AP: "The head of the Iraqi Governing Council was killed in a suicide car bombing near a checkpoint outside the coalition headquarters in central Baghdad on Monday, dealing a blow to U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq ahead of a handover of sovereignty on June 30."

THERE'S MORE: Remember that deal to turn Falluja over to Saddam's former generals? Turns out they were really the part of the insurgent force attacking U.S. troops in the first place, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Today, Fallouja is for all intents and purposes a rebel town, complete with banners proclaiming a great victory and insurgents integrated into the new Fallouja Brigade — the protective force set up with U.S. assistance to keep the peace," the paper says (via Slate).

"In Fallouja these days, there is little talk of the central U.S. demands — disarming the insurgents, finding the people who killed and mutilated the four U.S. contractors and hunting down foreign jihadists. There were no foreign fighters, proclaims [Brigade chief Mohammed] Latif. And if they were here, they must have escaped, he has said."