Top general to urge Iraq troop cut  —  Advice by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs poses a potential clash with supporters of the buildup.  —  WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half …

HOAGLAND, NOT WHACKED  —  Perhaps there's something wrong with me.  But Jim Hoagland's column in Friday's Post seems remarkably lucid and well-reasoned.  I'd quibble with a few points.  There are a few others where I don't know the details well enough to judge.

THE SURGE....Is the surge working?  That is, even if you ignore the lack of political progress, are we even making tactical progress?  Since violence in Iraq tends to be seasonal, the only reasonable comparison is one between summer 2006 and summer 2007, so I went to the latest Brookings Iraq Index to check out the most recent numbers.

Finally, a Reasoned Debate  —  WASHINGTON — After months of surreality, the Iraq debate has quite abruptly acquired a relationship to reality.  Following the Democratic victory last November, panicked Republican senators began rifling the thesaurus to find exactly the right phrase …

FOX News Poll: New Yorkers Clinton, Giuliani Top 2008 Choices; Most Disapprove of Washington  —  NEW YORK — Could the 2008 presidential election come down to a choice between two New Yorkers?  It sure looks that way today, as New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani remain …

More Iraqis Are Said to Flee Since Troop Increase  —  The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has soared since the American troop increase began in February, according to data from two humanitarian groups, accelerating the partition of the country into sectarian enclaves.

War on Terror Update  —  War on Terror Confidence Inches Up in August  —  Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Americans now believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror.  That's up three points from a month ago and just a point shy of the highest level of confidence measured in 2007.

Historian: Bush use of quote 'perverse'  —  A historian quoted by President Bush to help argue that critics of the administration's Iraq policy echo those who questioned the U.S. effort to bring democracy to Japan after World War II angrily distanced himself from the president's remarks Thursday.

The BBC has squandered trust.  But we will win it back  —  Only the deluded would deny that public faith has been gravely damaged.  To repair it, we must build on existing values  —  'We have had no end of a lesson; it will do us no end of good.  " That was Kipling's verdict on the British and the Boer war.

Suck On This  —  The significance of Friedman's "Suck On This" isn't simply his buffoonery and that of our entire media discourse.  I don't imagine that Charlie Rose is playing on every teevee in Iraq, but even the liberal Tom Friedman was channeling what was a pretty common sentiment at the time …

Romney's Federal Prescription  —  Health Plan Relies on Tax Incentives,  —  Not Massachusetts' Mandates  —  Mitt Romney succeeded in significantly expanding access to health insurance in Massachusetts.  Today, he lays out his plan for achieving that same goal nationwide.

Haditha Investigator Urges Dropping of Marine's Case  —  An investigating officer has recommended that a Marine Corps general drop all charges against a Marine accused of murdering civilians in Haditha, Iraq, finding again that the 2005 shootings were "tragedies" but that the Marine did not violate the laws of combat.