Los Angeles Times, By Alexandra Zavis, Jan 7

HAMOUD, Iraq -- Bombers, fighter jets and attack helicopters unleashed a thundering attack today as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers closed in on a web of sunken irrigation canals east of Baghdad, where they believed Sunni Arab insurgents were massing.

The pre-dawn strikes shook the ground and sent orange fireballs and thick smoke into the sky. The attacks, in a remote area of farms and palm groves, continued sporadically after dawn.

The air assault came after soldiers on Sunday set fire to shoulder-high reeds to clear their view ahead of a final push in Diyala province, a region they say has become a safe haven and training ground for Al Qaeda in Iraq and other militant groups.

U.S. soldiers said they killed 21 armed men Sunday as they maneuvered toward their positions or planted bombs in the road. At least four Iraqi soldiers also were killed and 27 wounded by consecutive anti-tank mine blasts.

About 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops are participating in the assault, which includes attack helicopters, tanks and Humvees.

Despite hefty risk, McCain is unwavering in support for troop surge
Los Angeles Times, By Peter Wallsten, Jan 7

WASHINGTON -- As a prisoner of war during Vietnam and decorated Navy officer, Sen. John McCain has based much of his political persona on his staunch support for the military and his consummate credibility on national security.

But as the Arizona Republican prepares to mount a White House campaign, he is putting those military bona fides on the line — aggressively backing an unpopular plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at a time that other presidential hopefuls are steering clear of the war or calling for troop reductions.

President Bush is expected this week to announce a plan to send at least 20,000 additional troops to try to halt sectarian violence and bring security to Baghdad — a move widely perceived as an all-but-final push to avert failure in Iraq.

Besides Bush, no politician has more to lose than McCain, the presumed GOP front-runner in 2008 and the plan's biggest backer in Congress.

Now that Bush is pursuing the McCain approach, the senator could soon find himself defending the policy to a war-weary public in Iowa, New Hampshire and other key election states where surveys show voters are fed up with rising U.S. casualties. McCain readily admits that the new strategy is likely to result in even more violence — setting up a paradox for him as he strives to succeed an unpopular fellow Republican in the White House by backing an escalation of the very war that has plunged Bush's approval rating to near-record lows.

New York Times, By John F. Burns, Jan 8

BAGHDAD, Jan. 7 — The new American operational commander in Iraq said Sunday that even with the additional American troops likely to be deployed in Baghdad under President Bush’s new war strategy it might take another “two or three years” for American and Iraqi forces to gain the upper hand in the war.

The commander, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, assumed day-to-day control of war operations last month in the first step of a makeover of the American military hierarchy here. In his first lengthy meeting with reporters, General Odierno, 52, struck a cautious note about American prospects, saying much will depend on whether commanders can show enough progress to stem eroding support in the United States for the war.

“I believe the American people, if they feel we are making progress, they will have the patience,” he said. But right now, he added, “I think the frustration is that they think we are not making progress.”

The general laid out a plan to make an impact in Baghdad with the additional troops. Several other military plans since the fall of Baghdad in 2003 have faltered. He said he wanted the new American units, working with three additional Iraqi combat brigades that Iraqi officials say will be deployed in the capital, to move back into the city’s toughest neighborhoods and show that they can “protect the people,” which he said coalition forces had previously failed to do.

New York Times, Jan 8, by Michael R. Gordon & Jeff Zeleny

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 — President Bush’s new Iraq policy will establish a series of goals that the Iraqi government will be expected to meet to try to ease sectarian tensions and stabilize the country politically and economically, senior administration officials said Sunday.

Among these “benchmarks” are steps that would draw more Sunnis into the political process, finalize a long-delayed measure on the distribution of oil revenue and ease the government’s policy toward former Baath Party members, the officials said.

As the policy is being debated in Washington, the new American operational commander in Iraq said Sunday that his plan was to send additional American troops, expected to be part of the policy change, into Baghdad’s toughest neighborhoods, and that under the new strategy it may take another “two or three years” to gain the upper hand in the war. [Page A9.]

Without saying what the specific penalties for failing to achieve the goals would be, American officials insisted that they intended to hold the Iraqis to a realistic timetable for action, but the Americans and Iraqis have agreed on many of the objectives before, only to fall considerably short.

