U.S. and Iranians Agree to Discuss Violence in Iraq  —  TEHRAN, March 16 — Iran and the United States agreed Thursday to hold direct talks on how to halt sectarian violence and restore calm in Iraq, offering the first face-to-face conversation between the sides after months of confrontation over Iran's nuclear program.

Congress Raises Ceiling for Borrowing  —  $100 Billion Is Spent Without Offsetting Cuts  —  Congress raised the limit on the federal government's borrowing by $781 billion yesterday, and then lawmakers voted to spend well over $100 billion on the war in Iraq, hurricane relief, education …

New Documents from Saddam Hussein's Archives Discuss Bin Laden, WMDs  —  U.S. Government Releases Papers From Saddam's Reign  —  March 16, 2006 — Following are the ABC News Investigative Unit's summaries of four of the nine Iraqi documents from Saddam Hussein's government, which were released by the U.S. government Wednesday.

Declassified Truth  —  The War On Terror: The government is finally getting around to unloading some of Saddam Hussein's secret documents.  A look at just a few pages already leads to some blockbuster revelations.  —  In the early stages of the war that began three years ago …

Pandora and Polygamy  —  And now, polygamy.  —  With the sweetly titled HBO series "Big Love," polygamy comes out of the closet.  Under the headline "Polygamists, Unite!"  Newsweek informs us of "polygamy activists emerging in the wake of the gay-marriage movement."

GOP Irritation At Bush Was Long Brewing  —  President Bush's troubles with congressional Republicans, which erupted during the backlash to the Dubai seaport deal, are rooted in policy frustrations and personal resentments that GOP lawmakers say stretch back to the opening days of the administration.

Witness Tampering Cited in Moussaoui Case  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - Lawyers for two airlines being sued for damages by 9/11 victims prompted a federal lawyer to coach witnesses in the trial of al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui so the government's death penalty case would not undercut their defense, victims' lawyers allege.

Bill Would Allow Warrantless Spying  —  GOP Plan Would Bring Surveillance Under Review of Congress, FISA Court  —  The Bush administration could continue its policy of spying on targeted Americans without obtaining warrants, but only if it justifies the action to a small group of lawmakers …

Democracy Push by Bush Attracts Doubters in Party  —  Even as it presents an updated national security strategy, the Bush administration is facing fresh doubts from some Republicans who say its emphasis on promoting democracy around the world has come at the expense of protecting other American interests.

Airline screeners fail government bomb tests  —  21 airports nationwide don't detect bomb-making materials … WASHINGTON -  —  Lisa Myers  —  Imagine an explosion strong enough to blow a car's trunk apart, caused by a bomb inside a passenger plane.  Government sources tell NBC News …

AFA's Wildmon proposed a hypothetical tour of gay bathhouses, repeated misinformation on average gay incomes … On the March 8 edition of the AFA Report, Donald E. Wildmon, founder and chairman of the American Family Association (AFA), responded to the Equality Ride, a seven-week bus tour …

Police Memos Say Arrest Tactics Calmed Protest  —  In five internal reports made public yesterday as part of a lawsuit, New York City police commanders candidly discuss how they had successfully used "proactive arrests," covert surveillance and psychological tactics at political demonstrations in 2002 …

The Cut-and-paste Post  —  I don't know George Clooney's personal publicist and had never spoken to him until Monday when he and George called.  Hollywood is not my beat, but once we had the approval, that's what we ran: George Clooney's words put into blog form.  His statements are in the public domain.

Inaction failed  —  United States can't just sit back and wait to be attacked.  —  If we learned anything from 9/11 it's that doing nothing while tyrants and terrorists plot to kill Americans is not a viable policy.  —  But that was U.S. policy for more than 25 years.

Fighting Smarter In Iraq  —  BAGHDAD — Three years on, the U.S. military is finally becoming adept at fighting a counterinsurgency war in Iraq.  Sadly, these are precisely the skills that should have been mastered before America launched its invasion in March 2003.

KNEE-JERK REACTIONS....I'm on deadline, so don't have time to respond in full to the feverish debate that has been taking place over the past few weeks about religion and politics.  But since my name has been invoked/cursed in many of those conversations, I do want to address the reaction …

Kurds Destroy Shrine in Rage at Leadership  —  HALABJA, Iraq, March 16 — For nearly two decades, Kurds have gathered peacefully in this mountainous corner of northern Iraq to commemorate one of the blackest days in their history.  It was here that Saddam Hussein's government launched …

Can Democrats Play This Game?  —  Russ Feingold tossed a political grenade at President Bush this week, but it fell into the middle of the Senate Democratic Caucus.  Many Democratic senators ran away.  —  The grenade was the Wisconsin senator's proposal to censure the president for violating …