*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[jonH]

It was their choice to go there.
I'm far more concerned about the uncountable Iraqis who are scarred for life, both physical and mental, and keep getting scarred for life. There is even no psychiatric help available for the children.

salaam.

American society, what a fucking cancer.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Killing in Sadr City

BAGHDAD, April 29 -- A four-hour battle Tuesday between U.S. soldiers and Shiite militiamen left at least 28 Iraqis dead in the capital's Sadr City neighborhood, making it one of the bloodiest days in a month of sustained street fighting.

The clashes underscored how deeply U.S. forces have been drawn into heavy combat in the huge Shiite district since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unexpectedly launched an offensive in southern Iraq last month against Shiite militias, primarily the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Until Maliki's push into the southern city of Basra, U.S. troops were not intensely engaged in Sadr City, a Baghdad neighborhood of roughly 3 million people that was among the most treacherous areas for U.S. forces early in the war.

But the southern offensive set off a violent chain reaction that spread quickly to Shiite sectors of the capital and has severely strained the cease-fire Sadr imposed on his followers in August and recently reaffirmed. U.S. troops, fighting at times Tuesday on foot and backed by air support, are now engaged in the kind of urban battle within Sadr's stronghold reminiscent of the first years of the war.

More than 500 people have been killed and 2,100 injured in Sadr City since fighting erupted there again in late March, according to lawmakers loyal to Sadr. Residents of Sadr City said Tuesday's death toll was at least 50. The U.S. military said it has killed more than 200 fighters in the past month in the area, where it says militiamen have fired 600 rockets and mortars at U.S. and Iraqi targets.

The conflict has pitted Sadr, who leads Iraq's largest militia and one of the most popular Shiite political organizations, against Shiite-led government forces and the U.S. troops backing them. The impoverished Sadr City district has been sealed off by U.S. and Iraqi forces from the rest of the city.

"Sadr City right now is like a city of ghosts," said Abu Haider al-Bahadili, 43, a Mahdi Army fighter who spoke by telephone from Sadr City as spasms of gunfire rang out nearby. "It has turned from a city into a field of battle."

A delegation of leaders from the Sadrist movement is scheduled to meet with Maliki in coming days to try to negotiate an end to the violence, but both sides have indicated they are far from a settlement. Maliki is demanding that Sadr disband the militia, a step seen as unlikely.

The battle Tuesday erupted as U.S. forces tried to evacuate a soldier injured by small-arms fire about 9:30 a.m., according to the U.S. military. During the evacuation, the troops were attacked with roadside bombs, as well as rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire from houses, storefronts, alleyways and rooftops, said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman.

Six U.S. soldiers were wounded, but their injuries were not considered life-threatening. The U.S. military said two soldiers were killed in separate incidents in northwest Baghdad on Tuesday evening, one by small-arms fire and the other by a roadside bomb.

In the Sadr City clash, the U.S. soldiers responded by firing rockets armed with high-explosive, 200-pound warheads, killing 28 fighters, Stover said. In a separate incident in Sadr City, a fixed-wing aircraft dropped a bomb at 5:15 p.m. that killed two fighters firing mortars at a joint U.S.-Iraqi outpost, the U.S. military said.

But Sadr City residents gave a very different accounting of the fighting. They said at least 50 people were killed and 130 injured, many of them women and children.

Falah Hassan Shanshal, a Sadrist member of parliament, said at least five houses were demolished in the airstrike, killing 29 people and pinning entire families beneath piles of rubble. When a bulldozer came to clear the rubble, the driver was shot by a sniper, Shanshal said.

An Associated Press photograph showed a boy being pulled from the rubble. The AP reported that Ali Hussein, 2, died at the hospital.

"Sadr City is under the American hammer and nobody is monitoring it," said Leewa Smeisim, the head of the Sadr movement's political bureau. "Eighty percent of the military operations are targeting innocents, because the Americans want to make people turn against the Mahdi Army so they can enter the city and control it. Nobody is safe in Sadr City, neither women nor children."

U.S. officials emphasized that U.S. troops responded only after they were attacked and that it was the fault of the militiamen if there were civilian casualties. "The sole burden of responsibility lies on the shoulders of the militants who care nothing for the Iraqi people," Stover said in an e-mail.

He said the militiamen purposely attack from buildings and alleyways in densely populated areas, hoping to protect themselves by hiding among civilians. "What does that say about the enemy?" Stover said. "He is heartless and evil."

The protracted clashes in Sadr City appear to be the unintended consequence of the offensive that Maliki launched in Basra without consulting U.S. officials. Shiite fighters in Sadr City retaliated by pummeling the heavily fortified Green Zone, the center of the Iraqi government and the U.S. mission here. U.S. forces then mobilized to support the Iraqi effort and protect the Green Zone from attacks.

