The president today is talking Iraq; from the White House:

For Immediate Release August 14, 2006
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LUNCH PARTICIPANTS
The President attends Lunch with Experts on Iraq
Eric Davis
Mr. Davis is a professor of Political Science at Rutgers University and past director of the university’s Center for Middle East Studies. Davis has written widely on the history of Iraq, including his most recent book: “Memories of State: Politics, History, and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq.”
Reuel Marc Gerecht
Mr. Gerecht is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a former Middle Eastern analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, and his articles and books include “The Islamic Paradox: Shiite Clerics, Sunni Fundamentalists, and the Coming of Arab Democracy.”
Vali Nasr
Mr. Nasr is a professor of Middle East and South Asian politics at the Naval Postgraduate School and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His most recent book is “The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future.”
Carole O’Leary
Ms. O’Leary is a research professor at American University, and an expert on the Kurds. She has traveled frequently to northern Iraq both before and after Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her articles include “The Kurds of Iraq: Recent History, Future Prospects,” and she is the co-editor of “The Kurdish Identity in an Unsettled World,” to be published later this year.