“No, Dominic, I said gold. I want a gold frame. Yeah, with a sort of blue-gray matte. Can we draw a penis on his forehead with a Sharpie? All right, that one’s just for us.” MORE »

Well, Fox News, congratulations — you got it. MORE »

One of these things is not like the other: MORE »

Most news organizations are going with either photos of Al-Zarqawi when he was alive, or the tastefully-framed picture of a “cleaned-up” Al-Zarqawi. But not Drudge: MORE »

Maybe it’s irrelevant, but did they get that professionally framed? MORE »

• Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida leader, is killed in Iraq by a “precision airstrike”; Bush says it’s “a significant victory in the war on terror.” [AP]
• George H.W. Bush “waged a secret campaign over several months” to replace Rumsfeld with a “retired four-star general,” but the president held firm. [Salon]
• Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) exposes how Cheney played hardball with the Judiciary Committee. [NYT]
• Victory in California primary “settled Republicans nerves,” but the margin was slim and the campaign was expense. Ken Mehlman: “You see a lot of things that are bellwethers, and they indicate Republicans are in position to hold Congress.” Professor: “The fact that Busby got 15 points over Democratic registration, that should make Republicans nervous. It’s not that Bilbray won. This is a safe Republican seat. I was very surprised that $5 million doesn’t allow you to break 50 percent.” [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage fails to get 60 votes needed to end debate; roll calls ends with 49 yeas, 48 nays. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.): “We’re not going to stop until marriage between a man and a woman is protected… for the future of our children in this society.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• FBI threatened to pick the lock of Rep. William Jefferson’s office when a Capitol Police official hesitated. [WP]

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Striking back in the war of Internet images, the American military today released what they said were the captured outtakes of a video made by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that it hoped would make him look more like a bumbling paintball player than the ruthless jihadist he has portrayed himself as.

-New York Times MORE »

On this, the anniversary of the war, let’s see how old man Rumsfeld thinks it’s going. MORE »

Sunni clerics and political party spokesmen may be encouraging their constituents to go to the polls tomorrow, but this has only redoubled the efforts of jihadists to murder and intimidate them, regardless of their democratic ambivalence or committed disdain for an American military presence in Iraq. The New York Times reports:

Sunni insurgents launched five attacks against the largest Sunni Arab political party on the eve of Iraq’s crucial referendum Friday, bombing and burning offices and the home of one of its leaders in retaliation after the group dropped its opposition to the draft constitution.

–MICHAEL WEISS

Continued after the jump.

Sunni Divide on Display a Day Before Iraq Vote [NYT]
In Iraqi Swing City, Hope vs. Defiance [WaPo]
Zawahiri Letter [English translation]

MORE »