IRAQIS TAKE NOTE OF ELECTION RESULTS AND RUMSFELD RESIGNATION - CHRISTOPHER BODEE, ASSOCIATED PRESS (NORTH COUNTY TIMES, NOVEMBER 9) Many Iraqis say the U.S.-led forces failed to offer day-to-day protection against insurgent and militia attacks.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11/09...2_0511_8_06.txt

"JUBA RETURNS," AND OTHER SNUFF FILMS FROM IRAQ: THE WAR OF THE SNIPERS - PATRICK COCKBURN (COUNTERPUNCH, NOVEMBER 9): The most recent Islamic Army propaganda video is about a black-masked man identified as "Juba," the Baghdad Sniper" and shows him prowling Baghdad in search for unwary American troops. Snipers have always fascinated film makers, propagandists and the general public because they personalize men making war.
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick11092006.html

BAGHDAD SAYS 150,000 IRAQIS KILLED - IRAQI HEALTH MINISTER ALI AL-SHAMMARI TODAY SAID VIOLENCE OVER THE PAST THREE AND A HALF YEARS HAS KILLED SOME 150,000 IRAQIS (RFE/RL, NOVEMBER 9)
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/...d5bd6cf5ef.html

HOW SECURITY GUARDS BECAME KILLERS - DAHR JAMAIL AND ALI AL-FADHILY (ASIA TIMES, NOVEMBER 10): One of the first decisions that the US occupation authorities and the Iraqi leaders working with them made was that each ministry could establish its own protection force independent of the control of the ministries of Interior and Defense.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK10Ak01.html

A STAGGERING NEW BILL FOR IRAQ? - JESSICA HOLZER AND MATTHEW SWIBEL (FORBES, NOVEMBER 9): The U.S. armed services have requested a $160 billion supplemental appropriation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the remainder of fiscal year 2007 -- a staggering amount.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/08/iraq-appr...aily_newsletter

INCOMPLETE JUSTICE IN IRAQ - EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, NOVEMBER 8): If Iraqi authorities allow Saddam to be executed before his major crimes can be documented and judged in open court, they will be undermining the primary purpose of a tribunal that they wanted, understandably, to conduct in Iraq -- where the despot's Iraqi victims were disappeared, tortured, raped, and killed.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...in_iraq?mode=PF

BUSH'S NOVEMBER SURPRISE - ROBERT SCHEER (TRUTHDIG, NOVEMBER 8/COMMON DREAMS): A fair international tribunal judging Hussein's many crimes would have provided a venue for exposing the tyrants international backers, led by the United States and its allies.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1108-25.htm

A DUBIOUS VERDICT - RICHARD FALK (INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 7/COMMON DREAMS): The outcome of this first trial against Saddam's Baathist regime should have been internationalized, or at the very least, waited until normalcy had been restored in Iraq.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1107-21.htm

WHY HUSSEIN ULTIMATELY WINS, AND DIES A MARTYR: IN AN INTERNATIONAL COURT, HIS TRIAL WOULD HAVE HAD CREDIBILITY. THE TRIAL IN IRAQ DID NOT - GWYNNE DYER (THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, NOVEMBER 7/COMMON DREAMS)
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1107-24.htm

SADDAM VERDICT A PYRRHIC VICTORY FOR BUSH - RICHARD GWYN (TORONTO STAR, NOVEMBER 7/COMMON DREAMS): Saddam will die a martyr. And martyrs are always remembered.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1107-25.htm

NO CONFIDENCE IN BUSH - SCOT LEHIGH (BOSTON GLOBE, NOVEMBER 8): As for the decision to invade Iraq in the first place, Americans have decided it was a mistake.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...in_bush?mode=PF

POST MORTEM: WHY REPUBLICANS GOT SHELLACKED IN THE MIDTERMS - FRED BARNES (WEEKLY STANDARD, NOVEMBER 8): Republicans lost the House and probably the Senate because of Iraq, corruption, and a record of taking up big issues and then doing nothing on them. Of these, the war was by far the biggest factor.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...12/923kemje.asp

AND NOW, IRAQ - DAVID CORN (NATION, NOVEMBER 9): The bitterly fought Congressional election was merely the prelude to the real showdown in Washington: the battle over the Iraq War.
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20061127&s=corn

THE TABLE TURNS: AMERICAN VOTERS SAY, "BUSH SUCKS!" COUNTERPUNCH - SUSAN BLOCK (COUNTERPUNCH, NOVEMBER 8): The election was a referendum on the flabbergastingly evil reign of George II, the craven Bushites and the putrid, crony-riddled, page-diddling, mostly Republican War Machine.
http://www.counterpunch.org/block11082006.html

THE NATION'S NEW WARRIOR - EDITORIAL (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 9): Most Americans want changes in the government's approach to the Iraq war. Americans want to prevail in Iraq.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...newsopinion-hed

IRAQ WINS THE ELECTION, WHAT NOW? - TOM HAYDEN (COMMON DREAMS, NOVEMBER 8): American voters insisted on changing course, and let Iraq become the critical factor in overthrowing a rigged Republican majority.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1108-32.htm

ONLY A MINOR EARTHQUAKE - CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 10): The election was not so much the war itself as the perceived administration policy of "stay the course," which implied endless intervention with no victory in sight.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0901775_pf.html

ON MIDTERMS, MANDATES, AND MURTHA - ARIANNA HUFFINGTON (HUFFINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 8): The GOP lost for three reasons: Iraq, Iraq, and Iraq. Period. End of discussion.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huff...an_b_33647.html

THE IRAQ WAR ELECTION - JOHN NICHOLS (NATION, NOVEMBER 8/COMMON DREAMS): The anti-war message won.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1108-24.htm

MEETING AT THE MIDDLE - E. J. DIONNE JR. (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 9): Tuesday's vote can make clear to the Iraqi government that there is a limit to American patience. The Shiite majority in Iraq must take more steps to reconcile with the Sunni minority.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6110802080.html

WINDS OF RAGE, WINDS OF CHANGE - JOAN VENNOCHI (BOSTON GLOBE, NOVEMBER 9): The real message of the election is something less than a call for immediate withdrawal. But voters clearly want to begin the process of extricating this country from Iraq.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial..._change?mode=PF

SANTORUM GONE! POMBO GONE! BURNS GONE! RUMSFELD GONE!: COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS: NEOCONS AND NEOLIBS TAKE A BIG HIT, AS VOTERS SAY NO TO BUSH, WAR AND FREE TRADE - ALEXANDER COCKBURN AND JEFFREY ST. CLAIR (COUNTERPUNCH, NOVEMBER 8): The voters want the US out of Iraq.
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn11082006.html

IT'S OVER FOR BUSH - EDITORIAL (NATION, NOVEMBER 9): Americans want out of this disastrous war -- now, as soon as possible.
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20061127&s=editors

NOW THE DECIDER MUST LISTEN - EUGENE ROBINSON (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 10): "I haven't seen any indication that Bush is ready to ask himself the questions that millions of Americans posed on Tuesday: What are we accomplishing in Iraq?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0901769_pf.html

THE DEFENSE SECRETARY WE HAD: TOUGH -- AND UNACCOUNTABLE - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 9): The Bush administration in recent weeks has -- very much in secret -- begun to ask itself the tough questions: Is the Iraq strategy working? Can we achieve our goals with the tools we have?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0802084_pf.html

UNDERSTANDING GATES: IT'S NOT AS SIMPLE AS FATHER'S TEAM VS. SON'S - JAMES MANN (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 10): Now, Bush has decided, without saying so, that his original judgment on Iraq was wrong.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6110901774.html

A BUSH RETREAT? - REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 9): One reason the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki has had such a hard time dismantling Shiite militias is because Shiites fear that it's only a matter of time before the U.S. abandons them again and they will have to confront the Sunni Baathist insurgency on their own. If President Bush wants to reassure Shiites on this score and about Mr. Gates, he should announce that the recent efforts to appease the Sunni terrorist political fronts in Iraq have failed.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1163...1728718013.html
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SHIFT COMING IN US POLICY ON IRAQ: 'STAY THE COURSE' AND 'CUT AND RUN' AREN'T OPTIONS. SPEAKING TO 'AXIS OF EVIL' NEIGHBORS MAY BE - HOWARD LAFRANCHI (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NOVEMBER 8): The recommendations of what is simply being called the Baker commission are likely to have a greater impact on US policy than the election results.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1108/p01s01-uspo.html

STAGE SET FOR IRAQ POLICY SHIFT: BOTH PARTIES MAY SEEK COVER IN RECOMMENDATIONS OF STUDY GROUP - GLENN KESSLER AND THOMAS E. RICKS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 9): The Baker-Hamilton study group's most likely recommendation will be to curtail the goal of democratizing Iraq and instead emphasize stability.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0802517_pf.html

GATES CRASHER - REUEL MARC GERECHT (WALL STREET JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 10): The Baker-Hamilton Iraq Survey Group has not discovered any way for the U.S. to exit Iraq -- except under catastrophic conditions.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1163125719...in_commentaries
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'W.' MUST NOW STAND FOR 'WAR' - JOHN PODHORETZ (NEW YORK POST, NOVEMBER 9): Some early press leaks suggest the recommendations of the Baker Iraq Survey Group is to have a big international conference, make some deal with Iran and Syria, call it a landmark in world history and get out. Whatever that is, it wouldn't be victory but a face-saving exit.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....n_podhoretz.htm

TIME TO TALK TO THE BAD GUYS - ANATOL LIEVEN (INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 9): The only way in which America can now extricate itself from Iraq with some honor, while limiting the conflict there, is to appeal to Iraq's neighbors for help.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/09/opinion/edlieven.php

THE IRAQ MANDATE - ROBERT DREYFUSS (TOMPAINE.COM, NOVEMBER 8): Iraq's insurgency isn't going away until the last American soldier leaves Iraq.
http://www.tompaine.com/print/the_iraq_mandate.php

