Once-skittish party leaders are joining antiwar liberals in opposing a buildup.
Los Angeles Times, By Noam N. Levey, Jan 14

WASHINGTON — Emboldened by President Bush's deeply unpopular proposal to send more troops to Iraq, congressional Democrats are shedding their wariness about tackling the war and embracing positions once primarily held by the party's most liberal fringe.

Less than two weeks after taking power, party leaders who had promised just an increase in oversight hearings on the war are now talking openly about cutting off funds for additional military operations.

Centrist Democrats are lining up beside longtime antiwar liberals, promising to do everything in their power to stop the president's plans to deploy an additional 21,500 troops in Baghdad and Al Anbar province.

And the war's most passionate opponents in the House, whose last meeting before the midterm election was relegated to a basement room, met last week in one of the grandest rooms on Capitol Hill and drew scores of supporters, television cameras and journalists.

"Ours is now the mainstream position," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma), who two years ago saw her resolution calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq crushed on the House floor. Today, the congressional Out of Iraq Caucus co-founded by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) has more than 80 members.

The price tag for the Iraq conflict and overall effort against terrorism is expected to surpass Vietnam's next year.

Los Angeles Times, By Joel Havemann, Jan 14

WASHINGTON — By the time the Vietnam war ended in 1975, it had become America's longest war, shadowed the legacies of four presidents, killed 58,000 Americans along with many thousands more Vietnamese, and cost the U.S. more than $660 billion in today's dollars.

By the time the bill for World War II passed the $600-billion mark, in mid-1943, the United States had driven German forces out of North Africa, devastated the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Midway, and launched the vast offensives that would liberate Europe and the South Pacific.

The Iraq war is far smaller and narrower than those conflicts, and it has not extended beyond the tenure of a single president. But its price tag is beginning to reach historic proportions, and the budgetary "burn rate" for Iraq may be greater than in some periods in past wars.

If U.S. involvement continues on the current scale, the funding for the Iraq war — combined with the conflict in Afghanistan and other foreign fronts in the war on terrorism — is projected to surpass this country's Vietnam spending next year.

But with allies they don't trust and enemies who confuse them, commanders know it will be bloody

The Independent, By Kim Sengupta, Jan 14

The narrow ambush alleys of Kadhamiyah, the tenements providing sniper cover at Diyala Bridge, the dusty, sprawling killing grounds of Sadr City. These are the strongholds of the Shia militias that the Americans will have to take in the battle for Baghdad.

The US forces in the "surge" into the Iraqi capital face a war on two fronts. The murder miles of Haifa Street and Adhamiyah are the homes to the Sunni insurgency, which continues its bloody course four years after the official end of the war, and there is no sign of this stopping as the US forces take on the Shias.

There are other logistical difficulties of fighting an urban guerrilla war in a city like Baghdad. The militias have spread from their power bases into the so called "mixed areas". Outside the Hamra Hotel, where the dwindling group of Western journalists in Baghdad stays, there are checkpoints run by the Mehdi army, led by the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; their Shia competitors, the Badr Brigade; and the Kurdish Peshmerga. Further out are the Shia Defenders of Kadhamiyah, set up by Mr Sadr's cousin Hussein al-Sadr and the government-backed Tiger and Scorpion Brigades.

They all look similar: balaclavas or wrap-around sunglasses and headbands, black leather gloves with fingers cut off, and a very lethal arsenal of weapons. When not manning checkpoints, they hurtle through the streets in 4x4s, scattering the traffic by firing in the air. It is impossible to say which particular group they belong to.

[...]

The correct analogy for the coming battle for Baghdad is not Tal Afar, but a US operation carried out in the Iraqi capital last year. More than 12,000 US troops, supported by helicopter gunships swooping over the rooftops, were sent in to destroy the Shia militias and break the back of the Sunni insurgency.

But by the end of the campaign the power of the gunmen had not diminished, and the scale of bloodshed had risen. It is an ominous template for a struggle on which not only President Bush's credibility, but the future of Iraq is likely to depend.

The Independent, By Stephen Foley, Jan 14

New York - The American company appointed to advise the US government on the economic reconstruction of Iraq has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican Party coffers and has admitted that its own finances are in chaos because of accounting errors and bad management.

BearingPoint is fighting to restore its reputation in the US after falling more than a year behind in reporting its own financial results, prompting legal actions from its creditors and shareholders.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BearingPoint employees gave $117,000 (£60,000) to the 2000 and 2004 Bush election campaigns, more than any other Iraq contractor. Other recipients include three prominent Congressmen on the House of Representatives' defence sub-committee, which oversees defence department contracts.

One of the biggest single contributors to BearingPoint's in-house political fund was James Horner, who heads the company's emerging markets business which is working in Iraq and Afghanistan. He donated $5,000 in August 2005.

So we are going to widen the sectarian warfare by sending Kurds to fight Shiites? How dumb is that?

An Afghan insurgent leader operating from Pakistan sent about 200 ill-equipped fighters, some wearing plastic bags on their feet, into Afghanistan, where most were killed in a major battle this week, an American general said Saturday.

General Freakley said one of the enemies in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area is unemployment.

“It is clear to me that some of these men were just either collected in a poor part of a village or perhaps from a madrasa or perhaps from a refugee camp and told to come fight,” .”

Don't it make you proud??? I, for one, am very relieved that NATO forces have taken the initiative and saved the lives of my family from instant death and destruction at the hands of impoverished refugees from the other side of the globe.

President Bush, under fire for sending 20,000 extra troops into Iraq, is now ready to target Iran for the chaos in Baghdad and beyond

The Observer, Peter Beaumont in London, Paul Harris in New York, and Robert Tait in Tehran, Jan 14

Baghdad's Residency Office, a bustling maze of corridors and smoky rooms, is a place of Kafkaesque bureaucracy. Controlled by a Shia political party, it means foreigners who do not want to pay a bribe shuffle from desk to desk to get the signatures, stamps and counter signatures, and then more stamps, required to leave the country. Only one group is rushed through without a cursory glance: agents who breeze through with arms laden with stacks of passports. All of them from Iran.

Some are pilgrims to Shia holy sites whom you see streaming across the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the heavily laden ferries at festival time and plying the motorways in packed minibuses. Others are returning exiles, many of whose families hold only Iranian passports. Others are diplomats and businessmen.

But in the past few months, George W Bush, has signed a presidential order targeting another group that his administration alleges is in Iraq: Iranians - Revolutionary Guards and intelligence officers. Iran, the Shia state, is destabilising Iraqi politics and co-ordinating attacks on US forces by Shia insurgents, claim the Americans.

