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An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding four people, including three Iranians and an Iraqi, a spokesman said Friday. Teheran issued an angry response blaming the United States for encouraging attacks against Iranian interests in Iraq with its rhetoric against the Islamic republic. The US military said it "condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country." It was not clear who shot at the convoy. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Iraqi soldiers exchanged fire with guards in an argument that broke out when members of the convoy failed to produce identification cards. Iranian Embassy...

On Friday, Hezbollah gunmen set fire to the Beirut offices of Future TV, a Lebanese broadcaster. On a purely symbolic level, it was an apt demonstration of where the Party of God stands in relation to the future itself. But that wasn't the worst of what has happened in the past week in Lebanon, where scores of people have been killed in interfactional violence. More ominous was the role of the Lebanese army, avowedly neutral and nominally under civilian control. "An army officer accompanied by members of Hezbollah walked into the station and told us to switch off transmission," an...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that the Lebanese government had declared war on his Shiite militant group by declaring its private telecommunications network an illegal threat to state security. Nasrallah vowed to fight any attempts to disarm Hezbollah in a speech that hiked tensions already running high after a long-simmering political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the government erupted into sectarian violence. "Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them," he said. "Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off."...

Explosions and gunfire rang out across the Lebanese capital Wednesday as Hizbullah backers trying to enforce a strike against the US-backed government clashed with government supporters and blocked roads. The cause of the explosions was not immediately known, but witnesses and television reports said they may have been rocket-propelled grenades. There was no word on casualties, and the shooting later died down. The strike paralyzed large parts of Beirut. Hizbullah protesters blocked roads with burning tires, dirt, old cars and garbage cans to enforce a labor strike against government economic policies and to demand pay raises. The violence deepened tensions...

Clerics have told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stick to more worldly issues after he was quoted as saying the "hidden imam" of Shiite Islam was directing Iran. Ahmadinejad has always been a devotee of the Mahdi, the twelfth imam of Shiite Islam, who Shiites believe disappeared more than a thousand years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of peace and harmony. But in a speech to theology students broadcast by state television on Monday, Ahmadinejad went further than ever before in emphasising his belief that the Mahdi is playing a critical role in...

Opposition and majority followers clash in Beirut streets Posted : Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:38:06 GMT Author : DPA Beirut - Shiite opposition followers and rival Sunnis who back the western-backed Lebanese government clashed late Friday on the streets of the capital, Lebanese police said. Machinegun fire was heard across the areas of Ras al-Nabaa and Wataa al-Moustabeh but no further details were available, the police said. Local media reported that followers of the Shiite Amal movement, who are loyal to the opposition headed by Hezbollah, clashed with the Sunni Future Current movement led by majority leader Saad Hariri. Lebanese...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2008 – Iraqi security forces, aided by coalition forces and local citizens, neutralized threats from an Iranian-backed “special group” in a Baghdad-area neighborhood last week, a U.S. Army brigade commander in the area said today. As Iraqi security and coalition forces clashed with Shiite special groups in Basra and elsewhere in Iraq, violence in the Multinational Division Center area of operations was very limited. “There was a little bit of reaction, but because of the strength of the (combined force), nothing major happened,” Col. Wayne Grigsby of Multinational Division Center said during a conference call. The division’s...

BAGHDAD - Shi'ite militiamen in Basra openly controlled wide swaths of the city yesterday and staged increasingly bold raids on Iraqi government forces sent in five days ago to wrest control from the gunmen, witnesses said, as Iraqi political leaders grew increasingly critical of the stalled assault.

BAGHDAD - Anti-American Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers Saturday to defy government orders to surrender their weapons, as U.S. jets struck Shiite extremists near Basra to bolster a faltering Iraqi offensive against gunmen in the city. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash that his offensive, which began Tuesday, provoked in areas of Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power. Government television said the round-the-clock curfew imposed two days ago on the capital and due to expire Sunday would be extended indefinitely. The U.S. Embassy tightened...

