Amir Shah | April 23 | Kabul

AP - Assailants abducted and beheaded an Afghan intelligence service employee and struck one of the agency's vehicles with a remote-controlled bomb in a separate attack, killing six employees and wounding three, officials said Monday.

The latest violence follows a bomb attack Sunday that killed two intelligence service officers, a soldier and a driver in Mehtar Lam, the capital of eastern Laghman province.

On Monday in Laghman's Alingar district, an intelligence service vehicle driving from neighboring Nuristan province was hit by a remote-controlled bomb, said provincial police chief Abdul Karim. He said six of the agency's workers were killed, while three others were wounded.

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

just a stray thought - is the 'gated communities' a policy concept of building prisons around people to save the trouble of imprisoning the whole lot of them? is that cheaper?

Bomb disposal man is a cool customer he has to be

Chris Lambie | Camp Nathan Smith | April 23

The Chronicle Herald - A bomb disposal expert from Nova Scotia believes his job in Afghanistan is safer than that of the troops driving the roads here every day.

Roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices in military parlance, have killed eight Canadian soldiers in Kandahar province since Easter Sunday.

"Every time I’m driving down one of the routes that they routinely mine or IED, it’s a crap shoot and you’re rolling the dice," he said in an interview. "There are tactics involved, but the time and place thing is just indiscriminate."

Like many plying his trade here in Kandahar, the man, from 12 Wing Shearwater’s fleet diving unit, did not want his name used for security reasons. The military figures people who dismantle bombs for a living could be a high priority target for the Taliban.

"I would rather go down on an IED than I would drive up and down the roads around here," he said. "Because when you drive around the roads it’s just random luck that someone’s going to pull out with a suicide vehicle, or someone’s going to shoot at you, or you’re going to drive over a device. But at least when you go down on an IED, it’s just you and it. If you screw up, you screwed up. It’s you against the bomb maker."

[Comment: Camp Nathan Smith is the Canadian PRT base in Kandahar City. It's named after one of the guys killed at Tarnak Farms.

More humourously, has anyone ever heard a less immediately inappropriate term for working on a bomb? I have a feeling that the genesis of the term predates modern alternative meanings. ~ JPD]

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

Seem to be competing with local government

Rosie DiManno | Kandahar | April 23

The Toronto Star - Memo to Canada's non-governmental agencies in Afghanistan: Your humanitarian passport is no longer valid.

Not, at least, if you keep this up – spiting Afghanistan to save NGO face, purpose and proprietary agenda for the country.

So says Mohammad Ehsan Zia, who comes to the escalating controversy of who knows what's best for his nation from the perspective of a former NGO operative, 17 years in Afghanistan with Norway Church Aid.

Now he's minister of rural rehabilitation and development, a position that has put him in abrasive conflict with the very constituency of altruism to which Zia dedicated much of his life.

"The NGOs are the only uninvited entities in this country," the minister says provocatively. "My government has invited Canadian soldiers to come and assist us. But the NGOs cannot show any such invitation from any member of this government."

[Comment: It's DiManno, so take it with a grain of salt approximately the size of your head, but an interesting viewpoint from the minister to put it mildly. ~ JPD]

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

Sonya Hepinstall | Kabul | April 23

Reuters - The level of destruction in Afghanistan was far underestimated from the beginning which fuelled unrealistic expectations about how fast the country could be rebuilt, one of the country's top economic officials said.

Ishaq Nadiri, senior economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai, pointed to a legacy of conflict and division that started almost 30 years ago with the Soviet invasion and continued into civil war and the rule of the strict Islamist Taliban.

"Afghanistan is not your ordinary post-conflict country ... the degree of the devastation of this country has been highly underestimated. So the expectation has been very high," he told Reuters in an interview late on Sunday.

The international community has met in Bonn, Tokyo, Berlin and London to garner aid for rebuilding Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.

Donors and Afghans must be patient with the government formed after Karzai was elected in 2004 as it faced the huge task of building a society and economy basically from scratch, he said. "We have to build the institutions, we have to build democracy, we have to educate the kids, we have to feed the people and we have to bring the hundreds of thousands per month or whatever of immigrants back, refugees back ... which other society has done that?" Nadiri said.

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

Capt. Phil Carter, who has vainly tried to extract some hope out of the Iraq misadventure (he had to, as he spent a year there "training" Iraqi troops), finally calls it:

Plan FUBAR
Time for Plan G in Iraq?
By Phillip Carter
In arguing for the current surge of combat forces to Iraq, senior administration officials say they're unwilling to consider a "Plan B" for Iraq—options in case the surge fails. Sen. John McCain echoes this sentiment, as does Gen. David Petraeus in Baghdad, counseling patience while the current plan is put into action.

