Iraq News & Discussion

[lawyerlee]

With all the news coming out of Iraq, I thought it might be useful to have a place to post links and thoughts and topics for discussion. :)

[lawyerlee]

U.S. to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9067227/)
Two infantry battalions will help with security surrounding voting
MSNBC.com

The Associated Press
Updated: 4:56 p.m. ET Aug. 24, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has ordered 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to provide security in advance of two upcoming votes, the military announced Wednesday.

Two infantry battalions from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq before the scheduled Oct. 15 referendum on the proposed constitution, and remain through the December national elections, officials said.

They will join the 138,000 U.S. troops already there. The battalions are expected to remain in Iraq for 120 days.

The military anticipates an increase in violence in Iraq in advance of the elections, with insurgents opposed to the U.S.-backed government trying to disrupt the process.

[lawyerlee]

Violence Flares in Iraq as Constitution Vote Nears (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-082405iraq_lat,0,7855401.story?coll=la-home-headlines)
LA Times

By Borzou Daragahi
Times Staff Writer

11:03 AM PDT, August 24, 2005

BAGHDAD — Sectarian and anti-government violence flared in Iraq today, a day before the anticipated approval of a draft constitution that has angered Sunni Arabs leading the insurgency.

In the capital, up to 40 gunmen and suicide bombers staged a multipronged daylight attack on a police checkpoint that left five dead and 35 injured.

Shopkeepers and bystanders were among the dead and injured. Iraqi police and soldiers as well as U.S. forces rushed into the area to head off further attacks.

Insurgents also launched three attacks in and around the Sunni Triangle city of Baqouba, a provincial capital thought to be a stronghold for fighters loyal to Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi. The attacks left at least eight Iraqis dead.

In the Tigris River shrine city of Samarra, the site of frequent clashes between U.S. forces and Sunni insurgents, gunmen raided the home of a police commando, kidnapped his family and publicly executed one of his relatives before blowing up his home.

Sunni Arabs, who dominated the security forces and upper ranks of government under Saddam Hussein, are angered by a draft constitution they see as the first step toward breaking the country apart.

A U.S. military official in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity today in Baghdad, said he anticipated more violence Thursday, when the National Assembly is set to vote on the constitution after missing the original deadline by 10 days.

"We believe that the enemy is continuing to try to influence the drafting of the constitution and is still intending to conduct some larger scale operation in Baghdad and elsewhere associated with the release," he told reporters.

U.S. forces also must grapple with two upcoming elections: an Oct. 15 referendum on the constitution and a Dec. 15 parliamentary vote for a new government. A two-thirds majority of no votes in any three provinces would scuttle the constitution and trigger new national elections.

[lawyerlee]

IRAQ: Constitution draft approval unclear (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/fc518c8a233775e829b6dc33cf64d832.htm)
Reuters AlertNet

24 Aug 2005 08:16:13 GMT

BAGHDAD, 23 August (IRIN) - As Humam Hamoudi, chairman of the Constitution Committee, presented the disputed draft to the transitional National Assembly on 22 August, it did not take long for disagreements to appear, with Sunni participants labelling the draft illegal and unfair.

"The constitution has been presented without consensus and there are still many points that should be revised again. For this reason we have rejected the present draft. Shi'ites and Kurds have to remember that they cannot decide the country's life without total inclusion," Nasser al-Janabi, a Sunni member said.

Prior to the submission of the draft, there were accusations that it did not carry a true reflection of human rights, following complaints from many female activists over the sections on women's rights in the charter.

There were also fears over proposed federalism, benefiting the Kurdish north.

For this reason, the original deadline of 15 August was given an extension of seven days. It was reported that this draft was submitted just minutes before the second deadline ended, but that the vote on it has been delayed for three days.

According to government sources, 151 of 153 articles of the constitution had been agreed on so far.

"We believe that it is the most true and fair constitution that Iraq has ever seen," Hamoudi said.

The draft needs a two thirds majority of the 275 members of the National Assembly to be approved. Shi'ites have the majority in the transitional body, while the Sunni's only have 15 members.

"There is no way for Sunnis to boycott this democracy opening. The referendum will be approved within days and will be presented to the Iraqi population on 15 October for their vote in a referendum and will experience freedom," Hamoudi maintained.

