News About Iraq

This Blog is Moving

2007-03-30T18:25:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-30T00:33:00.000-04:00

&l;tx

Security Incidents for 03/29/07

2007-03-29T23:17:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-29T13:20:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-28T21:31:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-28T20:36:00.000-04:00

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

How to Help

War Child International

2007-03-28T00:35:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-03-27T16:19:00.000-04:00

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

War Child International

2007-03-26T23:56:00.000-04:00

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

War Child International

2007-03-25T22:20:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-25T07:12:00.000-04:00

Silencing the Children of Iraq

“whole lot of signing never gonna be heard, disappearing every day without so much as a word” - Patty Griffin, sung by the Dixie Chicks in “Top of the World”.

In this post, I am at least going to acknowledge that the voices and songs of the Iraqi children are disappearing in the tsunami of violence that our invasion and occupation has unleashed upon them – the truly innocent among us.

This is a link to a short video of some of the appalling conditions some children in Baghdad are facing now. It starts by showing a young boy with beautiful hazel eyes singing a song that has this line in it: “I slipped from your hands as I said farewell”. He explains that he was walking with his parents when he saw them explode. He is one of many children in this orphanage, and all of them know about death and loss, probably better than most readers of this post.

Some of them have also suffered horrible wounds from violent attacks. There is only one man running the orphanage now – the other man running the orphanage was killed by a death squad. Also, the orphanage is running out of funds and may soon close.

Another scene in this video is a young mother bringing her son to the doctor. She claims the boy has not acted normally since the car bomb. Both she and the doctor seem to think it is due to PTSD, although the child has obvious scars on his head. The video then discusses the threat of kidnapping that the children face. The final scene is a young girl crying as she listens to a singer sing of a better tomorrow. She is an orphan too.

The problems start before the child arrives in the world. This article tells of the problems of getting the expectant mother to the hospital under conditions of occupation, and it is called “Birth Amid the Bloodshed”. Driving at night is not allowed under curfew, and driving anyway could get you killed. And it is possible to get killed by several different actors in Iraq – criminals, militias, Iraqi army, Iraqi police or US military. No matter which group you might encounter after curfew, you could easily end up dead before you are even born. It sounds like the parents are most afraid of US troops. And the expectant parents cannot just drive to the closest hospital – it may be run by another sect. And that can get you killed also.

Ammar's fears were the same as Ahmad's: that his wife would go into labour during the curfew and be trapped at home or that they would be forced to risk driving through the dark streets dodging jumpy US patrols. "My real dread was that my wife, Alaa, would go into labour at night. Her family comes from Mosul so we decided it was better to go there to have the baby."

What does being a child under occupation look like? This is one view. This is an accurate photo of what occupation is like. It is living behind barbed wire, at the will of the occupying army or military - or, in this case, oftentimes the US –mercenaries- security contracters like Blackwater.

The children often see foreign troops from the front of their home, carrying guns that are almost as big as the children are.

Here’s another child with the US military.

All children aged four and under were born under occupation. Having foreign troops in their country, with the attendant violence and chaos, is all they know. There were also several pictures of young boys and teenage boys in the news lately, who are talking to and interacting with, US troops. They are fascinated by the guns I believe.

These children often live under horrible conditions. This is an example of what often happens to internally displaced refugees, who have fled from the overwhelming violence:

Photo: Iraqi kids play at ruins of a former Iraqi Army air defense headquarters, where they live in their makeshift homes, in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 18, 2007, ahead of Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the U.S. led invasion on Iraq. This army complex was destroyed in the initial bombing campaign in 2003. (AP Photo/Samir Mizban)

And when they say that hundreds were sickened by chlorine bombs, you can be sure that some of the victims are tiny indeed, as this photo shows.

Sometimes a child will get to see the only home they ever knew destroyed right of their eyes:

A boy watches Iraqi Army soldiers tear down his family's shop with a bulldozer on Feb. 15, in the mixed ethnic neighborhood of Gazaliyah in Baghdad. When asked if he was Sunni or Shiite the boy responded only with, "I am a Muslim." (Chris Hondros / Getty Images)

And the children get to experience house searches, often times in the middle of the night. I cannot imagine what it would feel like to them to have foreign troops who don’t speak your language, in your bedroom.

And these children get badly, badly hurt.

And, just like adults, they die when they get too close to US troops while riding in a car. Of course, the children have no say in this matter at all. Earlier this month, two girls were killed with their father, and their brother was wounded, by US troops in Baghdad. The US military claims that the driver ignored or missed signals for him to stop. The instant death penalty often ensues when an Iraqi driver makes that mistake….. or just fails to see the US troops in time. A statement from the surviving spouse from this incident:

"They just opened fire randomly on us," said Akhlas Abduljabbar, a Sunni housewife from Zafaraniyah, south of Baghdad, whose family was travelling through the war-torn city. "They killed my husband and two daughters and my three-year-old boy was wounded in the head. The Americans' translator told me 'Flee, don't stay, they're going to kill you'," she added.

Another article discusses the ongoing crisis with hunger and malnutrition in Iraqi children.

Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Iraq say that malnutrition rates have risen in Iraq from 19 percent before the US-led invasion to a national average of 28 percent four years later. Caritas says that rising hunger has been caused by high levels of insecurity, collapsed healthcare and other infrastructure, increased polarisation between different sects and tribes, and rising poverty. Over 11 percent of newborn babies are born underweight in Iraq today, compared with a figure of 4 percent in 2003. Before March 2003, Iraq already had significant infant mortality due to malnutrition because of the international sanctions regime. Caritas Iraq has been running a series of Well Baby Clinics throughout the country. Currently it provides supplementary food for 8000 children up to 8 years and new mothers. The Caritas clinics help the most vulnerable, and the health crisis they face is much worse than the national average.

How many children are we talking about? This article claims that there are 4.8 million children under age five in Iraq. There are an estimated 13.8 million children total in Iraq. This article claims that one in five children (under age five) are chronically malnourished, and one in ten are underweight.

And, all of this is impacting on their education also. A lot.

According to a report released last year by NGO Save the Children, 818,000 primary school-aged children, representing 22 percent of Iraq's student population, were not attending school. A joint study by the Iraqi Ministry of Education and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) found that of those who do not attend school, 74 percent are female. Aid agencies estimate that thousands of Iraqi parents do not send their daughters to school for cultural reasons and because of the general insecurity in the country. Mohammed Abdul-Aziz, a statistician at the Ministry of Education, told IRIN last week that at least 110 children had been killed and 95 injured since 2005 in attacks on schools. These numbers do not include children killed or injured on their way to or from school.

And all this violence is giving them nightmares:

Iraqi children are haunted by dreams of bad guys wielding knives or kidnapping relatives. For some, like 13-year-old Zaman, the nightmares become reality. She was abducted, beaten and threatened with rape. “Zaman suffers from shaking, nervousness, a stutter and sleep disorder,” said Haider Abdul-Muhsin, a psychiatrist at Baghdad’s Ibn Rushd hospital who treats children suffering the consequences of war, four years after the U.S. invasion.

