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THE Prime Minister of Iraq will sit down for the first time next week with representatives of insurgent groups in his most concerted effort yet to quell the country's sectarian war. Nouri al-Maliki's Government has asked insurgent leaders to send intermediaries to a national reconciliation conference, marking a new domestic drive to bring peace to Iraq. It will pave the way for a subsequent conference outside Iraq, possibly in Damascus or Amman, with insurgent leaders themselves. The one-day conference, which will be held on Tuesday or Wednesday, was disclosed by Akram al-Hakim, the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Minister Mr Maliki...

Greetings from Ramadi By Michelle Malkin   ·   November 18, 2006 08:39 AM Mike Fumento has photos from his latest trip to Ramadi. Here's one he snapped at Camp Ramadi. Mike writes: "Something tells me Cindy Sheehan wouldn't feel comfortable here." Speaking of Ramadi, Patterico is looking to talk to soldiers fighting there. Give him a shout at patterico-at-gmail.com.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2006 -- Two years ago, much of the Iraqi city of Fallujah had suffered severe damage after some of the hardest fighting seen since the country was liberated by U.S. and coalition forces in the spring of 2003. Today, construction across Fallujah is booming, and the city’s 400,000-resident population is growing, Marine Col. Larry D. Nicholson, commander of Regimental Combat Team 5, told Pentagon reporters today from Fallujah during a satellite-televised news conference. Nicholson has commanded RCT-5’s nearly 5,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors since February. The unit’s primary mission, he said, is to train and...

(ERBIL, IRAQ) – The Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government met with the families of fallen U.S. soldiers today and he had a message for the news media: your coverage of the Iraq war is terribly biased. “CNN International and Al Jazeera are equally bad in their coverage of the situation in Iraq,” said Nerchivan Barzani, Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan. “When I was in the United States recently and read the negative news in the Washington Post, New York Times and in the network TV broadcasts, I even wondered if things had gotten so bad since I...

A group of California parents whose sons were killed in combat have traveled to Iraq to meet with U.S. soldiers and visit the northern part of the country. Twelve people left last Wednesday and spent part of their time in Amman, Jordan before arriving in the northern Kurdish city of Irbil. A spokesman for the nonprofit Move America Forward, which organized the trip, says they are expected to stay the rest of the week before returning home. Although they were not given clearance by military officials to visit Baghdad or other parts of the country, the families wanted to see...

* Kristinn Taylor's Audio Report from Iraq - CLICK HERE TO LISTENKristinn's Written Dispatch from Monday, November 6, 2006: The families had an incredible day in Iraq today! In the morning, they met with American troops stationed outside Erbil. It was a very emotional meeting. One soldier is from the same town as one of our parents. Another mother arranged for the Gold Star flag to be delivered to the family of a soldier from one of the units stationed up here who was recently killed in action. The families presented the troops with a banner signed by Americans back...

Baghdad is living tense hours awaiting the announcement of a verdict by the special tribunal against Saddam. First, the defense ministry announced canceling all leaves and vacations for all personnel then the government declared a curfew for tomorrow in Baghdad, Salah Addin, Diyala and Anbar. Baghdad's international airport will also be closed from Sunday morning "until further notice" according to al-Iraqiya state TV. Today, heavy presence of police forces is visible in Baghdad and a few districts like Adhamiya and Ghazaliya are, partially or completely, locked from the rest of the capital with roadblocks and checkpoint. However, the situation is...

(before the verdict) Baghdad is living tense hours awaiting the announcement of a verdict by the special tribunal against Saddam. First, the defense ministry announced canceling all leaves and vacations for all personnel then the government declared a curfew for tomorrow in Baghdad, Salah Addin, Diyala and Anbar. Baghdad's international airport will also be closed from Sunday morning "until further notice" according to al-Iraqiya state TV. Today, heavy presence of police forces is visible in Baghdad and a few districts like Adhamiya and Ghazaliya are, partially or completely, locked from the rest of the capital with roadblocks and checkpoint. However,...

"Mission Accomplished" vs. "Halp us jon carry - we r stuck hear n irak" (media bias) Compare the coverage in the liberal media of the "Halp us jon carry - we r stuck hear n irak" banner by our troops in Iraq this week vs. the feeding frenzy over the "Mission Accomplished" banner from the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln returning from an extended deployment so they could participate in Iraqi Freedom back in March 2003. This morning ONE major newspaper decided to run a picture of the banner along with a cover story... The New York Post, ironically the only...

