REPORT CONCLUDES US PROPAGANDA IN IRAQ NOT AGAINST REGULATIONS - BUT NOT EFFECTIVE, EITHER ECCENTRIC STAR (MAY 29)
http://eccentricstar.typepad.com/public_di...t_conclude.html

GIANT U.S. EMBASSY PROJECT DISMAYS IRAQIS - LIZ SLY (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, MAY 29): The new U.S. Embassy in Iraq, to be the biggest embassy in the world, also is the biggest construction project under way in battered Baghdad, where the only other cranes rising from the skyline belong to Saddam Hussein's abandoned project to build the world's biggest mosque.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...nationworld-hed

BAGHDAD NUMB TO REPORTS OF MASSACRE - ELLEN KNICKMEYER AND OMAR FEKEIKI (WASHINGTON POST, MAY 29): After three years of war that has been fought in their streets and claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, people in Baghdad could spare little more than subdued expressions of sympathy Sunday after hearing reports of a U.S. Marine massacre of 24 men, women and children in a faraway western town.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6052800766.html

2 CBS CREW MEMBERS KILLED IN IRAQ BOMBING - KRISTA LARSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS (CBS NEWS, MAY 29)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/29/...D8HTJPP80.shtml

IRAQ IS THE REPUBLIC OF FEAR - NIR ROSEN (WASHINGTON POST, MAY 28): Every morning the streets of Baghdad are littered with dozens of bodies, bruised, torn, mutilated, executed only because they are Sunni or because they are Shiite. Power drills are an especially popular torture device.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6052601578.html

IRAQIS FLEE AS KILLINGS INCREASE: SECTARIAN VIOLENCE TRIGGERS EXODUS - ANNA BADKHEN (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, MAY 29)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNG17J42S21.DTL

US MILITARY SEES BAGHDAD POLICE TAKING CHARGE THIS YEAR - MICHAEL GEORGY AND FREDRIK DAHL, REUTERS (WASHINGTON POST, MAY 27)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6052700544.html

SECULAR IRAQIS UNIMPRESSED BY NEW GOVERNMENT - AARON GLANTZ (ANTIWAR.COM, MAY 27)
http://www.antiwar.com/glantz/?articleid=9050

THE PRICE OF IRAQ EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 28): In Iraq It's time for Mr. Bush either to chart a course that can actually be followed, or admit that there is none.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/opinion/28sun1.html

IRAQ'S UNCERTAIN PROGRESS: A CONSTITUTIONAL, DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IS IN PLACE, BUT THE BLOODSHED ONLY GROWS WORSE EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, MAY 28)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6052700849.html

AS IRAQ TURNS, MILES OF MILESTONES OUTLOOK (WASHINGTON POST, MAY 28): President Bush declared last week that the formation of a new cabinet in Iraq marked a "turning point" and a "watershed event" -- the latest of many he has detected in the last three years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6052601710.html

IRAQ: AMERICA'S TROOPS HAVE MOVED ON - OWEN WEST (INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, MAY 28): The deterioration of American support for the mission in Iraq is indicative not so much of U.S. military conduct there, where real gains are coming slowly but steadily, but of chaotic leadership.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/28/opinion/edwest.php

THE BUCK STOPS WITH BUSH, NOT RUMSFELD: TRUMAN SACKED MACARTHUR. CLINTON FIRED ASPIN. IT'S UP TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESS TO MAKE HEADS ROLL OVER MISTAKES IN IRAQ - RAHM EMANUEL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MAY 29) (Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.)
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/o...1,1828470.story

IRAQ: TIME TO TALK ABOUT DISENGAGEMENT: EVEN WITHOUT A DEADLINE, BUSH SHOULD START TO THINK ABOUT LEAVING IRAQ ? EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, MAY 28)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials

DON'T BECOME THEM - MAUREEN DOWD (NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 27): By ignoring predictions of an insurgency and refusing to do homework before charging into Iraq on trumped-up pretenses, Bush left our troops undermanned, inadequately armored and psychologically unprepared.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/05/27/opini...fMaureen%20Dowd
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CONSIDER THE LIVING - BOB HERBERT (NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 29): Pretty soon this war in Iraq will have lasted as long as our involvement in World War II, with absolutely no evidence of any sort of conclusion in sight.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/05/29/opinion/29herbert.html
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LET YOUR ENEMIES CRUMBLE: THE U.S. FORGOT THE LESSONS OF THE COLD WAR WHEN IT CAME TO IRAQ - PETER BEINART (TIME, MAY 28): ?It was that deeper argument for containment that war supporters like me neglected in the debate over Iraq.?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...1198924,00.html

WHO DIDN'T THINK IRAQ HAD WMD - LARRY ELDER (WASHINGTON TIMES, MAY 28)
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/200605...11534-1451r.htm

54 killed in Iraq violence :

The worst bombing hit the market as Iraqis were doing their evening shopping in Husseiniyah, 95km south of Baghdad. At least 25 people were killed.
http://tinyurl.com/ofsg3

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U.S. Increases Number Of Troops In Iraq:

The top American commander in Iraq has decided to move reserve troops now deployed in Kuwait into the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq to help quell a surge in insurgents attacks
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctime...ws/14697487.htm

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Iraq PM impatient with US troops killing civilians:

Iraq's prime minister said on Tuesday his patience was wearing thin with excuses from U.S. troops that they kill civilians by "mistake" and said he would launch an investigation into killings at Haditha last year.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13430.htm

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Haditha Massacre:

Was it an Isolated Event and Did the Military Try to Cover it up?

Must listen : Audio and transcript
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13434.htm

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New details found in deaths of Iraqis:

Investigators say they have found drone video from the same day when Marines allegedly killed civilians after bombing
http://tinyurl.com/oacv9

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Marines Haunted By Killings In Haditha:

Two Marines were severely traumatized after following orders to photograph corpses of unarmed Iraqi civilians whom members of their unit are suspected of killing, their families said Monday.
http://tinyurl.com/ne7ph

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Video: Murtha: Military Still Trying to Spin Haditha Massacre :

Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha appeared on CNN America Morning where he expressed outraged at military's handling of the massacre of innocent Iraq's by Marines in Haditha, Iraq.
http://tinyurl.com/oqr9x

Iraq is the republic of fear, once again. If the religious militias don't get you, the resistance will, or the terrorists will, or the criminal gangs will, or the Americans will.

Every morning the streets of Baghdad are littered with dozens of bodies, bruised, torn, mutilated, executed only because they are Sunni or because they are Shiite. Power drills are an especially popular torture device.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

US to publish Iraq deaths probe BBC News
The US government has promised to make public all the details of inquiries into the alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians by US marines last November. Washington made the pledge following claims that the killings of 24 people in the town of Haditha were covered up. A White House spokesman said President George W Bush was concerned by the reports, but wanted the military to complete their inquiries first. The Iraqi prime minister said earlier Baghdad would investigate the claims. Nouri Maliki told Reuters news agency there was "a limit to the acceptable excuses" for civilian casualties. The Pentagon is close to ending its two separate inquiries into the killings and the cover-up in Haditha, initially attributed to a clash with militants.According to initial US military reports, 15 civilians and eight insurgents died after a bomb killed a marine in Haditha, a militant stronghold in Anbar Province. But the army now says it is investigating a total of 24 deaths. Observers say the incident on 19 November could deal a more serious blow to US standing than the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. A member of the Iraqi parliament and former foreign minister, Adnan Pachachi, says Iraqis were stunned by the allegations. "I think it has created a feeling of great shock and sadness and I believe that if what is alleged is true - and I have no reason to believe it's not - then I think something very drastic has to be done," he told the BBC's World Today programme. "There must be a level of discipline imposed on the American troops and change of mentality which seems to think that Iraqi lives are expendable."

Marines 'co-operating'
White House spokesman Tony Snow said he had been assured by the Pentagon that "all the details" of the inquiries would be made public. "We'll have a picture of what happened," Mr Snow said. He said President Bush was "allowing the chain of command to do what it's supposed to do in the Department of Defense, which is to complete" their inquiries. "The marines are taking an active and aggressive role in this." The spokesman added that Mr Bush did not hear about the incident until earlier this year when a reporter began asking questions about it, leading officials to brief him. John Murtha, a Democratic Congressman and former marine, has said he had been briefed by military officials and believes the civilians were murdered and the incident was covered up. The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says enough material has now been leaked to the US media about the Haditha incident to suggest to many Americans that allegations of a massacre are very serious and may well be true.

'Cold blood'
US investigators are looking at both the actual events in Haditha and the alleged cover-up by troops. The military said at the time that the civilians were killed as a result of either the bomb or a gun battle which erupted afterwards, in which the militants were reportedly killed. But reports from Iraqi witnesses and in the US media allege that marines went on a rampage.

November 2005: Initial US military report

• One US marine killed in roadside bomb, two injured
• Explosion also kills 15 Iraqi civilians
• Eight insurgents killed in fire-fight following blast

January 2006: US military preliminary investigation

• One US marine killed in roadside bomb, two injured
• Fifteen civilians accidentally killed by US fire amid battle with insurgents

March 2006: US military begins criminal investigation
Secrecy over civilian deaths
Safa Younis, a 12-year-old girl who survived the attack, said US soldiers banged on the door of her house, shot dead her father and threw a hand grenade into the bathroom. "The Americans carried on shooting. I pretended I was dead and they didn't realise," she said, according to testimony obtained by Iraq's Hammurabi Human Rights group. According to the Wall St Journal, there is evidence that marines killed civilians, including women and children, without provocation. Several marines are likely to be charged with murder and others with attempting to cover up the incident, the newspaper said, quoting civilian and military officials close to the investigations. One of the marines in Haditha that day, Lance Cpl Roel Ryan Briones of Hanford, California, told the Los Angeles Times he had taken photos and carried bodies out of homes as part of a clean-up crew: "They ranged from little babies to adult males and females. I'll never be able to get that out of my head. I can still smell the blood."