And read this and weep. And imagine trying to calm your own child in a situation like this one.

“My kids are always afraid,” said Nora’s mother, who has four children, aged between four and 11. “Even when a door slams they start trembling and shouting 'A bomb, a bomb.' My children used to play outside when things were better two years ago but now they’re stuck to the TV, if we’re lucky enough to have electricity,” she said. As she spoke, a pair of U.S. helicopters flew low overhead, the thud of the rotors shaking the house in what has become so common that most Baghdad residents barely flinch. Her 4-year-old son Murtadha burst into tears and put his hands up to his ears to block out the noise. “Mama, afraid, afraid,” he managed to say, his voice faltering with tears.

And what will become of these children? One thing for certain, they will likely not get any mental health care, and perhaps no medical care either. Here is one Iraqi child’s statement on the murder of his loved ones by militas:

"They killed my father and uncle in front of my eyes," he says. He then breaks down sobbing. He can no longer speak. The anguish is unbearable. Such stories are not uncommon in Iraq four years after the U.S.-led invasion. Health officials say the daily hardships -- bomb blasts, gunfire, killings of family members and sectarian violence -- are taking an increasing toll on Iraq's children. Hundreds of thousands of children no longer attend school. Others have been forced from their homes to camps, while others have fled the nation with family.

(snip)

It is nearly impossible to quantify exactly how much the war and violence has impacted these children or just how many are affected. The humanitarian organization Save the Children, in a report last year about children in conflict zones, estimated that 818,000 Iraqi children, ranging in age from 6 to 11, were not in school. That's roughly one in every five children in that age group.

And what do the parents of these children want? Exactly what US parents want for their children:

If I could take Hussein and my other child abroad, away from the violence, I would not hesitate. But only those with money can afford to leave. All I want for my son is a stable life when he grows up. For now, life is tasting really bitter."

“Save the Children UK” used to be located in Iraq, but they felt they had to flee for their own safety.

"Save the Children UK" closed its offices in Erbil, northern Iraq. The charity said in a statement the ongoing insurgency had made its work increasingly difficult and the decision to leave was taken "with great regret." It will continue to support Iraqi groups that help the country's children, eight percent of whom are believed to suffer from acute malnutrition. Save the Children said "The decision is linked to the deteriorating security situation in significant areas of the country including the capital Baghdad, which makes it increasingly difficult for our work to make a significant impact on the lives of children." "Save the Children UK made the decision to withdraw from Iraq after much deliberation and with great regret."

How to Help

It is really sad that “Save the Children” is gone from Iraq. I can find no example of any group trying to help Iraqi children except this one.

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. To ensure that the money reaches the Iraqi program, write "Iraq-icmc" on your check.

I cannot vouch for the above aid organization, but they look legitimate. I wanted to include it in this post, in case you want to do something to help the Iraqi children. All the links to news articles and photos in this post are from March and February 2007.

This a song was written by Labi Siffre, in response to oppression to those who are gay or lesbian. I think some of the words fit what is happening to Iraqi children, or maybe they just fit my wishes for Iraqi children – that somewhere inside them will be a will and strength to survive this vicious assault on their childhood. The “walls of Jericho” can be compared to the walls around the green zone.

“The more you refuse to hear my voice

The louder I will sing

You hide behind walls of Jericho

Your lies will come tumbling.

Deny my place in time

You squander wealth that's mine [yet]

My light will shine so brightly

It will blind you……….

Cos there's......   Something inside so strong

I know that I can make it

Tho' you're doing me wrong, so wrong

You thought that my pride was gone

Oh no, something inside so strong

Oh………something inside so strong”

This was also posted at Daily Kos.

2007-03-24T19:52:00.000-04:00

PHOTO: A boy holds an Iraqi flag during a protest in Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, March 24, 2007. Thousands of displaced families took to the streets in Kerbala on Saturday, demonstrating against a government decision to ask them to move out from the government buildings they have occupied. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammad (IRAQ)

Security Incidents for March 24, 2007

Baghdad:

A suicide truck bomber with explosives hidden under a load of bricks struck a police station in a mainly Sunni area in southern Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 23, police said. The attacker detonated his explosives at the concrete blast walls protecting the gate of the Dora police station because he could not go any farther, but the building was heavily damaged, police said. Those killed included four policemen and seven civilians, including some detainees, while 15 officers and eight civilians were wounded, according to the authorities. Policemen were searching the debris for survivors or more victims, including detainees who were being held in a room inside the station.

Officers said the 20 killed in the attack on the police station in the volatile southern district of Dora included 14 policemen and three detainees as well as three others working in the building. Another 26 were wounded, most of them police.

20 were killed (14 policemen, 3 detainees and 3 construction workers) were killed and 27 others were injured, 19 of them were policemen including the director of Al Rasheed police directorate in a suicide truck bomb targeted the directorate in Doura neighborhood south Baghdad around 10,50 am.

The attack happened three hours after two mortar shells landed on a Shi'ite enclave elsewhere in Dora, killing at least three people and wounding seven

U.S. and Iraqi troops sealed off the Karrada district in the heart of Baghdad on Saturday, stopping all vehicles and pedestrians from entering the area as part of major crackdown on sectarian violence in the capital.

Gunmen attacked an army checkpoint in Hay al Jamiya in western Baghdad and there were fierce clashes in the area, police and a resident said

Gunmen also ambushed an Iraqi army checkpoint in Baghdad's western Sunni neighborhood of Jami'a, killing a soldier and wounding two others, police said, adding that a militant also was killed in subsequent clashes.

While conducting a dismounted combat patrol, a MND-B Soldier died when an improvised explosive device detonated near the Soldier’s position south of Baghdad March 23.

A civilian was killed and 4 others were wounded when mortar round fell in Abu Disheer neighborhood south Baghdad around 9 am.

Around 10:30 a.m. gunmen clashed with the Iraqi army in KambSara area. 2 civilians were injured.

Around 1:30 p.m. mortar shell landed in Tariq neighborhood (east Baghdad). The shelling killed one woman and injured 3 all from one family

Around 3:00 p.m. Gunmen attacked and killed Dr. Abdul Hussein Jafar Mutlak the director of Al Karama hospital in Al Baia neighborhood west Baghdad.

Around 5:00 p.m. mortar shells landed again in Abu Disheer neighborhood causing injuries to 5 civilians.

Police found 10 corpses throughout Baghdad. The corpses were found in the following neighborhoods: 1 in Baia, 2 in Doura, 2 in Jihad, 1 in Amil, 1 in Shuala, 1 in New Baghdad, 1 in Sadr, 1 in Husseiniya.

Diyala Prv:

Two gunmen were killed and eight others arrested in violent clashes between Iraqi policemen and an armed group in central Baaquba, an official police source said. The source did not elaborate on the reasons behind the clashes or whether there were casualties from the policemen's ranks.

