All Blog Posts from World Watch

Nearly one out of six American service members in Iraq, about 20,000 in all, are involved in a massive logistical operation with one overriding goal: Getting our stuff and leaving.

Johan Spanner writes in The New York Times today about the challenges facing the military as it sets about dismantling about 300 bases and removing 1.5 million pieces of American equipment — everything from weapons and vehicles to coffeemakers — from Iraq.

Six years after the U.S.-led invasion, the "largest movement of soldiers and matériel in more than four decades" (according to Spanner) is further complicated by continued attacks for Iraqi insurgents; consideration of what will be left behind for Iraqis; and U.S. military needs in Afghanistan.

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On Tuesday, Muntazer al-Zaidi – better known as the shoe thrower – is expected to be released from a Baghdad prison. (He was supposed to be released today, but the Associated Press reports there were delays in processing his paperwork.)

Al-Zaidi, of course, is the journalist who threw a pair of shoes, one at a time, at then-President George W. Bush last December. "This is your farewell kiss, you dog!," he yelled at a press conference. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." The memorable video is at left.

The incident turned the previously unheralded reporter into a hero among many in the the Arab world, where Mr. Bush was exceedingly unpopular. His expected release from prison is now being widely celebrated.

According to the Telegraph, Al-Zaidi "has been offered cars, money, a penthouse apartment by the television station for which he worked, and presents ranging from the eccentric, such as a statue of a golden horse, to the traditional, such as a wife."

The Guardian, which says "Zaidi has won the adulation of millions, who believe his act of defiance did what their leaders had been too cowed to do," reports that "pictures of the president ducking have been etched onto walls across Baghdad, made into T-shirts in Egypt, and appeared in children's games in Turkey."

"After the event, we had callers from Palestine and many women asking to marry him, but we didn't take their names," Al-Zaidi's editor told the newspaper.

A Palestinian man said he was prepared to offer the journalist "a bride loaded with gold" – one of his daughters, along with a significant amount of money. One Bahraini businessman, the Gulf Daily News reported, offered to drive his Mercedes limousine to Baghdad and give it to Al-Zaidi.

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday that Damascus would do whatever it takes to help uphold security in the neighboring country, only a few days after a high-profile U.S. military delegation visited the Syrian capital to discuss curbing the infiltration of foreign fighters across the border.

The United States and some Iraqi officials have repeatedly accused Damascus of allowing Islamist elements - mainly al-Qaeda militants - to sneak through its porous frontiers.

Maliki’s visit is his second to the Syrian capital - where he lived as a refugee during the Saddam Hussein regime - since becoming prime minister in April 2006. Iraq and Syria, which share borders, have experienced turbulent relations over the years. However, in November 2006, the two countries restored full diplomatic ties.

"Assad reiterated Syria's support of Iraq in all matters that help bolster its security and stability and preserve its integrity of land and people, affirming that Syria also supports the efforts of the national reconciliation governments for ensuring the success of the political process," an official English statement said after Tuesday's talks.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki flies in Damascus on Tuesday to discuss with President Basher Al-Assad promotion of security cooperation and the infiltration of foreign fighters across the border, apparently annoyed that the Obama administration sent a U.S. military delegation last week to discuss the issue with the Syrian officials.

The two-day visit is his second to the Syrian capital - where he lived as a refugee during the Saddam Hussein years - since becoming prime minister in April 2006.

Iraq and Syria, which share borders, have experienced turbulent relations over the years. However, in November 2006, the two countries restored full diplomatic ties.

"It is not the duty of the American delegation to negotiate on behalf of Iraq," Iraq’s spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said a few days ago. "It is the Iraqi government that will directly negotiate on security with Syria."

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Five years after the infamous Abu Ghraib torture photos came to light, Lynndie England says the government's "softening up tactics" are acceptable ways to get information from prisoners.

"Compared to what they do to us, that's like nothing," England says in the BBC video.

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A senior delegation of U.S. military commanders has ended talks with Syrian officials on the best ways to curb the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq with no clue yet how much progress they've made.

State Department officials in Damascus told CBS News that Major Gen. Michael Moeller of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) led the delegation that followed up on a previous round of talks held in June.

"Talks would focus on continuing our dialogue in more details concerning opportunities for cooperation on regional security matters," the official said with no further elaboration.

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A delegation of U.S. military commanders arrives in Damascus on Wednesday to discuss with Syrian officials greater cooperation in preventing the flow of al Qaeda militants and other foreign fighters into Iraq through Syrian soil, Western diplomats said.

They said the visit, the second by the U.S. Central Command in a few months, crowned lengthy talks last month between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the Obama administration's Middle East envoy George Mitchell.

The Pentagon’s efforts overlap with a string of bombings in northern Iraq and Baghdad that had killed at least 112 people in the last several days, the worst since U.S. troops handed over security in urban areas to Iraqi security forces on June 30.

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The senior U.S. combat commander in Iraq told CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick on the eve of the U.S. urban withdrawal that the country's police and military face a tough fight from a still-viable insurgency, but they're up to the challenge.

Lt. General Charles Jacoby, who spoke to McCormick by phone from Baghdad, said the recent surge in attacks across Iraq, and particularly in the capital, was foreseeable.

"I think that the testing of the Iraqi security forces will go on for some time," he predicted, warning that there are still combatants scattered across the country.

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Against the rain, against the wind, against the mud, against the innumerable hills and against the odds, they have done it.

Three of my previously-out-of-shape CBS News London colleagues pedaled to their highly symbolic destination today — a memorial to fallen journalists in Bayeux, France.

They set out five days and 200 miles ago in London on the ride in honor of Paul Douglas and James Brolan, two colleagues who were killed three years ago today by a roadside bomb while covering the Iraq war for CBS News.

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This post was written by CBS News Producer Jeff Goldman.

On Tuesday, when President Obama made his "surprise" detour to Iraq, I was one of the eleven journalists in the press "pool."

Members of the pool, the members of which rotate more-or-less daily, are charged with covering the president's every move and reporting back to the larger media community. My job was to represent all five television networks. Our video was to be shared for all events that President Obama participated in that day.

The other journalists in the pool included a reporter representing the wire services, one newspaper reporter, one magazine reporter, one radio reporter and agency still photographers.

Conscious of the likelihood of a surprise stop on the way back from Europe and Turkey to Washington, D.C., we all chatted that day about where we might end up flying. The vast expanse of the Middle East seemed the likely spot due to close proximity to our last stop, in Turkey.

When we took off from Istanbul, we were scheduled to fly non-stop to Andrews Air Force Base outside of D.C. I knew within a few minutes that we were heading to another destination - one that was east of where we started.

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