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• However, multiple U.S. officials used the phrase "not a slam dunk" to describe the intelligence picture -- a reference to then-CIA Director George Tenet's insistence in 2002 that U.S. intelligence showing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was a "slam dunk" -- intelligence that turned out to be wrong.

• A report by the Office of the Director for National Intelligence outlining that evidence against Syria is thick with caveats. It builds a case that Assad's forces are most likely responsible while outlining gaps in the U.S. intelligence picture. Relevant congressional committees were to be briefed on that evidence by teleconference call on Thursday, U.S. officials and congressional aides said.
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• DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- U.N. experts investigating purported poison gas attacks left their Damascus hotel Thursday, but anti-regime activists said the team's destination was not immediately known.
• U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the team would be leaving Syria on Saturday.
• The inspectors spent two days this week taking biological samples and interviewing survivors in the suburbs of Damascus where Syrian activists say hundreds were killed in the Aug. 21 attacks.
• Associated Press photographers say the team left the hotel Thursday morning in six cars with U.N. markings.
• U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday he has concluded the Syrian regime is behind the attack. It's not clear if the Western powers will wait for the U.N. experts' findings before launching a possible punitive military strike.
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• FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- If Nidal Hasan plans to welcome a death sentence as a pathway to martyrdom, the rules of military justice won't let him go down without a fight -- whether he likes it or not.
• The Army psychiatrist was sentenced Wednesday to die for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded more than 30. But before an

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