http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=NYKIN&SECTION=HOME
Apr 29, 4:39 PM EDT
3 U.S. Soldiers Among 41 Killed in Iraq
By THOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents unleashed a series of car bombings and other attacks across Iraq on Friday, killing at least 41 people, including three U.S. soldiers, and wounding dozens of people a day after the country's first democratically elected government was approved.
Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, purportedly threatened more violence in an audiotape on the Internet, warning President Bush the insurgents "will not rest until we avenge our dignity."
At least 11 car bombs exploded in and around Baghdad on Friday, including four suicide attacks in quick succession in the Azamiyah section of central Baghdad.
The first one hit an Iraqi army patrol, the second a police patrol and the third and fourth at separate barricades near the headquarters of the police special forces unit, police chief Brig. Gen. Khalid al-Hassan said. Col. Hussein Mutlak said those attacks killed at least 20 Iraqis, including 15 soldiers and five civilians. At least 65 were injured, including 30 troops and 35 civilians, he said.
"We see these attacks as another desperate attempt by the terrorists to discredit the newly formed Iraqi government," the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement, adding the violence was failing "to drive a wedge between the Iraqi people and their right to choose their own destiny."
Ambulances sped to hospitals and policemen crouched in fear after the explosions in Baghdad, which set fire and caused heavy damage to the special forces headquarters.
A U.S. soldier was killed and two others from the 1st Corps Support Command were wounded Friday in a car bombing about 20 miles north of the capital, the U.S. military said.
A car bomb attack near Diyarah also killed two U.S. soldiers assigned to the 155th Brigade Combat Team, II Marine Expeditionary Force, the military said. The statement did not provide additional details.
U.S. military spokesman Greg Kaufman said earlier that seven other U.S. soldiers had suffered minor injuries in other attacks around Baghdad.
Late Thursday, another American soldier was killed and four wounded in a roadside bombing in Hawija, a city about 150 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. At least 1,575 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Insurgents also hit Iraqi forces with a coordinated assault in the southeastern town of Madain, less than two weeks after Iraqi forces raided the region to clear it of insurgents in an operation praised by the U.S. military as evidence of the progress made by Iraq in assuring its own security.
A roadside bomb was detonated, then two suicide car bombers drove from different directions into police special forces as they arrived to investigate, said police Lt. Jassim al-Maliky. A third car bomb targeted another police patrol and a fourth detonated near the city hospital, according to Iraqi police, who said the attacks killed 13 people and injured 20.
Many of the wounded arrived covered in blood at the emergency section of Madain's al-Kindy hospital. Hospital staff ran to ambulances to assist as a crowd gathered outside.
A suicide attacker also blew up an ambulance packed with explosives near a police special forces patrol in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing four Iraqis, including two policemen, said police Brig. Gen. Adel Molan. Twenty Iraqis were injured, he said. Maj. Steven Warren, a U.S. military spokesman, said the bomber drove his vehicle up to a truck carrying the Iraqi troops.
Also in Baqouba, a Sunni cleric believed to be a senior member of al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group blew himself up as Iraqi security forces surrounded the city's al-Aqsa mosque, Ali Fadhil of the joint operation center said.
"Imam Abdul Razaq Rashid Hamid ... came out from the mosque with two hand grenades as our forces were surrounding the mosque," Fadhil said. "He threw one of the grenads at the forces while blowing himself with the second one."
Ten others inside the mosque were detained for questioning, he said.
Warren, the U.S. military spokesman, could not confirm the identity of the man killed, but said he was shot after walking out of a mosque suspected of sheltering insurgents carrying a grenade. The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled.
A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi border guard patrol also killed one soldier and wounded two west of the southern city of Basra, said Iraqi Lt. Col. Abdul Hadi al-Najar.
The violence came after Iraq's National Assembly approved an interim Cabinet lineup on Thursday, laying the groundwork for the first elected government in Iraq's history to take office.
The new Cabinet held its first meeting Thursday night to discuss a handover between Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and his successor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. The incoming premier's office said the handover would take place on Tuesday.
U.S. officials had been pressing for a resolution to nearly three months of political wrangling over the composition of the new Cabinet, worrying the political vacuum was encouraging insurgents, who have staged a series of dramatic and well-coordinated attacks in recent weeks.
But the Shiite-dominated Cabinet so far excludes the Sunni minority from meaningful positions, which had been seen as a way to cut into insurgents' Sunni support base and help curb the violence.
Nearly a third of the 275-member National Assembly stayed away from Thursday's vote, underscoring the myriad ethnic and religious divisions that have hampered the formation of a government since landmark parliamentary elections on Jan. 30.
Two of the four deputy prime minister's slots remained vacant and five ministries, including the important defense and oil slots, were left in the hands of temporary managers.
The primary goal of Iraq's first elected government will be to write a permanent constitution by mid-August. The document must be submitted to a referendum no later than Oct. 15. If approved, elections for a permanent government must be held by Dec. 15.
The audiotape purportedly from al-Zarqawi was posted Friday on a Web site known for carrying messages from Islamic militant groups. The speaker directly addressed Bush.
"You, Bush, we will not rest until we avenge our dignity," the voice said. "We will not rest while your army is here as long as there is a pulse in our veins."
It wasn't clear when the tape was made and its authenticity could not be verified. The speaker refers to a newspaper article he said was dated March 19, then makes a separate reference to the story as having come "this month."
The voice on the tape sounded similar to previous audiotapes attributed to the Jordanian-born militant who leads an al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq. U.S. intelligence officials were looking into the authenticity of the tape, an official in Washington said on condition of anonymity.
The audiotape urged al-Zarqawi's followers to step up their attacks on American soldiers, vowing to "make swords drip with their blood."
The speaker also warned followers against any American overtures for dialogue, an apparent reference to reported attempts by the U.S.-backed interim government to persuade insurgents to lay down their arms in exchange for amnesty and a say in politics.
"Be aware, these are the devil's tricks," he warned. "They (the Americans) have offered this dialogue after the defeats they have suffered."
The United States has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to al-Zarqawi's arrest.
"And here is the rest of the story!"
[quote]
AFTER THE WAR
'The Air of Freedom'
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.
BY ARTHUR CHRENKOFF
Monday, April 25, 2005 12:01 a.m.
Recently the BBC decided to conduct an informal survey around Iraq: "Two years after the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad, marking the fall of the city to US-led forces, BBC Arabic.com asked seven Iraqis for their thoughts on how life has changed for them since the conflict."
The results were surprising--at least for the BBC, whose attitude toward the liberation of Iraq has always been lukewarm at best. They were surprising for me too, not so much in what the seven Iraqis had to say, but that the BBC chose to run the story.
Here's Saad, 32, sound engineer from Basra: "Iraqis are feeling better. They are breathing the air of freedom. They read, watch and say what they want. They travel, work and receive a living wage. They use mobile phones, satellite dishes and the internet, which they did not even know before. . . . As for terrorism, we are now beginning to unite against it and to defeat it."
Noura, 32, a computer engineer from Baghdad and a Christian: "While we lost security after Saddam's fall, we gained our freedom and a chance to build a new society."
Nada, 32, a government worker from Mosul: "We never imagined that the Turkmen community would have a political party representing them in Iraq, but this is happening now."
Kaban, 31, electrical engineer from Baghdad: "There have been many changes since the fall of Saddam's regime, but the most important change was that we feel free. . . . However, those who say that security was better in the past are completely wrong. It is true we did not have suicide car bombings in Saddam's era, but our homes did not feel safe from the intrusion of Saddam's security men, who came in the middle of the night to kidnap, kill or rape."
Waala, 25, a schoolteacher from Baghdad: "The Sunnis in Iraq do not live in isolation from the political and social circles of life, as many people outside Iraq seem to believe. Nothing has affected our relationships with each other--we face the same problems. This applies to Sunnis or Shia, Christians or Muslims, Arabs or Kurds. Unfortunately, the refusal by some Sunnis to participate in the elections was the cause of some political isolation."
Imad Mohammed, 25, a university graduate from Baghdad: "I am no longer worried about losing my dignity or my life. And I am also getting a higher income, like most Iraqis."
It's not a scientific survey, and the seven interviewees' concerns are many, most notably the still-precarious security situation. But the sense of newfound hope and optimism cannot be easily dismissed, particularly since it also seems to be reflected in other interviews, opinion polls, and changes on the ground. Here are some stories from the past fortnight that you might have missed.
Society. Iraq has its first democratically elected government, with the appointment of Ibrahim Al-Jaafari as prime minister. Al-Jaafari is also the first Shia leader in modern Iraq's history:
>
>
> Jaafari has two weeks to name his cabinet, which will allow the new
> government to begin work on its primary task: drafting a permanent
> constitution that would pave the way for elections for a permanent government
> in December. Jaafari is seen as a moderate Islamist, favoring a strong role
> for Muslim teachings but reaching out to all of Iraq's communities.
As the speaker of the National Assembly said to his colleagues when all the formalities were out of the way: "Your people are looking at you and waiting. So, work!"
President Jalal Talabani opposes immediate withdrawal of coalition troops. "I think we are in great need to have American and other allied forces in Iraq until we will be able to rebuild our military forces," he told an interviewer. He also suggested that Iraq will stay close to the U.S. even after the eventual withdrawal of troops: "We will remain in full consultation and coordination, cooperation with our American friends, who came to liberate our country."
In other positive developments, Iyad Allawi's mainly secular Iraqi List will be joining the national unity government and actively helping to draft the constitution. Meanwhile other Sunni leaders are cautiously embracing democracy:
> Unlike many of their supporters, most Sunni politicians now accept Talabani
> as president. The Iraqi Islamic Party, which refused to take part in the
> elections, has called on its members to give Talabani a chance. Kheder
> Mohammed, a party member and Ramadi council member, said, "In the interests of
> Iraq, we have to deal with Talabani and his new government free from
> sectarian, national, or ethnic judgment.
>
> Middle-class, educated Sunni Arabs are, it seems, already willing to accept
> that the appointment of a Kurdish president is an important step towards
> democracy. "Educated Arab Sunnis after the election became more accepting of
> the new political situation in Iraq. They understand that they must be part of
> politics to reach their goals, so they welcomed the presidency of Talabani,"
> said Mohand al-Grayri, a political analyst from the Strategic Centre in
> Baghdad.
In a welcome move toward greater transparency in government, "the newly elected parliament has signaled it would support a resolution under which the public should know about salaries of senior officials. The move comes amid rumors that senior Iraqi officials are on massive monthly salaries of which the Iraqi people are kept in the dark."
The U.S. Agency for International Development continues to provide assistance to develop local governance and civil society (link in PDF):
>
>
> In northern Iraq, 170 participants from three governorates attended 11
> training workshops to increase civil society organization (CSO) participation
> in reconstruction efforts and the drafting of the national constitution. . . > .
