Nov 4

Rogue Afghan officer kills five British soldiers

The Taliban claimed responsibility today for the killing of five British soldiers by a rogue Afghan policeman.

The servicemen, three from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police, died when the officer turned his gun on them at a checkpoint in Nad-e-Ali in Helmand Province yesterday.

Another six British soldiers and two Afghan policemen were wounded in the shooting, which sent shockwaves through the coalition mission in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the House of Commons that the Taliban had claimed responsibility for the killings.

** Former Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah has said Hamid Karzai's re-election is "illegal".

More bomb blasts rock Baghdad

Separate explosions in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad injured at least 16 people Wednesday, Iraqi police say.

Five people were injured when a car bomb exploded near a checkpoint in the al-Athamiyah neighborhood while at least seven others suffered injuries in an explosion in the al-Eskan neighborhood, KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency, reports.

Police said four more Iraqis were injured in a third explosion on a highway in the northern part of the capital.

** Whatever Happened To Iraqi Oil?

please check comments for more articles and updates

Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll

NYT - Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.

The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.’s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai’s home.

The financial ties and close working relationship between the intelligence agency and Mr. Karzai raise significant questions about America’s war strategy, which is currently under review at the White House.

The ties to Mr. Karzai have created deep divisions within the Obama administration. The critics say the ties complicate America’s increasingly tense relationship with President Hamid Karzai, who has struggled to build sustained popularity among Afghans and has long been portrayed by the Taliban as an American puppet. The C.I.A.’s practices also suggest that the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban.

More broadly, some American officials argue that the reliance on Ahmed Wali Karzai, the most powerful figure in a large area of southern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is strongest, undermines the American push to develop an effective central government that can maintain law and order and eventually allow the United States to withdraw.

“If we are going to conduct a population-centric strategy in Afghanistan, and we are perceived as backing thugs, then we are just undermining ourselves,” said Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the senior American military intelligence official in Afghanistan.

_{** U.S. defense bill would pay Taliban to switch sides
** Karzai's Narco-Trafficking Brother Is On CIA's Payroll ~ Newshoggers
** UN staff killed in Kabul attack
** Obama meets with Joint Chiefs on Friday over Afghanistan
** Brit bullets too small to beat high on opium Taliban militants ~ anyone seen this report?
** United Against Afghanistan Escalation}

Iraq goes nuclear with plans for new reactor programme

Iraq has started lobbying for approval to again become a nuclear player, almost 19 years after British and American war planes destroyed Saddam Hussein's last two reactors, the Guardian has learned.

The Iraqi government has approached the French nuclear industry about rebuilding at least one of the reactors that was bombed at the start of the first Gulf war. The government has also contacted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and United Nations to seek ways around resolutions that ban Iraq's re-entry into the nuclear field.

_{** ‘Occupation’ captures inner battles of war
** USDA-funded project helping revitalize Iraq’s agriculture
** Baghdad provincial Council demands resign two top security officials
** Fate of oil-rich Kirkuk stalls Iraq election law}

Please check comments for updates and related articles, previous updates after the jump

Jeremy Scahill | Alexandria, VA | October 22

The Nation - On Wednesday, a federal judge rejected a series of arguments by lawyers for the mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater seeking to dismiss five high-stakes war crimes cases brought by Iraqi victims against both the company and its owner, Erik Prince. At the same time, Judge T.S. Ellis III sent the Iraqis' lawyers back to the legal drawing board to amend and refile their cases, saying that the Iraqi plaintiffs need to provide more specific details on the alleged crimes before a final decision can be made on whether or not the lawsuits will proceed.

"We were very pleased with the ruling," says Susan Burke, the lead attorney for the Iraqis. Burke, who filed the lawsuits in cooperation with the Center for Constitutional Rights, is now preparing to re-file the suits. Blackwater's spokesperson Stacy DeLuke said, "We are confident that [the plaintiffs] will not be able to meet the high standard specified in Judge Ellis's opinion."

Washington | Oct 21

Reuters - Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens told Congress on Wednesday that U.S. energy companies are "entitled" to some of Iraq's crude because of the large number of American troops that lost their lives fighting in the country and the U.S. taxpayer money spent in Iraq.

Boone, speaking to the newly formed Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, complained that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to foreign companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq's vast reserves while American companies have mostly been shut out.

