A referendum to decide the fate of Kirkuk—the northern province contested by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, among others—was enshrined in Iraq's 2005 constitution, and was initially scheduled for December 2007. Delayed six months after rival groups were unable to agree on terms, it is now no closer to realization as the deadline looms. UN special envoy to Iraq Staffan de Mistura told AFP: "In December, the question of Kirkuk was a ticking time bomb. The United Nations has stopped the clock."

Even after the humbling of Judith Miller, the Times seems to be up to the same old tricks. The latest propaganda from Michael Gordon is deconstructed by Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher, May 5 (links added):

NYT vs McClatchy on Iran's Link to Iraqi Insurgents
NEW YORK — Michael Gordon, the military writer for The New York Times who contributed several false stories about Iraqi WMD in the runup to the U.S. attack on Iraq in 2002, has written several articles in the past year about Iran's alleged training of Iraqi insurgents—or supplying them with weapons to kill Americans. He produced another major report on this subject for today's Times—based solely on unnamed sources—which is at odds with an account from McClatchy’s Baghdad bureau.

At least eight people were killed and 13 injured May 6 as US aircraft bombed positions of the Mahdi Army militia in Baghdad's Sadr City. (DPA, AP, May 7) Civilians are fleeing Sadr City, but the fighting is spreading beyond the enclave. A rocket slammed into Baghdad's city hall and another hit a downtown park. (AP, May 7) Iran says it will not hold a fourth round of talks with the US on security in Iraq, as long as US forces continue what it called "open bombings" of Shi'ites. (VOA, May 5)

Turkish warplanes launched bombing raids on PKK Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq's Qandil Mountains late May 1. "There has been heavy bombing and many Turkish planes were involved. So far, we have no word of any casualties," PKK spokesman Ahmed Danees told Reuters by telephone. Military sources told Reuters that at least 30 planes were involved in the raids, which they said targeted senior PKK members. (Hurriyet, Reuters, May 2)

Residents of western Baghdad's al-Salam district say militant groups in the area are hunting down women and killing them, and have petitioned the Iraqi parliament for urgent action. "Over the past six months 15 women were killed in al-Salam neighborhood for religious reasons or because they had criticized the militants, or because of their previous affiliation to the Baath Party," MP Safia al-Suhail told the UN news agency IRIN.

From the General Union of Port Workers in Iraq, via US Labor Against the War, April 29:

May Day Message from the Port Workers in Iraq to West Coast dock workers in the US
In solidarity with the ILWU, the General Union of Port Workers in Iraq will stop work for one hour on May Day in the ports of Umm Qasr and Khor Al Zubair.

How the US is Reproducing Israel's Flawed Occupation Strategies in Iraq

by Steve Niva, Foreign Policy In Focus

The new "surge" strategy in Iraq, led by General David Petreaus, has been heavily marketed as an example of the US military's application of the "lessons of history" from previous counterinsurgencies to Iraq, foremost among them the need to win the population over from insurgents through cultivating human relationships, addressing popular grievances and providing security.

Having been busily building separation walls between Shi'ite and Sunni districts of Baghdad for the past two years, the US is now building one around the southern quarter of the Shi'ite enclave of Sadr City—to keep out Mahdi Army militants, effectively separating Shi'ite from Shi'ite and turning the quarter into an armed camp, patrolled by tanks, Stryker vehicles and Apache attack helicopters. (NYT, April 18)