RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS!

RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (Full Version)

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zimzim -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/14/2007 9:30:50 AM)
Hi all. I feel so sick inside my stomach. I feel angry & sad & scared for all my friends and family in Baghdad. I think this is the end of Iraq. Last time they hit this mosque the violence increase was 100%. [:(][:(][:(]

sadiq2006 -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/16/2007 6:15:11 PM)
Mr. zimzim i feel sorry too zimzim i cannot believe that mesopotamia is going like that, i do not know what the mesopotamians did to the world can you tell me zimzim what did they do, as if the world wants to get revenge on mesopotamia, there must be a very good reason for that please tell zimzim.

azinorum -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/20/2007 3:42:44 AM)
With all the extra troops now on the ground the Americans assure us that the security operation will now be far more effective in targeting the insurgents, Al Qaida and all the other Islamic crazies responsible for the violence in Iraq. However the recent bombings of the Al Askari Mosque and subsequent retaliations would suggest otherwise. We are now in the grips of a civil war, whether they like to admit it or not. From the front page of iraq4you: AP - A truck bomber attacked a revered Shiite shrine in the heart of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 87 people and wounding more than 200 in a resumption of Iraq's relentless sectarian slaughter. The mosque's turquoise dome survived, but the blast buried some worshippers and badly burned others.

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/23/2007 3:43:22 AM)
Dudes, looks like the security operation is now in full flow. The sad thing is they are only killing the sheep and not the commanders. If the get some of the isurgent leaders then and only then can they start making progress. 17 Insurgents Killed Near Baqubah Most Al-Qaeda in Iraq Leaders Have Fled Offensive, U.S. General Says Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, June 23, 2007 BAGHDAD, June 22 -- U.S. and Iraqi forces continued a new offensive against the Sunni extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq in and around the city of Baqubah on Friday, killing 17 insurgents in a helicopter attack, but a senior U.S. military commander said it appeared that most of the group's leaders had already escaped. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said Thursday after meeting with battalion commanders that senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders had apparently fled as American soldiers launched the offensive earlier in the week, according to the Associated Press. "We believe 80 percent of the upper-level leaders fled, but we'll find them," AP quoted Odierno as saying on a one-day trip to Baqubah, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. "Eighty percent of the lower level-leaders are still here." The comments suggest that the new offensive, dubbed Arrowhead Ripper, may not achieve one of its principal goals. U.S. officials have emphasized that a major focus of the campaign was to surround Baqubah with a tight cordon so insurgents could not escape. Previous offensives against al-Qaeda in Iraq and other groups have led to only limited, temporary gains because fighters slipped away to regroup and then returned after U.S. troops withdrew. Another important difference between this offensive and earlier ones, according to U.S. military officials, is that after clearing Baqubah of insurgents, U.S. commanders do not intend to abandon it; rather, it is expected that a force composed mainly of Iraqi troops will hold the city. Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, assistant commander for operations with the 25th Infantry Division, said in an interview with news agencies that the several hundred al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters who remain are "a hard-line group of fighters who have no intention of leaving." Military officials say they expect the offensive to last 30 to 60 days. "It's 24-7 for us here, and it's probably the same for our adversary as well," Bednarek said. "It's house to house, block to block, street to street, sewer to sewer. And it's also cars, vans -- we're searching every one of them." The battle came Friday to the town of Khalis, about 10 miles northwest of Baqubah. U.S. forces saw a group of al-Qaeda in Iraq gunmen attempting to avoid Iraqi police patrols and infiltrate Khalis from the southwest, according to a U.S. military statement. It said U.S. attack helicopters fired missiles at the group, killing 17 of the fighters and destroying one of their vehicles. With those deaths, at least 68 suspected al-Qaeda operatives have been killed in the offensive, according to the U.S. military's tally. A statement Friday said 20 suspected insurgents had been detained, seven weapons caches discovered, 21 roadside bombs destroyed and nine booby-trapped structures demolished. Meanwhile, the military reported Friday that a U.S. soldier was killed Thursday during combat operations in southwest Baghdad.

salim -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/23/2007 6:49:08 AM)
hi lob. i tell you what i think. no person in iraq understand what is hapening with the usa and new iraqi hikuma. nothing change after they make much promise. we wait and wait and wait but nothing only getting more worse.[:(]

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/26/2007 11:56:59 AM)
Dude, don't worry, no one understands whats going on. The whole thing is a big show and Iraq is now the football field for many countries sick ambitions. Stay safe little bro.

