NDHF Blog

2008-03-10T18:37:00.002+02:00

IRAQ under Occupation, Five Years Later:
Million plus Iraqis dead, another "missing", 1,5 million cancers caused by US use of depleted uranium (DU), three million plus wounded, five million orphans and seven million refugees later
- Struggling with existential problems?

Hamlet: "To Be or not to Be?"

- Shakespeare, "Hamlet"

Distrusting the trash they take out as "Iraq news"?

Polonius: "What are you reading, Mylord?"

Hamlet: "Words, words, words!"

- Shakespeare, "Hamlet"

Free your mind from the corporate junk thought prison:

In Combat Year 2008

Enter the new Era of Iraq War News Coverage

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

IRAQI RESISTANCE PRESENTS:

Sword of Jihad

The National Liberation War of Islamic Iraq

Iraq War News Special Coverage Produced by

Newsdesk Helsinki Finland Net

Responding to the urgent call to the community of the world by

The ASSOCIATION of MUSLIM SCHOLARS in IRAQ

And, exploding your problems away:

Opening the "Gordian knot" of Iraq media war

Opening the eyes

Open Now

Sword of Jihad

The National Liberation War of Islamic Iraq

http://newsdeskhelsinkifinland.net

2008-03-09T22:54:00.004+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"

TOP ANALYSIS: Iraqi Resistance Operations February 2008 (Update: @ Seele, all, check the comment section, important !!!)
NDHF: Mind the Ansar al-Sunna + RtoI Analysis on Mosul US-Peshmerga Terror Bombing If Still Unaware!

Seele, Iraq-war.ru - NDHF

09.03.2008

The developements in Iraq shows that there is lots of change in the modus operandi of several resistance factions.

Although the overall number of attacks is down, the effective use of EFPs and snipers is steadily increasing (See for example the Jaish Naqshabandiyah impressive Iraq Sniper Release below, which includes dozens of clear death shot exclusively against US soldiers).

The occupation for its part is now shifting back to its old and well know technique of false-flag attacking of Iraqi civilians and bribing criminals in order to then blame the horrific massmurders committed by the occupation against the Iraqi people on the Iraqis themselves. One for example is the heinous US war crime in Mosul Zndjeli district, which has cost the lives of more than 60 Iraqi civilians and did severally injure more than 280 . (with most of the MSM still (!) hesitating reporting the truth about the crime and its perpertrators)

Iraqi Resistance Operations February 2008 (incl. 3 vids from Late January)

I S L A M I C S T A T E O F I R A Q

Islamic State of Iraq: IED total annihilation of US Humvee in Diyala rel 19-2-2008

http://fyad.org/slnc
http://uploaded.to/?id=rkvvu3
http://uploaded.to/?id=wgdjoh
http://uploaded.to/?id=cbfg03
http://uploaded.to/?id=s22e56
http://www.datenklo.net/dl-sfj3G
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http://depositfiles.com/files/3402301
http://depositfiles.com/files/3402035
http://depositfiles.com/files/3402038
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http://depositfiles.com/files/3402066
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http://depositfiles.com/files/3402362
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http://rapidshare.com/files/89527614/q1s_1.rar.html
http://picshome.com/en/download.php?id=0E3017511
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http://picshome.com/en/download.php?id=FB4E43B11
http://picshome.com/en/download.php?id=2DE570481
http://ia341030.us.archive.org/1/items//6ht9j8/q1s.rmvb
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http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=3912CC471
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http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=BC5618B71
http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=E4C63B6A1
http://archiv.to/?Module=Details&HashID=FILE47A8D0DF94E40
http://archiv.to/?Module=Details&HashID=FILE47A8CBC7418CF
http://archiv.to/?Module=Details&HashID=FILE47A8CC529EA24

Islamic State of Iraq: IED targeting an American Cougar in Diyala rel. 20-2-2008

http://uploaded.to/?id=nugjhz
http://uploaded.to/?id=7b9t6c
http://uploaded.to/?id=8pbozs
http://uploaded.to/?id=h94pdd
http://bluehost.to/dl=yd7f1sZLx
http://bluehost.to/dl=z4dwQciye
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http://www.rapidshare.ru/605249
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http://depositfiles.com/files/3630496
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http://depositfiles.com/files/3630451
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http://rapidshare.com/files/93082799/m1a.mpg.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/93002981/m1a.mpg.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/93002230/m1a.mpg.html
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http://rapidshare.com/files/93002211/m1a.mpg.html
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http://ia341020.us.archive.org/2/items/iu86fyiu/m1a.mpg
http://share.gulli.com/files/1855135037/m1a.mpg.html
http://share.gulli.com/files/1613762387/m1a.mpg.html

A R M Y O F A N S A R A L I S L A M

Ansar Al Islam IED vs coalition armoured vehicle in Diyala rel. 21-2-2008

http://fyad.org/sp2s
http://uploaded.to/?id=sz9uky
http://uploaded.to/?id=nqz2zj
http://uploaded.to/?id=fbpl9n
http://uploaded.to/?id=cdfo2o
http://uploaded.to/?id=xh81n1
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http://www.badongo.com/file/7722156
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http://www.filefactory.com/file/4798e6
http://www.mediafire.com/?1xr1jexl4yn
http://www.rapidfile.net/?d=6696273B4
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http://sharebase.de/files/jnjfJmUZPg.html
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http://www.cocoshare.cc/564929406/modaraa_hmreen.rar
http://www.simpleupload.net/download/251170/modaraa-hmreen.rar.html

Ansar al-Islam: IED targeting an ING Humvee in Baghdad rel. 27-2-2008

http://www.badongo.com/vid/642240
http://www.badongo.com/vid/642236
http://www.badongo.com/vid/642242
http://www.filefactory.com/file/468044/
http://www.filefactory.com/file/dca49e/
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http://www.zshare.net/video/83330687fd7f62/
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http://www.zshare.net/video/8333052e4b286a/
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http://4filehosting.com/file/96352/8c593ccb6c-wmv.html
http://almobile.maktoob.com/org/uploads/8c593ccb6c.wm

Ansar al-Islam: IED on US RG31 Nyala (MidFeb 2008)

http://www.fileflyer.com/view/s3zmKAb
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K9UL6SLT
http://www.archive.org/download/sfefgw324rew/613_ew.wmv
http://ia341024.us.archive.org/0/items/sfefgw324rew/613_ew.wmv

SPECIAL !!!!

Ansar al Islam: Documentation regarding the US war crime in Mosul, Zndjeli district

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9PJVKZMT
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7HO77N1K

Regarding the US Zndjeli Mosul war-crime see also:

Eyewitnesses report:

Mosul 23rd January Zndjeli explosion was done by the american-military

Following video clip shows eyewitnesses, residents of Zndjeli area tell
their story to an Iraqi government official.

Translation from arabic to english:

Eyewitness: they took the weapons only not the explosions and put it in
their vehicles, they timed the explosion and runaway to the nearby streets,
my family asked the American:

It will be a big explosion, it is better if we leave our houses.

He answered:

No, it is not a big explosion,just leave the windows open and sit beside
the walls,it will be alright.

Later the houses fell on our heads

watch video (release first by roadstoiraq):

http://tinyurl.com/36pehm
http://www.rapidshare.ru/605268
http://www.zshare.net/video/694486535623f0/
http://archiv.to/?Module=Details&HashID=FILE479D794A7C233

Ansar Al Islam

Martyrdom Operation in Tall Kayf

This operation was carried out against a security headquarter of peshmerga forces northeast of mosul, in retaliation for the murder of the muslim woman who was stoned to death by the devil worshippers the yazidi, while security forces did nothing to stop this heinous crime

159 MB

http://3.file.am/2391
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http://sharebase.de/files/J7VNgh0C3n.html
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http://sharebase.de/files/y2wKZCbhLy.html
http://sharebase.de/files/zSZx76zK5R.html
http://sharebase.de/files/5XC0Uh8045.html
http://sharebase.de/files/YJvLwhYOcR.html
http://sharebase.de/files/GpQGQjVsxz.html
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http://sharebase.de/files/6STSXOUIPx.html
http://sharebase.de/files/XegjHBw9SR.html
http://sharebase.de/files/7yPR4ymU42.html
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http://sharebase.de/files/1mKBJ9L29m.html
http://sharebase.de/files/XBmDX49U4f.html
http://sharebase.de/files/VOP0HUxpO7.html
http://sharebase.de/files/bCSzxPMUO4.html
http://sharebase.de/files/wNHuMGp28h.html
http://sharebase.de/files/MhqhTC2SuR.html
http://sharebase.de/files/TxQbqZ7mXq.html
http://sharebase.de/files/EUp9WrbQDb.html
http://sharebase.de/files/W5z9eWbg7h.html
http://cocoshare.cc/391699716/sarakht.wmv
http://cocoshare.cc/810100536/sarakht.wmv
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http://sharebase.de/files/uNMAzAmkOV.html
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http://sharebase.de/files/Xm8zQPmPCV.html
http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=VSPI9D1X
http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=990RKPE9
http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=73MZCKFO
http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=S2MQAKWM
http://www.archive.org/download/8mjuy/sarakht.wmv
http://www.archive.org/download/sarakht-1/sarakht.wmv
http://www.archive.org/download/sarakht-2/sarakht.wmv
http://www.archive.org/download/sarakht-3/sarakht.wmv
http://www.archive.org/download/sarakht-4/sarakht.wmv
http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=C73A59C11

Ansar al Islam: IED Attack on American Night Patrol in Kirkuk rel.29-2-2008

http://fyad.org/t8g0
http://uploaded.to/?id=80wd7y
http://bluehost.to/dl=6Ea5f78HX
http://www.zshare.net/video/8613697b5ca842/
http://4filehosting.com/file/98405/wrqrdw-rar.html
http://www.zshare.net/download/8615994ec19952/
http://4filehosting.com/file/98366/wrqrdw-1-rar.html
http://cocoshare.cc/1020740968/hama-haweja.wmv
http://www.savefile.info/file/5983/hama-haweja-wmv.html
http://picshome.com/en/download.php?id=58EBC6FA1
http://www.savefile.info/file/5981/hama-haweja-wmv.html
http://www.savefile.info/file/5982/hama-haweja-wmv.html

Jaish Abi Bakr al Siddiq al Salafi:

Jaish Abu BAkr As-Salafi: Aftermath of IEDon Humvees In Baghdad:

http://www.rapidshare.ru/604532
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/pWbv4BX
http://www.zshare.net/download/86522057e82454/

Jaysh abi bakr a sedeek al salafi/Ambushing US convoy

http://www.fileflyer.com/view/h7Ex5Ba
http://www.hanein.net/~deglaforat/96.rar
http://www.archive.org/stream/30DaysOfNight2007/96.rmvb
http://ia341043.us.archive.org/1/items/30DaysOfNight2007/96.rmvb

- Reform and Jihad Front -

Reform and Jihad Front - Jaish al-Islami fi al-Iraq (Islamic Army in Iraq)
IAI: IED on Humvee in Baghdad 2-2008 (for Gaza)

http://ia341009.us.archive.org/3/items/nusra3456/nusra3bagdad.mpg
http://ia341003.us.archive.org/2/items/nusra3456_1/nusra3bagdad.mpg
http://ia360613.us.archive.org/3/items/nusra3456_2/nusra3bagdad.mpg
http://ia360630.us.archive.org/1/items/nusra3456_3/nusra3bagdad.mpg
http://ia341041.us.archive.org/1/items/nusra3456_4/nusra3bagdad.mpg

IAI fires C5-k rockets in Abu Ghuraib west of Baghdad rel. 31-1-2008

http://ia341013.us.archive.org/1/items/nusra456/nusra6kreeb.mpg
http://ia360639.us.archive.org/2/items/nusra456_1/nusra6kreeb.mpg

Islamic Army in Iraq: "From Baghdad to Gaza, Jihad until Victory" (English subtitles)

Communique:

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

Fight them! Allah will chastise them at your hands, and He will lay them low and give you victory over them, and He will heal the breasts of folk who are believers

Praise be to Allah, prayers and peace be upon his messenger
Its one case, one battle and defending is a duty on all Muslims, today the nation is bleeding from Baghdad, from Gaza and from all the areas in these two countries, so it is a duty on us that we send a message to our brothers in religion and in jihad, says: (our arrows are aimed toward the necks of the enemies of Allah, who support each others, so our soldiers will heal the breasts of their brothers in Palestine by fighting the supporters of the invader Zionists and the hosts will all be routed and will turn and flee –by Allah willing-, FROM BAGHDAD TO GAZA THIS IS OUR MESSAGE.

http://tinyurl.com/37lb76
http://snipurl.com/20zlx
http://fyad.org/t64l

Reform and Jihad Front - Jaish Al-Mujahedeen ( Mujahedeen Army )
Jaish al-Mujahideen: Mujahideen Army Special (upbringing and development)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WSMHSOO2
http://ia341002.us.archive.org/0/items/alnshai/hi.wmv

Jaish al-Mujahideen: Shelling an American base with 82 mm mortars in al-Latifiyah rel. 29-2-2008

http://4filehosting.com/file/96556/11--wmv.html
http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=73F284A81
http://www.fileinsanity.com/download...83358354376f50
http://rapidshare.com/files/96678976/11..wmv.html

(Splitter group of original JAM)
Jaish al-Mujahideen fi al-Iraq: Video

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EKJC1DQS
http://ia341011.us.archive.org/3/items/JaishAlMujahideenFiIraq11-02/EkMid.wmv
http://ia341025.us.archive.org/3/items/JaIsH_AlMuJaHdEen77668858/EkMid.wmv

Ansar Al Sunnah Sharia council (RJF) (Feb2008)
90 mb rmvb

http://ia341026.us.archive.org/2/items/abu_wail_6/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://ia360614.us.archive.org/0/items/abu_wail_7/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://ia360618.us.archive.org/1/items/abu_wail_8/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://ia341041.us.archive.org/3/items/abu_wail_9/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://ia341019.us.archive.org/3/items/abu_wail_10/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://www.archive.org/download/abu_wail_6/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://www.archive.org/download/abu_wail_7/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://www.archive.org/download/abu_wail_8/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://www.archive.org/download/abu_wail_9/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://www.archive.org/download/abu_wail_10/al-shaikhabuwael.rmvb
http://www.badongo.com/file/7307973
http://www.badongo.com/file/7307930
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y5AN8ZDX
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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y0QE7FPK
http://www.mediafire.com/?3denyhlwbwg
http://www.divshare.com/download/3472119-baa
http://www.zshare.net/download/65034000f90318/
http://www.zshare.net/download/65037075635c43/
http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=37F74C4A1
http://rapidshare.com/files/83740815/khotbah_abowael.rmvb.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/83739559/khotbahabowael.rmvb.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/83736901/khotbah_abowael.rmvb.html

Ansar al sunnah Sharia Council ambushing US mercenary convoy (RJF) (Feb2008)

http://www.archive.org/download/ishtebakansar1/samaraclashing.rmvb
http://www.archive.org/download/ishtebakansar1_1/samaraclashing.rmvb
http://ia341002.us.archive.org/3/items/ishtebakansar1/samaraclashing.rmvb
http://ia341003.us.archive.org/3/items/ishtebakansar1_1/samaraclashing.rmvb

Jaish al-Murabiteen: IED targeting an American Humvee (Feb 2008)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XAITCOEU
http://www.zshare.net/video/74812679b9bea5/
http://picshome.com/en/download.php?id=845A34D51
http://www.fileinsanity.com/download...9ef7d842448208
http://www.badongo.com/vid/624307
http://rapidshare.com/files/91225571/h1.wmv.html
http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=4B5BE83B1

Jaish al-Fatiheen (Army of the Conquerors)
IED targeting an American fuel tanker during nighttime in al-Mosul, Ninawa province rel. 20-2-2008

http://www.savefile.com/files/1348002
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NB1DTAHE
http://www.files.to/get/175976/y5wvcslsxw
http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/3b6kh
http://download.yousendit.com/DA612DED157E33C2
http://www.verzend.be/v/2575197/15_NEW.rmvb.html
http://www.uploading.com/files/Q9R8VXJK/15_NEW.rmvb.html

Jaish al-Fatiheen: IED targeting an American Humvee in Baqouba 24-2-2008
(A group of battalion battalion Mohammad Bin Qasim at 1730 detonated
an explosive device on a US convoy in the town of Baquba)

http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/3d156
http://www.files.to/get/206133/ezv0d4e0ld
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http://www.verzend.be/v/4314589/o16_NEW.rmvb.html
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http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=35505
http://download.yousendit.com/A9436B10527AF529
http://www.savefile.com/files/1414603

- Change and Jihad Front -

Change and Jihad Front
Jaish al-Rashideen (Army of the Rightly-Guided)
IED targeting an American vehicle during nighttime in eastern Baghdad (1/30)

http://www.fileflyer.com/view/DwGi6Bq
http://ia341013.us.archive.org/1/items/kaher_almagol_608/1-30.rmvb
http://ia341041.us.archive.org/1/items/Akon-NoSunshine2007/1-30.rmvb

Change and Jihad Front
Jaish al-Rashideen (Army of the Rightly-Guided)
Attacking a parked American Humvee in Baghdad 4/2/2008

http://www.furk.net/2-4.rmvb.html
http://www.filefactory.com/file/0c77c7
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/AQkWDAg
http://www.zshare.net/download/7206218b710726

Jaish al-Rashideen (Army of the Rightly-Guided)
Jaish al-Rashideen: Sniper targeting American soldiers south of Baghdad (2/23)

http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=CB9CDA891
http://picshome.com/en/download.php?id=D6B354CB1
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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F86RQBDN

Change and Jihad Front
Jaish al-Rashideen (Army of the Rightly-Guided)
Shelling an American base with 60 mm mortars in al-Dora (2/27)

http://www.fileflyer.com/view/6UKSUAG
http://www.zshare.net/download/8356034798a7f1/
http://picshome.com/en/download.php?id=10408D5F1
http://fastuploading.com/download.php?id=66F0F29F1

Change and Jihad Front
Jaish al-Rashideen: IED on American vehicle at night 19-2-2008

http://tinyurl.com/34qf25
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/N9rrNAD
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/VA5O2AT

Change and Jihad Front
Jaish Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqas: Sniping US soldier in Baghdad 2-2-2008

http://tinyurl.com/3xh43s
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/qzLxpBl
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/ec9A1A5
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/jTeACCx

Change and Jihad Front
1920 Revolution Brigades: IED Humvee Abu Ghraib & "Martyr Muhammad Obaid" rel. 28-2-2008

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C7FE7VBP
http://www.badongo.com/file/8094400
http://rapidshare.com/files/96463949/1.rmvb.html
http://www.zshare.net/download/83574185f09e69/

1920 Revolution Brigades: IED against enemy vehicle in area of Khan Dari rel 29-2-2007

http://www.zshare.net/download/835739986d0122/
http://www.mediafire.com/?mjjxowzvuix
http://www.badongo.com/file/8094391
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M7X8FIQV
http://rapidshare.com/files/96463745/Untitled.rmvb.html

Change and Jihad Front
Jaish al Muslimeen: Two Grad Launched on US Base in Taji (In Defense of the Prophet) 29-2-2008

http://tinyurl.com/34sop3
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BD6QJIAG
http://www.furk.net/sarim1_311689.rmvb.html
http://www.zshare.net/download/8662592c0a5353/

Islamic Front of the Iraqi Resistance (JAMI)
Salah al-Deen al-Ayoubi Brigades

"Special Edition - Talk of the Channel"

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H59K0FME
http://ia341034.us.archive.org/0/items/Saw42007/TvAljazzera.rmvb

Islamic Front of the Iraqi Resistance (JAMI)
Salah al-Deen al-Ayoubi Brigades

The below 3 vids in one

http://tinyurl.com/2mk632
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/6haBgBx
http://www.zshare.net/download/8673565a494f8f/

IED targeting an American Buffalo MPCV in al-Dujail, Salah al-Deen province rel. 14-2-2008

http://www.fileflyer.com/view/kz8lBCQ
http://www.archive.org/download/zxxzxzxzxxz/349-hi_ied.wmv
http://ia341006.us.archive.org/0/items/zxxzxzxzxxz/349-hi_ied.wmv

Shelling American-occupied al-Bakr Airbase with 120 mm mortars near Balad, Salah al-Deen province

http://www.fileflyer.com/view/ifd8ZAI
http://www.archive.org/download/xzxzxxzxzxx/349-hi_mortar.wmv
http://ia341011.us.archive.org/3/items/xzxzxxzxzxx/349-hi_mortar.wmv

Firing a rocket against an American base north of Baghdad (date see video)

http://www.fileflyer.com/view/fS4BICC
http://www.archive.org/download/yzxzyxayxzyxzy/349-hi_rocket.wmv
http://ia360643.us.archive.org/1/items/yzxzyxayxzyxzy/349-hi_rocket.wmv

Jaami & Iraqi Hamas IED co-op against US humvee in Ghazaliya rel. 20-2-2008

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GZ5QB9CJ
http://www.zshare.net/download/7855137e9bf937/
http://rapidshare.com/files/93380893/174.rmvb.html
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/EgcKGBq

HAMAS-Iraq and JAMI: IED targeting an American Humvee in Samarra (179)

http://www.fileflyer.com/view/BgTxhAg
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G002QWVQ
http://www.zshare.net/download/8129320f4ad3a9
http://www.uploading.com/files/LFMJ6J25/179.rmvb.html
http://ia341029.us.archive.org/2/items/TheWarlords2007_6/179.rmvb

JAAMI & Hamas al Iraq: Special Edition joint operations series carried out? LateFeb08

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8TYOCTO8
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/qnpUTB8

Hamas Iraq IED on coalition armoured vehicle 1-2-2008 (location se video)

http://tinyurl.com/2vg7o7
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/nzXRlBE
http://www.zshare.net/download/8687117b2fbe59/

Jaish al-Fatih Mohamed: IED on US minesweeper in Mosul area rel. 30-1-2008

http://tinyurl.com/35wusl
http://www.fileflyer.com/view/qxzEaBP
http://www.zshare.net/video/8674331772769a/

Shield of Islam: IED Puppet Police Pickup north of Baghdad rel. 6-2-2008

http://depositfiles.com/files/3452531
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SJHK1XN5
http://www.filefactory.com/file/2621b5
http://www.zshare.net/download/7342703233206e/
http://uploaded.to/?id=b1uejh

Asayab al-Iraq al-Jihadiyah: IED targeting an American Cougar in Abu Ghraib 28-2-2008

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3W7CAOQ0
http://www.zshare.net/download/86004323faeabd/
http://rapidshare.com/files/97726851...eb_1.rmvb.html
http://4filehosting.com/file/98213/abugareb-1-rmvb.html
http://picshome.com/en/download.php?id=860834A31

- Jihad and Liberation Front -

(Army of Men Naqshabandiyah Order)
Jaish Rijaal al-Tariqah al-Naqshbandi:

SPECIAL !!!!!

