Photo: A woman and her relatives are seen waiting as a soldier from Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division searches her home for men suspected of involvement in an IED cell in Mosul, Iraq 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad Saturday, May 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
In Country:
In April around 65 attacks using projectiles were registered in Iraq, which is a record, said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who currently oversees United States military day-to-day operations in the region. This week Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno stated that the attacks occured mainly in Shiite eastern Baghdad. The U.S. Officials mentioned that the lethal weapons are used exclusively by the Shiite fighters against U.S. military targets.
Baghdad:
A Task Force Marne Soldier was killed and two were wounded when their patrol was struck by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad today.
Iraqi security officials say at least five policemen were killed when their patrol hit a roadside bomb in a Baghdad neighborhood Friday. Two other policemen were wounded in the blast in Amil district - the site of frequent clashes between Shi'ite and Sunni communities.
A separate military statement said coalition forces detained 16 suspected terrorists during raids in the mainly Shi'ite Sadr City district of the capital.
A car bomb exploded outside a police station in Doura, in southern Baghdad, police said. There was no indication of casualties.
Baghdad Governor Hussein al-Tahan survived an assassination attempt while inspecting works to construct concrete blocs in the northern Baghdad area of al-Aazamiya, a source in the Baghdad province council said on Friday. "Tahan was the target of an attempt by a sniper on Thursday while inspecting construction works on the security barricades on the highway in the al-Aazamiya area," a media source who declined to be named told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Four civilians sustained different wounds when six mortar shells fell on the village of al-Maamal in the southeastern Baghdad district of al-Wihda, an Iraqi police source said.
Two mortar shells fell on a drinking water station in al-Risala neighborhood, the western Baghdad district of al-Bayaa, but did not explode, a security source said.
An MND-B Soldier was killed and six others were wounded when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in an eastern section of the Iraqi capital May 3.
An improvised explosive device targeting an MND-B patrol killed one Soldier and wounded three others in a western section of Baghdad May 3. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed in the attack.
Police found 15 bodies across Baghdad in the past 25 hours, police said.
Militants blew up an independent radio station in Baghdad on Friday, destroying the offices but causing no casualties, its director said, a day after heavily armed men killed one person and wounded two at the same station.
A senior US commander was wounded by small arms fire while inspecting a controversial wall being built by the US military. This happened on Thursday in Azamiyah neighborhood.
Diyala Prv:
Two civilians were killed in an attack with mortars by unidentified gunmen on a village northeast of al-Khalis district, Diala province, an Iraqi police source said.
Samawa:
A police director in the province of Muthanna survived an assassination attempt in southern Samawa city, eyewitnesses said.
Hilla:
A car bomb parked near a Shi'ite mosque killed one person and wounded 21 in the Shi'ite town of Hilla, south of Baghdad, police said. The mosque, which also houses a shrine, was not damaged
Basra:
Five gunmen were wounded in clashes with Multi-National Force (MNF) patrols in several areas in the southern Iraq province of Basra while three suspected gunmen were arrested in the northern part, the MNF said.
Kirkuk:
Four civilians were killed and 33 others wounded when an explosive vehicle ripped through a popular neighborhood in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk on Thursday night, the Iraqi police said on Friday.
Ten minutes after the first blast, two others followed near civilian houses in the area of Dumez, (5 km) south of Kirkuk, killing two people," the source said
Two policemen were wounded when an explosive charge went off near a police patrol in the area of Taza, southern Kirkuk, an Iraqi police source in Kirkuk said.
Al Anbar Prv:
Nine bodies were found in Falluja, 50 km west of Baghdad, police said. Four were believed to be brothers.
Two Soldiers assigned to Multi National Force-West were killed May 3 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province.
Thanks to whisker for the links above.
REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ
Beleaguered Iraqis now fear their own security forces more than the insurgents
"Be careful," warned a senior Iraqi government official living in the Green Zone in Baghdad, "be very careful and above all do not trust the police or the army." He added that the level of insecurity in the Iraqi capital is as bad now as it was before the US drive to make the city safe came into operation in February. The so-called "surge", the dispatch of 20,000 extra American troops to Iraq with the prime mission of getting control of Baghdad, is visibly failing. There are army and police checkpoints everywhere but Iraqis are terrified because they do not know if the men in uniform they see there are, in reality, death squad members. Omar, the 15-year-old brother-in-law of a friend, was driving with two other boys through al-Mansur in west Baghdad a fortnight ago. Their car was stopped at a police checkpoint. Most of the police in Baghdad are Shia. They took him away saying they suspected that his ID card was a fake. The real reason was probably that only Sunnis use the name Omar. Three days later he was found dead.
Clashes Erupt Between Shi’ite Groups in Baghdad
Clashes erupted between rival Shi'ite militia groups in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood on Friday, when one militia launched an attack on the other's headquarters, police said. The violence between the Mahdi Army loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Brigades of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq began earlier Friday when Iraqi police loyal to the Badr Brigades prevented a Sadr aide from entering the southern Shiite holy city of Najaf.
Maze of turbulence
Hot on reports of El-Masri's death in northern Baghdad, General Qassim Ata, spokesman for the Baghdad Security Plan, reported that a joint Iraqi-US offensive against Al-Qaeda was underway in south Baghdad, where US forces fired 18 shells from the Falcon Base on Al-Dawra. Ata explained that there are reports that Al-Qaeda and other militant groups are regrouping there, and are responsible for the recent spate of suicide bombings. On the Iran-Iraq front, Ali Larijani, Iran's National Security Council chief, visited Baghdad to discuss preparations for the Iraq conference due to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh today. In an attempt to bolster the security situation, a maze of walls has literally sprung around the capital. Some people have tried to soften the harshness of the concrete by painting city scenes on it. But the concrete barriers are rising everywhere, still, like trees in a forest. Life in Baghdad comes to a standstill at around 4pm. At every corner there is a checkpoint. In the background, there is always a sign telling motorists that the checkpoint has been authorised by "the prime minister and commander of Operation Imposing Law". Last Tuesday, the electricity went out in Al-Ghazaliya in west Baghdad. In the morning, the inhabitants woke up to discover more concrete barriers in their streets, and only the creative among them were able to find their way to work. Engineer Abu Mahmoud is one of the few who made it through the barriers. He said that the best road he found involved "only" ten checkpoints. The students of the Education College near Antar Square have the same problem. Seven out of ten have stopped going to college because of the situation. Since the beginning of this year, 300 students have been killed in Baghdad alone. Antar Square, one of Baghdad's most crowded in the past, is now one of its least accessible.
Scores of fuel tankers set on fire
Unidentified armed groups attacked a convoy of 51 fuel tankers and set them on fire on the highway between Baiji and Samarra. The tankers were loaded with oil products from the country’s main refinery complex in Baiji and were reported to be on their way to the rebel city of Ramadi west of Baghdad. Both Baiji and Samarra are rebel hideouts and armed groups have conspicuous presence in the area. The two cities control the highway leading to the refineries and the Turkish borders. The whole area stretching from Baghdad to Mosul, 400 kilometers to the north of the capital, is extremely dangerous. Rebels frequently attack fuel convoys as well as pipelines and oil installations. Their attacks have almost put out of order the twin pipeline which used to carry nearly 1 million barrels of oil to Turkish Mediterranean terminals under former leader Saddam Hussein. Baiji is also the site of major power generation plants and but rebel attacks on pylons and supply lines as well as the plants themselves have reduced out to minimal.
Security worsens in Mosul
The security situation has aggravated in Mosul with gunmen roaming the streets and the authorities losing grip on most parts of the northern city. Mosul has been a major anti-U.S. rebel stronghold and armed groups have apparently intensified their operations in the city of nearly two million people. The rebels’ influence spreads beyond Mosul and recently carried deadly attacks in outlying towns and districts, targeting mainly Kurdish peshmergas or militias. U.S. troops are camped outside the city but have so far opted not to interfere despite the recent upsurge in violence and attacks. Unidentified gunmen have killed another university professor – Nidhal al-Assdi. Armed men drive freely in the city totting their guns and threatening to kill anyone not obeying their orders. The worsening conditions have prompted the authorities to impose a curfew on the city but government police and security forces still dread moving to restive areas and at night they withdraw to their barracks.
REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS
Iraqi Lawmakers Consider Summer Session
Iraqi lawmakers said Thursday they might consider shortening - or even canceling - their planned two-month summer break to continue working. But they insisted that pressure from Washington is not behind the possible holiday-on-hold. And besides, they say, the U.S. Congress is not thinking of calling off its own recess because of wartime debate. The first salvo in the spat came after some U.S. lawmakers complained that it wasn't right for Iraq's parliament to close up shop while American troops were fighting. Iraqi legislators - at least those who hadn't fled the country - were quick to fire back. "Certainly taking a two-month vacation will have an effect on passing some important laws," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker. "We can stay if we feel that this is very important, but I think that the worries by the congressmen are premature. Moreover, they themselves take vacation." A recess, which would start in July, may leave several crucial pieces of U.S.-supported legislation unfinished, including a bill for distributing oil revenue and plans to reverse measures that barred former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from holding certain jobs and government office.
Iraqi Lawmakers Demand U.S. Withdrawal
Some 133 Iraqi lawmakers from different political blocs, calling themselves the "free deputies," signed a document demanding a scheduled withdrawal of the U.S.-led multinational troops from their country, according to the Sadrist bloc in Parliament. A legislator from the Sadrist bloc, Saleh al-Okaili, told reporters Wednesday that his group initiated the document ahead of a U.N. Security Council review on Iraq slated for next month. The Sadrist bloc, whose Cabinet ministers had resigned, represents members of a group led by Shiite maverick leader Moqtada Sadr, who has been calling for setting a timetable to end the U.S.-British occupation of Iraq. Okaili said the memo signed by the lawmakers in the 275-seat Parliament would be handed over to the U.N. Security Council and its secretary-general, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Iraqi government. "We call on the Iraqi government to refer to Parliament when discussing a review of the foreign presence in Iraq and not to deal unilaterally with the issue, as has been the case in the past," the lawmaker said.
Clashes erupt between Sadr's militiamen, police forces in Najaf
Armed clashes broke out on Friday between elements of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army and police forces in Najaf after an official from Sadr's office was denied entry to the old part of Najaf, eyewitnesses said. The clashes, erupted this afternoon, witnessed the use of light-arms at (al-Eshreen revolution) gate of the old city, an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Another eyewitness said "the clashes erupted after police forces prevented the official spokesman for Sadr's office Sheikh Salah al-Ubeidi's car from entering the old part of the city with his companions." Iraqi army forces were deployed in the old city, while streets turned empty and stores were closed, the first eyewitness added.
Sunni Join Forces Against Al-Qaeda
Tribal leaders in Anbar province are joining forces to fight off the extremist insurgent group and build ties with the United States military and the Iraqi government. More and more Sunni tribal leaders in the beleaguered Anbar province of Iraq are turning against al-Qaeda and cooperating with the Iraqi government and United States troops. While reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has been killed in a battle with a rival militant group in Anbar have yet to be confirmed, they will, if true, be further evidence of the growing chasm between Sunni groups. Increasingly, Sunni tribal leaders in the restive western province – which has been a hotbed of insurgent activity– are cooperating with United States-led coalition forces and the Iraqi authorities to curb al-Qaeda attacks, and are re-engaging in the political process. Iraq’s interior ministry said on May 1 that it had received intelligence reports that Masri had been killed by an "internal battle" between militants. An Iraq government spokesman said that the body had yet to be formally identified, while the US military said on May 3 that it could not confirm reports of Masri’s death. Masri – who had a five million US dollar bounty on his head – took over as leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq in June 2006, when former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in an air strike. His death at the hands of Sunni hardliners would be a welcome development both for Washington and the Iraqi government. While it might not mean an end to al-Qaeda attacks – the group is decentralised and is thought to consist of numerous semi-autonomous cells – it would be evidence of growing enmity between al-Qaeda and other Sunni insurgent groups operating in Anbar. This split could benefit the US and Iraqi authorities, who are keen to nurture the emerging cooperative mood among Sunni leaders, and to use this to win local support and bring peace to the province. In recent months, the increasing numbers of attacks on civilians have alienated Anbar’s tribal sheikhs from al-Qaeda.