>
>
> A two-day session was conducted in Baghdad in late March for women active
> within Iraq's political system on the basics of public speaking and political
> party advancement. The 48 participants came from a variety of backgrounds.
USAID is also awarding microgrants to Iraqi nongovernmental organizations working to increase public awareness of the constitution drafting process and the coming referendum.
Even the United Nations now wants to jump onto the bandwagon:
>
>
> The UN Security Council said on Monday that the United Nations would like to
> provide assistance to the constitutional process in Iraq. In a statement,
> Council President Wang Guangya of China said council members support UN
> Special Representative Ashraf Qazi's plans to expand the UN presence in Erbil
> and Basra of Iraq and, if requested, provide assistance to the constitutional
> process.
And the European Union is helping in growing the Iraqi grass-roots democracy:
> Europe's new pledge to assist in Iraq's postwar reconstruction is occurring
> in an unlikely place--the working-class French town of Cleremont-Ferrand,
> where the vanguard of Iraq's new experiment in democracy is being
> established.
>
> Nestled among rolling hills in central France, it is here that the
> students--among them a one-time underground journalist in Saddam Hussein's
> Iraq--are studying the basics of regional administration. Seated around the
> classroom table is the man in charge of Iraq's de-Baathification effort who
> simply identifies himself as a "department chief."
>
> The University of Auvergne is where some of the first pieces of a post-Saddam
> political landscape are being put together--and where Europe's pledge to help
> Iraq in the post-Saddam era is being tested. "What's most important are the
> principles," said Jean-Pierre Massias, who heads the university's project to
> train the first class of senior level Iraqi officials in the basics of
> regional governance. "The rule of law. Checks and balances. Compromise. How
> local administration is a tool in preventing a conflict--and how to
> administer a country."
>
> After dividing bitterly over the U.S.-led war in Iraq, the European Union is
> finally coming together to help out in the country's reconstruction. The
> assistance is taking a myriad of forms, from training Iraqi security
> forces--primarily outside the country--to the Paris Club creditors' agreement
> last year to write off roughly 80 percent of Baghdad's debt.
While the assistance is arriving from overseas, it is the Iraqis themselves who have the toughest and most dangerous job of trying to make democracy happen. Read this profile of Mohammed Musabah, the new governor of Basra:
>
>
> In the streets of Basra and Baghdad, jokes are sometimes made about words
> that sound as though they were imported with the U.S. invasion--"pluralism"
> and "transparency," for instance. Musabah seems to take them seriously. "The
> rule of law will reign," he told the delegation, "not the rule of tribes."
And don't miss this profile and interview about rebuilding the education system in the new Iraq:
> Mahdy Ali Lafta is an Iraqi teacher. But in 1979, 10 years into his career in
> Baghdad schools, Saddam Hussein came to power and Mr Lafta, because he
> wouldn't support the dictator, was forced out of his job. He spent the Saddam
> years teaching friends, family and neighbours, and doing a little private
> tuition. Mostly, he found other ways to make money, like driving a taxi in
> the city. . . .
>
> Mr Lafta, 57, is married, has a 15-year-old son, and lives in Baghdad, where,
> following the fall of Saddam, he now does something once unthinkable. He is
> head of the Iraqi Teachers' Union (ITC), set up for all of Baghdad's teachers
> east of the river Tigris. . . .
>
> How would he describe the state of Iraqi education when Saddam fell? "In one
> word? Disastrous," he says.
The Iraq the Model blog reports on the growth of blogging, as Iraqis from all walks of life and all parts of Iraq are finding their voices and taking the opportunity to link up in virtual communities with like-minded others around the country:
> The electricity department in Najaf . . . decided to start an Arabic blog to
> introduce the citizens of Najaf to the department's activities and the
> hardships it encounters while attempting to restore full power supply for the
> city. . . . An agricultural engineer [is] using his blog to talk about
> problems facing agriculture in his area and he's urging his colleagues to
> start their own blogs to create a network that provides solutions for
> agricultural problems (who would think that blogs can fight termites!!).
> Here's an organization that cares for the marshes and the authors talk in
> their blog about the suffering of the people of the marshes under the past
> regime.
The growth of blogging is not really all that surprising, as Internet cafes are opening up all over Baghdad.
Iraqi sporting triumphs continue, this time without the extra motivator of Uday Hussein's torture chambers:
>
>
> The glamorous Iraqi weightlifter Harim Taha has achieved another significant
> achievement for his country Iraq, and for himself too, when he scored three
> gold metals in the current Islamic Solidarity Championship in Saudi Arabia.
> Our glamorous weightlifter has achieved those medals in the snatch and the
> clean and jerk. The other Iraqi weightlifter Mohamed Abdul Moneim could
> manage to achieve three medals, gold, silver and bronze.
Economy. In a sign of growing confidence, real estate prices in Baghdad are on the way up:
> Residential real estate prices in Iraq's capital have quadrupled in many
> parts of the city, says Ali al-Difaie, 54, manager of a government office
> that processes property deeds. Difaie and real estate agents say the rise is
> driven by an increase in income since the U.S.-led invasion two years ago and
> the liberalization of building and property laws. . . .
>
> Statistics are hard to come by, but Difaie says an average 3,000-square-foot
> home in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district sells for $300,000 now. That is
> four times the Saddam-era prices. Prices are similar in other middle-class
> neighborhoods around the capital, Difaie says.
Prices initially rose following the liberation, but then were driven down by security problems. Following the January election and improving security situation, the trend is up again.
Baghdad's stock exchange is another good performer:
> Though barely over 30, Ahmad Walid al-Said has already become the biggest of
> the hotshots on the noisy floor of the Iraqi Stock Exchange.
>
> As head broker at al-Fawz Company, one of the country's most respected
> brokerages, and chairman of the Iraqi Association of Securities, he sleeps,
> drinks and eats the stock market, even when he's not roaming the floor and
> putting through orders.
>
> "After I finish all this, we go to lunch," he says after the close of the
> session. "During lunch we talk about what we're going do the next session. We
> can't talk about anything but the stock market, all day long."
>
> Welcome to the one place in Iraq where go-getters are abundant and no one is
> waiting for a handout. Unlike much of the rest of Iraq, the men and
> considerable number of women who ply their trade here live by a bootstraps
> philosophy, eagerly profiting from an equities market where daily trading
> volume has grown twelvefold since Saddam Hussein's era.
>
> The stock exchange may be one of post-war Iraq's few success stories, with
> its expanding trading volume and increased market capitalization.
The stock exchange is still miniscule, even by regional standards, but it's expanding. The pace of growth is bound to increase with new laws now in place allowing foreigners to invest in listed companies.
The Iraqi economy can develop and prosper only if it integrates with the rest of the world and Iraqi businesses develop ties with their counterparts in more developed countries. Fortunately, many are working toward that end:
> According to expatriate businessman Raad Ommar, the reconstruction of
> war-ravaged Iraq is much more than rebuilding a war-shattered infrastructure.
> It is . . . "an investment in the future of a country that is painfully
> recovering from decades of misrule."
>
> Ommar, who serves as chief executive officer of the Iraqi-American Chamber of
> Commerce and Industry (IACCI), made his comments during a recent networking
> seminar in Beverly Hills that provided a 43-member Iraqi trade delegation with
> the opportunity to meet with Southern California-based companies interested in
> forming joint ventures and other business partnerships. . . .
>
> The organization . . . has 5,700 members on its rolls, including more than
> 300 in the US and maintains offices in Baghdad and Arbil, Iraq and Amman,
> Jordan. Its US headquarters in located in Glendale, near Los Angeles.
USAID, meanwhile, continues to assist in setting up a proper legal and regulatory framework for Iraqi economy. In most recent initiatives of the Iraq Economic Governance II program (link in PDF): training course on information technology for 10 officials from the Federation of Iraqi Chambers of Commerce; assisting "to support judicial training in matters of commercial law, developing options for dedicated commercial courts, IT assessment and development, assessment of infrastructure rehabilitation needs"; and help in drafting the new Commercial Agencies Law and commercial maritime law, as well as building an integrated database of Iraqi legal materials.
Postelection there is finally more movement on the oil front:
> Iraq has invited international companies to drill new oil wells in its south
> and evaluate the state of export terminals there, oil officials and
> executives said. . . . After a series of failed tenders, the projects could
> mark the first step toward overhauling the facilities and help restore
> production in the region, which accounts for all of Iraq's oil exports.
>
> "We could be seeing the start of business in Iraq. They have issued tenders
> for wells before, that were cancelled," an oil executive preparing to bid for
> the project said. "The tenders are small but significant because they involve
> transporting expensive equipment and workers. It will indicate whether
> southern Iraq is safe for operation and the potential for larger work," he
> said.
The authorities have allocated $3 billion for upstream and downstream investment and concluded initial talks with 17 international companies about construction of a new $2 billion oil refinery with a daily capacity of between 250,000 and 300,000 barrels. According to the Oil Ministry, financing for the project would come from the company that ultimately wins the bid and be repaid from oil production so that Iraqi budget doesn't bear any financial burden.
There is also good news from the south:
>
>
> Production from the southern oil fields has recently reached 1.1 million
> barrels a day, according to Jabbar Ali, head of the Southern Oil Company. The
> rate is close to what the company produced before the war and is one of the
> latest success stories of an industry torn by wars and sabotage. "It (the
> figure) is a great achievement and has come in record time," Ali said. He said
> the company had plans to further increase the output but he declined to give a
> figure. Insurgents have recently directed their attacks on oil pipelines and
> installations but they have failed in efforts to harm the fields in Basra,
> currently the most prolific in the country.
Train services from Mosul have resumes after extensive renovation work of railway lines linking the city to other centers in Iraq. Meanwhile, the north of the country is talking first slow steps in linking via air with the rest of the region:
> The departure lounge is tiny, but the inky stamp--"Republic of Iraq,
> Kurdistan region"--on travellers' passports is real enough.
>
> The Magic Carpet airlines' flight from Arbil to Beirut, Lebanon, is the first
> step towards Iraqi Kurdistan achieving an international airport, as the Kurds
> seek to join the modern world after three decades of oppression and
> isolation. . . .
>
> At Dollars 700 (Euros 540, Pounds 370) for a one-way ticket, the flight to
> Beirut is beyond the pocket of most Kurds and carries a mixture of Arab,
> western and Kurdish businessmen. But the psychological impact is immense for a
> people who associate aircraft with bombs.
Reconstruction. The very successful Rebuild Iraq Expo 2005 has concluded in Amman, Jordan:
>
>
> Even while security products and services are one of the main business
> opportunities and growth sectors in Iraq, business people and investors in all
> sectors are optimistic that the situation will improve, and the reconstruction
> effort will accelerate. . . .
> The energy in Amman is contagious. Ali Sharif runs a contraction company in
> Najaf, Iraq. Though he still sees problems, they are not as widespread as
> often portrayed. "The security is not very bad. Only in a small region in
> Iraq the security is bad, in the north, in the south we feel that it is good,
> very very good."
