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Edited by Cynthia E. Cohen, Roberto Gutiérrez Varea and Polly O. Walker
$21.95
By Jesse Katz
$16.50
$21
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A series of explosions around the world has killed more than 120 people. A train bombing in northern India left at least 64 people dead, while three car bombs in Baghdad—the bloodiest violence since a security crackdown began—killed more than 60 and injured at least 131. A bomb also exploded at a McDonald’s in St. Petersburg, Russia, in an act of “hooliganism,” according to police. There was no indication that each nation’s violence was related to the explosions in the other countries.
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Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s point man for military operations in Baghdad, announced sweeping new military powers on Tuesday as part of a large-scale crackdown on sectarian violence. Qanbar said he is in absolute control of the effort and answers only to Maliki, signaling an expansion of the prime minister’s authority.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Despite an influx of thousands of U.S. troops, Baghdad continues to experience devastating violence. Four explosions Monday killed at least 76 people.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Iran says it is holding the United States responsible for the life and safety of an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped Sunday. Iraqi officials say Jalal Sharafi was abducted by men wearing the uniform of a special unit under American command, but the U.S. has denied any involvement.
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On Friday, “Countdown” aired this troubling video of American soldiers negotiating Iraqi traffic by bumping cars out of the way and driving on the wrong side of the road. The soldiers would rather avoid making themselves stationary targets than build goodwill among the already outraged Iraqis.
(h/t: Crooks and Liars)
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news.yahoo.com
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blamed Saddam loyalists for a market bombing that killed at least 130 people and injured 305. The market is in a predominantly Shiite district. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani made an appeal for unity.
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sptimes.com
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The Iraqi government has invited Bush administration antagonists Iran and Syria to Baghdad for security talks, which might also include the Arab League and the United Nations. The United States has not received an invitation.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Although 3,200 additional troops have been deployed in Baghdad in an effort to assert control, violence continues to worsen. A double car bombing on Monday killed 88 people and injured 160. This does not bode well for a full-blown surge.
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komotv.com
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The first wave in Bush’s surge—3,200 troops—arrived in Baghdad as the United States experienced the most violent day for its forces in two years. Twenty-five American soldiers were killed on Saturday.
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A double bombing outside a Baghdad university has killed at least 70 people and injured 170, according to police. Twenty-five more died elsewhere in Baghdad from bombings and shootings on one of the most violent days in Iraq since the war began.
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AP Photo / Murad Sezer
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By Chris Hedges — A longtime observer of insurgencies, violence and war, the reporter writes that the presidential plan to send more troops to Iraq is a mistake of catastrophic proportions that is likely to rival the most stupid and brutal blunders he’s seen.
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latimes.com
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s choice of Lt. Gen. Abud Qanbar, a relatively unknown figure, to head the military in Baghdad has upset Iraqi military commanders and politicians. American commanders have also expressed dissatisfaction with Qanbar, due to the key role he will play in Bush’s planned escalation of the war and fears that his promotion might be motivated by a sectarian agenda.
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iraqirocker.blogspot.com
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In this powerful collection of blogs from recent days, Iraqis react to the violence sweeping their nation. Here’s Meemo, a 19-year-old from Baghdad who’s getting out: “I leave Baghdad in two days…. I’m not going to see death anymore; I’m not going to hear car explosions again; I will come back to life again.”
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As the UK’s Tony Blair extols incipient Iraqi democracy from inside the sheltered Green Zone, the security situation outside—in the “Red Zone”—further deteriorates, making a mockery of Blair’s optimistic prattle.
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indymedia.org
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By Robert Scheer — Truthdig’s editor enters the mind of Donald Rumsfeld, who journeyed to Iraq recently to bid farewell to the troops, but ended up repeating the lies that put them at risk.
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Gen. George W. Casey announced that he is considering sending more U.S. troops to Iraq in order to help quell the violence. This is a major reversal of the military withdrawal that started last December. The reductions stopped in June when the violence in Baghdad showed no signs of abatement.
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Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV expressed concern Thursday over the failure of the military’s new Baghdad strategy to curb mounting levels of violence in the city: “In Baghdad alone, we’ve seen a 22% increase in attacks during the first three weeks of Ramadan, as compared to the three weeks preceding Ramadan.”
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The U.N.‘s chief anti-torture expert, Manfred Nowak, says: “The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein.” Sectarian violence has filled the Baghdad morgue with bodies bearing evidence of brutal torture. More
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UPDATE: The numbers keep rising.
It’s carnage so grisly that the largest Sunni group demanded that the Shiite-led government take steps to disarm militias. The AP called it a “violent day even by the standards of Baghdad.”
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It appears that a much-heralded drop-off in the number of killings in Iraq last month didn’t actually happen. ABC News reports that the original reported figure of 550 has now been revised to 1,535—which is in line with the blood-drenched months of June (1,595) and July (1,855). No word yet on the reason behind the initial discrepancy.
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Civilian casualties in Iraq rose by 50% during the last three months, according to a report released by the Pentagon. The report on security and stability in Iraq examined the sectarian violence that grips the country, saying ?Conditions that could lead to civil war exist in Iraq? but that the fighting does not meet the ?strict? definition of a civil war.
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According to the Washington Post: “U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.” Your money at work! (Via boingboing)
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Illustration by Peter Scheer
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Shiite militias have been conducting death raids on Iraqi hospitals, signaling an escalation in the sectarian violence that plagues the country. Many Sunnis, some seriously wounded, have been forced to seek medical attention at home, or in illegal clinics.