The only way for the constitution to be rejected is if three of the country's 18 governorates reject it, officials explained. Soha Allawi, a Sunni member on the drafting committee, said they were working to guarantee rejection of the draft during the referendum.

[lawyerlee]

Bush: Terrorists converging on Iraq, US must stay (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050825/pl_nm/bush_dc&printer=1;_ylt=Aq4K1qBjFeAm.dcluSz_DL4b.3QA;_ylu=X 3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-)
Reuters

Wed Aug 24, 9:54 PM ET

President George W. Bush said on Wednesday terrorists had converged on Iraq and that pulling U.S. troops out would only embolden them.

Bush's speech, coinciding with news that 1,500 more troops were headed to Iraq in coming weeks, was part of an effort to counter increased anti-war sentiment which has contributed to a sharp decline in the president's approval ratings.

Bush pointedly played up the case of a military mother who supported the Iraq war, in contrast to Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier who began a protest outside Bush's Texas ranch and has become a symbol for the anti-war movement.

"One of the most important battle fronts in this war on terror is Iraq," Bush told an audience of about 9,500, including members of the Idaho National Guard and other military branches.

"The stakes in Iraq could not be higher. The brutal violence in Iraq today is a clear sign of the terrorists' determination to stop democracy from taking root in the Middle East," he added.

Bush's comments came on a day when dozens of insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles attacked police checkpoints in Baghdad.

More than 1,800 American troops have been killed in Iraq. The Bush administration's initial justification for the war was that Iraq posed a threat because it had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. None were found.

'WE NEED MORE THAN PHOTO-OPS'

"We need more than photo-ops and spin control to win this war. We need an effective plan to achieve our goals in Iraq and protect our troops. The president once again offered neither," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Massachusetts Democrat. "He needs to realize what most Americans now understand -- that staying the course is not an option."

Bush has increasingly tied staying in Iraq to the need to fight terrorism following the September 11, 2001, attacks. Critics say the administration is trying to shift justification for the war despite lack of evidence linking prewar Iraq and September 11.

A Harris poll released on Wednesday showed Bush's approval rating dropping to 40 percent, while 58 percent had a negative opinion. The previous Harris poll in June had Bush's approval rating at 45 percent, versus 55 percent disapproval.

[lawyerlee]

Iraq Lawmakers Won't Meet on Constitution (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050825/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&printer=1;_ylt=Ark7Srrm8jg7ksRojpLnqK8UewgF;_ylu=X 3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-)

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago

Parliament announced it had no plans to gather Thursday night and no date for a future session, signaling Iraqi factions were failing to agree on a new constitution before a self-imposed midnight target.

The statement from National Assembly's top spokesman, Bishro Ibrahim, came as negotiators struggled for consensus on a draft by the close of a 72-hour extension announced Monday night by the parliament speaker, after Sunni Arabs refused to accept a charter approved by Shiites and Kurds.

Whether a new assembly vote on the charter was even necessary was in question, however. At the same time, a meeting was scheduled for Thursday night among Iraq's factional leaders, and it was possible that parliament could be convened afterward on short notice.

Shiite representative Khaled al-Attiyah said there was no need for an assembly vote because the constitutional committee met its legal obligations by handing in a draft by the Aug. 22 deadline. Another Shiite, Nadim al-Jabiri, said there would be no vote Thursday because the draft will be approved or rejected in a popular referendum Oct. 15.

If voters reject the referendum, the current parliament must be dissolved, a new one elected and the drafting process restarted from the beginning.

Sunni Arabs, the country's minority, object to several parts of the draft, chief among them a plan that could lead to a giant Shiite federated state in central and southern Iraq. Though Kurds and Shiites have enough votes in parliament to approve a charter and sent it forward to a referendum, Iraqi leaders across the political spectrum have emphasized their wish for consensus.

Earlier Thursday, a radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his followers to end clashes with Shiite rivals, one day after his office in the holy city of Najaf was burned and four of his supporters were killed.

