As we fine tune our beta IraqSlogger site for official launch next week, we've been overwhelmed by questions and suggestions from many of you. Much of the Web community was alerted to our site today via an Editor & Publisher look at IraqSlogger, and that story popped up in link form on such sites as the Drudge Report, Romenesko, and dozens of blogs.

Who is Jamil Hussein? Michelle Malkin is leading the charge for an answer, and she put that question to me in her blog. The AP is in the midst of a public firestorm regarding whether supposed Iraqi police captain Jamil Hussein actually exists and, if so, whether he was a legitimate news source for a disputed November 24 AP-reported story saying Shia thugs in Baghdad "grabbed six Sunnis as they left Friday worship services, doused them with kerosene and burned them alive near Iraqi soldiers who did not intervene." The U.S. military, the Iraqi government, and many others insisted the AP story was false and that Jamil Hussein either was fictitious or was not an Iraqi police officer, as asserted in the AP's report. The AP has issued two strong statements defending its initial report and produced fresh statements from witnesses of the alleged crime, but the AP has not produced Jamil Hussein himself.

So the search for Jamil Hussein is on, and rightly so. IraqSlogger's team in Baghdad is working to track him down. If we find him, we'll get back to you with details. If we can't find him, we'll report that, too. If Michelle Malkin wants to join the search in Baghdad, IraqSlogger will pay for her trip, and I'd even be willing to accompany her. Stay tuned.

Several of you recommended IraqSlogger provide links to more outside Web sites. Done. We now provide links to more than 70 sites. The newly-added Web site links include National Defense Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, the Daily Telegraph (UK), the Times (UK), The Scotsman (UK), the Independent (UK), Little Green Footballs, Michelle Malkin, Daily Kos, America Blog. Other suggestions? Incidentally, we'll have the links alphabetized under group heading before we officially launch IraqSlogger next week.

Finally, many of you asked that we make it easier to find the good news of what's happening in Iraq on IraqSlogger. Done. We've added a "Good News" heading in the TOPICS area in the upper left column of our home page. We intend to report good news (as well as the awful and not-so-awful news) regularly and have done so in our few days of beta existence. If you see or know of an Iraq story -- good, bad, or otherwise -- that you think warrants posting on IraqSlogger, please share it with us.

Please keep your comments coming: tips@iraqslogger.com.

Eason