Iraq PM in Basra on peace mission BBC News
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has arrived in the main southern city of Basra to try to halt in-fighting between his fellow Shias. He was greeted by political leaders, tribal sheikhs and security officials. A Shia faction has threatened to halt oil exports through Basra to exert leverage over the Iraqi government. Mr Maliki has said he is ready to use force against "criminal gangs" who hold crucial oil exports and other trade to ransom in Basra, "the gateway to Iraq".The BBC's Andrew North in Baghdad says that security has been deteriorating in Basra for some time. Much of the unrest is down to a power struggle between rival Shia factions, partly aimed at securing more independence from the central government. Mr Maliki is keen to demonstrate he is taking charge, our correspondent says.

Tackling the carnage
Criminal gangs are also part of the security problem in Basra, blamed for a wave of kidnappings and murders. Speaking to Reuters news agency before arriving in Basra, Mr Maliki warned that the authorities were ready to "use force against these gangs". Colonel David Cullen, chief of staff at the multi-national military headquarters in Basra, told the BBC's Today programme that security in the city had "slipped" because his forces' attention was spread across the whole of southern Iraq. "The south is much larger than Basra, there are four provinces here, there is peace, stability, developing prosperity and increasing sovereignty in the other three provinces. "Basra has slipped behind almost certainly as a result of that disengagement, so the second piece now is that we focus on Basra to make the very most of re-engagement, and build upon the trust that has been developed between us and the security forces in particular... " The prime minister's trip follows another day of violence in Iraq which claimed more than 50 lives. But in an interview with the BBC, Mr Maliki insisted he had a better chance of tackling the daily carnage in Iraq than his predecessors because he was head of the country's first permanent administration since the US-led invasion. "Previous governments were either temporary or transitional. They did not receive full backing from the Iraqi people to deal with this issue," he said. Mr Maliki's government - which includes members of the main Shia Muslim, Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties - was approved by parliament earlier in May, after five months of negotiations following December's general elections.

http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=33583



Pressure Mounts In Washington For Talks With Iran
BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 31, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/33583

WASHINGTON - Pressure is mounting within the Bush administration to begin talks directly with Iran to convince the country to end its enrichment of nuclear fuel.

Facing a deadlock, envoys from America, China, France, Russia, and Britain are scheduled to meet again tomorrow to negotiate a unanimous resolution on Iran at the U.N. Security Council. Nonetheless, American diplomats are not optimistic that the aggressive sanctions contained in a European and American draft resolution will be agreed to by Russia or China - two countries that have enjoyed a robust trade in arms with Iran since the end of the Cold War.

Behind the scenes, two Bush administration officials say British, French, and German diplomats are quietly urging America to pursue direct talks with Iran to avoid a standoff at Turtle Bay. The man carrying this message to the White House and Foggy Bottom is the current no. 3 official at the State Department, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, whose private assessment of the negotiations among the great powers on Iran is that a unanimous resolution is near impossible.

The potential for the Bush administration to engage Iran now, after the country broke its pledges on uranium enrichment, could dampen enthusiasm among its opposition. In the last eight days, ethnic Azeris, who make up a quarter of Iran's population, have flooded Tabriz and other cities to protest a cartoon in a state-run newspaper depicting their ethnic group as cockroaches. And Iran's students have led demonstrations and in some cases clashes at major universities over new policies in the schools on firing professors and expelling students. The protests on campuses are estimated to be the largest since July 2003.

The State Department has begun publicly dialing back expectations for tomorrow's meeting in Vienna. A State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said yesterday that the ultimate resolution at the Security Council could entail phases of sanctions against Iran, depending the country's actions.

Mr. McCormack added, "Separate from that, you know, throughout this process, even if you are proceeding down the Security Council route ... you can still keep outside of that particular mechanism, individual states, like-minded states getting together to work on various financial measures that might be taken so that the Iranian regime can't exploit the international financial system for, you know, funding terrorism or for funding its weapons - illicit weapons of mass destruction programs."

One State Department official was careful to say Mr. Burns has not formally endorsed direct talks within the administration. But nonetheless, his assessment of the prospect for a resolution with teeth - one that would be supported and enforced by the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council - was pessimistic.

"Nicholas is the primary person looking at this. He is saying, 'It doesn't look good in the Security Council,'" the official, who asked not to be identified, said. "His primary message, however, is that we don't have a good chance for the resolution. He has not survived this long by raising both the problem and the solution, if the solution is not one the principals want to embrace." However, the official added that Mr. Burns also has conveyed the private message from European foreign ministries that America should at least be open to direct talks on the nuclear issue.

America has held discussions on and off with Iran since the inception of the Islamic Republic. In the 1980s, Reagan administration officials brokered a deal whereby Israel sold missiles to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages captured by Hezbollah in Lebanon. More recently, Iranian diplomats have met with America's ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, since 2001, when he first brought Iran into the rebuilding of Afghanistan at a conference in Bonn, Germany. In 2003, Mr. Khalilzad discussed with Iran an exchange of Al Qaeda terrorists for members of the People's Mujahadin captured by American soldiers in Iraq. That plan went nowhere, though Senator Kerry, a Democrat of Massachusetts, endorsed it when he was running for president in 2004.

Direct talks now with Iran could end up demoralizing Iran's opposition, which in recent months has begun to organize in various sectors - from a strike of bus drivers in Tehran to more recent campus unrest.

One of the steering committee members of the Tehran Polytechnic University chapter of Iran's largest student organization, Abbas Hakim Zadeh, said last week that his organization, known as Takhim Vahdat, would endorse direct talks between America and Iran if the topic of negotiation was human rights and political prisoners. "However," he said, "if the idea is for Iran to get security guarantees embedded in it that the regime can suppress the human rights and the will of the people, that is something the Iranian student movement, the Iranian labor movement, and the Iranian women's rights groups reject firmly and totally."

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060530/D8HUBU580.html




Iran Says It Wants to Resume Negotiations


May 30, 5:53 PM (ET)

By SEAN YOONG

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) - Iran's foreign minister said Tuesday that Tehran is ready to restart negotiations with the European Union on its nuclear program, but he ruled out direct talks with the United States.

"I announce that Iran is ready to respond positively to the call" made by the Nonaligned Movement "for resuming the negotiations on Iran's nuclear issue without any preconditions," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

"Accordingly, I would announce our readiness to restart immediately the negotiations with the EU Three to resolve the issues," he said, referring to Britain, France and Germany.

The announcement raised hopes that Iran would react positively to a planned package of incentives meant to convince it to abandon uranium enrichment. The package has been put together by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany.



The package was to be presented to Tehran by France, Britain and Germany - the nations that broke off talks with Iran in August 2005 after it resumed activities linked to uranium enrichment.

The process can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for an atomic bomb, depending on the level of enrichment.

The Security Council gave Iran until the end of April to suspend all enrichment activities. But Iran announced last month it had for the first time successfully enriched uranium and was doing research on advanced centrifuges to produce more of the material in less time.

If Iran remains defiant and refuses to give up uranium enrichment, it could open the way for sanctions.

Mottaki said there was no question of direct talks with the United States, which accuses Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is merely to generate electricity.

"The level of enrichment is enrichment for peaceful purposes," said Mottaki, who was in Malaysia to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Nonaligned Movement that ended Tuesday. "I mean the level which makes us able to produce fuel for our nuclear power plants. It means we are not going to the level of enrichment for other purposes, including military purposes."

A meeting of the European foreign ministers, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was set for Thursday in Vienna, said the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were disclosing confidential information.

Indirectly linked to any possible deal for Iran would be agreement on a resolution tough enough for Washington but acceptable to Tehran ally Moscow, a dispute that has hobbled action by the Security Council's permanent members for months.

If Iran remains defiant, the proposal - as outlined to AP by diplomats familiar with the text - calls for a resolution imposing sanctions under Chapter 7, Article 41 of the U.N. Charter. But it avoids any reference to Article 42, which is the trigger for possible military action to enforce any such resolution.

The proposal also calls for new consultations among the five permanent Security Council members on any further steps against Iran - a move meant to dispel complaints by the Russians and Chinese that, once the screws on Iran are tightened, the council would automatically move toward military involvement.

Among the possible sanctions are a visa ban on government officials, the freezing of assets, blocking financial transactions by government figures and those involved in the country's nuclear program, an arms embargo and a blockade on the shipping of refined oil products to Iran.

If Tehran agrees to suspend enrichment, enter new negotiations on its nuclear program and lift a ban on intrusive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, rewards would include agreement to "suspend discussion of Iran's file at the Security Council," as well as help in building a peaceful domestic nuclear program that uses an outside supply of enriched uranium.

