3 US Troops Killed;
Bomber Kills 9;
US Bombing Raids Up 5 Times
In the small town of Khan Bani Saad in Diyala Province east of Baghdad, a woman suicide bomber killed 9 Shiites and wounded 15 at a market just before a major religious holiday.
Meanwhile, in nearby Salahuddin Province, guerrillas deployed small arms fire to kill 3 US troops:
' SALAHUDDIN PROVINCE - Three U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded by small arms fire during operations in Iraq's northern Salahuddin province on Wednesday, the U.S. military said. . .
Baghdad and 10 other provinces will be under a vehicle or other sort of curfew beginning Thursday because of the Shiite holy days of the month of Muharram and the danger that radical Sunni guerrillas will inflame sectarian passions by attacking at that time.
Patrick Cockburn reports that poppy cultivation for opium production is spreading rapidly in Diyala Province, and that the profits are fueling narco-terrorism because the fields are controlled by the Salafi Jihadis. American rule of Iraq is like the four horses of the apocalypse.
The US military dropped five times as many bombs on Iraq in 2007 as it had in 2006. Human Rights Watch is worried about the impact on civilian casualties.
McClatchy reports political violence for Wednesday in Iraq:
' Baghdad: Six civilians were injured in two IEDs that targeted the civilians in Nahrawan district southeast Baghdad around 7,00 am.
Around 7,30, gunmen driving a car threw a grenade nearby Sardar car lot near the high way in Nahdha neighborhood east Baghdad. No casualties were reported.
Two civilians were killed and ten others were injured in an IED explosion in Waziriyah neighborhood east Baghdad around 8,00 am.
the American army base in Shaab neighborhood north Baghdad was targeted today with three mortar shells today morning. the US aconfirmed the news about the attack saying that the attack didnt cause any injuries or deaths.
Three civilians were injured in three IEDs explosions in Palestine Street east Baghdad around 9,30 am.
Two mortar shells hit the green zone downtown Baghdad around 7,00 pm. No casualties were reported.
Police found five anonymous bodies in Baghdad . . .
Kirkuk: The police of Khurmato town south of Kirkuk city found a body of a civilian today morning. Police said that the body was of a man named Najeeb Lateef Mohammed who was kidnapped by gunmen yesterday night adding that sings of torture was obvious on the body.
A policeman was injured in an IED explosion that targeted a police patrol on Baghdad Kirkuk Street south of Kirkuk city today morning. . .
[Ninevah]: The spokesman of the police in [Ninevah] province north of Baghdad said that five civilians were injured when a suicide car attacked a patrol of the MNF in al Malyah neighborhood east Mosul city today afternoon.
Six civilians were injured in clashes between the Iraqi army and gunmen in al Noor neighborhood northeast Mosul city today afternoon. '
The Arabic text of the "Accountability and Justice Law" passed by parliament last weekend is now available at the Iraqi parliament site in pdf form. The general parliament URL is www. parliament. iq.
Barnett Rubin has made a series of very important postings on Afghanistan at our Global Affairs blog. Scroll down for his comments last Saturday on the opium problem in Afghanistan, which now may spread to Iraq.
At the Napoleon's Egypt blog, an important long letter by Poussielgue on the dire straits of the French army after Bonaparte abandoned them in Egypt.
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 1/17/2008 12:30:00 AM
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11 Comments:
Dan Froomkin quotes ABC News on Bush complaining about how misunderstood he is: "I mean, my image [is]: 'Bush wants to fight Muslims.' "
I'd just like to note that he didn't start out with that being his stereotypical image. Bush developed that image over time. He might start fixing it by demonstrating less enthusiasm for starting up hostilities with Iran while he's got two other wars on his plate.
Five times as many bombs - guided, presumably, by info or disinfo from our "allies" the 'awakening councils', all of whom presumably have their own agendas.
It's possible that they are all appropriately targetted. God knows history shows us that when we recruit proxies, they always provide reliable and disinterested information (snark).
Curious that two nations occupied by the U.S. military, and thus with access to frequent air travel to what is undoubtedly the world's biggest market for illegal opiates, have growing problems with cultivation of poppies.
This is not a comment on today's subjects, but I am hoping my open letter below will be read by many who visit your blog. Thanks
PAKISTAN - AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH
Mr. President
Musharraf has sacked 60 Supreme Court and High Court judges in Pakistan many of whom are under house arrest, prevented from speaking in public. He has done this in violation of the constitution in order to prevent the judiciary from rendering a decision on his eligibility as a candidate. Mr. President, can you get away with sacking Supreme Court and other senior judges in the United States, I am sure not. Then why are you supporting Musharraf?
