Baghdad authorities lift curfew BBC News
Authorities in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have lifted a total curfew imposed after intelligence revealed attacks planned for Saturday. The US military said a security guard detained at the home of a leading Sunni politician was suspected of involvement in planning a series of bombings. The heavily-fortified central area of Baghdad known as the Green Zone was thought to be the target. Vehicles and pedestrians were banned from the streets for about 36 hours. The Iraqi capital's streets were deserted during the curfew, which was in place from Friday evening to 0600 (0200 GMT) on Sunday morning. As cars returned to the city's streets, interior ministry spokesman Abdel Karim Khalaf said the situation had been peaceful: "No incidents happened," he said.

'Final stages'
The US military said the detained bodyguard was seized at the home of Adnan al-Dulaimi, the leader of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni coalition in the Iraqi parliament. They said he was a suspected member of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and that he and seven other militants were "in the final stages" of planning a string of car bomb attacks "possibly using suicide vests". The Iraqi Accordance Front named the arrested man as Khudhar Farhan and said he had been a member of Mr al-Dulaimi's security staff for about a month. The US military said the operation "in no way implies Dr al-Dulaimi was associated with any illegal activity".

'Days numbered'
Separately, National Security Adviser Muwaffak al-Rubaie said Iraqi forces were close to capturing or killing the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri. "My message to Abu Ayyub al-Masri is that we are closer to you than you can imagine - your days are numbered and you will face your fate very soon," he said. Mr al-Rubaie showed journalists a video showing a man - which he said was the insurgent leader - explaining how to build a car bomb. Abu Ayyub al-Masri, said to be also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, is thought to have taken over the leadership of the group after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi earlier this year. There's been a renewed upsurge in violence since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, on top of increasing violence in recent weeks despite a massive security operation across the capital.

U.S. and U.K occupation forces among more than 114 killed in Iraq:

Thirteen bodies were found with gunshot wounds in different districts of Baghdad on Monday, a source in the Interior Ministry said. Fifty had been found on Sunday.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM219552.htm


Bodies line streets of Baghdad :

Iraqi police have reported finding 50 bodies in the streets of Baghdad as parliament renewed the government's emergency powers.
http://tinyurl.com/jq87j


'Record' Iraq civilian deaths :

Partial statistics compiled by the health ministry and issued by the interior ministry put civilian deaths last month at 1 089, a 42% increase from 769 in August and more than the previous record in this series of data - 1 065 in July.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,...2006542,00.html


Iraqi parliament renews state of emergency:

Gunmen stage mass abduction in capital; U.S. announces deaths of 3 troops
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15103579/


Baghdad curfew was in response to 'coup attempt' - MP :

A blanket 36-hour curfew imposed on the Iraqi capital Baghdad from Friday evening was in response to an information leak concerning a possible coup attempt, according to an Iraqi Shiite parliamentary deputy.
http://tinyurl.com/qm9ly


Rupert Cornwell: Iraq: the week the truth was told:

The invasion of a sovereign country in March 2003 not only was founded on false pretences. It also created more problems than it has solved.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politi...icle1772334.ece

New Iraqi plan to curb violence BBC News
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has announced a new four-point plan aimed at reducing sectarian violence.The plan to set up local security committees in areas around the country was agreed after intensive talks with top Sunni and Shia politicians. It came as police said about 50 bodies had been found in Baghdad since Sunday. On Monday, 14 shop workers were abducted in broad daylight in the city. In other violence, the US military said attacks killed at least five soldiers. The BBC's Jim Muir, in Baghdad, says that with the situation on the ground worsening rapidly, the political climate within Iraq's national unity government was also becoming increasingly envenomed. Mr Maliki called senior Sunni and Shia figures together, despite leaders from each group bitterly criticising the other in recent times. Shia politicians had accused senior Sunni figures of providing cover for terrorist attacks. The Sunnis accused Shias in the government apparatus of allowing their own militias to carry out sectarian abductions and murders on a huge scale.

Warning
In the latest wave of violence:

• Fourteen employees at a Baghdad computer shop were seized in a midday attack on Monday - the second mass abduction in as many days
• At least seven of 26 people snatched from a meat plant on Sunday were found dead in southern Baghdad, police said
• Overall, Baghdad police said, about 50 corpses had been found in the city since Sunday
• At least five US soldiers have been killed in separate shooting and bomb attacks in the city in the past two days, the US military said.

The four-point plan was designed with the aim of reducing violence around Iraq, but especially in Baghdad. Mr Maliki gave issued a stern warning that the situation was getting out of control, our correspondent says. Special committees are to be set up in each district with representatives of all the major factions to monitor the drive to halt the carnage. A similar central committee will co-ordinate with the security forces involved. One senior Sunni politician, Adnan al-Dulaimi, said the plan had a chance of success, but the consequences of failure would be severe. "If everyone is honest and keeps to their commitments, it will be positive for the Iraqi people and put an end to sectarianism," he said. "If not, it will be the end of Iraq."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2387630,00.html

New plan to halt Iraq bloodletting
From James Hider in Baghdad


US FORCES have endured one of their bloodiest days in Iraq in months, when nine soldiers died in Baghdad within 24 hours and at least six more were killed during a weekend of bombings and shootings.
The high death toll came as the Iraqi Government started another attempt at forging a peace deal that might staunch the bloodletting.


Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, whose previous reconciliation attempts are regarded as failures, announced a four-point plan based on neighbourhood committees to report on sectarian militias and government security forces. But the powers of the committees and the size of the areas they would cover are as yet unclear.

The Iraqi parliament is increasingly riven by sectarian tensions, with Sunnis accusing the dominant Shia parties of allowing their powerful militias — many of whom serve in the Army — to act as death squads. Many Shia politicians accuse their Sunni colleagues of being in league with Sunni insurgents and terrorists. The new deal, which included forming a central oversight committee monthly reviews and media monitoring to tackle sectarian bias, was hailed by American officials, who have seen little progress since the first permanent government after the invasion took power in Iraq in the spring.

“Now begins the hard work of implementing the plan,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, who cautioned the Iraqi Prime Minister that he had only two months to stem the bloodshed or face disaster.

Many Iraqi leaders expressed doubts about the plan, pushed through by parties whose own militias are blamed for much of the violence. “Those who signed this blessed agreement have to confess, at least to themselves, that they are the basis of the problem,” Izzat Shabandar, of the secular Iraqi Bloc, said. Others dismissed it as a short-term measure to allow Mr al-Maliki to dodge intense pressure from Washington to seek a political way out of a spiralling sectarian conflict.

None of Mr al-Maliki’s previous security plans has worked. General Lance Smith, a senior US general, said violence may never cease in Iraq.

Iraq police barred over killings BBC News, Baghdad
An entire Iraqi police brigade has been taken out of duty and will be re-trained after accusations of complicity in death squad killings.The move came after nearly 40 people were kidnapped by armed men in Baghdad earlier this week. Some of those seized in the two mass abductions were later found dead, the latest in a wave of sectarian killings. Officials say they have realised that removing that unit from Baghdad would actually improve security. The announcement that a whole Iraqi police brigade had been "pulled off line", as he put it, came from the spokesman for the American-led coalition, Maj Gen William Caldwell. "There was clear evidence that there was some complicity in allowing death squad elements to move freely, when in fact they were supposed to be impeding their movement," Maj Gen Caldwell said. "It was realised that removing them from Baghdad would, in fact, enhance security," he added.

