*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Lib Dems highlight illegal bombing raids

According to this article, from today's Guardian, the Lib dems have highlighted the recently reported illegal bombing raids in the run up to the illegal invasion of Iraq:

"It did not take very much to work out that the increase in bombing bore no relation to the protection of Iraqi citizens in the north or the south of the country," Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said referring to the ostensible reason for the "no-fly" zones. He told the Guardian: "The obvious explanation was that air defences were being degraded deliberately and that any provocation by the Iraqi military would be met with a disproportionate response".

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi Lawmakers Call for Foreign Troops to Withdraw

Iraqi lawmakers from across the political spectrum called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from their country in a letter released to the media June 19. The move comes as U.S. President George W. Bush is under increasing domestic pressure to set a timetable for the pullout of American forces in the face of an increasing death toll at the hands of insurgents. Eighty-two Shiite, Kurdish, Sunni Arab, Christian and communist deputies made the call in a letter sent by Falah Hassan Shanshal of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the largest group in parliament, to speaker Hajem al-Hassani.

Some of those who signed urged that a detailed timetable be established for the withdrawal.

............


”We have asked in several sessions for occupation troops to withdraw,” the letter said. “Our request was ignored."

”It is dangerous that the Iraqi government has asked the U.N. Security Council to prolong the stay of occupation forces without consulting representatives of the people who have the mandate for such a decision.

”Therefore we must reject the occupation’s legitimacy and renew our demand for these forces to withdraw,” the letter added.

The U.N. Security Council agreed on May 31 to extend the mandate of multinational forces in Iraq “until the completion of the political process” following a request from the Iraqi government.

”Iraqi security forces have managed to break the back of terrorist groups and maintain security in the streets of Iraq, and have gained the trust of Iraqi citizens to arrive at their final goal, total sovereignty for Iraq.”

 

[Barking_Mad]

Interesting read.

Baffled in Basra - Self-defeating behavior persists

Basra, Iraq — It comes on the government-run TV station every night at nine. Opening with a percussive anthem, the eight-minute segment features a montage of stirring images: soldiers rushing down streets; policemen roaring around in pick-up trucks; infantrymen peering through rifle scopes; a SWAT-like team bursting into a house and rousting its inhabitants; soldiers deploying across rubble-strewn fields; more cops; music; the Iraqi flag; smiling children; soldiers; cops…

In most countries, such rousing depictions of constabulary and martial vigor would smack of police-state propaganda. But this is Iraq, where heroic images of security forces are meant to bolster public confidence that the new national government can stand against psychopathic Saddmites and blood-thirsty jihadists. Civil libertarians may squirm, but many Iraqis view respect for the police and army as fundamental to nurturing a democratic spirit.

.........

Many would start by ejecting the city's religious parties, which seized control of the political process after the January 30 elections. I don't have space to outline all the changes these groups have imposed on this once tolerant and carnal city; suffice to say, no booze, no discos, no music CDs, no un-hejabed women — and heaven help you if you're ex-Baathi. And that doesn't even consider the hundreds of small but significant problems created by various sheiks, sayyids, and imams.

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. Said Delaying Saddam Interrogations

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Iraqi's justice minister said Tuesday that U.S. officials are trying to delay interrogations of Saddam Hussein. Justice Minister Abdel Hussein Shandal, in Brussels for an international conference on Iraq, also accused the U.S. of concealing information about the ousted Iraqi leader.

"It seems there are lots of secrets they want to hide," he told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.

Shandal also said Saddam's trial would be over by the end of the year. American officials have privately urged caution about rushing into a trial, saying the Iraqis need to developed a solid judicial system. They also worry it could interfere with the important constitution writing process and inflame sectarian tensions. Though Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's Shiite-led government is determined to put Saddam on trial, circumstances may not allow it.

His government earlier this month said Saddam's trial would be held within two months, but later backtracked. No trial date has been set for Saddam or any of the other former regime officials being held in custody. Saddam's trial could be a highly divisive issue in already turbulent Iraq. If court proceedings begin in two months, they will coincide with the crucial process of drafting the constitution. The draft must be finished by mid-August and approved in a referendum two months later, clearing the way for December elections. Saddam, 68, is still being interrogated, the justice minister said.

"The process requires collecting evidence but the rule of Saddam was for 35 years, and it needs a lot of evidence, a lot of interrogations," he told The Associated Press.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq confronts "disastrous" corruption

Iraq is trying to stamp out an epidemic corruption, sacking top officials and reviewing major government contracts that have come under criticism for alleged graft, a leading Iraqi politician said on Tuesday.

"The situation has reached disastrous proportions and we are doing something about it," Deputy Parliament Speaker Hussain al-Shahristani said a day before an international conference in Brussels to discuss ways to stabilise and rebuild Iraq.

"A number of inspector generals whose job is to guard public money in ministries even took part in the corruption circle. We have already sacked several," he said, expecting parliament to pass a draft law soon that takes auditing agencies away from government control and makes them answerable to parliament.

Corruption has undermined both Washington-backed governments since the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, and contributed to a paralysis in rebuilding and shortages in a state-managed food distribution system. One of the first debates in the postwar parliament when it convened two months ago involved procurement after popular demonstrations against the government for distributing Australian wheat allegedly contaminated with iron ore. Rumours have spread in international markets that senior Iraqi officials have been jailed or prevented from leaving Iraq, but Shahristani said no minister in the previous government had been arrested or had his movements curtailed.

"They understand that they could be called in for questioning any time. Nothing will be untouched. Contracts from oil to food to defence are being reviewed by newly empowered inspectors," he said, referring to Iraq's $17.5 billion of annual oil sales.

