Seeking safety, Iraqis turn to militias
Christian Science Monitor
07/23/06
A floundering government campaign to crack down on militias and increasing sectarian killings have many Shiites turning to militias for protection, particularly radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's violent Mahdi Army. The US and British military have stepped up raids on its leadership after growing impatient with the new government's failure to arrest the militia's commanders. But Sunday, two suicide car bombs in the capital and one in the troubled northern oil city of Kirkuk killed a total of 60 Iraqis, as new Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki jetted off to Britain and the US for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush on Iraq's crumbling security situation. Such violence only strengthens the hand of the militias...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0724/p06s01-woiq.html
Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials
The Independent [UK]
07/23/06
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, meets Tony Blair in London today as violence in Iraq reaches a new crescendo and senior Iraqi officials say the break up of the country is inevitable. A car bomb in a market in the Shia stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad yesterday killed 34 people and wounded a further 60 and was followed by a second bomb in the same area two hours later that left a further eight dead. Another car bomb outside a court house in Kirkuk killed a further 20 and injured 70 people. 'Iraq as a political project is finished,' a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: 'The parties have moved to plan B'...
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1193108.ece
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
07/23/06
A floundering government campaign to crack down on militias and increasing sectarian killings have many Shiites turning to militias for protection, particularly radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's violent Mahdi Army. The US and British military have stepped up raids on its leadership after growing impatient with the new government's failure to arrest the militia's commanders. But Sunday, two suicide car bombs in the capital and one in the troubled northern oil city of Kirkuk killed a total of 60 Iraqis, as new Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki jetted off to Britain and the US for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush on Iraq's crumbling security situation. Such violence only strengthens the hand of the militias...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0724/p06s01-woiq.html
Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials
The Independent [UK]
07/23/06
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, meets Tony Blair in London today as violence in Iraq reaches a new crescendo and senior Iraqi officials say the break up of the country is inevitable. A car bomb in a market in the Shia stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad yesterday killed 34 people and wounded a further 60 and was followed by a second bomb in the same area two hours later that left a further eight dead. Another car bomb outside a court house in Kirkuk killed a further 20 and injured 70 people. 'Iraq as a political project is finished,' a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: 'The parties have moved to plan B'...
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1193108.ece
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
rudkla - 24. Jul, 15:38
