Am I Missing Something Here?

[Annie]

I've had a very stressful couple of weeks. I am willing to concede that perhaps my powers of comprehension are not what they should be. Would someone please explain HOW this is a story? If I am reading it correctly, which perhaps I am not, this has been in effect since NOVEMBER. So why NOW with the headlines?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq_emergency

Iraq Renews State of Emergency for Month Fri May 13,12:08 PM ET



Iraq announced Friday it has renewed its state of emergency for another 30 days following two weeks of insurgent-led violence that killed hundreds of people. Why do I think that getting in THIS line is what the whole story is about? Story? What story???

The emergency decree, which has been renewed monthly since first being imposed Nov. 7, includes a nighttime curfew and gives the government extra powers to make arrests without warrants and launch police and military operations when it deems necessary.

The current 30-day period began May 3 and covers all of Iraq except for northern Kurdish-run areas, interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's office said in a statement. The statement provided no further details.

The state of emergency was first imposed hours before U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a major offensive to drive insurgents out of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

Al-Jaafari, who formed a new government late last month, said earlier this week that he would impose martial law if insurgents continued their spree of attacks.

Friday's announcement came as U.S. troops continued a major offensive in western Iraq near the Syrian border in search for followers of the country's most wanted militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.