The Iraq thread 4

[turms 0]

Quote[/b] ]U.S. Troops Wounded in Iraq Near 7,000

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The number of American troops wounded in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 is approaching 7,000, according to figures published Tuesday by the Pentagon. The death toll for U.S. military personnel is 975, plus three Defense Department civilians.

The wounded total has approximately doubled since mid-April, when casualties and deaths mounted rapidly as the insurgency intensified. The death toll over that period has grown by about 300.

The Pentagon, which generally updates its casualty count each week, said the number of wounded stands at 6,916, up 226 from a week earlier. In the two months since the United States handed over political sovereignty to an interim Iraq government, the wounded total has grown by about 1,500.

The vast majority of casualties have been Marines and Army soldiers, although the Pentagon announced on Tuesday the 13th member of the Air Force to die in Iraq. Airman 1st Class Carl L. Anderson Jr., 21, of Georgetown, S.C., was killed by a roadside bomb on Sunday near the northern city of Mosul. He was assigned to the 3rd Logistics Readiness Squadron based at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska

[theavonlady 2]

Quote[/b] ]Iraq's Chalabi Escapes Assassination Bid

28 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen opened fire Wednesday on a convoy carrying former Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi in an apparent assassination attempt that wounded two of his bodyguards, Chalabi's spokesman said.

Chalabi's convoy was attacked in southern Baghdad at about 7:30 a.m. as he returned from the holy city of Najaf, said spokesman Mithal al-Alusi.

"The doctor (Chalabi) is in good health. He is safe but two of his bodyguards were injured, " al-Alusi said.

Chalabi, a one-time Pentagon favorite who fell out of favor with the United States, returned to Iraq from Iran earlier this month to face counterfeiting charges.

A warrant issued by an Iraqi court accused him of counterfeiting old Iraqi dinars, which were removed from circulation after the ouster of Saddam Hussein last year. Chalabi denies the allegations, saying he collected the fake currency in his role as chairman of the Governing Council's finance committee.

Despite the warrant, the Iraqi Interior Ministry has said it won't arrest Chalabi until unspecified legal issues are cleared up, leaving him free to move around the country.

Chalabi's nephew, Salem Chalabi — who heads the special tribunal in charge of trying ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein — faces separate murder charges.

[SpongeBob 0]

12  Nepalese HOSTAGES KILLED

Quote[/b] ]Mosque set on fire as thousands rampage in Nepal after hostages killed  

(AFP)

1 September 2004

KATHMANDU - Around 4,000 people set Kathmandu’s biggest mosque ablaze and smashed up private job recruitment agencies on Wednesday in response to the killing of 12 Nepalese jobseekers in Iraq, witnesses said.

Protestors also pulled furniture and electrical equipment out of the Jama Masjid mosque and torched them on the sidewalk, they said.

Riot police used batons to push the angry protestors back from the mosque, eventually sealing off the area, which is near the Narayanhity Royal Palace, police said.

Earlier hundreds youths rampaged through the streets of the capital, smashing up more than a dozen private employment agencies that they blamed for sending the 12 Nepalese jobseekers to Iraq.

The mob shattered windows and set fire to vehicles, furniture, motorcycles and electrical equipment belonging to the agencies, police said.

“There are some people who turned violent and started attacking employment offices in Kathmandu,†Home Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka said.

“We are trying to avert any serious violence in the capital and outside,†he added.

AFP correspondents in the towns of Pokhara, Gorkha and Biratnagar said spontaneous strikes had been called to protest the killings, with youths taking to the streets to keep vehicles off the roads.

Demonstrations erupted in the capital Kathmandu late Tuesday after news that militants, who had abducted them about 10 days ago, accusing them of cooperating with US forces, had executed the 12, who had left the impoverished kingdom in search of jobs.

At least they torched the private job recruitment agency as well.

[kerosene 0]

I was gonna say on the plus side they trashed a Saudi Arabian airlines office too.

[quicksand 0]

Samarra Becomes Latest No-Go Zone in Iraq

Quote[/b] ]BAGHDAD, Iraq - Over the past few months, insurgents in Samarra have deposed the U.S.-picked leaders and put to death people suspected of collaborating with them, making the northern Iraqi city the latest no-go zone for Iraqi and American troops.

