Iraq

(Reuters) "Attacks in Iraq last month reached their highest daily average since May 2003.... Pentagon officials were not immediately available to comment on the statistics. "

But military officials were available to comment on this one, (USAToday) "Major attacks decline in Iraq."

(AP) Maliki has called a "crisis conference" to try and end the Sunni move to war.

(Iraqslogger) Maliki's threat is that he will form a cabinet of SIIC, Dawa, and Kurds which will steamroll Sunni interests.

(Same Article) Maliki is also trying to find Sunni tribal chiefs he can bribe/cajole into taking the cabinet posts vacated by the Sunni bloc. (How little legitimacy will that have?)

(AP) "In 2006, the number of traditional high school graduates recruited by the Army dropped to 73 percent, from 84 percent a year earlier.... The goal is 90 percent high school graduates — a benchmark last met in 2004."

(Reuters) Will the assassinations in Diwaniyah ignite the Iraq wide Shia war?

(CSM) Another piece looking at the Shia on Shia conflict.

CNN has a piece on the translators working for the US, how they've had to abandon their families, and how they will likely be left behind to die.

(TimesOnline) Lee Hamilton sums it up, “It is inconceivable that General Petraeus will say the surge has failed. So I think we’re going to have a military stay-the-course strategy well into next year.”