*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Two Iraqi civilians killed in Baquba blast

BAGHDAD, Aug. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- At least two Iraqis, including a child, were killed and five others wounded Saturday in a blast in central Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, police said. They said the blast occurred when an explosive device was detonated on a road when a US convoy passed through the area, but there were no casualties among the US soldiers. The other killed Iraqi was a peddler and the five wounded were all dustmen, they added.

In another development, a senior Iraqi policeman was shot dead early Saturday in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, eyewitnesses said. Colonel Saad Samir al-Dulaimi, head of the crime fighting unitin the city, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen as he left home at about 8:30 a.m. (0430 GMT), said the eyewitnesses, adding that the attackers fled the scene in a vehicle.

Polish soldier killed, six hurt in Iraq car bomb attack

WARSAW (AFP) - A Polish soldier was killed and six others wounded in a car bomb attack in southern Iraq (news - web sites), the Polish military said, the third attack against its soldiers in four days. One Iraqi civilian and five others were wounded in an ensuing shoot-out with the soldiers, medical and police sources said in Hilla -- though the Polish military said its troops had shot and killed several attackers.

The parked car was detonated by remote control as a 19-truck convoy under the protection of Polish troops was driving by, said Colonel Artur Domanski, the spokesman for the multinational force under Polish command. The massive explosion, which occurred close to midday (0800 GMT), was heard several kilometres (miles) away.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Control Room - BBC 2 at 10pm, documentry about Al Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq invasion

 

[Barking_Mad]

Four Marines killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Four U.S. Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force have been killed in separate incidents in Iraq's volatile Anbar province, the military announced today.

note: Anbar if the area where Falluja is situated.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq southern oil pipeline shut after attack

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Authorities have kept a main oil pipeline in southern Iraq shut rather than risk it being attacked, restricting the country's exports to half normal levels, a South Oil Official says. Media reports that the pipeline had restarted and flows returned to normal were inaccurate, said the official for the state-owned company, who declined to be identified.

"The situation is unchanged. Only the secondary export pipeline is operating," the official said. A sabotage attack on the main 48-inch pipeline on August 9 halved exports to one million barrels a day. Basra Light crude oil has since been flowing from southern fields to offshore Gulf terminals through a secondary pipeline. The larger pipeline has capacity for 1.5 million barrels per day compared to one million for a smaller pipeline, which runs alongside it but is less visible.

Security in the region has deteriorated in the past two weeks as U.S.-led forces launched attacks aimed at crushing an uprising led by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Car bomb explodes outside Mosul, Iraq

MOSUL, Iraq Two Iraqi children were hurt today when a car bomb was detonated near a U-S military convoy outside Mosul, Iraq. A U-S military spokeswoman says the bomb exploded as the convoy passed by.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Good piece from the Independent about Najaf and the fact that Sadr's militia also control Kufa.

Kufa is where he lived and was stabbed in AD661 as he prayed in the mosque, martyred in the schism that created Shia Islam.

And it is totally in the control of the Mehdi Army, who patrol the streets with AK-47s, rocket launchers and light machine-guns, many of them with ammunition belts draped over their shoulders. One armed insurgent had even dragged a chair into the middle of the road to monitor the Saturday morning traffic.

There are fully manned Mehdi checkpoints inside the city, at one of which, close to the bridge over the Euphrates, another journalist and myself were briefly detained yesterday. With an armed escort of one car in front and two behind, we were taken for our press credentials to be pored over at the Kufa mosque, the Mehdi Army's base. This is an entire town where the writ of American forces, let alone that of the Iraqi police, does not even begin to run.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US forces bombard holy Iraqi city

US forces in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf have carried out an overnight assault on militia loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr. Warplanes and helicopters fired on the rebels, while snipers were employed on the ground. The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Najaf says US forces appear to have edged closer to the revered Imam Ali Shrine. He adds that talks of handing control of the shrine to a higher religious authority appear to have stalled. Militia leaders said the shrine compound's outer walls were damaged in the overnight attacks, but the US military denies this.

In other Iraq developments:

- Four US soldiers accused of abusing prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail appear before a military tribunal at an American base in Germany

- A Turkish contractor and two Iraqis have been killed in an ambush in the northern city of Tikrit, a US military spokesman says

- French-American journalist Micah Garen is released by his kidnappers in the southern city of Nasiriya

- Our correspondent, who has been into Najaf's Imam Ali shrine, says up to 1,000 supporters of Mr Sadr are inside.

