IRAQ: Doctors warn of increasing deformities in newborn babies.:

Health officials and scientists said this could be due to radiation passed through mothers following years of conflict in the country.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=46840

http://snipurl.com/ejk6

Horror Of Depleted Uranium Not Limited To Iraq:

The radiation from depleted uranium can travel literally anywhere. It's going to destroy the lives of thousands of children, all over the world.
http://www.coastalpost.com/05/04/09.htm

Abu Ghraib Torture Victim Speaks Out:

A former prisoner who says he was the man under the black hood in the gruesome photo from Abu Ghraib speaks out on this week's edition of the PBS newsmagazine "Now."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8686.htm

http://snipurl.com/ejk7

Helen Thomas: Pentagon Report On Abuse Has To Be Joke:

The Pentagon has got to be kidding.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8691.htm

http://snipurl.com/ejk9

Secret Iraq war advice published:

Publication of a secret 2003 memo from the government's top lawyer questioning the Iraq war's legality buffeted Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday, just a week before the May 5 election.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050428/325/fhlio.html

http://snipurl.com/ejka

Full Text :

Advice from Attorney General on legality of Iraq war
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8692.htm

http://snipurl.com/ejkc

Blix insists there was no firm weapons evidence:

The head of the United Nations weapons inspectors in the run-up to the Iraq war, Hans Blix, last night undercut one of the main grounds offered by the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, in his legal advice to Tony Blair.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8696.htm

http://snipurl.com/ejke

UK: Blair accused of 'gross deception' as Goldsmith's advice is published:

Families of some of the British soldiers killed in Iraq said they were preparing a legal case against the Prime Minister, based on the leaked document.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/...sp?story=633717

http://snipurl.com/ejkf

Iraq's New Government Approved

By Caryle Murphy and Fred Barbash

BAGHDAD, April 28 -- Iraq's National Assembly approved a list of cabinet appointees Thursday, giving life to the country's new government after almost three months of negotiations.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

Blair Releases Memo Questioning Legality of Iraq War

By Glenn Frankel

LONDON, April 28 -- The Iraq war, until now a slumbering issue in Britain's election campaign, came to life Thursday after Prime Minister Tony Blair gave in to pressure and released a confidential memo from his chief legal adviser that raised questions about the legality of the invasion.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

Iraqi Bomb Blasts Kill 23, Wound 90

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=D2EE85:2F72C9D

Six car bombs targeting police, soldiers and security personnel blew
up over a span of a few hours in Baghdad A series of car bombs rocked
the Baghdad area Friday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more
than 90 others.

Iraqi soldiers examine wreckages of cars that were destroyed in a car
bomb explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, April 29, 2005Six car bombs
targeting police, soldiers and security personnel blew up over a span
of a few hours in Baghdad. Three other such bombs went off just south
of the capital in the town of Madaen.

The blasts came one day after Iraq's Parliament approved Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's new government. Naming of the new
Cabinet ended a three-month political deadlock, but several key posts
were filled by temporary appointees and two deputy-prime-minister
positions have not yet been filled.

In Washington, President Bush told reporters late Thursday that he and
Mr. Jaafari spoke by telephone after the Parliament vote and agreed
that Iraq must now begin drafting a constitution. Mr. Bush says the
authorities in Baghdad face stubborn resistance from insurgents, but
he adds that there has been good progress in training Iraqi security
forces.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

--------------------
Iraqi Cabinet Approved, Though Divisions Linger
--------------------

By Patrick J. McDonnell
Times Staff Writer

April 29 2005

BAGHDAD; Iraqi lawmakers overwhelmingly approved an ethnically and religiously diverse Cabinet on Thursday, but gaping holes in the new administration and continued sectarian wrangling marred the historic day.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,6396391.story

--------------------
Iraqi Milestone but With Perils
--------------------

The new government in Baghdad represents a success for the White House in the region, but its fragility poses long-term challenges.

