MAINSTREAM MEDIA BLACKOUT ON IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR TESTIMONY

A quick search through the mainstream media indicates the gathering of the new age Winter Soldiers, Iraq Veterans Against the War http://ivaw.org/index.php, which was launched on Thursday in Washington, D.C. with scores of Iraq war veterans testifying about the atrocities they saw while deployed to Iraq, has been swept under the rug by the media.

The mainstream media is much too interested in giving every sleazy detail of the call girl who was involved with former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer than to devote even one line of copy to the Iraq veterans who gave so much to the United States when they were in Iraq.

The Iraq war, and even the Iraq war veterans, are now just a distant memory in the eyes of the mainstream media.

Yesterday we posted a report from Pew Research Center indicating only 28 percent of Americans polled had any idea that nearly 4,000 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. There is no other place to place the blame for the lack of interest on the war but on the doorstep of the mainstream media who have dumped the Iraq war and the Iraq war veterans from the pages of the newspapers and reports on network TV news shows and cable news.

Iraq Vets Will Detail U.S. Atrocities in Winter Soldier Hearings

By Editorial Staff, AlterNetPosted on March 11, 2008, Printed on March 13, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/79286/

This week, on March 13-16, a new generation of "Winter Soldiers" -- veterans of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq -- will descend on the nation's capitol to tell America in their own words what they saw during their service in the "war on terror," the Bush administration's signature policy. They'll give a ground's eye perspective on the occupation's toll on the people of those countries and the costs to the military, and they'll tell stories of what it was really like in places like Fallujah and Ramadi -- places that are just names on a map to most of the people back home.

They'll be following large footsteps. In the early months of 1971, a group of Vietnam vets, organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), gave two days of testimony about the Vietnam that they had seen, up close and all-too-personally, in the original "Winter Soldier" investigation. While largely dismissed by the political establishment, their wrenching testimony redoubled the peace movement's efforts to end that war.

In his opening statement 37 years ago, William Crandell, a 26 year-old lieutenant who served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division -- the division that committed the infamous My Lai Massacre -- told the hushed room, "The Winter Soldier Investigation is not a mock trial. There will be no phony indictments; there will be no verdict against Uncle Sam." He promised "straightforward testimony -- direct testimony -- about acts which are war crimes under international law. Acts which these men have seen and participated in. Acts which are the inexorable result of national policy."

And they did just that. Over two days, more than a 100 vets of the Vietnam conflict bore witness to the horrors that they had seen with their own eyes -- "the inexorable result of national policy." One panel examined the question, "What are we doing to Vietnam?" and another asked "What are we doing to ourselves?"

The media largely ignored the hearings. The East Coast papers, with the exception of a New York Times article a week after the event, refused to even cover them. The VVAW complained of an "official censorship blackout."

That was before the right had built its formidable echo chamber -- before Fox News, the Washington Times, the New York Sun and the emergence of the right-wing blogosphere, with its instinctive attacks on any who question the morality of the "war on terror." It's difficult to imagine the kind of character assassinations the soldiers who gather in Washington this week will face from the war's supporters, but it's likely that they're going to redefine courage and genuine patriotism in the face of withering criticism.

But the progressive community is also better prepared to push back against those attacks this time around. A robust alternative media, of which AlterNet is proud to play a role, will at least allow this new generation of Winter Soldiers to be heard.

You can get involved as well by supporting IVAW, by tuning in to the proceedings live via the internet, satellite TV and select Pacifica Radio stations, or you can organize an event to view the testimony with others in your community.

AlterNet will feature special coverage of the hearings.

Several members of the AlterNet team will be in Washington this weekend, and we'll bring you the sights and sounds and in-depth coverage that the commercial media won't.
http://www.alternet.org/story/79286/

WE HAVE NAMES OF FOUR OF FIVE GIS KILLED MONDAY IN IRAQ

We have discovered the identities for four of the five soldiers killed from Mondays suicide bombing attack in the Mansor market. They were part of the Army’s 164th Armored Division, 3rd Infantry. There names are Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Suzch; Robert Taylor McDavid III; no rank listed David Julian; and U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ernesto Guadalupe Cimarrusti.

Marine Cpl. Evan Morgan lost both legs and the sight in his right eye in an explosion in Iraq three years ago. Three years have passed since Morgan was severely wounded in Iraq, and after spending 15 months in a military hospital.

A program manager for the military's joint amputation care system said 800 troops had lost limbs in Afghanistan and Iraq since the end of 2001

THE LIST OF VIOLENCE ALL ACROSS IRAQ ON THURSDAY

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: A parked car bomb that exploded in a commercial district of central Baghdad killed eight people and wounded 41 on Thursday, police said. The bombing took place off a bridge in Tahrir Square, a district of clothing shops just outside the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and much of the Iraqi government, an Iraqi police official said.A parked car bomb exploded in a commercial district of central Baghdad Thursday, killing 11 people and wounding 57, police said.A parked car bomb exploded in a commercial district of central Baghdad Thursday, killing 18 people and wounding dozens more.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded five people near a market in al-Shurta al-Khamissa in southwestern Baghdad, police said.

#3: A car bomb killed one person and wounded four in central Baghdad, police said.

