Early Morning News Roundup Saturday December 9th 2006

Aswat al Iraq Late Night Round Up For Friday (In English): Iraq-Security (Highlights) Security developments in Iraq Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – Main security developments in Iraq on Friday: Tikrit-Baghdad – U.S. and Iraqi officials gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.” Baghdad – Two U.S. soldiers were killed and another two wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in south Baghdad on Thursday, raising the death toll among U.S. forces in Iraq in the first week of December to 35 soldiers. Baghdad – Eleven Iraqis were killed and 13 others wounded when mortar shells landed in the southeastern Baghdad district of Nahrawan, a police source said. Mosul – Three Iraqi civilians were killed and 15 were wounded in a suicide car bombing at an army checkpoint in Talafar town, Ninawa province, a security source said. Basra - British forces arrested the chief of al-Haritha district in northern Basra along with four others, prompting their clans to take to the streets with all their weapons demanding their release, said a tribal chief in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Hilla – Unidentified gunmen fired three mortar shells on the U.S. consulate in Hilla town, but there were no news on resulting damage, a security source in Babel police command said. Baghdad – The Multi-National forces in Iraq said that special Iraqi army forces, with coalition advisers, captured in Falluja a “senior leader” of al-Qaeda in Iraq group. Ba’quba - A university professor was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Ba’quba and a policeman was killed in al-Moqdadiya, while a curfew was imposed all over the Ba’quba, 60 km north of the capital Baghdad, according to an official security source. Ramadi – Al-Warrar U.S. military base west of Ramadi town was attacked with katyusha rockets, but results of the attack were not known, a security source said. The URL for this story is: http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32703  Warm welcome in Washington, cold shoulder elsewhere - World - Times Online: [When I saw the headline I thought the story would be about Blair - mfi] Warm welcome in Washington, cold shoulder elsewhere Tim Reid, Ned Parker and Stephen Farrell The recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group were broadly welcomed by most Republicans and Democrats in Washington yesterday, but received a far cooler reception in Iraq, Iran, Israel and from the US military. The report, which calls for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq by early 2008, negotiations with Iran and Syria, and a renewed Middle East peace initiative, was a rare triumph of political compromise in Washington. But for those directly affected by the Iraq war and the wider regional instability — the Iraqis themselves, Israel and the US troops on the ground — the report was widely seen as unrealistic and provocative. In Baghdad, it was branded by some influential Sunnis as designed to solve American, rather than Iraqi, problems. Read in full: Reuters AlertNet - Rice cool to idea of talks with Iran about Iraq: By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday all but rejected the idea of talks with Iran about quelling the violence in Iraq unless Tehran first acts to rein in its suspected nuclear weapons program. In her first comment about the Iraq Study Group report, Rice was cool to its recommendation that the United States actively engage with Iran and Syria to try to stabilize Iraq, a key proposal from the bipartisan advisory panel. Full article on Reuters Alertnet: Freed Iraq hostages forgive captors | Top News | Reuters.co.uk: By Tahani Karrar LONDON (Reuters) - A British man and two Canadians freed from captivity in Iraq said on Friday they forgave their captors but are undecided on whether to testify at the trial of the men accused of kidnapping them. "We have no desire to punish them," said peace campaigners Norman Kember and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Sooden in a joint statement. The three said they had been asked to give evidence at the trial in Iraq of a number of men accused of the kidnap, who could face execution if convicted. "We unconditionally forgive our captors for abducting and holding us," they said. "Punishment can never restore what was taken from us." They had gone to Iraq as members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, a group that advocates non-violence, but were kidnapped in November last year along with Tom Fox, an American. Full article (two pages) on Reuters UK: People's Daily Online -- Japanese government decides to extend aid mission in Iraq: The Japanese government decided on Friday morning to extend the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF)'s mission for reconstruction aid in Iraq to next July. With the extension, the third of its kind, the operation of ASDF in Iraq will enters its fourth year till July 31, 2007. "It is important for Japan to fulfill its appropriate share of responsibility in helping with the reconstruction of Iraq," Kyodo News quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki as saying. Japan's special law on reconstruction aid for Iraq, which was enacted in 2003 and extended twice in 2004 and 2005, will expire at the end of next July after altogether four years of effective duration. The ASDF has been doing airlifts from its base in Kuwait to Iraq since March 2004, initially to support the Ground Self- Defense Force (GSDF) troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah. Japan began to withdraw the GSDF from Iraq in June this year, however decided at the same time to expand the ASDF's airlift operations to transport personnel and supplies for the United Nations and the multinational forces as an aid measure for reconstruction in Iraq. Source: Xinhua The Japan Times Online Articles: Kyuma admits Tokyo backed Iraq attack In an embarrassing overnight flip-flop, Defense Agency chief Fumio Kyuma withdrew Friday his previous remarks that the government did not officially support the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but that former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did so only in a private capacity. Kyuma's remarks caused a stir, particularly because he heads the Defense Agency, which still has an Air Self-Defense Force unit deployed in the region to provide airlift support for U.S.-led multinational forces and United Nations staff working in the war-torn country. During a foreign and defense committee session of the Upper House on Thursday, Kyuma said Koizumi expressed support for the war only at news conferences, and that this was not the official position of the government. But Kyuma admitted Friday that he "did not have enough knowledge" of the government stance on the Iraq war, acknowledging that the Cabinet officially adopted a unified view supporting the U.S.-led war. "In that sense, Koizumi's view (expressed) during the news conferences was an official view," Kyuma told reporters after his earlier remarks made headlines in Friday's morning newspapers. But Kyuma maintained he is reluctant to endorse the U.S.-led war against Iraq, saying there might have been an alternative to waging war to deal with Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction -- a claim that proved false. "I still wonder if there might have been better measures" for dealing with the issue, Kyuma said. In full: The Jakarta Post: Indonesia proposes Muslim-led intervention force for chaotic Iraq: Indonesia proposes Muslim-led intervention force for chaotic Iraq Endy M. Bayuni and Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Bandung Indonesia says a military force from predominantly Muslim countries should be deployed in Iraq before the United States withdraws. The recommendation is part of a larger proposal to resolve the conflict in the war-torn country. Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said like-minded moderate Islamic countries acceptable to the Iraqis should contribute to the "intervening force", whose deployment should not be seen as an extension of the U.S.-led coalition troops or Iraqi security forces. "This force would not be perceived as enemies by the Iraqis because we're going in there as brothers who are there to help," he said in an interview here Wednesday. The force's capacity should not be measured by its firepower, he added. Hassan was elaborating on the Indonesian proposal for a political framework to solve the Iraq problem, a concept which first became public during the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush to Bogor last month. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono referred to it at the joint press conference with Bush afterwards as the "triple track" proposal. The other two "tracks" are a national reconciliation forum that must ultimately lead to an international conference, and a massive economic rehabilitation and reconstruction program. The proposal took many people here by surprise, since there had been no prior public discussion about Indonesia getting involved in the conflict. Read "Indonesia proposes Muslim-led intervention force for chaotic Iraq" in full: FT.com / In depth - Iraq’s oil-for-food scandal perpetrators go unpunished: Slightly more than a year after a United Nations inquiry discovered a staggering level of graft by officials and corporations worldwide in buying cheap oil and selling goods to Iraq experts warn the great majority of alleged perpetrators are escaping scot-free. An 18-month inquiry by Paul Volcker, former Fed chairman, found that more than2,000 companies, including some of the world’s most reputable blue chips, paid kickbacks to get a piece of the market to sell civilian goods to Iraq, providing the regime of Saddam Hussein with $1.8bn in illicit income. Some legal action stemming from the accusations has generated headlines: in Australia, 11 wheat board officials face possible criminal charges; in France, Christophe de Margerie, chief executive designate of Total is in the spotlight; in India the foreign minister had to step down; and in the US, two influential private oil traders are due to face trial next year. A US court also convicted Tongsun Park, who acted as an agent for Iraq in its efforts to undermine the programme, to help Iraqi civilians. Yet the response in most countries has been negligible. Russia, seen as a powerful source of wrongdoing, all but dismissed the findings as soon as they emerged. Few expected Moscow to do otherwise. But there has also been a similar lack of follow-up even in countries that present themselves as anti-corruption leaders. British authorities, for