IRAQ: The US military said yesterday it had every confidence in the new Iraqi army it is training, after hundreds of Sunni Arab recruits joined a protest at a graduation parade that bordered on mutiny.
Three years to the day since President George W Bush declared his country's "mission accomplished" in the brief campaign to invade and overthrow Saddam Hussein, Washington still has 133,000 troops in Iraq, suffering daily casualties.
Mr Bush said yesterday Iraq was now at a "turning point" as Shia prime minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki strives, after months of political deadlock, to form a government of national unity.
An as yet unnamed soldier killed by a roadside bomb near Baghdad on Saturday was the 2,400th American to die in uniform in Iraq, all but 140 of them since Mr Bush declared "major combat" over on May 1st, 2003. Nearly 17,500 have been wounded. At least 73 US troops were killed in April, their costliest month since November.
US forces said they were keen to increase recruitment among the Sunni minority to broaden the sectarian and ethnic mix of the army and win it greater acceptance in the heartland of the insurgency.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said he had met delegates from some insurgent groups and hoped there could be a deal to have them lay down their arms, though hardline supporters of al-Qaeda or Saddam Hussein would remain enemies of the new state. - (Reuters)