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WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hit back Friday at a Pentagon aide who charged that her questions about Iraq withdrawal planning have the effect of helping the enemy — calling the accusation a spurious dodge of a serious issue. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for president, had asked the Pentagon to detail how it is planning for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq. She first raised the issue in May, pointing out that whenever troops leave, it will be no simple task to transport the people, equipment and vehicles out of Iraq, possibly through hostile territory. Eric...

PARIS (Reuters) - Paris will deliver confidential documents to U.N. investigators to refute charges in a report published on a CIA (news - web sites) Web site that French firms abused the U.N.'s oil-for-food program in Iraq (news - web sites), officials said on Monday. The report by a former U.N. weapons inspector implicated leading French companies and politicians in a strategy by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) to bribe his way clear of U.N. sanctions. Officials said Paris protested in vain to Washington over the Oct. 7 report by Charles Duelfer, whose CIA-led Iraq Survey Group (ISG) found...

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry (news - web sites), lashing out at the White House's "twisted sense of ethics and morality," accused Republicans on Friday of distorting his record and attacking his patriotism. Kerry, at an outdoor rally on the University of Pittsburgh campus, used an American flag and the national anthem to fire back at Republicans who charge he is weak on defense for voting against some weapons systems and an $87 billion bill to pay for operations in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites). Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran,...