Iraq's Premier Seeks to Control a City in Chaos New York Times
Iraq's new prime minister made an urgent visit to this increasingly lawless city on Wednesday, imposing a state of emergency and ordering leaders to cease their violent struggle for power and allow order to return to this oil-rich region. Once seemingly immune to the violence that has plagued the rest of the country, Basra Province, the heart of Iraq's Shiite south, has sunk into chaos. Shiite political parties and their militias are fighting to control the provincial government and the region's oil wealth, contributing to some of the worst rates of killing since the invasion, with 174 killings in the past two months — double the amount from the previous two months, according to the Basra police. Trying to stamp his authority on the region, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki arrived here in an American helicopter with Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president and three other senior Iraqi officials, and he berated local leaders for the chaos. He ordered the Iraqi Army to take over Basra's streets — a demand that apparently came as a surprise to the British Army, which patrols the region, and that could prove difficult, as units would have to be brought from outside the city. "I declare strongly and frankly that we will strike with an iron fist on all gangs that are manipulating security," Mr. Maliki said, addressing an auditorium crowded with political and tribal leaders and other Basra locals. "Security comes first, second and third." It is the first serious test of Mr. Maliki's authority since he became prime minister last month and pledged to deal decisively with political militias and criminal gangs whose growing power is now threatening the existence of the Iraqi state. The surge in violence has posed new difficulties for the British military, which has adopted more strenuous policing measures to contain it. In two operations on Sunday, the British detained a total of 10 people and reported a large find of bomb materials. "In our view, we need to do more, and that's what we're doing," Brig. James Everard, the commander of forces in Iraq's four southeastern provinces, said in an interview. In May, nine British soldiers were killed, the second-deadliest month for the British since the invasion, exceeded only in January 2005 when the crash of a British military plane killed 10 soldiers. Mr. Maliki spoke directly to the increased violence, using blunt language and a firm and measured tone. "What are these assassinations?" he asked. "What is this killing? What are the gangs that kill and kidnap? What is going on in this city, which sacrificed so much through history?" To a large degree, the violence has resulted from a power grab by Shiite factions left practically on their own to run the region and impose their own version of democracy while American and Iraqi officials in Baghdad have fought insurgents elsewhere. "Freedom of speech, freedom of expression: it just hasn't quite worked out the way it was planned," Brigadier Everard said. "They're not prepared to debate. They tend to do things at the end of a gun." In a city that welcomed the American invasion, threats against Iraqis working for the American Embassy are now so widespread that they have not picked up its trash or pumped its sewers for three weeks. One large prize is control of Basra's oil exports. The city is near the country's only seaport, and nearly all of Iraq's current exports flow through it. Political parties accuse one another of skimming from the flow and trying to control it. "As long as we have parties, it's impossible to ensure security," said one of Basra's senior security officials. "If you print this," the official added nervously, explaining why he wanted his name withheld, "I'll be killed." One of the ways the parties have wielded influence is through control of portions of this city's 15,000-man police force, which is about double it's the authorized size. Rival parties and gangs fight one another through their own police units. The police chief, Maj. Gen. Hassan Swadi al-Saad, has said he trusts only a small fraction of his forces. Mr. Maliki used the trip, his first as prime minister, as a warning to local leaders who have used the months that Baghdad was busy assembling a government to build their own fiefs and profit from their positions. He specifically referred to the impotence of the police force, and directly rebuked political leaders for manipulating it. "What worries us and hurts the heart of Iraq is that these apparatuses are practically helpless," he said. "It is impermissible to have a scared or disturbed military or police officer because of political interferences." A plain model of Toyota, known by the people of Basra as Batta, Arabic for duck, has been used in so many assassinations that it has become synonymous with killing. "Why can't we control this Batta?" said Wathib al-Amood, a member of the provincial council. "We are walking in the dark on a spiked floor." At the heart of the struggle in Basra are political parties and a web of allegiances that is baffling to outsiders. The governor, Muhammad al-Waeli, belongs to the Fadhila Party, a religious Shiite party, which controls the most seats in the provincial council. A bloc led by the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or Sciri, detests Mr. Waeli and wants to remove him, but has failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed to do so. The struggle has raised questions about the balance of power between Baghdad and the provinces. A law drawn up under the former American administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, and that is still in effect gives the provinces full control over their police forces and their local governments, virtually cutting Baghdad out of the process — a fact that Mr. Waeli's supporters are quick to point out. Aqil Taleb, a council member from the Fadhila Party, said that because of the law, removing Mr. Waeli would be difficult. "They can't get the votes they need," he said, adding, "Even Maliki can't change the governor without them." The meeting with Mr. Maliki on Wednesday was attended by about 400 Basra citizens, including the governor, who arrived late, and the police chief, whom he has tried to fire. The officials from Baghdad included Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab; Khalid al-Atiya, the deputy speaker of Parliament; Bahaa al-Aaraji, a Parliament member close to the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, whose influence and militia in Basra are strong; and Safa al-Safi, the minister of state for Parliament affairs. Mr. Maliki's political acumen was tested immediately. An hour after the meeting began, the discussion descended into a shouting match, with tribal sheiks hurling insults at the chairman of the provincial council, Muhammed Sadoon al-Abadi. Mr. Abadi, of Fadhila, said local leaders had done the best they could with few resources and blamed the news media for painting too ghoulish a security picture. "Don't put all the blame or all the mistakes or all the collapse on the local government here," he said. Shortly after that, tribal sheiks began to shout from a few rows back. "Liar!" one yelled. "None of this is true. You are a liar." When organizers proposed that participants break for lunch, there was more shouting. "We don't want to eat, we want to talk!" someone said. "All the tribes are here and if we don't have a solution we will make a revolution." Then, Mr. Maliki, dressed in a dark suit and tie, silenced them. "My brothers, peace," he said, and led them in a quick prayer. "The loudest voice is not usually the winner," he added. While Mr. Maliki focused on security, Mr. Hashemi, the Sunni Arab vice president, took leaders to task on the oil industry and sectarian cleansing. "I hoped to receive news from Basra that the Southern Oil Company exceeded its planned output," he said in a speech to the gathering. "I hoped that Basra ports would have attracted ships from the gulf." "But unfortunately we have come to deal with a serious problem that has exhausted the poor people of Basra."
State of emergency in Basra threatens British withdrawal Independent
Iraq's Premier Sets State Of Emergency For Southern City Washington Post
San Jose Mercury News - Irish Examiner - Guardian Unlimited - Scotsman - all 486 related »

Bush 'troubled' by Haditha report BBC News
US President George W Bush has said he is "troubled" by reports of an alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians by US marines last November. Making his first public comments on the issue, Mr Bush said if anyone had broken the law they would be punished. His comments followed claims that the killings of 24 people in the town of Haditha were covered up. On Tuesday, the US government promised to make public all the details of inquiries into the alleged massacre. "If, in fact, these allegations are true, the Marine Corps will work hard to make sure that... those who violated the law - if indeed they did - will be punished," Mr Bush told a press conference in Washington. The Pentagon is close to ending its two separate inquiries into the killings in Haditha, initially attributed to a clash with militants. According to initial US military reports, 15 civilians and eight insurgents died after a bomb killed a marine in Haditha, a militant stronghold in Anbar Province. But the army now says it is investigating a total of 24 deaths.

'Shock and sadness'
Over the past few days the American media has been dominated by pictures and interviews of Iraqis in Haditha, says the BBC's Andy Gallacher. Politicians fear that the repercussions could be far worse than the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, our correspondent says, with some politicians convinced that there has been a cover-up.


A member of the Iraqi parliament and former foreign minister, Adnan Pachachi, says the allegations have sparked "a feeling of great shock and sadness" amongst Iraqis. "There must be a level of discipline imposed on the American troops and change of mentality which seems to think that Iraqi lives are expendable," he told the BBC. But the UK's human rights envoy to Iraq, Ann Clwyd, who is in Baghdad at the moment, says the events in Haditha should "not be taken out of context". "I would say as I did over Abu Ghraib... [this is] a small group of people out of the many thousands of British and American and other soldiers who are here who have done a good job by and large," she told the BBC.

'Rampage'
White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Tuesday that the US Marine Corps was taking an "active and aggressive role" in investigating the allegations. The Pentagon had assured him that "all the details" of the inquiries would be made public, he said.US investigators are looking at both the actual events in Haditha and the alleged cover-up by troops. The military said at the time that the civilians were killed as a result of either the bomb or a gun battle which erupted afterwards, in which the militants were reportedly killed. But reports from Iraqi witnesses and in the US media allege that marines went on a rampage. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is evidence that marines killed civilians, including women and children, without provocation. Several marines are likely to be charged with murder and others with attempting to cover up the incident, the newspaper said, quoting civilian and military officials close to the investigations.

http://usinfo.state.gov/utils/printpage.html



Bush Says Formation of Iraq Government Marks Victory for Freedom
Says Iraqi people, leaders, and U.S. determined to defeat terrorists




The formation of a national unity government in Iraq marks a victory for the cause of freedom in the Middle East and a defeat for terrorists, President Bush says.

"It is a victory for millions of Iraqis who defied the terrorists and cast their ballots in three elections last year. It is a victory for the Iraqi Security Forces, who fought and bled for this moment, and now have a democracy worthy of their sacrifice. And it is a victory for the American, British, and other coalition forces who removed a murderous dictator who threatened the world," Bush said in his weekly radio address to the American people May 27.

The president said that since the formation of the Iraqi national unity government May 20, something fundamental has changed for the terrorists. "They are at war with the people of Iraq. The Iraqi people and their new leaders are determined to defeat this enemy, and so is the United States of America," Bush said.

The president said that British Prime Minister Tony Blair has reported to him that "Iraq's new leaders are determined to rid their country of terrorism, unite Iraqis as one people, and deliver peace and prosperity for all their citizens."

An audio file of the president’s address is available on the White House Web site.

Following is a transcript of the president's address:





THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary



Saturday, May 27, 2006



RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION



THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This Memorial Day weekend, Americans pay tribute to those who have given their lives in service to our Nation. America is free because generations of young Americans have been willing to sacrifice to defend the country they love, so their fellow citizens could live in liberty.

This weekend, I am visiting some of the brave men and women who will soon take their own place in the defense of our freedom -- the 2006 graduating class at West Point. This was the first class to arrive at West Point after the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. Each of them came to West Point in a time of war, knowing all the risks and dangers that come with wearing our Nation's uniform. And the reality of that war has surrounded them since their first moments at the Academy. Thirty-four times since they arrived at West Point, they have observed a moment of silence to honor a former cadet fallen in the war on terror.

One of those former cadets was First Lieutenant Rob Seidel, a 2004 West Point graduate who gave his life in Iraq earlier this month. Rob grew up in Maryland, and as a child he and his family made frequent visits to the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, and from his earliest days he dreamed of serving in the U.S. Army. He deployed to Iraq with the 10th Mountain division and was killed by a bomb in Baghdad. His father says this about Rob: "He loved his family, and believed in God, and he loved his country, and he was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of his country."