>
> Sharif described the developing economy as almost boundless with opportunity.
> "We give advice to different companies to start work in Iraq because the
> country is like a well, a deep well--whatever you put in it, it will not be
> full. At the same time, the Iraqi market is very wide."
>
> Sharif added: "For 40 years not many companies have come to Iraq because of
> the sanctions and because Iraq was blocked. There is need in all sectors, and
> there is a lot of money and capital flowing into Iraq."
>
> One businessman, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the international
> media is partly to blame for the misperceptions of the conditions in Iraq. He
> explained the situation to a small group of reporters at the event: "In Iraq,
> there's a bit of a problem with journalism. What you all report, and what we
> see, it's not sometimes the same thing. There's a difference between what I
> see on CNN, and what I see right next door. The difference is night and day.
> They dwell on the negative, and we in Iraq, especially all over the country,
> we are dwelling on the positive."
More here. Very importantly for the future development of Iraq, a 200-strong delegation representing Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and many of Iraq's universities and research institutions also participated in the expo.
Meanwhile, "companies in Europe led by Germany have set up the Rebuild Iraq Recruitment Programme to create jobs for Iraqis, according to a Rirp statement. An online portal matches-up companies with Iraqi employees to work for them in Iraq. Rirp has an office in Baghdad to coordinate prospective candidates."
There is a change of guard at the top of the main reconstruction body:
>
>
> More than 2,000 construction projects totaling $12.4 billion have been
> started by the Iraq Project and Contracting Office and its recent director,
> Charlie Hess. Hess retired in a ceremony April 5 in the Pentagon Hall of
> Heroes after turning over the job of rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq to
> Maj. Gen. Chip Long, former commander of the National Guard's 29th Infantry
> Division. Long served almost a year as deputy director of PCO before taking
> over the reins March 25 as Hess departed Iraq.
At the same time, further adjustments are being made to the reconstruction policy and procedures:
> The State Department has ordered a major reevaluation of the troubled $18.4
> billion Iraqi reconstruction effort, blaming problems on early decisions to
> hire US companies for major infrastructure projects.
>
> In a report to Congress last week, the State Department said reconstruction
> officials will cancel several planned water and electricity plants and shift
> $832 million to focus on immediate job creation and training for Iraqis.
>
> The new approach would also place a strong emphasis on spending remaining
> funds to contract with Iraqi companies, which have experienced fewer problems
> with insurgents and have lower overhead than US multinationals.
More here. Thousands of people like Rhode Island's Blake D. Henderson are working hard at rebuilding the country:
> Last June, when he made his first trip to Baghdad, Blake D. Henderson asked
> one of his Iraqi bodyguards what he thought about the prospects for democracy
> in his homeland.
>
> The answer was a simple shrug.
>
> But when Henderson, the president of Northeast Engineers & Consultants Inc.,
> got off a plane at Baghdad International Airport about 10 months later, the
> smiling bodyguard approached him saying, "Iraq is beautiful! Iraq is free!"
>
> The change in that man's outlook along with the improvements Henderson has
> seen across the capital city through his company's work--including plans to
> overhaul the sewer system and the installation of new radar and navigational
> aids at the airport--make all the dangers of doing business in a war zone
> worth it, he said.
In Fallujah, the Ministry of Municipality and Works has carried out a series of service projects at a cost $800,000, including rehabilitating eight pumping stations, sinking new pumps and rebuilding administration infrastructure in the city.
Up to $500 million is being spent on various reconstruction projects in and around the city of Samarra, including the construction of a new bridge to the industrial district, building new rainwater channels and making improvements to the irrigation system.
The United Nations will be helping with the construction of a 200-apartment housing complex in the Nasiriyah province. In a similar vein, the Kuwaiti government will spend $3 million in Najaf to build 120 apartments for families of those "who died in the fight to liberate their country from the rule of Saddam Hussein." Also in Najaf, $100 million will go to rebuilding schools and hospitals and other reconstruction projects.
The Ministry of Electricity is implementing measures to stabilize the oscillation of electric current in its power lines. The ministry is also in talks with the Ministry of Finance to reinstate in their positions some 4,000 Iraqis who lost their jobs under Saddam for political reasons. These qualified people are badly needed to continue rebuilding the power network in Iraq.
Among recent USAID projects (link in PDF) to improve access to electricity across Iraq, "work is nearly complete on an activity allowing Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) to achieve 100 percent electrical selfsufficiency freeing up power for the national grid." Rehabilitation of the Doura power plant in southern Baghdad continues: "Although its four steam boilers and turbines are each rated at 160MW, all have been poorly maintained for many years to the point where they can not be operated at full-load without risk of further damage. As a result, the plant has operated far below its full-load rating of 640MW."
In another, more grass-roots-oriented project, "the Community Action Group (CAG) of a town in Karbala' Governorate selected as a development priority the rehabilitation of their electricity network which was destroyed in the April 2003 hostilities. Under USAID's Assistance to Civilian Victims of the Conflict initiative of the Community Action Program (CAP) the CAG will receive funds to provide them with a new main electrical transformer and other repairs to their electric network."
Iraqi authorities have announced a new $14 million program to improve water infrastructure in the three most restive Sunni towns, Latifiya, Yousifiya and al-Rasheed:
>
>
> [Zaki Mattar of Baghdad's Water Department] said his department "will
> construct 24 water projects to provide one million gallons of water a day."
> New water pipes will be extended in the area to carry drinking water even to
> remote villages in the area, he said. Contracts for the implementation of the
> 24 projects are ready and will be announced "in a few days," he said.
> Eventually, the department will lay a nearly 17-kilometer [10.5-mile] long
> network of pipes in the three towns, Mattar said.
USAID's work on the Rustimiyah North Wastewater Treatment Plant (link in PDF) "is about 86 percent complete. One of the plant's two processing lines is expected to start up next week after the completion of work on its biological treatment units."
Meanwhile, in an effort to provide a cleaner and more reliable supply of water throughout rural Iraq, drilling began on another four well sites. Part of the USAID rural water initiative, the work is already under way at 74 sites, and in total 110 new wells are planned, set to benefit 550,000 Iraqis living in remote areas of the country.
You can also read this interview with Hussein Rasol Jasem, manager of Al Samawa Water Department, about various reconstruction projects going on in the city.
In education, a new initiative will soon be reaching millions of Iraqi schoolchildren:
> Iraq's Ministry of Education (MoE) is establishing a new education television
> channel in April to give primary and secondary school students the option of
> taking additional lessons at home and for those who are not attending school
> due to insecurity.
>
> "The idea of this channel is similar to the educational TV established during
> the 1970s. We are going to present the entire curriculum for all grades,
> along with scientific programmes which are useful for the students," Baha'a
> Yehyah, director of the education channel, told IRIN in the capital Baghdad.
>
> The channel will broadcast for at least six hours a day, seven days a week.
> "Specialised supervisors in the education field and good teachers will
> participate in preparing the programmes and teaching lessons," Yehyah added.
What happened to the old education channel? "Television-based learning was stopped in 1993, during Saddam Hussein's time, when his son, Uday, took most of the equipment for his own television channel."
The Ministry of Education is actively supporting Iraqi Scouts by helping to establish Scout camps around the country and buying equipment for the groups. The ministry has also established a unit within the Directorate General for Academic Curricula to work on incorporating human rights education throughout Iraqi schools.
USAID is involving the locals in the reconstruction effort (link in PDF):
> Throughout Iraq, over 4,600 community members have participated in 55
> workshops to organize the replacement of rural schools made of mud and reeds
> with concrete facilities. During the workshops, held by local Departments of
> Education in 16 governorates, community members completed written surveys
> pledging in-kind contributions of materials and labor to support school
> construction and pledged a variety of support including potable water tanks,
> electrical fixtures, labor for school construction and evening security.
> Workshop attendees included representatives from the local mud school, the
> Parent-Teacher Association, and other community members.
Qadisyah University will be undergoing extensive renovation and expansion, including establishing "three colleges (Law and Engineering colleges in Diwanyah and Agriculture College in Samawa) in addition to new scientific departments (Chemic department within Science College, and Financial and Banking science department within Administration and Economic College), referring to the opening of Relics Searching project in College of Arts."
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has launched eight new training centers in the areas of the country experiencing the highest unemployment levels.
Education is a continuing process. Recently, employees of the Ministry of Labor have been participating in training courses to bring them up to speed with new IT technology and increase English-language proficiency.
An extensive report by the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., describes the often torturous road of the Iraqi health system as it tries to cope with reconstruction, violence and personal danger for its staff:
> Some two years after the U.S.-led invasion and the end of the Saddam Hussein
> era, the country's gains--and challenges--can be detected in the emergency
> rooms of hospitals such as Medical City and Al Yarmouk where trauma patients
> receive treatment.
>
> Medical City, along with the medical community in general, has made material
> strides. Doctors' salaries have jumped from as low as $120 a year to between
> $3,000 and $4,000. Last year, the average annual income in Iraq was $800.
>
> Medical City is a sprawling central Baghdad complex with a staff of 2,140
> that treats about 100 emergency patients and 3,000 other patients per day. Its
> budget has increased from about $360,000 in the second half of 2003 to
> $3.3million last year, not including funds from some nonprofit international
> aid groups that prefer to give directly to hospitals rather than to the
> Ministry of Health, Mostafa said.
>
> Hospitals now include Internet cafes where doctors can look up the latest
> medical information online or request advice from a physician abroad.
>
> And Iraq's health care industry has access to far more funds and better
> supplies than it did under the last dozen years of Saddam's rule. Doctors no
> longer have to smuggle under the radar of United Nations sanctions
> black-market cancer drugs or the latest equipment.
In Diwanyiah province, "the Ministry of Health has initiated the implementation of large number of health projects specialized to rehabilitate hospitals and setting up large number of health clinics." While many projects are currently in various stages of completion, "the health clinic in al-Shafia district have been accomplished, fever section in al-Daiwania Teaching Hospital, besides establishing primary clinic center at al-Hakeem Quarter."
In Fallujah, a joint U.S.-Iraqi committee has been formed to supervise reconstruction of health facilities in the city, at a cost of about 9 billion dinars ($6.2 million). "The project includes reconstructing and rehabilitating general Falluja Hospital and main health center . . . in addition to three other centers in Falluja neighborhoods." More here.
The authorities will construct two new hospitals in the poorest sections of Baghdad, one in Sadr City with 400 beds and one in the Shaab District with 200.
The ministries of Higher Education and Health have agreed to organize special training courses in Iraqi technical colleges and other institutes to train students in health technology.