U.S. MUST GET OUT OF IRAQ -- NOW: IRAQ TAUGHT HIM THAT THE WEST HAS OVERESTIMATED THE INFLUENCE OF THE COALITION AND UNDERESTIMATED IRAQIS - RORY STEWART (TORONTO STAR, NOVEMBER 8): Withdrawal is coming. The sooner it happens, the better for Iraqis and for the United States.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1108-22.htm

RUMSFELD'S DEPARTURE - EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 9): Iraq must come first. Mr. Rumsfeld's departure has to be followed by a major change in policy if American troops can be brought home without leaving a disaster behind.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/opinion/...agewanted=print

DON'T BLAME RUMSFELD! - VICTOR DAVIS HANSON (NATIONAL REVIEW, NOVEMBER 9): For the future, neither precipitous withdrawal nor a big build-up are the right solutions, the former will leave chaos, the latter will only ensure perpetual Iraqi dependency.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M...GY5YzBhYTBhMjU=

IMPERIAL HUBRIS: HAWKISH PROPONENTS OF "THE INCOMPETENCE DODGE" WON'T HAVE DONALD RUMSFELD TO KICK AROUND ANYMORE - SPENCER ACKERMAN (AMERICAN PROSPECT, NOVEMBER 8): There's an additional upside to the end of the Rumsfeld era: no more will Iraq hawks be able to wash away their sins in the blood of the defense secretary.
http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=12196

Twelve dead in Iraqi bus ambush BBC News
Gunmen have ambushed several minibuses south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and abducting dozens more, police say. The attack apparently took place when the vehicles were stopped at a false checkpoint near the town of Yusufiya, a stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgents. Yusufiya is in the so-called Triangle of Death, which has seen a big increase in attacks in recent years. Earlier eight died when two bombs exploded in a central Baghdad market. The busy Shorja wholesale market has been the scene of many deadly attacks. The blasts, both believed to be caused by car bombs, happened almost simultaneously, officials said. In a separate development, US authorities offered a reward of up to $50,000 to find a kidnapped soldier. Iraqi-born Specialist Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a reservist, was abducted by gunmen during a visit to his wife's family on 23 October. In other developments:

• Two soldiers of the US-led coalition in the southern Polish zone - one Polish and one Slovak - were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb near Kut, 160 km south-east of Baghdad
• Baghdad police said they had found 25 corpses dumped in various parts of the capital in a 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday evening
• Two separate roadside bombs each killed at least one person in Baghdad
• A suicide car bomber attacked a police station and killed two people in the town of Zaghinya near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad
• The US government's representative office in the Iraqi town of Hilla came under mortar attack for the second time in recent weeks, reportedly sparking a fire in the complex.

More than 100 people have been killed in Iraq in the past four days as Baghdad and other parts of Iraq suffered renewed violence after a curfew imposed for the sentencing of Saddam Hussein was lifted. On Wednesday, two car bombs set off in busy markets killed at least 10 people, while on Thursday in Baghdad alone 18 people died in a series of bombings.

Bombers kill Iraq police recruits BBC News
Two suicide bombers have killed 35 people and wounded 60 at a police commando recruiting centre in western Baghdad, police say.Crowds of young male volunteers were gathered at the base when the bombers detonated explosive belts. Sunni Arab insurgents frequently attack recruiting centres for the US-backed Iraqi government's security forces. Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has called for a comprehensive cabinet reshuffle. His call, made to a closed session of parliament, was "in the light of the current situation in the country", a statement from his office said. Reuters news agency reports that mortar rounds were fired at the police recruiting centre, in the Qadissiya neighbourhood, shortly after the bombers struck. A series of other bomb attacks in and around the Iraqi capital on Sunday left at least 10 people dead:

• At least four civilians were killed and 10 others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in the east of the city; a further blast nearby caused no injuries
• A car bomb outside a market in central Karrada district killed at least one person and wounded five others
• A roadside bomb killed at least two people and wounded 13 others in Radwaniya, south-west of the city
• A car bomb near a primary school killed three people and wounded 15, including students, in the town of Yusufiya, 15km (nine miles) south of Baghdad

The attacks took place as the Iraqi authorities searched for gunmen who ambushed several minibuses on Saturday in the town of Yusufiya, south of Baghdad. At least 12 passengers were said to have been killed and about 50 others abducted. Yusufiya is a Sunni Muslim stronghold which has become notorious for attacks on Shia Muslims and American troops. The latest bloodshed comes a day before US President George W Bush is due to meet the Iraq Study Group - a committee chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker - to talk about US strategy in Iraq.

HEALTHCARE; CALLS FOR EXECUTION: DECREPIT HEALTHCARE ADDS TO TOLL IN IRAQ; A ONCE ENVIABLE SYSTEM LACKS DOCTORS, MEDICINE AND KEY EQUIPMENT. DESPITE U.S. FUNDING, NO CURE SEEMS IMMINENT - LOUISE ROUG (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 11)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...-home-headlines

DESPITE BILLIONS SPENT, REBUILDING INCOMPLETE: BAD SECURITY, POOR PLANNING PLAGUE EFFORT - GRIFF WITTE (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 12)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1101076_pf.html

IN RUMSFELD'S FALL, HOPE AND RECKONING - JEFFERSON MORLEY (WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP, WASHINGTONPOST.COM, NOVEMBER 10): Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation is being welcomed the world over as a sure sign that U.S. policy on Iraq will change.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/worldopinio...pe_and_rec.html

PENTAGON TO REVIEW ITS STRATEGY IN IRAQ - DAVID STOUT (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 10)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/washingt...agewanted=print

THE BALL IS IN THE DEMOCRATS' COURT - HELEN THOMAS (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, NOVEMBER 10/COMMON DREAMS): The voters have sent a clear message to President Bush: It's time to pull out of Iraq. But the president still refuses to listen.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1110-24.htm

WINNING WAS THE EASY PART - DAN K. THOMASSON (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 12): President Bush seems to have gotten the message the American people sent him about his leadership. Iraq is not where they want this country to be and they want it to end quickly.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...11-111012-5577r

IRAQ DISASTER FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH BUSH - ANDREW GREELEY (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, NOVEMBER 10/COMMON DREAMS): Enough of the people were fed up with the Iraq war that Rove's black magic did not work like it used to.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1110-23.htm

DUBYA'S DISASTER - GEORGE F. WILL (NEW YORK POST, NOVEMBER 12): Tuesday's losses were not excessive punishment for the party that has presided over what is arguably the worst foreign-policy disaster in U.S. history.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....rge_f__will.htm

THE MESSAGE OF THIS WIPEOUT IS THAT AMERICANS BELIEVE THEY'VE LOST THE WAR - CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL (SPECTATOR, NOVEMBER 11)
http://www.spectator.co.uk/printer-friendl...t-the-war.thtml

A PREGNANT PAUSE IN THE US OVER IRAQ - MONITOR'S VIEW (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NOVEMBER 10): Exit polls during Tuesday's elections in the US reveal public opinion split along three lines on what course to take: An immediate US withdrawal, a steady pullout over time, or a beefing up of troops to secure Iraq while it pulls itself together.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1110/p08s01-comv.html

INTERPRETATION BATTLE: IT WAS CORRUPTION THAT KILLED THE BEAST - MONA CHAREN (NATIONAL REVIEW): For the sake of argument, let's consider the possibility that Iraq did not determine this election at all.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTk5Z...mM2ZmQwNjVmNDk=

IRAQ: A MESS, BUT SO WHAT? - ADAM BRODSKY (NEW YORK POST, NOVEMBER 12): The realities of Iraq don't justify the enormous resentment that some insist is the explanation for Tuesday's election results.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....dam_brodsky.htm

LIVE BY THE SWORD, DIE BY THE SWORD - LEON HADAR (ANTIWAR.COM, NOVEMBER 11): The results of the elections are going to force the president to "change the course" in Iraq.
http://www.antiwar.com/hadar/?articleid=9994

GLOBALIST: IN MORE FLUID MIDEAST, WHAT NOW FOR THE U.S.? - ROGER COHEN
(INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 10): Bush's latest scaled-down definition of victory -- an Iraq that can "govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself" -- is not beyond what intelligence and new thinking can fashion.
http://iht.nytimes.com/protected/articles/...s/globalist.php
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BUSH WRESTLES WITH A NEW REALITY: RUMSFELD IS OUT, AND THE DREAM OF A PERMANENT REPUBLICAN MAJORITY IS OVER - DANIEL SCHORR (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NOVEMBER 10): What remains to be seen is whether Bush's conciliatory move will extend to heeding his generals and changing his policy on Iraq.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1110/p09s03-cods.html

A CONSENSUS ON IRAQ: PRESIDENT BUSH AND DEMOCRATS SAY THEY WANT TO FIND COMMON GROUND ON THE WAR. THEY CAN - EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 12): A close look at what the White House and Democrats have been saying, along with what is emerging from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, offers grounds for some optimism.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1100730_pf.html

PANEL MAY HAVE FEW GOOD OPTIONS TO OFFER: BIPARTISAN GROUP'S PLAN EXPECTED IN DEC. - MICHAEL ABRAMOWITZ AND THOMAS E. RICKS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 12): Those familiar with the work of the panel led by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former Indiana congressman Lee H. Hamilton (D) predict that the ultimate recommendations will not appear novel and that there are few, if any, good options left facing the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1100996_pf.html

DEMOCRATS AND IRAQ - EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 12): We are sure that even a few weeks more of drift and confusion will guarantee more chaos and suffering once American troops leave. Voters gave the Democrats the floor -- and are now waiting to hear what they have to say.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/opinion/...agewanted=print

MORE WORK AHEAD - ALAN BOCK (ANTIWAR.COM, NOVEMBER 11): The war in Iraq is looking unwinnable not because the politicians haven't unleashed the military sufficiently to get the job done, but because the job simply couldn't be done through military means or by an occupying force that didn't understand or care to understand the cultures of the peoples whose land it was occupying.
http://www.antiwar.com/bock/?articleid=9998

WE'VE LOST IN IRAQ; TIME TO FINESSE A PULLOUT - JAMES KLURFELD (NEWSDAY, NOVEMBER 10/COMMON DREAMS)
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1110-20.htm

