New developments in the world of Islam & the U.S.

This past week has probably been the worst one for the current administration in several years. It was dominated by much bad news inside the White House, especially an indictment of L. Scooter Libby and the withdrawal of Harriet Miers' nomination to SCOTUS.
But there were other significant or interesting things happening outside the beltway at the same time. Here's a quick summary of the Muslim-related items that interested me, my own headlines:

Those awful numbers keep rising. A car bomb killed at least 30 people in Iraq. Eight U. S. troops have died there in the last 48 hours.
What about those Sunnis? The intricate politics in Iraq is incisively analyzed in a very good piece in the NYT. John Burns looks at the increased in Sunni involvement in the political process, concluding that it could be a positive thing or a "Trojan horse."
Diversionary tactics. Our current president spoke on Iraq (what he calls the war on terror) three times this past week, most recently in his Saturday radio address. According to the NYT, Bush asserted, "The insurgents 'hope to establish a totalitarian state in Iraq that denies all political and religious freedom, and they hope to use that country as a base for attacks on all people - Muslim and non-Muslim alike - who disagree with their twisted perversion of the Muslim faith,' Mr. Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "
How much more in this current retaliation cycle? A leader of Palestinian's Islamic Jihad as conditionally agreed to end the militant rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza.
Can the UN really work? Under threat of sanctions by the United Nations, Syria has established its own inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut in February.
Pakistan, Kashmir, and India's years-long conflict. An obscure Kashmiri militant group claimed responsibility on Sunday for 3 bomb blasts in India's capital Saturday which killed at least 59 people. Terrorism experts think the group may be using al Queda style tactics.
Turkey - the bridge between the Middle East and Europe. This excellent Slate article about Turkey's possible entrance into the European Union gives a teriffic summary of the classic struggle between secular and Islamist forces in the Middle East.
Muslim women make the news. In the United States Muslim women's fashion is the subject of this fascinating article by a female Muslim writer. General reference-women and Islam. Here is a very interesting U. S. Muslim general information site, here is another American, and one.another. This last site lists many, many links to additional information about Islam.

I will be keeping on keeping up . . .