A boy sits on the ground in a refugee camp in Shaab district in Baghdad June 10, 2007. Dozens of Shi'ite villagers were evacuated by the Red Crescent from al-Ambagi village in Diyala province after their houses were torched by insurgents, a Red Crescent official said. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani
Yet another incident reported only in a photo caption. Why can't the news services notice this?
Baghdad
Police and witnesses in Baghdad said overnight clashes between U.S. troops and Shiite militiamen left at least five people dead and 19 wounded in an eastern district. The U.S. military said it was looking into the reports. "The fighting in the predominantly Shiite Fidhiliyah area on the Baghdad's outskirts broke out after a U.S. military convoy came under attack near the local offices of Muqtada al-Sadr. . . .AP Television News video footage shot Sunday showed the charred skeleton of what appeared to be a Humvee and a low-flying Apache helicopter firing flares as several hundred people, including teenagers and children, were gathered around the smoldering vehicle below. . . .U.S. troops stormed al-Sadr offices and detained 16 men, according to police and an official in al-Sadr's office who spoke anonymously because he feared retribution." (AP story)
"A suicide bomber crashed his vehicle into the Wahid Hozyran fuel station in al-Bayaa, killing one civilian and wounding six others," [an Iraqi police source] told VoI. "A few minutes later the bombing was followed by another as a suicide bomber crashed his vehicle into al-Sayediya fuel station, killing one man and wounding eight others," the source added." Police expect a higher number of casualties as numerous vehicles were set on fire.
Iraqi security forces killed one gunman and arrested 48 suspected militants in several areas of Baghdad during the past 72 hours under the Baghdad law-imposing plan, the Baghdad operations command said on Sunday. "Two car bombs, 16 explosive devices and two rockets were defused in different parts of Baghdad," the Baghdad operations command said in a statement received by . . . VOI. Nine Iraqi soldiers were killed and 38 others were wounded in a combat mission, the statement also noted.
Four policemen were wounded when a coffin bomb went off in the district of al-Sayediya, western Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said on Saturday. A coffin containing the body of an unidentified man was laid on a road side in al-Sayediya as reported by a citizen on Saturday evening," the source, who asked not to be named, told . . .VOI. "The bomb laid inside the coffin went off as policemen drew near it, wounding four of them," the source added.
I just want to acknowledge that a reporter for Voices of Iraq was killed earlier this week. This isn't the courthouse beat in Middletown. And I also note that VoI has a much more complete description of the gas station bombing in Bayaa than Reuters does, presumably because they have a reporter on the scene. -- C
Gunmen killed the leader of the Shi'ite Dialogue Faction, Jawdet Kadhem al-Obeidi, and wounded his driver in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad, police said.
A car bomb killed one civilian and wounded three others in the Saidiya district in southwestern Baghdad, police said.
Tikrit
A suicide truck bomber struck an Iraqi police agency, killing at least seven people and wounding 50, police said. The explosion, which occurred about 10:30 a.m., devastated a building housing the local highway police headquarters in the Albu Ajil village on the eastern outskirts of Tikrit, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Most of the seven killed and 50 wounded were police. About 60 vehicles inside the compound also were destroyed.
Diyala Province
A suicide car bomber smashed into a police patrol about 12 miles south of the provincial capital of Baqouba, killing two policemen and wounding three others, officers at the provincial police center said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
Balad Ruz (also in Diyala)
A roadside bomb struck a police patrol near a gas station, killing one policeman and wounding 6 other people - five officers and one civilian, according to the provincial police center for Diyala.
Khalis (Diyala)
Gunmen killed two policemen and a civilian in two separate attacks.
Sulaiman Pak
A roadside bomb targeted a convoy of a Kurdish brigade that had recently been deployed in western Baghdad as part of the security operation, killing one soldier and wounding three, an army officer from the brigade said on condition of anonymity. Note: Reuters describes what sounds like a similar incident, but gives the location as Tuz Khurmato, also on the Baghdad-Kirkuk highway. I suspect these may refer to the same incident, but I can't find a sufficiently detailed map to determine whether these are adjacent places. Does anyone know? Sulaiman Pak is not to be confused with the town of Salman Pak, which is south of Baghdad. -- C
Nearby, three civilians were wounded when a bomb went off near a police patrol. This is probably the incident Reuters locates in Hawija.
