When it's "W"rong, it's very "W"rong !!!
..."Four years, optimistically," before the Pentagon can begin a significant troop withdrawal from Iraq, predicted Eric Rosenbach, executive director of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School, "and more like seven or eight years" until Iraqi forces can handle the bulk of their own security....
Iraq, March 16, 2008
US Military Deaths in Iraq at 3,988
By The Associated Press – 14 hours ago
As of Saturday, March 15, 2008, at least 3,988 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 eight military civilians. At least 3,241 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is 10 more than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 175 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqgQCcv26kB1dkgZRZNHmbn_1J8gD8VE6DI00
Campaigners mark 5 years of war in Iraq
By Staff Reporter 15.MAR.08
Campaigners in London and Glasgow are holding protests today to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.
Worldwide protests are also taking place today.
Earlier this week, a ceremony in the US remembered the dead servicemen and women with a minute's silence.
Military intelligence sergeant and member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War association, Selena Coppa, explained why she believes the war is unlawful:
"I would stand up again and again to defend my country whenever and wherever and however it was required. The occupation in Iraq is not defending my country, it is not supporting the oath that I swore," she said.
The Scottish demonstration will hear calls for troop withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well being in opposition to possible action against Iran.
http://www.famagusta-gazette.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=106&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=2120&wpage=&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2350&hn=famagusta-gazette&he=.com
Iraq: McCain visits Baghdad as Iraq commemorates Kurdish massacre anniversary
The Associated Press
Published: March 16, 2008
BAGHDAD: Sen. John McCain arrived in Baghdad on Sunday for an unexpected visit with Iraqi and U.S. diplomatic and military officials, a U.S. government official said.
The visit by one of the foremost supporters of the 2003 invasion and soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee came as Kurds in northern Iraq commemorated the 20th anniversary on Sunday of a horrific chemical weapons attack that killed an estimated 5,600 people.
Saddam Hussein ordered the attack in Halabja as part of a scorched-earth campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion in the north, which was seen as aiding Iran in the final months of its war with Iraq.
The U.S. military said that the Iraqi government has not yet asked them to turn over for execution the man most deeply associated with that crime — Hussein's henchman and cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali." His hanging is expected within the month.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/16/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq.php
Anti-war Protests Held in Los Angeles, Other US Cities
By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
16 March 2008
Protesters in several US cities held anti-war rallies Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, March 20th. More rallies are planned in coming days in other U.S. cities. Mike O'Sullivan reports, several thousand joined an anti-war protest in Los Angeles.
Anti-war protesters in Los Angeles, 14 Mar 2008
Marchers chanted and some carried flag-draped coffins as speakers demanded that U.S. troops come home.
Sharaf Mowjood of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the continued presence of American troops is worsening conditions in Iraq, and diverting attention from domestic U.S. problems, including rebuilding New Orleans. The city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-03-16-voa3.cfm
US Vice President Cheney Heads to Middle East
By VOA News
16 March 2008
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is heading Sunday to the Middle East for visits to Oman, Saudia Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Turkey.
U.S officials say Mr. Cheney's talks will cover Iraq, the situations in Lebanon and Syria, Iran's rising influnce in the region, violence in Gaza, and soaring gasoline prices in the United States.
He is expected to encourage Saudi Arabia to step up diplomatic ties with Iraq.
Cheney also is expected to encourage Israel and the Palestinians to move forward with a peace deal.
In Turkey, the U.S. vice president is expected to discuss Turkey's recent incursion against Iraq-based rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-03-16-voa1.cfm
Hundreds rally for Iraq troop withdrawal
March 17, 2008
ABOUT 200 people rallied in central Sydney yesterday calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq.
Speakers at the rally in Belmore Park, to mark the coming fifth anniversary of the invasion, said the pledge by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to withdraw 500 combat troops from Iraq did not go far enough.
A spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition, Alex Bainbridge, said 1 million people had been killed since the war began, and all troops needed to be withdrawn. "This war is a crime, and we need to end it," he told the rally. Mr Rudd also needed to end his support for the war in Afghanistan.
