UnFairWitness

1% of enlisted soldiers are deserters?

I just came across this statistic, reported by the Guardian, source - US military -

The army reported 2,781 deserters in 2003 and 1,470 in the first five months of this year, according to Lieutenant Colonel John Jessup, who collects army desertion data for the Pentagon. This makes up less than 1% of the enlisted soldiers; far lower than the average of 5% during the Vietnam war years, a fact explained largely by the absence of a draft for this war.

That seems pretty high. 1,500 deserters in FIVE months? Why isn't anyone talking about this? Another way to look at this is that with 7,000 wounded, 4,000 deserters and 1,000 killed, the US military is 12,000 soldiers short of it's numbers when it invaded Iraq.

Iraqi Kurdistan Heats Up: Turkey attacks PKK

Turkey moved against the Kurdish separatist rebels in Northern Iraq today, killing eleven PKK rebels. Two Turks were killed in the action.

Turkey has long threatened to take out the PKK themselves, after it became clear that American promises to "deal with" the rebels wereall talk and no action.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul reiterated a call for the United States to take action against Turkish Kurdish rebel bases across the border in Iraq.

"Of course, we expect international cooperation in this issue," Gul told private NTV television. "But we know how to deal with our enemy."

Asked whether Turkey would consider boosting forces in northern Iraq to fight Kurdish rebels, Gul said: "We would do whatever is necessary for our security."

Turkey already has 1,500 troops backed by tanks and other armor in northern Iraq to monitor rebel actions and prevent cross-border infiltrations.

Gov. Erdogan Gurbuz of Hakkari province said two soldiers and 11 rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, now known as KONGRA-GEL, were killed in the clashes that began Saturday.

An official speaking on condition of anonymity said over 1,000 Turkish troops have participated in the offensive. The troops, backed by U.S. made helicopters, were chasing the guerrillas near the city of Hakkari, where the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey meet.

Turkey is home to an estimated 12 million Kurds. Half of them live in the southeast.

Kurdish rebels had waged a 15-year war for autonomy, in which some 37,000 people were killed. They declared a unilateral cease-fire in 1999 after the capture of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan, but ended it after five years on June 1, saying Turkey had not responded in kind.

Rebels intensified attacks in the southeast after calling off the cease-fire, killing more than 20 Turkish soldiers or police. Turkish troops have killed more than 60 rebels in the same period.

Turkish authorities blamed the rebels for bombings earlier this month of two small hotels and a liquefied petroleum gas plant in Istanbul that killed two people and wounded 11 others.

Turkey has ruled out any dialogue with the rebel group, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and the European Union, and vowed to maintain its military drive until all rebels surrendered or are killed.

The US has refrained from moving against the PKK because it will anger the Kurdish population of northern Iraq, the only ethnic group that is pro-American, and in the only region that is even slightly peaceful. Attacks against the occupation and those perceived as collaborators, as well as ethnic clashes in the north have continued relentlessly while the eyes of most of the world were glued to the drama in Najaf.

Najaf battle moves to new locale, hostilities continue

BAGHDAD, Iraq Aug. 28, 2004 — Shiite militants and U.S. forces battled throughout the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, and a mortar barrage slammed into a busy neighborhood in the capital in a new wave of violence Saturday that killed at least five people and wounded dozens of others.

U.S. warplanes and tanks later bombarded targets in Sunni stronghold of Fallujah, and U.S. forces exchanged gunfire with insurgents along the city's eastern outskirts and the main highway running to neighboring Jordan, witnesses said. The fighting left at least 14 people injured, hospital officials said.

And, Fallujah receives its regular bombing:

The U.S. military said it responded to enemy fire on the edge of Fallujah, Iraq, with tanks and artillery.

Doctors said 14 people were wounded, many of them children.

Witnesses also reported gunfights on the eastern outskirts of Fallujah and along the main highway that connects Iraq to Jordan. At least four homes were destroyed and people were seen being rushed to a hospital.

A Marine spokesman said one U.S. air strike is believed to have taken out a "significant" cache of weapons. Fires were burning in the area.

U.S. forces have repeatedly carried out airstrikes in Fallujah since Marines ended a three-week siege of the city in April aimed at rooting out Sunni Muslim insurgents.

Here's Salam Pax on his trip to Sadr City today:

What I saw there can only be described as a provocation. Sadr City is not just surrounded by American tanks but they seem to have cut it off the rest of the city. I was trying to get to the big square with the huge Sadr portraits but there was no way to get around the Americans. I had to stay in the outer quadrants moving along the inner streets and asking people which way in. We got to a street where it looked OK to film, No American troops in sight and no groups of frowning young Sadr dudes.
[...]
Why do I think the American presence today is like poking a stick into a hornets nest? because many of the Mahdi guys will be coming back whipped and feeling they have wasted three weeks and what do they find when they get home? More Americans at their doorsteps. Not just a couple of tanks, but totally surrounding the center of the district. Am I surprised that there was a fire exchange? Not really.

Israeli Mole in Rumsfeld's Office?

Reuters:

- The FBI believes Israel has a spy at the very highest level of the Pentagon who may have sought to influence U.S. policy on Iran and Iraq, CBS News reported on Friday.

The Israeli embassy immediately denied the report.

"The FBI has a full-fledged espionage investigation under way and is about to ... roll up someone agents believe has been spying, not for an enemy, but for Israel, from within the office of the secretary of defense (Donald Rumsfeld)," the network reported.

CBS News said the FBI believed it had solid evidence the suspected mole supplied Israel with classified material that included secret White House deliberations on Iran.

The network described the spy as "a trusted analyst" assigned to a unit within the defense department tasked with helping develop the Pentagon's Iraq policy.

It said the analyst had ties to top Pentagon officials Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, both regarded as leading architects of the war on Iraq.

Asked about the CBS report, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy told reporters: "We categorically deny these allegations. They are completely false and outrageous."

CBS said the spy was believed to have been passing secrets to Israel through intermediaries at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby.

"Our sources tell us that last year the suspected spy ... turned over a presidential directive on U.S. policy toward Iran while it was 'in the draft phase'," the network said.

"This put the Israelis -- according to one of our sources -- 'inside the decision-making loop' so they could 'try to influence the outcome'," CBS reported.

I thought everyone in the Pentagon was an Israeli agent. I don't know why the FBI never noticed before. Anyway, the Israelis denied it, so that's settled.

Najaf Iraqi police show off corpses for the press

Reuters reports:

Just after taking control of the shrine where militiamen had been holed up, Iraqi police rushed to a hotel housing journalists and offered them access to an Islamic courthouse that had been run by militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

"Cover your noses. This is where his Mehdi Army slit the throats of people and then left them to rot," one said.

Inside the court, about 200 metres from the sacred Imam Ali shrine, were 15 bloated, blackened corpses covered in flies.

One was missing fingers. They could have been chopped off, or blown off by a mortar or a rocket. Some had gashes in their necks. It was impossible to tell whether their throats had been slit or they had suffered wounds or natural decay.

But it was clear animosities still seethe despite the peace deal brokered by Iraq's top Shi'ite leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

The U.S.-backed Najaf police accuse Sadr of handing down death sentences in a makeshift, illegal court. The young cleric sees himself as a champion of the impoverished and condemns the interim Iraqi government as American puppets.

