*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

'I will always hate you people' - Family's fury at mystery death

The first Mohammed Munim al-Izmerly's family knew of his death was when his battered corpse turned up at Baghdad's morgue. Attached to the zipped-up black US body bag was a laconic note. The US military claimed in the note that Dr Izmerly, a distinguished chemistry professor arrested after US tanks encircled his villa, had died of "brainstem compression".

Dr Izmerly's sudden death after 10 months in American custody left his family stunned, not least because three weeks earlier they had visited him in the US prison at Baghdad airport. His 23-year-old daughter, Rana, recalled that he had seemed in "good health".

The family commissioned an independent Iraqi autopsy. Its conclusion was unambiguous: Dr Izmerly had died because of a "sudden hit to the back of his head", Faik Amin Baker, the director of Baghdad hospital's forensic department, certified. The cause of death was blunt trauma. It was uncertain exactly how he died, but someone had hit him from behind, possibly with a bar or a pistol, Dr Baker confirmed yesterday. "He died from a massive blow to the head. We don't disagree with the coalition's report, but it doesn't explain how he got his injuries in the first place," he told the Guardian........

........"This was not natural," Rana told the Guardian yesterday, in the first interview given by the family since his death. "The evidence is clear. It suggests the Americans killed him and then tried to hide what they had done. I will hate Americans and British people for the rest of my life. You are democrats. You said you were coming to bring democracy, and yet you kill my father. By accepting your governments, you accept what they do here in Iraq.

"You offer no proof that he did something wrong, you refuse him a lawyer and then you kill him. Why?"

 

[Barking_Mad]

Two Britons killed in Iraq attack

Two Britons have been killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in central Baghdad, the Foreign Office says. "Two British nationals have been killed," a spokeswoman said, without giving further details. Officials and soldiers said guerrillas fired a rocket-propelled grenade at foreign security guards in a civilian vehicle in central Baghdad on Monday, setting the car ablaze.

The four-wheel drive armoured car was attacked near an entrance to Baghdad's "Green Zone" compound where the U.S.-led coalition is based. Security sources in the Iraqi capital said the car belonged to a private security company and that it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The U.S. military said at least four people were killed, but a coalition official said the death toll was two, both of them foreigners. The official said another foreigner was seriously wounded. U.S. soldiers, Iraqi police and firefighters were quickly on the scene, dousing the burnt-out white all-terrain vehicle with water, sending clouds of steam and smoke into the air.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq-Turkey pipeline bombed

SABOTEURS overnightbombed and damaged a pipeline that takes crude from the northern Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey, a security official of Iraq's Northern Oil Company said."At 7pm local time (1am AEST Tuesday), an explosive device detonated on a pipeline," Jumaa Ahmed said.

He said the attack was carried out on a pipeline linking the Kirkuk oilfields to the Dibis pumping installations, 50 km further north. "Pumping had to be stopped in order to battle the fire," he said. Issam Mohammed, another security official for Northern Oil, said the fire was later put out but the damage would take 12 days to repair.

Northern Iraq's pipeline, which leads to Turkish's Mediterranean terminal of Ceyhan, has not been in regular use ever since August because of a series of sabotage operations blamed on anti-US guerrillas. Pumping through Iraq's Basra terminal in the Gulf returned last Wednesday to the 1.7 million barrels a day level of before a May 9 sabotage.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Melbourne man's secret jailing

A MELBOURNE man has been imprisoned by coalition and Kurdish authorities in Iraq for the past four months.But the Australian Government, despite being a coalition partner and repeatedly seeking answers, is unaware of the nature of the allegations against the 26-year-old.

The man is the subject of an International Committee of the Red Cross report and his welfare has been monitored by Australian consular officials since he was jailed in February. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman Lyndall Sachs said despite ICRC and Australian diplomatic visits, the reasons for his detention remained a mystery. The Victorian is now in prison in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, a large, predominantly Kurdish centre with a population of 486,000. There were no allegations he had been subjected to abuses similar to those at Abu Ghraib and alleged at some other military prisons in Iraq.

