BAGHDAD -- The coming few weeks could prove crucial to the fate of a long term Iraq-U.S. security agreement. The deal has stalled for months amid differences between the sides, including real reluctance and outright opposition by some Iraqi officials to the continued presence of American forces in Iraq.

Since missing a July deadline to complete the deal, the Iraqis and Americans have been deadlocked over Iraq’s insistence that U.S. soldiers should not be exempt from Iraqi law. Western officials and Iraqis have also faulted the American side for a poor start to the negotiation process last spring, when its negotiators made demands now deemed way too high, including insisting on the right to conduct operations without Iraqi approval.

The return of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to the capital late last month could break the stalemate. Talabani, who left in August for the United States, where he had heart surgery, has met for the last two days with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. Today, the presidency council announced in a statement that Talabani, Maliki, Kurdistan regional President Massoud Barzani and vice presidents Tariq Hashimi and Adel Abdel Mahdi planned to hold talks on the agreement.

The failure to make headway has convinced some Iraqi officials familiar with the negotiations that Maliki and some other Shiite lawmakers are reluctant to sign an agreement in part because they fear it would damage their political prospects. U.S. officials have blamed Iran for meddling in the process.

Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr has also been a fierce opponent of a deal and has planned a demonstration for central Baghdad this Saturday to protest the five-year anniversary of the American presence in Iraq -- after postponing demonstrations last April.

One senior Iraqi official said the planned talks by the presidency council and Barzani could provide Maliki the political cover to put the agreement before parliament. The U.N. Security Council resolution that sanctions U.S. troops in Iraq expires on Dec. 31.

In other developments, Maliki told Iraq’s electoral commission today that he wanted provincial elections to be held by the end of the year, and vowed to provide the security to make it happen. An election law passed last month calls for the elections to be held by the end of January. The vote will determine who controls power in provinces and could bring new voices into government, after most Sunnis skipped the last local elections in January 2005. The  government had originally planned to hold the vote by October, but then the parliament could not agree on an election law before it adjourned for its summer break in August.

--Ned Parker in Baghdad

From a journalistic standpoint, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may become known as the time and place where documentary film making excelled as a way to tell of the service and sacrifice of U.S. military personnel and their families.

If so, special praise will be bestowed on filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill for bringing the wars not just into the living rooms of Americans but into their hearts as well.

First came their "Baghdad ER" which showed the frantic efforts of medical personnel to save wounded Americans. Then, teamed with James Gandolfini (star of "The Sopranos") their "Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq" presented U.S. personnel who talked of their injuries, their survival and their determination to regard each day as a gift.

And now the latest effort by Alpert and O'Neill brings us the grieving and heroism of family members of military personnel.

Set for broadcast Monday by HBO, "Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery" is an emotionally powerful look at the families who visit that part of the famed cemetery where those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest.

The vignettes are wrenching: the family that brings Christmas ornaments to their loved one's grave, the father who says he'd give anything for one more hour of conversation with his son, the family members who talk to the headstones. Read a full review of "Section 60" here.

— Tony Perry, San Diego

Photo: Jessica Gray, with daughter Ava, visit the grave of her husband, Army Staff Sgt. Yance Gray, killed in a vehicle rollover in Baghdad in 2007. Credit: HBO.

New violence this week against Christians in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul has sparked an outcry from the country's religious minority. In the last week, officials said, Christian families have fled the city after coming under attack from Sunni militants.

Christians have been targeted in the city along with other sects and ethnic groups since 2003. An estimated 933 Christian families have fled Mosul in the last week, said Jawdat Ismail, director of the ministry of displacement and migration in Nineveh province.

Nineveh, whose capital is Mosul, has been a front line in the simmering conflict between Kurds and Arabs over northern Iraq’s future boundaries. The tensions have fueled violence that has targeted Christians, along with other ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Shabaks and Yazidis. Sunni Arabs have also been targeted.

