Final Victory Is Ours! (for the time being)

Iraq hopes to end Baghdad security plan soon - 12 Nov 2007 at 9:48am - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's government hopes it will soon be able to declare an end to a U.S.-Iraqi security operation in Baghdad following a sharp drop in insurgent attacks in the capital, a military spokesman said on Monday. Brigadier-General Qassim Moussawi, Iraqi spokesman for the nine-month-old Baghdad security offensive, said the decline in violence would also allow the government to reopen 10 roads this month that had been closed for security reasons. "We are in the final stage of Operation Imposing Law .... Soon the prime minister will declare the final victory against terrorist groups and al Qaeda," Moussawi told Reuters.... Declaring an end to the operation would acknowledge security had improved but would be largely symbolic since tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops would be likely to remain in the city. The U.S. military declined to comment on Moussawi's remarks.

Iraqi Tribal Leaders Work to Improve Security - 12 Nov 2007 at 9:34am - On the outskirts of Baghdad, Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders are working to improve security. Attacks on American forces have dropped in these former insurgent strongholds largely due to U.S.-funded efforts to give temporary security jobs to young Iraqis.

Basra closes doors to displaced - November 12, 2007 05:57:00 PM - BASRA, 12 November 2007 (IRIN) - Basra province, 550km south of Baghdad, can no longer accommodate Iraqi families fleeing insecurity, according to local officials.

Refugees forced home as funds dry up - November 12, 2007 05:57:00 PM - BAGHDAD, 12 November 2007 (IRIN) - A growing wave of Iraqis are leaving Syria - not because they are confident of Iraq's future but because they have run out of money. Others are returning because the Syrian authorities have made it more difficult for them to stay as most Iraqis cannot work legally in Syria and have been surviving on savings or handouts from relatives.

Rice: Iran resolution doesn't OK war - 12 Nov 2007 at 12:18pm - WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday she does not believe a Senate resolution authorizes President Bush to take military action against Iran.

Thought for the day:
To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike. -Horace Mann (1796 - 1859)