*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Baghdad attacks up 40 percent

U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said there has been an average of 34 attacks a day against U.S. and Iraqi forces in the capital over the past five days. The daily average for the period June 14 until July 13 was 24 a day, he said.

Twelve killed after lured near Iraq car bomb

Iraqi police say a car bomb has killed 12 people who had gathered around a vehicle after discovering a corpse inside. A police captain says the victims were staring at the car parked at a gas station when it blew up.

Thousands of Iraqis flee as violence reaches new levels

Thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes in fear of sectarian violence that has worsened since the formation of a US-backed national unity government two months ago, official data shows today. Yesterday the US issued a stern warning to both Shia and minority Sunni leaders to match talk with action on reining in “death squads” from their respective communities.

The Migration Ministry said more than 30 000 people had registered as refugees this month alone. “We consider this to be a dangerous sign,” a spokesman said, acknowledging that many more fled abroad or sought refuge with relatives rather than sign up for official aid.

 

[Barking_Mad]

100 Iraqis being killed each day, says UN

The number of Iraqi civilians being murdered or killed in the current fighting has been revealed for the first time by the United Nations. It is far higher than previous estimates.

Some 3,149 people were killed in June alone, or more than 100 a day, and the figure is likely to rise higher this month because of tit-for-tat massacres by Sunni and Shia Muslims. Some 120 Shias were killed in two attacks earlier in the week and gunmen yesterday kidnapped 20 employees of a government agency in Baghdad looking after Sunni mosques and shrines.

The death toll has risen every month this year and totalled 5,818 in May and June. This far exceeds the number given by the Iraqi Coalition Casualty Count, a web site that compiles casualty figures based on published accounts, which said that 840 civilians died in June. Overall 14,000 civilians were killed in the first half of the year says the UN.

Ever since the invasion in 2003 the US military and later US-supported Iraqi governments have sought to conceal the number of Iraqi civilians being killed. The US Army for long denied that it counted the number of civilians killed by its soldiers. The Iraqi Ministry of Health also refused to reveal to the UN the civilian casualty figures.

Now, for the first time, the health ministry in Baghdad has told the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, which publishes a bimonthly report on human rights, the exact death toll recorded by hospitals around the country. The central morgue in Baghdad provides figures for unidentified bodies, of which there were 1,595 in June. In the first six months of the year the number of Iraqi civilians dying violently rose by 77 per cent.

.....

Many Iraqis have fled the country, mostly to Jordan and Syria, to avoid the violence. Syria now has 351,000 and Jordan 450,000 of these refugees, including 40 per cent of all Iraqi professionals, according to the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. It is increasingly difficult to get into Jordan from Iraq but Syria still issues visas easily.

 

[Poi E]

This is making me sick with outrage. The nation is bleeding to death, losing it's professionals, in the grip of fundamentalists and it's just getting worse.

And still there are people who defend this invasion. A plague on their houses. May they burn in hell. That means you, Tony, you evil, amoral son of a bitch.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Two civilians killed by US military near Falluja

The U.S. military killed two civilians on Monday after a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Saqlawiya, near Falluja, police said. The U.S. military said they did not have information on the incident.

Gunman attack fuel convoy, 2 truck drivers killed

Gunmen fired rocket propelled grenades at two fuel trucks, killing two drivers and abducting the third on the main road between Kirkuk and Baghdad, police said. One of trucks was set on fire.

Gunmen set fire to food ration stores in Mosul

Gunmen set fire to food ration stores run by the Ministry of Trade at midnight in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Five bodies found near Baquba

The bodies of five people were found shot dead on Monday night in a village near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baquba, after being abducted hours earlier, police said

Six Iraqi policemen killed in ambush on police unit in Baghdad

As night fell on Monday, gunmen ambushed an Iraqi police unit in central Baghdad, triggering a gunbattle in which six officers were killed and 30 were wounded. The clash took place on Haifa Street near the west bank of the Tigris River

 

[Barking_Mad]

None left untouched by daily violence in Baghdad

Some of the worst sectarian violence yet seen came on July 9 when gunmen went on a daylight rampage in the mainly Sunni Jihad district after the bombing of a Shi'ite mosque. They killed up to 40 people, including women and children.

