President Discusses War on Terror and Operation Iraqi Freedom  —  Fact Sheet: Strategy for Victory: Clear, Hold, and Build  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all.  (Applause.)  Thank you all.  Please be seated.  Sanjiv, thanks for the introduction.  He called me on the phone and said, listen …

Did Marines Commit Crime in Iraq Civilian Deaths?  —  Prompted by Video and Magazine, Military Investigates Incident in Which 15 Iraqis Died, Including Children  —  WASHINGTON, March 19, 2006 — A bloody videotape shot by a local Iraqi journalism student has prompted the Pentagon to launch …

The New New Gore  —  Five years ago, Al Gore was the much-mocked pol who blew a gimme with his stiff demeanor and know-it-all style.  Today?  C'mon, admit it: You like him again.  —  The most important speech of Al Gore's post-non-presidency was neither well-covered nor particularly dramatic.

"THE POLICE WERE SMILING"  —  In just a couple of hours, we will see if democratic opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich's call to the people for street protests against an obviously fraudulent election will pan out.  People are to meet at October Square in the middle of Minsk at 6:30 p.m. wearing smiles first and foremost.

How to spot a baby conservative  —  Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints?  Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.  —  At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids …

GOP Struggles To Define Its Message for 2006 Elections  —  Republican efforts to craft a policy and political agenda to carry the party into the midterm elections have stumbled repeatedly as GOP leaders face widespread disaffection and disagreement within the ranks.

Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn  —  BALTIMORE — Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom …

SMALL GOVERNMENT CONSERVATIVES....Atrios is right.  Andrew Sullivan is just being incoherent here in his defense of his own conservatism: … Bush's tax cuts haven't touched Social Security or Medicare taxes (and both programs run surpluses anyway).  They've been solely cuts in personal …

David Duke Claims to Be Vindicated By a Harvard Dean  —  A paper recently co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government about the allegedly far-reaching influence of an "Israel lobby" is winning praise from white supremacist David Duke.

The third anniversary...sacrifice, fear and hope.  —  It has been three years since 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' began and for three years we debated whether the decision was right or wrong and until this moment we have different feelings and opinions about where this operation brought us and where its aftermaths are going to lead us.

THE WANKERY WILL NEVER DIE.  I enjoy my job, but because the Lord has decreed that everyone should hate Monday mornings irrespective of such things, he's given Cokie Roberts a Monday A.M. segment on NPR where she's usually found peddling the most egregious bits of conventional wisdom available.

Soldiers and civilians  —  I understand that Operation Swarmer was hyped, but the air war is real — something the hundreds of Iraqi families who fled Samarra on the first reports understand all too well.  —  Last week, Knight-Ridder reported a fifty percent increase in U.S. airstrikes in Iraq over the past five months.

Iraqi diplomat gave U.S. prewar WMD details  —  Saddam's foreign minister told CIA the truth, so why didn't agency listen?  —  NBC VIDEO … & the NBC Investigative Unit  —  In the period before the Iraq war, the CIA and the Bush administration erroneously believed that Saddam Hussein …

FBI Agent Slams Bosses at Moussaoui Trial  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in August 2001 testified Monday he spent almost four weeks trying to warn U.S. officials about the radical Islamic student pilot but "criminal negligence" by superiors in Washington thwarted a chance to stop the 9/11 attacks.

Best job market in 5 years for grads: report  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. college graduates are facing the best job market since 2001, with business, computer, engineering, education and health care grads in highest demand, a report by an employment consulting firm showed on Monday.

A 'Third Term' for Bush  —  Condi Rice, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove need new jobs.  —  It's time for President Bush to think about a third term.  No, he doesn't need to overturn the Constitution.  He can start the equivalent of his third term now, by filling his presidential staff and cabinet …

Thou Shalt Not Debate Public Issues at Yale  —  It gets even weirder - Yale has now refused to put on a once-planned debate over the presence at Yale of Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi - the former Taliban.  John Fund reports: … But Rahmatullah is not just some student from the Midwest …

Peace just a breath away, says Sharon Stone  —  A peaceful co-existence between the peoples of the Middle East is but a breath away, Hollywood star Sharon Stone said after a highly publicized visit to Israel.  —  "It feels to me that we have an opportunity ... to choose understanding in a new way …

FEAR FACTOR  —  Bill O'Reilly's baroque period.  —  During what you could call Bill O'Reilly's classical period, the first few years of "The O'Reilly Factor"—which débuted in 1996, at the same time as Fox News—O'Reilly seemed to be a recognizable member of the conservative-talk-show-host species …

Bush warns Iran on Israel  —  US President George W. Bush said he hoped to resolve the nuclear dispute with Iran with diplomacy, but warned Tehran he would "use military might" if necessary to defend Israel.  —  "The threat from Iran is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our strong ally Israel.