CNN: Iraq ‘Out of Control’

That’s the headline on CNN’s main page in the wake of the deadliest coordinated attack of the Iraq war — which left more than 200 dead in a Baghdad slum. Also, the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is threatening to boycott Iraq’s government if the Iraqi prime minister meets with President Bush next week.

CNN:

Powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is threatening to withdraw support from Iraq’s government if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets President Bush next week, an al-Sadr representative said Friday.

Such a move could jeopardize the stability of the administration of al-Maliki, who has relied on the support of both the United States and his fellow Shiites.

The White House said talks between Bush and al-Maliki in Jordan next week would go ahead as planned. Al-Maliki’s office has not responded to the threat by Salih al-Akeili, a member of the al-Sadr bloc in Iraq’s parliament, that aired on Iraqi TV.

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AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Militiamen grabbed six Sunnis as they left Friday worship services, doused them with kerosene and burned them alive as Iraqi soldiers stood by, and seven Sunni mosques came under attack as Shiites took revenge for the slaughter of at least 215 people in the Sadr City slum.

A U.S. helicopter opened fire into the Shiite enclave after militiamen fired on it from the ground, residents said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

With the government trying to avert a civil war, two simultaneous bombings in Tal Afar, in northern Iraq, killed at least 23 people. On Thursday, Sunni-Arab insurgents unleashed bombings and mortar attacks in Sadr City, the deadliest assault since the U.S.-led invasion.

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