For 3rd day, bomb strikes Iraq pilgrims, kills 6
BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded Saturday as Shiite pilgrims were boarding minibuses in Baghdad, killing at least six people, officials said, in a third straight day of attacks on travelers heading to a religious ceremony in Karbala.
Despite the violence, hundreds of thousands of worshippers streamed toward the twin golden domed mosques of Karbala, a Shiite religious center 50 miles south of Baghdad. Men and women filed through separate gates to be searched.
The explosives-laden car blew up about 9 a.m. near minibuses picking up pilgrims in Baghdad's mainly Shiite district of Shaab.
It was the latest in a series of bombings targeting Shiites heading for the Karbala festivities, which culminate Sunday. The deadliest attack came Thursday when a female suicide bomber killed at least 18 pilgrims resting on the side of the road south of Baghdad.
On Friday, a passenger van packed with explosives blew up at a bus station in Balad, north of Baghdad. The Balad hospital director, Qassim Hatam al-Qaisi, said nine people were killed and 40 were wounded.
The attacks have heightened concern that extremists are seeking to re-ignite the firestorm of sectarian massacres that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war two years ago before thousands of American reinforcements were rushed to the country.
U.S.-backed Iraqi troops have stepped up security measures for the pilgrimage, but travelers remain vulnerable on the road.
Iraqi soldiers, meanwhile, arrested the head of a U.S.-funded Sunni group who was accused of "supporting terrorism" in a series of raids in the western Baghdad district of Jihad.
An Iraqi officer, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, identified the suspect as Tahir Abdullah al-Hamdani, the head of the so-called awakening council in Jihad.
The U.S. military confirmed that a leader of the group was arrested but declined to identify him or give more details.
American commanders have said the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq was a key factor in a sharp decline in violence over the past year, but the movement has been troubled by friendly fire incidents and concerns about infiltration.
AP Television News video showed Iraqi soldiers combing the largely empty residential area and a blindfolded man sitting cross-legged next to three rows of Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Iraqi army officer Col. Ali Abboud Thamir said the raid was aimed at clearing the area of extremists so about 240 displaced families could return next week.
In Karbala, women in flowing black robes were searched by female guards at a separate checkpoint from the men. Iraqi security forces were taking no chances amid warnings that insurgents are increasingly using women to stage attacks — women can more easily hide explosives under their abayas and men are reluctant to search them.
Posters of Shiite religious leaders were confiscated for fear they might provoke attacks by followers of rival clerics, and mobile phones were banned because they could be used to trigger bombs.
Police cars and ambulances roamed the streets, while city officials set up dozens of tents around the city to provide food, water and emergency medical care. Dozens of army and police snipers could be seen on buildings throughout the city looking for signs of trouble.
The Shiite festival, Shabaniyah, celebrates the birth of Mohammed al-Mahdi, the 12th Shiite imam, who disappeared in the ninth century. Devout Shiites call him the Hidden Imam and believe he will return to restore peace and harmony.
No group has claimed responsibility for the pilgrim attacks. Attacks on Shiite civilians — especially during Shiite religious festivals — have been the hallmark of Sunni extremists, including al-Qaida in Iraq.
Last year, Shabaniyah celebrations were tarnished when armed clashes broke out between followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and security forces controlled by rival Shiite groups.
Soon afterward, al-Sadr declared a cease-fire, in large part because of the backlash provoked among Shiites by his followers' role in the Shabaniyah clashes.
IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Blackwater guards get target letters
WASHINGTON - Half a dozen Blackwater Worldwide security guards have gotten target letters from the Justice Department in a probe of shootings in Baghdad that killed 17 Iraqis, The Washington Post reported.
The Blackwater guards are caught up in the investigation of shootings that took place last September when a Blackwater team arrived in several vehicles at an intersection in Baghdad where shooting erupted, leaving numerous Iraqis dead and wounded.
The Post described the six guards as former U.S. military personnel, but did not identify them by name.
Attributing its information to three sources close to the case, the Post said that any charges would be brought against the guards under a federal law used to prosecute cases referred to the Justice Department by the Pentagon for crimes committed by military personnel and contractors overseas.
Target letters often are a prelude to indictment.
The Post story appeared on the newspaper's Website Saturday night.
The shootings began when a Blackwater convoy, which was responding to a Baghdad car bombing, entered the Nisoor Square traffic circle.
Blackwater says the convoy was ambushed by insurgents, touching off a firefight. Iraqi witnesses, however, described an unprovoked attack in which security guards fired indiscriminately, killing motorists, bystanders and children in the square.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Rice visits Baghdad to press for security deal
BAGHDAD - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Iraqi leaders Thursday to agree quickly to a U.S.-Iraq security deal that outlines the withdrawal of American troops.
Flying into Baghdad on an unannounced trip, Rice said the two sides were nearing an agreement after months of painstaking negotiations but stressed there were still unresolved issues, including when U.S. soldiers will leave and what their operations will consist of until then.
"The negotiators have taken this very, very far," she told reporters aboard her plane. "But there is no reason to believe that there is an agreement yet."
"There are still issues concerning exactly how our forces operate," Rice said, adding that "the agreement rests on aspirational timelines."
Her comments dampened speculation that agreement might be reached while she is in Baghdad on a several-hour visit, her first to Iraq since March, after U.S. and Iraqi officials said Wednesday that a draft document was done and awaiting approval from political leaders.
Rice said it was "very premature" to conclude the agreement had been finalized. The United States had hoped to seal the deal, which will replace the U.N. mandate for international forces in Iraq that expires Dec. 31, by the end of last month.
Rice declined to talk about specific gaps, but U.S. officials said more work is needed to reach agreements on a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals, immunity for U.S. troops and the handling of Iraqi prisoners.
One senior official said Rice would be pushing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hard to accept.
"Ultimately the prime minister has to make the call on moving forward," Rice said. She described her visit as "a chance for me to meet with the prime minister and see what we can do from Washington to get to closure."
One official close to al-Maliki said Wednesday that he objected to parts of the text, including the immunity provision. Another Iraqi official said al-Maliki had gone through the text personally and made notes with objections to some undisclosed points. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that negotiators had completed a draft agreement that extends the legal basis for U.S. troops to remain in Iraq beyond the end of this year, while calling for them to move out of Iraqi cities as soon as June 30.
A senior U.S. military official in Washington said the deal is acceptable to the U.S. side, subject to formal approval by President Bush. It also requires approval by Iraqi leaders, and some members of Iraq's Cabinet oppose some provisions.
Also completed is a companion draft document, known as a strategic framework agreement, spelling out in broad terms the political, security and economic relationships between Iraq and the United States, the senior military official said. The official discussed the draft accords on condition that he not be identified by name because the deals have not been publicly announced and are not final.
In addition to spelling out that U.S. troops would move out of Iraqi cities by next summer, the Iraqi government has pushed for a specific date — most likely the end of 2011 — by which all U.S. forces would depart the country. In the meantime, the U.S. troops would be positioned on bases in other parts of the country to make them less visible while still being able to assist Iraqi forces as needed.
There are now about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
U.S. officials have resisted committing firmly to a specific date for a final pullout, insisting that it would be wiser to set a target linked to the attainment of certain agreed-upon goals. These goals would reflect not only security improvements but also progress on the political and economic fronts.
It was not clear Wednesday how that has been settled in the draft security accord, which the two governments are referring to as a memorandum of understanding. The draft agreement must be approved by the Iraqi parliament, which is in recess until early next month.
Late Wednesday a second senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two sides have come up with a draft agreement that addresses the issue of the timing of future U.S. troop withdrawals, but the official would not say whether the two sides had agreed on 2011 for a final pullout. The official suggested there would be a series of timelines set, linked to conditions on the ground, and that the draft worked out by the negotiators required more talks at higher levels of the two governments.
