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*IRAQ: latest news and developments

Anxious and Weary of War, G.I.'s Face a New Iraq Mission

Six months after arriving in Kuwait and almost three months after entering Iraq, they were ready to go home. Then they discovered that, at least from a soldier's-eye view on the ground, there seemed to be no American plan for a postwar Iraq.

The mayhem that followed the collapse of Mr. Hussein's government on April 9 has thrust them into a new mission: keeping peace, even as their weary minds and bodies are still at war.

"You call Donald Rumsfeld and tell him our sorry asses are ready to go home," Pfc. Matthew C. O'Dell, an infantryman in Sergeant Betancourt's platoon, said as he stood guard on Tuesday. "Tell him to come spend a night in our building."
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source: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/international/worldspecial/15ARMY.html
 
Former Blair's cabinet member Short: "I was briefed on Blair's secret war pact"
Senior figures in the intelligence community and across Whitehall briefed the former international development secretary Clare Short that Tony Blair had made a secret agreement last summer with George Bush to invade Iraq in February or March, she claimed yesterday.

In damning evidence to the foreign affairs select committee, Ms Short refused to identify the three figures, but she cited their authority for making her claim that Mr Blair had actively deceived the cabinet and the country in persuading them of the need to go to war.

Ms Short told the first day of the committee's inquiry into the events leading up to the Iraq conflict that Mr Blair had "used a series of half-truths, exaggerations, reassurances that were not the case to get us into conflict by the spring".

She claimed Mr Blair told President Bush that "we will be with you" without laying down conditions to temper US ambitions.

She also claimed that the intelligence and diplomatic community had privately opposed the war. This is the first time she has alleged that intelligence figures had serious doubts about the need for early military action.

Justifying her charge of deception, she said: "Three extremely senior people in the Whitehall system said to me very clearly and specifically that the target date was mid-February."
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source: http://www.sf-frontlines.com/module...e=article&sid=413&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
 
There's talk of an uprising in July:
BAGHDAD--A shadowy group of Saddam Hussein loyalists calling itself al Awda, meaning "the Return," is forming an alliance with Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda for a full-scale uprising against the U.S.-led occupation in mid-July.
____The information comes from leaflets circulating in Baghdad, as well as a series of extended interviews with a former official in Saddam's security services who held the rank of brigadier general.
____Al Awda is aiming for a spectacular attack and uprising on or about July 17 to mark the anniversary of the Ba'athist revolution in 1968, the former general said.
____The Islamists have indicated they are willing to join forces to battle the Americans, even though they dislike Saddam and his secular Ba'ath Party ideology.
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source: http://dynamic.washtimes.com/print_story.cfm?StoryID=20030616-113913-8670r
 
June 18, 2003
By Chris Tomlinson
Associated Press
HABBANIYAH, Iraq -- In the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle, the still air soars to 130 degrees and sweat stains the soldiers' uniforms as they hunt for insurgents in central Iraq. When the ramp door opens, the soldiers scramble into the blinding sun, and a hot wind fails to cool them through body armor and helmets. The only thing cold is the reaction of Iraqis whose cars they search.

The unrelenting heat, the ambiguity of their mission, the longing for home and the indefinite duration of their deployment has crushed morale, some soldiers say.

With attacks against U.S. troops a daily occurrence, U.S. soldiers are struggling to adjust as they seek to quell the insurgency with humanitarian largesse and combat power. "We need to pull these guys out and put some other troops in here who are trained for peacekeeping, because our first impulse is to kill," said Sgt. 1st Class Eric Wright of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.

For now there are no plans to send another division to Iraq. With attacks on the rise, senior commanders refuse to say when the 3rd Infantry -- which has been in the Persian Gulf region for seven months -- will go home.

A sniper killed a U.S. soldier late Monday in northern Baghdad, the latest of a series of attacks and mishaps that have left about 50 American troops dead since major combat was officially declared over May 1. Between March 20, when the war started, and May 1, 138 Americans died from accidents or hostile fire.

On Tuesday, assailants carried out drive-by shootings at a police station, a courthouse and a mayor's office in two towns west of Baghdad -- attacks apparently designed to intimidate Iraqis who have cooperated with U.S. forces.

The fighting has taken on a new, more threatening tone in what some fear may
be the beginning of a guerrilla war. U.S. troops in an area northwest of Baghdad that has become a center of resistance have been shot at almost daily since they arrived April 24. Since then, four soldiers and 78 Iraqis have been killed in the area, including 18 people hit when U.S. soldiers fired into an anti-U.S. demonstration.

The soldiers are under orders not to shoot looters, but are allowed to kill anyone who carries weapons or ammunition or tries to run away. On Monday afternoon, soldiers shot two men trying to steal tank shells. Both young men were flown by Army helicopter to a military hospital for treatment and were arrested.

