The Bush White House and FOX NEWS keep telling the American public "the surge" is working and violence in Baghdad is way, way down. It is not true. On Wednesday alone 50 Iraqi civilians were KILLED in Baghdad and scores more injured. The so-called "surge" is looked upon on as total failure in the eyes of the residents of Baghdad. The only people who believe the "surge" is a success are the people who are ignorant enough to believe what the Bush White House and FOX NEWS are telling them.
The Iraqi people, and especially the residents of Baghdad, know the "surge" is a joke and hasn't done a thing to calm the violence in the capitol city of Iraq.
Car bombs kill more than 50 in Iraq
Car Bombs Kill More Than 50 People in Iraq, Breaking Recent Lull in Violence
KIM GAMELAP News
Apr 15, 2008 08:08 EST
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=128700
Car bombs ripped through crowded areas in Baghdad and former insurgent strongholds to the north and west of the capital on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and breaking a recent lull in violence in predominantly Sunni areas.
The attacks came a day after 18 people were killed in two car bombings and a suicide attack in northern Iraq — a deadly reminder of the threat posed by suspected Sunni insurgents even as clashes between Shiite militia fighters and U.S.-Iraqi forces continued elsewhere.
The first blast Tuesday occurred in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, when a car parked in front of a restaurant exploded just before noon across the street from the central courthouse and other government offices.
One survivor described a huge fire that sent black smoke billowing into the sky and left charred bodies inside their cars.
"I was on my way to the government office when a big explosion occurred near site," said the witness, who would only identify himself by his nickname Abu Ali. "As I approached the site, I saw cars on fire, burned bodies and damaged shops damaged with shattered glass everywhere."
At least 38 people were killed and 64 wounded in the blast.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
BUSH WHITE HOUSE AND FOX NEWS MISLEAD BY SAYING THINGS ARE GOOD IN BAGHDAD. 50 IRAQIS KILLED WEDNESDAY IN BAGHDAD
IRAQI CITIZENS SAY THE LIVE IN CONSTANT FEAR DESPITE MORE US TROOPS
The "surge" is working ONLY in the minds of the Bush administration and their propaganda puppet FOX NEWS.
In the eyes of the IRAQI people, the "surge" has been a dismal failure and they say they live in constant fear.
After a few days of relative calm by Iraq standards, the waves of violence have swept across Iraq again and hundreds of Iraqis have been killed or wounded. Two US MARINES were also killed on Tuesday in Baghdad.
Fresh fighting erupts in Iraq
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CB99E795-C4B3-4048-AB2D-64B3869568CC.htm
More than 60 people were killed in a series of attacks across Iraq on Tuesday [AFP]
Fresh fighting has erupted in Iraq a day after the country suffered one of its deadliest wave of bombings in recent months.
The violence comes just days after Washington heard evidence from David Petraeus, the US general in Iraq, that the US ‘surge’ strategy in Baghdad was working.
At least six people were killed in fighting between Iraqi government forces and Shia fighters on Wednesday.
Four Shia fighters died in a US air raid in the southern city of Basra, while two other people died in fighting in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.
Security fears
Despite the US military's claim that thousands of extra troops are helping to bring stability to Iraq, civilians say that they are living in constant danger.
"We hear about it on TV, but on the ground we don't feel anything. No services, no security in the streets. All of it is getting worse, despite what we hear in the media."
Sabah, a taxi driver working in Baghdad, told our correspondent that that the Iraqi administration and security services were doing more than the US to improve their lives.
"The credit belongs to the government with the help of the [Sunni] Awakening councils, the Iraqi army and the police in increasing the security here," he said.
'Definitive victory'
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, said he was sure that al-Qaeda in Iraq and other armed groups would be defeated by the Iraqi army.
"We are determined to defeat terrorism," he told the European parliament's foreign affairs committee.
In Depth
Iraqis despair after bloody day"We are more confident than ever that we are close to a definitive victory over al-Qaeda and its lawless allies." Al-Maliki said that al-Qaeda was in a state of "total isolation" in Iraq and seeking "refuge beyond the borders" in neighbouring nations, which he urged to do everything possible to stop them.
But the bombings in Baquba, Ramadi and Baghdad on Tuesday seemed to go against his claims, and those of the US military, that the threat of violence from Sunni fighters was diminishing.The series of bombings were the bloodiest day in Iraq since March 6, when a twin bombing killed 68 people in the central Baghdad district of Karradah.
In a challenge to al-Maliki's claim that the Iraqi army is isolating al-Qaeda in Iraq, a spokesman for al-Qaeda in Iraq called on Tuesday for Sunnis to abandon the "army and polices forces".
