Updated at 8:20 p.m. EDT, May 23, 2009
At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 11 more were wounded in light attacks. One U.S. soldier was killed in a non-combat incident in Baghdad province as well. Also, two American contractors were killed in separate attacks in the Green Zone. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed Sunni ex-detainees for the recent increase in violence and is now rejecting an amnesty law that has allowed thousands of innocent Iraqis to leave jail.
Updated at 4:31 p.m. EDT, May 20, 2009
A major car bombing in the capital interrupted an otherwise quiet day in Iraq. At least 43 Iraqis were reported killed and 79 more were wounded. The only political news came from Diyala where the police chief reiterated the central government’s claims that the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq is in custody and added that the man was also a provincial politician.
Updated at 5:39 p.m. EDT, May 19, 2009
At least five Iraqis were killed and 12 more were wounded in today’s violence. Meanwhile, a second Sunni leader was arrested in Diyala province, prompting critics to wonder openly if a security operation there is really a harassment campaign against Awakening Council (Sahwa) members and other Sunni leaders. Also, the Swedish Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Tobias Billstrom spoke with Jordanian Interior Minister Saud al-Qadi on the 500,000 Iraqi refugees living in Jordan.
When U.S. troops and Apache helicopters joined Iraqi forces in putting down an uprising by Sunni "Sons of Iraq" militiamen in central Baghdad last weekend, it was a preview of the kind of combat the U.S. military is likely to see increasingly over the next three years unless a policy decision is made in Washington …
Continue reading “Maliki Draws US Troops into Crackdown on Sunnis” 
