Today in Iraq

DAILY WAR NEWS FOR TUESDAY, October 10, 2006 Photo: An U.S. soldier from Alfa company 1-17 IN regiment of the 172th brigade looks at his Stryker armored vehicle stuck in a ditch, in eastern Baghdad, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic) Bring 'em on: Three Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Oct. 8 from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province. Bring 'em on: A U.S. soldier was killed Monday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. A soldier, assigned to Multi-National Division-Baghdad, was killed at 10:45 a.m. (0745 GMT) on Monday "when terrorists attacked his patrol with small arms fire in eastern Baghdad", the military said in a statement. Bring 'em on: A Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier died at approximately 10:45 a.m. today when terrorists attacked his patrol with small-arms fire in eastern Baghdad. (CENTCOM) Bring ‘em on: A Task Force Lightning Soldier based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, attached to 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, died of wounds sustained from an explosion while on a vehicle patrol Sunday, Oct. 8, north of the city of Tikrit. (MNF – Iraq) A U.S. airstrike on a building in western Ramadi killed seven insurgents, the U.S. military said in a statement. It said U.S. troops had earlier come under "extremely heavy fire" from the building. U.S. and Iraqi troops killed 11 militants, many dressed as Iraqi police, in clashes around a mosque on Monday night, the U.S. military said in a statement on Tuesday. The military said the fighting erupted after militants opened fire on a routine joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol, but a senior representative of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the city said the troops had been trying to arrest him. "They shot at us. One of my guards has two or three grenades and the other has a machinegun. They returned fire and set fire to one of the Humvees. We then withdrew peacefully, thanks God," Khudair al-Ansari told Reuters. A British security worker has been killed in Iraq, it was confirmed today. Richard Sedgley, 36, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, was understood to have been killed in a roadside bomb but a spokesman for his employers, The Olive Group, refused to confirm the details of his death. OTHER SECURITY INCIDENTS Baghdad: Iraqi police found 60 bodies dumped across Baghdad in the 24 hours until Tuesday morning, all apparent victims of sectarian death squads, an Interior Ministry official said.

At least 75 corpses have been found in the Baghdad area.

A key staffer for a Muslim humanitarian organization based in Southfield [UK] was slain in his native Iraq, the group said Monday. Abdul-Sattar Abdullah Al-Mashhadani was killed Saturday at a checkpoint run by one of the sectarian militias in Baghdad, Life for Relief and Development said in a statement. Al-Mashhadani, 43, was the director of programs for the group's Baghdad office. He oversaw projects including the opening of medical clinics, renovating schools and completing a major water treatment plant project in southern Iraq with UNICEF. Gunmen in several cars kidnapped at least 11 worshippers as they were leaving a Sunni mosque in central Baghdad. A car bomb blast in a busy market killed nine people and wounded 27 in Baghdad. The explosion tore through a street market late Monday in the Shaab area of the city. An explosion ripped through a crowd outside a baker's shop in a district of the capital, killing at least 10 bystanders. One policeman was killed and four more wounded when their patrol was hit by a booby-trap in Dura, where there is a major Iraqi and US security presence. A roadside bomb wounded two policemen when it targeted a police patrol in northern Baghdad's Morocco street. A roadside bomb wounded three people in the western Baghdad district of Yarmouk. The US military said that Iraqi special forces and US advisers had raided a hideout of a suspected bomb-maker in Sadr City, a bastion of the Mahdi Army. One suspect was shot dead and five arrested, including the target. An Iraqi international soccer referee was released unharmed Tuesday morning after being kidnapped over the weekend, an official with the Iraqi Olympic Committee said. No ransom was paid. Gunmen abducted Hazim Hussein on Sunday, as he left the Iraqi Federation of Football office in northwestern Baghdad, the official said. Hussein is scheduled to travel to Amman, Jordan, later this month to referee a game between that country and Qatar, the official said. A member of ousted president Saddam Hussein's Baath party was assassinated in Diwaniyah. Khalis: The bodies of two shooting victims were found in Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad. Baqubah: A body was found in Baqouba, police said. Twelve people were killed in different districts of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad. Buhriz: The body of the brother of a Baghdad