Today in Iraq

DAILY WAR NEWS FOR MONDAY, July 31, 2006 Photo: See below “Child Prisoners Left Without Support”. SECURITY INCIDENTS Baghdad: Gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped dozens of people in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood. The kidnapping was carried out by gunmen in military fatigues who drove to the main shopping area of Karradah in 15 vehicles and split into two groups. One went into a mobile phone shop and the other into the office next door of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce, said police Lt. Thair Mahmoud. They kidnapped 15 staff and customers from the shop and 11 from the chamber, he said. All were believed to be Iraqis. No other details were available. Gunmen in commando uniforms blocked a car carrying a millionaire businessman and his two sons and seized the three in southeastern Baghdad. Gunmen killed Maad Jihad, an advisor to the health minister, in the Mansour district of Baghdad. Gunmen in a sedan shot and killed two vendors selling cooking-gas cylinders in Baghdad's western Yarmouk neighborhood. Gunmen opened fire on municipal street sweepers in the capital, killing one and injuring two. Gunmen killed Fakhri Salman, a brigadier in the Iraqi National Intelligence Service. Two people were killed in shootings in Baghdad. A roadside bomb killed a policeman in Baghdad. Police discovered the bullet-riddled bodies of three men in the Baghdad area. Two had their hands and feet tied, and the third was fished out of the Tigris river, his body showing signs of torture. Amara: Assassins gunned down an employee of the Sunni endowment, which manages the Sunni mosques, in a drive-by shooting as he left his house in Amara in mainly Shiite southern Iraq. Two workmen were shot dead and two more injured in another shooting in Amara. Mosul: Two civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near a joint Iraqi-U.S. military patrol in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad. A suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck near an Iraqi observation post outside Mosul, killing four soldiers and wounding six. Hawija: Gunmen Sunday ordered four policemen and a lawyer out of their car and beheaded them near the northern town of Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad. >> NEWS Iraqi Vice President accused Israel of "massacres" in Lebanon, the toughest criticism so far of the Jewish state by the U.S.-backed Baghdad government. "These ugly massacres, which are being implemented by the hands of the Israeli aggression, incites in us the spirit of brotherhood, solidarity," [Adel Abdul Mahdi] said. Moqtada al-Sadr accused Arab states on Monday of failing to stand behind Lebanon in its crisis with Israel and said they had done the same with Iraq in its time of need. "We are used to being disappointed by them. They were just silent over Iraq or interfered in a negative way," he told a news conference. "When it served their interests they ran to help the (Saddam Hussein's) Baath Party but they have failed to support unity now. They are doing the same in Lebanon. They talk but only about rubbish." Iraq's interior minister faced calls for his dismissal because of the security crisis in Baghdad and surrounding towns. Key Democratic leaders in the House and Senate united to call on Bush to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of the year, citing an overtaxed military, billions of dollars spent and ongoing sectarian violence. >> REPORTS The number of refugees in Iraq increased by 20,000 in the last 10 days alone, the migration ministry said on Monday. It said in a statement the total number of people displaced has reached 182,154. The crisis is likely to be far graver because ministry figures include only those who formally ask for aid within the country, some of them living in tented camps. By excluding thousands fleeing abroad or quietly seeking refuge with relatives, officials accept the data is an underestimate. VIDEO: BAGHDAD HOSPITAL CHILDREN'S WARD In war and peace children are always amongst the most vulnerable of communities. Iraq has been no exception. In this episode, Alive in Baghdad takes you to the children's ward of Baghdad Hospital, to make visible the plight of some very sick children, stricken with cancer by the presence of Depleted Uranium munitions, left over from the last to US wars in Iraq. link CHILD PRISONERS LEFT WITHOUT SUPPORT He isn't a criminal, but just the sight of a police officer terrifies 14-year-old Omar. The boy was released last month from an Iraqi prison, after being detained there for more than seven months. "They arrested me because they said I was a suspect after a car bomb exploded in a road near my home and resulted in the killing of an American," Omar explains. He happened to be near the explosion and was arrested along with adult Iraqis suspected of the attack. Omar was one of 450 detainees who were let out of the two Iraqi and US-run prisons on 27 June, under a national reconciliation plan aimed at bringing insurgents into the political process and ending the bloodshed in Iraq. Although Omar was falsely arrested, dozens of other children have been imprisoned for their roles in attacks, or because poverty turned them to crime, according to reports from local and international groups and the news media in the past three years. Omar said the experience of being in prison was terrifying, "and I was crying day and night for my family." The trauma of the experience remains with him: "I would rather die than go there again." read in full... US WAR COSTS CONTINUE TO SHOOT UP It was reported in February that the army is asking for $9 billion to "reset" its war-depleted stocks - the vast bulk to replace and repair tanks, helicopters and vehicles. Since the Iraq insurgency heated up in autumn 2003, the army's combat losses include about 20 M1 Abrams tanks, 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, 20 Stryker wheeled combat vehicles, 20 M113 armored personnel carriers, and 250 Humvees. The number of vehicles lost in battle comes to nearly 1,000 after adding in heavy and medium trucks and trailers, mine-clearing vehicles and Fox wheeled reconnaissance vehicles. Nearly all these losses were caused by improvised explosive devices in Iraq. The army said unfunded repair and upgrade work alone totals more than $3 billion. During fiscal 2005 the army deployed 23% of its trucks, 15% of its combat vehicles and 15% of its helicopters in Iraq, according to the Association of the United States Army. Much of this equipment does not rotate out when troops do, either because the army is trying to minimize transport costs or because it wants to retain key items such as up-armored vehicles in the war zone. As a result, the equipment is exposed to continuous use for long periods of time - more than two years in the case of some Chinook helicopters - and may not receive scheduled maintenance in a timely fashion. The army conducted an analysis of how such stresses affect field equipment and concluded that a single year of deployment in Iraq would cause as much wear and tear as five years of peacetime use. That is hardly surprising, given that much of the equipment in Iraq is being used at a rate several times as high as typically prevails in peacetime. The operating tempo, or "optempo", of helicopters is twice as high in the war zone as elsewhere. Combat vehicles such as the Abrams tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicle operate at five or six times normal rates. And trucks are used at up to 10 times their peacetime rates (which helps explain why so many are washed out by the end of their time in Iraq). But high utilization rates are only the beginning of the problem, because the conditions under which systems operate in Iraq are harsher than those encountered in peacetime training exercises. For example, Abrams tanks are designed to operate in open country, but in Iraq they often travel on paved roads, accelerating wear. Their mechanical and electronic systems are exposed to sand, wind, precipitation and vibration far in excess of what would be experienced in peacetime. Maintenance is deferred, or carried out in sub-optimal circumstances. And then there is the enemy, which seldom misses an opportunity to shoot a rocket-propelled grenade at whatever US vehicle is going by. read in full... "I CAME OVER HERE BECAUSE I WANTED TO KILL PEOPLE" Writing in Sunday's editions of The Washington Post, Andrew Tilghman, a former correspondent for the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes, said he interviewed [Steven Green, a former US soldier accused of raping and murdering an Iraqi girl] several times in February at his unit south of Baghdad. "I came over here because I wanted to kill people," he quoted Green as saying. "The truth is, it wasn't all I thought it was cracked up to be. "I mean, I thought killing somebody would be this life-changing experience," Green was quoted as saying. "And then I did it, and I was like, 'All right, whatever.' "I shot a guy who wouldn't stop when we were out at a traffic checkpoint and it was like nothing," Green was quoted as saying. "Over here, killing people is like squashing an ant. "I mean, you kill somebody and it's like, 'All right, let's go get some pizza.'" read in full… >> COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS JUAN COLE: SISTANI THREATENS U.S. OVER ISRAELI WAR ON LEBANON The Associated Press is carrying the story that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has demanded an immediate ceasefire in Israel's war on Lebanon, in the wake of the Qana massacre:

"Islamic nations will not forgive the entities that hinder a cease-fire,'' al-Sistani said in a clear reference to the United States. "It is not possible to stand helpless in front of this Israeli aggression on Lebanon,'' he added. ``If an immediate cease-fire in this Israeli aggression is not imposed, dire consequences will befall the region.''

