*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq election officials go incognito to get job done

Five months before the general election upon which Iraq’s future hinges, escalating violence and kidnappings have left the Iraqis in charge of the ballot unable to move freely round the country. Selected and trained by the United Nations, Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission is still virtually confined to Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone, with senior officials sent out of the country for UN training.

So dangerous is it for the nascent body’s seven commissioners to travel in a country where all government, US or UN-backed officials are assassination targets that some — at huge risk — occasionally abandon their armed bodyguards and travel incognito.Without such drastic measures the seven Iraqis, who include two women, believe they would have been unable to begin hiring election officials, establishing polling booths and drafting the electoral laws for the 275-member Iraqi National Assembly.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi rebuilding fund to be spent on security

The Bush administration asked Congress yesterday to shift $3.5bn (£1.94bn) of funds earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction into short-term spending. The aim is to bolster security and help oil production ahead of the Iraqi elections which, despite the continuing violence, the White House insists will take place in January.

The move came on the day that at least 59 people were killed in attacks by insurgents in Baghdad and the nearby town of Baquba. It is seen by critics as a change in US strategy and an admission that efforts to rebuild the country have failed. Under the scheme, $1.8bn allocated for longer-term infrastructure projects will be redirected into an emergency effort to train and equip Iraqi police and security forces; $450m will go to help the oil industry; and $360m to meet the budgetary costs of forgiving virtually all Iraq's outstanding $4bn pre-war debt to the US.

The shift reflects the belief in Washington that the insurgents who have turned some cities, especially north and west of Baghdad, into no-go areas are likely to keep up the attacks at least until the US elections - and maybe longer in an attempt to disrupt the Iraqi elections. Anthony Cordesman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said the change was "a de facto recognition that the neoconservatives' goals for restructuring Iraq can never be achieved", and amounted to the "Vietnamisation" of US military strategy. As Washington rushed in funds to create an Iraqi force capable of replacing US and British troops, American commanders had shifted to holding actions and surgical strikes.US officials said they were merely adjusting to challenging circumstances.

Three beheaded bodies discovered on a road north of Baghdad

Wednesday September 15, 2004 - BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) The Iraqi National Guard found three unidentified beheaded bodies Wednesday on a road north of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said. There were no documents on the bodies discovered on the road near Dijiel, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry.He said the bodies were all male and had old tattoos. No further information were immediately available.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqis Plead With U.S. to Return to City

ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TAL AFAR - U.S. troops barred anguished crowds from returning to their homes in the besieged city of Tal Afar on Monday as residents described corpses scattered across orchards and the collapse of essential services such as water and electricity. American troops and Iraqi forces on Sunday overran Tal Afar, one of several Iraqi cities they say had fallen into the hands of insurgents, after a nearly two-week siege that forced scores of residents to flee and left a trail of devastated buildings and rubble.

Crowds of men desperate to learn the fate of their loved ones and check on their homes pleaded with American troops manning a checkpoint on the city's outskirts to let them through. But soldiers only stepped aside for a few medical relief workers and regional officials."It's for their own safety," 1st Lt. Neal Erickson of Task Force Olympia, which controls the area, said at the checkpoint.

..........

U.S. commanders said they moved in on Tal Afar at the behest of regional officials who lost control of the city. American intelligence believed Tal Afar had become a haven for militants smuggling men and arms from across the Syrian border. Turkmen officials have said that 58 people were killed during a 12-day assault by U.S. and Iraqi government forces. Turkmen residents who fled the city to nearby Mosul spoke of bodies lying under the hot sun and wrecked buildings.

Saleh said U.S. and Iraqi forces are hunting for remaining militants in the city's orchards, private homes and government offices. But most of the insurgents are believed to have fled with their guns. The Iraqi Red Crescent has set up three camps in nearby villages to house displaced families. Thousands of others have sought refuge in mosques or moved in with friends or relatives in Mosul and elsewhere. At the camps, the Turkmen are given rice, bread, vegetables, cookies and water. But there are no toilets or electricity.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Last 4 days, 230+ Iraqi dead.

So far his month 42 US soldiers have died in Iraq - total now stands at 1020.

 

[Barking_Mad]

275 prisoners released from Abu Ghraib

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military released 275 prisoners Wednesday from the Abu Ghraib prison, the facility near Baghdad where U.S. soldiers allegedly abused Iraqi detainees. This marked the first release following a review by a joint Iraqi and military committee set up last month to review the cases, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman.

As a result of this review process, as many as 500 additional prisoners will be released by the end of the month, Johnson said. There are 2,500 prisoners remaining. "Many more have been selected for release but are awaiting the guarantors from their local community," he said. The committee consists of six Iraqi officials and three representatives from the U.S.-led multinational forces, Johnson said.

