Sunday 20 April 2008 The Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday threatened an open war with Iraq's government. A statement from the populist leader said that war could be avoided only if the government chooses what he called the path of peace. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has launched a crackdown on Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and threatened to bar his mass movement from political life. Sadr's movement accuses other Shi'ite parties of infiltrating their militias into Iraqi security forces.
Friday Apr 18, 2008 It's time for Canada to set an example to the world - again
Canada avoided the Iraq War, but that doesn't mean we should avoid doing our part to help that conflict's 2 million refugees. ...Settling refugees costs money. Joe Clark's post-Vietnam innovation was to share the financial burden with Canadian citizens, who fundraised with aplomb. A bold matching scheme hatched in 1979 saw Clark's government sponsor one refugee for every refugee sponsored by the private sector.
General David Petraeus, commander of the American army in Iraq, is not just the current holder of one of the world’s most difficult jobs. As the deferred prophet of the “surge,” he is the man hailed by the restless and vocal junior officers who first asked if then-Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s high-tech model for a quick invasion and withdrawal could actually work, and who complained bitterly of lacking the equipment and reinforcements needed to keep their soldiers safe and do the job they were sent to do. Petraeus thus charts a delicate course, between a government that is desperate to save face until it leaves office, a military that is cracking under the strain, and an electorate that recognizes him as the public face of the American occupation. Whether or not he intends it or enjoys it, he is also the hope of the Republican Party, though only a few dare to explicitly speculate about a future run for public office. Most understand that Petraeus’s implicit promise, as the man most closely identified with the occupation, makes him the determinant of whether presidential hopeful John McCain can go into the general election looking like a confident veteran ready to lead the US to a geo-strategic rebound, or looking like a fool for having trusted US President George W. Bush in the first place.
Petraeus appeared yesterday before the Senate Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees—which include Senators McCain, Clinton and Obama—to defend the “surge” as a successful approach that has reduced violence and forestalled civil war. The Star sees the appearance as a damp squib, one that says little about the long-term viability of the occupation but much about how senators want to be seen in relation to it. The Post frames his testimony as a screen, on which the various candidates project their campaign stances but which has little to communicate on its own. The Citizen, running an analysis from the Times of London, views the appearance similarly, as a part of the election campaign that has nothing to do with the tough decisions that will be forced on the incoming president. John Ibbitson (subscription required) of the Globe already knows what his or her options will be: A “continuing gradual troop withdrawal based on success, or a continuing gradual withdrawal based on failure.” America finds itself in a strangely eventful kind of limbo right now, with open fighting between Shiite factions, the “Sunni Awakening” falling apart, Iran mucking about and the Baghdad government beset with deadlock and impotence. That there are no real decisions to be made among this disorder, at least not until a new president is inaugurated in nine months, is a testament to the Bush administration’s tenacity and to the inability of America to understand that stubbornness as a disaster in itself.
The U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, says he will stop withdrawals of American troops in July for 45 days while he assesses the situation. Gen. Petraeus told the U.S. Senate Armed Forces Committee that his decision comes because of the fragile security situation resulting from a surge in violence. Eleven U.S. soldiers have died in the past two days. The general told the senators that although security is better in some parts of Iraq, the situation remains unsatisfactory. Gen. Petraeus also noted that the operation by the Iraqi military against Shi'ite militia in the southern city of Basra had not been adequately prepared. President George W. Bush had called the campaign against the Mahdi Army of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr a "defining moment" for Iraq. Committee member and Democratic Party presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton responded that the U.S. ought to start leaving Iraq to focus on problems elsewhere. The probable Republican Party candidate, Sen. John McCain, on the other hand, said he saw a real prospect of success and warned that defeat could force U.S. troops to return for a broader war.
Wednesday 02 April 2008 Britain has halted its plan to withdraw 1,500 of its 4,000 troops based in southern Iraq this spring. Defence Secretary Des Browne told the House of Commons that it is prudent to adopt a watchful attitude in the wake of last week's fighting in Basra between the Iraqi military and Shi'ite militiamen of the Mahdi Army. The fighting started in Basra and spread to other southern cities and Shi'ite districts in Baghdad. The Iraqi government report a 50 per cent rise in the number of people killed in March from the previous month, many of the deaths in the fighting between the army and the Shi'ite fighters. In one week, the top U.S. commander in Iraq will appear before Congress to offer his recommendation on how fast American troops can be withdrawn.