Saad says he will never forget the sound of the shooting and the bodies in a pool of blood dumped outside a house near his.

The night before last, he witnessed more bloodshed. He looked out of his window to see a crowd gathered round the body of a cigarette seller who had just been shot dead on his street:

"I knew him well. He was a young man who used to give people cigarettes even if they didn't have the money right away."

Most alarming are signs that bonds between friends on opposite sides of the sectarian divide, which have survived years of killing, can now be broken in an instant.

Yaseen recently lost three friends, fellow Shi'ites, to gunmen who ambushed them on a highway. A Sunni neigbour who was driving them to work survived the attack. But that left the dead men's families with one conclusion.

"They accused him of setting up the killings and they beat him and broke his arms. He had to flee his home," said Yaseen. "What's happening makes me feel it's the end of the world."

Many tens of thousands of people have fled their homes. Some have so many traumatic experiences that they are in despair.

In September, gunmen snatched Ahmed's brother-in-law and cousin. A man claiming to be a policeman offered to mediate -- for a $25,000 ransom. Just before handing over the cash, Ahmed's family realised the man was a fraud, intent on profiting from their misery. Ahmed thinks his two relatives are now dead.

 

[Barking_Mad]

According to iCasualties collation of media reports 1,072 Iraqis have died in the first 24 days of July.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials

"Iraq as a political project is finished," a senior government official was quoted as saying, adding: "The parties have moved to plan B." He said that the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties were now looking at ways to divide Iraq between them and to decide the future of Baghdad, where there is a mixed population. "There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into [Shia] east and [Sunni] west," he said.

Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, told The Independent in an interview, before joining Mr Maliki to fly to London and then Washington, that in theory the government should be able to solve the crisis because Shia, Kurd and Sunni were elected members of it.

But he painted a picture of a deeply divided administration in which senior Sunni members praised anti-government insurgents as "the heroic resistance".

In the past two weeks, at a time when Lebanon has dominated the international news, the sectarian civil war in central Iraq has taken a decisive turn for the worse. There have been regular tit-for-tat massacres and the death toll for July is likely to far exceed the 3,149 civilians killed in June.

Mr Maliki, who is said to be increasingly isolated, has failed to prevent the violence. Other Iraqi leaders claim he lacks experience in dealing with security, is personally very isolated without a kitchen cabinet and is highly dependent on 30-40 Americans in unofficial advisory positions around him.

"The government is all in the Green Zone like the previous one and they have left the streets to the terrorists," said Mahmoud Othman, a veteran Iraqi politician. He said the situation would be made worse by the war in Lebanon because it would intensify the struggle between Iran and the US being staged in Iraq. The Iraqi crisis would now receive much reduced international attention.

The switch of American and British media attention to Lebanon and away from the rapidly deteriorating situation in Baghdad is much to the political benefit of Mr Blair and Mr Bush.

 

[FruitandNut]

Well as far as Iraq goes I have a sad satisfaction in realising that my thoughts and predictions during the first week or so after Iraq2 were about spot on.

My long held thought on the 'Holy Land' is that unless there is a joined up process of diplomacy that has 'peace' and all round stability as the prize, and not 'revenge', 'hate' and 'one upmanship', all we can expect is more of what has happened over the last 60 years; only with an ever increasing risk of WMDs becoming involved.

 

[RhymnRzn]

^True. The Zion of God begins at the heart of man: it is a spiritual mountain, exalted above the physical hills and mountains. However, without the word of God kept in the heart, people are far from Zion, though they stand in physical Jerusalem itself.......

 

[Barking_Mad]

Some events from 1st August

Bombings, Shootings Kill 52 in Iraq

Bombings and shootings across Iraq killed at least 52 people Tuesday, including 24 people in a bus destroyed by a roadside bomb. The attacks further damage the U.S.-backed government's efforts to establish control over the country

Roadside bomb kills 24 in Beiji

The worst carnage occurred near the northern industrial city of Beiji where a bus carrying 24 people was hit by a roadside bomb...all on board died. A police captain had earlier said that 20 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the bus.