Ah, the CEO presidency...

Sending Guard, Reserve units on second tours would be a policy shift.
Los Angeles Times, By Julian E. Barnes, Jan 9

WASHINGTON — The nation's top military officials, expecting President Bush to order an increase in the size of the force in Iraq, have concluded that such a buildup would require them to reverse Pentagon policy and send the Army's National Guard and Reserve units on lengthy second tours in Iraq, Defense Department officials said Monday.

Under Pentagon policy, Guard and Reserve units have been limited to 24 months of mobilization for the Iraq war. That means most Reserve units that already have been sent to Iraq are ineligible to return. But the Joint Chiefs of Staff have concluded that a significant troop buildup would require the Pentagon to send Guard and Reserve units for additional yearlong tours.

Such an order probably would be controversial among the nation's governors — who share authority over the Guard — and could heighten concerns in Congress over the war and Bush's plans for a troop increase. In addition, National Guard leaders were skeptical of calls for additional combat tours, which they fear could hurt recruiting and retention.

"If you have to sustain a surge long-term, you have to use the Guard and Reserve," said a Defense Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president had not unveiled his strategy shift.

Bush, who is set to announce his new policy Wednesday, met on Monday with about a dozen Republican senators to discuss the plan. After the meeting, Sen. Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.) said Bush appeared to be planning an increase of 20,000 troops.

"It was clear to me that a decision was made for a surge of 20,000 additional troops," Smith said. "He did not affirm that that would be the number, but he said roughly … that amount. I understood it as a hypothetical."

U.S. and Iraqi troops on the hunt for insurgents in Diyala hit adverse conditions.

Los Angeles Times, Alexandra Zavis, Jan 9

30 TAMUZ, IRAQ — A five-day offensive into the troubled rural region east of Baghdad bogged down in the mud Monday after U.S. forces bombarded a warren of tunnels and canals where Sunni Arab insurgents were believed to be holed up.

An icy downpour turned dirt roads into muck that stuck to boots and wheels like cement and stopped American armored vehicles.

U.S. commanders poised for what they described as a final push against Al Qaeda in Iraq militants fired phosphorous shells to burn dead weeds and sent foot patrols to search fields and farm buildings. Despite the adverse conditions, American military officials remained optimistic about the offensive in Diyala province.

"Time is on our side," said Capt. Stephen Dobbins, a troop commander in the Army's 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry. "If the enemy is there in the canals, they're running out of food, and we have just bombed the hell out of them."

'Troop surge' expected to be confirmed in TV speech
Iraqi PM faces deadline to rein in sectarian fighting

The Guardian, Ewen MacAskill, Jan 9

WASHINGTON - George Bush is to make a television address to the nation tomorrow night setting out his long-awaited revised strategy for Iraq, as new figures from Baghdad suggested a sharp rise in the Iraqi death toll over the past six months.

The Washington Post yesterday reported Iraqi health ministry figures showing 22,950 were killed in violence in Iraq last year, with 17,310 dying in the past six months as opposed to 5,640 in the first half of the year. This reflects an increase in tension between Shia and Sunni Muslims in the second half of the year.

The reported health ministry figures are almost double that claimed by the Iraqi interior ministry for last year. The deputy health minister, Hakim al-Zamily, refused to confirm the figure yesterday but said: "I have heard there is an increase in the number of victims."

Mr Bush, in his 25-minute address, is expected to express continued support for the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, in spite of scepticism in military and diplomatic circles about his ability to tackle sectarian violence.

White House speechwriters were still at work last night but leaks over the past two months suggest Mr Bush will send in 20,000 or more extra troops, establish a new $1bn jobs programme and set benchmarks for Mr Maliki's government to address sectarian tensions, though he has ignored such ultimatums in the past.

UNICEF staffer shot dead in Baghdad
09 Jan 2007 10:14:11 GMT

GENEVA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - An Iraqi staff member of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has been shot dead in Baghdad, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Janan Jabero, 52, who had worked for UNICEF since 1999, was killed on Monday night but the agency did not know the motive nor who was responsible, said UNICEF spokesman in Geneva Damien Personnaz.

