CNN: GRIM MILESTONE: 4,000 U.S. SERVICEMEN DEAD IN IRAQ WAR

Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad bringing the death toll of Americans killed in Iraq to 4,000.

Story Highlights
NEW: As Iraq war enters sixth year, American death toll rises to 4,000
At least 30 Iraqis died Sunday; 80,000 to 150,000 or more killed since war's start
Iraq security adviser said Sunday that Iraq war is "well worth fighting"
Democratic senator: Pause in withdrawal sends "wrong message to the Iraqis"

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/23/iraq.main/index.html


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four U.S. soldiers died in a roadside bombing in Iraq on Sunday, military officials reported, bringing the American toll in the 5-year-old war to the grim milestone of 4,000 deaths. Eight of the 4,000 killed were civilian employees of the Pentagon.

The four were killed when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device while patrolling a neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military headquarters in Iraq reported Sunday night. A fifth soldier was wounded in the attack, which took place about 10 a.m. (3 a.m. ET).

The news came on the same day that Iraq's national security adviser urged Americans to be patient with the progress of the war, contending that it is "well worth fighting" because it has implications about "global terror."

"This is global terrorism hitting everywhere, and they have chosen Iraq to be a battlefield. And we have to take them on," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

"If we don't prevail, if we don't succeed in this war, then we are doomed forever," he said. "I understand and sympathize with the mothers, with the widows, with the children who have lost their beloved ones in this country.

"But honestly, it is well worth fighting and well worth investing the money and the treasure and the sweat and the tears in Iraq."

The war has just entered its sixth year. It started March 19, 2003.

Estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to 150,000 or more. At least 30 Iraqis were killed Sunday, officials said.

Nearly 160,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers about $600 billion, according to the House Budget Committee
.
The conflict is now widely unpopular among Americans: A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll out Wednesday found only 32 percent of Americans support the conflict. And 61 percent said they want the next president to remove most U.S. troops within a few months of taking office.

In the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said President Bush "took us to war on the wings of a lie."

CNN JUST CONFIRMED THE 4,000TH GI HAS BEEN KILLED IN IRAQ

Four U.S. soldiers were killed early Sunday morning in Baghdad bringing the total to the grim milestone of 4,000 killed in a war that never had to be fought in the first place.

The soldiers were on patrol in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq which President Bush and his ridiculous news organization FOX NEWS claims is a sea of calm because of "the surge."

How can Bush, Cheney or anyone who works for FOX NEWS look at themselves in the mirror knowing they ducked out of the military themselves (Bush's Texas Air National Guard stint was a total joke) after hearing this horrible news

The figure of 4,000 DEAD Americans doesn't even touch on the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians that have been KILLED since Bush and his warmongering henchmen decided to invade and occupy Iraq.

This former reporter and columnist and former United States Army Combat Engineer and Korean War veteran has made a decision I will NEVER speak to anyone who supports this stupid war because most of them never served a day in the military and second because they are just too dumb to waste my breath on them.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE.

MEDIA WORLDWIDE LASHES OUT AT U.S.-LED IRAQ WAR

From far and wide and all across the world, the media is bashing the United States for invading and occupying Iraq.

Could all the media all over the world be out of step, and the only media that thinks we have done the right thing is the corporate-controlled media in the United States like FOX NEWS?

Only a fool would believe every media organization in the world is wrong and only the U.S.corporate-controlled media in the United States has got it right.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE.

Political parties, media worldwide slam U.S.-led war in Iraq

www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-21 21:25:55

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/21/content_7835574.htm


Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Political parties and mass media around the world lashed out at the U.S.-led war in Iraq on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war, which fell on Thursday.

Iraq is in a "shocking" state five years after a U.S.-led coalition invaded the country, Australian Democrats leader Lynn Allison said Thursday.

"I'm not sure that I could've predicted that it would still be going on, five years on," Senator Allison said. "But we all knew that this wasn't going to be a war in which you could move in with shock and awe and bomb the country, destroy its infrastructure, walk away and expect that democracy would make it a safe place to be."

"We all owe a great deal to Iraq to help restore their country, but the signs are not looking good for that being possible any time soon," she said.

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said his party had always been against the Iraq war.

"This has been a monstrous mistake by George Bush, John Howard, Tony Blair and the others who were involved in it," he said.

