Sudden Curfew in Baghdad

The Iraqi government has imposed a curfew on Baghdad. Some reports say it is for 24 hours. This one maintains that it is for 3 days. For those who haven't lived through them, it is worth noting that such curfews can be huge inconveniences. If you haven't stocked enough food and water, too bad. And, for people who need the money, missing work is a catastrophe. The move was abrupt and caught some Iraqi and US officials by surprise. Several hundred bodies have shown up dead in Baghdad's streets in the past week.

Congress placed restrictions on the Bush administration in its Defense Department appropriations bill, forbidding permanent bases in Iraq or trying to control the Iraqi petroleum sector. Many in Congress feel that the guerrilla movement is fueled in part by anxieties over American intentions with regard to these two issues.

16 died in guerrilla war violence in Iraq on Friday. Among the deaths, 10 bodies were found, mostly in Baghdad but some in Suwayra.

The prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government has threatened to secede from Iraq if the federal government will not recognize the oil contracts signed by the regional confederacy with Western petroleum companies. Baghdad was not consulted on these deals, and Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani has begun insisting that the central government does have some prerogatives in this regard.