Iraq
More Than 1,800 Iraqis Killed in August
Saturday September 1, 2007 5:01 PM
By DAVID RISING
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) - A huge suicide attack in northern Iraq caused civilian deaths to rise slightly in August despite security gains elsewhere, making it the second deadliest month for Iraqis since the U.S. troop buildup began, figures compiled by The Associated Press showed Saturday.
At least 1,809 civilians were killed, compared to 1,760 in July, based on figures compiled from official Iraqi reports.
The August total included 520 people killed in quadruple suicide bombings near the Syrian border on Aug. 14, the deadliest day since the war began in March 2003. The attacks targeted Yazidis, a small Kurdish-speaking sect whose members are considered to be blasphemers by Muslim extremists.
U.S. deaths last month remained well below figures from last winter, when the U.S began dispatching 30,000 additional troops to Iraq….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6890272,00.html
Gen Sir Mike Jackson's attack draws US ire
By Robert Watts and Tim Shipman in Washington, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 8:28pm BST 01/09/2007
Former defence ministers have backed a withering attack on the US's post-war administration of Iraq by General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the army during the invasion.
Sir Mike has condemned the approach taken by former Donald Rumsfeld as "intellectually bankrupt", adding that the former US defence secretary is "one of those most responsible for the current situation in Iraq".
The former chief of the defence staff's broadside, made in a book to be serialised in The Daily Telegraph, has now ignited a trans-Atlantic row that threatens to damage the "special relationship" between the two allies….
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/01/wirq601.xml
Sadr suspends armed actions
Thursday, 30 August 2007 18:31
Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has suspended all armed actions by his Mehdi Army for six months in order to remove rogue elements from the militia.
The move comes after 52 people were killed in gun battles in the southern Iraqi city of Kerbala.
The unexpected order also includes attacks on US troops.
Analysts said the test of the suspension order would be whether the fighters obeyed because it was no longer clear how much authority al-Sadr exercised over the Mehdi Army.
Iraqi national security advisers welcomed his suspension order but said it would need to be followed through.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon called the Mehdi Army, which has thousands of gunmen, the greatest threat to peace in Iraq.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0830/iraq.html
Iraq war marches onto centre stage at Venice film fest
10 hours ago
VENICE, Italy (AFP) — The Iraq war has emerged as the big topic at this year's Venice film festival, with a film Saturday by an award-winning Canadian director showing the harrowing toll the conflict is taking on returning US soldiers.
Coming just one day after "Redacted", Brian De Palma's dramatisation laying out the shocking facts of a rape and multiple murder in Iraq, Paul Haggis was unveiling "In the Valley of Elah", also inspired by true events, this time on US soil.
Like "Redacted", it explores the conditions, attitudes and stresses experienced by US soldiers in Iraq, and, like De Palma, Haggis said he felt the US public was being kept in the dark about the war.
"During Vietnam we had terrific journalists doing their job," Haggis told a news conference. "We were seeing it on television. Now we don't have it."
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hrtlXQDWXMo5q01heuK6UE-O_m6Q
Hundreds Displaced in Northern Iraq
By YAHYA BARZANJI – 2 hours ago
MARDOW, Iraq (AP) — As explosions boomed in the distance, a Kurdish woman stood outside her house and pointed to where shells scorched parts of her father's grapes and plum orchards.
"It was a bad day when some 20 shells hit our village in a single day last week. We were crying as we prayed to God to protect us from the bombs of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Serwa Ibrahim, one of the few remaining villagers in Mardow, about 25 miles from the Iranian border.
"Despite the shelling, I will stay in my village until the end," Ibrahim, 33, said Thursday.
Iranian troops have been accused of bombing border areas for weeks against suspected positions of the Free Life Party, or PEJAK, a breakaway faction of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party. Iran says PEJAK — which seeks autonomy for Kurds in Iran — launches attacks inside Iran from bases in Iraq.
Shelling of border areas resumed Saturday after a brief lull, with Iranian shells hitting the Iraqi side of the border and causing some fires. AP Television News showed white smoke billowing from mountainous areas, and Kurdish shepherds carrying carcasses of sheep killed by the shelling.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6eoOaW6jT7tTxObv2lu2OmJ_TfQ
Two U.S. soldiers killed in western Iraq
15:33, August 31, 2007
Two more U.S. soldiers have been killed in two attacks in Iraq's volatile province of Anbar, the U. S. military said on Friday.The two soldiers, one was a marine, were assigned to Multi National Force-West, who were killed on Wednesday during combat operations in the province, a military statement said.Anbar province is a Sunni insurgents' stronghold, which stretches from the western edges of Baghdad to the Saudi, Jordanian and Syrian borders.The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq to more than 3,735 since the Iraq war broke out in 2003, according to media count based on Pentagon figures.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6252386.html
U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq at 3,737
By The Associated Press – 20 hours ago
As of Friday, Aug. 31, 2007, at least 3,737 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 3,061 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is two higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 168 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Romania, South Korea, one death each.
The latest death reported by the military:
A soldier was killed Wednesday in Anbar province.
The latest identifications reported by the military:
Army Spc. Edward L. Brooks, 25, Dayton, Ohio; died Wednesday in Ramadi, of wounds suffered from an explosive; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.
Army Staff Sgt. Jason M. Butkus, 34, West Milford, N.J.; died Thursday in Baghdad, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.
On the Net:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqgQCcv26kB1dkgZRZNHmbn_1J8g
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