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 …

At War With Ourselves  —  We're winning in Iraq.  Let's not lose at home.  —  Last week the golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra was blown apart.  Sectarian riots followed, and reprisals and deaths ensued.  Thugs and criminals came out of the woodwork to foment further violence.

Shiites Told: Leave Home Or Be Killed  —  Sunnis Force Evictions As Iraq Tensions Grow  —  BAGHDAD, Feb. 28 — Salim Rashid, 34, a Shiite laborer in an overwhelmingly Sunni Arab village 20 miles north of Baghdad, received his eviction notice Friday from a man at the door with a rocket launcher.

Alleged rape victim threatened with jail  —  A Naperville woman who on Tuesday refused a judge's order to view a videotape of her alleged rape could be jailed on a contempt of court charge if she does not change her mind Wednesday, and the judge is considering a request to drop sexual assault charges against the Burr Ridge man on trial.

GOP Unease Spreads to Security Issues  —  Port Deal Among Challenges to What Has Been Bush's Strength  —  The first heading on the issues page of Rep. Mark Foley's Web site brags that he is "one of President Bush's strongest supporters in Congress."  The Florida Republican voted …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

Impeach Bush  —  The man was lost and then he was found and now he's more lost than ever — and he's taking us into the darkness with him.  It's time to remove him.  —  Print EmailFont: S / S+ / S++  —  These are troubling times for all of us who love this country, as surely we all do, even the satirists.

Gonzales Seeks to Clarify Testimony on Spying  —  Extent of Eavesdropping May Go Beyond NSA Work  —  Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appeared to suggest yesterday that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance operations may extend beyond the outlines that the president acknowledged in mid-December.

Anti-Jihad Manifesto Misses the Point  —  Today twelve international authors, most of them (former) Muslims, such as Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but also a couple of "French philosophers," published a manifesto in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Shays says he intends to vote for Lieberman  —  STAMFORD, Conn. —Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays said Tuesday that he plans to vote this year for Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman and encouraged other GOP officials to endorse the three-term senator.  —  Shays, R-4th District …

Prosecutors in Hussein Case Tie Him to Order to Kill 148  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 1 — As Saddam Hussein watched quietly from the dock, prosecutors on Tuesday displayed what they said was his signature on orders of execution for 148 men and boys, some as young as 11, in what appeared …

al-Qaeda's Foreign Fighters in Iraq  —  The pros & cons of al-Qaeda funneling both novice and experienced jihadis into Iraq  —  In the wake of the destruction of the dome of the Golden Mosque and the ensuing unrest, al-Qaeda in Iraq is hard at work with a suicide bombing campaign designed to increase the sectarian divide within Iraq.

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 …

The House's Catholic Democrats Detail Role Religion Plays  —  Still reeling from the attacks on Sen. John F. Kerry's brand of Roman Catholicism during the 2004 presidential race, 55 House Democrats issued a joint statement yesterday on the central role that the Catholic faith plays in their public lives.