police brigadier was also found shot dead, tied to a lamppost in Buhriz, 35 miles north of the capital. Authorities later found the body of another of his brothers, also shot, in the street. Mussayab: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol and killed two policemen in Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad. Mahaweel: A roadside bomb planted near a house wounded a man in Mahaweel, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad. Hilla: Gunmen killed a policeman on Monday near the city of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad. A roadside bomb near the headquarters of a minor political party killed one person near the city of Hilla. Amara: A policeman was shot dead in the southern town of Amara. Dujail: Unidentifed gunmen opened fire on Iraqi workers leaving a US base in Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing one of them. Latifiyah: One bus driver was killed and three civilians wounded when bomb attacks targeted two buses carrying coffins through Latifiyah, south of Baghdad. Mosul: Two roadside bombs wounded five civilians when they targeted police patrols in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad. Gunmen killed a police captain in Mosul. Kirkuk: Gunmen killed two policemen on Monday in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad. Fallujah: Police found the bodies of four people with gunshot wounds and tortured near Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad. Tal Afar: Police found four bodies in the town of Tal Afar, 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad. Police found three bodies, one beheaded, in different districts of the northern city of Mosul. They had been shot and tortured. Ishaqi: Gunmen in a car killed three people and wounded one in the town of Ishaqi, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad. Balad: Gunmen attacked the car of a senior Iraqi army officer, killing a bodyguard, in the town of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. >> NEWS Saddam Hussein and his six co-defendants were thrown out of court after the former leader began to shout during his trial on charges of genocide against Iraq's Kurdish population. Saddam interrupted the proceedings by shouting a verse from the Quran. "Fight them and God will punish them!" Saddam yelled in what appeared to be a call for members of his disbanded Arab Baath Socialist Party to continue fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. The chief judge, Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, cut off the microphone and instructed bailiffs to escort the ex-president out of the courtroom. Bush and Republicans are sinking under the weight of the Iraq war and the Capitol Hill sex scandal, according to a flurry of polls, endangering their control of Congress in the November 7 elections. Democrats hold a growing advantage heading into the final four weeks of the campaign, with analysts moving more Republican-held seats into the high-risk category and improving the odds of Democrats seizing control of at least the House of Representatives. The polls, all taken after the sex scandal surfaced, show Democratic candidates with huge leads over Republicans amid broad public unhappiness about the Iraq war, Bush's leadership and the Republican-led Congress. "These polls seem to suggest the public has decided to just 'throw the bums out,"' said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "These are huge, huge, numbers and they are very bad for Republicans," she said. "There is not a shred of good news in these polls for Republicans." The leader of Iraq's embattled Yazidi religion called for continued support from the US-led coalition, saying his half-million-strong community is threatened by Islamic extremists. "We as a minority need the great powers' help and support," the Yazidis' Baba Sheikh, Khurto Hajji Ismail, told AFP during the religion's most important festival. "If no coalition forces were here, we would suffer from persecution and oppression," he added. >> REPORTS More than 300,000 Iraqis have fled their homes to other parts of the country to escape violence since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, with the rate swelling in the past six months of Shiite-Sunni killings, the immigration minister said Tuesday. In addition, some 890,000 Iraqis have moved to Jordan, Iran and Syria since Saddam's fall, Immigration Minister Abdul-Samad Sultan told reporters. The war in Iraq has killed at least 647 civilian contractors to date, according to official figures that provide a stark reminder of the huge role of civilians in supporting the U.S. military. The contractor death toll is tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor on the basis of claims under an insurance policy, the Defense Base Act, that all U.S. government contractors and subcontractors working outside the United States must take out for their civilian employees. In response to questions from Reuters, a Labor Department spokesman said