Iraq

The Iranians have invited the Iraqis and Syrians to Tehran for a weekend meeting to discuss the security situation in Iraq. (The Iraqi representative will be president Talebani who is a Kurd.) The Syrians have refused as both countries fighting for influence in Iraq. The US response is to dismiss the overtures as "words not actions." (Ummm, as I said below, isn't it supposed to be the Iraqis' decision?)

(AP) Duncan Hunter calls for Iraqi troops to be deployed to the front lines. "We need to saddle those up and deploy them to the fight." Sounds tough, but if it could've been done, it would've.
(I wonder how "saddle up" translates culturally?)

(AP) A "unity government" is looking decreasingly likely as the Sunnis threaten to walk out of Maliki's government. "The largest Sunni group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, called the (al-Dhari) arrest warrant "a mercy bullet" that killed a flawed reconciliation plan."

(LATimes) "Yet with Iraq near chaos 3 1/2 years later, a key Army manual now is being rewritten in a way that rejects the Rumsfeld doctrine and counsels against using it again." Short version: You cannot invade a country without an active stability program ready to roll.

And, (AP) "President Bush said Monday he isn't ready to decide between rival calls to increase or scale back U.S. troops in Iraq." (I thought troop levels were to be determined by "commanders in the field"? Abizaid said flat out the other day that more troops would not be helpful. Politicization now has the war in its talons, and the "strategy" will now begin to drift further and further from the reality. This is the beginning of the end phase.)