*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Kaka Tim]

Nice one Barking.

The BBC's reporting of the renewed US assualt on Fallujah has been atroicious - little more than parroting whatever the US military are putting in their press releases - even (or espeically so?) when it bears no realtionship whatsoever to what is clearly happening in reality.

It took them ten days to report on eyewitness accounts from fallujah that we were reading on the net while it was actually happening.

There is some serious news management going on here - but I cant imaginge the people who matter- the Iraqis, are going to be convinced.

 

[Barking_Mad]

I'd encourage everyone to e-mail the head of BBC News, Richard Sambrook at:

[email protected]

Be polite but be frank and to the point about their reporting.

edit: It WAS probably just a coincidence but I also mailed Sambrook a few days before the piece talking about Jo Wildings eye witness reports, asking him why it hadnt been picked up on...

As I say probably coincidence but if people point stuff out it might at least put a few more bits of information onto the BBC web site.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Channel 4 showing pictures of a resistance fighter with a piece of paper with photos of Rumsfeld, Abaziad and Kimmitt on it saying they are offering $15m dollars for their head on a plate.

Stroll on.

edit: For $15m ill have a go myself. When's the next flight to Baghdad?

 

[Barking_Mad]

More Iraqi soldiers refusing to fight

Siege of Fallujah provokes second mutiny

A second unit of the Iraqi armed forces has mutinied at Fallujah after being involved in heavy fighting with insurgents Ali Allawi, the Iraqi Defence Minister, said yesterday.

Part of the 36th battalion of the paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defence Corps revolted last week after the unit had been fighting in the besieged city for 11 days, the minister told The Independent yesterday. Mr Allawi blamed the mutiny on "a failure of command. The commanding officer was absent, his deputy ... was seriously wounded and the number three faltered".

At the start of the siege of Fallujah three weeks ago, one of the five battalions of the newly formed Iraqi army refused to go to the city because many of its soldiers were not prepared to fight fellow Iraqis.

But news of the mutiny of a second Iraqi unit had not been released. Mr Allawi said US Marines "had to separate those who did want to fight from those who would not".

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=516306

 

[Barking_Mad]

Didnt they say the same about Saddam loyalists? Interesting to see that this is form the Marines website. First time Ive seen a link to it on Newsnow - a recent application for a feed no doubt......

WASHINGTON(April 28, 2004) -- The way the stalemate in Fallujah, Iraq, is ultimately resolved - either through a negotiated agreement or through military force - "will resonate throughout Iraq" and "deal a blow to all the insurgents across the country," the operations chief for U.S. Central Command told Pentagon reporters today.

Marine Maj. Gen. John Sattler said the outcome will dash the hopes of other insurgents who were "hanging on, thinking that they can hold out long enough or they can hold out until they can negotiate on their terms." Actions in Fallujah, he said, will send message, loud and clear, that those hopes are nothing but a "pipe dream," he said via video teleconference from U.S. Central Command's forward headquarters in Qatar.

If the situation erupts into fighting, Sattler said the insurgents will get a quick, firsthand lesson in the capabilities of the U.S. military. "If they take us on in direct confrontation, the end result is always that they take a severe beating," he said.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/257E49F8C6FF305885256E8400749DD6?OpenDocument

 

[Barking_Mad]

Does Blair recognise anything?! What a fuck wit.

The Liberal Democrats claimed today that the Iraq war would cost the British taxpayer £6bn - double the amount initially set aside for the conflict by the chancellor, Gordon Brown.

In a stormy PMQs, dominated by the recent violent events in Falluja, the Lib Dems economic spokesman, Dr Vincent Cable, said the growing costs would create a "growing hole" in the chancellor's budget, and the cost of plugging it could see the prime minister face the same fate as Anthony Eden.

But Mr Blair rejected the cost analysis, saying merely that he "did not recognise the figure".

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1205271,00.html

 

[Barking_Mad]

Newsnight reporting former US ambassador's have joined UK ones in attacking Bush.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Updates from today - by no means complete of course......

04/28/04 AP: Marine wounded in Fallujah
Marine units moving into a position in southeast Fallujah came under fire, wounding one Marine in the shoulder, Byrne said.

04/28/04 Centcom: Soldier Dies From Injuries Following Grenade Attack
One Soldier assigned to Task Force Olympia died April 28 from wounds following a hand grenade attack west of Mosul just before 7 p.m. April 27. Three other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

04/28/04 Reuters: Five police killed in Iraq attack
Armed men attacked the residence of the police chief of the northern Iraq province of Mosul on Wednesday and killed five of his men, hospital sources and witnesses said.