'Blind eye'
The brigade is being sent to a training camp for checks, vetting and re-training.It had been accused specifically of turning a blind eye on Sunday and Monday when militia death squads carried out two spectacular mass abductions in Baghdad from a meat factory and a computer shop. Some of the abducted were later found tortured and murdered, something that happens to scores of people here every day. The Iraqi police have frequently been accused, mainly by the Sunni Muslims, of either participating in, helping, or turning a blind eye to sectarian murders carried out by Shia death squads. A programme has been under way for more than a month for comprehensive assessment and re-training of all national police units - a process called by the Americans "transformational training". The move will be welcomed by the Sunnis. They are deeply suspicious of the police forces and they will need much convincing before they believe they have been fully purged.
By Jim Muir

At least 44 killed in another bloody day of U.S. Occupation in Iraq:

At least 14 people were killed and 75 wounded in a car bomb attack in central Baghdad which interior ministry sources said targeted the convoy of Iraq's industry minister.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM439402.htm


Two More U.S. Troops Killed In occupied Iraq:

U.S. Death Toll Since Saturday Hits 17
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/04/...in2059817.shtml


Baghdad push takes deadly toll on U.S. troops:

In the second month of a security crackdown in the capital, U.S. military casualties appear to be rising, even as deaths among Iraqi security forces have fallen, according to U.S. military sources and analysts.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nati...027_iraq04.html


Juan Cole: 23,416 US Casualties in U.S War in Iraq:

If you really want to gauge the toll of the Iraq War on the American public, you have to read the local newspapers.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15217.htm


General: U.S. Army in danger:

The Iraq war has left the U.S. military in critical condition, stretched beyond its limits in manpower and equipment and in danger of "breaking," retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Tuesday.
http://tinyurl.com/q8ezt


Iraqi police unit linked to militias:

Iraqi authorities have taken a brigade of up to 700 policemen out of service and put members under investigation for "possible complicity" with death squads following a mass kidnapping earlier this week, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061004/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


Car and road bombs hit year high in Iraq: US military:

The past week has seen the highest number of car bombs and roadside bombs in Iraq than at any time this year, said a US military spokesman
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061004/pl_afp/iraqusunrestbomb


Occupied Iraq: 9,000 people being displaced each week:

he International Organization for Migration says nearly 190,000 people in the 15 central and southern provinces of Iraq have been displaced by violence since the bombing in late February in Samarra.
http://voanews.com/english/2006-10-03-voa36.cfm


Iraqi in tears recalling 'abuse' :

An Iraqi security guard broke down in tears while telling a court martial how he was allegedly beaten by UK soldiers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5407420.stm

Iraq: At least 65 killed as U.S. occupation grinds on:

A total of 30 bodies, most of them shot and tortured, were found in different districts of Baghdad during the past 24 hours, a source in the Interior Ministry said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM530810.htm


13 U.S. occupation troops killed in Baghdad in last 3 days :

Thirteen U.S. occupation soldiers have been killed in Baghdad since Monday, the American military reported, registering the highest three-day death toll for U.S. forces in the capital since the start start of the war
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15136737/


U.S. Mercenary killed in Iraq:

Guy Barattieri was an Army Reservist, but was working as a contractor when he was killed.
http://tinyurl.com/kvlqt


700 police relieved of duty in effort to uproot death squad connections:

Iraqi authorities pulled a brigade of about 700 policemen out of service Wednesday in its biggest move ever to uproot troops linked to death squads, aiming to signal the government's seriousness in cleansing Baghdad of sectarian violence.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/news/ci_4444497


Marines Plead "not guilty" in murder of Iraqi Civilian:

Two Marines pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murdering an Iraqi civilian in Hamdaniya and then trying to cover up the crime.
http://tinyurl.com/kr3cy


How Al Qaeda views a long Iraq war:

A letter from Al Qaeda leaders found in Iraq shows that the group sees the war as a boon for its cause.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1006/p01s04-woiq.html


US in Iraq : Some US Generals want Donald Rumsfeld to resign :

A group of Generals has called on US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to resign.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/5410762.stm


Iraq's universities and schools near collapse as teachers and pupils flee:

"The militias from all sides are in the universities. Classes are not happening because of the chaos, and colleagues are fleeing if they can," said Professor Saad Jawad, a lecturer in political science at Baghdad University.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329593191-103550,00.html


Termination set for Iraq monitor:

Congress has set a 2007 termination date for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction at the behest of the Bush administration, removing the source of a series of audit reports that have emboldened critics of the president's war polices.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20...04001-2200r.htm


Iraq: The only solution left:

If we want to stop the relentless slide into anarchy, the answer is to establish a UN protectorate
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2388886,00.html

Battle for Baghdad 'a critical point' in the war
The Iraq war could be heading to its decisive moment: a battle for the capital of Baghdad that already has turned dramatically bloodier for American soldiers and carries enormous stakes for the country's future.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15145106/from/ET/

13 U.S. troops killed in Baghdad in last 3 days
Thirteen U.S. soldiers have been killed in Baghdad since Monday, the American military reported, registering the highest three-day death toll for U.S. forces in the capital since the start of the war.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15136737/from/ET/

Medic says marines murdered Iraqi BBC News
A Navy medic has told his court-martial in California how US marines seized an Iraqi civilian, threw him into a hole and shot him in the head 10 times.US Petty Officer Melson J Bacos has agreed a plea bargain to avoid murder charges and will testify against seven marines in later hearings. The medic said the incident in the western Iraqi town of Hamdaniya in April made him "sick to my stomach". The case is one of several in which US troops are accused of killing Iraqis. 'I knew it was wrong' Petty Officer 3rd Class Bacos admitted kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to file a false statement as part of the plea bargain at the court-martial in Camp Pendleton, southern California. Petty Officer Bacos said he was on patrol with the marine squad who were looking for an insurgent - Saleh Gowad - who had been captured three times but released.Petty Officer Bacos said the marines were angry the insurgent had been freed and, frustrated at not finding him, instead seized civilian Hashim Awad from his home. The medic said Mr Awad, 52, was put in a hole. He testified: "I knew that we were doing something wrong. I tried saying something, sir." But he said a marine told him to "quit being a pussy". Petty Officer Bacos said squad leader Sgt Lawrence Hutchins III then fired three shots into Mr Awad's head followed by at least seven more rounds to the head from Cpl Trent Thomas. Petty Officer Bacos said Sgt Hutchins called command for permission to fire on a man he had seen digging a hole. Prosecutors say an AK-47 assault rifle, bullets and a shovel were placed next to Mr Awad's body to make it appear as if he were trying to plant a roadside bomb. Seven marines are at various stages of the military justice process over the kidnap and murder. Two marines - John Jodka and Marshall Magincalda - have both already pleaded not guilty to murder. The US military has said the death penalty will not be sought against any of the marines. Presiding judge Col Steve Folsom said Petty Officer Bacos could face a life sentence if found guilty but media reports have said it could be as little as 12 months.

Bomber attacks 'model' Iraqi city BBC News
A suicide attacker using a bomb-laden lorry has killed 14 people at an Iraqi army checkpoint in the city of Tal Afar, a medical source told the BBC.Four soldiers and 10 civilians died in the blast in the northern city which US President George W Bush held up as a model in a speech in March. The renewed violence comes as it appears the US may be considering a major change in policy on Iraq. Reports of a change came after a visit to Iraq by a senior Republican senator. Tal Afar, to the west of Mosul, was supposed to be a showcase for American-led efforts to pacify Iraq, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Baghdad. Earlier this year, Mr Bush spoke at length about the city which he said had been effectively liberated from al-Qaeda control. Also in the north, the important oil city of Kirkuk has been placed under total curfew as thousands of members of the Iraqi security forces backed by US-led coalition troops comb it for insurgents. Iraqi police sources say a trench 15km (eight miles) long and two metres deep has been dug around part of the city in a bid to control access.

'Bold decisions'
Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate armed services committee, offered a bleak assessment of the situation and talked of the need for new options to be considered when he returned from a recent visit to Iraq. He suggested that events there were drifting and that the time was coming for bold decisions to be made. "In two or three months, if this thing hasn't come to fruition and if this level of violence is not under control and this government able to function, I think it's the responsibility of our government, internally, to determine: is there a change of course that we should take?" he said. Sen Warner's comments are anything but routine, the BBC's Justin Webb reports. While he did not specify what the decisions might be it is being suggested that he might have been preparing the ground for the White House to give up waiting for Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to establish order. That is a decision which could lead to a timetable for the return of US troops or an acceptance that a single Iraqi nation is no longer viable, our correspondent says.

