Sunday, November 18, 2007
The latest developments in Iraq:
Remains of possibly dozens of people believed slain in sectarian violence were unearthed Saturday from a mass grave in a former al-Qaida stronghold in southern Baghdad — the third such find in Iraq this month. The badly decomposed remains were found in Baghdad’s mostly Sunni Dora neighborhood by Sunnis who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, police said. They were discovered in an area overlooking the main highway leading to Shiite shrine cities in the south. Sunni extremists would often waylay travelers along that road, kidnapping and killing Shiites.
Iraqi satellite television station al-Baghdadiyah said one of its reporters, 28-year-old Muntadhar al-Zaidi, disappeared Friday. A colleague phoned al-Zaidi around noon Friday, and a stranger answered his cell phone with the words “Forget Muntadhar,” according to an editor at the station. “This is the act of gangs, because all of Muntadhar’s reports are moderate and unbiased,” the editor told The Associated Press by telephone. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for his own safety. Al-Baghdadiyah broadcasts from Cairo, Egypt, and is often critical of the Iraqi government and the U.S. military presence here.
An Iraqi government spokesman said Saturday that Iran has shown increasing restraint in its support for militants, echoing recent assertions by U.S. officials and urging both sides to take advantage of the situation to hold a new round of talks on stabilizing his country. “Iran is showing more restraint in sending people and weapons to destabilize Iraq,” spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said during a wide-ranging discussion with reporters at his compound in the heavily guarded Green Zone in central Baghdad. U.S. officials have recently made similar claims, appearing to soften their stance against Iran in Iraq amid a decline in violence.
A Democratic senator on Saturday accused President Bush and congressional Republicans of hindering his party’s attempts to chart a new course in Iraq even though U.S. troops are fighting violence “they cannot possibly resolve.” Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said increased troop levels ordered earlier this year to give Iraqi politicians breathing space to meet political and diplomatic goals have not had the intended result. “That means our troops are fighting for a peace that we seem more interested in achieving than the Iraqi politicians do themselves,” Casey said while delivering the Democrats’ weekly radio address.
Source: Associated Press