Iraq investigates more prisoner abuse Wednesday Nov 16 14:23 AEST
Another prisoner abuse scandal has erupted in Iraq with the discovery of more than 170 tortured and starving prisoners in a locked Interior Ministry bunker beneath Baghdad.
Many had been severely beaten. Some had been paralysed. Others had skin peeled off their bodies.
US officials deny any responsibility and Iraq's government has ordered an investigation, saying it is shocked by the horrific find.
Some human rights groups say Iraq's new security forces are routinely abusing and torturing detainees in ways reminiscent of those used by the notoriously brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.
The War in Iraq has cost the US Government over 2 billion dollars. No wonder they didn't have the immediate resources to respond to the Hurricanes that hit the New Orleans region just a short time ago. I do hope the US is getting more than 2 billion dollars worth of Oil out of this otherwise what a waste of money and humanity this little exercise has proven to be.
The money is nothing, they needed the "war business" to save their economy, look at how badly it is still doing even with 2 billions in war spending to stimulate it!
What it has cost them is over 2000 lives and over 10,000 serious injuries (IE pensions)
At least 75 worshippers have been killed in suicide attacks on two Shiite mosques in an eastern town near the border with Iran, the latest deadly strike by rebels on Iraq's majority religious group.
The attack today in the Shiite Kurdish town of Khanaqin, which came just hours after suicide bombers killed six people outside a Baghdad hotel, destroyed the two mosques, the interior ministry said, and left 90 people wounded.
The two suicide bombers, wearing explosives belts, blew themselves up in the midst of worshippers during Friday's weekly prayers in the two Shiite mosques, officials said.
The local authorities immediately imposed a curfew in Khanaqin, a majority Shiite Kurdish town 170 km from the capital, Baghdad. The attacks come less than a month ahead of the legislative elections due on December.
The attack was the latest in a line of bloody strikes against the Shiites since the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Sunni, declared all-out war on the Shiites in mid-September.
2083 US Military Personel have been killed since the March 2003 Invasion. Who the hell thinks this country is going to be better off after the troops from other countries leave???
Sort of makes a mockery of the Iraqi's request that the US get out. . .they are their own worst enemy now. . . *can't believe they would bomb their own neighbours.*.
DEMOCRACY = Voters deciding by Poll on who will be the local member that "Big Business" will push around.
Suicide bomber kills 25 at Iraqi funeral Five U.S. soldiers killed in attacks north of Baghdad
Saturday, November 19, 2005 Posted: 2240 GMT (0640 HKT)
A man is rushed into a hospital Saturday after being injured when a suicide bomber struck a funeral.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide car bomber struck a funeral ceremony Saturday evening north of Baghdad, killing at least 25 people and wounding 30 others, Iraqi police in Abu Sayda said.
The funeral was for the uncle of the sheikh who leads the city council in the town of Abu Sayda, near Baquba, 30 miles north of Baghdad. The sheikh was among the wounded. The family is Shia.
The attacker drove the car, packed with explosives, into the mourning tent in front of a house and detonated it as mourners were reading verses from the Quran, police said.
Sunni sheik, family members slain Hussein trial scheduled to resume Monday
Thursday, November 24, 2005 Posted: 0714 GMT (1514 HKT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Gunmen dressed as Iraqi troops stormed the home of a senior Sunni leader Wednesday, killing him, his three sons and a son-in-law, Iraqi police said.
Neighbors told authorities that at least 10 vehicles that appeared to belong to the Iraqi army stopped outside the western Baghdad house of Kadhim Sarheed Ali al-Dulami, a sheik of the Sunni al-Dulami tribe, before gunmen went inside the home and shot the men. The killings took place about 4 a.m. local time in the Hurriya neighborhood.
The Associated Press quoted an Interior Ministry official, Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi, as identifying al-Dulami as the brother of a parliamentary candidate in the December 15 election.
Al-Mohammedawi also told the AP that government forces were not involved and that insurgents were the focus of the investigation.
"Surely, they are outlaw insurgents. As for the military uniform, they can be bought from many shops in Baghdad," he told the AP. "Also, we have several police and army vehicles stolen, and they can be used in the raids."
One of al-Dulami's sons was assassinated a month ago, a Sunni leader told CNN. The son's body was found in western Baghdad's Shulaa neighborhood.
Al-Dulami was chief of the Batta tribe, a branch of the al-Dulami tribe.
In other violence Wednesday, two mortar rounds exploded around 4 p.m. (8 a.m. ET) in central Baghdad, wounding at least three people, according to an official with the Baghdad emergency police.
One exploded near the Ministry of Justice on Haifa Street, the other near Mutthaf Square. Both were a few hundred meters apart.
Also Wednesday, unknown gunmen killed Radi Ismail Jouwad, the head of a battery company in northeastern Baghdad, as he was leaving his home at about 8 a.m., police said.
As U.S. President George W. Bush launches a renewed effort to gain public support for the Iraq war, a new poll finds most Americans do not believe he has a plan that will achieve victory.
But the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll also finds nearly six in 10 Americans said U.S. troops should not be withdrawn from Iraq until certain goals are achieved.
Asked about Bush's handling of the Iraq war, 54 percent said it was poor, while 44 percent thought he was doing a good job.
Those polled were split over whether they think a democratic government can be established in Iraq that won't be overthrown, with 47 percent saying that was likely and 49 percent saying it was not.
Fifty-four percent said they thought it is unlikely that Iraqi forces alone will be able to ensure security without U.S. help, and 44 percent said otherwise.
In separate incident, three soldiers die in traffic accident
Friday, December 2, 2005 Posted: 2301 GMT (0701 HKT)
Iraqi soldiers take position during a joint Iraqi-U.S. raid in Ramadi, Iraq, on Friday.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A roadside bomb killed 10 U.S. Marines and wounded 11 others on nighttime foot patrol Thursday near Falluja, and three other soldiers died Friday in a traffic accident, the military said.
Few details were available about Friday's wreck. The three U.S. soldiers killed were members of the National Guard's 48th Brigade Combat Team, according to a news release. The wreck is under investigation, the military said.
The bomb that killed the Marines on Thursday was "fashioned from several large artillery shells," a Marine Corps statement said.
11 Iraqi soldiers killed in ambush Attack follows deaths of 10 Marines as elections approach
Saturday, December 3, 2005 Posted: 2307 GMT (0707 HKT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two days after a roadside bomb killed 10 U.S. Marines on patrol in Falluja, insurgents in Iraq on Saturday staged another deadly strike, killing 11 Iraqi soldiers in an ambush north of Baghdad.
Attackers wielding small arms and detonating roadside bombs struck in the late morning near Adhaim, a Diyala province town 62 miles north of the capital, a U.S. military official reported.
Friday, December 9, 2005 Posted: 1659 GMT (0059 HKT)
(CNN) -- A U.S. official said Friday that the United States still does not know if anything has happened to Ronald Schulz, an electrician taken hostage in Iraq.
"We have no information that anything happened to him," said the official, who asked not to be named. The official said he is familiar with the details of U.S. attempts to find and free Schulz.
There are six known U.S. hostages in Iraq, according to the State Department, which does not identify the hostages by name.
Schulz's family pleaded Thursday for his safe release, urging his abductors to communicate with the family "to discuss this matter at any time" after postings on the Internet said he had been killed.
Schulz, 40, an electrician who had been working in Iraq, was kidnapped by insurgents around November 25.
Video from a group called the Islamic Army in Iraq surfaced Tuesday showing Schulz sitting on a white plastic chair with his hands apparently tied behind his back.
The group demanded that jailed Islamic Army fighters be released and that compensation be paid to families in Iraq's hard-hit province of Anbar.
"Our family is aware that the Iraqi people have concerns regarding the U.S. government presence in their country. However, murdering Ron will not solve these issues," his sister, Julie Schulz, told reporters in his home state of North Dakota.
"Because Ron's life is in your hands and in order to secure his safe release, for which you are ultimately responsible, my family is willing to receive any communication to discuss this matter at any time. We respectfully request you to reach out to us through any media channel to discuss a safe release."
Several Islamic militant Web sites posted a claim Thursday from the Islamic Army in Iraq that it had killed "the American security consultant for the Housing Ministry," after the United States failed to respond to its demand for the release of Iraqi prisoners.
A similar claim was posted early Friday on a Web site known to be used by the Islamic Army. The claims cannot be independently verified by CNN.
State Department officials said Thursday they were trying to determine if the message is credible.
Julie Schulz said the family has heard no confirmation that her brother is dead.
"We're working on the assumption that he's alive," she said.
Schulz, a former Marine who grew up on a farm around Jamestown, North Dakota, was working in Iraq as an industrial electrician, a job that has previously taken him to the Philippines, China, Vietnam and other countries around the globe.
His sister said it came as a "surprise" this week when the family first learned of his abduction, because they didn't know he was in Iraq.
She added it was "typical" of her younger brother, who had recently moved to Alaska, not to tell the family when he went overseas.
She last spoke with him two months ago. She said she immediately knew it was her brother when she saw the hostage video earlier this week.
"It's just been a roller coaster. We've just been trying to take things as it comes," she said.
Schulz is the second American known to have been kidnapped in Iraq in recent weeks. The other American, Tom Fox, was abducted with three other Christian aid workers.
The group claiming responsibility for the kidnapping of Fox and the other three workers extended its deadline for their execution to Saturday. (Full story)
The State Department said Thursday that another American contractor working for the U.S. government was killed Wednesday night outside the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
U.S. officials said it was not a hostage situation and the victim was not Schulz.
There was no word on the status of a German aid worker and a French engineer, who have also been kidnapped
An Iraqi court has handed down long jail terms to seven men, including four foreigners, for belonging to al-Qaeda in Iraq and taking part in attacks in Baghdad and Mosul, the Justice Ministry said.
US lawyers said this was probably the first prosecution for membership of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the group has claimed responsibility for some of the bloodiest incidents in an insurgency pitting Sunni and foreign Arabs against the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government and its US backers.
The four foreigners, from Syria, Algeria and Jordan, were each sentenced to 20 years in jail for attacks in Mosul. They were seized in a raid on a house on May 29 in the Anbar province of western Iraq, which is a hotbed of insurgent activity.
Two Iraqis were jailed for 10 years and a third for 15 years for attacks in Baghdad and for helping smuggle foreign fighters into the country.
Washington says foreigners are only a small percentage of the insurgency but are to blame for many of its suicide bombings. Marines have been fighting in Anbar all year to stop foreign militants crossing the border from Syria.
İAAP 2005
I had to say it surprised me that the judge had the backbone to do this. Bravo.
DEMOCRACY = Voters deciding by Poll on who will be the local member that "Big Business" will push around.
Thursday, December 15, 2005 Posted: 0030 GMT (0830 HKT)
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as "a myth" and suggested that Israel be moved to Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska.
The United States, Israel and the European Commission -- along with individual European countries -- have condemned the remark.
Ahmadinejad sparked widespread international condemnation in October when he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Last week, he also expressed doubt about the killing by the Nazis of six million Jews during World War II, but Wednesday was the first occasion when he said in public that the Holocaust was a myth.
"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to thousands of people in the Iranian city of Zahedan, according to a report on Wednesday from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets," he said. "(It) deals very severely with those who deny this myth but does not do anything to those who deny God, religion, and the prophet."
By Lin Noueihed and Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad February 27, 2006 Page 1 of 2
A BOMB killed five people at a bus station in Hilla, south of Baghdad, yesterday, breaking a relative calm after Iraqi and US leaders appealed for an end to days of sectarian bloodshed that have pitched Iraq towards civil war.
A bomb in the washroom of a Shiite mosque in the southern city of Basra caused minor injuries, police said. It went off shortly after a rally in another part of the city by the Shiite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
Another bomb killed two US soldiers overnight on Saturday in Baghdad.
Hours earlier the Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, made a midnight televised appeal, flanked by Sunni and Kurdish politicians, to Iraqis not to turn on each other following Wednesday's bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, a site sacred to Shiites. A three-hour meeting produced a commitment from the main factions to form a unity coalition, although the Sunni leader Tareq al-Hashemi said he was not ready to end a boycott of the coalition talks.
Four days of tit-for-tat reprisals have left more than 200 dead and mosques damaged, despite a daytime curfew on Baghdad that has been extended until today.
With a traffic ban in force and the airport closed, Baghdad was largely quiet. But a policeman was killed and two were wounded when their patrol was hit by two roadside bombs near Madaen, another flashpoint for Sunni-Shiite violence just south-east of the city.
On Saturday, in the mainly Sunni town of Baquba, north of Baghdad, 12 members of one Shiite family were killed when gunmen burst into their home.
Dr Jaafari said he was hopeful that Iraqis would step back from sectarian strife.
"The Iraqi people have one enemy: it is terrorism and only terrorism. There are no Sunnis against Shiites," he said.
The attacks provoked a warning from the Defence Minister, Saadoun al-Dulaimi, who said: "If there is civil war in this country it will never end."
Mr Dulaimi said the Government was prepared to "fill the streets with armoured vehicles" if the violence does not stop.
In Basra, Mr Sadr appeared at a rally to call for Muslim unity against US occupation and summoned his many followers to hold joint prayers next Friday at Sunni mosques, especially those damaged in the past days' violence.
Although his black-clad Mahdi Army militia have been accused by officials of taking part in attacks on Sunni mosques, Mr Sadr himself, his influence rising within the ruling but factionalised Shiite Islamist bloc, denies ordering violence.
I beleive that what we hear is being very downplayed. I only watched the first couple of videos on this page but it's more along the lines of the way I had heard it. I didn't read the article either, I was just looking for news that was more along the lines of what I understood and stopped when I found it without giving it the deeper look that I should have. http://kutv.com/topstories/topstories_story_054083831.html
"This is no another Vietnam" -An idiot blindly backing Bush
Losing faith in the push for peace February 28, 2006
There is little real hope as Iraq lurches towards civil war, writes Paul McGeough in Amman.
IRAQ'S political and religious leaders voiced support for national unity after a weekend of crisis talks, but as the bloodletting continued analysts were despondent about the ability, or genuine desire, of the country to retreat from the brink of civil war.
More than 220 Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, have died in continuing violence since the bombing of one of the holiest Shiite shrines, the Askariya mosque in Samarra. Shiite gunmen were reportedly still in control of some of the dozens of Sunni mosques that were targeted in a wave of retaliatory attacks.
Up to 30 deaths were reported on Sunday, among them five passengers on a bus bombed in the Shiite town of Hilla, and 18 residents of the predominantly Shiite district of Dora in Baghdad.
