Today in Iraq

DAILY WAR NEWS FOR TUESDAY, March 20, 2007

Photo: A man looks through a hole of a bulletproof Humvee window in the Baiyaa neighborhood in western Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 20, 2007. A U.S. military convoy was hit by a road side bomb, according to eyewitnesses and casualties were evacuated by a helicopter. (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin) (See below)

A roadside bomb detonated near a passing U.S. convoy on the Jadriyah bridge in southern Baghdad, damaging a U.S. Humvee, killing and wounding the soldiers aboard," a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. A witness at the scene, Ghassan Ali, said he saw a U.S. Humvee caught fire while the U.S. troops blocked the roads and cordoned off the area. "Two U.S. helicopters landed at the scene to evacuate the casualty," he added.

Bring 'em on: The DoD has announced a new death, one that does not appear to have been previously reported by CENTCOM. According to them, Specialist Marieo Guerrero, 30, of Fort Worth, Texas, was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Saturday, March 17th. His unit, the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division is currently attached to the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad. They are believed to be based out of FOB Prosperity in central Baghdad. No currently known death would seem to match this one.

OTHER SECURITY INCIDENTS

Baghdad:

A parked car bomb exploded near a main bus station in central Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 18, police said.

A suicide car bomber drove his vehicle into an Iraq army checkpoint in a neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding another, police said.

A roadside bomb struck the area about five minutes later but caused no casualties.

A car bomb exploded in a tunnel in downtown Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding seven others, police said.

Seven civilians were wounded in two separate attacks in southeastern Baghdad.

Mortars in southeastern Baghdad wounded another four.

A mortar round landed on a residential district and wounded a man in Zaafaraniya district, south of Baghdad, police said

Late Monday, U.S. and Iraqi troops engaged in a major operation as part of a security crackdown in the volatile Hurriyah neighborhood in northern Baghdad, state television said. Witnesses said many people were reported holed up in two Shiite mosques, surrounded by U.S. forces. The state-run Iraqiya network said six civilians had been killed. The U.S. military did not comment on the reports.

Mortar rounds wounded five people on Monday just north of Baghdad, police said.

A bomb in a mini bus wounded four people in eastern Baghdad, police said.

Police said they found bodies of 30 people shot on Monday in different districts of Baghdad.

Two Iraqis were killed and six others were wounded in a roadside car bomb in a commercial complex in the Karada district, an Iraqi police source said

Four mortar bombs killed at least seven and wounded 20 in Abu Dsheer, a Shi'ite majority area, south of Baghdad, police said

A car bomb near a mosque killed a man and wounded three others in al-Ubaidi district in eastern Baghdad, police said

Hilla:

A woman and her child were wounded in a mortar attack on a residential neighborhood north of Hilla, a source from the Babel police command said on Tuesday.

Al Zab:

Gunmen killed a man and wounded another in the town of al-Zab, 70 km (40 miles) south west of Kirkuk, police said.

Kirkuk:

Seven civilians were wounded in a car bomb late on Monday evening, a police source in Kirkuk said on Tuesday. "The explosion occurred in the area of Tisaeen near a complex of schools," the source, who is from the Kirkuk police command's joint operations room, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq.

Police said they found the body of a policeman, stabbed with a knife and bore signs of torture, in Kirkuk.

Gunmen killed a policeman on a main road near the city of Kirkuk, police said.

Al Anbar Prv:

Police found the body of a man with gunshot wounds in the Sunni stronghold of Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

Police and tribal fighters killed 39 gunmen linked to al-Qaeda in the town of Amiriya, some 5 km (3 miles) south of Falluja, Ahmed al-Dulaimi, Ramadi governor's office director, said. He said nine tribal fighters and eight policemen were killed and 17 wounded in the clashes. Doctor Abdul Sattar al-Esawi said that Falluja hospital received 17 bodies, including eight policemen and 16 wounded, three in serious condition.

In Country:

Iraqi army soldiers killed three insurgents and arrested 101 others during the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

>> REPORTS

Small Israeli pilotless planes are gathering intelligence for US-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the manufacturer in a statement on Monday. Elbit Systems, one of Israel's leading defence electronics companies, said the little "Skylark" can be carried and operated by a single soldier, covering an area within a range of 10km day or night, said the company.

>> COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Felicity Arbuthnot: THE IDES OF MARCH

'Beware the ides of March', is said as a warning of impending and certain danger. Since it is from Plutarch, referring to a warning to Julius Caesar, it is unlikely to have influenced George W.Bush's 'shock and awe' decision to invade Iraq in March, since literature is not his forte. (Unless you count 'My Pet Goat'.)

For Iraq though, March brings not alone the fourth anniversary of the illegal US led invasion, monumental destruction of life, all societal structures, history, the National Museum, libraries of ancient manuscripts, all records from educational qualifications to medical reports, births, deaths and marriages and never ending death and trauma beyond imagination, but the memory of the 1991 'turkey shoot' on the Basra Road and the US encouraged uprisings in the south and north - then bloodily put down - with US assistance. March marked the beginning of the forty day period of mourning for the thousands of retreating conscripts and civilian families incinerated in their vehicles, when B52's bombed the front and back of the sixty mile convoy, then relentlessly bombed the rest 'like sitting ducks', as one pilot explained.

At least 'fifteen hundred tanks, armoured vehicles, jeeps, water and fuel tankers, ambulances, firetrucks, tractor trailors, buses and civilian vehicles and passenger cars ... some flying white flags' were 'pounded for hours' with anti-personel bombs 'and finally finished off with devastating B52 bombing runs'. It is thought that thousands were crushed, or incinerated in their vehicles. Windscreens and humanity melted. As the William Tell overture and the Lone Ranger theme, blasted out on the USS Ranger, 'planes reloaded and reloaded, returning to hit the convoy again and again, dropping everything from cluster bombs to five hundred pound bombs 'like sharks in a feeding frenzy'.

US Air Force planes from Saudia Arabia 'raced north to join in the fun'. There was so much air traffic involved in the 'frenzy' that the 'killing box' had to be divided up by air traffic controllers to prevent aircraft colliding. 'I think we're past the point of letting (Hussein) get in his tanks and drive them back to Iraq ....' a US pilot said, adding: 'I feel fairly punitive about it.' Saddam Hussein, in whose name the United Nations denied medicines, food, pencils and even blackboards since he would personally misuse them, was now apparently capable of driving sixty miles of vehicles, single handedly. (…)

The Iraqi pull out from Kuwait began on 26th February 1991, the ceasefire was signed on the 28th February. On 2nd March 1991, the US 24th Mechanised Division slaughtered thousands more Iraqi soldiers, an action approved by General Norman Schwatzkopf (who famously remarked: 'no one left to kill'. His autobiography is 'It doesn't take a Hero'. Indeed.) 'We really waxed them', said one Commander. Another American was recorded saying 'Say hello to Allah', as his Hellfire missile obliterated a vehicle. 'Yee-hah', said another voice. There was an attempt to cover up the carnage of another vehicle strewn road, since: '..it didn't look good coming after the ceasefire.' (Ramsey Clark, The Fire this Time, Thunder's Mouth Press.) The then US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, had told Saddam Hussein that America had 'no view on Arab-Arab conflicts.' Hussein had consulted her on the possible invasion. Iraq accused Kuwait of slant-drilling into their Rumaila oil field across Kuwait's border, destabilising Iraq's currency and moving Kuwaiti settlements well into Iraqi territory.

One conscript who survived the horrors of the Basra Road, with the remnants of his unit, told me how they had walked the five hundred and fifty kilometres, through the destruction, by the body parts, home, to carpet bombed Baghdad, none knowing whether family or house had survived: 'We wanted to cry, but we had no tears left.' Eighty eight thousand five hundred tonnes of bombs had fallen on ancient Mesapotamia, which brought the world all we call civlized.

As the wickedness of George W.Bush and his war criminal Administration are marked, four years on from the illegal invasion and destruction of the 'cradle of civilisation', another George Bush and other criminal acts should also be remembered. He may have taken to crying publicly over his son, he should also look in the mirror. And on this March day another Minister in Iraq's legitimate government ('sovereignty and territorial integrity', guaranteed by the United Nations) is hanged at dawn, taking civilisation back five hundred years, under the blood-lust watch of America and Britain, in a further act of barbarism, we all should. The unspeakable sins of the son and his Whitehall lackey, are being perpetrated in our name.

read in full…

Malcom Lagauche: HUSAYN AL-KURDI ON THE BA’ATH PARTY, KURDS, AND THE CIA

Husayn al-Kurdi as an expert on Middle Eastern Affairs. He is the president of News International. Over the past two decades, Al-Kurdi has had hundreds of articles published on the Middle East.

