Rumors and reporting in Iraq  —  ***scroll for updates...NYTimes blogger Tom Zeller Jr weighs in...plus: bloggers note the significance of the capture of Mazer Al-Jubouri, aka the Baghdad Sniper, and his group...***  —  I've been following up with CENTCOM on the Associated Press/sketchy sources brouhaha.

EXCLUSIVE: Iranian Weapons Arm Iraqi Militia  —  Hezbollah Training Also Linked to Iraq Violence  —  U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq: brand-new weapons fresh from Iranian factories.  According to a senior defense official …

Webb conveys the message of a boor  —  Wednesday's Washington Post reported that at a White House reception for newly elected members of Congress, Webb "tried to avoid President Bush," refusing to pass through the reception line or have his picture taken with the President.

President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq  —  Joint Statement by the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Iraq  —  PRESIDENT BUSH: Good morning.  It's good to be in Amman.  I first want to thank His Majesty King Abdullah for his gracious hospitality.

On Calling Bulls**t  —  Mainstream-media political journalism is in danger of becoming increasingly irrelevant, but not because of the Internet, or even Comedy Central.  The threat comes from inside.  It comes from journalists being afraid to do what journalists were put on this green earth to do.

Benchwarming  —  THE SUPREME COURT MELTS DOWN OVER GREENHOUSE GASSES.  —  If there is anything stranger than writing up your story on global warming in a T-shirt ... in late November ... in the District of Columbia, I can't quite think what it is.  In fact nothing about this morning's oral argument …

Iraq Panel to Urge Pullout Of Combat Troops by '08  —  The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008 while leaving behind troops to train, advise and support the Iraqis, setting the first goal for a major drawdown of U.S. forces …

THE LINEUP FOR 2008  —  Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that he will not run for President in 2008.  You can read his statement here.  Frist's announcement didn't make a very big splash; many observers hadn't taken him seriously as a Presidential candidate in any event.

Litvinenko was victim of 'Russian rogue agents'  —  British intelligence sources increasingly suspect that Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy killed with a radioactive poison, was the victim of a plot involving "rogue elements" within the Russian state, the Guardian has learned.

NBC Ignores Pelosi Flub, Relays Retort to Bush on Qaeda in Iraq  —  Asked by a reporter about how "President Bush today blamed the surge of violence in Iraq on al Qaeda," incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded with a disjointed answer about how "the 9/11 Commission dismissed that notion …

Focus of FBI Probe, Mollohan May Oversee FBI Budget  —  The leadership ambitions of two senior Democrats have already been deep-sixed for their murky ethics histories.  Here's a third Democrat heading for a powerful post whom folks may want to keep an eye on.  —  Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) is under investigation by the FBI.

Warren and Obama Updated to explain my "Protestant pope" comment Update: Warren apologizes for Syria remarks, then contradicts his apology  —  I think I've established my credibility, or at least indefatigability, as a critic of Rev. Rick Warren here in the past couple of weeks.

It's losing we hate, not war  —  Those who compare the lengths of WWII and Iraq ignore the real thing we don't like in far-flung wars.  —  ONE THOUSAND three hundred and forty seven days.  —  That's how long the United States was involved in combat in World War II, and Monday …

Conservative Students to Display "ACLU Nativity Scene"  —  Contact: Kevin Potter, Director of Communications - 469.231.4327  —  Conservative Students to Display "ACLU Nativity Scene"  —  Young Conservatives of Texas at UT Austin  —  Contact: Tony McDonald, Chairman 512.923.6893

Majority of Americans Believe Iraq Is in 'Civil War', Poll Finds  —  A majority of Americans think Iraq is in the midst of a civil war, a new Harris Interactive poll finds, and few are confident that Robert Gates's nomination as Secretary of Defense will improve the situation there.