If eligible, Musharraf should have presented himself as a candidate for President to the new parliament after the general elections. But fearing a new parliament may not be friendly to him, he has manipulated a vote from the outgoing parliament in violation of the constitution. Mr. President, can you get away with such constitution violations in the United States, I am sure not. Then why are you supporting Musharraf?
In a recent public opinion survey in Pakistan 70% of the people said they do not want Musharraf to continue after an eight-year rule. According to a recent Gallup Poll, more than 50% of Pakistanis think that their Government has something to do with Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Mr. President, then why are you supporting Musharraf?
Over the last eight years Musharraf has played a double game to make himself indispensable to Washington. On the one hand he has acted against the Taliban and on the other he has molly coddled religious extremists. The arming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad and later an attack on it was part of this game plan, just to show Washington what can happen if he is no longer in charge. This dangerous game has resulted in spread of religious extremism in Pakistan. So much so that most of the Frontier Province and parts of Baluchistan Province are now ungovernable and in the hands of extremists. This double game has caused enormous security problems in Pakistan. While intelligence agencies are busy propping up his regime, suicide bombers roam freely. Mr. President, can you get away with such behavior in the U.S., I am sure not. Then why are you supporting Musharraf?
The people of Pakistan long for democracy. They want free and fair elections, which are not possible under Musharraf’s authoritarian regime. They know that leaders they elect now may not be ideal, but they want the electoral process to work so corrupt and incompetent politicians are ultimately cast aside and new leadership emerges. Mr. President, you preach democracy for Iraq and other countries, then why are you supporting Musharraf’s authoritarian regime and preventing the democratic process to work in Pakistan.
Mr. President, please stop interfering in Pakistan’s internal affairs and let the democratic process go forward. It is a fallacy that an elected government will not curb extremists. Quite the opposite is true. A fairly elected government will be empowered to deal with extremists far more effectively than a tired dictator. People of Pakistan are fed up of extremism. They want to get on with their lives and build a future for their children.
I'd like to point readers and Dr Cole to an overlooked remark Bush made in the Nightline interview the other night: "If they [Saudis] don't have a lot of additional oil to put on the market, it is hard to ask somebody to do something they may not be able to do."
Several people, not I, noticed this and it became the basis for discussion at theoildrum.com, http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3514
There's much commentary on the meaning of Bush's remark, some quite perceptive and telling. IMO, it verifies what T. Boone Pickens said late last year at the ASPO-USA Conference in Houston and later repeated when asked during a football halftime interview by Brent Musberger: We're not going to get more than 85Mbpd of oil out of the ground--Oil extraction has peaked. The implications of this for past and current events ought to be clear. That our very bleak energy future isn't a topic of debate in the primaries or noted by M$M raises various questions about the sort of change being talked about.
Ideology is what kills regimes and parties. Whatever happened to Pragmatism? The salafis war on shia in Iraq is by far the stupidest tactic i have ever encountered. Bin Laden my friend, you dont liberate a country by excommunicating 75% of its inhabitants. And as for the Iranians, why are they risking self destruction in the name of protecting sunnis (palestinians with a documentated love for shia killers like zarqawi and saddam) from an Israel with whom it shares no borders???
And dont even get me started on the US's ideologically driven catastrophe that is Iraq.
Whatever happened to common sense?
How do u know the bomber was a woman, i couldnt see that in the article. it is late though.
Dr Cole:
The 'Napoleon' thing is charming, but you have never shown any relationship with the odd Western powers' modern relationship with the authoritarians running things in the ME today.
Can you lighten up? 19th C history is now so long ago as to be entertaining. Back then, it was just as grotesque and ghastly as current news.
WWI was no fun. WWII was no fun.
Tell that to GenX. They're clueless.
Welcome to human memory.
Why would salafis be growing drugs? Nobody denies that drugs are haram. (I know it sounds odd, but drugs are less controversial than whether its OK to fight foreign occupiers)
I'm also confused why the Taliban is OK with the drug scene also.
Why would salafis be growing drugs? Nobody denies that drugs are haram. (I know it sounds odd, but drugs are less controversial than whether its OK to fight foreign occupiers)
I'm also confused why the Taliban is OK with the drug scene also.
Money talks, my friend, money talks.
to anonymous...
human history is a social construct... the past certainly existed but the current interpretation must be fashioned... necessarily so.
Cole is working to achieve a useful social memory....
as he should
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