 

[oi2002]

Intel Dump had a couple of interesting articles on the crisis in US military recruitment.
This speculates that rather than break the all volunteer force in Iraq DC will sneak away claiming the Iraqis made them do it:

Further, I think the U.S. government may subtly and secretly push the Iraqi government to "request" the U.S. draw down its force presence. This will, of course, help the Iraqis establish their sovereignty by letting them flex their muscles a bit; it will also help them appease the Iraqi population would like to see us go soon too. And, of course, it will work to our benefit as well, since our force does not have much the capacity to remain in Iraq beyond 2006. At the extreme end of the spectrum, it's possible to imagine the Iraqis booting us out of the country in a fit of sovereignty, perhaps just after the new Constitution is adopted. I wouldn't be surprised if this ejection was engineered by the U.S. behind closed doors. Assuming the Iraqis are ready to their own security when the U.S. leaves, such a move would be win-win for everyone. The Iraqis would get their country back; the U.S. would get "mission accomplishment" — and a way out of Iraq.

In another one an American Foreign Legion is discussed as a way of avoiding the dread alternative drafting the voter.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Assuming the Iraqis are ready to their own security when the U.S. leaves

That's going to be the big problem though isn't it? Apparently Ramadi doesnt have any police in it, or at least it didn't last week.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Water main attack affects two million in Baghdad

Two million Baghdad residents have been without drinking water since 19 June after saboteurs targeted a major water main in the capital.

"The attack on the water pipes was a shock to all residents. Insurgents are not only killing innocent people but also destroying the daily lives of millions of people," Amer Salman, a senior Baghdad governorate official, said.

Salman added that they were working hard to repair the main but said that it may take up to a week to have it functioning properly again, although small-scale pumping may start within two days. The Mansoor, Yarmouk, Kadhimiya, Baya'a, Ghazaliya and Hay al-Jame'a districts in Baghdad are the worst affected.

"Every day I have to drive 10 km to reach to a public water pipe where I can get water for washing, cleaning and drinking. My air conditioning [AC] machine needs to be filled with water manually every three hours," Kamal al-Jumaily, a Yarmouk district resident, said. The AC machines, which have to be filled by hand, are cheap to run and are to be found in most Iraqi homes. They are particularly necessary in the summer when temperatures may reach 50 degrees centigrade. Local doctors have reported an increase in diarrhoea and other illnesses related to the consumption of dirty water.

"Children have been the most effected, due to the dirty water being consumed now. Some families are using public pipes and unsafe wells, which are known to be contaminated," Dr Ahmed Ibraheem, at Yarmouk general hospital, said.

Ibraheem added that during the last water shortage in the capital in January, more than 200 cases of illness through consumption of contaminated water were reported, but they fear the number could be higher now as sanitation has further deteriorated in the capital. In a desperate measure, many residents have started to dig wells in their gardens.

"The heat is increasing and in place where we acquire more comfort, Iraqis are suffering even more now from power and water shortages," Mahmoud Abbas, a Bayaa district resident said.

83 MPs Ask al-Jaafari to Put a Timetable for the Withdrawal of Foreign Troops

One-third of the members of the National Assembly (83 MPs) [out of 275] have asked for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq, accusing the Assembly itself of not caring “about the demands of millions of Iraqis.”

During a press conference that they organized, Falah Hassan Shneishel MP, a member of the “Independent National Bloc,” said that “the presence of the occupation forces gives a pretext for the continuation of violence and terrorism that have taken the lives of thousands of Iraqis.” In reply to a question from Al-Hayat about the attitude that he would take with his colleagues if the Assembly did not comply with their requests, he said that “they would take a stand” without giving further details.

Marines win Iraq desert battle, war far from over

KARABILA, Iraq, June 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines claimed success on Tuesday in another battle against insurgents in the Iraqi desert but acknowledged that the war was far from over and that guerrillas would soon recover lost ground. After four days of bombardment and street-to-street gunbattles, the Marines cleared Karabila -- a strategic way station near the main border crossing where the Euphrates flows in from Syria -- of foreign fighters who made it a base. But U.S. officers and local people in the town, badly damaged by the fighting, said the insurgents would be back.

"That is another in a string of successful operations that continue to disrupt and interdict insurgent activity in west Anbar province," said Colonel Steve Davis, who commanded the 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops involved in "Operation Spear". Battalion intelligence officer Captain Thomas Sibley pointed out, however, that any final victory was still some way off: "If this was the only thing we did, we would lose this war -- quickly. But it's not the only thing we're doing.

"Yeah, in a couple of weeks they'll be back and they'll make up for these losses. But that's fine, because we're not beating them in two weeks. We're beating them in two years." Mohammed Solfeij, 33, whose house is on the outskirts of Karabila near where the Americans first entered the town, said the insurgents would be back "as soon as the Americans leave".

"The people are suffering. Most of them have fled to live in the desert," he said.

...........

The chief doctor at the area's main hospital in Qaim, Hamdi al-Alusi, said on Tuesday he had counted 25 civilian dead and feared others lay buried in the rubble of their homes. Those figures could also not be independently checked. U.S. and Iraqi troops searched every house, often only after the front gate was blown off. Weapons caches were detonated on the spot bringing houses down around them.

Whole streets were obliterated.