There were reports of more Shiites fleeing or being cleansed from communities where they are outnumbered by Sunnis. Amid complaints of food shortages, ordinary Iraqis seemed to have little faith in a push by US diplomats to salvage their effort to export democracy to the Middle East.
Residents in Baghdad complained that the violence had eased only because of a curfew imposed after the desecration of the Samarra shrine and they fully expected opposing militias to re-emerge in greater numbers with the planned easing of the curfew yesterday. Some minority Sunnis claimed to have been opposed to the relentless violence perpetrated in their name since the US-led invasion, but said they now needed the protection of al-Qaeda's Iraq top man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Shaken US officials underscored the crisis atmosphere by arranging a series of phone calls in which President George Bush pleaded with Iraqi leaders for calm.
Ridha Jawad al-Taqi, an official in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the biggest of the Shiite Islamist parties, said: "We've passed the danger period. The security situation is now 80 per cent stable. [This crisis] pushed the different groups to get together."
But the International Crisis Group, headed by Gareth Evans, issued a report saying that Iraq was on the verge of breaking up - religiously, ethnically and tribally.
The greatest risk, the group said, was the Sunni-Shiite schism, which "threatens to tear the country apart", bringing chaos in the region.
Urging the outside world to brace itself for the collapse of Iraq, it warned: "Until now such an effort has been a taboo, but failure to anticipate such a possibility may lead to further disasters in the future."
Under US diplomatic pressure, Sunni leaders indicated they would drop their boycott of talks to form a new government which have been bogged down since a national election in December.
A Sunni negotiator, Mahmoud al-Mashhadany, said Sunnis recognised the need for a widely inclusive government instead of the existing administration, which is dominated by religious Shiites and Kurds.
"We've cancelled our withdrawal from the talks," Mr Mashhadany told The New York Times. "We should hurry up and form a national unity government, to change this hopeless government."
But while there is much lip service to the need for unity, doubts that existed before the Samarra bombing about the willingness of the Shiite majority to share power have only intensified.
46 Iraqis Killed Amid Rising Violence By Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writer 12:29 PM PST,February 28 2006
BAGHDAD -- A sudden upsurge in violence across a wide swath of Iraq today has left at least 46 Iraqis dead and many more wounded, prompting fresh worries that sectarian violence sparked by the bombing last week of an important Shiite Muslim shrine could resume.
The violence spread beyond the capital where explosions shook the city and Sunni Arab provinces, to the country's mostly peaceful Shiite south, where two British soldiers were killed.
The U.S. military reported today that a U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire in western Baghdad on Monday.
Sunni Arab insurgents have waged a campaign of bombing and assassinations against the Shiite-led government and security forces, as well as Shiite civilians. Calmed by senior clergy, the Shiite community has generally turned the other cheek.
But the Feb. 22 shrine bombing of the Golden Dome mosque in Samarra has ignited furious reprisals. Black-clad Shiite militiamen marauded through Sunni neighborhoods, attacking Sunni mosques and killing Sunni clergy. An unprecedented spasm of sectarian violence since the bombing has left hundreds of Iraqis dead.
Iraqi officials have released various figures for the death toll in the recent fighting. So far, at least 379 Iraqis have been killed and 458 wounded nationwide in the most recent spate of violence, according to the government's Council of Ministers.
Morgue officials in Baghdad said at least 249 had been killed since the Samarra blast.
Haidar Safar, a Ministry of Health official in charge of tabulating data from hospitals and morgues across the country, said 519 Iraqis have died since the mosque blast of "unnatural causes," which could include car wrecks and suicides, as well as violence.
In today's worst violence, a suicide bomber attacked the poor, mostly Shiite Jadida district, leaving 27 dead and 112 injured in two incidents that occurred within minutes of each other.
In the first attack shortly after noon, a man wearing an explosives belt targeted a gas station. Minutes later, a car bomb exploded near a group of laborers, police said.
Also, a car bomb detonated by a remote control near a small market in the mostly Shiite Karada district left six dead and 18 injured. Another car bomb targeting a convoy for an advisor to the Defense Ministry, Daham Radhi Assal, injured three people.
A car bomb explosion intended for a police patrol on the road between Kirkuk and the capital killed four civilians. Police in the mostly Kurdish city of Kirkuk said they arrested three suspected Sunni militants planting a roadside bomb.
Gunmen also blew up a Sunni mosque in the capital's Hurriya district without causing casualties, and damaged a mosque in the Sunni town of Tikrit that houses the remains of former President Saddam Hussein's father.
A mortar shell landed near the offices of Baghdad TV, a satellite channel operated by the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni faction. Two employees were injured.
Authorities in Baqubah this morning discovered nine bodies, each shot in the head in a style that bears the signature of death squads with alleged ties to the country's Shiite-dominated Ministry of Interior.
The two British soldiers were killed in the Missan province, a mostly placid agricultural section of the country's Shiite south, when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb.
In the southern city of Nasiriyah, quiet for months, a roadside bomb targeting a convoy of Italian troops wounded a civilian.
The War in Iraq has cost the US Government over 2 billion dollars. No wonder they didn't have the immediate resources to respond to the Hurricanes that hit the New Orleans region just a short time ago. I do hope the US is getting more than 2 billion dollars worth of Oil out of this otherwise what a waste of money and humanity this little exercise has proven to be.
Don't know where you got that unbelievably low figure. In June 2004 it was $US120 billion and August 2005 it was US$144 billion.
At the current rate, even if in the unlikely event Bush decides to pull out at the end of this year, the total cost of Iraq will exceed US$700 billion, which compares to the total cost of US$600 billion for Vietnam adjusted for todays dollars. Vietnam cost 5.1 billion per month whilst Iraq cost 5.6 billion per month in 2005, more now.
2 billion hardly paid for the planning let alone the invasion, and recently Bush again asked for tens of billions extra in the budget to pay for Iraq.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Ex-Judge in Iraq Stands by Death Sentences for 148 Shiites
By ROBERT F. WORTH Published: March 13, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 13 ? A former judge in Saddam Hussein's Revolutionary Court acknowledged today that he sentenced 148 Shiites to death in 1984, but he said they had received a proper trial and had confessed to trying to assassinate the former Iraqi leader at the instigation of Iran.
The former judge, Awad al-Bandar, spoke as defendant testimony continued in the trial of Mr. Hussein and seven others in connection with mass tortures and executions after the failed assassination attempt in 1982. The first high-level defendants testified today, and Mr. Hussein is expected to speak on Tuesday
The chief prosecutor and judge often seemed amazed at Mr. Bandar's defense of his role in the trial of the 148 Shiites. Mr. Bandar said that the 1984 trial had taken two weeks, and that the dock in his courtroom had often been packed as the men moved in and out.
The prosecutor, Jafar Musawi, then showed Mr. Bandar documents indicating that 46 of the 148 defendants had been "liquidated during interrogation" prior to the two-week trial. Prosecutors have said in the past that the entire 1984 trial was a sham, but this time Mr. Bandar seemed not to understand the prosecutor's efforts to undercut him.
"Is it a strange thing that a defendant died during interrogation?" he asked.
The prosecutor drove his point home shortly afterward: "People were dying during interrogation and the strange thing is that they were afterwards being referred to the Revolutionary Court to get the death penalty."
Mr. Bandar angrily denied that. But he invoked the war with Iran as a necessary context for his actions, saying, "We had an external enemy and an internal enemy," and that the would-be assassins were members of the dissident Dawa Party with links to Iran.
Mr. Hussein himself offered a similar self-defense two weeks ago when he admitted ordering the trial, though he stopped short of saying he had signed the execution order that prosecutors have introduced as documentary evidence.
Several of the defendants have questioned the authenticity of those documents, or suggested that they were marred by commonplace errors. "The typist must have made a mistake," Mr. Bandar said, when asked why the records of the Revolutionary Court show no mention of any defense lawyers for the 148 Shiites who were executed.
Aside from Mr. Bandar, all the defendants who have given direct testimony so far this week have denied any role in the torture and executions carried out after the assassination attempt, in the Shiite village of Dujail. Taha Yassin al-Ramadan, a former vice president in Mr. Hussein's government, said he had no connection to the events in Dujail.
But Mr. Ramadan insisted on reading a lengthy statement alleging that he was tortured after his capture in August 2003. His captors included an American, he said, and they demanded to know where Mr. Hussein was hiding. When he told them he did not know, they beat and kicked him for days.
The other four defendants are local Baath Party officials who are accused of playing roles in the crackdown that followed the assassination attempt. Three testified on Sunday, saying they were innocent of any wrongdoing, and disavowing earlier signed statements given to investigators. But they have described terrifying scenes on the days in question in Dujail, with warplanes bombing orchards near where the assassination attempt took place and security officers storming the town.
A fourth local official, Muhammad Azawi Ali, testified today, saying he had been in the Baath Party headquarters in Dujail on the day in question. But he also said he is illiterate and had not understood the statement he gave investigators earlier. "I am innocent, I am innocent, I am innocent!" he said as he finished his testimony.
It could be that the law there interpreted attempted murder and conspiracy as the same thing though. If it happened here it might be considered a military action against the state. There just isn't a death penalty for it.
US launches biggest air assault in Iraq since 2003
March 17, 2006 - 6:38AM
The US military has launched its biggest air offensive in Iraq since the 2003 invasion against insurgents near a town where recent violence raised fears of civil war.
Announced with media fanfare just hours after Iraq's parliament held a brief first meeting that did nothing to end a political stalemate over forming a government, the US military said 50 aircraft were taking part in the operation north of Baghdad.
The US military released to the media photographs of troop-carrying Black Hawk helicopters lined up in a row for the offensive. There were no pictures of warplanes.
A Pentagon official said it was "predominantly" a helicopter operation that involved UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and other aircraft and the insertion of ground forces.
A military statement said "Operation Swarmer" involved more than 1,500 Iraqi and US troops and 200 armoured vehicles targeting insurgents active near Samarra, 100 km north of Baghdad.
A defence official in Washington said 600-700 of the troops involved were Iraqi government forces. The rest were Americans.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the offensive showed Iraqi forces, some facing accusations of cooperating with the rebels, are increasingly capable of securing the country.
The US military has launched several major offensives against Sunni Arab insurgents since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, including one involving several thousand soldiers that captured the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah.
There were also a series of assaults in the rebel heartland in western Iraq's Anbar province which failed to hurt the insurgency and infuriated Iraqis who dug their loved ones out of the rubble after US air strikes.
Security crackdowns were also carried out near Samarra, the the site of a bombing attack last month on a Shi'ite shrine that set off sectarian reprisals and pushed Iraq to the brink of sectarian civil war.
The military statement said the offensive launched this morning was "expected to continue for several days as a thorough search of the objective area is conducted".
"Initial reports from the objective area indicate that a number of enemy weapons caches have been captured, containing artillery shells, explosives, IED-(bomb) making materials, and military uniforms," said the statement.
The US military has issued frequent statements about the capture of arms, but Iraq is still awash with weapons.
As it has done in the past, the US military made a point of saying both American and Iraqi forces were taking part in the operation in an apparent bid to show that rebuilding of Iraqi forces was making progress.
The United States has 130,000 troops in Iraq. Washington has said it will begin withdrawing troops as US-trained Iraqi forces take over security.
But US military officials have said few units were capable of fighting insurgents on their own, let alone protecting people from suicide bombings, shootings, and kidnappings.
Now I have heards it all!. . this idiot says Iraq is NOT on the brink of civil war. . what the h*** is 'breakdown of governance' if it is not civil war??. . only a ploitician/religious fanatic could come up with a lie like that!.
Iraq ethnic, religious hatred 'tragic' From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in Washington March 18, 2006
IRAQ is not poised for civil war, though ethnic and religious fighting could spell tragedy, special UN envoy Ashraf Jehangir Qazi said overnight.
The "prospect of civil war is not there," the UN envoy to Iraq told reporters. "But the situation is very serious and that could lead to a breakdown of governance and of order," he said.
The "sectarian situation is a cause of concern," he said.
"It will be a tragedy if the political process is defined by sectarian and ethnic division," he said in Washington.
Secular governance does not guarantee peace, he said. Iraq has a long tradition of secularism, he said, but recalled that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his Baath party was tyranny under a secular government.
He said Iraq's "security forces do need to be complimented." "Number one for the Iraqis (is) to ensure the situation does not get out of their hands. They took the decisions of curfew, and not to allow the perpetrators to defeat and defy the Iraqi people," he said, after militants destroyed the dome of one of the holiest Shiite shrines on February 22.
He said that Iraq's political process has so far followed its timetable. "But without improvement of security the long term will be difficult," he said.
"The political process has not been translated in a better security."
The boy who saw too much By Paul McGeough Chief Herald Correspondent In Baghdad March 18, 2006 Page 1 of 4 | Single page
THIS is Ibrahim Sa'ad Al-Jabouri's story At just five, a Shiite boy cannot be expected to comprehend what the past three years have been about in Iraq.
But it is not surprising he has retreated into his own very small and empty world. Ibrahim became an orphan when Sunni insurgents forced him to watch as they executed his father, a brother and two uncles. He had already lost his mother to illness.
The killers compounded this unbelievable cruelty by then abandoning the helpless child where wolves and wild cats roam the empty river flats on the eastern fringe of metropolitan Baghdad.
But this was just one of a series of debauched killings that have traumatised the farm and factory district of Nahrawan in just eight weeks in the run-up to the third anniversary - on Monday - of the US-led invasion of Iraq. It climaxed grotesquely in the aftermath of the desecration of the Golden Mosque at Samarra on February 22.
In a series of interviews with the Herald, local figures confirmed the death of 48 civilian men, women and children who were abducted as they drove from a factory near Nahrawan to join a midtown protest against the Samarra attack.
They also provided rare - and disturbing - video footage of the aftermath of the February 23 attack, in which the camera steadily pans the length of a shallow ditch where the victims were made to lie down, side by side, and then were systematically executed in one of the worst single killing rampages in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
About 100 metres from the burnt-out vehicles of their convoy, the ditch yawns to reveal its full horror: tangled, bloodied bodies, some seemingly in peaceful repose, others horribly disfigured. One of the victims appears to have been injured recently or to be a cripple - a pair of crutches lies among the bodies.
The local mayor, Fadal Barah Joda, and the regional security chief, General Nabil Lamlum Al-Aboudi, appear in this and videos of the recovery of bodies in the other killings. Each man vouched for the authenticity of the videos.
Fadal said he maintained a video record of local atrocities in his effort to prove the security and humanitarian needs of his desperate community.
Experts see the February 23 video, provided to the Herald by a tribal sheik, as a chilling new low in a deepening human rights crisis in liberated Iraq.
