At least seventeen people have been killed and dozens more wounded in violence in Iraq, as residents of Baghdad awaited a much-vaunted security operation to quell sectarian bloodshed in the capital.

BAGHDAD, Iraq –Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki complained Tuesday the long-awaited Baghdad security operation was off to a slow start and warned that insurgents are taking advantage of the delay to kill as many people as possible.

A court martial trial opened for the first US military officer to openly refuse to go to war in Iraq as protests in his support were organized in several cities across the country.