THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ, ELEVENTH THREAD

The Bush administration tattered the "cloth" to such a degree, it's no longer recognizable as American or America. You wouldn't understand why this is so.

Let's see: ican = FOX news and other biased GOP rags, while revel = government sources, NYT, Washington Post, BBC, and some of the most prolific writers of our times.

BAGHDAD: At least 25 people were killed, including US and Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi civilians, and 73 wounded in violence around Iraq yesterday, Iraqi officials and media reports said.
In the latest escalation of violence in the northern Nineveh province, four policemen were killed yesterday and four injured in an attack on their patrol by gunmen in central Mosul, security officials told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.
Also in Nineveh, a woman and her daughter were killed, while another four people were injured when an explosives-laden vehicle was detonated, VOI said.
In Baghdad, the undersecretary of Iraq’s Ministry of Science and Technology and two people were wounded in a bomb attack on the official’s motorcade.
The bomb hit the motorcade of Samir al-Attar in the Ziyona district of eastern Baghdad, police sources told VOI.
In August, al-Attar and his driver were kidnapped by gunmen in central Baghdad but were released a day later without a ransom.
The official is a member of the secular Iraqi List of former prime minister Iyad Allawi.
In another incident, seven people were killed and 20 injured in a suicide bombing in a shopping area in Muqdadiyah, north-east of Baghdad, police said.
A suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up in an area full of shops and street vendors, police said.
In Samara, some 125km north of Baghdad, a leader of the Al Qaeda was killed late Tuesday. Sources said the dead man was Algerian and his corpse was taken to the hospital.
Elsewhere, eight Iraqi soldiers and police were killed and 42 people injured in Ubaydi, east of Baghdad, Tuesday evening when a lorry loaded with rockets exploded while they were trying to dismantle the rockets, VOI reported.
The anti-explosive experts had already dismantled three rockets before the rest exploded, Iraqi security officials told VOI.
Earlier, eight Katuysha rockets struck the US army base in Ubaydi and its base in Rustimiyah, south-east of Baghdad, the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior said.
Also in Baghdad, three US soldiers were killed when a bomb struck their vehicle on Tuesday night, according to a US military statement.
Tuesday’s attack brings the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq in February to 22 and the total number killed since the 2003 US-led war on Iraq to 3,966.â€"DPA

MM; the fact is that you do have cherry pick your sources and cross check with other sources in this day and age. big deal.

revel wrote:

MM; the fact is that you do have cherry pick your sources and cross check with other sources in this day and age. big deal.

You are correct, I misspoke.

What I was trying to say is that if you refuse to trust the govt about one thing concerning Iraq, how can you with a straight face say you trust the govt about other things concerning Iraq?

All four officials said information that has emerged recently indicates the Iranians halted their secret program less than 12 months before the 2005 estimate was prepared. Information that led to the new estimate continued to be evaluated until a few weeks ago, the officials said.

In revising their estimate, intelligence officers said they were mindful of "lessons learned" from a 2002 report that overstated the case for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"We had to show our homework," one said, by justifying the new judgments to intelligence agency leaders who OK'd the final version.

Commerce Dept docs: Cheney and oil execs decided to take Iraq's oil in spring 2001
Posted by Cory Doctorow, February 21, 2008 8:06 AM | permalink
The Commerce Department has been forced by Judicial Watch to turn over records of spring, 2001 meetings held between Dick Cheney and execs from global oil giants, records that suggest that the group decided months before September 11th that the US energy policy would center on taking control of Iraq's oil:

Quote:

In the late spring of 2001, Vice President Cheney held a series of top secret meetings with the representatives of Exxon-Mobil, Conoco, Shell and BP America for what was later called the Energy Task-force. Their job, ostensibly, was to map out America's Energy future. Since late 2001 several public interest groups, including the very conservative Judicial Watch, sued to have the proceedings of those meetings opened to public scrutiny. In March 2002, the Commerce Department turned over a few documents from the Task-force meetings to Judicial Watch, among which was the map of Iraq's Oil Fields, dated March 2001 (above) and a list of the existing "Foreign Suitors" for Iraq Oil. Since that time, Cheney's office has fought fiercely (and so far, successfully), right up to the Supreme Court, to keep the proceeding secret and to keep any of the private industry officials from disclosing any information about the meetings. Since we all now know the Bush administration's energy policy, there can be only one explanation for the extraordinary efforts Cheney has taken to keep this secret-he was discussing the potential for a takeover of Iraq's oil with the companies that might manage the resource, even before 9/11 gave him the excuse to do it.