Global audiences are becoming inured to the carnage in Iraq after endless grainy footage of the aftermath of bombings and increasingly familiar accounts of the work of death squads that often lack explicit pictorial evidence.
Did anyone see the The Cutting Edge doco on SBS last night "Targets: Reporters In Iraq"?
What a sad situation Iraq is. And Bush has the nerve to predict victory their soon. The place is an absolute mess.
Anyone else getting the hunch that with all this Uranium talk with India Bush is looking for an alternative source of riches to oil? Sounds like the U.S. are considering dropping the ball in Iraq and doing a runner because the mission is too difficult and not worth the efforts.
An interesting letter to The Age yesterday:
Quoted Text
It's none of our business
On the occasion of the third anniversary of the Iraq war, it is surprising how many media commentators are still running the line: "If only the Americans and their allies can establish a stable democracy in Iraq, they will be able to leave, and everything will be fine."
The Americans will not leave Iraq for a long, long time, not because they wish to bring the joys of freedom to the Iraqis, but because they have too much at stake there: oil, reconstruction opportunities for US companies, and control of a strategic pivot point. That is why they are bunkering in, establishing more bases, not fewer. Although there is some disquiet in the US about troop losses, this will not be a significant factor politically while the losses are confined to poor whites, blacks and Hispanics, with the white middle class largely untouched. The situation will remain the same under either a Republican or a Democrat administration.
The lesson for Australia? Get out. It's none of our business.
Thirty bodies, most beheaded, found in Iraq March 27, 2006 - 7:04AM
Thirty bodies, most of them beheaded, have been found on the main street of a village north of Baghdad, stepping up pressure on divided Iraqi leaders to form a government they hope can avert sectarian civil war.
Iraqi army officials said the corpses were found in Mulla Eed near the town of Baquba, 65 km north of the capital. The motive for the killings was not clear but they fit a pattern of rapidly escalating sectarian violence.
Police said many of the victims had also been shot.
Another round of negotiations over the formation of a unity government more than three months after parliamentary elections failed to provide any relief for Iraqis.
"In practical terms, there is not a complete agreement nor is there total disagreement," secular Shi'ite politician Wael Abdul Latif told reporters today as talks persisted.
Visiting US senators told Iraqi leaders yesterday that American patience is running thin, but renewed US pressure has failed to push politicians towards a deal.
Prolonged political deadlock and raging violence will decrease the chances of the stability Washington yearns for in the hope that American troops will eventually be able to leave.
Asked about comments last week by President George W Bush that US troops may still be in Iraq in three years, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said many will still leave as planned over the coming year if conditions are met.
"If Iraqi forces continue to develop in the way that they have ... then it is entirely likely that there will be drawdowns of American forces over this next year," she told Fox television.
Fresh bloodshed reminded Iraqis that their country was in danger of sliding into civil war, with deep divisions paralysing talks among Shi'ite, Kurdish and Arab Sunni leaders.
As well as those near Baquba, 10 more bodies were found across Baghdad today, Interior Ministry sources said.
Some were blindfolded, bound and shot in the head, the familiar signs of sectarian killings that have exploded since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine last month touched off reprisals and pushed Iraq closer to all-out conflict.
In an unusual admission, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said a police major accused of taking part in death squads had been arrested.
Arkan al-Bawi, who works in Diyala province north-east of Baghdad, was detained after visiting the ministry.
Sunni Arabs accuse the Shi'ite-led government of sanctioning death squads, which the government denies.
Bawi, whose brother is police chief in Diyala, was accused of operating death squads in Baquba, the main town in Diyala.
Death squads are a taboo subject with the Iraqi government despite mounting evidence that they operate with impunity.
A top aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari condemned a US raid on a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad which killed up to 20 people as a "policy of aggression".
"I demand a full investigation of this crime," Jawad al-Maliki, a member of Sadr's Dawa party, told Shi'ite-dominated state television.
Shi'ite officials, who came to power in elections after a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government in 2003, rarely criticise the United States.
Maliki's remarks came a day after US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad called on the Shi'ite-dominated government to crack down on militias, saying they are killing more Iraqis than insurgents.
Iraqi police and residents said the raid in the Shaab district of east Baghdad sparked fierce clashes with militiamen of the Mehdi Army loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
A senior aide to Sadr, in comments that could inflame passions among the radical cleric's supporters, accused US troops of shooting dead more than 20 unarmed worshippers at the Mustapha mosque.
The mosque's faithful follow Sadr but the aide denied they were Mehdi Army gunmen.
Sadr, who has led two armed revolts against US and Iraqi forces, is Jaafari's main supporter in the main Shi'ite alliance.
Al Iraqiya state television, which repeatedly showed footage of bodies inside the mosque, identified the dead as nationals, not militiamen.
A medical source at Yarmouk hospital said he saw 18 bodies of Iraqis killed in the operation.
Police sources said 20 Mehdi Army fighters were killed in the fighting, close to Sadr's stronghold in the Sadr City slum, and five vehicles belonging to the militia were burned.
Marines fire on mosque to repel attacks 18 bodies with signs of torture found around Baghdad
Tuesday, April 18, 2006 Posted: 0627 GMT (1427 HKT)
RAMADI, Iraq (CNN) -- A coordinated attack from three directions on the governor's compound in Ramadi Monday left an unknown number of insurgents dead after an hourlong fight with U.S. Marines.
The insurgent assault -- which included car bombs, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun and small-arms fire -- occurred between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., the U.S. military said in a written statement.
Militants used a suicide car bombing to attack an observation point, wounding one Marine. Two other car bombs were stopped and destroyed by Marines firing from observation posts, the military said. (Watch troops under fire in governor's compound -- 2:45)
Insurgents also fired on the compound from a mosque about 330 yards (300 meters) away in the center of the city with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.
The Marines called for air support against the fire coming from the mosque, but ground forces arrived first.
"The Marines returned fire but continued to be attacked from the mosque's minaret," the military statement said. "The Marines fired one 120 mm tank round and several 7.62 mm machine-gun rounds into the minaret, after which fire from the mosque ceased."
CNN correspondent Arwa Damon said she saw two tank rounds fired into the mosque.
"This is the fourth time in three-and-a-half weeks that the Ramadi Government Center has received attacks from the Fatemat Mosque," said Lt. Col. Stephen M. Neary, commander of 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.
He said the Marines "only used the proportionate amount of force necessary."
"Coalition forces take significant measures to respect all religious sites," said Lt. Col. Bryan Salas, a Marine spokesman. "But we always maintain the inherent right of self-defense.
"When insurgents use holy places as safe havens from which to attack coalition forces, it is important that we act quickly to defend ourselves and innocent Iraqi civilians," he said.
U.S. military officials said some insurgents were killed in the mosque, but had no specific figures. The Marines also said they killed a three-man mortar team during the hourlong fight.
The governor was at the compound Monday but was not injured.
It was just another day in the restive provincial capital, where officials said the compound sometimes comes under attack four of five times daily.
Central Ramadi is the most dangerous part of the restive city, which is home to three Iraqi army brigades and what a U.S. military commander described as a growing police force.
Western Iraq's sprawling Anbar province has been the scene of some of the worst fighting in the 3-year-old Iraqi war.
Signs of torture
The violence in Iraq was taking place in a political vacuum left as politicians negotiate the formation of a unity government four months after parliamentary elections.
Iraq's parliament, the 275-member Council of Representatives, had originally been scheduled to meet Monday, but Speaker Adnan Pachachi said the session would be delayed a "few days."
Police on Monday found 18 bodies in Baghdad, including a prominent Sunni politician's brother who had been missing about three weeks.
Taha Mutlaq, who disappeared in late March, had been shot several times in the head and appeared to have been tortured, police said.
His brother, Saleh Mutlaq, is the head of the National Dialogue Front, which won 11 seats in Iraq's parliament.
Police also found 17 unidentified bodies around the capital, all of them shot in the head and showing signs of torture.
Twelve of the bodies were discovered in Dora, a Sunni district in southern Baghdad.
Two other bodies were found in Khadhamiya, a Shiite area of northern Baghdad, and three turned up in the Shu'la neighborhood in northwestern Baghdad.
The discovery of bodies killed in similar fashion has been a regular occurrence in Baghdad since sectarian violence flared after an attack on a revered Shiite mosque February 22.
Abu Ghraib interrogation chief charged with cruelty
Friday, April 28, 2006 Posted: 2229 GMT (0629 HKT)
Lt. Col. Jordan is the highest-ranking officer to be charged with abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army on Friday charged the former head of the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq with cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty and other criminal offenses for his alleged involvement in the abuse of detainees at the notorious prison in 2003 and for interfering with the abuse investigation.
Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan was charged with 12 counts of violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for seven separate offenses.
He is the highest-ranking officer at Abu Ghraib to face criminal charges.
A preliminary hearing, often referred to as the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation, will be held when Jordan's defense counsel is ready but no date has been set, according to an announcement of the charges by the Military District of Washington.
Officers above Jordan's rank have been reprimanded and relieved of command, including Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the U.S.-run prison system that included the Abu Ghraib compound. But none of those have faced criminal charges.
The much-investigated abuses at Abu Ghraib included sexual humiliation and physical abuse of Iraqi detainees, and their disclosure two years ago triggered a firestorm of international protests and calls for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign. He offered his resignation twice but President Bush refused.
The Army charged Jordan with violating seven articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice:
•Two counts of willfully disobeying a superior officer. He stands accused of violating an order by his superior, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, to have no communication with other Army personnel or other potential witnesses regarding an initial Army investigation of prisoner abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib. The second count is similar, accusing Jordan of violating the same order issued by another superior, Maj. Gen. George Fay
•Three counts of dereliction of duty and failure to obey a regulation. The Army document spelling out the charge says he "willfully failed to train, supervise and ensure compliance by soldiers under his control in following the requirements of" military policy on interrogation, "which resulted in the abuse of Iraqi detainees." Two other counts are for failing to get permission to use military working dogs during interrogations.
•One count of cruelty and maltreatment for actions which the Army said "did oppress Iraqi detainees, persons subject to his orders, by subjecting them to forced nudity and intimidation by military working dogs" between mid-September and late December 2003, which was the duration of his duty at the interrogation center.
•Two counts of making false official statements. The Army said that on or about February 24, 2004, "with intent to deceive," he told Taguba, who was investigating allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib, that he never saw nude detainees, never knew of any dogs being used in interrogations and did not see other violations. The Army said his statement was "totally false and was then known by Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan to be false." The second count is form allegedly making similar false statements to Fay in April 2004.
•Two counts of fraud. Each was for allegedly knowingly making inflated claims for repairs to U.S. government owned vehicles in June 2004.
•One count of wrongful interference with an investigation, and one count of making a false statement. The first was for allegedly trying to impede the investigation of abuse at Abu Ghraib by offering a person help in getting a job at the U.S. Embassy in August 2004 in return for receiving evidence pertinent to the investigation before it reached investigators. The other count was for making a false statement under oath in May 2004.
Jordan is an Army Reserve officer on active duty at the Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he was reassigned to a research job upon his return from Iraq, according to a statement issued Friday by the Belvoir command. It said he volunteered to fill an intelligence job in Iraq in 2003.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has defended the Bush administration's Iraq war planning after her predecessor, Colin Powell, said he had made a case to send more troops to deal with the war's aftermath.
Ms Rice also says she does not "specifically remember" what instance Mr Powell was referring to on his recommending to President George W Bush that more troops be sent.
In an interview with a private British television station on Sunday (local time), Mr Powell said there had been debates about the size of the force and how to deal with the aftermath.
"I don't think we had enough force there to impose order," he said on ITV's Jonathan Dimbleby program.
"The aftermath turned out to be much more difficult than anyone had anticipated.
"I made the case to General (Tommy) Franks, to (Defence) Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld and to the president that I was not sure we had enough troops."
But Mr Powell said the military leaders felt they had the appropriate number.
Ms Rice, appearing on several Sunday talk shows, was responding to Mr Powell's comments that fanned the controversy over the administration's plans for the invasion's immediate aftermath.
Critics say violence and looting set the stage for a bloody insurgency and sectarian killings over the last three years.
Asked on CNN's Late Edition if she remembered Mr Powell's dissent, Ms Rice said, "I don't remember specifically what Secretary Powell may be referring to, but I'm quite certain that there were lots of discussions about how best to fulfil the mission when we went into Iraq."
She said Mr Bush relied on his military advisers, and that he "asked time and time again" whether everything needed to execute the plan was available, "and he was told 'yes'."
A British military helicopter was brought down in Basra on Saturday, killing four people aboard, officials said, and sparking clashes between troops and youths chanting militia slogans and hurling petrol bombs.
British defence officials confirmed one of their helicopters was down and there were British casualties. A Basra police spokesman said it was hit by a rocket and firefighters said they found four charred bodies on the aircraft, which hit a house. No one on the ground was hurt in the crash, police said.
As troops in Warrior armoured vehicles cordoned off the area, hundreds of youths chanting ``Victory to the Mehdi Army!'' surrounded them, throwing rocks and then petrol bombs. Soldiers used foam to douse small fires ignited on their vehicles.
Smoke from burning tyres on the roadway obscured the view.
The British military denied opening fire or coming under fire. British military spokesman Squadron Leader Al Green said troops counted about 60 rounds fired in the air from the crowd - not uncommon in Iraq - and said no British shot was fired.
A local journalist said he was hit in the leg by a baton round and also saw troops aim their ordinary rifles. He said he saw at least one man dead after he heard shooting. Witnesses said a second man may have been killed in a car, the windscreen of which was shattered and bloodied.
Dominated by the Shi'ite Muslim majority now in control in Baghdad, Basra has seen less violence than cities in the north. But friction between the occupying force and militia groups such as the Mehdi Army of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr does flare up.
British military sources confirmed that ground fire seemed to be the likeliest explanation for the crash, near the local governor's office. The make of the helicopter was not clear.
``We can confirm it was a British military helicopter that has crashed and an investigation is ongoing,'' a British military spokesman in London said.
Basra police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Kareem al-Zaidi said: ``A multinational forces helicopter was hit by a rocket and went down on houses in central Basra.''
Sadr, a firebrand in his early 30s demands an end to the US-led occupation. He is a key figure in the Islamist Alliance bloc that will lead a new Iraqi government.
Last September, British forces clashed with Mehdi Army militants after two undercover British soldiers were seized in Basra. The British public was startled by images of a soldier escaping an armoured vehicle, his uniform in flames.
Senior British officers have complained that rival Shi'ite militia factions have effectively taken control of different elements of Iraq's second city, close to the Gulf and the border with Shi'ite Iran, 550 km south of Baghdad.
Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki of the Shi'ite Alliance was engaged in more talks with representatives of Iraq's ethnic and sectarian minorities, trying to forge a government of national unity.
Five months after a well-supported and peaceful election brought hopes of a break with three years of violence, Iraq still has no full-term government. But Maliki, nominated two weeks ago, says he hopes to form a cabinet shortly.
Sectarian blood-letting has increased since the destruction of a major Shi'ite shrine in Samarra in February, prompting warnings of civil war and adding to pressure from Washington and London for Iraqis to settle their differences quickly.
Both the US and Britain are keen to withdraw as many troops as possible as quickly as possible and are building up Iraq's own army and police to that end.
Three Iraqi army officers, including a lieutenant-colonel, were killed inside their base by a suicide bomber in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, police said. The battalion commander, a colonel, was wounded.
It was not the first time an insurgent had dressed in army uniform and evaded identity checks to penetrate security cordons and attack Iraqi soldiers.
Sunni Arab insurgents, including al-Qaeda's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have said they are taking their battle to the Iraqi forces, targeting recruiting lines and senior officers.
Before today, 104 British troops had died in Iraq. About 8000 are deployed there.
Army: HBO documentary could trigger stress disorder By Barbara Starr CNN
Monday, May 15, 2006; Posted: 2:10 p.m. EDT (18:10 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Army surgeon general is warning that the HBO documentary "Baghdad ER" is so graphic that military personnel watching it could experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
In a memo dated May 9 and obtained by CNN, Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley said the film "shows the ravages and anguish of war."
"Those who view this documentary may experience many emotions," he said in the memo. "If they have been stationed in Iraq, they may re-experience some symptoms of post-traumatic stress, such as flashbacks or nightmares." (Watch what made a bloodied soldier in Baghdad plead for his life --3:33)
HBO is releasing the documentary on the operation of the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Ibn Sina, Iraq.
The film will premiere Monday at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington as well as on 22 Army posts.
It airs Sunday on HBO -- a division of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN -- and will replay on Memorial Day.
Kiley, who has watched the film with senior Army officials, said it is "an extremely graphic and moving look at how we care for severely wounded service members."
"This film will have a strong impact on viewers and may cause anxiety for some soldiers and family members."
He noted that "some may have strong reactions to the medical procedures such as the amputation of a limb."
Kiley said military medical treatment facilities should be ready to help troops and family members affected by the film. He suggested that mental health facilities should extend their treatment hours and reach out to the troops proactively.
Army officials said they fully support the film and note the Army gave the filmmakers access to the hospital. But privately they said it is so graphic that senior leaders do not want to turn Monday's premiere in Washington into a social occasion so many will not be attending, preferring to let the limelight fall on the military personnel.
After screening the film, officials said they are aware that some may use it to make an anti-war message.
Iraq rebel group vows to continue war June 9, 2006 - 7:10AM
A spokesman for the leading Sunni Arab insurgent group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, has hailed slain al-Qaeda frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a martyr and vowed to continue the fight.
"If this is true, then this is painful because we lost a dear brother, a mujahed (holy warrior) and a hero on the battleground," Ibrahim al-Shimmari told Qatar-based Arab news channel Aljazeera in a telephone interview from Baghdad.
"Jihad (holy war) will not stop with the death of one person. The matter will not affect us because God has promised us either victory or martyrdom."
Shimmari hailed Zarqawi as a sheikh, a title reserved for respected Islamic figures.
Shortly before Shimmari spoke the US military unveiled in Baghdad a blown-up picture of Zarqawi's face, eyes shut, which it said was taken after his death along with other militants in a US airstrike on their safe house near Baquba, north of Baghdad.
The US military said it had identified Zarqawi by fingerprint verification and known scars.
I am not so sure this guy is dead. I mean, how exactly can we be sure? Firstly it's reported he died like this:
Quoted Text
...The US and UK have hailed news that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has died in a US air strike. Zarqawi died when US planes dropped two 500lb (230kg) bombs on a site near the city of Baquba. He was identified by fingerprints, tattoos and scars...
...It has been revealed that Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still alive when Iraqi police arrived at the scene of a massive airstrike aimed at killing him. Initial reports said Zarqawi was killed instantly by the two massive bombs dropped on his safe house near the city of Baquba, north of Baghdad. But now the US military says Zarqawi survived the airstrike...
These people have doubles (make that triples, and quadruples). Saddam Hussein's doubles looked so much like him we couldn't tell the difference. Maybe the guy on trial that was found in a hole is really a double too. Goodness knows. we have the wool pulled over our eyes so much what's one or two more times.
Rape and murder: five more US soldiers charged July 10, 2006 - 1:22AM
Five US soldiers were charged in a rape and multiple murder case that has outraged Iraqis, as documents obtained by Reuters on Sunday showed the rape victim was a minor aged just 14, and not over 20 as US officials say.
Days after former private Steven Green was charged as a civilian in a US court with rape and four murders, four serving soldiers were charged with the same offences, the US military said in statement that did not name the troops.
Another soldier, apparently a sixth member of Green's former unit in the 502nd Infantry Regiment, was charged on Saturday with dereliction of duty for not reporting the crime in March.
All five were charged with conspiring with Green, who is accused by US prosecutors of going with three others to a house near the checkpoint they were manning outside Mahmudiya, near Baghdad, and of killing a couple and their two daughters.
Those court documents gave the raped daughter's estimated age as 25, though US military officials in Iraq say their documents have her as 20. Her identity card and a copy of her death certificate, however, show she was just 14.
Local officials and relatives had said she was 15 or 16.
Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi was born on August 19, 1991 in Baghdad, according to the identity card, provided to Reuters by a relative. Issued in 1993, it features a photograph of her at 18 months, wide-eyed and with a lick of dark hair over her brow.
A copy of her death certificate, dated March 13, gives the same birth date. She was found at home by a relative on March 12 and had died from "gunshot wounds to the head, with burns", that document, signed by doctor Wael Habib and a registrar, asserts.
With five Americans now facing the death penalty in the case, the fact the rape victim was a minor could be a factor in sentencing in the event of any convictions. Abeer's sister Hadeel was just six when she died of "several gunshot wounds".
The killers tried to burn the bodies and house to cover their tracks, relatives and local officials have said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, balancing a dependence on US firepower with a need to show Iraqis he is in charge, has voiced frustration with a mounting number of cases against Americans and wants a review of their immunity from Iraqi law.
Since revelations in March of a US probe into whether Marines killed 24 people at Haditha, Mahmudiya is the fifth case of serious crime being investigated by the military. In all, 16 troops have been charged with murder in the past month or so - as many as in the previous three years of the war.
Officers say generals are cracking down to try to curb harm to civilians that have turned Iraqis against the troops. One said a report submitted on Friday to the top general in Iraq should see action against Marine commanders who failed to act on evidence troops might have killed civilians at Haditha on November 19.
Green, 21, has since been discharged from the army due to a "personality disorder". The case came to light during stress counselling for a soldier last month following the kidnap and killing of two other men from the same unit near Mahmudiya.
A soldier cited in US court documents as the first witness told investigators that Green and three others drank alcohol and discussed rape. They then told the soldier to keep watch on the radio as they set off for the house, some in civilian clothes.
Two soldiers who said they went to the house accused Green of killing the parents and child before he and the other soldier in the home raped the woman. Green then shot her too, they said.
A sixth unidentified soldier is mentioned in court papers as discussing the case later with the first witness at their base.
The military said: "The five soldiers were charged in connection with their alleged participation in the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and three members of her family.
"The fifth soldier was charged with dereliction of duty for his failure to report the rape and murder ... but is not alleged to have been a direct participant in the rape and killings."
Thanks for posting the above article SuziH as I was just about to do it myself.
This kind of abhorrent behaviour by soldiers occurs a lot more than is ever reported. It appears that they send the most violent and messed up people to war, people that if were not at war would be in prison.
Some soldiers treat being at war like a "hell's playground", where they think they can committ the most horrendous crimes without getting caught.
Here's an article about one of the soldiers and his troubled past:
Yes the average NCO is not the brightest crayon in the pack, in fact the same can be said for some brasshats who have been punched up the chain of command following successfull high profile campains, though their are many dedicated men and women in the armed service who have sworn to protect and live up to a strict code of honour.
It's important to remember that these stories, as horrific as they are, are the exception. Most of the time the troops in Iraq, and other parts of the world get the job done right
"To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained. " The Doctor
I didn't know where to put this so I have added it here.
As you are aware my Fiancee works at the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado. She knows many of the Seal team opps ( Specwar) and today ( after it being made public) brought some sad news That a Body of Marc Alan a Seal arrived to the Base for Funeral arrangements .
Marc is the First Seal to be killed in operations in Iraq. The other is in a serious condition in hospital.
Before the battle ended, a second SEAL was wounded in the shoulder and another killed by machine-gun fire as he and soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division attacked bunkered insurgents,? the paper reported in its Aug. 3 Mideast edition
Poor Iraquis, they must be so frightened. I cannot even begin to imagine how much.
Iraq servo blast kills dozens
At least 31 people have been killed when two explosives-laden barrels were set off in a Shiite militia stronghold in east Baghdad, hours after Sunni Muslims began the fasting month of Ramadan.
Police say the blast at a service station in Sadr City has also wounded at least 34 people. It is one of the deadliest explosions in recent weeks in Iraq.
They earlier believed the blast was caused by a car bomb.
"The explosives were set off as people gathered to buy fuel from a petrol tanker, which was standing at the service station," a police officer said.
US commanders earlier warned Ramadan could see a rise in sectarian bloodshed. The month, when Muslims fast during daylight and spend more time in prayer, has been characterised by a spike of violence in Iraq in the past few years.
Militant leader seized
Meanwhile, Iraq's Army says a leader of one of the most militant Sunni groups, Ansar al-Sunna, has been arrested.
It says Sheikh Montasser al-Juburi, two aides and scores of others were arrested in Diyala province early yesterday.
Provincial Army commander Brigadier-General Shakr Abdel Hussein al-Kaabi says Juburi is a high-ranking figure in Ansar al-Sunna, which is allied to Al Qaeda.
He says the man was captured in orchards surrounding the village of Al-Zur, near the town of Muqdadiyah, about 100 kilometres north-east of Baghdad.
Brigadier-General Kaabi says the arrest follows a series of raids in the past week, following tips from locals.
"This information indicated that gunmen were preparing to launch wide-scale attacks on [Muqdadiyah], which already suffers from sectarian conflicts, with the displacement of hundreds of innocent families," he said.
Diyala province, which has been plagued by savage attacks by insurgents against the Shiite population, has also been the site of a number of captures and killings of prominent insurgent leaders, including Al Qaeda's Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
US and Iraqi troops have mounted a major security crackdown since last month in an effort to clamp down on violence that they warn risks destroying the four-month-old national unity government through all-out sectarian civil war.
Sunnis, who form the majority in the Arab world but are a disaffected minority in Iraq, began to observe the Ramadan fast on Saturday, a timing dependent on sightings of the moon.
Clerics from Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority have yet to announce the start of the month but are likely to do so in the next day or two.
I know this isn't exactly what you mean as 'in' Iraq, but it is related...
I think they should just try him without him actually being there. Though he'd not recognise that as a legitimate trial either I guess.
Saddam's ejection overshadows trial evidence
The chief judge has ejected Saddam Hussein and a co-defendant punched one of the guards and denounced prosecutors as "pimps" and "traitors" during the toppled leader's genocide trial overnight.
The chaotic scenes drew criticism of the US-backed court from the Iraqi Government, which last month sacked the previous presiding judge.
The Government had said that judge was too soft with Saddam and had lost his neutrality.
Judge Mohammed al-Ureybi ordered a closed session after co-defendant and former military commander Hussein Rasheed was escorted by guards from the courtroom.
Once proceedings resumed more than an hour later the dock was empty.
Saddam and six others are being tried over the Anfal (Spoils of War) military campaign against Iraq's ethnic Kurds in the 1980s.
"Generally, the Government is not pleased with the performance of the court," Sunni Deputy-Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie said.
"This is not a court but a battle. I don't understand why the judges are all young and we have plenty of judges with great experience."
Mr Ureybi, who has taken a hard-line approach with defendants, ordered Saddam to leave the courtroom after cutting off his microphone when he began a speech after the first Kurdish witness had finished her testimony.
It was not clear what Saddam and the judge said but it was the fourth time in the last five sessions Saddam had been ejected.
Ali Hassan al-Majeed, who is also known as "Chemical Ali", said he preferred a swift end to the case.
"I want my sentence to be passed now and I wish it's the death penalty so I can finish with this court," he told the judge.
Graphic testimony
The stormy session overshadowed graphic testimony given by witnesses.
The first witness spoke on condition of anonymity and said conditions in several detention centres where she was held with her children reminded her of "Judgment Day".
"One of my relatives was with me and gave birth to a child in the toilet ... we placed the baby in a rough sack and cut the umbilical cord with a piece of broken glass," she said.
She told the court she was arrested after Iraqi forces took her husband away in mountains where they had fled bombing on their village in April 1988.
The woman said she never saw her husband again.
A second anonymous witness told the court rape was rampant in prisons and the bodies of those who died in captivity were fed to the dogs.
The defence team continued its boycott of the trial in protest at the sacking of the previous judge.
He had angered the Government by telling Saddam: "You are not a dictator".
Legal rights groups have said the dismissal could hurt the trial's credibility.
Saddam, 69, Majeed, and five former commanders face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in Anfal.
Prosecutors say 182,000 ethnic Kurds were left dead or missing after Saddam's crackdown.
Saddam and Majeed face the additional genocide charges.
They may live to regret that. As bad a dictator as Saddam was, he was strong enough to keep a lid on the volatile Iraqi population. His death toll was nothing compared to what will happen in that country when he is executed. It will not bring the peace they all need so badly.
I will be out of the country for the first 12 days of BB . how clever am I ! Smart enough to leave the 'dead-heads' behind
News reports right now have shown Saddam due for execution within next 2 hrs. I can't believe they are dumb enough to do this act on the week-end of the Saudi Arabian Hajj event. Talk about get 'up Muslim noses'.
Saddam executed in Iraq December 30, 2006 - 3:20PM
Saddam's execution marks the end of a dark period of Iraq's history. Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed early this morning Baghdad time, Iraqi television has reported.
The execution came just four days after an Iraqi court upheld the death sentence handed down after Saddam was convicted for the 1982 massacre in the Iraqi city of Dujail.
A short time later, Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Labeed Abbawi confirmed the execution, believed to have taken place just before 2pm Sydney time, to the BBC.