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces stepped deeper Friday into the Iraqi government's fight to cripple Shiite militias, launching airstrikes in the southern city of Basra and firing a Hellfire missile in the main Shiite stronghold in Baghdad. The American support occurred as Iraqi troops struggled against strong resistance in Basra and retaliation elsewhere in Shiite areas — including more salvos of rockets or mortars into the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad. It was the first time American jets have been called to attack militia positions since Iraqi ground forces launched an operation Tuesday to clear Basra of the armed groups that...

BAGHDAD - Warning sirens wail and within seconds rockets and mortars strike — sometimes one or two, other times 10 or more. The Green Zone is again a prime target as American and British diplomats, Iraqi politicians, contractors and others struggle to go about their business — always aware that any time they are outside the most fortified buildings there is a chance to be injured or killed. The danger has temporarily reshaped life: Green Zone traffic is minimal, few people venture out on the streets and security precautions — always high — have been boosted. Many diplomats and others...

BAGHDAD - Shiite militiamen are everywhere. Police and Iraqi army checkpoints are nowhere in sight. U.S. soldiers are keeping their distance. Sadr City — the Baghdad nerve center for the powerful Mahdi Army — is suddenly back on edge as the militia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, and Iraq's government lock in a dangerous confrontation over clout and control among the nation's majority Shiites. The epicenter of the showdown has been the southern oil hub of Basra, where clashes have claimed dozens of lives this week and al-Sadr's forces face a Friday deadline to surrender. But a more finely tuned measure of...

Some facts about Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia: HISTORY: Sadr City was built in the late 1950s by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim to provide housing for Baghdad's largely Shiite urban poor, many of whom had migrated from southern Iraq. It was first named Revolution City and became a stronghold of the Iraq Communist party. It was renamed Saddam City after the late president took power in 1979. After Saddam's ouster in 2003, it became known as Sadr City in honor of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was killed, probably by...

Islam’s Animal Gulag   By Jamie GlazovFrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Frontpage Interview's guest today is Robert Spencer, a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and the director of Jihad Watch. He is the author of seven books, eight monographs, and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism, including the New York Times Bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is Religion of Peace? FP: Robert Spencer, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Spencer: Thank you, Jamie. Always a pleasure. FP: An Iranian man was recently sentenced...

A leading figure in the movement led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said the group would not pardon anyone if their leader is harmed. “In the event Sadr is harmed, Iraqi will them swim in a lake of blood,” warned Sheikh Sadeq al-Hasnawi. Hasnawi is one of the top officials leading the movement in Sadr’s absence. He said the cleric was currently in Iran “studying and mediating” in the religious city of Qom which is the Iranian equivalent of Iraq’s holy city of Najaf where Shiite clerics are educated and trained. Hasnawi made the remarks in response to unconfirmed reports...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2008 – Security contributions provided by surge-fortified U.S. forces and ongoing efforts by Iraqi soldiers, police and concerned local citizens’ groups have combined to produce stability, a senior U.S. officer posted in Iraq said today. “The current security situation is stable, and I am optimistic about the future,” said Army Col. Tom James, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, a component of the Fort Stewart, Ga.-based 3rd Infantry Division. The Iraq veteran and his unit deployed to Iraq in December. A component of Multinational Division Center, James’ 3,000-member brigade is based at Forward Operating Base Kalsu,...

Pakistan A 'Hotbed' For [Islamic] Terror National Post, Canada - Feb 14, 2008 Now, it is rapidly becoming a central front in the US-led war on terror. The harsh mountainous territory, which Pakistan doesn't control and is off limits...

Sharia law at the Treasury and a drift to Islam Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has described terrorist activity as 'Anti-Islamic' It is strangely shocking to find that Her Majesty's Treasury, that very matter-of-fact department, should be issuing bonds that comply with the ancient rules of sharia law. It is as if your bank manager were suddenly to break off from warning you about your overdraft, fetch out a prayer mat and start offering devotions in the direction of Mecca. As it happens, the decision makes sense on business terms. Many major investors are Muslim and it would be foolish to...