"The appalling death toll including tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent Iraqi civilians is going to keep going... It's time for an end to the occupation of Iraq and for the Iraqis to sort out their own future," Brown said.

Australia's Nationalist Party and Family First Party, among others, also denounced the Iraq war in statements on Thursday.

The leading newspaper in Saudi Arabia, Al-Riyadh released a commentary on the front page Wednesday, noting that the Iraqi situation has not improved for the past five years but is becoming more insecure. The U.S.-led invasion should take major responsibility for the scenario.
The article said solving the Iraqi issue only relies on the Iraqi people. Only when various political factions can bridge their differences through dialogue and realize reconciliation as soon as possible, Iraq will usher in a bright future.

The Saudi Arabian newspaper Al-Watan said the Iraqi people have led a panic-filled and miserable life and suffered from poverty since the outbreak of the Iraqi war five years ago.

The U.S.-led invasion and occupation does not bring any benefit to them, and the Bush administration's promise and gloss cannot cover up facts of war crimes.

The Al-Youm newspaper in Saudi Arabia stressed that the facts in Iraq or Afghanistan both proved that the U.S.-led war against terror cannot achieve any result. Indulging in wars of aggression only bring more suffering for local people
.
Japan's newspaper The Asahi Shimbun said: "Five years have elapsed since the start of the Iraq war, but there are people who are still trying to justify this historic blunder."

"The justification for this war, which Bush used to argue fervidly, has since evaporated completely," the paper said in an editorial on Tuesday.

"Contrary to the Bush administration's insistence, the weapons of mass destruction did not exist. And hardly anybody is talking anymore about the once-popular slogan of 'democratizing the MiddleEast,'" it said.

"Japan certainly bears a part of the blame for supporting this war," and "the United States must get over its major blunder in Iraq and find a way out," it added.

ATTACKS KILL 57 IN IRAQ; GREEN ZONE HIT

There isn't any doubt that violence is moving up swiftly in Iraq. 57 people were killed by a suicide bomber in Mosul earlier Sunday, and mortar rounds poured down on the Green Zone inside of Baghdad. It is still not clear if there were any injuries from the mortar attack.

Attacks kill 57 in Iraq; Green Zone hit
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer 30 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=Aun4Wm_uL3289b1ImEzCOGVX6GMA

Rockets and mortars pounded Baghdad's U.S.-protected Green Zone Sunday and a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army post in the northern city of Mosul in a surge of attacks that killed at least 57 people nationwide.

The latest violence underscored the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups as the war enters its sixth year and the U.S. death toll in the conflict approaches 4,000.

Attacks in Baghdad probably stemmed from rising tensions between rival Shiite groups — some of whom may have been behind the Green Zone blasts. It was the most sustained assault in months against the nerve center of the U.S. mission.

The deadliest attack of the day was in Mosul when a suicide driver slammed his vehicle through a security checkpoint in a hail of gunfire and detonated his explosives in front of an Iraqi headquarters building, killing 13 Iraqi soldiers and injuring 42 other people, police said.

Iraqi guards opened fire on the vehicle but couldn't stop it because the windshield had been bulletproofed, said an Iraqi army officer. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.

Mosul, Iraq's third largest city about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been described as the last major urban area where the Sunni extremist al-Qaida group maintains a significant presence.

In Baghdad, rockets and mortars began slamming into the Green Zone about sunrise, and scattered attacks persisted throughout the day, sending plumes of smoke rising over the heavily guarded district in the heart of the capital.

A U.S. public address system in the Green Zone warned people to "duck and cover" and to stay away from windows.

At least five people were injured in the Green Zone, a U.S. Embassy statement said without specifying nationalities. The zone includes the U.S. and British embassies as well as major Iraqi government offices.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to release the information, said those injured included an American and four third-country nationals, meaning they were not American, British or Iraqi.

Iraqi police said 10 civilians were killed and more than 20 were injured in rocket or mortar blasts in scattered areas of eastern Baghdad — some of them probably due to misfired rounds.
Also in the capital, seven people were killed and 14 wounded in a suicide car bombing Sunday in the Shiite area of Shula in the capital, police reported. Such attacks are the hallmark of Sunni religious extremists.

Gunmen opened fire on passengers waiting for buses in a predominantly Shiite area in southeastern Baghdad, killing at least seven men and wounding 16 people, including women and children, according to police.

Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of 12 people — six in Baghdad, four in Mosul and two in Kut, scene of clashes between government troops and Shiite militiamen.

Elsewhere, several mortars or rockets struck a U.S. base in the Shiite city of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said. The American military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the attack.

No group claimed responsibility for the Green Zone attacks, but suspicion fell on Shiite extremists based on the areas from which the weapons were fired.

The attacks followed a series of clashes last week between U.S. and Iraqi forces and factions of the Mahdi Army, the biggest Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

CNN REPORTS: IRAQ SECURITY ADVISER TELLS AMERICANS: BE PATIENT

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- As the Iraq war entered its sixth year, the country's national security adviser urged Americans to be patient, contending that the war is "well worth fighting" because it has implications about "global terror."
"This is global terrorism hitting everywhere, and they have chosen Iraq to be a battlefield. And we have to take them on," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

Iraq security adviser to Americans: Be patientStory Highlights Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Sunday that Iraq war is "well worth fighting"Iraq war entered its sixth year on March 19; nearly 4,000 Americans have died30 Iraqis died in Iraq on Sunday; 80,000 to 150,000 or more died since war's startDemocratic senator: Pause in withdrawal sends "wrong message to the Iraqis"

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/23/iraq.main/index.html

"If we don't prevail, if we don't succeed in this war, then we are doomed forever," he said. "I understand and sympathize with the mothers, with the widows, with the children who have lost their beloved ones in this country.

"But honestly, it is well worth fighting and well worth investing the money and the treasure and the sweat and the tears in Iraq."

Since the March 19, 2003, U.S.-led invasion, nearly 4,000 Americans have died in Iraq, including three on Saturday.

Estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from about 80,000 to 150,000 or more. At least 30 Iraqis were killed Sunday, officials said.

Nearly 160,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers about $600 billion, according to the House Budget Committee.

The conflict is now widely unpopular among Americans: A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll out Wednesday found only 32 percent of Americans support the conflict. And 61 percent said they want the next president to remove most U.S. troops within a few months of taking office.

In the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said President Bush "took us to war on the wings of a lie."

Menendez said that the war has depleted the resources and morale of the U.S. military; diverted national attention away from the war in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda is regrouping; and hurt the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The Iraq war has not made Americans safer, Menendez said, but has instead hurt the U.S. economy.

The senator called for a "responsible new direction" regarding Iraq.

CNN learned last week, from several U.S. military officials familiar with the recommendations but not authorized to speak on the record, that senior U.S. military officials are preparing to recommend to Bush a four- to six-week "pause" in additional troop withdrawals from Iraq after the last of the "surge" brigades leaves in July.

"If the conditions on the ground dictate that we have to have a pause, then we will have to have a pause," al-Rubaie said.

The return of all five brigades added to the Iraq contingent last year could reduce troops levels by up to 30,000, but still leave approximately 130,000 or more troops in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie emphasized Sunday that any drawdown of U.S. troops "has to be based on the conditions on the ground."

FIVE SURGERIES, TWO PURPLE HEARTS AND STILL WAITING FOR VA BENEFITS

When Pam's fiancé, Charles, was on his second tour to Iraq in December of 2004, he feared what awaited him.

On his first tour, a year prior, he had witnessed the chaos and the bloodshed, the friends who didn't return home.

Charles had escaped with a shot to his jaw the first time, but, preparing for the worst, he gave Pam power of attorney for his belongings.

Still, in a hopeful moment before his deployment from Fort Bragg, Charles put an engagement ring on Pam's finger. "I cried all night when he left," remembers Pam.

Five Surgeries, Two Purple Hearts and Still Fighting for VA Benefits

By Rose-Anne Clermont, The WipPosted on March 23, 2008, Printed on March 23, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/80465/

When they were lucky, Pam and Charles had a half hour each day to talk (on his cell phone or via instant messages) about the life they'd been planning together, the house they had bought, and their garden that Pam had been tending. So when Pam hadn't heard from Charles in nearly three days, her spirit, she says, told her something was wrong. "My stomach ached for three days," Pam remembers. "I just knew that something had happened." Because they weren't yet married, it was Charles' mother, not Pam, who received the call that he had been killed in the line of duty.

