Low-posting notice and Iraq War news

I'm going to be on low-posting mode for the next three weeks due to some traveling. No, those rumors are not true that say I'm going to be hanging out at nightclubs around Los Angeles hoping to catch one of Britney's surprise "comeback" appearances. Although, come to think of it...

My blogging partners at The Blue Voice crew will be posting, though. And I'll be making posts here and there over that time. I have one on polling that I'm going to post later today.

Meanwhile, how's the McCain escalation going in Iraq? Via Juan Cole at his Informed Comment blog, Philip Gailey in Iraq's fate awaits Bush exit St. Petersburg Times 05/06/07 says Bush has a secret deadline for ending the Iraq War:

Contrary to what his critics say, President Bush does have a timetable for ending the war. He plans to hand the disaster over to his successor at high noon on Jan. 20, 2009.

This assumes that the military situation doesn't hopelessly deteriorate by then.

Cole also gives us a glimpse from the Arabic-language press on events in the Shi'a holy city of Najaf:

Sawt al-Iraq reports in Arabic that calm returned to the Shiite holy city of Najaf Saturday after clashes on Friday between the Mahdi Army and local security forces. The clashes, this reports says, led to the "collapse of the local government and demonstrated the effective presence of al-Sadr's militia" in the city. During the clashes, "the security forces withdrew from all the centers and checkpoints and individuals from the Mahdi Army took thier place . . ." Only when Muqtada al-Sadr's office issued orders that the Mahdi Army stand down did police return to their stations. A joint committee has been set up between al-Sadr's office and the local administration that will work to calm things back down and ensure that the security forces deploy throughout the city again.

Tags: iraq war, mccain escalation, surge