Today's Details

-Two former Pentagon officials, including an acting secretary of the Navy, have been accused of scheming with a banned American contractor to get lucrative rebuilding contracts in Iraq, The Associated Press has learned. DETAILS

-A senior unidentified official -- either from the Iraqi government or the United States -- told Reuters Friday that "Iraq as a political project is finished," and that Baghdad might be divided between east and west. DETAILS

-Iraq's parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani bitterly criticized US forces in Iraq, accusing them of "butchery" and demanded that they pull out of the country. DETAILS

-Israeli tanks and hundreds of troops moved in and out of Lebanon on Saturday, taking over a village, entering a U.N. observation post and engaging Hezbollah militants by land, sea and air as part of the country's limited ground campaign. DETAILS

-Declaring that he believes the situation in Iraq has devolved into a civil war, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that he plans to try to bring the war back up for debate on the Senate floor. DETAILS

-An Algerian man believed to be the last domestic detainee still in custody from a national dragnet after Sept. 11 — and who was cleared of links to terrorism in November 2001 — was set free this week, his lawyer said Friday. DETAILS

-Undercover government investigators purchased sensitive surplus military equipment such as launcher mounts for shoulder-fired missiles and guided missile radar test sets from a Defense Department contractor. Much of the equipment could be useful to terrorists, according to a draft report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. DETAILS

-The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan yesterday described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption. DETAILS

-Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid on Iraq said they were under orders to "kill all military age males," according to sworn statements obtained by the Associated Press. DETAILS

- U.S. News has learned, an American Bar Association task force will recommend that Congress pass legislation providing for some sort of judicial review of the signing statements. DETAILS

-A dozen years after Time proclaimed him “The Right Hand of God,” some are preparing Mr. Reed’s political obituary, wondering what he will do after his rejection by the evangelical churchgoers whose support formed the foundation of his reputation as a political activist and his personal fortune as a political consultant. DETAILS