Iraq Update

THE KURDISH SECRET - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 2): On
Oct. 17, the new American University of Iraq will open classes in Sulaimaniya.
Kurdistan. 'The board wanted three campuses, one in Kurdistan, one in Baghdad
and one in Basra, but this is the only part of the country where an American
University can open and function safely,' said Owen Cargol, the school's
chancellor.
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/opinion/02friedmancolumn.html?pagewanted=print
PAID SUBSCRIPTION
ABANDONED AT THE BORDER - JOSEPH P. HOAR (NEW YORK TIMES, AUGUST 31): It is
shameful that more than four years into this war, Iraqis working at our embassy
cannot count on the United States to protect them or to help them find a new
home when their work with us has made it impossible to survive in their own
country. Similarly, it is both cruel and foolish for the United States to ignore
the plight of more than two million others who have fled and are struggling to
survive in Syria and Jordan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/opinion/31hoar.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Contributors&pagewanted=print
SEE ALSO
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/01/AR2007090101184.html

MR. BUSH HAS FORSAKEN IRAQ'S MINORITIES - ANNA G. ESHOO, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
(D-CALIF.) (LETTER TO THE EDITOR, WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 3): Iraq's minority
communities have endured for more than 2,000 years, even under brutal despots.
Under the United States' watch, the seeds of a diaspora have been sown, and
these communities, cultures and historical legacies are on the brink of
extinction.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/02/AR2007090200937_pf.html

SECRET REPORT: CORRUPTION IS "NORM" WITHIN IRAQI GOVERNMENT DAVID CORN
(NATION, AUGUST 30): According to the working draft of a document prepared by
the U.S. embassy in Baghdad labeled "SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED/Not for
distribution to personnel outside of the US Embassy in Baghdad," the Maliki
government has failed in one significant area: corruption. Maliki's government
is "not capable of even rudimentary enforcement of anticorruption laws," the
report says, and, perhaps worse, the report notes that Maliki's office has
impeded investigations of fraud and crime within the government.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=228339

USH IS SAID TO APPROVE MORE AID TO IRAQI SUNNIS BATTLING EXTREMIST GROUPS -
DAVID E. SANGER (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 2): 'There is an effort to accelerate
the bottom-up reconciliation,' said one Defense Department official who declined
to speak on the record. 'The idea is to capitalize on the unexpected progress
made at the provincial level through the Sunni awakening and efforts to work
with former insurgents. We are increasing Iraqi and American money being
invested in the provinces.' The money would come, the official said, by spending
State Department funds through provincial reconstruction teams, which are
finally being deployed in significant numbers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/world/middleeast/02policy.html?pagewanted=print

AL QAEDA IN IRAQ: HOW TO UNDERSTAND IT. HOW TO DEFEAT IT - FREDERICK W.
KAGAN (WEEKLY STANDARD, SEPTEMBER 10): Al Qaeda In Iraq is part of the global al
Qaeda movement.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/043delki.asp

IF IRAQ FALLS: AMERICA MIGHT HAVE MADE A MISTAKE GOING IN, BUT FLEEING WOULD
BE A DISASTER - JOSEF JOFFE (OPINION JOURNAL FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
EDITORIAL PAGE, SEPTEMBER 2)
http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010553

A TIME FOR GRACE - PEGGY NOONAN (WALL STREET JOURNAL, SEPTEMBER 1): At the
end of the day we can't just up and leave Iraq. That would only make it worse.
And it is not in the interests of America or the world that it be allowed to get
worse.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118859337442814952.html?mod=opinion_main_featured_stories_hs
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REAL CRISES AREN'T FIXED OVERNIGHT: THE FALLOUT FROM THE MORTGAGE MELTDOWN
AND IRAQ WAR WILL PLAY OUT OVER YEARS, NOT DAYS - NIALL FERGUSON (LOS ANGELES
TIMES, SEPTEMBER 3): The outcome of the American intervention in Iraq will be
determined not in Baghdad but in Washington. Sooner or later, this president or
his successor will come under irresistible public pressure to start drawing down
American troops in Iraq.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ferguson3sep03,0,6122609.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION SAYS ABOUT IRAQ: CONGRESS AND THE COURTS MUST RECOMMIT
TO THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH'S SOLE AUTHORITY TO DECLARE WAR - MARIO M. CUOMO (LOS
ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 3): The war happened because when Bush first indicated
his intention to go to war against Iraq, Congress refused to insist on
enforcement of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. For more than 200
years, this article has spelled out that Congress -- not the president -- shall
have "the power to declare war."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-cuomo3sep03,0,5712011.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

BRITON BLAMES RUMSFELD FOR SITUATION IN IRAQ - MARY JORDAN (WASHINGTON POST,
SEPTEMBER 2): Mike Jackson, the British former chief of general staff who
retired last year, strongly criticized Rumsfeld and the U.S. postwar effort in
Iraq in his new book, "Soldier." Jackson criticized President Bush for putting
the Pentagon in charge of the postwar administration of Iraq rather than the
State Department.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/01/AR2007090101336_pf.html