"Little kids wave at us and their parents slap them in the back of the head and make them stop," said Spec. Anthony Combs of Hyden, Ky. "It makes me feel like I wasted my time over here and they don't appreciate what we did."
 
Why mince words? These are the facts:

1) President George W. Bush is a liar.
2) Secretary of State Colin Powell is a liar.
3) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is a liar.
4) National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is a liar.
To the above facts we might add these: There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, none were there when our war against Iraq began, and none will be found unless we plant them there.

These are the conclusions one could reasonably reach after reading California Congressman Henry Waxman's web site, the section about forged documents used as a justification for war.

One might also conclude that Waxman has found the smoking gun that could -- and should -- bring down the corrupt Bush Administration.
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source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2003/06/16/hsorensen.DTL
 
Another attack last night.

'Details have emerged of a mortar attack on a building used by the US-led administration in Iraq that killed one person and wounded 12 others.

All the casualties were Iraqis who were in an operations centre in Samarra, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

The building is used by officials co-ordinating military and civilian humanitarian efforts in Iraq.'


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3003076.stm

This is looking more and more like an escalating campaign of armed resistance to the USuk - which is being seriously under reported by the media. This report was hidden in the the middle east seciton of the BBC website.
Might be big angry demos toomorrow after Friday prayers
 
Reason to Deceive
WMD Lies Could Be the New Watergate
If media companies want to boost ratings and credibility at the same time, they should follow the lead of New York Times columnists Paul Krugman and Nicholas D. Kristof and make weapons of mass destruction the top story of the summer. Not only have President Bush and his administration exaggerated the evidence that Iraq had WMD, but now that news of their lies has leaked out, the pro-war camp is spinning like mad. The odds of exposing a major cover-up are looking very good indeed.

Consider the momentum this story has picked up from the Times Op-Ed page in recent weeks. On May 30, Kristof reported that according to "a torrent" of sources, WMD intelligence was "deliberately warped . . . to mislead our elected representatives into voting to authorize [the war in Iraq]." On June 3, Krugman noted that "misrepresentation and deception are standard operating procedure for this administration," and on June 10, he demanded accountability, blasting the Bush team's m.o. as one of "cherry picking, of choosing and exaggerating intelligence that suited [their] preconceptions."
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Now that a Republican is accused of lying to launch an endless military occupation, hawks are rushing to reassert the legitimacy of U.S. aggression. But the "bouquet of new justifications," as Maureen Dowd calls their arguments, have wilted quickly. What's the rush to find WMD? asks the Bush camp. We found other neat stuff, like torture chambers. Saddam Hussein had these weapons before, but he hid them really well--or maybe sent them to Syria. Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax aren't talking, 'cause they don't want to be tried as war criminals. And besides, would Dubya lie to you?

The Bush defense begins and ends with the assertion that we're better off now that the U.S. is occupying Iraq. Questioned on June 9 about his reasons for going to war, Bush declared, "The credibility of the United States is based upon our strong desire to make the world more peaceful, and the world is now more peaceful." It is?
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source: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0325/cotts.php
 
Japan takes up arms
After the Second World War, Japan renounced the use of military force in international affairs. Nevertheless, its parliament is set to pass a historic law allowing the Japanese armed forces to send a contingent to Iraq in aid of the U.S. occupation. Government officials are talking about arming Japan with missiles, and also about pre-emptive military strikes--something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
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source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030618.wwbeat0618/BNStory/Front
 
They Call Him the Hunter
A lone Iraqi sniper nicknamed The Hunter is believed to have claimed his sixth American victim this week in a suburb of Baghdad.

The man, said to be a former member of the Republican Guard Special Forces, has developed a cult status among some Iraqis. One Baghdad resident, Assad al Amari, said: "He is fighting for Iraq on his own. There will be many more Americans killed because they cannot stop The Hunter. He will be given the protection of people who will let him use their homes for his shooting."
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source: http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/5402104?source=Evening Standard
 
From Saddam's Tyranny to Post-Liberation Tyranny
LONDON, 20 June 2003 ( The Guardian) It would have been hard to predict in advance that the US and British occupation of Iraq could go so spectacularly wrong so quickly. The words of the historian Tacitus about the Roman invasion of Scotland in the first century AD might just as well have been written about our latter-day Rome's latest imperial adventure: "They create a wasteland and they call it peace."

More than two months after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraq is sinking deeper into chaos and insecurity, as US forces lash out at the Iraqi resistance, which is now killing an average of one American soldier a day. Another was shot dead in Baghdad yesterday, while US troops killed more protesters--as they have repeatedly done since the massacres of demonstrators in Mosul and Falluja in April. The British minister in charge of reconstruction in occupied Iraq, Baroness Amos, had to admit yesterday that she is unable to visit the country because of the risk of guerilla attack, while the British commander, Maj. General Freddie Viggers, conceded that British troops may now be in Iraq for up to four years because of the growing insurgency.