By Tyler Marshall
Times Staff Writer

April 29 2005

WASHINGTON; The new government formed Thursday in Iraq is both an important achievement and a serious cause for concern as President Bush pushes his goal of promoting democratic reform in the Middle East.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...headlines-world

--------------------
Insurgent Attacks Kill at Least 27 in Iraq
--------------------

By THOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press Writer

April 29 2005, 8:41 AM PDT

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Insurgents staged a series of car bombings and other attacks on Friday, killing at least 27 Iraqis and one U.S. soldier, wounding dozens a day after the country's first democratically elected government was approved. Iraq's most-wanted terrorist purportedly threatened more violence and warned Iraqis against collaborating with the Americans.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...opinternational

--------------------
Iraq Shaken by Barrage of Bombings
--------------------

A day after a new government is approved, car bombs kill at least 27 in and around Baghdad. Three U.S. soldiers are among the dead.

By Ashraf Khalil
Times Staff Writer

April 30 2005

BAGHDAD; Insurgents staged a bloody show of strength across Iraq on Friday, detonating at least 14 car bombs that killed at least 27 people, including three U.S. soldiers, and wounded dozens of Iraqis.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,2857431.story

113 Kurds Are Found In Mass Grave

By Ellen Knickmeyer

Investigators have exhumed the remains of 113 people -- all but five of them women, children or teenagers -- from a mass grave in southern Iraq estimated to hold the bodies of at least 1,500 victims.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

String of Explosions Kills 50 in Iraq

By Naseer Nouri and Bassam Sebti

Across the country Friday, insurgents unleashed at least 13 mortar, bomb and suicide car bomb attacks against Iraq's national forces and their U.S. allies.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

England to Plead Guilty in Abu Ghraib Abuse Case

By T.R. Reid and Josh White

Pfc. Lynndie R. England, the woman seen holding an Iraqi prisoner on a leash in the iconic photo from the Abu Ghraib prison, will plead guilty to seven charges stemming from abuse of prisoners there, her attorney said Friday.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?Stor...29-105425-5878r

Walker's World: Blair and Saddam's curse
Martin Walker

-----------------------------------------------------------
BOMBS KILL 50, HURT 121 IN IRAQ
By Thomas Wagner
ASSOCIATED PRESS
-----------------------------------------------------------
BAGHDAD -- Insurgents set off at least 17 bombs in Iraq yesterday, killing at least 50 persons, including three U.S. soldiers, in a series of attacks aimed at shaking Iraq's newly formed government. An audio tape by one of America's most-wanted insurgents, Abu Musab Zarqawi, warned President Bush there was more bloodshed to come.

The well-coordinated attacks, which also wounded 114 Iraqis and seven Americans, came as political leaders are trying to curb the insurgency by including all of Iraq's main religious and ethnic groups in an uncertain new Shi'ite-dominated government that takes office Tuesday. Most of the bombing targets were Iraqi security forces and police, whom insurgents accuse of collaborating with the Americans.

An association of Sunni Muslim clerics believed to have links with the insurgency saw little prospect for peace as long as U.S. forces remain in Iraq.

"We don't believe that the government will solve the problems of an occupied Iraq. We don't trust the government," Harith al-Dhari, head of the Association of Muslim Scholars, told Turkey's Anatolia news agency. "We don't see hope because the occupation is continuing."

U.S. officials had hoped the new Cabinet approved Thursday would help dent support for the militants within the Sunni Arab minority that dominated Iraq under ousted leader Saddam Hussein and is now believed to be driving the insurgency. However, the lineup excludes Sunnis from meaningful positions and leaves the key defense ministry in temporary hands.

"You, Bush, we will not rest until we avenge our dignity," Zarqawi said in the audio tape that was posted on the Internet. "We will not rest while your army is here as long as there is a pulse in our veins."

In Washington, an intelligence official said the tape appeared to be genuine.

The deadliest of yesterday's attacks were multiple bombings in the small Baghdad neighborhood of Azamiyah and in the town of Madain, 12 miles southeast of the capital.

Despite the day's bloody toll, the U.S. military maintained that attacks are diminishing overall in Iraq.

Gen. Wafiq al-Samarie, Iraq's presidential adviser for security affairs, urged Iraqis to stand up to insurgents.

"Our people should stand up against these criminals. ... Security is everybody's responsibility," he said in an interview with Al Jazeera television.