But defining the current surge as a "Plan A" is a dangerously dishonest move that ignores the history of the Iraq war to date. In fact, since 2003, we have run through at least six plans, none of which has succeeded. The Petraeus plan is something more akin to Plan F—truly, the last Hail Mary play in the fourth quarter. And if it fails, then we better start considering Plan G, also known as "Get out of Iraq."
...
http://www.slate.com/id/2164509/pagenum/all

Also, on his blog, Carter has more thoughts on the eventual outcome of the FUBARed invasion:

Gates to Maliki: "Sh*t or get off the pot"
[Phillip Carter, Saturday April 21, 2007 at 2:42am EST]
http://www.intel-dump.com/archives/archive_2007_04_15-2007_04_21.shtml#1177137739

CENTCOM abandons the "long war"
[Phillip Carter, Thursday April 19, 2007 at 12:54pm EST]
http://www.intel-dump.com/archives/archive_2007_04_15-2007_04_21.shtml#1177001669

_{“les Etats-unis, c’est le seul pays à être passé de la préhistoire à la décadence sans jamais connaitre la civilisation…”...Georges Clemenceau}

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Suicide blast kills 9 U.S. soldiers
Attack in Diyala province comes same day 5 other explosions kill 46

BAGHDAD - Nine U.S. soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded Monday in a suicide car bombing against a patrol base northeast of Baghdad, the military said.

The attack occurred in Diyala province, a volatile area that has been the site of fierce fighting between U.S. and Iraqi troops, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias, according to a statement.

The nine Task Force Lightning soldiers died of injuries sustained in the blast, which also left 20 soldiers and an Iraqi civilian wounded, the military said.
Story continues below ↓advertisement

Of those wounded, 15 soldiers were treated and returned to duty while five others and the Iraqi civilian were evacuated to a medical facility for further care, it added.

more

...the Kandahar Tim Horton's, in arid CADPAT no less:

It's a Canadian thing...

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

Work on Baghdad wall continues despite premier's opposition
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Monday April 23, 2007

Baghdad- The construction of a three-mile wall around a
Sunni neighbourhood in Baghdad continued Monday, the military
spokesman for the Iraqi government said, despite Premier Nuri al-
Maliki's opposition to the plan.

Qassem Atta confirmed the US military's plan to form a 3.5-metre-
high concrete wall to enclose Adhamiya district, where tit-for-tat
sectarian violence is threatening to spiral out of control.

He also insisted that Iraqi citizens had requested that walls be
erected between neighbourhoods for security considerations, and so
the work on the Adhamiya wall will continue, he told Iraqiya state
television.

Atta also said that the defence minister had a "firm opinion"
about the walls, namely that they were "temporary."

Atta's statements came only a day after al-Maliki had openly
called for the halt of the separation wall, saying he opposed it.

Anger was sparked among citizens and some politicians in Baghdad
after local and international news sources circulated the report of
the wall that is expected to divide notorious neighbourhoods - and in
turn Baghdad itself.

Atta had told the press that building such and similar walls
across Baghdad was part of a security plan enacted on February 14 in
an effort to quell ongoing violence in the city.

The planned walls are expected to reduce the traffic of armed
militants between neighbourhoods. Each wall would have two access
points only.

more

Christie Blatchford | April 24

The Globe and Mail - This is not offered in support of the embattled Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, who like his many predecessors is in my view a bit of a bumbler, or his government, or the Afghan security thugs allegedly torturing detainees handed to them by Canadian troops.

But it is in defence of those troops, now caught, as so often happens, in a mess of their political masters' making, and not of their own.

Anyone who has been to Afghanistan and spent any significant time with Canadian soldiers - and by extension with their omnipresent "Afghan face," elements of the Afghan National Police or Afghan National Army - learns a couple of things pretty quickly.

One is that Canada's soldiers, as my colleague Graeme Smith's exclusive story yesterday on the front page of the paper pointed out, treat their Afghan prisoners fairly and indeed often with gentleness. This is a function of many things: their training; their sense of fair play, which is more prominent in soldiers than in most of their fellow citizens; and certainly for most of the soldiers I have met, their nature, too.