[lawyerlee]

A Constitution? Iraqis Are Thinking About Their Lives First (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/international/middleeast/24cnd-voices.html?pagewanted=print)
NY Times
By KIRK SEMPLE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 24 - Ali Sami's hands were flying around his photocopy machine like a short order cook's. With customers waiting in his small Baghdad copy shop he was not about to pause for anything, especially not a question about Iraq's new draft constitution.

"What constitution are you talking about?" Mr. Sami, a Shiite, said sardonically. "We are fed up with this thing! We would prefer to solve our problems first, such as electricity, water and security. How come they gathered to approve the constitution while Iraqis are slaughtered?"

As Iraq's political leaders met this week in the fortified Green Zone to try to resolve the remaining disputes over the draft, ordinary Iraqis everywhere were of various minds about what it all meant. The drafters turned in an incomplete document to the National Assembly on Monday and have given themselves until the end of Thursday to finish it.

At the more hopeful end of the spectrum of opinion, some Iraqis say they view the latest developments as a step toward creating a full and thriving democracy. But for others, caught in a struggle for survival amid war and doubtful public services, all the wrangling over abstract concepts could just as well be happening on Mars.

"What can I do with a constitution if I have no water, gasoline and electricity?" asked Hanan Sahib, 29, a Shiite database operator at a telecommunications company in Baghdad, echoing Mr. Sami. The main problem, she added, was security, particularly for women.

Iraqi leaders and the Bush administration hope that a constitution with widespread public support will help to legitimize democratic rule and undermine the Sunni-backed insurgency that is trying to topple the government and drive out the American forces.

In spite of the obvious sectarian divides among the country's political parties, and a sectarian tinge to some of the country's violence, a random sampling of ordinary Iraqis here and in several other cities this week revealed that sentiment about the constitution often does not hew to any such divisions. In fact, many Iraqis say, sectarian allegiances rarely intrude on everyday life: Shiites marry Sunnis, Muslims shop alongside Christians, everyone waits in the same lines to get gasoline and suffers the same power and water shortages.

Some people, when asked about the constitution, expressed particular concern about the very issues that are bedeviling negotiators, including the role of Islam in the constitution and federalism. But most seemed to view the process as an abstraction beyond their control and of less immediate importance than the challenge of making it through the day.

"The constitution is good because it represents a new birth and a new life that we have been waiting for," said Mohammad Jasim Kazem, 35, a Shiite building contractor in Baghdad. But amid more pressing concerns, he admitted, he had not had time to follow the process. "Frankly, I have been very busy with the problems of electricity and water because these things are very necessary for living," he said.

[lawyerlee]

Inside the Iraqi constitution: 3 main points still in dispute (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-08-24-iraqi-draft_x.htm?csp=N009)
By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

BAGHDAD — Iraqi legislators were scheduled to vote on a draft constitution Thursday, even though Sunni Arab leaders continue to voice sharp differences with Kurdish and Shiite lawmakers. That vote has been delayed, a parliamentary spokesman said Thursday.

Some key questions and answers about the state of the constitutional process and the outstanding issues:

Q: What major issues have been agreed to?

A: Representatives of Iraq's three main factions — Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds — have agreed to wording describing how Islam will influence legislation, the distribution of oil revenue and the government's structure.

Q: What issues are still being debated?

A: As of Wednesday, three main points were in dispute: federalism, or allowing semi-autonomous regions within Iraq; the mention of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party in the constitution; and the division of power among the president, parliament and Cabinet.

Q: What does the constitution say now about federalism?

A: The constitution allows for one or more of Iraq's 18 provinces to hold a referendum and form a "region" that will enjoy limited autonomy, allowing them to form a parliament, ministries and budget, says Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator who is on the constitutional committee.

The provision was included as a way to acknowledge the Kurdistan region to the north, which has enjoyed de-facto autonomy since 1991, Othman says. Sunni leaders have warned it will lead to other breakaway regions and the ultimate splintering of Iraq. They want the provision narrowly applied to Kurdistan, Othman says. Shiites and Kurds want the option open to all provinces.

Q: What does the constitution say about purging Baathists from government positions?

A: The Baath Party, which ruled Iraq for nearly four decades, is prohibited from being recognized as a political entity. The De-Baathification Commission, a group created two years ago to weed out former Baath leaders from government, is allowed to continue its work.

