To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports: Watch the Amazing Story of Tragedy & Triumph

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2909129

SpiegelOnline - As criticism of the Iraq war grows at home, some US soldiers abroad are rejecting Bush's mission. On military bases across Germany, many are now seeking a way out through desertion or early discharge.
(See related story posted in prior week's thread: Mexico to help AWOL medic)

_{"A bad treaty is better than a good missile" ~ Andrei Kislyakov}

via "Cernig":

Weapons, Weapons, Everywhere...
...But none to pin a war on.

First, there's a great bit of proper journalism in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune yesterday, as reporter Susan Taylor Martin examines some of the evidence from recent US military briefings about alleged Iranian weapons in Iraq. It's a reminder that the mainstream still has advantages on certain kinds of story that blogs simply cannot match, resources and contacts that can open up avenues unavailable to bloggers. If the Minn. Star-Trib can dig up this information, imagine what the WaPo or NYT could do if they weren't stuck in stenography mode.

In a series of briefings this month, the U.S. military has displayed mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and a particularly lethal type of roadside bomb made in Iran. The military has acknowledged there is no direct evidence the Iranian leadership is responsible.

But skepticism abounds about the origin of the weapons, with critics wondering why those alleged to have been made in Iran had markings in English, not Farsi. And Monday, the New York Times printed a letter from an Iranian who said dates on some of the weapons -- including one dated 5-31-2006 -- prove the claims are "preposterous."The dates are in the American date format -- month first, day second -- whereas the rest of the world does not use this format," wrote M.A. Mohammadi of Iran's U.N. mission. Iran and most other countries put the day first, followed by month and year.

Yet photos on the DIO website [Iran's arms company - C] suggest Iran does use English lettering on at least some weapons in accord with international standards. However, none of the weapons shown on the company's site appears to be dated.
...
Anthony Cordesman, a military expert at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, says Iraq at one time would have been able to manufacture many of the types of weapons now being seized by U.S. forces.

"Truth is, any really good machine shop with automated metal lathes and normal tools could make them," Cordesman said.
...
Which means that the Iranian arms industry, like many another nation (The UK exported $13 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia alone last year, the US exported $10 billion to the same country), is open for business.

What does that mean for claims of Iranian complicity?

"Nigeria is as crooked as the day is long, so if Nigeria bought arms from Iran, no telling where they are going to show up," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. "And if Iran is supplying arms to Hezbollah, no telling where those are going to show up, either."

It means resale is a booming business too and some nations are using it as a fast means of making hard cash - so weaponry from just about any nation can quickly turn up anywhere else nowadays, via a third party and with national leaders none the wiser. No justification for belligerence there.

http://cernigsnewshog.blogspot.com/

And, for a actual perspective on the "results in the field", check this out:

Sunni insurgents remain biggest threat to U.S. troops in Iraq

By Drew Brown

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

WASHINGTON - Sunni Muslim insurgents remain by far the biggest threat to American troops in Iraq, despite recent U.S. claims that Iran is providing Shiite Muslim militia groups with a new type of roadside bomb, a review of American casualty reports shows.

While U.S. military officials have held briefings to publicize their concerns about the potent bombs known as explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) or penetrators, casualty reports suggest that such weapons in the hands of Shiite militias are responsible for a relatively small number of American deaths.
...
Analysts say the evidence is far from clear that Iran could be the only source for the bomb components.

"Explosively formed penetrators are not some exclusive franchise for the Iranians," Thompson said. "They are fairly common around the world."

Explosively formed penetrators are also known as shaped charges. The warheads were developed after World War I to penetrate tanks and other armored vehicles. Rocket-propelled grenades and antitank missiles are conventional examples. Shaped charges also are used in the oil and gas industry.

John Pike, the executive director of GlobalSecurity.org, an online clearinghouse for military, intelligence and homeland-security information, said that while designing a shaped charge would require expertise, fabricating the devices was simpler, requiring only skill in using metal-machining tools.

"These are not factory-produced munitions," he said.

Asked who'd have the expertise to manufacture a shaped charge, Pike cited "people who had worked with explosives in the petroleum industry." In Iraq, he said, "there would be a fair number of those."
...
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16804013.htm

The real point of all this is one can spend countless hours/days/weeks sifting through all the "evidence" and claims, then draw a largely pre-formed conclusion: the Iranians are killing US troops. But, come on, it's all in service to casting Iran into a role of "ultimate enemy" and the source of all evil in the Middle East, including ensuring US failure in Iraq. The ETF carry-on is but a minor diversion, directing one's attention away from the real game-plan, which is to eliminate Iran as an influential state, by any means necessary.

Iraqi police dead, Qaeda claims kidnapping
02 Mar 2007 17:45:56 GMT
Source: Reuters
A

By Claudia Parsons

BAGHDAD, March 2 (Reuters) - Iraqi police found the bodies of 14 policemen on Friday, all shot in the head, and an al Qaeda-linked group said it had killed them to avenge the alleged rape of a woman last month.

Police said the bodies were discovered close to Baquba, the provincial capital of Diyala province, not far from where the men disappeared on Thursday.

A group called the Islamic State in Iraq said in an Internet statement it had kidnapped 18 men working for the Shi'ite-dominated Interior Ministry following "the rape of our sister ... Sabreen Janabi".

The group later said it had killed them all after the government ignored demands it made for their release.

Janabi has said she was raped by officers from the Shi'ite-dominated police force. The government says medical records show she was not raped.

In Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi troops are engaged in a major security crackdown, police said a car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 17 when it ripped through a used car market in Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army, a Shi'ite militia.

U.S. and Iraqi military officials said on Thursday troops would soon launch operations to seize weapons and hunt gunmen in Sadr City, signalling their resolve to press ahead with the last-ditch security plan even in sensitive areas.

The Mehdi Army is headed by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a key backer of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

more
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR234232.htm

INTERVIEW-World Bank to boost Iraq presence despite shooting
02 Mar 2007 20:01:01 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - The World Bank's No. 2 official on Friday defended the lender's decision to ramp up its presence in Iraq after a staff driver was caught in cross-fire and wounded at a checkpoint in Baghdad last month.

Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub said the World Bank regretted the incident and had evacuated the Iraqi man to neighboring Jordan for treatment.

"We are in many countries and Iraq is not an exception," Daboub, who visited Baghdad last month for discussions with the Iraqi government, told Reuters in an interview.

"We define our offices in each country according to our programs," he said, noting that the bank's strategy was to support Iraqi government efforts to rebuild the country, including restoring basic services and enabling private-sector development.

