ARMY DESPERATE FOR TROOPS SENDS WOUNDED BACK TO IRAQ

SOLDIERS WITH MINOR INJURIES
SENT BACK TO IRAQ

01/19/08 AP: U.S. army, short of soldiers, sends troops with minor injuries to Iraq
Seventy-nine injured soldiers were pressed into war duty last month as the U.S. Army struggled to fill its ranks, but most were assigned to light-duty jobs within limits set by doctors, two Army leaders said.

While the mainstream media goes into complete overkill on the South Carolina primary and the Nevada caucus, there is more proof that conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan are deteriorating.

The success of the "surge" is a figment of the mainstream media's imagination and especially the cheerleader for the Bush White House, Fox News.

And there is more proof the American public are being sold a bill of goods on the success of the "surge" in Iraq and conditions in Afghanistan.

Below are just a few documented news accounts you won't find anywhere else but on this blog http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ hosted by Bill Corcoran who is bound and determined not to let the troops down in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families back in the United States.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

50 dead in southern Iraq clashes : The Iraqi government says it has seized full control of Basra and Nasiriya after bloody clashes between the police and armed men from a "messianic cult", that left nearly 50 people dead and another 100 wounded.

Iraq: At least 25 killed in another bloody day of US occupation: Six policemen were killed and 13 wounded when two suicide bombers attacked policemen assembled for evening roll-call at a police station in the town of Albu Ubaid west of Ramadi, police said.

Afghan war only just beginning, security group warns: The war in Afghanistan is only just beginning as NATO forces, far from pursuing remnants of a defeated Taliban, are entering a widening and deepening conflict they may well lose security NGO said on Saturday.

Taliban now seriously in the fight: It has also become clear that the Taliban's "easy departure" in 2001, when a US-led invasion drove them from power, was "more of a strategic retreat than an actual military defeat," the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO) said.

WAR RAGES ON IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

NOBODY CARES ANYMORE.

NOT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA.

NOT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are no longer of interest to the press or Americans. It doesn't make any difference that we have 160,000 troops in Iraq and 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, the media and the people of the United States couldn't care less what happens to them.

The reason is quite simple. Very few people in the media have a loved one serving in the military and the vast majority of Americans all across the country not only don't have a loved one in the United States military, they don't know of anyone who is serving in the military.

In short, the the troops that keep dying and the Iraqi citizens who continue to be killed are something the mainstream press and the American public find boring.

What a sad indictment of both the media and the American public when the attention is focused on one pregnant Marine who was savegedly killed in North Carolina, but the deaths of American troops overseas and Iraqi civilians are not even a sidebar story in the media or of interest to the American public.

Editorial comment by Bill Corcoran, host of this blog, and former Cpl. (E-4) in the United States Army Combat Engineers.

Here is just a sampling of what took place on Saturday in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Saturday, January 19, 2008

What took place in Iraq today.

Baghdad:#1: Around 10 a.m. two mortar shells slammed into Al Shoala neighborhood, minutes later another two mortar shells hit Al Ghazaliyah neighborhood. No casualties were reported.

#1: In northern Baquba, an explosive device was detonated, killing three civilians and wounding two others.Three bodyguards of Diala governor were killed and two others wounded in an improvised explosive device attack in the northeast of Baaquba city, Iraqi police said on Saturday. "An explosive charge detonated at Friday midnight in the orchard surrounding the residence of Diala Governor Raad Rasheed al-Mulla Jawad in al-Khashab area, 45 northeast of Baaquba, killing three of his security personnel and wounding two others," an assistant to Diala governor for administrative formation, Hafiz Abdul Aziz, told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of IraqNasiriyah.

#1: Security forces on Saturday overran a mosque in southern Iraq where Shiite doomsday cultists were holed up, ending two days of clashes in two cities that killed at least 70 people, police said. The mosque was the last stronghold of the cultists. Wearing yellow headbands sporting the Star of David, they attacked police simultaneously early Friday afternoon in the southern port city of Basra and in Nasiriyah. Fighting raged through the afternoon in both cities. It died down in Basra during the night but continuing sporadically in Nasiriyah. The security forces had found the mosque to be booby-trapped and disposal experts later triggered a blast which destroyed the building, he said. Amid the rubble were found yellow headbands and anti-government literature. Police officials said at least 35 cultists were killed in Basra and 18 in Nasiriyah. A total of 12 police, two Iraqi soldiers and three civilians were also killed, according the latest police figures.

#2: Two policemen were killed by teenage snipers during Saturday's clashes in Nasiriyah. The snipers, two 14-year-old boys, were quickly arrested, police said.Hilla.

#1: The Murjana Hospital in Babel received 12 cases of food poisoning of local residents from Wassit province, an official source from the Babel police said."The Murjana Specialist Hospital in the city of Hilla received 12 people suffering from food poisoning and all of them were from Wassit," the source, who did not want to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of IraqBasra.

#1: Clashes broke out in central Basra for a second day with no casualties reported, while joint security forces conducted raid-and-search operations in hunt for escaped gunmen, a local security source said on Saturday. "Limited clashes renewed on Saturday morning between security forces and gunmen belonging to the self-styled 'Soldiers of Heaven' group in downtown Basra's al-Janiniya area," the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of IraqShirqat.

#1: The most wanted al Qaeda leader in Salahuddin province was killed on Jan. 16 by U.S. troops and Iraqi police in Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S military said.Kirkuk.

#1: On Saturday, two people were killed and seven wounded in a roadside bomb attack on an Ashura event in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said#2: Two militants were killed while trying to bury a roadside bomb which exploded in Kirkuk, police said.Mosul.

#1: Four soldiers and three civilians were wounded in an attack on the Iraqi army 2nd Brigade's 1st contingent headquarters with mortar shells, a security source said."The 1st contingent, stationed in Mosul Hotel, western Mosul, came under attack on Saturday with five mortar shells that wounded four Iraqi soldiers," Brig. Abdul-Kareem al-Juburi, the Ninewa police operations chief, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq a medical source from a Mosul hospital said the hospital received the four wounded soldiers in addition to three civilians wounded as a result of random fire opened by the Iraqi army the attack that targeted the 1st contingent.Tal Afar.

#1: A rocket slammed into the northern city of Talafar, killing four and injuring twenty people.In northeastern Tal Afar, insurgents sent a Katyusha rocket scudding into a crowd observing Ashura, killing seven people and wounding 20, Mayor Najim Abdallah told AFP.Al Anbar Prv:Fallujah.