"They're opening them (oil fields) up to other companies all over the world ... We're entitled to it," Pickens said of Iraq's oil. "Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars."

President Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw U.S. troops in Iraq.

"We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil," Pickens said.

Oct 7

U.N. Data Show Discrepancies in Afghan Vote

Voter turnout data kept confidential by the United Nations' chief envoy in Kabul after Afghanistan's disputed August presidential election show that in some provinces the official vote count exceeded the estimated number of voters by 100,000 or more, providing further indication that the contest was marred by fraud.

In southern Helmand province -- where 134,804 votes were recorded, 112,873 of them for President Hamid Karzai -- the United Nations estimated that just 38,000 people voted, and possibly as few as 5,000, according to a U.N. spreadsheet obtained by The Washington Post.

The disclosure of the data seems likely to worsen a credibility crisis for the U.N. special envoy, Kai Eide, who is already facing allegations that he sided with Karzai. In the past week, two U.N. political officers in Kabul have resigned because of a lack of confidence in Eide's leadership, according to U.N. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.

The departures were triggered by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's decision last week to fire Eide's American deputy, Peter W. Galbraith, after he accused his boss of failing to provide Afghan and international officials with evidence of fraud, primarily by Karzai's supporters.

** Afghan Taliban say they pose no threat to the West

Scuffle With Security Contractors Highlights Iraqis' New Clout in Green Zone

In a dramatic illustration of shifting authority in the Green Zone, once an American preserve here, Iraqi soldiers confronted a security detail contracted by the U.S. government, detained four of the guards and beat them in a standoff last week that lasted at least two hours, according to Iraqi officials, the company and the U.S. Embassy.

The U.S. military negotiated the guards' release several hours later, the U.S. Embassy said, and the four men were flown out of Iraq, for fear that charges might be filed against them.

Please check comments for updated and new stories

US envoy removed from Afghan post

Mr Galbraith had been critical of the Afghan election commission

A senior UN official in Afghanistan has been removed from his post following a row about how to handle the country's disputed election, the BBC has learned.

Peter Galbraith had angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai by criticising the country's election commission.

Mr Galbraith, from the US, was said to have called for a complete recount.

AFP - The United States and NATO countries with forces in Afghanistan have told the government of President Hamid Karzai they believes he will be re-elected despite problems with the August 20 vote, the Washington Post reported Monday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers reached "consensus" that Karzai would probably "continue to be president" at a Friday meeting in New York with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, a US official told the newspaper.

** UN gives fraud a pass
** White House Embraces Fraudulent Win, Calls for 'Reconciliation'
** Afghan government must earn people's trust: Clinton

Turkey seeks to extend mandate to fight rebels in Iraq

Turkey's government said on Tuesday it would ask parliament to extend for one year a mandate that allows its military to attack Kurdish rebels in north Iraq.

The government's move follows pledges by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to address decades-old Kurdish grievances and find an end to the conflict with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has claimed some 40,000 lives since 1984.

previous updates after the jump, please check comments for updated and current articles

Sept 20

CIA expanding presence in Afghanistan

The CIA is deploying teams of spies, analysts and paramilitary operatives to Afghanistan, part of a broad intelligence "surge" that will make its station there among the largest in the agency's history, U.S. officials say.

When complete, the CIA's presence in the country is expected to rival the size of its massive stations in Iraq and Vietnam at the height of those wars. Precise numbers are classified, but one U.S. official said the agency already has nearly 700 employees in Afghanistan.

The influx parallels the U.S. military expansion and comes as the nation's spy services are under pressure from Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal to improve intelligence on the Taliban and find ways to reverse a series of unsettling trends.

_{Silly me, I thought the civilian surge meant more PRT's etc,.... ~ tina}

Iraq helicopter crash kills U.S. soldier

A U.S. soldier was killed and twelve others wounded when their helicopter crashed in the U.S. military's main airbase in Iraq, the military said in a statement on Sunday.

The helicopter went down over joint base Balad, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Saturday, the statement said. U.S. officials were not immediately available to comment on the suspected cause of the crash.