Over 5,000 prisoners have been released from Abu Ghraib since the scandal involving mistreatment of prisoners at the hands of the U.S. soldiers broke out earlier this year.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Just a brief piece from here:

As the havoc goes on, Iraqi universities are not being spared. A group calling itself the "Islamic Jihad brigade" threatens to attack the schools -- if Iraqi authorities continue allowing women to study alongside men.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Just a brief piece from here:

As the havoc goes on, Iraqi universities are not being spared. A group calling itself the "Islamic Jihad brigade" threatens to attack the schools -- if Iraqi authorities continue allowing women to study alongside men.

MORE THAN 3,000 TAL AFAR RESIDENTS RETURN HOME

MOSUL, Iraq – More than 3,000 people have returned safely to their homes in Tal Afar in the last twenty-four hours. Basic utilities have been restored to the city.

Duraid Kashmoula, Ninevah Province Governor, and Ninevah Province provincial council members determined yesterday that the city was safe and allowed residents to begin returning to their homes.

Iraqi security forces are maintaining security in the city. Multi-National Forces and Iraqi security forces continue to work with Iraqi Red Crescent to provide medical assistance and humanitarian aid to the citizens of Tal Afar.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Interesting piece....

Iraq Is No Vietnam

Assessing American attempts to suppress the insurgency and establish a viable regime, a prominent American scholar cut to the heart of the problem with icy acuity. "We are so powerful that [the insurgency] is simply unable to defeat us militarily," he writes. "By its own efforts, [it] cannot force the withdrawal of American forces." The trouble is that the insurgents don't need an outright military victory. "Their tactic is to use terror and intimidation to discourage cooperation with constituted authority." Their aim is "largely negative: to prevent the consolidation of governmental authority."

The insurgents know that the American military cannot stay forever. And when it leaves? "Unfortunately, our military strength has no political corollary; we have been unable so far to create a political structure that could survive opposition from Hanoi after we withdraw."

Hanoi? The author was Henry A. Kissinger, then a Harvard professor (writing in Foreign Affairs); the time was January 1969; the war, Vietnam.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Kiwi troops coming home

New Zealand's troops are pulling out of Iraq under a cloak of secrecy as security deteriorates in the battle to control the war-torn country. Nearly 100 people have been killed in attacks in Baghdad and Baquba this week, while Australia has sent a "logistics team" to Iraq to determine whether two of its nationals are being held hostage.

The New Zealand Defence Force is refusing to give any details of the withdrawal of the 60-strong Kiwi military engineering contingent, which has been hunkered down in Basra for the past five weeks as violence escalates throughout Iraq. "We do not discuss troop movements in circumstances like this where security is a factor," Defence spokeswoman Sandy McKie said. However, it is understood they are pulling out this week.

Humvee hits roadside bomb, and a mortar round kills one

September 16, 2004 4:12 AM

An American Humvee has hit a roadside bomb south of Fallujah. Witnesses say the vehicle was on fire on a main road near the city and that U-S forces sealed off the road. There's no immediate word on casualties. Fallujah is a hotbed for the insurgency in Iraq. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, a mortar round exploded in the center of the city. Authorities say say one person is dead, and ten others are injured. An Interior Ministry official says the round landed in a residential area. Firefighters and ambulances have raced to the scene.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq war hero says few plans made for peace

Thu 16 September, 2004 11:43

LONDON (Reuters) - A senior British army officer, lauded for his stirring speech on the eve of the U.S.-led invason of Iraq, has accused Britain and the United States of "gross incompetence" in failing to plan for peace. Colonel Tim Collins, who urged his men to be "ferocious in battle, magnanimous in victory", said the war had created a dangerous power vacuum.

"There was very little preparation or thought given to what would follow on after the invasion itself," Collins told BBC radio in an interview. "Nature abhors a vacuum and so do politics, and if you knock something down you must be prepared to put something in its place." Collins, who left the army after being accused and cleared of mistreating Iraqi prisoners, questioned the reason why the United States invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of former President Saddam Hussein.

"Either it was a war to liberate the people of Iraq, in which case there's gross incompetence," he said. "Or it was simply a cynical war that was going to happen anyway to vent some form of anger on Saddam Hussein's regime."

.........

Collins, former commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment, said the international community was "dismayed" by the situation in Iraq. A copy of Collins's speech to his troops was reportedly tacked to the wall of President George W. Bush's office. Prince Charles praised it as "stirring, civilised and humane".

 

[Barking_Mad]

More deaths in Iraq as clashes continue

Bombings and running street battles in five Iraqi cities have resulted in at least four deaths and dozens of injuries. Three bombs in Baghdad on Thursday targeted a US convoy in the Zaituna district in the capital's northeast and also wounded three Iraqi civilians. A second blast on Saadun Street in the city centre also targeted US vehicles but a third bomb destroyed a shop selling alcohol in the Batawin district and injured five Iraqi civilians. Just hours earlier, in the western city of Ramadi, local journalists told Aljazeera that four Iraqis were shot dead by US snipers.