"I believe so, yes. He has been executed. It has been officially announced that he has been executed," Abbawi said. Iraqi officials who attended the execution of Saddam Hussein said only he was executed today, and that his half brother and another former regime official would hang after the weekend Islamic religious holiday.
National Security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told state-run Iraqiyah that only Saddam was executed today. "We wanted him to be executed on a special day," he said. Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld Saddam's death sentence, and Sami al-Askari, political adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, both also said only Saddam was executed.
The holiday ends Tuesday for Sunnis and Wednesday for Shi'ites.
Quoted from blahNii "They may live to regret that. As bad a dictator as Saddam was, he was strong enough to keep a lid on the volatile Iraqi population. His death toll was nothing compared to what will happen in that country when he is executed. It will not bring the peace they all need so badly."
Actually he was a good dictator as all dictators are 'bad' to begin with if you think about it. Good meaning he was rotten and was the cause of death for the people of his country and even his own relatives could not avoid his wrath. Iraqi's will never have peace because it and always will be a tyrant like Saddam who will be able to keep these people under some sort of control. I have NEVER agreed with the 'Coalition of the willing' in the invasion of Iraq. From day one most of us... we the little people, knew the big guns were wrong in doing so and that there were no Weapons of mass distruction. The Self Appointed Boss of the World (the USA and George Bush) did not heed those who said it would be a mistake to go to Iraq and look at the results after almost 4 years! Where has there been any change?
Does anyone have a link to non-Western news coverage of Saddam Hussein's execution and (pretty much) US controlled court against the President of Iraq? Preferably from those news media/countries does not like USA and its allies.
You know, if George Bush was the leader of a middle eastern country he would have been executed by now for all the lives he has been responsible for snuffing out. I'd be inetersted to see who the 2007 scapegoat will be.
So they hang a man for human rights violations (the main one dating back about 20 years), but the one responsible for 9/11 seems to have been forgotten. As well as the many dictators and violators still flourishing today (see Africa).
In heaven, there are no interesting people - Nietzsche
Like Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, a cannibal who makes Saddam look like a tinpot dictator, and who is fully supported by the US, and yes there is oil involved.
Obiang's son spends a lot of his time living in New York buying the most expensive cars on the market, living in a luxurious penthouse and running a harem of top line call girls. All the while his father has killed or exiled half the population of Equatorial Guinea and is torturing and oppressing the remainder.
Margaret Thatcher's son Mark attempted a coup against Obiang to free the people from oppression that failed and he ended up with a years suspended sentence and $US500,000 fine.
Gondaleeza Rice said of Obiang, "He is a good friend of America."
On the CIA database there are 64 remaining dictators in the world (Saddam made it 65), many are fully supported by the US just as Saddam once was and would have still been had he not decided to sell his oil in Euro dollars instead of US dollars.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
I sincerely hope anyone who supports this war doesn't have children.
Quoted Text
US soldier gets 18 years for Iraq murder Friday Jan 12 12:16 AEDT
AP - A US soldier has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to murdering three detainees during a raid on a suspected al-Qaeda compound in Iraq last year.
The case is one of two involving soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division accused of killing Iraqis during a deployment to Iraq that ended in September.
Specialist William Hunsaker, 24, pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder and obstruction of justice during a hearing at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Under a plea agreement, Hunsaker's rank will be reduced to a private, his pay will be forfeited and he will be dishonourably discharged.
Military judge Colonel Theodore Dixon also set a life sentence with parole that would be implemented if Hunsaker violates the terms of his plea agreement, which requires him to cooperate with prosecutors bringing cases against other soldiers accused in the crime.
Hunsaker's family members flooded the courtroom and wept when the sentencing was read.
In testimony during his court-martial, Hunsaker said he took "careful aim" at the detainees and tried to make it as "professional" as possible. He said he shot two detainees in the chest and head.
As part of a plea agreement, charges that Hunsaker had threatened another soldier's life if he told authorities of the killings were dropped.
Hunsaker was one of four soldiers charged in the killings that followed a May 9 raid at the Muthana chemical complex near Samarra, about 100 km north of Baghdad.
The soldiers originally told investigators that they shot detainees because they were attempting to flee - a story they now say they made up - and that commanders told them to kill all military-age males.
Details of the plea agreement were to be announced later on Friday.
Three other soldiers were charged in the case.
Private Corey Clagett, 21, and Staff Sergeant Raymond L. Girouard, 24, are awaiting courts-martial in the coming months.
Specialist Juston Graber, 21, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a lesser charge of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon as part of an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors. He was sentenced to nine months in military jail.
During the hearing, Hunsaker recounted in testimony a meeting with his squad leader during which he said a plan to kill detainees in their custody was discussed. Hunsaker said Girouard gave the order.
"He told us to cut the zip ties, tell them to run and shoot them," Hunsaker said. "I went out and did just that."
Four other soldiers from the 101st Airborne's 2nd Brigade Combat Team are accused of raping and killing an Iraqi teenager and killing three others in her family last March. A former US Army private also faces murder and rape charges in federal court.
They are only the ones who are being convicted because there were witnesses. There are many incidents of whole Iraqi families being slaughtered after Americans had been in the area but nothing has ever been done. Or whole houses being destroyed with Iraqi families still inside.
Not only that the war is having a disastrous effect on the soldiers (including ours) when they finish their stretched multiple tours. Mental breakdowns, suicides (attempted and successful), self harm, wife bashing, abusing children and lots more have all increased substantially for those soldiers who have gone to Afghanistan and Iraq. This is the hidden long term cost of the folly of Iraq that very few hear about.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
"Gulf War Syndrome" or PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Perhaps it should just be called "War Syndrome" as I'm sure it happens after every war, we know it happened after Vietname.
I can't understand why people support 'avoidable' wars when the human cost is so great.
These people have a very myopic view on the world - "Iraq is a mess so we must fix it, a few people will die but it will be for the greater good, nothing in life is simple".
I watched a fascinating documentary on the history of race some time ago. Everything that documentary explained holds true today, it talks about the white anglo-saxons first encounters with non-white people, and how they classed them, all obviously below the white man but some classed above the others. It is this view point that the neo-cons hold, they believe everyone is inferior to them and they have the right to do whatever. It might not be as obvious as it was back then but you can certainly see it.
Some of us actually support the war in Iraq. 9/11 and the Bali bombings changed the way I viewed the world and the people in it. 3 months after 9/11 I signed up in the Army and did 4 years of service. I never saw overseas action but was very proud to have done my part. I dont that think it is wrong to seek out evil in the world and try make a difference.
I think the U.N has a hard time enforcing its own resolutions and commend America on its stance. I genuinely believe they are trying to do the right thing. The amount of negativity surrounding America, British and Australian armed forces is concerning.
Like everybody I was shocked when I saw the pictures coming out of Abu Ghraib prison. That was until I saw an American Nick Berg being beheded on world wide television who was trying to help Iraqis rebuild. That footage made Abu ghraib seem tame.
A lot of you question whether Iraq was the right target If indeed we did want to fight terrorists. I think Iraq was dangerous and have shown this in the past. They were sympathetic to terrorist organisations and were very voiceful in there support of Al Qaueda in Afghanistan. Above all democracy is a good thing, right? If you really want to get out of Iraq fine, well lets start on Syria and Iran.
What are youre genuine alternatives in dealing with such evil. Have you learned nothing from what inaction does. 9/11 the sequel would have happened. Criticism is easy to dish out but having the courage to act hard. I havent seen one realistic alternative on this blog which is the problem with youre entire debate.
I appreciate the fact that you think war is wrong and peaceful negotiation is the only way forward. If only that was the case. have a look at these picture and tell me if you think they can engage in intelligent debate.
Have you learned nothing from what inaction does. 9/11 the sequel would have happened. Criticism is easy to dish out but having the courage to act hard. I havent seen one realistic alternative on this blog which is the problem with youre entire debate.
Iran admitted to having WMD and so did North Korea. Both did so before Iraq was invaded for that purpose.
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Propaganda much?
By the way, I have seen those pictures in the link you provided. Those muslims are not helping their cause one bit, but they're not Iraqis are they? Are you saying we should have demolished Iraq because it's a muslim country due to those people in the protest being muslims?
In heaven, there are no interesting people - Nietzsche
What I said is that Iraq was a known supporter of terrorist groups. If you're having a war on terrorism it would make sense to strike where you think you could do most damage.
The pictures of the muslims on the link provided was a march in London last year. I used this to demonstrate what the world is up against. If this is how muslims feel in London imagine how they must feel in the middle east.
Im not saying this is the attitude of a mulims, im just saying it exists and nobody seems to care. Nobody has criticised the Iraqis and what they could have done to avoid war. you all seem so fixated on what we are doing wrong and not what Iraqis could be doing to promote peace.
I bet if all Iraqis were to lay down arms America would be gone within six months. The problem being is these guys cant even get along with each other. Sounds a lot like palestine doesnt it.
Dont worry about Iran. The way they are carrying on it is getting harder for people to defend them. North Korea is a different thing all together. They act like a naughty child that has a tantrum if it doesnt get what it wants. Unlike Iran and the previous Iraqi goverments I believe peace will be achieved through negotiation. I think China is the key here. Interested to hear you're thoughts.
What I said is that Iraq was a known supporter of terrorist groups. If you're having a war on terrorism it would make sense to strike where you think you could do most damage.
That is a known lie and George Bush had to publically retract his continuous inference that Iraq was linked to terrorists. It never ever was until it was invaded and occupied by the Americans.
In fact Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were enemies because Saddam refused to work with or support any terrorists groups. I could post pages and pages of proof on this.
Also you have the whole thing about the UN and the US wrong. A major part of the UN's problem is the US, as America refuses to come to a consensus on anything and only wants to do things its way, which have turned out to be mostly disastrous world wide since WWII. In fact the US is actively undermining the UN (which is why the sent Bolton as ambassador) and wants to form an international body that is basically controlled by America and does America's bidding. That would be a world wide disaster of mammoth proportions.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
I havent given up on the UN, they just didnt do anything everytime saddam threw out the weapons inspectors. Everytime saddam defied the UN they lost a little credibility by their inaction. There is to much arguing in the UN. Countrys llike France make it difficult for any strong stance to be made.
Americas mistake was not sending enough troops in the first place. Im not sure they will have enough even with the extra 21000 theyare sending. Iraq will get there Im sure of it. They just need to establish their own Armed forces and police. That and actually giving democracy a chance to work might help.
. . . . . . Americas mistake was not sending enough troops in the first place. Im not sure they will have enough even with the extra 21000 theyare sending. Iraq will get there Im sure of it. They just need to establish their own Armed forces and police. That and actually giving democracy a chance to work might help.
I am bemused by your confidence . . . these poor people don't share it today . . (just hrs ago in Baghdad)
I havent given up on the UN, they just didnt do anything everytime saddam threw out the weapons inspectors. Everytime saddam defied the UN they lost a little credibility by their inaction. There is to much arguing in the UN. Countrys llike France make it difficult for any strong stance to be made.
Sorry Kelza there is so much wrong in your post.
Saddam sending money to the families whose homes were bulldozed and were left on the streets by the Israelis is a far cry from supporting Osama bin Laden and Al Queda as your original post inferred. Also John Howard supports Israel so isn't he supporting terrorists?
As to the link you post on Saddam's terrorist training camps, they have been proven to be false. Documentation from the camps themselves released not long after the invasion showed they only trained Iraqis. Why do you think America made sure it was the only ones to go into all the Iraqi ministries containing documents, and to then immediately take every single item (over 2 million) out of the country to America to be locked away and not to be made public? There is so much incriminating evidence against America's support of Saddam that they made sure it would not see the light of day and to release any of these so called 'exploitable items" is to also show America's guilt.
Just as they did with the trial of Saddam and his henchmen, America made sure the only charge bought against them could not be tied to the US support of Saddam in his atrocities and their active cover up of them.
Remember it was supposed documentation found at the energy ministry that proved Iraq had plans for nuclear weapons, documents which proved to be false. If there are these so called absolute proof of Saddam's ties to terrorists through training camps then why isn't Bush releasing them, and in fact he publically went on air to retract his statements of Saddam's ties to terrorism?
Your statement on Saddam throwing out the weapon's inspectors shows your ignorance on the events prior to the invasion. Did you know that America deliberately obstructed the weapons inspectors and sabotaged many of their efforts because they knew there would be no WMD. It was America that ordered the inspectors out on several occasions, and Saddam threw them out when it was proved that America was using the inspectors to spy on Saddam (that is on the record), which is illegal under international law. The weapons inspectors through the UN asked for just 5 more months stating they would prove definitively if Saddam had any WMD in that time. Saddam at the same time opened all his palaces and documentation to the inspectors, it was that very week that the US ordered the inspectors out of the country and then invaded.
Quoted Text
Americas mistake was not sending enough troops in the first place. Im not sure they will have enough even with the extra 21000 theyare sending. Iraq will get there Im sure of it. They just need to establish their own Armed forces and police. That and actually giving democracy a chance to work might help.
You certainly swallow the propaganda hook line and sinker, almost repeating the bullshit verbatim here.
America has surged 3 times in the last 18 months, with a massive surge of over 40,000 troops last year that failed miserably, so how are lousy 21,000 troops going to make a difference? Make no mistake this Bush plan is all about saving face until the upcoming election, when he can get out and blame any failures on the following administration. Tens of thousands more innocent Iraqis must die so George W Bush can leave office looking good.
As to the Iraqi police, they are a big part of the problem, running death squads and torture centres. That won't change under the Bush plan. Out of 250,000 supposedly short tracked trained Iraqi troops in Iraq the most that can be fielded is 2000 to 3000, and they are so bad American troops basically have to do all the work. Yet George Bush proposes that already very short and inadequate training be fast tracked even further. You have to be kidding.
Israel (and the Bush administration) have stated the aim in Iraq is no longer about democracy but just establishing a stable country. Bush has given Maliki until November to get his act together or America will kick him out (to be replaced by military rule I guess). Wait on, Maliki was duly elected in a much vaunted and praised win for democracy and the number of brave Iraqi people who came out to vote was used as a propaganda coup by not only the US and Britain but Howard as well. Now America is saying that it is not the Iraqi people who vote for governments in a duly sanctioned democratic process, but whether America allows them to rule or not.
