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When is the President going to start taking the fight to the Democrats? They have had months of carping at him but we haven't heard a peep from Karl Rove and his crew. Is this a calculated move? What issues will they be able to use against Kerry or Clark. Do they negate the presidents clout on defense because they were both in the military? How will they leverage this against the President in a general election?

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Iraq have captured a former Baath party leader and No. 54 on the U.S. military's 55-most-wanted list, a military spokesman said on Wednesday. "As a result of aggressive operations this week, the coalition announces the capture of Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad, number 54 on the most wanted list," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a news conference in Baghdad. "He was captured as a result of a combined operation of the 82nd Airborne Division and Special Operations forces," he said, adding that Muhammad was captured earlier this week. Muhammad was a regional chairman of the Baath...

Saddam had links to guerrilla attacks By Joseph Logan MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Intelligence gleaned from Saddam Hussein's capture has shown that he was in contact with suspected organisers of attacks against U.S. troops, a senior U.S. officer says. Major-General David Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said on Monday the arrest of the deposed Iraqi strongman had also convinced top figures in his Baath party to turn over weapons and offer cooperation to U.S. forces. He said documents gathered after Saddam was found hiding in a hole on a farm outside his hometown and powerbase of Tikrit had...

<p>Bush's Holiday Hit By David S. Broder Wednesday, December 3, 2003; Page A29 As historian Doris Kearns Goodwin pointed out this week on NBC's "Meet the Press," there is nothing unusual or unprecedented about presidents visiting the troops in wartime. Lincoln did it several times during the Civil War and FDR managed it during World War II. More recent presidents have shared meals with the military in Korea, Vietnam and Kosovo. So, despite the stealth and drama that marked President Bush's flight into Baghdad, he was doing what the commander in chief often does, and his visit, brief as it was, clearly cheered the troops. Democrats properly refrained from criticizing the trip. But the absence of controversy does not diminish the political significance of the journey, which dominated television coverage and newspaper headlines over Thanksgiving weekend.</p>

Nov. 21, 2003, 8:22AM ZZ Top to send Compaq Center out in rockin' style By BRUCE WESTBROOK Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle On the eve of their most historic concert, Houston's ZZ Top made some new history. The little ol' band from Texas has been voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ZZ Top will be inducted in ceremonies March 15 in New York City, then enshrined at the hall's home in Cleveland, Ohio. Port Arthur's Janis Joplin was inducted in 1995, but ZZ Top will be the first Houston band to join the roster of rock legends, which...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. economic growth surged in the third quarter of 2003 to the fastest pace in nearly two decades, the government said Thursday, in a report that was much stronger than most economists expected.</p> <p>Gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity, grew at a 7.2 percent annual rate in the quarter after growing at a 3.3 percent rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported. Economists, on average, expected GDP growth of 6 percent, according to Briefing.com.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — A Senate investigation has found no evidence that the Bush administration pressured CIA analysts to tailor their intelligence to suit the White House's views on the threat posed by Iraq. However, the inquiry did find instances where the CIA downplayed intelligence that contradicted Bush's views, according to lawmakers and officials familiar with the probe.</p>

<p>President Bush and California Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger met privately Thursday then praised each other in a joint appearance. The movie actor called Bush "the greatest ally this golden state has in Washington."</p> <p>For his part, Bush said he was glad to have met Schwarzenegger, then joked about "how much we have in common."</p>

Trouble in Bush's America By BOB HERBERT hile our "What, me worry?" president is having a great time with his high approval ratings and his "Top Gun" fantasies, the economy remains in the tank. And the finances of state and local governments are sinking tragically into ever deeper and ever more unforgiving waters. You want shock and awe? Come to New York City, where jobs are hard to find and the budget (as residents are suddenly realizing) is a backbreaking regimen of service cuts, tax increases and that perennial painkiller, wishful thinking. The biggest wish, of course, is that the...

War News Gets Better fter bitter bickering over the adequacy of the invasion force and a delay caused by blinding sandstorms and attacks on the supply lines, the allied campaign in Iraq has finally begun moving again. Over the last two days American forces have scored some heartening successes. They do not guarantee a quick end to the war, but they did offer a hint of light at the end of the tunnel. Both the Army's Third Infantry Division and the First Marine Division, long stalled some 50 or more miles south of Baghdad, have routed the Iraqi forces confronting...