Terror fears
Larry Diamond, a former adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, told the BBC on Saturday that the US had two options - either stay the course or leave gradually in the hope of shocking the Iraqi government into stabilising the country. "There's no prospect that Iraq in the near term is going to become a reliable and democratic ally of the West," he told the Today programme. "The only question is whether Iraq can be stabilised and prevented from descending into all-out civil war and whether western Iraq can be prevented from becoming what it is in the process of becoming - and what Afghanistan was before 11 September - a haven and training ground for terrorist attacks against the West." In another development, US officials said that about 4,000 Iraqi policemen had been killed performing their duties over the past two years, with another 8,000 injured.

US medic jailed over Iraq murder BBC News
A US Navy medic has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the killing of an Iraqi civilian in April.But Petty Officer Melson J Bacos is expected to spend just one year in jail after agreeing to give evidence against seven marines charged with the murder. Earlier Bacos told his US court-martial that the marines seized the man in the town of Hamdaniya, threw him into a hole and shot him in the head 10 times. The case is one of several in which US troops are accused of killing Iraqis.

'I knew it was wrong'
Bacos admitted kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to file a false statement as part of the plea bargain at the court-martial in Camp Pendleton, southern California. Military judge Col Steven Folsom sentenced Bacos to 10 years in prison, but reduced the period he will actually serve to one year because of the plea agreement.Bacos said he was on patrol with the marine squad who were looking for an insurgent - Saleh Gowad - who had been captured three times but released. Bacos said the marines were angry the insurgent had been freed and, frustrated at not finding him, instead seized neighbour Hashim Awad from his home. The medic said Mr Awad, 52, was put in a hole. He testified: "I knew that we were doing something wrong. I tried saying something, sir." But he said a marine told him to "quit being a pussy". Bacos said squad leader Sgt Lawrence Hutchins III then fired three shots into Mr Awad's head followed by at least seven more rounds to the head from Cpl Trent Thomas.

'Scene staged'
Bacos said Sgt Hutchins called command for permission to fire on a man he had seen digging a hole. Prosecutors say an AK-47 assault rifle, bullets and a shovel were placed next to Mr Awad's body to make it appear as if he were trying to plant a roadside bomb. The medic said the incident in the western Iraqi town of Hamdaniya in April made him "sick to my stomach". Speaking of why he had not chosen to walk away from the incident, Bacos said: "I wanted to be part of the team. I wanted to be loyal. "Now I feel as though my honour is gone and I have let down others who have looked up to me. I apologise to our country," Bacos was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. "I also ask forgiveness from the Iraqi family we have done this to." Seven marines are at various stages of the military justice process over the kidnap and murder. Two marines - John Jodka and Marshall Magincalda - have both already pleaded not guilty to murder. The US military has said the death penalty will not be sought against any of the marines.

Battle rages in Shia Iraqi town BBC News
US and Iraqi troops have killed 30 suspected Shia militants during heavy clashes in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya, the US military has said.The fighting erupted as troops went in to arrest a militant responsible for earlier killings, they said. It is not clear whether militants loyal to cleric Moqtada Sadr were involved. Rebels said only three were wounded. Elsewhere, police in Baghdad said they had found the bodies of 51 people who had been abducted, tortured and killed. Meanwhile, a 36-hour curfew was lifted in the northern city of Kirkuk following a huge security operation. Thousands of Iraqi army and police force personnel backed by US-led coalition troops combed Kirkuk for insurgents, while US troops lent helicopter support.Police said about 180 people were detained and large quantities of arms and ammunition seized. The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says tensions have been rising in Kirkuk, which is home to Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens who claim ownership of the city and the oil-rich lands around it.

Regional tension
An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Diwaniya, a mainly Shia town, following the destruction of a US tank during the clashes. Militants launched rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) against the troops who raided the house of Kifah al-Greiti, a commander of Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, the Associated Press news agency says, quoting an Iraqi army officer."An M1A2 Abrams tank was struck by multiple RPG rounds and was severely damaged," the US military statement said. Iraqi and US troops then "engaged the enemy forces and killed approximately 30 of the terrorists", it said. It said coalition and Iraqi forces had suffered no casualties. A curfew was imposed. Local eyewitnesses said American helicopters were rocketing parts of the town. "There is an American tank on every corner of Diwaniya," one resident told Reuters news agency. "Nobody slept in Diwaniya last night. The fighting was very fierce," he said.

Tensions high
Our Baghdad correspondent says tensions have been high in the area since fierce fighting in August between the Mehdi Army and Iraqi government forces and US troops.It is not yet clear whether these latest clashes involve the Mehdi army itself. Recent reports have suggested that the militia is not cohesive and that more radical elements may have split off, says our correspondent. Whatever the case, the people fighting the Americans in Diwaniya are clearly not Sunni militants, who form the bulk of the insurgency against the coalition forces and the Iraqi government, our correspondent says.

Iraq Sunni leader's brother shot BBC News
Gunmen in police uniforms have killed the brother of Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi in Baghdad.Amer al-Hashimi, a major general in the Iraqi army, was at home in the Sulaikh district when the gunmen stormed into the house and shot him dead. They arrived in 10 police cars, a police source said. Tariq al-Hashimi's Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest Sunni Muslim bloc in parliament. Earlier this year another brother and his sister were murdered. Iraq is currently gripped by insurgent violence and sectarian fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims. The UN estimates about 100 people a day are killed, and assassinations of prominent figures are relatively common. Gen Hashimi worked as a military adviser in the Iraqi presidency. "They killed his guards, before killing him and abducting his son," a spokesmen for the IIP said. Elsewhere, a suicide car bomb was reported in the northern city of Talafar, killing one policeman and wounding 12 people at a checkpoint. The city - praised earlier this year by US President George W Bush as a model for a "free Iraq" - was the scene of a similar attack on Saturday, when 14 people were killed.

Saddam Hussein in court for trial BBC News
The trial of ex-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for alleged war crimes and genocide against the Kurds in the 1980s has resumed in Baghdad.Proceedings were suspended two weeks ago after Saddam Hussein was ejected after defying instructions from the judge to be quiet. A key defence lawyer has said his team will continue to boycott the trial. Saddam Hussein has already been tried for the killing of 148 Shias in Dujail in 1982 and a judgement is awaited. The defendants, Saddam Hussein and six former senior officials, were all present in for the opening of proceedings on Monday.

Break for calm
The last session of the current trial ended in chaos after Saddam Hussein and co-defendant, Ali Hassan al-Majid, were ejected. The remaining five defendants rose to their feet, shouting at the judge. The defence team of lawyers was also absent. The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says the long break was clearly designed to calm things down and allow time for the defendants to consult their legal team. The team met Saddam Hussein a week ago but leading defence counsel, Khalil al-Dulaimi, has said the defence will continue to boycott the trial. The defence is protesting about the replacement of former chief judge, Abdullah al-Amiri, following accusations of bias towards the former president. New Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa has been much tougher on the defendants. During the recess the new judge's brother-in-law was murdered by gunmen in Baghdad. More than 100,000 Kurds are said to have died during the Anfal operation in 1988. The trial has heard testimony from witnesses about how homes were razed and villagers killed or displaced. The defence says the attacks were legitimate strikes against Kurds who were siding with Iranian forces. The verdict in the Dujail trial on Saddam Hussein and seven separate defendants is expected this month.