The World Bank's involvement in Iraq has been a delicate issue for bank President Paul Wolfowitz, the former U.S. deputy defense secretary. He still faces questions about his role in the planning of the four-year war, which is opposed by some of the bank's biggest members including France and Germany.

A Washington-based whistle-blower protection group this week charged that the bank was trying to cover up the shooting as it prepares to broaden its operations in Iraq and appoint a new country director despite an increase in violence.

Quoting inside sources, the Government Accountability Project said a bullet pierced the driver's right shoulder while he waited to cross a checkpoint on his way to the protected Green Zone, from where the bank operates.

"Wolfowitz's apparent determination to use the World Bank to further questionable American military goals in the Middle East is a fundamental distortion of the bank's mission, a violation of its founding Articles of Agreement, and a reckless waste of donor resources," Bea Edwards, the group's international program director, said in a statement.

more

Edward Wong | March 3 | Baghdad

NYT - The sheik stared at the cake that the hotel workers had brought up to his room as a gift. Across the red gelatinlike surface was written, “God protect you from the enemies and keep you for the Iraqi people.”

God is indeed his guardian, said the sheik, Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi. So were the three burly Iraqi men standing outside the door of his suite here in the Mansour Hotel, and the five others by the elevators at the end of the hall. They had walkie-talkies, Kalashnikov rifles and camouflage vests stuffed with ammunition clips.

The sheik needs as much protection as loyalty and prayers can bring, not to mention money. He is the public face of the Sunni Arab tribes in lawless Anbar Province who have turned against the Sunni jihadists of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, many of whom belong to other, sometimes more militant Iraqi tribes.

"Political Islam is a dream or a nightmare, but not a sociological reality." - Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah

Official: Most IEDs are from Saddam’s regime

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 2, 2007 23:09:01 EST

Coalition forces in Iraq continue to encounter explosive devices made in Iran, although the bulk of such ordnance is left over from the former Iraqi regime, a senior military official told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday.

“There are clearly still remnants of war from Saddam’s days all over this country,” said Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, chief of staff for Multi-National Force-Iraq, who spoke from Camp Liberty in Baghdad via a satellite video hookup. “The difference is, now, we’re finding the same types of munitions and weaponry that is clearly marked from Iran.”

Anderson said those items take the form of components of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, that are brought into and assembled in Iraq. But “the bulk” of what troops are finding is old ordnance, some of it dating back to the 1991 Gulf War, he said.

Senior U.S. officials have recently said an Iranian paramilitary group is supplying bomb-making material to Iraqi Shiite militants for use on U.S. troops. Anderson said MNFI currently has detained “a minimal” number of Iranians and is questioning them at various sites in Iraq.

“And we’ll keep trying to determine, through questioning, what their motives are, who they’re working for, how they’re resourced and what their ultimate goal is here in Iraq,” Anderson said. He didn’t provide any new insights into whether the answers had provided any new such information.

No Iranians have been detained during the past week, Anderson said.

MNFI also is trying to establish an initial foothold in Baghdad’s contentious Sadr City, part of the renewed push to disperse troops into joint security stations and combat outposts to reduce the violence and stabilize the city. Anderson said the Iraqi National Police already occupy Sadr City and that the commander of the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, has an ongoing dialogue with Sadr City’s mayor on establishing a joint security station.

more

osted on Fri, Mar. 02, 2007

Report says 90 percent of national guard unprepared
UNITS' ABILITY TO HANDLE CRISES AT HOME THREATENED BY SHORTAGES
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post

WASHINGTON - Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated ``not ready'' -- largely because of shortfalls in equipment worth billions of dollars -- jeopardizing the Guard's ability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report Thursday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.

The commission found that heavy deployments of the National Guard and Reserves since 2001 for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other anti-terrorism missions have deepened shortages, forced the military to cobble together units and hurt recruiting. The problems threaten to undermine the nation's 830,000-strong selected reserves, the commission said.

``We can't sustain'' the National Guard and Reserve ``on the course we're on,'' said Arnold Punaro, chairman of the 13-member Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, established by Congress in 2005.

``The Department of Defense is not adequately equipping the National Guard for its domestic missions,'' the commission report said. It faulted the Pentagon for a lack of budgeting for ``civil support'' for domestic emergencies, criticizing what it called the ``flawed assumption'' that as long as the military is prepared to fight a major war, it is ready to respond to a disaster or emergency at home.

Army National Guard units in the United States have on average about 50 percent of their authorized stock of dual-use equipment, meaning gear needed both for fighting wars and domestic missions, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. The National Guard estimates it would require $38 billion for equipment to restore domestic Army and Air units to full readiness. The Army has budgeted $21 billion to augment guard equipment through 2011.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the use of U.S. military reservists has sharply escalated, from about 12.7 million days of service in 2001 to an estimated 63 million in 2006. The current increase of U.S. troops in Iraq is expected to require the accelerated call-up of as many as four National Guard combat brigades beginning early next year, as part of an effort to relieve the strain on active-duty brigades, which are now spending as much time in combat as at home.

But while the selected reserves make up more than one-third of the total U.S. military, they receive only 3 percent of the equipment funding and 8 percent of the Defense Department budget, the report said.

more

National Guard not prepared for domestic crisis, panel finds

By Drew Brown

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

WASHINGTON - Stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the National Guard is less prepared now than it's ever been to respond to a major terrorist attack, a natural disaster or another domestic crisis, a congressionally appointed panel has found.

Because of the wars, the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves found, 88 percent of Army National Guard units and 45 percent of Air National Guard units that aren't deployed overseas have severe equipment shortages. That's reduced the Guard to its lowest readiness level ever and posed an unacceptable risk to Americans, said Arnold J. Punaro, the commission chairman and a retired Marine Corps major general.

In a report issued Thursday to Congress, the commission also faulted the Department of Homeland Security for failing to identify the domestic missions the National Guard should be expected to perform and criticized the Defense Department for not equipping the National Guard adequately for those missions.

snip

The commission's 151-page report recommends 23 major changes to repair the problems. These include identifying the missions the National Guard is expected to perform at home, ensuring that the Guard gets the equipment it needs to carry out those missions, and establishing a bipartisan council of governors that would meet semi-annually and see that shortcomings are addressed.

snip

In a controversial move, the commission proposed that governors be given command over federal troops that respond to emergencies in their states.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/16812997.htm
Many of the recommendations, especially those urging greater federal and state cooperation, were aimed at avoiding the confusion that reigned after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in 2005.