Meeting with Christian politicians Sunday, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki promised the embattled community protection. Additional army and national police units were being stationed in Mosul, government spokesman Ali Dabagh said in a statement. At times, Christian leaders have blamed both Sunni Arabs and Kurds for the bloodshed.

Mosul was rocked by a car bomb Sunday that targeted a passing U.S. military convoy. The blast killed five Iraqis, a police official said. Another car bomb exploded 15 miles west of the city, killing two policemen, the officer added.

The violence against Christians coincides with a debate in Baghdad over whether minority groups should be guaranteed seats in provincial councils. An election law that was passed in late September failed to reserve for them any positions on the local bodies. Elections are expected to be held before the end of January.

-- Ned Parker in Baghdad

In 2006, the only Iraq veteran elected to the U.S. Congress was Patrick Murphy, a Democrat, who served as an Army lawyer with the 82nd Airborne Division. He narrowly defeated a one-term incumbent in Pennsylvania.

None of the other Iraq veterans who ran that season were successful. Several more are trying again this year.

In one region, California's 52nd Congressional District in eastern San Diego County, it's virtually assured the winner will be a veteran of the war in Iraq.

The Republican candidate is Duncan D. Hunter, 31, a captain in the Marine reserves; the Democrat is Mike Lumpkin, 43, recently retired as a Navy SEAL commander. Both have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: Capt. Patrick Murphy, now Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.)

While a credit crunch has begun to strangle commerce in the rest of the world, the cash-rich elite of the Persian Gulf seem not to have lost their appetite for high profile deal-making.

We published an extensive report earlier this week about how Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds continue flexing their economic muscles by grabbing up chunks in companies, grabbing properties and taking over sports teams even as the rest of the world's financial titans have been reduced to pint-sized weaklings by a crisis in the real estate, capital and lending markets.

Today comes word that Zabeel Investments of Dubai is pushing to purchase England's struggling Charlton soccer club.

According to news reports, the Dubai investment firm has already made a cash offer, which the team's current owners are considering.

The boy with the plastic AK-47 stood in the dust. He waited for others; they came, more boys with fake guns.

They scurried, ran around barbed wire and blast walls, shooting imaginary bullets, pretending to die. Their make-believe war was folded into a real one, and their laughter, echoing amid U.S. and Iraqi soldiers with real guns and metal bullets, was strange and paradoxical.

The streets are safer in Baghdad these days. That’s why the boys were out playing. But they were playing with guns, plastic, shiny guns in the sunlight.   

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When Marine Lance Cpl. James Swain was killed during the battle for Fallouja in late 2004, his brother decided to honor him by joining the Navy and becoming a corpsman.

Benjamin Swain, a Navy petty officer third-class, is now deployed near Fallouja with the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment.

And recently an officer who knew James took Benjamin Swain to the spot where his brother was mortally wounded.

"Being there and just being able to see the places where he spent his last hours meant being able to connect with him in some way," Swain told the American Forces Press Service.

His brother would be pleased at how Fallouja has changed, Swain said. "He would probably joke and say something like 'it's safe around here because of me.' "

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: Navy Corpsman Benjamin Swain (left) and Maj. Jeffrey McCormack visit the spot in Fallouja where Lance Cpl. James Swain was shot. Credit: Lance Cpl. Casey Jones

Israeli police remained on high alert Friday evening in the northern coastal city of Acre after a third day of clashes between Arab and Jewish residents.

Tensions between the two sides boiled over Wednesday night during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, when most of Israel shuts down to all vehicle traffic and even secular Jews avoid driving to keep from offending the more devout.

The clashes began when an Arab resident of the mixed city was accosted by Jewish youths after driving into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. According to local media reports, neighborhood residents claim Tawfik Jamal provoked them by blaring his car stereo -- a charge Jamal denies.

"I knew it was Yom Kippur; we have been living amongst Jews for many years, so I thought I'd drive slowly without turning on the radio,” said Jamal, who added that he was coming to pick up his daughter from a friend's home.

