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An Iraqi government source says the country's security forces killed two key insurgent leaders with the help of Iraqi tribes leaders in Al-Anbar province. The Interior Ministry source said the operation, which also resulted in the arrest of 37 al-Qaida linked terrorists... ...also arrested six other terrorists in south Amiriyah and arrested 11 al-Qaida suspects in the Euphrates area.

Deep inside the heart of the "Green Zone", the heavily fortified administrative compound in Baghdad, lies one of the most carefully guarded secrets of the war in Iraq. It is a cell from a small and anonymous British Army unit that goes by the deliberately meaningless name of the Joint Support Group (JSG), and it has proved to be one of the Coalition's most effective and deadly weapons in the fight against terror. The JSG was formed in the '80s to tackle the IRA Its members - servicemen and women of all ranks recruited from all three of the Armed...

AR RAMADI — U. S. officials are working with the Iraqi Government to reopen various production factories to stimulate the local economy here. Mohammed Abdullah, the deputy minister of industry, met with Bob Love, the director of Iraqi operations for the Defense Business Transformation Agency, during a Jan. 31 visit to ceramics and glass factories to discuss the future of the businesses. “The factories in Ramadi are important to the government of Iraq and the United States,” Love said. “We have to move quickly.” Love said that meetings like this would speed up the process of opening the ceramic factory’s...

A group of Sunni tribal chiefs in Iraq say they have caught more than 100 al-Qaeda members in recent months. The tribal chiefs in the Iraqi province of Anbar joined forces in September in an attempt to defeat al-Qaeda. They set up the Salvation Council for Anbar and claim to have reduced the numbers of weapons and foreign fighters coming into the area. The restive Sunni dominated area has been a centre of activity for foreign jihadis linked to al-Qaeda. The head of the council, Sheikh Faisal al-Goud, told the BBC, however, that there were still thousands of al-Qaeda fighters...

Baghdad, Nov 29: US and Iraqi forces have killed or captured at least 7,000 al-Qaeda fighters in the past two years, with 30 "senior leaders' taken out of action since July, a US military spokesman said yesterday. The news comes hard on the heels of a leaked US marine report that states US forces cannot defeat the al-Qaeda-led insurgency in the vast western desert province of al-Anbar. "Since October 2004, we have now killed or captured over 7,000 al-Qaeda terrorists," coalition spokesman Major General William Caldwell told journalists. "Coalition and Iraqi security forces have made significant progress in dismantling the...

While the media focus on the car bomb du jour, hope has appeared in an unexpected place: the maternity ward. Iraq is undergoing a baby boom. What kind of a nation will we leave them? On Monday, the Pentagon handed out a report card on progress in Iraq, and it's impressive. It includes six new primary care facilities with 66 more under construction. Saddam Hussein hadn't built a new hospital in 20 years. Eleven hospitals have been totally renovated and more than 800 schools that often served as armories for Hussein have been fixed up. The Ministry of Electricity now...

US forces killed nine members of al-Qaeda in Iraq group today during a raid near the town of Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad, the military said. Another nine suspected members of the group were arrested, it said. The raid was carried out by US ground and air troops, the military said, adding that several of those killed were wearing suicide vests.

A new recruiting video by the emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, brags of the loss of 4,000 foreign fighters in Iraq. He assures budding martyrs their ardent wish for death in righteous battle will be achieved. A U.N. report claims al-Qaeda’s foreign fighters want to kill Americans and don’t like being told to martyr themselves in suicide attacks on other Muslims. Al-Qaeda in Iraq has recruiting problems. Allah be praised! Also in the news last week, poll results from a University of Maryland public policy institute found that 94 percent of Iraqis hate al-Qaeda. Two-thirds of Iraqis...

7:31 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Last night in Iraq, United States military forces killed the terrorist al Zarqawi. At 6:15 p.m. Baghdad time, special operation forces, acting on tips and intelligence from Iraqis, confirmed Zarqawi's location, and delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq. Zarqawi was the operational commander of the terrorist movement in Iraq. He led a campaign of car bombings, assassinations and suicide attacks that has taken the lives of many American forces and thousands of innocent Iraqis. Osama bin Laden called this Jordanian terrorist "the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq." He called...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Suicide bombings fell in November to their lowest level in seven months, the American military said Thursday, citing the success of U.S.-Iraqi military operations against insurgent and foreign fighter sanctuaries near the Syrian border. But the trend in Iraq has not resulted in less bloodshed: 85 U.S. troops died during the month, one of the highest tolls since the invasion. In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. military played down reports by residents and police of widespread attacks Thursday against American and Iraqi installations in the city. The military said only one rocket-propelled grenade was...

