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*IRAQ: latest news and developments

Ready To Explode: Hope for future fades in Iraq.

"We've told the British today that if we're not paid by Friday, we'll arm ourselves with guns again and start killing every foreigner we see in Iraq."


source:http://tinyurl.com/fxxh
 
It looks like Iraq is becoming a very unsafe place not only for the military but foreign civilians as well - which doesn't bode well for re-construction efforts or humintarian organisations.

[British journalist shot dead in Iraq
(Filed: 06/07/2003)
A British freelance journalist has been shot dead in Baghdad. He has been named as Richard Wilde.
Michael Burke, a TV producer working in Baghdad who identified Wilde's body, has said that he was killed by a single, small calibre bullet fired into the base of his skull from close range.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?]xml=/news/2003/07/06/uwilde.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/07/06/ixportaltop.html
 
Shiites to dominate Iraqi council

The diplomat, who spoke on condition his name not be used, said Britain and the United States would never allow a fundamentalist Shiite government in Iraq. At the same time, he said the council should reflect the demographics of the country, with Shiites in the lead role, and minority Sunnis and Kurds evenly represented.
"There will be a slight Shiite majority, something like 60-20-20," he said, referring to the percentage of council members coming from Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish groups.
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/story.asp?id=D897E283-E54E-4BD1-AC3C-C006B4A066AF
 
NY Times, July 6, 2003
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
What I Didn't Find in Africa
By JOSEPH C. WILSON 4th

WASHINGTON

Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?

Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

For 23 years, from 1976 to 1998, I was a career foreign service officer and ambassador. In 1990, as chargé d'affaires in Baghdad, I was the last American diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein. (I was also a forceful advocate for his removal from Kuwait.) After Iraq, I was President George H. W. Bush's ambassador to Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe; under President Bill Clinton, I helped direct Africa policy for the National Security Council.

It was my experience in Africa that led me to play a small role in the effort to verify information about Africa's suspected link to Iraq's nonconventional weapons programs. Those news stories about that unnamed former envoy who went to Niger? That's me.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/06WILS.html
 
Sure T, here you go:

continued...

'In February 2002, I was informed by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency that Vice President Dick Cheney's office had questions about a particular intelligence report. While I never saw the report, I was told that it referred to a memorandum of agreement that documented the sale of uranium yellowcake - a form of lightly processed ore - by Niger to Iraq in the late 1990's. The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president's office.

'After consulting with the State Department's African Affairs Bureau (and through it with Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, the United States ambassador to Niger), I agreed to make the trip. The mission I undertook was discreet but by no means secret. While the C.I.A. paid my expenses (my time was offered pro bono), I made it abundantly clear to everyone I met that I was acting on behalf of the United States government.

'In late February 2002, I arrived in Niger's capital, Niamey, where I had been a diplomat in the mid-70's and visited as a National Security Council official in the late 90's. The city was much as I remembered it. Seasonal winds had clogged the air with dust and sand. Through the haze, I could see camel caravans crossing the Niger River (over the John F. Kennedy bridge), the setting sun behind them. Most people had wrapped scarves around their faces to protect against the grit, leaving only their eyes visible.

'The next morning, I met with Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick at the embassy. For reasons that are understandable, the embassy staff has always kept a close eye on Niger's uranium business. I was not surprised, then, when the ambassador told me that she knew about the allegations of uranium sales to Iraq ? and that she felt she had already debunked them in her reports to Washington. Nevertheless, she and I agreed that my time would be best spent interviewing people who had been in government when the deal supposedly took place, which was before her arrival.

'I spent the next eight days drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people: current government officials, former government officials, people associated with the country's uranium business. It did not take long to conclude that it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place.

'Given the structure of the consortiums that operated the mines, it would be exceedingly difficult for Niger to transfer uranium to Iraq. Niger's uranium business consists of two mines, Somair and Cominak, which are run by French, Spanish, Japanese, German and Nigerian interests. If the government wanted to remove uranium from a mine, it would have to notify the consortium, which in turn is strictly monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Moreover, because the two mines are closely regulated, quasi-governmental entities, selling uranium would require the approval of the minister of mines, the prime minister and probably the president. In short, there's simply too much oversight over too small an industry for a sale to have transpired.'
 