The commission opposed giving the National Guard chief a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which some lawmakers have said is necessary to ensure that the Guard gets the resources it needs. The commission said that doing so would essentially make the National Guard a separate service and harm cooperation with the active-duty military.

Lawmakers who want a stronger role for the Guard, while generally welcoming the report's findings, called some of its recommendations "tepid" and said they'd press ahead with legislation to give the National Guard a seat on the Joint Chiefs.

"The Guard deserves a place at the table when decisions at the Guard are made that affect its readiness, its missions and effectiveness," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in a statement.

The commission was created two years ago to find solutions to long-standing problems with how the National Guard and Reserves are equipped and how they are used both at home and abroad. A comprehensive report on their findings and recommendations is due in January 2008.

The Commission report is available at: http://www.cngr.gov/press-room.asp

Security developments in Iraq, March 4
04 Mar 2007 13:31:13 GMT

March 4 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq as of 1245 GMT on Sunday:

Asterisk denotes a new or updated item.

* NEAR BAQUBA - A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol, killing four soldiers in a village near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

* NEAR HILLA - A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military patrol, killing three women and one girl and wounding six others near the city of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. The victims were pilgrims heading to the holy city of Kerbala.

* BAGHDAD - A car bomb targeting a police patrol killed one person and wounded four others in the southern Doura district of Baghdad, police said.

* BAGHDAD - Gunmen attacked a police patrol and killed a policeman and wounded two others in Adhamiya district in northern Baghdad, police said.

* BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb near an intersection wounded two people in Doura district, police said.

* BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained three suspected insurgents during a raid at a mosque in Baghdad, the U.S. military said. A woman was wounded during the operation.

* BASRA - Iraqi forces backed by British troops found evidence of torture when they raided an Iraqi intelligence agency detention centre in the southern city of Basra, a British military spokesman said. Major David Gell said Iraqi counter- terrorist forces arrested five suspects earlier in a raid that provided intelligence leading to the detention centre raid.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded three others in al-Kifah street in central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A total of 10 bodies were found shot dead on Saturday in different districts of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - A total of nine bodies were found shot dead on Saturday in different districts of the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A journalist was shot dead outside his home in a Sunni neighbourhood in western Baghdad, neighbours and colleagues at his newspaper said. Mohan al-Dhaher was a senior editor at the independent al-Mashriq daily newspaper.

NEAR TIKRIT - The bodies of two people were found shot dead east of Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TIKRIT - U.S. and Iraqi forces detained more than 50 suspected insurgents in three days of operations near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM453911.htm

Revealed: scheme to legalise Afghan opium
BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR (bdbrady@scotlandonsunday.com)

AFGHANISTAN'S opium crop will be used to create legitimate drugs under secret plans being considered by the government, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

The controversial move is being assessed in a desperate bid to control the booming drugs industry - and stem the tide of heroin flooding Britain's streets.

UK ministers have ordered a series of studies into the use of Afghan opium to make legal drugs, including the painkiller morphine, over a six-year period beginning before the American-led coalition ousted the Taliban from the country in 2001.

The disclosures, in a clutch of Foreign Office documents obtained by this paper, come as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf became the first coalition leader to support buying the entire Afghan poppy crop - for destruction or for legal use.

Musharraf said: "Buying the crop is an idea one could explore. We would need money from the US or the UN. But we could buy up the whole crop and destroy it. In that way the poor growers would not suffer."

The revelation lays bare growing concerns that efforts to destroy Afghanistan's drugs industry are floundering - with devastating implications for the war on narcotics in Britain.

The UK, which is in charge of the international campaign to stamp out the historic opium trade in Afghanistan, has ploughed more than £180m into the counter-narcotics operation in the last four years. The budget, which supports the creation of new justice institutions and alternative livelihoods for farmers - as well as crop-spraying - soared from £23m in 2002-3 to £92m last year.

But the country's opium harvest last year was 50% bigger than in 2005 and 30 times bigger than in 2001, when the Taliban were driven out. It is worth £1.6bn - half Afghanistan's gross domestic product.

While the boom in production is funding the Taliban's new offensive, international governments are in a continual battle with the enormous industry that produces some 92% of the heroin making it on to British streets.

Both the Americans and the new Afghan government insist that the entire heroin trade must be eradicated before a legitimate industry can be established in its place. more

and what will the Afghanis live on?

16 killed, 25 wounded in bomb, gunfire attack against U.S. troops in Afghanistan

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — A "complex" ambush involving a suicide car bomb and militant gunfire killed 16 Afghan civilians and wounded 25 people during an attack on a coalition convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.

Several wounded Afghans said they were shot by U.S. forces fleeing the scene.

The suicide bomber hit the American convoy with an explosives-packed minivan, then militants shot gunfire from several directions, officials said. Coalition forces returned fire in defense, the U.S. said.

American gunfire killed or wounded an unknown number of Afghans — sparking angry demonstrations in the region — just 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Pakistan border, said Noor Agha Zawok, the spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province.

Hundreds of Afghans blocked the road and threw rocks at police, with some demonstrators shouting "Death to America! Death to Karzai," a reference to President Hamid Karzai.

Maj. William Mitchell, a U.S. military spokesman, said militants launched a "complex" attack, shooting gunfire at the coalition forces from three different points. He said the civilians could have been killed or wounded by militants.

"We certainly believe it's possible that the incoming fire from the ambush was wholly or partly responsible for the civilian casualties," he said.

One coalition soldier was wounded in the attack, the U.S.-led coalition said.

The incident was under investigation, it said.

Mohammad Ishaq, 15, who was recovering in the Jalalabad hospital from two bullet wounds, said he and his father had pulled their vehicle over when they saw an American convoy approaching.

"When we parked our vehicle, when they passed us, they opened fire on our vehicle," said Ishaq, who was wounded in his left arm and his right ear. "It was a convoy of three American humvees. All three humvees were firing around."

U.S. forces at the scene deleted photos taken by a freelance photographer working for The Associated Press and video taken by a freelancer working for AP Television News. Neither the photographer nor the cameraman witnessed the suicide attack or the subsequent gunfire.

It wasn't immediately known why the soldiers deleted the photos and videos. The U.S. military didn't immediately comment on the matter.

more

Iraq crackdown on Shia stronghold

More than 1,100 Iraqi and US troops have carried out an operation in Baghdad's Shia stronghold of Sadr City, the US military has said.

It said no weapons cache had been found or suspected militant arrested.

