I’m off to London. I really want to check in with some friends who know some stuff about this so-called “Bush Bombing Memo“. But I’m meeting a variety of people this next week. I have a flurry of posts I’ll be preparing on the plane — so be sure to check in Sunday morning.

We don’t have an accurate count of Iraq’s casualties because Marla Ruzicka — who was trying to get some transparency about the impact of this war on Iraqi people and families — was herself killed near Baghdad. We do know that Iraq’s casualties are in the many tens of thousands.

Barbara Bush is allegedly TICKED off at Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Andy Card, nearly all of them — except Karen Hughes — for how her boy is faring in the hearts and minds of Americans.

We must not leave. So says Joe Lieberman in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. It reads as if he is positioning himself to run for VP again with John McCain at the head of the ticket. Get Out of Iraq If We Want Stability in the Middle East.

The smartest guy I know in the nation-building business sent me the note that follows. It addresses my earlier post about the $1.

The U.S. government is offering $1 billion over two years to help “strategically stabilize” 10 cities in Iraq. A TWN reader involved with several important institution-building efforts in Iraq sent this to me last night.

The Guardian Newspaper has run an oped style query titled “Why Do You Want to Bomb Me, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair?” by Al-Jazeera Managing Director Wadah Kanfar today, and it’s very interesting, particularly because it reminds us that Al-Jazeera was thought of very differently before 9/11. One point of headline confusion though.

President Bush will no doubt be talking about this new National Strategy for Victory in Iraq Report. I am reading it now but wanted to get it out quickly to TWN readers. More later.

TWN has just secured a copy of a letter from Al-Jazeera Managing Director Wadah Khanfar to Prime Minister Tony Blair about the secret memo which allegedly outlines President Bush’s intent to bomb Al-Jazeera‘s headquarters and Blair’s efforts to dissuade him.

For those of you in Washington, feel free to stop by at 4 p.m. for a program on Sino-Japanese Relations at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, organized by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Charles Kupchan will be moderating a session featuring University of Tokyo Professor Akio Takahara.