MORE GI DEATHS IN IRAQ AND CHAOS ALL ACROSS IRAQ AS PETRAEUS WINDS UP HIS UPBEAT REPORT TO CONGRESS

General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker were winding up their status report to the House of Representatives on Wednesday while the following was taking place in Baghdad and across Iraq and in Afghanistan.

Petraeus and Crocker keep telling members of Congress and the American people that things are improving in Iraq and we have to "stay the course," while at the sametime totally ignoring these events that took place on Wednesday in Baghdad, other provinces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We lead off with a list of the latest casualties from Iraq.


MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing (in Baghdad?) on Tuesday, April 8th. No other details or location were given.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a non-combat related injuries on Wednesday, April 9th. No other details or location were given.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Center Soldier in a roadside bombing in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Tuesday, April 8th. No other details were released.

Army private Carl “Superman” Reiher has lost part of his left arm as a result of an assault on his humvee, or armored vehicle. He is the second Marshall Islander to be seriously injured since the war started in Iraq in 2003. The firefight involving Reiher’s Army unit occurred last week (4-2007) in an unspecified region of Iraq. Family members said on Wednesday that Reiher’s humvee came under attack, first by what is believed to be an improvised explosive device. As the men piled out of the burning vehicle, they were hit by rifle fire that killed soldiers on either side of Reiher. Reiher was wounded by at least three bullets, a family member said. He was first evacuated to Germany for emergency medical treatment, and then at the weekend flown to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. for further treatment. He was forced to have his left arm amputated below the elbow as a result of the injuries sustained in the attack, and is receiving skin grafts for burns and other treatment for his multiple wounds. He is in stable condition, the family member said.

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: Witnesses say a rocket or mortar has been fired into the Green Zone in the Iraqi capital. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage. Black smoke could be see rising after a blast from the heavily fortified area. Loudspeakers warned residents to take cover and await further instructions. Helicopters circled overhead.The city's Green Zone, which houses diplomatic missions and much of Iraq's government, also came under renewed attack by rockets or mortars early Wednesday. The U.S. embassy confirmed the shelling, but said there were no immediate reports of casualties.Around 9 a.m. two mortar shells hit the Green Zone.Around 4 p.m. a mortar shell hit the Green Zone.

#2-4: Police said the seven victims in Sadr City _ including three children _ died when projectiles slammed into a house in the sprawling slum, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Twenty-seven other people were wounded, said a hospital official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Eyewitnesses in the area said the attack was carried out by U.S. helicopters, but police said the blasts were caused by mortar rounds. The U.S. military had no immediate comment.#2: One mortar round struck the rooftop of a house where a family was having breakfast, killing three members of a family, including two children.A few minutes later, a mortar shell hit a house in the same district, killing a woman and her two children.

#3: Another mortar struck a nearby tent set up for a condolence service for a person killed earlier in the week,Mortar shells hit a funeral, killing eight and injuring 27, witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

#4: while a third fell on an empty plot.

#5: At least 15 people were killed and 200 wounded on Tuesday, according to hospitals in the slum, home to 2 million people.

#6: Loud explosions were heard in Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and US helicopters were striking the area which has been encircled by US and Iraqi troops for nearly two weeks.

#7: Clashes between Iraqi army and Mahdi Army militia in Sadr city, injuring three civilians.

#8: Around 8 a.m. A mortar shell hit Al Ghadeer neighborhood causing damages with no casualties.

Basra:#1: In Basra, at least eight people were killed in a U.S. military raid on the southern city, al-Sumaria reported. Circumstances of the incident were not known.

Dhuluiya:#1: A mortar shell landed on a house in Dhuluiya, 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad overnight, killing a woman and wounding her four sons, police said.

Kirkuk:#1: Iraqi police found a body hand-cuffed and riddled with bullets east of the northern city of Kirkuk on Tuesday.

Afghanistan:#1: Taliban militants attacked a police patrol in southern Afghanistan and the ensuing firefight left four insurgents and one police officer dead, police said on Wednesday. The attack happened on Tuesday in Marja district of the volatile southern province of Helmand when the police officers were patrolling the area, Mohammad Hussain Andewal, the provincial police chief, said."The fighting that happened yesterday evening left four Taliban militants dead and one police officer was also killed and another two were wounded," Andewal said.