Quickhits/Lazy Day Reading

Slow blogging day, so here's some stuff to graze on.

(BBC) Iraq braced for unhappy New Year

"There were six heads in our street this morning." So said one of my Iraqi colleagues as he arrived in the office recently.

Almost anywhere else, it would have been shocking news - a story in its own right. But here the shock was short-lived. Each atrocity in Baghdad is now quickly superseded by another.

(Reuters) John Edwards has taken to calling the Iraq escalation the "McCain Doctrine" hanging the decisions and policies of the Bush administration firmly around the Republican frontrunner's neck.

(WashTimes) The US has sealed off the small Iraqi town of Siniyah with an eight mile berm topped by razor wire and surveillance posts.

(Telegraph) The EU, airlines, and US have struck a deal that will turn over tons of passenger information including email addresses. Because these people are overseas, it would be perfectly legal for the US to monitor any and all of their electronic communications.

(Time) "According to military statistics, enemy fighters killed 2,320 of the troops who lost their lives in Iraq through December 2. The rest are attributed primarily to accidents (374) and illness (56). Homicide accounted for 12 non-combat deaths, while 93 were suicides."