AN UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY by Josh Ginsberg March 20, 2008
It is the grimmest of anniversary celebrations: Five years ago
today, US bombs turned the skies over Baghdad black, heralding a long war
that turned out to be far costlier
and deadlier
than its planners anticipated. Despite the long struggle, it is unclear
that the world is a better place for all the violence, and those that have
been covering the war from the start still report that there is no end in
sight. Still, the US
president is sticking to his guns, bombs, and tanks, saying to a
friendly military audience yesterday that stopping the fight now
would only embolden terrorists in Iraq. Of course, as commentators have
pointed out ad nauseam, terrorists in Iraq only got wind in their sails once
US bombs started falling, a point which the Democratic candidates for
president didn’t
fail to pick up on in their renewed calls for a troop pullout. The
Post, historically a supporter of the war, brings in Christopher Hitchens
on the front page (but not online) to make the case for optimism about the
future. He argues that the war was less the result of worries about
non-existent weapons of mass destruction than the necessary culmination of
a decades-long struggle with Iraq. An editorial
in the paper also tells us to look on the bright side, citing the cheery
statistic that “Iraqi civilian deaths are down … from nearly
4,000 a month to under 500.” Those numbers still make the country
one of the most dangerous in the world.
While it has no troops in Iraq, Canada announced that it will accept more
Iraqi refugees, doubling the number from last year to a total of 2,000.
But this is only a tiny fraction of the two million who have been forced to
flee their homes due to fighting, and still cannot return out of fear for
their lives. Refugee advocates are not celebrating the move, noting that
the increase in Iraqi refugees will come at the expense of refugees from
other countries. In a brief, the
Post trumpets the move by Citizenship and Immigration, without giving
voice to critics. An editorial
in La Presse doesn’t mention the immigrants, but takes aim at the war
that caused them to flee, comparing it to the Civil War and Vietnam on the
disaster scale. Critics largely acknowledge that Iraq is better off
without Saddam Hussein, but there is no consensus on whether optimism for
the future of the country is warranted. The Post stands out as making a
Herculean effort to convince us that things are looking up, dedicating
almost a dozen stories to the subject. But they note that, while Saddam is
reviled in most of the country, the former dictator is still idolized
in his hometown. Mediascout wonders if the same will be true for his
rival George W. Bush after his reign also comes to an end.
Estimates of Iraq War Cost Were Not Close to Ballpark
Five years into the conflict, experts estimate the cost of the war to be anywhere from $600 billion to $4 trillion – tens of times more than originally projected.
FP looks back at the war’s most memorable moments.
Five years ago this week, the United States began to bomb Baghdad. Some of the war’s greatest costs are well known. But, on this anniversary, FP looks back at some of the war’s hidden costs — and what it has meant for the men and women caught in the crossfire.
After five years of fighting, what is the state of the U.S. military? What toll has the war taken on them? Foreign Policy and the Center for a New American Security surveyed more than 3,400 retired and active military officers to find out from the men and women who know best.
Iraq is virtually littered with bombs. Today, there are more than a million tons of live munitions lying under foot. When it comes time to clean up the country, these are the men who are called to carry away the most dangerous debris.
Before the invasion, John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt argued that, as cruel and calculating as Saddam Hussein was, he could have been deterred.
Saturday 15 March 2008 Eyeing the wages of war Two economists take an unflinching look at the costs of invading Iraq
SUPPOSE that, five years ago, George Bush had asked every American household to stump up $25,000 to pay for an imminent war on Iraq. How would they have responded? ...How do the authors arrive at the $3 trillion figure of the title, and the still bigger
nyt To mark this week’s fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the Op-Ed page asked nine experts on military and foreign affairs to reflect on their attitudes in the spring of 2003 and to comment on the one aspect of the war that most surprised them or that they wished they had considered in the prewar debate.
To find reference information about the words used in this article, double-click on any word, phrase or name. A new window will open with a dictionary definition or encyclopedia entry.
Sunday 16 March 2008 Iraq Insurgency Runs on Stolen Oil Profits
The sea of oil under Iraq is supposed to rebuild the nation, but fuel shipments often get diverted to the black market.
Wednesday 27 February 2008 The Iraqi government has issued a statement condemning the Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq to suppress ethnic Kurdish insurgents fighting for autonomy in eastern Turkey. The Iraqi cabinet says the incursion is not conducive to good relations between the two neighbours. A Turkish envoy is due in Baghdad on Wednesday to discuss the situation with President Jalal Talabani and Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says the Kurdish PKK Party has challenged his country's peace and security.
