Posted on 08/22/2005 8:55:09 PM PDT by ajolympian2004
Here is the news from Iraq for the third week of August 2005:
While the MSM salivates over the heroism of Cindy Sheehan it is all but ignoring the real heroes, like Spc. Casey Carroll who is fighting to go back to his unit in Iraq despite losing a finger in an car bomb attack:
Doctors sent the 22-year-old, a father of two, home in March, after he lost a finger from a vehicle-borne improvised-explosive device. However, his intentions were not to stay there.
He said coming back to Iraq and fighting this war with his unit was not optional. He said he had a duty to do for his country and he had a responsibility to this unit. He said he owed it to his children. He came back to Iraq so they would never have to.
“If we don't fix these problems now, my kids, and your kids, will have to come back here and do it for us. I don't want to have to worry about that or people coming into their world and messing it up,” he said.
The Armed Forces Press Service reported on recent successes in Iraq over the last week:
Children in a village of Tamim province received school supplies, clothing and toys from the Nahrain Foundation, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on providing proper nutrition, decent clothing and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children. The foundation received its supplies as part of a joint effort between American donations and a coalition forces-run program known as "Operation Provide School Supplies," which accepts donations from private citizens and corporations in the United States.
More than 600 children will return to renovated or rebuilt schools in Maysan province when school starts this fall. This week, renovation on the Al-Eethnar Mud School was completed, and the Al Eethar Mud School was replaced at a cost of $87,000, benefiting 500 students who attend classes there.
Eight newly built schools in Wassit and Babil provinces are receiving new furniture before the start of the school year. Each of the school projects will receive office desks and chairs, file cabinets and new student desks. Collectively, 400 three-student desks will be proportionally divided among the schools, based upon the number of students.
More reconstruction projects in Sadr City started this week, including a $13 million electrical distribution project. When the project is complete, an estimated 128,000 more people will have a reliable source of electricity. The project includes installation of power lines, 3,040 power poles, 80 transformers, 2,400 street lights, and power connections to individual homes, complete with meters.
Construction started on the $3.8 million Al Rayash Electricity Substation project in the Al Daur district of Salah Ad Din province, located between Tikrit and Bayji. The project, expected to be complete in early December, will provide reliable service to 50,000 Iraqi homes and small businesses. An electric distribution and street lighting project in Daquq was completed on Aug. 17, providing new overhead distribution lines and street lighting in the community.
About 2 million people will benefit from the Baghdad trunk sewer line, which was completed this week. Workers cleaned and repaired the Baghdad trunk sewer line and its associated manholes and pumping stations. The $17.48 million project restored principal sewage collection elements in the Adhamiya, Sadr City and Nissan districts of Baghdad, and will provide for the intended sewer flows to the Rustamiya wastewater treatment plant.
Construction is complete on phase one of the $865,000 Basrah courthouse project. This five-phase project is expected to be complete in October. The main courthouse, expected to hold a number of high profile trials, continues to operate during construction. Iraqi subcontractors are working on the project, and employing an average of 70 local Iraqi workers daily.
Iraqi security forces benefited from reconstruction projects this week as well. A patrol station in the Karkh district of Baghdad province was completed, as was a $390,300 border-post project on the Saudi Arabian border. A division headquarters building for the Iraqi Army in Salah Ad Din province was also completed this week. The $7 million project includes a single-story building with a concrete roof and interior office space to accommodate the unit. Additionally, a $2 million firing range in Taji was completed this week.
To accommodate additional detainees, a new prison project was started in Khan Bani Saad, a mountainous municipality in the Baquba district of Diyala province. The $75 million project will house up to 3,600 inmates. The site is about 550,000 square meters, which includes an educational center, medical facilities and administration buildings. The project will employ about 1,000 Iraqi workers during construction.
Earlier in the week President Bush said that Iraqis are starting to take control of their country. Proof of this can been seen through the capabilities of Iraqi security forces, which continue to improve:
"This week, 100 percent of the brigade level operations by coalition forces were conducted jointly with the Iraq security forces," Lynch said. "We continue to be impressed by the dedication and courage of these forces."
More than 180,000 trained and equipped Iraqi security force members are duty across Iraq, and "they are making a difference," he said.