A spokesman for Mr Sadr said he was still hopeful of a deal, but a ceasefire would only happen if the Americans went back to their bases. If that happened, he said, the Mehdi Army militia would disappear back into the community. At least three people were killed and 18 injured during overnight fighting, said Tawfiq Mohammed of Najaf General Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi health ministry has announced that 114 fighters and civilians were killed in Najaf between noon on Saturday and noon on Sunday.

 

[Barking_Mad]

'Creative' enemy could tie up U.S. for years

A USA TODAY database, which analyzed unclassified U.S. government security reports, shows attacks against U.S. and allied forces have averaged 49 a day since the hand-over of sovereignty June 28, compared with 52 a day in the four weeks leading up to the transfer. Iraqi guerrillas are relying heavily on weapons that allow them to attack and then slip away, such as roadside bombs and mortars. In June and July, U.S. and Iraq forces were attacked with 759 roadside bombs and uncovered at least 400 others before they exploded.

U.S. officials had said they expected the attacks to drop as Iraqis re-established control over their country. Their thinking: Iraqi security forces would be better at gathering intelligence, and support for militants would erode because insurgents would be attacking Iraqis rather than U.S. occupation forces. The officials still hold that view. But U.S. officers say the continuing attacks suggest that it will take time, possibly years, to crush the insurgency. President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have said U.S. forces will stay in Iraq as long as they are needed to assist Iraqi security forces.

Iraqi forces are not yet trained and equipped to the point where they can assume responsibility for the country's security. And insurgents - be they former members of Saddam Hussein's regime, criminals or Islamic fundamentalists - remain entrenched. While most attention has been focused on the showdown in Najaf between Shiites and the new Iraqi government, data show the insurgency is a stubborn and continuing phenomenon throughout the country. "If we have the political will and stamina to stay, I could see this going on for 10 years," says Randolph Gangle, a retired officer who heads the Marine Corps' Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities in Quantico, Va.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Witnesses: U.S. warplanes bomb Fallujah

FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. warplanes bombed the volatile city of Fallujah early Tuesday, and flames and plumes of smoke rose from its southern neighborhoods, witnesses said. The U.S. military had no immediate comment. Ambulances and fire trucks raced to the scene of the explosions. It was unclear what the target was or whether there were casualties.

U.S. forces have routinely bombed targets here it describes as insurgent safehouses or strongholds. Fallujah is located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, witnesses said. Many of the Sunni insurgents believed responsible for the ongoing spate of kidnappings, bombings and shooting attacks at coalition troops, Iraqi forces and civilians are based in the city. Since the U.S. Marines pulled back from Fallujah after besieging it for three weeks in April, the military has been limited to using long-distance strikes against targets there.

U.S. Soldier Dies at an Attack in Iraq

A U.S. soldier died and two other were wounded at a mortar attack in Baghdad, AFP reported, referring to an announcement of the U.S. Army. The assault was committed on Monday at about 05:45 a.m. Bulgarian time, when a patrol was hit with a mortar, the announcement states. The three soldiers were carried to hospital, where one of them died of his wounds.

U.S. Strike On Najaf Persists

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Several mortar bombs were heard landing in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf on Tuesday after Shi'ite rebels came under fierce U.S. bombardment overnight. U.S. warplanes, artillery and marines engaged Shi'ite militiamen in a fierce battle around a shrine hours earlier in some of the heaviest fighting since the 20-day-old rebellion erupted. American marines have been tightening their grip around roads leading to the Imam Ali shrine where militants loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are holed up. The U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government has vowed to launch a major offensive against Sadr's men if they did not meet demands that include laying down their arms. No Iraqi police or National Guard forces have been seen near the shrine.

Policeman Killed In Basra, Two More In Separate Attacks In Northern In Iraq

BASRA, Iraq, Aug 23 (AFP) - A police officer was shot dead by an unknown assailant in the southern Iraqi city of Basra Monday, while further attacks in the north of the violence-ridden country left two other Iraqis dead. An AFP correspondent saw a masked man walk up to a car at a petrol station in Basra and fire two bullets into the head of the policeman sitting behind the wheel. He tried to shoot a woman next to him but missed. Police Lieutenant Amar Hamid confirmed the policeman died from two bullets in the head.