Meanwhile five people were detained in an early-morning raid by UK and Iraqi troops in the southern city of Basra.

The raids came as Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki said he was offering an olive branch to insurgents who accepted the language of reconciliation and dialogue.

Those who did not would fall foul of a security crackdown which would "cover every inch of Iraq", he said.

Mr Maliki has said he will reshuffle his cabinet within the next two weeks.

No details have been given, but reports quote unnamed officials as saying he is expected to dismiss all six ministers loyal to the Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, who has been criticised by the United States.

more

somehow this just feels like the lull before the storm

Independent

Our guilt in this sectarian game is obvious. We want to divide our potential enemies

Published: 03 March 2007

Why are we trying to divide up the peoples of the Middle East? Why are we trying to chop them up, make them different, remind them - constantly, insidiously, viciously, cruelly - of their divisions, of their suspicions, of their capacity for mutual hatred? Is this just our casual racism? Or is there something darker in our Western souls?

Take the maps. Am I the only one sickened by our journalistic propensity to publish sectarian maps of the Middle East? You know what I mean. We are now all familiar with the colour-coded map of Iraq. Shias at the bottom (of course), Sunnis in their middle "triangle" - actually, it's more like an octagon (even a pentagon) - and the Kurds in the north.

Or the map of Lebanon, where I live. Shias at the bottom (of course), Druze further north, Sunnis in Sidon and on the coastal strip south of Beirut, Shias in the southern suburbs of the capital, Sunnis and Christians in the city, Christian Maronites further north, Sunnis in Tripoli, more Shias to the east. How we love these maps. Hatred made easy.

more at the link.

I did inhale.

see Candy's earlier related posts in this thread

The Independent - Thousands of angry demonstrators took to the streets in Afghanistan yesterday after US forces were involved in a panicked shooting which left 16 civilians dead and 23 injured.

Local people as well as a number of Afghan officials accused the American marines of opening fire indiscriminately following a suicide bomb attack on their convoy in Nangarhar province.

With protests continuing to grow, and the police coming under attack from stone- throwing crowds, the US military maintained that the casualties were the victims of a "complex ambush" in which gunmen had carried out a synchronised attack following the blast in which a marine was injured.

_{"A bad treaty is better than a good missile" ~ Andrei Kislyakov}

dpa - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is angry British and Iraqi troops raided an intelligence compound in Basra and uncovered evidence of prisoner torture.

Maliki did not comment publicly on Sunday's raid but issued a statement condemning the raid on the National Iraqi Intelligence Agency headquarters, the BBC reported.

"The prime minister has ordered an immediate investigation into the incident of breaking into the security compound in Basra and stressed the need to punish those who have carried out this illegal and irresponsible act," the statement said.

_{"A bad treaty is better than a good missile" ~ Andrei Kislyakov}

AP- A suicide car bomber struck a busy Baghdad commercial district Monday, killing at least 26 people and injuring more than 50, police said.

The attack near the well-known Mutanabi book market in central Baghdad was the first major blast in the city in several days sending a huge pillar of black smoke as flames spread to shops, cars and book stalls.

The death toll from police was preliminary and could rise. At least 54 people were injured. The commercial zone is mixed between Sunni-and Shiite-owned businesses and shoppers.

_{"A bad treaty is better than a good missile" ~ Andrei Kislyakov}

Qaeda-led militants storm Iraq jail, free 140
06 Mar 2007 18:20:09 GMT

MOSUL, Iraq, March 6 (Reuters) - Dozens of al Qaeda-led militants stormed an Iraqi jail in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday and freed up to 140 prisoners in one of the biggest prison breaks since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, police said.

As many as 300 militants led by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, attacked Mosul's northwestern Badoush prison just after sunset in the ethnically mixed city and overwhelmed police, who were forced to call the U.S. military for backup, officials said.

Hisham al-Hamdani, a member of the Mosul provincial government, said Abu Omar al-Baghdadi took part in the attack himself. The Islamic State in Iraq is a body set up by al Qaeda's Iraq wing and other Sunni militant groups in October.

Most of the prisoners were believed to be insurgents, police said.

more

on "the surge"? Is he giving it "one Friedman", or what? Seems to me Graham was putting out a bit of "last best chance" wank when Petraeus was before the Sen. Armed Services Committee a few weeks ago. Where is this loser today on "last best chance" after the carnage in and out of Baghdad in the past few days?

From "Voices of Iraq"...

Arbil-Smoking
Anti-smoking conference kicks off in Iraq's Kurdistan
By Abdul-Hamid Zibari
Arbil, March 6, (VOI) - The health ministry of Iraq's Kurdistan region held, in collaboration with the U.S. National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization (WHO), a conference on tackling smoking inside governmental institutions and public areas in the region.
Addressing the opening session, the Minister of Health, Ziryan Othman, said, "We are aiming to enact a law to limit the increasing number of smokers in Iraq's Kurdistan, mainly among young men and children."
"The highest death rate in the region is from smoking," the minister said, noting that "smokers in Iraq's Kurdistan are 41% of men and 7% of women."
"A draft law has been prepared by the health ministry and the legal and health committees of the Kurdistan parliament to fight smoking in the region," he highlighted.
Arbil is the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region. It hosts the headquarters of the Kurdistan region’s ministers and parliament.
SH/TP
http://tinyurl.com/292xrg

"The highest death rate in the region is from smoking," ...
Bloody hell, and I thought it was from the occupation!

At least 110 pilgrims die in suicide attacks as US admits extra 7,000 troops may go to Iraq

· Army says more soldiers needed for Baghdad surge
· Latest assault echoes attack on Samarra shrine

The Guardian, Ian Black, March 7

The US could send an extra 7,000 troops to implement President George Bush's controversial Iraqi security plan, it emerged last night as the country suffered one of its worst recent days of bloodshed when at least 110 Shia Muslim pilgrims were killed and scores more injured. Most died in Hilla, south of Baghdad, in a twin suicide bombing blamed on Sunni extremists.

Taleban 'seize Italian reporter'

The Taleban say they have kidnapped an Italian journalist and two Afghan nationals in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

A source close to a regional Taleban commander told the BBC that the three men were seized after entering an area of Helmand without permission.

He accused them of spying and said they were being detained at a Taleban base.

The Italian, who the Taleban initially said was British, is reportedly working for Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

Reports of the abductions emerged as Nato and Afghan forces launched what they said was their biggest joint offensive against the Taleban in the south of the country.

The operation is centred on Helmand, a known stronghold of the Taleban.

