Pelosi: Congress Will Not Fund Escalation If Bush Does Not Justify It  —  This morning on CBS's Face the Nation, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that Congress may refuse to authorize funding for an escalation of U.S. forces to Iraq if President Bush cannot justify the strategy.

Suspicious truck stopped at the Port of Miami-Dade  —  Federal and county authorities have arrested as many as three Middle Eastern men at the Port of Miami-Dade after they tried to enter the facility Sunday morning without proper paperwork, officials said.  —  An FBI spokeswoman in Miami …

A 'Surge' in Iraq?  —  A troop increase that few in the Pentagon, Congress or the Iraqi government really want  —  PRESIDENT BUSH is widely expected to unveil a new strategy for Iraq this week that will include a substantial increase in U.S. troops.  If he does, he will face a formidable task …

Israel Denies Planning Iran Nuke Attack  —  LONDON (AP) — A British newspaper reported Sunday that Israel has drafted plans to strike as many as three targets in Iran with low-yield nuclear weapons, aiming to halt Tehran's uranium enrichment program.  The Israeli Foreign Ministry denied the report.

McCain backers fear they could lose new Florida governor's support  —  Publication of Rudy Giuliani's secret campaign plan has so embarrassed Florida's new Gov. Charles Crist that supporters of Sen. John McCain fear it might backfire against their campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

I Just Don't Get It  —  This is discouraging. … There are several serious problems here.  — Allowing Bush to escalate the war is unwise.  (Note that Biden told Bush last month, after the election, that there was nothing the Democrats would do to stop him on the war.

The Invasion of the Alpha Male Democrat  —  NANCY PELOSI'S carefully crafted introduction to the American people last week seemed to reinforce some stereotypes of the so-called mommy party.  On the day she made history as the first woman to be elected speaker, she appeared on the House floor …

Terms Limits for Congressional Committee Chieftains  —  Props to Markos and the New York Times' Carl Hulsey for noting something in the just-enacted Democratic House rules package that I missed: the retention of Newt Gingrich's one good idea—term limits on committee chairmen.

Future of Iraq: The spoils of war  —  How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches  —  Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi parliament within days.