"UNICEF today confirms that staff member Mr. Janan Jabero has been killed in Iraq," the agency said in a statement. "Initial reports from local authorities indicate that Mr Jabero ... was shot while driving his car."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0916984.htm

Air Force cutbacks will reduce Ramstein's C-21 transport fleet

By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, January 9, 2007

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Air Force squadrons at bases worldwide — including Ramstein Air Base — have begun retiring more than half of their C-21 fleet as part of a servicewide effort to cut personnel and save money.

The Air Force announced last month that it will transfer 38 aircraft, sending 16 from active-duty units to the Air National Guard in Fargo, N.D., and Bradley, Conn. The rest of the jets will be sent to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and the Air Force Flight Standards Agency at Will Rogers Air Guard Station in Oklahoma City, Okla.

The C-21 is the military’s version of the Lear 35A business jet and is used mostly to transport senior-level officials, cargo and ambulatory patients. The twin turbofan engine aircraft, which first arrived in the Air Force in 1984, carries seven passengers.

The Air Force’s active-duty fleet had 74 C-21As, according to the service’s Web site. Each cost more than $3 million in 1996.

Ramstein’s 76th Airlift Squadron will lose three of its 13 C-21s, commander Lt. Col. Dan Baldessari said. He flew the first C-21 from the squadron’s fleet on Monday afternoon to Davis-Monthan. The others will leave Ramstein later this month.

“We are fortunate to be losing only three,” Baldessari said. “There are units in the States who have lost half or more of their C-21s — or are going to — based on these budget decisions.”

The secretary of the Air Force approved the retirement of the planes as part of the service’s plans to slash 40,000 positions from its ranks to buy new planes and modernize the force.

Trimming the C-21As from the active-duty inventory will affect 91 positions at Ramstein; Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.; Wright- Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Scott Air Force Base, Ill.; Andrews Air Force Base, Md.; Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.; and Yokota Air Base, Japan.

The 76th will lose 17 of its 40 pilot positions through attrition, Baldessari said. But the unit does not expect to see a drop in the number of passengers.

The squadron ferries senior officers around the U.S. European Command’s area of operations — which includes Europe and most of Africa.

Last year, the Ramstein unit was busy, flying nearly 3,000 missions. That’s 1,000 more than the previous year, Baldessari said. The unit flew more than 120 aeromedical evacuations.

The loss of the aircraft will not affect the ambulatory missions, Baldessari said. Crews will continue to be on alert around the clock to transport patients who need urgent care. However, the unit plans to combine missions for senior officers, Baldessari said. When possible, passengers would have to take flights together.

Baldessari said he doesn’t expect to fly as many as missions in 2007.

“But it’s not out of the realm of possibility depending on how heavy the tasking is consistently,” he said.

“... (We) know we’re going to accomplish the vast majority of the missions even though we lost three airplanes,” he added.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=42649

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2007/1/9/84616/03719

Iraq PM Tells Shiite Militias to Give Up

Wednesday January 10, 2007 10:46 PM

AP Photo BAG102

By STEVEN R. HURST

and

QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

Associated Press Writers

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's prime minister has told Shiite militiamen to surrender their arms or face an all-out assault by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces, senior Iraqi officials said Wednesday, as American and Iraqi troops prepared major military operations aimed at ending sectarian warfare in Baghdad.

The move came as President Bush said he will send an additional of 21,500 American combat troops to Iraq, according to excerpts of a speech the president was set to deliver later Wednesday.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, head of Iraq's Shiite-led government, previously had blocked several U.S. attempts to crack down on fighters controlled by his most powerful political ally, Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric.

``Prime Minister al-Maliki has told everyone that there will be no escape from attack,'' a senior Shiite legislator and close al-Maliki adviser said. ``The government has told the Sadrists: 'If we want to build a state we have no other choice but to attack armed groups.'''

Al-Maliki on Saturday announced that his government would implement a new security plan for Baghdad, which consists of neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweeps by Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops.

In the past, the Iraqi government has tried to prevent American military operations against the Mahdi Army, while giving U.S. forces a free hand against Sunni militants. The Bush administration has pushed al-Maliki, who took office in May, to curb his militia allies or allow U.S. troops to do the job.