Sunday 17 February 2008 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, will send a representative to Baghdad in an effort to help millions of emigrant Iraqis to return home. Mr. Guterres is also planning to increase his staff in the capital from two to five. The U.N. office was moved out of Baghdad to Amman, Jordan, after two major attacks in 2003. The U.N.'s gesture aims to show greater commitment toward solving Iraq's emigration crisis as well as more confidence in the country's growing security. Iraq's government on Saturday said that most of Baghdad has been secured thanks to a surge in U.S. forces in the city.
Tuesday 05 February 2008 The Iranian authorities displayed on television on Monday a new research rocket and the country's first major space centre. The launch order for the rocket was given by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran has long announced its intention to develop a space program to put satellites into space to monitor natural disasters and to improve communications. The same technology can be used to deliver warheads. The country's most powerful existing ballistic missile is thought to have a range of at least 1,300 kilometres, putting much of the Middle East within range, including Israel. The U.S. state department has reacted by calling the rocket launch "just another troubling development."
Saturday Feb 2, 2008 Two Bombings Wreak Carnage in Iraqi Capital
By STEPHEN FARRELL and MUDHAFER AL-HUSAINI
Two women strapped with explosives killed dozens of people in the deadliest day in Baghdad in months.
Friday 01 February 2008 US army suicides set for new high
Suicides among US soldiers are heading for a record high, army data released on Thursday shows.
Friday 01 February 2008 Dozens Killed in Worst Baghdad Attack in Months
By STEPHEN FARRELL and MUDHAFER AL-HUSAINI
BAGHDAD — Two female suicide bombers killed 65 people and wounded 149 at Baghdad pet markets on Friday, the twin blasts inflicting the bloodiest day on the Iraqi capital for six months.
Wednesday 30 January 2008 Iraqi police have found the remains of 19 executed men in the province of Diyala. The discovery was made near the town of Moqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad. The identity of the men is not known. The province of Diyala is one of the most dangerous in Iraq and a stronghold of the Iraqi branch of Al-Qaeda. In another development, at least two people were killed and about 20 wounded on Tuesady in a series of bomb and mortar attacks Baghdad.
Sunday 13 January 2008 Unfinished Debate on Iraq
Iraq will be a central challenge for whoever succeeds President Bush and has to repair the profound damage he has wrought with a war that should never have been fought.
Thursday 27 December 2007 The Iraqi cabinet Wednesday approved a draft law that will offer a general pardon to thousands of prisoners in US military and Iraqi custody. An Iraqi government spokesman said the general pardon law will define who is eligible to be freed from all prisons in Iraq, including those run by the US military. Meanwhile, Turkish warplanes attacked eight suspected Kurdish rebel hideouts in the mountains of northern Iraq. Turkish military officials described the attacks as a pinpoint operation. The Turkish military says it has hit more than 200 Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq in the last ten days, killing hundreds of rebels. In the northern province of Ninevah, a bomb explosion killed three children and wounded two others. Also in Nineveh, the US military said insurgents shot dead two US soldiers. Three other soldiers were wounded. The latest fatalities brought the military's overall losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,898.
2007
nyt video Play Charles Ferguson, a filmmaker, presents a rebuttal to claims made by L. Paul Bremer III that top American officials approved the decision to disband the Iraqi army.
The Sunni Awakening has helped calm one of the most violent provinces of Iraq. But it faces an uncertain future.
nyt video
Friday 14 December 2007 #1. Surging in Iraq
January: U.S. reinforcements begin arriving in Baghdad as part of the "surge" strategy to restore some semblance of security and order to the Iraqi capital, in the hope that this would lay the groundwork for Iraq's politicians to resolve their differences. By mid-June, some 30,000 new U.S. troops are deployed in Iraq, and with violence levels cut in half by November and a number of Iraqis returning to Baghdad, the U.S. begins reducing its troop numbers. Despite the improved security, Iraq's political leaders have made little progress towards national reconciliation.
Tuesday 11 December 2007 Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki has asked the UN Security Council for a 12-month extension from Dec. 31 of the mandate of the U.S.-led military coalition, with the proviso that his government could ask for the mandate to end even before that. The president's letter to the Council says this will be the last extension, noting that the country's own armed forces are steadily improving. The number of insurgent attacks has fallen 55 per cent since the security "surge" due to the reinforcement of 30,000 U.S. troops became fully operational in June. Improvement is due in part as well to U.S.-backed neighbourhood police units organized by Sunni tribal sheiks.
