*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Hopes fade of trapping many insurgents in western Iraq

KARABILAH, Iraq — U.S. Marines pushed into the heart of this Euphrates River town on Thursday, a final step in a 3,500-troop operation to clear insurgents from towns near the Syrian border.

Commanders had hoped to trap scores of insurgents in Karabilah, squeezing them from the neighboring town of Husaybah against U.S. blocking positions around the city. But when 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, marched in just after noon Thursday, they found only abandoned buildings and some roadside bombs.

“Maybe tonight is bingo night,” joked Staff Sgt. J.C. Knight, platoon sergeant of 1st Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, as his platoon searched houses along a desolate alley.

Knight’s battalion began planning Thursday to sweep through farmland north of Karabilah, make camp in the fields Thursday night and enter the town Friday morning.

But 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, which was moving from west to east towards Karabilah, made more progress than expected, reaching its objective during the morning. That cleared the way for 3/6 to enter the heart of the city — a triangle-shaped collection of neighborhoods that the Marines call the Shark Fin — a day ahead of schedule.

The two battalions, accompanied by Iraqi Army soldiers and backed by a screen of soldiers from two U.S. Army battalions, kicked off Operation Steel Curtain on Nov. 5, pushing through Husaybah, an important link in the flow of insurgent manpower, money and supplies across the Syrian border.

The Shark Fin has been targeted for a month by Marine snipers, heavy weapons and air strikes, as spotters in positions just outside the area have called in attacks against insurgents. As Marines searched empty house after empty house Thursday, they increasingly became convinced that any insurgents left in the city had blended in with refugees camped in the farm fields to the north, or managed to flee across the Euphrates.

“These guys have eluded a lot of people,” said Cpl. Ben Hanenkratt, 23, of Toledo, Ohio. “If they get across the river, they’re gone.”

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi troops find 27 bodies near Iran border

KUT, Iraq, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iraqi troops in the south of the country have found the bodies of 27 people who had been tied up and shot, army sources said on Thursday. A cameraman working for Reuters who filmed the bodies near the Iranian border said they were found blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs and had been shot.

Grisly discoveries are regularly reported in Iraq, where the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government is battling a Sunni insurgency, and where Sunnis themselves accuse Shi'ite militias of attacking them, sometimes with the collusion of security forces. There was no immediate indication of who the victims were, though similar finds in the past involved Iraqi security forces.

The bodies were discovered near Jassan, a small town between Kut and the Iranian border in the mainly Shi'ite province of Wasit.

 

[Barking_Mad]

From Nov 10th.

Baghdad restaurant bomb kills 34

A bomb explosion in a busy central Baghdad restaurant killed at least 34 people Thursday and wounded some 25 others.

Police said a man with explosives strapped to his body walked into a restaurant close to the Palestine Hotel in the city center shortly before 10 a.m. and blew himself up. The restaurant is known to be popular with police and security officials, the BBC said.

The bomb was not large, but was particularly lethal because it exploded in a confined space. The explosion was heard several miles away.

An hour later in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, at least six people were killed and 13 injured by a suicide car bomber who drove into the middle of a group of men queuing at a recruiting centre for the Iraqi army.

On Wednesday, seven Iraqis were killed and four others injured when a suicide car bomb exploded in Baquba, north of Baghdad. Also, two car bombs killed at least five Iraqi civilians and wounded 25 others near the Al Shab police station and the next-door Al Sharoofi Mosque in the Adhamiya district, CNN reported.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Negroponte........came and went - sounds all too familiar. Sadly its worth the read.

Militias growing in power in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The sun had barely risen over a small Sunni village when Shiite militiamen, some wearing black, launched a raid, ostensibly to free hostages. Interior Ministry troops joined the fight. After several hours, more than 20 people were dead.

Details about what happened Oct. 27 in Medayna, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, vary depending on whom you ask. But the violence underscores a disturbing and dangerous trend in Iraq: the growing role and power of militias and their contribution to rising sectarian tensions.

Sunni insurgents openly target Shiites. In response, many Sunnis maintain their community has come under threat from militias with links to Shiite political parties.

The violence erupted when militiamen from the Mahdi Army, loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, raided the village to free hostages who they say were kidnapped by Sunni Arabs there. Medayna residents insist the attack was unprovoked.