Although al-Maliki withdrew political protection from the Mahdi Army, there was no guarantee the Shiite fighters would be easily routed from the large and growing area of Baghdad under their control.

The militia has more fighters, weapons and sophistication today than it did in 2004, when it battled U.S. forces to a standstill in two strongholds, the Shiite holy city of Najaf and Sadr City, Baghdad's sprawling Shiite slum.

Sunni militants, meanwhile, have put up fierce resistance in the five days since al-Maliki announced his new security initiative for Baghdad.

Iraqi and U.S. troops have battled Sunni insurgents along Haifa Street in central Baghdad in two major battles.

The neighborhood is only about 2 1/2 miles north of the Green Zone, site of the Iraqi government headquarters, the U.S. Embassy and base for thousands of American soldiers.

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Better armor lacking for new troops in Iraq

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By David Wood
Sun reporter

January 10, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The thousands of troops that President Bush is expected to order to Iraq will join the fight largely without the protection of the latest armored vehicles that withstand bomb blasts far better than the Humvees in wide use, military officers said.

Vehicles such as the Cougar and the M1117 Armored Security Vehicle have proven ability to save lives, but production started late and relatively small numbers are in use in Iraq, mostly because of money shortages, industry officials said.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6251167.stm

January 11

US forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized six members of staff.
The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior local officials.

The US military would only confirm the detention of six people around Irbil.

The raid comes amid high Iran-US tension. The US accuses Iran of helping to fuel violence in Iraq and seeking nuclear arms. Iran denies both charges.

Tehran counters that US military involvement in the Middle East endangers the whole region.

A local TV station said Kurdish security forces had taken over the building after the Americans had left.

By Thomas Harding in Basra and Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 2:27am GMT 11/01/2007

Thousands of British troops will return home from Iraq by the end of May, The Daily Telegraph can reveal today.

Tony Blair will announce within the next fortnight that almost 3,000 troops are to be cut from the current total of 7,200, allowing the military to recover from four years of battle that have left it severely overstretched.

The number of British troops in Iraq will be cut from 7,200 to 4,500

In what will be the first substantial cut of British troops serving in southern Iraq, their number will drop to 4,500 on May 31. The announcement will be made by the Prime Minister before he steps down from office as an intended signal of the achievements the British have made in Iraq — albeit at the cost of 128 dead.

The plans for the British withdrawal were revealed as President George W Bush announced that he was sending an additional 21,500 troops into Iraq.

The primary objective of the five brigades and two US marine battalions is to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad and target Sunni insurgent strongholds in western Anbar province.

His high-stakes, prime-time television address to Americans last night signalled a stark divergence of policy on Iraq with that of his British allies.

advertisementThe long-awaited "surge" strategy, bitterly opposed by Democrats and many Republicans, was to be accompanied by a massive influx of American cash for reconstruction and a commitment from the Iraq government to send three brigades into Baghdad.

A senior British officer serving in Iraq said yesterday: "The US situation appears to be getting worse because they are sending more troops while the British are getting out of Basra. But the situation is different, with the Americans facing a gargantuan problem of sectarian violence."

Although British politicians and senior commanders have speculated on the timing and number of soldiers to be withdrawn from southern Iraq, the precise timetable for the UK withdrawal has been disclosed to The Daily Telegraph. Unless there are "major hiccups" in the next few months, 1 Mechanised Brigade will enter Iraq with a much reduced force when it replaces 19 Light Brigade in June for its six-month tour.

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Iraqi government is on 'borrowed time,' Rice says
11 Jan 2007 16:23:57 GMT

More WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested on Thursday that the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was running out of time to restore security in Iraq but repeated her confidence in him.

"I have met Prime Minister Maliki. ... I saw his resolve. "I think he knows that his government is, in a sense, on borrowed time, not just in terms of the American people but in terms of the Iraqi people," Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Her remarks came at a hearing where she testified about President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq. The plan was sharply criticized by many Democrats and Republicans at the hearing.

Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel said the plan, unveiled in a speech on Wednesday night, was a major mistake.

"I think this speech given last night by this president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam if it's carried out," said Hagel, a possible U.S. 2008 presidential candidate.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11414862.htm

Pentagon chief seeks bigger Army, Marine Corps
11 Jan 2007 17:38:48 GMT

By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called on Thursday for a permanent boost in the size of the Army and Marine Corps, the military branches most strained by Iraq, at a likely cost of $15 billion a year.

