Iraq

(MarineCorpsTimes) Sec Def Gates calls for an end to stop-loss.

(WaPo) Part of Petraeus' implementation will be to beef up the Iraqi Facilities Protection Force, well known as some of the most corrupt, infiltrated sectarian forces in Iraq, reversing previous US efforts to rein them in. (He's struggling to find bodies to make up the numbers for his counterinsurgency strategy.)

(WaPo) Did anyone else notice that Maliki reiterated his desire for the US to withdraw 50,000 troops by the end of the year?

(Reuters) "Iraqi security forces briefly prevented Sunni Arab political leader Adnan al-Dulaimi from boarding an international flight on Friday."

And, I don't know the source so treat this with some skepticism, but in the vote for Maliki's "security plan," possibly the biggest vote in some time, only 160 of 275 Iraqi parliamentarians showed up? That's barely a quorum.

Meanwhile, In what history may someday call "The Other War," US and NATO allies are having great difficulty finding troops for Afghanistan, despite the fact that 2007 is expected to see a major "Spring offensive" by the Taleban. (The US has already extended 3,200 soldiers and the Italians want their 1,800 out.)