-> Premiere Release
2 comments

Above list not complete->full list see:
by Seele on 09.03.2008 [17:53 ]
h ttp://picshome.com/de/download.php?id=C342CCE71

password is: iraqwar.ru

List includes a very impressive sniper release special from Jihad & Liberation Front's Jaish Al Nakshabandiyah called 'Iraq Sniper' which includes dozens (!) of very clear death shots carried out exclusively against US invader forces + a big and eye-opening documentation from Jaish Ansar al Sunnah/al Islam regarding the US war crime in Mosul 23rd Jan , Zndjeli district.

I ll try copying rest of list into here, wait..
by Seele on 09.03.2008 [17:58 ]
la voila !

(Army of Men Naqshabandiyah Order)
Jaish Rijaal al-Tariqah al-Naqshbandi:

SPECIAL !!!!!

-> Premiere Release

2008-03-09T22:41:00.003+02:00

DIYALA: Surge? What "surge"?!?
Leader of US-backed “Popular Committees” abducted in al-Miqdadiyah
Follows tension between Sunni, Shi‘i collaborationist security forces

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

8.3.2008

Diyala province - Miqdadiyah -- In a dispatch posted at 7:45pm Baghdad time Saturday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a leader of the US-backed tribal collaborationist “Popular Committees” in Diyala Province had been kidnapped in al-Miqdadiyah, 85km northeast of Baghdad, on Saturday afternoon.

Yaqen reported an official in the US-backed regime as saying that a group of armed men abducted Yasin al-Jasim, a leader in the “Popular Committees.” Yaqen noted that the abduction came after most districts in the area had seen peaceful demonstrations by members in the tribal collaborationist “Popular Committees” demanding the resignation of the chief of the Diyala Province government police.

The Committees, mostly recruited by the American occupation forces from Sunnis tribesmen, complain that Ghanim al-Qurayshi, the Chief of the Diyala Police is a Shi‘i sectarian responsible for killing and expelling Sunnis from districts in the area.

2008-03-09T22:33:00.002+02:00

DIYALA: Surge? What "surge"?!?
Mass grave of 6 dead men found north of Baquba
Located in Qureishat village of Salam in Khalis

Hussein Kadhim, McClatchy Newspapers

March 9, 2008

In a dispatch "Round-up of Daily Violence - Sunday 9 March 2008" McClatchy reports:

Diyala - "In the morning, the Iraqi army found a mass grave of 6 dead men in Qureishat village of Salam in Khalis (north of Baquba).

The dead were killed about months ago who were handcuffed and blindfolded with some shots on different parts of the body."

2008-03-09T22:28:00.003+02:00

DIYALA: Surge? What "surge"?!?
TOP NEWS: Diyala Province to dismiss 4,000 policemen
Sectarianism pointed as cause

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

8.3.2008

Diyala Province, Ba‘qubah -- In a dispatch posted at 6:45pm Baghdad time Saturday evening, the Yaqen News Agency reported that about 4,000 members of the Diyala Province police were going to be dismissed for sectarianism.

2008-03-09T22:19:00.003+02:00

DIYALA: Surge? What "surge"?!?
Where Happiness Has Gone
"We need to be happy for the sake of our children"

Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail, IPS

7.3.2008

BAQUBA, Mar 7 (IPS) - After losing sight of what they knew to be normal life, residents across Baquba seem to have fallen into a depression.

Close to the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, March 19, Iraqis today say they feel humiliated in their own country. "People have forgotten how to be happy," says resident Bashar Ameen. "Each day, we have only more suffering."

On the two main Islamic festivals through a year, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, people customarily buy new clothes and decorate their homes. It is meant to be a time of happiness and reconciliation. Now it is on these days that depression is most apparent.

"We did not prepare for the recent festival because we do not feel it is the joyous occasion it used to be," Aiman Nory, an employee at the directorate-general of education told IPS.

Children are forgetting the joy of what were the big days for them. "Before the invasion, streets were full on festival days with children playing and families walking about," Abdul-Kareem Faraj, a 44-year-old who once owned a sweets shop told IPS. "This occupation has killed the happiness of children.

"We need to be happy for the sake of our children. Families used to buy large amounts of sweets for the festivals, and we used to prepare the shop to receive a large number of customers, but now I have closed my shop because people quit buying sweets."

For a start, festivals are days people visit one another, and feast. Over the last three years, it has become close to impossible to just move.

Feasting has always been a strong Iraqi tradition. Even during the economic sanctions of the 1990s, when food was scarce, Iraqis kept up this tradition, particularly on Fridays.

"Now, such traditions have been reduced to a minimum because of the bad security situation, high living expenses, and curfews," Diya Imad, a 43-year-old resident of the city told IPS. "We used to listen to each other, laugh, plan our days together, spend good moments, and forget our grief by giving comfort to each other. But now we have lost all this. This has deepened a feeling of depression in all of us."

"Not only people, but the streets and buildings are depressed," an engineer in the local municipality told IPS. Like many others, he did not wish to give his name, in view of the difficult security environment. "Streets are full of mud and dirt, and desolate; trees have been cut and burnt, buildings are pulled down, gardens are barren. Everything is grief-stricken and low-spirited."

Baquba has never much known the idea of psychotherapy. People have always relied on family and social networks to find mental and emotional support during difficult times.

But now the stress is taking a physical toll. "The majority of diseases I am seeing have moral and psychological causes," a pathologist at a local hospital told IPS. "For over three years now we have had thousands of cases of sudden death; due often to thrombus or angina pectoris, among young and old people alike. We never saw anything like this until the Americans came."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced in January that Iraqi refuges in Syria are "suffering from extreme levels of trauma."

Its study, based on interviews with 754 refugees, and analysed by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSC) and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), reveals that 89.5 percent refugees are suffering from depression, 81.6 percent from anxiety and 67.6 percent from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

"We are shocked by the statistics but not surprised because every hour of the day there is somebody who reports torture, there is someone who reports the devastating effects of the violence," said Sybella Wilkes, spokesperson for the UNHCR in Syria.

It is assumed that such statistics apply also to Iraqis who remain in the country. For more than two years now, Iraqi doctors have been reporting a dramatic increase in substance abuse and prescription drug addition.

(*Ahmed, our correspondent in Iraq's Diyala province, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels extensively in the region) (END/2008)

2008-03-09T22:14:00.003+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Talabani’s visit to Turkey
Time to get rid of Barzani

LadyBird, Roads to Iraq - NDHF

Mar 7, 2008

Newspaper Al-Hayat concentrated on the importance of Talabani’s visit to Turkey:

Talabani arrived to Ankara with high-rank Iraqi delegation, includes ministers of Oil, treasury, Industry and Water Sources.

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat report shows Turkey’s humiliation to Talabani:

Turkey insists that Talabani’s will not get the red-carpet treatment or the 21-gun-salute accorded to the Turkish protocols.

What is interesting about the above Al-Hayat link is the following:

Kurdistan Alliance bloc fears that Talabani’s visit to Turkey in this “sensitive time” is an attempt from Turkey to put differences between the Kurds and to isolate Massoud Barzani.

The same view also seen by this article on Al-Khaleej few days ago:

Washington and Ankara agreed to speed up the withdrawal of the Turkish army from northern Iraq, in this process Turkey agreed to assist Washington to besiege Iran, and to limit the growing Kurdish leader Barzani head of Kurdistan region influence, who became a strategic problem for Washington, especially with his increasing role in the Iraqi political process and blocking the Iraqi Oil and Gas law.

In another article from Al-Qabas, Turkey agree with the American view:

The last five years showed that Talabani unlike Barzani, took flexible positions on Kirkuk issue, speaking of the rights of Turkmen in the city, and rejected the Kurdish dream of an independent Kurdish state, emphasizing the need to live within the existing borders in Iraq, along with Syria, Turkey and Iran.

This explains U.S Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza secret visit to Turkey last Sunday as reported by Turkish newspapers and Al-Qabas said that Talabani’s visit was one of the subjects he discussed with the Turkish government.

One Comment, Comment or Ping

missing links: Implications of Turk-US cooperation in the GreenZone - Mar 9th, 2008

2008-03-09T21:37:00.002+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Two killed in Iraq car bombing
Blast misses soldiers, killed two others and injures five

UPI - NDHF

March 9, 2008 at 1:08 PM

MOSUL, Iraq, March 9 (UPI) -- Two people were killed Sunday in Mosul, Iraq, when a car bomb went off near a passing army patrol, police say.

Police said the blast missed the soldiers but killed two others and injured five more, CNN reported.

The city, which is nearly 260 miles north of Baghdad, also was the site of increased insurgent violence Friday. CNN said five security force members were killed in Mosul that day when a car bombing took place at a local police station. That suicide attack left 17 others injured.

Also Friday, a police officer's home apparently was targeted by a bomber. No casualties were inflicted by an initial blast, but a second roadside bomb detonated nearby when others responded, killing one person and injuring 14 others, CNN said.

© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.

2008-03-09T21:17:00.002+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Unknown Gunmen Shoot Civilian Dead in Ninewa
"Eyewitnesses reported seeing a teenager shooting down a civilian man and running away"

VoI - HEYET Net - NDHF

Sunday, 09 March 2008

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a civilian in Mosul, northern Iraq, on Sunday, a source from Ninewa police said.

"Unidentified gunmen killed a civilian in al-Jezair neighborhood, eastern Mosul," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

"Eyewitnesses reported seeing a teenager shooting down a civilian man and running away," the source added.

Mosul, the capital of the multi-religious and multi-ethnic province of Ninewa, lies 405 km north Baghdad.

HEYET Net- VOI

2008-03-09T21:10:00.003+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Iraq, Turkey vow to boost ties, act against Kurdish rebels
Talabani: "We want our cooperation to be a model relationship for the Middle East"

Hande Culpan, AFP

Fri Mar 7, 4:08 PM ET

ANKARA (AFP) - The leaders of Iraq and Turkey pledged Friday to take measures against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq during talks to soothe tensions following a Turkish cross-border offensive against the militants.

"The aim of this visit is to be able to establish strategic and solid relations with Turkey," Iraq's President Jalal Talabani said after talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.

"We want our cooperation to be a model relationship for the Middle East," Talabani said through an interpreter, adding that Baghdad wanted closer energy, economic, cultural and political ties.

Welcoming Talabani to Ankara for his first visit as head of state, Gul made a similar call and said both countries would hold further talks to work out the detail of what he said was the common vision for bilateral ties.

"I believe that if we tap into the great potential between Turkey and Iraq, we will produce a great neighbourly relationship," he said.

The warm messages followed recent tensions between the neighbours over a week-long ground incursion by the Turkish army into northern Iraq to hunt rebels from Kurdistan Workers's Party (PKK), which ended last week.

Turkey charges that more than 2,000 PKK militants use northern Iraq as a base for their separatist campaign against Ankara and accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating the rebels.

At the time, Baghdad slammed the incursion as an unacceptable violation of its sovereignty, while the United States feared it might escalate into a broader conflict between Turkish forces and Iraqi Kurds.

The Turkish military warned this week that it could carry out more cross-border strikes on the rebels if need be.

Neither Gul nor Talabani directly addressed the incursion, but when queried by reporters, the Iraqi President, a Kurd himself, said Iraq would not allow illegal groups to launch attacks from Iraqi soil.

"We are obviously opposed to an organisation that launches attacks against a neighbouring country and we will not allow it," Talabani said, adding that Baghdad and Ankara would hold talks on a "comprehensive security agreement".

He explained that the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq had been ordered to pressure PKK militants to either lay down their arms or leave the region.

Gul described the PKk as a "common curse" and called on the rebels to disarm.

"Let me underline that the Turkish state will not tolerate those who are implicated in terrorism," Gul said when asked whether Ankara would make any political overtures to the rebels.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Parliament authorised cross-border military action against the rebels in October, paving the way for the ground offensive.

Washington backed the Turkish incursion by supplying its NATO ally with intelligence, but pressed for a swift withdrawal on fears that it could lead to tensions in a relatively stable region of conflict-torn Iraq.

Gul had invited Talabani to visit on February 21, hours after Turkish forces stormed into northern Iraq to crack down on PKK camps.

"This operation was a message on how determined we are" to stop the PKK from using northern Iraq as a safe haven, Turkey's special representative for Iraq Murat Ozcelik said in an interview with NTV television ahead of the visit.

Baghdad has acknowledged the threat the PKK poses to Turkey and "this gives us an opportunity to re-focus on diplomacy in 2008," he said.

"Relations...will gain a new momentum and we will enter a period in which a new page will be turned," he added.

Talabani is expected to lunch with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and have talks with representatives of a Turkish-Iraqi business group on Saturday before wrapping up his visit.

2008-03-09T20:51:00.003+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
One civilian killed, 14 wounded
Double bomb attack in al-Mawsil Friday

Xinhua - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

7.3.2008

Ninwa Province, Al-Mawsil -- In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 7:35pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (2:35pm Baghdad time), the Xinhua News Agency reported that two bombs had exploded in the city of al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad, on Friday.

Xinhua reported a source in the city police as saying that initially one bomb went off in front of the home of a member of the Iraqi regime police force in the an-Nabi Shit district of the city.

Then, after a crowd of local people gathered on the scene, a second bomb exploded, killing one civilian and wounding 14 more in varying degrees of severity.

The wounded people were taken to hospital for treatment.

2008-03-09T20:39:00.003+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
Three IED Explosions in Baghdad claim one killed, one wounded
One in Andalus Intersection (Karrada), 2 in Zafaraniyah

Hussein Kadhim, McClatchy Newspapers

March 9, 2008

In a dispatch "Round-up of Daily Violence - Sunday 9 March 2008" McClatchy reports two three separate

Baghdad - Around 6 am, a roadside bomb exploded at Andalus intersection in Karrada neighborhood.

No casualties or damage recorded.

Baghdad - Around 7am, two roadside bombs exploded in a sequence at Zafaraniyah neighborhood near the gas factory.

One person was killed and another was injured.

2008-03-09T20:25:00.002+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?

Bomb wounds three policemen in Baghdad Friday afternoon
Iraqi regime police patrol in the al-‘Amil area of western Baghdad

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

7.3.2008

BAGHDAD -- In a dispatch posted at 4:52pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by an Iraqi regime police patrol in the al-‘Amil area of western Baghdad on Friday afternoon.

2008-03-09T20:19:00.002+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
SUNDAY: Police finds two dead bodies in Baghdad
1 in Saidiyah in Karkh bank, 1 in Kasra of Waziriyah in Risafa bank

Hussein Kadhim, McClatchy Newspapers

March 9, 2008

In a dispatch "Round-up of Daily Violence - Sunday 9 March 2008" McClatchy reports:

Baghdad -- "Police found two dead bodies in Baghdad today: 1 was found in Saidiyah in Karkh bank while 1 was found in Kasra of Waziriyah in Risafa bank."

2008-03-09T20:01:00.003+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?
SATURDAY: Four more bodies found dumped around Baghdad
Iraqi police recoveres four more unidentified bodies

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

8.3.2008

IRAQ, Baghdad -- In a dispatch posted at 7:35pm Baghdad time Saturday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Iraqi police recovered the bodies of four more unidentified murder victims that had been dumped around Baghdad on Saturday.

2008-03-09T19:46:00.003+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
FRIDAY: Three more bodies found dumped around Baghdad Friday
+ NDHF on Yaqen News Agency

Yaqen - Reuters - NDHF

7.-8.3.2008

IRAQ, Baghdad -- In a dispatch posted at 7:25pm Baghdad time Friday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that three unidentified bodies of murder victims had been found dumped around Baghdad on Friday.

The story's confirmed by Reuters: "Three bodies were found in different areas of Baghdad on Friday, police said."

It is noteworthy in this connection that the Yaqenn coverage, one of the top Iraqi news agencies and comparable in its high quality, accuracy and broad coverage only to AMSI and Voices of Iraq (VoI), goes vastly unniticed by the Western press.

It is extraordinary that Yaqen has not drawn more attention by it splendid efforts.

Newsdesk Helsinki Finland team strongly recommends and encourages the reporters, readers and all those with interest to dedicate more time in making themselves familiar with Yaqen.

2008-03-09T18:07:00.003+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
Bomb targets US patrol in al-A‘zamiyah Thursday morning
Missing the mark one civilian killed, 5 wounded

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

6.3.2008

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 3:29pm Thursday afternoon Beijing time (10:29am Baghdad time), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a US patrol near the at-Tai‘ah playing field in the northern Baghdad district of al-A‘zamiyah on Thursday morning.

Xinhua reported a source in the Iraqi regime police as saying that the blast killed one civilian and wounded five more people.

He said that although the bomb targeted the American patrol, the blast missed its mark and went off by a minibus carrying Iraqi passengers in the same area.

The bus was severely damaged in the explosion, after which the injured people were taken to hospital for treatment.

The power of the blast also shattered window and storefront glass in the area.

2008-03-09T17:34:00.003+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
Bombs explode by two US patrols in Baghdad Wednesday
Americans closed off the area allowing no information on casualties to leak out

Xinhua - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

6.3.2008

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 8:45am Thursday morning Beijing time (5:45am Baghdad time), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a US patrol in the southeastern Baghdad district of az-Za‘faraniyah on Wednesday.

Xinhua reported that a second bomb went off by another US patrol in the al-Mikanik neighborhood of the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah also on Wednesday.

In both cases the Americans closed off the area where the attacks took place, allowing no information on the nature or extent of casualties to leak out.

As of the time of reporting, the US had made no statement on the attacks.

2008-03-09T17:29:00.003+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
Bomb explodes by US Humvee in Tikrit Friday night
Casualties reported, not announced

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

8.3.2008

Salah ad-Din Province, Tikrit -- In a dispatch posted at 10:40pm Baghdad time Friday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a locally made bomb exploded by a US Humvee near the an-Nab‘ Restaurant in Tikrit, 180km north of Baghdad on Friday night.

2008-03-09T17:23:00.004+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
AP: True Cost of War - Staggering Number of Wounded Vets
About 15 soldiers are wounded for every fatality

AP - NDHF

March 08, 2008 7:40 AM ET

NEW YORK -- The number of wounded soldiers has become a hallmark of the nearly 5-year-old Iraq war, pointing to both the use of roadside bombs as the extremists' weapon of choice and advances in battlefield medicine to save lives.

About 15 soldiers are wounded for every fatality, compared with 2.6 per death in Vietnam and 2.8 in Korea.

But with those saved soldiers comes a financial price — one veterans groups and others claim the government is unwilling to pay.

Those critics also say that the tens of thousands of soldiers wounded in Iraq are part of a political numbers game, one they say undermines the system meant to care for them.

The most frequently cited figure is the 29,320 soldiers wounded in action in Iraq as of Thursday. But there have been 31,325 others treated for non-combat injuries and illness as of March 1.

"The Pentagon keeps two sets of books," said Linda Bilmes, a professor at Harvard and an expert on budgeting and public finance whose newly published book, The Three Trillion Dollar War, was co-authored with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

"It is important to understand the full number of casualties because the U.S. government is responsible for paying disability compensation and medical care for all our troops, regardless of how they were injured," Bilmes said.

$2.3 billion increase

Veterans Affairs predicts it will treat 330,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009 — a 14 percent increase over the 2008 estimate of 263,000 — at a cost of nearly $1.3 billion.

For the 2009 budget, the White House requested $93.7 billion for the VA, including $41.2 billion for medical care for all veterans — not just those from Iraq and Afghanistan. That's an increase of $2.3 billion over the current budget.

But critics say that is not enough for a system that has a backlog of about 400,000 pending medical claims and complaints, especially in mental health care.

The VA "will not request enough resources to care for the troops — and in fact this is precisely what has happened in the past three years," said Bilmes.

Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, rejected accusations that the government is trying to hide or obscure the number of wounded soldiers by placing the total in two categories on its Web pages.

"Both of the Web sites have equal importance. They are just counting different things," Smith said. "Neither is more prominent than the other."

James Peake, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, said that funding for VA medical care requested for next year is "more than twice what it was seven years ago" before operations in Afghanistan started.

But Bilmes says the VA is hoping to offset some of the costs through increased fees and co-payments — putting more of the burden for health care costs back on soldiers.

"That is the thing that sticks in the gullet, the fact they're hoping to raise $2 or $3 billion through their fees, which is what we spend in Iraq and Afghanistan in about three days," she said. "For three days of fighting, we could not charge these vets a higher co-payment."