A security source from Bani Saad police directorate east of Baquba city said that 2 civilians were killed and 3 others injured when 15 mortar rounds fell downtown Bani Saad town and Shaimaa village early morning today.

Insurgents kidnapped 9 people yesterday afternoon in Muqdadiya city, police said .one of the kidnapped group is an interpreter working for the MNF.

Haswa:

A suicide truck bomber also struck near a Shi'ite mosque in the town of Haswa about 60km south of Baghdad. A local hospital said five were killed and 33 wounded.

Hilla:

A roadside bomb exploded in Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding six policemen and three civilians, police said.

The casualties of the blast that occurred on Saturday morning north of Hilla rose up to five dead and 34 more wounded after four mortar shells landed into the location, a police source said. "Four mortar rounds landed near a Shiite mosque in north of Hilla only minutes after explosives stashed in a truck detonated in the location," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Diwaniya:

The bullet-riddled body of a military intelligence officer was found in the centre of Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Suwayrah:

Witnesses in Suwayrah city, 50 kilometres south-east of Baghdad, said a US army patrol opened fire on a car, killing a former Iraqi senior army officer and his driver and wounding a third Iraqi.

Kirkuk:

At least two Iraqi army soldiers were shot dead and three others wounded Saturday in an attack in the northern city of Kirkuk, an Iraqi police source said. Armed men opened fire at dawn on an Iraqi army vehicle in Riyad district, north-west of Kirkuk, senior army officer Khalil al-Zobai said.

A source in Kirkuk police directorate said that tow Iraqi army soldiers were killed and 4 others were injured in addition to the commander of the 3rd brigade when they were attacked by gunmen near Al Safra village on the road of Karkuk- Beiji north of Baghdad. The source said that clashes happened between the two sides lasted for 30 minutes.

Mosul:

Four bodies were found in the northern city of Mosul on Friday, a morgue official said. One was a policeman and another was a Kurd.

Three people were killed and three others wounded in a suicide blast in Mosul, the mayor of Talafar district said on Saturday. "A suicide bomber attacked a crowded place in Talafar, northwest of Ninawa province," Brig. Nijm Abdullah al-Juburi told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone.

Al Anbar Prv:

In the Rutba area near the Jordanian border, the U.S. military said it killed three suspected insurgents in an airstrike on their car. A fourth suspect blew himself up.

three car bombers launched almost simultaneous attacks against a police station and checkpoints in western Iraq. Dr Hamdi al-Alousi at al Qaim hospital put the death toll from the attacks in the Qaim area near the Syrian border at six with 17 people, mostly police, wounded. Anbar provincial police said eight people had died and 20 wounded.

At least 20 Iraqi policemen were killed and 30 others wounded on Saturday when suicide attackers detonated three explosives-rigged cars near police stations in Anbar province, a security source said. "Today at 1:00 pm, a suicide attacker detonated an explosives-rigged car near al-Saada village police station in south of al-Qaim town, 450 km west of Baghdad, and another suicide bomber simultaneously detonated a second explosives-rigged car near al-Karablah village police station in east of the town," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The source added "only one hour later, a third explosives-rigged car was detonated by another suicide bomber near al-Obeidi police station in south of al-Qaim."

Militants attacked a U.S. and Iraqi security post in Ramadi on Friday with rifles, RPGs and a suicide car bomb, the U.S. military said. Iraqi forces shot the vehicle which detonated early, and three Iraqi soldiers were wounded, a U.S. statement said.

Four Iraqi soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in Falluja, Iraqi police told the AFP news agency

And the bullet-riddled bodies of eight men showing signs of torture in Fallujah.

The bodies of 12 people were found in Falluja, in western Iraq, police said.

A soldier assigned to Multi National Force-West died March 23 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province.

A patrol of U.S. Marines came under attack on Saturday by unidentified gunmen, an Iraqi police source said. "Unidentified gunmen ambushed a U.S. patrol of several Humvee vehicles while it was leaving a base in the district of al-Risala, west of Falluja," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). He said, "attackers opened fire at the U.S. patrol, which was followed by violent clashes with automatic weapons that lasted for 15 minutes." The source was not sure about the number of casualties from the Marines' ranks.

Iraqi and U.S. forces clashed with gunmen in Falluja and a medical source said four people were killed.

Tal Afar:

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a market in the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar on Saturday, killing 10 people and wounding three, the mayor of the town said. Brigadier Najim al Jibouri, mayor of Tal Afar, said the attacker was wearing a suicide vest and targeted the Al Saray market in the centre of the town near the Syrian border. Two of the dead were policemen, he said.

Thanks to whisker for the links above.

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

FILM: “I Know Shut Up”

It could have been a moment out of the reality show Cops. Men in uniform break through the door of a house and take "wrongdoers" into custody. All we viewers know is that there is "good intelligence" that some brothers live here, and they're involved in bomb-making for a terrorist cell. Menace hangs in the air. We see captured men on their knees in the yard. Are they terrorists? One man, his hands tied behind his back, loses patience. "I am journalist," he complains in broken but perfectly understandable English. "You mistake this." His captors tell him to shut up, and the tied-up man parrots back what he hears, anger seeping into his voice. "Shut up, shut up. I know 'shut up.' Always 'shut up' in Iraq." At which point he is taken out of his house, dumped in a truck, and whisked off to a detention facility with his brothers. This haunting moment stuck with the man behind the camera, Michael Tucker. The year was 2003. Tucker was filming in Baghad during the early months of the US occupation for what would become the critically acclaimed documentary Gunner Palace. Tucker was embedded with the soldiers so when the journalist was turned over to military police, his story thread ended. But something about the man haunted Tucker, as it will anyone who sees Tucker's new film co-directed with his wife Petra Epperlein.

……….. What is America doing in Iraq? Though no one says it explicitly, what Yunis is describing is a concentration camp, where innocent civilians suffer indefinite imprisonment under horrifying conditions with no semblance of due process. At the South by Southwest film festival where I saw The Prisoner, director Michel Tucker called it a conspiracy of indifference. That revelation alone is reason enough to see the film, but another is the presence of "the good soldier," Benjamin Thompson. A twenty-something reservist who worked in real estate before he was deployed, Thompson, like Yunis, struggles to maintain his humanity in an inhumane place. His story is ultimately a hopeful one, that a few "good soldiers" are able to make a difference.

