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Occupation protests; 604+ US troop casualties in April

Violence erupted on Monday, along with protests against the ongoing military occuption of Iraq.

Thousands of mostly Shi'ias took to the streets in Baghdad on Monday in protest at a US military operation that killed eight "extremists" near a revered Khadimiyah mosque in Baghdad. The demonstration followed an overnight raid in which US and Iraqi forces intended to capture "high-value individuals" meeting in the north of the capital, the US military said in a statement. One Iraqi soldier and eight militants were killed during the operation, although none of the intended targets was captured, the military said.

In Baghdad, at least two people were killed and 15 wounded when a bus bomb exploded in a tunnel targeting a police checkpoint, police said. The explosion badly damaged the tunnel, which is on a main artery in western Baghdad. A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi checkpointat an Interior Ministry checkpoint in Nisour Square in the western neighborhood of Harthiyah, killing four people and wounding 10, police said.

Mortar rounds killed one Iraqi and wounded six when they landed on a residential area in the northern part of the city. car bomb killed one person and wounded six others when it exploded on a main street in southern Baghdad's Bayaa district. A roadside bomb killed a person and wounded six others in eastern Baghdad. Gunmen killed three street cleaners on Sunday in the Adhamiya district of northern Baghdad

Elsewhere in Iraq, gunmen killed two people, including an Iraqi contractor, when they carried out a drive-by shooting in the town of Yusufiya. The bodies of six people were retrieved from two rivers in Suwayra.

Six gunmen were killed and two wounded when they attacked a police station in the city of Mosul. A car bomb exploded near the police station targeting a patrol heading to the scene of the attack, killing a policeman and wounded two others.

At least five people were killed and 16 wounded by an accidental detonation while explosives and weapons were being moved on Sunday night in the city of Basra.

Five U.S. troops and an Iraqi interpreter were killed in separate attacks, including three in a single roadside bombing in Baghdad, the military said on Monday. U.S. casualty figures, including both those injured and killed, continue to rise.

April was the deadliest month so far this year with at least 104 deaths and more than 500 seriously injured for the month (projected), part of aworsening trend and contrary to arguments that the "surge" is working. posted 30 April 2007

US war crimes; Weekly war victims: 1,404+

United States forces continue to commit what are defined as "war crimes" under the Geneva convention. Today's artillery barrage on urban areas of Baghdad, the killing of women and children this week, theft of Iraqi resources and restrictions on movement of those in need of hospitalization are only four examples of the seriousness of these charges. The deaths of civilians - by insurgents, foreign terrorists, and U.S. forces - are all crimes against humanity.

On Sunday, U.S. forces fired an artillery barrage in Baghdad rocking the capital and hitting neighborhoods on the southern rim of the city. "Eighteen rounds of artillery were fired from Forward Operating Base Falcon," said US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver. Iraqis in the southern region of the city said American and Iraqi forces had stepped up their operations in the Dora area of southern Baghdad starting Saturday night.

Such operations against civilian populations are clearly in violation of both international law and the sovereignty of the "free" Iraqi people (who have been operating under their own Constitution since late 2005 yet are still occupied by more than 225,000 foreign troops and mercenaries). The displacement and lack of provisioning for the estimated 4-5 million refugees is also a crime of war.

While the American establishment tries to cover up or ignore the worsening situation, the facts on the ground are quite clear...things are getting worse and Baghdad could be near "meltdown" by the end of June.

In the week beginning Monday April 23, at least 1,404 people were killed or injured in Iraq due to war. This number includes 59 US soldiers and 11 British and Australian troops. The total does not include those who are dying of preventable disease, lack of access to medical facilities and drugs, malnutrition or other forms of domestic crime and violence. Ignored are the scores of children who die each day.

The Bush administration, clearly lacking an understanding of the frailty of the situation, said that it will not try to assess whether a planned troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September....when it may be too late to salvage anything from the "way forward". (Projections are that an additional 16,000 Iraqis and 900 coalition troops may be dead or injured by that time. Another 200,000 or more Iraqis will have become refugees)

Violence continued on Sunday. A roadside bomb killed three people and wounded eight others in the southern Baghdad Zaafaraniya district, part of the 33 injured and killed today. Amal al-Mudarress, a well-known Iraqi journalist, was seriously wounded after gunmen shot her near her home in western Baghdad.

Gunmen set fire to 15 fuel trucks and kidnapped their drivers on a main road near the city of Samarra. A roadside bomb exploded near the house of Jawad Magtouf, a Sadr Movement representative in Kut's city council, on Saturday, police said. He was not hurt but his 12 year-old son was killed and nine family members were wounded.

U.S. troops captured 72 suspected insurgents and seized nitric acid and other bomb-making materials in overnight raids on al Qaeda in the north and west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

At least seven Katyusha rockets landed near a Sunni mosque in the northern Baghdad Adhamiya district, killing two guards and wounding seven others late Saturday. The death toll of the bombing in Kerbala on Saturday rose to at least 72.

Iran agreed Sunday to attend a major regional conference on Iraq set for this week in Egypt. posted 29 April 2007

Kerbala bombed; 9 U.S. soldiers dead; Vote on oil law uncertain

A car bomb exploded late Saturday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala as the streets were packed with people heading for evening prayers, killing at least 58 and wounding scores near some of the country's most sacred shrines.

With black smoke clogging the skies above Karbala, angry crowds hurled stones at police and later stormed the provincial governor's house, accusing authorities of failing to protect them from the unrelenting bombings. It was the second car bomb to strike the city's central area in two weeks. Some blame the U.S. Administration for these attacks.

Separately, the U.S. military announced the deaths of nine American troops, including three killed Saturday in a single roadside bombing outside Baghdad. The Americans killed in Iraq included five who died in fighting Friday in Anbar province, three killed when a roadside bomb struck their patrol southeast of Baghdad and one killed in a separate roadside bombing south of the capital.

In oil politics, Iraqi legislators are resisting efforts by the Bush administration to shove an American-written oil bill down their throats, and are not expected to pass the bill as written.

Discussions turned contentious among the more than 60 Iraqi oil officials reviewing Iraq's draft hydrocarbons bill last week in the United Arab Emirates. Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet (executive branch) has tried to push through this bill although, under the Iraqi Constitution, only the Paliament has the authority to make laws.

Before any more development of the oil sector, struggling to produce 2 million barrels per day, both sides must agree on which of the 116 billion barrels worth of fields will be under the control of the central government -- most likely via the reconstituted Iraq National Oil Co. -- and which fields the regions and governorates will control.

Negotiations continue on other aspects, such as the contract models allowed to sign with much-needed investors and the exact roles the federal oil and gas council, Iraq Oil Minister and INOC will play.

All this is supposed to be done by May 31, a deadline set by a Bush administration that needs a progress marker for Iraq, a fragile Iraqi central government that is falling apart and the KRG that is ready to continue development in its semi-autonomous and relatively peaceful northern region.

There are many who oppose the law. Iraq`s oil unions have threatened to shutdown production if foreign companies are allowed too much control. Many political and sectarian blocs also feel that way. And Sunnis, a minority group without oil land and the power wielded while Saddam Hussein reigned, fear they`ll wind up without if the central government is weak.

