Doctors Optimistic about Aqila al-Hashimi

Her physicians, who have operated once and planned a second operation, are guardedly optimistic about the prospects of Aqila Hashimi, the member of the Interim Governing Council who was attacked on Saturday. She suffered a bullet wound in the leg, and two in the abdomen, injuring her liver, intestines and pancreas. The LA Times reports today, "Hamid Majid Moussa, a Governing Council member from the Iraqi Communist Party, agreed that Hashimi's ties to the old regime might have made her more of a target for loyalists, because Baathists whose hands are not "stained with blood" might be encouraged by her example to cooperate with the Americans."