More on Alishtari, the Republican donor recently indicted for financing terrorists. Turns out those awards he was boasting of were part of a long-running fundraising scam by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Hillary campaign reaching out via big donors and other surrogates to woo antiwar members of Congress.

You’ve probably seen today’s report in the Times about the al Qaida resurgence along Pakistan’s lawless frontier with Afghanistan. This should hardly be a surprise not only because of the Taliban’s comeback in Afghanistan but much more importantly because of the de facto ceasefire with al Qaida militants and their backers that the Pakistani government recently agreed to.

But it gives the current debate over Iraq a renewed clarity. The whole endeavor in Iraq is no more and no less than a grand national joke we are playing on ourselves. We’re having a clownish debate over Iraq as the center of a war on terror while the actual people — in many cases, it would seem, literally the same people — who plotted the 9/11 attack are on the rebound. How can anyone credibly deny that if most of our ground forces and budget weren’t tied down in Iraq we would be far better able to react to this genuine threat?

And we are unwilling to shift course because we can’t come to grips with what has already happened.

I guess he’s not so special after all. Alishtari isn’t the only member of the NRCC’s Business Advisory Council to have been indicted for raising funds for terrorists.

Today’s Must Read: although he avoided having to testify, the Plame investigation isn’t over yet for Vice President Cheney.

Romney hits the airwaves with a new TV ad in five states.

Greg Anrig, Jr. at TPMCafe: enough of the “third way.” “The right is the problem – not Bob Kuttner or any other real or conjured counterpart on the left.”

The AP picks up the story of Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, GOP campaign funder by day, (alleged) terror financier by night.

Via Newshog, The Kuwait News Agency is reporting that a joint force of US and Iraqi troops have attacked the headquarters of Shi’a leader Muqtada Al-Sadr. Military vehicles are surrounding the compound and “Iraqi and US soldiers could be seen confiscating material and documents.”

No habeas rights for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, an appeals court rules. Next stop: Supreme Court.