JAPAN WILL NEVER FORGIVE US HIROSHIMA...:

In Fallujah, civility returns (Scott Peterson, 5/07/04, The Christian Science Monitor)

The eyes of Abbas Aswad shine, as a US Marine lawyer counts out 16 crisp $50 bills, and places them in his hands. The money is compensation to the Mukhtar village, to fix several fragile water lines broken hours earlier by marines, as they set up positions at the nearby Fallujah railway station.

As this Iraqi front line quiets down - there hasn't been any shooting in Fallujah in days - the payout is part of a concerted American strategy to shift away from war, and to resume the campaign to win hearts and minds. Indeed, perceptions that Iraq is a nation spiraling out of US control began to change this week. Thursday, the US ratcheted up pressure on radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, by seizing the governor's office from his fighters in Najaf. Moderate Shiites and tribal leaders have put forward plans to persuade Mr. Sadr to turn himself in.

However, returning to a practice that's been absent for more than a month, a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the so-called Green Zone that houses the US headquarters in Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians and a US soldier.

Back in Fallujah, the Iraqi general entrusted with pacifying the city said Thursday that US Marines must withdraw quickly so that stability can be restored. "If they stay it will hurt the confidence, and we have built confidence. They should leave so that there will be more calm," General Muhammad Latif told Reuters. [...]

Inside Fallujah, the imam of one mosque has been approached to determine what has been broken, such as buildings and water mains because of "collateral damage due to combat," says Coughlin. The key - and it is a fine line in this city - is to "make sure the people who owned it were civilians, and not using [a house] for insurgents."

Compensation is not the only means US forces use to connect with Iraqis. An older Iraqi woman living in a trailer hovel adjacent to the rail station says she was beaten by insurgents several weeks ago - accused of being a collaborator - and kicked in the stomach.

US servicemen evacuated Farha Abed Saad for medical treatment after dark, when her pain became unbearable. "Thank God, you have come here to Iraq and make us free," said Ms. Saad, kissing a soldier's hands. "When I see you, I see my own sons! Thank you, thank you."

Iraqis mediate in US-Sadr fight: Tribal and religious leaders offered the militant cleric a deal to end the month-long standoff in Najaf. (Annia Ciezadlo, 5/07/04, The Christian Science Monitor)

As US forces fought with militia loyal to firebrand Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, group of Iraqi leaders an offer that may hold the best hope of solving the month-long standoff between his Mahdi army militia and the US military.

The deal, offered by tribal and religious leaders without any American input, offers Sadr a chance to save face by giving himself up to Iraqis instead of to American forces.

In exchange, the group will negotiate its own demands with both Sadr and American forces, including withdrawal from Najaf and information about Iraqi prisoners being held by the coalition.

"It's an attempt to solve the legal question, and not just the security question," said Sheikh Fatih Kashif al-Ghitta, a top advisor to Iraqi Governing Council member Salama al-Khafaji. "And to solve it in a way that doesn't humiliate Sayyid Moqtada, that doesn't humiliate the Iraqi people, and that doesn't humiliate the Americans."

Shia leaders offer deal to militant (MOHAMAD BAZZI, May 6, 2004, Newsday)

The deal has the blessings of Iraq's top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, according to several people involved in drafting it. While U.S. officials have not yet been presented with the full details, they appear willing to accept it. The tribal leaders told al-Sadr yesterday that he had until only May 15 to accept the offer. If he turns it down, he will lose the tribes' backing. That would effectively give the U.S. military a green light to arrest or kill al-Sadr and crush his militia by launching an attack on Najaf.

One function of the 24-hour news cycle is that pretty much every day offers an opportunity for the labile to make fools of themselves by declaring that an isolated incident or situation portends the sky's fall. They've outdone themselves in the last month over Fallujah, al-Sadr, and the interrogation photos, none of which will have the least bearing on Iraq's future a few years down the road.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 6, 2004 6:34 PM