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THURSDAY 20 JANUARY 22:30 GMT - BBC TWO
FROM KIRSTY WARK
Dear viewers,
The second Bush term formally begins today when he takes the oath of office. He is making it clear he will be pursuing a strong domestic agenda, and continuing his war on terrorism - but will Iraq become the intractable problem of his second term?
Gavin is in Washington and he'll be asking leading supporters and critics to analyse his inaugural speech.
One thousand people are standing in the Iraqi elections and, despite the Sunni boycott, more than one hundred parties are competing for 275 seats in the national assembly.
Salam Pax, the Baghdad Blogger, is back to try to demystify this convoluted and perhaps Byzantine election process. In fact, he manages to negotiate his way through the chaos to give us a unique insight into what will be an historic day no matter what happens - and how ordinary Iraqis are feeling about it.
Meanwhile, Paul Mason has been cruising around in Iraqi cyberspace, bumping into more Baghdad Bloggers and finding out about the phenomenon of "do-it-yourself" journalists in Iraq, writing about everything from the political to the personal, to the deeply poignant.
If you want an early entry to this particular portal go now to http://www.wordsfromiraq.com
And it's all in the title - first came Consignia, then words like Accenture and Amicus. Now we have Veritas. It could be the title of a new Robert Kilroy Silk studio show, but it is in fact the name of his new political party.
Tonight the celebrity MEP will announce he is leaving the UK Independence Party - just as UKIP officials begin disciplinary moves to expel him. But who will back his new political adventure?
Please join us at 1030pm.
Kirsty
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