John Burns: “The Maliki government -- and in a sense, who can blame them -- has been preparing for some time for an eventual American…”

The vast majority of Iraqis and certainly the vast majority of Baghdadis... will welcome this American troop increase because it's about the only thing that may, in the short to medium term, bring a greater degree of stability.

How soon will the resistance come? Because there will be resistance at some point, just as a consequence of the basic political arithmetic of Iraq, which is that he cannot afford an open rupture with Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army.

Gadhafi shared one characteristic in common with Adolph Hitler, who died in his own bunker by his own hand, which is that he identifies himself with the Libyan people.

The idea that you have a political leader, the prime minister, right involved in the operational chain of command, picking targets, picking who you go after and who you don't go after.