10 Killed In Four Bombings Including

10 Killed in four bombings, Including US Soldier
Charges of Corruption In Halliburton Bids

AP reports that that on Monday, guerrillas bombed four coalition and Iraqi military convoys on Monday, killing 8. Among the dead was one American and one Estonian soldier.

Guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb in western Baghdad, killing 1 US soldier and wounding five other US troops.

On the outskirts of Baghdad, guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb as an Estonian patrol passed, killing one soldier and wounding 5 others.

Near the Australian embassy in Baghdad, guerrillas used a car bomb to attack Australian military vehicles. They eounded 3 Australian soldiers lightly, but killed 3 Iraqis and wounded 6 others.

In Mosul, one suicide car bomber detonated his payload at provincial government offices, killing 3 Iraqi government employees and wounding one. Another car bomber targeted an Iraqi military convoy in the city, wounding an Iraqi general, Mu`tazz al-Taqah.

AP says that guerrilla attacks are up 25 percent since the beginning of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Az-Zaman reports the assassination of Dhari Ali Dulaimi al-Ghariri, a tribal chieftain, in Mahmudiyah. He did not hold an official post other than heading up his tribe, and had not held high office under Saddam Hussein. Mahmudiyah is in a mixed Sunni and Shiite area where there has been violence between Sunnis and Shiites.

In Mosul, guerrillas assassinated Shaikh Sahir Khudeir, who chaired an association of tribal chieftains in the north.

Ash-Sharq al-Awsat says that hundreds of Kurds demonstrated in Kirkuk demanding that the city be incorporated into a new Kurdish superprovince. The Kirkuk issue remains unresolved, with thousands of Kurds coming back. It is among the issues that could throw Iraq into even worse turmoil

In Najaf, the Shiite clergy issued a joint condemnation of what they called the “massacre” of Iraqi military recruits, most of them poor Shiites from the south. The condemnation signals what a tough time the guerrillas have in building a national consensus, since the Shiite clergy see the victims as poor Shiites and do not see the perpetrators as Iraqi patriots.

Billions of dollars in no-bid contracts for Iraq were let to Halliburton subsidiary Kellog, Brown and Root, sometimes in violation of Pentagon rules. The chief civilian in charge of making sure such contracts are on the up and up says she was marginalized and ignored by military officers who ignored the rules.

Gee, I wonder how Halliburton got to be so powerful inside the Bush White House?

Helena Cobban at Just World News insightfully analyses last Friday’s Shiite sermons in Iraq, showing the ways in which the clergy are threatening Shiites with hellfire if they don’t vote.

I pretty much feel that way about Democrats who don’t vote in 8 days.