Al-Maliki gives Mahdi Army blunt choice: disarm or face American onslaught  —  Canadian Press: STEVEN R. HURST AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA  —  BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's prime minister has told Mahdi Army militiamen they must surrender their arms or face an all-out assault by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces …

Report: U.S. Troops Raid Iranian Consulate in Iraq  —  U.S. troops raided an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq late Wednesday night and detained several people, Iran's main news agency reported today, prompting protests from Tehran just hours after President Bush pledged to crack down on the Islamic Republic's role in Iraqi violence.

Bush Adds Troops in Bid to Secure Iraq  —  President Bush embraced a major tactical shift on Wednesday evening in the war in Iraq when he declared that the only way to quell sectarian violence there was to send more than 20,000 additional American troops into combat.

J-DAMN  —  And so a major Associated Press claim in "Jamilgate" takes an apparently fatal hit.  —  According to Bill Costlow of CPATT (Civilian Police Assistance Training Team) in Baghdad, and as forwarded by Lt. Michael Dean of Multinational Corps-Iraq/Joint Operations Command Public Affairs …

Poll: 70 percent oppose more troops in Iraq  —  Only 35 percent of respondents believe going to war was the right call  —  WASHINGTON - Americans overwhelmingly oppose sending more U.S. forces to Iraq, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll that serves as a strong repudiation of President Bush's plan to send another 21,500 troops.

At least Bush wants to win  —  Bush sticks to his goal of winning in Iraq.  The Democrats are just stuck.  —  AMERICANS ARE torn between two irreconcilable positions on the Iraq war.  Some want the war to be a success — variously defined — and some want the war to be over.

Breaking: Dean Chooses Denver  —  The labor pains were hard, but the DNC finally has its 2008 convention city locked down: Denver.  —  A Democrat who was briefed said that chairman Howard Dean made the final decision yesterday, weeks later than planned.  DNC comm. dir.  Karen Finney declined to confirm the choice.

DLC TAPS HAROLD FORD AS NEXT CHAIR  —  Young, black, and good-looking, Harold Ford is the kind of comer that the Democratic Party latches onto.  But last November, after losing the closest Senate race in Tennessee history to Republican Bob Corker, the 10-year congressman suddenly found himself out of a job.

Liveblogging The Bush Speech  —  (8:55) OK, 5 minutes until the Bush speech.  Let's hope that he has spent a few hours getting prepared.  —  (9:00) Back in October 25, 2006 — I wrote a piece called The Way Forward in Iraq.  In it, I wrote: … It sounds like that's what we're doing.

Use the power of the purse  —  Keeping our brave troops in Iraq indefinitely is having a devastating impact on our national security and military readiness.  —  That's why I have consistently advocated that we set a timetable to redeploy our troops from Iraq.

The Mess at State  —  Members of the Senate intelligence committee, Republicans and Democrats alike, were alarmed last week that John Negroponte was leaving as director of national intelligence after less than two years to become deputy secretary of state.  By way of explanation …

A Few Choice Words, Including 'Mistakes'  —  Looking tense, rigid and, appropriately enough, unyielding, George W. Bush gave what CBS anchor Katie Couric called "arguably his most important speech ever" from the library of the White House last night, calling for more troops to be sent to Iraq …

US Marines build sand walls in latest Iraq tactic  —  Adapting ideas tracing back from ancient history to modern Israel, US Marines have sealed off flashpoint towns with sand walls in a new counter-insurgency tactic to quell the wilds of western Iraq.  —  Driving across the desert to Haditha …