Marines say the devastation is the price to pay to disrupt Sunni Arab insurgents responsible for a suicide bombing campaign that has worsened over the past two months since a new Shi'ite-led government was formed. And they hope that soon they will no longer have to abandon towns once they clear them.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Baghdad reels from multiple bombs

More than 30 people have been killed in a series of car bombings in Baghdad within 12 hours. Three early morning blasts in the Karrada commercial district left at least 15 dead and 50 wounded. The attacks targeted a Shia mosque and a police patrol, killing at least three officers. The third blast took place outside a public bath-house, or hamam. The explosions came hours after at least 18 people died in five blasts in a Shia district of the city. The attacks happened despite a continuing security operation in Baghdad specifically designed to reduce the number of car bombs.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Interesting read.

Iraqi Rebels Refine Bomb Skills, Pushing Toll of G.I.'s Higher

WASHINGTON, June 21 - American casualties from bomb attacks in Iraq have reached new heights in the last two months as insurgents have begun to deploy devices that leave armored vehicles increasingly vulnerable, according to military records. Last month there were about 700 attacks against American forces using so-called improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.'s, the highest number since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the American military command in Iraq and a senior Pentagon military official. Attacks on Iraqis also reached unprecedented levels, Lt. Gen. John Vines, a senior American ground commander in Iraq, told reporters on Tuesday.

The surge in attacks, the officials say, has coincided with the appearance of significant advancements in bomb design, including the use of "shaped" charges that concentrate the blast and give it a better chance of penetrating armored vehicles, causing higher casualties. Another change, a senior military officer said, has been the detonation of explosives by infrared lasers, an innovation aimed at bypassing electronic jammers used to block radio-wave detonators.

..........

Hundreds of armored Humvees have been rushed to Iraq over the past year, and Pentagon officials say unarmored vehicles are now confined to bases. Still, five marines were killed this week near Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad, when their vehicle hit an I.E.D. Earlier this month, five marines were killed after their vehicle struck a bomb in Haqlaniya, about 150 miles northwest of Baghdad.

A senior Marine officer with access to classified reports from the field said that the vehicles involved in the two fatal attacks were armored Humvees but that the bombs "were so big that there was little left of the Humvees that were hit."

Insurgents have long been able to build bombs powerful enough to penetrate some armored vehicles. But the use of "shaped" charges could raise the threat considerably, military officials said. Since last month, at least three such bombs have been found, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing this month. The shaped charge explosion fires a projectile "at a very rapid rate, sufficient to penetrate certain levels of armor," General Conway said, adding that weapons employing shaped charges had caused American casualties in the last two months. He did not give details. A Pentagon official involved in combating the devices said shaped charges seen so far appeared crude but required considerable expertise, suggesting insurgents were able to draw on well-trained bomb-makers, possibly even rocket scientists from the former government. Shaped charges and rocket engines are similar, the official said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Minimum number of Iraqi dead in last 7 days - 178
Minimum number of Iraqi dead in June - 628
Minimum number of Iraqi dead in 2005 - 4,089

 

[Barking_Mad]

Death of soldier's brother ruled suicide

Authorities have ruled that the death of Justin "Paul" Byers, the brother of a soldier killed in Iraq, was a suicide ... [T]he death was ruled a suicide on the same day Byers' family held a funeral for his brother, Sgt. Casey Byers.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Leading fugitive Saudi militant 'killed in Iraq'

One of Saudi Arabia’s most wanted terror suspects was killed by an air-strike during fighting with US and Iraqi forces in north-west Iraq, the leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq group said in a website statement posted today.

Abdullah al-Rashoud had been number 24 on a list of the top-26 most wanted terror leaders put out by Saudi Arabia three years ago, and was one of only three militants on the list still at large.

The website posting said he slipped into Iraq in April.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Baghdad Burning Blog

What people find particularly frustrating is the fact that while Baghdad seems to be falling apart in so many ways with roads broken and pitted, buildings blasted and burnt out and residential areas often swimming in sewage, the Green Zone is flourishing. The walls surrounding restricted areas housing Americans and Puppets have gotten higher- as if vying with the tallest of date palms for height. The concrete reinforcements and road blocks designed to slow and impede traffic are now a part of everyday scenery- the road, the trees, the shops, the earth, the sky… and the ugly concrete slabs sometimes wound insidiously with barbed wire.

The price of building materials has gone up unbelievably, in spite of the fact that major reconstruction has not yet begun. I assumed it was because so much of the concrete and other building materials was going to reinforce the restricted areas. A friend who recently got involved working with an Iraqi subcontractor who takes projects inside of the Green Zone explained that it was more than that. The Green Zone, he told us, is a city in itself. He came back awed, and more than a little bit upset. He talked of designs and plans being made for everything from the future US Embassy and the housing complex that will surround it, to restaurants, shops, fitness centers, gasoline stations, constant electricity and water- a virtual country inside of a country with its own rules, regulations and government. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Republic of the Green Zone, also known as the Green Republic.

“The Americans won’t be out in less than ten years.” Is how the argument often begins with the friend who has entered the Green Republic. “How can you say that?” Is usually my answer- and I begin to throw around numbers- 2007, 2008 maximum… Could they possibly want to be here longer? Can they afford to be here longer? At this, T. shakes his head- if you could see the bases they are planning to build- if you could see what already has been built- you’d know that they are going to be here for quite a while.

The Green Zone is a source of consternation and aggravation for the typical Iraqi. It makes us anxious because it symbolises the heart of the occupation and if fortifications and barricades are any indicator- the occupation is going to be here for a long time. It is a provocation because no matter how anyone tries to explain or justify it, it is like a slap in the face. It tells us that while we are citizens in our own country, our comings and goings are restricted because portions of the country no longer belong to its people. They belong to the people living in the Green Republic.

