*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Bechtel gets black marks on Iraqi school repairs

BAGHDAD, Iraq - On its corporate Web site, under a page titled "A Fresh Start for Iraqi School Children," Bechtel Group showcases sparkling new classrooms filled with happy, young Iraqi students. But the reality is far different, according to Army investigators.

"In almost every case, the paint jobs were done in a hurry, causing more damage to the appearance of the school than in terms of providing a finish that will protect the structure," a recent Army investigation into Bechtel's work found. "In one case, the paint job actually damaged critical lab equipment, making it unusable."

Bechtel is one of the biggest corporate winners of U.S. contracts to rebuild Iraq. Before the war ended, it received a $680 million contract to fix Iraq's electrical grids, water ports and more than 1,200 schools. In October, it won an additional $350 million contract to continue the electrical work.

Bechtel has stressed that the schools in question are a small percentage of schools it has fixed, working in extreme conditions that often put its employees' lives at risk. Company spokesman Francis Canavan said he had no knowledge of an Army investigation, and that "every school was signed off by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."

"However, inspection took place when school was not in session," Canavan said. "Faulty repairs did not become evident until the schools were in use."

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=IRAQ-BECHTEL-12-08-03&cat=II

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. troops arrest Iraqi union leaders

U.S. troops from the Coalition Provisional Authority now running Iraq arrested 10 Iraqi leaders of two labor federations and removed files from offices of one of them, the federation and a U.S. union journalist who had traveled to Iraq reported.

Soldiers arriving in 10 humvees arrested eight executive board members of the Iraqi Federation of Workers Trade Unions on Dec. 6, spokesman Abdullah Muhsin said. They were released Dec. 7.

And the IFTU offices, in a converted bus station, had their signs covered with black paint and their files removed, Muhsin added. The troops gave no reason for their actions, he said.

Troops arrested two leaders of another labor group, the Union of the Unemployed, on Nov. 23, and released them the next day, said David Bacon, a member of the Northern California Newspaper Guild who spent several days in Iraq in mid-November.

"The attackers ransacked and destroyed the IFTU's posses-sions, tearing down banners and posters condemning acts of terror, tarnishing the...building's main front with black paint and smashing window glass, without any reason or explanation," an IFTU statement said. "The IFTU, one of the most important organizations of civil society, includes within its ranks sons of working class, the builders of...the democratic future of Iraq," it pointed out.

http://www.iraqwar.ru/iraq-read_article.php?articleId=29742&lang=en

 

[Barking_Mad]

US evades blame for Iraqi deaths

A SENIOR White House official was asked in a briefing this week if President Bush will ever directly address the Iraqi people about the deaths of Iraqi civilians in the US occupation. Instead of addressing Bush's responsibility, the official delivered a spiraling rendition of denial.

"Let's remember who's killing Iraqi citizens," the official said. "It's not the coalition forces. Yes, there are occasional collateral damage deaths in all wars. But it wasn't coalition forces that blew up the UN headquarters. It wasn't coalition forces that tried to force out the Italians and the Japanese and the Koreans.

"It wasn't coalition forces that blew up Iraqi police stations. These are Iraqis killing Iraqis, and they're the same Iraqis who have been killing Iraqis for 25 years under Saddam Hussein. . . . There will be some civilian deaths. It will be nothing like what Saddam Hussein did."

That was all true. It also had nothing to do with the question. Let's remember something else. The Associated Press reported back in June that at least 3,240 Iraqi civilians were killed in the first month of the American invasion. The AP reported that the "great majority of civilian deaths appear to have been caused by US or British attacks." The AP said its tally was "fragmentary" with the real figure probably "significantly" higher.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ed.../2003/12/12/us_evades_blame_for_iraqi_deaths/

 

[Barking_Mad]

High-Flying Oil Prices Climb Further as Iraq Oil Pipeline Hit Again

LONDON (Reuters) - High-flying oil prices climbed further Wednesday as news emerged of fresh attacks on Iraq's oil facilities and traders bet that U.S. fuel data would show cold weather drawing down inventories. London's Brent crude futures for February delivery rose 23 cents to $30.20 a barrel, within 40 cents of two-month highs hit briefly Tuesday. U.S. light crude rose 13 cents to $33.02, extending gains of more than 10 percent this month.