Omar al-Baghdadi offered "amnesty to the sons of Sunni tribes and those in the Awakening militias [to those who] turn their arms against the government and the occupiers."
Al-Baghdadi's statement suggests that al-Qaeda in Iraq is looking to boost its faltering influence in Sunni areas of the country, particularly where US-supported Sunni Awakening councils are in operation.Basra air raid
The air raid in Basra on Wednesday comes amid clashes between Iraqi security forces and Shia armed groups in the south of the country.
Major Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman, confirmed that an air raid had taken place on Wednesday in northern district of Hayaniyah.
"The coalition forces did conduct an air strike at around 1am [2200GMT Tuesday] in the eastern edge of Hayaniyah after positively identifying an enemy target. The enemy target was an RPG team engaging Iraqi army patrol," he said.US warplanes have carried out several strikes in the area over the past few weeks.In Baghdad, an Iraqi police officer told the Associated Press that sporadic fighting was continuing in Sadr City. He said that 18 people were also injured in the neighbourhood, including three women and three children.
The US military on Wednesday announced that two US marines had been killed by a roadside bomb in Anbar province on Monday.
LIST OF NEW US CASUALTIES IN IRAQ: VIOLENCE ERUPTS ACROSS IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
The mainstream media in the United States continues to ignore the mounting violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. There have been deaths of US soldiers and multiple shootings, killings, bombings and kidnappings all across Iraq and Afghanistan and still the mainstream media ignores the mounting crisis is both countries.
The mainstream media in the United States have abandoned their obligation to inform the American people on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in so doing they are also sticking it to the brave young men and women who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Click on the part in "BLUE" on any story below for additional details.
War News for Wednesday, April 16, 2008
MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Force – West Marines in a roadside bombing somewhere in al Anbar Province on Monday, April 14th. No other details were released. The AP is reporting that a third Marine was injured in the attack.
NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, April 16th. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack. No other details were released. At this time we do not know the nationalities of the dead or the location of the attack.
Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: In Baghdad, clashes between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and Shiite militiamen in the Sadr City district killed two men and injured 18 other people, police said Wednesday.
#2: The New York Times reported that an 80-strong company of Iraqi soldiers abandoned their positions Tuesday night in Sadr City, leaving a crucial stretch of road undefended for hours despite pleas by American soldiers in the area for them to stay. The Iraqi company leader, who was identified as Maj. Sattar, and his troops complained that they were short of ammunition and overall poorly equipped to battle the militias and had no means to communicate directly with the U.S. troops positioned behind them, according to the newspaper. It added that an elite Iraqi unit was rushed in and began to fight its way north with the help of the Americans. The U.S. military said the report was factual and the Baghdad command would address the issue.
#3: In other violence Wednesday, a mortar shell slammed into a house in eastern Baghdad, killing at least three civilians and wounding three others, police said.
#4: Police found three bodies in different areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
#5: Six civilians were wounded on Wednesday in a mortar shell attack in eastern Baghdad, said a police source. “A mortar round landed near an elementary school in Palestine street region in eastern Baghdad, injuring six persons,” the source, who wished to remain anonymous, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.
#7: The U.S. military has released Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein after holding him for more than two years. Hussein was handed over to AP colleagues on Wednesday in Baghdad.The U.S. military accused Hussein of links to insurgents. But an Iraqi judicial panel this month dismissed all allegations against Hussein and ordered his release. A U.S. military statement on Monday said Hussein is no longer considered a threat. Hussein and the AP strongly denied any improper contacts by the 36-year-old photographer, saying he was doing the normal work of a photographer in a war zone. Hussein was detained by U.S. Marines on April 12, 2006 in Ramadi.
Kut:#1: Tuesday night, gunmen opened fire on one of Al-Sistani representatives in Kut while he was on his way home after finishing prayers in the mosque downtown Kut city. The Sheikh Habib Al-Khateeb was injured and transferred to hospital.
Basra:#1: The British military says an airstrike in Basra has killed four gunmen armed with rocket propelled grenades. British spokesman Maj. Tom Holloway says the group was attacked just after midnight by a warplane. He says four gunmen died when their vehicle was blown up. Another gunman was injured.
Balad:#1: Police killed seven members of al Qaeda and arrested three other suspects in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad in a security operation on April 12, the U.S. military said.
Kirkuk:#1: A roadside bomb wounded two guards for a government department in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said.
#2: A bodyguard of the general director of the Kirkuk’s agriculture department was wounded on Wednesday by bomb blast in central Kirkuk, the second in less the hour, a police source said. "An explosive charge exploded in Tebba neighborhood in central Kirkuk targeting the private vehicle of the general director of the city’s agriculture department, Engineer Mahdi Mubarak, wounding one of his bodyguards and damaging the car,” the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.
