The Phony Debate  —  THE SENATE Democratic leadership spent the past week trying to prove that Congress is deeply divided over Iraq, with Democrats pressing and Republicans resisting a change of course.  In fact that's far from the truth.  A large majority of senators from both parties favor …

Bush Approves New CIA Methods  —  President Bush set broad legal boundaries for the CIA's harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects yesterday, allowing the intelligence agency to resume a program that was suspended last year after criticism that it violated U.S. and international law.

Court Tells U.S. to Reveal Data on Detainees at Guantánamo  —  A federal appeals court ordered the government yesterday to turn over virtually all its information on Guantánamo detainees who are challenging their detention, rejecting an effort by the Justice Department …

Fight Over Documents May Favor Bush, Experts Say  —  Contempt Charge Precedents Cited in Firings Case  —  The Bush administration's vow this week to block contempt charges from Congress could prove to be a successful strategy for protecting White House documents about the multiple firings of U.S. attorneys …

On Why So Few Bloggers Have Endorsed In 2008  — Part One: New Establishment Rising: The End Of The Flat Blogosphere  — Part Two: New Establishment Rising: Why So Few Bloggers Have Endorsed in 2008  —  Taking a quick look at The Liberal Blog Advertising Network …

They Don't Really Support the Troops  —  The latest from the New Republic and the Nation.  —  Cindy Sheehan, mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq, emerged on the American political scene two years ago.  Distraught and unstable, she was shamelessly exploited by opponents of George W. Bush …

The Pentagon Gets a Lesson From Madison Avenue  —  U.S. Needs to Devise a Different 'Brand' to Win Over the Iraqi People, Study Advises  —  In the advertising world, brand identity is everything.  Volvo means safety.  Colgate means clean.  IPod means cool.

Senate Debates Iraq Withdrawal; Report Shows Al-Qaida Regrouping  —  As the Senate debated different proposals for redeploying troops from Iraq, the National Intelligence Estimate revealed that al-Qaida is regrouping despite the war on terrorism.  Political analysts Mark Shields and David Brooks discuss the week's events.

Bald eagles  —  Our political cartoonist casts his eye towards the presidential campaign  —  A GROWING number of Republicans are hoping that Fred Thompson, a former senator and television actor, will throw his hat into the presidential ring.  Should he do so, he'd be wise to keep his head …

The Pentagon Insults Hillary Clinton  —  BIG MISTAKE.  —  The extraordinary exchange of letters between Sen. Hillary Clinton and the undersecretary of defense for policy may turn out to be a signal event in the congressional debate over the Iraq war—and possibly in the 2008 presidential election.

Binman's St George bandana 'is racist'  —  A black dustman has been banned from wearing a St George's Cross bandana because council officials say it could be regarded as racist.  —  Matthew Carter, 35, who was born in Barbados, used the headgear to keep his dreadlocks out of the way while he was on his rounds in Burnley, Lancs.

Sen. Sununu: I Don't Want President Bush To Campaign With Me  —  The New York Times writes this morning that conservatives are trying to walk a fine line between supporting and distancing themselves from President Bush: … One of those conservative trying to strike this delicate balance is Sen. John Sununu (R-NH).

Bloggers Raise Red Flags Over New Republic's 'Baghdad Diarist'  —  The column in the New Republic, described as being penned by a U.S. soldier in Iraq, is filled with tales of petty, stomach-churning behavior.  —  The "Baghdad Diarist," writing under the pseudonym Scott Thomas, says he was …

The 9/11 Generation  —  Better than the Boomers.  —  In the 1960s, history called the Baby Boomers.  They didn't answer the phone.  —  Confronted with a generation-defining conflict, the cold war, the Boomers—those, at any rate, who came to be emblematic of their generation …

Doctors remove polyps from Bush's colon  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Saturday reclaimed his presidential power from Vice President Dick Cheney after undergoing a routine colonoscopy, a White House spokesman said.  —  Five polyps were found in the examination, spokesman Scott Stanzel said.