With preparations beginning for Iraq (news - web sites )'s nationwide general election, scheduled for January, the attacks in Samarra and other cities where officials cannot safely travel could present a major barrier to carrying out a credible poll.

"It's true that we can't go into Samarra very often," said U.S. Army Capt. Scott Synowiez, an intelligence officer at a 1st Infantry Division base on the outskirts of the city. "Whenever we go into Samarra we do get attacked, without a doubt."

But evidence suggests that the United States is taking a different approach from the devastating and politically damaging military assaults in Fallujah and Najaf, which had mixed results and may have attracted more Iraqis to the insurgents' cause.

The casualty-averse U.S. military ? approaching 1,000 war dead ? has little desire to expand the conflict.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and a group of 11 tribal sheiks and other prominent citizens began discussing the standoff. The following day, the Muslim Clerics Association organized a lecture in the city's great mosque that called upon insurgents to stop fighting inside the city.

Though they have battled in Samarra before, for now, U.S. troops are staying out of the city as negotiations continue.

"We've told them 'We're not going in until you guys have control of the situation,'" 1st Infantry spokesman Maj. Neal O'Brien said. "There's a lot of behind-the-scenes maneuvering to resolve this thing peacefully."

Allawi said Tuesday that he has begun negotiating with leaders in Samarra, as well as Fallujah and Ramadi, and was optimistic about reaching a deal with moderate groups, while saying hardcore fighters will have to be met with force.

If the Allawi government can't negotiate an end to the standoffs, U.S. Army officers say they recognize they may have to fight again.

"We will most likely have to go in force to help clean out the dug-in insurgents in time for the national elections," said Synowiez, 30, of Pinehurst, N.C.

Samarra, an ancient city of 250,000 known for its 9th century spiral minaret, is controlled by about 500 fighters from three well-known Sunni Muslim rebel groups, according to city residents and the U.S. military.

The insurgents have destroyed police stations and government buildings. The police chief and mayor still live in Samarra, but have lost all authority. The city council president resigned last week after insurgents blew up the council building.

The guerrillas have also kidnapped and executed residents suspected of collaborating with the Americans. With the U.S. military on the city's outskirts, Samarra's insurgents slip out of the city to mount their attacks.

Video CDs purchased in Samarra show three local men confessing as American spies. The videos end with statements saying collaborators must be killed. The fate of the men is unknown.

One man, in a T-shirt and jeans, was filmed giving a rambling monologue describing how Iraqi collaborators have recorded rebel leaders' conversations or took their pictures using concealed devices given them by the Americans. He mentions that some of the U.S. spies are double agents who pass information to the insurgency.

Similar CDs have been released in Fallujah, some of which culminate in savage beheadings of the kidnapped collaborators.

Still, locals in Samarra say support for the fiery insurgency is dwindling, especially after Aug. 14, when U.S. armored units fought insurgents on the city's edges for seven hours as warplanes bombed rebel positions.

Around 50 Iraqi fighters and civilians were killed and 13 homes destroyed in 22 separate battles, mainly with small pockets of insurgents, the Army and local residents said.

"They came to the bargaining table 24 hours later," O'Brien said of Samarra's tribal leaders.

Synowiez, the intelligence officer, keeps tabs on the rebels from Forward Operating Base MacKenzie, on the city's edge. He characterized the fighters as nationalist Iraqis once affiliated with Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s Baath Party.

"These guys are well-trained and they're motivated," Synowiez said. "They'll stand up and fight."

The rebels are members of three large insurgent outfits: Jordanian terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad, another umbrella group called Mohammed's Army, as well as Ansar al-Sunna, the insurgent coalition that has taken responsibility for numerous suicide bombings and other attacks, including Tuesday's execution of 12 Nepalese hostages.

In Fallujah and Najaf, U.S. attempts to quell rebel uprisings led to huge battles that killed thousands and were eventually quelled by cease-fire agreements.

In Najaf last week, U.S. forces routed a radical Shiite Muslim militia and the Iraqi government won control of the city after a deal was brokered by Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani.

A U.S. pullout of Fallujah in May left insurgents and allied Iraqi troops in command of the city. There, as well as in nearby Ramadi, resistance fighters deposed U.S.-backed leaders, executing some and forcing others to quit or join the insurgency.

