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*IRAQ: latest news and developments

Protest
Al Nassiriyeh-Political and Islamic forces and parties, at al Nassiriyeh city, called the government andthe national assembly, for the necessary and fast procedures, in order to release the innocent prisoners in custody.

This call was made during a crowded protest that took place before the building of the province, in which the demonstrators asked for compensation of the martyrs, whose sons have offered their sacrifices, for opposing the previous order. In addition to this, the demonstrators charged the elected officials, of the governorate council, of the bad crucial services, including those needed by the citizens.

One of the demonstrators, Saad Hassan, said:” the government and the officials in Al Nassiriryeh, did not make any effort and we did not receive anything, after we went to the ballot boxes to select our representatives in the government, and we were disappointed, for we did not have water, electricity, and no improvement in the realism of services. He added:” and policemen have surrounded the administrators, who pushed the officials, in the city, to fight the administrative corruption that intensified in the country’s provinces and other organizations, and to keep away from sharing and confessionalism in all circumstances.
 
In Baghdad quarter, killers don't hide their faces
When Abu Marwa heard a knock, his wife discouraged him from answering the door. But he didn't listen.

"Three persons grabbed him. He tried to struggle so they pushed him inside the garage where they knocked him down and shot him in the head in front of the children," said his wife, Om Marwa.

"We still feel panic and my children are still afraid and crying all the time. I don't know what to do."

Amiriya's residents live among former members of Saddam Hussein's secret police with homes there and Muslim militants who moved to the area.

Aside from assassinations, neighbourhoods are plagued by gun battles between U.S. troops and guerrillas and stray bullets often fly in the streets. Criminal gangs have raised fears of kidnappings.

Unlike other insurgents who may cover their faces behind checkered headdresses, the brazen men who pull up in BMW's don't hide their identities as they gun down victims.

On the day Abu Marwa was killed, three men stepped out of their car, walked into a pharmacy and shot dead 43-year-old pharmacist Abu Ali in front of customers, witnesses said.
 
Reigstration only

Alarm on fire engine thefts
Iraqi insurgents have stolen eight new fire engines and authorities here fear they will be used to carry out a mass bombing in the southern city of Basra.

The Age was told the vehicles were taken from a road convoy several days ago. Officials believe insurgents could create an incident designed to attract a crowd at which the fire engines would be used as vehicle bombs.

"They want to cause mass civilian casualties to turn the people against us," a Coalition military official said.

The fear is that insurgents using the emergency vehicles could drive through military and police checkpoints with relative ease.

While southern Iraq has not seen the violence that ravages the area around Baghdad, three British soldiers were killed near Basra a week ago.

Iraqi civilians working for the coalition forces have been dragged from their homes and murdered by insurgents.
 
Iraqis wonder who the enemy is
BAGHDAD, July 25 (Reuters) - As Iraq spirals deeper by the day into violence and lawlessness, Baghdad residents say brutality and corruption are spreading among the very security forces that are supposed to be protecting them.

Some maintain that the situation has grown so bad that at times they can't distinguish the behaviour of U.S.-trained Iraqi police and soldiers from that of militants or criminals.

And since insurgents have in the past infiltrated the police and army, at times it is impossible to tell the sides apart.

"Sometimes we don't know who the enemy is," said Ismael Mahmoud, a 32-year-old businessman whose cousin was recently seized by a special police unit and later found dead.

Most of the evidence against the police and soldiers is anecdotal, coming from Iraqis who say they have experienced it first hand. But Iraqi interior and defence ministry officials have also acknowledged a problem, as have foreign diplomats.

"It's something we've brought up at a very senior level with the Iraqi government," a Western diplomat said this week, referring to reports of killings of Iraqis by police.

A report by the Pentagon and U.S. State Department, due for release next week, says Iraq's police service is taking on too many recruits who are barely literate, have criminal records, or are even insurgents, according to Time magazine.
 
Iraq hospital hit by bomb blast
At least five people were killed and up to 10 were wounded in a suicide bomb blast outside a Baghdad hospital. The bomber attacked security forces at the entrance of the Numan hospital in the capital's northern Adhamiya district, say Iraqi police.

Reports say the bomber, travelling in a car, rammed into army vehicles in front of the hospital. Militants have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks in a bid to destabilise Iraq's new Shia-led government.
 
one for our right wing friends - courtesy of Newsmax - bloody commies.

The poll reported in USA TODAY found:

# 32 percent of Americans think the U.S. can’t win the war in Iraq, and another 21 percent say America could win the war, but won’t. Only 43 percent believe the U.S will prevail.