He was detained by authorities representing the Kurdish Regional Government, Ms Sachs said. "We are not aware of the reasons for detention but we are pressing the regional authority and the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority)," she said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi Shia holy shrine 'damaged'

Shia Muslims came to the shrine when they heard about the clashes
One of Iraq's holiest Shia Islamic shrines has reportedly been damaged in clashes between US troops and the forces of militant cleric Moqtada Sadr. Correspondents say the incident in Najaf - in which at least three people were injured - is likely to spark outrage among Iraq's Shia majority.

Mr Sadr reportedly visited the site of the attack in Najaf to inspect the damage, amid chanting from crowds. Al-Jazeera TV showed damage to the inner gate of the shrine leading to the tomb and debris strewn on the ground. It also showed that a veil covering the entrance to the tomb had been torn and injured people lying on the floor of the compound. It was not clear who fired the missiles. A representative of militant cleric, Ahmed Shebani, said five or six missiles had hit the building. There was no immediate comment from the US military, or reports of US casualties. Imam Ali was the Prophet Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law and he is the most revered saint among Shia Muslims. The gilded dome of the shrine was damaged earlier this month.

The Arab TV station Al-Jazeera reported that a bridge outside the town of al-Kut between Najaf and Karbala had been blown up.

 

[Barking_Mad]

France urges changes to Iraq plan

France says the new Iraqi government that emerges after next month's transfer of sovereignty will only be credible if it has real powers. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said the draft UN resolution on Iraq's future proposed by the US and UK needed to be improved if it was to work. France, which opposed the Iraq war, has the power of veto at the UN.

The president of Iraq's Governing Council has also said the US-British blueprint falls short of expectations. Ghazi Ajil al-Yawer told reporters that he hoped the views of the Governing Council would be incorporated into the final version of the resolution. On the draft proposal tabled at the UN on Monday, he said: "We found it less than our expectations."

It would seem many Iraqis arent going to accept this plan....

But in Iraq, there was little faith in US promises to hand over power.

"We don't believe anything Bush says. The Americans have not done a thing for Iraqis, And now he promises to hand over power to Iraqis in a democracy after handpicking the people in the Governing Council," Haidar Majeed, a Baghdad trader, told Reuters.

 

[Gumbert]

US-UK differ over Iraqi sovereignty

Yeh right! More importantly who wants top colonial job!

Wednesday 26 May 2004, 2:26 Makka Time, 23:26 GMT

Differences have arisen over who would control foreign troops

Differences have surfaced between the US and UK over who would control foreign troops in Iraq after sovereignty is restored.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday said the planned interim Iraqi government will exercise final control. But hours later, US Secretary of State Colin Powell disagreed, saying American forces will be under US command and do whatever necessary to protect themselves.

The apparent fissures between the allies could complicate their efforts to secure UN Security Council endorsement for a 30 June handover in Iraq, particularly after France, Russia and China signaled they wanted changes to a draft resolution.

"The final political control over foreign troops remains with the Iraqi government. That’s what the transfer of sovereignty means," Blair said.

But Powell portrayed a different picture."Ultimately…US forces remain under US command and will do what is necessary to protect themselves," he said.

As the two allies bickered, Iraqis reacted with skepticism to US President George Bush's promises on Monday of a peaceful and independent future.

"Bush is a scorpion. He is a liar. He is sneaky, making all kinds of promise when he just wants to control Iraq," said Ayman Haidar, a policeman manning a Baghdad traffic checkpoint.

Anti-war countries like France, Russia and China said the draft resolution presented to the Security Council needs improvement.

"It’s a draft…a draft which should be discussed and improved," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said. French President Jacques Chirac called Bush by telephone to say sovereignty must be real and perceived as such by Iraqis.

Together with Russia and China, France also wants an expiry date set for US-led forces in Iraq, but with a right to renew the deployment if Iraqis agreed.

Guarantees demanded

In Baghdad, the Iraqi Governing Council also called for changes in the draft to guarantee Iraqi control over troops on its soil and of its oil.

'Ultimately…US forces remain under US command and will do what is necessary to protect themselves" Colin Powell,US Secretary of State

"We as Iraqis see the necessity of the presence of forces," said Shazi al-Yawar, head of the Governing Council. "But in the period to come we want to have the right to ask that these forces leave."