BUSH'S IRAQ LEGACY: WHAT KIND OF IRAQ WILL HE BEQUEATH TO HIS SUCCESSOR? - ROBERT KAGAN & WILLIAM KRISTOL (WEEKLY STANDARD, NOVEMBER 20): Whatever political solution one favors, they all depend on achieving a minimum level of order and security in Iraq, and that is something that only American forces have any chance of providing.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...5lhpfm.asp?pg=1

RUMSFELD'S SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS: THE OUTGOING DEFENSE SECRETARY WAS TOO FOCUSED ON TRANSFORMING THE MILITARY, AND FAILED TO PLAN FOR ACHIEVING POLITICAL GOALS IN IRAQ - FREDERICK W. KAGAN (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 12): Rumsfeld will not be known as the secretary of Defense who transformed the military, but as the secretary of Defense who, at best, nearly lost the Iraq war.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-...inion-rightrail

THE DONALD RUMSFELD I KNOW - DOUGLAS J. FEITH (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 12): "Rumsfeld's warnings about the dangers of war -- including the perils of a post-Hussein power vacuum -- were more comprehensive than anything I saw from the CIA, State or elsewhere. ... And he asked what the consequences might be of having a large footprint in Iraq and playing into propaganda about the United States wanting to take over the country."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1001388_pf.html

PROSECUTE RUMSFELD, NOW - MARK LEVINE (COMMON DREAMS, NOVEMBER 9): For the sake of the integrity of the United States, and for all the harm we've done to Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld must be indicted and prosecuted as a war criminal as soon as possible.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1109-32.htm

DON'T LEAVE TOWN, DON: THE WAR CRIMES CASE AGAINST RUMSFELD - MARJORIE COHN (COUNTERPUNCH, NOVEMBER 10)
http://www.counterpunch.org/cohn11102006.html

THE NEXT MOVES - JAMES A. LYONS (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 12): Our next strategic and tactical moves in Iraq need to be governed by how we plan to deal with Iran.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...11-111012-1218r

CONCILIATION TOWARD IRAN AND SYRIA?: "WE WORRY ABOUT STAYING ALIVE, NOT THE U.S. ELECTIONS" - PATRICK COCKBURN (COUNTERPUNCH, NOVEMBER 11/12): The administration spent three years digging itself into a deep hole -- and may spend the same amount of time digging itself out.
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick11112006.html

Danes on trial over Iraq secrets BBC News
The editor and two reporters from one of Denmark's main newspapers have gone on trial charged with publishing secret intelligence about Iraqi weapons. In articles published in 2004 they quoted from analysis by a Danish intelligence agent, Frank Grevil. His report, written before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, concluded that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The Berlingske Tidende journalists could go to jail if found guilty. It is being viewed as a landmark case in Denmark, which is usually an ardent defender of freedom of expression. An offence of publishing confidential Danish government documents is punishable by fines or up to two years in prison. Berlingske Tidende's chief editor Niels Lunde went on trial along with reporters Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen on Monday. They pleaded not guilty. Former intelligence officer Major Frank Soeholm Grevil was sentenced last year to four months in jail for leaking the documents to the reporters. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen supported the US-led invasion of Iraq and told parliament he was convinced former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was in possession of WMD. The journalists' defence lawyer Henrik Dahl told the court his clients had done nothing wrong "because there was a huge public interest" in the information they published, the Associated Press reported. In October 2003, seven months after the invasion, the body set up by the US to search for WMD, the Iraq Survey Group, reported that no such weapons had been found.

US 'open to Iran talks on Iraq' BBC News
The White House has indicated it will consider talking to Iran and Syria about the future of Iraq. Ex-US Secretary of State James Baker, who heads the Iraq Study Group, is leading a delegation to the White House for talks with President George W Bush. The cross-party panel, due to give its recommendations by the end of the year, is believed to favour renewing contacts with Tehran and Damascus. The White House chief-of-staff has said Mr Bush will look at all the options. Speaking on ABC's This Week programme, Josh Bolten said "a fresh approach" was clearly needed on Iraq. Asked if he favoured the idea of including Iraq's neighbours, Iran and Syria, in discussions, Mr Bolten said all options would be considered. In a keynote speech in London, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will call for Iran and Syria to be more involved in efforts to secure peace in the Middle East.

Phased withdrawal
Iraq was seen as a key factor in the Republican defeat in mid-term polls and US defence chief Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. Senior Democrats have called for a phased pullout of US troops. "We have to tell Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over," said Carl Levin, the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said he wanted phased troop withdrawals beginning in a few months and he said some Republican senators were preparing to back him. Mr Blair will speak to the Iraq Study Group via video link on Tuesday. He will be making his speech in London's financial centre on Monday evening. An aide said Mr Blair would "make clear to Syria and Iran the basis on which they can help the peaceful development of the Middle East rather than hinder it; and the consequences of not doing so".

Seeking stability
Both Syria and Iran have said they are ready to consider any US offer for them to play a role in stabilising the region. "If they [the United States] really want to hold talks with Iran, they should officially propose it and then Iran will review it," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, told Reuters news agency. The Syrian ambassador to the US, Imad Moustapha, told the BBC his government would be glad to play a role in helping to stabilise Iraq - as long as the Iraqis wanted it. But he said the US first had to accept its policy in Iraq had failed. The Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan US task force asked by Congress to examine the effectiveness of policy in Iraq, reportedly thinks that "staying the course" is an untenable long-term strategy. It is said to have been looking at two options, both of which would amount to a reversal of the Bush administration's stance. One is the phased withdrawal of US troops, and the other is to increase contact with Syria and Iran to help stop the fighting. More than 2,800 US troops have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Scores seized from Baghdad office BBC News
Gunmen in military-style uniforms have abducted scores of staff and visitors from a government building in Baghdad.The attackers stormed the education ministry's research department, locked women in a room and took the men away. Some 20 hostages have been found and officials now say they think up to 50 people in total were abducted. Security forces have surrounded areas where they believe people are being held, officials say, while five senior police officers have been arrested. These include the police chief of the Karrada area where the abductions took place. Initially, Iraqi officials said more than 100 people had been kidnapped but the prime minister's office later revised that figure. "No-one can give an exact figure since the number of employees in the building was about 70," a spokesman at the education ministry told the Associated Press news agency.It is the latest attack to target Iraq's academics, who are increasingly fleeing the country in the face of the violence. Correspondents say many Iraqis believe mass kidnappings like this latest incident are committed by members of the Shia Muslim-dominated security forces or take place with their collusion. Such kidnappings are often for ransom, but many victims are subsequently found dead. Higher Education Minister Abd Dhiab ordered all Baghdad's universities to close until the security situation improved. In other developments:

• A blast at Baghdad's Shurja market killed 10 people and wounded 25, police said
• An overnight US raid killed six people in mainly-Shia east Baghdad, sparking angry anti-US protests
• Thirty died in a US raid on the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi, Iraqi officials said
• Police found 11 bodies with gunshot wounds in Mosul, while 10 kidnap victims were found shot dead in Baquba

Identities checked
The head of the parliamentary education committee, Alaa Makki, interrupted a televised parliamentary session with the news of the mass abduction. He urged the prime minister and interior and defence ministers to respond rapidly to what he called a "national catastrophe".Mr Makki said the abductees had been both Shias and Sunnis and had been seized by gunmen claiming to be working for the government's anti-corruption body. However, a civil servant who said he was returning to the building at the time of the abduction, described gunmen lining up the male staff in the car park and checking their identity cards. "They picked only the Sunni employees. They even took the man who was just delivering tea," he told Reuters news agency. "They gathered them all in the pick-ups. At the same time, I saw two police patrols watching, doing nothing," he said. The gunmen reportedly closed off roads around the institute and took away their captives in handcuffs. The institute is responsible for awarding grants to Iraqi academics wishing to study abroad. Academic institutions have been particularly badly hit in the violence that has engulfed Iraq since the US invasion in 2003, with dozens of professors killed and hundreds leaving the country because of fears for their safety.

US soldier admits Iraq girl rape BBC News
A US Army soldier has pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and helping murder her and her family.James Barker agreed to the plea deal at the start of his court-martial in the US to avoid the death penalty, his civilian lawyer said. A criminal investigation began in June into the killing of the family of four in their home in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, in March 2006. Specialist Barker is one of four US soldiers charged with murder. They are alleged to have helped a former private - who has since been discharged from the army - to plan, carry out and cover up the attack. Two of the soldiers could face the death penalty if found guilty. All four soldiers belong to the 2nd Brigade of the elite 101st Airborne Division.

Separate trial
Specialist Barker had agreed to co-operate with prosecutors and will testify against the others, his civilian lawyer, David Sheldon, said.The others charged with rape and murder were Pte Jesse Spielman, Sgt Paul Cortez, and Pte Bryan Howard. In addition, former soldier Steven Green has been charged in a civilian court and is awaiting trial in a Kentucky jail. He was discharged from the army for a personality disorder earlier this year, and in July pleaded not guilty to charged of murder and sexual assault. Later on Wednesday, a military court in California is due to hand down a sentence to a private who admitted to involvement in the death of an Iraqi civilian near the town of Hamdaniya last April.

