New choices on Iraq

Press the attack? Or bet on stability?

The shifting events in Iraq change the equation for the U.S. After killing Abu Musab Zarqawi, American forces could try to exploit a leadership vacuum in the local Al Qaeda operation and seek to take advantage of the intelligence acquired following the bombing of his hide-out. But with Iraq’s government finally taking shape, the U.S. could see an opportunity to bring some troops home.

Sunday, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the military would try to do both: increase operations while reducing troop levels. President Bush and his advisors will begin meeting today at Camp David to discuss their options. Page A11

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Court will listen to NSA lawsuit

A lawsuit on the National Security Agency’s warrantless domestic surveillance program gets a court hearing today in Detroit. The suit charges that the eavesdropping violates free speech and privacy rights. But the Justice Department counters that the suit should be dismissed because of the “state secrets” doctrine -- that is, state secrets should not be exposed in court when they might compromise national security.

An expert on executive privilege says the doctrine “is the most powerful privilege available to the president” and that if invoked properly, “it wins every single time.” Page A5

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Nazis, Reds and Trapper John

How can geopolitical events affect the destiny of one man? Consider Ingo Preminger, who died last week at 95.

Preminger -- brother of noted filmmaker Otto Preminger -- was raised in Austria but moved to the U.S. in 1938 because of the rise of the Nazis. In the 1950s, the U.S. fought a war in Korea and an anti-communist crusade gained momentum. Preminger -- by then a literary agent -- represented a few writers who had been blacklisted.

In the 1960s, one of those writers showed him a novel written by a surgeon who served in the Korean War. It led to the biggest success of Preminger’s career: He produced the film version of “MASH.” Page B9

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Elephant’s death ignites protests

Protesters riled by the death of an Asian elephant named Gita took up position outside the L.A. Zoo and called for the facility’s remaining pachyderms to be relocated.

Activists have long said the zoo doesn’t provide adequate room for its elephants. Outside the zoo entrance Sunday, some called the zoo a “death camp” and urged visitors not to go inside. Page B3

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He decides what goes on the map

John Trichak gets to pass judgment on new street names in unincorporated Riverside County, which occasionally puts him at the intersection of Rock and Hard Place.

He wants to give developers room for creativity but needs to make sure the names won’t confuse police, firefighters or postal workers. Plus, Riverside is the fastest growing county in the U.S., which adds up to umpteen new housing tracts -- and 10-hour workdays for Trichak.

So, as he sorts out the Merrimacs from the Merrimans, he eliminates names that are too similar, names too long to fit on signs, and names he can’t pronounce or spell easily. “If I can’t pronounce it, you can’t have it,” he says. Page B1

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Life, liberty and golf cart safety

Peachtree City, Ga., might be considered a golfer’s paradise. Ninety miles of golf cart paths connect the planned city’s homes, golf courses and man-made lakes. But the city manager’s arrest on charges of driving his golf cart while intoxicated has brought civic discontent to the fore.

“Next, they’ll start arresting people on their lawn mowers,” one resident says. Page A4

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A world of hurt

Dr. Peter Reynaud lives in a 10-by-10 room at a compound in Chad, treating people caught up in the conflict spilling over from neighboring Sudan. He’s also worked in Mexico, the Democratic Republic of Congo and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Crisis medicine, he says, “forces you to rely on your training to find out what’s wrong with a patient, not use a test.” Page A11

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HEALTH

Major hurdles

Women have made great strides as athletic trainers and account for 48% of the National Athletic Trainers’ Assn. But the glass ceiling begins at pro sports, where only 23 women work among 590 men. Page F1

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Sunshine’s upside?

It sounds like something from a dead-of-the-night infomercial whose announcer buys exclamation points on the fleet rate: “Eases pain! Strengthens bones!! Slows cancer and prevents disease!!!”

What’s the possible miracle substance? It’s vitamin D, and a growing number of exclamationdeprived scientists believe the “sunshine” vitamin might just live up to such hype.

Studies have found that cancer deaths are especially common in men with low levels of vitamin D, and high levels improve strength among the elderly. Vitamin D is the only vitamin the human body makes on its own (with an assist by rays of ultraviolet B). Page F1

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Caffeine’s logical side?

Vitamin D might turn you into a pillar of strength, but according to one study, it looks like caffeine, for all its bluster, might make you more of a wuss. We’re paraphrasing here.

The study suggests that the popular stimulant makes people more open to persuasion when presented with a well-conceived and well-presented opinion, even if it’s an idea to which they previously objected.