azinorum -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/26/2007 2:26:01 PM)
2 different accounts, same event. Read below: A group of villagers in Iraq is bitterly disputing the US account of a deadly air attack on 22 June, in the latest example of the confusion surrounding the reporting of combat incidents there. The BBC's Jim Muir investigates: On 22 June the US military announced that its attack helicopters, armed with missiles, engaged and killed 17 al-Qaeda gunmen who had been trying to infiltrate the village of al-Khalis, north of Baquba, where operation "Arrowhead Ripper" had been under way for the previous three days. The item was duly carried by international news agencies and received widespread coverage, including on the BBC News website. But villagers in largely-Shia al-Khalis say that those who died had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. They say they were local village guards trying to protect the township from exactly the kind of attack by insurgents the US military says it foiled. The incident highlights the problems the news media face in verifying such combat incidents in remote areas 'Al-Qaeda gunmen' killed They say that of 16 guards, 11 were killed and five others injured - two of them seriously - when US helicopters fired rockets at them and then strafed them with heavy machinegun fire. Minutes before the attack, they had been co-operating with an Iraqi police unit raiding a suspected insurgent hideout, the villagers said. They added that the guards, lightly armed with the AK47 assault rifles that are a feature of practically every home in Iraq, were essentially a local neighbourhood watch paid by the village to monitor the dangerous insurgent-ridden area to the immediate south-west at Arab Shawkeh and Hibhib, where the al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed a year ago. US account Here is the version of the incident issued by the US-led Multinational Forces on 22 June: "Coalition Forces attack helicopters engaged and killed 17 al-Qaeda gunmen southwest of Khalis, Friday. "Iraqi police were conducting security operations in and around the village when Coalition attack helicopters from the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade and ground forces from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, observed more than 15 armed men attempting to circumvent the IPs and infiltrate the village. "The attack helicopters, armed with missiles, engaged and killed 17 al-Qaeda gunmen and destroyed the vehicle they were using." Iraqi version This is the story as told to the BBC by several local villagers: At around 2am on Friday morning, the village guards were at their usual base in an unfinished building on the edge of the Hayy al-Junoud quarter about 2km (1.2 miles) south-west of al-Khalis village centre. THE VICTIMS Jassem Khalil, the Mukhtar of Hayy al-Junoud Abbas Khalil, his brother Ali Khalil, his other brother Kamal Hadi, their cousin Shaker Adnan Abdul Wahhab Ibrahim Mohammad al-Zubaie Abbas Muzhir Fadhel Jamal Hussein Alwan Abdul Hussein Abdullah Ali Jawad Kadhem They were surprised when a convoy of Iraqi police suddenly turned up, headed by the commander of the Khalis emergency squad, Col Hussein Kadhim. The police told them they were about to raid a suspect house in nearby al-Akrad Street and asked for the village mukhtar (headman) to accompany them. The Mukhtar of Hayy al-Junoud, Jassem Khalil, and his brothers Abbas and Ali, went with the police. Some of the other guards, about half altogether, also offered to go along. The raid turned out to be a false alarm - there was nothing suspicious at the house in question. But as the police and guards began to return, the police received an urgent radio message from the Joint Operations Centre saying that US helicopters were about to raid the area. The police disappeared immediately. But before the guards could even get to their own car, they were hit by a rocket strike by American helicopters which suddenly appeared overhead. So too were the remainder of the guards, still at their base in the unfinished building nearby. Map The rocket attacks were followed by a prolonged period of strafing by heavy machinegun fire from the helicopters. "It was like a battlefront, but with the fire going only in one direction," said a local witness. "There was no return fire". When frightened villagers ventured out at first light, they found 11 of the village guards dead, some of their bodies cut into small pieces by the munitions used against them. Those who survived with injuries were Bashir (an off-duty policeman), Alwan Hussein, Abu Ra'id, Salam, and Saif Khalil, the son of Abbas Khalil who died. Questions raised The families of those who died are seeking a meeting with the head of the al-Khalis town council. They are incensed that the village guards should be described as "al-Qaeda gunmen". All but two of those killed were Shia and they have been buried at Najaf. The other two who were from the local minority Sunni community. A spokesman for the US-led Multinational Forces said they were investigating the incident in the light of the allegations. If the villagers' account is true, the incident would raise many questions, including: * On what basis did the US helicopters launch their attack that night? * How many other coalition reports of successes against "al-Qaeda fighters" are based on similar mistakes, especially when powerful remote weaponry is used? The incident also highlights the problems the news media face in verifying such combat incidents in remote areas where communications are disrupted, where direct independent access is impossible because of the many lethal dangers they would face, and where only the official military version of events is available. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6239896.stm

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/27/2007 11:37:42 PM)
Some cut and paste recent news reports about the security campaign in Iraq. No comment. Iraqis 'unable to hold US gains’ The US commander of a new offensive north of Baghdad says Iraqi forces cannot be relied on to hold territory seized from insurgents. Brigadier General Mick Bednarek said Iraqi forces had insufficient arms and were "not quite up to the job yet". Earlier, a senior US commander said most of the key al-Qaeda leadership escaped before the offensive began in Baquba, north of Baghdad. Meanwhile, three suicide blasts killed at least 25 people in Iraq on Monday. At least seven people died in a bomb attack on the Mansour Hotel in Baghdad, used by Westerners. At least eight people were killed when a bomb ripped into a crowd of police recruits in Hilla and at least 10 died when an attacker rammed an oil tanker into the police HQ in the northern oil city of Baiji. Short of essentials The US military billed the operation in Baquba as a major offensive to eliminate al-Qaeda from the area. As in Baghdad, the strategy was for American troops to do the initial clearing of areas, with Iraqi units holding them afterwards. US forces now control much of Baquba's western side, according to Brig Gen Bednarek. But he said the Iraqi units working with them are not up to the job of holding onto these gains and many even lacked weapons and ammunition, as well as other essentials like trucks, radios and uniforms. Similar complaints have been made by Major General Rick Lynch, who's leading another large push against insurgents south of Baghdad. He said there were too few US troops to garrison the districts newly rid of insurgents. "It can't be coalition forces. We have what we have. There's got to be more Iraqi security forces," said Maj Gen Lynch. The BBC's Andrew North, in Baghdad, says US commanders blame a lack of committed and properly organised Iraqi troops for the failure of past efforts to secure the Baghdad region. Under President Bush's surge plan, it was supposed to be different this time, but the same problems are emerging again, our correspondent adds. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6236066.stm

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/27/2007 11:39:37 PM)
Baghdad blast kills Sunni leaders A number of senior Sunni tribal leaders are among 12 people killed in a suicide bombing at a hotel in central Baghdad. Reports said Sunni tribal leader Fasal al-Khoud was among the dead. Mr Khoud was one of the founders of the Anbar Salvation Council which has close contacts with the US-led coalition. In recent months many of the tribes in Anbar have turned against al-Qaeda and related radical Sunni insurgent groups. This attack is likely to aggravate the rift between them, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad. An Iraqi journalist, Rahim al-Maliki, who worked for al-Iraqiya TV, was also killed in the blast. "It was a huge explosion, the whole building shook for a few seconds," one witness said. A hotel worker, Saif al-Rubaie, 28, told the Associated Press news agency the casualties were Iraqis, mostly employees who were in the reception area. The hotel is situated on the banks of the Tigris River, near Baghdad's Green Zone, and is often used by Iraqi officials visiting the capital. A number of foreigners also live in the hotel. In other attacks across the country, at least 27 people were killed, including 13 police, when an attacker rammed an oil tanker into the police headquarters in Baiji. And at least eight people died when a bomb ripped into a crowd of police recruits outside the governor's office in Hilla, 100km (60 miles) south of Baghdad. The attacks come despite a big security drive by US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad and Baquba, 60km (35 miles) north-east of the capital. American generals have admitted that many senior al-Qaeda figures have escaped from the latest operations and that Iraqi forces are not up to the task of holding the ground that has been won. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6236494.stm

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/27/2007 11:42:26 PM)
3abet hal Imam al Jayif! [:@] Warrant issued for Iraqi minister Judicial authorities in Baghdad have issued a warrant for the arrest of the Iraqi minister of culture on terrorism charges, officials have said. Police raided Asaad Kamal al-Hashemi's house overnight and arrested at least six of the Sunni politician's guards. The minister has been accused of giving orders for the killing in February 2005 of the two sons of another prominent Sunni politician, Mithal al-Alusi. Police believe Mr Hashemi is currently out of the country, in Jordan. Mr Hashemi is a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, which stood as part of the Iraqi Accord Front in the December 2005 election. He was appointed culture minister in May 2006. 'Confessions' The warrant for Mr Hashemi's arrest was issued on Monday by Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the warrant was a result of the "accusations and confessions" of the two men who carried out the attack on Mr Alusi. "They confessed that the planning and all the orders came from the current [culture] minister," he said. "The minister was then an imam in a mosque." Mr Alusi, the leader of the Iraqi Nation Party, was ambushed as he waited for his car near his home in Baghdad. His two sons, Ayman and Jamal, as well as a bodyguard were shot dead in the attack. Mr Hashemi's party condemned the arrest warrant as part of the "marginalising policy against prominent Sunni leaders to push them away from the political process". It warned the Iraq's Shia-dominated government to avoid "playing with fire by continuing the policy of fabricating lies to exclude Sunni politicians and officials from the Iraqi arena". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6240384.stm