# 58 percent of Americans believe the U.S. won’t be able to establish a stable democracy in Iraq; only 37 percent think it will.

# By 53 percent to 46 percent, those polled said it wasn’t a mistake to send American troops to Iraq.

# For the first time, a majority of Americans - 51 percent - answered yes to the question: Do you think the Bush administration deliberately misled the American public about whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/7/27/140826.shtml
 
Samarra closed off by US troops
An indefinite curfew was imposed Wednesday for all vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, following an attack on a US convoy in the area, the US military and Iraqi police said.

“There is currently, and until further notice, no vehicle or pedestrian activity allowed in Samarra,” said a spokesman for Task Force Liberty.

The insurgent-riddled Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, is part of the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad, a centre of the anti-American insurgency.

Earlier in the day, a bomb had exploded near a US Army patrol in central Iraq, killing one soldier and wounding five others, the US command said.

The attack occurred in Salaheddin province, though the military did not specify where. The soldiers were assigned to Task Force Liberty based in Tikrit and their names were withheld pending notification of kin, the US command said.

Police Lt. Col. Ayoub Mahmoud said a roadside bomb had hit the US convoy in Samarra, setting the vehicle on fire. Following the incident, US forces blocked all entrances and exits to the city, he said.

Elsewhere, a senior Baghdad International Airport official was abducted today by gunmen, along with his driver and another companion, police said.
 
Amnesty - Insurgents are war criminals
Iraqi insurgents are committing war crimes that undermine any claim they may have to be fighting a legitimate cause, Amnesty International says.

A report by the UK-based group accuses anti-US forces in Iraq of showing "utter disdain for civilian life".

It says there can be no justification for deliberate killings of civilians, hostage-taking and torture.

The perpetrators "place themselves totally beyond the pale of acceptable behaviour", Amnesty International said.

"There is no honour nor heroism in blowing up people going to pray or murdering a terrified hostage," the 56-page report entitled Iraq, In Cold Blood: Abuses by Armed Groups says.

"Those carrying out such acts are criminals, nothing less, whose actions undermine any claim they may have to be pursuing a legitimate cause."

Amnesty acknowledges that many Iraqi citizens agree with the aims of the insurgency, to rid their country of the US-led military presence. It also stresses that the US and allies have themselves committed grave violations, including killings of civilians and torture of prisoners.
 
Another Fallujah article - again sadly it deserves to be read...

"They are killing one or two of us everyday," says an Iraqi soldier at one of the checkpoints into the city, a claim confirmed by local doctors.

I have heard Iraqis make comparisons between their occupation and the US occupation of Palestine, but it wasn't until I saw families walking through the kilometer-long checkpoint, from a parking lot outside Falluja to one on the other side, that it seemed apt. Once inside, seeing the life continuing amidst the rubble, it was harder still to ignore the physical similarities.

A child jumps into the Euphrates from a one-lane bridge, the same bridge from which angry residents hung the charred and beaten bodies of four American contractors in March 2004, the same bridge that connects the center of town to Falluja General hospital, the first objective taken by the Marines in November's invasion. Doctors Ahmed and Salam, who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that their names be changed, lamented the condition of the city and its people. In the last week, they have received three civilian casualties of US fire, and say that this week has been below average — normally, says Ahmed, they see one or two dead civilians every day, and that hundreds have been killed by coalition forces since the city was taken over by the US.

"Just yesterday a middle-aged lady was brought here by coalition forces — she was killed by a single shot to the head," Ahmed says. "The coalition forces came to the hospital and took her name and all her information."

"The people of Falluja feel depressed because they can't move freely from place to place, because the coalition forces and the Iraqi national guard make new checkpoints every day, make new obstacles," says Salam. "They cannot move freely at night. There are medical cases at night that result in casualties because they cannot reach us."

http://motherjones.com/news/update/2005/07/falluja.html
 
Report - CIA involved in Iraqi beatings
DENVER (AP) -- Classified U.S. personnel used a sledgehammer handle to beat prisoners in Iraq, according to a National Guard soldier who testified during a closed military hearing involving four Colorado-based soldiers in March.

Sgt. 1st Class Gerold Pratt of the Utah National Guard said he saw the unidentified personnel use a 15-inch wooden handle to hit prisoners.

"They'd ask you a question, and if they didn't like it, they'd hit you," he said, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained this week by The Denver Post.
 
Suspected bomb hits oil train
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suspected bomb on a railway line hit a train carrying oil products near Baghdad on Thursday, causing a huge fire, Iraqi police said. They said one person was killed and four wounded in the blaze.

The train was carrying oil derivatives from a refinery in Doura, south of the capital, where the incident occurred.