The claims are not new. Throughout last year, officials dropped heavy hints about the presence of Revolutionary Guards in Iraq, although usually without evidence to support the claims. What has changed in the past few days is that rumours have been translated into public accusations in Washington, amid moves by the US military to break up what it alleges are 'Iranian networks' in Iraq. This time administration officials claim they have evidence.

• White House says no attack planned against Iran, but won't rule out possibility
• National security adviser Stephen Hadley says diplomacy should resolve issues
• Hadley won't say whether he believes move on Iran would need congressional OK
• Iran says U.S. detention of Iranians in Iraq is "illegal"

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House said Sunday it is not planning military action against Iran, but refused to rule out the possibility, bucking pressure from several senators who said the administration is not authorized to do so.

Asked whether the United States is preparing for a potential military conflict with Iran, President Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley told NBC's "Meet the Press," "No, the president has said very clearly that the issues we have with Iran should be solved diplomatically."

But, on ABC's "This Week," Hadley would not rule out the possibility of such an attack and would not say whether he agrees with those senators who say that the Bush administration would need congressional backing for such a move.

The sharp questioning about U.S. plans for Iran followed Bush's address to the nation Wednesday night announcing his strategy for Iraq, in which he vowed the United States "will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq." (Full story)

[...]

Asked repeatedly whether the United States has the authority to enter Iran if it believes doing so would help prevent attacks, Hadley did not answer. Then came this exchange:

Host George Stephanopoulos: "So, you don't believe you have the authority to go into Iran?"

Hadley: "I didn't say that. This is another issue. Any time you have questions about crossing international borders, there are legal issues."

Reuters Alertnet, By Tabassum Zakaria, Jan 14

WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the United States must show it has the "stomach" to win in Iraq or it will confirm al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's view that Americans can be pressured to leave.

U.S. allies helping in fighting terrorism -- Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Egypt -- must have confidence that the United States will stay until a successful outcome, he said.

"If the United States doesn't have the stomach to finish the task in Iraq, we put at risk what we've done in all of those other locations," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Bin Laden's strategy is to push U.S. presence out of the region through terrorism and Iraq is currently at the center of that battle, Cheney said. "It's absolutely essential that we win there, and we will win there," he said.

Cheney defended the new plan by President George W. Bush to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq and said critics had not produced an alternative proposal.

Brian Knowlton | Washington | January 14

NYT - President Bush, facing sharp and widespread opposition to his plan to send more troops to Iraq, insists that he has the authority to do so even without the approval of Congress.

"I fully understand they could try to stop me from doing it,” he said in a taped interview for the CBS News program “60 Minutes” that is to be broadcast this evening. “But I’ve made my decision. And were going forward.”

Vice President Dick Cheney, meantime, sharply challenged the vociferous Democratic critics of the new plan, saying, “They have absolutely nothing to offer in its place.”

Mr. Cheney said he doubted that Congress would use its budget authority to block the troop increase, which he and Mr. Bush asserted was vital to restoring order to Baghdad so that political reconciliation and economic recovery can take root.


_{"Damn right it's loaded, it makes a lousy club."}

President Bush, facing opposition from both parties over his plan to send more troops to Iraq, said he has the authority to act no matter what Congress wants.

"I fully understand they could try to stop me from doing it. But I've made my decision. And we're going forward," Bush told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview to air Sunday night.

Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that lawmakers' criticism will not influence Bush's plans and he dismissed any effort to "run a war by committee."

"The president is the commander in chief. He's the one who has to make these tough decisions," Cheney said.

The defiant White House stance comes as both the House and Senate, now controlled by Democrats, prepare to vote on resolutions that oppose additional U.S. troops in Iraq. Cheney said those nonbinding votes would not affect Bush's ability to carry out his policies.

"He's the guy who's got to decide how to use the force and where to deploy the force," Cheney said. "And Congress obviously has to support the effort through the power of the purse. So they've got a role to play, and we certainly recognize that. But you also cannot run a war by committee."

CNN

Independent

Stephen Foley reports from New York

Published: 14 January 2007

The American company appointed to advise the US government on the economic reconstruction of Iraq has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican Party coffers and has admitted that its own finances are in chaos because of accounting errors and bad management.

BearingPoint is fighting to restore its reputation in the US after falling more than a year behind in reporting its own financial results, prompting legal actions from its creditors and shareholders.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BearingPoint employees gave $117,000 (£60,000) to the 2000 and 2004 Bush election campaigns, more than any other Iraq contractor. Other recipients include three prominent Congressmen on the House of Representatives' defence sub-committee, which oversees defence department contracts.

One of the biggest single contributors to BearingPoint's in-house political fund was James Horner, who heads the company's emerging markets business which is working in Iraq and Afghanistan. He donated $5,000 in August 2005.

The company's shares have collapsed to a third of their value when the firm listed in 2001, and it faces being thrown out of the New York Stock Exchange altogether. Despite annual revenues of $3.4bn, the company made a loss of $722m in 2005. Those figures were released only last month, nine months late, and the company has not yet been able to report any fully audited figures at all for 2006.

Analysts in the US claim the reason is a culture of poor management controls stretching back to before the company was carved out of KPMG, the global accounting giant, at the start of the decade. A litany of failings included invoices going astray, poorly trained accounting staff and a failure to work out the tax implications of having so many employees working in foreign countries.

The chaos is not the result of malfeasance, but is "embarrassing and inexcusable" none the less, according to Harry You, a former computer company finance chief brought in to head BearingPoint in 2005 after it fired its long-standing previous chief executive, the former US army captain Randolph Blazer. BearingPoint did not return calls asking for comment yesterday.

BearingPoint is being paid $240m for its work in Iraq, winning an initial contract from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) within weeks of the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. It was charged with supporting the then Coalition Provisional Authority to introduce policies "which are designed to create a competitive private sector". Its role is to examine laws, regulations and institutions that regulate trade, commerce and investment, and to advise ministries and the central bank.

Last week The Independent on Sunday revealed that a BearingPoint employee, based in the US embassy in Baghdad, had been tasked with advising the Iraqi Ministry of Oil on drawing up a new hydrocarbon law. The legislation, which is due to be presented to Iraq's parliament within days, will give Western oil companies a large slice of profits from the country's oil fields in exchange for investing in new oil infrastructure.