 

[bigfish]

American soldier kills little girl to win a bet.

http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/54506

US forces shot and killed a nine-year old Iraqi girl as she came out of her school following final exams in Baghdad. A medical specialist in Baghdad’s al-Yarmuk General Hospital told the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam that an American sniper opened fire on ‘A’ishah Ahmad ‘Umar, killing her.

For its part, the US military occupation forces announced that they had begun an investigation of the Marine who shot the little girl and promised to punish him if he is found guilty.

A source in the Iraqi puppet army told Mafkarat al-Islam that the American soldier was very drunk at the time of the killing and that he was withdrawn from his observation post after the incident.

The father of ‘A’ishah, who works for the Railroad Department said that residents in the area where his little daughter was killed told him that the American had been betting with his buddies whether he could hit the little girl who had come out of the school some 700 meters from the US observation post.

For its part the American propaganda TV station called “al-‘Iraqiyah” blamed what it called “terrorists” (by which they meant the Iraqi Resistance) for the shooting of the little girl, but statements by the US military and the Iraqi puppet forces exposed the “al-‘Iraqiyah” story to be a lie.

 

[oi2002]

Juan a couple of days ago floated the idea that the US could extract itself from Iraq if it handed over a huge Asian army of UN blue helmets. There has been some debate on his blog about this.

Newberry reckons, rightly, that Juan's scheme won't fly and looks at what's on the table, it ain't pretty:

... realistically what is on the table is managed disintegration of Iraq. The end game is to prevent a recurrence of 1978-1980, where the disintegration of two US client states into nationalist entities erupted into war. The options on the table are:


* Continued light occupatipon with graduall withdrawl to hard points.
* Withdrawl in 2007.
* Some new policy in 2009, though not heavy occupation, which is economically and militarily non-viable.

Judged from the perspective of managing the disintegration of Iraq, the first option is terrible – it will allow the Iranians proxy entre into Iraq, without risking much, if anything, of their own. It will allow proxy wars to continue, since states of a mind to intervene in Iraq may do so merely by supply the rebellion, or by supplying factions in the government. The first option leads to a soft defacto partition of Iraq, and continued civil war. Since it is also expensive – in money, manpower and strategic commitment, sooner or later, it turns in to withdrawl as soon as the “cut and run consensus” wins an election.

No nation will take over for the US light occupation in this event.

Withdrawl is even worse – it merely gives in, allows Iraq to disintegrate into proxy spheres of influence. The central government of Iraq will not have a military capable of maintaining order for another three to five years. Hence those who “hope the Iraqis can work it out” are whistling in the wind. The reality is that Iraq will fall apart, simply because it is to the advantage of its most effective neighbors that it do so. Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran all have an interest in an Iraq in civil war. It will be the Congo with oil.

What other options are there? There really is only one option, and it will not happen because there is no consensus for it.

In the modern period there is a sharp dividing line between low intensity and high intensity conflict. Low intensity conflict is conflict without disrupting economic infrastructure. However, once that infrastructure has been written off or disrupted, there is no barrier to high intensity conflict. The saddle point consumes a country rapidly. Thus, those seeking to move conflict to a higher level have a simple project: disrupt infrastructure. In societies where the value is from resource extraction, this point is easier to reach, since what is above the ground is easy to replace. This is why conflicts in nations such as Columbia can go on year after year. This is why Iraq has remained a conflict zone for nearly three decades, and will continue to be one for the foreseeable future.

The only road to a stable solution set is to partition Iraq formally, and embroil directly the regional powers so that they cannot promote their interests destructively without cost. This is an unpalatable direction for policy, it will strengthen Iran, end Iraq as a bulwark against Farsi expansionism, and create three states all of which are dependent on the outside for their continued existence. However, Iraq in any other scenario becomes a giant Lebanon with oil, and Iran is already uncontained.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Top general in Iraq says Cheney wrong on insurgents

The top American commander in the Persian Gulf told Congress on Thursday that the Iraqi insurgency has not grown weaker over the past six months, despite a claim by Vice President Dick Cheney that it was in its "last throes."

Gen. John Abizaid's testimony came at a contentious Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld clashed with members of both parties, including a renewed call by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts for him to step down. Citing what he called repeated "gross errors and mistakes" in the U.S. military campaign in Iraq, Kennedy told Rumsfeld: "In baseball, it's three strikes, you're out. What is it for the secretary of defense?"

"Isn't it time for you to resign?" Kennedy asked.

"I've offered my resignation to the president twice," Rumsfeld shot back, saying that President Bush had decided not to accept it. "That's his call," he said.

.............

Abizaid told the panel: "I believe there are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there were six months ago." As to the overall strength of the insurgency, Abizaid said it was "about the same" as six months ago.

"We see good progress in both Iraq and Afghanistan... But we are realistic. And we know that great change is often accompanied with violence. We are not trying to paint a rosy picture," Abizaid said. Told by Levin, the committee's senior Democrat, that his assessment directly contradicted Cheney, Abizaid said: "I don't know that I would make any comment about that other than to say there's a lot of work to be done...I gave you my opinion."