#4: One Iraqi journalists was killed on Thursday by unknown gunmen in central Baghdad, the Syndicate of Journalists said. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on Qassem Abdul Hussein al-Eqabi, journalist in the local al-Muwaten newspaper, in al-Karada neighborhood in central Baghdad, killing him on the spot and fled to unknown place,” Muaayad al-Lami, the syndicate’s secretary, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

#5: Mortar rounds hit the Green Zone this morning at 11.15. No casualties were reported. The US Military do not generally comment on indirect fire

#6: An IED was successfully detonated under control in Oqba Bin Nafi' Square, Karrada, central Baghdad.Diyala Prv:

#1: U.S. soldiers shot and killed a young Iraqi girl after firing a warning shot at a woman who "appeared to be signaling to someone" along a road where several bombs had recently been found, a military official said early Thursday. The shooting, which took place Wednesday afternoon, happened in the volatile Diyala province north of Baghdad. An exact location was not given in a military statement. The girl appeared to be "around 10 years old," said Maj. Brad Leighton, a military spokesman.

Muqdadiya:#1: Security forces on Wednesday discovered three unknown corpses dumped in Diala province, north Baghdad, an Interior ministry source. “Police forces found two unknown bodies dumped in the main road of Muqdadiya town, 45 km north-east of Baaquba,” a Diala security source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of IraqBalad

Ruz:#1: Elsewhere, the source added “police forces found an unknown body dumped in the main road of Baladruz town, 45 km south-east of Baaquba, riddled wih bullets mainly to the head.

Bahraz:#1: Armed confrontations flared up late Wednesday in al-Biejat village in Bahraz district, south of Baaquba, between popular committees elements and al-Qaeda group,” the source, who asked anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).“Six popular committees’ fighters were killed and three were injured in the clashes,” he added.He did not provide further details.

Baquba:#1: 1 civilian was killed by gunmen near al-Farouq Mosque, central Baquba this morning.

Nasiriyah#1: Another two soldiers and a civilian were wounded in the same area where a civilian bus was hit by a roadside bomb on Tuesday.Kut:#1: An Iraqi police official, who asked not to be identified, said as many as 11 Katyusha rockets landed on the U.S. base near Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, late on Wednesday. Two Iraqi men, who the police source said were brothers, were killed and four others, including a 6-year-old girl, were wounded when U.S. soldiers responded to the rocket attack with mortar rounds, the official said.

Tikrit:#1: In other violence on Thursday, five members of an Awakening Council were killed when unidentified gunmen attacked two separate checkpoints near Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad. Nine others were wounded in the attacks.Gunmen killed 3 Sahwa (Awakening Councils) members and kidnapped 4 from a location close to al-Hajaj village, 25 km to the north of Tikrit early this morning.

#2: 1 policeman killed and 2 Sahwa members injured by an attack by gunmen in west Tikrit this morning.Sumarra:#1: two people died and 10 others were injured in a roadside bomb explosion that targeted a U.S. Army patrol in the al-Amin region, al-Sumaria, the Iraqi satellite television network, reported Thursday.

Udhaim:#1: Two soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded close to an Iraqi army convoy near the town of Udhaim, north of Baghdad, police said.Al Zab:#1: Two members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood security patrol were killed and six wounded by a suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest in the town of al-Zab near Kirkuk, police said.

Baiji:#1: Two people were killed and two wounded when gunmen attacked a neighbourhood security checkpoint near the city of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.#2: Gunmen attack a checkpoint manned by Support Forces of Baiji and kidnap 4 on the highway between Baiji and Tikrit at dawn today.Tuz

Khormatu:#1: A Kurdish citizen, Mwaffaq Raheem Kereem was kidnapped this morning near Tuz Khormatu district, to the south of KIrkuk by gunmen. The kidnappers took Kereem and left his car on the side of the highway. District Police towed his car to Sulaiman Bek military garage for further investigation as to why this person was abducted.#2: 3 IEDs were detonated under control by Iraqi Army in Tuz Khormatu district on the main route between Tuz and Baghdad.

Kirkuk:#1: A roadside bomb wounded three people in Kirkuk, police said.#2: A suicide car bomber killed an Iraqi army soldier and wounded 10 others in an attack on a security checkpoint near the city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Mosul:#1: Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop in Iraq who was kidnapped last month, has been found dead, an Italian Catholic news agency quoted an Iraqi bishop as saying on Thursday. "Archbishop Rahho is dead. We found his lifeless body near Mosul. The kidnappers had buried him," Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad was quoted as telling SIR, the news agency of the Italian Bishops Conference.

Irbil:#1: A body was found on the side of the route between Erbil city and Makhmoor district in Nineveh province. The body was found near Daybeka village, to the southwest of Erbil, it was the body of a 40 year old male and has not been identified yet.

Qindal Mountains:#1: Iran shelled bases used by Kurdish separatist rebels in the Qandil Mountains in northeastern Iraq for about 90 minutes, said the spokesman for Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq, Jabbar Yawar. There were no reports of any casualties.

Afghanistan:#1: NATO-led forces in Afghanistan killed four Pakistani civilians, including two children, when they fired artillery across the border, a Pakistani military spokesman says. Up to 2,000 villagers protested against the artillery strike that happened on Tuesday in Pakistan's North Waziristan border region where militants opposed to both the Afghan and Pakistani governments are based.

#2: In southern Helmand province, Afghan and international forces attacked Taliban militants Wednesday morning as they traveled by motorcycle toward the Pakistan border, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, governor of neighboring Nimroz province. The troops employed airstrikes during the four-hour battle and killed 41 militants, including 17 from Nimroz, he said. A Taliban commander from Nimroz was among the dead. The U.S.-led coalition could not confirm the attack. NATO said they were looking into the report, but did not immediately have any information.

