U.S. Threatens to Cut Off Iraqi Aid

Independent:  The US and Britain are pressuring Iraq’s dominant Shia community to relinquish two key ministries in negotiations for a new government, as the country was hit by a wave of bombings that killed at least 24 people.

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, warned yesterday that Washington might cut aid to the Iraqis if the new government included sectarian politicians, pointing out that the US had spent “billions” in building up the police and the army.

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Reuters:

BAGHDAD—A car bomb killed at least 21 people in Baghdad on Tuesday hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari angrily rejected U.S. warnings to the Shi’ite majority to embrace sectarian rivals in a new government.

The blast in the southern Dora district, the bloodiest in six weeks, also wounded at least 27 people, including children, a day after three bombings killed 19 people in the capital and broke a relative lull in guerrilla violence.

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