Sistani had earlier condemned Israeli air raids on Lebanon but had confined himself to ordering the Iraqi Shiite religious establishment to provide aid to victims of the war in Lebanon. Sistani's statements of early Monday morning (which are not yet reflected at his website in Arabic) go substantially beyond his earlier statement. Several questions arise: 1) Why is Sistani speaking like this? 2) What can he do about it all? and 3) What are the possible consequences if he turns anti-American in practice, not just in rhetoric, as in the past? Sistani is taking such a hard line on this issue not only because he feels strongly about it (his fatwa against the Jenin operation of 2002 was vehement) but also because he is in danger of being outflanked by Muqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's Mahdi Army is said to be "boiling" over the Israeli war on Hizbullah, since after all the Sadrists are also fundamentalist Shiites and they identify with the Lebanese Hizbullah. There have already been big demonstrations in Baghdad against the Israeli attacks, to which Sadrists flocked but probably also other Shiites. Sistani cannot allow Muqtada to monopolize this issue, or the young cleric's legitimacy will grow among the angry Shiite masses at the expense of Sistani's. (...) Sistani has issued a warning to the United States. He wants Bush to intervene to arrange a ceasefire, i.e. the cessation of israeli air raids on Lebanon in general. What could he do if he were ignored? Sistani could call massive anti-US and anti-Israel demonstrations. Given Iraq's profound political instability, this development could be extremely dangerous. US troops in Baghdad and elsewhere are planning offensives against Shiite paramilitary groups, so tensions are likely to rise in the Shiite areas anyway. But big demonstrations could easily boil over into actual attacks on US and British troops. Both depend heavily on fuel that is transported through the Shiite south. Were the Shiites actively to turn on the US for its wholehearted support of continued Israeli air raids, the US military could be cut off from fuel and supplies. The British only have around 8,000 troops in Iraq, and they would be in profound danger if Iraq's Shiites became militantly anti-occupation. (...) Sistani does not issue threats lightly, and he has repeatedly shown a willingness to back them up with action. Bush and US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad will ignore him to their peril. read in full... QANA WILL IMPACT IRAQ Expect life to get short, lonely, and interesting, for a lot more American body bag contents dead men walking soldiers in Iraq in the near future. I rather suspect the same is true for much of the Maliki "government" I wrote about the cabinet reshuffle last Friday, there are strong rumours that a coup was only barely foiled, and now this. I expect life to get just as short, lonely, and interesting for the Maliki government as it will become for more and more American soldiers particularly as regional governors seen as too close to the Americans and the green zone government are being increasingly targetted by Sunni and Shia resistance fighters alike. read in full... RIVERBEND: QANA MASSACRE... I woke up this morning to scenes of carnage and destruction on the television and for the briefest of moments, I thought it was footage of Iraq. It took me a few seconds to realize it was actually Qana in Lebanon. (...) I just sat there and cried in front of the television. I didn't know I could still feel that sort of sorrow towards what has become a daily reality for Iraqis. It's not Iraq but it might as well be: It's civilians under lethal attack; it's a country fighting occupation. (...) And the world wonders how 'terrorists' are created! A 15-year-old Lebanese girl lost five of her siblings and her parents and home in the Qana bombing... Ehud Olmert might as well kill her now because if he thinks she's going to grow up with anything but hate in her heart towards him and everything he represents, then he's delusional. Is this whole debacle the fine line between terrorism and protecting ones nation? If it's a militia, insurgent or military resistance- then it's terrorism (unless of course the militia, insurgent(s) and/or resistance are being funded exclusively by the CIA). If it's the Israeli, American or British army, then it's a pre-emptive strike, or a 'war on terror'. No matter the loss of hundreds of innocent lives. No matter the children who died last night- they're only Arabs, after all, right? Right? read in full... SUICIDE IN BASRA: THE UNRAVELLING OF A MILITARY MAN After a flawless military career that had seen him rise to the rank of captain in just 15 years, the task of leading the British Military Police's investigative unit in Basra should have been the crowning achievement for Ken Masters, a soldier for whom, on missions from Afghanistan to Bosnia, the glass was always half full. "The accom is good," he told his wife Alison in a letter sent soon after he had reached his garrison in the southern Iraqi city in April last year. "It is air conditioned and we have two windows either end and a real bed and proper mattress, which makes a difference. Missing you all. Love to you and my girls. Daddy xxxooo." This was the way he signed each of the many letters he sent from Iraq to the home they had made in Porta-down, Northern Ireland. But Capt Masters never made it back. Six months after sending that letter, he walked into his small barrack-room at the Waterloo Lines military camp and took his own life. Aged 40, he was five days away from the end of a tour that had reduced him from a high-flying officer, and prospective Major, to a broken man. He is one of two British soldiers - both from the Special Investigation Branch (SIB) - to have committed suicide in the current conflict. Today, the story of Capt Masters' mental disintegration can be told for the first time. Pieced together from the testimony of his wife and colleagues, and from his own letters and e-mails from Basra, it provides a sense of the pressure facing the small Military Police team he led which, amid political pressure for quick results, has investigated mounting abuse allegations against British troops. The story also raises a profound question about a military establishment that is sending hundreds of men and women to serve under enormous daily pressures in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is this: how could Capt Masters have been allowed to die when so many people knew he was suffering? "Imagine your worst day and multiply it by a thousand," Capt Masters told his wife in one of their regular Sunday evening telephone calls (each of them was limited to 20 minutes) towards the end of his life. read in full... TUNING IN, TUNING OUT Let's face it. These are not easy times for America's effort to make friends in the Middle East. The key media outlets in this campaign -- al-Hurra television and Radio Sawa -- are laboring hard. But a recent survey of college students in the region -- done before Israel's re-invasion of Lebanon -- says U.S. policies on Israel and in Iraq are such that "these networks may be completely unable to change opinions on these two issues." The survey, an unscientific sampling of attitudes of 394 university communications students in such places as Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco, found that these young people listened to Radio Sawa's pop music, but there was "no significant relationship between the frequency of listening to Radio Sawa and favorability toward US foreign policy." The same held true for al-Hurra. Worse yet, the more they listened, the less they liked us, according to the new study, "U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Arab World," published in the current Global Media and Communication. "One significant finding," said author Mohammed el-Nawawy of Queens University of Charlotte, "is that respondents' attitudes toward U.S. foreign policy have worsened slightly since their exposure to Radio Sawa and Television Alhurra." Bad study, Broadcasting Board of Governors spokesman Larry Hart responded: "The self-selected sample is too small, nearly half [were] Palestinian and some of them . . . never saw or heard our broadcasts." Al-Hurra, with a budget of $73 million this year, and Sawa, budget $23 million, are asking for an additional $10 million for fiscal 2007. Can't hurt that much more. read in full... >> BEYOND IRAQ "A CRUSHING DEFEAT FOR ISRAEL" Hezbollah on Sunday fired its largest missile barrage yet into northern Israel - 156 Katyusha rockets. The missiles damaged buildings, caused minor injuries and sparked panic. But their biggest impact was the message they sent: after nearly three weeks of fierce Israeli aerial bombardment, Hezbollah is still standing. With pressure mounting for a cease-fire - and Israel agreeing to a 48-hour suspension of airstrikes - Israel appears poised to fall short of its original goal of routing the militant group and preventing it from rising again as a threat. "Hezbollah looks like the big winner here," said Dick Leurdijk, a terrorism expert at Holland's prestigious Clingendael Institute. "They are clearly winning the war for world public opinion. From a public relations point of view, Israel is doing a very poor job." Analysts say Israel's failure to make quick work of Hezbollah after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12 is likely to have long-term ramifications, emboldening Israel's opponents and shattering the regional belief that Israel's military is all but unbeatable. "Militarily it looks pretty much like a stand-off," said Robert Lowe, manager of English political research center Chatham House's Middle East program. "From a public relations perspective, it looks like a crushing defeat for Israel." read in full... “HEZBOLLAH COULD BE YOU OR ME” "One Western journalist spent days scouring the south Lebanese port city of Tyre and the surrounding villages for a sign of the militants who triggered the Israeli assault, but came up empty. Then, two men showed up at his seafront hotel. He had asked too many questions, they said. He would have to return to Beirut. The journalist in question asked not to be identified fearing Hezbollah retaliation. "This is their counter intelligence. They have a very effective local networks who report every thing that is going on," says Goksel, the former UN advisor. An ice cream vendor in downtown Tyre simply shrugs his shoulders when asked about the shadowy organization. He knows they are around, he says, but no one knows where. "Even during peaceful times we never see them anywhere," says Ali Mohammed, 56. "They are a part of the people. We don't know who is Hezbollah and who is not. It could be you or me." read in full… URI AVNERY: A NICE LITTLE WAR It is the old story about the losing gambler: he cannot stop. He continues to play, in order to win his losses back. He continues to lose and continues to gamble, until he has lost everything: his ranch, his wife, his shirt. The same thing happens in the biggest gamble of all: war. The leaders that start a war and get stuck in the mud are compelled to fight their way ever deeper into the mud. That is a part of the very essence of war: it is impossible to stop after a failure. Public opinion demands the promised victory. Incompetent generals need to cover up their failure. Military commentators and other armchair strategists demand a massive offensive. Cynical politicians are riding the wave. The government is carried away by the flood that they themselves have let loose. That is what happened this week, following the battle of Bint-Jbeil, which the Arabs have already started to call proudly Nasrallahgrad. All over Israel the cry goes up: get into it! Quicker! Further! Deeper! A day after the bloody battle, the cabinet decided on a massive mobilization of the reserves. What for? The ministers do not know. But it does not depend on them any more, nor on the generals. The political and military leadership is tossed about on the waves of war like a boat without a rudder. As has been said before: it is much easier to start a war than to finish one. The cabinet believes that it controls the war, but in reality it is the war that controls them. They have mounted a tiger, and can't be sure of getting off without being torn to pieces. War has its own rules. Unexpected things happen and dictate the next moves. And the next moves tend to be in one direction: escalation. (…) What next? One cannot stop. Public opinion will demand more decisive moves. Political demagogues will shout. Commentators will grumble. The people in the shelters will cry out. The generals will feel the heat. One cannot keep tens of thousands of reserve soldiers mobilized indefinitely. It is impossible to prolong a situation which paralyzes a third of the country. Everybody will clamour to storm forwards. Where to? Towards Beirut in the north? Or towards Damascus, in the east? The cabinet ministers recite in unison: No! Never ever! We shall not attack Syria! Perhaps some of them really don't intend to. They do not dream of a war with Syria. Definitely not. But the ministers only delude themselves when they believe that they control the war. The war controls them. read in full... QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The situation in Iraq is spiralling out of control but not as the US/UK and Western media would have us believe, into a civil war, but what amounts to a US internal 'withdrawal' to its firebases. Most cities in the country are effectively 'no-go' areas for the occupation forces.” -- William Bowles