We live in freedom because of young Americans like Lieutenant Rob Seidel. And in recent days in Iraq, we've seen what their sacrifices have made possible. A week ago, the new Prime Minister of Iraq announced the formation of a national unity government. British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently visited Baghdad to meet with Prime Minister Maliki and Iraq's new leaders, and this week he came to the United States to give me his impressions. Prime Minister Blair told me that Iraq's new leaders are determined to rid their country of terrorism, unite Iraqis as one people, and deliver peace and prosperity for all their citizens.

The formation of a democratic government in Iraq marks a victory for the cause of freedom in the Middle East. It is a victory for millions of Iraqis who defied the terrorists and cast their ballots in three elections last year. It is a victory for the Iraqi Security Forces, who fought and bled for this moment, and now have a democracy worthy of their sacrifice. And it is a victory for the American, British, and other coalition forces who removed a murderous dictator who threatened the world. Because of their courage and sacrifices, Iraq has a free government that will be a strong and capable ally in the global war on terror.

The new government in Iraq is also a defeat for the terrorists, who fought the arrival of a free and democratic Iraq with all the hateful power they could muster. Now, a day that they feared has arrived. The terrorists can kill the innocent, but they cannot stop the advance of freedom. We can expect the terrorists to continue bombing and killing, but something fundamental has changed: The terrorists are now fighting a free and constitutional government. They are at war with the people of Iraq. The Iraqi people and their new leaders are determined to defeat this enemy, and so is the United States of America.

This Memorial Day weekend, we remember First Lieutenant Seidel and the brave Americans of every generation who have given their lives for freedom, liberated the oppressed, and left the world a safer and better place. And the best way to honor America's fallen heroes is to carry on their fight, defend our freedom, and complete the mission for which they gave their lives.

Thank you for listening.






Created: 26 May 2006 Updated: 27 May 2006

Haditha inquiry finds false reports: WPost Yahoo! News
A U.S. military inquiry into whether Marines tried to cover up the killings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha will conclude that some officers gave false reports to their superiors, who then failed to scrutinize the information, according to a newspaper report on Thursday. The Washington Post, citing an unidentified Army official, said the three-month investigation was also expected to call for changes in how U.S. troops are trained for duty in Iraq. The investigation is one of two ongoing military probes into the November 19 killings of 24 men, women and children in the town of Haditha, 125 miles northwest of Baghdad in an area that has seen much activity by Sunni Arab insurgents. The newspaper reported that the Army official said there were multiple failures but declined to say whether he would characterize it as a 'coverup' as alleged by Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record). The Pennsylvania Democrat, a decorated retired Marine, is a vocal critic of the war in Iraq. The Post said a final report on the probe, led by Army Maj. General Eldon Bargewell, was expected to be delivered to top commanders by the end of the week. A new focus on training would begin as early as Thursday when Army Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, was expected to order all U.S. and allied troops in Iraq receive "core values" training, the newspaper reported. "Not only will leaders discuss how to treat civilians under the rules of engagement, but small units also will be ordered to go through training scenarios to gauge their understanding of those rules," the report said. There was no immediate comment from a U.S. Central Command spokesman in Baghdad. A separate ongoing military inquiry found evidence that the killings in Haditha were unprovoked, contradicting an account of the incident by U.S. Marines, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. The probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, responsible for cases involving Marines, might lead to charges including murder, officials said.

Iraqi PM mounts first security crackdown in Basra Yahoo! News
Police and soldiers set up checkpoints and searched cars in Iraq's second city on Thursday in a first test of new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ability to restore stability with an "iron fist" security crackdown. A day after he declared a one-month state of emergency in key oil hub Basra, the tough-talking Shi'ite Islamist said in Baghdad he planned to present his candidates for the interior and defense ministers to parliament on Sunday. He named his cabinet on May 20 without the two key security posts after failing to reach a consensus deal among the main blocs -- the Shi'ites, minority Sunni Arabs, Kurds and secular parties -- who form his national unity government. "We have reached a semi-closed road so I will go to the parliament with names of the candidates," said Maliki, who has vowed to rein in guerrilla and sectarian violence. Maliki ordered the army onto Basra's streets on Wednesday, vowing to use an "iron fist" to show Iraqis he means business about tackling insecurity. Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, should be an early indication of whether he can back his words with action after previous Iraqi leaders failed to ease a raging Sunni insurgency and sectarian violence threatening vital oil exports. Also on Thursday, a top U.S. commander ordered combat troops to be trained to abide by moral and ethical standards on the battlefield, an apparent response to allegations U.S. Marines killed civilians in a western Iraqi town last year. In a case making waves in the United States, U.S. defense officials have said charges including murder may be brought against Marines following a U.S. investigation into the deaths of 24 civilian deaths in Haditha in November. The training over the next 30 days in "core warrior values" would highlight "the importance of adhering to legal, moral and ethical standards on the battlefield," a statement said. Lieutenant General Peter W. Chiarelli said that of nearly 150,000 U.S.-led troops in the country "99.9 percent of them perform their jobs magnificently" every day. "Unfortunately, there are a few individuals who sometimes choose the wrong path," he said in the statement. It did not mention events in Haditha, which some commentators are comparing to the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam that helped turn many Americans against that war.

BASRA CRACKDOWN
In Basra some residents said security forces faced a complex network of gangs and assassins that includes Saddam Hussein loyalists and warring Shi'ite militias who thrive in the bloody chaos of an oil city that provides much of Iraq's income. "There are Baathist looting gangs. There are militias. There are even some tribes who come and occupy police stations," said Saleem Abdullah, 27, a graduate student. Checkpoints have popped up across Basra, with the police in the city center and army units on the outskirts inspecting every car that passes by, witnesses said. "There will be constant patrols. We have orders to pull over cars with shaded windows. Unauthorized weapons will be taken," said police captain Ali Jassem. Although the southern mainly Shi'ite region where British forces are based has been much quieter than Sunni Arab areas patrolled by Americans further north, Basra has become far more dangerous in recent months.
By Aref Mohammed

Iraq wants to set rules on U.S. raids Yahoo! News
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday denounced the alleged killings of Iraqi civilians by U.S. forces and said he asked a ministerial committee to hold talks with U.S. military to set ground rules for raids and detentions. The move came in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians in the western city of Haditha. Al-Maliki said he had ordered the "national security ministerial committee to follow up on this issue with the multinational forces" and "to hold talks with the multinational forces to formulate ground rules for detentions and raids." When asked about Iraqi complaints that U.S. forces show no regard for their lives during raids and detentions, al-Maliki said he objected to such practices. "We cannot forgive violations of the dignity of the Iraqi people," he said during a press conference. He also said the Cabinet had agreed to issue a statement denouncing such practices. The killings at Haditha, a city that has been plagued by insurgents, came after a bomb rocked a military convoy on Nov. 19, killing a Marine. Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pa., a decorated war veteran who has been briefed by military officials, has said Marines shot and killed unarmed civilians in a taxi at the scene and went into two homes and shot others. The U.S. military says it constantly strives to avoid civilian casualties and has promised the deaths in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, will be fully investigated. In his first public comments on the incident, President Bush said Wednesday that he was troubled by the allegations, and that, "If in fact laws were broken, there will be punishment." More than 4,000 Iraqis — many of them civilians — have been killed in war-related violence this year, including at least 936 in May alone, according to an Associated Press count. That makes May the second deadliest month for Iraqis over the past year. Only March recorded more fatalities.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF02Ak01.html
Iraq: Alas in wonderland
By Ashraf Fahim

There is a hallucinatory, Alice in Wonderland quality to recent suggestions that the formation of an elected Iraqi government will allow US and British troops to withdraw from Iraq in large numbers.

No sooner did Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki say that Iraqi troops would take over most of Iraq from the departing "coalition" by year's end, confirming the whisperings of British and US officials, than the United States announced that 3,500 reserves were headed in the other direction, from their bases in Kuwait to Ramadi.

All that is missing from this picture is White House Press Secretary Tony Snow dressed up as the March Hare explaining to the press corps why adding troops is the same as withdrawing them.

Only a few days earlier, US President George W Bush had spoken with preternatural confidence of Iraq's latest "turning point" during a press conference held jointly with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. To anyone who owns a television, on which Iraq is nightly a vision of the Inferno in living color, such optimism would seem misplaced.

"With emergence of this government, something fundamental changed in Iraq last weekend," said Bush. "When you attack an Iraqi now, you're - you know, you're at war with an Iraqi government that's constitutionally elected. And that's a different attitude from the way it's been in the past."

True, Bush was careful not to endorse Maliki's timeline - "as the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down", he enjoys saying - but he did seem to scent an end to Iraq's dark night in the May breeze.

With hindsight, previous "turning points" have proved to be anything but. A recent report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) took a critical look: "The December 15, 2005, election did no more to stabilize the situation and limit the insurgency than the transfer of power from the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority] to the Iraqi interim government in June 2004, or any of the other elections that followed."

Through all these milestones, the carnage goes on - from the dark work of death squads and internecine slaughter that has spiraled out of control since the February bombing of the Samarra mosque (sacred to Shi'ites), to the fury of insurgent attacks, to rampant crime and kidnappings, to ever-present US military strikes.

War in Iraq is a juggernaut, impervious to the political dictates emanating from the air-conditioned tranquillity of the Green Zone. Since Maliki named his cabinet, nothing has changed - 54 were killed in violence on Tuesday, an unremarkable toll.

And yet rumors of a drawdown abound. Pentagon officials regularly brief the press that a third of US forces could leave by the end of June. A senior US military official said Najaf and Karbala would be relinquished during the summer and Baghdad by New Year's. And British officials have told the media that British troops would start by ceding the southern city of Muthanna in July, cut the entire presence in half by year's end, and depart by 2010.

