Iraq awoke to a statement by the Multi National Forces that Al-Qaeda in Iraq is planning more and more suicide and car bombings, specifically stolen ambulances. The one district that is specifically mentioned is the Karakh district of Baghdad. The US military has announced that it has intelligence to this effect. This is the day after over 50 people were killed in a bombing at a funeral in the Diyala province, for two brothers who had turned against Al-Qaeda. The brothers were part of the Diyala Awakening group, the type that has spread across the country in the past year and has been said to be partly responsible for the decrease in violence along with Sadr's ceasefire.
The US statement came on the heels of AQI's latest communication with their followers: a tape by Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Fancying himself one of the myriad political commentators we have on 24-hour television here in the US, Zawahiri says that the Bush administration is leaving a ‘problem’ to his successors by ensuring that the troops remain in Iraq for the rest of his term. He also calls the Iraq war ‘a failure’, echoing a few American politicians.