An Iraqi official who was involved in the protracted negotiations said a compromise had been worked out on the contentious issue of whether to provide U.S. troops immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law, but he did not give details. In Washington, the senior military official said the draft agreement reflects the U.S. position that the United States must retain exclusive legal jurisdiction over its troops in Iraq.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Chain wrapped around 'old man's body' found in mosque
# Iraqi authorities discover 27 bodies at mosque and find torture room
# "Here is a chain we found tied to an old man's body," official says
# Dad of 25-year-old: "His hands, legs were amputated and his head was decapitated"
# Residents say militia has left mosque, but still intimidates them
The horrific scene at this southwestern Baghdad mosque is what officials say was the work of a Shiite militia known as the Mehdi Army. Residents who live near the mosque say they could hear the victims' screams.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
U.S. military frees Reuters cameraman in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military freed a Reuters television cameraman on Thursday after holding him for three weeks in Iraq without charges.
Ali al-Mashhadani, who also works freelance for the BBC and Washington-based National Public Radio, was detained in Baghdad on July 30 while he was in the Green Zone government compound for routine checks for a U.S. military press card.
U.S. forces have detained Mashhadani twice before, at one point holding him for five months, but no charge has ever been filed against the cameraman, who is based in Ramadi, the capital of western Anbar province.
The U.S. military said at the time of his latest arrest that he was held "because he has been assessed to be a threat to the security of Iraq and coalition forces," but did not elaborate.
Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger said he was pleased Mashhadani was released but concerned that it was the third time he was "detained without explanation."
"If there are legitimate issues about him or any other journalist, let's have them aired openly and tested. If there are none, let them pursue their profession free from intimidation and fear."
Jon Williams, BBC News world editor, said: "Ali is part of our Iraqi family -- his colleagues in London and Baghdad are delighted he's been freed. We now look to the American military authorities to offer evidence and an explanation for Ali's detention."
U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Patrick Driscoll said he was preparing a response to questions posed by Reuters.
Reuters, the BBC, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and Iraqi journalist groups had issued calls for the military either to explain its accusations against Mashhadani or free him.
The military says that under the U.N. mandate governing the presence of foreign forces in Iraq it can detain anyone considered a security risk indefinitely.
U.S. forces previously detained Mashhadani in August 2005 after troops became suspicious of film they found on his cameras while searching his home in Ramadi. He was freed in January 2006, then detained again for two weeks in mid-2006.
The manner of Mashhadani's latest arrest was unusual, as he was inside the heavily-guarded press centre in the Green Zone compound. To get there, he would have had his identity checked and been searched at a series of entry checkpoints.
Two Iraqi journalists who were in the military press office when he was detained said U.S. soldiers suddenly appeared, frisked him and led him away. Two other witnesses said they saw soldiers escorting a handcuffed man with a hood over his head.
U.S. forces have held other Iraqi reporters working for Reuters and journalists from different media groups for long periods without charging them. In April, the U.S. military freed a Pulitzer Prize-winning Iraqi photographer working for the Associated Press after holding him without charge for two years.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/2 ... uantanamo1
British security services colluded in unlawful detention of terror suspect, court rules
Judges order handover of secret information that could support claims of UK resident held in Guantánamo Bay that he was tortured
James Sturcke guardian.co.uk, Thursday August 21 2008
Binyam Mohamed, a UK resident held in Guantánamo Bay. Photograph: PA
British security services colluded in the unlawful detention and facilitated the interrogation of a British resident detained in Afghanistan six years ago, the high court ruled today.
Two judges ordered the foreign secretary to hand over to Binyam Mohamed's legal team secret information that could support his case that he was tortured in Pakistan and Morocco before being sent to Guantánamo Bay.
Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones found that the British security service "facilitated interviews by or on behalf of the United States incommunicado and without access to a lawyer in Pakistan" in 2002. The detention was unlawful under Pakistani law, the judges said.
Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian national who worked as a caretaker in London, was charged by the US with terror offences in May and could face the death penalty if found guilty by a military tribunal.
The judges found the handing over of information held by the British government about the alleged torture Mohamed suffered was "essential for him to have his case fairly considered".
"Without that information BM [Mohamed] will not be able to put forward a defence to the very serious charges he faces, given the confessions made by him in Bagram and Guantánamo Bay in 2004," the judges ruled.
"It is a longstanding principle of the common law that confessions obtained under torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment cannot be used in evidence in trial."
The judges said the court had established that the British secret service facilitated the questioning of Mohamed. "By seeking to interview BM in the circumstances found [in Pakistan] and supplying information and questions for his interviews, the relationship between the United Kingdom government and the United States authorities was far beyond that of bystander or witness to the alleged wrongdoing."
During the hearing of the case, Dinah Rose QC, for Mohamed, said he was tortured after his detention in Pakistan. He was rendered to Morocco where he was subjected to more prolonged and brutal torture after being made to "disappear", she said.
The former Kensington caretaker alleges he was repeatedly slashed in the genitals with a razor blade while being held in Morocco. Finally, he was rendered to Guantánamo, where he has spent the past four years.
Rose said Mohamed had a unique opportunity to get the charges against him dismissed on the grounds that the evidence against him was inadmissible because it had been obtained by torture.
The lawyer told the judges the US authorities denied that Mohamed had been subjected to extraordinary rendition or torture. But there were strong grounds for believing that MI6 and MI5 held independent evidence supporting his story of torture.
Lawyers for the Foreign Office argued at the hearing that the government had acted within its powers and was not legally obliged to make the disclosures sought. The foreign secretary was entitled to proceed on the basis that the US legal system would safeguard Mohamed's rights, they said.
PS:Most regrettable that the fair name of Britain-this was just not cricket , has been so tarnished by Blair's servility towards Bush.Fortunately,its judges have restored faith in the British legal system and sense of fair play.
British security services colluded in unlawful detention of terror suspect, court rules
Judges order handover of secret information that could support claims of UK resident held in Guantánamo Bay that he was tortured
James Sturcke guardian.co.uk, Thursday August 21 2008
Binyam Mohamed, a UK resident held in Guantánamo Bay. Photograph: PA
British security services colluded in the unlawful detention and facilitated the interrogation of a British resident detained in Afghanistan six years ago, the high court ruled today.
Two judges ordered the foreign secretary to hand over to Binyam Mohamed's legal team secret information that could support his case that he was tortured in Pakistan and Morocco before being sent to Guantánamo Bay.
Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones found that the British security service "facilitated interviews by or on behalf of the United States incommunicado and without access to a lawyer in Pakistan" in 2002. The detention was unlawful under Pakistani law, the judges said.
Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian national who worked as a caretaker in London, was charged by the US with terror offences in May and could face the death penalty if found guilty by a military tribunal.
The judges found the handing over of information held by the British government about the alleged torture Mohamed suffered was "essential for him to have his case fairly considered".
"Without that information BM [Mohamed] will not be able to put forward a defence to the very serious charges he faces, given the confessions made by him in Bagram and Guantánamo Bay in 2004," the judges ruled.
"It is a longstanding principle of the common law that confessions obtained under torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment cannot be used in evidence in trial."
The judges said the court had established that the British secret service facilitated the questioning of Mohamed. "By seeking to interview BM in the circumstances found [in Pakistan] and supplying information and questions for his interviews, the relationship between the United Kingdom government and the United States authorities was far beyond that of bystander or witness to the alleged wrongdoing."
During the hearing of the case, Dinah Rose QC, for Mohamed, said he was tortured after his detention in Pakistan. He was rendered to Morocco where he was subjected to more prolonged and brutal torture after being made to "disappear", she said.
The former Kensington caretaker alleges he was repeatedly slashed in the genitals with a razor blade while being held in Morocco. Finally, he was rendered to Guantánamo, where he has spent the past four years.
Rose said Mohamed had a unique opportunity to get the charges against him dismissed on the grounds that the evidence against him was inadmissible because it had been obtained by torture.
The lawyer told the judges the US authorities denied that Mohamed had been subjected to extraordinary rendition or torture. But there were strong grounds for believing that MI6 and MI5 held independent evidence supporting his story of torture.
Lawyers for the Foreign Office argued at the hearing that the government had acted within its powers and was not legally obliged to make the disclosures sought. The foreign secretary was entitled to proceed on the basis that the US legal system would safeguard Mohamed's rights, they said.