And in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi National Guard building came under mortar attack. One shell is believed to have missed its target and wounded two civilians who lived close by. Five Iraqi police officers in the city were also seriously injured when their joint patrol with US troops came under heavy attack. US forces also came under suffered casualties in an attack in Baquba, northeast of the capital.

An unknown number of soldiers were wounded when a military vehicle was destroyed just in front of an army headquarters building north of the city. A second US military vehicle was also destroyed by a roadside device just to the east of the Iraqi town of Falluja. The US army is yet to make a statement about casualties in the two incidents.

........The latest abductions follow a spate of violence in which nearly 200 Iraqis have been killed in bomb blasts, clashes and other attacks countrywide over the past few days.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Northern Iraq inches towards civil war

After all that the Kurds have been through, there is no way the international community can force Kurdistan back under the control of a central Iraqi government," Basim stated. As for future representation for other Iraqi ethnic groups living in the Kurd-controlled northern provinces, Basim said: "They are welcome to stay, so long as they accept the status of a minority."

The question as to what those minority rights would entail has already led to a number of violent clashes between Arabs and Peshmergas since the Kurdish militia pushed south after the collapse of Saddam's regime. The Kurdish occupation of Kirkuk – the oil-rich capital of northern Iraq – has also resulted in numerous skirmishes with Turkman militia. Descendants of ancient Turks, the nearly two million Iraqi Turkmen historically constitute the majority of Kirkuk's population.

"The Peshmerga are now trying to drive us from our homes through intimidation," said Sahid Danilchi, a spokesman for the Kirkuk-based Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF). On 31 January, the day before the Arbil bombing, two senior ITF officials were gunned down outside the village of Taza Khormathe, south-west of Kirkuk. Although the assassins have yet to be apprehended, the ITF has little doubt as to who is responsible for the attack.

"The Turkmen have no quarrel with the Arabs and we certainly don’t suspect the Americans of this murder," said Sahid. "It's the Kurds who want control of Kirkuk. But they cannot kill us all so easily." The growing inter-ethnic violence has not gone unnoticed by the US troops stationed in northern Iraq. "I don't doubt that the minute we pull out of here, there is going to be a full-on civil war," said specialist David Percy, a 23-year-old air force technician serving at the Kirkuk airbase.

"These guys all seem to hate each other, except the one thing they agree on - which is that American troops must go home. And if you're any of our guys, you'll find that that sentiment is unanimous".

 

[Barking_Mad]

Judge Orders U.S. to Open Iraq Records

NEW YORK - Suggesting the government was acting as if it had something to hide, a federal judge Wednesday gave Washington one month to release records related to the treatment of prisoners in Iraq. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein chastised officials for moving at a "glacial pace" in responding to nearly year-old Freedom of Information Act requests from the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) and four other watchdog organizations.

"If the documents are more of an embarrassment than a secret, the public should know of our government's treatment of individuals captured and held abroad," Hellerstein wrote. "We are a nation that strives to value the dignity of all humanity."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqis blame carnage on occupation

Iraqis have blamed Tuesday's bloody attacks against Shia ceremonies on the US-led occupation and foreign powers interested in initiating civil war in Iraq. Dr Harith al-Dhari, secretary-general of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the highest Muslim Sunni authority in Iraq, blamed foreign powers such as Israel for the attacks. He described the attackers as those parties interested in plunging Iraq into civil war.

"Let us analyse the incident and find out who would benefit from such carnage," he said. "No Iraqi is interested in perpetuating the state of chaos, but there are parties like the occupation and Israel interested in prolonging the period of occupation. "They know very well that civil war would make the life of the occupiers easier in Iraq."

Shaikh Jawad al-Khalisi (Shia), imam and preacher of al-Jawadain mosque in al-Kadhimiya, has said the party who is tackling the security situation is to be blamed. "When there is a security failure, the party responsible for security is to be blamed. And let us ask ourselves, who has the capability of launching such bombs in these circumstances?

"What story should we believe, should we believe and blame the figure that the Americans are drawing for us (Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi and al-Qaida fighters), or should we believe what we are seeing on the ground every day?" he said. "An Iraqi citizen would not attack a mosque, and a Muslim would not attack Muslims, these are red lines in our people's ideology," he said

 

[Barking_Mad]

More parts of Iraq out of US control.....

A 15-mile stretch of road south of Baghdad

MAHMOUDIYAH, Iraq (AP) A 15-mile stretch of road south of Baghdad has become the most dreaded in Iraq after a series of high-profile kidnappings and deadly ambushes targeting foreign journalists and prominent politicians. Heat and boredom aren't the worst aspect of being trapped in the gridlock that unfolds every day in the street running through Mahmoudiyah's main food market. Around here, all an assassin needs for cover is a traffic jam.

.......