Now, U.S. and Iraqi troops are fighting together to clear the southern portion of Sadr City, where militia fighters have launched their rocket and mortar attacks.

Three more rockets struck the Green Zone on Tuesday, killing at least one Iraqi, according to a U.S. military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Baghdad was engulfed for much of the day by the yellowish haze of a dust storm, making it difficult for U.S. drones and other aircraft to spot militiamen firing rockets and mortars.

Elsewhere in the capital, Tariq Aziz, who for years was the public face of Saddam Hussein's government, went on trial facing charges of ordering the execution of dozens of Iraqi merchants allegedly involved in profiteering. Aziz, 72, who served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister, faces the death penalty if convicted. The trial was postponed until May 20 because one of his co-defendants is ill and could not attend the hearing.

In volatile Diyala province, a Sunni stronghold northeast of the capital, a female suicide bomber attacked in the village of Mukhisa, killing at least one person and wounding five, police said. The victims were all members of the Awakening movement, mainly Sunni tribesmen who have joined with U.S. forces to fight against the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

But much of the country remained worried about the fighting in Sadr City and whether it would spark a full-scale uprising by the Sadrist movement.

Sadr has threatened to call off the eight-month cease-fire, which has been widely credited with lowering the level of violence in Iraq, if the government does not end its offensive against his followers.

Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, did not respond to repeated calls for comment. Followers of Sadr, however, said they were growing more eager for an all-out war to defend themselves.

"We are very close to the Zero Hour," said Ala'a Abd, 30, a Mahdi Army member in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, using an Arabic expression meaning that time is up. "Everyone should realize that."

Special correspondents Saad Sarhan in Najaf, Aahad Ali in Basra and Zaid Sabah in Baghdad and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.

 

[Aldebaran]

Pictures of the dead and wounded civilians, among which many children, are smeared all over the media, again.
"fighters" indeed.

salaam.

 

[dylanredefined]

Firing inaccurate mortars from civilian buildings and then blaming the yanks when civilians get hurt .The heroic mahdi army fights on .

 

[Nigel]

Port workers Strike In Iraq

Just been E-mailed this.
Sorry could find Website
APRIL 28, 2008

BREAKING NEWS: MEMBERS OF THE PORT WORKERS UNION OF IRAQ PLAN TO
SHUTDOWN THE PORTS OF UMM QASR AND KHOR ALZUBAIR FOR ONE HOUR ON MAY
DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE SHUTDOWN OF ALL WEST COAST PORTS BY
MEMBERS OF ILWU IN OPPOSITION TO THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ.

-------------------------
MAY DAY MESSAGEFROM: THE GENERAL UNION OF PORT WORKERS IN IRAQTO: THE
INTERNATIONAL LONGSHORE AND WAREHOUSE UNION IN THE UNITED STATES
Dear Brothers and Sisters of ILWU in California:

THE COURAGEOUS DECISION YOU MADE TO CARRY OUT A STRIKE ON MAY DAY TO
PROTEST AGAINST THE WAR AND OCCUPATION OF IRAQ ADVANCES OUR STRUGGLE
AGAINST OCCUPATION TO BRING A BETTER FUTURE FOR US AND FOR THE REST
OF THE WORLD AS WELL.
WE ARE CERTAIN THAT A BETTER WORLD WILL ONLY BE CREATED BY THE
WORKERS AND WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS AN EXAMPLE AND PROOF OF WHAT WE
SAY.  THE LABOR MOVEMENT IS THE ONLY ELEMENT IN THE SOCIETY THAT
IS ABLE TO CHANGE THE POLITICAL EQUATIONS FOR THE BENEFIT OF
MANKIND.  We in Iraq are looking up to you and support you until
the victory over the US administration's barbarism is achieved. 

Over the past five years the sectarian gangs who are the product of
the occupation, have been trying to transfer their conflicts into our
ranks.  Targeting workers, including their residential and
shopping areas, indiscriminately using all sorts of explosive
devices, mortar shells, and random shooting, were part of a bigger
scheme that was aiming to tear up the society but they miserably
failed to achieve their hellish goal.  We are struggling today
to defeat both the occupation and sectarian militias' agenda. 

The pro-occupation government has been attempting to intervene into
the workers affairs by imposing a single government-certified labor
union.  Furthermore it has been promoting privatization and an
oil and gas law to use the occupation against the interests of the
workers. 

We the port workers view that our interests are inseparable from the
interests of workers in Iraq and the world; therefore we are
determined to continue our struggle to improve the living conditions
of the workers and overpower all plots of the occupation, its
economic and political projects.

