Evening Iraq War II (III?) news roundup, Kerry steps up criticism

From the NY Times:

American-led international troops in Iraq were locked today in the fiercest fighting since the fall of Saddam Hussein a year ago, waging a two-front war against Sunni Muslim insurgents west of Baghdad and a ferocious and fast-spreading Shiite uprising in the south and center of the country.

(Excerpt)

Since Sunday, clashes across Iraq have killed more than 30 American troops, a Ukrainian soldier, a Salvadoran soldier and, according to a tally compiled from accounts of witnesses, Iraqi hospital officials and American officers, at least 200 Iraqis.

Coalition troops are facing the toughest and bloodiest test yet of their resolve to put into effect an American-backed blueprint for political transition in Iraq, highlighted by the transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi interim government on June 30.

(Excerpt)

In Kut, south of Baghdad, staunch Shiite resistance forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the city, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Kiev reported, according to news agencies. The pullout effectively ceded control of the city to Mr. Sadr's supporters.

And in a further indication of widening opposition to the coalition's presence, Bulgaria has asked the United States to send troops to reinforce a 450-strong Bulgarian battalion in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, where the Shiite uprising has spread.

From Debka.com:

Thirty-five US troops reported killed in four days of Sadrist Shiite uprising. Rumsfeld tells Washington press: US forces are on the offensive and taking battle to the militants. He confirmed Iranians meddling in Iraqi affairs, emphasized US will not retreat before thugs and assassins.

He said coalition troops have exited Shiite pilgrimage towns ahead of Muslim festival at request of religious leaders. But plans exist to mitigate risks in town centers and deal with current situation.

Kerry strongly criticizes Bush on Iraq. From the AP:

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Wednesday called the situation in Iraq "one of the greatest failures of diplomacy and failures of judgment that I have seen in all the time that I've been in public life."

"Where are the people with the flowers, throwing them in the streets, welcoming the American liberators the way Dick Cheney said they would be?" Kerry said in an interview with American Urban Radio Networks.

"Since I fought in Vietnam, I have not seen an arrogance in our foreign policy like this."

(Excerpt)

He said Bush still has to explain who he would be handing power to in Iraq.
"Is he transferring it over to these people in the streets?" Kerry asked. "Is he transferring it over to Muqtada al-Sadr? Is he transferring it over to Ayatollah Sistani. Is he transferring it over to this group of people who make up the so-called provisional council who have no authority?"