I have seen it first-hand, as most reporters have, just as I have seen Canadians check their fire while they were under attack because they couldn't be completely sure that the men walking through the fields at night were enemy. I also know of a case where Canadian troops discovered an old man who had been badly beaten by the local police, and then drove several hours to get him to a hospital. Canadian medics routinely treat enemy casualties, the very people who moments before they fell were trying to kill them and their friends. And Canadian forces are governed by Rules of Engagement, which see them carry out operations in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties, and which are so stringent that I would argue that sometimes Canadians troops have paid with their lives because they played by those rules.

This is the way Canadians expect their soldiers to conduct themselves, and it is my experience that they do all of it.

It bears repeating.

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

Despite repeated assurances by O'Connor, Afghan agency says its staff are barred from visiting key detention centre in Kandahar

Graeme Smith | Kandahar | April 24

The Globe and Mail - The watchdog agency Canada is relying on to prevent abuse of detainees in Afghan custody says it can't do the job properly because it has been barred from access to the notorious detention cells of the intelligence service.

Despite assurances that any abuse would be reported, repeated in the House of Commons by Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor yesterday, the regional head of investigations for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission conceded in a recent interview that his staff are being prevented from visiting detainees in the National Directorate of Security's detention cells in Kandahar.

"We have an agreement with the Canadians, but we can't monitor these people," said Amir Mohammed Ansari, chief investigator for AIHRC in Kandahar. "Legally, we have permission to visit prisoners inside the NDS prison. But they don't allow it."

The AIHRC signed an agreement in February to monitor detainees after Canadian forces hand them over to the NDS. The AIHRC promised to inform Canada immediately if any captives handed over to the NDS were mistreated.

Responding to a firestorm of criticism in the House after a Globe and Mail report of widespread abuse and torture of detainees, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his ministers repeatedly referred to the agreement with the AIHRC as sufficient to ensure that the rights of detainees are respected.

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

Norma Greenaway | April 24

The Ottawa Citizen - Almost two-thirds of Canadians say the country's troops in Afghanistan should be brought home on schedule by February 2009, a new national poll says.

The poll, conducted exclusively by Ipsos Reid for CanWest News Service and Global National, also said a slim majority of Canadians -- 52 per cent -- expressed support for the troops' role in Afghanistan despite a rash of eight deaths in the field since Easter Sunday.

The poll, conducted last Tuesday through Thursday, is the first in which Ipsos Reid has asked Canadians whether Canada's troop commitment should go beyond February 2009.

The findings land as MPs prepared to vote today on a Liberal motion that would end the Afghanistan mission by February 2009.

If the motion passes, it will not topple the minority Conservative government because Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not use his prerogative to declare it a matter of confidence.

The 2009 deadline, a two-year extension on the country's previous commitment, was narrowly approved by Parliament less than a year ago at the behest of the minority Conservative government.

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

Torture allegations increase pressure not to transfer prisoners

Bruce Campion Smith and Richard Brennan | Ottawa | April 24

The Toronto Star - Canada must immediately stop the transfer of prisoners to the custody of Afghan security forces after disturbing reports that some of them have been abused, opposition politicians and legal experts say.

The federal government is in "very serious" violation of international laws, leaving Canadian troops exposed to possible prosecution under international human rights laws because of the mistreatment endured by detainees, said Michael Byers, a professor at the University of British Columbia.

"You are not just prohibited from torturing people under international law, you are prohibited from transferring to torture. You are prohibited from engaging in complicity with torture, in facilitating torture in any way," he told a Parliament Hill news conference yesterday.

It's estimated that several dozen Afghan prisoners have been handed over to Afghan authorities by Canadian forces since 2002.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion says Canada should look at other ways of handling its Afghan detainees, even if it means bringing them to Canada.

[Comment: It's official: Dion's a dipstick. Yeah, let's bring Afghani detainees to Canada given what the US is known to be doing to Afghanis that they bring to Gitmo. Could we maybe not mull over handing the Taliban any more information warfare opportunities for free? Clearly the current situation's untenable, but that one just ain't gonna fly. ~ JPD]

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

Taliban mullah talks

Posted: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 10:07 AM
Categories: Islamabad, Pakistan
By NBC News' Mushtaq Yusufzai in Nuristan, Afghanistan and Carol Grisanti in Islamabad, Pakistan

This time I was scared. I had crossed over from Pakistan into Afghanistan to interview Taliban commanders before, but the situation in Afghanistan hadn’t been this bad. Now journalists are prime targets for kidnapping and ransom; victims of a well-organized Afghan gang who are actually looking for journalists to sell to the Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

I had been offered a meeting with Mullah Munibullah, commander of Taliban forces in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. He has never given an interview before. This could have been a trap.

