WASHINGTON — Gen. David Petraeus told Congress on Monday he envisions the withdrawal of roughly 30,000 U.S. troops by next summer, beginning with a Marine contingent later this month.

In long-awaited testimony, the commanding general of the war said last winter's buildup in U.S. troops had met its military objectives "in large measure."

As a result, he told a congressional hearing and a nationwide television audience, "I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level ... by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains we have fought so hard to achieve."

Testifying in a military uniform bearing four general's stars and a chestful of medals, Petraeus said he had already provided his views to the military chain of command.

Rebutting charges that he was merely doing the White House's bidding, he said firmly: "I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by nor shared with anyone in the Pentagon, the White House or the Congress."

Al-Qaida says bin Laden to appear in 2nd new video marking Sept. 11 attack anniversary

CAIRO, Egypt — Osama bin Laden will appear for the second time in a week in a new video to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, presenting the last will and testament of one of the suicide hijackers, al-Qaida announced Monday.

Each year, al-Qaida has released videos of last statements by hijackers on the anniversary of the 2001 attacks, using the occasion to rally its sympathizers.

But this year's releases underline how bin Laden is re-emerging to tout his leadership — whether symbolic or effective — of the jihad movement. While past anniversary videos featured old footage of bin Laden, the latest appears likely to include a newly made speech.

Bin Laden had not appeared for nearly three years until a new video was released over the weekend. In that video, he addressed the American people, telling them the war in Iraq is a failure and taking on a new anti-globalization rhetoric. He urged Americans to abandon capitalism and democracy and embrace Islam.

Al-Qaida's media arm, Al-Sahab, announced the impending second video Monday with an advertising banner posted on an Islamic militant Web forum where the group often posts its messages.

U.S. intelligence director says monitoring overseas conversations critical to terror war

WASHINGTON — Weapons of mass destruction, small boats packed with explosives and Islamic radicalization are the greatest terrorist threats facing the country, top U.S. security officials said Monday on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The officials told Congress the country is much better prepared to face terror threats than it was then, but that terrorists' desire to attack the United States remains strong — an assertion that has yet to be fully accepted by the American public, according to a new poll.

"The enemy is not standing still. They are constantly revising their tactics and adapting their strategy and their capabilities," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "And if we stand still — or worse yet, if we retreat — we are going to be handing them an advantage that we dare not see them hold."

He said the threat of a USS Cole-type attack on U.S. ports — where a small boat packed with explosives detonates in a harbor — is one of his top concerns.

And while the department's goal is to keep nuclear weapons from entering the country, he said it also is focusing on how it would respond should a nuclear device get through and explode — particularly how to identify and track the nuclear materials. Chertoff also said the department is putting in place new screening regulations that would require providing information on flight crews and passengers before a private aircraft departs from overseas bound for the United States.

Pakistan's leader defies high court and sends returned ex-prime minister back into exile

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf defied Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday, sending commandos to the airport and tossing out a bitter rival hours after he returned from exile in hopes of a making political comeback and opposing the military leader.

The expulsion of Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted as an elected prime minister by Musharraf in a 1999 bloodless coup, could deepen the general's unpopularity and undermine the legitimacy of upcoming elections.

Not long after he arrived from London to cheers from supporters accompanying him on the plane, Sharif was charged with corruption and money-laundering and bundled away by police from the airport VIP lounge. Four hours after landing, he was on a special flight to Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan's deputy information minister Tariq Azim told the British Broadcasting Corp. Sharif chose to go back into exile to avoid being detained and standing trial.

"It was a choice given to him that either he goes to a detention center and be detained and tried, or he goes and completes his 10-year (exile) agreement that he has signed with the Saudi Government," Azim told the BBC in an interview, according to an except provided ahead of its broadcast Monday night. "No hindrance or obstacle was placed upon his entry into Pakistan. He came here and he was given every assistance."

Republican contender Fred Thompson says Osama bin Laden would get due process if captured

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson said Monday that while Osama bin Laden needs to be caught and killed, the terrorist mastermind would get the due process of law.

In his first campaign trip to South Carolina, the lawyer and former Tennessee senator answered questions about his recent statements about the man considered responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. Last week, a new video with bin Laden surfaced, the first in three years.

On Friday, Thompson told reporters in Iowa that bin Laden is "more symbolism than anything else" and said his presence in the "mountains of Pakistan or Afghanistan is not as important as there are probably al-Qaida operatives inside the United States of America."

The remarks drew criticism from some Democratic rivals and later in the day, Thompson adopted a tougher line, saying bin Laden "ought to be caught and killed."

On Monday, Thompson said he wasn't suggesting that bin Laden's death would happen immediately after his capture.

5 men found guilty on all counts in Chicago mob trial; conspiracy involved 18 murders

CHICAGO — A federal jury found five aging men guilty Monday in a racketeering conspiracy that involved decades of extortion, loan sharking and murder aimed at rubbing out anyone who dared stand in the way of the ruthless Chicago mob.