Mullah Dadullah

The three men were detained in Nad Ali in Helmand, one of the main opium poppy areas, because they had entered the district without permission, a local Taleban spokesman said.

A car, satellite phones and cameras had also been taken and the men were being questioned at a Taleban base, he said.

more

Many die in Iraq cafe bomb attack
map
A suicide bomber has killed more than 30 people in an attack on a cafe in a town north-east of Baghdad, police say.

The attacker is reported to have walked into the cafe in the town of Balad Ruz and then detonated the device.

At least 29 other people were also injured in the incident, a police spokesman told the AFP news agency.

In a separate development, three US troops were killed by a roadside bomb attack in the capital, Baghdad, the US military said in a statement.

The soldiers were hit as they were patrolling a well-used route in the city, checking it for hidden explosives, the statement said.

A fourth member of the patrol was injured in the incident.

Balad Ruz is approximately 70km (45 miles) north-east of Baghdad. The part of the town where the bomb attack occurred is described as being populated by members of the region's Shia Kurd minority.

Pilgrims attacked

Earlier on Wednesday, at least nine people were killed as Shia pilgrims made their way to the holy city of Karbala.

more

Pentagon sees new IED offense as the best defense

By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, March 7, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Pentagon is starting to focus more on offense — going after the insurgents who make the bombs — instead of defense, or the hardware that detects or jams the deadly devices right before they go off.

snip snip

The IED task force was established in October 2003, with a $3 billion budget. Its job is to fund research and come up with recommendations to defeat the roadside bombs, the No. 1 killer of U.S. forces in Iraq and an increasing threat in Afghanistan.

Today, the task force has 295 staffers, with military representatives from each service, government civilians and contractors, Meigs said.

Two smaller task forces, Task Force Troy in Iraq and Task Force Paladin in Afghanistan, collect data to send back to JIEDDO and pass forward critical information to units, such as bomb design and the tactics of the insurgents.

As IEDs became more of a threat earlier in the Iraq conflict, the U.S. military’s immediate emphasis was to get troops into more heavily armored vehicles and provide devices that could jam the bomb’s radio-signal triggering devices.

The emergence in the past year of a new and extremely deadly type of roadside explosives called explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, has greatly increased the potential lethality of IEDs and erased much of the protective advantage offered by the extra armor.

The DOD task force is not giving up on trying to find technologies to defeat the bombs themselves, Meigs said. Sixty-two percent of the $4.4 billion budgeted in 2008, or $2.73 billion, will still be spent on research and hardware on the defense side of the task force’s counter-IED charter.

Meigs said one area that remains a challenge, especially when it comes to IED jammers, is busy electromagnetic atmospheres, particularly in and around Baghdad, a city buzzing with satellite, radio, cell phone and television transmissions.

“It’s a big problem,” Meigs said of busy electromagnetic fields. “A year and half ago, we didn’t understand how big a problem it was going to be.”

osted on Wed, Mar. 07, 2007

Saddam's nephew among 140 set free in prison raid
By Leila Fadel
McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents raided an Iraqi government prison west of the city of Mosul on Tuesday and freed the son of Saddam Hussein's recently executed intelligence chief, Barzan al-Tikriti, a local provincial council member said Wednesday.

Hisham al-Hendawi, a member of the provincial council in Ninewa province, said Mohammed Barzan, whose father was decapitated in a botched hanging on Jan. 15 and whose uncle was Saddam, was among an estimated 140 prisoners who escaped when gunmen overwhelmed guards at the Badoosh prison. It's not known how many guards, if any, were killed or wounded.

The Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni insurgent group that's declared an independent Islamic state in western Iraq, on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the raid, one of dozens of Sunni insurgent operations this week that seemed to show the limits of the joint U.S.-Iraqi security plan in Baghdad.

That violence continued with new attacks that claimed the lives of at least 63 more people on Wednesday, primarily Shiite Muslim pilgrims preparing for Saturday's commemoration of the 7th-century massacre of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

The largest of those attacks was the suicide bombing of a cafe in the town of Baladruz in Diyala province, where dozens of Shiites had gathered for a service at a nearby mosque, police said. Dr. Hussein Majmid, director of the local hospital, said that the death toll was at least 32 and that 34 were wounded.

A car bomb struck a checkpoint in southern Baghdad where police were providing security to Shiite pilgrims, killing 22. Twelve of the dead were police officers, according to a U.S. military statement, and 10 were civilians, most of them pilgrims.

At least nine other Shiite pilgrims were killed in various shootings and bombings throughout Baghdad. The largest of those - a roadside bomb in the Dora neighborhood - killed seven.

The Islamic State of Iraq called the prison raid a part of the "karama," or dignity, plan that it had announced in response to the Baghdad security plan.

In a statement posted on a Web site that frequently carries the group's postings, the Islamic State said it had planned the raid carefully, watching the prison to determine when shift changes occurred and determining which entrances and exits could be best used to storm the prison and free its occupants.

The group claimed that it had assembled a battalion to attack the prison from Diyala, Salah ad Din and Mosul provinces, all areas where Sunnis predominate. It said the group's leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, ordered the assault.

The group didn't mention freeing Barzan, but said it had freed 150 men.

Gen. Wathiq Mohammed, head of the provincial police in Ninewa, blamed the guards at the prison for allowing the men to enter.

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Lionell Beehner | March 8

CFR - All eyes will be on Iran and the United States at the March 10 conference in Baghdad (CNN). The meeting, which will focus on security, marks the first time officials from either country have met face-to-face since 2004. The Bush administration previously rejected entreaties to negotiate directly with Iran. Now the president says, “Diplomacy is going to play an important part in securing Iraq's future.” Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad will represent the United States at the ministerial-level meeting on Saturday.

The conference comes amid an upturn in insurgent activity in Iraq (AP), including a bombing that killed more than 150 Shiite pilgrims en route to Karbala, prompting fresh calls for more U.S. troops to be sent to Iraq. The top U.S. general in Iraq, David Petraeus, said military force would not be sufficient for the United States to prevail (BBC), and urged entering discussion with militant groups. They were the general's first remarks since taking command.

"Political Islam is a dream or a nightmare, but not a sociological reality." - Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah

Zarar Khan | Karachi | March 8

AP - Fugitive Afghan rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar told The Associated Press that his forces have ended cooperation with the Taliban and suggested that he was open to talks with embattled President Hamid Karzai. In a video response to questions submitted by AP, Hekmatyar said that his group contacted Taliban leaders in 2003 and agreed to wage a joint jihad, or holy war, against American troops.