Four employees from the Iraqi Red Crescent and 10 others were killed in in attacks in Baghdad's southern districts on Saturday. Four Iraqi humanitarian workers were killed and three others wounded when gunmen ambushed their minibus in the capital's mixed Sunni-Shiite district of Zafaraniyah.

Also in Zafaraniyah, a group of garbage collectors was hit by a roadside bomb, which killed one and wounded eight others, the official said. And in nearby Saydiyah, another mixed district, unidentified gunmen shot dead five civilians and wounded one more, he added.

In Al-Risala district, also located in southern Baghdad, a series of mortar rounds slammed into a residential area killing three people and wounding 10 others, including women and children, the official said. In the northern Shiite neighborhood of Khadimiyah a civilian was killed and three others injured when a homemade bomb blew up in a public market, a police source said. posted 28 April 2007

Iraqis say: "End WWBoosh"; Congress, too

Having just returned from the Middle East this week and speaking with Iraqis every day (both those in Iraq and refugees outside), there is now an almost unanimous verdict: The U.S. must leave Iraq and give the people of that country their freedom. To a person this is what every Iraq is now saying (98%), except for those in the Iraqi government who are dependent on Washington for their power.

Those within our government who opppose withdrawal do not believe in democacry for the Iraqi people, nor have their best interests at heart. These warmongers follow flawed strategies and their tactics are even worse. They also apparently do not believe in democracy in the U.S., with the president pledging to veto a withdrawal bill that is supported by both houses of Congress and the majority of Americans.

The U.S. Congress has passed a war-funding bill that sets a timeline for the start of American troop withdrawal from Iraq. The $124 billion bill would require troop withdrawals to begin October 1, or sooner if the government Baghdad should fail to meet certain benchmarks. Following the vote, the White House reiterated Bush's veto pledge.

Killings continued Friday despite curfews in the hard-hit city of Baghdad, where many militants are believed to have fled from the Baghdad area to avoid a crackdown by U.S. and Iraqi forces that was launched in February. A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol missed its target but killed a civilian in Mosul, police Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim al Jubouri.

A bombing in Zumar, 45 miles west of Mosul, was the second suicide attack this week aimed at the party in that area. In southern Iraq, the Basra provincial council is expected to hold a no-confidence vote against the Shiite governor of the oil-rich region who has been the target of demonstrations by political groups calling for his resignation and accusing him of corruption, officials said Friday.

The United States faces the prospect of defeat in Iraq, according to an active duty U.S. officer who blames American generals for failing to prepare their forces for an insurgency and misleading Congress about the situation there.

"For reasons that are not yet clear, America's general officer corps underestimated the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of Iraq's government and security forces, and failed to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions in Iraq," Lt.-Col. Paul Yingling said in the article published today in the Armed Forces Journal. posted 27 April 2007

General P: "More war"; US airstrikes kill women, children; Coverup on deaths

General Petreaus, who has become the chief spokes-lier for the Administration on Iraq, says that things are improving in Iraq but that the U.S. needs to continue the independent republic of Iraq much longer than previously estimated.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday that conditions in Iraq may get harder before they get easier and will require "an enormous commitment" over time by the United States.

Meanwhile, at least 72 Iraqis died on Thurdsay - including 2 women and 2 children killed by US airstrikes - and 100+ more injured throughout Iraq. Maj. Gen. William C. Caldwell, the top American military spokesman, insisted the U.S. command felt "very comfortable" that it is making "steady progress" in restoring order in Baghdad. "We are seeing those initial signs of progress being made."

In Baghdad today, at least six people were killed and 15 wounded in a car bomb blast near Baghdad University and the Al-Hamra Hotel in the Jadriya district. Two people were killed and two wounded when gunmen opened fire randomly in Hurriya district. Two car bombs killed one person and wounded three others in Bayaa district. Two people were killed and 11 wounded when mortar rounds landed in the Shi'ite Abu Dshir district. A roadside bomb killed two people and wounded 10 near the Shorja market. The bodies of 18 people were found shot in different districts of Baghdad on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Iraq, gunmen killed the sister-in-law and niece of Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam Hussein's cousin who was dubbed "Chemical Ali", in Tikrit. At least three people were killed and 59 wounded in three separate blasts in a town near Mosul.

Two mortar rounds killed a woman and wounded three others when they struck a home in the town of Mahmudiya. Gunmen wounded five people when they threw grenades at a cafe in the northern city of Kirkuk.

U.S. forces killed four "insurgents" in an air strike during an operation targeting al Qaeda in Iraq west of Taji, according to the U.S. military. It said that two women and two children were also believed to have been killed, said the military.

A day after the United Nations criticized the Iraqi government for withholding periodically-reported data on the number of civilian deaths in the country, a top human rights group suggested the move was linked to political calculations in the United States.

Yesterday, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq released its latest update on violence in the country. The Government of Iraq withheld key data on the number of recorded deaths, and the manner of those deaths.

"Unlike previous reports, the new UNAMI Quarterly Human Rights report does not contain official statistics of violent deaths regularly gathered by the Ministry of Health and the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad," according to a statement delivered by Michèle Montas, Spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. "This is because the Iraqi Government decided not to make such data available to UNAMI." UN Human Rights Officer Ivana Vucco essentially accused the Iraqi government of attempting to cover up the true scale of the violence. posted 26 April 2007

29 members of 82nd Airborne dead and injured

A devastating suicide vehicle bombing on Tuesday killed nine U.S. soldiers and wounded 20 others - all paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg - near a patrol base in Diyala Province, the military said Tuesday.

The attack was carried out by two 30-ton dump trucks packed with explosives, that created powerful blasts collapsing two walls of the patrol base.

In other violence, a suicide truck bomb killed 25 people and wounded 44 near Ramadi. Meanwhile, gunmen wearing uniforms of the Iraqi Army raided a neighborhood in Baquba, killing 6 people and wounding 15, the police said. The attackers also burned several homes.

Two mortar rounds hit a market in southern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 14 others, including women and children. wo car bombs exploded in a parking lot in front of the Iranian embassy in Baghdad's Salhiya neighbourhood, wounding four. The bodies of five people were found shot in different districts of Mosul.

British forces handed over a military base to Iraqi forces in a ceremony in the southern city of Basra. Al-Shuaiba base is the third base to be handed over to the Iraqi forces in two months.

Three Australian soldiers were injured when an improvised explosive device hit their light armoured vehicle patrol near Nasiriya on Monday. posted 24 April 2007

83 dead; 60 US soldiers dead in April

Suicide bombs in Baquba, Mosul, Baghdad and Ramadi killed at least 46 on Monday and wounded many more. at least two dozen others died in various attacks throughout the country.

Bill Moyers is back on the air accusing news organizations of "suspending their skepticism" of an administration bent on war in Iraq. "Vietnam cost more lives so far, but Iraq has probably had a greater, longer traumatic effect on world events," he said. Moyers was press secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam "war".

