Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq  —  Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified.  "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush had launched the invasion advocated …

Islamist Forces in Somalia Are in Retreat  —  Ethiopian-backed forces continued to beat back Islamist fighters in Somalia today, advancing to within 15 miles of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, as diplomatic pressure increased for the Ethiopians to pull out.  —  The African Union …

John Edwards joins presidential race  —  WASHINGTON - Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race Wednesday a day earlier than he'd planned, prodded by an Internet glitch to launch a candidacy focused on health care, taxes and other domestic issues.

Sectarian Ties Weaken Duty's Call for Iraq Forces  —  The car parked outside was almost certainly a tool of the Sunni insurgency.  It was pocked with bullet holes and bore fake license plates.  The trunk had cases of unused sniper bullets and a notice to a Shiite family telling them to abandon their home.

Gerald R. Ford  —  Gerald R. Ford was an accidental president, his tenure brief, his legacy limited.  Yet he was the right man summoned at the right time to begin the necessary process of healing a country exhausted by war abroad and scandal at home.  Elevated to the nation's top job …

Reid to miss Ford funeral  —  WASHINGTON - Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will miss the state funeral for former President Gerald Ford at the Capitol Rotunda on Saturday night, opting instead to lead a delegation to South America with an expected stop at the Machu Picchu Inca ruins.

Exclusive: Hizbullah paying terrorists for Kassam attacks  —  Hizbullah is paying Palestinian splinter groups "thousands of dollars" for each Kassam rocket fired at the western Negev, The Jerusalem Post has learned.  —  According to Israeli intelligence information, Hizbullah is smuggling cash …

White House to Joe Biden: Hold Your Horses on Rejecting Iraq Troop Surge  —  NEW YORK At today's press gaggle in Crawford, Texas, Scott Stanzel, pinch-hitting for White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, described the president's reaction to the death of Gerald R. Ford and his upcoming meetings to discuss his next moves in Iraq.

At The Corner, Iraq News That Isn't  —  Reader SB points us to an entry today at The Corner, a blog belonging to National Review magazine, entitled "FROM IRAQ: A MARINE'S NOTES."  —  Among other things, the unnamed Marine tells the National Review that:

Hussein Urges Iraqis Not to Hate U.S.-Led Forces  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to embrace ''brotherly coexistence'' and not to hate U.S.-led foreign troops in a goodbye letter posted on a Web site Wednesday, a day after Iraq's highest court upheld his death sentence and ordered him hanged within 30 days.

Contract  —  On the Web:  —  Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132  —  Public contact: or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1  —  FOR RELEASE AT  —  5 p.m. ET  —  No. 1320-06  —  CONTRACTS  —  ARMY  —  Honeywell International Inc., Phoenix, Ariz., was awarded on Dec. 21, 2006 …

Huff Post blogger on THIS WEEK and George Will is a complete Ass  —  On "This Week,' with George Stephanopoulos, HuffPo's new political editor, Melinda Henneberger, joined ABC National Security Correspondent Jonathan Karl and columnist George Will to discuss the politics of the surge and the very despicable Virgil Goode.