The New Republic

A battered yellow school bus rumbles up a bumpy dirt road on the outskirts of Sasabe, a small Mexican town just over the border from Arizona. At the top of the hill, the bus winds around brick and mud huts. Ragged children stand in the doorways, and emaciated dogs forage for scraps. The bus passes dented pickups and old cars without wheels and stops in a dusty clearing, where it disgorges about 40 teenagers dressed in blue jeans and carrying small knapsacks. One boy’s t-shirt features a picture of Che Guevara. A girl’s pale blue top says ADORABLE in sequined letters. READ MORE >>

Scott McClellan walked into the White House briefing room Tuesday with the solemn expression of a man about to deliver some very important presidential news. And, indeed, he had an update on a crisis the president of the United States was monitoring: the miners trapped in Upshur County, West Virginia. "The president continues to be kept informed about the situation," McClellan reported. "He was briefed this morning." McClellan made clear that all of the Bush administration's resources were being mobilized. READ MORE >>

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After they took a beating in the 2002 midterm elections, congressional Democrats vowed to stop shading their differences with Republicans and draw sharper distinctions for voters. Focus groups and polls had dulled the party’s message—it  was time to fight back. READ MORE >>

Martinsburg, West Virginia READ MORE >>

THE DICTATORS IN the Arab-Muslim world, and those in Europe who tolerate them, can now rest easier. The Syrian dictator will not be chased into a "spider hole." And the Iranian theocracy will not be sacked by soldiers from West Virginia and Indiana and Vermont. The Iranians will have to secure their own liberty; we know better than to provide it to strangers sure to second- guess the morning after. Yes, America is embattled in Iraq. But its leaders took up the sword against Arab-Muslim troubles and dared to think that tyranny was not fated and inevitable for the Arabs. READ MORE >>

Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America By Ted Morgan (Random House, 685 pp., $35)  READ MORE >>

Since the joint congressional committee investigating September 11 issued a censored version of its report on July 24, there's been considerable speculation about the 28 pages blanked out from the section entitled "Certain Sensitive National Security Matters." The section cites "specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers," which most commentators have interpreted to mean Saudi contributions to Al Qaeda-linked charities. READ MORE >>

In the hushed halls of the Hart Senate Office Building last Thursday afternoon, there was a bustle of activity outside room H-219. A group of senators streamed through tinted-glass doors, leading to a soundproof steel vault in which the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its classified hearings. An academic-looking man in thin-rimmed glasses arrived with an aide in a white Navy uniform. READ MORE >>

See no evil TO THE EDITORS: READ MORE >>