Silence is Golden

You never really appreciate something until you lose it. I never really paid any attention to the bliss of silence, until I lost it. It’s not that I don’t care for the loss of electricity; It’s not that I don’t care for the loss of security; It’s not that I don’t care for the loss family get-togethers, or any of the ordinary things you would take for granted living in the Baghdad of my memories, like taking a walk. No, all these things I do miss; but silence, I miss most of all. Every politician drives around in a security convoy, with sirens screaming and weapons gleaming, and there are very many politicians in Iraq today, take my word for it. Every police car patrols with its siren sounding. Army and MNF Forces usually use sirens. It has become common for young men to use sirens and sport weapons, simply as a means to open a route through traffic congestion at check points; no one dares stop or question them for fear of their belonging to “such” or “such” group. The loss of state-supplied electricity has made private generators a necessity. Every 50-100 homes are supplied with power from a generator, situated “around the corner” or “down the road” from where you live. The noise generated by these machines has contaminated our very lives. (Not to mention the smoke and fumes that are killing us).

COMMENTARY

Another Casualty: Coverage of the Iraq War

The primary reason why reporting from Iraq is dangerous for all journalists is the horrific security situation. Iraqi journalists reporting from the streets are in perpetual danger. If any of the countless militias does not want a certain story made public, it will make sure that the journalist has filed his or her last story. Not to mention the scores of reporter deaths which have been the combined handiwork of the Iraqi government, occupation forces and/or criminal gangs. Despite President Bush’s assertion that life in Iraq is improving, a senior Iraqi journalist was found dead in the capital on March 3, 2007. On the same day the body of the managing editor of Baghdad’s al-Safir newspaper, Jamal al-Zubaidi, was found shot in the head. The United States continues to claim that its military operations in Iraq bring freedom and democracy. But such freedom apparently doesn’t extend to Iraqi journalists. Several journalists critical of the United States or the U.S.-backed Iraqi government have been killed. For instance, on March 4, 2007 gunmen killed prominent journalist Mohan al Zaher in his home. That Sunday, his column concluded with the lament, “...if this is the democracy that we (Iraqis) dreamt of.” His earlier articles questioned U.S. policies in Iraq.

VIDEO: Songs Of Pain

How to Help

Filibuster For Peace Petition: We now have about 3000 signatures, after only a few days, and that is quite impressive for a new program and a new site. This has been accomplished without any advertising, just word of mouth. But we would like many more than that. (Among our signers are Cindy Sheehan and Daniel Ellsberg.) So we ask you to contact everyone you know. Ask them to sign the petition by going to www.FilibusterForPeace.org (or click the link above). And ask them to contact their friends as well.

2007-03-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

PHOTO: A U.S. army soldier from B Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment kicks down a roof door inside a house in west Baghdad's Ghazaliyah neighborhood, Iraq, Thursday, March 22, 2007. The U.S. army backed by Iraqi forces pushed further into a dangerous Sunni Arab area of Ghazaliyah, searching houses in the expanding security crackdown. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

Security Incidents for March 23, 2007

In Country:

A soldier from Toledo has died from injuries he suffered in Iraq a week ago, his family said today. Nick Lightner, 29, died Wednesday at a hospital in Washington, D.C., said his father, Bill Lightner. Nick Lightner was injured March 15 after three fellow soldiers in his Army Rangers medic unit triggered land mines near Baghdad, Bill Lightner said. Two of the soldiers died instantly. The third died later in Germany.

The U.S. Army has lost 130 helicopters in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, about a third to shoot-downs, its aviation director said Friday. He complained that industry is not replacing them fast enough. He said it takes 24 months to get replacement aircraft built and delivered and that replacements for the early losses are just now arriving.

Baghdad:

A MND-B Soldier died when an improvised explosive device detonated while the unit conducted route clearance operations in a western section of the Iraqi capital.

Iraq's Sunni deputy prime minister was wounded Friday in a suicide bombing in Baghdad that killed at least two people, police said. The bomber blew himself up as Salam al-Zubaie, one of two deputies to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and other worshippers were leaving a mosque, police said, adding that at least two worshippers were killed and 10 others wounded.

The aide said Zobaie, a member of the main Sunni Arab political bloc, was hit by shrapnel in the abdomen and shoulder. It was not immediately clear how serious his injuries were. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said Zobaie was taken to the U.S. military hospital but could give no information on his condition.

One police source said four people were killed and 10 wounded in both attacks. Two of the dead were Zobaie's security guards and Zobaie's brother was among the wounded, he said. Another police source put the death toll at five, including an adviser of Zobaie named Mufid Abdel Zahraa, with 12 wounded by the two bombs.

Six of Zobaie's guards were killed in the second assassination attempt on a senior member of the U.S.-backed government in a month. One of Zobaie's aides said the suicide bomber appeared to have been one of his own guards.

One person was killed when gunmen sprayed bullets at a crowd outside a bus station in Baghdad's southeastern Jadida district. Three people were wounded.

Hours later, gunmen opened fire on a procession of Shiite Muslims in southern Baghdad's Dora district, killing one and wounding three others.

In western Baghdad, a car bomb explosion killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded another at an army checkpoint in the Yarmouk district.

Iraqi police found 25 bodies throughout Baghdad

At least seven people were killed and 13 others were wounded on Friday when a car bomb went off in al-Habibiya area in the Shiite Sadr city in eastern Baghdad, a police source said. The blast occurred in an area for selling used cars in al-Habibiya region in Sadr city, the source noted.

Diyala Prv:

Three civilians were killed and a mother severely wounded in crossfire between a U.S. patrol and a group of gunmen in the district of Habhab, Baaquba, Iraqi police said on Friday. "A U.S. patrol chasing gunmen in the heart of the city opened fire at a vehicle that emerged on the main road, killing the father of a family and his two sons and severely wounding the mother," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

At least eight gunmen were killed and 30 others were arrested by a joint force of Iraqi and U.S. troops in Diala province, a police source said on Friday. "Iraqi troops, backed by U.S. forces, launched a large-scale security operation in al-Katon region near Baaquba, where they killed eight armed men and confiscated different kinds of weapons," the source, who asked not to be identified, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

"The forces also arrested 30 gunmen in another security operation in Khan Bani Saad region in Diala province and destroyed a bomb-making factory in al-Rasoul town in Khan Bani Saad," he added, noting that the captives were taken to a police station for questioning.

Najaf:

A suicide car bomb exploded near a police checkpoint in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding three policemen, police said. The suicide bomber survived the blast and was captured by police as he tried to run away.

Diwaniya:

Armed attackers shot and killed an Iraqi army official as he stood outside his house in the Shiite city of Diwaniya, about 112 miles (180 kilometers) south of Baghdad.

Police said they found the bodies of two policemen on Thursday in Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad. The men had been shot

Yusufiya:

A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded two in Yusufiya, 15 km south of Baghdad, police said.

Tal al-Lahm region:

A U.S. soldier was wounded on Friday when an explosive device was detonated near a U.S. vehicle patrol in Tal al-Lahm region, south of Nassiriyah, 420 km south of Baghdad, a source from Thi-Qar police department said. "An explosive charge which was planted by gunmen went off on Friday as a U.S. vehicle patrol passed by in Tal al-Lahm region, south of Nassiriyah," Colonel Qassem Shaker Ubaid told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The blast injured a U.S. soldier and caused light damage to a U.S. Hummer," he added.