Afif Sarhan & Jason Burke | Baghdad | September 13

The Observer - Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

"It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up," he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

Hamizi, a computer science graduate, is at the cutting edge of a new wave of violence against gay men in Iraq. Made up of hardline extremists, Hamizi's group and others like it are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of the year alone.

Sept 8

Partial results show Karzai winning in 1st round

Partial results issued on Tuesday for last month's Afghan presidential election gave incumbent Hamid Karzai 54.1 percent of the vote, the first time he has had enough votes to win in a single round without a run-off.

The results, announced by the Independent Election Commission with 91.6 percent of polling stations tallied, gave Karzai's main rival Abdullah Abdullah 28.3 percent of the vote. The commission said it had set aside results from 600 polling stations where it suspects irregularities.

Last orders for troops arriving for daily duty with hangovers

After a Nato airstrike killed as many as 125 people last week, General Stanley McChrystal was keen to get the situation under control — fast.

When he tried to contact his underlings to find out what had happened, however, he found, to his fury, that many of them were either drunk or too hungover to respond.

Complaining in his daily Commander’s Update that too many people had been “partying it up”, General McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan (Isaf), banned alcohol at his headquarters yesterday, admonishing staff for not having “their heads in the right place” on Friday morning — a few hours after the deadly attack.

** UN-backed electoral commission finds 'clear and convincing' evidence of fraud at polling stations
** Citing Fraud, Panel Orders Partial Afghan Vote Recount
** German Lawmakers Question Involvement in Afghan Airstrike
** NGO alleges US "occupation" of Helmand clinics
** Raid on Hospital Violates International Agreements, Endangering Aid Workers, Patients and Troops ~ Derrick Crowe

US troops killed in Iraq bombings

Four US soldiers have been killed in roadside bombings in Iraq, three of them in an attack in northern Iraq and another in the capital Baghdad.

With U.S. Forces in Iraq Beginning to Leave, Need for Private Guards Grows

As the United States withdraws its combat forces from Iraq, the government is hiring more private guards to protect U.S. installations at a cost that could near $1 billion, according to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

Hannah Allam | Sept 5

McClatchy Newspapers - Add to the strange saga of the Bush administration's love-hate relationship with Iraq's Ahmad Chalabi the tale pf Ali Feisal al Lami, who once met with U.S. officials in the White House, then spent nearly a year in secret U.S. detention, accused of helping Iranian-backed militants kidnap and kill American and British soldiers and contractors. During his captivity, Lami claims to have been quizzed by Army Gen. David Petraeus, then the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Sept 4

Taliban's bombs came from US, not Iran

The roadside bombs killing and maiming Western soldiers in Afghanistan are not Iranian, as a top United States intelligence agency has claimed. The devices are crude but devastating re-adaptations of Italian anti-tank mines given to the anti-Soviet mujahideen in the 1980s by the US Central Intelligence Agency. - Gareth Porter

_{** Civilian deaths reported after NATO airstrikes kill up to 90 in Afghanistan
** Germany Says No Civilians Died in NATO Afghanistan Air Strike
** U.S. regrets civilian deaths in Afghanistan}

Security walls return to Baghdad after series of bombings

For nine months the walls that divided Baghdad had been slowly disappearing. Neighbourhoods estranged by rows of drab concrete throughout three years of civil war had been getting to know each other, while the government boasted it had reclaimed the capital's streets.

Two weeks ago a series of devastating bombs changed everything.

This week walls were again being erected across the capital in areas where they had only just been removed. The symbolism was unmistakable: foreboding landmarks of Iraq's descent into chaos were once again necessary. The security gains of the past year are starting to look like a false dawn.

Aug 17

Aug 24

U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient

American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama’s chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.

The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of American troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against American troops and their Afghan allies.

** We Must Stop Not Talking About Afghanistan ~ Meteor Blades

Maliki breaks ranks with Shiite bloc ahead of election

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday broke ranks with his ruling Shiite parliamentary bloc ahead of January's general election, paving the way for a new chapter in the country's politics.

Maliki instead aims to establish a multi-confessional coalition including tribal Sunni leaders as well as Shiite candidates to run in the nationwide poll, one of his closest aides said.

The split became clear when Iraq's leading Shiite alliance, the biggest group in parliament, announced its list of election candidates on Monday, which excluded Maliki and his allies.

