Free Republic

BAGHDAD--Although there has been much good news to report about security progress in Iraq this summer--the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the handover of security responsibility for Muthanna province, the fifth of 10 Iraqi Army Division Headquarters to assume the lead in its area of responsibility--Iraq faces an urgent crisis in securing its capital, Baghdad. Although Iraqi leaders and the Coalition have a sound strategy to turn the situation around, it is vital that Iraqis control sectarian violence and come together against the terrorists and outside powers that are fomenting the violence. In July, there were 558 violent incidents in...

A mortar round exploded on Tuesday during a ceremony outside the town of Tikrit attended by US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and other top officials, wounding one person, an AFP correspondent reported. The shell exploded in a former Saddam Hussein palace complex as US forces officially handed over control of the area to Iraqi officials, sending participants scrambling for safety. One person was slightly hurt and the ceremony interrupted. The Tikrit complex had been used as headquarters by the US military.

The US is preparing to reshuffle top officials with responsibility for Afghanistan, expand the number of staff serving in the country, and award an additional $1bn (?870m, £620m) in assistance in a bid to re-energise its reconstruction effort, according to US and Afghan officials familiar with the plans. The policy shift, whose motto is "Accelerate Success", was a response by US State and Defense Department officials to a chorus of concern about the Afghan reconstruction process, officials said. The US government was eager to point to Afghanistan as a success story as it faced difficulty in getting the situation in...