Seven months after he'd said goodbye to Pam, Charles' front-line unit was hit by an IED in Mosul. Six of his fellow soldiers died in the attack and, amidst the confusion, Charles, known as Sgt. Charles Eggleston, was counted amongst the dead. The call to Charles' mother had been a mistake -- one that Pam had been lucky enough not to know about until she'd finally talked to Charles again, three days after the attack.

When they finally spoke on the phone, Pam says, "I was glad that he still remembered me, that he could talk to me, and that he was alive. I decided that I loved him enough that I could deal with the rest."

But the rest has been nothing but red tape chaos as Charles fights for his VA benefits.

Click on link to read the rest of this story...

900 AMERICAN GIS KILLED SINCE THE START OF "THE SURGE" -HAGEL

Hagel: A Defense Of The Surge That ‘Dismisses’ Over ‘900 Dead Americans’ Is Wrong

Earlier this week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he “will be glad to stake my campaign on the fact that [the surge] has succeeded,” effectively shackling himself to President Bush’s Iraq policy.

Previously, McCain has insisted that the level of American casualties is the “key” metric by which to measure to the surge’s success:
The surge is succeeding and the key to it is not American presence, it’s American casualties and by any measure, we are succeeding and the political process is succeeding.

On ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopolous today, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) bluntly disagreed with McCain’s assessment of the surge’s success, saying it’s wrong to “dismiss” over “900 dead Americans since the surge” began as “success”:
We have lost over 900 dead Americans since the surge. Now if you want to dismiss that as ’success’ that would be your interpretation.

Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/23/hagel-mccains-defense-of-the-surge-that-dismisses-over-900-dead-americans-is-wrong/ (SEE VIDEO HERE)

McCain frequently dismisses questions about his claim that he wouldn’t mind if U.S. troops were in Iraq for “a hundred years” by insisting that “the point is American casualties.” Yet, as Hagel points out, in repeatedly insisting that the surge is a success, McCain downplays the fact that American soldiers are still dying in Iraq on a regular basis.

As of today, the Pentagon has confirmed the deaths of 3,991 U.S. soldiers in Iraq since the start of the war. Four more reported casualties are awaiting confirmation.

MOSUL SUICIDE BLAST LEAVES 43 CASUALTIES

The death toll from the suicide truck bomb attack that targeted an Iraqi army headquarters in western Mosul on Sunday rose to 13 soldiers and 30 others, including 12 civilians, wounded, an official police source in Ninewa said.

Ninewa - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 23 /03 /2008 Time 10:27:13

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=73874&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1


Ninewa, Mar 23, (VOI) – "The truck bomb, which went off near an Iraqi army headquarters in al-Harmat area, western Mosul, left 13 Iraqi soldiers killed and 30 others wounded. 12 civilians were among the wounded," the source, who declined having his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

The same source had earlier said the attack left five Iraqi soldiers killed and 30 others, including five civilians, wounded.Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 402 km north of Baghdad.

GREEN ZONE IN BAGHDAD UNDER MORTAR ATTACK

President Bush and FOX NEWS are avoiding any mention of it, but the Green Zone in Baghdad has come under a heavy mortar attack.

We have updated reports on other acts of violence in Iraq as the wave of chaos takes a dramatic upturn.

Any reporter or news outlet who continue to say things are getting better in Iraq is simply LYING to the American public.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE

Reuters: Baghdad's Green Zone hit by barrage of blasts (part 1)Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone was hit by a sustained barrage of rocket or mortar bomb fire early on Sunday and emergency sirens could be heard in the Iraqi capital's government and diplomatic compound.


03/23/08 Reuters: Baghdad's Green Zone hit by barrage of blasts (part 2)It was not immediately clear where most of the missiles landed or if there were any casualties after an apparent attack lasting about 15 minutes..A large plume of thick black smoke could be seen rising from one area of central Baghdad's Green Zone03/23/08

These incidents of violence also took place in Iraq on March 23

03/23/08 Reuters: Gunmen killed police lieutenant in central Baquba,
Gunmen killed a police lieutenant and wounded two policemen in an attack on a checkpoint in central Baquba, 65 km (42 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

03/23/08 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills 4 Iraqi soldiers while near Tuz Khurmato
A roadside bomb killed four Iraqi soldiers while they were on patrol near Tuz Khurmato, 70 km (43 miles) south of the northern city of Kirkuk, the Iraqi army said.

