Roguely Stated

A roundup of the day’s national and international security news: Negroponte pressures Maliki; Iraq’s Sunni insurgents offer Al Qaeda a truce; Turkish Premier and Kurds de-escalate; State Department lists new human traffickers; Bush not pick pocketed in Albania.

[NYT] Negroponte visited Baghdad to urge Prime Minister Maliki to make needed political reforms. Admiral Fallon made a similar statement on Sunday.

[CT Blog] There seems to have been an “unexpected truce offer tendered last week by the dominant Sunni insurgent group known as the Islamic Army of Iraq (IAI) to Al-Qaida’s so-called “Islamic State of Iraq” after weeks of bitter wrangling and internecine bloodshed.”

[NYT] Turkey’s premier opposed military action in Northern Iraq, rejecting the requests of the Turkish Army. [WaPo] The State Department “added seven countries, including four Arab allies, to its list of worst offenders in failing to suppress human trafficking and forced labor.”

[FP] After great debate, it appears that President Bush’s watch was not stolen during his warm welcome in Albania.