Wednesday 05 December 2007 The Iraqi government has acknowledged that it could not cope with the return of large numbers of refugees who have fled Iraq's violence and war. Migration Minister Abdul-Samad Rahman says neither his ministry nor the government as a whole could handle a huge influx of refugees. However, he seems to disagree with the assessment by the U.S. military that the security situation remains too fragile to allow the return of large numbers of refugees and that such a return could rekindle sectarian hostilities between Sunni and Shi'ite. Some refugees have returned only to find their homes occupied by members of the other sect. Mr. Rahman says the government will give priority to helping refugees who want to return from Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, but that those in North America or Europe should stay there until security improves.
Saturday 27 October 2007 rci An associate of Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtar al-Sadr has warned that he could end the six-month ceasefire by his Mahdi Army militia declared in August at any time if Iraqi and U.S. raids against his followers continue. The U.S. military welcomed the ceasefire but has continued to operate against what it considers breakaway factions of the Mahdi Army supported by Iran. The campaign seems to have escalated in recent weeks. The military says it killed at least 49 Shi'ite extremists in a ground and air attack against the Shi'ite militia stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad. After the declaration of the ceasefire, the numbers of bodies found across Iraq killed in sectarian murders dropped greatly. Dozens were often found daily but on Friday only three were reported in the capital.
Wednesday 24 October 2007 Remember Iraq
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
I continue to believe that everyone has us where they want us in Iraq: we’re holding up the floor for Iraqi politicians to do their endless tribal dance.
Thursday 27 September 2007 Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has told the General Assembly that it's not in the interest of his country's neighbours for Iraq to be weak. Mr. al-Maliki says his government is optimistic that the neighbours realize it isn't in their own interest for Iraq to be the victim of terrorist attacks but that on the contrary a strong, democratic country will be a guarantee of regional stability. The U.S. has blamed Iran for much of the violence that has convulsed Iraq, which the government in Teheran denies. The Iraqi leader also told the General Assembly that he hopes the world body will "mobilize its activities in Iraq." Meanwhile, the violence in Iraq shows no signs of abating. A series of attacks on Wednesday left 57 dead and 120 injured. In Baghdad, two car bombs killed 32 people and injured 30 in a Shi'ite neighbourhood as many residents were preparing the Ramadan evening meal.
Wednesday 26 September 2007 Maliki Gains Time, but Faces a Daunting Task
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Iraq’s unpopular prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, still appears a long way from being able to forge political reconciliation in his country BAGHDAD, Sept. 24 — Now that President Bush has extracted more time from Congress to show results in Iraq, the country’s unpopular prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, appears to have won a reprieve from American talk of pushing him aside.
Wed1332 American commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and America’s ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker are appearing before Congress. Early bulletins indicate that General Petraeus, having stated that the troop “surge” is meeting military objectives and “delivered a report that mixed descriptions of slow, modest progress in pacifying Iraq with a prediction that many tough days lies ahead”. Before the end of the week the administration is due to issue a written report on Iraq’s progress towards a set of 18 military and political “benchmarks” which, if met, would signify that the country is ready to stand on its own feet.
The UN Secretary-General’s trip to meet one-on-one with African leaders to try to find an end to the crisis in Darfur gives some hope, but in our start-of-the-new-year impatience, we remain dismayed by the slow progress
Monday 17 September 2007 US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday he expects the American mission in Iraq to continue for an extended time but with a more limited focus. Mr. Gates said US forces will focus on border security, fighting terrorists and training and equipping Iraqi security forces. He did not discuss exact numbers. In Baghdad Sunday, the political movement loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew from the governing alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. And the violence continued. At least 41 people were killed or found dead on Sunday. In Washington Saturday, thousands of anti-war protesters, including many military veterans, marched from the White House to the US Capitol to voice their opposition to the war. Police said they arrested up to 200 protesters and charged them with crossing a police line.