Iraq: At least 42 killed in ongoing U.S. occupation:

6 U.S. occupation force soldiers among those killed as violence rages across Iraq.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM540169.htm

===
U.S. Commander Warns Against Iraq Cutoff :

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East warned Congress Wednesday against setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, saying it would impede commanders in managing U.S. and Iraqi forces.
http://tinyurl.com/y58qyv

===
U.S. Soldiers pleads guilty in rape and murder of Iraqi child and her family :

The indictment accuses Green and others of raping the girl and burning her body to conceal their crimes. It also alleges that Green and four others stationed at a nearby checkpoint killed the girl’s father, mother and 6-year-old sister.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/11/15/2365187.html

===
She Survived Iraq -- Then Shot Herself at Home :

Her name doesn't show on any official list of American military deaths in the Iraq war, by hostile or non-hostile fire, who died in that country or in hospitals in Europe or back home in the USA. But Iraq killed her just as certainly.
http://tinyurl.com/tm87e

Five foreigners kidnapped in Iraq BBC News
Four Americans and an Austrian have been kidnapped from a convoy of civilians in southern Iraq, US and Iraqi sources have said.The convoy of 19 vehicles, operated by a Kuwait-based security service, was attacked on Thursday. Unconfirmed reports said the incident took place at a bogus checkpoint. Nine other civilians were released. The convoy was said to have been attacked near Basra as it headed towards the city of Nasiriya. The foreigners taken were all security contractors.A spokesman for Crescent Security Group, which operated the convoy, said the nine civilians who were freed included men from India, Pakistan and the Philippines. Reports said British and US forces had mounted raids in the area to find the hostages. British military spokesman Tane Dunlop told Associated Press news agency there had been a battle with gunmen but it was not known whether the kidnappers were involved. The Crescent Security Group spokesman told AP: "I'm not sure what the British and US military have put in motion, and I don't want to release too much information in case it compromises whatever they may be doing." Crescent works mainly in Iraq. Its website says it "conducts convoy escort duties for an ever-growing number of coalition militaries, embassies, government contractors". The family of an American man, Paul Reuben, 39, confirmed to US media it had been informed that he was among those captured. His sister-in-law, Jennifer Reuben, said he had called last week to say he planned to come home because of increasing violence. Nasiriya is the capital of Dhi Qar province, which was returned to Iraqi control in September. Hijackings and abductions are frequent in southern Iraq but those kidnapped are generally freed, unlike in the Sunni strongholds further north.

Baghdad abductions
Separately, there is still confusion over the kidnapping of scores of education ministry workers in Baghdad on Tuesday. Sunni and Shia leaders cannot agree whether all the hostages have now been freed. The Sunni higher education minister said more than half the 150 victims were still being held. But interior ministry spokesman Brig Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf said all the ministry employees were free, although some others taken from the building were still being held.

THE NEW MEDIA OFFENSIVE FOR THE IRAQ WAR - NORMAN SOLOMON (COMMON DREAMS, NOVEMBER 16): The American media establishment has launched a major offensive against the option of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1116-34.htm

SIX STEPS TO VICTORY: THE BOTTOM-UP PLAN TO DEFEAT THE INSURGENCY - ERIC EGLAND (WEEKLY STANDARD, NOVEMBER 16): Along with sharing more information with the American and Iraqi public, U.S. forces should also be empowered to share more information directly with locals in Iraq. The messages U.S. forces often share, however, are those that have been approved for nationwide dissemination by staffers in Baghdad and are therefore vague and generic.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...12/930jbmte.asp

MILITARY MAY ASK $127B FOR WARS - RICHARD WOLF (USA TODAY, NOVEMBER 17): The Bush administration is preparing its largest spending request yet for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a proposal that could make the conflict the most expensive since World War II.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/20...raq-costs_x.htm

ANALYSIS: FEW MILITARY OPTIONS IN IRAQ - ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY ASSOCIATED PRESS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 16)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1601082_pf.html

ARABIAN NIGHTMARES - RALPH PETERS (NEW YORK POST, NOVEMBER 15): Our government and even the upper echelons of the military never tried the one technique that has a solid track record of defeating insurgents if applied consistently: the rigorous imposition of public order. That means killing the bad guys. Not winning their hearts and minds, placating them or bringing them into the government. Killing them.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....alph_peters.htm

WASHINGTON DIARIST: THE TROOPS AND US - LAWRENCE F. KAPLAN (NEW REPUBLIC, NOVEMBER 17): In Iraq, the U.S. mission requires sacrifice and killing. At home, the U.S. mission requires easy certainties and narrative simplicity. The dissonance makes it nearly impossible to convey one to the other.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20061127&s=diarist112706

NURTURE IRAQI DEMOCRACY, FROM THE GROUND UP: U.S. FUNDING TO IRAQ SHOULD BE REDIRECTED AWAY FROM THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO IRAQ'S MUNICIPALITIES - MICHAEL RUBIN (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 16)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...inion-rightrail

SOURCES OF VIOLENCE: WE NEED A U.S. FOREIGN POLICY BASED ON FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE TOWARD IRAQIS - KATHY KELLY (COMMON DREAMS, NOVEMBER 16): A generous portion of U.S. wealth and productivity could be directed toward assisting Iraqi refugees and developing a reparations package which could be placed in escrow, under the control of a third party, neutral group for disbursement.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1116-31.htm

WHY IRAQ IS CRUMBLING - CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 17): We have given the Iraqis a republic, and they do not appear able to keep it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1601359_pf.html

U.S. TANKS WILL ROLL OUT OF IRAQ ON A ROAD PAVED WITH EXCUSES - ROBERT FISK (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, NOVEMBER 14/COMMON DREAMS): We are preparing our get-out excuses. The Iraqis don't deserve us. Screw them. That's the grit we're laying down on the desert floor to help our tanks out of Iraq.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1114-25.htm

FORSAKING HONOR - JEFFREY SCOTT SHAPIRO (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 17): It would be a cruel, unspeakable tragedy for America to abandon the Iraqi people to a merciless insurgency that wants to reinstate the totalitarian rule of the now outlawed Ba'ath Party.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...16-090025-6608r

UNLEASH THE SHIITES?: THE U.S. MAY BE FORCED TO CHOOSE SIDES IN IRAQ'S CIVIL STRIFE - LAURA ROZEN (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 16): Among the risks of an unleash-the-Shiites strategy is that if it were adopted, the White House would be unlikely to publicly acknowledge that such a choice had been made.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...inion-rightrail

REALITY CHECK II: EXAMINING THE CONSEQUENCES OF "REDEPLOYMENT" - FREDERICK W. KAGAN (WEEKLY STANDARD, NOVEMBER 15): We face a stark choice now. We can either maintain bases and large forces in Iraq, or we can withdraw. If we withdraw, the Iraqi Army will collapse, and we will not be able to help it except by re-entering the country in large numbers and in a much worse situation.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...12/963idrtz.asp

SOME PLAIN TRUTHS ABOUT IRAQ - EHSAN AHRARI (ASIA TIMES, NOVEMBER 17): An important question is how many more reviews and commissions the US will need before it faces the ugly fact that it might have to withdraw from Iraq.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK17Ak02.html

IRAQ: NO MAGIC SOLUTION - ROBERT GUTTMAN (HUFFINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 17): Putting all the pressure on the Iraq Study Group to get the Bush Administration out of one of the largest failures in American foreign policy is unrealistic.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-guttm...html?view=print

THE DESERT STORM LEGACY - AUSTIN BAY (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 17): "Enter the James Baker and Lee Hamilton-led Iraq Study Group (ISG). It's my bet it will produce nothing original in terms of strategic and operational thinking."
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...16-090025-3471r

BAKER EX MACHINA - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 15): The essence of a negotiation is that, in the pursuit of mutual interest, the parties narrow their demands to ones that are achievable. This is the kind of conversation America should be having and -- god-from-a-machine willing -- it may begin soon.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1401228_pf.html

CONDI'S IRAQ SURPRISE: IN A SECRET END RUN AROUND CHENEY AND RUMSFELD, THE SECRETARY OF STATE PRESSED BUSH TO BACK THE IRAQ STUDY GROUP -- AND CHANGE THE COURSE OF THE WAR - MARK BENJAMIN (SALON, NOVEMBER 17)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/11/...oops/print.html

IRAQ DEADLINE QUAGMIRE: AS SOME DEMS TALK WITHDRAWAL, THE TOP U.S. COMMANDER ASKS FOR MORE TIME -- AND TROOPS. AT WHAT POINT WILL CONTINUED FAILURE NOT BE ACCEPTABLE? - MICHAEL SCHERER (SALON, NOVEMBER 16): More oversight and study may not reveal any elegant solutions to the problem in Iraq. It might, however, encourage leaders like John Abizaid, the U.S. military commander for the Middle East, to set up a goal post beyond which continued failure will no longer be acceptable.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/11/...oops/print.html

A WAY OUT OF IRAQ - SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (TOMPAINE.COM, NOVEMBER 16): Simply announcing when we will begin redeployment, without any end date, is unlikely to put adequate pressure on the Iraqis. A target date isn't just critical to our Iraq policy, it is essential for our national security policy. (Russ Feingold is a United States senator from Wisconsin.)
http://www.tompaine.com/print/a_way_out_of_iraq.php

BUSH INITIATES IRAQ POLICY REVIEW SEPARATE FROM BAKER GROUP'S - ROBIN WRIGHT (WASHINGTON POST NOVEMBER 15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6111401095.html

BUSH NOT READY TO GIVE UP ON IRAQ VICTORY - PHILIP STEPHENS (FINANCIAL TIMES, NOVEMBER 16): The commander-in-chief still thinks the war can be won.
https://registration.ft.com/registration/ba...00779e2340.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

APOCALYPSE NOW? NOT FOR BUSH - URI DAN (JERUSALEM POST, NOVEMBER 15): The impression from the White House is that the American president is a man of principle and will not run away from Iraq, but rather will attempt to stabilize the volcanic situation in a way that will guarantee the security of the moderate Arab states, and as a byproduct, that of Israel too.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...ticle%2FPrinter

WHEN THINGS GET OUT OF HAND: TALKING TOUGH ON IRAQ ISN'T COURAGEOUS - SAUL LANDAU AND FARRAH HASSEN (COUNTERPUNCH, NOVEMBER 15): Bold and logical patriots would get the US troops out of Iraq now in a safe way, and thus weaken Al Qaeda and give Iraqis a chance to reintegrate their nation.
http://www.counterpunch.org/hassen11152006.html

THE MEANING OF GATES: FROM IMPERIAL OFFENSE TO IMPERIAL DEFENSE - MICHAEL T. KLARE (TOMDISPATCH, NOVEMBER 14): Any notion of emerging triumphant from Iraq will now be abandoned, and the search will be on for a strategy that would allow the United States to extricate itself from the Iraqi morass while retaining its dominant position in the greater Persian Gulf region. This has become the overarching objective.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=140248

Kidnappers seize Iraqi minister BBC News
Gunmen have kidnapped an Iraqi deputy health minister from his home in Baghdad, security sources have said. Several men, some in uniform, arrived in police cars and pick-up trucks to seize Ammar al-Saffar, police said. Mr Saffar's kidnap comes less than a week after dozens of people were abducted from the education ministry. Some 50 people have died in violence across Iraq, including 22 people killed by a suicide bomber, as a top Syrian official arrived for a rare visit. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem is the first senior-ranking Syrian official to visit Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. His visit comes amid calls for the Bush administration to involve Iraq's neighbours, Syria and Iran, in the search for an end to the conflict in Iraq. Mr Moualem has previously said Damascus is ready to engage in a dialogue with Washington in an effort to achieve stability in Iraq and the surrounding region.

