HAS THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LOST HIS MIND?

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Monday said the Iraqi Army "appears to have performed well."

Is he kidding?

Even right wing FOX NEWS pundits say the Iraqi Army were routed by the Mahadi Army in the "Battle for Basra."

Gates apparently doesn't know that almost 100 Iraqi Army members surrendered rather than continue the fight in Basra.

Everyone who knows anything about Iraq is saying the resistance the Iraqi Army found in Basra was a major defeat for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Gates must have been "out to lunch" when all hell was breaking loose in Basra.

Editorial comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

Gates says Iraqi army appears to have performed well

Mon Mar 31, 3:09 PM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080331/pl_afp/denmarkusiraqunrestgates

Iraqi forces appear to have done "a pretty good job" in an offensive to regain control of Basra from Shiite gangs and militias, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

"We're obviously hopeful that he will achieve most of his objectives, and see calm return as well," Gates told reporters enroute here from Brussels, referring to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

His comments came as radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called off his fighters, signalling an end to six days of clashes in Basra, Baghdad and other cities that left 461 people dead.

"I think we've all known at some point that the situation in Basra was going to have to be dealt with. It is the economic lifeline of the country. To have it under control of gangs and militias over the long term is not acceptable," Gates said.

"So I think all of us in the government were pleased to see Prime Minister Maliki take this on, take the initiative and go down there himself with Iraqi forces and try to resolve the issue."
Asked how the Iraqi army performed, he said first hand information was limited because the Iraqis were directing the campaign.

But based on that, he said, "they seem to have done a pretty good job."
US plans to reduce the size of its 156,000-member force in Iraq in the coming months hinges on the performance of the Iraqi army and whether it is capable of filling the void left by departing US troops.

Gates said he had seen nothing to indicate that the violence in the south would prompt changes in Washington's plans to draw down US "surge" forces from Iraq by July.
So far, two of five combat brigades sent to Iraq last year to put a lid on spiralling sectarian violence have gone home. But some 156,000 US troops remain in Iraq.

ANOTHER BUSH IRAQ LEGACY: MILLIONS OF IRAQI WOMEN'S LIVES DESTROYED

President George W. Bush keeps piling up one Iraq legacy after another, but they are not the kind of legacies which historians will point to as major milestones in the war with Iraq.

The legacies Bush is racking up in Iraq are the kind of legacies that will go down in history as showing the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the Bush administration was the biggest foreign policy blunder in the HISTORY of the United States.

Editorial comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

On International Women's Day in 2004, nearly a year after the invasion of Iraq, George Bush, the US President, addressed 250 women from around the world who had gathered at the White House. "The advance of women's rights and the advance of liberty are ultimately inseparable," he said.

Supported by his wife Laura, who herself hailed the administration's success in achieving greater rights for Afghan women, the president claimed that "the advance of freedom in the greater Middle East has given new rights and new hopes to women there."Advance.

New rights. New hopes.

Stirring stuff, but totally empty claims.

In fact, Iraq's women have become the biggest losers in the post-invasion disaster. While men have borne the brunt in terms of direct armed violence, women have been particularly hard-hit by poverty, malnutrition, lack of health services and a crumbling infrastructure, not least chronic power cuts which in some areas of Iraq see electricity only available for two hours a day.

By Nadje Al-Ali, Comment Is FreePosted on March 31, 2008, Printed on March 31, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/80609/

More than 70 percent of the four million people forced out of their homes in the past five years in Iraq have been women and children. Many have found temporary shelter with relatives who share their limited space, food and supplies. But this, according to the UN refugee agency, has created "rising tension between families over scarce resources." Many displaced women and children find themselves in unsanitary and overcrowded public buildings under constant threat of eviction.

Meanwhile, rampant political violence has also engulfed women in Iraq. Islamist militias with links to political parties in government and insurgent groups opposing both the government and the occupation have particularly targeted Iraqi women and girls. A new Islamist puritanism is seeing women and girls being violently pressured to conform to rigid dress codes. Personal movement and social behaviour are being "regulated," with acid attacks (deliberately designed to disfigure "transgressive" women's faces), just one of the sanctions of the new moral guardians of post-Saddam Iraq.

Suad F, a former accountant and mother of four children who lives in a previously mixed neighbourhood in Baghdad, was telling me during a visit to Amman in 2006: "I resisted for a long time, but last year also started wearing the hijab, after I was threatened by several Islamist militants in front of my house. They are terrorising the whole neighbourhood, behaving as if they were in charge. And they are actually controlling the area. No one dares to challenge them. A few months ago they distributed leaflets around the area warning people to obey them and demanding that women should stay at home."

By 2008, the threat posed by Islamist militias and extremist groups has gone far beyond dress codes and calls for gender segregation at universities. Despite -- or even partly because of US and UK rhetoric about liberation and women's rights -- women have been pushed back into their homes.

Women who have a public profile -- as teachers, doctors, academics, lawyers, NGO activists or politicians -- are now systematically threatened, seen as legitimate targets for assassinations. Criminal gangs have joined in. Though rarely reported in Britain, the criminal kidnapping of women for ransom, for trafficking into forced prostitution outside Iraq, and for out and out sexual abuse have all taken root in post-Saddam Iraq.

Killings in Basra in 2007 provide a snapshot. According to a study by the Basra Security Committee, 133 women were killed last year in the UK-controlled city, either by religious vigilantes or as a result of so-called honour killings. Of these, 79 were deemed to have "violated Islamic teachings," 47 were killed to preserve supposed family honour, and the remaining seven were targeted for their political affiliations. As Amnesty International said last year, "politically active women, those who did not follow a strict dress code, and women [who are] human rights defenders are increasingly at risk of abuses, including by armed groups and religious extremists."

The invasion and occupation of Iraq has also directly added to suffering of women. While aerial bombings of residential areas have been responsible for thousands of civilian deaths, many Iraqis have lost their lives while being shot at by American or British troops. Whole families have been wiped out as they approached a checkpoint or did not recognize areas marked as prohibited.

In addition to the killing of innocent women, men and children, the occupation forces have also been engaged in other forms of violence against women. There have been numerous documented accounts of physical assaults at checkpoints and during house searches. American and British forces have also arrested wives, sisters and daughters of suspected insurgents in order to pressure them to surrender. Recent figures show that the US and Iraqi forces are currently holding (mostly without charge) many thousands of detainees, and even where women have not been detained as bargaining chips they have spent frantic months or even years trying to discover where their family members were being held and why.

Women in Iraq suffered from discrimination and violence well before 2003. Deep-rooted patriarchy (especially in rural and tribal areas) and the pervasive repression of all women politically resistant to Saddam's Ba'athist project were hallmarks of life in Iraq in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

But there were subtleties which gave women relative freedom. First, Saddam's political acuity meant that he was perfectly capable of a policy of "state feminism" that partly shifted patriarchal power away from fathers, husbands and brothers, investing this power in the state itself -- Saddam himself becoming the father of the nation. As long as you steered clear of all oppositional politics, this created 20 years (from the late 1960s on) of moderate liberty for at least Iraq's urban middle-class women.

Then, with the growing militarization of Iraq after the Iran-Iraq war and the major reverse of the Gulf war of 1991, Saddam switched policy toward cultivating political allegiance through tribal leaders. The upshot for women? A re-assertion of traditional conservative values that saw women's rights used as bargaining chips and their bodies the repositories of tribal and familial "honor."

As he stood before his female audience in 2004 did President Bush actually understand any of this? Was it factored at all? Or instead, did the US's infamous lack of post-invasion planning include a blind spot over women's rights? Perhaps George and Laura would like to update us.

NEW U.S. DEATHS: DEPT. OF DEFENSE CALLS THEM MULTI NATIONAL FORCES

In a never ending attempt to keep the American public in the dark about U.S. deaths in Iraq, the Department of Defense lists the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq as "multi national forces" or MNF.

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:
4003
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:
8
Total
4011

DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Mar 31, 2008
03/31/08 DoD Announces Change in Status of Army Soldier
The armed forces medical examiner confirmed on March 29, human remains recovered in Iraq were those of Staff Sgt. Keith M. Maupin, 24, of Batavia, Ohio. Maupin had been listed as missing-captured since April 16, 2004...

03/31/08 MNF: MND-B Soldier attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed at when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device approximately 4 p.m. in northeast Baghdad March 31.
03/30/08 MNF: MND-B Solider attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed from wounds sustained after the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device north of Baghdad at approximately 5 p.m. March 30.

03/30/08 MNF: Marine attacked by IED
A Multi-National Force – West Marine was killed March 30 as the result of wounds received in action when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy force with an improvised explosive device in al Anbar Province March 29.

U.S. SOLDIER KILLED MONDAY: FRESH GREEN ZONE ATTACKS

New Green Zone attacks. U.S. soldier killed

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/31/new-green-zone-attacks/

The fortified Green Zone “came under fresh attack Monday, less than 24 hours after anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his fighters to stand down following a week of clashes with government forces.”

No serious injuries were reported today, but at least “two Americans working for the U.S. government died in attacks on the zone last week.”

A U.S. soldier was also “killed by a roadside bomb in northeast Baghdad on Monday.”

NEW VIDEO: IRAQI REFUGEES IN SYRIA

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1244&thisview=item

Iraqi refugees in Syria

Alive in Baghdad: A look at the daily struggle to make ends meet facing Iraqis in Syria

We show this segment courtesy of www.aliveinbaghdad.org.

Alive in Baghdad employs Iraqi journalists to produce video packages each week about a variety of topics on daily life in Iraq.

"BATTLE OF BASRA" PROVES IRAQI ARMY CAN'T HANDLE SECURITY

President Bush and Republicans like Sen. Lindsay Graham were all over TV, especially the Bush White House "darling" FOX NEWS, singing the praises of the Iraqi Army, but upon a closer examination the "Battle for Basra" proved the Iraqi Army is not up to the task of handling security in Iraq.

The United States military had to be called in when the Iraqi Army floundered against the Mehadi Army.

There were also reports last week that many members of Iraq Army were surrendering rather than fight. Forty Iraqi Army fighters surrendered at one time when the battle heated up.

The poor showing of the Iraq Army is an ominous sign for the United States military and especially Gen. David Petraeus who travel to the United States next week to meet with President Bush and give a status report to Congress.

The fact the Iraqi Army couldn't handle a security crackdown in Basra means the United States military could be in Iraq for an even longer time than anyone ever anticipated.

Editorial comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE.

Clashes highlight Iraq army’s woes

Self-sufficiency as distant as ever in war’s 6th year; 2008 dropped as target
By Charles J. Hanley

AP Special Correspondent
The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23864495/

Iraq’s new army is “developing steadily,” with “strong Iraqi leaders out front,” the chief U.S. trainer assured the American people.

That was three-plus years ago, the U.S. Army general was David H. Petraeus, and some of those Iraqi officials at the time were busy embezzling more than $1 billion allotted for the new army’s weapons, according to investigators.

The 2004-05 Defense Ministry scandal was just one in an unending series of setbacks in the five-year struggle to “stand up” an Iraqi military and allow hard-pressed U.S. forces to “stand down” from Iraq.

The latest discouraging episode was unfolding this weekend in bloody Basra, the southern city where Iraqi government forces — in their toughest test yet — were still struggling to gain the upper hand in a five-day-old battle with Shiite Muslim militias.

Year by year, the goal of deploying a capable, free-standing Iraqi army has seemed always to slip further into the future. In the latest shift, with Petraeus now U.S. commander in Iraq, the Pentagon’s new quarterly status report quietly drops any prediction of when homegrown units will take over security responsibility nationwide, after last year’s reports had forecast a transition in 2008.

Earlier, in January last year, President Bush said Iraqi forces would take charge in all 18 Iraqi provinces by November 2007. Four months past that deadline, they control only half the 18.
Not enough resources?Responsibility for these ever-unfulfilled goals lies in Washington, contends retired Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who preceded Petraeus as chief trainer in Iraq.
“We continue to fail to properly resource and build the very force that will enable a responsible drawdown of our forces,” Eaton told The Associated Press.

Retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, a West Point professor and frequent Iraq visitor, also sees insufficient “energy” in the U.S. effort. “Even now, there is no Iraqi air force; there’s no national military medical system; there’s no maintenance system,” he told a New York audience on March 13.

The current chief trainer counters that his Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, known as MNSTC-I, has made “huge progress in many areas, quality and quantity.”

Editorial comment: "SURE."

IRAQI CRACKDOWN BACKFIRES: STRENGTHENS SADRISTS

The news media in the U.S. would have you believing the cease-fire by rebel leader Muquta al-Sadr was a victory for the Iraqi Army when just the opposite is true. Here is how it is explained:

ANALYSIS-Iraqi crackdown backfires, strengthens Sadrists

Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:49pm BST

http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKCOL144127._CH_.242020080331?rpc=401&

By Ross ColvinBAGHDAD, March 31 (Reuters)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's crackdown on militias in the southern oil port of Basra appears to have backfired, exposing the weakness of his army and strengthening his political foes ahead of elections.

U.S. President George W. Bush has praised the crackdown, calling it a "defining moment" for Iraq, but it has unleashed a wave of destabilising violence in southern Iraq and in Baghdad that risks undoing the security improvements of the past year.It has also exposed a deep rift within Iraq's Shi'ite majority -- between the political parties in Maliki's government and followers of populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.Analysts say Iraqis may be about to witness a new phase in the cycle of violence that has gripped the country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 -- intra-Shi'ite bloodletting that could tear Iraq apart and more deeply embroil U.S. forces.Sadr on Sunday pulled back from all-out confrontation against Iraqi security forces and their U.S. backers, ordering his Mehdi Army militia to stop fighting.

While Basra was reported to be calm on Monday, mortar attacks shook Baghdad."It will be a short honeymoon, especially with election time coming up," said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre.Provincial elections are due to take place by October, with the Sadrists, who boycotted the last polls in 2005, vying for control of the mainly Shi'ite, oil-producing south with a powerful rival, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council."The stand-off is not over yet, it's only a truce ... provincial elections will trigger the battle again," predicted Hazem al-Nuaimi, a political analyst based in Baghdad.

ARMY UNPREPARED Maliki flew to Basra last Tuesday to personally oversee a military operation he said was aimed at "cleaning up" the lawless city, which is controlled by criminal gangs and militias allied to various Shi'ite political parties.The operation was lauded by U.S. and British officials as evidence of the growing strength of the Iraqi army, but by the weekend it had largely stalled, with Iraqi troops having failed to dislodge the gunmen from their strongholds.Embarrassingly, Iraq's defence minister had to admit that despite much preparation, his forces were not ready for such fierce resistance. U.S. and British forces have intervened, launching air and artillery strikes to support Iraqi troops.

The fighting provoked a furious backlash by Mehdi Army fighters in other towns and cities in the oil-producing south. Hundreds have been killed in violence that Iraqi security forces have struggled to contain without U.S. military help."What has happened has weakened the government and shown the weakness of the state. Now the capability of the state to control Iraq is open to question," said Izzat al-Shahbander, a moderate Shi'ite politician from the Iraqi National List party.Gareth Stansfield, a professor of Middle East politics at the University of Exeter in England, said Maliki had staked his political credibility on the show of force in Basra and lost."Maliki's credibility is shot at this point. He really thought his security forces could really do this. But he's failed," he said.

SADR LOOKS STRONGER While Maliki has sought to portray the operation as an effort to reassert his government's control over Basra and crack down only on "criminals", not political parties, many analysts believe it is politically motivated.The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the biggest Shi'ite party in government and an ally of Maliki's Dawa party, is battling for control of Basra in an often violent turf war that pits it against Sadrists and the smaller Fadhila party, which controls the local oil industry.Sadrists accuse Maliki and the Supreme Council of trying to crush them ahead of the October provincial elections in which they are expected to make big gains at the expense of the Council, which controls many local authorities in the south."This is him (Maliki) basically preparing for an election.

They need to disarm Sadr. The strongest militia in the city will control the vote," said Alani.But Sadr aides say the Mehdi Army will not give up their weapons, raising the prospect of another confrontation, as the Iraqi military says it will press on with the Basra operation.Sadr, ironically, may emerge stronger from the affair."Clearly Sadr has gained a victory. This was not a fight he picked and his forces looked strong. He has consolidated his position," said Stansfield.The cleric, who is widely believed to be in Iran furthering his religious studies, now looks like the victim of political manoeuvring by Shi'ite parties in government."The Sadrists may have been strengthened in many people's minds.

Many have seen the onslaught as unfair," said Reidar Visser, an expert on southern Iraq who edits the Web site www.historiae.org.Iraqis will now be watching to see what happens next, but after enduring a bitter Sunni Arab insurgency and then a wave of sectarian violence between Shi'ites and Sunnis, they have become accustomed to expecting the worst."It's true there are no clashes, gunmen or explosions," said Jabbar Sabhan, a civil servant in Basra, "but the situation is still dangerous. I don't trust the words of politicians."

NEW U.S. AND BRITISH CASULATIES FROM IRAQ: VIOLENCE SWEEPS ACROSS IRAQ

We have the latest U.S. and British casualty reports from Iraq and a long list of violence that continues to sweep across Iraq.

War News for Monday, March 31, 2008

Casualty Reports:Commando Ben McBean lost an arm and leg when he was blown up by a Taliban landmine in Afghanistan a month ago. The 21-year-old, recovering at a military hospital in Birmingham. Speaking of the incident from Selly Oak military hospital in Birmingham, Ben said: ? I was on patrol in a group of eight Marines checking the Taliban?s position. We were sprinting from one checkpoint to another. "As I was running I suddenly heard this huge bang. I was blown ten feet into the air and landed to see my severed foot lying several feet in front of me. Then I looked down to see my arm had snapped completely in half.