I think this time is will end well,as US forces don't want to be bogged down into another large scale battle that has the posibility of escalating to a Fallujah humiliation when the 1000 mark looms and the Iraqis want to give the forth comming ellections a chance,being their ownly chance to get US out of their country without anymore gruesome bloodshed from which they suffered so much.

[billybob2002 0]

I wonder if this is going to be used in Iraq....

http://www.military.com/soldier....tech.nl

Quote[/b] ]

XM1028: The "Room Broom"

The genesis of the XM1028 120mm Canister Tank Cartridge also comes from recent developments in Korea -- - with the removal of 105mm equipped M-60 and M-1 tanks, USFK has an urgent need to field a 120mm-based antipersonnel projectile to replace the 105mm M494E3 APERS round these tanks fired. In 1999, ARDEC responded with the introduction and testing of the 120mm XM1028 canister round, which fulfills the requirement for a dedicated antipersonnel round used against close-in (up to 500 meters) massed infantry armed with automatic weapons and hand-held anti tank munitions or devices.

Lacking an explosive component, the XM1028 is, in effect, a 120mm shotgun shell. But it's no ordinary shotgun shell, for sure: a typical OO buckshot round 2 ľ" long contains 9 pellets. But the XM1028 cartridge contains 1,100 tungsten steel balls that are expelled and immediately begin dispersing once they exit the cannon muzzle. Since the balls lack guidance, the pattern of dispersion increases with range, but the dense tungsten helps maintain kinetic energy.

 

Cross-sectional view of the XM1028, with its tungsten ball payload (over 1000 of them).

This XM1028 cartridge is thus a milestone: as the Army's first antipersonnel projectile for the Abrams tank, it can be used in lethal and non-lethal situations, allows Abrams tanks to survive rocket-powered grenade (RPG) ambushes, and enables them to support friendly infantry assaults.

Given this lethality (against infantry and other non-armored and soft targets), the XM1028 is an excellent round for use in Low Intensity Conflicts (where the threat of enemy armored forces such as tanks is slight) and in urban or built-up areas, (where ranges are typically less than 200 meters). In these conditions, the XM1028 can be used against anti-armor ambushes (RPG teams) where immediate return fire is critical or in situations where a conventional breaching round, such as the M908 or the M830A1, would result in over-penetration, or unacceptable levels of collateral damage. In addition, since the XM1028 is not designed for use against heavily armored targets, it makes it the ideal round for clearing friendly vehicles overrun by enemy infantry (provided the crew of the overrun vehicle has "buttoned up").

So in the apples and oranges world of ground assault operations -- - whether the task at hand is to inflict heavy damage on enemy structures, or stem the tide of an enemy infantry advance -- - the M908 and the XM1028 are both representative of the new breed of specialized projectiles, putting a new spin on the good old standbys. The nearly 10,000 Abrams tanks in service around the world must be smiling.

   

[Gollum1 0]

Quote[/b] ]it makes it the ideal round for clearing friendly vehicles overrun by enemy infantry (provided the crew of the overrun vehicle has "buttoned up").

That's...hardcore.

[Balschoiw 0]

Just throw a Uzi into a window...will have the same effect as it goes off and circles around until ammo is depleted.

[DarkLight 0]

Just throw a Uzi into a window...will have the same effect as it goes off and circles around until ammo is depleted.

What? Is that really true?

I never really believed it...

[Balschoiw 0]

Yes it works. I´ve tried it on my own in Hammelburg with blue ammo.

[quicksand 0]

Iraq today

Three Iraqi Police Killed in Raids on Insurgents

Quote[/b] ]AGHDAD (Reuters) - Three Iraqi policemen were killed on Saturday during major operations against insurgents south of Baghdad, an interior ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said the three died when their police car blew up in raids against insurgents in the Latifiya area, a hotbed of guerrilla activity just south of the capital.

"We know that a police vehicle was attacked and blown up but we do not have the details now. Three were dead and several wounded but we don't have the exact amount," said the spokesman.

News of those deaths came hours after a suicide car bomber struck just outside the police academy in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least 17 people and wounding 36.

Iraqi police and security forces, who have been struggling to impose security since the U.S. occupation authority transferred sovereignty to an interim government in June, have lost hundreds of comrades to guerrilla bombings and shootings.

