Wednesday, January 23, 2008

WHY DOES MEDIA CONTINUE TO IGNORE WHAT IS HAPPENING IN IRAQ?


The media in the United States continues to ignore what is happening in Iraq. The following is a list of incidents in Iraq from Wednesday, January 23 ONLY and underscores how violent conditions still are in Iraq even though the media claims the "surge" has brought calm to Iraq.


VIOLENCE SPREADS ACROSS IRAQ

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/


Wednesday: 54 Iraqis Killed, 170 Wounded


Explosion kills 17 in northern Iraq
A thunderous blast tore through a vacant apartment building in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 17 civilians and wounding more than 130 in adjacent houses just minutes after the Iraqi army arrived to investigate tips about a weapons cache. Rescue crews searched under toppled walls, collapsed ceilings and piles of debris tossed by the explosion that blew apart the empty building, which Iraqi authorities said was used by insurgents to stash weapons and bombs.


Baghdad:#1: Gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi army checkpoint in central Baghdad Wednesday, killing eight soldiers and wounding two, police said. The drive-by shooting occurred about 11 a.m. in the Bab al-Mudham district, a commercial area on the eastern side of the Tigris River in central Baghdad. Two other soldiers were wounded, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

#2: More than 250 of the (Iraqi) interpreters working with the United States -- or with U.S. contractors -- have been killed.

#3: In the other attack, a roadside bomb exploded next to a girl's high school in Baghdad's western district of Amiriyah, wounding a 7-year-old boy who was passing by. But police said the target was an American patrol, not the school.

#4: Meanwhile, a roadside bomb detonated near a youth center in Zaafaraniya district in southeastern Baghdad without causing casualties, the source said.

#5: Gunmen killed the dean of Baghdad University's dental school while he was driving home from work on Wednesday, Iraqi police said. They said they found the body of Munthar Muhrej Radhi, who headed the country's premier dental school, in the front of his car in western Baghdad. He had been shot multiple times.

#6: Around 9 a.m., a roadside bomb exploded at Mansour neighborhood ( west Baghdad) at district 605. Some commercial shops damaged in that incident with no casualties recorded.

#7: Around 12.30, a roadside bomb exploded at Zafarania neighborhood ( south Baghdad) . No casualties reported.

#8: U.S. forces killed five gunmen and detained 16 others on Tuesday and Wednesday during operations in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

#9: Police found ( 4 ) unidentified dead bodies in the following neighborhoods : ( 3 ) were found in Risafa bank ( east Baghdad ) ; 1 in Shaab , 1 in Husseiniya and 1 in Binouk. While one was found in Sadiyah neighborhood in south Baghdad ( Karkh bank).Diyala Prv:#1: Three miles south of Baqouba, gunmen broke into a house and killed six men in a family for cooperating with the Iraqi army, an army official said. The men had given information on al-Qaida movements to local Awakening Council members, the official said. The attack took place in al-Abara village, an al-Qaida stronghold until Awakening Council members chased out the militants a few months ago.#2: The U.S. military killed 15 gunmen during operations on Tuesday and Wednesday north of Baquba, 65 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.#3: Wednesday afternoon, a roadside bomb targeted AlHay neighborhood ( downtown Baquba) near one of the quarters of the Sahwa council injuring two members of the Sahwa. Madaen:#1: Iraqi security forces killed 15 gunmen and wounded 20 others during the last seven days in Madaen, 45 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, the spokesman for the Baghdad security plan said.Kirkuk:#1: A car bomb killed five people and wounded three about 40 km (25 miles) from the northern city of Kirkuk, police said.Wednesday evening, a car bomb (BMW model) targeted a local market of Tuz Khurmatu (south of Khurmatu ) killing 5 people ( including one woman) and injuring 12 others ( including 2 women). Also 6 cars were damaged in that incident.#2: Wednesday, gunmen kidnapped two Kurds citizens on the way between Tuz Khurmatu and Suleiman Beck (south of Kirkuk ) .Those two kidnapped are from Kafri village ( 150 km south of Sulaimaniyah).Mosul:#1: Gunmen killed Aziz Sulaiman a professor at Mosul University on Tuesday in southeastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Bagdad, police said.#2: One body was found with gunshot wounds in eastern Mosul on Tuesday, police said.#3: Police forces on Wednesday morning defused two roadside bombs in Mosul without casualties, a senior security source said." The Ninewa police defused and remotely detonated two improvised explosive devices; the first in al-Masaref neighborhood in northern Mosul and the second in al-Nabi Yuonis in the eastern section of the city," Brigadier Abdul Kareem al-Juburi, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq#4: Tuesday , a squad of the Iraqi army killed a gunmen in Mosul city and confiscated his car.#5: A bomb attack on a residential building in Iraq's northern city of Mosul on Wednesday killed and wounded up to 50 people, police said. Women and children were among the victims, police said. They did not have an immediate break-up of the dead and wounded. Witnesses said it was one of the biggest explosions they had ever heard in Mosul. Initial reports indicated gunmen had planted explosives in the building and then detonated the cache, police said.An explosion struck an apartment building in Mosul Wednesday shortly after police arrived to investigate a tip about a weapons cache inside, killing at least seven people and wounding 70, a spokesman said. The cause of the blast was unknown, but Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim al-Jubouri said it occurred about 4:30 p.m. after the arrival of Iraqi police forces.Afghanistan:

