• From violence to political turmoil? Such seems the case in Iraq, just weeks after the official end of U.S. military involvement there. That some violence and upheaval would occur upon U.S. withdrawal was perhaps inevitable; there are many forces within Iraq that are aligned against a unity government, the al-Qaeda front “Islamic State of Iraq” chiefly among them (they claimed responsibility for attacks that killed 70 on Thursday). Now comes word that Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Shi’ite political bloc known as the Sadrists (as well as a staunch anti-American cleric) has called for the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament, and for early elections, threatening to deepen the country’s increasing Islamic sectarian crisis. source

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