VIOLENCE CONTINUES TO RAGE
Iraqi police reported at least 30 people killed or found dead around the country on Wednesday- including eight beheaded bodies in Diyala province. It was one of the highest daily tolls in weeks -- and included some U.S.-allied Sunni fighters who have joined the battle against Islamist extremism. Gunmen ambushed a member of a so-called Awakening Council in Salahuddin province, killing him and three bodyguards. The attack came hours after a roadside bomb struck an Awakening Council patrol in the same province, killing a former militiaman. South of Baghdad in an area wrought with fierce fighting between Shi'a militias seeking control of Iraq's oil-rich south, a roadside bomb exploded near a police convoy transporting suspected Shi'a militia detainees. Four civilians in a car behind the police convoy were killed in the apparent attempt to free the detainees. [AP, 2/7/08]
U.S. WILL NOT OFFER IRAQ SECURITY GUARENTEES IN PACT
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the U.S. will not promise to defend Iraq nor seek permanent bases there under a planned agreement on future relations between the two states, but he stopped short of agreeing to submit the pact to the Senate for approval. My view is that there ought to be a great deal of openness and transparency to the Congress as we negotiate this status-of-forces agreement so that you can satisfy yourselves that those kinds of commitments are not being made and that there are no surprises in this," he said. But Democrats in Congress worry the Bush administration could use the agreement to lock in a long-term U.S. military presence before the next president is elected on November 4. They say the administration could use it to bind future presidents to Bush's current Iraq policy. Some Democrats argued any agreement that includes a promise to defend Iraq would require Senate approval. [Washington Post, 2/7/08]
AL QAEDA IN IRAQ TRIES SHIFT IN TACTICS
Extremists use new tactics to target hearts, minds of Mosul. Foreign-led extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq has shifted its tactics in Mosul to try to improve its image among Iraqis and avoid the mass civilian killings that alienated the public in Baghdad and other cities, the U.S. military says. The changes include warning locals to take cover before bomb attacks, relaxing the enforcement of strict Islamic laws and staging fewer attacks on Iraqi police. The strategy has made the population of Mosul less likely to follow the example of Iraqis elsewhere who have turned on al-Qaeda, U.S. commanders say. U.S. and Iraqi forces may have to work harder to retake Iraq's third-largest city. [USA Today, 2/7/08]
AFTER CLASHES WITH U.S. MILITARY, SADR ORDERS MILITIA TO MAINTAIN CEASEFIRE
Sadr tells militia to keep observing freeze. Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mahdi Army militia to maintain its six-month ceasefire, Sadr's spokesman said on Thursday, while his militiamen clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers. Some members of Shi'a cleric Sadr's bloc are pressuring him not to extend Aug. 29's 6-month freeze on the feared militia's activities, which has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq. Amid signs of growing restlessness, Iraqi police said Mahdi Army fighters had clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers early on Thursday in Sadr City. " Recent statements from within Sadr's camp have indicated growing unease about the truce, with members claiming they are being targeted by Iraqi security forces. U.S. commanders have said they are confident Sadr would extend the freeze, although U.S. and Iraqi forces continue to target "rogue" Mahdi Army units. [Reuters, 2/7/08]
RECONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN ON THE SAMARRA MOSQUE
Reconstruction begins on Samarra mosque - nearly 2 years after it was first bombed. The attack on the famed golden domed shrine in northern Iraq became a rallying point for Shi'a rage. On Wednesday, work crews picked through mounds of rubble spilling from the mosque in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, which became the spark for a vicious cycle of sectarian violence after the Feb. 22, 2006, blast blamed on Sunni Islamist extremists in Iraq. A second bomb attack last year on June 13 toppled the twin minarets, prompting Shi'a clerics to step up calls for the $16 million reconstruction of the Askariya shrine. Nearly three-dozen checkpoints have been erected to protect the workers [AP, 2/6/08]