17 U.S. troops died in Iraq this week.

Security developments in Iraq today, 9/16/07

A US unit is trying a new way of training Iraqi soldiers. For years, U.S. training and combat teams have been separate, but Army Lt. Col Morschauser has taken a new approach. Every patrol and assault in this region that used to be known as the Triangle of Death is now a joint operation between U.S. and Iraqi forces _ and a training opportunity.

The number of Iraqi Army and police battalions considered ready to conduct combat operations without help from the United States has declined from 15 at the beginning of the year to 12 this month, and at the same time, Pentagon assessments show that the number of Iraqi battalions considered “not ready” increased from 13 in November 2006 to 43 this past summer. The Petraeus plan, which Bush adopted last week, depends on a sufficient number of capable Iraqi units replacing at least 20,000 US combat troops that are set to return home beginning this month……..so where’s that leave us?

The U.S. claims to have caught the Al Qaeda militant responsible for the assasination of key Sunni tribal leader Abdul Sattar Abu Risha.

The U.S. is expands it’s al Anbar model to the Shiites. Good luck with that. Let’s arm everbody and see what happens, eh?

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government is falling apart at the seams. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr movement is withdrawing its 32 MPs from the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), leaving Maliki’s coalition in control of only about half the seats in parliament.

Pepe Escobar reports on the “Anbar Myth”

Iraq is to start delivery of discounted oil to Jordan this week.

Alan Greenspan tells us the war in Iraq is all about the oil. Ya think? That and the billions and billions of dollars that have been made by military contractors.

Georgia plans on reducing its troops in Iraq in July, from 2,000 to 300.

Concerning Iran…………

The IAEA said a congressional report contained serious distortions of the agency’s own findings on Iran’s nuclear activity. It says the report was wrong to say that Iran had enriched uranium to weapons-grade level when the IAEA had only found small quantities of enrichment at far lower levels. Sound familiar?