#1: Police found two bodies with gunshot wounds near Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.Afghanistan:#1: PAKISTANI troops captured 50 Islamist militants in an operation in the rugged tribal region near the Afghan border, a day after killing dozens of rebels in the area. Troops also recovered 10 bodies of the rebels from the Chaghmalai area of South Waziristan - the scene of a major clash on Friday in which an estimated 30 militants were killed.

Casualty Reports: U.S. Navy Corpsman Christopher Braley, a medic wounded in September in an explosion in Iraq, is back home in Manteca for 30 days. The 23-year old Sierra High School graduate has spent the past four months in hospitals, where he has undergone seven surgeries to recover from a Sept. 13 attack in which he lost one eye and suffered brain trauma.

Army Specialist Lawrence Guerro is the third known injured Navajo soldier from Iraq. The 26-year-old was injured on May 25, 2007, when his Humvee was hit with an improvised explosive device, or IED, while patrolling the streets of Baghdad.Guerro sustained injuries to his right-leg, which eventually had to be amputated above the knee at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Guerro spent several months at a base at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where he began a long process of therapy and recovery.

Just another day in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which the mainstream media in the United States feels is not worth covering.

ONE U.S. SOLDIER KILLED, 128 IRAQIS KILLED

Even with documented evidence indicating all this violence is happening still in Iraq, the mainstream media---led by FOX NEWS---continues to tell the American public that all is well in Iraq.

The media in the United States has become nothing more than a pawn for the Bush administration.

1 US Soldier, 128 Iraqis Killed; 103 Iraqis Wounded

http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=12232

Updated at 9:40 p.m. EST, Jan. 19, 2008

At least 128 Iraqis were killed and 103 more were wounded in the latest attacks. The worst violence took place in Nassiriya and Basra, where a Shi’ite sect staged attacks just ahead of the culmination of Ashuraa observances. Meanwhile, Turkey claimed to have destroyed 60 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq. Also, one American soldier was killed during an IED attack yesterday in Baghdad.

The Soldiers of Heaven (Jund al-Samaa) sect returned to the headlines today after clashes between sect members, who are Shi’ites, and security forces left 30 dead, including 10 policemen, and 82 wounded in Nassiriya. Last Ashuraa, similar clashes left hundreds dead, including the sect’s leader.

More Soldiers of Heaven attacks occurred in Basra, where clashes took place across much of the city. As many as 50 sect members were killed there, including their leader, while another 60 were arrested. A civilian and three policemen were killed as well. The exact number of wounded is unknown, but at least seven policemen were injured.

Two policemen were wounded during a shooting in Maqal. Also, a sniper killed a medical doctor as she left work at the general hospital.

In Baghdad, a woman and two children were killed, and two were more wounded, during a roadside bombing in Ur. Two bodies were found dumped in separate locations.

Gunmen attacked al-Bu Aziz, but Awakening Council members thwarted their attack. Seven gunmen were killed and one council member was wounded.
During the search of a home in Baquba, a bomb killed two policemen and wounded two more.

Near Baquba in al-Wejaiheiah, two policemen were killed and three more were wounded when gunmen attacked their patrol.

In Najaf, a cache of arms was discovered after a tip.

Two children were killed when an IED blew-up their home in Mo'alimeen. One woman and three men were also injured.

Three bodies, one decapitated, were found in Muqdadiyah.

In Saidiya, eight members of the Islamic State in Iraq were killed. The chief of suburban police in Kirkuk believes it might have been the work of Awakening Council members.

BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL KNEW ABOUT NEGLECT OF WOUNDED VETS

A top official in the Bush administration knew all along about the horrendous conditions wounded veterans were facing at veteran hospitals all across the United States and he chose to do nothing about it.
Once again, the mainstream media in the United States refuses to go near any story that puts the Bush administration in a bad light.
However, there is one blogger, Bill Corcoran, a military veteran, who has devoted his whole blog http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ to telling the truth about what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan and with wounded veterans back in the United States.
Below is a story of more neglect on the part of the Bush administration of wounded veterans---and the shame of it all is not one media source in the United States cares.
Bill Corcoran, host of http://corksphere.blogspot.com/


Wounded Vets Trade One Hell for Another

By Aaron Glantz, IPS News
Posted on January 18, 2008, Printed on January 18, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/74134/

Last year, the United States woke up to the reality of hundreds of thousands of soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and began to grapple with what to do about it.

On Feb. 18, 2007, a headline titled "Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration at Army's Top Medical Facility" splashed across the front page of one of the nation's premier newspapers, the Washington Post. The article, which described unsafe conditions and substandard care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, began with the story of Army Specialist Jeremy Duncan, who was airlifted out of Iraq in February 2006 with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, "nearly dead from blood loss."

"Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold," the article read. "When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses."

The Post reported that patients inside Walter Reed, which lies just five miles from the White House, found it difficult to receive the care they were promised and felt they deserved.

When the story broke, politicians from both parties expressed outrage and promised solutions. Walter Reed's commander, Major General George Weightman, was fired almost immediately. Following him out the door was the Secretary of the Army, Frances Harvey.

On Mar. 6, President George W. Bush announced the formation of a bipartisan independent commission lead by former Republican Senator Bob Dole and Donna Shalala, the secretary of Health and Human Services under the Bill Clinton administration.

"It's unacceptable to me, it's unacceptable to you, it's unacceptable to our country, and it's not going to continue," Bush told the American Legion in a speech announcing the commission's formation. "My decisions have put our kids in harm's way. And I'm concerned about the fact that when they come back they don't get the full treatment they deserve."

Three weeks later, Bush paid a visit to Walter Reed, and apologized again: "I was disturbed by their accounts of what went wrong," Bush told Walter Reed's staff after a tour of the facility. "It is not right to have someone volunteer to wear our uniform and not get the best possible care. I apologize for what they went through, and we're going to fix the problem."

But the allegations raised in the Washington Post were not actually new. In February 2005, the exact same conditions had been raised in a damning series in the on-line magazine Salon. Wounded soldiers at Walter Reed, reporter Mark Benjamin wrote, are "overmedicated, forced to talk about their mothers instead of Iraq, and have to fight for disability pay. Traumatized combat vets say the Army is failing them, and after a year following more than a dozen soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, I believe them."

Top Bush administration officials knew about Walter Reed's problems, but they had other priorities. Indeed, before the Washington Post put the facility's substandard conditions on its front page, President Bush's appointees at the Pentagon had strenuously lobbied Congress against funding military pensions, health insurance and benefits for widows of retirees. Their argument: that money spent caring for wounded soldiers and their families could be better spent on state-of-the-art military hardware or enticing new recruits to join the force.

