U.S. General in Iraq Outlines Troop Cuts  —  WASHINGTON, June 24 — The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

FBI: Suspects Sought Help From al - Qaida  —  MIAMI (AP) — A plan hatched by seven men to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings was ''more aspirational than operational,'' FBI officials said.  —  The group of men, who were arrested Thursday when authorities busted their alleged hide …

Key insurgents vow to reject Iraq peace plan  —  IRAQ'S main insurgent groups intend to reject a peace plan that Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, will present today in an attempt to halt the country's spiral of violence.  —  Maliki is expected to go before parliament with a 28- point plan …

Warnings on WMD 'Fabricator' Were Ignored, Ex-CIA Aide Says  —  In late January 2003, as Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to argue the Bush administration's case against Iraq at the United Nations, veteran CIA officer Tyler Drumheller sat down with a classified draft of Powell's speech to look for errors.

'Brights'  —  Since it was brought up in the comments, I thought I'd bring back my statement on the "Brights."  —  There's a lot of noise on the net right now about The Brights, the idea that we can invent a pleasant new name for godless atheists and thereby improve our image.

Another Kennedy Living Dangerously  —  ONE of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s family mementos is a boyhood photo of himself in the Oval Office with his uncle President John F. Kennedy.  Then 9, Mr. Kennedy — who is still known as Bobby — had just given the president a spotted salamander in a small vase.

Issues & Insights  —  And This Guy Was Almost President?  —  Politics: Sen. John Kerry has spent a career taking the side of America's enemies.  His call last week for a pullout from Iraq was the latest evidence he is unfit to serve in the Senate — never mind the White House.

Dean repeats call for Iraq troop drawdown  —  WASHINGTON - The head of the Democratic Party blamed the Bush administration's "failed political leadership and lack of foresight and planning" for turning U.S. soldiers into targets for the Iraqi insurgency.  —  In his party's weekly radio …

Who's This 'We,' Non-Soldier Boy?  —  REPRESENTATIVE Patrick McHenry, a 30-year-old Republican from North Carolina, rose during the recent debate over Iraq in Congress and declared that the struggle against "Islamic extremists" was his generation's great challenge.

Bush's Immigration Plan Stalled as House G.O.P. Grew More Anxious  —  WASHINGTON, June 24 — For the White House, the Congressional picnic last week seemed like the perfect setting to mend strained relations with Republican allies on Capitol Hill: President Bush and his advisers eating taquitos …

How Doctors Got Into the Torture Business  —  Andrew Sullivan on the harrowing new book "Oath Betrayed", in which a medical ethicist documents how members of his profession got caught up in the abuse of prisoners  —  Soldiers are trained to kill and doctors to heal.

Cheney miffed, Beeb chuffed.  The BBC reports on the undermining of what it refers to as "the 'so-called war on terror'" in this story which flowed from this one based on a New York Times Pulitzer-hunting, terrorist-helping sellout.  [My opinion on the behavior of the NYT.]

British 'helpless' as violence rises in southern Iraq  —  British forces are facing rising violence among Shia Muslim factions in southern Iraq, but are powerless to contain it, military and diplomatic sources have told The Independent on Sunday.  Both British and Iraqi authorities were seeking to play down the situation, they added.

England, Germany fans clash in Stuttgart  —  STUTTGART (Reuters) - English and jubilant soccer German fans, celebrating after their team's second-round victory over Sweden, clashed in Stuttgart on Saturday before riot police moved in to separate them in the city center.

Neocon or Not?  —  FOR a scholar who addressed what the general public would regard as abstruse topics in a dry academic fashion, Leo Strauss has become a name that reverberates widely — and, for many, ominously.  He is seen as the seminal thinker behind neoconservatism, its intellectual father.

NY Times columnist Brooks attacks 'Kingpin' of Daily Kos  —  In Sunday's paper, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks attacks the founder of Daily Kos for acting like a "Kingpin" who "commands his followers" to "unleash their venom on those who stand in the way," RAW STORY has found.