Bush: 'I'm the decision-maker' in Iraq troops  —  President challenges lawmakers to give 'surge' plan a chance to work  —  President Bush, right, meets with Defense chief Robert Gates, left, and Army Lt. General David Petraeus at the White House.  —  NBC VIDEO  —  Jan. 26: President Bush speaks to reporters on Friday.

Hagel Ponders White House Run As War Criticism Raises His Profile  —  His Republican colleagues regard him warily.  The White House barely speaks to him.  He is reviled by his party's conservative base.  —  Looks as though Sen. Chuck Hagel is on a roll.  —  Both parties have their Iraq war contrarians.

Ex-Cheney Aide Contradicts Libby  —  A former spokeswoman for Vice President Dick Cheney gave testimony in the trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr. on Thursday that directly contradicted Mr. Libby's version of events during a crucial period that is at the center of the perjury case against him.

Secrecy Is at Issue in Suits Opposing Spy Program  —  The Bush administration has employed extraordinary secrecy in defending the National Security Agency's highly classified domestic surveillance program from civil lawsuits.  Plaintiffs and judges' clerks cannot see its secret filings.

Insurgents post video of downed copter  —  CAIRO, Egypt - An insurgent group that has claimed responsibility for the downing this week of a U.S. helicopter in Baghdad that killed five Americans posted a video Thursday on an Islamic Web site showing the wreckage and two bodies.

The vaulting ambition of America's Lady Macbeth  —  Hillary Clinton's shameless political reconstructive surgery  —  You can measure the scale of an American president's troubles by the number of skutniks he deploys during his State of the Union address.  —  Every year during …

Energy Independence?  —  A Serious Plan Requires Taxes, ANWR and Nukes  —  Is there anything more depressing than yet another promise of energy independence in yet another State of the Union address?  By my count, 24 of the 34 State of the Union addresses since the oil embargo of 1973 have proposed solutions to our energy problem.

The Right & the Wrong  —  Conservative Talker Glenn Beck Puts His Own Failings Up Front  —  The set of Glenn Beck's talk show on CNN Headline News looks like the rooftop patio of a posh apartment, complete with simulated bricks and a huge photo-realist mural of a SoHo block.

Feingold Pushes Plan to Cut Off War Funds  —  Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has scheduled a hearing next Tuesday in his Judiciary Committee subcommittee to explore whether Congress has the authority to cut off funding for the U.S. military campaign in Iraq.  The move comes as Congress prepares …

Al Qaeda-Cowed Nation Persecutes U.S. Soldiers  —  A Spanish court last week issued a "search and capture" warrant against three soldiers involved in the Hotel Palestine incident, in which Spanish cameraman Jose Cuoso and Reuters's Taras Protsyuk were killed.

Is Hollywood too timid for the war on terror?  —  Thanks to political correctness, you don't see much about the greatest conflict of our time on the big screen.  —  I RECENTLY attended "FBI 101," a G-man seminar for Hollywood writers.  I do this kind of thing a lot: law enforcement seminars …