Twelve Iraqi police killed in raid south of Baghdad: al-Arabiya

Quote[/b] ] BAGHDAD, Sept. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Twelve Iraqi policemen were killedand five national guardsmen wounded Saturday in a joint US-Iraqioffensive on Latifiya, a stronghold of insurgency south of Baghdad,Dubai-based al-Arabiya satellite channel reported.

The US-led Iraqi forces have arrested 200 suspects in Latifiya,some 40 km south of Baghdad, the channel said.

The flashpoint towns of Latifiya and Mahmudiya, 25 km south ofBaghdad, are located on a main road that links Baghdad with theneighboring southern city of Hilla.

Police have shut down the road from Mahmudiya to Latifiya, whichhave long been under the control of insurgents who regularly attackpolice stations and ambush cars on the road.

14 Iraqi policeman killed in car bombing

Quote[/b] ]

KIRKUK, Iraq, Sept 4 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a police academy in the city of Kirkuk on Saturday, killing at least 17 people and wounding 20, police said, in the latest attack on Iraqi security forces.

Police said the head of the bomber, with a long beard, was found among the debris scattered by the blast around 150 metres (yards) from the police building. Four civilian vehicles and one police car were destroyed.

Kirkuk police chief Turhan Mustafa said the blast killed at least 14 policemen and three civilians.

Guerrillas opposed to Iraq's U.S.-backed government and the presence of foreign troops have repeatedly attacked Iraqi police stations with suicide bombs, killing hundreds.

Around 3,000 people killed, 11,600 injured in Iraq over the last four months

Quote[/b] ]BAGHDAD, Sept 3 (KUNA) The Iraqi health ministry announced on Friday that 2,956 people were killed and 11,669 others were injured due to clashes and terror attacks in several Iraqi cities over the last four months.

A well-placed source at the ministry told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) the victims fell during the period from April 5 to August 31 this year.

There are 157 women and 125 children among the killed, while 508 women and 310 children were injured during this period.

A total of 829 people including 57 women and 42 children were killed in the capital city, Baghdad alone, while the injured totaled4,652 including 241 women and 151 children.

In the Moslem holy city of Najaf, 528 people were killed including nine women and three children, while 2,039 others were injured including 37 women and 27 children.

The case was worse in the Anbar governorate, to which the cities of Falluja and Ramadi belong; there were 620 persons killed including 33 women and 53 children and 1,441 injured including 88 women and 67 children

Of course no articles can give a truthfull picture of what it's really like Iraq today.No words can explain the masacre of Iraqi police that have recived front seats in fighting experinced rebels ,the masacre of Iraqis in Fallujah that are constantly being carpet bombed by US aicraft,no words can enter the minds of egg headed republicans so that they understand Iraqi lives are as valuable as any other human being and they do not deserve this carnage brought to them by George Bush.

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]the masacre of Iraqis in Fallujah that are constantly being carpet bombed by US aicraft

Nice useage of carpet bomb. The destroying of certain buildings with a single "smart" bomb or two is the same as what happened during World War 2 or Vietnam... Do not give me that BS saying you are nitpicking because you know what the word is and used for. You are trying to make the situation worse than what it seems.

[Balschoiw 0]

Yeah billybob...you can certainly give exact numbers of carpet ammo, including bomblets and ground launched bomblet ammo for the war in Iraq , right ?

Hint:

Quote[/b] ]The US military's chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard

Myers, said on April 25 that of almost 1,500 cluster bombs that were dropped

from the air, only 26 came within 1,500 feet of a civilian area. He added

that "there's only been one recorded case of collateral damage from cluster

munitions noted so far".

Last night a Pentagon spokesman said that Gen Myers had been referring only

to the reports of fatalities that he knew of and that the media often knew

of "collateral damage" reports ahead of the military.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch

group, said that to claim cluster bombs did "virtually no harm to Iraqi

civilians is highly disingenuous".

Missing from Gen Myers's statement was any reference to ground-launched or

artillery cluster bombs, which were more numerous and killed more civilians,

say IBC and Humans Rights Watch.

Culling data from international media reports, IBC has compiled a list of

372 possible Iraqi civilian deaths from cluster munitions, and says that of

these, 147 were caused by unexploded or "dud" bombs.

In a statement, IBC researchers John Sloboda and Hamit Dardagan said:

"Public concern about the possible misuse of these savagely indiscriminate

weapons is rapidly mounting.