ML: The current rewriting of history includes many "leftist" writers who opposed the Iraq invasion and criticize U.S. imperialism. However, they also condemn Saddam and say that he was put in power by the CIA. What’s your take on this?

HAK: I’ve read and read and can’t see where that’s true. What’s the source behind all these sources? There’s nothing at all.

The thing we heard is that the CIA gave Saddam a list of communists. Even I believed this at one time. But, that’s an absurdity because everybody in Iraq knew who the communists were. They were public figures as well. A lot of them were tormenting the people a long time ago. The Ba'ath Party did not need a goddamn list from the CIA to say who they were, where they were, or what had to be done about them. Go behind the sources and see what it’s actually based on. The source will fold before your very eyes, just like Curveball and all the stuff he was coming out with.

ML: Another fallacy the left mentions is that the U.S. supplied Iraq with much military equipment in the Iran-Iraq War, thus the CIA kept Saddam in power. In fact, Iraq only spent $200 million dollars with the U.S. for this time, mostly on helicopters. Its major suppliers were the Soviet Union and China, with whom Iraq spent billions. After 1990, the CIA/Saddam allegations took on a life of their own. How does this play into the myths now being written?

HAK: You are pointing out the general fact of the CIA’s activities toward Saddam and the Ba’ath. The version via the Kurds that no deal was ever good enough for them. Who put them up to it? Today, we know it was the CIA and Mossad working in tandem. (…)

ML: Contrary to be popularly-held belief that the U.S. inserted Saddam in power, could it really be that the CIA was trying to undermine Saddam and the Ba’ath Party from day one?

HAK: Between the CIA and the Mossad, we have to take that into account. There is an overlapping project that has been in effect since the 1950s.

I don’t remember the period of 1968 to 1973 as the CIA being supportive of the Ba’athists. They considered Iraq to be a frontline state against Israel and a part of the rejectionist front toward Israel and during that period the U.S. was not friendly toward Iraq. The U.S.’ biggest client at the time was Iran. Then, the U.S. signed off and had its own deal with Barzani to subvert Iraq. It was precisely in that time-frame they were carrying on their activities.

ML: In 1973, the Ba’athists committed an unpardonable act in the eyes of the U.S. They nationalized Iraqi oil. How does this affect the interplay?

HAK: You’re approaching an area where the bad guys have always had it in for Saddam and the Ba’ath. Pan-Arabism is something the Israelis and the U.S. will never play. Then, you have the matter of "threatening their (U.S.) intereests" as an excuse to commit aggression. Then you had an Arab country becoming too strong. Then you had Saddam refusing to knuckle under. He wanted to go his own way.

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Iraq forever: FOUR YEARS AGO…

On the fourth anniversary of the Occupation and the invasion of Iraq..

The Resistance will prevail and God's enemies are being and shall be defeated tomorrow! God's willing!

Today! after four years of the bloodthirsty US, pigs Brits, and pagan Iranian aggression against Iraq!

Four years ago.. we never thought that the aggression will end up into occupation!

And four years ago we never imagined that Baghdad will burn as it did .. Our beautiful Baghdad, will be plundered and looted as it did!

Four years ago we never ever though betrayal was so easy.. for some people!

And four years ago we never imagined that Nizar Qabbani's prophecy that Arabs have died has become true!

But..

Four years ago we never thought that in Iraq there was such a Resisting people and in such a volume and in such a strength!

And four years ago we fought only through orders from the government..

And four years ago, US weapons scared us ..

Four years ago the sacrifice for God and the homeland was not as much widespread and deepened and growing as is the case today!

Four years ago our leaders were known and distinguished through their ranks, their cars and their names..

While today our leaders are only distinguished through the level of their combat, sacrifice and martyrdom for God, honor and Iraqi immaculate soil!

Four years ago we never though that the US will be bled to this horrendous extend and that the bloodthirsty US invaders will get burnt in Baghdad' streets, gates and ramparts on the hands of the believers men .. Today we witness with our eyes proper.. how these US gangsters filthy corpses fly in the air like torn loo papers while they die and pee on themselves with fright and desperation in their hiding spiders' holes..