[Ten Appalling Lies We Were Told About Iraq
On the terrible day of the 9/11 attacks, five hours after a hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon, retired Gen. Wesley Clark received a strange call from someone (he didn't name names) representing the White House position: "I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, 'You got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein,'" Clark told Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert. "I said, 'But – I'm willing to say it, but what's your evidence?' And I never got any evidence.'"
And neither did we. ]


http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16274
 
Christian Science Monitor
from the July 07, 2003 edition

Troop morale in Iraq hits 'rock bottom'
Soldiers stress is a key concern as the Army ponders whether to send more forces.

By Ann Scott Tyson | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON - US troops facing extended deployments amid the danger, heat, and uncertainty of an Iraq occupation are suffering from low morale that has in some cases hit "rock bottom."
<snip>

Some frustrated troops stationed in Iraq are writing letters to representatives in Congress to request their units be repatriated. "Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket home," said one recent Congressional letter written by an Army soldier now based in Iraq. The soldier requested anonymity.
<snip>

"Make no mistake, the level of morale for most soldiers that I've seen has hit rock bottom," said another soldier, an officer from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq.
<snip>

Experts warn that long, frequent deployments could lead to a rash of departures from the military. "Hordes of active-duty troops and reservists may soon leave the service rather than subject themselves to a life continually on the road," writes Michael O'Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution here.
<snip>

The open-ended deployments in Iraq are lowering morale among some ground troops, who say constantly shifting time tables are reducing confidence in their leadership. "The way we have been treated and the continuous lies told to our families back home has devastated us all," a soldier in Iraq wrote in a letter to Congress.
<snip>

In one Army unit, an officer described the mentality of troops. "They vent to anyone who will listen. They write letters, they cry, they yell. Many of them walk around looking visibly tired and depressed.... We feel like pawns in a game that we have no voice [in]."

source: <http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0707/p02s01-woiq.html>
 
In Postwar Iraq, the Battle Widens
Recent Attacks on U.S. Forces Raise Concerns of a Guerrilla Conflict
By Thomas E. Ricks and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 7, 2003; Page A01

Recent Iraqi attacks on U.S. troops have demonstrated a new tactical sophistication and coordination that raise the specter of the U.S. occupation force becoming enmeshed in a full-blown guerrilla war, military experts said yesterday.

The new approaches employed in the Iraqi attacks last week are provoking concern among some that what once was seen as a mopping-up operation against the dying remnants of a deposed government is instead becoming a widening battle against a growing and organized force that could keep tens of thousands of U.S. troops busy for months.

Pentagon officials continue to insist that the U.S. military is not caught in an anti-guerrilla campaign in Iraq, that the fighting still is limited mainly to the Sunni heartland northwest of Baghdad and that progress is being made elsewhere in the country. "There's been an awful lot of work done," Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told "Fox News Sunday" in an interview taped last week. "A lot of the country is relatively stable."

But a growing number of military specialists, and some lawmakers, are voicing concern about trends in Iraq. There is even some quiet worry at the Pentagon, where some officers contend privately that the size of the U.S. deployment in Iraq -- now about 150,000 troops -- is inadequate for force protection, much less for peacekeeping. The Army staff is reexamining force requirements and looking again at the numbers generated in the months before the war, said a senior officer who asked not to be named.

"If you talk to the guys in Iraq, they will tell you that it's urban combat over there," the officer said. "They all are saying, 'What we have is not enough to keep the peace.' "

"In Iraq," Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the intelligence committee, said on CNN's "Late Edition" yesterday, "we're now fighting an anti-guerrilla . . . effort."

Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said: "Our troops are stretched very, very thin. We should ask other countries" to send troops, including Germany, France, India and Egypt.

"It is an absolute mystery to me" that NATO has not been asked to authorize the deployment of member forces in Iraq, Levin, who just returned from a three-day visit to Iraq, said yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press." Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) noted, however, that the administration anticipates "30,000 troops from other nations will be involved before year's end."

But it is not clear that those foreign troops will be forthcoming in the numbers expected, especially if fighting in Iraq intensifies.

"The increasing enemy activity in Iraq is very unsettling," said retired Marine Lt. Col. John Poole, a specialist in small-unit infantry tactics. "It could mean that the situation has started to escalate into a guerrilla war."
full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/articles/A17958-2003Jul6.html
 
Three more ...........

US soldiers killed in Iraq, bringing the total to 29 since Bush declared thewar 'over'. This means that the total of US killed since the end of the war will reach over 200 by the end of the year.

