Iraq News (27 April)

The Good: The neighborhood of Al-Huteen in Basra is under Iraqi Army control a little over a month after the operation was launched on March 25th. General Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army, defends the low-key role of the Brits in Basra, citing the necessity for Iraqis to take the lead. 4 terrorists have been killed near Samarra, one of whom was Saudi. SGT Maupin, who was missing since 2004, has returned home.

The Bad: Efforts to provide services in Sadr City (in this case trash collection) were halted due to fighting from the militia. Much like the mob controlling the union, the Mahdi Army will fight to maintain its monopoly over services in Sadr City. An Iraqi teenage girl was the victim of an abominable "honor-killing" since she had a crush on a British soldier. Many civilians killed and injured due to three suicide bombs in Mosul. The biggest city in northern Iraq has seen extensive joint operations to flush out what some have called "the last Al-Qaeda bastion" in Iraq.

The Ugly: Turkey has renewed its bombing campaign against the PKK along the Turkey-Iraq border. They launched a ground force incursion a few months back with mixed results. You'd think our ally, Turkey, would take a page from the book of COIN and realize you can't just kill your way out of problems. There's some new movie on Abu Ghraib. Seriously, how much are we going to have to hear about this disastrous issue that took place more than 4 years ago. I'm sure it'll stop once the Dems get in the White House, and the Huffingtons and Greenwalds of America revert from criticizing the government to defending its heinous policies unabashedly.

Basra under control (from AFP)