04/28/04 Timesleader: Danville soldier hurt in Iraq blast
A Pennsylvania National Guard soldier from Danville has been injured in an explosion in Iraq.

04/28/04 KOMO: Explosion In Iraq Kills Washington, Oregon Security Guards
A private security guard from Port Orchard, Wash., and one from Portland, Ore., died when the vehicle they were riding in was blown up by a roadside bomb in Iraq

04/28/04 Reuters: U.S. Pounds Falluja from Air Again
U.S. fighter jets and heavy airborne gunships joined a new assault on the besieged Iraqi city of Falluja Wednesday, local residents said.

http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx

 

[Barking_Mad]

According to Newsnight the US is moving military hardware back to Iraq from the US after believing it wouldnt be needed.

 

[Leo JP]

From cnn.com:

Breaking news: 8 US Soldiers killed in car bomb attack in Mahmoudiya. Details soon.

 

[Leo JP]

Another breaking news from cnn.com:

10 US Soldiers killed today in a string of attacks according, to coalition officials.

 

[Barking_Mad]

This one slipped by most major news services........

US helicopter crashes in Kout, south Baghdad, crew dead‏
‏‏
‏ BAGHDAD, April 27 (KUNA) -- A US helicopter crashed at 1.00 pm Tuesday, ‏
‏said sources in the city of Kout, 180 km south of Baghdad.‏
‏ Sources affirmed that the helicopter crashed into a high voltage pole, ‏
‏which was probably the main reason for the accident.‏ US Army sources said, the helicopter was totally destroyed in the crash and ‏
‏that its crew was killed. It did not indicate the type of the helicopter or ‏
‏whether it was one for exploration.‏ Residents in Kout said the helicopter may have been shot at by members of ‏
‏the Mehdi Army before it hit the electric pole.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=626023

 

[Barking_Mad]

Here's a report re: the two posts above and the 8 dead US troops

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eight U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday in the Baghdad area, a U.S. military spokesman said. Media reports said the troops were killed in a car bomb attack, but the spokesman had no details. The Arab television network Al-Arabiya reported that the troops were killed in a car bomb explosion in the town of Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad. The spokesman could not confirm the report.

The deaths came after another U.S. soldier was killed Thursday by a rocket-propelled grenade attack on his patrol in eastern Baghdad, the military said. Another soldier was killed and another wounded Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy outside the city of Baqouba, 24 miles north of the capital, the military said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...e_mi_ea/iraq_soldier_killed&cid=540&ncid=1478

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fighting flares in Fallujah as report emerges of agreement to end siege

U.S. forces delayed potentially dangerous joint Iraqi-American patrols in Fallujah after three days of fighting and pressure increased on the United States to prevent an escalation of violence in the besieged city.

Easing the prospect of an assault on Fallujah, a tentative agreement has been reached under which the United States would end its siege of Fallujah and withdraw marines from around the city over several days, Los Angeles Times reporter Tony Perry told CNN on Thursday.

Story here:

 

[hovis]

US forces to pull out of Falluja

link

US marines are to withdraw from positions they have held in the flashpoint Iraqi city of Falluja, an American military commander has said.
Lt Col Brennan Byrne said this would allow a newly created all-Iraqi force to take control of the city on Friday.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fox reporting that US planes have attacked Fallujah. The news anchor described them as attacking "former Baathists and foreign terrorists"

ha!

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fleeing Fallujans killed as crisis deepens

US soldiers have fired on a minibus full of civilians near a checkpoint on the outskirts of the besieged Iraqi town of Falluja.

Witnesses said a hail of bullets from occupation forces on Thursday turned the vehicle into a ball of fire. Iraqi policeman Fuad al-Hamdani said four civilians were killed in the unprovoked attack.

People have been leaving Falluja following major US airstrikes on the town, 50km west of Baghdad. No one was able to explain why soldiers fired at the vehicle and the US military said it had yet to receive information on any incident in the area.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/23DD393A-BEDC-42F0-ACB5-345FF690E4D8.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi flag to be replaced

Iraq's new flag is already being spoken of in the past tense after the universal outrage its unveiling provoked amongst Iraqis.

Massoud Barzani, head of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), said this week the flag "will stand for a few months until we decide on a new flag for Iraq".

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=516634

 

[Barking_Mad]

A new poll and guess what? It suggests that we arent welcome.......