Q:Why do Sunnis object?

A: Sunni Arabs dominated the ranks of the Baath Party, giving them a stranglehold on power despite making up about 20% of Iraq's population. Sunni representatives argue that only Baath leaders accused or convicted of crimes should be barred from government, Othman says.

Q: What has been decided about distributing oil revenue?

A: The constitution currently says the central government in Baghdad will distribute oil and gas revenue to the regions based on population. But poorer regions and those neglected under Saddam's rule will also initially get a higher cut, the draft says. Sunni leaders worry that means more money for Shiite and Kurdish areas.

Q: What does the constitution say about the role of Islam?

A: The draft identifies Islam as "a major source" of legislation and prohibits the creation of laws that contradict its teachings. It also prohibits the creation of laws that contradict democratic principles and basic human rights, a provision secular Iraqis hope bars Iraq from becoming a hard-line Islamic theocracy like Iran.

Kurds, who are Sunni Muslim and generally secular, joined Sunnis in opposing the strong Islamic state advocated by some Shiites.

One of the most contentious issues has been the placing of "experts" on sharia, or Islamic law, on the Iraqi Supreme Court. The exact number of experts and the method of choosing them will be assigned by a law enacted by a two-thirds vote in the national assembly.

Also at issue was whether to have sharia judges administrating civil cases, such as marriages, divorces and estates. On Wednesday, negotiators agreed to let individuals choose the type of judge to hear their case, Othman says.

Q: Is it unusual for Islamic law to be reflected in the constitutions of Arab states?

A: Egypt, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Syria and Saudi Arabia are among the Arab nations in which Islamic law plays a central role. Those countries vary, however, in how strictly Islamic law is applied.

Q. What does the constitution say about the role of women?

A. The draft constitution pledges to "pay attention to women and their rights." It also requires that no less than 25% of the seats in the assembly be reserved for women. The constitution does not mandate religious courts, which can limit the rights of women in inheritance, marriage and other issues, but it allows people to choose between civil and religious courts.

Q: Why are Kurds and Shiites so concerned about appeasing Sunnis?

A: Kurdish and Shiite political groups hold 258 seats in the 275-member National Assembly and could pass the constitution. But the referendum could be voted down if two-thirds of voters in three provinces reject it. Sunnis dominate at least three of Iraq's provinces.

Additionally, U.S. and Iraqi officials have been striving to include Sunnis into the political process as a key strategy in dismantling the mostly Sunni-driven insurgency.

Q: What happens if the constitution is rejected by voters in the Oct. 15 referendum?

A: Under Iraq's transitional law, the parliament dissolves if the referendum fails. Elections for another transitional government will be held before Dec. 15 and the political process starts over.

If it passes, general elections are held by Dec. 15 for a permanent government. Iraq's new legislators take office by Dec. 31.

Contributing: Bill Nichols in Washington

[lawyerlee]

'Peace Mom' Returns to Texas War Protest (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082500407_pf.html)
Washington Post

By ANGELA K. BROWN
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 25, 2005; 11:40 AM

CRAWFORD, Texas -- Even when she was in California taking care of her mother, Cindy Sheehan said part of her remained at the protest campsite she had set up outside President Bush's ranch.

On Wednesday, Sheehan returned to "Camp Casey," named after her 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, who was killed last year in Iraq.

"This is where I belong, until Aug. 31, like I told the president," Sheehan said at the Waco airport before driving about 20 miles to the Crawford site.

When Sheehan arrived at the campsite, she saw a large banner depicting her son's face. She sobbed and said she felt ill. Supporters brought her water and cold towels, and she recovered about 20 minutes later.

Sheehan began her vigil Aug. 6 on the road leading to Bush's ranch, vowing to stay through his monthlong vacation unless he met with her. She left last week to visit her 74-year-old mother in Los Angeles after the woman suffered a stroke. Sheehan said her mother has started physical therapy for paralysis on her right side.

Sheehan said she realizes that Bush has no intentions of meeting with the protesters, but that her vigil has accomplished other things.

