Senate staffers working on confirmations are looking hard into the backgrounds of President-elect Barack Obama's nominees, poring over their past writings and speeches searching for controversial statements and positions....

Senate staffers working on confirmations are looking hard into the backgrounds of President-elect Barack Obama 's nominees, poring over their past writings and speeches searching for controversial statements and positions....

We no longer have a civilian-led government. It is hard for a lifelong Republican and son of a retired Air Force colonel to say this, but the most unnerving legacy of the Bush administration is the encroachment of the Department of Defense into a striking number of aspects of civilian government.......

Federal prosecutors yesterday described a blaze of gunfire and grenade explosions unleashed by six Blackwater Worldwide security guards in a busy Baghdad square last year, calling it an "unprovoked and illegal attack" on unarmed Iraqi civilians that killed at least 14 and wounded 20....

Federal prosecutors yesterday described a blaze of gunfire and grenade explosions unleashed by six Blackwater Worldwide security guards in a busy Baghdad square last year, calling it an "unprovoked and illegal attack" on unarmed Iraqi civilians that killed at least 14 and wounded 20....

Federal prosecutors yesterday described a blaze of gunfire and grenade explosions unleashed by six Blackwater Worldwide security guards in a busy Baghdad square last year, calling it an "unprovoked and illegal attack" on unarmed Iraqi civilians that killed at least 14 and wounded 20....

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government yesterday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of the contractors' actions in a combat zone....

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government yesterday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of the contractors' actions in a combat zone....

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government yesterday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of the contractors' actions in a combat zone....

Attorneys for five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead accused the government yesterday of engaging in unfair second-guessing of the contractors' actions in a combat zone....