In agricultural news, in Arbil, "the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the General Directorate of Horticulture, Forestry and Rangelands began reforesting areas which were either burned by central government armies in the 1990s or over-harvested by residents for fuel wood." And again America is helping out:
>
>
> Through grants awarded by the United States Agency for International
> Development (USAID) Agriculture Reconstruction and Development for Iraq
> (ARDI) program, two agricultural media centers in Arbil and As Sulaymaniyah
> governorates now have equipment needed to serve Iraqis involved in
> agricultural work. Media centers serve as the publicity arm of the Ministry
> of Agriculture (MOA) Agricultural Research and Extension Centers. The centers
> produce reference and training materials for farmers, and publications and
> reports for the General Directorate of Research and Extension.
In other recent initiatives of the ARDI program (link in PDF): making available "a grant to provide 240 small farms in central and southern Iraq with simple and inexpensive drip irrigation kits to demonstrate efficient water use," procuring eight grain cleaners and 20 wheat seed processors for use around the country, and continuing work on rehabilitation of 24 veterinary clinics throughout Iraq.
Humanitarian aid. USAID's Assistance to Civilian Victims of the Conflict Initiative of the Community Action Program (or CAP) "supports medical assistance for individuals injured as a result of Coalition Force operations and for facilities destroyed either accidentally by bombing or intentionally when the buildings were suspected as being used by anti-Coalition Forces." Among CAP's recent initiatives (link in PDF):
* An architecture student at a Baghdad university who lost his arm when his house collapsed during Coalition fighting is receiving a prosthetic hand and therapy sessions with the assistance of the CAP program.
*
*
* Eighty-five disabled people in Maysan Governorate received wheelchairs through a Wheelchair Distribution Project. To complement this project, 37 buildings in the town, including health centers, the court house, the main post office and several schools, have been selected to receive wheelchair ramps. Along with construction, the local organization will coordinate several activities to highlight the rights of disabled members of society.
*
*
* A Ninawa' village health center that was suspected as being used by anti-Coalition Forces was completely demolished in March 2003. The center was empty at the time and no one was injured; however, the closest hospital is 40 km away. A $46,049 grant supported the rehabilitation, enabling 2,500 people in the area to obtain the medical and health services they need.
*
*
* The CAP team in Karbala began working with a Community Association in May 2004 to construct a health clinic at the University, which is now open to students and faculty members injured during Coalition Forces attacks on insurgents in the area in December 2003 as well as to residents of nearby communities, many of whom have also been victims of the military incursions, insurgent attacks and increased criminal activity.
*
*
* A physical therapy center in Karbala governorate will be rehabilitated with CAP support. The center is the only of its kind in Karbala and sustained looting and damage in April 2003 and years of neglect under Saddam's regime. As a result, the center is ill-equipped to treat patients, including 90 persons that were injured by Coalition Forces military operations.
*
*
* CAP will provide equipment to improve the medical services available to 20,000 people in a town in Salah ad Din governorate; to date, there have been 17 civilian victims of Coalition military activity in the town. The total project value will be $46,350, and will benefit 30 war victims, over 20,000 town residents, and an additional 20,000 in surrounding villages.
While various government organizations continue to provide humanitarian aid, often the help for Iraqis in need is a result of actions by individuals, community groups and NGOs. This Iraqi boy is getting to walk again in the United States:
> Ten-year-old Majid Fadhil is a long way from his home, his parents and his
> six siblings in Kut, Iraq, getting a very special gift--artificial legs and
> the ability to walk again.
>
> Majid was hurt while walking home from school in Kut, in southeastern Iraq,
> with a younger cousin and other friends in February 2004. The cousin stepped
> on something--it's not clear whether it was a roadside bomb planted by Iraqi
> insurgents, a stray grenade or a landmine--and triggered an explosion. His
> cousin was killed. Majid lost his legs just below the knees.
>
> He's shown remarkable progress. He took his first steps on his prosthetic
> legs in January. After physical therapy to rebuild thigh and back muscles he
> had not used for more than a year, he was walking by himself in a matter of
> weeks--well enough that he was able to enroll in the third grade.
As the report notes, Majid is learning English quickly: "His standard greeting is now: 'What's up, dude?' "
India , too, is also giving help to sick Iraqi children:
> Close on the heels of providing world-class health care facilities to
> patients from overseas countries, India has also emerged as the destination
> for children from countries like Iraq and Lebanon. The relatively low cost
> treatment provided by Indian hospitals has led to the development of medical
> tourism in the country.
>
> Madras based Frontier Lifeline Heart Foundation is proving to be one such
> hospital centre being undertaking complex heart surgeries of poor children
> from countries like Iraq and Lebanon. . . .
>
> In 2004, the multi-speciality hospital treated 20 Iraqi children with various
> heart ailments as a goodwill gesture and also conducted free heart camps for
> school children in the city.
Coalition troops. A symbolic first in the military's reconstruction work:
> The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) called the awarding of a
> construction contract earlier this month in southern Iraq sociologically
> ground-breaking because the winning bid was submitted by a female-owned
> business.
>
> With recent contracting initiatives for the reconstruction effort, the Corps
> offers opportunities to female-owned businesses as well as those from local
> provinces when awarding construction and renovation contracts...
>
> At a preconstruction conference, the Iraqi company owner, her mechanical
> engineer, civil engineer and manager--all female--and male translator were
> acquainted with the Corps' contracting and construction management procedures.
The troops can also chalk up a major accomplishment that will help the Iraqi electricity infrastructure:
> Altogether, it weighs more than 700 tons and is affectionately known as
> "MOAG," or the "Mother of All Generators."
>
> The gigantic, German-built piece of machinery required a U.S. military escort
> to reach its new home: A U.S.-financed electrical power plant going up
> outside Kirkuk, an oil center in northern Iraq.
>
> In what U.S. officials describe as one of the most logistically complex
> operations of the Iraqi reconstruction effort, the 260-megawatt
> combustion-turbine generator was transported 640 miles--including a 240-mile
> detour around a destroyed bridge--from the Jordanian border through Anbar
> province, a vast western region that is a hotbed of the anti-American
> insurgency.
>
> Planning for the trip started in September and was kept secret. The huge
> generator set out in a 30-vehicle convoy March 21, officials said. Moving at 5
> mph, it reached its destination April 2.
As USAID explains (link in PDF):
>
>
> The turbine is part of a larger project to bring increased reliable power to
> the Iraqi power grid which includes the installation of two Westinghouse
> Siemens Combustion Gas Turbines, a V-64 and a V-94. Combined, these turbines
> will add 325MW to the national grid. The V-64 arrived earlier and is
> contributing 65MW of power. With the gantry crane on site, the new turbine is
> being unloaded and moved to its foundation. The Taza site, south of Kirkuk,
> was chosen as the location for the new turbines because it is a major hub of
> the national grid and because of its proximity to a 15km pipeline extension
> that provides the plant's gas supply.
More here.
The troops also continue to help Iraqi schools:
> Amid the danger for U.S. troops and civilians in Iraq there's also plenty of
> hope: The American mission includes reconstruction projects that are
> revitalizing parts of Iraqi society, especially the schools.
>
> Iraqi schoolchildren are eager to learn, and many people say the country's
> school system is one of the bright spots in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion
> two years ago.
>
> One of the success stories is the Fine Arts Institute for Girls in Baghdad.
> After a $60,000 renovation, students are flourishing in their new environment.
> The school's headmistress, Karima Hassan Ahmad, says with fresh paint, new
> supplies and a place to display their artwork, they're expressing themselves
> like never before. "We feel we are more, we have a freedom now," she said,
> "and we need this freedom to do something to our society."
>
> A number of parents in Iraq were encouraged by January's elections, and more
> are sending their children to school these days. As a result, the need to get
> schools and classrooms up to par is now greater than ever.
>
> So far, one unit--the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division--is helping. The
> soldiers have spent $5 million of American taxpayer money to rebuild nearly 50
> schools, including the Art Institute.
>
> But there is still much to do. Most of Iraq's schools are still run down and
> out of date. According to the Ministry of Education, 5,000 additional schools
> are needed, and repairs are required at 80 percent of existing ones.
The BBC describes the challenge:
> Iraq used to have one of the highest levels of literacy in the Arab world and
> one of its best education systems, but two decades of war, sanctions and
> funding shortages under Saddam Hussein have turned it into one of the
> region's worst.
>
> One of the positives is the number of children going to school. Iraq has one
> of the highest percentages of children attending classes in the Middle East,
> according to the United Nations.
>
> But few of these children are getting a decent education. Many of the best
> teachers fled abroad during Saddam Hussein's rule and have not returned. Many
> schools lack basics such as books and desks and even buildings. At least a
> quarter share premises with other schools, according to the Ministry of
> Education.
Help for Iraqi schools is not all bricks and mortar:
> The 155th Brigade Combat Team is calling on all schools in Mississippi to
> help rebuild Iraq by participating in a newly developed program,
> Adopt-A-School. . . . In conjunction with their efforts as American soldiers
> in restoring the Middle Eastern country, the 155th Brigade has developed an
> Adopt-A-School program to link schools in Iraq with schools in Mississippi. .
> . .
>
> The program is still in its first month of existence, according to Lt. Col.
> Tommy W. Fuller. "The soldiers got excited about the program and have also
> involved churches and other organizations," Fuller said. . . . Fuller also
> hopes this program will build a foundation upon which Iraqi families and
> American families can both grow. "We may not be able to change the minds of
> the adults, but we can change the minds of the children," Fuller said. "I do
> not know too many parents who mind if you provide help to their children. We
> want to win the hearts and minds of the children, parents and educators of
> the schools we adopt."
Improving public health is also high on the list of priorities:
> For many Iraqis who live in rural villages, having enough water to get by has
> always been good enough. "They might bathe once a week, and they don't do
> laundry like we do," said Dr. (Capt.) Mike Tarpey of 1st Battalion, 15th
> Infantry Regiment. "The people are not used to having clean water like we
> are. It's true with most Third World countries."
>
> Part of the U.S. military's goal is to change that way of thinking. If more
> Iraqis had clean water to use, there'd be less hepatitis and gastrointestinal
> disorders such as diarrhea. So the military is working with local contractors
> in north-central Iraq to build water-cleaning facilities at villages along the
> Tigris River such as Hardania and Bichigan.
Meanwhile in Fallujah:
> The three-story hospital in downtown Fallujah sits empty and abandoned, but
> with funds allocated through the Commanders Emergency Response Program and a
> private donor, this is about to change. "This is truly a collaborative effort
> here. It was great creative problem solving to address the immediate needs of
> Fallujah," U.S. Army Col. Terry Parker.
>
> The Taleb Janabi Hospital, a privately-owned facility, will receive $150,000
> in response program funds and the owner, Dr. Taleb Janabi, will contribute an
> additional $50,000. This case is unusual because typically response program
> funds can only be spent on public projects. However, this is the only
> hospital within the city.
In other ongoing health reconstruction projects in Fallujah:
* Fallujah General Hospital is slated to receive a new x-ray machine and a CT scan, diagnostic equipment used to generate anatomy imaging, in the next couple of weeks from the Iraqi Ministry of Health.
