Iraq on the edge

Bombings in shiite areas were common in 2012 but Iraq hosts a summit of Arab leaders, held for the first time in a generation in the same year .Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is hospitalized in Baghdad after suffering a stroke and was flown to Germany for medical treatment. Dec. 20: Iraqi security forces storm the office of Sunni Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi and arrest some of his bodyguards, sparking huge protests in the country’s Sunni areas.