MTP Transcript for Jan. 7, 2007  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Is the president on the verge of sending tens of thousands of more American troops to Iraq?  How would this so-called surge change the situation on the ground?  With us, for the Democrats, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware …

War Could Last Years, Commander Says  —  The new American operational commander in Iraq said Sunday that even with the additional American troops likely to be deployed in Baghdad under President Bush's new war strategy it might take another "two or three years" for American and Iraqi forces to gain the upper hand in the war.

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 …

Plan Sets Series of Goals for Iraq Leaders  —  President Bush's new Iraq policy will establish a series of goals that the Iraqi government will be expected to meet to try to ease sectarian tensions and stabilize the country politically and economically, senior administration officials said Sunday.

Scientists See Potential In Amniotic Stem Cells  —  They Are Highly Versatile And Readily Available  —  A type of cell that floats freely in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women has been found to have many of the same traits as embryonic stem cells, including an ability to grow into brain …

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.

Revealed: preachers' messages of hate  —  Muslim worshippers are being urged by radical clerics to ignore British law  —  An undercover investigation has revealed disturbing evidence of Islamic extremism at a number of Britain's leading mosques and Muslim institutions, including an organisation praised by the Prime Minister.

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.

Cleric's story of abduction, torture  —  Letter opening salvo in CIA officers' trial  —  CAIRO — "This is how they kidnapped me from Italy ... and how they tortured and imprisoned me in Egypt."  —  So begins a 6,300-word, handwritten letter, composed in an Egyptian prison cell by radical Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr.

Maria Leavey, 52; Political Consultant  —  Maria Leavey, a behind-the-scenes media force for liberal causes who had an uncanny ability to bring opinion makers together with Washington's political elite, died of heart disease Dec. 31 at her apartment in Arlington.  On Jan. 1 she would have turned 53.

If the eco-snobs had their way, none of us would go anywhere  —  Is your journey really necessary?  Who would have thought that, in the absence of world war and in the midst of unprecedented prosperity, the state would be telling us not to travel?  —  Just as ordinary working people had begun …

I'M AT THE SONY EVENT NOW, where everything is blue to promote Blu-Ray.  It makes for cool pictures, anyway.  —  UPDATE: So far the big announcement is that new Bravia TVs will stream HD content via the Internet, in partnership with Yahoo, AOL, and Grouper.