A Look At What Iraq Owes
Most of Iraq's debt was run up during its war with Iran in the 1980s. Iraq's finance minister puts the country's total remaining debt at $50 billion. But estimates vary and numbers from individual countries could put the total at higher than $60 billion: - Saudi Arabia is owed $17 billion. Saudi officials say they are in discussions with Iraqi officials to forgive an unspecified portion of the debt. Iraqi officials contend Saudi Arabia has agreed to forgive 80 percent but it is unclear if the Saudis have given such a firm commitment. - Kuwait is owed $15 billion. Its democratically elected parliament is refusing to consider any debt relief to Iraq. - Russia is owed $13 billion. Finance Ministry spokesman Andrei Saiko said Thursday that negotiations were continuing. "The debt has not yet been written off," he told the AP. - China is owed $8 billion. It has said little publicly on the issue. - Qatar is owed $4 billion. - The United Arab Emirates is owed $3-5 billion. - Turkey is owed $2 billion. [I am of the opinion that the US should pay every penny of these debts, just after they exit the country. – dancewater]
REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ
US Marines Unlikely To Report Civilian Abuse
Only 40 percent of Marines and 55 percent of U.S. Army soldiers deployed in Iraq say they would report a fellow serviceman for killing or injuring an innocent Iraqi, a Pentagon report released on Friday shows. The Army survey, which showed increasing rates of mental health problems for troops on extended or multiple deployments, also said well over one-third of soldiers and Marines believe torture should be allowed to elicit information that could save the lives of American troops or gain knowledge about Iraqi insurgents. Overall, about 10 percent of the 1,320 soldiers and 447 Marines covered in the survey said they had mistreated civilians, either through physical violence or damage to their personal property. The survey was conducted by U.S. Army medical experts between August 28 and October 3, 2006. "Soldiers with high levels of anger, who had experienced high levels of combat or who screened positive for mental health symptoms were nearly twice as likely to mistreat noncombatants," acting Army Surgeon General Gale Pollock told reporters. The findings, which included the first survey of ethics among U.S. troops in combat, were released Friday in an 89-page report posted on the Web site www.armymedicine.army.mil. It was delivered to senior military officials in November.
US Plans $500 Mln Ammunition Sale to Iraq
The Bush administration told Congress on Friday of plans to sell Iraq about 400 million rounds of small arms ammunition, 170,000 grenades, demolition explosives and other military gear and services valued at up to $508 million. The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the Iraqi government had asked for up to 100 million rounds of both M855 5.56mm and 7.62mm ammunition for small arms, as well as about 200 million other bullets. "This proposed sale directly supports the Iraqi government and serves the interests of the Iraqi people and the U.S., as well as offering hope for a more stable and peaceful Middle East," said the agency that handles government-to-government arms sales. [Sure it does. Well, serves the interests of the cheney administration, in that it will kill more people in the Middle East. – dancewater]
In Jihadist Haven, A Goal: To Kill And Die In Iraq
Zarqa [Jordan] has been known as a cradle of Islamic militancy since the beginning of the war in Iraq. It was the home of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the insurgent group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, who was killed last summer. Today it is a breeding ground for would-be jihadists like Abu Ibrahim and five of his friends who left about the same time last fall, bound for Iraq. Interviews with Abu Ibrahim and relatives of the other men show that rather than having been individually recruited by an organization like Zarqawi's, they gradually radicalized one another, the more strident leading the way. Local imams led them further toward Iraq, citing verses from the Koran to justify killing civilians. The men watched videos depicting tortured and slain Muslims that are copied from Internet sites. "Most of the young people here in Zarqa are very religious," an Islamist community leader said. "And when they see the news and what is going on in the Islamic countries, they themselves feel that they have to go to fight jihad. Today, you don't need anyone to tell the young men that they should go to jihad. They themselves want to be martyrs." The anger is palpable on the streets of Zarqa. "He's American? Let's kidnap and kill him," one Islamist activist said during an interview with a reporter before the host of the meeting dissuaded him. The stories of the men from Zarqa help explain the seemingly endless supply of suicide bombers in Iraq, most of whom are believed to be foreigners. Suicide bombings in Iraq are averaging roughly 42 a month, American military officials said.