Iraqi Court Sentenced 26 People to Death over Terrorism

The penalty court in the Iraqi capital Baghdad issued on Tuesday death sentences for 26 persons accused in murders, kidnappings of civilian and military people and affiliation to terrorist groups, the Iraqi newspaper As Sabah reported..

Shiite Militia Behind Baghdad Kidnapping

For the second time in two weeks, gunmen who appear to be Iraqi police stormed buildings in Baghdad's upscale Karadda neighborhood and kidnapped dozens of Iraqis on Monday. The gunmen are said to be members of the Mahdi army, a Shiite militia...

Oil pipeline in Iraq a shambles

A plan to rebuild a 30-mile (50-km) pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk oil field to the Baiji refinery to bring the Iraqi government badly needed cash is years behind schedule with no sign it will ever be finished, an independent watchdog said on Monday.

Iraqi Women Claim Abuse in Prison

The women's prison in Kadhmiya, a Shiite area in Baghdad, is one of three major prisons in Iraq that house several hundred female inmates. They've been convicted of crimes such as prostitution, murder and terrorism. Some are being held pending trial

Carbomb kills four in Muqdadiyah

The attack came shortly after another car bomb exploded in the violent city of Muqdadiyah, 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad, killing four people and injuring 10, local police said.

Car bomb kills 14 in Baghdad

A suicide car bomb ripped through the middle class Baghdad neighbourhood of Karrada, killing 10 soldiers and four civilians, according to defence ministry and hospital sources. The local hospital reported receiving 10 dead soldiers...

Four Peshmergas killed, 10 injured in car bomb

Four Peshmergas were killed and 10 others injured when a suicide bomber drove his car into a security checkpoint in southern Dahouk in northern Iraq, said a security source Monday.

Number of Iraqi refugees from violence swells

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Raging sectarian violence has pushed up the number of refugees in Iraq by 20,000 in the last 10 days alone, the migration ministry said on Monday. It said in a statement the total number of people displaced has reached 182,154.

The crisis is likely to be far graver because ministry figures include only those who formally ask for aid within the country, some of them living in tented camps. By excluding thousands fleeing abroad or quietly seeking refuge with relatives, officials accept the data is an underestimate. The figure of 182,154, based on the ministry's data of 30,359 families, is the number of those claiming aid since the February 22 bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra sparked a new phase of killing by Shi'ites and minority Sunni groups.

Gunmen open fire on street sweepers in Baghdad

Gunmen in Iraq's capital today opened fire on municipal street sweepers, killing one and injuring two, while a senior intelligence official died in a drive-by shooting.

 

[Barking_Mad]

9 Iraqi soldiers killed in truck bombing

BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide truck bomber drove into the provincial headquarters of a commando force north of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least nine soldiers and wounding 10 civilians, police said.

The truck carrying vegetables drove through razor-wire barricades around the two-story building of the Interior Ministry's police commandos in Samarra town, police Capt. Laith Mohammed said.

The building, located at an intersection in the center of the city, was virtually leveled, said Mohammed Ali, a police witness who accompanied the ambulance services. He said three houses nearby were severely damaged and three cars were destroyed.

U.S. forces sealed off the area and rescue workers dug through the rubble.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Roadside bomb kills 3 US soldiers

Three Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb at approximately 8 p.m. Sunday southwest of Baghdad.

Six Iraqi soldiers killed in Baquba

Meanwhile, six Iraqi soldiers were killed and another 15 wounded Monday when insurgents attacked their checkpoint near the restive city of Baquba, north of Baghdad.

Gunmen kill four Iraqi soldiers at checkpoint in Muqdadiya

Gunmen killed four Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint in the market area of Muqdadiya, 90 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Gunmen ambush police patrol in south Baghdad, kill two policemen

About the same time, gunmen ambushed a police patrol in south Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding five others, police said.