Friday 14 September 2007 rci The most prominent tribal leader in the war against terrorists in the western province of Anbar has been killed along with two bodyguards in a roadside bombing. Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha was the leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, which was fighting alongside the Iraqi army and the U.S. military against al-Qaeda in Iraq. A senior ally of the tribal sheik says he was driving home to Ramadi when the explosion occurred. No group has claimed responsibility. A police officer in Ramadi says Abu Risha had received a group of poor people at his home earlier in the day and one of them is suspected of having planted the bomb. Also on Thursday, the U.S. military says an attack against its headquarters in Iraq near Baghdad was carried out by a 240 m rocket, a type of weapons supplied by Iran to Shi'ite militias. The military claims the rocket was fired from a district of western Baghdad which is says is infiltrated by the Mahdi Army military.
Wednesday 12 September 2007 The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker, have completed two long-anticipated days of testimony before a congressional committee about the military situation there. The general reiterated his plan to pull out the 30,000 reinforcements which President George W. Bush ordered to the country in January to stop sectarian bloodshed by summer. But Gen. Petraeus was unable to give his listeners precise timelines. Several both Republic and Democratic Party senators expressed scepticism that any progress is being achieved in stabilizing Iraq. Democratic Sen. Barak Obama, a presidential candidate, claimed that the addition of 30,000 reinforcement had resulted only to a return to the levels of intolerable violence seen in June 2006, indicating a failed policy.
Tuesday 11 September 2007 IRAQ
The top U.S. military commander in Iraq has delivered a long-awaited assessment of the situation in Iraq to the U.S. Congress. Gen. David Petraeus told his listeners that he foresees the withdrawal of 30,000 U.S. troops by summer. That's the number of reinforcements sent last winter to smother the insurgency. Gen. Petraeus says the "surge" has mostly achieved its military objectives and the violent incidents have declined in eight of the past 12 weeks. He says that the western province of Anbar has provided an example of the population turning against terrorists. The general also denied that his report has been dictated by the defence department or the White House. The congressional committee also heard from the U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker, who said that U.S. objectives in Iraq are achievable and that Iraqis are capable of living in peace. In Baghdad, meanwhile, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has told legislators that Iraqi forces aren't ready to take over security across the country from the U.S. military. However, the prime minister said that numbers of violent incidents in the capital have fallen by three-quarters since the beginning of the "surge."
ASSESSING THE 'SURGE' by Daniel Casey September 11, 2007
US General David Petraeus may be the most credible commander that
the US has yet had in Iraq. That’s not saying much, when he has to
preface his remarks before the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services
committees by intoning “I wrote this testimony myself. It has not
been cleared by nor shared with anyone in the Pentagon, the White House or
the Congress,” over the shouts of furious protesters; and then heads
off to give an exclusive interview to Fox News once his testimony is done.
The
Globe and the Star both
pick up on the analogy offered by Democratic House Representative Robert
Wexler, who likened Petraeus’s appearance before the committees to
that of General William Westmoreland, who came before Congress in 1967
preaching success for US forces in Vietnam and asking for more troops to
guarantee it. In this instance, however, Petraeus was quick to reassure
the committees that success meant bringing troops home, and that the
thirty thousand extra troops sent to Iraq as part of what The
National referred to as “the so-called
‘surge’” would be able to come back by next year. All of
today’s sources act like this is an option, as if Petraeus is in a
position to—as the
Citizen puts it—“recommend a cut in US forces to
‘pre-surge levels’ by mid-July 2008,” amidst talk in
recent weeks that any more tours of duty or prolonged deployments will
break the US military for a generation.
Online, the Post runs the Citizen’s report, but in print it goes
with a vituperative screed from the UK Daily Telegraph, describing
“bitterly disappointed” Democrats who reacted with
“thinly veiled hostility” to Petraeus’s testimony,
deriding the “air of farce” generated by “forty-five
minutes of partisan speeches.” Both Petraeus and the US Ambassador
to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, were careful to mention that one of the major
reasons for the US to remain is in order to block Iran from exercising
additional influence, a point noted in La Presse (not available online).
The Globe’s John
Ibbitson opines that the measured, steadfast tone projected by both men
helps reinforce Republican assertions that the possibility of success in
Iraq still remains, leaving the Democrats to either back the White
House’s strategy, come up with one of their own, or push for
withdrawal now and risk “looking pacifist, defeatist and
untrustworthy.” That the Democrats won a convincing House majority
by running a firmly anti-war campaign, only to plummet in the polls once
they failed to act on Iraq, doesn’t seem to have registered.
