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 …

Right-Wing Media Give Favorable Platform To 'Another 9/11′ Columnist  —  In his Thursday column, Philadelphia Daily News scribe Stu Bykofsky seemingly wished for the tragic death of 3000+ Americans when he wrote that "another 9/11 would help America."  —  A host of right-wing media …

How We Won the Mainstream  —  Three years ago things looked bleak for the Democratic Party.  George Bush had just won a second term while his party consolidated its grip on Congress.  House Majority Leader Tom DeLay crowed about a "permanent Republican majority," and Beltway Democrats acquiesced …

Romney pigs out at Iowa State Fair  —  DES MOINES — Today we are at the Iowa State Fair, where politicians meet swine but are rarely mistaken for them.  —  Mitt Romney is at the Pork Tent being a "guest cook," which means he is flipping pork chops on a giant grill with about a dozen camera crews recording the moment for history.

SHIP OF FOOLS  —  Yesterday "the editors" of the New Republic published another statement on Baghdad fabulist Scott Thomas Beauchamp.  "The editors" stand by Beauchamp's TNR articles as of this moment in the name of the editors' journalistic integrity.  They imply that Beauchamp is being held incommunicado by the Army.

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.

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 …

Campaign Is a Family Project for the Romneys  —  They have driven here from California, Ohio, Canada and Texas; flown from Michigan, Utah and Florida.  There are aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, in-laws, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.  —  At last count, 96 members of the Romney clan …

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.

"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 …

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.

Reported Drop in Surveillance Spurred a 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.

Cancer touches all of us  —  Brenda, an aunt, is the latest to be diagnosed, and the news is not great.  A lumpectomy won't be sufficient.  A double mastectomy is recommended.  —  "We need to get that booger out," a nurse told her, speaking inelegant words elegantly and with calming comfort.