The progress of the Iraqi forces is especially clear when the recent anti-terrorist operations in Tal Afar are compared with last year's assault in Fallujah.

NPR: Bush Reaffirms Iraq Strategy

The Winograd commission, which probed the army's performance in painstaking detail, concluded that it fought most of the war as a series of routine anti-terrorist operations.

ECONOMIST: Fenced in | The

The FBI official confirmed the investigation was helped by the Canadian intelligence services, which have been involved in a number of high-profile anti-terrorist operations with US security authorities in recent months.

BBC: News Online

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was "deeply saddened" by the deaths and reiterated that no civilians should be killed or injured in anti-terrorist military operations.

CNN: NATO begins probe into deadly Afghan airstrike

Privately, they imply the Europeans are hypocrites: many of those now grousing about America's anti-terrorist policies have acquiesced in CIA operations on their territories.

ECONOMIST: So, what��s all the fuss?

Some Democrats are peeling back and saying, well, it's not quite that we would abandon the troops, but simply limit operations to anti-terrorist, supporting training of military and police, and the like.

NPR: Prosecutors, Pelosi Stay in Political News