Shatt-el-Arab waterway:

Iran captured fifteen British Royal Navy personnel during a "routine boarding operation" in Iraqi waters on Friday, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. The Foreign Office said Iran's ambassador in London had been summoned and Britain was demanding their immediate safe release.

An Iraqi fishermen told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) "a force from the Iranian coast guards detained this morning a number of British soldiers and others from the Multi-National forces at the entry of the Shatt-el-Arab waterway in south of Basra." Another fisherman said "the incident occurred inside the Iraqi territorial waters." "Two boats from the Multi-National forces were searching commercial ships, including Iranian, at the entry of Shatt-el-Arab waterway when a force from the Iranian coast guards intervened and surrounded the two boats and then arrested their crewmen," a third fisherman said. He added "one boat was raising a British flag." A fourth eyewitness said "there were U.S. soldiers among the arrested." A spokeswoman for the Multi-National forces in southern Iraq told VOI on the phone "the Multi-National forces have been informed of the incident that occurred in Shatt-el-Arab waterway this morning." She added "we have been notified of the incident but we, so far, have no details about it."

The Royal Marines and ordinary naval officers were believed to have been apprehended by up to six ships from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy who claimed they had entered Iranian waters. A U.S. military official who monitors the region told CNN that the seizure was made after a dispute over whether the British patrol was in Iraqi, international, or Iranian territorial waters.

Tikrit:

Police found the bodies of a police lieutenant colonel and his driver in Al Door, near Tikrit, 175 km north of Baghdad. The two had been kidnapped on Thursday

Mosul:

North of Baghdad, gunmen killed a former Iraqi army officer as he drove his car in Mosul

Police said the bodies of four people, including two teenagers, were found on Thursday in Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad. The victims had been tortured and handcuffed before being killed.

A group of armed men detonated an explosive device under al-Sukar bridge in al-Sukar neighborhood, northeast of Mosul, targeting a police patrol," Brigadier Karim al-Juburi told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The blast injured a policeman and damaged a number of police vehicles," he added.

"Four mortar shells landed on Mosul Airport, where U.S. forces are being stationed," he noted, with no word on casualties.

Kirkuk:

Two Iraqi army soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in an ambush by gunmen southwest of Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad, a security police source said.

Al Anbar Prv:

A Marine assigned to Multi National Force-West died March 22 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province.

Two Iraqi policemen were killed on Friday when an explosive charge went off near their patrol vehicle in Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, a security source said. "An explosive charge detonated today afternoon at a police vehicle patrol in central Falluja, killing two policemen and destroying their vehicle," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Thanks to whisker for the links above.

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Insurgency Paralyses Life in Diyala

Relentless violence in the Sunni-dominated province of Diyala, about 60km north-east of the capital, Baghdad, has hampered the delivery of humanitarian assistance to displaced families and has paralysed life there, local officials said. “Humanitarian aid is only trickling [into Diyala] as the security situation has deteriorated very much due to attacks by Sunni insurgents against US and Iraqi forces as well as violence between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims,” said Thari Mohammed al-Taie, head of the provincial office of the Ministry of Displacement and Migration. For months, Sunni insurgents have been slowly taking control of Diyala. Now, with violence apparently ebbing in Baghdad, Sunni insurgents believed to be loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq have fled the capital and increased the intensity of their fight against US and Iraqi forces in Diyala as well as stepping up their attacks against Shias, according to local officials. Last June, the self-confessed former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a US airstrike near Baqouba, the capital of Diyala. Since then, the Islamic State of Iraq, another group with links to al-Qaeda, has claimed Baqouba as the capital of its self-proclaimed shadow government.

"I sell half of our monthly food ration to raise money to flee..."

Marwan Hussein, 31, is an unemployed displaced father who has resorted to selling half his monthly food rations to make money to flee Iraq. "We've tried different ways to survive in a dignified way," says Hussein, "but we've reached the end of the road now. We need to leave the country but we don't have money for that. We are all tired of living without government support. We are on our own."

Environmental Nightmare Drags On

Four years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and despite 22 billion dollars spent on recovery and reconstruction, Iraq's environment remains in disastrous shape. Industrial waste, hospital waste, fertilizer run-off from farming, as well as oil spills plague the two rivers that define the Mesopotamia region and which provide much of the irrigation and drinking water.

Video: Final Countdown for Baghdad's Children

Baghdad's last refuge for orphaned and traumatised children is in danger of closing later this month when it finally runs out of funds.

Oil-Rich Kirkuk At Melting Point As Factions Clash

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. The Kirkuk issue is as notoriously divisive in Iraq as sovereignty over certain parts of Ireland used to be in British politics. Winston Churchill famously complained that, after all the political and military cataclysms of the First World War, the question of who should have "the dreary spires of Fermanagh and Tyrone", remained as ferociously contested as before the war. The control of Kirkuk divided Kurds from Arabs in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and continues to do so. The city is commonly called "a powder keg" though it has yet to explode. But that does not mean it will not happen and the referendum might just be the detonator for that explosion.

US Struggles to Avert Turkish Intervention in Northern Iraq

The US is scrambling to head off a "disastrous" Turkish military intervention in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq that threatens to derail the Baghdad security surge and open up a third front in the battle to save Iraq from disintegration. Senior Bush administration officials have assured Turkey in recent days that US forces will increase efforts to root out Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) guerrillas enjoying safe haven in the Qandil mountains, on the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border. But Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, MPs, military chiefs and diplomats say up to 3,800 PKK fighters are preparing for attacks in south-east Turkey - and Turkey is ready to hit back if the Americans fail to act. "We will do what we have to do, we will do what is necessary. Nothing is ruled out," Gul said. "I have said to the Americans many times: suppose there is a terrorist organisation in Mexico attacking America. What would you do?... We are hopeful. We have high expectations. But we cannot just wait forever." Turkish sources said "hot pursuit" special forces operations in Khaftanin and Qanimasi, northern Iraq, were already under way. Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader, said this week that a "mad war" was in prospect unless Ankara backed off. Several other factors are adding to the tension between the Nato partners: The firm Turkish belief that the US is playing a double game in northern Iraq. Officials say the CIA is covertly funding and arming the PKK's sister organisation, the Iran-based Kurdistan Free Life party, to destabilise the Iranian government. US acquiescence in plans to hold a referendum in oil-rich Kirkuk in northern Iraq. Turkey suspects Iraqi Kurds are seeking control of Kirkuk as a prelude to the creation of an independent Kurdistan. Plans by the US Congress to vote on a resolution blaming Turkey for genocide against the Armenians in 1915. Faruk Logoglu, a former ambassador to Washington, said that if the resolution passed, relations "could take generations to recover".

Shortage of Safe Water Risks Cholera in Iraq -U.N.

