BREAKING NEWS: 2 US SOLDERS KILLED, INJURED IN IRAQ

2 U.S. soldiers killed, injured in Ninewa

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Tuesday , 06 /05 /2008 Time 10:13:51

http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=78464&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1

Baghdad, May 6, (VOI) - One U.S. soldier was killed and another one was injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their vehicle in the northern Iraqi province of Ninewa, the U.S. army in Iraq said on Tuesday
.
“A Multi-National Division – North soldier was killed from wounds sustained in an insurgent attack against the soldier’s patrol in Ninewa Province May 6,” according to a U.S. army statement received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).“One soldier was also wounded in the attack and was taken to a Coalition force hospital for treatment,” it added.The death, reaching seven this month, brings the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the beginning of military operations in March 2003 to 4072 .Of this number, 52 were killed in April, thus becoming the deadliest month for U.S. forces since September, during which 65 were killed.

Thirty-eight soldiers were killed in March, 29 in February and 40 in January 2008.December 2007 saw the death of 23, the month with the second lowest number of U.S. fatalities after February 2004 during which 20 soldiers were killed.November 2004, which witnessed fierce battles between U.S. forces and armed groups in Falluja city, Anbar province, remains the month that witnessed the highest U.S. death toll with 137.April 2004 comes second with 135, followed by May 2007 during which 126 U.S. soldiers were killed.

US CASUALTIES AND SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL VIOLENCE SWEEPS IRAQ

The mainstream media is totally swept up in the race for POTUS, and the Iraq war and US casualties are no longer on the media radar screen. Nobody in the media cares that there 160,000 young Americans in Iraq and 30,000 in Afghanistan. The media treats our brave young Americans like they were garbage. IMO, there is nothing worse in the history of the United States than the current crop of owners, editors and reporters who make up the mainstream media. Hopefully someday there will be a military draft and every single one of the media who shunned the brave men and women in Iraq will have one of their own little darlings in camo gear and prowling a street or alley in Baghdad.

Editorial comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

War News for Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Casualty Reports:Spec. Clay Henson, now 21, of Tuscaloosa was injured on Wednesday in a sneak attack on his convoy that also killed one soldier and injured another. Speaking from his hospital room at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Monday, Henson said he remembers everything about the blast that occurred minutes after his convoy departed on a mission from a base in northern Iraq.'We just pulled out of our base and we got hit,' said Henson, who attended Paul W. Bryant High School. 'We were just driving along and all of a sudden, boom ­— the front of the truck was on fire.' Dazed from the blast and aware of a high-pitched squeal in his ear, Henson did not know that a quarter-inch piece of shrapnel had embedded itself into his brain. His only indication, he said, was that he was bleeding from his head.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - North soldier during an insurgent attack in Ninewah Province on Tuesday, May 6th. One other soldier were wounded in the attack.

The Canadian Press is reporting the death of a Canadian ISAF soldier in a gun battle in the Pashmul area, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 6th. One other soldier was wounded in the attack.

VIOLENCE IS SWEEPING ACROSS IRAQ. HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED IN IRAQ ON TUESDAY.

Reported Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: Iraqi security forces killed 10 militants, arrested 131 others and seized a quantity of weapons during two days of operations in Shula district, northwestern Baghdad, an Iraqi security force spokesman said.#2: On Tuesday, Iraqi officials said at least another four people were killed and 12 wounded in overnight clashes in Sadr City.#3: U.S. and Iraqi troops fought militants in a Shiite neighborhood on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding nine others, an Interior Ministry source said. The troops clashed in the morning with Mahdi Army militiamen who were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns in the Abu Dsheer neighborhood.Around 9am, clashes took place in Abu Desheer between gunmen and police commandos .Three people were killed (including a female student) and nine others were injured.#4: Iraqi soldiers closed down a hospital suspected of treating Shi'ite militiamen in a Baghdad stronghold of cleric Moqtada al -Sadr's Mehdi Army, Iraqi security officials said on Tuesday. The soldiers also raided the Mohammed-Bakr Hakim hospital, arresting 35 workers, including orderlies and cleaners, and forced its closure, said hospital head Dr. Yassin al-Rikabi. "We don't have any staff to receive patients," Rikabi told Reuters, adding that patients had been transferred to another hospital. "At 9 a.m. on Monday around 40 soldiers and their officers stormed the hospital. They gathered all the staff in one place. They beat some people, including me," he said.#5: Around 1 pm two mortar shells hit the Baghdad municipality building at Khulani intersection (downtown Baghdad) .Three employees were killed and 15 were injured (including four guards).Two mortar bombs killed three people and wounded 10 others, including four officers from the Facility Protection Services, which guards government buildings and infrastructure, near Baghdad's municipal headquarters, police said.#6: Around 1:10 pm, a Katyusha missile hit Mansour College at Andalus intersection (downtown Baghdad). Five people were injured, including a female student.#7: Around 1:30pm, two mortar shells hit Shalchiya neighborhood (north Baghdad).twelve people were injured including 5 policemen.#8: Gunmen killed Ayad Hamza, the deputy director of Nahrain University in charge of sciences, and wounded his two sons in a drive-by shooting on Sunday in Mansour district, western Baghdad, an Education Ministry spokeswoman said.#9: Around 5pm, a katyusha missile hit a house near Sarafiyah bridge on the Risafa bank. Five people were injured.#10: Police found three dead bodies in Baghdad neighborhoods today: two were found in Risafa bank (east Baghdad);1 was found in Ubeidi and 1 was found in Shaab .While 1 was found in Hurriyah in Karkh bank(north west Baghdad).Diyala Prv:#1: Suspected Al-Qaeda operatives kidnapped a pro-US tribal chief and family members in a village north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. Gunmen grabbed Ibrahim Abdullah al-Mujamai, his wife, their daughter-in-law and a grandchild in a village in the restive province of Diyala, said a local police official who declined to be named. He said the chieftain from the al-Mujamai tribe had been arranging for a Sunni militia group to protect his village against Al-Qaeda attacks and to support American forces deployed in the country.#2: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a policeman in Jalawlaa district, Diala, on Tuesday, a local police official said."The policeman was kidnapped on the main road linking the district of Qurrat Tabbah to Jalawlaa, northeast of Baaquba, and led him to an unknown place," Maj. Ahmed Khalifa al-Qassab, the Jalawlaa police chief, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.#3: Around 3pm, a roadside bomb targeted Sahwa members at Al-Wijahiyah (12 miles east Baquba).One member was killed and another was injured in that incident.Tikrit:#1: A car bomb attack killed two people and wounded 28 in Tikrit, the hometown of the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, local officials said.Kirkuk:#1: A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded seven others on Monday in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.Mosul:#1: A group of armed men opened fire at an Iraqi police patrol on Monday evening, prompting the policemen to fire back, killing two gunmen in al-Nour neighborhood, eastern Mosul," Brig. Khaled Abdul-Sattar, the official spokesman for the Ninewa security operations command, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.#2: Meanwhile, the same source said another armed group attacked a police patrol in al-Mansour neighborhood, southern Mosul, killing two policemen and wounding one civilian near the attack site.#3: Separately, the U.S. military said in a statement Tuesday that a brothel in northern Iraq was attacked the day before. The Americans blamed the attack on al-Qaida insurgents, but local police did not speculate on who carried out the killings. Iraqi police said the attack in Mosul killed three prostitutes and wounded two others.#4: Around 4:30pm, a roadside bomb exploded at Al-Noor neighborhood downtown Mosul city. One policeman was killed in that incident.#5: Two militants accidentally blew themselves up trying to place a bomb on a road south of Mosul, police said.#6: A roadside bomb hit an Iraqi army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding two in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Afghanistan:#1: A bomb struck a minivan taking Afghan police trainers to work in Afghanistan Tuesday wounding five people, police said. The bomb, fixed to a bicycle, was apparently remotely detonated to blow up as the van passed in the southern city of Kandahar, police Colonel Noor Khan told AFP at the site of the blast. The three police officers in the vehicle were wounded but the driver was unhurt, Khan said. Two passers-by were also injured, including a woman.#2: In a new operation Monday to "degrade militant anti-government operations", coalition troops killed several militants and detained one near the border with Pakistan in the eastern province of Nangarhar, the force said. The soldiers had gone to the area to look for a Taliban fighter suspected of helping foreign militants to operate in Afghanistan, it said. "During the course of the operation, several armed militants were killed when they fired on Coalition forces."#3: A suicide bomber riding a rickshaw attacked a police checkpoint in Pakistan's northwest Tuesday. Police said the suicide attacker rode up to the checkpoint on a bridge in the garrison town of Bannu. He detonated his explosives when officers signaled him to stop, said Dar Ali, the Bannu district police chief. The army said two civilians and one policeman were killed. Police said four of their officers were wounded.#4: gunmen fired on officers guarding a bank in Pakistan's northwest Tuesday. The gunmen struck in Matta, a former militant stronghold in the scenic Swat Valley, where troops were deployed to repel the spread of Islamic militancy from the border region last year. Humayun Khan, a police official in Matta, said several gunmen approached a bank in the town on foot early Tuesday and shot to death two officers standing guard.

