16, 273 Deaths Reported in Iraq in 2006  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — As enraged crowds protested the hanging of Saddam Hussein across Iraq's Sunni heartland Monday, government officials reported that 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006, a figure larger …

Chaos Overran Iraq Plan in '06, Bush Team Says  —  WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 — President Bush began 2006 assuring the country that he had a "strategy for victory in Iraq."  He ended the year closeted with his war cabinet on his ranch trying to devise a new strategy, because the existing one had collapsed.

Hijacking Eid and Hanging Saddam  —  Timing and Hostile Repartee Creates Further Division  —  Saddam Hussein became the first modern Arab dictator to die violently since Egypt's Anwar Sadat in 1981.  Saddam's hanging at the hands of chubby Iraqi men wearing ski masks is likely to be perceived …

Democrats To Start Without GOP Input  —  As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.  —  House Democrats intend to pass …

Power-Sipping Bulbs Get Backing From Wal-Mart  —  As a way to cut energy use, it could not be simpler.  Unscrew a light bulb that uses a lot of electricity and replace it with one that uses much less.  —  While it sounds like a promising idea, it turns out that the long-lasting …

'Israel-Palestinian conflict key to Mideast problems'  —  Ban Ki-Moon, the new secretary-general of the United Nations, said on Monday that the Israeli-Palestinian issue was at the core of solving all the problems in the Middle East.  —  In an interview with the South Korean Hankyoreh newspaper …

Good Portents for 2007  —  I just wanted to point out something that gave me a lot of hope today.  Sue mentioned it in the comments — over at the WaPo, in response to Joe Lieberman's Op-Ed calling for a "troop surge," there are 37 pages of negative comments.

Hello, Grisham — So Long, Hemingway?  —  With Shelf Space Prized, Fairfax Libraries Cull Collections  —  You can't find "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" at the Fairfax City Regional Library anymore.  Or "The Education of Henry Adams" at Sherwood Regional.  Want Emily Dickinson's "Final Harvest"?

The Private Arm of the Law  —  Some Question the Granting of Police Power to Security Firms  —  RALEIGH, N.C. — Kevin Watt crouched down to search the rusted Cadillac he had stopped for cruising the parking lot of a Raleigh apartment complex with a broken light.

Corby fears jail transfer  —  WHAT Schapelle Corby calls her living hell in Bali's Kerobokan prison is about to get worse.  —  Indonesian authorities are set to transfer the 29-year-old Brisbane woman to a prison in the East Java city of Malang, hundreds of kilometres from Kerobokan …

The AP Changing It's Ways?  —  Here we go again with the AP.  Coalition forces had a firefight today in Baghdad in which they killed six of the enemy.  During the fight two buildings caught fire: … But the AP, using a "anonymous" police source now (cough), print how the police say it was a airstrike:

Our World: The longest-running big lie  —  Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Yasser Arafat was a master of the big lie.  Since he invented global terrorism with the founding of the Fatah terror organization in 1959, Arafat successfully portrayed himself as a freedom fighter while introducing the world …

The Eid Festival Around The World - Graphic Photos  —  The beauty of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival as it is celebrated around the world:  —  Of course people have to eat.  —  But maybe the celebration of this and similarly grisly rituals feeds their blood-thirstiness.

NRA Sounds Alarm of Not-So-Imminent Threat  —  In lobbying, a threat is good for business, whether it's genuine or not.  —  This might help to explain the dire warnings being issued by the National Rifle Association as the Democrats prepare to take control of Congress this week.

US Strategy in Iraq for 2007?  —  A informed reader believes the eventual shape of the President's future plan in Iraq is taking shape.  Pointing to informed speculation at Small Wars Journal, he thinks it is likely that there will be a "shift in mission" in Iraq, emphasizing a security solution …

From Father to Son, Last Words to Live By  —  He drew pictures of himself with angel wings.  He left a set of his dog tags on a nightstand in my Manhattan apartment.  He bought a tiny blue sweat suit for our baby to wear home from the hospital.  —  Then he began to write what would become …