PS:Most regrettable that the fair name of Britain-this was just not cricket , has been so tarnished by Blair's servility towards Bush.Fortunately,its judges have restored faith in the British legal system and sense of fair play.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Iraq wants explanation on reported US spying on PM
Sat, Sep 6 04:47 AM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will seek an explanation from U.S. officials about a report asserting the United States spied on Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi government spokesman said on Friday.
The Washington Post said on Friday that a new book by U.S. journalist Bob Woodward, presented as a critical inside look at the Bush administration's decision-making on Iraq, reported that the United States spied on Maliki and other Iraqi leaders.
"If it is true ... it reflects that there is no trust," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
Iraq will ask the United States for an explanation, he said.
"If it is true, it casts a shadow on the future relations with such institutions," he added, referring to the CIA and other U.S. agencies.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to comment on the report, detailed in Woodward's fourth book on U.S. President George W. Bush, entitled "The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008." Debate over the unpopular war has figured prominently in the 2008 U.S. presidential race.
"We have extensive cooperation with Prime Minister Maliki. Our ambassador sees him almost daily," Perino told reporters. "To the extent that they (the Iraqi government) have any concerns, because we have the good relationship that we have with them. ... I'm sure that they'll be talking about it."
Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, later issued a statement insisting the picture of Iraq policy presented in the Post story was "at least incomplete," but he did not directly address the spying allegation in the book.
Woodward writes that the surveillance of the Iraqi prime minister caused concern among several senior U.S. officials, who questioned whether it was worth the risk given Bush's efforts to earn Maliki's trust, the Post reported.
COVERT OPERATIONS
The book also concluded that the U.S. troop buildup, or "surge," of 2007 was not the primary factor behind the steep drop in violence in Iraq, the Post reported.
Woodward reports "groundbreaking" new covert techniques, beginning in 2007, enabled U.S. military and intelligence officials to locate, target and kill insurgent leaders and key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The book states that four factors combined to reduce the violence -- covert operations, the "surge," militant Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's decision to rein in his Mahdi Army, and the "Anbar Awakening" in which Sunnis joined U.S. forces in fighting al-Qaeda, the article said.
Refuting that assertion, Hadley said, "Of these, it was the president's decision in January 2007 to surge an additional 30,000 troops into Iraq that 'enabled' the other three factors."
Hadley also disagreed with the description of Bush as "detached" from the policy review that led to the surge. The book portrays "an administration riven by dissension, either unwilling or slow to confront the deterioration of its strategy in Iraq during the summer and early fall of 2006," the Post said.
Sat, Sep 6 04:47 AM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will seek an explanation from U.S. officials about a report asserting the United States spied on Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi government spokesman said on Friday.
The Washington Post said on Friday that a new book by U.S. journalist Bob Woodward, presented as a critical inside look at the Bush administration's decision-making on Iraq, reported that the United States spied on Maliki and other Iraqi leaders.
"If it is true ... it reflects that there is no trust," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
Iraq will ask the United States for an explanation, he said.
"If it is true, it casts a shadow on the future relations with such institutions," he added, referring to the CIA and other U.S. agencies.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to comment on the report, detailed in Woodward's fourth book on U.S. President George W. Bush, entitled "The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008." Debate over the unpopular war has figured prominently in the 2008 U.S. presidential race.
"We have extensive cooperation with Prime Minister Maliki. Our ambassador sees him almost daily," Perino told reporters. "To the extent that they (the Iraqi government) have any concerns, because we have the good relationship that we have with them. ... I'm sure that they'll be talking about it."
Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, later issued a statement insisting the picture of Iraq policy presented in the Post story was "at least incomplete," but he did not directly address the spying allegation in the book.
Woodward writes that the surveillance of the Iraqi prime minister caused concern among several senior U.S. officials, who questioned whether it was worth the risk given Bush's efforts to earn Maliki's trust, the Post reported.
COVERT OPERATIONS
The book also concluded that the U.S. troop buildup, or "surge," of 2007 was not the primary factor behind the steep drop in violence in Iraq, the Post reported.
Woodward reports "groundbreaking" new covert techniques, beginning in 2007, enabled U.S. military and intelligence officials to locate, target and kill insurgent leaders and key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The book states that four factors combined to reduce the violence -- covert operations, the "surge," militant Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's decision to rein in his Mahdi Army, and the "Anbar Awakening" in which Sunnis joined U.S. forces in fighting al-Qaeda, the article said.
Refuting that assertion, Hadley said, "Of these, it was the president's decision in January 2007 to surge an additional 30,000 troops into Iraq that 'enabled' the other three factors."
Hadley also disagreed with the description of Bush as "detached" from the policy review that led to the surge. The book portrays "an administration riven by dissension, either unwilling or slow to confront the deterioration of its strategy in Iraq during the summer and early fall of 2006," the Post said.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
The news that the Iraqis are being armtwisted to wrap up controversial deals with select oil companies for future production,that would reap colossal windfall profits for the lucky few,appears to have a Cheney foster-father,the godfather of the west's oil emperors.To secure the security of these deals requires US/western troops on the ground along with mercenary outfits safeguarding the black gold as it is pumped out in the coming years.The Iraqi PM has realised that allowing the US bases earlier proposed (in apparent perpetuity),would make a mockery out of Iraqi "sovereignity" and would be tantamount to the Iraqi govt. being a perpetual puppet,with no right whatsoever to its own oil! The latest gambit by the west is for their forces to remain in Iraq using the "might is right" theory if they can obtain the desperatel;y sought after oil contracts before the Bush/Cheney regime is banishd into history.The days are few and far between for Cheney to pull off as many deals in Iraq that keep the billions and trillions of dollars rolling into the oil companies pockets,not to mention any reward that he might get.If the disgraced head of Lehamn Brothers got a golden parachute of $480 million for leading his company into bankruptcy,imagine what Bush & Cheney's reward would be for garnering profits worth trillions?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oc ... q-military
Britain plays down Iraqi PM's view that troops not needed
Richard Norton-Taylor, Julian Borger The Guardian, Tuesday October 14 2008
British officials yesterday said the time was approaching when a large majority of the 4,000 British troops based in southern Iraq would leave, adding that a few hundred would remain to help train Iraqi security forces.
The officials were responding to comments by Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, in an interview in which he was quoted as saying that Britain's military presence in Basra was "not necessary for maintaining security and control". He added: "There might be a need for their experience in training."
The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office played down the significance of his remarks, arguing that 800 troops were directly involved in training the Iraqi army and that the remainder provided logistics and security.
"The [British] prime minister has already said that we have changed our role from combat to training and support, so I don't think there is any difference between Mr Maliki's views and ours," an official at the Foreign Office said.
The MoD pointed to previous statements by Gordon Brown that there would be a "fundamental change of mission" for British troops, meaning a switch to training, next year.
But Maliki's intervention will again raise the question of why so many British troops remain at Basra airport. His choice of words was pointed and critical and he was dismissive of the performance of British troops in fighting in Basra last spring.
"The British forces withdrew from the confrontation, from inside the city to the area of the airport," he told the Times. "They stayed away from the confrontation, which gave the gangs and the militias the chance to control the city."
The MoD responded tartly yesterday, insisting that the decision to withdraw UK forces from the Iraqi city to its airport last year was taken jointly with the Iraqi government and the US and was based on "very sound military rationale".
"Our presence in Basra city was a motivating factor for a large proportion of the violence in Basra and the decision to withdraw UK forces allowed the Iraqi security forces to develop lasting solutions to the security challenges in Basra. The transformation of the security situation in Basra is a vindication of that strategy," it added.
In response to the question why the UK had not yet started negotiations with Iraq on a legal framework for any continued British military presence - a status of forces agreement - once the existing UN mandate expires at the end of this year, the MoD said: "Our requirements are very similar to those of the US; we intend to use the Iraqi/US text as the basis for our agreement."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oc ... q-military
Britain plays down Iraqi PM's view that troops not needed
Richard Norton-Taylor, Julian Borger The Guardian, Tuesday October 14 2008
British officials yesterday said the time was approaching when a large majority of the 4,000 British troops based in southern Iraq would leave, adding that a few hundred would remain to help train Iraqi security forces.
The officials were responding to comments by Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, in an interview in which he was quoted as saying that Britain's military presence in Basra was "not necessary for maintaining security and control". He added: "There might be a need for their experience in training."
