Stepping Into Iraq  —  Saudi Arabia Will Protect Sunnis if the U.S. Leaves  —  In February 2003, a month before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, warned President Bush that he would be "solving one problem and creating five more" if he removed Saddam Hussein by force.

In Following His Own Script, Webb May Test Senate's Limits  —  At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush.  Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken …

Pelosi Won't Pick Tainted Lawmaker for Key Post  —  Representative Nancy Pelosi announced on Tuesday that she would not award the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee to Representative Alcee L. Hastings of Florida, who was a leading contender for the post.

Economics Experts Join Romney's PAC  —  He hasn't even formed his presidential exploratory committee, but Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has already signed up an economic brain trust to advise him, led by two former chairmen of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

White House Wages War of Words Over 'Civil' Term  —  The carnage in Iraq is "sectarian violence," President Bush says.  It's a "struggle for freedom," the "central front in the war on terror."  It is not, no matter how much it may look like it, a civil war.  —  Forget the debate over what to do about the war in Iraq.

Frist Decides Against '08 Presidential Bid  —  Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said he has put aside plans to run for the White House in 2008, and instead will return to medicine and the health-care field that helped launch his political career 12 years ago.

America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on  —  Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

Judge Strikes Down Parts of Executive Order on Terrorism  —  A Los Angeles federal judge has ruled that key portions of a presidential order blocking financial assistance to terrorist groups are unconstitutional, further complicating the Bush administration's attempts to defend its aggressive anti-terrorism tactics in federal courts.

Losing the Enlightenment  —  A civilization that has lost confidence in itself cannot confront the Islamists.  —  Our current crisis is not yet a catastrophe, but a real loss of confidence of the spirit.  The hard-won effort of the Western Enlightenment of some 2,500 years that …

Chirac: France, U.S. agree there is no point talking to Syria  —  France and the United States agree there is no point in talking to Syria because the conditions for an honest dialogue do not exist, French President Jacques Chirac said Wednesday.  —  Chirac's comments come …

O'Reilly falsely claimed to have "coined the term 'San Francisco values' " … In his November 22 nationally syndicated column, titled "Here Comes the Left," Fox News host Bill O'Reilly attacked the San Francisco Board of Education for "vot[ing] to ban Junior ROTC in the city's high schools" …

Witnesses detail Iraq burning deaths  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - The attack on the small Mustafa Sunni mosque began as worshippers were finishing Friday midday prayers.  About 50 unarmed men, many in black uniforms and some wearing ski masks, walked through the district chanting "We are the Mahdi Army, shield of the Shiites."

Report: Syrian network planned to kill Lebanese officials  —  Al-Mustaqbal newspaper reports Lebanese security forces exposed network of 200 members which trained in refugee camps in Lebanon, planned to assassinate 36 senior Lebanese officials  —  The Lebanese security forces exposed a network …

Gingrich: Free Speech Should Be Curtailed To Fight Terrorism  —  A former House speaker, Newt Gingrich, is causing a stir by proposing that free speech may have to be curtailed in order to fight terrorism.  —  "We need to get ahead of the curve rather than wait until we actually literally lose a city …

Surge in Violence Shocks Even Weary Mexico  —  Drug Killings Nearly Doubled In Past Year  —  ZIHUATANEJO, Mexico — Andr?s Sauzo collects newspapers, astoundingly grisly newspapers.  —  There's the one with the close-up shot of a severed human head.  There's the one with the wide-angle of a man hacked to death with a machete.