Today in Iraq

DAILY WAR NEWS FOR TUESDAY, May 16, 2006 Photo: The real criminal face of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" as never shown in today's totalitarian MSM. (See below “Iraq War Images Uncensored”) Bring 'em on: Two Soldiers from 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division were killed May 15 near Balad. The Soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck an IED. (CENTCOM) Bring ‘em on: A Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier was killed by a roadside bomb at approximately 7:30 a.m. May 16 in southern Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: A U.S. Army soldier died when a roadside bomb exploded near Rasheed airfield, a former Iraqi air force installation in southern Baghdad, damaging a Humvee and also wounding an Iraqi civilian. Bring ‘em on: Army Capt. Shane Mahaffee, 36, died Sunday of wounds he suffered when the vehicle he was riding in south of Baghdad was struck by a roadside bomb May 5. OTHER SECURITY INCIDENTS In Country: Iraqi army says it arrested 52 people, including seven “insurgents”, and killed another “insurgent” in the cities of Kirkuk, Kerbala, Ramadi and Falluja. Baghdad: A bomb destroyed a liquor store in Baghdad in what appeared to be the third attack on the shop by militants determined to impose Islamic customs by closing down such establishments. A gunbattle in Baghdad broke out between suspected “insurgents” riding in three cars and Iraqi police in Dora, one of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods. At least six civilians were killed and four wounded in the crossfire, said police 1st Lt. Maithem Abdel-Razaq. A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in western Baghdad, wounding one policeman. Gunmen in eastern Baghdad killed a police 1st Sgt. who worked in Interior Ministry intelligence. A civilian was wounded when a roadside bomb went off in southeastern Baghdad. Bodies of three people, bearing signs of torture and with gunshot wounds in the head found in different districts in Baghdad. A car bomb killed at least four people and wounded 26 others in eastern Baghdad. A police source said seven people were killed when the bomb went off in a busy part of the Shaab neighbourhood. Gunmen raided a parking garage in northeastern Baghdad on Tuesday, killing nine people and injuring at least 31. The gunmen shot five guards at the garage in the Shaab neighborhood and then detonated a bomb planted on a parked oil tanker, killing another four people. (N. of) Four people working at a U.S. military base north of Baghdad killed when gunmen opened fire on their minibus while they were travelling home. Buhriz: The Electoral Commission director in Diyala province escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded near his car in Buhriz, 35 miles north of Baghdad. Karbala: Gunmen shot dead an Egyptian man who worked in a bakery in Kerbala. Iraqi police found the body of a man shot dead, blindfolded and handcuffed in Kerbala. Gunmen killed a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party in Kerbala. Kut: A drive-by shooting killed an Iraqi man in Kut city, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, who had served as a secret agent in Saddam Hussein's government. Kirkuk: Suspected “insurgents” attacked a police patrol in Kirkuk, killing two policeman. Two Iraqi citizens were kidnapped; Fathi Najim Abid in Ahmad Agha area was kidnapped by four gunmen, while Dhafir Khudhir Nema was kidnapped south of Kirkuk by a gunmen on motorbikes. Al-Huwaija: An explosive device blew up in Qadha'a Al-Huwaija targeting a Riyadh Police Station patrol, injuring two Police personnel and a woman in the area. Mosul: Unidentified armed gunmen assassinated the Director of the handicap care hospital in front of his clinic in Mosul. Basra: Gunmen killed a manager of a local soccer team, near his home in Basra. Suspected “insurgents” fired rockets at the Shat al-Arab Hotel, headquarters of the British army in Basra, causing no casualties. Shirqat: Three “insurgents” killed when a roadside bomb they were planting exploded prematurely in the town of Shirqat, 80 km (50 miles) south of the northern city of Mosul. >> NEWS U.S. Army warns a new film about an Iraq war medical unit may trigger mental health problems for some viewers: Army brass have sent a cautionary warning to military medical personnel about the soon-to-be-aired HBO documentary "Baghdad ER," which gives a graphic view of the Iraq war through the eyes of trauma doctors and nurses, even filming during an amputation. Despite many disturbing scenes, filmmaker Jon Alpert said the film had actually been