Those combined operations detained more than 129 insurgents, including foreign fighters and multiple weapons caches across Iraq.
The increased capabilities of the Iraq could be seen in security operations throughout the country. In Abayachi, soldiers of the 4th Iraqi Army Division detained 4 insurgents and a vehicle which contained weapons, and in Fallujah Iraqi soldiers joined U.S. troops in searching 579 houses, resulting in the detention of two suspects. In Mahawil, an Iraqi police officer saved lives by attempting to apprehend a suicide bomber:
An Iraqi police officer identified a suicide bomber in Mahawil, Iraq, Aug. 14 and attempted to kill him before the bomb could be detonated, according to a multinational forces report.
Despite the policeman's best efforts, the Syrian suicide bomber was able to detonate his bomb, killing two civilians and injuring four others in the town, which is located about 16 kilometers north of Hillah.
The report indicated the officer's actions likely prevented many more deaths and injuries.
More than 3 million tons of hidden weapons have been discovered in Iraq to date.
Saudi Arabia continues to be a large source for terrorists in Iraq:
Five Saudi nationals fighting with insurgents in Iraq have been killed in clashes with U.S. forces, the Saudi daily newspaper al-Watan reported Wednesday.
"The five Saudis have been killed in armed operations in Iraq during the past week," the sources said.
They noted that many Saudi youth fighting in Iraq "are encouraging their friends and relatives at home to join them and participate in the fight against the coalition forces."
Iran also continues to be a problem. In Parguay, Donald Rumsfeld admitted that Iranian arms had been found in Iraq on more than one occasion:
US forces have found Iranian weapons inside Iraq on more than one occasion over the past couple of months, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, according to AFP.
Rumsfeld, who was here for talks with Paraguayan leaders, told reporters on the flight from Washington that "no one ought to be surprised" by the arms smuggling since Iran would like to replicate its own Islamic regime in Iraq.
Time magazine has more on Iran's involvement in Iraq:
The U.S. Military's new nemesis in Iraq is named Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, and he is not a Baathist or a member of al-Qaeda. He is working for Iran. According to a U.S. military-intelligence document obtained by TIME, al-Sheibani heads a network of insurgents created by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps with the express purpose of committing violence against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. Over the past eight months, his group has introduced a new breed of roadside bomb more lethal than any seen before; based on a design from the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hizballah, the weapon employs "shaped" explosive charges that can punch through a battle tank's armor like a fist through the wall. According to the document, the U.S. believes al-Sheibani's team consists of 280 members, divided into 17 bombmaking teams and death squads. The U.S. believes they train in Lebanon, in Baghdad's predominantly Shi'ite Sadr City district and "in another country" and have detonated at least 37 bombs against U.S. forces this year in Baghdad alone.
The Iraqi government has complained that former Baathists are running the insurgency from inside Jordan:
The new Iraqi government complained on Sunday that former officials who served Saddam Hussein are helping fund and organise the Sunni Arab insurgency from neighbouring Jordan and said this was "unacceptable".
"There are a large number of regime elements who supervise some of the terrorist groups from Jordan," spokesman Laith Kubba told reporters. "We hope to have an agreement with Jordan on combating terrorism and handing over and pursuing suspects."
Iraqi security forces killed an Al Qaeda leader in an ambush in Mosul:
Terrorist Abu Zubair, also known as Mohammed Salah Sultan, was killed Aug. 12 by Iraqi security forces in an ambush in the northern city of Mosul, officials said today.
Zubair was a known member of al Qaeda in Iraq and a lieutenant in the operations of terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi in Mosul.
Task Force Baghdad thwarted three car bomb attacks in one day, and seized a significant cache of weapons:
Soldiers on patrol at 6:20 a.m. discovered a blue truck with a dead body inside it parked near an intersection in southern Baghdad. The back of the vehicle appeared to be packed with explosives.
Less than three hours later, another Task Force Baghdad unit working in southern Baghdad found bombs on both sides of a major highway.
Just after 11 a.m., a third Task Force Baghdad patrol in the same area found a parked car with explosives in the front seat. Within minutes, the soldiers had secured the area and an explosive ordnance disposal team was at the scene to investigate.