The key: Caffeinated people are better able to follow complex logic in ideas presented to them. The study doesn’t indicate whether we can now start seeing salespeople starting their spiel with, “Can I get you a coffee?” Page F2

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ON LATIMES.COM

An online forum for school issues

School me: Bob Sipchen’s Adventures in Education continues. Join in the new online forum for a discussion of the issues. Talk online with the paper’s education reporters and editors.

latimes.com/schoolme

Hollywood bytes: Veteran Hollywood scenester Elizabeth Snead blogs about the latest in Tinseltown events and fashions. From the red carpets to the premieres to the inside scoop on the stories Hollywood will be talking about, read her blog at latimes.com/hollywoodbytes

Theater hounds: See a great play last weekend? Tell us about it! Go online at www.calendarlive.com/stage to review and rate Southland stage productions.

Postcards from Paris: Staff writer Susan Spano blogs on her life in the City of Light. Read her musings -- or ask questions -- at

latimes.com/spano

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THE WEEK AHEAD

WEDNESDAY

Stop ‘em before they talk again

In yet another effort to bridle their own prolific abilities to talk and talk and talk some more, the Los Angeles City Council’s Rules Committee considers capping at eight the number of ceremonial awards they present to members of the public during Friday council meetings. The presentations often chew up long stretches of council meetings and sometimes force the council to delay actions on the real business -- governing.

THURSDAY

Iran takes its case to China

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to meet with Chinese leader Hu Jintao in Shanghai, part of a global effort by Iran in negotiations over the nation’s nuclear ambitions. The United States and European nations, backed by Russia and China, have offered Iran incentives to suspend its efforts to produce enriched uranium. Iran hopes to find an ally in China, which has opposed U.S. threats of sanctions against Iran.

THURSDAY

Tiger back in PGA action

Tiger Woods, whose father, Earl Woods, died in early May, returns to professional golf for the first time in two months as the U.S. Open gets underway at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Woods, whose last tournament action was a third-place finish in the Masters, renews his rivalry with Masters winner Phil Mickelson, who is hoping to come away with his third major championship in a row.

FRIDAY

Disputed search heads to court

Lawyers for the Justice Department, the House leadership and Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) square off in federal court over the FBI’s unprecedented search of Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office last month as part of a corruption probe. Jefferson’s lawyers want the feds to return seized documents and computer files. Justice lawyers have offered to let House lawyers review the papers before federal investigators review them.

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CALENDAR

‘Nightline’ finds its post-Ted legs

When the new “Nightline” launched after founding anchor Ted Koppel’s departure, few regular watchers could recognize it. Three anchors weighed in from two cities, and the ABC show covered multiple stories instead of burrowing into one or two topics as Koppel did. But after a few stumbles, the late-night staple has been finding new viewers, even among the hard-to-land young adults usually more interested in Letterman and Leno. Page E1

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Too many faces, too little time

David Hockney has painted a lot of faces over the last 50 years, and most of them seem to be hanging in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in a new retrospective.

The exhibit comprises 160 paintings and other artworks in an exhaustive presentation; fortunately, there’s comfortable furniture that invites visitors to lounge and chat. That’s fitting, notes critic Chistopher Knight, since one of Hockney’s recurring portraiture themes is “congenial discourse and public interaction.” Page E1

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BUSINESS

Don’t be fooled by Google’s decor

Google’s chief executive is Eric Schmidt. He presides over a corporate headquarters filled with trinkets, pets, free food and bouncy ball chairs. But don’t let the lava lamps fool you.

Google’s whimsical workplace is really focused on cold, hard numbers.

Schmidt, 51, oversees operations. It’s an important job as the energetic company voraciously hires new employees. Schmidt takes a break to sit down for a wide-ranging Q-and-A session. Page C1

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Party city or partly submerged?

Convention organizers are picking through a gumbo pot of questions when considering taking their events to New Orleans.

The tourist sections of town are mostly intact, and hotel rooms are plentiful. But a labor shortage is cramping operations at some businesses. And what if a hurricane warning shrieks just as the keynote speaker steps to the microphone?

“I could go down as the goat of the century,” says the president of a library group that will visit the city this month. Page C1

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SPORTS

His life’s goals take a curious path

For those who fret that hockey moves too fast for to be followed on television, maybe the answer is to find more players like Edmonton’s Ryan Smyth.

Teammates laugh about how slow Smyth’s shot travels. “My 5-year-old can shoot better,” one says, and indeed, his shots resemble an expedition by Billy in the “Family Circus” cartoon -- you half expect to see a dotted line tracing the puck’s route as it bounces off a shin, curlicues through the air and lands just beyond the goal line.

Smyth, who scored the winner in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals, isn’t offended by the jokes. “I get a lot of those goals,” he concedes. Page D3

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Have the ’62 Mets met their match?

In old-time baseball parlance, “second sack” refers to second base, while in modern lingo “sad sack” is synonymous with the Kansas City Royals, the reigning kings of ballfield incompetence. Losers of at least 100 games in three of the last four seasons, this year’s Royals are already buried so deep in baseball’s basement that they could shove the 1962 New York Mets out of the crypt reserved for the worst team ever.

So how do veteran players cope with collective failure? Well, they keep their chins up. They try to look for lessons from every game. And they turn off the TV as soon as the baseball highlights come on. Page D1