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Yusra Farhan's daughter recently started talking with a boy. So, Farhan beat her with a shoe and tied her to a bed because her "Iraqi culture states that a female is not allowed to be having contact with males because females are not allowed to have boyfriends," she later told police. Unfortunately for Farhan, she's in America -- where beating your children is illegal, regardless of whatever draconian culture you subscribe to. According to court records obtained by New Times, Phoenix police contacted Farhan on Wednesday at St. Joseph's Hospital, where she was visiting her daughter who was admitted for...

Thousands were promised spots first in line for special visas to the U.S., but the process has slowed to a crawl. Now the Iraqis, targeted for death because of their service to America, can only wait. Reporting from Baghdad— He rarely leaves his house. He's been shot at by gunmen in a passing car. He gets death threats over the phone. "Traitor," the callers say. "American agent." Tariq, 27, is a quick-witted, tech-savvy Iraqi who tosses off idiomatic American English phrases such as "I'm outta here" and "That's cool." When he served as an interpreter for the U.S. military, Tariq...

NOTE The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2011/alleged-terrorist-indicted-in-new-york-for-the-murder-of-five-american-soldiers Alleged Terrorist Indicted in New York for the Murder of Five American Soldiers U.S. Attorney’s Office December 09, 2011 Eastern District of New York NEW YORK—Today, a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., returned an indictment charging Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa, 38, aka “Faruk Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa,” “Sayfildin Tahir Sharif” and “Tahir Sharif Sayfildin,” with aiding in the murder of five American soldiers in a suicide-bomb attack in Iraq in April 2009. Specifically, he is charged with the murders of Staff Sergeant Gary L. Woods, 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky.; Sergeant First...

The Iraqi sniper captured after he killed two Marines has been freed and is at liberty - even as the still-grieving families of Brooklyn-raised Capt. John McKenna 4th and Queens-raised Michael Glover gather in Rockaway today for a memorial marking the fifth anniversary of their deaths.The families had been assured that "as long as there is a Marine in Iraq, the sniper will remain in jail." Their already overwhelming loss has been compounded by the failure of the Defense Department to inform them that Muhammad (Big Ears) Awwad Ahmad had been released.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police in southern California have arrested 60 people and broken up an Iraqi criminal ring accused of selling drugs, machine guns and improvised bombs out of an immigrant social club, authorities said on Thursday. The swoop by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and local police targeted a network operating out of El Cajon, which is near San Diego and close to the border with Mexico.

I never give time frames, because you never know where you'll have sufficient evidence to go public with a prosecution, " Mueller said.

He roamed the University of Cincinnati campus with a loaded gun. When his rage overflowed, the brainy microbiology major would open fire inside empty buildings, visualizing a wall clock or other object as a person who had done him wrong. By the mid-1970s, Bruce Ivins had earned his doctorate and was a promising researcher at the University of North Carolina. By outward appearances, he was a charming eccentric, odd but disarming. Inside, he still smoldered with resentment, and he saw a new outlet for it. Several years earlier, a Cincinnati student had turned him down for a date. He had...

Iraqi Christians now face genocide and are claiming a “right of existence” for all non-Muslim minorities as Islamists continue their bloody holy war against all who dare profess belief in anything but Islam. Since 2003, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians have either fled to the northern Iraqi province of Kurdistan and other countries, or have been massacred while the leftist media, the Islamapologist brigade at the White House, and even the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops maintain complete silence about their status. Regardless of what one’s views may be on the War in Iraq, there is no excuse...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – An Iraqi al-Qaida operative was believed to be one of 15 militants killed in two U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt along the Afghan border Monday, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The officials said the man, identified as Abu Zaid al-Iraqi, handled the terrorist group's finances in Pakistan. He was not known to be on any published U.S. lists of wanted al-Qaida leaders, and U.S. officials do not normally acknowledge the existence of the CIA-led missile program or talk about who is being killed. The two strikes, coming roughly 24 hours apart, were the first...

According to independent journalists in the Iraqi Kurdish city Sulaymani, a sympathy protest in favor of Egypt and Tunisia turned bloody just a few moments ago. After the gathering, some youths threw stones at the local headquarters of Masud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). From within the building, KDP officials shot into the crowd, killing five and injuring at least 15.

LONDON – An Iraqi man whose testimony the United States used as a key evidence to build a case for war in Iraq says he is proud that he lied about his country developing mobile biological warfare labs. The Guardian newspaper published an interview Wednesday with Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, who has been identified as the informer called "Curveball," whose claims about weapon labs formed part of then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the U.N. Security Council in 2003, shortly before the war began. The Guardian quoted al-Janabi as saying: "I had the chance to fabricate something to...

