Obama puts brake on Afghan surge  —  PRESIDENT Barack Obama has demanded that American defence chiefs review their strategy in Afghanistan before going ahead with a troop surge.  —  There is concern among senior Democrats that the military is preparing to send up to 30,000 extra troops without a coherent plan or exit strategy.

The Dissenter Who Changed the War  —  As the No. 2 Commander in Iraq, Raymond Odierno Challenged the Military Establishment, Pressing for More Troops and a Long-Term Strategy to Guide Them  —  Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno was an unlikely dissident, with little in his past to suggest …

Afghan Leader Finds Himself Hero No More  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — A foretaste of what would be in store for President Hamid Karzai after the election of a new American administration came last February, when Joseph R. Biden Jr., then a senator, sat down to a formal dinner at the palace during a visit here.

FLY ON THE WAL  —  UNDERCOVER AT WAL-MART, THE HEARTLAND SUPERSTORE THAT MAY SAVE THE ECONOMY  —  Some people, usually community activists, loath Wal-Mart.  Others, like the family of four struggling to make ends meet, are in love with the chain.  I, meanwhile, am in awe of it.

Another Right-Wing Conspiracy in Washington?  —  If you're looking for a break from those conservative voices that dominate talk radio, take time out today to listen to local station OBAMA 1260 AM.  You'll hear the progressive voices of Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Lionel — or …

What the centrists have wrought  —  I'm still working on the numbers, but I've gotten a fair number of requests for comment on the Senate version of the stimulus.  —  The short answer: to appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts …

Obama's NSC Will Get New Power  —  Directive Expands Makeup and Role Of Security Body  —  President Obama plans to order a sweeping overhaul of the National Security Council, expanding its membership and increasing its authority to set strategy across a wide spectrum of international and domestic issues.

Congress Is Divided Over Competing Stimulus Bills  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate agreement on a roughly $827 billion economic stimulus bill sets up tough negotiations with the House, primarily over tens of billions of dollars in aid to states and local governments, tax provisions, and education, health and renewable energy programs.

Cutbanks in the Fiscal Boost Program  —  The stimulus package is too small—and it looks like almost all of the cuts are from reasonable uses of government funds that are substantially labor intensive and thus are the right kind of thing to be in the stimulus package.  It looks like the cuts are:

DNC takes control of Obama's ‘Web.org’  —  DNC aims to nourish Internet-based organization that helped elect him  —  Adams Unaji, seen right, leads a discussion in his living room on the economic stimulus package at an Obama House Party in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Saturday.

Top US lawyer warns of deaths at Guantánamo  —  Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley, an American military lawyer, will step through the grand entrance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London tomorrow and demand the release of her client - a British resident who claims …

Street artist arrested on way to event at ICA  —  Shepard Fairey, the controversial street artist riding a roller coaster of publicity with his red, white, and blue posters of President Obama, was arrested last night on his way to deejay an event kicking off his exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art.