In the northern ethnically-divided city of Kirkuk, a member of one of the two main Kurdish parties -- the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan -- was also shot dead in his car Monday morning, police there said. "Shezad Hussein Ali al-Jabari, 28, was shot in the head inside his car on his way back from visiting relatives. There were three attackers and they escaped," said Colonel Sarhad Kader.

In another incident, a Kurdish truck driver was killed and two others wounded on the road between Kirkuk and Tikrit when their convoy carrying concrete blocks used by coalition forces to protect their bases was attacked, the same source said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

What is so radical about Iraq's rebel cleric?

The standoff in Najaf has cast the spotlight on the rebel Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr. While the Western media cannot resist calling him "radical", it is in fact very difficult to find any basis for this description. He has been consistent in his staunch opposition to the occupation of Iraq. "There can be no politics under occupation, no freedom under occupation, no democracy under occupation," he said this month. What is so radical about that? If his Mehdi Army were patrolling and bombing London or New York, I would be astonished to find media descriptions of US and British resistance as "radical"........

Even through armed resistance to occupation, Sadr has stuck to well-defined limits. He has denied involvement in car bombings and assassinations; he denounced the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad. Until their current involvement in US onslaughts followers were urged not to attack Iraqi security forces; he is opposed to the taking of journalists as hostages, and last month he condemned the beheading of foreign workers: "There is no religion or religious law that punishes by beheading. True, they are your enemies and occupiers, but this does not justify cutting off their heads."

Sadr's eventual use of armed resistance has certainly not been viewed as "radical" by his compatriots. In a poll conducted by the CPA in June, 81 per cent of Iraqis said their opinion of the cleric was "much better" or "better" after his first uprising than before. Sadr's condemnation of the interim Prime Minster Iyad Allawi and his dismissal of the June "handover of power" as a farce is justified. Nor has Allawi's heavy-handed, compliant rule gone down well with most of the Iraqi population - a recent poll showed his approval rating at just 2 per cent, tied with Saddam Hussein.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi ministers escape attacks

Two Iraqi interim government ministers have survived apparent assassination attempts in the capital Baghdad. Convoys carrying the environment and education ministers were attacked on their way to offices in the city. At least four bodyguards of Environment Minister Mishkat Moumin were killed in the attack on her convoy. She told Reuters news agency she was unharmed. One bodyguard was reportedly killed when Education Minister Sami al-Mudhaffar's convoy was hit. Several people are reported to have been wounded in the attacks.

Bush says progress being made in Iraq

Crawford, US: US President George W. Bush, who faces a tough re-election ballot in just 10 weeks, portrayed the ongoing occupation of Iraq in optimistic terms even as the US death toll nears 1,000. "We're making progress on the ground," Bush said about Iraq, where Marines are engaged in fierce battles with followers of a radical cleric in the holy city of Najaf. Bush spoke at his Texas ranch after spending more than three hours mapping defence strategy with his top national security advisers. "We talked about Iraq - the way forward in Iraq, the way to help the Iraqis get to elections by January," Bush said.

Just like those missiles that killed those Iraqis in the Baghdad market at the start of the war.....right?

Militia Rocket May Have Damaged Najaf Shrine: US

Aug. 24, 2004 — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A rocket fired by Shi'ite militants clipped the wall of the Imam Ali shrine in the city of Najaf on Tuesday and may have damaged the building, the U.S. military said in a statement. The statement said a U.S. aircraft saw militiamen firing the rocket from the northeast corner of Iraq's holiest Shi'ite shrine. "The rocket clipped the wall of the shrine and landed approximately 10 meters (yards) north of the wall. The shrine may have sustained damage due to the rocket," it said.

