This Blog is Moving

Until recently, I posted one day a week on Today in Iraq blog. That blog is closed, and I have decided to post daily posts on a new blog IRAQ TODAY. I hope this blog is successful and keeps up the tradition of Today In Iraq blog.

Video From Hometown Baghdad

Security Incidents for 03/29/07

PHOTO: A skull is painted on the helmet of an Iraqi army soldier patrolling in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Baghdad's Haifa street. The US Senate tied Iraq war funding to a timetable for withdrawing US troops, on Thursday setting the stage for a bitter fight with President George W. Bush.(AFP/Patrick Baz)

Security Incidents for March 29, 2007

Diala- At least 43 people were killed and 86 more were wounded on Thursday when four car bombs went off in Khalis district, Diala province, 57 km northeast of Baghdad, a police source said. Baghdad- At least 72 people, including women and children, were killed and 100 others wounded on Thursday when a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a popular market in eastern Baghdad, a police source said. [Other reports give a much higher death toll. – dancewater]

Baghdad- Unknown gunmen attacked a U.S. vehicle convoy on Thursday in southwestern Baghdad, setting a vehicle ablaze, an eyewitness said.

Baghdad- Eight civilians were killed and 32 others were wounded when three booby-trapped cars went off early Thursday in different parts of Baghdad, a police source said.

Baghdad- A Katyusha rocket landed, on Thursday morning, near the joint security center currently under construction in Sadr city in eastern Baghdad, an eyewitness said. Basra- British forces arrested on Thursday two suspected gunmen during a security crackdown north of Basra, 550 km south of Baghdad, the spokeswoman for the Multi-National forces in southern Iraq said.

Basra- A British patrol was attacked on Thursday by light arms near the Iranian consulate in Basra, 550 south of Baghdad, the spokeswoman for the Multi-National forces in southern Iraq said.

Mosul- A senior figure in the armed group al-Qaeda in Iraq was captured by Iraqi army forces in the city of Mosul, 402 km, north of Baghdad, a well-informed source in Ninewa province said on Thursday.

Mosul- U.S. forces killed a man and three of his sons and arrested two others late Wednesday in eastern Mosul, 402 km north of Baghdad, a source from Ninewa police department said on Thursday.

Mosul- A policeman was killed on Thursday by unidentified gunmen east of Mosul, 402 km north of Baghdad, a source from Ninewa police department said.

Baghdad – A car bomb targets a Police Patrol in Hay Al-Amil, west Baghdad. The booby-trapped car was left on the side road with a dead body inside it as bait. It exploded as the policemen drew near to inspect it, killing 2 policemen and wounding 6.

Baghdad – An IED explodes in the market place in Al-Beyaa’, west Baghdad, Road 20. It is a central market place frequented mostly by women and families. 3 civilians were killed and 20 injured, some of whom were women and children.

Baghdad – Al-Jaza’ir Police Station in Al-Qanat Area , east Baghdad is targeted with mortar missiles that fall short, hitting a relatively empty area behind it wounding 4 civilians.

Baghdad – A mortar shell landed in Al Zawra park causing injuries to one civilian.

Baghdad – A mortar shell landed in Al Harthiya area causing injuries to one civilian.

Baghdad – Gunmen abducted Dr. Ridha Al Quraishi the dean assistant of the Management and Economy College in Al Talbiya are after he left the college.

Baghdad – A road side bomb exploded in Yarmouk neighborhood. No casualties reported.

Baghdad – Gunmen killed optician doctor Kareem Najim Al Daini in Mahmoudiya town.

Baghdad – Drive by shooting targeted residents of Al Shabab neighborhood. 1 was killed and 3 were injured.

Baghdad – Suicide car bomb targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint in Al Jamiaa neighborhood. 3 soldiers were killed and 16 were injured.

Baghdad – Police found 25 corpses in Baghdad. The bodies were found in the following neighborhoods: 2 corpses in Ameriya, 2 in Jamiaa, 2 in Ghazaliya, 2 in Hurriya, 1 in Mansour, 2 in Shuala, 2 in Adhamiya, 1 in Etafiya, 1 in Ealam, 7 in Doura, 1 in New Baghdad and 2 in Kadhimiya.

Mahmoudiya – A mortar round landed in Mahmoudiya. 5 civilians were injured.

Mahmoudiya - A car on the side of the road explodes near Al-Mahmoudiya Hospital, in a crowded market place in Mahmoudiya City, to the south of Baghdad. 4 were killed and 20 wounded, all civilians.

Diyala - Around 4:00 p.m. Three car bombs exploded in Al Khalis city (20 Km north of Baqouba). The first suicide car targeted a joint Iraqi plice and army patrol in central the city, few minutes later a parked car exploded in the city’s crowded bus station and the third suicide ambulance car targeted a police patrol. Mortar shells landed in the first attack site and after the three attacks gunmen attacked different sites in the area. Two road side bombs detonated on the road leading to the hospital in the city. The attacks claimed the lives of 47 and injured 91.

Tikrit - Gunmen abducted three police officers on the main road between Samara and Al Dour.

Beiji - Police found a policeman’s dead body in Beiji today. The policeman was kidnapped by gunmen two days ago from the same city.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed three people and wounded 16 in Jamiaa in western Baghdad, a police source said, adding that the bomb targeted an army patrol.

BAGHDAD - A senior academic at Baghdad's Mustansiriya university named Rida Qureishi was kidnapped, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed four policemen and one civilian and wounded nine more police in Jihad in southwest Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Police were checking a suspicious vehicle when it exploded.

MAHMUDIYA - Two mortar bombs landed in a residential district of Mahmudiya, killing two people and wounding seven, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed Nawaf al-Hadidi, imam of a mosque in Mosul, in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded three soldiers in the western Ghazaliya district of Baghdad, a Reuters witness said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen attacked the motorcade of the head of traffic police, Jaafar al-Khafaji, in northern Baghdad, killing two traffic policemen and wounding two others, police said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb targeting an Iraqi army checkpoint killed a soldier and wounded three others on Wednesday near al-Shurta tunnel in western Baghdad, police said.

DIWANIYA - Gunmen killed a policeman near his house in the southern city of Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

DIWANIYA - The body of a young man was found shot in Diwaniya, police said. He was kidnapped on Wednesday.

News & Views 03/29/07

PHOTO: A man shouts during a protest of refugees from the town Tal Afar in the northwest of Iraq, in Najaf, Thursday, March 29, 2007. Refugees protested recent sectarian violence in Tal Afar, a day after Shiite militants and police went on a shooting rampage against Sunnis in the city, killing as many as 70 men execution-style. The killings were triggered by twin truck bombings there the previous day that killed 80 people and wounded 185. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Shi’ite Market Bombings Kill at Least 122

Five suicide bombers struck Shiite marketplaces in northeast Baghdad and a town north of the capital at nightfall Thursday, killing at least 122 people and wounding more than 150 in one of Iraq’s deadliest days in years. At least 178 people were killed or found dead Thursday, which marked the end of the seventh week of the latest U.S.-Iraqi military drive to curtail violence in Baghdad and surrounding regions. The suicide bombers hit markets in the Shiite town of Khalis and the Shaab neighborhood in Baghdad during the busiest time of the day, timing that has become a trademark of what are believed to be Sunni insurgent or al-Qaida suicide attackers. Three suicide vehicle bombs, including an explosives-packed ambulance, detonated in a market in Khalis, 50 miles north of the capital, which was especially crowded because government flour rations had just arrived for the first time in six months, local television stations reported. At least 43 people were killed and 86 wounded, police said. In the north Baghdad bombings, two suicide attackers wearing explosives vests blew themselves up in the Shalal market in the predominantly Shiite Shaab neighborhood. At least 79 people were killed and 81 wounded as they jammed the market to buy provisions on the eve of the Muslim day of rest and prayer.

Dozens Killed in Revenge Attack in Iraq

Shiite militants and police enraged by deadly truck bombings went on a shooting rampage against Sunnis in a northwestern Iraqi city Wednesday, killing as many as 70 men execution-style and prompting fears that sectarian violence was spreading outside the capital. The killings occurred in the mixed Shiite-Sunni city Tal Afar, which had been an insurgent stronghold until an offensive by U.S. and Iraqi troops in September 2005, when militants fled into the countryside without a fight. Last March, President Bush cited the operation as an example that gave him "confidence in our strategy." The gunmen roamed Sunni neighborhoods in Tal Afar through the night, shooting at residents and homes, according to police and a local Sunni politician. Witnesses said relatives of the Shiite victims in the truck bombings broke into Sunni homes and killed the men inside or dragged them out and shot them in the streets. Gen. Khourshid al-Douski, the Iraqi army commander in charge of the area, said 70 were shot in the back of the head and 40 people were kidnapped. A senior hospital official in Tal Afar, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said 45 men were killed. Outraged Sunni groups blamed Shiite-led security forces for the killings. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office ordered an investigation and the U.S. command offered to provide assistance. Ali al-Talafari, a Sunni member of the local Turkomen Front Party, said the Iraqi army had arrested 18 policemen accused in the shooting rampage after they were identified by Sunni families. Shiite militiamen also took part, he said.

Revenge Killings by Iraq Police

Iraq's Sunni vice president urged the government on Thursday to do more to purge security forces of militias after a group of Shi'ite police shot scores of men in reprisal killings in a northern town this week. Hours after truck bombs killed 85 people on Tuesday in a Shi'ite area of Tal Afar, up to 70 Sunni Arab men were shot dead in a town which only a year ago was held up by U.S. President George W. Bush as an example of progress towards peace. The governor of Nineveh province, which includes the town of Tal Afar, said policemen who took part in the reprisal shootings were arrested but then freed again to prevent unrest. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, has ordered an inquiry into the involvement of police in the killings. Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, the most senior Sunni Arab politician, said militias acting under "official cover" in the reprisal killings should be treated as severely as insurgents. A statement from his office said car bombs against "our Shi'ite brothers" must stop and condemned "the criminal behaviour by some policemen in randomly killing many civilians". "It requires efforts from both sides to put an end to this bloodshed which aims to destroy all of Iraq. But this is not enough if the government does not move quickly to clear the security forces of militias," the statement said. ……Doctor Salih Qadu, head of Tal Afar hospital, said the final toll from the two bombs had risen to 85. He said 60 bodies of men shot in the aftermath had been brought to the hospital. A senior Iraqi army officer put the toll from those attacks at 70.

In March 2006, Bush called Tal Afar a "free city that gives reason for hope in a free Iraq".

What a fool believes, he sees…….

Thirteen Police Arrested for Iraqi Town Massacre

Iraqi authorities have arrested 13 policemen for carrying out a massacre of 70 Sunni Arabs in a northern Iraqi town to avenge a devastating bomb attack, officials said on Thursday. On Tuesday, a suicide bomber blew up a truck in a Shiite district of Tal Afar -- a town rated in 2006 by US President Bush as a symbot of a stable Iraq – and killed 85 people and wounded 183 others. A few hours after the blast, dozens of armed men, some wearing police uniforms according to witnesss, went on a rampage in a Sunni district, dragged men out of their homes and shot them with bullets to the head. At least 70 people were killed, while 30 were wounded and 40 more remain missing in one of the worst sectarian attacks in Iraq in recent months.

A Syrian’s Risky Choice To Help Young Iraqis Heal

Just 8 years old, Noor fell victim to an all-too-common crime in Baghdad. Kidnapped from school, she was held for ransom – beaten, blindfolded, and locked in an empty room – for four days. Her father raced to come up with the money, fearing she would be yet another casualty in the city's plague of abductions. A driver by occupation, he sold the family's car to give his tormenters what they wanted: $8,000 for his daughter's life. Noor and her family fled Baghdad. But three years later she was still haunted by her memories. They joined some one million Iraqis now living in Syria among them an untold number of children struggling to cope with the emotional wounds of war. For Noor, and many other Iraqi children like her, there appeared to be no place to turn until a Syrian psychiatrist, risking his job at a state institution, defied authorities and decided to help. Dr. Naim isn't his real name. The Syrian psychiatrist says he is afraid of his Syrian state employers who refused to allow him to treat Iraqi children, even though he volunteered to do so on his own time. In the same Christian neighborhood where Noor and her family lives is a small center run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. "The nuns would come and visit us and other Iraqi families at home," Noor's mother, Wafaa, says. "They told us about a program for children that was going to be held at the church." It was there that Noor, a Christian, and the doctor, a Muslim, first met. Naim had worked with the Sisters before, helping a handful of troubled Syrians whom the nuns had referred to him. But soon he saw the need for another kind of program. "The nuns were seeing a lot of disturbed Iraqi children," he says, from his sparsely furnished office in central Damascus. And so, after weeks of intense research on the Internet – and much encouragement from his physician wife – he devised a group-therapy program that incorporated games, puppet shows, and artwork. Every Saturday for seven months, the tiny chapel run by the Sisters was transformed into a clinic for 28 children, ranging in age from 7 to 14. "I doubted myself at first. I was afraid that I couldn't help these kids, that I might open a wound that wouldn't heal," says Naim. "But circumstances can make you do extraordinary things."