In a CNN interview last month, Cheney said: "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Events from last week in Iraq

Minimum number of dead - 192
Minimum number of dead this year 4,128

24/06/2005
-Two brothers and their niece were shot south of Baghdad in the town of Iskandariyah when two gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms broke into their house, police said. 3 dead

-A woman died when assailants sent mortar shells into Mosul's police academy. Police in the Alexandria province discovered in a village the murdered bodies of four men who had previously been kidnapped by armed gunmen in a car 5 dead

-Gunmen killed police Lt. Col. Majid Faisl Aziz, a member of the Interior Ministry’s major crimes division, when he was driving his car near western Baghdad. Iraqi troops clashed with gunmen in western Baghdad and at least one soldier was abducted. 1 dead

-Police said two soldiers were among the three dead in the blast that cut through a convoy of 10 military vehicles in the village of Bouzayla. Gunmen assassinated Hassan Abdel Hadi, the head of a religious Shiite association in the city of Khaless. 3 dead

23/06/2005
-The chief doctor at the area's main hospital in Qaim, Hamdi al-Alusi, said on Tuesday he had counted 25 civilian dead and feared others lay buried in the rubble of their homes. Those figures could also not be independently checked. 25 dead

-Two Iraqis were killed and 10 others injured in a car bomb explosion, south Kirkuk on Thursday, Iraqi police reported...the car exploded early today in front of a gas station killing two Iraqis, one of them was a police officer. 2 dead - 10 injured

-Four car bombs shook Baghdad after dawn, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens. (another report says 50 injured) 17dead - 50 injured

22/06/2005
-At least 18 people were killed and 46 wounded when three car bombs exploded simultaneously Wednesday night in the capital's northwestern Shuala district, which is predominantly Shiite. 18 dead - 46 injured

-A bomb attack on a U.S. armoured patrol killed three Iraqi civilians and wounded seven on Wednesday in the northern city of Mosul, witnesses, police and hospital officials said. 3 dead - 7 injured

-Gunmen killed a judge Wednesday in Baghdad whose name previously was on a list of Sunni Arabs joining a parliamentary committee drafting Iraq’s new constitution...Al-Issawi, 51, and his son were killed in Baghdad’s northwestern Shula neighborhood. 2 dead

-A roadside explosion meant for a U.S. military convoy killed an Iraqi civilian and wounded three others west of Ramadi, Dr. Abdullah al-Dulaimi said. 1 dead - 3 injured

-A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol that included a special operations unit, killing two policeman in Madain. A group of children on bicycles ran over a bomb. east of Baqouba, killing a 9-year-old boy and injuring two others aged 6 and 7. 3 dead - 2 injured

21/06/2005
-Tal Afar, four mortar rounds killed two people and wounding six. Insurgents had planted explosives in Tal Afar town hall, killing two and wounding two others. Near Baquba, an Iraqi soldier was killed as he went to work. 5 dead - 8 injured

-In Shorgat the army discovered the bodies of a businessman and soldier who had been shot. 2 dead

-More than a dozen gunmen launched an assault on a Baghdad police station early Tuesday, wounding two policemen, and a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Soldier on patrol in western Iraq, officials said. 2 dead

-Two suicide car bomb attacks targeted two Iraqi army checkpoints north of Baghdad, killing six Iraqi soldiers and wounding several others, the US-Iraqi joint coordination center said on Tuesday. 6 dead

20/06/2005
-A Kurdish security chief and two bodyguards were killed in a car bomb in northern Iraq in the latest violence sweeping the country, police said Tuesday. Anwar Haji Othman, the director general of internal security in the region of Shahrazouz in Iraq's Kurdistan, was killed when a suicide bomber hit his convoy on the main road between the cities of Halbaja and Suleimaniya. [the attack] occurred late Monday night. 3 dead

-The security chief of Halabja was killed along with three bodyguards when a suicide bomber drove at their vehicle, local security officials said. In Kirkuk, which Kurds want for the capital despite rival claims from Arabs and Turkish speakers, four soldiers were killed when a suicide car bomber rammed their checkpoint. Four people were wounded in the attack, one of them a soldier. 8 dead - 4 injured

-Iraqi insurgents have claimed in a web posting that they killed a foreign contractor working for a US company along with six Iraqis in an ambush west of Baghdad. The militant group Ansar al-Sunnah Army said its fighters attacked a convoy leaving a base near the town of Ramadi, killing the men and capturing two other Iraqis. The claim could not immediately be confirmed. The statement, posted on a web forum often used by Ansar al-Sunnah and other militant groups, included pictures of the contractor's identification cards. 6 dead

-Elsewhere, a band of insurgents launched a bold assault on a Baghdad police station killing at least eight policemen and an 8-month-old baby early Monday, police said. At least 23 people were wounded. The attack on the Baya police station began just before dawn and included two car suicide bombs, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, police Capt. Talib Thamir said. 9 dead - 23 injured

-Also Monday, a suicide car bomber killed one civilian and wounded two others near an Iraqi police checkpoint on the road to Baghdad International Airport. 1 dead - 2 injured

-A suicide car bomber wearing a police uniform killed at least 15 traffic policemen and wounded 100 others Monday during morning roll call at a police headquarters in this oil-rich northern Kurdish city, the second such attack in as many days. [CNN reported 103 injured]. 15 dead - 103 injured

19/06/2005
Meanwhile, police believe two people found shot to death late Sunday were among six Iraqi civilians kidnapped earlier in the day, a spokesman in Hilla said. Gunmen attacked two vehicles carrying civilians in Latifiya, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Baghdad, about 9 p.m. Sunday (1 p.m. ET). The fate of the other four is unknown, police said. 2 dead

-7 mores bodies found in eastern Baghdad. And late Saturday an Interior Ministry official reported that the bodies of seven more Iraqi men, all executed with gunshot wounds to the head, had been found in a shallow grave in eastern Baghdad. 7 dead

