Iraq News (30 June)

The Good: The security responsibility of Diwaniyah province is set to be turned over today from Coalition Forces to the Iraqis, which will make it the tenth. The security has been mostly provided by the Poles and other members of the coalition, and has seen some level of Shi'ite extremist activity from the Mahdi Army. Interesting story about a chaplain at FOB Falcon in Baghdad at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ambassador Crocker is saying that more talks are possible with Iran, now that much of the illicit militia activity has subsided.

The Bad: A truck bomb has killed 7 north of Baghdad. The Los Angeles Times profiles the Hollywood-like, Sons of Iraq superstar, Abu Abed, who is now in hiding in Amman, Jordan. A former insurgent, Abu Abed has been credited with purging the streets of Ameriyah from the murderous Al-Qaeda goons. Now the Shi'ite-dominated government is after him. 10 KIAs have been identified by the DoD, their names are here.

The Ugly: From the "Over There" department, 30K troops are getting called up to Iraq unless Gen. Petraeus says they aren't needed. A newly-released Army study says that there weren't enough troops for post-invasion Iraq which led to the chaos and calamity following the fall of Saddam (Al-Jazeera English has more). No shit! Best...war...ever.

Abu Abed in Hiding (from LA Times)