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

Excerpts from Arab Summit Declaration

Following are key excerpts from the final declaration endorsed by Arab leaders at the end of a two-day summit in Riyadh on Thursday. The declaration endorses an Arab peace initiative launched in 2002 but makes no direct mention of key issues such as the fate of Palestinian refugees. - (The summit) "affirms a just and comprehensive peace as a strategic option for the Arab nation and the Arab peace initiative that draws the right path for reaching a peaceful settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict based on the principles and resolutions of international legitimacy and the land for peace formula." - (The summit) "stresses the importance of freeing the region from weapons of mass destruction without double standards, warning against starting a dangerous and destructive nuclear arms race in the region and emphasising the right of all countries to peaceful nuclear power." - (The summit) "decides to spread the culture of moderation, tolerance, dialogue and openness, to reject all forms of terrorism and extremism as well as all exclusionary, racist trends, campaigns of hatred and endeavours to question our humanistic values or defame our religious beliefs and holy places, and to warn against growing sectarianism for political purposes that aims to divide our nation and ignite destructive sedition and civil strife."

Iraqi VP Meets Turkish President

Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, in Ankara, discussed with Turkish President Amhet Necdet Sezar ways of bolstering relations between Iraq and Turkey. "The Iraqi government is determined not to allow its territories to be a source of concern to Iraq’s neighbors, particularly Turkey," al-Hashemi's office said in a statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). For his part the Turkish president stressed his country's keenness to lend support to the people of Iraq and to preserve its unity, the statement added. The two sides also exchanged views on the situation in Kirkuk city, a northern Iraqi city with mixed population of Arabs, Turkmans and Kurds, said the statement, noting that they agreed to act to insure that Kirkuk would remain a city where all communities live in peace altogether.

New US Ambassador To Iraq Sworn In

The new US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, was sworn in at the American embassy in Baghdad's tightly fortified Green Zone on Thursday. Crocker, who is one Washington's most experienced career diplomats with extensive knowledge of the Middle East, replaces Zalmay Khalilzad, who left the country earlier this week after a 21-month posting. He was sworn in by embassy official Tina Tran at a ceremony attended by US Lieutenant General David Petraeus, the head of US forces in Iraq, and by embassy officials, embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. "We have a historic challenge ahead of us. Terrorists, insurgents and militias continue to threaten security in Baghdad and around the country. Security is without question the central issue," Crocker told the ceremony.

How Analysts In The Arab World See The Iraq War

Policymakers and strategic analysts in the Arab world have little confidence that current US troop surge in SEARCH
Iraq will do much more than – at best – postpone a complete political-security breakdown in Iraq, which, they fear, could then spread across the Middle East. During my lengthy recent discussions with experts in Egypt, Jordan, and SyriaSEARCH
, and with some well-connected Iraqis in Jordan, I heard a lot about how Iraq's collapse has been affecting these Arab societies. The news from my Iraqi friends – leaders in quasi-governmental and nongovernmental organizations – was grim. These were people who (on human rights grounds) had supported the US invasion in 2003, and who then worked hard to build an effective, democratic order in their country. Now, I found them downhearted – but thoughtful, as they tried to pinpoint the worst of many US mistakes in Iraq. They told piercingly tragic stories about the violence and sectarianism that affects everyone there. I asked one of these friends what he thought would happen if US forces leave Iraq in the near future. He said there's a possibility this would concentrate the minds of his countrymen on the need to find a workable reconciliation. "But if the Americans stay, we can expect the situation to remain bad," he said. This man was visiting Jordan for only a few days. But he was planning, soon, to return for much longer. After four years of trying to build strong public-sector institutions in Iraq, he was giving up the effort and preparing to join the 2-million-plus other Iraqis who have fled their country since the war began. The continuing social and political catastrophe in Iraq has sent shock waves throughout the other Arab states, too. In Cairo, senior analysts at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies talked about how Arabs had long viewed the Iraqi state as a bulwark against the extension of Iranian power from the east. But, now, with that bulwark largely destroyed, they saw Iran's influence extending deep into Iraq and directly threatening the stability of many other Arab states, especially in the Persian Gulf.

……….Meanwhile, the broad deployment of US troops in Iraq has been transformed from an American asset in the region into a liability that erodes US power and standing. Here in London, strategic thinker Hussein Agha told me that, for now, all of Iraq's neighbors prefer that US troops stay tied down inside Iraq, rather than withdraw. For some countries, the status quo lessens the likelihood of US attacks against them. For others, it represents a situation preferable to the regional turmoil they fear might follow US withdrawal.

Fake Maritime Boundaries

The British Government has published a map showing the coordinates of the incident, well within an Iran/Iraq maritime border. The mainstream media and even the blogosphere has bought this hook, line and sinker. But there are two colossal problems.

A) The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British Government. Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf, only inside the Shatt because there it is the land border too. This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.

B) Accepting the British coordinates for the position of both HMS Cornwall and the incident, both were closer to Iranian land than Iraqi land. Go on, print out the map and measure it. Which underlines the point that the British produced border is not a reliable one.

How to Help

Very few organizations are working on getting aid to Iraqi refugees, and of those that are, many are too small or too beleaguered to accept individual donations; the Iraqi Red Crescent, for example, has suffered bombings and mass kidnappings, yet its volunteers continue to deliver aid to displaced families inside Iraq. One of the larger relief organizations working with the refugees is the Catholic group Caritas, whose caseworkers I shadowed while in Amman. Bucking the image of the Land Rover-driving aid worker, they made their rounds in an aging gray Honda, its roof eaten through by rust. They visited Iraqi doctors, engineers, and executives desperate for food, heat, or blankets to fend off the desert winter; one family told the crew they had just sold their stove to buy food. Caritas helps a few thousand families a year, but "the demand far outstrips the money available to us," says Magy Mahrous, who oversees the project. You can make a contribution at: International Catholic Migration Commission Citibank USA 153 East 53rd Street, 16th floor New York, NY 10043 Account # 10100491, ABA # 21000089, Swift Code CITIUS33 To ensure that the money reaches the Iraqi program, write "Iraq-icmc" on your check.

War Child International

Security Incidents for 03/28/07

PHOTO: Morgue staff stand by the bodies of men discovered in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 28, 2007. Some 20 bodies were discovered around Baqouba bearing signs of torture, Wednesday. (AP Photo)

Security Incidents for March 28, 2007

Baghdad - A car bomb hit Bayaa junction. Two killed and 10 injured.

Baghdad - Mortar shell hit Raghiba Khatoon neighborhood . A civilian injured.

Baghdad - Binook neighborhood was hit by a mortar shell. One woman injured.

Baghdad - Early morning, a quarrel between two tribes had led to a fight. Two killed and six injured from both sides.

Baghdad - Roadside bomb killed three civilians in Al-Mahmudiya city (south of Baghdad).

Baghdad - Suicide car bomber drove a car into the headquarters of the Iraqi army in Hay Al-Jamia'a near Mula Hiwaish mosque killing one soldier and injuring 3.

Baghdad - Two mortar shells targeted Al-Sha'ab neighborhood injuring two civilians.

Baghdad - The manager of observation and accuracy of the general customs committee was kidnapped near his office as he was leaving.

Baghdad - Roadside bomb hit a policeman at Al-Saadoun street.

Baghdad - Students from Hasawi tribe were prevented from going to their schools this morning in Muqdadiya (north east Baghdad) by terrorists who threatened them with death.

Baghdad - A roadside bomb exploded near a shopping district in Muqdadiya causing damages to the shops in addition to killing one civilian.

Baghdad - A roadside bomb was foiled in a Muqdadiya alley today.

Baghdad - Gunmen burned a truck on the highway of Wais–Muqdadiya and the driver's fate is unknown.

Baghdad - A squad from the fifth division managed to foil a car bomb in a stalled car near a checkpoint of Jalwla- Sadiya and Khanaqeen road junction.

Baghdad - 13 corpses were found around Baghdad, 4 in Risafa (eastern) and 9 in Karkh (western): 2 in both Ilamm and Doura and one each of the following areas: Mahmoudiya, Kadhemiyah, Zayuna, Al-Qanat street, Jisr Diyala, Hurriyah, Nahda, Amil, Saydiya.

Diyala - 17 families were forced from their homes in Khalis on Tuesday by gunmen belonging to al Qaida. Two Kurdish families and 15 Shiite were told they'd be killed if they didn't leave the area.

Diyala - Gunmen from Al-Qaida abducted the head of Jalawla district communications department on Monday. A security official said today the announcement was delayed for investigation purposes.

Baqouba - After midnight, two soldiers were injured near a check point in eastern Baqouba (north of Baghdad) by terrorists using machine guns.

Kinaan - One civilian was killed and two others injured when mortar shelling hit Kinaan town.

Baqouba - Bodies were found left on the road at Zaghnia to the north of Baqouba.

Diyala - Battle was ongoing between the towns of Kibaa and Chalabi according to a Multi-National Forces spokesperson. The towns were among the first to declare loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq.

Diyala - Two corpses were found inside the house of the former Diyala chief commander.

Balad Ruz - In the afternoon, a civilian was assassinated by gunmen in Baladruz. a policeman from the city said the victim was a former vice officer with no details.

Tikrit - Two policemen were injured as a result of a car bomb near a check point in Shurqat.

Tikrit -A roadside bomb hit a Humvee vehicle that belongs to the Iraqi army (Battalion 3/Brigade 2/Division 4) near Al-Zara bridge on the way between Tuz and Tikrit. Only one soldier was injured in that ambush.

Tikrit - A car bomb exploded near a check point of Al- Shurta Al-ulaa in Shurqat.

Tikrit - An official from the 4th division in Tikrit said that his division had found weapons inside on of the houses in Tikrit and have four suspects in custody inside the division's headquarter.

Biji - An official from the Biji local police said that an American helicopter fired on a restaurant near the highway northern Biji. Two Iraqi patrols went to the scene and reported that one man aged 20 had been killed and delivered to Biji hospital. The U.S. military said the man who was killed was planting homemade bombs.

Iqedat - Gunmen disguised with police uniforms kidnapped a policeman from his house.

Kirkuk - A policeman was killed and another injured by a car bomb at Riyadh district of Kirkuk province last night ( Tuesday 27/3/2007). Police said that that bomb placed near the electric supply office of Al-Riyadh district targeting a police patrol .

Kirkuk - Gunmen riding a sedan car attacked a policeman from Adala police station who was on his duty in the street. He was injured in that attack and taken at once to hospital.

Kirkuk - Experts from Irooba police were able to foil a roadside bomb near a school today.

Basra - Last night, two British soldiers were injured in two separate attacks during their daily patrols in northern Basra according to the spokeswoman Captain Kate Brown of the multi forces said. The patrols had been attacked by machineguns and RPG7's in Al-Najibia (10 kilometers to the north of Basra).

Basra - Early this morning, one British soldier was injured by a sniper in downtown Basra. A British helicopter sent to pick him up was attacked by machinegun fire.

Kirkuk- The deputy mayor survived an attempt on his life when an explosive charge went off n near his motorcade while passing a main road in central Kirkuk.

Falluja- An Iraqi civilian was wounded when a mortar shell fell on a back road in Falluja.

Samawa- A Samawa provincial council member was wounded on Wednesday as masked gunmen attacked him while driving his private car.

Kirkuk- Unknown gunmen blew up on Wednesday a pipeline that carries crude oil from Kirkuk oil fields to Baiji refinery, said a security source noting it is the second incident during the past 48 hours.

Mosul- A senior Iraqi police officer was wounded on Wednesday as an explosive device detonated near his motorcade in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a security source said.

Kirkuk- An Iraqi policeman was killed and two others were wounded when an explosive device went off near their patrol vehicle in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a police source said.