Kanaan Mesarhad, a tribal sheik who lives in Medayna, claimed militiamen snatched his 59-year-old uncle from his home, blindfolded him, beat him on the head with a sword and shot him between the eyes.

"They executed him in front of his own children," Mesarhad said. "Then they burned the homes." And he said militiamen shouted sectarian slurs at Sunnis.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Bodies in Saddam's fishing hole

Tharthar - Lake Tharthar, an oasis amid the barren wastes of central Iraq, was once Saddam Hussein's favourite fishing hole, and other anglers were kept well away. But the fishermen who have drifted back to its shores after being kept out during the deposed dictator's reign are more likely to find bloated human bodies in the water than their supper.

And they could be risking their lives as well. The area around the lake has become a redoubt of insurgents since Saddam was ousted two years ago, and US-led forces have failed to dislodge them. Located roughly midway between Baghdad and Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, Lake Tharthar is more than a once-popular tourist resort.

It is a strategic crossroads, where insurgents have imposed their own law. Pipelines that run through here connecting the Baiji oil refinery to the north and Baghdad's Dura power station are regularly sabotaged.

The spot, which straddles the insurgent stronghold provinces of Al-Anbar and Salaheddin, is also crossed by back roads that allow travelers who want to remain undetected to avoid using the main north-south highway. Its leafy terrain is also ideal for laying ambushes, and there is no shortage of them.

Just a few weeks ago, three engineers from Iraq's electricity company sent out to repair a high-tension line disappeared. There has been no word on their fate. And three soldiers who went missing in the same area were found Thursday in the nearby village of Ishaki, their hands and feet bound, a bullet to the head. Mohammed al-Nissani is one of the fishermen who now works the lake.

He recounts how he often finds bodies floating in the lake, "mostly civilians with their feet and hands bound."

"One day I saw a car stop and masked men get out. They carried a body that they dumped into the water."

Nissani said he just wanted to put the whole thing out of his mind, and stayed well away from the lake for several days. Another man, who did not give his name, said he gave up fishing altogether after he found a surprise catch in his net -- a black plastic bag containing the bloated body of a soldier.

Not surprisingly, images of fish feasting on human remains have helped to dry up trade even more than the fishermen who give up in disgust, or for fear of being captured by insurgents........

"The only way to control this region is to declare it a military zone," says another local resident, taxi driver Hussein al-Majmai. "That's what Saddam did."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Poll: American attitudes on Iraq similar to Vietnam era

In a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, more than half of those surveyed wanted to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within the next 12 months. In 1970, roughly half of those surveyed wanted to withdraw U.S. troops from Vietnam within 12 months. (Related: Poll results)

In both surveys, about one-third supported withdrawing troops over as many years as needed, and about one in 10 wanted to send more troops.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican, rejects any comparison with the Vietnam era.

"I wasn't in the United States in 1970," says McCain, a POW in Vietnam at the time. "But I am very aware of what happened in 1970. There's not massive demonstrations in the streets (now). There's not the kind of opposition — draft-card burning and all of that — (seen) during the height of the anti-war movement."

Still, McCain says he is "very worried" about polls showing waning support for the war. "I would not try to sugarcoat it. Some things need to be done better," he says.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq suicide attacks kill dozens

The suicide bombings in Baghdad devastated surrounding buildings
A series of suicide bombings in Iraq has left dozens of people dead and about 100 injured.

At least 55 people were killed and 62 injured when two bombs were detonated inside two Shia mosques in Khanaqin in north-eastern Iraq, officials say.

The bombers blew themselves up while hundreds of worshippers were attending Friday prayers. Earlier, two car bombs killed at least six people outside an interior ministry building in Baghdad.

The attacks near in the central Jadiriya district injured at least 40 people and brought down a block of flats. A hotel used by foreigners may also have been targeted in the attack. A nearby interior ministry detention centre has been at the centre of a detainee abuse scandal.

The suicide bombs in Khanaqin are the latest in a string of attacks against Shia mosques in Iraq. Diyala provincial council leader Ibrahim Hasan al-Bajalan told the AFP news agency that local hospitals had received 55 dead and 62 injured.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Just out of interest I added up the US deaths in Iraq from May 03 (end of 'major' combat) to October 03 and compared them with the number of deaths from the same time period this year.