IRAQI CITIZENS FLEE BAGHDAD AS VIOLENCE ESCALATES

The capitol of Iraq, Baghdad, has come under heavy fire from US forces and return fire from militias and the the people caught in the middle are the residents of Baghdad who are fleeing the city in great numbers.

Iraqi civilians flee fighting in Baghdad militia stronghold

By SELCAN HACAOGLU, Associated Press Writer 35 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080506/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

BAGHDAD - A rocket slammed into Baghdad's city hall and another hit a downtown park Tuesday as more frightened civilians fled a Shiite militia stronghold where U.S.-led forces are locked in fierce street battles.
The American push in the Sadr City district — launched after an Iraqi government crackdown on armed Shiite groups began in late March — is trying to weaken the militia grip in a key corner of Baghdad and disrupt rocket and mortar strikes on the U.S.-protected Green Zone.

But fresh salvos of rockets from militants arced over the city, wounding at least 16 people and drawing U.S. retaliation that escalated civilian panic and flight to safer areas.

"WAR MADE EASY" PENTAGON PUNDITS ON CABLE NEWS HAWK THE WAR

VIDEO REVEALS HOW CNN WENT ABOUT USING MILITARY ANALYSTS COACHED BY THE PENTAGON, SEE VIDEO HERE: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050608B.shtml

By Norman Solomon t r u t h o u t Perspective Tuesday 06 May 2008

When The New York Times published its explosive "Pentagon Pundits" story on April 20, the result was a wave of criticism directed at the Defense Department for manipulating TV news coverage of the Iraq war. Critics also faulted the networks for failing to scrutinize the conflicts of interest of the "military analysts" who went on the air. Many of those retired military officers were being coached by the Pentagon to mislead the public, and many had personal financial stakes in corporations with major Pentagon contracts.

Routinely lost in the current uproar is the extent to which media managers have gone out of their way to suck up to the Pentagon. Top network executive Eason Jordan - who ran CNN's news operation during the invasion of Iraq - is a case in point. He repeatedly asked the Pentagon for approval of the "military analysts" who were under consideration for on-air roles.

The documentary film "War Made Easy," based on my book of the same name, shows the pervasive and long-running partnership between key news outlets and high-ranking warmakers in Washington. This video excerpt from the movie puts the "Pentagon Pundits" story in a broad and chilling context.

Years later, some news outlets like to critique the previous media spin for war. It's part of what amounts to a repetition compulsion disorder - which includes participating in the corrupted process and then critiquing it long after the damage has been done.

Unfortunately, when the next agenda-setting for war gets underway, as is now the case for Iran, the mainline news reporting slides into a very similar mode of parroting official sources. It's not hard to point the finger backwards and acknowledge misdeeds in the past. As Mark Twain said long ago: "It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times."


From the "War Made Easy" transcript:

SEAN PENN [narrator]: CNN's use of retired generals as supposedly independent experts reinforced a decidedly military mindset, even as serious questions remained about the wisdom and necessity of going to war.

NORMAN SOLOMON: Often journalists blame the government for the failure of the journalists themselves to do independent reporting. But nobody forced the major networks like CNN to do so much commentary from retired generals and admirals and all the rest of it. You had a top CNN official named Eason Jordan going on the air of his network and boasting that he had visited the Pentagon with a list of possible military commentators, and he asked officials at the Defense Department whether that was a good list of people to hire.

EASON JORDAN [speaking on CNN]: Oh, I think it's important to have experts explain the war and to describe the military hardware, describe the tactics, talk about the strategy behind the conflict. I went to the Pentagon myself several times before the war started and met with important people there and said, for instance, at CNN, here are the generals we're thinking of retaining to advise us on the air and off about the war, and we got a big thumbs up on all of them. That was important.

NORMAN SOLOMON: It wasn't even something to hide, ultimately. It was something to say to the American people on its own network, "See, we're team players. We may be the news media, but we're on the same side and the same page as the Pentagon." And that really runs directly counter to the idea of an independent press, and that suggests that we have some deep patterns of media avoidance when the US is involved in a war based on lies.

SHARP RISE IN SUICIDE ATTACKS BY WOMEN IN IRAQ LIKELY

US expert says Iraqi women use suicide attacks as protest against loss of their men, society, country.

By Karin Zeitvogel - WASHINGTON
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=25731

As many women carried out suicide attacks in Iraq so far this year as in the five previous years combined, and attacks by women are expected to spike again in the coming months, a US terrorism expert said Monday.

"Between January and April, there were 12 suicide attacks by women in Iraq. That marks an exponential increase," Farhana Ali, a US international policy analyst of Pakistani origin, said after a symposium on terrorism at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in Washington.

Twelve women carried out suicide attacks in Iraq in the first few months of this year compared with 11 between 2003 and 2007, according to Ali.

"So long as this conflict continues, you will see greater instability in Iraq and women will be greatly victimized -- you will see more women in Iraq choose suicide terrorism in the next few months," she predicted, adding that she had warned US officials and policy makers of the threat since 2005.

"It's only in the past two months that we have given serious attention to this issue. Why? Because female attackers in Iraq are hurting our efforts for peace and stability in that country," she said.

Ali, who worked as an adviser to the US government before joining the private sector as an international policy analyst, blamed the rise in female suicide bombers largely on the marginalization of Iraqi women since the US invasion in 2003.

"Iraqi women, slowly, over the course of the conflict have been marginalized," she said.
"They were at the forefront of their society. They were in the Iraqi cabinet, in government, in NGOs. We stripped them of those opportunities.

"Many have left but those who stayed behind are also victims of rape and torture and kidnapping. So they are being victimized twice," she said.

"Women use attacks as a protest. In Iraq, they are protesting at the loss of their men, the loss of their society and the loss of their country," said Ali.

In a presentation given to several hundred mental healthcare practitioners and a handful of reporters at the American Psychiatric Association meeting, which runs until Thursday, Ali warned that US soldiers face a cultural barrier in detecting women bombers.
"A marine officer coming back from Fallujah said to me: 'How are we supposed to detect these women if we are taught before we are deployed to not even look at them?'" she explained.
Some Iraqi women may have been coerced into carrying out suicide attacks, but the greater danger comes from those who choose to blow themselves up, said Ali.

"Iraq is a country of widows ... when women are vulnerable and have to protect themselves and play the role of the man and woman of the household, they are easily exploitable," she said.
"But we can't assume that all Iraqi women suicide attackers are exploited and recruited. We have to ask how many women are doing this because they want to -- that's the more serious question."

Ali suggested ways of dissuading Iraqi women from carrying out suicide attacks, including empowering more women and forging US-Iraqi alliances with them.

"If you want to gain entrance into female jihadi organisations, you need female case officers. You need female police officers. You need women in Iraqi law enforcement," she said.