#3: In other violence, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed nearly a dozen suspected militants in Helmand during a clash Tuesday in Garmsir district, the coalition said in a statement. The troops had been searching compounds for Taliban traffickers of weapons and foreign fighters when they were came under fire.

#4: In Wardak province, a remote-controlled bomb hit a police vehicle Thursday in Saydabad district, killing one policeman and wounding four others, said district police investigator Mohibullah Khan.

#5: In Zabul province, Afghan security forces and NATO troops launched an operation Wednesday against Chechen fighters meeting in Daychopan district, said district chief Fazel Bari. The ensuing two-hour gun battle left three Chechens dead and six wounded, he said.

#6: On Wednesday in Farah province, authorities recovered the dead body of the Pusht Rod district police chief, a day after he was kidnapped along with five other policemen, said Bariyalai Khan, spokesman for the Farah provincial police. There was no information on the fates of the five other men.

#7: Military officials say six Afghan civilians are dead after a suicide car bombing targeting a U.S. convoy today in Kabul. Twenty other people were wounded, but none of the four American troops in the two-vehicle convoy was badly injured. The attack happened near Kabul's airport. The Taliban are claiming responsibility for the attack.

#8: A Canadian soldier suffered minor injuries yesterday when a suicide car bomber blew himself up alongside a military convoy in Kandahar city, killing one civilian and injuring at least two others.

AND PRESIDENT BUSH AND FOX NEWS SAY "THE SURGE" IS WORKING. ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR MINDS?

WATCH DRAMATIC VIDEO OF IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR: IRAQ VETS TESTIFY THURSDAY TO CONGRESS ABOUT ATROCITIES THEY SAW IN IRAQ

Hundreds of Iraq Veterans Against the War (http://ivaw.org/index.php) have arrived in the nation's capital and will testify Thursday before Congress about the war atrocities they saw with their own eyes while deployed to Iraq.

You can see a preview of the IVAW video here: http://ivaw.org/index.php

The Iraq veterans are expected to tell lawmakers in Congress about the atrocities they witnessed while stationed in Iraq.

This is a story that should be seen by every American, but judging by the way the mainstream media has treated the Iraq and Afghanistan wars lately is doubtful any of the major news outlets or cable stations will pay much attention to what these brave young Iraq War veterans will tell members of the United States Congress.

13 U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ: DOD HAS YET TO CONFIRM

The death toll for U.S. forces in Iraq has spiked in the past four days with 13 U.S. soldiers killed.

The names of only four of the 13 have been released by the Department of Defense (DoD).

Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD:
3974
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation:
13
Total
3987
DoD Confirmation List

Latest Coalition Fatality: Mar 12, 2008
03/12/08 MNF: Coalition force Soldiers attacked by indirect fire (Nasiriyah)
Three U.S. Soldiers were killed during an indirect fire attack southwest of Nasiriyah March 12. Two U.S. Soldiers were also wounded in this attack, along with one civilian. The wounded were taken to a Coalition medical facility for treatment.

03/12/08 MNF: Coalition force Soldiers attacked by IED - 1 killed, 2 wounded
A U.S. Soldier was killed from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device during a combat patrol near Ad Diwaniyah March 11. Additionally, two U.S. Soldiers were wounded in the explosion and transported to a Coalition forces...

NEW POLL: ONLY 28 PERCENT OF AMERICANS KNOW ALMOST 4,000 AMERICANS HAVE DIED IN THE IRAQ WAR

THREE MORE U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ

It is shocking but not surprising considering how the mainstream media has "spiked" any stories about the Iraq war.

The Pew Research Center study shows only 28 percent of those polled could correctly answer about 4,000 U.S. troops have died in the Iraq war. That is down from last August when 54 percent gave the accurate casualty figure, which was about 3,5000 dead at that time.

Exit polls of voters in presidential primaries and many national surveys have shown the economy has displaced the war in recent weeks as the public choice as the nation's top problem.Iraq was the most avidly followed news story for most of the first half of 2007, but it has not been the most closely watched story in any week since mid-October, according to a Pew survey of people's interest in the news.

The portion of news stories on the war has dropped in recent months as well, according to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a nonpartisan group that evaluates news coverage.

Which begs the question. Will the mainstream media cover the gathering of hundreds of Iraq War Veterans Against the War beginning Thursday on Capital Hill in Washington?

There is one news outlet which will snub the event, and if they do cover any portion of the testimony of Iraq War veterans about atrocities they have seen it will be a snipped squeezed in between endless political coverage and more on New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's resignation over charges he was involved with prostitutes.

That news outlet is FOX NEWS which has always treated the Iraq war as a sidebar story.

While the interest in the Iraq war wanes with Americans, the death of Americans in Iraq doesn't take a holiday.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed in a rocket attack in southern Iraq on Wednesday, bringing to 12 the number of Americans who have been killed in Iraq over the past three days.

With the overall U.S. military death toll in Iraq nearing 4,000, the latest killings mark a significant rise in deadly attacks against Americans.

At least 3,987 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an AP count. The figure includes eight military civilians.

Navy Lt. Patrick Evans, a military spokesman, told The Associated Press that three soldiers were killed Wednesday in a rocket attack on Combat Outpost Adder near Nasiriyah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. Two other soldiers were wounded.

The attack came a day after an American soldier died when a roadside bomb hit his patrol near Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad.

Eight soldiers were killed in a pair of bomb attacks on Monday, the heaviest single day of U.S. casualties since September.