The 67-year-old al-Ghiriri belongs to the leadership class that was supposed to be the Americans' best ally in facing down Iraqi insurgents and rebuilding the country. But this farming town and two neighboring communities south of Baghdad have spun almost totally out of government control, with insurgents backed by local tribal leaders emerging as the real power. The reason Mahmoudiyah has constant traffic jams, ironically, is because about five months ago the U.S. military closed a stretch of highway that bypasses the three towns, squeezing traffic onto the smaller road where insurgents are active.

.......

The government, in office since June 28, faces growing discontent over its failure to pacify the country. The apparent noncooperation of tribal leaders is another sign the insurgents are, at least in some places, terrorizing their way to supremacy. The government says it's trying hard, but lacks manpower. ''We are continuing to go to these areas to rid them of saboteurs,'' Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said. ''These operations are carried out by the multinational force and the police, but their numbers are not at the required level and they cannot operate freely.'' The insurgents, according to residents, consist mostly of former members of Saddam Hussein's army and security agencies, and are highly disciplined and sophisticated. They also include non-Iraqi fighters, according to Kadhim, as well as followers of the austere Wahhabi creed, the brand of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. The new government is also up against a close network of tribes and families sharing the religious belief that the Americans in Iraq are invaders and that every Muslim has a duty to fight them.

''Things have gone too far for middle ground now,'' said Sheik Faisal Jalab, a tribal chief from Youssifiyah. ''Our religion obliges us to stand behind those defending the faith.''

 

[Barking_Mad]

THREE MARINES DIE IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE

In three separate incidents, one Marine assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action and two died of wounds sustained in action Sept. 16, while conducting security and stability operations in the Al Anbar Province. Due to force protection consideration, additional details concerning the incident will not be made available.

The names of the deceased are being withheld pending next of kin notification.

US dead so far this month - 51

 

[Barking_Mad]

More US airstrikes on Fallujah, more Iraqi dead, more anger........

32 die as US forces hit hideouts

US forces pounded suspected hideouts of an al Qaida-linked group in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah and nearby villages, killing at least 32 people and wounding 48 others. An initial wave of strikes targeted a compound in Fazat Shnetir, about 12 miles south of Fallujah, where militants loyal to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were gathering to plot attacks on coalition forces, the military said in a statement.

Militants who survived the strikes later sought refuge in nearby villages, but US forces "quickly broke off an offensive to hunt them down, so as to avoid civilian casualties", the statement continued.

Residents of Fazat Shnetir could later be seen digging mass graves to bury the dead in groups of four. US warplanes unleashed strikes on a cluster of houses believed to be used by members of Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group inside Fallujah, the military said.

"The terrorists targeted in this strike were believed to be associated with recent bombing attacks and other terrorist activities throughout Iraq," the military said. Blood covered the floors of the Fallujah General Hospital as doctors struggled to cope with a flood of casualties, many brought to the hospital in private cars with ambulances overwhelmed. Relatives pounded their chests in grief and denounced the United States.

Dr Ali Awad of the Fallujah General Hospital said at least 32 people were killed and more than 40 were injured, including women and children. Religious leaders switched on loudspeakers at the Fallujah mosque to call on residents to donate blood while chanting "God is great".

 

[Barking_Mad]

Huge blasts hit centre of Baghdad

Two huge explosions have hit the centre of Baghdad causing many casualties, reports from the scene say. Television pictures show US troops and Iraqi police trying to clear the area around Rashid Street, as ambulances rushed to treat the wounded. Details remain sketchy, but witnesses say it was a car-bombing. Another blast also hit the city, three days after nearly 50 people died in a bomb attack in Haifa Street, where gun battles are still raging.

The BBC's Mike Donkin in Baghdad says fighters have been using Haifa Street to mount rocket and mortar attacks on the nearby international zone. He adds that another aim is to stop insurgents from other parts of Iraq moving in to consolidate resistance in the capital itself.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Report: Soldiers say they are being threatened with Iraq duty

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Soldiers from a combat unit at Fort Carson say they have been told to re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday. Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last week, two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity told the newspaper.

"They said if you refuse to re-enlist with the 3rd Brigade, we'll send you down to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is going to Iraq for a year, and you can stay with them, or we'll send you to Korea, or to Fort Riley (in Kansas) where they're going to Iraq," said one of the soldiers, a sergeant. The second soldier, an enlisted man, echoed that view: "They told us if we don't re-enlist, then we'd have to be reassigned. And where we're most needed is in units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. So if you think you're getting out, you're not."

The sergeant told the News the threat has outraged soldiers who are close to fulfilling their service obligation.

"We have a whole platoon who refuses to sign," he said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

report refers to yesterday.

Oil pipeline ablaze in Iraq

AN oil pipeline feeding the Al-Dura refinery on the outskirts of Baghdad was ablaze late today after a suspected act of sabotage northeast of the Iraqi capital, said an AFP correspondent. Local residents near the restive city of Baquba said they heard a loud explosion in the afternoon and rushed to help extinguish the flames that continued to rage as dusk set in.