Also, gunmen killed traffic police Colonel Abdul Muhsin Hassan in Mosul. A roadside bomb exploded near a civilian car and wounded three people near the town of Mahaweel, 50 miles south of Baghdad.

Gunmen opened fire at a U.S. patrol while trying to emplace cement barriers in Ur neighbourhood in northern Baghdad. The bodies of three police officers were found shot in the town of Shirqat. Gunmen attacked a police patrol, killing a policeman and wounded another in Iskandariya.

Insurgents killed four more US soldiers and another soldier died in and around the Iraqi capital, taking to 60 the military's losses for this month alone, the military reported on Sunday.

A British Challenger 2 Tank was damaged by a roadside bomb on April 6 - the first time one has had its armour pierced. The driver of the 62-ton vehicle lost both legs when guerrillas detonated a massive roadside bomb beneath it west of Basra. posted 23 April 2007

83 dead; Yazidi workers killed

The death toll in Iraq from Saturday night and Sunday was 83 with scores more injured.

Gunmen in northern Iraq stopped a bus filled withYazidi religious minitory on Sunday, separating out the groups and taking 23 of the passengers away to be shot.

Police said a group of cars blocked the road in the Al-Nur neighbourhood of east Mosul, while others set up a cordon to protect the gang that stormed the bus convoy. The captives were executed on a field by the road.

"Workers were traveling back from a textile plant in Mosul to their home in Bashika, east of the city," he said. "Several gunmen stopped the buses, chose the Yazidis among the passengers and killed them in front of everybody."

The Yazidis, who number some 500,000, mainly in northern Iraq, speak a dialect of Kurdish but follow a pre-Islamic religion and have their own cultural traditions. They believe in God the creator and respect the Biblical and Koranic prophets, especially Abraham, but their main focus of worship is Malak Taus, the chief of the archangels, often represented by a peacock.

Also on Sunday: in Baghdad two car bomb explosions at a police station killed 16 people and wounded 95. The bombs struck outside the Al-Bayaa police station in the south-west of the city. Eleven people were killed in other attacks, nine of them in the capital. Mortar rounds landed in the Abu Dsheir district in southern Baghdad killing two people and wounding five. A car bombed parked near a primary school in the Saidiya district in southern Baghdad killed six people and wounded 37. Police in Baghdad also found the bodies of 11 men who had been killed execution-style.

A roadside bomb wounded six civilians southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk. Two car bombs killed one person and wounded five others in Madaen.

The U.S. military said it carried out air strikes on a known al Qaeda meeting location south of Baghdad, killing 15 militants. Ground forces later killed another three militants in the operation. The Iraqi army killed four insurgents and arrested 93 others during the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defense Ministry said.

British forces raided two houses in eastern Basra, killing a man who was taking a rifle from a cupboard believing his intention was to open fire upon them, the British military said. Two other people were arrested and a number of weapons were seized.

One U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire in western Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said. Another soldier was killed when gunmen fired on a base southwest of Baghdad on Saturday night. posted 22 April 2007

Iraq apartheid; Soldiers killed, wounded

Senior Sunni cleric Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the General Council for the People of Iraq has condemned the arpartheid wall that is being built around Adhamiyah and referred to the wall as "a disaster" that would separate Adhamiya from the rest of Baghdad and help breed further violence.

US troops are building this wall, working at night, and says it's aimed at securing the neighborhood. However, al-Dulaimi, who heads the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament, says it will breed yet more strife.

Some Adhamiya residents have said the wall will make their district a prison. "Erecting concrete walls between neighborhoods is not a solution to the collapse in security and the rampant violence," Um Haider, a female resident said. "This will make the whole district a prison. This is collective punishment on the residents of Adhamiya," al-Dulaimi told the Associated Press.

On Saturday, a roadside bomb attack on a U.S. military patrol wounded two soldiers at Baladiat, east of Baghdad. Another soldier was killed and two wounded when they were hit by a roadside bomb during a patrol southwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Mussayab Mayor Mehdi Abdul Hussein al-Najem and two of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush. Gunmen stormed a house and killed four members of the same family -- a wife, husband and their two children -- in the city of Kirkuk.

A bomb planted in a minibus in Baghdad's Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City killed two people and wounded five others. Twelve others were killed or found dead elsewhere in Iraq.

One Polish soldier was killed and four more were wounded in a roadside bomb attack near Diwaniya on Friday. posted 21 April 2007

US missiles hit Baghdad mosque ?; Amnesty condemns Iraq

The holocaust created by the US invasion of Iraq continues unabated as the Vermont legislature called for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney on Friday.

Clashes erupted between gunmen and US and Iraqi forces around a Shiite mosque in western Baghdad just before prayers, witnesses and local media said. One witness said American helicopter gunships fired on the mosque in Baiyaa, a religiously mixed neighbourhood in western Baghdad, just before noon.

''We were unarmed worshippers heading to the mosque for Friday prayers, and American Apache (helicopters) and tanks bombed the mosque and opened fire on worshippers,'' said Basim Abu Ali, who lives nearby.

He said four people were killed and seven others hurt. State television reported a ''coalition jet fighter'' bombed the Ali al-Baiyaa mosque, but gave no further details. Abu Ali said US tanks and humvees set up a cordon around the building, and forbid civilians to enter or exit. Parts of the mosque were damaged.

Also in Baghdad, two mortar rounds landed in a residential area killing one Iraqi and wounding another four. Twenty bodies were found in different areas of Baghdad on Thursday, police said.

In Fallujah gunmen shot dead a civilian and wounded two others in a drive-by shooting in Falluja. A suicide truck bomber targeting a police station near Falluja killed two civilians and wounded 37.

Elsewhere, Gunmen killed a civilian in a drive-by shooting in central Kufa. In Baquba, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol, killing two policemen and wounding another eight.

Iraq is now the world's fourth highest user of the death penalty, human rights group Amnesty International has said.

More than 270 people have been sentenced to death since mid-2004 and at least 100 of them have been executed, the report said. Only China, Iran and Pakistan used the death penalty more frequently.

Amnesty said security had continued to decline despite the reintroduction of capital punishment. Last year, at least 65 people were executed, including two women, it said.

"This represents a profoundly retrograde step," the report said. "One that should not be overlooked simply because far larger numbers of lives have been lost due to ongoing violence."

The U.S. military said it killed eight militants and detained 41 others during operations around Iraq. The military also said soldiers found seven tanks of chlorine in a raid on a building near Mahmudiya.

A U.S. soldier was killed and two wounded on Thursday when a rocket struck a U.S. military base in Mahmudiya, the U.S. military said today. posted 20 April 2007

300+ dead, 300+ injured

at least 312 people were killed and 302 wounded as several bombs struck Baghdad.

One truck bomb killed 140 people and wounded 150 more in the mostly Shi’ite Sadriya neighborhood. A second bomb killed 41 and wounded 76 in Sadr City. In Karrada, the third bomb killed 11 and wounded 13 more. Two were killed and eight wounded in a checkpoint bombing in Saidiya. And, a bomb in a mini-bus in Risafi killed four and wounded six people. One American soldier died on Tuesday of non-battle releated injuries.