NBC News' Mushtaq Yusufzai, left, speaks with Taliban Commander, Mullah Munibullah, in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan.
I told my mother and gave her some phone numbers to call in case I went missing. She started to cry and forbade me to go. By the time I had convinced my mother that I would be fine – after all, I have known the people who arranged the meeting for me for more than two years and I trusted them – I had convinced myself of that as well.

Escorts – four bearded men with AK-47s
It was an eight-hour journey from Peshawar in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province to Nuristan Province in Afghanistan, on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains.

My escorts, four bearded men in their 30s armed with AK-47s, knew the way.

An elderly man embraced all of us when we arrived at a large house alongside of a dried stream bed in the Nuristan Valley. I had no idea who he was but he assured me I was in safe hands. I was then brought alone into a large room and told to wait.

Again I was scared.

Nuristan is the most remote province in Afghanistan and one of the poorest. It is allegedly one of the hiding places of Osama bin Laden.

When Munibullah finally arrived, he had news for me.

"We have received surface-to-air missiles. We now have what we need to target the B-52s, the Predators and the missiles of the enemy," said Munibullah. "We have also received surface-to-surface missiles for attacking the military bases of the enemy," he added.

I was surprised. I asked him how and from whom he acquired such high-tech weapons. He refused to answer, saying only that no one should doubt their ability to get whatever is needed to fight the enemy.

Munibullah, a native of Nuristan, is in his early 40s and has two wives and six children. The interview lasted 30 minutes, but we spent almost four hours together.
MORE

Air Force Pinched by Iraq Ground War

Wednesday April 25, 2007 1:46 AM
By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Air Force's top general expressed frustration on Tuesday with the reassignment of troops under his command to ground jobs for which they were not trained, ranging from guarding prisoners to driving trucks and typing.

Gen. Michael Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, said that over 20,000 airmen have been assigned worldwide into roles outside their specialties.

With President Bush and Congress in a standoff over Iraq spending, the Pentagon is shifting money among services and accounts, including drawing down funds earmarked for other later purposes.

``Somebody's going to have to pay us back,'' Moseley said. ``I don't have to want to have concerns about getting that money back.''

In a breakfast session with a group of reporters, Moseley said he was trying to be realistic. ``We live in a joint world. We live in a military that's at war. And we live in a situation where, if we can contribute, then sign me up for it.''

Still, the Air Force general added, ``I'm less supportive of things outside our competency.''

He said people were being assigned to jobs they weren't trained for. He cited Air Force airmen being used to guard prisoners and to serve as drivers and cited one instance in which an Air Force surgeon was assigned typing chores after three days at her new post.

``We got her back,'' Moseley said.

Others are being assigned to help the Army provide security in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Moseley said he didn't mind the use of airmen as drivers as much as some of the other new duties usually performed by the Army, such as guarding prisoners.

``Not only do we not have a prison, but very rarely do we have anybody in prison,'' he joked.

``So, to take our people and train them to be a detainee-guarding entity requires `x' amount of time away from their normal job,'' said Moseley.

``Those are the things that are very frustrating,'' he said.

He said the swap-outs come at a time when the Air Force's budget is burdened, when there is little money for new aircraft and when maintaining an aging fleet of older planes, some of them going back to the 1950s and 1960s, is getting increasingly expensive.

more

Laura Bush wants you to know that when it comes to Iraq, no one is suffering more than the First Couple. No one.

by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 4/25/2007 08:23:00 AM ET

Listen, you Americans, Laura Bush wants you to know the President is suffering over Iraq. In fact, Laura told Anne Curry on the Today Show, that the American people need to know that "no one is suffers more than their President and I do." No one? She's as delusional as her husband. Of course, her husband is the person who caused the suffering -- and is the one person who can end it.

more with video

Longer Iraq Tours Good for "Army Stress

Yeah, yeah. Water is dry, ice is warm, and up is down, too. This is entering into "Baghdad Bob" territory, folks. Seriously.
.
There are two possible interpretations of "Army stress" you could tease out of this pronouncement. The idea that longer tours will help with either is just silly.
.
This first is that longer tours will somehow ease pressures on the the service, institutionally. Traditionally, the Army has tried to give its troops two years at home for every year in combat. Which means deployed units should only make up about a third of the force; the other two-thirds should be at rest or in training. But with the Iraq war dragging on so long, that hasn't been possible. "Today half the Army's 43 combat brigades are deployed overseas, with the remainder recovering from their latest deployment or preparing for the next one," Time recently reported. Now, you're telling me that more time in Iraq somehow help correct that imbalance? That doesn't even pass the laugh test.
.
"Army stress" could also be interpreted as the burdens that soldiers and their families face, as they head off to war, again and again. That's the kind of stress Gen. Odierno seems to imply will be helped by soldiers spending an extra three months in a warzone. Again, that's a downright laughable position to take. As Phil Carter, an Iraq vet, recently noted:

much more at link, Wired Blog, Danger Room

Top U.S. officer at Iraq prison detained, charged
Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:38AM EDT