WAR NEWS UPDATE FOR SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2006 A masked Iraqi policeman aims his weapon as shots are fired after a suicide car bomb attack in the northern city of Mosul July 30, 2006. Three policemen were seriously wounded by a suicide car bombing near their patrol in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. REUTERS/Khaled al-Mousily (IRAQ) Note: Because of Matt's very comprehensive post which came early on Sunday morning, I'm doing an abbreviated post today. Unfortunately, there has been some news. Bring 'em on: Four Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 killed in action in Anbar province on Saturday. No further details announced at this time. Note: These are not the four Marines KIA cited in Matt's post, whose deaths Thursday were only announced yesterday. Total U.S. military deaths in Iraq now stand at 2,578, according to ICCC. OTHER SECURITY INCIDENTS Two killed, 36 injured by bomb targeting a bus in al-Hillah, south of Baghdad. Bomb targeting police vehicle in Baqouba kills one police officer, wounds one civilian. Civilian also killed by unknown gunman in nearby town of Maqdadiya. U.S. airstrike kills two people who the U.S. describes as terrorists. Four people arrested by ground forces in the same incident. Car bomb near the U.S. consulate in Kirkuk kills 2 Iraqis, injures 7. Four Iraqi police killed in ambush in Kirkuk. Also, an attorney was assassinated in the same city. Three Iraq police injured in car bombing in Mosul. Five killed by bomb targeting minibus on highway between Mahmudiya and Alexandria. Also, policeman killed and another injured by a roadside bomb in Fallujah. Note: This story also refers to a bomb killing two people in a minibus near Mahaweel. This may be the same incident referred to above as happening near Hillah. OTHER DEVELOPMENTS Let Freedom Reign: al-Maliki warns TV outlets against reports that "capitalize on the footage of victims of terrorist attacks." He is not more specific but appears to be concerned about incitement. Shake-up expected in Iraq cabinet as security situation continues to deteriorate.

AP, Sunday, July 30, 2006 BAGHDAD, Iraq — Changes will be made in the Iraqi Cabinet following an escalation in violence threatening Baghdad, politicians said Sunday. The Cabinet changes could take place as soon as next week, said Hassan al-Suneid, a lawmaker from the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party. Among the ministries that could be affected is Interior because of a collapse in security as bloody sectarian attacks escalate. Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani is under fire because of the ongoing violence. On Sunday, al-Bolani acknowledged sectarian influences have corrupted the government and jeopardized the country. He conceded corruption exists in his own ministry. "We will not allow any act of violence and sectarianism inside the ministry. Our country faces big confrontations and challenges," al-Bolani told parliament members as he briefed them on what he said is a new security plan to be announced in September. Al-Suneid said the minister's previous comments to parliament "have not been encouraging," adding that "there are fears he will be replaced and that's why he addressed the parliament." Al-Bolani, however, told The Associated Press he was unaware of any cabinet reshuffle. Some ministries expected to be affected include the health, transport and justice ministries. The first set of changes in al-Maliki's cabinet will include the service ministries, followed shortly afterward by security ministries — which are among the most important as bloody sectarian clashes threaten to unravel the country. Sheik Mahid Mualla, a cleric from the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's biggest Shiite party, said upcoming changes are necessary for the country to survive. "The success of these is the success of the government," Mualla said.