On Thursday 3 GIs, 2 Britons, and 46 Iraqis were killed and another 62 injured. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Iraq's Green Zone, declaring ""I'm sympathetic with some of the challenges that they (Iraqis) face." "But," he said, "the clock is ticking." posted 19 April 2007

Refugee conference opens ; Marine dead

A major UN conference highlighting the plight of Iraqi refugees opened today in Geneva. There are up to 4 million refugees in or outside of Iraq and the number refugees is growing by 50,000 per month as violence surges.

Officials from more than 60 countries are attending the meeting which was called by the UN refugee agency. The agency says many of the refugees and IDPs live in acute poverty with little access to health and education. The UN wants commitments from wealthy countries, above all the US and EU, to support Jordan and Syria and to accept some of the most vulnerable refugees themselves.

A car bomb targeting a police patrol killed three people, including one policeman, and wounded four others near a petrol station in the town of Hawija, north of Baghdad. In Mosul, gunmen wounded a tribal leader and killed his son.

In Baghdad, gunmen killed a university professor in the al-Saidiya district. The bodies of four men, including three policemen, were found shot in and near the city of Diwaniya.

A U.S. Marine died in a non-hostile shooting incident during combat operations in western Anbar province on Monday, the U.S. military said. posted 17 April 2007

Sadrists to Quit Cabinet; 3 US GIs dead

Despite claims from Washington about stability, unrest continues from one end of the country to the other.

At least 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed Monday when gunmen ambushed their military checkpoint near the northern city of Mosul, police said. Another four soldiers were wounded. The bodies of six people, including a policeman, were found shot in different districts of Mosul.

In Ramadi, U.S. forces mistakenly killed three Iraqi police officers Monday during a raid targeting al-Qaida in Iraq members, the military said.

In Basrah, thousands upset about inadequate city services marched peacefully through the streets of Iraq's second largest city, demanding the provincial governor's resignation. Some 3,000 demonstrators gathered near the Basra mosque, then marched a few hundred yards to Gov. Mohammed al-Waili's office as part of a peaceful protest. Residents have complained of inadequate electricity, garbage disposal and water supplies in Basra.

Two mortar shells slamming into a schoolyard at Baghdad University rocking the city still anxious over weekend bombings. Also, a pair of roadside bombs exploded along a commercial street in central Baghdad's Karrada district Monday, killing eight people and wounding 23 others.

Shi'ia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers in the Cabinet to abandon their posts on Monday, the head of the cleric's parliamentary bloc said, blaming the Iraqi leadership's refusal to respond to demands for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal.

Al-Sadr's ministers will ''withdraw immediately from the Iraqi government and give the six Cabinet seats to the government, with the hope that they will be given to independents who represent the will of the people,'' said Nassar al-Rubaie, head of al-Sadr's bloc, reading a statement from the cleric. Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki welcomed the departures saying it freed up the offices for "efficient ministers".

Three U.S. soldiers died over the weekend. One soldier was killed on Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded near troops conducting a foot patrol in southern Baghdad. Another soldier was killed on Sunday when insurgents attacked his convoy with small arms fire near a mosque in southern Baghdad. A U.S. Marine died Saturday, during combat operations in Anbar province, the military said on Monday. posted 16 April 2007

Weekend toll: 417+; 2 UK 'copters down

At least 292 people were killed or injured on Saturday across Iraq and and another 125 or more were left dead or injured on Sunday - including 58 more dead - as violence continues to "surge" in parallel with American occupation strategies.

Meanwhile, Iraqis continued protests - including a Sunday demonstration at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad - demanding complete U.S. withdrawal. In Washington, another Sunday passed with know-nothing pundits and politicians debating the future of Iraq.

Senator McCain, touting the Administration line, said that there is "No 'Plan B' for Iraq" if current tactics fail. He continues to claim that the strategies currently in place will succeed, "I believe it has a good shot." But, he said that if the Administration’s plan had not produced visible signs of progress by January 2009, the new president might be forced — if only by the will of public opinion — to end American involvement in Iraq.

Eighteen people died and another 35 were wounded when a booby-trapped car blew up outside a restaurant and a second ripped through a market in the southern Al-Shurta al-Arabaa suburb of Iraq's capital. In the Karadda district, a bus rigged with bombs exploded during a busy shopping time killing at least 11 people and wounding 18. In the northern and predominantly Shiite district of Ul-Utaifiyah, a suicide bomber boarded a minibus and blew himself up, killing six people and wounding 10.

Violence continued outside Baghdad: In Mosul, two suicide bombers detonated trucks packed with explosives aimed at an Iraqi army base in the western Al-Taniq district, killing four people and wounding 16. In the Diyala province, security forces found the bodies of six oil tanker drivers, five of them Iranian, who had been ambushed, kidnapped and killed.

Gunmen killed a police colonel and a policeman and wounded two other senior officers in a drive-by shooting in the oil city refinery of Baiji. Mohammed Ismail, a local al-Qaeda leader, was found shot dead in the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi, west of Baghdad on Saturday.

British troops providing backup for an Iraqi police raid in Basra's Hayaniya district overnight shot five gunmen who opened fire on them, the British military said. The Iraqi army killed four insurgents and wounded 17 others during the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

Two British helicopters crashed in Iraq early on Sunday, killing two Britons and seriously wounded a third, although officials said the incident appeared to have been an accident rather than the result of hostile fire. The Puma helicopters, which normally carry up to 16 people with a crew of three, came down in the early hours of the morning in a rural area southwest of Taji, home to a huge American military base north of Baghdad.

The BBC, citing military sources, said the helicopters were taking part in a special forces operation, which might explain why the incident occurred so far north of where British troops are based in the main southern city of Basra. The US military initially said the crash appeared to be the result of a mid-air collision. posted 15 April 2007

Kerbala bomb kills 56; 3 US soldiers dead

At least 100 Iraqis were left dead and scores more were injured on Saturday.

A car bomb blasted through a busy bus station near one of Iraq's holiest shrines Saturday, killing at least 56 people, and wounding as many as 170 more. At least 16 children were among the dead. Iranian and Pakistani pilgrims were also among the casualties

The bus station bombing occurred about 200 yards from the Imam Hussein shrine in Kerbala, where the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad is buried — one of the most important sites for Shiites. After the attack, hundreds of people swarmed around ambulances, crying out and pounding their chests, and attacking police who tried to clear the roadway.

In Baghdad, a bomb on the Jadriyah bridge killed at least 11 Iraqis and wounded 15 more but did little damage to the bridge. Witnesses, however, said they saw many more bodies in burnt-out cars on the bridge and in the river. One person was killed and another two injured in a roadside bombing. A second bomb killed one and injured four in the Sheikh Omar neighborhood.

In the Sadr City district of Baghdad, at least 11 people in Sadr City were rushed to the hospital with symptoms of poisoning after a public water tank received too much chlorine.

