Violence Dips as Baghdad Crackdown Begins

-The only reported clash between army troops and gunmen in Baghdad occurred just before noon in the Azamiyah neighborhood, when heavy exchanges of gunfire shattered the late morning quiet and sent residents, including women and children, scurrying for cover.

-Al-Maliki pledged Wednesday not to negotiate with those who had shed innocent blood, the latest in a series of tough statements he has made since American bombs killed al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. But he said he would be unveiling a new national reconciliation plan in the coming days that could include a pardon for some prisoners. A top al-Maliki adviser told The Washington Post the plan could include pardons for those who had attacked only U.S. troops. Adnan Ali al-Kadhimi told the Post "there is a patriotic feeling among the Iraqi youth and the belief that those attacks are legitimate acts of resistance and defending their homeland. These people will be pardoned definitely, I believe."

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