At least 13 car bombs exploded in and around the capital yesterday, killing at least 23 Iraqi security-force members and wounding 31, the U.S. military said. Iraqi police said they included six suicide attacks.

In the worst attack, four suicide car bombings took place within minutes in Azamiyah, said police chief Brig. Gen. Khalid al-Hassan. The first hit an Iraqi army patrol, the second a police patrol, and the third and fourth exploded at separate barricades near the headquarters of the police special forces unit.

The Azamiyah blasts killed at least 20 Iraqis, including 15 soldiers and five civilians, Col. Hussein Mutlak said. At least 65 were injured, including 30 troops and 35 civilians, he added.

In another highly coordinated attack, insurgents detonated a roadside bomb in Madain, then sent two suicide car bombers from two different directions into police special forces as they arrived to investigate, said police Lt. Jassim al-Maliky. At least two more car bombs detonated in the area, one near the city hospital and another targeting a police patrol, police said.

The Madain attacks, which killed 13 persons and wounded 20, came less than two weeks after Iraqi forces raided the region to clear it of insurgents. The U.S. military had praised the operation as evidence of the progress made by Iraq in assuring its own security.

In Baqouba, 35 miles north of Baghdad, a suicide attacker blew up an ambulance packed with explosives near a police special forces patrol, killing four Iraqis, including two policemen, said police Brig. Gen. Adel Molan. Twenty Iraqis were injured, including four police, he said.

Also in Baqouba, an Iraqi man armed with a grenade walked out of the city's al-Aqsa mosque and threatened to throw it at Iraqi and U.S. forces surrounding the building, the U.S. military said. They opened fire and killed the man, the military said.

Ali Fadhil, of the city's U.S.-Iraqi joint operations center, identified the man with the grenade as a Sunni cleric believed to be a senior member of Zarqawi's terrorist group, called al Qaeda in Iraq.
(http://insider.washtimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050429-111717-8746r)

-----------------------------------------------------------
SENATE TARGETS PROBERS OF U.N.
By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Senate panel probing the U.N. oil-for-food scandal will subpoena two investigators who quit the United Nations' own inquiry on the grounds that it was too soft on Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The announcement yesterday by Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota Republican, was the latest sign of the growing antagonism between congressional investigators and the $30 million U.N.-appointed inquiry headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Mr. Coleman, who chairs the Governmental Affairs subcommittee on investigations, said he told Mr. Volcker in a Thursday phone conversation of his ?grave and growing concerns about the credibility and independence? of the U.N. probe into the $64 billion oil-for-food program in Iraq -- the largest financial scandal in the world body's history.

The Volcker panel has resisted calls from at least three congressional committees to allow investigators Robert Parton and Miranda Duncan to explain why they abruptly left the U.N.-authorized investigation earlier this month.

Mr. Parton, a former FBI investigator, had been focusing on the relationship between Mr. Annan and his son, Kojo. An interim report by the Volcker panel last month stated there was "no evidence" that the senior Mr. Annan had steered a key oil-for-food monitoring contract to Cotecna, a Swiss company that employed his son.

The two investigators signed nondisclosure agreements with the inquiry and have not detailed their reasons for resigning.

But Mr. Parton released a brief e-mail statement insisting that he had resigned "on principle," and not because his contract had expired, as a spokesman for the investigation had first suggested.

"The lack of an adequate explanation for their departure only fuels concerns about the credibility" of the Volcker investigation, Mr. Coleman said.

Mr. Volcker also spoke with at least two more congressmen looking into the oil-for-food program Thursday, expressing concern at efforts to force the two investigators to cooperate with U.S. investigators. He cited the confidentiality accords and the diplomatic immunity of the U.N. panel.

Mike Holtzman, a spokesman for the Volcker investigation, told the Associated Press yesterday the panel "had done everything possible to be transparent, consistent with conducting a fair and impartial investigation."

"We draw the line at exposing an investigator during an ongoing investigation."

Mr. Annan said last month that the Volcker inquiry had "exonerated" him of the key charge of interfering in the award of the Cotecna contract in 1997.