[lawyerlee]

Militants Attack Iraq's Interior Ministry (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050905/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&printer=1)
AP

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer

Insurgents launched a daring daylight assault Monday against the Interior Ministry in Baghdad, killing two police in a surge of attacks by al-Qaida's arm in Iraq. Two British soldiers died in a roadside bombing in the south.

U.S. Marines said Monday that al-Qaida in Iraq launched multiple attacks the day before against U.S. and Iraqi targets in Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad. Eight civilians, an Iraqi soldier and three suicide bombers died in the Hit attacks

Elsewhere, at least eight Iraqi civilians — including five children — were killed in fighting Monday in Tal Afar, said Dr. Abdul-Aal Kamal of the northern city's hospital.

There was no report of casualties among the combatants, including the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is trying to wrest control of Tal Afar, 260 miles north of Baghdad, from insurgents and foreign fighters.

However, Iraqi authorities said the bodies of three community leaders who had refused insurgent demands for help were found Monday in the city. Iraqi officers said gunmen swept through the victims' districts over the weekend as fighting around the city escalated.

In Baghdad, thunderous explosions and volleys of heavy gunfire rattled the downtown area soon after sunrise Monday as about four carloads of insurgents staged a lightning raid on the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for police and paramilitary units nationwide.

The insurgents, who fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, withdrew after about 15 minutes, leaving two policemen dead and five wounded. There was no report of insurgent casualties.

A statement posted Monday on an Islamic Web site claimed responsibility for the attack in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

U.S. Apache and Black Hawk helicopters flew over central Baghdad after the firefight, and U.S. Army patrols in armored vehicles combed the streets looking for the attackers.

The two British soldiers died when their armored Land Rover was destroyed by a bomb near Zubeir, a Sunni Arab enclave about 12 miles west of Basra.

Elsewhere, Iraqi officials said that al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters had taken control of large areas of a strategic city on the Syrian border after weeks of fighting between an Iraqi tribe that supports the insurgents and one that opposes them.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said much of Qaim, 200 miles west of Baghdad, had been abandoned after weeks of tribal fighting.

[lawyerlee]

Insurgents Seize Key Town in Iraq (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090500313_pf.html)
Al Qaeda in Iraq's Black Banner Flying From Rooftops
Washington Post

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, September 5, 2005; 4:27 PM

BAGHDAD, Sept. 5 -- Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led Al Qaeda in Iraq took open control of a key western town at the Syrian border, deploying its guerrilla fighters in the streets and flying Zarqawi's black banner from rooftops, tribal leaders and other residents in the city and surrounding villages said.

A sign newly posted at the entrance of Qaim declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Qaim." A statement posted in mosques described Qaim as an "Islamic kingdom liberated from the occupation."

Zarqawi's fighters were killing officials and civilians seen as government-allied or anti-Islamic, witnesses, residents and others said. On Sunday, the bullet-riddled body of a woman lay in a street of Qaim. A sign left on her corpse declared, "A prostitute who was punished."

Zarqawi's fighters had shot to death nine men in public executions in the city center since the weekend, accusing the men of being spies and collaborators for U.S. forces, said Sheikh Nawaf Mahallawi, a leader of a Sunni Arab tribe, the Albu Mahal, that had battled the foreign fighters.

Dozens of families were fleeing Qaim daily, Mahallawi said.

"It would be insane to attack Zarqawi's people, even to shoot one bullet at them," Mahallawi said. "We cannot attack them. But we will not stand still if they attack us. We hope the U.S. forces end this in the coming days. We want the city to go back to its normal situation."

U.S. Marine spokesman Capt. Jeffrey Pool in Ramadi, capital of the western province that includes Qaim, said Marines in the area of Qaim had no word of any unusual activity in Qaim. Numerous Marines are stationed near the town, although Marines said they were not involved in recent ground fighting between pro-government tribal fighters and Zarqawi's group.

According to a pool report, the Iraqi government has no forces in Qaim.

Qaim, within a few miles of the Syrian border, has been a major stronghold for insurgents ferrying fighters, weapons and money from Syria into the rest of Iraq along a network of Euphrates River towns.

Many of the towns along the river have appeared to be heavily under the insurgents' domination, despite repeated Marine offenses along the river since May. Residents and Marines have described insurgents escaping ahead of the offensives, and returning when the offensives are over.