Gates recommended that President George W. Bush add 92,000 troops to the two services over five years, bringing the Army to 547,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps to 202,000 service members.

In a further sign of the strain on the U.S. military, Gates also announced that the Pentagon would not be able to meet its goal of giving every reserve unit five years at home for every year spent deployed, at least for the moment.

The new defense secretary said the increase in the military was needed for the long-term fight against terrorism.

"The emphasis will be on increasing combat capability," Gates said at a White House news conference to discuss Bush's new plan for the Iraq war.

"We should recognize that while it may take some time for these troops to become available for deployment, it is important that our men and woman in uniform know that additional manpower and resources are on the way," Gates said.

Bush said on Wednesday that he would send more than 21,000 additional U.S. troops into the most violent areas of Iraq -- Baghdad and Anbar -- to establish security and improve training of Iraqi forces.

There are now about 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

INCREASED STRAINS

Defense officials have long said a permanent increase to the size of the Army and Marine Corps was needed to cope with increased strains from current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other ongoing operations globally.

It also is needed to ensure the United States is ready for future operations, defense officials and analysts have said.

"These increases are long overdue, because U.S. ground forces are stretched in Iraq to a degree where they could not cope with emergencies elsewhere," said Loren Thompson, defense analyst at the Lexington Institute.

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Bush tells soldiers new Iraq strategy to take time

Thu 11 Jan 2007 18:58:04 GMT
FORT BENNING, Ga., Jan 11 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday told soldiers that his strategy of sending more U.S. troops to Iraq would not yield immediate results in clamping down on sectarian violence.

One day after proposing to increase U.S. forces by 21,500, mostly to help secure Baghdad, Bush appealed for patience.

"The new strategy is not going to yield immediate results. it's going to take a while," Bush said at Fort Benning, an Army base in Georgia from which about 4,000 more soldiers will soon deploy to Iraq.

He said U.S. commanders believed there was a good chance to defeat the insurgency in Anbar province. The 4,000 extra U.S. troops in Anbar, and the added forces in Baghdad, would help, he said.

"The purpose really is to crush these insurrections now so that the democracy in Iraq can develop, has a chance to make it," Bush said.

He also called on the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, to disarm. Washington has identified the militia as a threat to security in Iraq and has been pressing Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, to take it on.

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ABC News
U.S. Troops Stage Second Secret Raid at Iraq Airport
Forces Also Capture Up to Six Iranians at Location Used to Issue Travel Permits to Iran
By TERRY MCCARTHY

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 11, 2007 — - U.S. troops staged two secret raids in northern Iraq today, ABC News has learned, capturing as many as six Iranians and only narrowly avoiding a gun battle with local security forces, according to the Iraqi foreign ministry and local officials in northern Iraq's Kurdish region.

The Iranian government has made an official complaint to the government in Baghdad, which the Iraqi Foreign Ministry has relayed to the U.S. Embassy.

For more on this story and a first look from Baghdad at how U.S. forces are implementing the new strategy for Iraq, watch "World News With Charles Gibson" tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET.

In the first raid, the U.S. troops stormed a building that houses the Iranian liaison office in the northern city of Irbil at 3 a.m. local time, where they detained at least five Iranians and also confiscated computers and documents.

A nearby resident told the Associated Press that the troops used stun bombs in the raid and had helicopters flying overhead as they went through the two-story yellow house.

In the second raid, staged later in the day, U.S. troops attempted to abduct more people from inside the perimeter of Irbil airport, but were surrounded by Kurdish peshmerga troops.

"This group has come from nowhere," Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told ABC News. "They were unwilling to reveal their identity and entered the airport, which is a very sensitive area, and there was a response by the local forces."

Both sides were heavily armed, and shooting very nearly broke out. "There weren't any casualties, but it was a split second really for a disaster to happen. This has created a great deal of anxiety," said Zebari.

'Delicate Situation'

It is unclear where the U.S. troops came from -- even local U.S. officials contacted by the Kurdish authorities had no knowledge of the armed men.