"Our research reveals the shocking disparity between what the world's press

has already reported and what the Pentagon is prepared to admit. Those who

are genuinely concerned with civilian casualties, and interested in

minimising them, can no longer plead ignorance."

The Ministry of Defence has said that the British army fired more than 2,000

cluster munitions from artillery pieces in the battle for Basra, which

Landmine Action criticised as an "appalling" amount used in a heavily

populated area.

The British army has new kinds of shells and MoD said that the failure rate

was between 2-5% and that it was important not to confuse cluster bombs with

landmines, which the British army does not use. The MoD said some of the

cluster weapons had been designed to become non-explosive after a limited

time, so they would not in effect be mines.

In a statement yesterday on cluster bombs, the MoD said: "Cluster bombs are

a legitimate weapon which fulfil a legitimate military role that cannot be

performed by other munitions. They are not indiscriminate weapons.

"The UK has used cluster bombs in a responsible way that is fully consistent

with ... international law. The UK has played a leading role in discussions

to find a way to minimise the risk to civilians from unexploded ordinance

including unexploded cluster bomblets."

The MoD added that it was committed to clearing areas hit by cluster bombs

and was seeking a multilateral international accord to stop using them,

although it said it would not endanger British troops by withdrawing them in

any combat theatre where the enemy might use them.

In the Commons on Wednesday, Clare Short, the international development

secretary, agreed that there were reports of serious accidents from

unexploded bombs. She said that mapping is taking place and that the UN

would be involved.

Responding to a written question about the bombs, Ms Short said: "There are

reports of lots of serious accidents, and of lots of children losing limbs

and being injured by explosions from unexploded ordnance.

"The UN is trying to map the locations of such ordnance in the country and

to give priority to beginning the removal process, starting with the most

dangerous areas. The return of the UN should speed up that work. However,

the situation is very urgent, and we must do better."

Amnesty International has called for an independent inquiry into the US and

British coalition's use of cluster munitions, and a spokesperson at its

London office said the "UK should declare an immediate moratorium on their

use".

The Amnesty spokesperson said: "It is difficult to assess exactly how many

civilians have been killed by cluster munitions, both during and after the

conflict in Iraq.

"Sadly the number is likely to rise every week as more are killed by

unexploded 'bomblets'. What is clear is that these indiscriminate weapons

leave a deadly legacy of de facto landmines that will kill and maim innocent

civilians for years to come."

Amnesty said its workers in Basra had reported seeing munitions lying on the

ground. One worker said: "Visible landmines that had not been removed were

seen immediately next to the houses of university staff which were still

inhabited. Children were seen playing around them."

Iraq: cluster bomb body count

IMO cluster bombs are nothing else than carpet bombs...

[quicksand 0]

Quote[/b] ]Nice useage of carpet bomb. The destroying of certain buildings with a single "smart" bomb or two is the same as what happened during World War 2 or Vietnam... [] Do not give me that BS saying you are nitpicking because you know what the word is and used for. You are trying to make the situation worse than what it seems.

Give me a break billy,this is the Iraq thread,I think it's safe to say that everyone who reads and posts here ha some know abouts about what's happening in Fallujah.Fact is the city is being subjected to air strikes on an almost daily basis and as in almost every other place in Iraq that has been at the reciving end of the US air force special deliveries,hospital sources end up severly contradicting claims of Zarqawi safe houses and show a picture of entire famillies slaughtered,women and children.

I also urge you to bare in mind english is not my native language,carpet bomb was arguebly not the best choice to describe a nevertheless tragic situation in Fallujah for your standards,but from that to trying to paint "a worst situation then what it is",please

[quicksand 0]

Saddam top aide's capture denied

Quote[/b] ]Reports that Saddam Hussein's top aide Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri is in custody in Iraq have proved unfounded.

Initial announcements by the Iraqi authorities suggested he had been arrested on Saturday while receiving treatment at a clinic near Tikrit.

But the US military have made it clear he is not in their custody, and the Iraqi national guard later denied involvement in any operation.

There have been several previous false reports about his arrest.

Mr Douri - known as Saddam Hussein's enforcer - has been described as the most senior figure in the former regime still at large, and the most wanted.