A separatist Kurdish leader sounded defiant this week after Turkey's parliament authorized more attacks against his group in northern Iraq. "We are ready and our forces are ready. We are not afraid of them. If they want to attack Iraq's Kurdistan, then the Middle East will turn into a fire ball,” Bozan Takeen, a senior leader from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), warned on Thursday by phone from his hideout in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Takeen, who is based in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Qandil mountains, which border Turkey and Iran, was speaking after Turkey’s parliament on Wednesday extended for one more year Ankara’s right to carry out military raids against the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Here's a few spare photos from several hours spent riding my bicycle around Jerusalem on Yom Kippur.

The annual holy day completely transforms the country. All stores shut down, and vehicle traffic is banned in most places.

But in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem, it was business as usual.

Stores remained open, and cars moved around normally.

For weeks, Lebanese politicians have been warning that thousands of Syrian troops have amassed on the border of the two countries, perched to possibly invade northern Lebanon.

But a Syrian source close to the government on Wednesday disputed that claim, saying that there were only a few hundred troops deployed to the region, and their purpose was solely to interdict smuggling.

The source, who is close to the government and spoke to the Los Angeles Times, said the reinforcements have "no other intention" than controlling the border.

He described the Lebanese media reports that Syria had deployed "10,000 soldiers" as "strange and exaggerated."

The reports triggered concerns about a possible escalation of tensions between the two countries, especially after bombings in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli and the Syrian capital Damascus that left 24 people dead. Syrians hinted that Islamist groups based in Lebanon could have been behind the attacks.

This is the story of a high-ranking Iraqi police officer who was recently shot seven times outside his home in the Hurriya neighborhood of Baghdad.

He was saved by American soldiers and doctors. Because of danger to his family, the officer asked to be identified only as Sajad. These are his words:

"My wife went to see who was knocking at the door. She does that as a precaution because there might be a bad guy there. Our neighborhood is not completely safe. There are  bad elements who might wish to hurt a senior police officer.

" 'Who’s there?' my wife asked.

" 'Me,' came the reply.

"It was a boy who answered her. She knew him from his voice, she had talked to him before, so she felt safe. She opened the door and she saw a 16-year-old boy standing there. He asked to talk to her husband, and she said, 'He is breaking his fast, come another time.'

"The boy insisted. I went to the door. My 6-year-old daughter was with me; she was following me. When I went outside the house, more than five young men came from two sides holding pistols.

Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, begins this evening. The holiest day of the Jewish calendar is time for reflection, seeking forgiveness for sins against god and no less important, fellow man.

Most will fast and spend the day in synagogues in prayer, while others will do their soul-searching in their own way. 63% Jewish Israelis will fast on the day that is becoming one of the last communal, consensual elements of Israeli Judaism for many who do not practice other aspects of religion in daily life.

Beyond the religious importance, there is a national dimension to Yom Kippur too. It will forever be the anniversary of war that that caught Israel by surprise and most Israelis in the synagogues in 1973.

Since then, the holy day has taken on an additional meaning, making concepts of accountability and betterment meaningful to Israelis on a collective, national level.

The thick newspapers -- that help millions get through the fast lasting more than 24 hours -- offer interesting stories on the war every year.

More on the previous post on the falafel wars:

Old traditions are going new age everywhere, and nations, regions or just traditional craftsmen are scrambling to copyright their culture and cuisine. Parmigiano Reggiano is a legally patented trademark, champagne must come from Champagne itself and only Greece can market Feta cheese under that name.

The European Union law for protecting regional food names has an elaborate mechanism that classifies products as PDO (protected designation of origin), PGI (protected geographical indication) and TSG (traditional specialty guaranteed). Dozens of producers submit requests for protecting their intellectual property rights every year, from the native Shetland organic wool to Cornish sardines that are currently under review.

Israel has a love-hate relationship with Arab countries. The hate part is self-explanatory. The love part involves the food.

It sounds like satire, a tall tale meant to illustrate the downright pettiness of the Middle East's ongoing rivalries and resentments.