Staff Sergeant Jerry Majetich was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), critically injuring him and causing 3rd degree burns over 100% of his face, neck and scalp along with numerous other serious injuries. Jerry was deployed to Iraq in March of 2005 with the 304th Psychological Operations (PSYOP) Company, stationed south of Baghdad in support of the 184th (AA), 3rd ID. On October 18th, 2005, while traveling as the 27th vehicle in a 69-vehicle convoy as part of Operation Clean sweep, he was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). His vehicle had a bounty on it. The rear half of the vehicle disintegrated immediately, killing a member of the security detachment, who was a friend and room mate of Jerry's, and the Battalion Information Officer, also a good friend. The driver's door blew off and he was ejected from the vehicle, receiving minor burns to his right arm and leg. The gunner was thrown about 50 feet into a nearby field from the explosion, shattering his right leg and suffering 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his arm, leg, and lower back. The propane tank in the IED set the vehicle on fire, and Jerry was trapped inside, unable to escape because the door next to him had been welded closed. His injuries include: -35% total body surface 3rd degree burns.-100% face, neck and scalp 3rd degree burns, causing the loss of all hair, both ears (his hearing is fortunately ok), most of his nose, and his vision was gone for two months, with the inability to close either eye for almost three months.-His intestines were ruptured and stomach bruised, causing the loss of 1/3 of his small intestines. Because of the multiple surgeries to his stomach, his muscles were unable to heal and he now has what is referred to as "swiss cheese" by his doctor: a total of six hernias (five in his stomach and one on his right side), which required another surgery. If not taken care of, their size would have increased, interfering with other organs.-Total amputation of his right thumb and pinky, and remaining three fingers down to the second knuckle.-Finger tip amputations to all of the fingers on his left hand.-Loss of use to right arm and shoulder beyond ten pounds.-Unable to straighten either arm due to bone growth caused body in reaction to the burns.-Unable to stay in sun light for more than a few minutes, and his body does not react well to either extreme cold or heat.-Two gunshot wounds in his upper, rear right leg with a loss of muscle and tendons.-Frequent loss of memory, both short and long term, due to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).-Frequent bouts with anxiety in and out of crowds, depression and fatigue.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in a northern neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday, March 30th. No other details were released.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Force – West Marine in a roadside bombing in al Anbar Province on Saturday, March 29th. No other details were released.

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of two Royal Marines in an explosion near Kajaki, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, March 30th. Here's NATO's official statement.

The father of a soldier listed as missing-captured in Iraq since 2004 said Sunday that the military had informed him that his son's remains were found in Iraq. Keith Maupin said at a news conference in suburban Cincinnati that an Army general told him DNA testing identified the remains of his son, Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin. He was commonly known as Matt.

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: The fortified Green Zone in Iraq's capital came under mortar or rocket attack again Monday. The U.S. Embassy confirmed the attacks and said no serious injuries were reported. The U.S. military said it had no reports of major damage.

#2: In another blow to Maliki, his security adviser, Saleem Qassim Taee, known as Abu Laith Kadhimi, was killed in the fighting in Basra. The Dawa party member had lived in exile under Saddam's regime for 20 years.

#3: US air strikes and military assaults have killed 41 "criminals" in Baghdad, including 25 who died when an alleged mortar team was bombed, the American military announced on Monday. The killings occurred on Sunday in eastern and northeastern Baghdad where US and Iraqi forces have been battling the Mahdi Army militia

#4: A US military statement said American soldiers were hunting for the launch site of a rocket or mortar attack in eastern Baghdad on Sunday when their Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, injuring one soldier.

#5: In northeast Baghdad, another eight "criminals" were killed when they attacked US soldiers, a separate statement said.

#6: The Iraqi Olympic Committee said Monday that its assistant secretary-general died of wounds sustained from gunmen attack last week. "Dr. Ra'ad Jaber died of wounds in a Baghdad hospital on Sunday after being attacked by gunmen in the Sa'doun Street in central Baghdad on Wednesday," Hussein al-Amidi, the acting secretary-general of the committee, told Xinhua. Ra'ad Salman, an Iraqi basketball referee was killed instantly during the attack while Fikrat Toma, coach of national basketball team, escaped the attack with a gunshot wound in his thigh, he said. The attack came as fierce clashes between Shiite Mahdi Army militiamen and the U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces spiraled in several southern Iraqi cities in addition to Baghdad.

#7: One U.S. soldier was killed after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb on Sunday north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Diyala Prv:Buhriz:#1: Elsewhere, unknown gunmen in a car attacked a checkpoint manned by U.S.-backed Sunni fighters near Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, police said. Four of the fighters were killed.Balad

Ruz:#1: Around 7 am, a roadside bomb targeted a lorry at Balad Ruz (40 km east Baquba) killing its driver.

Muqdadiysh:#1: Around 10:45 am, a roadside bomb targeted the vice governor’s convoy at Moqdadiyah (40 km east Baquba).Two of his guards were killed in that incident who were Iraqi policemen.

Latifiya:#1: Six handcuffed and blindfolded bodies were found with gunshot wounds in a deserted area near Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Basra:#1: In Basra, Mahdi Army militants fought to keep their strongholds but were overrun by an Iraqi Security Force in the eastern neighborhood of Tanuma. U.S. and British aircraft conducted four air strikes in the city, the U.S. military said. In downtown Basra in the area of al Timimiyah, Iraqi forces surrounded the neighborhood as coalition aircraft struck Sunday morning, residents said.Sami al-Askari also said most of Basra, where the government attempted to crack down on militia fighters, was "under control" a day after Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took his Mahdi Army off the streets.

#2: Residents buried their dead and swept rubble from the streets after quiet returned to the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Monday. Life slowly returned to normal in Basra where Sadr's masked Mehdi Army militia fighters were no longer to be seen openly brandishing weapons in the street as they had for days. "We have control of the towns around Basra and also inside the city. There are no clashes anywhere in Basra. Now we are dismantling roadside bombs," said Major-General Mohammed Jawan Huweidi, commander of the Iraqi Army's 14th division. Shops were beginning to reopen, some for the first time in a week. Authorities said schools would reopen on Tuesday. Residents hosed down the hulks of burnt-out cars. Others drove with coffins in their trunks carrying the unburied dead.

Balad:#1: Gunmen killed six Iraqi policemen on Sunday in an ambush on their patrol northeast of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Mosul:#1: Two gunmen were killed on Sunday and another was wounded by U.S. helicopter fire in Mosul city, while police forces there released a kidnapped citizen and wounded two armed men, official spokesperson of Ninawa Police Operations Command said. "One gunman was killed and another was wounded when a U.S. helicopter opened fire on one of the streets in al-Wahda neighborhood, southeast of Mosul," Brigadier Khalid Abdul-Sattar told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#2: Unknown gunmen on Sunday kidnapped a brother of former minister of Human Rights in Mosul, northern Iraq, A Ninewa police source said. "Unknown gunmen abducted a brother of former minister of Human Rights Zuhir al-Chalabi in 17 July district, western Mosul", A Ninewa police source, who requested anonmity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq.

Al Anbar Prv:#1: One U.S. soldier was killed after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb on Sunday in Anbar province, western Iraq, the U.S. military said.

Fallujah:#1: One civilian was wounded when an improvised explosive device went off near an Iraqi army patrol in central Falluja city on Monday, police said. "A roadside IED planted in al-Dhbbat neighborhood, central Falluja, went off on Monday near an Iraqi army patrol, wounding one civilian nearby," a security source, who asked not to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#2: Around 8:30 am, a bicycle bomb which was parked near Al-Khulafa mosque targeted one of the Falluja governing council members’ car downtown the city. One person was killed in that incident who had bought the car from the governing member yesterday. Also four people were injured in that incident.

Afghanistan:#1: A blast struck a NATO patrol in southern Afghanistan, killing two British soldiers, officials said Monday. The British troops were airlifted to a military hospital after they were caught in the explosion during a routine patrol Sunday, NATO said in a statement. Both died at the hospital of their injuries.

#2: In neighboring Kandahar province, a roadside bomb hit a car carrying Afghan private security guards protecting a road construction crew in Zhari district on Monday, killing three guards, said district chief Niyaz Mohammad Sarhadi.

#3: The Spanish Defence ministry confirmed yesterday that a Spanish patrol from the Qala i Naw Provincial Reconstruction Team came under fire at around 1am local time yesterday lunchtime near Moqur. The Spanish troops were taking part in a joint reconnaissance mission with Afghan police when they were attacked by a gang of unidentified individuals, who soon ran off when their fire was returned. There were no casualties and given that the troop carrier was also undamaged, the patrol completed its mission before returning to base, the Defence ministry spokesman went on to explain.

#4: Three Dutch soldiers from NATO-led forces in Afghanistan were hospitalized on Sunday after their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device near the town of Tarin Kowt, the Defence Ministry said. One soldier lost both his legs in the explosion and his condition was critical, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.Dutch soldiers serving with Nato forces in Afghanistan were involved in two separate roadside bomb attacks on Sunday, leaving five wounded, the defence ministry said. In the first incident three people were wounded driving over a bomb while patrolling near Tarin Kowt. One man, who lost both legs in the blast, is said to be in a critical condition. The second attack came seven hours later, leaving two soldiers injured. The defence ministry said they are in a stable condition.

#5: Around 150 Norwegian soldiers and 50 Latvian soldiers were in the base when it came under attack around 4am Norwegian time. None of the rockets hit the base at Meymaneh, and no injuries were reported, Lt Colonel Jon Inge Øglænd told Aftenposten.no. All personnel were evacuated into the base's bomb shelter for two hours, said Petter Lindqvist of the defense ministry. It wasn't clear who was behind the attack or what type of rockets were used.

#6: Four New Zealand soldiers in Afghanistan were fortunate to escape without injury after a roadside device exploded next to their patrol vehicle today. A four-vehicle New Zealand Defence Force patrol from the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) was travelling to a village near the border of the Baghlan province with a doctor to set up a mobile medical clinic. An improvised explosive device (IED) went off beside one of the vehicles, damaging the front and smashing the windscreen, but no shrapnel reached the four occupants.

VIDEO: IRAQ RULING ELITE NEEDS U.S. TO STAY IN POWER

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1254&thisview=item

The ruling class in Iraq need the U.S. military to stay in power, or they will be tossed out by Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehadi Army.

This video explains in detail what is REALLY going on behnd the scenes in Iraq.

WASHINGTON POST: ON A BAGHDAD STREET: PALPABLE DESPAIR

Residents Embittered by Politicians' Choices

By Sudarsan RaghavanWashington Post Foreign ServiceMonday, March 31, 2008; A16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001147.html

BAGHDAD, March 30 -- The mortar shells sailed across the sky Sunday evening and ripped through the corrugated tin roof of the barbershop. They shattered brick walls, mangled beams and knocked over leather chairs. Smoke, debris and glass covered the street outside.

There was blood on Abu Ghadeer's shirt. He had pulled out of the wreckage a boy who had come for a haircut but instead received a body full of shrapnel. Twenty minutes later, after an ambulance had taken the boy away, Abu Ghadeer struggled to understand.

"A week ago, life was good," he said. "Now, nobody knows what will happen."

For Iraqis, widespread clashes this past week have exposed their nation's brittleness. After months of relative calm and declining violence, many people were locking themselves inside their homes and shops again as Shiite gunmen battled U.S. and Iraqi forces. Curfews restricted their movement, yet they were still unable to escape the mortar and rocket fire.

In Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood Sunday, the despair was palpable. In alleyways and storefronts, people spoke about their frustration and dread, and about the misguided politics they blamed for running Iraq into the ground. Many said they were worried not about sectarian conflict but about war erupting right in their community.

Karrada, a mostly Shite enclave that is considered one of the safest areas of the capital, is a stronghold of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a powerful Shiite party that is part of the ruling coalition. Yet many Shiites here said the government's offensive in the port city of Basra, which sparked violence across southern Iraq and in Baghdad, showed that their politicians cared more about eradicating rivals than tending to the needs of their constituents.

"Every political party wants to control the situation and to be on top," said Adnan Radhi, 60, a municipal employee in Baghdad. "And the people are paying the price."

On Sunday, shortly before noon, Radhi and two friends sat in a grimy alley near Karrada's main commercial road. People walked past carrying bags of bread, and old women begged for food. A round-the-clock traffic ban was in place, leaving only police vehicles on the road. Piles of trash lay everywhere.

MORE U.S. DEATHS IN IRAQ

While the stupid media in the United States continues the non-stop assault on driving a racial wedge between Americans, this is what is happening to our young men and women in Iraq.

It absolutely sickems me how the media has turned the race for the White House into a display of their own RACISM.

Editorial comment by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, March 31

31 Mar 2008 10:18:51 GMT 31 Mar 2008 10:18:51 GMT Source: Reuters

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31548210.htm

March 31 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 1000 GMT on Monday.

BAGHDAD - Six mortar bombs hit the Green Zone in central Baghdad, police said.

NEAR BAQUBA - Four members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol were killed in clashes with al Qaeda militants south of Baquba, 65 km (42 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed 25 gunmen in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

ANBAR PROVINCE - One U.S. soldier was killed after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb on Sunday in Anbar province, western Iraq, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier was killed after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb on Sunday north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

NEAR BALAD - Gunmen killed six Iraqi policemen on Sunday in an ambush on their patrol northeast of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

GREEN ZONE HAMMERED BY MORTARS

The cease-fire in Basra is holding with only sporadic fighting, but as has always been the case in Iraq the violence and turmoil just shifts to another target---this time it is again the Green Zone which has been bombarded Monday by mortars.

Green Zone hit by mortars
Attack is latest in series of assaults on fortified area housing U.S. embassy

Reuters
updated 4:44 a.m. CT, Mon., March. 31, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23875667/

BAGHDAD - A mortar barrage hit Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraq's government and the U.S. embassy, police said, a day after Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters to stand down.

The Green Zone has come under intense mortar and rocket attack over the past week as Mahdi Army fighters loyal to Sadr have battled Iraqi and U.S. security forces in the capital and in southern Iraq.

On Sunday al-Sadr ordered the Mahdi Army to stop fighting Iraqi security forces and to withdraw from the streets. But the cleric has previously acknowledged there are rogue elements within the militia that have disobeyed a truce he first called last year.

A siren wailed inside the U.S.-protected compound in central Baghdad and a recorded voice warned people to take cover amid the sound of explosions, Reuters witnesses said.

A dust storm enveloping the city made it difficult to see where the missiles were landing, but police said a volley of at least six mortars had hit the Green Zone. They had no details of any casualties.

A U.S. embassy spokesman was not immediately available for comment. The embassy has ordered staff in the zone to stay under cover where possible and wear body amour and helmets when in the open.

GRAPHIC VIDEO: SOLDIERS COME UNDER HEAVY FIRE DURING PATROL

It isn't often on TV anymore you get to see what our young fighting men and women are going through in Iraq, but this short video gives you an idea what it is like to be on patrol in an Iraqi city when you come under heavy fire. Look at the faces of these brave young warriors. They might have been your next door neighbor or maybe even a relative or a loved one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkQ0bExLH58&feature=related

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ REACH 4,010: LIST OF DEATHS BY COUNTRY

The actual number of GIs killed in Iraq is 4,o10 accoreding to the Associated Press which is higher that what the Department of Defense is saying. The DoD puts the figure at 4,000.

Here is a list of countries engaged in the Iraq war and the deaths from each country:

US military deaths in Iraq at 4,010

By The Associated Press 2 hours, 25 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080331/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_deaths

As of Sunday, March 30, 2008, at least 4,010 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,261 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

The AP count is 10 more than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The British military has reported 176 deaths;
Italy, 33;
Ukraine, 18;
Poland, 21;
Bulgaria, 13;
Spain, 11;
Denmark, seven;
El Salvador, five;
Slovakia, four;
Latvia, three;
Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each;
and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.

WHAT IS BUSH GOING TO DO NOW AFTER THIS HAPPENED?

For months and months, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their puppet news outlet, FOX NEWS, have been promoting going to war with IRAN.

But now there is word a top Iranian General is the one who brokered the cease-fire between Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehadi militia and the insurgents in Basra.

Iranian general played key role in brokering Iraq cease-fire

Leila Fadel McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: March 30, 2008 10:25:48 PM

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/32055.html

BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom over the weekend to win the support of the commander of Iran's Qods brigades in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to order his followers to stop military operations, members of the Iraqi parliament said.
Sadr ordered the halt on Sunday, and his Mahdi Army militia heeded the order in Baghdad, where the Iraqi government announced it would lift a 24-hour curfew starting early Monday in most parts of the capital.

But fighting continued in the oil hub of Basra, where a six-day-old government offensive against Shiite militias has had only limited gains.

So far, 488 people have been killed and more than 900 wounded in the offensive, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said.

The backdrop to Sadr's dramatic statement was a secret trip Friday by Iraqi lawmakers to Qom, Iran's holy city and headquarters for the Iranian clergy who run the country.

There the Iraqi lawmakers held talks with Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Qods (Jerusalem) brigades of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and signed an agreement with Sadr, which formed the basis of his statement Sunday, members of parliament said.

Click on link to read the rest of the story.

GRAPHIC VIDEO: MEDIC TEAM IN ACTION IN IRAQ

This video shows what it is like to be part of a medic evac team in Iraq assigned to the 86th Combat Hospital. The footage is intense, but something we feel people should see because the mainstream media in the United States has chosen to blot out all footage of the Iraq war and instead replace it with endless "talking heads," who have never seen a day of combat, going over and over what Hillary said or Obama said or what McCain is doing.

