Monica Goodling Testimony, Part I  —  (Shot of spilled beans via Dougalug.)  —  The House Judiciary Committee will be taking testimony from Monica Goodling this morning, beginning at 10:15 am ET in 2141 Rayburn.  C-Span3 and C-Span radio will be broadcasting the testimony live.

Bush: Bin Laden tried to start Iraq unit  —  NEW LONDON, Conn. - President Bush, stressing that Americans face an ongoing threat from terrorists, shared intelligence on Wednesday asserting that Osama bin Laden was working in 2005 to set up a unit inside Iraq to hit U.S. targets.

Survey: U.S. Muslims Assimilated, Opposed to Extremism  —  Unlike Muslim minorities in many European countries, U.S. Muslims are highly assimilated, close to parity with other Americans in income and overwhelmingly opposed to Islamic extremism, according to the first major, nationwide random survey of Muslims.

Guest-worker program dodges its first bullet  —  The guest-worker program in the new immigration bill survived its first test late yesterday but remains under siege.  —  The debate pits resurgent Democratic populists against negotiators determined to hold together the tenuous immigration reform deal.

Political Memo: Giuliani Above the Fray as McCain and Romney Skirmish  —  The contrast could hardly be more striking.  Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney have been mixing it up on the trail with increasing intensity ever since their feisty exchange at the last Republican debate.

DEMOCRATS FIND ETHICS OVERHAUL ELUSIVE IN HOUSE  —  House Democratic leaders pushing a promised lobbying overhaul are facing resistance from balky lawmakers and fending off accusations that a prominent member is flouting new ethics rules.  —  The Democratic leaders were forced to scrap …

IAEA Report Contradicts Major Media Narrative On Iran  —  I read the IAEA interim report this morning with my tea.  One thing which is very clear is that in many respects the Iranians are not being cooperative, especially in three key areas: … This comes as no surprise and is not the most urgent aspect …

WOLFOWITZ AND GAL PAL SPLIT UP  —  PAUL Wolfowitz has really had a bad couple of weeks.  He not only lost his job, he lost his girlfriend, too.  —  Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was pushed out as president of the World Bank over a controversial pay and promotion package …

Democrats Pull Troop Deadline From Iraq Bill  —  Congressional Democrats relented Tuesday on their insistence that a war spending measure set a date for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq.  Instead, they moved toward a deal with President Bush that would impose new conditions on the Iraqi government.

McClatchy's D.C. Bureau Claims It's Barred From Defense Secretary Plane  —  NEW YORK Staffers at McClatchy's Washington, D.C., Bureau — one of the few major news outlets skeptical of intelligence reports during the run-up to the war in Iraq — claims it is now being punished for that coverage.

Call me Lopez, presidential hopeful says  —  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the heartland of America he is just Gov. Bill Richardson.  But in big Hispanic states like California the Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful tells voters he is also a Lopez.  —  "California has a lot of Hispanic voters …

Bush may turn to UN in search for Iraq solution  —  If troop surge fails, strategy is to involve other nations under UN umbrella  —  The Bush administration is developing plans to "internationalise" the Iraq crisis, including an expanded role for the United Nations, as a way of reducing …

Video: Nuclear war erupts on "The View"  —  With Rosie on her way out I guess there's no reason for them to pretend they're friends anymore.  Here she is at her disingenuous worst, playing the "big, fat, lesbian" victim while deliberately twisting Hasselbeck's point about the enemy in Iraq …

'I Love Those Guys'  —  Embedded journalists in Iraq are having their minds changed left and right by U.S. soldiers.  —  Operation Iraqi Freedom saw the advent of a practice that revolutionized modern war reporting: the embedding of journalists with frontline combat units in war.

Op-Ed Column: The Eminently Relevant "Irrelevant" Jimmy Carter  —  The Eminently Relevant "Irrelevant" Jimmy Carter  —  Think the mainstream media has improved since its utter meltdown in the run-up to the Iraq War?  —  Think again.  —  In case you've been under a rock the last few days …