Mr Douri was Saddam Hussein's number two in the Revolutionary Command Council, and is sixth on the list of 55 most wanted members of the regime. The top five have all been captured or killed.

He is accused of financing insurgent groups, and has a $10m price tag on his head.

I swear Saddam's information minsiter during the war dubbed "Comical Ali" would be gelous of the Interim government.First there was the claim of "Iraqi police entering Imam Ali shrine and capturing 400 Mahdi militia" and now:

Quote[/b] ] "We are sure he is Izzat Ibrahim," information official Ibrahim Janabi said. "He was arrested in a clinic in Makhoul near Tikrit and Adwar (his hometown in northern Iraq) and 60 percent of the DNA test has finished."

"A group of 150 armed men fought against US and Iraqi troops before his capture,70 were killed and 80 captured"

Of course they diserve some benefit of doubt,I am sure there are tons of people in Iraq that look similar to him

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]I also urge you to bare in mind english is not my native language,carpet bomb was arguebly not the best choice to describe a nevertheless tragic situation in Fallujah for your standards,but from that to trying to paint "a worst situation then what it is",please

I did not say the situation is peachy. But, when somebody throws in "carpet bombing", the images of previous conflicts come to mind.

[Balschoiw 0]

This is another time and another war. The only one who sees "pictures" is obviously you. Right nowthere is a huge bodycount in Iraq and a lot of injured people. Modern warfare doesn´t mean that people die with a grin on their face.

[billybob2002 0]

Quote[/b] ]This is another time and another war. The only one who sees "pictures" is obviously you. Right nowthere is a huge bodycount in Iraq and a lot of injured people. Modern warfare doesn´t mean that people die with a grin on their face.

oK...  I posted basically carpet bombing means to me and probably a lot people.... Whole cities destroyed; 100,000 killed in a single night; civilians are the target; and other things of that nature. I would not say Fallujah is being carpet bomb constantly. He just used the wrong word..

[Bernadotte 0]

Of course they diserve some benefit of doubt,I am sure there are tons of people in Iraq that look similar to him

LOL

Why capture any high-value targets now when election day is still 2 months away.  

[billybob2002 0]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tm....ns_dc_1

Quote[/b] ]Iraq's Sadr Group Says Sunni Extremists a Threat

Sun Sep 5, 5:54 AM ET  Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Mussab Al-Khairalla

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prominent members of rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement have become the latest targets in a shadowy insurgency gripping Iraq (news - web sites), raising fears of more unrest in a country plagued by violence.

Sadr's followers say they believe the attacks are part of a wider campaign to target Iraq's Shi'ite majority, destined for power in a democratic Iraq having been sidelined for decades by Sunni Arab rulers.

Last Tuesday, members of Sadr's movement heading to Najaf were attacked by gunmen on a road notorious for drive-by shootings and kidnappings near Latifiya, south of Baghdad.

The attack, which killed three, including a political leader in the group, Basheer al-Jazairi, came a day after another member of the group, Ali al-Mohammadawi, was shot dead outside his home in southern Baghdad.

The U.S military in Iraq has long accused Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of attempting to spark civil war by targeting Iraq's Shi'ite population.

Sadr has seen his popularity rise throughout Iraq after challenging the Iraqi government and U.S.-led forces. After a bloody standoff in Najaf in August he has agreed to stop fighting U.S. forces and join the political process.

On Wednesday, thousands of mourners attended Jazairi's funeral procession in Baghdad before converging on the world's largest cemetery in Najaf to bury him.

Sami al-Masoudi, a Baghdad mosque preacher from the Sadr movement, says armed men tried to kidnap him a week ago. He said they spoke in a dialect associated with foreign Sunni radicals.

The attackers shot him in the thigh but fled after coming under fire from men in the area. The cleric still lies in a hospital bed in central Baghdad having had eight operations to reconstruct his shattered leg.

SHI'ITES TARGETED

A spokesman for Sadr's office, Mahmoud al-Sudani, said he doubted the Sadr movement was being singled out for assassinations.

"I don't think we're being specifically targeted. I think there is a plot to kill Shi'ite leaders in Iraq, political or religious," he said.

Sudani points the blame at radical Sunni extremists who he says may be trying to create civil war.

"They behead innocents and give their groups Islamic names when they don't even know the principles of Islam," he said.