Baghdad- Two gunmen were killed and 66 suspected militants were arrested by Iraqi security forces in several areas in Baghdad, during the past 24 hours, under the Baghdad law-imposing plan, the Baghdad operations command said on Wednesday.

Diala- The forensic medicine department in Diala province received ten unidentified bodies on Wednesday that had been found in different areas near Baaquba city.

Hilla- At least two civilians were killed and 20 others wounded on Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged car in a Shiite district northeast of Hilla.

Mosul- At least four civilians were wounded on Wednesday when a charge blast went off near a fuel station in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a police source said.

Anbar- A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-rigged car on Wednesday morning at the entry to a school used by U.S. forces as a base, near Haditha, 380 km west of Baghdad, an eyewitness said.

Karbala- Two gunmen shot and killed a former member of the dissolved Baath party in al-Khayrat city, 35 km east of Karbala, an eyewitness said on Wednesday.

Mosul- A total of sixty executed bodies arrived at the Talafar public hospital on Wednesday, director of the hospital said.

Baghdad- A child was killed and two other citizens were wounded on Wednesday when an explosive charge went off in al-Resala district in western Baghdad, an eyewitness said.

Baghdad- Three civilians were killed and ten others were injured when a car bomb went off Wednesday afternoon in southwestern Baghdad, a police source said.

Basra- A British soldier was wounded on Wednesday morning by sniper fire in al-Hakamiya region.

Falluja- Two suicide bombers on Wednesday morning detonated an explosive-rigged car and a truck loaded with chlorine at the entry to a U.S. base, that also hosts an Iraqi police station, in central Falluja, killing and wounding U.S. soldiers and Iraqi policemen, a police source said.

Falluja- U.S. forces imposed a curfew on Wednesday in the city of Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, after two suicide bombing attacks near a U.S. base, a police source said.

Kut- The forensic medicine department in Wassit province received five unidentified bodies on Wednesday that had been found in different areas near al-Suwaira town, 135 km north of Kut, a source from the forensic medicine department said.

Basra- Two British soldiers were wounded late Tuesday in two separate incidents in Basra, while two British bases came under indirect fire.

Kirkuk- Two unidentified bodies were found on Wednesday in northern Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad, a police source said.

Haditha - A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-rigged car on Wednesday morning at the entry to a school used by U.S. forces as a base, near Haditha. No report of injuries.

TAL AFAR - Shi'ite gunmen stormed a Sunni district in Tal Afar overnight, killing 50 or more men in apparent reprisal for truck bombings on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said. Major-General Khorshid Saleem, the head of the Third Army Division in Tal Afar, said the death toll was 70, with 30 wounded and 40 kidnapped. The prime minister ordered an inquiry into reports the gunmen included policemen, an official in his office said.

TAL AFAR - The toll from Tuesday's twin truck bombings in Shi'ite areas of Tal Afar rose to 55 dead and 185 wounded, police and hospital sources said.

FALLUJA - Two suicide bombers in trucks carrying chlorine attacked a local government building in Falluja, in western Iraq, and 15 Iraqi and U.S. security forces were injured in the bomb blasts, the U.S. military said. A number were treated for symptoms linked to chlorine gas inhalation. A police source said eight Iraqi soldiers were killed in the attack.

MAHAWEEL - A car bomb in a crowded market killed five people and wounded 25 in Mahaweel, 75 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

NEAR BAQUBA - Iraqi and U.S. soldiers killed more than 25 insurgents from an al Qaeda-led militant group near the city of Baquba, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. 15 suspected militants were detained in the four-day operation.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed two civilians and wounded 10 others when it was detonated at a major intersection in southern Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite Bayaa district, police said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded from indirect fire -- a term usually used for mortars or rockets -- in Baghdad's heavily fortified international Green Zone on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. government contractor was killed as a result of a rocket attack on the Green Zone on Tuesday, the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

ANBAR PROVINCE - Insurgents killed a U.S. Marine on Tuesday in Anbar Province, the U.S. military said.

ANBAR PROVINCE - U.S. forces captured 19 suspected insurgents believed to have ties to al Qaeda in Iraq, the U.S. military said. 11 were captured in different parts of Anbar and eight were captured in Baghdad.

RAMADI - A suicide car bomb killed one civilian and wounded seven others north of Ramadi on Tuesday, the U.S. military said. U.S. forces also found a truck rigged with explosives carrying chlorine nearby.

SUWAYRA - Police found the bodies of five people, including one that was decapitated, floating in the Tigris river south of Baghdad in Suwayra, police said. The bodies had signs of torture.

BASRA - A British soldier was shot and wounded at police headquarters in the southern city of Basra, a British military spokesman said. "His condition is not graded as very serious," the spokesman said, giving no further details of his injuries. Asked about Iraqi police reports that a sniper was responsible, the spokesman said: "We don't know if he was a sniper or not."

MOSUL - A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol wounded a senior police officer in Mosul, in northern Iraq, police said. Another roadside bomb in Mosul targeting police wounded four more people, police said

News & Views 03/28/07

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Gunmen Kill 50 in Tal Afar

Gunmen rampaged through a Sunni district of the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar overnight, killing about 50 people in reprisal for bombings in a Shi'ite area, Iraqi officials said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, ordered an inquiry into reports the gunmen included policemen from his Shi'ite- dominated security forces, an official in his office said. The attack was on the Sunni district of al-Wihda in Tal Afar, where tensions have been rising between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim residents, mostly Turkish-speaking ethnic Turkmen. The tit-for-tat violence in a town held up by U.S. President George W. Bush only a year ago as an example of progress towards peace in Iraq, graphically illustrates the challenge facing Maliki in bridging an ever-widening sectarian divide. There has been a sharp upsurge in violence in recent days outside Baghdad, epicentre of the communal bloodshed, where thousands of U.S. and Iraqi security forces are focusing their efforts to halt a slide to full-scale civil war. [Later reports said 70 were killed. – dancewater]

Victims Describe Chlorine-Gas Attack

Gunmen in black hoods came to Albuaifan, a town south of Fallujah, four months ago and demanded that the sheiks of the Albu Issa tribe pledge loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq, the insurgent "nation" that the group al-Qaida in Iraq had proclaimed last October. The tribal leaders said no. Since then, the tribe has been at war. Its men have stopped going to work, and they carry weapons routinely now. They've even issued a password and closely question anyone they encounter who doesn't know it. The battle entered a frightening new stage 10 days ago when insurgents blew up a chlorine tank in the middle of Albuaifan. The heavy, poisonous gas sank near the ground and seeped into the garden of Irsan Majid Alisawy, where a dozen children were playing. "I couldn't breathe," Alisawy recalled Monday. "I wanted to open my mouth but there was no air." It was even worse for the children, who quickly passed out. "We were terrified," Alisawy said.

Sweeps in Iraq Cram Two Jails with Detainees

Hundreds of Iraqis detained in the Baghdad security crackdown have been crammed into two detention centers run by the Defense Ministry that were designed to hold only dozens of people, a government monitoring group said Tuesday. The numbers suggested that the security plan’s emphasis on aggressive block-by-block sweeps of troubled neighborhoods in the capital had flooded Iraq’s frail detention system, and appeared to confirm the fears of some human rights advocates who have been predicting that the new plan would aggravate already poor conditions. The disclosure came as violence continued to tear through Iraq, including a double suicide-vehicle bombing in Tal Afar that killed at least 55 people, the authorities said, and the murder of two Chaldean Christian nuns in Kirkuk. In one of the detention centers, in the town of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, 705 people were packed into an area built for 75, according to Maan Zeki Khadum, an official with the monitoring group. The other center, on Muthana Air Base, held 272 people in a space designed to hold about 50, he said, and included two women and four boys who were being held in violation of regulations that require juveniles to be separated from adults and males from females. In an interview, Mr. Khadum said a majority of the detainees at the two detention centers had been picked up while the security plan, which began in mid-February, was being put into effect. He said the detention system had been suffering from a problem of “fast detention and very slow release, especially for those who are not guilty.” His group includes 17 lawyers and is working under a government committee run by the Shiite politician Ahmad Chalabi.

For Many Iraqis, Hunt for the Missing Is Never Ending

He comes to her in dreams, dressed in the blue police uniform he wore the day he disappeared. “I’m alive,” he tells Intisar Rashid, his wife and the mother of their five children. “I’m alive.” And so she restlessly keeps searching. Ever since the Thursday two months ago when her husband failed to come home, Ms. Rashid has tried to find the man she loves. In the Green Zone last week, where she waited to scour a database of Iraqis detained by American troops, she said she had already visited the Baghdad morgue a dozen times, every hospital in the city and a handful of Iraqi government ministries. “I feel like I’m going to collapse,” she said, carrying her husband’s police identification card in one hand and a crumpled tissue in the other. “It’s taken over my days, my nights.” The past year of dizzying violence here has produced thousands of Iraqis like Ms. Rashid — sad-eyed seekers caught in an endless loop of inquiry and disappointment. Burdened by grief without end or answers, they face a set of horrors as varied and fractured as Iraq itself. Has my son or husband or father been killed by a death squad, his body hidden? Or has he been arrested? Is he in a legitimate prison with his name unregistered, or trapped in a secret basement jail with masked torturers? Most importantly: How can he be found? …..Nearly 3,000 Iraqis visited the American-run National Iraqi Assistance Center in the Green Zone last month to look for missing relatives, roughly triple the monthly traffic of last spring, and an increase of 50 percent since December, according to military figures. Capt. Lance Carr, the director of the center, which also manages programs for medical aid, employment and other issues, said the swell in inquiries about missing men tracks with a rise in detentions under the new Baghdad security plan. Iraqis said that despite the legacy of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, their best-case scenario was still American detention because at least then their loved ones were registered and had a chance to be released if innocent. But American-run prisons hold only a small portion of Iraq’s detainees. Because many victims of the violence here are never identified, and because the Iraqi detention system remains corrupt, sectarian and opaque, according to Iraqi and American officials, most Iraqis never find who they are looking for. “There are so many different sides that are fighting now, without names or uniforms,” said Muhammad Haideri, a Shiite cleric and chairman of the human rights committee in the Iraqi Parliament. “There’s terrorism; there are kidnappings, armed militias and gangs. On top of that, when a bomb explodes, people end up deformed, and they are considered missing, too.”

NGOs Urge More Aid For Displaced Families in South

Fakhouri said that nearly 90 percent of the 700,000 internally displaced people in the southern provinces lack essential needs. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), of this total, at least 310,000 arrived there after the bombing on 22 February 2006 of a revered Shia shrine in the northern city of Samarra caused an escalation of sectarian violence. Fakhouri said that unofficial records suggest there are at least 200,000 more displaced people in the southern provinces, bringing the total to nearly a million. The economically poorer southern cities have few jobs to offer this massive influx of people. As such, the displaced are largely unemployed and depend on assistance from aid organisations. Local NGOs say they simply cannot cope with the large numbers arriving in the south and blame the government for being slow to respond to the growing humanitarian crisis there. Fareed Abbas, a spokesman for Najaf-based NGO the Muslim Organisation for Peace (MOP), said the central government was unwilling to provide sufficient funds to develop sanitation, education and electricity projects in the southern provinces. “We have appealed dozens of times to the central government to help in such critical circumstances but we haven’t got any response yet. Instead, over the past few months, their assistance has decreased considerably, leaving people without support and infrastructure,” Abbas said. “Children are getting sick and the elderly are dying because they cannot get treatment for their chronic diseases. Pregnant women are dying or losing their babies because they cannot reach hospitals on time to get help from specialists,” he added. Abbas stressed the urgent need for international support and better coordination of aid deliveries. “When aid convoys reach our provinces, they come with medicines that aren’t useful, such as tonnes of drugs for headaches, or food stuffs that won’t help to feed families,” he said.

……..Dr Aziz Ali Baroud, a physician at Najaf Main Hospital, said the region’s hospitals cannot cope with the increase in people seeking medical treatment since the beginning of 2007. As a result, there are severe shortages in specialists and in medical essentials such as paediatric needles and heart disease drugs, he said. “At least one person dies in our hospital every day due to lack of assistance or medicines. If you add all the people dying for the same reason in all the hospitals in the southern provinces, the number becomes very serious,” Baroud said, adding that abortions have become common among displaced women unable to cope with their situation.