In Britain, the unravelling of what US Deputy Secretary Of Defence Paul Wolfowitz called the "bureaucratic" pretext for war--the supposed threat from Iraqi chemical and biological weapons--has created the most serious political crisis for Tony Blair's government in six years and removed the last vestige of possible legality from the aggression. With no sign of any such weapons on the ground in Iraq, intelligence leaks and the withering accounts of former Cabinet ministers Clare Short and Robin Cook have stripped bare the ultimate New Labour spin operation. Polls show most British people are now convinced the government deliberately exaggerated the evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction to bounce public and Parliament into war. Not surprisingly, attitudes to the conflict itself are also beginning to turn.
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source: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3865.htm
 
Rumours (unconfirmed at the moment) that saddam has been eliminated (along with one of his sons) in a 4x4 truck convoy near the western border (close to syria). Location was distinguished by the use of a moblie phone by either saddam of one of his sons to Saddam. DNA tested are currently being performed on the carcasses (or what is left of them).
 
Troops show uranium sickness signs, claims expert
Australian servicemen and women who served in the recent Iraq war were reporting symptoms of uranium sickness, a United States nuclear weapons expert said today.

Dr Douglas Rokke is a former US Army nuclear health physicist and was formerly the Pentagon's expert on the health effects of depleted uranium ammunition.

Speaking in Melbourne today, Dr Rokke said Iraqi women and children and American and Iraqi military personnel had reported respiratory illnesses and rashes after the recent conflict, and he had also been told of Australian servicemen and women with similar symptoms.

"That's the reports I received from the US Army medical department. That's something that needs to be verified and looked into," he said.
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source: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/06/23/1056220529069.html
 
Turkey offers 1,200-1,800 soldiers to assist US in Iraq
Turkish Daily News

June 22, 2003 -etween 20,000 and 30,000 allied troops from more than a dozen nations will begin arriving in Iraq in mid-August to replace some of the American forces leading the military occupation there. The international forces -- from countries including Italy, Spain, Ukraine and Honduras -- would join divisions led by Britain, Poland and perhaps another country, possibly India, and assume responsibilities for parts of central and southern Iraq.

The United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz declared that Turkey offered relief aid and other assistance in the rebuild[ing] of Iraq, as well as 1,200 to 1,800 troops.
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source: http://www.turkishdailynews.com/FrTDN/latest/for.htm#f10
 
US proconsul cancels municipal election in Iraq
The cancellation of an election for the post of mayor in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf demonstrates once again that the Bush administration has no intention of allowing even the semblance of democracy in the country.

The poll, which was due to take place last Saturday, was being stage-managed from start to finish by the US army. Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Conlin, a Marine commander, appeared on local TV to announce the election. Late last month US marines were sent to local schools to help teachers to register voters and a central location was chosen where soldiers were to count the vote.

The event appears to have been designed as a public relations showpiece. While municipal administrations in other cities have all been handpicked by the US-led occupying forces, Najaf was to be the exception, with a mayor chosen in the first "open election". Some 18 candidates began campaigning and each was promised equal time on the local television station.

But no sooner had the voter registration begun than the head of the US military occupation, Paul Bremer III, stepped in to abruptly overrule the local commander, suspend the election and, then, just over a week ago, postpone it indefinitely. The election, he declared, would be "premature" in the absence of proper electoral legislation and procedures.

Local US soldiers in Najaf had a hard time believing the explanation. Speaking rather cautiously, Major David Toth told the New York Times that the city was "stable" and "we thought the people would be ready for it [the election]." The real reason for Bremer's decision was that the man widely tipped to win the poll--Asad Sultan Abu Gilal, 51--was not to Washington's liking.
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source: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jun2003/iraq-j23.shtml
 
Top Iraqis Believed Targeted in U.S. Strike

DNA Tests Used to See If Hussein Among Dead
Defense officials said yesterday that they were investigating whether a strike on a three-vehicle convoy fleeing Iraq near the Syrian border last Wednesday killed top officials in the government of former president Saddam Hussein, perhaps including Hussein or his sons.

The officials said that DNA tests were being carried out on the victims, and the AC-130 gunship strike by Special Operations forces had drawn high-level attention in the Pentagon. But they added that so far there was no evidence Hussein was hit. Some intelligence officials expressed doubt about whether the strike had targeted Hussein or his sons, Uday and Qusay. They are the top three on the U.S. list of most-wanted officials in Iraq.