Two Iraqi soldiers killed in clashes with militiamen

Late Sunday, scattered clashes broke out between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers near Hamza Square on the edge of Sadr City, police said. Two militiamen were killed and five combatants were wounded, including two Iraqi soldiers, police said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Medic tells of finding Iraq girl's burnt body

AN IRAQI Army medic told a US military hearing yesterday that he was sick for weeks after finding the charred body of an Iraqi girl who was allegedly raped and murdered by five US soldiers.

The medic testified on the opening day of a hearing to decide whether the five soldiers should be court martialled for the murder of Abeer al-Janabi, 14, her five-year-old sister and their parents on March 12 in the town of Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.

The medic, whose identity is secret, told the hearing at a US army base in Baghdad that he was the first person to enter the girl’s home after the incident. He found she had been killed by a single bullet under her left eye. Her murderers had set her body on fire in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence of their crime.

In an adjoining room, he found her younger sister, Hadeel, had been shot through the head. The girls’ father, Qassim, and their mother, Fikhriya, had also been killed. He said that the scene made him sick for weeks.

The case is the fifth being pursued by the US military against its own troops in Iraq.

The five soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division are accused of drinking, changing into civilian clothes and abandoning their checkpoint in the so-called Triangle of Death to go to the house of the girl, whom they had seen walking past their position.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Collated media reports of Iraqi deaths from iCasualties

http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx

 

[Barking_Mad]

Three people killed in Diyali north eastern Baghdad

Iraqi police announced Sunday three people were killed in seperate violent incidents in Diyali province northeastern Baghdad. A member of one of the security protection agencies was killed in an armed assault north of Baquba

Gunmen kill poliman in Baghdad, kidnap contractor in Hawija

Gunmen killed a police officer on Saturday in Baghdad, police said...Gunmen kidnapped a contractor in Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Baghdad, police said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US military defends Baghdad raid slammed by PM

The US military defended itself against criticism by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of a raid on a crowded Baghdad suburb which culminated in a deadly air strike.

The army had said the Sunday night assault by Iraqi troops and US advisers was aimed at arresting the head of a suspected kidnap-and-torture cell.

But Maliki called it "unjustified" and said he had not approved it.

Major General William Caldwell told reporters that Iraqi commanders had taken the lead in launching the operation, with the support of US advisers, and that they shared Maliki's concern to avoid or minimise civilian casualties.

Medics told AFP that three civilians were killed during the two-hour clash, which pitched Shiite militiamen against the security forces in the impoverished streets of the teeming Sadr City neighbourhood of east Baghdad.

"There's no question that the prime minister is in charge of this country. We're here as the guests of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people," Caldwell, the coalition forces' spokesman, said.

He said Maliki was briefed regularly, but that Iraqi and coalition forces carry out more than 400 operations per week and that the prime minister did not always have detailed knowledge of all of them.

"These are decisions made by local commanders making decisions based on local intelligence that is often very fleeting," Caldwell said.

 

[laptop]

Desertion rate has doubled since start of war in Iraq

THE number of soldiers dismissed from the army for desertion or classified as long-term absent without leave (Awol) has more than doubled since the start of the Iraq war three years ago.

New figures released by the Ministry of Defence last week show that 2,030 soldiers went missing from their units between 2003 and 2005 and were later dismissed by the service. A further 740 are on the run but have not yet been kicked out.

Over the previous three years there were 1,130 dismissals.

Times

A good time to slip out good news

 

[ZAMB]

A good time to slip out good news

The total is probably a lot higher

The Pentagon is now estimating that as many as 40,000 troops have deserted the U.S. Armed Forces over the past six years. Many have refused to fight in Iraq.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/11/1343256

This article includes an interview with one who is turning himself in after being on the run for over a year.

 

[Barking_Mad]

I've read thousands of Iraq reports over the past few years, many on the BBC and not once have I read any reference to what sort of rockets were being used in attacks, then yesterday the BBC names them, with I presume no independent confirmation. How, odd.

At least 47 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a multiple bomb and rocket attack in a district on the south-eastern outskirts of Baghdad. A four-storey building in the Iraqi capital's Zafaraniya district collapsed; it was located in a popular market containing both homes and shops. One bomb targeted police on the way to the scene.