WASHINGTON — The Iraqi defector whose claims that Saddam Hussein’s government had biological weapons became part of the Bush administration’s justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq has admitted that he fabricated his story. The defector, Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, who was code-named “Curveball” by the Central Intelligence Agency and German intelligence officials, told the British newspaper The Guardian on Tuesday that he had concocted his tale that Iraq was hiding mobile bioweapons laboratories. He did so, he said, in hopes that his lies would lead to the eventual overthrow of the Iraqi ruler.

Congressman told FBI he asked for -- and got -- free home upgrades ### Convicted political fixer Tony Rezko gave U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez free upgrades on a riverfront town house after the congressman asked for them, Gutierrez told the FBI, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Gutierrez's comments to federal agents in a previously undisclosed 2008 interview contradict what the congressman told the Sun-Times in 2006 about the purchase. "I walked in with my wife -- as any other consumer could have -- and purchased the unit at the listed price, with no considerations," the Northwest Side congressman said then,...

The suicide bomber who blew himself up yesterday was an Iraqi man who graduated from a British university. Whitehall sources confirm that Taimour-Al-Abdaly, a 28-year-old man who lived in southern Sweden, was the owner of the car that exploded in central Stockholm last night. His Facebook profile lists him as having studied a BSc in sports therapy at the University of Bedfordshire in 2004. Swedish police confirmed that the two explosions that killed one person and injured two more, causing panic among Christmas shoppers, were a terrorist attack. They said last night's explosions were the result of "terror crimes". "We...

A survey by the Kurdistan Minstiry of Health shows that 41 percent of women have gone under the practise of female genuital mutilation (FGM). The survey was carried out in July this year. The results of the survey were announced during a campaign to raise awareness on violence against women in Kurdistan earlier this week. Part of the campaign has focused on FGM. The survey by the government shows that mothers are the main party responsible for forcing their daughters experience the painful ritual and then grandmothers and fathers.

The suspected ringleader of the failed bomb plot has been named as 'brilliant neurologist' Mohammed Asha, 26. Saudi-born Asha, 26, was arrested with his 27-year-old wife, who was in traditional Muslim dress, on the M6 in Cheshire on Saturday night. They were in a car with their two-year-old son when police were believed to have been alerted to Dr Asha's car after his number plate flashed up on an automatic recognition camera. He is believed to being questioned over possible links to the two Mercedes packed with gas canisters, petrol and nails found in the West End on Friday. The...

Three suspected Al Qaeda members were arrested Thursday morning in what Norwegian and U.S. officials said was a terrorist plot linked to similar plans in New York and England. The three men, whose names were not released, had been under surveillance for more than a year. Two of the men were arrested in Norway and one in Germany, according to Janne Kristiansen, head of Norway's Police Security Service. She declined to give further details of the locations. Kristiansen said one of the men was a 39-year-old Norwegian of Uighur origin, who had lived in Norway since 1999. The other suspects...

May 29, 2008 By Andrew Walden (Hawai'i Free Press) Nadhmi Auchi, seen here with the Governor of Illinois, Rob Blagojevich (middle) at a 2004 Chicago dinner in Auchi's honor arranged by Antonin Rezko (potentially, right)[1]. All three men have been convicted of corruption related charges (Auchi 2003, Rezko 2008, Blagojevich 2009).[2] “A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser (dual US-Syrian citizen Tony Rezko) just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses. The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi,...

KIRKUK - Fridays are considered a day of rest for Iraqis, when they traditionally spread out blankets to enjoy good food and company.  U.S. Soldiers were invited to join their Iraqi counterparts for Friday relaxation during a picnic here at Dibbis Dam, May 7.Leaders of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, out of Fort Bliss, Texas, enjoy a picnic with their Iraqi Army partners at Dibbis Dam, near Kirkuk, Iraq, May 7, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jessica Luhrs. The day was filled with food, jokes, stories and no business, according to 1st Lt. Ali Mohammed Ahmed,...

American-backed Iraqi forces have killed the country’s two senior terrorists in the Al-Qaeda organization, the United States confirmed Monday. American officials said the deaths are a “potentially devastating blow” to the international terror network. The terrorists were identified as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who killed in a house after troops stormed it approximately six miles southwest of the home town of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

SNIPPET: "The following Top Ten list is ordered according relative importance, both to the jihadis and to those who monitor their online activities, with preference given to sites which consistently offer up content that is unique to the particular site and community of users."

