Iraq

A seven-member commission has begun meeting to try to recover what it says are billions of taxpayer dollars wasted on unnecessary or scrapped projects and fraud in Iraq, as well as to help the government learn from its mistakes so they are not repeated in Afghanistan, where operations will soon be ramped up.  First on the commission's agenda is a new report which details a number of failures "largely caused by waste and poor pre-war planning."

At least 48 people were killed in an attack on a packed restaurant north of Kirkuk today, including representatives of Sunni Arab and Kurdish sects meeting in an attempt to defuse heightened tensions between the groups, which were elements of The Awakening, an organization of former insurgents working to stabilize the government, especially in the disputed region controlled by the Kurds. Kirkuk is the regional capital.