Rumors circulate of a possible coup attempt in Iraq. Excerpt:

By Joshua Partlow and Saad Sarhan Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, July 29, 2006; Page A13 BAGHDAD, July 28 -- A Shiite Muslim political leader said Friday that rumors were circulating of an impending coup attempt against the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and warned that "we will not allow it." Hadi al-Amiri, a member of parliament from Iraq's most powerful political party, said in a speech in the holy city of Najaf that "some tongues" were talking about toppling Maliki's Shiite-led government and replacing it with a "national salvation government, which we call a military coup government." He did not detail the allegation. A new government would mean "canceling the constitution, canceling the results of the elections and going back to square one . . . and we will not accept that," he said. Amiri is also a top official in the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is the leading member of a coalition of Shiite political parties governing Iraq.

U.S. troops in Iraq suffering from kidney stones due to excessive Gatorade consumption. Command Sgt. Major Lawrence A. Hall of the 1st Squadron, 167th Cavalry, is restricting Gatorade consumption at Camp Anaconda. A secondary benefit -- "Cutting back on the amount of Gatorade also means fewer convoys on the highways bringing the stuff in and, as a result, fewer people dying from roadside bomb attacks.." You can't make this stuff up -- C NOTE: As many people have noted, the Lebanon war has drawn attention away from Iraq. We want to make sure we stay focused on our mission. However, for a comprehensive update and analysis of the situation in Lebanon, I recommend Juan Cole's post today. There's no need for me to reinvent it. -- C QUOTE OF THE DAY In 2004, Mr. Lieberman praised Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for expressing regret about Abu Ghraib, then added: “I cannot help but say, however, that those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on September 11th, 2001, never apologized.” To suggest even rhetorically that the American military could be held to the same standard of behavior as terrorists is outrageous, and a good example of how avidly the senator has adopted the Bush spin and helped the administration avoid accounting for Abu Ghraib. . . . If Mr. Lieberman had once stood up and taken the lead in saying that there were some places a president had no right to take his country even during a time of war, neither he nor this page would be where we are today. But by suggesting that there is no principled space for that kind of opposition, he has forfeited his role as a conscience of his party, and has forfeited our support. Believe it or not, The New York Times.

DAILY WAR NEWS FOR SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2006 Photo: Hassen Abdula holds his daughter Yakim, 2, as he mourns the death of his two sons killed in a rocket attack on their apartment building, Thursday, July 27, 2006, in a Shiite controlled area of Baghdad, Iraq. A mortar barrage followed. "We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation."

Abu Sayda

In the village of Abu Sayda, near the northeastern city of Baqubah, Iraqi police battled unidentified gunmen throughout the day Saturday. Witnesses said the attackers first destroyed the village's Shiite mosque with several bombs, then fought off attempts by police to apprehend them.

Anbar Province

Four Marines were killed Thursday in unspecified "enemy action" in the western province of Anbar. The names of the four Marines — three assigned to the Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, and one from Regimental Combat Team 5 — were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Baghdad

Armed men in two cars sprayed gunfire at the Muhammad Rassulluallah mosque shattering windows and damaging walls. An hour later gunmen stormed the nearby Ashra al-Mubashara mosque, fleeing when police arrived.

Two roadside bombs in different parts of Baghdad city center killed three people and wounded 16 on Saturday morning.

A US sailor assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Eight, serving with Multinational Corps Iraq in Baghdad, died after ordnance exploded during a disposal operation. Six people, including three policemen, were wounded by a roadside bomb near a police patrol in Baghdad’s northern Waziriya district.

Iraqi security forces said they had arrested over 60 suspected insurgents in different parts of Iraq in the last 24 hours. One policeman was killed during the raids.

Iraqi forces captured a foreign fighter on Thursday in a raid on the Abu Ghraib district in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The statement did not say what nationality the fighter carried.

A grenade attack wounded 12 people as they queued for temporary labour work in central Baghdad.

Baiji

One policeman was killed and another wounded when gunmen opened fire in a drive-by shooting on their patrol in the oil refinery city of Baiji.

Baquba

Gunmen opened fire at two brothers in south of Baquba, killing one of them and wounding the other.

Gunmen kidnapped a man in the busy market of Baquba and seriously wounded another, while another local resident, Hassan Humoud, was also kidnapped in the city by a group of gunmen.

Diwaniyah

American troops clashed Saturday with gunmen of the Mahdi Army militia, loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad. Seven militiamen were wounded but a local militia leader sought by the Americans escaped, police said.

Seven police were wounded in a joint U.S. and Iraqi raid against members of the Mehdi Army, a powerful militia loyal to Shi'ite firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr. The incident took place in the town of Diwaniya.

(These reports appear to describe the same incident but note that who was wounded is different. Go figure.)

Diyala Province

Suspected Sunni radicals planted a bomb in a small Shiite shrine in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, destroying it.

Unknown gunmen on Saturday killed two people, wounded two others and kidnapped two more in separate incidents in Diyala province in northeast Baghdad.

Karbala

Gunmen assassinated the western regional commander of the Iraqi Border Protection Force, Brig. Gen. Jawad Hadi al-Selawi, in Karbala.

Kirkuk

Iraqis waiting in a long line of cars to buy gasoline in Kirkuk were hit by a car bomb Saturday afternoon. The bomb detonated about 2:30 p.m., killing four people and wounding 13.

A car bomb in northern Kirkuk killed one and wounded three in a neighbourhood popular with oil industry workers.

Maqdadiyah

Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi army soldier in Maqdadiyah.

Mosul

A minibus driver was killed when three gunmen in a car opened fire on him in southeastern Mosul.

Musayyib

The U.S. military provided more information about a clash with Shiite militiamen Sunday in Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad. U.S. troops, along with Iraqi soldiers and police, killed 33 insurgents in the daylong battle, the U.S. military said in a statement. The U.S. troops came under gunfire and "rocket-propelled attack" when they entered the downtown area and responded with the assistance of Apache helicopters and Abrams tanks.

Najaf

An Iraqi soldier shot dead a policeman after an argument at a checkpoint in Najaf.

Qaim

A suicide bicycle bomber hurt two policemen when he blew himself up at their checkpoint near Qaim, in western Anbar on the Syrian border. The bomber died.

Tikrit

A woman was killed and two others wounded when a mortar hit a house in the small town of al-Alam, near Tikrit.

Samarra

A Sunni cleric from a tribe opposed to al-Qaeda was killed while driving in Samarra.

There was an explosion on an oil pipeline near Samarra.

Suwayrah

In the Shiite town of Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, Mayor Hussein Mohammed al-Ghurabi, said Saturday that more than 500 armed Sunnis had gathered in a nearby village and were firing on his town daily.

Police said they pulled two headless corpses wearing military uniform from the Tigris river in the town of Suwayra.

Death threat: Iraq's national soccer coach has resigned after receiving death threats against him and his family, a top sporting official said yesterday.

Troop increase: The U.S. command announced Saturday that it was sending 3,700 troops to Baghdad to try to quell the sectarian violence sweeping the capital, and a U.S. official said more American soldiers would follow as the military gears up to take the streets from gunmen.

The 172nd Stryker Brigade, which had been due to return home after a year in Iraq, will bring quick-moving, light-armored vehicles to patrol this sprawling city of 6 million people, hoping security forces respond faster to the tit-for-tat killings by Shiite militias and Sunni Arab insurgents.

Tour extensions: The tours of 4,000 American soldiers who had been scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks have been extended for up to four months, signaling that there would almost certainly be no significant troop pullout before the year’s end, military officials and analysts said Saturday.

The new security plan allows almost no room for significant troop withdrawals by the end of 2006, Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in an interview on Saturday.

If any troop pullout takes place in the coming months, “it would be so cosmetic that it would be meaningless,” he said. “It would be statistical gamesmanship.”

“People are now talking about 2009 as the goal for achieving really serious security,” he added.

