The Obama Report

5 US soldiers were killed in Iraq on Monday as Iran continues to tighten its grip over Iraq in an effort to transform the country into another one of its satellite states:

From the AP:

Five American soldiers died Monday when a barrage of rockets slammed into a base in a Shiite neighbourhood of Baghdad — the largest, single-day loss of life for U.S. forces in Iraq in two years.

The attack follows warnings from Shiite militants backed by Iran and anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that they would violently resist any effort to keep American troops in Iraq past their year-end deadline to go home...

"Iranian-backed militias are flexing their muscles and have steadily increased military pressure on U.S. forces since rumours first started in the early spring concerning an extension of the U.S. presence," said Michael Knights, an Iraq analyst at the Washington Institute....

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said he thinks the U.S. would agree to stay into next year if Iraq asks. Doing so, however, would break a campaign promise by President Barack Obama.