April 29, 2008
Lull in Iraq over as U.S. deaths reach 7-month high

MEXICO CITY — U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday acknowledged that a seven-month lull in U.S. troops deaths in Iraq has come to an end and blamed the bloodshed on Shiite Muslim militiamen who have bombarded the Green Zone and key parts of Baghdad with rockets and mortar rounds.

April has been the bloodiest month for Americans in Iraq since September, with 44 troops killed, compared to 39 in March and 29 in February.

Pentagon institute calls Iraq war 'a major debacle'

April 17, 2008
Pentagon institute calls Iraq war 'a major debacle'

WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt" despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute.

The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush 's projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions.

The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins, a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in prewar preparations.

War at the Pentagon

April 13, 2008
War at the Pentagon

The most intense arguments over U.S. involvement in Iraq do not flare at this point on Capitol Hill or on the campaign trail. Those rhetorical battles pale in comparison to the high-stakes struggle being waged behind closed doors at the Pentagon.

On one side are the "fight-win guys," as some describe themselves. They are led by Gen. David Petraeus and other commanders who argue that the counterinsurgency struggle in Iraq must be pursued as the military's top priority and ultimately resolved on U.S. terms.

Arrayed against them are the uniformed chiefs of the military services who foresee a "broken army" emerging from an all-out commitment to Iraq that neglects other needs and potential
conflicts. It is time to rebuild Army tank battalions, Marine amphibious forces and other traditional instruments of big-nation warfare -- while muddling through in Iraq.

'If History Can Take Me Back, I Will Kiss the Statue of Saddam Which I Helped Pull Down'

April 31, 2008
'If History Can Take Me Back, I Will Kiss the Statue of Saddam Which I Helped Pull Down'

BAGHDAD, 10 April 2008 — Ibrahim Khalil, who five years ago took part in the toppling of a giant statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad, said yesterday he now regrets taking part in the hugely symbolic event.

"If history can take me back, I will kiss the statue of Saddam Hussein which I helped pull down," Khalil said on the fifth anniversary of the statue's toppling. "I will protect the statue more than my own self," Khalil said in Firdos Square alongside a monument erected where Saddam's statue once stood before US Marines and Iraqis strung a chain around its neck and brought it crashing down.

Iraq sacks 1,300 troops over Shiite crackdown

April 31, 2008
Iraq sacks 1,300 troops over Shiite crackdown

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq has dismissed 1,300 policemen and soldiers for failing to perform their duties during a crackdown on Shiite militiamen in the south of the country, an official said on Sunday.

"Those people did not do their duties in Basra and Kut," interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf said referring to the southern and central cities.

Political progress in Iraq 'halting and superficial'

April 7, 2008
Political progress in Iraq 'halting and superficial'

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States faces the risk of a costly, open-ended quagmire in Iraq because of a lack of political progress in the divided country, a report by US experts said.

"Political progress is so slow, halting and superficial, and social and political fragmentation so pronounced, that the US is no closer to being able to leave Iraq than it was a year ago," said the US Institute of Peace (USIP) study released Sunday.

ANALYSIS-Iraqi crackdown backfires, strengthens Sadrists

March 31, 2008
ANALYSIS-Iraqi crackdown backfires, strengthens Sadrists

BAGHDAD, March 31 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's crackdown on militias in the southern oil port of Basra appears to have backfired, exposing the weakness of his army and strengthening his political foes ahead of elections.

U.S. President George W. Bush has praised the crackdown, calling it a "defining moment" for Iraq, but it has unleashed a wave of destabilising violence in southern Iraq and in Baghdad that risks undoing the security improvements of the past year.

It has also exposed a deep rift within Iraq's Shi'ite majority -- between the political parties in Maliki's government and followers of populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

U.S. Has Little Influence, Few Options in Iraq's Volatile South

March 27, 2008
U.S. Has Little Influence, Few Options in Iraq's Volatile South

As U.S. warplanes attacked targets in Basra yesterday, Bush administration officials acknowledged that their hands-off strategy toward southern Iraq in recent years has left them with little knowledge of the conflicts among competing Shiite groups there and few ways of influencing them.

President Bush yesterday hailed the decision of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to launch a full-scale military offensive against militias in Basra as a "defining moment" for his leadership. But other officials said the administration remains unsure of Maliki's motives and warned that the ongoing battle risks sending the country spiraling back toward the cataclysmic violence levels of 2006 and early 2007.

Areas of Baghdad fall to militias

March 27, 2008
Areas of Baghdad fall to militias

Iraq's Prime Minister was staring into the abyss today after his operation to crush militia strongholds in Basra stalled, members of his own security forces defected and district after district of his own capital fell to Shia militia gunmen.

With the threat of a civil war looming in the south, Nouri al-Maliki's police chief in Basra narrowly escaped assassination in the crucial port city, while in Baghdad, the spokesman for the Iraqi side of the US military surge was kidnapped by gunmen and his house burnt to the ground.

Iraqi Police Shed Their Uniforms and Switched Side

March 28, 2008
Iraqi Police Shed Their Uniforms and Switched Side

Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.

His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought.

Hagel: We've lost 900 Since the Surge Began

March 23, 2008
Hagel: We've lost 900 Since the Surge Began

Invoking the recent Gallup poll showing that 81% of the American public did not like the direction America was headed, Hagel called for a new consensus within the next administration and emphasized the need for a bi-partisan coalition no matter who takes the White House.

