U.S. troops shot dead an Iraqi working for Dubai-based Arab satellite television channel Al Arabiya Thursday and critically wounded another in central Baghdad, colleagues said.

freidman: The new Spanish government's decision to respond to the attack by Al Qaeda by going ahead with plans to pull its troops from Iraq constitutes the most dangerous moment we've faced since 9/11. It's what happens when the Axis of Evil intersects with the Axis of Appeasement and the Axis of Incompetence.

As a friend in Cairo e-mailed me, a Spanish pullout from Iraq would only bring to mind Churchill's remark after Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich pact with Hitler: "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war."

As Hans Blix told a reporter, Saddam had put up a "Beware of Dog" sign, so he didn't bother with the dog.

When he challenged Mr. Kerry to put up or shut up on his claim of support from foreign leaders, Mr. Bush said, "If you're going to make an accusation in the course of a presidential campaign, you've got to back it up with facts."
If you're going to make an accusation in the course of a presidency, you've got to back it up with facts, too.

The full bench of the court should rule that Bashir not be released, Mr Downer said.

A group claiming to have links with al-Qaeda said today it was calling a truce in its Spanish operations to see if the new government would withdraw its troops from Iraq, a pan-Arab newspaper said.
"And we repeat this to all the brigades present in European lands: stop all operations."

Responding to a request by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, yesterday gave the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy unfettered permission to mislead the public in the name of opposing "drug legalization."
In its March 10 response to Paul, the GAO declared, in essence, that the truth or falsity of ONDCP's statements is irrelevant. "ONDCP is specifically charged with the responsibility for 'taking such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use' of certain controlled substances such as marijuana," wrote GAO General Counsel Anthony Gamboa. "Given this role, we do not see a need to examine the accuracy of the Deputy Director's individual statements in detail."
"Amazingly, the GAO has ruled that the truth simply doesn't matter in the so-called 'War on Drugs,' "

This one may have escaped your notice: Last week, a Kentucky Republican introduced a new House bill, HR 3920, to allow Congress to override Supreme Court decisions. No, seriously. Ron Lewis' bill, cheerfully titled, "The Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act of 2004," was introduced without much fanfare, perhaps because it's one of the dumbest ideas ever.

Professor Erwin Chemerinsky of University of Southern California Law School, in one of the only stories that's been written about the dumb bill, has opined correctly that when Robert Bork tried to terminate judicial review, he at least sought to do so by amending the Constitution. Lewis wants to pass an act of Congress that the Supreme Court would merely find unconstitutional. The best evidence that congressmen shouldn't get into the business of interpreting the Constitution? Ron Lewis pithily arguing that just because Marbury v. Madison is 200 years old and the cornerstone of modern judicial review power, it's not in the Constitution so it's not all that important.

Among the books the Crusaders for Christ want banned are "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury and "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

Starting next month, the Defense Department will begin withholding 15 percent of the money paid to halliburtonVice President Dick Cheney's former company on a multibillion-dollar contract to provide services such as food, housing, laundry and mail to American forces in Iraq.
Company executives told Wall Street analysts last week the company was taking in about $1 billion a month from its operations in Iraq. The company has set aside $141 million to settle the overcharging allegations and already has repaid about $36 million.

Scalia said the remote Louisiana hunting camp used for a duck hunting and fishing trip "was not an intimate setting."
Given the circumstances of the trip, Scalia wrote, the only possible reason for recusal would be his friendship with Cheney.
"A rule that required members of this court to remove themselves from cases in which the official actions of friends were at issue would be utterly disabling," Scalia wrote.
Those "established principles and practices" do not require or even permit him to step aside in the Cheney case, Scalia wrote.