Irish, S. African Leaders Share Lessons With Iraqis A group of Sunni and Shiite leaders will meet in Iraq with Martin McGuinne, the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and former IRA leader, and Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African negotiator who helped end apartheid. They have been meeting privately with Iraq's politicians for two years to try and hammer out an agreement on reconciliation. On Saturday, they'll announce the results — a new accord among Iraq's feuding political factions, reports Lourdes Garcia-Navarro. Windows Media RealPlayer

Helms, Betencourt and Mugabe NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr weighs in on the week's news: Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was freed six years after being taken hostage by the Colombian rebel group FARC; Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was re-elected; Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said he was open to "refining" his Iraq policy, but wasn't shifting his stance on troop withdrawals; Republican presidential hopeful John McCain made significant changes in the top tier of his campaign staff; and former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), died on July 4. Windows Media RealPlayer

Clarke: Negotiate With Pakistan To Staunch al-Qaida Twenty-eight American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in June, making it the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001. Much of the spike in violence is attributed to a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida, both in Afghanistan, and in neighboring Pakistan. Richard Clarke, who has served as a top counterterrorism adviser to every president since George H.W. Bush, tells Linda Wertheimer about steps the United States could take to reduce the threat from these groups. According to Clarke, the U.S. should strike a new deal with the Pakistani, telling them if "they cooperate with ending this sanctuary with the Taliban, we will help you…but we cannot have a sanctuary for al-Qaida again." Windows Media RealPlayer