Free Republic

Hopes for a ceasefire in Iraq’s developing Shia civil war were swiftly undermined last night when the Government said that it would not stop attacking outlaw militia members despite an offer from militia leaders to freeze the conflict. Fierce fighting went on in areas of Basra loyal to Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, despite the rebel cleric’s call to his militiamen to put down their weapons. In Baghdad mortars continued to slam into the green zone government compound. British troops stationed at Basra airport were deployed outside their base for the first time yesterday, backing up Iraqi forces on the edge of...

Colin L. Powell, in his last face-to-face meeting with President Bush before stepping down as secretary of state in January 2005, tried to impress upon him one last time the dangers he saw the United States facing in Iraq, according to a new Powell biography. The insurgency was growing and the country was spiraling into sectarian bloodshed, Powell warned. Elections in Iraq would not solve the problems, and the president’s ability to act decisively was being crippled by divisions within his own administration, according to the account in “Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell” by Karen DeYoung, an associate editor...