The rewards that democratic elections bring

At least 10 Iraqi policemen have been killed and up to 65 more wounded in fierce battles with anti-US fighters south of Baghdad, police sources said.

[...]

[U]nknown assailants shot nine bullets into a representative of Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraqi Shia.

But Shaikh Amar al-Hilali survived the assassination attempt, an aide to the Ayat Allah said on Thursday.

Sistani's official in the east Baghdad district of Al-Ubaidi, was "hit nine times in the chest and arms", said the aide.

[...]

Two Iraqi civilians were killed by a roadside bomb in the oil city of Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, police said.

Two other Iraqis were killed by a roadside bomb near the market in Baiji in northern Iraq.

Witnesses said an Iraqi army driver was shot dead in Balad, north of Baghdad.

[...]

Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities said they would seal the country's borders next week to prevent Shia pilgrims flooding into the country, in the latest emergency measure intended to thwart violence.

[...]

Millions of Shia travel from across the region to holy sites in Iraq for Ashura, a pilgrimage to remember the martyrdom of Imam Hussein in 680 AD.
  Aljazeera article

So that border denial probably won't go over well, I'm guessing.

Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 wounded when a car bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol exploded near a Shia mosque northeast of Baghdad, a security source said.

A police official said soldiers were killed in the attack.

[...]

Earlier that day, armed men fired on customers in a bakery in eastern Baghdad, killing nine people, police said.

The assailants drove up in two cars and burst into the Happiness Bakery. Seven of the victims died in the bakery and two others died in hospital, police said.

[...]

One witness said the same bakery was attacked a few weeks ago in a similar manner and three people were killed.

[...]

The town of Salman Pak remained sealed off by US and Iraqi troops on Friday after battles with fighters left dozens dead and scores wounded.

Raids by government security forces appear to have triggered the battle.

[...]

[Reports claim] 17 policemen killed and some 80 wounded.

"We have never seen such fighting," said the police officer in Salman Pak.

[...]

Rumsfeld arrived before dawn at an airfield outside Mosul. It was his eighth visit to Iraq.

"The task ahead for us is to continue to help the Iraqi security forces to get on the job. That will take some time," Rumsfeld told American soldiers in Mosul.

"It's their country. It's their responsibility. And they're the ones who have that obligation," he said.
  Aljazeera article

Of course the fact that the insurgency continues because we are still there makes their task a wee bit harder.