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/27/2007 11:43:43 PM)
U.S. to increase focus on Al-Qaida in Iraq BAGHDAD -- U.S. commanders plan a summer of stepped up offensives against al-Qaida in Iraq as they tailor strategy to their expectation that Congress soon will impose a timeline for drawing down U.S. forces here. The emphasis on al-Qaida, described by commanders in interviews here this week, marks a shift in U.S. plans away from Shiite militias and death squads inside Baghdad. It reflects the belief of some senior officers in Iraq that the Shiite militias likely would reduce their attacks once it became clear that a U.S. pullout was coming. By contrast, they believe al-Qaida in Iraq could be emboldened by a pullout plan and must be confronted before one is in place. When the administration began sending additional troops to Iraq, U.S. commanders spoke frequently of the threat posed by the Shiites' al-Mahdi Army, and they issued thinly veiled threats against its leader, the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Although military leaders say Shiite militias loyal to al-Sadr remain a priority, al-Sadr has tacitly cooperated with the U.S. troop buildup, telling his followers to avoid confronting U.S. troops. He is also a key supporter of the U.S.-backed government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Now, with the final infantry troops of the Bush administration "surge" strategy having arrived in Iraq, the military is increasingly focusing firepower against the Sunni side of Iraq's civil war, especially al-Qaida in Iraq. "These operations are more on towards Qaida because they . . . are the ones that are creating the truck bombs and car bombs that are having an effect . . . on the populace," Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the commander of day-to-day military operations, said in an interview this week. "So we are going after the safe havens that allow them to build these things without a lot of interference." Al-Qaida in Iraq is one of several Sunni Arab groups that have taken a high-profile role in the insurgency against U.S. forces. Its fighters are believed to include a significant number of non-Iraqis. Despite its name, the extent of the group's links to Osama bin Laden has never been clear. U.S. officials, who have been badly burned by previous claims of progress that turned sour, are offering only the most guarded of forecasts for the current offensives. "This is the most diabolical enemy out there. I've never seen anything like it," the top U.S. commander here, Gen. David Petraeus, said in an interview. "It is far and away the most complex situation we've been in during in my time in uniform," he said. "I've done two other tours here, and this is far and away, orders of magnitude, more complex." The point of the current mission, said David Kilcullen, an Australian officer serving as Petraeus' top counterinsurgency adviser, is not to help Iraq "turn a corner" that would allow the U.S. to leave the country in a state of peace. Instead, U.S. strategists hope to beat back militant groups enough to give Iraq's Shiite-led government a chance to achieve some measure of stability. "I don't know how many times senior leaders in America have said we have turned a corner in Iraq. We've turned a corner so many times we are all getting dizzy," Kilcullen said. "We haven't turned the tide. We haven't turned the corner, there isn't light at the end of the tunnel. But what we have done is take a failing enterprise and put it on a sound long-term footing." A reduction in U.S. forces will happen, he added. "We will downsize. Absolutely," he said. "But what we are trying to do is put the operation on a sound footing so the Iraqis can handle it, and we can make it sufficiently stable." Still, the push against al-Qaida in Iraq, including the offensive that played out over the last two weeks in Baqouba, north of Baghdad, offers several potential advantages for U.S. forces. The fight involves the kind of high-intensity operations that play to U.S. strengths. It involves an opponent that the U.S. public perceives as an enemy and provides clear "metrics" for measuring success. After largely steering away from body counts for most of the Iraq war, U.S. officials recently have begun frequent reporting of the number of militants killed in operations against al-Qaida. Beyond those immediate advantages, the strategy is driven by the belief of senior officers that they have a window this summer in which to suppress al-Qaida activity before a withdrawal timetable comes. Al-Qaida's attacks against religious sites and civilians brought the Shiite militias into the civil war last year, Petraeus said. Reducing the threat of al-Qaida now will reduce the militia threat, he added. "Al-Qaida gave them an excuse. Al-Qaida is their raison d'etre," Petraeus said. "So you really have to reduce al-Qaida's ability to carry out sensational attacks." If the U.S. can show dramatic progress against al-Qaida, other pieces of the Iraqi puzzle may fall into line, Petraeus said. For example, Petraeus predicted that pushing back al-Qaida would help advance what he sees as the most promising development of recent months, the decision by some Sunni tribal leaders to turn against al-Qaida militants. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-strategy28jun28,1,1128269.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=1&cset=true