Officials and eyewitnesses say the blitz began with a Katyusha rocket hitting and demolishing the building. A few minutes later, as bystanders were trying to pull injured people and bodies from the debris, a car bomb exploded just a short distance away, causing more casualties and more damage. Some time after that in the same district, a motorcycle bomber blew himself up among a crowd. And yet another bomb targeted police rescuers, injuring three of them. This is a religiously mixed, majority Shia area of Baghdad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4789253.stm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fierce gunbattles erupt in Iraq

Fierce gunbattles broke out Tuesday between armed supporters of an anti-U.S. Shiite cleric and Iraqi security forces after a raid on his office in this southern holy city, leaving many people injured, officials and witnesses said.

The two sides exchanged gunfire near one of Iraq's holiest shrines containing the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, a revered figure in Shiite history.

At least two soldiers lay motionless on the street, apparently shot. Minutes later, other soldiers lifted their limp bodies and ferried them away in trucks. It was not clear if they were alive. Four other soldiers also suffered gunshot wounds, but were on their feet.

The fighting, which began early Tuesday, spread to at least four other parts of Karbala by afternoon in violation of a curfew. Gunmen in civilian clothes could be seen firing AK-47 rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at army patrols and running away.

Soldiers fired indiscriminately at groups of gunmen roaming the streets.

The violence started after Iraqi soldiers raided the office of cleric Mahmoud al-Hassani before dawn, apparently because his supporters had taken over a field behind the building for security reasons, said Ahmed al-Ghazali, an aide to the cleric.

He claimed the soldiers opened fire but the cleric's supporters did not respond. Army officials could not be immediately reached to confirm the claim.

Al-Ghazali said that later in the day, armed supporters of al-Hassani attacked police stations and police checkpoints.

An indefinite curfew was imposed in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, after the clashes, said Ghalib al-Daami, a member of the Karbala provincial council.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Walls or militias? Iraq faces rival visions for security

Rival visions of how to halt the carnage in Iraq have been put on show as US troops built walls around a restive suburb of Baghdad and a Shiite leader announced a plan to set up local militias.

In Baghdad, US and Iraqi forces are trying to restore the battered authority of Iraq's coalition goverment by sweeping city districts for weapons and isolating protected areas behind checkpoints and concrete barriers.

But in the holy city of Najaf -- which was last week the scene of a deadly bomb attack outside a major Shiite shrine -- local leaders said they would take matters into their own hands and authorise neighbourhood militias.

"We started today forming a committee in Najaf to choose individuals who will control security in their neighbourhoods and keep an eye on all suspicious movements in their areas," deputy governor Abdul Hussain Abtan told AFP.

"This will be done in collaboration with security forces in the city and is the first step in activating popular committees," he said, in a move which will be seen as a snub to the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Abtan belongs to a powerful Shiite party, the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), whose leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim had called for "popular committees" to take over security after Thursday's bombing.

Hakim's supporters argue that Shiite communities must be allowed to protect themselves from attacks carried out by so-called "takfiris", Sunni extremists angered by the fall of Saddam Hussein and opposed to the US-backed government.

Since February, when suspected Sunni bombers destroyed the golden dome of a holy Shiite mosque in Samarra, insurgent bomb attacks and sectarian death squads have killed thousands of Iraqis in a string of tit-for-tat massacres.

Tempers were further raised last Thursday, when a bomber got to the last checkpoint before the entrance to the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf and detonated his explosive vest, killing 35 people, including Shiite pilgrims.

 

[ZAMB]

What planet is George Bush on?

This article was posted on the 'stop the war' bulletin - and I'm posting it because it shows the escalating progression of violence in Iraq.

Rosy assessments on Iraq `not related to reality,' some say

Nationwide statistics during the past three years suggest that American efforts to secure Iraq aren't succeeding. While various military operations have at times improved security in parts of the country, the bloodshed has mounted with each U.S.-declared step of progress, according to figures that the Brookings Institution research center compiled from news and government reports.