May '03 - Oct '03 = 222 US dead
May '05 - Oct '05 = 442 US dead

The number of deaths from IED's has risen markedly. If you take from just July 03 to Oct 03 and compare it with the same months this year

July '03 - Oct '03 = 29 IED deaths
July '05 - Oct '05 = 178 IED deaths

 

[Barking_Mad]

Truck bombs kill six near hotel, prison bunker

Two suicide truck bombs destroyed a Baghdad apartment block on Friday near a hotel and a prison bunker at the centre of an abuse scandal, killing at least six people including two children, police said.

Three civilians killed in Ramadi fighting

Medical sources said three civilians were killed and five wounded during clashes between U.S forces and insurgents in Ramadi. No official verification was immediately available.

Three civilians wounded in attack on U.S. patrol

Three civilians were wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded near a U.S patrol in the Kena'an area near Baquba police said.

Shi'ite politician kidnapped in Baghdad

Gunmen kidnapped a Shi'ite politician from his home in western Baghdad on Thursday. Police said Tawfiq al-Yassiri was a candidate for Dec. 15 elections, heading a list called Sun of Iraq, a mixed bloc of Shi'ite and Sunni Arab politicians.

Two police killed in attack on U.S. patrol

Two Iraqi policemen were killed and seven wounded on Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S.-Iraqi patrol in Buhruz an ambulance driver said. No information was immediately available from the Iraqi police or U.S military.

 

[oi2002]

The American Conservative celebrates the 10th birthday of it's bete noir The Weekly Standard and there is much to celebrate:

In the first issue the magazine published after 9/11, Gary Schmitt and Tom Donnelly, two employees of Kristol’s PNAC, clarified what ought to be the country’s war aims. Their rhetoric—which laid down a line from which the magazine would not waver over the next 18 months—was to link Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden in virtually every paragraph, to join them at the hip in the minds of readers, and then to lay out a strategy that actually gave attacking Saddam priority over eliminating al-Qaeda. The first piece was illustrated with a caricature of Saddam, not bin Laden, and the proposed operational plan against bin Laden was astonishingly soft. “While it is probably not necessary to go to war with Afghanistan, a broad approach will be required, ” they wrote. Taliban failure to help root out bin Laden ought to be “rewarded by aid to its Afghan opposition.” Presumably Ramsey Clark was tendering advice more dovish than this, but it could not have been by much.
...
During the second week of the Iraq invasion, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz interviewed several intellectual supporters of the war. The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman (who backed the war despite being haunted by its similarities to Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, which he saw firsthand) suggested that this was very much an intellectuals’ war. “It’s the war the neoconservatives marketed. Those people had an idea to sell when September 11 came, and they sold it. Oh boy, did they sell it. So this is not a war that the masses demanded. This is a war of an elite. … I could give you the names of 25 people (all of whom are at this moment within a five block radius of this office) who, if you had exiled them to a desert island a year and a half ago, the Iraq war would not have happened.” Then Friedman paused, clarifying, “It’s not some fantasy the neoconservatives invented. It’s not that 25 people hijacked America. You don’t take such a great nation into such a great adventure with Bill Kristol and the Weekly Standard and another five or six influential columnists. In the final analysis what fomented the war is America’s over-reaction to September 11. ... It is not only the neoconservatives that led us to the outskirts of Baghdad. What led us to the outskirts of Baghdad is a very American combination of anxiety and hubris.”

TWS, a bonkers Murdoch rag and unwitting destroyer of American hegemony.

In an excellent interview on Open Source Wilkerson available on podcast. He actually defends Dubya's assertion that they were near certain that Saddam had an arsenal of WMD, but he now sees those were days of fevered dreams and delusion. He delivers some more kidney punches to The Cabal and in particular Doug Feith whose witless occupation planning has lead to the current debacle. He points out if the occupation had been competently planned the invasion would never have happened. Why didn't he speak out before the last election? The Colonel admits he was at fault not too.

 

[oi2002]

What!

I am informed that during the course of Prime Minister's Questions today, Patrick Mercer MP (Tory) asked the Prime Minister a question regarding British troops numbers in Iraq in the course of which the claim was made that the British commanders on the ground have requested additional manpower in order to run interdiction against manpower and materiel coming into their sector across the Iranian border and that this request had been refused. The Prime Minister replied that he was "not aware" of any such request.

