DOUBLE WHAMMY

Fredo's War isn't going very well. The AP reports that:

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's political crisis worsened Monday as five more ministers announced a boycott of Cabinet meetings - leaving the embattled prime minister's unity government with no members affiliated with Sunni political factions.

The Cabinet boycott of five ministers loyal to former Iraqi leader Ayad Allawi left the government, at least temporarily, without participants who were members of the Sunni political apparatus - a deep blow to the prime minister's attempt to craft reconciliation among the country's majority Shiites and minority Sunnis and Kurds.

... The top Sunni political bloc already had pulled its six ministers from the 40-member Cabinet of al-Maliki, a Shiite, last week.

So, over 25% of the ministers have decided to stop working and there are no politically connected Sunnis left. How's that political progress scorecard going to look on Sept. 15th?

Meanwhile, in Tal Afar, a city Pres. Fredo lied about in the past:

In Tal Afar to the north, officials slapped an immediate curfew on the religiously mixed city after a suicide bomber slammed his truck into a crowded Shiite neighborhood. The blast killed at least 28 people, including at least 19 children, according to Brig. Gen. Najim Abdullah, who said the dump truck was filled with explosives and covered with a layer of gravel.

The powerful Monday morning blast caused houses to collapse as many families were getting ready for the day ahead, and officials said the death toll could rise.

Several residents said boys and girls were playing hopscotch and marbles outside the houses at the time of the explosion.

Here's a tragedy from 2005 that I missed:

Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities girded for a major Shiite pilgrimage later this week in Baghdad with plans to tighten security. ... And this particular annual march, to commemorate the eighth-century death of a key Shiite saint, was struck by tragedy in 2005, when thousands of Shiite pilgrims, panicked by rumors of a suicide bomber, broke into a stampede on a bridge, killing 1,000.