MILITIAS TAKE LEAD AS GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO FALL SHORT

Militias capitalize on Iraqi government's inability to provide basic services. Sectarian militias are increasing their profile in Iraq and recruiting members by providing much-needed assistance to families displaced by the war, according to Refugees International. In a report to be released today, the group says that the Iraqi government's inability to provide basic services for its displaced citizens has attracted the attention of Sunni and Shiite militias, who are stepping in to provide food, oil, electricity, clothing and money. According to the group, the militia led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged as the largest unofficial "humanitarian" organization. The report compares the Sadrist movement to the terrorist group Hezbollah in the Middle East because it has established itself as a primary service provider in several Iraqi cities. While less organized, Sunni militias play a similar role for displaced Sunnis, particularly in the distribution of heating gas and electricity, the report states. [AP, 4/15/08 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-04-14-iraqi-militias_N.htm?csp=34>]

VIOLENCE CONTINUES TO RAGE IN IRAQ

Car bombs kill more than 50. Car bombs ripped through crowded areas during Tuesday's lunch hour in the former insurgent strongholds of Baqouba and Ramadi as more than 50 people were killed in one of the deadliest days in Iraq in months. In Baqouba, at least 38 people died and dozens of others were wounded when an explosives-laden car blew up near a restaurant across the street from the courthouse and provincial government offices in the city center. In Ramadi, 14 people died when a car bomb exploded outside a kebab restaurant west of the city center around lunchtime. [AP, 4/15/08 <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080415/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_080413220746" target="_blank>]

Twelve members of the Kurdish Peshmerga security force, now part of the Iraqi army, died when a car bomb exploded next to their truck near the Syrian border, about 75 miles north-west of the city. Another car bomb, this time in Mosul, killed a civilian. Separately, a suicide bomber blew himself up during a funeral for a Shia family in the nearby northern town of Talafar, killing four people and wounding more than 10 others. Five people also died in a roadside bomb attack on a police patrol in Baghdad. US-led forces discovered a mass grave containing 20 to 30 badly decomposed bodies near Muqdadiya, 60km (37 miles) north of the capital, the US military said in a statement. The victims appeared to have been buried for nearly eight months and troops were unable to determine whether they had been tortured, it added. [BBC, 4/14/08 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7347361.stm" target="_blank>]

SADR DEMANDS FORCES BE REINSTATED

Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has demanded the Iraqi government reinstate 1,300 soldiers and police who were dismissed for desertion during recent fighting. In a statement issued by his office in Najaf, Moqtada Sadr demanded that the authorities reinstate the security personnel sacked for abandoning their posts or refusing to fight during last month's offensive against Shia militias in the south. "All the brothers in the army and police who gave up their arms to their bothers, were only obeying their grand religious leaders and they were driven by their religious duties," the cleric said. [BBC, 4/14/08 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7347361.stm" target=>]

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS WANT IRAQ TO PAY FOR ITS OWN RECONSTRUCTION

Iraq's financial free ride may end. Looking at surging oil income, lawmakers agree that Baghdad should start picking up more of the tab, particularly for rebuilding hospitals, roads, power lines and the rest of the shattered country. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a Democrat, is drafting legislation with Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Evan Bayh of Indiana that would restrict future reconstruction dollars to loans instead of grants. Their bill also would require that Baghdad pay for the fuel used by American troops and take over U.S. payments to predominantly Sunni fighters in the Awakening movement. Plans are to propose the legislation as part of a war bill to cover spending through September. [AP, 4/15/08 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041500336_pf.html>]

JOURNALISTS RELEASED IN IRAQ

Two journalists, one the victim of a kidnapping, the other held in jail by American forces, were released on Monday. Richard Butler, a British photographer working for CBS who was kidnapped two months ago, was freed when Iraqi soldiers burst into a house in central Basra on Monday morning and found him bound and with a bag tied over his head. On Monday afternoon, American military officials announced that they would release Bilal Hussein, a photographer for the Associated Press who has been in custody for two years on allegations of aiding insurgents. An Iraqi judicial panel on Sunday dismissed the last charge against Mr. Hussein and ordered him released. [NY Times, 4/15/08 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/world/middleeast/15iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>]