An Iraqi-born yob who spat on a World War II hero's medals on Remembrance Day yesterday escaped jail. Serwan Abdullah, 23, targeted Timothy House while he was wearing his late grandfather’s honours after a commemorative parade. Mr House, 44, who was recovering from a broken hip and was also looking after a 91-year-old wheelchair-bound veteran when the attack happened, said he was left ‘outraged and very angry’. Abdullah showed no remorse and told officers he had done ‘nothing wrong’ adding: ‘F*** him and f*** his medals.’ The medals Mr House was wearing were awarded to former paratrooper Company Sgt Major...

An Iraqi doctor encouraged security officers at Brooke Army Medical Center to shoot him earlier this month after telling others that he planned to free accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a federal agent testified Monday. FBI counterterrorism and military intelligence operatives took a hard look at Senan Kahtan Abrahem after he went to Fort Sam Houston on Jan. 6 and approached an information booth at BAMC about seeing Hasan, according to testimony at a bail hearing Monday for Abrahem. Abrahem, an immigrant living in San Antonio, was indicted last week on a federal charge of making a...

Iraqi parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi is warning that Iran is much closer to attaining nuclear capability than most sources, including the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US State Department, believe. In fact, he predicts the Iranians could have a nuclear capability - and may announce that they have it - as soon as next month. "We are receiving information which says Iran is so close to producing an atom bomb," Alusi said in an interview earlier this month, the latest in a series of interviews conducted since September. "All the international community, they don't realize how close [the Iranians] are...

BAGHDAD — A preparatory session for the upcoming Conference for Cooperation and Coordination between the Iraqi and Kurdistan Ministries of Interior was held here last week, when MoI and KMoI representatives discussed plans to unify their efforts to fight the insurgency and strengthen the nation of Iraq, Aug. 4 – 5. This was the third series of meetings held between MoI and KMoI since January 2009 to discuss issues of security cooperation. Iraqi Maj. Gen. Waleed Hadawi Khalifa, director general of the MoI Planning and Tracking Directorate, served as overall coordinator for the talks. The Kurdistan General Director of Police,...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces raided a camp housing members of an Iranian opposition group north of Baghdad on Tuesday in a move that ran contrary to U.S. wishes and prompted clashes. Residents of Camp Ashraf claimed the Iraqi troops opened fire and beat people with batons, killing four people. The Iraqi government confirmed authorities had moved into the camp but denied violence was used against the exiles.

Iraqis fleeing violence in their homeland are struggling in America, where they had hoped to make new lives, said a report issued Tuesday ..... "Nearly all of the Iraqis we surveyed had expectations that they would receive better care from a government whose policies had a hand in their upheaval, particularly those who put their lives on the line to work for the U.S. military and government and were targeted as a result," "They deserve better." In 2008, the United States admitted 13,823 refugees from Iraq. Though grateful to be in America, the Iraqis told the refugee experts that they...

An NHS doctor accused of the Glasgow airport attack today admitted planning to set cars on fire to give Britain a "taste of fear". Bilal Abdulla, 29, an Iraqi, said he had wanted the incendiary devices to throw the spotlight back on the devastating effect of war on his homeland. He branded the British government "democratically elected murderers" and said he wanted Muslims to escape oppression and leave Britain. But Abdulla told Woolwich crown court in London that he knew the "horror and terror" of the July 7 attacks and had not wanted to injure or kill anyone. Going into...

The US military has released a senior member of a deadly terror group backed by Iran that has been directly implicated in the kidnapping and murder of five US soldiers in Karbala during a complex operation in early 2007. Laith al Qazali was freed last weekend "as part of a reconciliation effort" as well as an attempt to secure the release of captive British hostages, according to a report in The New York Times. Laith is the brother of Qais Qazali, the commander of the Qazali network, which is better known as the Asaib al Haq, or the League of...

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2009 – In developments this month, the Iraqi air force graduated its first intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircrew members and dedicated three new buildings that will increase its capabilities. The first class of Iraqi Air Force Squadron 87 King Air ISR aircrew members completed their year-long training, which culminated with a graduation ceremony at New Al Muthana Air Base May 17. The Iraqi King Air program, headed up by U.S. Air Force and Navy aircrew instructors, has trained four Iraqi pilots, seven co-pilots and five mission sensor operators. “We are about at the halfway point where we...

