42 Bodies Found in Iraq
19 Others Killed in Separate Incidents

In a macabre harvest, 42 bodies were found in various places in Iraq on Saturday, killed in night-time sectarian reprisals.

AP counts another 19 killed in separate incidents in Baghdad, Basra and elsewhere. In Basra, a Sunni cleric was killed. On Friday evening a minibus full of Shiites was shot up, with 5 deaths.
It writes:

' At least 22 people were killed Saturday in fresh violence in Baghdad and Basra, Iraq's two largest cities. Six others - all Shi'is - died Friday evening when gunmen opened fire on a minibus northeast of Baghdad, police said. On Saturday, gunmen killed three ice cream vendors in Baghdad's southern neighborhood of Dora, while a butcher and his son were killed and another son was wounded in east Baghdad, police said. The owner of an air conditioner repair shop was shot to death on his way to work in western Baghdad. '

Two US GIs were killed by guerrillas who shot down their helicopter.

The price of fuel in Iraq has gone way up. That might be a good thing with regard to cutting down on smuggling. It can't be good for ordinary people or factory owners. The article adds

' . . . three dozen or more energy outfits from around the world, including U.S.-based companies, have signed memorandums of understanding to jump-start potential partnerships in the country, he said. The memos allow technological expertise to change hands and a budding relationship to begin, but real business is stalled until Iraq enacts a new petroleum law, Todor said. Silverman said regional governments have been given the authority to hammer out oil deals and one is moving forward despite the lack of a new petroleum law. The Kurdistan Regional Government has struck production sharing agreements with several companies, including Houston-based Prime Natural Resources and Heritage Oil of Canada. '

Iraqi clerics meeting in London condemned guerrilla attacks on innocent cvilians. But they affirmed that attacks on "occupying forces" are legitimate. Their number included an outgoing minister in the Iraqi government from a Shiite background!

British intelligence has warned PM Tony Blair that the British military involvement in Iraq has radicalized UK Muslims and made Britain a target for terrorists for many years to come.

A senior civil servant has concluded after a review of the intelligence that Britain's involvement in the Iraq War provoked the London subway bombings of 7/7/05. This finding, which seems obvious given what the perpetrators told friends and family, has been consistently denied by Blair and his government.