Major military offensives and a changed focus on increasing security have slowed efforts to train Iraqi forces to take control of Iraq, the top U.S. training official said. Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard said U.S. troop levels could start to decrease next spring, but the Iraqis will need U.S. support for at least two more years. [Link]
In a move that could portend a strategy change, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq said Sunday he has proposed reducing his troop levels and shifting next year to missions focused less on direct combat. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon told The Associated Press that if current trends hold, he would like to begin this troop reduction and change in mission in Ninevah province, where he said Iraqi army forces already are operating nearly independently. He has proposed shifting the province to Iraqi government control as early as August. [Link]
Iraq’s prime minister urged parliament on Saturday to cancel or shorten its summer vacation to pass laws Washington considers crucial to Iraq’s stability and the debate on how long U.S. forces should remain. [Link]
The United States on Monday said it would hold direct talks with Iran this week to discuss the crisis in Iraq as MPs from the battered country remained divided over the outcome of the high-level meet. “Yes, I can confirm that Ambassador (Ryan) Crocker will participate in the trilateral talks, including his Iranian counterpart and hosted by the Iraqi ministry of foreign affairs,” spokesman for US mission in Baghdad Philip Reeker told AFP. [Link]
The top White House counterterrorism official on Sunday refused to rule out a US military incursion into Pakistan’s remote border with Afghanistan to eradicate a resurgent Al-Qaeda militant network. [Link]
After a rare bipartisan agreement in the Senate to expand insurance coverage for low-income children, House Democrats have drafted an even broader plan that also calls for major changes in Medicare and promises to intensify the battle with the White House over health care….The bill, known as the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act, would block impending cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, giving them a modest increase in fees in each of the next two years while Congress tries to devise a new payment policy. [Link]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture distributed $1.1 billion over seven years to the estates or companies of deceased farmers and routinely failed to conduct reviews required to ensure that the payments were properly made, according to a government report. In a selection of 181 cases from 1999 to 2005, the Government Accountability Office found that officials approved payments without any review 40 percent of the time. [Link]
AND FINALLY: A few months ago, [Condoleeza Rice] decided to write an opinion piece about Lebanon…Every one of the major newspapers approached refused to publish an essay by the secretary of state…As a last-ditch strategy, the State Department briefly considered translating the article into Arabic and trying a Lebanese paper. But finally they just gave up. “I kept hearing the same thing: ‘There’s no news in this.’ ” Floyd said. The piece, he said, was littered with glowing references to President Bush’s wise leadership. “It read like a campaign document.” [Link]
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