Iraq

(Reuters) More US artillery fire in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad. (The US began occasionally using artillery in Baghdad to target Sunni areas after the spate of helicopter shootdowns.)

(Independent) Iranian tip-off may have led Americans to al-Qaeda leader.

(LATimes) As British draw down, violence in Basra is up

(AFP) Maliki tells US lawmakers that Iraq will not be pressured into action. (Obviously a statement intended for his home audience, but still...)

(Me) Iraqi politicians are not likely to do a damn thing until they come back from a two month parliamentary break in September.

(AP) Iraqi police years from taking charge.

(Iraqslogger) There's new video of the Jessica Lynch recovery.

(WaPo) Saudi King "has refused to receive Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki." (I think it's important to note that even diplomacy is slipping away right now.)

The Iraqis love their security barriers. (Too bad all the accompanying pictures are small.)

And, after the inflammatory Karbala bombing yesterday likely to raise Shia rage in Iraq and across the region, this is what was was being broadcast,

Television images showed a man running down a smoke-filled street holding a lifeless baby above his head. Smoke was rising off the baby.

Think about that for a minute.

(Iraqslogger has a good analysis of the Sunni tribes in Anbar cooperating against Al Qaeda (7th and 8th paragraph) calling it a Rorschach blot with war supporters not recognizing the pitfalls and war critics not mentioning it at all.)