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Salem Chalabi, one of the principal drafters of the Iraqi interim constitution, said yesterday that the insurgents in Iraq probably would prefer Sen. John Kerry as the next U.S. president. Mr. Chalabi, speaking at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, said that if he were "under the hat of a member of the resistance, I would prefer that John Kerry wins." "They may feel that John Kerry doesn't have the investment, the political investment in the Iraqi situation that President Bush has," he said. Mr. Chalabi was a member of the legal and finance committees of the Iraqi...

"Remember that infamous Oct. 8 memo from ABC News political director Mark Halperin, which instructed ABC correspondents to slant their reportage in John Kerry's favor? " conservative author Richard Poe said on his blog (www.RichardPoe.com). "Well, it turns out that Halperin's father is none other than Morton H. Halperin, head of George Soros' Open Society Policy Center. Lowell Ponte reveals Mark Halperin's Soros connection in [yesterday's] FrontPageMagazine.com, in a stunning expose titled, 'The ABC's of Media Bias.' "

Kerry says faith affects his other positions, so why not abortion? If you're an informed Catholic who watched the third presidential debate you have to be wondering what, exactly, John Kerry was talking about when it comes to abortion. Asked by moderator Bob Schieffer about unnamed Catholic archbishops who are telling people it's a sin for them to vote for candidates like Kerry because of their support for abortion rights and embryonic-stem-cell research, Kerry rambled on about respecting the bishops' views but disagreeing with them. That was hard enough to follow. Then came the kicker: "I believe that I can't...

President Bush spoke to the issues in the language of conservatives: low taxes, fiscal sanity, a culture of life, the sanctity of marriage, standards and accountability in education. Overall, however, I think President Bush did a better job of improving his position in the race. The inherent problem with John Kerry's strategy is that the middle-class "swing voter" he needs to win in critical states ... is decidedly more conservative than he is... In less than three weeks when voters close the curtain on the booth and make a choice for president they'll ask themselves four basic questions (not necessarily...

<p>Billboards now seen in at least 10 key states show a prancing French poodle, its fur fancily clipped for show, wearing a pink ribbon and a blue Kerry-for-president sweater. The text says: ''That dog don't hunt.'' And: ''For 20 years John Kerry has voted against sportsmen's rights.'' As Election Day approaches, the National Rifle Association is clearing its throat, ready to roar.</p>

NATO will send military trainers to Iraq before the end of the year in response to appeals by Iraqi leaders for speedy action, US ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns said today. "We have an agreement that those trainers will go into Iraq by the end of the year," Mr Burns told reporters here after NATO defence ministers discussed the issue at an informal meeting here. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the NATO trainers and forces to protect them must be on the ground in Iraq "as soon as possible. And as soon as possible to me means...

Jon Moseley, author of "Cold Peace," makes a good point after listening to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry pledge that he will secure Russia's nuclear material three times faster than President Bush. "News alert for John Kerry: Russia is run by Russian President Vladimir Putin, not George Bush. Russia's nuclear materials are governed out of Moscow, not Massachusetts," the author reminds the candidate. Mr. Moseley says the Democrat's campaign-driven directive on Russia's nuclear waste is yet another insult lodged against a major U.S. ally of late. "Kerry promised to directly and personally control the nuclear material of Russia," the...

Beware of being designated a World Heritage Site. "World Heritage Sites in the United States were noncontroversial until the Clinton administration and overzealous environmental groups used Yellowstone National Park's World Heritage Site designation to stop a proposed gold mine located on private property outside the boundaries of the park," notes Rep. Richard Pombo, California Republican. In 1972, the United States ratified the World Heritage Convention. Since then, 20 properties in the U.S. have been designated as World Heritage Sites, operated under a worldwide program administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), based in Paris. "Many in...

Uses of hindsight The new report from the Iraq Survey Group confirmed what most already had assumed — that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction at the time of the U.S. invasion, The Washington Post said yesterday in an editorial. Noting that President Bush says he would have invaded even knowing what he knows now, and that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry says he would not have, the newspaper opined, "Yet in reality no president could have known what is known now. As long as Saddam Hussein remained in power and refused to cooperate fully with the United...

Federal alert comes amid heightened concern of terror attack WASHINGTON - The Education Department has alerted school leaders nationwide to watch for people spying on their buildings as a possible sign of a terrorist threat. The warning is based on an analysis by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department of the school siege that killed nearly 340 people, many of them students, in Russia last month... In particular, schools have been told to watch for activities that may be legitimate on their own — but may suggest a heightened terrorist threat if there are many of them. Among those...

