Report Cites Grave Concerns on Iraq's Government  —  The administration is planning to make public today parts of a sober new report by American intelligence agencies expressing deep doubts that the government of the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, can overcome sectarian differences.

Report Will Be Critical of Iraq Leader  —  NEW YORK (AP) - A new assessment on Iraq may shed some negative light on Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.  The New York Times is reporting on its Web site that U.S. intelligence agencies will issue a new assessment Thursday expressing doubt …

Romney Struggles to Define Abortion Stance  —  Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said this week that as president he would allow individual states to keep abortion legal, two weeks after telling a national television audience that he supports a constitutional amendment to ban the procedure nationwide.

Militias Seizing Control of Iraqi Electricity Grid  —  Armed groups increasingly control the antiquated switching stations that channel electricity around Iraq, the electricity minister said Wednesday.  —  That is dividing the national grid into fiefs that, he said, often refuse …

Did Clinton Lie About Targeting Bin Laden?  —  It appears that Bill Clinton may have exaggerated his record when it came to strategizing against Osama bin Laden.  Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball take a look at the Inspector General's report of the pre-9/11 intelligence failures at the CIA and find an interesting nugget.

Rule to Expand Mountaintop Coal Mining  —  The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal.  The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.

What September Won't Settle  —  Come September, America might slip closer toward a Weimar moment.  It would be milder than the original but significantly disagreeable.  —  After the First World War, politics in Germany's new Weimar Republic were poisoned by the belief that the army …

Armored Trucks' Delivery Delayed  —  The United States military said Wednesday that it would deliver less than half the number of blast-resistant trucks to Iraq by year's end than planned.  —  A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, said 1,500 vehicles, rather than 3,500 …

Behind Giuliani's Tough Talk  —  Islamic terrorists are at war with us," Rudy Giuliani told about 300 people at a synagogue in Rockville, Md., one evening in July.  He likes to say it that way—that they are at war with us, not the other way around. "  They want to kill us," he warned a group in New Hampshire the same month. "

Political Bulletin  —  Momentum Shifting To GOP In Iraq Debate  —  With congressional Democrats still groping for a unified Iraq withdrawal strategy, the eyewitness reports from individual Democratic lawmakers who've recently visited Iraq appear to have changed the dynamic in the debate over the war.

DSCC Bumper Sticker Contest  —  James Carville writes in an e-mail: … My own idea from the other day:  —  Any takers?

McConnell: Fewer Than 100 Secret U.S. Wiretaps  —  Law enforcement officials are targeting fewer than 100 people in the United States for secret court-approved wiretaps aimed at disrupting terrorist networks, the top U.S. intelligence official said in an interview published yesterday.

White House Declares Office Off-Limits  —  Administrator of Missing E-Mails Not Subject to Open-Records Law, It Says  —  The Bush administration argued in court papers this week that the White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act as part of its effort …

Furor Over Religion in La. Gov's Race  —  BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A political ad from the Louisiana governor's race is drawing a storm of criticism for accusing Republican Rep. Bobby Jindal of calling Protestants "scandalous, depraved, selfish and heretical."