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Sunnis say they've been left out of talks
Sunni Arabs comprise about 20 percent of the national population but are in the majority in at least four provinces. U.S. officials have expressed hope that a new constitution will allow for a reduction in the American force there �� it now numbers about 138,000 troops. But Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army's top general, said Saturday the Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq for four more years. "We are now into '07-'09 in our planning," Schoomaker said, having completed work on the set of combat and support units that will be rotated into Iraq over the coming year for 12-month tours of duty. As the haggling dragged into its final hours, violence continued. Twenty civilians were injured in Fallujah on Saturday after attackers tossed two hand grenades into a crowded marketplace, the U.S. military said. The U.S. military said there were no Iraqi security forces killed or wounded and all casualties were civilians. Elsewhere, two Iraqi policemen were killed in a gunfight in western Baghdad. The U.S. military said Saturday that U.S. troops raided an insurgent hideout in central Baghdad, rescued a hostage and arrested three kidnappers. The military did not give the nationality of the hostage freed in the Thursday night raid.
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