Posted on Aug 30, 2006
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By Marie Cocco — The Iraqi government, which President Bush heralded last spring as a “milestone,’’ a “turning point’’ and a “watershed event,’’ is perilously ineffectual.
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AP / Alaa al-Marjani
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It’s the highest monthly death tally since the war started in March 2003. That’s an average of 110 per day, and in Baghdad, the numbers are up 18% over last month.
Also, a respected veteran Baghdad reporter writes of Iraqis’ fears that Bush & Co.‘s “rosy views are preventing the creation of effective strategies against the escalating violence.”
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The specifics of this case are made more sickening by the fact that they did not occur in a vacuum. Several cases of U.S. forces killing unarmed Iraqi civilians are pending in military courts, and they have badly mangled America’s already bad image in the region.
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As U.S. forces have given Iraqi security officers responsibility for policing Baghdad, violence has notably increased, undercutting America’s premise that Iraqis are capable of securing their own country.
Posted on Aug 6, 2006
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At least 44 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq in July, well below the average monthly death toll of about 64. However, the sectarian conflict is worsening: Baghdad’s morgue received 1,595 bodies in June, up 16% over May. (July figures were not available.) “American troops are no longer the primary focus of the people perpetuating the violence inside Iraq,” said a U.S. think tank expert, “they have become a secondary target.”
Posted on Aug 1, 2006
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AP / Mohammed Adnan
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An average of more than 100 civilians were killed PER DAY in Iraq last month, the highest tally since the fall of Baghdad, according to the U.N. And that number has been steadily increasing since at least last summer.
So not only are things horrifically bad in Iraq, they are getting worse.
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A journalist at The Times (of London) sums it up: “West Baghdad is no stranger to bombings and killings, but in the past few days all restraint has vanished in an orgy of ethnic cleansing.”
Posted on Jul 17, 2006
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Over 100 people were killed in a three-day stretch. A N.Y. Times reporter writes, “Militias now appear to be dictating the ebb and flow of life in Iraq.”
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Baghdad’s morgue received 1,595 bodies last month, 16% more than in May, showing that the pace of killing has actually increased since the death of terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
This is some of the most disheartening news to come out of Iraq in a long time. It’s yet more proof that we’re fighting a Vietnam-like insurgency that can survive and even prosper after the death of its leaders.
Posted on Jul 5, 2006
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Truthdig contributor Nir Rosen, an American reporter who has lived for the last three years in Iraq and who can pass as Middle Eastern, describes what it’s like to live under the boot of a culturally callous—and sometimes criminal—occupying force in Iraq.
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AP / Assad Muhsin
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The Iraqi government ordered everyone off the streets of the Iraqi capital after insurgents set up roadblocks in central Baghdad and opened fire on U.S. and Iraqi troops outside the Green Zone. Dozens of deaths were reported around the country in this one day alone.
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From the AP via Washington Post
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Gunmen wearing police uniforms forced 56 people into pickups during the daytime operation. A Washington Post reporter writes, “The scale and audacity of the operation were unusual even by the capital’s lawless standards.”
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From HBO
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The actor best known for portraying an Army doctor on the TV show “M*A*S*H” writes that the HBO documentary series “Baghdad ER,” about an Army emergency hospital in Iraq, made him want to scream in rage and frustration at the people who created this war.
Posted on May 24, 2006
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Jaafari’s decision to step aside as prime minister removes a major obstacle to forming a unity government in Iraq, says the N.Y. Times.
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Bush claimed that two small trailers found after the invasion of Iraq vindicated his claim of banned WMDs—but intelligence officials had already concluded that the trailers were bogus.
The Washington Post has the scoop.
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The U.S. Embassy and military in Baghdad issued a revealing province by province report of Iraq’s political, economic and security situation. The “Provincial Stability Assessment” paints a gloomy picture of intensifying sectarian and ethnic frictions and growing instability in many of the provinces profiled. Funny, our leaders always say how well things are going…
Posted on Apr 8, 2006
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AP / Assad Muhsin
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Suicide bombers dressed in women’s clothes caused the single deadliest blast this year—at a religious bastion of a powerful Shiite party. This, combined with Thursday’s shrine bombing, could escalate the already horrific violence…. (more)
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The American Journalism Review chronicles the perilous conditions under which NPR reporter Deborah Amos and others like her work to get the hardest stories in Iraq—those found outside the Green Zone.
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From Healing Iraq
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The young, U.K.-raised Iraqi dentist—whose writing has run in the Washington Post—says this in a recent blog: “Islamic clerics (of all denominations) never fail to disgust me…(more)
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From EPA/ Geoff Caddick
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The secretary of state and U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw drop in on Baghdad unannounced - ostensibly to urge government unity, but in all likelihood to try to force the Iraqi prime minister out of his post.
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From Christoph Bangert/Polaris/NY Times
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Jafaari rebuffs Bush’s alleged call for him to step down, telling Washington to stop interfering in Iraq’s politics.
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Shiite officials say that American-led forces killed many civilians in a raid on a mosque complex on Sunday. The U.S. has promised a full investigation.
Posted on Mar 27, 2006
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The sectarian violence continues unabated.
Also, a N.Y. Times reporter returns to Iraq after a year away and immediately sizes up the difference between an anti-U.S. insurgency and a civil war (although he doesn’t use that word).
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From Max Becherer / Polaris / The New York Times
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As Baghdad’s murder rate triples from 11 to 33 a day, bodies are turning up with horrific signs of torture. “This is sectarian cleansing,” says a Kurdish member of parliament.
Posted on Mar 25, 2006
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