That finding coincides with a no less alarming survey of the mood within Iraq itself. The basic message of a new CNN-USA Today poll is that ordinary Iraqis are glad that Saddam Hussein has gone but feel less secure than when he was in power. They no longer regard US forces as liberators, but as heavy-handed occupiers.

By a 56-37 majority, Iraqis would prefer US and British troops to leave their country at once. Over two-thirds believe that, during military operations, US forces are "not trying at all" to protect ordinary civilians from being killed or wounded.

Almost 3,500 Iraqis, from all sections of the population, were interviewed, in the biggest exercise of its kind yet. Opinion is split on whether Iraq as a whole is better off as a result of the invasion, although a clear majority say they personally and their families are financially better off.

However, the poll includes the semi-autonomous Kurdish areas of Iraq, where support for the invasion was almost 100 per cent. In Baghdad itself, by a three to one majority, people now believe the war has done more harm than good.

Two-thirds of Baghdadis say the current attacks against US forces are sometimes or always justifiable. Much of the polling, moreover, was carried out before the latest upsurge in violence, and the flare-ups in the cities of Najaf and Fallujah.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=516690

 

[Louloubelle]

US troops accused of torturing iraqis

A US television network aired photographs taken late last year showing US troops abusing Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison, a notorious centre of torture and executions under Saddam Hussein.

The pictures showed US troops smiling, posing, laughing or giving the thumbs-up sign as naked, male Iraqi prisoners were stacked in a pyramid or positioned to simulate sex acts with one another.

One Iraqi man was told to stand on a box with his head covered, and wires attached to his hands, and was informed that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted.

http://www.itv.com/news/1236623.html

 

[Gumbert]

Falluja fighters dent US morale

Under cover of darkness, US Marine snipers hunting the fighters of Falluja have spent a long night on Iraq's desert sand, emerging with little but frustration.

"We were on some very exposed ground and we didn't get anyone," said an exhausted Lance Corporal Migel Nunez, 22, of Elgin, Texas.

It was their tenth ambush mission in Iraq, none of which killed or captured a fighter near the city, site of a weeks-long standoff with resistance fighters who the US occupation forces say include Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign Muslim fighters.

For weeks US Marines operating near the city have been searching houses, hunting suspected fighters and setting up ambush positions deep in enemy territory.

Few results

But the operations have yielded few tangible results and despite their high-tech weapons and draconian discipline, US Marines are struggling against resourceful resistance fighters with no clear leadership, structure or supply lines.

Marines say the fighters have mastered the art of attacking them and then melting away in villages where it is impossible to distinguish between fighters and civilians.

"They fire their AK-47s from their homes, walk out the back door and then actually walk up and shake hands with American soldiers when the fighting is over," said Lance Corporal Peter Johnson, 20, of Wheaton, Illinois.

"It is just impossible to tell them apart. They can't aim very well and they don't have lots of weapons but they are resourceful and smart. They are getting better."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FD57CF75-62E8-4C43-BF2D-2D0F0F89437B.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

"It is just impossible to tell them apart. They can't aim very well and they don't have lots of weapons but they are resourceful and smart. They are getting better."

Havent we heard that before somewhere?

 

[Barking_Mad]

AP Toll Says 1,361 Iraqis Killed in April

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Volunteers hunting for bodies in Fallujah find a woman and her daughter in their home, killed in the siege but undiscovered for days. Chanting mourners bury two boys caught in the crossfire of a Baghdad gunfight. A morgue in Basra overflows with torn and burned bodies from a suicide bombing.

Victims - young and old, women and men, insurgents and innocents - have been piling up day by day, making April the deadliest month for Iraqis - and Americans - since the fall of Saddam Hussein a year ago.

Official and complete death counts for Iraqis nationwide are unavailable. But a count by The Associated Press found that around 1,361 Iraqis were killed from April 1 to April 30 - 10 times the figure of at least 136 U.S. troops who died during the same period.

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/8560631.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Former foe warns U.S. about Iraq

HANOI, VIETNAM -- The frail and tiny man who defeated two superpowers returned to the spotlight Friday to talk of triumphs past and deliver words of warning to the Americans at war in Iraq. "Any forces that would impose their will on other nations will certainly face defeat," said Vo Nguyen Giap, the legendary general whose strategies wore out the French colonial regime and then the U.S. Army.