One police source said he believed a bomb targeted the train, while another said it may have been an accident. Reuters cameramen at the scene said the incident caused a huge blaze, with smoke and flame pouring into the air. Police said one person had been killed. It was not immediately clear if they were on the train or passing by.

Separately, a bomb blew up an oil and a gas pipeline running from Kirkuk to a refinery at Baiji, about 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad.

Pipelines running between the oil fields at Kirkuk and Baiji are frequently attacked by insurgents and saboteurs, as is the main oil export pipeline that runs from Baiji north to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

That line has been out of commission for several weeks following a previous attack, hindering Iraq's ability to export oil, the mainstay of the economy.
 
Is this where this f*ck up is going to go next?

Turkey threatens action unless US tackles Kurdish rebels in Iraq
LONDON : Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to take action against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq unless US-led forces intervene to stop them from crossing the border.

Speaking in an interview published in The Times newspaper, the 51-year-old leader said Turkey was committed to fighting terrorism, but also expected help from its allies in a struggle against fighters from the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which has some 3,000 militants based in northern Iraq.

"Turkey has sent troops to Afghanistan to fight against terrorism," said Erdogan, speaking during a trip to London on Wednesday to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"We are a country ready to take an active part in the fight against terrorism," he said.

Turning to problems at home, Erdogan indicated that his patience was wearing thin as Kurdish rebels infiltrate the border between Turkey and Iraq. The PKK, which wants a breakaway Kurdish state, is accused of a wave of recent bombings in Turkey including a bomb attack in the popular seaside resort of Kusadasi earlier this month which killed five people.

"At the moment, frankly speaking, we do not see the efforts by the US that we expect to see. We have expressed our views to that effect to the Americans," Erdogan said. "There is a time limit. There is a limit to our tolerance."

The PKK is branded a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, while Washington has also pledged to monitor its operations more intensely, but the Turkish premier said he wanted more action. US-led forces, however, have only a very slim presence in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq as they concentrate on fighting an intense insurgency closer to Baghdad. In addition, the Iraqi government -- which has several Kurds in senior posts -- has warned Turkey against sending its forces across the border, The Times said, while noting that Erdogan insisted his country was within its rights under international law to defend itself from attack.

Drawing a comparison with US action against Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, he said, "That mandate is provided for in international law.

"If a country, if a people, if a nation are under threat, that country can do what is necessary under international law. I do not need to name any countries by name, but we would exercise that right in the same way as any other country could, would and did exercise that right."
 
MoD admit they are stupid
The government admitted yesterday that it had failed to foresee the scale of potential insurgency in Iraq and that the invasion had left a "strategic vacuum" in the country.
The admissions were made in the government's official response to a highly critical Commons defence committee report on the handling of post-war operations in Iraq.

However, the Ministry of Defence gave no indication about when British troops might withdraw, restating its commitment to "continue until the job is done". It added: "We will remain in Iraq for as long as the Iraqi government judges that our forces are required to provide security and assist in the development of the Iraqi security forces".
 
Pickman's model said:
have you posted up about that draft constitution which says future laws will be framed in accordance to islam?

Sorry Pickman's I missed this - cheers for posting the article
 
:rolleyes:

War TV drama comes home to Americans
An Iraqi insurgent is cut in two by a rocket while a US soldier is maimed by an improvised bomb blast. But the battle is not taking place in Fallujah - it's taking place in a tranquil Los Angeles suburb.

The scenes were played out in the first episode of a new US television drama portraying the Iraq conflict that premiered late Wednesday, marking the first time in US television history that a conflict has been re-enacted while still underway.

"Over There," broadcast by the US FX cable network, aims to recreate the bloody reality of the US-led war while trying to avoid any potentially explosive political comment on the conflict.
 
MI5 links Iraq to extremists in UK
Iraq is "a dominant issue" among extremists in Britain, MI5 says in its latest comments on the threat to Britain from international terrorism.
The remarks, on the agency's website, contrast with those of ministers who have suggested that the London bombings had nothing to do with the Iraq invasion.

The website says the terrorist threat "comes from a diverse range of sources, including al-Qaida and associated networks, and those who share al-Qaida's ideology but do not have direct contact with them".

MI5 says both British and foreign nationals linked to or sympathetic with al-Qaida are known to be present in the UK.

They are supporting the activities of terrorist groups: through the provision of resources for overseas networks; by fundraising for terrorist networks overseas and in the UK; by acquiring and disseminating false documents for use by terrorists; and by facilitating training in both ideology and terrorist techniques.

In some cases they have been engaged in directly planning, or attempting to carry out, terrorist attacks.