U.S. Says Iran-backed Groups Using Secret Arms Stores February 17, 2008 Reuters Mohammed Abbas The U.S. military said on Sunday it had evidence Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq were increasingly using secret weapons stores to attack U.S. and Iraqi forces. The accusation comes days after Tehran postponed talks with the United States on improving security in Iraq for "technical reasons", a move that prompted rebukes from U.S. officials. "In just the past week, Iraqi and coalition forces captured 212 weapons caches across Iraq, two of those inside Baghdad, (which have) growing links to Iranian-backed special groups," military spokesman Real Admiral...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) ― Danish police said Tuesday they have arrested three people suspected of plotting to kill one of the 12 cartoonists behind the Prophet Muhammad drawings that sparked a deadly uproar in the Muslim world two years ago. Two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin were arrested in pre-dawn raids in western Denmark, the police intelligence agency said. The Dane was suspected of violating Danish terror laws but likely would be released after questioning as the investigation continues, said Jakob Scharf, the head of the PET intelligence service. The two Tunisians would be expelled from Denmark, he...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2008 – Security improvements have spurred reconciliation in the Madain Qada region along the Diyala and Tigris rivers in Iraq, an area that had been plagued by brutal sectarian violence, a U.S. commander there said. “We have made amazing progress along all lines of operation, but it is security that opened all the doors to allow us to get (reconciliation) going,” Army Col. Wayne Grigsby, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, said during a teleconference with online journalists and “bloggers” Jan. 25. Grigsby said his unit has conducted 166 named operations in...

Shi'ite Muslims at the al-Khoei Islamic Center in Queens prepare to flagellate themselves during a procession marking the festival of Ashura. View the pics here.

Clashes kill nearly 50 in southern Iraq By CHRISTOPHER CHESTER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 10 minutes ago Violence left nearly 50 people dead in two major southern cities Friday when members of a shadowy, messianic cult attacked police and fellow Shiite worshippers — a year after a similar plot was foiled during Shiite Islam's most important holiday. Iraqi authorities said at least 36 people were reported killed in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, and at least 10 in Nasiriyah, where witnesses said U.S.-led coalition jet fighters and helicopter gunships targeted a police station seized by cult gunmen. U.S. military...

Reconciliation in Iraq: Don't Hold Your Breath By Colonel Norvell B. DeAtkine, U.S. Army (Retired) The war-torn nation is a victim of its tortured history. The word "reconciliation" has become a synonym for success in Iraq. It was enshrined as the centerpiece of the 18 benchmarks imposed on the Iraqi government by domestic American political pressures, presumably to have some measure of success or failure in an unpopular conflict. The concept as enunciated in the troop surge was that the calming of Baghdad would give the Iraqi politicians time to work out the differences between the various sectarian demands. The...

BASRA, Iraq (AFP) — Clashes between a Shiite messianic sect and security forces in two southern Iraqi cities on Friday killed dozens of cult members, policemen and civilians, marring Ashura religious rituals, officials said. The fighting came as hundreds of thousands of Shiites descended on the holy city of Karbala in central Iraq for Saturday's climax of Ashura and as radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr issued a sharp warning to the government. Members of a Shiite doomsday sect led by Ahmed al-Hassani al-Yamani simultaneously attacked police and troops with machine-guns and light arms in the cities of Basra and Nasiriyah at...

IIn the movie “Die Hard 2,” a terrorist is laying out his nefarious plans to the air-traffic control chief — played by one Sen. Fred Thompson — at Dulles International Airport. “Dammit, you can't do this!” an aghast Thompson tells the terrorist character. “I am doing this!” snarls the terrorist. With similar melodramatic aplomb, the Iranians played a potentially deadly game of chicken just as all eyes were fixated on Thompson and the rest of the New Hampshire hopefuls. As Iranian speedboats confronted U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, a radio transmission intoned in the speaker's best Darth Vader English,...