 

[oi2002]

Christopher Allbritton Hamra hotel bombing. It's just a matter of time before they get this double truck bomb thing right.

 

[mears]

Iraq insurgents continue to kill innocent shiites, this time killing civilians at a funeral procession. Not killing shiites who work with the enemy US forces. Just killing shiites because they are shiites.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10107233/

 

[oi2002]

Hilzboy over on Obsidian Wings lists the multiple American failures of will that have already happened during DC's adventure in Iraq. He has a good point here a vote for a Dubya that refused to fire Rummie was a vote for defeat:

Anyone who voted Republican because of Iraq didn't bother to look past the hype and the spin and ask themselves, seriously: is there any reason -- any reason at all -- to think that George W. Bush is capable of leading us to success? The answer was clearly: no. He had had a chance to show us what he was capable of, and it was absolutely, unforgivably, obviously incompetent. And, as I said, there was no reason whatsoever to believe that he would improve.

To be fair to GOP fanciers Kerry was a bloody awful candidate.

Newsweek also points out that the course Dubya's staying on has just one destination:

In fact, standing down is not about pulling out. So topsy-turvy is the policy at this point that we’re not going to imagine leaving until the Iraqi government demands that we go—and you can be sure the Iraqis who are now taking power will do just that. When? As soon as they and their Iranian allies have consolidated their hold on the southern three fourths of the country and its oil.

There’s no mystery here. The mullahs in Tehran who harbored, trained and funded what are now the most powerful Shiite political parties in Iraq have always seen American soldiers as useful idiots in this fight. Americans are welcome to die in Iraq as long as their mission is to eliminate Iran’s old enemy Saddam Hussein and wipe out his supporters. The Iranians originally thought they would have to force the Americans out when that job was done. But the chaos of the occupation and the trend toward Iraqi democracy now make the mullahs’ job even easier. All they have to do is get their clients and friends in Baghdad to demand an American departure. Ahmad Chalabi, always close to Tehran, might do that himself if he actually manages to become prime minister. In Washington this week, he suggested the deadline the administration was unwilling to name: the end of 2006.

I doubt if Ahmad the thief as he's known in Baghdad will ever lead Iraq but it's far from unlikely that it will be him that smokescreens the drawdown by asking DC to leave next year.

 

[oi2002]

The Duck looks at the numbers on Iraq and is cautiously pessimistic. Alexander the Average came out cautiously optimistic last month and was also using Brookings as a source.

Wilkerson in that interview above actually expressed some optimism; things being bad but at least now the Pentagon no longer micro-managed tactical decisions as it did in the first two years of the war.

The data is actually pretty thin; Rummie has been allowed to play his cards close to his chest by a wimpish Senate. The sparse meterics there are suggesting we aren't anywhere near the last throes as Murtha pointed out. McCain does not like all the talk of drawdown in 2006 within the GOP:

“If we can reach victory in 2006, that would be wonderful. But should 2006 not be the landmark year that these amendments anticipate, we will have once again unrealistically raised the expectations of the American people. That can only cost domestic support for America’s role in this conflict, a war we must win.

Bill Kristol describes it as pathetic:

After all, in precisely a month, the Iraqis will vote for their first government under the new constitution, and one thing they must weigh in their calculations is whether they can count on U.S. staying power in the fight against the terrorists. With today's vote in the Senate, the Republican leadership, apparently working hand in glove with White House staff, showed itself today to be tactically myopic and politically timid.

I don't think Iraqis are as naive as nutty old Bill, DC has been in a Vietnam style policy funk for 18 months.

 

[oi2002]