It continues: "Though they have a range of aspirations and 'causes', Iraq is a dominant issue for a range of extremist groups and individuals in the UK and Europe."
 
US army gets raygun for Iraq
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US troops in Iraq are set to use a non-lethal energy beam weapon mounted on a Humvee.

The ray uses a beam which heats up the skin to a depth of 1/64 of an inch. This burning sensation is very painful but won't cause actual damage unless the subject stays in the beam for as long as 250 seconds. It is hoped it will provide a less lethal way of clearing the streets of (live) Iraqi civilians.

Or that's the theory. Testing has been carried out by the US Airforce Lab, which also develops the weapon, which is a "clear conflict", according to Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News. There is concern that the beam could damage eyesight - although probably not as much as an M-16 rifle can.

The barrier to using such technology on a vehicle has been a strong enough power source. Researchers claim to have solved this problem, and 15 vehicles have been ordered under Project Sheriff.

The "Vehicle-Mounted Active Denial System", or V-MADS, looks like an ordinary Humvee but with an enormous, square satellite dish on its roof. Only this time it's not Sky One that'll be frying your brain. Background and pictures here.
 
Iraqi Kurds demand say over northern oil fields
AMMAN (Reuters) - Iraq's Kurds want at least partial control over northern oil resources in a post-war political system that ends uneven distribution of wealth, Planning Minister Barham Salih said on Friday.

"We call for allowing the provinces to participate in managing the oil sector because the strict central system of managing it has proved its failure," Salih, who is a leading Kurdish politician, told Reuters in an interview.

Salih said negotiations to decentralise power over the economy, allowing more say for northern Kurdish provinces and the mostly Shi'ite south, were part of talks over a new federal constitution for post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

"The federal structure should guarantee balanced development. One of the vices of the oppressive central system is unjust distribution of wealth and resources," Salih said.

"Go to the southern Amara province, which is an important source of oil, and you see miserable basic services. Go to Kirkuk, this city rich with oil, and you see low living standards and appreciate the size of the problem in Iraq," he added.

The north has major oil and gas fields, including Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed province that Kurds demand as part of their federal region and whose status is due to be decided after general elections due at the end of this year.
 
Panel: Bush Was Unready for Postwar Iraq
WASHINGTON - An independent panel headed by two former U.S. national security advisers said Wednesday that chaos in Iraq was due in part to inadequate postwar planning.

Planning for reconstruction should match the serious planning that goes into making war, said the panel headed by Samuel Berger and Brent Scowcroft. Berger was national security adviser to Democratic President Clinton. Scowcroft held the same post under Republican Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush but has been critical of the current president's Iraq and Mideast policies.

"A dramatic military victory has been overshadowed by chaos and bloodshed in the streets of Baghdad, difficulty in establishing security or providing essential services, and a deadly insurgency," the report said.

"The costs, human, military and economic, are high and continue to mount," said the report, which was sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent foreign policy group.

Two years after a stunning three-week march on Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi military forces have been unable to secure and rebuild the country, and reconstruction has fallen victim to a lack of security, the report said.
 
Just a snippet from this Washington Post piece

Propaganda machine breaks down
[A] U.S. military public affairs operation, Task Force Baghdad, issued a statement on a July 13 car bombing. The statement included this quotation: " 'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. 'They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.' "

On Sunday, the task force issued a statement about another attack in which a U.S. soldier and as many as 26 Iraqi children were killed. The statement included this quotation: " 'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF, and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,' said one Iraqi man."

Several journalists pointed out the near-duplication. Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a senior military spokesman, said Thursday that the U.S. military was looking into what happened and that procedures in Task Force Baghdad's public affairs office were under review
 
Iraq’s new friend should make Bush blush
On July 17, President George W. Bush’s war against terror was turned upside down - and this time the president might even have noticed. That’s because when "our guys" in Iraq start firmly allying with an "axis of evil" nation, it’s got to ring some warning bells, no?

I am referring to the joint declaration issued in Tehran by the leaders of Iraq and Iran: "Today, we need a double and common effort to confront terrorism that may spread in the region and the world," said Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, visiting Iran along with 10 of his ministers after a similar visit from his defense minister. The statement he and his Iranian counterparts produced heralds mutual cooperation between the two neighbors, which will include a cross-border oil pipeline, joint-security proposals and shared intelligence information.

Suddenly everyone’s against terror!
 
Ouch.

U.S. contractors spent $766M on Iraq security
WASHINGTON — The government is not keeping track of how many private security guards are working in Iraq or how much U.S. contractors are spending on security, a congressional report says.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Thursday says investigators identified more than $766 million in government spending for private security companies in Iraq through the end of last year. Four contractors spent more than 25% of their budget on security, Congress' non-partisan investigative arm found.

