Summary: In a New York Times op-ed column, New York University journalism professor Charles Seife offers an interesting resolution to the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota between incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken: cast a lot to determine the winner by chance. … Iraq’s third-largest city, Mosul, faces economic and political problems that could unravel even if the military campaign succeeds.

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Summary: Defense Secretary Robert Gates signaled a willingness to forge ahead with two key priorities for the incoming Obama administration: accelerating the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention center. … President-elect Barack Obama’s national security team will include two veteran cold warriors — former NATO commander Gen. James L. Jones as national security adviser and Robert M. Gates as defense secretary — and a political rival — Hillary Clinton as secretary of state — whose records are all more hawkish than that of the new president.

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Summary: President George W. Bush says the biggest regret of his presidency was flawed intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, telling ABC World News in an interview airing December 1, 2008 that he was unprepared for war when he took office. … December 2008 update of key facts, figures, and statistics on Iraq since the war began in March 2003. … Security developments in Iraq on December 1, 2008, as reported by Reuters.

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Summary: A series of bombs struck U.S. and Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 33 people and wounding dozens, including four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi general. … Ivan Watson, an American reporter for National Public Radio, and three Iraqi colleagues escaped injury when a bomb attached to their car exploded as it was parked along a street in west Baghdad. … South Korea started withdrawing its troops from Iraq ahead of the Dec. 31, 2008 expiration of the U.N. mandate that authorized military operations in Iraq.

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