BBC: Blair to announce troop pullout from Iraq  —  At least 1,500 to return home within the next several weeks, report says  —  LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce Wednesday a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, with 1,500 to return home in several weeks, the BBC reported.

Initial Thoughts on Boumediene  —  The U.S. Court of Appeals today by a 2-1 vote dismissed the pending habeas corpus petitons of hundreds of Guantanamo detainees.  In an opinion by Judge Randolph, joined by Judge Sentelle, the court held (i) that the Military Commissions Act stripped …

Helen Thomas Moving Back After 46 Years Down Front  —  Every theater-style seat in the White House briefing room, now closed for renovation, had a brass plaque inscribed with the name of a news organization.  Only one, in the middle of the front row, had a name: "HELEN THOMAS," it said.

NRSC "Inner Circle Member" Indicted On Terror Charges  —  According to the Associated Press, Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, a self-proclaimed life member of the National Republican Senatorial Committee's "Inner Circle Leadership Committee" has been indicted on charges of financing a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

LET ALIENS VOTE: ACTIVISTS  —  Immigrant-rights activists yesterday renewed their push to allow legal noncitizens to vote in the Big Apple.  —  A bill that would grant permanent residents and other legal immigrants the right to vote in municipal elections has been stalled in the City Council since last year.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF DENIAL  —  The consequences of psychological denial can be seen every day in today's world; and particularly of late in the Democratically controlled United States Congress.  Ed Koch writes: … Of course they won't.  —  That is one of the incredibly wonderful aspects of psychological denial.

Iraq War Attitudes  —  Public Opinion Strategies* has released a survey [PDF file here] of likely voters' attitudes toward the Iraq War that finds that most voters think the country is going in the wrong direction (67%) and President Bush is doing a poor job (60%), and that Iraq will never be a stable democracy (60%).

Obama, McCaskill Plan Military Hospitals Bill  —  Seizing on an investigative report by The Washington Post's Dana Priest and Anne Hull, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) will introduce legislation next week to require more frequent inspections of hospitals providing treatment to active-duty military personnel.

Police say political dispute with stranger got physical  —  Man's Republican beliefs irritate suspect  —  A Fredericksburg man was arrested Saturday on charges he assaulted three strangers at their home during a dispute over politics, police said.  —  According to a Fredericksburg police report …

Clinton stresses credentials  —  N.Y. senator tells Columbia crowd she has experience needed to be president  —  Hillary Clinton told a crowd of more than 3,000 at Allen University on Monday she's "proud to be a woman," but she's not basing a run for president on her gender.

"Tell the American people we need the U.S. Army here:" An Interview with the Jundi  —  An Interview with the Jundi  —  (L to R) Iraqi Army soldiers Jabbar, Mohaned F, Mohaned N and Mohammed sit in their room at Forward Operating Base Castle in NE Fallujah.

Tormented first by hiccups, now by media … ST. PETERSBURG - The notes under the door.  The incessant phone calls.  The impassioned pleas, all begging for a piece of the story.  —  It wasn't reporters in search of secret intelligence involving the war in Iraq.

Female Pakistani minister shot dead for 'breaking Islamic dress code'  —  Devika Bhat, and Zahid Hussain in Islamabad  —  A Pakistani minister and woman's activist has been shot dead by an Islamic extremist for refusing to wear the veil.  —  Zilla Huma Usman, the minister for social welfare …

All these President's men leaked CIA agent's name  —  WASHINGTON - Any staffer proven to have leaked CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity "would no longer be in this administration," former White House spokesman Scott McClellan promised in September 2003.  —  But three years later …

Teen 'sport killings' of homeless on the rise … MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (CNN) — All Nathan Moore says he wanted to do was smoke pot and get drunk with his friends.  —  Killing Rex Baum was never part of the plan that day in 2004.  —  "It all started off as a game," Moore said.

Maybe We Deserve to Be Ripped Off By Bush's Billionaires  —  While America obsessed about Brittany's shaved head, Bush offered a budget that offers $32.7 billion in tax cuts to the Wal-Mart family alone, while cutting $28 billion from Medicaid.  —  What was she thinking?  How about nothing?