toned down. ONE CAPTURED LIEUTENANT A DAY KEEPS ZARQAWI AWAY? Iraq has apprehended an aide to the country's most-wanted man, Iraq Al-Qaeda chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in the city of Ramadi, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. It said the suspected insurgent, Salah Hussein Abdel Razak, had a mobile telephone with a picture of himself and Zarqawi together but a statement did not specify when the arrest took place. read in full… >> REPORTS VIOLENCE ROBS IRAQ OF CHRISTIAN HERITAGE The flight of religious minorities escaping violence in post-war Iraq is threatening to rob the country of its once diverse Christian heritage. In the early 1980s, Iraq's Christian population numbered 1.4 million but economic strife brought on by the war with Iran and UN sanctions after the 1991 Gulf War pushed some in the ancient community to emigrate. Nevertheless, the Christian community continued to enjoy religious freedoms in the majority Muslim country until the US-led invasion of 2003, says Adli Juwaidah, a former director of cultural relations in Iraq's ministry of higher education. read in full… BACK FROM IRAQ Bad stuff happened in Iraq, stuff Adam Reuter doesn't want to talk about. Not with his friends, not with the line cooks in the burger joint where he worked when he first came home or the tenants in the apartment complex he manages now. He doesn't even want to talk about it with his wife, who worried because he was jumping out of bed in the middle of the night. But when he agrees to talk about the war -- really talk about it -- he goes right to how the insurgent crumpled after he pulled the trigger. How later, during the firefight, he ended up just a few feet from the corpse. Bullets buzzed by, and he was supposed to keep an eye on the alley, but he couldn't help but glance over. "He just lay there," Reuter remembers. His eyes and mouth open. His whiskers a few days old. The bullet had gone in his neck cleanly, just to the right of his Adam's apple, but had come out ugly from the back of his head. He was maybe 25, a little older than Reuter. And his blood was pooling, thick and almost black in the darkness. How can you describe what that was like? Who would understand it? read in full… >> COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS PILING UP WAR CRIMES IN IRAQ

IRAQ SUNNIS CRY "ATROCITY" OVER US RAIDS Iraq's main Sunni religious grouping accused U.S. forces on Monday of killing 25 civilians in raids near Baghdad in the past two days, rejecting the U.S. account that only suspected insurgents had died. "We hold the Iraqi government and the occupiers responsible for this brutal atrocity," the Muslim Clerics Association said in a statement. The U.S. military earlier on Monday said its forces had killed more than 41 insurgents in and around the villages of Latifiya and Yusifiya, south of the capital, on Saturday and Sunday. It also said a U.S. helicopter was shot down, killing two soldiers. Two separate U.S. statements on the air and ground raids did not mention any civilian deaths, but said several women and children were wounded. read in full… YET ANOTHER MY LAI MASSACRE IN LATIFIA "At 10 p.m. on Saturday [May 13, 2006] night, American occupation forces and Iraqi 'national guards' launched a heavy offensive in the area of (Shakh Wahid) near Latifia, South of Baghdad. The attack started with an intense strafing by American helicopters of the houses in the village causing the families to flee into the surrounding farm land and hide in irrigation ditches to escape from the fierce attack. Seven helicopters then landed American soldiers who pursued and killed on site the fleeing civilians, 25 of whom were martyred. They captured six civilians including two women, Israa' Mahmoud Hassan and Widad Ahmad Hassan and a child, Huda Haitham Mohammad Hassan, whose father was killed during the attack. The attack on the same area, again supported by Iraqi 'national guards', was renewed at 4 a.m. on Monday [May 15, 2006]. This resulted in more civilian arrests and their houses were used as sniper positions." read in full…