Iraqis in Jordan Cause Black Market for Jobs

The huge influx of Iraqis in Jordan over the past year has caused the creation of an illegal employment market that is undercutting the wages of ordinary Jordanians and sometimes robbing them of their jobs, local officials say. In addition, some Jordanians blame incoming Iraqis for property price rises, and increasingly overburdened education and health systems. “Iraqis who are educated can easily get good jobs in the black market but they are not well paid, and are exploited by working longer hours without being compensated,” Mustafa Abdel-Kadder, a spokesman for the Association of Iraqis in Jordan (AIJ), said. “They [Iraqis] accept these conditions to keep their families in the country and avoid deportation,” he added.

“I can’t find medicines for my son’s convulsions”

Um Mustafa Bakr is a 33-year-old mother-of-three who is desperately looking for treatment for her son, Omar. The two-year-old has been suffering serious bouts of epilepsy-induced convulsions for the past year. "I'm tired of going to public hospitals in search of treatment for my son. He's just a baby and is suffering from a condition that could kill him. Basic medicines can keep him alive. Omar has to take a drug called carbamazepine, which is used for the treatment of anxiety, epilepsy and convulsions. "Each time he has a bout of convulsions, I get scared that it's going to be the last day of his life. Initially, we were getting free treatment in public pharmacies, but for the past six months the situation has changed and we don't get free treatment any more. "My husband's been unemployed for the past two years. We're only able to survive because some relatives are helping us with food and clothes for the children. We don't have money to buy medicines from private pharmacies for Omar, especially after a medicine shortage has made pharmacy owners raise their prices.

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

Militants Attack Iraqi, US Forces with Chlorine

Insurgents with two chlorine gas truck bombs attacked a local government building in Falluja, in western Iraq, and 15 Iraqi and U.S. security forces were injured in the bomb blasts, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. "Numerous Iraqi soldiers and policemen are being treated for symptoms such as laboured breathing, nausea, skin irritation and vomiting that are synonymous with chlorine inhalation," a U.S. statement said. It said no Iraqi or U.S. forces were killed in what it called a "complex attack" using mortars and small arms as well as the truck bombs.

Iraq Militias Feed on Poverty

On the ground in Iraq, working-class people unable to leave because they are poor and unskilled have been falling prey to militias who enjoy incredible financial power. Ziad, an Iraqi asylum seeker in Sweden, who did not want to give his second name fearing that it would affect his asylum application, said: "It was a mass immigration. I, along with dozens of my friends and university colleagues decided to leave, because there is nothing to do in Iraq. "University graduates and professionals cannot be part of the army or police, which are the only jobs you can have easily in Iraq nowadays." Observers have started to question why reconstruction in oil-rich southern Iraq, which has been relatively stable, has not yet started in earnest. It would provide work opportunities for thousands of Iraqis and a haven for the middle classes. Muhammad al-Hasan, an Iraqi journalist from the southern city of Samawa, said that high unemployment has contributed to the steady flow of fighters into different militias. ………Ahmed Zayed, a sociology professor at Cairo University, said the shortage of resources may well push many more people to carry arms for money to support their families. "When the existence of a human being and his family is threatened, he tends to do anything to keep his head above the water," he said. "Unfortunately, this case is very common in human history, and it is likely to continue. Warlords know how to play this game. They use their connections to close all doors; meanwhile they keep their doors open." Ali al-Zubi, a sociology professor at Kuwait University, said: "Definitely, unemployment and deprivation develop tension and hostility. Let us take the suicide bombers, nearly all of them belonged to deprived families. I think that unemployment and deprivation produce the human fuel for terrorist groups."

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

Green Zone Sees Spike in Mortars

Insurgents have stepped up rocket and mortar attacks on Baghdad's international Green Zone where most Iraqi government offices and the U.S. embassy are located, a senior U.S. military spokesman said on Wednesday. Rear Admiral Mark Fox said nine people were wounded and two killed in three mortar or rocket strikes in three days from March 25. On Tuesday a U.S. contractor and a U.S. soldier were killed, and one U.S. state department employee was wounded. Insurgents have for years been firing mortar bombs and rockets into the Green Zone, a large area stretching for several miles along the River Tigris surrounded by fortified walls and checkpoints. Usually the attacks do not cause casualties as there are many uninhabited areas within the Green Zone. Fox said that while the total number of indirect fire attacks in March was on a trend to be lower than in recent months, there appeared to be a change in targets.

Occupation, Splits Threaten Iraq Civil War

Saudi King Abdullah told Arab leaders at a summit on Wednesdsay that illegal foreign occupation and sectarian violence in Iraq was threatening a civil war. "In beloved Iraq, blood flows between brothers in the shadow of illegitimate foreign occupation and hateful sectarianism, threatening a civil war," he said in a speech.

COMMENTARY

Iraq’s Next Civil War

Seven bombs detonating in the space of 35 minutes sent up clouds of black smoke over the centre of Kirkuk earlier this week. The explosions in Arab and Turkoman districts killed 12 people and injured 39 but exactly who was behind them is unclear. Kirkuk is a place where trust is in short supply. "I firmly predict there will be a rumour the Kurds were behind these bombings," sighs Rafat Hamarash, the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Kurdish political party that largely controls the city. He said somebody wanted to stir up ethnic divisions between Kurd, Arab and Turkoman before they vote on the future of Kirkuk in nine months' time. Mr Hamarash is probably right about the motives for the latest attacks. The city is approaching a critical moment in its long history. In December, there is a referendum, its timing agreed under the Iraqi constitution, when 1.8 million people of Kirkuk province will vote on whether or not to join the highly autonomous Kurdish region that is already almost a separate state. Kurds will vote in favour and probably win; Arabs and Turkomans will vote against and lose.

How to Help

Very few organizations are working on getting aid to Iraqi refugees, and of those that are, many are too small or too beleaguered to accept individual donations; the Iraqi Red Crescent, for example, has suffered bombings and mass kidnappings, yet its volunteers continue to deliver aid to displaced families inside Iraq. One of the larger relief organizations working with the refugees is the Catholic group Caritas, whose caseworkers I shadowed while in Amman. Bucking the image of the Land Rover-driving aid worker, they made their rounds in an aging gray Honda, its roof eaten through by rust. They visited Iraqi doctors, engineers, and executives desperate for food, heat, or blankets to fend off the desert winter; one family told the crew they had just sold their stove to buy food. Caritas helps a few thousand families a year, but "the demand far outstrips the money available to us," says Magy Mahrous, who oversees the project. You can make a contribution at: International Catholic Migration Commission Citibank USA 153 East 53rd Street, 16th floor New York, NY 10043 Account # 10100491, ABA # 21000089, Swift Code CITIUS33 To ensure that the money reaches the Iraqi program, write "Iraq-icmc" on your check.

War Child International

PHOTO: Graffiti on the wall of a home in the Amil district of Baghdad reads "Wanted blood, Hell for infidels." As families begin to return to the neighborhoods they fled, the threat of sectarian violence remains. (Max Becherer/Polaris, for The New York Times)

What’s wrong with this photo?

Per Angry Arab News Service:

This is most suspicious. Call me conspiratorial--please, do; I mean it. It does not offend me in those times. The New York Times published this picture today with this caption: "Graffiti on the wall of a home in the Amil district of Baghdad reads "Wanted blood, Hell for infidels." As families begin to return to the neighborhoods they fled, the threat of sectarian violence remains." But anybody who knows Arabic will notice something really odd and fishy about the graffiti: It is not written by an Arabic speaker. It does not read Arabic, and the basic words for blood and infidels are misspelled, and the sentence structure is wrong. As if it was written in another language and then google-translated, or something.

Actually, it is very similar to a google translation. I just wanted to share this photo and the questions around it - many things going on in Iraq and the Middle East are not as they first appear.

PHOTO: A man sits next to his relative who was wounded during a gunfire, in a hospital in Kufa about 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, March 27, 2007. Iraqi police and residents of Kufa, north of Najaf, said U.S. forces raided the home of Mohammed al-Tabtabayi, an aide of Moqtada al-Sadr, but he was not there at the time. His brother was detained, police said. Hospital sources said one person was killed and six wounded when a car and a motorcycle in the area of the raid were fired on. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to queries about the incident. REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish (IRAQ) [Looks like he lost his leg to US military gunfire. - dancewater]

Security Incidents for March 27, 2007

Mosul- An explosive charge was detonated on Tuesday near the motorcade of the head of Ninawa provincial council in the city of Mosul, 402 km north of Baghdad, while a group of gunmen killed a college student near Mosul university campus, an official source in Ninawa province said.

Baghdad- Four U.S. soldiers were lightly wounded when a police station used by U.S. forces as a headquarters in the Shiite Sadr city in eastern Baghdad, came under Katyusha attack on Tuesday, a police source said.

Tikrit- Three public employees were killed by unidentified gunmen near al-Is-haqi district, 110 north of Baghdad, a security source in Tikrit said on Tuesday.

Kirkuk- Two children were wounded on Tuesday when an explosive charge went off near an elementary school in Kirkuk city, 250 km northeast of Baghdad, a police source said.

Hilla- A joint force of Iraqi army, police and U.S. forces arrested 14 suspected gunmen during a security operation that started early on Tuesday and ended at 2 pm in the city of Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad, a police source said.

Kirkuk- Iraqi and U.S. forces on Tuesday arrested six persons wanted for involvement in armed attacks west of Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad, a security source said.

Basra- A British force was attacked on Tuesday by indirect fire, while the British base in former president Saddam Hussein's palaces in central Basra, 550 south of Baghdad, came under attack, the spokeswoman for the Multi-National forces in southern Iraq said.

Baghdad- Iraqi security forces arrested 47 suspected militants in several areas of Baghdad, during the past 24 hours, under the Baghdad law-imposing plan, the Baghdad operations command said on Tuesday.

Baghdad- An unidentified number of people were killed and wounded on Tuesday in a suicide attack using two car bombs, targeting the house of Sheikh Dhahir Khamis al-Dari, the chief of Zawbaa tribe in western Baghdad, eyewitnesses said.

Tal Afar - Unidentified gunmen blocked the way of vehicles carrying medical assistance from Mosul to Talafar, west of Mosul, to aid victims of three bombing attacks that rattled the city earlier, an official in Ninawa province said on Tuesday. "A group of unidentified armed men blocked the way that links Mosul with Talafar to prevent ambulances and other vehicles from entering the city," the Head of Security and Defense Committee in Ninawa provincial council Hesham al-Hamadani told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) over the phone. At least 50 people were killed and 120 others were wounded on Tuesday in three bombing attacks in Talafar, Talafar mayor had said earlier.

Karbala – Electrical tower was blown up and all electricity to Karbala was shutdown.

BAGHDAD - One Iraqi soldier was killed and two wounded in a roadside blast in Ghazaliya district in western Baghdad, a Reuters photographer said.

GARMA - A U.S. combat post was attacked by two suicide truck bombs and about 30 gunmen west of Baghdad on Monday, but the soldiers succeeded in repelling them and killing 15. Eight U.S. soldiers were wounded, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

RAMADI - A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside a popular restaurant on a main road north of Ramadi, killing at least 17 people and wounding 32, a source at Ramadi hospital said. The restaurant was frequented by police in an area where local tribes have joined the tribal alliance against al Qaeda. Policemen were among the casualties, the source added.

BAGHDAD - Four people were killed and 14 wounded in a mortar attack in the Shi'ite enclave of Abu Dsheer in Doura district in southern Baghdad, police said.

ABU GHRAIB - A military leader of the Sunni insurgent 1920 Revolution Brigades, Harith al-Dari, was killed in an ambush in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, the group said in an Internet statement. Dari was also the son of an anti-al Qaeda tribal leader. A provincial official said he and three others were killed when two suicide bombers exploded their cars near his father's home. Relatives said he died when a rocket- propelled grenade hit his car. [Slightly different version of events below. – dancewater]

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces captured two leaders of a major car bomb cell responsible for attacks that killed around 900 Iraqis, mostly in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed a policeman and wounded two others in southeastern Baghdad, police said.

ISHAQI - Gunmen killed three people in the town of Ishaqi, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on Monday, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - Six mortar rounds landed on a residential area in the of town Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad and killed five civilians and wounded 11 on Monday, the U.S military said in a statement. Iraqi police had said on Monday that three were killed and 13 wounded.

MOSUL - Police found the bodies of four people, including a policeman and a decapitated body, in different parts of Mosul, on Monday, police said.

DIWANIYA - Six bodies were found in different parts of Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. The victims had been tortured, bound and shot.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed two employees of the social welfare office in Mosul in a drive-by shooting, police said.

