In its quarterly report, known as the 90-10 Report, the Pentagon highlighted a series of milestones achieved both on the political and military fronts but warned of daunting tasks ahead.

Violence in Iraq has been at its lowest levels since 2004, with civilian casualties falling by an overall 35 percent and insurgent attacks nearly halved compared with late 2008.

On the heels of major Iraq-led offensives last year, the Pentagon report notes continued improvements in the ability of Iraqi national forces to assume responsibility over national security efforts.

Meanwhile, the report said that the democratic process continues to make progress as Iraq held successful provincial council elections in January and prepares for parliamentary elections later in the year.

"Iraq continues to make progress as Iraqis increasingly choose the political process over violence," the report said.

The situation in Iraq remains challenging, however, as disputes between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government and other sectarian differences continue to simmer.

"Despite these positive developments, national reconciliation and accommodation continue to be hindered by the pursuit of ethno-sectarian agendas and disagreements over the distribution of power and resources at all levels," the report warned.

Al-Qaida infiltrates Awakening Councils
Sunni tribal leaders in Iraq warn of a growing al-Qaida infiltration that threatens to bring their community to the brink of civil war.

The Sunni-led Awakening Councils spawned a paramilitary movement known as the Sons of Iraq, which joined forces with the U.S. military to run al-Qaida out of the restive Anbar province. Allegations that al-Qaida was linked to the Awakening, or Sahwa, groups circulated for years, but Hamid al-Hayess, a founding member of the group, expressed a dire warning.

"The Sahwa has been infiltrated by al-Qaida," he said. "A civil war is coming."

The minority Sunni population has fractured recently. Disputes during the January provincial elections between rival Sunni groups in Anbar threatened to erupt in violence between government supporters and Sunni dissidents.

Meanwhile, with Baghdad failing to meet its obligations to pay the Sons of Iraq and a lack of promised government employment, al-Qaida is finding a growing recruitment pool in the Sunni group, Time magazine reports.

Violence erupted during the weekend following the arrest of Adil al-Mashhadani, an Awakening leader in Baghdad, on suspicion of ties to terrorist activity. This, Time notes, leaves Baghdad with few options.

Hayess, the Awakening leader, however, said that his calls for government intervention to address the issue have been all but ignored.

Opposition leader warms to Maliki
The leader of a Sunni opposition list in Iraq opened the possibility of forming an alliance with major Shiite officials for the parliamentary elections.

Saleh Mutlaq with the opposition Iraqi Front for National Dialogue said in an interview with the Iraqi political site Niqash.org that the Iraqi political scene was consolidating on a variety of fronts, but his group was moving toward the Shiite government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Candidates backed by Maliki placed well in the January elections, possibly setting the stage for parliamentary elections later in the year.

Mutlaq, a former critic of the Maliki government and longtime nationalist leader with strong views against the Iranian regime, blasted critics of his extensive media exposure.

"It is our duty to expose government corruption and to put pressure on the government to combat it, to move toward a genuine democracy and to give more freedom to its citizens," he said.

In an April article in the Boston Globe, Mutlaq expressed his support for the dissident People's Mujahedin of Iran, a group seeking regime change in Iran. He told Niqash Wednesday he admonished calls by some Iraqi officials to expel the group from its enclave in Iraq's Diyala province.

"We are against expelling the organization from Iraq for humanitarian reasons because of our Arab and Iraqi traditions and values of respecting guests, providing them with support and helping the oppressed," he said.

The PMOI is considered a terrorist organization by several nations, though it enjoys certain safety guarantees in Iraq under international law.

PMOI faces pressure to leave Iraq
The Iranian dissident group People's Mujahedin of Iran faces mounting pressure from Iranian and Iraqi leaders to vacate their enclave in Iraq's Diyala province.

Around 4,000 members of the PMOI reside at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province near the Iranian border. The group is part of a wider opposition movement that seeks regime change in Iran.

Despite gains in Europe, several nations consider the PMOI a terrorist group for its past violent action against Iran and others. Saddam Hussein allegedly used the group as a paramilitary force to conduct operations against Iranian agents.

The group faces increased pressure from Iraqi officials to leave the country, notably from national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Baghdad was reluctant to face the repercussions of hosting a known terrorist group on its soil, a sentiment echoed by many leaders in Baghdad, the Iraqi political site Niqash.org reports.

Some Iraqi figures, like Sunni leader Saleh Mutlaq, have expressed their support for the group. Karim Yaqoubi with the Shiite Fadhila Party, an eristic group with no ties to Iran, said the PMOI poses no threat and should remain in Iraq.

Leaders of the group have made repeated appeals to the international community on the grounds of humanitarian and safety concerns, but the fate of the PMOI in Iraq remains in limbo.

U.N. lauded for reconstruction in Iraq
Reconstruction projects in Iraq spearheaded by the United Nations made significant contributions to recovery efforts in Iraq, a report suggests.

A report by the Norwegian monitoring group Scanteam reviewed U.N. reconstruction projects funded by the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq. The report gave 80 percent of the U.N. projects their highest ratings, "acceptable" or "satisfactory," the United Nations reports.

"The U.N. was able to deliver despite the poor security situation through our close working relationship with government, civil society and local partners," said David Shearer, U.N. Resident Coordinator for Iraq.

Shearer said the light-footprint approach of the U.N. team in Iraq contributed to its ability to make progress despite six years of war.

The Scanteam report said only 2 percent of the U.N. projects surpassed their estimated costs. Shearer, however, said that while security improvements in Iraq were promising for reconstruction efforts, declining investments and the global recession made for challenges ahead.

"A coordinated development effort is more vital now than ever to consolidate Iraq's recovery," he said.

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