The invasion of Iraq was folly and what is now happening was predicted by so many experts in their respective fields I've lost count, yet Bush ignored all those predictions and he, Cheney, Powell (who has now come clean) and Rumsfeld all stated categorically they would be out of Iraq within six months leaving behind a stable democracy. Now Bush is again ignoring all the experts and going his own way to indulge in yet another complete folly that is certain to fail, but does buy Bush time to try and come out with some face.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Some of us actually support the war in Iraq. 9/11 and the Bali bombings changed the way I viewed the world and the people in it. 3 months after 9/11 I signed up in the Army and did 4 years of service. I never saw overseas action but was very proud to have done my part. I dont that think it is wrong to seek out evil in the world and try make a difference.
I think the U.N has a hard time enforcing its own resolutions and commend America on its stance. I genuinely believe they are trying to do the right thing. The amount of negativity surrounding America, British and Australian armed forces is concerning.
Like everybody I was shocked when I saw the pictures coming out of Abu Ghraib prison. That was until I saw an American Nick Berg being beheded on world wide television who was trying to help Iraqis rebuild. That footage made Abu ghraib seem tame.
A lot of you question whether Iraq was the right target If indeed we did want to fight terrorists. I think Iraq was dangerous and have shown this in the past. They were sympathetic to terrorist organisations and were very voiceful in there support of Al Qaueda in Afghanistan. Above all democracy is a good thing, right? If you really want to get out of Iraq fine, well lets start on Syria and Iran.
What are youre genuine alternatives in dealing with such evil. Have you learned nothing from what inaction does. 9/11 the sequel would have happened. Criticism is easy to dish out but having the courage to act hard. I havent seen one realistic alternative on this blog which is the problem with youre entire debate.
I appreciate the fact that you think war is wrong and peaceful negotiation is the only way forward. If only that was the case. have a look at these picture and tell me if you think they can engage in intelligent debate.
I think you're a little bit naive Kelza. There's nothing noble about us being in Iraq, we don't belong there, we're trying to clean up a mess we helped create.
If America really cared about the terrorists why didn't they send every soldier after Bin Laden? He certainly wasn't hiding in Iraq. As Boomslanger said it's a lot more to do with oil and control of the middle east and deposing a former ally who refused to co-operate with the U.S. (Saddam) than saving the poor people of Iraq.
9/11, Bali and London affected me too, 3 farely isolated incidents that shook us in the west out of our recliners in front of the telly and onto the floor. Terrorism is a daily occurrence in poor countries, and by wealing and dealing with the worst despots in the world for our own economic gain, we are culpable in the death and destruction.
That's what makes people like me sick. We don't support terrorists nor do we hate our country (I personally believe this is the greatest country on earth), what we do do is think a little bit harder, don't accept the information from the media and Government at face value, and soon you'll realise that your Government is not acting in your best interests, only in it's own.
I've turned on my Government, I haven't turned on my country. Yes it was democratically elected, democracy isn't perfect, it's just the best thing going around. Bush and Howard were democratically elected, but where's the democracy in the deceit and lies they spun to get into office and remain there?
I do want my Governemt to fight terrorism, I want my Government to do everything it can to keep it's citizens safe and also citizens of other countries. Starting wars, invading countries, and bombing the s**t out of a country is not the way to defeat terrorism. There is a solution, it would involve ending support for tyrants around the globe (yes that would mean no more doing business with them), it would involve cooperation between us and the middle east, our intel and equipment and their militaries, but this would involve giving up our upper hand and playing with them on an even keal. Unfortunately, America and the west is too greedy to do things the right way.
I guess we could play political ping pong on this issue forever. I just dont agree with you that is all. You make interesting points and I have read all the posts. When its all said and done I believe if Iraq was left to its own vices it would roll strait back into Kuwait, continue killing its own people and fine tune its chemical weapons and nuclear aspirations. These were nasty characters that deserved to join allah gift sealed in pig fat.
In some ways I guess it is all about a battle of cultures and 9/11 was the trigger.
Oh and Blahnii, and boomslanger listen here champs. Everyday must be like groundhog day for you. At 6am you must wake up, kiss a little picture of david hicks, tell yourself how good you are in the mirror and then put the finishing touches on youre poster saying Bush Is Hitler, then have a hearty organic breackfast and complain that everyone should have a solar panel and drive hybrid cars. You are entiteled to youre opinion but heres a couple of ideas to ponder on.
Blahnii if somebody doesnt agree with you, make an intersting argument. I have been reading youre smug narcissistic cr*p for weeks and grow tired of youre comments when somebody doesnt agree with you.You have called me everything from a nazi to a pot stirring time waster posting rubbish and im jack of it, so eat s**t. I hope leprechauns sodomize you in you're sleep and you're underwear consumes you're genitals.
Boomslanger, im glad when you're head hits the pillow you sleep well and actually believe you're own bullshit. Maybe if there was more people like me interested in various subjects we wouldnt have the same five people sitting around day after day at ad nauseum agreeing with each other. Geuss what I can give hundereds of links to various pages backing my arguments as well. I dont know what makes you think that youre infinite resources and intimate knowledge of Iraq and hicksy is better than the governments. If David hicks was to come home tommorow morning and we decided to pullout our troops I would accept that. You see thats what a democracy is, we elect the people they make the decisions. Maybe you should check out Websters for yourself, also check out the word wanker, I think there is a picture of you slotted in there.. I bet Liberal will win the next election. Yet you will still turn on you're PC and be full of more piss and wind than ever. You should be the next mufti in Sydney, even he would agree you're bullshitting skills are blue ribbon winners and would make a worthy replacement.
when the next terrorist attack happens and somebody you know gets killed you will know where to find us. That is up to our arse in the s**t that that should have been taken care of a long time ago. You will have to peer through a haze of bong smoke, put down you're chardonnay look each other in they eye and admit that you were guilty of commiting bullshitting crimes against humanity.
Dont dare call me a racist. I find when you actually look closer you find so many more reasons to hate someone rather than base it on their religion or colour.
This will be my last post unless you s**t mouth me to much. Have fun agreeing with each other. Dont worry one day the democrats will call you and tell you what a good job you are doing.
Ah the last resort of those who cannot debate with facts and who have their bullshit shot from under them, personal attacks and a stream of mindless vitriol.
It happens nearly every time, especially with those who are more conservative in outlook, and you deliver it in spades. Can't debate the points in a logical manner with real facts and intelligence, which are the reasons for the invasion of Iraq and then the conduct of the occupation (over 3000 Iraqis per month are dying at the moment, far exceeding Saddam at his worse over 2 decades ago), so fall back to the basest and worst of all tactics, personal attacks.
You haven't a clue how I think or who I am. Others here who have read my stuff for a while will know I was in the Navy for 21 years and would not hesitate to fight in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter. But that doesn't mean I close my eyes to what is really going on, but you just want to pigeon hole all those who don't agree with your very narrow and ignorant view of things, and when you can't intelligently debate them, you resort to personal attacks and vituperation as you have done.
And in your last paragraph is the final resort of the ignorant and narrow minded for all to read, you see this so often with them it has become their signature throughout the web:
Quoted Text
This will be my last post.
So they can feel superior and convince themselves they have won by spewing forth a bunch of invectives and personal attacks, but also realising they have nothing to debate with and not the intelligence to further logically argue their points, they inevitably end their sprays of meaningless invectives with "this will be my last post on this matter", "I will not give you the satisfaction of debating further", "I'm not going to waste my time on this", etc. It never fails and you have not disappointed me.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
when the next terrorist attack happens and somebody you know gets killed you will know where to find us. That is up to our arse in the s**t that that should have been taken care of a long time ago. You will have to peer through a haze of bong smoke, put down you're chardonnay look each other in they eye and admit that you were guilty of commiting bullshitting crimes against humanity.
Dont dare call me a racist. I find when you actually look closer you find so many more reasons to hate someone rather than base it on their religion or colour.
This will be my last post unless you s**t mouth me to much. Have fun agreeing with each other. Dont worry one day the democrats will call you and tell you what a good job you are doing.
Wow. It gives me great hope to know that we have such level headed people like you protecting our country...
In heaven, there are no interesting people - Nietzsche
For those who had even the slightest doubt that Iraq was about anything other than oil (and control of the M.E.)
The puppet government in Iraq is planning to hand over sovereignty of all its oil to private US oil companies, The Iraqis now get no say in their oil whatsoever and all profits are made outside of Iraq.
For those who had even the slightest doubt that Iraq was about anything other than oil (and control of the M.E.)
The puppet government in Iraq is planning to hand over sovereignty of all its oil to private US oil companies, The Iraqis now get no say in their oil whatsoever and all profits are made outside of Iraq.
Is there any way i can engage you in intelligent debate without you saying that it is all about oil. Otherwise it would be rather masochistic of me to try persuade you otherwise
Is there any way i can engage you (boomslanger) in intelligent debate without you saying that it is all about oil. Otherwise it would be rather masochistic of me to try persuade you otherwise
Not really . . it is 90% about oil . . and 10% G.W. Bush ego and revenge. (that does not make it any more/less palatable)
I will be out of the country for the first 12 days of BB . how clever am I ! Smart enough to leave the 'dead-heads' behind
Is there any way i can engage you in intelligent debate without you saying that it is all about oil. Otherwise it would be rather masochistic of me to try persuade you otherwise
Just read the articles and do a Google on the proposed new Iraq hydrocarbons act, there is no other way you can interpret this other than the US taking Iraq's oil.
Would John Howard in his 5 billion dollar natural gas deal with China sign into the constitution that Chinese companies take full sovereignty of all our natural gas forever and a day, and we no longer have any say in our gas along with every cent of the profits go to the Chinese companies who pay us back a token royalty payment for the privilege of dealing with them. Not only that this is the payment for them invading our country when we asked them not to and having killed tens of thousands of our citizens, put us into more abject poverty than before they invaded us and left our whole country a mess.
I guess that's your idea of fair?
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
This was too important to ignore and displays exactly why the US have to pull out of Iraq no matter what the consequences of that may bring. America is the biggest problem in Iraq and the longer it stays there the more irreparable damage it is doing.
Please please people listen to or read this Late Night Live interview with Joshua Key, no matter if you are fully against the war or completely for it.
Here in one interview everything that is wrong with America and what is wrong with its invasion is encapsulated. It was US troops doing these things as to one of the reasons I was given for the British pulling out. Also it is why they refused to fight alongside the US as they have in the past, instead taking an area as far away from US forces as they could get.
Bush urges patience as Iraq war enters 5th year By Kim Landers
US President George W Bush says there will be both "good days and bad days" ahead as the Iraq war enters its fifth year.
Mr Bush has marked the fourth anniversary of the war with a brief speech from the White House.
"It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home," he said.
"That may be satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American security would be devastating."
The President says the new Baghdad security plan is still in its early stages and success will take months, not days or weeks.
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 members of the US military, stretching longer and with higher costs than the White House ever predicted.
I was a passionate detractor of the Iraq invasion. I believed, and still do, that Mark Latham was right when he said that George Bush jnr is a dangerous US President. Theres more to it than just George, I know, like: Wolfowitz, Chaney, Rumsfeld, among others. These neo-cons have led America down the path of destruction, and history will treat these people as history has treated Judas.
Terrorism exists now where none existed before. The net result of the Invasion of Iraq was MORE TERRORISM.
But the invasion has happened, thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands innocent woman and children have been killed, and for what? Walking away now without some form of secure community in place will usher in a rush of mass killings and possibly even genocide as rival groups struggle for control.
The only hope for some form of peace for Iraq would be geographical and cultural apartheid. Rather than trying to control the streets, our objective would be to secure the borders only.
Whatever, but we cant walk away, the possible consequences are too horrible to contemplate.
Whatever, but we cant walk away, the possible consequences are too horrible to contemplate.
I agree. The U.S. can't just drop everything and walk away immediately whereas we probably could. They must set a very near timeline to withdraw troops and handover control to Iraqi and allied Arab forces.
As for restoring stability, this is going to involve a very complex solution, I hate to say it but you may be on to something with your proposition of geographical and cultural apartheid. (This is a conservative solution that no extremist lefty would be in favour of, but you can't expect some people to understand what central really means).
I don't think Iraq has enough "advanced thinkers" (Mandela's) to broker peace between the different ethnic groups, not many countries in the world do. Unfortunately Iraq's neighbours can't really be trusted either because they are very backward. Plus Iraq being an oil rich nation, the temptation of riches will be too much for most people to withstand.
I saw in a doco recently that Iraqi-Kurdistan is thriving. Made up of majority ethnic Kurds, they've closed it off to the rest of Iraq and don't allow Iraqis to enter, only high profile Iraqis are allowed in to seek refuge. It is safe and children play on the streets without fear of being bombed or gunned down, a stark contrast to Iraq.
The US has caused a massive humanitarian disaster not only inside Iraq but outside it as millions of Iraqis flee the country, some 20,000 per week at the moment are leaving. They are all plonking down in neighbouring countries mostly Jordan, and that country is pleading for the US to give them aid as they can't cope with the flood of people. The surge is just making more people abandon Iraq and Baghdad, with a huge population of internally displaced people also being a massive humanitarian problem.
It just doesn't get better does it?
Quoted Text
MIDDLE EAST
Billboarding the Iraq disaster By Anthony Arnove
As you read this, we're four years from the moment the administration of US President George W Bush launched its shock-and-awe assault on Iraq, beginning 48 months of remarkable, non-stop destruction of that country - and still counting. It's an important moment for taking stock of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Here is a short rundown of some of what Bush's war and occupation has wrought.
Nowhere on Earth is there a worse refugee crisis than in Iraq
today. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, some 2 million Iraqis have fled their country and are now scattered across everywhere from Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Iran to London and Paris. (Almost none have made it to the United States, which has done nothing to address the refugee crisis it created.)
Another 1.9 million are estimated to be internally displaced persons, driven from their homes and neighborhoods by the US occupation and the vicious civil war it has sparked. Add those figures up - and they're getting worse by the day - and you have close to 16% of the Iraqi population uprooted. Add the dead to the displaced, and that figure rises to nearly one in five Iraqis. Let that sink in for a moment.
Basic foods and necessities, which even Saddam Hussein's brutal regime managed to provide, are now increasingly beyond the reach of ordinary Iraqis, thanks to soaring inflation unleashed by the occupation's destruction of the already shaky Iraqi economy, cuts to state subsidies encouraged by the International Monetary Fund and the Coalition Provisional Authority, and the disruption of the oil industry.
Prices of vegetables, eggs, tea, cooking and heating oil, gasoline and electricity have skyrocketed. Unemployment is regularly estimated at somewhere between 50% and 70%. One measure of the impact of all this has been a significant rise in child malnutrition, registered by the United Nations and other organizations. Not surprisingly, access to safe water and regular electricity remain well below pre-invasion levels, which were already disastrous after more than a decade of comprehensive sanctions against, and periodic bombing of, a country staggered by a catastrophic war with Iran in the 1980s and the first Gulf War. In an ongoing crisis, in which hundred of thousands of Iraqis have already died, the past few months have proved some of the bloodiest on record. In October alone, more than 6,000 civilians were killed in Iraq, most in Baghdad, where thousands of additional US troops had been sent in August (in the first official "surge") with the claim that they would restore order and stability in the city.