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, an advocacy group based in Washington, said the VA's budget request for 2009 also does not pay adequate attention to chronic problems facing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, such as drug and alcohol addictions.

This week, a federal judge in San Francisco held the first hearing in a class-action suit filed by two vet groups, including Sullivan's, against the VA alleging neglect in treating suicidal soldiers. The suit seeks prompt screening and treatment of potentially suicidal veterans.

144 suicides through '05

According to VA research obtained last month by The Associated Press, 144 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide from the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001 through the end of 2005. Statistics from 2006 and 2007 were not yet available.

Dr. Gerald Cross, a VA official, said during this week's hearings that 120,000 vets from Iraq and Afghanistan using VA care have potential mental health problems, and that nearly 68,000 have potential post-traumatic stress disorder.

To visit comment or learn more, go to blog

2008-03-09T16:56:00.003+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
Bombs damage US Humvee, Bradley armored vehicle in Samarra'
Several American troops wounded in the attacks, no casualty figures available

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

8.3.2008

Salah ad-Din Province, Samarra' -- In a dispatch posted at 10:45am Baghdad time Friday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that two bombs exploded by patrols of the US military in the neighborhoods of al-Ma‘mal and al-Haddadah in Samarra’, 120km north of Baghdad.

Yaqen reported Ahmad Sadiq, a local witness as saying that one of the bombs damaged an American Humvee and the other damaged a Bradley armored vehicle.

Witnesses said that several American troops were wounded in the attacks, but no specific casualty figures were available, as US troops closed off the areas to prevent information on the attacks from leaking out.

As of the time of reporting the Americans had made no announcement regarding the attacks.

2008-03-09T16:49:00.002+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
IED/EFP Impact: US Troops Losing Hearing
Nearly 70,000 tinnitus, 58,000 on disability for hearing loss

CHELSEA J. CARTER, Associated Press Writer

8.3.2008

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Soldiers and Marines caught in roadside bombings and firefights in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming home in epidemic numbers with permanent hearing loss and ringing in their ears, prompting the military to redouble its efforts to protect the troops from noise.

Hearing damage is the No. 1 disability in the war on terror, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and some experts say the true toll could take decades to become clear. Nearly 70,000 of the more than 1.3 million troops who have served in the two war zones are collecting disability for tinnitus, a potentially debilitating ringing in the ears, and more than 58,000 are on disability for hearing loss, the VA said.

"The numbers are staggering," said Theresa Schulz, a former audiologist with the Air Force, past president of the National Hearing Conservation Association and author of a 2004 report titled "Troops Return With Alarming Rates of Hearing Loss."

One major explanation given is the insurgency's use of a fearsome weapon the Pentagon did not fully anticipate: powerful roadside bombs. Their blasts cause violent changes in air pressure that can rupture the eardrum and break bones inside the ear.

Also, much of the fighting consists of ambushes, bombings and firefights, which come suddenly and unexpectedly, giving soldiers no time to use their military-issued hearing protection.

"They can't say, `Wait a minute, let me put my earplugs in,'" said Dr. Michael E. Hoffer, a Navy captain and one of the country's leading inner-ear specialists. "They are in the fight of their lives."

In addition, some servicemen on patrol refuse to wear earplugs for fear of dulling their senses and missing sounds that can make the difference between life and death, Hoffer and others said. Others were not given earplugs or did not take them along when they were sent into the war zone. And some Marines weren't told how to use their specialized earplugs and inserted them incorrectly.

Hearing damage has been a battlefield risk ever since the introduction of explosives and artillery, and the U.S. military recognized it in Iraq and Afghanistan and issued earplugs early on. But the sheer number of injuries and their nature - particularly the high incidence of tinnitus - came as a surprise to military medical specialists and outside experts.

The military has responded over the past three years with better and easier-to-use earplugs, greater efforts to educate troops about protecting their hearing, and more testing in the war zone to detect ear injuries.

The results aren't in yet on the new measures, but Army officials believe they will significantly slow the rate of new cases of hearing damage, said Col. Kathy Gates, the Army surgeon general's audiology adviser.

Considerable damage has already been done.

For former Staff Sgt. Ryan Kelly, 27, of Austin, Texas, the noise of war is still with him more than four years after the simultaneous explosion of three roadside bombs near Baghdad.

"It's funny, you know. When it happened, I didn't feel my leg gone. What I remember was my ears ringing," said Kelly, whose leg was blown off below the knee in 2003. Today, his leg has been replaced with a prosthetic, but his ears are still ringing.

"It is constantly there," he said. "It constantly reminds me of getting hit. I don't want to sit here and think about getting blown up all the time. But that's what it does."

Sixty percent of U.S. personnel exposed to blasts suffer from permanent hearing loss, and 49 percent also suffer from tinnitus, according to military audiology reports. The hearing damage ranges from mild, such as an inability to hear whispers or low pitches, to severe, including total deafness or a constant loud ringing that destroys the ability to concentrate. There is no known cure for tinnitus or hearing loss.

The number of servicemen and servicewomen on disability because of hearing damage is expected to grow 18 percent a year, with payments totaling $1.1 billion annually by 2011, according to an analysis of VA data by the American Tinnitus Association. Anyone with at least a 10 percent loss in hearing qualifies for disability.

From World War II and well through Vietnam, hearing damage has been a leading disability.

Despite everything that has been learned over the years, U.S. troops are suffering hearing damage at about the same rate as World War II vets, according to VA figures. But World War II and Iraq cannot easily be compared. World War II was a different kind of war, waged to a far greater extent by way of vast artillery barrages, bombing raids and epic tank battles.

Given today's fearsome weaponry, even the best hearing protection is only partly effective - and only if it's properly used.

Some Marines were issued a $7.40 pair of double-sided earplugs, with one side designed to protect from weapons fire and explosions, the other from aircraft and tank noise. But the Marines were not given instructions in how to use the earplugs, and some cut them in half, while others used the wrong sides, making the devices virtually useless, Hoffer said. Today, instructions are handed out with the earplugs.

In any case, hearing protection has its limits. While damage can occur at 80 to 85 decibels - the noise level of a moving tank - the best protection cuts that by only 20 to 25 decibels. That is not enough to protect the ears against an explosion or a firefight, which can range upwards of 183 decibels, said Dr. Ben Balough, a Navy captain and chairman of otolaryngology at the Balboa Navy Medical Center in San Diego.

The Navy and Marines have begun buying and distributing state-of-the-art earplugs, known as QuietPro, that contain digital processors that block out damaging sound waves from gunshots and explosions and still allow users to hear everyday noises. They cost about $600 a pair.

The Army also has equipped every soldier being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan with newly developed one-sided earplugs that cost about $8.50, and it has begun testing QuietPro with some troops.

In addition, the Navy is working with San Diego-based American BioHealth Group to develop a "hearing pill" that could protect troops' ears. An early study in 2003 on 566 recruits showed a 25 to 27 percent reduction in permanent hearing loss. But further testing is planned.

And for the first time in American warfare, for the past three years, hearing specialists or hearing-trained medics have been put on the front lines instead of just at field hospitals, Hoffer said.

Marines and soldiers are getting hearing tests before going on patrol and when they return to base if they were exposed to bombs or gunfire.

"You have guys that don't want to admit they have a problem," Hoffer said. "But if they can't hear what they need to on patrol, they could jeopardize their lives, their buddies' lives and, ultimately, their mission."

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

2008-03-09T16:40:00.004+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"

TOP NEWS: Iraqi policeman kills two US troops
Wounds two more when Americans raid his home in Yathrib Saturday morning

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

8.3.2008

In a dispatch posted at 10:30am Baghdad time Saturday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Iraqi regime policeman Dawud Hayyawi killed two US soldiers and wounded two more of them when they raided his home in the Yathrib area, 70km north of Baghdad.

Yaqen reported a witness named Abu ‘Umar who lives next to the policeman as saying that a joint force of Iraqi regime National Guards, “Awakening” tribal contingents, and US troops raided Hayyawi’s home at dawn on Saturday. Hayyawi refused to give himself up and began shooting at the raiding forces with his personal Kalashnikov, killing two US soldiers and wounding two more of them. The witness said he saw the Americans evacuating their two dead and providing first aid to the two wounded US soldiers.

Abu ‘Umar said that after Hayyawi opened fire, non of the raiding party dared enter the house, so they began to bombard the home with hand grenades, killing Hayyawi and inflicting severe damage on the house.

Local residents, outraged over the killing of Hayyawi, took to the streets in large numbers to join his funeral procession at 9:30 Saturday morning. The mourners shouted slogans denouncing the tribal collaborationist “Awakening” organization and the US troops and hailed the courage of Policeman Dawud.

A similar incident was reported on 2 January 2008 when a soldier in the Iraqi regime National Guards, Qaysar Sa‘di shot and killed three American troops, one of them a captain, near the city of al-Mawsil in northwestern Iraq.

2008-03-09T16:23:00.003+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
DoD: Recruitment Declining
Despite studies suggesting the armed forces are more diverse and educated than ever

Stars and Stripes

March 08, 2008

A senior Defense official says U.S. military recruitment is declining despite studies suggesting the armed forces are more diverse and educated than ever, The Washington Times reported Friday.

David Chu, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, and other military and data analysts discussed the issue Thursday at the Heritage Foundation, the Times reported.

The longevity of the Iraq war, a negative view of military life and rising obesity rates nationwide were cited as principal reasons for the decline, the Times noted.

About a third of potential military recruits are rejected because of an inability to meet physical standards, according to Department of Defense material presented by Chu, the paper reported.

Lawrence Kapp, a specialist in military manpower policy for the Congressional Research Service, said it is difficult to convince high school graduates that the military is a viable and worthy endeavor. CRS studies reveal a large number of people with the "propensity to enlist," but 85 percent of them don't, according to the Times.

"Enlistment in the military carries a connotation of a kind of blue-collar position," he said.

Kapp told the gathering, however, that higher standards for enlistment have produced a military that is highly qualified and more educated than the rest of the U.S. population. About 97 percent of military recruits have high school diplomas, compared with roughly 80 percent in the general population, according to his department's studies.

"There has to be some way to reconnect military service with the white-collar expectation of some of the youth today," he said.

2008-03-09T16:18:00.003+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
US military: Soldier killed in restive Diyala province
Another soldier was wounded in the attack and taken to a military hospital

The Associated Press

March 8, 2008

BAGHDAD: A U.S. soldier was killed Friday during an operation in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

The soldier's name was not released pending notification of relatives.

Another soldier was wounded in the attack and taken to a military hospital.

At least 3,975 members of the U.S. military have now died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians.

2008-03-09T16:09:00.004+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
VA Official: More Than 60,000 Iraq, Afghanistan Vets Diagnosed With PTSD
Marine veteran couldn't escape the war inside his head
Jason Leopold, Scoop

Saturday, 8 March 2008, 5:37 pm

Jonathan Schulze was awarded two Purple Hearts in 2005 after a lengthy tour of duty in Iraq.

But the Marine veteran couldn't escape the war inside his head.

Drugs and alcohol temporarily numbed his pain. Yet the guilt he carried around with him having been one of a handful of soldiers in his unit to survive combat was impossible to run away from.

Schulze was suicidal.

On January 11, 2007, he sought treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. His parents drove him to the VA hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Schulze told the VA staff that he "felt suicidal," his mother, Marianne Schulze, recalled.

The hospital didn't admit him. Instead, he was told to call back the following day. He did. He was given a number: 26. The VA staff told him he'd have to wait at least two weeks to be admitted. Apparently, there were other veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who were also suffering from PTSD. It's unknown whether they met the same fate.

On January 16, 2007, Schulze placed a framed photograph of his one-year-old daughter beside him. He wrapped an electrical cord around his neck and hung himself in the basement of a friend's house in New Prague, Minnesota. He was 25 years old.

This week, Schulze's story is being retold in a federal courthouse in San Francisco as evidence of the widespread, systemic failures by the Veterans Administration to treat tens of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who suffer PTSD.

Attorneys for two veterans advocacy organizations are hoping to convince a judge that a lawsuit filed against the Department for Veterans Affairs last year and several government officials associated with the VA should receive class-action status. In their lawsuit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, which represent about 12,000 veterans combined, claim Iraq and Afghanistan war vets are dying while waiting for the VA to treat PTSD and work through a backlog of at least half-a-million disability claims. The groups want Conti to issue a preliminary injunction to force the VA to immediately treat veterans who show signs of PTSD and are at risk of suicide.

PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can develop in a person who witnesses, or is confronted with, a traumatic event. PTSD is said to be the most prevalent mental disorder arising from combat. According to the lawsuit, “more than any previous war, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to produce a high percentage of troops suffering from PTSD,” due to the widespread use of improvised explosive devises, multiple rotations, the ambiguity of fighting combatants dressed as civilians, and the use of National Guard members and Reservists.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs' attorneys allege that numerous VA practices stemming from a 1998 law violate the constitutional and statutory rights of veterans suffering from PTSD by denying veterans mandated medical care.

"Because of those failures, hundreds of thousands of men and women who have suffered grievous injuries fighting in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being abandoned," states the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Northern California. "Unless systemic and drastic measures are instituted immediately, the costs to these veterans, their families, and our nation will be incalculable, including broken families, a new generation of unemployed and homeless veterans, increases in drug abuse and alcoholism, and crushing burdens on the health care delivery system and other social services in our communities."

VA attorneys had argued in court papers filed last month that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were not "entitled" to the five-years of free healthcare upon their return from combat as mandated by Congress in the "Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act." Rather, the VA argued, medical treatment for the war veterans was discretionary based on the level of funding available in the VA's budget.

On Tuesday, the second day of testimony before U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti, Dr. Gerald Cross, the undersecretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration, made a startling admission during cross-examination by the plaintiffs' attorneys that would appear to contradict the agency's position.

Cross admitted that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were not only entitled to free healthcare, "there is no co-pay," he said.

Perhaps most startling, however, was testimony by Cross stating that of the 300,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars treated at VA hospitals, more than half were diagnosed with a serious mental condition, 68,000 of which were cases of PTSD.

His testimony marks the first time a Bush administration official has provided detailed information about the psychological impact of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on combat veterans. Cross testified that five years after the invasion of Iraq, the VA has still not completed a study on the link between suicides and PTSD among combat veterans. However, he said such a study is currently in the works and may be published soon.

Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, Paul Sullivan, said more than 5,000 veterans commit suicide per year.

Dr. Arthur Blank, a renowned expert on PTSD who has worked closely with the VA, testified that about 30 percent of Iraqi war veterans are likely suffering from PTSD due to multiple deployments and the VA is not doing enough to care for them.

"I think it's because of multiple deployments, which means one is exposed to trauma over and over again," Blank testified.

Last week, Daniel Cooper, the VA's undersecretary for benefits, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, abruptly resigned. Sullivan's group had called for Cooper's resignation two weeks ago in light of the huge backlog of benefits claims that have yet to be processed by Cooper's department.

Last August, the Pentagon's Inspector General revealed that Cooper used his government position to promote the work of a fundamentalist Christian organization, a violation of the laws governing the separation of church and state.

Cooper, and several high-ranking military officials, appeared in a promotional video for Christian Embassy, an evangelical organization that evangelizes members of the military and politicians in Washington, DC via daily Bible studies and outreach events. The group holds prayer breakfasts on Wednesdays in the Pentagons executive dining room, according to the organization's web site.

Mikey Weinstein, the founder and president of The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, whose organization called for a federal investigation after government officials were discovered to have participated in the Christian Embassy promotional video, said Cooper is a "disgrace."

"The D in Dan stands for disgrace," Weinstein said in an interview. "He's a disgrace to the United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy, the US armed forces, the Veterans Administration, and the United States of America. Why? Because we have him on videotape making it very clear to the world that the most important part of his job was to push the fundamentalist agenda of the Christian right over his specified duties at the Veterans Administration. Dan Cooper has used the United States Constitution as his personal roll of toilet paper. I wish him as much good fortune as he has provided to our honorable and noble veterans; none."

*************
Jason Leopold is senior editor and reporter for Truthout. He received a Project Censored award in 2007 for his story on Halliburton's work in Iran. Jason is the author of the National Bestseller, News Junkie, a memoir. He is the editor of BackgroundBriefing.org, a new online political magazine scheduled to launch in March. He can be reached at jasonleopold [at] hotmail.com.

2008-03-09T16:07:00.003+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
Military scrambles to retain troops
Mass exodus of experienced troops would break the all-volunteer force

Bryan Bender, Boston Globe

March 7, 2008

WASHINGTON - To prevent a mass exodus of experienced troops they fear would break the all-volunteer force, the Army and Marine Corps have taken the unprecedented step of interviewing thousands of midlevel officers and enlisted soldiers to identify ways to persuade them to stay in the military, according to Pentagon officials and documents.

Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Army and Marine Corps have depended on high retention rates - reenlisting soldiers nearing the end of their service and persuading officers to extend their careers - to offset the increasing difficulty attracting qualified recruits. The Pentagon will need even higher rates of retention to execute its plan to add nearly 100,000 ground troops during the next few years

But with many seasoned troops and their families now facing the prospect of fourth and fifth combat tours - with little rest - top military leaders fear that lucrative bonuses and the strong desire to serve their country and support their comrades will not be enough to stop the potentially debilitating loss of thousands of experienced personnel.

"We have to make sure that we are talking to these young captains and majors and sergeants and staff sergeants and understanding what their issues are so we can help them solve them, because we want them to stay," Army General Ray Odierno, who recently returned from Iraq to become the Army's vice chief of staff, said Tuesday.

The Army recently appointed a special team to survey thousands of soldiers across the service - especially young lieutenants, captains, and majors - to study "retention across all ranks," said Kathryn Reynolds, an Army spokeswoman.

The Marine Corps, meanwhile, has initiated a retention survey of all enlisted Marines who are scheduled to fulfill their obligation between Oct. 1, 2008, and Sept. 30, 2009.

The survey will gauge "how satisfied or dissatisfied they are . . . and what factors have the greatest influence on retention," according to an internal memorandum issued late last month. Ultimately, the Marine Corps hopes the information will help it identify new incentives "that will directly assist in achieving our retention mission."

Current data show that the Army and Marine Corps are still meeting their overall retention goals through lucrative bonuses - some upward of $30,000 - and by increasing promotion rates. Yet there are growing warning signs that those incentives will not be enough, especially for the troops who have been in uniform five to 10 years.

"If you go out and talk to the officers in the force, there is a gut-level concern," said Michelle Flournoy, a former assistant secretary of defense for strategy and now president of the Center for a New American Security. "How long will this hold? There are guys who re-upped after their second tour, [but] after their fourth tour, will they do it again?"

2008-03-09T15:47:00.002+02:00

Occupation's Endgame in Southern Iraq
Mahdi Army commander arrested in Wassit
Firas Aswad, a prominent commander of the Mahdi Army, in al-Zahraa arrested

AE/SR, Voices of Iraq

Sunday, 09/03/2008

Wassit, Mar 9, (VOI) – Security forces arrested a prominent commander of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militias in a raid on al-Zahraa neighborhood, central Kut, during the early hours of Sunday, a security official said.

"A rapid intervention force, acting on intelligence tips, arrested Firas Aswad, a prominent commander of the Mahdi Army, in al-Zahraa," 1st Lieutenant Aziz al-Amara, the force commander, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

"The arrested man was involved in many criminal acts and improvised explosive device attacks against Iraqi forces all over the province of Wassit," Amara added.

He said Iraqi security forces have since Thursday been tracking down the Sadrists who do not observe Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr's instructions to freeze the Mahdi Army's activities.

Sadr renewed a 6-month freeze on his Mahdi Army militias starting on February 26 and to expire on August 26.

Kut, the capital of Wassit, lies 180 km southeast of Baghdad.

2008-03-09T15:40:00.002+02:00

Occupation's Endgame in Southern Iraq
Two Iraqi regime army troops gunned down in al-‘Amarah Thursday
Armed men in a civilian car opened fire on the car in which soldiers were riding

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

6.3.2008

Maysan Province, Al-‘Amarah -- In a dispatch posted at 3pm Baghdad time Thursday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men ambushed and killed two soldiers in the Iraqi regime army in the city of al-‘Amarah, 290km southeast of Baghdad on Thursday.

Yaqen reported a source in the provincial government as saying that unknown armed men in a civilian car opened fire on the car in which two soldiers were riding through the al-‘Urubah area in eastern al-‘Amarah, killing them on the spot.

2008-03-09T15:30:00.003+02:00

Occupation's Endgame in Southern Iraq
Rockets hit UK base in Basra
Airport base targeted by Iraqi fighters almost daily

MSH/BGH , Press TV

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 09:34:20

Rockets have been launched at the main British military base at the Basra international airport in south of Iraq, witnesses say.

No casualties have been reported following the rocket attacks at the Basra airport, where British forces are currently based.

The only British base in the southern Iraqi city of Basra is targeted by Iraqi fighters almost every day.

The British troops pulled out of Basra and its surrounding areas last year but maintain a base at the airport, 25 km northwest of the city. More than 4,000 British troops are still in Iraq.

Some 175 UK troops have been killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion of the country by the US-led forces.

2008-03-09T15:21:00.003+02:00

Occupation's Endgame in Southern Iraq
Differences among Iraqi Shiites on Ahmadinejad’s visit
Those who welcomed Ahmadinejad, are the rest of the Shiite coalition allied with the PKK in the Iraqi government

LadyBird, Roads to Iraq - NDHF

5.3.2008

Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas investigates the real reason the prevented the Iranian Ahmadinejad from visiting Karbala and Najaf saying:

It is very hard to imagine that an Iranian official visits Iraq with an official invitation without visiting the two holy Shiites cities.

