Briefs

* I suppose the Islamist leaders 70+ nomads from Somalia will be joining the long-forgotten 80+ students from Pakistan in some sort of heaven. Hopefully, that's consolation to them.

* On to Iran? It sure is looking that way. See more from today's NY Times along these lines, too.

* Does it matter what the Iraqis think? Silly rabbit, you must be new around here. Of course it doesn't.

* Will Bush's "surge" work in Baghdad? A McClatchy report says that, in the short run, it may appear to: "Mahdi Army militia members have stopped wearing their black uniforms, hidden their weapons and abandoned their checkpoints in an apparent effort to lower their profile in Baghdad in advance of the arrival of U.S. reinforcements...[This move] will likely cut violence in the city and allow American forces to show quick results from their beefed up presence. But it is also unlikely in the long term to change the balance of power here. Mahdi Army militiamen say that while they remain undercover now, they are simply waiting for the security plan to end."

* Palestine 2007: Genocide in Gaza, Ethnic Cleansing in the West Bank.

* The GWOT is awfully expensive.

* NY Times: Military Expands Intelligence Role in U.S.

* Washington Post: "Last year was the warmest in the continental United States in the past 112 years -- capping a nine-year warming streak 'unprecedented in the historical record' that was driven in part by the burning of fossil fuels, the government reported yesterday."

* Ah, Martin. You're missed.