BearingPoint's first task in Iraq in 2003 was to help to plan the introduction of a new currency, and it was hoped that it would eventually organise small loans to Iraqi entrepreneurs to stimulate a significant market economy. The contract award was immediately criticised by public integrity watchdogs and by the company's rivals, because BearingPoint advisers to USAid had a hand in drafting the requirements set out in the tender. It spent five months helping USAid to write the job specifications and even sent some employees to Iraq to begin work before the contract was awarded, while its competitors had only a week to read the specifications and submit their own bids after final revisions were made.

USAid's independent inspector ruled that "BearingPoint's extensive involvement in the development of the Iraq economic reform program creates the appearance of unfair competitive advantage in the contract award process". The company said it was selected through a transparent and competitive bidding process.

Across the world, BearingPoint has become, thanks to USAid funding, a part of the US government's strategy of spreading free-market reforms to developing countries and America's allies. Elsewhere in the Middle East it is advising the government of Jordan on how to minimise the regulation of business and reform its tax policies in order to attract foreign investment; in Egypt it is advising on customs reform and respect for international companies' patents.

It has won more than $100m of business in Afghanistan since American troops invaded in 2002, and has been helping to build a banking system, training civil servants in the finance ministry and offering advice on economic policy.

Its economic reconstruction work grew out of early work in eastern Europe after the fall of communism, and became a significant contributor to the business after it won contracts in the former Yugoslavia following US intervention there.

The company changed its name to BearingPoint from KPMG Consulting in 2002, shortly after separating from its parent company. In the years since, contracts with the US government have proved the highlight of the business, while its work for private company clients has failed to live up to hopes. In part because of its reliance on the US federal government - which accounts for about 30 per cent of revenues - BearingPoint has dramatically stepped up its attempts to buy influence in Washington. Its contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan coincide with a big increase in its lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. In 2005, the latest year for which figures have been collated, BearingPoint paid $1m to lobbyists, equalling the record total it paid in 2003. That is five times its average annual bill for lobbyists prior to the war in Iraq.

It also dramatically increased its political contributions in the run-up to the midterm elections, distributing $120,000 to candidates and campaign groups from its employee-sponsored political fund. That compares with $61,000 in the 2004 elections.

America threatens to 'deal with' Iran over its support for insurgents

The Independent, By Kim Sengupta, Jan 15

The belief that George Bush's troops "surge" policy in Iraq is also aimed at confronting Iran was strengthened yesterday when the White House declared that it was "going to deal" with the actions of the Tehran regime.

In a series of interviews, Vice-President Dick Cheney, the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and the National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, struck belligerent notes on Iranian activity inside Iraq. Mr Hadley did not rule out the possibility of US forces striking across the border.

Discord continued between America and Iraq over the arrest by US forces of five Iranians in Arbil, the Kurdish capital. The US claims they are linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and have been funding Iraqi insurgents. The Revolutionary Guards, said the US military was "known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilise the government of Iraq and attack coalition forces".

Tehran has protested that the men have diplomatic status and demanded their immediate release. The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, called yesterday for the Iranians to be freed, stressing that they have been working with Iraqi government approval. Mr Zebari said: "We fully respect the views, policies and strategy of the United States, which is the strongest ally to Iraq, but the Iraqi government has national interests of its own. We can't change the geographical reality that Iran is our neighbour. This is a delicate balance and we are treading a very thin line."

Anger as hanging decapitates Saddam's half-brother
By Qassim Abdul-Zahra, AP
Published: 15 January 2007

Saddam Hussein's half brother and the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court were hanged before dawn today, two weeks and two days after the former Iraqi dictator was executed in a chaotic scene that has drawn worldwide criticism.

In confirming the executions, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the head of one of the accused, Barzan Ibrahim, had been severed during the hanging in what he called "a rare incident."

But he stressed that all laws and rules were respected during the proceedings, choosing his words carefully after Saddam's execution became an unruly scene that brought worldwide criticism of the Iraqi government. Video of the execution, recorded on a cell phone camera, showed the former dictator being taunted on the gallows.

"Those present signed documents pledging not to violate the rules or otherwise face legal penalties. All the people present abided by the government's rule and there were no violations," he said, adding the hangings occurred at 3 a.m. "No one shouted slogans or said anything that would taint the execution. None of those charged were insulted."

Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, had been found guilty along with Saddam of in the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims after a 1982 assassination attempt on the former leader in the town of Dujail north of Baghdad.

The announcement drew outrage from some in the Sunni community, while majority Shiites who were heavily persecuted under Saddam's regime expressed joy.

Khalaf al-Olayan, a leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, demanded to see any video taken during the execution. It was not known if the government took an official video, as it did during Saddam's execution.

"It is impossible for a person to be decapitated during a hanging," he told Al-Jazeera television. "This shows that they (the government) have mutilated the body and this is a violation of the law."

"We want to see the video that was taken during the execution of the two men in order for them (government) to prove what they are saying," he added.

more

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2154993.ece

IRAQ: Disease alert after sewage system collapses
15 Jan 2007 13:37:31 GMT

BAGHDAD, 15 January (IRIN) - Residents of Iraq's capital, Baghdad, are at risk of contracting a range of waterborne diseases as the city's sewage system has collapsed after four days of heavy rain, the country's health ministry said on Monday.

For nearly a week now, 45-year-old teacher Jassim Abdullah has been forced to buy bottled water for his family's daily use at an expense that his meagre income barely covers.

"We can't use tap water for drinking or cooking. It's all sewage. That is why I have put aside 100,000 Iraqi dinars [about US $75] to buy water for cooking and washing," said Abdullah, a father of five girls, from Baghdad's poor neighbourhood of Hurriyah.

Dr Abdul-Rahman Adil Ali of the Baghdad Health Directorate warned of the dire consequences of a non-operational sewage system.

"As the sewage system has collapsed, all residents are threatened with gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, cholera, diarrhoea and hepatitis. In some of Baghdad's poor neighbourhoods, people drink water which is mixed with sewage," Ali said.

He added that the health ministry was prepared for an initial outbreak of diseases, but expressed concern that unless the municipality could deal with the sewage problem quickly and effectively, health problems would inevitably escalate.

"As a first step, municipality teams should clear the streets and neighbourhoods of the lakes of sewage," Ali said.

The corruption and relentless violence that have engulfed Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003 have compounded the problems of rebuilding and renovating the war-torn country's shattered infrastructure.

"Iraqis [in Baghdad] lack all basic needs: homes, hospitals, electricity, drinking water and a functioning sewage system. All the infrastructure is old and has not been renovated despite the sharp increase in population," said Hatam Jaafar al-Nuaimi, a media officer for the environmentalist NGO Green Iraq.

