DEC. 2nd DEADLIEST MO. IRAQ LEADER SAYS NO NEED TO ADD THOUSANDS OF TROOPS THAT GATES MAY RECOMMEND

BOSTON GLOBE
DECEMBER IS 2nd DEADLIEST MONTH FOR US FORCES IN IRAQ IN 06
Insurgents kill 5 service members

By Solomon Moore, Los Angeles Times | December 23, 2006

BAGHDAD -- Insurgent attacks have killed five more US servicemen, the military said yesterday -- making December the second-deadliest month for American forces in 2006.

Insurgents killed three Marines and one sailor in Anbar Province, and a soldier was killed in an attack in Baghdad that included small-arms fire and explosives, authorities said.

So far this month, 76 American troops have died in Iraq, the same number that were killed in April. With nine days remaining in December, the monthly total of US deaths could meet or exceed the death toll of 105 in October.

As American deaths in the war pushed closer to 3,000, Iraqis continued to fall victim to sectarian violence between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims. Police recovered 21 more bodies in the cities of Baghdad, Baqouba, and Kut. http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/12/23/dec_is_2d_deadliest_month_for_us_forces_in_iraq_in_06/

Iraqi Prime Minister Tells Gates He'll Let U.S. Decide on Troop 'Surge'

By Thomas E. Ricks and Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 22, 2006; Page A23

BAGHDAD, Dec. 21 -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told visiting Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates that he would let U.S. generals decide whether there is a need for a "surge" in U.S. troops deployed in Iraq, according to Iraqi officials with knowledge of the meeting.

In a news conference, Gates said his conversation with the Iraqi prime minister and defense minister included "no numbers. . . . We were really talking in broader terms."

Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qadir Muhammed Jassim later indicated general acceptance of an idea that has emerged as one of the chief options President Bush is considering as he reevaluates Iraq policy. "I did not say no to an increase in the number of U.S. troops," Qadir said in a brief interview after the meeting at Maliki's residence in the Green Zone. "If we need it, we need it."

But after seeing Gates, Maliki met with Shiite Muslim members of his alliance, in a session where divisions unfolded over whether more U.S. troops were needed, said Sami al-Askari, a Shiite member of parliament who is close to Maliki. Askari, who attended the second meeting, said there was a general feeling that "there's no need for further troops." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/21/AR2006122100629.html?nav=rss_email/components?nav=slate

ABC News

Defense Secretary Gates Plans to Offer Advice on Iraq to President Bush This Weekend


By LOLITA C. BALDOR

WASHINGTON Dec 23, 2006 (AP)— Defense Secretary Robert Gates rushed back to Washington on Friday to give President Bush his advice on transforming U.S. policy in Iraq after holding three days of talks in the war zone with military and political leaders.

Gates was scheduled to see Bush at Camp David first thing Saturday morning, said Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser Stephen Hadley and deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch, who has been coordinating Bush's review of Iraq policy, were also to attend the discussions at the Maryland mountain retreat where Bush was spending Christmas.

Gates, who arrived in Washington on Friday night, declined to say while in Baghdad whether he plans to recommend a short-term increase in U.S. troop levels. Quickly adding thousands of troops to the 140,000 already in Iraq, in hopes of stanching the escalating violence in Baghdad and elsewhere, is among the president's options.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2747341

CNN.com
Diesel soot major global warming factor

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 Posted: 10:37 AM EST (1537 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- NASA scientists say soot, mostly from diesel engines, is causing as much as a quarter of all observed global warming by reducing the ability of snow and ice to reflect sunlight.

Their findings on how soot affects reflective ability, known as albedo, raise new questions about human-caused climate change from the Arctic to the Alps.

"We suggest that soot contributes to near worldwide melting of ice that is usually attributed solely to global warming," National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists James Hansen and Larissa Nazarenko wrote in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/12/23/soot.climate.ap/index.html