KUFA, Iraq (AFP) - Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to prolong their Mahdi Army militia's ceasefire for another six months Friday, after seeing a dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkish troops launched a ground incursion across the border into Iraq in pursuit of separatist Kurdish rebels, the military said Friday ?- a move that dramatically escalates Turkey's conflict with the militants.

Sadr prolongs Iraqi ceasefire

Quote:

KUFA, Iraq (AFP) - Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to prolong their Mahdi Army militia's ceasefire for another six months Friday, after seeing a dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq.

...

Sadr prolongs Iraqi ceasefire by Hassan Abdul Zahra
Fri Feb 22, 6:56 AM ET

KUFA, Iraq (AFP) - Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to prolong their Mahdi Army militia's ceasefire for another six months Friday, after seeing a [size=28]dramatic reduction[/size] in violence in Iraq.

BAGHDAD (AP) ?- Rockets or mortars hit the U.S.-protected Green Zone early Saturday, just a day after powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militia to extend its cease-fire by another six months.

Starting about 6:15 a.m., nearly 10 blasts could be heard in the sprawling area along the Tigris River that houses the U.S. and British embassies, the Iraqi government headquarters and thousands of American troops.

Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman, confirmed the Green Zone was hit by indirect fire ?- the military's term for a rocket or mortar attack ?- but could not immediately provide more details.

It was the fourth time this week that U.S. outposts in Baghdad appeared to be the targets of rocket or mortar attacks, killing at least six people and wounding both Iraqis and Americans, including at least two U.S. troops.

The flurry of attacks has followed a substantial lull in such assaults as security has increased and violence around the capital has dropped over the last half-year.

Baghdad: Four people were killed and eight wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-filled vest at a mosque in Fallujah on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

The bombing took place around mid-day at the entrance of Al Rahman mosque in the centre of the town in Anbar province, it said, adding that a police major was among the wounded.

The US military said on Friday the Iraqi Army discovered 15 bodies in a mass grave near the town of Kazim Al Isrhail.

All of the victims were male, and one was of an Iraqi soldier, who was identified by his Iraqi Army ID card. The bodies are reportedly at least 10 days old, and some of them were found with gun shot wounds to the head. That followed the unearthing of a mass grave in violent Diyala province.

Ican; don't say i never post any positive things in Iraq; in fact out of the two of us; I am the only ones who does.
Meanwhile:

Baghdad's Green Zone shelled

Quote:

BAGHDAD (AP) ?- Rockets or mortars hit the U.S.-protected Green Zone early Saturday, just a day after powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militia to extend its cease-fire by another six months.

Starting about 6:15 a.m., nearly 10 blasts could be heard in the sprawling area along the Tigris River that houses the U.S. and British embassies, the Iraqi government headquarters and thousands of American troops.

Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman, confirmed the Green Zone was hit by indirect fire ?- the military's term for a rocket or mortar attack ?- but could not immediately provide more details.

It was the fourth time this week that U.S. outposts in Baghdad appeared to be the targets of rocket or mortar attacks, killing at least six people and wounding both Iraqis and Americans, including at least two U.S. troops.

The flurry of attacks has followed a substantial lull in such assaults as security has increased and violence around the capital has dropped over the last half-year.

Suicide bomber kills four people at mosque in Fallujah

Quote:

Baghdad: Four people were killed and eight wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-filled vest at a mosque in Fallujah on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

The bombing took place around mid-day at the entrance of Al Rahman mosque in the centre of the town in Anbar province, it said, adding that a police major was among the wounded.

The US military said on Friday the Iraqi Army discovered 15 bodies in a mass grave near the town of Kazim Al Isrhail.

All of the victims were male, and one was of an Iraqi soldier, who was identified by his Iraqi Army ID card. The bodies are reportedly at least 10 days old, and some of them were found with gun shot wounds to the head. That followed the unearthing of a mass grave in violent Diyala province.

Turkey, the NATO ally of the US, invaded Iraqi Kurdistan with between 3,000 and 10,000 troops and is facing heavy opposition from Kurdistan Peshmerga forces and from the Kurdish Workers Party paramilitaries. The Turkish military said in a statement 24 PKK rebels and five soldiers were killed in clashes in Iraq. It also said at least 20 rebels were killed in separate aerial attacks.'

The PKK has killed scores of Turkish soldiers in the past six months, and the Turks consider them a terrorist organization.

Sunday, February 24, 2008
37 Killed in Turkish-Kurdish Fighting inside Iraq;
Basra Instability Forces British to Postpone Departure

Turkish military land and air operations inside northern Iraq left 35 PKK guerrillas dead on Saturday, and two Turkish soldiers.