United Nations agencies working in Iraq warned on Thursday a chronic shortage of safe drinking water risks causing more child deaths and an outbreak of waterborne disease such as cholera during the summer. Four years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, millions of Iraqi children still find that safe water is no easier to access, said a statement issued by leading U.N. aid agencies operating in Iraq. The agencies, whose offices are based in Amman, issued the statement to mark World Water Day. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said shortages of drinking water threatened to push up diarrhoea rates, particularly among children. Diarrhoea is already the second highest cause of child illness and death in Iraq, it said.

Reclaiming Homes, Iraqis Find Peril

Under the protective cover of the latest Baghdad security plan, begun Feb. 13 and dependent on the infusion of American troops into the capital, a small number of families who had fled their neighborhoods because of soaring sectarian violence are hesitantly returning and trying to reclaim their lives. Many are finding, however, that the threat of violence that drove them away in the first place remains very real. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has made the resettlement of displaced people a primary goal of the new security plan. He has vowed to use force to uproot squatters who have seized abandoned houses and has even offered a financial incentive to displaced families who want to return: a payment of about $200, a hefty sum in this impoverished economy, to help cover moving costs and the replacement of lost, stolen or damaged belongings. It is an ambitious program, one that seeks to reverse the tide of sectarian cleansing that has driven a wedge between Sunni Arabs and Shiites, cleaved entire neighborhoods and torn families from their moorings. The Iraqi government said last week that about 2,000 families had returned to their homes in Baghdad since the security plan was put in place, many in neighborhoods that had experienced some of the worst sectarian cleansing. Though hundreds of thousands of Baghdad residents remain displaced, officials say the steady flow of people returning is an indication that the security plan could eventually work. But the government's figure of 2,000 is open to question. There has been no rigorous and systematic resettlement survey, so the number is based largely on anecdotal evidence from Iraqi security forces posted at checkpoints. The figure does not appear to account for the families who have returned home only to leave again. But it also seems to omit families who have slipped under the government's radar to avoid unwanted attention, particularly from sectarian death squads. What is certain, however, is that nearly all displaced families have decided to remain where they are until conditions improve, crammed into relatives' homes, rental apartments and shelters.

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

Sadr Aide Held Over Killing of U.S. Soldiers

U.S. forces have captured a senior aide to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr over the killing of five U.S. soldiers in the Iraqi holy city of Kerbala in January, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

U.S. Military Frees Iraqi Cleric's Aide

The U.S. military Wednesday released a senior member of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's movement at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. The decision, officials said, was made with the hope of easing tensions between Sadr's Al Mahdi militia and U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Sheik Ahmed Shibani, who had been in prison for 2 1/2 years, was handed over to the office of the Shiite prime minister. "In consultation with the prime minister and following his request, coalition leaders determined that Sheik Shibani, who was detained since 2004, could play a potentially important role in helping to moderate extremism and foster reconciliation in Iraq," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said in a statement. The sheik, wearing a checkered black and white kaffiyeh, smiled with Maliki for a photo that was later distributed by the prime minister's office. Sadr's militia had repeatedly demanded Shibani's release. The onetime spokesman for Sadr was jailed by U.S. forces in September 2004 in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf after a three-week battle between Al Mahdi militiamen and the Americans. In 2006, an Iraqi court dismissed weapons possession charges against Shibani, but the U.S. military did not free him. Sadr followers, who hold 30 parliamentary seats and six ministries, castigated Washington for not freeing Shibani sooner. "They were supposed to release Sheik Ahmed Shibani seven months ago after he was tried by an Iraqi court and he was found not guilty of the charges pressed against him. He was arrested for a political reason and he remained so for seven more months also for political reasons," lawmaker Salih Agaili said.

Splintering of Shiite Militia May Mean More Iraq Violence

The violent Shiite militia known as the Mahdi Army is breaking into splinter groups. As many as 3,000 gunmen are now financed directly by Iran and no longer loyal to the firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, adding a potentially even more deadly element to Iraq's violent mix. Two senior militia commanders told The Associated Press that hundreds of these fighters have crossed into Iran for training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Afghanistan. The breakup is an ominous development at a time when U.S. and Iraqi forces are working to defeat religious-based militias and secure Iraq under government control. While al-Sadr's forces have battled the coalition repeatedly, including pitched battles in 2004, they've mostly stayed in the background during the latest offensive. At the Pentagon, a military official confirmed there were signs the Mahdi Army was splintering. Some were breaking away to attempt a more conciliatory approach to the Americans and the Iraqi government, others moving in a more extremist direction, the official said. However, the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name on the topic, was not aware of direct Iranian recruitment and financing of Mahdi Army members.

Iraq Vice President Calls for Insurgent Talks

The Vice President of Iraq yesterday called for talks to be opened with insurgent groups in an attempt to end sectarian violence. Tareq al-Hashemi said that, with the exception of al-Qa'eda, all parties should be invited to the table to air their views. "I do believe there is no way forward but to talk to everybody," he said, adding that militias were "just part of the Iraqi communities". "I think all should be invited, should be called to sit down around the table to discuss their fears, their reservations," he said, adding that al-Qa'eda was "not very much willing, in fact, to talk to anybody". In a BBC interview he explained that many Iraqis were currently "annoyed" because coalition forces in their country were "damaging the dignity of the Iraqis, damaging the sovereignty of the Iraqis". "But when these forces pull out, withdraw from the Iraqis, definitely they will be a genuine partner in the political process," he said while stressing his belief that the coalition forces should stay in Iraq until further notice to tackle the sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia factions, which causes hundreds of deaths in Iraq each month.

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

VIDEO: U.S. Soldiers Shooting Iraqi Civilians

Freed Sadrist Meets with Maliki

Ahmed Shibani, a senior aide to Muqtada al-Sadr, publicly met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki following Shibani’s release from US custody, the BBC reports. Shibani was arrested by US forces in Najaf not long after the US offensive there in August 2004. At the time the US military described him as a major threat to Iraq's security, according to the BBC report. He was released Wednesday. Although the Iraqi courts declared that there was not enough evidence to hold him, the US continued to detain him in a military prison, al-Muhit reports in Arabic. For the last two years Maliki had been lobbying for his release, al-Muhit writes. In an about-face, Coalition forces announced Wednesday in a press release that “Coalition leaders determined that Shibani, who was detained since 2004, could play a potentially important role in helping to moderate extremism and foster reconciliation in Iraq.”