While the stepped-up U.S. offensives have been unable to drive out insurgents permanently, the U.S. attacks are credited by some with helping disrupt insurgent networks and reduce the number of car-bombings and suicide attacks in the rest of Iraq.

[lawyerlee]

U.S. Marine Jets Bomb 2 Bridges in Iraq (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050906/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&printer=1;_ylt=Am2BBo.UTspQwhpFXSBoaIQUewgF;_ylu=X 3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-)
AP

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

U.S. Marine jets Tuesday attacked two bridges across the Euphrates River near the Syrian border to prevent insurgents from moving foreign fighters and munitions toward Baghdad and other cities, the U.S. command said.

A Marine statement also said U.S. and Iraqi forces destroyed a "foreign fighter safe house," killed two foreigners and arrested three others during a Tuesday raid in the same area as the bridge attack.

Elsewhere, Iraqi civilians said they could see smoke rising Tuesday from the northern city of Tal Afar, where fighting has been raging for days between U.S.-Iraqi forces and insurgents said to include foreign fighters.

The U.S. command said one American soldier was killed Monday in Tal Afar and two were killed and two others wounded Tuesday by a roadside bomb. At least 1,892 members of the U.S. military have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Witnesses saw ambulances evacuating at least 10 injured civilians from the city Tuesday.

The fighting occurred after U.N. chief Kofi Annan said Iraq had become an even greater terrorist center than Afghanistan under the Taliban. Attacks attributed to al-Qaida's wing in Iraq have stepped up in the Baghdad area and western Iraq.

A Marine statement said F/A-18 jets dropped bombs shortly after midnight on two light bridges near Karabilah, about 185 miles west of Baghdad.

"The purpose of the strike was to prevent al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists from using the structures for vehicular traffic to conduct attacks," the U.S. statement said. "The munitions used in the strike were designed to crater the bridges, rendering them inoperable but not destroying them."

[lawyerlee]

Bomb Kills Four U.S. Contractors in Basra (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html?pagewanted=print)
New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A roadside bomb killed four American security guards traveling in a convoy Wednesday in the southern city of Basra, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the ex-wife of American contract worker Roy Hallums, taken hostage last November in Iraq, said he has been released.

''I can confirm he's been released,'' Susan Hallums, 53, told The Associated Press by telephone in Los Angeles. ''Considering what he's been through, I understand he's in good condition.''

Hallums, a 57-year-old worker for a Saudi company that does catering for the Iraqi army, was the last remaining hostage among six people who were snatched Nov. 1 after a gunbattle in the upscale Mansour neighborhood. A Filipino accountant, a Nepalese and three Iraqis were freed earlier.

The developments came a day after Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Saddam Hussein has confessed to ordering killings and other crimes committed during his regime and ''deserves to be executed 20 times a day for his crimes against humanity.''

An official with the Iraqi Special Tribunal said Saddam had acknowledged ordering deadly retribution against Kurds in the north of the country and boasted that the killings were legal and justified.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said Saddam made the statement last month during questioning in preparation for his trial before the tribunal scheduled to begin Oct. 19.

[lawyerlee]

American Contractor Taken Hostage in Iraq Is Released (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-090705hostage_wr,0,3044908.story?coll=la-tot-promo&track=morenews)
Los Angeles Times
From Associated Press

8:56 AM PDT, September 7, 2005

American contractor Roy Hallums, who was taken hostage last November in Iraq, has been released, his ex-wife said today.

"I can confirm he's been released," Susan Hallums, 53, told The Associated Press by telephone from her home in Corona. "Considering what he's been through, I understand he's in good condition."

Hallums, a 57-year-old worker for a Saudi company, was seized Nov. 1 along with two other foreigners from a Baghdad office after a gunbattle. An Iraqi guard and one attacker were killed.

In a January video released by his kidnappers, Hallums had a shaggy beard and a gun pointed at his head. The family sent flyers to Iraq that, in English and Arabic, offer a $40,000 reward for information leading to his safe release.

Hallums, formerly of Newport Beach, was working for the Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Co., supplying food to the Iraqi army, when he was kidnapped.