But he told reporters earlier this week there were still legitimate questions about his oversight of the program. U.S. investigators estimate the regime of Saddam Hussein managed to skim about $10 billion in illegal oil sales, kickbacks and other fraud during the seven-year program.

But the secretary-general also ripped critics who he said overlooked the program's humanitarian achievements, saying the criticisms "have gone beyond all zones of reasonableness."

Mr. Volcker in an interview with Fox News earlier this week said he did not consider his panel's findings an "exoneration" of Mr. Annan. Investigators strongly faulted the U.N. leader for a superficial investigation of the Cotecna deal after his son's connection came to light.

His inquiry "was not meant to be soft or hard" on Mr. Annan or the United Nations, Mr. Volcker said.

"We are out to get the facts, and I've said from the very beginning our responsibility is to follow the facts wherever they lead."

But Nile Gardiner, who has tracked the oil-for-food scandal for the Heritage Foundation, said Mr. Volcker's argument that his investigators have immunity because of their U.N. status undermines the argument that his inquiry is truly independent.

"I think it's ludicrous for Mr. Volcker to suggest that he has the right to bar his investigators from cooperating with Congress, especially investigators who are U.S. citizens themselves," Mr. Gardiner said.

"It only raises new questions about what the U.N. is still hiding, about how damaging their testimony might be," he said.
(http://insider.washtimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050429-111718-1377r)

http://www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=5785

Oh, What a Lovely War
Gordon Prather

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GD30Ak01.html

Iraq's Hostage Cabinet
Pepe Escobar

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GD29Ak03.html

Pentagon between Iraq and a hard place
Michael Schwartz

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?Stor...30-105238-9224r

Analysis: Continued attacks dim Iraq euphoria
Martin Sieff

--------------------
Iraq to Purge Corrupt Officers
--------------------

Commandos may also be used in a crackdown on insurgents and their allies. The Shiite leaders' plans are further unsettling Sunnis.

By Patrick J. McDonnell and Solomon Moore
Times Staff Writers

May 1 2005

BAGHDAD; Iraq's Shiite Muslim leadership, alarmed by a surge in attacks as the new government prepares to take office, plans to crack down on Sunni-led insurgents and purge suspected infiltrators and corrupt officers from the nation's security forces, officials and lawmakers say.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...,0,921266.story

--------------------
Italy to Step Up Inquiry Into Agent's Death in Iraq
--------------------

From Reuters

May 1 2005

ROME; Italy asked its state prosecutors Saturday to step up their probe of the killing of an Italian intelligence agent by U.S. troops in Iraq, after the United States and Italy failed to agree on the conclusion of a joint investigation.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...headlines-world

Power Grid In Iraq Far From Fixed

By Caryle Murphy and Bassam Sebti

BAGHDAD -- When his lights and television go dark, as they regularly do, Khalid Qasim Ali flips a switch in his living room to bring back the power. This electricity is not state-supplied. Instead, it comes from a generator three blocks away that is connected to Ali's home by a wire strung in the...

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

Insurgent Attacks in Baghdad Kill 9

(http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=D37E2E:2F72C9D

Iraqi policemen manning a security checkpoint were shot to death in a
surprise attack shortly after dawn

Family members carry coffin of police officer Mohamed Badr for burial
in BaghdadInsurgents in Iraq launched a third straight day of
stepped-up attacks Sunday, killing at least nine Iraqis.

Authorities say five Iraqi policemen manning a security checkpoint
were shot to death in a surprise attack shortly after dawn. Later, a
car-bomb attack on a U.S. military convoy in southeast Baghdad killed
at least four Iraqi civilians and injured 12 others.

Violence in Iraq has increased dramatically since Thursday, when the
nation's first democratically elected government was formed following
the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Suicide attacks, car bombings and other guerrilla strikes in Baghdad
and nearby areas have killed at least 75 people since Friday.

Some information for this report provided by AP, Reuters and AFP.