Each side in the Najaf fighting has accused the other of mounting attacks near the shrine and of failing to respect holy ground. Serious damage to the building would enrage many of the country's majority Shi'ites.U.S.-led forces say they are taking care not to damage the shrine. "Multi-National Forces operations have not, and will not direct fire at the Imam Ali Shrine. MNF forces continue to take great care in avoiding damage to the shrine and any other holy sites within Najaf," the U.S. statement said. "Militia continue to use these holy sites in Najaf as bases for their operations and are not taking the same care as the MNF in regard to the sanctity of these sites."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Three Killed, 15 Wounded As British Troops Battle Shiite Militia

AMARA, Iraq, Aug 24 (AFP) - Three people were killed, including a child, and 15 women and children wounded Tuesday during afternoon clashes in the southern city of Amara between Shiite Muslim militiamen and British troops, a medic said. Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters in the city opened fire on a British base at around 4:00 pm (1200 GMT) and the British soldiers retaliated, said Mustafa Ali from the Zahrawi hospital. During the clashes, which lasted until around 6:00 pm (1400 GMT), three mortar rounds landed on the Al-Jadida residential district, killing two adults and a child. Another 15 women and children were brought into the hospital with injuries, Ali added. It was not immediately clear which side fired the deadly rounds.

U.K. Forces Clash With Militia in Southern Iraq

Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. forces clashed with Shiite Muslim militia in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the region from which Iraq exports almost all its oil. There are no reports of casualties, a U.K. military spokesman said. As many as 500 militiamen connected with rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are in the streets of Basra, and U.K. forces have ``engaged'' with them during the last 24 hours, Captain Donald Francis said by telephone from Basra.

"The situation has been more tense over the last few days than two weeks ago" when al-Sadr began his rebellion in the city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, Francis said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

I know bugger all about training, but this doesn't seem like the greatest of ways to prepare troops for combat. Is this another sign of the pressure on the US military?

Marines slash final combat training in half

Under growing pressure to ship Marines to Iraq, the Marine Corps is cutting in half the rigorous field combat training it gives units preparing to deploy, senior officers say.

The Marines hope to make up the time by intensifying this final, pre-deployment training and focusing it on skills needed to survive and prevail in Iraq's brutal combat conditions. This means practicing more nighttime operations, ambushes, city fighting and guarding of convoys......

....Staff Sgt. Don Allen, a combat instructor, said his trainees watch demonstrations of the M203 grenade launcher, the Squad Automatic Weapon and the .50-caliber machine gun, but not everyone gets to actually fire the weapons. "It's financial," said Allen, a combat engineer who fought in Iraq last year with the 8th Marines. "I wish I had the money for them to shoot actual rounds. When I went through this training in 1995, we all shot every weapon."

.........."They give you too much information, class after class," said Pfc. Christopher Schneider, a 20-year-old from Longwood, Fla., who will train as an aircraft airframe mechanic. "But if I went to Iraq, I'd definitely feel confident."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Two Killed, Five Wounded In Iraq Demonstration

KUFA, Iraq, Aug 25 (AFP) - Two people were killed and five wounded by gunfire Wednesday as hundreds of demonstrators passed a multinational force building en route to the besieged twin city of Najaf, medical sources said. The incident happened outside a US base also patrolled by Iraqi national guardsmen between Najaf and Kufa. Troops fired into the air to disperse the crowd, but it was not immediately clear who fired the fatal bullets. Two bodies were brought to the Middle Euphrates hospital, along with five patients suffering from injuries, a doctor told AFP.

Group Abducts In-law Of Iraqi Defense Minister

DOHA, Aug 25 (AFP) - A group calling itself "Brigades of Divine Anger" has said it abducted an in-law of the Iraqi defense minister and one of his relatives, and demanded the release of a top aide to Shiite rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr, Al-Jazeera TV said Wednesday, showing footage of the presumed hostages. The shadowy group "announced it had abducted General Salah Hassan Zaidan al-Lami, an in-law of Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem al-Shaalan, who is in charge of military personnel affairs at the defense ministry, and one of his relatives," it said.

"The captors demanded in a video received by Al-Jazeera a halt to military operations in Najaf and the release of Sheikh Ali Smeisim, who was arrested by Iraqi authorities" earlier Wednesday. The video showed the two presumed hostages, with two gunmen partly seen in the background.

Mehdi Army Losing Control Of Parts Of Najaf: Spokesman

NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 25 (AFP) - Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army has lost control of significant parts of Najaf, following heavy US-led attacks in the Iraqi city, a spokesman for Shiite Muslim militia leader said Wednesday. "It's not like before. The area we control has significantly shrunk. They (the Americans) are trying to maintain their control on Najaf because they have failed everywhere else in Iraq," Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani told AFP.