ANTI U.S. POLITICOS GAIN CLOUT IN IRAQ

While the mainstream media in the United States continue to hoodwink the American public about how well things are going in Iraq, there are signs that the government of Iraq is about to collapse.

The "surge" was intended to open the door to reconciliation in Iraq, but the opposite is happening. There is now a growing block of anti-U.S. politicos in Iraq who are looking for ways to oust the United States out of Iraq.

The mainstream press in the U.S. refuses to tell the American public the truth about conditions in Iraq and so you have a vast majority of the people in America actually believing things are stabilizing in Iraq.

The shame of it all is not one mainstream media source in the United States is willing to go out on a limb and tell the American public the truth about Iraq.

There is one blogger who has devoted his entire blog to the REAL conditions in Iraq and not the phony baloney put out by the Bush White House and news organizations like Fox News.

That blogger is Bill Corcoran, a military veteran, who has devoted his entire blog http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Below is the true story of what is taking place in Iraq and not the smokescreen FOX NEWS and other news organizations are feeding the American public.
Bill Corcoran, Chicago, host of http://corksphere.blogspot.com/

Anti-U.S. Politicos Gain Clout in Iraq
By Robert Dreyfuss, The NationPosted on January 17, 2008, Printed on January 18, 2008http://www.alternet.org/story/74137/

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/74137/

On January 13 an emerging Sunni-Shiite nationalist bloc in Iraq signed a groundbreaking agreement aimed at ending Iraq's civil war, blocking the privatization of Iraq's oil industry and checkmating the breakaway Kurdish state. It's a big step forward, and it could change the face of Iraqi politics in 2008.

For the past two years, Iraqi nationalists--opposed to the US occupation, opposed to Al Qaeda and opposed to Iran's heavyhanded influence in Iraqi affairs--have struggled to assert themselves. The nascent coalition contains the seeds of true national reconciliation in Iraq, but it has emerged independently of the United States. Unrelated to the constant American pressure on the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to meet various reconciliation "benchmarks," the new coalition is designed either to sweep Maliki out of office or force him to join it.

Enormous obstacles stand in the way of the Sunni-Shiite coalition, and Iraq is just as likely to descend into a new round of intense civil war as it is to stabilize under a new ruling bloc. Still, it could work, but there's a big if--if the United States steps back and gets out of the way.
Since the rigged Iraqi elections of 2005, the United States has supported a shaky and now utterly discredited four-party coalition in Iraq. Two of those parties are the ultra-religious Shiite parties, the Islamic Dawa Party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), both strongly supported by Iran. The other two are the Kurdish warlord parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). During that time, Iraq's two prime ministers, Ibrahim Jaafari (2005-06) and Maliki (2006-2008)--both from Dawa--have staunchly refused to open the door to increased Sunni Arab participation in the government. But now that coalition is falling apart, and its partners are increasingly at odds with one another.

The potential collapse of the Shiite-Kurdish pact that has ruled Iraq under the American occupation has created a freewheeling search for competing alliances among the myriad political factions that have emerged since Saddam Hussein's overthrow.

Partners in the new, twelve-party alliance include nearly all of the Sunni Arab parties, including the Sunni religious parties and the secular National Dialogue Front; the secular Iraqi National List of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite; two big Shiite parties, including Muqtada al-Sadr's bloc and the Fadhila (Virtue) Party; a faction of the Dawa Party; and assorted smaller groups, including independents in Iraq's Parliament. Among its goals, say its leaders, are to ensure that Iraq's "oil, natural gas, and other treasures [remain the] property of all the Iraqi people," opposing both the proposed new oil law that would open the door to privatization of the oil industry and the illegal oil deals signed by the Kurdish regional government. Another goal, they say, is to block the Kurdish takeover of the oil-rich region around Kirkuk in Iraq's north.

And, they say, the new coalition will "overcome the narrow circle of sectarianism" by uniting Sunnis and Shiites.

What's more, there are reports of talks involving the remaining Sunni resistance groups--those that have not joined the American-sponsored Awakening movement and the so-called Concerned Local Citizens groups--in a broad-based national reconciliation effort. According to the Arab press, six Sunni resistance factions have been meeting in England in preparation for a proposed conference in Cairo with representatives of the Iraqi government and political parties.

A parallel effort is under way at meetings in Beirut. And French President Nicolas Sarkozy, currently touring the Middle East, has renewed his country's offer to bring Iraq's warring political factions together. Sarkozy suggested "hosting in France, far from the heat of passions and on neutral ground, inter-Iraqi roundtable talks that are as large as possible." It's unclear whether Sarkozy's proposed conference would include representatives of the armed resistance, but it's possible. (An earlier offer by France to host similar talks got the cold shoulder from Maliki and no encouragement from the United States.)

The fact that Sadr's bloc opted to join the opposition bloc is critical. Not only does Sadr command thirty-two seats in Iraq's Parliament but on the ground in Baghdad and in the south his Mahdi Army militia is a formidable force. The Fadhila Party, too, has great power in and around Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, which controls the bulk of the oil industry and Iraq's exports.

A wild card in any political realignment in Iraq is the attitude of the powerful new Sahwa (Awakening) movement, the 100,000-strong paramilitary force whose backbone is Iraq's tribal leaders. Currently, the Sahwa movement is strong in Anbar, Diyala, Salahuddin and Nineveh provinces to the west and north of the capital, as well as in Baghdad itself and in the suburban belt south of Baghdad. Though Sahwa is not a party (and thus has no seats in Parliament), it is a power to be reckoned with, and it is being courted assiduously both by the new nationalist coalition and by Dawa and ISCI. If forced to choose, the Sahwa movement would be far more likely to align with nationalists than with Shiite sectarian parties, since the tribal leaders regard ISCI, in particular, as an agent of Iran.

So far, the United States has continued to prop up Maliki's shaky regime, despite its growing unpopularity. US officials fear that if Maliki were to fall, the results would be unpredictable--especially in an election year. Besides, the nationalists would be far less likely than Maliki to sign the proposed long-term extension of the American presence in Iraq that Maliki and President Bush intend to ink by July.

A hint of how entrenched the American presence in Iraq might be came this week, when Iraq's defense minister, Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassim, came to the United States for an extended visit, during which he met with long-range planning staff at the Pentagon. During his visit, Jasim declared that a significant number of troops would have to remain in Iraq for another ten years, until 2018.

3 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ

The ugly American press continues to ignore the deaths of brave young Americans in the Iraq war. Here is the latest deaths totally ignored by the mainstream press in the United States.


