This news from Iraq: A truck bomb blast has killed at least four people and injured 20 in the northern Kurdish city of Erbil. In Baghdad, U.S. helicopter gunships backed an artillery bombardment, as troops raided homes and arrested a Sunni sheik said to be close to former Vice President Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri.

Meanwhile, the Boston Globe is reporting that the U.S. may not be able to reduce the number of troops in Iraq from 130,000 to 100,000 as planned next year. In a 16-page report obtained by the Globe the White House cited “the necessity of the full accomplishment of our goals [in Iraq.]”