The pipeline links the Kurdish town of Qanaqin, about 100 kilometres from Baghdad, to Al-Dura refinery. Sabotage of oil infrastructure is common in Iraq where a fire which raged on a strategic northern pipeline, stalling exports through Turkey, was brought under control early on Wednesday. An official at the Northern Oil Company said the repair work would take "three days to a week to complete".

 

[Barking_Mad]

Corpse found in Iraq Tigris

Australia's embassy in Baghdad is investigating a report that the body of a western man has been found in the Tigris River in central Iraq. Reports from Iraq indicated the man was tall and had blond hair. His hands had been handcuffed behind his back and he had been shot in the head. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said officials inside Iraq had been asked to look into the report.

"We are aware of a report that a body believed to be a westerner had been found at Samarra," he said. "Our embassy in Baghdad has been requested to investigate the report." That follows unconfirmed reports earlier this week that Iraqi insurgents had abducted two Australian security men. They threatened to kill the two unless Australia withdrew its troops from Iraq. A doctor at Samarra's general hospital told AFP the man whose body was found in the river appeared to have been dead for three days, placing his killing at the time the kidnappers' deadline would have expired.

Iraqi Killed for Working with British Troops

Gunmen attacked two men who had been working with the British military in southern Iraq, killing one and wounding another. Three men entered the Basra apartment where the two lived and shot them, said police Captain Alaa Khalil.

The wounded man Amer Hamoudi, said from his hospital bed that he works as a translator for British forces. It was not clear what was the dead man’s job. A note left near the victims read: “This is the punishment of anyone who co-operates with occupation forces.” Insurgents have targeted Iraqis working for foreign troops in Iraq because they are seen as being collaborators with the coalition forces.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Two US soldiers killed, 11 wounded in car bomb attacks in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Two US soldiers were killed and 11 others wounded in a pair of car bomb attacks in southern Baghdad on Saturday, the US military said. The first car bomb detonated around 3:30 p.m. (1130 GMT), injuring three American soldiers, while a second one killed three soldiers and wounded eight others half an hour later. In the latter incident, the troops were travelling to the site of the earlier explosion when they were ambushed, said the military.

Local residents earlier said the convoys were attacked by home-made bombs. Loud explosions were heard and plumes of smoke billowed over the airport road, a scene of frequent attacks against US army vehicles and Western civilian convoys. Over 1,000 US soldiers have been killed, including 778 killed inaction, since the coalition army launched the invasion in Marchlast year. Hours after the incidents, a statement published on a website said a group led by al Qaida figure Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was behind the twin attacks.

Two members from the "martyrdom brigade" of the Tawhid wal Jihad(unification and holy war) carried out the attacks, said the statement. Zarqawi, with a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head, is said to be the mastermind of a series of lethal attacks in Iraq. US army has launched intensive raids on suspect sites believed to be his hide outs.

Iraqi PM Says Violence Won't Stop Vote

The Iraqi prime minister insisted Sunday that the raging insurgency - which has claimed 300 lives in the last week alone and resulted in a wave of kidnappings - will not delay January elections, promising the vote will strike a "major blow" against the violent opposition. Meanwhile, a grisly videotape posted on a Web site showed the beheading of three hostages believed to be Iraqi Kurds accused by militants of cooperating with U.S. forces. A separate group also claimed to have captured 18 Iraqi soldiers and threatened to kill them unless a detained aide of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was freed, according to the Arab news station Al-Jazeera.

In another sign of continuing instability 17 months into the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, a suicide car bomb killed three people in Samarra - a northern city that U.S. and Iraqi commanders have portrayed as a success story in their attempts to put down the insurgency. Over the past week, about 300 people have been killed in escalating violence, including bombings, street fighting and U.S. airstrikes. Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned there could not be "credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now."

But Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who is heading to the United Nations for this week's General Assembly session in New York, said his interim government was determined "to stick to the timetable of the elections," which are due by Jan. 31. "January next, I think, is going to be a major blow to terrorists and insurgents," said Allawi, who spoke with reporters after a meeting with British leader Tony Blair in London. "We are adamant that democracy is going to prevail, is going to win in Iraq."

U.S. Strikes in Fallujah Leave Four Dead

U.S. warplanes and artillery units fired on the insurgent-held city of Fallujah overnight, killing four people and wounding six, hospital officials said Sunday. An artillery barrage on an industrial area in Fallujah early Sunday left two people dead and two others wounded, said Dr. Ahmed Khalil of the Fallujah General Hospital. Late Saturday, U.S. warplanes unleashed missiles on a main street in the city center, killing two people and wounding four, said another hospital official, Dr. Rafea Heyad.