He said six bodies and 20 people with injuries had been brought into the makeshift clinic in the revered Imam Ali shrine in the last 24 hours. On the 21st day of fighting, US planes fired missiles within metres (yards) of the Ali mausoleum. US armour held the shrine in a pincer grip from the west and east and heavy artillery pounded areas to the south as snipers fired on all those coming or going from the mausoleum. The closest US vehicle was 20 metres (yards) from the western gate of the complex, one of the most important Shiite pilgrimage sites in the world. All four gates of the compound were bolted by militiamen inside.

Sadr Militia Suspending Fighting In Sistani's Honor: Aide

DOHA, Aug 25 (AFP) - Militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr have decided to suspend military operations in southern Iraq and other provinces where returning Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani will pass, a Sadr aide told Al-Jazeera TV Wednesday. The Mehdi Army has "announced the suspension of all military operations taking place in southern Iraq to mark the arrival of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Basra," Sheikh Aws al-Khafagi, head of Sadr`s office in the southern city of Nasiriyah, told the Qatar-based news channel.

It also "announces the suspension of all military operations in the provinces where Ayatollah Sistani will pass," presumably on his way back to the holy city of Najaf, he said. He did not explicitly say if the truce would cover Najaf itself.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi Gas Pipeline On Fire After Act Of Sabotage

HILLA, Iraq, Aug 25 (AFP) - An important gas pipeline in southern Iraq was on fire Wednesday after an act of sabotage, a spokesman for the Hilla Oil Company told AFP. "Unidentified attackers caused an explosion today in a gas pipeline used to transport liquid gas from the province of Basra to the other towns in the south, setting off a fire in the pipeline," Muayyed Yussef, a company engineer, said. "The explosion happened at 7:00 am (0300 GMT) at Aawazel, a region about 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Hilla", which is 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Baghdad, he added.

The pipeline feeds the south of Iraq with gas for local consumption, but the fire was still raging at the end of the morning and teams of firefighters were on the scene trying to get the blaze under control, Yussef said.

Four Dead In U.S. Airstrikes In Fallujah: Hospital

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Aug 25 (AFP) - Four people were killed and seven injured as US planes and tanks pounded suspected insurgent positions in the flashpoint city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, on Wednesday, hospital sources in the city said. "The bodies of four people were brought here and seven injured were admitted to the hospital," Dr Adel Ahmed, from Fallujah general hospital said. He said it was not possible to say whether insurgents were among the victims.

A US military spokesman said the operation had begun first thing in the morning and continued until about 2:00 pm (1000 GMT). "We've got some strikes against anti-Iraqi force positions in the city using tanks and aircraft... We have hit some positions," Lieutenant Colonel T.V. Johnson told AFP.

A taxi driver, Osman Ahmed, 25, said he had been to Al-Askari district of the city which had been the target of US fire, to help evacuate a family. "I saw at least three houses that had been destroyed," he told AFP.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US soldier dies in vehicle accident

TIKRIT, Iraq -- One Task Force Danger Soldier was killed in a vehicle accident near Tikrit August 25 at about 6:30 a.m. The Soldier died when his vehicle overturned. The Soldier’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.The incident is under investigation.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Blast at Iraq mosque 'kills 25'

At least 25 people have been killed and dozens injured in a suspected mortar attack on a mosque near the troubled city of Najaf, say hospital officials. The main mosque and its compound in Kufa were packed with people intending to greet Iraq's top Shia cleric. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is on his way to Najaf with thousands of supporters to try to end the conflict there involving Shia rebels. He is expected to announce an initiative to resolve the crisis in Najaf, where fighters loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr are holed up in the compound of the Imam Ali mosque, Shia Islam's holiest shrine. "I have come for the sake of Najaf and I will stay in Najaf until the crisis ends," Ayatollah Sistani said on Wednesday.

Hussam al-Husseini, an aide to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, told AP that one mortar shell hit the mosque itself in Kufa, and two others landed near the gates of the compound. He said another mosque in the city had also been hit by mortar rounds. Crowds of angry people are reported to have built up around the gates of the hospital where casualties were taken.

