Increased Strife Is Foreseen in Iraq if U.S. Troops Leave  —  There is one matter on which American military commanders, many Iraqis and some of the Bush administration's staunchest Congressional critics agree: if the United States withdrew its forces from Baghdad's streets this fall, the murder and mayhem would increase.

Bush was twice warned of Iraq challenges  —  Prewar reports alerted the president to the difficulty of establishing democracy, among other assessments that proved accurate.  —  WASHINGTON — Two months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies twice warned the Bush administration …

Major troop reductions imminent — again  —  Wonderful — and highly credible — front page news today, from The New York Times: … For four straight years, the same set of war supporters have constantly and reptitiously given the same exact false assurances about Iraq — virtually verbatim …

Pat Lang & Lawrence Wilkerson Share Nightmare Encounters with Feith, Wolfowitz, and Tenet  —  (Lawrence Wilkerson and his regular Thursday students.  These are not the ones in the audience referred to below.)  —  Jeff Stein of Congressional Quarterly has a great recap of what former Pentagon …

UPDATE: WaPo Also Taken In By Fake Memo, It Seems Larry Johnson Claims: Theater-Wide Supply Problems Mean Our Troops In Iraq Will Go Hungry  —  Larry Johnson, famous "intelligence agent," has the Super-Duper Scoop: … He ads this update: … Ah.  His basic point wasn't that it was …

Immigration judges lack apt backgrounds  —  A growing number of the jurists have little or no experience in that area of law.  Some have strong Republican resumes.  —  WASHINGTON — Over the last two years, U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales has appointed more than two dozen individuals as federal immigration judges.

U.S. deaths near grim Memorial Day mark  —  BAGHDAD - Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury U.S. troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago.  The figure is telling — and expected to rise in coming months.  —  In the period from Memorial Day 2006 through Saturday …

Vice President's Remarks at the United States Military Academy Commencement  —  THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.  General Hagenbeck; members of Congress; Military Academy faculty and staff; distinguished guests; officers, cadets, members of the Class of 2007:  —  Thank you all for the welcome to West Point.

Border policeman, security guard hurt in e.  J'lem shooting  —  Two Palestinian gunmen opened fired at an Israeli security patrol near a section of the separation barrier on the edge of Jerusalem on Saturday night, wounding two security guards - one seriously - police and rescue officials said.

Lawsuit cites plane trips for Clintons  —  WASHINGTON - A longtime Clinton benefactor used corporate jets to fly the former president and Hillary Rodham Clinton on business, personal and campaign trips that a lawsuit brands as wasteful company spending.  —  The supporter, Vinod Gupta …

US unit created to pressure Iran, Syria disbanded  —  Occurs amid effort at talks  —  WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has dismantled a special committee that was established last year to coordinate aggressive actions against Iran and Syria, State Department officials said this week.

16 'directly related' to Iraq troop abduction held … BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — U.S. and Iraqi troops have detained 16 people they say are "directly related to the attack" on May 12 in which three U.S. soldiers were apparently captured, a U.S. military official said.