Interesting paper applying gang theory to the the Iraqi rebelion PDF

Far from being
driven by al Qaeda or uniform anti-Americanism, much of the insurgency has little if
anything to do directly with the U.S. Relationships between and among indigenous and
foreign insurgent actors have been conditioned by this competitive calculus. Insurgent
campaigns have so far revealed shifting patterns of allegiance and loyalties between
violent groups that are informed by a strategic rationale superseding supposed tribal and
ideological bonds. These results differ from current assumptions, which expect that
violent groups with shared ethnic, ideological, or programmatic affinity will positively
interact to erode the process of stability and reconstruction in Iraq. This process is only
likely given certain specific conditions, and extrapolating the results of this limited set of
circumstances into broad strategic policy will yield negative outcomes, strengthening and
perpetuating insurgent violence.
...
At the local level, both resource scarcity and the stature of sub-tribal groups were
greatly enhanced following the removal of Hussein. The Coalition Provisional
Authority’s (CPA) early adoption of a neo-liberal economic posture137 impeded the
growth of regulatory and legal institutions, impelling businesses and those entering the
labor market to rely on the trusted kinship or extended family networks of the informal
economy. Shortages of critical inputs such as electricity and fuel, and the dangers of
transportation have further encouraged informal entrepreneurs to rely on tribal and
extended family associations for protection and support.
...
Despite the proclamations of bureaucrats, there are few indications that the Sunniled
insurgency is in its “last throes.” To the contrary, the degree and intensity of
insurgent violence is increasing and this trend is likely to continue. Coalition forces
confronting this challenge have been thrust into an environment of great uncertainty.
Troops on the ground are facing a variety of threats from across the spectrum of violent
actors. The different motivations and relationships between these groups are gradually
emerging. Indigenous and transnational actors are establishing links and magnifying their
capabilities in ways that are consistent with the rapidly changing information-age
environment. The traditional distinctions between violent groups seeking political goals
and those pursuing profit are becoming blurred. This ambiguity challenges strategic
planners to develop new models for insurgent group behavior and the appropriate role of
military force in the contemporary setting.

In short Iraq is rather similar to Checnya only 20 times bigger.

And this is a telling incident:

In one telling incident, locally recruited and trained Iraqi police were issued ammunition
marked in blue ink as an accountability measure. A nearby unit of the Iraqi National
Guard, also recruited locally, was issued ammunition marked in red. After a series of
nighttime firefights involving insurgent groups and coalition forces, it was observed that the insurgents were also using ammunition marked in red and blue ink, and that for the
most part they had been aiming at each other. In fact, tribal feuding accounts for a
large portion of the violence that draws coalition forces into a particular area. This is
especially prevalent in al Anbar province, where tribal groups are known to inform
against rivals with the intention of precipitating a U.S. response, typically resulting in a
raid or realignment of reconstruction assistance.

 

[pbman]

A dark day for the terroist lovers.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475588009&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

The Elaph Arab media website reported on Sunday that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of the al-Qaida in Iraq terror group, may have been killed in Iraq on Sunday afternoon when eight terrorists blew themselves up in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. troops fired on Baghdad civilians

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Witnesses and the Iraqi police said U.S. troops opened fire on a crowded minibus north of Baghdad on Monday, killing five members of the same family, including two children, and wounding four others.

The U.S. military said it was looking into the incident but did not confirm its involvement or provide any other details. One of the survivors told Reuters the family was traveling from Balad, a town about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, to the nearby city of Baquba for a funeral when they were shot at by a U.S. patrol as it approached them on the road.

"As we tried to move over to one side to let them pass, they opened fire," one of the survivors said. None of them would provide their names but said the family was headed by Mohammed Kamel.

They said the incident occurred at around 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) just outside Baquba.

Major Hussein Ali of the Iraqi police said the minivan the family was traveling in was taken away by U.S. forces shortly afterwards.

Police and the surviving family members said five people were killed, including two young children. Reuters television footage showed the dead children in a morgue in Baquba and relatives kissing another dead body on a morgue trolley.

"They are all children. They are not terrorists," shouted one relative. "Look at the children," he said as a morgue official carried a small dead child into a refrigeration room.

"We felt bullets hitting the car from behind and from in front," said another survivor with blood running from a wound to his head and splattered on his shirt. "Heads were blown off. One child had his hand shot off," he said.

Of those wounded, two were women and one was another child, the survivors said/

 

[Barking_Mad]

UK's deadly legacy: the cluster bomb

It is feared that thousands of bomblets lie unexploded in Iraq, capable of maiming or killing innocent civilians. This week, more than two years after they were dropped, Britain is finally being held to account

Tony Blair is facing fresh fury over the use of controversial munitions in the Iraq war. Campaigners lambasted the Ministry of Defence over its use of deadly cluster bombs and shells during the invasion, warning that they could contravene international law.