This video of a medic team in action tells the TRUE story of what is happening in Iraq, a story that unfortunately is not being told.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcoZ2z0WA-4&feature=related

VIDEO OF ENEMY TROOPS IN COMBAT IN IRAQ

We are posting this video of enemy troops in combat in Iraq to give our readers an idea what it is our young men and women are fighting in Iraq. After viewing this video, you will be asking yourself why the mainstream media in the United States refuses to air video such as this so the American public can see the type of enemy we are fighting in Iraq.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJOpaRU9aW0

GRAPHIC VIDEO: BUSH'S LEGACY: THE ORPHANED CHILDREN OF IRAQ

We are publicizing this video with a warning that it is very graphic and shows the legacy of Bush's war on Iraq and what it has done to the children of Iraq. The scenes are heart-breaking and the footage of children begging in the streets of Baghdad is a gripping testimony to the war that Bush felt had to be waged to save the Iraqi nation. The video will tear your heart out, and at the same time it should make you furious with what Bush and his warmongers have done to Iraq. The children are always the innocent victims of any war and this video clearly depicts what has happened to many of the children of Iraq since Bush decided to invade and occupy Iraq. How did hurting these children like the U.S. has done make the U.S. safer? It hasn't and the video is a living testimony to Bush's War---a war that NEVER had to be fought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-fDlFLf7-c

DON'T BE FOOLED: THERE IS STILL FIGHTING GOING ON IN BASRA

If you were to watch FOX NEWS and the rest of the cable news media, you would get the idea that a cease-fire in Basra has brought the fighting to halt.

Don't be fooled.

There are still battles taking place in Basra, but the difference is the media has once again drawn a curtain down on what is taking place in the second largest city in Iraq.

March 30, 2008

Shiite Militias Cling to Swaths of Basra and Stage Raids

By JAMES GLANZ and MICHAEL KAMBER
THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/world/middleeast/30iraq.html?ref=worldspecial

BAGHDAD — Shiite militiamen in Basra openly controlled wide swaths of the city on Saturday and staged increasingly bold raids on Iraqi government forces sent five days ago to wrest control from the gunmen, witnesses said, as Iraqi political leaders grew increasingly critical of the stalled assault.

Witnesses in Basra said members of the most powerful militia in the city, the Mahdi Army, were setting up checkpoints and controlling traffic in many places ringing the central district controlled by some of the 30,000 Iraqi Army and police forces involved in the assault. Fighters were regularly attacking the government forces, then quickly retreating.

Senior members of several political parties said the operation, ordered by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, had been poorly planned.

The growing discontent adds a new level of complication to the American-led effort to demonstrate that the Iraqi government had made strides toward being able to operate a functioning country and keep the peace without thousands of American troops.

Mr. Maliki has staked his reputation on the success of the Basra assault, fulfilling a longstanding American desire for him to boldly take on militias.

But as criticism of the assault has risen, it has brought into question another American benchmark of progress in Iraq: political reconciliation.

Security has suffered as well.

Since the Basra assault began Tuesday, violence has spread to Shiite districts of Baghdad and other places in Iraq where Shiite militiamen hold sway, raising fears that security gains often attributed to a yearlong American troop buildup could be at risk. Any widespread breakdown of a cease-fire called by Moktada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric who founded the Mahdi Army, could bring the country back to the sectarian violence that strained it in 2006 and 2007.

“We don’t have to rush to military solutions,” said Nadeem al-Jabiri, a Parliament member from the Fadhila Party, a strong rival of Mr. Sadr’s party that would have been expected to back the operation, at least on political grounds. Instead of solving the problems in Basra, Mr. Jabiri said, Mr. Maliki “escalated the situation.”

For the third straight day, the American military was reported to be conducting airstrikes in support of Iraqi troops in Basra. Iraqi police officials reported that an American bombing run had killed eight civilians.

Go to link to read the rest of the New York Times article.

TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK ON IRAQ FIGHTING

The Bush White House and their propaganda branch, FOX NEWS, are in full spin trying desperately to try and put the best face on the ongoing fighting in Iraq. The curfew on Baghdad will be lifted Monday morning and the Muqtada al-Sadr Mehadi militita has declared a cease-fire in Basra, but all of this could be just a smokescreen and a pause in the fighting until the insurgents and militias regroup and begin their next offensive.

Anyone who believes what Bush and FOX NEWS are saying about the war in Iraq are not only naive but they should be pitied.

ANALYSIS: Iraq fighting a reality check

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer 32 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080330/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_reality_check

The Iraqi capital locked down by curfew. U.S. diplomats holed up their workplaces, fearing rocket attacks. Nearly every major southern city racked by turmoil. Hundreds killed in less than a week.

A declaration Sunday by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to pull his Mahdi Army fighters off the streets may help bring an end to the wave of violence that swept Baghdad and Shiite areas after the government launched a crackdown against militias in Basra.

That will ease the violence which has claimed more than 300 lives. But it won't bring an end to the power struggle between Shiite parties that triggered the confrontation.

Nor will it ensure government control of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and headquarters of the vital oil industry.

And it could leave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki politically weakened because he put his prestige on the line with promises to crush Basra's "criminal gangs," some of which he said were "worse than al-Qaida."

The crackdown has already dragged the United States into a bloody inner-Shiite fight at a time when the U.S. administration would prefer to talk about success against Sunni extremists and to argue that Iraq is finally on the road to stability.

Instead, the bloody confrontation serves as a reality check about the situation in Iraq — even as the top U.S. officials in Baghdad prepare to brief a skeptical Congress for two days starting April 8 about prospects for bringing home the troops and leaving a relatively stable country behind.
President Bush called the Basra crisis "a defining moment" because the Maliki-led Iraqi government was finally taking on the Shiite militias.

But the crisis speaks volumes about the reality of Iraqi society and raises new questions about the effectiveness of the country's leadership as America debates whether continuing the mission here is worth the sacrifice.

Iraqi and American officials portrayed the crackdown as a move to crush outlaw militias — some with close ties to Iran — that have effectively ruled the streets of the country's second-largest city for nearly three years.

Many of those armed groups are without question deep into oil smuggling, extortion, murder and robbery.

But the picture is more complex. It involves deep-seated rivalries within the majority Shiite community.

Numerous other militias and armed groups operate in Basra and elsewhere in the south — some with close ties to political parties in the national and provincial governments.

All signs indicate that the crackdown was directed primarily at the Mahdi Army, the armed wing of al-Sadr's political movement.

The Sadrists believe the goal was to weaken their movement before provincial elections this fall. Al-Sadr's followers expect to make major gains in the regional voting at the expense of al-Maliki's Shiite partners in the government.

The headquarters of the Iraqi army's Basra operation has come under fire regularly since the fighting began. Iraqi commanders have had to turn to the British and American warplanes to take out militia fighters blocking their advance.

At least a dozen police, including some elite commandos, defected to the Sadrists in Baghdad. AP Television News video showed Mahdi fighters in Basra unloading weapons from an Iraqi army vehicle.

The vehicle didn't have a scratch on it, suggesting it was either abandoned by the Iraqi soldiers or delivered to the Mahdi Army.
__

MORE ROCKET ATTACKS ON GREEN ZONE SUNDAY SHOW GEN. PETRAEUS' PLAN IS A FAILURE

General David Petraeus Petraeus reacted immediately to Sunday's rocket attacks on the Green Zone by blaming them on Iran.

He told the BBC the rockets were "Iranian provided, Iranian-made rockets", and that they were launched by groups that were funded and trained by the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Petraeus said this was "in complete violation of promises made by President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts.

"Petraeus statement was clearly intended to divert attention from a development that threatens one of the two main pillars of the administration's claim of progress in Iraq -- the willingness of Sadr to restrain the Mahdi Army, even in the face of systematic raids on its leadership by the U.S. military and its Iraqi allies.

The rocket attacks appear to have been one of several actions by the Mahdi Army to warn the United States and the Iraqi government to halt their systematic raids aimed at driving the Sadrists out of key Shiite centers in the south. They were followed almost immediately by Mahdi Army clashes with rival Shiite militiamen in Basra, Sadr City and Kut and a call for a nationwide general strike to demand the release of Sadrist detainees.

Sadr Offensive Reveals Failure of Petraeus Strategy

By Gareth Porter, IPS NewsPosted on March 30, 2008, Printed on March 30, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/80722/

The escalation of fighting between Mahdi Army militiamen and their Shiite rivals, which could mark the end of Moqtada al-Sadr's self-imposed ceasefire, also exposes Gen. David Petraeus's strategy for controlling Sadr's forces as a failure.

Even more pointed was a strong warning from Sadr aide Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammedawi to the United States as well as to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), whose Badr Organization militiamen, in the uniforms of Iraqi security forces, have targeted the Madhi Army throughout the south. "They don't seem to realise that the Sadrist trend is like a volcano," he told worshipers Friday in Kufa. "If it explodes, it will crush their rotten heads."

The signs that the Madhi Army will no longer remain passive mark a major defeat for the U.S. military command's strategy aimed at weakening the Mahdi Army.

WATCH VIDEO: IRAQ IS UNDERGOING CHOLERA EPIDEMIC

Alive in Baghdad: Sewage problems persist in East Baghdad

WATCH VIDEO: http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1226&thisview=item

We show this segment courtesy of www.aliveinbaghdad.org. Alive in Baghdad employs Iraqi journalists to produce video packages each week about a variety of topics on daily life in Iraq.
Baghdad, Iraq - Shama’iya - The Shama’iya district is in far east Baghdad, although considered a part of the capital, the sprawling metropolis is perhaps more accurately seen as a series of boroughs than one contiguous city.

Shama’iya is a relatively new district, and, strangely in the crisis-ridden capital, has been relatively calm since the beginning of the invasion. Shama’iya is the home of a large mental hospital, and perhaps the only noteworthy element of the district for many Baghdadis.
To Shama’iya residents, the most noteworthy element is the ever-present sewage water polluting the streets, filling some roads nearly completely. Although you might not know it on first glance, Shama’iya is not simply a neighborhood of the poor and indigent, forgotten by the capital and municipal government. Shama’iya is the home of doctors, engineers, and journalists, as well as more “mundane” peoples.

Iraq is undergoing a cholera epidemic, exacerbated by the failing sewer system in the capital and excess of stagnant sewage polluting Baghdad and much of the rest of the country. While security may be improving, there seems to be little movement to improve access to basic necessities such as clean water and electricity.

Despite being a calm district, which its residents claim has seen no major disasters, terrorist attacks, or other traumatic events, the Baghdad and 9th April Municipalities claim they cannot assist the residents in repairing the broken sewer system due to security concerns.

The residents themselves told Alive in Baghdad the issues are due more to corruption and waste than any actual security issues at hand. While the government fails to rebuild even the calm districts, its left to question how more restive areas can ever hope to get back on their feet.

NAMES AND HOMETOWNS OF NEWEST U.S. CASUALTIES IN IRAQ

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:
4003
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:
4
Total
4007

DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Mar 29, 2008
03/29/08 MNF: Two MND-B Soldiers attacked by IED
wo Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers were killed when their vehicle was struck by an improvised-explosive device in eastern Baghdad at approximately 5:30 p.m. March 29.
03/29/08

DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Joshua A. Molina, 20, of Houston, Texas, died Mar. 27 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

REPUBLICAN SEN. LINDSAY GRAHAM SHOWS HE IS CLUELESS ABOUT IRAQ ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY

Graham: We Must Defeat Militias ‘Backed By Iran’ By Siding With Militia Backed By Iran

The U.S. has stepped up its involvement in the intra-Shiite militia fighting in southern Iraq in recent days, air bombing several targets. The Bush administration is supporting the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) and the Badr militia, which are aligned with the Iraqi government, against Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army.

On Fox News Sunday today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the U.S. support was necessary to tame Iranian influence in Iraq:

Now we have a battle with militias who are operating outside the government. … We must win this fight. The militias that we are fighting are backed by Iran. So this is an effort by Iran to destabilize Iraq.

Watch it: Click on this link to watch Sen. Graham make a fool of himself on FOX NEWS SUNDAY: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/30/graham-badr/

Graham is trying to oversimplify the situation. In reality, the U.S. is helping bolster Iran’s influence by injecting itself into this fight. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) explained:

The Iranians have close associations with all the Shia communities, not only with Sadr but also Hakim. … The notion that this is fight by American allies against Iranian-inspired elements is not accurate.

Ray Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations noted the ISCI “was essentially created by Iran, and its militia, the Badr Brigade, was trained and equipped by the Revolutionary Guards” — which the Bush administration calls a “terrorist” organization.

Journalist Gareth Porter added the Badr militia is the “most pro-Iranian political-military forces in Iraq.” In fact, ISCI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim “met with [Iranian Revolutionary Guard] officers to be his guests in December 2006, apparently to discuss military assistance to the Badr Organisation.”

Graham, underscoring his cluelessness about the situation on the ground right now, added that “the Badr brigade is not the problem.” Graham seems to be supporting an effort to fight Iran by supporting Iran.

KILLINGS AND VIOLENCE CONTINUE SUNDAY ACROSS IRAQ. 2 GIS KILLED

The rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a temporary cease-fire in the fighting in Basra, but the rest of Iraq remains a hotbed of violent outbreaks of bombings, killings and shootings.

Here is what happend on Sunday alone in Iraq:

BaghdadTwo MND-Baghdad soldiers killed by roadside bomb on Saturday. This was announced yesterday, but too late to make it into Whisker's post so I'm linking it here.Note: It appears that the city-wide curfew has affected reporting. Available information is unusually sketchy. I doubt that this is close to a full accounting of security incidents in Baghdad today.

Three volleys of mortar attacks on the Green Zone during the day, no information on damage or casualties.

An Iraqi government official says at least 23 people have been killed in U.S. air strikes targeting Shiite areas of Baghdad. Unfortunately, at this time, I can find only this very limited statement, no further details.Two bodies found dumped on Saturday.

MosulColonel Ziad Qassem Sultan, commander of police 1st regiment and another officer killed in an attempt to arrest members of the Islamic State in Iraq. This is a group the U.S. conventionally labels as "al Qaeda." Yes, this other conflict is still going on.KirkukBotched bomb attack on a police commander kills three civilians.

MuqdadiyaIraqi forces say they killed an "al Qaeda" gunman and wounded four.

Diyala Province, near BaqubaCouncil chief Ibrahim Hassan al-Bajlan survives a bomb attack on his motorcade, two bodyguards killed. Reuters puts this "near Saadiya," which is actually about 50 miles from Baquba.DhuluiyaGunmen attack a police patrol, kill five police officers, injure two civilians.

HillaPolice say they arrested 101 "militants" in various raids.HawijaThree awakening council members injured in a bomb attack on their patrol.NajafRoadside bomb kills one Iraqi army officer, injures two soldiers, on Saturday.Siniya (near Beiji)Suicide car bomber kills 5 "Awakening Council" members, 8 others injured.

Other News of the DayBaghdad residents face food shortages as curfew continues. Excerpt:
By Adam Brookes, BBC News, BaghdadSince the curfew in Baghdad was extended indefinitely, the city has been dotted with military checkpoints.

The curfew means no vehicles at all can move - except for those of the police and military.That, of course, makes it much harder for militiamen to move around. They cannot transport supplies or ammunition. They cannot carry the 107mm rockets that are plaguing this city to launching sites.

If they try, they risk being spotted by American overhead surveillance - perhaps by unmanned drones or helicopters.The American military released graphic footage on Saturday, filmed from the gun camera of an Apache attack helicopter, which showed militiamen on the move. And the missile which killed them.

For Baghdad's civilians, life grows more miserable by the hour. The authorities appear to be allowing a little foot traffic but for the most part Baghdad's streets are empty. Most of its businesses are closed, as are schools. Some neighbourhood markets are open, and in calmer parts of the city people are leaving their houses to shop.But the curfew means no fresh food is coming into the city. The vegetables on the stalls are now several days old, prompting expression of disgust from shoppers. Nonetheless, they are selling out fast as people stock up for the coming days. "Just onions and garlic left," said one after visiting a market in east Baghdad.And prices are starting to rise. A kilo of tomatoes usually costs 1,250 Iraqi dinars (about $1). This morning, at the east Baghdad market, they were selling for 3,000 dinars. A man out shopping said he had fought his way through a crush of people surrounding a stall that still displayed a pile of ageing tomatoes. The boy working the stall refused to serve him, saying he needed to sell to local women who were trying to feed their families.The man found his frustration tempered by the boy's insistence on serving those who needed the food most. Bakers in the same district say that in another two days they will no longer be able to bake bread.

Late on Sunday, the Iraqi government has said they will lift the curfew on Baghdad at 6 AM Monday morning Baghdad time.

WHO IS REALLY PAYING FOR THE COST OF THE IRAQ WAR?

Five years after the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, mainstream media is once more making the topic an object of intense scrutiny. The costs and implications of the war are endlessly covered from all possible angles, with one notable exception, the cost to the Iraqi people themselves.Through all the special coverage and exclusive reports, very little is said about Iraqi casualties, who are either completely overlooked or hastily mentioned and whose numbers can only be guesstimated.

(Op-ed) Ramzy Baroud Sunday 30th March, 2008
THE BIG NEWS NETWORK

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=342818

Also conveniently ignored are the millions injured, internally and externally displaced, the victims of rape and kidnappings who will carry physical and psychological scars for the rest of their lives.We find ourselves stuck in a hopeless paradigm, where it feels necessary to empathise with the sensibilities of the aggressor so as not to sound "unpatriotic", while remaining blind to the untold anguish of the victims. Some actually feel the need to go so far as to blame the Iraqis for their own misfortune.

Baghdad has become the most dangerous city in the world, largely as a result of a U.S. policy of pitting various Iraqi ethnic and sectarian groups against one another. Today, Baghdad is a city of walled-off Sunni and Shia ghettoes, divided by concrete walls erected by the US military," reports Dahr Jamail, one of the few courageous voices that honestly relayed the horrendous outcomes of the war. Indeed, there seem to be no promising statistics coming out of Iraq.

Even under the previous regime and the debilitating sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the UN, Iraqis were much better off prior to the war. Now, Iraqis are relevant only as pawns of endless U.S. government propaganda.

From the viewpoint of Bush, McCain and Cheney, they are the victims of al-Qaeda, which must be fought at all costs. From the viewpoint of Clinton and Obama, they need to fight their own wars and take responsibility for them, as if Iraqi "irresponsibility" is the main problem.