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/28/2007 1:12:47 AM)
Iraq Security Developments – Wednesday BAGHDAD - The bodies of 21 people shot execution style were found in different parts of Baghdad on Wednesday, police said. Most of the victims were found in the Karkh sector in western Baghdad (five in Bayya’, one in Shu’la, one in Hurriya, one in Ghazaliya, one in Amil, one in Saidiya, one in Khadhraa’, and one in Dora), and the rest were found in the Rusafa sector in eastern Baghdad (six in Fudhailiya, one in Sadr City, one in Sulaikh, and one in Baghdad Al-Jedida). BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb killed seven people and wounded 14 near the Abdul Muhsin Al-Kadhimi Square in the Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya in northern Baghdad on Wednesday, police said. BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed three people and wounded ten others in an attack on a police patrol near a busy market in the Old Sulaikh neighborhood of northern Baghdad, police and eyewitnesses said. BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb targeting a police commando checkpoint on the Jadiriya bridge in Baghdad killed one policeman and wounded six people, including three policemen, on Wednesday afternoon, police said. BAGHDAD – Three people were killed and 10 wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in the Saba’ Abkar neighborhood near Sulaikh in northern Baghdad on Wednesday afternoon, police said. BAGHDAD – Two civilians were killed and 10 wounded when a U.S. military patrol opened fire randomly in the Gayyara neighborhood of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, police said. The U.S. military did not comment on the incident. BAGHDAD – Three civilians were wounded when a U.S. military patrol opened fire randomly against two Kia minibuses in the Qadisiya district of western Baghdad on Wednesday, police said. BAGHDAD – Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi journalist near his house in the Turath disrict of southern Baghdad, a source from the Iraqi Journalists Union said. Hamid Abd Sarhan, 57, was a veteran journalist who had worked for the Iraqi News Agency for over 30 years, as well as several local newspapers and magazines, and most recently in the media bureau of the Baghdad Municipality. BAGHDAD - The Iraqi army killed 14 insurgents and detained 114 others during security operations over the last 24 hours in different parts of Baghdad, the Baghdad Operations Command said. Three kidnapped civilians were also freed and two roadside bombs were defused. Eight soldiers were killed and 29 others wounded, including an army officer, during the operations, the source said. BAGHDAD – U.S. forces clashed with militants in the Saidiya district of southern Baghdad on Wednesday evening with no news of casualties, eyewitnesses said. MADAIN – The U.S. military said it killed six militants in an air strike against a building in the Mada’in suburb south east of Baghdad following an attack against a police station on Wednesday. KIRKUK - Four policemen were killed when gunmen attacked the Basheer police station south of the oil city of Kirkuk (250 km north of Baghdad) on Wednesday, police said. Police said they captured a wounded gunman during the attack. KIRKUK – Police found an unidentified body with multiple gunshot wounds and signs of torture near the Gemen village north east of Kirkuk on Wednesday, police said. SHIRQAT - Fourteen insurgents were killed when a truck they were rigging with explosives blew up overnight in the Aitha village near the town of Shirqat (310 km north of Baghdad), police said. Another security source said the truck exploded near the Hagna village killing one person and wounding four others. The two accounts could not be verified by an independent source. SHIRQAT – U.S. jet fighters bombed a house in the Aitha village near Shirqat, killing seven people, including a woman and several children, security sources said. The U.S. military did not comment on the incident. MOSUL - Gunmen killed two members of the Assyrian's Beth-Nahrain Association Union in a drive-by shooting in central Mosul (390 km north of Baghdad), police said. MOSUL - An athletic club in Mosul was badly damaged when gunmen planted bombs inside the building overnight, police said. MOSUL - Five people were killed and three wounded in different attacks by gunmen on Tuesday in Mosul, police said. TIKRIT – An off-duty soldier was killed and his brother wounded when gunmen attacked their car at the Hilliwa village east of Tikrit, police said. TIKRIT – Police found a decapitated head wearing an Iraqi army cap in a bus station in downtown Tikrit on Wednesday, police said. Police also found an unidentified body in the Tigris River near the Hamra village east of Tikrit, while U.S. troops delivered the body of man in his thirties shot execution style to the Tikrit Hospital. TIKRIT – Two laborers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion near the Rafidain bank in central Tikrit, police said. SAMARRA – Three Interior Ministry commandos were killed and four wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near the Mariam market in western Samarra (100 km north of Baghdad) on Wednesday, police said, adding that three civilians, including a senior physician at Samarra Hospital, were wounded when security forces opened fire in the aftermath of the blast. SAMARRA – Local policemen said Interior Ministry commandos summarily executed a 60-year-old man in front of his grocery store at the Mariam market in western Samarra on Wednesday afternoon. The commandos also set fire to an apartment in the same area after ordering residents out burning three parked cars, according to the local police source. BALAD – Gunmen killed three policemen working for Samarra police east of Balad (110 km north of Baghdad) on Wednesday, police said. A roadside bomb explosion targeting a U.S. military convoy damaged several trucks and wounded an unspecified number of soldiers near Balad, the source said. There was no comment by the U.S. military on the incident. ISHAQI – U.S. forces destroyed a house with tank fire after ordering its occupants out in Ishaqi north of Baghdad, a local police source said. A U.S. military patrol had been attacked with a roadside bomb destroying one Humvee vehicle in the same area on Tuesday night, the source added. KHALIS – Mortar shells and attacks by militants on several districts of Khalis and surrounding villages north east of Baghdad killed 19 civilians and wounded 28 others on Tuesday night, security sources said. Sources said about 40 mortar shells hit different parts of the town over a period of two hours, killing five people and wounding 15 others, followed by an attack by gunmen against the Tahwila area, killing 14 people and wounding 13. MUQDADIYA – A roadside bomb explosion targeting a U.S. military patrol near the Mahrout bridge south of Muqdadiya in the Diyala governorate destroyed a Humvee vehicle and wounded an unspecified number of soldiers, police said. MUQDADIYA – Four suspected gunmen were killed in U.S. helicopter fire in the Askari district of Muqdadiya on Wednesday, police said. MUQDADIYA – Gunmen abducted eight male students from a minibus near Muqdadiya as they were heading to Wajihiya, leaving the female students, police said. WAJIHIYA – One person was killed and three others wounded when residents of the Muathin village near Wajihiya attempted to repel an attack by 50 suspected Al-Qaeda militants against their village on Tuesday night, local sources said. ANBAR - A U.S. Marine was killed on Tuesday in combat in Anbar governorate, to the west of Baghdad, on Wednesday, the U.S. military said. KUBAISA – Two policemen were wounded when gunmen on motorcycles attacked their checkpoint near the entrance to Kubaisa (198 km west of Baghdad) in the Anbar governorate, police said. DIWANIYA – Clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Mahdi Army militiamen continued for the second day in a row in several districts of Diwaniya. A roadside bomb explosion destroyed a Humvee vehicle in the 7 Nissan district of central Diwaniya on Wednesday morning, police said. SHAFI – Iraqi special forces raided the town of Shafi (50 km north west of Basrah) and confiscated eight 120 mm mortar rounds, police said. BASRAH – The joint coordination center in central Basrah (590 km south of Baghdad) was attacked with three mortar shells on Wednesday morning without casualties, police said. A British military spokesman said all three British military bases in Basrah were targeted with indirect fire over the last 24 hours without casualties. BASRAH – Two roadside bombs exploded against a British military patrol in the Buradha’iya district in eastern Basrah on Wednesday without casualties, police said. Another roadside bomb exploded near a commercial store at Tammuz Street in central Basrah without casualties. BASRAH – British military patrols came under attacks with roadside bombs and small arms fire in different parts of Basrah on Wednesday morning, a British military spokesman said. Three British soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded in a traffic accident north east of the Maysan governorate on Tuesday night, the source added. ZUBAIR – A border guard policeman was killed when three gunmen attacked his house in the Marbid area of Zubair (35 km south west of Basrah) on Tuesday night, police said. One of the attackers was also killed in the incident. FAW – An Iraqi fisherman was killed and another wounded when Iranian border guards opened fire against their boat in Iraqi waters near Faw south east of Basrah on Wednesday morning, a Basrah police source sai

