Conditions On the Ground

Sadr to disarm if U.S. withdraws on timetable - 8 Aug 2008 at 6:42am - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Influential Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr would dissolve his Mehdi Army militia if the United States starts withdrawing troops according to a set timetable, a spokesman said.

The money line from al-Sadr: "If we find ... the U.S. forces change their stance over the timetable, we can change direction also. This will not mean ending the ceasefire, it will depend on what's going on on the ground."

U.S. tightens security along Great Lakes border - 8 Aug 2008 at 1:39pm - The United States will unveil new border surveillance measures Friday in a move that has one New Democratic MP decrying what he sees as the "weaponization" of the Canada-U.S. frontier.

Marine ordered to stand trial in Fallujah killing - 8 Aug 2008 at 2:10pm - SAN DIEGO -- A Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant was ordered Friday to stand trial on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah, Iraq.

US weighs stepped-up military forays into Pakistan - 8 Aug 2008 at 1:17pm - WASHINGTON -- Top Bush administration officials are pressing the president to direct U.S. troops in Afghanistan to be more aggressive in pursuing militants into Pakistan on foot as part of a proposed radical shift in regional counterterrorism strategy, The Associated Press has learned.

Border guards to turn away church group aiming to picket bus victim's funeral - 8 Aug 2008 at 10:09am - Canadian border guards are under orders to prevent members of a fundamentalist American church from crossing into Canada to protest at the funeral Saturday of a Winnipeg man brutally killed on a Greyhound bus last week.

Russian troops enter South Ossetia after Georgia offensive - 8 Aug 2008 at 8:42am - MEGVREKISI, Georgia (AFP) - A Russian army convoy entered South Ossetia on Friday and Russian planes attacked a Georgian military base, reports said, after Georgian forces pounded the capital of the breakaway province and warned of "war" if Russia intervened.

Thought for the day:
Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together. -Carl Zwanzig