In yet another "surprise visit" to Iraq by a U.S. official, Vice-President Dick Cheney declared that Iraq was a "successful endeavour". Considering the exorbitant contracts granted to selected corporations, the war has indeed succeeded in making a few already rich companies and individuals a lot richer.

Meanwhile, Shlomo Brom, a senior fellow at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies and former head of the Israeli army's Strategic Planning Division, sees things from a slightly different angle. "Any Iraq will be better than Iraq under Saddam, because the Iraq of Saddam had the ability to threaten Israel," he was quoted as saying in the Christian Science Monitor.

In considering such skewed logic, one can only hope that Cheney's successful experiment will end soon, and that Israel's desire for security is now sated.

The people of Iraq cannot tolerate any more "success."

Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London).

IRAQI GOVERNMENT ENVOY REJECTED BY AL-SADR AS "BATTLE FOR BASRA:" CONTINUES

The Iraqi Army is sputtering and can't handle the uprising in Basra, and now comes word that the Iraqi government's envoy was rejected by militia rebel Moqtada al-Sadr when he tried to meet with the cleric to talk about a ceasefire.

President Bush had praised the Iraqi Army on Thursday, but now it appears the Iraqi Army can't handle the task of stopping the violence in Basra, Iraq and the U.S. military has been called in to try and bring some kind of peace to the second largest city in Iraq.

On Thursday, Bush had said the Iraqi Army initiative in Basra was a "positive moment," but by Friday Bush had backed away from his flowery language and was calling the Battle for Basra a "defining moment."

Sadr rebuffs Iraq government envoy as offensive sputters

Leila Fadel McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/32013.html

BAGHDAD - After failing to break the resistance of Shiite militias in the five-day siege of oil rich Basra, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki sent a top general to hold talks with his Shiite rival, Muqtada al Sadr, Saturday night only to be rebuffed by the firebrand cleric, an Iraqi official close to the negotiations said.

Maliki denounced Shia militants in Basra as the equivalent of Al Qaida, and Sadr told his supporters not to hand over their arms to a puppet state of the United States.

The diplomatic initiative and the harsh rebuff further eroded expectations for a successful outcome to the offensive, which Maliki is personally directing from the presidential palace in the southern port city. It was not the only sign of problems.

Maliki issued orders Friday to enlist volunteers for the battle against the Shiite militias, and his Dawa party sought to enlist fighters. The U.S. military raised its profile in Basra still further, providing protection for installations including the palace where Maliki is housed, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said.

There were more U.S. air strikes in the Sadrist stronghold of Sadr City, and local officials said U.S. forces joined Iraqi security forces in clashes against Sadrists lasting hours south of Hilla, which lies south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, Sadr's Mahdi Army militia went door to door in Sadr City with a list of those employed by government security services, demanding that they not report to their jobs, local residents said.

The circumstances in which the negotiations with Sadr took place suggested the government is no longer able to dictate the terms of an agreement with Sadr but now must seek a deal. General Hussein al Assadi, a Baghdad-based commander, traveled to Najaf to call on the head of Sadr's political bureau there, Lewaa Smaisam. From his office, the two men telephoned Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran, where he is studying religion. But they could not reach agreement, an official close to the negotiations said. He would not give his name due to the sensitivity of the subject.

THE MEDIA'S IRAQ DRAWDOWN

We have been reporting for months how the mainstream media in the United States has backed away from covering events in Iraq. Now there is proof we were right all along.

The media’s Iraq drawdown.»
Eric Alterman and George Zornick document the evidence of the media’s declining coverage of the Iraq war.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/27/the-media%e2%80%99s-drawdown-in-iraq/

They note:
– A study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found that in all of 2007, the topic of the Iraq war occupied an average of 15.5 percent of the “newshole” in the media; in the last quarter it fell to nine percent, and then to 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

– The broadcast networks’ nightly shows devoted more than 4,100 minutes to Iraq in 2003 and 3,000 in 2004, before going down to 2,000 a year, according to Andrew Tyndall, who monitors the broadcasts and posts.

– Only two newspapers noted the 4,000th combat death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq.

2 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED, 143 IRAQIS KILLED AND 230 WOUNDED IN BATTLE FOR BASRA, IRAQ

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ
Saturday: 143 Iraqis, 2 US Soldiers Killed, 230 Iraqis Wounded
Friday: 163 Iraqis, 1 US Soldier Killed, 214 Iraqis Wounded
US Airstrike Kills 8 Civlians in Iraq's Basra

More Airstrikes on Basra
U.S. jets widened the bombing of Basra on Saturday, dropping two precision-guided bombs on a suspected militia stronghold north of the city, British officials said. Maj. Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman, said U.S. jets dropped the two bombs on a militia position in Qarmat Ali shortly before 12:30 p.m.

Iraq – Humanitarian situation in Basra and Baghdad
Latest report on humanitarian situation in Iraq. The ICRC is concerned about the humanitarian impact of continued fighting in Basra and Baghdad. Its staff in the two cities say that many people are running out of food and water. Most shops are reported to be closed. The supply of electricity in Basra and in parts of Baghdad is intermittent or has been cut. Hospitals in Basra and in parts of Baghdad have told the ICRC that they are running out of medical stocks, food and fuel. Patients' families are reportedly bringing their own small generators to some hospitals in the capital to ensure sufficient power supplies during treatment.

Iraq: a dangerous walk to work
A white cloth fluttered from the antenna of a car to signal the two men inside were noncombatants. Heavy machine-gun fire resounded in the distance. It reminded me of the early days of the U.S.-led war, now in its sixth year. I had hoped such days were over. Iraqi authorities clamped a curfew on the capital late Thursday as clashes spread between security forces and militia fighters angry over a crackdown in the southern oil port of Basra. That didn't leave people much time to prepare and I was eager to get to the office and give my colleagues a hand. It was a beautiful spring day but most people remained holed up in their homes amid the tensions, venturing out only to buy bread and other necessities in the few stores that were open.

Tense Hours in Iraq's Sadr City
The gunfire struck like thunderclaps, building to a steady rhythm. American soldiers in a Stryker armored vehicle fired away from one end of the block. At the other end, two groups of Shiite militiamen pounded back with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. American helicopters circled above in the blue afternoon sky. As a heavy barrage erupted outside his parents' house, Abu Mustafa al-Thahabi, a political and military adviser to the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, rushed through the purple gate and took shelter behind the thick walls. He had just spoken with a fighter by cellphone. "I told him not to use that weapon. It's not effective," he said, referring to a rocket-propelled grenade. "I told him to use the IED, the Iranian one," he added, using the shorthand for an improvised explosive device. "This is more effective." After nearly a year of relative calm [HUH?? A YEAR??? – dancewater], U.S. troops and Shiite militiamen engaged in pitched battles this week, underscoring how quickly order can give way to chaos in Iraq. On this block in Sadr City, the cleric's sprawling stronghold, men and boys came out from nearly every house to fight, using powerful IEDs and rockets.

Iraq’s never-ending war
All explanations are possible for the current fighting in Basra, the largest city in southern Iraq situated in an area which floats on massive oil riches. But the reality of the situation which tells volumes about what is happening is the fact that war, in the fullest sense of the word, has been raging without interruption in Iraq for the past five years. Over those years, bombing by war planes and shelling by heavy artillery have been raging across the country, telling everyone inside and outside Iraq that conditions for normal life are no longer possible. Amid such circumstances in which villages, towns and cities turn into battle scenes, there are still some whose total state of denial spurs them to speak of successes and achievements.
Every now and then in the past five years, the government or the foreign occupiers would launch massive and bloody operations on Iraqis in major cities such as Karbala, Najaf, Baaqouba, Kut, and Basra and so on and so forth. Fierce fighting takes place inside these cities with the main fodder being innocent Iraqi civilians among them women and children. In the past five years, Iraqis have been paying dearly for the blunders first of the foreigners who came to occupy their country and second of the Iraqis these foreigners have nurtured and supported to run the country.

NEW VIDEO: AL-SADR TALKS TO AL JAZEERA ABOUT BASRA AND BUSH

A new video has been released of an interview with Moqtada al-Sadr talking to Al Jazeera about how he views the battle for Basra and what he and the rest of the Iraqi people think of President Bush.

See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a4s458mDMs

AL SADR ORDERS HIS FOLLOWERS NOT TO LAY DOWN THEIR WEAPONS

Moqtada al-Sadr, the rebel leader, has ordered his Mahdi army not to lay down their weapons and to defy the orders given by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and give up the battle in Basra, Iraq.

Al Sadr: Weapons stay till occupiers go

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:20:55
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=49483&sectionid=351020201

Moqtada has rejected Mahdi army's disarmament.Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his followers not to lay down their weapons, confronting a crackdown by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The Iraqi government has ordered the Mahdi Army to disarm, but the Sadrist movement has rejected its armed wing laying down its arms. "Moqtada al-Sadr asks his followers not to deliver weapons to the government.

Weapons should be turned over only to a government which can expel the (US) occupiers," Sadr's aide Hassan Zargani told Reuters. Premier Maliki has staked his authority on disarming Sadr's followers with a major military operation.

But his forces have made little progress driving fighters from the streets and instead have provoked rebellion in towns across the south. The prime minister initially gave Sadr's followers in Basra 72 hours to disarm, but with little progress on the ground he extended the deadline until April 8.

His defense minister has said the ferocity of the resistance was unexpected.

In the meantime in a rare interview taped just before this week's outbreak of violence and shown by al-Jazeera on Saturday, al-Sadr has called on Arab leaders meeting in Syria to voice their support for Iraq's "resistance" to what he calls foreign occupation.

Al-Jazeera television has shown a brief clip of an interview with the Mahdi Army leader and has said that the full interview will soon be shown.

WHO IS THE IRAQI ARMY BUSH BRAGGED ABOUT?

Who is the Iraqi Army?

That seems like a strange question. What do I mean?

By Cenk Uygur, Huffington PostPosted on March 29, 2008, Printed on March 29, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/80649/

The Bush administration claims the Iraqi Army is a unified force of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds who fight together for the centralized government of Iraq.

That's complete nonsense.

In fact, the different divisions of the army are segregated by sect. The so-called Iraqi Army fighting in the south right now is mainly the Badr Corps. This is a rival Shiite militia to Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

The Badr Corps is connected to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. Don't get freaked out, they're theoretically the good guys. Well, at least they are the largest political party in Iraq and the ones we are supporting. Here's the problem -- they're not the good guys at all. They ran death squads and torture chambers out of the Interior Ministry throughout the period of ethnic cleansing in Iraq.

And get this, out of all the parties in Iraq, the one most closely linked to Iran is -- the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and their militia partners in the Badr Corps.

So, who is the Iraqi Army? The ones fighting Sadr's forces right now is the Badr Corps -- a Shiite militia with closer ties to Iran than Sadr.

Click on link to read the full story...

U.S. "PRECISION-GUIDED BOMBS" KILL 8 IN BASRA, IRAQ INCLUDING 2 WOMEN AND 1 CHILD

The Iraqi Army can't or won't handle the task of bringing order to Basra so the United States has had to call in U.S Air Force strikes on the second largest city in Iraq. Last September Gen. David Petraeus told the Washington Post the problem in Basra was an "Iraqi problem" and needs an "Iraqi solution." So much for that plan.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/29/us-airpower-deployed-in-basra/

UpdateMore from the AP:

In Basra, U.S. jets dropped two precision-guided bombs at midday Saturday on a suspected militia stronghold at Qarmat Ali north of the city, British military spokesman Maj. Tom Holloway said. "My understanding was that this was a building that had people who were shooting back at Iraqi ground forces," Holloway said. Iraqi police said that earlier in the day a U.S. warplane strafed a house and killed eight civilians, including two women and one child. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information.

Also:

U.S. airpower deployed in Basra.»
Time reports:
Despite having been initiated by the Iraqi government, the offensive by Iraqi security forces against militiamen in Basra is increasingly drawing in the United States, both militarily and politically. U.S. air power was used in the key port city for the first time on Thursday night in support of Iraqi forces trying to dislodge fighters of Moqtada Sadr’s Mahdi Army, and U.S. troops clashed with Mahdi Army militants in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City on Friday.

Despite this U.S. involvement, the Washington Post notes that in September, when lawmakers asked Gen. David Petraeus about the increasing violence amongst Shiite groups in Basra, Petraeus replied it was an “Iraqi problem” with an “Iraqi solution.”

VIOLENCE IN BAGHDAD FORCES EXTENSION OF CURFEW INDEFINITELY

The situation in Baghdad is so bad the U.S. military and Iraqi government, such as it is, have extended the curfew in the capital city indefinitely.

Baghdad curfew extended indefinitely
By Peter Graff 35 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080329/wl_nm/iraq_dc

Iraqi authorities on Saturday extended a curfew in Baghdad indefinitely in an attempt to contain clashes between Shi'ite militants and Iraqi security forces that have threatened to spiral out of control.

But in an indication that the violence was set to continue, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers not to lay down their weapons, defying a five-day-old crackdown by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has ordered them to disarm.

The latest violence has spread from the southern city of Basra through towns in Iraq's southern Shi'ite heartland and neighborhoods of Baghdad.

"Moqtada al-Sadr asks his followers not to deliver weapons to the government. Weapons should be turned over only to a government which can expel the (U.S.) occupiers," Sadr aide Hassan Zargani told Reuters by telephone.

Maliki has staked his authority on disarming Sadr's followers with a major military operation. But his forces have made little progress driving fighters from the streets and instead have provoked rebellion in towns across the south.

The prime minister initially gave Sadr's followers in Basra 72 hours to disarm, but with little progress on the ground he extended the deadline until April 8.

The curfew in Baghdad, imposed on Thursday, was due to expire early on Sunday.

"To defeat the terrorist groups, the outlaws and the criminal gangs and to preserve the souls of our citizens, we extended the curfew in Baghdad indefinitely for people, cars and motorcycles," said a statement from the Iraqi security forces

15 IRAQI ARMY SOLDIERS "CUT, RUN AND SURRENDER" IN BASRA

Now it is the IRAQ ARMY soldiers that are "cutting, running and surrendering" in Basra. 15 IRAQ ARMY soldiers surrendered to a number of Sadr offices rather than continue fighting.

This leaves the whole mess in Basra up to U.S. forces.

President Bush had told a nationwide TV audience on Thursday that he was proud of how the IRAQI ARMY were performing in Basra and that it was a "postiive moment" in the battle for Iraq.

Baghdad, Mar. 29, (VOI) – 15 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to a number of Sadr offices, escaping their duties, said the official spokesperson of Baghdad Operations Command (Fardh Al-Qanoon) on Saturday, while clashes between security forces and Sadr's militiamen continued for 6th day running throughout Iraq .

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq Saturday , 29 /03 /2008 Time 11:24:26

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=74680&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

Major General Qassim Atta also admitted that the civilian spokesperson of Baghdad Operations Command, Tahseen al-Sheikhli, is still abducted, but in a "safe place."Atta said in a press conference in Baghdad "With the presence of this big number of Iraqi troops, it is possible that some escaping cases may happen."

"The registered number that we have is that 15 soldiers were able to escape," Atta explained.

Reports recently said that a number of Iraqi soldiers and policemen surrendered to Sadr offices in Baghdad and Basra, refusing to battle Mahdi Army gunmen. Atta considered this issue normal, due to "the presence of more than 50 thousand governmental fighters in Baghdad."

"Commander in Chief, Nouri Al-Maliki, ordered to prosecute those soldiers according to the Military Punishments Law," Atta asserted. He admitted that the civilian spokesperson of Baghdad Security Plan, Tahseen al-Sheikhli, was kidnapped in Baghdad on Thursday.

"Yes Tahseen al-Sheikhli was kidnapped by unknown gunmen at Al-Ameen Al-Thaniya neighborhood (southeastern Baghdad), and he was taken to unknown place," Atta said.

He added "Al-Sheikhli poned Baghdad Operations Command on Friday, and he is in a safe place, and until now no side announced responsibility for kidnapping him, or put any conditions to release him."

Police sources had announced on Thursday that gunmen raided al-Sheikhli's house in Al-Ameen Al-Thaniya neighborhood, and took him to unknown place.MH/SK

U.S. WARPLANE KILLS 8 IRAQI CIVILIANS IN BASRA

Is this how we win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people by one of our warplanes firing into Iraqi civilians killing eight and wounding seven others?

Basra, Mar 29, (VOI) – Eight people were killed and seven others wounded when a Multi-National Force (MNF) warplane, later reported as American, opened fire in western Basra province on Saturday, according to eyewitnesses.

Basra - Voices of Iraq Saturday , 29 /03 /2008 Time 11:24:26

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=74653&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

"An MNF warplane opened fire at the al-Tak area in al-Hussein neighborhood, (8 km) western Basra, killing eight people and injuring seven others, mostly civilians," an eyewitness from al-Hussein told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

A media spokesman for the MNF, replying a question by VOI, said "the aircraft was American, not British.

"The oil-rich port city of Basra, Iraq's second largest province, lies 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.Earlier on Saturday eyewitnesses said an Iraqi copter was shot down by gunmen fire late on Friday in Basra.

"An Iraqi copter went down last night when Mahdi Army gunmen fired at it near the Military Hospital in northern Basra," an eyewitness told VOI.From last Monday, Basra has been the scene of fighting between Iraqi security forces and fighters from the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militias.

IRAQI ARMY FAILS TO STOP VIOLENCE IN BASRA

President Bush called the Iraqi Army's offense against the Mehadi militia in Basra a "positive moment," but the President spoke too soon because now there are reports the Iraqi Army are bogged down and have had to call for help from the United States military in trying to stop the violence in Basra, the second largest city in Iraq.

Shiite leader al-Sadr defies Iraq gov't
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=AvlHgh91Iuhuq3tvRyaExZdX6GMA

Anti-American Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers Saturday to defy government orders to surrender their weapons, as U.S. jets struck Shiite extremists near Basra to bolster a faltering Iraqi offensive against gunmen in the city.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash that his offensive, which began Tuesday, provoked in areas of Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power.