ANBAR PROVINCE - A U.S. Marine died in combat in Anbar Province in western Iraq on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained four suspected insurgents in the cities of Mosul, Falluja and Tarmiya during operations targeting foreign fighter facilitators and al Qaeda militants, the U.S. military said. U.S. forces also found and destroyed a weapons cache in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

KUFA - Police and residents of Kufa said U.S. forces raided the home of Mohammed al-Tabtabayi, an aide to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but he was not there at the time. His brother was detained, police said. Hospital sources said one person was killed and six wounded when a car and a motorcycle in the area of the raid were fired on. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to queries about the incident.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire on a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding two others on Monday in Um al-Maalif district of western Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded four soldiers on Monday in Doura, police said.

Baghdad - A roadside bomb was detonated by explosive experts of the Iraqi police in Bab Al Moadam area, no causalities were reported.

Baghdad - A mortar shell landed in Abu Disheer causing the death of 3 civilians.

Baghdad - Gunmen killed Abbas Salah the first lieutenant in major crimes unit near his house in Zaiyouna neighborhood.

Baghdad -- This morning gunmen attacked the car of Sheikh Harith al Thari the son of the tribal leader Sheikh Thahir al Thari not far from his house. The attackers wanted to kidnap him, he and his companion resisted and killed some of the attackers. The attackers used an RPG rocket and destroyed the car. Later in the day the 1920 Revolution Brigades announced he was one of their field leaders. Sources from the area said he was a media man for the Brigades and his death comes after refusing to pledge loyalty to the Iraq Islamic State, an Al Qaeda linked group.

Baghdad -- A suicide car bomb approached Iraqi army check point and refused to stop, the soldiers killed the driver and the car detonated causing no causalities beyond the driver.

Baghdad --A mortar shell landed on the residents’ houses of Al Maalif neighborhood. 4 civilians were injured.

Baghdad -- A mortar shell landed in Kadhimiya neighborhood targeting a sport club. 4 civilians were injured.

Baghdad - Police found 15 corpses throughout the capital. The following is the number of dead bodies found in the neighborhoods: 1 in Bab Al Sheikh, 5 in Baia, 3 in Amil, 2 in Saidiyah, 1 in Abu Ghraib, 2 in Hurriyah, 1 in Yarmouk.

Tal Afar (Ninawa province) - Around 4:30 p.m. in the busy market of Tal Afar a truck loaded with flour parked and the driver told the people to gather to receive their share of the humanitarian aid that he is carrying. The truck exploded. A second parked car bomb exploded in the bus station in the city around the same time. The two explosions claimed the lives of 55 civilians and injured 130. [Later estimates were 80 killed. – dancewater]

Diyala - Two Iraqi policemen were injured when an American helicopter opened fire at their vehicle in Al Hwaider area yesterday night, Iraqi police said today.

Diyala - Two civilians were injured when Iraqi police clashed with gunmen were attacking the Mohammad Sakran village.

Diyala - A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Al Abara area north of Baqouba today. Two policemen were killed.

Baqouba - A suicide car bomb targeted Iraqi security forces of Baqouba.

Diyala - Several mortar shells targeted the general hospital in the city today. The mortar shells landed not far away from the hospital and caused no damages or casualties.

Najaf - A joint Iraqi-American force raided the house of a prominent Sadr aide Saeed Mohammad al Tabtabae and besieged Al Sahla neighborhood. The raid led to the arrest of Tabatabae's brother. The soldiers shot at a driving by car and killed the driver and injured a pregnant woman. They were heading to the hospital. [Another report says that two civilians were killed. – dancewater]

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Iraqi Bomb Attacks Leave 80 Dead

Bomb attacks killed nearly 80 people in Iraq yesterday, including 48 who died in twin truck bombings in the northwestern town of Tal Afar, police said. Among other attacks, suspected Al-Qaeda militants killed 21 people in bombings targeting police and Sunni Arab tribes who have formed an alliance against the militants, officials said. The attacks follow an upsurge in violence in recent days. US and Iraqi security forces have deployed thousands more soldiers in Baghdad to try to stem a sectarian war that threatens to tear the country apart. Police Brig. Karim Khalaf Al-Jubouri said the bomber lured victims to buy wheat loaded on his truck. A second truck bomb exploded in a used car lot. On Saturday, a man wearing an explosive vest blew himself up in Tal Afar, killing 10 people. In 2006, President George W. Bush held up Tal Afar as an example of progress being made in Iraq after US-led forces freed it from Al-Qaeda militants in an offensive the previous year. Near Ramadi, in western Anbar province, a suicide bomber exploded his car outside a restaurant on a main road, killing 17 people and wounding 32, a hospital source said. The restaurant was frequented by police in an area where local tribes have joined the tribal alliance against Al-Qaeda. Many police were among the casualties.

Mosque Burnt In Revenge Attack

Attackers have stormed and burnt a mosque in the southern Iraqi town of Haswa, while elsewhere five US soldiers were killed in roadside bombings. The Sunni mosque in Haswa, a religiously mixed town 35 miles south of Baghdad, the capital, was attacked on Sunday morning. Attackers blew up its minaret and set the mosque on fire, police said. The attack was said to be in revenge for the destruction of a Shia mosque in the town the previous day. Police said at least four people were wounded in Sunday's attack. A second Sunni mosque was attacked at the same time but damage was reported to be minor.

Betrayed

Laith had a job with an American organization, affiliated with the National Endowment for Democracy, that encouraged private enterprise in developing countries. Othman had worked with a German group called Architects for People in Need, and then as a translator for foreign journalists. These were coveted jobs, but over time they had become so dangerous that Othman and Laith could talk candidly about their lives with no one except each other. “I trust him,” Othman said of his friend. “We’ve shared our experiences with foreigners—the good and the bad. We don’t have a secret life when we are together. But when we go out we have to lie.” Othman’s cell phone rang: a friend was calling from Jordan. “I had a vision that you’ll be killed by the end of the month,” he told Othman. “Get out now, please. You can stay here with me. We’ll live on pasta.” Othman said something reassuring and hung up, but his phone kept ringing, the friend calling back; his vision had made him hysterical. A string of bad events had given Othman the sense that time was running out for him in Iraq. In November, members of the Mahdi Army—the Shia militia commanded by the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr—rounded up Othman’s older brother and several other Sunnis who worked in a shop in a mixed neighborhood. The Sunnis were taken to a local Shia mosque and shot. Othman’s brother was only grazed in the head, but a Shiite soldier noticed that he was still alive and shot him in the eye. Somehow, he survived this, too. Othman found his brother and took him to a hospital for surgery. The hospital—like the entire Iraqi health system—was under the Mahdi Army’s control, and Othman decided that his brother would be safer at their parents’ house. The brother was now blind, deranged, and vengeful, making life unbearable for Othman’s family. A few days later, Othman’s elderly maternal aunts, who were Shia and lived in a majority-Sunni area, were told by Sunni insurgents that they had three days to leave. Othman’s father, a retired Sunni officer, went to their neighborhood and convinced the insurgents that his wife’s sisters were, in fact, Sunnis. And then, one day in January, Othman’s two teen-age brothers, Muhammad and Salim, on whom he doted, failed to come home from school. Othman called the cell phone of Muhammad, who was fifteen. “Is this Muhammad?” he said. A stranger’s voice answered: “No, I’m not Muhammad.” “Where is Muhammad?” “Muhammad is right here,” the stranger said. “I’m looking at him now. We have both of them.” “Are you joking?” “No, I’m not. Are you Sunni or Shia?” Thinking of what had happened to his older brother, Othman lied: “We’re Shia.” The stranger told him to prove it. The boys had left their identity cards at home, for their own safety. Othman’s mother took the phone, sobbing and begging the kidnapper not to hurt her boys. “We’re going to behead them,” the kidnapper told her. “Choose where you want us to throw the bodies. Or do you prefer us to cut them to pieces for you? We enjoy cutting young boys to pieces.” The man hung up. After several more phone conversations, Othman realized his mistake: the kidnappers were Sunnis, with Al Qaeda. Shiites are not Muslims, the kidnappers told him—they deserve to be killed. Then they stopped answering the phone. Othman called a friend who belonged to a Sunni political party with ties to insurgents; over the course of the afternoon, the friend got the kidnappers back on the phone and convinced them that the boys were Sunnis. They were released with apologies, along with their money and their phones. It was the worst day of Othman’s life. He said he would never forget the sound of the stranger’s voice.

Othman began a campaign of burning. He went into the yard or up on the roof of his parents’ house with a jerrican of kerosene and set fire to papers, identity badges, books in English, photographs—anything that might incriminate him as an Iraqi who worked with foreigners. If Othman had to flee Iraq, he wanted to leave nothing behind that might harm him or his family. He couldn’t bring himself to destroy a few items, though: his diaries, his weekly notes from the hospital where he had once worked. “I have this bad habit of keeping everything like memories,” he said. [Long article, but worth reading. – dancewater]

Audio of Interview with Iraqi Refugee

And they call it peace: Inside Iraq, four years on

In a personal diary to mark the fourth anniversary of the war, our award-winning correspondent Patrick Cockburn journeys through a country riven with violence and chaos.

Sunday 18 March. Khanaqin

The difficulty of reporting Iraq is that it is impossibly dangerous to know what is happening in most of the country outside central Baghdad. Bush and Blair hint that large parts of Iraq are at peace; untrue, but difficult to disprove without getting killed in the attempt. My best bet was to go to Sulaymaniyah, an attractive city ringed by snow-covered mountains in eastern Kurdistan. I would then drive south, sticking to a road running through Kurdish towns and villages to Khanaqin, a relatively safe Kurdish enclave in north-east Diyala province, one of the more violent places in Iraq. We start for the south through heavy rain, and turn sharp east at Kalar, a grubby Kurdish town, to Jalawlah, a mixed Kurdish and Arab town where there has been fighting. Ominously, there are few trucks coming towards us. I was on this road last year and it was crowded with them. We go to the heavily guarded office of the deputy head of the PUK, Mamosta Saleh, who says the situation in Diyala is getting worse. The insurgents have control of Baquba, the provincial capital. He says: "They are also attacking a Kurdish tribe called the Zargosh in the Hamrin mountains." Security is so bad that government rations had not been delivered for seven months. I do the rounds of the town and hear on all sides that "security is good in the centre". Everybody says this in Iraq, even in villages that do not seem to have a centre. I know that six weeks earlier a bomb killed 12 and wounded 40 people in the centre of Khanaqin. Baquba is only 30 miles from Baghdad. It is as if the government in London had lost control of Reading. I say I want to meet some refugees from Baquba or Baghdad. A grim-looking policeman is given the job of guiding us. We drive a long way out of town behind his red car. Then he stops and talks to some men. The conversation seems too long if he is only asking the way. We are nervous of kidnappers so we race back into town. The mayor, Mohammed Amin Hassan Hussein, explains why there are no trucks on the road: the government in Baghdad has shut the nearby border with Iran, a serious blow to Khanaqin, which depends on cross-border trade.

Monday 19 March. Sulaymaniyah

I drive up into the mountains behind Sulaymaniyah. The snow is melting and the grass is green. After the Kurdish uprising was crushed in March 1991, the Baghdad government brought us here to show they had recaptured it. In these same hills, a mechanical grab was unearthing the bodies of Iraqi government security men from muddy mass graves. Reviled as torturers and killers, they expected no mercy from the Kurds and had fought to the last man.

Tuesday 20 March. Kirkuk

I drive to Kirkuk. The cliché was to describe it as "the powder keg" of Iraq, where Kurds and Arabs competing for control, along with the Turkoman, who had the trump card of Turkish support. The explosion is yet to happen, but every city and town in Iraq can now claim to be a powder keg, so people have forgotten how dangerous Kirkuk can be. I was here when the city fell to the Kurds in 2003. The PUK forces captured Kirkuk with no resistance. The Arabs and Turkoman were deeply unhappy. They still are. The day before I arrived, there were seven bomb attacks, killing 12 people and injuring 39. It is not as bad as Baghdad - few places are - but dead bodies, often tortured, turn up every few days.

