Photo: A US soldier arrests an Iraqi demonstrator during an anti-US rally organised by the residents of Baghdad's al-Obaidi neighbourhood. The Iraqi government and tribal allies scoured dangerous insurgent territory on Wednesday but found no proof of claims that Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq had been killed in a clash between armed factions.(AFP/Wissam al-Okaili)
Baghdad:
Gunmen killed the three Sunni brothers about 3 a.m. and set the house on fire in a religiously mixed neighborhood of Rusala in western Baghdad, police said.
At least three people were killed and 15 wounded when several mortar rounds landed in three different districts in south and southwestern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
A roadside bomb killed a person and wounded two others in northern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
The bodies of 15 people were found shot in different districts of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said
The Iraqi army killed 25 insurgents and arrested 122 others during the past 48 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said
A car bomb killed at least three people and wounded 10 near a police station in the Baghdad Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City, police said.
Two MND-B Soldiers were killed and two others were wounded when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in a southern section of the Iraqi capital May 2. The unit was conducting route clearance operations in the area when the attack occurred
Around 3:30 p.m. a mortar shell landed in the Green Zone. No causalities report was released.
Around 4 p.m. a road side bomb exploded in Doura targeting a police vehicle. The blast damaged a police vehicle and killed 1 policeman and injured 2 civilians.
Around 4 p.m. A road side bomb detonated in Zaiona neighborhood near the Assyrian political party. The blast claimed the life of 1 and injured 2.
Around 7:30 p.m. a suicide car bomb targeting a police car near Al Rafidein police station in Sadr city. The attack killed 4 and injured 25.
A road side bomb exploded near Al Nidaa mosque near Adhamiya targeting a U.S. military convoy. The blast claimed the life of one civilian.
A road side bomb detonated in Al Baladiyat targeting a U.S. military convoy. The blast damaged three nearby sedans.
A mortar shell landed in Al Shaab neighborhood. The shelling claimed the life of one resident and injured 5.
A mortar shell landed in Abu Disheer neighborhood. The shelling claimed the life of one resident and injured 4.
Around 10 p.m. A mortar shell landed in Sadr city. The shell hit the Sadr office in the city and caused injuries to 5 guards of the building.
Police found 30 dead bodies throughout the capital today in the following neighborhoods: 1 in Al Khadraa, 1 in Jamiaa, 6 in Amel, 6 in Baia, 1 in Shuala, 1 in Atifiyah, 2 in Saidiyah, 2 in Jihad, 1 in Sileikh, 1 in Jisr Diyala, 2 in Sadr, 2 in Ameriya, 1 in Kathimiya, 1 in Ealam, 2 in Ghazaliyah.
A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 35 near a police station in the Baghdad Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City, police said.
A Multi-National Corps Soldier was severely wounded after an improvised explosive device exploded under her vehicle at approximately 1:55 pm Wednesday in western Baghdad. The Soldier later died of wounds at 3:25 pm while at the 28th CSH in Baghdad.
Hilla:
A bomb exploded near a house belonging to a displaced Shiite family in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killing a man and wounding his wife, according to provincial police.
Mahmoudiya:
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb struck a minibus in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of the capital, killing three people and wounding four, police said. The bus was carrying passengers to Baghdad.
More than 11 Iraqis were killed and another wounded Wednesday afternoon when an explosive charge went off near a minibus in central Mahmoudiya, 30 kilometres south of Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said.
Two mortar rounds also fell on a residential area elsewhere in the volatile city, killing three people and wounding 13, police said.
Iskandariya:
Separately, a female student was killed and two teachers were wounded when a mortar shell fell on a school in Iskandariya, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said.
In a separate attack, four people from the same family were injured in a bomb blast targeting a house of a policeman in the same area.
Dinwaniya:
An explosive charge went off near a U.S. vehicle patrol in Diwaniya city, 180 km south of Baghdad, damaging a patrol vehicle, a police source said.
Basra:
At least one civilian was killed in an explosive charge blast in western Basra,
a child was wounded in a separate incident when a Katyusha rocket landed on her house in the southern Iraqi city, a police source said on Wednesday.
The Multi-National Forces said on Wednesday two gunmen were wounded after they clashed with an MNF vehicle patrol overnight in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
In a confrontation between gunmen and a British patrol, two gunmen were seriously injured and one killed.
IED explodes in a site for used building materials in Zubair, 30 km west of Basra, killing one civilian.