He also demanded control of revenue from oil sales, which Washington proposes should be subjected to international audit.

The Pentagon meanwhile announced that Ricardo Sanchez, the top US general in Iraq, is being replaced. But it insisted the change was not prompted by the prisoner abuse scandal.

Sanchez has been replaced amid accusations that he did very little to check prisoner abuse.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BAA72A24-8787-470A-BD7B-A752403B031D.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi militias will 'undermine government'

The failure of US-led forces to disarm Iraqi militias poses a fateful challenge for the upcoming interim Iraqi government, a prestigious think tank has warned. Gary Samore, an analyst at London's International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), said on Wednesday that "it's a sad fact of life that the coalition is not capable of disarming the militias".

"In fact in order to manage the situation," he said, "the coalition has had to accept the creation of new private armies as in the case of Falluja where for all intents and purposes security has been put into the hands of a Sunni, former Baathist force." A year ago, Iraq's US occupation administrator Paul Bremer dissolved Saddam Hussein's armed forces to root out Baathist influence, vowing that ethnic and sectarian militias would also be disbanded as national security forces were rebuilt.

But today, Kurdish and Shia militias remain largely intact, even if some have removed or changed their uniforms.

"If the security vacuum cannot be dealt with, then ordinary Iraqis will increasingly be required to look to the militias for some sense of order. In return, these militias will demand political loyalty from their new constituents"

 

[Barking_Mad]

Briton killed in RPG attack was leading BP oil man

Britain's top representative in the effort to rebuild the Iraqi oil industry was named yesterday as one of two Britons killed in a terrorist attack in Baghdad.

National Guard living in unprotected tents at Iraq base

Regular Army soldiers in Iraq sleep in fortified accommodations while National Guard troops are in unprotected tents and using filthy showers, according to e-mail messages from several North Carolina soldiers. Staff Sgt. Roosevelt McPherson of Raeford said in a series of e-mail messages from Forward Operating Base McKenzie near Samarra that the National Guard soldiers have nowhere to seek shelter from almost daily mortar attacks, The News & Observer reported Wednesday.McPherson serves in the Monroe-based B Battery of the 1-113th Field Artillery.

"The regular Army troops have bunkers, hangars or fortified connexes," he wrote. "It is only by the grace and mercy of God that no one has been injured or even worse." Army officials said Tuesday that the base is not attacked as often as McPherson claims but that they are working to provide safer accommodations for the Guard troops. "No conscious decision has been made in this unit to put the interests of Active Duty Soldiers ahead of National Guard soldiers' lives," said an e-mail message from Capt. Ian Palmer, public affairs officer for the 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry, the unit to which B Battery is attached."We are as eager to get those soldiers out of tents as they are, and action is being taken every day towards that goal."

Palmer also challenged the idea that the base is attacked often, saying it had been shelled by mortars once and "rocket attacks are less than once a week."

Three U.S. Marines Die in Western Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three U.S. Marines were killed in action Wednesday west of the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said. A statement from the command said the deaths occurred in Anbar province "while conducting security and stability operations." No further details were released due to security, the statement added. Anbar province extends from the western suburbs of Baghdad and extends to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It includes such restive insurgency centers as Fallujah, Ramadi and Qaim.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Here's your chance to ask the lying fuckwit Kimmitt some questions!

Ask the US commander in Iraq

The deputy director of coalition operations in Iraq, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, will answer your questions in a special edition of Talking Point.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Top aide seized in war-torn Najaf

US troops have seized a brother-in-law of radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr in Najaf, where fighting in the cemetery has reportedly left dozens dead. Iraqi sources said Sayyed Ryad al-Nuri, a close aide to the Mehdi Army's leader, was taken without a fight during raids in the city.

But a battle raged through the night in Najaf's vast cemetery, with US sources reporting about 50 gunmen killed. In Baghdad, some 20 of Mr Sadr's armed followers are also said to have died. US tanks and helicopter gunships sought out positions of the Mehdi Army (MA), who fought back with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

A Sadr spokesman talked of a "true slaughter house" among the tombs. "An area of 500 square metres in the cemetery has become a true slaughter house for both the living and dead," said Sheikh Qais al-Khazali. AFP news agency reports from Najaf that in one part of the cemetery family mausoleums have been holed by shells and shattered tombs are stained with the blood of gunmen. Mr Khazali appealed for independent experts to come and inspect the damage.