Iraq is scheduled to hold elections on Jan. 2 to choose a transitional government for 2005 that will write the permanent constitution and oversee full elections scheduled for late 2005.

A fiery young cleric whose opposition to U.S. forces has won support among many disillusioned Shi'ites, Sadr has agreed -- for now -- to stop fighting and seek a political way to end the presence of foreign troops in Iraq by trying to make his support count at the ballot box.

Many Iraqi politicians and parties have said that the Iraqi political arena would be incomplete if Sadr's movement were excluded from the democratic process.

Sadr's militia launched two uprisings against U.S.-led forces in Iraq this year. The latest rebellion, in August, ended when Iraq's most revered Shi'ite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, returned to the holy city of Najaf from his London hospital bed to broker a peace deal.

Al-Sadr picks a fight with the coalition/iraqi forces who in fact trying to stabilize Iraq. He adds to the problem. Now, his group is getting attacked other insurgents. Just another day in Iraq...

[quicksand 0]

Quote[/b] ]Al-Sadr picks a fight with the coalition/iraqi forces who in fact trying to stabilize Iraq.

Well they are sure doing a shity job at it.

You don`t stabalize a country by gunpoint,disregarding arab culture,engaging into bloody sieges that kill thousands of Iraqis.Because you see that only adds to the already popular hate against the occupier leading to more support for the resistance.

There are ways to stabalize Iraq,puting in charge a CIA operative that hasn`t stepped foot in the country for the last decades and has viertually no support among Iraqis was again not one of them.

TBA is obviously not concerned about stabilizing the country as it is of having their own way and as always Iraqi either eat what they are given,march the streats in futile protests or raise up and fight the occupation.

Quote[/b] ]Just another day in Iraq...

If that would be it,I would have had a smile on my face for improving conditions.You forgot to mention dozens of Iraqi civillians and policeman killed,pipelines blown up,fierce gun battles throughout the country.

[theavonlady 2]

Of course they diserve some benefit of doubt,I am sure there are tons of people in Iraq that look similar to him

Quote[/b] ]Iraq Govt Says Has Not Captured Top Saddam Aid

13 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The most wanted Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) aide still on the run in Iraq (news - web sites), Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, has not been captured, Iraq's interior ministry said, adding that medical checks on a man in custody showed he was not Ibrahim.

"The person that has been arrested, after appropriate medical tests, was not al-Douri but somebody related to him, who is also wanted by the state," a statement by the ministry said.

[quicksand 0]

Quote[/b] ] "We are sure he is Izzat Ibrahim," information official Ibrahim Janabi said. "He was arrested in a clinic in Makhoul near Tikrit and Adwar (his hometown in northern Iraq) and 60 percent of the DNA test has finished."

"A group of 150 armed men fought against US and Iraqi troops before his capture,70 were killed and 80 captured"

Quote[/b] ]"The person that has been arrested, after appropriate medical tests, was not al-Douri but somebody related to him, who is also wanted by the state," a statement by the ministry said.

We haven`t captured Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri..the DNA test failed in the last 40% before completion..we captured someone related,also wanted..in his 70s..almost bold...with a red moustache..who is also reciving treatment in leukemia..in an operation so stealthy that no resident from Tikrit has even noticed our presence,not even the doctor at the clinic...killing 70 suporters and capturing 80 others

[Balschoiw 0]

For anyone who is still interested:

Pipelines Attacked In Northern Iraq

Quote[/b] ]KIRKUK, Iraq, Sept 6 (AFP) - Saboteurs set ablaze a vital oil pipeline between the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and Turkey Monday, just a day after the fire that had halted all northern crude exports had been extinguished, an oil official told AFP.

"We had extingushed the fire Sunday at noon but unknown attackers reignited it Monday at 9:30 am (0530 GMT) by setting fire to the oil that had leaked on both sides of the pipeline," Ahmed Ali, from the Northern Oil Co., told AFP.

"It will take us another 24 hours to put it out again," he said.

Two days after the initial sabotage on Thursday, NOC security chief Ahmed Hassan Ghafif had said pumping to Turkey was halted until further notice and that the repairs would last a week, further crippling an ailing national economy which heavily relies on oil exports.

A pipeline supplying gas to a major electrical plant south of Kirkuk was also attacked Monday, a local police official told AFP.

