of Baghdad. At least 968 U.S. troops have been killed in action in Iraq and 9,000 have been wounded, most of them seriously.

Insurgents trying to drive out U.S.-led soldiers and topple the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi have repeatedly attacked Iraqi police and soldiers.

Two blasts have gone off during morning rush hour in Moscow's underground subways, killing dozens of morning commuters. Via RT.com:

The first explosion happened in a carriage at the central Lubyanka underground station and has claimed the lives of 26 people, with more injured, informs RIA Novosti news agency.

The second blast happened at the Park Kultury Metro station in the third carriage of a train. 15 or more people are reported to be dead, the quantity of injured is unknown.

According to Russia’s Emergency Ministry, the first explosion presumably happened in the second carriage of a Metro train stopped at the Lubyanka station in the very center of Moscow, only several hundred meters from the Kremlin. At 9:30am Moscow time, the Emergencies Ministry gave the number of casualties as 20 to 25 killed and 17 wounded on Lubyanka station, and 12 to 15 killed and over 20 wounded at Park Kultury station.

Officials are investigating the possibility of suicide bombers and/or a coordinated terrorist attack. The video has some stunning photos and video taken by eyewitness and people in close proximity. On a Monday morning rush-hour commute, there's a high likelihood that many more have died than initially reported.

Telegraph.co.uk reports:

Though it has yet to be confirmed, security sources said early indications suggested suspected suicide bombers from the volatile North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya were to blame.

If that is right, it would be the first time since 2004 that they have struck the Moscow metro. Prosecutors opened a criminal case immediately, saying they would be working on the basis that the explosions were the work of terrorists.

Reporters are updating at RT.com as more information is known. Other sources: MSNBC, CNN

Update #1: Video shot of the scene above ground.

Update #2: CBS News now quotes Moscow mayor as attributing both blasts to female suicide bombers.

Update #3: Via STRATFOR:

According to STRATFOR sources in Moscow, the two locations of the attacks on the subway in the city are symbolic. The first attack in Park Kultury is symbolic in that it is one of the city’s cultural centers being located near Gorky Park. The second location of the attack at the metro station of Lubyanka is nearly under the Federal Security Bureau’s headquarters—former KGB headquarters—the security hub of Russia. According to media reports, the attacks were caused by suicide bombers at the peak of rush hour in Moscow. Thus far, rumors are flying that Muslim extremists are responsible for the attack. In the past, there have typically been spring-summer attacks in Moscow in February, and spring is just now arriving in the capital.

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Sean Hannity's desperation in his dire quest to keep up with Glenn Beck by getting a White House scalp in the form of safe-schools advocate Kevin Jennings has now gone from simply fabricating stories out of distorted evidence to outright gay-bashing.

Last night he brought on Rep. Steve King of Iowa -- one of the nation's leading bigots, the guy who predicted Al Qaeda would love Obama and claimed that the hate-crimes bill would protect pedophiles but not veterans. And it quickly became clear what their chief objection to Jennings really is:

He's gay.

King objects to having someone "pushing the homosexual agenda" in charge of advocating safety in schools -- even though one of the primary forms of violence within our schools involves bullying gay students. But then, King is a guy who objects to including gays and lesbians in hate-crimes protections on free-speech grounds -- which is to say, he thinks that beating up gays is a First Amendment right -- so it fits.

And Hannity chimes along. Because, like Inspector Javert, he is a man possessed ... of the need to beat Glenn Beck. He doesn't mind whatever casualties pile up along the way.

It's astounding how little attention Afghanistan gets.

A roadside bomb killed three service members and a local-national interpreter in a coalition convoy in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said.

With the deaths, the number of foreign forces in Afghanistan killed in June has reached 39, the highest monthly toll of the war, according to a CNN count of official figures.

The bombing occurred Thursday in the Sayed Abad District in Wardak province during a combat patrol.

The comes after a breathtaking piece in th LA Times this week:

Insurgent activity is increasing sharply in Afghanistan and has spread into once stable areas, with attacks up almost 40% in the eastern provinces alone, according to new American military data that have prompted alarm among senior Pentagon officials.

Rising attacks against Afghan and NATO troops in the east represent the latest in a series of troubling developments that have led to markedly higher U.S. casualties and have prompted the military's top leadership to order a review of its strategy in Afghanistan, including how to make do with limited numbers of American troops.

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This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the passings of newsman Tim Russert, author Eliot Asinof, philanthropist Stewart Mott, diplomat Harlan Cleveland and former RNC Co-Chair Elly Peterson as well as 5 soldiers killed this week in Iraq. According to icasualties, the total casualties in Iraq is now 4,412 and per Iraq Body Count, there were 128 Iraqi civilians killed this week.

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This week's edition of In Memoriam notes the passing of Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax, composer Leonard Rosenman, WWII pilot and pioneer of the National Air and Space Museum Donald Lopez and three service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to icasualties.org, the total number of American casualties in Iraq is now 3,975.

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CBS:

After six years, the liberation of Afghanistan has become a triumph without victory. The fighting is the greatest it has been since the beginning of the war and more civilians are dying. In fact, 60 Minutes was surprised to hear this: while the enemy has killed hundreds of civilians this year, a similar number of civilians have been killed by American forces. With relatively few troops there, the U.S. and NATO rely on air power. The number of civilians killed in air strikes has doubled.

60 Minutes wondered whether civilian deaths are undermining the effort to win the Afghan people.

You think? This is the part that stood out:

"There's this macabre kind of calculus that the military goes through on every air strike, where they try to figure out how many dead civilians is dead bad guy worth," says Marc Garlasco, who knows the calculus of civilian casualties as well as anyone.[..]

"Our number was 30. So, for example, Saddam Hussein. If you're gonna kill up to 29 people in a strike against Saddam Hussein, that's not a problem," Garlasco explains. "But once you hit that number 30, we actually had to go to either President Bush, or Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld."

Garlasco says, before the invasion of Iraq, he recommended 50 air strikes aimed at high-value targets -- Iraqi officials.

But he says none of the targets on the list were actually killed. Instead, he says, "a couple of hundred civilians at least" were killed.

The full video and transcripts are available on CBS's website.