Udhaim:
Gunmen killed two employees working in a cell phone company on Tuesday in the town of Udhaim, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said
Mosul:
Gunmen killed Nidhal al-Asadi, a university professor, in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
3,700 more American troops have arrived in Baghdad.
Thanks to whisker for the links above.
REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ
AUDIO: Islamophonic
This week we look at ways forward for Iraq. It's four years on since invasion, the killing continues and there's no sign of a solution. In the studio we have Taji Mustafa, from Hizb -ut-Tahrir Britain, Ali Latif, from Iraqi Prospect, and The Guardian's Brian Whitaker. We also talk to the Guardian's Iraq correspondent Michael Howard. We're given some grim reminders of everyday life in Iraq and some frank accounts of life in Britain for Iraqi exiles.
Iraq Added To Religious Freedom Watchlist
Citing gross violations of the rights of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, as well as followers of numerous minority beliefs, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added Iraq to its "watch list" on Wednesday. Violations included arbitrary arrests, torture and rape. Iraq joins Afghanistan, Belarus, Egypt, Bangladesh, Cuba, Indonesia and Nigeria on the list. Their designation is a notch below the designation "country of particular concern," which would make them subject to possible U.S. sanctions. Three of the four Democratic appointees to the 10-member congressionally named commission differed with the Republican majority, arguing that conditions are so bad in Iraq the commission should have taken that next step. In the end, the panel, which reports to the White House, State Department and Congress, placed Iraq on the watch list with the understanding it will be recommended for "country of particular concern" status next year if improvements are not made. "Despite ongoing efforts to stabilize the country, successive Iraqi governments have not adequately curbed the growing scope and severity of human rights abuses," it said, describing an "alarming and deteriorating situation for freedom of religion and belief." [Note how they blame the “successive Iraqi governments” instead of themselves for starting an illegal war of aggression! – dancewater]
An explosion in Baghdad is nothing novel. This one was very big. It was also very close to my home, and as a result, most of our windowpanes ended as splinters on the floor. Neither is this the first time that happens. Routinely, fetch the “glass-man” and repair the windows,,, again. What’s novel about “this time” is that we couldn’t. We couldn’t find a “glass-man” willing to come into our neighborhood to fix the windows. All the professionals in the nearby industrial area are Shiite. I risked my life going in to fetch one, but they will not risk their lives to fix my windows,,, understandably. My kids and I spent the night in a house with no glass in its windows … That was novel. I will have to go out looking for a Sunni “glass man”
That’s novel.
Displaced Families Fall Victim To House Sale Scams
Officials in the Iraqi Ministry of Construction and Housing have asked Iraqis to be wary of vendors who sell properties belonging to the displaced under false pretences. Illegal vendors are using fake documents and forged signatures to sell houses that belong to displaced Iraqis who have been forced to leave their homes as a result of sectarian violence. Some of them, according to Ministry of Construction officials, produce documents in English which say the US authorities’ in Iraq have authorised the sale of such properties, thus making unsuspecting buyers confident that the transaction is legal. “Usually they look for illiterate people or those who do not understand English properly so that their documents can have a veneer of legality. Buyers only discover that they have been duped when they move to the house and are alerted by neighbours, or when the original owner returns to check on his property,” Saleh Abdel-Rahman, mayor of Baghdad’s Dora district, said.
Anger in Baghdad as Americans Finish Wall
American forces have completed construction of a concrete wall around the Baghdad district of Adhamiya despite protests from the Iraqi prime minister and local residents who claim that they are now at the mercy of militants. The wall was intended to help control the activities of militants in the predominantly Sunni Muslim district. But it remains a bastion of extremist al-Qa'eda linked groups. Parts of the district are so thick with armed militants that they are no-go zones to coalition forces. Capt Mohammad Jasim, an Iraqi soldier manning a checkpoint on the Adhamiya bridge, said: "The Americans did not listen to us. We think this wall has made the area inside the wall more dangerous for people. Um Doraid, a middle-aged housewife, said: "We here inside the wall are still as vulnerable as ever."
International Red Cross Issues Report on Iraqi Medical Crisis
The International Committee of the Red Cross recently issued an alarming assessment of the medical conditions in Iraq. It described the situation as a crisis, with sick and injured Iraqis waiting for treatment in understaffed health care facilities. Others are too afraid to seek help because many doctors and hospitals have become targets of the insurgents. VOA's Melinda Smith has more on the Red Cross report. Patients are lined up for medical care at a hospital in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City. Once inside, they will likely experience more delays if they see a doctor at all. According to the Red Cross report, conditions are getting worse.
