Wednesday, February 6, 2008

4 MORE U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Four more U.S. military personnel have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as the media in the United States continues to go into overkill on the race for the White House.
News from the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan are no longer a priority with the press and so getting the news of what is happening in both wars is left to people like myself who have a blog devoted entirely to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The blog is CORKSPHERE and you can read the latest from Iraq and Afghanistan by clicking on this link:
http://corksphere.blogspot.com/
Bill Corcoran, editor and host.

DEATH AND VIOLENCE SHATTER IRAQ CALM

ROADSIDE BOMB KILLS U.S. LED SOLDIER IN AFGHANISTAN

War News for Wednesday, February 06, 2008

The DoD is reporting a new death of a soldier in an IED attack in Muqdadiyah Iraq on Sunday, February 3rd. Spc. Christopher J. West was evacuated and died in Balad on Monday, February 4th.The DoD is reporting two new deaths of Navy SEALs. Chief Petty Officer Michael E. Koch and Chief Petty Officer Nathan H. Hardy died from small arms fire in Iraq on Monday, February 4th.

The Voice of America is reporting the death of a U.S.-led coalition soldier (CJTF-82) in a roadside bombing along the Helmand River, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, February 5th.

Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack. Here's CJTF-82 statement.

Security incidents:

Baghdad:#1: A roadside bomb went off in a crowded Square in Karradah neighborhood in central Baghdad, wounding three people and damaging several civilian cars, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.Three people were wounded by a roadside bomb near al-Andalus Square in central Baghdad, police said.

#2: Another roadside bomb struck a U.S. patrol in the Sab'e Ibkar area in northern Baghdad, the source said, without telling whether the patrol sustained any casualty as the troops immediately cordoned off the scene.

#3: In a separate incident, about two hours later, three gunmen opened indiscriminate fire at a car repair workshop in southwest Baghdad, killing a mechanic working there, police said.

#4: The Iraqi army killed five suspected insurgents and arrested 125 others in different parts of Iraq during the past 24 hours, the Defense Ministry said.Diala Prv:

Baquba:#1: Three women and one man were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle near the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.#2: Three headless bodies were found near the city of Baquba, 65 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, the Iraqi army said.Khalis:#1: Four people were wounded on Wednesday when a roadside bomb went off targeting a civilian car in Khalis, Diala province, said a police source. "An improvised explosive device exploded targeting a civilian car near al-Hashimiyat village in Khalis, injuring four people, including three women," the source, who asked to be unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of IraqMuqdadiya:

#1: Five headless bodies were found in a village near the town of Muqdadiya, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the Iraqi army said.Diwaniya:

#1: 6 Polish soldiers patrolling in southern Iraq escaped injury from a roadside bomb Wednesday but four civilians were killed, the Voice of Iraq news agency said. The blast happened near Diwaniyah, where Poland's 900 troops are stationed as part of the U.S.-led coalition. A woman and two children were among those killed and nine other people were injured, an Iraqi officer told the news agency.A roadside bomb targeted coalition forces convoy in Diwaniya, killing two children, one woman and one man and injuring two civilians and injuring seven police officers.

#2: Two women were killed and five others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a bus carrying detainees in the city of Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.Nasiriyah:

#1: In Nasiriyah, some 350 kilometres north of the Iraqi capital, an 11-year-old child died, when a landmine went off on a farm belonging to his family, sources told dpa. Sources said the landmine is believed to have been planted during wars of the regime of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.Najaf:

#1: Police said they found the bodies of a 16-year-old girl and young man in the city of Najaf, 160 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad. The girl had been stabbed and the man had suffered severe head injuries.Hilla:

#1: The body of a man who had been shot in the head was found near the city of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.Samarra:

#1: Gunmen killed Issam Hassani, a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, a hardline group of Sunni clerics, in his shop in Samarra on Tuesday, police said

.#2: Gunmen killed two Iraqi soldiers in an attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. One civilian was wounded by random fire which broke out after the attack.Hawija:

#1: In Kirkuk, some 250 kilometers north of Baghdad, a bomb went off killing a 7-year-old child and wounding six others in her family, security sources told DPA. The bomb was detonated near a vehicle carrying the family of the dead in the village of Heliwa, sources said.Mosul:

#1: Two policemen were gunned down in an attack on a police patrol in western Mosul, 360 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, police said. The attack took place in the Bab Sinjar district around 9 am, they said. Two other policemen were wounded in the attack, along with a civilian, police said.