MPs are to table a raft of new questions today over the affair amid fears that thousands of bomblets released during the war will leave a deadly legacy for Iraqi civilians. They warned that any unexploded bomblets could kill or maim civilians for years to come.

The dispute over British use of cluster bombs will be intensify this week with the publication of a report by the pressure group Landmine Action, which raises questions over the efforts made to ensure that the weapons did not harm civilians. It comes as international signatories to the international convention on conventional weapons meet in Geneva this week, amid pressure for a moratorium on the production of cluster bombs and tough new limits on their use.

The report, funded by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, said British officials had failed to gather field data about the failure rates of cluster bomblets, and had done "little or nothing to gauge the humanitarian impact of these weapons".

It said that the UK had "failed to undertake any significant effort to understand better the impact of cluster munition use and has continued to use them. As was foreseeable, these cluster munitions have been a cause of civilian casualties."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fifteen die in Iraq marketplace bombing

Police rushed to the market after a small bomb exploded there. A suicide bomber then drove in at speed, ramming a police car with his vehicle and setting off a large explosion. Earlier, insurgents lured an Iraqi police patrol by shooting one officer

Up close: the reality of Iraq's hidden war

I was attached to squads from the 3rd Battalion/Sixth Marines and 2nd Battalion/First Marines as they moved into Iraqi towns along the border with Syria. The US said the aim of Operation Steel Curtain, which began two weeks ago and has now been completed, was to break up insurgent cells and disrupt their supply lines from Syria. The marines worked their way house by house through the border towns along the Euphrates. They had not been in the towns for at least a year and thought they would encounter a lot of insurgents on the first day. But they took only a little fire in Karabila and Husayba, from IEDs (improvised explosive devices) set off in the streets and hidden in walls.

There was more resistance at Ubaydi in the following days. The US went in with tanks, Humvees, helicopters and planes. They swept from one end to the other, searching for weapons. They kicked in doors or used explosives to get in, or used tanks to do it. Humvees went in behind the troops with loudspeakers calling on people to leave. They encountered Iraqis with guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Two marines were killed, one of them going into a building. I heard it but did not realise what had happened until 20 minutes later. There was a group barricaded in a house and they waited for the soldier to come in and shot him. I saw the body of one of the men who killed him lying in the street.

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

When people saw a ferocious assault was under way, they began to leave town. Women and children came out carrying white flags. It was eerie seeing columns of people appearing through the smoke and explosions, with no one knowing which direction the shooting was coming from. I am sure we will hear of more casualties. All men of military age were detained. they had material sprayed on their hands to reveal whether they had handled explosives or gunpowder. Families were split up and loudspeakers were barking commands. Some of the detainees came back and some did not.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq war may go for decades: report

THE war in Iraq could last for decades with British troops unlikely to withdraw without a "highly unlikely" split with Washington, a report says today. The Oxford Research Group non-governmental organisation, which assesses constructive approaches to dealing with international terrorism and the "war on terror", says the war in Iraq is only in its early stages.

"Given that the al-Qaeda movement and its affiliates are seeking to achieve their aims over a period of decades rather than years, the probability is that, short of major political changes in the USA, the Iraq war might well be measured over a similar time span," the report concludes.

It says the presence of coalition troops in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion has been a "gift" to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda. The terror network has gained recruits by portraying their presence as a neo-Christian occupation of a main Muslim country, the report says. The group says an American pullout would be "a foreign policy disaster greater than the retreat from Vietnam".

 

[Barking_Mad]

Gunman kill factory directory

Police said a director at a Baghdad battery factory was killed by gunmen while driving near his home in the western Jami'aa district of Baghdad.

Former officer killed by gunmen

A former senior traffic police officer was killed by gunmen in his home in the Yarmouk district of southwestern Baghdad, a police source said.
Iraqi insurgents kill Sunni tribal leader

Car bomb wounds two Iraqi soldiers near Kirkuk

A suicide car bomb targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint near Rashaad, 30 km (18 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said. A police source said that two Iraqi soldiers were badly hurt.

