*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Leo JP]

Breaking news: 3 Japanese civilians kidnapped, and will be killed unless Tokyo withdraws it's troops. South Koreans reported to have been taken hostage as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3611397.stm

 

[Gumbert]

Talks underway with al-Sadr

Talks are underway with Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militiamen and supporters have taken up arms against occupation forces in Iraq.

Adnan Pachachi, a member of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) told Aljazeera on Thursday they are discussing ways to end the rebellion.

"We pledge to respect his honor and his security," said Pachachi.

Al-Sadr's loyalists and members of his militia, the al-Mahdi Army, started an uprising against occupation forces on Sunday after Spanish forces opened fire on demonstrators in the southern city of Najaf, killing at least 20.

They were protesting the occupation's detention of al-Sadr aide Mustafa Yacubi and the closure of a pro-al-Sadr publication.

Since then more than 300 Iraqis and 33 US soldiers have been killed in fighting across Najaf, Karbala, Kut, Amara, Falluja, Ramadi, Baquba, Baghdad and Kirkuk.

US tanks and helicopters are reported to have attacked al-Sadr's office at dawn on Thursday in the Baghdad suburb of al-Sadr City.

Residents say tanks first opened fire on the office and then helicopters fired two rockets on it, reducing it to rubble. No one was hurt in the attack as there was no one inside the office at time of attack.

US occupation forces vowed on Wednesday to "destroy" the al-Mahdi army.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BA189005-80A4-4295-8720-68EF6130CFC6.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Sanchez tells Fallujah residents to take sides

General Sanchez, for his part, insisted the people of Falluja would have to decide between supporting the insurgents or his troops. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3610559.stm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Briton Kidnapped in Southern Iraq Town

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A British civilian was kidnapped this week in the southern Iraqi town of Nassiriya, the scene of heavy fighting between radical Shi'ite militiamen and Italian troops, a coalition official said on Thursday. The official named the man as Gary Teeley, a British contractor. A Foreign Office official in London confirmed that Teeley was missing, but would not say what he was doing in Iraq or comment on the manner of his disappearance.

"He is missing. We were first made aware of this on Monday, April 5. We are in touch with his next of kin and the appropriate military and civilian authorities. I don't have any further information," a spokeswoman told Reuters. British media said Teeley, 37, was married and resident in the Middle East and had been working at a U.S. airbase.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4786602&section=news

 

[Barking_Mad]

More reported kidnappings in Iraq

Israeli media say two international aid workers were kidnapped today by insurgents. They're identified as Arab residents of Jerusalem.

Footage from Iranian T-V was rebroadcast on Israeli television -- showing the two men identifying themselves.

http://www.kbcitv.com/x5154.xml?Par...qm5t00.xml&NewsSection=InternationalHeadlines

 

[Louloubelle]

7 south koreans kidnapped earlier today have been released according to sky news

 

[Walter Mitty]

I thought it was 7 Japanese, there be burned alive if Japan doesn't withdraw its troops from Iraq.

 

[Jessiedog]

I thought it was 7 Japanese, there be burned alive if Japan doesn't withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Three. And still being held according to TVB news (Hong Kong) a half hour ago.

Woof

 

[Louloubelle]

I thought it was 7 Japanese, there be burned alive if Japan doesn't withdraw its troops from Iraq.

I heard it was 2 japanese, a man and a woman, still kept captive

 

[Jessiedog]

I heard it was 2 japanese, a man and a woman, still kept captive

Two men, one woman.

Two journalists and one......ummmm......Aid Worker methinks (dunno which gender goes with which job).



Woof

 

[Barking_Mad]

Al-Jazeera have footage from the Japanese captives which must be going down extremely badly in Japan considering how anti-war the Japanese population was and is.

Not nice footage - had them tied up and blindfolded, laid on the floor. They moved across the line running a large sword and a gun under their throats. Been given 3 days to releaase them. Unless to militia decide to let them go, they're as good as dead already.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

ITN reports that a british 'contractor' has also gone missing in Iraq. They seemed to be implying he was some kind of builder rather than a mercenary.

 

[freethepeeps]

ITN reports that a british 'contractor' has also gone missing in Iraq. They seemed to be implying he was some kind of builder rather than a mercenary.

That seems to be par for the course:

The bulk of the media and political class in Britain has followed this lead in an apparent attempt to normalise the occupation of Iraq in the eyes of the public. The fact that British squaddies shot dead 15 Iraqis in Amara on Tuesday has had little more coverage than the shameful beating to death of Iraqi prisoners in British custody. Both the BBC and ITN routinely refer to British troops as "peacekeepers"; private mercenaries are called "civilian contractors"; the rebranding of the occupation planned for June is described as the "handover of power to the Iraqis"; the Sadr group always represents a "small minority" of Shia opinion; and a patently unscientific and contradictory poll carried out in Iraq last month - in which most people said they were opposed to the presence of coalition forces in Iraq - is absurdly used to claim majority support for the occupation.