Political analyst Charlie Cook concedes that he might have been wrong in originally judging President Bush the winner of the first presidential debate, but he says whatever margin of victory Sen. John Kerry has enjoyed has been exaggerated. "I canvassed a few Democratic strategists on the pro-Kerry side immediately after the debate, and none of them seemed overly impressed with Kerry's performance either. But data from the liberal-leaning Americans Coming Together focus groups of swing voters in Tampa [Fla.] signaled that Kerry had won the debate, and an instant poll by ABC News confirmed that result," Mr. Cook writes in...

"It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen." --Herodotus "Congress has the constitutional authority to rein in the federal courts' jurisdiction and the duty to preserve the states' republican forms of governments. Since government by the federal judiciary undermines the states' republican governments, Congress has a duty to rein in rogue federal judges." --Ron Paul "From 1975 to 1992 when there was no ban on assault weapons, 16 police were killed by such weapons. During a similar...

A Kerry Supreme Court would effectively disenfranchise Catholic voters, a coalition of Catholic lawyers and legal scholars said yesterday. The coalition said Kerry-appointed Supreme Court justices would impose their personal opinions in striking down laws legitimately adopted by the political process that embrace traditional values. "Catholics should understand the importance of this election and how the outcome could threaten core values of their faith. The next president may appoint two or even three of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices," said Shannen W. Coffin, a former Bush administration lawyer who organized the coalition. "John Kerry has said he would apply...

... The interest in the court during the 1980 election was well-placed. President Reagan, who left office nearly 16 years ago, appointed three currently serving associate justices (Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy) and elevated Mr. Rehnquist to chief justice. Indeed, Mr. Rehnquist was initially appointed to the court in 1971 by President Nixon, two years after he nominated Warren Burger as chief justice. Thus, while Mr. Nixon served only five-and-a-half years as president, he appointed to the court two justices who have cumulatively served as chief justice for more than 35 years and counting... During the 2000...

TEL AVIV, Israel (Reuters) - Israel has arrested 13 U.N. employees and plans to indict them for "suspected links to terrorism," an Israeli army officer said Tuesday. Maj.-Gen. Yisrael Ziv, speaking to reporters, did not say when they were arrested. His comments came after Israel backed away from an accusation that Palestinian militants had used a U.N. ambulance in Gaza to transport a rocket to be fired at Israel. "We have in our hands a list of 13 detainees who are to be indicted, they are U.N. people with suspected links to terrorism," Ziv said.

"It's about national security." So write the editors of the Lowell Sun, who read Sen. John Kerry as well as anyone. "We in Massachusetts know John Kerry. He got his first taste of politics 32 years ago in the cities and towns of Greater Lowell," the newspaper states. "Americans aren't fools. They know that without safe cities and towns, America will lose ... our cherished freedoms ... along with our opportunities for economic prosperity and our basic pursuit of happiness." They write that "Islamic extremists, both here and abroad, have one purpose: To destroy America and halt the spread of...

NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw has rushed to the defense of embattled CBS News anchor Dan Rather — and now finds himself under fire. Mr. Brokaw, during a panel discussion in New York on Saturday, criticized what he called an attempt to "demonize" CBS and Mr. Rather on the Internet. Mr. Rather finds himself in trouble for using fake documents to question President Bush's National Guard record. Mr. Brokaw said the criticism of his CBS counterpart "goes well beyond any factual information," adding, "What I think is highly inappropriate is what is going on across the Internet, a kind of...

There is not a woman alive who will not sympathise with the Democrat John Kerry for doing what he did this week. Who among us has not done the same thing? That is, made a stupid, stupid decision regarding our appearance right before a very important event. Senator Kerry, who is trying to win the race for the White House, hit the bottle. The fake tan bottle. Or perhaps the sun bed, nobody is sure. But whatever, the day before the first TV debate with President George Bush, Kerry turned orange. Not a little bit orange. His face is like...

Former president and governor Jimmy Carter celebrates his 80th birthday on Friday. Here's your chance to send him best wishes on his landmark day. E-mail a brief greeting to Georgia's famous peanut farmer, Habitat homebuilder and peacemaker. We'll post it on our online birthday card. Please include your name and hometown.

For weeks, there have been rumors about Sen. John Kerry's losing support among black voters. And now the Pew Research Center poll confirms that is exactly what is happening. The Massachusetts liberal now leads President Bush by 73 percent to 12 percent among black voters, according to the latest Pew poll. That compares with 83 percent to 6 percent in August and 83 percent to 5 percent just last week. No wonder the Kerry campaign announced yesterday that the Rev. Jesse Jackson has taken on the title "senior consultant." The campaign also is sending black surrogates into key urban areas...