What Caught My Eye Today

Iraq - British soldiers began withdrawing from their final remaining base inside the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Around 550 soldiers stationed in Basra Palace were leaving the downtown site to join 5,000 other personnel at an air base camp on the fringes of the city — ending their permanent presence in Iraq's second largest city. The Iraqi military sent hundreds of reinforcements to the city to prevent Shiite militias and criminal gangs from expanding their influence now that the British have gone. With the British drawdown, U.S. and Iraqi authorities have expressed concern about the land supply line from Kuwait to Baghdad and beyond and security of the oil fields — until now under the eye of British troops. The withdrawal occurred in the midst of a power struggle between rival Shiite groups throughout southern Iraq, and some analysts fear violence will continue as the British continue to draw down their forces. Maybe the British decided that it wasn't their place to have troops interfere in what is basically an internal conflict. What a novel idea.

And in related news involving the UK and Iraq...

A second retired British general slammed the United States over its Iraq policy saying that it had been "fatally flawed. Maj. Gen. Tim Cross, the most senior British officer involved in the postwar planning, said he had raised serious concerns about the possibility of Iraq falling into chaos but said former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed the warnings. The comments come a day after the release of critical comments made by the general who led the British army during the Iraq invasion. Retired Gen. Sir Mike Jackson also singled out Rumsfeld for criticism, saying his approach to the invasion was "intellectually bankrupt." You have to hand it to the British for their way with words. I continue to be amazed that, nearly a year later, new stories continue to surface about the ineptitude in which Donald Rumsfeld handled this war.

Iran - Iran's president claimed that his country is now running 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium for its nuclear program, reaching an Iranian goal that could add momentum to efforts to impose new U.N. sanctions on Iran. The claim appeared at odds with a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Thursday that put the number much lower — at close to 2,000. The International Atomic Energy Agency said enrichment had slowed and Iran was cooperating with its nuclear probe, which could fend off calls for a third round of sanctions. Iran previously announced operating 3,000 centrifuges in April, but the IAEA said at the time that Iran had only 328 centrifuges going at its underground Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran. In its latest report, the IAEA put the number of centrifuges enriching uranium at close to 2,000 with another 650 being tested. Okay, is anyone besides me confused here. I thought that the U.N. sanctions and the IAEA were supposed to be curtailing Iran's nuclear program. If this is curtailment, I'd hate to see what Iran would be capable of doing with no supervision.

Hurricanes - After a late start, hurricane season is in full swing. Downpours and gusty wind from Hurricane Felix battered a cluster of Dutch Caribbean islands as the Category 3 storm headed toward Central America. With 125 mph winds, Felix is on track to skirt Honduras' northern coastline Tuesday and plow into Belize on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm. Felix became the second Atlantic hurricane of the season on Saturday evening, following Hurricane Dean, which left at least 20 dead in the Caribbean and carved out a destructive swath that stretched from St. Lucia to Mexico. Along the Pacific coast of Mexico, meanwhile, authorities discontinued storm warnings as Tropical Storm Henriette moved out to sea. Forecasters put it on a path that would not threaten land until Thursday, when it could hit a remote section of the Baja California peninsula.

Pope - Pope Benedict XVI urged hundreds of thousands of young Catholics on Sunday to take better care of the planet, saying the world's water supply needs to be preserved and shared to avoid conflicts. Benedict has been on something of a green campaign of late, lamenting just this past week the environmental impact of recent forest fires in Italy and Greece. An estimated 500,000 people turned out for Benedict's Mass, the ANSA news agency said, citing police. Most of them spent the night camped out on tarps and tents on the field down the hill from Loreto, Italy's most important shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The meeting was an Italian warm-up for next year's World Youth Day, in Sydney, Australia, which the 80-year-old pope plans to attend. Given the precarious state of the global climate, a little "divine intervention" couldn't hurt.

Pacific Rim - Senior officials from Pacific Rim nations began meetings in Sydney, Australia to prepare for a summit of regional leaders that will tackle trade and global warming. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum — with its focus on trade and a membership that includes powerhouses China, Japan and the United States — was founded in 1989 to promote trade and investment in the fast-growing region, has broadened its mission over the years to include security, political, health and environmental issues. President Bush is scheduled to hold a series of one-on-one meetings over subsequent days with Howard and other leaders, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. APEC members — which include the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters in the United States, China and Russia — are not expected to announce any specific targets to cut carbon emissions. On trade, APEC leaders are expected to issue their ritual call for the successful conclusion of the Doha talks, which have foundered amid bickering between rich and poor nations, largely over farm trade. They also will discuss a longer-term proposal to create a Pacific-wide free-trade zone, dubbed the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, stretching from Chile to China and enveloping nearly half the world's trade. I'm sure these guys have a pretty full agenda already, but do you think maybe, just maybe, they could spend a minute or two talking about ways to improve the manufacturing of consumer goods? I'm not pointing the finger at any particular country, I'm just saying.