Seamus Milne

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Well, maybe the poor guy is a builder or some other sort of non-violent actual civilian. I'm not rushing to judgement on that one, although I'll agree that the US/UK propaganda machine has a tendency to blur the distinction.

 

[Barking_Mad]

An Observer reporter has said on Channel 4 that he's been around Fallujah and that the US Marines control the main road, but all the others roads are full of militia. He'd spoken a a local tribal leader who had said that the few that were for negotiation are now all against the US.

The guy went on to say he wasnt sure how much more ammunition the Iraqis had left.

 

[bigfish]

Well, maybe the poor guy is a builder or some other sort of non-violent actual civilian. I'm not rushing to judgement on that one, although I'll agree that the US/UK propaganda machine has a tendency to blur the distinction.

I spoke earlier this afternoon with one of Gary Teeley's longstanding friends from his home town of Northampton who also happens to be a close personal friend of mine. He tells me that Teeley is not a mercenary, but rather a laundry contractor working for an American military base in Nassiriya.

 

[Barking_Mad]

BAH! Here I am slaving away, day after day, pointlessly striving on through all this depressing news and Bigfish swans in and beats me to the 100th page!

I want a re-count!

that was a joke btw im not that sad

 

[Bernie Gunther]

It appears the White House and No 10 are still keen to get a legal mandate and other support from the UN for their transition plan by sometime in May

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Iraqi scumbags prepare to do what they do best.

http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/modules/Article/print.jsp?itemId=10169441

 

[bigfish]

BAH! Here I am slaving away, day after day, pointlessly striving on through all this depressing news and Bigfish swans in and beats me to the 100th page!

I want a re-count!

that was a joke btw im not that sad

I'm truly sorry about that BM... I had no idea my post would turn the thread page to the symbolic 100...

No one deserved the honour more than you, though I think it's more than fair to say that both of us would have much preferred the thread not to have reached the length that it has. How many corpses litter these tragic pages I wonder?

Once again BM I salute you're noble effort in keeping us superbly informed of the unfolding tragedy in Iraq and elsewhere.

 

[Barking_Mad]

I'm truly sorry about that BM... I had no idea my post would turn the thread page to the symbolic 100...

No one deserved the honour more than you, though I think it's more than fair to say that both of us would have much preferred the thread not to have reached the length that it has. How many corpses litter these tragic pages I wonder?

Once again BM I salute you're noble effort in keeping us superbly informed of the unfolding tragedy in Iraq and elsewhere.

Well its not just me, lots of others helpp out too - I just felt that what was going on shouldn't be forgotten and this thread shouldnt be left to die off. But you're right, I dont think anyone wants to be doing this.

Reading through those early pages is a eerie now....

 

[Barking_Mad]

US dead reaches 41 in 8 days

Here -Although I think that might not be all of them and the site has no number for casualties.

Iraqi Dead

300+ in Fallujah, 15 in Basra the other day.......oh god knows......probably over 500 at the least.

 

[Barking_Mad]

From Robert Fisk in the Independent:

Iraq Anarchy

For the past nine nights, for example, the main US base close to Baghdad airport - and the area around the terminals - has come under mortar fire. Yet the occupying powers have kept this secret. "Things are getting very bad and they're going to get worse," a special forces officer said close to the airport yesterday. "But no one is saying that - either because they don't know or because they don't want you to know." http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=5282

And one from the 2nd April

It's not just a 'spike' or an 'uptick' in violence

Next to General Kimmitt often stands Dan Senor, spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority who, with his frameless glasses, unsmiling demeanour and his occasional, fearful glances at the general when the latter faces a dodgy question, resembles the kind of doctor who clears his throat and quietly advises his patients to settle their affairs. He almost smiled when General Kimmitt announced his army's intention to conduct "precision operations" against "anti-Coalition elements and enemies of the Iraqi people". But wasn't this all a bit Soviet? Didn't the Red Army conduct operations against "anti-socialist elements and enemies of the Afghan people"?

But there was an interesting twist - horribly ironic in the face of yesterday's butchery - in General Kimmitt's narrative. Why, I asked him, did he refer sometimes to "terrorists" and at other times to "insurgents"?

Surely if you could leap from being a terrorist to being an insurgent, then with the next little hop, skip and jump, you become a "freedom-fighter". http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=5259

 

[Barking_Mad]

Poor bastards

Five Marines, All 18, Killed in Iraq

WASHINGTON - Among the surging number of American troops killed in action in Iraq this month were five 18-year-olds. In the previous 13 months of the war, eight troops that age had died, of which two were killed in action.

The five 18-year-olds listed as killed in action this month were all Marines, who typically are younger than the average soldier.

The fifth, announced Thursday, was Lance Cpl. Marcus M. Cherry of Imperial, Calif. He died Tuesday in the Al Anbar Province that is the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's area of responsibility.

The Marines did not describe how Cherry died other than to say it involved "hostile fire." The minimum age to join the U.S. military is 17, with parental approval. While there is no age restriction for going to war, the services typically do not send people overseas until age 18.