Four killed in Ramadi

RAMADI - Three policemen were shot dead by gunmen in Ramadi a police source said. Insurgents gunned down Abdul Wahab al-Dulaimi, a former intelligence officer, in his home in Ramadi, a police source said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. morale in Iraq is marked 'fragile'

Seeing friends die, injured is taking its toll on many American soldiers

A handful of Delta Company soldiers leaned against a barracks wall the other night, smoking. The subject of conversation: what limb they would rather part with, if they had a choice. On the door of a portable toilet a few feet away, someone was keeping the company death toll amid a scribble of obscenities: five KIA.

"When I first got here, I felt like I could actually do some good for the Iraqi people," Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Barker said. But the last six months had hardened him, he said. "We're not going to change the Iraqis. I don't care how many halal (Muslim) meals we give out."

In conversations with troops in Baghdad, Mosul and Tikrit during the last four weeks, morale seemed a fragile thing, especially among those in the line of fire, shot through with a sense of dread. Many expressed pride in their mission, and the hope that the political process would destroy the insurgency. But others described a seemingly never-ending fight against an invisible enemy, and the toll of seeing friends die.

"Morale is a roller coaster," said Lt. Rusten Currie, who has spent 10 months in Iraq. "We were all idealistic to begin with, wanting to find Osama bin Laden and (Abu Musab al-) Zarqawi, and bring them to justice — whatever that means. Now we just want to go home."

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, says tensions are understandable when troops are attacked with remotely detonated explosives and there is no way to fight back.

"Soldiers can indeed get frustrated because they're not looking at an enemy who's looking back at them," Lynch said. But he added that "morale is generally good."

Barker remembers the day — it was Sept. 15, a Thursday — that changed how he felt about Iraq. Afterward, the mission no longer made sense.

"It's the most helpless feeling I have ever felt," said Barker, of the 1st Battalion, 184 Infantry Regiment, who lost his friend and second-in-command, Sgt. Alfredo Silva, to a roadside bomb that day. After that day, the explosions never seemed to stop. In Delta Company, morale plummeted after four men were killed in nine days, Barker said.

"We were the walking dead," he said, speaking of the days after the attack. "It was no longer a matter of making it home alive and in one piece. Just alive would be fine."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Oh dear, more revenge killings ahead.

Gunmen kill Iraqi tribal chief

Gunmen have shot dead a prominent Sunni Arab tribal chief, his three sons and a son-in-law as they slept in their home in Baghdad, police say. Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyim was the leader of the al-Batta tribe, a branch of the al-Dulaym tribe, one of the largest Sunni tribes in Iraq.

Officials said gunmen dressed in Iraqi army uniforms broke into his house and opened fire with automatic weapons. The killings are the latest in a series of attacks on Sunni Arab leaders. The gunmen arrived at the house in Baghdad's south-eastern al-Hurriya district at 0400 (0100 GMT) in 10 armoured cars similar to those used by Iraqi security services.

"I saw it with my own eyes. They were soldiers," Mr Hemaiyim's son, Thair Khadim Sarhid, told Reuters. Mr Sarhid said that he and two of his dead brothers were policemen.

"I am going to get rid of my police badge. From now on I will be a terrorist," he said.

Sunni leaders have frequently accused Shia militias within the Iraqi security apparatus of operating death squads with a sectarian agenda. A spokesman for the Iraqi military said that its forces were not involved in the killing and that it was likely to have been militants in disguise.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Another day in Baghdad A&E

What's even more frightening for these doctors is that they get casualties in from "commando" units, part of a feared paramilitary group with links to a Shia militia, which has a base a few hundred metres from the Yarmouk hospital.

One night when I was about to leave the ER there was a burst of gunfire - heavy machine guns roared at the entrance of the hospital. The doctors started running around urging patients, if they were well enough, to clear out. Moments later, a group of masked young men in army fatigues and black T-shirts burst into the ward. Two went to where people had gathered in the hallway, pointing guns at them and telling them to look away. Three others carried between them a piece of cloth in which one of their comrades, badly injured, was lying. They placed him on one of the plastic-covered beds.

"Save him," said one of the men in black T-shirts. One of the commandos took off his mask and began weeping. The others laid their machine guns against the walls and lit cigarettes, trying to stay calm.