Mrs. Hallums and her husband of 30 years divorced a couple of years ago but remained good friends, she said. They have two daughters.

[lawyerlee]

Suicide Car Bomber Kills 15 in Iraq (http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8CFJNU00.html)
Salon.com
- - - - - - - - - - - -

September 07,2005 | BASRA, Iraq -- A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car outside a takeout restaurant in a market in this southern Iraqi city Wednesday night, killing at least 15 people and wounding 10, police said.

The felafel restaurant is in the center of Basra's Hayaniyah district market, a Shiite Muslim section of the city, Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said. Two police vehicles were destroyed in the blast.

Earlier Wednesday, four American security agents were killed in a car bombing near Basra, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

[lawyerlee]

US Mulls "Decisive" Attack on Iraqi Rebel Town (http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-talafar.html?pagewanted=print)
New York Times

By REUTERS
Filed at 9:29 p.m. ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States is considering an all-out military attack in the coming weeks against the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, which it sees as a stronghold of rebellion, a U.S. general said on Thursday.

U.S. and Iraqi troops have been battling insurgents in Tal Afar, west of the northern city of Mosul, for several days. A joint U.S.-Iraqi military statement said they killed seven insurgents on Wednesday.

Many families have evacuated the town in recent days as violence increased.

``In Tal Afar, coalition forces and members of the Iraqi security forces are preparing a possible military operation to rid that city of insurgents,'' Major General Rick Lynch told a news briefing in Baghdad.

``As we speak, operations are ongoing to evacuate civilians from neighborhoods targeted by the insurgents.''

The United States sees Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, as a conduit for foreign fighters and military equipment coming into Iraq to help insurgents fighting the occupying U.S. forces and the Shi'ite Muslim- and Kurdish- dominated Iraqi government.

[lawyerlee]

Baghdad Airport Shut Over Pay Spat (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/printable541815.shtml)
CBS News

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 9, 2005

The Baghdad International Airport, the country's only reliable link to the outside world, was closed Friday in an embarrassing pay dispute between the government and a British security company.

The Interior Ministry sent a force to reopen the facility, but withdrew the men after they confronted U.S. soldiers manning a key checkpoint along the airport road.

"We ordered the forces to pull back after American forces were deployed at the first checkpoint on the road. We did not want to create a confrontation," acting Transportation Minister Esmat Amer told The Associated Press.

Brig. Gen. John Basilica Jr., commander of the 256th Brigade Combat Team of the Louisiana National Guard, said security remained "intact" at the airport. His unit, some of which is has already returned to the United States, had been in charge of security along the dangerous airport road.

Otherwise, the U.S. military, in an apparent attempt to play down the ruckus, said it had no information about the pay dispute or Interior Ministry force movements.

[lawyerlee]

U.S. Claims Success in Iraq Despite Onslaught (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091801593_pf.html)
Body Counts Now Cited as Benchmarks
Washington Post

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, September 19, 2005; A01

BAGHDAD -- Using enemy body counts as a benchmark, the U.S. military claimed gains against Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led fighters last week even as they mounted their deadliest attacks on Iraq's capital.

But by many standards, including increasingly high death tolls in insurgent strikes, Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq, could claim to be the side that's gaining after 2 1/2 years of war. August was the third-deadliest month of the war for U.S. troops.

After generally rejecting body counts as standards of success in the Iraq war, the U.S. military last week embraced them -- just as it did during the Vietnam War. As the carnage grew in Baghdad, U.S. officials produced charts showing the number of suspects killed or detained in offensives in the west.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

This is freaking crazy:
What has happened to Iraq's missing $1bn? (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article313538.ece) The Independent
One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.

The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.
The sum missing over an eight-month period in 2004 and 2005 is the equivalent of the $1.8bn that Saddam allegedly received in kick- backs under the UN's oil-for-food programme between 1997 and 2003. The UN was pilloried for not stopping this corruption. The US military is likely to be criticised over the latest scandal because it was far better placed than the UN to monitor corruption.

The fraud took place between 28 June 2004 and 28 February this year under the government of Iyad Allawi, who was interim prime minister. His ministers were appointed by the US envoy Robert Blackwell and his UN counterpart, Lakhdar Brahimi.

