Buoyant Teheran warns of further kidnappings  —  Hardliners in the Iranian regime have warned that the seizure of British naval personnel demonstrates that they can make trouble for the West whenever they want to and do so with impunity.  —  The bullish reaction from Teheran will reinforce …

Justice's Holy Hires  —  Monica Goodling had a problem.  As senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Justice Department liaison to the White House, she no longer seemed to know what the truth was.  She also must have been increasingly unclear about who her superiors were.

White House Looked Past Alarms on Kerik  —  Giuliani, Gonzales Pushed DHS Bid Forward  —  When former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani urged President Bush to make Bernard B. Kerik the next secretary of homeland security, White House aides knew Kerik as the take-charge top cop from Sept. 11, 2001.

The War You're Not Reading About  —  I just returned from my fifth visit to Iraq since 2003 — and my first since Gen. David Petraeus's new strategy has started taking effect.  For the first time, our delegation was able to drive, not use helicopters, from the airport to downtown Baghdad.

Pope: 'How much suffering' in the world … VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI decried suffering in much of the world in his Easter Sunday message, lamenting that "nothing positive" is happening in Iraq and voicing worry over unrest and instability in Afghanistan and bloodshed in parts of Africa and Asia.

North Koreans Arm Ethiopians as U.S. Assents  —  Three months after the United States successfully pressed the United Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea because of the country's nuclear test, Bush administration officials allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from the North …

Fury as the hostages sell stories  —  The 15 British military captives who were released by the Iranians have been authorised by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to sell their stories.  —  MoD officials claimed that the move to lift the ban on military personnel selling their stories …

Plug it in, fire it up, Mr. President  —  Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.  —  Mulally told journalists at the New York auto show that he intervened to prevent President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank …

2 Years After Big Speech, a Lower Key for Obama  —  Senator Barack Obama is not big on what he calls red-meat applause lines when he campaigns in small communities like this one, 45 miles northeast of Des Moines.  He does not tell many jokes.  He talks in even, measured tones …

no, glenn . . .  . . . he's in Nashville.  —  Nashvillians didn't need to read the Tennessean to learn that Al Gore flew into town last night.  They knew by the time they reached the end of their driveways to get the paper that the Gore Effect had caused temperatures to dramatically drop here this Easter weekend.

Iranian diplomat says CIA tortured him … TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian diplomat, freed this week after being abducted in Iraq, accused the CIA of torturing him during his two-month detention, Iranian state television reported Saturday.  —  The United States immediately denied any involvement …

Politics Collide With Iraq Realities  —  There are two Iraq wars being waged, according to military officers on the ground and defense experts: the one fought in the streets of Baghdad, and the war as it is perceived in Washington.  —  Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who took over as the top U.S. commander …

Fred Thompson's Idea of 'Reform'  —  A man walking along the edge of a cliff slips and plummets toward jagged rocks and crashing surf, barely saving himself by clinging to the cliff's face.  But the cliff is too steep to climb, so he shouts, "Is anyone up there?"