IRAQ WAR IMAGES UNCENSORED This collection of photos is the most complete we are aware of. Many of them are being made public here for the first time. Many of them are extremely gruesome. These must not be censored, because this is what a war really looks like, and that is something citizens need to see in order to cast informed ballots and lobby our representatives for or against war. Please copy all of these images onto your own website. No need to ask permission. Please simply give credit to AfterDowningStreet.org. This first category is the worst: posed war trophy photos. Photos 1-50. / Photos 51-73. Here are photos, uncensored, from Abu Ghraib. Photos 1-25. / Photos 26-54. Here are more startling torture photos from an unknown location. Photos 1-9. Here are photos of the war taken between 2003 and 2005. Photos 1-30 / Photos 31-60 / Photos 61-90 / Photos 91-120 / Photos 121-133. And these are early Iraq War photos. Photos 1-11. Here are photos from Fallujah. Photos 1-25 / Photos 26-50. And, finally, a few assorted photos. Photos 1-4. link "WEST POINT GRADUATES AGAINST THE WAR” We members of West Point Graduates Against The War stand appalled at the deceitful behavior of the government of the United States and, in particular, its widely known malefactors. Their lying, cheating, stealing, and rendition of evasive statements not only has demeaned these deceivers and our country, but they have placed vast numbers of innocent people in deadly peril as a direct result of their deceptions. We will not serve these lies, that is, we will not work for, be a servant to, provide for, assist, or promote the interests of this dishonorable administration. By remaining silent we tacitly serve; we are no longer silent. The illegal assault and occupation in Iraq has killed tens of thousands of innocents, both American, Iraqi, and others, causing incalculable damage to Iraq and the Iraqi people, as well as the reputation and honor of the United States of America. The behavior of this administration is particularly odious since it makes mockery of the code of conduct instilled in us at West Point. "A cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do." This has provided us with a lifelong respect for the truth, and a sense of responsibility to do the right thing, even if that means admonishing our country's leadership. read in full… MISLEADING NEWS ITEM OF THE DAY From AP:

Rep. John Murtha, a Vietnam veteran first elected in the anti-war fever of 1974, says American troops will be brought home from Iraq by 2007.

Not just misleading, quadruply so. First, the clear implication that Murtha was somehow part of the "anti-war fever of 1974" (like, say, John Kerry) is simply nonsense; Murtha has been a hawk his entire life and as far as I know has supported every war the U.S. has fought. Second, what does "by 2007" mean? To me it means by the end of December, 2006--7 1/2 months from now. Murtha says "Either President Bush will bow to public opinion or Democrats will have won control of the House of Representatives and increased pressure on the White House." But the election isn't until November, so Murtha's theory would mean that within a month of the Democrats winning control of the House, they would have forced Bush to pull out troops; considering that they have already voted the money to keep the troops there past that time, that would be rather difficult to do. Third, because the implication that Democrats as a whole are somehow pushing for, or even support, withdrawal from Iraq, is simply untrue. And finally, there's the subtle distinction between "American troops will be brought home" and "all American troops will be brought home," which even Murtha doesn't advocate. Do 3,000 count? 30,000? For sure neither of those numbers will make much difference to the Iraqi people, nor to the families of the American troops who continue to be killed and wounded. Other than that, you can believe every word. Murtha is a Vietnam vet, and was first elected to Congress in 1974. :-) read in full... INSPECTOR: POLITICS STUNTED 'BIOTRAILER' FINDINGS A year after Bush administration claims about Iraqi ''bioweapons trailers'' were discredited by American experts, U.S. officials were still suppressing the findings, according to a senior member of the CIA-led inspection team. At one point, former U.N. arms inspector Rod Barton says, a CIA officer told him it was ''politically not possible'' to report that the White House claims were untrue. In the end, Barton says, he felt ''complicit in deceit.'' read in full… KILLING WITHOUT QUESTION According to an AP story, "A decorated soldier accused of killing his teenage wife about three months after returning from Iraq went on trial Monday, with prosecutors showing video of a blood-smeared kitchen and the woman's mutilated body." Given all the atrocities perpetrated by US forces in Iraq, this case is rather important because it betrays the ease with which the trained soldier can kill without question, even killing loved ones. This is not the first time, nor am afraid the last, we have heard of brutal murders committed by returning US soldiers. The problem is not simply the usual culprit - post-traumatic