AP: Hundreds of Iraqi tribal chiefs gave important support Saturday to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's national reconciliation plan, while the government leader called the release of a leading Sunni Arab lawmaker by kidnappers a gift to his unity campaign. Al-Maliki won endorsement of his program for bridging religious, ethnic and political divisions at a national conference of tribal chiefs. A representative of the chiefs read their agreement on live television, calling it a "pact of honor."

Reuters: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged hundreds of tribal leaders gathered in Baghdad on Saturday to unite to end the bitter sectarian bloodshed between Sunnis and Shi'ites that has raised fears of civil war. "Iraq needs all of its sons during this stage. There is no difference between Sunnis and Shi'ites," he told the meeting, the first in a series to promote dialogue between the warring sects as part of his national reconciliation programme. "Yes, we differ in opinion and that's a healthy sign but we must hold dialogue to solve our problems," Maliki said. "The liberation of the nation from any foreign hand cannot be without national unity, the unity that our forefathers built during hundreds of years." [...]

Reuters: Iraq has joined forces with the United Nations and the World Bank to tackle corruption and to boost economic development. [...]

Reuters: Iraq is expected to start talks with major [oil] companies in two months to develop its oilfields and some are eager to begin work even before a hydrocarbon law is in place, its oil minister said on Wednesday. [...]

Zaman Daily News (Turkey): Positive developments have begun to occur after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced harsh reactions to the US and Iraqi administrations regarding their stance over the outlawed terrorist organization, Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said they were serious about the fight against the terror organization and would “immediately” shut down the PKK’s bureau in Bagdat (Baghdad). [...]

Reuters: Iraq's central bank offers a beacon of stability in a country on the brink of civil war, but the governor is still forced to use safe houses for meetings with guests too scared to visit his headquarters downtown.

Washington Post op-ed: Do or Die Against Iraq's Death Squads

Reuters: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday his country will not slide into civil war but acknowledged that mounting sectarian violence is now killing 100 civilians a day.

Iraq status report

Via The Belmont Club, the full transcript of ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad's Iraq status report.

Financial Times (UK): Iraq's national reconciliation initiative has paved the way for government contacts with insurgents and should be seen as only a first step towards a political solution to the conflict, according to Iraq's vice-president. Adel Abdel-Mehdi, senior Shia official and vice-president in the new government, told the Financial Times that other measures would follow the plan unveiled last Sunday and deemed by many analysts to be vague and incomplete. In an interview during a visit to London, Mr Abdel-Mehdi said contacts with insurgents had been going on for some time but the reconciliation plan had now made dialogue an official policy. He also left the door open to a broadening of an am-nesty offer after Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, this week insisted it would exclude anyone who had killed American troops or Iraqis. [...]

AP: Analysis: Iraq PM Challenged by Insurgency

IranMania: According to an AFP report, Iran will next month host a conference on security in Iraq gathering representatives from Iraq's neighbours, Egypt, the Arab League and Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.

AP: A top government official said Friday that Iraq has an agreement to take over security responsibilities from foreign forces in southern Iraq this month. Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie was responding to a Japanese news report that British, Australian and Japanese troops will transfer security responsibilities in southern Iraq to Iraqi authorities next week, and soon withdraw from the area. "There is an agreement to take over the security responsibilities from the British, Australian and Japanese forces in southern Iraq during this month," al-Zubaie said. "There is such a plan and such news is not based on nothing. We hope that the Iraqi security forces will live up to their duties there. It is the dream of all Iraqis that our forces will handle security issues all over Iraq." The Kyodo News agency, citing people close to the coalition forces, reported that British officials told their counterparts in the other two countries last week that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will announce the transfer of security authority in southern Iraq on Tuesday. Officials in the Iraqi prime minister's media office said they could not confirm or deny the report. [...]

A similar story to the AP one (just posted) is currently on the CNN front page: PM: Iraqi troops battle ready in 2007.

AP update: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Wednesday he believed Iraqi forces were capable of taking over security around the country within 18 months, but he did not mention a timetable for U.S.-led coalition forces to leave. [...] "Our forces are capable of taking over the security in all Iraqi provinces within a year-and-a-half," al-Maliki said in a written statement, in which he acknowledged that security forces needed more recruits, training and equipment. His comments came as Sunni Arab and Shiite political leaders expressed hope that compromise candidates would be found to head the defense and interior ministries by Saturday. [...]