NIE: The Surge Can't Work  —  Wow, this is grim.  According to the just-released Key Judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, political reconciliation is likely a bridge too far over the next year and a half.  —  The Sunnis remain "unwilling to accept minority status" …

Climate Panel Issues Urgent Warning to Curb Gases  —  The world is already committed to centuries of warming, shifting weather patterns and rising seas from the atmospheric buildup of gases that trap heat, but the warming can be substantially blunted by prompt action, an international network of climate experts said today.

The Edwards-Marcotte Fiasco  —  An astute observer of this case recommends analyzing events through the prism of what he's termed the "courage-meter."  People in positions of authority have displayed little or no courage to do the right thing throughout this affair.

Molly Ivins Shook the Walls With Her Clarion Call  —  The walls have not come down, but they have been given a serious shaking.  —  That Jericho voice is stilled now.  —  Molly Ivins has been quieted.  —  The writer and journalist, dearly loved and admired by many, hated and feared by many …

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS MOST COMFORTABLE WITH RUDY GIULIANI AS PRESIDENT  —  NEW YORK — More voters say they would be comfortable with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as president than other top 2008 contenders, though majorities would also be comfortable with other leaders from both parties …

Edwards On Iran  —  TAP talks to John Edwards about America's foreign policy challenges in the Middle East. … EK: So, the Iran speech to Herzliya.  That caused me to think a little bit more about what we had spoken about Iraq [in a previous interview].  And so I wanted to talk to you for a minute about —

Video: Imam prays to stop 'oppression and occupation' at DNC meeting Update: Imam ID'd Update: More info on Imam  —  The Democratic National Committee is in the midst of its winter meeting.  Here's the convocation for today's festivities, offered by an imam.  —  Transcript:

The Hands of God  —  A Village, North of Mosul: Friday 26 January 07  —  He was dressed as a woman as he walked down the alley toward the mosque full of worshippers.  It was Friday, just before Ashura, and the air was chilled.  —  The bomb strapped to his body was studded with ball-bearings …

Iranians seized in attack on Hamas enclave  —  JERUSALEM: Seven Iranian weapons experts were seized yesterday in a raid by Fatah-affiliated security forces on the Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold in Gaza City.  —  Amid an escalation in the confrontation between Hamas and Fatah Palestinian factions …

Mohammed Cartoon updates  —  The lying, jihadist Danish imam who helped instigate the Mohammed cartoon riots by touring  —  the Middle East with bogus pictures it attributed the Jyllands-Post has died (hat tip: Sugiero).  —  Abu Laban had cancer: … "Was thrust?"  Actually, he thrust himself.

Police praise Muslim soldiers who acted as 'bait' for beheading gang  —  Two British Muslim soldiers targeted by the alleged beheading gang were used in an extraordinary "sting" operation to snare their assassins, it has emerged.  —  The courageous pair agreed to act like "tethered goats" …

Bush administration seeks $245B for wars  —  WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will ask for another $100 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and seek $145 billion for 2008, a senior administration official said Friday.

Who's to Blame for The Killing  —  This week the internecine warfare in Iraq, already bewildering — Sunni vs. Shiite, Kurd vs. Arab, jihadist vs. infidel, with various Iranians, Syrians and assorted freelancers thrown into the maelstrom — went bizarre.  In one of the biggest battles of the war …

Dispatches From the Scooter Libby Trial  —  My former Time colleague Matt Cooper took the stand Wednesday and faced what no journalist wants to—a display of his notes and e-mails on a big TV screen.  It's not just journalists who don't want this: I'm sure Scooter Libby doesn't like seeing his notes up there either.

Perky Economy Starts to Relieve Worker Angst  —  Maybe the U.S. economy added 111,000 jobs last month, but maybe it didn't.  Given that the Labor Department later revised higher its monthly jobs numbers 75 percent of the time last year, there's a good chance the final number for January will be somewhere north of 111,000.

Defense Official Resigns Over Detainee Remarks  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Pentagon official resigned Friday over controversial remarks in which he criticized lawyers who represent terrorism suspects, the Defense Department said.  —  Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Charles ''Cully'' Stimson …

Student's Recording of Teacher's Views Leads to a Ban on Taping  —  After a public school teacher was recorded telling students they belonged in hell if they did not accept Jesus as their savior, the school board has banned taping in class without an instructor's permission …

Another U.S. helicopter lost in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. Army helicopter crashed Friday in a hail of gunfire north of Baghdad, police and witnesses said — the fourth lost in Iraq in the last two weeks.  The U.S. command said two crew members were killed, and the top U.S. general conceded …