Iraq News (1 May)

The Good: A new State Department report indicates terrorist attacks are declining in Iraq; however, they have increased in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister has sent a delegation to Iran to discuss the arming and training of rogue militia groups in Iraq and hopefully put the kaibash on the nefarious practice. It's probably for the best that the Iraqis handle this ugly issue, as any efforts by the US would be met with great criticism from the Middle East thinking that we were beating the war drums with Iran. Also, Turkey is taking a smarter approach to dealing with the PKK, using dialogue instead of bombs (which is more suitable for the situation they face, IMHO).

The Bad: US casualties for April are the highest since September of 2007 due to the fierce fighting in Baghdad, while the Iraqi death toll remains unacceptably high. Time has a good article about how humanitarian aid convoys are being targeted by militia thugs in Sadr City. No wonder the crisis continues to get worse.

The Ugly: The worthless UN has said that more needs to be done for the children in Iraq. Thank you, UN, as if everyone did not already know this. Please constructively help the humanitarian crisis in Iraq instead of just uttering empty words that will do little to help. The Prime Minister had some harsh words for the Mahdi Army at a press conference yesterday. Kind of echoes his comments about the Sadrists being "worse than Al-Qaeda", which he uttered a month ago. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih offers a more level-headed approach to the problems of the Mahdi Army that employs some nuances of COIN doctrine.

Basra Cache Find (from NY Times)