Handing Anwar province over to the Iraqi army may work, more or less, in the short-term, but in the long-term, it is a sure recipe for a renewed Shiite-Sunni civil war in Iraq.

BAGHDAD -- Leaders of the new "elite" force Moqtada Sadr plans to establish to confront U.S. forces in Iraq if there is no American withdrawal timetable could find their kinetic wherewithal thin when they return from exile in Iran.

AMMAN -- Iraqi negotiators are saying they have agreed a deal with the United States that entails a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by 2011, but Iraqi leaders might overturn the controversial pact that is to determine the future of the U.S. forces in Iraq after the end of this year.

The United States is the worlds hyper-power -- since the collapse of communism, there has been no debate about that: Serbia, Iraq -- twice, and Afghanistan have all proven no match for the awesome high tech power of the U.S. armed forces: But as President George W. Bush concentrates U.S. naval forces ominously close to the shores of Iran, we feel we have to ask: How far can that power stretch?

BAGHDAD -- Hearts-and-minds counter-insurgency strategy is increasingly coming to the fore in the way U.S. military forces conduct operations in Baghdad following the apparent success of Gen. David Petreauss troop surge in dampening violence in the capital.

The Russian army has taught U.S. President George W. Bush and his allies a sobering lesson in Georgia. Its implications for U.S. and Israeli policy on Iran should be obvious.

BAGHDAD -- Tarik Azziz Fahad was fidgeting as he sat on a bench in a U.S. military detention cell. One minute he was twisting and turning his hands as if to escape the plastic strips that bound his wrists, the next he was pushing up his blindfold. A U.S. guard would order him to stop and hed comply, but only for a few minutes before starting again.

The Mehdi Army is no longer up in arms. In fact, the Shiite militia that ruled Sadr City in Baghdad and parts of Basra has been ordered by its boss, the volatile young nationalist imam, Moqtada Sadr, to lay down its arms. Instead he wants to turn the group into a social service organization, relying for its influence on winning hearts and minds rather than the barrel of a gun.

Sen. John McCain has left U.S. President George W. Bush all alone in his Iraq bubble; how else to explain the Arizona senators unexpected but most welcome dramatic retreat this week from his previous implacable opposition to any American withdrawal timetable?

Republican grand strategy in the U.S. presidential election campaign has backfired: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Sen. Barack Obama have caught President George W. Bush and GOP presidential front-runner Sen. John McCain in a pincers trap.