Iraq

(AP) No one even expects the benchmarks to be met anymore. Where was the coverage of this?

"He (Robert Gates) noted that the Iraqis had missed a May 31 deadline for passing a hydrocarbons law — one of many political obstacles yet to be overcome."

(CNN Video) Barbara Starr follows up on the NYTimes' report that the surge is "behind schedule." It's a jolt back to reality.

(WaPo) "One of our planning assumptions was that the Iraqi security forces would be able to hold [territory] in all areas, and we are finding that is not always the case," said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a spokesman for the U.S. military command in Baghdad. "We are having to go back in and re-clear some areas," he said, adding that "slow progress is still progress."

(Iraqslogger) "In a rare interview last Friday the Shia Cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr rejected direct talks with the US, threatened a new uprising and revealed that he fears the US will kill him."

(Iraqslogger) "Military chiefs have drawn up plans to withdraw all British troops within a year or less, a number of UK newspapers report."

(McClatchy) The US is replacing the Iraqi Army's AK's with M-16's in an effort to gain some control of the weapons flow.

(USAToday) "The U.S. military will continue searching for two missing American soldiers despite a video posted Monday on militant websites that claimed the men were dead."

(WaPo) An interesting deconstruction of that video.

(FoxNews) The US embassy in Iraq is being expanded.