FORT POLK, La., May 22, 2009 – Early morning in the combat outpost was like that hour before sun up on a Louisiana frog pond, with rumbling, bullfrog snores and socks stinking like pond muck from days of bathing in boot dust and sweat. Carried on the morning dew, the smell of 40 grimy infantrymen racked out in a room too small for morning vapors best described as weaponized funk. Army 2nd Lt. John J. Griffin leads his platoon in partnership with role-playing Iraqi security forces to provide security to the fictitious town of Suliyah prior to the opening...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – As U.S. troops gradually curtail combat operations in Iraq, Iraqi soldiers are taking over the task of securing the country -- and for Iraqi special forces, that means hunting down insurgents and militiamen. There are persistent doubts about Iraqi forces' readiness to take on an insurgency which, although weakened, is far from defeated and can still launch devastating attacks. "We're absolutely killing them," General Fadel Barwari, commander of the Iraqi Special Operations Force (ISOF), said with more than a hint of aggression, sitting in an office adorned with a stuffed eagle and rows of automatic weapons. "The...

By way of both the Gateway Pundit and Black Five, I came across this Fox News report: An Iraqi translator who has earned commendations for risking his life repeatedly to save the lives of many American soldiers in combat has been denied a visa to live in the United States because of nonviolent actions he took to overthrow Saddam Hussein — at the same time the U.S. government was calling for regime change in Iraq. Jasim, whose name is being withheld for his safety, has received strong support from the U.S. military, and the Department of Homeland Security approved his...

Police say an Iraqi soccer player has been shot dead just as he was about to kick what could have been the tying goal in a weekend game south of Baghdad.

Abu Ghraib prison is reopening under Iraqi control(video). Abu Ghraib prison is reopening under Iraqi control. The prison was closed in 2006. It was handed over to the Iraqis and never used in any significant way until now. Abu Ghraib will now be called the "Baghdad Central Prison". We can all sleep well knowing the Iraqis treat their prisoners in a more humane manner than the Americans did. If you believe that, you have stopped drinking the Cool-aid and started eating the powder straight from the package.

The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at US President George W Bush is seeking asylum in Switzerland, Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve reports. Muntadar al-Zaidi has been in custody in Iraq awaiting trial since the incident during a visit by Mr Bush to the country in mid-December. He fears for his safety in his Baghdad prison, the paper says, quoting his lawyer, Mauro Poggia. The lawyer argues his client likewise cannot resume his old job in Iraq. Since his arrest, the Iraqi has reportedly been beaten in custody, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older...

12/29/2008 - BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- Iraqi firefighters are were more than half-way through the firefighter apprentice course being trained in Baghdad's International Zone before being moved. The class was previously taught at Taji Military Base just north of Baghdad, but the location lacked advanced live fire trainers and had limited capacity for students. "The maximum class size at Taji was 10. In the IZ, we have five extra instructors from civil defense who enable us to teach an additional 24 students for just one class," said Tech. Sgt. Brian Partido, a fire rescue advisor deployed from Little Rock Air...

US activists call for release, pardon of Iraq shoe-thrower Dec 29 03:52 PM US/Eastern US activists on Monday urged Baghdad to release the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush, insisting that his gesture was meant to insult, not harm the US leader. "This was a form of insult... If he had wanted to hurt George Bush, he would have chosen a different weapon," Medea Benjamin of the Codepink peace activism group told AFP at a rally of about a dozen people outside the Iraqi consulate in Washington. Zaidi, 29, threw his shoes at Bush...

BAGHDAD – The jailed journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush has asked for a pardon for what he described as "an ugly act," a spokesman for Iraq's prime minister said Thursday. Muntadhar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for an Iraqi-owned television station based in Cairo, Egypt, could face two years imprisonment for insulting a foreign leader. He remained in custody Thursday night. "It is too late to now to regret the big and ugly act that I perpetrated," al-Zeidi wrote in a letter delivered to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, according to the prime minister's spokesman.

The good doctor on the day of his grand jihad Cambridge alum guilty of plotting the jihad deaths of untold numbers. Poverty Causes Terrorism Update: "Iraqi doctor found guilty of Glasgow airport bomb plot," by Steve Bird in the Times, December 16 (thanks to all who sent this in): An NHS doctor who waged a terrorist car-bomb campaign intended to kill and maim hundreds of people in London and Glasgow has been found guilty of conspiracy to murder. Dr Bilal Abdulla was part of a cell that set up a bomb-making factory and bought five cars to convert into firebombs...

