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Thursday December 6, 2007

MASSIVE ATTACKS WELCOME "ALICE-IN-WONDERLAND" SEC-DEF TO BAGHDAD
A dreary mood descended after a parked car loaded with explosives blew up and killed at least 16 people Wednesday in a Shiite district of Baghdad where life had come closer to normal than any other during the security campaign that has quieted the city's long bout of violence. The bombing in Karradah — the deadliest of four across Iraq that killed at least 25 people — came less than an hour before Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in the heavily fortified Green Zone across the Tigris River that "a secure, stable Iraq is within reach."

"NO 'VICTORY DANCE'" —PETRAEUS
We have to be careful not to feel too successful," Gen. David Petraeus said, adding that there is "much hard work still to be done and issues to be addressed," referring to Wednesday's sectarian violence which challenges recent claims of "peace" in Iraq. "Nobody in uniform is doing victory dances in the end zone." Petraeus, who was due to meet with Gates later on Thursday, emphasized that establishing stabilty in Iraq required a continued amount of very tough work.

DIYALA RESIDENTS HOLD MASSIVE FUNERAL/PROTEST
Shiite villagers paraded empty coffins at mock funerals near Baghdad on Thursday, in protest of alleged al-Qaida in Iraq attacks that killed as many as 45 people in a single village in recent months.

SENATORS QUESTION VA CHIEF NOMINEE
On the eve of a Senate confirmation hearing for a new secretary of veterans affairs, two key lawmakers warn they want to be convinced that the Bush administration's pick for the job is going to fight for veterans. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., one of the Senate's leading voices on veterans' issues, asked whether Peake will "show us he has the courage and honesty to take on this administration and stand up for veterans." Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., another veterans' committee member, said he wants Peake to explain, in particular, how VA is preparing for the long-term cost of treating Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

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