40 corpses found in occupied Baghdad in past 24 hours:

Some 40 corpses have been found in scattered places here in the last 24 hours, an Interior ministry source said on Monday.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=911902

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Iraq: At least 13 killed, 46 wounded in occupied Baghdad:

At least 13 people were killed and 46 wounded when a car bomb exploded in a busy market in northeast Baghdad on Monday, police said.
http://tinyurl.com/mwqb4

===
Another 6 Killed in Ongoing U.S. Occupation:

Gunmen killed Amer al-Hashemi, the brother of Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi in northern Baghdad late on Sunday, police and members of the Sunni Islamic Party said.
http://tinyurl.com/leo9r

===
Three Marines killed in western Iraq :

The deaths of the three soldiers brought to at least 32 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the start of October.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061009/ts_nm/iraq_marines_dc

===
11 dead as Australian firm linked to food poisoning of police:

Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell sick and 11 may have died from poisoning at a base in southern Iraq after eating food provided by an Australian contractor.
http://tinyurl.com/r2oll

===
Cindy Sheehan : A Nation Still at War:

Friend---it is going to take us (me and you) to effect any changes in this country. From the anti-slavery movement to the Civil Rights movement, to every good movement in between, it has been we the people demanding these changes and not resting until we got them. Good comes from the bottom up---crap rolls down hill. I am tired of getting crapped on by our government.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15242.htm

IRAQ: TWO VERSIONS OF THE SAME REPORT - GUY W. FARMER (NEVADA APPEAL, OCTOBER 8): If we are to effectively communicate our foreign policy goals and objectives to the "Muslim mainstream," we must find a way to reinvent the specialized U.S. Information Agency (USIA), which was abolished by the Clinton administration seven years ago and merged into the sprawling State Department. Unfortunately, President Bush's personal choice as his public-diplomacy czarina, alleged message maven Karen Hughes, has been unable to craft a coherent message that most Muslims can accept and/or understand.
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...mplate=printart

U.S. CASUALTIES IN IRAQ RISE SHARPLY: GROWING AMERICAN ROLE IN STAVING OFF CIVIL WAR LEADS TO MOST WOUNDED SINCE 2004 - ANN SCOTT TYSON (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 8)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6100700907.html

THE TWO FACES OF IRAQ - SAMI MOUBAYED (ASIA TIMES, OCTOBER 7): The last thing Iraqis need are the confronting words of the US secretary of state, who seems to care little for the number of Iraqis dying per day, and the ineffective US military in the country, which is unable to end the raging insurgency.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HJ07Ak02.html

LISTEN TO THE IRAQIS - NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 8): Iraqis are crystal clear about what the U.S. should do: announce a timetable for withdrawal of our troops within one year. They're right.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/opini...agewanted=print
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

MALIKI'S MOMENT - REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 9): Iraqis have to make their own political compromises to limit the incentive for violence, and sooner rather than later. The time has long since passed where the U.S. can play anything other than a supporting role in Iraq.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1160...7294386227.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

AMERICA PONDERS CUTTING IRAQ IN THREE - SARAH BAXTER (SUNDAY TIMES, OCTOBER 8): The Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by James Baker, the former US secretary of state, may recommend carving up Iraq into three highly autonomous regions, according to well informed sources.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2393750,00.html

Iraq: At least 71 killed in ongoing bloody U.S. occupation:

A total of 60 bodies were found across Baghdad in the past 24 hours, an Interior Ministry source said. All of the bodies had gunshot wounds with some showing signs of torture.
http://tinyurl.com/z73pa

===
US-led forces say kill 11 in occupied Iraqi Shi'ite city:

U.S. and Iraqi troops killed 11 militants, many dressed as Iraqi policeman, in clashes around a mosque in the flashpoint southern Shi'ite city of Diwaniya on Monday night, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
http://tinyurl.com/fb9df

===
Baghdad market blast kills nine, wounds 27:

A car bomb blast in a busy market killed nine people and wounded 27 in a mixed area of occupied Baghdad, security and medical sources said, amid ongoing sectarian violence.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061010/wl_mi...aqunrestbaghdad

===
Dahr Jamail: An Unknown City Erupts:

The little known city of Baquba is emerging as one of the hotbeds of resistance in Iraq, with clashes breaking out every day.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15253.htm

===
Iraqi plan to curb sectarian killings moves ahead:

In a first step, officials said Tuesday that all security checkpoints in occupied Baghdad would soon be manned by an equal number of Shiite and

Sunni Arab troops to ensure the security forces do not allow sectarian attacks.
http://tinyurl.com/kw9p9

===
Iraq's Dark Day of Reckoning:

The Iraqi government has failed. It is also time to face the terrible reality that America's mission in Iraq has substantially failed.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15249.htm

===
Iraq: Divide and Rule, 'Ethnic Cleansing Works':

Polls by the State Department and independent researchers show that Iraqis favor an immediate U.S. pullout, meanwhile, an "independent

commission", according to the Sunday Times, "may recommend carving up Iraq into three highly autonomous regions".
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15263.htm

===
More Americans Want Immediate Iraq Withdrawal:

30 per cent of respondents believe the U.S. military should stay the course, while 26 per cent suggest a gradual withdrawal of soldiers.
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/...em/itemID/13414

110 BODIES FOUND IN BAGHDAD IN 24 HOURS - REUTERS (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 11)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6101000156.html

STUDY ESTIMATES 600,000 IRAQIS DEAD BY VIOLENCE - GREGG ZOROYA (USA TODAY, OCTOBER 10): More than 600,000 Iraqis have died by violence since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to a study released today by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. The new estimate was immediately challenged by the Pentagon.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/20...iraq-dead_x.htm

655,000 DEAD IN IRAQ SINCE BUSH INVASION - JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, OCTOBER 11): "I follow the violence in Iraq carefully and daily, and I find the results [of the above study] plausible."
http://www.juancole.com/

OVER 300,000 IRAQIS DISPLACED SINCE INVASION - AFP/AP RFE/RL (OCTOBER 10): More than 300,000 Iraqis have fled their homes for other parts of Iraq to escape violence since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Statistics released by Iraq's Immigration Ministry indicate that the rate has accelerated in the past six months, reflecting an upsurge in sectarian violence.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/...052cc5e806.html

IRAQ'S GLOOMY REALITY BECOMES INCREASINGLY CLEAR - TRUDY RUBIN (BALTIMORE SUN, OCTOBER 10): The United States is stuck with a dysfunctional Iraqi government that will be hard-pressed to stabilize the country. This further undercuts any effort to change course in Iraq and reduce the number of U.S. troops there.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines

TACTICAL RETREAT: IT'S GREAT THAT THE MILITARY IS GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT COUNTERINSURGENCY. BUT TACTICAL IMPROVEMENTS ALONE WON'T ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT IRAQ HAS RAISED - MATTHEW YGLESIAS (AMERICAN PROSPECT, OCTOBER 10): Mistakes of one kind or another are essentially inevitable in such a complicated undertaking and what doomed us in Iraq was less that mistakes were made than that we were put in a situation where there was no chance to recover from errors.
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?sectio...articleId=12088

IRAQ'S DARK DAY OF RECKONING: IF YOU WERE A SHIITE, HAVING SUFFERED THROUGH A BRUTAL INSURGENCY AND AN INCOMPETENT GOVERNMENT, WOULD YOU GIVE UP YOUR WEAPONS? - FAREED ZAKARIA (NEWSWEEK, OCTOBER 16): Bush has now defined the only realistic goal left for America's mission in Iraq: not achieving success but limiting failure.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15177998/site/newsweek/

NO MIDDLE WAY: WHY THE BAKER COMMISSION IS UNLIKELY TO SALVAGE THE DISASTER IN IRAQ - JUSTIN RAIMONDO (ANTIWAR.COM, OCTOBER 9): There is but one rational answer to the question of what to do about the rapidly degenerating military position of our troops in Iraq, and that is to get them out of there, pronto, without further delay.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9820

PARTITION: THE WAY OUT OF IRAQ - IVAN ELAND (ANTIWAR.COM, OCTOBER 10): The president and those giving him advice should admit the truth to themselves and to the American people: A unified, democratic Iraq is unattainable.
http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=9828

THE REALITIES OF TRYING TO REBUILD IRAQ - DAN SENOR (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 10): In a country as complicated as Iraq, there were no simple answers at hand. (The writer, who was based in Baghdad from April 2003 to June 2004, served as a senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0901036_pf.html

AMERICA'S WILSONIAN INSTINCT: FROM THE PURITANS TO TODAY, AMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS LOOKED FOR WAYS TO SPREAD THE LIBERTY THEY ENJOY BEYOND THEIR BORDERS - MAX BOOT (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 11): Contrary to the animadversions of Iraq war critics, there is nothing new about spreading democracy at gunpoint.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...nion-commentary

SUPPORT FREEDOM IN THE ARAB WORLD - RADWAN A. MASMOUDI AND AMR HAMZAWY (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 11): (This article is adapted from an open letter to President Bush signed by 103 other Arab and Muslim activists and thinkers in Arab countries, Europe, the United States and elsewhere who have worked in support of democracy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1001281_pf.html

THE INTERNET AND MIDDLE EASTERN POLITICS: HOW THE INTERNET IS BACKFIRING ON ARAB GOVERNMENTS - NOAH BARRON; POSTED BY ANDREW MCGREGOR (PD NEWSWIRE, USC CENTER ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, OCTOBER 10)
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/ne...stern_politics/

'Huge rise' in Iraqi death tolls BBC News
An estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died since 2003 who might still be alive but for the US-led invasion, according to a survey by a US university. The research compares mortality rates before and after the invasion from 47 randomly chosen areas in Iraq. The figure is considerably higher than estimates by official sources or the number of deaths reported in the media. It is vigorously disputed by supporters of the war in Iraq, including US President George W Bush. John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH) estimate that the mortality rates have more than doubled since the invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein, causing an average of 500 deaths a day. In the past, Mr Bush has put the civilian death toll in Iraq at 30,000, and hours after details of the latest research were published he dismissed JHBSPH's methodology as "pretty well discredited". The John Hopkins researchers argue their statistical approach is more reliable than counting dead bodies, given the obstacles preventing more comprehensive fieldwork in the violent and insecure conditions of Iraq. "I stand by the figure that a lot of innocent people have lost their life... and that troubles me, and it grieves me," Mr Bush told reporters at the White House. "Six-hundred thousand or whatever they guessed at is just... it's not credible," Mr Bush said.

