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 …

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.

My Ideal War  —  How the international community should have responded to Bush's September 2002 U.N. speech.  —  Up until now, I have resisted all urges to assume the mantle of generalship and to describe how I personally would have waged a campaign to liberate Iraq.

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 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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Spinning Operation Swarmer  — Email to a friend - Print this page - Text size: A A  —  The latest criticism of the war in Iraq has become so politically manipulative, so disingenuous, so over-the-top that it is undermining a critical cause that we cannot, for a variety of global security reasons, afford to lose.

A reason to believe  —  Iyad Allawi, the former Prime Minister of Iraq, is being quoted as describing Iraq in a state of civil war. … Jalal Talabani apparently rejects this assertion. … The British Defense Minister says that Allawi had said something rather diferent to him just shortly before his BBC interview.

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.

LET'S FINISH IT AND WIN  —  I think Ann Althouse has the answer to why Bush's low poll numbers don't translate to anything particularly positive for the Democrats: … As most of my readers are aware, I am a staunch supporter of the Iraq war.  If I have any dissatisfaction at all it is precisely …

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.

Man Alive  —  Is The New York Times still pro-choice?  You wouldn't know it from reading the op-ed page.  —  A liberal, poet Robert Frost once quipped, is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.  Nowhere is this truer than at The New York Times today on the subject of abortion.