U.S. Helicopter Shot Down
The U.S. military says insurgents have shot down a U.S. military helicopter, killing two soldiers. No further details have yet been released about the incident, which U.S. military officials say happened Sunday during fighting in Youssifiyah, about 12 miles south of Baghdad.
The downing of the chopper was reported about an hour after former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein returned to court where he is in trial for acts his government took against Shiite Muslims in a crackdown in the 1980s.
Monday, the chief judge formally charged Saddam with torture of women and children, nine counts of murder and the illegal arrest of 399 people.
Insisting he's still the president of Iraq, Saddam refused to enter a plea to the charges. Alone in the defendant's chair, Saddam remained defiant, saying "This will never shake one hair of my head."
In Saddam's words, "You are before Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq. I am the president of Iraq according to the will of the Iraqis."
The judge entered a "not guilty" plea on Saddam's behalf.
Saddam and seven former co-defendants have been on trial for nearly seven months over the crackdown against residents of the town of Dujail. They face a possible execution by hanging if convicted.
In other recent developments:
Efforts to create a national unity government in Iraq stumbled Sunday as a member of an influential Shiite alliance bloc threatened to form a new government unilaterally if rival groups did not scale back their demands. Sunnis said they may withdraw from the process entirely.
Under the constitution, Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki faces a May 22 deadline to form a government. Lawmakers have struggled with this task for months, hoping a new government will cool escalating sectarian tensions between Iraq's Shiite majority and the Sunni Arab minority.
As the 275-member parliament convened Sunday, Bahaa al-Araji, a lawmaker loyal to the radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, denounced what he said was continued U.S. meddling in the selection of ministers for coveted Interior and Defense Ministry posts. He set a deadline of two days before the 130 alliance deputies act unilaterally.
"Within the past two days, the occupation forces have been interfering with certain names and certain posts," said al-Araji, whose group holds 30 seats. "There are also blocs participating in the (formation of) the government that have begun demanding more than what they are entitled to electorally."
"We have set a limit of within two days, and the (various) blocs should abide by this timeframe and act in accordance with the rules upon which we have agreed. Otherwise, we will form a government without regard to their demands," he said, singling out the Sunni Arab Accordance Front as one example.
Sunni lawmakers shot back with their own threats, with one member of the three-party Sunni Arab coalition that holds 44 seats threatening to walk out of the talks and the government.
"If we do not get what we deserve, we will end our participation in the political process," lawmaker Salman al-Jumali told The Associated Press. "Our representatives in parliament, and the officials already awarded ministerial posts will withdraw."
He said they wanted the Defense, Education, Planning and Health ministries, among others.
Earlier, another member of the United Iraqi Alliance, the Fadhila Party, rebuffed a call by al-Maliki to return to the Cabinet formation negotiations, saying the political process was marred and that the incoming government would be little more than an amalgam of personalities out of tune with the needs of Iraqis.