03/23/08 reuters: Gunmen kill Iraqi Colonel in Abu Saida
Gunmen killed Colonel Akram Awad al-Omairi, commander of a rapid reaction unit of Balad Ruz, outside his home in the town of Abu Saida in Diyala province, police said.

03/23/08 Reuters: Three bodies found in Baghdad on Saturday
Three bodies were found in different districts across Baghdad on Saturday, police said.

03/23/08 Reuters: Suicide bomber attacks house of tribal leader - 5 killed
A suicide car bomb hit the house of tribal leader Hussain al-Shatab, killing five people, including his brother, and wounding 11 others on Saturday east of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Shatab survived.

03/23/08 Reuters: Roadside bomb wounds 3 policemen in eastern Baghdad
A roadside bomb blew up near a police patrol, wounding three policemen in Zayouna district, in eastern Baghdad, police said.

03/23/08 AFP: US air strike kills six in Iraq
A US helicopter gunship fired on and killed six Iraqis near the central Iraq city of Samarra on Saturday, an anti-Qaeda leader and the American military said.

03/23/08 newarkadvocate: Heath man injured in explosion in Iraq
A Heath soldier injured in Iraq on New Year's Eve 2006 had surgery last week to remove a piece of shrapnel that had been above his left eye for almost 15 months. Todd Henry, 40, son of Heath City Councilman Cledys Henry, had the copper piece...

03/23/08 AFP: US says 12 members of suicide cell killed in Iraq
US forces raided a "suicide bombing network" in Iraq's restive Diyala province on Sunday, killing 12 men, six of whom who had shaved their bodies in preparation for becoming human bombs, the American military said.

03/23/08 AFP: Armed men kill 6, wound 16 south of Baghdad
Several armed men travelling in three cars opened fire in the mixed Zafaraniyah neighbourhood of south Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding 16, the officials said.

03/23/08 Reuters: Katyusha rocket hits east of Baghdad, kills 5 people
a Katyusha rocket struck a residental building in the largely Shiite Al-Kamaliyah neighbourhood of east Baghdad at around 11:00 am (0800 GMT), killing at least five people and wounding eight, security officials said.

03/23/08 AP: Suicide bomb kills 13 Iraqi soldiers
A suicide car bomber killed at least 13 Iraqi soldiers and wounded dozens more people in Iraq's north on Sunday...Police said at least 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 42 people wounded — 30 soldiers and 12 civilians — in the attack. Mosul

NOTABLY VIOLENT DAY IN IRAQ: REPORTS STILL COMING IN

There has been an exceptional amount of violence in Iraq today, Easter Sunday in the Christian world.

All across Iraq there have been reports of violence and the reports are still coming in from the various provinces in Iraq.

We will keep you posted.

Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE


Reported Security IncidentsUpdates as of 1:30 ET

It's been a notably violent day in Iraq and reports are still coming in. Since I posted this morning:

Six bodies found dumped in Baghdad on Sunday. I already posted the three bodies found on Saturday. the six today is up a bit from the recent average.Baquba: Brigadier Akram Alwan, commander of local police commandos, assassinated by armed attack on his convoy. One of his bodyguards also killed.

Mosul: Two more attacks, in addition to the suicide truck bombing of local Iraqi army HQ reported earlier. Iraqi army officer killed, three soldiers and seven civilians wounded, in a suicide car bomb attack on an army patrol.

Also, IED attack on another patrol injures 7 civilians.Car bomb kills five, injures eight in northern Baghdad.BaghdadSix civilians killed, 17 injured when unknown gunmen open fire on pedestrians in the Zafaraniya district of southern Baghdad. The attackers were said to be riding in three cars, and to have made their escape.

Aswat al-Iraq gives the death toll as 7.Barrage of 10 mortars or rockets hits the Green Zone early Sunday morning. U.S. Embassy spokesman says "Our assessment at this time is that the attack caused no deaths or major casualties."However, Iraqi police say two people were killed and ten injured outside of the Green Zone by artillery. It is not entirely clear from this Reuters account whether these were rounds aimed at the GZ that missed, or unrelated incidents. Reuters also adds the detail that there was a second barrage about 4 hours after the first; specifically, there was a barrage of at 6:00 am, and a second at about 10:00. Aswat al Iraq says that five people were killed and eight wounded by a Katyusha rocket in al-Kamaliya, eastern Baghdad; and an additional four people injured by a Katyusha in Sadr City. Not clear whether these incidents are the same as those reported by Reuters as killing two.Roadside bomb kills two people in Karrada.

