Officials: Edwards to enter 2008 race  —  WASHINGTON - Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards intends to enter the 2008 race for the White House, two Democratic officials said Saturday.  —  Edwards, who represented North Carolina in the Senate for six years …

Military Taking a Tougher Line With Detainees  —  A part of the Camp 6 center at Guantánamo, which had been intended to be common area.  With the tighter security, however, the inmates will not be sharing meals there.  Camp 6 also has one-man exercise pens.

Not Going to Happen  —  Yglesias: … Indeed.  I don't know why it seems like inhabitants of a certain corner of the blogosphere seem be the only ones who understand this, though I suppose people are finally starting to get it.  I imagine Bayh dropped out in part because he recognized that the Iraq bed isn't going to uns**t itself.

In Farewell, Rumsfeld Warns Weakness Is 'Provocative'  —  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld bade farewell to the Pentagon on Friday with a combative valedictory speech in which he warned against hoping for "graceful exits" from Iraq and said it would be wrong to regard the lack of new attacks …

Iraqi PM invites Saddam officers to return to army  —  Source: Reuters  —  Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday Iraqi army officers of all ranks sacked after the U.S. invasion in 2003 would be allowed to reapply for their posts in the new army.

Women Lose Ground in the New Iraq  —  Once They Were Encouraged to Study and Work; Now Life Is 'Just Like Being in Jail'  —  BAGHDAD — Browsing the shelves of a cosmetics store in the Karrada shopping district, Zahra Khalid felt giddy at the sight of Alberto shampoo and Miss Rose eye shadow, blusher and powder.

Why they deny the Holocaust  —  On top of nearly constant anti-Semitic propaganda, much of the Muslim world hasn't even heard of it.  —  ONE DAY IN 1994, when I was living in Ede, a small town in Holland, I got a visit from my half-sister.  She and I were both immigrants from Somalia and had both applied for asylum in Holland.

The Grandest Strategy Of Them All  —  Two major public statements, coming less than a week apart, nicely capture the confusion besetting U.S. foreign policy these days.  —  The first is the report of the Iraq Study Group, released on Dec. 6.  In good old-fashioned "realist" style …

Incoming Chairmen Ready to Investigate  —  Democratic-Led Panels to Probe Administration's Actions in War and Counterterrorism  —  Incoming Democratic committee chairmen say they will hold a series of hearings and investigations early next year to build the case for their call for a phased withdrawal …

Richardson Attacks McCain  —  We can bitch all we want about St. John McCain, but it's going to take bigger guns that bloggers to point out just how insane he really is.  Bill Richardson, a man who has serious foreign policy credentials, is at least willing to criticize John McCain.

Ex-Rep. Barr Quits GOP for Libertarians  —  A former Georgia congressman who helped spark President Clinton's impeachment has quit the Republican Party to become a Libertarian, saying he is disillusioned with the GOP on issues such as spending and privacy.  —  Bob Barr, who served eight years …

Testimony Helps Detail CIA's Post-9/11 Reach  —  MILAN — A few days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the CIA station chief in Rome paid a visit to the head of Italy's military intelligence agency, Adm. Gianfranco Battelli, to float a proposal: Would the Italian secret services help …

Bredesen's Christmas card depicts Muslim girl  —  Picture and message leave church leaders scratching their heads  —  Gov. Phil Bredesen has given an unusual twist to his family's Christmas card: He is marking a Christian holiday with a card depicting a Muslim girl.