Incredibly Optimistic

Peter S. Canellos writes in the Boston Globe that "the administration is in the awkward position of building a case for the dangers posed by Iran -- a case that shows every sign of being far clearer than the one against Hussein -- while making an increasingly implausible case that there is no reason to believe the last preemptive war was a mistake."

But the attempts at case-building appear to continue nonetheless.

Josh Meyer writes in the Los Angeles Times: "U.S. intelligence officials, already focused on Iran's potential for building nuclear weapons, are struggling to solve a more immediate mystery: the murky relationship between the new Tehran leadership and the contingent of Al Qaeda leaders residing in the country.

"Some officials, citing evidence from highly classified satellite feeds and electronic eavesdropping, believe the Iranian regime is playing host to much of Al Qaeda's remaining brain trust and allowing the senior operatives freedom to communicate and help plan the terrorist network's operations."

But such charges will inevitably be greeted with great skepticism.

Meyer writes: "The accusations from U.S. officials about Iranian nuclear ambitions and ties to Al Qaeda echo charges that Bush administration figures made about Iraq in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion three years ago.

"Those charges about Iraq have been discredited. And in the case of Iran, some intelligence officials and analysts are unconvinced that Al Qaeda operatives are being allowed to plot terrorist acts."

Tall Afar Revisited

Yesterday wasn't the first time Bush used Tall Afar to try to make a point -- and strained credibility.

The first time came in a Nov. 30 speech unveiling his "strategy for victory."

Then, as yesterday, Bush insisted that in the 2005 battle for Tall Afar, Iraqi forces took the lead.

But as Yochi J. Dreazen and John D. McKinnon wrote at the time in the Wall Street Journal: "[E]xperts warned against extrapolating too heavily from the Tal Afar assault. They noted that Iraqi forces used in the attack were battle-hardened Kurdish fighters, not new recruits trained by Americans. Iraqi forces played an active role, but the experts said American commanders planned the overall assault and sent U.S. forces into areas where the insurgent presence was believed strongest."

And Washington Post reporter Jonathan Finer, who covered the battle for Tall Afar, told MSNBC in November that Bush didn't tell the whole story. "The president didn't mention that the Iraqi units at the very small unit level . . . were led every step of the way by U.S. special forces soldiers. . . . All those units were also supplied very much by U.S. logistics operations. . . . So I think that to say that progress was made is probably a fair statement, but to say that they are capable of conducting an operation like that on their own, I don't think anyone's ready to make that case just yet."

You Call That a Kerfuffle?

Nedra Pickler writes for the Associated Press about Bush's unusual use of the world "kerfuffle."

"It's not an everyday word; it means a commotion or fuss. Bush casually used it during a question-and-answer session after a speech at the City Club here. Someone had asked about his administration's warrantless surveillance program, which has stirred concern about whether it exceeds the bounds of his authority and violates the law.

"Saying the program had 'created quite a kerfuffle in the press,' Bush gave his rationale for authorizing it. . . .

"No question, the program has riled some Republicans and Democrats. But Bush may be the only politician who says it has caused a kerfuffle."

Opinion Watch

The Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial board writes: "It was a bravura performance at the level of outreach, though on the substance, the president was far from reassuring. . . .

"Bush needs to take more questions -- and provide more answers -- if he doesn't want to get painted into a corner of diminishing possibilities."

Eugene Robinson writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "The people running this country sound convinced that reality is whatever they say it is. And if they've actually strayed into the realm of genuine self-delusion -- if they actually believe the fantasies they're spinning about the bloody mess they've made in Iraq over the past three years -- then things are even worse than I thought."

Ruth Marcus writes in her Washington Post opinion column: "I have a new theory about what's behind everything that's wrong with the Bush administration: manliness.

"Manliness," as defined in a new book by Harvey C. Mansfield, a conservative professor of government at Harvard University, "seeks and welcomes drama and prefers times of war, conflict, and risk."

Cheney Watch

David W. Chen writes in the New York Times: "In the biggest campaign fund-raiser yet on behalf of State Senator Thomas H. Kean Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney traveled to New Jersey on Monday and praised Mr. Kean as someone with 'the experience, the values and the vision to be a superb United States senator.'

"But there was one problem: Mr. Kean was a no-show."

Chen writes that "what should have been a routine political story about a successful fund-raiser, netting close to $400,000, became one in which Mr. Kean was asked repeatedly whether he had deliberately avoided being photographed with the vice president, who is deeply unpopular in New Jersey."

Noted With Interest, Indeed

Dan Eggen asks in The Washington Post: "Did President Bush mention the government's secret warrantless surveillance program to the president of Pakistan more than four years ago? A brief passage of a 2002 book seems to raise that possibility.

"In 'Bush at War,' Bob Woodward recounts a meeting between Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at the Waldorf Towers in New York in early November 2001. . . .

" 'He had become fascinated with the ability of the National Security Agency to intercept phone calls and other communications worldwide,' Woodward wrote, referring to Bush. 'If they got the key phone calls, future terrorism might be stopped, certainly curtailed. Bush summarized his strategy: "Listen to every phone call and close them down and protect the innocents." ' "

You're Talking Real Money

The Associated Press reports: "With no fanfare, President Bush signed a bill Monday pushing the ceiling on the national debt to nearly $9 trillion."

Bending Over Backwards?

Is there some sort of editorial message in the juxtaposition on the Cleveland Plain Dealer's home page of the story about Bush's performance there and the adjoining photo of a breakdancer?

If it's not still visible here, you can see a screengrab here .