In the end, they only fueled more violence. These figures - and they are generally considered undercounts - are more than double the 2005 rate. Other things have more or less doubled in the past years, including, to name just two, the number of daily attacks on US troops and the overall number of US soldiers killed and wounded. United Nations special investigator Manfred Nowak also notes that torture "is totally out of hand" in Iraq: "The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein."
Given the disaster that Iraq is today, you could keep listing terrible numbers until your mind was numb. But here's another way of putting the past four years in context. In that same period, there have in fact been a large number of deaths in a distant land on the minds of many people in the United States: Darfur. Since 2003, according to UN estimates, some 200,000 have been killed in the Darfur region of Sudan in a brutal ethnic-cleansing campaign, and another 2 million have been turned into refugees.
How would you know this? Well, if you lived in New York City, at least, you could hardly take a subway ride without seeing an ad that reads: "400,000 dead. Millions uniting to save Darfur." The New York Times has also regularly featured full-page ads describing the "genocide" in Darfur and calling for intervention there under "a chain of command allowing necessary and timely military action without approval from distant political or civilian personnel".
In those same years, according to the best estimate available, the British medical journal The Lancet's door-to-door study of Iraqi deaths, about 655,000 Iraqis had died in war, occupation, and civil strife between March 2003 and June 2006. (The study offers a low-end possible figure on deaths of 392,000 and a high-end figure of 943,000.) But you could travel coast to coast in the United States without seeing billboards, subway placards, full-page newspaper ads, or the like for the Iraqi dead. And you certainly won't see, as in the case of Darfur, celebrities on the American Broadcasting Co's weekday television program Good Morning America talking about their commitment to stopping "genocide" in Iraq.
Why is it that we are counting and thinking about the Sudanese dead as part of a high-profile, celebrity-driven campaign to "Save Darfur", yet Iraqi deaths still in effect go uncounted, and rarely
seem to provoke moral outrage, let alone public campaigns to end the killing? And why are the numbers of killed in Darfur cited without any question, while the numbers of Iraqi dead, unless pitifully low-ball figures, are instantly challenged - or dismissed?
In our world, it seems, there are the worthy victims and the unworthy ones. To get at the difference, consider the posture of the United States toward Sudan and Iraq. According to the Bush administration, Sudan is a "rogue state"; it is on the State Department's list of "state sponsors of terrorism". It stands accused of attacking the US through its role in the suicide-boat bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in 2000.
And then, of course - as Mahmood Mamdani pointed out in the London Review of Books recently - Darfur fits neatly into a narrative of "Muslim-on-Muslim violence", of a "genocide perpetrated by Arabs", a line of argument that appeals heavily to those who would like to change the subject from what the US has done - and is doing - in Iraq. Talking about US accountability for the deaths of the Iraqis the US supposedly liberated is a far less comfortable matter.
It's okay to discuss US "complicity" in human-rights abuses, but only as long as you remain focused on sins of omission, not commission. The US is failing the people of Darfur by not militarily intervening. If only the US had used its military more aggressively. When, however, the US does intervene, and wreak havoc in the process, it's another matter.
If anything, the focus on Darfur serves to legitimize the idea of US intervention, of being more of an empire, not less of one, at the very moment when the carnage that such intervention causes is all too visible and is being widely repudiated around the globe. This has also contributed to a situation in which the violence for which the United States is the most responsible, Iraq, is that for which it is held the least accountable at home.
If anyone erred in Iraq, we now hear establishment critics of the invasion and occupation suggest, the real problem was administration incompetence or President Bush's overly optimistic belief that he could bring democracy to Arab or Muslim people, who, we are told, "have no tradition of democracy", who are from a "sick" and "broken society" - and, in brutalizing one another in a civil war, are now showing their true nature.
There is a general agreement across much of the political spectrum that we can blame Iraqis for the problems they face. In a much-lauded speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, US Senator Barack Obama couched his criticism of Bush administration policy in a call for "no more coddling" of the Iraqi government: The United States, he insisted, "is not going to hold together this country indefinitely".
Richard Perle, one of the neo-conservative architects of the invasion of Iraq, now says he "underestimated the depravity" of the Iraqis. Senator Hillary Clinton, Democratic challenger in the 2008 presidential election, recently asked, "How much are we willing to sacrifice" for the Iraqis? As if the Iraqis asked the US to invade their country and make their world a living hell and are now letting Americans down.
This is what happens when the imperial burden gets too heavy. The natives come in for a lashing.
The disaster the United States has wrought in Iraq is worsening by the day, and its effects will be long-lasting. How long they last, and how far they spread beyond Iraq, will depend on how quickly the US government can be forced to end its occupation.
It will also depend on how all of us Americans react the next time we hear that we must attack another country to make the world safe from weapons of mass destruction, "spread democracy", or undertake a "humanitarian intervention". In the meantime, it's worth thinking about what all those horrific figures will look like next March, on the fifth anniversary of the invasion, and the March after, on the sixth, and the March after that ...
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Why is it that we are counting and thinking about the Sudanese dead as part of a high-profile, celebrity-driven campaign to "Save Darfur", yet Iraqi deaths still in effect go uncounted, and rarely seem to provoke moral outrage, let alone public campaigns to end the killing? And why are the numbers of killed in Darfur cited without any question, while the numbers of Iraqi dead, unless pitifully low-ball figures, are instantly challenged - or dismissed?
Political interference with the media, it doesn't suit the Government's propaganda campaign to create the illusion they are succeeding. It's happening more and more here and there's this very undemocratic, anti freedom of speech trend which has spread from the U.S. to here where you are chastised for criticising your Government. I've even copped it here on these very forums.
If we allow our elected leaders go on their merry way unquestioned then we're just that one step closer to the very thing we all collectively despise, Communism.
At least 10 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Iraqi army recruiting centre west of Baghdad, according to security officials.
The attacker reportedly detonated his explosives among a crowd of recruits on Saturday morning in Abu Ghraib, a town on the western outskirts of the Iraqi capital.
A security official said ten people were killed and 13 wounded at the scene, while local police said five soldiers and 10 recruits died in the attack.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the bombing. The recruits were from the rural tribal area close to Abu Ghraib.
The men volunteering to join the army were mainly members of Sunni tribes which have so far played a key role in supporting al-Qaeda and other movements opposed to the Iraqi government, a police officer in Fallujah said.
In recent months the Iraqi government has stepped up its effort to get Sunni tribesmen into the security forces in order to combat Iraq's insurgency.
The attack came as a recording of a voice believed to be that of Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the alleged leader of al-Qaeda's Iraq branch, appeared on a website popular with Sunni fighters.
"The US has to withdraw completely from Iraq" Munzir Baig, Muscat, Oman The speaker denied reports of internal clashes among Sunni fighters in which al-Masri is thought to have been killed. "What you hear in the news on satellite channels about fighting between us and jihadist groups, or with our blessed [Sunni] tribes is just lies and fabrication," he said. "It is a desperate attempt to divide the jihadist ranks." Iraqi authorities said on Tuesday that they were investigating reports that Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, had died in internecine fighting. The US military has not confirmed al-Masri's death and Iraqi officials say they have not yet received his corpse.
Also on Saturday, the bodies of seven murdered plainclothes policemen were found by local authorities in the town of Baiji, northwest of Baghdad. The policemen had all been shot, after which their bodies were dumped at the roadside.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle at a police station in the western Yarmuk neighbourhood, killing an officer and wounding 10 people, medical and security sources said.
A mortar round killed a woman and wounded two men in Bayaa, a largely Shia neighbourhood in Baghdad.
One bystander was also killed in the northern city of Kirkuk in a roadside bomb blast which targeted a police patrol.
The following story of the stoning death of a seventeen year old girl is graphic. Be warned that it may offend your senses.
Teen pays ultimate price for love Comment by Paul Kent May 24, 2007 07:00am
17-year-old stoned to death for loving wrong man Images captured on phone, posted on internet Autopsy reports read: Killed to wash away disgrace
A YOUNG love, two ancient religions ... a woman dying in a pool of her own blood after a very public stoning. This is the modern Iraq, for which we sent our troops to fight.
This is the freedom that exists ... and the reminder of how much more work there is still to be done.
For some, such as Du'a Khalil Aswad, this was the price of the so-called new freedom.
Of course, whether Du'a believed in the new freedom promised by the coalition forces will never be known.
All that we do know is that Du'a, young and in love, tested its limits only to see her new world come up terrifyingly, tragically, short. Her crime was to fall in love with a Sunni boy when her family practised the Yezidi religion, which does not allow marriage outside her faith.
The difference between her murder and the many other "honour" killings that also take place was that Du'a's death was captured by camera phone and sent around the world via the internet.
Never has the old world and new world come together more savagely.
A simple Google search will find the vision on any number of websites but it must come with a warning.
This is no Hollywood production. A woman dies before your eyes.
The blurred vision shows a crazed mob, jostling and crowing and jockeying for position, the cameraman struggling past the thousand-odd men who waited for Du'a to be dragged from the house of a tribal leader in a headlock so they could begin the killing.
More than anything the men are excited, which is as sickening to write as it is to accept.
In the mad scramble the cameraman finally gets close to Du'a, by which time she is already on the ground, her body sagging and struggling to stay strong.
Stones rain down on her. Her screams can be heard.
One stone, the size of a good Bessa brick, is catapulted with full force into her body.
As she tries to protect herself Du'a's hair is matted and strewn across her face. Again she screams.
To complete the shame somebody has ripped off her skirt, another man kicks her in the crotch.
For 30 minutes this goes on, until finally a stone knocks her unconscious and a deep, dark blood stream begins to run across the earth.
Du'a is dead.
This young woman, just 17 years old and whose crime was to fall in love, is now lost from this world forever.
If this is upsetting, then apologies. But this is the reality of our world, far from political spin, far from the lies of this "peaceful religion" we are force fed whenever racial tensions rise up.
It is abhorrent at every level. It must be stopped.
Du'a and her boyfriend, whose identity is still not known, had a plan to run away together.
Clearly aware that theirs was a forbidden love, it is uncertain whether their plan to elope was a result of having asked permission to marry and been denied or whether they planned it anyway, knowing how the answer would fall.
Regardless, they fled to Bashika but were betrayed by Du'a's family, whose "honour" had been besmirched.
They needed to cleanse the family and could do so only with Du'a's death.
Her parents did not want her to be stoned but, according to Diana Nammi, a leading Kurdish rights campaigner who fled to England, it is not certain whether they agreed to another form of death.
What is certain is that rather than a one-off, or a fading remnant of an old world that is thankfully disappearing, "honour" killings are on the rise in Iraq.
Nobody knows exact figures because exact figures are at best uncertain, at most shady, when it comes to happenings in Iraq.
But campaigners such as Ms Nammi say there is an "epidemic". The evidence is in the growing number of autopsy reports in Baghdad signed off with a simple verdict: "Killed to wash away her disgrace."
After Du'a's murder two men were arrested by Iraqi police but, according to Ms Nammi, were later quietly released.
Then last Saturday, 42 days after Du'a's murder, Iraqi authorities arrested four men in relation to the killing.
On the surface, at least, the arrests have been applauded.
"They (the crowd) brutally killed a young Yezidi girl in pursuit of out-of-date tribal rites," Tahsin Saeed Ali, the Yezidi religious leader known as the emir of the Yezidis in Iraq, said.
Is this a hope? Is this a sign of change, that maybe the coalition is making some headway, or merely a false dawn?
It is difficult to get too excited. The death came to light only after the image was released on the internet, after all, when the rest of the world had begun to vent its outrage. It forced the authorities to act.
Elsewhere the rise in "honour" killings suggests a descent into localised law, indicating it is getting worse rather than better. Maybe it has to before things are finally righted, which gives no comfort.
Parts of Iraq are steeped in archaic tradition and nothing is EVER going to change. The CoW is not going to stop this, get the troops out now and let the damned fools kill each other before another drop of western blood is shed.
That is America's, Britain's and Australia's job. We are the occupying power and by law it is our job to protect the citizens and uphold human rights. It is a sad indictment that this would never have happened under the brutal evil dictator but is under occupying democratic forces who espouse human rights as tenet.
You can say whatever you like about Saddam, and he like around 60 other dictators around the world should be deposed, but his regime was secular and would have punished the men who did this by the death penalty (and most likely the girls family as well).
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Al-Qaeda torture manual found From Fox News in Washington, D.C. May 25, 2007 03:12pm
Al-Qaeda torture manual "found in safe house" Cartoons show how to use drills, irons, blow torches Photos of tortured people also discovered
AL-QAEDA terrorists use blow torches, electric drills and meat cleavers to torture and force information out of their victims, according to a "how-to" book reportedly discovered in a safe house in Iraq.
The Pentagon has released bizarre cartoons showing how to torture a captive, found by American forces during a raid on an al-Qaeda house a few weeks ago.
They also found photos of tortured Iraqi victims.
The book guides followers of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on how to interrogate and torture captives, Fox News in the US has reported.
The drawings and cartoons depict ways to use electric drills and irons, meat cleavers and other devices to force victims to talk or harm them.
Some of the drawings show how to drill hands, sever limbs, drag victims behind cars, remove eyes, put a blowtorch or iron to someone's skin, suspend a person from a ceiling and electrocute them, break limbs and restrict breath and put someones head in a vice.
Items found at the safe house include electric drills, hammers, blow torches, meat cleavers, pliers and wire cutters, chains, screw drivers, whips and handcuffs, Fox said.
Earlier this week US troops found the information near Baghdad, along with five Iraqis being held, the Pentagon has said.
Meanwhile General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday Thursday that al-Qaeda poses a dangerous threat to the United States for years to come.
"Clearly, whatever military advice we give, both in Iraq and regionally, must take into account that this group of al-Qaeda has targeted free nations, to include the United States, and how our long-term plan and our long-term recommendations must deal with that very real threat to the United States," Gen Pace said at a Pentagon briefing.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the United States continues to direct most efforts to defeating al-Qaeda, but he predicted insurgents in Iraq will ramp up attacks this summer.
"I think the worry that we have is clearly what we have seen over the past year: that whatever progress is made and particularly in the last few months often is overshadowed when al-Qaeda will launch a major attack that kills a lot of innocent civilian Iraqis," Mr Gates said.