The ayatollah set out from the southern city of Basra early on Thursday to make the journey of 400km (250 miles) to Najaf in a convoy of cars and buses packed with Shia Muslim faithful. He had called for "all believers" to march to Najaf - his home city - to try to end the military confrontation.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Saboteurs attack multiple pipelines in Iraq

Iraq - Saboteurs have attacked about 20 oil pipelines in southern Iraq, reducing exports from the key oil producing region by at least one third, a top oil official said Thursday. The cluster of pipelines was attacked late Wednesday in Berjasiya, 20 miles southwest of the southern city of Basra, an official with the state-run South Oil Co. told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The pipelines, which connect the Rumeila oilfields to Berjasiya, were still ablaze Thursday.Associated Press Television News footage showed huge plumes of black smoke and flames leaping from the Zubayr 1 pumping station, south of Basra.

Oil exports out of southern Iraq average about 1.85 million barrels a day. The oil official said Wednesday’s sabotage cut exports to 1.2 million barrels.

 

[Barking_Mad]

74 dead, mainly Sadr supporters by all accounts.

Carnage amid Najaf peace mission

Top Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani has begun a peace mission to the Iraqi city of Najaf, hours after attacks in nearby Kufa left at least 74 dead. About 315 people apparently obeying the ayatollah's call to march on Najaf were also hurt, the health ministry said. The main Kufa mosque was hit by mortar shells and gunfire was also reported.

Ayatollah Sistani's representatives have contacted representatives of militants in Najaf who have been in a three-week standoff with US-led forces. On Wednesday he had returned to Iraq and called on Shias to march on Najaf. It was unclear who carried out the attacks in Kufa.

The mortar blast struck a compound packed with people - many believed to be Sadr supporters who were about to go to Najaf.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Thousands Of Weeping And Chanting Shiites End Najaf Siege

NAJAF, Iraq, Aug 26 (AFP) - The gates of Najaf's Imam Ali shrine were forced open Thursday by a sea of weeping and chanting Shiite Muslims, ending a siege of the shrine which had lasted for days and weeks of fighting with US forces. Yet as the camp of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, who led a rebellion against the US-led forces and the new Iraqi government, went into talks with the country's highest Shiite authority, the military standoff appeared far from over.

Akir Hassan, 63, woke up at 6:00 am (0200 GMT) to heed a call by his spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to leave his village south of Kut to converge on the revered mausoleum. Tears ran down his wrinkled face and his feet barely touched the ground as the elated crowd squeezed through the gates and into the shrine's courtyard.

He and the others were greeted like heroes by the 300 besieged Sadr militiamen inside. "God is great. This is democracy, this is the new Iraq, this is the greatest defeat we could have inflicted on the Americans. It's the most beautiful day in my life," he shouted, hurrying inside the main mausoleum to pray. "We have been on the road since yesterday. When we reached the area, the national guard and the Iraqi police tried to prevent us from heading towards the shrine, but there was nothing they could do," said 20-year-old Hussein Noma, from the town of Amara.

Most of the demonstrators were Sistani supporters. "It is my duty to follow the orders of the ayatollah and it was the duty of all Muslims to work for a peaceful solution," said Ali Rasheed, a young man from Kut. Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters brandished they Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenade launchers as they watched the seemingly endless flow of marchers flowing into the holy site. Some of them were looking for relatives they have not seen in months, others pounced on biscuits, sweets and soft drinks.

Further up the stream of at least 20,000 demonstrators, in the Al-Jadida neighbourhood outside the Old City, a surreal scene unfolded as bewildered American soldiers trapped in their tanks watched as posters of Sistani and Moqtada posters were waved in their faces.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Jesus

Marine's grieving father in blaze

The father of a US marine serving in Iraq has set himself ablaze in Florida, after learning his son had been killed. Carlos Arredondo broke into the van of the marines who told him the news, doused it with petrol and set it on fire, police said. Mr Arredondo was taken to hospital suffering from 50% burns but is expected to recover, officials said. His 20-year-old son, L/Cpl Alexander Arredondo, was killed in combat in Najaf on Tuesday.

The soldier's stepmother, Melida Arredondo, said of her husband: "This is his scream that his child is dead. The war needs to stop." It doesn't surprise me that he was so traumatised - he went crazy

After the marines had informed him of his son's death on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Arredondo, 44, walked into his garage to collect a propane tank and some fuel. He then smashed a window of the van and set it ablaze despite attempts by the marines to stop him. They dragged him from the van and put out the fire. The marines were unhurt.