*
*
* Three medical clinics have been rehabilitated and opened and five new clinics are scheduled to be built, according to the ministry.
*
*
* A total of $6.2 million, which was supplied by the ministry, has been earmarked for the Fallujah General Hospital and medical clinic renovations in and around the city.
*
*
* The Ministry of Health has also recently allocated $40 million for a new general hospital in Fallujah.
Troops also continue to embark on humanitarian and goodwill missions. This from Baghdad:
>
>
> Soldiers from the California Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 184th
> Infantry Regiment, traveled to the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Dora
> March 16. The visit was designed to distribute aid to local children and
> assess the needs of local families. Many families in this economically
> depressed area make only $30 to $40 a month and many cannot afford shoes for
> their children. One hundred and eighty four Soldiers distributed shoes to
> needy children and their families.
Even little things can make a difference:
> Two Soldiers from the 256th Brigade Combat Team have made a new friend, and
> they want to show him what he means to them, so they presented him with a new
> bicycle.
>
> Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Bryant from Shreveport, La., of Company B, 1st
> Battalion, 156th Armor Regiment, and Staff Sgt. Joe Speck from Deville, La.,
> of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, were won over by a
> little boy, whose mother is a first sergeant with the 36th Commando Iraqi
> Battalion. The 36th falls under the command of the 40th Iraqi National Guard,
> and Speck and Bryant are stationed at Camp Justice training them.
>
> "His father was with the Iraqi Army and killed by an insurgent about a year
> ago," said Speck, "and this kid has the biggest smile. We just wanted to do
> something to make him happy."
>
> Acquiring the bike proved to be a challenge. Bryant tried to purchase one in
> the Camp Justice area, and when all attempts failed, he turned to the 256th
> Brigade Combat Team historian.
>
> "[Bryant] came to the office and mentioned that he was trying to find a bike
> for a little boy, but that he was having some trouble," said Sgt. Jessica
> Dubois from Abbeville, La, of Headquarters Co. 256th Brigade Combat Team, "A
> man in one of the shops here usually gets me things pretty quickly, so I asked
> him about this, and in two weeks he had it for me."
Some of the beneficiaries of the troops' help aren't even human:
> Captain Katherine M. Knake has wanted to be a veterinarian since she was 8
> years old. Now the native of Arden Hills, Minn., is a veterinarian with A
> Company, 407th Civil Affairs Battalion, 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd
> Infantry Division, stationed in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. As part of a civil affairs
> team, she helps local farmers by examining their animals and administering
> medicine with her on-hand supplies.
>
> On April 2, she went on a mission that included a lot more than veterinary
> care. Her day started with a pre-patrol briefing, where the vehicles were
> prepared for the day's missions and rehearsals were conducted.
>
> Part of her checks included packing medicines and supplies into her aid bag
> and cooler. Unable to carry large amounts, she was forced to select a specific
> animal type and stock up for each mission. Her choice for that day was for
> sheep and goats. It was almost six hours into the patrol before she found a
> suitable herd of sheep and goats.
>
> After the interpreter explained to a local resident what the Soldiers were
> there to do, he was more than happy to allow their help. His herd of 133 sheep
> and goats were de-wormed and several were given shots for mange. While giving
> out medicine, Knake was also conducting a health assessment of the herd,
> identifying any possible diseases or herd issues.
Other coalition members play their part in providing security and assistance. In June, Bosnia is sending a multiethnic platoon to clear unexploded ordnance across Iraq. "More than 50 Muslim, Serb and Croat soldiers and officers--of which 36 would be selected for the first of two 6-month tours--have almost completed training, conducted in part by U.S. military experts."
Another Balkan state is helping: "The fifth Albanian army contingent with 50 more army troops for peacekeeping mission in Iraq left Tirana on Sunday. A total of 120 Albanian commandos of the new contingent will join the US-led operation in Mosul, northern Iraq, replacing the fourth unit sent by Albania."
In Baghdad, soldiers from the state of Georgia are cooperating with the counterparts from the republic of the same name:
> The 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division has welcomed a new
> infantry battalion to its ranks. And, just like most of the units in the Fort
> Stewart-based division, the soldiers of this battalion are from Georgia.
>
> However, most of these soldiers don't speak English.
>
> The 13th Infantry Battalion joins the 4th BCT from the country of Georgia, a
> former Soviet Republic located on the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia.
>
> The 550-soldier battalion will be responsible for security at two of the most
> important sites in Baghdad-the al-Rasheed Hotel and the Iraqi Convention
> Center, the home to the newly-elected Iraqi National Assembly. The battalion
> will also provide security for United Nations convoys in Baghdad.
And in the clearest case yet of "for your freedom, and ours," Afghanistan will be sending some troops to Iraq.
Security. The insurgency continues to unravel:
> There are growing signs of hostility between secular Iraqi insurgents and
> Muslim extremists--some of them foreigners--fighting under the banner of
> al-Qaida.
>
> The factions have exchanged threats and are increasingly divided over the
> strategy of violence, much of it targeting civilians, that aims undermine the
> fragile new government.
>
> The increased tension, critically, arises as the mainstream component of the
> Sunni Arab-led insurgency--which remains active, deadly and vibrant nearly
> two years since it began--has opened a campaign designed to reap political
> gain out of its violent roots.
>
> Post-election realities appear to have forced the tactical change as majority
> Shiites and Kurds consolidate power and the population grows increasingly
> angry over the largely Sunni-driven insurgency that is killing vast numbers
> of ordinary people and the country's fledgling army and police force.
>
> "You see a withering of the insurgents that had a short-term agenda, like
> preventing the January election. But the insurgency is not unraveling yet,"
> said Peter Khalil, former director of national security policy for the
> now-defunct U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq.
>
> The divide among militants, however, is becoming more noticeable.
Another report agrees:
> Signs are growing that the slaughter of all Iraqis in the army or police, or
> civilians working for the government, is leading to divisions in the
> resistance. . . .
>
> Posters threatening extreme resistance fighters have appeared on walls in
> Ramadi, a Sunni Muslim city on the Euphrates river west of Baghdad. Insurgents
> in the city say that resistance to the Americans is being discredited by the
> kidnapping and killing of civilians. "They have tarnished our image and used
> the jihad to make personal gains," Ahmed Hussein, an imam from a mosque in
> Ramadi, was quoted as saying.
Read also this report of a growing split within the Sunni community itself in Ramadi about the future tactics.
The Sunni religious establishment has also for the first time clearly condemned "the terrorism of the forces that claim resistance" and stated that "the honorable resistance renounces them." Sheikh Hareth al-Dhari, president of the Association of Muslim Scholars, said in the statement, "We peacefully reject the occupation and object to terrorism in all forms, whether by an enemy of a friend, especially when this terrorism is aiming at the innocent, institutions, security and cultural establishments and the leaders of thought."
Meanwhile, some insurgents are staring to come in from the cold:
>
>
> Midlevel Iraqi insurgent leaders are attempting to give themselves up in
> return for deals that would allow them to join the political system, U.S. and
> Iraqi officials say. "Groups that participated in the insurgency are now
> coming forward and saying they want to participate in the politics," Steven
> Casteel, the senior U.S. consultant to Iraq's Interior Ministry, said
> Wednesday. "Normally, it's a cell leader coming forward through an
> intermediary."
U.S. forces are reporting progress against roadside bombs:
> Officials said the U.S. Army has perfected techniques to detect and
> neutralize so-called improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq. They said
> the improved capability reflects enhanced equipment, technology and expertise
> by soldiers.
>
> Over the last year, U.S. casualties from IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan have
> been reduced by 45 percent, officials said. They said that in 2005 the number
> of bombing attempts has declined and the IEDs have become more crude in their
> design. . . .
>
> U.S. troops were said to have had their greatest success in the Baghdad area.
> Officials said Task Force Baghdad has succeeded in finding half of all IEDs.
> They said 70 percent of the IED attacks against troops in the Baghdad area
> failed to produce casualty.
The hunt for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, meanwhile, continues, with reports that the Jordanian-born terrorist is isolated in western Iraq, is constantly on the run, and has recently only narrowly escaped capture.
Speaking of western Iraq, the Marines are reporting increasing successes against the insurgents and terrorists in the region that borders Syria:
> To the U.S. military in Iraq, what looks like bad news is often the opposite.
> A spate of attacks against a U.S. Marine outpost on the Syrian border is just
> such a case, according to military commanders. . . .
>
> A head-on military-style clash has generally been eschewed by the Iraqi
> insurgency. In conventional combat, they are outgunned: U.S. forces have
> better weapons, body armor, and training. That disadvantage is what drove
> insurgents to improvised explosive devices in the first place, according to
> the military: the bombs presented a low risk but a reasonably high payoff.
>
> However, innocent Iraqis are increasingly suffering from the attacks--in part
> because U.S. forces have the benefit of armor protection. That fact seems to
> be eroding support for the insurgency, even among the Sunni population,
> according to U.S. military officials. That insurgents would again resort to
> the high-risk but more honorable assault on U.S. military bases suggests they
> see their waning stature and want to reverse it.
As the report notes:
> The apparent success [in western Iraq] against the insurgency is more than
> just the result of a blockade, the Marine official said. It is the direct
> result of the November assault on Fallujah which yielded a trove of
> intelligence, both from captured documents and fighters.
>
> "The 'intel" windfall from Fallujah painted a very good picture of the
> interconnections from Husaybah into the Mosul-Baghdad area. Once we could
> focus our troop strength . . ., we were able to overcome the enemy advantage
> of being able to hide amongst the populace or in remote desert hideaways,"
> the official said.
>
> The 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions launched two operations--Operations River
> Blitz and River Bridge--on the insurgent way stations on the Euphrates River
> beginning in February. For the last 18 months, the insurgency has evinced a
> frustrating adaptability--if they are pressured in one town, they squeeze out
> and occupy the next, often staying one step ahead of a military force
> stretched thin.
>
> That dynamic may be starting to change. "We were in pursuit mode . . . the
> enemy was forced to move. To move he has to communicate. If he is moving and
> communicating, we can find him. The more we find, the more information we get
> from detainee interrogation. The more information we get from interrogation,
> the more they have to move. The more they have to move, the more they have to
> communicate . . . etc," the official said.
The situation in Mosul, which flared up late last year in the aftermath of the Fallujah operation, is also slowly improving:
> Since November, U.S. forces have killed at least 350 militants in the
> province, including 50 foreigners from Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Egypt,
> says Brown, 45, of Fort Lewis, Wash., where his 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry
> Division unit is based.
>
> Brown says attacks have dropped in recent weeks because the populace is
> coming around against the insurgents, with tips to security forces running at
> about 250 a week. . . .
>
> During the Fallujah battle, guerrilla attacks doubled in Mosul from 54 over a
> week in early November to 100 reported the following week, according to U.S.