Away from the rumors, we decided to investigate the issue and it is revealed that visiting the two cities wasn’t on Ahmadinejad’s schedule, but why?

Probably, that the Iranian committee who put the schedule three days before the visit learned that Shiittes high-rank cleric Sistani does not receive or meet with presidents.

While many newspapers wrote about Iraq’s sectarian division on Ahmadinajad’s visit and they put it like [Shiites welcomed the visit, Sunnis rejected it], the newspaper reported about the Shiites – Shiites division on the visit.

The facts on the ground shows that those who welcomed the Iranian President Ahmadinejad, are the rest of the Shiite coalition allied with the PKK in the Iraqi government.

There are about 16 Shiite parties and blocs [IISC] did not attend the ceremony and boycotted the visit (The Iraqi Gathering, Al-Jaafari Bloc, Mazin Makiya Bloc) add to this Al-Fadhila Party, the Sadrists and other small groups in the coalition, in fact the majority are unwilling to meet guest the Iranian.

Contrary to the common believe that Iraqi-Shiites have ties with Iran, many Shiite-sectors of Iraqi Shiite aware of the importance of their political and ideological independence..

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2008-03-09T14:54:00.003+02:00

Occupation's Endgame In Southern Iraq
Iraqis Protest in Basra Over Security
Residents are becoming increasingly alarmed, saying that killings, kidnappings and other crimes have increased significantly

BUSHRA JUHI, AP

20 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in Basra, protesting deteriorating security in the southern city where Iraqi forces assumed responsibility for safety last December.

It was day of violence as well as political unrest in Iraq: Police in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad reported two separate bombings in which six people were killed, and officers also found 13 bullet-ridden bodies.

In Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and the urban center of an oil-rich region, Shiite groups have been wrestling for control.

Residents are becoming increasingly alarmed, saying that killings, kidnappings and other crimes have increased significantly since British forces turned over responsibility for Basra at the end of last year.

In February, two journalists working for CBS were kidnapped in the city. One was released but the other, a Briton, is still being held.

As many as 5,000 people demonstrated near the Basra police command headquarters Saturday, demanding that the police chief, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Khalaf, and the commander of joint military-police operation, Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji, resign.

Many carried banners, decrying the killing of women, workers, academics and scientists. Dozens of women were slain in Basra by religious extremists last year because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings."

Saturday's protesters, overwhelmingly men, came from several Shiite political movements, including the biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and its militia wing, known as the Badr Brigade.

Khalaf said at a news conference later that "today's demonstration was a natural right of the citizens and the political parties to express their opinions."

He defended the performance of the police, saying they had freed 10 people who were kidnapped in the past 10 days and "detained 64 people accused of carrying out sabotage and terrorist operations all over Basra."

Meanwhile, in Diyala province, an official in the joint police-army operations center said roadside bombings killed six people in Wajihiyah, about 15 miles east of the provincial capital of Baquoba.

In the first attack, a bomb destroyed a car — killing a mother and her two children and wounding two others, including the woman's husband. The second attack hit a bus, killing three men and wounding two others, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of 13 men in Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, the official said.

Also in Diyala province, an American soldier was killed Friday during an operation, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The U.S. military also confirmed it had released a journalist from a prominent Shiite-run television station on Friday afternoon after he was cleared of having connections to so-called "special groups" militias.

That term is often used by the military to describe Shiite extremists who have broken with anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Hafidh al-Beshara, the news editor and manager of political programming for Al-Forat TV, was detained two weeks ago along with his son, who is still being held.

Meanwhile, police said a French reporter was stabbed Saturday at a hotel in Iraq's northern Kurdish city of Irbil, police said. The reporter was hospitalized with minor injuries to her arm, according to Irbil police chief Brig. Gen. Abdul-Khaliq Talat.

The reasons for the attack were unclear, police said, adding that the manager and 10 members of the staff were arrested and the hotel was closed. No further details were released, including the reporter's employer.

Irbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, is among the safest and violence-free areas of the war-torn country.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

2008-03-09T14:38:00.003+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
US troops accused of abusing Baghdad embassy employees
Three off-duty Iraqi guards of Germany "detained" and "mishandled"

DPA - NDHF

Mar 8, 2008, 11:16 GMT

Berlin - An incident involving US troops and Iraqi employees at the German embassy in Baghdad has frayed relations between Berlin and Washington, the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday.

Three off-duty guards at the mission were detained and mishandled by US troops, according to a confidential report sent by Ambassador Hanns Schumacher to the foreign ministry in Berlin, the magazine said in a report released in advance of publication Monday.

Two were released after a short time but the third was transferred from Baghdad to a detention centre near Basra where he was held for four months, Der Spiegel said.

Two of the mishandled men received financial compensation from the Americans, following representations made by German diplomats. But no apology has been made to the man held in Basra, the report said.

A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry declined to comment on the report.

The German embassy in Baghdad employs some 120 Iraqis, most of them guards.

2008-03-09T14:24:00.003+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
Heroines - the daily life of Iraq's war widows
Eighty-two percent of the 2.4 million people displaced inside Iraq are women and young children under the age of 12

Iraqi women's organisations - Reuters - NDHF

07 Mar 2008 11:48:00 GMT

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

Eighty-two percent of the 2.4 million people displaced inside Iraq are women and young children under the age of 12. Many mothers have lost their husbands in the sectarian violence that has torn the nation apart. But in the face of adversity, they are proving to be true heroines.

These stories, collected by women's organisations in Iraq ahead of International Women's Day on March 8, give a rare insight into how Iraqi widows are helping their families survive while retaining their dignity in times of extreme suffering.

Suhair's story

For the war widows who have moved to the outskirts of Baghdad from all over the country to try to eke out a living, each day is a struggle for survival.

"A lot of these women are young - they are not the 'old ladies' we'd imagine as widows, as we did in the past," says one such woman, Suhair.

"Without food and electricity, it's getting harder and harder to provide for our families. When we wake up in the morning the first thing that we think about is if there is any electricity or fuel. We think about how we are going to put food on the table."

Women like Suhair take great risks by selling what they can - usually chewing gum or tissues - in violence hotspots.

"This phenomenon was hardly visible prior to 2003," says Suhair. "We women face a lot of danger in doing this. The fear of having your children's lives, your life taken away is constant... Your mind stops functioning when on your way to work you see a car near you and you fear it could explode."

There are no longer any vehicles in the streets at the entrance of this part of Baghdad because people are so afraid of car bombings.

"Even in the summer, we sell gas on the streets when it's 60-70 degrees Celsius," she says. "We go to the gas station, wait in line for hours and get very little in return for our hard work. We have to go to the market every day as there is little electricity and food needs to be preserved, especially in summer. Refrigerators are rarely used any more for their original purpose. They are now being used in houses as additional cupboards!"

It's not surprising that fear dominates the minds of these women, especially when they visit places notorious for violence to make their living: markets, gas stations, crowded streets.

"A mother usually has a panic attack when she hears car bombings or shootings," Suhair says. "We ask whether it is our child that might have been killed. As mothers, we cannot hide the reality on our doorsteps as our children face seeing dead people on a daily basis; such a sight has become the norm in their lives.

"But as mothers we are the source of calmness and affection for our children. We have to hide our emotions, keep them to ourselves so that our kids do not feel afraid or worried."

Huda's story

In Huda's house, it's hard not to miss the gaping hole where a mortar fell. Three widows and seven children still live here.

Sewage flows outside the house through an open channel where it finally drains into a big pond. Children play in this water. They are barefoot and wear filthy, torn clothes.

Huda says she lost her husband and her eldest son in the first year of the conflict. Her second son died shortly after, leaving behind a wife and five children.

It's incredible how Huda is managing to look after the family. The area she lives in offers no job prospects so she ekes out a living by baking bread to barter with her neighbours.

An old clay-oven sits in the corner of the room. Pieces of wooden logs are scattered around. With no gas or electricity, Huda uses logs and dry wood that she collects nearby.

She reflects on how things have changed since the war began.

"Life was difficult back then but not as hard as today. When my husband was alive, he used to take up all responsibilities. Now I work from dawn till night. I've become like a machine. I don't enjoy life but I work so we don't need help from anybody."

She pulls one of the children to her, strokes his face and says: "We live on the minimum... I work all day so we can eat. If we do not work, we eat what is left of the stale bread or old food with that so-called tea that we now drink... We cannot visit a doctor if we fall ill.

"Life used to be much better than it is now. We always say yesterday was better than today. It's me and the other widows who do everything now that there are no men to support us. Every day the situation gets more and more difficult."

Basima's story

A dirt road leads to Basima's home on the outskirts of Baghdad. We see her sitting under the sun, watching her grandchildren. Their father is missing. He is one of those labelled "missing with no news".

Basima is about 60 years old. She wears black, as she has done for decades - a sign of how long she has been mourning for her lost family.

Her house is made of mud. It has one room with a small window and a door. She has painted the walls with gypsum and covered the floor with straw mats made of reeds.

Part of the ceiling has fallen. Termites have attacked the beams. She had to build her own roof, on her own, out of mud, soil and hay.

She tells us her house is 3 km from the nearest water source.

"I have two plastic canisters to gather water. One of them holds 20 litres of water. Sometimes I borrow the neighbour's donkey to carry the water but the rest of the time I do it myself. The conditions here are very bad - there is no water, no oil, not enough gas... Since my husband died I receive no pension. I do everything myself."

A tear rolls down her cheek as she lifts her grandson to her lap. The child is thin, wearing a light blouse that doesn't protect him from the cold winter or the heat of summer. He sucks his thumb, something we are told he has done since his mum was killed along with his grandfather, father and uncle.

Basima works all day to provide for her two grandchildren.

"Sometimes we sleep without dinner but I work on a small piece of land that has been given to us which does bring us some food. I go out to collect wood to keep us warm and to cook with."

She goes on: "Sometimes, I wish Allah would take my soul, but my grandchildren, who would take care of them if I were not here? I am a woman taking sole responsibility of my two grandchildren. I've counted the days I've lived like this - I've been here for two years, five months and four days."

Shukriya's story

Shukriya, a 50-year-old woman with six children, lives in a temporary home with no glass in the windows. The floor and walls are made of earth. In spite of the cold weather, all the family members wear summer clothes - they can't afford to buy anything else.

"We have no toilet or bathroom so we go outside," she says. "I built a simple roof from palm leaves, where we wash - I have to heat the water in a metal bucket."

The family has no mats to sleep on nor covers to keep them warm at night. I'm told the roof drips a little but that it is more protected than other people's homes.

When the rain is heavy, Shukriya shares the little space she has with other members of her family. "During the last heavy rain, I took in 14 relatives - we all stayed in one room."

I ask her how life was before the war.

"My family life used to be so different. I wouldn't say we lived as kings but we lived a decent life, a life that meant we didn't go hungry. We owned our own home and didn't have to move from place to place as we do now.

"We had livestock and I planted vegetables and watermelons and helped our men in farming, cropping, harvesting and marketing produce. This was enough to put food on our plates. We got our fair share and it paid quite well."

These days, the family usually only has bread and tea, and often they go to bed without any food at all. They are entitled to food rations every month but the collection point is too far away and Shukriya can't afford to pay for transport. She manages to scrape enough money together to go every three months. This serves to at least supplement the little they have.

"My children have offered to go and get the rations themselves but I fear for their safety, so often I go instead of them," she says.

Shukriya didn't say, but I know many women in her position are victims of violence on such journeys.

"My six children want to work to try to help out the family situation and bring in some income for us all. Unfortunately, no one wants to employ them as they can't read nor write. They go out and try to do what they can but they often come back empty-handed. It's difficult for me to get a job because I can't read or write either."

She continued: "Sometimes I collect Pepsi cans and nylon to sell to factories who recycle them. That way I can make small amounts of money."

Shukriya has asthma due to direct exposure to smoke and fire while baking bread. The damp in her home adds to the condition.

"I no longer have my husband," she says. "He died of tuberculosis. So nowadays, I am completely responsible for my children. It's a big responsibility but what else can I do? I also look after my sister-in-law, which is difficult. She is disabled and therefore can't help us get what we need to live.

"These are our circumstances and this is our life."

You can send messages of support and solidarity to women like Suhair, Huda, Basima and Shukriya for International Women's Day on March 8. Send an email with "Heroines of Iraq" in the subject heading.

Photo credits (top image excluded): Iraqi women's organisations

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

2008-03-09T14:15:00.002+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
Villagers accuse US troops of theft, vandalism in raids
Arrests in at-Tarimiyah Saturday morning

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

9.3.2008

Salah ad-Din Province, At-Tarimiyah -- In a dispatch posted at 7:25pm Baghdad time Saturday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US forces carried out an airborne landing in the village of ash-Shaykh Hamad near at-Tarimiyah, 30km north of Baghdad on Saturday morning.

Yaqen reported eyewitnesses as saying that the Americans arrested a large number of local villagers, including Ahmad Muhammad ‘Abd al-‘Aziz a relative of Shaykh Hamad. Also among those arrested was a boy by the name of Suhayb Ahmad.

Residents said that when the Americans were raiding the villagers’ houses, they smashed furniture and stole money. More than 20 million Iraqi Dinars were robbed from one house, the sources said, adding that the Americans also made off with gold jewelry taken from a number of the village women.

The residents said that one of the places ransacked by the Americans was a workshop owned by one of the people whom the US troops arrested during the raid.

2008-03-09T13:36:00.004+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
TOP NEWS: Iraqi women desperate to find their husbands
The Red Cross Committee estimates that about 10,000 unidentified bodies were found and transported to Baghdad’s morgue in one year

Al-Sumaria

Saturday, March 08, 2008 09:55 GMT

There is nothing harder than endless wait which weighs deeply on Iraqis’ hearts in anticipation for a desperate hope.

While missing people in Iraq are victims of an arbitrary war, their relatives and families are gripped by heart aching and strenuous concern.

For instance, Lama, an Iraqi citizen flew violence with her children taking refugee in Jordan.

While on his way to visit his family in Amman, her husband was last seen at an armed checkpoint before she lost track of his whereabouts.

Lama lives with her children including sick boy in Amman with some of her family members.

However, two years after her husband’s disappearance, Lama still knows nothing about him.

Regretfully, Lama is an example of many Iraqi women suffering the same distress. Jamila Hamami from the Red Cross Committee in Iraq evokes mental and social effects on women having lost closed ones with no track of them.

Since women who have lost their husbands are not the same as widows, they find themselves in a more complicated situation given that their rights to inheritance, children custody or marriage are highly threatened.

The Red Cross Committee estimates that about 10,000 unidentified bodies were found and transported to Baghdad’s morgue in one year.

The committee added that some missing people were found alive while certain families have identified remains of their relatives. Yet, many other families have no clue about their lost ones despite months and even years of search.

2008-03-09T13:31:00.002+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
Gang with 100 archeological pieces arrested south of Baghdad
"The archeological pieces found date back to 5,000 B.C." [i.e. Sumerian]

SK, Voices of Iraq

Sunday , 09 /03 /2008 Time 3:09:10

Baghdad, Mar 8, (VOI) - Iraqi security forces arrested a gang in possession of 100 archeological pieces prepared for smuggling on the highway linking Kut to Nassiriya, south of Baghdad, an interior ministry source said on Saturday.

"The archeological pieces found with the gang date back to 5,000 B.C.," General Ahmed Abo Raghif told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

Hundreds of archeological pieces were looted from the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad after April 2003 as U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.

2008-03-09T12:17:00.003+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
Women bear brunt of Iraq bloodshed
"There was a stranger at the door. He gave me an envelope which had two bullets and a letter that said 'if you do not close your beauty parlour, we will kill you."

Marwa Sabah, AFP- NDHF

Fri Mar 7, 12:18 PM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - "There was a stranger at the door. He gave me an envelope which had two bullets and a letter that said 'if you do not close your beauty parlour, we will kill you. Your work is haram (forbidden),'" says Asma Kadhim, 40, one of the thousands of Iraqi women facing the brunt of daily bloodshed.

That threat two years ago changed her life. Fearing for her and her family's safety, Kadhim shuttered her flourishing salon in northern Baghdad's Waziriyah neighbourhood and emptied out the work space.

"Home is the only place for Iraqi women now," says this Shiite mother of two grown daughters, now working full-time as a housewife.

Kadhim's problem is representative of the problems Iraqi women face in a country ravaged by war, then an anti-American insurgency, and then brutal sectarian conflict.

"The situation of women in Iraq is very bad. They have no right to lead a normal life. All their rights have been robbed," she says.

Since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in March 2003 scores of Iraqi men and women who owned or worked in beauty salons have been killed or threatened by religious extremists -- mainly Sunni, but also Shiite -- who believe their work was against Islam.

Eman Ahmad, 40, owned a garment shop in the once upscale western neighbourhood of Mansour, but was forced to shutter her business after receiving death threats.

"Before the war in 2003, I used to work in complete freedom. I had my shop and my own car," she said.

"I was threatened a year back and since then I have stopped working and stopped driving."

The rights of women were well recognised by Saddam's secular Baath party. Women would work openly, even as their traditional roles as mothers and wives remained deeply rooted in the society.

But since the US-led invasion the erosion of women's rights in Iraq has become a "national crisis," says a report published March 6 by Women For Women International, a US-based women's group.

"Present day Iraq is plagued by insecurity, a lack of infrastructure and controversial leadership, transforming the situation for women from one of relative autonomy and security before the war into a national crisis," the organisation's report said.

Sixty-four percent of the women surveyed claimed that violence against them had increased in the last five years.

"When asked why, respondents most commonly said that there is less respect for women's rights than before, that women are thought of as possessions, and that the economy has gotten worse," the report said.

Seventy-six percent of the women interviewed said that girls in their families were forbidden from attending school.

Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed describe the availability of jobs as "bad," and 70 percent "said that their families are unable to earn enough money to pay for daily necessities."

Surprisingly, one of the most volatile regions for crimes against women is Iraq's peaceful northern Kurdish region.

More than 100 Kurdish women attempted to commit suicide by self-immolation during the last four months to December, according to statistics from the Kurdish regional government.

Most of such crimes are reported as deaths due to accidental fires in the home.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq has regularly highlighted "honour killings" of Kurdish women as among Iraq's most severe human rights abuses.

Iraq's minister for women's rights, Nariman Mahmoud Othman -- herself a Kurd -- said the biggest threat to women in Iraq is from Islamic extremist groups.

Because of this "women remain in their homes, and the few of those who do not wear the veil are afraid of being abused or killed as can be seen from cases reported in Basra and Baghdad," she said in an interview with AFP.

Othman said widows also face a critical situation.

"The number of widows in Iraq are increasing, and with most of them being largely illiterate their status in the house is virtually that of a servant after the death of their husbands," she says.

"Most widows are expected to only look after their children with no rights whatsoever for themselves. They are treated as if they have no right to live their lives."

But despite these threats to women, Iraqi women are playing a key role, says the minister, adding the country did have strong women even though their number was far less to those who were victims of the present day situation.

"I think there will be a solution to the problems faced by women and Iraq will be a society based on equality and justice."

2008-03-08T11:03:00.003+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
Casualties of Central Baghdad bombing rise to 185
(Adds the comment section of the NDHF original)

AM, Voices of Iraq + NDHF (comment)

Friday , 07 /03 /2008 Time 8:30:41

Baghdad, March3, (VOI) - The casualty toll of central Baghdad bombings rose to 185 on Thursday, Baghdad security command said.

“The detonation of two explosive charges in succession this afternoon in al-Attar Street of Karrada rose to 42 deaths and 142 injuries”, spokesman for Baghdad security plan dubbed as Fardh al-Qanoon(law imposing) told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq(VOI).

The security spokesman pointed out “the second explosion went off when people trying to rush the casualties came into the site of the first bombing, killing more and more people”.

Earlier, police Karrada station said ten individuals were killed and 16 others wounded in Karrada double bombings

Spokesman did not provide further details about the incident

NDHF comment: Well, NDHN team jolly well does: As

(1) against wrong targets (civilians)
(2) in wrong place
(3) in wrong time,

a clearly recognizable enemy (occupation) black operation.

The hybris and arrogance of the occupation, doing things such as this is exceeding all the limits.

The Resistance will make those behind these deeds to pay for all their crimes in full.

This will not be forgotten.

Editor Louhi @ Americans (including the ordinary ones in "home"):

You don't realize how much and how capable enemies you are making all over the world.

You should not falsely think the attitudes towards you are what nearly that tolerant towards you that stands in the papers.

You have become the enemies of mankind.

Mankind will fight you.

Comment section of the NDHF original

Anonymous (NDHF visitor) - Editor Louhi

8.3.2008

3 Comments - Show Original Post

Anonymous said...

I don't really think the Iraqi Resistance has any desire to America and fight the "ordinary Americans" in their "homes" either now or in the future.

This sounds more like "Bin Laden" c/o CIA scaremongering Propaganda.

7/3/08 23:54

Anonymous said...

any desire to go to America

7/3/08 23:55

NDHF eds said...

You are perfectly, absolutely right!!!

I readily apologize if misplacing my words to convey such an utterly false impression.

So to show my complete sincereness in this issue, let me explain this fully openly and without any hidden possibilies of misinterpretation.

We are from Finland and have already joined the Iraqi Resistance and are readily able to confirm that there are numerous allies like us so that we're not alone.

Therefore we're passing the message to ordinary Americans, saying:

"You don't realize how much and how capable enemies you are making all over the world."

The label "Editor Louhi @ Americans (including the ordinary ones in "home"):"

The "@" (read "to") points only to the usual preposition, not to any armed invasion or anything.

The goal of the Iraqi Resistance is the total and complete liberation of Iraq, not any non-sense invasion.

