Press Conference by the President  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming in on an icy day.  I have just finished a conversation with General David Petraeus.  He gave me his first briefing from Iraq.  He talked about the Baghdad security plan.  It's the plan that I described to the nation last January …

On the Mystery of Muqtada al-Sadr's Disappearance  —  US government sources are saying that nationalist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fled to neighboring Iran three weeks ago.  Sadrist aides denied the report.  —  This on a day when two major bombings left 66 persons wounded or dead in the capital …

House Democrats' New Strategy: Force Slow End to War  —  Led by Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., and supported by several well-funded anti-war groups, the coalition's goal is to limit or sharply reduce the number of U.S. troops available for the Iraq conflict, rather than to openly cut off funding for the war itself.

Explosion in Iran Kills Busload of Al Quds Members!!  —  An explosion today killed a reported 18 Al Quds members traveling in a bus in southeastern Iran.  —  Fars News is carrying this picture of one of those arrested after the blast earlier today  —  A car bomb exploded killing 18 Al Quds members today in Zahedan, Iran:

Rep. Ellison calls the cops to snuff Tancredo's cigar  —  Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) believes it is his right as a Muslim to be sworn into Congress with the Quran.  But apparently, the freshman lawmaker doesn't believe it's Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-Colo.) right to smoke a cigar in his congressional office.

America's view of Republicans crumbles in Iraq  —  According to the latest Gallup survey, Republican self-identification has declined nationally and in almost every American state.  Why?  The short answer is that President Bush's war of choice in Iraq has destroyed the partisan brand Republicans spent the past four decades building.

Neoconservatives hate liberty as much as they love war  —  Frank Gaffney, one of the country's most influential and well-connected neoconservatives, has a column in today's Washington Times in which he argues that the debate taking place in Congress over the war in Iraq constitutes treason.

6 minutes of horror … In just six minutes, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic left a tragic path of destruction that forever changed the lives of dozens of people.  —  "His intent was to shoot as many people as he possibly could," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank.

Candidates Find A New Stump In the Blogosphere  —  Nearly a year before the first caucuses and primaries take place, the 2008 presidential campaign advertising war is under way online.  —  Candidates of both parties are already buying space on search engines, blogs and other Internet sites popular …

War with Iran is in no one's interests  —  'War in Iraq, war in Iran?  " That's a headline I saw in Britain earlier this week.  In Washington, the headlines read more like "Tentative nuclear deal reached with North Korea" and "Obama must show more than potential", but never mind …

Libby and Cheney Won't Testify, Says the Defense  —  Lawyers defending I. Lewis Libby Jr. against perjury charges surprised the courtroom on Tuesday by saying that they would rest their case this week and do so without putting on the stand either Mr. Libby or Vice President Dick Cheney.