New Iraq leaders face violent surge
After the formation of the new government, three days of insurgent
attacks in Baghdad left at least 80 people dead. By Jill Carroll and
Neil MacDonald
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0502/p01s02-woiq.html?s=hns

Why America needs to be Defeated in Iraq

by Mike Whitney

The greatest moral quandary of our day is whether we, as Americans, support the Iraqi insurgency. It's an issue that has caused anti-war Leftist's the same pangs of conscience that many felt 30 years ago in their opposition to the Vietnam War. The specter of disloyalty weighs heavily on all of us, even those who've never been inclined to wave flags or champion the notion of American "Exceptionalism".
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8716.htm

http://snipurl.com/elj3

Car bomb explodes at funeral, killing at least 30 Iraqis :

A car bomb exploded at the funeral of a Kurdish official in northern Iraq today, killing about 30 Iraqis and wounding more than 50
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1762/5379422.html

New bomb attacks kill 11 Iraqis and a US soldier
http://snipurl.com/elj5

Five Iraqi policemen killed in Baghdad attack:

Gunmen killed five Iraqi policemen at a checkpoint in Baghdad on Sunday and the attack was followed by an explosion in the area, police said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1343763,00050004.htm

http://snipurl.com/elj6

Two Employees of Iraqi Company Supplier of US Army Shot in Baghdad
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?catid=1...atte=2005-05-01

http://snipurl.com/elj7

Ten U.S. soldiers killed in last 48 hours in Iraq :

At least 50 Iraqis, mostly police and Iraqi soldiers have also died as a wave of bombings have swept the war-torn country.
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=c35f3f6969ead0dc

http://snipurl.com/elj8

UK document leak shows early plan to topple Saddam: U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were determined to topple Saddam Hussein at least nine months before they launched the war in Iraq, British documents leaked in a Sunday newspaper say.

Blair talked of toppling Saddam months before war:

Britain discussed supporting the United States to bring about a change of government in Iraq eight months before the March 2003 invasion, Tony Blair said on Sunday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8708.htm

http://snipurl.com/elj9

Full Text: The secret Downing Street memo:

SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8709.htm

http://snipurl.com/elja

Iraq, the secret US visit, and an angry military chief :

The legality of the Iraq war exploded on to the agenda last week, causing chaos to Labour strategy. Here we reveal the key US officials who persuaded Britain that invasion was legal - and the astonishing reaction from our military chiefs
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8719.htm

http://snipurl.com/eljb

Regime change is illegal: end of debate:

'I would never do anything against the advice of the Attorney General," the Prime Minister has repeatedly insisted. Yet he did do something against the Attorney General's advice. He helped the Americans invade Iraq and replace its Ba'athist regime.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8714.htm

http://snipurl.com/eljc

British military chief reveals new legal fears over Iraq war :

The man who led Britain's armed forces into Iraq has said that Tony Blair and the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, will join British soldiers in the dock if the military are ever prosecuted for war crimes in Iraq.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8712.htm

http://snipurl.com/eljd

Scott Ritter : Dereliction of Duty Regarding Iraq:

For every general who speaks of 'winning the war', there are hundreds of soldiers and marines, veterans of the harsh reality of ground truth in Iraq, who believe otherwise.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8715.htm

http://snipurl.com/elje

Bomb Kills 25 at Funeral in Northern Iraq

By Caryle Murphy

BAGHDAD, May 1 -- A suicide car bomber drove into a gathering of mourners at a funeral for a slain political leader Sunday in northern Iraq, killing 25 people and wounding at least 30, a provincial official said.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

--------------------
Bomb Attacks Persist in Iraq
--------------------

Six explosions shake the nation, including one at a funeral that kills at least 25. A video is released showing an Australian hostage.

By Ashraf Khalil
Times Staff Writer

May 2 2005

BAGHDAD; A suicide bomber on Sunday plowed his vehicle into a tent packed with mourners at a Kurdish funeral in the northern city of Tall Afar, killing at least 25 people and wounding 30 others as insurgents continued their campaign of violence.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,1380020.story

Eight Iraqis Dead in Baghdad Car Bombings

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=D3BCEC:2F72C9D

Police say one of the attacks narrowly missed a top officer of an
Interior Ministry police commando unit, but wounded three of his
bodyguards Iraqi police say insurgents have carried out at least three
more car bomb attacks in Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 12
others.

