Summary here and here.

Execution related summaries here and here and here and here.

Saddam’s pending execution will do little or nothing to bolster Bush’s paltry public approval ratings - currently in the mid-30s - or to improve a devolving security situation in Iraq, several analysts and pollsters say.

“Anytime the White House uses the term ‘milestone’ it’s a stone around the president’s neck,” said Ray Tanter, a national security professor at Georgetown University and a National Security Council member under President Reagan. “You do not change the situation in Iraq by capturing Saddam, convicting Saddam and executing Saddam. Nothing changes the insurgency except a political deal. The president may get a little bump from this, but it will quickly go down because the situation on the ground hasn’t changed.” Article

Hmm.

The government has reversed a previous order banning former army officers from joining the new army.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has instructed the Ministry of Defense to accept applications from former army officers.

[snip]

But Maliki’s instructions only cover officers up to the rank of major. Officers with higher ranks are not covered. Article

As opposed to earlier in the week, all reports now suddenly refer to them specifically as “diplomats.”

“Two of the Iranian diplomats who were detained by the American forces were released this morning in the presence of the Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubai and the Iranian ambassador to Iraq,” Hasan Kazemi Qomi, the report said.

[snip]

The US military press office in Baghdad referred questions about the Iranians to the office of the secretary of defence in Washington, which did not immediately respond to an inquiry. Article

More:

“The American forces admitted, despite their initial denial, they had detained Iranian diplomats and pressure from the Iraqi government for their release fortunately bore results,” said Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi. Article

Nebulous missions, decrepitude of morale. The piece can certainly be interpreted as hinting at a detached, if not an outright weak, command and command structure.

Braithwaite’s unit, the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, has been in the capital of western Iraq’s Anbar province since June. Most of the guys here can remember the moment when their frustration killed their empathy. When they no longer felt guilty about knocking down doors. No longer cared to hand out candy.

“Hearts and minds,” the soldiers shrug. They joke like this often. The few Iraqis still living in Ramadi have had their homes raided and streets patrolled for three years now. Every time a window is broken, a bedroom is trashed or husbands are questioned, the glares become harsher. Compliance with U.S. troops turns to hatred.

The soldiers are only trying to get the people who lay roadside bombs and find the material used to produce them. No other goal is ever mentioned.

Roadside bombs have become too powerful for the troops to feel safe in Bradleys or tanks. Patrols are almost all on foot. This day, they walk through the garbage dump, once a farmer’s field. A plank takes them across sewage, and they head toward the first house.

Bracing the weight of their gear, they run with bent knees. They hop the walls that separate the houses to avoid the streets. Roadside bombs - a soldier lost both legs to one while crossing the intersection here a few days earlier. The ladder they carry is worthless. So they tear many of the walls down. Home to home. It takes time. They are slow.

In their first few months in Iraq, mind-numbing boredom created an itch for action. They went out to dare fire. But now they feel done, as one medic puts it. They heft on full combat gear just to step outside to relieve themselves. Article