Taking One for the Team, When He Could Remember  —  Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was in his fourth hour testifying yesterday about the firing of federal prosecutors when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy cut him off.

Testimony by Giuliani Indicates He Was Briefed on Kerik in '00  —  Rudolph W. Giuliani told a grand jury that his former chief investigator remembered having briefed him on some aspects of Bernard B. Kerik's relationship with a company suspected of ties to organized crime before Mr. Kerik's appointment …

Gunmen Go On Rampage In Iraqi City  —  Killings Are Revenge For Blasts in Tall Afar  —  A day after twin truck bombings laid waste to predominantly Shiite neighborhoods in the northern Iraqi city of Tall Afar, marauding Shiite gunmen and police executed dozens of Sunnis in retaliatory attacks …

Which Is 'The Real War'?  —  "Our bill calls for the redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq so that we can focus more fully on the real war on terror, which is in Afghanistan."  —  The Senate and the House have both passed bills for ending the Iraq war, or at least liquidating the American involvement in it.

Video: Rosie melts down on "The View"  —  I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the video against which all future Rosie clips will be compared.  Never has so much useful idiocy about so many subjects been compressed into so little time.  —  It's her finest hour.

Arabs Call on Israel To Take Peace Offer  —  Arab leaders on Thursday reiterated their offer to normalize ties with Israel and showed signs of flexibility in their terms for peace.  —  At a news conference at the end of a summit where the Arab leaders' peace plan was the main issue on the agenda …

Fox's Ann Coulter 2.0  —  Conserva-babe and star-in-the-making Rachel Marsden has a, um, colorful past.  What was Fox thinking?  —  "Maybe [Pakistani cricket fans] should focus less on cricket and a little more on hygiene," opined Rachel Marsden on a recent episode of Fox News' middle-of-the-night talk oddity "Red Eye."

Chastized head of local FBI office anounces retirement  —  SAN DIEGO - San Diego FBI chief Dan Dzwilewski, who was rebuked by superiors for publicly defending ousted U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, has announced his retirement.  —  Dzwilewski, who has been at the helm of the San Diego office since July 2003 …

Tehran raises the stakes in hostage crisis  —  Second 'confession' letter released questioning UK's presence in Iraq  —  The Iranian hostage crisis took a sinister turn last night when Tehran withdrew an earlier offer to release one of the 15 captive sailors and marines and issued a second …

Boehner Repeatedly Mispronounces 'Tuskegee' During Congressional Ceremony  —  The Tuskegee airmen were the U.S. military's first group of African American fighter pilots, an elite unit that served with distinction during World War II only to return home to face to discrimination and harassment.

Justices Weigh Opening New Phase on Guantánamo  —  The start of military commission proceedings has opened one new chapter in the five-year saga of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay.  The Supreme Court may soon open another.  —  The court is likely to announce within days whether …