A little more history:
Iraq's interior minister resigns Al-Badran says he is quitting at request of U.S. administrator
Nuri al-Badran
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:37 a.m. ET April 08, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's interior minister, in charge of security forces, announced his resignation on Thursday at the request of top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer to maintain the Shiite-Sunni balance in the government.
Nuri al-Badran, a Shiite Muslim, noted that the defense minister is also a Shiite and said he wanted to maintain a balance of Iraq's religious groups on the Cabinet.
He quoted Bremer as telling him, "That will cause an imbalance, and we in the coalition cannot accept that. The solution is for you to step down from your position."
"I consider myself to have resigned," al-Badran told reporters.
The resignation comes as U.S.-led coalition forces are battling an uprising across the south by a Shiite militia led by a radical cleric.
Iraqi police, who are under al-Badran's command, have largely stood aside as militiamen seized control in several cities. It was not immediately known if al-Badran's resignation was connected to the police performance.
And yet some more history:
Iraq's Interior Minister Says There Are Links Between Baghdad Car Bombing And Zarqawi
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's interior minister said there were links between Thursday car bombing outside a Baghdad military recruiting station and Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
When asked by reporters if he saw al-Zarqawi's hand in the attack, interim Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib said "I think there is some links."
He also blamed the attack and a spate of other car bombings on foreigners. The U.S. military has counted 20 car bomb attacks so far in June alone.
"We are quite sure and confident they are not Iraqis," al-Naqib said. "And we have very good indications that they came from abroad."
Al-Naqib said that one of al-Zarqawi's aides had been arrested, though he didn't say, who, where or when.
Al-Zarqawi is a Jordanian-born extremist believed to have ties to Osama bin Laden.
The CIA says al-Zarqawi was the black-clad militant who decapitated Nicholas Berg in a videotape posted last month on an Islamic Web site. He also is believed to have been behind numerous suicide bombings in Iraq.
U.S. authorities are offering a $10 million reward for his capture. (AP)