Five 19-year-olds - four Marines and one soldier - also have been killed in the past week, compared with 35 in the previous 13 months.

One female soldier also was among this month's killed in action. Spc. Tyanna S. Felder, 22, of Bridgeport, Conn., died of injuries sustained Sunday in Mosul when her convoy vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. She was a member of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Wash. http://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040408/API/404081082

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq a 'Perfect Storm'

"This isn't about Shiite or Sunni, or who will lead Iraq. Now it's a war of liberation to kick the occupiers out of Iraqi lands."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0409/p01s03-woiq.html

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Allies refuse to give in to chickenshit tactics.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040408/1/3jdho.html

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Al Jazeera report on current events in Fallujah

 

[Gumbert]

bernie, i'm a lazy fucker who skim reads and cant be bothered clicking most of the time so i (as a materialistic westerner) like it on a plate...

like this

Ten Iraqi resistance fighters were reported killed on Thursday as US marines - their own casualties rising - met ferocious resistance in the besieged western Iraqi town of Falluja several days into their offensive.

The tough fight put up by insurgents in Falluja, west of Baghdad, prompted the marine commander to make comparisons with the Vietnam War.

As the day drew to a close, sniper fire and mortars were being fired around the main marine compound in the industrial area on the eastern edge of town, where rocket fire and mortars fell short all day.

"Marines southwest of Falluja were attacked by an unknown number of enemy forces in buildings using machine guns, small arms, hand grenades and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades)," said a military statement.

"The marines called in reinforcements and attacked the enemy positions, destroying a truck with a mounted machine gun and the building that the attackers were firing from. Ten enemy combatants were confirmed killed."

The statement also said about 30 insurgents had been killed in the Al-Anbar province, home to Fallujah, but mostly in clashes in other marine operations in nearby Ramadi. Neither claim could be verified.

Later in the day the US military said it had suffered six more combat deaths in Iraq, bringing to 449 the number of soldiers killed in combat since the invasion.

Forty US troops have been killed across Iraq in the past week

In a statement, it said five soldiers had been killed in action on Wednesday and Thursday, and added that another soldier had died after being wounded in a bomb attack on 4 April in the northern city of Mosul.

Forty US troops have been killed across Iraq in the past week.

Advance slowed

Throughout the day US occupation forces inched forward block-by-block taking sniper fire and hit-and-run attacks with mortars and RPGs. A US medic said the resistance was more intense than in last spring's invasion.

Mortars and small-arms fire were launched by small groups of insurgents who appeared in alleyways or on rooftops, only to melt away.

The thud of mortar rounds echoed around the town and plumes of smoke dotted the landscape. Machine-gun fire rattled through the streets as F-16 warplanes buzzed overhead.

After more than three days of ferocious fighting, the marines had managed to move just two kilometres (a little over a mile) through the industrial zone, which they had thought was largely abandoned.

They stopped their advance in the afternoon to wait for reinforcements from another battalion.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DFDE9EBC-B8D9-43C6-BE5C-1A30B84EF7AC.htm

you could do the same too johnny canmakewar2...

by the way youv'e been quiet. Any particular reason? Vietnam nightmares returning..?

 

[Gumbert]

Rice: Bush understood al-Qaida threat

why post this here?

check it out...

President George Bush realised the importance of the threat from al-Qaida as soon as he took office, says his national security adviser.

Condoleezza Rice has appeared before an official inquiry to respond to criticism that Bush underestimated the threat posed by the group before the 11 September 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.

"President Bush understood the threat, and he understood its importance," she said in her opening statement on Thursday.

"He made clear to us that he did not want to respond to al-Qaida one attack at a time. He told me he was 'tired of swatting flies'."

Rice calmly admitted there were indications in the summer of 2001 that suspected al-Qaida operatives were planning a major attack against US interests.

"Yet, as your hearings have shown, there was no silver bullet that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks,'' she told the commission headed by Thomas Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey, and Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana.

Democrat pressure

Rice, under oath and before a live national television audience, clashed with Democratic members of the bipartisan commission over whether the Bush administration was negligent in the summer before the hijacked airliner attacks.

"The terrorists were at war with us, but we were not yet at war with them. For more than 20 years, the terrorist threat gathered, and America's response across several administrations of both parties was insufficient," Rice said.

Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democrat, pressed Rice on a briefing given to Bush on 6 August 2001, when a document was presented entitled: Bin Ladin Determined to Attack Inside the United States.

As members of the audience, including some family members of 9/11 victims applauded, Ben-Veniste demanded the report be declassified. Rice revealed the title but said it contained no specific threats.

<edit> the important bit..

But damaging accusations from former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke late last month - that the administration did not take the threat from al-Qaida seriously and was obsessed with toppling Saddam Hussein - forced Bush to change his stance last week.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0DE96A0F-8C22-44BA-8BBC-60E5F051A541.htm

Cos theres sweet FA about Iraq!!!!!!! Ruling fuckers cover up again!

 

[Gumbert]

btw not so happy birthday to this thread..