The attack on the moving convoy took place close to the Syrian border in western Iraq, officials said. One source said the strike "chewed up something big" and added that the targets were believed to be among the top four or five Iraqis being sought. Separately, a senior defense official said there was "nothing specific" about Hussein in the intelligence that prompted the attack, "although it was tied to the leadership in some manner or another." A third U.S. official said there was very good intelligence that "one or more high-value targets" were in the convoy.
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source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21465-2003Jun22.html?nav=hptop_tb
 
Spain extends military presence in Iraq
In breach of its repeated assurances that it would not do so, the Spanish Popular Party government recently announced it will contribute 1,100 soldiers to an 8,000-strong military force to be deployed in central Iraq by September. This brings to 2,000 the total number of Spanish troops in Iraq.

The force will be under the command of Polish General Andrzej Tyszkiewicz. Poland will be contributing 2,300 soldiers and Ukraine will send 1,100. Alongside these troops will be units from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Lithuania. The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that three Latin American countries, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic will provide a further 1,000 troops.

The 8,000 troops will serve in the Polish-controlled zone of Iraq, between the British and US sections. The zone will include cities such as Karbala and Nasiriyah. Spanish Defence Minister Federico Trillo said that overall command of the unit would be rotated "in some months' time".

The multinational force, under nominal Polish command, fulfils an important political role for the Bush administration. Poland is subordinate to the United States politically and dependent on it for financing the operation, but the establishment of a zone nominally under its control is aimed at creating the illusion that Iraq is not an American protectorate. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld welcomed Spain's decision to participate, stating, "We are very pleased that Spain has decided to send significant numbers of troops", while NATO's Secretary General Lord Robertson called it a "bold decision".
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source: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jun2003/spai-j24.shtml
 
12 Year Old Girl Opens Fire On American Invaders
Baghdad - Guerrilla strikes against United States interests in Iraq have continued to escalate in recent days, with economic sabotage on the rise and a new type of combatant--a 12-year-old-girl--entering the fray against the American army.

The girl, whose name was not released, reportedly opened fire on patrolling U.S. soldiers in her hometown of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on Sunday.
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source: http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030624.uiraq0624/BNStory/International/
 
This sort of .......

gives the lie to the perception that the 'good old Brits' are winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people with their 'sensitive' peacekeeping skills learned over decades in Ireland.

To the Iraqis, they are just another brutal occupying force and will be treated as such, just as they were in Ireland.

john x

(sorry this isn't exactly news, more like me having a rant especially as it was the paras who were involved!)
 
It has just been ............

reported on Richard and Judy (not the most reliable source I know!) that 6 British soldiers have been killed and eight wounded in another incident near Basra.

john x
 
Originally posted by winston
THIS THREAD HAS EXPIRED.
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Wrong! There's still a war being fought. Its just that its being covered on the net and in the middle-east. Unfortunately for the Iraqi peeps nowhere else.
 
Originally posted by Gumbert
Wrong! There's still a war being fought. Its just that its being covered on the net and in the middle-east. Unfortunately for the Iraqi peeps nowhere else.
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I wouldn't waste your breath explaining that to winston!

This is what he said on another thread:

those people begging with the babies are scum learn to speak english and maybe ill bother to listen to what your saying.
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john x
 
The BBC is reporting ..........

that the people who attacked the British soldiers in Southern Iraq were actually civillians protesting about house raids in the area. Apparently the soldiers fired plastic bullets at the crowd and then live rounds, killing four Iraqis. They were then attacked by the crowd who killed six military policemen.

Sound familiar?

john x
 
Are the boys from Colchester known for their cultural sensetivity?
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2985376
Residents and witnesses said anger had been simmering for days as the British used sniffer dogs and aggressively searched local homes for weapons.
"These British soldiers came with their dogs and pointed weapons at women and children. As Muslims, we can't accept dogs at our homes," Rabee al-Malki told Reuters.
Muslims take offence over dogs at their homes, believing the animals to be impure.
Residents said the soldiers first came to search for weapons on June 21. After complaints from locals, British forces agreed to halt the intrusive inspections but, residents said, they returned two days later using the same methods.
When the soldiers returned Tuesday, thousands took to the streets to protest.
The British forces who control the mainly Shi'ite south have had few problems since Saddam was ousted, unlike U.S. troops in mainly Sunni central Iraq.
But in Majjar, relief at Saddam's ousting has given way to anger over the methods of the occupying forces and alleged incidents involving soldiers during the searches.
"A British soldier held the underwear of a woman and stretched it. How can we accept this as Muslims and as Shi'ites," resident Faleh Saleem said.
Residents said they would not accept a British presence in their town any more.
"We will do the same if the British come back. We will not allow them to come back," local resident Abu Faten said.
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