BREAKING NEWS: Lieberman Says War Vote Could Prompt Party Switch  —  Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut told the Politico Thursday that he has no immediate plans to switch parties, but suggested Democratic opposition to funding the war in Iraq might change his mind.

In Both Parties, 2008 Politeness Falls to Infighting  —  The sun was not yet up yesterday, and members of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign team were confronted with the kind of attack that most infuriates them: one questioning the character of Mrs. Clinton and her husband.

Why the British are scaling back in Iraq  —  The military can't fight there and in Afghanistan without approaching 'operational failure,' one critic says.  Something had to give.  —  LONDON — Britain's decision to pull 1,600 troops out of Iraq by spring, touted by U.S. and British leaders …

U.S. troops find chemicals in Iraq raid  —  BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops raided a car bomb factory west of Baghdad with five buildings full of propane tanks and ordinary chemicals the military believes were to be used in bombs, a spokesman said Thursday, a day after insurgents blew up a truck carrying chlorine gas canisters.

Report Finds Iran in Breach of U.N. Order  —  In open defiance of the United Nations, Iran is steadily expanding — rather than freezing — its efforts to enrich uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported today.  The findings have prompted the Bush Administration to press …

Iraq 101: The Iraq Effect  —  Research fellows at the Center on Law and Security at the NYU School of Law.  Bergen is also a senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.  —  "If we were not fighting and destroying this enemy in Iraq, they would not be idle.

Egyptian Blogger Sentenced to Prison  —  ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — An Egyptian blogger was convicted of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday in Egypt's first prosecution of a blogger.  —  Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student …

Senate illegals bill near complete  —  Senators and lobbyists are putting the final touches on a comprehensive immigration-reform bill that includes an easier citizenship path for illegal aliens and weaker enforcement provisions than were in the highly criticized legislation that the Senate approved last year.

Paul Campos' response to Glenn Reynolds  —  Last Tuesday, right-wing Law Professor Glenn Reynolds wrote a post calling for the murder of Iranian atomic scientists and "radical mullahs," and I wrote about Reynolds' "idea" here.  On Monday of this week, University of Colorado Law School Professor …

Hunting chimps may change view of human evolution  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chimpanzees have been seen using spears to hunt bush babies, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a study that demonstrates a whole new level of tool use and planning by our closest living relatives.

REMEMBERING THE INDISPENSABLE MAN  —  Today is the anniversary of the birth of George Washington.  Of all the great men of the revolutionary era to whom we owe our freedom, Washington's greatness was the rarest, the most necessary, and, at this remove in time, the hardest to understand.

A Lack of Courage In Their Convictions  —  Indiscriminate criticism of President George W. Bush is an infectious disease.  Some conservatives seem to have caught it, but congressional Democrats might be crippled by it.  —  Consider some conservatives' reflexive rejection …

Two accused of plotting terror while in Cleveland  —  Prosecutors: They met man here to train them to aid insurgents in Iraq  —  Thousands of people came to Cleveland in July 2004 for a conference on Muslim families and the challenges they face, but two cousins had other motives in making …

Tom Vilsack's Very, Very Bad Idea  —  I didn't watch the Democratic debate (debates?  This early??), but then I noticed (h/t Atrios and Matt Yglesias) that Jonathan Singer at MyDD wrote this: … Price indexing?  Yikes.  Like Matt, I didn't want to leap to conclusions …

Miller trucks on despite land deal probe  —  WASHINGTON - Rep. Gary Miller (news, bio, voting record) grew up poor.  Even though he's now worth more than $13 million, he says he's still worried about his family's financial security.  —  So, while federal authorities investigate …