Fmr Bush Iraq Envoy Helping Undermine Maliki  —  As Bush Voices Support for the Iraqi PM, Republican Lobbyists Aid Top Maliki Foe  —  Republican lobbyists with close ties to the Bush administration are aiding and supporting the efforts of an Iraqi opposition leader who is calling for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

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 …

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-Backed Democrat Debate Called Off  —  Sept. 23 Debate Will Not Be Held; Major Candidates Had Been Planning To Skip  —  (AP) Fox News and a black political group say they will not hold a Sept. 23 Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, which the leading candidates already were planning to skip.

HILL: TERROR WOULD BE GOP BOOST  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday raised the prospect of a terror attack before next year's election, warning that it could boost the GOP's efforts to hold on to the White House.  —  Discussing the possibility of a new nightmare assault while campaigning …

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.

Romney's health care fix: states, market  —  Presidential candidate wants insurance for all, but not with a mandate  —  WASHINGTON - Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will propose today doing for the country what he did as governor of Massachusetts - helping the uninsured get health insurance …

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

Incredible Shrinking Deficit, II  —  2004: $413 billion  —  2005: $318 billion  —  2006: $248 billion  —  2007: $158 billion  —  Close readers of this column may recall the top three numbers in the list above from our editorial of July 12, "Incredible Shrinking Deficit."