Earlier this month, an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at President Bush during a news conference in Baghdad. Bush ducked, and the shoes, flung one at a time, sailed past his head.

“It was an assault. And that's what it is,” the first lady said in an interview that aired Sunday on “Fox News.”

“And the president laughed it off. He wasn't hurt. He's very quick. As you know, he's a natural athlete. And that's it. But on the other hand, it is an assault, and I think it should be treated that way,” she said.

During the incident, the shoe-thrower — identified as Muntadhar al-Zaidi – could be heard yelling in Arabic: "This is a farewell … you dog!" Al-Zaidi is an Iraqi journalist with Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network.

Hurling shoes at someone, or sitting so that the bottom of a shoe faces another person, is considered an insult among Muslims.

Asked if she thinks someone who attacks another person should be released, Bush said, “that’s going to be up to the Iraqis.”

“And they'll do whatever. But I know that if Saddam Hussein had been there, the man wouldn't have been released. And he probably wouldn't — you know, would have been executed.

“So it is — as bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves,” she said.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi goes on trial Wednesday (Dec. 31) on charges of assaulting a foreign leader. Conviction could mean a prison sentence of up to two years.

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft of a security pact that would allow American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years after their U.N. mandate expires Dec. 31, a senior aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday.

Also Saturday, 10 Iraqis died and 20 were wounded in a suicide car bombing in the northern city of Tal Afar, the U.S. military said. Tal Afar is near the volatile city of Mosul and has been the site of several recent bombings. The latest attack highlighted the continuing threat to security in Iraq despite a sharp drop in violence since last year.

The U.S. military also said an American Marine died from wounds suffered in a roadside bombing west of Baghdad. The blast occurred Friday in Anbar province, a former insurgent stronghold where security gains were made after a U.S.-funded Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq.

In Washington, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe described the final document on the security pact as beneficial to the allied nations.

"We think this is a good document that serves both Iraqis and Americans well. We remain hopeful that the Iraqi government will conclude this process soon," Johndroe said Saturday.

The al-Maliki aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the agreement stood "a good chance" of being passed by a two-thirds majority in the 37-member Cabinet.

(CNN) -- Bullets were pinging off our armor, all over our vehicle, and you could hear multiple RPGs being fired, soaring through the air every which way and impacting all around us. All sorts of crazy insane Hollywood explosions were going off. I've never felt fear like this. I was like, this is it, I'm going to die.

Army machine gunner Colby Buzzell posted unfiltered blog entries from Iraq about his combat experiences.

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When U.S. Army machine gunner Colby Buzzell began blogging about his combat experiences from a military base in Mosul, Iraq, he wasn't looking for attention or trouble. Buzzell just wanted a way to chronicle what he saw and did and felt during the Iraq war.

But his visceral, first-hand accounts were a bracing antidote to dry news reports and bloodless Pentagon news releases. In the first major war of the Internet age, Buzzell and other soldier bloggers in Iraq offered readers around the world unfiltered, real-time glimpses of an ongoing conflict.

"Here's a soldier in a combat zone ... writing about it and posting it on the Internet. I don't think that's ever been done in previous wars," Buzzell said.

"It just provides another perspective that no embedded journalist can ever do," said the veteran, now a freelance writer in San Francisco, California, and the author of "My War: Killing Time in Iraq." "An embedded journalist is just there observing. But a soldier writing about it -- you can't get more embedded than that

A suburban skateboarder with punk-rock sensibilities, Buzzell had no background in creative writing before he joined the Army in 2002. Inspired by a Marine buddy and burned out by a string of dead-end jobs, he signed up after a smooth-talking recruiter offered a signing bonus and sold him on the Army "like it was some [expletive] Club Med vacation."

When Buzzell arrived in Iraq in November 2003, he didn't know what a blog was. But after he read an article about a blogger in Time magazine in June 2004, he began posting anonymous journal entries on the Web under the nickname CBFTW (Colby Buzzell F--- The War).

