What will John Howard say now?

John Howard, Brendan Nelson and others in the Federal Government have quite positively eschewed "cutting and running" - as they have termed it - from Iraq. They have poured scorn on those who have suggested either quitting Iraq altogether or reducing the military forces there.

So, how will they view this situation as reported by the BBC today?:

"High-level White House advisers are said to be ready to call for a major change in Washington's policy on Iraq.

Members of the panel, which is led by former US Secretary of State James Baker, told the LA Times the shift could include large troop withdrawals.

A senior US official reaffirmed Washington's support for Iraq's leaders but said they must increasingly assume responsibility for security.

The Iraq situation is a key issue in November's US mid-term elections.

"There's got to be another way," is how one member of the Iraq panel summed up their views on the situation in Iraq and the failure of current US policy, according to the LA Times."

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No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas stopped him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed behind his back into their patrol car, where they say he shot himself in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story, says in an interview that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?

Mahler's Prodigal Son

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