THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ, TENTH THREAD.

Sadr thinks "de-bathification" is going to occur without sufficiently trained Iraqi troops I think Sadr is merely another anti-American fool

Al-Zarqawi's cell phone reportedly yields surprises

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had the phone numbers of senior Iraqi officials stored in his cell phone, according to an Iraqi legislator.

Waiel Abdul-Latif, a member of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, said Monday that authorities found the numbers after al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a U.S. air strike on June 7.

Abdul-Latif did not give names of the officials. But he said they included ministry employees and members of parliament.

He called for an investigation, saying Iraqis "cannot have one hand with the government and another with the terrorists."

Meanwhile, al-Zarqawi's wife told an Italian newspaper that al Qaeda leaders sold him out to the United States in exchange for a promise to let up in the search for Osama bin Laden.

The woman, identified by La Repubblica as al-Zarqawi's first wife, said al Qaeda's top leadership reached a deal with U.S. intelligence because al Zarqawi had become too powerful.

She claimed Sunni tribes and Jordanian secret services mediated the deal.

"My husband has been sold to the Americans," the woman said in an interview published Sunday. "He had become too powerful, too troublesome."

She was identified only as "Um Mohammed," which means "mother of Mohammed" and would be a nickname, not her full name.

The Rome-based newspaper said the interview was conducted in Geneva and described her as Jordanian and about 40 years old.

In Jordan, Al-Zarqawi's eldest brother, Sayel al-Khalayleh, said the family had not been aware of the woman's whereabouts for about two years.

Iraq's national security adviser said Sunday that al-Zarqawi had been buried in a "secret location" in Baghdad despite his family's demand that the body be returned to his native Jordan.

Mouwafak al-Rubaie would not say when the Jordanian-born militant was buried, or give any specifics on the location of the grave.

The U.S. military confirmed the burial but declined to give details.

"The remains of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi were turned over to the appropriate government of Iraq officials and buried in accordance with Muslim customs and traditions," the military said in an e-mailed statement. "Anything further than that would be addressed by the Iraqi government."

Al-Zarqawi's brother demanded that his body be transferred to Jordan, and accused the United States of lying.

"Bush took his body to the United States," al-Khalayleh told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home in the Jordanian city of Zarqa.

"Even if he is buried in Iraq, we will continue to ask for the body to be transferred and buried in Jordan," he said. "He should be buried in his own country."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Things are just going swell..
We face defeat in Afghanistan, Army chiefs warn Blair
Risk from al-Qa'eda is greater than ever, warn MPs

More of the US "progress" in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When will the American public wake up? We kill one leader, and Bush's approval spikes up five points - while the chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan continues to new heights. Go figure.

Some months ago, when I noticed the change in Afghanistan, I tried to start a new thread here on Politics about the dangers. No one was interested.

He [Sadr] is anti-American but he's no fool.

Wow, figured someone else would have posted this by now.
...
Who cares about Zarqawi's body. I certainly don't. But the cell phone full of numbers high up in the Iraqi government? Now that's interesting.

Please read all the links in 'Chronology' for some insight on todays political machinations. ...

From the above post:
Abdul-Latif did not give names of the officials. But he said they included ministry employees and members of parliament.
Can anybody figure out why the US effort to bring democracy to the Middle East is a failure?

You folks appear to think the USA's inadequate performance cannot be improved.

You folks appear to think that we have lost and should quit.

Quote:

You folks appear to think the USA's inadequate performance cannot be improved.

You're wrong. We don't think the performance can't be improved, but that it won't be improved, not while the current leadership is in office.
I'm glad to be wrong on this, if I'm actually wrong on this. If you were to specify the leadership you think could do a better job, I would only have one question: Why do you think they could do a better job?

Quote:

You folks appear to think that we have lost and should quit.

