Venezuela is now the third largest supplier of oil to the United States, after Canada and Saudi Arabia; Mexico is the fourth largest, and Columbia is the seventh. As indicated by Secretary of Energy Abraham, ?President Bush recognizes not only the need for an increased supply of energy, but also the critical role the hemisphere will play in the administration?s energy policy.?

Eight months after Attorney General John Ashcroft hailed the government's partial victory in a trial against an accused terror cell based in Detroit, the convictions of three men are in doubt amid growing turmoil within the offices of the federal prosecutor and the F.B.I. here.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, responding to unusual criticism from a three-star general that the Army is too small to meet its global commitments, has authorized an emergency increase of 30,000 troops, Congress was told yesterday.
The testimony appeared to surprise committee members.
"General Schoomaker, I want to make sure I understand some of your comments here today," said Rep. John McHugh, a New York Republican. "The secretary has given you the option of going to 30,000 additional troops, saying that he has waived under the emergency declaration provisions the statutory cap on end-strength. How long does the secretary intend to declare that emergency to waive that limit?
"Well, sir, I'm not sure we can see into the future as far as we need to.

There are about 120,000 Army soldiers in Iraq, a figure expected to drop to105,000 by May, according to the Pentagon. About 330,000 active and reserveArmy troops are deployed to 120 countries, Riggs said. Another 10,000 soldiers are in Afghanistan.

"Without question, the Washington media descended unfairly on Dean -- both because he was the front-runner and because he's leading a movement that's hostile to their insider culture," said Yale historian David Greenberg, author of the book "Nixon's Shadow." "They turned the 'scream' from an amusing if slightly weird sidelight into a four-day front-page story that may seriously damage his chances."
"The Washington press corps can do the most amazing imitation of a clique of snotty high school kids," wrote Texas columnist Molly Ivins, "and they were determined to find that Dean was not good enough for their clique from the beginning."

These two would-be world-class tough guys were willing to go to extraordinary lengths to show that they couldn't be pushed around. Their trusted underlings misled them with fanciful information on advanced Iraqi weapons programs that they credulously believed because it fit what they wanted to hear.
The two men both had copies of "Crime and Punishment" ? Condi Rice gave Mr. Bush the novel on his trip to Russia in 2002, and Saddam had Dostoyevsky down in the spider hole ? but neither absorbed its lesson: that you can't put yourself above rules just because you think you're superior.