Sharp rise
The researchers spoke to nearly 1,850 families, comprising more than 12,800 people in dozens of 40-household clusters around the country. Of the 629 deaths they recorded among these families since early 2002, 13% took place in the 14 months before the invasion and 87% in the 40 months afterwards. Such a trend repeated nationwide would indicate a rise in annual death rates from 5.5 per 1,000 to 13.3 per 1,000 - meaning the deaths of some 2.5% of Iraq's 25 million citizens in the last three-and-a-half years. The researchers say that in nearly 80% of the individual cases, family members produced death certificates to support their answers. Reliable data is very hard to obtain in Iraq, where anti-US insurgents and sectarian death squads pose a grave danger to civilian researchers. The survey updates earlier research using the same "cluster" technique which indicated that 100,000 Iraqis had died between the invasion and April 2004 - a figure that was also dismissed by many supporters of the US-led coalition.

'Survivor bias'
While critics point to the discrepancy between this and other independent surveys (such as Iraq Body Count's figure of 44-49,000 civilian deaths, based on media reports), the Bloomberg School team says its method may actually underestimate the true figure. "Families, especially in households with combatants killed, could have hidden deaths. Under-reporting of infant deaths is a widespread concern in surveys of this type," the authors say. "Entire households could have been killed, leading to survivor bias." The survey suggests that most of the extra deaths - 601,000 - would have been the result of violence, mostly gunfire, and suggests that 31% could be attributable to action by US-led coalition forces. The survey is to be published in a UK medical journal, the Lancet, on Thursday. In an accompanying comment, the Lancet's Richard Horton acknowledges that the 2004 survey provoked controversy, but emphasises that the 2006 follow-up has been recommended by "four expert peers... with relatively minor revisions".

Iraq passes regional autonomy law BBC News, Baghdad
The Iraqi parliament has approved a law allowing provinces to merge into regions which would enjoy a measure of autonomy. The law is controversial as many Sunni Muslims and others fear it would lead to the country's partition. The vote went through unanimously, but only 138 of the chamber's 275 members were present. Absentees included the two biggest Sunni blocs and two of the factions that make up the big Shia alliance. There were some confused scenes in parliament as the controversial bill was read through clause by clause.

Negative impact
There were many significant absentees. Two of the factions which make up the big Shia alliance - Moqtada Sadr's group and a smaller one called Al Fadhila - also boycotted the proceedings. Spokesmen for these groups later said they were totally opposed to the federal region's law. The Sunni group said they feared it heralded Iraq's fragmentation. Some Shia spokesmen said they believed it would have a negative impact on the political process and on hopes for national reconciliation. But Abdulaziz Hakim, the leader of the biggest Shia faction, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, described it as a blessed day. His and some of the other Shia groups have been pressing for the law. They hope that the Shia-dominated south can set up a federal region something like that already being run by the Kurds in the north who also strongly back the new law. But Mr Hakim said that the Iraqi people would have the last word. Any provinces wanting to join together into a federal region will have to seek popular approval though a referendum.
By Jim Mui

Iraqis 'fleeing rising violence' BBC News
Thousands of Iraqis are fleeing the country every day, in what the UN's refugee agency describes as a steady, silent exodus.The number of Iraqis claiming asylum in the West is growing, says the UNHCR. The agency also says the number of internally displaced is growing, with some 365,000 Iraqis uprooted this year. Earlier this week the Baghdad government estimated that about 300,000 people had been internally displaced since February. It was in February this year when Shia Muslim shrines in the town of Samarra were destroyed in bomb attacks blamed on Sunni militants. The UNHCR had previously been concentrating its operations in Iraq on helping exiled Iraqis return home and helping non-Iraqi refugees living there.

'Silent exodus'
The agency says that last year about 50,000 Iraqis returned from neighbouring countries. This year only 1,000 did. "UNHCR is monitoring the border in Syria, for example," said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. "Our staff [are] seeing about 2,000 people a day coming across, so it's more than 40,000 people a month just into Syria."There are also increasing numbers of people leaving their homes but staying in Iraq. "The estimate now is something around 50,000 people per month are joining the growing numbers of internally displaced inside Iraq," Mr Redmond said. Most of those Iraqis who have fled to Syria and Jordan have not registered with the UNHCR, in what the agency calls a "silent exodus". The UNHCR says that tens of thousands more are moving on to Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, the Gulf States and Europe. Statistics from the first half of this year show that Iraqis were the biggest single national group claiming asylum in Europe, while the number claiming asylum in industrialised countries had risen by 50% compared to the same period last year. The UNHCR says it has had to rechannel its efforts from helping exiled Iraqis return home to assisting those who have fled insecurity. It says it will be working with neighbouring countries like Syria and Jordan to identify the most vulnerable among the Iraqis arriving there. Between them, Jordan and Syria are home to almost a million Iraqis. Some have been there for a decade or more, but the UNHCR says many have also arrived since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
By Pam O'Toole

Blair 'agrees' with UK army chief BBC News
Tony Blair has said he agrees with "every word" the new head of the British Army said on the Iraq war.The Daily Mail quoted General Sir Richard Dannatt as saying he thought UK troops "exacerbated" security problems and should withdraw "sometime soon". Mr Blair said transcripts of later radio interviews showed Sir Richard was saying "the same as we all are". He said they wanted to exit Iraq "when the job is done", and to remove troops when no longer needed in certain areas. In the Daily Mail interview, Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, said UK troops should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems". And he said planning for what happened after the initial military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning". He later told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that when he talked about pulling out of Iraq "sometime soon", he meant "when the mission is substantially done, we should leave". And he said the view that the presence of UK troops exacerbates the problems was "not right across the country", but in parts of it. The intention was "particularly to speak up for what is right for the Army," he said. "That is my job. That is my constituency". BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said Sir Richard's remarks were little different from what other officers had been saying in private. But the comments had given added urgency to finding an early and effective exit strategy, our correspondent said. In Basra, Maj Gen Ali Hammadi, the Iraqi security co-ordinator, has told BBC's Newsnight that if the British stopped arrest operations in the city, the level of violence there would drop by 80%.

'Proper context'
Speaking in St Andrews at the end of talks on Northern Ireland, the prime minister said the reason the government had been able to so far give up two provinces to Iraqi control was "precisely because the job has been done there". He refused to be drawn on whether he agreed with quotes from Sir Richard published in the Daily Mail, saying only that later TV and radio interviews given by the general were more in context.On the transcripts of those interviews Mr Blair said: "I agree with every word of it." "He sets in proper context what he is actually saying. What he is saying about wanting the British forces out of Iraq is precisely the same as we're all saying. Our strategy is to withdraw from Iraq when the job is done." Mr Blair said when Sir Richard talked about the troops' presence exacerbating problems in Iraq, he thought he was "absolutely right". "I've said the same myself, in circumstances where the Iraqis are ready to take over control of areas and we're still there." In places like Basra, the presence of British troops was still "absolutely necessary", he said. Mr Blair told the press conference he had received a "report" about the Daily Mail article on Thursday night, and Sir Richard was "plainly not" saying that troops should be withdrawn from Iraq now.