Three of those soldiers died in a roadside bombing in Diyala, a violent province where al-Qaida in Iraq has been active.

The five others were killed while on foot patrol in central Baghdad. A suicide bomber approached them and detonated his explosives vest. The Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni militant group, issued a statement Wednesday claiming responsibility for the soldiers' deaths. Three Americans and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded.

AP story carried by Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=Am2Jn4xmTEjs7DijFy7Hi_ZX6GMA

HUGE SPIKE IN VIOLENCE IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN: ARMY SPC. JEREMY RIDDLE FROM ARLINGTON, TEXAS BEGINS THE LONG ROAD OF REHABILITATION

There has been a massive increase in violence in both Iraq and Afghanistan as the following report clearly indicates.

But we lead off with the story of Army Spc. Jordan Riddle, Arlington, Texas a veteran of the Iraq war and his battle at trying to rehabilitate himself following horrendous injuries sustained when he was injured in Iraq.

Army Spc. Jordan Riddle, Arlington, Texas returned from Iraq about 40 pounds lighter and with no memory of the January explosion that almost took his life. Members of Riddle's unit were clearing houses of Sunni insurgents in Sinsil on Jan. 9 when a booby-trapped home exploded, killing six soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter, said Riddle's sister Shannon Murphy. But the explosion blew Riddle backward, and a block of concrete landed on top of him. Murphy said she was told by an another injured soldier from the unit that the block covered her brother from his chin to his lower legs."It took 20 men and two Stryker vehicles to get that thing off of him," Riddle said he will spend another six months recuperating from his injuries. The blast and concrete collapsed both his lungs, broke his right arm in several places, tore flesh from his abdomen and burned his face.

WHILE RIDDLE SLOWLY WORKS TO REHABILITATE HIMSELF, THE WAR IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN CONTINUES WITH MORE CASUALTIES AND MORE CIVILIAN DEATHS

THE FOLLOWING DEATHS, MAYHEM AND VIOLENCE ARE ALL PART OF WAR TORN LANDSCAPE OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2008

War News for Wednesday, March 12, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a U.S. Soldier in an improvised explosive device attack in near Ad Diwaniyah on Monday, March 11th. Two other soldier were wounded in the attack.

The Canadian DND is reporting the death of a soldier who was found dead in an accommodation room, at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan on Monday, March 11th. No further details are available at this time, although enemy action has been ruled out. Here's the ISAF statement

Baghdad:#1: A roadside bomb went off in the Amin neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killed two civilians and wounded ten others, including dustmen, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The blast, apparently, missed a U.S. patrol which has just passed the scene, the source said.

#2-4: Three more roadside bombs went off near U.S. patrols in areas of Talbiyah, Shaab and Taji in northern Baghdad, the source said. There was no word on casualties among the U.S. soldiers as the troops immediately cordoned off the areas, he said. The U.S. military has not confirmed the attack on its patrols yet.

#2: Around 10:10 am, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol at Shaab neighborhood (north Baghdad) towards the industrial area. No casualties reported.

#3: Around 9 am, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol near Talbia Bridge towards Shaab neighborhood (north Baghdad).No casualties reported.

#4: Around 9:15 am, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol at Taji near Baghdad’s north gate .No casualties reported.

#5: In a separate incident, five civilians were injured when a roadside bomb exploded at about 07:30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) in Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, he said.

#6: Meanwhile, three civilians were wounded when three mortar rounds landed on Baghdad's northern neighborhood of the al-Shaab, the source said.

#7: Three mortars landed in Baghdad's Green Zone, but details of casualties were not available, police said.

#8: Around 10 am, an American patrol defused a roadside bomb at Saidiyah neighborhood (south Baghdad) near Imam Ali mosque.

Diyala Prv:#1: Police found one dead body at one of the orchards in Dali Abass village (east of Baquba)

.#2: Around 2:10 pm, a ten year girl was killed due to clashes took place at Bazaiz Buhrz (10 km south of Baquba) between gunmen and Iraqi army. The girl was in a farm with her aunt when a bullet killed her at once.

Bahraz:#1: The bodies of a man and his wife, who had disappeared earlier on Wednesday, were found in south of Baaquba, a security source said. “A man and his wife were found dead a few hours after being kidnapped by al-Qaeda armed group in Bazayez region in Bahraz district, south of Baaquba,” the source, who wished to be unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Kanan:#1: Around 1:50 pm, mortars hit Kanan village targeting Sheikh Tha’r Ghadhban’s funeral (who was killed two days ago) .Four people were injured (including a woman and a child).

#2: Police found a dead body at the way between Kanan –Balad Ruz (20 km east of Baquba).Nasiriya:#1: Update-- one coalition soldier were wounded in the attack about 50 miles from Nasiriyah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad.--Dr. Hadi Badr al-Riyahi, head of the Nasiriyah provincial health directorate, confirmed Wednesday that the attack on the bus traveling from Najaf to Basra killed 16 civilians and wounded 20.

Diwaniyah:#1: A U.S. Soldier was killed from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device during a combat patrol near Ad Diwaniyah March 11. Additionally, two U.S. Soldiers were wounded in the explosion and transported to a Coalition forces medical facility for further evaluation and treatment.

Kut:#1: update from 4 killed--At least 17 people have been killed, including five children, in fire exchang between militants and Iraqi and US forces in the Shiite city of Kut, AFP reported Wednesday. "Seventeen people have been killed, including five children and a female college student. Others are young men," Mamoon Ajil, registrar at Kut's Al-Zahra hospital said.The military said Iraqi forces were patrolling the city on Tuesday when they were attacked by several "enemy fighters" . The Iraqi forces requested assistance from the US forces who provided ground and air support.