VIDEO: Japanese-Iraqi Solidarity Feeds Hungry Iraq

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

Insurgents Loot Arms Dumps

Comment Iraqi arms dumps overrun by coalition forces in 2003 were still being looted by insurgents in search of explosives and ammunition as late as last October, according to a damning new report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

US Major Recalls Year with Wolf Brigade

U.S. Army Maj. Charles Miller suspects members of the Iraqi police unit he was advising of killing, kidnapping and beating Sunni Muslims and leading him into an ambush. Yet Miller still supports the U.S. policy of embedding small teams in larger units of Iraqi security forces, believing his work improved the national police battalion he advised. Miller, who normally works at U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, led an 11-strong team advising the battalion that was part of the Shi'ite-dominated Wolf Brigade, widely reputed to abuse its powers to target Sunnis. "They were all very friendly but they all have other motives on the side," recalled Miller, who completed his year-long mission last month and is now teaching other U.S. soldiers soon to deploy in advisory teams. "They're friendly because as long as the Americans are with them, they can get away with more because the Iraqi people see Americans with them and think everything is legitimate." The battalion would detain far more Sunnis than Shi'ites in raids, Miller said. The few Shi'ites would be released while Sunnis would be mistreated before being transferred to prison. "Some of the people, when they showed up, were pretty well beat up," said Miller, calmly recounting his story at Fort Riley, Kansas, where the Army trains advisory teams. Now, every detainee is photographed on arrest so any mistreatment can be documented, he said. Between 4,000 and 5,000 U.S. troops serve in "transition teams" advising Iraqi units. Improving Iraqi security forces is seen as vital to allowing U.S. forces to leave the country. Miller's team discovered arrest warrants used by the Wolf Brigade often were not legitimate and told the battalion his team would not go on any mission without correct documents. A month or two later, the battalion was called out on a mission at short notice. Soon after three U.S. officers left their vehicles at the site of the mission, a bomb exploded and the group came under fire from mortars, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, Miller said. "The national police dismounted their vehicles, took cover in a ditch and never fired back," Miller said. The Iraqi commander said the whole battalion's ammunition did not work. Miller believes his team was set up "because we were being so rough on them, sticklers for details". "From then on, we never did another mission unless me and my team were involved in the planning," Miller said. [I remember the Iraqi bloggers on Iraq the Model talking about the Wolf Brigade. They thought they were wonderful and had no questions about all the terrorist’s “confessions” on live TV, even though the so-called terrorists were clearly tortured. It amazes me that Miller thinks the work he did was of some benefit to decent people in the world. He is totally into self-delusion, I would say. – dancewater]

Israeli Officer Sells Weapons To Terrorists in Iraq

Shmoel Avivi, an Israeli retired officer, had established a firm in Iraq 2 years ago, which secretly sold arms to terrorist groups in Iraq, Ma'ariv reported. Amnesty International reported that Avivi was one of the biggest weapon dealers in the Middle East. Iraqi sources earlier announced that terrorist attacks in Iraq were backed by the intelligent agencies of CIA and Mossad and the secret agents of Iraqi former regime. Earlier, Iraqi parliament security commission chairman Hadi Ameri had accused the occupying soldiers of secretly directing the terrorist attacks and forming terror squads in Iraq.

COMMENTARY

Counting the Cost

Our collective failure has been to take our political leaders at their word. This week, the BBC reported that the government's own scientists advised ministers that the Johns Hopkins study on Iraq civilian mortality was accurate and reliable. This paper was published in the Lancet last October. It estimated that 650,000 Iraqi civilians had died since the American- and British-led invasion in March 2003. Immediately after publication, the prime minister's official spokesman said that The Lancet's study "was not one we believe to be anywhere near accurate". The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said that the Lancet figures were "extrapolated" and a "leap". President Bush said: "I don't consider it a credible report". Scientists at the UK's Department for International Development thought differently. They concluded that the study's methods were "tried and tested". Indeed, the Hopkins approach would likely lead to an "underestimation of mortality". The Ministry of Defence's chief scientific advisor said the research was "robust", close to "best practice", and "balanced". He recommended "caution in publicly criticising the study". When these recommendations went to the prime minister's advisers, they were horrified. One person briefing Tony Blair wrote: "are we really sure that the report is likely to be right? That is certainly what the brief implies?" A Foreign Office official was forced to conclude that the government "should not be rubbishing The Lancet". The prime minister's adviser finally gave in. He wrote: "the survey methodology used here cannot be rubbished, it is a tried and tested way of measuring mortality in conflict zones". How would the government respond? Would it welcome the Hopkins study as an important contribution to understanding the military threat to Iraqi civilians? Would it ask for urgent independent verification? Would it invite the Iraqi government to upgrade civilian security? Of course, our government did none of these things. Tony Blair was advised to say: "the overriding message is that there are no accurate or reliable figures of deaths in Iraq". His official spokesman went further and rejected the Hopkins report entirely. It was a shameful and cowardly dissembling by a Labour - yes, by a Labour - prime minister. Indeed, it was even contrary to the Americans' own Iraq Study Group report, which concluded last year that "there is significant underreporting of the violence in Iraq".

Nothing But Fascists

The war on Iraq was not carried out on the basis of mere strategic interests. No strategies or interests could explain the level of death and destruction that Iraq had undergone ever since the Gulf War in 1991. If one were to assume that the US led invasion in 2003 is a continuation of that war, then Iraq could be said to have suffered more horrors than any country had, including the countries that were involved the WWII. We are talking about at least two and a half million Iraqi civilians who had met their fate, where 750,000 of them were killed during the last four years. That figure represents 10% of Iraq’s population. In addition, you have over three and a half million Iraqis displaced (two million of them fled outside the country while the other1.5 million lost their homes and became displaced inside their own country). That is 14% of the population. Even when the Nazis brought destruction to Europe during WWII, no country alone suffered such human losses. Although the Soviet Union at the time, who suffered the biggest number of victims, had lost 20 million lives (military and civilian), that figure represents only 10% of the population which was 197 million in 1941. The tight sanctions that Iraq had faced for over 12 years were also unprecedented in modern history, affecting such basic needs as food and medicine. The aim of those sanctions was not only to strangle the country’s economy but also to pressure Iraqi society, too. The sanctions, which reduced many segments of the population into poverty, were meant to make the country easier to invade, after creating a public desperation for change. But it has also created internal resentments and divisions between the ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-nots’, which naturally led to organised crime and armed gang formations. It was like some sort of a ‘social nuclear bomb’. If you accept the findings of Johns Hopkins University team which estimated that 650,000 Iraqi civilians had died during the first three years of the US-led invasion, and compare that figure to the number of victims who have died by the Hiroshima bomb, then you could say that Iraq has suffered the effect of four nuclear bombs. Combining all the losses that Iraq has endured ever since 1991 as a direct result of US involvement, one could conclude that Iraqis would have witnessed more mercy had they been besieged and invaded by the Nazis. Causing such genocide cannot be attributed to perusing interests only. The mass killings in Iraq, like the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, had been met with great indifference from citizens from around the globe (and not just their involved governments). Inaccurate media coverage has helped creating a sense of hatred in some societies against ‘the other’.

How to Help

Very few organizations are working on getting aid to Iraqi refugees, and of those that are, many are too small or too beleaguered to accept individual donations; the Iraqi Red Crescent, for example, has suffered bombings and mass kidnappings, yet its volunteers continue to deliver aid to displaced families inside Iraq. One of the larger relief organizations working with the refugees is the Catholic group Caritas, whose caseworkers I shadowed while in Amman. Bucking the image of the Land Rover-driving aid worker, they made their rounds in an aging gray Honda, its roof eaten through by rust. They visited Iraqi doctors, engineers, and executives desperate for food, heat, or blankets to fend off the desert winter; one family told the crew they had just sold their stove to buy food. Caritas helps a few thousand families a year, but "the demand far outstrips the money available to us," says Magy Mahrous, who oversees the project. You can make a contribution at: International Catholic Migration Commission Citibank USA 153 East 53rd Street, 16th floor New York, NY 10043 Account # 10100491, ABA # 21000089, Swift Code CITIUS33 To ensure that the money reaches the Iraqi program, write "Iraq-icmc" on your check.

War Child International

PHOTO: Security employees chant slogans during a demonstration in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, March 25, 2007. Thousands of security guards held a rally on Sunday protesting against the government for not paying their salaries in Diwaniya. The yellow placard reads "We die for our families and our children". Picture taken March 25, 2007. REUTERS/Imad al-Khozai (IRAQ)

Security Incidents for March 26, 2007

Baghdad:

While conducting a route clearance mission, a MND-B Soldier died when an improvised explosive device detonated near the Soldier’s position in a northwestern section of the Iraqi capital March 25, wounding two others

In Baghdad, one person was killed and three were wounded when three mortar shells hit a neighborhood in the mainly Sunni Dora district, according to police.

In the southeastern district of Zafaraniyah, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol went off at 10:55 am, killing a police officer and wounding three, including a police captain, police said. Two civilians also were injured.

Iraqi soldiers killed six suspected insurgents over the past 24 hours around Iraq, the Defence Ministry said

A loud explosion shook the area near the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified international Green Zone in central Baghdad on Monday, witnesses said. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear, but the area is frequently attacked by mortars and rockets, which usually cause few casualties.

A rocket landed in Baghdad's heavily fortified international Green Zone on Monday, rocking the U.S. embassy but causing no casualties, witnesses said. U.S. embassy spokesman Lou Fintor would not say exactly where the rocket landed for security reasons but confirmed it had crashed into the sprawling international zone, which also houses the Iraqi government and other foreign embassies. "Preliminary reports indicate the source of the explosion was a rocket. There were no casualties and minimal damage," he said.

Two explosions struck the Green Zone in Baghdad on Monday, slightly wounding three people, according to the U.S. Embassy. The first attack was about 2 p.m. when a rocket fell in the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad, causing the injuries, embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. He did not provide more details about the nationalities of those injured or the exact location of the strikes, citing security concerns. Another explosion occurred at about 4:20 p.m. and preliminary reports indicated it was a rocket as well, Fintor said. That attack caused no injuries or deaths and only minor damage, he said.

A suicide car bomb killed two civilians and wounded five more in Rusafa, near the Shorja market in central Baghdad, police said.

At least four people were wounded when a rocket landed on a house in the district of Karrada in central Baghdad, police said.

Gunmen killed an adviser for the Sunni Endowment, an organisation which manages Sunni religious sites, along with two other employees in a drive-by shooting in Adhamiya in northern Baghdad, the Sunni Endowment said. One more employee was wounded.

A civilian was shot dead by the American forces in Shoala neighborhood west Baghdad around 4,00 pm

2 civilians were injured in an IED explosion targeted the civilian sin Al Shurta Al Rabi'aa neighborhood south west Baghdad at 4,30 pm

A member of Police commandos was killed and two others were injured by a sniper who targeted a commandos' patrol in Um Al Ma'alif neighborhood south Baghdad around 5 pm

4 Iraqi army soldiers were injured in an IED explosion targeted their patrol in Doura neighborhood south Baghdad at

A civilian was killed in an IED explosion targeted the civilian in Saidiyah neighborhood south Baghdad at 5,00 pm

15 anonymous bodies were found in Baghdad today. 13 bodies were found in Karkh, the western part of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (3 bodies in Doura, 2 bodies in Shoala, 2 bodies in hay Al Amil, 2 bodies in Mahmoudiyah, 2 bodies in Hay Al Jihad and 2 bodies in Bayaa.) 2 bodies were found in Risafa, the eastern part of Baghdad, one body was found in Sadr city and another body was found in Shaab neighborhood

Diyala Prv:

Four Task Force Lightning Soldiers were killed Sunday when an improvised explosive device exploded near their patrol in Diyala Province. Two other Soldiers were also wounded in the attack and were taken to a Coalition Forces’ medical treatment facility

A medical source in Baquba city north of Baghdad said that 4 civilians including tow women were injured when clashes broke up between a combined force of the Iraq army & the MNF and insurgents in Al Mu’alimeen neighborhood west Baquba today early morning.

A security source said that 5 members of one family (a family of a security member) were injured when a bomb exploded near their house gate in Al Mustafa neighborhood west Baquba early morning today. The source confirmed that another bomb exploded when a police patrol passed through Al Mustafa neighborhood but not casualties were recorded.

A security source said that two civilians were injured when insurgents opened their guns fire randomly near Diyala governorate building downtown Diyala city today morning.

A police source in Miqdadiya town east north Baquba city said that a civilian was killed and two policemen were injured when insurgents opened their guns fire in Al Mu’alimeen neighborhood today morning.

A security source close to the 5th Iraqi army division said that insurgents groups fought each other today to control the eastern entrance of Baquba city. The source confirmed according to eyewitnesses that three insurgents were killed while a civilian was injured during the clashes.

