Meanwhile in Iraq

Baghdad is under siege: Sunni insurgents have cut the roads linking the city to the rest of Iraq. The country is being partitioned as militiamen fight bloody battles for control of towns and villages north and south of the capital.

Saudi study: Iraq a ‘lost battle’: Damning analysis says all indications point to current state of civil war, disintegration of Iraqi state.

Military Charts Movement of Conflict in Iraq Toward Chaos: The slide shows Iraq as moving sharply away from “peace,” an ideal on the far left side of the chart, to a point much closer to the right side of the spectrum, a red zone marked “chaos.”

Iraq: More than 20 killed as bloody U.S. occupation continues: The bullet-riddled bodies of three people who had been blindfolded and bound at the wrists were found dumped in eastern Baghdad, and five more bodies were pulled from the Tigris River near Suwayrah, 25 miles south of the capital.

U.S. Soldier Charged With Premeditated Murder of 3 Iraqi Detainees: The case is one of two involving soldiers from the division accused of killing Iraqis during a deployment to Iraq that ended in September.

U.S. deaths in Iraq for October hit 104: The U.S. military reported the death of a soldier in fighting yesterday in volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad, raising to 104 the number of American service members killed in combat in October -- the fourth deadliest month since the war began.

Iraqi Militants score a political victory: Iraqi Shiite militants won a major political victory Tuesday when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered US and Iraqi units to lift a blockade around the flashpoint suburb of Sadr City.

US force storms Allawi's Home: An Iraqi security source disclosed Wednesday that the US forces stormed the home of former Iraqi Premier Iyad Allawi who leads the Iraqi list, one of the biggest Iraqi parliament blocs, and arrested eight of his bodyguards.

Pentagon admits extent of Iraq disorder: The US military has confirmed Iraq is close to chaos, in a classified briefing prepared just two weeks ago, which gives a stark assessment of the country.

U.S. "blunders" in Iraq are staggering : U.S. officials on the bases paid cash to fly-by-night Iraqi agents to cart away new vehicles and spare parts - along with generators - that had been left behind by Saddam's army. The Iraqis then sold the valuable equipment in Syria and Jordan and paid kickbacks to the U.S. officials.

Depleted uranium risk 'ignored' : UK and US forces have continued to use depleted uranium weapons despite warnings they pose a cancer risk, a BBC investigation has found.

Allen L Roland : America's Greatest Crime: Military Use Of DU: American Use Of DU is "A crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time." US Iraq Military Vets "are on DU death row, waiting to die."