Uniformed guards
The challenge facing Iraq's government was highlighted by news of Mr Saffar's kidnap. Six uniformed guards and several men wearing suits seized Mr Saffar from his home in Baghdad's Sunni neighbourhood of Adhamiya, police said. Mr Saffar, one of several deputies to the health minister, belongs to the Shia Dawa party of Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. There is still confusion over the number of people seized in Tuesday's mass kidnap which was carried out by men wearing police-style uniforms. Sunni and Shia leaders cannot agree whether all the hostages have been freed. There are also conflicting reports about the fate of five foreigners kidnapped from a civilian convoy in southern Iraq. The men - four US citizens and an Austrian - were seized on Thursday near Basra as they drove towards Nasiriya.

Labourers killed
Mr Saffar's abduction happened amid further bloodshed across Iraq. In the worst single attack on Sunday, a suicide bomber struck a crowd of labourers looking for work in the town of Hilla, 100km (65 miles) south of Baghdad. The bombing left at least 22 people dead and more than 40 injured in the mainly Shia Muslim town. Witnesses said the bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a crowd of men who were queuing in a yard. "I was thrown a few metres by the blast and I couldn't see or hear for a few minutes as I was laying on the ground," Mohammed Abbas Kadhim, 30, said. "People were racing everywhere looking for their missing sons, brothers, friends - all of them shouting: 'God is great,'" he said. Hilla was the site of one of the worst bomb attacks since the US-led invasion, when in February 2005 a suicide bomber killed 125 national guard and police recruits. In other violence on Sunday, three car bombs exploded at a bus station in a Shia area of eastern Baghdad, killing 10 people and injuring 45. The Iraqi government estimates that 150,000 Iraqis have been killed since 2003. This year the death toll has been about 100 people every day, some 3,000 a month.

UK pressures US on Iraq inquests BBC News
Britain has summoned the US deputy ambassador to explain why soldiers have not turned up at inquests into British troops killed by friendly fire in Iraq. Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman wrote to ambassador David Johnson after complaints from Oxfordshire coroner Andrew Walker. It is believed no US servicemen have attended the inquests so far, including that of ITN reporter Terry Lloyd. Ms Harman said it was "not acceptable" for US soldiers to remain absent. She told BBC News 24 the aim of the inquests was to determine the truth surrounding each incident. "It's a very important opportunity for the relatives to find out the circumstances of how their loved one came to meet their death," she said.

Policy question
She said US soldiers would not be facing a criminal prosecution or ordered to pay compensation if they attended a hearing. "It's simply just allowing the relatives to know the truth and therefore it's just not acceptable for them not to turn up." Ms Harman added that the Americans had said it was their policy to not attend the inquests. "If that's the case I think they need to change the policy." She also said any British soldier involved in the death of a US soldier would be expected to attend a subsequent hearing. "Were it to happen our troops would co-operate and go to America and be prepared to give information," she said. The mother of a British serviceman killed in the first Gulf War welcomed the government's move.

'No witch hunt'
Anne Leech lost her 20-year-old son Kevin after British troops in Warrior armoured vehicles were attacked by US warplanes west of Kuwait. Mrs Leech, from Prudhoe, Northumberland, said: "We didn't want a witch hunt, we just wanted the truth. "We would have been happy to have them give evidence by video link, they wouldn't necessarily have had to attend the inquest. "We just wanted to know what happened." Last month Mr Walker, who conducts the majority of inquests, called on the attorney general to extradite the marines involved in the case of Terry Lloyd. Mr Walker delivered a verdict of "unlawful killing" over the case, in which Mr Lloyd, 50, was shot by a marine while in a makeshift ambulance near the Shatt Al Basra Bridge on 22 March 2003. The coroner also criticised the US for failing to name or send witnesses to another inquest in October into the deaths of two RAF men shot down by a US missile after completing a bombing raid on Baghdad in 2003.

Iran to host Iraq security talks BBC News
Iraq's President Jalal Talabani has accepted an invitation from his Iranian counterpart to discuss ways of tackling the raging violence in Iraq.Mr Talabani will meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Saturday. Unconfirmed reports say Syria's President Bashar al-Assad may attend. The US has given a guarded welcome to the prospect of the talks in Tehran. But the state department said previous Iranian commitments to help reduce violence in Iraq had not been acted on. Analysts say Iran's diplomatic push could be designed to upstage US efforts to force it and Syria to do more to help stabilise the situation in Iraq. The announcement of talks comes during a landmark visit to Iraq by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallim - the highest-ranking Syrian official to visit Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Partners
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki told Mr Muallim he was not prepared to let Iraq get caught up in Syria's differences with the US. "[Syria] should settle these differences, but not at our cost," Mr Maliki said at a joint news conference. Mr Muallim said Syria wanted to be a partner with Iraq to increase security and political co-operation. The US regularly accuses Syria of not doing enough to prevent anti-US insurgents from crossing its border with Iraq to smuggle arms and fighters. On Sunday, Mr Muallim called for the unity of Iraq to be preserved, and for a timetable for foreign troops to leave.

Officials attacked
Monday saw gunmen attacked the convoy of an Iraqi Deputy Health Minister, Hakim Zamili, a day after an ambush in which another deputy health minister was kidnapped. "We as health ministry officials have become a target," said Mr Zamili. Two of his bodyguards were killed in the attack, in Baghdad's central al-Fadil district. Reports said more than 100 people had been killed in Iraq the last 24 hours, piling pressure on the government to solve the spiral of sectarian violence. On Sunday, Ammar al-Saffar, who holds the same rank as Mr Zamili, was kidnapped on Sunday from his home in Baghdad's Sunni district of Adhamiya. The health ministry is headed by a group loyal to the Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, whose Mehdi Army militia is accused of involvement in sectarian attacks by Iraq's Sunni Muslim community. Meanwhile, the American military says two members of its forces have been killed - one in Anbar province, in western Iraq, and one in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad.

IRAQ' EDUCATION UNDER SIEGE - DAHR JAMAIL AND ALI AL-FADHILY (ASIA TIMES, NOVEMBER 21): According to the Ministry of Education, 2006 has been the worst year for school attendance since US-led invasion in March 2003.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK21Ak05.html

REPUBLIC OF DREAMS - OMAR GHANIM FATHI (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 20): The problems of Iraq will not be solved without a long and very bloody civil war.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/opinion/20fathi.html

IT'S NOT THE DEMOCRATS WHO ARE DIVIDED - FRANK RICH (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 18): The president has no intention of changing his policy on Iraq or anything else one iota.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/opinion/19rich.html
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IT'S JUST ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE BLOODY DAYS IN IRAQ - BYRON WILLIAMS (HUFFINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 20): While everyone in Washington waits with anticipation for the Iraq Study Group to make its findings public, let us not forget that the events on the ground, which were our creation, do not appear to possess similar eagerness.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/byron-willia...html?view=print

TWO PANELS URGENTLY SEEK IRAQ SOLUTIONS: TIME DWINDLES FOR BAKER, ADMINISTRATION GROUPS - ROBIN WRIGHT (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 19): With the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq, there is growing concern among U.S. expert advisers to the study group as well as among Iraqis that the reviews may be coming too late to turn the situation around -- at least before the 2008 elections.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1800830_pf.html

THE MINIMUM NECESSARY - JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 19): First, Baker-Hamilton must tackle the issue of U.S. troop deployments. Second, Baker-Hamilton must propose a clear political road map for Iraq. Third, Baker-Hamilton must speak to the engagement of Iraq's neighbors. (The writer, a senator from Delaware, is the senior Democratic member of the Foreign Relations Committee.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1701590_pf.html

DEAL WITH THE SUNNIS - LARRY DIAMOND (NATION, NOVEMBER 20): If we cut a deal with the secular Sunni insurgents, we might at least preempt an Al Qaeda victory.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20061127&s=diamond112706

BARTERING WITH NOTHING: WHY A REGIONAL CONFERENCE WON'T SOLVE OUR IRAQ PROBLEM - REUEL MARC GERECHT (WEEKLY STANDARD, NOVEMBER 27)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...12/979hctwt.asp

US TROOP LEVELS IN IRAQ MAY RISE, THEN DECLINE: THE WHITE HOUSE APPEARS TO BE LEANING TOWARD AN INCREASE OF 20,000 TROOPS IN IRAQ - HOWARD LAFRANCHI (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NOVEMBER 20)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1120/p01s01-usfp.html

TIME FOR A HEAVIER FOOTPRINT: MORE AMERICAN TROOPS ARE NEEDED TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE IN IRAQ - FREDERICK W. KAGAN & WILLIAM KRISTOL (WEEKLY STANDARD, NOVEMBER 27): We must change our strategy to reflect the new reality in Iraq, and we must send the military resources needed to achieve that strategy. If we do not, it is likely that we will fail in Iraq.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...12/972zwkgm.asp

UNREALISTIC - GEORGE PACKER (NEW YORKER, NOVEMBER 20): The argument that Iraq would be better off on its own is a self-serving illusion that seems to offer Americans a win-win solution to a lose-lose problem.
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/talk/0...7ta_talk_packer

TO THE BRINK - PETER BEINART (NEW REPUBLIC, NOVEMBER 20): At this late date, the United States has only one card left to play in Iraq: the threat to leave immediately.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20061127&s=trb112706

WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ: ASKING TOO MUCH? - DAVID CORN (NATION, NOVEMBER 17): Redeployment is certainly achievable; making Iraq work may not be.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=141651