Gunmen attacked the deputy industry minister's convoy and wounded three of his bodyguards in Baghdad's southwestern Jihad neighbourhood, police said. Deputy Minister Mohammed Abdullah was present but unhurt from the attack.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a bomb killed four militants when it apparently exploded prematurely in their car in the northern city of Kirkuk. Insurgents killed one Iraqi and wounded another as they fired on pedestrians in the town of Riyadh.Three motorists were killed and three more wounded during a roadside bombing in Khalis. A suicide bomber crashed his vehicle into a checkpoint in the western Baiji area, killing four soldiers and wounding five others. A Mosul hospital director and his son were seriously wounded on Friday when gunmen opened fire on their car in the northern city of Mosul.

Three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi translators were killed in two attacks south of Baghdad, the military said late Friday. Eight soldiers were wounded. In the worst of the two attacks, which took place Thursday, two soldiers were killed and seven wounded in an attack on their base south of the capital. The two Iraqi interpreters died in that attack. posted 14 April 2007

Gate's gates; U.S. prison camps

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has approved a plan to turn Baghdad into "gated communities". The tactic will include up to 30 of the city's 89 official districts and involve joint US-Iraqi "support bases" in nine of the 30 districts to be "gated" off.

Civilian streets will be walled off and the residents given ID cards. Movement will be restricted throughout the city. Only the occupants would be allowed into these "gated communities" where there were likely to be pass systems, visitor registration and restrictions on movement outside.

Sound familiar? This tactic was used by the U.S. in Vietnam, and by Nazis in Warsaw and other "ghettos" during WWII and is currently being used (with little success) in Fallujah and Tal Afar in Iraq. It is also similar to the security wall being built through through Palestinian lands in Israel and its occupied territories.

In addition to these "gates" an estimated 17,000 Iraqi citizens are currently being held in prison camps around that country and the U.S. is planning to incarcerate more. "Subsequent to the increase in the number of Iraqi prisoners detained by the U.S. occupying forces; the U.S. army based in Iraq intends to expand Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper prisons to incarcerate more Iraqis," said an Army spokesperson in March. Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, confirmed these plans when he said that the effort "to expand the U.S. capacity for detention" in Iraq was one reason 2,200 U.S. Army military police personnel are part of the troop increase in Iraq.

Almost four years after the invasion, the only visible development in Iraq today is the construction of prisons. Several new detention centers have been built across the country. The number of Iraqi detainees has rocketed since the 2003 invasion. UN Human Rights in Iraq say the majority of Iraqi detainees are innocent civilians arbitrarily arrested during random raids by U.S. occupation forces. There is no law to certify or register prisoners. Families and relatives have no idea where their loved ones are.

Baghdad remained under curfew for much of Friday, but violence continued. Mortar rounds landed in a southern Baghdad district killing two people and wounding eight and a roadside bomb wounded four policemen and one civilian when it exploded in the southern Baghdad district of Zaafaraniya. Few Iraqi MPs attended a rare emergency legislative session last night, a day after the tightest security net in Baghdad was put around the capital's Green Zone.

One U.S. soldier died after his patrol was attacked with small arms fire north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Elsewhere, several mortars rounds landed in al-Qaria al-Asria, a town near Iskandariya. Gunmen seriously wounded two people when they attacked a barber shop in southern Kirkuk.

Gunmen shot dead Mohammed Abd al-Hameed, a mosque imam in the northern city of Mosul, as he was on his way to his mosque, police said. Hameed was also a well-known figure in the Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association. Gunmen opened fire on the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party's offices near Hilla, wounding three guards. posted 13 April 2007

Baghdad bridge destroyed; 3 lawmakers die in Green Zone; Worth of Iraqis; Turkey

As the situation in Iraq continues to worsen and the country slides into all-out anarchy, Administration officials in Washington keep asking the American people to be patient and "give us more time". On the one hand they claim that the situation in Iraq is "improving" (i.e. McCain, Lieberman, Petraeus, etc.) on the other hand they excuse their incompetency with "the security plan is in it's early stages," as Condoleezza Rice said today. War supporters give each other props every morning and sleep each night in "ganda" land.

A truck bomb exploded on a major bridge in northern Baghdad Thursday morning, destroying most of the steel structure and sending cars into the Tigris River. At least 10 people were killed and and 26 others wounded.

The al-Sarafiya bridge connected the predominantly Sunni Adhamiya neighborhood and Bab al-Muadham, a mixed district. The iron bridge, one of Baghdad's oldest, was built by British forces in 1946. Patrol boats and divers are now going into the Tigris to try and recover bodies.

A bomb also exploded in the Iraqi parliament's cafeteria in a stunning assault in the heart of the heavily fortified Green Zone Thursday, killing three lawmakers and wounding at least 10 other people.

One of the dead lawmakers was Mohammed Awad, a member of the Sunni National Dialogue Front, said Saleh al-Mutlaq, the leader of the party, which holds 11 seats in Iraq's legislature. Another legislator who wsas killed was Taha al-Liheibi, of the Sunni Accordance Front that holds 44 seats in parliament.

The U.S. Army said on Wednesday that it paid more than $1 billion last year in bonuses to attract and keep soldiers in the service, more than three times the total amount of bonuses paid before the Iraq war began. "This illustrates how difficult it has become to recruit with increasing public sentiment against the war," said James Martin, an expert on military culture at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and a retired Army colonel.

Last year, the Army recruited 80,635 troops. To achieve that, the Army bolstered the ranks of its recruiters, raised enlistment bonuses to as much as $40,000 and allowed recruits with tattoos on their necks and hands to join. It also bumped the age limit twice. Without the 653 recruits older than 35, the Army would not have met its annual goal of 80,000. In 2005, the Army missed its 80,000-recruit goal by 6,627 soldiers.

How much is an Iraqi worth? During the past four years the military has paid around $32 million to Iraqi and Afghan civilians for noncombat-related killings, injuries and property damage, an Army spokeswoman said in an investigation by the New York Times. The amount paid can range from about $500 for a child to up to $5,000 for a productive head of a family. The average payment for U.S. forces who accidentally (non combat) kill an Iraqi is $2,500.

The Foreign Claims Act, which governs such compensation, does not deal with combat-related cases. Few claims are actually filed, or paid, since Iraqis must complete a paper form and go inside the Green Zone - something difficult for most Iraqis to do - in order to file their claim. Approximately 40% of the claims that are filed, are rejected because the injury, death or property damage was deemed to have been “directly or indirectly” related to combat. About 10% because the Army can't find that they were in the area at the time (purposely covering up attrocities is another problem).

In Northern Iraq there is concern that the Turkish government may invade. Turkey's military, which began staging several "large-scale" attacks on separatist Kurdish rebels in the country's southeast, asked the government Thursday for approval to launch a cross-border incursion into northern Iraq.

On Monday, the Turkish government demanded that U.S. and Iraqi officials crack down on guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, running their rebellion from hideouts in the predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq. "The PKK has huge freedom of movement in Iraq," Buyukanit said. "It has spread its roots in Iraq."

