Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina  —  WASHINGTON - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome …

Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan on Way to India  —  NEW DELHI, March 1 — President Bush made a surprise five-hour visit to Afghanistan today to meet with President Hamid Karzai and to see for the first time the country created after the United States went to war against the Taliban …

Alleged rape victim won't have to view tape  —  A Naperville woman who alleges she was videotaped while being raped four years ago will not be forced to view the tape at a defendant's trial, a judge decided today.  —  After a brief hearing on the issue in the Bridgeview branch of Cook County Circuit Court …

Iraq on the Brink  —  Iraq has moved perilously close to civil war.  Everyone who knows anything about the tortured history of that country, cobbled together from disparate parts by British colonial officials less than a century ago, has always dreaded such an outcome.

House Republicans could see 10 to 15 more retirements  —  House Republicans have limited most of their retirements to conservatives in solidly red districts and a handful of statewide-office seekers, but political analysts say 10 to 15 more Republicans could announce in the coming months that they are stepping down.

Former Conyers aides press ethics complaints  —  Two former aides to Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) have alleged that he repeatedly violated House ethics rules.  —  Deanna Maher, a former deputy chief of staff in Conyers's Detroit office, and Sydney Rooks, a former legal counsel in the district office …

Ex-Taliban can learn from Yale experience  —  I was more than a little puzzled to see the self-satisfied mug of Rahmatullah Hashemi '09 smiling at me from the front of the News on Monday.  The last time I saw that Cheshire grin was in Michael Moore's otherwise manipulative "Fahrenheit 9/11 …

Study: Few Americans Know 1st Amendment  —  CHICAGO - Americans apparently know more about "The Simpsons" than they do about the First Amendment.  —  Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press …

Miss. House committee votes to ban most abortions  —  JACKSON, Miss. - A Mississippi House committee voted Tuesday to ban most abortions in the state - an unexpected move that left abortion opponents grappling to stake out a position on a proposal that could prompt a lengthy court battle.

The End of Fukuyama  —  Why his latest pronouncements miss the mark.  —  I have a feeling that last week was a disappointing one for Francis Fukuyama, whose essay "After Neoconservatism" (adapted from his upcoming book America at the Crossroads) was awarded seven pages in the Feb. 19 New York Times Magazine.

Oklahoma Bomb Squader Says Hinrichs Did Not Intend to Kill Self; Anti-Personnel Materials Found in His Apartment, Notes Describe AP Bomb Work  —  Today's edition of The Daily Oklahoman has a front-page story quoting a member of the Norman, Oklahoma bomb squad saying he believes Joel Hinrichs …