A look at today’s “hot links” — and a reminder to check the NRO homepage daily for your quick TOC to articles, latest blogs highlighted, and links to other worthwhile reads on the web :

MICHAEL RUBIN: Iraq was undercut by naive faith, not in democracy but in diplomacy. USA Today FOUAD AJAMI: The American project in Iraq has been unimaginably difficult, its heartbreak a grim daily affair. But the impulse that gave rise to the war was shrewd and justified. U.S. News & World Report MARK STEYN: A quartet of ladies shows where we’re headed. Chicago Sun-Times MICHAEL BARONE: Does Robert Gates mean continuity or change in Iraq? U.S. News JOHN O’SULLIVAN: The pope is flying into a grumbling political crisis. New York Post JOHN FUND: Better late than never, two Republicans take a stand against profligate spending.Wall Street Journal ROBERT KAGAN & BILL KRISTOL: Retreat would win us no friends and lose us no adversaries.The Weekly Standard ELI LAKE: Bush, Maliki offer a tale of two revolts. New York Sun MIKE ALLEN: Can a Mormon be president? Time EDITORS: John Edwards should take the virtuous path and stop his anti-Wal-Mart demagoguery.Union Leader MICHAEL BARONE: Where do Dems go from here? TownHall.com MICHELLE MALKIN: Some are still paying the price for publishing those Mohammed cartoons.MichelleMalkin.com MARTIN BECK MATUšTíK: Velvet revolution in Iran? Logos