Prices rose as a senior Iraqi oil official said Iraq's northern export pipeline, closed since March's U.S.-led invasion, had come under fresh attacks at the time of the weekend capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Adel Kazzaz, head of the North Oil Company told Reuters the latest attack showed the line, which runs from Iraq's Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, was still too vulnerable to restart.

"It was subject to an attack only three days ago. Security measures remain insufficient to start the pipeline," Kazzaz said by telephone from Kirkuk. Separately, a fuel truck bomb in Baghdad Wednesday killed 17 people.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=4006849

 

[Barking_Mad]

Senators were told Iraqi weapons could hit U.S

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday the Bush administration last year told him and other senators that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities.

Nelson, D-Tallahassee, said about 75 senators got that news during a classified briefing before last October's congressional vote authorizing the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Nelson voted in favor of using military force. Nelson said he couldn't reveal who in the administration gave the briefing.

The White House directed questions about the matter to the Department of Defense. Defense officials had no comment on Nelson's claim. Nelson said the senators were told Iraq had both biological and chemical weapons, notably anthrax, and it could deliver them to cities along the Eastern seaboard via unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones.

"They have not found anything that resembles an UAV that has that capability," Nelson said.

http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/localstoryN1216NELSON.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

2 US troops dead

BAGHDAD (AP)--A U.S. military tanker truck exploded on a road outside Baghdad on Friday, and witnesses said two U.S. soldiers were killed and another was wounded.

The casualty reports couldn't be immediately confirmed.

The witnesses said the truck was blown up by a homemade explosive about 7.50 a.m. (0450 GMT), but the cause wasn't immediately clear.

Television footage showed clouds of black smoke rising from the tanker, near Abu Ghraib about 30 kilometers outside the capital on the road to Fallujah.

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2003121908420008&Take=1

 

[Barking_Mad]

260 Iraqi police killed in attacks

Around 260 members of the new Iraqi security forces have been killed in attacks since the end of the US-led war to oust dictator Saddam Hussein, a senior police official said.

"We pay tribute to the 260 police officers who died as martyrs in attacks on police stations and other attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq," General Sami al-Waili said.

He says the new police force formed following the ousting of Saddam last April had "seen heavy sacrifices in action for the maintenance of law and order".

His statement was made on the 31st anniversary of the creation of the Iraqi police under Saddam's former regime.

At least nine police stations have been targeted in car bomb attacks in Baghdad and areas south of the capital during the last two months.

The attacks are blamed on Saddam supporters targeting "collaborators" with the occupying forces.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1013869.htm

 

[Mab]

Originally posted by pbman
No one said he was.

And we said they would continue.

Fantastic

 

[Mab]

I am trying to confirm a report that I heard on CBC radio Friday at 6:20pm, Canadian time on CBC radio 1 (our BBC, though one must listen to both).

It's about one of Saddam's tyrants' that carried out mass killings --torture --buried alive --horrible. Hilla--central Iraq, 55 kilometres south of Bagdad. From 1981---? I'm sorry, I can't remember; it was so fast. Hilla Central Iraq.

Apparantley, the Americans after four months, let this war crimminal go free by accident.

It was on my CBC news radio 1 Friday at 6:20 pm.

The broadcast was horific. Thousands of corpses and families trying to piece bones and clothes of their loved-ones together.

I am sorry. I cannot remember all the "players" names, and failed to find it tonight.

America let this mass murderer go "accidently" after four months!!!!!

Over 10,000 that no one can call graves!!!???

Can anyone shed some light? Cheers!

 

[Gumbert]

Is it me are do i really see a massive contradiction between the the quotes below...

Originally posted by the pbmen
Boy your stupid.

It not that important to find him now after we took away, his country, and killed most of his storm troopers, and removed most of his logistical support.

Originally posted by the pbmen
Well i strongly suspect we will get him.

