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 …

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR; A General Misunderstanding  —  AS the No. 2 general at United States Central Command from the Sept. 11 attacks through the Iraq war, I was the daily "answer man" to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.  I briefed him twice a day; few people had as much interaction with him as I did during those two years.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

How to Lose Your Job at a Saudi Newspaper  —  I was unceremoniously fired this month by my Saudi newspaper, a leading English-language daily called Arab News.  —  It didn't matter that I had been the senior columnist on the op-ed page for nine years or that my work was quoted widely …

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.

Cost of Illegal Immigration May Be Less Than Meets the Eye  —  CALIFORNIA may seem the best place to study the impact of illegal immigration on the prospects of American workers.  Hordes of immigrants rushed into the state in the last 25 years, competing for jobs with the least educated among the native population.