Americans offered 'aggressive patrols' in Iranian airspace  —  The US offered to take military action on behalf of the 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran, including buzzing Iranian Revolutionary Guard positions with warplanes, the Guardian has learned.

Deputies to a U.S. Attorney Step Down  —  Rachel K. Paulose's swearing in on March 9 as the United States attorney in Minneapolis stirred debate in local legal circles because of the ceremonial trappings, including a performance by a municipal choir and a Marine Corps color guard …

McCain Regrets Remarks to Press on Baghdad Safety, But 'That's Just Life'  —  NEW YORK Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in a '60 Minutes' segment coming on Sunday says he misspoke in comments he made about security in Baghdad earlier this week and admitted that heavily armed troops …

When a dilettante takes on Hizbullah  —  We can thank the US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for having informed Syrian President Bashar Assad, from Beirut, that "the road to solving Lebanon's problems passes through Damascus."  Now, of course, all we need to do is remind Pelosi …

Democrats' Rise Has Pluses, Say G.O.P. Centrists  —  If the Democratic ascendance on Capitol Hill was supposed to usher in dark days for Republicans, it is hard to tell from talking to moderate ones like Mike Ferguson, who represents a suburban district in central New Jersey.

Malpractice or Malice?  —  Yesterday the Washington Post reported on the declassification of a report by the Inspector General of the Defense Department as though it were a scoop, in an article headlined "Hussein's Prewar Ties to Al-Qaeda Discounted."  The casual reader would get the impression …

FATHER'S COMPLAINT PROMPTS U.S. MILITARY TO CHANGE HOW IT BRINGS FALLEN SOLDIERS HOME  —  In an about-face by the U.S. government four years into the war in Iraq, America's fallen troops are being brought back to their families aboard charter jets instead of ordinary commercial flights …

Lawyer: Fire was a 'prank'  —  Attorney for three students says burning of flag was not politically motivated  —  Three Yale students arrested for burning an American flag attached to a house were not politically motivated, their lawyer said Thursday.  —  The attorney, William Dow …

What was Charlie Crist thinking?  —  Why did a Republican governor just add tens of thousands of Democrats to the voter rolls in Florida?  —  Florida Gov. Charlie Crist talks to the media, April, 5, 2007, in Miami, about his felon rights plan.  —  During his campaign for the Florida governorship …

Giuliani downplays abortion issue in S.C.  —  Republican for president Rudy Giuliani is betting S.C. primary voters are more interested in his national security credentials than his moderate views on abortion.  —  The former New York City mayor was in South Carolina Thursday …

Blindfolded Britons tell of the moment the guards' guns clicked  —  * We were blindfolded and subjected to interrogation  —  * We were told we faced seven years in prison if we did not 'confess'  —  * Iranians entered Iraqi waters deliberately to detain us.  Fighting back was not an option