** US now trains more drone operators than pilots

please check comments for more articles and updates

08/22/2009

SPIEGEL ONLINE - A memo obtained by SPIEGEL indicates that cooperation between the CIA and private security firm Blackwater was deeper than previously known. SPIEGEL has uncovered further details about a plan to set up squads for targeted killings of suspected al-Qaida leadership in Afghanistan.

Campbell Robinson | August 7

NY TImes - One day in early February, after a year and a half in various American detention centers, detainee No. 318360 was handed a letter that he was to give to his mother.

“We congratulate you on the release of your son,” read the letter, which was imprinted with the seal of the United States Department of Defense and written in Arabic. “His case has been concluded and we have made a decision that he needs to be released.”

With that, $25 in cash and a new set of civilian clothes, the detainee, Alaq Khleirallah, 27, was back out onto the streets of Baghdad. He is one of roughly 90,000 detainees who have been released from American detention centers in the past six years, a process that will end sometime next year, when the last center is to be transferred to Iraqi control. Almost 10,000 detainees remain in American custody.

Extensively used in military, industrial and construction products throughout the 20th century, asbestos was the ideal insulation choice for manufacturers due to its flame resistant and highly durable qualities. Many countries ordered the use of asbestos in many, if not all of its military sectors, including the Navy.



Asbestos-laden materials were utilized in almost every vessel built prior to World War II. Shipyard workers, sailors and tradesman aboard these ships were wrongfully exposed aboard navigation rooms, sleeping quarters and mess halls.

These shipyards were vital in efforts to build and repair ships on the west and east coasts of the country. The military also used asbestos as insulation aircraft, vehicles and buildings.



The danger for asbestos exposure is still present today with over $194,000 worth of asbestos imported to Iraq in 2003. Aside from daily threats from military assignments and enemy fire,

Soldiers stationed in Iraq based in the country are at risk because intense desert winds can carry asbestos dust many miles.

Aug 10

Aug 10

U.S. to Hunt Down Afghan Drug Lords Tied to Taliban

U.S. commanders say the addition of drug traffickers to a “kill or capture” list is legal and an essential part of their new plan to disrupt the flow of drug money to the Taliban.

** Cordesman: Another 45,000 US troops needed in Afghanistan
** Afghanistan Security Threats Loom Over Election, UN Says
** 15 Casualties Reported Over 14 Days in Afghanistan and Iraq

Taliban Now Winning :

"It's a very aggressive enemy right now," Gen. McChrystal said..l."We've got to stop their momentum, stop their initiative. It's hard work."

Bombs in Baghdad and northern Iraq kill 41

Vehicle bombs in Baghdad and northern Iraq killed 41 people on Monday, police said, the latest of several major attacks since U.S. troops withdrew from towns and cities in June.

Two truck bombs killed 25 people and wounded 75 near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police said. Last week, a suicide car bomber killed 38 people as they left a Shi'ite Muslim mosque just outside Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

The truck bombs flattened some 30 homes in the predominantly Shi'ite village of Khazna, 20 km (12 miles) north of Mosul.

** 51 US soldiers in Iraq diagnosed with ‘H1N1’
** Party's over in Green Zone

Tim Reid | Washington, DC | August 6

Times of London - A series of allegations including murder, weapons smuggling and the deliberate slaughter of civilians have been levelled against the founder of Blackwater, the security company being investigated for shooting deaths in Iraq.

The accusations, including a claim that the company founder Erik Prince either murdered or had killed former employees co-operating with federal investigators, are contained in sworn affidavits lodged at a Virginia court on Monday night.

The company was the most prominent of an army of private security companies employed by the Pentagon and State Department to protect military convoys and guard US diplomats in Iraq.

one of those topics that was easy to make statements about during election but in reality harder to accomplish

The top U.S. general in Iraq said Tuesday that he disagrees with a colonel's memo urging an early troop withdrawal

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090804/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

Various

Aug 3
More U.S. Soldiers This Year Have Died of Suicide than in Combat

AllGov/Noel - Suicide has become the biggest killer in the U.S. military, surpassing combat-related deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. So far in 2009 there have been 129 reported suicides by active duty soldiers and reservists, which is more than the number killed-in-action during the same period in both conflicts. In 2008, the total of self-inflicted deaths was 192, which was twice as many as in 2003, when the war began.

