44 killed in Iraq
Middle East Desk Report

BAGHDAD—At least 44 people have been killed in a wave of mainly anti-Shiite attacks in Baghdad after a Shiite leader asked US President George W. Bush for more arms and authority to combat “terrorism”.
Tuesday’s bombings came on the eve of the release of a US report on its options for the war-torn country, with Bush under growing pressure at home to come up with an exit strategy. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former secretary of state James Baker, is expected to call for a phased withdrawal of US forces without setting a timetable, as well as push for talks with Iran and Syria on controlling the violence. On Monday, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, an influential cleric and political leader, said during a landmark trip to Washington that US forces were not doing enough to stop attacks on Iraqis — an assertion grimly underlined by events the next day. A bus carrying employees of the Shiite religious endowment, which manages mosque affairs, was first blasted by a car bomb and then riddled with bullets by a band of gunmen in northeast Baghdad, killing 15 people and wounding nine.