Reuters also reports:
Three bodies found dumped on Saturday.
Roadside bomb injures three police officers in Zayouna district, eastern Baghdad. Note: The fact box gives specifics of casualty totals and locations from Katyusha attacks which are not consistent with other sources. I have no way of sorting this out. One way or another, there were a lot of rockets flying around Baghdad today. --

CMosulSuicide truck bomb attack on Iraqi Army headquarters kills 13 soldiers, injures 22, and injures 12 civilians. AP says there were 30 soldiers wounded, plus twelve civilians. AP also says security forces opened fire on the truck but it had a bullet proof windshield, and that it smashed through an armored vehicle to enter the courtyard of the HQ building.

Near BaqubaU.S. forces kill 12 men they describe as a members of a "suicide bombing network in a raid on a house.Baladros (near Baquba)U.S. fighter jets kill 15 people the U.S. describes as "al Qaeda operatives." al-Maftoul village (Touz Khormato)IED attack on an Iraqi Army patrol kills 4 soldiers.

Abu Saida (near Balad Ruz)Gunmen killed Colonel Akram Awad al-Omairi, commander of a rapid reaction unit of Balad Ruz.Near SamarraA suicide car bomb hit the house of tribal leader Hussain al-Shatab, killing five people, including his brother, and wounding 11 others on Saturday.KutMortar attacks on two residential areas kill five.U.S. helicopters attack four homes, killing 15 members of one family. (This seems like a fairly noteworthy incident, but I only find it mentioned in passing in this DPA dispatch. No further information is available at the time of posting. - C)

Wassit province, north of KutGunmen attack the home of Unified Iraqi Coalition parliamentarian Iman Jalal. Security guards fight them off. Also, a bomb attack on the home of Sadrist Muntather al-Shahmani causes damage but no casualties.Marado, Razda and Dolakoka, villages in the Iranian border region of SulaimaniyahIranian artillery barrage, lasting about two hours, targets the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PJAK, a component of the PKK. No information on damage or casualties.

Other News of the DayHundreds of protesters lay siege to NATO headquarters in Brussels to protest the Iraq war. Police drive off protesters with dogs, horses, pepper spray and water cannons. U.S. said to request that UK forces re-enter Basra to establish control. It will be interesting to see how Gordon Brown and the UK electorate respond to this. Excerpt:
LONDON (AFP) - The US plans to urge Britain to launch a "surge" in Basra to combat increasing violence in the southern Iraqi region, the Sunday Mirror reported. Britain, which has around 4,100 troops in Iraq, transferred control to Iraqi forces in December last year but could now be asked to step up its role again amid top-level concern about the situation, the paper said.It quoted an unnamed senior US military source saying: "Three big militias are currently engaged in a particularly bloody battle in southern Iraq. "US and Iraqi forces are involved in a huge operation to attack an Al-Qaeda stronghold in Mosul. But after that, the plan is to turn the coalition's attention on to Basra and we will be urging the British to surge into the city. If they do not have enough troops, then they will be offered US Marines to help out. The feeling is that if southern Iraq is hugely unstable, it will affect the success of the surge in the north and destabilise the whole country."The source added: "The proposal to go back into Basra is being examined at the highest level in Baghdad."Iraqi oil ministry invites bids to develop a gas field in Anbar. I personally would not be inclined to take a job on that project. -- C

NEW VIDEO: HOW MANY MORE IRAQI CHILDREN MUST DIE?

There never were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq until President George W. Bush sent in the United States military.

This gripping YOUTUBE video asks the question that so many Americans have been asking for the past five years: "How many more Iraqi children must die?"

President Bush himself said there is not a military solution to Iraq only a political solution.

So why is the United States military still in Iraq?

Why are so many Iraqi children dying every day in Iraq?

Isn't it time for the Iraqi government to step forward and start running their own country?

Watch this video and the ask yourself: "How Many more Iraqi Children Must Die?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x47TY4o-Ko

NEW VIDEO: SUFFER THE CHILDREN: IRAQ

Watch this video and ask yourself if any of this was happening before President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney decided to invade and occupy Iraq.