As we will continue to look for a long long time, and we have considerably more resources than him.

No doubt he's also hiding in a rat-hole.

More news, the guy the pentagon picked to look for wmd in iraq, you know, that premise that the warmongers took us to war over is to give his job up!

This sends a massive signal out that there is, in fact, nothing to be found! Surprise surprise....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3333909.stm

 

[someoneelse]

Another Judge killed in Mosul

One of three chief judges in the city, Youssef Khoshi was believed to be investigating the activities of Iraqis linked to Saddam Hussein's former ruling Baath Party.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1015568.htm

 

[Skate]

U.S. Army Arrests Student Demonstrators In Violent School Raid

http://yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1707&mode=thread&order=0

Twenty-six middle school students who threw stones at U.S. troops breaking up a neighborhood pro-Saddam rally Dec. 17 were arrested during a violent raid at their school the following day.

The arrested boys, estimated ages 14 to 18, were released. One student, persuaded by his teacher to talk to the reporters, said the army failed to notify parents of the arrests and that he and others were held in "chicken cages, about two metres by a metre and a half (approximately 6.5 ft x 5 ft) with criss cross wire" for seven to 10 hours.

 

[Gumbert]

chomsky set out his view of the iraqi crisis and its possible aftermath of USG foriegn policy into 2004...

These same people -- now back in power in Washington -- also supported Saddam when he crushed the 1991 uprising that might have overthrown the tyrant, and again explained why. One can read in the New York Times that the "best of all worlds" for the US would be an "iron-fisted military junta" that would rule Iraq just the way Saddam did, and that Saddam offers more hope for Iraq's "stability" than those who seek to overthrow him. They now pretend to be outraged by the mass graves in the South and the Halabja atrocities, but that is pure and transparent fraud, as we can see by looking at how they acted when the atrocities occurred.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=36&ItemID=4780

 

[pk]

An American helicopter was shot down today in Iraq - one soldier died and another injured.

How much does the average US army helicopter cost?

 

[pbman]

Originally posted by Gumbert
chomsky set out his view of the iraqi crisis and its possible aftermath of USG foriegn policy into 2004...

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=36&ItemID=4780

Don't bother us with chumpski, this thread is for news, not whining.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by pbman
this thread is for news, not whining.

Hey Mr kettle! The pot's got something to say to you...

In other news, that muppet Blair paid a surprise visit to Basra today to tell the troops some lies and mouth a load of empty platitudes.
The world would be a better place if *his* helicopter had been shot down.

 

[Gumbert]

This came out yesterday. But just got hold of a free version.

While Bliar was bleating, British troops in Basra are under scrutiny for beating to death an Iraqi in custody, ...

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=4787

 

[pbman]

Originally posted by Yossarian
Hey Mr kettle! The pot's got something to say to you...

In other news, that muppet Blair paid a surprise visit to Basra today to tell the troops some lies and mouth a load of empty platitudes.
The world would be a better place if *his* helicopter had been shot down.

So what part of this don't you understand.

IRAQ: latest news and developments
Please use this thread to add the latest news and developments about in the war in Iraq.

Chumpski running his mouth is not news.

 

[Jo/Joe]

'Don't bother us with chumpski, this thread is for news, not whining.'

Stop whining pbman. This thread is for news and development.

 

[someoneelse]

Originally posted by pbman
......this thread is for news, not whining.

and neither is it for posting images from strangecosmos.com, pbman....

here's some news:

US to release 500 Iraqi prisoners

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1117853,00.html

Paul Bremer says: "I want to assure you that this is not a programme for those with bloodstained hands." (!)

 

[Barking_Mad]

Eight dead in Iraq chopper crash

Eight people on board a US military helicopter have been killed after it made an emergency landing in Iraq.
At least four of the victims were soldiers, said the US military.

A spokeswoman said the Black Hawk helicopter came down near the town of Falluja, west of Baghdad, which is a hotbed of the anti-US insurgency.