The team found a bomb in the front door of the car and more munitions hidden in the trunk.
Part of increasing the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces is providing them with new equipment including police cars:
The Coalition's Multi-National Division Central-South (MND CS) gave seven cars to Iraqi Police in the southern city of Ad Diwaniyah August 16. The MND CS Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) team made the transfer possible.
Training is another important component:
The Iraqi Police Service graduated 239 police officers from advanced and specialty courses at the Adnan Training Facility August 18, according to the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team, Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq.
The courses are: Basic Criminal Investigation with 47 graduates, Interview and Interrogations with 18 graduates, Violent Crime Investigation with 28 graduates, Criminal Intelligence with 25 graduates, First-Line Supervision with 25 graduates and Election Security with 61 graduates.
In addition, 25 Iraqi soldiers completed leadership training in Britain.
In addition to the increased capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, regular Iraqis are also stepping-up by providing tips to coalition and Iraqi troops:
Multi-national ground forces, acting on an Iraqi tip, discovered and destroyed a large cache of artillery shells in the early hours of Aug. 16.
In Fallujah, an enormous rebuilding effort is well under way:
The shells were apparently intended for use as improvised explosive devices.
An explosive ordinance disposal technician advised that the 25 to 30 individual 152mm rounds located inside a building within Al Anbar province be destroyed.
More "red on red" violence was seen in Ramadi where Sunni insurgents attacked members of Zarqawi's terrorist group in an effort to protect the towns Shiites:
Rising up against insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqi Sunni Muslims in Ramadi fought with grenade launchers and automatic weapons Saturday to defend their Shiite neighbors against a bid to drive them from the western city, Sunni leaders and Shiite residents said. The fighting came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of six American soldiers.
Dozens of Sunni members of the Dulaimi tribe established cordons around Shiite homes, and Sunni men battled followers of Zarqawi, a Jordanian, for an hour Saturday morning. The clashes killed five of Zarqawi's guerrillas and two tribal fighters, residents and hospital workers said. Zarqawi loyalists pulled out of two contested neighborhoods in pickup trucks stripped of license plates, witnesses said.
"Last November, there were significant military operations in (Fallujah)," he said. "By this November we will have completed 438 projects totaling $71.3 million and will continue the progress with an additional 19 projects worth over $65 million after the elections."
The people of Fallujah, he said, have reliable access to electricity and water, and can send their children to one of the 49 schools now open. Fallujans also will soon have their own TV and radio station.
The people of Fallujah are starting to accept the idea of democracy, as the article in the Arab language daily Alsabah shows:
"Residence of Felujah are asking the Iraqi election office to increase voter registration centers, pointing out that the four centers opened in the city are not enough for all qualified residence to register.
"This is specially important since the “Islamic Party” (a Sunni party) called on all Iraqis to participate in the vote for the constitution, Abdul Kader (a city resident) said, it is the duty of Iraqi Arab Sunnis to participate in the political process & vote for the constitution. Abdul Kariem Al-Isawy (a local leader)says all Sunnis are ready to participate in the constitutional vote. The people of the city are awaiting the draft of the constitution. He also called on the Iraqi government to do its part by provide the security necessary for these stations. Sunni Imams in mosques urged local Sunnis to participate in the constitutional vote and the elections which follows. Since they will substantially benefit the populations. The Imams are assuring their congregation of the importance of being represented in the government. Dr. Mihsen Abdulhamied (leader of the Sunni Islamic party) urged (in an announcement) all Iraqis to participate in voting for the constitution mid October. This announcement calls on all “loyal Iraqis” to proceed to voter registration centers to register to vote for the constitution and not waste this chance."
Like Fallujah, Sadr City was once a hotbed of anti-U.S. violence, but residents of the neighborhood are now working with Coalition troops to keep the peace:
After a series of meetings with U.S. and Iraqi army commanders, young men loyal to Sadr also patrol the streets at night. They carry wooden clubs and are considered by the Americans as a neighborhood watch.
"The Sadr Bureau is providing security, especially during the night," said Adel Rekan Salman, a guard at a school. "The Sadr Bureau prevents the terrorists from coming here."
When Americans go on patrol, spotters release pigeons into the air, marking their movements through the neighborhood.