Maliki has brimmed with confidence at the prospects of an Iraqi takeover. "Our forces will be able to take over the security file in all Iraqi provinces in a year and a half," he said after meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Sensing something fishy, Blair corrected him last Friday: "When ... Prime Minister Maliki talked about an objective timetable, what he meant was a timetable governed by conditions on the ground."

All spin and no stability
Blair, Bush and Maliki surely have good reason for the creative ambiguity they are engaging in. The US is gearing up for a congressional election in which Iraq is the Republicans' albatross, and a phantom withdrawal is better than none at all. Meanwhile, Blair's sunken fortunes within the Labour Party are not helped by the Iraq horror show, and he must spin furiously to keep afloat.

And Maliki's bravado is essential to burnishing the nationalist credentials on which his government's survival depends.

But spin does not change the reality that the "coalition" is stuck with a relentless war and a divisive political process. The predominantly Sunni insurgency rages unabated, Iraq's armed forces remain recast sectarian militias, and the still-dominant Shi'ite parties that Bush and Blair are banking on to bring stability are tied to the Shi'ite militias whose death squads run rampant.

Reining in the militias is the key to stability. Even US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has claimed that "more Iraqis are dying from militia violence than from the terrorists". But Maliki will have great difficulty enforcing the constitutional ban on militias, even if he wants to.

Even if the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution for Iraq's (SCIRI's) Badr Organization laid down its arms, for instance, the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr (who is somewhat independent of the political process) might not follow suit. In addition, the Kurdish peshmerga, ever fearful of the central government, is unlikely to disarm. And if one militia refuses, all will likely refuse. Were the militias to be integrated into the armed forces, it would likely further the justifiable suspicions of the Sunni Arabs that the armed forces are manned by those loyal to sect rather than to nation.

By most accounts the Iraqi armed forces are in any event incapable of ruling Iraq independently. Though their numbers are increasing, according to the Pentagon, many are still dependent on the US for logistics, transport and communications support.

For all the talk of national unity, Iraq's permanent government remains dominated by the Shi'ite parties that won the elections based on their denominational identity. The marginalized Sunnis are better represented now, but the ethnic harmony that briefly erupted is fast wilting.

Prominent Sunni politician Salih al-Mutlaq's party, the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, recently walked out of a parliamentary session intended to approve the cabinet. Even the Shi'ite al-Fadilah Party, active in increasingly unstable Basra, withdrew from negotiations over cabinet posts, saying sectarianism was trumping merit.

Bush has nevertheless sensed the winds of change. He brags that Iraq's new Sunni parliamentary Speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a onetime opponent of the US occupation, now takes his calls. "He wouldn't have taken my phone call a year ago," Bush said. "He's now taken it twice."

Yet according to one report, the Kurdish and Shi'ite blocs recently met in closed session to curtail Mashhadani's powers. An expert on Iraq, Juan Cole, wrote: "The Sunni Arabs only have a vice president, a vice premier, four cabinet seats, and the Speaker of the House among high government posts. They are outraged that one of the few nodes of power they have left should now be removed." The Speaker may not be taking Bush's calls for long.

The new government will most likely continue to be perceived in Iraq as a collection of sectarian fiefdoms masquerading as ministries. With reconstruction having ground to a halt and basic services a disaster - oil and electricity production are below prewar levels - the government's crisis of legitimacy and the concomitant disorder will go on.

Men with guns
The vacuum left by chaos and political polarization is filled by the men with guns, be they Interior Ministry commandos kidnapping, torturing and executing Sunnis, Sunni insurgents blowing up innumerable Shi'ites, or US troops killing without prejudice.

The raw statistics on the violence say it all. According to Baghdad's morgue director, death squads linked to militias have killed 7,000 Iraqis. In the meantime, the insurgency is as effective as ever. The Brookings Institution puts car bombings constant at about 70 in May. According to iCasualties.org, 76 coalition soldiers were killed in May, about average for the war. Meanwhile, 146 Iraqi soldiers and police were killed and at least eight times as many civilians.

The rote official response to this catalogue of doom is that most of Iraq is relatively peaceful. Taking up this logic, the CSIS report tried valiantly, but failed, to find a silver lining: "Some 83% of the attacks from August 29, 2005, through January 20, 2006, occurred in only four of Iraq's 18 provinces, although these provinces do include Baghdad and Mosul and have some 43% of the population."

Of course given that parts of Anbar province are not under US control (by Khalilzad's own admission), and that Ramadi, its capital and the insurgents' stronghold, is in essence a free-fire zone, the relative state of the rest of Iraq is not so bad.

Basra is under coalition control, for example, and is the scene of a violent power struggle among Shi'ite parties. The Badr Organization, the Fadilha Party - which is aligned to the governor - and Muqtada's Mehdi Army now fight over a city stalked by criminal gangs, with Fadilha raising the stakes recently by threatening to end oil exports. Maliki is so concerned that he flew out to try and arbitrate, but ended up declaring a state of emergency.

Sunni Arabs in Ramadi daily experience chaos that belies official optimism - they are caught in a pincer between the Shi'ite/Kurdish armed forces, the insurgents who demand absolute fealty, and US military might. The city has been devastated by these crosswinds.

Nearly a dozen Sunni Arab tribal leaders who were cooperating with the US have been assassinated by insurgents and, as the media have reported, "The insurgent attacks since then have all but frozen the cooperation between Sunni tribal leaders and US forces."

It is difficult not to argue that in such places as Ramadi, if not in all of Iraq, it is the US presence at the locus of the violence. Some have argued that one way to cut this Gordian knot would be simply to withdraw US troops short of "victory" as defined by the coalition, at the very least eliminating the deadly war between the US and the insurgents.

The Bush administration has apparently flirted with this idea, but decided not to change horses in midstream. Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported in early May that 10 insurgent groups had been meeting with Khalilzad and proposed a memo offering to dismantle their groups immediately after a US withdrawal. They broke off talks on April 29, however, absent a US response.

Blair may believe, as he said last Friday, "There is no excuse now for anyone to engage in violence in Iraq." But the insurgents, fearful of a permanent foreign military presence, disagree.

Divided and weighed down by war, Iraq is coming apart at the seams, with its people racing toward the emerging fault lines. To all the other tribulations Iraqis are enduring must be added the specter of ethnic cleansing.

"The state of Iraq now resembles Bosnia at the height of the fighting in the 1990s," wrote Patrick Cockburn in The Independent. "Sectarian warfare has broken out in every Iraqi city where there is a mixed population ... Sunnis have been fleeing Basra after a series of killings. Christians are being eliminated in Mosul in the north. Shi'ites are being killed or driven out of cities and towns north of Baghdad."

And yet from the other side of the looking glass, things are going more or less to plan, and Iraq is soon to become a wondrous, happy place. Any day now Sunni, Kurd and Shi'ite will lay down their arms and sit down together at the Mad Democracy Tea Party, and the coalition freedom-bringers will sail off into the sunset after a job well done.

Ashraf Fahim is a freelance writer on Middle Eastern affairs based in New York and London. His writing can be found at www.storminateacup.org.uk.

(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)

PSY-OPS COUNTERED BY ISLAMIC DIGITAL PROPAGANDA - SELWYN MANNING (SCOOP AUCKLAND, JUNE 1)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0606/S00016.htm

IRAQ: KILLING OF JOURNALISTS IS CHOKING INFORMATION (RFR/RL, MAY 31): Correspondent Jan Jun spoke with the director of IPI's International News-Safety Institute, Rodney Pinder, about why the war in Iraq is an especially dangerous war for journalists and about the impact on coverage of the conflict.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/...374f558760.html

LIVE FROM BAGHDAD: MORE DYING - MAUREEN DOWD (NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 31): The tally of journalists killed in Iraq is now 71, more than the number killed in Vietnam or World War II.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/opinion/31dowd.html
PAID SUBCRIPTION

THE SHAME OF KILO COMPANY: SPARKED BY A TIME REPORT PUBLISHED IN MARCH, A U.S. MILITARY INVESTIGATION IS PROBING THE KILLING OF AS MANY AS 24 IRAQI CIVILIANS BY A GROUP OF MARINES IN THE TOWN OF HADITHA LAST NOVEMBER. SEVERAL MARINES MAY FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES, INCLUDING MURDER. AND NEW REVELATIONS SUGGEST THAT THEIR SUPERIORS MAY HAVE HELPED IN A COVER-UP - MICHAEL DUFFY (TIME, JUNE 5)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...1198892,00.html

PROBE INTO IRAQ DEATHS FINDS FALSE REPORTS: U.S., ALLIED TROOPS IN IRAQ TO UNDERGO 'CORE VALUES' TRAINING - THOMAS E.RICKS AND ELLEN KNICKMEYER (WASHINGTON POST, JUNE 1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6060100343.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/iraq/coup...-out-177616.php

HADITHA MASSACRE: AMERICA'S ALLIES SHOCKED, BUT NO LONGER SURPRISED ? EDWARD M. GOMEZ (WORLD VIEWS, SF GATE, MAY 30)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/det...5&entry_id=5626

FROM HUBRIS TO HUMILITY - DERRICK Z. JACKSON (BOSTON GLOBE, MAY 31): It should not surprise us that a few of soldiers may have turned their hatred of being in Iraq into a door-to-door killing spree of the innocent.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...is_to_humility/

INVESTIGATING HADITHA EDITORIAL (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, MAY 31): It is critical, whatever the fallout for U.S. interests, that the U.S. military give a full accounting.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...newsopinion-hed

DEATH IN HADITHA EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, MAY 31): The Pentagon needs to probe deeply to determine whether a cover-up of the Haditha killings extended beyond the battalion.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...ath_in_haditha/