A peace campaigner, Donna Mulhearn, who travelled to Iraq to be a human shield before the war started, said Australia needed to apologise to the Iraqi people. She also questioned whether Australian athletes should compete at the Beijing Olympics after China's crackdown in Tibet.
The Greens senator Kerry Nettle said the Iraq war had a human and financial cost estimated by one US economist at $3 trillion.
Another peace rally was held in Parramatta.
AAP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hundreds-rally-for-iraq-troop-withdrawal/2008/03/16/1205602195104.html
U.N. envoy urges Iraq to seize moment
The drop in violence in the last year is an opportunity for reconciliation, he says as the U.N. releases a human rights report.
By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 16, 2008
BAGHDAD -- The U.N. envoy to Iraq urged the Iraqi government Saturday to seize upon the drop in violence in the country over the last year to move forward on reconciliation and improving public services because its window of opportunity won't last forever.
"In spite of the spike of horrific spectacular acts, there is still a lot of improvement compared to the past, which should be interpreted by all of us and by the Iraqi political leaders as an opportunity," Staffan de Mistura told reporters. "The opportunity doesn't last long."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-violence16mar16,1,6985118.story
U.N. fears violence will rise as U.S. troops leave
REPORT SAYS IT'S TOO EARLY TO TELL IF 'SURGE' EFFECT WAS SUSTAINABLE
By Ryan Lenz
Associated Press
Article Launched: 03/16/2008 01:43:26 AM PDT
BAGHDAD - The influx of thousands of U.S. forces has driven down insurgent attacks in Baghdad, but violence elsewhere in Iraq raises questions about whether killings will continue to drop as American forces begin to leave, the United Nations said Saturday.
As security improved in Baghdad, violent attacks spread last year to other parts of the country, including Diyala province and Mosul, Al-Qaida's last urban stronghold, according to the report from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. The report examined the last six months of 2007.
"This is a window of opportunity for Iraq," Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. chief in Iraq, said at a news conference in Baghdad.
The U.S. military has said a 60 percent reduction in attacks followed the influx of more than 20,000 additional troops, known as the surge. The military did not respond to requests for comment.
http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_8592123
Protesters rally across Canada to speak out against wars in Afghanistan, Iraq
20 hours ago
TORONTO — Thousands of protesters filled streets across the country on Saturday to speak out against Canada's military mission in Afghanistan and to mark the upcoming five-year anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.
Rallies were organized in 20 communities nationwide in a joint call for the federal government to recall its troops from Afghanistan and instead adopt a peacekeeping role, which protesters said is Canada's true calling.
"The majority of Canadians want the troops to come home now - shame on Parliament," said Diane Alexopoulos at a rally on the front lawn of the Ontario legislature in Toronto.
More than 1,000 demonstrators then marched a couple kilometres through busy stretches of the city, bewildering motorists, locals and tourists along the way.
Within the diverse crowd of different ethnicities and ages was father and son Kevin Barrett and six-year-old Caleb, who had to be convinced that nothing was wrong, even though a phalanx of police officers stood by ominously looking like they were ready to pounce.
"He was afraid they were going to shoot him," said Barrett, who stood on the sidelines for the march but was part of the protest.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j8fOijD0zIoCQuzh1ydgob47CilA
Iraq war off most Americans' radar, those who served say
In San Diego: Hundreds march to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. B3
By Steve Liewer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 16, 2008
Twenty minutes into the invasion of Iraq, Marine Sgt. Nathaniel Donnelly huddled with his men in the windowless rear of an armored vehicle as it rumbled across the Iraq-Kuwait border.
The roar of artillery pounded in their ears. Anxious officers chattered over the radio.
“We could hear everything, but we couldn't see anything. We had no control,” Donnelly said of the events of March 20, 2003. “It's probably the scariest moment of my life.”
Baghdad fell to U.S. forces after about six weeks of fighting. A few months later, Donnelly returned with his unit to Camp Pendleton and left the Marine Corps, thinking the war was won.
