Meanwhile in Iraq

Panel: U.S. Lied About Level Of Violence In Iraq : U.S. military and intelligence officials have systematically underreported the violence in Iraq in order to suit the Bush administration's policy goals, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group said.

The Roman Empire is falling - so it turns to Iran and Syria : The Roman Empire is falling. That, in a phrase, is what the Baker report says. The legions cannot impose their rule on Mesopotamia.

Catastrophe Still Awaits: What will be the U.S. government's response to the lost war and the terrible calamity that Bush has created in Iraq?

Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization : The oil companies are trying to get what they were denied before the war or at anytime in modern Iraqi history: access to Iraq's oil under the ground. They are also trying to get the best deal possible out of a war-ravaged and occupied nation.

At least 17 killed in occupied Iraq : Police found three bodies, with gunshot wounds and signs of torture, in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

11 U.S. occupation troops killed in one day in Iraq : The toll in one of the U.S. military's deadliest days in Iraq rose to 11 today when the military confirmed that another soldier had died in fighting west of Baghdad.

Warning over spiralling Iraq refugee crisis: The surging violence in Iraq has created what is becoming the biggest refugee crisis in the world, a humanitarian group said today.

Iraqis Say Report Offers Little Hope : "I think this report was written in the first place to generate agreement among the Americans themselves and to find cooperation between the Democrats and the Republicans in order to achieve U.S. interests," Mahmoud Othman said. "The absence of an Iraqi representative on the panel is a shortcoming."

Only six fluent in Arabic at US Iraq embassy-panel: Among the 1,000 people who work in the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, only 33 are Arabic speakers and only six speak the language fluently, according to the Iraq Study Group report released on Wednesday.

Patrick Cockburn: Cautious words conceal the true savagery of life in Iraq : The cautious words of the Baker-Hamilton report stand in sharp contrast to the savagery and terror that dominate everyday life in Baghdad. Many of the terrible disasters it fears may occur in future are in fact already happening.

A damning indictment of a President and his policy: A more devastating indictment of the strategy of a sitting American president could not be imagined. The cross-party Iraq Study Group's recommendations on future US policy in that blighted country were made public yesterday. Gone are the illusions of "progress" and "victory" peddled by George Bush.

Israelis piqued by Gates nuclear "confirmation" : Robert Gates, the incoming U.S. secretary of defense, won plaudits in Washington this week for his candour on the Iraq war. Some Israelis were less pleased, however, to hear Gates mention with equal frankness what U.S. administrations have long avoided saying in public -- that the Jewish state has the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal.