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We couldn't help but notice, listening to the President's speech today, that some W's words sounded awfully familiar. So we checked the transcripts, and its true! The early section of the president's address today in D.C. closely followed his 11/30/05 speech at the US Naval Academy, in many places using the exact same words. Everything below in bold appeared in today's second speech exactly as it did in the first one.

Two more to go...

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE WAR ON TERROR TO THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

Omni Shoreham Hotel

Washington, D.C.

10:44 A.M. EST

Last week at the Naval Academy, I gave the first in a series of speeches outlining our strategy for victory in Iraq. I explained that our strategy begins with a clear understanding of the enemy we face. The enemy in Iraq is a combination of rejectionists and Saddamists and terrorists. The rejectionists are ordinary Iraqis, mostly Sunni Arabs, who miss the privileged status they had under the regime of Saddam Hussein -- they reject an Iraq in which they are no longer the dominant group. We believe that, over time, most of this group will be persuaded to support a democratic Iraq led by a federal government that is strong enough to protect minority rights.

Here is the White House fact sheet on Iraq reconstruction, released a few minutes after the President's speech began.

2 articles to accompany our interview with Knight-Ridder Washington correspondent Jonathan Landay on pre-Iraq War intelligence. Landay has won praise for not relying on off-the-record WH sources.

"Lack of hard evidence of Iraqi weapons worries top U.S. officials" (7/6/02)

"The decisions, policies and intelligence behind the Iraq War" ...

Bush will emphasize Iraq reconstructionin speech today (Reuters)

After Berlin visit, Rice and Merkel disagree over what they discussed (NY Times)

Wrongly-held German files lawsuit in American court but is denied US entry (NY Times)

NYT editorial: Sen. Clinton panders on flag-burning bill

Hillary challengers ...