AFP - Civilian deaths spiked in Iraq over the past week, around the same time the United Stated marked the fifth anniversary of the war and the milestone of 4,000 US troop deaths, a US military official said.
AP - Marking a grim milestone, a determined President Bush declared Monday the lives of 4,000 U.S. military men and women who have died in Iraq "were not lost in vain." The White House signaled anew that additional troops won't be pulled out soon.
Bloomberg - March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John McCain, returning to the U.S. after a trip to Europe and the Mideast, accused Democrats of refusing to acknowledge gains being made in improving security in Iraq.
McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD? A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.
Reuters - President George W. Bush expressed
sorrow on Monday as the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq
hit 4,000, days after he marked the fifth anniversary of the
unpopular war.
McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD _U.S. authorities have recovered the remains of two American contractors who were kidnapped separately in predominantly Shiite Muslim southern Iraq more than a year ago, the FBI announced Monday. They were Ronald J. Withrow, a computer specialist of Roaring Springs, Texas, and John Roy Young, a security contractor from Kansas City, Mo.
Reuters - The head of the Senate Banking Committee on Monday hailed a Commerce Department decision to suspend the export privileges of a British company that had illegally shipped three U.S.-made aircraft to Iran and was preparing to send it three more.
Reuters - Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday
told Turkey that the United States supported its fight against
Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, but wanted to ensure it did
not add to political tensions in Iraq, a senior U.S.
administration official said.
AFP - The top US commander in Iraq blamed neighbouring Iran for rocket attacks over the weekend on the heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, in an interview with the BBC on Monday.
AP - Vice President Dick Cheney, concluding two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said Monday that Hamas militants and their backers in Iran and Syria are playing the role of spoiler in Mideast peace talks.