Next stop Syria for Saddam 28mar03 SADDAM Hussein has made extensive preparations to flee Iraq - and has already smuggled his family out to Syria. He has also been selling off property and valuables to raise millions for his exile. Just days before the bombardment of Baghdad began, Saddam's first wife Sajida – mother of his heirs Uday and Qusay and daughters Raghad, Rana and Hala – fled to Damascus with three lorryloads of possessions and 60 bodyguards. They are staying with Iraq's ambassador to Syria, Saddam's former protocol minister Haitham Rashid Wihaib told newspapers in London. The news will...

President Rallies Troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Remarks by the President to Socom and Centcom Community Macdill Air Force Base Tampa, Florida 10:42 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, all. (Applause.) Thank you, all. Thank you, all, very much. General Delong, thanks for such a kind introduction. Laura and I are really proud to be here with the good men and women of CENTCOM and MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. (Applause.) We are pleased to see so many family members who are here. We want to -- (applause) -- we thank you for coming. And I want...

Iraq's 'Smoking Gun' Will Be Found, Military Says 2 hours, 51 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Angus MacSwan KUWAIT CITY (Reuters) - U.S. and British military experts searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (news - web sites) are certain they will find the "smoking gun" that will vindicate the U.S.-led invasion, a planning team commander said on Tuesday. Though no incriminating sites have yet been uncovered, the British and American experts expect to find many such sites close to the Iraqi capital Baghdad, if and when the U.S. military advance succeeds in...

France blasts US over Iraq Tue Mar 25, 2:35 AM ET PARIS (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin lashed out at the United States over Iraq (news - web sites), saying no country should "set itself up as the world's guardian." "We could imagine tomorrow seeing force used again in other crises in the world," he told France 2 television. "Force must only be a last resort because its use risks deepening the wounds of the world," he said in a reference to the US-led military intervention in Iraq. "No country can set itself up as the world's...

POWs at mercy of Islam 24 March 2003 The US prisoners of war will be treated in accordance with "the teachings of Islam", Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said today, raising further fears for the safety of the five soldiers who were captured and pararded on Iraqi state television yesterday. Mr Sabri, who is in Egypt on a diplomatic trip aimed at rallying Arab governments against the US and British policies of "colonialism, neo-colonialism and war", said it would take precedence over the rules laid down in the Geneva Convention. "First of all, we are committed to the teachings of...

<p>OUTSIDE MY OFFICE Thursday morning, a band of 50 or 60 people marched down the middle of Fifth Street, some waving signs saying "War is terror." Others carried placards with one word: "Peace."</p> <p>When I heard them, I stood at a third-floor window on Fifth Street near Mission and watched. A young man yanked a newspaper rack from the sidewalk and into the street. He pushed it on its side and walked on. Other young men and women followed suit until the street suddenly was an obstacle course of overturned newspaper racks. Some drivers tried to maneuver around the racks. Others stopped where they were, backing up traffic.</p>

What France really wants A medium-sized power with super-sized ambitions President Bush listens to President Jacques Chirac of France as they brief reporters in the Rose Garden last November. ANALYSIS By Dan Goure MSNBC WASHINGTON, March 13 — Sigmund Freud is reported to have once exclaimed in sheer exasperation, “What do women want?” The same question can be asked today about France. ON THE ONE hand, France voted for U.N. Resolution 1441 in November, a resolution that explicitly acknowledges that Iraq had and still has weapons of mass destruction, that it is in material breach of 17 prior disarmament resolutions...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks surged Thursday afternoon, with investors using signs that a likely war with Iraq will be delayed as a good excuse to buy after two sessions of selling, aided by a strong U.S. dollar and strong gains in European markets.</p>

Iraq Rejects British Compromise Proposal BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites) reveled Thursday in the diplomatic turmoil surrounding U.S.-led war plans and rejected British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)'s effort to find a compromise over an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). Blair's compromise would abandon a proposed Monday deadline for Iraq to fully disarm or face war, instead giving Saddam a six-point to-do list of disarmament tasks to avoid "serious consequences." Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said it amounted to the same thing. "It is an attempt to beautify a rejected aggressive...

Bush Optimistic on U.N. Resolution Vote By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON - The Bush administration expressed optimism Wednesday about gaining enough votes for a U.N. resolution endorsing force against Iraq (news - web sites), and with unusual directness said French President Jacques Chirac was sending "precisely the wrong signal to Baghdad" by threatening a veto. The State Department said Chirac's stand was making it less likely that Iraq could be disarmed. Chirac has threatened to veto the resolution should it receive the nine Security Council votes necessary for approval. "Unfortunately, President Chirac has said that no matter what,...