"The jihad went into high gear but later it gradually went down as certain elements among the Taliban rejected the idea of a joint struggle against the aggressor," Hekmatyar said in the video, which was received Thursday. Hekmatyar wore glasses and a black turban as he spoke in front of a plain white wall at an undisclosed location.

[Comment: Those with access to Stratfor will note that the larger context of this vis-a-vis Pakistan is quite interesting. ~ JPD]

"Political Islam is a dream or a nightmare, but not a sociological reality." - Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah

Veteran AP reporter paints grim picture of fear and failed policies in Kandahar
Mar 09, 2007
Olivia Ward, Staff reporter

Canada and other NATO countries are making dangerous mistakes that have alienated people in Afghanistan, says one of the longest-serving foreign correspondents in the region.

"What they have failed to do is make allies of Afghans. Instead they have made enemies of ordinary Afghans," says Kathy Gannon, an award-winning journalist who has worked in the strife-torn country for more than 20 years.

"That to me is the biggest error that has occurred, (and) it has occurred because they've gone in with a mixed mandate to reconstruct and rebuild as well as go on the offensive. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to do both."

Gannon, a special correspondent for Associated Press who was born in Timmins, Ont., was delivering the annual Atkinson Lecture yesterday at Ryerson University. The lecture is sponsored by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation endowment in honour of former Toronto Star publisher Joseph E. Atkinson.

Gannon made a recent trip to the Kandahar region, where Canadian troops are based, and paints a picture that is in sharp contrast to the popular one of Canadians winning Afghan hearts and minds. As the level of attacks against the troops has risen, she said, "They've gone from having an idealistic idea of what they want to do, to being terribly frightened."

Fear has boomeranged, making soldiers trigger-happy, and apt to fire "at the drop of a hat" if they feel threatened, she said. But attacks infuriate villagers whose family members have been killed or injured, and they are more easily recruited by the Taliban. After suffering more than 45 casualties, Gannon said, Canadians can expect attacks "will increase because people are increasingly angry."

Many Afghans are also "terrified of the international (forces). They're not prepared to help them. They're not prepared to help their government, because they're so fed up with (its) lawlessness, and the international troops are seen as supporting the government ... so they lose on both counts."

The Western countries that ousted the Taliban have also made a serious mistake in allowing vicious warlords back into power, said Gannon, who witnessed the collapse of communism, the rise of Osama bin Laden and the war that ousted him along with the Taliban in 2001.

Because of the return of the warlords who killed, raped and pillaged before the Taliban seized power, the Afghan government has lost credibility, Gannon said.

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Headlines such as what follows must be eliminted from the government of Afghanistan:

Afghan anti-corruption chief is ex-heroin trafficker
Izzatullah Wasifi nailed in Nevada hotel room in 1987 with 650-gram bag of cocaine
Mar 08, 2007
Associated Press

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Senior Iraqi Qaeda-linked militant arrested-TV
09 Mar 2007 20:14:40 GMT

BAGHDAD, March 9 (Reuters) - A senior leader of an al Qaeda-linked group has been arrested in Iraq, state television Iraqiya said on Friday.

Iraqiya did not say whether U.S. or Iraqi troops had arrested Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, a body set up by al Qaeda's Iraq wing and other Sunni militant groups in October.

It said he was captured in the Abu Ghraib area, which is on the western outskirts of Baghdad.

U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said he had no information on the report. Iraqi officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Most youth ineligible for Army, survey says

By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Mar 8, 2007 23:34:51 EST

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Close to three-quarters of American youth are ineligible to serve in the Army and patriotism among the country’s recruitable population has been sliding since 2002.

That was the assessment of a series of recent surveys conducted in fiscal 2006 and early fiscal 2007 by the Army’s Center for Accessions Research and presented Thursday by Gen. William S. Wallace, commanding general of Training and Doctrine Command.

“It’s an Army problem, but it’s also a national problem,” said Wallace, who presented a slice of the report at the winter meeting of the Association of the United States Army.

TraDoc is the major command that oversees Accessions Command and the subordinate U.S. Army Recruiting Command. Recruiting is seen as a looming and growing challenge as the Army begins to expand by 65,000 more soldiers.

According to Wallace, only 27 percent of youth between the ages of 17 and 24 are eligible for recruiting.

The remaining 73 percent, he said, “are morally, intellectually or physically” unfit for service. “It’s the lowest it’s been in more than 10 years.”

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http://www.state.gov/p/sca/rls/rm/2007/81606.htm

Moving Forward in Afghanistan

Richard A. Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Washington, DC
March 8, 2007

snip snip

PAKISTAN

Pakistan continues to be a vital partner and ally in our fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It is clear that the Taliban are under pressure from all sides, including Pakistan . Recently, Pakistan has launched attacks on training facilities and armed infiltrators, and has arrested Taliban leadership figures, in particular, according to press reports, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, the former Taliban Minister of Defense. Pakistani leaders are committed to combating extremism and continuing to move the country toward a moderate course. Pakistan is absolutely key to the success of U.S. strategic goals in region. We have supported the Pakistani authorities and will continue to support them.

During his February visit to Islamabad, Vice President Cheney held positive and serious talks with President Musharraf about how, together, we can take strong measures to eliminate the threats from the Taliban and Al Qaida. While we continue to encourage the Government of Pakistan to take action against violent extremists, we recognize that purely military solutions are unlikely to succeed. We therefore strongly support President Musharraf's efforts to adopt a more comprehensive approach to combating terrorism and eliminating violent extremism in the border regions, which include the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and parts of Baluchistan . We are committed to supporting this initiative, to bring economic and social development and governance reform that will render these areas inhospitable to violent extremists.

Additionally, we are working to harness the power of markets. To ensure that people have opportunities for employment and a chance to develop sustained alternative livelihoods, President Bush announced his support for the establishment of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan . By allowing certain goods manufactured in ROZs to enter the United States duty free as part of a comprehensive strategy of support for the Afghan private sector, this initiative can serve as a catalyst for increased trade and economic stability. The Administration will be working this year with Congress, American industry, and the Afghan government to implement this initiative and to give these people, who need jobs and hope for the future, an opportunity to join the world economy and build sustainable livelihoods.

Detained Qaeda man not Baghdadi - Iraqi officials
10 Mar 2007 06:35:18 GMT
Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, March 10 (Reuters) - A top leader of an al Qaeda linked group arrested on Friday and initially thought to be Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was not in fact the head of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, Iraqi officials said on Saturday.

