Iraq

(AP) Kurdish "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Friday that his country may need U.S. troops for one or two more years."

(AP) David Satterfield admits that the Saudis don't want our current vision for Iraq. (It sure is a good thing that only Iran supports violence in Iraq then.)

And, Juan Cole has an interesting section about changes in SCIRI coming out of their annual party convention. He points out that the changes are aimed at "Iraqizing" what has historically been an Iranian influenced party.

But, what he doesn't go into is "the why." I would argue that these changes are a response to the creeping Shia nationalism being felt as the Iraqi Shia begin to realize their domination of the country. (and as a SCIRI response to their losses in the face of that new Iraqi identity.)

IraqSlogger has more on this significant development.