"Most US commanders see Iraq as a very male society, and our military is creating alliances with tribes," said Ali, adding that she has warned since 2005 of the dangers posed by women suicide attackers.

"But women are half of any society, and so we have to nurture the women if we are to have a stable society," she added.

Some 19,000 psychiatrists and other health practitioners are expected to attend the American Psychiatric Association meeting, where the psychological traumas of war and school violence are high on the agenda of items to be discussed.

FRANK RICH OF THE NY TIMES SAYS AMERICANS ARE TURNED OFF TO THE WAR

New York Times columnist Frank Rich was a guest on one of the weekend cable news shows and the topic came up about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rich, who has long been against the war in Iraq, made a startling statement.

He said you can hear people all across the United States switching to another channel when one of the cable news stations bring up anything about the Iraq war.

Rich didn't mention it, but I have heard other op/ed writers and pundits say there is "Iraq Fatigue" with Americans.

After five plus years and 4,062 American deaths and another 30,000 severely wounded, the American public is just tired of hearing about the Iraq war.

I for one don't believe for a nanosecond Americans want a victory in Iraq. To begin with, what is a victory in Iraq going to look like? This is not like other wars where one side signs a surrender. Our troops are fighting various militias and they don't speak for each other. So one militia group might give up, but that would only leave scores of others to continue the fight.

The history of Iraq dates back 1,300 years and the only time in the 1 300 years there has not been tribal war going on was when Saddam Hussein was in power. For better or worse, Saddam Hussein held the country together.

Now we have 160,000 troops in Iraq, and many of them are on their third and fourth rotation to the war torn country.

Nothing is getting better and the "surge" has been a dismal failure because only one province, Anbar, has shown any stability and that had NOTHING to do with the US military, but instead the various tribal chiefs getting together and deciding to run Al Qaeda out of their province.

The Iraq Army is at best a ragtag unit made up of people who for the most part don't want to fight their "brothers" and so you see huge defections like the 1,000 who refused to fight recently in Basra.

The Iraqi government is at best a government in name only. They haven't accomplished a single thing since getting elected four years ago. Baghdad still suffers from lack of water and electricity and there are still hundreds if not thousands of Iraqi civilians trying to escape to Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The once proud Iraqi health care system is in shambles. Most of the best doctors have fled the country to save their families from the continuing violence.

The oil that was supposed to go to pay for the war has never materialized and the United States is paying $5.4 MILLION dollars every hour on the war effort.

Frank Rich may be right when he says the American public is turned off to the war, but I blame the media as much for that as I do anything else. The mainstream media gave up reporting on the Iraq war and the Afghanistan war a year of more ago.

Only when something really big happens like the recent shelling of the Green Zone does the media ever mention the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan anymore.

They used to call the Korean War "the forgotten war," but IMO the new "forgotten war" is the Iraq war and its sister the Afghanistan war.

The only people who can't forget there is a war going on are our brave young men and women who every single day go out on patrols still facing IEDs, RPG attacks and an Iraq civilian population that doesn't want the United States in their country anymore.

We started this blog six months ago in hopes of bringing to readers the events from Iraq and Afghanistan the media deems are no longer newsworthy.

We have heard from many veterans and families of veterans and that is what keeps us going.

We hope to be able to continue bringing our readers the very latest events from Iraq and Afghanistan. That is the very least we can do for all those brave young Americans stuck in this quagmire and for the most part forgotten except for their families here in the United States.

Editorial comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE, http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ and a former Cpl. (E-4) in the United States Army Combat Engineers and a Korean War veteran.

NEWSVINE: DIARIES SHOW SADDAM FEARED GETTING AIDS IN PRISON

CAIRO — Saddam Hussein feared catching AIDS or other diseases during his U.S.-supervised captivity, a leading Arab newspaper said Monday in publishing excerpts of his prison writings.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/05/05/1470441-diaries-show-saddam-feared-getting-aids-in-prison

The London-based Al-Hayat said the comments came in portions of Saddam's prison diaries that it obtained from U.S. authorities. The U.S. military confirmed some of the late Iraqi leader's writings had been released.

When Saddam found out his U.S. military guards were also using his laundry line to dry clothes, he wrote that he demanded they stop, according to the excerpts.

"I explained to them that they are young and they could have young people's diseases," Saddam wrote. "My main concern was to not catch a venereal disease, an HIV disease, in this place." He said some soldiers ignored his request.

A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Matthew Morgan, declined to describe the writings as a formal diary, but said the former Iraqi president produced thousands of pages of writing while in custody.

CITIZENS FOR LEGIT GOV REPORTS: IRAQ OCCUPATION COSTS US WHOPPING $5.54 MILLION AN HOUR

President George W. Bush last week asked Congress to approve $ 70 billion in funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the U.S. fiscal year 2009, which begins on October 1, 2008.

By Kaleem Omar
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=167952

The Iraq war has already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $ 500 billion dollars, and there is still no end in sight to the U.S.’s utterly illegal occupation of Iraq.

According to congressional analysts, the eventual total cost of the Iraq war and the occupation could be as high as $ 1.5 trillion – that’s $ 1,500 billion.

Click on link above for full report or from Citizens for a Legitimate Government at http://www.legitgov.org/

NEW VIDEO: US FORCES BRING DEATH TO IRAQI SADR CITY CIVILIANS

Baghdad's Sadr City death toll mounts

10 people killed on Sunday; over 925 killed since al-Maliki's offensives began in March

Monday May 5th, 2008

SEE THE REAL NEWS VIDEO HERE: http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1443&thisview=item

In continuing violence in Baghdad's Sadr City, 10 people, including two children were killed on Sunday. Over the past 5 weeks, the US military and Iraqi forces have been cracking down on the Mahdi army militia in this densely populated neighborhood. Since the offensive's inception, over 925 have been killed, and 2,600 have been wounded.

Transcript:VOICEOVER: Ten people, including two children, were killed in Baghdad's Sadr City on Sunday as the US military and Iraqi forces continue cracking down on the Mahdi Army militia.

Since Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki's offensives against the militia began five weeks ago, over 925 people have been killed and 2,600 wounded. The Mahdi Army is led by popular Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who last year declared a ceasefire that is largely credited with reducing sectarian violence in Iraq.

REUTERS REPORTS: IRAN SAYS TALKS WITH US MEANINGLESS: IRAN SAYS US MASSACRED HUNDREDS OF IRAQIS

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Monday dismissed any prospect of new talks with the United States on Iraq, accusing U.S.-led forces on Monday of a "massacre" of the Iraqi people.

Iran says new talks with U.S. on Iraq meaninglessMon May 5, 2008 11:26am EDT

By Hossein Jaseb

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0528762620080505

The two foes last year held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze of almost three decades, but Iraqi officials have expressed frustration that a fourth round has failed to get off the ground.

Iraq says it does not want its soil to become a battleground for a proxy war between the United States and Iran, which are also at loggerheads over Iran's disputed nuclear program.

"Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by the occupying forces," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference.

"Concerning this situation, talks with America will have no results and will be meaningless."
Hosseini did not elaborate, but U.S. forces have been fighting daily battles with militiamen loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad for several weeks.

BREAKING WAR NEWS AND US CASUALTY REPORTS FOR MONDAY

War News for Monday, May 05, 2008

Casualty Reports:

Cpl. Steven Kiernan, 20, lost his left foot and right leg below the knee after he was injured by an explosive device while on ground patrol in Fallujah at 11 a.m., according to his family. He also suffered shrapnel wounds.He was transported to Baghdad for medical treatment. He was critically injured in Iraq on Sunday (5-4-08)

Baghdad:#1: Iraqi health officials on Monday said 41 people, including women and children, have been wounded since Sunday in the militia stronghold of Sadr City, mostly in clashes.

#2: The military confirmed Monday that two Iraqi civilians were wounded in a Hellfire missile attack late Sunday in Baghdad's southwestern Aamel neighborhood and were evacuated to a military hospital.