-A suicide car bomb attack in Iraq on Saturday killed 14 soldiers and injured eight others, Xinhua reported... the attack had been apparently targeted at an Iraqi army patrol near the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. 14 dead - 8 injured

-"A suicide bomber killed 23 people, including six policemen, at a restaurant in Baghdad. In that blast - claimed by the group of rebel leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - the bomber set off his charge as people were having lunch.
" 23 dead

-two Iraqi police officers were killed by gunmen in western Baghdad. A second band of gunmen killed an electrical engineer on his way to work. Two mortar rounds in central Mosul...landed at a butcher's market, killing a 12-year-old boy. 4 dead

-Four people have been killed and 12 wounded by a suicide car bomber's strike on an Iraqi military checkpoint north of Baghdad. 4 dead - 12 injured

 

[Barking_Mad]

Wonder what's happened to the 4 'unaccounted Marines' ? Blown into small pieces or captured?

Marines killed in Falluja attack

A suicide car bomber slammed into a U.S. convoy in Fallujah, killing two Marines, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday. Three Marines and a sailor were missing after the attack.

Another 13 Marines were wounded in the Thursday night attack, spokesman Bryan Whitman. Some women were among the casualties, he said.

At least 1,730 members of the U.S. military have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The car bomber targeted troops assigned to the II Marine Expeditionary Force, an earlier military statement said. Fallujah, the Anbar province town 40 miles west of Baghdad, was the scene of a large-scale campaign in November by

 

[Barking_Mad]

Sadly, this is a must read........the full piece is reproduced below.

Censorship

Dahr Jamail

At long last, the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq is upon us. As a witness providing testimony, like the other witnesses I’m being interviewed by many outlets. Today, one of them was by reporters for one of the larger newspapers in Turkey, the Yeni Safak Newspaper. I’ll leave the reporters nameless, for reasons you’ll soon see. The newspaper has been translating various articles of mine into Turkish and running them, particularly those concerning the most recent Fallujah massacre. The report who was interviewing me today told me that the former American consulate here, Eric Edelman, asked the Prime Minister of Turkey to pressure his paper to not run so many of my stories.

“Why did he do this,” I asked him.

“Edelman said it was the wrong news,” he told me with a smile.

Turns out Edelman also asked that articles by Robert Fisk and Naomi Klein not be run so often in Yeni Safak either. He smiled at me while he watched the wheels turning in my head before I smiled back and said, “That makes me very happy, it means I’m doing my job as a journalist.” We laughed heartily together at this, as did everyone else at the table. Reminds me of the obtuse hate mails I sometimes receive-confirmation that I am doing my job-they always make me smile.

So the American government is pressuring foreign countries to censor their news. Aside from the fact that this act is the height of arrogance by the United States, it makes it exceedingly clear why so many Americans who rely on the corporate media for their news continue to be so misinformed/un-informed about the goings on in Iraq. If the American government is attempting to censor the news in foreign countries, you can imagine what they are doing at home. Because people like Edelman don’t want citizens of the United States to know that events like the massacre of Fallujah or the atrocities in Abu Ghraib are not isolated incidents.

People like Edelman don’t want people to know what one of my sources in Baquba just told me today.

His email reads:

“Near the city of Buhrez, 5 kilometers south of Baquba, two Humvess of American soldiers were destroyed recently. American and Iraqi soldiers came to the city afterwards and cut all the phones, cut the water, cut medicine from arriving in the city and told them that until the people of the city bring the “terrorists” to them, the embargo will continue.”

The embargo has been in place now for one week now, and he continued:

“The Americans still won’t anyone or any medicines and supplies into Buhrez, nor will they allow any people in or out. Even the Al-Sadr followers who organized some help for the people in the city (water, food, medicine) are not being allowed into the city. Even journalists cannot enter to publish the news, and the situation there is so bad. The Americans keep asking for the people in the city to bring them the persons who were in charge of destroying the two Humvees on the other side of the city, but of course the people in the city don’t know who carried out the attack.”

People like Edelman don’t want people to know about the recent US attacks in Al-Qa’im and Haditha either. Attacks that Iraqis are describing as just as bad as the massacre of Fallujah.

On Haditha and Al-Qa’im, an Iraqi doctor sent me this email yesterday:

“Listen…we witnessed crimes in the west area of the country of what the bastards did in Haditha and Al-Qa’im. It was a crime, a really big crime we have witnessed and filmed in those places and recently also in Fallujah. We need big help in the western area of the country. Our doctors need urgent help there. Please, this is an URGENT humanitarian request from the hospitals in the west of the country. We have big proof on how the American troops destroyed one of our hospitals, how they burned the whole store of medication of the west area of Iraq and how they killed a patient in the ward…how they prevented us from helping the people in al-Qa’im. This is an URGENT Humanitarian request. The hospitals in the west of Iraq ask for urgent help…we are in a big humanitarian medical disaster…”

People like Edelman don’t want the public to know that the same tactics used in Fallujah by the US military-posting snipers around the city to shoot anyone who moves, targeting ambulances, impeding medical care, or the detaining of innocent civilians en masse.

After all, Fallujah is the model. Fallujah is our Guernica. And now, Haditha, Al-Qa’im can be added to the list, with Baquba and Buhrez under deconstruction.