"You can do nothing in the quiet here. Within seconds they know," said Staff Sgt. Jaime Phillips, a native of England who joined the U.S. Army.
Sadr once advocated open aggression toward Americans. Najaf, the holy Shiite city in southern Iraq, as well as Sadr City were rocked with violence. But U.S. and Iraqi troops resoundingly defeated Sadr's militia, and the cleric toned down his rhetoric.
"Najaf had a huge impact on this population," Luck said. "That was a very sobering fight for the Shiites. There was a huge cost to outward aggression toward the coalition."
U.S. troops patrolling the neighborhood are greeted by children shouting "mister, mister" and they often hand out pencils, candy and bottles of water. Invariably, though, the youngsters throw rocks when the Humvees pull away. Machine gunners atop the vehicles have taken to wearing plastic face masks.
The reconstruction of Najaf hospital is now 30% complete:
The $8.2 million refurbishment and renovation package stands at 30 percent accomplished and has a projected completion date of Dec. 25, according to Maj. William B. Smith, GRS resident engineer for the An Najaf Province. The hospital specializes in obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics. It will be renovated from “top to bottom,” he said. “Structurally the building is sound – that is the foundation. The renovations are similar to what we [GRS] are doing at the Najaf teaching hospital.” That facility is two kilometers away from the maternity hospital.
The projects include a new sewage system, a new boiler for heating, ceramic tiles throughout all of the renovated portions of the facility and a new residents’ office. A reverse osmosis water treatment plant for the hospital is finished and is ready to be turned over to the hospital. An incineration system is also in the works.
USAID and Iraq's Ministry of Planning have signed an agreement to establish the Iraq Investment Promotion Agency to focus on creating jobs and economic development:
With the creation of the Iraq Investment Promotion Agency, Iraq will join the more than 160 other countries with similar agencies that compete for approximately $7 trillion annually in foreign direct investment worldwide.
In addition, the work of the new agency will help expand the markets for Iraq’s domestic products and services, stimulate economic growth and create new jobs at home.
A new program of rehabilitation of water systems throughout Iraq was announced late last week:
Three governorates will be receive upgrades in treated potable water, according to an announcement August 18 by a team of Iraqi and U.S. government entities.
From the $18.4 billion allocated for the total Iraq Reconstruction Program, about $3 million is budgeted for bringing treated potable water to approximately 25,000 Iraqi citizens in the Dahuk, Babylon and Wassit Governorates. The projects will upgrade 15 systems, each including water wells, compact potable water treatment plants and pumps.
Iraq Airways continues its expansion of services:
Iraq hopes to open air flights between Baku and Baghdad, the embassy of Iraq in Azerbaijan told Trend. He was commenting on the negotiations between the air transport administrations of the two countries.
Italy has allocated 2.1 million Euros towards reconstruction efforts in Iraq, and Italian troops will be building 60 desalinization plants across Iraq:
The Italian contingent of Iraqi multinational forces, based in Dhi Qar region of Nasiriya in southern Iraq will supervise the construction of 60 desalinisation plants for the rural population. The project, financed by donor countries, is needed because of the increase in drinking water salt levels, explained Ali al-Dajili, an engineer coordinating the project between the Italian forces and the provincial council. Works will start in a month, he specified.
Romania has agreed to the cancellation of $2 billion in Iraqi debt.
A simple reminder to those in the country who say the Iraqis were better off under Saddam: Another mass grave was found south of Baghdad with the bodies of men and women.
The IMF is impressed with the progress made by the Iraqi economy:
The main author of the report, Adam Bennett, said the oil sector, which accounts for more than three-quarters of Iraq's economy, has recovered strongly and production is approaching prewar levels of 2.5 million barrels a day.
He said oil production ''was not at the level we had hoped, but this is not surprising, given the insurgency. We expect production to grow.''
The report said non-oil gross domestic product ''is estimated to have expanded more moderately in 2004 as lack of security, electricity shortages and poor communications hampered the recovery in private sector activity. Some state-owned enterprises, mainly in construction and petrochemicals, have reactivated production.''
The report said inflationary pressures have subsided since the beginning of 2005, ''but the 12-month inflation rate through June of 37 percent still exceeds by a wide margin original projections of 15 percent by the end of 2005.''
