The way George W. Bush tells it, former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay has simply been a run-of-the-mill political "supporter." But letters exchanged by the two men paint a far cozier picture of Dubya's relationship with the disgraced businessman. The Smoking Gun obtained the Bush-Lay correspondence this afternoon and has posted the material at: Kenny Lay / Dubya Letters

Links not available: 1.) excellent Jon Stewart profile in New Yorker of February 11 2.) good think piece on Stewart and Martin Short/Jiminy Glick on Salon.com

All his life he had dreamed of being a pilot. But when he was accused of training the September 11 suicide pilots, Lotfi Raissi's dream turned into a nightmare. After spending five months in a high-security jail, on Tuesday he was released on bail. Freed (Guardian UK) (and just today there were a few reports in the USA. Have the mainstream US press government really played this down so much...?)

In a rare glimpse inside the Israeli military machine, John Kampfner and Dominic Allan join an elite commando squad in a night raid on a suspected Palestinian terrorist. Israel on the PR offensive also...Capture or Kill (Guardian UK) (and i wonder if we will get to see the report here in USA)