The top US military officer says if current trends continue he expects to recommend further US troop reductions in Iraq. Admiral Mike Mullen says he found more progress on security than he had expected when he visited Iraq last week. And while he would not provide details, he said he could recommend further US troop reductions when the next round of military recommendations go to President Bush in September. "I will not go so far as to say that progress in Iraq from a military perspective has reached a tipping point, or it is irreversible," said Admiral Mullen. "It has not and it is not. But security is unquestionably and remarkably better. Indeed, if these trends continue, I expect to be able, early in the fall, to be able to recommend to the secretary and the president further troop reductions."MNF-I Transfers 10th Province to Iraqi Control - Suzanne Presto, Voice of America
The US-led Multinational Force turned over security responsibility for Qadisiyah province, also known as Diwaniyah, to Iraq on Wednesday. With that transfer, Iraq now has control over 10 of its 18 provinces. Iraq's national security advisor says he hopes the government will regain control of the other provinces by year's end. In a nationally televised ceremony on Wednesday, Iraq assumed responsibility for Qadisiyah province. That transfer tipped the scales, and now more than half of Iraq's provinces are back under government control. Iraq's National Security Advisor Muaffak al-Rubaie spoke at the handover ceremony in Qadisiyah's provincial capital, Diwaniyah. He told the gathered crowd that he hoped Iraq would assume control of its remaining eight provinces by the end of this year.Bombings Kill 22 in Iraq's North - Zaid Sabah, Washington Post
A car packed with explosives detonated in a crowded market in the northern city of Tall Afar on Wednesday, killing 20 people, including nine children, and wounding 82 others, police and hospital officials said. Two car bombs also exploded in the northeastern city of Mosul, killing two people and wounding 15. The attacks underscored Iraq's fragility, even as US forces on Wednesday handed over control of the southern province of Qadisiyah to Iraqi security forces amid growing confidence in the Iraqi government's ability to secure restive areas. It was the 10th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be placed under government control, most of them in Shiite and Kurdish regions.Talking Sense on Iraq - New York Times editorial
It has been obvious from the start of the 2008 campaign that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the biggest foreign policy challenges awaiting the next president. But there has been precious little detailed discussion of them on the campaign trail. Until this week, when Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, offered a sensible and comprehensive blueprint for dealing with the mess that President Bush created by bungling the war of necessity against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, which could have made Americans safer, and starting a war of choice in Iraq, which made the world more insecure. Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, Senator John McCain, is no longer able to ignore the situation on the Afghan-Pakistan border, where Al Qaeda and the Taliban - the true threats to American security - are resurgent. But he has not matched Mr. Obama’s seriousness on Iraq. Mr. McCain is still tied in knots, largely adopting Mr. Bush’s blind defense of an unending conflict.The Fading Debate over an Iraq Pullout - Christian Science Monitor editorial
Americans are split down the middle on the presidential candidates' withdrawal plans for US troops in Iraq, and the two men are ardently pointing out their differences. By the November election, though, this debate may be largely diminished, if not moot. A Washington Post-ABC News poll this week showed half of Americans favor Mr. Obama's plan to withdraw the bulk of US troops over 16 months. The other half sides with Mr. McCain's view that events in Iraq - not a timetable - should determine the drawdown. But recent trends on the ground could cause the candidates' goals to generally converge, especially now that the Pentagon says Iraqi police and the Army will be fully operational by mid-2009.Is the Iraq War Over? - Michael Totten, Commentary opinion
Independent reporter Michael Yon has spent more time in Iraq embedded with combat soldiers than any other journalist in the world, and a few days ago he boldly declared the war over. I’m reluctant to say “the war has ended,” as he did, but everything else he wrote is undoubtedly true. The war in Iraq is all but over right now, and it will be officially over if the current trends in violence continue their downward slide. That is a mathematical fact. If you doubt it, look at the data.