Apology aside, it's a matter of arrogance That seems pretty clear-cut. But the ever-evasive Sen. Kerry, who voted for the war in Iraq before he voted against it, angrily denied that he was questioning the intelligence of our fighting men and women. According to Sen. Kerry, it was a botched joke that was aimed at President Bush. ... Several key Democrats said Sen. Kerry should apologize for his remarks. But the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee couldn't find the humility to admit that he was wrong. Finally, he offered a quali-

American forces killed an Al-Qaeda chieftain in the lawless western Iraqi city of Ramadi by destroying his car with a laser guided bomb, the US military said Thursday. "Rafa Abdul Salam Hamud al-Ithawi, also known as Abu Taha, was the emir of Shamiyyah," it said. "He frequently harboured foreign fighters who entered Iraq illegally in order to assault innocent Iraqis and coalition forces." Ithawi was killed on Wednesday along with his driver, "diminishing the al-Qaeda in Iraq network," the statement said.

I took time out from politics today to attend the funeral of Eric Herzberg, Jr., of Severna Park, Maryland. Herzberg, 20, a proud Marine, was killed in Iraq 10 days ago. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It was a glorious fall day, perhaps the last warm day of the season. It was a privilege to be present as this young Marine was laid to rest. I asked his grandfather how long Eric had wanted to be a Marine. "Ten, fifteen years-since he was a little boy," he said. One of Eric's high school friends, riding on the bus...

Attention GOP: Spread this video By Michelle Malkin   ·   October 31, 2006 09:54 AM Video of traitor john kerry trashing our military at a campaign stop for the governor democratic candidate in California -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLuMWiQ6r2o Feedback continues to pour in this morning: Michelle, I'm a reserve Army officer, currently employed as a professor overseas. The DoD contracts with several universities to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees to servicemembers, either online or face-to-face, in darn near every corner of the planet. Many enlisted soldiers have graduate degrees; many more have bachelor's degrees, and the rest are working on them. Teaching soldiers is...

video and audio also linked, of John Kerry saying: "“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”"

RICHMOND, Va. - From the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan to here at home, soldiers blogging about military life are under the watchful eye of some of their own. A Virginia-based operation, the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell, monitors official and unofficial blogs and other Web sites for anything that may compromise security. The team scans for official documents, personal contact information and pictures of weapons or entrances to camps. In some cases, that information can be detrimental, said Lt. Col. Stephen Warnock, team leader and battalion commander of a Manassas-based Virginia National Guard unit working on the operation....

To be a good Muslim! Respond violently to anyone that says, writes, draws that Islam is violent... Lie on 9/11 or support "theories", but do you use it to threaten the west especially Europe (like the signs at the 'Cartoons Jihad) 'Europe! take some lessons from 9/11'. Turn eyes away from Islamo racist-Arab led genocide on the Millions in Sudan, even though the victims are Muslims too (though black, not Arab), since it's done by "our guys".Await a "Palestinian" or another Arab kid to die, if you are Hamas or Huzbullah, you "know what to do" so that happenes...

While visiting Iraq on assignment, KOA Denver reporter Steffan Tubbs was touched by the children forced to survive in such harsh conditions. After talking to several soldiers, he learned that soccer balls are "like gold" in Iraq and the soldiers asked Steffan to send over as many soccer balls as possible when he returned home. Along with the help of his college friend Trevor Slavick, "Little Feet, Big Goals" was started. Must see video - Soccer ball drive with commentary by Steffan Tubbs - http://www.startcolorado.com/mpdownload/LittleFeet.wmv (windows media player) Photos and email from soldiers who have already received a shipment of...

If you don't know why I'm pissed, read this from Matt. That noise you just heard was me loosening up my swearing muscles. It has been about three hours since I found out that CNN became a terrorist press agency, and it took that long to chill enough to type. I keep clenching all my muscles and imagining my hand, Ted Turner's scrawny neck, a wall, and a torrent of verbal abuse flowing from my cakehole to his entire existence, punctuated by occasional slams of him into said wall. WARNING LANGUAGE