May 21, 2007

U.S. deaths:As of yesterday, at least 3,421 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count. The latest identifications:
Army Pfc. Aaron D. Gautier, 19, of Hampton, Va., was killed Thursday in Baghdad by small-arms fire.
Army Pfc. Jonathan V. Hamm, 20, of Baltimore, Md., was killed Thursday in Baghdad by indirect fire. Both were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

Cancer found: The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite party, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, has been diagnosed with lung cancer in Houston and was headed to Iran for treatment, party officials said yesterday. Al-Hakim's absence is likely to create disarray in his Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq – a Shiite party the U.S. is counting on to push through benchmark reforms.
News of al-Hakim's diagnosis came hours after another top Iraqi leader, President Jalal Talabani, flew to the U.S. for a medical checkup. The 73-year-old Kurdish leader was hospitalized in Jordan three months ago after collapsing. Talabani's absence is also likely to complicate efforts to forge national unity.

Extremist killed: A U.S. spokesman said troops killed a Shiite extremist believed to have masterminded a brazen Jan. 20 attack in which four U.S. soldiers were killed. Azhar al-Duleimi was killed Friday in a raid in north Baghdad, Maj. Gen., William Caldwell told CNN's “Late Edition.” Caldwell said U.S. troops had been pursuing al-Duleimi “relentlessly” since the attack, in which English-speaking gunmen wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying U.S. weapons attacked a joint military command headquarters in Karbala.

Oil Law snag? U.S. officials have been stepping up pressure recently on Iraq's religiously and ethnically based parties to reach agreements on a range of political and economic initiatives to encourage national reconciliation and bring an end to the fighting. Progress in meeting those benchmarks is considered crucial to continued U.S. support for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government at a time when Democrats in Congress are pressing for an end to the war.
Those benchmarks include enactment of a new law to manage the country's vast oil wealth and distribute revenues among the various groups. But prospects for quick approval received a setback yesterday when the country's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, told reporters in Jordan that the proposed legislation gives too many concessions to foreign oil companies. “We disagree with the production-sharing agreement,” he said. “We want foreign oil companies, and we have to lure them into Iraq to learn from their expertise and acquire their technology, but we shouldn't give them big privileges.”
The bill also faces opposition from the Kurds, who have demanded greater control of oil fields in Kurdish areas. Kurdish parties control 58 of the 275 parliament seats.
Iraq's Cabinet signed off on the oil bill in February and sent it to parliament, a move that the Bush administration hailed as a major sign of political progress in Iraq. But parliament has yet to consider the legislation.

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