The War as We Saw It  —  VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal.  Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population.

Rove On Whether He'll Answer Questions About His Potentially Illegal Acts: 'Nice Try'  —  On the Sunday shows this morning, Karl Rove was treated largely with kid gloves by the hosts and was not forced to confront many difficult questions about his ethical improprieties while serving in the White House.

There Aren't  —  Of course there are smart people, those we could call "experts," in any field and yes of course they're generally happier and more interested in talking to each other than to the rabble.  But AEI and EPI aren't two parts of an "economic policy clerisy."

Military commanders tell Brown to withdraw from Iraq without delay  —  Senior military commanders have told the Government that Britain can achieve "nothing more" in south-east Iraq, and that the 5,500 British troops still deployed there should move towards withdrawal without further delay.

The day reality hit home  —  The writer Andrew Anthony was a committed member of the liberal left - until the attacks of 11 September, 2001.  A veteran of CND and Nicaraguan solidarity campaigns, he was astonished at the liberal left's anti-American reaction.

Speaking of sanctuary, where's ours?  —  At the funeral of Iofemi Hightower, her classmate Mecca Ali wore a T-shirt with the slogan: "Tell Me Why They Had To Die."  —  "They" are Miss Hightower, Dashon Harvey and Terrance Aeriel, three young citizens of Newark, New Jersey …

More Duplicity in the FISA Stampede  —  James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, the New York Times reporters who originally broke the warrantless domestic spying story, report further on the recent legislation gutting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Blogs: All the noise that fits  —  The hard-line opinions on weblogs are no substitute for the patient fact-finding of reporters.  —  The late Christopher Lasch once wrote that public affairs generally and journalism in particular suffered not from too little information but from entirely too much.

The Founders Had an Idea for Handling Alberto Gonzales  —  William Belknap, Ulysses S. Grant's disgraced secretary of war, is experiencing a revival.  Impeached in 1876 for taking bribes, he has become the inspiration for a movement to remove Attorney General Alberto Gonzales from office.

Dems Come out Swinging on Experience vs. New Vision  —  Senior Dems Put Obama's Resume in the Spotlight  —  The eight Democratic contenders for the White House meet for a debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on a special edition of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos".  (ABC NEWS)

Is Tom Friedman a Bad Person?  —  All signs point to "pretty hideous human being, one which all good people should shun."

BBC forced to removed 'bastard' slur about Jesus from its website  —  The BBC has been forced to remove statements from its website referring to Jesus as a 'bastard'.  —  It is the latest in a string of offensive comments that BBC editors have allowed members of the public to post.

Climate protest 'will be contained'  —  Police were confident of being able to contain the expected climax of the climate camp at Heathrow Airport.  —  Protesters, buoyed by an influx of new arrivals, promised 24 hours of direct action, starting from midday on Sunday.

A Deadly Clash at Donkey Island  —  On a Routine Night Patrol Near Ramadi, U.S. Troops Stumble Upon a Camp of Heavily Armed Insurgents Poised to Retake the City  —  Staff Sgt. Norman Stark had never seen combat.  Nor did the 32-year-old soldier from Baltimore expect it …

Anti-gay activists crash worship services  —  Minutemen take 'word of God' to 2 congregations  —  A conservative Christian values group has been interrupting services at two central Ohio churches to protest their support for homosexuality.  —  Minutemen United vowed to attend services every Sunday.