But apparently, it's totally serious.

According to a report by the Deutsche Presse Agentur, Germany's news agency, a Lebanese trade union is planning to sue Israel for claiming that the Jewish state has propriety over traditional Arab cuisine such as falafel, tabbouleh and hummus, which Lebanese consider their own.

The president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, Fady Abboud, has apparently said he's preparing a lawsuit in international courts against Israel for "taking the identity of some Lebanese" meals, according to the report, which was picked up by the Israeli media, including Haaretz:

"In a way the Jewish state is trying to claim ownership of traditional Lebanese delicacies such as falafel, tabbouleh and hummus [costing Lebanese] tens of millions of dollars annually. ... The Israelis are marketing our main food dishes as if they were Israeli dishes."

He said his union is trying to register Lebanese foods and ingredients with the government in Beirut "so it can appeal to the international courts against Israel," Abboud said.

Viewers of one of Israel's nightly news programs were treated to an interesting sight Sunday evening.

There was comedian Sarah Silverman, in her full R-rated glory, announcing "If Barack Obama doesn't become the next president of the United States, I'm going to blame the Jews."

Silverman's Internet video appeals to leery Jewish voters to rally behind Obama. It also calls for young American Jews to perform "The Great Schlep" to Florida to encourage (with blackmail if necessary)  their grandparents to do the same.

Right-wing Jewish groups quickly fired launched a counter-campaign in the form of venerable comedian Jackie Mason. Within a day, the Republican Jewish Coalition posted a video of Mason pronouncing Silverman "a sick yenta" and encouraging Jewish voters to ignore her and vote their conscience.

This intra-Jewish back and forth has naturally drawn lots of attention in Israel, which in addition to being heavily invested in U.S. foreign policy is also home to an estimated 150,000 American citizens.

With anxiety over Iranian nuclear ambitions a daily issue here, McCain might expect to appeal to many of those voters with his tougher stance on negotiations with Tehran.

But the Jews for Obama campaign also has a few roots in Israel. Two weeks ago, a group called Israelis for Obama posted their own YouTube video. Now a new video is making the rounds from the pro-Obama Jewish Council for Education and Research -- the same group that's sponsoring The Great Schlep campaign.

According to Haaretz newspaper, the ad will feature comments by several Israeli politicians and former security officials. However, the newspaper also reports that two of those officials have objected that their comments were taken out of context and said they didn't know they were being filmed for a pro-Obama ad. 

— Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem

Obama and McCain photos courtesy of U.S. Congress

Silverman photo courtesy of Normal Bob Smith via Wikimedia Commons

Pressure from the Marine Corps and a U.S. senator has overcome bureaucratic opposition in the State Department to allowing the Japanese widow of a Marine killed in Iraq to enter the U.S. to have their baby, the Marine Corps Times reported Monday.

Hotaru Nakama Ferschke, 25, the widow of Sgt. Michael Ferschke Jr., was initially denied a visa because the couple had been married less than two years, the newspaper reported. Ferschke was killed Aug. 18 as Marines stormed an insurgent hide-out.

The couple had married, by proxy, after he deployed to Iraq with the Okinawa-based 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion.

Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq rarely agree on the exact sighting of the crescent moon that marks the beginning of Eid.

But this year even Shiites couldn’t agree among themselves on the start of the three-day holy feast that ends the fasting month of Ramadan.

In many Shiite families, some broke their fasts, others did not, making for strained and confused households.

For years, the Eid was set by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and other religious leaders who preside over the shrine at Najaf.

But these days, the Shiites who follow the guidance of other religious leaders celebrated the feast a day earlier than Sistani. They marked it on Wednesday, and Sistani followers on Thursday.

Shiites have become quite stubborn about the question. At least one man chased his wife through the house, trying to make her break her fast. She refused for an hour, then relented. She was angry at him for the rest of the day.

Marines are returning to Camp Pendleton as major responsibility for the U.S. mission in Anbar province shifts to Marine units from other bases. The process will take several months.