ISLAH VILLAGE, Iraq — Farming is a difficult life under the best of circumstances. And Iraqi farmers are finding the price of materials, the lack of government help and the amount they get for their produce in this troubled Middle East nation is not providing anything more than a basic subsistence level of existence. For Sheik Hamid Rohayim Ali Al Humayri, it is hard life in the farming-based Islah Village of 40 homes — in Iraq, areas are defined by the number of houses, not population — even though the soil is fertile and water is easy to obtain through...

The new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities doesn’t change my view of that we need to restrain Iran. The NIE confirms that as recently as the fall of 2003, Iran was covertly working to develop nuclear weapons. Perhaps they have since halted their covert nuclear weapons work, but meanwhile they continue to aggressively pursue a uranium enrichment capability, despite the fact that it makes no economic sense as a civilian program. This program was begun secretly as part of their larger nuclear weapons program and could be converted to bomb-making in short order. The knowledge...

BAGHDAD - Former Sunni insurgents are signing up to fight al-Qaida, Shiite militias have toned down attacks, commerce is reviving and monthly casualty counts are falling. But the failure of Iraq's leaders to strike power-sharing deals raises questions whether the progress can survive after America begins sending its troops home next year. Nearly a year after the U.S. gambled by pouring troops into Iraq's capital, there is finally cause for hope that the worst of the Iraq war may have passed, even if the endgame takes longer than Americans and Iraqis want. The political rivalries between Sunnis and Shiites that...

BAGHDAD - Iraq's most influential Shiite politician said Sunday that the U.S had not backed up claims that Iran is fueling violence here, underscoring a wide gap on the issue between Washington and the Shiite-led Baghdad government. These are only accusations raised by the multinational forces and I think these accusations need more proof," Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraq Council, told reporters. Al-Hakim, who has been undergoing treatment for lung cancer in Iran, said the Iranians have insisted in meetings with Iraqi officials that "their true will is to support the Iraqi government" and to promote stability.

Western civilization’s delinquent knowledge of the Islamic faith leaves us naïve to many of its tenets. Many would be hard pressed to explain the differences between the Sunni and the Shi’ite, let alone the reasons why they have remained in conflict for almost the entire existence of the Islamic faith. This delinquency in understanding Islamic culture and doctrine makes those they consider non-believers – or kafirs – vulnerable both individually and collectively. This is especially true when we examine the Islamic concept of taqiyya. Taqiyya is defined literally as: “Concealing or disguising one's beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies...

Islam's Assassins are Dancing by SOPnewswire Posted October 30, 2007 In a ministry that spans 44 years, bestselling author Chris Panos has worked with and ministered to Muslims in countries including Syria, Iran, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, India, China, Spain, and Africa. His latest book, Dancing with Islam's Assassins, takes on the issues raised by the spread of radical Islam. In his book, Panos points out that Islamic terrorism impacts everybody, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. If you are a Sunni Muslim, you need to worry about Shiite Muslims; if you are a Shiite Muslim, you need to worry about the Sunnis....

THE death of Special Air Service soldier Sergeant Matthew Locke on Thursday in Afghanistan is a terrible reminder that there is rarely such a thing as a war without casualties. Sergeant Locke died fighting a barbaric enemy that seeks not just to take Afghanistan back to the dark ages but to use it as a base from which to destroy us. Worryingly, the death of two Australian soldiers in three weeks is not just a tragic coincidence. Things are not going well in the poorly named war on terror. As Frank Furedi writes in Inquirer today, we have been unable...

US: Raid of Baghdad's Sadr City kills 49 By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 25 minutes ago U.S. forces backed by airstrikes raided Sadr City, Baghdad's main Shiite district, killing 49 militants on Sunday as they targeted a militia leader accused in high-profile kidnappings, the military said. Iraqi officials said women and children were among the dead. The Iraqi reports followed other recent claims of civilian deaths as a result of U.S. military action or shootings by private Western security teams protecting American diplomats and aid groups. The military said it was not know of any civilians killed....