……….One major obstacle in treatment has been a shortage of medicine. Hospital pharmacist Ahmed Hameed says there just are not enough supplies to go around. "The terrorist acts and criminal explosions in markets and public places lead to so many injuries, a matter that will increase demand and put pressure on hospitals. And consequently, this will lead to sharp shortage[s] in medicine and medical appliances." Yet some medical supplies are readily available on the streets of Baghdad for the right price and a willingness to overlook the source of their manufacture.
Iraq Bans Heavy Vehicles on Baghdad Bridges
The Iraqi military has banned heavy vehicles from crossing most of Baghdad's bridges, a senior military official said on Wednesday, a measure apparently aimed at halting insurgents from blowing up the city's bridges. "We have decided that trucks and pickups that weigh over 1.5 tons are banned from crossing all the bridges (in Baghdad) except the Muthanna and Doura bridges," Brigadier-General Qassim Moussawi, Iraqi military spokesman for a U.S.-backed security crackdown in the capital, told a news conference. Politicians from both sides of the Shi'ite-Sunni sectarian divide have accused insurgents of trying to split the capital of seven million people along sectarian lines. [Seems to me it would be easier to put the whole population in lock-down, and that seems to be the overall goal anyway. – dancewater]
Baghdad Up Close and Personal
There's a checkpoint ahead. Incoming traffic has to slow down in front of a Hummer of the Iraqi Defense Forces. A soldier is talking to the driver of a van. Suddenly there is a shot. The soldier falls to the ground, right before our eyes, screaming in pain. He is not dead instantly. His companion, by the Hummer, takes some time to react, then also starts shooting. People duck in their cars; general wisdom is that if these were US troops, they would be shooting at random and every car would be sprayed with bullets. Some cars hit reverse and join our traffic flow. Chador-clad women pedestrians speed across the boulevard in panic. At first we thought the shot came from a sniper on the roof of a house on our side of the boulevard. But sniper shots are silent. Soon we realize the Iraqi soldier was shot from a passing car. Abdel quips, "If we had this image, AP [Associated Press] would buy it for US$100,000." Welcome to Adhamiyah. Ten minutes later, we are arrested.
Dr Omar al-Khattab fled Iraq just over a year ago after receiving death threats. At that time, he was working at Balad General Hospital, 50km north of Baghdad. "I had to leave my home, my work and my salary so now I'm living here jobless and am just barely surviving," he said during an interview inside an almost bare apartment in the Al-Qudsiya suburb of Damascus. "In my hospital alone, of five surgeons only one remains. We were three orthopaedics but now there are none, and only 25 per cent of the resident doctors remain." According to the Iraqi Ministry of Health and UN statistics, Khattab is one of 18,000 Iraqi doctors and health care professionals who have fled the war-torn country since the US-led invasion began in March 2003. In 2003, there were 34,000 registered health care workers in Iraq. Al-Khattab said: "I know at least 10 other Iraqi doctors just here in Al-Qudsiya who have left because of death threats or the overall security situation." A general practitioner who was a resident in the surgical department at his hospital, al-Khattab is now living off his meagre savings and unable to return to his country. He fills his days by offering his services to other Iraqi refugees who cannot afford health care in Syria. It is also how he maintains his expertise while assisting some of what he estimates to be 50,000 Iraqis in his neighbourhood.
Iraq's Civilian Toll Grows
The recent upsurge in violence continued to exact a heavy toll on Iraqi civilians Tuesday, while members of the national parliament said they moved a step closer to voting on a controversial bill to equitably distribute oil revenue. Police on Tuesday reported the deaths of dozens of people in sectarian violence across Iraq, including the massacre of 16 people attending a funeral in Khalis, north of Baghdad. Late Monday, gunmen attacked a minibus south of the capital, killing 11 passengers, including women and children.