In sports, Iraqis take great pride in their soccer teams:
As an Iraqi football team prepares to take on Cyprus in a friendly duel, its players hope to rekindle their former glory and set national pride alight in a country wracked by violence and sectarian strife. Britain's Defense Minister said the media converage of Iraq is aiding the enemy:
"We were never going to give up," said Iraqi football federation boss Hussein Said ahead of Saturday's match in Cyprus.
Sunni clerics have issued a Fatwa calling on Sunnis in Iraq to vote in the upcoming elections:
FALLUJA, Iraq - Muslim preachers stepped up a campaign to involve Sunni Arabs in Iraq's Shi'ite-dominated politics on Friday, telling worshippers it was their religious duty to vote on Iraq's new constitution.
Preachers have made a number of calls in recent weeks for Sunnis -- Iraq's dominant group until the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 -- to make their voices heard after they boycotted elections in January won by majority Shi'ites.
"I call on you to register your names in order to vote over the constitution and in the elections," Abdel-Sattar al-Jumaily told hundreds of worshippers in Falluja, a Sunni city west of Baghdad. "This is a fatwa (religious edict) from the highest authorities and should not be ignored."
Another Fatwa was issued recently by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani calling on Iraqis to stop referring to their countrymen by the religious group they belong to and use the term "Iraqi" instead:
His Eminence said that he does not allow for division or giving up one span of Iraqi lands, the Sunnis, Shiaas and Kurds have equal rights in the constitution and public rights, and the Iraqi identity in the north, center and south is the title of our nationalism and we are proud of it.
The statement stressed that Iraqi resources are not distributed among persons, who allowed themselves to speak in the name of Iraq, while they are seeking to divide it upon their personal interests, as Iraqi resources include all Iraqis at the same rates and special conditions, whether in the north, center, or south.
His Eminence pointed out, "Kirkuk is Iraqi and we are all proud of its originality and its being Iraqi. We do not allow for including it in another entity or selling it, as it is the soul of all Iraqis, no matter what their religious belief is. We refuse to discuss or submit such issues." He noted that Iraqi constitution is a national one and, first of all, is the constitution of law. This constitution would be viewed by all people; in the north and south.
The MSM in this country can't go a week without running a story reporting that Iraq is on the verge of civil war, but as these Fatwas show, the Iraqis are having none of it. Both Fatwas show that religious leaders in that country are doing all that they can to keep the peace. Sadly, the MSM can't help but ignore such promising news.
Iraq now has its own version of American Idol:
...more than 2,000 young Iraqis signed up for the talent show when al-Sumeria TV announced the venture earlier this year.
Many Iraqis already obsessively watch "American Idol", a version of the original British "Pop Idol" franchise, and a glitzy Lebanese copy called "Arab Superstar" on free-to-air Arabic satellite channels.
But "Iraq Star" is a brave indigenous effort to perk up the spirits of a depressed nation. The studio set is spartan and drab, and there is no studio audience, though viewers are being promised tinseltown touches when the finale is held in Beirut.
And their own version of "Cops":
Created to make government more transparent, "The Cops Show" featuring Kirkuk officers in action is the first of its kind in the country and is breaking new ground in Iraqi television. A live call-in portion gives the public the chance to praise the security forces or gripe about them.
Screened weekly on Kirkuk Television, which broadcasts in this northern city of nearly 1 million people, "The Cops Show" has opened the floodgates in a community long suppressed.
Will they ever forgive us?
Finally, Britain's Defense Minister isn't too happy with press coverage of Iraq:
In an article in today’s Times Mr Reid suggests that every day the terrorists can generate coverage telling Westerners that Iraq is in crisis “is a day they can feel they’ve done a good job”. He denies that Iraq is “falling apart” and that the US-led coalition has neither the courage nor the determination to see the job through. British commentators “reacting with glee” to the delay in settling the Iraqi constitution might, he says, reflect on the centuries it has taken the nations of the UK to finalise a devolution of power.
Welcome Corner readers! You can access part 1 and 2 here, and please come back next Monday for Part 4.
Officials in Iraq Report on Past Week's SuccessesDo I claim credit? No, but it's good to see these things finally happening.
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