 

[Barking_Mad]

UK 'to send more troops to Iraq'

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is to make a statement to MPs later on Thursday about the deployment of British troops in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence says. The MoD says he will give details of adjustments to numbers of troops in the area of Iraq under British control. Mr Hoon will make the announcement in the House of Commons at about 1315 BST.

A well-placed defence source told the BBC the net change to the size of Britain's military deployment will involve an increase of "around 400". The additional forces, to include infantry and a range of specialists are being sent on the advice of British commanders on the ground, the source says.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Scientist 'rejects Iraq PM job'

A top nuclear scientist tipped to become prime minister in the new Iraqi cabinet will not be taking the job after all, the UN envoy in Iraq said. Hussein Shahristani, 62, a Shia Muslim jailed under Saddam Hussein, had been seen as an ideal candidate. But Lakhdar Brahimi said in a statement Mr Shahristani had said he would rather "serve his country in other ways".

Mr Brahimi is choosing an interim Iraqi government in consultation with US presidential envoy Robert Blackwill. The government will take power after the official 30 June return of sovereignty to Baghdad. Mr Brahimi quashed press speculation that the new government line-up had been finalised, though he said he wanted to reach his conclusions "very soon".

US to switch Iraq military chiefs

The US military has confirmed that its top commander in Iraq Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez is to be replaced. Officials say the move is part of a normal rotation after 13 months on duty and has nothing to do with the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

Last week, Gen Sanchez said he took a personal responsibility for the abuse by soldiers at Abu Ghraib jail. Separately, the Pentagon has suspended Brig Gen Janis Karpinski who was in charge of the prison near Baghdad. A spokesman for Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed suggestions that Gen Sanchez's departure was linked to the abuse scandal. "This is just wrong," Larry Di Rita said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

You'll have to click on the link to see the list - it looks a little threadbare if you ask me. Given all the IED attacks I find it hard to believe only 54 Humvee's have been destroyed or left unabled. Still the quote of nearly $400m in terms of cost isn't to be sneezed at.

U.S. Army Vehicles Lost in Iraq

We asked the Army, the Marines and the Air Force for information on vehicles destroyed in the Iraq conflict. The Marines and Air Force ignored our request, but the Army, via a lieutenant colonel, provided the following battle damage info (from May 1, 2003 through April 3, 2004). When we called him back this week for an update, another spokesperson said the lieutenant colonel was no longer there and that he should not have given us the information.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Attack on U.S. Convoy Reported in Iraq

Thursday May 27, 2004 12:31 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Three roadside bombs exploded near an American convoy south of Fallujah on Thursday, damaging at least one vehicle, witnesses said. American troops opened fire after the attack and sealed off the area, the witnesses said.

One witness, Mohammed Jassim, 28, said he saw two U.S. helicopters land at the scene and evacuate casualties. In Ramadi, west of Fallujah, a U.S. patrol was attacked by rocket-propelled grenade fire early Thursday, witnesses said. They said two U.S. troops were wounded. American troops returned fire after the attack, and some Iraqis were also hit in the crossfire, the witnesses said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Soldier Thought Killed in Action Had Been Captured, Executed

Friday, May 28, 2004; 10:44 AM - SALEM, Ore. -- A soldier in the same ambush as former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch was not killed in action but captured by Iraqi fighters and then executed, officials said.

The family of Sgt. Donald Walters of Salem -- who had pressed officials for an investigation of their son's death -- learned the new information from the Oregon National Guard. Guard officials released the details to the public Thursday, more than a year after the March 23, 2003, ambush.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Blasts in Kufa

U-S forces have blocked the highways leading into the Iraqi city of Kufa, where explosions have been heard. The cause of the blasts is not known yet. The explosions come a day after a deal was made to end fighting between U-S forces and Shiite insurgents both in Kufa and its twin city of Najaf. Members of a militia loyal to a Shiite cleric have been seen in Kufa's streets.

