Ralph Nader today called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq within six months. He has a three part plan:

He said he would create an international peacekeeping force under United Nations auspices, promote Iraqi self-rule through independent elections and provide humanitarian aid to stabilize the country....."The key is this," Nader told reporters: "How do you separate the mainstream Iraqis from the insurgents when the mainstream Iraqis now are increasingly opposed to our presence there and increasingly, quietly or otherwise, supporting the insurgents? "The way you do it is you declare you are getting out."

The longtime consumer advocate said that the international peacekeeping force he advocated would be drawn from neutral nations and from Islamic countries. Nader said the election process should be carried out at the same time as the six-month withdrawal and done under international supervision.

In other Iraq news, the BBC is reporting Honduras has announced it will withdraw its troops from Iraq. Reuters report on Honduras is here. And two U.S. soldiers have left their units and are seeking asylum in Canada.

EditorandPublisher.com has announced that an important memo on Iraq will be released Tuesday:

In an unusual move for the organization, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) will release what it promises will be a bombshell article related to the Iraq conflict at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday. ....The 3,000-word story, embargoed until Tuesday but obtained by E&P today, is based on a "closely held" memo purportedly written by a U.S. government official detailed to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). It was provided to writer Jason Vest by "a Western intelligence official." The memo offers a candid assessment of Iraq's bleak future -- as a country trapped in corruption and dysfunction -- and portrays a CPA cut off from the Iraqi people after a "year's worth of serious errors." The article is titled, "Fables of Reconstruction," with a subhed, "A Coalition memo reveals that even true believers see the seeds of civil war in the occupation of Iraq."

Spain's new Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has announced the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq--as soon as possible:

A day after he was sworn in, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he did not believe the United Nations would assume responsibility for Iraq after the U.S.-led occupation formally ends June 30 -- his criterion for allowing the troops to stay. "More than anything, this decision reflects my desire to keep the promise I made to the Spanish people more than a year ago," said Zapatero, whose Socialist party came to power after general elections on March 14. "Driven by the deepest democratic convictions, the government does not want to, cannot and will not act against or behind the backs of the will of the Spanish people."

The number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq in April now stands at 99.

Ten U.S. troops were killed on Saturday in combat across Iraq - including five U.S. Marines killed in pitched battles near the Syrian border - and an eleventh soldier died in a tank rollover, the military said. The deaths brought to 99 the number of U.S. troops killed in violence since April 1.

Steve Gilliard says we're losing to the guerillas. Is he right?

Make no mistake, none. This has been a month of defeats for the US. We had to stop outside Fallujah, stop outside Najaf and now face a blockade of Baghdad. We are actively losing this war and that will be clear as time goes on.

by TChris

The heat on Donald Rumsfeld would make a less self-righteous man sweat. It's embarassing to be publicly criticized by another Republican, but Rummy can dismiss John McCain's complaints on the ground that McCain is a maverick politician. Besides, McCain is careful to express "enormous admiration" for Rumsfeld even as he complains that Rummy underestimated the number of ground troops needed to restore and maintain order in Iraq.

Rumsfeld should find criticism less easy to dismiss when it comes from a man who spent 39 years in the military: retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, the former commander of the U.S. Central Command.

Zinni wondered aloud yesterday how Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could be caught off guard by the chaos in Iraq that has killed nearly 100 Americans in recent weeks and led to his announcement that 20,000 U.S. troops would be staying there instead of returning home as planned.

Zinni says he's warned decision-makers for years that Iraq would become more dangerous to American interests without Saddam Hussein. He thinks "heads should roll over Iraq." As entertaining as the sight of a headless Rummy might be, this administration refuses to make accountability a part of the game plan, and never admits it erred.

Good news! The three Japanese hostages have been released.

The Arab tv network Al Jazeera broadcast a report Wednesday that it has a video showing the killing of one of four Italian hostages being held by militants in Iraq.

Al-Jazeera told The Associated Press that the footage shows the four sitting on the ground, holding up their passports and surrounded by armed men. The satellite station said the tape showed the death of one of the hostages, but did not broadcast it to "protect the audience's feelings." ...The tape was accompanied by a statement, from a previously unknown group called the Green Battalion, which threatened to "kill the three remaining Italian hostages one after the other, if their demands are not met."

Al Jazeera's report is here.

The Guardian reports that the U.S. has dropped its demand for the turnover of those responsible for the death and mutilation of the four Americans that sparked the "onslaught." The source of the news is Mohammed Ubayd al-Kubaisi, the dean of Islamic studies at Baghdad University and the vice-president of the Association of Muslim Scholars. He was among a group of five who met with local leaders in Fallujah this past weekend.

Their mission had the approval of the US authorities, who declared a ceasefire at the weekend and allowed the convoy of negotiators through their checkpoints....Professor Kubaisi said local leaders were demanding an American withdrawal from all the roads into town, the restoration of basic services including water and electricity, and the repair of the main hospital which the marines occupied. In return, local Iraqi police would handle security.

The Guardian also quotes a U.S. official's statement yesterday:

What did you all think of President Bush's press conference tonight? Did he win any of you over? Here's an open thread to discuss it.

Update: David Sirota, writer for The Progress Report at the Center for American Progress, posts claims vs. facts of the press conference over at his personal blog.

Update: John Kerry posted this response over at his weblog:

“Tonight, the President had the opportunity to tell the American people what steps he was going to take to stabilize the situation in Iraq. Unfortunately, he offered no specific plan whatsoever. Rather, the President made it clear that he intends to stubbornly cling to the same policy that has led to a greater risk to American troops and a steadily higher cost to the American taxpayer.

Very, very sad. NBC is reporting the bodies of four American contractors have been found in a shallow grave on the road between Abu Ghraib and Fallujah--and that the bodies were badly mutilated.

Sean Paul at the Agonist reports the Fallujah truce has been broken:

Al Jazeera: Occupation forces in Iraq have used F16 fighter planes to bomb the Nizal neighbourhood in Falluja, Aljazeera TV's correspondent has reported.

U.S. forces broke the truce in Al Fallujah on April 13, bombing several city quarters with F-16s, Al Jazeera TV reports. According to the report, fighting on the ground resumed along with the bombing and artillery and tank fire were heard across the city. Insurgents reportedly have destroyed two U.S. armored vehicles in the renewed violence.

From Rahul Mahajan at Empire Notes today:

At 3:30 am on Sunday morning, 100 American troops raided the mosque. They were looking for weapons and mujaheddin. They started the raid the way they virtually always do -- by smashing in the gates with tanks and then driving Hummer in. The Hummers ran over and destroyed some of the stored relief goods (the bulk of the goods had already been sent to Fallujah -- over 200 tons -- but the amount remaining was considerable). More was destroyed as soldiers ripped apart sacks looking for rifles. Rashid estimated maybe three
tons of supplies were destroyed. We saw for ourselves some of the remains,
sacks of beans ripped apart and strewn around.