The Islamic court's chief administrator, Hashim Abu Reef, denied the police accusations.

"We denounce this charge. This government is very capable of trying to frame us. Those corpses are our fighters which we could not wash or move because the Iraqi government and Americans cut off the electricity and water," he said.

"There is also one woman who was passing by the shrine and killed by a sniper. We can identify each and every body."

The cleric said the bodies had been there for two days.

As reporters and residents stood over the decaying bodies, police held up a carton of beer and gin.

"Is this the Mehdi Army's version of Islam?" a policeman asked as he hurled a box of cans.

But Reef said the Mehdi Army militiamen did not consume alcohol, which is forbidden by Islam.

Accusations were traded as police organised units around the shrine and nearby areas that have been pulverised by U.S. air strikes, rebel mortar attacks and fierce gunfire.

The cynical note struck by Michael Georgy strikes me as just right. I believe Abu Reef, in this case. This story reminds me of the hysteria that surrounded every announcement of WMD during the invasion of Iraq. Especially it reminds me of the story of The Corpse Warehouse. Remember that one? It was evidence of torture and atrocities!!! The caskets turned out to contain casualties of the Iran-Iraq war of the '80s, which Iran and Iraq had been repatriating.

No Republican Left Behind

From Harry Browne's Journal:

On July 31 Dick Cheney gave a speech in Albuquerque. Anyone who wanted to get in to the speech had to sign an oath that he was supporting George Bush for reelection. In part the oath read:

I, (full name), do herby [sic] endorse George W. Bush for reelection of the United States.

This provides absolute proof, if any were needed, that we must have a new federal reading & writing (not to mention Civics) program entitled: No Republican Left Behind.

Peace deal in Najaf

Christian Science Monitor reports on the Najaf "peace deal" :

The five-point peace plan called for:

• Najaf and Kufa be declared weapons-free cities
• All foreign forces withdraw from Najaf
• Iraqi local police take charge of security
• The government to compensate those whose businesses and homes were damaged in the fighting
• A census to be taken to prepare for elections expected in the country by January.

Reports say that Allawi has also "agreed" to this peace plan.

Arab Americans support Kerry over the War President 3 to 1

Wow. I wonder why Arab Americans don't like Bush? Don't they appreciate freedom?

Arab Americans, who represent key votes in Midwestern swing states like Michigan and Ohio, have starkly negative views of President Bush's handling of Iraq, prefer his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, and report experiencing high levels of persecution since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, a new poll shows.

A multilingual poll by Miami-based Bendixen & Associates show that 73 percent of Arab Americans do not support President Bush's handling of Iraq. The opinion poll of Arabs, Pakistanis and Iranians in the United States was commissioned by Amnesty International USA and New California Media (NCM), a nationwide association of ethnic media.

"I haven't seen [support] this low from any one group in the United States," says pollster Sergio Bendixen.

When asked how long the U.S. should keep troops in Iraq, 45 percent of Arab Americans believe troops should be removed from Iraq immediately, and 40 percent say the United States should stay out of the Middle East altogether.

The Amnesty/NCM poll was done in Persian, Urdu, Arabic and English between Aug. 2 and Aug. 18, as violence continued in Iraq and President Bush and Democratic candidate John F. Kerry debated Iraq policy and anti-terror strategy. For the 400 Arab Americans surveyed, the margin of error is plus or minus 5 percent. For the samples of 100 Pakistani and 100 Iranian Americans, the margin is plus or minus 9 percent.

The poll shows Arab Americans now support Kerry by a three- to-one margin. Almost half (49 percent) of the 273 Arab American registered voters say they will vote for Kerry, 16 percent support Bush and 14 percent prefer Nader, who is Arab American. By contrast, in 2000 Arab American voters chose Bush over Democrat Al Gore by a margin of 46 percent to 38 percent, according to pollster James Zogby.

Rahul Mahajan and Abbas Kadhim interview

Rahul Mahajan has audio of an interview he did along with Abbas Kadhim up on his blog, Empire Notes. It's background on the Najaf conflict, and discusses al-Sistani and al-Sadr.

If you download the mp3, add 3 to the end of the link, and it will work.

Violence begins at march on Najaf

The violence begins.

At least 10 supporters of Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric were shot dead in Najaf Thursday when gunmen opened fire at police who were trying to control the crowd, prompting the police to return fire, witnesses said.

Hospital officials said 10 bodies had been brought to Najaf's hospital after the shooting involving the followers of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Ambulance workers said it was too dangerous to return to the scene because of sniper fire.

Witness Hazim Kareem said the supporters wanted to follow Sistani after he arrived in the embattled city to try to end a radical Shi'ite uprising but police stopped them. Unidentified gunmen then entered the crowd, Kareem said.

"Suddenly armed men joined our group and fired at the police. The police started firing everywhere," Kareem, who was wounded, told Reuters at the hospital, where bodies dripping with blood were piled on stretchers.

UPDATE: Juan Cole updates us with a survey of violence perpetrated mainly by Iraqi "police" and "national guard."

What is al-Sistani's game?

Swopa at Needlenose updates us on developments in Najaf up to the point Sistani left for Najaf, which he has done, and according to some news reports he has arrived there, though what exactly he's doing is unclear. Swopa speculates on Sistani's decision to return to Iraq:

Moreover, it seems entirely likely to me that Sistani's return was sparked by the Iraqi envoys' visit in London, during which I'd guess they probably told him of Iyad Allawi's plans to launch an assault on the Imam Ali shrine. Rather than giving his assent, I have a hunch that the ayatollah responded, "The f--k you will," then turned to his aides and announced, "Road trip!!" in hopes of getting back before his sect's holiest site was reduced to a finely ground powder. (Or, uhhh, maybe he said something else along those lines. I'm paraphrasing, all right?) Perhaps in a few hours, we'll know for sure whether my guess is right.

Maybe so, but cynic that I am, I'd like to know how al-Sistani managed to get to Kuwait, and why his "convoy" from Kuwait to Basra was escorted by Iraqi police and why the mosque where he spent last night was guarded by British soldiers. Why did he convoy to Najaf in armored SUVs again with Iraqi police as escorts?

I was actually hoping he'd lead a Gandhi-esque march to Najaf, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and walk right through the fighting, daring either side to fire on the multitudes. Alas, it appears that he went surrounded only by acolytes and puppets and disappeared somewhere.

Here's a quote from Raed Jarrar of Raed in the Middle:

The role of Sistani in the current clashes between Iraqis and the occupying forces is very suspicious and annoying, at least from my point of view.

Sistani is one of, if not the most, popular Shia leaders in the world. They call him "moqallad" which means that Shia take him as an example of how to think and behave.

I don't want to discuss his previous positions, which I see as extremely pro-occupation and far from a national stand, but the U.S. administration worked on exaggerating his importance and influence as if he was THE Iraqi political leader. Sistani is a religious leader that shouldn't have been given the chance of filling the political gap in Iraq.