Inspector General Details Failures Of Iraq Reconstruction

The U.S. government was unprepared for the extensive nation-building required after it invaded Iraq, and at each juncture where it could have adjusted its efforts, it failed even to understand the problems it faced, according to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. In a stinging, wide-ranging assessment of U.S. reconstruction efforts, Stuart W. Bowen Jr. said that in the days after the invasion, the Defense Department had no strategy for restoring either government institutions or infrastructure. And in the years since, other agencies joined the effort without an overall plan and without a structure in place to organize and execute a task of such magnitude. Lines of authority remained unclear in the reconstruction effort. With a demand for speed and a shortage of government personnel, much of the oversight was turned over to the contractors doing the work. There was little coordination among the various agencies. The result was a series of missed opportunities to address the unraveling situation, Bowen said. "Many layers of management . . . made it difficult to determine who had ultimate authority over money, people and projects," he said. Bowen, who briefed reporters yesterday, plans to present his report today to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The report makes nine recommendations, including one for legislation to organize departments and agencies involved in postwar operations along the lines of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act, which integrated the service branches, strengthened the joint staff and eliminated operational overlap. The report suggested a similar process to meld reconstruction planning and execution by the State and Defense departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Other recommendations include improving contracting and procurement guidelines, involving people who are familiar with a region, using local contractors and vendors, better planning of short- and long-term reconstruction programs, and establishing guidelines on the length of tours for those working on reconstruction projects. For the first time, the report lays out a timeline documenting the paucity of planning from the beginning of the war in Iraq, noting what was needed when and describing how the scale of reconstruction grew once the United States was in Iraq. It details how Congress provided vast amounts of money with little idea of how it was being spent. The push to get things done quickly meant turning much of the reconstruction over to contractors with little oversight from the government, as security worsened. And the lack of coordination magnified every shortcoming.

COMMENTARY

Thrown To The Assassins

They cheered the U.S. invasion; they offered to help, signed on as translators, risked everything they had to work for the United States. But when they had to run for their lives, America slammed the door. On the day the American tanks rolled into Baghdad, Abather Abdul Hussein and his wife, Balqes Abdel Mohammed, threw flowers. Literally. After a lifetime of turmoil and tyranny, the couple fervently believed the invasion would bring peace. Abather joined U.S. "democratization" efforts, such as a project to create a governing council for his neighborhood, and he occasionally ended up in the good-news Iraq stories that still seemed plausible in those days; one U.S. paper ran a five-column photo of him perched on a classroom chair surrounded by American soldiers, with a story about the "new Iraq." These days, Abather and his young family are among the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have fled in fear for their lives. After months spent dodging insurgents who had targeted them for supporting the Americans, he and Balqes are relieved to have escaped—and bitter, like thousands of fellow refugees, that the superpower for which they risked their lives has abandoned them. A short man who bundles his shattered body in layers against the desert's winter chill, the 34-year-old Abather is polite and relaxed, with an easy smile. An engaging conversationalist even in broken English, he loves to talk about Baghdad, his infant daughter, and his wife, an outspoken woman several years his senior, whom he calls a genius. "When we met she was a professor at Baghdad University," he boasts. "I was her student. When she walked into a room, hundreds of people would stand to pay her respect." Considering that his life savings will run out in two months, that he can't work legally in Jordan, and that he could be deported at any moment, Abather is remarkably stoic, though the anxiety leaks out in tics. He chain-smokes cheap Craven A cigarettes, crushing the charred filters in an overflowing ashtray; when Balqes complains, he sheepishly offers that "smoking is my only work." It's not quite true—his one other job during the past 18 months has been recounting his nightmare, over and over again, to border guards, embassy workers, and aid agencies. In December, he reluctantly told it to me, pulling documents from a worn leather folder to corroborate the details.

White Hot Rage

I have long suspected that Blackwater Security and L. Paul Bremer (what's his nickname? Scooter? Pookie?) were responsible for the insurgency in Iraq and subsequently the death of my son, Casey. I am reading Jeremy Scahill's new book: Blackwater and it is doing nothing to decrease my suspicions, only confirm them.

Iraq's Curse: Homegrown Brutality and Foreign Abuse

The fourth anniversary of the American-led war on Iraq this week has generated considerable analysis of the prospects for Iraqi stability, security and well-being. Most of what we read and hear is unsatisfying, because it examines the last four years in Iraq, and sees the country mainly through the lens of America's presence and priorities. We should be exploring a much longer timeframe by acknowledging the combined suffocating burden of local tyranny and Western imperial and military adventurism. When the British and French a century ago configured the Middle East to suit their imperial needs and sensibilities, they left behind an embarrassing mess that continues to erupt into chronic violence in many lands. Arab tyrants took the baton of their own distorted statehoods from their European colonial craftsmen and between the 1950s and 1970s turned their young, often novel, countries into ugly police states. When our disturbed and violent region sent waves of bombers to attack foreign targets, the Americans led the new charge into the Middle East after September 11, 2001, once again pledging to transform sick societies into healthy democracies.

How to Help

2007-03-23T20:12:00.000-04:00

Protests in Iraq

I wrote a diary earlier this week on the Fayetteville Peace Rally, and I have spent most of this week getting ready for the Asheville Peace Rally which is tomorrow.

And HERE is the photo of a beautiful peace protest in Hungary last Saturday.

And ANOTHER photo from Paris of French journalists protesting the killing of Iraqi journalists.

But I thought I would share with you the ongoing peaceful protests that have been happening in Baghdad and other cities in Iraq. These protests took place over the last couple of days (except for the one referenced at the end from April 9, 2004). It seems every Friday after mosque services, there is a march with many people carrying signs and chanting slogans. Often, those signs are in English – they really do want us to know what they are saying and why they are protesting. So, this will be a list of links to the pictures from today and yesterday of protests across Iraq, which were posted on my own blog Dancewater. I imagine there are many other protests across Iraq, but no one is getting pictures out about them.

Picture One - Demonstrators chant anti-U.S. slogans while holding a picture of Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, the father of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, during a protest in Mahmoudiya, 30km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, March 23, 2007. Hundreds of Shi'ites took to the streets to demand the release of Sadr's spokesman Qais al-Khazali, who is being held by U.S. forces. REUTERS/Ibrahim Sultan (IRAQ)

Picture Two - Demonstrators hold a poster of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a protest in Kufa, about 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, March 23, 2007. Hundreds of Shi'ites took to the streets after Friday prayers to demand the release of prisoners being held by U.S. forces. The writing on the poster reads "God, stand by Moqtada". REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish (IRAQ)

These protests were to demand the release of prisoners from US run prisons. The poster says “God, Stand by Moqtada.” About 1/3 of the country of Iraq supports Sadr. And his first name is not “radical anti-US” no matter how many times the US media says it. Sadr is opposed to US occupation and to interference from Iran. Sadr is a nationalist, and he is willing to work with Sunnis in Iraq. Sadr, like nearly everyone in Iraq, does not have clean hands. However, some of militia activity attributed to him is certainly out of his control – I really don’t know how much.

Picture Three - Demonstrators chant anti-U.S. slogans as they hold a picture of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his father Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr and Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah during a protest in Kufa, about 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, March 23, 2007. Hundreds of Shi'ites took to the streets after Friday prayers to demand the release of prisoners being held by U.S. forces. REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish (IRAQ)

As you can see, they like Nasrallah also.

