Iraq war czar: Consider a draft  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.  —  "I think it makes sense …

DEBKAfile Exclusive: New Al Qaeda threat of radioactive truck attacks naming New York, Los Angeles, Miami  —  The threat was picked up by DEBKAfile's monitors from a rush of electronic chatter on al Qaeda sites Thursday, Aug. 8.  —  The al Qaeda communications accuse the Americans …

Farmers Call Crackdown on Illegal Workers Unfair  —  Facing the prospect of major layoffs of farmworkers during harvest season, growers and lawmakers from agricultural states spoke in dire terms yesterday about new measures by the Bush administration to crack down on employers of illegal immigrants.

Republicans 'caught in a bind' over Bush  —  The small crowd of mostly elderly, white Republicans applauds and laughs at Mitt Romney's talk.  Whether he is condemning birth out of wedlock, illegal immigration or the "bickering, partisan ways of Washington", the former governor of Massachusetts has struck a chord.

Inside Iraq  —  I spent a week in Iraq recently, and here's what impressed me most: the Americans.  In particular, the quality and character of the American soldiers and Marines who are fighting there and trying to help rebuild the nation.  I don't mean to slight, in some ethnocentric way …

Reported Decline in Surveillance Spurred Quick Law  —  At a closed-door briefing in mid-July, senior intelligence officials startled lawmakers with some troubling news.  American eavesdroppers were collecting just 25 percent of the foreign-based communications they had been receiving a few months earlier.

A harsh fate awaits all collaborators  —  Will the British Army's Iraqi interpreters be left to swing when we withdraw from Basra?  —  Those deemed to have collaborated with an occupying power are invariably at the mercy of summary justice when the occupiers leave.

Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in New Jersey Students' Execution-Style Deaths  —  NEWARK, N.J. — A Peruvian national in the U.S. illegally and who was previously charged with raping a 5-year-old girl pleaded not guilty Friday in the execution-style slayings of three young college students, a day after he surrendered to the Newark mayor.

Glenn Greenwald  —  Zimbabwe passes warrantless eavesdropping law, cites U.S.  —  Several weeks ago, I wrote about State Department reports condemning Russia for its lawless detentions, its use of "coerced interrogation techniques," and violations by Putin's government of Russia's eavesdropping laws.

"Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser  —  You write the words and make believe there is truth in the space between  —  In a Swampland blog post titled "Anecdotal hit job," Time Washington bureau chief Jay Carney criticized a column in which Brad Warthen, the editorial page editor …

Rep. Schakowsky: Petraeus hints at decade-long Iraq presence  —  Gen. David Petraeus told a congressional delegation visiting the Middle East that success in Iraq will require a U.S. military presence there for about a decade, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said Friday.

"I've mostly stopped reading Ann Althouse, really."  —  TRex cannot stay out of the vortex... especially when it's baited with food.  —  And apparently, I give him "all-over creepy shivers, like someone just dumped a bag of live spiders over my naked thighs."  I'm picturing chubby, pasty white thighs.

Updated: That ND TV Station Reference Was Just To Say Anything's Blog  —  Search for "NASA temperature" which should bring the story up.  —  Only two references: One to a ND TV station and one to FoxNews.  The FoxNews link has a link for 92 related articles, but every single one of the articles …

A Scott Beauchamp Update  —  For several weeks now, questions have been raised about Scott Beauchamp's Baghdad Diarist "Shock Troops."  While many of these questions have been formulated by people with ideological agendas, we recognize that there are legitimate concerns about journalistic accuracy.

Sources: U.S. assessing Pakistan nukes if Musharraf falls  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. military intelligence officials are urgently assessing how secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons would be in the event President Gen. Pervez Musharraf were replaced as the nation's leader, CNN has learned.

Central Banks Again Intervene  —  Europe, Japan Join U.S.  —  To Provide Liquidity;  —  Betting on a Fed Cut  —  Central banks pumped money into distressed markets for the second day to relieve strains in money markets, while investors concluded the Federal Reserve is increasingly likely …