Insurgents kill three U.S. soldiers in Iraq

http://tinyurl.com/27ydgc

BAGHDAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Three American soldiers were killed and two others wounded by insurgents' small arms fire in north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
The attack occurred when the soldiers were conducting operations in Salahudin province on Wednesday, a military statement said. Both wounded soldiers were transported to a military medical facility for treatment, the statement said.
The names of the deceased soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin, it added. The latest deaths brought the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq to about 3,925 since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, accordingto media count based on Pentagon figures.

WHAT YOU WON'T READ IN U.S. PRESS ABOUT IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

The mainstream press in the United States led by the Bush White House propaganda arm, Fox News, has decided not to report on events taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the violence continues in both war torn countries and U.S. forces in both countries are finding themselves more and more caught in the middle of sectarian strife.
Iraq is anything but the peaceful country FOX NEWS is saying it is. The following is a list of events that took place on Thursday in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Does this look like the "surge" is a roaring success?

This blog http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ created and owned by Bill Corcoran, a military veteran, is the ONLY blog in the United States that continues to bring readers the latest from both war zones.

Bill Corcoran

War News for Thursday, January 17, 2008

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

Here's a very interesting development which we likely won't hear in the western press:The cultivation of opium poppies whose product is turned into heroin is spreading rapidly across Iraq as farmers find they can no longer make a living through growing traditional crops.The shift by Iraqi farmers to producing opium was first revealed by The Independent last May and is a very recent development. The first poppy fields, funded by drug smugglers who previously supplied Saudi Arabia and the Gulf with heroin from Afghanistan, were close to the city of Diwaniyah in southern Iraq. The growing of poppies has now spread to Diyala...Baghdad:#1: In one incident, six suspects of al-Qaeda were killed and 13 were injured during a joint US-Iraqi operation in northern Baghdad, security sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.'Iraqi forces along with elements of the Awakening Council, supported by US helicopters, have raided the Bishkan area, one of the major hideouts of al-Qaeda, killing six and wounding 13 terrorist suspects,' an Iraqi official told dpa, referring to forces recruited by the US military to work against al-Qaeda and other militias. 'Dozens were also arrested,' he added.#2: 3 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad today by Iraqi Police. 2 in Saidiyah and 1 in Kamaliyah.Diyala Prv:Baquba:#1: A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed eight people near a Shi'ite mosque in the volatile Iraqi city of Baquba on Thursday, police said. Another 14 people were wounded in the attack as worshippers gathered to observe Ashura, one of the holiest events on the Shi'ite religious calendar, in the Shifta neighborhood of southwest Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.Muqdadiyah:#1: In Muqdadiyah city, some 100 kilometres north-east of Iraq's capital, US forces have killed three suspects and arrested another four during anSulaiman Pek:#1: An insurgent was killed on Wednesday while he was trying to rig a car with explosives in the town of Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Shurqat:#1: Two policemen and two gunmen were killed during armed clashes that erupted in Salah al-Din's al-Shurqat district, Iraqi police said on Thursday. On Wednesday evening, police forces conducted a raid on gunmen's strongholds in al-Shurqat district's left coast and engaged in fierce clashes with them," a security source from Salah al-Din operations command told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI). "Police personnel killed two gunmen, while the others fled," the source explained, adding that two policemen were killed and three others wounded during the clashes.Tikrit:#1: An Iraqi policeman and four civilians were injured in the northern city of Tikrit, when an explosive device was detonated targeting the policeman's vehicle.#2: Militants killed a policemen and injured two of his security guards, in another attack in the city's Qadesya district.#3: An explosive device detonated in central Tikrit on Thursday, leaving five, including key police official, wounded, a Salah Al-Din police source said. “An improvised explosive device(IED) went off on Thursday, targeting the convoy of chief deputy of Highways police lieutenant colonel Khalaf Jassim in central Tikrit”.He noted “the blast left the police official seriously wounded as well as four of his escorts injured, and destroyed a police vehicle”.Mosul:#1: U.S. and Iraqi forces killed seven insurgents loading a vehicle with weapons in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.#2: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a policeman in Mosul's western area of al-Mosul al-Jadida, killing him on the spot," the director of Ninewa police operations room, Brigadier Abdul Kareem al-Juburi, told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq#3: An unknown armed man shot down a civilian in Mosul's downtown al-Najafi street and fled the scene," al-Juburi added. The civilian was a resident of Mosul's Makhmour district and had a membership card of a human rights society in his possession, al-Juburi explained, noting that 10 suspects have been arrested pending investigation of the shooting.#4: A policeman and a girl were injured when a car bomb exploded in front of a church in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The front of the church was badly damaged.An abandoned carbomb explodes on the left bank of Mosul (west Mosul), in al-Shifaa neighbourhood near al-Tahira church causing the death of 1 policeman and the injury of 1 woman and damage to the outer wall of the church.#5: Militants bombed an empty primary school in the west of Mosul, police said. No one was hurt in the attack.Afghanistan:#1: Mortars apparently fired by the army in the remote region slammed into several homes, killing at least four civilians, two of them women, and wounding 13 others, residents and an intelligence official said. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.#2: insurgents fired small arms and rockets at a military base in Ladha, another town in South Waziristan, late Wednesday, drawing retaliatory fire from troops, the military said in a statement. No casualties were reported in the clash.#3: three rockets hit near an air force base early Thursday in Kamra, a town about 50 kilometres northwest of the capital Islamabad, but no one was hurt, the statement said.#4: Seven Canadian soldiers have suffered minor injuries in two separate explosions believed caused by roadside bombs in Afghanistan. The latest blasts happened in the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar city on Wednesday. The incidents, which affected two vehicles on the same convoy nearly three hours apart.

LA TIMES REPORTS PENTAGON AND MEDIA DOWNPLAY IRAQ

The Los Angeles Times has come out with a story saying both the Pentagon and media no longer want to report on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This explains why you NEVED see anything on TV or in the print media about the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. Fox example: Yesterday three U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq, but I never saw it mentioned anywhere on Fox News, CNN or MSNBC.

If there was a military draft, you would suddenly see a lot more interest in the war, but that is not about to happen either.

So as it stands now we have 160,000 troops in Iraq and another 30,000 in Afghanistan and the ONLY people who care in America are their immediate families.

What a sad, sad indictment of the American people.

This is why I started this blog. I was a GI in another forgotten war, the Korean War, and I know what it is like when nobody back home but your parents, or if you are married your wife or husband, cares at all about what you are doing in the United States military.