there had been 647 claims for death benefits between March 1, 2003, and Sept. 30, 2006. The Defense Base Act covers both Americans and foreigners, and there is no breakdown of the nationalities of those killed. The Pentagon does not monitor civilian contractor casualties. U.S. Central Command Air Forces officials have released the airpower summary for Oct. 9. In Iraq, Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons provided close-air support to troops in contact with anti-Iraqi forces near Salman Bak East and Baghdad. In total, coalition aircraft flew 46 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom. These missions included support to coalition troops, infrastructure protection, reconstruction activities and operations to deter and disrupt terrorist activities. Additionally, 20 Air Force, Navy, Army and RAF ISR aircraft flew missions in support of operations in Iraq. SUNNIS CHANGE NAMES TO AVOID SHIA DEATH SQUADS Lurking in the small ads on page 10 of Al Taakhi newspaper was an announcement that Umar Salman wished henceforth to be known as Samir Salman. It was among many similar notices of submissions to the office of national identity requesting name changes. The reason is not fashion or whim; it is because in Iraq these days your name can bring death. How dangerous a name Umar has become was revealed in April when Baghdad police discovered 14 corpses of young men, killed and dumped by the death squads. All were Sunnis shot with a single bullet to the head and left on a garbage heap. One other thing united them in life as in death: their first names were Umar. And now other Umars are fearful. In the same half page of small ads, Salman Aggal indicated that he wanted to change his daughter's name. She is called Aisha, also a Sunni name. Abdul Karim al'Ithawi announced his intention to change his Sunni tribal name from Ithawi into the neutral al'Barri. A Christian man announced his intention to change his son's first name, from Michael to Ali. Behind the mundane notices is a shift in Iraqi society towards a world of concealed identities, religious affiliations and family histories. The name-changes on passports, ID cards, school registers and workplace payrolls are only one subterfuge being employed by Sunnis to protect themselves from the rampant Shia death squads, particularly in Baghdad. read in full… Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail: US MILITARY 'TURNS BLIND EYE TO KILLINGS' This little-known city 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad is emerging as one of the fiercest hotbeds of resistance in Iraq, with internecine violence escalating amid widespread complaints that the US military is deliberately turning a blind eye to sectarian killings committed by government security forces. A political leader in the city said: "The Iraqi people have complained to everyone, but naturally no one will do anything about it. We know who is in charge and who is responsible and eventually who is to be damned. It is the government of the United States of America." The local leader, speaking from his home in Baquba, said the situation in the area was becoming dire: "The worst is the direct participation of the national security forces in criminal acts, and the US Army's sudden disappearance from the scene as soon as those murderers show up," he said. Many have been killed, and hundreds arrested in Diyala province, he said. The Sunni party al-Tawafuq has demanded a full investigation into the violence in Baquba, and immediate release of the detained civilians. "We are sure the arrests were made under sectarian flags and those detainees are innocent farmers captured on their own plantations," the group said in a statement. An Iraqi army colonel told reporters in Diyala last week that that US troops had arrested 10 Iraqi soldiers suspected of sectarian killings. However, there was no official US comment. read in full… >> COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS DISPATCH FROM THE STATE OF DELUSION Bush will not only preside over a military defeat in Iraq, he has already ushered in a new era - the end of the "American Century", the end of American ascension, the end of American empire. The new era is already characterized by increased nuclear proliferation and defiance, the decline of Democratic ideals and outright opposition to US interests all over the world. Much was made of the "de-stabilization" of Iraq. More should have been made of the consequences of our failure. More attention should have been paid to the good will that Bush has now pissed away -perhaps forever. Bush's only argument in favor of staying in Iraq is itself the most damning indictment of his utterly failed and catastrophic administration. That argument was put forward by former Secretary of State Jim Baker to George Stephanopoulus on ABC: pulling out now will plunge the middle east into chaos and Iraq into civil war. But Baker failed to state the obvious conclusion: staying in Iraq will accomplish the same thing but at