When L. Paul Bremer, then the top U.S. representative in Iraq, appointed an Iraqi Governing Council in July 2003, insurgent attacks averaged 16 daily. When Saddam Hussein was captured that December, the average was 19. When Bremer signed the hand-over of sovereignty in June 2004, it was 45 attacks daily. When Iraq held its elections for a transitional government in January 2005, it was 61. When Iraqis voted last December for a permanent government, it was 75. When U.S. forces killed terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi in June, it was up to 90.

Attacks have increased in lethality as well as number: There was one multiple-fatality bombing in July 2003. Last month, there were at least 51.

And while the number of U.S. troops killed by hostile fire has declined this year, the number of Iraqis killed has soared.

In January, the month after Iraq's widely heralded national elections for a permanent government, at least 710 civilians were killed, according to a report by the United Nations that cited Iraqi Ministry of Health figures. (The report made it clear that the actual number for January was much higher.) Five months later, 3,149 Iraqis were killed in June.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15272800.htm

 

[laptop]

Endgame (tactics wanted)

Thomas L Friedman, the conservative (as against NeoCon) New York Times columnist, reckons it's time to get out of Iraq.

It is now obvious that we are not midwifing democracy in Iraq. We are baby-sitting a civil war.

When our top commander in Iraq, Gen. John Abizaid, tells a Senate Committee that "the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it," it means that three years of efforts to democratize Iraq are not working. That means "staying the course" is pointless, and it's time to start thinking about Plan B - how we might disengage with the least damage possible.
...
Since the Bush team never gave us a Plan A for Iraq, it at least owes us a Plan B. It's not easy. Here are my first thoughts about a Plan B and some of the implications.

I think we need to try a last-ditch Bosnia-like peace conference that would bring together all of Iraq's factions and neighbors. ...

For such a conference to come about, though, the United States would probably need to declare its intention to leave. Iraqis, other Arabs, Europeans and Chinese will get serious about helping to salvage Iraq only if they believe we are leaving and it will damage their interests.

reprinted in the Wilmington Chronicle

Friedman has, however, a Cheney-like failed attempt at Machiavellian leverage:

Some fear that Iran will be the winner. But will it? Once we are out of Iraq, Iran will have to manage the boiling pot next door. That will be a huge problem for Iran. The historical enmity toward Iran by Iraqi Arabs - enmity temporarily focused on us - will re-emerge.

The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg compares Friedman's volte face to the moment newscaster Walter Cronkite threw doubt on the Vietnam "mission":

Three and a half years ago, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, commentators across the board agreed that the coming war would be a gamble—“the greatest shake of the dice any President has voluntarily engaged in since Harry Truman dropped the bomb on Japan,” Thomas Friedman called it.
...
Why not change the game to one that relies less on gambling and bluff and more on wisdom, planning, and (in every sense) intelligence?

New Yorker

No actual, convincing plans that I've seen for getting out, though.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Bombs Aimed at G.I.’s in Iraq Are Increasing

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 — The number of roadside bombs planted in Iraq rose in July to the highest monthly total of the war, offering more evidence that the anti-American insurgency has continued to strengthen despite the killing of the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Along with a sharp increase in sectarian attacks, the number of daily strikes against American and Iraqi security forces has doubled since January. The deadliest means of attack, roadside bombs, made up much of that increase. In July, of 2,625 explosive devices, 1,666 exploded and 959 were discovered before they went off. In January, 1,454 bombs exploded or were found.

The bomb statistics — compiled by American military authorities in Baghdad and made available at the request of The New York Times — are part of a growing body of data and intelligence analysis about the violence in Iraq that has produced somber public assessments from military commanders, administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“The insurgency has gotten worse by almost all measures, with insurgent attacks at historically high levels,” said a senior Defense Department official who agreed to discuss the issue only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution. “The insurgency has more public support and is demonstrably more capable in numbers of people active and in its ability to direct violence than at any point in time.”

A separate, classified report by the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated Aug. 3, details worsening security conditions inside the country and describes how Iraq risks sliding toward civil war, according to several officials who have read the document or who have received a briefing on its contents.