C-N-N, which has a reporter embedded with U-S forces in Kufa, says American troops captured four men who said they were unaware of the agreement to halt the fighting. The U-S-led coalition agreed to suspend offensive military operations in the area after Shiite leaders struck a deal with the cleric to end the fighting. The clashes have killed more than 350 Iraqis and 21 coalition troops.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Al-Sadr gunmen fire on U.S. troops in Kufa, straining uneasy truce in Iraq

NAJAF, Iraq (news - web sites) (AP) - Gunmen opened fire on a U.S. patrol Friday near the mosque stronghold of a radical cleric, wounding two American soldiers and raising fears over an agreement aimed at ending the bloody standoff around this Shiite holy city.

Armed members of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia - some of them masked and brandishing rocket-propelled grenade launchers and Kalashnikov rifles - roamed the streets of Kufa, the city adjacent to Najaf. Mortars fell on the main U.S. garrison in Najaf but caused no injuries.

In Baghdad, Brig.-Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the incidents in Kufa "would appear to be violations" of the agreement struck the day before to end fighting in the twin cities.

 

[Gumbert]

IGC picks Iyad Allawi to be Iraqi PM

who is he?......and....who the fuck is this stooge brahimi?......

US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has nominated council member Iyad Allawi, who has long-time links to the CIA, to be prime minister in Iraq's interim government.



"There was a meeting of the Governing Council and Dr Allawi was unanimously chosen as prime minister," Hani Adris, an aide to Allawi said on Friday.

But UN officials hinted that Allawi's selection by the Iraqi Governing Council had come as a surprise to UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, although they said Allawi was "high on his list" of choices.

Brahimi had been present at the meeting at which the decision was made.

"Mr Brahimi respects the decision and is prepared to work with this person on the selection of the other posts in this interim government," UN chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

The word "respects" had been "a carefully chosen word," Eckhard said, declining to say whether Brahimi "endorsed" Allwai or had helped choose him.

"The Iraqis named this person today, and Mr Brahimi respects that decision and will work with that person to now name the other members of an Iraqi government," Eckhard told
reporters, adding that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also respected the choice of Allawi.

"I assume this choice will hold, but the process isn't over yet," he added.

'Not exactly as planned'

Eckhard acknowledged the process was not unrolling as the United Nations had envisioned but said such decisions were ultimately up to the Iraqi people and the US-led occupying authority.


Lakhdar Brahimi stopped short of
endorsing the PM choice


UN spokesperson Ahmad Fawzi said Brahimi and the UN were never meant to appoint the government but help Iraqis identify candidates.

"We were not invited to appoint the government," Fawzi said. "Now that it has been identified, we welcome the choice. We will be working with the prime minister-designate to appoint a Cabinet, two vice presidents and a president."

The interim government will take over running the country from the United States on 30 June. Brahimi is helping select a 30-member team, including a president and 26 ministers.

Former Baathist

Allawi, a wealthy secular Shia Muslim and former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, is a relative of Ahmad Chalabi, a former Pentagon favourite who has fallen out with Washington, but the two are not regarded as particularly close.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3D9396BD-5E93-4AC8-99A9-C6A9C010DD5A.htm

 

[bigfish]

GI SPECIAL #2.89: Shias Hail Madhi Victory (PDF) 28/05/04

PDF: http://www.williambowles.info/gispecial/gi_289/gi_289.pdf

 

[Barking_Mad]

E-mail 'links Cheney to Halliburton deal'

The links between Dick Cheney and the Halliburton oil services company were under new scrutiny yesterday with the revelation of a Pentagon memo suggesting that the award to Halliburton of Iraq contracts was "co-ordinated" with the Vice-President's office. The memo, reported in the latest issue of Time magazine, dates from March 2003, just before the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and deals with Halliburton's involvement in the multibillion-dollar contract RIO, or "Restore Iraqi Oil".