Mosul:#1: U.S. forces killed a man and his daughter after their vehicle patrol was attacked by Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPGs) in eastern Mosul, the official spokesman for the Ninewa operations command said on Wednesday. “Unidentified gunmen attacked a U.S. vehicle patrol by RPG on the main street in al-Maliya neighborhood in eastern Mosul,” Brig. Khaled Abdul Sattar told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. “The forces stormed a nearby house, killing a man and his daughter,” he added.No word was immediately available from the U.S. army on the incident. Meanwhile, a source, declined to mention his name, told the VOI that “the forensic medicine department in the Mosul hospital received this morning two bodies of a man and his daughter gunned down by U.S. troops.”
Kurkistan:#1: Turkish warplanes fired on a group of Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq on Tuesday as they tried to enter Turkey, the General Staff said on Wednesday. The General Staff said in a statement the warplanes had "neutralised," generally meaning killed, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels in the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq. PKK spokesman Ahmet Danees, who is based in northern Iraq, said Turkish forces had bombed for an hour in the Zagros mountains, but that there were no casualties among the PKK. It was not possible to independently verify the reports.
Al Anbar Prv:#1: Two U.S. Marines were killed on April 14 when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Anbar province in western Iraq, the U.S. military said.#2: Around 5am, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol at Al-Zuaya in Hit (west of Ramadi) .The American forces closed the area for about two hours and left later with no casualties reported.
Afghanistan:#1: Separately, militants abducted and beheaded two Afghan men working at a U.S. military base in the eastern Kunar province, provincial police Chief Abdul Jalal Jalal said. They were abducted Monday after they left the base in Korangal Valley. Their bodies were discovered Tuesday, Jalal said.
#2: Two Nato soldiers have been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement. Two soldiers have also been wounded in the attack which took place on Wednesday morning, it said.
#3: Fighting between Taliban militants and police in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province Wednesday left six persons including five insurgents and one police dead, an official said. "The clash occurred at 10 a.m. this morning when Taliban rebels opened fire on police in Adghar area of Zabul province killing one police and wounding another. Police retaliated and killed five rebels," Abdul Raziq the Commander of Border Police Force told Xinhua. He also added that Abdul Manan, a Taliban local commander, is also among the dead.
BUSY IN IRAQ, US FORCES FACE SURGING VIOLENCE IN AFGHANISTAN
WASHINGTON — While America's attention remains focused on Iraq, violence is escalating in Afghanistan, worrying senior U.S. defense officials and commanders who're struggling to find some 7,000 more American and European troops to combat resurgent Taliban and al Qaida forces.
By Jonathan S. Landay McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/33799.html
There are indications that Islamic militants may have adopted a new strategy of avoiding U.S and NATO forces and staging attacks in provinces that haven't seen major unrest and on easy targets such as aid organizations and poorly trained Afghan police.
A roadside bomb reportedly killed two policemen and injured three Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, a day after insurgents killed 11 police officers.
A majority of America's NATO allies continue to balk at U.S. requests to send thousands more of their troops to Afghanistan. At the same time, the renewed violence in Iraq and the White House decision to suspend further American troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer will make it harder for the Pentagon to send more American forces to Afghanistan next year as President Bush has promised.
"I'm deeply concerned," Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last Thursday. "In this economy of force operation, we do what we can. Requirements exist that we simply cannot fill and won't likely be able to fill until conditions improve in Iraq."
Some 3,500 additional U.S. Marines will be deployed to Afghanistan.
Click on link to read more.
LIST OF LATEST US CASUALTIES
Here is the most recent list of US casualties from the war in Iraq. For additional details click on the part in "Blue."
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/
Latest Coalition Fatalities
04/15/08 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (2 0f 2)
Cpl. Richard J. Nelson, 23, of Racine, Wis...died April 14 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. They were both assigned to Marine Forces Reserve’s 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division..
04/15/08 DoD Identifies Marine Casualties (1 0f 2)
Cpl. Richard J. Nelson, 23, of Racine, Wis...died April 14 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. They were both assigned to Marine Forces Reserve’s 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division..
04/14/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Spc. William E. Allmon, 25, of Ardmore, Okla., died April 12 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team...
04/14/08 MNF: MND-B Soldier attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed from wounds sustained when an IED struck the vehicle the Soldier was riding in while conducting a combat patrol in northeastern Baghdad at approximately 4:45 p.m. April 14.
04/14/08 MNF: Coalition force soldier attacked by IED
A Coalition force soldier was killed in an improvised explosive device attack in the Salah ad Din Province April 14. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending next of kin notification and release by the Department of Defense.