The U.S. military had no immediate comment about the attacks on the industrial zone, but said Saturday's strikes hit a checkpoint manned by insurgents linked to alleged terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "The illegal checkpoint used blockades to disrupt security, intimidate and harass local citizens and interrogate and detain local civilians," the military said in a statement. The attacks were the latest in a series of strikes in and around Fallujah since late Thursday.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi car bomb kills 23 in Kirkuk

A suicide car bomb attack on the Iraqi national guard headquarters in Kirkuk has killed 23 people, officials say. The victims in the northern city were queuing to apply for jobs, said a general in the national guard. Bloodied bodies were strewn across the street, which was littered with twisted metal and shards of glass. Elsewhere, there were repeated attacks on US soldiers near Baghdad airport and US planes carried out fresh strikes on the restive city of Falluja. The attacks came on the day Iraqi Airways flew its first international flight into Baghdad airport for 14 years. It is not clear if there was any connection.

- A senior Iraqi oil official, Mohammed Zibari, survives an assassination attempt in Mosul, but five of his bodyguards are killed, police say

- A roadside bomb in Baghdad, kills one person and wounds two others, police say

- In Baquba, nine people are reported injured when a mortar shell is fired at a crowd of parents and schoolchildren awaiting exam results at a school

- British troops clash with supporters of cleric Moqtada Sadr in Basra for a second day

- Arab Shia leader Sheikh Kadhim al-Hany is ambushed and killed in Kirkuk, police say.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi PM: 'Terrorists pouring in'

Monday, September 20, 2004 Posted: 1113 GMT (1913 HKT)

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has warned that "terrorists" are flooding into his country from across the Muslim world. His comments on Monday echoed those of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair who said the day before that Iraq was now the "crucible" in which the future of global terrorism would be determined. Allawi, who is visiting London, told GMTV at the end of one of the bloodiest weeks since the end of major conflict in Iraq: "It's not a second conflict per se, it's really an international conflict.

"Terrorists are coming and pouring in from various countries into Iraq to try and undermine the situation in Iraq. They're coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan, from Europe, from Morocco, from Syria and so on.

"Iraq is on the front line of fighting these terrorists. And, God forbid, if Iraq is broken or the will of Iraq is broken, then London would be a target, Washington will be a target, Paris will be a target, Cairo will be a target, as we have seen in the past." But former British foreign secretary Robin Cook, who resigned from the Cabinet over the Iraq war, disputed that argument.

"There were no international terrorists in Iraq until we went in," he told The Times newspaper."It was we who gave the perfect conditions in which al Qaeda could thrive." Allawi made his comments on British TV on Monday ahead of talks with UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon and International Development Secretary Hilary Benn.

Sunni clerics killed in Baghdad

Gunmen in Baghdad have killed two prominent clerics belonging to an influential Sunni Muslim group.
Muslim Scholars' Association member Sheikh Hazem Zeidi was shot dead at an isolated Sunni mosque in the Shia suburb of Sadr City on Sunday night. Sheikh Muhammad Jadu was gunned down on his way to noon prayers in the mixed al-Baya neighbourhood on Monday.

Baghdad has witnessed several killings of clerics since the 2003 war, fuelling fears of possible Sunni-Shia conflict. "After performing the night prayers at al-Sajjad Mosque, in Sadr City, [Sheikh Hazem] left in his car with two bodyguards," said a spokesmen for the association. "A group of masked gunmen followed him in a private car and opened fire."

Mr Zeidi's role was to co-ordinate among Sunni clerics and other religious movements in Iraq, the association said. He was also the imam, or prayer leader, at one of the 10 Sunni mosques reportedly located among the two million Shia inhabitants of the Sadr City slum.

Two bodyguards of were briefly taken hostage during the attack, which took place after evening prayers. Mr Jadu was reportedly shot as he entered Baya neighbourhood's Kawthar mosque in western Baghdad before noon prayers. He was unarmed and had no security guards, said a mosque official. "We hope it is not an organised campaign to assassinate the association's clerics," a source in the Muslim Scholars' Association is quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. The association is a conservative group that opposes the US military presence in Iraq, but has worked for the release of foreign hostages. Killings of clerics from each side have caused great anger among their respective communities, in particular as the embattled Iraqi police have failed to investigate the crimes seriously, correspondents say.

 

[Barking_Mad]

"10 years to beat insururgency"

Classic guerrilla war forming in Iraq

Recent upsurge in attacks against authorities and US forces has parallels, and differences, with past insurgencies.War is never by the books. Adversaries learn and adapt. The political climate shifts on both sides. Loyalties and alliances couple and decouple. The civilian populace - caught in the crossfire - often remains passive just to survive.

.........."Guerrilla warfare is the most underrated and the most successful form of warfare in human history," says Ivan Eland, a specialist on national security at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. "It is a defensive type of war against a foreign invader. If the guerrillas don't lose, they win. The objective is to wait out your opponent until he goes home." From the Filipino insurrection during the Spanish-American War to Vietnam to El Salvador, American troops have had plenty of experience in fighting home-grown enemies that look nothing like a conventional army. As have France in Algeria, Britain in Malaysia and Northern Ireland, Israel in the occupied territories.

