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Anne Flaherty, writing for The Associated Press, reports, "The top uniformed military officer on Wednesday described a tired U.S. military force, worn thin by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and unlikely to come home in large numbers anytime soon." And, Patrick Cockburn, writing for The Independent UK, reports from Baghdad: "The Shia family got the worst of the fighting and, after suffering seven dead, sent a desperate message asking for help to the Mehdi Army, the powerful Shia militia of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that once would have rushed to defend them. On this occasion, however, the local Mehdi Army commander turned them down, saying: 'We can do nothing because we are under orders not to break the ceasefire.'"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020708A.shtml



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