Before and After Abu Ghraib, a U.S. Unit Abused Detainees  —  As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations forces unit converted one of Saddam Hussein's former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center.  There, American soldiers …

Saddam's Philippines Terror Connection  —  SADDAM HUSSEIN'S REGIME PROVIDED FINANCIAL support to Abu Sayyaf, the al Qaeda-linked jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law in the Philippines in the late 1990s, according to documents captured in postwar Iraq.

Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments in Speeches  —  WASHINGTON - "Some look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude that the war is lost and not worth another dime or another day," President Bush said recently.  —  Another time he said, "Some say that if you're Muslim you can't be free."

Losing Ground  —  A NEWSWEEK poll shows President Bush's approval rating dropping to new lows on domestic issues and rising public anger over Iraq and homeland security.  —  U.S. troops evacuate a wounded soldier from Balad to Kuwait on March 17.  A NEWSWEEK poll shows that only 29 percent …

Washington Post editorial repeats, AS FACT, debunked Bush talking point about Iran supplying IEDs in Iraq  —  (Hat tip to a Daily Kos diary.)  —  At this point, the errors are so massive and so ongoing that this is no longer just sloppy journalism.  —  The Washington Post editorial board …

Looser Emission Rules Rejected  —  Court Says Changes By EPA Violated Clean Air Act  —  A federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration's four-year effort to loosen emission rules for aging coal-fired power plants, unanimously ruling yesterday that the changes violated the Clean Air Act …

U.S., Iraqi Troops Extend Assault Against Insurgents  —  BAGHDAD — An Iraqi-U.S. operation targeting insurgents in the vast hardpan desert northeast of Samarra has led to the capture of a possible ringleader of the bombing of the Gold Mosque, Iraqi officials said today.

Advance Workers for Bush Impersonated Reporters  —  The White House said yesterday that it will discipline two government employees who masqueraded as journalists this month while scouting locations for a presidential visit to the Gulf Coast.  —  A Mississippi couple whose home was destroyed …

Mad Science  —  No question is too crazy to snare a prize  —  We're entering the science fair season, when schools teach children about science by making their parents conduct experiments.  Across America, grown men and women will be watching crystals grow, grapes shrivel …

How I Learned to Love the Wall  —  ON March 28, Israelis will elect a new prime minister to replace the ailing Ariel Sharon.  But I'd bet my last shekel that I'll continue to hear the phrase "Ariel Sharon's apartheid wall."  It's a phrase spoken — make that spewed — on almost every university campus …

Libby Defense May Highlight Infighting  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide are signaling they may delve deeply at his criminal trial into infighting among the White House, the CIA and the State Department over pre-Iraq war intelligence failures.

House GOP Leader Well Traveled  —  House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio), who rose to power in the wake of a congressional lobbying scandal, spent the equivalent of nearly six months on privately funded trips over the past six years, according to a new study by a nonpartisan research group.