The PKK warned that it would blow up people in Turkish cities if the Turkish army did not withdraw. This threat would be more impressive if they hadn't already been blowing up people in Turkish cities.

Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari, himself an Iraqi Kurd, said of the operation, "if it goes on, I think it could destabilise the region, because really one mistake could lead to further escalation."

As if to prove Zebari's point, the leader of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, warned the Turks of large-scale resistance if they advanced toward populated areas.

MM, Looking back I can see how you would have come to the conclusion you did since I didn't include the positive story nor Ican's response to it when I made the comment and then posted two negative stories. I apologize for saying you were stretching for an argument.

The Myth of the Surge
Hoping to turn enemies into allies, U.S. forces are arming Iraqis who fought with the insurgents. But it's already starting to backfire. A report from the front lines of the new Iraq
NIR ROSEN

The American forces responsible for overseeing "volunteer" militias like Osama's have no illusions about their loyalty. "The only reason anything works or anybody deals with us is because we give them money," says a young Army intelligence officer. The 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, which patrols Osama's territory, is handing out $32 million to Iraqis in the district, including $6 million to build the towering walls that, in the words of one U.S. officer, serve only to "make Iraqis more divided than they already are." In districts like Dora, the strategy of the surge seems simple: to buy off every Iraqi in sight. All told, the U.S. is now backing more than 600,000 Iraqi men in the security sector ?- more than half the number Saddam had at the height of his power. With the ISVs in place, the Americans are now arming both sides in the civil war. "Iraqi solutions for Iraqi problems," as U.S. strategists like to say. David Kilcullen, the counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. Petraeus, calls it "balancing competing armed interest groups."
But loyalty that can be purchased is by its very nature fickle. Only months ago, members of the Awakening were planting IEDs and ambushing U.S. soldiers. They were snipers and assassins, singing songs in honor of Fallujah and fighting what they viewed as a war of national liberation against the foreign occupiers. These are men the Americans described as terrorists, Saddam loyalists, dead-enders, evildoers, Baathists, insurgents. There is little doubt what will happen when the massive influx of American money stops: Unless the new Iraqi state continues to operate as a vast bribing machine, the insurgent Sunnis who have joined the new militias will likely revert to fighting the ruling Shiites, who still refuse to share power.

"We are essentially supporting a quasi-feudal devolution of authority to armed enclaves, which exist at the expense of central government authority," says Chas Freeman, who served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia under the first President Bush. "Those we are arming and training are arming and training themselves not to facilitate our objectives but to pursue their own objectives vis-à-vis other Iraqis. It means that the sectarian and ethnic conflicts that are now suppressed are likely to burst out with even greater ferocity in the future."

When I go to visit the 172 INP, American officers from the 2-2 SCR admonish me to wear my body armor ?- to protect myself from accidental discharges by the Iraqi police. "I did convoy security in the Sunni Triangle and was hit by numerous IEDs, complex attacks, small arms," Capt. Cox tells me. "But I never felt closer to death than when I was working with Iraqi security forces."

With American forces now arming both sides in the civil war, the violence in Iraq has once again started to escalate. In January, some 100 members of the new Sunni militias ?- whom the Americans have now taken to calling "the Sons of Iraq" ?- were assassinated in Baghdad and other urban areas. In one attack, a teenage bomber blew himself up at a meeting of Awakening leaders in Anbar Province, killing several members of the group. Most of the attacks came from Al Qaeda and other Sunni factions, some of whom are fighting for positions of power in the new militias.

But such political maneuvers don't really matter in Iraq. Here, street politics trump any illusory laws passed in the safety of the Green Zone. As the Awakening gains power, Al Qaeda lies dormant throughout Baghdad, the Mahdi Army and other Shiite forces prepare for the next battle, and political assassinations and suicide bombings are an almost daily occurrence. The violence, Arkan says, is getting worse again.

"The situation won't get better," he says softly. An officer of the Iraqi National Police, a man charged with bringing peace to his country, he has been reduced to hiding in his van, unable to speak openly in the very neighborhood he patrols. Thanks to the surge, both the Shiites and the Sunnis now have weapons and legitimacy. And what can come of that, Arkan asks, except more fighting?

"Many people in Sahwa work for Al Qaeda," he says. "The national police are all loyal to the Mahdi Army." He shakes his head. "You work hard to build a house, and somebody blows up your house. Will they accept Sunnis back to Shiite areas and Shiites back to Sunni areas? If someone kills your brother, can you forget his killer?"