Iraq

(AP) The first phase of Operation Together Forward is complete. Now the US forces are going to pull out of those neighborhoods and turn them over to Iraqi forces as the US takes aim at the outskirts of Sadr City. Now we'll see the test of the strategy.

(WaPo) The story of how Baghdad neighborhood of Tobji erupted into violence from virtually nothing. The monsters are due on Maple Street.

(WaPo) "A strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to immediately withdraw from the country, saying their swift departure would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence, according to new polls by the State Department and independent researchers." (Full .pdf report here.)

(LATimes) The House attached an amendment prohibiting the construction of permanent bases in Iraq.

(Reuters) "U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday that American operations in Iraq would end when Iraqi security forces were able to take over the job, but he would not estimate when that might be."

(Reuters) The violence continues.

Later: Reuters has this piece that describes some sort of arrangement between Sunni tribal leaders and Maliki's government agreeing to fight Al Qaeda. Two problems:

1.) It's only al Qaeda, that small slice of foreign fighters, not the Sunni insurgency.
2.) "We agreed to cooperate," Buzayi told Reuters. "We haven't agreed to anything specific, but we agreed to cooperate."