MEN@WAR: HADITHAH IN CONTEXT - MACKUBIN THOMAS OWENS (NATIONAL REVIEW, MAY 30): For insurgents, there is no more powerful propaganda tool than the claim that their adversaries are employing force in an indiscriminate manner.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MGFjZ...2I4NDEwYWM5NWI=

WHAT HAPPENED IN HADITHA: THE RESPONSE TO A REPORTED MASSACRE BY U.S. TROOPS MUST BE FULL ACCOUNTABILITY EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, MAY 31): Though we don't yet know the details of the Marine investigation, there is no way to mitigate or excuse such despicable acts if they occurred, and hardly any way to alleviate the tremendous damage that will be done to U.S. honor in Iraq and around the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6053001308.html

COUNTLESS MY LAIS IN IRAQ - DAHR JAMAIL (ANTIWAR.COM, MAY 31): Just like Abu Ghraib, while the media spotlight shines squarely on the Haditha massacre, countless atrocities continue daily, conveniently out of the awareness of the general public.
http://www.antiwar.com/jamail/?articleid=9068

U.S. TROOPS KILL PREGNANT WOMAN IN IRAQ - KIM GAMEL, ASSOCIATED PRESS (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, MAY 31)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...ll=chi-news-hed

INSURGENT ATTACKS IN IRAQ AT HIGHEST LEVEL IN 2 YEARS: MILITANTS EXPLOITING POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY, PENTAGON SAYS - BRYAN BENDER (BOSTON GLOBE, MAY 31)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeas...vel_in_2_years/

ADVICE AND DISSENT: U.S. POLS NEED TO GET REAL ABOUT IRAQ'S PROBLEMS - FRED KAPLAN (SLATE, MAY 30): If Condi Rice thinks that, with a dash of pressure and willpower, the Iraqis can make the wheels of governance spin, no wonder she and her associates look so crestfallen whenever they speak on the subject.
http://www.slate.com/id/2142638/?nav=tap3

A POLITICAL PATH OUT OF IRAQ - FAREED ZAKARIA (WASHINGTON POST, MAY 31): The greatest challenge in Iraq comes from the large and growing Mahdi Army of renegade cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6053001180.html

TEARING IRAQ APART - THOMAS X. HAMMES (NEW YORK TIMES, JUNE 1): To keep Iraq unified, the White House must commit to long timelines and to providing the money necessary for both the military and reconstruction efforts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/opinion/01hammes.html

A QUICK FIX FOR THE GAS ADDICTS - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 31): Bush is ready to send young Americans to war, but he's not ready to look Detroit or Congress in the eye and demand that we put in place the fuel-efficiency legislation that will weaken the forces of theocracy and autocracy that are killing our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/opinion/31friedman.html
PAID SUBCRIPTION

In another town, Iraqis say US killed civilians

By Reuters

Iraqi army and police officers and several people who said they were witnesses and relatives of the dead said U.S. soldiers killed two women, aged 60 and 20, and a mentally handicapped man in their home on May 4 after insurgents fired on the troops.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13459.htm

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The 10,000th Haditha.

By Ted Rall

Months after Time magazine reported that U.S. Marines had carried out a My Lai-style massacre of at least two dozen innocent Iraqi civilians, the average "support our troops" American is waking up and smelling the butchery.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13457.htm

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Iraq War Vets talk about random civilian killings

Excerpt From BBC Documentary

Newsnight follow a group of former US soldiers who have returned from Iraq deeply affected by the experience. As they march across America to protest, shocking interviews emerge on the indiscriminate killing of Iraqi civilians.

Click here to watch.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13454.htm

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Iraqi Girl tells of US Attack in Haditha

Video

Ten-year-old Iman Walid witnessed the killing of seven members of her family in an attack by American marines last November. The interview with Iman was filmed exclusively for ITV News by Ali Hamdani,our Iraqi video diarist..

Click Here To View
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13452.htm

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Justice Denied

By Dima Tareq Tahboub

Three years last April will have passed since the killing of my husband. We spent the same number of years together, three years of happy and blessed marital and paternal life that were cut short by the dark forces of American democracy.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13469.htm

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Media Crimes Sanitize War Crimes in Iraq

By Danny Schechter

As events in Iraq continue to slip from bad to worse, the good news brigade is scrambling for new stories— - ‘anything, give me anything’ - to shore up what’s left of public support for a bloody war without end.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13467.htm

At least 18 kiled as occupation continues:

Several mortar bombs exploded on the southern edge of Baghdad, killing at least nine people and injuring 43, police sources said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L01577281.htm

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Iraqi Kurds accuse Turkey of shelling:

Turkey has been accused of shelling villages inside in Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan.
http://tinyurl.com/rqh8x

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Iraqis' Accounts Link Marines to the Mass Killing of Civilians:

She said American troops shot and killed her husband, Rashid Abdul Hamid. They killed her father-in-law, Abdul Hamid Hassan Ali, a 77-year-old in a wheelchair, shooting him in the chest and abdomen, she said.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13462.htm

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Maliki: Haditha a 'terrible crime':

Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said on Thursday that the deaths of 24 Iraqis in the western town of Haditha last November, apparently at the hands of US marines, was a "terrible crime".
http://tinyurl.com/o5alz

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U.S. Conducts Three More Probes Into Military's Conduct in Iraq :

The U.S. military, facing allegations that Marines killed civilians in November in western Iraq, is conducting at least three more probes into the conduct of its forces in Iraq, spokesman Major-General William Caldwell said.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13460.htm

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A Time For Mutiny? :

Prior to this war, we were trained to be killers, not murderers. We killed combatants, not women and children.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13455.htm

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Values training in Iraq:

The top U.S. general in Iraq today ordered American commanders to conduct core values training on moral and ethical standards on the battlefield.
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/nationworld/ci_3887931

===
The really big question with no answers:

t's four Memorial Days and counting since "Mission Accomplished." We still have 132,000 American troops in Iraq. A million of our men and women have served by now, giving of themselves in tragic and extraordinary ways. Yet the insurgency is growing bolder - not fading away.
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-...0,687603.column

Baghdad mortar barrage kills nine BBC News
At least nine people have been killed and some 40 wounded in a mortar bomb attack in southern Baghdad. Several mortar bombs landed in the Doura neighbourhood of the Iraqi capital, police said. The number of casualties are expected to rise, police sources were quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. Doura is considered one of Baghdad's most dangerous areas. It has been the site of frequent bombings since the mainly Sunni insurgency began in 2003. The same area came under a similar mortar attack on Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring 17, police said. In other violence on Thursday, a bomb killed two Iraqis and wounded another 21, as they milled around hoping for construction work in a central Baghdad square, police said.

Abu Ghraib dog handler convicted BBC News
A US Army dog handler has been convicted of abusing prisoners with his dog at Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail. Sgt Santos Cardona, 32, was found guilty on two of nine charges of abuse and dereliction of duty at the prison, near Baghdad, in 2003 and 2004. Cardona now faces up to three-and-a-half years in jail. The military policeman is the 11th American soldier to be convicted in connection with abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib jail.

'Biggest mistake'
As well as his jail term, Cardona could also be discharged from the army or have his rank reduced.


A US military jury cleared Cardona of seven other charges of at a trial at Fort Meade in Maryland, in a court martial which began on Tuesday. President George W Bush last week called the incident the biggest mistake of America's war in Iraq. The prosecution had described Cardona as one of a group of "corrupt cops" who tormented Iraqi prisoners for fun. But the defence argued the accused was only obeying orders from senior officers. The conviction follows the March jailing of US army dog handler Sgt Michael Smith, who received six months for abusing detainees in Abu Ghraib from 2003 to 2004. The Abu Ghraib scandal came to light in 2004, after photographs showing the abuse and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners were leaked to the US press. Some had shown unmuzzled dogs threatening naked prisoners. No senior officers have so far been convicted for the abuse at the prison. Cardona's verdict comes as the US investigates the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians last November at Haditha. US marines are suspected of carrying out a massacre.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060602/D8I01FUG0.html




Iraqi PM Calls Haditha Killings 'Horrible'

Jun 2, 6:49 AM (ET)

By HAMZA HENDAWI


BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki upbraided the U.S. military over allegations that Marines killed two dozen unarmed civilians in Haditha, calling the killings "a horrible crime" in his strongest public comments on the subject since his government was sworn in last month.

The U.S. military ordered coalition troops in Iraq on Thursday to undergo special training in ethics and "the values that separate us from our enemies" in the wake of the Haditha allegations.

The order came as Iraq's government began its own investigation of the deaths last November in the western town as well as other incidents involving U.S. troops.

Al-Maliki said the list of human rights breaches by coalition forces in Iraq was long.


"This is a phenomenon that has become common among many of the multinational forces," the prime minister said. "No respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch. It's unacceptable."

Al-Maliki's remarks bolstered Iraqi complaints that U.S. troops are insensitive to their culture and show disregard for their lives. To many Iraqis, the soldiers are occupiers seeking to control the country's oil wealth.

The Americans, on the other hand, are under intense pressure, isolated from Iraqis by cultural and language barriers and battling insurgents who easily blend into the civilian population. Some of the troops are in Iraq on their third combat tour since the U.S. invasion three years ago.

The training, which will include slideshows, will cover all coalition soldiers in Iraq and last 30 days. Of the 150,000-strong multinational contingent in Iraq, 130,000 are Americans.

"As military professionals, it is important that we take time to reflect on the values that separate us from our enemies," Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the No. 2 U.S. general in Iraq, said in a statement. "The challenge for us is to make sure the actions of a few do not tarnish the good work of the many."

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for the Multinational Force-Iraq, told a Baghdad news briefing that the training was designed to reinforce what troops learned before coming to Iraq. It will focus on "values and looking at the legal, moral and ethical standards that every one of us in uniform here, as guests of the Iraqi government, need to adhere to," he said.