Iraqi response
A spokesman for the Iraqi president said the departure of multi-national troops now "would be a disaster". Iraq's ambassador to Britain, Dr Salah al-Shaikhly, said British soldiers were close to completing their mission. "You've done marvellous in terms of the development, you've done marvellously in terms of keeping the security," he said. White House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States had sought clarification on Sir Richard's comments. "What he said is that the comment was taken out of context and his general point was that you know when your work is done you hand over authority to the Iraqis." Mr Blair said he "suspected" Sir Richard had given a long interview with the Daily Mail, and that some of his comments had been taken out of context.

IRAQ CASUALTY FIGURES OPEN UP NEW BATTLEGROUND - DAN MURPHY (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 13)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1013/p01s04-woiq.html

FOR IRAQIS, DEATH COUNT HIGHER THAN EVER; BUSH SAYS THEY CAN "TOLERATE" IT - EDWARD M. GOMEZ (WORLD VIEW, SF GATE, OCTOBER 12)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/det...5&entry_id=9780

THIS TERRIBLE MISADVENTURE HAS KILLED ONE IN 40 IRAQIS: THE GOVERNMENT WILL DO ALL IT CAN TO DISCREDIT THE LATEST ESTIMATE OF CIVILIAN CASUALTIES SINCE THE INVASION: 650,000 - RICHARD HORTON (GUARDIAN, OCTOBER 12/COMMON DREAMS)
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1012-21.htm

COUNTING THE IRAQI DEAD - EUGENE ROBINSON (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 13): We now have reputable evidence that the humanitarian tragedy in Iraq is much, much worse than anyone had suspected.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1201670_pf.html

CRITICS SAY 600,000 IRAQI DEAD DOESN'T TALLY BUT POLLSTERS DEFEND METHODS USED IN JOHNS HOPKINS STUDY - ANNA BADKHEN (SAN FRANCISCO, CHRONICLE, OCTOBER 12)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...&type=printable

FIXED FINDINGS: ANOTHER COOKED UP STUDY FROM THE LANCET - RICHARD NADLER (NATIONAL REVIEW, OCTOBER 12): The Hopkins researchers don't record 655,000 extra casualties -- they extrapolate them.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YmRmY...TRiNTM4N2UxZjM=

THE PUNDIT PATH FOR DEATH IN IRAQ - NORMAN SOLOMON (COMMON DREAMS, OCTOBER 12): The invasion of Iraq has led to ongoing carnage on a massive scale.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1012-30.htm

BUSH HAS ACHIEVED AMERICA'S DEMISE: THE FOUNDING FATHERS' COUNTRY NO LONGER EXISTS - PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS (ANTIWAR.COM, OCTOBER 12): Bush's "war on terror" is, in fact, a war on Iraqi civilians.
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=9844

OVER 35,000 CHRISTIANS HAVE FLED IRAQ - ASSOCIATED PRESS (JERUSALEM POST, OCTOBER 12)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull

11 KILLED IN RAID ON NEW IRAQ TV STATION - DAVID RISING, ASSOCIATED PRESS (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, OCTOBER 13): Gunmen stormed into a new Sunni television station in Baghdad Thursday and fatally shot 11 people including technicians, two guards and the head of the station's board of directors, police said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4253581.html

REPORTERS IN IRAQ FACE HOST OF DANGERS - DAVID RISING, ASSOCIATED PRESS (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, OCTOBER 13): At least 85 journalists -- mostly Iraqis -- have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 -- more than in either Vietnam or World War II.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...&type=printable

IN IRAQ, U.S. TOUTS PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION TEAMS AS A MODEL - DOUG SMITH (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 13): Provincial reconstruction teams are modeled on a similar concept used in Afghanistan. Each team consists of about 65 specialists from the State Department, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USAID and the American military's civil affairs contingent.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...1,5535215.story

FIGHT THE FRAUD IN IRAQ - ISAIAH J. POOLE (TOMPAINE.COM, OCTOBER 12): On almost every level, the use of private contractors in Iraq has been a disaster.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/10/1...aud_in_iraq.php

BASELESS IN BAGHDAD - JOE VOLK (TOMPAINE.COM. OCTOBER 11): When Congress approved and President George Bush signed the military appropriation bills, they enacted a provision to bar the Pentagon from establishing permanent military bases in Iraq. The Pentagon is now prohibited by law from spending any money for fiscal year 2007 to establish permanent military bases in Iraq or attempt to take over the oil resources of Iraq.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/10/1..._in_baghdad.php

BUSH'S FALSE CHOICE ON IRAQ: NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES HE SAYS IT, FIGHTING "OVER THERE" STILL DOESN'T PREVENT ATTACKS HERE - EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 12)
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/o...la-news-comment

TROOP LEVELS IN IRAQ COULD HOLD STEADY THROUGH 2010: ARMY READIES FOR LONG STAY - BRYAN BENDER (BOSTON GLOBE, OCTOBER 12)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/...gh_2010?mode=PF

WHEN 'STAYING THE COURSE' MEANS DEFEAT: I. IRAQ - FRED BRANFMAN (HUFFINGTON POST, OCTOBER 12): Mr. Bush's policies of seeking to maintain high U.S. troop levels and continue war-making in Iraq are harming America's national security interests and helping those who wish to do us harm.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-branfma...html?view=print

CO-DEPENDENCY IN IRAQ - CHARLES PENA, (ANTIWAR.COM, OCTOBER 11): The Bush administration continues to insist that Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism and that we must stay the course. Apparently, that's exactly what al-Qaeda wants. The only way to break the co-dependency is for the United States to exit Iraq.
http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=9831

BUSH CREATED A MESS IN IRAQ. HERE'S HOW TO CLEAN IT UP: IT'S TIME TO PULL OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ - AND TO HOLD OUR LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE - HELENA COBBAN (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 12/COMMON DREAMS): http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1012-23.htm

UK PRESENCE "WORSENING IRAQ SITUATION" - STEPHEN FIDLER, JAMES BLITZ, GUY DINMORE (FINANCIAL TIMES, OCTOBER 13): Britain's new army chief said UK forces should leave Iraq soon because they are making the security problem there worse.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a00ac3d8-5a4a-11db...00779e2340.html

BREAKING UP AIN'T HARD TO DO: JAMES BAKER PREPARES THE EXITS IN IRAQ - MICHAEL YOUNG (REASON, OCTOBER 12): Baker doesnt want to "cut and run," but there is an awful lot of cutting, and not a little hurried walking, in his thinking.
http://reason.com/hod/my101206.shtml

BEYOND THE COUP RUMORS, OPTIONS FOR IRAQ - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 13): The best chance for a breakthrough that could stabilize Iraq would be part of a broader settlement of Middle East issues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1201669_pf.html

THE PRESIDENT'S IRAQ CHALLENGE -- AND OURS - EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, OCTOBER 13): On Wednesday, President Bush delivered what in our view was the clearest and most specific presidential articulation of why the United States cannot cut and run from Iraq -- and what aid it would lend the terrorists if we did.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...12-092911-9967r

RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN REPLIES TO DAN SENOR - JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, OCTOBER 12): "There were people at the State Department who wanted the same sort of open-ended occupation that Bremer favored, but there were plenty of others who wanted a shorter, more modest, Iraqi-led process that didn't involve handing the keys over to Chalabi and his ilk."
http://www.juancole.com/
(scroll down link for item)

New surge of violence hits Iraq BBC News
A series of six bomb attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others, police say.And police said at least 40 bodies were found in the town of Balad, mainly Sunnis killed in apparent revenge for the earlier killing of 14 Shias. Earlier in Baghdad, two bombs hit the convoy of a senior interior ministry official, killing seven people. Iraq has seen a surge of violence in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. In a separate development, a coalition of Sunni Muslim insurgents released an internet video statement proclaiming an independent Islamic state covering Baghdad and several other provinces stretching as far north as Kirkuk. The statement was from the Mutayibeen Coalition, which reports said was formed earlier in the week by the insurgent umbrella group, the Mujahideen Shura Council.In Kirkuk, police say the string of attacks injured more than 70 people. Several of the attacks involved car bombs, some of which were detonated by suicide attackers, police said. Two police units and an American military patrol were targeted, as well as a crowded market. Another bomb targeted the local headquarters of a security agency that protects government installations, but hit a training college for female teachers, killing two students, police said. "A suicide bomber blew himself up as the girls were leaving the school. Two of them were completely burned in the flames," Brigadier General Adel Ibrahim of the Kirkuk police told AFP news agency.