Al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, nonetheless vowed to remain in Basra until government forces wrest control from militias, including al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. He called the fight for control of Basra "a decisive and final battle."

British ground troops, who controlled the city until handing it over to the Iraqis last December, also joined the battle for Basra, firing artillery Saturday for the first time in support of Iraqi forces.

Iraqi authorities have given Basra extremists until April 8 to surrender heavy and medium weapons after an initial 72-hour ultimatum to hand them over was widely ignored.

But a defiant al-Sadr called on his followers Saturday to ignore the order, saying that his Mahdi Army would turn in its weapons only to a government that can "get the occupier out of Iraq," referring to the Americans.

The order was made public by Haidar al-Jabiri, a member of the influential political commission of the Sadrist movement.

Residents of Basra contacted by telephone said Mahdi militiamen were manning checkpoints Saturday in their neighborhood strongholds. The sound of intermittent mortar and machine gun fire rang out across the city, as the military headquarters at a downtown hotel came under repeated fire.

UPDATED REPORT ON VIOLENCE IN IRAQ SATURDAY AND MORE U.S. CASUALTIES

The situation in Iraq is getting worse by the minute. Anyone who goes on TV and says "the surge" is working is totally out of their mind.

We start off this updated report from Iraq with a NEW list of casualties followed by a report on the violence in each of the provinces in Iraq.

CASUALTY REPORT:

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Center Soldier in an improvised explosive device attack South of Baghdad on Friday, March 28th. No other details were released.

Mark Ormrod of 40 Commando, lost both his legs and an arm in a Taliban landmine blast, was blown up by a landmine during a foot patrol in Helmand province on Christmas Eve. The 24-year-old has spent the last three months in intensive care and rehabilitation and will return soon to his home in Plymouth.

Kyle Anderson was a state wrestling champ. 4 years ago, an explosion in Iraq left him badly hurt. Now, Anderson is back on his feet and learning how to talk again.

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF KILLINGS, BOMBINGS AND OTHER ACTS OF VIOLENCE IN THE VARIOUS PROVINCES IN IRAQ THAT TOOK PLACE ON SATURDAY:

Baghdad:#1: mortar or rockets were again lobbed from Shiite areas in eastern Baghdad toward the Green Zone, the fortified area where the U.S. and British embassies are located, along with much of the Iraqi government. It wasn't immediately clear if the rounds hit the zone or landed nearby.Baghdad's Green Zone, seat of the government and the US embassy, again came under mortar bomb or rocket attack, but no information was immediately available on casualties or damage.James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Baghdad, said on Saturday that missiles were still being fired. "I heard six mortars or rockets - it's difficult to distinguish between the sound of mortars and Katyusha rockets - land in the Green Zone," he said.The U.S. military said in an e-mail they "have no reports of serious injuries" following the incoming rounds.Ten mortar shells hit the Green Zoon today.

#2: American forces said on Saturday they had killed 48 gunmen the previous day in gun battles and air strikes across Baghdad. In one strike in northwestern Baghdad late on Friday, a U.S. helicopter fired a Hellfire missile killing 10 gunmen who attacked a checkpoint. In another incident later in the evening, soldiers on patrol returned fire after an attack, killing nine.

#3: Another 17 people have been killed in Baghdad's Kadhimiyah and other northern regions in clashes and mortar attacks, Iraqi and US officials said.Iraqi health officials said on Saturday that the clashes have left 75 people dead in Baghdad's Sadr City, the bastion of Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, since Tuesday. Another 498 people were wounded in the sprawling neighbourhood of some two million people.At least 133 bodies and 647 wounded have been brought to five hospitals in the eastern half of Baghdad over the past five days of clashes, the head of the health directorate for eastern Baghdad, Ali Bustan, said on Saturday.

#4: Health workers say the slum’s two hospitals are overflowing and understaffed, and a ring of Iraqi and U.S. forces around Sadr City makes it impossible to evacuate the wounded.

#5: A top aide of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr claimed on Saturday that several groups of Iraqi troops were surrendering their arms at the movement’s office in Baghdad’s Shite bastion of Sadr City. “They said “we can’t fight our own people. When we first joined the army it was to defeat terrorism and not to point the guns against the chests of our people’. We told them we would not take your weapons. They should be with you,” Afraiji said. “We gave them copies of Koran and told them to go back.” Several media photographers were at the Sadr office when the troops arrived.Some 40 policemen in Sadr City handed over their weapons to al-Sadr's local office, one of the policemen told The Associated Press on Saturday.

#6: A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded three others when it hit their patrol in the Amil district of southwestern Baghdad, police said.

#7: Mortars also landed in Shiite areas of eastern Baghdad, killing at least one person and injuring 12, according to police. It was not clear from where the mortars were fired.

#8: A gunman was killed on Saturday while trying to blow up a bridge in the northern part of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a security official said. "A terrorist fired an RPG-7 shell in the direction of the floating bridge of al-Koraiaat but the shell fell near him, killing him instantly," Maj. General Qassem Atta, the official spokesman for the Fardh al-Qanoon (law imposing) security plan, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#9: Two mortar shells hit Arasat neighborhood, no casualties were reported.Diyala Prv:Khan Bani Saad:#1: Three civilians of the same family were injured in an attack with mortars in the district of Bani Saad, 30 km north of Baaquba, on Saturday, a security official said. "A number of mortar shells fell on a house in Bani Saad district, wounding three civilians of the same family," the source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Hilla:#1: Six members of the Iraqi forces were killed Friday and 13 wounded in heavy fighting between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi forces in the city of Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad, security sources said Friday.

#2: Some 14 mortar shells hit the US consulate in the Iraqi city of Hillah, some 100 kilometres south of Baghdad on Saturday, security sources said. Black smoke was seen rising from the site, security sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.No losses have been reported from the incident.

Karbala:#1: On Saturday violence was reported from the central Shiite city of Karbala in which 12 "criminals" were killed, local police chief Raed Jawdat Shakir said. He did not provide further details, but said 25 people were also arrested in the operation that began overnight.Three gunmen were killed and six others wounded and in clashes between Mehdi Army fighters and Iraqi security forces in western Kerbala, 110 km (68 miles) southwest of Baghdad on Friday, police said. Eighteen gunmen were captured.

Najaf:#1: The followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday rejected Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's call to lay down their arms, a top aide of Sadr told AFP in Najaf. "Sadr has told us not to surrender our arms except to a state that can throw out the occupation," Haider al-Jabari, a member of Sadr movement's political bureau, told AFP.

Nasiriyah:#1: The southern city of Nasiriyah and its outskirts also saw fierce battles on Friday with local medics reporting at least 36 killed.

Basra:#1: A U.S. warplane strafed a house in the southern town of Basra, killing eight civilians, including two women and a child, Iraqi police said Saturday. Seven other people were wounded when the plane fired on a house in Basra's Hananiyah neighborhood overnight, a local policeman said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

#2: Meanwhile, clashes on the ground in Basra continued. "Last night we continued our operations in all areas of Basra," an Iraqi army officer told AFP on Saturday on condition of anonymity, adding that the crackdown will continue till "we have arrested all criminals."

#3: Fighting was reported in some Basra neighbourhoods on Saturday for the fifth straight day, with at least 23 people killed since hostilities began, according to Iraqi security officials and aid organisations.

#4: Also in Basra, Iraqi forces attacked a house in Mawfiqiya district, leaving four people killed from the same family, a Sadrist official told dpa.

#5: An Iraqi copter was shot down by Gunmen’s fire late on Friday in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, eyewitnesses said. "An Iraqi copter went down last night when Mahdi army gunmen fired at it near the Military Hospital in northern Basra,” an eyewitness told Asawt al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq-. Another eyewitness said that the copter was shot down in an area witnessing “fierce battles” between security forces and Mahdi army militia. So far the was no word available from Iraqi military on the incident.

#6: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is vowing to remain in Basra overseeing operations against Shiite militias until security in the city is restored.

#7: British forces today became directly involved for the first time in the battle to stamp out militias from the Iraqi city of Basra, engaging suspected Mehdi Army positions with artillery. Field pieces located in the British headquarters at Basra airport fired on a mortar crew in an insurgent stronghold of the southern port city shortly before 12.30pm local time (9.30am UK time). “We have not yet received reports of whether there have been any casualties.”

#8: U.S. jets widened the bombing of Basra on Saturday, dropping two precision-guided bombs on a suspected militia stronghold north of the city, British officials said. Maj. Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman, said U.S. jets dropped the two bombs on a militia position in Qarmat Ali shortly before 12:30 p.m. The number of people killed in the latest strikes was not yet known, he said. Iraqi police said that earlier in the day a U.S. warplane strafed a house and killed eight civilians,.

Kurdistan:#1: The Turkish military says its warplanes hit Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Friday. It said the number of rebels killed in the air assault was not immediately clear.

#2: It also said that Turkish cross-border shelling Thursday killed 15 rebels. The military said it shelled areas in northern Iraq after it detected a group of Kurdish rebels preparing to attack Turkish targets.

Afghanistan:#1: Four gunmen broke into the offices of Radio Zafar before dawn, tied up two security guards and then set the station's equipment ablaze, said Paghman district police chief Abdul Razaq.

#2: Also Friday, a three-hour clash broke out in southwestern Nimroz province after militants attacked poppy eradication forces in the Khash Rod district, provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub Badakhshi said. Two police officers were killed and three wounded, he said. Six suspects were arrested.

#3: Also Friday in Kandahar province, two gunmen assassinated a tribal leader who led efforts for peace and reconciliation in the area, said Panjwayi district chief Haji Shah Baran Khan.

#4: And in volatile Helmand province, U.S.-led coalition forces killed several Taliban militants after coming under attack, the coalition said in a statement Friday. The troops were searching for a Taliban insurgent involved in weapons trafficking in Helmand's Kajaki district when militants opened fire on them Wednesday. The troops responded, killing several insurgents and wounding a woman who was not involved in the hostilities.

#4: A bomb has exploded near a power plant in southern Afghanistan, killing two employees. Helmand province’s police chief says the remote-controlled bomb was hidden near the wall of the plant and was detonated Saturday morning. Mohammad Hussein Andiwal says two employees were killed and six were wounded. Two civilian passersby were also wounded. Andiwal says the plant machinery was slightly damaged, but the power supply was not interrupted.The explosion hit in the Gereshk district.

GRAPHIC VIDEO: U.S. AIR STRIKES ON SADR CITY: MORTARS HIT GREEN ZONE

The battle for Iraq rages on and the violence is increasing by the minute. Real News network presents a shot video that is graphic in detail showing violence in Sadr city, a part of Baghdad, and mortar attacks on the Green Zone.

Watch video here: http://therealnews.com/web/index.php

PARTS OF BAGHDAD FALLING UNDER CONTROL OF MILITIAS

Areas of Baghdad fall to militias as Iraqi Army falters in Basra

From Times OnlineMarch 27, 2008

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3631718.ece

Iraq’s Prime Minister was staring into the abyss today after his operation to crush militia strongholds in Basra stalled, members of his own security forces defected and district after district of his own capital fell to Shia militia gunmen.

With the threat of a civil war looming in the south, Nouri al-Maliki’s police chief in Basra narrowly escaped assassination in the crucial port city, while in Baghdad, the spokesman for the Iraqi side of the US military surge was kidnapped by gunmen and his house burnt to the ground.
Saboteurs also blew up one of Iraq's two main oil pipelines from Basra, cutting at least a third of the exports from the city which provides 80 per cent of government revenue, a clear sign that the militias — who siphon significant sums off the oil smuggling trade — would not stop at mere insurrection.

In Baghdad, thick black smoke hung over the city centre tonight and gunfire echoed across the city.

The most secure area of the capital, Karrada, was placed under curfew amid fears the Mahdi Army of Hojetoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr could launch an assault on the residence of Abdelaziz al-Hakim, the head of a powerful rival Shia governing party.

While the Mahdi Army has not officially renounced its six-month ceasefire, which has been a key component in the recent security gains, on the ground its fighters were chasing police and soldiers from their positions across Baghdad.

Rockets from Sadr City slammed into the governmental Green Zone compound in the city centre, killing one person and wounding several more.

Continue reading story by clicking on link above.

WASHINGTON POST: U.S. HAS LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF COMPETING SHIITE GROUPS IN BASRA

U.S. Has Little Influence, Few Options in Iraq's Volatile South

By Karen DeYoungWashington Post Staff WriterSaturday, March 29, 2008; A11

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032803622.html?nav=rss_world/mideast

As U.S. warplanes attacked targets in Basra yesterday, Bush administration officials acknowledged that their hands-off strategy toward southern Iraq in recent years has left them with little knowledge of the conflicts among competing Shiite groups there and few ways of influencing them.

President Bush yesterday hailed the decision of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to launch a full-scale military offensive against militias in Basra as a "defining moment" for his leadership. But other officials said the administration remains unsure of Maliki's motives and warned that the ongoing battle risks sending the country spiraling back toward the cataclysmic violence levels of 2006 and early 2007.

"This is a precarious situation," a senior official familiar with U.S. intelligence in southern Iraq said, with "a lot to be gained and a lot to lose." This official and others said that even as Maliki takes needed military action in Basra, he appears to be positioning himself and his Shiite political allies for dominance in provincial elections this fall.

Competition for power and resources in the oil-rich south has been ongoing for months among the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr; the Badr Corps militia of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the largest single party in the Iraqi parliament; and the breakaway Sadrist movement known as Fadhila. The Shiite groups are opposed and allied with each other in a tangle of national and local issues, with many divisions reflected in factions of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces.

Click on link to read full story.

CNN: ANALYSIS: IRAQIS' BASRA FIGHT NOT GOING WELL

U.S. military intelligence analysis says forces control less than quarter of Basra
Officials say militia's forces control many cities in Iraq's southeast
Bush called the operation "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq"
"This is going to go on for a while," one U.S. military official said

From Barbara StarrCNN Pentagon Correspondent

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/28/bush.basra/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Iraqi military push into the southern city of Basra is not going as well as American officials had hoped, despite President Bush's high praise for the operation, several U.S. officials said Friday.

A closely held U.S. military intelligence analysis of the fighting in Basra shows that Iraqi security forces control less than a quarter of the city, according to officials in both the United States and Iraq, and Basra's police units are deeply infiltrated by members of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army.

"This is going to go on for a while," one U.S. military official said.

Iraqi forces launched their offensive in Basra this week. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was personally overseeing operations in the southern city against what government officials called "rogue" or "outlaw" militia elements, most loyal to al-Sadr.

During a joint news conference Friday with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Bush called the operation "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq," saying the government is fighting criminals there. Watch more of Bush's comments »

"It was just a matter of time before the government was going to have to deal with it," he said.
The president also hailed the operation as a sign of progress, emphasizing that the decision to mount the offensive was al-Maliki's.

"It was his military planning; it was his causing the troops to go from point A to point B," Bush said. "And it's exactly what a lot of folks here in America were wondering whether or not Iraq would even be able to do it in the first place. And it's happening."

But since the beginning of the government offensive four days ago, violence also has picked up in a wide area of southern Iraq, including in Baghdad's International Zone -- also known as the Green Zone -- which has been targeted by rocket and mortar attacks.

Coalition bombers have joined in the fight, hitting targets in Basra and Baghdad.

The Basra analysis also shows that militia forces control a wide swath of cities in Iraq's southeast, including areas near the airport, where British forces are located, the officials said.

Click here to read full story from link above.

YAHOO: DEATH TOLL RISES IN BAGHDAD FIGHTING

While FOX NEWS, CNN and MSNBC saturate the airwaves with endless reports about Hillary, Obama and McCain, the situation in Iraq is going from bad to worse and the so-called cable news organizations don't give a damn.

How in the world can FOX NEWS, CNN and MSNBC call themselves "news organizations" when all they do is rehash endlessly the same crap about Hillary, Obama and McCain while ignoring the war in Iraq where 160,000 young AMERICANS are now being drawn into the sectarian violence that has erupted all across Iraq?

FOX NEWS, CNN and MSNBC are nothing more than propaganda outlets for the DNC and RNC and not worthy of the title of being "news organizations."

Sadly, the American public are being given the shaft by FOX NEWS, CNN and MSNBC because all three news organizations are run by corporations that have divisions that are in the defense industry and are making a ton of money off the war in Iraq and they don't want it to end, nor do they even want to report on events in IRAQ.

Editorial comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE, the blog that is not in the hands of corporations making money off the IRAQ war and we can tell the TRUTH about what is happening in IRAQ and not be muzzled by CEOs making a pile of money off the war.


The death toll rose above 130 after days of fighting in Baghdad where U.S. forces have been drawn deeper into an Iraqi government crackdown on militants loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

By Peter Graff 56 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_dc;_ylt=Ao9pwRmdqcQLPhTkhyEIlnVX6GMA

U.S. forces said they had killed 48 militants in air strikes and gun battles across the capital on Friday.

A top Sadr aide said Sadr's representatives had met Iraq's highest Shi'ite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in an effort to end the violence. The Sadr aide, Salah al-Ubaidi, said Sistani called for a peaceful solution.

At least 133 bodies and 647 wounded have been brought to five hospitals in the eastern half of Baghdad over the past five days of clashes, the head of the health directorate for eastern Baghdad, Ali Bustan, said on Saturday.

Health workers say hospitals are overflowing and understaffed in the Sadr City slum, a vast stronghold of Sadr's followers, and a ring of Iraqi and U.S. forces around the area makes it impossible to evacuate the wounded.

More than 300 people have been reported killed and many hundreds wounded in the five days of fighting across southern Iraq and Baghdad since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's followers in the southern city of Basra.

In Basra, Mehdi Army fighters controlled the streets, manning checkpoints and openly brandishing rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers.

Maliki has announced he will fight the militants in Basra "until the end." He issued orders to his commanders in Baghdad to pursue militants in the capital with "no mercy."