Sunday 09 September 2007 Assessing the ‘Surge’: A Survey of Baghdad Neighborhoods To study the ground-level effects of the American troop buildup, reporters and video journalists for The New York Times visited Baghdad's neighborhoods, interviewing residents, Americans on patrol and Iraqi officials. To explore the videos and written reports, select a neighborhood below. fun map
Bush Shifts Terms for Measuring Progress in Iraq WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 — With the Democratic-led Congress poised to measure progress in Iraq by focusing on the central government’s failure to perform, President Bush is proposing a new gauge, by focusing on new American alliances with the tribes and local groups that Washington once feared would tear the country apart. That shift in emphasis was implicit in Mr. Bush’s decision to bypass Baghdad on his eight-hour trip to Iraq, stopping instead in Anbar Province, once the heart of an anti-American Sunni insurgency. By meeting with tribal leaders who just a year ago were considered the enemy, and who now are fighting Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a president who has unveiled four or five strategies for winning over Iraqis — depending on how one counts — may now be on the cusp of yet another.
It is not clear whether the Democrats who control Congress will be in any mood to accept the changing measures. On Tuesday, there were contentious hearings over a Government Accountability Office report that, like last month’s National Intelligence Estimate, painted a bleak picture of Iraq’s future.
Tuesday 04 September 2007 U.S. President George W. Bush paid a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday after an 11-hour flight from the U.S. Instead of visiting Baghdad, his plane landed in a remote airbase in the western province of Anbar in an apparent gesture of impatience with the political gridlock in the capital. As well, the president has pointed to the largely Sunni province and the centre of the insurrection as a success story in pacification. Mr. Bush met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus. The general and the ambassador will testify before the U.S. Congress next week regarding the effectiveness of the 30,000 reinforcements whom Mr. Bush sent to Iraq last winter. Mr. Bush says that some U.S. troops could leave Iraq if security conditions continue to improve, without specifying how many. After the brief visit to Iraq, Mr. Bush flew to Australia for the APEC summit.
Tuesday 28 August 2007 Police in the southern city of Kerbala report killing three pilgrims and injured 13 after pilgrims started a brawl with officers out of displeasure with strict security arrangements. Tens of thousands of pilgrims have congregated in Kerbala in anticipation of the yearly ceremonies on Tuesday and Wednesday to honour the 12th and last Imam, who they believe never died and will one day return to save mankind. Ten-thousand police officers and 5,000 soldiers have been deployed in the city. Meanwhile in Falluja west of Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed 10 people and wounded 11 when he blew himself up after evening prayers in a mosque.
Sunday 26 August 2007 A limited curfew was ordered in Baghad on Saturday as the city prepared for the arrival of thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims next week to mark the birth of an important ninth-century imam. The curfew applies to motorcycles and bicycles and small carts. On the same day, seven people were killed and 30 others were wounded when a car bomb exploded in a Shiite neighbourhood. The blast happened in a public square where unemployed workers hoped to pick up casual jobs. The northwestern neighbourhood houses a shrine to the venerated imam Kadhim. It is known as a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia, loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Aug. 24 - U.S. forces opened fire from helicopters during an overnight clash with Shi'ite militants in western Baghdad.
Tuesday 21 August 2007 The War as We Saw It VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched.
A provincial governor has been murdered for the second time in two weeks. Mahammed Ali al-Hassani, the governor of southern Muthanna province was driving in a convoy of nine cars from his home in the city of Rumaitha to Samawa, the provincial capital, when it was struck by a roadside bomb. A bodyguard also was killed and two others wounded. The governor of Diwaniya province, also a member of the Shi'ite Supreme Iraqi islamic Council, was blown up two weeks ago. The SIIC and its armed wing, the Badr Organization, have been locked in a political struggle with the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr for control of southern towns and cities.
Wednesday 08 August 2007 Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, have signed an agreement that the Kurdish Workers' Party operating in northern Iraq should be suppressed. The Turkish military has repeatedly threatened to intervene in the mostly Kurdish areas of the area where the PKK finds safe havens. The head of northern Iraq's Kurdish leadership, Massoud Barzani, has rejected Turkish demands to crack down on the PKK. Turkish officials told the Reuters news agency that they realized that Mr. al-Maliki has little power in northern Iraq and that his authority has been weakened both by Iraq's internal security situation and the turmoil within his cabinet. On Monday, five secularist ministers said they would boycott the cabinet because of the government's failure to address demands which they had made in February. The main Sunni bloc left cabinet last week. Seventeen of Mr. al-Maliki's ministers, almost half the cabinet, have either left it or are boycotting it.
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