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/28/2007 1:18:22 AM)
Iraqi Papers Thur: Iraqi "Moderates"' Unite Major Shi'a-Kurdish Alliance Breathes New Life Into Maliki's CabinetBy AMER MOHSEN Iraqi and Arab papers are abuzz with the news of the formation of a new political coalition designed to prop up al-Maliki’s government. Media outlets have termed the new coalition “the alliance of the moderates,” and it mainly consists from the Shi'a Da'wa and al-Hakeem’s SIIC parties, in addition to the two mainstream Kurdish parties. In other terms, the political groups that remain supportive of al-Maliki within the parliament. The new coalition is also seeking to gain the Sunni Islamic Party on its side, and – potentially- several deputies from 'Allawi’s bloc, in order to maintain the image of a “non-sectarian” project, as some of the coalition’s engineers are referring to their new political front. The “coalition of the moderates” intends to establish a smaller cabinet headed by al-Maliki. By distancing parties that –formally- make part of the current Maliki cabinet, but are actively trying to undermine it, the “moderates” hope to create a more harmonious, stable governmental alliance. Al-Hayat spoke to a leading Kurdish deputy, Mahmud 'Uthman, who described the negotiations leading to the creation of the new front. 'Uthman said that a meeting held earlier this week between SIIC, Da'wa and the two Kurdish parties resulted in “an understanding between the four parties on a number of guidelines and a patriotic political program aiming to support al-Maliki’s government and defeat the hurdles it is facing.” The “hurdles” 'Uthman was referring to are - most likely - the growing number of parties that are openly opposed to al-Maliki staying in his office; and are continually in negotiations to assemble enough deputies to reverse his parliamentary majority. Al-Maliki’s opponents, however, were unable to materialize a coalition that could unseat the Prime Minister; while an alliance of the four Kurdish and Shi'a parties, supported by some additional deputies from smaller groups may be able to –mathematically- secure a slight majority in the parliament and guarantee al-Maliki’s post until the next elections. Al-Mada quoted the Shi'a vice-president, 'Adil 'Abdel Mahdi, who had launched a wave of criticism against the government last week, as announcing his support for al-Maliki and the new coalition and denying his intention to challenge the Prime Minister. Al-Mada also relayed that 'Abdel Mahdi met with Ayatollah Sistani in Najaf, in order to inform him about the new coalition. After the meeting, Sistani allegedly announced his support for further unity among the –Shi'a- I'tilaf bloc. Mathematically speaking, the new coalition represents a retrenchment of the Maliki majority, with the distancing of the Sadrist bloc and most of the Sunni “Accord” coalition. The new coalition, if it materializes, will also further exclude Sunni participation from the government, even if the Islamic Party joins the front. But it will also be the natural result of the failure of the anti-Maliki mosaic to form a viable coalition to challenge the current government.