Reassurance: Pentagon officials have said plans call for adding military police, armored vehicles and tanks to the streets of the capital to work alongside Iraq's U.S.-trained police and army units. Those units are heavily Shiite, and the presence of Americans is intended to assure Sunnis that the Iraqi forces are not Shiite death squads in uniform.

U.S. and British officials have said Iraqi units, especially the police, have been infiltrated by Shiite militias and have lost the confidence of many Iraqi civilians.

However, the strategy also risks further discrediting Iraqi forces, affecting their morale and making Americans more vulnerable to attack. U.S. casualties have eased in recent months as Americans handed over more security responsibility to the Iraqis and assumed a support role.

But the bitterness of the sectarian conflict and the high stakes at play have proven too much for the Iraqi force in the capital. The surge in attacks also pointed to the failure of al-Maliki's security plan for Baghdad, unveiled with great fanfare last month.

Calmer in Baghdad – we’ll see what happens elsewhere this week: Heavily armed American troops have returned to some of the most violent areas of Baghdad, patrolling the streets and setting up checkpoints in an attempt to regain control of the city and quell increasing sectarian violence.

Their return sparked fierce criticism from opposition leaders but was welcomed by many ordinary Iraqis desperate for peace after months of murderous violence between rival militias.

Yesterday proved to be one of the most peaceful days in months with no deaths reported in the capital by late afternoon, although two Sunni mosques were raked by gunfire which injured a guard. In contrast, an average of 100 people have been dying in sectarian attacks every day in Baghdad.

Another $5 billion down the rathole: Appearing with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki earlier this week, President Bush vowed to provide more equipment to Iraq's security forces. There are no specifics yet, but defense analysts say the forces are woefully under-equipped. Aside from concerns that the United States could be equipping a civil war, the cost is substantial.

Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey says the Iraqis need about 2,000 armored Humvees, 2,000 M-113 armored vehicles, 120 Blackhawk transport vehicles, and 24 C-130 transport planes. McCaffrey says the cost -- an estimated $5 billion -- has both Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Office of Management and Budget concerned.

Team Shiite objects: One of Iraq's most influential Shiite leaders rejected the use of US forces to stabilize Iraq's security situation, as the Pentagon announced an increase in troop numbers.

Abdel Aziz Hakim told a rally in the holy city of Najaf that Iraqis should handle their own security, despite the mounting death toll in Baghdad, which is in the grip of a dirty war between rival Sunni and Shiite death squads.

Coup talk: A Shiite Muslim political leader said Friday that rumors were circulating of an impending coup attempt against the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and warned that "we will not allow it."

Hadi al-Amiri, a member of parliament from Iraq's most powerful political party, said in a speech in the holy city of Najaf that "some tongues" were talking about toppling al-Maliki's Shiite-led government and replacing it with a "national salvation government, which we call a military coup government." He did not detail the allegation.

A new government would mean "canceling the constitution, canceling the results of the elections and going back to square one ... and we will not accept that," he said. Al-Amiri is also a top official in the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is the leading member of a coalition of Shiite political parties governing Iraq.

Life In Iraq

Death in the morgue: As violence in the Iraqi capital continues to rise, the task of tracking down missing people here has become a grim ordeal. Iraq’s anemic investigative agencies have been ill-equipped to keep up with soaring crime, so for families seeking information, the morgues have often provided the only certainty.

Now, even the morgues have become a source of danger, at least for Sunni Arabs. In recent months, Shiite militias have been staking out Baghdad’s central morgue in particular, and the authorities have received dozens of reports of kidnappings and killings of Sunni Arabs there.

Many Sunnis now refuse to go there to look for missing family members and are forced to take extraordinary measures to recover a relative’s body, including sending Shiite friends in their stead.

Sickening uncertainty: The violence here is mercurial and episodic. A politician is assassinated in a drive-by shooting. Several men are pulled from a bus and are later found floating in the Tigris River with bullets in their heads. Militiamen clash with government forces in a running battle through a residential block. A suicide bomber walks into a mosque and wipes out the congregation.

It can strike inside the fortified Green Zone or out, against the rich and the poor, in darkness or daylight. Its motivation might be sectarian, or it might be simple greed or anger. It’s this randomness and ubiquity that makes it so insidious.

The constant threat has forced a redesign of the urban landscape. Neighborhoods have been carved up by concrete barriers and roadblocks, forcing residents to relearn how to get around town. Soldiers and the police are everywhere.

But the violence has reconfigured the emotional geography as well — and this is what Umm Hassan was saying. Iraqis live with the creeping, paralyzing dread that anything can happen at any time, and when it does, they will be powerless to stop it.

So they struggle to control their environment by limiting their movement, cutting off all but the most essential contact with other people and staying indoors. The space in which people believe they can safely operate shrinks with every attack, no matter where it occurs.

Bank robbers: The two armored vans left a branch of the Warka Bank on Thursday around noon, loaded with 1.191 billion dinars, or nearly $800,000. Almost immediately, on a busy street near the Baghdad zoo, the drivers spotted an oncoming Iraqi Army convoy, led by a shiny new Humvee. They followed standard procedure and pulled over.

But the convoy stopped, and an officer politely ordered the surprised drivers and guards to lay down their guns while his men searched the vans for bombs.

Within minutes all eight drivers and guards had been handcuffed and locked in the back of one of the vans on a suffocating 120-degree day, the cash had been stolen by the men in the convoy — whoever they were — and the Iraqi banking system marked another day of its slow slide into oblivion.

This Is Worrisome

Things could get a lot worse: Opposition parties in the parliament have given their full support to the Turkish Cabinet’s statement that “Turkey is going to make full use of its international rights to prevent terrorist attacks against the country.”

The Republican People's Party (CHP) said the decision may even be called a belated one, while the True Path Party (DYP) said they would fully support the government in a “cross-border operation.”

The Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) said Turkey should risk everything for the unity of the country.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) stated Turkey’s legitimate defense right is fully supported in international law, while the Great Union Party (BBP) announced Turkey should enter northern Iraq and eradicate terrorism by implementing permanent measures.

American Military

Priorities, priorities: A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified.

Bleu Copas, 30, told The Associated Press he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

An eight-month Army investigation culminated in Copas' honorable discharge on Jan. 30 -- less than four years after he enlisted, he said, out of a post-Sept. 11 sense of duty to his country.

We need to see a whole lot more of this: The youngest son of U.S. Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam and a vocal proponent of more American troops in Iraq, will soon report for duty in the Marine Corps, Time Magazine reported on Saturday.

Jimmy McCain, 18, will spend three months in boot camp in California this autumn and another month in specialized training.

Depending on his unit, the younger McCain could eventually wind up in Iraq where Marines have experienced heavy fighting, Time reported. Marines are also in combat in Afghanistan.

(McCain is an asshole but I honor his son’s service. As usual, though, the kicker is the very last paragraph in the article…)

The percentage of members of Congress with children serving in the military is only slightly above 1 percent. Sens. Christopher Bond, a Missouri Republican, and Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, have had sons serve combat missions in Iraq, Time said.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Shell game: The State Department agency in charge of $1.4 billion in reconstruction money in Iraq used an accounting shell game to hide ballooning cost overruns on its projects there and knowingly withheld information on schedule delays from Congress, a federal audit released late Friday has found.

The agency hid construction overruns by listing them as overhead or administrative costs, according to the audit, written by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent office that reports to Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department.

Called the United States Agency for International Development, or A.I.D., the agency administers foreign aid projects around the world. It has been working in Iraq on reconstruction since shortly after the 2003 invasion.

