Senator Insists Bush Aides Testify Publicly  —  The Democratic senator leading the inquiry into the dismissal of federal prosecutors insisted Sunday that Karl Rove and other top aides to President Bush must testify publicly and under oath, setting up a confrontation between Congress and the White House …

Voices From Iraq 2007: Ebbing Hope in a Landscape of Loss  —  National Survey of Iraq  —  A new national survey paints a devastating portrait of life in Iraq: widespread violence, torn lives, displaced families, emotional damage, collapsing services, an ever starker sectarian chasm …

Republicans and U.S. attorneys — then and now  —  The fundamental difference between (a) a new administration replacing all U.S. attorneys (as multiple Presidents have done — including Clinton, Reagan and even Bush 41) and (b) cherry-picking ones for firing in the middle of an administration, has been amply documented.

Iraq War's Statistics Prove Fleeting  —  The U.S. war in Iraq enters its fifth year today.  That, and 3,197 U.S. military deaths reported by the Pentagon as of 10 a.m. Friday, are among the few numerical certainties in a conflict characterized from the start by confusion and misuse of key data.

The Blame-America-First Crowd  —  "They always blame America first."  That was Jeane Kirkpatrick, describing the "San Francisco Democrats" in 1984.  But it could be said about a lot of Americans, especially highly educated Americans, today.  —  In their assessment of what is going on in the world …

News media and politics: an uneasy union  —  Some prominent journalists have mates who work for a presidential candidate.  They approach this potential conflict in different ways.  —  Some of America's most prominent political journalists are, quite literally, wedded to the 2008 presidential race …

Military Is Ill-Prepared For Other Conflicts  —  Four years after the invasion of Iraq, the high and growing demand for U.S. troops there and in Afghanistan has left ground forces in the United States short of the training, personnel and equipment that would be vital to fight …

Whose Ox Is Gored?  —  The media discover the former vice president's environmental exaggerations and hypocrisy.  —  The media are finally catching up with Al Gore.  Criticism of his anti-global-warming franchise and his personal environmental record has gone beyond ankle-biting bloggers.

Assignment Zero, Day Six: Help Wanted Section  —  I'm looking for amateur-friendly pros who can work with the people who have joined up with us.  Five days ago we launched AZ.  We now have 450 contributors—each with a profile and a blog—slowly filtering into the site.  What do we do now? they're asking.

John McCain Rips the Club For Growth  —  John McCain has taken some hits for not attending certain conservative events.  With CPAC, he says it was a simple schedueling conflict.  But he will not be speaking at the upcoming conservative Club For Growth meeting either.  Why not?

In '08 Race, Web Tactics Are Even More Integral  —  Handicapping Field  —  Is a Bigger Chore  —  As Goals Diverge  —  WASHINGTON — John Edwards topped the field of Democratic presidential contenders in the liberal blog DailyKos's latest straw poll.  But Barack Obama has the most "friends" on MySpace.

Smithsonian Documents Detail Chief's Expenses  —  Invoices Include Work on Home of Secretary Small  —  Internal Smithsonian documents offer a glimpse into what one senator called the "Dom Perignon" lifestyle of the taxpayer-supported institution's chief official, who turned in a $15,000 receipt …