......

"About 600 of our workers were killed by insurgents over the past nine months. We need to be protected to do our job properly," Kittan added.

St Petersburg Times

Snip

Bush, Cheney and Hadley emphasized that the rise in troop numbers would be coupled with new efforts to get Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to take tough action necessary to improve security in the country.

"I told him it's time to get going," Bush said of Maliki, who has blocked U.S. troops from engaging fighters loyal to militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Bush also said he was discouraged by the handling of Saddam Hussein's execution. He said he saw a tape of part of the execution, although he didn't watch the part showing the former dictator actually being hanged. "They could have handled it a lot better," he said.

Guardian Unlimited

Baghdad, Jan 16 (AP) - The UN today said almost 35,000 civilians were killed in Iraq last year - a sharp increase on the numbers previously reported by the Iraqi government.

Gianni Magazzeni, the chief of the UN assistance mission for Iraq, said 34,452 civilians were killed and 36,685 wounded last year.

Iraqi government figures, issued in early January, put last year's civilian death toll at 12,357.

When asked about the difference, Mr Magazzeni said the UN figures had been compiled from information obtained through the Iraqi health ministry, hospitals across the country and the Medico-Legal Institute in the capital, Baghdad.

New York Times, By SALMAN MASOOD, Jan 16

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 16 — The Pakistani military destroyed three militant hideouts in the semi-autonomous tribal area of South Waziristan along the Afghan border, an official said today.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, a military spokesman, said 25 to 30 foreign militants along with their local supporters were killed in the airstrike on militant hideouts in Zamzola in South Waziristan.

Five hideouts used by militants in the restive South Waziristan tribal area were targeted and three were totally destroyed, he said.

But General Sultan said that “no high-value targets were believed to be there,” an oblique reference to top al Qaeda leaders Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

New York Times, By Michael Slackman, Jan 17

CAIRO, Jan. 16 — The botched hanging of Saddam Hussein and two lieutenants in Iraq by its Shiite-led government has helped to accelerate Sunni-Shiite sectarianism across an already fragile Middle East, according to experts across the region.

The chaotic executions and the calm with which Mr. Hussein confronted the gallows and mocking Shiite guards have bolstered his image among many of his fellow Sunni Muslims.

But something else is happening too: a pan-Muslim unity that surged after the summer war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, is waning.

And while political analysts and government officials in the region say the spreading Sunni disillusionment with Shiites and their backers in Iran will benefit Sunni-led governments and the United States, they and others worry that the tensions could start to balkanize the region as they have in Iraq itself.

“The reality of the current situation is that we are approaching an open Sunni-Shiite conflict in the region,” said Emad Gad, a specialist in international relations at the government-financed Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “And Egypt will also be a part of it as a part of the Sunni axis. No one will be able to avoid or escape it.”

New York Times, By David S. Cloud, Jan 17

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 16 — Attacks by militants crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan have tripled since September along portions of the border, a senior American intelligence official said Tuesday, prompting calls for a greater effort by Pakistan to curb the influx and a larger deployment of American and other NATO soldiers here.

Of particular concern, officials said, has been a rise in attacks by Taliban and other militants from remote and largely ungoverned tribal areas in Pakistan in eastern Afghanistan, where most of the American combat forces in the country are based.

“The border area is a problem,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters after meeting on Tuesday with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. Mr. Gates said more attacks were coming from across the border and from “Al Qaeda networks operating across the border.”

On his first visit to Afghanistan since taking office six weeks ago, Mr. Gates flew by helicopter to a small joint American-Afghan base in Khost Province, less than a mile from the border.

BBC -
One of Iraq's most powerful Shia politicians has condemned the arrest of Iranians by US forces in Iraq as an attack on the country's sovereignty.

The comments by Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, made in a BBC interview, are seen as the strongest expression yet of Iraq's concern about the US approach to Iran. They follow two recent US raids in which Iranians were arrested.

The remarks are interesting as Mr Hakim is seen as close to President Bush, says the BBC's Andrew North in Baghdad.

Late last year, US troops descended on Mr Hakim's residential compound in Baghdad and detained two Iranian officials. They were later released, but last week, five more were detained at the Iranian liaison office in Irbil. They are still being held.

US officials say they are linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard which they allege trains and arms Iraqi insurgents. Iran, which has demanded their immediate release, says they are diplomats engaged in legitimate work.

"Regardless of the Iranian position we consider these actions as incorrect," Mr Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, told the BBC. "They represent a kind of attack on Iraq's sovereignty and we hope such things are not repeated."

On Sunday, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that Iraq needed a constructive relationship with Iran. "We can't change the geographical reality that Iran is our neighbour. This is a delicate balance and we are treading a very thin line.

"We fully respect the views, policies and strategy of the United States, which is the strongest ally to Iraq, but the Iraqi government has national interests of its own," Mr Zebari said.

_{"at some point I'm hopeful I'll figure out something to put here"}

from the January 18, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0118/p09s02-coop.html

What the Iraq Study Group said about America's 'other war'

Afghanistan deserves the attention of Bush and Congress just as much as Iraq.

By Karl F. Inderfurth

WASHINGTON

The report of the Iraq Study Group (ISG), co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton, got short shrift when President Bush announced his "New Way Forward" for Iraq.

Key recommendations of the 10- member bipartisan panel – from the withdrawal of US combat troops by early 2008 to a diplomatic initiative to talk to Iran and Syria – were either watered down or dismissed outright.

Hopefully, the study group's views on America's "other war" in Afghanistan will fare better. Little noted at the time the study group released its report in December were three observations on the connection between American involvement in Iraq and a successful outcome for the US mission in Afghanistan. The outgoing US commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, predicts more fighting from a resurgent Taliban this spring and summer. So it is especially important that the Bush administration and Congress pay attention to the ISG's observations.

Observation No. 1: "The huge focus of U.S. political, military and economic support on Iraq has necessarily diverted attention from Afghanistan."

The study group acknowledged what the Bush administration has consistently refused to concede: namely, that efforts to secure and rebuild Afghanistan have been undermanned and underfunded because of the Iraq war. In the words of Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) of Nebraska: "The oxygen has been sucked out of everything because of Iraq."

Today there are nearly seven times more US military personnel serving in Iraq than in Afghanistan – 140,000 compared with just over 20,000. The United States has spent roughly $400 billion on the Iraq war, and costs are running about $8 billion per month. In the past five years, the US has provided a total of just $12.5 billion in economic and military aid to Afghanistan.