To prove you that this is the truth, the very same day this article was posted, there was the New York bomb incident:

Terror as bomb rocks New York
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article886874.ece

I, of course took absolutely no interest in that, because as a member of the Resistance perfectly knowing that having nothing to do with the Resistance.

That activity looked to me very much like what you perfectly accurately described as a "Bin Laden c/o CIA" scaremongering propaganda.

The Iraqi Resistance strategy is consistent, full of love and blessed of God (Allah).

It does not allow attacking any civilians, not even Americans.

Furthermore, all best brains of Iraq are currently somehow working like hell for the Resistance in order to save their country, nation and people and it is totally, generally and all-together understood that an idiotic attack on US soil, would gain no military nor political nor media victory, but quite the opposite, would only provide the enemy an opportunity to explore such terrorism in order to boost its currently flat-downing "justification" of presence (the "UN mandate", itself illegal is expiring next summer and won't be renewed).

What I mean by the comment above is that the Americans do not now completely realize how completely fucked up their business in the eyes of the world:

Due to the time gap and the lack of personal experience of the past (having not born), for all of our group the Americans look infinitely worse than the Nazis or Stalin's imperialist Russia and so on.

We mean the media fight: if you look the NDHF Blog in alexa, already some 10% of our readers come from Finland

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/theunitedstatesofmonsters.blogspot.com

and this without us having made any kind of advertisement in our country (except asking a couple of my friends, usually not too interested, which I do not blame them, the war being a shitty, non-constructive mess).

What I mean is that the ordinary people of the world are now realizing the Truth, and are definitely beginning to resist.

It is no secret that this development is specifically mentioned as a "defeat criterion" in the "War on Terror"

There

I thank and praise you you from my heart by coming in with your perfectly agreeable, correct and justified comment, to which I, from the behalf of our crew totally sign up.

Furthermore, seeing you with most accurate understanding of the IR intentions as well as the CIA-Bin-Laden connection plus having put forth the most illuminating comment ever in this blog I warm-heartedly
§1. Welcome you to see what kind of "fight" we're exactly talking about here in the address
http://newsdeskhelsinkifinland.net
where the "updated" NDHF effort will open very, very, very, very soon.
§2. As we've already launched our media offensive elsewhere, you'll find some tasters of our capabilities and methods in the address:
http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2008/02/26/israeli-soldier-killed-in-iraq-baathists-invited-to-baghdad/

Truly yours, Friend :)

Editor Louhi
Newsdesk Helsinki Finland Net
National Liberation Front of Islamic Iraq

8/3/08 09:44

p.s. We learned already yesterday that the final toll's still skyrocketing, possibly reaching up to 300-400, this explaning my heated and hasty formulation, which I here apologize for: if there is one thing that really pisses me of in this war, that's the obvious, arrogant and blatant State Terrorism of the Occupation, fucking fully supported by the terrorist corporate media.

The Iraqi Resistance will make you pay for all the crimes of the occupiers, the US, Israel, Iran and the entire "Coalition" - and its corporate press blow-job boys and girls.

You Monsters.

2008-03-08T10:50:00.003+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
On the Death of Sgt. Matthew J. Rhoads of Philadelphia, 82th paras (Memorial)
(Adds comment section of the NDHF original)
AP - NDHF

Mar 5, 2008

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) ― Military officials are investigating the death of a soldier whose body was found Sunday night on Fort Bragg.

The Army identified the paratrooper Tuesday as 29-year-old Sgt. Matthew J. Rhoads of Philadelphia.

A spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne Division said investigators don't suspect foul play. Details haven't been released.

Rhoads was a small arms master gunner assigned to the division's 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. He was deployed to Iraq from August 2006 until February 2007.

Rhoads is survived by his parents, Gerald and Karen Rhoads, a brother and a sister, all of Philadelphia.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Comment section of the NDHF original

Kristen - Editor Louhi, NDHF

7.-8.3.2008

4 Comments:

Kristen said...: You know absolutely nothing about this person and this is completely disrespectful to his family and friends. You should be ashamed.; 7/3/08 18:59
NDHF eds said...: We'll be back on this tomorrow.; 7/3/08 20:55
NDHF eds said...: We were trying to answer you, but Blogger-Google prevented us telling the truth.

We'll be back on this.; 7/3/08 21:02
NDHF eds said...: Kristen,

Sorry for the delay, but last evening I was exhausted of all the work and as my response to you was the final piece of job left I had prepared to go home after responding.

And I did, but when publishing my comment, it - first time ever I've seen that happening - disappeared and when I tried to navigate back, the text was gone.

I simply hadn't the strength left to reproduce the text.

But, after a decent sleep here's it again (now I'll be more careful and copy the comment before posting that should the google-blogger censors strike again and have this posted by other means).

Now, when you say "You know absolutely nothing about this person" you couldn't be more wrong, so let me tell you how it is.

You may confirm all what I'm to say from the articles placed on the right side bar of this blog so I won't reproduce them to spare time here.

A. In Iraq today, we have

§1. A million plus dead Iraqis
§2. One point five million Iraqis with cancer caused by the US depleted uranium rounds
§3. Three million wounded (a figure certainly downplayed, because ratio 1:3 compared to dead does not match, but we do not have newer one in yet)
§4. Five million Iraqi orphans
§5. Seven million Iraqi refugees
§6. The entire infrastructure of the country destroyed and huge internal sectarian mistrust because the US presence there.

All this has happened in a country of pre-war population of some 25-30 millions so that the lives of over half of the population have been wasted (luckily not all permanently, but the comfort is small).

B. Then to the US side:

§1. Currently some 1 million US GIs have been rotated through Iraq
§2. The previous means that each US GI means to us, the Iraqi Resistance 1 dead (90% civilians), 1,5 cancers, 3 wounded, 5 orphans, and 7 refugees.
§3. In other words, we know everything about this person: he's the guy that from August 2006 until February 2007 caused us 18 Iraqi casualties as described above.
§4. In addition, obviously still serving, he was doing something equally nasty after February 2007 which, in short is as follows: as you know, the US rotation comes in three parts, one in Iraq, the second (returning one) training the third (next in), so, in addition accomplished in training another guy, who again caused us 18 casualties more.
§5. Therefore, we know much more about Matthew J. Rhoads of Philadelphia than you do: he wasted 18 Iraqi lives himself and accomplished in "training" another similar murderer doing the same.
§6. It is not easy to live with such crimes on your responsibility especially if a kind person (as you seem to suggest) that comes infinitely worse if - as it seems from the rotation details available - you are to be redeployed to Iraq again.
§7. So my "educated quess" is that Matthew killed himself so to avoid getting into the hell of slaughtering innocent people again, for which I initially reposted this piece in the first place:

C. The bottom line:

§1. NDHF Net does not take delight in death (or wounding) of anybody (except perhaps monsters such as Dick Cheney and his alikes, but even this is unsure, because that hasn't occured yet).
§2. Instead, the proper word for our emotion is "relief": once dead, wounded (badly), permanently awol, captured as POW, mentally breaked or whatever to the same purpose, the US GIs are no longer able to fill the quota of 18 spoiled Iraqi lives nor train others to the same purpose.
§3. So, generally with repostings dealing with neutralized enemies we pass the message to our combat forces in the ground knowing them to be even more relieved than we are (the Iraqis being their kin and this happening in their country, us ordinary home-born Finnish with no pre-war connections to Iraq or to the Muslim world in general), having volunteered to serve the in the Iraqi Resistance until the libetation.
§4. In this particular case we'd also like to further point out that quite the contrary to what you seem to errenously suggest we are not "completely disrespectful", but quite the opposite: the another reason for reposting this is that for all practical purposes, the Iraqi Resistance views Matthew our Hero, just as you do: by choosing rather to die himself than go again through the process of killing innocent Iraqis in a phony war he definitely showed us of being good kind, and actually we are most moved of his kindness.

Thus we were readily knew the truth about Matthew before you appeared to confirm that and just because of this posted this memorial piece honoring a true, good American hero

Kristen, trusting that we've now mutual understanding on this issue (as well as the explanation for why the Blogger/Google - if indeed them - attempted to censor this comment previously), I'd finally like to point you out one more thing: the NDHF team is moving into new premises soon, our new address being

http://newsdeskhelsinkifinland.net

All the family and friends of Matthew, our Hero are most kindly welcome to follow our updated effort there as soon as we open.

Spokeseditor Louhi
Newsdesk Helsinki Finland Net
National Liberation Front of Islamic Iraq

p.s. Should you or any of those who knew Matthew be interested in having some "tasters" of the NDHF Net Battlegroup in action, check out our "business card" action available in the comment section of the article

http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2008/02/26/israeli-soldier-killed-in-iraq-baathists-invited-to-baghdad/; 8/3/08 10:45

2008-03-07T20:40:00.003+02:00

US, Iran and Israel: Meet the True Axis of Evil
TOP NEWS: Sheikh Dari: The Visit of Nejad to Iraq is a Fiasco and Provocation
Secretary General of AMSI Sheikh Dr. Harith Sulaiman al Dhari described the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Iraq as a fiasco and provocation that reveals the intentions of the Iranian regime on Iraq

HEYET Net (AMSI) - NDHF

Friday, 07 March 2008

HEYET Net - His Eminence Sheikh Hareth al Dhari, Secretary General of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) evaluated the visit of Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran to Iraq. Dari said: “This visit is a fiasco, provocative and unsuccessful which reveals the intentions of the Iranian regime on Iraq.”

Sheikh Dari said in a response to the question addressed to him by “Iraq News Network” on Ahmadinejad’s visit to Iraq amid a wave of protest from public and political groups. This visit was at all estimates unsuccessful. We consider this visit as a provocation to Iraqi people, all Arabs, all Muslims and neighbouring Iraq. In terms of valuation, there is not the benefit of Iran to the extent that it shows a lot of doubts and questions about the intentions and purposes of Iran towards Iraq.

Sheikh Dari added and told : “We are very pleased to which we have witnessed on what our nation did in a reference to the popular demonstrations that swept many areas in Iraq in condemnation of Ahmadinejad’s visit. This was expected of the Iraqi people because they are noble people adhered to their country, homeland of its Arabic and Islamic character as free people like other Arabic, Islamic countries.”

For this reason, this reaction of our people to the visit was expected and this reaction raises the head.

“Our people are very determined to end all occupations, aspirant ambitions and intentions of the saboteurs. The government of Iran, Iran’s leaders and the president of Iran should very carefully listen to these letters.” said secretary general of AMSI.

This visit was not welcomed by dignified Iraqi people…

On the pressure of the organization of People’s Mujahedeen Sheikh Harith al Dari told “Of course we are against such a pressure and approval against anything harmful to our brothers and guests at MKO. Pointing out that MKO had entered Iraq in coercive circumstances, emerged from the yoke of rulers of Iran to Iraq more than 20 or 25 years. Iraqi people respect them and show their hospitality.

It is noteworthy that the Iranian President Ahmadinejad visited Iraq early this week amid protests and range wide denounce of a number Iraqis throughout Iraq.

HEYET Net

2008-03-07T20:24:00.003+02:00

AMSI: FATWA
On Petroleum and Gas Law
The AMSI has issued the following fatwa in conformity with Islamic religion point of view after it has issued its declaration Nr. 382 on 06/03/2007 emphasizing that oil and gas law is being issued in context with occupation requirements and signed by the politician came with, by this law a greatest national wealth, the possession of Iraqi people, will be wasted

ASSOCIATION of MUSLIM SCHOLARS in IRAQ FATWA SECTION

Saturday, 01 September 2007

The Fatwa

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the Merciful,

Allah said : "O ye that believe! betray not the trust of Allah and the Messenger, nor misappropriate knowingly things entrusted to you".1

Therefore, all properties originally are the possession of Allah, all properties belongs to him, he said : "To Allah belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and Allah hath power over all things)2 and said: "Give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given to you".3

Islam has declared that a human being can possess properties in accordance with a certain manner known as reasons of possession, so it must clear that a possession right would not be fixed unless a religious confirmation and confession, as the religion is the source of the Law and the rights would not be confessed unless with the religion, and also the rights in the religion are not natural rights came by thought, but they are Allah’s gift to the human being according to evidences related.

The has classified the properties into three kinds: individual properties, common properties and properties of the State. We are interested in this Fatwa with the common properties:

The common properties give the right people of that place participate in the beneficiaries of that property, and the evidence that realized in the property is designated by the people that the property related to the group, Prophet Muhammad (puh) said : "The people are partner in three matters Water, Green land and Fire", the common properties are prevented to be possessed by an individual or a Direction or a State, but definitely belonged to group, and are not inclusive into individual, sect or ethnic and the State properties, and the meaning of State in this matter is to control supervise these properties in favor of the the people, the common properties are realized in three subjects:

1. The materials that can not be cut (not limited) such as Petroleum, gas, sulphur (sulfur), phosphate… etc.

2. All installations related to the group as squares and outside areas.

3. Things that cant not be managed by individuals as Rivers.

According to the mentioned, the following are recorded:

First: Petroleum is a General Property, as it is materials that can not be cut (not limited), so it is the possession of Muslim State nation, and no one can practice on it unless otherwise stated by a religious confirmation and its fiqh regulations. Therefore is forbidden in any case to handle it unless agreed by religious law.

The forbidden evidence is stated in the Holly Quran : "O ye who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities"4 and the Prophet sayings: "Property of a Muslim is forbidden unless his own consent is exsisted" and said "your properties and your blood are forbidden to be managed by the States".

Second: Allah has given the juridical ruler the first responsibility for herds affairs, and represents all such matters of disabled individuals or general property affairs as Prophet Muhammed (S) has mentioned in his hadith : "Allah will ask every shepherd for the properties that was under his responsibility even the property that lost as well", and "every one of you is a shepherd and responsible for the herds, as the imam is responsible of the followers" and in another hadith he mentioned that : "Sultan is ruler of whom has no ruler", in these subject there are evidences that can be considered as a guidance background of how the relations must be between the rulers or leaders and the people i.e nation, and will not to deceive them that harms their benefits, however, the leader whom has no authority and can not rule the territory freely, must not sign or undertake any agreement or treaties in name of the nation, such as being under invasion of unjust occupantion or unsettled political situation that the people can not express about their volition freely.

So in any case, any leader or ruler which these reasons are applied can not discuss such matter or sign contracts, and such agreements are considered in the religious point of view invalid, Allah has mentioned in the Holy Quran : "O ye who believe! fulfill (all) obligations"5 the meaning of the Quran text is the necessity of justice burdened upon the leaders in connection with nations.

Third: The leader must arrange a trustful Administration which deals with the common properties under the control and consent of the nation, and avoid individual decisions, and financial accounts should open and clear in front of nation.

Forth: It is forbidden to a leader of mulim country to make the properties available to non muslims or wrong people, as the nation of that muslim country has the rights in that property.

Fifth: The expertise has to confirm this law, and what could include of contracts that are against the general benefits.

The Petroleum and Gas law that expected to be submitted to recent Iraqi parliament has been studied by qualified Iraqi expertise especially in Petroleum by arranging lectures regarding this matter and informed to the public by the media facilities – this law includes a great waste in this priceless wealth and give the availability to giant companies of occupation countries and others to impose their dominance upon it, in addition to the mentioned, there is plenty of corruptions in the structure of its confirmation that could weaken the country and may shaken the security of the country.

Sixth: Every muslim has to know that voting or having the most common opinion would not be in such matters regarding the religion, Allah said It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path).6

From this point and what has been mentioned above, this is considered void and null from the stand point of islam religion if the members of the Ministers Council have confirmed, and should be interrogated and settle outstanding accounts over it.

In addition, it is religiously forbidden to the members of the recent parliament to vote in favor of the law or confirm it in any case, the angriness of Allah will be upon who will agree and will be considered as the assistant of the enemy in taking the common properties wrongfully, more over considered as faithless to Allah and his Prophet Muhammed.

AMSI Fatwa Section

19 Dhamidhial Akher 1428 / 4 July 2007

2008-03-07T20:18:00.004+02:00

Haraam
"Iraqi" puppet government gives green light to oil ministry to sign oil deals
Surprise, surprise: Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB), BP PLC (BP), ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) plotting to rob the daily bread of 20 million Iraqis

Associated Press - NDHF

March 5, 2008

BAGHDAD: Iraq's cabinet has given the green light to the Oil Ministry to sign agreements with international oil companies to help increase the nation's crude output, a ministry official said Wednesday.

The two-year deals, known as technical support agreements, or TSAs, are designed to develop five producing fields to add 500,000 barrels per day to the country's current 2.4 million barrels per day output.

Last December, Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB), BP PLC (BP), ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) submitted technical and financial proposals for the five oil fields and received counterproposals from the Iraqi side.

In January, representatives from the companies and from Iraq met again in Amman, Jordan, and they will hold the third round of discussions later this month, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release information.

In Vienna, Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said that Iraq intends to compensate these companies with crude oil rather than in cash, the Dow Jones Newswires reported on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived for a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, al-Shahristani said the Oil Ministry was still working on the compensation details with the Development Fund of Iraq, controlled by the U.S. and the U.N.

According to the Oil Ministry official, BP will submit a proposal for the Rumaila oil field, Chevron for West Qurna stage 1, Exxon for Zubair, and Shell for Missan and Kirkuk.

Iraq's average production was 2.4 million barrels per day in January while exports stood at an average of 1.92 million barrels per day. December's exports averaged 1.81 million barrels per day.

In dire need of expertise from international oil companies to achieve the Oil Ministry's target of 3 million barrels per day by the end of 2008, Iraq has been relying on a Saddam Hussein-era natural resources law until Parliament approves a new oil law to regulate the international oil companies' work and share Iraq's oil resources among the country's Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

More than 70 international firms met the ministry's deadline of Feb. 18 to compete for tenders to help develop Iraq's oil reserves, seen as vital to providing the funds to rebuild the shattered country.

Iraq has not said what fields it will tender, or on what terms, but the service and extraction contracts on offer are seen as a stopgap until the oil law is passed, and will not provide the long-term involvement big oil companies want.

2008-03-07T20:11:00.003+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
TOP NEWS: Baghdad Explosion and the Security Problem
AMSI stated the occupation and the government of being fully responsible for not providing the security in the country and condemned the bloody explosions in Baghdad

HEYET Net - NDHF

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

HEYET Net – At the press statement number 539, the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) condemned the bloody explosions which led dozens [now 1t least 182 - Editor Louhi] of innocent civilians dead or injured in different parts of Baghdad.

“The occupation and the government have full responsibility for this explosion, because the security issue is on their shoulders. They must provide all the requirements of the security and stability for the Iraqi citizens more than the security and safety of strangers and foreigners in particular no matter which is documented their involvement in the occupation of Iraq, shedding the blood of its sons and looting the wealth and harboring the criminals.” said the statement.

HEYET Net

2008-03-07T19:57:00.004+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
Casualties of Central Baghdad bombing rise to 182
The detonation of two explosive charges in succession this afternoon in al-Attar Street of Karrada rose to 42 deaths and 142 injuries

AM, Voices of Iraq + NDHF (comment)

Friday , 07 /03 /2008 Time 8:30:41

Baghdad, March3, (VOI) - The casualty toll of central Baghdad bombings rose to 162 on Thursday, Baghdad security command said.

“The detonation of two explosive charges in succession this afternoon in al-Attar Street of Karrada rose to 42 deaths and 142 injuries”, spokesman for Baghdad security plan dubbed as Fardh al-Qanoon(law imposing) told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq(VOI).

The security spokesman pointed out “the second explosion went off when people trying to rush the casualties came into the site of the first bombing, killing more and more people”.

Earlier, police Karrada station said ten individuals were killed and 16 others wounded in Karrada double bombings

Spokesman did not provide further details about the incident

NDHF comment: Well, NDHN team jolly well does: As

(1) against wrong targets (civilians)
(2) in wrong place
(3) in wrong time,

a clearly recognizable enemy (occupation) black operation.

The hybris and arrogance of the occupation, doing things such as this is exceeding all the limits.

The Resistance will make those behind these deeds to pay for all their crimes in full.

This will not be forgotten.

Editor Louhi @ Americans (including the ordinary ones in "home"):

You don't realize how much and how capable enemies you are making all over the world.

You should not falsely think the attitudes towards you are what nearly that tolerant towards you that stands in the papers.

You have become the enemies of mankind.

Mankind will fight you.

2008-03-07T19:43:00.002+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
Police find two unknown bodies in Baghdad
Dumped in al-Husseiniya and Bob al-Sham neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad

AM, Voices of Iraq

05/03/2008

Baghdad, March 5, (VOI) --Police patrols on Thursday found two unknown corpses dumped in Baghdad, an Interior ministry source said.

“Police patrols discovered two unknown bodies in al-Husseiniya and Bob al-Sham neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad”, an Interior ministry source told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq (VOI).

The source pointed out “the bodies were riddled with gunshot in different parts of the body”.

2008-03-07T19:37:00.002+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
Police find 4 unknown bodies in Baghdad
"Three in western Baghdad-Karkh, while the fourth body was in Al-Shaab, east Baghdad"

AM/SR, Voices of Iraq - NDHF

Friday, 07/03/2008

Baghdad, Mar 5, (VOI) - Police patrols on Wednesday found four unknown corpses dumped in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

"Police patrols discovered four unknown bodies in different parts of Baghdad," an Interior Ministry source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

The source pointed out "three corpses were found in western Baghdad-Karkh, two of them were in Amiriya."

"The third body was discovered in Sheikh Marouf, west Baghdad, while the fourth body was in Al-Shaab, east Baghdad," he added.

The source noted "the bodies bore signs of gunshots to different part of the body, mainly to the head."

