The Daily Muck

Reports from the Senate Ethics panel released yesterday (new laws require that the panel’s work is documented) reveals that members have been busy probing Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) for his involvement in the US Attorney firings and Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) for his behavior in a public restroom. Three other Senators or Senate aides are under investigation but no details have been made public. (Washington Post’s “Capitol Briefing”)

While President Bush and other proponents of the U.S. “surge” in Iraq declare that the strategy is working, evidence suggests that security in Iraq has begun to decline in recent weeks. TPM alum Spencer Ackerman reports that suicide attacks have returned to Baghdad, Anbar, and Diyala provinces while in Baghdad there has been an increase in IED attacks. (Washington Independent)

In a Senate hearing yesterday, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher kept to President Bush’s talking points and challenged lawmakers that “nobody can tell me” that Afghanistan is “not going in a positive direction.” Boucher must have missed the three major reports (Jones-Pickering, Atlantic Council, and National Defense University) that pointed to the instability (27% percent increase in violence) and precipitous deterioration in that nation. (Think Progress)

Though Hillary Clinton has not accepted any money form Antoin “Tony” Rezko, her national presidential campaign co-chair, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, accepted at least $7,500 in political donations from the man that Clinton called a “slum landlord.” Rezko’s trial for fraud has been delayed one week because of the voluminous evidence and complex legal preparations required by Rezko’s attorneys. (AP, Chicago Tribune)

The AP reports that “more and more” top U.S. diplomats are departing from the company line on foreign policy. Two weeks ago the special U.S. envoy for human rights in North Korea “trashed the six-nation talks” designed to convince North Koreans to abandon nuclear weapons programs. More recently, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. floutedM Bush’s ban on contact with Iranian officials when he appeared with the Iranian foreign minister on a stage in Switzerland. (AP)

US troops in Afghanistan hope to receive improved uniforms soon because it is clear that he last thing a soldier needs is pants that “come apart at the crotch during fighting.” The old uniforms did just that, and finding a replacement has been difficult: in one test, researchers “sprayed the pants with the same type of rubbery material used to protect the beds of pickups” but the material was flammable and “it went up like a torch.” An expert working on the problem stated that he “could put steel plates in the butts, but that’s not going to be very comfortable.” (USA Today)

A report from the Commission of the National Guard and Reserves asserts that the U.S. military is unprepared for a catastrophic attack. The National Guard’s lack of required equipment, forces, and training, the report states, creates “an appalling gap that places the nation and its citizens at greater risk.” Fewer Army National Guard units are prepared for combat today than were prepared last year at a time when the Commission found that 88% of the units were not combat-ready. (New York Times, USA Today)

Amerian casualties in Iraq increased for the first time in four months. In January there were 38 American military deaths, an increase from 23 in December. (McClatchy)

A new report by Human Rights Watch strongly criticizes the Bush administration for damaging the moral authority of the U.S. through its support of autocratic governments in allied countries. The report also accuses the governments of Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Russia of “holding electoral charades to legitimize” their regimes. (Washington Post)

Peter Sheehy contributed to this post.