The e-mail says that the arrangements for RIO were approved by Douglas Feith, the under-Secretary of Defence for policy and the third-highest ranking civilian official at the Pentagon, "contingent on informing WH [White House] tomorrow. We anticipate no problems since action has been co-ordinated w [with] VP's [Vice-President's] office".Mr Cheney was chief executive of the Texas-based Halliburton from 1995 until he was picked to be George Bush's running mate in the summer of 2000. Since then, he has said repeatedly that he has had no interest in, nor involvement with, the company. But the relationship has never ceased to dog him.

Last night a Cheney spokes-man denied the Vice-President's office had any part in the allocation of Iraq reconstruction contracts, reiterating that Mr Cheney "has had no involvement whatsoever in government contracting matters since he left private business to run for public office". An official familiar with the e-mail insisted that it indicated only that the White House was given a standard courtesy call notifying that a contract decision had already been made and was about to be announced publicly. Halliburton itself believes the continuing controversy over its Iraqi activities is purely political.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Another car bomb...this time its the Kurdish HQ - no prizes for working out the thinking behind this one.

'25 killed' in huge Baghdad blast

Reports say at least 25 people have been killed in a massive bomb blast in central Baghdad near a Kurdish party office, according to Arab TV stations. Several explosions were heard in central Baghdad, and smoke was seen rising from the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, just outside the green zone headquarters of the US-run coalition.

The Arab language television stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya quoted police sources as saying about 10 people were killed. But the information could not immediately be confirmed. Ambulances raced to the scene and US troops kept people back. Television footage showed debris and a charred wall of a building.

Another blast, followed by gunfire, was heard about an hour later, sending a mushroom cloud 100 feet billowing into the dusty air hanging over the city. Coalition aircraft could be heard flying over Baghdad. Eleven Iraqis were killed and 26 were wounded in an explosion near the US military base in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, military spokesman Captain Bill Coppernoll said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

An incomplete list of contractors killed in Iraq can be found at the link below. The total so far is at least 76 dead.

http://icasualties.org/oif/Civ.aspx

 

[redsquirrel]

Iraqi governing council chosen



bbc link

(apols if this has already been posted).

 

[playghirl]

[Ananova] Thousands protest in Sydney blocking main streets

Motion passed is Australia's upper house calling for troops to be withdrawn (sadly only symbolic)

Australia is not exactly a good model of human rights for the rest of the world to emulate.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Channel 4 reporting a rocket has hit an arms depot in Kirkuk causing a massive explosion, possibly inside the US base.

Update

Huge blasts rock US base in Kirkuk: witness

Massive explosions have rocked a major United States military base outside the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk, shrouding the city in smoke, after what police said was a rocket strike on an arms store.

Shells and rockets screamed into the night sky over the base at Kirkuk's main airport and thick smoke rolled across the whole area, a Reuters reporter said from the scene. The initial blast was followed by sirens on the base and mayhem that was continuing an hour later.

"You can see rockets flying and landing all over the base," reporter Adnan Hadi said. "The windows of buildings close to the base have all been shattered."

US military spokesmen in Baghdad said they were unaware of the incident. US officials in Kirkuk could not be reached. "A Katyusha rocket hit an arms store," district police chief Borhan Taeb Taheb told Reuters. Mr Taheb said he knew of no casualties among civilians outside the base which covers a very wide area. No ambulance or fire trucks were seen moving in the city, which was under curfew.

Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, is the industrial hub of Iraq's vital northern oilfields. There has been considerable violence there in recent months, notably between rival communities of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen.

 

[Barking_Mad]

This piece of documentary video is well worth the watch (15mins) as it shows some disturbing footage of US sodliers carrying out raids on houses, the use of cluster bombs on civilian areas and that now famous piece of footage from a US Apache helicopter as it mows down what may be Iraqi insurgents.

Iraq on the Brink

“Smoke him,” instructs a calm radio voice to the gunner of a US helicopter. Through his gun video we see his killing power as he slaughters three men in cold blood. It gets uglier when he retrains his sights on a wounded man, finishing him off with a deadly stream of exploding bullets. Killing a wounded opponent breaks all the rules of modern warfare.