Yet some outside experts who have recently visited the White House said Bush administration officials were beginning to plan for the possibility that Iraq’s democratically elected government might not survive.

 

[ZAMB]

This is from a piece by David Sirota - but it leaves me wondering - if the US is considering 'alternatives to democracy' for Iraq, does that not take away their last fragment of a figleaf of an excuse for bombing Iraq in the first place? So much for bringing them 'freedom and democracy'!!!


http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=2DF4E754-E0C3-F084-DFCCE901FDE40FC4

Then, just a few days ago, the Bush administration quietly acknowledged it doesn't care about democracy in Iraq - that is, it doesn't care about the fake rationale the administration gave for the war after WMD weren't found. Buried in a New York Times story, a military expert who had been given a White House briefing on Iraq said:

"'Senior administration officials have acknowledged to me that they are considering alternatives other than democracy' in Iraq."

And finally, at the end of the week, the Associated Press caught U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) giving the big middle-finger to American voters when it comes to Iraq, saying that no matter how much voters oppose the Iraq War, the war must go on. The AP reported:

"Sen. Conrad Burns said the U.S. must show 'great patience and resolve' and stay in Iraq even if public support for the war continues to erode."

This is a landmark, folks. Usually, the establishment hides its hatred for democracy in vague rhetoric. But now, scared for their relevance and angry that their elitist sensibilities are being offended by ordinary voters, their loathing is all out in the open. Pundits and politicians in Washington are publicly telling American voters that we do not matter, and that they believe we should not matter.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Iraqi public opinion:

The percentage of Iraqis who said they would not want to have Americans as neighbors rose from 87 percent in 2004 to 90 percent in 2006. When asked what they thought were the three main reasons why the United States invaded Iraq, 76 percent gave "to control Iraqi oil" as their first choice.

source

 

[Barking_Mad]

US Forces kill 10 year-old boy by accident

"U.S. forces killed a 10 year-old boy accidentally on Sunday when they fired at a car approaching their patrol in the northern city of Kirkuk...the U.S. military said on Monday. A bullet ricocheted and struck the child, who was standing nearby.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Eight Iraqis have their throats slashed

The bodies of eight fruit traders have been found with their throats slit on the roadside south of Baghdad...Ahmed Diabil, a spokesman for Najaf province, said the eight were kidnapped and killed on Monday and the bodies dumped in Madaen

Two civilians were killed in crossfire in Amarah

On Tuesday, two civilians were killed in crossfire during an exchange of fire between British forces and militiamen in Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, said the region's governor, Adil Mehodar al-Maliki.

Shiite engineer was shot dead in Baghdad

A Shiite engineer was shot dead while he was in his car in Baghdad, said police 1st Lt. Mitham Abdul-Razaq.

Bomb kills 2 in Baghdad

a bomb hidden in a bag exploded on a street in Tayaran Square in central Baghdad on Tuesday, killing two civilians and wounding nine, said police Lt. Bilal Ali.

Mortar attack wounds 11 people

A round of mortar shells crashed into a residential district in the town of Al-Muqdadiah northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday wounding 11 people, police said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Inactive US marines face call-up

The US Marine Corps says it has been authorised by President Bush to recall thousands of inactive reservists to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. Up to 2,500 of a pool of nearly 60,000 marines who have left active duty could be recalled to serve at any one time. Thousands of marine reserves have already served in Iraq, but they were active reservists who train regularly. Now inactive reservists obliged only to report one day a year may be recalled - against their will if necessary.

The Marine Corps describes the move as prudent planning, but critics will seize on the announcement as evidence the US military is overstretched in Iraq, reports the BBC's James Westhead in Washington. The call-up, authorised by President George W Bush, will affect members of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR).

Under a general contract, a marine serves four years on active duty, and then a further four years in the reserve forces. For this final four years, they can either elect to join the regular reserves - where they are paid and train regularly - or choose to join the IRR. Col Guy Stratton, head of the Corps' manpower mobilisation section, told the news agency Reuters that in recent times fewer marines had been choosing to volunteer for the active reserves.