Somali troops capture Islamic stronghold  —  KISMAYO, Somalia - Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and fighter jets captured the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement Monday, while hundreds of Islamic fighters — many of them Arabs and South Asians — fled the town.

Islamists quit last bastion in Somalia  —  KISMAYU, Somalia - Islamist fighters abandoned the last major town they held early today and were seen heading south toward the Kenyan border while government forces approached slowly because of land mines, residents and a government spokesman said.

For Sunnis, Dictator's Degrading End Signals Ominous Dawn for the New Iraq  —  BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 — For Sunni Arabs here, the ugly reality of the new Iraq seemed to crystallize in a two-minute segment of Saddam Hussein's hanging, filmed surreptitiously on a cellphone.

Iraqis learn the art of legal "workarounds"  —  This depressing New York Times article by John Burns and Marc Santora details the frantic, reckless manner in which Saddam Hussein was shoved into the noose in clear violation of Iraqi law.  We can't even get a hanging right.

A 'Surge' Faces Trouble In the Senate  —  Sen. John McCain, leading a blue-ribbon congressional delegation to Baghdad before Christmas, collected evidence that a "surge" of more U.S. troops is needed in Iraq.  But not all his colleagues who accompanied him were convinced.

"SURGE" QUERY  —  The Keane/Kagan duo write in the Weekly Standard that a meaningful "surge" has to consist of at least 30,000 men and for at least 18 months.  OK, nothing surprising there, this has been a Fred Kagan type outlook for many moons now.  What caught my eye, however, was this snippet at the concluding graf: