Bombs That Would Backfire  —  WHITE HOUSE spokesmen have played down press reports that the Pentagon has accelerated planning to bomb Iran.  We would like to believe that the administration is not intent on starting another war, because a conflict with Iran could be even more damaging …

Policy on Iran nukes seems to be off-target  —  Happy Easter.  Happy Passover.  But, if you're like the president of Iran and believe in the coming of the "Twelfth Imam," your happy holiday may be just around the corner, too.  President Ahmadinejad, who is said to consider himself …

Keeping Al-Qaeda in His Grip  —  Al-Zawahiri Presses Ideology, Deepens Rifts Among Islamic Radicals  —  CAIRO — In January 2003, one of the two most wanted men in the world couldn't contain his frustration.  From a hiding place probably somewhere in South Asia, he tapped out two lengthy e-mails …

BREAKING RANKS...  Via AlterNet, Stephen Pizzo writes about the U.S. Generals now speaking out against Donald Rumsfeld and why this is so surprising: … As a Gen Xer (b. 1970), I never had to worry about the draft.  Nor have I ever served in the military.

All Burkle, All the Time!  —  Revenge is bloggy at Gawker.  —  All Burkle, All the Time: Meow!  The decision to let slimebag Jared Paul Stern guest-edit gawker.com over this weekend initially seemed a cheap attention-getting move by an ambitious Brit blog owner gravely ignorant of American libel law.

Britain took part in mock Iran invasion  —  Pentagon planned for Tehran conflict with war game involving UK troops  —  Julian Borger in Washington and Ewen MacAskill  —  British officers took part in a US war game aimed at preparing for a possible invasion of Iran, despite repeated claims …

US denies Pollard-Barghouti release deal  —  The United States has denied a reported proposal to release Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from jail in exchange for the release of imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti's sentence, held in Israeli prison.  —  According to Army Radio …

Blair refuses to back Iran strike  —  TONY Blair has told George Bush that Britain cannot offer military support to any strike on Iran, regardless of whether the move wins the backing of the international community, government sources claimed yesterday.  —  Amid increasing tension …

Hobbs Controversy: Good Journalism, Or Political Hit Piece?  —  Conservative blogger Bill Hobbs resigned his position with Belmont University after John Spragens wrote critically of an admittedly controversial post of Hobbs.  That post included a stick figure and the text Mohammed Blows.

The GOP's Betrayal On Speech  —  If in November Republicans lose control of the House of Representatives, April 5 should be remembered as the day they demonstrated that they earned defeat.  Traducing the Constitution and disgracing conservatism, they used their power for their only remaining purpose — to cling to power.

A Bad Leak  —  President Bush says he declassified portions of the prewar intelligence assessment on Iraq because he "wanted people to see the truth" about Iraq's weapons programs and to understand why he kept accusing Saddam Hussein of stockpiling weapons that turned out not to exist.

Going Nuclear  —  In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots.  That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing …

US plots 'new liberation of Baghdad'  —  THE American military is planning a "second liberation of Baghdad" to be carried out with the Iraqi army when a new government is installed.  —  Pacifying the lawless capital is regarded as essential to establishing the authority of the incoming government …

White voters are deserting us for BNP, says Blair ally  —  White working-class families feel so neglected by the Government and angered by immigration that they are deserting Labour and flocking to the British National Party, a minister admitted yesterday.  —  In a sensational claim …