Iskandariya:#1: Gunmen opened fire randomly in Iskandiriya town, 50 km north Hilla, leaving two civilian wounded, one of them died from a sustained injury when he arrived at the hospital”, Babel source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq.

Musayyib:#1: gunmen opened fire on a woman standing at her house in Musayyib town, 40 north Hilla, leaving her wounded".

Basra:#1: A senior figure in Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Basra office, Saed al-Haidery, was shot dead in northern Basra, police and Sadrist officials said.

#2: Gunmen shot and killed a former official of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Samarra:#1: Three fuel truck drivers were killed when three roadside bombs went off near a convoy of seven fuel trucks on the main road near Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Three trucks were set ablaze.

Baiji:#1: Around 10 am, a policeman was killed by a guard of Baiji mayor based on tribal revenge .A curfew was announced in the city after this incident to control the situation.

Kirkuk:#1: A roadside bomb targeting a local council member near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, wounded two of his bodyguards, police said.

Mosul:#1: Six fuel trucks were set ablaze and three drivers were wounded on Tuesday when a bomb attached to one of the vehicles detonated, in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan:#1: A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan Wednesday, killing a passing civilian and wounding one soldier. An Associated Press reporter at the scene in Kandahar said a Humvee vehicle of the convoy was burned and destroyed. NATO troops cordoned off the area, preventing journalists and police getting near the vehicles. A passing truck driver was killed in the attack, and two civilian passers-by were wounded, said police officer Nematullah Khan.

#2: In other violence, Taliban militants attacked a district administrative compound Tuesday in southern Zabul province, and the ensuing one-hour gunbattle left one Taliban dead and three wounded, said Mizan district chief Mohammad Younus Akhunzada.

#3: A telecommunications tower was set ablaze in western Afghanistan, a police official said Wednesday, the latest such attack since insurgents warned phone companies to shut down the towers at night. Five militants set fire to the generator, fuel tank and antenna of the tower Tuesday night in the Obe district of Herat province, said Raouf Ahmadi, a regional police spokesman. The tower belonged to the Areeba company.

#4: An investigation has been launched after a Canadian soldier was found dead at the main military base in Kandahar. The body of Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet was found Tuesday afternoon in sleeping quarters at the Kandahar Air Field. Ouellet, 22, was with the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, based in Shilo, Man. "The soldier's death is not related to combat, Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche said in a briefing at the air field, 12 hours after Ouellet's body was found.

#5: Two women and two children have been killed during a NATO operation against suspected Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the alliance says.

STAGGERING NUMBER OF WOUNDED VETERANS FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WARS

The wounded from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has overwhelmed the resources of the Veterans Administration and many returning veterans are not getting the necessary medical services they need as part of their rehabilitation.

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ an advocacy group based in Washington, said the VA's budget request for 2009 also does not pay adequate attention to chronic problems facing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, such as drug and alcohol addictions.

This week, a federal judge in San Francisco held the first hearing in a class-action suit filed by two vet groups, including Sullivan's, against the VA alleging neglect in treating suicidal soldiers.

The suit seeks prompt screening and treatment of potentially suicidal veterans.144 suicides through '05 According to VA research obtained last month by The Associated Press, 144 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide from the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001 through the end of 2005. Statistics from 2006 and 2007 were not yet available.

Dr. Gerald Cross, a VA official, said during this week's hearings that 120,000 vets from Iraq and Afghanistan using VA care have potential mental health problems, and that nearly 68,000 have potential post-traumatic stress disorder.*

WOUNDED VETERANS FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WARS REACHES EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003721852

NEW YORK The number of wounded soldiers has become a hallmark of the nearly 5-year-old Iraq war, pointing to both the use of roadside bombs as the extremists' weapon of choice and advances in battlefield medicine to save lives.

About 15 soldiers are wounded for every fatality, compared with 2.6 per death in Vietnam and 2.8 in Korea.But with those saved soldiers comes a financial price — one veterans groups and others claim the government is unwilling to pay.

Those critics also say that the tens of thousands of soldiers wounded in Iraq are part of a political numbers game, one they say undermines the system meant to care for them.

The most frequently cited figure is the 29,320 soldiers wounded in action in Iraq as of Thursday. But there have been 31,325 others treated for non-combat injuries and illness as of March 1.

"The Pentagon keeps two sets of books," said Linda Bilmes, a professor at Harvard and an expert on budgeting and public finance whose newly published book, The Three Trillion Dollar War, was co-authored with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz."It is important to understand the full number of casualties because the U.S. government is responsible for paying disability compensation and medical care for all our troops, regardless of how they were injured," Bilmes said.$2.3 billion increase Veterans Affairs predicts it will treat 330,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009 — a 14 percent increase over the 2008 estimate of 263,000 — at a cost of nearly $1.3 billion.

For the 2009 budget, the White House requested $93.7 billion for the VA, including $41.2 billion for medical care for all veterans — not just those from Iraq and Afghanistan. That's an increase of $2.3 billion over the current budget.

But critics say that is not enough for a system that has a backlog of about 400,000 pending medical claims and complaints, especially in mental health care.The VA "will not request enough resources to care for the troops — and in fact this is precisely what has happened in the past three years," said Bilmes.

Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, rejected accusations that the government is trying to hide or obscure the number of wounded soldiers by placing the total in two categories on its Web pages."Both of the Web sites have equal importance. They are just counting different things," Smith said.

