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 …

Up Escalator  —  Bill Richardson uses the "e" word and calls out St. John: … Yes, yes, yes.  If Bush does what he'd like to do, which is send in more troops, then this will no longer be Bush's war —  it's McCain's war too and he needs to have it strung around his neck like a neocon albatross.

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 …

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.

Keeping Iraq attack numbers under wraps  —  As Justin Rood noted, this chart, produced by the Government Accountability Office, tracks the number of per-months attacks in Iraq, based on Pentagon data.  —  A close look at the chart, however, notes that a few details are missing — specifically …

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.

Prosecutor post is filled in recess  —  A surprise late-afternoon announcement Friday that J. Timothy Griffin will become the new U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas drew the ire of U. S. Sen. Mark Pryor, whose spokesman said the maneuver amounts to "basically circumventing the normal process."

'We're Going to Win'  —  The president finally has a plan for victory.  —  It turns out you only have to attend a White House Christmas party to find out where President Bush is headed on Iraq.  One guest who shook hands with Bush in the receiving line told him, "Don't let the bastards get you down."

Salon Person of the Year: S.R. Sidarth  —  The Virginia native and son of Indian immigrants changed history with a camcorder and introduced Sen. George Allen — and the rest of us — to the real America.  —  S.R. Sidarth at Sen. Jim Webb's campaign headquarters Aug. 14 in Arlington …

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.

Publisher behind O.J. Simpson book fired  —  NEW YORK - Extra!  Extra!  The press release arrived with a headline worthy of Rupert Murdoch: HARPERCOLLINS TERMINATES JUDITH REGAN.  So ended, at least for now, one of the book world's most profitable and provocative careers.

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.

Stalingrad on the Tigris?  —  Below you will find a Power Point (what else?) presentation on the recent AEI analytic meeting run by one of the Kagans.  The cast of contributers at the end reads very much like one of the great neocon "papers" done up before their return to power under Bush 41'.

Whose Free Speech?  —  A disturbing story that came to light last week, courtesy of Think Progress — … In remarks to the New America Foundation, Leverett explained that the op-ed made a case for diplomatic engagement with Iran.  He had submitted the op-ed to the CIA to verify that the piece had no classified information.