2008-03-07T19:23:00.004+02:00

BAGHDAD: Surge? What "surge"?!?
a.k.a.
Eyeballing Sahwa-Awakening
Son of Iraq Killed Stopping Carjackers
NDHF: Sons of Iraq = new media propaganda name for Sahwa

Judyth Piazza, Newsblaze

6.3.2008

BAGHDAD - A member of the Sons of Iraq [replaced with the proper "Bitch" below, passim - Editor Louhi], or Abna al-Iraq, was shot and killed March 1 in Baghdad's Ur neighborhood while attempting to prevent criminals from stealing a local man's vehicle.

Coalition forces provided medical assistance to the injured man and helped transport him to the Kinde Hospital, but he later died of his wounds.

"One of our Son's of [Bitch] was killed due to an attack while he was doing his duty," said the Al Quds police chief. "This martyr is considered a symbol for the Free Iraq. God bless him for he was defending his community to help build the new Iraq."

The incident began shortly after 8 p.m. when a man approached a checkpoint manned jointly by Iraqi National Police and Son of Bitch members to report that his vehicle had just been carjacked by four armed men.

As the police and Son of Bitch went to investigate, they spotted the stolen vehicle at an intersection just up the road.

When the police and the Son of Bitch tried to prevent the men in the car from escaping, the carjackers emerged with AK-47 assault rifles and a brief shootout ensued.

During the battle, the Son of Bitch guard was shot and wounded.

Despite having a man down, the police and Son of Bitch continued to engage the criminals, eventually forcing them to flee on foot and leave the stolen vehicle behind.

A police officer from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi National Police Division, said, "The 3-4-1 National Police, with the Abna al-Iraq, will continue to defend our community against criminals."

Members of the al-Quds National Police station stated that an investigation is ongoing.

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

2008-03-07T19:11:00.004+02:00

Eyeballing Sahwa-Awakening
Bomb kills member of US-recruited “Popular Committees” in al-‘Azim
Explosion by car in which US-recruited "Baath" traitors were riding

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

5.3.2008

Diyala Province, Al-‘Azim -- In a dispatch posted at 12:20pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a private car in which members of the US-recruited “Popular Committees” were riding near the city of al-‘Azim, 120km north of Baghdad.

NDHF related: For the "Popular Committees" a.k.a. "Jihad and Liberation" a.k.a. "Baath party" (the traitor hijackers) a.k.a. "Concerned Local Citizens" cf. here (mind the comment section!).

2008-03-07T18:53:00.003+02:00

Eyeballing Sahwa-Awakening
"Support Council" established in Khalis, Baaquba
8 Sunni and Shiite tribes and more than 50 tribal figures and bosses collaborating

SH/SR, Voices of Iraq

Friday, 07/03/2008

Baaquba, Mar 6, (VOI) - The official spokesman for the Diala Support Councils said that a new council was established on Thursday morning in Khalis as part of the national reconciliation process.

"This morning, one government-backed Tribes Support Council was established in al-Salam district in Khalis, south of Baaquba, with the participation of eight Sunni and Shiite tribes and more than 50 tribal figures and chieftains in Baaquba,” Sheikh Sabah Shukr al-Shemri told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

“Saad Abboud won the presidency of the council during elections held in the council this morning,” al-Shemri noted.

The Support Councils were established in a number of provinces; Anbar, Diala, Ninewa, and Salah el-Din to fight armed groups, mainly al-Qaeda.

Baaquba, the capital of Diala, is 57 km northeast of Baghdad.

2008-03-07T18:44:00.004+02:00

Eyeballing Sahwa-Awakening
Two “Awakening” policemen killed in assault in Balad Wednesday afternoon
"Armed men" attack checkpoint

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

5.3.2008

Salah ad-Din Province, Balad -- In a dispatch posted at 7:15pm Baghdad time Wednesday evening, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men attacked a checkpoint manned by US-recruited “Awakening” tribal police in the north of Balad, 80km north of Baghdad on Wednesday afternoon.

2008-03-07T18:28:00.002+02:00

Eyeballing Sahwa-Awakening
Four “Awakening” tribal police wounded in car bomb attack in Samarra’ Wednesday morning
Sahwa opened fire on the approaching car

Xinhua - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

5.3.2008

Tikrit, Samarra’ -- In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 3:45pm Wednesday afternoon Beijing time (10:45am Baghdad time), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a car bomber blew up near a checkpoint manned by US-recruited “Awakening” tribal police near the tool works in the city of Samarra’, 120km north of Baghdad on Wednesday.

Xinhua reported a source in the city police as saying that an attacker in an explosives-laden car attempted to attack the checkpoint manned by tribal “Awakening” contingents but their suspicions had been aroused by the driver’s activity and they opened fire on the approaching car.

The car exploded, wounding six people, four of them “Awakening” policemen.

2008-03-07T18:18:00.002+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Turkish army refuses to close bases in northern Iraq
Turkey has had two units on this soil since 1996

Today's Zaman - NDHF

6.3.2008

The Turkish military leadership has rejected a request by Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region to shut down several military bases in northern Iraq, the Turkish daily Vatan reported yesterday, citing a statement by the Turkish General Staff.

Last week, while Turkey's recent eight-day ground operation inside Iraq to destroy the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets there was still going on, the regional Iraqi Kurdish Parliament had an extraordinary session in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil concerning the operation. Following the session, Deputy Speaker Kemal Kerkuki reiterated an earlier allegation, saying that about 350 Turkish soldiers rolled out of their barracks inside Iraq at Bamerne, west of Amadiyah, in 13 tanks to join their fellow soldiers coming from across the border and that they were prevented from doing so by local residents of the area.

"Turkey has had two units on this soil since 1996. We want the government to send these two units away. Let them return to Turkey as soon as possible," Kerkuki said then. About 1,200 Turkish soldiers are stationed at a base in Bamerne, which is a remnant from the last major Turkish incursion into northern Iraq in the mid-1990s. The Turkish army also has bases in Batufa, Qanimasi and Dilmentepe.

2008-03-07T18:09:00.003+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Police general in assassination attempt in Kirkuk
General Hazim al-Khazraji, the official in charge of the Inspectorate targeted

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

5.3.2007

At-Ta’mim Province, Kirkuk -- In a dispatch posted at 4:35pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by the motorcade of Major General Hazim al-Khazraji, the official in charge of the Inspectorate of the provincial police administration, in the al-Khadra’ neighborhood of western Kirkuk.

NDHF: Whether wounded or not, is unmentioned severely wounded is just as good as dead, the creep in question disabled from killing more civilians or "armed men".

2008-03-07T17:56:00.003+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Two soldiers injured in bomb blast southwest of Kirkuk
Bomb exploded near a group of soldiers of the 2nd brigade of the 4th division

Voices of Iraq - NDHF

Friday, 07/03/2008

Kirkuk, Mar 6, (VOI) -- Two Iraqi soldiers were injured on Thursday when an improvised explosive device went off during a crackdown operation southwest of Kirkuk, an Iraqi army source said.

“The soldiers were wounded when the bomb exploded near a group of soldiers of the 2nd brigade of the 4th division,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

“The army was waging operations in a number of regions in al-Rashad district and Hamrin mountains region on the main road between Kirkuk, Tikrit, southwest of Kirkuk,” the source explained.

“The wounded were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” he noted.

Kirkuk is 250 km north of Baghdad.

2008-03-07T17:51:00.002+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Turkey launches air strikes against rebels in N Iraq
Sidekan area of Arbil province bombarded

Editor Mu Xuequan, Xinhua - NDHF

2008-03-06

BAGHDAD, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Turkey launched air strikes Tuesday night on rebel targets in northern Iraq, an Iraqi security source said on Wednesday.

Turkish warplane targeted the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the Sidekan area of Arbil province, but no casualties had been reported, the source said on conditional of anonymity.

The latest strikes came about a week after Turkey wrapped up across-border ground military operation going after the PKK members.

Earlier in the day, Turkish private NTV said helicopters bombed the Sidekan region, some 40 km inside the border.

Meanwhile, PKK spokesman Ahmed Danis confirmed that Wednesday's attacks began at 3 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) and continued during the day, with the focus on the Bazger valley area of Arbil province.

"The area is uninhabited and there were no reports of casualties or damage," said Danis.

Turkey's military has not yet confirmed the reports.

The Turkish military ended last Friday an eight-day groundincursion into northern Iraq. Turkish army chief Yasar Buyukaniton Monday rejected suggestions that the incursion was cut short by U.S. pressure, saying that the military would launch further strikes on Kurdish rebels if needed.

On Feb. 21, some 10,000 Turkish troops crossed the Iraqi border and rolled 10 km inside to crack down on PKK rebels, who have long taken refuge in the region and used it as a launch pad for attacks across the border.

The PKK, listed by the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.

2008-03-07T17:36:00.003+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Talabani leaves Baghdad for Turkey (VoI) + Talabani in Ankara for landmark visit (Today's Zaman)
Adnan al-Dulaimi, Nusseir al-Aani, Jalal Mashta, Wafiq al-Samarraie & Ali al-Dabbagh in delegation

AE, Voices of Iraq

Friday, 07/03/2008

Baghdad, Mar 7, (VOI) – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's plane took off from Baghdad on Friday leaving for neighboring Turkey for a state visit upon an invitation from Turkish President Abdullah Gul, one day after U.S. special envoy to Iraq Stephan de Mistura arrived in Ankara, an Iraqi presidency source said.

"President Talabani left on Friday aboard a presidential plane that took off from Baghdad Airport heading for Turkey," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

Earlier on Friday a media source from the Iraqi president's office said Talabani was flying to Turkey on a state visit upon the invitation of Turkey's President Abdullah Gul.

"President Talabani, accompanied by a high-level delegation, will meet during his 24 hours' visit to Turkey President Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials," the source told VOI.

The visit is the first for Talabani as president. He had paid a visit to Turkey as a leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). It also comes one week after Turkish troops withdrew from northern Iraq, where they waged an 8-day ground attack targeting fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), outlawed in Turkey, in the Iraqi Kurdistan region's territories.

"The delegation will comprise Finance Minister Baqer Jabr al-Zubaydi, Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani, Water Resources Minister Abdul-Latif Jamal Rashid, Industry & Minerals Minister Fawzi Hariri and Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Labid Abawi," according to a source from the media delegation accompanying Talabani.

The source, who did not want his name mentioned, said the delegation will also comprise Adnan al-Dulaimi, the leader of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) bloc, Nusseir al-Aani, the head of the presidential cabinet, Jalal Mashta, the president's cultural advisor, General Wafiq al-Samarraie, the president's military advisor, and the government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

Talabani in Ankara for landmark visit

Today's Zaman - NDHF

7.3.2008

The Turkish capital will host Iraqi President Jalal Talabani today on his first official visit to Turkey as Iraqi president and only one week after the Turkish military withdrew troops from northern Iraq following an eight-day-long ground offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Talabani, elected president in 2005, paid his last visit to Ankara in September 2004 as then-president of the Governing Council of Iraq. Talabani, a Kurd, has long said he was interested in visiting Ankara, but Turkey's former president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, had refused to invite him, despite strong economic and trade ties between their countries, due to Turkish concerns that Iraqi Kurds were supporting the PKK.

The visiting president will be accompanied by five members of the Iraqi Cabinet during his visit, which will end tomorrow. The participation by the Iraqi ministers of national security, oil, water resources, finance and industry is considered a sign of goodwill by the Iraqi side with hopes of improving bilateral relations.

A brief statement released yesterday by Turkish President Abdullah Gül's office said that the two presidents would discuss ways of improving political and economic ties and explore military and energy cooperation. Both Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will host separate dinners in honor of Talabani, who will also meet with the Turkey-Iraq Business Council administrative board while in Ankara, the statement also said.

The official invitation to Talabani for a working visit was personally conveyed by Gül when he initiated a telephone conversation with the Iraqi president on Feb. 21, the day Turkish forces stormed into northern Iraq. Following a summit held on the same day, Turkey's influential National Security Council (MGK), which brings together the civilian and military leadership of the country, had also said then that Ankara was ready to improve relations with Baghdad in all fields.

Turkey's latest ground offensive, the biggest anti-PKK operation in a decade, had the consent of the United States, which provided intelligence to assist the counter-PKK attack, but Washington soon stepped up pressure for a quick conclusion to the operation, fearing a prolonged stay could destabilize northern Iraq and harm US ties with Iraqi Kurds.

The military, which has conducted aerial strikes on PKK targets in northern Iraq since Dec. 16 under a parliamentary authorization valid for one year, suggested that more cross-border operations could take place in the future if necessary. "The north of Iraq will be monitored closely in regard to PKK activities and the terrorist organization will not be allowed to pose a threat to Turkey from this region," it said. "Counterterrorism measures will continue at home and abroad."

Following the incursion, Erdoğan called on Baghdad to help uproot the PKK from northern Iraq. "We should not allow the presence of the terrorist organization there to poison our ties," Erdoğan said then. The PKK "is not only Turkey's enemy, but also an enemy of Iraq and a destabilizing factor and a threat for the region. Turkey and Iraq must work together to get rid of this problem -- there is no other way."

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed at least 37,000 lives. Bilateral relations have soured over Turkish fears that Iraqi Kurds plan to break away from Iraq, a prospect Ankara fears could fuel the separatist terrorism inside its own borders.

Turkey accuses Iraqi Kurds of supporting the PKK and refuses to engage in dialogue with Massoud Barzani, the head of the largely autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. The Kurdish leader has so far refused to designate the PKK a terrorist organization, while saying the problem of the PKK cannot be resolved through military means.

Gül is a former foreign minister keen to promote Turkish interests in the Middle East and to help balance Iran's growing influence in Iraq. Talabani hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for historic talks in Baghdad on Monday, when Ahmadinejad used the occasion to tell the United States to depart from Iraq and the region.

During talks with Talabani, Ankara is expected to highlight that it is open to improving bilateral relations with Baghdad across the board, while also reiterating that Baghdad's firmness in cooperating with Turkey in eliminating the PKK presence on Iraqi soil would be the determining factor for this cooperation.

The final statement from the MGK meeting read: "Taking positive developments in Iraq in the recent period into consideration, the MGK focused on improving bilateral relations as much as possible with this neighboring country in economic, commercial, cultural and military fields and in the energy sector, and on increasing humanitarian assistance."

2008-03-07T17:27:00.002+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Four prison guards killed in al-Mosul Wednesday afternoon
"Armed men" kill collaborators in the al-Islah az-Zira‘i

Yaqen - IRR - Al-Basrah - NDHF

5.3.2008

Niniwa province, Mosul - In a dispatch posted at 8:35pm Baghdad time Wednesday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that unknown armed men killed four guards of the Badush prison in the al-Islah az-Zira‘i area of western al-Mawsil [= Mosul] on Wednesday afternoon.

2008-03-07T17:16:00.003+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
Suicide car bomb kills 5 "policemen" in Iraq's Mosul
33 wounded, most of them "policemen"

Editor An Lu, Xinhua - NDHF

2008-03-07

MOSUL, Iraq, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Up to five policemen were killed and 33 people injured in the Friday morning suicide car bomb attack on a police station in the city of Mosul, the capital of the northern Nineveh province, a provincial police source said.

"The death toll rose to five policemen and 33 people were wounded, most of them were policemen," Brigadier Khalid Abdul Sattar, spokesman of Nineveh's police operations office told Xinhua.

The attack took place at about 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the Waqqass police station in central the city and blew it up, Sattar said.

The powerful blast destroyed parts of the police station's building, along with several number of nearby houses and shops, he said.

Earlier, the source put the toll at four policemen killed and 17 people wounded, including ten policemen.

Iraqi security forces immediately cordoned off the area to secure the scene, while ambulances and rescue teams were evacuating casualties to the city hospitals, he added.

Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, has been the hot bed of insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Nineveh province has recently been a focus of a major offensive with the aim of uprooting the al-Qaida militants from their last stronghold in the province where they were believed to be regrouped after being defeated in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces.

2008-03-07T17:11:00.003+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of North
APR - The Arrest of a Mosque Guards in Babil
AMSI condemns arrest Iskandariyah al Kabeer Guards

HEYET Net - NDHF

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

AMSI issued a press release condemning the government police for arresting guards of Iskandariyah al Kabeer (Alexander) Mosque in Babil.

The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) carried the occupation and the current government fully responsible for this crime, demanding immediate release of the detained people.

Press Release

The government police arrested the guards of Iskandariyah al Kabeer Mosque belong to Iskandariyah area in Babil Province at dawn on Monday, 3 March 2008.

This crime occurred when these forces raided the mosque and arrested the guards and took them to an unknown destination.

It is noteworthy that this mosque has been subjected to several raids in previous times intending to fight against the mosques and to lead the closure.

The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) condemns this blatant attack on the houses of Allah Almighty and carries those who are carrying out such acts, the occupation and the current government fully responsible for this crime, and demands the release of arrested people immediately.

AMSI Press Department
25 Safar 1429 / 3 March 2008

HEYET Net

2008-03-07T17:02:00.002+02:00

PHANTOM PHOENIX: The US Ethnic Cleansing of N Iraq
2 blasts leave 15 casualties in central Mosul
IED offs near policeman's house & Suicide bomber crashes car bomb into police station

AE, Voices of Iraq - NDHF

Friday, 07/03/2008

Ninewa, Mar 7, (VOI) – One civilian was killed and 14 others wounded in two consecutive improvised explosive device (IED) attacks near a policeman's house in central Mosul on Friday, an official security source said.

"An IED went off near a policeman's house in the area of al-Nabi Sheet, central Mosul. When people gathered near the scene another IED went off, killing one civilian and injuring 14 others," Brig. Khaled Abdul-Sattar, the official spokesman for the Ninewa operations command, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

"The explosions also caused severe damage to the house," Abdul-Sattar added.

Earlier on Friday the Ninewa police said a suicide bomber crashed his explosive-rigged vehicle into a police station in western Mosul, killing four policemen and wounding 17 others.

Mosul, the capital of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.

2008-03-07T16:29:00.003+02:00

Iraq War Strategy Asset Series
US puts ships from Syria on watchlist
NDHF: US after Syria to Strangle N Iraq (Mosul holocaust)

Lachlan Carmichael, AFP - NDHF (Related)

§1. Syria calls its army reserve
§2. Egypt leaks information about an American military action against Syria

Published: March 07, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States has put ships making port calls in Syria on a watchlist, an official said Thursday, as Washington ratcheted up the pressure on Damascus over its alleged links with terrorism.

The decision, which could put pressure on businesses trading or shipping through Syria, was a further blow to long strained ties that had held out brief hopes of improvement last November when the United States courted Syria for the launch of new Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

Syria was placed on a so-called "Port Security Advisory List" amid "concerns about the connections between Syria and international terrorist organizations," the State Department's deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

The move allows the Coast Guard "to impose some additional port security measures to ships traveling to or arriving in US ports that have previously been either departing from Syria or have called on Syrian ports," he said.

Casey added he understood the measures would affect any ship that has visited Syria during its last five ports of call, but referred reporters to the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for further information.

Nobody was immediately available for comment at DHS, while the Coast Guard public affairs office promised to try to provide details of the decision on Friday.

The development marked yet another turn for the worse in a relationship that clearly started to sour again at the end of January when Casey said it was time for Syria to stop its alleged abuses of human rights and support for terrorism.

Washington had long complained of Syria's support for opponents of the Middle East peace talks, such as the radical Hamas movement in the Palestinian territories and the pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Both are denounced here as terrorist groups.

Ties with Washington got a brief boost when Syria joined US allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan at the international conference in Annapolis, Maryland last November to launch new Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

But the cooling trend now appears to have crystalized with events.

A US Navy official said Wednesday that the warships USS Ross and the USS Philippine Sea have relieved the USS Cole to take up positions in the eastern Mediterranean off Lebanon, which is just south of Syria's own coastline.

"It's a sign of our commitment to stability in the region," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.

The Cole was deployed to waters off Lebanon to signal US concern over a protracted political crisis in Lebanon.

Feuding between a western-backed parliamentary majority and the Syrian and Iranian-backed opposition has left Lebanon leaderless since November.

In February, the US Treasury Department said that it had blacklisted four men accused of funneling militants, weapons and money through Syria to support Al-Qaeda operations in Iraq.

Also last month the Treasury announced it was freezing the assets of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's cousin as part of widening sanctions against Damascus targeting officials engaged in "public corruption."

And on the third anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri on February 14, US President George W. Bush urged justice for the killers and an end to Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon.

Syria and Iran deny such accusations.

© 2008 Agence France-Presse

2008-03-07T16:17:00.003+02:00

Iraq War Strategy Asset Series
Iraq buildup: Half a million troops and growing
"Iraqi" [in]security forces 12 Divs, 42 Bgds, 146 Btns, 4 commando Btns

World Tribune - NDHF (related)

§1. Iraqi Security Forces Not Ready For Another Decade.
§2. US agency doubts Iraq units' 'independent' ratings.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

BAGHDAD — Iraq plans to deploy 600,000 military and security forces by 2010 as long-delayed massive equipment deliveries have finally started to arrive.

"They have made significant progress in size, quantity and in quality, and some of the things that were on the table, in terms of difficulties, are now off the table," Lt. Gen. James Dubik, commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, said.

Dubik said Baghdad has set a goal of 600,000 military and police forces. So far, Iraq has combined forces of 531,000 — more than 180,000 in the military, 340,000 in the police, and 3,000 in special operations forces.

Officials said the Iraq Army and security forces would continue to expand over the next two years. They said the U.S.-led coalition would help in training and equipping at least 35,000 troops annually.

