Talk of Foreign Troop Withdrawals as Bombs strike Kirkuk, Tal Afar

"The Christian Science Monitor reports on the gradual Talabanization of Basra by militant Shiite militias. There has also been a murder wave in the past three months, with over 300 persons killed a month. Some have been Sunnis or Sunni clerics. The article quotes, ' "No alcohol, no music CDs, woman forced to wear hijab, people murdered in the streets - this is not the city I remember," says Samir, an editor of one of Basra's largest newspapers. '"
Juan Cole