corrente

From a boil to a simmer:

Tension has eased in two Iraqi flashpoint cities after a truce held in the Sunni bastion of Falluja and U.S. forces prepared to pull back from a base near Najaf, where a rebel Shi'ite cleric [Sadr] is holed up.

"I am confident that the guerrillas will turn in their heavy weapons as long as the Americans provide the guarantees they promised," said Fawzi Muthin, a 47-year-old engineer who was a member of Falluja's delegation in the talks.

"I just hope we learn from the experience. The Americans have failed in Iraq over the last year. They have to treat us with respect as humans and deliver on the promises they made."
(via Reuters)

Though I don't know if those pesky RPGs are considered "heavy."

U.S. forces also gave Iraqi mediators more time to resolve a standoff with Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia in the holy city of Najaf, south of the capital.

General Ricardo Sanchez, commanding U.S. forces in Iraq, told soldiers of a 2,500-strong 3rd Brigade Task Force that he was pulling them back to avoid bloodshed in Najaf or damage to shrines sacred to Shi'ites in Iraq and beyond.

Sanchez said there were "a whole bunch of initiatives" to resolve the crisis, but made clear Sadr was still a target. "Wherever we find him on the battlefield we kill him within the constraints that we have applied," he said.

I love the way "bringing to justice" means "killing." Anyhow, what's the net?

The Spanish are out, and the Hondurans followed.

The transport system still seems dicey, and armed insurgents rule the roads. No roads, no reconstruction (to use the noxious Orwellian term); no reconstruction, no security.

If anything, Sistani's power was reinforced.

And it still isn't clear to whom we are going to hand over the trappings of sovreignty on the 30th ...

Dunno if this is a pause or a full stop. I have to say that to me it feels like two fighters breaking a clinch to get a better grip. We'll see.