Battle of Baqubah

Michael Yon continues his excellent reporting with on-the-scene reports from Baqubah, Iraq. Lest Yon get labeled as just another gung-ho right-wing journalist, remember that he was among the first to label conditions in Iraq as "civil war" when many on the pro-war side, including the administration, were trying to deny it backwards and forwards.

As dark as things have become in Iraq, with an Iraqi government apparently incapable of actually governing, operations like Baqubah offer perhaps the one thing we can salvage: denying al-Qaeda an operational base there. Turning the local tribes and militias against al-Qaeda was the right move to make, and for once we were able to make it work.

Meet the new boss...

from John Allen's NCR column:

Hamas gunmen torched and looted a Catholic church in Gaza along with a nearby Rosary Sisters School. The parish priest, Fr. Manuel Musalam, said that every cross had been destroyed and every Bible burnt, in addition to the school's computers and other equipment being destroyed. A Hamas leader in Gaza has warned Christians to "get ready" for Islamic rule, stating that "missionary activity" will no longer be tolerated, and those suspected of trying to covert Muslims will be "harshly punished." The consumption of alcohol will be prohibited, and Christian women will be expected to cover themselves in public.