Overuns: The United States is dropping Bechtel, the American construction giant, from a project to build a high-tech children’s hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Basra after the project fell nearly a year behind schedule and exceeded its expected cost by as much as 150 percent.

Called the Basra Children’s Hospital, the project has been consistently championed by the first lady, Laura Bush, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and was designed to house sophisticated equipment for treating childhood cancer.

Now it becomes the latest in a series of American taxpayer-financed health projects in Iraq to face overruns, delays and cancellations. Earlier this year, the Army Corps of Engineers canceled more than $300 million in contracts held by Parsons, another American contractor, to build and refurbish hospitals and clinics across Iraq.

Readiness: Up to two-thirds of the Army's combat brigades are not ready for wartime missions, largely because they are hampered by equipment shortfalls, Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday, citing unclassified documents.

In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that "nearly every non-deployed combat brigade in the active Army is reporting that they are not ready" for combat. The figures, he said, represent an unacceptable risk to the nation.

Training: The father of a Wisconsin National Guard member killed in Iraq says a top military leader told him a team will be sent to talk with his son's fellow troops about his concerns that they didn't get adequate training or equipment. Stephen Castner from Cedarburg also tells The Associated Press that since he went public with his complaints, relatives of other Guard soldiers have been contacting him to say they heard the same reports. He says every one of them has said their sons told them the training had nothing to do with what's in Iraq. An Army official has defended the training, saying the unit was -- quote -- "trained to standard."

Mercenaries: * In addition to its ongoing assignments guarding American officials and facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, Blackwater has won contracts to combat the booming opium trade in Afghanistan and to support a SEAL-like maritime commando force in Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic.

* On the home front, Hurricane Katrina's $73 million purse has persuaded Blackwater officials to position themselves as the go-to guys for natural disasters. Operating licenses are being applied for in every coastal state of the country. Governors are being given the pitch, including California's Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom a Blackwater official recently visited to discuss earthquake response.

"We want to make sure they're aware of who we are and what we can bring to the table," said Seamus Flatley, deputy director of Blackwater's new domestic operations division. "We want to get out ahead of it."

* Last year, the company opened offices in Baghdad and Amman, Jordan. More recent expansion plans call for a Blackwater West in Southern California and a jungle training facility at the former Subic Bay naval base in the Philippines.

Image is already affecting the Philippines deal. News reports out of the area indicate strong local opposition, fueled by fears of an influx of "mercenaries." A Filipino senator says he intends to investigate accusations that Blackwater is recruiting his countrymen for security jobs in Iraq; the Filipino government forbids its citizens to work there.

Finally, Our Mideast Policy Is Articulated

War is good: At today’s press conference, NBC’s David Gregory noted that, three years ago, the Bush administration predicted that “the invasion of Iraq would create a new stage of Arab-Israeli peace,” but that hasn’t happened.

In response, President Bush proudly declared that American foreign policy no longer seeks to “manage calm,” and derided policies that let anger and resentment lie “beneath the surface.” Bush said that the violence in the Middle East was evidence of a more effective foreign policy that addresses “root causes.”

Domestic Affairs

Unprecedented divisions: No military conflict in modern times has divided Americans on partisan lines more than the war in Iraq, scholars and pollsters say — not even Vietnam. And those divisions are likely to intensify in what is expected to be a contentious fall election campaign.

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows what one expert describes as a continuing “chasm” between the way Republicans and Democrats see the war. Three-fourths of the Republicans, for example, said the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, while just 24 percent of the Democrats did. Independents split down the middle.

“The present divisions are quite without precedent,” said Ole R. Holsti, a professor of political science at Duke University and the author of “Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy.”

Spying on citizens: The American Civil Liberties Union released a compilation of covert government surveillance of war protesters and other political activists in California, decrying it as evidence of a "greater expansion of government power and the abuse of power" since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The ACLU's Northern California branch said the findings show oversight of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies is too weak and called for the state to create a new watchdog over their activities.

War crimes: An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.

Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism fight new protections against prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996. That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment.

Language in the administration's draft…seeks to protect U.S. personnel by ruling out detainee lawsuits to enforce Geneva protections and by incorporating language making U.S. enforcement of the War Crimes Act subject to U.S. -- not foreign -- understandings of what the Conventions require.

The aim, Justice Department lawyers say, is also to take advantage of U.S. legal precedents that limit sanctions to conduct that "shocks the conscience." This phrase allows some consideration by courts of the context in which abusive treatment occurs, such as an urgent need for information, the lawyers say -- even though the Geneva prohibitions are absolute.

Secret prisons: A United Nations human rights body told Washington on Friday that any "secret detention" centers for terrorism suspects it operated abroad violated international law and should be shut immediately.

Saying it had "credible and uncontested" reports of such jails, the U.N. Human Rights Committee said the United States appeared to have been detaining people "secretly and in secret places for months and years".

"The state party should immediately abolish all secret detention," it said, echoing a similar demand in May by the U.N. Committee Against Torture.

Commentary

Michael Hirsh: Reading "Fiasco," Thomas Ricks's devastating new book about the Iraq war, brought back memories for me. Memories of going on night raids in Samarra in January 2004, in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, with the Fourth Infantry Division units that Ricks describes. During these raids, confused young Americans would burst into Iraqi homes, overturn beds, dump out drawers, and summarily arrest all military-age men—actions that made them unwitting recruits for the insurgency. For American soldiers battling the resistance throughout Iraq, the unspoken rule was that all Iraqis were guilty until proven innocent. Arrests, beatings and sometimes killings were arbitrary, often based on the flimsiest intelligence, and Iraqis had no recourse whatever to justice. Imagine the sense of helpless rage that emerges from this sort of treatment. Apply three years of it and you have one furious, traumatized population. And a country out of control.

As most U.S. military experts now acknowledge, these tactics violated the most basic principles of counterinsurgency, which require winning over the local population, thus depriving the bad guys of a base of support within which to hide. Such rules were apparently unknown to the 4th ID commander, Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno. The general is a particular and deserving target of Ricks's book, which is perhaps the most exhaustive account to date of all that went wrong with Iraq. Nonetheless—according to that iron law of the Bush administration under which incompetence is rewarded with promotion, as long as it is accompanied by loyalty—Odierno will soon be returning to Iraq as America's No. 2 commander there, the man who will oversee day-to-day military operations.

David Sirota: Maliki's government cannot protect Iraqis from their own neighbors, so he is looking to Bush to be his nation's cop-on-the-beat. But can the US military be an effective police force in a society increasingly plagued by sectarian violence that has little, if anything, to do with the fight against al Qaeda and Islamic jihadism? Maliki's own government is even part of the problem. Death squads connected to the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry have been lead players in the current killing spree. If Maliki cannot control these elements, how can the US military? (In his speech to the US Congress, Maliki didn't address the knotty matter of the government-linked death squads. He briefly referred to "armed militias" but claimed that the rule of law and human rights are "flourishing" in Iraq.)

Sunni leaders--who once called for US forces to quit Iraq right away--now fear the ascendancy of Shiite killing squads so much that they have quieted their demands for a US withdrawal, fearing such a move would leave the Shiite militias even more unfettered. But should the United States remain in Iraq in response to such concerns? If so, US troops would be risking and sacrificing their lives to assist a government that is tied to death squads in order to prevent (Sunni) opponents of the leading (Shiite) bloc of that government from being killed by (Shiite) supporters of that leading bloc. Yes, politics in the Middle East have always been notoriously complicated and Byzantine. How many books--or intelligence reports--has Bush read about the intricacies of Arabic culture, history and politics?