TURNING A CORNER ON IRAQ - JEREMY GREENSTOCK (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 18): The United States and Britain have never attempted a truly comprehensive policy on Iraq. Unless the United States and its principal allies construct an approach that brings all available resources to bear to establish stability, there will be no point in staying in the country when all objective observers see a continuing downward spiral.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1701616_pf.html

ANATOMY OF A CIVIL WAR: IRAQ'S DESCENT INTO CHAOS - NIR ROSEN (BOSTON REVIEW): We divided Iraqis. We set them at war with each other. The least we can do is stop killing them and leave Iraq.
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR31.6/rosen.html

'CUT AND RUN' MUST BE FIRST STEP IN IRAQ - WILLIAM E. ODOM (MADISON CAPITAL TIMES (WISCONSIN), NOVEMBER 19/COMMON DREAMS): Only a withdrawal of all U.S. troops -- within six months and with no preconditions -- can break the paralysis that enfeebles our diplomacy.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1119-24.htm

IRAQ: FACING THE TRUTH, AND THEN WHAT? - SUZANNE NOSSEL (HUFFINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 19): Our exit from Iraq should be as responsible and forthright as our entrance was wanton and misleading.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-noss...html?view=print

FEAR OF FREEDOM - WADDAH ALI (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 20): America did well to liberate Iraq. But Iraqis were used to tyranny and afraid of freedom. The Americans entered Iraq without a psychological program for dealing with this fact.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/opinion/...agewanted=print

INVASION CRITIC MAY HEAD TO BAGHDAD POST - AL KAMEN (IN THE LOOP, WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 20): Within the administration, career Foreign Service officer Ryan Crocker, an Arabist who is ambassador to Pakistan, is being talked about to head to beautiful downtown Baghdad if Zalmay Khalilzad goes to any of the jobs he's supposed to be offered. Crocker co-wrote a memo in December 2002 to then-Secretary of State Powell warning of disaster if the United States invaded Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1901074_pf.html

IS IRAQ ANOTHER VIETNAM? [REVIEW OF IS 'IRAQ ANOTHER VIETNAM?' BY ROBERT K. BRIGHAM] - NATHANIEL FICK (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 19): U.S. policymakers decided to wage war in Vietnam and Iraq, Brigham concludes, "with the expectation that a distinctively American story would emerge." It would be a distinctively American tragedy if those stories turned out to be the same.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1601135_pf.html

BROKEN PIECES: THE HAUNTING NEW DOCUMENTARY IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS OFFERS NO PAT ANSWERS OR CHEAP ANALYSIS - NOY THRUPKAEW (AMERICAN PROSPECT, NOVEMBER 17) The film constitutes at least a partial attempt to show Iraqis struggling to make their country, and themselves, whole again, an effort that thankfully refuses to offer any more pat solutions or false promises to its subjects -- or its viewers.
http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=12226

Iraq and Syria restore relations BBC News
Syria and Iraq are to restore diplomatic relations, after a break of more than 20 years.Agreement on restoring all diplomatic ties was announced in Baghdad by Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallim. Correspondents say Iraq hopes the move will help to stem a flow of militants across the border with Syria. Relations were severed in 1982, during Saddam Hussein's rule and soon after the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war. Syria and Iraq were governed by competing branches of the pan-Arab Baathist movement, and ties have been largely antagonistic. Mr Muallim, who has been in Baghdad since Sunday, is the highest-ranking Syrian official to visit Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. The agreement came as US forces launched a raid on Baghdad's Shia district of Sadr City. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday the US was trapped in Iraq and had to find the right time to leave without causing even greater chaos. "The US is in a way trapped in Iraq, trapped in the sense that it cannot stay and it cannot leave," he said. "The timing of its departure will have to be optimal."

Momentum
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh hailed the agreement with Syria as historic."The latest talks between the Syrian and Iraqi side have been crowned by declaring a new era with the participation of the Syrian brothers in working on the security and stability with Iraq," he told the Associated Press news agency. Mr Zebari said the two sides had also agreed to cooperate on security issues. They also agreed to allow US forces to stay in the country until they were no longer needed. White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the US had always encouraged Iraq's neighbours to assist its government. "Syria needs to now demonstrate that it is committed to constructive engagement and fostering an Iraq that can govern, sustain and defend itself," he told AFP news agency. The move comes as efforts to involve Iran and Syria in stabilising Iraq appeared to be gaining momentum. Earlier, the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, accepted an invitation to go to Iran on Saturday. There are reports that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, may also go to Iran, but there has been no confirmation from Damascus.

US 'more amenable'
The US administration gave a cautious welcome to news that the Iraqi president would be visiting Iran, but analysts say the US government has been more amenable to regional diplomacy since heavy losses for President George W Bush in 7 November mid-term elections. A proposal that Washington talk directly to Syria and Iran about helping to reduce the violence in Iraq is being widely discussed. But the BBC's David Loyn in Baghdad says events may be moving faster than Washington and London predicted or even wanted at this stage. In the US raid on Sadr City, three people including a young boy were killed and at least 11 injured in the raid, as troops called in air strikes after clashing with militants. Seven people were arrested, including the alleged leader of a militant group thought to be behind the kidnapping of a US soldier, the US military said. Iraqi-born Specialist Ahmed Qusai al-Taie was abducted on 22 October while visiting relatives. In other violence, US forces killed three suspected insurgents and detained a further four in a raid on two buildings elsewhere in Baghdad.

FOCUS ON IRAQ -
The latest by IPS correspondents Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily

Support Gathers for Sunni Leader
BAGHDAD - The arrest warrant issued last week by the Iraqi government for Sunni leader Dr. Harith al-Dhari has sent shockwaves through the government, and galvanised much of the Sunni population.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35539

Education Under Siege
BAGHDAD - The recent kidnapping of scores of academics in Baghdad highlights the desperate situation of the educational system in occupied Iraq.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35531

Locals Accuse U.S. of Massacre in Ramadi
RAMADI - U.S. military tank fire killed scores of civilians in Ramadi, capital of Al-Anbar province, late Monday night, according to witnesses and doctors. Anger and frustration were evident at the hospitals and during the funerals in the following days.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35515


Iraqi Farmers in Dire Straits
BAGHDAD - Despite the Iraqi prime minister's optimism for the agricultural sector, the farmers who are struggling to survive tell another story.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35501

Baghdad bombings leave 150 dead BBC News
A wave of car bombs and mortar blasts in the Shia Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital has left more than 150 people dead and more than 200 injured.It was the most devastating series of attacks in Baghdad in a single day since the US-led invasion in 2003. At least three bombs exploded in crowded areas of Sadr City, the frequent target of Sunni insurgents. Mortar attacks were later reported on a Sunni neighbourhood, as the authorities put Baghdad under an indefinite curfew. Baghdad airport has also been closed to commercial flights until further notice.

Panic
The blasts brought panic to the streets of Sadr City, a densely populated, largely Shia neighbourhood, as distraught residents searched for family and friends.The bombs exploded 15 minutes apart in a busy square, a food market and a street where people catch buses, timed to cause maximum damage, says the BBC's Andy Gallacher in Baghdad. At about 1500 local time , a car exploded in the Jamila food market, where eyewitnesses told reporters that burned bodies and human flesh littered the ground. The vegetable market had been packed with shoppers buying provisions ahead of the Friday holiday.The first blast was followed by at least two others, also believed to be suicide car bomb attacks, at 15-minute intervals. Several mortar rounds also hit Sadr City, police said. "I was out shopping. As the bombs went off, everyone started running and shouting," news photographer Kareem al-Rubaie told Reuters new agency. "I saw a car from a wedding party, covered in ribbons and flowers. It was burning. There were pools of blood on the street and children dead on the ground."

Curses
The number of casualties put major pressure on transport and hospitals.The injured filled Sadr City's hospitals, with dozens lying bleeding in the corridors. Angry residents and armed Shia militiamen came out onto the streets, hurling curses at Sunni Muslims, the Associated Press news agency reports. The Iraqi health minister, Ali al-Shammari, accused Sunnis and loyalists of the former ruling Baath party of being behind the attacks. "They were killed in cold blood by Sunni extremists and Baathist criminal remnants," he told the BBC Arabic Service.

Brazen attacks
Sadr City is largely controlled by the Mehdi Army, the best-known of the Shia Iraqi militias, which has been accused of carrying out many sectarian attacks.Shortly after the blasts, a dozen mortars hit the Adhamiya district, a predominantly Sunni area, injuring 10 people, the interior ministry said. In another part of Baghdad, five people were reported injured at the health ministry when about 30 gunmen opened fire on the compound. The Iraqi authorities put Baghdad's seven million residents under curfew on Thursday evening, saying all people and vehicles must stay off the streets until further notice. The daily attacks in Baghdad are now more brazen and more sectarian, says BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy. On Wednesday, the United Nations said violent deaths among civilians hit a record high in October, with more than 3,700 people losing their lives - the majority in sectarian attacks.