Baghdadi's Islamic State of Iraq, a body set up by al Qaeda's Iraq wing and some other Sunni militant groups in October, has claimed responsibility for a string of major attacks.

"We captured a figure who was a senior al Qaeda member and we suspected that he was Abu Omar al-Baghdadi but after initial investigations it was proven it was not Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. But he was a senior al Qaeda leader," said Iraqi military spokesman Qassim Moussawi.

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Two blasts near Baghdad conference venue
10 Mar 2007 10:34:52 GMT

BAGHDAD, March 10 (Reuters) - Two blasts that sounded like mortars rocked the building where delegates from regional and world powers were meeting in Baghdad to discuss stabilising Iraq, Reuters witnesses said.

The blasts appeared to be mortars which landed in an area between the Rasheed Hotel, inside the Green Zone, and the Foreign Ministry, where the conference is being held, one of the witnesses said.

There was no immediate word on casualties. Mortars frequently land in the Green Zone, usually without causing casualties.

Envoys Discuss Ways to Stabilize Iraq

Saturday March 10, 2007 10:31 AM

AP Photo NY116, NY117

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - Delegates from the U.S., the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's neighbors - including Iran - gathered Saturday, with officials searching for common ground on efforts to stabilize Iraq and ease growing rifts in the region.

Iraq's prime minister appealed to those in attendance to help cut off networks that aid the extremists tearing his country apart. He warned that Iraq's growing sectarian bloodshed, if not checked, could spread across the Middle East.

``Iraqi has become a front-line battlefield,'' Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said at the conference. ``(Iraq) needs support in this battle that not only threatens Iraq but will spill over to all countries in the region.''

Al-Maliki sought help in stopping financial support, the procurement of weapons and ``religious cover'' for the relentless attacks that pit Iraq's Sunnis against the majority Shiites. He expressed hope the conference could be a ``turning point in supporting the government in facing this huge danger.''

In addition to finding a way to calm violence in Iraq, the one-day gathering is also being seen as a prime opportunity for icebreaking overtures between Iran and the U.S., whose chief delegate left open the door for possible one-on-one exchanges about Iraq.

Security was extremely tight as envoys gathered in Iraq's Foreign Ministry, which is outside the heavily protected Green Zone. Just as the meeting got under way, a loud blast was heard through central Baghdad. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.

The conference brings together Iraq's six neighbors, the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and several Arab representatives. Its primary goal is to pave the way for a high-level meeting, possibly next month.

But it gives a forum to air a wide range of views and concerns including U.S. accusations of weapons smuggling from Iran and Arab demands for greater political power for Iraq's Sunnis.

``We look for the assistance and the cooperation of our neighbors,'' said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

Before the meeting, Iraqi troops and police were put on high alert. U.S. soldiers with bomb-sniffing dogs combed hallways and rooms in the Ministry.

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Afghan Parliament Passes Amnesty Law

Saturday March 10, 2007 10:31 AM

By RAHIM FAIEZ

Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's lower house of parliament on Saturday voted into law a revised resolution calling for an amnesty for groups suspected of perpetrating war crimes during a quarter century of fighting, but also recognizing the rights of victims to seek justice.

The revised resolution does not protect individuals from prosecution for war crimes, so long as their alleged victims are prepared to raise charges - placing the burden of proof on those who suffered rather than the state.

The vote by the overwhelming majority of the members present in the Wolesi Jirga came after President Hamid Karzai revised the initial resolution which called for an amnesty from war crimes for all involved in the three decades of fighting.

The decision also came a few days after Afghanistan's highest body of Islamic clerics ruled that parliament cannot issue a blanket amnesty from war crimes because only the victims of those crimes can forgive the perpetrators.

The revised resolution grants a general amnesty from prosecution to all groups - rather than individual members - who led the anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s and then plunged the country into a civil war that killed tens of thousands.

Among the alleged war crimes, it is claimed that thousands of civilians in Kabul were killed by indiscriminate shelling and rocketing during the 1992-95 civil war.

In a revision from the original text passed by both houses of the parliament earlier this year and criticized by human rights groups and United Nations, the new resolution recognizes the rights of the victims to seek justice for crimes perpetrated against them during a quarter century of fighting.

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submitted to newswire by dwyvan

Pentagon Struggles to Find Fresh Troops

LOLITA C. BALDOR | WASHINGTON | Mar 10

Associated Press - Military leaders are struggling to choose Army units to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan longer or go there earlier than planned, but five years of war have made fresh troops harder to find.

Faced with a military buildup in Iraq that could drag into next year, Pentagon officials are trying to identify enough units to keep up to 20 brigade combat teams in Iraq. A brigade usually has about 3,500 troops.

The likely result will be extending the deployments of brigades scheduled to come home at the end of the summer, and sending others earlier than scheduled

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'Smart' rebels outstrip US

Top American generals make shock admission as Iraq leader pleads with neighbouring countries to seal off their borders

Paul Beaver in Fort Lauderdale and Peter Beaumont
Sunday March 11, 2007
The Observer

The US army is lagging behind Iraq's insurgents tactically in a war that senior officers say is the biggest challenge since Korea 50 years ago.

The gloomy assessment at a conference in America last week came as senior US and Iraqi officials sat down yesterday with officials from Iran, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in Baghdad to persuade Iraq's neighbours to help seal its borders against fighters, arms and money flowing in. During the conference the US, Iranian and Syrian delegations were reported to have had a 'lively exchange'.

Article continues
In a bleak analysis, senior officers described the fighters they were facing in Iraq and Afghanistan 'as smart, agile and cunning'.

In Vietnam, the US was eventually defeated by a well-armed, closely directed and highly militarised society that had tanks, armoured vehicles and sources of both military production and outside procurement. What is more devastating now is that the world's only superpower is in danger of being driven back by a few tens of thousands of lightly armed irregulars, who have developed tactics capable of destroying multimillion-dollar vehicles and aircraft.

By contrast, the US military is said to have been slow to respond to the challenges of fighting an insurgency. The senior officers described the insurgents as being able to adapt rapidly to exploit American rules of engagement and turn them against US forces, and quickly disseminate ways of destroying or disabling armoured vehicles.

The military is also hampered in its attempts to break up insurgent groups because of their 'flat' command structure within collaborative networks of small groups, making it difficult to target any hierarchy within the insurgency.

The remarks were made by senior US generals speaking at the Association of the US Army meeting at Fort Lauderdale in Florida and in conversations with The Observer. The generals view the 'war on terror' as the most important test of America's soldiers in 50 years.