> Army figures.
>
> The week of the Jan. 30 elections--nationwide voting largely boycotted by
> Sunni Arabs believed to make up the backbone of Iraq's insurgency--attacks
> spiked again to nearly 90. Since the elections, attacks in Mosul declined to
> about 50 per week in mid-March, the most recent figures available.
Another report adds: "Indirect attacks--generally involving mortars or rockets--on U.S. bases fell from more than 200 a month in December to fewer than 10 in March." Read the whole thing to get a better perspective on how the insurgency is being fought in Mosul.
continued in next post
continued from ican's previous post
Speaking of Mosul, Iraqi security forces continue to take increased responsibility for maintaining order:
> The two dozen Iraqi soldiers marched in formation into downtown Mosul,
> streets emptying in their path. The men trained their rifles on potential
> bomb threats: a donkey-drawn vegetable cart, a blue Opel sedan, a man with a
> bulge beneath his tattered gray coat.
>
> Less than a month ago, U.S. forces patrolled these dangerous streets. But on
> this humid morning there were only the Iraqis and a lone U.S. adviser, Marine
> Staff Sgt. Lafayette Waters, 32, of Kinston, N.C., who blended unobtrusively
> into the patrol.
>
> This is Area of Operations Iraq, slightly more than two square miles in the
> heart of Iraq's third-largest city. It is also at the center of the U.S.
> military's strategy to hand off counterinsurgency operations to Iraqi security
> forces and ultimately draw down the number of American troops.
>
> Since Iraq's Jan. 30 parliamentary elections, that process has accelerated
> much more rapidly than U.S. commanders have previously acknowledged. Although
> AO Iraq is one of just two sectors currently under Iraqi control (the other is
> the area around Baghdad's Haifa Street), two senior U.S. officers said the
> Iraqis' zone of responsibility would soon expand and eventually include all of
> Nineveh province, including Mosul and Tall Afar, another volatile city,
> possibly within a year.
Training of the Iraqi forces, combined with the increase in local policing, in starting to bear fruit:
> Though they have only been working with the Iraqi Army for two months,
> Soldiers of A Company, 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st
> Armor Division, are making significant strides to build up the military force
> in Iraq. Along with providing the basic necessities required for soldiering,
> the 2-70th has trained the 507th Infantry and 1st Presidential Battalions of
> the future 4th Brigade, 6th Division, on infantry tactics and maneuver
> movements. Over the past several months, the training has resulted in the IA
> gaining loyalty from the local Iraqi community.
>
> Captain David Carey, from Kokomo, Ind., commander of A Co., 2-70th shared a
> story of an attempt by criminals to launch mortars, an attempt that was
> stopped by Iraqi civilians. "They (the terrorists) went to put out the mortar
> tubes, and the local populace actually pulled out their AK-47s and fired on
> the mortar team," he said. Carey attributes the actions of the civilians to
> the Iraqi Army and outlying American patrols.
>
> "That's a success story," he added. "You know you're doing things right when
> the locals start doing things like that." Carey, who was in Iraq a year ago
> for the ground war, explained that a lot has changed since he was last here,
> especially the focus, mentality, and capabilities of the Iraqi Army. "Both of
> our battalions are doing really well, we see a lot of improvement from a year
> ago. They're able to stand up, and the officers and Soldiers are better."
The training efforts are also getting better integrated:
> Military and Iraqi police are working together in a partnership program to
> better train, support and secure the future of Iraq, according to
> Multi-National Forces.
>
> In order to enhance police command and control; staff operations;
> communications and intelligence networks; and to streamline law and order
> within areas of operation, the 42nd Military Police (MP) Brigade, Fort Lewis,
> Wash., has employed police support teams at the Baghdad police headquarters
> and stations, Maj. Curtis M. Schroeder, Iraq Police Service liaison, 42nd MP
> Bde, said.
>
> "We are teaching and coaching the leaders to delegate authority and use their
> staff efficiently and showing them how to train their own troops," Schroeder
> said. The MPs are working hand-in-hand with the Iraqi Police Services to
> train Iraqi police forces, making them equipped and automated so the Baghdad
> police can operate efficiently.
According to another report, "the academy, with the help of MPs, is graduating about 3,000 cadets per quarter. The attrition rate is at around 10 percent, said Capt. Jeffery Withers, commander, 411th MP Co." Says Withers:
>
>
> We're providing quality police officers to go out on the streets and insure
> that they can self-sufficiently and securely police their own country. . . .
> We teach them the basic police skills that they need to go out and survive
> and secure Baghdad itself, or wherever they are stationed throughout Iraq. .
> . . Iraqi cadets are disciplined and excited. They take and see this
> opportunity seriously as a great step forward. This is the first time in a
> long time that they will freely be able to be Iraqi Police and have a say in
> the democratic process. . . . They really care. They study, they don't cheat
> and they're very excited to be a part of it.
Chris Cochran from Military Police Company B of North Versailles, Pa., was until recently another trainer. And here's another report on training:
> Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil doesn't own a how-to manual titled "Building a Police
> Force in the Midst of an Insurgency." He's winging it.
>
> "We are learning from current events," said Fil, commander of the Civilian
> Police Assistance Training Team, or CPATT, charged with organizing, training,
> equipping and mentoring the entire Iraqi police force. "Late last summer,
> early fall, it was evident that normal police techniques were insufficient
> against the very lethal, well-organized, viscous threat aimed at coalition and
> police forces. So a fighting police force was required, without creating
> another army," the 51-year-old Portola Valley, Calif., native said.
>
> That meant equipping police forces with body armor and rifles, instead of
> just badges and handguns. It meant building a mock police station at the
> Baghdad Police Academy where recruits could learn to fortify their stations
> against attacks. It meant creating teams of specialized police members in
> areas of specialized weapons and tactics and emergency response units, Fil
> said.
The ranks of graduates in Iraqi police force keep on growing. This, in Taji:
>
>
> With cheers and chants of loyalty to the new Iraqi government, 247 exuberant
> recruits picked up graduation certificates from the Iraqi Highway Patrol
> Academy April 7 and headed for new jobs guarding their country's streets and
> thoroughfares. This was the first class to graduate from the new academy.
> Before the ceremony even began, the first wave of highway patrol officers was
> celebrating their accomplishments with a patriotic march romp. They also
> waived an Iraqi flag as several hoisted instructor Gene Rapp on their
> shoulders and carried him around the gravel-covered grounds.
More here.
Meanwhile, another class of 260 graduated from advanced and specialty courses at the Adnan Training Facility on April 14:
> The courses consist of Basic Criminal Investigations (BCI) with 46 graduates,
> Interview and Interrogations (II) with 34 graduates, Violent Crime
> Investigation (VCI) with 27 graduates, Internal Controls Investigation (ICI)
> with 31 graduates, Critical Incident Management (CMI) with 27 graduates,
> Kidnapping Investigations (KI) with 29 graduates, First Line Supervision (FLS)
> with 38 graduates and Organized Crime Investigation (OCI) with 28 graduates.
Here's a profile of the Baghdad Police Academy and the basic training courses currently producing 3,500 new officers every month. And here's a similar profile of the Babylon Police Academy in Hilla:
>
>
> The Feb. 25 suicide bombing in Hilla that slaughtered 125 police candidates
> waiting in line for medical testing didn't deter Salah Hamad, 28, from signing
> up. "The attack motivated me to be an IP rather than make me afraid," Hamad
> said. "If being here lets me serve my society, I am ready."
Read also these two profiles of Iraqis who are risking their lives every day while serving in the police force to protect their fellow citizens:
> He was a soccer star in a previous life, the one untouched by war. He was
> famous among his fellow Iraqis, as soccer players usually were.
>
> But now, he lives a life in obscurity--his face hidden behind a black ski
> mask when on the job. It's too risky for the 24-year-old soccer
> star-turned-cop to reveal to the world his life as a member of the Emergency
> Response Unit, an elite part of the rebuilding Iraqi police force.
>
> He prefers his new life. "My jobs are almost the same. In soccer, we made
> goals. Now I make goals. Goals by capturing terrorists," he said Monday during
> a training break at Camp Dublin, near Baghdad International Airport.
And this:
> For about $200 a month, 24-year-old Mnieer risks his life getting to and from
> the office. He's an Iraqi police officer. Strike one. He's employed in the
> U.S. coalition-controlled International Zone police station. Strike two.
>
> But the young police officer said he sees a dire need to help protect his
> country, and the spate of insurgent threats and terrorist bombings that has
> killed hundreds of his brethren won't dissuade him. "We have a good system and
> we're taking care of the country."
As ABC reports:
> Despite the risks, Iraqis keep signing up to serve. The Baghdad Police
> College says it has no shortage of recruits. In a country with unemployment
> well over 50 percent, a police paycheck--about $200 a month--is simply too
> tempting.
>
> The cadets interviewed by ABC News insist their motives aren't financial.
> Faisal Ghazi gave up a higher-paying job in the private sector and joined the
> force to avenge the death of his cousin--a police officer who was beheaded by
> insurgents. "Me [and] my uncles joined the police force in order to capture
> the terrorist who killed him," he said. "With God as my witness, I will
> sacrifice my life to capture his killers."
Others do it for patriotic reasons: "Finjan--who was a truck driver before the war started--acknowledges the inherent dangers but says he wants to do it "for [the] defense of my country and my brothers and my kids."
The training of the Iraqi army is also moving ahead. Most recently, 700 former Iraqi National Guard soldiers from Al Anbar Province commenced basic combat training at the Kirkush Military Training Base on April 12:
>
>
> Originally recruited into the 500/501 Battalions of the 60th Brigade ING
> based in Ramadi, these Soldiers will now be trained and integrated into the
> Iraqi Army. Approximately 40,000 ING Soldiers will become part of the Iraqi
> Army as a result of actions initiated at the Ministry of Defense earlier this
> year.
Iraqi soldiers are also getting some health training:
> Soldiers of the 1st Iraqi Army Brigade received training on basic first aid,
> sexually transmitted diseases and personal field hygiene on April 12. "The
> purpose is to increase education of the Iraqi Army medical sections, and to
> clarify the existing knowledge," said Lt. Col. Fuoud, 1st IA Bde. Surgeon.
>
> He said the Iraqi medical personnel are well-educated, but most have only
> hospital experience. His vision is for them to be proficient medically on the
> battlefield. He hopes to improve on the training program, with the help of the
> U.S. Army. "We are in need of a sophisticated program, one that will educate
> the soldiers in all positions," said Fuoud.
>
> Battalions were tasked to send five medics to the training. After they
> receive and pass all requirements, they will go back and train their own
> soldiers. The education, until now, was primitive, said Fuoud.