The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office played down the significance of his remarks, arguing that 800 troops were directly involved in training the Iraqi army and that the remainder provided logistics and security.
"The [British] prime minister has already said that we have changed our role from combat to training and support, so I don't think there is any difference between Mr Maliki's views and ours," an official at the Foreign Office said.
The MoD pointed to previous statements by Gordon Brown that there would be a "fundamental change of mission" for British troops, meaning a switch to training, next year.
But Maliki's intervention will again raise the question of why so many British troops remain at Basra airport. His choice of words was pointed and critical and he was dismissive of the performance of British troops in fighting in Basra last spring.
"The British forces withdrew from the confrontation, from inside the city to the area of the airport," he told the Times. "They stayed away from the confrontation, which gave the gangs and the militias the chance to control the city."
The MoD responded tartly yesterday, insisting that the decision to withdraw UK forces from the Iraqi city to its airport last year was taken jointly with the Iraqi government and the US and was based on "very sound military rationale".
"Our presence in Basra city was a motivating factor for a large proportion of the violence in Basra and the decision to withdraw UK forces allowed the Iraqi security forces to develop lasting solutions to the security challenges in Basra. The transformation of the security situation in Basra is a vindication of that strategy," it added.
In response to the question why the UK had not yet started negotiations with Iraq on a legal framework for any continued British military presence - a status of forces agreement - once the existing UN mandate expires at the end of this year, the MoD said: "Our requirements are very similar to those of the US; we intend to use the Iraqi/US text as the basis for our agreement."
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Iraq,selling off the family (black) gold!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... leave.html
Iraq makes historic return to oil sales as PM calls for British troops to leave
Iraq has moved to put itself at the centre of the global oil industry as it launches its first sale of production rights to Western companies at a summit in London.
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 6:40PM BST 13 Oct 2008
The recent drop in violence across Iraq has increased the prospects of Baghdad doubling its oil output by 2012 by allowing foreign investors to bring the most advanced production techniques to the war-torn country.
Iraq was at the forefront of world-wide oil production until the Ba'athist regime nationalised the industry in the 1970s. Although Saddam Hussein made deals with French, Russian and Chinese oil companies in the 1990s, United Nations sanctions barred the country's re-emergence as a leading source of energy supplies.
Representatives of 35 companies have been given six months to apply for a 20-year right to operate oilfields that hold up to 40 per cent of the country's 115 barrels of proven reserves. Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq's Minister for Oil, convened the meeting at a Park Lane hotel in central London. Aides said the location was deliberately chosen to demonstrate that Iraq had shed its old pre-occupations about foreign powers dominating the industry, which generates ninety per cent of its annual income.
A British firm is acting as Baghdad's strategic advisor as it overhauls its most important asset. The firm, Gaffney, Cline and Associates, was responsible for a presentation given by Mr Shahristani to the executives. The major British oil firms BP and Shell are seen as leading contenders to gain access to the six major oil fields and two gas fields on offer.
Baghdad hopes to sign the final agreements by next June, months before the country's ruling coalition of Shia and Kurdish parties face the second democratic general election since the 2003 campaign to depose Saddam. But the exercise has kicked-off without a final agreement on a national oil law, a key measure that Baghdad has been under immense pressure to enact.
Enthusiastic bidding despite a recent drop in oil prices would translate into a political windfall for the government. "International interest will be extremely high," said Muhammad-Ali Zainy, senior analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London. "The Iraqi oil industry has been stagnant – and has actually been deteriorating – and it's time to open it to foreign direct investment."
Shell became the first big British oil company to open an office in Baghdad last month. In a signal it had Baghdad's seal of approval, the company was granted a £2 billion deal to modernise an existing gas field.
Critics of the war suggested yesterday's conference represented the breakthrough America and Britain had sought at the outset of the war, a claim that ignored China's equally strong position in the pursuit of Iraqi resources. China has already secured a £1.78 billion deal to renew an agreement it signed with Saddam under sanctions.
Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, declared the country was keen to deepen its economic co-operation with British companies despite his call for UK troops to withdraw from the Iraqi frontline by the end of the year. "Definitely, the presence of this number of British soldiers is no longer necessary," he said. "We thank them for the role they have played, but I think that their stay is not necessary for maintaining security and control."
Mr Maliki said differences over British forces failure to control violence in Basra would not affect overall ties between Baghdad and London. "Our relationship now is good and we are working to improve it further in other fields as we take over responsibility for security," he said. "The Iraqi arena is open for British companies and British friendship, for economic exchange and positive cooperation in science and education."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... leave.html
Iraq makes historic return to oil sales as PM calls for British troops to leave
Iraq has moved to put itself at the centre of the global oil industry as it launches its first sale of production rights to Western companies at a summit in London.
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 6:40PM BST 13 Oct 2008
The recent drop in violence across Iraq has increased the prospects of Baghdad doubling its oil output by 2012 by allowing foreign investors to bring the most advanced production techniques to the war-torn country.
Iraq was at the forefront of world-wide oil production until the Ba'athist regime nationalised the industry in the 1970s. Although Saddam Hussein made deals with French, Russian and Chinese oil companies in the 1990s, United Nations sanctions barred the country's re-emergence as a leading source of energy supplies.
Representatives of 35 companies have been given six months to apply for a 20-year right to operate oilfields that hold up to 40 per cent of the country's 115 barrels of proven reserves. Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq's Minister for Oil, convened the meeting at a Park Lane hotel in central London. Aides said the location was deliberately chosen to demonstrate that Iraq had shed its old pre-occupations about foreign powers dominating the industry, which generates ninety per cent of its annual income.
A British firm is acting as Baghdad's strategic advisor as it overhauls its most important asset. The firm, Gaffney, Cline and Associates, was responsible for a presentation given by Mr Shahristani to the executives. The major British oil firms BP and Shell are seen as leading contenders to gain access to the six major oil fields and two gas fields on offer.
Baghdad hopes to sign the final agreements by next June, months before the country's ruling coalition of Shia and Kurdish parties face the second democratic general election since the 2003 campaign to depose Saddam. But the exercise has kicked-off without a final agreement on a national oil law, a key measure that Baghdad has been under immense pressure to enact.
Enthusiastic bidding despite a recent drop in oil prices would translate into a political windfall for the government. "International interest will be extremely high," said Muhammad-Ali Zainy, senior analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London. "The Iraqi oil industry has been stagnant – and has actually been deteriorating – and it's time to open it to foreign direct investment."
Shell became the first big British oil company to open an office in Baghdad last month. In a signal it had Baghdad's seal of approval, the company was granted a £2 billion deal to modernise an existing gas field.
Critics of the war suggested yesterday's conference represented the breakthrough America and Britain had sought at the outset of the war, a claim that ignored China's equally strong position in the pursuit of Iraqi resources. China has already secured a £1.78 billion deal to renew an agreement it signed with Saddam under sanctions.
Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, declared the country was keen to deepen its economic co-operation with British companies despite his call for UK troops to withdraw from the Iraqi frontline by the end of the year. "Definitely, the presence of this number of British soldiers is no longer necessary," he said. "We thank them for the role they have played, but I think that their stay is not necessary for maintaining security and control."
Mr Maliki said differences over British forces failure to control violence in Basra would not affect overall ties between Baghdad and London. "Our relationship now is good and we are working to improve it further in other fields as we take over responsibility for security," he said. "The Iraqi arena is open for British companies and British friendship, for economic exchange and positive cooperation in science and education."
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Blackmail time-for Iraq's oil wealth.The "SOFA" agreement is meant to perpetuate US/western military forces in Iraq indefinitely,where they will control Iraq's oil wealth and turn the country into an impotent vassal state.The US does not want under any circumsntances to lose its military presence in Iraq,from where it can do whatever it wants without international censure,Geneva Convention,et al. and thus control the entire Middle East and the Gulf from its central geo-strategic position,Iraq.The latest attack on a Syrian village,ostensibly to hunt for AlQ militants,shows how the US can use Iraqi territory for launching attacks "tous azimuth".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... neral.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... neral.html
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
GITMO scandal.Can Bush and the US be believed about anything at all?It is a legacy of lies and falsehoods and war crimes,even worse than the Nazis.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 80264.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 80264.html
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
A possible reason why US hit Syria:
Bashar wanted to re-start "Sunni" terror in Iraq, to gain a foothold in the country independent of Iran. The US op killed one of the key guys in the Damascus game plan. Both Tehran and Syria are collaborating to get rid of the US-Iraq pact.