[lawyerlee]

Halliburton?

[lawyerlee]

Bomber Strikes U.S. Convoy; Tensions in Basra (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4855581)
NPR
by Anne Garrels

Morning Edition, September 20, 2005 · A suicide car bomber attacks a three-car U.S. diplomatic convoy in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing four Americans. And in Basra, British troops are clashing with Iraqi militias.


U.S. Forces Struggle to Contain Iraqi Insurgency (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4855584)
NPR

by Eric Westervelt

Morning Edition, September 20, 2005 · Though U.S. and Iraqi forces have claimed victory against insurgents in one part of Iraq, the urban attacks continue: at least 200 Iraqis have been killed by suicide attacks in Baghdad in recent days.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

Insurgents seize 5 towns near Syria
Militants loyal to al-Zarqawi tell residents in 'death letters' to abandon their homes (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/27/MNG99EUI391.DTL) San Francisco Chronicle
A senior U.S. Marine commander said Monday that insurgents loyal to militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had taken over at least five key western Iraqi towns on the border with Syria and were forcing local residents to flee.

In an interview with The Chronicle, Lt. Col. Julian Alford, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines Regiment stationed outside the western Iraqi town of al Qaim, said insurgents in the area had been distributing flyers they called "death letters," in which they ordered residents of this western corner of volatile Anbar province to leave -- or face death.

"Basically, the insurgents say if they don't leave they will ... behead them," said Alford, who took command this month of about 1,000 Marines stationed in the dusty desert area populated by roughly 100,000 Sunni Arabs.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001218842) Editor & Publisher

I thought the abuse was bad, but I did think it was "only" humiliation (not that that isn't bad enough). I didn't realize there was actual evidence of rape and murder.

[pocket]

I was just reading about this. This just can't be true.

[lawyerlee]

I feel really ashamed to be an American if that's what is being done in our name.

[pocket]

honestly, do you think there is actual footage of american soldiers doing these terrible things? how can this be? i can't believe it. i don't even want to think about it because it makes my tummy hurt. i have heard that there's sodomy of a child in this bunch of pictures. women crying as they bare their breasts. men forced to masturbate together while american soldiers laugh and take pictures.

[msnicolea]

I feel really ashamed to be an American if that's what is being done in our name.

Oh, Diana--love it or leave it!

I am praying these reports are exagerated. :(

[mgrace]

Car bomb in Iraq kills 12 (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1173411)
abcnews.com

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

U.S. cuts back on rebuilding Iraq (http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2005/10/19/news/nation/wednat07.txt) Knight Ridder
The Bush administration cannot fulfill all its grand promises to rebuild Iraq because soaring security costs, mismanagement and poor planning have cost billons of dollars, federal auditors said Tuesday.

Some projects — including those to provide clean water for Iraqis — have been cancelled as a result.

In one case, security costs for a U.S. Agency for International Development program on economic reform increased from $894,000 to $37 million, an auditor told Congress. And hundreds of millions of dollars is being diverted to pay for training for Iraqis and for the maintenance of new facilities — expenses overlooked in the initial U.S. planning for the reconstruction, auditors said.


Add to that the rising prices for materials, cost overruns and delays, and there’s far less money to rebuild Iraq as the Bush administration envisioned, said Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. He called the shortfall “the reconstruction gap.’’

“Though the causes may be numerous and valid, the existence of the gap simply means that the completion of the U.S.-funded portion of Iraq’s reconstruction will leave many planned projects on the drawing board,’’ Bowen told the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations.

Bowen said he’d know how big the reconstruction gap is in two weeks.

A 2003 World Bank estimate said it would cost $56 billion to rebuild Iraq’s aging and war-damaged infrastructure while the U.S. government committed to spend $29 billion, Bowen said. But he added that the estimate didn’t take into account rising security costs or “losses from mismanagement, corruption and general inefficiency.’’
In a related development, congressmen from both parties blasted the Department of Defense’s acting inspector general, Thomas Gimble, because his agency quietly pulled all its auditors and criminal investigators out of Iraq a year ago, a fact Knight Ridder reported on Monday. Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Shays, R-Conn., called it “a bad decision.’’
More at link.