Good news for the Iraqi navy:
>
>
> For the first time in its country's history, the Iraqi Navy has joined with
> coalition forces to participate as observers during exercise Arabian Gauntlet
> 2005 in the Persian Gulf March 22-30. Arabian Gauntlet is a multilateral air,
> surface and mine countermeasure exercise designed to enhance interoperability
> with coalition partners and allies in the region to conduct maritime security
> operations (MSO).
As President Bush pointed out recently, Iraq's army, police and security forces now for the first time outnumber the American troops in Iraq. The U.S. delegation reported to the United Nations on behalf of the coalition forces about the composition of the Iraqi security forces:
* In less than a year, the Iraqi Regular Army and Intervention Forces grew from one operational battalion to 27 operational battalions. The total number of operational combat battalions is now 80, which includes the units incorporated from the intervention force and the National Guard.
*
*
* Iraq's Navy became operational, with five 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels, and a naval infantry regiment that recently completed training.
*
*
* Iraq's Air Force has three operational squadrons; one additional squadron was stood up in late-January/early February. They have nine reconnaissance aircraft, a helicopter squadron, and three C-130 transport aircraft.
*
*
* Iraq's Special Operations Forces now include a superb Counter-terrorist Forces and a Commando Battalion, each of which has conducted dozens of successful operations.
*
*
* Iraq's 1st Mechanized Battalion became operational in mid-January, along with a tank company and a transportation battalion; the remaining elements of a mechanized brigade will be trained and equipped by the summer.
*
*
* Iraq's two Military Academies reopened in October 2004 and each graduated a pilot course of new lieutenants, 91 total, in early January. The new year-long military academy course has already begun.
*
*
* The Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 trained and equipped police officers, up from 26,000 last Summer. Of the nearly 29,000 police officers who have been trained since then, over 12,000 were former police who underwent three-week transition course training and over 16,000 were new recruits who underwent eight-week basic training. More than 35,000 additional police are on duty and scheduled for training.
*
*
* Five basic police academies became operational; together, they produce over 3,500 new police officers from the 8-week course each month, a course recently modified to better prepare the new police officers for the challenging environment in which some may serve. Several other regional academies are under construction.
*
*
* Iraq's Mechanized Police Brigade recently completed training and began operations in mid-January, using fifty BTR-94 wheeled armored vehicles. One additional Mechanized Police battalion is in training.
*
*
* Nine Police Commando battalions are operational.
*
*
* Nine Public Order Battalions are operational. Three more battalions will commence training shortly.
*
*
* Iraq's National Police Emergency Response Unit is now operational, and its elements have conducted operations in Baghdad, Fallujah, and Mosul.
*
*
* Iraq's First Special Border Force Battalion is operating on the Syrian border in western Anbar Province; the Second Battalion competed training in February and has begun its deployments, and a third completed training in March.
*
*
* Seven provincial SWAT teams have been trained, two more are in training, and eleven more are scheduled for training by August 2005.
Recent successes in fighting the insurgency, as well as the increasing role played by the Iraqi security forces is good news--means that the U.S. can now seriously consider reducing its ground forces in Iraq. As Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the first Marine Expeditionary Force, says: "I've never been more optimistic in my almost two years of association with this area. . . . The energy, the enthusiasm of the people is catapulting this movement forward. The Iraqi security forces are capable, well-led and confident, and that confidence flows over to the Iraqi people."
The security forces are reporting a substantial increase in tips from the public:
> U.S. and Iraqi security forces say they are gaining ground on insurgents and
> criminals because more Iraqis are phoning tips to a hotline set up in
> October.
>
> The hotline, known as the Joint Operating Center, has fielded about 1,100
> calls in six months, dramatically improving street-level intelligence, says
> Army Sgt. Major Jerry Craig, a military policeman who oversees the call
> center.
>
> Most of the tips have come from anonymous tipsters.
>
> "Not only have the calls increased, the calls that give us actionable
> intelligence have increased, and our success rate has improved," Craig says.
>
> The center, which is inside the U.S. Army's heavily guarded Camp Liberty near
> the Baghdad International Airport, forwards callers' tips to U.S. and Iraqi
> security forces for investigation.
>
> Since October, 82% of callers have offered information on insurgent actions
> directed against Iraqi security forces, Craig says. Seven percent have
> reported crimes. Eleven percent haven't been useful.
In recent examples of increasing cooperation from Iraqi civilians which is paying off security dividends:
* "Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained three suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq [on April 8]. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three known insurgents in areas southeast of Mosul thanks to tips and positive identification from an Iraqi citizen. Two of the individuals were detained by MNF and the third was turned over to Iraqi Police."
*
*
* On April 12 three suspected insurgents were arrested in connection with an roadside bomb attack on a coalition combat patrol near Muqdadiyah in Diyala Province. "After the IED detonation, civilians in the area identified one of the suspects to the Soldiers in the patrol. The suspect fled the scene on a motorcycle, and was followed to a house by Task Force Liberty AH-64 Apache helicopters."
*
*
* Also on April 12, local residents in a neighborhood northeast of Baghdada tipped soldiers about an artillery round inside a concrete block with wires coming out of it. Task Force Baghdad soldiers secured the site and disabled three improvised explosive devices.
*
*
* "Task Force Baghdad Soldiers detained a former regime intelligence service brigadier general during a targeted raid April 15 in the Ghazaliya district of Baghdad. Information on the former general's alleged involvement with terrorist activities was obtained from tips from local residents and informants. During the raid, Task Force Baghdad Soldiers also seized several AK-47 rifles with ammunition and several computers and data storage devices.
*
*
* A senior insurgent leader, Hashim Hussein al-Juboury, was captured last month. He is a relative of Izzat Ibrahimal-Douri, one of the most wanted men in Iraq, with a $10 million bounty on his head. Al-Juboury was captured on March 7 in Shumariyah area in Salah al-Din province, based on a tip-off from a local resident
*
*
* A bomb was discovered and disarmed near the home of a former Iraqi ministry official in Baghdad, thanks to information from a local resident.
*
*
* "An Iraqi teenager's tip helped Task Force Baghdad Soldiers discover an insurgent safe house and take a terrorist into custody April 16."
There are many reasons for this increasing cooperation, but the hit TV show "Terror in the Hands of Justice" is one of the main factors:
> Both American and Iraqi troops agree that there has been a drop in the number
> of insurgency attacks over the last few months. There is also a general
> feeling among the Iraqi population that this is the case.
>
> One of the reasons for this, according to Iraqi government and the American
> military sources, is the phenomenon of the public becoming more cooperative in
> providing precise information about insurgents. Until recently, people were
> very reluctant to do so.
>
> It is claimed that a controversial programme on the state-owned TV station
> "Al-Iraqiaya" is responsible for this change in the public mood. The programme
> has become such a hit that other privately-owned Iraqi TV stations are now
> showing it as well.
Among other recent security successes:
* The detention of five suspected terrorists around Mosul by the Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) on April 7.
*
*
* The capture on April 10 of Ibrahim Sabawi, Saddam's nephew, suspected of playing a major role in financing the insurgency, soon after his father, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, a half brother of Saddam was also arrested for bankrolling the neo-Baathists.
*
*
* The arrest of more than 30 armed Iranian agents, members of the elite Qods (Jerusalem) Force branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala.
*
*
* The capture of 13 suspects in and around Mosul by the First Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) on April 10.
*
*
* The arrest on April 4 of one of the kidnappers who held two Frenchmen hostage for 124 days last year.
*
*
* Detaining 12 suspected insurgents in raids east of Baghdad by Task Force Baghdad soldiers and Iraqi Security Forces on April 11.
*
*
* One of the largest raids yet in the capital: "Hundreds of American and Iraqi forces swept through central and southern Baghdad early Monday [11 April], capturing at least 65 people suspected of being insurgents. . . . The operation, which began at 3 a.m. and lasted more than six hours, disrupted three insurgent networks and netted men suspected of assassinations, beheadings, kidnappings and attacks on both Iraqi and American forces. . . . Among those captured were three major insurgent leaders and a group of militants who were planning attacks on Iraq's new National Assembly. . . . In the raid, more than 500 Iraqi Army and police officers cordoned off areas in some of Baghdad's most dangerous and crime-ridden areas, conducting house-to-house searches in more than 90 locations with American troops playing a supporting role, American military officials said. One suspect was wounded in a raid."
*
*
* An attack on March 12 against an insurgent and smuggling link near the city of Qaim, on the western border with Syria; "The terrorists immediately assaulted coalition forces with small-arms fire and multipurpose assault weapons. Initial reports say a number of foreign terrorists were killed, including at least one suicide bomber. No coalition forces were injured in the operation. Two other raids conducted in the Al Qaim area in the past week resulted in the capture of smugglers who confessed to bringing weapons, foreign fighters and money for terrorists across the Syrian border into Iraq."
*
*
* The arrest on April 12 at a farm northeast of Baghdad of a high-ranking Baathist, Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Al-Mashadani, the former leader of the Military Bureau in Baghdad. "The government said he is suspected of coordinating and funding attacks carried out as part of Iraq's insurgency."
*
*
* Five more suspected insurgents arrested on April 13 and 14: "A cordon-and-search operation by Iraqi Army Soldiers resulted in the capture of a terrorist wanted for working with anti-Iraqi forces April 13. The suspect was taken to the Iraqi Army unit's headquarters for questioning. Another Iraqi Army unit searched a house in north Baghdad after a detainee from a previous raid told them weapons were being hidden there. The Iraqi Soldiers found 12 grenades, two rocket-propelled grenade missiles and one mortar round. . . . Task Force Baghdad Soldiers arrested four more terrorists in three separate raids conducted early this morning. One of the detainees belonged to an extremist group involved in several terrorist attacks and another is a member of a mortar team. All three men are in custody."
*
*
* The surrender in Mosul of four senior insurgency commanders: "The four gave themselves up to the authorities after several days of negotiations. One of the insurgent leaders, called Abu Kifah, had a bounty of millions of dollars on his head. Two others were reported to have occupied senior positions in the former army and intelligence. The authorities have revealed very little about the identity of the fourth."
*
*
* The almost immediate recapture by the Iraqi security forces of 11 Iraqi prisoners who escaped from the Camp Bucca detention facility.
*
*
* Detaining five suspected insurgents in connection with three roadside bomb attacks on US troops in Baghdad on April 16.
*
*
* The arrest by the Iraq Security Forces in early April of two men suspected of working for Zarqawi. Hamza Ali Ahmed al-Widmizyar, known as Abu Majid, and Salman Aref Abdulkadir Khwamurad al-Zardowe, were arrested during a raid on the city of Ramadi.
*
*
* "Task Force Liberty Soldiers detained a suspected terrorist cell leader near Hawija during a raid at about 3 a.m. April 18. The detainee was an intelligence officer in the former regime, and is suspected of leading a terrorist cell responsible for attacks on oil pipelines in Kirkuk Province and improvised explosive device attacks against Coalition Soldiers and Iraqi Security Forces."