azinorum -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/28/2007 1:46:08 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Lion of Babylon Iraq Security Developments – Wednesday BAGHDAD - The bodies of 21 people shot execution style were found in different parts of Baghdad on Wednesday, police said. Most of the victims were found in the Karkh sector in western Baghdad (five in Bayya’, one in Shu’la, one in Hurriya, one in Ghazaliya, one in Amil, one in Saidiya, one in Khadhraa’, and one in Dora), and the rest were found in the Rusafa sector in eastern Baghdad (six in Fudhailiya, one in Sadr City, one in Sulaikh, and one in Baghdad Al-Jedida). BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb killed seven people and wounded 14 near the Abdul Muhsin Al-Kadhimi Square in the Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya in northern Baghdad on Wednesday, police said. BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed three people and wounded ten others in an attack on a police patrol near a busy market in the Old Sulaikh neighborhood of northern Baghdad, police and eyewitnesses said. BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb targeting a police commando checkpoint on the Jadiriya bridge in Baghdad killed one policeman and wounded six people, including three policemen, on Wednesday afternoon, police said. BAGHDAD – Three people were killed and 10 wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in the Saba’ Abkar neighborhood near Sulaikh in northern Baghdad on Wednesday afternoon, police said. BAGHDAD – Two civilians were killed and 10 wounded when a U.S. military patrol opened fire randomly in the Gayyara neighborhood of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, police said. The U.S. military did not comment on the incident. BAGHDAD – Three civilians were wounded when a U.S. military patrol opened fire randomly against two Kia minibuses in the Qadisiya district of western Baghdad on Wednesday, police said. BAGHDAD – Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi journalist near his house in the Turath disrict of southern Baghdad, a source from the Iraqi Journalists Union said. Hamid Abd Sarhan, 57, was a veteran journalist who had worked for the Iraqi News Agency for over 30 years, as well as several local newspapers and magazines, and most recently in the media bureau of the Baghdad Municipality. BAGHDAD - The Iraqi army killed 14 insurgents and detained 114 others during security operations over the last 24 hours in different parts of Baghdad, the Baghdad Operations Command said. Three kidnapped civilians were also freed and two roadside bombs were defused. Eight soldiers were killed and 29 others wounded, including an army officer, during the operations, the source said. BAGHDAD – U.S. forces clashed with militants in the Saidiya district of southern Baghdad on Wednesday evening with no news of casualties, eyewitnesses said. MADAIN – The U.S. military said it killed six militants in an air strike against a building in the Mada’in suburb south east of Baghdad following an attack against a police station on Wednesday. KIRKUK - Four policemen were killed when gunmen attacked the Basheer police station south of the oil city of Kirkuk (250 km north of Baghdad) on Wednesday, police said. Police said they captured a wounded gunman during the attack. KIRKUK – Police found an unidentified body with multiple gunshot wounds and signs of torture near the Gemen village north east of Kirkuk on Wednesday, police said. SHIRQAT - Fourteen insurgents were killed when a truck they were rigging with explosives blew up overnight in the Aitha village near the town of Shirqat (310 km north of Baghdad), police said. Another security source said the truck exploded near the Hagna village killing one person and wounding four others. The two accounts could not be verified by an independent source. SHIRQAT – U.S. jet fighters bombed a house in the Aitha village near Shirqat, killing seven people, including a woman and several children, security sources said. The U.S. military did not comment on the incident. MOSUL - Gunmen killed two members of the Assyrian's Beth-Nahrain Association Union in a drive-by shooting in central Mosul (390 km north of Baghdad), police said. MOSUL - An athletic club in Mosul was badly damaged when gunmen planted bombs inside the building overnight, police said. MOSUL - Five people were killed and three wounded in different attacks by gunmen on Tuesday in Mosul, police said. TIKRIT – An off-duty soldier was killed and his brother wounded when gunmen attacked their car at the Hilliwa village east of Tikrit, police said. TIKRIT – Police found a decapitated head wearing an Iraqi army cap in a bus station in downtown Tikrit on Wednesday, police said. Police also found an unidentified body in the Tigris River near the Hamra village east of Tikrit, while U.S. troops delivered the body of man in his thirties shot execution style to the Tikrit Hospital. TIKRIT – Two laborers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion near the Rafidain bank in central Tikrit, police said. SAMARRA – Three Interior Ministry commandos were killed and four wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near the Mariam market in western Samarra (100 km north of Baghdad) on Wednesday, police said, adding that three civilians, including a senior physician at Samarra Hospital, were wounded when security forces opened fire in the aftermath of the blast. SAMARRA – Local policemen said Interior Ministry commandos summarily executed a 60-year-old man in front of his grocery store at the Mariam market in western Samarra on Wednesday afternoon. The commandos also set fire to an apartment in the same area after ordering residents out burning three parked cars, according to the local police source. BALAD – Gunmen killed three policemen working for Samarra police east of Balad (110 km north of Baghdad) on Wednesday, police said. A roadside bomb explosion targeting a U.S. military convoy damaged several trucks and wounded an unspecified number of soldiers near Balad, the source said. There was no comment by the U.S. military on the incident. ISHAQI – U.S. forces destroyed a house with tank fire after ordering its occupants out in Ishaqi north of Baghdad, a local police source said. A U.S. military patrol had been attacked with a roadside bomb destroying one Humvee vehicle in the same area on Tuesday night, the source added. KHALIS – Mortar shells and attacks by militants on several districts of Khalis and surrounding villages north east of Baghdad killed 19 civilians and wounded 28 others on Tuesday night, security sources said. Sources said about 40 mortar shells hit different parts of the town over a period of two hours, killing five people and wounding 15 others, followed by an attack by gunmen against the Tahwila area, killing 14 people and wounding 13. MUQDADIYA – A roadside bomb explosion targeting a U.S. military patrol near the Mahrout bridge south of Muqdadiya in the Diyala governorate destroyed a Humvee vehicle and wounded an unspecified number of soldiers, police said. MUQDADIYA – Four suspected gunmen were killed in U.S. helicopter fire in the Askari district of Muqdadiya on Wednesday, police said. MUQDADIYA – Gunmen abducted eight male students from a minibus near Muqdadiya as they were heading to Wajihiya, leaving the female students, police said. WAJIHIYA – One person was killed and three others wounded when residents of the Muathin village near Wajihiya attempted to repel an attack by 50 suspected Al-Qaeda militants against their village on Tuesday night, local sources said. ANBAR - A U.S. Marine was killed on Tuesday in combat in Anbar governorate, to the west of Baghdad, on Wednesday, the U.S. military said. KUBAISA – Two policemen were wounded when gunmen on motorcycles attacked their checkpoint near the entrance to Kubaisa (198 km west of Baghdad) in the Anbar governorate, police said. DIWANIYA – Clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Mahdi Army militiamen continued for the second day in a row in several districts of Diwaniya. A roadside bomb explosion destroyed a Humvee vehicle in the 7 Nissan district of central Diwaniya on Wednesday morning, police said. SHAFI – Iraqi special forces raided the town of Shafi (50 km north west of Basrah) and confiscated eight 120 mm mortar rounds, police said. BASRAH – The joint coordination center in central Basrah (590 km south of Baghdad) was attacked with three mortar shells on Wednesday morning without casualties, police said. A British military spokesman said all three British military bases in Basrah were targeted with indirect fire over the last 24 hours without casualties. BASRAH – Two roadside bombs exploded against a British military patrol in the Buradha’iya district in eastern Basrah on Wednesday without casualties, police said. Another roadside bomb exploded near a commercial store at Tammuz Street in central Basrah without casualties. BASRAH – British military patrols came under attacks with roadside bombs and small arms fire in different parts of Basrah on Wednesday morning, a British military spokesman said. Three British soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded in a traffic accident north east of the Maysan governorate on Tuesday night, the source added. ZUBAIR – A border guard policeman was killed when three gunmen attacked his house in the Marbid area of Zubair (35 km south west of Basrah) on Tuesday night, police said. One of the attackers was also killed in the incident. FAW – An Iraqi fisherman was killed and another wounded when Iranian border guards opened fire against their boat in Iraqi waters near Faw south east of Basrah on Wednesday morning, a Basrah police source sai Frightening figures. And to think this is just another day in Iraq!

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/29/2007 1:59:35 AM)
Anyone surprised? FM: Maliki-Petraeus Relationship "Difficult" Iraqi Foreign Minister Tells Newsweek the Iraqi Leader "Needs More Leverage" In the edition of Newsweek hitting newsstands today, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari describes the relationship between Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the top US military commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, as "difficult." Here's a key excerpt from the Newsweek Q & A with Zebari: Can you describe the relationship between Maliki and Petraeus? Relations are difficult. Who's in charge? Who decides? I sympathize because the lines are blurred. The prime minister cannot just pick up the phone and have Iraqi Army units do what he says. Maliki needs more leverage. The full interview is posted on the Newsweek Web site.

azinorum -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/29/2007 4:21:36 AM)
Another dqa, another corpes. Or should I say 20 headless corpses. When will this all end? God help the mothers. Twenty beheaded bodies were discovered Thursday on the banks of the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad, while a parked car bomb killed another 20 people in one of the capital's busy outdoor bus stations, police said. The beheaded remains were found in the Sunni Muslim village of Um al-Abeed, near the city of Salman Pak, which lies 14 miles southeast of Baghdad. The bodies - all men aged 20 to 40 years old - had their hands and legs bound, and some of the heads were found next to the bodies, two officers said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Meanwhile, a parked car bomb ripped through a crowded transport hub in southwest Baghdad's Baiyaa neighborhood at morning rush hour, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 50, another officer said on the same condition. Many of the victims had been lining up for buses, awaiting a ride to work. Some 40 minibuses were incinerated in the explosion, police said. Salman Pak and its surrounding area has been the focus of new U.S. military operations to oust suspected al-Qaida fighters from the Baghdad's outskirts. American forces launched a drive into Salman Pak and neighboring Arab Jabour two weeks ago. http://news.aol.com/story/_a/iraq-wa...00010000000001

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (6/30/2007 1:27:08 AM)
30th June 2006 - BBC NEWS American-led forces say they have killed 26 militants in a series of raids in the Sadr City area of Baghdad. Troops also detained 17 other militants in the pre-dawn raid on the area, a Shia stronghold, the US military said. "It is believed that the suspected terrorists have close ties to Iranian terror networks," a statement from the US military said. The raids are the latest in a series of US offensives against militants north of the capital. The militants have been accused of smuggling weapons from Iran, and also of sending fighters over the border for training. US-led troops have also attacked what they call insurgent strongholds linked to al-Qaeda around the capital in the last few weeks. The BBC's Andrew North in Baghdad said US commanders believe these "belt areas", as they call them, are where many of the car bombs set off in the capital are made.

