And it’s apparently Saddam’s. At the UN headquarters. I guess it never occurred to the weapons inspectors to look there. Maybe it should have.

Yes, they’re the people to leave in charge of controlling WMD.

A very interesting, sophisticated (and guardedly optimistic) analysis of the current situation in Iraq.

To understand what follows, you need to realize that Iraqi tribes are not somehow separate, out in the desert, or remote: rather, they are powerful interest groups that permeate Iraqi society. More than 85% of Iraqis claim some form of tribal affiliation; tribal identity is a parallel, informal but powerful sphere of influence in the community. Iraqi tribal leaders represent a competing power center, and the tribes themselves are a parallel hierarchy that overlaps with formal government structures and political allegiances. Most Iraqis wear their tribal selves beside other strands of identity (religious, ethnic, regional, socio-economic) that interact in complex ways, rendering meaningless the facile division into Sunni, Shi

Kimberly Kagan has a dossier on the acts of war (mostly by proxie) that Iran has been committing against the US for at least the past five years. We may not be at war with Iran, but they’re certainly at war with us, regardless of how much many choose to ignore it.

[Update late morning]

Here’s a book that seems timely: Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots Quest For Destruction.

Michael Totten visits Al Qaeda’s newest lair in Iraq, because they’ve been chased out of their preferred locales.

Robert Spencer says that CAIR is having a bad week. Unfortunately, I doubt if the MSM will notice.

Robert Spencer says that CAIR is having a bad week. Unfortunately, I doubt if the MSM will notice.

Robert Spencer says that CAIR is having a bad week. Unfortunately, I doubt if the MSM will notice.

Michael Yon has a second installment of his “Ghosts of Anbar” series:

Some of these men will admit they were insurgents who switched sides because they realized that they are more likely to get what they want with a stable government. Al Qaeda promised them everything under the baking sun, yet al Qaeda killed people who smoked

New glass.

Ralph Peters:

Of the two simultaneous missions under way – maturing a responsible government and advancing our own strategic interests – the latter is far more important. In fact, it’s vital. And on that track, we’re making stunning progress.

Out here in Anbar Province, al Qaeda did what religion-driven extremists always do eventually – they over-reached, setting the bar so high that nonfanatics couldn’t measure up (nor did they want to). The terrorists responded with a campaign of slaughter against their fellow Muslims.

Now the Sunni Arabs who were fighting so bitterly against us are fighting beside us to destroy al Qaeda in Iraq. And the terrorists are going down.

Out here in Anbar Province – long the most troubled in Iraq – the change has come so swiftly and thoroughly that it’s dazzling. Marines who were under fire routinely just months ago are now directing their former enemies in battle.

Although this trend has been reported, our battlefield leaders here agree that the magnitude of the shift hasn’t registered back home: Al Qaeda is on the verge of a humiliating, devastating strategic defeat – rejected by their fellow Sunni Muslims.

If we don’t quit, this will not only be a huge practical win – it’ll be the information victory we’ve been aching for.

No matter what the Middle Eastern media might say, everyone in the Arab and greater Sunni Muslim world will know that al Qaeda was driven out of Iraq by a combination of Muslims and Americans.

Think that would help al Qaeda’s recruitment efforts? Even now, the terrorists have to resort to lies about their prospective missions to gain recruits.