Thompson Declares His Candidacy for President  —  After months of false starts, staff shake-ups, and questions about the seriousness of his intention to run for president, Fred Thompson rolled out his presidential candidacy this evening with a two-pronged, guerrilla-style entry into the race …

LIVE FREE OR DEBATE  —  PJM's Vodkapundit Stephen Green liveblogged the debate with martini glass in hand.  —  Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers  —  6:49pm First martini down.  Going to run upstairs to pour a second one before things get started.

Democrats Newly Willing to Compromise on Iraq  —  With a mixed picture emerging about progress in Iraq, Senate Democratic leaders are showing a new openness to compromise as they try to attract Republican support for forcing at least modest troop withdrawals in the coming months.

Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction  —  Salon exclusive: Two former CIA officers say the president squelched top-secret intelligence, and a briefing by George Tenet, months before invading Iraq.  —  (Clockwise from top left) Naji Sabri, George W. Bush, Colin Powell and George Tenet.

Baghdad Burning  —  ... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend...  Leaving Home...  Two months ago, the suitcases were packed.  My lone, large suitcase sat in my bedroom for nearly six weeks, so full of clothes and personal items, that it took me …

Jones Report: Iraqi Security Forces Not Ready  —  Logistical Self-Sufficiency Is at Least Two Years Away  —  Iraq's Interior Ministry is "dysfunctional," filled with sectarianism and corruption, according to an independent assessment of the Iraqi security forces to be published tomorrow.

Staging Nukes for Iran?  —  Why the hubbub over a B-52 taking off from a B-52 base in Minot, North Dakota and subsequently landing at a B-52 base in Barksdale, Louisiana?  That's like getting excited if you see a postal worker in uniform walking out of a post office.

GAO Criticizes Homeland Security's Efforts to Fulfill Its Mission  —  Hobbled by inadequate funding, unclear priorities, continuing reorganizations and the absence of an overarching strategy, the U.S. Homeland Security Department is failing to achieve its mission of preventing and responding …

Despite DNA Test, Prosecutor Is Retrying Case  —  Kennedy Brewer was locked up for 15 years even though DNA tests in 2002 failed to show his DNA on a rape victim.  Such cases are usually dropped.  He greeted his mother after leaving jail.  —  The scene in the tiny Noxubee County jail …

Clinton Donor Fails to Appear in Court Again  —  The mystery of Norman Hsu, the wealthy Clinton donor who turned out to be a fugitive from justice, took a bizarre twist yesterday when Mr. Hsu, who skipped out after pleading no contest in a California fraud case 15 years ago, disappeared yet again.

THE MYTH OF AQI....Who's responsible for the violence in Iraq?  According to George Bush, the most dramatic and destabilizing attacks come from al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group supposedly responsible for the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samara last year and for a spectacular truck bomb attack in Tal Afar five months ago.

"Do you understand where you are?"  —  The song "Strange Fruit" used to frighten me as a child.  What did it mean to my parents, who had to live with its reality?  —  This story first came to me via a posting on regular reader Wally Whateley's blog over a month ago, which led me to a stunning main post at Pandagon.

How I Didn't Dismantle Iraq's Army  —  "The Iraqi Army of the future cannot be an extension of the present army, which has been made into a tool of dictatorship."  — Report by the Department of State's Future of Iraq Project, May 2002  —  IT has become conventional wisdom that the decision …