•Army Gen. Abizaid contradicts Cheney: "I believe there are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there were six months ago. There's a lot of work to be done against the insurgency." Rumsfeld says a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq would be a "lifeline to terrorists." [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]

• Democratic lawmakers call for Rove to apologize for his comments about 9/11. McClellan: "If people want to try to engage in personal attacks instead of defending their philosophy, that's their business, but it's important to point out the different approaches to this when it comes to winning the war on terrorism. That's all he was doing." [WP, NYT, LAT, WT]

• House restores $100m to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. [WP, LAT]

•Greenspan, Snow disagree with proposed trade sanctions for China. Snow: "I cannot overstate my firm believe that resorting to isolationist trade policies would be ineffective, disruptive to markets and damaging to America's special role as the world's leading advocate for open markets and fair trade." [WSJ, NYT]

• Republicans raised the issue of Social Security but gave no popular, long-term solution. Thomas: "We're not moribund. We're not disheartened or whatever. We're working on the larger project." [WP]

•Gonzales, Miers, Card, Rove are interviewing candidates for Supreme Court nomination. [WT]

• Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee hears testimony from "Jane Roe"; viewed as prelude to Supreme Court nomination fight. [LAT]

• Republicans expect to play offense during '06 campaigns. [NYT]

• Department of Veterans Affairs has shortfall of $1b, administration admits. [WP]

• Senate approves, by vote of 69 to 26, $1b for environmental repairs. Gregg: "No way as budget chairman can I allow this to go forward." [WSJ]

• Center for Public Broadcasting names former co-chairwoman of the RNC as its next president. [NYT]

•Noonan, O'Reilly, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and Fox News are not promoting Klein's biography of Hillary. [NYT]