Democracy on the march in Iraq

Yes sir, every day things just get better and better!

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/2008/04/news-of-day-for-sunday-april-6-2008.html

Sunday, April 6, 2008

News of the Day for Sunday, April 6, 2008

PHOTO: Shiite children in a school that their families occupied after

leaving their homes due to the ongoing raids by US and Iraqi forces

into Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City. Fierce clashes between

Shiite gunmen and US forces in the Iraqi capital's Sadr City district

have killed at least 20 people amid calls from Iraqi leaders for all

militias to be disbanded. (AFP/File/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

Iraqi hospital officials report receiving 20 bodies of people killed

in fighting between U.S. forces and local fighters in Sadr City.

According to Xinhua, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source gives the death

toll as 22. Xinhua reports the clashes started around midnight when

U.S. forces entered the district. According to one source, the

fighting began when an Iraqi humvee was destroyed by a bomb. Xinhua

also reports that Abdul-Latif Raiyan, a U.S. spokesman, says an

American helicopter attacked a "militia position" in Sadr City,

killing nine; and that a mortar attack on an Iraqi police station

wounded two people and damaged several vehicles. AFP says that the

casualty total includes 52 wounded, and that women and children are

among the casualties. (Not clear whether that includes deaths.)

According to hospital officials, most of the dead and injured had

gunshot wounds. AFP also reports a second U.S. missile strike on Sadr

City, but the U.S. has not confirmed it. According to Aswat al-Iraq,

Raiyan said that, apart from the helicopter strike, "We have no

reports of clashes with members of the Madhi Army in Sadr City at this

time." (Maybe he should read the papers. -- C)

McClatchy provides more precise information about some of these

incidents. Bomb attack on Iraqi army patrol that destroyed the Humvee

occurred at approx. 6:00 am at "55 intersection." Armed clashes that

produced majority of casualties occurred at 55 intersection and Falah

street. Mortar attack was on special tasks directorate of the Ministry

of the Interior at 9:00 am.

Roadside bomb attack on Iraqi army patrol in Zayouna, east Baghdad,

injures three soldiers.

Mortar attack near Air Force Club on Palestine Street kills one

civilian, injures three.

Police find seven bodies dumped on Saturday. Note: This number has

generally been up a bit lately. -- C

Balad

Seven electrical workers who were repairing damaged powerlines are

kidnapped. Reports that some have been released, the fate of others is

unknown.

Mosul

Gunmen ambush buses carrying college students, kidnap 42 of them, then

release them. According to Brig. Gen. Khalif Abdul-Sattar, they

released the students "after making sure they were not members of the

security forces." It appears that the attack was done in error. They

evidently attacked the wrong buses. -- C

Hilla

Sadrist cultural center set ablaze by unknown attackers.

Muqdadiya

Police and Sahwa ("Awakening Council" patrols) find 9 bodies in Al-

Zour village.

Near Baquba

Roadside bomb targets a police patrol. No information on casualties.

Samarra

Seven Sahwa members killed in clashes with "al Qaeda" militants.

Bomb attack on house of Sahwa member causes damage, but no casualties.

Kirkuk

Body of a woman with gunshot wounds is found.

Unspecified locations

Iraqi army claims to have killed 17 people, captured 52 others in

various places in the past 24 hours. Here's a thought experiment:

suppose the U.S. army made a similar boast about operations within the

United States every day. How would that make you feel? -- C

Other News of the Day

U.S. Institute of Peace, which earlier convened the Iraq Study Group,

issues new report on "progress" in Iraq. For those with short

memories, the ISG was the so-called Baker-Hamilton Commission which

attempted to give the administration cover to start a partial withdraw

from Iraq, but got us The Surge instead. This report will undoubtedly

be largely ignored by the U.S. media, since it doesn't conform to the

prevailing narrative. I present it here without further comment. -- C.

Excerpt:

A NEW assessment of US policy in Iraq by the experts who advised

the original Iraq Study Group concludes that political progress is "so

slow, halting and superficial" and political fragmentation so

pronounced that the US is no closer to being able to leave Iraq than

it was a year ago.

The experts were reassembled by the US Institute of Peace, which

had also convened the congressionally mandated Iraq Study Group, a

high-level panel that advised on US policy in Iraq in 2006.

The assessment predicts that lasting political development could

take five to 10 years of "full, unconditional commitment" to Iraq, but

also cautions that future progress may not be worth the "massive"

human and financial costs to the US.

Some favourable developments in Iraq come from factors "that are

outside US control" and are susceptible to rapid change, the report

says, including the ceasefire by the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and

the new Sunni "awakening" councils made up of former insurgents and

tribal leaders opposed to the government of the Prime Minister, Nouri

al-Maliki.

Kurdish president Massoud Barzani offers Kurdish troops to help Iraqi

government fight the Mahdi Army, while Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq

al-Hashemi signs off on a joint statement with Jalal Talabani backing

the crackdown on the Sadrist forces. (Note: This is supposed to be

good news. You can decide that for yourselves. -- C) Excerpt:

BAGHDAD (AP) - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's faltering

crackdown on Shiite militants has won the backing of Sunni Arab and

Kurdish parties that fear both the powerful sectarian militias and the

effects of failure on Iraq's fragile government. The emergence of a

common cause could help bridge Iraq's political rifts.

The head of the Kurdish self-ruled region, Massoud Barzani, has

offered Kurdish troops to help fight anti-American cleric Muqtada al-

Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.

More significantly, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi

signed off on a statement by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and the

Shiite vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, expressing support for the

crackdown in the oil-rich southern city of Basra.

Al-Hashemi is one of al-Maliki's most bitter critics and the two

have been locked in an acrimonious public quarrel for a year. Al-

Hashemi has accused the prime minister of sectarian favoritism and al-

Maliki has complained that the Sunni vice president is blocking key

legislation.

On Thursday, however, al-Maliki paid al-Hashemi a rare visit. A

statement by al-Hashemi's office said the vice president told al-

Maliki that "we can bite the bullet and put aside our political

differences."

Department of Res Ipsa Loquitur:

Baghdad, Apr 6, (VOI) - An official security spokesman said on

Sunday that some armed organizations try to wield power over areas in

Iraq, adding the Iraqi government is still continuing its military

operations to impose law and order.

"Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has reiterated the need to

continue military operations by government forces to impose law and

order, and that this security campaign did not target any certain

political bloc," Sheikh Tahseen al-Shikhli, the civil spokesman for

Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (law imposing), said in a press conference

on Sunday.

"The government would fight all groups carrying arms and causing

unrest and fomenting violence on the Iraqi streets," said Shikhli in

his first press conference after he was freed from his kidnappers.

Asked on the government's performance to provide services to the

citizens, Shikhli replied that the government "has failed to offer

services, particularly in the impoverished areas inhabited by

followers of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, which caused some

terrorists to foment sedition amongst the Sadrists and tamper with

security."

Quote of the Day

Now, ask yourself: Why has the U.S. government been occupying Iraq

for the past 5 years? Didn't they already "get" Saddam? Hasn't he

already been executed?

The answer is that U.S. officials, having "gotten" Saddam, must

now "get" the "bad guys" in Iraq. And who are the "bad guys?" They're

the Iraqis who are angry over the killing of Iraqis, including women

and children, who had to be killed in the process of "getting Saddam."

As they continue to bomb all these "bad guys," they continue to

kill more innocents, including more Iraqi children and their families,

which then incites more fury, which then causes more "bad guys" to

join the insurgency. Those additional "bad guys" are then used as the

excuse to continue the occupation of Iraq, an occupation that for

obvious reasons will go on indefinitely.