example, have yet to take action against any of the UK firms named in the report, which included Weir Group, the engineer. The Serious Fraud Office said it was still considering whether to open an investigation, while a new police anti-corruption unit – set up to investigate bribery by British companies and individuals overseas – said it would probe the case only if instructed to do so by the SFO. “This report has been out for more than 12 months and they are still just thinking about it,” said Jeremy Carver, a board member of Transparency International UK, a state of affairs he described as “really shocking”. Swiss companies say there has been nearly no follow-up since last year. “We have had no contact from the Swiss or Swedish authorities,” says Thomas Schmidt, spokesman for the Swiss-Swedish electrical engineering group. “We are still conducting internal inquiries.” Roche, the pharmaceuticals group, similarly said there had been no official contacts, and the dust has settled even at Cotecna, the Geneva-based goods authentication company that hit the headlines after allegations about its involvement with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s son. “We haven’t heard a thing since the fifth and final report came out on October 27 2005,” says Alison Bourgeois, head of corporate communications. In Germany, prosecutors have launched initial probes into some of the approximately 60 companies named in the report, but progress has been slow. The Stuttgart prosecutor’s office investigating Volcker report allegations against automaker DaimlerChrysler admitted in October “nothing further would happen on the case until January” due to staff shortages. Daimler on Friday reiterated its position that it had not knowingly paid any kickbacks. Mr Annan, whose second term was almost destroyed by the scandal, has sought to focus more attention upon wrongdoing outside his organisation. But he told the Financial Times: “Given the numbers involved, we haven’t seen much action across the board.” “There’s very little specific follow-up. The problem is that legal proceedings find the [oil-for-food] scandal very difficult to deal with,” said Jermyn Brooks, head of Transparency International’s private-sector programme. “Prosecutors are looking at what happened and saying actually the Iraqi government stole money from itself. Our legal colleagues tell us it is very difficult to fit this into a corrupt-crime category.” Only one country, Denmark, regards flouting UN sanctions as a crime. Given limited resources, decisions are being made to focus efforts elsewhere. Politics is also playing a role. “In some cases, sad to say, the political levels might feel this is damaging to national prestige, and prosecutors are dissuaded from giving priorities to those kind of cases,” said Mr Brooks. FT.com / Home UK / UK - Iraq bribe prosecutors criticised as ‘lazy’: Iraq bribe prosecutors criticised as ‘lazy’ By Hugh Williamson in Berlin and Adam Jones in Paris Published: December 8 2006 22:27 | Last updated: December 8 2006 22:27 State prosecutors are dragging their feet investigating corruption in the Iraq oil-for-food programme, according to one of the authors of last year’s United Nations report on one of the world’s largest bribery scandals. Mark Pieth, a Switzerland-based lawyer who wrote the report with Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, told the Financial Times that prosecutors in many countries were too career-minded, too unwilling to enter new legal terrain “and sometimes simply lazy”. In spite of high-profile investigations in Australia, France and elsewhere, few cases have led to charges being laid in the 13 months since the report was published. Mr Pieth said he was “astonished” the report’s conclusions had not led to organisational changes in the UN, which was accused of mishandling the oil-for-food programme. He welcomed the October decision by a Paris judge working on the oil-for-food scandal to charge with corruption Christophe de Margerie, head of exploration and production at Total, the French oil and gas group. Mr Pieth said the “spectacular” case meant there were “many doubts” that Mr de Margerie, would, as planned, become chief executive next year. He added that this relatively rare breakthrough was because of France’s handful of “very stubborn” anti-graft prosecutors. Total said yesterday Mr de Margerie would take up the post as planned in February. It has previously denied violating the UN embargo in place against Iraq until 2002. Prosecutors in various countries have complained of the unclear legal basis for prosecuting the 2,200 companies named as law-breakers in the Volcker report. But Mr Pieth said the investigations were “straightforward legal work”. “As a prosecutor you rarely get promoted for such work, so many are not interested in it,” said Mr Pieth, chair of the Basel Institute on Governance and adviser to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. He accused governments of failing to provide enough support to identify companies that allegedly paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime to gain contracts. Mr Pieth said an Australian inquiry that last month confirmed evidence of corruption in the Australian Wheat Board’s involvement in the UN programme was important because it showed “the AWB knew even more [about corruption in Iraq] than it was willing to admit” to the Volcker inquiry. Poodle Alert! : UK Telegraph: Blair was overruled by Bush on post-war strategy, says Hoon: Blair was overruled by Bush on post-war strategy, says Hoon By Toby Helm, Chief Political Correspondent Last Updated: 1:11am GMT 09/12/2006 Tony Blair's "special relationship" with President George W Bush was called into fresh question last night when it emerged that he was overruled by Washington over key parts of the allied strategy for post-war Iraq. Geoff Hoon, who was Defence Secretary at the time of the conflict, told The Daily Telegraph that he and the Prime Minister "lost the argument" with the Americans before the fighting ceased – with disastrous consequences. Mr Hoon said in an interview that he and Mr Blair had urged the US, before the conflict ended, not to dismantle the Iraqi army or purge all members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party from senior positions. But they were over-ruled. [snip] "I think we understood from perhaps experience in Europe that quite a lot people were Ba'athists because they had to be if they wanted to be teachers or administrators and they weren't necessarily committed to Saddam Hussein. Those were arguments that I certainly put forward and I know other members of the government put forward. So we lost the argument." Asked to whom they had lost the argument, Mr Hoon said: "To the Americans." [snip] "The Prime Minister's strategy of staying close in public so as to be influential in private simply didn't work. The problem for the British Government was that we became so enmeshed in American strategy that we had no option but to go along with it, even when it was palpably wrong." Mr Hoon, who remained in charge at the Ministry of Defence until last year, said the US and Britain had made other errors. Notably, they underestimated the extent to which the occupying forces, particularly in and around Baghdad, would be seen by the Iraqis as "part of the problem, not as we saw it, part of the solution". He added: "I think this is still one of the problems today." Earlier this month a US State Department official, Kendal Myers, said Britain was routinely ignored in a "totally one-side" relationship and that Tony Blair had got "no pay-back" from the US. Full article here: markfromireland 06:08 09/12/2006

A Well Known Military Tactic Engaged In Exclusively By Losers

Before we start a reminder: What's an Iraqi Life Worth?: "You have to understand the Arab mind," one company commander told the New York Times, displaying all the self-assurance of Douglas MacArthur discoursing on Orientals in 1945. "The only thing they understand is force -- force, pride and saving face." Far from representing the views of a few underlings, such notions penetrated into the upper echelons of the American command. In their book "Cobra II," Michael R. Gordon and Gen. Bernard E. Trainor offer this ugly comment from a senior officer: "The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I'm about to introduce them to it." Such crass language, redolent with racist, ethnocentric connotations, speaks volumes. These characterizations, like the use of "gooks" during the Vietnam War, dehumanize the Iraqis and in doing so tacitly permit the otherwise impermissible. Thus, Abu Ghraib and Haditha -- and too many regretted deaths, such as that of Nahiba Husayif Jassim. Remember that? Guess what, the Americans, the ones who "understand the Arab mind," and are busy conditioning the said "Arab mind's" understanding are at it again. This posting is long. As you read it bear in mind that you need look at what people do as opposed to what they say to work out the truth. When you look at what's being done by the Americans in Iraq it's very clear that for the American army Arabs are "sand niggers" and that as far as the Americans in Iraq, the Pentagon, and The White House are concerned: "The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I'm about to introduce them to it." It's also a good idea to remember that an army reflects the attitudes and values of the society from which it springs. Let's get started: First compare and contrast the coverage of the latest use of American military air power in Iraq. I'll quote Aswat al Iraq first then what's being said by AP, then by Reuters, then by AFP, I'll end with Al-Jazeera: Aswat al Iraq: Aswat al Iraq Is-haqi-U.S. Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 11:50 AM Is-haqi-U.S. Twenty-two Iraqis, mostly women and children, killed in U.S. shelling of Is-haqi - official By Wathiq Ismail Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. forces killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, when they shelled two adjacent houses in the village of al-Is-haqi in northern Baghdad, a local official said on Friday. Is-haqi-U.S. Twenty-two Iraqis, mostly women and children, killed in U.S. shelling of Is-haqi - official By Wathiq Ismail Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. forces killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, when they shelled two adjacent houses in the village of al-Is-haqi in northern Baghdad, a local official said on Friday. “U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area at 1:00 a.m.,” Amer Elwan, mayor of Is-haqi, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone. “The bombing killed 22 people of one family, including eight women and six children,” he said. Is-haqi is part of Salah Eddin province and is located 100 km north of Baghdad. The planes completely demolished the houses that belong to the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud and rescue teams were still trying to retrieve the bodies from the rubble, Elwan said. He noted that all retrieved bodies have gunshots wounds which means the victims were shot dead before the bombing. “The local authorities began investigating the incident,” Elwan said with elaboration. This article is from Aswat al Iraq http://www.aswataliraq.info/ The URL for this story is: http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32669 Aswat al Iraq: Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1 Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 12:58 PM Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1 Death toll in U.S. bombing of Is-haqi up to 30 By Ghazwan al-Juburi (Adds new toll, changes dateline) Tikrit, Dec 8, (VOI) – The death toll in U.S. bombing of two houses in the village of al-Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province, is 30 civilians, a police source in Is-haqi said on Friday. Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1 Death toll in U.S. bombing of Is-haqi up to 30 By Ghazwan al-Juburi (Adds new toll, changes dateline) Tikrit, Dec 8, (VOI) – The death toll in U.S. bombing of two houses in the village of al-Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province, is 30 civilians, a police source in Is-haqi said on Friday. “U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area after midnight targeting the houses of the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud in western Is-haqi,” the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone. “According to a preliminary toll, the bombing resulted in the death of 30 residents,” he said. He did not say if the U.S. forces were attacked or if military operations were going on in the area. A local official in Is-haqi has earlier told VOI the U.S. bombing killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, in the village and rescue team were still trying to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble. He noted that all retrieved bodies have gunshots wounds which means the victims were shot dead before the bombing. “The local authorities began investigating the incident,” he said with elaboration. Is-haqi is part of Salah Eddin province and is located 100 km north of Baghdad. This article is from Aswat al Iraq http://www.aswataliraq.info/ The URL for this story is: http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32675 Aswat al Iraq: Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2 Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 08:07 PM Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2 U.S. army declares 20 killed in Is-haqi bombing, including women By Ghazwan al-Juburi (Adds Iraqi security source, U.S. statement) Tikrit-Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. and Iraqi officials on Friday gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.” Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2 U.S. army declares 20 killed in Is-haqi bombing, including women By Ghazwan al-Juburi (Adds Iraqi security source, U.S. statement) Tikrit-Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. and Iraqi officials on Friday gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.” Captain Nasser Abdul-Majid, head of the police force that retrieved the bodies, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that U.S. planes bombed after Thursday midnight al-Jalmoud village, 30 km west of Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province. “The raid targeted the houses of the two brothers Mahmoud and Mohammed Hussein Jalmoud, killing all residents of the adjacent houses including six women and four children,” he said. Earlier on Friday, Amer Elwan, chief of Is-haqi village, told VOI the U.S bombing killed 22 people of one family, including eight women and six children. Another security source said the death toll went up to 30 people. Meanwhile, the U.S. army said in a statement on Friday its forces “killed 20 terrorists Friday morning while targeting al-Qaida terrorists in the Thar Thar area.” Is-haqi is located north of Falluja and east of the Thar Thar area and lake that borders the provinces of Salah Eddin and Anbar. The U.S. statement admitted there women among the dead but said they were “terrorists”. “Coalition Forces also found that two of the terrorists killed were women. Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately,” it said. Abdul-Majid said the destruction was massive, hindering the efforts to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble. He noted there were many spent bullets in the area, reinforcing what the residents’ reported of clashes and shooting either before the bombing or after it. Elwan said: “All retrieved bodies have gunshot wounds which mean the victims were shot dead before the bombing.” The U.S. statement said: “The Coalition Forces targeted the location based on intelligence reports that indicated associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating in the area.” “During a search of the objective, Coalition Forces found multiple weapons caches consisting of AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests. All these items were destroyed on site,” the statement added. Coalition raids Iraq areas, killing 20 - Yahoo! News: By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led coalition forces killed 20 insurgents, including two women, Friday in fighting and airstrikes that targeted al-Qaida in Iraq militants northwest of Baghdad, the military said. The mayor of the area said 19 civilians were killed, including seven women and eight children. During the coalition raid near Lake Tharthar in Salahuddin province northwest of Baghdad on Friday, ground forces were searching buildings when they were attacked. They returned fire, killing two insurgents, the U.S. military said. Under continuing fire, the troops called in air support, killing 18 insurgents, including two women, the command said in a brief statement. The military declined to specify which branch of the coalition was involved, but the U.S. provides the bulk of the air support in most of the country. "Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately," it said. Searching the area, the coalition forces found and destroyed several weapons caches, including AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests, the command said. The raid was conducted in an area where intelligence reports had indicated that "associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating," U.S. command said. Amir Fayadh, the mayor of the al-Ishaqi area, east of the lake, and local police said 19 civilians were killed during airstrikes on two houses, and Fayadh said the dead included seven women and eight children...... [snip (remainder of story deals with other operations in Iraq) -mfi ] Reuters AlertNet - Iraqis, US dispute 20 deaths in raid: Iraqis, US dispute 20 deaths in raid 08 Dec 2006 14:13:16 GMT Source: Reuters By Ibon Villelabeitia BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi officials said five children were killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday which the U.S. military said killed 20 suspected al Qaeda militants. Grieving relatives near Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, showed the bodies of five children wrapped in blankets to journalists. Houses, surrounded by open fields, were flattened in the raid and police said they found the bodies of 17 civilians. Complaints that unjustified killings by U.S. troops are common have soured Iraqis' sentiment toward the U.S. presence in Iraq. Earlier this year Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he was losing patience over such reports. A bipartisan panel, exploring alternatives for U.S. President George W. Bush's strategy, recommended this week the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq evolve to one of training Iraqi forces to take over combat responsibility. In his first substantive response to the panel, that warned of a "grave and deteriorating" situation in Iraq, Bush vowed on Thursday to adopt a new strategy but distanced himself from some of its key recommendations. More than 2,900 U.S. troops have died since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed. The U.S. military said ground forces with air support struck in an area north of Baghdad where the Sunni Arab insurgency is strong. Police and officials said the bodies of 17 civilians were found in the rubble of two homes. "The Americans have done this before but they always deny it," Ishaqi Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters by telephone. "I want the world to know what's happening here." In a statement, the U.S. military said the operation in Salahaddin province followed intelligence reports that indicated al Qaeda militants operated in the area. It said rocket- propelled grenades and explosive suicide vests were found. Only a handful of complaints involving civilian deaths have led to criminal investigations by the U.S. military. [snip (remainder of story deals with other operations in Iraq) -mfi ] Reuters AlertNet - Iraqis say US raid killed 32, including 6 children: Iraqis say US raid killed 32, including 6 children 08 Dec 2006 10:49:49 GMT Source: Reuters TIKRIT, Iraq, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi police and local officials said at least six children and eight women were among 32 people killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday which the U.S. military said killed 20 al Qaeda militants, including two women. Police Major Khedr Hussein said 32 people were killed at Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters U.S. aircraft bombed two homes around 1 a.m (2200 GMT). He said 32 people were believed to be inside and that of 25 bodies pulled so far from the rubble, eight were women and six children. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said the raid in Ishaqi was one in which U.S. ground troops with air support killed 20 al Qaeda suspects in the Thar Thar area of Salahaddin province and recovered weapons. Controversy over Iraq air strike - Yahoo! News: Controversy over Iraq air strike by Dave Clark 26 minutes ago BAGHDAD (AFP) - Controversy has broken out over a US air strike that killed around 20 Iraqis, with the military branding them "Al-Qaeda terrorists" while locals displayed the corpses of children. The US military said coalition forces called in an air strike after coming under heavy fire during a raid on two buildings housing suspected militants in Salaheddin province, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Baghdad. In all, 20 Al-Qaeda militants were killed by air and ground fire during the raid shortly after midnight on Thursday, it said. But AFP journalists who visited the village of Taima in the aftermath of the strike found and photographed relatives weeping over several mangled bodies, including those of at least two children, near the ruined homes. According to the US military the buildings were a hideout of "Al-Qaeda terrorists" who had opened fire on coalition forces with a heavy machine-gun. Coalition forces returned fire, killing two of the attackers. "Despite efforts to subdue the remaining armed terrorists, Coalition Forces continued to be threatened by enemy fire, causing forces to call in close air support ... resulting in 18 more armed terrorists killed," it said. A search of the area revealed that two of the "armed terrorists" were women, as well as turning up numerous weapons -- including rocket-propelled grenades, a suicide bomb vest and materials for making roadside bombs. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations, unfortunately," said the statement. Photographs showing weapons and explosives accompanied the US military's statement. AFP in turn passed its photographs of the dead children to US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver. "We've checked with the troops who conducted this operation -- there were no children found among the terrorists killed," he said. "I see nothing in the photos that indicates those children were in the houses that our forces received fire from and subsequently destroyed with the air strike," he added. Garver could not confirm whether the coalition troops involved were American or from a coalition ally. "There are some units we don't talk about," he said. Amr Alwan, the mayor of Ishaqi, the main town in Taima's district, vigorously disputed the US military's account. "This is the third crime done by Americans in this area of Ishaqi. All the casualties were innocent women and children and everything they said about them being part of al-Qaeda is a lie," he said. Local police provided AFP with the names of 17 victims, four of them women. The names seemed to indicate that the victims were members of two extended families living in neighbouring houses. Meanwhile, a 1,000-strong force of British and Danish infantry supported by tanks and an amphibious assault clashed with militia gunmen in a raid on a suburb of the southern Iraqi Shiite city of Basra. "This is the biggest operation of this nature we've done out here since 2003," said Major Charlie Burbridge, adding that the troops had arrested "five leaders of rogue elements of militias operating in Basra". The British spokesman said that intelligence reports "strongly linked" the detainees to attacks on coalition forces and that artillery shells wired as roadside bombs had been among the weapons seized. There were no reports of casualties on either side, despite an exchange of fire, but a local spokesman for radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement warned of reprisals. Khalil al-Maliki told AFP in Basra the arrested men were from the Al-Batta tribe and included the so-called "mayor of Al-Hartha", Kadhim Ali. "The tribe has threatened to attack the provincial governorate if they are not released by this afternoon, and they are very ready," he said. Both the British and US militaries are suffering heavy losses in Iraq, with the US military losing some 30 soldiers since the start of December and 2,912 since the invasion. Britain's much smaller force has lost 126 troops since the US-led invasion of March-April 2003. Al Jazeera English - Middle East: 'Children killed' in US Iraq raid Six children and eight women are among at least 32 people killed in a US air raid northwest of Baghdad, according to Iraqi police and local officials. Khedr Hussein, an Iraqi police major, said 32 people were killed at Ishaqi, 90km north of Baghdad. Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters news agency that US aircraft bombed two homes in the early hours of Friday. He said 32 civilians were believed to be inside and that of 25 bodies pulled so far from the rubble, eight were women and six children. The US military said in a statement that said two women were among 20 suspected "al Qaeda terrorists" killed during the ground and air operation. "Civilian victims" Troops raided a cluster of buildings in the area around Thar Thar lake in Salaheddin province on Friday, and came under attack from a machine gun and returned fire, killing two suspects, the US military said. Air support was then called in and 18 more people were killed, it added. The statement said: "This is another step closer to defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq and helping establish a safe and peaceful Iraq." "Coalition forces will continue to target not only senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders, but all terrorists regardless of their titles or positions within the community." Local people also told an Agence France Presse correspondent that the victims had been civilians and included a large number of children. AFP said it had not been possible to independently authenticate either report. Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver, a US military spokesman, said: "Obviously, these are serious accusations and we take them seriously - we are looking into them now." The US military said AK-47 machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests was confiscated during the operation. Garver told AFP news agency that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident. "If there is a weapon with or next to the person or they are holding it, they are a terrorist," he said. In March, Iraqis accused US forces of shooting 11 people in al-Ishaqi, including four women and five children, while US forces maintained it had only killed two women and a child in an air strike. The BBC later broadcast video footage from the scene showing people with gunshot wounds. The soldiers involved in the case, however, were cleared of all misconduct. The US military also announced on Friday the death of a soldier who was conducting joint operations with the Iraqi army when a roadside bomb exploded. Thirty-three American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the first seven days of December. Annan warning Elsewhere Kofi Annan, the outgoing secretary-general of the UN, said the worsening conflict in Iraq is increasing the odds of a regional war in the Middle East. In his final report on the UN role in Iraq before he leaves office on December 31, Annan said on Friday the violence threatened to "aggravate a range of underlying tensions in neighboring countries." As a result, "the prospects of all-out civil war and even a regional conflict have become much more real" since his last report, issued three months ago, he said. His comments appeared to go beyond earlier expressions of concern about the deteriorating situation in Iraq. He said in a BBC interview aired this week that Iraq was in the grips of a civil war and many people were worse off now than under Saddam Hussein. Please note that I deliberately selected the English language story as it appears on Aswataliraq. Did you spot how the AP report buys, highlights, and emphasises the Al-Qaeda boogeyman garbage routinely promoted by the Americans in Iraq? We've been here before haven't we? Let's take a little stroll down memory lane to see the Americans record when it comes to Is-haqi. Remember this? Gorilla's Guides: Why Are These Two Children Dead? or this by Haifa Zangana "All Iraq is Abu Ghraib": "A'beer Qassim al-Janaby, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, was with her family in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, when US troops raided the house. A group of soldiers have been charged with her rape and the murder of her father, mother, and nine-year-old sister. They are also accused of setting A'beer's body on fire. The al-Janaby family lived near a US checkpoint, and the killings happened at 2pm on March 11. As usual, a US spokesman ascribed the killings to "Sunni Arab insurgents active in the area", contrary to local eyewitnesses. A'beer's rape and murder is neither incidental nor the product of a US soldier's "personality disorder": it is part of a pattern that includes Abu Ghraib, as well as the Haditha, Ishaqi and Qaiem massacres. And we see this pattern as serving a strategic function beyond indiscriminate revenge: to couple collective humiliation with intimidation and terror." or this: McClatchy Washington Bureau | 03/19/2006 | Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops: Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops By Matthew Schofield Knight Ridder Newspapers BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad. The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house, the document said........ Do you remember this? I wrote about it at the time: Gorilla's Guides: Children of Abraham - Death in the Desert: Did American Marines murder 23 Iraqi civilians? If you read this article in the UK Independent the answer to that question is seems to be "yes." The last paragraph which reads as follows: "There appears to be a distinct pattern of misinformation," complained Lt-Col Johnson. "This is another clear sign of that happening, making allegations for the sake of prompting media reporting and attempting to discredit coalition operations. This is a pattern we've seen the terrorist-backed insurgency use repeatedly." My heart is breaking for poor Lt-Col Johnson - no really … Then there's this from the UK Times: Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’ THE villagers of Abu Sifa near the Iraqi town of Balad had become used to the sound of explosions at night as American forces searched the area for suspected insurgents. But one night two weeks ago Issa Harat Khalaf heard a different sound that chilled him to the bone. Khalaf, a 33-year-old security officer guarding oil pipelines, saw a US helicopter land near his home. American soldiers stormed out of the Chinook and advanced on a house owned by Khalaf’s brother Fayez, firing as they went. Khalaf ran from his own house and hid in a nearby grove of trees. He saw the soldiers enter his brother’s home and then heard the sound of women and children screaming. “Then there was a lot of machinegun fire,” he said last week. After that there was the most frightening sound of all — silence, followed by explosions as the soldiers left the house. Once the troops were gone, Khalaf and his fellow villagers began a frantic search through the ruins of his brother’s home. Abu Sifa was about to join a lengthening list of Iraqi communities claiming to have suffered from American atrocities. According to Iraqi police, 11 bodies were pulled from the wreckage of the house, among them four women and five children aged between six months and five years. An official police report obtained by a US reporter for Knight Ridder newspapers said: “The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people.