The attacks are part of a sharp upsurge in bombings since Baghdad's
new government was announced last week. More than 100 people, most of
them civilians, have been killed since Friday.

In Monday's deadliest attack, a car bomb exploded near a row of shops
in south Baghdad, killing at least six pedestrians. At least two other
people were killed in a second attack in the capital.

Separately in Baghdad, police say a top Interior Ministry police
officer narrowly escaped a bombing that wounded three of his
bodyguards.

Sunday, more than 30 people were killed in bombings, including 25
Kurds attending the funeral of a slain local Kurdish official in the
northern town of Tall Afar.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1021

Talabani and Jaafari See in Strong Iraqi Army Obstacle to Their Goals

--------------------
Shiites Take Firm Hold of Power as Government Nears Completion
--------------------

U.S. fears hard-line tactics could bolster the insurgents, and one Sunni predicts disaster.

By Patrick J. McDonnell and Ashraf Khalil
Times Staff Writers

May 3 2005

BAGHDAD; As the nation reels from a daily frenzy of car-bomb attacks and ambushes, Iraq's new Cabinet is expected to be sworn in today with emboldened Shiite Muslim lawmakers signaling that there are limits to their willingness to share power with other groups.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...headlines-world

--------------------
Iraqi Leaders Seek Deal Amid Bloodshed
--------------------

By THOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press Writer

May 3 2005, 1:19 AM PDT

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's incoming prime minister struggled to find a Sunni Arab to run the key Defense Ministry in time to join Iraq's first democratically elected government when it takes office Tuesday. A torrent of bloodshed -- at least 140 killed in five days -- followed the approval of a Cabinet that mostly shut out members of the disaffected Sunni minority.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...opinternational

Latest Round of Iraq Violence Claims More Than 120 Lives

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=D42757:2F72C9D

Attacks appears to be targeting Iraqi security forces

Iraqi firefighters rush to the scene after a car bomb exploded in the
Karadah district of BaghdadAt lease 123 people have died in Iraq since
the announcement of a new government late last week. The latest
violence appears to be targeting Iraqi security forces.

Early Monday, a car bomb blew up in a Baghdad shopping district,
killing six civilians and wounding seven, police said. The blast also
set ablaze an apartment building in the upscale area of Karada.

Successive, apparently coordinated attacks began around the capital on
Friday, the day after the elected National Assembly approved Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaaffari's partial cabinet list, and continued for
the fourth day straight Monday as another bomb narrowly missed a
high-level Iraqi security official.

Much of the violence has been directed at Iraqi security forces,
although some attacks have targeted U.S. military convoys, leaving 11
Americans among the dead over the past four days.

But the bloodiest incident came Sunday night, when a car bomb struck
the funeral of a Kurdish official in the northern city of Tal Afar.

That attack left 25 dead and more than 50 wounded. U.S. officials
suggested that political delays empowered the insurgency, which had
appeared to be flagging in the wake of January 30 elections.

Disagreements over how to include the Sunni Arabs have held up the
formation of a permanent government, leading Mr. Jaafari to present a
partial list, with himself as acting defense minister.

Following three months of post-election haggling, the defense
portfolio is theoretically reserved for a Sunni.

However, members of the Shi'ite-dominated United Iraq Alliance, the
largest bloc in the Assembly, have ruled out several Sunni candidates
on the grounds of links to the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

The gaps in the cabinet have left Iraq's Sunni Arabs, a largely
disaffected community seen as the backbone of the insurgency, without
a meaningful role. Mr. Jaafari's government was supposed to provide a
workable ethnic and sectarian balance.

Laith Kubba, an adviser to the Shi'ite prime minister, said the
permanent government would be sworn in Tuesday, after Mr. Jaafari
makes permanent appointments for defense and other disputed posts.

Four other ministries still lack permanent ministers, while two out of
four proposed deputy prime ministerships also remain empty.

As the wave of bomb attacks continued, security forces reportedly
closed the road to Baghdad International Airport, frequently the scene
of car bombs and ambushes.

US and Iraqi forces adjust to combat changing insurgent tactics.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0503/dailyUpdate.html