“We came here to do the noble thing. We came to free 25 million people of a brutal, fascist dictatorship,” states Paul Bremer. But having initially based the case for war on weapons of mass destruction, many Iraqis regard the invasion and continued occupation as illegal. Now that the pretext for the invasion lies in tatters, coalition troops find themselves cast as occupiers by an increasingly hostile population. “They ruined our country, committed human rights abuses, violated our cultures and traditions.” complains cleric Sheik Abdullah al-Janabi.

But for most Iraqis, it’s the actions of the Americans that has caused most tension. During the war, the use of cluster bombs led to the deaths of at least 2,000 civilians. Aida Al-Ansari’s son Fahad was just one of those killed. His body was riddled with shrapnel after a cluster bomb was mistakenly dropped on a residential area. “He was trying to pull the bullets from his leg and his feet and his arms and his face and his shoulders screaming,” Aida recalls. Now grief among Fahad’s family and friends has hardened into anger. “Everyone hates Bush and the Army,” Aida confides.

The army’s current tactics are winning no friends. As a platoon approaches a house at night, the owner mistakes the soldiers for thieves and fires a shot into the air. It’s an action he will live to regret. Troops kick his door in and move to arrest him. “Welcome, Welcome,” the man says. But the soldiers can’t understand him and don’t have a translator. “I might shoot you. Get the fuck over here. Get the fuck over here now,” a soldier screams. Terrified the man starts praying but even his praying antagonises the troops. “Who the fuck are you talking to? Shut the fuck up!” one shouts.

But despite the growing tension, there is one group of Iraqis who feel that whatever happens to Iraq is worth it – INC supporters. In their eyes: “Anything is better than Saddam … Anarchy is better!”

 

[Barking_Mad]

Chirac says UN draft resolution needs more changes

French President Jacques Chirac says a new draft U.N. resolution on Iraq needs further changes. In Paris Wednesday, Mr. Chirac said the resolution should affirm and confirm the full sovereignty of the Iraqi government, particularly in military matters.

France has veto power in the U.N. Security Council, where members are discussing a revised U.S.-British draft resolution recognizing the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq on July 1 and authorizing a U.S.-led international security force. The new proposal was presented on Tuesday. Reports say the new draft gives the Iraqi government control over police and other security forces and limits the stay of the multinational force.

 

[Barking_Mad]

And still the fighting goes on and still the car bombs go off.

U.S. GIs, Shiite Militants Battle in Iraq

KUFA, Iraq - American troops clashed with Shiite militants in this southern city Wednesday — six days after a truce was supposed to have taken effect. At least five Iraqis were killed and more than 40 were wounded. Another Iraqi was killed and three others were injured as militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr exchanged fire with American soldiers in Baghdad's Sadr City.

No U.S. casualties were reported. Several wounded Iraqis said they were injured with mortar rounds struck their neighborhood. They suspected the Shiite militiamen fired the rounds at the Americans but missed and hit their neighborhood.

Also in Baghdad, two car bombs killed at least six people and wounded 33, including five children. It was the third straight day of vehicle bombings in the capital, raising fears of more violence ahead of the June 30 transfer of power to Iraqis by the U.S. occupation authority. West of the capital, Sunni Muslim insurgents fired mortars at a police station in a suburb of Fallujah, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding a U.S. Marine and two other people.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Bollocks he wasnt!

'I Was Never Angry with the French,' Says Bush

PARIS (Reuters) - President Bush said he was never angry with France over its refusal to back the U.S.-led war in Iraq, as both countries sought to play down past tensions ahead of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

"I was never angry with the French. France is a long-term ally," Bush told the weekly Paris Match in an interview due to be published on Thursday. The U.S. president is among 17 heads of state scheduled to attend the commemorations in Normandy on June 6.

Like French President Jacques Chirac, Bush said there was never any falling out between the United States and France, which led opposition to the war that ousted Saddam Hussein. "Listen, I made a difficult decision and not everybody agreed with that decision. But I understand that," he said in remarks printed in French and translated by Reuters.

"Jacques told me clearly. He did not think the use of force was necessary. We debated it as friends." Chirac on Thursday also denied relations between himself and Bush had ever disintegrated or been affected by their disagreement over the Iraqi conflict. "I was never angry with him and I never had the feeling that he was angry with me. We had a disagreement of views and that's normal," Chirac said.