Baghdad blasts: At least 150 dead in another day of bloody U.S. occupation: :

A series of car bombs have killed at least 133 people in the predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City in Baghdad. About 30 masked and heavily-armed men also attacked the health ministry in central Baghdad and engaged security guards in a fierce gun battle, trapping 2,000 employees inside the building on Thursday.
http://tinyurl.com/wgkme

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52 bodies found in occupied Baghdad :

The grim discovery came as the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq said 7,054 Iraqi civilians met violent deaths in September and October -- with nearly 5,000 of the slayings occurring in Baghdad.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi/20061122-051923-6458r.htm

===
3 U.S. Occupation Force Soldier Among 7 Killed In Iraq:

Three U.S. marines died on Wednesday from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/RAS351348.htm

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Four Iraqi civilians killed by US occupation forces:

U.S. troops opened fire on a minibus, killing four passengers, during a raid on a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad on Thursday, police and residents said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15861564/

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Baghdad Airport shut at end of bloody day in Iraq :

At the end of a day in which attacks killed at least 160 Iraqis and wounded more than 250, comes word that Baghdad's airport is shut.
http://tinyurl.com/yyawvt

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Iraq oil profits reportedly used to back militants:

The Iraqi oil ministry has uncovered illegal operations whereby oil products were sold and profits were pooled into financing local militancy, Al Sabah newspaper reported on Wednesday.
http://tinyurl.com/y275ru

===
Baghdad calls insurgents for peace talks:

THE Prime Minister of Iraq will sit down for the first time next week with representatives of insurgent groups in his most concerted effort yet to quell the country's sectarian war.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...269-601,00.html

===
Civil war could ripple outward:

Whether the U.S. military departs Iraq sooner or later, the United States will be hard-pressed to leave behind a country that does not threaten U.S. interests and regional peace, according to American and Arab analysts and political observers.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...al/16082761.htm

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Iraq war was good for Israel: Olmert :

The Iraq war was a boon for Israel's security, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday, voicing fresh endorsement for a Bush administration sapped by the unpopularity at home of its Middle East policies.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15719.htm

Mosques hit amid Baghdad clashe BBC News
Gunmen have attacked a Sunni Arab area of Baghdad, burning mosques and homes, with at least 30 people reported killed, according to police officials.The attacks were in apparent revenge for Thursday's bombings that killed more than 200 people in the Shia Sadr City district of the Iraqi capital. Funerals were taking place for those victims, killed in one of the most devastating attacks to date in Iraq. The latest violence came despite a city-wide curfew and appeals for calm. There is a real feeling that the situation is moving to the brink amid the cycle of attacks, says the BBC's David Loyn in Baghdad. Gunmen attacked four mosques in a Sunni area in the Hurriya neighbourhood, Iraqi officials said.The most serious damage happened soon after Friday prayers when a mosque was burned down. A rocket-propelled grenade exploded inside another, while two others were sprayed with bullets fired from AK-47 assault rifles. Local people said there had been casualties and homes were still on fire. Police said at least 25 people had died, but a defence ministry officials told the French news agency, AFP, that the clashes were so intense that precise information was difficult to obtain. Clashes also erupted in Sadr City on Friday, where residents said a US helicopter fired on militiamen who were launching rocket attacks. Violence was also reported in other parts of Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, including in the northern town of Talafar where a suspected double suicide bombing killed at least 22 people.

Processions
The only people and vehicles officially allowed on the streets of Baghdad during the day were those taking part in funeral processions. Mourners cried as they walked beside vehicles taking coffins south to Najaf, the traditional burial place for Shias, which is 160km (100 miles) south of Baghdad.Thousands of men, women and children beat their chests, chanted and cried as they accompanied the processions. Thursday's multiple car bomb attacks in Sadr City - in which 250 people were also wounded - were the deadliest in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003. Sadr City is largely controlled by the Mehdi Army, the best-known of the Shia Iraqi militias, which has been accused of carrying out many sectarian attacks on Sunni areas. Thursday's bombings could have a deep political impact, with the group led by radical cleric Moqtada Sadr threatening to quit the unity government and parliament if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki meets President George W Bush as planned next week. People in Sadr City faced insurgent attacks as well as repeated raids by US forces, the group said in a statement. "This is a sign of an alliance between Saddamists, takfiris (Sunni extremists) and the occupation forces," it said. Mr Sadr's followers hold six cabinet posts and have 30 members in the 275-seat parliament. The withdrawal of the group headed by Mr Sadr would be a major blow to an already unstable government, the BBC's Andy Gallacher in Baghdad says. The meeting with Mr Maliki is due to take place in Jordan, and a White House spokesman said on Friday there had been no changes to Mr Bush's schedule.

1,000 IRAQIS A DAY FLEE VIOLENCE, U.N. GROUP FINDS REFUGEES CITE LACK OF SECURITY ALONG WITH THE GROWTH OF ARMED MILITIAS AND CRIMINAL GANGS - WALTER PINCUS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 24)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301014_pf.html

233 DEAD IN CIVIL WAR CARNAGE; HEALTH MINISTRY BESIEGED; 3,000 WIDOWS CREATED EACH MONTH - JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, NOVEMBER 24): "How bad the situation is in Iraq is suggested by this email I just got from a professional who used to be in Iraq but now is in a nearby country: 'It is desperate in Iraq, worse then ever and there is no end in sight. ... Another friend, a Sunni sheikh of the Shammar tribe noted to me that thousands of former officers are prepared to assault the G[reen] Z[one]. It is no longer a matter of can they do it, they are only mulling over the timing. The breach of the Green Zone security the other day was a test of their ability to get in, and not a real attempt at a coup, though it is reported as such.'"
http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/233-dead-i...age-health.html

IRAQIS RELAY OPTIMISM - EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 24): A poll conducted for WorldPublicOpinion.org by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland shows both that the majority of Iraqis prefer a strong government to a decentralized, federalist system, and that the deteriorating security situation has not caused Iraqis to loose all confidence in the Maliki government.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...22-090144-3669r

A TIMELINE TOO LONG - TIM GRIEVE (SALON, NOVEMBER 22): Gen. James Conway, who has been on the job as commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps for all of eight days now, said that training Iraqi security forces is "a long, slow process," and that the "timeline it would take to build a fully capable, competent force -- and for us to feel comfortable in stepping away -- is longer than the timeline that we feel now our country will support."
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/200...ines/index.html

IRAQ STRATEGY TAKES PAGE FROM VIETNAM PLAYBOOK - PETER SPIEGEL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 24): New tactics favored by U.S. commanders in Iraq -- an influx of military advisors and a speeded-up handover to indigenous forces followed by a gradual U.S. withdrawal -- resemble those in place as the U.S. effort in Vietnam reached its end.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...-home-headlines

WE CAN PUT MORE FORCES IN IRAQ ... AND THEY WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE - FREDERICK W. KAGAN (WEEKLY STANDARD, DECEMBER 4)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...12/994zsofb.asp

THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS - JONATHAN MOORE (BOSTON GLOBE, NOVEMBER 23): Massive US military presence in Iraq cannot be sustained because of two ruthless realities: after a long haul, it isn't working and it isn't supported. The US occupation has become poisonous.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...r_of_two_evils/

WHO IS US KIDDING? - GORDON ADAMS (BOSTON GLOBE, NOVEMBER 24): Hopefully, the Baker-Hamilton working group can produce policy and strategy ideas that allow the United States to make the prettiest and most successful picture of a withdrawal, before too many more Americans (and Iraqis) have paid the price.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...kidding?mode=PF

IRAQ IS BROKE BEYOND REPAIR: THE POTTERY BARN RULE WON'T CUT IT ANY MORE -- WE HAVE TO GET OUT BEFORE MORE DAMAGE IS DONE - ROSA BROOKS (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 23): We can withdraw quickly or slowly, all at once or in stages, but we should withdraw.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions

IDEAS ON IRAQ'S FUTURE - EDITORIAL (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 24): What's needed now, and what we're likely to get, is a realistic appraisal and a bracing debate about the best steps America can take to help that Iraq to prevail.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...newsopinion-hed

Saddam trial hears Kurd witness BBC News
A Kurd has testified how he survived a firing squad by Iraqi forces at the resumption of Saddam Hussein's genocide trial in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The deposed leader and six others are on trial over their role in a campaign against the Kurds in the 1980s in which over 180,000 are alleged to have died. A defence lawyer claims a foreigner gave him a list of witnesses to call. Correspondents say the court hopes to complete the case before Saddam Hussein is executed following his conviction. The former leader was found guilty of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail following an assassination attempt on him in 1982. He was sentenced to death by hanging on 5 November, but under Iraqi law the guilty verdict is automatically sent to the appeal court.

'Lined up'
The Anfal trial resumed after a two-week break as a curfew imposed on Thursday after deadly car bombings in a Shia area of Baghdad was lifted. Saddam Hussein and the six co-defendants face charges over their role in the 1987-88 Anfal campaign against ethnic Kurds, many of whom were gassed to death. All seven defendants were in court, mostly represented by court-appointed lawyers, as some defence lawyers have been boycotting the trial. The court has heard some harrowing accounts from Kurdish survivors of the operation, which they say was designed to move people from their homes, says the BBC's David Loyn in Baghdad. The first witness of the day, Taimor Abdallah Rokhza, described how Kurdish villagers were killed. "There was a trench there and we were lined up and a soldier was shooting at us," the French news agency AFP quoted him as saying. "Then suddenly it stopped and it was quiet. I was waiting to die and my whole body was covered with blood, and the soldiers went away." The testimony came as defence lawyer Bedia Araf claimed that either an American or Canadian had come to his house on Sunday night and proposed a list of 30 people to call as witnesses. Mr Araf said the foreigner claimed to have the power to get his client released or convicted. The judge expressed impatience, appealing to Mr Araf to provide any list of witnesses, as the court needed time to process them securely. It is not clear if the Iraqi authorities will wait until the second trial is complete before they carry out the sentence in the first case. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said he expects Saddam Hussein to be executed by the end of 2006.

Government cleared in AWB inquiry BBC News
An inquiry has cleared the Australian government of involvement in bribes allegedly paid to Iraq's former regime. But it said that some officials from the monopoly body controlling wheat exports could be liable to prosecution. The Australian Wheat Board (now known as AWB) is accused of paying $200m to Saddam Hussein to secure a contract under the UN oil-for-food programme. PM John Howard said he would "urgently review" Australia's wheat exporting system in response to the findings. AWB was the largest single supplier of humanitarian goods to Iraq under the UN programme, which ran from 1996 to 2003.

Damaged reputation
The commission examining the AWB scandal was established in January, after a UN report said the company had paid huge bribes to secure wheat contracts worth more than $2bn. The wheat supply was part of a UN programme designed to allow Iraq to use money from oil exports to buy food and medicine, to relieve suffering caused by international sanctions before Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown in 2003. Former judge Terence Cole and his team spent 11 months examining whether AWB had broken any Australian laws over the payments, which were mostly given as transport fees to Jordanian haulage company Alia. They made their conclusions public on Monday, saying in the introduction to their report that "AWB has cast a shadow over Australia's reputation in international trade". The report recommended that a police task force be set up to consider whether criminal charges should be filed against AWB members implicated in the scandal - a suggestion Mr Howard promised to take up. Mr Cole cleared the Australian government of wrong-doing, saying: "I found no material that is any way suggestive of illegal activity by the Commonwealth [federal government] or any of its officers." But opposition politicians are still not convinced, describing the affair as the country's "biggest-ever" corruption scandal. They have accused the government of negligence, for failing to respond to diplomatic cables that warned that the wheat exporter may have been violating UN sanctions.