But Iraq's government is barely able to control its own cities. U.S. commanders, who are battling the Iraqi insurgency in the middle of the country, are stretched too thin to take on Turkish Kurds hiding in remote mountains near the frontier. posted 12 April 2007

Red Cross warning; Occupation tours extended

The suffering of Iraqi civilians is worsening and there is no sign yet that a security crackdown in Baghdad is bringing relief, the international Red Cross said on Wednesday. "We are not seeing a stabilising effect yet," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Hospitals were stretched to the limit by daily mass casualties, malnutrition was on the rise and power shortages were becoming more frequent around the country, the relief agency said. "The suffering that Iraqi men, women and children are enduring today is unbearable and unacceptable," said Kraehenbuehl.

Iraqi journalists held a protest in Diwaniyah on Tuesday to demand freedom to do their work after being prevented during last weekend's clashes between his Mahdi Army militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi troops.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 97 journalists have been killed in Iraq since 2003, 78 of them Iraqi.

In Baghdad, at least 14 suspected gunmen were killed in Tuesday's battle with U.S. and Iraqi troops in central Baghdad in which four Iraqi soldiers were also killed, 16 U.S. soldiers were wounded, and four Apache attack helicopters hit, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. U.S. forces killed one insurgent, detained 13 others and destroyed several weapons caches during a five-day operation in the Arab Jibour area of southern Baghdad.

But neighborhood residents reported far higher fatalities and said local gunmen had destroyed five Iraqi Army Humvees. The fighting damaged an Apache helicopter, the United States military said. The fighting started after the Iraqi Army raided a mosque and killed two men, according to residents contacted by phone and a Sunni religious group. Residents said the gun battle began near the mosque in an area with many warehouses and continued in a residential neighborhood.

Gunmen killed Abdul Abbas Hashim, a general director in the Electricity Ministry, along with his driver in a drive-by shooting in northern Baghdad and nine bodies of people shot on Tuesday were found.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed a policeman and wounded three others in the Shi'ite city of Hilla on Wednesday. Gunmen killed two policemen outside their homes in two separate incidents in Kut.

The political movement of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to pull out of government in protest against its failure to set a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.

US Army soldiers in Iraq will now be required to serve 15-month tours so the Pentagon can continue to occupy Iraq, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday. Under the previous rules, Army troops only spent 12 months in Iraq, but throughout the conflict the US military has had to extend the tours as Washington's priorities changed.

'This decision today does not predict when this surge will end,' said Marine General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. posted 11 April 2007

School hit by rocket; More bombings

A school in eastern Baghdad was hit by a Katushya rocket on Tuesday, killing a 6-year-old boy and wounding 17 others, 15 students and two teachers.

Violence continued elsewhere.

In the Diyala province, a woman with explosives hidden beneath her black abaya detonated them Tuesday in a crowd of about 200 police recruits northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 16 people. The woman walked into the crowd at the main gate of the Muqdadiyah police station and blew herself up

A parked car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near Baghdad University, killing at least six people and wounding 11, police said. The bomb was packed into a yellow taxi cab near campus, and all of those hurt were civilians.

The U.S. military said two helicopters were hit by small arms fire during fierce clashes between gunmen and Iraqi and U.S. forces in the central Fadhil district, a Sunni insurgent stronghold. Residents reported seeing helicopters rocket buildings where gunmen were holed up.

The U.S. military announced the deaths Monday of four U.S. soldiers — three killed by a roadside bomb and a secondary explosion in southeastern Baghdad and another killed in combat in western Anbar province. posted 10 April 2007

Peaceful protests on 4th anniversary; Oil exports down

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis marched in peaceful protests on the 4th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. Waving Iraq national flags protestors in Najaf and Kerbala and called for national unity while also demanding an end to the violence, government corruption, and foreign occupation.

There were minor incidents and some voilence throughout the day.

Gunmen killed two Shi'ite protestors who were heading south towards the holy city of Najaf from Iskandariya, 25 miles south of Baghdad, police said. Seven others were wounded in the attack. A roadside bomb wounded four civilians when it exploded near a U.S. military vehicle in the southern city of Diwaniya. Police found approximately two dozen bodies in Baghdad, Kirkuk, and Mahaweel today.

Japan, which imports almost all its oil, agreed today to lend 102.8 billion yen ($862 million) to Iraq for reconstruction of the war-torn nation's oil pipelines and facilities such as power lines. Iraq expects to increase spending on power infrastructure to $2 billion a year from the current $1.3 billion. Iraq oil exports averaged 1.56 million barrels a day in March, down 10,000 barrels a day from February.

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., the country's second- biggest oil explorer, said last month it is holding talks with the Iraqi oil ministry about extending its own research agreement on four fields. posted 09 April 2007

Iraqi Christians celebrate, mourn; 11 US soldiers dead

Iraq's estimated 700,000 Christian celebrated Easter today while mourning the destruction of their country. Christians, like the other religious brethren, suffer from the attacks, bombings and other violence brought on by the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation.

Many Christians started leaving Iraq in the 1990s when U.S.-led embargoes were imposed on the country. After the U.S. invasion and the fall of Saddam that continued, Christians left for Syria, Jordan and Turkey as the country hurtled towards civil war. The number of Christians who have remained in Iraq is unclear. The last Iraqi census in 1987 counted 1.4 million Christians - the current estimated are between 500,000 and 800,000.

In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI lamented that "nothing positive" is happening in Iraq and decried the unrest there and elsewhere around the world. Iraqi Christians have been part of that region for almost 2,000 years.

At least 54 people were killed, or found dead, in violence that continued into Easter Sunday and scores more were left wounded.

Three explosions in Iraq killed at least 31 people and left about 52 wounded. One powerful blast struck a residential building near Mahmudiya, killing at least 17 and wounding about 25. Seven people were killed and 21 wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded near an intersection in Ilaam district in southern Baghdad

Nine mortar rounds landed in and near the city of Baquba, but there were no initial reports of casualties. A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded another in the Sunni stronghold of Falluja. The bodies of six goat-herders were found shot west of Kerbala. Bodies of five people were found shot in Baquba. The bodies of 12 people were found in different parts of Baghdad.

In a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation, which began two weeks ago northeast of Baquba, more than 30 insurgents were killed and 28 detained, the U.S. military said.

Eleven soldiers died during the weekend. Three U.S. soldiers were killed on Sunday in a roadside bomb attack in southern Baghdad. Another soldier died in combat in the Diyala province. South of the capital, another soldier was killed by indirect fire. A sixth soldier died in Salah ad Din province while conducting combat operations.

On Saturday, four American soldiers were killed, and another was wounded, by an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Sunday. posted 08 April 2007

Call for "Independence"; Warplanes rain death on Diwaniya

On the 4th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, there were massive displays of Iraqi unity and marches continuing to call for true independence from foreign occupation. Iraqi flags flew everywhere and thousands took to the streets of Baghdad, Kerbala and elsewhere. Violence continued, however, with scores of bodies found throughout the country and continued kidnappings and killings.

Iraq is complaining about a British-led raid on a police intelligence headquarters in southern Iraq last month. Baghdad accuses the British of overstepping their authority and violating Iraq's sovereignty as well as a U-N Security Council resolution.

The government also calls on the commander of the U-S-led Multi-National Forces in Iraq to "officially apologize to the Iraqi people, the residents of Basra and the Interior Ministry."