#3: Clashes erupted before noon Monday in the militia stronghold of Shula and heavy gunfire could be heard. Apache attack helicopters circled the center of Shula and U.S. armored vehicles blocked entrances into the neighborhood, an Associated Press photographer witnessed.

#4: Earlier Monday, U.S. soldiers called for air support after coming under fire from a rocket propelled grenade and small arms in Kazimiyah district. More than one hour later, one militant was killed with 40 mm cannon rounds from an AC-130 gunship, the military said.

#5: In other violence on Monday, an Abrams tank fired a 120 mm round from its cannon, killing two militants who attacked a U.S. patrol with a roadside bomb between the militia strongholds of New Baghdad and Sadr City, the military said.At around 1:00 am on Monday, two more militiamen were killed after a roadside bomb struck a US military vehicle in the district, Stover said.

#6: The U.S. military killed six other militants in separate clashes on Sunday. In Aamel, an attack aircraft fired three Hellfire missiles at Shiite extremists who opened fire from a building, killing three of them, the military said Monday.Five people were killed including three members of one family (parents and their child) and eight others were wounded when the American forces bombed Amil neighborhood in west Baghdad. The US military said in an e-mailed statement that the American soldiers responded to an attack from one of the buildings, killing three insurgents.

#7: A roadside bomb wounded two soldiers on patrol on the northwestern outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

#8: A roadside bomb wounded three people, including two children, in eastern Baghdad's Zayouna district on Sunday, police said.

#9: A mortar bomb wounded five people on Sunday in Ghadir district in eastern Baghdad, police said.

#10: The Iraqi army killed six militants and detained 149 others in separate incidents across the country over the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

#11: Two policemen were wounded when gunmen opened fire targeting a police patrol in Bab al Sheikh neighborhood in downtown Baghdad on Sunday evening.

Diyala Prv:#1: Three soldiers were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast that targeted their vehicle near the village of Qurrat Tabbah, northeast of Baaquba an Iraqi army source said. “An IED went off on Monday near a patrol of the Iraqi army’s 32nd Brigade on the main road between the villages of Qurrat Tabbah and Lahib, injuring three personnel,” Maj. Kamran Ali told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.Seven Iraqi soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb that targeted their patrol in Qara Tabba area around 12:00 p.m.

#2: An IED blast had ripped through an area near Qurrat Tabbah earlier on Monday, wounding two civilians.

#3: Gunmen kidnapped three truck drivers while they were coming from Khanaqin town towards Qara Tabba area, 93 miles northeast of Baquba city on Monday morning.Balad Ruz:#1: Three policemen were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion that targeted their patrol in Baladroz town 28 miles east of Baquba around 11:15 a.m.

Basra:#1: Militants fired two rockets at a water treatment plant in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, but failed to cause any damage, the British military in Basra said.Shatt al-Arab waterway :

#1: The Iranian Coast Guard shot dead two Iraqi fishermen and wounded another on Sunday in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq, police in the port city of Basra said. It was not clear why they had opened fire, but in previous incidents, the Coast Guard shot at fishermen who entered Iranian territorial waters, the police said.

Kirkuk:#1: A roadside bomb blast killed one policeman and wounded five others when it hit their patrol in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.One policeman was killed and seven others wounded on Monday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their patrol in central Kirkuk, police said. A police patrol was the target of an IED attack near the al-Matar street, central Kirkuk, as one policeman was killed and seven others injured,” a security source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Mosul:#1: Meanwhile, the same source said, an IED went off near a military patrol in the western Mosul area of Badosh, causing severe damage to a patrol vehicle but left no casualties.

#2: Gunmen stormed an apartment and shot dead three women and wounded two others in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan:#1: A contracted helicopter made an emergency landing in Konar province after coming under fire from insurgents. The helicopter made a landing at an ISAF base, in central Konar, after taking machine-gun fire from an unknown number of insurgents. The aircrew inspected the aircraft and found one bullet hole that did minor damage to the helicopter. No one aboard the contracted helicopter was injured and repairs are underway to get the helicopter operational.

#2: Four children and three policemen were killed in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday by two accidental munitions blasts, the Interior Ministry said. One of the blasts happened as children knocked the munition against a rock in a residential area that was the scene of bitter fighting between rival Afghan factions in the 1990s, it said. The other blast was caused after a rocket fell from the hands of a policeman in the main anti-drugs force base in Kabul, the ministry said in statement.A policeman dropped a rocket-propelled grenade that exploded as his unit set off from Kabul on Monday on an opium poppy eradication mission north of the city, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary. One policeman was killed and at least eight were wounded, said Dr. Ahmad Zia Aftali, chief of the hospital where the injured were taken for treatment. However, Khodadad, a policeman who goes by one name and witnessed the blast, said more than 15 were hurt.

Also Monday, three children died and two others were wounded when an old artillery shell they were playing with exploded, Bashary said. Another police official, Sayed Ekramudin, said two civilians were killed and 13 others wounded in an explosion Sunday at a refuse dump in the city's northern outskirts. Ekramudin said a truck had hit a buried explosive.

CARTOON: THE WRIGHT DISTRACTION AT THE WRONG TIME. WILL SOMEBODY TELL THE MEDIA WE ARE AT WAR

Would somebody let the mainstream media in the United States know we are still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tune into FOX NEWS, MSNBC and CNN and all you get is non-stop coverage of the Obama/Hillary races for POTUS.

In fact, for months the media in the United States has given the cold shoulder to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would take a monumental event for the three cable news outlets to break their non-stop reporting on politics to cover anything that is happening in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

We still have 160,000 troops deployed to Iraq and 30,000 deployed to Afghanistan, but you would never know it by watching FOX NEWS, MSNBC or CNN. They don't care.

Apparently all the moguls at the cable news stations feel wearing an American flag lapel pin is all they have to do to show their support for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Instead, the media, especially FOX NEWS, have gone totally off the rails rehashing the Rev. Jeremiah Wriight comments and how it will impact on the Barak Obama campaign.

This Mike Luckovich cartoon sums up EXACTLY how the media is looking at events that really are important to the American public:

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20080505_the_wright_distraction_at_the_wrong_time/

US MILITARY KILLS 6 SADR CITY CIVILIANS INCLUDING WOMEN AND CHILDREN

The slaughter of Iraqi women and children by the US military continued on Monday as six Sadr City civilians were killed by US troops. Included in the deaths were women and children.

US kills 6 Sadr City residents Mon, 05 May 2008 12:33:12

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=54384&sectionid=351020201

US military operations have left at least 6 Iraqi civilians dead and 40 wounded including women and children in Baghdad's Sadr City. Iraqi security and medical officials confirmed the civilians were killed and injured during 12 hours of intense US operations overnight that ended at 8 a.m.

(5:00 GMT) on Monday. The US military was not immediately available for comment. Since March 25, Sadr City has been a target of US military attacks and the populated slum area has frequently been pounded by US aircraft or artillery, leading to heavy loss of civilian life.

IRAQ OFFICIAL SAYS NO CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE IRAN IS SUPPLYING MILITIAS WITH ARMS

There seems to be a difference of opinion between the Bush administration and Iraqi officials when it comes to whether Iran is supplying militias inside of Iraq with arms.

The Bush administration, who want desperately some reason to launch an attack on Iran, have been saying for weeks that Iran is supplying militias in Iraq with weapons.

Iraqi officials say there is no proof it is true.

Iraqi official says Iran arms evidence not conclusive
Iraqi official says no conclusive evidence on some Iran arms to militias

SAMEER N. YACOUBAP News
May 04, 2008 13:10 EST

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=154536

A top Iraqi official said Sunday there was no conclusive evidence that Shiite extremists have been directly supplied with some Iranian arms as alleged by the United States.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq does not want trouble with any country, "especially Iran."

Al-Dabbagh was commenting on talks this week in Tehran between an Iraqi delegation and Iranian authorities aimed at halting suspected Iranian aid to some Shiite militias.

