In the classic American movie “His Girl Friday” starring Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant much of the action is in the press room of a prison in the hours before an execution. We see the newspapermen (and the lone woman played by Rosalind Russell) call in stories to their rewrite people – stories that the newspapermen have totally fabricated, having neither ventured from the comfort of the press room nor interviewed anyone in authority.

It has been an agonising slow realisation, but at least the first signs appear to be emerging of a desperately much-needed shift in the West’s strategy to combat the spectre of terrorism that has paid such a heavy toll on community and international relations in recent years.

The U.S. Defense Department says top military officials have briefed President-elect Barack Obama's national security team on plans to withdraw thousands of troops from Iraq next year. Mr. Obama has said he wants U.S. forces to leave Iraq within 16 months. Military officials did not say whether the Pentagon's plans match Mr. Obama's.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki say British forces will have "completed their tasks" in Iraq during the first half of 2009 and will leave at that time.

The shoes of the 29-year-old correspondent of the Iraqi Al-Baghdadia TV channel, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, now cost a fortune of 10 million dollars. The incident with the shoes thrown at US President George W. Bush during his press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister in Baghdad continues to develop. Bush could avoid the shoes, but not the development of the aftermath.

The brother of the journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George Bush is saying that the reporter was beaten by Iraqi security forces who took him into custody.

David letterman said Bush hasn't dodged anything like that since the Vietnam war while Jay Leno joked how Bush did something he's never done before when avoiding the shoe, he leaned to the left.

At least a handful of New Yorkers have spontaneously begun to copy the actions of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush as an insult by throwing old pairs of their own shoes up into neighborhood trees and telephone poles in a way that their soles are plainly visible to passersby.

What fun! As Bush's presidency winds down, it appears some have decided they'd better let him know just what they think of him before they lose their chance. In this case, with a pair of shoes.

The risk of depression is greater among Iraqi soldiers who took part in the Gulf War than among civilians. Surprisingly, on the other hand, neither of these groups showed any signs of post-traumatic stress ten years after that war-­with the exception of those Iraqis who have left Iraq.

Historian Andrew Bacevich is scheduled to appear on Bill Moyers' Journal tonight. This one is very likely to be worth watching, either on TV or the Webcast.

Presumed U.S. Republican presidential nominee John McCain says it is, in his words, "not too important" when U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq - a statement that Democrats immediately criticized.