When the silly Iraqi government decided some days ago to send a delegation to Najaf to stop the bloodshed, they had a clear plan proposed by Husien AsSadr (a relative yet a non-supporter to Moqtada). This plan proposed that the Mahdi Army should leave the Shrine of Imam Ali without leaving the city, and it included a request of deassembling the Mahdi Army and converting it to a political party. AsSadr, being pragmatic as usual, accepted the proposal because he wants to enter the Iraqi political Agora and he knows that deassembling his army is nothing more than a spoken word. How can anyone deassemble an army with no hierarchy and using personal small weapons? But anyway, he said yes. The U.S. administration wanted to give Sistani a small post-surgery gift by letting him act the role of Mr. Wise and stop the fight.

Whether he is doing that on propose or not, AsSistani is the man of occupation in Iraq. The occupation forces and government will do their best to protect him and increase his influence by polishing his public image. The "10 million Shia march" that Sistani asked Iraqis to do is nothing more than flexing muscles and proving that he is as worried about Najaf as any other Iraqi.

And, Raed scoffs at the "10 million Iraqi march" and asks if Sistani is "losing it."

Can someone translate this song?

Raed on al-Sistani and al-Sadr

Well, Raed Jarrar is back with a vengeance and he has some devastating things to say about al-Sadr and al-Sistani and the drama now unfolding in Najaf. Start here and go up.

Press conference at gunpoint in Najaf

Chris Albritton has checked in again, with another dramatic story about trying to get to the Imam Ali Shrine. That story almost pales beside this one, which happened after they returned to their Najaf hotel:

I was on the roof trying to get my BGan to connect when Najaf’s finest burst onto the roof with a Kalashnikov and order me and the other journalists down to the lobby. The cops had raided the hotel and forced all the journalists out onto the street. We were terrified. The cops yelled at us and pointed their weapons toward us. Several large trucks were waiting and knew we would be loaded onto them. Then they started shooting.

“Yella, yella” they ordered us. BANG BANG! They fired their weapons just over our heads forcing us to crouch. The foreign journalists and the Arab media were separated into separate trucks and we were all brought to the police station at gunpoint. On the way, they continued to scream at us and point their weapons in our faces. I tried to put my money in my bag, but a young police officer thrust his Kalashnikov at me and rifled through my bag.

Finally, we made it to the police station. My friend Phillip urged me to ride it out, be calm, smile a little. Then we were herded into the police chief’s office for the most bizarre press conference of my life.

The Shrine would be stormed tonight, he said, and we would be allowed to get on a bus and go visit it tomorrow to see the damage the Mahdi Army had done to it. The Sistani protesters in Kufa were really Mahdi guys and they had to be killed. Oh, and thank you for coming.

A few of us put up a fight, demanding why they couldn’t just invite us down for a presser instead of kidnapping us. Oh, no, the commander said, that must have been a mistake. I just asked them to bring you to me… There was no order to brandish weapons, push journalists around and fire into the air. One cop, a lieutenant, just smiled at us when we pointed our fingers at him and said he was the one leading the raid, yelling and pointing his side arm at us.

These are Najaf’s finest. They’re like the old regime, only less disciplined. They’re terrifying and they’re the most dangerous element in this conflict. The Americans and the Mahdi Army have pretty set positions and you know they’re not targeting journalists. But the police here have been engaging in a systematic intimidation of us for three weeks now. The governor of Najaf has reportedly threatened to jail journalists who don’t write down exactly what he says when he says it in interviews.

So we were returned to the hotel on bus. This was another warning to stop covering the Mahdi Army. To get out. My office manager in Baghdad is urging me to leave, but I really want to stay. I’m unsure what to do, and the cops’ unpredictability is unnerving.

This really isn't so out of the ordinary for most Iraqi Kops. Oddly, Sistani is calling for all armed persons in Najaf to leave except the police.

Father burns Marine van and self after learning of son's death

Damn.

A man set fire to a Marine Corps van and suffered severe burns Wednesday after he was told his Marine son had been killed in Iraq, police said.

Marines went to the house in Hollywood to tell the parents of a 20-year-old private first class that their son died Tuesday in Najaf, police said in a statement.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, then walked out of the house with a torch and what appeared to be a container of flammable liquid.

The Marines tried to stop him from starting the fire, but he set himself on fire in the process and was inside the burning van when the Marines pulled him out and put out the flames, police said.

Poor guy. There are pictures here.

Cleland and Rassman to deliver letter from Kerry to Bush "Ranch"

Now here's another spectacle that will be very interesting:

Democrat John Kerry will dispatch two fellow Vietnam veterans to President Bush's secluded Texas ranch on Wednesday to press him to condemn television advertisements accusing Kerry of lying about his wartime service.

The move comes one day after it was disclosed that a top lawyer for Bush's re-election campaign has been providing legal advice to the group behind the ads, the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Kerry is sending to Crawford former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, a frequent companion of Kerry's on the campaign trail and a fellow Vietnam War veteran who lost three limbs during the war.

Cleland and former Army Green Beret Jim Rassman, whose life was saved by Kerry during a Vietnam war firefight, will try to deliver a letter protesting the ads to Bush at his heavily guarded ranch, Kerry aides said.

Shi`a to March on Najaf

Reuters reports an aide to Grand Ayatollh al-Sistani reading this announcement on Wednesday in Basra:

"We ask all believers to volunteer to go with us to Najaf," Sistani said in a statement read out on his behalf in Basra by his aide Hayder al-Safi. "I have come for the sake of Najaf and I will stay in Najaf until the crisis ends."

Sistani's aides said he would depart for Najaf at 7 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Thursday with his supporters. They urged U.S. forces encircling the gold-domed mosque to leave.

The same article reports that al-Sadr also urged his followers to converge on Najaf.

UPDATE: AFP reports:

In Baghdad, hundreds of Shiite faithful left for Najaf to answer Sistani`s call, as delighted Basra residents flocked to the villa where he was staying, vowing to fight a holy war at his command.

Another point of interest - the AFP article says that al-Sistani called on "all Iraqis" to go to Najaf.

UPDATE: First casualties in the march to Najaf:

Two people were killed and five wounded by gunfire Wednesday as hundreds of demonstrators passed a multinational force building en route to the besieged twin city of Najaf, medical sources said.

The incident happened outside a US base also patrolled by Iraqi national guardsmen between Najaf and Kufa.

Troops fired into the air to disperse the crowd, but it was not immediately clear who fired the fatal bullets.

UPDATE: Apparently, the Iraqi "National Guard" fired on the demonstration:

Video footage from Associated Press Television News showed demonstrators wounded during a few minutes of heavy gunfire. It was unclear from the footage who was shooting.

Mohammed Abdul Kadhim, an employee at Kufa's Furat al-Awsat Hospital, said two marchers were killed and five wounded.

The marchers chanted slogans in support of al-Sadr and carried pictures of the cleric as well as pictures of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, the country's top Shiite leader.

APTN footage showed wounded men being carried away, and one man lying motionless in an ambulance as medics rubbed his chest.

Witnesses said the gunfire appeared to come from an Iraqi National Guard post, which sat behind concrete blast walls along the route. The automatic weapons fire sent the marchers into a panic, with many scurrying for safety and yelling angrily. No one in the crowd could be seen firing a weapon, and it was unclear whether the incident was a gunbattle or an unprovoked attack on the demonstration.

Earlier Wednesday afternoon, Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi said Iraqi security forces had "taken all needed measures to prevent any crowds from entering the province," calling it a "military area."