Asked about reports that some rockets made in 2007 or 2008 and seized in raids against militias were directly supplied by Iran, al-Dabbagh replied: "There is no conclusive evidence."

The U.S. accuses Iran of financing and training Shiite militants in Iraq and of funneling lethal weapons into the country. Iranian officials have denied the allegations.

IT WASN'T LIKE THIS WHEN SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS IN CHARGE OF IRAQ

The rot gnawing away at Baghdad's innards

Before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Al-Batawin's main thoroughfare Al-Sadun Street bustled with restaurants, hotels, upmarket stores and -- most famously -- medical centres.

Today just a scattering of businesses still bother to open their doors, residential blocks stand empty, and those buildings that are occupied have few tenants willing to risk living above the first floor.

by Bryan Pearson Sun May 4, 7:11 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080504/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestbaghdadbuildings

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Its traditional wooden-balconied Shanasheel houses in ruins, other buildings crumbling and muddied streets reeking of rubbish, Al-Batawin neighbourhood in the centre of Baghdad is an abject picture of just how far the rot has set in to the once-proud Iraqi capital.

Electricity is supplied only sporadically and water in a trickle, and there are no other services to speak of, so it makes no sense to live too far from the ground in what is now a rapidly eroding urban wasteland.

Most Iraqis know Al-Sadun Street for its medical centres and pharmacies. Many travelled from afar and waited in long queues to see a doctor. And after the consultation there were some 200 pharmacies within a few blocks ready to fill the prescriptions.

Not any more. The 2003 invasion and the sectarian violence it subsequently spawned changed all that. Today most of the doctors have left and just 20 pharmacies remain.

"Before 2003 you could hardly move here, there were so many people coming to see the doctors," said 65-year-old Hussein Abdel Hussein, a wizened bony man with bulging eyes and calloused hands who is caretaker in Al-Janabi Building, once the most famous medical centre but now the most derelict.

"Patients came from all over Iraq. There were so many people we often had to warn people to look after their property because there were thieves about," said Hussein, his voice heavy with nostalgia and too many cigarettes.

Today the thieves no longer bother, and Hussein saves his wheezing breath.

"There are now only seven doctors left and each of them sees only two or three patients a day," said the caretaker who lives in the building with his son -- Al-Janabi's only full-time tenants.

Doctors these days open their doors for only a few hours in the afternoon. With no electricity and few patients, there is little point in hanging about after dark.

Click on link to read full story.

THIS IS TOO MUCH: FAT-CAT DEVELOPERS FROM THE US WANT TO TURN GREEN ZONE INTO LUXURY CONDOS AND SHOPPING MALL

Who says you can't make money off of the war? Look at Bush and Cheney's friends at Haliburton and KBR. They are getting so rich over the war it is unbelievable.

But now there are a group of fat-cat Republican developers from the United States who want to buy land inside the Green Zone in Baghdad and turn it into luxury condos and a state-of-the art shopping mall with more and more fat cat Republican firms leasing property inside the Green Zone.

The whole idea that Republican fat cats are going to make a financial KILLING on land inside the Green Zone while American troops are getting KILLED outside of the Green Zone is enough to turn a person's stomach.

But it is about to happen and there is nothing anyone in the United States can do about it.

Editorial comment by BILL CORCORAN, editor of CORKSPHERE

US-backed plan sees shiny future for embattled Green Zone

By BRADLEY BROOKS and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers 43 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_growing_the_green_zone

BAGHDAD - Forget the rocket attacks, concrete blast walls and lack of a sewer system. Now try to imagine luxury hotels, a shopping center and even condos in the heart of Baghdad.

That's all part of a five-year development "dream list" — or what some dub an improbable fantasy — to transform the U.S.-protected Green Zone from a walled fortress into a centerpiece for Baghdad's future.

But the $5 billion plan has the backing of the Pentagon and apparently the interest of some deep pockets in the world of international hotels and development, the lead military liaison for the project told The Associated Press.

For Washington, the driving motivation is to create a "zone of influence" around the new $700 million U.S. Embassy to serve as a kind of high-end buffer for the compound, whose total price tag will reach about $1 billion after all the workers and offices are relocated over the next year.

"When you have $1 billion hanging out there and 1,000 employees lying around, you kind of want to know who your neighbors are. You want to influence what happens in your neighborhood over time," said Navy Capt. Thomas Karnowski, who led the team that created the development plan.

Karnowski said a deal already has been completed for Marriott International Inc. to build a hotel in the Green Zone. He also said a possible $1 billion investment could come from MBI International, a conglomerate that focuses on hotels and resorts and is led by Saudi Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber.

Elizabeth Caminiti, a Marriott spokeswoman, declined to comment. Phone calls and e-mails sent to London-based MBI were not returned.

For the moment, however, it's mortars and rockets — not investment money — pouring into the Green Zone, which includes the U.S. and British embassies, key Iraqi government offices and other international compounds. Militants have escalated their shelling of the enclave since Iraqi forces began a crackdown on Shiite militias in late March.

But developers are clearly looking many years ahead and gambling that Baghdad could one day join the list of former war zones such as Sarajevo and Beirut that have rebounded and earned big paydays for early investors.

Even now — with violence in Baghdad again creeping up — the faint hints of the development plan have driven up the Green Zone's already sky-high real estate prices.

Land that a few years ago was going for $60 a square meter on 50-year leases in the zone is now going for up to $1,000 a square meter, American officials say.

Click on http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_growing_the_green_zone to read full story

CORRUPTION EATS INTO FOOD RATIONS FOR IRAQIS WHO ARE STARVING

IRAQ: Corruption Eats Into Food Rations

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail*

FALLUJAH, May 2 (IPS) -
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42216

Amidst unemployment and impoverishment, Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration – much of it already eaten away by official corruption.

Iraqis survived the sanctions after the first Gulf War (1990) with the support of rations through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The aid was set up in 1995 as part of the UN's Oil-for-Food programme.

The sanctions were devastating nevertheless. Former UN programme head Hans von Sponeck said in 2001 that the sanctions amounted to "a tightening of the rope around the neck of the average Iraqi citizen." Von Sponeck said the sanctions were causing the death of 150 Iraqi children a day.

Denis Halliday, former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq who quit his post in protest against the sanctions, told IPS they had proved "genocidal" for Iraqis.

During more than five years of U.S.-occupation, the situation has become even worse. The rationing system has been crumbling under poor management and corruption. From the beginning of this year, the rations delivered were reduced from 10 items to five. "We used the PDS as counter-propaganda against Saddam Hussein's regime before the U.S. occupation of Iraq began in 2003," Fadhil Jawad of the Dawa Party led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told IPS in Baghdad. "But then we found it necessary to maintain basic support for Iraqi people under occupation. We blamed Saddam for feeding Iraqis like animals with simple rations of food -- that we fail to provide now."

Click on link above to read full story.

8 US FATALITIES IN FIRST TWO DAYS OF MAY IN IRAQ: NAMES AND HOMETOWNS OF SOME

We have the latest list of US fatalities in Iraq. The names and hometowns of some of the GIs who have died can be read in more depth by clicking on the "blue" in their names.


Date
Total
Name
Place of Death - Province
Cause of Death

02-May-2008
3
US: 1 UK: 0 Other: 2



GE
Lieutenant Giorgi Margiev
Diyala Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

GE
Corporal Zura Gvenetadze
Diyala Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Baghdad (eastern part)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
01-May-2008
5
US: 5 UK: 0 Other: 0



US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

US
NAME NOT RELEASED YET
Al Anbar Province
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

US
Specialist Jeffrey F. Nichols
Baghdad (central)
Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (VBIED)
Total
8
US: 6 UK: 0 Other: 2

ABC NEWS REPORTS ON IRAQI FAMILY WHO LOST 2-YEAR OLD SON DURING US ATTACK

Iraq Boy's Family Describes Fatal Blast
Parents Tell ABC News About the US Bombing that Killed Their 2-Year-Old Boy
By MARCUS BARAM
May 2, 2008—

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4775808&page=1

Just like any other day, the Hussein family was getting ready for lunch at their home in Baghdad, Iraq, when the house suddenly shook and the brick walls came down around them.

