Broader Privilege Claimed In Firings  —  White House Says Hill Can't Pursue Contempt Cases  —  Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never …

Go to Iraq and fight, Mr. President  —  Bush's latest choice of scapegoat — Hillary Clinton — boggles the mind  —  Special Comment: Blame Hillary?  —  July 19: Keith Olbermann says the choice to scapegoat Sen. Clinton is unfathomable — go fight your war yourself, Mr. President.  —  Countdown

Poll: 63% Say Clinton "Likely" To Win  —  CBS/NYT Poll: Majorities Of Both Men And Women Think New York Democrat Will Be Next President  —  (CBS) A new CBS News/New York Times poll out Thursday shows 63 percent of voters believe it's likely that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton …

U.S. Generals Request Delay in Judging Iraq  —  The top commanders in Iraq and the American ambassador to Baghdad appealed for more time beyond their mid-September assessment to more fully judge if the new strategy was making gains.  —  Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq …

Iraq hasn't even begun  —  Consequences from the disaster we could have avoided will plague the world long into the future.  —  IRAQ IS OVER.  Iraq has not yet begun.  These are two conclusions from the American debate about Iraq.  —  Iraq is over insofar as the American public has decided that most U.S. troops should leave.

Overhaul Plan for Vote System Will Be Delayed  —  Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are slowing their drive to revamp the nation's voting systems, aides said yesterday.  —  Under pressure from state and local officials, as well as from lobbyists for the disabled …

Kerry: No Bloodbath In Vietnam After US Redeployment  —  Dateline: Washington, D.C.  —  Sen. John Kerry said during a C-Span appearance that fears of a bloodbath after the US withdrawal from Vietnam never materialized.  He says he's met survivors of the "reeducation camps" who are thriving in modern Vietnam.

Obama: Don't stay in Iraq over genocide  —  SUNAPEE, N.H. - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

IRAN: THE CONSPIRACY THAT WASN'T  —  EVER since its creation in 1979, the Islamic Republic in Iran has been obsessed with conspiracy theories, especially "foreign plots" to topple it.  This paranoia was demonstrated again Wednesday with the televised confessions of two U.S. citizens …

Trouble With the Neighbors  —  One of the most infuriating problems in Iraq seems to generate precious little fury.  —  In a kind of malicious chemistry experiment, hostile powers are adding accelerants to Iraq's frothing chaos.  Iran smuggles in the advanced explosive devices that kill and maim American soldiers.

Eating beef ' is less green than driving'  —  Producing 2.2lb of beef generates as much greenhouse gas as driving a car non-stop for three hours, it was claimed yesterday.  —  Japanese scientists used a range of data to calculate the environmental impact of a single purchase of beef.

Democrats cut 'John Doe' provision  —  Congressional Democrats today failed to include a provision in homeland security legislation that would protect the public from being sued for reporting suspicious behavior that may lead to a terrorist attack, according to House Republican leaders.

A Cynical Saudi Solution  —  While Saudi Arabia is not happy with how Shia Arabs have taken control of Iraq, and appear able to hold on to it, they are pleased with how the fighting in Iraq has greatly depleted the number of al Qaeda backers inside Saudi Arabia.

Options backdating probe hit by delay  —  Investigations into allegations of stock options backdating are being delayed and could be undermined by turmoil in the US Attorney's office in San Francisco, sources familiar with the probes say.  —  Prosecutors in San Francisco are probing options grants …

A CORRECTION?  NOT ON YOUR LIFE!  —  We wrote here about a story in the Chicago Sun-Times by columnist Jennifer Hunter, reporting on a plaintiffs' lawyers convention in Chicago.  The five principal Democratic presidential candidates addressed the convention, and Hunter's story was on the lawyers' reaction.

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: All the President's Enablers  —  President Bush has plenty of enablers — people who understand the folly of his actions, but refuse to do anything to stop him.