"Neither is more prominent than the other."James Peake, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, said that funding for VA medical care requested for next year is "more than twice what it was seven years ago" before operations in Afghanistan started.

But Bilmes says the VA is hoping to offset some of the costs through increased fees and co-payments — putting more of the burden for health care costs back on soldiers."That is the thing that sticks in the gullet, the fact they're hoping to raise $2 or $3 billion through their fees, which is what we spend in Iraq and Afghanistan in about three days," she said. "For three days of fighting, we could not charge these vets a higher co-payment."

SEE AND HEAR VIDEO OF IED EXPLODING IN IRAQ

Most everyone knows the biggest cause of fatalities and injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan are IEDs, or Improvised Explosive Devices.

But few people REALLY know what it is like to be in the vicinity when an IED explodes.

We have a video, thanks to IAVA, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (http://www.iava.org/) who released the following video to give people a sense of what it is like when an IED explodes. The shock waves and sound can be deafening.

This is what our troops are facing in Iraq and Afghanistan on a daily basis and part of the Iraq and Afghanistan war story the media no longer covers.

See the video here:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dd0_1187902581

Viewing this video is especially approrpriate because on Thursday, March 13 through March 16 hundreds of members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (http://ivaw.org/index.php) will meet with members of Congress where they will relate stories about the atrocities they saw committed by U.S. troops while they were serving in the U.S. Army or United States Marine Corps in Iraq

PENTAGON RELEASES STUDY SHOWING THERE NEVER WAS A LINK BETWEEN SADDAM AND AL QAEDA

It took five years but the Pentagon has finally released a study showing there never was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda before the United States invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003.

The Pentagon study shoots down former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's statement that there was "bullet-proof evidence" that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein an al Qaeda.

Even after the United States invaded Iraq and didn't find any weapons of mass destruction, or a nuclear capability, Vice President Dick Cheney was still telling veteran audiences there was a tie between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

But it didn't stop there.

President Bush not long ago said al Qaeda was active in Iraq before the invasion, and then Republican Presidential candidate John McCain made fun of Democratic Presidential candidate Barak Obama for saying al Qaeda was not in Iraq until the United States invaded Iraq.

Obama was right and both Bush and McCain were wrong according to the Pentagon study.

Al Qaeda didn't make their presence known in Iraq until AFTER the United States invaded and occupied Iraq five years ago.


Study finds no Saddam-al-Qaeda link

The US invaded Iraq saying it had ties to al-Qaeda and had weapons of mass destruction

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BC09965E-724A-45E0-BDF6-CC4681C87BFB.htm

An exhaustive Pentagon-backed study of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents seized after the 2003 US-led invasion has found no direct link between Saddam Hussein's government and The alleged link was one of the main reasons given by the US for going to war with Iraq and the then defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, had said there was "bulletproof" evidence of a connection.

But leaked excerpts from the report due for release on Wednesday indicate the first official acknowledgement from the US military that there was no "direct operational link" with al-Qaeda, according to the McClatchy Newspapers group.

The original reason for going to war - that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction that posed an imminent threat - has also lost credibility, with no such weapons found five years after the invasion.

Besides the hundreds of thousands of documents, the study's researchers also used thousands of hours of interrogations of former senior officials in Saddam's government now in US custody.

The study does indicate that Saddam Hussein did much to support "terrorism" in the Middle East and used it "as a routine tool of state power".

His government, the study says, had a programme for the "development, construction, certification and training for car bombs and suicide vests in 1999 and 2000".

But "the predominant targets of Iraqi state terror operations were Iraqi citizens, both inside and outside of Iraq" who were seen as Saddam's enemies, the report says.

SEE GRAPHIC VIDEO OF WHAT IRAQ VETS AGAINST THE WAR WILL TELL CONGRESS STARTING THURSDAY

From March 13-16th, U.S. veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will testify to what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground in these occupations. To provide a preview, we've created this short film. The film features three members who will be testifying at Winter Soldier and includes videos and photographs of Iraq from their deployments. This video contains graphic content. http://ivaw.org/index.php

You can activate the video by clicking on it and if care to you can click on the toggle button for a full screen. Click on esc. to exit full screen.

The three Iraq war veterans tell of their experiences in Iraq. It is shocking and graphic and not for anyone with a weak stomach.

The question on this former reporter's mind is will the mainstream media pay as much attention to the testimony before Congress starting March 13 and running through March 16 of these Iraq war veterans as they have done covering the election primaries and the latest scandal involving New York Governor Elliot Spitzer.

It would be an insult to every young American serving in the United States military and their families back in the United States if the mainstream media continues their blackout of anything to do with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN LATE BREAKING NEWS: 48 KILLED IN IRAQ ON TUESDAY

While President Bush was yukking it up at the Gridiron Dinner in Washington, and Fox News continued their "blackout" on any bad news coming out of Iraq, CNN is reporting late Tuesday that 48 people have been killed in scores of bombings and shootings from Baghdad to other cities in Iraq.

"The Surge" is a pathetic joke framed by the Bush administration and General David Petraeus in Iraq and sold to the American public by the Bush public relations machine Fox News.

The true facts are "the surge" was only accomplished by Sunni warlords in ONE province, Anbar, but the rest of Iraq is a cauldron of violence and mayhem.

Here is a rundown of what took place Tuesday in Iraq. If this is an indication "the surge" is working, then the person reading this needs a new pair of glasses, or perhaps they should make an appointment with a "shrink."