Did this have to happen?

What is the United States out to prove?

Who is suffering the most from the United States intervention into Iraq?

Where have all the children gone?

How can the United States ever repair the damage it has done to Iraq?

Watch this video and ask yourself these questions....

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHPw2Jg_tSk

BREAKING NEWS: ARAB MEDIA WARNS BUSH WANTS WAR WITH IRAN

The Arab media has raised US-Iran confrontation alarms, saying the US has a proxy war with Iran going at the tail end of the Bush administration.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=48607&sectionid=351020205


The UAE-based newspaper, Gulf News, in its Friday's editorial said that with George W. Bush in office the Washngton is effectively maintaining low intensity warfare with Iran and the potential exists to ratchet it up to more open hostilities.

The source asserted that the recurring visits by the US Vice President Dick Cheney and John McCain to Iraq and occupied Palestine are surely not 'coincidences' but a means to ensure Israel remains fully in the picture for any "plans the US could have against Iran".

The paper referred to Bush's remarks about Iran's ambitions for nuclear weapons as blatant lies and a resounding excuse for fresh adventurism in the region, bearing in mind the ongoing occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan as cases in point. Meanwhile, Al-Ahram Weekly described Admiral William Fallon's recent resignation as an orchestrated move to remove what it called the only obstacle "standing between the administration and their newest war plan".

The weekly also added the disaster the Bush administration has created in Iraq is clearly not going well. As a result, the administration may feel that engaging the US militarily in Iran is their only option to for seeing a Republican president elected and a staunch military advocate like John McCain fits that bill. On Wednesday, an aide to Cheney said that, the United States will need the cooperation of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey to mount a military attack on Iran.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, in a meeting with Cheney on Friday, expressed his opposition to any US military action against Iran, saying that negotiation is the best and the only effective way to resolve Tehran's nuclear standoff.

The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in their latest reports have reassured the world that the nature of Iran's nuclear activities is peaceful.

OVERDOSE RAISES QUESTIONS AT WALTER REED

The night before he was to enter a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, Army Pfc. Chris Eckert swallowed a pill prescribed to help him sleep without the nightmares that have tormented him since he left Iraq.

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writerPosted : Friday Mar 21, 2008 18:38:27 EDT

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/military_methadone_032108w/

Then, sitting in his barracks at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Jan. 17, he counted out seven methadone tablets and popped them into his mouth.

The next morning, his squad leader found him on the floor in a puddle of his own vomit, but still alive.

“They told me, ‘Your son is not going to make it,’ ” said Eckert’s mother, Rose Szymborski. “He was on life support for five days.”

Since June 2007, 11 troops have died in the Army’s Wounded Warrior units, according to Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army’s Surgeon General.

Eckert’s mother blames the Army for not looking out for him, while Army officials say Eckert needed to do more to help himself. But both sides agree his case is an example of the difficulties of treating troops working through substance-abuse issues linked to post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries.

“I felt like my hands were kind of tied,” said Capt. Scott Beam, Eckert’s case manager. “In my heart ... I knew I had done all I could have.”

Szymborski said she tried to alert Eckert’s chain of command at the hospital that her son was dealing with symptoms of PTSD. He suffered nightmares, couldn’t handle loud noises and was angry. He told friends he was suicidal. He was abusing pain medications and alcohol.

Eckert was serving in Iraq in early 2007 when an IED blast killed his platoon sergeant and left him with a mild traumatic brain injury.
“He was getting worse by the week,” his mother said.

Click on link to read full account.

SUICIDE BOMBING KILLS 5 SOLDIERS IN MOSUL

Ninewa - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 23 /03 /2008 Time 1:21:03

Mosul, Mar 23, (VOI) – At least five Iraqi troops were killed and 30 people, including 25 soldiers, were wounded on Sunday in a suicide bombing that targeted an Iraqi army base in Mosul, northern Iraq, a police source said.

"A suicide bomber detonated a truck rigged with explosives near an Iraqi army base in al-Harmat area, western Mosul, this morning, killing five soldiers and wounding 30 people," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).The source added "among the wounded were 25 troops."Mosul, capital city of Ninewa province, is 405 km north of Baghdad.