“I first began to fathom the extent of Nadhmi Auchi's reach and corrupting influence when I was given responsibility for monitoring illegal transfers of technology and munitions to Iraq as well as overseeing all coalition transportation and communications reconstruction in Iraq." ### Barack Obama has been appropriately strident in his condemnation of the mortgage-based financial corruption which nearly led to the collapse of the investment banking system in the United States. But there are some strong smelling financial skeletons in his own closet. Obama has his own personal housing crisis that is tied not into Fanny Mae, but into a...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi security forces supported by U.S. firepower killed a senior al Qaeda leader who made car bombs and ran Islamist militant cells throughout northern Iraq, the U.S. military said on Friday. A statement said the Iraqi army and members of a U.S.- backed Sunni Arab neighborhood patrol shot Abu Ghazwan as he hid in the grass near a house they were searching on Thursday in Tarmiya, north of Baghdad. The patrol had been attacked with guns and a bomb in the house. "While further searching the area, a (neighborhood patrol) member discovered a trail booby-trapped with grenades...

HAWIJAH, Iraq, Oct. 16, 2008 – The first graduation of a pilot literacy program was held yesterday at the soccer stadium here in Iraq’s Kirkuk province. The program, which began June 15 as a pilot program for the National Literary Campaign, graduated nearly 500 students. The four-month course covered basic reading, writing and math skills for employment marketability, officials said. Students attended classes four hours a day, five days a week, for completion of the National Literary Campaign's requirements. "I have worked closely with the local government leaders and watched them develop this program, through the execution of the program,...

BAGHDAD – American troops could face trial before Iraqi courts for major crimes committed off base and when not on missions, under a draft security pact hammered out in months of tortuous negotiations, Iraqi officials familiar with the accord said Wednesday. The draft also calls for U.S. troops to leave Iraqi cities by the end of June and withdraw from the country entirely by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks some of them to stay for training or security support, the officials said. It would also give the Iraqis a greater role in U.S. military operations and full...

I can’t let this one go by. Welcome to the future if we let Islamic fundamentalists/extremists win the War on Terror. ... Mosul (AsiaNews) - A new attack against the Christians in Mosul: yesterday afternoon, an armed group assassinated Hazim Thomaso Youssif, age 40.The ambush took place in front of his clothing store in Bab Sarray; it is not yet known who ordered the killing, but it is suspected that it is the work of Islamic fundamentalists, in a city that has long been the theater of deadly attacks on the Christian community.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2008 – The enemy’s use of improvised explosive devices continues to decline in northern Iraq’s Salahuddin province, a senior U.S. officer posted there said today. Consequently, “the situation here continues to improve from a security standpoint,” Army Col. Scott McBride, commander of the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference. McBride’s unit is based in Tikrit, northwest of Baghdad in Salahuddin province. The 4,000-member brigade is a component of Multinational Division North, and it has been in Iraq for about a year. The enemy is still active in Salahuddin...

BALAD, Iraq , Aug. 8, 2008 – Air Force Airman 1st Class Murad Mohiadeen's story crosses two continents and spans more than 7,500 miles. It begins with his birth in Iraq 20 years ago and continues today as the story of an American airman who is part of the coalition's efforts to win the peace in Iraq. Air Force Airman 1st Class Murad Mohiadeen defends an entry control point near the Air Force Theater Hospital at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, Aug. 2, 2008. Mohiadeen, a native of Baghdad, was raised in the United States when his family emigrated from...

Short video of the good in Iraq

Yesterday I had an interesting conference call with Royal Navy Captain Paul Abraham. He is the Director of Maritime Strategic Transition Team in Iraq. The call focused on the development of the Iraqi Navy (no, it's not a joke. They DO have a Navy); specifically: " his experiences working with Iraqi partners in building and developing the Iraqi Navy, which led to their recent operational success in seizing control of their own territorial port of Umm Qasr, protecting 90 percent of all of Iraq's imports and exports." Currently, the Iraqi Navy consists of about a dozen hard-used small patrol boats...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc rejoined the Shi'ite-led government on Saturday in a breakthrough for national reconciliation after parliament approved its candidates for several vacant ministerial posts. Getting the Accordance Front to return after it quit a year ago in a row over power sharing has been seen as key to healing divisions between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs. Sunni Arabs have little voice in the current cabinet, which is dominated by Shi'ites and ethnic Kurds. "Today, parliament voted to accept our candidates ... This means the Accordance Front has officially returned to the government," a...