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A top officer at a key U.S. military detention centre in Iraq has been charged with "aiding the enemy" and having improper relationships including one with the daughter of a detainee, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Lieutenant-Colonel William Steele, the commander of the 451st Military Police Detachment, was in charge of the detention facilities at Camp Cropper near Baghdad international airport.

"He has been in detention in Kuwait since last month pending an Article 32 hearing, which is a preliminary hearing where evidence will be presented to determine whether this should go to court-martial," said U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant- Colonel Josslyn Aberle.

Saddam Hussein spent his final days at Cropper, which holds more than 3,000 detainees, before being executed last December.

Steele was accused of "aiding the enemy" by providing detainees with unmonitored mobile phones between October 2005 and October 2006, a U.S. military said in a statement.

He was also charged with having an improper relationship with a translator and with the daughter of a detainee, as well as violating an order against keeping pornographic videos. The offences were alleged to have occurred between October 2005 and February 2007.

"These charges are merely an accusation of wrongdoing. Lieutenant-Colonel Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he is proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offence," the military statement said.

Former senior members of Saddam regime are held at Cropper. The camp was also made famous by media reports that said Saddam himself was detained there during his three years in prison.

But the U.S. military confirmed for the first time on Thursday that he had been kept in another, secret facility and only visited the camp for medical check-ups. He stayed there in the days leading up to his execution on December 30.

more

Thursday, April 26, 2007

The Great Wall of Segregation...

…Which is the wall the current Iraqi government is building (with the support and guidance of the Americans). It's a wall that is intended to separate and isolate what is now considered the largest 'Sunni' area in Baghdad- let no one say the Americans are not building anything. According to plans the Iraqi puppets and Americans cooked up, it will 'protect' A'adhamiya, a residential/mercantile area that the current Iraqi government and their death squads couldn't empty of Sunnis.

The wall, of course, will protect no one. I sometimes wonder if this is how the concentration camps began in Europe. The Nazi government probably said, "Oh look- we're just going to protect the Jews with this little wall here- it will be difficult for people to get into their special area to hurt them!" And yet, it will also be difficult to get out.

The Wall is the latest effort to further break Iraqi society apart. Promoting and supporting civil war isn't enough, apparently- Iraqis have generally proven to be more tenacious and tolerant than their mullahs, ayatollahs, and Vichy leaders. It's time for America to physically divide and conquer- like Berlin before the wall came down or Palestine today. This way, they can continue chasing Sunnis out of "Shia areas" and Shia out of "Sunni areas".

I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq's history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven't been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there.

I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.

On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to what? To where?

Since last summer, we had been discussing it more and more. It was only a matter of time before what began as a suggestion- a last case scenario- soon took on solidity and developed into a plan. For the last couple of months, it has only been a matter of logistics. Plane or car? Jordan or Syria? Will we all leave together as a family? Or will it be only my brother and I at first?

After Jordan or Syria- where then? Obviously, either of those countries is going to be a transit to something else. They are both overflowing with Iraqi refugees, and every single Iraqi living in either country is complaining of the fact that work is difficult to come by, and getting a residency is even more difficult. There is also the little problem of being turned back at the border. Thousands of Iraqis aren't being let into Syria or Jordan- and there are no definite criteria for entry, the decision is based on the whim of the border patrol guard checking your passport.

(snip)

On the one hand, I know that leaving the country and starting a new life somewhere else- as yet unknown- is such a huge thing that it should dwarf every trivial concern. The funny thing is that it’s the trivial that seems to occupy our lives. We discuss whether to take photo albums or leave them behind. Can I bring along a stuffed animal I've had since the age of four? Is there room for E.'s guitar? What clothes do we take? Summer clothes? The winter clothes too? What about my books? What about the CDs, the baby pictures?