Syria has pulled back a division from the Iraqi border and have opened it up for terrorists to cross over and return after staging attacks. US may retaliate with increased attacks inside Syria.
Bashar wanted to re-start "Sunni" terror in Iraq, to gain a foothold in the country independent of Iran. The US op killed one of the key guys in the Damascus game plan. Both Tehran and Syria are collaborating to get rid of the US-Iraq pact.
Syria has pulled back a division from the Iraqi border and have opened it up for terrorists to cross over and return after staging attacks. US may retaliate with increased attacks inside Syria.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Senior al-Qaeda leader killed in Iraq: US military
Baghdad, Nov 8: The US military unit in Iraq has claimed that a senior al Qaeda leader in the country was killed in a weapons cache-clearing operation carried out in north of Baghdad.
A statement issued by the US military on Friday said that Abu Ghazwan was killed on Thursday, Nov 6 in the Tarmiyah area. Ghazwan led many terrorist cells in the Tarmiyah and Taji areas, and he advised and financed other terrorist cells in northern Iraq, The News quoted the statement as saying. It said that the operation was carried out by coalition-supported Iraqi security forces and "Sons of Iraq", also known as "Awakening Councils". The paramilitary groups composed mainly of former insurgents who now work with US forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.
It also said that he was responsible for building roadside bombs in the Baghdad area, and for terrorist groups that recruit children and women to conduct suicide attacks against international and coalition forces in Iraq. Earlier, the US military said coalition forces captured 24 suspected members and associates of al-Qaida in Iraq in operations Friday, Nov 7.
Baghdad, Nov 8: The US military unit in Iraq has claimed that a senior al Qaeda leader in the country was killed in a weapons cache-clearing operation carried out in north of Baghdad.
A statement issued by the US military on Friday said that Abu Ghazwan was killed on Thursday, Nov 6 in the Tarmiyah area. Ghazwan led many terrorist cells in the Tarmiyah and Taji areas, and he advised and financed other terrorist cells in northern Iraq, The News quoted the statement as saying. It said that the operation was carried out by coalition-supported Iraqi security forces and "Sons of Iraq", also known as "Awakening Councils". The paramilitary groups composed mainly of former insurgents who now work with US forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.
It also said that he was responsible for building roadside bombs in the Baghdad area, and for terrorist groups that recruit children and women to conduct suicide attacks against international and coalition forces in Iraq. Earlier, the US military said coalition forces captured 24 suspected members and associates of al-Qaida in Iraq in operations Friday, Nov 7.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Iraqi soldier kills two US troops
13 Nov 2008, 0304 hrs IST, AFP
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi soldier shot dead two US soldiers in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday before being shot dead himself, but US and Iraqi officials differ sharply on what actually happened.
Iraqi officials said the soldier opened fire after an altercation with the Americans during a joint patrol in the city, but the US military insisted it was an unprovoked shooting inside an Iraqi army compound.
It was the second such incident since the start of the year in Mosul, but there have been no accounts of Iraqi soldiers killing US troops anywhere else in the country since the end of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Mohammed al-Askari, a spokesman for the Iraqi defence ministry, said the shooting took place during a joint patrol to inspect security procedures in Mosul, which the US military considers the last urban Al-Qaeda bastion in Iraq.
"There was an altercation, and up until now we don't know the reason of the altercation between the soldiers," Askari, a major general, said.
"When they stopped in the street the Iraqi soldier opened fire."
Askari identified the Iraqi soldier as Barazan Mohammed Abdullah al-Hadidi, 21, but did not provide any further information about him.
An official in Iraq's interior ministry said "a US soldier slapped an Iraqi soldier during the patrol and he opened fire in response."
But Major General Mark Hertling, the commander of US-led forces in northern Iraq, said the shooting occurred in the courtyard of an Iraqi army base where the soldiers were waiting for a meeting to end.
13 Nov 2008, 0304 hrs IST, AFP
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi soldier shot dead two US soldiers in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday before being shot dead himself, but US and Iraqi officials differ sharply on what actually happened.
Iraqi officials said the soldier opened fire after an altercation with the Americans during a joint patrol in the city, but the US military insisted it was an unprovoked shooting inside an Iraqi army compound.
It was the second such incident since the start of the year in Mosul, but there have been no accounts of Iraqi soldiers killing US troops anywhere else in the country since the end of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Mohammed al-Askari, a spokesman for the Iraqi defence ministry, said the shooting took place during a joint patrol to inspect security procedures in Mosul, which the US military considers the last urban Al-Qaeda bastion in Iraq.
"There was an altercation, and up until now we don't know the reason of the altercation between the soldiers," Askari, a major general, said.
"When they stopped in the street the Iraqi soldier opened fire."
Askari identified the Iraqi soldier as Barazan Mohammed Abdullah al-Hadidi, 21, but did not provide any further information about him.
An official in Iraq's interior ministry said "a US soldier slapped an Iraqi soldier during the patrol and he opened fire in response."
But Major General Mark Hertling, the commander of US-led forces in northern Iraq, said the shooting occurred in the courtyard of an Iraqi army base where the soldiers were waiting for a meeting to end.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Indian among seven killed in Iraq plane crash
http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20081116/14 ... aq-pl.html
http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20081116/14 ... aq-pl.html
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Top judge: US and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/no ... ign-policy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/no ... ign-policy
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Bush admits Iraq war longer, more costly than expected
http://www.newsone.ca/westfallweeklynew ... s&id=52024
http://www.newsone.ca/westfallweeklynew ... s&id=52024
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Blackwater "contractors" (including three former Marines and two Army veterans) finally get hit.As the story says,the "cowboys have had their day".
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 308025.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 308025.ece
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Finally good news folks. Foreign investors are investing. Iraqi's living abroad are visiting in numbers. They tend to avoid central baghdad and green zones (areas which have equal sunni shia's). But was all this worth it?
After the invasion US did the following:
1) Christian evangelist missionaries sent in - Reported by the Independent
2) Sell arms, reported all over the western media. I think one article mentioned 40,000 small arms shipment from pentagon, had gone missing in Iraq.
3) Let us consider the decision by the US to keep Iranian borders open
What is really intriguing is that the number of marriages between sunni and shia were 40% before the war. If there was really animosity between them, would it be that high?
After the invasion US did the following:
1) Christian evangelist missionaries sent in - Reported by the Independent
2) Sell arms, reported all over the western media. I think one article mentioned 40,000 small arms shipment from pentagon, had gone missing in Iraq.
3) Let us consider the decision by the US to keep Iranian borders open
What is really intriguing is that the number of marriages between sunni and shia were 40% before the war. If there was really animosity between them, would it be that high?
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
The US will never learn....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 031193.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 031193.ece
A mutiny among militia threatens peace in Iraq after US airstrike
(Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi troops search for members of the Awakening Council who rebelled after the arrest of their leader
Deborah Haynes in Baghdad
A mutiny in the ranks of a key Iraqi militia credited with helping US forces to defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq is threatening to plunge the country back into bloody sectarian violence.
The rebellion by some members of the Awakening Councils, a Sunni Arab paramilitary force of more than 90,000 men, could unravel the improvements in security since 2007. If left unchecked it threatens to push the country back to the brink of civil war, pitting Sunnis against the Shias.
A US airstrike on Thursday night targeted a group of Awakening Council men north of Baghdad who were suspected of planting a roadside bomb. One person was killed and two others were wounded and arrested.
The attack came days after some of the worst fighting in Baghdad in two years. Local Awakening guards clashed with the Iraqi Army after their leader was arrested on criminal and terrorism charges. Iraqi soldiers moved into the Fadhil district on Sunday and ordered fighters to surrender.