 

[Aldebaran]

Firing inaccurate mortars from civilian buildings and then blaming the yanks when civilians get hurt .The heroic mahdi army fights on .

Sounds as if you were there.
I suppose you were not.

salaam.

 

[dylanredefined]

Was there 4 years ago similar events happened .They would fire mortars at
Basra palace and when they missed .It was our fault for using magnetic Shields to drop the bombs on peoples houses .
Or after a morning of attacking police stations in which a lot of civilians got killed .It wasn't them it was invisible rockets fired from the palace .
The American use of firepower in built up areas is counter productive to down right murderous ,but,using civilian areas to launch attacks is an appalling tactic as well .

 

[Aldebaran]

Was there 4 years ago similar events happened .They would fire mortars at
Basra palace and when they missed .It was our fault for using magnetic Shields to drop the bombs on peoples houses .
Or after a morning of attacking police stations in which a lot of civilians got killed .It wasn't them it was invisible rockets fired from the palace .
The American use of firepower in built up areas is counter productive to down right murderous ,but,using civilian areas to launch attacks is an appalling tactic as well .

And you are 1000% sure these were "mahdi army" men?
It is such a convenient label, just like "Al Qaeda" is used for (and by) everyone and everything since the USA made it a brand name to stick at everyone and everything.

salaam.

 

[dylanredefined]

Your right no idea who they were .Only they were more a danger to the iraq
people than us .

 

[Barking_Mad]

Firing inaccurate mortars from civilian buildings and then blaming the yanks when civilians get hurt .The heroic mahdi army fights on .

Against the heroic bombing of civilian areas by US planes - presumably?

 

[dilute micro]

Please.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Seems only reasonable that US soldiers who kill Iraqi civilians should be tried in Iraqi courts. After all, the US claims to be there for the Iraqis benefit (hahaha).

 

[nino_savatte]

Seems only reasonable that US soldiers who kill Iraqi civilians should be tried in Iraqi courts. After all, the US claims to be there for the Iraqis benefit (hahaha).

Yep but the Yanks don't think the courts of other lands are fairer than their own legal system (which incarcerates minors and the mentally ill).

 

[adc069975]

It has been reported that the US wants to get rid of the Iraq PM for being not as compliant as they'd like and too close to Iran.

The third option is an assassination attempt against Al Maliki with the help of terrorist groups, and to put in place a puppet administration favourable to the Americans.

http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10244335.html

It might be worth noting that the first oil deal to be tied up by the Iraq administration was by Chinese capitalists and Iranian influence has been credited with this.

 

[adc069975]

Well, that didn't happen.

 

[likesfish]

phil shiners dragging up more allegations.

they may or may not be true but after Shiners kenyan rape debacle
where he went on a fishing trip "the British will give you compo if you say the troops raped you" In a poor and corrupt country any evidence of wrong doing was compeletly buried under false claims
I am suprised he can still get legal aid to fund himhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/oct/02/military.kenya

 

[Yossarian]

Civilians told to leave Fallujah before the start of huge offensive. This somehow seems familiar.

Iraq PM declares offensive to retake Fallujah from ISIL

 

[Flavour]

way to bring a 13 year old thread back to life though eh Yossarian - played

in any case it's defeat after defeat for ISIS all year, they're fucked. Mosul could fall by the end of summer.

 

[DrRingDing]

Just got an email about this thread.

 

[laptop]

Just got an email about this thread.

und?

 

[DrRingDing]

und?

You mean youre not sufficiently titilated with that post!?

Theres no pleasing some people.

 

[teqniq]

Isis unleashes death squads as Iraqi forces advance on Fallujah

 

[Pickman's model]

way to bring a 13 year old thread back to life though eh Yossarian - played

in any case it's defeat after defeat for ISIS all year, they're fucked. Mosul could fall by the end of summer.

I thought if we'd learned one thing from Iraq, just one little thing, it was that possession of territory does not equal control of population. So mosul falls. So what?

 

[Pickman's model]

Isis unleashes death squads as Iraqi forces advance on Fallujah

*Patrick Cockburn warning*

 

[teqniq]

*Patrick Cockburn warning*

Sorry I don't understand the reference.

 

[Pickman's model]

Sorry I don't understand the reference.

see e.g. And next, Syria?

 

[teqniq]

Ah right. Ta.

 

[teqniq]

The Liberation of Fallujah, the Fall of Baghdad

 

[teqniq]

This sounds like a complete nightmare for the civilians

'Human catastrophe' unfolding in Fallujah as operation against Isis continues

 

[butchersapron]

Fallujah is where it will all start again.