azinorum -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (7/2/2007 1:35:30 AM)
Stolen Cars Finance Militia OperationsFenced Autos Fetch $2,000 on the Black Market; Few Live to Complain28 June, 2007 - AFP Tortured bodies dumped on Baghdad streets are well-known hallmarks of Mahdi Army activity. Using torture tools such as cables and chains, members of the Mahdi Army slowly kill their victims, often dispatching them at the end with a bullet to the head. A well-informed source close to the militia explained to IraqSlogger an important but often overlooked financial aspect of the torture squad operations. Mahdi Army members do not earn a regular salary for the operations of torture and murder, but instead finance their operations by fencing goods stolen from the victims, most importantly cars stolen from Sunni drivers. The source told IraqSlogger that stolen cars sell on the black market for roughly 50% of their fair-market price, with another source estimating a price tag of $2,000 to $2,500 depending on the condition and model of the car. Any Iraqi can be affected by such operations, but only a lucky few survive to tell the story. One Slogger source in Kadhimiya related a story of a Sunni colleague, who was detained by Mahdi Army members and accused of belonging to a family that supported “terrorism.” The man, an engineer, survived the experience because he had earlier secured a paper issued by the Sadrist office of the area permitting him to remain in the area on the basis of his “cooperation” with the militia. After the experience, however, the Sunni man, a member of the al-Mashhad tribe, fled Iraq. In the Washash district, Slogger spoke with a man whose brother -- a Shi'a -- was killed by the Mahdi Army. Two weeks after the incident, the victim’s car turned up in Kadhimiya. When the brother returned with a group of men to try to retake the car, it had disappeared. Similar stories of extortion are reported in areas controlled by Sunni militias such as Amiriya, Yarmouk, and parts of Ghazaliya, where residents of the areas belonging to the dwindling Shi'a and Christian minorities have only secured their “right” to remain in the areas by “cooperating” with the militants, that is, by paying tributes and fees extorted from them.

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (7/3/2007 5:17:14 AM)
I had my car stolen in Baghdad back in the day. Would hate to think it contributed to these barbaric acts. What really pissed me off was that I had all my CD's and PC files in the car when the pigs took it. [:@]

azinorum -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (7/4/2007 1:49:49 AM)
Same here. It was taken from my driver at gunpoint while he was out buying some cigarettes for me. The most expensive pack of Malboro's of all time. [:D]

azinorum -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (7/4/2007 1:52:29 AM)
Some news from yesterday: Four Fuel Trucks Captured En Route to Baghdad Babil Province Police Fear Stolen Tankers Could Be Used in Bombings Hilla, Jul 3, (VOI)- Unknown gunmen took by force four oil tanker trucks that were carrying gasoline to the Iraqi capital Baghdad on the highway north of Hilla, a police source said on Tuesday. "Unknown gunmen intercepted, today, four oil trucks that were carrying gasoline on the highway linking Hilla to Baghdad and took them towards al-Sayafiyah area in Latifiyah district," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The source, who declined to give any information about the fate of the trucks' drivers, said, "police forces are launching a campaign in search of the trucks." Latifiya district is one of the most dangerous areas just south of Baghdad where al-Qaeda-linked armed groups are active. Armed groups sometimes detonate oil trucks crammed with explosives to cause high amounts of human casualties. Hilla, capital city of Babel province, is 100 km south of Baghdad.