But the conflict is far from over. As the Iraq war nears its fifth anniversary, nearly as many military boots are on the ground in Iraq – 158,000 U.S. troops – as were there during the invasion.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20080316-9999-1n16iraq.html
500 protest Iraq war in Hollywood: police
03-15-2008, 22h27
LOS ANGELES (AFP)
More than 500 protestors marched against the Iraq war in Los Angeles Saturday, holding up coffins draped with the US flag and led by veterans from various conflicts.
Police said at least 500 people, most of them young, marched down Hollywood Boulevard in the tourist district of the US city, carrying banners denouncing President George W. Bush and calling for an end to the conflict.
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=220293&s=&i=&t=500_protest_Iraq_war_in_Hollywood:_police
Suicide bomber hits Kurdish party office in N Iraq, 11 wounded
www.chinaview.cn
2008-03-16 21:02:31
MOSUL, Iraq, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Eleven people were wounded in a suicide bomb attack and a following roadside bomb explosion outside the office of a Kurdish party in the city of Mosul on Sunday, a provincial police source said.
"A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up at about 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) in front of the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the al-Nabi Younis neighborhood in northeastern Mosul," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The attack resulted in the wounding of nine people, including one of the office guards, the source said.
Afterwards, a roadside bomber went off near a police patrol while heading to the site of the first bombing, destroying a police vehicle and wounding two policemen aboard, the source added.
The KDP is headed by Massoud Barzani, president of Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, there have been some demands from Kurdish parties that Nineveh province, including its capital Mosul, should be included in the Kurdish regional government.
Since then, Kurdish fighters have been moving into the city causing some tensions with majority Sunni Arab population.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/16/content_7801949.htm
Iraq's Baiji refinery hit by power outage
Sunday March 16 2008
BAIJI, Iraq, March 16 (Reuters) - A power cut shut down operations at Iraq's largest oil refinery on Sunday, officials at the plant said, adding it was unclear when work would resume.
The plant in Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, refines around 275,000 barrels of crude oil per day into gasoline, diesel and other products for the domestic market. Officials said exports were not affected by the incident.
"This morning at 8:15 work at the refinery was stopped completely because of the shutdown of electricity," said a senior official at the refinery.
An engineer at the plant said it was unclear when operations would resume.
A power cut halted production at the Baiji refinery in January, closing it for two days.
(Reporting by Sabah al-Dazi and Ahmed Rasheed, writing by Randy Fabi, editing by Jacqueline Wong)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7388918
Iraqi feel-good stories prove elusive
By Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 16, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Afew days after arriving in Iraq early this year, I followed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus on a walk through a marketplace on the capital's east side.
The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq didn't wear a helmet, and he gently scolded his security detail for encircling him. "I want to get close to people. They need to feel comfortable coming up to me," he told them.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-goodnews16mar16,0,7326562.story
Second production unit opens in Iraq's Najaf refinery
The Associated Press
Published: March 15, 2008
BAGHDAD: Iraq's oil minister opened an expansion to a refinery in Najaf on Saturday that increases capacity by roughly 10,000 barrels of oil per day.
The refinery, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, was constructed in October 2006 to help meet increasing needs in central Iraq for petroleum products, including kerosene. It currently produced about 20,000 barrels per day.
Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq's oil minister, also pledged further expansions across the country, including new refineries in Nasiriyah, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad, and Karbala, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad.
Iraq has the world's third-largest known crude oil reserves, with an estimated 115 billion barrels. Together the new refineries will be able to refine more than 450,000 barrels daily.
The inauguration comes as Iraq's government works to shore up lagging production caused by infrastructure that has been damaged or destroyed since the war began in 2003.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/15/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Oil-Refinery.php
Iraq refugee crisis 'deepening,' US experts say
4 days ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Squalid and dangerous conditions, lack of shelter and scarcity of food are threatening to worsen the living situation for those displaced by the war in Iraq, refugee experts said Tuesday.
Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, experts told a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing that serious problems persist for the 2.5 million people displaced inside Iraq and the two million who have fled to neighboring countries, according to UN figures.
Even though the number of new refugees has leveled off since the early years of the conflict, Ambassador Lawrence Foley said a prime concern is worsening poverty among those who sought shelter inside Iraq as well as in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.