In one day, bombings, battles and shooting kill 48 in Iraq

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/11/iraq.main/index.html

Story Highlights

Authorities find 20 bodies in mass grave in Iraq, police say Tuesday

Grave has women and children, likely kidnapped 2 months ago by al Qaeda

10 killed, 28 wounded in clashes between Iraqi security and Shiite militiamen

9, including 4 police, killed during fighting between insurgents and Iraqi police

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Bombings, clashes and a shooting in Iraq Tuesday left at least 48 people dead, and another 20 bodies were found in a mass grave, police officials told CNN.
Police and a local citizens group found five children, six women and nine men in the grave, just northeast of Samarra
.
Authorities said the victims were kidnapped at least two months ago by al Qaeda in Iraq. The victims were blindfolded, bullet-riddled and bound, with some showing signs of torture, officials said.

Families working with the Iraqi government or security forces have been targeted by militants.
A weapons cache containing mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades, explosives, suicide vests and car bombs was found near the grave.

Those events came a day after eight U.S. soldiers died in two separate bombings in Baghdad and in Diyala province, and a leading sheikh in a Diyala province town was killed by a female suicide attacker, officials said.

Tuesday, at least 10 people were killed and 28 wounded when clashes erupted between Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen in the central Iraq city of Kut, according to an official with the nation's Interior Ministry.

The clashes happened while Iraqi police and army were raiding three neighborhoods in the city searching for wanted militants, the official said. The neighborhoods are known strongholds of militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. A vehicle curfew was imposed in the city after the skirmishes, as sporadic gunfire could still be heard, the official said.

U.S. Special Forces, responding to a request for support from Iraqi security forces, destroyed a vehicle carrying weapons and explosives and also gunned down several enemy fighters, the U.S. military said.

Kut is about 160 km (about 100 miles) southeast of Baghdad in Wasit province.
Seven Iraqi citizens were killed Tuesday and 11 injured near Balad in a car bombing at the headquarters of the awakening group Sons of Iraq, the U.S. military said.

"A Sons of Iraq member fired his weapon at the driver of the explosive-laden pickup truck after realizing his intent, but the driver was still able to detonate the bomb," a military statement said.

Also Tuesday, nine people, including four police officers, were killed when clashes broke out between insurgents and Iraqi police in Mosul, about 420 km (about 260 miles) north of Baghdad, according to an official with Mosul police. Four gunmen and a civilian also were killed, according to police. The Interior Ministry confirmed the information.

In other Iraq violence Tuesday:

• Sixteen people died and 22 were wounded Tuesday when a roadside bomb in southern Iraq struck a passenger bus.

• Five people were killed and 14 were wounded when a suicide bomber slammed into a police-security volunteer checkpoint in Dhuluiya in northern Iraq's Salaheddin province. The bomber, driving a small pickup truck, struck a checkpoint manned by police and members of the local Awakening Council, the U.S.-backed security volunteers.

• A gunman in northeastern Baghdad shot at a minibus carrying employees from Iraq's Electricity Ministry, killing one person and wounding eight.

• Other mass graves have been found recently, including one discovered Saturday with up to 100 bodies just north of Baquba in Diyala province.

And after all this in just one day, President Bush and Fox News claim "the surge" is working and Iraq is returning to normality. One wonders what Bush and Fox News would consider abnormal in Iraq.

IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR MARCH FOR WINTER SOLDIERS (SEE THE VIDEO)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wh4XGmfJo4

On Thursday, March 13 and for the next three days, hundreds of Iraq Veterans Against the War will descend on Washington, D.C. to tell members of Congress about the atrocities they witnessed with their own eyes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last week some of the Iraq Veterans Against the War staged a march to Valley Forge and we have the video. It is a compelling and you get to hear what some of what the Iraq veterans, and even some active duty Iraq veterans, plan to say when they meet with lawmakers in Washington on March 13-16, 2008.

If you care about our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, you should watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wh4XGmfJo4

HOW COULD ANYONE SAY "THE SURGE" IS WORKING WHEN ALL THIS IS HAPPENING IN IRAQ?

Either President Bush is being kept in the dark about what is happening in Iraq today (Tuesday, March 11), or he simply is too stubborn to admit it, but the following is a list of killings, suicide bombings, shootings, mayhem and violence stretching from Baghdad to every province in Iraq.

Bush's pet mouthpiece, FOX NEWS, is no better. The so-called news organization continues to LIE to their viewers that all is going well in Iraq despite the fact they can access the same information as we are providing our readers here:

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

War News for Tuesday, March 11, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths Three Coalition Force Soldiers and an interpreter in a roadside bombing in an eastern Diyala province on Monday, March 10th. One other soldier were wounded in the attack.Security incidents:

Baghdad:#1: One Iraqi soldier was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol in western Baghdad's Mansour district, police said.

#2: A car bomb went off near the building of al-Mahmoudiya local council, south of Baghdad, on Tuesday, leaving an unidentified number of civilians killed or wounded, a security source said. "A car bomb went off near a local council building in the district of al-Mahmoudiya, leaving unidentified number of civilian casualties," the source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#3: Around 4:30 a.m. gunmen attacked the juveniles’ prison in Tobchi neighborhood in west Baghdad injuring three policemen, three prisoners and releasing five prisoners.

#4: Around 8:05 a.m. an IED exploded on the airport street in west Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

#5: A member of the local council of Yousifiyah town was killed and eight other members were injured when an IED exploded inside the building of Yousifiyah town local council south of Baghdad around 1:00 p.m.