Picture Four - This one is in Basra - Followers of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr wave their pistols after a prayer in Basra, Iraq, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Friday, March 23, 2007. Authorities slapped an indefinite curfew in the southern city of Basra following clashes Thursday between militiamen loyal to al-Sadr and guards outside the headquarters of the rival Shiite Fadhila party.(AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

This one cannot claim to be a non-violent protest, since they are carrying pistols. It is also an ominous sign of more violence in Iraq – this time Shi’a on Shi’a violence. I wonder if that will dispel some of the myths around all the violence in Iraq being sectarian. In fact, a recent survey showed that the largest category of violence that Iraqis have witness is against - or from - US/UK troops. It was not a huge majority; however, it does show that a good deal of the violence in Iraq is directed towards US/UK troops. Another big chunk of the violence is directed towards those who are seen as supporting the presence of US/UK troops in Iraq. And a good deal of the violence is criminal and a good deal of the violence is the result of PTSD.

Picture Five - People carry posters showing anti-US radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, on the left, and his late father Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr as they protest an arrest of an al-Sadr aid, in the holy city of Kufa, Iraq, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Friday, March 23, 2007. The U.S. military on Thursday said a Shiite cleric Qais al-Khazaali has been arrested in connection with a brazen attack on the provincial government of Karbala, also south of Baghdad, Jan. 20 when five American service members were killed. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

So, there are protests in Kufa and Mahmoudiya, over a hundred miles apart, over the imprisonment of Qais al –Kahzaali, a Sadr aid. That killing of five American service members was an advanced operation that involved breaking into the center where the US troops were and killing one while kidnapping four others. These four were killed and left at the side of the road, and it was reported that the kidnappers took off hastily at that point because they were in danger of getting caught. If I am recalling correctly, the bush/cheney group wanted to blame this on al Qaeda, and then switched to blaming it on Iran. Now, I guess it is Sadr’s fault – provided, of course, that the US has the right guy. They could be totally off-base here, and it would not be the first time.

Picture Six - Iraqi students march at the Hurriyah neighborhood in Baghdad Thursday, March 22, 2007, during a protest against the US military presence and operations in the area. (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin)

Picture Seven - Iraqi students march past Iraql soldiers at the Hurriyah neighborhood in Baghdad Thursday, March 22, 2007, during a protest against the US military presence and operations in the area. (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin)

Picture Eight – Men gather in Baghdad to protest the U.S. military presence and denounce a garrison being set up in Sadr City as part of a month-old security plan for the capital. Followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr also protested in other parts of Iraq. (Adil Al-khazali -- Associated Press)

Picture Nine - Shi'ite worshippers hold up the mats they use for praying as they chant slogans during a demonstration after Friday prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City March 16, 2007. Thousands of residents attended a protest opposing U.S. military checkpoints in Sadr City, protesters said. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ)

Picture Ten - Women display a banner during a protest after Friday prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City March 16, 2007. Thousands of residents attended a demonstration opposing the U.S. military checkpoints in Sadr City, protesters said. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ)

This one has a banner that reads: “We condemn raid the safety (word unreadable) …. and arresting the innocent citizens.”

Picture Eleven - Protesters chant slogans as they march after Friday prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City March 16, 2007. Thousands of residents attended a demonstration opposing U.S. military checkpoints in Sadr City, protesters said. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ)

This one has a banner that says: “All Sadir city grassriots condemn and refuse establishing any US troops bases in al Sadir city”

Another photo I have saved (not sure of the date or the city) has signs that say “Stop Raiding Our Homes” and “Remove Roadblocks” and “USA = OUT”.

I think that is very clear. They want the US troops to leave.

Picture Twelve - People march during a protest against the US military presence in Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 16, 2007. Some 10.000 people protested opening of a joint US and Iraqi forces base in the enclave. (AP Photo/Adil al-Khazali)

My estimate (from looking at the pictures of this protest) would be tens of thousands of people present. See next picture.

Picture Thirteen - Shi'ite worshippers chant slogans during a demonstration after Friday prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City March 16, 2007. Thousands of residents attended a protest opposing U.S. military checkpoints in Sadr City, protesters said. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ)

And see photos HERE and HERE. And remember, these are Shi’a protests, not Sunni.

But the numbers at all these protests are very small compared to the protest held on April 9, 2004. That was the one year anniversary of the tearing down of Saddam’s statue, which we saw over and over again on TV in April 2003. If you happened to watch the CBC that day, you would have seen a wide angle shot and realized just how few people were there. Later details showed that some of the people there were Chalabi’s plants. But a year later, it seemed half of Baghdad showed up to protest Bush, Blair and Saddam. They seemed to think all three were cut from the same cloth. They were stridently against the presence of American and British occupation troops in their country. Because this rally was well planned in advance, the authorities closed down the streets to vehicular traffic, to prevent any car bombs. People walked for miles to come to this rally, and there were millions of people there. It was the largest rally I have ever seen. There have been many more peaceful protests in Iraq, some large and some small, but none were as large as this one. If you look closely at the photos, you will see the remaining original structures in the square.

Pictures are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Oh, and HERE is one really beautiful picture of people walking over a bridge on the Tigris river to that massive protest on April 9, 2004. They were no allowed to drive.

I have seen many pictures of protests in Iraq, but none as large as the one on April 9, 2004. I guess people are either afraid to go out, or they feel the protests are not effective. It does seem to me that our leaders are not listening to the will of the American people or the will of the Iraqi people. If they were, the occupation would end immediately.

How are things going in Iraq? Well, here’s a sample from The Independent newspaper in the UK from earlier this week. The article was called “Iraq: A Country Drenched In Blood.”

Earlier this month the US, with much fanfare, sent 700 soldiers to Diyala to restore government authority. It fought a ferocious battle with insurgents in which it lost two armoured "Stryker" vehicles. But, as so often in Iraq, in the eyes of Iraqis the presence or absence of American forces does not make as much difference to who holds power locally as the US military command would like to believe. Supposedly they are supporting 20,000 Iraqi security forces, but earlier this year it was announced that 1,500 local police were to be fired for not opposing the insurgents. At one embarrassing moment US and Iraqi military commanders were claiming at a video-link press conference that they had a firm grip on the situation in Baquba when insurgents burst into the mayor's office, kidnapped him and blew it up.

Now, if this were a TV movie, it would be damn funny. It is, however, real life in Iraq.

And YES, we are still bombing homes in Iraq, probably every day. - People gather by a destroyed house in Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 22, 2007. According to Iraqi police, Coalition warplanes destroyed two houses in central Ramadi Wednesday night, killing a man and wounding five others. (AP Photo)

Most bombings by US warships results in higher fatalities. I guess this family got lucky and no one was home when the bombs hit. If you want to see some of the ongoing protests in Iraq, and some of the results of US bombing, just check Yahoo News every day. The photos only stay up for a couple of days.

Finally, an ending quote:

"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To Shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlelssness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.” From Arundhati Roy, Indian novelist and activist