A Reluctant Rebel's Yell  —  From Vietnam to Capitol Hill, Chuck Hagel has never been afraid to fight.  Now he talks about what could be his biggest battle yet: a run for the White House.  —  Chuck Hagel wears pain on his face.  The senior senator from Nebraska earned two Purple Hearts in Vietnam …

Brownback Knocks Down Lieberman Claim That Iraq Resolutions 'Encourage The Enemy'  —  This morning on Fox News, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) echoed the Bush administration and claimed that people who oppose escalation in Iraq are emboldening terrorists.  "[I]t will discourage our troops …

Bin Laden, The Left and Me  —  As a conservative author, I'm used to a little controversy.  Even so, the reaction to my new book, "The Enemy at Home," has felt, well, a little hysterical.  —  "Ratfink writes new book," James Wolcott, cultural critic for Vanity Fair, declares in his blog.

Still Standing (Technically)  —  This isn't a slam, Michelle.  No, really: It's just a critique on a few minor points of your Iraq reporting — some constructive criticism for the next time that you and your boy ward set out to demolish the liberal MSM's war coverage during a couple of days in-country.

Grand Delusion  —  It's quite a juxtaposition.  In Iraq, American soldiers are finally beginning the hard job of establishing a measure of peace, security and order in critical sections of Baghdad — the essential prerequisite for the lasting political solution everyone claims to want.

Nuclear plans in chaos as Iran leader flounders  —  Boasts of a nuclear programme are just propaganda, say insiders, but the PR could be enough to provoke Israel into war  —  Iran's efforts to produce highly enriched uranium, the material used to make nuclear bombs, are in chaos and the country …

Nina Totenberg, NPR Biography  —  Nina Totenberg is National Public Radio's award-winning legal affairs correspondent.  Her reports air regularly on NPR's critically acclaimed newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.  —  Totenberg's coverage of the Supreme Court …

Iraq cultivates ties to Democrats  —  Expecting both U.S. parties to play a role in shaping policy, Baghdad starts building new relationships.  —  BAGHDAD — Representatives of Iraq's government are hedging their bets on America's political future, hoping to keep U.S. support for their country strong …

It Has Unraveled So Quickly  —  A PAINFUL measure of just how much Iraq has changed in the four years since I started coming here is contained in my cellphone.  Many numbers in the address book are for Iraqis who have either fled the country or been killed.  One of the first Sunni politicians: gunned down.

Jeb Bush Rallies Conservatives at Summit  —  Non-Candidate Shows Ability to Excite the Party  —  At a time when the conservative movement is looking bereft, humbled by midterm-election defeats and hungering for a presidential candidate to rally around, Jeb Bush delivered yesterday in Washington …

Hamas, Fatah Clashes Continue in Gaza  —  Gunmen from rival Hamas and Fatah movements battle each other in Gaza; 25 dead since Thursday  —  (AP) Hamas and Fatah gunmen battled each other in the streets Sunday, having sent civilians fleeing from their homes in an increasingly bloody power struggle …

Unhappy Meals  —  Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.  —  That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.  I hate to give away the game right here at the beginning of a long essay …

A deal in the desert for Sen. Reid?  —  A bill he wrote could have affected the friend who sold the land.  —  BULLHEAD CITY, ARIZ. — It's hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre.  But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a …

Is There a Kind of Multipolar Security Spiral now Taking Place in Northeast Asia?  —  I moderated the Davos dinner panel on "The Changing Military Calculus on the Korean Peninsula."  There was a terrific, and frank, discussion (see Julian Glover's post, "Davos 07: five points about North Korea" …

Accurate, but Not the Whole Story  —  Accurate stories can be misleading.  Two recent Page 1 stories — one on the Fairfax County libraries and the other on the sale of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards's Georgetown house — brought complaints that there was less there than met the reader's eye.

Thousands Protest Bush Policy  —  Actors, Activists, Politicians and a Presidential Candidate Among Demonstrators  —  A raucous and colorful multitude of protesters, led by some of the aging activists of the past, staged a series of rallies and a march on the Capitol yesterday to demand that the United States end its war in Iraq.