As the Maliki government continues its slow pace towards legislative reform, the US has increased its efforts to bring reconciliation to Iraq, and has met with some quiet but significant success. Evolving from the surge strategy and counterinsurgency tactics of General David Petraeus, the Sunnis and Shi'ites have begun reaching out to each other as the violence continues to ebb: Aboard the 70-mile flight from Baghdad to Ramadi was a top Pentagon envoy and a leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite political party. They were paying a visit to Sunni sheiks who have joined the U.S. battle against extremists. The meeting...

Washington's Double Vision: al-Qaida, Iran and Global Islamo-fascism Paul Rogers The United States needs to keep the focus on al-Qaida while targeting Iran. It isn't easy. There's no escaping Iraq. Two incidents in recent days bear heavily on the unending conflict in that country. More broadly, they reveal how the United States administration's definition of its "war on terror" (or "long war") reflects entrapment in a way of thinking that requires it constantly to press the real world into the service of a partisan, dangerous, and self-defeating ideology. First, the four coordinated truck-bombings of 14 August 2007 which targeted the...

Uganda: Iganga Muslims Fight Over Idd Day The Monitor (Kampala) 16 October 2007 Posted to the web 15 October 2007 Fredrick Sooma Iganga Last week's Idd Day prayers and celebrations in Iganga District turned dramatic when rival Muslim sects disagreed on the day on which to mark the end of the fasting season. The Sunni Muslims said they had sighted the moon which meant an end to the fasting and therefore went ahead to organise Idd prayers for Friday. However, the Shiite Muslims claimed the moon had not yet been sighted and wanted the celebrations to be postponed. The founder...

Baghdad - A report by Amnesty International says thousands of Palestinian refugees in Iraq are the victims of gross human rights violations. Many of them have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered by Shiite militias. The predominantly Sunni Palestinians have been targeted because Shiite extremists claim they received preferential treatment under Saddam Hussein. They are also suspected of supporting Sunni insurgents. Amnesty says this is the reason Palestinians are often arrested by Iraqi security forces and many of them have been tortured in prison.

The venue was different -- the grand hall of the UN General Assembly -- but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's message was the same as it has been for months. Fresh from his performance as a human pinata at Columbia University, the Iranian president took the opportunity this week to remind the nations of the world just how much contempt he and his country held for the UN Security Council. In sum, a lot. After two sets of sanctions, and many more deadlines for Iran to suspend its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad dared the nations of the world to stop Iran's nuclear...

THA’ALBA — Iraqi and Coalition forces captured six enemy targets during the early morning hours of Sept. 25 in Tha’Alba, during Operation “Viking Squeeze II.” U.S. Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., and Soldiers from the Iraqi 5th Special Troops Company detained 10 individuals – six of which are suspected of facilitating and executing attacks against innocent civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition forces. Two of the detainees are members of a kill squad, one of whom is suspected of participating in a minimum of...

1. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pronounced mah-MOOD ah-mah-dih-nee-ZHAD) was born Oct. 28, 1956, three years after the CIA-sponsored coup that installed the pro-Western leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Iran's leader. A Shiite Muslim, he and his wife, a professor, have two sons and a daughter. 2. When he was an infant, Ahmadinejad's family moved from the village of Aradan to Tehran. It was at this point that the family changed its name from Saborjhian, which translates to "thread painter" (the lowliest job in Iran's traditional carpet-weaving industry), to the more religious Ahmadinejad ("race of Muhammad" or "virtuous race"). 3. Ahmadinejad is...

The moment Iran has the capability to create nuclear weapons, the world will change. The moment Iran creates nuclear weapons life will not be the same, like it was on September 12, 2001. Those that choose to believe that a nuclear Iran can be handled (an msm-loved and revered retired general, along with a lot of people), the greater threat to the world is George Bush or any other opinion that avoids possible recognition of the administrations side of the debate; please don't be surprised when much of it comes to fruition, you just weren't listening. From Family Security Matters:...

