Iraqis protest to mark Baghdad's fall  —  BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands draped themselves in Iraqi flags and marched peacefully through the streets of two Shiite holy cities Monday to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall.  Demonstrators were flanked by two cordons of police as they called …

Iran Says It's Able to Make Nuclear Fuel  —  NATANZ, Iran — Iran announced Monday that it has begun enriching uranium with 3,000 centrifuges, a dramatic expansion of a nuclear program that has drawn U.N. sanctions and condemnation from the West.  —  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad …

Pearls Before Breakfast  —  Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour?  Let's find out.  —  HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET.  By most measures, he was nondescript …

A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs  —  Is it too late to bring civility to the Web?  —  The conversational free-for-all on the Internet known as the blogosphere can be a prickly and unpleasant place.  Now, a few high-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code …

Elizabeth Edwards afraid of neighbor  —  She has never met `rabid Republican,' but wouldn't be nice  —  RALEIGH —Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home — and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor.

Imus Has Long Record of Incendiary Remarks  —  Incident is merely the latest in a long string of racial slurs and inflammatory comments documented by Media Matters  —  Washington, DC - Though Don Imus continued to apologize this morning for calling members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team …

GOOD QUESTION: "Under Bush, unemployment dropped to numbers seldom seen — far below the Clinton years.  Clinton's people counter with well, the stock market took off when he was prez.  Wait a second, aren't Republicans supposed to be the Wall Street guys while Democrats are the blue collar guys?"

Another Layer of Scandal  —  As Congress investigates the politicization of the United States attorney offices by the Bush administration, it should review the extraordinary events the other day in a federal courtroom in Wisconsin.  The case involved Georgia Thompson, a state employee sent …

Faye's amazing hostage story  —  and JULIE MOULT  —  FREED British hostage Faye Turney told last night how she feared she was being measured for her COFFIN by her evil Iranian captors.  —  The sickening charade was an act of mental torture — but to Navy sailor Faye it was terrifyingly real.

GOP-issued laptops now a White House headache  —  Democrats say a private e-mail system was used in violation of federal rules.  —  WASHINGTON — When Karl Rove and his top deputies arrived at the White House in 2001, the Republican National Committee provided them with laptop computers …

Video: Mary Katharine Ham defends Michelle on CNN  —  Karol and I and another guest had a mini-birthday party for her on Thursday night in NYC when she told us she was due to be on CNN the next day to tape a segment about harassment of female bloggers.  She swore she was going to give 'em …

Democrats Seek to Lead the Way in Tax Overhaul  —  House Democratic leaders, in an effort to upstage Republicans on the issue of tax cuts, are preparing legislation that would permanently shield all but the very richest taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax, which is likely to affect tens …

Exclusive: Afghanistan's Karzai Says Taliban, Al Qaeda Have Been 'Defeated'  —  Afghanistan's President Tells ABC News' Diane Sawyer That While His Country Needs More Help, 'The Taliban Is Not Coming Back'  —  Amid reports that thousands of suicide bombers and insurgents were getting ready …

Worse Than Apartheid?  —  BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Hani Hayek, an accountant who is the Christian mayor of the tiny majority-Christian Palestinian village of Beit Sahour, was angry last week as he drove me along the Israeli security wall.  "They are taking our communal lands," he said …

The Very Model...  Okay, sure, it's Isikoff.  So there is certainly an element of "let's plant this story to substantially lower expectations for the testimony" at play here.  After all, the name Ed Gillespie does appear in the story, which just screams "Hello.