More Violence Threatens a Shaky Iraqi Government

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More Violence Threatens a Shaky Iraqi Government In Kurdish northern Iraq today, some 50 police recruits were killed by a suicide bomber, bringing the recent toll to 200. It was another strike apparently designed to show that newly elected officials can't protect their own people. The timing coincided with still more delay in finding a role for minority Sunnis in a government controlled by Shiites and Kurds. When Iraq's new government ministers were sworn in yesterday, there were some notable absences. Vice President Ghazi Al Yawer and three other Sunnis didn't show up, and several ministries designed for Sunnis hadn't been filled. We explore the challenges in forming a new government and its effect on public trust with journalists, veteran State Department officials, experts on insurgent movements and the Middle East, and a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Making News: Dozens Dead at Police Recruitment Center in Irbil In Irbil, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq, a suicide bomber killed some 50 people today and wounded 100 more at a police recruiting center. Caryle Murphy, who is in Baghdad for the Washington Post, says this latest attack shows the continued strength and determination of the Iraqi insurgency, and is certain to intensify tensions between Kurds and Sunnis. Reporter's Notebook: Pentagon Analyst Arrested for Passing Secrets to AIPAC After the American Jonathan Pollard was caught spying for Israel in 1985, Israel said it imposed a ban on espionage in the US, but today in Washington, the FBI arrested a Pentagon analyst on charges of illegally passing secrets to a pro-Israeli group. Larry Franklin is charged with illegally passing classified information to two staff members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. We hear more from Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
More Violence Threatens a Shaky Iraqi Government In Kurdish northern Iraq today, some 50 police recruits were killed by a suicide bomber, bringing the recent toll to 200. It was another strike apparently designed to show that newly elected officials can't protect their own people. The timing coincided with still more delay in finding a role for minority Sunnis in a government controlled by Shiites and Kurds. When Iraq's new government ministers were sworn in yesterday, there were some notable absences. Vice President Ghazi Al Yawer and three other Sunnis didn't show up, and several ministries designed for Sunnis hadn't been filled. We explore the challenges in forming a new government and its effect on public trust with journalists, veteran State Department officials, experts on insurgent movements and the Middle East, and a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
  • Making News: Dozens Dead at Police Recruitment Center in Irbil
    In Irbil, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq, a suicide bomber killed some 50 people today and wounded 100 more at a police recruiting center. Caryle Murphy, who is in Baghdad for the Washington Post, says this latest attack shows the continued strength and determination of the Iraqi insurgency, and is certain to intensify tensions between Kurds and Sunnis.
  • Reporter's Notebook: Pentagon Analyst Arrested for Passing Secrets to AIPAC
    After the American Jonathan Pollard was caught spying for Israel in 1985, Israel said it imposed a ban on espionage in the US, but today in Washington, the FBI arrested a Pentagon analyst on charges of illegally passing secrets to a pro-Israeli group. Larry Franklin is charged with illegally passing classified information to two staff members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. We hear more from Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Murphy's article on Irbil bombing

NY Times article on difficulty in forming Iraqi government

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown

American Israel Public Affairs Committee

JTA article on arrest in AIPAC scandal

Department of Justice on Franklin arrest

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Warren Olney