Fallujah
Policemen found two unidentified bodies on a road in al-Baath neighborhood, as a curfew was imposed in the Amiriyat district following fighting between clan militias and al Qaeda in Iraq.
Thanks as always to Whisker for the big help.
Other News of the Day
Iraqi High Tribunal to issue verdict on Ali Hassan al-Majid on June 24. Majid is the cousin of Saddam Hussein dubbed "Chemical Ali" by the Kurds. "Other defendants include defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai; Sabir al-Douri, former director of military intelligence; Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces; and Farhan Mutlaq Saleh, former head of military intelligence's eastern regional office." Saddam was also a defendant in this case, which centers on the so-called Anfal campaign against Kurdish rebels in which the prosecution says 180,000 civilians were killed.
The Iranian foreign ministry says it is not yet determined that a second round of talks will take place with the U.S. this month.
More on the use of forced labor in construction of the U.S. "embassy" in Baghdad. "An American who worked on the project, John Owens, said he was handed a boarding card for Dubai along with dozens of workers who were unaware they would be travelling to Iraq. 'I felt bad for those folks every day that I was in Iraq, and the feelings just built and built,' Mr Owens told The Wall Street Journal. 'They were basically being treated like slaves.'" The State Department has denied these allegations. (Of course. But we all know that the U.S. government never, ever lies. -- C)
Muqtada al-Sadr continues to wear the mantle of Iraqi nationalism, decrying Turkey's shelling of areas in Iraqi Kurdistan. "We will not stay silent in the face of these transgressions because our faith and our nation call upon us to defend Iraq and every inch of its territory, which we consider to be holy," he said in a statement issued in Najaf. Of course the AP has to identify him as "Radical Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr." I'm starting to think that is actually his name -- it's impossible for any U.S. reporter to write or say his name without the prefix. Is he particularly radical? Not that I'm aware of. He is, however, opposed to the occupation. -- C)
McClatchy reports on the evolving situation in west Baghdad as Kurdish troops end their deployment there. (This, by the way, is the context for the attack on the Kurdish brigade traveling north from Baghdad today, and for the gas station bombing in Bayaa.) Excerpt:
In the past 10 days, the fiery Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia has resurfaced in force, making a push to run Sunnis from Baghdad and to isolate Sunni enclaves in the west of the capital from their brethren in the south.
Mahdi Army militiamen in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Bayaa were reinforced by other Shiite fighters, and men in civilian clothes with weapons have cordoned off the area. In the past 10 days, Mahdi Army activity has escalated, intensifying in the past two days with the capture of two Sunni mosques, residents and police said.
The push appears to be part of a strategy by the Mahdi Army to control swaths of the once Sunni-dominated west bank of the Tigris River. Late last year, the militia, which has long regarded itself as a protector of the Shiites, drove Sunnis out of Hurriyah, killing some and burning homes.
On Friday, the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida dominated insurgent group, issued a statement on the Internet calling on the Sunnis to fight against Shiite militia. The commentary appeared designed to shore up support for the extremist group that many Iraqi Sunnis have turned on.
"Now there is a supreme conspiracy to push Sunnis out of Baghdad," the statement said. "What you have to today is to depend on God and attack the rawafudh" a derogatory term for Shiites "and the checkpoints of the pagan guards. The fall of one his almighty houses is a great tragedy."
WaPo's Thomas Ricks gives us the Pentagon's current long-range thinking. (Just in case you had gotten the idea somewhere the U.S. had no designs on a permanent presence in Iraq or anything like that. But I would have to say that this vision depends on political reconciliation, a stable, functioning Iraqi nation, an Iraqi army and domestic security forces that are truly loyal to a unified Iraqi state; and said Iraqi state must invite the U.S. presence. Hmmm. -- C ) Excerpt:
U.S. military officials here are increasingly envisioning a "post-occupation" troop presence in Iraq that neither maintains current levels nor leads to a complete pullout, but aims for a smaller, longer-term force that would remain in the country for years.
snip
Such a long-term presence would have four major components. The centerpiece would be a reinforced mechanized infantry division of around 20,000 soldiers assigned to guarantee the security of the Iraqi government and to assist Iraqi forces or their U.S. advisers if they get into fights they can't handle.
