New U.S. ambassador to Iraq sworn in

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4670942.html

BAGHDAD — U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker was sworn in as the new top U.S. envoy to Iraq on Thursday, saying that he was taking over the "most critical foreign policy mission" facing his country. A series of bomb blasts in Baghdad and its suburbs underlined how tough his job will be.

Just hours before Crocker addressed embassy employees in the heavily fortified Green Zone, a bomb planted under a parked car tore through an outdoor Baghdad market in the mixed Al-Bayaa neighborhood, killing three and wounding 26.

About the same time, a car bomb went off near a Shiite mosque in the restive town of Mahmoudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 19.

The mosque and four adjacent stores were slightly damaged, according to a police officer at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

[Lobster Martini]

1. Police officials aren't authorized to speak to the media?

No wonder Americans were greeted as liberators.

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2. And this is todays "good news" story n/t