"The coalition does not and will not tolerate any unethical or criminal behavior. All allegations of such activity will be fully investigated," he said.

Chiarelli's announcement followed last week's visit to Iraq by U.S. Marine Commandant, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, who cautioned troops on the danger of becoming "indifferent to the loss of a human life."

The U.S. military is conducting at least two investigations into the killings of civilians, including women and children, in Haditha on Nov. 19.

The killings followed the death that day of a Marine in a bomb explosion that targeted a military convoy. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a decorated war veteran who has been briefed by military officials, has said the Marines, angered by the loss of a comrade, shot and killed civilians in a taxi near the scene and went into nearby homes and shot others.

U.S. military investigators have evidence that points toward unprovoked murders by the Marines, a senior defense official said last week. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the investigators will conclude some officers gave false testimony to their superiors, who then failed to scrutinize the reports adequately.

"It appears to be a horrible crime," Prime Minister al-Maliki told reporters. "A large number of women, men and children have been killed because of an explosion that targeted a vehicle of the multinational forces."

It took nearly a month for President Bush to be told of the Haditha investigation, the White House said Thursday. Earlier this week, Bush aides had said the president was briefed "soon after" the probe began.

The decision to launch an Iraqi inquiry was made at a Cabinet meeting Thursday, according to Adnan al-Kazimi, an adviser to the prime minister.

A committee of security experts as well as officials from the Justice and Human Rights ministries will look into the Haditha incident as well as other cases where misconduct by U.S. troops is suspected, al-Kazimi told The Associated Press.

An Iraqi government, which took office May 20, said the Haditha "tragedy" violated the guidelines of justice and human rights" and demanded no leniency be shown to its perpetrators.

"The Council of Ministers demands that generous financial compensations be paid to the victims' families and an official apology be presented to the Iraqi government after the results of the investigation are announced," a government statement said. It emphasized, however, the need for coordination between the Iraqi side and the U.S.-led coalition forces.

------

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060602/ap_on_...HE0BHNlYwN0bWE-



Al-Zarqawi urges Sunnis to take on Shiites
By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq urged Sunnis to confront Shiites and ignore calls for reconciliation in a new audiotape posted on the Web on Friday, saying Shiite militias are killing and raping the Sunni Arab minority.

The tape was a four-hour sermon by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi against Shiites, denouncing their top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as an "atheist" and saying the community had collaborated with invaders throughout Iraq's history.

"Oh Sunni people, wake up, pay attention and prepare to confront the poisons of the Shiite snakes who are afflicting you with all agonies since the invasion of Iraq until our day. Forget about those advocating the end of sectariansim and calling for national unity," al-Zarqawi said.

The authenticity of the audiotape could not be independently confirmed. It was posted on a Web forum often used by his al-Qaida in Iraq for messages and the voice resembled that of al-Zaraqawi's on other confirmed tapes from him.

It was the first message from al-Zarqawi since April, when he appeared in a video tape saying that any government formed in Iraq would be merely a "stooge" of the Americans. That video was the first time al-Qaida in Iraq had released images showing al-Zarqawi's face.

Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, has claimed responsibility for some of the most high-profile suicide bombings in Iraq, and also for a score of other attacks including hotel bombings in November in Jordan.

Our responsibility on Iraq John Kerry
Dear Friend,
It's as simple as this. Most members of Congress, myself included, share some responsibility for getting us into Iraq. We've got to take responsibility for getting us out. Since April, hundreds of thousands of you have joined me in calling for a change in policy, a change in course -- for Iraq, and for Americans here at home. Now let's turn the volume up higher. Washington needs to hear your voice.


The violence continues to spiral in Iraq. But, instead of a deadline to bring our troops home and put the future of Iraq in the hands of Iraqi leaders, we get half-hearted comments about past mistakes, and cynical political calculation. Last month, I introduced Senate Joint Resolution 36 which calls for the withdrawal of our combat troops from Iraq by the end of this year. In the next few weeks, I am urging the Senate to take a strong stand on Iraq and pass this Resolution. It's time to put the future of Iraq where it belongs - in the hands of the Iraqi people and their leaders. Our valiant soldiers have done their job.

Tell your Senators: support Senate Joint Resolution 36 to bring our combat troops home in 2006
President Bush wants to stumble along, perpetuating his mistakes for the remainder of his time in office. He's even suggested that decisions about withdrawing all of our troops from Iraq will be for the next president to make. And, instead of statesmanship, the president's top advisor, Karl Rove, is worrying that the war has put voters in a "sour mood" for the 2006 elections. He should be worried about the safety of our troops, not the job security of Republican congressmen. It took President Bush three years to admit he was wrong to say 'bring it on.' We can't afford years to go by until he admits the standstill in Iraq today is wrong.

Tell your Senators: support Senate Joint Resolution 36 to bring our combat troops home in 2006
After months of squabbling and delay, we now hear that the new Iraqi government will complete its cabinet in a matter of days. So, it's time to act -- time to keep the pressure on. Iraqi leaders have only responded to deadlines -- a deadline to transfer authority to a provisional government, a deadline to hold three elections, and their own constitutional deadline to establish a unity government. Now we must set another deadline to get our combat troops out and get Iraq up on its own two feet. We must agree with the new Iraqi government on a schedule for withdrawing American combat forces by the end of this year. Doing so will empower the new Iraqi leadership, put Iraqis in the position of running their own country, and undermine support for the insurgency, which is fueled in large measure by the majority of Iraqis who want us to leave their country.

Tell your Senators: support Senate Joint Resolution 36 to bring our combat troops home in 2006
Our soldiers have done their job, and America is grateful to them for their honor and sacrifice. Now it's time for the Iraqis to do their job of securing and governing their country and it is time to get our combat troops home in 2006. Only troops essential to finishing the job of training Iraqi forces should remain. We need blunt talk and clear plans -- and only pressure from you can force Washington to change course. I am committed to forcing Congress to speak out on Iraq. Yesterday in Los Angeles I made it clear that I'm not going to stop fighting until we have a change in policy. I urge you to keep supporting our efforts to force action when lives are on the line and leadership is desperately needed.
Sincerely,

John Kerry

Military denies latest claims of deliberate killings in Iraq Seattle Times
Senior Defense Department officials pushed back Friday against the latest accusations of wrongdoing, denying accounts that US soldiers deliberately killed civilians in a March raid but acknowledging that more civilians might have died than first reported. Iraqi police and other witnesses had claimed that U.S. forces killed as many as 13 civilians in the hamlet of Ishaqi, 60 miles north of Baghdad, tying up some and shooting them in the head. Video obtained by the British Broadcasting Corp. and The Associated Press showed some bodies of victims, including several children, who apparently had been killed by gunshot wounds or shrapnel. The U.S. military initially reported four people — one insurgent and three civilians — were killed in the Ishaqi raid. But officials acknowledged Friday that eight other noncombatants had been killed, calling those casualties "collateral deaths." The new questions about the military's account came in the wake of other allegations of misconduct by U.S. troops. In one, a squad of Marines is accused of killing as many as 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha. The incident is under investigation both for the soldiers' actions and for the way in which it was handled by the Marine Corps, which has been accused of a cover-up. In another incident, eight Marines could face murder charges in the death of a civilian in Hamdania in April, and other charges for possibly attempting to cover up the killing. The developments have prompted concern within the military that the public will perceive a pattern of excessive violence, lack of discipline and criminal acts. Trying to head off another controversy, military officials Friday vehemently denied that the incident at Ishaqi bore any relationship to Haditha."Nothing suggests anything happened close to Haditha," a senior Defense official said. The military acknowledges that something went wrong in Haditha, both in the killings and in the failure to quickly investigate what happened. But military officials believe Haditha was an aberration, and they took pains Friday to show they had investigated the Ishaqi raid thoroughly. A senior Pentagon official said the military's investigation — which began soon after the Ishaqi incident — showed that the civilians were killed in a crossfire between U.S. forces and members of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's organization. In a written statement, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell IV said the raid was launched against a building where a Kuwaiti-born al-Qaida cell leader, Ahmad Abdallah Muhammed Na'is Al-Utaybi, and a bomb maker, Uday Faris al-Tawafi, aka Abu Ahmed, were located. Allegations that U.S. forces executed a family during the raid, then covered it up by directing an airstrike on their house, "are absolutely false," Caldwell said. "The investigation revealed the ground force commander, while capturing and killing terrorists, operated in accordance with the rules of engagement governing our combat forces in Iraq," he said. Caldwell said U.S. troops began taking fire from a house as they arrived in the area. U.S. forces returned fire, but called in helicopters and finally an airstrike after firing from the house persisted, "ultimately eliminating the threat," he said. "The investigating officer ascertained that the ground force commander properly followed the rules of engagement as he necessarily escalated the use of force until the threat was eliminated," Caldwell said. Al-Utaybi was captured, and U.S. troops found the bodies of Abu Ahmed and three civilians, Caldwell said. The investigator concluded that as many as nine other people died in the airstrike, but a precise number couldn't be determined because the house's walls had collapsed. Caldwell said the investigation was carried out the day after claims arose that U.S. troops had killed the civilians. Iraqis interviewed immediately after the raid acknowledged that an al-Qaida member was visiting the house. They said he was visiting the house's owner, a relative who was a local schoolteacher. While accusations that U.S. troops kill civilians are fairly common in Iraq, the Ishaqi incident stood out because the claims of civilian deaths originated with Iraqi police. The police reported that U.S. troops herded at least 11 people into the house and executed them. Those killed included a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, the police report said. But inconsistencies in those claims soon appeared. The Iraqi officer investigating the case initially claimed that each of the dead had been handcuffed and shot once in the head. But reports of the medical examinations of the bodies showed that each bore multiple wounds. Partly because of inconsistencies, an initial inquiry by U.S. military officials never developed into a formal criminal investigation, according to a defense official familiar with initial findings. "There were too many inconsistencies," said the official, who asked not to be named since those findings hadn't been released. "It didn't all add up." Relatives of the deceased said Friday that the U.S. investigation was cursory at best. They said a U.S. officer came and interviewed people once after the raid but never returned. "We do not want anything," said Adil Maruf, 27, whose sister-in-law, nephew and niece were killed in the raid. "We just want the American soldiers to be exposed. We do not want it to be repeated again."
By Los Angeles Times and Knight Ridder Newspapers.
US soldiers cleared of murdering civilians in Iraq Mail & Guardian Online
Military clears GIs at Ishaqi while Haditha probe opens Chicago Tribune
CBC News - New York Times - Monsters and Critics.com - BBC News - all 929 related »