Observation No. 2: "Increased deployments to Iraq would also necessarily hamper our ability to provide adequate resources for our efforts in Afghanistan...."

The study group rightly noted that "America's military capacity is stretched thin: we do not have the troops or equipment to make a substantial, sustained increase in our troop presence."

Choices must be made, and, in the opinion of the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Joseph Biden (D) of Delaware, an increase in troop strength in Iraq is the wrong choice: "If we're surging troops anywhere, it should be in Afghanistan."

Observation No. 3: "[T]he longer that U.S. political and military resources are tied down in Iraq, the more the chances for American failure in Afghanistan increase."

MORE

DOD taps 4,060 mine-resistant vehicles for Iraq

By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 18, 2007

WASHINGTON — Defense officials will send 4,060 more mine-resistant vehicles to Iraq by the end of the year, which will be used to replace up-armored Humvees on some missions.

Marine Corps force protection officials on Tuesday told Congress the $2 billion move is not designed to completely replace the Humvee as the primary vehicle for missions in Iraq. But the hope is that the heavier, more blast-resistant trucks will give commanders there more options in the fight.

Of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles ordered, 538 will be given to the Navy for ordnance detection and disposal. But officials said 1,022 assigned to the Marines and the 2,500 slated for the Army will be used for patrols, combat missions and other tasks, at commanders’ discretion.

“There is now a much wider need for these vehicles for all troops involved in patrolling,” said Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, commander of Marine Corps Systems Command.

“The V-shaped hull is designed to force these blasts off the sides, away from the occupied spaces in the vehicles. And their additional height gives the blast more time to expand, lessening its impact.”

Defense Department officials said only a few hundred of the larger, V-bottomed vehicles are currently in use in Iraq.

Brogan said most of those vehicles — Cougar and Buffalo trucks, as well as other large explosive rapid response vehicles — are being used solely for anti-explosive work.

Members of the House Armed Services Committee said they were glad to hear the heavier vehicles will be made available to more troops, even though they believe military officials should have pushed for those blast-resistant vehicles earlier.

“In my mind, our biggest blunder has not been incorporating the V-shaped undercarriage for our armored vehicles,” said Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., chairman of the seapower subcommittee. “This technology existed before the conflict in Iraq began. … It is well past time that we deploy this potential lifesaving vehicle.”

more

Sheldon Alberts | Washington | January 17

CanWest - U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton called Wednesday for more American troops in Afghanistan while putting a cap on the number of U.S. soldiers deployed in Iraq.

Clinton, who is expected to take a run at the White House in 2008, wrote a letter to U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates in which she urged the immediate deployment of two new infantry battalions — roughly 2,000 soldiers — to southern Afghanistan, where Canadian forces are preparing for a Taliban offensive in the spring.

Clinton also called for a legislated cap on the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, currently about 132,000.

82nd may give up readiness role briefly

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 17, 2007 18:06:06 EST

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan may force the 82nd Airborne Division to briefly give up its long-standing role as a quick-reaction force able to go anywhere within hours, its commander said Wednesday.

The division of about 17,000 paratroopers has four brigade combat teams. One is always designated as the “ready” brigade, able to leave for anywhere in the world within 18 hours of notification.

But the 82nd already has two brigade combat teams of about 3,500 paratroopers each in or near Iraq. Another brigade and the division command staff are going this month to Afghanistan for a year.

The brigade that is left behind is designated to go to Iraq this summer and there may be a period when no ready brigade is available.

“We will maintain the readiness posture we are known for until all four BCTs are committed,” said Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez. “Based on the current environment, there may be a period of time where we aren’t capable to provide the rapid response capability, but I suspect that time will be short.”

The Pentagon determines what military unit is the strategic response force, the formal title now carried by the 82nd.

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BBC News, Jan 18

Iraq's need for US troops could fall in three to six months if the US supplied more weapons to the Iraqi security forces, PM Nouri Maliki has said.

Shortages of weapons and equipment had led to the insurgency being more prolonged and bloody, he told the UK's Times newspaper.

He urged the US to honour a deal to give Iraqi forces more equipment.

There has been concern that US military hardware could end up in the hands of militias and insurgents.

[...]

"If we succeed in implementing the agreement between us to speed up the equipping and providing weapons to our military forces, I think that within three to six months our need for American troops will dramatically go down," Mr Maliki told The Times.

"That is on condition that there are real, strong efforts to support our military forces and equipping and arming them."

[...]

In the Times interview, Mr Maliki criticised US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who recently suggested his government was living on "borrowed time". Such comments could only give "moral boosts" to the insurgents, he said.

Mr Maliki admitted there had been mistakes in the execution of Saddam Hussein, but said it had not been an act of revenge.

Saudi paper prints speculation on Allawi as head of a military government in Iraq

Asharq al-Awsat this morning summarizes interview comments by four Iraqi politicians all of them predicting the demise of the Maliki government and speculating on or predicting the establishment of an emergency government of national salvation or a military government. However the choice of interviewees is not exactly a representative sampling. The four are: Adnan Pachachi, who is currently a member of Ayad Allawi's group and a supporter of his; Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament who is not associated with either of the two big Kurdish pasrties but is a member of the Kurdish parliamentary coalition; a spokesman for the Muslim Scholars Association; and Izzat al-Shabandar, another member of Allawi's group.

[more here]

"At this moment, therefore, two distinct myths emerged, fuelled by the trauma of a shared experience and amplified by the existence of a hungry mass media eager to disseminate images of the world's first televised revolution." - Ali Ansari

Iraq tells Iran, US to take their fight elsewhere

by Bill Ickes 55 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) -
Iraq told the United States and Iran to settle their scores elsewhere, while the US military confirmed it had searched Sudan's embassy in Baghdad as part of an anti-insurgent operation.

"We demand that all respect Iraq's sovereignty. We don't want to be a party to any strife aimed at settling scores," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told a Baghdad news conference.

In a veiled reference to Tehran, he said: "We want others to respect the presence of the multi-national forces, US and British forces, because they are here as a result of an Iraqi government decision."

US officials have cranked up pressure on Tehran recently, accusing it of aiding Shiite militias in Iraq and providing sophisticated weapons used by insurgents to target coalition forces.

But Dabbagh, whose Shiite-dominated government maintains close relations with Tehran, stressed that "we want to preserve ties with our dear neighbour Iran. And we want to develop this relationship based on non-interference."

Elsewhere, the US military acknowledged it had searched the Sudanese embassy in Baghdad but stressed that it had not broken into the diplomatic mission.

"Soldiers entered the grounds after requesting entry to embassy guards" on January 13, a statement said.

A Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman claimed Wednesday in Khartoum that nine US soldiers had attacked the embassy on Tuesday.

The US statement said that "earlier reports from the coalition that indicated no entry into the embassy grounds were made in error," and added that locked doors within the grounds had been forced open "following consultation with the guards."

The search was part of an anti-insurgent operation. US officials say Sudanese nationals comprise one of the largest contingents of foreign fighters taking part in anti-US attacks in Iraq.

According to the US report, the search came a day after five Iranians who Tehran claims are diplomats were arrested by US troops in the northern city of Arbil on suspicion of supporting insurgent activities.

Washington also insists that Tehran funds armed groups in Iraq engaged in the sectarian conflict that killed tens of thousands last year and wounded as many more.

In reply, Iran's ambassador to Baghdad said Thursday that Tehran stood ready to help train and equip Iraqi security forces to fight terrorism.

Ambassador Hassan Kazemi also demanded to be shown "any shred of evidence that Iran is working to destabilise Iraq."

In Manama, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he had told Saudi and Gulf rulers the Iranians were "overplaying their hand" and raising "real concern" about their intentions.

In Syria, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with senior politicians and underscored "the two countries' sincere desire and strong will to establish better relations," the SANA news agency reported.

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Iraqi PM: 400 Shiite Fighters Detained
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
11:23 AM PST, January 18, 2007

....

Yassin Majid, a senior al-Maliki adviser, confirmed that al-Maliki had told several newspapers in an interview Wednesday that 400 fighters from the Mahdi Army have been arrested. But he said there were not large numbers of senior militia leaders among them.

A Baghdad Mahdi Army commander said U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a major campaign Tuesday in Um al-Maalef, a Shiite neighborhood in south Baghdad.

"They detained every man who was able to carry weapons. We heard from our people in the area that about 400 people were detained," said the militia commander who spoke on condition of anonymity because senior figures in the group are not permitted to give their names.

......

LA Times

18/01/2007
By Ma'ad Fayad

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- The incumbent Iraqi Government is facing an avalanche of internal criticisms, for not achieving its national program for which it was formed.

Asharq Al-Awsat reports here the views of several Iraqi politicians from various parliamentary blocs about the performance of Nuri al-Maliki's Government and what alternatives there are to it.

Head of the Iraqi Independent Democrats party, Dr. Adnan Pachachi told Asharq Al-Awsat in a telephone interview that, “the Iraqi government did not fulfill any of the promises it made to the Iraqi people, the same is true of the promises made by Nuri al Maliki, the Prime Minister of the government himself.”

Speaking from Abu Dhabi, Pachachi said that, “the crisis in the Iraqi situation and its government lies in the presence of armed militias and the fact that most ministers in the government are involved in one way or another with them. These militias have even infiltrated the armed forces and the security forces, which constitutes a big problem.”

He added that, “the new American plan must be implemented in collaboration with Iraqi forces, which in reality does not exist,” pointing out that, “A large operation must be executed to change the Iraqi forces, in addition to reforming the structure and providing training so as to ensure that they are independent and loyal to the state and the military institutions rather than to a sect or creed or party or a figure. This would enable the forces to bear their responsibility for security. Without these forces Iraq cannot be an independent state. This would require more time.”

Pachachi suggested that, “an international force that includes Arab and Islamic forces be dispatched to replace the American forces, which are the occupying forces, and for the international forces to follow the United Nations’ (UN) leadership rather than following the American administration.” He emphasized that ‘the security situation must take precedence and that it cannot withstand any more delays.”

Pachachi believes that the alternative to this state is ‘to form an emergency government or a national salvation one, which is capable of controlling security and bringing stability to the country, and that it be controlled by a strong figure who does not adopt a sectarian approach and does not favor one sect over the other. I find Iyad Allawi to be the most suitable for this task – although he is Shiaa, he is accepted by the majority of Shiaa, Sunnis, Kurds and non-Muslims – to form a government that can confront the current situation, especially security, and to put an end to the militias governing the Iraqi streets.”

Independent Kurdish politician and member of the Kurdish bloc in the House of Representatives, Dr Mahmoud Othman, said that, “This government failed and did not achieve what was stated in the governmental statement and it failed to fulfill its duty.” He pointed out that “the so-called new American strategy is but a new tactic guised as a strategy,” and that “it is more of a project than an actual strategy.” He expected “more chaos to sweep through Iraq and that the US administration can expect more problems this year than in the past one. Perhaps we will resort to forming a national salvation government or a strong military one – this matter will not pass without big problems and objections,” he said, pointing out that, “Everything has its price.”

Dr. Muhammad Bashar al-Faydi, the official spokesman of the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) led by Dr. Harith al-Dari, insisted on the AMS stand that calls for "this government's resignation before the people force it to resign." Speaking to Asharq al-Awsat by telephone from Amman yesterday, he said that "this government is sectarian and associated with foreign agendas that have nothing to do with the Iraqi people. The best evidence of this is the ethnic cleansing it has carried out and continues to carry out against the Sunnis in the state's institutions." He added: "The armed militias are Iraq's problem. This government is colluding with these militias and the latter's elements have even infiltrated the government's security organs and the armed forces are giving support to the armed militias' operations. We have a lot of material evidence that supports what I am saying."

Al Faydi accused al Maliki of “dealing in a sectarian manner with the Iraqis. He doesn’t call the terrorist operations undertaken by the militias against the Sunnis ‘terrorism’, but rather describes them as action and reaction, whereas he calls the Iraqi resistance ‘militias’, furthermore calling the Sunnis ‘terrorists’. He described the kidnappings of ministry staff from the Ministry of Higher Education ‘a media exaggeration’ when in fact it’s his ministry [follows his government].”

Iraqi Politicians More

Soudod Al Salihi | Baghdad | January 18

Dar Al Hayat - In an interview with Al-Hayat, Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, head of the "United Iraqi Alliance," described the new US strategy in Iraq as the closest to the vision the Iraqi political forces, mainly his own bloc, have of the situation in Iraq, since it "meets the analyses the Alliance sticks to, mainly the accurate description of the real battle ongoing in Iraq," a battle between the Iraqi people and their enemies, i.e. the extremists and Saddamists, not between the Shiites and Sunnites.

The Iraqi government is endeavoring to fight terrorism, restore security, transfer power and control from the multinational troops to the Iraqi government, train and equip the Iraqi forces so as to eventually rely on them. All these issues combined embody, as stated Al-Hakim, the Alliance's perception of the approach needed to resolve the security and political problems in the country.

