NBC: US Rushed Brits to Make Arrests in Terror Plot.

Ari Shavit in Haaretz: Olmert cannot remain as prime minister.

So while the president was off on a fool's errand in Iraq, he was out to lunch on this liquid explosives issue, though everyone seemed to know about it. Good job.

My predilection is to note the Lieberman-Kerrey bond on Social Security phase-out. Kerrey's a diehard private accounts man. Lieberman flirts with it. But one good friend points out that the real bond, probably very much in play here, is Iraq. Both were big on the Chalabi Iraq liberation front back in the 1990s and they were the chief Democratic co-sponsors of the Iraq Liberation Act.

Interesting background info on an apparent falling out between Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who seems to have wanted to move to the diplomatic track much earlier and opposed the IDF bombing of Hizbullah HQ in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut.

A pro-Social Security phase-out alliance?

Phase-out supporter retired Sen. Bob Kerrey signs up with Lieberman.

Democratic National Committeee spokesperson Karen Finney slams the Republican Party for a picture which appeared on the Republican National Committee Web site of Howard Dean with what appeared to be a Photoshopped Hitler moustache.

Here at TPM Media, as many techish companies do, we have a little internal chat system where we discuss editorial business and other topics through the course of the day. And yesterday, after I saw Greg Sargent's update that Lieberman was going down the 'A win for Lamont will be a victory for the terrorists' track, I openned up our chat and wrote something to the effect of, "I've always liked Joe, but with this 'victory for the terrorists', it's enough. F--k him."

Justin Rood shot back, you should write that. And he's right. So here I am.

Readers of this site know I've always had a soft spot for Lieberman. I was ambivalent about the primary race, didn't have a horse in it, I think I said. And it only became a simple matter for me after Lamont won. He's the Democratic candidate. End of story. Not because I felt differently about Lieberman necessarily. But I think all Democrats, all progressives, liberals, whatever, should support the Democratic candidate. And that's Ned Lamont. That and tell Lieberman to get out of the race.

But now Lieberman is not only running as the de facto Republican in the race, he's running as the worst sort of Republican, going on the trail claiming that any serious questioning of our policy in Iraq is a victory for the terrorists, even pulling in yesterday's terror plot take-down into his angle against Lamont. With Lamont, those guys might have blown up the plane. Leaving Iraq is a win for the terrorists. A Lamont win is a win for the terrorists. That was after Wednesday when Joe pledged to save the Democratic party from the extremists he seems to think make up the entire Democratic party. Except for Joe.

So questioning the president's policy on Iraq is a win for the terrorists. The Democratic party is outside the mainstream of American politics. I can go to Republicans for that, right?

So it's not just about the independent candidacy any more. It's about him. Enough. Just leave.

Grover Norquist on the Dems' iron wall on Social Security: ""The Democrats cannot be bribed, cajoled or threatened into voting for Social Security reform -- it can't happen."

Is a real GOP candidate about to jump in to the Connecticut senate race? Okay, a non-Lieberman GOP candidate? Seems like it.

Juliette Kayyem on what not to learn from the British counter-terrorism policy.

Campaign season is heating up, and the charges are starting to fly. The latest: in Minnesota, a GOP House candidate claims his Dem opponent sent a "spy" to infiltrate his operation. That and other news of the day in today's Daily Muck.

Amos Oz, from April 1996 in The New York Times, during the last flare up on Israel's northern border, but in a more hopeful time ...

The fighting in northern Israel and Lebanon that's still raging after two weeks started because Iran wants to destroy the peace process and because Syria -- at least as long as President Hafez al-Assad's dictated peace is rejected by Israel -- backs Iran.

It is a no-win situation that suits Iran's leaders. If Israel is attacked and doesn't retaliate, it turns Israeli citizens against peace. If Israel hits back, the Arabs turn against peace. Iran is pleased either way.

Islamic extremists want Israel to be loathed and isolated again in the Middle East -- Israel against the whole of Islam, the whole world against Israel.

Israel's goal has been the opposite: to isolate Islamic fundamentalism by making peace with the Palestinians and Arab nations. In fact, Iran and its proxies might have been quicker than Israel to grasp the idea that in a peaceful Middle East they would become as isolated as Saddam Hussein's Iraq. If the peace process collapses, however, Israel will once more be the neighborhood's leper.

Which country will find itself in unsplendid isolation? This is a subtle struggle, taking place primarily in people's hearts, not in military arenas.

In forcing the civilians of southern Lebanon to flee their homes and in the horrific accidental shelling of refugees at the United Nations base near Qana, Israel brought upon itself a moral and political defeat in this battle over hearts and minds.

The whole piece is really worth reading on many levels.

Minnesota Republican senate candidate Mark Kennedy, a dozen points behind Democrat Amy Klobuchar in latest poll (Rasmussen, 8/1), endorses Lieberman.

So does McGavick in Washington state. He's down 11 points (Rasmussen, 7/17).

It's an avalanche. All the GOP senate contenders who are sinking in the polls are endorsing Joe.

Experts: Lieberman's tech dudes were boneheads.

New docs suggest broader conspiracy in phone-jamming case.

Bush: Failed terror plot a reminder that everybody should stop complaining about how bad I screwed up Iraq.

Joe Lieberman says that Ned Lamont's Iraq policy would be a "tremendous victory" for terrorists.

Big court decision in the AIPAC/leaks case. Even private citizens with no government clearances can be prosecuted for unauthorized receipt and disclosure of classified information.