#2: In another incident, six explosive devices planted by militants under high-voltage electricity poles in Mosul, were detected and foiled by the Iraqi forces, VOI said.

#3: Gunmen killed a man on Tuesday in Mosul, police said.Al Anbar Prv:Ramadi:

#1: Tuesday--A source in the Sahwa council of Sheikh Sanad said that three members of the Sahwa were killed and five others were injured when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest detonated himself near one of the check point of the Sahwa office of Sheikh Sanad Abdul Salim in Thira’a Dijla area east of Ramadi city at 3:30 pm.

Afghanistan:#1: A Pakistani army helicopter crashed Wednesday in northwestern Pakistan, killing three generals and five other soldiers, officials said. The aircraft went down in South Waziristan, a rugged tribal region along the border with Afghanistan, the army's top spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. All the dead were Pakistanis and included Maj. Gen. Javed Sultan, the top military commander for South Waziristan, Abbas said on Pakistan's Aaj TV. A military statement said the other victims included two brigadiers, a lieutenant colonel, three captains and an enlisted man.

#2: U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan say a roadside bomb hit a security patrol in the country's south, killing one soldier and wounding two others. A coalition statement said the troops were on patrol with Afghan forces Tuesday when a mine exploded and hit their vehicle along the Helmand River. There were no further details of the nationalities of the victims

And still the mainstream media in the United States continues to ignore all these events as if they are really not happening.

MORTAR SHELLS HIT BAGHDAD IRAQ

The capital city of Baghdad in Iraq is not free from violence as advocates of the "surge" would want people to believe.

Two mortar shells slammed into Baghdad on Wednesday leaving six civilians injured as violence continues in Baghdad and all across Iraq.

Reported by Bill Corcoran, host of CORKSPHERE,
http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ a blog which tells the truth about what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan and not the propaganda put out by the Bush White House and repeated by FOX NEWS.

6 civilians injured in two attacks in Baghdad

http://tinyurl.com/2r7h6g


Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Wednesday , 06 /02 /2008 Time 4:20:07


Baghdad, Feb 6, (VOI)- Three civilians were injured in a roadside bomb explosion on Wednesday afternoon in central Baghdad, while three more were wounded when a mortar shell landed on a park in the eastern section of the Iraqi capital, said a police source."An explosive charge, planted by unidentified gunmen on the main road near al-Karada neighborhood in central Baghdad, was detonated, injuring three civilians," the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).


"Security forces sealed off the region and rushed the wounded to the nearby Ibn al-Nafees hospital for treatment," he added.Meanwhile, a police source said that three civilians, including a woman, were wounded when a mortar round hit the eastern Baghdad's park."The attack on Rayhana Park in Ziyouna-Dubat region in eastern Baghdad left two civilians and a woman wounded," he explained,

AFGHANISTAN IS NOW WORLD'S LARGEST OPIUM PRODUCER


More than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban, the failure to bring spiralling opium production under control means Afghanistan is now locked in a vicious circle -- where drug money fuels the Taliban insurgency and official corruption, weakening government control over large parts of the country, which in turn allows more opium to be produced.

Taliban set for windfall from Afghan opium crop-UN

06 Feb 2008 03:00:16 GMT 06 Feb 2008 03:00:16 GMT Source: Reuters

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL150015.htm

By Jon Hemming
KABUL, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer, is set for another bumper crop in 2008, providing a windfall for the Taliban who tax farmers to finance their fight against government and foreign forces, the UN said on Wednesday.


More than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban, the failure to bring spiralling opium production under control means Afghanistan is now locked in a vicious circle -- where drug money fuels the Taliban insurgency and official corruption, weakening government control over large parts of the country, which in turn allows more opium to be produced.


The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) predicted the 2008 opium crop would be similar to, or slightly lower than, last year's record harvest. In 2007, Afghanistan had more land growing drugs than Colombia, Bolivia and Peru combined.


"While it is encouraging that the dramatic increases of the past few years seem to be levelling off, the total amount of opium being harvested remains shockingly high," said UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa in a statement.


Opium is processed into heroin, increasingly inside Afghanistan, and smuggled mainly to Europe where users often turn to crime to pay for the highly addictive drug.


"Europe and other major heroin markets should brace themselves for the health and security consequences," he said.