#6: Gunmen also sprayed another bus with machine gunfire shortly after it hit a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad. One person was killed and four others were wounded, police said. The bomb was apparently targeting a nearby police patrol.

#7: U.S. forces have killed five insurgents and detained 11 suspects in the past two days during operations to disrupt al Qaeda networks operating in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

#8: Police found five unidentified bodies in Baghdad. Three bodies were found in Rusafa, the eastern side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (2 bodies in Jisr Diyala and 1 body in Kubra al Ghizlan neighborhood). The other two bodies were found in Amil neighborhood and Shurta the 4th in the western side of Baghdad.

Diyala Prv:#1: Three Coalition Force Soldiers and an interpreter were killed by an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Diyala province, March 10. Another Soldier was wounded and transported to a Coalition medical facility for treatment.

Karbala:#1: In another development, four police officers and a child were injured in Karbala, south of Baghdad, when a bomb went off near a downtown hospital, Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency said

Kut:#1: At least five people were killed in fierce clashes between Iraqi police and Shiite militia forces in the central city of Kut on Tuesday, police said. Iraqi forces raided three Kut neighbourhoods to nab wanted Shiite militiamen, a local police officer who did not give his name for security reasons told AFP. "The clashes are still going on. Five people have been killed including two brothers when their house was struck by a rocket," the officer said. Another eight people were wounded, including a woman and a policeman. The clashes broke out as the security forces were attacked during the raid, he said, adding that US warplanes flew in to provide aerial support to the Iraqi forces.

At least 10 people were killed in clashes between security forces and the Mehdi Army militia loyal to anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a source at Kut's al-Zahraa hospital said.

Nasiriyah:#1: In southern Iraq, meanwhile, a roadside bomb hit a bus that was traveling from Basra to Nasiriyah, killing at least 16 civilians on board, according to a Nasiriyah policeman who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to release the information. At least 22 others were wounded in the attack, which took place about 50 miles south of Nasiriyah. No other details were immediately available.

A roadside bomb missed a passing U.S. convoy and ripped into a bus on a highway south of Baghdad today, killing 16 passengers and injuring 17 others, Iraqi security officials said.

Tikrit:#1: At least three civilians were killed during a US air raid targeting a western part of Tikrit in northern Iraq, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. People had told police they had heard air strikes and explosions hitting areas near their houses, sources said. When police came, three men were found dead.

Dhuluiya:#1: In a separate incident during the day, at least eight people were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint manned by Iraqi soldiers and a local group. Colonel Mohammed Khalid, the local police officer said: "The suicide attack took place in Dhuluiya, 70 km from north of Baghdad, in Salaheddin province, at around 3:15pm (1215 GMT)."

Samarra:#1: A GRAVE containing 20 bodies has been found by Iraqi security forces near Samarra, just days after 100 decomposed bodies were found at another site. The most recent mass grave, containing the bodies of men, women and children, was found in a dry riverbed in an area called Al-Jillam, north-east of Samarra. The bodies appeared to be killed a long time ago, Lieutenant Muthanna al-Shakir said.

Thar Thar:#1: A suicide car bomb killed two members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood police patrol and wounded three others when it hit their checkpoint in Thar Thar, 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.

Hawija:#1: In Kirkuk, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, three more members of the Awakening Councils were injured when an explosive device was detonated targeting their patrol in the main road between Howeija and Abbasy districts, sources told VOI. Two police officers were also wounded when a bomb went off targeting an Iraqi patrol in the military district in central Kirkuk.

Kirkuk:#1: Two policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A policeman was injured when an IED exploded that targeted a police patrol in al Askari neighborhood in downtown Kirkuk city on Tuesday morning.

#3: Three policemen were wounded in an IED explosion that targeted emergency police patrol in al Tis’een neighborhood in downtown Kirkuk city Monday evening.

#4: A policeman was injured when an IED exploded on Kirkuk- Reyadh Street on Monday evening.#5: The head of Sahwa council of Abbasi district Oda Khalaf Zidan was injured when an IED exploded targeting his convoy west of Kirkuk city.

#6: "A U.S. helicopter shelled a vehicle carrying gas cylinders in the main street in Wana district, north of Mosul, killing three civilians," Brig. Khaled Abdul Sattar Saadon told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq

#7: "Another chopper spotted two gunmen while planting a bomb in al-Iqtessadeyeen region in western Mosul, killing one and injuring the other," the officer noted.

Mosul:#1: In Mosul, gunmen clashed Tuesday morning with police near a security checkpoint in eastern Mithaq district, the Voices of Iraq news agency cited a security official as saying. Four policemen, four gunmen and a civilian were killed in the clashes.

#2: Gunmen also opened fire on a car carrying the deputy head of Mosul University, another police officer said on condition of anonymity. The academic escaped unharmed.Al Anbar Prv:

Fallujah:#1: Two Sahwa (Awakening) tribal fighters were killed and three others wounded when a suicide bomber crashed his explosive-rigged vehicle into a Sahwa checkpoint north of the city of Falluja on Tuesday, police said. "A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vehicle near a checkpoint of the Sahwa forces in al-Tharthar, (25 km) north of Falluja, killing two and wounding three," a security source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Afghanistan:#1: On Monday, police clashed with Taliban fighters in Dihrawud district of the southern Uruzgan province, leaving 10 militants dead and two officers wounded, provincial police chief Gen. Juma Gul Himat said.