White House, Joint Chiefs At Odds on Adding Troops  —  The Bush administration is split over the idea of a surge in troops to Iraq, with White House officials aggressively promoting the concept over the unanimous disagreement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to U.S. officials familiar with the intense debate.

Hillary Clinton Says She Wouldn't Have Voted For Iraq War  —  ABC News' David Chalian Reports: As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to assess a possible presidential candidacy and the contours of a Democratic nomination fight, she has taken another step away from her 2002 vote authorizing President Bush …

Mystery Surfaces Over Apartment of Kofi Annan  —  As Secretary-General Annan prepares to leave his post at the United Nations, a mystery is surfacing surrounding his apartment on Roosevelt Island, subsidized by New York taxpayers, which is still in use by the family of his brother, Kobina Annan.

Pentagon Cites Success Of Anti-U.S. Forces in Iraq  —  The Pentagon said yesterday that violence in Iraq soared this fall to its highest level on record and acknowledged that anti-U.S. fighters have achieved a "strategic success" by unleashing a spiral of sectarian killings by Sunni …

Election Seen as Setback for Iran's President  —  Partial returns from Friday's Iranian elections suggested today that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had experienced a major setback barely over a year after his own election.  —  The victory of a pragmatic politician, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani …

Walking a Beat With "Capt. Jamil Hussein"  —  If Michelle Malkin is still planning on a trip to Iraq to track down the infamous "Captain Jamil Hussein", she'd better pack her hiking shoes.  Because he walks a pretty hard beat.  —  I think I may have been the first to notice the significance …

Democrats leave Bono disappointed  —  Anti-poverty activist gets no promise of funds  —  Meetings in Washington last Thursday between rock star Bono and Democrats, including Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada, yielded a nice photo-op but not much else, according to Bono.

The ROC  —  On patrol with 3 Company, 3-2-1 Iraqi Army in southern Fallujah  —  3 Company plays soccer at The ROC.  Click image to view.  —  FALLUJAH, IRAQ: The mission of the Police and Military Transition Teams here in Fallujah is to assist with the turnover of the city to the Iraqis.

Libya sentences medics to death  —  A Libyan court has sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death for knowingly infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.  —  The medics have been in detention since 1999, during which time 52 of the 426 infected children have died of Aids.

Senator Removes His Block on Federal Court Nominee  —  Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, who blocked the confirmation of a woman to the federal bench because she attended a same-sex commitment ceremony for the daughter of her long-time neighbors, says he will now allow a vote on the nomination.

Please Let It Be Whale Vomit, Not Just Sea Junk  —  MONTAUK, N.Y. — In this season of strange presents from relatives, Dorothy Ferreira got a doozy the other day from her 82-year-old sister in Waterloo, Iowa.  It was ugly.  It weighed four pounds.  There was no receipt in the box.

Desperation in the White House  —  The power brokers in Washington carefully arranged fig leaves and tasteful screens to cover the emperor's nakedness while he was busy pretending to listen hard to everyone with an opinion about Iraq while hearing nothing.  —  Sometime early in the new year …

Would Legal Marijuana Mean an Excise Tax Bonanza?  —  Today I was supposed to appear on KPCC, an NPR afiliate in Los Angeles, to discuss Jon Gettman's report on marijuana production in the U.S. (mentioned by Dave Weigel earlier today).  In preparation, I started collecting numbers on the fiscal …

Video: "Open Season"; Update: Video banned from honors at YouTube?  —  Anti-jihad nu metal.  I never thought I'd see the day.  —  The band is Stuck Mojo from Atlanta.  The lyrics are here; the guitarist posted some thoughts about the song on his fan site.  You will recognize, and appreciate, the sentiments.

American Apparel to Be Sold to Investment Firm  —  American Apparel, the casual clothing chain whose socially-conscious manufacturing, sexually-charged advertising and snug-fitting T-shirts have generated a cult-like following, will be sold to a little-known investment firm for $382.5 million, according to people briefed on the matter.