Washington says the crackdown is a sign the Iraqi government is serious about imposing its will and capable of acting on its own. But government forces have failed to drive Sadr's fighters from the streets.

U.S. forces described a number of gun battles in Baghdad including one in which they said they killed 10 gunmen who attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi security station. The Americans have used helicopter gunships and artillery.

Mortar bombs and rockets have caused havoc in the capital all week. Strikes on the fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic compound forced the U.S. embassy to order staff to wear helmets and body armor.

A curfew is in place in Baghdad, closing shops, businesses and schools. Residents are confined to their homes in areas where there has been fighting.

RIFT
The conflict exposes a deep rift within Iraq's majority Shi'ite community, between the political parties in Maliki's government who control the security forces and Sadr's followers who in many areas rule the streets.

Sistani almost never intervenes in politics. His views, if made public, would carry authority among Shi'ites in Sadr's movement and in the political parties that support Maliki.

A spokesman for Sistani in Beirut declined to say whether Sistani was involved in any initiative to stop the fighting.

At one house in Basra, walls were shattered and blood poured into a sewer. Grieving relatives said seven people had been killed in what they believed was an air strike that morning.

A spokesman for British forces said there were no air strikes on Saturday but there had been earlier this week.
The air strikes require U.S. or British teams on the ground to direct them, indications that Western involvement has been growing in what so far has been an Iraqi-led operation.

A main British force of 4,100 troops, which pulled out of Basra in December, has remained on a base outside it and British officials have said they have no plans to retake the city.

Iraqi commanders say they have killed 120 fighters in Basra.

Maliki, who had initially given them 72 hours to surrender, extended the deadline until April 8 for the fighters to turn over weapons in return for cash. They remained defiant.

"We will fight on and never give up our weapons," Mehdi Army deputy military commander in Basra Abu Hassan al-Daraji told Reuters by telephone. "We will not turn over a single bullet."
Fighting has spread to other towns across the south.

Clashes were under way on the western outskirts of Kerbala, one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest cities.

The Iraqi commander in the province, Major-General Raad Jawdat, said his forces had killed 21 "outlaws" and arrested 50 others.

(Additional reporting by Wathiq Ibrahim and Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad, Aref Mohammed in Basra and Khaled Farhan in Najaf; Editing by Robert Woodward)

A LOOK AT 85 MINUTES OF VIOLENCE IN IRAQ

A look at an 85-minute period in Iraq on Thursday as violence raged over the government's crackdown against Shiite Muslim militiamen, in which more than 125 people have died.

All incidents were reported by special correspondents for The Times and are based on data from police sources.

11 a.m.: A roadside bomb explodes in north Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killing two Iraqi policemen; clashes are reported between Iraqi forces and militiamen in Kifil, 15 miles south of Hillah. Another hits a street near the Iranian Embassy; no casualties are reported.

12 p.m.: A mortar round lands near the National Museum in Baghdad, injuring three civilians and an Iraqi policeman.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-iraqbox28mar28,1,7660028.story

From the Los Angeles Times

12:05 p.m.: Mortar rounds land in Baghdad's Karada neighborhood, injuring three civilians.

12:10 p.m.: Iraq's army and U.S. forces clash with militiamen in Baghdad's Baladiyat neighborhood; an Iraqi civilian is reported killed.

12:20 p.m.: A mortar round lands on a police checkpoint in east Baghdad, injuring a policeman and a civilian.

12:25 p.m.: A car bomb explodes in Karada, killing two civilians and injuring five.

NOAM CHOMSKY: WHY DON'T WE ASK WHAT'S BEST FOR THE IRAQIS? (VIDEO)

As Chomsky bluntly states, aggressors have no rights. Our occupation is criminal. What Americans want for Iraq is irrelevant.

By Manila Ryce, The Largest MinorityPosted on March 28, 2008, Printed on March 29, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.jwharrison.com/blog//80627/

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/80627/

View video of Noam Chomsky here: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/80627/

During this election season we’ve already heard Republicans and Democrats alike discussing the best way for America to save face in Iraq, as if the sake of our ego is of enough importance to defy international law. Obama, Clinton, and McCain will all keep troops in Iraq indefinitely, despite the will of the Iraqi people.

That “democracy” we brought them sure isn’t worth a damn when we don’t respect it ourselves. Just as the Palestinians learned when they elected Hamas into power, the will of a people in their own land is only legitimate when it coincides with our imperialistic Western vision for the region.

American politicians are regularly asked what they think the best option is for Iraq. As Chomsky bluntly states, aggressors have no rights.

Our occupation is criminal. What Americans want for Iraq is irrelevant.

BUSH RATTLES IRAN WAR SABER

Bush: US will show Iran who rules
Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:53:42

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=49346&sectionid=351020101

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and President George W. BushThe US claims Iraq success will send a 'clear message' to Iran that it cannot have its way with other countries in the Middle East.

“The reason why it's ... important to be successful in Iraq, is because, one, we want to help establish a democracy in the heart of the Middle East, the most volatile region of the world,"

President George W. Bush said at a White House news conference with visiting Australian Premier Kevin Rudd. "Two, we want to send a clear message to Iran that they're not going to be able to have their way with nations in the Middle East,” he continued. Earlier, Iran advised the Bush Administration to stop blaming other nations for its wrongdoings in Iraq. "The US is exhibiting clear signs of projection bias and President Bush's recent remarks shows he is desperate to run away from the reality of the grim situation in Iraq," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said Friday.

BUSH: "TROOPS ARE COMING OUT (AND STAYING) BECAUSE "WE'RE SUCCESSFUL"

In a press conference today, President Bush was asked to explain how his views on Iraq fit with new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s belief that Australian troops should withdraw from Iraq. Bush said there was no conflict, adding that the U.S. is also “withdrawing troops” because of a “return on success”:

And by the way, we are withdrawing troops. It’s called return on success. And our intention is to pull down five — you know, five battalions by July. Troops are coming out — five brigades, excuse me. Troops are coming out, because we’re successful. And so, I would view the Australian decision as return on success — returning home on success.

Watch it: Click on this link to see Bush speak about troops in Iraq: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/28/bush-return-success/

According to Bush, “troops are coming out because we’re successful,” but they’re also staying in Iraq because we’re successful. On the anniversary of the war, Bush said he will not order further withdrawals because he refuses to “jeopardize the hard-fought gains” of the past year.

This week, Bush was presented with a plan for a “pause” in troop reductions from top military officials, in order to preserve recent “security gains.” The New York Times reported:
Troop levels in Iraq would remain nearly the same through 2008 as they have been through most of the five years of war there .. But it now appears likely that any decision on major reductions in American troops from Iraq will be left to the next president.

In reality, this week’s spike in violence across southern Iraq reflects how the U.S. presence — particularly the surge — has done little to bring long-term security to Iraq.

The small withdrawal isn’t a “return on success.” Rather, in the face of increasing pressure from military officials about the strain on soldiers from the war, Bush is being forced to withdraw some troops because it is the only way to sustain his surge while giving troops some rest.

CRITICAL QUESTIONS: THE LATEST VIOLENCE IN IRAQ

Q1: Does the latest uptick in violence mean that the surge in Iraq failed?
By Samuel Brannen

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/ASIN-7D6QZ3?OpenDocument&rc=3&cc=irq

A1: So far, the surge has failed in its stated goal of translating security gains in the country into political reconciliation among the Kurdish, Arab Shi'ite, Arab Sunni, and other minority populations (and the various groups and tribes within each of these populations). Even political accommodation—a less heartfelt form of 'getting along' than reconciliation—has not occurred to an adequate degree. The Council of Representatives of Iraq has not passed all of the necessary reforms to set the scene for a stable country, and those laws that have been passed have in many cases not been applied by the fledgling government. And while the surge, coupled with U.S. political accommodation with some previous Sunni and Shi'ite insurgent factions, succeeded in drastically reducing violence across the country from record highs of the summer, a good day in Iraq still means an average of a dozen Iraqis dead and many more injured, along with a continued stream of attacks on U.S. troops. By any measure, it is unlikely that the United States can draw down below 140,000 troops any time soon. The Iraqi minister of defense estimates that he will not be able to provide for Iraq's internal security until 2012 and border defense until 2018.

Q2: What is causing the uptick in violence?
A2: This latest uptick is caused by different geographies of violence in Iraq. Most of the 'baseline' violence is perpetrated by the remnants of al Qaeda in Iraq, which was and is mainly an Iraqi Sunni Arab–run organization despite its name and the foreign nationality of many of its suicide bombers (the majority from Saudi Arabia and North Africa). The organization transformed over the past eight months and moved from Anbar Province and the ring of towns around Baghdad to the area surrounding Mosul, further north. It continues to disrupt the country with countless bombings, kidnappings, and executions, killing Iraqis and Americans wherever it can, in loose coordination with other groups of 'irreconcilables'—Sunni Arab Ba'athist leftovers from the Saddam era who are extremely angry about the 'awakening' elsewhere in Sunni Iraq. Additional increases in violence are accounted for by the loosely confederated followers of Moqtada al-Sadr and his 60,000-strong militia (Jayysh al-Mahdi, or JAM), who for the most part had been observing a ceasefire for the past seven months.

Q3: What does it mean that the Sadrists are no longer observing the ceasefire and the predominantly Shi'ite government of Iraq is now fighting the Shi'ite Sadrist movement?
A3: An already fragmented society, Iraq continues to cleave. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is composed of two main factions: Al Dawa (Maliki's party) and the Supreme Islamic Iraq Council (SIIC), led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. They are especially displeased with Moqtada al-Sadr because of his enormous political popularity. The fighting that has occurred this week has been concentrated in Baghdad and the southern province of Basra, which the British turned over to the Iraqis in December 2007. The situation in Basra is less about Sadrists than it is about various Shi'ite factions fighting for control of the oil-rich region. The good news is that the ground operation to bring order to the province is being conducted at the behest of the government of Iraq and by Iraqi Army and police forces—something that would have been impossible a year ago due to a lack of capacity on the part of the Iraqi security forces. The bad news is that the Shi'ite power struggle in the country may have only just begun. Iraq may choose its next government by the barrel of a gun and not at the ballot box.

Samuel Brannen is a fellow with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

NEW LIST OF NAMES OF GIS KILLED IN IRAQ

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:
4002
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:
3
Total
4005

DoD Confirmation List

Latest Coalition Fatality: Mar 28, 2008
03/28/08 MNF: MND-C Soldier attacked by IED
BAGHDAD - A Multi-National Division - Center Soldier was killed as a result of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device attack south of Baghdad March 28.

03/28/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. Gregory B. Rundell, 21, of Ramsey, Minn., died March 26 in Taji Iraq, of wounds suffered from small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

03/28/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Staff Sgt. Joseph D. Gamboa, 34, of Yigo, Guam, died Mar. 25 of wounds suffered when he came under indirect fire in Baghdad, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

03/27/08 MNF: MND-B Soldier attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed at approximately 4:30 p.m. March 27 after being struck by an improvised explosive device in eastern Baghdad while conducting a combat patrol.

03/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (4 of 4)
Pvt. George Delgado, 21, of Palmdale, Calif...assigned to the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division...died March 24 in Baghdad...from wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an IDE on March 23.

03/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (3 of 4)
Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Hake, 26, of Enid, Okla...assigned to the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division...died March 24 in Baghdad...from wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an IDE on March 23.

03/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (2 of 4)
Pfc. Andrew J. Habsieger, 22, of Festus, Mo...assigned to the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division...died March 24 in Baghdad...from wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an IDE on March 23.
03/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (1 of 4)

Spc. Jose A. Rubio Hernandez, 24, of Mission, Texas...assigned to the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division...died March 24 in Baghdad...from wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an IDE on March 23.

Post Iraq Deaths Not Confirmed By the DoD
Name
Date
McDonald, James W.
12-Nov-2007
Wasielewsk, Anthony Raymond
08-Oct-2007
Cassidy, Gerald J.
25-Sep-2007
Richards, Jack D.
29-Jul-2007
Salerno III, Raymond A.
16-Jul-2006
Smith, John "Bill"
01-Oct-2005
Note: The soldiers listed above died from wounds received in Iraq, however, the DoD has not included their deaths in their official count.

BUSH LABELS INCREASED VIOLENCE IN IRAQ A "DEFINING MOMENT" IRAQ IS IN A CIVIL WAR AND BUSH KNOWS IT

President Bush on Friday refined his remarks about Iraq. On Thursday, Bush had said the battle for Basra was a "positive moment." On Friday, Bush changed the outlook and said the violence eruputing all across Iraq was a "defining moment."

It is obvious the Iraqi Army is not up to the taks of containing the Mehadi militia in Basra, and U.S. airstrikes have been ordered to try and bring some kind of peace to the embattled second largest city in Iraq.

Bush is finally getting honest with himself and the American public. It is about time. Perhaps he is finally listening to his military commanders who are saying the situation in Iraq is now on verge of total collapse and Iraq is in an all out civil war.

The following list of killings and violence took place in Baghdad on FRIDAY and all across Iraq as well as Afghanistan and STILL the mainstream media refuses to report on these incidents that impact on 160,000 military personnel in IRAQ and 30,000 U.S. military in AFGHANISTAN.

We start off with the latest casualty report followed by a province by province report on violence all across IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN.

How in the world can President Bush, Vice President Cheney, FOX NEWS and the ALL the mainstream continue to ignore these documented facts about IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN. The answer is they can't, and President Bush appears to see the hand-writing on the wall.

Editorial comments by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

War News for Friday, March 28, 2008

Casualty Reports:Army Sgt. Javon Jordan, was critically wounded in Iraq. According to Crowell-Grate, Jordan, 32, was wounded Sunday by a roadside bomb that exploded next to the vehicle in which he was riding. Three of his fellow soldiers were killed. Jordan was flown to a military hospital in Germany with a severe head injury, and is expected to be flown to Bethesda Naval Medical Center today if he is stable enough, Crowell-Grate said. She's planning to fly to Washington, D.C., today to join her daughter Michelle, Jordan's wife, at his bedside. "If he's stable enough, they're going to fly him back," she said. "They're not expecting him to make it."

Specialist Matthew McCool was hurt when an improvised explosive device went off near his Humvee. An overnight attack in Iraq, has left a Kern County soldier seriously wounded. Matthew received a concussion, shrapnel in the head and was air lifted to a green zone hospital inside Baghdad.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in an improvised explosive device attack in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday, March 27th. No other details were released.

The Herald Tribune is reporting the death of a a U.S. government employee who in an indirect fire attack in the green zone in Baghdad on Thursday, March 27th. No other details were released.

The Mail&Guardian is reporting the death of a South African citizen (contractor) in Iraq on Wednesday, March 26th. No other details were released.

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: In Baghdad there have been clashes in at least 13 mainly Shi'ite neighborhoods, especially Sadr City, the vast slum named for the cleric's slain father where his followers maintain their power base. "There have been engagements going on in and around Sadr City. We've engaged the enemy with artillery, we've engaged the enemy with aircraft, we've engaged the enemy with direct fire," said Major Mark Cheadle, spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.

#2: In one strike before dawn, a U.S. helicopter fired a hellfire missile at gunmen firing from the roof of a building, killing four of them, Cheadle said. A Reuters photographer there filmed windows blown out of cars and walls pocked with shrapnel.

#3: U.S. forces said they killed 27 fighters in operations in the capital on Thursday.

#4: U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day. Iraqi army and police units appeared to be largely holding to the outskirts of the area as American troops took the lead in the fighting. Four U.S. Stryker armored vehicles were seen in Sadr City by a Washington Post correspondent, one of them engaging Mahdi Army militiamen with heavy fire. The din of American weapons, along with the Mahdi Army's AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, was heard through much of the day. U.S. helicopters and drones buzzed overhead.

#5: In Baghdad, a U.S. helicopter also fired a Hellfire missile during fighting in the Baghdad's militia stronghold of Sadr City early Friday, killing four gunmen, military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said. Ground forces called for the airstrike after coming under small-arms fire while clearing a main supply route at 4:10 a.m., he added. Iraqi police and hospital officials in Sadr City said five civilians were killed and four others wounded in the attack.

#6: Sporadic fighting was reported in predominantly Shiite areas in eastern Baghdad despite a curfew banning unauthorized movement in the capital was imposed from 11 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Sunday.

#7: Thirty-nine people were killed and 389 others wounded in the clashes that erupted on Tuesday in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, a medic said on Friday.

#8: The fortified Green Zone in Iraq's capital has again come under attack by rockets or mortars. A thick cloud of smoke was seen over the zone Friday about 2:30pm, shortly after two rounds hit. It was the day's first attack on the area.4 mortar rounds hit the Green Zone at around 5 pm today. No casualties were reported.2 mortar rounds fell on the Green Zone at 7.45 pm. No casualties were reported

#9: The daughter of Iraq's Sunni vice president says two guards at her father's offices were killed during shelling of the Green Zone. Lubna al-Hashemi says four others were injured in the shelling that left thick clouds of smoke rising over the heavily fortified area of central Baghdad.

#10: The office of Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was hit in a mortar or rocket strike on Baghdad's Green Zone government and diplomatic compound on Friday, and a security guard was killed, an official in his office said. Hashemi was not in the office and nor were any of his staff as it was the Muslim Friday holiday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

#11: A U.S. air strike in Baghdad's Kadhimiya neighbourhood killed three people and wounded six, police said.The US military made an air strike at an armed group during a surveillance trip in the sky of al-Kadhimiyah area at 3 pm today, killing 3 gunmen, injuring 8, Iraqi Police said. No comment was available from the US military at the time of publication.

#12: Police said four people were killed and three wounded in a second Sadr City air strike later in the day.

#13: Gunmen capture a National Police patrol in al-Amin neighbourhood, east Baghdad at 10 am today. The US military and Iraqi security forces have intervened to find out the fate of the 3 policemen in the patrol.