Al-Hakim also divided the armed militias into four kinds, pointing out to potential strategies efficient enough in defeating the first three, while the fourth requires a united front if it is to be crushed.

[Comment: Rewards a close reading. Of particular interest is the classification of militias. ~ JPD]

"At this moment, therefore, two distinct myths emerged, fuelled by the trauma of a shared experience and amplified by the existence of a hungry mass media eager to disseminate images of the world's first televised revolution." - Ali Ansari

Iran offers to help train, equip Iraqi forces
(AFP)

18 January 2007

BAGHDAD - Teheran’s ambassador to Baghdad said on Thursday that Iraq stands ready to help train and equip Iraqi security forces to combat what he called terrorism.

Speaking after talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Hassan Kazemi demanded to be shown “any shred of evidence that Iran is working to destabilise Iraq,” as the United States alleges.

“We are working for, not against, security in Iraq, because we know that insecurity justifies maintaining foreign troops in the country,” Kazemi told reporters.

He added: “Iran is disposed to helping to train and equip Iraqi security forces to combat terrorism.”

Kazemi’s remarks came eight days after US President George W. Bush announced that he was sending 21,500 additional US troops to Iraq to help Iraqi security forces snuff out sectarian violence.

The ambassador said that putting more foreign troops into Iraq ”shows that the situation is deteriorating.”

“It slows the process of transferring responsibility for security to Iraqi troops just as we need to be moving faster,” he added.

“The consequences of the presence of foreign troops in Iraq has not been increased stability in Iraq, what we have seen is an increase in the killing of innocent people and the outbreak of sectarian strife.”

Kazemi also said that the seizure of five Iranians by US forces in the northern Iraqi town of Abril last week would not impact on Teheran’s relations with Baghdad. more at link

http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=13876

Have Your Say: Bush re-creates centralised Iraq and demolishes KRG

Thursday, January 11, 2007
KurdishMedia.com

London (KurdishMedia.com) 11 January 2007: The USA president, in his speech on Wednesday, clearly stipulated the recommendations of the Iraqi Study Group, also known as Baker-Hamilton Report.

In his speech Bush mentioned “Shia” four times, “Sunni” twice and “Arabs” twice, and never mentioned “Kurds” or “Kurdistan”.

Bush describes the situation in Iraq as “unacceptable”. He wants to change the US strategy in Iraq. He acknowledged the work of the Iraqi Study Group (ISG).

Bush clearly followed the ISG Report:

1 - Bush stated: “To establish its authority, the Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November.”

What does this mean? Creating and strengthening a central government, ie demolishing any prospect of federal Iraq. Therefore there will not be Kurdistan Regional Government.

more and the comments are interesting

Kurds deserting to avoid peace mission in Baghdad

1/20/2007 The Seattle Times - By Leila Fadel and Yaseen Taha

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — As the Iraqi government attempts to secure a capital city ravaged by conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslim Arabs, its decision to bring a third party into the mix may cause more problems than peace.

Kurdish soldiers from northern Iraq, who are mostly Sunnis but not Arabs, are deserting the army to avoid the civil war in Baghdad, a conflict they consider someone else's problem.

The Iraqi army brigades being sent to the capital are filled with former members of a Kurdish militia, the peshmerga, and most of the soldiers remain loyal to the militia.

Much as Shiite militias have infiltrated the Iraqi security forces across Arab Iraq, the peshmerga fill the ranks of the Iraqi army in the Kurdish region in the north, poised to secure a semi-independent Kurdistan and seize oil-rich Kirkuk and parts of Mosul if Iraq falls apart. One thing they didn't bank on, they said, was being sent into the "fire" of Baghdad.

"The soldiers don't know the Arabic language, the Arab tradition, and they don't have any experience fighting terror," said Anwar Dolani, a former peshmerga commander who leads the brigade that's being transferred to Baghdad from the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.

Dolani refused to say how many soldiers have left the army.

"I can't deny that a number of soldiers have deserted the army, and it might increase due to the ferocious military operations in Baghdad," he said.

In interviews soldiers in Sulaimaniyah expressed loyalty to their Kurdish brethren, not to Iraq. Many said they'd already deserted, and those who are going to Baghdad said they'd flee if the situation there became too difficult.

"I joined the army to be a soldier in my homeland, among my people. Not to fight for others who I have nothing to do with," said Ameen Kareem, 38, who took a week's leave with other soldiers from his brigade in Irbil and never returned. "I used to fight in the mountains and valleys, not in the streets."

Kareem said he knew that deserting was risky, but he said he'd rather be behind bars in Kurdistan than a "soldier in Baghdad's fire." Without the language and with his Kurdish features, he was sure he would stand out, he said. He's a Kurd, he said, and he has no reason to become a target in an Arab war.

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Iraq deploys 8,000 guards for Ashura
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=19241

KARBALA, Iraq - Iraq said Saturday it is deploying 8,000 policemen and security guards in and around the shrine city of Karbala for the Shiite mourning ceremony of Ashura, a frequent target of insurgent attacks.

Karbala governor Akil al-Khuzai said nearly three million pilgrims were expected to flock to the city for the ceremony, the holiest on the Shiite calendar, which begins Sunday and culminates on January 30.

"Attacks this year could be more severe," Khuzai said, because of heightened sectarian tension in Iraq that pits Shiite militias against Sunni extremists.

.....

Ashura, which commemorates the seventh-century slaying of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein in Karbala, has been marred in the past by attacks by Sunni extremists that have killed scores of people.

...

Every year large groups of Shiite men with shaven heads march towards the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, flaying their heads with knives and swords as part of the mourning ceremonies.

Outlawed under the Sunni-dominated regime of executed former dictator Saddam Hussein, Ashura is the most venerated of Shiite events and as such has become the target of Sunni Arab insurgents.

In 2004, 170 people were killed in attacks in Baghdad and Karbala during Ashura, while another 44 died in a single incident in Karbala in 2005.

US helicopter down in Iraq, all 13 aboard dead
20 Jan 2007 20:59:10 GMT

By Mariam Karouny and Alastair Macdonald

BAGHDAD, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. Blackhawk helicopter crashed northeast of Baghdad on Saturday afternoon, killing all 13 soldiers aboard in one of the deadliest single incidents for U.S. forces since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Residents near Baquba, in violent Diyala province, said they saw a helicopter in flames in the air but a military spokeswoman said it was not clear whether the aircraft was shot down.

A total of 16 U.S. troop deaths were reported on Saturday, the bloodiest day in Iraq for U.S. forces since President George W. Bush announced an increase in troop numbers that has run into resistance from opposition Democrats now controlling Congress.