Bush, all too obviously, has no good ideas how to navigate these shoals--which may not be navigable. After saying that more troops would be deployed to Baghdad, Bush was asked by an Iraqi reporter what could be done to improve the security situation in Baghdad. "There needs to be more forces inside Baghdad who are willing to hold people to account," he replied. "In other words if you find somebody who's kidnapping and murdering, the murderer ought to be held to account. And it ought to be clear in society that that kind of behavior is not tolerated....We ought to be saying that, if you murder, you're responsible for your actions. And I think the Iraqi people appreciate that type of attitude."

In other words, just say no to killing. That's not much of a plan.

Brian E. Fogarty: Imagine this situation: Your country has had a military setback in a war that was supposed to be over after a few months of "shock and awe." Because of that war, it has lost the goodwill and prestige of much of the international community.

The national debt has grown to staggering size. Citizens complain bitterly about the government, especially the legislative branch, for being a bunch of do-nothings working solely for themselves or for special interest groups. In fact, the political scene has pretty much lost its center -- moderates are attacked by all sides as the political discourse becomes a clamor of increasingly extreme positions.

It seems there are election campaigns going on all the time, and they are increasingly vicious. The politicians just want to argue about moral issues -- sexuality, decadent art, the crumbling family and the like -- while pragmatic matters of governance seem neglected.

Sound familiar? That society was Germany of the 1920s -- the ill-fated Weimar Republic. But it also describes more and more the political climate in America today.

Glenn Greenwald: For almost two years now, polls have continuously shown (.pdf) that a solid majority of Americans opposes the war in Iraq — the signature policy of the Bush administration and its followers — and believes it was a mistake. But a new analysis of Gallup poll data reveals that opposition to the war isn’t just substantial, but is greater than it was for the Korean War, and roughly equal to the opposition Americans expressed towards the Vietnam War even as late as 1970:

An analysis released today by Frank Newport, director of The Gallup Poll, shows that current public wishes for U.S. policy in the Iraq war eerily echo attitudes about the Vietnam war in 1970. The most recent Gallup poll this month found that 52% of adult Americans want to see all U.S. troops out of Iraq within a year, with 19% advocating immediate withdrawal. In the summer of 1970, Gallup found that 48% wanted a pullout within a year, with 23% embracing the “immediate” option. Just 7% want to send more troops now, vs. 10% then.

At present, 56% call the decision to invade Iraq a “mistake,” with 41% disagreeing. Again this echoes the view of the Vietnam war in 1970, when that exact same number, 56%, in May 1970 called it a mistake in a Gallup poll.

Polling data such as this conclusively demonstrates — in a way that even the national media can no longer ignore — just how dishonest and corrupt has been the favorite tactic of pro-war Bush followers: namely, to depict their pro-war views as "mainstream," while even more loudly characterizing truly mainstream anti-war views as being fringe, radical and anti-American.

Andy Ostroy: As the need for a multi-nation peacekeeping force in Southern Lebanon becomes paramount towards finding an end to the violence there, the Pentagon has made it clear that U.S. forces are stretched so thin primarily from Iraq that we cannot, unlike in the past, send out troops to participate in this mission. "As far as boots on the ground, that doesn't seem to be in the cards," said John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. This position was echoed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: "I do not think that it is anticipated that U.S. ground forces . . . are expected for that force." That we need to rely on France, Turkey and other nations to go it alone without U.S. participation is a sad day for America in its role as the great super-power and defender of freedom. That we now also have to send even more troops to safeguard Baghdad, as announced earlier this week, is mind-numbing. As the Middle East is imploding, with terror organizations and the countries that sponsor them--Syria and Iran--tipping the balance of power, it's criminal that we are so handcuffed by Iraq, so drained by this debacle, that we cannot play a meaningful role in securing the region. I don't care what color your state is, every American should be outraged at the Bush administration for taking this nation down such as self-destructive and wasteful path. That we're now subjected to the constant cable news images of an impotent United States, with a tired, frustrated Rice with her head in her hands trying to blow smoke up the world's ass while it contributes nothing diplomatically or militarily, is an utter disgrace and an embarrassment. We're the United States of America, for crap's sake, and we're coming off dazed and confused and powerless. It's especially infuriating as we compare America's stature and influence in the world today to that of the FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy days. In the eyes of the world, and on the political, diplomatic and military stage, America's become a sad joke. And we can thank our court jester Bush for that.

tristero: Dear Liberal Hawks and other fence sitters from 2002/2003 (you know who you are), Don't even think about a "thoughtful, measured response" to this bullshit.

President Bush proudly declared that American foreign policy no longer seeks to “manage calm,” and derided policies that let anger and resentment lie “beneath the surface.” Bush said that the violence in the Middle East was evidence of a more effective foreign policy that addresses “root causes.”

This is sheer, abject lunacy of the sort that imagined the invasion of Iraq would lead to city squares in Iraq named after George W. Bush and the invasion would pay for itself out of oil revenues. The only appropriate reaction is to very loudly proclaim this is the reasoning of madmen. No rational human being thinks like this.

Andrew Greeley: What is the worth of a single Iraqi life?

The New York Times reported that during recent months a hundred Iraqis die violently every day, 3,000 every month. In terms of size of population, that is the equivalent of 300,000 Americans a month, 10,000 every day. Yet the typical television clip on the evening news -- an explosion, automatic weapon fire, dead bodies on the streets -- has become as much a cliche as the weather report or another loss by the Cubs. The dead Iraqis are of no more value to us than artificial humans in video games. The Iraqis seem less than human, pajama-wearing people with dark skin, hate in their eyes, and a weird religion, screaming in pain over their losses. Weep with them, weep for them?

Why bother?

Rarely do Americans tell themselves that the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, is responsible for this slaughter. In a spasm of arrogance and power, we destroyed their political and social structure and are now unable to protect them from one another. Their blood is on the hands of our leaders who launched a war on false premises, without adequate forces, without plans for the time after the war and then sent in inept administrators who could not provide even a hint of adequate public services.

…

The hundred who die every day are not merely numbers, they are real human beings. Their deaths are personal disasters for the dead person and also for all those who love them: parents, children, wives, husbands. Most Americans are not outraged. Iraqis are a little less than human. If a hundred people were dying every day in our neighborhoods, we would scream in outrage and horror. Not many of us are lamenting these daily tragedies. Quite the contrary, we wish the newscast would go on to the weather for the next weekend.

Is blood on the hands of those Americans who support the war? Again, one must leave them to heaven. But in the objective order it is difficult to see why they are not responsible for the mass murders. They permitted their leaders to deceive them about the war, often enthusiastically. How can they watch the continuing murders in Iraq and not feel guilty?

How would you feel if the street were drenched with the blood of your son or daughter, if your father was in the hospital with his legs blown off?

We cannot permit ourselves to grieve for Iraqi pain because then we would weep bitter and guilty tears every day.

Award Received

His family in the Midwest never doubted that R.J. Mitchell II would do whatever was necessary to protect his fellow Marines in Iraq. "We were concerned about him, of course, but we always knew he'd take care of himself and the men under him," said Bill Raiser of Lamoni, Iowa, Mitchell's maternal grandfather. Just how well Mitchell took care of his men as a squad leader with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment will be recognized here Friday as he receives the Navy Cross for heroism during the vicious house-to-house fighting in Fallouja in 2004.

Casualty Reports

A 21-year-old Ohio Marine killed in Iraq had planned to return on leave in October to see his daughter, born two weeks ago, for the first time, family members said.

Cpl. Timothy Roos of Delhi Township in suburban Cincinnati was killed Thursday in Ramadi, said his father, Rick.

