Drop-Dead Date

Iraqis warn of civil war if U.S. troops withdraw - 9 Jul 2007 at 8:40am - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders warned on Monday that an early U.S. troop withdrawal could tip Iraq into all-out civil war after the New York Times said debate was growing in the White House over a gradual scaling-down of forces....Iraqi officials said the country's own security forces were not ready and warned that premature withdrawal of some of the 157,000 American troops could produce a security vacuum.

Again, how about a progress report on U.S. efforts to train and equip Iraqi security forces?

No troop pullout imminent - 9 Jul 2007 at 11:01am - WASHINGTON -- President Bush is not contemplating withdrawing forces from Iraq now despite an erosion of support among Republicans for his war policy, the White House said Monday. The administration also tried to lower expectations about a report due Sunday on whether the Iraqi government is meeting political, economic and security benchmarks that Bush set in January when he announced a buildup of 21,500 U.S. combat forces. White House press secretary Tony Snow said that all of the additional troops had just gotten in place and it would be unrealistic to expect major progress now. "You are not going to expect all the benchmarks to be met at the beginning of something," Snow said. "You are hoping that you are going to be able to see progress in terms of meeting benchmarks from that beginning stage to what you see in two months." But at the same time, he said that Sept. 15 is not "the drop dead date" by which everything should be completed.

The "drop-dead" date is pretty much every day for American troops, no?

Blair defied ministers on Iraq: diaries - 9 Jul 2007 at 8:04am - Tony Blair's closest aide has revealed the former British prime minister overrode Cabinet colleagues who had doubts about going to war against Iraq, in diaries published today.

"Facts fixed around the policy", anyone?

Report: Wars costing $12 billion a month - 9 Jul 2007 at 2:33pm - WASHINGTON -- The boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war there and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month, and the total for Iraq alone is nearing a half-trillion dollars, congressional analysts say.

And worth it?

Initial Wave of Iraqi Refugees Land in U.S. - 9 Jul 2007 at 9:19am - The first wave of Iraqi refugees has arrived in the United States: 63 resettlement cases in June and more are expected to come in September. U.S. officials have pledged to resettle 7,000 Iraqis by the end of this year. Some 2 million Iraqis have fled the country.

The first wave, only now?

Al Qaeda threatens to 'annihilate' Iran - 9 Jul 2007 at 9:14am - The self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq has given Iran a two-month ultimatum to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs or face all-out war, according to an audio tape posted on the Internet.

The enemy of my enemy is _____?

1. My friend


2. My enemy


3. Making my brain hurt

Bush denies Congress access to key aides - 9 Jul 2007 at 10:16am - President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from former White House aides Sara Taylor and Harriet Miers.

Thought for the day:
"Let a good man do good deeds with the same zeal that the evil man does bad ones." -The Belzer Rabbi