Wrong again. We lost in Iraq before we had even begun, because we never had a clear plan for exactly what it was we were going to do there in the long run. Again, poor leadership. And it is costing us big time.
You appear to agree with my statement you quoted. You have simply raised an additional issue to debate: when did we lose. I posted nothing about you folks appearing to think something about when we lost.

Cycloptichorn

Former soldier charged in Iraq deaths
Case involves rape, murder of woman and three relatives

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Federal prosecutors charged a veteran of the Iraq war with murder and rape Monday in connection with the killing of an Iraqi woman and members of her family.

Steven D. Green, a 21-year-old former private first class who was discharged from the Army, appeared in a federal magistrate’s courtroom in Charlotte on Monday.

The charges grew out of a military investigation involving up to five soldiers in the March rape and killing of the woman in Mahmoudiya and three of her relatives.

Prosecutors said Green and other soldiers entered the home of a family of Iraqi civilians, where he and others raped a member of the family before Green shot her and three of her relatives to death.

Green was arrested in recent days in North Carolina, two federal law enforcement officials said Monday. He is being held without bond pending a transfer to Louisville, Ky. Green had served with the 101st Airborne, based at Fort Campbell, Ky. It was unclear why Green had been discharged from the Army.

On Friday, the U.S. military acknowledged that Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged slaying of a family of four in Mahmoudiya.

Four members of the 502nd Infantry Regiment have had their weapons taken away and have been confined to a U.S. base near Mahmoudiya, officials said. If convicted of premeditated murder, the soldiers could receive a death sentence under U.S. military law.

The suspects belong to the same unit as two soldiers kidnapped and killed south of Baghdad last month, a military official said on condition of anonymity because the case is still open.

The military has said that one and possibly both of the slain soldiers were tortured and beheaded. The official said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one member of the platoon to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.

One soldier was arrested after admitting his role in the alleged attack on the family, the official said. The official said the rape and killings appeared to have been a “crime of opportunity,” noting that the soldiers had not been attacked by insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13686528/

The war in Iraq was lost when Bush preemptively attacked with no exit plan. ...

MEASURABLE PROGRESS IN IRAQ TOWARD THE PLANNED IRAQ SOLUTION -- AS OF May 31, 2006
USA's and Iraq's solution is to establish a democracy in Iraq secured by the Iraqis themselves. Iraq and USA have completed six of eight steps toward their solution:
(1) Select an initial Iraq government to hold a first election;
(2) Establish and begin training an Iraq self-defense military;
(3) Hold a democratic election of an interim government whose primary function is to write a proposed constitution for a new Iraq democratic government;
(4) Submit that proposed constitution to Iraq voters for approval or disapproval;
(5) After approval by Iraq voters of an Iraq democratic government constitution, hold under that constitution a first election of the members of that government;
(6) After that election, organize the newly elected Iraq government;
(7) Train, as specified by the new Iraq government, an Iraq military to secure that Iraq government;

1,970 Iraqi civilians died violently each month on the average during the five months 01/01/2006 through 05/31/2006.

PREDICTIONS BY ICAN

1,050 Iraqi civilians died violently in June 2006.

950 Iraqi civilians died violently in July 2006.

850 Iraqi civilians died violently in August 2006.

750 Iraqi civilians died violently in September 2006.

650 Iraqi civilians died violently in October 2006.

550 Iraqi civilians died violently in November 2006.

450 Iraqi civilians died violently in December 2006.

(8) After the Iraq government is secured, remove USA military from Iraq in a phased withdrawal.

USA will withdraw from Iraq in phases in harmony with the evolution of Iraq's self-governance. As a consequence, both Iraqis and Americans will in their mutual self-interest achieve the following goals:
(A) Stop the itm from threatening Iraq's democracy;
(B) Enable Iraqi security forces to protect their own people;
(C) Prevent Iraq from becoming a sanctuary for itm to plot attacks against USA and other countries.

While I commend you for actually taking the time to think about what a plan should be, I haven't seen any evidence that what you have presented actually is the plan, Ican.

Cycloptichorn