BBC news

john x
 
Baghdad gets new city council

The meeting came amid further violence in and around Baghdad, with three US soldiers and two Iraqis killed in three separate attacks since Sunday
-----
Khaled Mirza, a dentist chosen as the council's interim chairman, told Reuters news agency he was convinced he was doing the right thing.
"I am not a stooge for the Americans," he said.
An elected city council in the southern Shia Muslim city of Najaf also held its first meeting on Monday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3051940.stm
 
Iraqi oil tenders go to UK/US companies......

UK and U.S. take lion's share in Iraq oil tender

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. and UK-based oil majors have taken the lion's share of Iraq's second post-Saddam crude oil sell tender, companies have confirmed.
A Royal Dutch/Shell spokesman said the major had been awarded two million barrels of Basra Light crude in the tender, which closed on Monday, joining U.S. ChevronTexaco and BP, who both confirmed winning earlier.

The fourth cargo went to Swiss-based trading house Taurus, the first trader to win a cargo since the U.S. invasion. Baghdad had expressed a preference for refiners in the tender.

It is the first time the British companies have been awarded Iraqi crude since the U.S.-led invasion. ChevronTexaco won its first Basra Light cargo in the previous tender.

Iraqi officials are due to confirm the awards later on Wednesday.

Six million barrels of the crude are bound for U.S. shores, two-thirds of that to the West Coast, while Shell is likely to take its cargo into northwest Europe, market sources say.


http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=3059335
 
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Iraqi police traded fire with gunmen on Wednesday in a confusing battle that proved only one thing -- Iraqis don't trust Baghdad's new police force.
Police and U.S. forces clashed with gunmen holed up in a house for 45 minutes, drawing a huge crowd of Iraqis who got a first-hand view of law enforcement in the new Iraq.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20030709_98.html
 
Confusion, 'fog of war', played role in Iraq ambush, report says
Lynch received numerous injuries _ and at least one comrade was killed _ after their Humvee was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed into another vehicle in their convoy at a speed of roughly 45 mph, officials said.
Initial reports incorrectly said Lynch emptied her rifle fighting off Iraqis before being captured, and that she had been shot and stabbed.
http://www.caller.com/ccct/state_texas_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_876_2097020,00.html
 
A while back I mentioned how the Yanks don't understand the concept of Blood money, and seem to be doing exactly the wrong things, the Brits seem to know what they are doing...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,989084,00.html

During a wedding celebration, two young men fire celebratory shots into the air. A British patrol happens to be near by, they think they have a couple of Fedayeen shooting at them. Bang bang, the Iraqis are dead.

The British take the bodies to the hospital, and after conducting an investigation they find out they were not Fedayeen, a mistake has been made. So the next day two British officers, two Iraqi lawyers and a translator go to the hospital and ask how the locals deal with this sort of thing. The concept of "Fasil" or blood money is explained to them. A couple of days later the word spreads that the British have paid 15 million Iraqi dinars in blood money to the families of the two Iraqi men. Further bloodshed was stopped. Perfect.
 
Iraqi police tell US troops to keep their distance

Iraqi police say they want to keep a safe distance from US troops for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

US occupation forces have been repeatedly targeted by snipers and guerillas using rocket-propelled grenades to attack their convoys.

Dozens have been killed and wounded since George Bush declared major combat officially over on May 1.

The town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, has been a centre of much of the resistance to the coalition forces. It has seen several deadly attacks on US and Iraqi forces since US troops killed 20 protesters there in April.

US soldiers have been using a police station in the town as a base, but the new Iraqi policemen - most wearing uniforms supplied by the US - say they'll quit unless the Americans find a new base in 48 hours.

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of US ground forces in Iraq, insisted his men would not leave the police station. He said that if the Iraqis follow through with their threat, "we will find some more" policemen to patrol Fallujah.

The fears of the town's police are not without foundation - insurgents fired two grenades at US troops there on Wednesday, but no one was hurt. An explosion last Saturday at a police graduation ceremony in Ramadi, 28 miles to the west, killed seven US-trained recruits.

Meanwhile, several Iraqi civilians were caught in the middle of a battle after assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a US military patrol on the road to Baghdad International Airport overnight.

One Iraqi was shot in the neck and the other in the abdomen - their condition was not clear. The airport road is a frequent site of attacks on US troops.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_798844.html?menu=
 
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