..........It's a tough job, one that's likely to take years - as long as 10 years, says Dr. Metz at the Army War College. And the outcome is by no means assured. "The government must appear to be legitimate, inevitable, and effective at providing security and services," says Mr. Pike. "As long as Iran does not stir the pot, these objectives could be approached by the end of this decade, with luck."

 

[Barking_Mad]

I'd never have noticed!

We're back at war in Iraq, says general

Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the Army, has admitted that British troops in Iraq are "back at war". He is the first authoritative figure to concede that war is still being waged in Iraq, 16 months after President George W Bush declared that combat operations were over. In an interview with The Telegraph, the Chief of the General Staff said that August had been a difficult month for soldiers serving in southern Iraq.

"Soldiers are now fighting a counter-insurgency war," said Sir Mike. "August was a very busy month and British soldiers were involved in war fighting." The general said that many of the terrorists were foreigners who had entered Iraq through one of its many porous borders, and some were known to be Syrians. "The insurgents are made up of both indigenous and foreign fighters and there is evidence that some of these terrorists are Syrians," he said. "Iraq's borders are long and very open but, if more could be done to secure borders, the security situation in Iraq would improve.

.........

"I don't think we were caught out by this counter-insurgency war. From a British dimension, the planning for post-war Iraq had allowed for a less-than-benign atmosphere, so I don't think it is fair to say that we were caught out or unprepared," he said.Tony Blair last night sought to quash claims that he had been warned a year before invading Iraq that the war could result in chaos and require large numbers of troops for "many years".

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S., Iraqi Troops Clash With Insurgents

Tuesday, September 21, 2004; 8:49 PM - BAGHDAD - U.S. aircraft and tanks attacked rebel positions as fierce fighting erupted early Wednesday in Baghdad's Sadr City area. The fighting came as U.S. and Iraqi forces searched for weapons caches in the Shiite stronghold, an east Baghdad slum.

Insurgents Attack Abu Ghraib Prison, Kill Detainee

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, Sept. 21, 2004 - Anti-Iraqi forces attacked the Abu Ghraib prison complex late tonight with mortars and heavy machine-gun fire that left one Iraqi detainee dead. No other injuries resulted from the attack. The detainee died from a gunshot wound received when the insurgents fired into the compound. He was pronounced dead after being taken to the emergency room of the detainee hospital located within the complex. Family notification will be made through the interim Iraqi government.

A mortar attack on the prison earlier today resulted in no injuries or significant damage. On Sept. 12, a coordinated attack on the Abu Ghraib complex with mortars and an explosives-laden vehicle ended with the death of one insurgent when the vehicle exploded after being engaged by Multinational Force Iraq forces. Seven other anti-Iraqi forces were captured. On Sept. 17, more than 20 mortar shells struck inside the complex with no injuries or significant damage. The most serious attack on the facility occurred April 20, when mortars left 22 Iraqi detainees dead and more than 100 injured.

Iraqi oil production reaches 2.5 million barrels per day

BAGHDAD, Sept 22 (KUNA) -- Iraq's oil production has reached 2.5 million barrels per day, out of which 2.0 million barrels are exported daily, Iraq's Oil Minister Thamir Al-Ghadban said Wednesday after returning from OPEC's 132nd ministerial meeting in Vienna.

Baghdad car bombing wounds four

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A car bomb struck a U.S. patrol on the road to Baghdad's airport Tuesday, wounding four American soldiers and several Iraqis. Meanwhile, relatives pleaded for the lives of an American and Briton held hostage by militants threatening to behead one of them. The car bomb destroyed an armored Humvee and about 10 civilian vehicles on the highway. Ambulances rushed at least two women - one of them covered in blood - a child and three wounded men to a hospital.

Troops sealed off the area of the explosion as helicopters hovered overhead. The U.S. military said one of the wounded Americans was taken to the hospital while the three others were treated on the spot. September has seen more than 30 car bombings, the most in any month, as insurgents intensify a strategy of explosions and abductions in their campaign against U.S. forces and the allied government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

Black Hawk Crashes in Iraq; Three Wounded

Wednesday September 22, 2004 8:31 AM - BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed shortly after take off in southern Iraq on Wednesday, injuring three crew members, the military said. It was not immediately clear why the aircraft went down near the city of Nasiriyah, a spokesman for coalition forces in Baghdad said. He said the aircraft was "severely damaged'' and that an investigation was underway.

Suicide Car Bomb in Baghdad Kills Six

Wednesday September 22, 2004 8:46 AM - BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb in a commercial district in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least six people and injuring 54, authorities said. The blast wrecked a dozen cars and damaged buildings in the Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Jamiyah. Shattered glass and debris littered the street. Rescue worker ferried wounded to ambulances that rushed to the scene. Interior Ministry official Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said the blast was caused by a suicide car bomber.

At least six people were killed and 54 wounded, said Dr. Mohammed Salaheddin of the nearby Yarmouk Hospital.