Usama Abdulaziz Najafi, a legislator with the Iraqi National List coalition, said lawmakers had drafted a hydrocarbons bill that the parliament would consider in a few weeks. The measure would define how oil revenue would be distributed among Iraq's provinces, a source of contention among factions. The Bush administration, which is urging passage as a gesture of national reconciliation, is pushing legislators to act quickly before parliament adjourns for a two-month vacation. [Read article below about the new oil law. – dancewater]
In Baghdad, Survival Depends On Simpler Ways
By now they're used to Humvees clogging the highways and blast walls blocking the alleys. Some barely flinch when trucks detonate or mortar shells crash down on the pavement. But when the bridges start falling into the water, determined Baghdad commuters are forced to improvise. Which is why a 50-year-old shoe salesman is stepping gingerly onto a weathered wooden boat bobbing in the Tigris River, perhaps the only place in Baghdad where one need not worry about an explosion underfoot. "There are no bombs in the water," he said. To those accustomed to the barren, brown expanse of the Tigris, in recent years primarily the domain of floating corpses and speeding patrol boats, the dozens of skiffs now traversing the river are a striking sight. About 15 feet long and powered by outboard motors, the boats are one more solution, however primitive, that Iraqis have devised to survive their daily rounds in Baghdad. "When you walk down the street, you don't know if the person next to you is wearing an explosive belt or if there's a bomb in the next car," said the salesman, who gave only his nickname, Abu Zaid Hamdani, out of fear. "I feel more comfortable on the water. I feel psychologically safe." From the boys selling black-market gasoline from donkey carts, to the abandoned movie theaters, restaurants and liquor stores, from the overflowing sewage to the dwindling food rations, Baghdad has lost its place as a pinnacle of Middle East modernity. Existence has become more rudimentary. "The people of Baghdad were living on electricity and technology, and now we are stagnated," said Um Mohammed, a mother of three who was shopping in the Kadhimiyah neighborhood for a traditional oven called a tanoor. "Instead of improving ourselves, we are returning back to the Stone Age."
85 Killed Nationwide
At least 85 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide, police reported. They also included eight people who lost their lives when a roadside bomb destroyed their minibus about 20 miles south of Baghdad. The suicide attack occurred at dusk near a police station in Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia. Three policemen and six civilians were killed and 34 people were wounded, police said.
REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS
Iraq's Hydrocarbon Law – in whose interests?
A Hydrocarbon Law which advocates a radical restructuring of Iraq's oil industry was approved by the Iraqi cabinet in February. If passed by parliament, the law will mark a milestone in Iraqi history – a shift of Iraq's massive reserves from public to private hands. It could see private companies develop and profit from Iraq's oil for 15-30 year periods with virtually no possibility for the Iraqi state to renegotiate contractual terms and conditions. The first draft of the oil law was produced to a timeline set by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF ordered, as a condition of debt relief, the issuance of an oil law by December 2006. This law had to open up Iraq oil (for the first time in over 30 years) to long-term investment by foreign oil companies. Finally produced in July 2006, the first to review it and comment on it were 9 multinational oil companies, the British government and US government. It would be eight months before the vast majority of the Iraqi parliament would even see it. In January of this year, the US President decreed the passing of an oil law allowing for foreign investment as his top benchmark. AP reported in early April that sources close to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki had revealed he feared being ousted by the US administration if he did not secure the passing of an oil law by the end of June.
Iraqi Oil Bill Sent To Parliament
Iraq's oil minister says a long-awaited draft oil and gas law has been sent to parliament for approval. The bill, seen as crucial in regulating how oil wealth is divided among Iraq's ethnic and religious groups, received cabinet backing in February. A dispute between central government and autonomous Kurdistan over control of the oil has delayed its submission. The minister, Hussein Shahristani, said political groups had agreed to try to pass the law by the end of May.
REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ
History: Envoys ‘Warned of Iraq Invasion Nightmare’
Sir Ivor Roberts, now the president of Trinity College, Oxford, saw a selection of the telegrams sent by Britain's envoys in the Middle East when he served as ambassador to Ireland before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. As Britain and America massed their forces on Iraq's borders, these telegrams to the Foreign Office contained the ambassadors' considered advice on the wisdom and likely consequences of going to war. Some were circulated to every British envoy in the European Union and reached Sir Ivor's desk in Dublin. To the best of his memory, the assessments offered by Britain's representatives in the Muslim world were unanimous. "Every ambassador in a Middle East post accurately predicted what a nightmare invading Iraq would be," he said. "The telegrams I saw were full of doom and gloom about the consequences." [Too bad more of them did not up and quit and join the protests, no? What little cowards they were! – dancewater]
Sir Ivor, who retired last year, called for an official inquiry into the war in Iraq. "How we landed up in this mess is going to be the subject of a long inquiry, I hope," he said. [Got his retirement in hand, and he wants an inquiry? What the h*ll for? I know how we got into this evil mess and can explain it in less than two minutes! – dancewater]
More Blame Game: Hoon Admits Fatal Errors in Planning For Postwar Iraq
A catalogue of errors over planning for Iraq after the invasion, and an inability to influence key figures in the US administration, led to anarchy in Iraq from which the country has not recovered, the British defence secretary during the invasion admits today. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Geoff Hoon reveals that Britain disagreed with the US administration over two key decisions in May 2003, two months after the invasion - to disband Iraq's army and "de-Ba'athify" its civil service. Mr Hoon also said he and other senior ministers completely underestimated the role and influence of the vice-president, Dick Cheney.