On Saturday night, 170-plus Marines and sailors from the 1st Intelligence Battalion, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force returned after a seven-month deployment to Fallouja and other farflung outposts in the sprawling province.

The troops came home to a joyous welcome from family members. It was a night for good news: the troops are confident that the U.S. is winning the war. And more importantly, the battalion did not have a single fatality or serious injury.

By Saif Rasheed in Baghdad

As a tradition during the feast of Eid, my family used to visit the homes of relatives and relax amid the wide gardens at the social Hunting Club in Baghdad's Mansour district.

Then came the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and many of my relatives fled the country.

These days, with fewer family members to visit, we find ourselves spending more time at the Hunting Club. It is protected from gunfire, serves alcohol and steers conversations away from sectarian politics. 

The Hunting Club is different from what it was just a year or two ago. Security is better in Iraq.

Talk about provocative.

Not only did Venezuela's foreign minister reiterate today that Russia and his nation would conduct joint war games in Caribbean waters just a few hundred miles from America's shores later this year, he also chose an interesting venue to emphasize the news, just as Russian ships entered the Atlantic Ocean: the Islamic Republic of Iran, where he was hobnobbing with top Iranian officials.

At a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki today, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro told reporters that in November and December 2008, a contingent of the Russian fleet will come to Venezuelan waters to conduct war exercises.

He also said that Iran and Venezuela were tightening bilateral relations "on a daily basis" in order to become role models for other developing countries (and, presumably, any country with an ax to grind against the U.S.).

An intriguing morsel about the mysterious leader of a ferocious militant group has been floating around the Lebanese and Syrian media this weekend.

According to a report in the Arab-language Syrian newspaper Al Liwaa, Syrian officials captured the leader of the Al Qaeda-linked militant group Fatah al Islam two months ago in Syria.

The report, summarized in English here, says that Shaker Abssi, a former Libyan air force pilot turned radical Islamist, was captured in the poor Meliha district of southern Damascus and hauled off to prison.

Of Palestinian descent, Abssi, now about 53 years old, has led a storied life.

A panel of experts assembled by Israel's most powerful television channel honored Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan as the nation's "man of the year" for, among other things, killing Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah in the Syrian capital in February, according to a recent report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Up until now, Israel has publicly refused to acknowledge any role in the car bomb blast that killed Mughniyah, who was suspected of masterminding attacks on Israeli targets around the world and was believed to have been the brains behind the Hezbollah militia's surprise performance in the 2006 war with Israel.

Many in Syria and Lebanon suspect the Jewish state's security services had a hand in the assassination.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a kind of building boom as the Fisher House Foundation and its financial partners build facilities across the country to accommodate families of wounded military personnel who are undergoing medical treatment.

In 2006, the foundation opened a house (above) near the Veterans Affairs Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto. In a few weeks a Fisher House will open in Dallas, and a few months later one will open adjacent to the VA hospital in West Los Angeles.

Projects for 2008, according to the foundation's website, www.fisherhouse.org, include houses in West Roxbury, Mass.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Elgin Air Force Base, Fla.; and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Begun in 1991, the foundation's goal is to provide free accommodations for family members as military personnel receive medical treatment.

On Friday, military personnel and foundation officials gathered at the Naval Medical Center San Diego for the grand opening of the 41st Fisher House, the second at the medical center. The Navy will provide maintenance and management of the 8,000-square-foot, 12-suite house.

New Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni continues to shuttle back and forth among her fellow Israeli politicians seeking to build a governing coalition and assume the mantle of Prime Minister.

On Wednesday night, she met once again with Labor Party chief Ehud Barak.

Livni has about a month left to to pull things together, and negotiations have proceeded at a leisurely pace so far thanks to the interruption of a spate of Jewish Holidays; Rosh Hashana just ended and Yom Kippur comes next week.

Now you can put yourself in Livni's shoes, thanks to the build-your-own coalition game  on the website of  Israel's Haaretz daily newspaper.