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Tomgram: The Numbers Surge in Iraq : "Now, Americans are theoretically waiting for the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, to 'report' to Congress in September on the 'progress' of the President's surge strategy. But there really is no reason to wait for September. An interim report -- 'Iraq by the numbers' -- can be prepared now (as it could have been prepared last month, or last year). The trajectory of horror in Iraq has long been clear; the fact that the U.S. military is a motor driving the Iraqi cataclysm has been no less clear for years now. So here is my own early version of the 'September Report.' A caveat about numbers: In the bloody chaos that is Iraq, as tens of thousands die or are wounded, as millions uproot themselves or are uprooted, and as the influence of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's national government remains largely confined to the four-square mile fortified Green Zone in the Iraqi capital, numbe...

BBC NEWS | Africa | Ethiopia 'ready for Eritrea war' : "Ethiopia's prime minister says he is strengthening his army in preparation for an attack by long-time foe Eritrea. 'Our defence forces have the capacity to deter aggression and to repulse it if it occurred,' Meles Zenawi told MPs. Eritrea has yet to comment. The two neighbours fought a border war from 1998-2000, in which hundreds of thousands of Ethiopia's prime minister says he is strengthening his army in preparation for an attack by long-time foe Eritrea. 'Our defence forces have the capacity to deter aggression and to repulse it if it occurred,' Meles Zenawi told MPs. Eritrea has yet to comment. The two neighbours fought a border war from 1998-2000, in which hundreds of thousands of "