Several American helicopters have been shot down in recent months by guerillas opposed to the US-led occupation of Iraq.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/3379433.stm

 

[Gumbert]

So, folks this is what it was all about. Get in there and asset strip the damn place. What about the Iraqi peeps? Fuck 'em there only arabs. Besides they were a Third World Nation under Saddam. They should be glad we liberated them... Besides it cost us loads of dollar to bomb 'em eh? How we supposed to retreive our dollars??

LIKE THIS:

A useful question to ask is "How much are the Iraqis getting for all the U.S. taxpayer money being spent?" The answer so far is alarming. Nearly $1.5 billion was paid to Bechtel in 2003, much of it for upgrades to Iraq's electrical supply system. Yet evidence on the ground suggests that the electricity supply is as bad or worse now than under Saddam Hussein's regime. In November, Baghdad suffered a two-day blackout and continues to experience daily rolling blackouts of several hours at a stretch. Outside of the cities it is much worse: in many rural towns and villages, the power is off for longer periods than it is on, making it impossible to refrigerate food and heat homes.

Bechtel lays the blame on the Pentagon for poor planning and on Saddam Hussein for not somehow finding a way to import necessary parts in spite of 12 years of U.S.-led sanctions. But the new Iraqi government's Electricity Ministry knows who is really to blame. Its officials complain that power plant managers gave Bechtel a list of the spare parts last summer and fall, but so far they've "gotten absolutely nothing" and have been forced to operate the systems exactly as they did under Saddam Hussein.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=4828

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi rocket attack leaves three US soldiers dead, one wounded

Three US soldiers have been killed and one wounded in a near Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, in a rocket or mortar attack at 6.30 pm last night, US lieutenant colonel Dan Williams said.

A total of 235 US troops have now been killed in the low-level war of attrition with rebels since US president George Bush declared major fighting had ended on May 1.

More than 500 US troops have been killed by hostile action, accident or suicide since the US-led invasion of Iraq began last March.

http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?type=news&articleid=4850451&action=article

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi women killed leaving U.S. base

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Guerrillas have opened fire on a minibus carrying Iraqi women home from work at a U.S. base west of Baghdad, killing four and wounding six.

They said the women were heading home at around 4 p.m. (1.00 p.m. British time) on Wednesday from a U.S. base near Habbaniya when their minibus came under fire from automatic weapons close to Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad. Police said it was not the first time that Iraqis working at the U.S. base near Habbaniya had been targeted on their way home from work. Guerrillas fighting the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq have mounted frequent attacks on police, translators and other Iraqis working with occupying troops.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040122/325/ek1ma.html

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqis Want Saddam's Old U.S. Friends on Trial

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - If Iraqis ever see Saddam Hussein on trial, they want his former American allies shackled beside him.

"Saddam should not be the only one who is put on trial. The Americans backed him when he was killing Iraqis so they should be prosecuted," said Ali Mahdi, a builder.

"If the Americans escape justice they will face God's justice. They must be stoned in hell."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4168225

 

[Gumbert]

Powell fucks up on Iraqi WMDs

We could be attacked by WMD from Saddam in 45 minutes flat.The warmongers lies become apparent...

Talking to journalists a day after a top US weapons hunter ruled out WMDs in Iraq, Powell on Saturday neither confirmed nor ruled out the presence of a nuclear and biological arsenal in Iraq.

"What is the open question: how many stocks they had, if any, and if they had any, where did they go? And if they didn’t have any, why wasn’t that known beforehand," Powell told journalists.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79DD466F-1248-4F1C-89B2-7B6F4A7C235C.htm

 

[oi2002]

Robert McNamara breaks his silence on Iraq

link

McNamara's 11 Lessons...

We misjudged then -- and we have since -- the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries . . . and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.

We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience. . . . We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.

We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.

Our judgments of friend and foe alike reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.

We failed then -- and have since -- to recognize the limitations of modern, high-technology military equipment, forces and doctrine. . . . We failed as well to adapt our military tactics to the task of winning the hearts and minds of people from a totally different culture.

We failed to draw Congress and the American people into a full and frank discussion and debate of the pros and cons of a large-scale military involvement . . . before we initiated the action.

