U.S. and Iraqi forces have begun what’s being described as a massive security crackdown in Baghdad. More than 2,000 troops entered Sunni areas in an overnight raid.

The incursion comes as the Pentagon says it’s now investigating reports of another U.S. military helicopter crash. If confirmed, the crash would be the fifth by a U.S. helicopter in the past three weeks.

Meanwhile, new figures show the recent stretch has been the deadliest for U.S. troops since the U.S. invasion. At least 333 troops have been killed over the past four months — more than any over the same period since the war began.

In other Iraq news, the Pentagon has reversed its decision to prevent the release of videotape showing a U.S. pilot mistakenly bombing a British tank convoy in the early days of the war. The video was taken from the cockpit of the U.S. jet. A 25-year-old British soldier named Matty Hull died in the bombing. The Pentagon’s reversal comes after the video was released by Britain’s Sun newspaper. The Bush administration initially classified the video in an attempt to prevent its broadcast or use in court.

Meanwhile, four Iraqis have been arrested in the kidnapping of an Iranian diplomat in Baghdad. The diplomat, Jalal Sharafi, was seized by gunmen wearing uniforms of a special Iraqi unit under U.S. direction. Iran says it holds the U.S. responsible.

Iranian Vice President Rahim Mashaei: “It is evident that these actions are not beneficial for the people of Iraq, the people of this region, and certainly not for world peace. We must endeavor to put an end to this. The main problem is the current occupation, and there are no possibilities of us reaching any positive conclusions with the current circumstances.”

The Pentagon is denying Iranian accusations of involvement.

In Israel and the Occupied Territories, new tensions are flaring over an Israeli excavation near Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. Palestinians are warning a limited ceasefire will unravel if Israel damages the compound housing Islam’s third holiest shrine.

Raif Nijem, chair of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Restoration Committee: “We were astonished by noticing that some bulldozers, Israeli bulldozers, came to the Bab al-Magharibah, al-Magharibah gate, and they started to demolish the approach road and two rooms there. Which are near al-Buraq Mosque. And this will lead to danger to Al-Aqsa building itself. We have advised the Israeli authorities in Jerusalem last week and several times before that they should not touch this road.”

The Israeli government says it’s searching for artifacts and won’t cause any damage.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders have opened talks in Mecca over defusing internal fighting between the two main Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. The talks come as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would meet this month with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: “The meeting will take place on the 19th. The trilateral meeting initiated by Secretary Rice is significant, and I have enormous respect for the desires and energy Secretary Rice invests in pushing the process of negotiations with the Palestinians.”

In France, nearly 60 countries signed a treaty Tuesday banning secret detention. The United States was not one of them. State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack refused to comment on whether U.S. rejection was linked to its program of sending prisoners to secret jails overseas. Other governments to reject the treaty include Germany, Spain, Britain and Italy.

The Bush administration has announced a new U.S. military command for Africa. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, will oversee military operations across 53 African countries. Control over U.S. military operations there has previously been divided between three commands.

Here in the United States, hearings began Tuesday in what Democrats say will be a lengthy probe into corruption and mismanagement by the U.S. occupation authority in Iraq. Former occupation head Paul Bremer was questioned on nearly $9 billion in missing Iraqi oil revenue. The funds were handed to Iraqis and U.S. contractors in cash — often in packages of $100 bills. House Oversight and Government Reform Chair Henry Waxman says the Bush administration has blocked the appearance of the new reconstruction coordinator in Iraq — retired Ambassador Timothy Carney.

Meanwhile in the Senate, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing Tuesday into the Bush administration’s controversial dismissal of several federal prosecutors. The attorney firings — and their replacements — have raised allegations the Bush administration is interfering with the judicial system. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty admitted a federal prosecutor in Arkansas was replaced to make way for a former Republican National Committee research director and aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove. At least 11 U.S. attorneys have been forced out under an obscure provision in the USA PATRIOT Act that allows the U.S. attorney general to name replacements without Senate confirmation. The dismissals include San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam. She oversaw the corruption prosecution against the jailed former Republican Congressmember Duke Cunningham. Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles Schumer of New York said: “Even the hiring and firing of our top federal prosecutors has become infused and corrupted with political, rather than prudent, considerations.”

The retail giant Wal-Mart has lost an effort to dismiss the largest class-action employment discrimination case in U.S. history. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that Wal-Mart face a lawsuit alleging discrimination against female employees. Taking the case to trial could expose Wal-Mart to paying billions in damages. Wal-Mart is lobbying against a class-action suit and wants each case tried individually.

Back on Capitol Hill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced House Democrats will proceed with a vote on a nonbinding resolution opposing President Bush’s plan to escalate the war in Iraq. The announcement comes one day after Republicans blocked a similar resolution in the Senate. The House vote is expected next week.

And a California videographer has become the longest-incarcerated journalist in U.S. history. Josh Wolf has been jailed since August 1. It’s his second time in prison over his refusal to hand over video of a 2005 protest. In San Francisco, dozens of supporters rallied outside City Hall Tuesday to call for Wolf’s release. Today is Wolf’s 169th day in jail.