The verdicts capped an extraordinary 10-week trial that laid bare some of the inner workings of The Outfit.

The prosecution's star witness was an admitted hit man who took the stand against his own brother to spell out the allegations, crime by crime. Over 10 weeks, the jury heard about 18 killings, including the beating death and cornfield burial of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the mob's man in Las Vegas and the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the 1995 movie "Casino."

The jury deliberated for less than 20 hours before announcing their verdicts.

It was a sweeping victory for prosecutors. The jury found all five men guilty of a racketeering conspiracy that included the 18 unsolved murders, as well as other counts of bribery, illegal gambling and tax fraud.

Alleged mob boss James Marcello, 65; alleged mob capo Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 78; convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese Sr., 70; and convicted jewel thief Paul Schiro, 70, could now face up to live in prison. The fifth man, retired Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle, 62, was the only one among the five not accused of carrying out at least one of the killings.

Archaeologists open Viking grave to seek secrets of women buried there

OSLO, Norway — Archaeologists opened a Viking burial mound on Monday, seeking to learn more about two women — possibly a queen and a princess — laid to rest there 1,173 years ago.

In 1904, the mound in southeastern Norway's Vestfold County surrendered one of the country's greatest archaeological treasures, the Oseberg Viking longboat, which is now on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.

The 65-foot vessel was buried in 834 in the enormous mound as the grave ship for a rich and powerful Viking woman, according to the museum.

The remains of the two women, one believed to have been in her 60s and the other in her 30s, were first exhumed during the ship excavation. They were reburied in the mound in 1948 — in a modern aluminum casket placed inside a five-ton stone sarcophagus — in hopes that future scientific methods might reveal their secrets.

When experts opened the sarcophagus Monday, it was filled with water, although the casket itself may not have been flooded.

Amid MTV debacle, harshest words are saved for Britney's bod

NEW YORK — The consensus is clear: Britney Spears performed like she was sloshing blindfolded through mud at MTV's Video Music Awards. No one disputes that the troubled pop princess royally mangled her much-heralded comeback.

But what about the nastiest comments of all — those about her body? "Lard and Clear," read Monday's headline in the New York Post. "The bulging belly she was flaunting was SO not hot," wrote E! Online. And so on.

Was it fair? Did Spears, lest we forget a mother of two, deserve to be held up against the standard of her once fantastically toned abs, sculpted by sessions of 1,000 tummy crunches? Or was she asking for it by choosing that unforgiving black-sequined bikini?

More profoundly, in an age where skinny models and skeletal actresses are under scrutiny for the message they're sending young girls, what does it say that we're excoriating a young woman for a little thickness in her middle?

On the morning after what the VH1 channel called Spears' "already historic" performance, the blogosphere was buzzing with opinions. For every "fat" comment there was an impassioned retort. "Give her a break," wrote one blogger on Aboutthink.com. "The girl's had two kids — I hope I'm a size 10 after having kids!"

Stocks close mixed as investors digest Fed speeches ahead of next week's rate decision

NEW YORK — Wall Street finished a volatile session mixed Monday as investors grappled with the possibility that the Federal Reserve might not lower interest rates as much as they hope.

The stock market racheted up and down throughout the day, with Wall Street still nervous after Friday's dismal employment report. The data, which showed the first monthly decline in jobs in four years, rekindled fears about housing and credit market weakness bleeding into the overall economy and squeezing consumer spending.

Speeches from Fed officials Monday seemed to give investors a bit more reason to be optimistic about the economy, but the officials avoided hinting at how the central bank might alter rates.

San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen said that while market turmoil has the potential to hurt the economy, rate policy should not be used to shield investors from losses. Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said the economy appears to be "weathering the storm," and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said investors should consider Friday's unemployment report in the context of a mostly strong batch of retail sales reports.

For many investors, a rate cut after more than a year of the Fed standing pat on rates is practically a given. The debate, as they see it, is whether the Fed on Sept. 18 will reduce rates by a quarter percentage point or a half percentage point to loosen up the tight credit markets — and also, if the central bank will continue to reduce rates as the year goes on.

Surgeon: Bills' Kevin Everett likely to be paralyzed after 'catastrophic' spinal injury

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills' Kevin Everett sustained a "catastrophic" and life-threatening spinal-cord injury and his chances of regaining a full range of body motion are very small, an orthopedic surgeon said Monday.

"A best-case scenario is full recovery, but not likely," Dr. Andrew Cappuccino said, one day after performing a four-hour operation on the player. "I believe there will be some permanent neurological paralysis. ... A full neurological recovery was bleak, dismal."

Cappuccino noted the 25-year-old reserve tight end did have touch sensation throughout his body and also showed signs of movement. But he cautioned that Everett's injury remained life-threatening, saying the player is still susceptible to blood clots, infection and breathing failure.

Everett is currently under forced sedation and breathing through a respirator as doctors wait for the swelling to lessen. Cappuccino said it will take up to three days to determine the severity of the injury and the recovery process.