Iraqi security forces have been organized into 12 divisions, 42 brigades, 146 battalions, and four commando battalions. Multinational Security Transition Command has been responsible for helping Baghdad develop, organize, train, equip and sustain the Iraqi forces.

Officials said Iraq has received more than $1 billion worth of military equipment in 2008. They said military deliveries in 2007 reached $20 million.

More than 100,000 joined the military and security forces in the last half of 2007. In 2007, officials said, the Iraq Army grew by more than 60,000, with more than 42,000 in the second half of the year. The national police grew by 8,000 in 2007, all of it in the last half of 2007.

"They are on a growth path where they can sustain this size of force, both with money and with equipment," Dubik told a briefing on March 4.

The Iraq Air Force has also grown significantly. Over the last year, the air force doubled the number of pilots while conducting more than 300 missions per week, a 10-fold increase from 2006.

Dubik said the air force plans to again double its pilots in 2008. Iraqi pilots fly U.S.-origin Huey-2 and Russian-origin Mi-17 helicopters as well as fixed-wing surveillance and reconnaissance platforms.

Still, Iraq's military and police remain plagued by inadequate leadership and logistics. Officials said Iraq has built eight of a planned 13 logistics bases.

"Logistics, actually, is making some good progress," Dubik said. "It will be until the end of this year to learn a different logistics position, but you can already see here some of the changes."

2008-03-07T16:13:00.002+02:00

Iraq War Strategy Asset Series
Arms Dealer's & Drug Smuggler's Planes Flew U.S. Missions in Iraq
Viktor Bout Was an International Fugitive at the Time His Planes Were Used by the U.S.

Justin Rood and Maddy Sauer, ABC News - ICH - NDHF

6.3.2008

When U.S. officials announce the arrest of a notorious arms dealer and drug-runner this afternoon, the fact that his planes flew U.S. supply missions in Iraq will likely go unmentioned.

In a January 2005 letter to Congress, then-Assistant Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz admitted the Defense Department "did conduct business with companies that, in turn, subcontracted work to second-tier providers who leased aircraft owned by companies associated with Mr. Bout."

At the time, Bout was already a wanted international fugitive. Intelligence officials had considered Bout one of the greatest threats to U.S. interests, in the same league as al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden. Interpol had issued a warrant for his arrest; the United Nations Security Council had restricted his travel.

But that didn't stop U.S. government contractors from paying Bout-controlled firms roughly $60 million to fly supplies into Iraq in support of the U.S. war effort, according to a book released last year by two reporters who investigated Bout. And it didn't prevent the U.S. military from giving Bout's pilots millions of dollars in free airplane fuel while they were flying U.S. supply flights.

From 2003 through at least 2005, Pentagon contractors used air cargo companies known to be connected to Bout to fly an estimated 1,000 supply trips into and out of Iraq, according to "Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Plans, and the Man Who Makes War Possible" by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed to the authors that the military gave 500,000 gallons of fuel to Bout's pilots.

In an interview Thursday, Farah said he understood Bout may have worked on behalf of the U.S. government as recently as last year.

Recent intelligence has indicated Bout supplied armor-piercing missiles to Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 and arms to Somalian warlords which fueled a conflagration that December, Farah said.

In a very rare public appearance, Bout was a guest on state-run Russian television last year where he vigorously defended himself against the criminal allegations.

"Even with all power of American administration, CIA, FBI and all means like satellites and this, they not even able to come back with a certain proof so that I could answer," he said in choppy English. "Is very easy to blame somebody without coming with the proper documents, without coming with a proof of what they're trying to say or trying to blame."

Bout also admitted he met with Mullah Omar in Afghanistan but denied that he ever did business with the Taliban.

"I had no any relation with this kind of people. That's completely untrue," he said. Bout said the meeting with Omar was in regards to negotiating the release of his plane crew members that had been kidnapped by Taliban members.

He referred to the allegations that he's involved in U.S. supply missions in Iraq as "very funny."

While he denied trading arms, he did say that his planes might have carried weapons without his knowledge.

"Let's then ask Moscow taxi drivers where they ever had transported criminals or somebody related to the criminal network," he said. "I'm transporter, what we did, we did."

Bout's work in Iraq first became public in a May 2004 article in the Financial Times newspaper. CIA officials in Washington secretly warned colleagues in Baghdad of the ties in fall 2003, the authors report. "It would appear...that it did not make its way to the correct folks," the two writers quote an unnamed CIA official as saying.

Bout didn't just walk away with millions of taxpayer dollars, Farah and Braun found. The military issued Bout's pilots supply cards allowing them to gas up their planes for free when landing in Iraq. A Defense Department spokesman confirmed to the authors that Bout's fleet were provided nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel from the Baghdad airport courtesy of the U.S. Air Force.

Bout made his fortune in the 1990s selling Soviet-era weaponry to Third World despots and insurgent groups. Using a "veiled, complex corporate structure," Bout dispatched fleets of Cold War-era Soviet cargo planes to some of the most inhospitable corners of the earth, running guns for dictators, including Liberia's Charles Taylor and Zaire's Mubuto Sese Seko, as well as rebel leaders in Angola, Sierra Leone and beyond. By 2000, U.S. government officials considered him one of the leading threats to the United States, on par with Osama bin Laden and global warming.

Bout was the inspiration for the 2005 film, "Lord of War," starring Nicolas Cage as an international arms dealer who will sell to all sides of any conflict. Bout reportedly rented his planes to the movie's producers for use in the film.

Bout's net worth is not known, but it is reportedly "in the tens of millions of dollars."

2008-03-07T15:32:00.003+02:00

Iraq War Strategy Asset Series
TOP NEWS: NIE Officials Lean Toward Keeping Next Iraq Assessment Secret
"If this is ever leaked, how would it read in the news media?"

Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung, WaPo

Friday, March 7, 2008; A07

A new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq is scheduled to be completed this month, according to U.S. intelligence officials. But leaders of the intelligence community have not decided whether to make its key judgments public, a step that caused an uproar when key judgments in an NIE about Iran were released in November.

The classified estimate on Iraq is intended as an update of last summer's assessment, which predicted modest security improvements but an increasingly precarious political situation there, the U.S. officials said.

It is meant to be delivered to Congress before testimony in early April by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, according to a letter sent last week by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell to Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.).

Since the Iraq invasion in 2003, the intelligence community has been more cautious than the military and the White House in assessing political, economic and security gains in Iraq. And the war's progress has been a prominent issue in the presidential campaign.

In his letter to Warner, McConnell said that separate estimates are also being prepared on the "terrorist threat to the homeland" -- focusing on al-Qaeda and Pakistan -- and on "the tactical and longer-term security and political outlook for Afghanistan." Both are scheduled for publication by early fall.

Warner requested all three estimates in January, describing them as key to upcoming policy discussions in Congress.

Intelligence officials said that the National Intelligence Board -- made up of the heads of the 16 intelligence agencies plus McConnell -- will decide whether to release the Iraq judgments once the estimate is completed. But they made clear that they lean toward a return to the traditional practice of keeping such documents secret.

In internal guidance he issued in October, McConnell said that his policy was that they "should not be declassified." One month later, however, the intelligence board decided to publicly release key judgments from an NIE on Iran's nuclear weapons program, saying that it had weighed "the importance of the information to open discussions about our national security against the necessity to protect classified information."

The estimate, which said Iran had halted the weaponization element of its nuclear program, appeared to undermine the Bush administration's position on Tehran's overall effort. With Bush arguing that Iran remained "a danger," McConnell publicly said the NIE judgment was poorly written because it emphasized a halt in the weapons program rather than Iran's continuing nuclear enrichment.

Key NIE judgments on Iraq had previously been made public, beginning with a highly controversial October 2002 assessment warning that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. That estimate was later proved wrong, with no such weapons discovered in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, and the matter led to charges that the intelligence community had been politicized by the Bush administration.

"Overall, professional life is less complicated if nothing becomes public, and one doesn't have to organize classified assessments always having in the back of one's mind, 'If this is ever leaked, how would it read' " in the news media, a former intelligence analyst said.

2008-03-07T15:19:00.002+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
US Iraq envoy to leave soon after Petraeus - paper
NDHF: Crocker & Petraeus Cheney's Iraq "surge" hands in Iraq

Joanne Allen, Peter Cooney (Ed), Reuters - NDHF

Thu Mar 6, 2008 10:30pm EST

WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker plans to leave Baghdad as early as January, shortly after U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus is expected to rotate out of Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

Crocker, a career diplomat, plans to retire and wants to leave his Iraq post by mid-January, before a new administration takes office in Washington, the newspaper said.

"I am prepared to remain in Baghdad until early 2009, when I intend to retire," Crocker said in an e-mail to The Post. "That will make two years in Iraq and 37 years in the Foreign Service -- it's enough!"

Crocker was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq in March 2006.

Press reports earlier this year said Petraeus was being considered as the next NATO supreme allied commander and could move to NATO before a new president takes office on Jan. 20.

The Post said Iraq experts were concerned about the near-simultaneous departure of Crocker and Petraeus who have been credited with making the most progress during the five-year U.S. presence in Iraq.

Petraeus has been praised for implementing a new counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq that U.S. officials say played a big role in a decline in violence there last year.

© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

2008-03-07T15:11:00.002+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
Iraq 'surge' downsizes as 2,000 US soldiers return home
2nd Brig of 82nd paras returns

AFP - NDHF

6.3.2008

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Some 2,000 US soldiers whose unit was part of last year's surge to bring stability to Iraq are leaving the country and not being replaced, the US military said Thursday.

The soldiers, a brigade of paratroopers from the storied 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, were deployed in Iraq in early January 2007.

"During this time, the 2nd Brigade was part of the initial surge of five additional brigades into Iraq," a statement said.

Washington deployed around 30,000 extra troops to rein in sectarian bloodshed that had left tens of thousands of people killed.

Once the brigade re-deploys, "the number of US combat brigades in Iraq will drop from 19 to 18, with three additional brigades scheduled to redeploy by July. The unit will not be replaced," the statement read.

The redeployment "represents the increased capability and progress being made in Iraq by the Iraqi security forces to provide their own security," said said Colonel Billy Buckner, a spokesman for US-led forces in Iraq.

The US military currently has 158,000 troops deployed in the country.

Copyright © 2008 AFP. All rights reserved.

2008-03-07T14:40:00.003+02:00

"Lets' Jihad!"
Top US spokesdog: Iraq War Lost
NDHF translation for Bush: "US Must Get Off Oil"
NDHF

7.3.2008

The top US spokesdog for Dick Cheney, the prez of the "global government" wanna-bees of the world G.W.Bush admitted yesterday the "US must get off oil".

The translation for that, of course, being "We'll never get the loot anymore", obviously told him extremely frankly by the most hard-boiled US military and political officers.

The Iraqi oil being the crucial goal of the war (all the other supposed to be gained with that, I chose to pass the news properly headlined.

While nothing new for our armed forces the NDHF Net Team uses the occasion to send its warmest congratulations to the Resistance combat units on ground in Iraq as well as their political counterparts congratulating them for their consistent and true strategy that is finally leading to the results sought so long.

Furthermore, we invite all the Iraqis everywhere, and especially in Iraq to quit all their other activities and join the Iraqi National Resistance movement so to spare lives and to bring the victory at the hands of the Iraqi people as soon as possible.

Editors note: Since just the Associated Press news wires - this indicating who is the Press associated with - tend to disappear as a part of getting rid of evidence, here the relevant AP trash wire reproduced in full:

Bush says US Must 'Get Off Oil'

JENNIFER LOVEN, AP

6.3.2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush said Wednesday that the United States has to "get off oil" to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and declared "it should be obvious" that high demand is creating painful gasoline prices.

Bush's assessment was at odds with that from the 13-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which said before he spoke that it would not put more oil on the global market because crude supplies are plentiful.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil told reporters in Vienna, Austria, that the problems in the U.S. economy were a key factor in the cartel's decision to hold off on any action.

"There is sufficient supply. There's plenty of oil there," he said.

In an address to the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, Bush said, "It should be obvious to you all that the demand is outstripping supply, which causes prices to go up."

During a Middle East trip in January, Bush urged OPEC to increase production and help ease soaring gasoline prices. Bush also said on Tuesday that it's a "mistake to have your biggest customers' economies slowing down as a result of higher energy prices."

The White House said it disagreed with OPEC's decision to rebuff that request, and that the oil-producing nations themselves could be hurt as well.

"OPEC should not be shortsighted about the economic impact of its production decisions," White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said.

Oil prices surged past $104 a barrel for the first time after the OPEC announcement. Gas prices are running over $3 a gallon, and some analysts expect prices to rise to near $4 a gallon as summer driving picks up.

Bush's speech was aimed at touting his administration's efforts to increase the use of renewable energy sources.

The president saluted those at the conference for their "commitment to renewable energy," then joked that his travel habits aren't the best contribution. "I probably didn't help today when I rode over in a 20-car motorcade," he said.

Democrats roundly criticized the president's record on energy policy.

"The Bush/Cheney administration has paid lip service to renewable energy and backed it up with inadequate and incremental funding support, favored old dirty and unsafe technologies, threatened vetoes of energy bills because they supported renewable energy incentives and mandates, and undermined the science of and the search for solutions to global warming," said a statement from Senate Democrats.

Bush also addressed the ongoing global talks to find a new agreement to fight climate change.

Many nations want firm — and big — greenhouse gas emission-reduction targets that are mandatory, but Bush has opposed that. He favors voluntary targets set by each country for itself and steep reliance on burgeoning energy efficient technologies to get there. Bush also insists that developing countries like China and India that are growing energy guzzlers be subject to any agreement.

In the face of criticism, Bush repeated those positions but declared: "The United States is serious about confronting climate change."

"America is in the lead when it comes to energy independence; we're in the lead when it comes to new technologies; we're in the lead when it comes to global climate change — and we'll stay that way," he said.

He repeated his calls for a clean technology fund to aid developing nations too poor too afford the kind of new technologies that can help them reduce emissions, and for the elimination of trade barriers on environmental technology.

Bush also defended the meetings the U.S. is hosting on a climate change agreement even as the broader United Nations-sponsored process goes forward.

"This is not in lieu of the U.N. process," he said. "It is to enable the U.N. process to become effective."

The president made clear that he considers his approach key to that.

"Should there be an international agreement? Yes, there should be, and we support it," Bush said. But, he added, "No country should get a free ride."

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

2008-03-07T14:33:00.003+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
AMSI Relief Campaign in Ghazaliya
Health and Relief Department sent relief aid to 100 families of martyr and detainees living in Ghazaliyah area through Martyr Salman al Shagra mosque in Rafidain region

HEYET Net - NDHF

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

HEYET Net - Sheikh Dr. Ismael al Badri responsible for Fatwa Department in AMSI introduced the aids to the families of martyrs and detainees thanking them for their patience and sacrifices for the liberation of the country as giving their most precious spouses, children and everything. “But the more precious thing is to respond the order of Allah Almighty” said Sheikh Badri in his speech at the campaign ceremony.

He added that the defend year which Allah Almighty orders to the victory of believers at the end and what is happening in Iraq and Palestine is a part of this year.

The families of martyrs and detainees thanked AMSI for their efforts that distributed over many families.

It should be noted that AMSI Health and Relief Department do its best to reach the relief to the large number of families who are the victims of the unjust occupation.

HEYET Net

2008-03-07T14:27:00.004+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
WOMEN'S DAY-IRAQ: Surviving Somehow Behind a Concrete Purdah
At least 40 women had been killed during the previous five months in al-Basrah

Dahr Jamail, Inter Press Service

6.3.3008

WASHINGTON, Mar 6 (IPS) - Iraq, where women once had more rights and freedom than most others in the Arab world, has turned deadly for women who dream of education and a professional career.

Former dictator Saddam Hussein maintained a relatively secular society, where it was common for women to take up jobs as professors, doctors and government officials. In today's Iraq, women are being killed by militia groups for not conforming to strict Islamist ways.

Basra police chief Gen. Jalil Hannoon told reporters and Arab TV channels in December that at least 40 women had been killed during the previous five months in that city alone.

"We are sure there are many more victims whose families did not report their killing for fear of scandal," Gen. Hannoon said.

The militias dominated by the Shia Badr Organisation and the Mehdi Army are leading imposition of strict Islamist rules. The Shia-dominated Iraqi government is seen as providing tacit and sometimes direct support to them.

The Badr Organisation answers to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), the Shia bloc in the Iraqi government. The Mehdi army is the militia of anti-occupation Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Women who do not wear the hijab are becoming prime targets of militias, residents both in Basra and Baghdad have told IPS in recent months. Many women say they are threatened with death if they do not obey.

"Militiamen approached us to tell us we must wear the hijab and stop wearing make-up," college student Zahra Alwan who fled Basra to Baghdad told IPS last December.

Graffiti in red on walls across Basra warns women against wearing make-up and stepping out without covering their bodies from head to toe, Alwan said.

"The situation in Baghdad is not very different," Mazin Abdul Jabbar, social researcher at Baghdad University told IPS. "All universities are controlled by Islamic militiamen who harass female students all the time with religious restrictions."

Jabbar said this is one reason that "many families have stopped sending their daughters to high schools and colleges."

In early 2007 Iraq's Ministry of Education found that more than 70 percent of girls and young women no longer attend school or college.

Several women victims have been accused of being "bad" before they were abducted, residents have told IPS in Baghdad. Most women who are abducted are later found dead.

The bodies of several have been found in garbage dumps, showing signs of rape and torture. Many bodies had a note attached saying the woman was "bad", according to residents who did not give their names to IPS.

Similar problems exist for women in Baquba, the capital city of Diyala province, 40 km northeast of Baghdad.

"My neighbour was killed because she was accused of working in the directorate-general of police of Diyala," resident Um Haider told IPS in January. "This woman worked as a receptionist in the governor's office, and not in the police. She was in charge of checking women who work in the governor's office."

Killings like this have led countless women to quit jobs, or to change them.

"I was head of the personnel division in an office," a woman speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS in Baquba. "On the insistence of my family and relatives, I gave up my position and chose to be an employee."

Women's lives have changed, and women are beginning to look different across most of Iraq. They are now too afraid to wear anything but conservative dresses -- modern clothes could be a death warrant. The veil is particularly dominant in areas under the control of militias.

Women are paying a price for the occupation in all sorts of ways.

"Women bear great pain and risks when militants control the streets," Um Basim, a mother of three, told IPS in Baquba recently. "No man can move here or there. When a man is killed, the body is taken to the morgue. The body has to be received by the family, so women often go alone to the morgue to escort the body home. Some are targeted by militants when they do this."

Confined to home, many women live in isolation and depression.

"Women have nowhere to go to spend leisure time," Um Ali, a married woman in Baquba, told IPS. "Our time is spent only at home now. I have not travelled outside Baquba for more than four years. The only place I can go to is my parents' home. Housekeeping and children have been all my life; I have no goals to attain, no education to complete. Sometimes, I can't leave home for weeks."

In northern Kurdish controlled Iraq, 'honour killings' continue. In the ancient tradition of 'honour killing', the view is that a family's honour is paramount. As of last December, at least 27 Kurdish women were murdered on suspicion of having had 'illicit' affairs in the previous four months, according to Youssif Mohamed Aziz, the regional minister of human rights.

Iraqi women are not spared U.S. military prisons either. In December, Iraq's parliamentary committee for women's and children's affairs demanded the release of female detainees in Iraqi and U.S.-run prisons.

According to Nadira Habib, deputy head of the parliamentary committee, there are around 200 women detained in the Iraqi run al-Adala prison in Baghdad. Habibi says there are presumably women in U.S.-run prisons too. "But no one knows how many female detainees are now in prisons run by U.S. forces as they always refuse requests from our committee to visit them."

As the central government remains essentially powerless, and religious fundamentalism continues to grow across Iraq, it appears that the plight of Iraqi women will get worse.

Posted by Dahr_Jamail at March 6, 2008 03:45 PM

2008-03-07T14:24:00.002+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
AMSI Supports Education and Sponsors Cultural Activities
Kaim Branch presented financial aids to Uwais al Karani al Islamiyya School based in the city and attended to one of the cultural conference in the school

HEYET Net - NDHF

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

HEYET Net – Kaim branch of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) reached 675.000 dinars in cooperation with philanthropic people pledging to Uwais al Karani Islamic school. The school administration thanked AMSI Kaim branch for their efforts and aids for the service of students.

A delegation from AMSI Kaim branch also participated in a cultural conference which was held in Uwais al Karani al Islamiyyah School in al Karabla at 24 Safar 1429, 2 March 2008. The school administration thanked the delegation for their participation noting that there were school teachers who were also AMSI members.

HEYET Net

2008-03-07T14:17:00.002+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
Please Listen to the Women of Iraq
Professional Iraqi women started to become assassinated in fall of 2004
Zainab Salbi, Huffington Post

March 6, 2008 | 03:31 PM (EST)

I hadn't been to my homeland, Iraq, since so many professional Iraqi women started to be assassinated, including one of my good female friends, in fall of 2004. In February I traveled the country to visit with Women for Women International's courageous Iraqi staff -- who have served nearly 4,000 women since 2003 -- and to interview women who participated in the study released this week by our organization.

The "Stronger Women, Stronger Nations: 2008 Iraq Report" asked more than 1,500 Iraqi women what they thought about the status of their country five years after the U.S. invasion and what their hopes and dreams were for the future. In my visit, I found a destroyed country that has been overwhelmed with death and fear. I found a country in which the status of women has become substandard in many ways. Despite all of that, women continue come forward to ask for security, jobs and national unity. Perhaps it is time for the world to hear what they have to say.

