Kerry Calls Lieberman the New Cheney  —  Senator Labels Bush Iraq Policy 'Disaster,' Lieberman Bid 'Huge Mistake'  —  Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., blasted fellow a Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman, for continuing his bid in the Connecticut Senate race despite a narrow loss to newcomer Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary earlier this month.

Hezbollah night-vision gear was from Britain, Israel says  —  It's believed to be an export to Iran in drug-fighting effort  —  (08-20) 04:00 PDT Kiryat Shemona, Israel — Israeli intelligence officials have complained to Britain and the United States that sensitive night-vision equipment recovered …

Lebanon prime minister condemns Israel  —  BEIRUT, Lebanon - Standing in the midst of the rubble of south Beirut, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora called the Israeli bombing campaign "a crime against humanity," and Lebanon's defense minister warned any group that breaks the Middle East cease-fire will be dealt with harshly.

Hamas plea over seized deputy PM  —  Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya has appealed to the international community for help to secure the release of his deputy.  —  Nasser al-Shaer was detained by the Israeli army early on Saturday.  —  The Israeli army said it had detained Mr Shaer …

What Next?  —  The debate is over: By any definition, Iraq is in a state of civil war.  Indeed, the only thing standing between Iraq and a descent into total Bosnia-like devastation is 135,000 U.S. troops — and even they are merely slowing the fall.  The internecine conflict could easily spiral …

Transcript for Aug. 20  —  MR. DAVID GREGORY: Our issues this Sunday: Day 1,251 of the war in Iraq.  Indications the insurgency has gotten worse, as the number of roadside bombs and attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces reach record levels; sectarian violence now claiming an average of more than 100 Iraqi civilians a day.

Some Conservative Pundits Losing Faith In Bush  —  Not a good sign for President George Bush.  According to the Washington Post, some conservative or generally supportive pundits are starting to turn on him: … He must be a RINO.  MORE: … The Post rattles off a list of Punditry V …

With doublespeaking France, honor gets lost in translation  —  French is the traditional language of diplomacy.  Diplomacy is the art of saying one thing while doing another.  —  In recent weeks, France stepped forward to act as a broker of peace in Lebanon.

JonBenet suspect a patient at Thai sex-change center  —  BANGKOK, Thailand — The man who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey had another bizarre secret up his sleeve in the months before his arrest: he was visiting a surgical center that specializes in sex-change operations.

Kidnapped Fox News crew: prayers and outrage  —  ***scroll for updates*** … I've tried to stay away from the computer and the news as much as possible during my time off, but I couldn't help checking in every day for word of Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig since their kidnapping last Monday.

The lessons of Lebanon - II  —  The war did not go well.  It's easy to point to Hizbullah's six years of preparations, its fanatic devotion to death, and an endless supply of technologically advanced Iranian and Syrian weapons.  But the analysis of what went wrong must first be focused on ourselves.

The Culture Of Corruption Redux  —  When the Democrats adopted the "culture of corruption" meme as their campaign theme earlier this year, we noted that the culture hardly respected party lines.  The leader of the Senate Democratic caucus, Harry Reid, took contributions from clients …

MOMENT OF TRUTH  —  ISLAMO-FASCIST TERROR COULD TRIGGER A BRUTAL  —  WESTERN RESPONSE  —  IN the wake of Israel's strategic setback in Lebanon, where's the Middle East headed?  (Hint: The road sign doesn't read "Age of Aquarius").  —  Powerful emotions intoxicate all sides.

It's News, Right?  —  Thank God for the JonBenet story.  We may not be getting any closer to solving the disaster in the Middle East, but at least we didn't have to hear much about it last week.  Hezbollah, Hamas, Sunnis, Shiites, Iran, Iraq, it's all so complicated, such — as Bush says — "hard work."

The Rise of Shrinking-Vacation Syndrome  —  In August, when much of the world is hard at work trying to do nothing, Jeff Hopkins and his wife, Denise, usually take a week to chase fish in Olympic National Park — a ferry ride and two tanks of gas from here with a boat in tow.

Tehran has 'blood on its hands,' MacKay says  —  OTTAWA - With a potential international showdown looming next week in Iran's nuclear standoff with the West, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay says Tehran has "blood on its hands" for backing Hezbollah in its recent war against Israel.