The American military later issued a statement saying it had detained six people in a raid in Irbil, but did not specify their nationality or give any other information about the raids.

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http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2788262&page=1

Bush sees a regional solution in his plan for Iraq. But Arab states say the problem is the U.S.

Los Angeles Times, By Megan K. Stack & Ken Ellingwood, Jan 12

CAIRO — In ordering more American troops into Iraq, President Bush said he was sending a message of hope to millions of Arabs and Afghans trapped in violence. But to many on the ground in the Mideast, the speech spoke volumes of a gaping disconnect between high-flown U.S. promises and a deadly, turbulent reality.

After long years of war and political disillusionment, Bush would have been hard-pressed to come up with any message that would please the Arab world. Analysts say public opinion of the United States has sunk to an unprecedented low, with no end in sight to the bloodletting in Iraq or the Palestinian territories.

Many here, long mired in bloodshed and sinking deeper into sectarian tensions, hold America squarely to blame for both.

Rather than sowing political progress, they say, the U.S. presence in Iraq has poisoned the mood so thoroughly that secular and moderate activists now stay silent for fear of being tarred as American agents.

"What the United States did for the region is destruction for the forces who believe in democracy, rule of law and human rights," said Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza City. "We are the real victims."

New York Times, John F. Burns & Sabrina Tavernise, Jan 12

BAGHDAD, Jan. 11 — Iraq’s Shiite-led government offered only a grudging endorsement on Thursday of President Bush’s proposal to deploy more than 20,000 additional troops in an effort to curb sectarian violence and regain control of Baghdad. The tepid response immediately raised questions about whether the government would make a good-faith effort to prosecute the new war plan.

The Iraqi leader, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, failed to appear at a news conference and avoided any public comment. He left the government’s response to an official spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, who gave what amounted to a backhanded approval of the troop increase and emphasized that Iraqis, not Americans, would set the future course in the war.

Mr. Dabbagh said that the government’s objective was to secure the eventual withdrawal of American troops, and that for that to be possible there had to be security for Iraqis. “If this can be achieved by increasing either Iraqi or multinational forces,” he added, “the government, for sure, will not stand against it.”

Mr. Dabbagh suggested that much about the Bush plan depended on how circumstances in Iraq would evolve over the coming months — an echo, in its way, of senior Bush administration officials. They have implied that they might halt the month-by-month inflow of additional troops if they think Mr. Maliki is failing to meet the political and military benchmarks Mr. Bush identified as the Iraqi government’s part in making the new war plan work.

“The plan can be developed according to the needs,” Mr. Dabbagh said. Then he added tartly, “What is suitable for our conditions in Iraq is what we decide, not what others decide for us.”

Sectarian strife has changed the capital, solidifying divisions.

Los Angeles Times, Solomon Moore, Jan 12

BAGHDAD — Mohammed Rubaie, 28, is the sort of person President Bush's new Baghdad security plan was designed to protect. But for him and his neighbors and many like them across this city, the plan comes months too late.

One of the chief rationales for sending five additional U.S. brigades to Baghdad is to secure the city's mixed neighborhoods, U.S. military planners say. If residents feel they are safe in their homes, they will no longer turn to sectarian militias to protect them, the strategists argue.

But many of the districts that U.S. planners might have wanted to protect already have been taken over by sectarian gunmen and their allies. Formerly mixed areas, including Rubaie's Hurriya neighborhood, have been transformed by fear and violence. Standing in their place are militantly sectarian communities, their borders hardened by concrete barriers and vigilante-run checkpoints.

Hurriya, where Rubaie was born and grew up, was one of those mixed neighborhoods — a place in Baghdad's northwestern corner where Sunni Arabs and Shiite Muslims lived in relative peace.

But this fall, the militias saw to it that Hurriya would no longer be mixed. One harrowing October night, "there were two gunmen dressed in black, with the police backing them up. They were saying, 'Sunnis, you should leave now. It's the last warning to you all. We're going to burn your houses one by one,' " Rubaie said.

"When our neighbor's house was burned, I felt it was time for us to leave," he added.

NYT

January 13, 2007
Bush Authorized Iranians' Arrest in Iraq, Rice Says

By DAVID E. SANGER and MICHAEL R. GORDON

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 — A recent series of American raids against Iranians in Iraq was authorized under an order that President Bush decided to issue several months ago to undertake a broad military offensive against Iranian operatives in the country, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday. ...