COMMENTARY
Surging Into Slaughter: The Bipartisan Death Grip on Iraq
Intro: It is becoming increasingly clear that regardless of who wins the election in 2008, the United States government is not going to withdraw from Iraq. It is just not going to happen. This is the awful, gut-wrenching, frightening truth we must face. The only way that American forces will ever leave Iraq is the same way they left Vietnam: at gunpoint, forced into a precipitous and catastrophic retreat. And how many thousands upon thousands of needless deaths we will see before that terrible denouement?
…. And so the transformation of Baghdad -- one of the great cities of the world for more than a thousand years -- into a squalid open-air prison continues apace. This, we are told, is "liberation." And the American Establishment, despite a good deal of thus far non-signifying sound and fury from the Democrats, seem content to let this murderous horror run on. They tinker on the margins -- should we demand that a certain portion of troops begin to be withdrawn at a certain, ever-receding date? -- when it is plain that the only thing the United States can do at this point to mitigate the suffering of the Iraqis is leave -- and pay reparations for the criminal ruin and death we have caused. The American elites seem paralyzed by this notion, frozen in place as the bloody quagmire rises around them. But one pillar of the British elite -- the knighted general Michael Rose -- is speaking plainly. In addition to the book excerpt we quoted earlier, he has also been talking to the press, uttering truths that no "serious" figure in American politics and media would dare utter. From the Guardian:
General Sir Michael Rose told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "It is the soldiers who have been telling me from the frontline that the war they have been fighting is a hopeless war, that they cannot possibly win it and the sooner we start talking politics and not military solutions, the sooner they will come home and their lives will be preserved."
Asked if that meant admitting defeat, the general replied: "Of course we have to admit defeat. The British admitted defeat in North America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened.The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened. The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq."
Why there was no exit plan
There are people in Washington ... who never intend to withdraw military forces from Iraq and they're looking for 10, 20, 50 years in the future ... the reason that we went into Iraq was to establish a permanent military base in the Gulf region, and I have never heard any of our leaders say that they would commit themselves to the Iraqi people that 10 years from now there will be no military bases of the United States in Iraq. -- former President Jimmy Carter, Feb. 3, 2006
For all the talk about timetables and benchmarks, one might think that the United States will end the military occupation of Iraq within the lifetimes of the readers of this opinion editorial. Think again. There is to be no withdrawal from Iraq, just as there has been no withdrawal from hundreds of places around the world that are outposts of the American empire. As UC San Diego professor emeritus Chalmers Johnson put it, "One of the reasons we had no exit plan from Iraq is that we didn't intend to leave." The United States maintains 737 military bases in 130 countries across the globe. They exist for the purpose of defending the economic interests of the United States, what is euphemistically called "national security." In order to secure favorable access to Iraq's vast reserves of light crude, the United States is spending billions on the construction of at least five large permanent military bases throughout that country. A new Iraq oil law, largely written by the Coalition Provisional Authority, is planned for ratification by June. This law cedes control of Iraq's oil to western powers for 30 years . There is major opposition to the proposed law within Iraq, especially among the country's five trade union federations that represent hundreds of thousands of oil workers. The United States is working hard to surmount this opposition by appealing directly to the al-Maliki government in Iraq.
Quote of the day: "The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." - Milan Kundera
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