That was the dramatic account told to ABC News by the parents of 2-year-old Ali Hussein, the Iraqi boy killed during a fierce battle in Sadr City Tuesday.

Dramatic photographs of Hussein's dust-covered body being pulled out of the rubble of his home appeared on front pages and TV news reports around the world.

When a U.S. patrol in the Shiite militia stronghold was fired on by a dozen fighters, American forces fired 200-pound guided rockets that devastated at least three buildings in the district.
The U.S. military said 28 militiamen were killed. Local hospital officials said dozens of civilians were killed or wounded.

Hussein's mother recounted being buried in rubble and crawling around the home, looking for her children.

"I was crying, 'My children, my children.' I saw the house destroyed. I did not know if they are alive or not."
When Hussein's father could not locate Ali, he said he began frantically digging.

"Everyone felt desperate and the police have left the scene, but I kept on digging. I told them I will not leave my son. I will take him out. I felt fainted after two hours of digging."
The fire brigade arrived to help him find Ali and remove him from the house, according to Hussein's father.

"They gave him to me, run to the ambulance, I hold his hand in the ambulance and it was cold. They made the first aid thing to the kid, open his eye, the rescuer looked at me, I told him you're a believer, and accepts the results."

Hussein's father recalled how over the last month and a half the boy used to come to the main door of the house, wanting to go out and play.
"Ali was pushing against my legs and tell me, 'Baba, Baba.' He wanted to go out, and I did not let him out due to the military actions ongoing."

"Ali was 2 years old, still future was in front of him. Ali, if he has an opinion, he would have said, 'I do not want to interfere in the struggle.,"

Click on this link http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4775808&page=1 to read the rest of this tragic story.

YAHOO IS REPORTING IRAQ SAYS NO HARD EVIDENCE IRAN IS SUPPORTING ATTACKS IN IRAQ

The Iraqi government has come to the defense of their neighbor, Iran, and claims there is no hard evidence Iran is supporting militias in Iraq with weapons.

Iraq says no evidence of Iran support for militia

2 hours, 46 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080504/wl_mideast_afp/iraniraqpoliticsunrest

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq said on Sunday it has no evidence that Iran was supplying militias engaged in fierce street fighting with security forces in Baghdad.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said there was no "hard evidence" of involvement by the neighbouring Shiite government of Iran in backing Shiite militiamen in the embattled country.

Asked about US reports that weapons captured from Shiite fighters bore 2008 markings suggesting Iranian involvement, Dabbagh said: "We don't have that kind of evidence... If there is hard evidence we will defend the country."

Tehran strongly opposes the US military presence in Iraq, while Washington has repeatedly accused Iranian groups of arming and training Shiite militia groups in its neighbour.

MARINE CORPS TIMES REPORT FOUR MARINES KILLED IN ANBAR PROVINCE, THE PROVINCE WHICH "THE SURGE" HAD SECURED

Roadside bomb kills 4 Marines in Anbar
Attack is deadliest in province in months
By Bradley Brooks - The Associated PressPosted : Sunday May 4, 2008 9:23:35 EDT

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_anbar_marines_050408/

BAGHDAD — The military said Sunday a roadside bomb killed four Marines in western Anbar province, the deadliest attack in that area in months.

The Marines were killed on Friday, but no other details of the incident were released.
Anbar was once a stronghold for insurgents battling against U.S. forces.

But in the past year the vast desert province has largely been calmed with the rise of the Awakening Council movement — Sunni fighters who now turn their guns on al-Qaida instead of U.S. forces.

In Baghdad on Sunday, a bomb hit a motorcade carrying Iraq’s first lady in the Karrada district, injuring four of her body guards but leaving her unharmed, said the office of Iraq’s president.
Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed, wife of President Jalal Talabani, was headed to the city’s central National Theater to attend a cultural festival when the attack occurred just before noon, said the presidential office. It was unclear if she was the target of the bombing.

Friday’s attack in Anbar was the most lethal in the province since Sept. 6, when four Marines were killed in combat. The military did not release details of those deaths either.

On April 22, two Marines were killed in Anbar when a bomb-rigged truck explod
ed at a checkpoint in the city of Ramadi.

Fierce fighting in the city of Fallujah in April and November 2004 made the province the symbol of the Sunni resistance to the U.S. presence in Iraq, but since the rise of the Awakening movement in 2007 commanders say it has been largely quiet.

Despite the attack in Anbar, military spokesman Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll told reporters on Saturday that attacks carried out by al-Qaida declined last month after increasing earlier this year.

He said there was “no place for al-Qaida” to hide in Iraq and U.S. troops were continuing to hunt them down in Diyala province and the city of Mosul, where many are believed to have fled north from Baghdad.

Meanwhile, Iraqi health officials said at least 10 people — including two children — were killed in the past 24 hours in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people and a stronghold for the Shiite Mahdi Army militia.

Officials at two hospitals in Sadr City spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling militia members there for weeks as part of an Iraqi government crackdown on the fighters.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, speaking at the same news conference as Driscoll, said the battles against the militia fighters in Sadr City would continue.

“It is the full responsibility of the Iraqi government to implement the rule of law,” al-Dabbagh said.

On Saturday, the U.S. military fired guided missiles into the heart of Sadr City, leveling a building 50 yards away from a hospital and wounding nearly two dozen people.

AP Television News footage showed several ambulances destroyed and burning, with thick black smoke rising from them as firefighters worked to put out the flames.

The strike, made from a ground launcher, took out a militant “command-control center,” the U.S. military said. Iraqi officials said at least 23 people were wounded, though none of them were patients in the hospital.

The clashes with Mahdi Army have caused deep rifts among Iraq’s Shiite majority and have pulled U.S. troops into difficult urban combat.

Militia members have been blamed for firing hundreds of rockets or mortars from Sadr City into the Green Zone, the U.S.-protected area housing the American embassy and much of the Iraqi government. In the past month, more than a dozen people — including two American civilians and soldiers — have been killed inside the zone during the attacks.

LATEST US DEATHS IN IRAQ: NAMES AND HOMETOWNS

Latest Coalition Fatalities (click on "BLUE" for more details)

05/04/08 MNF: Marines attacked by IED
Four Multi-National Force - West Marines were killed in action May 2 when their vehicle was attacked by an enemy force with an improvised explosive device in al Anbar Province.

05/03/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. 1st Class Lawrence D. Ezell, 30, of Portland, Texas, died April 30 in Baghdad of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit during combat operations. He was assigned to the 71st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group...

05/03/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty (from July 7, 2007)
Sgt. Jerry L. DeLoach, 45, of Jackson, Ga., died July 7, 2007, at Fort Knox, Ky. He had been medically evacuated from theater, and died of a non-combat related injury. He was assigned to the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Knox.

05/03/08 DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Staff Sgt. Chad A. Caldwell, 24, of Spokane, Wash., died April 30 in Mosul, Iraq, of injuries suffered while conducting dismounted combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.

05/03/08 GeogiaMod: Two Georgian Military Servicemen Died in Iraq
Two Georgian soldiers who were supporting peacekeeping operations in Iraq died. Lieutenant Giorgi Margiev and Corporal Zurab Gvenetadze were assigned to the 13 Battalion of 1st Infantry Brigade. Junior Sergeant Tengiz Mirtskulava...was wounded.

05/02/08 MNF: MND-B soldier attacked by IED
A Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier was killed from wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device struck the soldier's vehicle during a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad at

TIMES ONLINE: US DRAWING UP PLANS FOR STRIKE ON IRAN

From The Sunday Times
May 4, 2008
United States is drawing up plans to strike on Iranian insurgency camp
Michael Smith

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3868063.ece

Read Mick Smith's defence blog at www.timesonline.co.uk/micksmith

The US military is drawing up plans for a “surgical strike” against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the Guards’ special-operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shi’ite militias and smuggling weapons into the country.

