Aljazeera.net reports that the Sunni Arab walk-out from the constitution drafting committee appears to be ending. The talk is positive that remaining issues can be resolved by August 15.

The Jaafari government will provide security to the Sunni members of the constitution writing committee, just as it does to members of parliament. Two Sunni Arab members were gunned down last Wednesday, provoking a crisis.

The Kurds tried to put into the constitution a provision that would allow them to conduct a referendum on whether Kurds want to remain in the Iraqi state or not. The other deputies on the committee rejected the demand.

Aljazeera.net adds:

' # A series of attacks against Iraqi police and civilians continued on Saturday, leaving at least six dead. Among those killed were three Falluja police officers, found dead about 10km east of Falluja, police said.

# Gunmen travelling in two cars shot and killed a Ministry of Interior employee on Friday night, police said. A Ministry of Transportation employee was also killed in a drive-by shooting, police said. '

An Iraqi also died in US custody under mysterious circumstances, according to this report.

Dexter Filkins demonstrates that the guerrilla movement in Iraq, far from being in its last throes, has grown more sophisticated in it attacks, which it launches regularly.

Some in the US military who have served in Iraq are wondering why they only Americans who appear to make significant sacrifies for the war effort are the soldiers themselves.


Prominent Columbia U. economist Jeffrey Sachs argues for a political solution in Iraq.

Patrick Cockburn goes and brings up history:

' The war in Iraq is now joining the South African War (1899-1902) and the Suez crisis in 1956 as ill-considered ventures that have done Britain more harm than good. It has demonstrably strengthened al-Qaeda by providing it with a large pool of activists and sympathisers across the Muslim world it did not possess before the invasion of 2003. The war that started out as a demonstration of US strength as the world's only superpower has turned into a demonstration of weakness. Its 135 000-strong army does not control much of Iraq . . . There have been more than 500 suicide attacks in Iraq during the past year. It is this campaign that has now spread to Britain and Egypt. The Iraq war has radicalised a significant part of the Muslim world. '