The prevalence of private security companies in Iraq has been controversial almost since the end of major combat there in spring 2003. Some contractors have been accused of taking part in abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison. Others have been accused by military officials or in lawsuits of mistreating civilians or shooting at U.S. troops.

The Pentagon estimates as many as 60 private security companies are working in Iraq with up to 25,000 employees, the report says.
 
The Daily Star Preparing for a shipwreck in the Middle East
At the heart of the breakdown is Iraq. Even the war's supporters (this writer included) cannot honestly say that the postwar plan, if indeed there was one, was commensurate with the profound importance of the project. From the moment of Baghdad's fall, the Bush administration made error after error, steadily diminishing prospects for success in its transformation of Iraq into a pluralistic society. Success is still possible, thanks largely to the Iraqis, but hope is evaporating. The question is whether the U.S. still believes in Iraqi democracy, and the answer may be less and less. Thinking is shifting toward such schemes as partition or loose confederalism, which are expedient but also potentially disastrous.
...
Many of us will continue to dream of a liberal Arab world, because that's the only exit from a nightmare that has lasted for far too long. Iraq was to be the first step. But the plot is apparently much more complicated than anyone imagined, and the characters involved too mediocre. The region is heading toward a shipwreck: too few lookouts, too many icebergs.
A large part of the failure in Iraq is due to dreamy folk who assumed democracy could flourish without security.

The Post gets an Iraqi view.
... "The political process, and the American project, it has failed," Gaaod wrote. "Believe me, there is no need to waste anymore one penny of the American taxpayers' money and no more one drop of blood of the American boys." He added: "Continuing on the basis to build a democratic process in securing the country, it's only a dream."
...
Gaaod argues that the pragmatic solution is martial law, in which generals drawn equally from Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds take control of security. The military men would work with a government of technocrats. Until order is restored, the Iraqi businessman insists, it's useless to talk about loftier hopes for the country.

Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the "epicenter" of international terrorism Daily Star
...So the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has not reduced the threat of terrorism in any way. This is the most significant development we have seen in the past three years."

Gunaratna said up to 3,000 members of Al-Qaeda had been arrested since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States that sparked the U.S.-led "war on terror."

"But in place of Al-Qaeda we have seen 30 or 40 different groups emerge," he said, adding that the world must accept that terrorism had become a globalized threat that cannot be eradicated.
This larger paper was published earlier this year by Gunaratna PDF
While Al Qaeda, the operational organization has weakened, Al Qaeda, the ideological movement has grown appreciably. As several local jihad groups adopt Al Qaeda’s global jihad ideology, a morphed Al Qaeda will present a greater threat in 2005.
...
In place of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq has emerged as the new Asian and Middle Eastern centers of gravity of international terrorism. When hunted, terrorists moved to geographic areas where law and order is lacking or nonexistent.
...
Rather than isolate Iran, it is imperative for the West, especially the US to engage Tehran. Removal of Saddam, a buffer between the Shia and the Sunni Muslims, has created the conditions for them to work together. The Western failure to engage Iran against Al Qaeda will strengthen the hands of the Iranian hardliners keen to destabilize Iraq and assist anti-US Shia and Sunni Islamists.
...
Due to a sustained and coordinated international response, Al Qaeda as a group has declined in its operational capability. Nonetheless, the threat facing the world today is much graver than at 9/11. Al Qaeda’s attack on America’s most iconic landmarks has galvanized a broad spectrum of Islamist groups with divergent views. For the Islamists whether a group is Al Qaeda or not, it no longer makes a difference. Especially after the US invasion of Iraq, reflecting the widespread Muslim rage, several dozen groups have emerged. Many share Al Qaeda’s mission and vision of a global jihad, and that the United States is the number one enemy.
...
The US invasion in Iraq has not reduced but increased the threat of terrorism several folds. It has diverted U.S. specialist resources to neutralize the Al Qaeda leadership, the greatest single failure of the U.S. counter terrorism strategy. Furthermore, the opportunity to restore stability and resources to rebuild Afghanistan into a model Muslim country in the 21 st century has been lost. In 2003-4, Al Qaeda, Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami re-emerged as a credible force in Afghanistan. Unless these threat groups are neutralized, they will periodically strike government targets and seek to assassinate the Afghan President Hamid Karzai. In addition to the Afghan and Iraqi leaderships, the world’s most threatened leader is Pakistan’s Pervez Musharaff, who has challenged the jihadi groups.
He got Iraq wrong by the way he said it would not get worse in 2005; it has, dramatically.
 
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