Four years ago we never thought that we will be able to defeat so fast the US with all its weapons ..Today we are witnessing the defeat and the collapse of the mightiest planetary force with all its alliances and all what it built such as technologies, weaponry and criminal gangsters trained to kill for more than fifty years.. Today, these US criminals in Iraq, hide behind their armors and armed vehicle when moving around.. They sleep behind their armors.. and all that has no meaning for the men of Iraq who combat them with simple weapons their beds being the sacred soil of Iraq and their cover and protection the Iraqi skies.. These men have nothing protecting them from the scorching summers' heat and the grinding winters' cold! These men carry in their hearts the armors of faith and they are protected by their perseverance and patience.. Their food is piety and faith in one single and unique God.. Nothing scares them but God's wrath and they only ask the protection from the mighty and most capable God! They ask Him mercy and grace through eyes filled with tears and prayerful hearts and wish to their souls to meet Him and be in amongst the martyrs and the good ones! They don't request from His worshipers nothing but to pray for them and this is the minimum of faith!

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Whatever It Is, I'm Against It: HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, IRAQ WAR! THEY’RE SO CUTE AT THAT AGE

Bush gave a little speech for the 4th anniversary (8 Friedman Units) of the Old Iraq War, with a painting of Teddy Roosevelt, presumably in Cuba, behind him. He didn’t spend much time on the Old Iraq War, which was initiated “to eliminate the threat [Saddam Hussein’s] regime posed to the Middle East and to the world.” He moves right on before you can ask, “Without the WMDs you said he had, what threat was that, monkey boy?”

It’s another clean-slate moment for George, like quitting drinking and 9/11. He wants us to forget the boring Old Iraq War and focus on the New Iraq War, the “Baghdad security plan.” The New Iraq War is bright and fresh and, ya know, new, and isn’t bogged down after four long years, no, it’s “still in the early stages,” so what are you people being all impatient about? It will “take months, not days or weeks.” So, 4 or 30 times longer.

“It can be tempting,” he says, “to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home. That may be satisfying in the short run” but blah blah contagion of violence blah safe haven blah blah. Yes, opposition to the war is all about giving in and doing what’s “satisfying,” it’s just self-indulgence and you people make me sick.

link

Roads to Iraq: BA’ATH PARTY: WE PROVED TO THE WORLD THAT “THE US IS A PAPER TIGER”

The neocons and the Zionists plan is the colonization of Iraq and use it as a launching base for full and direct control over the the oil in Middle Eastern countries and nations, and to move from Iraq, and in order to impose a new colonial world through the use of oil to blackmail other nations, destruct their economies, and disrupt all aspects of modern life, thereby to achieve the most desirable dream, to make the present century an American century.

The Iraqi national resistance in all its factions successfully destroyed the base of this project is, making impossible to achieve the other two steps: The full control over all the oil countries, and the third, which is the colonization of the world.

The Iraqi resistance strategy raised a serious global revolution against American imperialism, through compulsion to stop and prevent America from achieving any progress, and dealing with their project belligerently by making their army a daily target, draining the American economy and destroying their reputation, and we proved to the world that (America is a paper tiger).

Khrushchev, former President of the Soviet Union, who put the earlier statement, failed with all the Soviet might and nuclear super power to put his words in practice, Mao Zedong, leader of China said (yes America is a paper tiger but it has nuclear fangs)! Iraq Resistance and the Baath Party proved that America is a paper tiger and we succeeded to remove its fangs making it a stray dog running, looking for a place to hide from the strikes of the resistance lions. As a result of the defeat of America in Iraq, the world emerged from the fear of American blackmail and started to challenge the US, as in the case of Latin America, which was called (the American back yard).

The armed resistance of the American occupation in Afghanistan evolved rapidly as a result of the Iraqi Islamic revolution and learning sophisticated, creative and unique methods of guerrilla warfare to combat.

The Iraqi million Army fighters are tested, the world has witnessed for the first time in its history a guerrilla warfare based on a large regular army fighters, and thus America and NATO realized that they have fall in a quagmire and they will will not exit only to the tomb of inevitable defeat.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Today, as we enter the fifth year of the occupation the world has become convinced that armed Iraqi resistance has become the sole superpower." -- from the Ba’ath Party statement on Iraq entering the fifth year under occupation (See above)