Bill Corcoran, host and owner of this blog. The ONLY blog in the United States devoted to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.


The American war dead
http://tinyurl.com/3x5u94

Americans keep dying in Iraq, but Pentagon policy and media fatigue obscure the full picture.

January 17, 2008

As of wednesday, 3,915 U.S. service members had been killed in Iraq. You may not have heard about this, because it isn't a nice, round, milestone-type figure -- unlike, say, 2,000, a number that inspired headlines across the country when that body count was reached in 2005.Another thing you probably haven't seen lately is images like the front-page photograph in Wednesday's Times, which showed the flag-draped coffin of Army Sgt. David J. Hart of Lake View Terrace as it arrived on an airport tarmac.

Such images are rare, partly because of a media tendency to see the commonplace as unworthy of coverage and partly because of a calculated effort by the Bush administration to prevent the American people from seeing them.Wednesday's photograph was possible because Hart's body was flown into Long Beach Airport rather than a military facility, where media photographers are forbidden from chronicling the ongoing human cost of the Iraq war.

A lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act forced the Pentagon in 2005 to release more than 700 pictures of coffins and honor guard ceremonies that were taken by military photographers, but it did nothing to ease the 1991 ban on media coverage of returning casualties.

You also may not have heard that 2007 was the deadliest year yet for U.S. troops in Iraq: 899 lost their lives, surpassing the previous high of 850 in 2004. A few newspaper and TV websites continue to list casualties, but these have nowhere near the effect of "Nightline" anchor Ted Koppel's 2004 recitation of the names of the then-721 dead. The Tyndall Report, which monitors network news broadcasts, shows that less time was devoted to Iraq coverage in 2007 than in any previous yearof the conflict.

The war remains an important issue in the presidential campaign, but candidates from both parties have stopped raising it as often as they once did. The apparent success of the "surge," which has reduced both the overall violence in Iraq and the number of U.S. casualties, has unnerved critics who last spring were calling for an immediate pullout. If there's still a chance of victory, doesn't it argue for staying the course?

As politicians dither, the C-17s keep delivering a steady cargo of coffins.The vast majority of them are seen only by military personnel and the families of the dead.

U.S. INVASION LEAVES IRAQ'S HEALTH CARE A TOTAL MESS

Iraq's healthcare left in disarray after invasion

· Experienced staff emigrate due to lack of protection· Bribery is part of system, says independent report Sarah Boseley, health editorWednesday January 16, 2008The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2241367,00.html

Thanks to Lori Price, managing editor of CLG, and her excellent website http://www.legitgov.org/ for this news tip.

The full extentT of the destruction of Iraq's healthcare system and the devastating impact it has had on its people is documented today in a new report which indicts the allied invasion force for failing in its duty to protect medical institutions and staff.
The report, by an independent team of researchers and advisers from Iraq, the UK, the US and elsewhere, says the provision of healthcare "has become increasingly difficult" since the invasion. "Doctors and nurses have emigrated en masse, exacerbating existing staff shortages.

"The health system is in disarray owing to the lack of an institutional framework, intermittent electricity, unsafe water, and frequent violations of medical neutrality. The ministry of health and local health authorities are mostly unable to meet these huge challenges, while the activities of UN agencies and non-governmental organisations are severely limited."

The report, by the organisation Medact, tells how the charges for healthcare, abolished by the coalition forces in a flurry of idealism, have been quietly reinstated by health authorities unable to pay salaries and buy the drugs they need. Worse, patients now have to pay bribes to get into hospital. The report tells of one young woman, Aseel, in labour for three days with no pain relief, doctor or midwife. Her family decided they would have to find the money to get her into hospital.

"After parting with my first bank note to secure petrol from my neighbour, we prayed for safety during our long trip to Diwaniyah maternity hospital," said Aseel's husband. "Thankfully we arrived safely, and were greeted by the open hand of the security guard. We parted with another note to get in. It took a long time to find a midwife. Eventually a sleepy midwife answered my pleas and we exchanged papers, notes and promises to bring more notes. Amin was born the next morning.

"Aseel developed a serious kidney infection and needed antibiotics, but we couldn't get them in Diwaniyah. Amin had to be fed powdered milk diluted with tap water. There wasn't enough money to buy formula milk, so we had to make it last.

"Amin survived one of the toughest milestones of life - birth. By Iraqi standards his life of hardship had just started."

The provision of basic health services is very challenging, the report says, quoting Dr Ali Haydar Azize at Sadr City hospital: "Iraqi hospitals are not equipped to handle high numbers of injured people at the same time." Junior staff frequently carry out procedures beyond their competence, the report says.

VIOLENCE RIPS IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. MEDIA CONTINUES A NEWS BLACKOUT

It is criminal how the mainstream media in the United States has decided the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not worth covering anymore.

The media can find time and space for endless repetitive reports on the race for POTUS and the contremps of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or some other Hollywood celebrity, but day in and day out the media has spiked all stories coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The media are much like most of the citizens of the United States who don't have a vested interest in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because very few members of the media have a loved one serving in the military.

The United States has 160,000 troops in Iraq and 30,000 troops in Afghanistan with an additional 3,000 deploying to Afghanistan next month, but even those numbers don't jar the conscience of the media who totally ignore what you will read below that happened in Baghdad today plus other provinces and in Afghanistan.

Shame on the mainstream media in the United States. They have let our troops down in both war zones.

Bill Corcoran, host and owner of this blog.

War News for Wednesday, January 16, 2008

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

Baghdad:#1: About 10 a.m., two mortar rounds slammed into Palestine Street in east Baghdad. Three pedestrians were wounded, police said. The target was unclear, but the neighborhood is dominated by Shiites.

#2: a roadside bomb exploded at 8 a.m. in the commercial Bab al-Muadham district of Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding four. The blast appeared to target a passing police car but instead hit a civilian car, a police officer said.'A bomb planted near a bus station went off in the early hours on Wednesday in Bab al-Muazim in central Baghdad, killing three people and injuring seven,' a security official told the news agency.

#3: another roadside bomb went off southeast of Baghdad at an intersection where U.S. and Iraqi troops often pass, police said. The attack killed one civilian and wounded four others.In southern Baghdad, two bombs went off at the same time in Zafaranyah, leaving one person dead and four injured, the official said.

#4: several mortar rounds struck the building of a deserted super market, which houses a base of U.S. and Iraqi troops, in Baghdad's northeastern neighborhood of Shaab, he said. The source could not tell whether the troops sustained any casualty, as the Iraqi police forces are prevented from approaching the area.