*” [snip] The problem for the Pentagon is that every new incident involving civilian deaths triggers a new wave of anti-American fervour. Last week Jalal Abdul Rahman told this newspaper about the death in January of his 12- year-old son Abdul. It was a Sunday evening and father and son were driving home after buying a new game for the boy’s PlayStation. They were a few hundred yards from their home in the Karkh neighbourhood of Baghdad when — according to Rahman — US forces opened fire on the car, killing Abdul. Soldiers approached the car and told Rahman he had failed to stop when ordered to do so. Rahman said he had never heard an order to stop. The soldiers searched the car and, as they departed, they threw a black body bag on the ground. “They said, ‘This is for your son,’ and they left me there with my dead son,” he added. Rahman claimed he had had nothing to do with the insurgency until that moment. “But this is America, the so-called guardian of humanity, and killing people for them is like drinking water. I shall go after them until I avenge the blood of my son.” Yes truly my heart is breaking for poor Lt-Col Johnson - it must be so difficult to repeat the stuff he repeats and keep a straight face. … * Quote from the attribution to the Knight Ridder story: "Three Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondents contributed to this report. Their identities are being withheld for security reasons." I wonder who they're afraid of do you? Still with me? The Americans in Iraq have lost. They're losers. And they're stupidly vicious losers. There are going to be more, there are going to be a lot more "incidents" like this. "Incidents" where the muscle minded tank brains that pass for the US military command in Iraq use air power or artillery strikes against civilians. The incidence of such disgraceful behaviour was already high and is now rising further. Why? Because the Americans have lost. They've lost and they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do because they're losers. The Americans have lost the only war that counts in Iraq and that's the ground war. They've lost the ground war because of the corrupt and savagely racist way in which they've behaved in Iraq from the moment they arrived. But that's the American military way escalate escalate escalate and fuck the lives of civilians especially when those civilians are "ragheads" "ayrabs" or "sand niggers." Then investigate yourself and clear yourself of wrongdoing unless the disgustingly barbaric American war crime in question has been committed by your mercenary pals in which case of course you can claim that you don't have any jurisdiction. Always blame the victims. "She wanted it really." Did you notice Lt. Colonel Garver trotting out the standard American line? Garver told AFP news agency that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident. "If there is a weapon with or next to the person or they are holding it, they are a terrorist," he said. Ishaqi's got a lot of problems chief of which is the lawlessness created by the American occupation. Everyone has a gun. They damn well need a gun. (In fact it was the Americans under Bremer who passed the law saying that people were entitled to own and carry a gun. No such law existed in Iraq before the Americans arrived. - mfi ) Garver knows that as well as I do. Garver also knows as well as I do that American soldiers routinely "plant." And isn't it convenient that the evidence was destroyed at the scene as part of the American SOP. They always trot our the excuse, the stupid excuse, that Al-Qaeda was there. It's ludicrous. The majority of attacks in Iraq are carried out against the Americans. The overwhelming majority of those attacks are carried out by Iraqis. The proportions in this poll: World Public Opinion: Al Qaeda is exceedingly unpopular among the Iraqi people. Overall 94 percent have an unfavorable view of al Qaeda, with 82 percent expressing a very unfavorable view. Of all organizations and individuals assessed in this poll, it received the most negative ratings. The Shias and Kurds show similarly intense levels of opposition, with 95 percent and 93 percent respectively saying they have very unfavorable views. The Sunnis are also quite negative, but with less intensity. Seventy-seven percent express an unfavorable view, but only 38 percent are very unfavorable. Twenty-three percent express a favorable view (5% very). Views of Osama bin Laden are only slightly less negative. Overall 93 percent have an unfavorable view, with 77 percent very unfavorable. Very unfavorable views are expressed by 87 percent of Kurds and 94 percent of Shias. Here again, the Sunnis are negative, but less unequivocally —71 percent have an unfavorable view (23% very), and 29 percent a favorable view (3% very). Are matched by the proportions of the attacks. And yet the incompetent and vicious American command persists in trotting out the tired old lie that their victims were terrorists. It's called adding insult to injury. It's why America and Americans are hated (and increasingly despised) not only throughout the Middle East but throughout the world. The Americans in Iraq are not only corrupt, they're not only incompetent, they're not only savagely viciously racist, they're corrupt, incompetent, savagely vicious racist, losers. Their corruption, incompetence, and savagely vicious racism have helped ensure that the Americans in Iraq have lost so badly that they're withdrawing their forces from al-Anbar. Other provinces, then Baghdad, and ultimately after quite a lot of Americans have lost their lives by being well and truly introduced to force by the increasingly enraged population of sand niggers we'll see the Americans "withdrawing their forces" from Iraq as a whole. "Withdrawing your forces" is the polite military way of saying "running away"- it's a well known military tactic engaged in exclusively by losers. markfromireland Before we start a reminder: What's an Iraqi Life Worth?: "You have to understand the Arab mind," one company commander told the New York Times, displaying all the self-assurance of Douglas MacArthur discoursing on Orientals in 1945. "The only thing they understand is force -- force, pride and saving face." Far from representing the views of a few underlings, such notions penetrated into the upper echelons of the American command. In their book "Cobra II," Michael R. Gordon and Gen. Bernard E. Trainor offer this ugly comment from a senior officer: "The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I'm about to introduce them to it." Such crass language, redolent with racist, ethnocentric connotations, speaks volumes. These characterizations, like the use of "gooks" during the Vietnam War, dehumanize the Iraqis and in doing so tacitly permit the otherwise impermissible. Thus, Abu Ghraib and Haditha -- and too many regretted deaths, such as that of Nahiba Husayif Jassim. Remember that? Guess what, the Americans, the ones who "understand the Arab mind," and are busy conditioning the said "Arab mind's" understanding are at it again. This posting is long. As you read it bear in mind that you need look at what people do as opposed to what they say to work out the truth. When you look at what's being done by the Americans in Iraq it's very clear that for the American army Arabs are "sand niggers" and that as far as the Americans in Iraq, the Pentagon, and The White House are concerned: "The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I'm about to introduce them to it." It's also a good idea to remember that an army reflects the attitudes and values of the society from which it springs. Let's get started: First compare and contrast the coverage of the latest use of American military air power in Iraq. I'll quote Aswat al Iraq first then what's being said by AP, then by Reuters, then by AFP, I'll end with Al-Jazeera: Aswat al Iraq: Aswat al Iraq Is-haqi-U.S. Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 11:50 AM Is-haqi-U.S. Twenty-two Iraqis, mostly women and children, killed in U.S. shelling of Is-haqi - official By Wathiq Ismail Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. forces killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, when they shelled two adjacent houses in the village of al-Is-haqi in northern Baghdad, a local official said on Friday. Is-haqi-U.S. Twenty-two Iraqis, mostly women and children, killed in U.S. shelling of Is-haqi - official By Wathiq Ismail Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. forces killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, when they shelled two adjacent houses in the village of al-Is-haqi in northern Baghdad, a local official said on Friday. “U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area at 1:00 a.m.,” Amer Elwan, mayor of Is-haqi, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone. “The bombing killed 22 people of one family, including eight women and six children,” he said. Is-haqi is part of Salah Eddin province and is located 100 km north of Baghdad. The planes completely demolished the houses that belong to the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud and rescue teams were still trying to retrieve the bodies from the rubble, Elwan said. He noted that all retrieved bodies have gunshots wounds which means the victims were shot dead before the bombing. “The local authorities began investigating the incident,” Elwan said with elaboration. This article is from Aswat al Iraq http://www.aswataliraq.info/ The URL for this story is: http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32669 Aswat al Iraq: Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1 Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 12:58 PM Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1 Death toll in U.S. bombing of Is-haqi up to 30 By Ghazwan al-Juburi (Adds new toll, changes dateline) Tikrit, Dec 8, (VOI) – The death toll in U.S. bombing of two houses in the village of al-Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province, is 30 civilians, a police source in Is-haqi said on Friday. Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 1 Death toll in U.S. bombing of Is-haqi up to 30 By Ghazwan al-Juburi (Adds new toll, changes dateline) Tikrit, Dec 8, (VOI) – The death toll in U.S. bombing of two houses in the village of al-Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province, is 30 civilians, a police source in Is-haqi said on Friday. “U.S. planes bombed two adjacent houses in al-Jalameda area after midnight targeting the houses of the two brothers Mohammed and Mahmoud Hussein Jalmoud in western Is-haqi,” the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone. “According to a preliminary toll, the bombing resulted in the death of 30 residents,” he said. He did not say if the U.S. forces were attacked or if military operations were going on in the area. A local official in Is-haqi has earlier told VOI the U.S. bombing killed 22 members of one family, mostly women and children, in the village and rescue team were still trying to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble. He noted that all retrieved bodies have gunshots wounds which means the victims were shot dead before the bombing. “The local authorities began investigating the incident,” he said with elaboration. Is-haqi is part of Salah Eddin province and is located 100 km north of Baghdad. This article is from Aswat al Iraq http://www.aswataliraq.info/ The URL for this story is: http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32675 Aswat al Iraq: Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2 Voices of Iraq / Salah al-Din Posted by nadioshka on Dec 08, 2006 - 08:07 PM Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2 U.S. army declares 20 killed in Is-haqi bombing, including women By Ghazwan al-Juburi (Adds Iraqi security source, U.S. statement) Tikrit-Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. and Iraqi officials on Friday gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.” Is-haqi-U.S.-Update 2 U.S. army declares 20 killed in Is-haqi bombing, including women By Ghazwan al-Juburi (Adds Iraqi security source, U.S. statement) Tikrit-Baghdad, Dec 8, (VOI) – U.S. and Iraqi officials on Friday gave conflicting reports over the bombing of houses in the village of Is-haqi, as Iraqi police sources said 17 members of one family including women and children were killed, while the U.S. army said it killed 20 people he described as “al-Qaida terrorists.” Captain Nasser Abdul-Majid, head of the police force that retrieved the bodies, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that U.S. planes bombed after Thursday midnight al-Jalmoud village, 30 km west of Is-haqi, Salah Eddin province. “The raid targeted the houses of the two brothers Mahmoud and Mohammed Hussein Jalmoud, killing all residents of the adjacent houses including six women and four children,” he said. Earlier on Friday, Amer Elwan, chief of Is-haqi village, told VOI the U.S bombing killed 22 people of one family, including eight women and six children. Another security source said the death toll went up to 30 people. Meanwhile, the U.S. army said in a statement on Friday its forces “killed 20 terrorists Friday morning while targeting al-Qaida terrorists in the Thar Thar area.” Is-haqi is located north of Falluja and east of the Thar Thar area and lake that borders the provinces of Salah Eddin and Anbar. The U.S. statement admitted there women among the dead but said they were “terrorists”. “Coalition Forces also found that two of the terrorists killed were women. Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately,” it said. Abdul-Majid said the destruction was massive, hindering the efforts to retrieve the bodies from under the rubble. He noted there were many spent bullets in the area, reinforcing what the residents’ reported of clashes and shooting either before the bombing or after it. Elwan said: “All retrieved bodies have gunshot wounds which mean the victims were shot dead before the bombing.” The U.S. statement said: “The Coalition Forces targeted the location based on intelligence reports that indicated associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating in the area.” “During a search of the objective, Coalition Forces found multiple weapons caches consisting of AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests. All these items were destroyed on site,” the statement added. Coalition raids Iraq areas, killing 20 - Yahoo! News: By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led coalition forces killed 20 insurgents, including two women, Friday in fighting and airstrikes that targeted al-Qaida in Iraq militants northwest of Baghdad, the military said. The mayor of the area said 19 civilians were killed, including seven women and eight children. During the coalition raid near Lake Tharthar in Salahuddin province northwest of Baghdad on Friday, ground forces were searching buildings when they were attacked. They returned fire, killing two insurgents, the U.S. military said. Under continuing fire, the troops called in air support, killing 18 insurgents, including two women, the command said in a brief statement. The military declined to specify which branch of the coalition was involved, but the U.S. provides the bulk of the air support in most of the country. "Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately," it said. Searching the area, the coalition forces found and destroyed several weapons caches, including AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests, the command said. The raid was conducted in an area where intelligence reports had indicated that "associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating," U.S. command said. Amir Fayadh, the mayor of the al-Ishaqi area, east of the lake, and local police said 19 civilians were killed during airstrikes on two houses, and Fayadh said the dead included seven women and eight children...... [snip (remainder of story deals with other operations in Iraq) -mfi ] Reuters AlertNet - Iraqis, US dispute 20 deaths in raid: Iraqis, US dispute 20 deaths in raid 08 Dec 2006 14:13:16 GMT Source: Reuters By Ibon Villelabeitia BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi officials said five children were killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday which the U.S. military said killed 20 suspected al Qaeda militants. Grieving relatives near Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, showed the bodies of five children wrapped in blankets to journalists. Houses, surrounded by open fields, were flattened in the raid and police said they found the bodies of 17 civilians. Complaints that unjustified killings by U.S. troops are common have soured Iraqis' sentiment toward the U.S. presence in Iraq. Earlier this year Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he was losing patience over such reports. A bipartisan panel, exploring alternatives for U.S. President George W. Bush's strategy, recommended this week the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq evolve to one of training Iraqi forces to take over combat responsibility. In his first substantive response to the panel, that warned of a "grave and deteriorating" situation in Iraq, Bush vowed on Thursday to adopt a new strategy but distanced himself from some of its key recommendations. More than 2,900 U.S. troops have died since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed. The U.S. military said ground forces with air support struck in an area north of Baghdad where the Sunni Arab insurgency is strong. Police and officials said the bodies of 17 civilians were found in the rubble of two homes. "The Americans have done this before but they always deny it," Ishaqi Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters by telephone. "I want the world to know what's happening here." In a statement, the U.S. military said the operation in Salahaddin province followed intelligence reports that indicated al Qaeda militants operated in the area. It said rocket- propelled grenades and explosive suicide vests were found. Only a handful of complaints involving civilian deaths have led to criminal investigations by the U.S. military. [snip (remainder of story deals with other operations in Iraq) -mfi ] Reuters AlertNet - Iraqis say US raid killed 32, including 6 children: Iraqis say US raid killed 32, including 6 children 08 Dec 2006 10:49:49 GMT Source: Reuters TIKRIT, Iraq, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi police and local officials said at least six children and eight women were among 32 people killed in a U.S. air strike on Friday which the U.S. military said killed 20 al Qaeda militants, including two women. Police Major Khedr Hussein said 32 people were killed at Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters U.S. aircraft bombed two homes around 1 a.m (2200 GMT). He said 32 people were believed to be inside and that of 25 bodies pulled so far from the rubble, eight were women and six children. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said the raid in Ishaqi was one in which U.S. ground troops with air support killed 20 al Qaeda suspects in the Thar Thar area of Salahaddin province and recovered weapons. Controversy over Iraq air strike - Yahoo! News: Controversy over Iraq air strike by Dave Clark 26 minutes ago BAGHDAD (AFP) - Controversy has broken out over a US air strike that killed around 20 Iraqis, with the military branding them "Al-Qaeda terrorists" while locals displayed the corpses of children. The US military said coalition forces called in an air strike after coming under heavy fire during a raid on two buildings housing suspected militants in Salaheddin province, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Baghdad. In all, 20 Al-Qaeda militants were killed by air and ground fire during the raid shortly after midnight on Thursday, it said. But AFP journalists who visited the village of Taima in the aftermath of the strike found and photographed relatives weeping over several mangled bodies, including those of at least two children, near the ruined homes. According to the US military the buildings were a hideout of "Al-Qaeda terrorists" who had opened fire on coalition forces with a heavy machine-gun. Coalition forces returned fire, killing two of the attackers. "Despite efforts to subdue the remaining armed terrorists, Coalition Forces continued to be threatened by enemy fire, causing forces to call in close air support ... resulting in 18 more armed terrorists killed," it said. A search of the area revealed that two of the "armed terrorists" were women, as well as turning up numerous weapons -- including rocket-propelled grenades, a suicide bomb vest and materials for making roadside bombs. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations, unfortunately," said the statement. Photographs showing weapons and explosives accompanied the US military's statement. AFP in turn passed its photographs of the dead children to US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver. "We've checked with the troops who conducted this operation -- there were no children found among the terrorists killed," he said. "I see nothing in the photos that indicates those children were in the houses that our forces received fire from and subsequently destroyed with the air strike," he added. Garver could not confirm whether the coalition troops involved were American or from a coalition ally. "There are some units we don't talk about," he said. Amr Alwan, the mayor of Ishaqi, the main town in Taima's district, vigorously disputed the US military's account. "This is the third crime done by Americans in this area of Ishaqi. All the casualties were innocent women and children and everything they said about them being part of al-Qaeda is a lie," he said. Local police provided AFP with the names of 17 victims, four of them women. The names seemed to indicate that the victims were members of two extended families living in neighbouring houses. Meanwhile, a 1,000-strong force of British and Danish infantry supported by tanks and an amphibious assault clashed with militia gunmen in a raid on a suburb of the southern Iraqi Shiite city of Basra. "This is the biggest operation of this nature we've done out here since 2003," said Major Charlie Burbridge, adding that the troops had arrested "five leaders of rogue elements of militias operating in Basra". The British spokesman said that intelligence reports "strongly linked" the detainees to attacks on coalition forces and that artillery shells wired as roadside bombs had been among the weapons seized. There were no reports of casualties on either side, despite an exchange of fire, but a local spokesman for radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement warned of reprisals. Khalil al-Maliki told AFP in Basra the arrested men were from the Al-Batta tribe and included the so-called "mayor of Al-Hartha", Kadhim Ali. "The tribe has threatened to attack the provincial governorate if they are not released by this afternoon, and they are very ready," he said. Both the British and US militaries are suffering heavy losses in Iraq, with the US military losing some 30 soldiers since the start of December and 2,912 since the invasion. Britain's much smaller force has lost 126 troops since the US-led invasion of March-April 2003. Al Jazeera English - Middle East: 'Children killed' in US Iraq raid Six children and eight women are among at least 32 people killed in a US air raid northwest of Baghdad, according to Iraqi police and local officials. Khedr Hussein, an Iraqi police major, said 32 people were killed at Ishaqi, 90km north of Baghdad. Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters news agency that US aircraft bombed two homes in the early hours of Friday. He said 32 civilians were believed to be inside and that of 25 bodies pulled so far from the rubble, eight were women and six children. The US military said in a statement that said two women were among 20 suspected "al Qaeda terrorists" killed during the ground and air operation. "Civilian victims" Troops raided a cluster of buildings in the area around Thar Thar lake in Salaheddin province on Friday, and came under attack from a machine gun and returned fire, killing two suspects, the US military said. Air support was then called in and 18 more people were killed, it added. The statement said: "This is another step closer to defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq and helping establish a safe and peaceful Iraq." "Coalition forces will continue to target not only senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders, but all terrorists regardless of their titles or positions within the community." Local people also told an Agence France Presse correspondent that the victims had been civilians and included a large number of children. AFP said it had not been possible to independently authenticate either report. Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver, a US military spokesman, said: "Obviously, these are serious accusations and we take them seriously - we are looking into them now." The US military said AK-47 machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests was confiscated during the operation. Garver told AFP news agency that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident. "If there is a weapon with or next to the person or they are holding it, they are a terrorist," he said. In March, Iraqis accused US forces of shooting 11 people in al-Ishaqi, including four women and five children, while US forces maintained it had only killed two women and a child in an air strike. The BBC later broadcast video footage from the scene showing people with gunshot wounds. The soldiers involved in the case, however, were cleared of all misconduct. The US military also announced on Friday the death of a soldier who was conducting joint operations with the Iraqi army when a roadside bomb exploded. Thirty-three American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the first seven days of December. Annan warning Elsewhere Kofi Annan, the outgoing secretary-general of the UN, said the worsening conflict in Iraq is increasing the odds of a regional war in the Middle East. In his final report on the UN role in Iraq before he leaves office on December 31, Annan said on Friday the violence threatened to "aggravate a range of underlying tensions in neighboring countries." As a result, "the prospects of all-out civil war and even a regional conflict have become much more real" since his last report, issued three months ago, he said. His comments appeared to go beyond earlier expressions of concern about the deteriorating situation in Iraq. He said in a BBC interview aired this week that Iraq was in the grips of a civil war and many people were worse off now than under Saddam Hussein. Please note that I deliberately selected the English language story as it appears on Aswataliraq. Did you spot how the AP report buys, highlights, and emphasises the Al-Qaeda boogeyman garbage routinely promoted by the Americans in Iraq? We've been here before haven't we? Let's take a little stroll down memory lane to see the Americans record when it comes to Is-haqi. Remember this? Gorilla's Guides: Why Are These Two Children Dead? or this by Haifa Zangana "All Iraq is Abu Ghraib": "A'beer Qassim al-Janaby, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, was with her family in Mahmudiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, when US troops raided the house. A group of soldiers have been charged with her rape and the murder of her father, mother, and nine-year-old sister. They are also accused of setting A'beer's body on fire. The al-Janaby family lived near a US checkpoint, and the killings happened at 2pm on March 11. As usual, a US spokesman ascribed the killings to "Sunni Arab insurgents active in the area", contrary to local eyewitnesses. A'beer's rape and murder is neither incidental nor the product of a US soldier's "personality disorder": it is part of a pattern that includes Abu Ghraib, as well as the Haditha, Ishaqi and Qaiem massacres. And we see this pattern as serving a strategic function beyond indiscriminate revenge: to couple collective humiliation with intimidation and terror." or this: McClatchy Washington Bureau | 03/19/2006 | Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops: Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops By Matthew Schofield Knight Ridder Newspapers BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad. The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house, the document said........ Do you remember this? I wrote about it at the time: Gorilla's Guides: Children of Abraham - Death in the Desert: Did American Marines murder 23 Iraqi civilians? If you read this article in the UK Independent the answer to that question is seems to be "yes." The last paragraph which reads as follows: "There appears to be a distinct pattern of misinformation," complained Lt-Col Johnson. "This is another clear sign of that happening, making allegations for the sake of prompting media reporting and attempting to discredit coalition operations. This is a pattern we've seen the terrorist-backed insurgency use repeatedly." My heart is breaking for poor Lt-Col Johnson - no really … Then there's this from the UK Times: Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’ THE villagers of Abu Sifa near the Iraqi town of Balad had become used to the sound of explosions at night as American forces searched the area for suspected insurgents. But one night two weeks ago Issa Harat Khalaf heard a different sound that chilled him to the bone. Khalaf, a 33-year-old security officer guarding oil pipelines, saw a US helicopter land near his home. American soldiers stormed out of the Chinook and advanced on a house owned by Khalaf’s brother Fayez, firing as they went. Khalaf ran from his own house and hid in a nearby grove of trees. He saw the soldiers enter his brother’s home and then heard the sound of women and children screaming. “Then there was a lot of machinegun fire,” he said last week. After that there was the most frightening sound of all — silence, followed by explosions as the soldiers left the house. Once the troops were gone, Khalaf and his fellow villagers began a frantic search through the ruins of his brother’s home. Abu Sifa was about to join a lengthening list of Iraqi communities claiming to have suffered from American atrocities. According to Iraqi police, 11 bodies were pulled from the wreckage of the house, among them four women and five children aged between six months and five years. An official police report obtained by a US reporter for Knight Ridder newspapers said: “The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people.