"The most critical problem is increasing impoverishment," said Foley, senior coordinator for Iraqi refugee issues at the State Department.
Iraqis who live in foreign countries but do not possess residency permits are often forbidden to work, and so the longer they stay, the more likely they are to spend and deplete any remaining family resources, he said.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvUCPK-LOVyUlElUcc6552wRY4IA
Fleeing doctors threaten Iraq's health
'I came to the most comfortable, helpful, nicest people on this Earth. Oh my God, my patients, the nurses, the people . . . amazing'
DR. MOHAMMAD BARBOUTI about his welcome in Grand Bank, Nfld.
Like South Africa in the '70s, the best, and most needed, keep departing
Mar 16, 2008 04:30 AM
Andrew Chung
Staff Reporter
It was a cool spring day in Baghdad. Dr. Rafid al-Nassar and his wife, Dr. Rasha al-Manahi, were venturing out of their house to buy groceries, when gunmen in dark balaclavas drove up in a jet-black Daewoo.
In an instant, they had him on his knees and tied his hands; then they were dragging al-Manahi to the car. Both doctors were screaming, knowing she was about to be kidnapped. Luckily he'd been able to put down their 1 1/2-year-old son in the melee.
As they were pushing her into the car, a neighbour
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/346545
Red Crescent warns of a new wave of Iraqi refugees
By Salem Areef
Azzaman, March 15, 2008
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society is warning of a massive exodus if U.S. and Iraqi troops go ahead with plans to attack Mosul, the country’s second largest city with nearly 3.8 million people.
The northern city which is the capital of the Province of Nineveh has turned into a major stronghold for forces resisting U.S. occupation and elements of the al-Qadeda organization.
Tensions are high and violence has gripped the city in the past few months with at least one hundred houses destroyed and hundreds of people killed or injured.
Certain quarters are so violent that neither U.S. troops nor Iraqi forces are capable of entering.
But the society said it feared a joint attack in which units of Kurdish militias are to take part will lead to one of the largest waves of internally displace people the country has seen since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Hard pressed ethnic and religious minorities in the city have been leaving either to the Kurdish north or neighboring Syria.
Mosul is a predominantly Sunni Arab city and residents are apparently unhappy with the role U.S. occupation troops have given to Kurdish militia fighters.
The Arabs see Kurdish involvement in areas which have traditionally not been part of Iraqi Kurdistan with suspicious eyes.
Kurdish militias are now present in most villages and towns which are administratively part of Mosul as the center of Nineveh Province.
Some of these areas hold huge oil reserves like Ain Zala.
There are already about three million Iraqi refugees in neighboring states and more than two million others are displaced as a result of ongoing U.S. military operations and sectarian strife.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2008-03-15%5Ckurd.htm
A look at presidential candidates' views on Iraq war as fifth anniversary nears
The nature of the war in Iraq past the fifth anniversary will vary greatly whether a Democrat or Republican wins the presidency. Arizona Sen. John McCain has called for more American forces in Iraq, while Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama plan to start withdrawing troops soon after entering office.
http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1993300575
The costs of the Iraq war: A fall in U.S. power, prestige and influence
By Warren P. Strobel
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — It was a decision that only President Bush had the power to make: About 9 a.m. on March 19, 2003, in the Situation Room in the basement of the West Wing of the White House, he gave the “execute order” to begin Operation Iraqi Freedom, the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Now, five years later, the consequences of that act will soon be beyond Bush’s grasp. In 10 months, they’ll land on the desk of his successor.
Thanks in part to the Iraq war, the next U.S. president — Republican or Democrat, black or white, man or woman — will take office with America’s power, prestige and popularity in decline, according to bipartisan reports, polls and foreign observers.
“The winner of the 2008 elections will command U.S. forces still at war in Iraq, Afghanistan and against elusive terrorists with a deadly reach. The U.S. economy will remain burdened. ... America’s moral leadership and decision-making competence will continue to be questioned,” begins a study of foreign-policy choices for the next president, which a Georgetown University task force released last month.
“Restored respect will come only with fresh demonstrations of competence,” the study said.
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/03/16/news/04war16.txt
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