Security operation
The city police chief is believed to have been the target in one case, although it is not clear whether he was in the area at the time.Kirkuk - an ethnically mixed city 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad - was the scene of a major security operation by Iraqi and US forces last weekend. Many people were arrested and stores of weapons confiscated. But the BBC's Andrew North in Baghdad says that bloodshed often resumes as soon as such operations wind down. Kirkuk has large populations of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, is located in the main oil producing region in northern Iraq, and has often been hit by violence in the last three years.

Sectarian killings
There has also been a spate of sectarian killings over the weekend in the town of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) west of Baghdad. A curfew has been imposed after the bodies of at least 40 Sunnis were found, two days after at least 14 Shia workers were discovered beheaded. Angry residents have been roving the streets of Balad, armed and reportedly rounding up any Sunnis they find, according to local authorities. In Baghdad, Sunday's bombing killed four passers-by and three security men. The interior ministry's head of finance, Hala Shakr Salim, survived the attack on her motorcade as it drove through the eastern district of Mustansiriya. Police also said they had found almost 30 corpses dumped across Baghdad during Sunday. The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says that although violence has increased during Ramadan in recent years, all types of attack are at record highs since the US-led invasion in 2003. Separately, it was announced that five US soldiers died on Saturday - four in two incidents in Baghdad, the fifth in Falluja to the west.

Iraq: 4 U.S. occupation force soldiers among 95 killed:

Militiamen in pickup trucks set up fake checkpoints on Saturday, killing at least 31 people in the town of Balad.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO527368.htm

===
Death toll climbs to 63 in tit-for-tat sectarian killings north of occupied Baghdad :

Suspected Shiite militiamen killed at least 46 Sunni Arabs in a weekend rampage of revenge killing in a city north of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday, raising the toll in the latest sectarian bloodletting there to 63.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/50693.html

===
Iraqis call for five-man junta to end the anarchy:

Dr Saleh al-Mutlak, a prominent Sunni politician, travelled to Arab capitals last week seeking support for the replacement of the present government with a group of five strongmen who would impose martial law and either dissolve parliament or halt its participation in day-to-day government.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15307.htm

===
Lack of confidence in Maliki government grows:

Since Iraq's first permanent government was elected, security has eroded by nearly every measure, despite the U.S. training of more than 300,000 Iraqi police and soldiers. When the government came into power, 65 bodies on average were appearing on Iraq's streets a day; today, 100 are killed daily.
http://tinyurl.com/yblkhq

===
What about all those purple fingers?:

David Brooks has incredible access to the White House so when he said this shocker on "The Chris Matthews Show," I believed him. Bush is thinking about replacing the entire Iraq government. I kid you not.
http://tinyurl.com/y9lwyw

===
Government postpones critical reconciliation conference:

The government on Sunday postponed indefinitely a much-anticipated national reconciliation conference aimed at shoring up Iraq's brittle political system, citing "emergency reasons."
http://tinyurl.com/yzgos9

===
Iraqi federalism vote: Behind the contradictory numbers :

The NYT reporting of this as a routine vote and another small step in the right direction, is about as misleading as it can be.
http://tinyurl.com/ya3zgg

===
Iraq: Group claims establishment of Islamic state:

The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of insurgent groups in Iraq, said the new state was made up of six provinces including Baghdad that have large Sunni populations and parts of two other southern provinces that are predominantly Shiite.
http://tinyurl.com/yfdkpm

===
There was a plan for Iraq - but it was torn up:

Garner drew up detailed plans and, at his first briefing with President Bush, outlined three essential "musts" that would, he asserted, ensure a smooth transition after the war.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15308.htm

===
It's time to say sorry for Iraq's agony :

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the army's biggest gun, has blown apart Blair's promises and exposed the disaster our leaders try to hide
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/sto...1922787,00.html

===
Australia: Former Defence chief General Peter Cosgrove admits he was wrong about Iraq:

"If people say that there has been an energising of the jihadist movement through the protracted war in Iraq - well that's pretty obvious."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20580228-2,00.html

===
US will stay at full strength in Iraq until 2010, says army chief :

Military commanders at the Pentagon have revealed that they are laying plans to maintain troop numbers in Iraq at about 140,000 for at least another four years as sectarian violence continues to surge and fatalities among American soldiers have risen sharply.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americ...icle1873833.ece

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061016/ap_on_...mhuBHNlYwNtdHM-

Bush tells Iraq PM: Ignore deadline talk By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 16, 10:27 AM ET



WASHINGTON - President Bush personally assured Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Monday that he has no plans to pull troops out and told him to ignore rumors the United States would enforce a timeline against Baghdad.

The president's pledge came in a 15-minute morning phone call with al-Maliki, who told Bush he was concerned because he had been hearing that the United States was giving him a two-month timeline to operate on his own.

"He said that rumors sometimes can undercut confidence in the government and also its ability to work effectively in fighting terror," said Bush spokesman Tony Snow. "And the president said, `Don't worry, you still have our full support.' "

Snow said he wasn't clear where the rumors were coming from. He said that in his talk with al-Maliki, Bush did not express any sense of urgency. Casualties have been increasing amid almost daily violence that has eroded support for the war in the United States.

A growing number of U.S. lawmakers are calling for a new strategy in Iraq, including two leading Republican senators who spoke out Sunday on television talk shows.

"The American people are not going to continue to support, sustain a policy that puts American troops in the middle of a civil war," Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Hagel said he agreed with Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who asserted after a recent visit to Iraq that the wartorn country was "drifting sideways." Warner has urged consideration of a change of course if the Iraq government fails to restore order over the next two months or three months.

Warner said Sunday he stands by that assessment, and even in the week since his trip to Iraq, there has been an "exponential increase in the killings and the savagery that's going on over there."

"You can see some movement forward, but a lot of movement back," Warner said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "We have to rethink all the options, except any option which says we precipitously pull out, which would let that country fall into a certain civil war at that time, and all of the neighboring countries would be destabilized."

Snow said Bush and al-Maliki agreed that Iraq needs firm leadership and close coordination between the Iraqi security forces and the coalition troops.

"The president didn't make any conditions, he said that we're going to support you and he said he knew that prime minister had to make tough decisions," Snow said. "On a number of occasions he referred to the importance of going after terrorists and militias."

Hagel said it is time to change course, but "our options are limited."

"We need to find a new strategy, a way out of Iraq, because the entire Middle East is more combustible than it's been probably since 1948, and more dangerous," Hagel said. "And we're in the middle of it."

Democrats long have urged a change in Iraq policy. Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the leading Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said there is "no military solution to this conflict" and the United States must pressure Iraqis to take over their country.

"If they're going to have a civil war, they're going to have to do it without us," Levin said on CNN. "This is long overdue. We've got to focus Iraqi leadership attention on this by telling them we need to begin a phased redeployment of American troops from Iraq within the next few months."

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Saddam urges united Iraqi fight BBC News
Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has urged Iraqis to set aside internal conflicts and unite in driving US-led forces from the country.In a letter dictated from prison, Saddam Hussein calls on Iraqis not to be "distracted" by settling scores. Saddam Hussein is on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity. The Iraqi capital has seen another day of violence as two car bombs exploded almost simultaneously in a north-east district, reportedly killing 20. The bombs struck just after sunset as Muslims were gathering to pray after breaking their Ramadan fast. Earlier, at least 10 people died when a car bomb exploded in a market in the mixed Sunni-Shia town of Suweira. Also on Tuesday, the brother of the chief prosecutor in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial was killed in western Baghdad. Emad al-Faroon was shot dead by gunmen as he returned home with his wife.

