We're supposed to turn the security of the Green Zone over under the new agreement Bush and the Iraqi government have signed. This doesn't sound promising:
Explosions kill at least 15 outside Iraq's Green Zone
By Adam Ashton
BAGHDAD — Two explosions killed at least 15 people today, including an Iraqi army soldier at a heavily guarded checkpoint leading to the U.S.-controlled Green Zone.
The U.S. said the larger explosion killed 14 and injured four on a shuttle in Baghdad's Karadah District about 7:20 a.m.
Iraqi officials said someone placed a magnetic bomb on a shuttle for employees of the Ministry of Trade in Baghdad's Karadah District about 7:20 a.m. All of the victims worked for the ministry. The second bombing reportedly was carried out by a mentally unstable woman wearing suicide vest, said Qassim al Musawi, spokesman for the Iraqi army in Baghdad.
Iraqi police and the U.S. military have issued different reports about the number of deaths caused by the checkpoint explosion.
The U.S. has confirmed eight injuries and one death, that of an Iraqi army soldier. Iraqi police say five were killed, two of them soldiers.The checkpoint sits a few hundred yards from Iraq's parliament, which was scheduled to debate an agreement today that calls for the withdrawal of American forces from the country by 2012.
That agreement has proved divisive in Iraq over the past two weeks. It's meant to replace a United Nations mandate that allows Americans to operate in Iraq. That mandate expires Dec. 31.
Several political blocs refuse to accept the agreement, though it appears to have enough votes to pass Iraq's 275-member parliament. It's expected to go to a vote by Wednesday.
More than 10,000 followers of radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr protested it in a central Baghdad square Friday, criticizing the pact as an infringement on Iraqi sovereignty. Sadr has suggested he'd call off a cease-fire among his militia if it passes.
The U.S. is still investigating today's bombings, and is not prepared to say what motivated them.
"Coalition forces are convinced that today's horrific acts will not deter the government of Iraq from deciding their own future through peaceful means, and not acts of barbaric terrorism designed to intimidated the will of the government," the U.S. said in a written statement.
Ashton reports for the Modesto (Calif.) Bee. McClatchy special correspondents Mohammed al Dulaimy and Hussein Khadim contributed to this report.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/56377.html