In adopting a more confrontational approach toward Iran, Mr. Bush has decisively rejected recommendations of the Iraq Study Group that he explore negotiations with Tehran as part of a new strategy to help quell the sectarian violence in Iraq. ...

Mr. Bush’s public warning to Iran was accompanied by the deployment of an additional aircraft carrier off Iran’s coast and advanced Patriot antimissile defense systems in Persian Gulf countries near Iran’s borders. Both the White House and the secretary of defense, Robert M. Gates, insisted Friday that the United States was not seeking to goad Iran into conflict, and that it had no intention of taking the battle into Iranian territory. The White House spokesman, Tony Snow, warned reporters away from “an urban legend that’s going around” that Mr. Bush was “trying to prepare the way for war” with Iran or Syria.

Turk PM asserts right to intervene in Iraq, raps US
12 Jan 2007 17:57:24 GMT

ANKARA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday reaffirmed Turkey's right to send troops into Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels there and chided U.S. officials for questioning it.

"The Turkish Republic will do whatever is necessary to combat the terrorists when the time comes, but it will not announce its plans in advance," Erdogan told a news conference after a meeting of his ruling AK Party.

"We say we are ready to take concrete steps with the Iraqi government and we also say these steps must be taken now."

In sharp language underscoring Turkish anxiety about the chaos in Iraq, Erdogan said it was wrong for Washington -- "our supposed strategic ally" -- to tell Turkey, with its historic and cultural ties in the region, to stay out of Iraq.

"We have a 350 km border with Iraq. We have historic relations ... the United States is 10,000 km away from Iraq, and yet is it not intervening in Iraq's internal affairs?" he said.

Turkish media say Erdogan has been irked by comments attributed to Washington's envoy to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, warning third countries not to interfere in Iraqi affairs.

Ankara has long complained that the United States and Iraqi government have failed to crack down on Kurdish rebels, and periodically asserts its right under international law to conduct cross-border operations against the guerrillas.

With both presidential and parliamentary elections looming in 2007, analysts say Erdogan is under increased pressure to show he is tough on security issues.

More than 30,000 people have been killed since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), branded a "terrorist organisation" by the EU and the U.S. as well as Ankara, launched an armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

The PKK began a unilateral ceasefire on Oct. 1 at the request of its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, but Turkey dismissed the move as a public relations ploy and clashes have continued, though at a lower intensity than before.

Up to 5,000 militants are believed to be hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq from where they have staged attacks on military and civilian targets inside Turkey.

Washington has appointed a special envoy to coordinate measures with Turkey aimed at tackling the PKK, but analysts say it will not apply military force against the group, given the scale of the problems it faces in the rest of Iraq.

"We don't want to waste time with abstract statements, we want concrete results," said Erdogan, who has said the Iraq situation is now a bigger foreign policy priority for Turkey even than its bid to join the European Union.

reuters

Informed Comment - Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that its sources in the Iraqi government are saying that there are some secret paragraphs to the agreement between the Bush administration and the al-Maliki government in Iraq to act against militia leaders. The article suggests that the model of the US raid on an Iranian liason office in Irbil might be deployed against Mahdi Army leaders and against Sunni Arab guerrilla commanders. That is, such raids would be small, targeted, quick and involve kidnapping suspected wrongdoers.

The article also quotes US ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, as saying that al-Maliki promised Bush that he would confront the [Shiite] Mahdi Army.more at link

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Bush: Critics of troop rise must offer alternative

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush made clear on Saturday he would not back off his plan to send more troops to Iraq despite bipartisan hostility to the idea and he accused his critics of failing to offer an alternative.

Bush's announcement this week that he would add 21,500 troops in Iraq to try to quell sectarian violence was greeted by scathing criticism on Capitol Hill. The United States has about 130,000 troops in Iraq now. The extra troops would go to Baghdad and the volatile Anbar province.

Democrats in Congress and even some Republicans, said they doubted the plan would work, given that past force increases failed to halt the bloodshed and that it relied heavily on the Iraqi government to come through on commitments it previously had not met.