The problem is that we don't even know if we'll ever see this stuff again. We don't know if whatever we leave, including the house, will be available when and if we come back. There are moments when the injustice of having to leave your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to invade it, is overwhelming. It is unfair that in order to survive and live normally, we have to leave our home and what remains of family and friends… And to what?

It's difficult to decide which is more frightening- car bombs and militias, or having to leave everything you know and love, to some unspecified place for a future where nothing is certain.

more

-----

I have followed her blog since she began posting in Iraq. My heart goes out to her and I wish her godspeed. There can't be many left of the intellengensia of the Iraq nation that aren't currently refugees. She's such an intelligent woman--what a tragedy that has befallan Iraq. And now she has no idea if there is border that will be open to her. You can hear her pain and anger in what could be her final posts. How heartbreaking! Riverbend to me, has a face, as I am sure she has for many other Agonist, unlike so many that have died or escaped to other countries.

Petraeus Cites Difficult Times in Iraq
U.S. Commander Petraeus Says Conditions in Iraq Likely to Get Harder Before Improving

WASHINGTON Apr 26, 2007 (AP)— Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, depicted the situation there as "exceedingly complex and very tough" Thursday and said the U.S. effort might become more difficult before it gets easier.

The four-star general called the war there "the most complex and challenging I have ever seen."

He said there have been some improvements in the two months since President Bush's troop buildup began, but "there is vastly more work to be done across the board. … We are just getting started with the new effort."
...
The general also said, however, that improvements can be seen both in the capital of Baghdad and the volatile Anbar Province in Western Iraq. Still, he said, these achievements "have not come without sacrifice."

He said that the increasing use of car bombs and suicide attacks, plus the greater concentration of U.S. troops among the population, has "led to greater U.S. losses" as well as increased Iraqi military casualties.

Petraeus sidestepped a direct question on how long U.S. troops would have to remain in Iraq.

"I wouldn't try to truly anticipate what level might be some years down the road," he said.

Still, Petraeus noted, it was "an endeavor that clearly is going to require an enormous commitment over time."
...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3083064

It will remain eternally a puzzle to me that the general who sold Junior on "surging" and FM 3-24 then willingly (or otherwise) launched this mission at 15-20% force-levels that his own manual prescribed. And how self-serving he was to tacitly allow the "6-months" - or one Friedman - interpretation of this "last, best chance to rescue the mission" to filter out early in the game, though Petraeus himself recognised that years - not months - was/will be required to even come close to achieving any degree of so-called "success". And that the political aspect of the strategy was lost even before "surging" started, for God's sake! And, how many times has the military evoked the tired "it will get worse before it gets better" phrase. It never has gotten better, General, only worse.
Ah, another "best and the brightest" heading for the dungheap, hoisted upon his own petard.

_{“les Etats-unis, c’est le seul pays à être passé de la préhistoire à la décadence sans jamais connaitre la civilisation…”...Georges Clemenceau}

Apr 27, 2007

The temperature rises in Kirkuk
By Jason Motlagh

KIRKUK, Iraq - The latest wave of deadly attacks to hit the oil-rich, ethnically combustible city of Kirkuk appears to be a prelude of worse to come, with a referendum looming to decide its status by the end of the year. Concern that the north is poised to become a new front in the Iraq conflict is saddled by the possibility that neighboring Turkey will also join the fight.

The fate of Kirkuk, which sits atop one of the world's biggest oilfields, is set to be resolved in a local referendum as laid out in

the Iraqi constitution. After a forced "Arabization" campaign under Saddam Hussein that brought tens of thousands of Shi'ite Arabs to displace the Kurdish population, an estimated 350,000 Kurds have moved back since April 2003 and are now said to hold a majority that would carry the vote.

The Kurdish Regional Government already has de facto control and wants to absorb the city into the northern autonomous region, a prospect that has given large Arab and Turkoman populations common cause against the Kurds. Last month, a plan endorsed by the Iraqi government to relocate these groups "voluntarily" sparked a row in Baghdad that led some officials to resign. Two days later, a suicide truck bomber slammed into a police station in a Kurdish neighborhood of Kirkuk, killing 15 and wounding more than 200 people. A March 16 attack left three more Iraqis dead.

Hostilities may extend outside of Iraq and into Turkey, where officials worry that a Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk would bring the Kurds one vital step closer to an independent state that could reignite separatist fervor among the 14 million Kurds living on its side of the border.

In response to a threat by Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani that he would "interfere" with Turkey's Kurds if Ankara continued "interfering" in northern Iraq, the Turkish military threatened a unilateral offensive into northern Iraq to rout Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas known to stage cross-border attacks. Turkey is now waging a major assault against the PKK in its southeastern mountains.