His wife said he knew what the marines were going to say when he saw them approaching his home in Hollywood, Florida.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Uncertainty over instructions for Dutch troops

AMSTERDAM — Dutch troops in Iraq are facing tighter restrictions, it was speculated on Thursday following new orders regulating the use of armed force. The Defence Ministry has refused to confirm if the instructions have been broadened or restricted, but the latter is said to be more likely. Military union AFMP said the possible restriction in the use of force is "irresponsible".

MPs have also reacted with concern over the change in military instructions because Defence Minister Henk Kamp did not inform them prior to the change. Democrat D66 MP Bert Bakker has demanded answers from Kamp.The change in instructions comes amid a spate of recent shootings and violent incidents involving Dutch troops stationed in southern Iraq. A 29-year-old military policeman was killed and five soldiers were seriously injured in an attack earlier this month.

Three Wounded In Car Bomb In Northern Iraq

MOSUL, Iraq, Aug 26 (AFP) - Three people were wounded when a car bomb exploded on the main road east from Iraq's northern city of Mosul as a senior political official was driving past, police said Thursday. Ahmed Peru was unharmed in the attack, but one of his bodyguards and two other civilians were wounded when the vehicle exploded at 6:00 pm (1400 GMT) at Al-Kokachli, said Colonel Muzahin Abdullah al-Shillari.

Peru is a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main Kurdish parties that control northern Iraq.

Iranians Volunteer For Suicide Operations In Iraq

TEHRAN, Aug 26 (AFP) - Some 250 of Iran's Islamist militia volunteered for suicide operations against US forces in Iraq at a rally in the holy Shiite city of Mashhad, the conservative daily Kayhan said Thursday. They expressed their hatred at US military operations in the Iraqi city of Najaf, site of the Imam Ali mausoleum, one of the holiest places for Shiites who form 90 percent of Iran's population, the report said. Radical groups in Iran have been collecting volunteers for "martyrdom" since May but none have been known to have carried out any suicide operations in Iraq. The Iranian government denies involvement or interference in Iraqi affairs.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1291415,00.html?=rss

Media organisations are preparing a formal protest to the Iraqi authorities after dozens of journalists in Najaf, including the entire BBC team, were forced from their hotel at gunpoint and detained by local police.

Around 60 journalists from local and foreign news organisations including the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Independent as well as the BBC, were held for almost an hour while police officers delivered what one correspondent described as an "unexpected press conference at gunpoint"...

...Separately, the al-Jazeera website was today reporting that Iraqi police had arrested five members of al-Arabiya (satellite TV channel) after they reported that US planes had fired missiles within metres of the Imam Ali mausoleum.

According to al-Jazeera, Iraqi security officials arrested the TV crew at their hotel in Najaf, taking five members into custody - including Iraq correspondent Diyar al-Omari.

Shia militants and US forces have been locked in fierce fighting in Najaf for the past three weeks, and last week, police threatened to kill journalists after they rejected a police order to leave town.

 

[Stibs]

Muslim force for Iraq 'unlikely'

Al Jazeera

Malaysia heads the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which is considering a Saudi proposal for an Arab or Muslim force to replace the US-led troops in Iraq.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told a news conference in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday that OIC countries did not want to participate under US leadership.

There was also no indication that Washington was prepared to withdraw in favour of a UN force, he said.

"I don't think the US is interested to leave. From the beginning, I was of the view that the idea looks good but how do we go about implementing it?" Albar said.

"Generally, the OIC countries feel that if they participate, they do not want to participate under the multinational force. They want it to be under the blue berets, which is the UN peacekeeping force.

 

[bigfish]

Secret deal keeps Sadr's men armed: FIGHTERS loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr have been allowed to keep weapons such as AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenade launchers as part of secret provisions in a deal that ended the 22-day siege of the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10613173%5E401,00.html


Militias control key routes to Baghdad: Both cities, Al-Fallujah and Ar-Ramadi, and much of Anbar province, are now controlled by militias, with U.S. troops confined mainly to heavily protected forts on the desert's edge.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9528097.htm


Two killed, dozens injured in Mosul clashes: At least two Iraqis have been killed and dozens injured in fierce clashes with United States soldiers in the northern town of Mosul