The invitation was on creamy stationery with fancy calligraphy: The Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran "requests the pleasure" of my company to dine with H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The dinner is at the Intercontinental Hotel — with names carefully written out at all the place settings around a rectangular table. There are about 50 of us, academics and journalists mostly. There's Brian Williams across the room, and Christiane Amanpour a few seats down. And at a little after 8pm, on a day when he has already addressed the U.N., the evening after his confrontation at Columbia, a...

COLUMBIA University Presi dent Lee Bollinger yester day made some cutting crit icisms while introducing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - but that doesn't make the school's decision to offer a platform to the head of a violent terrorist state any less abject, squalid or shameless. "Abject, squalid, shameless" is how Winston Churchill described the resolution passed by Oxford University's prestigious Debating Union in 1933 - the year Adolf Hitler came to power - that "this House will under no circumstances fight for King and Country." And Columbia's event, like the 1933 Oxford resolution, sent (to quote Churchill again) a "very...

Despite the controversy that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York City has triggered, Senator Barack Obama still vows to meet with rogue leaders if he is elected, reports CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic. “Nothing has changed with respect to my belief that strong countries and strong presidents talk to their enemies and talk to their adversaries,� Obama told reporters at a press conference after receiving an endorsement from the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. Obama said he would not have invited Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University, but he believes in academic freedom. “They have the right to...

Mr. Chairmen, Ranking Members, Members of the Committees, thank you for the opportunity to provide my assessment of the security situation in Iraq and to discuss the recommendations I recently provided to my chain of command for the way forward. At the outset, I would like to note that this is my testimony. Although I have briefed my assessment and recommendations to my chain of command, I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress. As a bottom line up front, the military objectives of the...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2007 – Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr’s recent call for a halt to all militia violence in Iraq is a “welcome development,” a Multinational Force Iraq official said during a briefing in Baghdad today. “The Multinational Force Iraq joins the government of Iraq in welcoming Sadr’s publicly articulated commitment to peace,” said Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, communications division chief for Multinational Force Iraq. “If implemented, Sadr’s order holds the prospect of allowing Iraqi security and coalition forces to intensify their focus on al Qaeda in Iraq and protecting the Iraqi population.” A disruption in...

Bush to say Iraq is front line against Iran, Al-Qaeda BELLEVUE, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Tuesday will describe Iraq as the front-line against Shiite extremism championed by Iran and the Sunni extremism of Al-Qaeda, an aide said Monday. Bush was due to level the charge in a speech to the American Legion veterans group, the second of two presidential addresses meant to bolster support for the war in Iraq ahead of a critical September 15 progress report. "The president will talk about Sunni extremism and Shia extremism. Neither represents Islam. They represent a brutal...

The Iraqi prime minister and president announced a new alliance of moderate Shiites and Kurds in a push to save the crumbing government Thursday, saying a key Sunni bloc refused to join but the door remained open to them. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the agreement was the first step to unblock political stagnation that has gripped his Shiite-led government since it first took power in May 2006. But the announcement after three days of intense negotiations was disappointing because it did not include Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and his moderate Iraqi Islamic Party. Al-Maliki has been criticized...

BAGHDAD - A Muslim imam dropped his cloak to the sidewalk. It was a signal for the gunmen to move. They surrounded the top Iraqi security official in a north Baghdad district. Iraqi military vehicles — commandeered by other Shiite militiamen — screeched into a cordon, blocking his exit. A gun was put to his head. Brig. Gen. Falah Hassan Kanbar, a fellow Shiite, managed to escape when his bodyguards pulled him into a vehicle that sped down an alley. Details of the Aug. 5 ambush emerged this week in interviews with Kanbar, U.S. military and intelligence officials. It remains...