syndrome. Let us not neglect the fact that Iraq has become an open killing ground for US soldiers targeting Iraqis. The system of letting most US soldiers off the hook for killing armed, wounded, and innocent Iraqis creates an environment of irresponsibility. read in full… GROUNDHOG DAY IN IRAQ America's foreign policy elite seems incapable of understanding the limited uses of hard power. Until they do, we'll continue to get into wars like Iraq -- over and over again. As the architects of the Iraq war cast about for someone to blame for their debacle, they've turned their sights inward -- to the U.S. public. A lack of fortitude among the American people is to blame; only the folks back home can defeat our awe-inspiring military. Others, despairing of the Bush administration's "soft approach" to the Iraq insurgency -- and casting hungry eyes toward Tehran -- have adopted a feverish, almost genocidal view of the war. If only we had the stomach to bring more firepower to bear on the Iraqi people, they say, "victory" would be assured. In both formulations, the media is ultimately at fault for poisoning Americans' view of the war and sapping our national strength. But the war's advocates have no one to blame but themselves; we are in Iraq because of their delusion that raw military power can solve even the most complex transnational issues. They're incapable of grasping the importance of real moral legitimacy in modern warfare. Without that legitimacy, even the most powerful military in the world is likely to get dragged into a quagmire and, when it does, the public's weariness is entirely predictable. File it away as another error in post-war planning. read in full... STARTING OVER WHEN BUSH IS GONE Big Brother Bush has finally descended into the hell of public scorn and degradation. The once-mighty George 2, the “War President”, who towered over the global landscape after 9-11, has slumped into disrepute with the popularity-meter resting on empty. Oh dear. Just 29% approval. There’s no place to hide now. 6 years of demagoguery and deception have smashed the Orwellian façade and fueled the public rage. The country is on tender-hooks; one paltry incident away from a citizen revolt and massive political upheaval. Don’t believe it? The fury of the masses is silently brewing just below the surface. The specter of violence is quite real. Bush’s popularity is now somewhere below Nixon’s and just above venereal disease; the perfect spot for a draft-dodging poseur whose bravado cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Bush managed to surpass Nixon by claiming a 71% disapproval rating; a triumph that Hitler would have admired. Still, given the 3 years left on his tenure as president, there’s room for improvement in that category as well. read in full… >> BEYOND IRAQ WHERE IS THE GLOBAL OUTCRY AT THIS CONTINUING CRUELTY? Israel is 58 years old today. Israelis have already celebrated with barbecues and parties. And so they should, for they've pulled off an amazing stunt: the creation of a state for one people on the land of another - and at their massive expense - without incurring effective sanction. Some of those not celebrating, the Arab citizens of Israel, were also there, demonstrating to remind the world that Israel displaced 250,000 to take their land without compensation. Millions more Palestinians will demonstrate today in the refugee camps of Gaza, the West Bank and neighbouring Arab states against their expulsion by Israel. The world, however, is not listening, any more than it did in 1948, when most of Palestine's inhabitants were expelled to make way for Jewish immigrants. read in full… CHAVEZ: BUSH IS 'GENOCIDAL ASSASSIN' Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez branded US President George W Bush Monday a 'genocidal assassin' and the 'worst criminal in humanity' during a a private visit to London. During a visit hosted by Ken Livingstone, London's controversial mayor, Chavez described the Iraq war as the 'Vietnam of the 21st century' and said he did not believe Iran was trying to gain nuclear capability. Livingstone, standing next to the radical Venezuelan leader, said: 'I sometimes have views on George Bush - not too dissimilar from yours.' read in full… QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The US is really beyond reason now. It is beyond our imagining to know what they are going to do next and what they are prepared to do. There is only one comparison: Nazi Germany" -- Harold Pinter, 2005 Nobel Prize of Literature, quoted in the Guardian, June 2003 (from The Gallery of "Bush = Hitler" Allusions)

# posted by Anonymous : 5/16/2006 09:59:00 AM