The demonstration by hundreds of apparently unarmed al-Sadr supporters was headed to Najaf from the neighboring city of Kufa, with plans to break the U.S.-led siege there, witnesses said.

The demonstrators' chants praised al-Sadr and condemned interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

"Allawi you are a coward. You are an American collaborator," the demonstrators chanted.

In the Imam Ali shrine....

was Chris Albritton. Read about his harrowing trip to the shrine, which amazingly included an ice cream break.

We crossed Medina street. Another street, who’s name I don’t know lay ahead, and it was guarded by tanks and other heavy armor. As we began to cross, I looked down to see a wire snaking across the alleyway we were preparing to dart from. It led into a pile of debris, and the casing of an unexploded shell was clearly visible. Great. We were standing on an IED. We decided it was time to move. This was when the Reuters photog started crying.

When we got to the other side of the street, we began to relax a little. Until we saw another IED in the ground at our feet. We hopped it and entered the maze of the Old City.

This is pretty great timing for Chris to be in Najaf, with Sistani just returning and saying he's going to lead a march on the shrine.

Oh, and be sure and check out his pictures of the treasures of Ali, and damage inflicted on the shrine.

Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani returns to Najaf

Well, well, look who's back:

Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric returned home from Britain on Wednesday to help broker an end to nearly three weeks of fighting in Najaf and is calling on his followers to join him in a march to reclaim the holy city, his spokesmen and witnesses said.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani return came as heavy fighting persisted in Najaf's Old City. U.S. warplanes fired on suspected insurgent positions, helicopters flew overhead and heavy gunfire was heard in the streets, witnesses said.

Al-Sistani, 73, crossed into southern Iraq from Kuwait about midday in a caravan of sport utility vehicles accompanied by Iraqi police and national guardsmen. The convoy quickly passed through the southern city of Basra, witnesses said.

The "march to reclaim the holy city" should be an interesting spectacle.

Imam Ali Shrine Treasures and al Sadr

Raincoast asks, "What exactly are these treasures and has anyone checked ebay?" I haven't seen anything on eBay that sounds like this description provided by zeyad of Healing Iraq, which I just happened to be reading as you posted your question:

This treasury which is located inside a safe locked basement beneath the shrine contains historical artifacts, priceless manuscripts and a significant amount of gold and gems. These have been gifted and donated to the shrine by Shia from all over the world for centuries. No one has ever dared touch that treasury except the family that holds the keys to the shrine. Radhwan Al-Rufai'i was forced to give over the keys to one of Sadr's aides last April. Al-Rufai'i had taken over the responsibilities of the shrine after his cousin Haider Al-Kelidar who was murdered with Abdul Majid Al-Khoe'i on 10 April 2003 by Sadr's followers.

zeyad also says, "Sistani's office has been placing these obstacles on Sadr in response to rumours that a large part of the treasury has been stolen and possibly smuggled to Iran. If true, Sadr would be in a very bad position since he was practically responsible for the shrine's contents and would also expose him as the gangster he is." It seems that there are two positions on this Shrine Key fiasco. One group believes that al Sadr ripped stuff off from the Shrine and used it for funding his army or lining the pockets of his supporters. The other side thinks that al Sadr has maneuvered al Sistani into an untenable position by insisting that he take over the shrine while al Sistani is ludicrously still in London. Is any of the marjiya back in Iraq yet? Anyway, you see how al Sadr has refused to allow al Sistani to hide quietly in London?

One more comment on Zeyad's post. At the end he sends another unwarranted accusation Al Sadr's way:

Something else has been bothering me for a while. How come there are NEVER any suicide bombings whenever there is trouble in the south with Sadr? And why do the Sunni areas seem so peaceful?

I didn't think Iraqis got Fox News. How else to explain how clueless zeyad is about events in Iraq? There was a suicide bombing yesterday that killed two Iraqis and wounded eight and it was in Baquba, a city in the Sunni area.

Re: Christmas in Cambodia

I've been accused of being cryptic before, but when Colin Hunter, cofounder of AntiWar.com makes his first and only post on this blog to ask why I am "pro-Kerry" I have to wonder if I'm actually communicating my position to anyone at all. Maybe this post (Who's worse, Bush or Kerry?) was too ambiguous. Or, maybe Kerry should have been Alien instead of Predator?

Click the image for the 2004 American presidential election Ultimate Metaphor:

Really, though, that's Tim's fault. Plus, whoever was Alien should have sported the authentic Alien drool.

Seriously, my Saturday blog tour of July 31 included this entry:

Best blog comment from an anti-war lefty on the deplorable Kerry is at Lenin's Tomb. "Kerry is the neocon dream. Pro-war, pro-Israel, pro-Plan Colombia. And also, not to miss the finer points, loaded." Lenin points out that not only is Kerry a hawk on Iraq, but he may well be a worse Drug Warrior than Bush.

Now, I wouldn't think that calling Kerry deplorable and linking to a post which says that Kerry is a neocon's dream would be considered "pro-Kerry."

All that said, I find it rather confusing to be labeled "pro-Kerry" on the basis of not posting about the Cambodia thing. If Kerry flat-out lied about his Xmas in Cambodia, how would that be out of character for a politician and what would make it interesting to write about amidst the deluge of lies from all the politicians? It would just reinforce what ancap libertarians believe anyway, which is that in politics the scum rises to the top and all politicians lie. The Swifties, on the other hand, are a group of people publicly and prominently lying for a politician, which is not extraordinary in itself, but the level of vitriol and the seriousness of the accusations are exceptional and peculiar to right-wing neocon Republicans, who, as you know, were the architects of the current deadly American Adventure in Mess-O-potamia. I find them interesting because I watched the idea for the Swiftie attack percolate up from the toxic slime of FreeRepublic, starting with the winter soldier hysteria which morphed into the SBVT campaign when John O'Neill began collaborating with two Winter Soldier FReeps, Jerome Corsi and Scott Swett. To watch this issue go from rabid warbot neocon FreeRepublic straight out into the national discussion raises some interesting questions about how a FReeper-constructed narrative, the premise of which is absurdly illogical and which is contradicted by all the empirical evidence, might affect the choreography of the 2004 election. Will people see the absurdity? Will people, faced with their first glimpse into the militaristic, Arab-hating, authoritarian mindset of the War Party, which is all that is tolerated at "Free" Republic, recoil in disgust? Will they yawn and walk on? Will they even bother to look? What about Bush and the Republicans running his campaign? Are they okie-dokie with having these types of people in their camp? Are the Bushies linked somehow to the SBVT/FReeps? Since the Swift Boat Liars controversy went national, Bush has avoided these questions like they were an F-102.

Here's a question for you, Colin. Yesterday, LewRockwell.com carried an aricle by Paul Craig Roberts titled Slow Boat Veterans for Lies. Lew himself points to the PCR article on the LRC blog ,saying, "Paul Craig Roberts on the latest Republican dirty trick." Now, as far as I've seen, neither Rockwell nor Roberts have written about the Great Cambodian Christmas Flap. Are they "pro-Kerry," too? Paul Craig Roberts' article highlighted in AntiWar.com's "Viewpoints" today concludes, "If you favor the return of the draft and war without end, vote Republican."

