Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Even in the darkest, deadliest days of Iraq's war, you'd find people still hopeful it would all work out. That the killings would stop, the bad guys would be routed and a stability of some sort would return. That the Americans would leave with their Humvees and their private security companies and the country would -- perhaps -- get on with the freedom the U.S. promised upon Saddam Hussein's removal. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki promised as much, and pledged an inclusive system for all. Power-sharing politics and making all Iraqis -- Sunni, Shia, Christian -- feel they shared national values. Now, there a plenty of Iraqis who believe he had his fingers crossed when he said such things.

The U.S. departure may have ended the war for Americans, but for
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Iraqis, the violence, the bombs, the shootings and the torrents of blood barely skipped a beat.


(CNN) -- A day after Saudi King Abdullah announced greater political participation for women in the future, some Saudis questioned just how big a change may really be on the horizon. Some women's rights activists who were initially elated by Sunday's announcement said they were feeling disappointed because the changes do not kick in immediately. "We don't really think now that we've been promised a real right," said one. But a member of Saudi Arabia's Consultative Council called one of the changes the king announced "hugely important." King Abdullah announced two changes Sunday, which would be historic for Saudi Arabia. He said women will be allowed to serve as members of the Shura Council, the Consultative Council that advises the king. Its 150 members are appointed.

While the king did not use the word "vote" in his remarks, allowing women to take part in the nomination process would amount to voting within
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Saudi's system.


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two mentally disabled women were strapped with explosives Friday and sent into busy Baghdad markets, where they were blown up by remote control, a top Iraqi government official said. Iraqi soldiers secure the scene of a bombing Friday at a popular pet market in central Baghdad. The bombs killed at least 98 people and wounded more than 200 at two popular pet markets on the holiest day of the week for Muslims, authorities said. In both bombings, the attackers were mentally disabled women whose explosive belts were remotely detonated, Gen. Qasim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad's security plan, told state television.


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U.S. military officials referred to the two attacks as suicide bombings, saying both women detonated the explosive devices.