Learning from past mistakes
Deborah Haynes - inside Iraq
The crackdown alarmed other Awakening units, who fear that they are being treated unfairly by the Government for sectarian reasons. Scores of guards, many of whom fought as insurgents before switching sides, have been arrested in the past fortnight.
Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia Prime Minister, said that the operation in Fadhil came after months of investigation. “The issue was not for political or media purposes,” Mr al-Maliki said.
The offensive sent a message “to those who are following the same path taken by the gang in Fadhil that their fate will be the same”, he said.
The renewed violence will be greeted with alarm by the US military, which is drawing down its forces because of the reduction in violence.
One leader in the restive province of Diyala said that the Government did not trust the Awakening movement because it was made up of Sunni Arabs. “We fought al-Qaeda so how could it be that my guys are terrorists?” said the man, who goes by the nickname of Abu Iraq (father of Iraq). “I do not trust my Government.”
The Awakening Councils were a key part of the strategy developed by General David Petraeus, whose surge of US forces two years ago was credited with pulling Iraq out of its descent into civil war and defeating al-Qaeda.
Awakening Councils were conceived in 2006. The sheikhs had supported or approved of the insurgency but had become repulsed by the indiscriminate killings by groups such as al-Qaeda. They agreed to recruit thousands of fighters to turn against the extremists in return for a salary. The initiative spread across the country. Insurgents who once received cash for planting bombs against the coalition forces took up guns under the payroll of US officers to protect their neighbourhood in one of the most significant turning points in the war.
Many members of the Government opposed the creation of this mainly Sunni Arab armed force and remain concerned that the Awakening Councils have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda and other militant groups.
Responsibility for the Awakening Councils was handed over gradually to the Iraqi authorities. A fifth of the men were supposed to be absorbed into the Iraqi security forces, with the rest given help to find civilian jobs. Little progress has been made in recruiting any of the guards however.
Officials insist they are committed to working with the guards but a drop in the price of oil has restricted plans.
Abu Iraq, who commands about 1,000 men, said that almost 500 had been laid off without the prospect of employment and there was no sign that the 530 still with jobs would be accepted into the security forces soon. “The danger is that the violence starts again in our neighbourhood. There are many guys with no jobs,” he said.
Many Awakening Council members complain that they have not received a salary for up to three months.
Sons of Iraq
- The Awakening Councils, also known as the Sons of Iraq, were formed in 2006 after Sunni tribesmen rose against al-Qaeda
- The US Army paid monthly salaries to the estimated 90,000 Sons of Iraq until last year
- Iraq is dragging its feet on a pledge to take a fifth of its members into the security forces
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
150 killed in one day in Iraq in bombings (Iraq bomb blasts send death toll to 140 in 24 hours).Victims mainly Iranian pilgrims,another complication.Shiite shrines are being targeted deliberately to start another civil war between Shiites and Sunnis.For some reason,the "payoff" that the Sunni militias were given by the US,which is how the earlier sectarian clashes were halted seem to have stopped working.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 161968.ece.
Iraq has become a forgotten war,but it is about to explode once again into sectarian violence which will test the US's ability to restore peace to the battered country.
Obama is going to release 2,000 pics of prisoner abuse by US troops in Iraq and Af.,which is going to cause a "parfect storm" both in Iraq and the US shortly.The CIA is absolutely wild that its contempt for the Geneva Convention is being so openly exposed by the O-Team and Obama is making major enemies within the US just as JFK did.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 164753.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 161968.ece.
Iraq has become a forgotten war,but it is about to explode once again into sectarian violence which will test the US's ability to restore peace to the battered country.
Obama is going to release 2,000 pics of prisoner abuse by US troops in Iraq and Af.,which is going to cause a "parfect storm" both in Iraq and the US shortly.The CIA is absolutely wild that its contempt for the Geneva Convention is being so openly exposed by the O-Team and Obama is making major enemies within the US just as JFK did.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 164753.ece
Photo evidence bring new claims US abused prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan
Tim Reid, Washington
Excerpt:The Obama Administration is to release up to 2,000 photographs showing the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, a move that will intensify pressure on the White House to back the prosecution of Bush-era officials for authorising alleged torture.
Last edited by Philip on 25 Apr 2009 18:11, edited 3 times in total.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
I can't understand why they would do it, because the Abu Ghraib scandal for example went right up to the higher ups of the pentagon and bush officials! Doesn't make sense to me unless they are playing to the Muslim audience.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Finally,one small step for justice for the lakhs of Iraqis killed and maimed by the US.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -girl.html
Former US soldier guilty of rape and murder of Iraqi girl
A former US soldier could face the death penalty after being convicted of the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl after killing her parents and sister while serving in Iraq.
By Caroline Hedley in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 6:10AM BST 08 May 2009
During the trial, jurors heard that the attack on the al-Janabi family was pre-meditated, and 'a crime committed in cold blood' Photo: AP
Private First Class Steven Dale Green, 24, was found guilty in the US District Court in western Kentucky. His trial took place in a civilian court as he was discharged from the army's 101st Airborne Division for a "personality disorder" before his crimes came to light.
Prosecution witnesses said Green had shot the family of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi at her home before raping and killing the girl on March 12, 2006.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -girl.html
Former US soldier guilty of rape and murder of Iraqi girl
A former US soldier could face the death penalty after being convicted of the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl after killing her parents and sister while serving in Iraq.
By Caroline Hedley in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 6:10AM BST 08 May 2009
During the trial, jurors heard that the attack on the al-Janabi family was pre-meditated, and 'a crime committed in cold blood' Photo: AP
Private First Class Steven Dale Green, 24, was found guilty in the US District Court in western Kentucky. His trial took place in a civilian court as he was discharged from the army's 101st Airborne Division for a "personality disorder" before his crimes came to light.
Prosecution witnesses said Green had shot the family of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi at her home before raping and killing the girl on March 12, 2006.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
The "Rape" pics show unspeakable horrors comitted against both women and men and those US troops responsible as well as Cheny and gang,who authorised those bestial inhuman acts,akin to Nazi concentration camp atrocities must face trial for War Crimes.The US is absolutely hypocritical in its behaviour accusing other smaller weaker nations of war crimes while it conceals its own greater atrocities.Obama must clean up the US establishment,otherwise the anti-US forces especially of Islamists will take these war crimes and the refusal to punish the guilty as justification for their acts of terror.One rape pic from Abu Ghraib can recruit 1000 suicide bombers in the Muslim world.
-
derkonig
- BRFite
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Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
^^^^
Don't get so worked up on this issue unless there is definite, credible & undeniable proof which can stand in the court of law. Besides, US is hardly involved in prison abuse, the real violators are the chicoms, gulf emirates including KSA, assorted leftist regimes in S.Amer, African dictatorships & our very own neighbours the puke & beedees.
Don't get so worked up on this issue unless there is definite, credible & undeniable proof which can stand in the court of law. Besides, US is hardly involved in prison abuse, the real violators are the chicoms, gulf emirates including KSA, assorted leftist regimes in S.Amer, African dictatorships & our very own neighbours the puke & beedees.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
derkonig, Americans are just as bad. They are better at Psy-ops that is all. Just like Nazis are the bad guy despite the Brits engineering 10 times as much genocide every year without batting an eyelid.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
The tragedy is that the US simply believes that its collateral damage will simply go away or blow away,without having any effect on the psyche of the victim nation and its people.The US's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and its failure to broker a Middle East settlement has been the greatest recruiter for Islamist terrorism worldwide.The lessons of the US's disastrous history of military adventurism and intervention in post WW2 conflicts like Vietnam,has least been learnt by its own establishment.Its pontificating to lesser nations (in its estimation) like Sri Lanka to halt fighting terror has made even that small nation give it the equivalent of a one-fingered salute! Neither Obama or Brown and his buffoon of a foreign sec.could deter the Lankan pres. from his goal of a total defeat of the LTTE.Fewer and fewer people are listening to the US these days and the world is watching carefully,especially China and the Islamic states.
Further pics of the despicable Abu Ghraib torture methods,clearly tantamount to war crimes,will now undermine the US's attempts to "take leadership" in the subcontinent and further complicate matters in Iraq.