A source in Diyala police 1st emergency brigade said that a force from the brigade arrested tow suspects and confiscated some weapons while searching some houses in Al Mustafa neighborhood west Baquba.

Haswa:

In a separate incident, unidentified gunmen left a corpse filled with explosives near an Iraqi army checkpoint in al-Haswa, 55 km south of Baghdad. The explosive-laden body detonated as soldiers approached, wounding two of them, the source added.

Iskandariyah:

A fierce clash broke out on Monday morning when unknown gunmen attempted to storm the al-Mustafa mosque in Iskandariyah, 45 km south of Baghdad, killing at least one civilian and injuring three others, Xinhua quoted an anonymous police spokesperson as saying.

Mortars also landed in a central residential district, killing two and wounding four.

A total of seven Iraqi army troops were wounded on Monday when a bomb went off near their checkpoint. A group of armed men detonated a booby-trapped body near to a checkpoint in al-Iskandriyah district, north of Hilla," the source, who asked not to be identified, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The blast wounded seven soldiers and damaged the checkpoint building," he added.

Mahaweel:

In Mahaweel, a mainly Shiite town 35 miles south of Baghdad, a bomb planted near a Sunni mosque went off Monday morning, damaging the building but causing no casualties, police said.

Dinwaniya:

Moreover, a bomb targeting a US army patrol exploded in Al Sadir region in Diwaniya

The body of a man was found with gunshot wounds, bound and bearing signs of torture on Sunday in the southern city of Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police said

Kut:

Gunmen killed an Iraqi contractor working for the U.S. forces in a drive-by shooting on Sunday in a town near the city of Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

Basra:

The improvised explosive device went off as two British Warrior vehicles undertook a patrol north of Basra Palace. Captain Gary Hedges, a British Army spokesman in the city, said both vehicles were slightly damaged, but no-one was injured.

A British soldier was wounded when a roadside bomb hit his patrol in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The incident happened in the centre of the city, said military spokeswoman Capt. Katie Brown. No other details of the incident were available.

Anti-Explosives Unit in Iraqi police defused on Monday two bombs in northern Basra, 550 km south of Baghdad. Anti-Explosives Unit defused on Monday two bombs near to Saleh River in al-Emdiynah district in northern Basra," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

"The British Consulate in central Basra came under four mortar shells attack," he added, noting that the attack caused no damage inside the consulate.

Salah ad-Din province:

Three bodies were found in Tikrit, Salah ad-Din province, on Monday of people, who were killed by unidentified gunmen, a police source said. "Police forces found on Monday morning a body of unidentified man with a Kalashnikov gun beside him. The body bore signs of gun shots to the chest," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq. A shootout flared up between the forces and unidentified gunmen as the forces were trying to carry the body," he added, noting that the clash did not leave victims on both sides.

Police patrols found also two corpses of a man and his son inside their car on the highway that links Tikrit and Touz," he added, giving no further details.

Three gunmen were killed in clashes with the Iraqi police near the western entrance of Samarra city north of Baghdad today early morning. Four Iraqi policemen were injured and Iraqi police confiscated few guns and grenades

A police officer was killed and three policemen were inured in an IED explosuion targeted their patrol on the main near Al Hujjaj street

Baji:

A police source in Biji city said that an American soldier was killed by a sniper in Biji city north of Tikrit midday

Mosul:

In scattered violence Monday across Iraq, gunmen in two cars fatally shot an off-duty police officer walking near his home in the northern city of Mosul, according to Brig. Mohammed al-Wagaa, director of police operations in Ninveh province of which Mosul is the capital.

In Mosul, insurgents shut dead a police major in Sumer Neighborhood

Gunmen killed a Facilities Protection Service captain in the northern city of Mosul on Sunday, police said.

Gunmen killed tribal leader Mohammed al-Igoud and wounded his son on Sunday in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

A decapitated body was found in Mosul on Sunday. Another body of a man, with gunshot wounds, was found on Monday in Mosul, a hospital source said

Hawija:

Police killed a gunman and arrested another when they were trying to plant a roadside bomb in the town of Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of the northern oil city of Kirkuk, police said.

Kirkuk:

A policeman was wounded in an IED explosion near one of the bridges in Al Qadisiyah neighborhood downtown Kirkuk city at 8 am today.

Al Anbar Prv:

An Iraqi army vehicle was destroyed when an explosive charge went off near a vehicle patrol in eastern Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, a police source said. "Today at 5:00 pm, an explosive charge, planted by unknown gunmen, detonated near an Iraqi army vehicle patrol in east of Falluja, destroying an army vehicle," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The blast also left casualties among the Iraqi soldiers, said the source but he declined to give a specific number.

Tal Afar:

Iraqi police raided a house in Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, and shot a man wearing an explosive vest, which detonated, killing himself and another insurgent, police said

Thanks to whisker for the links above.

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Bad Water Afflicting Iraq's Children

Four years after the US-led invasion of Iraq that ousted deceased former president Saddam Hussein, the majority of Iraqis find it difficult to get safe water, despite the fact that the country is blessed with two abundant natural water sources, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Like much of Iraq's infrastructure, its national water networks have been left to fall into disrepair over the past two decades as a result of Iraq's long economic stagnation under United Nations-imposed sanctions during Saddam's era.

Sunni Baghdad Becomes Land of Silent Ruins

Theirs is a world of ruined buildings, damaged mosques, streets pitted by mortar shells, uncollected trash and so little electricity that many people have abandoned using refrigerators altogether. The contrast with Shiite neighborhoods is sharp. Markets there are in full swing, community projects are under way, and while electricity is scarce throughout the city, there is less trouble finding fuel for generators in those areas. When the government cannot provide services, civilian arms of the Shiite militias step in to try to fill the gap. But in Adhamiya, a community with a Sunni majority, any semblance of normal life vanished more than a year ago. Its only hospital, Al Numan, is so short of basic items like gauze and cotton pads that when mortar attacks hit the community last fall, the doctors broadcast appeals for supplies over local mosque loudspeakers.

Night Raids

Several times a week, in every troublespot in Iraq, late-night raids are carried out by American and Iraqi troops against the homes of suspected insurgents. Raids take place at around 2 or 3 in the morning. The targets vary, some are suspected makers of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's), by far the number one killer of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Others are suspected insurgents, who gather in small groups to ambush troops, usually after an IED attack, then vanish, invariably protected by local people. Almost always, the target houses are residential. Entry is abrupt. A dozen soldiers line up on opposite sides of a door. One soldier kicks it in, then he and his comrades stream in, yelling in English and Arabic and quickly subduing the suspects. Their hands are tied and secured by thick plastic bands, and they are made to kneel, while the house is aggressively searched for any sign of contraband. Meanwhile, the company or platoon commander, usually a captain, verifies the identities of the captured men and interrogates them with the help of an interpreter. Interpreters come in several forms. A few, very few, are American citizens of Arabic descent contracted by American companies. Many other are Arabic-speaking Kurds, usually university-educated young men who tend to hate Iraqis. The rest are Iraqis, mostly Shia, who are local but often from a different neighborhood than they patrol. They almost always wear black masks and sunglasses or baklavas to conceal their identities. If contraband is found, or the answers from the captured Iraqis are deemed unacceptable, they are blindfolded and led out of the house. The officer and interpreter will go into the next room, where women and children are being watched over, and explain to them that their husband, father, son is being detained. At the news they nearly always leap up wailing, clawing at themselves, tightly grasping their head in their hands, begging for mercy or leniency. The man or men will be stuffed into a vehicle and taken to a detention facility. Often he will be released in a few days if there is not enough evidence at hand to hold him. Other times he will be held in the American or Iraqi prison system indefinitely. Perhaps 25 per cent of the raids I witnessed led to the detention of suspected insurgents. The rest failed, victims of bad intelligence or timing.

From Juan Cole’s Blog:

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Iraqi government is blaming the assassination attempt on the Baath Party. (Note that the Western press was almost unanimous in blaming "al-Qaeda;" but the Iraqi government is better placed to know who is trying to kill its officials). Al-Zawba` is a Sunni Arab clan, the leader of which has, like the vice premier, been willing to cooperate with the Americans. The incident shows the ways in which ideology is sometimes more powerful than kinship ties in today's Iraq. The hope sometimes expressed that tribes could step up and stop the guerrillas founders on such data. Al-Hayat also says that the "Islamic State of Iraq," the fundamentalist guerrilla group active in western Iraq, has demanded that the city of Tikrit accept its rule, in return for which it would release Sheikh Naji Jabarah al-Juburi, the chieftain of the powerful, largely Sunni Arab Jubur tribe.

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

U.S. Envoy Says He Met With Iraq Rebels

The senior American envoy in Iraq, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, held talks last year with men he believed represented major insurgent groups in a drive to bring militant Sunni Arabs into politics. "There were discussions with the representatives of various groups in the aftermath of the elections, and during the formation of the government before the Samarra incident, and some discussions afterwards as well," Khalilzad said in a farewell interview on Friday at his home inside the fortified Green Zone. He is the first American official to publicly acknowledge holding such talks. The meetings began in early 2006 and were quite possibly the first attempts at sustained contact between senior American officials here and the Sunni Arab insurgency. Khalilzad flew to Jordan for some of the talks, which included self-identified representatives of the Islamic Army of Iraq and the 1920 Revolution Brigades, two leading nationalist factions, American and Iraqi officials said. Khalilzad declined to give details on the meetings, but other officials said the efforts had foundered by the summer, after the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra set off waves of sectarian violence. Khalilzad's willingness even to approach rebel groups seemed at odds with the public position of some Bush administration officials that the United States does not negotiate with insurgents. It was not clear whether he had to seek permission from Washington before engaging in these talks. In general, Khalilzad was given great flexibility in making diplomatic decisions to try to rein in the spiraling violence, and his talks with insurgents reflected the practical view of Iraqi politics that the ambassador adopted throughout his nearly two-year tenure here. American commanders here have also said it is necessary to woo the less radical insurgent groups away from the true militants. American officials have privately acknowledged there have been some talks with insurgent representatives as early as autumn 2005. In another sign of pragmatism, the ambassador reiterated in the interview his position that the American and Iraqi governments had to consider granting amnesty to insurgents. But critics of Khalilzad say that the painstaking and potentially rancorous review of the Constitution under way would not be needed if the Americans had shepherded a more balanced Constitution, instead of one that gave short shrift to the needs of the Sunni Arabs as it tried to appeal to the Kurds and Shiites. Khalilzad and his colleagues, the critics say, were so fixated on meeting the political timetable laid out by the White House that they pushed through a document that may have inflamed the Sunni-led insurgency by enshrining strong regional control. The Constitution reaffirms Sunni Arab beliefs that Shiites and Kurds want oil and territory. "The Constitution is the source of the problem," said Fakhri al-Qaisi, a hard-line Sunni Arab politician who was among 15 Sunni advisers on the Constitution. "It's a sectarian document." Western officials who have examined the Constitution say the Sunni Arabs have a right to be concerned: the document's language skews authority vastly in favor of the regions. If the Iraqi review committee and the Parliament are able to make hard compromises on amendments, then a nationwide referendum on the new Constitution might be held before the end of 2007. What is happening now essentially is a repeat of what took place in 2005.

How to Help

Very few organizations are working on getting aid to Iraqi refugees, and of those that are, many are too small or too beleaguered to accept individual donations; the Iraqi Red Crescent, for example, has suffered bombings and mass kidnappings, yet its volunteers continue to deliver aid to displaced families inside Iraq. One of the larger relief organizations working with the refugees is the Catholic group Caritas, whose caseworkers I shadowed while in Amman. Bucking the image of the Land Rover-driving aid worker, they made their rounds in an aging gray Honda, its roof eaten through by rust. They visited Iraqi doctors, engineers, and executives desperate for food, heat, or blankets to fend off the desert winter; one family told the crew they had just sold their stove to buy food. Caritas helps a few thousand families a year, but "the demand far outstrips the money available to us," says Magy Mahrous, who oversees the project. You can make a contribution at: International Catholic Migration Commission Citibank USA 153 East 53rd Street, 16th floor New York, NY 10043 Account # 10100491, ABA # 21000089, Swift Code CITIUS33 To ensure that the money reaches the Iraqi program, write "Iraq-icmc" on your check.