The Kurds have to date been the United States' most reliable partner in Iraq's fractious political landscape. But as tensions mount, the US has opted to remain in the background. Part of this stance can be explained by its preoccupation with the last-ditch "surge" of troops to secure al-Anbar province and Baghdad. Another less-held view is that the US Department of Defense is providing clandestine support to Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) guerrillas based along the Iranian border, a proxy force that has battled the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on and off.

Either way, observers warn that continued neglect by Washington could spell ruin for the only successful facet of the Iraq nation-building project.

"Preoccupied with their attempt to save Iraq by implementing a new security plan in Baghdad, the Bush administration has left the looming Kirkuk crisis to the side," said a new Crisis Group report. "If the referendum is held later his year over the objections of the other communities, the civil war is very likely to spread to Kirkuk and the Kurdish region, until now Iraq's only area of quiet and progress."

more

Serving British soldier exposes horror of war in 'crazy' Basra

By Terri Judd
Published: 27 April 2007

A British soldier has broken ranks within days of returning from Iraq to speak publicly of the horror of his tour of duty there, painting a picture of troops under siege, "sitting ducks" to an increasingly sophisticated insurgency.

"Basra is lost, they are in control now. It's a full-scale riot and the Government are just trying to save face," said Private Paul Barton.

The 27-year-old, who returned from his second tour of Iraq this week along with other members of 1st Battalion, the Staffordshire Regiment, insisted that he remains loyal to the Army despite such public dissent. He said he had already volunteered to go to Afghanistan later this year.

But, he said, he felt strongly that somebody had to speak out: "I want people to see it as it is; not the sugar-coated version."

His public protest is a sign of the groundswell of anger among the troops, and predictions that more will come forward to break the traditional covenant of silent service. Just last month, Pte Steve Baldwin, 22, a soldier in the same regiment, spoke to The Independent about the way he had been "pushed aside" since being injured by a roadside bomb which killed three others during the Staffords' first tour of Iraq in 2005.

And on Monday, Cpl Richard Bradley also chose to air his views on television: "Blokes are dying for no cause at all and blokes are getting injured for no cause at all."

Reacting to Pte Barton's comments, many soldiers on websites appeared stunned but in agreement. One said: "When I arrived back last year, I was utterly depressed by what I had seen out there and the lack of any progress ... any journo sticking a microphone in my grid would have been given enough soundbites to retire on. And I would probably be in the Tower of London.

"I can only imagine that the situation 12 months on is even worse, and it would not surprise me if this is repeated over the coming months by more guys coming back from their third and fourth tours to that midden."

Pte Barton felt so strongly that he telephoned his local paper, the Tamworth Herald, to speak of the "side you don't hear".

more

British military sanctions Afghan poppy cultivation

Declan Walsh in Kabul
Friday April 27, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Angry Afghan officials have reprimanded British diplomats over a campaign by UK troops in Helmand telling farmers that growing poppy was understandable and acceptable.

Earlier this month the British military airdropped leaflets across the Sangin valley stressing to farmers that the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would not interfere with the current harvest.

"Dear respected and noble resident of Helmand," read one translation The Guardian obtained from a western drugs official. "The Afghan national army and ISAF will not destroy your poppy fields. Poppy is the only tool of the economy and benefits farmers. We do not want to stop your source of food and money."

British forces also paid for radio advertisements that reminded Helmand residents that UK and Afghan troops "did not destroy your poppies" in Babaji, the scene of a battle with the Taliban recently and a major poppy cultivation zone. "[The Afghan army] and ISAF forces know the people have no other income," said the message broadcast across Afghanistan's largest province.

The advertisements infuriated senior Afghan officials - including the president, Hamid Karzai - who have been under intense western pressure to rein in the burgeoning drugs trade. Opium cultivation soared 59% last year, earning local traffickers £1.2bn. The spike was concentrated in Helmand.

"This was an error by ISAF," said Zalmay Afzali, a spokesman for the counter-narcotics ministry. "We have asked ISAF to avoid such problems in the future because it can create a hell of a problem."

After a series of stormy meetings, Nato announced this week that it was dropping the ads. "We've recognised this was a mistake and we addressed it as soon as possible," said spokesman Nicholas Lunt. British officials issued an official apology to their Afghan counterparts.