Despite a belligerent stance by Vice-President Dick Cheney, the administration has put plans for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities on the back burner since Robert Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld as defence secretary in 2006, the sources said.

However, US commanders are increasingly concerned by Iranian interference in Iraq and are determined that recent successes by joint Iraqi and US forces in the southern port city of Basra should not be reversed by the Quds Force.

“If the situation in Basra goes back to what it was like before, America is likely to blame Iran and carry out a surgical strike on a militant training camp across the border in Khuzestan,” said one source, referring to a frontier province.

BREAKING NEWS: FOUR US MARINES KILLED IN IRAQ

Sat May 3, 6:53 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080503/ts_nm/iraq_marines_dc

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four U.S. Marines were killed by a roadside bomb in the western Iraqi province of Anbar on Friday, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

IRAQ ARMY: NOWHERE NEAR READY

Baghdad -- Reports of the Iraqi Army's performance in the last month have ranged from proud to disastrous.

By Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science MonitorPosted on May 3, 2008, Printed on May 3, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/84319/

But with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pursuing a fight with militias that has him squared off against the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr -- and with the drawdown of U.S. troops continuing to pre-surge numbers this summer -- Iraq's security forces may be facing their biggest test yet.

The Americans, who will fall back from more than 160,000 troops to about 140,000 by August, are asking the Iraqis to do more: lead more of the fighting, man more of the checkpoints, carry out more of the security missions on their own.

The question is, are they up to it? The answer will play a crucial role in the assessment the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, will make at the end of summer to decide if the drawdown of troops should continue. More long term, it will help determine how fast the U.S. can safely withdraw most combat troops from the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice seems to have no doubts about the answer. While in Baghdad recently to show support for Mr. Maliki's willingness to take on the militias she said that Iraqis "are, quite rightly, proud of their security forces and the way they've performed."

British officers are less optimistic

That contrasted with an assessment by British officers of the initial offensive against Mahdi militiamen in the southern city of Basra at the end of March. Their take: The Iraqi Army's performance was an "unmitigated disaster at every level." Earlier this month The Daily Telegraph quoted senior British commanders leveling those charges, and adding that the poor Iraqi performance would delay Britain's planned pullout from the southern region for "many months."

U.S. commanders involved in the fighting in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City this month have no such dire descriptions of the Iraqi units they oversee. But they do point to shortcomings the recent fighting revealed.

Among the weaknesses: a shortage of mid-level officers ready to lead troops, problems with the Iraqis properly supplying their own troops, and a lack of training and experience that shows up in soldiers shooting indiscriminately and in wild volleys when under attack.

"There have been some instances when they haven't performed as well as we'd want them to," says Col. Allen Batschelet, chief of staff for the Baghdad Multi-National Division. "We're definitely seeing some willing soldiers, [but] the mid level [of leading officers] has yet to be developed."

Click on link above to read full story.

NEW LIST OF IRAQ CASUALTIES AND VIOLENCE ACROSS IRAQ ON SATURDAY

War News for Saturday, May 03, 2008

CASUALTY REPORT: (Click on BLUE for additional details)

U.S. Army Sgt. Matt Lammers, 26, served two tours in Iraq as an infantryman, one in 2004 and one in 2007. He was injured both times, but on his second tour he lost his left arm and both legs from an explosive.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Friday, May 2nd.. No other details were released.

The Georgian MoD is reporting the deaths of two Georgian servicemen in a roadside bombing in Diyala Province on Saturday, May 3rd. One additional soldier and an interpreter were wounded in the attack.

The BBC is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in a mine explosion in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The other soldiers were wounded in the incident. No other details were released and we assume the death occurred on Friday, May 2nd. Here's the British MoD statement and here's NATO's statement.

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by CENTCOM. Staff Sgt. Chad A. Caldwell died during combat operations in Mosul, Ninawa Province on Wednesday, April 30th. No other details were released.

The DoD is reporting the death of Sgt. Jerry L. DeLoach who died of a non-combat related injury after being evacuated from Iraq to Fort Knox, Kentucky on July 7, 2007. No other details were released.

Reported Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: U.S. soldiers killed 14 suspected Shiite militants in Baghdad, the military said Saturday, as clashes continued in the embattled Sadr City slum and surrounding militia strongholds. A U.S. helicopter allegedly fired a missile Saturday at an apparent target about 50 yards away from Sadr City's general hospital, wounding about 28 people and damaging at least seven ambulances, hospital officials said. The U.S. military did not have immediate comment on the alleged strike, but said in a statement that American forces "only engage hostile threats and take every precaution to protect innocent civilians."A US air strike damaged a hospital in the Iraqi capital's violent Shiite stronghold of Sadr City on Saturday, injuring 20 people, as American forces claimed to have killed 14 militiamen. The US military said it carried out the strike in Sadr City, a bastion of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, where US troops in separate confrontations killed at least 14 militiamen since Friday. "I can confirm that we conducted a strike in Sadr City this morning," a US military spokesman told AFP. "The targets were known criminal elements. Battle damage assessment is currently ongoing." However, witnesses and an AFP reporter at the scene said the main Al-Sadr hospital had been badly damaged and a fleet of ambulances were destroyed.On Friday, an M1A1 Abrams tanks engaged "criminals" with one round from its main gun after Iraqi army soldiers reported being attacked by small arms fire from a house, the military said."Three criminals were killed in the engagements," the military said.Later Friday, a US warplane also dropped a bomb and killed two others.Nine other militants were killed in other exchanges, some of them early on Saturday.

#2: U.S. soldiers killed four militants early Saturday elsewhere in Baghdad, the military said.

#3: The American military also announced Saturday that a U.S. soldier died of wounds sustained in a roadside bomb that struck the soldier's vehicle during a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad on Friday. The announcement comes a day after the military said another roadside bomb attack in eastern Baghdad killed a U.S. soldier.

#4: Meanwhile, two civilians were killed and seven others wounded in Baghdad's central Salihiyah district Friday evening after a mortar round apparently fired by Shiite extremists toward the U.S.-protected Green Zone fell short.

#5: Gunmen shot and wounded three members of an Iraqi television crew in eastern Baghdad, an Iraqi media watchdog said. "A group of armed men carrying pistols and automatic guns targeted our colleagues and fired at them," the Iraqi Journalists Observatory said in a statement. Cameraman Hameed Hasim was hit in the stomach and mouth and underwent an emergency operation at Baghdad's Al-Kindi hospital, a medic at the hospital said. Reporter Hassan al-Rikabi and driver Azim Habeeb were also wounded in Monday's attack in Baghdad's Al-Rubaie street. The crew work for Beladi TV, which is owned by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa Party.

#6: A roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded eight other people, including six traffic policemen, when it exploded near a traffic patrol in Jamiaa district, western Baghdad, police said.

#7: Meanwhile, two civilians were killed and seven others wounded in Baghdad's central Salihiyah district Friday evening after a mortar round apparently fired by Shiite extremists toward the U.S.-protected Green Zone fell short.