Additional information on mortar attack on the Green Zone inside of Baghdad:

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=73861&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

BREAKING NEWS: BAGHDAD'S GREEN ZONE HIT BY BARRAGE OF MORTAR BLASTS

Thick black smoke could be seen early Easter Sunday morning coming from inside the Green Zone in Baghdad after a series of mortar blasts hit the area.

We have two reports.

03/23/08 Reuters: Baghdad's Green Zone hit by barrage of blasts (part 2)
It was not immediately clear where most of the missiles landed or if there were any casualties after an apparent attack lasting about 15 minutes..A large plume of thick black smoke could be seen rising from one area of central Baghdad's Green Zone
03/23/08 Reuters: Baghdad's Green Zone hit by barrage of blasts (part 1)
Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone was hit by a sustained barrage of rocket or mortar bomb fire early on Sunday and emergency sirens could be heard in the Iraqi capital's government and diplomatic compound.

We also have a report on a soldier with ties to Dayton, Ohio who was killed in Iraq:
03/22/08 whiotv: Soldier With Ties To Dayton Dies In Iraq
The son of a Centerville man was killed in Iraq Saturday. David Stelmat, 27, was killed when the Humvee he was traveling in was hit by a roadside bomb. Two other soldiers in the humvee died as well.

SOLDIER WHO PUT HIS LIFE ON THE LINE IN IRAQ CAN'T GET GREEN CARD
03/22/08 WaPo: Stalwart Service for U.S. in Iraq Is Not Enough to Gain Green Card
During his nearly four years as a translator for U.S. forces in Iraq, Saman Kareem Ahmad was known for his bravery and hard work. "Sam put his life on the line with, and for, Coalition Forces on a daily basis," wrote Marine Capt. Trent A. Gibson.

ANOTHER RIGHT WINGER WHO CLAIMS IRAQ IS NOT THAT FRAGILE

Where do they keep coming up with these right wingers who keep claiming Iraq is not that fragile and "the surge" is a roaring success?


The latest is Fred Kagan, surge architect and a member of the right wing think tank American Enterprise Institute, who went on The Charlie Rose Show to make his outlandish claim in the face of overwhelming information we have have been providing on this blog that Iraq is not only fragile, but Iraq is a cauldron of chaos.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/22/kagan-disagrees-with-petraeus-the-situation-in-iraq-today-is-not-that-fragile/ (with video)


Kagan Disagrees With Petraeus: ‘The Situation In Iraq Today Is Not That Fragile’

Asked on PBS’s The Charlie Rose Show earlier this week about “how fragile” the surge in Iraq is, surge architect and American Enterprise Institute “military analyst” Frederick Kagan declared that “the situation in Iraq today is, I think, not that fragile.” He then added that he believed Iraq would be “fragile” if America made “the mistake of pulling out prematurely.”

“If we don’t make that mistake, then I think what we’re seeing in general terms is that the momentum on almost all of the trend lines is in the right direction,” said Kagan. “There are a lot of good reasons to think that this will continue if we don’t make the errors that would undermine it.”

Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/22/kagan-disagrees-with-petraeus-the-situation-in-iraq-today-is-not-that-fragile/ (see video)

Kagan’s bold claim about the surge’s lack of fragility is directly contradicted by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who told CBS News this week that “while military progress has been made with a ’surge’ of U.S. forces, ‘progress in Iraq is fragile, it is tenuous.’”

In fact, the very next day following Kagan’s remarks, the Guardian reported on one key aspect of the surge’s strategy that is quite fragile: the reliabilty of U.S. alliances with Sunni militia.

The report noted that “Sunni militia employed by the US to fight al-Qaida are warning of a national strike because they are not being paid regularly”:
Leading members of the 80,000-strong Sahwa, or awakening, councils have said they will stop fighting unless payment of their $10 a day (£5) wage is resumed. The fighters are accusing the US military of using them to clear al-Qaida militants from dangerous areas and then abandoning them.

A telephone survey by GuardianFilms for Channel 4 News reveals that out of 49 Sahwa councils four with more than 1,400 men have already quit, 38 are threatening to go on strike and two already have.

Iraq is fragile beyond the question of whether American troops withdraw or not. “What happens if the Ayatollah Sistani gets assassinated?” Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Lawrence Korb has asked rhetorically.

His answer: “All hell breaks loose.”