BLOODY DAY IN IRAQ: ATTACKS KILL 2 US SOLDIERS
40 people killed, 80 others wounded in car bomb attack in Baquba, suicide bomber kills 13 in restaurant in Ramadi. 2 US soldiers killed, four others wounded.
By Salam Faraj – BAGHDAD
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=25400
A spate of bombings across Iraq and a fresh surge of fighting between Shiite militiamen and US forces in east Baghdad killed at least 62 people on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said.
A car bomb outside a courthouse in the central city of Baquba, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda, killed at least 40 people and wounded 80 in the most devastating attack in the violence-wracked country in a month, police said.
Medical officials said many of the victims were charred beyond recognition and people were crowding the local hospital trying to identify the remains of relatives.
Three minibuses were destroyed and 10 houses damaged in the blast, which sparked pandemonium.
"At least 40 people were killed, including one woman and a police officer, when a car bomb exploded outside the main courtroom in Baquba," said a police official who would not be named.
He added that at least 90 people were wounded.
Dr Ahmed Fuad at the local hospital in Baquba, 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, confirmed the toll and said many of the victims "were burnt beyond recognition."
Brigadier General Ragib al-Omairi, an Iraqi army commander in Baquba, said among the dead were three policemen, a traffic police officer, three women and "a number of people no one can identify."
Among the 90 wounded, he added, were 15 policemen, six women and two children.
Baquba, capital of the central province of Diyala, is one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq and regarded as an Al-Qaeda stronghold.
Soon after the car bomb attack, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a restaurant in the western city of Ramadi killing 13 people, the city's police chief, Major General Tareq al-Youssef said.
He added that another 14 people were wounded in the attack which struck at around 12:30 pm (0930 GMT) in a restaurant near the western outskirts of the city, the capital of Anbar province.
In the main northern city of Mosul, twin car bombs exploded in quick succession as a US military and Iraqi police patrol passed wounding 12 people, police said.
Four policemen were among the wounded in the attack, which followed three separate car bombings in Mosul on Monday, one of which targeted a passing patrol of US and Iraqi troops killing one person and wounding six.
Security officials in Baghdad, meanwhile, reported two workers killed and two policemen wounded on Tuesday by a roadside bomb planted near a police station in Baghdad's central Karrada neighbourhood.
A later car bomb also in Karrada killed one person and wounded six others, including four policemen.
Since Monday, more than 80 people have been killed in a surge of insurgent attacks across Iraq, which come at a time when security forces are fighting street battles with Shiite militiamen in Baghdad's Sadr City.
Renewed fighting on Tuesday between Shiite militiamen, mostly linked to radical Shiite cleric Moqtad al-Sadr, and security forces killed six people, the American military said
"Coalition forces took on small arms fire during an operation in Al-Sudayrah early Tuesday," the military said referring to an area inside Sadr City.
It added that in return fire coalition forces killed three gunmen.
US troops called in air support as the clashes continued, the military said, adding that in the ensuing firefight three more "enemy fighters" were killed.
Shiite militiamen have been engaged in sustained clashes with US and Iraqi forces for more than a week in Sadr City in which around 95 people have been killed.
The firefights began when US and Iraqi forces started operations in the sprawling slum to stop lethal rocket and mortar attacks from the district towards the Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy.
The US military says that between March 23 and April 12 at least 596 rockets and mortars rounds were fired towards the Green Zone, many of them missing their target and killing Iraqi civilians.
The attacks killed four Americans, two of them soldiers.
NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS: IRAQIS FLEE POST IN BAGHDAD, DESPITE AMERICAN'S PLEA
BAGHDAD — A company of Iraqi soldiers abandoned their positions on Tuesday night in Sadr City, defying American soldiers who implored them to hold the line against Shiite militias.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/world/middleeast/16sadr.html?_r=1&ex=1365998400&en=1390d450adc30197&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
The retreat left a crucial stretch of road on the front lines undefended for hours and led to a tense series of exchanges between American soldiers and about 50 Iraqi troops who were fleeing.
Capt. Logan Veath, a company commander in the 25th Infantry Division, pleaded with the Iraqi major who was leading his troops away from the Sadr City fight, urging him to return to the front.
“If you turn around and go back up the street those soldiers will follow you,” Captain Veath said. “If you tuck tail and cowardly run away they will follow up that way, too.”
Captain Veath’s pleas failed, and senior American and Iraqi commanders mounted an urgent effort to regain the lost ground. An elite Iraqi unit was rushed in and with the support of the Americans began to fight its way north.
This episode was a blow to the American effort to push the Iraqis into the lead in the struggle to wrest control of parts of Sadr City from the Mahdi Army militia and what Americans and Iraqis say are Iranian-backed groups.
Click on link for full account.
