Meanwhile in Iraq

US kills girls and baby in Iraq: Five young girls and a baby have been killed in a US raid on a house in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, the US military has told Al Jazeera English. The US military blamed the fighters for the incident.

Bush to press Iraqi leader on 'strategy': "My question to him will be, 'What do we need to succeed?''' Bush said of his meetings planned on Wednesday and Thursday in Amman, Jordan. "What do we need to do ... about sectarian violence? ... I will ask him, 'What is required, and what is your strategy to be a country that can govern itself and sustain itself?''

Damascus summit to gather Iraqi clerics: Damascus is to host a meeting of Iraqi religious leaders including Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as well as the Sunni Iraq Islamic Party, the Al-Watan daily reported Monday. "The Syrian association for inter-religious rapprochement has proposed holding a conference in Damascus bringing together all Iraqi religious authorities to sign an agreement to unify the Iraqi position," it said

There is no solution: We’ve destroyed Iraq and we’ve destroyed the region, and Americans need to know this. - There was no civil war in Iraq until we got there. And there was no civil war in Iraq, until we took certain steps to pit Sunnis against Shias. And now it is just too late. But, we need to know we are responsible for what’s happening in Iraq today. Continue This is a must watch. Video and transcript

Bury my heart in the Green Zone: Everyone is guilty in the ongoing Iraq tragedy. The US-trained new Iraqi army is infiltrated by militias, by death squads and even by al-Qaeda in Iraq. The SCIRI, Da'wa and the Kurds are only worried about their own interests, not the interests of Iraq as a nation. And the US - always hiding under the dubious mantra of "Iraqi democracy" - totally evades its responsibility in provoking the appalling chaos in the first place. Continue

Paying The Price: Killing The Children Of Iraq: A documentary film by John Pilger: Sanctions enforced by the UN on Iraq since the Gulf War have killed more people than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, including over half a million children - many of whom weren't even born when the Gulf War began. Click to view.

At least 45 killed in another bloody day in Iraq: Two car bombs close to west Baghdad's main Yarmouk hospital killed four people and wounded 40, a source at Baghdad police headquarters said

Patrick Cockburn : Slaughter in Iraq soon seems to be part of normal life : Iraq is rending itself apart. The signs of collapse are everywhere. In Baghdad, the police often pick up more than 100 tortured and mutilated bodies in a single day. Government ministries make war on each other.

Italy completes Iraq pull-out: Italy is to complete the pull-out of its troops from Iraq by the end of this week, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Monday.

British troops may stay in Iraq until 2016: Thousands of British troops could remain in Iraq for another decade, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, said yesterday.

Nir Rosen: Anatomy of a Civil War Ripping away the veil that hides Iraq’s descent into chaos . This is a must read

Iraq parliament bars media as tension mounts: Iraq's parliament will bar the media from future sessions and began on Monday by refusing access to reporters and then cutting off television coverage as a debate on mounting sectarian violence became heated.

Senators pledge to end war supplementals: "We've been funding this war dishonestly," wrote Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., in a Sunday op-ed piece.

Bush says violence in Iraq not civil war: U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that the resurging violence in Iraq is not civil war, claiming that Al-Qaida is to blame for the escalating bloodshed in this war-torn country, reports reaching here said.

Iraq Lawmakers Extend State of Emergency: Parliament voted unanimously Tuesday to extend Iraq's state of emergency for 30 more days, and suspected Sunni insurgents set off bombs that killed eight people and wounded 40 across the country. Lawmakers decided to continue the state of emergency that allows for a nighttime curfew and gives the government extra powers to make arrests without warrants and launch police and military operations.