Every day, little triumphs and major victories unfold throughout Iraq. As Saad from Basra, quoted in the introduction, says: "Wait two or three years and you will be pleasantly surprised." Although probably somewhat less surprised if you've been reading this column.
Mr. Chrenkoff is an Australian blogger. He writes at chrenkoff.blogspot.com.
Copyright © 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
[/quote]
Meanwhile back in Kansas or Iraq as the case may be:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/29/news/iraq.php
New Iraqi government faces daunting hurdles
By John F. Burns The New York Times
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2005
BAGHDAD It was a moment for which Iraqis had yearned for generations: parliamentary approval of a government with a mandate won at the ballot box.
For Shiites, especially, the vote Thursday was a moment in history: For generations, going back to Ottoman imperial rule that ended with World War I, Shiites, accounting for 60 percent of the population, have been a political underclass. Until American troops toppled Saddam Hussein two years ago, political power rested with the Sunni minority, which accounts for no more than 15 to 20 percent of Iraq's 25 million people.
The moment found its expression in the new prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a 58-year-old physician and a devout Shiite, who had fled into exile in 1980 on the day an arrest warrant was issued that would probably have sent him to the gallows. Among many Shiites, that has made him and the party he leads, Dawa, totems of repression under Saddam, especially of religious groups, that led to scores of mass graves.
But Jaafari and his cabinet members, who are expected to be sworn in next week, face daunting challenges.
One reading of the events Thursday was that they were the start of the most difficult passage yet in the American enterprise in Iraq: an eight-month period that is to lead to fresh elections for a full, five-year government in December.
During that period, the issues basic to Iraq's future and its prospects of emerging as a stable democracy - at worst, of avoiding a civil war among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds - can no longer be papered over. That, in effect, is what occurred during the 15 months of American occupation up to last June, and under Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's interim government, appointed by the Americans, which will cede now to Jaafari's.
The new government, with 17 ministries headed by Shiites, 8 by Kurds, 6 by Sunni Arabs and one by a Christian, faces a deadline of Aug. 15 to win parliamentary approval for a permanent constitution.
That leaves 15 weeks - not much longer than the 12 weeks it took to form the Jaafari government - to settle issues on which Arabs and Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis, religious politicians and secularists have potentially polarizing views.
Principally, these issues include: the role of Islam in the new state, and whether future Shiite-led governments should be free, under the constitution, to adopt Shariah - the legal code that is based on the Koran - and other elements of conservative Islam; the division of powers and oil revenues between central and regional governments; and the geographical boundaries - especially the potentially explosive issue of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, claimed by Sunnis and Kurds alike - to be granted to the proud and wary Kurds.
Overshadowing these issues is the insurgency, and the particular challenges it poses for the Shiites who will dominate the government.
The war has been driven by diehard Saddam loyalists, unreconciled Baathists and Islamic militants, all Sunnis, for whom a Shiite majority government is anathema. Even American officials concede that the accession of the Jaafari government, rather than encouraging hard-core militants to negotiate, might harden their resolve to fight on.
The absence of almost a third of the 275 assembly members from the vote Thursday on the new government spoke for the insurgents' power.
On Wednesday, rebel death threats against the legislators culminated in the killing of Sheika Lamea abed Khaddouri, a legislator for Allawi's party, who was shot repeatedly in the face and chest. One of 89 women in Parliament, she was its first member to die.
For the 150,000 American troops in Iraq, the new government brings reassurance in the statements by Jaafari and other Shiite leaders about the Americans' role. The Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or Sciri, were fiercely anti-American during their exile years under Saddam, and Dawa was implicated by U.S. intelligence in terrorist acts across the Middle East, including a 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.
But Jaafari and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the Sciri leader, have said that Iraq will need U.S. forces until its new army and paramilitary police force can take over. Accordingly, Iraqi politicians say, the new government's emphasis is likely to rest on the need for an agreement with Washington that will give Baghdad legal authority when the UN mandate for the U.S. military presence expires at the end of the year.
American concerns focus on the demand by the Shiite religious parties for a purge of high-ranking Baathists from command-level positions in the army, the police and intelligence. U.S. diplomats say they have been emphatic that there should be no purge of the Iraqi security forces just as Iraqi troops have begun to make their weight felt in the war.
The Americans have said that only Baathists implicated in Saddam's atrocities should be barred. But they got a blunt rebuttal at the parliamentary session Thursday, dominated not by the quiet, apologetic Jaafari, but by the charismatic Hakim.
The Sciri leader, in the black turban and cloak of a devout Shiite, has stayed out of the new government. But signaling the powerful behind-the-scenes role he is expected to claim, he denounced any move to "hand over the country's assets to our enemies," and insisted the new government "de-Baathify Saddam's terrorists from all state institutions."
Whether the Shiite groups will be more conciliatory on other issues remains to be seen. Jaafari and Hakim have said they have no plans to impose their religious convictions on others and displayed an eagerness to reach compromises with the Kurds. The question is whether the assurances will withstand hard bargaining over the new constitution, or founder in a renewed power struggle as the deadlines for approving the constitution and holding fresh elections press in.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/29/MNGUECHJE41.DTL
________________________________________
Assembly approves Shiite-led Cabinet
Divisions quickly surface within historic government
Robert F. Worth, John F. Burns, New York Times
Friday, April 29, 2005
Baghdad -- Almost three months after nationwide elections, Iraq's National Assembly voted overwhelmingly to approve a Shiite-led Cabinet Thursday, creating the first freely elected government in Iraqi history.
The assembly chamber burst into wild applause after a show of hands revealed that 180 of the 185 legislators in attendance had voted in support of the proposed government. A traditional Islamic chant of praise -- "God's blessings be on Muhammad and on his family" -- went up soon afterward.
But the divisions that delayed the government's formation for so long became apparent almost immediately after the vote, for which almost a third of the National Assembly was absent.
The leader of the Shiite political alliance that dominates the assembly and the Cabinet, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, delivered a fiery speech that hinted at purges to come in the government's security forces.
A Sunni assembly member later stood up to accuse the Shiites of dividing the country, and even said one member had threatened to gather evidence that would send him to the gallows. The Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq's government under Saddam Hussein, largely boycotted the January elections.
"This is not a national government, it is a government of the winners," said the Sunni member, Meshaan al-Juburi. "I am here to say that the Sunni Arab members have been marginalized, and the Sunni Arab political forces should be aware of that."
Lingering tensions were visible even in the list of Cabinet members, which still remains incomplete. Ahmed Chalabi, one of the country's most controversial figures, was named a deputy prime minister. Four important ministries -- defense, oil, electricity and human rights -- were given to placeholders because the assembly's political factions have not yet agreed on candidates.
Under pressure from the White House as well as Iraqis, the Shiite and Kurdish leaders agreed to submit an incomplete list rather than delay the new government any longer. Two deputy prime minister's posts also have not been filled.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the new prime minister and a Shiite, said he expects to fill those positions in less than a week.
Despite the gaps, the assembly's vote placed al-Jaafari at the head of a Cabinet that will include 17 Shiites, eight Kurds, six Sunni Arabs, and one Christian, with at least six women among them. Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and his two deputies approved the Cabinet list late Wednesday night, allowing it to proceed to the assembly vote.
When it assumes power early next week, the new government will face an extraordinary array of challenges, from guiding the effort to write a new constitution to rebuilding Iraq's shattered cities and fighting an undiminished insurgency.
The new government will have eight months to finish drafting the constitution and hold new elections for a five-year government in December, in which issues basic to Iraq's future and its prospects of emerging as a stable democracy -- at worst, of avoiding a civil war among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds -- can no longer be papered over. That, in effect, is what occurred during the 15 months of U.S. occupation to last June, and under Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's interim government, appointed by the Americans, which will cede now to al-Jaafari's.
Allawi, also a Shiite, will retreat to the sidelines and hope for a comeback for his brand of secular politics after Iraqis have had a taste of being ruled, also for the first time, by a government headed by men rooted in Shiite religious politics. The new government faces a deadline of Aug. 15 to win parliamentary approval for a permanent constitution. That leaves 15 weeks -- not much longer than the 12 weeks it took to form the al-Jaafari government -- to settle issues on which Arabs and Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis, religious politicians and secularists have potentially polarizing views.
Principally, these issues include the role of Islam in the new state, and whether future Shiite-led governments should be free, under the constitution, to adopt Shariah law and other elements of conservative Islam; the division of powers and oil revenues between central and regional governments; and the geographical boundaries -- especially the potentially explosive issue of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, claimed by Sunnis and Kurds alike -- to be granted to the proud and wary Kurds.
Overshadowing these issues is the insurgency, and the particular challenges it poses for the Shiites who will dominate the government. The war has been driven by diehard Hussein loyalists, unreconciled Baathists and Islamic militants, all Sunnis, for whom a Shiite majority government is anathema. Even U.S. officials concede that the accession of the al-Jaafari government, rather than encouraging hard-core militants to negotiate, may harden their resolve to fight on.
For the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, the new government brings reassurance in the statements by al-Jaafari and other Shiite leaders about the Americans' role. Al-Jaafari's party, Dawa, and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, were fiercely anti-American during their exile years under Hussein, and Dawa was implicated by U.S. intelligence in terrorist acts across the Middle East, including a 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.
But al-Jaafari and al-Hakim, the SCIRI leader, have said Iraq will need U. S. forces until its new army and paramilitary police can take over the war. Many in the new government admit that this could take until well into the mandate of the permanent government due to take office early next year, even longer. Accordingly, Iraqi politicians say, the new government's emphasis is likely to rest on the need for an agreement with Washington that will give Baghdad legal authority when the U.N. mandate for the U.S. military presence expires at the end of the year.
U.S. concerns focus on the demand by the Shiite religious parties, SCIRI in particular, for a purge of high-ranking Baathists from command-level positions in the army, police and intelligence. The $5.7 billion U.S. drive to rebuild the Iraqi forces in the past year has involved a wholesale retreat from the "de-Baathification" rules set after the invasion, and the recruitment of scores of Sunnis who served under Hussein.
The Americans have said that only Baathists implicated in Hussein's atrocities should be barred. But they got a blunt rebuttal at Thursday's parliamentary session, dominated not by the quiet, apologetic al-Jaafari, but by the charismatic al-Hakim. The SCIRI leader, in the black turban and cloak of a devout Shiite, has stayed out of the new government. But signaling the powerful behind-the-scenes role he is expected to claim, he denounced any move to "hand over the country's assets to our enemies," and insisted the new government "de-Baathify Hussein's terrorists from all state institutions."
Whether the Shiite groups will be more conciliatory on other issues remains to be seen. Al-Jaafari and al-Hakim have said they have no plans to impose their religious convictions on others and have displayed an eagerness to reach compromises with the Kurds. The question is whether the assurances will withstand hard bargaining over the new constitution, or founder in a renewed power struggle as the deadlines for approving the constitution and holding fresh elections press in.
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