To be consistent in your criticism of me (and, by implication, Arthur Silber), you would have to label Lew Rockwell and Paul Craig Roberts (among many others) "pro-Kerry" and question their claims to anti-interventionism, and accordingly, I could ask you why a writer who is pro-Kerry by the standards you set for me has an entire archive on AntiWar.com, unless the standards for judging AWC bloggers are somehow more stringent than they are for columnists.

UPDATE: Holiday in Cambodia - The "Christmas Eve" attack on Kerry is cheap and almost certainly wrong.
By Fred Kaplan

Iraqi Olympic soccer coach: Iraq is not free

The Iraqi Olympic soccer coach demonstrates why the US doesn't want Iraqis anywhere near a free press:

THESSALONIKI, Greece (Reuters) - Iraq's Olympic soccer coach said Monday his side should not be seen as a symbol of freedom, taking issue with a campaign commercial for President Bush.

The flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear in a commercial as part of Bush's drive for re-election in November. A narrator says: "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."

But coach Adnan Hamad said Iraq, still plagued by violence daily, remained a country under occupation.

"You cannot speak about a team that represents freedom. We do not have freedom in Iraq, we have an occupying force. This is one of our most miserable times," he said.

"Freedom is just a word for the media. We are living in hard times, under occupation."

The Iraqi men's soccer side has been one of the surprises of the Olympics, reaching the semifinals of the competition. They play Paraguay Tuesday for a place in the final.

But their success has been overshadowed in the past few days by rows over the commercial for Bush, who went to war and ousted Iraq's Saddam Hussein last year.

Although Washington has officially handed power to an Iraqi interim government, more than 130,000 American soldiers remain in the country, battling with insurgents from various factions. Western officials also hold key positions behind the scenes.

"We want to give our people a cause to celebrate, to forget their problems," Hamad told reporters in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, the venue for Tuesday's match.

After Sports Illustrated magazine quoted Iraqi team members expressing outrage at the Bush ad, a British adviser to the Iraqi Olympic committee accused journalists of taking advantage of players' naivete and said sport should not be politicized.

But Hamad said: "One cannot separate politics and sport because of the situation in the country right now."

He said the violence which continues to afflict Iraq, more than a year after Bush declared major combat there was over, meant the team could not fully enjoy its success.

"To be honest with you, even our happiness at winning is not happiness because we are worried about the problems in Iraq, all the daily problems that our people face back home, so to tell you the truth, we are not really happy," he said.

Emphasis and links mine.

UPDATE: Another soccer team story:

BAGHDAD, Aug 23 (AFP) - Loading Kalashnikovs ready to herald victory, Iraqis have put aside their simmering conflicts to cheer the fortunes of their Olympic football team, which could be on the verge of clinching a historic medal in Athens.

Having stunned talent-packed Portugal in their opening match and defeated Australia in the quarter-finals, the unfancied Iraqi side stands just 90 minutes away from a gold medal showdown against either Argentina or Italy.

"We have been carrying the dreams of a whole nation," said veteran coach Adnan Hamad.

Their team's electric performance on the pitch have united a fractious and deeply-troubled country, bogged down in a near three-week battle between US-led Iraqi government forces and Shiite militiamen in Najaf.

"We are twice as happy -- we have been successful and we have made our fellow countrymen proud ... From now on, anything is possible. If we make the final it will be a great honour," said Hamad.

"It has united Iraqis and for a while, made them forget the violence that has ruined their country since the war's end in April 2003," said Najah Hamud, vice-chairman of the Iraqi Football Federation, beaming in his shabby office.
[...]
"Before the war we were cut off from the world because of the (13-year UN) embargoes," said Hamud.

"We dreamed about going to Amman for a few days just for a change of scene. Now we've been invited all over the world and we'll accept."
[...]
"I hope our achievements heal the hurt of the Iraqi people and help bring an end to the occupation," said trainer Adnan Hamad from Athens.

The Imam Ali Shrine treasures are a hot potato

As usual, I read Juan Cole first thing this morning and unusually, he's posted something with which I'm going to take issue:

The fate of the priceless treasures stored at the Shrine of Ali has proved an intractable sticking point in the negotiations between Muqtada al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, according to al-Zaman. Since 1845 or so, the shrine keeper has been in a single family. Under the Baath, he was under the authority of the state Board of Pious Endowments. Haydar al-Rufay'i al-Kalidar was viewed by the Sadr movement as a collaborator because he worked with this board. He was killed by a Sadrist mob on April 10, 2003, along with Ayatollah Abdul Majid al-Khoei, who had just flown in from exile in London. His place has been taken by Ridwan al-Rufay'i al-Kalidar, a 23 year old engineer from the U.K. For most of the period after the fall of Saddam until 1 April, 2003, the shrine of Ali came under the control of the Badr Corps, the paramilitary of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, now headed by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, an ally of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

Up until April 1, the treasures of the shrine were intact and accounted for. But when the ragtag Mahdi Army militiamen took over the shrine as part of their first anti-American insurgency, which responded to sudden American threats to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr.

Sistani appears to fear that in the past five months, the Sadrists may have looted the treasures of the shrine. (If they did, it would have made them enormously wealthy and helped to bankroll the further expansion of the movement.) He fears for his good name if he takes the keys to the shrine from the Sadrists and then later an inventory is done, and treasures are missing. It would be impossible to know at that point whether Sistani's men had stolen them, or Sadr's.

So apparently an inventory would have to be done first, before Sistani will take possession. One of Muqtada's spokesmen suggested that the Shiite Board of Pious Endowments be charged with carrying out a quick inventory, so that the transfer can go forward.

Now, Abdul Hussein al-Obeidi of AP reports

The crisis appeared on the verge of resolution Friday, when insurgents decided to remove their weapons from the shrine and said they were willing to turn the holy site over to representatives of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani.

Then, the handover bogged down Saturday amid arguments over its implementation.

Al-Sadr's followers said they tried to give the shrine's keys to al-Sistani's representatives, who refused to accept them. But an aide to al-Sistani - who is in London undergoing medical treatment - said al-Sadr's followers must leave the holy shrine's compound, "close the doors and hand over the keys."

"We cannot receive the shrine compound unless they agree to this formula," said the aide, Sheik Hamed Khafaf.

Sheik Ali Smeisim, al-Sadr's chief lieutenant, said the militants would not leave until a delegation from al-Sistani's office inspects the shrine to ensure its treasures are intact, so they could not be accused of taking anything.

Khafaf said the violence precludes such a delegation.

A small point, perhaps, but I'd like to know why Sistani's people are insisting that al Sadr's Mahdi Army vacate the shrine before they will take responsibility if they want to do an inventory first. It would seem logical that both parties be present for an inventory.

Saturday blog tour

This is a mini blog tour because I had a crazy day!

How about that Iraqi soccer team?

How bad IS the missile defense system the Bushies are insisting on deploying pre-election? Noah Schachtman at Defense Tech posts that the former Pentagon testing chief Phillip Coyle says it is about this bad. More.

Mark Elf posts that Israel Shamir has been outed as a Swedish neo-Nazi.

Everyone's talking about those lying Swift Boat Vets. The best treatment of the SBVT (Notice how that acronym spells subvert?) controversy is by Arthur Silber, of course.