*” [snip] The problem for the Pentagon is that every new incident involving civilian deaths triggers a new wave of anti-American fervour. Last week Jalal Abdul Rahman told this newspaper about the death in January of his 12- year-old son Abdul. It was a Sunday evening and father and son were driving home after buying a new game for the boy’s PlayStation. They were a few hundred yards from their home in the Karkh neighbourhood of Baghdad when — according to Rahman — US forces opened fire on the car, killing Abdul. Soldiers approached the car and told Rahman he had failed to stop when ordered to do so. Rahman said he had never heard an order to stop. The soldiers searched the car and, as they departed, they threw a black body bag on the ground. “They said, ‘This is for your son,’ and they left me there with my dead son,” he added. Rahman claimed he had had nothing to do with the insurgency until that moment. “But this is America, the so-called guardian of humanity, and killing people for them is like drinking water. I shall go after them until I avenge the blood of my son.” Yes truly my heart is breaking for poor Lt-Col Johnson - it must be so difficult to repeat the stuff he repeats and keep a straight face. … * Quote from the attribution to the Knight Ridder story: "Three Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondents contributed to this report. Their identities are being withheld for security reasons." I wonder who they're afraid of do you? Still with me? The Americans in Iraq have lost. They're losers. And they're stupidly vicious losers. There are going to be more, there are going to be a lot more "incidents" like this. "Incidents" where the muscle minded tank brains that pass for the US military command in Iraq use air power or artillery strikes against civilians. The incidence of such disgraceful behaviour was already high and is now rising further. Why? Because the Americans have lost. They've lost and they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do because they're losers. The Americans have lost the only war that counts in Iraq and that's the ground war. They've lost the ground war because of the corrupt and savagely racist way in which they've behaved in Iraq from the moment they arrived. But that's the American military way escalate escalate escalate and fuck the lives of civilians especially when those civilians are "ragheads" "ayrabs" or "sand niggers." Then investigate yourself and clear yourself of wrongdoing unless the disgustingly barbaric American war crime in question has been committed by your mercenary pals in which case of course you can claim that you don't have any jurisdiction. Always blame the victims. "She wanted it really." Did you notice Lt. Colonel Garver trotting out the standard American line? Garver told AFP news agency that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident. "If there is a weapon with or next to the person or they are holding it, they are a terrorist," he said. Ishaqi's got a lot of problems chief of which is the lawlessness created by the American occupation. Everyone has a gun. They damn well need a gun. (In fact it was the Americans under Bremer who passed the law saying that people were entitled to own and carry a gun. No such law existed in Iraq before the Americans arrived. - mfi ) Garver knows that as well as I do. Garver also knows as well as I do that American soldiers routinely "plant." And isn't it convenient that the evidence was destroyed at the scene as part of the American SOP. They always trot our the excuse, the stupid excuse, that Al-Qaeda was there. It's ludicrous. The majority of attacks in Iraq are carried out against the Americans. The overwhelming majority of those attacks are carried out by Iraqis. The proportions in this poll: World Public Opinion: Al Qaeda is exceedingly unpopular among the Iraqi people. Overall 94 percent have an unfavorable view of al Qaeda, with 82 percent expressing a very unfavorable view. Of all organizations and individuals assessed in this poll, it received the most negative ratings. The Shias and Kurds show similarly intense levels of opposition, with 95 percent and 93 percent respectively saying they have very unfavorable views. The Sunnis are also quite negative, but with less intensity. Seventy-seven percent express an unfavorable view, but only 38 percent are very unfavorable. Twenty-three percent express a favorable view (5% very). Views of Osama bin Laden are only slightly less negative. Overall 93 percent have an unfavorable view, with 77 percent very unfavorable. Very unfavorable views are expressed by 87 percent of Kurds and 94 percent of Shias. Here again, the Sunnis are negative, but less unequivocally —71 percent have an unfavorable view (23% very), and 29 percent a favorable view (3% very). Are matched by the proportions of the attacks. And yet the incompetent and vicious American command persists in trotting out the tired old lie that their victims were terrorists. It's called adding insult to injury. It's why America and Americans are hated (and increasingly despised) not only throughout the Middle East but throughout the world. The Americans in Iraq are not only corrupt, they're not only incompetent, they're not only savagely viciously racist, they're corrupt, incompetent, savagely vicious racist, losers. Their corruption, incompetence, and savagely vicious racism have helped ensure that the Americans in Iraq have lost so badly that they're withdrawing their forces from al-Anbar. Other provinces, then Baghdad, and ultimately after quite a lot of Americans have lost their lives by being well and truly introduced to force by the increasingly enraged population of sand niggers we'll see the Americans "withdrawing their forces" from Iraq as a whole. "Withdrawing your forces" is the polite military way of saying "running away"- it's a well known military tactic engaged in exclusively by losers. markfromireland

We Are Going To Fight And The Results Could Get Much Worse For Them

IRAQ: Fighters welcome report that advises withdrawal of US troops [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] © Mike White Militants and insurgents in Iraq hope the Iraq Study Group report will give impetus to early exit for US troops in the country. BAGHDAD, 7 Dec 2006 (IRIN) - Insurgents and militias in Iraq on Thursday welcomed the recommendations made in a report by the Iraq Study Group that indicated that US policy in Iraq was not working and that its troops should be pulled out earlier than current projections suggest. “The withdrawal of US troops from Iraq has been one of our foremost demands since 2004. The presence of foreign troops in our country is the reason why we continue to fight, resulting in the killing of thousands of Iraqis,” said Abu Baker, a member of Sunni insurgent group Jeyshi Muhammad (Muhammad’s Army) who declined to give his full name. Led by co-chairs James Baker III, former secretary of state, and Lee Hamilton, former congressman, the Iraq Study Group is a bipartisan group of 10 former civil servants charged with making an “independent assessment of the current and prospective situation on the ground in Iraq, its impact on the surrounding region, and consequences for US interests”. Launched on Wednesday, the 160-page report – entitled: ‘The Way Forward - A New Approach’ - is available in bookshops and online. Beginning with the words, "The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating", the report is a harsh evaluation of US policy in Iraq to date. The occupation in Iraq is unacceptable to every Muslim fighter group and the Iraqi resistance believes that the country can only be governed by Iraqis without interference by US soldiers or politicians. Abu Baker, a Sunni insurgent The report is not, however, binding on US President George Bush. Separate policy reviews are being conducted by the National Security Council and the Pentagon, which Bush could turn to as alternative sources of advice. The report’s main points are to engage Iraq’s neighbours, chiefly Syria and Iraq, in a “new diplomatic offensive”; a renewed and unified sense of political purpose among US citizens; and increased pressure on the Iraqi government and its security forces to take control of the country and facilitate a faster exit for US troops. For militants and insurgents in Iraq, the report represents hope that the Americans will finally leave, and sooner than expected. Occupation in Iraq is unacceptable “The occupation in Iraq is unacceptable to every Muslim fighter group and the Iraqi resistance believes that the country can only be governed by Iraqis without interference by US soldiers or politicians,” Abu Baker said. “This report just makes us stronger in our beliefs and reinforces our view that the best choice to be taken by the United States is to leave Iraq soon,” he added. However, insurgents also say that their own government is failing to address Iraq’s deteriorating situation and that giving amnesty to selected armed groups would only provoke others to revolt. “They [the government] do not want to find a solution. The only thing we ask is the withdrawal of US troops and that is the only thing they refuse to do. The result of that can be seen in Iraq today,” Abu Baker said. Al-Qa’eda representatives in Iraq have long called for US troops to leave the country and see their continued presence as a direct cause of the increasing bloodshed there. “No Muslim country should close their eyes over this occupation that is destroying the country. The occupation is not popular with us Iraqis and that is why you can see an increase in the numbers of Iraqis who have turned into fighters against the US occupation,” said Abu Ahmed, who claimed to be a member of al-Qa’eda in Iraq and declined to give his full name. The report paints a clear picture of the situation in the country and... we expect that now the US can wake up and follow the report’s advice and leave Iraq as soon as possible. Ali Kashrum, Shi’ite Mahdi Army memberHe warned that the departure of US troops is not enough and said members of the Iraqi government and parliament who are pro-US should quit their positions “to clean the government of US ideology”. The alleged Iranian support of Shi’ite militias in Iraq was another factor highlighted by the al-Qa’eda member. “Iran is one of the main supporters of [Shi’ite] militias in Iraq today and is responsible for the sectarian violence that has spread over the country. The US forces are busy searching for Sunni fighters but they have to stop the militias too, which have the support of the Iraqi government,” Abu Ahmed said. Commanded by the preacher Muqtadar al-Sadr, the Mahdi Army is one of the most prominent and fearsome of the Shi’ite militias in Iraq. They too are united with Iraq’s other armed groups in wanting an immediate withdrawal of US troops. “They have to return to their country to look after their problems because for sure all Iraqi groups can unite to govern the country. But as long as they keep occupying our country, we are going to fight and the results could get much worse for them,” Ali Kashrum, a member of the Mahdi Army, said. “The report paints a clear picture of the situation in the country and... we expect that now the US can wake up and follow the report’s advice and leave Iraq as soon as possible,” Kashrum added. as/ar/ed [ENDS] Copyright © IRIN 2006 The material contained on www.IRINnews.org comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. markfromireland