Congressional Democrats swept to power in November elections widely seen as a referendum on the unpopular war.

"We recognize that many members of Congress are skeptical," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Members of Congress have a right to express their views, and express them forcefully."

"But those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success. To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible," he said

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Inside Baghdad's civil war
'The jihad now is against the Shias, not the Americans'

As 20,000 more US troops head for Iraq, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, the only correspondent reporting regularly from behind the country's sectarian battle lines, reveals how the Sunni insurgency has changed

Saturday January 13, 2007
The Guardian

One morning a few weeks ago I sat in a car talking to Rami, a thick-necked former Republican Guard commando who now procures arms for his fellow Sunni insurgents.

Rami was explaining how the insurgency had changed since the first heady days after the US invasion. "I used to attack the Americans when that was the jihad. Now there is no jihad. Go around and see in Adhamiya [the notorious Sunni insurgent area] - all the commanders are sitting sipping coffee; it's only the young kids that are fighting now, and they are not fighting Americans any more, they are just killing Shia. There are kids carrying two guns each and they roam the streets looking for their prey. They will kill for anything, for a gun, for a car and all can be dressed up as jihad."

Rami was no longer involved in fighting, he said, but made a tidy profit selling weapons and ammunition to men in his north Baghdad neighbourhood. Until the last few months, the insurgency got by with weapons and ammunition looted from former Iraqi army depots. But now that Sunnis were besieged in their neighbourhoods and fighting daily clashes with the better-equipped Shia ministry of interior forces, they needed new sources of weapons and money.

He told me that one of his main suppliers had been an interpreter working for the US army in Baghdad. "He had a deal with an American officer. We bought brand new AKs and ammunition from them." He claimed the American officer, whom he had never met but he believed was a captain serving at Baghdad airport, had even helped to divert a truckload of weapons as soon as it was driven over the border from Jordan.

General: Kurd Brigade Will Go to Baghdad
Jan 13, 10:20 PM EST
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and BASSEM MROUE

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A Kurdish army brigade from northern Iraq is undergoing intensive urban combat training for deployment to Baghdad, where it expects to take on the Mahdi Army Shiite militia, its commander said Saturday.

Meanwhile, three Iraqi generals told The Associated Press that the Iraqi commander who will lead the Baghdad security mission was the government's second choice and only got the job after the U.S. military objected to the first officer named to the post by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Underscoring the difficulties in taming Iraq's surging violence, at least 48 people were killed or found dead nationwide on Saturday, including a Sunni cleric who was shot to death near his home in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

In the northern city of Irbil, Brig. Gen. Nazir Assem Korran, commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division of the Iraqi army, said "we will head to Baghdad soon. We have 3,000 soldiers who are currently undergoing intensive training especially in urban combat and how the army should act inside a city."

Korran told the AP he did not know how the operation would unfold but said the Defense Ministry had asked his brigade to take part in the security operation along with thousands of other Iraqi and U.S. troops.

The forces were to conduct neighborhood-to-neighborhood searches to clear the city of Sunni Muslim insurgents and local militias such as the Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has been an ally of al-Maliki.

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Mahdi Army lowers its profile, anticipating arrival of U.S. troops
By Leila Fadel and Zaineb Obeid
McClatchy Newspapers (San Jose Mercury News) Jan 13

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Mahdi Army militia members have stopped wearing their black uniforms, hidden their weapons and abandoned their checkpoints in an apparent effort to lower their profile in Baghdad in advance of the arrival of U.S. reinforcements.

"We have explicit directions to keep a low profile . . . not to confront, not to be dragged into a fight and to calm things down," said one official who received the orders from the anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr heads the Mahdi Army, Iraq's largest Shiite militia, headquartered in Najaf.

The official asked not to be named because he was not authorized to reveal the militia's plans.

Militia members say al-Sadr ordered them to stand down shortly after President George Bush's announcement that the U.S. would send 17,500 more American troops to Baghdad to work alongside the Iraqi security forces.

The decision by al-Sadr to lower his force's profile in Baghdad will likely cut violence in the city and allow American forces to show quick results from their beefed up presence. But it is also unlikely in the long term to change the balance of power here. Mahdi Army militiamen say that while they remain undercover now, they are simply waiting for the security plan to end.