Giap is 92, the last of Vietnam's giants from a 30-year war to shake off colonial rule and unite the country under communism. The occasion for the rare meeting with journalists was two landmark anniversaries: The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, and the defeat of French colonial forces at the epic siege of Dien Bien Phu 50 years ago next Friday. With critics of the Iraq war likening it to America's Vietnam experience, Giap's opinion was eagerly sought, but the man considered one of history's foremost military strategists prefaced his reply with caution, saying he didn't know the specifics of the Iraqi situation.

He offered this: "All nations fighting for their legitimate interests and sovereignty will surely win." Giap emphasized that the powers of today shouldn't underestimate weaker countries' desire for independence. Vietnam "proves that if a nation is determined to stand up, it is very strong," he said, adding that his country led the wave of independence wars that freed the colonies of the European empires after World War II.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4753040.html

 

[Barking_Mad]

Looks like Rummy is trying to influence the press.......

Rumsfeld releases controversial mosque pictures
United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has released photographs of Iraqi insurgents holding weapons inside the main mosque in the holy city of Najaf.

Mr Rumsfeld has been critical of media coverage of the stand off at Najaf, one of the holy Shiite centres controlled by the cleric Sheikh Moqtada al-Sadr.

"Here's a wonderful picture that just gives you a little sense of ... this is the mosque in Najaf and you can see they have all kinds of religious instruments called rocket propelled grenades and AK-47's," he said.

"That's what they do in their mosques. "So that isn't in the paper." Mr Rumsfeld says "time will tell" if a more brutal conflict is avoidable in the other besieged city of Fallujah, where American planes are continuing to bombard insurgent positions.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1097927.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Al-Jazeera tones down 'violent' images

Staff at al-Jazeera have been ordered to tone down "excessive violence" in their coverage of Iraq, sparking fears that the Arab satellite channel's senior editors are softening in their determination to resist pressure from the US government.
Al-Jazeera's unflinching approach to covering the violence in the Middle East has put it at loggerheads with the Bush administration, and this week the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, made an official complaint to the Qatar government about the channel.

Mr Powell protested that what he claimed was the channel's anti-American bias was "clouding" relations between the two countries.

The channel, which is based in the Qatari capital, Doha, has always refused to bow to such pressure - despite being funded by the autocratic Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, a staunch ally of America. The strategy has earned al-Jazeera a huge following throughout the Arab world. But now it has emerged that earlier this month staff received

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1206813,00.html

 

[Barking_Mad]

Jessica Lynch

Former prisoner of war, Jessica Lynch finally meets with the man who provided information that led to her rescue.

Lynch and Mohammed Odeh Al-Rehaief met on April 7th in Washington, DC, while she was there for a seminar. Lynch's lawyer, Stephen Goodwin, says Al-Rehaief's wife and six year old daughter accompanied him to the meeting, which lasted about an hour.

The meeting is said to have gone very well. Al-Rehaief says Lynch thanked him and both hope to meet again. Lynch was captured March 23rd, 2003 after her convoy was ambushed

http://www.wvva.com/story5.htm

 

[Hawkeye Pearce]

Latest from Iraq body count here

And latest US/UK casualties here

 

[Barking_Mad]

Six British soldiers hurt in Iraq

Six British soldiers have been injured after a foot patrol came under fire in the southern Iraqi city of Amarah. One of the party was seriously injured and evacuated to a military hospital at Shaibah, on the outskirts of Basra. The attack sparked a seven-and-a-half hour gun battle with insurgents in the city centre which left five Iraqis dead, according to witnesses.

The Iraqis killed were said to be members of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army. British Royal Air Force Squadron Leader and military spokesman Jonathan Arnold said the clashes were still ongoing."There is some ongoing unrest in the city right now. There are ongoing follow-up operations going on now," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3677255.stm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq Veteran Criticizes Bush on Radio

Washington (AP) - An Iraq war veteran expressed disappointment with President Bush (website - news - bio) on Saturday, saying the nation's leaders refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of continuing violence in Iraq.

"I don't expect our leaders to be free of mistakes. I expect our leaders to own up to them," said Army National Guard 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff, who was a platoon leader in Iraq. Rieckhoff's comments, distributed by Sen. John Kerry (website - news - bio) 's presidential campaign, were the Democratic response to the president's weekly radio address. Usually, a public official gives the response. "Our troops are still waiting for more body armor. They are still waiting for better equipment. They are still waiting for a policy that brings in the rest of the world and relieves their burden," said Rieckhoff.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0504/143755.html