…. He said history would have to decide whether the coalition should have anticipated the Sunni-Shia violence. "Given what we know now, I suppose the answer is that we should, but we did not know that at the time." [Hey, maybe if the US/UK had not done things to deliberately provoke sectarian tension, this would not currently be a problem in Iraq? Maybe there should be an inquiry on THAT, to expose the evil little shi*ts. – dancewater]
War Child Canada Working to Strengthen Education System in Iraq
Since 2003, school attendance rates have decreased significantly, with a 40.2% drop in the number of girls attending primary school. Unless more attention and aid is given to the country's educational system, the situation for children and youth in Iraq will continue to worsen. Providing access to quality education for war-affected children and youth is a key focus area in War Child Canada's programming in Iraq. War Child Canada implements the Iraq Rehabilitation Project in partnership with Iraqi Al-Amal Association and Muslim Hands Iraq. The project focuses on strengthening and supporting the Iraqi educational system by rehabilitating and reconstructing schools, and provides resources and training for teachers in Baghdad and eight other provinces. It also supports Iraqi children, youth and professionals by providing knowledge and skills training in human rights, democracy, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, English and Information Technology.
War Child Canada Website
COMMENTARY
OPINION: George’s Genocide
I think of it as "George’s Genocide" but in actually, all taxpayers in America are complicit in this crime. Of course, our former and current Congress Without a Conscience has even more responsibility than the rest of us. Yes, that recent report on excessive deaths in Iraq has clearly pointed out that our invasion and occupation of that country has resulted in genocide. The number of 655,000+ is certainly sobering, but it was not surprising to me.
…… It is clear to me that Americans are the ones responsible for allowing this situation to develop. It is also clear to me that it is beyond our ability to "fix" – if such a thing was even on the agenda of those who say "stuff happens" while society is breaking down, or "bring em on" when their own troops are in harm’s way or "we don’t do body counts" in the face of massive death of innocents. This war has spawned massive lies, deception, graft, corruption, theft, rape, torture, murder, illnesses, PTSD, and God only knows what other evil – and for what?
Opinion: Bush Has Destroyed Iraq and America
Every American who voted Republican shares responsibility for the great evil America has brought to the Middle East. The evil that America brought to Iraq transcends the tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed and maimed in the conflict. The evil goes beyond the destruction of ancient historical artifacts and the civilian infrastructure of a secular state and the decimation of the lives, careers, and families of millions of Iraqis. The violence and killing that Bush brought to Iraq has spread antagonism between Sunni and Shiite throughout the Middle East with potentially draconian consequences. Bush’s war has turned Muslim hearts and minds against America and made terrorism an acceptable means to resist American hegemony. With his mindless war, Bush has created more terrorism than the world has ever seen. The reasons given for the American invasion of Iraq have been exposed as lies, revealing America as either a country of fools and idiots or of war criminals. Worldwide polls show that America is no longer regarded as a guiding light but is tied with Israel as the second greatest threat to world stability.
OPINION: No Safe Way For US To Leave Iraq
Pulling U.S. forces from Iraq could trigger catastrophe, CNN analysts and other observers warn, affecting not just Iraq but its neighbors in the Middle East, with far-reaching global implications. Sectarian violence could erupt on a scale never seen before in Iraq if coalition troops leave before Iraq's security forces are ready. Supporters of al Qaeda could develop an international hub of terror from which to threaten the West. And the likely civil war could draw countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran into a broader conflict. …..A rapid withdrawal of all U.S. troops would hurt America's image and hand al Qaeda and other terror groups a propaganda victory that the United States is only a "paper tiger," CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said. "It would also play into their strategy, which is to create a mini-state somewhere in the Middle East where they can reorganize along the lines of what they did in Afghanistan in the late '90s," Bergen told CNN.com. [What this article overlooks, or ignores, is the fact that Iraq’s security forces are a major factor behind the sectarian violence. In light of that, how are they supposed to be the ones to stop the sectarian violence? And, Bergen is right in saying this is a victory for al Qaeda – and that will be true no matter when the US leaves. – dancewater]
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