AFP - Charges against a US Marine involved in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha were dropped on Friday, just moments before the start of the soldier's court martial.
McClatchy Newspapers - BAGHDAD? Four days into a major government offensive in Basra, Iraqi government forces have been unable to dislodge Shiite Muslim militias from their strongholds in the southern port city, prompting Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to back off his ultimatum to disarm by Friday.
AP - As of Friday, March 28, 2008, at least 4,005 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,261 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
AP - A Marine charged with murdering an Iraqi detainee captured during fierce house-to-house fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, said his squad leader asked for help killing captives after weapons were found in their house, a naval investigator testified Friday.
AFP - US Admiral William Fallon was replaced Friday as head of US military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, a post he quit following reports he opposed President George W. Bush's policy towards Iran.
AFP - President George W. Bush Friday said Iraq's crackdown on Shiite militias marked a "defining moment" in the country's history and was a key test for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government.
AP - Convicted terrorists will no longer be eligible for early release from British prisons, the Ministry of Justice said Friday.
U.S. News & World Report - It was not all that long ago when it looked as if Iraq was going to dominate the 2008 presidential campaign, a situation that seemed to make just about any Democratic nominee a shoo-in. In early 2007, President Bush was pouring more troops into Iraq even as dozens of corpses were turning up on Iraqi streets each morning. The U.S. death toll was mounting fast. And both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama declared that the United States should not "baby-sit a civil war."
U.S. News & World Report - President Bush claimed on Thursday that U.S. forces and Iraqi tribesman have "systematically dismantled" the terrorist group Al Qaeda in Iraq in the long-troubled Anbar Province. And indeed, while Al Qaeda in Iraq remains dangerous and active, particularly in parts of northern Iraq, the terrorist group is having increasing difficulty pulling off its signature type of attack, deadly car bombings.
AP - A jury began deliberating Friday in the second trial of six men accused of plotting terrorist attacks against Chicago's Sears Tower and FBI offices.