For Bush's Ex-Aide, Quick Fall After Long Climb  —  WASHINGTON, March 13 — Claude A. Allen often said his religious upbringing took him from a two-room apartment in a poor neighborhood of Washington to a post at the White House.  —  "Probably the vast majority of the kids who grew …

wherein we prove that the "wartime president" defense is inconsequential - no - make that outright "lame"  —  we've heard it before, and we're hearing it now: … there are three prongs of logic that defeat the entire "he's a wartime president, so don't be mean to him" defense.

Isaac Hayes Quits 'South Park'  —  NEW YORK - Isaac Hayes has quit "South Park," where he voices Chef, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion.  —  Hayes, who has played the ladies' man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed.

Magazine: Bradlee Knows Woodward's Source on Plame  —  Vanity Fair is reporting that former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee says it is reasonable to assume former State Department official Richard L. Armitage is likely the source who revealed CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward.

Bush Sets Target for Transition In Iraq  —  Country's Troops to Take Lead This Year  —  President Bush vowed for the first time yesterday to turn over most of Iraq to newly trained Iraqi troops by the end of this year, setting a specific benchmark as he kicked off a fresh drive …

The meaning of Milosevic: how the Butcher of the Balkans changed us  —  ONE OF THE MORE tragic aspects of the demise of Slobodan Milosevic is that the international committee to defend him will now have to be wound up.  The committee have been assiduous jail-visitors, invariably finding …

Informant Says He Saw Al Qaeda's No. 2  —  Naseem Khan testifies at a terrorism trial that he spotted Ayman Zawahiri in Lodi in 1998 and '99.  —  SACRAMENTO — In a surprising twist, the FBI informant in the terrorism case against a Lodi man and his father said in federal court Monday …

US postwar Iraq strategy a mess, Blair was told  —  Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos.  —  John Sawers, Mr Blair's envoy in Baghdad …

Concern over Iraq drives Bush's rating to new low  —  Americans pessimistic about course of war  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Public opinion of President Bush hit a new low, with concerns about the war in Iraq driving his approval rating down to 36 percent, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll out Monday.

Robertson Finds Radical Muslims 'Satanic'  —  NORFOLK, Va. - Television evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday on his live news-and-talk program "The 700 Club" that Islam is not a religion of peace, and that radical Muslims are "satanic."  —  Robertson's comments came after he watched …

Colleges Open Minority Aid to All Comers  —  Facing threats of litigation and pressure from Washington, colleges and universities nationwide are opening to white students hundreds of thousands of dollars in fellowships, scholarships and other programs previously created for minorities.

Vanity Fair's Judy Miller Rehab: Blame the Bloggers  —  There are three fundamental problems with Marie Brenner's 15-page piece on Plamegate and Judy Miller in the April Vanity Fair (hitting newsstands tomorrow):  —  1.)  It's laughably biased.  Brenner is a close friend of Miller …

Arab central banks move assets out of dollar  —  Middle Eastern anger over the decision by the US to block a Dubai company from buying five of its ports hit the dollar yesterday as a number of central banks said they were considering switching reserves into euros.

Judge Calls Halt to Penalty Phase of Terror Trial  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 — An angry federal judge delayed the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui on Monday and said she was considering ending the prosecution's bid to have him executed after the disclosure that a government lawyer had improperly coached some witnesses.

Pentagon examining chances of Israeli strike against Iran  —  Washington  —  The Pentagon is looking into the possibility of Israel launching a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.  In the past months there were several working-level discussions trying to map out the possible scenarios …