Further pics of the despicable Abu Ghraib torture methods,clearly tantamount to war crimes,will now undermine the US's attempts to "take leadership" in the subcontinent and further complicate matters in Iraq.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Blackwater in the dock.
Blackwater Charged With Murder, Tax Evasion, Shredding of Evidence in Baghdad Massacre Case
http://www.inteldaily.com/news/173/ARTI ... 07-08.html
By Bill Fisher
Excerpt:
(The Intelligence Daily) -- New charges filed against private security contractor Blackwater accuse the company of murder, destruction of audio and videotaped evidence, distribution of controlled substances, tax evasion, child prostitution, and weapons smuggling.
The new charges were filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by several of the Iraqi civilians who were injured or who lost family members when Blackwater personnel opened fire in Nisoor Square in Baghdad in September 2007.
The lawsuit alleged that Blackwater “created and fostered a culture of lawlessness amongst its employees, encouraging them to act in the company’s financial interests at the expense of innocent human life. This action seeks compensatory damages to compensate the injured and the families of those gunned down and killed by Blackwater shooters. This action seeks punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish Erik Prince and his Blackwater companies for their repeated callous killing of innocents.”
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
ANybody read this dog and pony show
House Intel Chair: CIA has misled us for years
By PAMELA HESS – 5 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are accusing senior CIA officials of repeatedly misleading Congress, but Republicans say the allegations are just political maneuvering to protect House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The accusations come as lawmakers prepare to debate intelligence legislation — a bill President Barack Obama has threatened to veto.
Letters by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and other members of the panel say CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress last month that senior CIA officials have concealed significant actions and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001.
Exactly what actions Panetta disclosed to the House Intelligence Committee on June 24 is unclear, but committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said the CIA outright lied in one case.
"These notifications have led me to conclude that this committee has been misled, has not been provided full and complete notifications, and (in at least one case) was affirmatively lied to," Reyes wrote to Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the committee's senior Republican. A copy of his letter was obtained by The Associated Press.
Reyes said in the letter that he is considering opening a full investigation.
Hoekstra on Thursday called Reyes' letter "one of the most bizarre episodes in politics that I've seen in my time here in Washington."
"It looks like they're working on the political equation," Hoekstra said on CBS' "The Early Show." "They're not trying to foster a bipartisan consensus on national security."
Panetta brought the matters to the committee's attention, CIA spokesman George Little said Wednesday.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
More on the Blackwater scandal,where its founder,now facing trial for murder,etc., wanted to start another "Crusade" to finish off MUslims.
(Blackwater chief 'wanted crusade against Muslims' )
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 740737.ece
(Blackwater chief 'wanted crusade against Muslims' )
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 740737.ece
Blackwater security company was feared and despised by all Iraqis
Blackwater is a dirty word in Iraq
Deborah Haynes and Oliver August
Blackwater is a dirty word in Iraq. Its guards became despised by the locals for their aggressive behaviour. In the most notorious case, 17 Iraqis died in a shootout involving a Blackwater convoy in Baghdad two years ago.
The killings triggered a backlash against the many foreign security companies that made fortunes after the invasion. Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, called for Blackwater to be ejected from the country in September 2007, but the North Carolina-based company managed to stay on. Now renamed Xe, it continued to protect US diplomats in the country until May this year, and will retain a presence until September.
Blackwater Worldwide was one of the first companies of its kind in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, winning multimillion-dollar contracts from Washington, which was keen to reduce military costs by turning to the private sector for help. Early in the conflict, four Blackwater guards were ambushed in Fallujah, a one-time insurgency hub to the west of Baghdad. Their burnt and mutilated bodies were hung from a bridge.
Blackwater guards — armed with machineguns and pistols, protected by body armour and typically wearing sunglasses, and powering through the streets in armoured vehicles with tinted windows — became feared and resented. Immune from Iraqi law until the start of this year, they would level their weapons at any civilian car that got too close. That act bred anger among locals who wondered why these foreigners, who were not military, were allowed to behave so threateningly.
Related Links
Blackwater guards face Iraq killings prosecution
Blackwater chief 'wanted crusade against Muslims'
Iraqi officials reacted gleefully to the news of fresh allegations against the company in legal documents filed in the United States.
“The company is mainly made up of mercenaries who lack high standards and discipline like official forces of international institutions,” said Tahsin al-Shekhli, a Defence Ministry spokesman.
“They needlessly massacred Iraqi citizens, and in cold blood.
Blackwater accused of murder in 'crusade to eliminate Muslims'
Erik Prince, chief executive of Blackwater, has seen allegations made against him by two former employees
Image :1 of 2
Tim Reid in Washington
A series of allegations including murder, weapons smuggling and the deliberate slaughter of civilians have been levelled against the founder of Blackwater, the security company being investigated for shooting deaths in Iraq.
The accusations, including a claim that the company founder Erik Prince either murdered or had killed former employees co-operating with federal investigators, are contained in sworn affidavits lodged at a Virginia court on Monday night.
The company was the most prominent of an army of private security companies employed by the Pentagon and State Department to protect military convoys and guard US diplomats in Iraq.
The accusations against Mr Prince are being made by two former employees, including a former Marine, who have sworn them anonymously as John Doe No 1 and John Doe No 2, because they said they feared for their lives if their identities were revealed.
Related Links
Security firm was feared by all Iraqis
Blackwater to be ejected from Iraq
Blackwater guards charged over Iraq deaths
In one of the statements, John Doe 2, who worked for Blackwater for four years, alleged that Mr Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe” and that his companies “encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life”.
They claimed that Mr Prince and other executives destroyed incriminating videos, e-mails and documents and hid their criminal behaviour from the US State Department.
John Doe 2 claimed in his affidavit that — based on information he said was provided to him by former colleagues — “it appears that Mr Prince and his employees murdered or had murdered one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, to the federal authorities about the ongoing criminal conduct”.
The affidavits are part of a motion lodged by lawyers representing 60 Iraqi civilians who are suing Blackwater for alleged crimes. The five civilian suits were consolidated before a judge in northern Virginia. The motion was in response to a request by Blackwater to dismiss the case.
Blackwater, which lost its multimillion-dollar State Department contract in May, denies the claims and is contesting the lawsuits. No criminal charges have been filed against Mr Prince.
In a statement released to CNN, the company said that it would respond “to the anonymous unsubstantiated and offensive assertions put forward by the plaintiffs” in a brief to be filed on August 17. It added: “It is obvious that plaintiffs have chosen to slander Mr Prince rather than raise legal arguments or actual facts that will be considered by a court of law. We are happy to engage them there.
“We question the judgment of anyone who relies upon and [reiterates] anonymous declarations.” Five Blackwater guards who pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges are awaiting trial over a shooting incident in Nisour Square, Baghdad, on September 16, 2007, which left 17 Iraqis dead. A sixth guard pleaded guilty.
The John Doe 2 affidavit alleged that Mr Prince intentionally deployed like-minded men to Iraq “who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades”. It stated that Blackwater employees consistently used racist and derogatory terms.
The separate 72-page motion, which cites the affidavits, also accused Blackwater guards of boasting of kills, taking mind-altering drugs, steroids and using child prostitutes.
Mr Prince is accused of smuggling illegal weapons into Iraq on his private aircraft. He is accused of allowing his guards to use illegal exploding bullets “to inflict maximum damage on Iraqis”. He is also accused of racketeering and tax evasion.
The former Marine alleged that numerous incidents of excessive force were videotaped, watched at the end of the day, and then erased.
The affidavits and motion have been posted on the website of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which is representing the Iraqi plaintiffs.
Blackwater was unavailable to comment to The Times yesterday
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
^^^
Philip is there a link for the second article??
TIA.
Philip is there a link for the second article??