I knew going in that 27 percent of the women we interviewed this year said they were optimistic about the future compared to 90 percent who expressed optimism in a similar study we conducted in 2004. I didn't know what that meant on a personal level until I heard news about a place very important to me. Four years ago, I was in Baghdad celebrating my brother's wedding at our family's home. One of the first things I heard in my way from the airport to the city was how this home has been taken over by one of the militias.

My colleague who picked me up turned to me in the car and said: "Zainab, remember the basketball hoop your family put in the cul-de-sac in front your home? Al-Mahdi militia have been using the basketball pole to execute Sunnis." I couldn't believe what he was telling me. "Zainab," he continued, "every day I saw tens of bodies lying in front of your house after being executed. Every day there was a body hanging from the basketball pole. Your home has turned into an execution center." I was going to throw up. All my childhood memories were in this house. Memories of laughter, tears, sorrow, fear, love and joy have all been violated. All of a sudden I understood the results we had in our study about optimism. I knew why 89 percent of respondents believe that someone in their family will be killed in the next year.

I no longer recognized Baghdad. Each neighborhood is now controlled by a different militia. We never talked about Sunni/Shi'ah as much as everyone is talking about it today. We never thought about the idea of splitting the country into federations more or less divided along sectarian lines. We never had as many religious symbols as we have in the city now -- so much so that a new visitor could never believe that Baghdad was once a secular city where religion was seen and respected as part of its citizens' private lives but not as the public definition of the city.

Even beyond Baghdad, 89 percent of women thought that the separation of people along ethnic/religious/sectarian lines was a bad thing. Although 72.7 percent of the women said that in the future there should be one unified Iraq with a central government in Baghdad, only 32.3 percent of the women thought there would in fact be such a thing in five years.

As I traveled the country, I asked women what they want for Iraq's future. One woman, Shatha, explained, "If I was the president of the country, the first thing I would do is ask the Americans to leave. I then would make filling the stomachs of the people my utmost priority, by ending poverty and creating jobs. And thirdly I will focus on education. We can't have real democracy if we don't have educated people pushing for a real democracy." When I asked the women to further explain their position on American presence in Iraq, one woman, Amira, explained that the Americans "gave us something but they took from us another thing. They gave us freedom and they took from us security... but if I have to choose one, I will choose safety and security."

Security discussions have dominated U.S. coverage of Iraq, which rarely addresses the economic, health and educational realities of Iraqis. The women I interviewed complained the most about the lack of opportunities and the economic harshness they are facing daily as a result. This echoes our study's result, where 67 percent of the women we interviewed complained about the lack of jobs in the country. This reality is compounded by the increased daily expenses of all kinds of fuel, medical treatment, and even food.

When Saba, an 18-year-old daughter of a Women for Women International-Iraq staff member, was shot on the way to school in December 2007, it cost the family about $800 just to get her the blood and the basic medicine she needed while at an Iraqi hospital for one day. The young woman stayed in the hospital for about 24 hours wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket. She remains paralyzed from the neck down today. When Saba narrates the story, her eyes are filled with tears. "I am left paralyzed for what? I have nothing to do with politics. I have nothing to do with anything. I was simply trying to finish my studies and to live my life." Saba's nights are now filled with nightmares. And Saba's cries echo those of so many women in Iraq, 2 million of whom are estimated to be widows and mothers to about 6 million orphans in the country -- this out of a population of 27 million.

March 8th marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. On this historic day I ask you to remember the women who struggle in Iraq and around the world to create peace. There is no way to talk about a future stable, economically prosperous and democratic Iraq without listening to what women have to say. It is time to listen to what Iraqi women are saying about their economic, political and social reality and the future of the country. We cannot talk about the building of strong nations, any nations, if we don't make sure we support strong women. Strong women lead to strong nations. And there can't be talk about building a strong Iraq if women continue to be killed, oppressed, and suppressed from expressing their views on the future of the country. It is time to hear what women have to say.

2008-03-07T14:14:00.002+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
AMSI Presents Computers to a School in Abu Ghraib
Information and Culture Department presented new computers and printers to Mutawassit al Aurouba school in Abu Ghraib

HEYET Net - NDHF

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

HEYET Net – The Information and Culture department of AMSI gives significant attention to the issues in cultural, scientific and educational level of the each Iraqi individual through publishing magazines, newspapers, books and its web pages in Arabic, English (and Turkish).

AMSI Information and Culture Department also seeks to spread reliable and moral cultural activities.

It is worth to mention that Mutawassit al Auroubah is the only school in Abu Ghraib area to teach computer lessons of which computers were stolen during the war. This school centre was suffering from the absence of necessary equipments to carry out education till the arrival of new computers gifted by AMSI.

The school administration and students thanked and appreciated the present of AMSI and its continuous support to all institutions particularly to the educational organization.

They prayed Allah Almighty to reward the members and administrators of AMSI.

HEYET Net

2008-03-07T14:10:00.002+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands

Plight of Iraqi women a 'national crisis'
Women For Women International report released
AFP - NDHF

Thu Mar 6, 7:27 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The state of Iraqi women has become a "national crisis" since the March 2003 US-led invasion, a report released by an international women's group said on Thursday.

"Present day Iraq is plagued by insecurity, a lack of infrastructure and controversial leadership, transforming the situation for women from one of relative autonomy and security before the war into a national crisis," said the report by the US-based Women For Women International.

According to the report, issued ahead of International Women's Day on March 8, 64 percent of the women surveyed said violence against them had increased.

"When asked why, respondents most commonly said that there is less respect for women's rights than before, that women are thought of as possessions, and that the economy has gotten worse," it said.

The report also found that 76 percent of the women interviewed said that girls in their families were forbidden from attending school.

It said "68.3 percent of respondents describe the availability of jobs as bad and 70.5 percent said that their families are unable to earn enough money to pay for daily necessities."

2008-03-07T13:31:00.004+02:00

US, Iran and Israel: Meet the True Axis of Evil

TOP NEWS: APS – The Continuous Abuses of Iran on Iraqi Oil
AMSI condemns these crimes, calls their end, invites the United Nations to intervene
AMSI General Secretariat, HEYET Net - NDHF

Tuesday, 04 March 2008

AMSI made a press statement condemning the ongoing abuses of Iran on Iraqi oil emphasizing this steal of Iraqi oil as crime. The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) called for the cessation of such encroachment on the rights of the Iraqis and their wealth. AMSI also called the United Nations for intervention through the competent committees and monitoring what was stolen from the Iraqi oil.

Press Statement (Number 530)

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the Merciful,

Praise be to Allah, peace and blessings be upon the Prophet of Allah, His family and companions.

In early February of this month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared on the speech of deputy minister, Mohammed Alhaji Hammoud that the ministry sent a note to the Iranian side, supported memorandums from the Iraqi Oil Ministry, which refers the continuous abuses of Iran on Iraqi oil fields near the border with Iran.

This note has been enhanced the statements of AMSI about the integrity confirmed by the current availability and control of documents on Iran to 15 oil wells in the area of al Tayyib in the province of Maysan, and the drilling method used in to draw oil from inside Iraq.

At a time when Iraqis are waiting current officials to act carefully about this catastrophe, which added to a series of disasters that followed on Iraq and its people it manifested in the form of international organization thefts by the occupation forces and the neighboring countries and others against Iraq and its oil and wealth. These officials appeared publicly for defense Iran, and the dimensions of the charge, and the issued statements are inaccurate and intended to offend the brotherly relations with Iran (!)

The more serious than this is a number of them gave the impression that taking such jointly fields with Iran must be coordinated with them through joint committees to develop plans for production, in a serious step; to create an appropriate atmosphere to cede sovereignty, land and wealth including ministers who do not have any concern with oil file, but the relevant minister has initiated the lie to these reports, both within his shuttle in Europe or the recent tour in southern Iraq belies the official reports issued by the Ministry of Oil itself in addition to the Foreign Ministry!

It was surprising to claim yesterday that he visited al Abar place and he did not find of of the Iranians there!!

The fields in question, as confirmed by functional studies across the decades on the Iraqi fields 100%, with the exception of one field which is Khane Oil jointly with the Iranian Shah oil field in the province of Diyala, which had stopped production from Iraq on his part since about 3 years, under the pretext of destroying installations. It is the field that feeds the refinery in Baghdad through the pipeline carrier in quantities up to 16 thousand barrels per day, noting that this field is under the control of one of the two Kurdish Parties.

The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) condemns this waste of public money; it assumes this is the crime of stealing Iraqi oil in the circumstances through which Iraq is witnessing. It is also a moral crime. Indeed, it must stop this flagrant infringement on the rights of the Iraqis and their wealth.

AMSI invites the competent committees of the United Nations to intervene in this matter, and monitor what was stolen exactly claim to be compensated later.

AMSI General Secretariat
13 Safar 1429 / 20 February 2008
HEYET Net

2008-03-05T23:04:00.003+02:00

The Muhahideen Promised, and They Deliver

TOP NEWS: IAI Welcomes the Despot Criminal Ahmady Nejad With Two Tarek Rockets
Delegation bombarded in green-zone, middle Baghdad
IAI, J&RFront - NDHF

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

Fight them!

Allah will chastise them at your hands, and He will lay them low and give you victory over them, and He will heal the breasts of folk who are believers

Praise be to Allah, prayers and peace be upon his messenger

On Sunday 2/3/2008 at 2 pm and after putting trust on Allah and with his support the rocket launching detachments in the Islamic army in Iraq launched two “Tarek” rockets on (green-zone the headquarters of American occupation crusader forces and al-Maliki so-called government) and this operation targeted the despot criminal Ahmady Nejad and his delegation, (without knowing the statistics of losses), in the green-zone in the middle of Baghdad, Praise be to Allah.

Praise be to Allah, Allah Akbar and Glory to Allah

The military leadership
The Islamic Army in Iraq
Jihad and Reform Front

NDHF @ IAI: Outstanding, outstanding, Gentlemen!

As a token of our appreciation we say:

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful:

The NDHF Net will deliver "Sword of Jihad - The National Liberation War of Islamic Iraq" a.k.a. the National Liberation Front site (english side), just as we've sworn to AMSI.

This will take place as soon as the software's been embedded to our server.

The NDHF Net Team

2008-03-05T22:56:00.005+02:00

On the "national reconciliation" non-sense
Top U.S. admiral meets former Iraqi army officers
NDHF (in English): the JCS Muller visits "popular committee" to recruit "concerned local citizens"

Azzaman - NDHF

March 4, 2008

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, has made a surprise visit to the Sunni city of Huwaija and met former army officers, senior Iraqi police officer said.

Colonel Fattah Abdullah said the admiral spent two hours in the city and held further meetings with its chief administrator and tribal leaders who have raised militias to support U.S. effort against al-Qaeda.

Huwaija once supplied the former Iraqi army with huge numbers of commissioned and non-commissioned officers. Many of them held influential posts in the Republican Guards, Saddam Hussein’s elite force.

Abdullah gave no details on content of the discussions Mullen had with the officers but the U.S. military in Iraq is giving growing attention to Sunnis who led the insurgency in the country.

The U.S. has raised a militia force 6,500 armed tribal men in Huwaija. Residents say the city has never been as quiet as it is now in the years since the U.S. invasion of 2003.

Mullen even had a tour of the city streets and shopping malls and exchanged greetings and discussions with residents.

“My tour is evidence of the improvement in security situation in Huwaija,” he was reported as saying.

Huwaija was one of the major strongholds of resistance and a bastion of Qaeda in the past.

2008-03-05T22:49:00.003+02:00

On the "national reconciliation" non-sense
12,000 members of awakening councils to join Iraq Security Forces
Says head of national reconciliation committee Basima Al Saadi

Al-Sumaria - NDHF (note)

Tuesday, March 04, 2008 09:26 GMT

Head of national reconciliation committee in the ministerial council Basima Al Saadi announced that 12,000 members of awakening councils have joined the ranks of legal security forces.

NDHF: Note the typical U.S. extremist mode of thinking as if more mercs bringing "national reconciliation" [read: armed control].

2008-03-05T21:38:00.003+02:00

On the "national reconciliation" meeting non-sense
Reconciliation meetings
Big surprise: Baath party at it again

LadyBird, Roads to Iraq (excerpt) + NDHF (related)

4.3.2008

This report on Elaph today says again that there will be two reconciliation meeting this month in Baghdad [18-19 March] and Cairo [25 March] without the participation of Ba’ath Party.

The report [once again] insists that there are some Ba’athists invited but they are representing themselves and not their party [As they always lie, "unofficial negotiators" my ass - NDHF].

This is contrary to what Al-Hayat reported few days ago about the failure of Arab League secretary aide “Bin Hili” to convince both sides to agree on a date for the conference.

NDHF Related:

Sheikh Dari: There are No Grounds to Encourage for Holding Reconciliation Conference

Baathists invited to Baghdad

J&R Front: Regarding al-Jaffary latest lies

2008-03-05T21:17:00.001+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
US soldier, seven others killed in Iraq chopper crash
"There are no survivors"

AFP - NDHF

Tue Mar 4, 10:30 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A Russian-made helicopter belonging to the Iraqi military has crashed in northern Iraq, killing eight people on board, including a US soldier, a US military official told AFP on Tuesday.

"There were eight onboard, including one coalition force member. Recovery operations have been completed and there are no survivors," said US Lieutenant Michael Street.

2008-03-05T21:15:00.003+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
Philadelphia Soldier Found Dead At Fort Bragg
NDHF: "An educated quess": suicide. But let's see.

AP - NDHF

Mar 5, 2008

2008-03-05T20:44:00.002+02:00

"Let's Jihad!"
Iraq drawdown resumes with Army unit
82nd Airborne Unit Leaving Iraq, Resuming US Troop Drawdown From 'Surge' Strategy

Robert Burns, AP

Mar 04, 2008 16:11 EST

An Army paratrooper unit that led the U.S. troop surge into Baghdad last year is returning home, marking a resumption of a troop drawdown that will test the durability of recent security gains.

The drawdown began last December with the departure of one brigade, numbering about 5,000 troops, taking the overall U.S. troop level in Iraq to 158,000. A three-month lull was built into the drawdown plan, during which commanders saw insurgent violence shift from Baghdad to northern Iraq.

Although it has not yet been publicly announced, a senior military official said Tuesday that the 2nd brigade, 82nd Airborne Division is heading back to Fort Bragg, N.C., in coming days and will not be replaced in the rotation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the movements are not completed.

That will drop the number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from 19 to 18, with an additional three scheduled to leave by July. Yet to be decided is whether further reductions will be made after July; President Bush on Saturday declined to promise that he will order more cuts before he leaves office in January.

A brigade usually numbers between 3,500 and 5,000 troops, depending on how it is organized.

Some military leaders have pushed for a continued drawdown beyond July, arguing that a strained Army and Marine Corps need relief after five years of combat and multiple tours of duty with long absences from home. On the other hand, they don't want to reduce so quickly that security gains are lost.

The 2nd brigade, 82nd Airborne has been operating in northeast Baghdad since January 2007, when Bush announced he was sending 21,500 Army and Marine reinforcements as part of a revamped military strategy to tamp down sectarian violence. The reinforcements included five Army brigades and two Marine battalions.

2008-03-05T15:12:00.001+02:00

The Occupation's Endgame in South
8 "suspects" arrested in Basra
Wanted for frequent crimes, arrested in different places

MH/SR, Voices of Iraq

Wednesday, 05/03/2008

Basra, Mar 5, VOI – Police forces arrested 8 wanted suspects in Basra and freed one abducted citizen on Wednesday, as part of the new emergency plan in that province.

"Police forces were able to free an abducted citizen in Al-Abassiya district, at the center of Basra, and they also confiscated a car that has been used by the kidnappers," a security source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) on condition of anonymity.

"Eight suspects, wanted for frequent crimes, were also arrested in different places in Basra," the source added.

Basra, capital city of Basra province, is 590 km south of Baghdad.

2008-03-05T15:01:00.002+02:00

The Occupation's Endgame in Southern Iraq
TOP NEWS: Emergency plan implemented in Basra
"Basra police launched an emergency plan to hunt down all gunmen after a series of killing and kidnapping operations"

SH/SR, Voices of Iraq

Wednesday, 05/03/2008

Basra, Mar 5, (VOI) - An emergency plan started on Wednesday to track down gunmen and to quell violence and armed attacks, the chief of the Basra police said.

"Basra police launched an emergency plan to hunt down all gunmen after a series of killing and kidnapping operations," General Abdul Jaleel Khalaf told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI) by phone.

Last Monday, unidentified gunmen killed the inspector general of al-Nassiriya province and three policemen escorting him in central Basra.

"The plan is being implemented with the support of army forces," the general said.
"5000 policemen were deployed throughout Basra to hunt down criminals and gunmen who aim at destabilizing security in the southern province," Khalaf explained.

"We will wage crackdown operations to quell violence and armed attacks," he added, noting that the operation will continue until realizing all its goals.

Analysts said that there are some powers attempting to play a pivotal role in destabilizing the situation in Basra, such as traffickers and some tribal chiefs.
Basra is 590 km south of Baghdad.

2008-03-05T14:41:00.003+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
Thanks to Jordan for generously taking 750,000 Iraq refugees
International community provides too little support in the management of the flood of refugees

Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in Berlin, Relief Web

4.3.2008

Göttingen/Berlin, 04 Mar 2008 - On the occasion of the bestowing in Berlin of the Abraham Geiger Prize to Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) takes the opportunity of thanking the kingdom for generously taking refugees from Iraq. "The readiness of your country to grant asylum to hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge has not only saved countless people their lives, but it shows the tolerance of your royal house towards other religious communities and ethnic groups", says the letter of thanks of the GfbV General Secretary, Tilman Zülch. The kingdom has, in addition to its own approximately 5.3 million inhabitants, taken up nearly 750,000 refugees from Iraq, among them several thousand Assyro-Chaldaic Christians.

The GfbV described however as a sour note the fact that many of the Iraq refugees have to suffer great misery because the international community provides too little support in the management of the flood of refugees. The people seeking refuge in Jordan are only accepted as "guests". They are not allowed to work and receive no financial aid for food. The standard of health care, which is free of charge, is very low. As everyone has to find his or her own accommodation the refugees find themselves cramped in the slums of Amman. Emergency accommodation has been found for the Christians in churches and monasteries. Many refugee children have not been to school for years because there is not enough room at the state schools, which do not charge fees. Only those children can go to school whose parents have valid visas for Jordan.

The GfbV appealed in its letter to the Prince to speak out for a relaxation of the regulations on the entry to the country for people seeking refuge from Iraq. Jordan tightened up its entry regulations on 15th February 2008. Now refugees no longer receive visas at the border, but have to apply for them in Iraq. In addition the visa is now no longer valid for six months, but only one. In order to stay legally in the country every refugee must then pay two dollars per day. This is something which many cannot afford.

The Abraham Geiger Prize is awarded for services to Judaism in its diversity. With it people are decorated who have performed valuable services for pluralism.

NDHF Net, Editor Louhi: Only now learning that Jordan has a population only of some 5,3 millions I'm touched to tears.

Knowing to have the full support of our other team members in the humanitarian issues, in my response, I'd like to thank you all the Jordanians as well as the Royal House of Jordan for their help.

We would offer our help to Jordan personally, but just now engaged in helping the Iraqis in the middle of war in Iraq, we lack the capabilities for that.

We give our word to return to this issue after armed forces of the Iraqi Resistance have expelled the enemy and restored the security in Iraq.

2008-03-05T14:38:00.002+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
APR – The Takeover of the Occupation on Secondary School
AMSI published a press release condemning the American occupation forces for the seizure of Islamic Secondary School in Baghdad.

HEYET Net (AMSI) - NDHF

Tuesday, 04 March 2008

AMSI called occupation forces to desist from such acts and abuses of the right of students during their educational life and safe return of the building to the school administration.

American occupation forces seized the Islamic Secondary School (Umm al Salama al Islamiyah) in al Qadah area in Baghdad after expelling the students. Occupation forces have taken the administration of the school and forced the students and teachers to carry out their education in one of the adjacent mosque.

It is noteworthy that the school had been attacked in previous times by the operations of the occupation forces raids which resulted in severe intimidation by students.

The Association of Muslim Scholars (AMSI) condemns this blatant assault on the educational institutions; carries the occupation and the current government fully responsible for such acts and to be behind it to influence the conduct of the operation on these institutions.

AMSI called occupation forces to desist from such acts and abuses of the right of students during their educational life and safe return of the building to the school administration.

AMSI Press Department
22 Safar 1429 / 29 February 2008

HEYET Net

2008-03-05T13:58:00.003+02:00

Open Wounds - Healing Hands
Study says stress among Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Lebanon high Society
Witnessing assassinations of relatives and friends, torture, rape or kidnappings

KUNA - NDHF

3/4/2008 2:55:00 PM

GENEVA, March 4 (KUNA) -- The International Organizaation for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday that a study it conducted in Jordan and Lebanon has found high levels of emotional and psychological distress.

IOM spokesperson Jemini Pandya told reporters that the assessment, carried out between November 2007 and January 2008 among 200 families (800 people) in the two countries, revealed that more than half of those interviewed disclosed distress factors including panic attacks, anger, tiredness, sleep problems and fears.

For those who had experienced direct violent attacks - 21 per cent of the refugee sample in Jordan and 34 per cent in Lebanon - including witnessing assassinations of relatives and friends, torture, rape or kidnappings, psychological distress was overwhelming.

The insecurity of their refugee life, a lack of employment and the de-professionalization of Iraqis whose qualifications are unrecognized, poor living conditions and access to health and social services, including education, has further aggravated the situation, particularly among Iraqis who have been displaced for two years or longer.

(end) hn.bz. KUNA 041455 Mar 08NNNN

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