More Updates

I guess it's update day in Mudville, where we never say 'move on'.

Spc. Azhar Ali was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. We first reported on this fallen American hero last week when we noted his family was having trouble securing passports needed to travel to America from their home in Pakistan for his funeral. Today Newsday reports that...

The family of one of the soldiers killed earlier this month by a roadside bomb in Iraq has secured passports and visas from Pakistan and can move forward with plans to lay the fallen soldier to rest, according to two elected officials yesterday.

<...>

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Queens City Councilman John Liu intervened with domestic and Pakistani agencies to cut through the red tape.

Once again, Kudos to those who made it happen.

Meanwhile back in DC, a story about the Washington Post's ridiculous page one attack on Donald Rumsfeld reappears on the pages of US News. We first saw this one last month, noting that the chairman had to post a letter to the WaPo editors on the committee's web page when they refused to publish it. We followed up once already, making this a follow up to a follow up.

Someone somewhere is keeping this story alive...

It was a classic Washington story. According to a Page 1 Washington Post story, short-fused Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld had about had enough of pesky members of Congress during a recent hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. So he cut his testimony short, went to lunch, and headed to an afternoon Senate hearing. "Donald Rumsfeld," said the paper the GOP loves to hate, "doesn't do accommodating very well." Loaded language? Some inside the paper thought so. Worse: Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter said the story wasn't right. Seems there was a deal to let Rummy leave early. Hunter wrote the Post, but the paper didn't run the letter. So when Rumsfeld appeared before the panel again last week, Hunter explained, "You did precisely as we agreed to." Rumsfeld thanked Hunter for the "very accurate explanation." Then he added, "I wonder if it will appear in the Washington Post. Probably not." It didn't.

Speaking of Mrs G and finding great stories, she caught this one yesterday, but don't miss Castle Argghhh's update today with lots more in-depth reporting from the scene (and great photos).

I'm biased, but it seems to me Mrs G finds the top stories first these days. That's why it's called Dawn Patrol - you have to get up waaaay early to get there ahead of the Mrs. ;)