#1: A suicide bomber targeted a restaurant in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province Wednesday wounding two women besides killing himself, a local official said.

#2: In the latest violence, suspected militants attacked a military camp in the frontier region with rockets and small arms fire Wednesday, killing three soldiers and wounding several others, a military statement and security officials said. The strike against Razmak Fort in South Waziristan came a day after fighting that left seven troops and 37 militants dead.

#3: Islamic militants fired rockets at a military base in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing one soldier and injuring two others. Rebels fired rockets at Razmak Camp in North Waziristan, killing one solider and wounding two, the military said in a statement. The soldiers responded with artillery and mortar fire, but there was no word on any insurgent casualties, it said.

And the mainstream media in the United States continues to ignore all this as if it never happened.

THE "SURGE" CAN'T FIX THIS



MAINSTREAM MEDIA OVERLOOKS LACK OF ELECTRIC POWER AND GASOLINE IN STRIFE TORN IRAQ

The mainstream media in the United States measures everything in Iraq by the yardstick of how well the military "surge" is going.

Unfortunately, the problems which confront Iraq cannot be solved by the United States military.

Citizens of Iraq are suffering through long lines at the gasoline pumps and many Iraqis have little or no electricty.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government continues to flounder trying to find some basis for reconciliation.

Add to this grim scenario the fact that 160,000 U.S. troops are bogged down in Iraq with no signs of withdrawl in the forseeable future.

Iraq continues to be a human rights, political and military mess and the press in the United States have decided the Iraq war is not worth covereing anymore.


Desperate Iraqis Lack Fuel, Electricity

By Ben Lando, UPIPosted on January 23, 2008, Printed on January 23, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/74617/

You can't have one without the other, but with many of Iraq's power plants shut and refineries stopped, Iraqis have neither fuel nor electricity.

Iraq's Electricity Ministry is blaming the Oil Ministry for cutting fuel supplies and Turkey for ending electricity imports.

The Oil Ministry says continuous power to its refineries will lead to continuous supplies of fuel.

"We hear a lot of promises but we see nothing," Baghdad resident Amjad Kazim told Gulf News. Blackouts and long lines at the fuel stations are increasing as subsidized, state-controlled supplies run dry and the black market boosts prices.

In Baghdad's neighborhoods, black market auto fuel prices have jumped by nearly 20 percent in the past week, according to IraqSlogger.com.

Various U.S. government reports show fuel supplies are half the target and the ministries are unable to make the needed capital investment.

Iraq suffered from extensive power outages last summer, but reports showed steadily increasing capacity and delivery of electricity through the end of the year. Now there are widespread reports of two hours of power a day through much of the country.

"We have not had electricity for a week now and it took me about four hours to buy fuel for my car," east Baghdad resident Jaafar Dhia Ali said in a U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report.

Winter has set in reaching below zero temperatures in Baghdad alone.