The New York Times reports that suicides are a problem not only for combat troops but those supporting frontline operations.

** Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq - Monday 3 August 2009
** U.S. Pilot’s Remains Found in Iraq After 18 Years

Al Qaeda's Zawahri says wipe Israel from the map

Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said Israel should be wiped off the map and described the Jewish state as a crime against Muslims.

Zawahri also accused U.S. President Barack Obama of conducting a policy on Israeli-Palestinian issues that was bound to end in failure for the Palestinians, and said Obama wanted a Palestinian state that would serve as "an extension of the CIA."

** "Shiny phones, handsome boys" out, Taliban warn Afghans
** Pre-election bombing kills 12: Afghan police
** 6 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan
** UK in Afghanistan for decades, says our man in Washington

Please post new stories and comments about the coalition's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on this thread.

Washington | Aug 2

AFP - The remains of a US navy pilot shot down over Iraq during the first Gulf War and whose fate had been a mystery for years have been identified, the Pentagon said Sunday.

The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) "has positively identified remains recovered in Iraq as those of Captain Michael Scott Speicher," the Department of Defense said.

Speicher's F/A-18 Hornet was shot down over west-central Iraq on January 17th, 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.

His fate was a mystery for years, with some believing that the pilot was being held prisoner by then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Acting on a tip from local Iraqis, US Marines stationed in the western Iraqi province of Al-Anbar in July recovered human remains from a desert grave and flew them to the United States for identification.

Patrick Cockburn | Sulaimaniyah | July 27

The Independent - The surprisingly strong showing by a reformist party in Kurdistan elections is shaking the power structure in what has long been the most stable part of Iraq.

The "Goran" party – which translates as "change" – did particularly well in Sulaimaniyah, in eastern Kurdistan. This region has long been the stronghold of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. The electoral setback to his party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), is reported to be so severe he is considering resignation, according to al-Sharqiya, a television news channel.

The outcome of the election is being closely monitored by the Baghdad government for signs the normally well-organised and united Kurdish bloc is beginning to split.

This would be important given growing hostility between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) which is threatening to lead to armed conflict between Arabs and Kurds over disputed territories, including Kirkuk and its oilfields.

Irbil, Iraq | July 25

Al Jazeera - Iraq's Kurds are voting in presidential and parliamentary elections, amid tensions between the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the country's north and the central government in Baghdad.

About 2.5 million Kurds are eligible to vote in the dual elections taking place across Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday, a full six months after the rest of the country held provincial elections.

July 17

Three U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq

Three American soldiers in Iraq were killed Thursday evening when three rockets or mortar shells hit their base outside the southern city of Basra, the U.S. military said today.

They were the first American casualties since the military completed the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraqi cities June 30 and the attack was in an area considered one of the country's calmest.

_{** In Baghdad, the poor have no choice but to beg
** Iraq vows to shield oil firms from union threats
** Open for inspection: Saddam's homes
** US diplomacy leaves Kurds adrift
** Iraq-Kurd impasse seen to threaten unrest}

Michael Schwartz @ Asia Times has an interesting read on the US activity in Iraq.

The US Embassy in Iraq, built by the Bush administration to the tune of $740 million, is by far the largest in the world. It is now populated by more than 1,000 administrators, technicians, and professionals - diplomatic, military, intelligence, and otherwise - though all are regularly, if euphemistically, referred to as "diplomats" in official statements and in the media. This level of staffing - 1,000 administrators for a country of perhaps 30 million - is well above the classic norm for imperial control. Back in the early 20th century, for instance, Great Britain utilized fewer officials to rule a population of 300 million in its Indian Raj.

Gina Chon | Baghdad | July 10

WSJ - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki struck a conciliatory tone ahead of his trip to Washington, talking about his gratitude for U.S. sacrifices in Iraq, and offering to negotiate a settlement between Iraq's federal government and the country's Kurdish enclave as tensions heighten between the two.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal as he prepared for a visit to the U.S. on July 21, Mr. Maliki said he planned to thank America for its shared sacrifice with the Iraqi people in the tumultuous post-Saddam Hussein years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

"We have [achieved] a combined victory against terrorism, and there have been sacrifices from both sides that brought fruitful results and democracy to Iraq," Mr. Maliki said.