A War We Just Might Win  —  VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal.  The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility.

PM hails Bush's leadership  —  Tee cosy ... Brown & Bush in Camp David golf buggy  —  GORDON Brown last night praised George Bush for leading the global war on terror — saying the world owed America a huge debt.  —  The Prime Minister vowed to take Winston Churchill's lead and make Britain's ties with America even stronger.

Ingmar Bergman, Famed Director, Dies at 89  —  Ingmar Bergman, the "poet with the camera" who is considered one of the greatest directors in motion picture history, died today on the small island of Faro where he lived on the Baltic coast of Sweden, Astrid Soderbergh Widding, president of The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, said.

The Meta-Go-Round  —  Sam Boyd notes the media's bizarre flip-flops and double-reversals on the subject of the Obama-Clinton debate spat.  The pathology he's identifying is the exact one James Fallows focuses on in the piece I plugged this morning — a pathological aversion to talk about the substance of things.

Taliban: Male hostage shot dead  —  KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) — Taliban kidnappers shot dead a male South Korean hostage on Monday, a spokesman said, accusing the Afghan government of not listening to rebel demands.  —  "We shot dead a male captive because the government did not listen to our demands …

weak tea indeed: democratic leaders water down ethics & earmark reform bill  —  Porkbusters obtained the latest version of the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007'', and as expected, the Democratic leadership has worked some funny business to dilute some of the Act's key provisions.

Fred's funds raise fear of flop  —  Fred Thompson plans to announce Tuesday that his committee to test the waters for a Republican presidential campaign raised slightly more than $3 million in June, substantially less than some backers had hoped, according to Republican sources.

Surveillance Cameras Win Broad Support  —  Majority of Americans Favor Extra Safety Factor of Cameras  —  Crime-fighting beats privacy in public places: Americans, by nearly a 3-to-1 margin, support the increased use of surveillance cameras — a measure decried by some civil libertarians …

Baghdad Raid Night  —  BAGHDAD - "We want to use you as bait," Sergeant Eduardo Ojeda from Los Angeles, California, told me before I embedded with his unit on what was shaping up to be a night raid.  —  "Excellent," I said.  "That's why I'm here."  —  This is what passes for black Army humor in Baghdad.

The Real Wiretapping Scandal  —  Our Terrorist Surveillance Program isn't as effective it was a few months ago.  Where's the outrage?  —  Last Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing—at which Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was insulted by senators and ridiculed by spectators—was Washington political theater at its lowest.

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: An Immoral Philosophy  —  What kind of philosophy says that it's O.K. to subsidize insurance companies, but not to provide health care to children?

Congress eyes pay raise for itself  —  WASHINGTON — After raising the minimum wage by 70 cents an hour this week, many members of Congress are ready to give themselves a pay increase of roughly $4,400 per year.  —  That would take their annual salaries to nearly $170,000.

NERVY JUDITH RATTLED HILLARY  —  JUDITH Giuliani is an opportunistic, puppy-killing homewrecker who has a full-time hairstylist and needs an extra seat on planes for "Baby Louis," her Louis Vuitton handbag - at least according to a hatchet job on the former mayor's wife in the September issue of Vanity Fair.

A True Political Partner  —  John Edwards's Wife Has Helped Shape His Presidential Bid and Often Shares Its Spotlight  —  Aboard a small chartered jet, Elizabeth Edwards — lawyer, mother, author, cancer patient, candidate's wife — was flying recently from New Hampshire to Iowa.

Anti-Abortion Leaders Size Up G.O.P. Candidates  —  After 30 years of political organizing within the Republican Party, the anti-abortion movement has won a series of victories in legislatures and courts and stands tantalizingly close to winning even more.  But these are anxious days for the movement.

Who's Making What In The White House  —  President Bush's senior-most aides — staff members like Karl Rove who hold the coveted title of "assistant to the president" — received a $2,800 cost-of-living wage hike in the past year to earn a top pay rate of $168,000, according to an internal White House list …