#14: Gunmen capture 2 National Police patrols, set the policemen free and make off with the vehicles and weapons in al-Darwish Junction, al-Alam neighbourhood, southwest Baghdad.

#15: Clashes broke out between gunmen and the Iraqi Army in Bayaa, west Baghdad at around one this afternoon. No casualties were reported.

#16: 3 mortar rounds hit al-Muthanna military base in central Baghdad at 3 pm. No casualties were reported.

#17: Rocket attacks in the Green Zone, the diplomatic and government compound, killed two and wounded four, police said. A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said no Americans were seriously injured in the attacks.

#18: 3 mortar rounds hit al-Muthanna military base in central Baghdad at 3 pm. No casualties were reported.#19: The US military carried out air strikes on section 8 in Sadr City from 5 pm to 8 pm. 12 people were killed and 60 injured, Iraqi police said. No comment was available from the US military at the time of publication.

#20: 2 mortar rounds fell on a commercial centre near the rail track in Qadisiyah neighbourhood west of central Baghdad injuring one woman.

#21: 2 mortar rounds hit the traffic tunnel under the suspension bridge (one of the entrances to the Green Zone) in Karrada at 5.15 pm injuring 3 civilians.

#22: Clashes broke out between Mahdi Army members and the Iraqi Army in Washash, central Baghdad this evening. No casualties were reported.Diyala Prv:Khan Bani Saad:#1: Five U.S. soldiers were wounded in an attack that targeted a military convoy of the Multi-National Force, a media advisor for the MNF said on Friday."A U.S. convoy was the target of an attack with light arms and bombs in the area of Bani Saad, (30 km) north of Baghdad, on Thursday morning. Five U.S. soldiers were wounded," Abdul-Latif Rayan told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). A source from the Bani Saad police, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had told VOI that an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near a U.S. army vehicle, prompting the U.S. soldiers to cordon off the scene and impose a curfew.

Mahmoudiya:#1: At least 12 militia fighters were killed and seven others wounded in fighting in Mahmoudiya, according to an Iraqi army official.

#2: The local office of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, meanwhile, claimed 15 Iraqi soldiers had been captured, including two officers, in the city, about 20 miles south of the capital.Kut:#1: The U.S. military said in a statement on Friday that members of an Iraqi Special Weapons and Tactics unit (SWAT) and U.S. special forces had killed 14 militants and wounded 20 in fierce battles in Kut on Wednesday. Nine SWAT members were killed.Two Iraqi security forces also were killed and three wounded in Kut, police said.Clashes between Mehdi Army fighters and Iraqi security forces killed three police officers and wounded two militants in Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

Hilla:#1: Rockets or mortars also were lobbed at a U.S. facility in the southern city of Hillah, although no casualties were reported, the military said.The U.S. consulate in Babel came under an attack with 14 Katyusha rockets on Friday but no information yet about losses or casualties, a security source from Babel police said."All rockets fell within the consulate environs but there is no information yet about the results of the missile attack," the source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Diwaniyah:#1: In the city of Diwaniyah, some 200 kilometres south of the capital, two police officers were injured and a militant was killed in fighting between the Iraqi forces and militants in Akrad district, VOI said.

#2: Also in Diwaniyah, militants targeted an Iraqi patrol in Somar area on Thursday, leaving one civilian dead and another two, seriously injured.

#3: Gunmen killed the mayor of the Ghmash neighbourhood in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, sparking "very severe" clashes between Iraqi security forces and Mehdi Army fighters, police said. An office of Moqtada al-Sadr's followers was burned in retaliation.#4: Seven mortar rounds fell into the headquaters of Iraqi army 8th division, 3 km west Diwaniya, leaving no casualties among servicemen", an Iraqi army source, who requested anonmity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq

Karbala:#1: Three gunmen were killed and seven others captured when they attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in the Husseiniya district north of Kerbala, 110 km (68 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

Nassiriyah:#1: Police said four people were killed and 14 wounded in clashes in Nasiriyah.Fierce fighting in the Mahdi Army stronghold of Nasiriyah also killed at least four people, including two policemen and two civilians, and wounded 14, an officer said, adding that the clashes had spread to other parts of the city.Three policemen and two civilians were killed and 25 people wounded in clashes between Mehdi Army fighters and Iraqi security forces in Nassiriya, 375 km (235 miles) southwest of Baghdad, a hospital source said.

#2: A Reuters witness said Mehdi Army gunmen had seized control of Nassiriya, capital of the southerly Dhi Qar province. Mehdi Army fighters have held territory or fought with authorities in Kut, Hilla, Amara, Kerbala, Diwaniya and other towns throughout the Shi'ite south over the past several days.In Nassiriya, a Reuters reporter said he could see groups of fighters with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The sound of sporadic gunfire echoed through the streets. Police appeared to be staying in their stations.intense clashes between Iraqi forces and militants broke out in the city of Nasiriyah, some 350 kilometres south of Baghdad, resulting in the deaths of four police officers and 12 injuries, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency said.Karma:#1: Mortars killed two policemen and wounded 23 people including 13 policemen in Karma, a town 80 km (50 miles) north of Basra, police said.Shatra:#1: Militants have also taken control of the town of Shatra, 40 km to the north (Basra), he said, citing witnesses.

Al Qama:#1: Five people were killed and two others wounded in clashes between the Bani Malek clan and gunmen north of Basra on Friday, an official security source said. "Clashes broke out between the Bani Malek clan and security forces on one hand and gunmen on the other in al-Qarna, (100 km) north of Basra, after a policeman belonging to the clan died of wounds he sustained in fighting with gunmen two days ago," the source, who declined to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). "Clashes were still going on," he said.

Basra:#1: A British military official says coalition jets have dropped bombs on Basra for the first time since clashes erupted this week between Shiite militias and security forces. The official says Iraq security forces asked for airstrikes on at least two locations. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The official could not provide additional information on the nature of the targets or how many people were killed or injured in the bombings.

#2: The Iraqi ground commander in Basra, Major-General Ali Zaidan, told Reuters his forces had killed 120 "enemy" fighters and wounded around 450 since the campaign began.Earlier on Friday, another medic told VOI hospitals in the unrest-stricken city of Basra received more than 60 bodies and 300 others wounded until Thursday evening in clashes flaring up in southern Iraq.

#3: But Reuters television footage from Basra showed masked gunmen from Sadr's Mehdi Army still in control of the streets, openly carrying rocket launchers and machine guns.American-trained Iraqi security forces failed for a third straight day to oust Shiite militias from the southern city of Basra on Thursday#4: Oil exports from Basra of more than 1.5 million barrels a day provide 80 percent of Iraq's government revenue. An explosion at a pipeline damaged exports on Thursday, but they were back to normal on Friday.

#5: Basra was reported to be quiet on Friday morning, as were the other two flashpoint southern towns of Kut and Hilla, where there have been heavy clashes between Mehdi Army fighters and U.S. and Iraqi forces this week.

Mosul:#1: Unidentified gunmen killed a woman on Friday inside her house in southeastern Mosul, the official spokesman for the Ninewa operations command said. "Unknown gunmen stormed the house in Somer neighborhood in southeastern Mosul to kill her husband, but he fled," Brigadier Kahled Abdul Sattar Saadon told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Afghanistan:#1: The U.S.-led Coalition forces have killed several militants while conducting an operation to capture a Taliban leader and disrupt Taliban facilitation networks in southern Afghan province of Helmand, said a statement released here on Friday. Coalition forces were fired by several insurgents during their search of compounds in the Kajaki district on Wednesday targeting a Taliban insurgent linked to weapons facilitation operations, the statement said. "Coalition forces firing in self-defense during multiple engagements killed several insurgents and discovered a wounded civilian not involved in hostilities after the engagement," it said. Four other individuals who were suspected with links to the targeted Taliban insurgent and Taliban weapons facilitation operations were arrested, it further added.

MSNBC VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS DETERIORATING CONDITIONS IN IRAQ

The following MSNBC video explains what is happening in both Baghdad and Basra Iraq as conditions worsen all across the already war torn country.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23843276#23843276

225 IRAQIS, 1 U.S. SOLDIER, 3 U.S. CONTRACTORS KILLED; 538 IRAQIS WOUNDED IN JUST ONE DAY IN IRAQ

Perhaps this is what President Bush was alluding to when he told a reporter from the TimesOnLine that he viewed the violence in Iraq as a "positive moment:"

Thursday: 225 Iraqis, 1 US Soldier, 3 US Contractors Killed; 538 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 12:21 a.m. EDT, Mar. 28, 2008

http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=12591

Although the fighting continues in Basra, followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad instead took to the streets in mostly peaceful protests. The cleric himself has asked for peace talks, but the prime minister is refusing. At least 225 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 538 more were wounded in various incidents across Iraq. Also, the FBI is in possession of three new bodies belonging to kidnapped American contractors, and an American soldier was killed this afternoon by an IED explosion in Baghdad.


Ten of thousands of al-Sadr followers protested peacefully in Baghdad. They are demanding an end to the U.S.-backed Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was once championed by al-Sadr, and to his crackdown against the Mahdi Army. The prime minister has said that he will see the crackdown through to the end, even though the Sadrists are asking for peace talks. The demonstrations were held in predominantly Shi'ite neighborhoods, in particular the Sadr City suburb, which was named for al-Sadr's father. Some analysts believe the crackdown is actually meant to politically cripple the cleric. The Mahdi Army was observing a unilateral cease-fire at the time of the crackdown.


Meanwhile, the casualty totals from the Mahdi Army clashes in Baghdad has risen to 30 people dead and 200 more wounded, upping yesterday's figures by 16 dead and 60 wounded. Many of the wounded are women and children caught in the crossfire.



Four soldiers were wounded during an armed attack in Sadr City. U.S. forces killed two suspects who were launching indirect attacks, and another 24 suspects were killed in and around Baghdad. Also, a spokesperson for the Baghdad Security Plan was kidnapped from his home in the al-Amin neighborhood.


In more violence, three people were killed and 15 more were wounded during a mortar attack on a bus terminal in Karaj Alawy. Two people were wounded by mortar fire in Batawin. Mortars falling on a prison left one dead and four injured.



In Ur, one person was killed and two were injured during mortar shelling. A car bomb near a Red Crescent office left no casualties. No casualties were reported as a Dawa Party office in Shabb was set on fire. Three people were injured during separate shelling in Karada. Also, five dumped bodies were recovered.


As many as 29 people were killed and another 39 more were wounded during an air attack by U.S. forces in Hilla. Some unconfirmed reports have placed the number of dead at sixty. In street clashes as many as 30 have been wounded, including women and children.


In Basra, the casualty figures were upped by 60 dead and 300 injured to a total of 100 people killed and 500 others wounded over the last three days. Reports out the city today mention heavy mortar fire and more armed attacks. Last night, a roadside bomb killed three bodyguards working for the city's police chief. Also, some of the police casualties are being treated in Baghdad.


The totals so far in Kut have been 49 people killed and 75 more injured, adding 31 dead and 63 wounded since yesterday's preliminary reports.


Four Iraqi soldiers were killed in Daquq when gunmen attacked their checkpoint.
Gunmen attacked an army patrol in near Nasariya in al-Rifai, killing two Iraqi soldiers.
In Kirkuk, a car bomb killed two Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers and wounded six others, including two civilians. These may have been in two separate events.


A roadside bomb killed four policemen and wounded four more in Mahaweel.


Four bodies were found near Balad Ruz.


Outside Muqdadiyah, police have found a mass grave containing 37 bodies. The age of the grave was not given, but it could date from the Saddam era. Mass graves from that period and quite a few recent ones dot the Diyala province.


Also, a main oil pipeline outside Basra was bombed.


Clashes with the Mahdi Army left three policemen dead in Hamza. Another officer was wounded along with two Iraqi soldiers.


In Diwaniya, one gunmen was killed and a policeman was wounded in an operation that netted eight suspects.


Security forces arrested 48 in Karbala.


A roadside bomb in al-Kafl left three policemen dead and another four wounded.


A bomb in Fallujah was defused.


In Amara, a Badr party office was attacked with rocket propelled grenades. A resident of a neighboring structure was injured. Two people were killed and seven wounded in the crossfire during clashes at the Yugoslave Brigde.


In Samarra, al-Qaeda connected gunmen killed a father and son, who were members of the Sons of Iraq organization. A woman and a child were also injured.


Eight Iraqi soldiers were wounded during clashes in Talbiyah. A father and son were killed in a drive-by shooting.


A mortar in Baiji killed a woman and injured five civilians including a woman. A roadside bomb killed an Iraqi soldier.


A roadside bomb in Khanaquin injured two civilians.


The district office in Khan Bani Saad was attacked but no casualties were reported.
Power plants throughout southern and central Iraq were attacked and left inoperative.



Yes, that has to be it. That long list of killings and shootings all across Iraq must be what President Bush was talking about when he said he viewed all the violence in Iraq as a "positive moment."

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF VETERANS SUFFER FROM SEVERE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL INJURIES

"Body of War" Depicts Personal Cost of War in Iraq

The film documents the struggle of Thomas Young, coping with severe paralysis and life in a wheelchair, its impact on his psyche, his wrecked marriage, his family and his political development from military enlistee into a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Tomas Young was one of those injured, on April 4, 2004, in Sadr City. Young is the subject of a new feature documentary by legendary TV talk-show host Phil Donahue and filmmaker Ellen Spiro, called Body of War. In it, Young describes the incident that has left him paralyzed from the chest down:

By Amy Goodman, King Features SyndicatePosted on March 27, 2008, Printed on March 28, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/80607/

We just passed the grim milestone of 4,000 U.S. military members killed in Iraq since the invasion five years ago. Still, the death toll climbs.

Typically unmentioned alongside the count of U.S. war dead are the tens of thousands of wounded (not to mention the Iraqi dead). The Pentagon doesn't tout the number of U.S. injured, but the Web site icasualties.org reports an official number of more than 40,000 soldiers requiring medical airlifts out of Iraq, a good indicator of the scale of major injuries. That doesn't include many others. Dr. Arthur Blank, an expert on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), estimates that 30 percent of Iraq veterans will suffer from PTSD.


"I only managed to spend maybe five days in Iraq until I got picked to go on my first mission. There were 25 of us crammed into the back of a two-and-a-half-ton truck with no covering on top or armor on the sides. For the Iraqis on the top of the roof, it just looked like, you know, ducks in a barrel. They didn't even have to aim."


Donahue has his own personal link to the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. It was just weeks before the invasion that his nightly program, MSNBC's top-rated show, was canceled. As revealed shortly thereafter in a leaked memo, Donahue presented a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war. He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives ... at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."

Tomas Young enlisted in the military soon after Sept. 11, 2001. Earlier this week, Vice President Dick Cheney said: "The president carries the biggest burden, obviously. He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, an all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."

Young, speaking to me from Kansas City, Mo., where he lives, responded to Cheney: "From one of those soldiers who volunteered to go to Afghanistan after Sept. 11, which was where the evidence said we needed to go, to [Cheney], the master of the college deferment in Vietnam: Many of us volunteered with patriotic feelings in our heart, only to see them subverted and bastardized by the administration and sent into the wrong country."

Body of War depicts the personal cost of war.

In one of the most moving scenes in the film, Young meets Sen. Robert Byrd, the longest-serving senator, with the most votes cast in Senate history (more than 18,000). Byrd said his "no" vote on the Iraq war resolution was the most important of his life. Young helps him read the names of the 23 senators who voted against the war resolution. Byrd reflects: "The immortal 23. Our founders would be so proud." Turning to Young, he says: "Thank you for your service. Man, you've made a great sacrifice. You served your country well." Young replies, "As have you, sir."

BUSH SAYS IRAQ VIOLENCE IS A "POSITIVE MOMENT"

President Bush told a reporter from the TimesOnLine that the violence in Basra and other parts of Iraq, including the mortar shelling of the Green Zone, was a "positive moment."

From The Times
President Bush: Iraq violence is a 'positive moment'
Tom Baldwin in Washington

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3628928.ece

President Bush gave warning yesterday that Iraq’s “fragile situation” required the US to maintain a strong military presence there, even as he defended the withdrawal of British troops from Basra, the scene of heavy fighting in recent days.

In an interview with The Times, he backed the Iraqi Government’s decision to “respond forcefully” to the spiralling violence by “criminal elements” and Shia extremists in Basra. “It was a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation that is willing to take on elements that believe they are beyond the law,” the President said.

Asked if British troops had retreated to the relative safety of the Basra airbase too hastily last year, Mr Bush said that the pullback had been “based upon success” in quelling violence, adding that he remained grateful for the contribution made by British Forces from “day one” of the war.
Mr Bush, who had spent the morning being briefed on Iraq by the Pentagon before an imminent announcement on US troop levels, said that despite “substantial gains” since the US military surge began last year, much work was needed to “maintain the success we’ve had”.

There has been speculation that he plans to hold the current level of troops at about 140,000 through the autumn and possibly beyond in the hope he can bind in his successor — be it a Democratic or Republican president — to his Iraq strategy.

Mr Bush insisted yesterday that decisions would not be made by those who “scream the loudest” in calling for troops to come home. Instead, in his interview with four international journalists, including The Times, he said: “I understand people here want us to leave, regardless of the situation, but that will not happen so long as I’m Commander-In-Chief.”

His comments came before a visit next week to Eastern Europe and the final Nato summit of his presidency, being held in Bucharest. Despite being hobbled by unpopularity abroad and at home — where attention is focused on the race to succeed him — Mr Bush appears determined to shape his legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The President gave a glimpse of some of the resentment felt by Washington towards other Nato allies whom he said needed to be “encouraged” to take obligations in Afghanistan seriously. The definition of the summit’s success, he added, would be to ensure Nato stayed relevant.

But he heaped praise on President Sarkozy of France, who has announced his intention to send another 1,000 troops to the Afghan battlefields. It was notable, perhaps, that he avoided expressing similar sentiments about Gordon Brown after a period, since Tony Blair’s departure from Downing Street, in which differences of tone, if not substance, have emerged between Britain and the US.

