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An Army intelligence sergeant who accused fellow soldiers in Samarra, Iraq, of abusing detainees in 2003 was in turn accused by his commander of being delusional and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in Germany, despite a military psychiatrist's initial judgment that the man was stable, according to internal Army records released yesterday. The soldier had angered his commander by urging the unit's redeployment from the military base to prevent what the soldier feared would be the death of one or more detainees under interrogation, according to the documents. He told his commander three members of the counterintelligence team had...

An Army intelligence sergeant who accused fellow soldiers in Samarra, Iraq, of abusing detainees in 2003 was in turn accused by his commander of being delusional and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in Germany, despite a military psychiatrist's initial judgment that the man was stable, according to internal Army records released yesterday. The soldier had angered his commander by urging the unit's redeployment from the military base to prevent what the soldier feared would be the death of one or more detainees under interrogation, according to the documents. He told his commander three members of the counterintelligence team had...

SAMARRA, Iraq, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Two U.S. army snipers sit on the top of an ancient minaret in the Iraqi city of Samarra, scanning for rebels who might try to plant bombs on a nearby road, and braving rain, sun and winds in long, lonely shifts. Crouched behind sandbags, the soldiers say guerrillas bent on sabotaging the Jan. 30 elections frequently shoot at them with small-arms fire, mortars and rockets, sometimes hitting the 52-metre-tall minaret, built over 1,000 years ago. "We get shot at all the time," said Sgt. Steve Langelier, 25, from Newport, Rhode Island. "We are very...

SAMARRA, Iraq, Dec. 22 -- The soldiers kicked the wooden doors open and swarmed through the houses, rolling up rugs, looking through cabinets, searching boxes, pushing aside couches. Within minutes, they had lined up the Iraqi men they had found inside. The men were taken outside and made to squat in the late-night darkness, their breath streaming out in faint, wispy clouds as their hands pushed flat against a concrete wall. The soldiers were from the U.S. Army Special Forces, the Iraqi National Guard and Apache Company of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment. They were looking for a suspected...

Fake SEAL accuses soldiers of torture 21 DEC 2004 VeriSEAL TAMPA, Florida - A former California National Guard soldier who accused others in his unit of torturing Iraqi prisoners may have military justice problems of his own. Frank "Greg" Ford claims to have witnessed members of his National Guard battalion torturing Iraqi prisoners while his unit was stationed in Samarra in 2003, according to David DeBatto, a former National Guard Tactical HUMINT Team (THT) member and author of a story titled "Whitewashing Torture" published on a far left web site in early December. DeBatto says that Ford reported the alleged...

SAMARRA, Iraq, Dec. 18 -- Three dozen restless young boys waited in a line outside the cramped schoolhouse office, inching toward a grinning Health Ministry official administering measles shots. First Sgt. Dale Veneklasen, his pocket full of crisp $20 bills, walked in to see what, if anything, the school needed by way of help. The school, teeming with students on a Saturday, showed the progress being made here, he said. Within seconds, a hefty blast rocked the room, causing the brisk late morning air to surge. Screaming children scattered into a concrete breezeway, some still holding cotton balls against their...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents launched a string of assaults around the city of Samarra (search) on Wednesday, trading gunfire with U.S. forces, attacking a U.S. convoy, and blowing up a police station after looting its armory, officials said. The violence came as Britain's defense minister visited British troops in Basra (search), to the south.The violence in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, killed four Iraqis and wounded several others. It demonstrated that the insurgents still remain a force in a city despite a large-scale operation launched by American forces there several months ago.British Defense Minister Geoff Hoon (search) was to meet with...

"Wellington once observed that "nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won." Nothing about it is nice; but better them than us."   -- T.C. WretchardAs many of Freepers know, there's a very significant battle going on in Fallujah right now. Want a one-stop shop that will help you keep track of media reports so you know what's going on as things develop, and link you to some of the smartest background analysis around so you understand the why and how, as well as the what? OK, you got it. One power-packed briefing, in depth...

A group led by Jordanian terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for Saturday's bloodshed in the Iraqi city of Samarra. It was hit by a series of clashes and car bomb explosions, which left almost 40 people dead. A dozen of them were civilians. Al-Qaeda Organization of Holy War in Iraq posted an online statement, saying they carried out four car bombings in Samarra. Al-Zarqawi is believed to be a senior al-Qaeda operative in Iraq. He has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks against coalition forces, as well as for many hostage killings.

U.S. forces poised to assault Falluja bombarded the rebel stronghold on Saturday, while insurgents launched deadly attacks that killed 34 people in Samarra, another city in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland. The fiercest U.S. air and artillery strikes on Falluja in months destroyed a hospital, a medical warehouse and dozens of houses, dazed residents said after a sleepless night. Hospital staff said ambulances had been unable to go out as the city shook to explosions. Later they collected two dead and seven wounded civilians, among them women and children. With a U.S.-led offensive on Falluja apparently imminent, insurgents hit back with...

SAMARRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Two car bombs exploded north of Baghdad Saturday, killing eight people and wounding at least 20, police at the scene said. They said the blasts in the city of Samarra, 62 miles north of the Iraqi capital, targeted the town hall and a nearby joint Iraqi police and National Guard checkpoint. "I saw a dead National Guard burning on the ground," said one witness. "I saw people carrying away another corpse." Most of the those killed in the blast, which took place at 9 a.m. (0600 GMT), appeared to be Iraqi civilians, police said. Insurgents bent...

Six Police Stations Open In Samarra SAMARRA, Iraq – Police here are much safer now, following the construction of six new fortified police stations. Engineers assigned and attached to the 1st Infantry Division built one station a day for six days beginning Oct. 11, and spread them evenly throughout the city. The stations cost about $100,000 apiece, according to Sgt. 1st Class Armondo Cadena, a combat engineer and platoon sergeant with C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment. Much of that money went to ensuring security. “They will withstand rocket-propelled grenades, car bombs, and mortars,” Cadena said. It took only...

...The first of the troublesome cities to return to Iraqi government control was Samarra.... Most important, allied forces seem poised finally to take control of Fallujah, which has been a no-go zone since the end-of-April deal that turned the town over to ex-Baathists called the Fallujah Brigade. That decision was easily the biggest mistake of the war, since it caused both friend and foe to question American resolve and gave the thugs a safe haven from which to stage car bombings and other attacks. ...[T]he Marines have established a cordon around the city and the Iraqi government is negotiating with...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 10/20/04 -Samarra, Fallujah, Ramadi, Baghdad, Sadr City, Bile, Umm Qasr, Al Asad Air Base, USS John F. Kennedy BREAKING: Samarra - Fighting Terrorists BREAKING: Fallujah, Ramadi - Search for Terrorists BREAKING: Baghdad, Sadr City - Iraqi children freed by the USA attend classes BREAKING: Bile - Kurds freed by the USA BREAKING: Umm Qasr, Al Asad Air Base, USS John F. Kennedy QFN ==== QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU MAY NEVER SEE IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA (PR Arm of the DNC) ========= Samarra ========= In Samarra, ~125 kilometers north of...

...[A] number of disparate, but related, events indicate that the political and military momentum is shifting to the Coalition and Iraqi side.... NATO forces: In a significant diplomatic victory last Wednesday, the NATO defense ministers, meeting in Romania, agreed to increase the group's military training contingent in Iraq from 40 to 300 by year's end. The new military advisers (most likely initially from Denmark and Norway) will be deployed to a center outside Baghdad to train Iraqi military officers. The NATO trainers will help boost the number of Iraqi forces from the current 100,000 to a projected 145,000 by next...

Soldiers Maintain Security and Win Over Residents on the Streets of Samarra Samarra, Iraq – Soldiers with B Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry walk through the streets, accompanied by two gun trucks. During the mission, time is made to speak with members of a youth soccer team and buy ice cream cones for grateful children. Company leaders speak with merchants offering everything from watermelon to hubcaps. Virtually every resident stops and stares at the passing throng, most of them smiling and waving. After an hour on patrol, the Soldiers turn and head back to their forward operating base. The situation...

Soldiers maintain security and win over residents on the streets of SamarraBy Sgt. W. Wayne Marlow, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs Office SAMARRA, Iraq – Soldiers with B Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry walk through the streets, accompanied by two gun trucks. During the mission, time is made to speak with members of a youth soccer team and buy ice cream cones for grateful children. Company leaders speak with merchants offering everything from watermelon to hubcaps. Virtually every resident stops and stares at the passing throng, most of them smiling and waving. After an hour on patrol, the Soldiers...

[In the Breaking News Ticker at memri.org] IRAQ'S MINISTER OF INTERIOR FALLAH AL-NAQIB TOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE IN BAGHDAD THAT MOST OF THE ARMED MEN KILLED IN SAMARAA OVER THE WEEKEND WERE FROM SAUDI ARABIA, SYRIA AND IRAN. (AL-JAZEERA, QATAR, 10/3/04)

Baghdad, Oct. 4 - The Interim Iraqi Interior Minister stated that armed Iranian agents have been arrested among rebels fighting in the city of Samarra. The Al-Hurriya TV aired footage of Falah Naqib who accused Iran of backing insurgents in this presently volatile region of Iraq. Fighting in Samarra has left over 150 rebels and one U.S. soldier dead. On Sunday, residents said they heard random explosions as U.S. and Iraqi forces hunted for insurgent holdouts. Iraqi police have been patrolling the city, while U.S. troops and Iraqi Forces search houses for rebels and weapons caches. Military sources also confirmed...

Baton Rouge A soldier fires an automatic grenade launcher at the enemy in Samarra, Iraq, Oct. 1, 2004. U.S. and Iraqi forces are taking part in Operation Baton Rouge, a major offensive against the anti-Iraqi forces inside the city. The soldiers are assigned to the 25th Infantry Division's Company A, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Klaus Baesu llllllllllllllll A soldier in the turret of a Humvee fires a .50-caliber machine gun at the enemy in Samarra, Iraq, Oct. 1, 2004. The soldiers are assigned to the 25th Infantry Division's Company A, 1st Battalion,...