U.S. warplanes used airstrikes in civilian areas of Diwaniya on Saturday in an effort to take out suspected insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades.

A source at the local hospital said it had received a total of 13 bodies and 41 wounded in the past 48 hours. This included six people killed in a missile strike on a home in the city centre. The total number of civilians injured or killed is not known at this time.

The airstrike is part of a military crackdown on insurgents in Diwaniya. U.S. troops swept into the troubled city before dawn Friday, killing three militia fighters and capturing 27 people, the U.S. military said. The attack -- named Operation Black Eagle -- is targeting gunmen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

North of Baghdad on Saturday, five Iraqi police officers were killed when a suicide car bomber slammed into a police checkpoint in Samarra. Police in the town of Baquba, north of Baghdad, said they found nine bodies with gunshot wounds and showing signs of torture. They said another 18 had been spotted in a river running through the town. The body of a cleric was found in a northern suburb of Baquba. The imam had been kidnapped two days ago. Seven bodies were found with gunshot wounds to the head in Tal Afar. Gunmen kidnapped 10 people who were travelling in a minivan near Himreen, 60 miles south of Kirkuk.

A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol in eastern Baghdad killed one policeman and wounded two. A car bomb exploded, killing one person and wounding five in Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City. Insurgents killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded six others when they attacked an Iraqi army base on Friday evening near Suwayra, just south of Baghdad. Gunmen killed Muhannad Ibrahim, a public works engineer, in front of his home on Friday in southern Baghdad's Saidiya district.

Radio Free Iraq said Friday Khamail Khalaf was found dead in Baghdad Thursday. She had been missing for two days amid fears she had been kidnapped.

U.S. and Iraqi troops raided a house belonging to a Sunni political party in Baghdad and seized a large number of weapons, including bomb-making equipment and rockets.

The U.S. military reported Saturday that two U.S. soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded Friday in separate bomb explosions around Iraq's capital. posted 07 April 2007

Chlorine bomb kills 27 in Ramadi; Heavy fighting in Diwaniya

A bomber driving a truck loaded with explosives and toxic chlorine gas crashed into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi on Friday, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens more. Police opened fire on the truck as the it sped toward a checkpoint, four miles west of the city.

In Baghdad, Two people were killed and five wounded when three mortars landed in Baghdad's northern Shaab District. Gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi national police patrol, wounding three policemen in Doura district in southern Baghdad. A mortar killed one person in the Talibiya district. A sniper killed two people in the Amil District. Eleven bodies were found in different parts of the city on Thursday.

Iraqi security forces raided the office of Mohammed al-Daini, a parliament member with the Sunni Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, in Baghdad's Qadissiya district. Daini said between 25 to 30 employees were arrested.

Elsewhere in Iraq, gunmen shot dead tribal leader Sheikh Ghazi al- Hanash, as he was leaving a mosque in southeastern Mosul. A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi police patrol exploded in Hawija, injuring four policemen. In Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded wounding three Iraqis and another bomb near the law college in the city center, also wounded three. Four bodies, including one of a child, were found in Tal Afar

Residents of Diwaniya reported heavy fighting between the U.S. and Iraqi forces and gunmen of the Mehdi Army militia in the city today. Dr. Hameed Jaafi, the director of Diwaniyah Health Directorate, said a U.S. helicopter fired on a house in the Askari neighbourhood, seriously wounding 12 people as the early morning assault began. posted 06 April 2007

Blackhawk down; 10 coalition soldiers dead

An Army helicopter went down south of Baghdad after encountering heavy fire, and reported all nine aboard survived; four were reportedly wounded. The helicopter came under fire Thursday as it flew over Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad. With Thursday's incident, at least nine U.S. helicopters have crashed or been brought down by hostile fire this year in Iraq.

Six American and four British soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq, coalition forces announced on Thursday.

The British soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in a roadside bomb blast that destroyed their Warrior armoured fighting vehicle in the Iraqi city of Basra on Thursday, as Britain prepared to turn over security to local officials.

In Baghdad, A car bomb exploded in front of a tv station, wounding at least six of the station's guards. Two roadside bombs exploded in quick succession in northern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding two others, police said. The first bomb exploded shortly after a U.S. patrol passed by. Also in Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded two policemen in the Zaafaraniya district.

Elsewhere, gunmen set on fire to several houses abandoned by their Sunni owners on Wednesday night in the towns of Haswa and Iskandariya. Gunmen kidnapped the former Diwaniya police chief, Major-General Fuad Faris, as he was standing outside his house in central Diwaniya on Wednesday, police said. posted 05 April 2007

Plant workers killed; Sistani on new law

Gunmen killed 11 electricity plant workers in northern Iraq on Wednesday after stopping their vehicle and machine-gunning them as they sat inside, Iraqi police and army officials said. Gunmen ambushed the vehicle carrying power plant workers in a mainly Sunni area near Hawija, about 55 miles southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk.

Police also said 18 goat herders from an extended Shi'ite family were kidnapped near the city of Kerbalaon Tuesday. It was the second mass kidnapping in a week.

Protestors yesterday displayed remains of a missile that they say was used to by the U.S. in civilian areas.

In Mosul, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed a police major and wounded a civilian. A roadside bomb targeting the motorcade of the head of police in Mosul, Major General Wathiq al-Hamadani, wounded two of his guards. Baghdad was relatively quite today. A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed two soldiers and wounded three others on Tuesday in an area west of Kut.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh announced that Iraqi forces would assume control of the southern Maysan province from British troops later in April.

In other news, a spokesman for Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric denied reports that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had rejected a new draft law that would allow many former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to regain state jobs.

"What some news agencies said quoting who they described as an aide to Sayyed Sistani about his position on the de-Baathification Law was not true," Hamed al-Khafaf, who is based in Beirut, said in a statement.

Several foreign media reported this week that Sistani was against the draft law. "We are surprised by attempts trying to get (the Shi'ite clerical establishment) involved in a case which is the speciality of constitutional organisations," Khafaf said, without saying what Sistani's position was on the law. posted 04 April 2007

Lying McCain and military; Protest

A day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad’s central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans’ conclusions, according to a lengthy article in the New York Times.

“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”

The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.

“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.

This is just another example of the propaganda and direct lying that the Administration will go to in order to fool the American public into supporting the war.

“They asked about our conditions, and we told them the situation was bad,” said Aboud Sharif Kadhoury, a rug merchant. Ali Youssef, 39, who sells glassware from a sidewalk stand down the block from Mr. Kadhoury, recalled: “Everybody complained to them. We told them we were harmed.”

Told about Mr. McCain’s assessment of the market, Abu Samer, a kitchenware and clothing wholesaler, scoffed: “He is just using this visit for publicity. He is just using it for himself. They’ll just take a photo of him at our market and they will just show it in the United States. He will win in America and we will have nothing.”

But those conversations were not reflected in the congressmen’s comments at the news conference on Sunday. Instead, the politicians spoke of strolling through the marketplace, haggling with merchants and drinking tea. “The most deeply moving thing for me was to mix and mingle unfettered,” Mr. Pence said.