I just wish they would stop this bullshit of all the trouble in Iraq being caused by Al Queda, it is utter propaganda and has been long proven as bull.
Fact is that as little a 3% of actions in Iraq are by Al Queda and at most 5%, the rest is all insurgency and power battles amongst disparate and same groups, with even power struggles happening within groups like Sunnis, Kurds, Shiites and other minor players.
But if you were to listen to any information the US produces it is Al Queda, Al Queda and nothing but Al Queda. I wish for just once the US would be honest about something in Iraq.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
More reasons why we should never have bent over for the Americans ...
The news this morning said Australian soldiers were being taunted by the American soldiers for their "lack of committment" to the Iraq war. I couldn't find any articles online as yet.
Quoted Text
US sailor accused of grooming Aussie girl for sex By Sarah Elks June 25, 2007
US and Australian authorities are expected to clash today over the prosecution of an American sailor who was arrested for allegedly grooming an Australian child for sex over the internet.
Seventh Fleet seaman David Wayne Budd, 28, was met by police at Sydney airport on Saturday morning after flying from Rockhampton in Queensland where he had been participating in the military training exercise Talisman Sabre.
He was arrested and charged with using a carriage service to groom a person under 16 years of age for sex.
Mr Budd allegedly had an online conversation while in Rockhampton on Thursday night with a detective from the Child Exploitation Internet Unit posing as a 14-year-old girl.
He refused to appear in the dock at Parramatta Bail Court in western Sydney yesterday, remaining in a cell under the court. Mr Budd's Legal Aid solicitor did not apply for bail.
Mr Budd will remain in custody and appear in Parramatta Local Court today. It is expected US military lawyers will seek to take control of the case.
"The US military is asking for jurisdiction in this case, but they will investigate the matter and take appropriate action," US military spokesman Lieutenant Chris Maddison from the US embassy said.
Lieutenant Maddison said such a move was allowed under a bilateral "status of forces agreement".
However, local sources have said the US military's submission will be vigorously opposed.
Harsher US penalties and court-martial proceedings overseas do not outweigh any potential deterrence value gained from the publicity of a successful Australian prosecution, the sources say.
Talisman Sabre is a joint military training exercise between Australia and the US.
It is the largest training exercise undertaken by the Australian Defence Force and involves 7500 Australian personnel, 20 ships and 25 aircraft as well as 20,000 American troops, 10 ships and 100 aircraft.
The bi-annual war games began a week ago at the Shoalwater Bay training facility near Rockhampton and will continue there and in the Northern Territory until July 2.
US Seventh Fleet Commander Doug Crowder said last week that the joint military exercise was essential for Asia-Pacific security.
"We have to practise, shoulder to shoulder, to improve combat readiness," he said.
Additional reporting: AAP
If we allow the Americans to take over this case the sailor will probably only get a slap on the wrist.
As I posted in the Liberal's thread, Howard is now allowing Australians to be extradited to America for crimes against their laws committed in Australia (whilst the reverse is not true). So if Howard allows the Americans to take jurisdiction over this US sailor then there should be a massive uproar for it means he is perfectly willing to hand over our law to a foreign country we as citizens never voted to write or enact our laws, but worse it means even though we are not citizens of that country or living there we must adhere to their laws as Howard has decreed it so.
As I posted in the Liberal's thread, Howard is now allowing Australians to be extradited to America for crimes against their laws committed in Australia (whilst the reverse is not true). So if Howard allows the Americans to take jurisdiction over this US sailor then there should be a massive uproar for it means he is perfectly willing to hand over our law to a foreign country we as citizens never voted to write or enact our laws, but worse it means even though we are not citizens of that country or living there we must adhere to their laws as Howard has decreed it so.
Aussie 'left for dead by Americans' Thursday Jul 19 00:23 AEST ninemsn
An Australian private security operator was left for dead by American forces after he was seriously wounded during an ambush in southern Iraq.
The US refused to provide a helicopter to evacuate the wounded man after being told he was Australian, News Limited reports.
The Queensland man, who suffered severe leg and abdominal injuries, was delivered to Basra air base by a British road convoy more than seven hours after the attack.
The June 25 attack near the town of Al Zubair, 15km southwest of Basra, was carried out by at least six gunmen and involved roadside bombs, small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
Two Toyota Landcruisers were destroyed in the attack.
Three of the man's Iraqi colleagues, including an Iraqi interpreter, died in the attack.
The security operator underwent surgery at a British military hospital and was later evacuated out of Iraq.
He remains in the region in a serious but stable condition.
Iraqis declare Baghdad snow a sign of hope Posted 32 minutes ago
Snow has fallen in Baghdad for the first time in memory, and delighted residents are declaring it an omen of peace.
. . . . . . . .
Snow does not have anything close to the powers that can bring changes for good to Iraq. People need to change their hearts and views to violence for true peace. Snow is just a pretty event covering a nasty social situation at this time. Spring and summer are not far off . . neither is the return to violence.
If over the course of the next few years Iraq becomes a peaceful, stable, democratic country, will those initially opposed to the war be happy with the outcome for the Iraqi's? Will this be better in your opinion than their previous situation.
It all certainly is looking good for the allies, and even the media is slowly putting a more positive spin on their reports.
I have been kicked around like a Mexican pinata for supporting the war in Iraq. And to be honest it makes me very proud to see all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears is starting to pay off for the soldiers on the ground and the governments who stayed the course. Success is achieved by making tough decisions, not popular ones.
If over the course of the next few years Iraq becomes a peaceful, stable, democratic country, will those initially opposed to the war be happy with the outcome for the Iraqi's? Will this be better in your opinion than their previous situation.
That's really looking at the glass half full isn't it. If stability does somehow miraculouly come to Iraq was invading Iraq the right answer - NO. It is never the right answer to invade another country unless that country is committing MASS genocide against it's own people or has begun invading another country. The estimated body count from the war - 88,000 over 5 years, and almost 4000 allied soldiers. Without looking at Saddam's body count which is obviously far worse than this figure, do you see it as justifiable to go into the 10 (conservative guess) or more countries that are as bad or worse than Iraq and do the same job?
Without looking at Saddam's body count which is obviously far worse than this figure, do you see it as justifiable to go into the 10 (conservative guess) or more countries that are as bad or worse than Iraq and do the same job?
No damned way is it justifiable because the US, Britain and/or Australia are NOT the boss/es of the entire world.
unless that country is committing MASS genocide against it's own people or has begun invading another country.
What about the gassing of thousands of Kurds. Surely that counts as genocide. Oh, and they invaded Kuwait, were beaten and then signed a peace treaty which they broke.
Lets just go over that again. We have
Genocide and we have an invasion, which were both orgy's of violence, pillaging and death.
Quoted from x452
The estimated body count from the war - 88,000 over 5 years, and almost 4000 allied soldiers. Without looking at Saddam's body count which is obviously far worse than this figure,
At least there is hope now. What do you get with Saddam? More of the same forever. I cant believe that anyone would seriously say they would be best served by living under Saddam's deathly reign.
Quoted from x452
do you see it as justifiable to go into the 10 (conservative guess) or more countries that are as bad or worse than Iraq and do the same job?
Depends if they pose a real threat. Apart from that the answer is Yes. If certain factions in Iran keep on acting like they are then they will be shown the gates of hell as well. I saw a special on Iran last year and it showed me that there is a good race of people yearning for freedom. The story was about the first Iranian heavy metal rock band, and they had been arrested for crimes against god, which is punishable by death. Their crime, by the way was the hardcore, heavy metal music. They seemed like normal people like you and me, and i found it sad they lived under such a twisted, hateful regime. Maybe we should try sneak them out and bring them to this years big day out
On the flip side I believe a country like North Korea can be handled diplomatically.
Just on what you say was an illegal invasion of Iraq, may I make a couple of points.
I would have gone in after they broke 20 something of the UN's own resolutions which they were to gutless to back up. This was provocation enough. Writing a letter telling them how naughty they have been doesn't work with fanatics.
I never would have said I was going in for WMD's even though he did his best job to convince everybody he had them. Even the French thought they had them, they just opposed going into Iraq.
There will be peace and democracy in Iraq whether everyone likes it or not. Its happening already.
What about the gassing of thousands of Kurds. Surely that counts as genocide. Oh, and they invaded Kuwait, were beaten and then signed a peace treaty which they broke.
Lets just go over that again. We have
Genocide and we have an invasion, which were both orgy's of violence, pillaging and death.
We did respond when Iraq invaded Kuwait, remember the Gulf War? The current invasion wasn't in response to the gassing of kurds which was 20 years ago, if the U.S. responded back then with international (not a rag tag C.O.W.) support it would have been different. This invasion was based on the lie of WMD's, the international community opposed it and we knew America's reasons were not pure.
Quoted from The_Pragmatic_One
At least there is hope now. What do you get with Saddam? More of the same forever. I cant believe that anyone would seriously say they would be best served by living under Saddam's deathly reign.
Perhaps not. But under Saddam, if you were not a Kurd or a handful of other minorities, you could actually life a comfortable life as long as you didn't oppose his regime. At one point, people (including women) were free to get an education and make a living. Before the sanctions, they had food and water and electricity. Now I'm not saying this was great, but the cost of the war has been 88,000 lives and infrastructure destroyed so people do not have food, water or electricity and children don't have schools to go to. Not to mention the threat of violence on the streets.
Quoted from The_Pragmatic_One
Depends if they pose a real threat. Apart from that the answer is Yes. If certain factions in Iran keep on acting like they are then they will be shown the gates of hell as well.
Cowboy syndrome: the belief that you can ride in uninvited, kick some arse and solve the world's problems, often leaving a bigger mess behind. Example: America.
Quoted from The_Pragmatic_One
I would have gone in after they broke 20 something of the UN's own resolutions which they were to gutless to back up. This was provocation enough. Writing a letter telling them how naughty they have been doesn't work with fanatics.
Israel have broken more than 20 U.N. resolutions, I bet you're not in favour of invading them. It's America's double standards and hidden and not-so-hidden agendas that concern us.
Quoted from The_Pragmatic_One
What would happen to a chat site if there were no moderators? . . . . Now apply your answer to every dictator and hate filled regime around the world if left to their own devices.
The key word is moderators, plural. There's not one moderator who makes up the rules as he goes along. And I imagine the rules are agreed upon by all moderators. This is why the U.N. was setup, although largely ineffective due to bureaucracy, incompetence and U.S. domination/interference, it was created so no one country could assume the position of boss of the world like the U.S. have.
Now apply your answer to every dictator and hate filled regime around the world if left to their own devices.
In MY lifetime I can remember seeing and living through dictators, despots and the like in the names of Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Qadhafi, Milosovich, Musharef and many more I cannot name at the moment. Western countries including Australia and the USA sat back and did nothing. Pol Pot, IMHO is the worst of these genocidal homicidal maniac dictators. The West did nothing. Did the west sit on their hands in that case, in such recent times, because Cambodia held nothing of gain for them? Either you go into (read: Invade) every country that is ruled by a dictator and save the innocent people of that country or we don't go into any country. Why should the West (read: US, UK and Australia) be allowed to pick and choose? Is the UN helping fix these problems or adding to them. Can the UN be trusted. I don't know enough about World Politics to make an educated post on the subject. So my questions are perfectly innocent and I would like an educated answer, if anyone can help.
Israel have broken more than 20 U.N. resolutions, I bet you're not in favour of invading them. It's America's double standards and hidden and not-so-hidden agendas that concern us.
So you think the Israeli's are the same as Saddam.
Quoted from x452
Cowboy syndrome: the belief that you can ride in uninvited, kick some arse and solve the world's problems, often leaving a bigger mess behind. Example: America.
Err, no, but if thats how you feel. Give me America anyday rather than Saddam or Ahmadinejad.
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So you think the Israeli's are the same as Saddam.
Perhaps not to you or me but I'm sure that innocent family that was gunned down on a family outing at the beach or the many innocent Palestianians kidnapped/tortured/killed by the Israelis would think so.
Perhaps not. But under Saddam, if you were not a Kurd or a handful of other minorities, you could actually life a comfortable life as long as you didn't oppose his regime. At one point, people (including women) were free to get an education and make a living. Before the sanctions, they had food and water and electricity. Now I'm not saying this was great, but the cost of the war has been 88,000 lives and infrastructure destroyed so people do not have food, water or electricity and children don't have schools to go to. Not to mention the threat of violence on the streets.
And if you are one of those minorities you just have to live with it, until you can't? And even if you were thought to oppose Sadam you were put to death SLOWLY, possibly family members were as well.
"To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained. " The Doctor
'Chemical Ali' hanged By Middle East Correspondent Anne Barker
Ali Hassan al-Majid, or Chemical Ali, has been hanged for his role in the deaths of thousands of Iraqi Kurds. (AFP)
Ali Hassan al Majid was better known as 'Chemical Ali' for his role in the gassing of at least 5,000 Kurds in the northern city of Halabja in March 1988, during the Iran-Iraq war.
Many of the victims died in their own homes as a cocktail of cyanide, mustard gas and other poisons seeped into every building. Three-quarters of those killed were civilians.
Majid's execution was announced shortly after suicide bombers struck the Iraqi capital in a coordinated attack, staging three car bombings aimed at well-known hotels in the city that killed more than 30 people and injured at least 70 more.
Majid, a close cousin of Saddam Hussein, had been sentenced to death three times before, but each time his lawyers managed to delay his execution. The execution was finally carried out a week after his fourth death sentence was handed down.
He was first sentenced to hang for another campaign against Kurds a few months before the gas attack.
Then, in 1991, he put down a Shiite uprising in southern Iraq with similar brutality.
He was condemned again for the murders of dozens more Shiites in Baghdad and Najaf in 1999.
After last week's sentence, his response in court was simply "Thanks to God".
After the verdict, relatives of many of his victims celebrated at Halabja.
But one woman, Freshta Raper, who lost 21 family members at Halabja, believes even execution was too good for 'Chemical Ali'. (I tend to agree with her...)
"For me [he should] stay in a jail and rot in a jail for the rest of his life, every single day to be reminded of the atrocity he caused and the damage he caused," she said.
Meanwhile, it is unclear who was to blame or who was targeted in the series of car bombings to rock Baghdad.
Authorities have long predicted a rise in violence in the lead-up to Iraq's elections in March as insurgents try to destabilise the current regime.
Others speculate the attacks may be linked to Majid's execution and a recent decision to ban members of Saddam Hussein's former Baathist party from standing for election.
One independent MP, Mahmoud Othman, says that decision may have further "negative" repercussions.
Whoever is to blame, it seems increasingly likely there will be more violence as the election draws near.
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