Family members laid to rest on Saturday a Marine who died in combat earlier this month in one of Iraq's most volatile regions.

Cpl. Julian A. Ramon of Queens was killed July 20 while in the Anbar province, west of Baghdad. He was on his second tour of duty and was due to return home in September. Military officials told his family he had died in an explosion.

A sailor from Towson has died in Iraq after ordnance exploded during a disposal operation, the Pentagon said. Petty Officer 2nd Class Edward A. Koth died July 26 at Camp Victory in Iraq, the military said. Koth, 30, was assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Eight, serving with Multinational Corps Iraq in Baghdad.

Saturday morning residents of Ruckersville gathered at William Monroe High School to pay tribute a fallen hero. Adam Fargo was stationed in Iraq when he was killed last week and community members took part in a memorial celebration remembering one of their own.

WAR NEWS FOR SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2006 (PART ONE) Note to Readers: Due to scheduling conflicts and Blogger related problems, Saturday’s regular post will not be up until very early Sunday morning for our European readers or very late Saturday for those of you in the States. In the meantime here’s something to chew on: SCORECARD Iraq – Security Approximate number of U.S. troops currently in Iraq: 126,900 Percent of coalition forces contributed by the U.S.: 86 Approximate amount appropriated by Congress for Iraq operations so far (including funding authorized by the Fiscal Year 2006 Emergency Supplemental): $320 billion Approximate amount spent by the U.S. in World War I (in inflation-adjusted dollars): $205 billion Approximate amount the U.S. is spending in Iraq per month in Fiscal Year 2006 (including operational and investment costs): $8.1 billion Approximate amount the U.S. spent in Iraq per month in Fiscal Year 2003 (including operational and investment costs): $4.4 billion Number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq: 2,547 Number reported wounded by the Defense Department: 18,988 Number of National Guard soldiers killed in Iraq through July 1, 2006: 364 Number of National Guard soldiers killed in the entire Vietnam War: 97 Number of Iraqi military and police killed since training began (June 2003): 4,898 Number of journalists killed in Iraq: 74 Number of journalists killed in Vietnam: 63 Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq (November 2003): 5,000 Estimated number of insurgents in Iraq (June 2006): 20,000 + Estimated number of foreign fighters in Iraq in May 2003: 100 Estimated number of foreign fighters in Iraq in May 2006: 1,500 Number of civilian casualties in Iraq since U.S.-led invasion: 20,600 – 37,200 Estimated number of 88 Iraqi military battalions that are capable of operating independently: 0 Number of multi-fatality bombings in June 2004: 9 Number of multi-fatality bombings in June 2006: 57 Average number of daily attacks by insurgents in June 2004: 45 Average number of daily attacks by insurgents in June 2006: 90 Iraq – Political Amount requested by the President in his Fiscal Year 2007 budget for democracy promotion in Iraq: 0 Percent of Iraqis who say they are optimistic about their future: 30 percent According to a recent World Public Opinion poll, percent of Iraqis who approve of a timeline for U.S. withdrawal: 70 percent Degree of corruption in Iraq on the Transparency International 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index (on a scale of 0-10, with 0 representing “highly corrupt” and 10 representing “highly clean”): 2.2 Number of corruption cases that have been filed since the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity was established in 2004: 1,400 Approximate number of Iraqi families internally displaced as of February 2006 (prior to February 22 bombing of Shiite shrine in Samarra): 3,000 Approximate number of Iraqi families internally displaced as of June 2006, according to Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration: 21,731 or 130,386 people Number of Iraqi civilians killed in May, according to data from the Iraqi Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue: 2,669 Number of Iraqi civilians killed in June, according to data from the Iraqi Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue: 3,149 Civilian death toll in Iraq in June 2006: 100 per day Rank of Iraq in Minority Rights Group International’s list of peoples most under threat from persecution, discrimination, and mass killing: 1 The number of passports issued in the past ten months, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees: 2 million Percent of Iraq’s professional class that has left the country since late 2003: 40 percent Iraq – Reconstruction Amount of the $13.5 billion pledged by the international community for Iraq’s reconstruction that has been dispersed (as of March 2006): $3.5 billion Amount of taxpayer money spent by Halliburton that the Defense Contract Audit Agency has deemed either excessive or insufficiently documented: $1.47 billion Amount of Iraqi reconstruction funds the military has failed to account for (according to the Defense Department’s inspector general): $8.8 billion Amount, of the $20.9 billion appropriated for the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF), that the U.S. has spent as of July 2006: $14.9 billion Percent of Iraq reconstruction funds used for security: 25 Number of days before all funding will be obligated and no new work orders will be allowed under the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund: 71 Anticipated reconstruction gap (difference between estimates of what is needed to rebuild and what the international community has pledged in aid) that the new Iraqi government will face: $18-28 billion Percent decline in Iraq’s GDP in 2005: 3 Average oil output for 2006 (barrels per day): 2.0 million Average oil output prior to invasion (barrels per day): 2.5 million Bush Administration’s prewar projections of Iraq’s post-war oil output (barrels per day): 3 million Average oil output for 2005 (barrels per day): 1.83 million Iraq’s lost oil revenues in 2005: $6.25 billion Percent of Iraq’s economy represented by oil revenues: 94 Amount U.S. taxpayers have invested in Iraq’s oil industry reconstruction: $2 billion Approximate number of guards who actually were trained in protecting Iraq’s oil equipment, of the 21,000 originally targeted: 11,000 Electricity capacity in Iraq (in megawatts) prior to invasion (March 2003): 4,500 Electricity capacity in Iraq (in megawatts) in July 2006: 4,200 Approximate amount U.S. taxpayers have invested in Iraq’s electricity sector: $5 billion Percent of Iraqis who had access to sewer service prior to invasion: 24 Percent of Iraqis who had access to sewer service in February 2006: 20 Number of Iraqis who had access to potable water before invasion: 13 million Number of Iraqis who have access to potable water, according to the April 2006 SIGIR report: 8 million Number of the planned 142 health care clinics that actually will be completed under the Army Corps of Engineers $243 million program: 20 Number of the planned 136 sanitation and water projects that will be completed: 49 Number of Iraqi physicians registered prior to the invasion: 34,000 Number of Iraqi physicians who have been murdered or fled the country since the invasion: 14,000 Infant mortality rate in Iraq: (Middle East average is 37, sub-Saharan Africa average is 105): 102 Terrorism Days since September 11, 2001 that Osama bin Laden has remained uncaptured: 1,772 Days after bombing Pearl Harbor that Japan surrendered to U.S. forces: 1,365 Number of significant global terrorist attacks reported by the State Department in 2003: 175 Total number of worldwide global terrorist attacks reported by the U.S. Government’s National Counterterrorism Center in 2004: 3,194 Total number of worldwide global terrorist attacks reported by the U.S. Government’s National Counterterrorism Center in 2005: 11,111 Percentage of total worldwide suicide attacks that have occurred since 9/11: 81 percent Percent of more than 100 of America’s top foreign policy experts (bipartisan group) who say the U.S. is not winning the war on terror: 84 percent Percent of those experts who believe that Bush Administration policies are undermining the war on terror: 81 percent Rank of Iraq on the “failed states” index: 4 Rank of Afghanistan on the “failed states” index: 10 Rank of Iraq among all nations as a training ground for terrorists: 1 Percent of top FBI jobs in the Washington area that currently are vacant (including counter-terrorism experts): 20 Percentage of respondents in a recent Financial Times/Harris poll conducted in Spain, the UK, France, Germany, and Italy who identified the U.S. as the greatest threat to global stability: 36 percent