Turnaround in Baghdad  —  There has been a flurry of press reports recently about insurgents battling American and Iraqi security forces on Haifa Street in Baghdad, and around the rural town of Buhruz in Diyala Province.  These same insurgents also claimed to have shot down a Black Hawk helicopter near Buhruz.

2008: Hillary vs McCain?  —  Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner to win the Democratic party's nomination for President in 2008, but the Republican race will be a close contest between Senator John McCain and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani — with McCain edging Giuliani by a three- to four-point margin.

Congress's Iraq Quagmire  —  ON TUESDAY nearly every member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warmly endorsed Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the new U.S. commander in Iraq, and a number wished him success or "Godspeed" in his mission.  Yesterday some of the same senators voted …

Angry Dispute Erupts Among Iraqi Lawmakers  —  Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's presentation of a new Baghdad security plan to the Iraqi Parliament on Thursday broke down in bitter sectarian recriminations, with Mr. Maliki threatening a Sunni Arab lawmaker with arrest and, in response …

Senate GOP Leadership Tries To Eliminate Federal Minimum Wage  —  Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), evidently convinced that he was beating a dead horse by continuing his quest to ban flag-burning and discriminate against gay people, announced this month that he would not seek reelection in 2008 …

Pelosi Says She Wasn't Consulted On Iraq  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that President George W. Bush did not consult her before announcing his new strategy for the war in Iraq — a sign that, despite the cozy rhetoric, the relationship between Washington's two powerhouses has already had its share of friction.

Rockefeller: Cheney applied 'constant' pressure to stall investigation on flawed Iraq intelligence  —  WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney exerted "constant" pressure on the Republican former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee to stall an investigation into the Bush administration's use …

Helping Lara Logan  —  Sometimes it's hard to swim in the mainstream.  —  There has been much heated debate over the past few years over media coverage of the Iraq War.  The Bush administration has repeatedly attacked the 'liberal bias' of the mainstream news industry …

In Ex-Aide's Testimony, A Spin Through VP's PR  —  Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.  —  This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took …

Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq  —  Administration Strategy Stirs Concern Among Some Officials  —  The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran's influence across …

Libby Live: Cathie Martin, Three  —  Breaking!  Word from one of the (male) journalists: Ari Fleischer is in the bathroom.  He uses the bathroom just like anyone else.  He doesn't know whether he's going to testify today.  —  I bet you're glad I told you that...  Well still up [questioning Martin].

Being Inmate No. 1187055  —  Genarlow Wilson is standing on a threshold all right, at the end of the last hall of Burruss Correctional Training Center, an hour and a half south of Atlanta.  He's just a few feet from the mechanical door that closes with a goosebump-raising whurr and clang.

Jimmy Carter: Too many Jews on Holocaust council  —  Former president also rejected Christian historian because name sounded 'too Jewish'  —  TEL AVIV - Former President Jimmy Carter once complained there were "too many Jews" on the government's Holocaust Memorial Council, Monroe Freedman …

Who Was Milton Friedman?  —  1.  —  The history of economic thought in the twentieth century is a bit like the history of Christianity in the sixteenth century.  Until John Maynard Keynes published The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money in 1936, economics …

Run, Al, Run  —  The ideal candidate for the Democrats may be the man who won the popular vote in 2000 — and who opposed the war in Iraq from the very start  —  A stiff Vice President campaigns on his administration's legacy of unprecedented prosperity.  Looks terrible on TV.