Despite bombs, Baghdad stock exchange thinks big 22 Nov 2005 12:25:03 GMT Source: Reuters By Deepa Babington BAGHDAD, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Bomb blasts around Baghdad routinely shake the trading room and it takes 10 days for an investor to receive proof of a stock order, but Iraq's fledgling stock exchange is thinking big. Operating out of a heavily protected building in a residential sidestreet, the Iraqi Stock Exchange's 50 brokers write up their prices on white boards but there are plans to introduce electronic trading by next summer. Despite the technological challenge of running a virtual exchange in...

In the Military Alphabet, AWR is Alpha Whiskey Romeo. In Iraq today, it’s a code term of American soldiers. Whenever they use “AWR” or “Alpha Whiskey Romeo” in their communications, everyone knows what it really stands for: Allah’s Waiting Room. That’s what our soldiers have turned Iraq into for the terrorists, and that’s why our soldiers know they are winning this war. That’s also why our soldiers have more contempt for MSM journalists and Democrat politicians than the Jihadi terrorists — for at least the terrorists are honest about being an enemy, instead of pretending they’re on your side while...

U.S.-Led Forces Launch Major Attack on al-Qaida Stronghold in Major Test for Iraqi Soldiers. About 3,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops backed by jets launched a major attack Saturday against an insurgent-held town near the Syrian border, seeking to dislodge al-Qaida and its allies and seal off a main route for foreign fighters entering the country. U.S. officials describe the town of Husaybah as the key to controlling the volatile Euphrates River valley of western Iraq and dislodging al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The U.S.-led operation includes about 1,000 Iraqi soldiers, and the offensive will...

Iraqi voters have ratified a new constitution by a margin of nearly 4 to 1, election officials announced Tuesday as complete returns showed that the country's disaffected Sunni Arab minority had narrowly failed to muster enough "no" votes in three provinces to block the charter's adoption. The result, declared 10 days after a nationwide referendum, raised cries of protest from some Sunni leaders, who had claimed that the count was being rigged. But Iraqi election officials and U.N. monitors said a selective recount turned up no significant incidents of fraud. Shiite Muslim and ethnic Kurdish politicians leading Iraq's coalition government...

I have a novel idea for the Bush administration. Let's give a medal to someone who's actually done a good job. My candidate would be Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, who has been doing yeoman service there. Last week he snatched a small victory from the jaws of defeat by getting the largest organized Sunni group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, to agree with the Shia and Kurds on amendments to the new Iraqi constitution. The effect of these amendments was to lessen the import of Saturday's vote for the constitution. The constitution can now be amended at will...

BAGHDAD: Iraq took another big step yesterday toward becoming a fully democratic and independent nation as millions voted on a new constitution despite threat of violence. Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari, after casting one of the first ballots in Baghdad, said: "The constitution is a sign of civilization. We consider this a day of great achievement. This constitution has come after heavy sacrifices. It is a new birth." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan congratulated the Iraqi people, saying it represents a chance for the country to move away from violence and towards unity. "For the second time this year,...

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s deeply divided Shias, Sunnis and Kurds voted under heavy guard on Saturday to decide the fate of a new constitution aimed at establishing democracy after more than two decades of Saddam Hussein’s repressive rule. A day that US and Iraqi leaders feared could turn bloody turned out to be the most peaceful in months. Insurgents attacked five of Baghdad’s 1,200 polling stations with shootings and bombs, wounding seven voters. But the only deaths were those of three Iraqi soldiers in a roadside bomb far from a polling site, and there were no major attacks reported as US...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2005 – Acting on intelligence sources and tips from concerned citizens, coalition forces detained 24 terrorists and killed at least 12 others in a series of raids near Ramadi on Oct. 14, officials said. The terrorists are suspected of being affiliated with senior al Qaeda leaders in Ramadi and the Euphrates River Valley. In the first raid, coalition forces attacked a suspected terrorist safe house. They found a weapons cache with mortar rounds, small arms and ammunition. Coalition forces then raided two additional suspected terrorist safe houses. There they found 10 mortar rounds buried in the road,...

WASHINGTON -- Three in four Iraqi business leaders are optimistic about the future though nearly half say they enjoyed better basic services under Saddam Hussein, according to a recent poll released by Zogby International and the Center for International Private Enterprise. "The respondents believe that their own firms will grow and succeed and that Iraq's economy and political system will continue to grow and develop," said the poll, which was released Wednesday. Seventy-seven percent of business leaders polled said they expected the economy as a whole to grow at least somewhat, with more than half of those predicting the growth...

In Kirkuk, Iraq, a high stone wall surrounds an ornate soldiers' barracks dating from the Ottoman Empire. Until a few weeks ago, the stone floors were fractured, littered with rubble and silenced by a velvet coat of sun-streaked dust. The fountain in the center of the courtyard was still, and green with scum. Around it, parched flowers straggled up among bleached cobblestones -- vestiges of bulbs planted long years ago. This is a historic site, a monument, for the citizens of Kirkuk, defining them to the rest of Iraq, integral to their culture, history and pride. Before Saddam Hussein's rise...