War Child International

PHOTO: An Iraqi boy sleeps as U.S. army soldiers from B Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment search his home in west Baghdad's Ghazaliyah neighborhood, Iraq, Sunday, March 25, 2007. The U.S. and Iraqi forces continued house searches throughout the dangerous Sunni area of Ghazaliyah Sunday, discovering caches of weapons and ammunition. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Security Incidents for March 25, 2007

In Country:

At least 12 Iraqis soldiers and officers were killed and 26 others wounded in operations during the past 24 hours, according to an Iraqi military statement released Sunday.

Baghdad:

Iraqi and U.S. soldiers detained 16 insurgents and found two weapons caches on Saturday during search operations in the western Ghazaliya district of Baghdad, police said

Six militants were killed while 23 others were arrested in action around the Iraqi capital's suburbs, the statement added. Also large amounts of weapon caches were found and ten explosive devices were defused.

Gunmen and Iraqi security forces clashed Sunday as U.S. attack helicopters buzzed overhead in a Sunni area in central Baghdad, and police said at least two people were killed and four wounded. The fighting started about 1:30 p.m. when gunmen attacked Iraqi army patrols in the Fadhil neighborhood, which sits on the east side of the Tigris River, police said. The U.S. military had no immediate comment. Iraqi police said two civilians were killed and four people wounded — two policemen and two civilians.

A suspected sniper shot dead a man in the al-Sinak area in central Baghdad, police said.

A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol, killed an Iraqi soldier near Yarmouk hospital in western Baghdad, police said.

Two people were killed and five wounded in a mortar attack in Abu Dsheer in southern Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

Around 4:30 p.m. a mortar shell landed on a resident house in Al Shurta Al Rabia (south west Baghdad) causing injuries to 5 civilians.

Around 5 p.m. a mortar shell landed in Palestine street east Baghdad. one woman was injured

Police found 17 corpses throughout Baghdad. Three corpses were found in Risafa (the eastern side of the city) and 14 in Karkh side (the western side of Baghdad). The corpses were found in the following neighborhoods: 3 corpses in Sileikh, 1 in Raghiba Khatoun, 1 in Kamaliya, 2 in Baia, 1 in Amil, 1 in Doura, 1 in Shuala, 1 in Saidiya, 2 in Hurriya, 1 in Jamia, 1 in Eskan, 1 in Yarmouk, 1 in Ghazaliya.

Diyala Prv:

Forensics in Baaquba on Saturday received five unidentified bodies found by Iraqi police patrols, a medic said.

police source said that the clashes between Iraqi police and gunmen in Baquba yesterday afternoon caused of killing 2 and arrest 8 from gunmen one of them was wanted to security forces

Iraqi police defused a rocket was prepared to target a Kurdish political party in the city of Jalawla today

Gunmen attacked Diyala police directorate this morning. The driving by gunfire targeted the visitors to the building and police responded to the source of fire. No casualities were reported.

Haswa:

Suspected Shiite militants bombed a Sunni mosque in southern Iraq on Sunday in apparent retaliation for a suicide attack the day before against a Shiite shrine in the same city. The explosives blew a hole in the minaret of the Sunni mosque in Haswa, a predominantly Shiite city 30 miles south of Baghdad, but the mosque was empty and no casualties were reported.

In retaliation for yesterday bombing in the mixed city of Haswa (50 Km south of Baghdad) gunmen burned 4 Sunni mosques and attacked the Iraqi Islamic party (IIP) headquarter in the city. Around 1 p.m. and during the funeral of yesterday bombing victims, Shiite gunmen attacked and burned two mosques, Abdullah Al Jubouri and Hiteen mosques. The gunmen set a bomb in Usama bin Zaid mosque and burn it. The fourth mosque, Al Anwar mosque, gunmen bombed the Minaret and burned the mosque after no resistance were noticed. Almost at the same time the gunmen attacked the IIP headquarter in the city and a clash started between the guards and the attackers till around 4:30 p.m. The three hours continues clashes and sectarian violence stopped after the arrival of the American and Iraqi troops. Police said 2 men were injured only but sources of the IIP said 15 of the attackers were killed.

U.S. and Iraqi troops clashed with gunmen in the town of Haswa, 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, as a Sunni mosque was set ablaze in an apparent revenge attack for the destruction of a Shi'ite mosque in the town a day earlier. Police said four people were wounded in the Sunni mosque attack

Latifiya:

Iraqi soldiers killed an insurgent, detained 71 others, and discovered two car bombs and 10 weapon caches on Saturday in the town of Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, the Defence Ministry said.

Tikrit:

One Iraqi policeman was killed and three others wounded when an explosive charge went off near a patrol, a security source in Tikrit, Salah al-Din province, said on Sunday. "The blast, which occurred on the main road north of Tirkit, killed a policeman ranked captain and seriously wounded three others," the source, who preferred not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Sulaimaniyah:

Three people, including two policemen, were wounded after gunmen, believed to have links to the Ansar al-Islam (Islam Supporters) organization, clashed with police at a checkpoint in Iraqi Kurdistan Sulaimaniyah, a security source said on Sunday."Gunmen, believed to have links to the Ansar al-Islam organization, attacked overnight a police checkpoint in Banjoin district near the borders with Iran," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The attackers used small and mid-sized arms in the hour and a half long clashes, he said.

Mosul:

Gunmen killed Ali Amin, the director of a gas factory, near his house in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, police said

Police said they found the bodies of five people, including a policeman, in different districts of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

Al Anbar Prv:

Clashes erupted between police and tribal leaders opposed to al Qaeda on one side and al Qaeda militants on the other in the Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, police Lieutenant-Colonel Ahmed al-Dulaimi said.

An unidentified number of U.S. soldiers were killed and wounded by explosive devices on Saturday night when their convoy of tanks and Hummer vehicles was attacked east of the city of al-Rutba, Anbar province, eyewitnesses said. "Unidentified gunmen lurking in 4WD vehicles with mounted machine-guns ambushed the U.S. convoy after the explosive devices went off," eyewitnesses driving on the international highway linking Iraq to Syria and Jordan told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Civilians, who were driving nearly 200 meters behind the U.S. convoy, told VOI that a number of U.S. soldiers were killed and wounded, adding that the explosive charges destroyed several U.S. military vehicles.

Thanks to whisker for the links above.

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

VIDEO: Abdullah Leaves

In a city with no future, friendships survive on borrowed time.

VIDEO: Source Code

In this 10 minute piece, Dahr Jamail gives an Iraq update with exclusive video from Iraq. He describes some of the origins of the "sectarianism" that the US corporate media is so apt to point to when discussing Iraq, and shows how the US has been involved in fueling the sectarian tensions.

VIDEO: Four Years Later, Speaking to Americans

Sunni Baghdad Becomes Land of Silent Ruins

The cityscape of Iraq’s capital tells a stark story of the toll the past four years have taken on Iraq’s once powerful Sunni Arabs. Theirs is a world of ruined buildings, damaged mosques, streets pitted by mortar shells, uncollected trash and so little electricity that many people have abandoned using refrigerators altogether. The contrast with Shiite neighborhoods is sharp. Markets there are in full swing, community projects are under way, and while electricity is scarce throughout the city, there is less trouble finding fuel for generators in those areas. When the government cannot provide services, civilian arms of the Shiite militias step in to try to fill the gap. But in Adhamiya, a community with a Sunni majority, any semblance of normal life vanished more than a year ago. Its only hospital, Al Numan, is so short of basic items like gauze and cotton pads that when mortar attacks hit the community last fall, the doctors broadcast appeals for supplies over local mosque loudspeakers. Here, as in so much of Baghdad, the sectarian divide makes itself felt in its own deadly and destructive ways. Far more than in Shiite areas, sectarian hatred has shredded whatever remained of community life and created a cycle of violence that pits Sunni against Sunni as well as Sunni against Shiite.

War of Words Over Kirkuk Intensifies

Fiery rhetoric over who will eventually control the oil-rich city of Kirkuk has intensified recently, signaling that the opposite sides are not willing to compromise. A statement by Nejirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdish regional government, has illustrated once again that the Kurds will never give up their claim to the city. Barzani warned that the Kurds patience over the fate of the disputed city was wearing thin and that they could not wait indefinitely. He was referring to an article in the Iraqi Constitution which stipulates the holding of a referendum in the city which the Kurds believe will show that they are the majority. Arabs and Turkmen who oppose the referendum and the transferring of Kirkuk’s administration to Kurds were furious over the remarks. “Giving up Kirkuk (to Kurds) means undermining the country’s future,” said Saad al-Janabi who, with other Iraqi politicians, leads the opposition to Kurdish moves to annex the city. Arabs and Turkmen have formed a joint front to oppose any Kurdish attempt to spread control over Kirkuk.

A New Shiite-Sunni Radio Station Offers Hope in Northern Iraq

In one of the most violent provinces in Iraq, two Shiites and two Sunnis kicked off their first broadcast of a new radio and television station on Sunday. Their message is one of peace, and they hope it will help quiet the sectarian violence that has shattered their lives in the bloody province of Diyala, which has a Sunni majority. Inside a U.S. army outpost southeast of Baquba, cut off from the outside world with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers surrounding them, with U.S. help the three men and one woman restarted the station, which once operated under Saddam Hussein’s rule and, later, as part of the Iraqi Media Network. “I feel we are standing on the pages of the history books. It is time to make our mark. I am carrying the most effective weapon in this war. It is my microphone and it will carry my voice,” said Samir Khamies, 28, a Sunni from Baquba and co-founder of the Independent Radio and Television Station. They’re funding comes from advertising revenue bought by the U.S. 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division in Diyala to send out coalition messages. The brigade invested $36,000 to start the station. A Global Outreach Team from the U.S. Embassy was commissioned to help. They used jumper cables and a 12-volt battery to restart the radio transmitter, and they use a tower built for Saddam to preach a message of unity. But the price is dear.

COMMENTARY

Call for Aid as Iraqi Refugees’ Misery Compounds

Life for Ahlam al-Mulla, her husband and three children was meant to get easier after they fled their home outside Baghdad for the safety of Syria. In July 2004, the 42-year-old Sunni was kidnapped on her way to work for the Iraqi Help Centre - a US-sponsored welfare organisation. The militia men who took her accused her of being an agent of the US occupation. They beat her for eight days, she said. “My husband had to pay US $50,000 to get me released, otherwise I would have been killed,” Ahlam told IRIN in her bare living room in Damascus. “I was absolutely terrified.” The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that there are more than one million Iraqi refugees living in Syria. With new visa restrictions in place, soaring inflation, dwindling resources and no prospect of legal work, daily life for them has become increasingly unsustainable. Unable to obtain official work permits in Syria, many Iraqi families, such as the Mullas, have spent the meagre resources they brought with them from Iraq and now rely on donations from relatives. ……… According to a study by the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria (NOHR) on the effect of Iraqi refugees on inflation, an average two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Damascus two years ago could be rented monthly for 8,000 Syrian pounds (US $160) but now costs 20,000 Syrian pounds (US $400) - a 250 percent increase. “Syrians believe the Iraqi refugees are the main reason for inflation,” said Ammar Qurabi, NOHR Chairman. “In addition to the prices, Iraqis have brought with them many other problems, one of them being prostitution.” For the Mulla family, who live in Damascus’ majority Shia suburb of Sayyeda Zeinab, it was the overburden on Syria’s healthcare system that was to have tragic consequences. Delayed in admitting their 12-year-old son Anas to private healthcare in Sayyeda Zeinab after he fell sick, the parents watched in agony as doctors were unable to save their child, who died from internal bleeding.

How to Help

Very few organizations are working on getting aid to Iraqi refugees, and of those that are, many are too small or too beleaguered to accept individual donations; the Iraqi Red Crescent, for example, has suffered bombings and mass kidnappings, yet its volunteers continue to deliver aid to displaced families inside Iraq. One of the larger relief organizations working with the refugees is the Catholic group Caritas, whose caseworkers I shadowed while in Amman. Bucking the image of the Land Rover-driving aid worker, they made their rounds in an aging gray Honda, its roof eaten through by rust. They visited Iraqi doctors, engineers, and executives desperate for food, heat, or blankets to fend off the desert winter; one family told the crew they had just sold their stove to buy food. Caritas helps a few thousand families a year, but "the demand far outstrips the money available to us," says Magy Mahrous, who oversees the project. You can make a contribution at: International Catholic Migration Commission Citibank USA 153 East 53rd Street, 16th floor New York, NY 10043 Account # 10100491, ABA # 21000089, Swift Code CITIUS33 To ensure that the money reaches the Iraqi program, write "Iraq-icmc" on your check.