Dozens of helicopters have crashed in Iraq over the past four years, a number shot down by insurgents. The area northeast of Baghdad is one where fighting has been intense between U.S. forces and guerrillas.

"A U.S. forces helicopter went down northeast of Baghdad ... Emergency Coalition Forces responded and secured the scene. Thirteen passengers and crew members were aboard the aircraft and all were killed," the U.S. military said in a statement.

A military source indicated the helicopter was a Blackhawk, widely used for transport in Iraq. It carries four crew and up to 10 passengers.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, accused Bush on Friday of playing politics with soldiers' lives. Bush said 10 days ago he was sending 21,500 extra troops, most of them to Baghdad, to avert an all-out sectarian civil war between once-dominant minority Sunni Arabs and Shi'ite Muslims.

In the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, where thousands of pilgrims gathered for the start of the 10-day ritual of Ashura, a highpoint of the Shi'ite religious calendar, blasts and gunfire rocked the local governor's building after dark.

After several conflicting reports from security forces, a U.S. military spokeswoman said there had been an "attack" but gave no details. One Iraqi source familiar with security in the city said U.S. troops guarding the building had clashed with armed men in a convoy of civilian vehicles.

After nightfall, residents said they heard what appeared to be U.S. military jets and helicopters over the city, which lies 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad.

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Posted on Fri, Jan. 19, 2007

Opposition to Iraq war simmers in America's heartland
By Steven Thomma
McClatchy Newspapers

TOPEKA, Kan. - President Bush is losing the heartland.

Conservative Kansas - home to the Army's Fort Riley, the U.S. Cavalry Museum, Republican icons Dwight Eisenhower and Bob Dole, and the place that gave Bush back to back landslide majorities - is turning against the Iraq war.

Kansas Democrats are quicker to oppose Bush, but growing numbers of Kansas Republicans also are rejecting his plan to send more troops to Iraq and the war itself. That threatens Bush's hope to maintain a solid base of support for his war policies and undermines White House efforts to portray war opposition as partisan Democratic politics.

"The president's war ideas are not very popular here," said Tim Shallenburger, the chairman of the Kansas Republican Party. "Even good Republicans are getting frustrated and believe the president is being stubborn. ... Seven out of 10 good conservative Republicans may not want to say it, but they oppose the war."

If true, that would be a far more negative vote on the war than registered by Republicans nationally. Although Americans overwhelmingly oppose the Iraq war, 61 percent of Republicans still approve of Bush's handling of it, according to the Gallup poll.

Their opposition is almost whispered among friends, largely under the surface in a state where Republicans are reluctant to protest or criticize the commander in chief, the title many use in discussing Bush.

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Commandant wants ‘every Marine in the fight’

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, January 20, 2007

ARLINGON, Va. — The Marine Corps wants troops who haven’t been to combat yet to help ease the burden of Marines who have deployed several times.

In a Corps-wide message released Friday, Commandant Gen. James Conway said he wants officials to ensure “all Marines, first-termers and career Marines alike, are provided the ability to deploy to a combat zone.”

Recently, Conway told Marines in Ramadi that about 66,000 Marines in the Corps have yet to see combat.

“Let’s get everybody to the fight,” he said. “That’s what they joined the Marine Corps for, OK? And I don’t think it’s that those people don’t want to go; I think it’s by and large that they’re being told they can’t.”

The “every Marine into the fight” message calls for commanders to identify all Marines who have not yet deployed and work toward reassigning them to units headed downrange, provided those moves do not hurt exisitng “unit cohesion.”

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Guard, reserves would see more deployment under new rules

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department will rely more on National Guard and Reserve troops to help give active-duty servicemembers more time between deployments, defense officials said Friday.

“Today, most active units are deploying for one year, returning home for one year, then redeploying,” according to a memo signed Friday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “Just as we are asking the active forces to do more in this time of national need, so we must ask more of our Reserve components.”

Toward that end, troops in the Guard and Reserves can now expect to deploy more than once during their careers, according to Dr. David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

In a press briefing with reporters on Friday, Chu announced troops in the Guard and Reserves will be mobilized for a total of 12 continuous months, compared with 18 months or longer now.

The change will require maintaining Reserve component units at a higher level of readiness before they deploy, said Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes. That way, units will not have to train for six months before heading downrange.

“The Army is going to work collectively with the Reserve, the Army Guard and the Army Reserve, to ensure that what we do in the pre-mobilization training period achieves a higher level of proficiency,” Speakes said.

Chu noted that Reserve component troops typically train about 39 days per year, and the Defense Department will work to make sure they use those days more effectively.

“The Army is not going to send a unit into a combat zone or into any kind of a deployment without meeting requirements for both individual and unit certification,” Speakes said.

The Defense Department plans to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps by a total of 61,000 troops over the next five years, officials said.

-- Jeff Schogol

Iraq's northern city of Kirkurk:

The Kirkuk Trap
Civil War Erupts If Kirkuk Explodes, Ergec
A Kurdish State And The Kirkuk Question
Parliament To Discuss The Mideast

_{"at some point I'm hopeful I'll figure out something to put here"}

BAGHDAD, Iraq Iraqi officials say the gunmen who attacked the provincial headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala (KAHR'-bah-lah) yesterday and killed five U-S troops were wearing military uniforms. And they say the men drove up in black sport utility vehicles commonly used by foreign dignitaries.
The account came as confusion mounted over the brazen attack, with the local governor saying the gunmen stormed into the building during a U-S-Iraqi meeting to discuss security measures.

The provincial governor also said the S-U-Vs were able to get through a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city because police assumed it was a diplomatic convoy and informed headquarters that it was coming. He says the group killed five Americans and kidnapped two others.

http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5967697&nav=0nqx

Five U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq - U.S. military
21 Jan 2007 15:46:13 GMT

BAGHDAD, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Five U.S. soldiers have been killed in combat in Iraq's volatile Anbar province, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

The military said the four soldiers and one Marine died on Saturday "from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in al-Anbar province".

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24 U.S. Troops Die in Single Day in Iraq

Sunday January 21, 2007 4:01 PM

AP Photo BAG102, BAG107, BAG108

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Four U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed during combat in Anbar province, the Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, the military reported Sunday. The five newly reported deaths on Saturday raised that day's toll among American forces to at least 24, the third deadliest single day for U.S. troops since the war began in March 2003.

The military gave no details on the Anbar fighting and said the identities of the dead were being withheld until family could be notified.