#5: Around 7,30, gunmen driving a car threw a grenade nearby Sardar car lot near the high way in Nahdha neighborhood east Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

#6: Two civilians were killed and ten others were injured in an IED explosion in Waziriyah neighborhood east Baghdad around 8,00 amDiyala Prv:

ELSEWHERE IN IRAQ VIOLENCE CONTINUED

#1: a civilian was killed and two were injured when US troops randomly shot at Iraqis in the centre of Diyala province, sources told dpa. Khan Bani Saad:#1: A woman wearing a vest lined with explosives blew herself up near a popular market and Shiite mosque in turbulent Diyala province Wednesday, killing eight civilians - the latest in a growing number of female suicide attacks. Seven people were wounded in the bombing in Khan Bani Saad, a town nine miles south of Baqouba, Diyala's provincial capital, police said.Nahrawan:#1: Two roadside bombs killed two people and wounded five near the town of Nahrawan, 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.Basra:#1: the same source said that a force from the Criminal Identification Bureau defused a bomb planted behind al-Tahrir hospital in al-Maaqel region in northern Basra.Baiji:#1: A power cut forced the closure of Iraq's largest oil refinery for up to two days on Wednesday, officials at the plant said, a day after a fire led to the shutdown of another major refinery in southern Iraq. "The refinery in Baiji stopped work at 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) when the main Baiji electricity plant stopped supplying the refinery with power," said an engineer.Power was restored four hours later, but an official in Baiji refinery's media office said it would take up to two days for the plant to come back online.Dour:#1: A car bomb seriously wounded the head of the Iraqi-U.S. Joint Coordination Centre in Dour, a town near Tikrit 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, the centre said. Two of his guards were also wounded.Sulaiman Pek:#1: The mayor of the small town of Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, was seriously wounded in an attack by a suicide bomber driving a small truck, police said. Three of his bodyguards were also wounded.Tuz Khurmato:#1: Gunmen kidnapped a policeman and killed a university student in an overnight attack on a house in a village near Tuz Khurmato, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Kirkuk:#1: A policeman was injured in an IED explosion that targeted a police patrol on Baghdad Kirkuk Street south of Kirkuk city today morning.Mosul:#1: police said a suicide bomber blew up his car in an attack against a U.S. convoy in the al-Maliya district east of the city of Mosul. The U.S. military said it was investigating the report.Five civilians were wounded in a suicide attack that targeted a U.S. patrol in eastern Mosul, the head of Ninewa police operations room said on Wednesday.#2: Clashes between gunmen and the Iraqi army wounded five civilians in Mosul, police said.Afghanistan:#1: Hundreds of militants have overrun a paramilitary fort in north-west Pakistan, killing or kidnapping many troops, the military says. At least eight soldiers died in the raid and 15 escaped, the army says. The whereabouts of another 25 are unknown. Some reports put the death toll higher. "About 200 militants charged the fort from four sides," army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said. "They broke through the fort's wall with rockets." Officials said troops at the fort came under rocket and automatic weapons attack from militants on Tuesday night.Soldiers returned fire and the battle went on until early on Wednesday morning. People in the Sararogha area told the BBC Urdu service the exchange of fire went on for four hours.

#2: An American contractor killed in an attack on a hotel in Afghanistan knew the assignment was risky but took it anyway, a family friend said Tuesday. Thor Hesla, 45, of Atlanta, worked for BearingPoint Management & Technology Consultants, which had a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development to help war-ravaged Afghanistan rebuild, a company spokesman said.

WHILE CONDI RICE VISITED BAGHDAD THIS HAPPENED

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice made a surprise visit to Baghdad yesterday to try and get the Iraqi government to step up the process of reconcilliation. The press, of course, failed to tell Americans what was going on in Baghdad while Ms. Rice was conducting her meetings with top Iraqi government officials.

Here is just some of the violence which was taking place in Baghdad during the U.S. Secretary of State's visit Tuesday:

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

Baghdad:#1: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met top Iraqi officials in Baghdad
today.

#2: Seven people, including two policemen, were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in central Baghdad on Tuesday morning, police said. The IED, planted by unidentified gunmen on the main road in the central Baghdad district of al-Karrada, went off as a police patrol was passing by on Tuesday morning, wounding seven including two patrol policemen and causing damage to another civilian vehicle," a security source, who preferred not to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

#3: Around 8:30 a.m. two roadside bombs exploded near the national theater in central Baghdad. The first bomb targeted civilians injuring six civilians. The second bomb targeted police patrols that rushed to the place injuring two police officers.

#4: The head of a neighbourhood police unit in central Baghdad's Fadhil district was killed and six people were wounded in clashes with insurgents, police said.

#5: Four mortar shells and one rocket slammed into the Green Zone today, Iraqi police said. The U.S. military said they have not received reports of any injuries.

#6: Police found bodies throughout Baghdad, one in Baladiyat, one in Camp Sara, two in Waziriyah, two in Saidiyah.

#7: Five school children were killed Tuesday when a car in the convoy of a top judicial official accidentally ran them over while on their way to school in a central Baghdad neighborhood, police and hospital officials said. They said the children, ages 6 to 10, were run over in the panic that ensued when the official's guards exchanged fire with police at a checkpoint when the convoy failed to stop.

ONGOING PROBLEMS AT WALTER REED FOR WOUNDED VETERANS

The problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center persist even with all the news coverage given the atrocious conditions wounded veterans are living in at Walter Reed.


By Matt Renner t r u t h o u t Interview
Tuesday 15 January 2008

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011508J.shtml (with video)

"Nothing has changed [at Walter Reed]. Same facility. None of the recommendations that I made have been implemented and to my knowledge they really aren't working on it."
Former Army Lt. and military nurse Doug Connor sat down for an interview with Truthout reporter Geoffrey Millard to share his experience before and after the Walter Reed Medical Center scandal broke.

Encouraged by the firings of top military officials as a result of the problems at Walter Reed, Connor spoke out about the dilapidated conditions at Walter Reed. He sent a letter to Gen. Gregory A. Schumacher with recommendations for improving conditions in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where there were equipment shortages and outbreaks of infectious bacteria, including extremely dangerous drug-resistant forms of Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacterium that has been ravaging injured soldiers in Iraq and in domestic military hospitals.

The infection problems caused other units within the hospital to lose faith in the ICU's ability to care for surgical patients. Because of the infections, "the kidney transplant team will not recover their patients in the surgical ICU anymore," Connor said in the interview.