The incident highlights a schism within western policy in Afghanistan between and diplomats and the military. Since 2001 western embassies have channeled hundreds of millions of pounds into hunting for drugs traffickers, encouraging farmers to switch to licit crops and funding eradication efforts.

more

Judge indicts 3 U.S. soldiers in 2003 death of Spanish journalist in Iraq

By Mar Roman
ASSOCIATED PRESS

10:32 a.m. April 27, 2007

MADRID, Spain – A judge indicted three U.S. soldiers Friday in the 2003 death of a Spanish journalist who was killed when their tank opened fire at a hotel in Baghdad.

Sgt. Shawn Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip DeCamp were charged with homicide in the death of Jose Couso and “a crime against the international community.” This is defined under Spanish law as an indiscriminate or excessive attack against civilians during war.

At the time of the incident, all were from the 3rd Infantry Division, based in Fort Stewart, Ga. Judge Santiago Pedraz asked U.S. authorities to notify them of the indictment.

Couso, who worked as a cameraman for the Spanish TV network Telecinco, died on April 8, 2003, after a U.S. Army tank crew fired a shell at the Palestine Hotel, where many journalists were staying. Taras Portsyuk, a Ukrainian cameraman for Reuters, was also killed.

Following the incident, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said the troops responded after drawing hostile fire from the hotel. He said a U.S. review of the incident found the use of force was justified.

According to the five-page indictment, DeCamp ordered the shot, and Wolford then authorized Gibson to carry it out.

“The people indicted knew and were aware that the Palestine Hotel was occupied by civilians, without there being a proved threat (sniper or otherwise) against themselves or the U.S troops, therefore, the tank shot that caused the death of Mr. Couso would constitute an attack, retaliation, or violence threat or act aimed at terrifying journalists,” the indictment said.

DeCamp, who is now an adjunct professor of mathematics at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., did not immediately return a telephone message left at his home. The school said he retired from the Army in July 2005.

Pedraz has issued several arrest warrants against the three, but the United States has made clear it will not hand them over.

The three men still run the risk of arrest under a Spanish-issued international warrant should they travel to any country that has an extradition treaty with Spain.

Under Spanish law, a crime committed against a Spaniard abroad can be prosecuted here if it is not investigated in the country where it was allegedly committed.

In a separate case in Italy that has strained relations between Washington and Rome, former Spc. Mario Lozano, 37, of New York City went on trial in absentia earlier this month for the shooting death of an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Iraq two years ago.

The agent, Nicola Calipari, was shot March 4, 2005, on his way to the Baghdad airport shortly after securing the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena. Sgrena and another agent who was driving the car were wounded.

Lozano, who was indicted in February on charges of murder and attempted murder, has defended his actions in comments to the U.S. media, saying he had no choice but to fire. He says he flashed a warning light signaling the vehicle to stop and that he shot first at the ground, and then at the car's engine.

The judge has adjourned the proceedings until May 14 for technical reasons.

more

Apr 27, 2007
Associated Press

BAGHDAD – The United States faces the prospect of defeat in Iraq, according to an active duty U.S. officer who blames American generals for failing to prepare their forces for an insurgency and misleading Congress about the situation there.

"For reasons that are not yet clear, America's general officer corps underestimated the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of Iraq's government and security forces, and failed to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions in Iraq," Lt.-Col. Paul Yingling said in the article published today in the Armed Forces Journal.

Several retired generals have made similar comments, but such public criticism from an active duty officer is rare. It suggests that misgivings about the conduct of the Iraq war are widespread in the officer corps at a critical time in the troubled U.S. military mission.

more

The article is below as it appeared in the Armed forces Journal:

A failure in generalship By Lt. Col. Paul Yingling

"You officers amuse yourselves with God knows what buffooneries and never dream in the least of serious service. This is a source of stupidity which would become most dangerous in case of a serious conflict."
- Frederick the Great

For the second time in a generation, the United States faces the prospect of defeat at the hands of an insurgency. In April 1975, the U.S. fled the Republic of Vietnam, abandoning our allies to their fate at the hands of North Vietnamese communists. In 2007, Iraq's grave and deteriorating condition offers diminishing hope for an American victory and portends risk of an even wider and more destructive regional war.

These debacles are not attributable to individual failures, but rather to a crisis in an entire institution: America's general officer corps. America's generals have failed to prepare our armed forces for war and advise civilian authorities on the application of force to achieve the aims of policy. The argument that follows consists of three elements. First, generals have a responsibility to society to provide policymakers with a correct estimate of strategic probabilities. Second, America's generals in Vietnam and Iraq failed to perform this responsibility. Third, remedying the crisis in American generalship requires the intervention of Congress.