"The only writing I knew how to do was ... like I was telling a story to the person next to me," he said. "I'd go to the Internet cafe [at the Army base], and my ears would still be ringing from whatever the experience [was] that day. There were times when I couldn't type fast enough."

Over the next six weeks, Buzzell wrote brutally frank, profanity-laced posts about the terror, tedium and misadventures of an infantryman's life in Iraq. At first, few people seemed to notice. But word spread, and before long he was getting hundreds of e-mails a day from readers.

Parents of troops in Iraq wrote to thank him for helping them understand their children's wartime perspective. One reader said they found Buzzell's blog more informative than the war coverage in The New York Times. Buzzell even heard from a sympathetic Iraqi in Baghdad who prayed for his safe return to America.

But almost nobody -- not even Buzzell's wife -- knew that he was the blogger.

Then came August 4, 2004. Mosul erupted in gunfire, and Buzzell's platoon survived an ambush by swarms of black-clad insurgents wielding rocket-propelled grenades. Buzzell witnessed his platoon sergeant survive a bullet through his helmet and narrowly missed being killed himself.

The next day, Buzzell went online and found a few brief news reports of the firefight that killed at least 22 Iraqi insurgents and civilians. In his mind, the stories didn't begin to capture what happened. So he wrote a long blog post, titled "Men in Black," about the ambush.

I observed a man, dressed all in black with a terrorist beard, jump out all of sudden from the side of a building, he pointed his AK-47 barrel right at my f------ pupils, I froze and then a split second later, I saw the fire from his muzzle flash leaving the end of his barrel and brass shell casings exiting the side of his AK as he was shooting directly at me. I heard and felt the bullets whiz literally inches from my head.

The "Men in Black" post attracted media attention, and Buzzell was flooded with e-mails and interview requests from around the world. Based on his descriptions of the Mosul attacks, his commanding officers soon figured out that he was the blog's author.

The Army confined Buzzell to the base and began monitoring his posts. Then, after he posted an anti-Iraq war rant by Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra, they ordered him to stop blogging.

Buzzell's Iraq blog lasted just 10 weeks, but it helped pave the way for others to follow. Today, according to the Army, thousands of active-duty soldiers write some form of online journal, often known as a military blog or "milblog."

Pentagon security policy forbids soldiers to publish sensitive information, such as unit locations or the timing of military operations, that might put troops in harm's way. But beyond that, soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are encouraged to blog about military life, said Army Public Affairs Spc. Lindy Kyzer.

"We're actually entering an era of transparency, where we need to have our soldiers talk. It does open up risks. Once you post something, you can't get it back. But we trust our soldiers with a lot," she said. "They are our best spokespersons. They know what the life of a soldier is like, and it's important to convey that to the American people."

Blogging also helps soldiers process traumatic combat experiences that can be hard for them to talk about, Kyzer said.

Since leaving Iraq, Buzzell collected his wartime blog posts and journal entries into "My War," which was published in 2005. Excerpts from his Iraq blog also appeared in the Oscar-nominated documentary "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience."

The war cost Buzzell his marriage and left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, a diagnosis that helped him avoid being redeployed to Iraq last spring. Now 32, he contributes regular features to Esquire magazine and hopes to write another book, the contents of which he's not ready to discuss.

Buzzell is no fan of the Iraq conflict, although he's heartened that active-duty soldiers are still reading "My War."

"The book is being passed around over there, which is kind of surreal," he said. "I do get e-mails from soldiers over there. Guys will say, 'Thanks for getting our story out,' or 'Things haven't really changed that much since you were here.'

"Looking back now, I don't think we had any business [in Iraq]," said Buzzell, who wants to see President-elect Barack Obama end the war. "Hopefully, he gets us out of Iraq in a way that's not a disaster or that gets a lot of soldiers killed."

Gen. David H. Petraeus has decided to reduce the number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from 15 to 14 about six weeks earlier than planned, as a result of dramatically lower violence there, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

The United Iraqi Alliance is also insisting that Iraq have a bigger role in determining whether U.S. soldiers accused of wrongdoing are subjected to prosecution in Iraqi courts.

