Murtha, a War Critic, Assails Rove Over Speech  —  WASHINGTON, June 18 — Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat and Vietnam War veteran pushing for a quick withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, on Sunday mocked Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, for championing the war while …

Spokesman: Bush polls don't rule Iraq war  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush understands there is growing U.S. concern over his handling of the Iraq war but will not rely on polls to determine when to withdraw troops, his spokesman said Sunday.  —  "The president understands how a war can wear on a nation …

A.C.L.U. Warned on Plan to Limit Members' Speech  —  A lawyer in the New York state attorney general's office informally warned the American Civil Liberties Union that his office had concerns about proposed standards that would limit the group's board members from speaking publicly about policies …

Group Claims It Kidnapped U.S. Soldiers  —  An umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a Web statement Monday that it had kidnapped two U.S. soldiers reported missing south of Baghdad.  There was no immediate confirmation that the statement was credible …

Mideast Analysis, Fast and Furious  —  WHEN an Iraqi insurgent group releases a new videotape or claims responsibility for an attack, Western reporters in Baghdad rarely hear about it firsthand.  Nor do they usually get the news from their in-house Iraqi translators.

CNN RELIABLE SOURCES  —  Coverage of Rove's Role in Plame Leak Investigation; Interview With Jim Lehrer  —  THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.  —  HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: Rove's reprieve.  After years of media speculation …

Trying to Get Even  —  Democrats keep betting on failure in Iraq.  —  During last week's congressional debate over the war in Iraq, critics of the Bush administration's policy made three arguments: that President Bush more or less lied when claiming Saddam Hussein was a threat to the U.S. …

Doubts About Duke  —  The prosecutor insists his rape case is strong.  One big problem: the facts thus far.  —  June 29, 2006 issue - The order had come, signed by a judge, requiring that the Duke lacrosse team give DNA samples.  The prosecutor was trying to identify the three players …

'Wash Post' Obtains Shocking Memo from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Details Increasing Danger and Hardship  —  NEW YORK The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says show that just before President Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad …

Illegal Hiring Is Rarely Penalized  —  Politics, 9/11 Cited in Lax Enforcement  —  The Bush administration, which is vowing to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal workers, virtually abandoned such employer sanctions before it began pushing to overhaul U.S. immigration laws last year, government statistics show.

Lauder Pays $135 Million, a Record, for a Klimt Portrait  —  A dazzling gold-flecked 1907 portrait by Gustav Klimt has been purchased for the Neue Galerie in Manhattan by the cosmetics magnate Ronald S. Lauder for $135 million, the highest sum ever paid for a painting.

Ann Coulter: No evidence for evolution?  —  I've now read all of the science-related (that's applying the term "related" very generously) stuff in Ann Coulter's awful, ghastly, ignorant book, Godless, and it's a bit overwhelming.  This far right-wing political pundit with no knowledge …

U.S. Competes With China for Vietnam's Allegiance  —  HANOI, Vietnam — With the fastest growth in East Asia after China and a capitalist game plan that is attracting global investment, Communist Vietnam is emerging as a regional economic power as it moves steadily from rice fields to factories.

Freedom of speech and thought R.I.P.  —  The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper, The Examiner  —  WASHINGTON - Robert Smith, Roman Catholic and now-former Metro board member, believes homosexuality is a form of "deviancy."  Jim Graham, District of Columbia Council member, believes Smith's beliefs are "ancient and archaic."