Iraq Car Bomb Kills 43

With just a few weeks remaining before U.S. troops begin to pull out of Iraq in large numbers, an exceptionally violent weekend in Iraq has left dozens dead. On Saturday, a car bomb in Basra, the country’s second-largest city, left 43 dead and another 185 injured. And on Sunday, another car bomb near a passport office killed eight. Meanwhile, a spate of gunfights and bombings left several policemen dead in Baghdad. Iraqis and Americans alike are worried about the escalating violence as Iraq's struggles to put together a government continues to leave a power vacuum. “We have seen al Qaeda attempt to reassert itself,” said a U.S. military spokesman. Many Iraqis, shocked at the violence in Basra and elsewhere, are taking their anger out at the five-month-old government—or lack thereof. “Everyone is busy fighting over a seat in the government and we’re left alone. No one looks after us.”