If the conditions are not met, "I cannot see that this agreement will see the light," said Sami al-Askeri, a Shiite parliamentarian and political adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

It was not immediately clear if the U.S. would accept the conditions, which would make significant changes to the draft agreement produced in recent days. The bilateral accord is aimed at replacing a United Nations mandate that provides the legal authority for U.S. troops to be in Iraq. It expires on Dec. 31.

The Bush administration has resisted setting firm dates for the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq, saying it should be based on security conditions. U.S. authorities ultimately accepted a compromise in the agreement, which set a withdrawal date of the end of 2011 but provided for an extension by mutual agreement.

Askeri said the possibility of an extension raised concerns among members of the Shiite bloc, who met on Saturday night.

"Some people say, what's going on?" he said. "This article opens the door to the next government" of Iraq to lengthen the U.S. troops' stay, he said. Iraq holds national elections next year.

On the issue of legal jurisdiction, the draft accord says that U.S. forces can be subject to Iraqi law if they are accused of a major crime while outside their bases and off-duty. American troops rarely leave their bases when not on official missions, so it would appear that soldiers would rarely, if ever, be subject to Iraqi law.

Askeri said that lawmakers did not want U.S. military authorities to make the decision on when a soldier was considered off-duty. That determination should be made by a joint committee, and if they deadlocked, it should go to an Iraqi court, he said. The Pentagon insists on having sole legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops in most foreign countries.

The draft status of forces agreement was being discussed Sunday night by the Iraqi Political Council for National Security, an advisory body of senior executive, legislative and judicial officials. If the council gives it the green light, the accord is to be sent to the Cabinet and the Parliament for approval.

The concerns voiced by Shiite lawmakers are the first major hurdle in what many U.S. and Iraqi officials anticipate will be a contentious and drawn-out process.

"We continue to be in discussion with the Iraqis and the Iraqis continue to discuss this amongst themselves," said Susan Ziadeh, the spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. "That's to be expected. We'll see where these discussions lead."

Lawmakers aligned with Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr are the most vocal critics of an agreement that would extend the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq. They control 30 seats in the 275-seat Parliament, while the Shiite alliance has 85. Sadr leaders convened a large demonstration in Baghdad on Saturday during which thousands marched to express their opposition to the accord.

Kurdish lawmakers, who make up the second biggest block in parliament, support a deal. Leaders of Sunni blocs have not publicly expressed a strong opinion for or against the proposed agreement, saying they need time to examine the draft.

Discussions about contentious bills have stalled in Iraq's parliament for months amid bickering and deadlocks. Many lawmakers are likely to be particularly sensitive to the potential political ramifications of their stance on the agreement because it is expected to come up for a vote weeks before provincial elections.

BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 -- Iraq's political leaders on Friday began studying a draft agreement to extend the U.S. military presence here beyond 2008, but some lawmakers predicted the proposal would face a tough fight in parliament.

The accord was expected to face its first test Friday night, as President Jalal Talabani scheduled a meeting of the 23-member Political Council for National Security to discuss it. The advisory body includes political, legislative and judicial leaders.

If approved, the document would then be sent to the Cabinet, and then to parliament.

The U.S. government needs new legal authority to keep its approximately 155,000 troops in Iraq beyond Dec. 31, when a United Nations mandate expires. The new draft accord requires U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities by mid-2009, and to leave the country by the end of 2011.

The months-long negotiations over the pact had broken down over the sensitive issue of whether U.S. soldiers would be tried in Iraqi courts if they violate the law.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Friday that new compromise language in the agreement would permit the U.S. to maintain legal jurisdiction over its forces when they were on their bases or outside them on a mission.

If a soldier commits a crime outside a base while off-duty, a decision on jurisdiction "needs to be made jointly by a subcommittee," Zebari told the Post. But he indicated the U.S. would have the last word. "If the crime is very grave or serious, the U.S. may waive its jurisdiction," he said.

U.S. soldiers rarely leave their bases while off duty.