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1187606.htm


US point-man in Iraq raises hackles: Iraqi leaders visiting London say they are troubled by new security chiefs — every bit as ruthless as the henchmen of Saddam Hussein — imposed on them by the American authorities.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug292004/f4.asp


Polish party demands Iraq troop pullout: Poland's opposition Peasants' Party has officially kicked off a national drive to collect signatures for a petition demanding the immediate withdrawal of Polish troops from Iraq.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6AD5D5CA-4791-4D11-BC2B-AD91B44239DC.htm


Iraq players acting just a bit ungrateful: If he wasn't at the Olympics, Manajid said he'd have been in Fallujah fighting U.S. forces.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/9530072.htm

 

[Backatcha Bandit]

Official US DoD stats:

Calendar of 1000 US Military Dead in Iraqi War

30/8/04 - The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pfc. Luis A. Perez, 19, of Theresa, N.Y., died Aug. 27 in Fallujah, Iraq, when his convoy vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. Perez was assigned to the Army Reserve’s 223rd Transportation Company, Norristown, Pa.

 

[bigfish]

New York City on Sunday​

 

[Barking_Mad]

From the 4th August to 31st August 829 US soldiers were injured in Iraq making it the second highest total since the invasion began. Averaging out the first 4 unaccounted days in August the total may well be over close to 900

http://www.icasualties.org/oif/

 

[Barking_Mad]

Number of US dead for August is 66 which takes the total US dead to 978.

Iraqi dead unknown but well over 15,000.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi Killed In Mortar Attack In Northern Iraq

MOSUL, Iraq, Sept 1 (AFP) - An Iraqi policeman was killed and 18 people wounded Wednesday in a mortar attack on a government building in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police, the US military and medical sources said. The police officer died and a second policeman and 17 civilians were wounded when insurgents lobbed mortars at Nineveh province's government building in central Mosul, the US military said.

"Four shells landed just outside the walls of the building and other inside the compound," Colonel Muzahem Abdullah Khalaf al-Shemari told AFP. Earlier, hospital and morgue officials confirmed that one Iraqi was killed and 12 wounded, one of them seriously. It was the first such attack to hit the compound since Niniveh governor Dureid Kashmula's predecessor was assassinated in July.

Elsewhere in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Kurdish woman and a child were seriously wounded when a mortar hit on a Kurdish refugee camp by the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, police chief Major General Shirku Shakir said. The mortar exploded in the Felak Legion camp, home to 3,000 Kurdish refugee families who had returned to the region after being expelled from their homes by Saddam Hussein's regime. Medical and security sources in Kirkuk also reported that two shepherds were killed Wednesday by the accidental explosion of what was thought to be an old bomb some 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of the oil-rich city/

 

[Barking_Mad]

Hmm this is curious, Sadr aides killed in a gun attack....Opposition eleemtns, or perhaps 'Iraqi Government/US' sponsored killing?

Senior Sadr Aide Assassinated In Iraq

BAGHDAD, Sept 1 (AFP) - Gunmen amushed and killed a senior aide to radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and two other people on the road between the holy city of Najaf and Baghdad, an official from the movement and relatives said Wednesday. Sayed Bashir al-Jazaeri was killed Tuesday when his car came under fire as he was returning from Najaf, which was until recently the scene of fierce fighting between US forces and Sadr`s militia, a spokesman for one of the cleric`s offices said.

Jazaeri headed one of Sadr`s local offices near the capital, said Sayed Naim al-Qaabi. Jazaeri`s brother Said Saleh Abu Razak al-Jazaeri said a second person was killed in the vehicle and another person was wounded. Another vehicle drove up behind and was also hit by gunfire, killing one more and wounding another of Jazairi`s friends, Jazaeri`s brother added. Meanwhile, Qaabi told AFP the attack might have been perpetrated by extremist Sunni Muslim organisations or former members of Saddam Hussein`s regime, and accused the government of failing to provide security in this area south of Baghdad.

"Even the Iraqi government said that lots of important personalities were targeted in this area. Why is it doing nothing about it?", he asked. On Wednesday morning, Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi told reporters as he prepared to take the oath at the interim parliament`s opening session that he had just escaped an assassination attempt on the same road.

The cities of Laitifiya, Mahmudiya and Iskandariya command access to the road which runs south of Baghdad to Najaf and Karbala.