Salam Pax is back and is posting on a new blog. He called the new blog shut up you fat whiner!, probably so people wouldn't doubt it was really him. He was in Najaf today. Meanwhile, the mathematically challenged Raed Jarrar is still AWOL.

Trophies from Iraq

Isn't there something extremely tacky about this?

Head Of Saddam Statue Is At Ky. State Fair

Current mayhem in Iraq, 8/19 Edition

OK, too much is happening, so I'm doing an Iraqi mayhem post.

Moqtada al Sadr's militants have torched the headquarters of Iraq's South Oil Company on Thursday and set the company's warehouses and offices on fire.

Rebels mortared the American "embassy" in Baghdad, wounding two Americans and damaging the roof. Negroponte was elsewhere.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani is still in London. Since nothing important was happening in Iraq, he had eye surgery on Monday. Interestingly, all four of Iraq's Grand Ayatollah's have business outside of Iraq.

Sources in Najaf state that all four clerics of the Maraji are now out of Iraq.

Ayat Najafi has left for Iran.
Ayat Hakim has left for Germany.
Ayat Sistani is in London.
Ayat Fayadh has left Najef, his whereabouts and destination are uclear. Fayadh was born in Pakistan.

Thanks grrpy and Angry Arab.

UPDATE: The US military is using AC-130 gunships on the Old City of Najaf.

UPDATE: US warplanes bomb Fallujah. Again.

Iraqi Olympic soccer players tell Bush to stop using them in campaign ads

Iraqi Olympic soccer player, Ahmed Manajid, angered by George Bush using the team in a (fatuous - read the article to see how stupid it is) campaign commercial said:

"How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women?" Manajid told me. "He has committed so many crimes."

The Bush campaign was contacted about the Iraqi soccer player's statements, but has yet to respond.

To a man, members of the Iraqi Olympic delegation say they are glad that former Olympic committee head Uday Hussein, who was responsible for the serial torture of Iraqi athletes and was killed four months after the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003, is no longer in power.

But they also find it offensive that Bush is using their team for his own gain when they do not support his administration's actions in Iraq. "My problems are not with the American people," says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. "They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the [national] stadium and there are shootings on the road?"

At a speech in Beaverton, Ore., last Friday, Bush attached himself to the Iraqi soccer team after its opening-game upset of Portugal. "The image of the Iraqi soccer team playing in this Olympics, it's fantastic, isn't it?" Bush said. "It wouldn't have been free if the United States had not acted."

Sadir, Wednesday's goal-scorer, used to be the star player for the professional soccer team in Najaf. In the city in which 20,000 fans used to fill the stadium and chant Sadir's name, U.S. and Iraqi forces have battled loyalists to rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr for the past two weeks. Najaf lies in ruins.

"I want the violence and the war to go away from the city," says Sadir, 21. "We don't wish for the presence of Americans in our country. We want them to go away."

Manajid, 22, who nearly scored his own goal with a driven header on Wednesday, hails from the city of Fallujah. He says coalition forces killed Manajid's cousin, Omar Jabbar al-Aziz, who was fighting as an insurgent, and several of his friends. In fact, Manajid says, if he were not playing soccer he would "for sure" be fighting as part of the resistance.

"I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?" Manajid says. "Everyone [in Fallujah] has been labeled a terrorist. These are all lies. Fallujah people are some of the best people in Iraq."

The truth hurts, doesn't it, Shrubbie? Funny how people can hate you just because you kill their cousins and friends.

US Embassy in Baghdad hit by mortar

Iraqis mortar American "Embassy" in Baghdad, but Negroponte wasn't there.

Al Sadr: Martyrdom or Victory

Blustery threats are issuing from the Puppets who claim "Iraqi forces" are going to storm the Imam Ali shrine "within hours" and teach the Mahdi Army and Moqtada al Sadr a lesson.

To prevent an imminent attack on his forces, who are holed up in the revered Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf, al-Sadr must immediately disarm his Mahdi Army militia and hand over its weapons to the authorities, Minister of State Qassim Dawoud said.

The cleric must also sign a statement saying he will refrain from future violence and release all civilians and Iraqi security forces his militants have kidnapped. In addition, al-Sadr must hold a news conference to announce he is disbanding the Mahdi Army.

"The military action has become imminent," Dawoud told reporters. "If these conditions are not met, then the military solution will prevail."

After hearing Dawoud's threat, Sheik Abdul Hadi al-Daraji, a spokesman for al-Sadr in Baghdad, called for talks to quickly "stop the bloodbaths in the holy city of Najaf."

"What we want is for the parties to sit down and cooperate. To ask a side, or the Sadrist movement, to disarm, I think is not logical and not right. They should rather sit around a negotiating table and determine what's right and wrong," he told Al-Arabiya television.

In the chaos that is Najaf, it is difficult to separate truth from bluster and confusion, so lets look at a few of the claims making the rounds this morning.

I'm no military strategist, but inside the Imam Ali Shrine compound are at least 2,000 Iraqis who are acting as human shields, probably more. The 2,000 figure was reported last weekend as Shi`a and Sunni muslims from all over Iraq began arriving in Najaf after Friday sermons. Al Sadr's forces are supposed to number about 2,000, or they were last I saw a count. Allegedly, American tanks have Sadr's forces "trapped" in the shrine complex. If that were true, who did this?

A mortar attack on a police station in the Iraqi city of Najaf has killed seven people and wounded 21 others, police said.

Police told reporters three mortar bombs hit the station in quick succession, although they added it was not near the city's holy sites where a radical Shiite Muslim cleric and his militia are engaged in a two-week battle with US forces.

It was unclear how many of the victims were police from the mortar attack.

Not near the holy sites. How "trapped" are Sadr's men if they can mortar the police station and kill at least seven police?

Go here and look at this Imam Ali mosque complex. How many troops would it take to "storm" this enormous shrine which encloses at least 4,000 people happily waiting to die as martyrs? True, they are not heavily armed and armored, but they have AK47s, RPGs, the advantage of an urban battlefield which is also a holy site, damaging which will have to give attacking Muslim troops at least a little hesitation.

Who will die for Allawi and the occupiers as their Muslim Storm Troopers? Who are the "Iraqi troops" fighting alongside the Americans? Clearly, they are the only organized Iraqi militia still allied with the Americans - the Kurdish peshmerga. If the peshmerga attack the shrine of Ali for the Americans, it may well be a fatal blow for Arab-Kurd relations, already strained by the Kurdish participation in the siege of Fallujah. If the attack incites a violent Shia reaction, the Kurds may well end up paying the price for the folly of collaborating with the hated occupation. It is difficult to imagine how the Americans and Allawi's thugs might be persuading the peshmerga to do their bidding, but if they succeed in using them for this attack all of the Kurdish eggs will be in the Occupation's basket, and considering the tradition of American sellouts of the Kurds that is not a good place to store anything valuable or fragile.

Be that as it may and for whatever reasons, both sides appear to have created positions that make a violent conflict inevitable. In 1991, the last violent takeover over of the Imam Ali Shrine occurred when Saddam Hussein put down the last of the Shi`a revolt encouraged by George I by slaughtering thousands of Shi`a inside the mosque, even allegedly using poison gas. Will George II follow Saddam down this historic path?

This is no Free Speech Zone

Guess which one is the Bushista?