 

[bigfish]

xymphora - Juan Cole - Cheney Doctrine -'Baseworld' - Oil - Blackmail

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=12927&hd=0&size=1&l=x

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Juan Cole has started a bit of a debate concerning his suggestion to save the United States from its Iraqi quagmire by having various darkies assume the white man's burden under the auspices of a UN 'peacekeeping' mission (or 'peacekeeping plus', the new kind of violent peacekeeping like the UN in Kosovo), all in return for a share in the spoils of war, the oil of Iraq. A number of objections have been raised, most notably the problem that Pakistan would be a necessary part of the force, and Musharraf wouldn't be able to sign on without suffering one of those mysterious helicopter 'accidents' that define Pakistani politics. It seems to me that the main problem is entirely American, and involves the 'Wolfowitz doctrine' and Baseworld.


The 'Wolfowitz doctrine' - which should really be called the 'Cheney doctrine' as it was prepared for Cheney, and Wolfowitz was merely the technician, the Eichmann if you will, who prepared the documents - is described as follows:

"As the New York Times explained it, the Wolfowitz Doctrine argues that America's political and military mission should be to 'ensure that no rival superpower is allowed to emerge. With its focus on this concept of benevolent domination by one power, the Pentagon document articulates the clearest rejection to date of collective internationalism.' Its core thesis, described by Ben Wattenberg in the April 12, Washington Times, is 'to guard against the emergence of hostile regional superpowers, for example, Iraq or China. America is No. 1. We stand for something decent and important. That's good for us and good for the world. That's the way we want to keep it.'"

The doctrine arose out of the post-Cold War giddiness that fell over Washington in the early 1990's, when it appeared that all obstacles to a New American Empire had suddenly fallen away. When it leaked out, it caused such a stir in Washington that Bush Senior had it buried away, and Cheney had to wait to the end of the Clinton interregnum to bring it back to life under Bush Senior's stupid son. The key to American rule of the world is a huge series of military bases encircling Russia and China, and providing American control over strategic assets, most notably oil. The Bush Administration economic plan, such as it is, seems to consist entirely of blackmailing the rest of the world into continuing to support the unsupportable American indebtedness by threatening to withhold access to oil. To that end, the series of bases (part of 'Baseworld') being built in Iraq is an absolutely necessary part of the Cheney plan. These multi-billion dollar bases - which aren't exactly a secret but are being covered up by the disgusting American media in its normal way, i. e., it simply doesn't mention them - are required to create effective American ownership of all Middle Eastern oil fields. They are the only tangible asset obtained from spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the Iraq debacle. The United States will not give them up.

And therein lies the rub. The rest of the world, through the UN, isn't going to be keen to bail the Americans out from the results of their neo-colonial folly and their blatant breach of international law. However, to save the people of Iraq from the violence of the continued American occupation, and to stop an Iraqi civil war, it might be possible to work something out. The American concession would have to be the total withdrawal of Americans from Iraq, as the world would hardly allow the bases, the main weapon of American blackmail through control of the oil fields, to remain. Since the Americans won't agree to that kind of withdrawal, UN rescue of the United States is impossible. When Condi Rice says the American commitment to Iraq is generational, she ain't kidding. The long-term effects of Cheney's mad ideas for world domination will result in the decline of American power, as the over-extension of the American Empire becomes more and more economically and politically expensive.

 

[bigfish]

Tom Toles cartoon

 

[Barking_Mad]

3 police officers killed in Baghdad

In Baghdad, three police officers were killed in separate incidents, two in the Amiriyah district and another in southern Dora, police and hospital officials said.

Iraqi reporter shot in Baghdad

An Iraqi reporter working for an American news organization was shot and killed in Baghdad by U.S. troops after he apparently did not respond to a shouted signal from a military convoy, witnesses said. The military had no comment.

Iraqi Police Find Eight Beheaded Bodies

Six of the bodies belonged to Shiite farmers taken from their home in Hashmiyat, 10 miles west of Baqouba, by an armed group wearing Iraqi army uniforms late Thursday. The other two bodies were found in al-Nahrawan district, southwest of Baqouba.

 

[Barking_Mad]

What sort of 'civilised' country sends young 21 year old girls thousands of miles from home to die in a phoney war?

Lance Cpl. Holly A. Charette, 21, from Cranston, R.I., died June 23 from wounds sustained when a suicide, vehicle-borne, improvised explosive device struck her vehicle in Fallujah, Iraq. She was assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Murderous fuckers.

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/nr20050624-3767.html

 

[Barking_Mad]

5,500 US troops have deserted in Iraq

According to the Pentagon, less than 1 per cent of the army has deserted from the Iraq war. Of those 6,000 soldiers, 150 are believed to be seeking refugee status in Canada.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Gunmen ambush police patrol in Iraq, killing eight

Gunmen ambushed a police patrol in western Iraq, killing eight policemen and wounding one, police and hospital officials said Saturday. The attack happened late Friday in the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi, Dr. Munim al-Kubaisi and Dr. Mohammed al-Ani said. The area is an insurgent stronghold and the police officers were assigned to protect highways on the city's outskirts, according to a report of The Associated Press

 

[bigfish]

Did U.S. Soldiers Shoot Iraqi Kids and Plant Weapons On Their Bodies?

Warning

This reports contain images that should only be viewed by adults.
http://snipurl.com/fu04

 

[Barking_Mad]

US chopper shot down

A U.S. military helicopter with two pilots aboard crashed in a field north of Baghdad on Monday morning, witnesses and the U.S. military said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The crash occurred at about 11:45 a.m. (0745 GMT) in Mishahda, 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the capital, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. The military said it was an AH-64 Apache helicopter that crashed. A recovery team responded to determine the status of the crew, the military said without providing further details.The cause was under investigation. Heavy gunfire was heard at the time of the crash, and white smoke billowed from the helicopter before it burst into flames and slammed into the ground, the reporter said. Gunfire was also heard after the crash.