Asked if Mr Sarkozy now represented America’s most important bilateral partner, Mr Bush replied that the relationship with Britain was “never as special” as during times of war, before citing the alliance between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as “the current relationship — the more modern relationship — between Tony Blair and myself”.

He added: “It’s going to be hard for any nation to trump the United Kingdom as our greatest ally. Having said that, no question that the relationship \ is changing for the better.” President Sarkozy — whom he described as a “highly energetic and decisive” leader — deserved credit, he said, for not being “interested in creating divisions in the transatlantic relationship”.

France’s offer of an additional 1,000 troops “pretty much ensured” next week’s summit would be a success, he said, adding that the British, French and Canadian troops who “will be in harm’s way” represented a strong statement that Nato was ready to rise to the challenge in Afghanistan.

Mr Bush ended the interview by announcing that he was accepting an invitation to meet President Putin of Russia after the Nato summit at the Crimean resort of Sochi. It will be the last opportunity for talks between the two leaders before Dmitri Medvedev becomes president in May.

U.S. LOSES ANOTHER SOLDIER IN IRAQ

Independent sources estimate the real number of the US troops killed in Iraq at more than twice the official figure.

US loses another soldier in Iraq Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:18:52

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=49257&sectionid=351020201

Another US soldier is killed in Iraq.A roadside bomb attack has killed a US soldier during a combat patrol in the eastern parts of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the US military says.

The military says the attack occurred during a combat patrol by the Multi-National Division-Baghdad in Iraq's capital city.

The military did not reveal the exact location of the attack but US forces have been engaged in fierce gun battles with Shia fighters in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City, the bastion of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The death raises the number of American service members killed in Iraq since the war started five years ago to at least 4,004.

IRAQI ARMY'S ASSAULT ON MILITIAS IN BASRA STALLS

Just yesterday President Bush was bragging about how the Iraqi Army has taken up the fight against the Mahadi militia in Basra, but now there are reports the assault has stalled and the Iraqi Army are not up to the task.

By JAMES GLANZ

THE NEW YORK TIMES

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world/middleeast/27iraq.html?ref=worldspecial

BAGHDAD — An assault by thousands of Iraqi soldiers and police officers to regain control of the southern port city of Basra stalled Wednesday as Shiite militiamen in the Mahdi Army fought daylong hit-and-run battles and refused to withdraw from the neighborhoods that form their base of power there.

American officials have presented the Iraqi Army’s attempts to secure the port city as an example of its ability to carry out a major operation against the insurgency on its own. A failure there would be a serious embarrassment for the Iraqi government and for the army, as well as for American forces eager to demonstrate that the Iraqi units they have trained can fight effectively on their own.

During a briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday, a British military official said that of the nearly 30,000 Iraqi security forces involved in the assault, almost 16,000 were Basra police forces, which have long been suspected of being infiltrated by the same militias the assault was intended to root out.

The operation is a significant political test for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who traveled to Basra to oversee the beginning of the assault. It is also a gamble for both the Iraqi and American governments. The Americans distrust the renegade cleric Moktada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia, who consider the Americans occupiers.

The dominant Shiite groups in Mr. Maliki’s government are political and military rivals of Mr. Sadr, and Mr. Maliki is freer now to move against him because Mr. Sadr’s party is no longer a crucial part of his coalition.

But if the Mahdi Army breaks completely with the cease-fire that has helped to tamp down attacks in Iraq during the past year, there is a risk of replaying 2004, when the militia fought intense battles with American forces that destabilized the entire country and ushered in years of escalating violence. Renewed attacks, in turn, would make it more difficult to begin sending home large numbers of American troops.

Click on link to read full story.

IRAQ ASSEMBLY HOLDS EMERGENCY SESSION AMID CURFEW

The Iraqi government has called for an emergency session on Friday in an attempt to do something about the violence that is sweeping across Iraq.

By Ross Colvin

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-7D62XW?OpenDocument&rc=3&cc=irq

BAGHDAD, March 28 (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers will hold an emergency session on Friday in an attempt to end violence in the oil city of Basra after an army crackdown on Shi'ite militia sparked fighting across the south and mass protests in Baghdad.

Authorities have imposed a three-day curfew in the capital to contain the violence, in which more than 130 people have been killed since the government launched the offensive on Tuesday against fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The assault on Iraq's second biggest city has exposed deep divisions between rival factions within Iraq's majority Shi'ite community. It is also a major test for U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ability to prove Iraqi forces can stand on their own and allow U.S. forces to withdraw.

With violence spreading across the Shi'ite south and affecting the country's vital oil exports, lawmakers called an emergency session on Friday.

"Today (Thursday) we reviewed the situation in Basra. We agreed to hold an emergency session tomorrow to discuss the Basra situation and how to resolve it," parliament speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani told Reuters.

Mashhadani said representatives of Shi'ite and Sunni parties in parliament, including lawmakers loyal to Sadr, had agreed to attend the special session starting at 3 p.m. (1200 GMT).

Click on link to read full story....

NORTH ST. PAUL SOLDIER KILLED BY SNIPER IN IRAQ

By ABBY SIMONS and MARY LYNN SMITH, Star Tribune

March 27, 2008

http://www.startribune.com/local/17068491.html

Long before Joanne Richardson's third child, a son, joined the Army, he was a bespectacled kid who loved to draw, and had his first and last fight with a childhood best friend in North St. Paul.

Not so long before Spc. Gregory B. Rundell, 21, was killed by enemy sniper fire while manning a guard tower in Iraq Wednesday, the soldier was pulled over doing 90 miles per hour in his mother's beloved car. The recent recruit joked to his little brother in the passenger seat that he might ask the trooper for a military discount.

Richardson, her four remaining children and a throng of puffy-eyed relatives said Thursday night that they wanted people to know those things about Rundell, a warrior who died bravely for his country, but to his family was so much more.

"I would like you all to know that Greg was a good kid," Richardson said at a news conference at the St. Paul National Guard Armory Thursday night. "When Greg decided to join the Army it broke my heart because I knew this day might come."

Lt. Col. Almarah Belk with the Department of Defense said the soldier was killed by small arms sniper fire in Taji, Iraq.

Click on link to read full account.

CNN REPORTS: INTERNATIONAL ZONE UNDER CURFEW AS ATTACKS CONTINUE

The Green Zone in Baghdad has been put on a curfew by the United States State Department as mortar attacks continue to hit the area which houses the U.S. Embassy and many of the top elements of the Iraqi government.

International Zone under curfew as attacks continue

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/27/iraq.main/index.html

Story Highlights
NEW: Senior U.S. official: Insurgents' weapons may have been made in Iran
Two U.S. government officials killed in attacks over two days
Fighting rages on for third day in Basra and other Shiite regions in Iraq
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gives Basra militants till Saturday to surrender

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's government imposed a weekend curfew in Baghdad on Thursday amid clashes between government troops and Shiite militia fighters, and U.S. Embassy staff were told to remain indoors after days of rocket attacks left two U.S. government employees dead.

The curfew, which took effect at 11 p.m. Thursday (4 p.m. ET), bans pedestrian, motorcycle and vehicle traffic through 5 p.m. Sunday, said Gen. Qassim Atta, an Iraqi military spokesman.
Sixteen rockets were fired Wednesday and 12 on Tuesday. U.S. Embassy workers in Iraq were told to remain in secure buildings and wear protective clothing as rockets continued to rain down on Baghdad's International Zone.

Also called the Green Zone, the International Zone is a heavily fortified central Baghdad district housing the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices.

A senior U.S. official says the insurgents may have had recent training allowing them to conduct more precise targeting of the rockets, believed to be made in Iran. Watch a report on the rockets and their origins »

Meanwhile, the name of the U.S. government official killed in the attacks Thursday has not been released, an Embassy spokesman said.

Another U.S. employee, Paul Converse, died Wednesday from wounds he sustained Sunday, officials said.

And a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, the U.S. military reported.

Iraq's parliament called a special session for Friday to address the crisis caused by three days of fighting between government troops and Shiite fighters. Meanwhile, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for an end to attacks on his followers.

Fighting between Iraqi government troops and what officials call rogue or outlaw members of Shiite militias has spread through southern Iraq's Shiite heartland to Baghdad since the launch of a government crackdown in Basra on Tuesday.

Three days of fighting have left more than 100 Iraqis dead.

Casualty figures from Basra weren't available Thursday, but the number of deaths is expected to rise from the 40 to 50 reported Wednesday.

The fighting threatens to unravel a seven-month cease-fire by al-Sadr's Mehdi Army. Watch how militias send a message to al-Maliki »

Al-Sadr issued a statement Thursday urging "all groups to adopt a political situation and peaceful protest and to stop shedding the Iraqi blood," according to a senior member of his movement.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has been overseeing the operation in southern Iraq, has ordered militants to surrender their weapons by Saturday.

Click on link to read the rest of CNN report.

IRAQ ON VERGE OF TOTAL COLLAPSE

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT ORDERS ALL U.S. EMBASSY WORKERS INSIDE THE GREEN ZONE NOT TO GO OUTSIDE OF REINFORCED BUILDINGS DUE TO HEAVY MORTAR ATTACKS.

Despite President Bush's rosy picture of how things are going in Iraq, the truth is Iraq is in the throes of total collapse.

Late Thursday night there were a series of mortar rounds fired again into the Green Zone, making it the fourth day in a row the Green Zone has been under heavy mortar fire attack.

In Basra, 10,000 Mahadi Army loyalists staged a protest and threaten to kill Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the puppet head of the Iraqi government who was installed by the United States.

Iraq is on the Verge of total collapse.

Embassy workers in Baghdad restricted

Move comes after 2 killed in militant attacks on Green Zone

MSNBC staff and news service reports

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23788065/

BAGHDAD - The State Department on Thursday told all workers at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad not to leave reinforced structures following the deaths of two Americans in attacks on the Green Zone, a heavily fortified area besieged by militants this week.

The Baghdad military command imposed a curfew on the capital from 11 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Sunday in bid to stem the violence.

One American was killed Thursday by incoming insurgent fire on the Green Zone. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo identified the person as a government employee but said she could give no further details until relatives were notified.

An American financial analyst was killed Sunday in the first volley to strike the zone.

The U.S. military has blamed Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen for the attacks, which come as amid heightened tensions between followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Shiite-led government.

Iraq’s prime minister vowed Thursday to fight “until the end” against the militias in Basra despite protests by tens of thousands of followers of the radical cleric.

Mounting anger focused on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is personally overseeing operations against the militias dominated by al-Sadr’s supporters amid a violent power struggle in Basra, Iraq’s southern oil hub.

"We have made up our minds to enter this battle and we will continue until the end. No retreat,” al-Maliki said in a speech broadcast on Iraqi state TV.

The crisis was seen as a test of the Iraqi government’s ability to eventually take over its own security. The U.S.-led coalition has a minimal presence in Basra after British forces turned over responsibility for the area to the Iraqis in late December.

"Iraq is now responsible for security in Basra," U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said Wednesday.

Expectations for IraqThe events in Basra threatened to unravel a Mahdi Army cease-fire and lead to a dramatic escalation in violence after a period of relative calm that had lasted for months.

"I think there's no doubt that a serious failure here by the central government will really dampen expectations that any success in Iraq is (only) going to be in the near term," Kathleen Hicks of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told NBC News.

The death toll in the Shiite city of Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad, also rose to at least 60 in fighting that continued into Thursday, according to a senior police official who asked not to be identified because of security concerns.

The U.S. military said four suspected Shiite extremists were killed in an airstrike but it had no further details.

The police chief
in Kut, Abdul-Hanin al-Amara said 40 gunmen had been killed and 75 others wounded in that southeastern city.

A bomb struck an oil pipeline Thursday in Basra, a local oil official said, declining to be identified because he was not authorized to release the information.

Click on link to read full MSNBC story.

BUSH A.K.A NERO FIDDLES WHILE IRAQ BURNS

President Bush told a military audience in Dayton, Ohio on Thursday that "the surge" is working and things are improving everyday in Iraq.

Bush a.k.a Nero apparently didn't know that the Green Zone has been put on curfew and most of Baghdad is also on curfew until Sunday.

Bush also didn't seem to know that thousands of Mahdi Army demonstrators staged a protest in Basra, Iraq demanding the ouster of Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Malki.

Bush also didn't seem to know that the number of American KILLED in Iraq is 4,004 and not 4,000 as he told the Dayton audiences.

Bush also failed to mention that for four days in a row mortar rounds have been fired into the Green Zone in Baghdad and three American civilians have been killed.

Bush also didn't seem to know anything about a key Iraqi oil pipeline has been blown up.

Bush apparently doesn't know that 30 percent of all Iraq vets are returning with serious hearing loss.

Bush also never mentioned there are 30,000 wounded veterans from the Iraq war in military hospitals and a majority of them suffer from PTSD without any professional help available.

Bush skipped over the fact that Iraq war is costing the American taxpayer NINE BILLION DOLLARS A MONTH.

Bush failed to mention the senior brass at the Pentagon are calling for something to be done quickly about the troops who keep getting rotated back to Iraq and in some cases are on their fourth or fifth tour to the war zone.

Bush a.k.a Nero continues to fiddle while Iraq burns and he appears to be completely oblivious to the facts as foreign press organizations are reporting them every single day, but the mainstream press in the United States is following in the footsteps of FOX NEWS and providing Americans with only "happy war talk" news.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE

HOW COME BUSH DIDN'T MENTION THIS THURSDAY IN HIS SPEECH ABOUT IRAQ?

Thousands of demonstrators in Basra, Iraq demanded the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The demonstrations came on the same day President Bush was in Dayton, Ohio telling a military audience how well everything is going in Iraq.

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 28 /03 /2008 Time 12:00:27

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=74415&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

Baghdad, Mar 27, (VOI) - Thousands of Sadr City residents staged a massive demonstration on Thursday near al-Sadr office, calling to sack Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after the military operation waged in Basra.

“The to dismiss Nouri al-Maliki,” Sheikh Salman al-Foureji, responsible for al-Sadr’s office in al-Rasafa, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

“The angry men described the premier as (a cooperator) with the occupation forces,” he added.

“The protesters demands include; sacking al-Maliki, putting an end to the occupation, ending military operations and random arrests throughout Iraq, and releasing detainees,” the Sadrist office explained.

They raised banners condemning the Iraqi government’s policy and chanted slogans against Nouri al-Maliki.

For his part, Sheikh Jaleel al-Lami, from the al-Sadr’s office, told the VOI “the demo came after the recent aggressions against Iraqis throughout the country and we take part in the protest in response to a demand from Shiite Clerick Muqtada al-Sadr, pointing out that the protests will continue “until our demands are met.”

Armed clashes broke out on Thursday morning in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad between gunmen and U.S. forces after the latter closed the city’s inlets and outlets.
Eyewitnesses told the VOI that explosions and clashes have been ongoing in the city since Tuesday.

Basra and a number of southern provinces have been a hotbed of fierce armed confrontations since Monday between security forces and armed groups, during which scores of civilians were killed and wounded.

MSNBC REPORTS GREEN ZONE AND BAGHDAD PUT ON CURFEW AFTER MORTAR ATTACKS

No sooner had President Bush told a gathering of military people in Dayton, Ohio on Thursday on how well "the surge" was working in Iraq, than a barrage of mortar attacks on the Green Zone and elsewhere in Baghdad has forced the U.S. military to put ALL of Baghdad on a curfew until Sunday night.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23788065/

BAGHDAD - The U.S. Embassy says one American has been killed in rocket or mortar attacks against the Green Zone.

The heavily fortified area and other parts of Baghdad have been hammered by rockets and mortars for most of this week.

Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo identified the American killed Thursday as a government employee but says she can give no further details until relatives are notified.

WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL BUSH IT IS 4004 DEAD GIS AND NOT 4000?

When President Bush spoke to a gathering of military people Thursday, he referred to 4,000 brave Americans who have died in Iraq.

Someone should have told Bush it is 4,004 as of today.

Here is the list of the latest casualties from Iraq:

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:
4000
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:
4
Total
4004

DoD Confirmation List

Latest Coalition Fatality: Mar 27, 2008
03/27/08 MNF: MND-B Soldier attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed at approximately 4:30 p.m. March 27 after being struck by an improvised explosive device in eastern Baghdad while conducting a combat patrol.

03/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (4 of 4)
Pvt. George Delgado, 21, of Palmdale, Calif...assigned to the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division...died March 24 in Baghdad...from wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an IDE on March 23.

03/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (3 of 4)
Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Hake, 26, of Enid, Okla...assigned to the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division...died March 24 in Baghdad...from wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an IDE on March 23.

03/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (2 of 4)
Pfc. Andrew J. Habsieger, 22, of Festus, Mo...assigned to the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division...died March 24 in Baghdad...from wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an IDE on March 23.
03/27/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualties (1 of 4)

Spc. Jose A. Rubio Hernandez, 24, of Mission, Texas...assigned to the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division...died March 24 in Baghdad...from wounds suffered when their vehicle encountered an IDE on March 23

THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ AND NOT WHITE HOUSE "SPIN"

When Gen. David Petraeus testifies to Congress in a few weeks, he is expected to tout recent "security gains" from the U.S. surge in Iraq as a reason to "pause" troop reductions. But violence this week across southern Iraq is pouring cold water on these tactical gains, erupting in several Iraqi cities including Baghdad, where "rockets pounded the fortified Green Zone area."

http://thinkprogress.org/?tag=Iraq

"Thousands of supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched in Baghdad" today, calling for "the downfall of the U.S.-backed government." In a battle in oil-rich Basra, a bomb blast destroyed an oil pipeline, Sadr's Shiite bloc walked out of parliament Tuesday to protest the crackdown, and a Baghdad security plan spokesperson was kidnapped today.

This anger threatens to end Sadr's pivotal