Body Found in Iraq, Not Identified -U.S. Official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A body has been found in Iraq but has not yet been identified, a U.S. official said on Tuesday after a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said it had beheaded a second American hostage. "We understand that a body has been found," a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. The United States has not yet been able to establish the identity of the body, the official said.

There was no evidence that the body was that of Jack Hensley, the second American hostage, but the official said: "obviously there needs to be a process of identification and the family needs to be contacted." CNN reported that a headless body had been found but not yet identified. The al Qaeda-linked Tawhid and Jihad group, led by Zarqawi, said on its Web site that it had killed Hensley and threatened to next kill a British hostage, who was being held with the two U.S. hostages. A day earlier, the group posted a videotape on the Internet showing the beheading of American hostage Eugene Armstrong.

 

[Barking_Mad]

10 die in US air strikes on Baghdad

Wednesday September 22, 2004 8:58 AM - US aircraft and tanks attacked rebel positions as fierce fighting erupted in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, killing 10 people and injuring 92 others, hospital officials said. The fighting came as US and Iraqi forces searched for weapons caches in the Shiite stronghold, an east Baghdad slum. Witnesses near the scene said a US C130 gunship raked one area with heavy fire after rebels loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr opened fire with rocket propelled grenades.

US warplanes and Apache helicopter gunships also carried out strikes. One helicopter was hit by groundfire but managed to return to its base, and one tank was disabled by a roadside bomb. There were no immediate reports of any injuries to US forces. Ten people died and 92 were injured, said Qassim Saddam of Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City. At one point, US troops took to the slum roof tops to chase down five rebels armed with assault rifles, killing two and capturing three.

Later, soldiers occupied the Jolan Club, a large enclosed sports complex with soccer fields and basketball courts that the Americans believed was being used to store weapons. No arms were found, however. On Tuesday, US planes also struck in Sadr City in an attempt to destroy roadside bombs and mines strewn across the slum's streets. Al-Sadr officials said the strikes destroyed the homes of civilians.

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. raid on Sadr offices assailed

Sept. 22, 2004 12:00 AM

NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. forces raided the headquarters of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the heart of the holy city of Najaf on Tuesday and arrested his top advisers in the strongest blow yet to Sadr's nationwide insurgency. The pre-dawn raid drew an angry rebuke from the country's top Shiite cleric, whose support is vital to maintaining calm among the country's Shiite majority.

"We've informed the Iraqi government of our rejection and our condemnation of American forces for entering the holy city of Najaf and approaching the holy shrine," said a statement released by the staff of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf. "We believe there was no justification for such a military measure and hold the interim Iraqi government responsible for what happened." U.S. military and Iraqi officials declined to comment.

Sadr remained in hiding Tuesday, as did his remaining advisers. He has kept a low profile since his gunmen vacated the city and its holy shrine last month under an agreement brokered by Sistani. Residents said that dozens of troops supported by helicopters stormed the office in which Sadr's advisers were holed up less than 200 feet from the Grand Imam Ali Shrine. Arrested were Sheik Ahmed al-Sheybani, the most visible among Sadr's inner circle, and his main Friday prayer leader and another adviser, Hossam al-Husseini.

The clerics, along with several guards, were taken to an undisclosed location. Witnesses said Iraqi police later hauled away about 40 Kalashnikov assault rifles. The raid was the third in five days on Sadr's deputies and offices. In response to an arrest of a Sadr spokesman Saturday in Baghdad, an Islamist group seized 18 Iraqi national guardsmen and threatened to kill them. Sadr intervened, and the guardsmen were released Monday.

 

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SOLDIERS CHARGED WITH PREMEDITATED MURDER

BAGHDAD, Iraq – First Cavalry Division announced Sept. 21 that charges have been preferred against two Task Force Baghdad Soldiers in the deaths of three Iraqis. Sgt. Michael P. Williams and Spc. Brent W. May, members of Company C, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, Fort Riley, Kansas, have both been charged with premeditated murder. Williams was also charged with obstruction of justice and making a false official statement.

The Soldiers are only charged at this point; they are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law. The specific events relating to these charges cannot be discussed at this time because of the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s on-going investigation.

Second car bomb explodes in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber has detonated a vehicle near a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighbourhood, witnesses say. They said U.S. troops had moved into the area on Wednesday shortly before the blast. Two U.S. Humvees were on fire. A thick column of black smoke could be seen rising into the air and the witnesses said they thought there were several casualties.

A policeman at the scene said he believed it was a suicide car bomb attack. "I saw a big ball of fire and then heard a huge explosion," said Haider Mousawi, a spokesman for Ahmad Chalabi, adding that U.S. forces were guarding a local council meeting. "It was definitely a car bomb," Mousawi said.

The U.S. military had no immediate comment.Mansour, a district of western Baghdad, is where two Americans and a Briton were seized last week. The blast followed an earlier suicide car bomb attack in Baghdad that killed at least 11 people.

US dead this month stands so far at 61. Last month 66 US troops died. UK dead stands at 66.