A female suicide bomber killed at least 35, including women and children, and wounded 65 others in an attack on a religious procession near the holy Kadhimiyah shrine in northern Baghdad Jan. 4. The woman blew herself up at a checkpoint as Shi'ite pilgrims commemorating the Muharram ceremonies converged on the mausoleum of Imam Mousa al-Kadhim, Baghdad's most important Shi'ite site shrine.

A suicide bomber on a bicycle in Iraq's northern city of Mosul targeted a protest against the Israeli air-raids on the Gaza Strip, killing one civilian and wounding 16 on Dec. 27. The protest was sponsored by the Sunni-backed Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). (AFP, Dec. 28) The attack came days after raucous parliamentary sessions over the pending agreement allowing foreign troops to remain in Iraq.

A Jordan-based Iraqi rights group announced this week it has filed 200 lawsuits against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and US security firms for their roles in torturing Iraqis. Ali Qeisi, head of the Society of Victims of the US Occupation in Iraq, said the cases, relating to abuse of prisoners, have been filed in federal courts in Virginia, Michigan and Maryland. "Around 30 lawsuits have been accepted so far," Qeisi told AFP. The others are still under consideration. "The torture was systemic, and those responsible for it should be punished and the victims should be compensated," he said. Qeisi said he himself was tortured by US troops in Iraq during a six-month detention.

Japanese and South Korean forces both ended their missions in Iraq this week. The approximately 200 Japanese troops in Kuwait for an air support mission in Iraq are to return home by the end of the year. Japan withdrew its 500 ground troops from a reconstruction mission to southern Iraq in 2006. About 520 South Korean soldiers have already returned from northern Iraq's Irbil province, marking the end of a four-year reconstruction mission that had about 3,600 troops at its height—the third-largest contingent after the US and Britain. Both missions were officially noncombatant. Tokyo withdrew its 600-strong force in southern Iraq in 2006 but continued to airlift equipment and troops. The deployment was Japan's first to a combat zone since World War II, and sparked considerable public opposition. (AlJazeera, Dec. 19; BBC, Dec. 18)

Reporter Muntadhar al-Zeidi notoriously hurled his shoes at Bush—a vile insult in the Muslim world—during a press conference in Baghdad, yelling "this is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." He was arrested right after the toss. (Blast, Dec. 16) Predictably, like many journalists, he had been detained by US forces. But to the discomfiture of just about all sides in Iraq, he was also disgusted by the "insurgents" and Iranian influence in his country. Thus reports AP Dec. 16:

Samir Adil, president of the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), was among those wounded in a Dec. 11 suicide attack on a reconciliation meeting in the divided northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. His wounds are not life-threatening, the IFC reports via e-mail. The IFC has been working across ethnic divides in Kirkuk to unite local communities against the US occupation and sectarian militias.

Here's a case study in what Iraq's besieged secular left calls the "two poles of terrorism." From the Washington Post, Dec. 6:

WASHINGTON — Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards have been charged in a September 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and raised questions about the U.S. government's use of security contractors in combat zones, according to two sources familiar with the case.

Iraqi security guards opened fire when a riot broke out Dec. 3 among 1,000 Asian migrant workers protesting poor treatment in Baghdad. The men work for Najlaa International Catering Services, a subcontractor to Houston-based KBR. The top US Defense Department contractor in Iraq, KBR is already the target of federal lawsuits over alleged human trafficking and other wrongdoing.