greater cost. read in full… NEARLY 21 MILLION IRAQIS NOT YET KILLED In a press release issued today by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's special Office of Looking on the Bright Side, the administration pointed out that despite continuing widespread and escalating violence in the chaotic region, nearly 21 million Iraqis have not yet been killed or wounded. This, while a decrease from the 21.5 million not yet killed or wounded highlighted in an earlier announcement, still represents, according to a Rumsfeld spokesmen, "a very large percentage of the populace thus far not yet killed or wounded." "I think massaging the facts in this particular manner really helps put the whole so-called Iraqi insurgency, quagmire, civil war, catastrophic disaster or what-have-you into proper perspective," Gerald Bulpuppit, spokesman for Donald Rumsfeld's secret task force on fact massage, said. "What this says is that nearly 21 million Iraqis are doing very well, particularly if you discount the nearly universal absence of reliable food, fuel, water, electricity, government, security, or the extremely high likelihood of getting killed or kidnapped." Rumsfeld's Office of Looking on the Bright Side release also pointed out that well over 100,000 U.S. soldiers have not yet been killed or wounded in the ongoing U.S. occupation of Iraq. read in full… A PLAN TO DISSECT IRAQ (…) according to what the US media have described as "well-informed sources", the Iraqi Study Group (ISG), headed by former secretary of state James Baker, has revived the idea of carving up Iraq into three highly autonomous regions for Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites. The ISG is a bipartisan, congressionally appointed task force. It was launched by Congress and endorsed by the White House in April at the suggestion of lawmakers who expressed concern about the deterioration of the situation in Iraq. Such a plan to dissect Iraq has already been vetoed by both President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who claimed that it would increase sectarian violence and terrorism rather than bring security to Iraqis. But perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures. Indeed, colonial history shows that "divide and rule" is the most successful way to subjugate a country. The French did it to Syria in 1920. They created "city-states" to minimize coordination among rebels, prevent the smuggling of arms, and obstruct tribal, political and family alliances. That, apparently, is what Baker's ISG has in mind, and it is due to make a report after next month's congressional elections. The plan might be supported by some Iraqis, including the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Kurds, but certainly other sections of the population will greatly oppose it. read in full… >> BEYOND IRAQ ANTI- IRAN THREATS: MERE RHETORIC "Sanctions by European and Western countries won't have an impact on our decision making," IRNA quoted the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier as saying. These countries "have tried anything they could against Iran in the past 27 years. These things are nothing new," he said. The Iranians view the ongoing international pressure, led by the United States and Israel, regarding their country's nuclear ambitions, as mere rhetoric. So many threats have been made previously that they no longer have any force. (...) Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hossenin reiterated earlier his country intentions to continue enriching uranium, stressing that the threat to impose sanctions may be upsetting the Iranian leaders but not worrying them. "Both officials and people in Iran have always viewed threats of sanctions as a rusty and derelict weapon," he explained. Mr. Hossenin's remarks are to a great extend true. Iran and North Korea have been repeatedly threatened that if they refused to suspend their nuclear programs, dire consequences will follow. Time after time, leaders of both countries have responded by reiterating their determination to carry on with their nuclear plans. And each time, the response is followed with the same warning that if they don't halt their nuclear plans, dire consequences will follow, as stated The Intelligencer. We can't blame leaders or peoples of both countries, Iran and North Korea, for not taking such threats seriously. Western powers and the United Nations were never able to carry out their threats. They have repeatedly failed to back up rhetoric with solid action that threats no longer are believable. The U.S. on one hand fears attacking Iran would prompt attacks against its bases in neighbouring Iraq by Shia fighters who would rise to defend their Shia brethrens in Iran. Washington also fears upsetting its Israeli allies, who fear bombing Iran's nuclear facilities would bring retaliatory attacks against Israel. read in full... QUOTE OF THE DAY: "WMD Score to date: North Korea: 1, Iraq: 0" -- from "While Bush has been dicking around in Iraq..." by Stranger at Blah3