Referring to Sen. John McCain as a "good friend," Hagel continued to criticize the Republican presidential candidate's foreign policy platform, pointing to a financial toll of $12 billion to $15 billion a month for the Iraq war and a high casualty rate.

"We have lost 900 Americans since the surge began," Hagel said. "We are in a mess in Iraq. And the reality is we are going to have to deal with it."

Iraq violence jumps in February - 633 Dead

March 1, 2008
Iraq violence jumps in February - 633 Dead

The number of Iraqis killed by violence rose in February for the first time in several months, official figures show.

At least 633 civilians died, according to data from several ministries - up from more than 460 deaths in January.

The increase was mainly due to two attacks in Baghdad and one near Karbala that killed at least 150 people.

IRAQ: In Tatters Beneath a Surge of Claims

February 22, 2008
IRAQ: In Tatters Beneath a Surge of Claims

BAGHDAD, Feb 22 (IPS) - What the U.S. has been calling the success of a "surge", many Iraqis see as evidence of catastrophe. Where U.S. forces point to peace and calm, local Iraqis find an eerie silence.

And when U.S. forces speak of a reduction in violence, many Iraqis simply do not know what they are talking about.

Hundreds died in a series of explosions in Baghdad last month. This was despite the strongest ever security measures taken by the U.S. military, riding the "surge" in security forces and their activities.

Anti-US cleric's cease-fire in doubt

February 20, 2008
Anti-US cleric's cease-fire in doubt

BAGHDAD - With deadly attacks against U.S. targets increasing around Baghdad, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raised the possibility Wednesday that he may not renew a six-month cease-fire widely credited for helping slash violence.

The cease-fire is due to expire Saturday, and there were fears, especially among minority Sunni Arabs, that the re-emergence of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia could return Iraq to where it was just a year ago — with sectarian death squads prowling the streets of a country on the brink of civil war.

Baghdad drowning in sewage

February 3, 2008
Baghdad drowning in sewage

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Baghdad is drowning in sewage, thirsty for water and largely powerless, an Iraqi official said on Sunday in a grim assessment of services in the capital five years after the US-led invasion.

One of three sewage treatment plants is out of commission, one is working at stuttering capacity while a pipe blockage in the third means sewage is forming a foul lake so large it can be seen "as a big black spot on Google Earth," said Tahseen Sheikhly, civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.

Sheikhly told a news conference in the capital that water pipes, where they exist, are so old that it is not possible to pump water at a sufficient rate to meet demands -- leaving many neighbourhoods parched.

Iraqi refugees turn to prostitution

October 24, 2007
Iraqi refugees turn to prostitution

Ayman al-Halaqi, a club manager here, said Iraqi dancers are cheaper to hire than Syrians. Back home, even dancing in a skimpy costume would be considered shameful. Iraqi women who go beyond that can earn 10 times more from a single encounter with a client than by working a full day as a housemaid.

At the al-Rawabi club, the usual customers are mostly Iraqi or Syrian men, but summer brought the annual flood of visitors from Persian Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.

Sanchez, former U.S. commander in Iraq, calls war 'a nightmare with no end in sight'

October 13, 2007
Sanchez, former U.S. commander in Iraq, calls war 'a nightmare with no end in sight'

ARLINGTON, Va. – The former top commander of U.S. troops in Iraq slammed the handling of the war and gave a bleak assessment of the current situation in Iraq.

"There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight," retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told a convention of military journalists on Friday.

Has the US Ceded Southern Iraq?

October 7, 2007
Has the US Ceded Southern Iraq?

Small contingents of U.S. soldiers enter Karbala and Najaf only for brief visits with local officials these days, and much of the rest of southern Iraq has no American troops at all. Focused on saving Baghdad, U.S. forces keep up a regular presence with patrols and combat outposts chiefly around the southern reaches of the capital. Meanwhile, the drawdown of British forces in Basra — where the troops have relocated to the local airport outside the city — leaves yet another southern city, with a population of roughly 2 million, unattended by the U.S.-led coalition. That means virtually all of the vast, populous and oil-rich territory stretching from Karbala to Basra is up for grabs.

Senate Endorses Plan to Divide Iraq

September 26, 2007
Senate Endorses Plan to Divide Iraq

WASHINGTON -- Implicitly criticizing the Bush administration's reliance on the Iraqi central government to unify the country, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly endorsed the decentralization of Iraq into semi-autonomous regions.

The nonbinding measure sponsored by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) -- which supports a "federal system" that would divide Iraq into sectarian-dominated regions -- won unusually broad bipartisan support, passing 75 to 23.

It attracted 26 Republicans, 47 Democrats and both independents.

A Top U.S. General in Iraq Blames Public's Antiwar Views on the Media

September 20, 2007
A Top U.S. General in Iraq Blames Public's Antiwar Views on the Media

NEW YORK Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, said Thursday, back in the U.S. on leave at Fort Stewart, that the war in Iraq is "a winnable mission" if the the media would only cooperate.

"If the American people are informed properly," Lynch told reporters after he arrived home on leave, "I believe they will be supportive of the mission. But they're not getting the right story. As a result, they're anti the war."