According to Connor, his recommendations were not acted upon. Instead, he claims that he was retaliated against. "I thought he would thank me for letting him know where there were areas that needed to be fixed ... I have been retaliated against because of the letters that I have sent out. It is pretty transparent ... Everyone that has seen what happened around me is just like 'yeah, they're going after you.'"

MEDIA KISSES OFF IRAQ WAR COVERAGE

The mainstream media in the United States has decided the Iraq War is not worth covering anymore.

Oh, they will try to tell you the "surge" is working so well there isn't any violence in Iraq anymore, but that is just not so.

I'm the only blogger in the United States who has devoted my entire blog to covering the Iraq and Afghanistan wars because I see a need for people to know what is happening in both war theaters inasmuch as the mainstream press doesn't care anymore.

Iraq is NOT the safe haven Americans have been led to believe and Afghanistan is on the brink of total chaos again.

However, if you want to know the latest on OJ, Drew Peterson, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan or a high speed chase in "whatever" USA, all you have to do is turn to Fox News, CNN or MSNBC.

The three cable news outlets are in a race to see who can become the most tabloid news organization in the country.

We still have 160,000 troops in Iraq and another 30,000 in Afghanistan, but the mainstream press doesn't give a damn. We are fast approaching 4,000 deaths in Iraq and there are 28,000 Iraq veterans who have been seriously wounded including many with wounds that will leave them disabled for life.

But does the mainstream press in the U.S. care? Hell no. They have bigger fish to fry like the endless reports on the Democratic and Republican races for who will be their candidate in the next Presidential election, and the boring and tiresome reports on anything to do with Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Drew Peterson and more recently the Marine who apparently killed his pregnant Marine girlfriend and is now on the lam.

So to fill the gap and give the few people in the United States who give a damn about our troops stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan, I launched my own blog http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ which I have devoted entirely to the latest developments from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Oh, there are still wars going on over there. It is just not being reported anymore by the mainstream press.

Sad. So very sad. Break out those American flag lapel pins boys and girls of the mainstream media. Show them how much you really care and how patriotic you are.........NOT.

Bill Corcoran, host and owner of this site. Former Cpl. (E-4) U.S. Army Combat Engineers and Korean War veteran.

MEDIA CONTINUES TO IGNORE IRAQ

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN THE UNITED STATES HAS DECLARED WAR ON THE IRAQ WAR. MEDIA NO LONGER COVERS THE IRAQ WAR.

However while the mainstream press in the United States feels the Iraq war is not worth covering anymore, the following incidents took place in Iraq on Monday, January 14.
Posted by Bill Corcoran, owner of this site.

56 Iraqis Killed, 11 Wounded

http://www.antiwar.com/updates/?articleid=12210

Updated at 11:50 p.m EST, Jan. 14, 2008

At least 56 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 11 were wounded in the latest violence. Most of the deaths reported today were suspected gunmen in the Diyala province, but even the now-quiet Anbar province saw multiple attacks. No Coalition troops were reported killed. Also, the Iraqi defense minister suggested that U.S. troops may be needed in Iraq until 2018 or even later.

In Baghdad, five unidentified bodies were recovered. Gunmen killed a judge and his driver as they traveled through Mansour on their way to his work.

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in Zaafaraniya. Police commandos announced that on Jan. 2 they had liberated a wounded kidnap victim near Sadr City; the kidnappers were arrested. Also, Baghdad police added mobile phones, purses, and weapons to a motorcycle ban already in effect for the Ashuraa observances; they also advise not to take children to large gatherings.

Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. troops, killed 15 suspects and arrested 58 more in Buhriz. Seven policemen were killed inside a booby-trapped home; at least three more were wounded.

Also, an Awakening Council member was gunned down outside of town.

A car bomb in Mosul wounded six people, including three civilians, in the Ghazlani neighborhood.

In al-Tahrir, Iraqi soldiers killed two men they found planting a bomb. Also, two dead bodies were recovered.

In Haditha, four dumped bodies were discovered.

A senior Sadrist leader was gunned down in Basra.

Near Amara, a hostage was freed.
Mortars in al-Rutba caused no casualties.
In Fallujah, a mortar shell fell in the al-Wehda neighborhood but caused no casualties.
Hundreds of weapons were confiscated in Karbala as the Ashuraa religious observance continues. Three people were arrested southwest of town.

Two Coalition troops were slightly wounded during a bombing at a girls’ school in Baquba.

In al-Bahraz, Iraqi forces killed seven suspects.

U.S. forces announced that security operations in northern Iraq resulted in at least eight more deaths than previously reported; at least 60 were killed over the last week, but some of those deaths may or may not be duplicates. The casualties reported in Buhriz and al-Bahraz today, and 30 deaths reported last week may or may not be part of these 60 deaths.

Four suspects were arrested near Kirkuk.

Police detained two suspects in Najaf. Also, U.S. helicopters flew over the city in security operations designed to protect Ashuraa pilgrims.

In Samarra, 73 innocent detainees were released. Most of them were arrested in June after an attack on the Askariya shrine.
Police in Hawija located a large weapons cache and confiscated it.
An IED targeting a vehicle carrying policemen blew up near Tarmiyah. No word on casualties.

A child was injured during a mortar attack in Balad.

Also, the Turkish prime minister refuses to estimate when Turkish attacks in northern Iraq may end.

Report: at Least 121 Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Linked to Killings in the US

The Associated Press

Thanks to Lori Price of CLG http://www.legitgov.org/ for this news tip.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4127035

NEW YORK
At least 121 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have committed a killing or been charged in one in the United States after returning from combat, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper said it also logged 349 homicides involving all active-duty military personnel and new veterans in the six years since military action began in Afghanistan, and later Iraq. That represents an 89-percent increase over the previous six-year period, the newspaper said.

About three-quarters of those homicides involved Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, the newspaper said. The report did not illuminate the exact relationship between those cases and the 121 killings also mentioned in the report.

The newspaper said its research involved searching local news reports, examining police, court and military records and interviewing defendants, their lawyers and families, victims' families and military and law enforcement officials.

Defense Department representatives did not immediately respond to a telephone message early Sunday. The Times said the military agency declined to comment, saying it could not reproduce the paper's research.

IRAQI LEADER WANTS U.S. TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ

The mainstream media in the United States has been praising President Bush for arranging one of the 18 benchmarks originally outlined for the reconcilliation of Iraq. However, the media is not reporting there is a difference of opinion with one of the leading Iraqi chiefs who opposes the U.S. presence in Iraq.