Second, a training and advisory force of close to 10,000 troops would work with Iraqi military and police units. "I think it would be very helpful to have a force here for a period of time to continue to help the Iraqis train and continue to build their capabilities," Odierno said.
In addition, officials envision a small but significant Special Operations unit focused on fighting the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq. "I think you'll retain a very robust counterterror capability in this country for a long, long time," a Pentagon official in Iraq said.
Finally, the headquarters and logistical elements to command and supply such a force would total more than 10,000 troops, plus some civilian contractors.
And speaking of political reconciliation, Iraq's parliament Sunday sent its Sunni speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani on indefinite leave after he allegedly ordered his bodyguards to beat up a fellow parliamentarian, a lawmaker said.
And, as further context for the Thomas Ricks story above, Lt. General Martin Dempsey discusses the state of Iraq's security forces. (Given the consistent record of absurdly over-optimistic evaluations of this subject by U.S. commanders, I'm inclined to read between the lines here. -- C) Excerpt:
Iraqi security forces should be in a position to take control of 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces by year's end, although they will not be ready to fight on their own for some time, a top U.S. general said on Sunday. Giving a candid assessment of their capabilities, Lieutenant-General Martin Dempsey, in charge of U.S.-led efforts to reconstruct Iraq's security forces over the past 22 months, also said there was a critical shortage of good senior officers.
snip
Additional Iraqi troops have been drafted in from other regions to help the U.S. military put more boots on the ground in the fight in Baghdad, but Dempsey said the first "tranche" of Iraqi soldiers had been "frankly disastrous."
"Not enough of them decided to deploy, they left more than half the unit behind. But we did not prep them very well. We asked them to go to Baghdad, but we didn't tell them why very well, we didn't tell them how long they would be there."
snip
While the army is viewed as more professional and less sectarian, the police, about 85 percent Shi'ite, is viewed by many minority Sunni Arabs as little more than a Shi'ite militia.
snip
"Police have been a handful, but we can't give up on them, because for this country to call itself stable it needs to have civil security in place, not just martial law," Dempsey told reporters later.
Like me, you may have noticed that U.S. casualties are down in the past week or so, while attacks on Iraqi forces have increased. AP's Steven R. Hurst notices this also, but I don't necessarily attribute this change in strategy exclusively to "al Qaeda". See the Quote of the Day. Excerpt;
The terror campaign against Iraqi troops and police appears designed to blunt US progress in creating a stable local force so Americans can go home. US military officers began noticing the new pattern of attacks last month.
Major General Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of the First Cavalry Division, which is in charge of security in Baghdad, was briefed on the new pattern of attacks during a recent visit to the Karradah district of the capital. Lieutenant Colonel Troy D. Perry, the battalion commander in the area, told Fil there was an increasing pattern of bombers allowing US patrols to pass hidden roadside bombs that were then detonated a short time later as Iraqi forces drove by.
Fil and Perry speculated Al Qaeda was focusing on Iraqi forces to unnerve the soldiers and police who are working with US forces to clamp down on violence in the capital.
Quote of the Day
Nine out of 10 times, when it names a foe it faces, the U.S. military names al-Qaida in Iraq. President Bush says Iraq may become an al-Qaida base to "launch new attacks on America." The U.S. ambassador here suggested this week al-Qaida might "assume real power" in Iraq if U.S. forces withdraw. Critics say this is overblown and possibly a diversion. . . .Some 30 groups now claim responsibility for attacks against U.S. and government targets, said Ben Venzke, head of the Virginia-based IntelCenter, which tracks such statements for the U.S. government.
Despite this proliferation of enemies, the U.S. command's news releases on American operations focus overwhelmingly on al-Qaida. During the first half of May, those releases mentioned al-Qaida 51 times, versus five mentions of other groups.
-- AP reporter Charles J. Hanley
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