After the action got under way and unanticipated events forced us off our planned course . . . we did not fully explain what was happening and why we were doing what we did.

We did not recognize that neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient. Our judgment of what is in another people's or country's best interest should be put to the test of open discussion in international forums. We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our image or as we choose.

We did not hold to the principle that U.S. military action . . . should be carried out only in conjunction with multinational forces supported fully (and not merely cosmetically) by the international community.

We failed to recognize that in international affairs, as in other aspects of life, there may be problems for which there are no immediate solutions. . . . At times, we may have to live with an imperfect, untidy world.

Underlying many of these errors lay our failure to organize the top echelons of the executive branch to deal effectively with the extraordinarily complex range of political and military issues.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq north pipeline to stay closed for months

Iraq's northern oil export line to Turkey, vital to Baghdad to maximise revenues and rebuild the country, will take months to restart as repairs are carried out and security is tightened, the U.S. Army said on Monday.

"It will take months before the Iraq-Turkey pipeline can start working again because several factors have to be coordinated such as repairs and security," said Richard Dowling, a spokesman for the Restore Iraqi Oil directorate of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which works with the Iraqi oil ministry.

"You can't just have partial security to the pipeline and you can't just have partial repairs," he said. Iraqi officials had hoped security along the pipeline would improve enough to allow shipments from the giant Kirkuk oilfields to restart this spring. But sabotage has not abated. The pipeline opened for a few days last year but was closed by another sabotage attack.

Oil industry officials said on Sunday that there had been 40 attacks on the pipeline in the last three to four months, steady with previous levels of sabotage that has hit the oil industry since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in April.

Reproduced here from Reuters: http://www.iraqwar.ru/iraq-read_article.php?articleId=34399&lang=en

 

[Barking_Mad]

Stress epidemic strikes American forces in Iraq

Up to one in five of the American military personnel in Iraq will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, say senior forces' medical staff dealing with the psychiatric fallout of the war.

This revelation follows the disclosure last month that more than 600 US servicemen and women have been evacuated from the country for psychiatric reasons since the conflict started last March.

At least 22 US soldiers have killed themselves - a rate considered abnormally high - mostly since President George Bush declared an end to major combat on 1 May last year, These suicides have led to a high-level Department of Defence investigation, details of which will be disclosed in the next few weeks.

Although the overall suicide rate is running at an average of 13.5 per 100,000 troops, compared with a US army average of 10.5 to 11 per 100,000 in recent years, the incidence of the vast majority of suicides in the period after 1 May is statistically significant, accounting for about 7 per cent of all service deaths in Iraq.

Reproduced here from the Observer: http://www.iraqwar.ru/iraq-read_article.php?articleId=34484&lang=en

 

[Barking_Mad]

Seven Iraqi police killed in attacks

Insurgents fired a rocket at the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition Monday night after gunmen killed seven Iraqi policemen in a pair of attacks west of Baghdad. A senior Iraqi official blamed al-Qaida for many of the suicide bombings around the country in recent weeks.

In the north, military divers searched the muddy waters of the Tigris River for three missing U.S. soldiers, including two pilots of an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter that crashed Sunday in Mosul during rescue operations after a patrol boat capsized. It was the fifth U.S. helicopter lost in Iraq this month - three from hostile fire.

One Iraqi man was killed Monday when he stepped on a roadside bomb as he got off a bus in a Baghdad suburb, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps 2nd Lt. Mustafa Tariq said. The explosion wounded three other passengers, one critically, and left the bus badly mangled, he said.

Late Monday, a roadside bomb exploded in a west Baghdad neighborhood, wounding one civilian and damaging at least three vehicles, witnesses said.

Elsewhere, two projectiles exploded for a second straight day Monday at the U.S. military base in Kirkuk, Iraqi police said, but there were no reports of damage or casualties. Witnesses also reported explosions near a Spanish garrison outside of Najaf, but the Spanish Defense Ministry said the base was not attacked.

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/01/27/national/a03012704_01.txt