MEANWHILE BACK IN IRAQ.....

Atleast 19 U.S. soldiers have been killed so far this month.

By Solomon Moore
Los Angeles Times
Posted August 14 2006


BAGHDAD · Hundreds of newly recruited police officers in Fallujah failed to show up for work Sunday after insurgents disseminated pamphlets threatening officers who stayed on the job, according to police officials in the western Iraq city.

"We will kill all the policemen infidels," read the pamphlets, "whether or not they quit or are still in their jobs."

Fallujah Police Lt. Mohammed Alwan said that the force, which he estimated had increased to more than 2,000, has now shrunk to only 100. Alwan said that insurgents have killed dozens of policemen in their homes and also attacked family members in an intimidation campaign

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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A prominent Sunni cleric escaped assassination Monday when gunmen fired on his convoy in north Baghdad, an aide said. One bodyguard was wounded in an exchange of fire.

Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie was traveling through the Seliekh neighborhood when the shooting occurred, according to the aide, Zuhair al-Taan.

Al-Samarie heads the Sunni Endowment, the government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines across the country.

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