Give up?

link via Orcinus

Score in Najaf: Mahdi Army - 2, Occupation and Puppets - 0

Whatever you think of Moqtada al Sadr, you have to admire the deft manueuvering that keeps everyone off-balance with the wrong foot forward. While practically all the news reports on this development claim some variation on the Mahdi Army surrenders/Sadr Agrees to Peace Plan theme, take a look at what the spokesman for Sadr actually said.

A spokesperson for rebel leader Moqtada Sadr expressed surprise on Wednesday at threats of an imminent attack on his militia by Iraqi forces, saying the Shiite cleric had agreed to demands made by peace mediators.

"We are surprised by the declaration and threat by the minister of defence ... because we have given our full accord to the initiative presented by the delegation," Ahmed Shibani said on Al-Jazeera television.

Defence minister Hazem al-Shaalan vowed that a "decisive" battle would be launched against Sadr militiamen, who he said must surrender within hours in the central holy city of Najaf, where heavy fighting raged earlier on Wednesday.

Shibani said: "The delegation came with three demands, including that the mehdi army hands (the security of) the old city to the suitable party...and that the Sadr movement participates in the political process."

He added that the Sadr movement was ready to take part in the political process "if it is honest".

"We discussed these points and 10 other points that had been discussed with (national security advisor) Muaffaq al-Rubaie, and our efforts were successful. The delegation went back satisfied," he said.

But the government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was "blocking" any peaceful resolution of the crisis, he said.

"We are ready to meet the delegation anytime...we pledge to (organise) a meeting between Moqtada Sadr and the delegation" on the condition of "putting an end to the bombardment of the old city of Najaf and the end of the siege", he said.

Isn't that positively Bushista in it's vagueness larded with conditions? It's almost worthy of that old liar extraordinaire, Ariel Sharon.

The fierce fighting has threatened a peace initiative spearheaded by emissaries from Iraq's key national conference, who travelled to the shrine late on Tuesday, only to be snubbed by Sadr who said "aggression by the Americans" had made it unsafe for him to appear.

Rajaa Habib al-Khuzai, a former member of Iraq's former governing council, one of those who went to Najaf, said the head of the mission, Sheikh Hussein al-Sadr, would meet Allawi to ask for a ceasefire for a subsequent trip.

Khuzai also told Al-Jazeera: "All what Shibani said was true. The mediation did not fail. On the contrary, it was a success. The meeting was positive."

She also denounced the threats by the defence minister of an imminent offensive, saying: "It is regrettable because there was an agreement this morning."

So, now what? This looks like a clear win for Sadr and the Iraqis who opposed "Allawi's" assault with his proxy American troops. The ball is in the Puppets' court. Meanwhile, the American military is left in the ludicrous position of assaultus interruptus, again.

Peace delegates fly to Najaf in American Black Hawks

Here's all you need to know about the "peace delegation" sent from Baghdad's "conference" to negotiate with Moqtada al Sadr and the Mahdi Army in Najaf:

The delegates flew in by helicopter to an American military camp on the outskirts of the city. They hope to convince Mr. Sadr to disarm his militia — the Mahdi Army, to leave the shrine and to join the political process.

That's right, they're flying in on American Black Hawks into an American military camp.

The Independent cites fake exit polls in Chavez recall

Amusing. The Independent ran the article below last night. Try the link. (I picked this off memeorandum, where the gullible warfloggers' posts are preserved in internet amber jumping all over this ray of hope.)

******************************************
Venezuela's Chavez on brink of referendum defeat
  By Hannah Baldock / Independent   —   Posted 9 hours ago   —  

Permalink 

The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, looked to be losing his grip on
power last night as exit polls showed him to be trailing the opposition
by almost a million votes.

The figures were early indications that, for the first time in the
country's history, the President may have his term in office cut short
by a referendum.


Jan Haugland: However, a bit earlier exit polls showed him losing by a landslide.

Orrin Judd: YOU GO NOW: Venezuela's Chavez on brink of referendum defeat (Hannah Baldock, 16 August 2004, Independent) "The...


Michael Totten: Defenders of Jackboots — Good riddance, buddy.

Glenn Reynolds: CHAVEZ UPDATE: Massive turnout in the recall election. UPDATE: Exit polls show Chavez losing badly.

******************************************

Al Giordano and Ron Smith are all over the Independent for running this fantasy news.

Defending the Imam Ali Shrine

A crowd of unarmed volunteer human shields made up of Shi'ite Muslim followers of radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al Sadr, chant anti-government slogans in the courtyard of Imam Ali's shrine in Najaf August 16, 2004. With his militants and human shields holed up inside one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines, radical cleric al-Sadr is playing a shrewd waiting game ahead of an expected American-led offensive. Photo by Chris Helgren/Reuters

• "We will not leave the shrine until the Americans get out of Najaf. We will kill," said Ugil Abdel Hussein, 32, a member of the Turkmen minority from the northern city of Kirkuk.
• Hundreds of tribesmen met inside the shrine and vowed their support. One of them called on all of Iraq's tribes to hold a national conference Wednesday to end the Najaf crisis.

  "All Iraqi tribesmen are invited to try and end this bloodbath in Najaf," said Sheikh Kassim Khafaji, addressing more than 100 tribesmen.

• "These people are a deterrent to the Americans because they are civilians. They are here so that the Americans won't attack the Imam Ali shrine," said Sheikh Ahmed Shaibani, a senior Mehdi Army commander and top aide to Sadr.
• "I will lie on the ground in front of the tanks, or I will kill the Americans to defend Sadr and Najaf," said Fadil Hamed, 30, standing among a group of men who said they walked to Najaf from the southern city of Basra.

Protests in Seoul

About 10,000 protesters rallied on Sunday as they demanded U.S. withdraw its troops from South Korea (news - web sites), that South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun cancel planned troop dispatch to Iraq (news - web sites) and for Roh to resign. (Lee Jae-Won/Reuters)

Fallujah Daily Bombing Death Toll, 8/15

Fallujah Daily Bombing Death Toll

FIVE people were killed when US forces carried out multiple bombing raids in the flashpoint Iraqi city of Fallujah, a doctor said today.

"Five people were killed and six wounded," said the medic from Fallujah general hospital.

"The Americans fired seven missiles."

So far today.

Iraqi Mayhem Updates, 8/15

Iraqi conference walkout protests Najaf bombings

A NATIONAL conference, hailed as Iraq's first experiment in democracy for decades, got off to a rocky start today when more than 100 delegates walked out to protest against fighting in the holy city of Najaf.

Dozens of people leapt out of their seats as soon as UN special envoy to Iraq Ashraf Jehangir Qazi finished his opening speech. "As long as there are air strikes and shelling we can't have a conference," some shouted.

Yahya Mussawi, from a Shiite Muslim political grouping that helped defuse a spring uprising by militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, jumped on the stage before he was forced down by chief organiser Fuad Maasum.

"Part of democracy is that you listen to the Iraqi people. It is time that you heard us and we ask that military operations stop in Najaf immediately and dialogue takes place," Mr Mussawi shouted.

"Listen to us, prime minister, listen to us," said the protesters, as Mr Maasum announced a 30-minute break in the proceedings.

