Morning Brief, Thursday, January 11

The Surge

Naturally, everyone’s talking about Bush’s big Iraq speech (and the associated plan -pdf ). David Sanger of the Times calls it a “major tactical shift,” but labels Bush’s argument about the risks of failure to to be old news, while his colleagues Helene Cooper and Marz Mazetti focus on the stern warning Bush delivered to Iran. In the Post, Peter Baker explores the significance of Bush admitting mistakes, while William Arkin flags Bush’s “evident willingness to go to war with Syria and Iran to seek peace” in Iraq. Underscoring his argument: U.S. forces nabbed another 5 Iranians in a raid on Tehran’s consular offices in Irbil, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq. Iran is bringing in the Swiss to mediate.

Democrats in the House are planning to block funding for Bush’s troop increase. Their confidence is likely bolstered by a new poll showing that 61 percent of American’s oppose the move, with 52 percent strongly against. The numbers look slightly better for the president among those who actually watched his speech, but he’s still running against the grain of public opinion. Even some prominent Republicans are distancing themselves from his plan.

Elsewhere

Chris Dodd announced he’s running for U.S. president. Strange timing.

The House is ready to pass stem cell legislation.

In Afghanistan, NATO and Afghan troops killed as many as 150 Taliban militants.

Daniel Ortega is back as president of Nicaragua. No word yet on whether he’s planning an 80s retro bash to celebrate.

Even as OPEC is getting antsy about falling oil prices, Swiss Re warns about an oil price shock sometime in the next 10 years.

China’s trade deficit with the U.S. reached an all-time high of over $177 billion last year, and its stock market passed the $1 trillion mark yesterday.