Reports From the Front * Lieutenant Colonel Sherman R. McGrew, who is writing from Iraq, relates the story of his Iraqi interpreter, who cannot be named in order to protect his identity. * Stryker Brigade News blog is dedicated to news and information about the Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Ft. Lewis, WA (3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division), currently serving in Iraq. Give their blog a visit! * At least 8 people have been killed in a New Year's Eve bombing at a Baghdad restaurant. * The US has arrested suspects who are believed to have been involved in shooting down a Blackhawk helicopter on November 15 in Mosul. * Iraqi insurgents are said to be using tactics honed from al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Chechen rebels against the US. * The second battalion of the new Iraqi army has graduated from training. The new Iraqi army is set to be up and running by September 2004. Social & Economic * 5 protesters were recently killed in an anti-Kurdish demonstration in Kirkuk. Interestingly, followers of Muqtada al-Sadr have apparently sided with the Kirkuk Turkmen against the city's Kurdish population. * The Iraqi finance minister has come to an agreement with Lebanon and Jordan to return frozen assets worth a billion dollars. * 100 Iraqi judges are getting a crash course in international law to prepare them to try members of the former regime, including Saddam Hussein himself. * CIA interrogators are reportedly taking a lighter hand with Saddam Hussein out of the expectation that information about the interrogation will come out in a trial. The International Stage * Jordan's foreign minister is warning Saddam's daughters to avoid making political statements if they seek to retain assylum status within the Hashemite Kingdom. WMDs * Stuart Cohen, Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, is standing by pre-war US intelligence in regards to Iraq's WMDs. * The Washington Post meanwhile, has a lengthy possible explanation for the lack of WMDs to date that suggests, among other things, that there was some kind of a shell game going on between the Iraqi scientists and Saddam Hussein in regards to his own arsenal, similar to those that have been suggested by Armed Liberal in the past here at Winds of Change. Etcetera * Which "cards" have we captured so far? The CENTCOM list. And the visual version of "Ba'ath Poker." Love that Ace! * The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. American, British and Australian. Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated Dec. 1, 2003] * Don't forget Chief Wiggles' Toys for Iraq drive!