TIA.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
I understand that BRF folks are not big fans of the US and/or the West. I also understand that India has been on the receiving end of the West in the past. I further understand that US and British policy of coddling Pak since 47 has hurt India, and clearly there has been at best a fairly extensive disregard of India's interest by the West in pursuing what is perceived as its (West's) own self interest in the subcontinent. Is that such a great sin ? I mean pursuing your own self interest ? Outside of when its own self interest is pursued vis-a-vis Pak in the context of the cold war and in the context of war against Jihadis in the post 9/11 scenario, or to prevent India from acquiring nuclear weapons, I have not sensed any "out of the way" hostility from the West towards India post independence. I dont sense any territorial or colonial or "post colonial" designs by the Americans on India. It would be a fair question to ask of all who have this "conspiracy theory" paranoia against the West, what the worst case American designs against India could conceivably be ? Do they want India to break up ? Why ? What would they gain by it ? Does anybody seriously believe that India is going to be so powerful in the near or mid term future to cause enough of a concern in Washington for it to attempt to break India up ? Would it not be terribly detrimental to American interests to break India up and hand another giant victory to the Islamists by opening up India further to Islamic domination and Islamization ?Philip wrote:More on the Blackwater scandal,where its founder,now facing trial for murder,etc., wanted to start another "Crusade" to finish off MUslims.
(Blackwater chief 'wanted crusade against Muslims' )
More to the point, as bad as it may sound, let me put the above story about Blackwater and its "crusade" in context. Consider the following:
1) The islamic hordes and armies just before the crusades were marching up and down the middle east, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, North Africa, down to the tip of Southern Europe, forcibly converting and subjugating people and expanding at an unprecedented speed and scale
2) The arabs had developed a modern navy which would have given it the lordship of the seas, at least of the Indian Ocean region, and perhaps beyond if not stopped, putting the entire Asia and Europe at risk
3) Perhaps, it could be argued that the Crusaders were all racists and supremacists, crackpots and barbarians, but even before the reformation, during a time of enormous upheaval in Europe, while it was going through a transformation from the more secular Roman empire period into the dark ages, the Crusaders do deserve some credit for 1) recognizing Islam as a menace and a force to be reckoned with in the future, 2) a need to nip Islam in the bud, before it could dominate the world (which turned out to be the correct judgement, by the way) and 3) to organize a war a continent away without any modern means of warfare that may be available today (the Knights Templar being chiefly responsible for working out the complex logistics)
4) Subsequent actions by Islamists and their barabarity around the world including the subcontinent should act as a significant reference point to be used as context of the above story
5) All over the middle east even today, not an evening passes without an Arabic language TV program labeling Jews as "blood drinkers", "worse than animals", "satanic" and "murderers", who must be killed. These shows and the text books in Arabia and Pak think nothing of urging all muslim children to despise the Jews and Hindus and branding them legitimate targets of conversion and failing that, killings.
6) I have encountered no Islamic scholar or mullah of influence, to this day from the last 200 years, anywhere in the world, who would openly or in private, clearly articulate principles of co-existence between Islam and non Islamic peoples around the world, or who would criticize the "Jaziya" tax imposed on non muslims in many Islamic socieities or who would protest the treatment of non muslims by muslims around the world. They simply parrot their own grievances, perceived or imagined and use that as a tool to spread hate. All Islamic scholars or people of influence and 99% of the ordinary muslims I have met, articulate when pressed, the same supremacist, exclusivist and almost fascistic "Islam only" ideology that Blackwater is accused of in the piece above.
7) I am a new comer to BRF, but going through the archive of posts and many current threads, I sense that there is at least a 50-50 split in BRF, perhaps a leaning towards bashing the West, even when it comes to West against Islam in the world today. While there is no question, that the tactics used by Bush administration in its war against Islam by focussing first on Iraq before AfPak, Saudis etc was stupid and disastrous, which would inevitably lead to another stalemated crusade, where victory was not only possible, but well within reach, it makes no sense for India and Indians of any hew, to even inadvertently provide any support to anything Islamic, when it comes to Islam against anybody, even the West.
In fact, I would argue that the reason Indian subcontinent is not even more Islamic than it is and the Hindus are not as weak as they otherwise would have been, is not because of the strength the Hindus have demonstrated on their own over the past 1000 years, but because of the West's balancing act, where out of no love for the Hindus, but in their own interest of preventing Islamic expanision, the West has put a stop to more aggressive designs by Islam in the subcontinent and we would do well to support and strengthen the force that keeps us somewhat safe (again not out of any love for us). It is not necessary for Hindus to love the West, as they do not love us, but it is in our strategic interest to not weaken them against Islam, at least until we are able to stand on our own feet and defend ourselves, without anybody's assistance.
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Baghdad bombs kill 75+.
Iraq: co-ordinated Baghdad bomb and mortar attacks kill 75 and injure hundreds
At least 75 people have been killed and hundreds injured by six bomb and mortar attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... dreds.html
The US is finding that its great Iraq strategy,invented by the so-called "intellectual" general,Gen. Petraeus,is rapidly unravelling,as it takes its eye off Iraq to deal with Afghanistan.The bitter truth is that the US under Bush bit off more than it could chew in bith theatres and the stark truth that its' strategy has been defeated has yet to sink in.These Baghdad bombs aimed at the heart of the puppet govt. of Iraq,shows that the country is still on the precipice and that the US is clueless about how to withdraw while maintaining control oover the country.That is an impossibility.Eventually,it will slink out defeated in both countries as it was in Vietnam."The blasts follow a string of attacks in Iraq this month that have claimed more than 200 lives and left hundreds more wounded, raising concerns about the abilities of Iraqi security forces to keep the lid on violence in advance of the American withdrawal which is to be staggered over the next two years as Iraqi forces take full control of security. "
More reports:Many killed as series of blasts hits BaghdadPolice say death toll at least 75 as six bombs go off around Iraqi capital
Martin Chulov in Baghdad
Martin Chulov reports from the Iraqi capital in the aftermath of at least six explosions in which government buildings appear to have been targeted. Baghdad was rocked by at least six explosions within the space of a few minutes today as a series of devastating attacks hit the Iraqi capital.
Police in the city told Reuters that at least 75 people had been killed and more than 300 injured. At least nine people died in one blast alone, with 50 others wounded.
The attacks, believed to have been co-ordinated, demonstrate that insurgents maintain the capacity to carry out spectacular bombings at will.
They appeared to target government institutions. The largest blast happened close to a northern entrance to the international zone, near the heart of the capital, where smoke billowed from the area of the foreign affairs ministry.
At least one building is thought to have been badly damaged. The blast shattered thousands of windows in the surrounding area, damaging the Iraqi parliament building about 500 metres away.
The bomb, believed to have been in a truck, exploded in a car park outside the ministry.
Cars nearby also exploded, creating the largest blast in Baghdad this year.
Scores of badly injured workers, many cut by broken glass, were taken to nearby hospitals and clinics.
The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, cancelled a meeting with tribal leaders at the nearby al-Rasheed hotel.
Minutes before the explosion, the international zone was hit by at least two mortars, both of which caused damage near the US embassy.
At around the same time, a large bomb exploded outside the al-Baghdadia television channel in the north of the capital.
Bombs also went off in the frequently targeted Shia slum zone of Sadr City and in Sadoon Street, in the east. A sixth explosion happened in the Palestine Street district.
The attacks come six years to the day after the first large insurgent bombing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq destroyed a UN building in the north of the capital, killing the Brazilian envoy, Sérgio Vieira de Mello, and 13 others.
In the years since, thousands of people across the country have died in explosions.
The level of violence had subsided over the past 18 months, but the relative calm has been punctuated by recent surges of attacks.
Iraq: co-ordinated Baghdad bomb and mortar attacks kill 75 and injure hundreds
At least 75 people have been killed and hundreds injured by six bomb and mortar attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... dreds.html
Re: IRAQ-Current Continuing Conflict
Never saw this thread... 
X-Posted from International Terrorism Watch
X-Posted from International Terrorism Watch
Attacks in Iraq kill 48, injure 250
August 10, 2009
A double truck bombing tore through the village of a small Shi'ite ethnic minority near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, while nine blasts wracked Baghdad on Monday in a wave of violence that killed at least 48 people and injured more than 250.
The attacks provided a grim example of US military warnings that insurgents are targeting Shi'ites in an effort to re-ignite the kind of sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart in 2006 and 2007.
The deadliest blast on Monday was a double truck bombing in Khazna village, just east of Mosul, home of the Shabak, a small Shi'ite ethnic group in the north.
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No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
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Seems like Al-Qaeda wants America to stay in Iraq...