ELSEWHERE ACROSS IRAQ THE FOLLOWING ACTS OF VIOLENCE TOO PLACE:

Diyala Prv:#1: Two Georgian servicemen were killed and one was injured in Iraq on May 2, the Georgian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday. Lieutenant Giorgi Margiev and Corporal Zura Gvenetadze died after their Hummer was hit by an improvised explosive device in the province of Diyala while being on patrol mission, Giga Tatishvili, deputy chief of staff said on May 3. He said that Sergeant Tengiz Mirtskhulava and a local interpreter were wounded with no life-threatening injuries.Khanaqin:#1: An official of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP)'s local committee was assassinated by a group of gunmen in al-Saadiya area, south of the district of Khanaqin, 155 km northeast of Baaquba, on Saturday, a committee member said. "An armed group assassinated Abdul-Kareem Mahmoud, the ICP official, in his orchard in Saadiya, (35 km) south of Khanaqin. The incident is being investigated," Hawri Repwar told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.#2: Also in Khanaqin, a six-year-old child was killed when an improvised explosive device went off near a house in al-Shurta neighborhood, Maj. Ahmed Haqqi, the official in charge of the Khanaqin's investigations office, said.Shirqat:#1: A mortar killed one child and wounded two other children in Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Tikrit:#1: A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding four others on the outskirts of Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police and army sources said.Kirkuk:#1: A roadside bomb wounded three policemen when it struck their patrol in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Mosul:#1: Three policemen were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their patrol in eastern Mosul on Saturday, police said."The IED targeted a patrol of the Ninewa Emergency Contingent in al-Zuhur neighborhood, eastern Mosul, wounding three policemen," a security source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.Tal Afar:#1: Two civilians were wounded when two rockets landed into an outdoor souk (market) in central Talafar district, 60 km west of Mosul, a local police official said on Saturday. "The two rockets, which fell in al-Ulwa souk, al-Whida neighborhood, injured two civilians and caused damage to a number of stores in the area," Brig. Ibrahim al-Juburi, the Talafar district police chief, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of IraqAfghanistan:#1: A British soldier has been killed and three others injured when their patrol vehicle hit a mine in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London announced Saturday. The incident happened when the soldiers were providing protection for a routine patrol in the Nowzad area of northern Helmand, described as the limits of Taleban-controlled territory. The MoD said the casualties were taken to the Security Assistance Force (ISAF) medical facilities at Camp Bastion when one soldier was pronounced dead on arrival. The three other Britons were receiving treatment for their injuries, which were said not be serious.#2: The United Nations on Saturday was investigating reports that a controlled explosion of old ordnance has caused more damage to one of the famed Bamiyan Buddha statues that were destroyed by the Taliban seven year ago. Najibullah Harar, chief of information and culture for Bamiyan, said the blast conducted by NATO-led troops near the smaller of the two statues on Thursday had caused cracks in what is left of the 114 foot-high ancient structure and its side walls.#3: Afghan troops backed by the international forces eliminated 17 suspected Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province, a local official said Saturday. The mop-up occurred in Shar-e-Safa district on Friday, in which17 Taliban militants were killed and three others were captured, Faridullah Khan, a senior police officer in Zabul provincial capital Qalat, told Xinhua. There were no casualties on Afghan and the international troops, Khan stressed.

NEW YORK TIMES: 7,000 MORE TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN?

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is considering sending as many as 7,000 more American troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from NATO allies, senior Bush administration officials said.

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and THOM SHANKER
THE NEW YORK TIMES

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/world/asia/03military.html

They said the step would push the number of American forces there to roughly 40,000, the highest level since the war began more than six years ago, and would require at least a modest reduction in troops from Iraq.

The planning began in recent weeks, reflecting a growing resignation to the fact that NATO is unable or unwilling to contribute more troops despite public pledges of an intensified effort in Afghanistan from the presidents and prime ministers who attended an alliance summit meeting in Bucharest, Romania, last month.

The shortfalls in troop commitments have cast doubt on claims by President Bush and his aides that NATO was stepping up to provide more help in Afghanistan, where the government of President Hamid Karzai faces a resurgent threat from the Taliban and remnants of Al Qaeda.

Click on link above to read full New York Times story.

CNN REPORTS: US STRIKE DAMAGES IRAQI HOSPITAL

U.S. attack damages hospital, Iraqi official says

Story Highlights
NEW: Guided rockets hit target of "known criminal elements," U.S. says
At least 28 people wounded in U.S. attack near hospital, Iraqi says
NEW: Turkish military says it killed 150 Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq
Roadside bomb kills Iraqi traffic officer, wounds eight people

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/03/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- At least 28 people were wounded Saturday morning in a U.S. attack on a building near a hospital in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City slum, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

Employees of al-Sadr Hospital were among the wounded and the facility's property sustained damage in the strike, including some ambulances, the official said.

In a statement, the U.S. military said the strike targeted "known criminal elements."
"We did hit the target, which was a criminal command and control center, which was near a hospital," the military said, adding that it was assessing damages.

The Interior Ministry official called the attack an airstrike, but the U.S. military said it was a guided multiple-launch rocket system strike. These guided rockets are launched from armored vehicles.

Al-Sadr Hospital is one of the two main medical facilities in the district, where Iraqi and U.S. troops have been battling Shiite militias loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The strike apparently left a large hole in the ground near the hospital, video footage showed. Chunks of concrete and other rubble covered the ground, and car windows were shattered.
The southern portion of Sadr City has been walled off so that U.S. military and Iraqi security forces can control movements there.

Other developments
• Turkey's military said Saturday it had killed more than 150 Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq in an operation that ended early Friday, according to a statement on the military's Web site. Turkey has been staging attacks against rebels with the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, in the Qandil Mountain region in northern Iraq. A PKK official said Friday there were no PKK casualties.
• A roadside bomb exploded Saturday at a traffic patrol in the western part of Baghdad, killing an Iraqi traffic policeman and wounding eight others, including six traffic police officers, a ministry official said.
• Overnight, six people were killed and 25 were wounded in Sadr City, the Interior Ministry said. The U.S. military said it killed six "criminals." On Friday, U.S. forces killed eight suspected militants during 10 hours of fighting in the Shiite neighborhood, a military statement said.
• A U.S. soldier on combat patrol in eastern Baghdad was killed Friday when a roadside bomb struck the soldier's vehicle, the military said. The number of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war stands at 4,066, including eight Defense Department contractors.

IS THERE AN ARMY COVER-UP OF RAPE AND MURDER OF WOMEN SOLDIERS?

The Department of Defense statistics are alarming - one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. The warnings to women should begin above the doors of the military recruiting stations, as that is where assaults on women in the military begin - before they are even recruited.

By Ann Wright t r u t h o u t Perspective
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042808A.shtml

But, now, even more alarming, are deaths of women soldiers in Iraq and in the United States following rape. The military has characterized each death of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from "noncombat related injuries," and then added "suicide." Yet, the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters. Specific US Army units and certain US military bases in Iraq have an inordinate number of women soldiers who have died of "noncombat related injuries," with several identified as "suicides."
Ninety-four US military women have died in Iraq or during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Twelve US civilian women have been killed in OIF. Thirteen US military women have been killed in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Twelve US Civilian women have been killed in Afghanistan.
Of the 94 US military women who died in Iraq or in OIF, the military says 36 died from noncombat related injuries, which included vehicle accidents, illness, death by "natural causes" and self-inflicted gunshot wounds, or suicide. The military has declared the deaths of the Navy women in Bahrain, which were killed by a third sailor, as homicides. Five deaths have been labeled as suicides, but 15 more deaths occurred under extremely suspicious circumstances.
Eight women soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, (six from the Fourth Infantry Division and two from the 1st Armored Cavalry Division) have died of "noncombat related injuries" on the same base, Camp Taji, and three were raped before their deaths. Two were raped immediately before their deaths and another raped prior to arriving in Iraq. Two military women have died of suspicious "noncombat related injuries" on Balad base, and one was raped before she died. Four deaths have been classified as "suicides."
Nineteen-year-old US Army Pvt. Lavena Johnson was found dead on the military base in Balad, Iraq, in July, 2005, and her death characterized by the US Army to be suicide from a self-inflicted M-16 shot. On April 9, 2008, Dr. John Johnson and his wife Linda, parents of Private Johnson, flew from their home in St. Louis for meetings with US Congress members and their staffs. They were in Washington to ask that Congressional hearings be conducted on the Army's investigation into the death of their daughter, an investigation that classified her death as a suicide despite extensive evidence suggesting she was murdered.

US Army Reserve Colonel, Retired, Ann Wright is a 29-year veteran of the Army and Army Reserves. She was also a US diplomat in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned from the US Department of State in March 19, 2003, in opposition to the Iraq War. She is the co-author of "Dissent: Voices of Conscience."

Click on http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042808A.shtml to read full story.