Iraq War Updates -- May 12, 2008

'Ghost City' Mosul Braces For Assault On Last Bastion Of al-Qa'ida In Iraq -- Independent

U.S.: Clashes Persist In Baghdad Despite Truce -- MSNBC

Overnight Clashes Disrupt Fragile Baghdad Truce -- Times Online

Iraqi Lawmakers, Sadrists Sign Four-Day Cease-Fire -- Yahoo News

Operations Continue In Sadr City -- Long War Journal

Mahdi Hell In Sadr City -- Strata-Sphere

Truce Or No Truce With Sadrists In Iraq? -- Strata-Sphere

Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Has No Control Over Mahdi Militias -- Strata-Sphere

Sadr City Bomb Squad: Looking For Trouble Before It Explodes -- International Herald Tribune

US Military Destroys al-Qaida Base South Of Baghdad In Airstrike -- International Herald Tribune

Peace, Though Fragile, Delights People Of Basra -- International Herald Tribune

Iraqi Officials: Turkey Hits Kurdish Bases In Iraq -- Yahoo News

Turkey 'Hits' Kurdish Bases in Iraq -- Time Magazine

PKK Attacks, Turkey Hits Back Killing 59 -- The New Anatolian

US Military Deaths In Iraq War At 4,075 -- Yahoo News

Violence Eases In Baghdad Slum After Truce -- Reuters

An Honor Killing in Basra -- Guardian

Parading Of Fighters' Bodies Taunts Mahdi Army -- Times Online

Iraq: The South -- Belmont Club

My Comment: All sides are becoming weary of this conflict. My gut .... for the first time .... is telling me that this conflict will be at an end by next year .... and that almost all American forces will be out soon after that. What will Iraq look like after that will be up to the Iraqis.

Iraq War News Updates -- February 10, 2008

More Than 50 Killed In Iraq -- Yahoo News

Series Of Iraq Attacks Mark Bloody Sunday -- CBS News

More Than 50 Killed In Iraq -- Newsweek

Car Bomb In Balad Kills 23, U.S. Military Says -- MSNBC

The Diary Of An Insurgent In Retreat -- MSNBC

Diary Of Defeat -- Commentary From Tigerhawk

Insurgent Diaries ... And The IO Campaign -- Abu Muqawama

al-Qaeda On Last Legs In Iraq According To AQ Documents -- Strata-Sphere

Al Qaeda In Iraq Under Pressure In Balad, Anbar -- Long War journal

Gates: Iraqis Showing Signs of Progress -- U.S. News And World Report

The Link Between Security and Identity in Iraq -- Threatswatch

Look What Made The News -- Iraq Pundit

Murder or Exhaustion in Iraq? -- Time Magazine

U.S. Army Buried Study Faulting Iraq Planning -- International Herald Tribune

US Military Deaths In Iraq At 3,959 -- Yahoo News

My Comment: Sunday, February 10, 2008 was a bloody day in Iraq. Over 50 killed, many wounded. While the direction for this scale of violence is downward, it will still happen. The next few months will prove critical for Iraqi reconcialition and compromise.

Trouble spots will be in the north with the Kurds demanding more autonomy .... and Turkish concerns over this development, Shiite and Sunni animosity, Al Qaeda and its few remaining units, and political obstruction and intolerance for compromise on the federal level.

The direction of the U.S. Presidential election is also important. Any scrap of hope for a quick American departure can only embolden groups like Al Qaeda in Iraq, Bathists, and foreign elements.