June 30, 2006:
The government is cracking down on Shia Arab militias, and the attacks on Sunni Arabs. This has led to battles between largely Shia police and army units, and these Shia militias. The Shia troops and police appear to have accepted the concept of shutting down Shia militias that try to deliver their own idea of justice. This is critical as Iraqi police and troops forces take over security duties in Mosul. The city is full of heavily armed Sunni Arab and Kurdish gangs, each attempting to take control of the entire city.
June 29, 2006: Amnesty negotiations with Sunni Arabs are proceeding via email. The government has set up an email address, and ways to authenticate the terrorist negotiators, so that senior members of the government can participate directly in the negotiations.
June 28, 2006: The post Zarqawi round up of al Qaeda personnel has apparently led to the capture of those responsible for bombing the Shia Askariya Shrine in Samarra. The lead bomber was a Tunisian, and it appears that the attack was an al Qaeda operation.
June 27, 2006: Largely unseen, and unreported, is the flight of over a million Sunni Arabs. These men, women and children are running away from Kurds and Shia Arabs seeking revenge for decades of Sunni Arab oppression and terror. The number of refugees has increased in the last four months, as Shia Arabs reacted to the February bombing of the Askariya Shrine in Samarra. This terror has had an impact, one resulting in a coalition of Sunni Arab terrorist organizations offering to stop killing, if the Americans promise to be gone in two years. Most Sunni Arabs believe they will eventually regain control of the country, if only they can get rid of those foreign troops. About two-thirds of the Sunni Arab terrorists appear ready for some kind of deal, but a third are determined to fight on no matter what. So far, anyway.
June 26, 2006: Two bombs, set off in markets in Shia neighborhoods, killed 35 people, and wounding nearly a hundred. The war has come down to a slaughter of civilians, with the Sunni Arabs using bombs and assassinations, and the Shia Arabs using mass arrests and death squads. The Kurds help out the Shia, but mainly keep to themselves in their northern stronghold. Anyone who says its impossible to have peace in Iraq, need only drive around Kurdish controlled northern Iraq. The sad truth is, though, that it's only peaceful in those areas that are almost entirely Kurdish. Same thing in the south for Shia Arab areas.