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (7/4/2007 10:26:27 PM)
Dudes, can you believe this??? [8\|] More US Contractors Than US Troops In IraqThe Big US Newspapers Finally Wake Up And Discover America's Private Army As predicted in Slogger, the print media pile-on on military contractors is in full swing. The latest big daily to weigh in is the Los Angeles Times with T. Christian Miller's revelation that there are now more contractors than soldiers in Iraq. Miller had to use FOIA’s to pull some of the numbers but even then, some large companies are still off the radar and official sources differ drastically on the actual count. It’s an article designed to promote more questions than answers among readers as the public begins to ask, “Who are those guys?” That question has been answered by a trickle of books, documentaries and and now long form print articles up until this spring. But the pros and cons, cost versus benefit and even total scale of for profit war operations has yet to be thrashed out in the public arena. And after all it is the American public that pays for the CIA to have more contractors than employees in some areas or that is left to wonder about the working conditions of contract laborers building our U.S. Embassy in Iraq. Currently here are two opposing viewpoints on the use of contractors. One led by reporter Jeremy Scahill (author of the book "Blackwater") who panders to a left of left audience who trembles in fear at the concept of a vast Christian right wing conspiracy that is spawning private armies of neo-brown shirts. Their demon god is Erik Prince and Blackwater and their seminal event is Blackwater’s descent on New Orleans (which formed the seeds of Scahill’s book). In the leftist version all contractors are heavily armed, burly and at the beck and call of shadowy corporate Lex Luthors. Much of that opinion and mistrust is shaped by a noticeable lack of exposure to the industry and the leading components. On the other side are the argument leans towards the right and they strongly endorse the frequent and less than subtle use of America’s most powerful weapon: The dollar. Companies like DynCorp and Halliburton are simply government sanctioned vessels used to flow billions of dollars through the U.S. private sector into shattered areas. In the rights versions, these companies are simply strip mining years of military or government training and experience and sending them to Iraq to allow the army to focus on warfighting rather than cleaning toilets or changing light bulbs. This side's view of the contractor is a patriotic American who has signed up to support a war on freedom and never mind the few bad apples that tarnish the group. The truth of course, is in between and as Miller's article points out, American's make up a tiny part of the massive force currently on the ground. The daily cost is purported to be high but the long-term costs are zero. Once a contractor has done their job, they fold their tents and slip away into the night. If a soldier is added not only is there the expensive recruiting and training but there is the lifetime of paychecks, social support and retirement. The same hidden “legacy” cost that is killing old-line American businesses like airlines and car manufacturers. Kosovo is the most recent example of what happens when a fire hose of cash is sprayed on smoldering dissent. The model can be traced back to Japan and Germany but really has its roots in common sense. If the locals have jobs, they are less likely to sit around and get into trouble. Part of rapid rise of the private contractor is due to former oilmen Dick Cheney and George Bush’s comfort with the idea of outsourcing major chunks of foreign policy and stability operations the other precursor is the equally rapid shrinking of the traditional military. A postwar animal created to fight tank and artillery batteries against the Soviets that is slowly being transformed into smarter, lighter, faster, cheaper version of Team America backed by an even larger army of Builder Bobs’ The reality seems to be that this administration is crudely and arrogantly bringing to life the next generation of warfighting. The administration has only been forthcoming when senator's demand answers, hold hearings or journalists send in stacks of Freedom on Information Act requests. It appears that in the current administration making a profit from war is not discussed in public, but pursued vigorously in private. To be fair the lean towards for profit war is the same post Cold War stance that requires rapid violent response against non state players, tiny fractured hotspots and long term investment in unfriendly regions to bring peace. The Pentagon’s new marching orders are to reach and touch anyone who seeks to destabilize the world order. A concept Thomas Barnett not only pioneered but captures with humor and eloquence during a recent presentation at TED. The problem is that the government has not been forthcoming with the extent to which the privatization of U.S. military and State Dept efforts have been scaled. The only time the American public reads or sees a contractor in action is either after a violent episode or investigation into contract abuse. It would be fair to say that the attempts of the industry to explain their newfound success have been clumsy at best. In addition the industry has appeared to adopt the same arrogant, privileged approach (often mandated by their client, the U.S. government) towards earnest exploration by congress let alone the media. The focus on educating the taxpayers who provide the funds for this expensive transformation is now directly on the plates of a number of Democratic representatives and will result in legislation. The media can also be blamed for being slow off the mark to fully comprehend the vast scale of for profit operations in theaters of war. Any meaningful coverage to date has been left to academics, filmmakers, authors, analysts and those in the vanguard like Peter Singer (Corporate Warriors), Deborah Avant(The Market for Force), David Isenberg (BASIC), Nick Bicanic (Shadow Company), David Phinney (Iraqslogger), Robert Greenwald (Iraq for Sale) and Pratap Chatterjee (Corpwatch). It has taken ten years for the topic of private military corporations to hit the mainstream and five years for the mainstream media to invest time and people to investigate the phenomena in the Global War on Terror Now print journos like Steve Fainaru (Washington Post), T. Christian Miller (LA Times) and Bernd Debusmann (Reuters) investigations have paid off. Miller’s watershed piece focuses on the vast scope and scale of for profit activities in Iraq. Companies that are virtually unknown in the US are shoulder to shoulder with better-known names like KBR or L-3. What is disturbing is even the U.S. government freely admits it has no idea how many contractors are on the battlefield. Miller’s best guess is 21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreigners and 118,000 Iraqis make up this massive work force. “Best guess” because Miller points out that " But there are also signs that even those mounting numbers may not capture the full picture. Private security contractors, who are hired to protect government officials and buildings, were not fully counted in the survey, according to industry and government officials.” Miller also points out that there is concern about the use of privatized for profit violence in the battlefield. He builds on previous articles that have highlighted alleged and egregious violations of moral conduct by individual security contractors working for companies like Blackwater, Triple Canopy and Aegis "We don't have control of all the coalition guns in Iraq. That's dangerous for our country," said William Nash, a retired Army general and reconstruction expert. The Pentagon "is hiring guns. You can rationalize it all you want, but that's obscene." The other concern is the use of trafficked labor to perform functions once performed by U.S. soldiers and employees. “Middle Eastern companies, including Kulak Construction Co. of Turkey and Projects International of Dubai, supply labor from Third World countries to KBR and other U.S. companies for menial work on U.S. bases and rebuilding projects. Foreigners are used instead of Iraqis because of fears that insurgents could infiltrate projects.” The public is slowly coming to terms with what is essentially a for profit civilian army slowly transcending the traditional army in Iraq. Depending on how the debate goes this can be viewed as a positive shift towards keeping the peace with a disposable private sector option or the growth of a shadowy, nomadic band of hired hands that continues to show a lack of transparency and accountability. Now that the big dogs have been unleashed and the election looms we shall see how the debate ends up.

zimzim -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (7/5/2007 11:57:37 AM)
Hi LOB. This means there is 400000 american military in Iraq but what are they doing? Bush again wants iraqis to be more patient but after 4 years and so many army in Iraq they are not making a difference. Will it make any diference if there are 1 milion soldiers? I dont think so.[:(]

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (7/7/2007 2:20:49 AM)
Hey zimbo. It certainly dont look too good. Iraqis gotta want this to succeed for it to succeed, if you know what I mean. [8\|]

Lion of Babylon -> RE: THE LATEST CRACKDOWN AGAINST THE MILITIAS! (7/7/2007 2:23:27 AM)
Can Bush Extend the Surge? CRS: DoD Budget Request Inadequate to Maintain Troop Levels Beyond September The Pentagon's FY2008 budget estimate would "presumably be inadequate" to maintain the surge troop levels past the end of September, unless additional funding is requested or "DOD shifted funds from procurement to military personnel and operations," according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service, which also highlights a sharp increase in war costs since last year. President Bush's budgetary request in the supplemental spending bill passed in late May included a funding estimate to cover the surge of additional troops only through the end of FY2007. CRS points out that military appropriations allots funding for types of expenses--such as personnel costs--rather than for specific operations, advising that, "Unless Congress enacts specific restrictions, the president can use currently available DOD funds to conduct military operations including the deployment of additional troops." The report also outlines different restrictions Congress could adopt to affect military operations and troop levels in Iraq. According to CRS, Congress could cut off funding for particular types of military activities but permit funding for other activities (e.g., prohibiting funds for combat activities but permitting funds to withdraw troops); cut off funds as of a certain date in a specific country; cut off funds “at the earliest practical date,” which essentially gives the president leeway to set the date; cut off funds if certain conditions are met (such as a new authorization) or certain events take place (such as the release of U.S. prisoners of war). The Democrat-led Congress has been pressing for Bush to set a schedule for the drawdown of US forces since they assumed power, but recent weeks has seen even senior Republican allies of the president calling for a new strategy in Iraq. The latest CRS estimates of the running costs of the war may put even more pressure on a White House struggling to maintain the upper hand in directing Iraq policy. CRS estimates that for the first half of FY2007, "DOD’s average monthly obligations for contracts and pay is running about $12 billion per month, well above the $8.7 billion in FY2006." Iraq alone is consuming an average $10 billion a month in 2007. For long-term projections of the costs associated with the war, CRS relies on Congressional Budget Office numbers, which estimate that "additional war costs for the next 10 years could total about $472 billion if troop levels fall to 30,000 by 2010, or $919 billion if troop levels fall to 70,000 by about 2013. If these estimates are added to already appropriated amounts, total funding for Iraq and the GWOT could reach from about $980 billion to $1.4 trillion by 2017."

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