'Great unified Iraq'
In his three-page letter, dictated to and delivered by his lawyer, Saddam Hussein describes Iraqis as living in "the most difficult period in history". He explains that he is writing the letter as "my chances to express my opinion are limited in detention". Saddam Hussein, who is not allowed to address the Iraqi people during his appearances in court, has been thrown out of his own trial several times for making political statements. He blames foreigners for sowing division in "a united and undivided country". Referring to the rash of sectarian killings and violence, he writes that Iraqis should not be tempted to use excessive force. "I urge you... to apply justice and righteousness in your jihad, and refrain from being drawn into recklessness, God forbid." Referring to the sectarian splits in the country he says he yearns for a "great unified Iraq, which is not split by any colour, segment or allegation". The letter, dated Sunday, was apparently dictated during a four-hour meeting with his lawyer on Saturday.

CRITICS OF PARTITIONING IRAQ ERR AT GREAT PERIL, ELAND ARGUES

With the mid-term U.S. elections looming next month, it's practically a given that the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of State James Baker, will not recommend that Iraq be decentralized and partitioned in order to avert a complete meltdown along ethnic and sectarian lines. This is extremely disheartening. Because Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis fear a strong central government, radical decentralization is "the only viable solution remaining for Iraq," writes Independent Institute Senior Fellow Ivan Eland in his latest op-ed.

Whereas each group fears that a central government would become an engine of oppression, U.S. critics of decentralizing and partitioning fear it might encourage the opposite. But those criticisms are unfounded, according to Eland.

"Many opponents of decentralization or partition use the example of the civil war during the break up of Yugoslavia," Eland continues. "Yet that is not the only model. Czechoslovakia and most of the Soviet Union broke up peacefully. Even in the case of Yugoslavia, when Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia separated from Yugoslavia, if the Serbs in those states had been allowed to affiliate with Serbia, a civil war might have been avoided."

"Partitioning: The Way Out of Iraq," by Ivan Eland (10/9/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1829

"La partición: la salida de Irak"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1829

The Way Out of Iraq: Decentralizing the Iraqi Government," by Ivan Eland http://www.independent.org/store/policy_re...etail.asp?id=16

PUTTING "DEFENSE" BACK INTO U.S. DEFENSE POLICY, by Ivan Eland http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=19

THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=54

Center on Peace & Liberty (Ivan Eland, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/copal/

"THE REALITY AND LEGACY OF THE IRAQ WAR" -- Forum with Mark Danner and Ivan Eland (Oakland, Calif., 10/17/06)
http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=122

According to a highly classified National Intelligence Estimate report co-authored by sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies, the Iraq conflict "is cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement." The report concludes that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has fueled a new generation of Islamic radicalism and the threat of terrorism has increased since 9/11.

But fanning the flames of global jihad may be only one of several legacies of the Iraq War. Regional stability, oil security, and American geopolitical power may also be heavily affected for years or decades to come.

What exactly is going on in Iraq, and what are its long-term implications? What will it take for Iraq to become a stable nation? How much does this depend on U.S. policies? How will the outcome in Iraq affect oil prices and the U.S. economy? How will it change relations between the United States and its allies and rivals? What affect is the Iraq war having on domestic politics throughout the Muslim world? Is Iran next?

On Tuesday, Oct. 17, Mark Danner and Ivan Eland will address these and related questions at the Independent Policy Forum, "The Reality and Legacy of the Iraq War." This event will be held at the Independent Institute Conference Center, Oakland, Calif. at 6:30 p.m.

SPEAKERS:

-- MARK DANNER is Professor of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley and Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College as well as the author of THE SECRET WAY TO WAR: The Downing Street Memo and the Iraq War's Buried History, and TORTURE AND TRUTH: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror, both published by The New York Review of Books.

-- IVAN ELAND is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at The Independent Institute and author of, THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed, published by The Independent Institute, 2004.

WHEN:
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Reception and book signing: 6:30 p.m.
Program: 7:00 p.m.

WHERE:
The Independent Institute Conference Center
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621-1428
For a map and directions, see
http://www.independent.org/aboutus/map.asp

TICKETS: $15 per person ($10 for Independent Institute Members). Special Offer: Admission and a copy of THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES: $35 ($30 for members). Reserve tickets by calling (510) 632-1366 or ordering online at
http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=122
Praise for THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed, by Ivan Eland:

"I can honestly say I found THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES to be factually well grounded and extremely well thought out. The logic is sound as is the scholarship from my perspective. The Independent Institute should be commended for its role is supporting neutral research which is driven neither by the politics of the left or the right."
--RINALDO S. BRUTOCO, President, The World Business Academy

"In THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES, Dr. Eland shows that the concept of empire is wholly contrary to the principles of liberals and conservatives alike and makes a mockery of the Founding Fathers' vision for a free republic."
--RON PAUL, U.S. Congressman

For information about THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES, see
http://www.independent.org/publications/bo...y.asp?bookID=58

IRAQI PRIME MINISTER UNWILLING TO DISARM MILITIAS

Sectarian violence in Iraq appears to be moving from bad to worse. Although a bloody bus bombing dominated the Iraqi news headlines this week, the most revealing indicator of future violence comes from the Iraqi government's top leadership: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'a, has refused to begin to dismantle the Shi'ite militias that have infiltrated government security forces, just as he has refused to help the U.S. campaign against the Mahdi Army in Sadr City.

The United States may not be able to stop the growing sectarian violence in Iraq, but it can probably temper it, according to Ivan Eland, director of the Independent Institute's Center on Peace & Liberty. Rather than continue to occupy the country and thereby train Shi'ite militia members that have infiltrated government forces, the United States should announce a date for removing troops from that country, Eland argues in his latest op-ed.

"That action would force the Shi'ite-Kurd dominated government to give the Sunnis some incentives for ending their insurgency and agreeing to a decentralization of Iraqi governance," Eland writes. "A rapid U.S. withdrawal would halt the training of Shi'ite forces for an expanded civil war and foil al-Maliki's plan to win it. Also, by threatening to remove U.S. backing from a government dominated by the Shi'a and Kurds, the U.S. would put pressure on those groups to reach a decentralization settlement that shared either oil revenues or oil wells with the Sunnis."

"The U.S. Should Stop Training Forces for the Expanding Iraqi Civil War," by Ivan Eland (10/16/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1833

"Los Estados Unidos deberían dejar de entrenar fuerzas para la creciente guerra civil iraquí"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1833

Also see, "The Reality and Legacy of the Iraq War" -- Featuring Ivan Eland and Mark Danner (Independent Institute Conference Center, Oakland, Calif., 10/17/06)
http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=122

The Way Out of Iraq: Decentralizing the Iraqi Government," by Ivan Eland
http://www.independent.org/store/policy_re...etail.asp?id=16

Center on Peace & Liberty (Ivan Eland, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/copal/

Iraq: More than 77 killed as U.S. occupation grinds on:

A total of 46 bodies, with gunshot wounds and bearing signs of torture, were found in Baghdad since Saturday night, an Interior Ministry source said.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO631031.htm

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Two car bombs kill 20 in Baghdad:

Two near simultaneous car bombs killed 20 people and wounded 17 in a mixed neighborhood in northern Baghdad on Monday, an Interior Ministry source said.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2573055

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Seven US troops killed in Iraq:

Seven more US troops have been killed in action in Iraq, bringing the number of American troops to have died this month to 57.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061016/wl_mi...ll_061016152611

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Brother of Saddam prosecutor killed:

The brother of the top prosecutor in the second trial of Saddam Hussein was shot dead in front of his wife at his home in the capital Monday
http://tinyurl.com/y2l92t

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Saddam Says Iraq 'Liberation Is at Hand':

Saddam Hussein issued an open letter Monday, saying Iraq's "liberation is at hand" and calling for an end to sectarian killings.
http://tinyurl.com/ul7qc

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Iraq rebels say they will only negotiate with US:

Iraqi nationalist insurgents have told AFP they have begun talks with US forces, after a weekend meeting of Sunni tribal sheikhs called for the restoration of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061016/wl_mideast_afp/iraq

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Top US inquiry to call for Iraq policy change :

US policy in Iraq is not working and George Bush should consider radical changes, according to a top-level panel backed by the president.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1923778,00.html