On Tuesday in Iraq, gunmen attacked a petrol station in Kut killing one guard and wounding another. Two policemen were shot and killed in Latifiya, 25 miles south of Baghdad.

In Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed two university students in Saidiya district. A roadside bomb killed a person and wounded three others in the Zaafaraniya district.

Police found the bodies of seven people shot in different districts of the religiously mixed city of Baquba. The bodies of five men were found east of the city of Ramadi. Police discovered the body of an 11-year-old boy with his throat slit in Sab al Bor.

Iraqi and U.S. security forces arrested 83 suspected insurgents during sweeps through Mosul and killed 4 and 21 detained militants in Tal Afar.

Three Americans and one British soldier died in four separate attacks on Monday.

There was a protest in Baghdad today, including demands that the U.S. withdraw, after a woman was arrested in her home and taken away by U.S. forces on Monday. posted 03 April 2007

Kirkuk bombing, 15 dead; Instanbul conference in doubt

At least 15 people are dead in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, including children, after a suicide bomber exploded a large truck bomb at a police station on Monday.

The driver ran his truck into the concrete barriers protecting the back of the police near midday, setting off bombs hidden beneath bags of flour. The force of the blast also destroyed four buildings in the area, including a municipal building.

At least 20 children on their way home from a nearby school were among the 15 people killed and 137 wounded.

In Baghdad, A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into an Iraqi police checkpoint, killing two people and wounding five in the al-Dora district. Another car bomb killed two people and wounded nine others in the southern Bayaa district.

The motorcade of the deputy Interior Ministry for police affairs came under fire near al-Nidaa mosque in northern Baghdad, police said. He was unharmed but two of his guards were seriously wounded.

Elsewhere in Iraq: A suicide bomber killed three people and wounded 20 others when he detonated his explosive belt near a popular restaurant in the town of Khalis.

The bodies of 21 Shiites who worked in Baghdad's popular Shorja market and were kidnapped along with 6 kurdish colleagues, who are still missing, were found on Monday. Officials said that they were snatched late Sunday and driven away to an unknown destination. Medics said that their handcuffed and blindfolded bodies were found near a water treatment plant in Morariyah village in Diyala after daybreak. The victims were from Jaizan al Imam village in Diyala.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki has said that he is opposed to the US-backed plan for an international conference of foreign ministers from countries with links to Iraq to be held in Istanbul.

The proposed Istanbul conference has been talked about many times in past weeks by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but according to a Washtington Times article written by Jim Hoagland, Maliki is blocking plans to hold such a meeting in Istanbul, pushing instead for a Baghdad meeting. posted 02 April 2007

Iraqi death toll up 15%; 6 US soldiers dead

The U.S. military death toll in March, the first full month of the security crackdown, was nearly twice that of the Iraqi army and remains high even though American and Iraqi officials claim that Iraqi forces are taking the leading role in the latest attempt to curb violence in the capital...a sign of continued strong fighting (and despite Commanding General David Petraeus' claims to the contrary, staged walk-arounds and briefing to Congress).

The Associated Press count of U.S. military deaths for the month was 83, including a soldier who died from noncombat causes Friday and two more on Saturday. Figures compiled from officials in the Iraqi ministries of Defense, Health and Interior showed the Iraqi military toll was 44. The Iraqi figures showed that 165 Iraqi police were killed in March. Many of the police serve in paramilitary units.

At least 83 American service members died in January and 80 in February. The total death toll in March rose 15 percent with more than 2,000 Iraqis killed, an official said on Sunday.

The bodies of five people were discovered in Baqouba Sunday and at least 10 found in Baghdad.

Two suicide truck bombs killed two people and wounded 17 when they exploded at an Iraqi army base east of the northern city of Mosul on Sunday. In Tikrit, gunmen killed an Iraqi police lieutenant-colonel and wounded his driver.

Gunmen killed an Iraqi contractor and his son when they stormed his office in the city of Diwaniya on Saturday. Gunmen also wounded two children when they threw a hand grenade at a children's playing field in the southern Zaafaraniya district of Baghdad on Saturday.

The U.S. military announced on Sunday that two soldiers died on Saturday and two were injured when an IED exploded near there patrol southwest of Baghdad. Four more soldiers were killed by an IED near the capital on Sunday. posted 01 April 2007

more older news items >>

>>Iraq rebuilding projects crumbling
In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, federal inspectors have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of maintenance, apparent looting, and idle equipment......[more]
posted 29 April 2007

>>The Culling: Sneaks, lies and videotape
Again, you have to wonder about the Bush administration’s grasp on reality when it can’t figure out why the country doesn’t believe anything it says. We were reminded of its willingness to spin any lie necessary to sell its "war on terror" this week with the congressional testimony of former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch and the brother of former pro football player Pat Tillman......[more]
posted 28 April 2007

>>U.S. Officer May Have Aided Enemy A senior U.S. officer has been charged with nine offenses, including aiding the enemy and fraternizing with the daughter of a detainee while he commanded a military police detachment at the American detention facility where Saddam Hussein had been held, the military said Thursday......[more]
posted 27 April 2007

>>Militants force Palestinians to leave Anbar
Palestinians living in Iraq's Anbar province have come under increasing pressure from militants to leave or be killed, NGOs and Palestinians say.......[more]
posted 24 April 2007

>>$4.65B Iraq Translation Contract
A December 2006 US Army award handed a 5-year, $4.65 billion contract for Iraq-related translation and interpretation services to Global Linguistic Solutions LLC (GLS), a joint venture formed by security contractor DynCorp International (51%) and McNeil Technologies......[more]
posted 14 April 2007

>>South Korea draws up Iraq pullout plan
South Korea, one of the closest U.S. allies in Iraq, is preparing a plan to pull its 1,300 troops out of the country, a Defense Ministry official said Friday......[more]
posted 13 April 2007

>>"Humanitarian catastrophe" looms in Diwaniyah A week of fierce clashes between US-Iraqi forces and Shia militiamen in Diwaniyah has brought the city to the brink of a "real humanitarian catastrophe", health workers said on Wednesday. Aid agencies and doctors are demanding they be given access to a desperate population who have become prisoners in their own homes......[more]
posted 11 April 2007

>>55-year-old grandfather re-enlists, headed to Iraq
A southwest suburban grandfather is heading out to serve his country in Iraq. Rick Rodrigues is 55. Fourteen years ago he left the Army after 20 years in uniform. Now, at an age when others may be thinking of retiring, he has decided to re-enlist.......[more]
posted 06 April 2007

>>U.S. sailing Nimitz to the Persian Gulf
U.S. Navy in a press release announced that it will sail the Nimitz nuclear powered aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf region to replace Eisenhower claiming to support operations in Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan.....[more]
posted 31 March 2007

>>Saudi King slams "illigitimate occupation" of Iraq
Saudi King Abdullah, whose country is a close US ally, on Wednesday slammed the "illegitimate foreign occupation" of Iraq in an opening speech to the annual Arab summit in Riyadh......[more]
posted 28 March 2007

more older news items >>