 

[Barking_Mad]

FALLUJA, Iraq Residents of Falluja, the former rebel bastion west of Baghdad, were asked by U.S. troops Friday to remain in their homes amid high tension after a suicide car bombing that killed two marines.

"Stay inside your homes, and if you have any information on terrorists go to the nearest coalition checkpoint and report it," said a voice in Arabic over loudspeakers as U.S. patrols roamed the Sunni Arab city.

Earlier, four members of the Iraqi Islamic party were detained by U.S. troops for almost one hour for questioning before being released, one of those interrogated said. The two marines were killed and 13 were wounded after a suicide car bomber blew himself up against their vehicle in Falluja on Thursday, the U.S. military said Friday. Four U.S. servicemen were missing after the blast.

U.S. troops are battling militants in Falluja and the wider Al Anbar Province despite a massive U.S.-led offensive against the insurgency in Falluja in November that left hundreds dead and the city in ruins.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/24/news/iraq.php

 

[Barking_Mad]

Worth the read, a pretty audacious attempt at over running Baghdad's main police station.

Massive police station assault alarms locals despite retreat

Dawn had yet to break and Baghdad's biggest police station, like the rest of the city, was quiet. About 80 officers dozed inside the fortress, leaving just a few sentries guarding the walls, razor wire and concrete barriers.
It started with mortars. A series of whooshes from north and south followed seconds later by explosions inside the perimeter. Figures emerged from the gloom and knelt in the middle of Hi al-Elam and Qatar Nada streets, pointing rocket launchers.

More figures materialised on rooftops overlooking the station to spray gunfire and lob grenades. Dozens of gunmen, guerrilla infantry, swarmed from houses and alleys. It was just after 5.30am and the station was surrounded.

The defenders heard engines rev and guessed what was next: suicide car bombers. Baghdad's biggest battle in months - and possibly the boldest yet by insurgents - had begun.

They struck on Monday but details of the assault on Baya'a, a vast police complex in the southern suburbs, emerged only yesterday when American and Iraqi officers opened the station to reporters. Bullet holes and debris testified to a synchronised and audacious strike by up to 100 rebels in what is supposed to be a locked-down capital.

The combination of heavy shelling, diversionary feints, infantry thrusts and suicide vehicles - the "precision-guided" equivalent of tanks - left parts of the district of Hi al-Elam a smoking ruin. If the objective was to overrun the station and free its prisoners the offensive failed. The attackers retreated after two hours, leaving dozens dead and captured. But if the objective was to send a message of power and determination it succeeded.

Residents said their confidence in the government and security forces was severely dented. A rash of graffiti has spread across the area: "We will be back." One taxi driver, a Shia who loathes the mostly Sunni Arab resistance, shrugged. "Yes, they will."

Republicans and Democrats, increasingly worried about Iraq, were due yesterday to quiz Pentagon top brass about a US exit strategy which hinges on building up Iraqi security forces. On one level the assault at Baya'a was being presented as good news for Washington. "The enemy spent weeks, maybe months planning this," said Lt Col David Funk, a US infantry commander responsible for the area. "They failed spectacularly."

Not since April's attack on Abu Ghraib had there been such a concentration of force in the capital and yet the insurgents were repulsed thanks to the heroism of the beleaguered police officers, he said. But in Baghdad, the fact the insurgents had launched the attack at all was more indicative.

The sentries, pinned down by fire from the rooftops, did not respond when they heard the approaching suicide bombers. One vehicle exploded at the main entrance, killing at least four officers but without breaching the compound.

A nearby Iraqi army base was simultaneously targeted by mortars, gunfire and a suicide bomber, trapping the soldiers inside. Gunmen attacked the police station from four sides and came close to overrunning it. From bases in southern Baghdad US and Iraqi ground troops rushed for Baya'a only to confront insurgents at Derwesh Square and on the Doura highway tasked with slowing the relief force. At least three suicide car bombers had been held back for this purpose.

By 6.30am a police machine-gunner on the roof at Baya'a helped turn the tide, firing volleys which forced attackers to take cover and enabled his comrades to take better positions. Residents of the mixed Shia and Sunni neighbourhood made at least 55 phone calls informing the police of insurgent movements. Some fired on the attackers. An off-duty policeman was caught by insurgents, bundled into the boot of a car and later found beheaded.

The attackers retreated at around 7.30am. At least 10 were killed and 40 captured.

"It was our victory," said the Iraqi commander, Col Khaldoon. But residents, picking their way through rubble that had been homes and shops, disagreed.

Abu Ghraib expanded as violence sweeps Iraq

Faced with unremitting violence, the United States is building new detention areas at Iraqi prisons including the notorious Abu Ghraib. President George Bush had declared that Abu Ghraib would be torn down in a symbolic gesture after shocking pictures emerged of Iraqi inmates being abused and tortured by American forces.But the continuing insurgency and rising death toll has meant that not only can the US not hand over Abu Ghraib to the new Iraqi government, according to a planned timetable, but other prisons including Camp Bucca in the British-controlled south of the country are being expanded.

The numbers of prisoners being held by the US in Iraq has reached record levels this month, with 10,783 in custody, up from 7,837 in January and 5,435 in June last year. American Iraqi officials agree there is no sign of the resistance or the prisoners it produces abating soon. "It's been a challenge" said Col James Brown, commander of the 18th Military Police Brigade. "Many of the people we have captured have not given up the struggle."