Sahwa congress chief says opposes U.S. presence in Iraq

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=65915&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

National - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 13 /01 /2008 Time 8:32:09


Riyadh, Jan 13, (VOI) – The Iraq Sahwa (Awakening) Congress chief said the Sahwa is against the U.S. presence in Iraq, calling on U.S. forces to withdraw and hand the country over to its people because "they are capable of maintaining security."

"The Sahwa council has evidence that Iran was involved in criminal acts inside Iraq," Sheikh Kamal Hammad al-Muajal Abu Risha in an interview with the Saudi edition of al-Hayat newspaper, published on Sunday, not mentioning any details about these "acts."

"The deceased Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha had called on U.S. President George W. Bush, during a meeting with him at the province of al-Anbar, to pull out U.S. troops and hand Iraq over to the Iraqis but the U.S. president replied that it was impossible to do so before making sure security is maintained in the country," He said.After the assassination of his father and six of his brothers by al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq in 2004, Sheikh Abdul-Sattar founded the Anbar Sahwa Council and chaired the Iraq Sahwa Congress, an alliance encompassing 42 clans that pledged to fight al-Qaeda members.The Sahwa tribal fighters managed to flush out armed groups from a number of areas once considered strongholds of gunmen for years.Abdul-Sattar, however, was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) that targeted his house in al-Ramadi, capital of the predominantly Sunni Anbar.

The attack also left his bodyguard and two other escorts killed and his nephew seriously wounded."The resistance of occupation by all means is a legitimate affair but with current conditions in Iraq we are no longer able to tell the difference between terrorism and resistance. That's why we support the opinion calling for stopping all forms of resistance until security is consolidated in the country. Only then we would demand the departure of occupation forces," said Kamal Abu Risha in his interview.

IRAQ: Less Violent But Not Less Hellish

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40764

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*FALLUJAH, Jan 11 (IPS) -

U.S. and Iraqi officials claim that security is improving across al-Anbar province and much of Iraq. Security during the last half of 2007 was indeed better than in the period between February 2006 and mid-2007.

But this has brought little solace to many Iraqis, because violence is still worse than in 2005 and early 2006.Top Iraqi and U.S. officials and politicians have been saying that Iraq is back on its feet and that security has been established in the most volatile provinces like al-Anbar, to the west of Baghdad.

Security responsibilities here will be handed over to Iraqis in March, the U.S. military says. Violence levels are down, but attacks have not ceased.

"Nine U.S. soldiers were killed in 24 hours, U.S. B-1 and F-16 bombers dropped over 40,000 pounds of special munitions on the Arab Juboor villages just south of Baghdad, and Awakening (militia paid for by the U.S.) leaders and senior police officers are being assassinated all over Iraq, yet U.S. army leaders and top officials say Iraq is safe and sound," lawyer and human rights activist Mahmood al-Dulaimy told IPS. Dulaimy said U.S. President George W. Bush has succeeded in convincing many people in the United States that everything in Iraq is all right.

"It is you media people who fool the world by transmitting false news about the situation in Iraq," Dulaimy said. "Look around you and tell me what is good here." Looking around, one finds a ruined country. And neither occupation forces nor Iraqi government personnel seem to care about saving the little normal life that remains.

The independent U.S.-based group Just Foreign Policy says more than 1.1 million Iraqis have been killed through the occupation. According to an Oxfam International report, four million Iraqis are in need of emergency aid. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that there are more than 4.5 million Iraqis displaced from their homes. "Is it good that we still cannot go to Baghdad to sell our crops and buy seeds and other necessary things for our farms," said young Jassim from Fallujah. "Is it good that we only plant ten percent of our land because there is not enough electricity and fuel to run our pumps?"

Many people in Fallujah say they simply want the U.S. forces to leave. "If the U.S. generals mean they will hand over security to Iraqis and leave the province, then I will salute them all," retired Iraqi army colonel Salman Ahmed told IPS in Fallujah. "But I know it is just another comedy like that played elsewhere in Iraq, where Iraqis (officials) are just ropes for American dirty laundry.

We want our country back for real, not just on paper." People in Fallujah, the second biggest city of al-Anbar province after capital Ramadi, say they are still in the grip of draconian security measures implemented and backed by the U.S. military. "If security is so good then let them end the tragedy of our city," a member of the Fallujah City Council, speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS. "We want our freedom back and we want to leave and enter our city without this humiliation by soldiers and policemen. Fallujah is dying, and our masters (Americans) are bragging about security and prosperity." Fifty-five-year-old mother Um Bashar came to the house where IPS was meeting with residents.

"Let them (Americans) take everything and bring me my son back," she said. "He stayed to guard the house in the November 2004 siege and the Americans captured him. Now he is missing. Some people who were released told us he was with them in the airport prison."

Iraqi people do not speak of improvement. They do not see it; they see only that these claims have become important for the U.S. elections.

THIS HAPPENED SATURDAY IN IRAQ WHILE BUSH VISITED TROOPS IN KUWAIT

While President Bush made a visit to U.S. troops in Kuwait on Saturday and was praising the Iraqi government and the Shiite and Sunni members of Iraq's parliament who have buried their differences to pass a controversial bill allowing former officials of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to return to public life, the following security incidents were taking place in Baghdad and others parts of Iraq:

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces arrested 15 gunmen during operations on Friday and Saturday in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Two roadside bombs exploded in succession, wounding two people in Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, police said.

Baghdad - Two unknown bodies found in Baghdad

Baghdad - Around 10 a.m. two roadside bombs targeted civilians in Beirut square, injuring two civilians.

Baghdad - 1 hostage freed, 7 suspects arrested during past 24 hours. The Iraqi security forces managed to set free a kidnapped hostage, arrest seven wanted men and suspects and seize three vehicles owned by gunmen in Baghdad's al-Karkh and al-Rasafa sections within the Baghdad security plan Fardh al-Qanoon during the past 24 hours, an official said.

Diyala - A parked car bomb targeted an Iraqi army convoy in Al Wajihiya, two soldiers were injured, one civilian and one child were injured. [Another story says that four security men were wounded. I don’t know if this is the same incident or not. – dancewater]

Nineveh - Gunmen killed a police officer near his house in Al Sukar neighborhood.

Sulaimaniyah - Gunmen killed Sherwan Uthman, a liquor shop owner, in Sulaimaniyah yesterday night, police said.

DHULUIYA - Gunmen killed six people in attacks on two houses, including a former Iraqi army officer and two members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol in a village near Dhuluiya, 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Anbar province - U.S. soldier killed in non-combat incident in Anbar

Basra - Policeman killed, 1 wounded by gunmen fire in Basra