'Iraq and Afghanistan are sucking up resources at a faster rate than we planned for,' one three-star general said. 'America's warriors need the latest technology to defeat an enemy who is smart, agile and cunning - things we did not expect of the Soviets.'

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The betrayal of British fighting men & women

By Terri Judd, Sophie Goodchild, Andrew Johnson, Lauren Veevers and Kim Sengupta
Published: 11 March 2007

In his scarlet ceremonial uniform, Lance Corporal Justin Smith looked immaculate as he arrived for the Coldstream Guards mess ball. After returning from his second tour of duty in Iraq, the 32-year-old was looking forward to relaxing with old comrades and swapping tales of war.

But the evening did not go well. As the drinks flowed, another soldier became agitated at the memory of a friend and fellow soldier who had died at war. L/Cpl Smith tried to calm him down, saying they had all lost people close to them.

"I said I'd lost Molly [his close friend L/Cpl Ian Malone]". But the other soldier could not be placated. "He said he didn't give a fuck."

Something exploded inside L/Cpl Smith's mind. "I just snapped and wanted to kill him," he said last week. "I had six people sitting on top of me. I'd lost all self-control, all inhibitions. I couldn't stop crying."

An Army doctor diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a psychological condition where people relive harmful memories.

The soldier had never heard of PTSD, but the diagnosis did explain why he had been suffering from nightmares for two years.

But the nights did not become any less troubled. He was stationed in Germany, but became unable to do his job. The Army medically discharged him and he came home last August - with no job, no home, and no self-belief.

Today, he works doing odd jobs building fences. He and his wife and three children live in temporary accommodation, while he tries to get NHS treatment for his nightmares.

He feels abandoned. After serving in war, he has been forgotten in peace. Outwardly Mr Smith has no wounds; inside, he bears unimaginable mental scars of war. And he is bitter.

"I always believed it [the Army] was a big family, but the family had turned its back," said Mr Smith, who now lives in Cornwall - and has a picture of himself in ceremonial uniform hanging on the wall.

Last month he came face to the face with the man he - and thousands of other former soldiers - blame for forgetting about him after serving in Iraq: Tony Blair.

Appearing on local television, he rounded on the Prime Minister, not for waging the war but for breaking the moral rule that soldiers and their families are cared for in return for being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. He told Tony Blair, "I have lost my house, my security and any self-belief. I want to know what the Government is going to do for people suffering the same as me?"

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Blair is called to account over abandoned troops

By Terri Judd, Sophie Goodchild and Andrew Johnson
Published: 11 March 2007

British soldiers returning from war are suffering unprecedented levels of mental health problems amid claims that the long-standing "military covenant" guaranteeing them proper care is in tatters.

More than 21,000 full-time servicemen and women who have served in Iraq, as well as army reservists, have developed anxiety and depression, an Independent on Sunday investigation can reveal today.

Official figures suggest two dozen military personnel have killed themselves since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 ­ a figure which includes 17 confirmed suicides and six where inquests are pending. Combat Stress, the charity for war veterans suffering from mental problems, has warned that it is seeing an annual rise of 26 per cent in its caseload; more than 1,000 former soldiers are homeless.

The figures prompted military experts, politicians and mental health charities to claim that Tony Blair is in breach of his duty of care for those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Politicians, leading figures in the arts and entertainment, and relatives of dead soldiers have put their names to a letter published in today's Independent on Sunday. Signatories include the playwright Harold Pinter, campaigner Bianca Jagger, Sir Menzies Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrats, and MPs Peter Kilfoyle and Ben Wallace.

Their letter calls on the Prime Minister to give the young men and women who risk their lives for this country the just and fair treatment that they deserve. Readers are also invited to sign the letter, which will be handed to Mr Blair on 20 March, the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion.

"Servicemen and women are receiving insufficient treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder," it says. "Many are desperately ill, out of work, homeless and even suicidal. We believe that the military covenant is broken, and that you have neglected the young men and women who carry out your orders."

Senior military figures weighed in last night, accusing the Government of breaching the military covenant, which states that in return for fighting wars on behalf of the nation, the Government must provide all care necessary.

The extent of the hidden costs of war is exposed in the same week that five British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, the highest toll since 2003; 6,600 British troops have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 600 flown back to Britain for treatment. But Combat Stress and the British Legion say even these figures grossly underestimate the scale of psychological injuries among troops.They accuse the Ministry of Defence of abandoning vulnerable soldiers, some of whom experience crippling nightmares and flashbacks, by closing dedicated military hospitals and putting troops in civilian wards.

Air Marshal Sir John Walker said he believed the military covenant is at " breaking point". The former head of Defence Intelligence said: "Has the covenant been broken? Well, in my opinion it has certainly been stretched to breaking point. I am afraid sending our forces into an illegal war is a severe breach of trust."

At the end of the month, Britain will become the only country in Europe without a dedicated military hospital when it closes Haslar Hospital at Gosport, Hampshire. Troops will be treated at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham.

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Bush Seeks 8,200 More Troops for Wars

Sunday March 11, 2007 1:01 PM
By DEB RIECHMANN

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - President Bush asked Congress on Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops needed in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he announced in January.

Bush wants Congress to fund 3,500 new U.S. troops to expand training of local police and army units in Afghanistan. The money also would pay for the estimated 3,500 existing U.S. troops he already announced would be staying longer in the region to counter an anticipated Taliban offensive in Afghanistan this spring.

In Iraq, most of the additional troops would help with the latest Baghdad security plan, which is getting under way in the capital. The money would pay for 2,400 combat support troops, 2,200 military police forces and 129 troops for reconstruction teams.

The budget revisions come as many lawmakers opposed to the buildup in Iraq are debating funding for the war. But in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Bush proposed canceling $3.2 billion in low-priority defense items to offset the extra money needed to support the additional troops.

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More Than 200 Shiite Pilgrims Killed in Past Week

Washington Post, By Saad Al-Izzi & Sudarsan Raghavan, March 11

BAGHDAD, March 11 -- A car bomb exploded Sunday in central Baghdad near a truck carrying Shiite pilgrims returning home from commemorating a sacred holiday, killing at least 20 people and injuring 25, a day after Iraq and its neighbors expressed their commitment to bolster Iraq's security.

Local television channels reported that the car, parked on the side of a road, blew up as the truck passed in Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood. But wire reports said a suicide bomber rammed the car into the back of the truck.

More than 200 Shiite pilgrims have been killed over the past week in various bombings and other attacks across Iraq.