A doctor asked me to go. "If they find you are here, they will kill you," he said. Outside, some commandos were holding up the traffic with bursts of gunfire. I crouched between cars until it was safe to go. The doctors were lucky that day; the injured commando didn't die. But twice in the past few months the doctors have gone on strike, protesting against commandos and army soldiers beating them up and kicking patients out of their beds to make space for their casualties. After each strike they get assurances from the ministry of interior that no armed men will be allowed into the ER. But it keeps on happening.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Many killed in Iraq car bombing

At least 30 people were killed and 27 wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a hospital in a town south of Baghdad, officials say. The bomb was detonated as two Iraqi police cars drew up near the general hospital in Mahmudiya, about 20km (12 miles) outside Baghdad.

Mahmudiya is a mixed Sunni-Shia town in a region where insurgents have launched many attacks on US-led forces.

A US military convoy passing by was also hit by the blast.

"At this time it appears that four of our soldiers were wounded but they are not life-threatening injuries," Sergeant David Abrams said.

Several Iraqi policemen were killed in the blast. Women and children were also among the many civilian casualties, including at least one medic at the hospital's emergency centre.

"I was leaving the hospital with my one-and-a-half-year-old son in my arms when the explosion happened," Huda Ali told the AFP news agency.

"I was knocked down by the force of the blast and when I came to, my son was no longer in my arms. I found him among the dead."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Two communist party members killed in Sadr City

Gunmen blocked the road leading to the Iraqi Communist Party's branch office in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City just after the party began its election campaign. The men broke into the party building and killed two activists.

Four iraqis injured in roadside bombings

Police said two civilians were hurt by a roadside bomb targeted at an Iraqi army convoy in al-Tayaraan in central Baghdad. Two policemen and a teenage boy were wounded when a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in southwestern Baghdad.

Mortar wounds three in Baghdad

Three women were wounded when a mortar round fell on their house in al-Salihiya district in central Baghdad, police said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Three killed in attack on ministry official

The motorcade of the minister of industry was attacked by gunmen. Three of his bodyguards were killed and one civilian wounded, police said. The minister was not in the motorcade during the attack.

Four bodies found in Yusifiya

Four bodies were found strangled and shot in the town of Yusifiya

Roadside bomb kills two Iraqi soldiers in Baiji

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol in Baiji

Tikrit council official killed

Gunmen shot dead an official in the city council in Tikrit, police said

Iraqi policeman killed in Baghdad

One policeman was killed and two others were wounded when gunmen attacked them in western Baghdad, medical sources said.

One Iraqi soldier killed near Fallujah

One Iraqi soldier was killed and two were wounded on Wednesday when a bomb placed on the side of the road went off near their patrol in Khalidiya near Falluja

 

[oi2002]

John Robb and predicts a controlled chaos exit option in the next 3 years. He's probably correct except the control is an illusion.

 

[Barking_Mad]

15,000 hepatitis cases reported in Baghdad neighborhood

There are 15,000 cases of Hepatitis in Al-Sadr Town, one of Baghdad’s most impoverished neighborhoods, a study has revealed. The study was conducted by doctors and scientists concerned with the living standards of the town, where more than 1.5 million people live. The investigators belong to Martyr al-Sadr Bureau, an organization working under the umbrella of the Iraqi political faction late by the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Moqtada’s followers help in securing the predominantly Shiite town and offer humanitarian aid to the needy.

The latest hepatitis figures are the result of a comprehensive investigation by the bureau in which 140,000 households were covered. Moqtada’s organization, which also includes a military wing, is highly disciplined and exercises almost full control of al-Sadr Town in Baghdad. Hashem Mohammed, a leader of Moqtada’s organization, said the group decided to undertake the investigation when it found that the government and the health ministry did not have the capacity to carry out such study.

The investigation shows dramatic increases not only in hepatitis, a serious disease of the liver, but also in cases of major communicable diseases. The study’s findings contrast sharply with official figures under which hepatitis cases are estimated at 1,500 in the town. But Mohammed cast severe doubts on official documents, saying there was no way for the health ministry to have a clear picture of the worsening health conditions in the town.

He said officials figures rely on visits to the general hospital and does not include visits to clinics and health centers the group operates. The sewage system in the city does not function properly and heavy water from open sewers inundates streets. The study says a laboratory examination has found the tap water heavily polluted. “Untreated water seeps into pure water pipes. The average of untreated water in the pure water pipes is no less than 40%,” the study says. The al-Sadr Town is Iraq’s most densely populated area. It is a warren of two-story houses separated by narrow streets with open sewers.