"This morning at 11:25 (0725 GMT), unknown attackers set fire to a gas pipeline in the Taza region" some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Kirkuk, police Colonel Ali Mustashar al-Obeidi said.

NOC official Sabah Shaku told AFP that the attack "had had serious consequences for the Bayji electrical plant which produces 400 megawatts per day and supplies the whole of northern Iraq."

US marines ambushed near Falluja, 7 dead

Quote[/b] ]

Several US marines and Iraqi troops have been killed and many others wounded in an assault near Falluja, while two Iraqis have died in attacks in Baghdad.

Seven marines were killed and eight wounded when their convoy was attacked the al-Saqlawiya area on Monday, a journalist based in Falluja told Aljazeera.

Three Iraqi national guardsmen also died during the assault.

"Two explosive devices detonated as a multi-vehicle convoy passed through the area," journalist Abu Bakr al-Dulaimi said, adding that two Humvees were destroyed in the blasts.

"More than 100 soldiers have taken up rooftop positions in nearby buildings," said al-Dulaimi. As helicopters flew overhead, US soldiers sealed off the site in al-Saqlawiya, which is about 15km from Falluja.

The mainly Sunni Muslim city of Falluja, about 65km west of Baghdad, has seen scores of dead and wounded in recent weeks, including many civilians, after repeated US air strikes and ground attacks.

The US military has said it is targeting hideouts of foreign fighters. Falluja residents have told Aljazeera there are no such fighters in the city.

Baghdad attacks

Meanwhile, an Iraqi child was killed and eight others were injured, four seriously, when a US missile landed in the Abu Ghraib district west of Baghdad while the children were playing ball, informed sources told Aljazeera

Although Iraqi police sources say the missile was American, US forces have not commented on the incident.

Earlier, a mortar bomb exploded in the al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad on Monday, leaving one person dead and seven others injured, medical sources told Aljazeera.

At the same time, a series of explosions rocked central Baghdad. Columns of white smoke rose near the Green Zone, the heavily-fortified area housing the US embassy and Iraq's interim government.

The latest deaths in the capital follow those of two US soldiers killed in a mortar attack near Baghdad, the American military said in a statement. The attack left 16 others wounded.

and another reason why the US of A were so eager to invade Iraq:

Missile defence to tie US to Iraq, Afghanistan

Quote[/b] ]WASHINGTON, Sept 5: A key component of national missile defence, whose development is receiving priority this year, is likely to strategically tie the United States to Iraq, Afghanistan and some of the authoritarian former Soviet republics , requiring permanent US military bases there, according to officials and scientists involved in the project.

The attractiveness of boost phase interceptors lies in their ability to shoot down ascending missiles, whose massive heat signature makes them easier targets, before they release their multiple warheads.

Some serious money is beginning to pour in. The development budget is projected to more than quadruple this October - from the current 118 million dollars to 511 million, according to congressional officials.

The growth rate will be almost as impressive in subsequent years: from 1.1 billion dollars in 2006 to 2.2 billion in 2009. Flight testing, say defence officials, is slated for fiscal 2010. But the rocket-like ascent of the programme is prompting some on Capitol Hill to wonder whether efforts to counter the missile threat from Iran will push the United States into questionable strategic alliances - and will add new rationale to the already controversial US military presence in the region.

"It's just that they are throwing huge amounts of money trying to get the technology up and running without thinking clearly about the system they are going to construct," complained Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat of the US Senate Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee.

"It raises issues of basing it in places like Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or the Caspian Sea," the Rhode Island senator said. "And that introduces geopolitical considerations."

While key variables remain unknown, experts agree that if Iran, as expected, produces an intercontinental ballistic missile sometime within the next decade, the United States will not be able to counter it just from ships patrolling the Gulf.

"Discussions are underway with international partners on ways in which they may be able to cooperate," replied a defence official when asked whether the governments of Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan had already been approached.

The official said the Pentagon was focusing on "a mobile, surface-based, multi-use interceptor," whose design will be "based on mature and proven technologies." But in missile defence speed is of the essence, and the choice of slower interceptors, scientists say, will have to be compensated by location. -AFP

The puzzle gets another piece.

[bn880 5]

Quite interesting Bals, and thank you Bush for starting another arms race. It is quite important to be able to exterminate everyone but Americans on this planet, so I totalyl agree with this new arms race.