Troops cleared of Iraq wrongdoing BBC News
A US military investigation has found there was no misconduct by US troops over Iraqi civilian deaths in the town of Ishaqi, a spokesman says. Maj Gen William Caldwell said reports that troops "executed" a family during a raid on a house in March and tried to cover it up were "absolutely false". Questions over the 11 deaths in Ishaqi come amid a Pentagon inquiry into a bigger alleged massacre in Haditha. The US has announced extra training in moral and ethical values for troops. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has criticised coalition forces for what he describes as habitual attacks against civilians. News in the US this week has been dominated by discussion of the investigations in Iraq, the BBC's Adam Brookes reports from Washington. The Bush administration has had an exceptionally difficult time focusing public attention on what it says is the progress being made by the new Iraqi government, our correspondent says.

'Correct procedures'
A report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house in Ishaqi, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building.


Maj Gen Caldwell said the US investigation into events in Ishaqi, where the military says it was attempting to capture insurgents, had found no wrongdoing on the part of the troops. Four bodies including that of an insurgent were found after the raid while up to nine "collateral deaths" resulted from the US raid, according to the investigation. It added that a precise death toll could not be determined because of collapsed walls and debris. All the correct procedures were followed when troops came under fire as they approached the house, Maj Gen Caldwell said. "The investigation revealed the ground force commander, while capturing and killing terrorists, operated in accordance with the rules of engagement governing our combat forces in Iraq," he added. "Allegations that the troops executed a family living in this safe house, and then hid the alleged crimes by directing an air strike, are absolutely false." The outcome of the Pentagon investigation emerged a day after the BBC released video footage that appears to show the aftermath of US action in Ishaqi, about 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

'Violence commonplace'
The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds.The pictures came from a hardline Sunni group opposed to coalition forces. It has been cross-checked with other images taken at the time of events and is believed to be genuine. Other probes are being carried out into the alleged massacre at Haditha, and also into claims that an Iraqi man was deliberately killed on 26 April in Hamandiya - and that the circumstances were covered up. Seven marines and a navy sailor are being held over the claims. The Iraqi government has also launched an investigation into the alleged massacre at Haditha, where eyewitnesses claim US marines shot dead 24 civilians after a roadside bomb attack in November. Mr Maliki said he would ask the US for the investigative files into the incident. Violence against civilians was "common among many of the multinational forces", he added. Many troops had "no respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch", he added. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Friday that 99.9% of US forces conducted "themselves in an exemplary manner".

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?Stor...02-013936-6673r

Analysis: Sunni strategy succeeding
By Martin Sieff
UPI Senior News Analyst
Published June 2, 2006


WASHINGTON -- The latest wave of violence in Iraq seems all too familiar to Americans, but its strategic implications are fresh and disturbing.

On Tuesday at least 54 people were killed around the California-sized nation of 28 million people in a new wave of car bomb and mortar attacks. The day before 40 people were killed in such attacks. And the rate at which Iraqis are dying in the insurgency is rising. Some 801 were killed in April, but 871 died in the month of May up to Tuesday.


Strategically, therefore, the 220,000-strong Iraqi police and army, backed by the 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, have been unable to significantly reduce the scale and intensity of the Sunni Muslim insurgency even though it is rooted primarily only in two of Iraq's 18 provinces and in the capital Baghdad, and even though its support is based among less than 20 percent of the Iraqi population, the 5.5 million or so Sunni Muslims.

Of potentially far greater import, relations between the U.S. armed forces in Iraq, their British allies and the Shiite militias that control much of southern Iraq -- where the bulk of the 60 percent Shiite majority population is located -- continue to deteriorate.

Hard-liners backed by Iran and led by Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Mahdi Army militia, had good relations with the old Iraqi government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. They are far less happy with the new, more pro-American government of Nouri al-Maliki. Therefore the prospects of a potentially disastrous collision between the U.S.-backed Maliki government and the Shiite militias in southern Iraq are growing by the day.

The Maliki government, which has yet to appoint its new interior and defense ministers, this week declared a state of emergency in the southern port city of Basra, where relations between British forces and the Iranian-backed Shiite militias have deteriorated to breaking point.

The current wave of Sunni insurgent violence appears prompted by direct hostility to the new Maliki government. Its strategic purpose appears to be to discredit and fatally weaken the Maliki government before it can get properly established.

The attacks also confirm the grim trend we have tracked in United Press International analysis columns over the past five months whereby, even when the rate of U.S. military fatalities in Iraq fell significantly in recent months, the numbers of U.S. troops wounded, Iraqi troops killed and Iraqi civilians killed in terror bombings continued at their previous levels or higher.

Further, the escalating violence and the failure of the new Iraqi armed forces to contain it has forced U.S. military commanders to re-commit increasing numbers of combat troops to the worst-affected areas of western Iraq. In March, Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, sent 700 additional American troops into Anbar province. They are still operating there. This week, the U.S. military announced that another 1,500 troops were being sent to the region.

The Sunni insurgents appear to be focusing primarily not on attacking U.S. troops, but on killing and maiming as many Shiite civilians as possible in the hope of discrediting the new Maliki government from its main constituency. At least 25 people were killed and another 65 injured in a car bomb explosion at a market frequented by Shiites north of Baghdad Wednesday. Also Wednesday, another car bomb killed at least 12 people and injured 32 more in predominantly Shiite southern Iraq.

As long as the insurgency can maintain this kind of attack, apparently at will, it is likely to continue to succeed in achieving at least one of its strategic goals: denying the parliamentary-appointed central government in Baghdad basic credibility across the country. Meanwhile, the Shiite militias in the south, backed by Iran, benefit from the Sunni insurgents' onslaught on the Maliki government and its armed forces. So the more U.S. forces fail to roll back the Sunni insuirgency, the more they are likely to face Iranian-backed Shiite militas rising up against them too.

The Sunni insurgency strategy therefore, is not suicidal or insane. It is certainly ruthless.

But it is working.

Four in Russian Diplomatic Car Kidnapped in Baghdad FOX News
Four people in a Russian diplomatic car were kidnapped in western Baghdad Saturday and one man may have been killed, police said. According to police, witnesses at the scene told them than gunmen opened fire on a car that belonged to the Russian Embassy in west Baghdad's upscale Mansour district. Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohamedawi said one person was killed in the incident, which took place just outside the embassy. The Russian consul in Baghdad told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency that one Russian diplomat had been killed and four abducted. "One (embassy) official was killed and four kidnapped," Alexander Potapov told RIA Novosti on the phone but did not elaborate. A man who answered the phone at Russian embassy, located in Mansour, would not comment. According to police 1st Lt. Thaeir Mahmoud, the at least one person was reported killed. Neither al-Mohamedawi nor Mahmoud knew the nationalities of the four people. In Moscow, the ITAR-Tass news agency, citing unnamed sources in consulate service of Russian Embassy in Baghdad, said one Russian diplomat was killed and four "diplomatic representatives" were abducted. Associated Press Television News footage showed a white SUV with tinted windows, diplomatic licenses plates and a small tag that had Russian Embassy written on it in English and Arabic. That sign had a bullet hole in it. An ambulance was seen driving into the embassy. A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry could not immediately comment on reports. There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi foreign ministry. The interfax news agency quoted an employee at the Russian Embassy in Baghdad as saying that "we confirm that one diplomat has been killed, four abducted." At least 439 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago, according to figures provided earlier this month by a special U.S. anti-kidnapping task force. Diplomats have been the targets of abductions previously. In May 2004, gunmen ambushed Russian electrical engineers at Musayyib, kidnapping two and killing one. The two hostages were later released. Rebels also ambushed Russian technicians heading to a Baghdad power plant the same month, killing two and an Iraqi. The violence prompted Moscow-based Interenergoservis to pull out its 241 employees. Russia opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, has no troops here but maintains a diplomatic presence in Iraq. The most recent was a United Arab Emirates diplomat who was seized by gunmen in Mansour and held for more than two weeks before being released late last month. Last July, two Algerian diplomats and an Egyptian colleague were separately kidnapped and killed. In October, two Moroccan Embassy workers were abducted and later killed. The insurgent group al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for all the abductions.
Russian embassy employee shot dead in Baghdad Reuters
Gunmen ambush Russian diplomats in Baghdad SI.com
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IRAQ: ALAS IN WONDERLAND - ASHRAF FAHIM (ASIA TIMES, JUNE 2): The new Iraqi
government is no more than a collection of sectarian fiefdoms masquerading as
ministries, and the people are racing toward emerging fault lines.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF02Ak01.html

GIVE THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AN F: A REPORT TO CONGRESS ON THE STATE OF IRAQ
IS INACCURATE AND MISLEADING. AMERICANS DESERVE THE TRUTH - ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN
(LOS ANGELES TIMES, JUNE 3): The report, "Measuring Stability and Security in
Iraq," provides a fundamentally false picture of the political situation in Iraq
and of the difficulties ahead.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...home-commentary

WILL CIVIL WAR BRING LASTING PEACE TO