Iraqi guerillas also demonstrated their opinion of the "conference" by shelling it.

The Iraqi National Conference, intended to help shape democracy, was interrupted Sunday by protesters who demanded an end to violence in Najaf.

Minutes after the disruption, a series of mortar rounds landed less than a mile from the conference site in Baghdad's Green Zone. Two people were killed and 17 others wounded, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry.

The attack took place despite a daytime curfew for central Baghdad designed to head off violence during the conference.

Meanwhile, near Sawaya,

A Dutch soldier was shot dead and five others injured seriously in a shooting incident in Iraq on Saturday, the Dutch defence ministry said in a statement.

According to reports reaching here, the 29-year-old military policeman, who was among some 1,200 Dutch troops stationed near the southern town of Samawa, was killed when an attack took place on a military vehicle near the town of Ar Rumaythah, north of Samawa, the statement said.

Shortly after the attack, US military, including a Black Hawk helicopter, came to help with the medical evacuation.

And, a Ukrainian soldier was killed Sunday in a land mine explosion southeast of Baghdad, a spokesman for the multinational forces said. The blast occurred in the area of Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, in the Ukrainian troops' area of responsibility.

Update: One US soldier was killed early Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded in northern Baghdad, the US military said in a statement.

Update:

"A major assault by forces will be launched quickly to bring the Najaf fight to an end," Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.

"This matter has to be brought to conclusion as fast as possible and we want to bring the situation to normalcy soon."

Police ordered Iraqi and foreign journalists out of Najaf.

"From now on this city is closed," a senior police officer told reporters.

Police chief General Ghaleb al-Jazairi said he was under orders from the Interior Minister that all journalists, local and foreign, leave within hours.

Mohammad Kazem, an Iraqi correspondent for Iranian television, was detained at gunpoint by police in the middle of a live broadcast from a rooftop.

I'm sure the journalists are being ordered out of Najaf out of concern for their safety.

CZESLAW MILOSZ, 1911-2004

Czeslaw Milosz died Saturday at his home in Krakow, Poland at the age of 93

MEANING (Provinces)

When I die, I Will see the lining of the world.
The other side, beyond bird, mountain, sunset.
The true meaning, ready to be decoded.
What never added up will add Up,
What was incomprehensible will be comprehended.

And if there is no lining to the world?
If a thrush on a branch is not a sign,
But just a thrush on the branch? If night and day
Make no sense following each other?
And on this earth there is nothing except this earth?

Even if that is so, there will remain
A word wakened by lips that perish,
A tireless messenger who runs and runs
Through interstellar fields, through the revolving galaxies,
And calls out, protests, screams.

Berkeley, 1988

Who are the "Anti-Iraqi forces?"

Ever wonder where the term "anti-Iraqi forces" used to describe the Iraqi anti-occupation guerillas came from?

US gives up on "Fallujah Brigade"

I don't have much of a context for this because news from Fallujah has been scant except for the usual US bombardments.

1st Marine Division plans to dissolve the controversial "Fallujah Brigade" and the Iraqi police department in that turbulent city next week, clearing the way for a future decisive battle if the Iraqi government orders it.

The move came six days after a series of kidnappings and the murder of a respected Iraqi National Guard battalion commander, Lt. Col. Sulaiman Hamad Ftikan, a crime officials described as the last straw in the tense standoff with the insurgents in the city.

Both the Fallujah Brigade and the city police are believed to have participated in the kidnapping and murder.

This comes as a dramatic change in the situation in the city that for the last three months has been a thorn in the side of U.S. forces in Iraq.

"If we have to go into Fallujah this makes it a lot simpler," said. Col. John Toolan, commander of the 1st Marine regimental Combat Team at a meeting with two newly installed Iraqi National Guard battalion commanders.

Toolan said the Fallujah Brigade and the police are to turn in their weapons and uniforms to the Marines. Members of the police force will be allowed to remain on the force, but only as part of the highway patrol outside of town. If they decline, or fail to turn in their equipment, they will never be allowed to hold a government job. Salaries of the Fallujah Brigade are paid by the 1st Marine Division. The police are paid by Iraq's Interior Ministry.

"I want to make sure anybody (in Fallujah carrying a weapon) no matter what they are wearing is no longer a good guy," Toolan told the commanders. "Everyone who wants to fight for the new Iraq, join us. If not, we'll see you inside the city."

No order has been given for the Marines to attack Fallujah.

Toolan gave the commanders -- both of whom are replacing leaders kidnapped on Monday -- a deadline of Aug. 21 to muster their ING soldiers at bases outside the city, and reform their battalions. Many soldiers fled their posts after the kidnapping.

Toolan suggested the ING soldiers who want to remain on the force prepare for a serious fight and move their families out of town so as not to be victimized by insurgents.

Officials close to the plan said the ING will likely be given housing on bases. They risk being killed by the mujahideen if they return to their homes in the city.

Like the police, ING soldiers who fail to report with their weapons and ID will be put on a blacklist. Soldiers not wishing to rejoin the ING, but who turn in their weapons and uniforms they will be suspended without pay. Many soldiers will have lost their weapons and uniforms when they fled their barracks Aug. 9. If they rejoin their colleagues, they will have to be completely refit. It will be the third time this occurs.

More than half of the national guard deserted during the April fight and a sizeable number joined the other side, taking their weapons with them.

Sulaiman was kidnapped Aug. 9 in an elaborate plot that implicates religious and city leaders. Insurgents also overran and looted his headquarters on the western edge of the city. A second battalion commander was also kidnapped from another location and his office overtaken.

The fate of the second officer is unknown. Sulaiman was killed and his body beaten beyond recognition, according to intelligence reports. Fallujah officials claim he died of a heart attack. His body was dumped in front a youth sport ministry where he set up his first headquarters in January.

At least one more Fallujah ING officer was also kidnapped -- Sulaiman's intelligence officer, a man named Capt. Ali.

The dissolution of the Fallujah Brigade and the police next week will put up to 5,000 armed men in Fallujah off the government payroll and out of work. Most are believed to be supporting or participating in the mujahideen that grips the city.

Read the rest....

Here we go again.

Fallujah Daily Bombing Death Toll

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Aug 14 (AFP) - Eight Iraqis were killed and 10 others wounded, mostly women and children, on Saturday after US troops clashed with insurgents in the flashpoint city west of Baghdad and warplanes struck two homes, hospital sources told AFP.

They don't even bother claiming to have had "intelligence" about their bombing targets anymore.

The US military said earlier it struck positions suspected of being used by insurgents after they attacked a US marine postition on the outskirts of the city at about 2:00 pm (1000 GMT) with rocket propelled grenades and machine gun and small arms fire.

My emphasis. These bombings of houses are clearly meant to be lessons in due process and the American legal tradition of innocent until proven guilty.

Saturday Blog Tour

Click the image for the 2004 American presidential election Ultimate Metaphor:

From Tim at Doctor Recommended.

Lawrence of Cyberia on Arna's Children:

Arna's Children won the Best Film award at Prague's One World Film Festival in April 2004. Days later, it received the Best First Documentary award at the Canadian International Documentary Festival. The following month, it was named Best Documentary at New York's Tribeca Film Festival. Sadly, by the time Arna's Children received this international recognition, all but one of the movie's leading characters were already dead.