Iraq president begins Iran trip BBC News
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has arrived in Iran for key talks on his country's security situation. Mr Talabani was expected to travel at the weekend but was delayed by a curfew imposed after bomb attacks in Baghdad on Thursday killed more than 200. The president plans to meet his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The trip is part of a renewed flurry of diplomacy that sees US President George W Bush visiting Jordan this week. The BBC's world affairs correspondent Nick Childs says the approach to Iraq has shifted dramatically in recent weeks. He says Republican losses in US mid-term elections, increasing violence in Iraq and a new regional diplomatic assertiveness by Iran have changed the situation. Mr Talabani's visit to Iran will be keenly watched in the West, he says.

Diplomatic muscle
Increased contact with Iran and Syria is one of the options being considered by the US Iraq Study Group, which is in its final stages of deliberation on recommending what new policies Washington could adopt on Iraq. Speaking last week before the delay to his trip, Mr Talabani said the agenda would be "strengthening relations and Iraq's security". Some analysts say he may use the visit to urge Iran not to use Iraq as a tool in its conflict with the US while Iran may try to exert its diplomatic muscle ahead of any future negotiations with the US on Iraq, The US has accused Iran of funding Shia militants in Baghdad and southern Iraq. Mr Bush will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Jordan this week while Vice-President Dick Cheney has just been in Saudi Arabia. Our correspondent says the Bush administration clearly remains dubious about engaging Iran but adds that US influence on events in Iraq may be becoming more limited just when the need for a clearer exit strategy is becoming politically more acute.

Jordan's king warns of civil wars BBC News
Jordan's King Abdullah has warned that three civil wars could break out in the Middle East unless the international community takes urgent action. Speaking on US TV, he said conflicts in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories could spin out of control. King Abdullah is this week hosting both the US president and the Iraqi prime minister for talks against a backdrop of escalating violence in Iraq. The issue will also feature when the Iraqi president visits Iran on Monday. The trip was due to take place at the weekend, but was delayed due to the curfew imposed in Baghdad after a series of deadly car bombings last week - the bloodiest attacks since the US-led invasion of 2003. Pedestrians were allowed back on to the streets of the Iraqi capital on Sunday and the ban on vehicles was lifted on Monday morning.

'Three wars'
"We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands," King Abdullah told ABC television. "It is time that we really take a strong step forward as part of the international community and make sure we avert the Middle East from a tremendous crisis that I fear and I see could possibly happen in 2007." King Abdullah said the central issue in the region remained the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Palestine is the core," he said. "It is linked to the extent of what's going on in Iraq." "It is linked to what's going on in Lebanon. It is linked to the issues that we find ourselves with the Syrians. So, if you want to do comprehensive - comprehensive means bringing all the parties of the region together." A ceasefire between Palestinian militant groups and the Israeli military is currently in place in Gaza. Under the deal, which came into effect on Sunday, militant groups have promised to end rocket attacks and Israel has agreed to halt hostilities. But three rockets were fired into Israel after the ceasefire began and Israel, while pledging restraint, has also warned that military operations in Gaza will resume if the rockets do not stop. And on Monday in the West Bank a Palestinian militant and a woman were killed in an Israeli operation, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. In Lebanon, tensions between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in parliament have also escalated following the killing on Tuesday of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel. Many Lebanese accuse Damascus of orchestrating the murder of the 34-year-old Maronite Christian politician, although Syria explicitly denies any involvement.

Bigger picture
King Abdullah will host US President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Amman later this week. He said the US should look at the big picture in seeking a resolution to the problems in Iraq and bring in all of the region, including Syria and Iran. He said if a regional peace process did not develop soon, "there won't be anything to talk about". Pressure is growing on the Bush administration to include Iran and Syria in helping curb the violence in neighbouring Iraq. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is heading for Tehran on Monday for talks aimed at securing Tehran's aid in calming the sectarian violence. Last week there was talk of a summit convened by Iran to discuss Iraq involving the presidents of Syria, Iraq and Iran, says the BBC's Frances Harrison in Teheran. This was an idea which caused huge interest because of US suggestions that it might be time to have direct talks with Iran and Syria on Iraq. But such talks look unlikely now, our correspondent adds. On Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his government would be prepared to assist if the US stops "bullying" Tehran, which rejects Washington's allegations that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons.

IRAQ'S DEADLIEST ZONE: SCHOOLS - ABDUL SATTAR JAWAD (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 27): The mass kidnappings of scholars in Iraq underscore the chilling fact that the most dangerous place in Iraq is not the mosque, the marketplace or the military checkpoint, but the classroom. More than 250 academics have been killed since 2003.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2600927_pf.html

22. IRAQ'S MEDICAL SYSTEM BECOMES SICKENING - DAHR JAMAIL WITH ALI AL-FADHILY (ANTIWAR.COM, NOVEMBER 24): After three and a half years of occupation, Iraq's medical system has sunk to levels lower than seen during the economic sanctions imposed after the first Gulf war in 1990.
http://www.antiwar.com/jamail/?articleid=10054

23. WHEN WILL IRAQI TROOPS BE READY?: IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NOURI AL-MALIKI MEETS WITH PRESIDENT BUSH THIS WEEK IN JORDAN - SCOTT PETERSON (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NOVEMBER 27): While the Iraqi police and army are dominated by Shiites, Iraq's forces may be the last, imperfect hope of preventing all-out civil war.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1127/p01s04-woiq.htm

24. 'THE DEATH SQUADS' - (TRUTHDIG, NOVEMBER 22): Watch this chilling, full-length documentary (produced by UK's Channel 4) showing Shiite militia groups waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Baghdad. It contains footage and details never before seen in the West.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20061...e_death_squads/

25. BAGHDAD BRACES FOR MORE REPRISALS: CELLPHONES AND WEB SPREAD THREATS, FEAR - SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN AND NANCY TREJOS (WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 26): In the aftermath of one of the deadliest spasms of violence, a new level of fear and foreboding has gripped Baghdad, fueled in part by sectarian text messages and Internet sites, deepening tensions in an already divided capital.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2500253_pf.html

26. U.S. FINDS IRAQ INSURGENCY HAS FUNDS TO SUSTAIN ITSELF - JOHN F. BURNS AND KIRK SEMPLE (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 26): The insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, connivance by corrupt Islamic charities and other crimes that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have been largely unable to prevent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/world/mi...agewanted=print

27. THE WAY TO WIN A GUERRILLA WAR - T.X. HAMMES (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 26): The United States had clearly failed to learn from previous insurgencies. We were focused on killing insurgents rather than providing security and governance. Fortunately, we're now showing signs of learning -- thanks to some smart people who are both practitioners and students of counterinsurgency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2401113_pf.html

28. WHILE IRAQ BURNS - BOB HERBERT (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 27): Iraq burns. We shop.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/opini...agewanted=print
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29. NO ONE TO LOSE TO - MAUREEN DOWD (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 25): Regarding Iraq, the only question is, who can we turn the country over to?
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/opini...agewanted=print
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

30. BRING BACK SADDAM HUSSEIN: RESTORING THE DICTATOR TO POWER MAY GIVE IRAQIS THE JOLT OF AUTHORITY THEY NEED. HAVE A BETTER SOLUTION? - JONATHAN CHAIT (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 26)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions

31. U.S. SOLDIERS MIRED IN IRAQ STRIVE FOR SURVIVAL, NOT HEROISM - GORDON LIVINGSTON (BALTIMORE SUN): This war is being fought, as usual, in the name of "freedom." But whose freedom? In a recent poll, 71 percent of Iraqis said they wanted U.S. forces to withdraw within a year.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines

32. LEAVING IRAQ, HONORABLY - CHUCK HAGEL (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 26): The United States must begin planning for a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2401104_pf.html

33. WHAT'S 20,000 MORE TROOPS GOING TO ACCOMPLISH? - MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD (PROGRESSIVE, NOVEMBER 22): Adding 20,000 more U.S. troops will not solve anything. But it will have one effect. More U.S. troops will die.
http://www.progressive.org/node/4233

34. WHAT IS THE MISSION? OR, RUSSIAN ROULETTE - JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, NOVEMBER 27): Every time you hear someone say that we have to keep the troops in Iraq, press that person to explain what the mission is exactly and how and when it will be accomplished.
http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/what-is-mi...n-roulette.html

35. IRAQ OPTIONS: ARE VICTORY AND DEFEAT THE ONLY ALTERNATIVES? - CLIFFORD D. MAY (NATIONAL REVIEW, NOVEMBER 24): As for the sectarian violence, our presence is not the cause and our absence would not be the cure. By continuing to play the role of honest broker between the Shia and Sunni communities, we may be able to prevent the conflict from spiraling into all-out civil war.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzViY...jQ5OWFhYjc5YTg=

36. WHAT IS THE POINT OF IRAQ DEATHS? - ANDREW GREELEY (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, NOVEMBER 24/COMMON DREAMS): It's a shame there will be no war crimes trials.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1124-21.htm

37. LONG AFTER WE WITHDRAW - DAVID RIEFF (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 26): It is conceivable that 30 years from now, one of President Bush's successors will travel to Baghdad not for crisis meetings in the Green Zone or to serve Thanksgiving turkey to the troops but to talk about peacetime matters like trade, tourism and the environment. It is possible to speculate that the sooner American forces leave Iraq, the sooner such a trip is likely to happen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/magazine...agewanted=print

38. LEARNING FROM IRAQ - EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 26): Transforming American forces to fight 21st-century conflicts was the ubiquitous but largely empty slogan of the Rumsfeld era. Incorporating the hard lessons learned in Iraq into future military planning and training operations would constitute a far more practical variety of transformation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/opinion/...agewanted=print

39. HAS GATES LEARNED HIS LESSON?: ROBERT GATES' NOMINATION AS DEFENSE SECRETARY WILL GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO PROVE HE KNOWS BETTER THAN TO POLITICI