The U.S. Defense Department, which insists on jurisdiction over its forces stationed around the world, supports the compromise, according to Pentagon officials. But it was unclear whether it would satisfy Iraqi politicians, who have complained bitterly about what they view as abuses committed by U.S. troops and contractors since the 2003 invasion.

In Najaf, the religious capital of Iraq's Shiite majority, a leading cleric blasted the idea of giving U.S. forces immunity from Iraqi law.

"We consider this a basic point because it represents sovereignty," said Sadir Addin al-Qobanchi, in his sermon at Friday prayers at the city's grand mosque. "If someone commits a hostile act against your house and family and you say it is fine and don't hold him responsible, it means that you don't have dignity or sovereignty."

U.S. military and political officials have expressed concern that the agreement may not make it through Iraq's slow-moving political process by year's end. In that case, American forces would have no legal grounds to stay. U.S. officials have begun exploring other options, such as an extension of the U.N. mandate, but that could be politically and legally complicated.

No. 2 Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq Killed

BAGHDAD, Oct. 15 -- The U.S. military on Wednesday announced the death of a man it described as the No. 2 leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The military said it killed the leader known as Abu Qaswarah on Oct. 5 during an operation in the northern city of Mosul in which four other alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq members were slain.

Abu Qaswarah, who also used the alias Abu Sara, directed the group's operations in northern Iraq, where al-Qaeda in Iraq remains entrenched and has been blamed for recent large-scale attacks, the military said.

The Moroccan native was the deputy of al-Qaeda in Iraq's leader, known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, and he had "historic ties" to the group's founder, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in June 2006, the military said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. Masri is believed to be an Egyptian whose real name is Yusuf al-Dardiri.

"Abu Qaswarah is another example of how al-Qaeda in Iraq has been forced to rely on foreign terrorists to carry out their vicious attacks on the Iraqi people as well as coalition and Iraqi forces," said Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a U.S. military spokesman. "Terrorists who bring radical and fanatic Islam into Iraq commit murderous acts against the people of Iraq and have no place in the future of Iraq." 

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a largely homegrown group that U.S. officials say is led by non-Iraqi Arabs. The U.S. military and the Iraqi army have in recent months cracked down on the group in Baghdad and in Diyala and Anbar provinces. As the group lost members and support from the population in former strongholds, many of its leaders moved to Mosul, an ethnically mixed city that is Iraq's third largest.

The U.S. military said soldiers searching for Abu Qaswarah were shot at when they arrived at a building in Mosul that the insurgent group used as a command center. U.S. soldiers returned fire, killing five men, including Abu Qaswarah. The military said it did not disclose his death sooner because it was awaiting confirmation of his identity.

Describing Abu Qaswarah as a "charismatic" leader who rallied al-Qaeda in Iraq's northern network following major setbacks across the country, the military said he planned attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops in Mosul and oversaw a foiled attempt to destroy the Mosul Civic Center last month, an attack that could have killed hundreds of people during Ramadan.

The military also said Abu Qaswarah trained in Afghanistan and found ways to get foreign fighters into northern Iraq.

While violence in Iraq is at a four-year low, U.S. military officials say they remain deeply concerned about security in Mosul.

Hundreds of Christian families have fled their homes in Nineveh province, which includes Mosul, amid a wave of slayings targeting Christians in recent weeks.

Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said economic and political problems in Nineveh have worked to the advantage of insurgents. The predominantly Sunni Arab province is run by Kurds, because the Sunni Arabs boycotted the 2005 election. Many of the province's citizens are leery of the Iraqi army there, which is a largely Kurdish force. And the police forces in Mosul remain infiltrated by extremists, Odierno said.

"If the population feels they are not being supported by the provincial government and the provincial council, they may not want al-Qaeda there, but they will give them passive support," Odierno said.

Pressure on the group in Iraq has led its leaders to encourage followers to travel to Afghanistan, that country's defense minister told a news conference in Kabul Tuesday.

"The success of coalition forces in Iraq and also some other issues in some of the neighboring countries have made it possible that there is a major increase in the foreign fighters," Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak said. "They are well-trained, more sophisticated; their coordination is much better."