According to BBC television, AFP is reporting that Mahdi Army militiamen killed 2 US troops in northern Baghdad on Wednesday morning. US Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates admitted on Tuesday that the reduction in US troop casualties in recent months had ended in the past few weeks, because of the fighting in Sadr City in the capital. Over 40 US troops have been killed in April. Gates also brandished a second aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf at Iran, which the US accuses of supplying the Mahdi Army with arms that are used against US troops. Recent US press reporting in the New York Times and elsewhere has raised questions about the allegation. Sadr spokesman Salah al-Obeidi (al-Ubaydi) in Najaf bitterly attacked Iran, accusing it of seeking to share with the US in influence over Iraq. He pointed to the Iranian’s regime’s failure to condemn the long-term mutual security agreement being crafted by the Bush administration and the al-Maliki government. Al-Obeidi’s angry denunciation suggests that Iran is backing PM Nuri al-Maliki and his current chief ally, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim against the Sadr Movement of Muqtada al-Sadr.
The sandstorm continued in Baghdad on Tuesday, and so did the fierce fighting between the US military and the Shiite Mahdi Army (paramilitary of the Sadr Movement), leaving 37 dead and 6 US soldiers wounded. The dead were said to include 9 civilians, including 3 women and a child. The sandstorm was an essential context for the fighting, since it prevented the US from deploying helicopter gunships and so left a ground patrol vulnerable to militia attack. The Mahdi Army was apparently attempting to prevent further US wall-building in the Shiite slum. Snipers also shot at US troops from rooftops. It is hard to believe that such complex assaults (involving a combination of ambush, small arms, and roadside bombs) are still going on after 5 years of US military occupation of the capital. AFP reports:
‘Several rockets or mortar rounds . . . struck the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified government compound, as militants took advantage of the absence of US air cover during the storm, witnesses said. In one of the most intense firefights in weeks, the American soldiers killed 28 militants in Sadr City, stronghold of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the military said. Four US soldiers were also wounded in the fighting that began at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT). The fighting erupted when a US patrol was targeted with small-arms fire that wounded one soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover told AFP. As the soldier was being evacuated, a US vehicle was struck by two roadside bombs, small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. The “complex” attack damaged the vehicle and wounded three other soldiers, Stover said, adding that another US vehicle was later damaged by a third roadside bomb. The US military said its soldiers defended themselves and “killed 28 militants in a four-hour” battle. Residents said US forces also launched two air strikes in the area which heavily damaged four houses. Pictures taken by an AFP photographer showed a number of bodies buried under the debris of the four houses. But Stover denied that aircraft had been used. The sandstorm had largely grounded US helicopters. Instead he said US troops used heavy rockets against the militants.’
Up in the oil city of Kirkuk, the focus of competition between Kurdish Peshmerga on the one hand and Arab and Turkmen guerrillas on the other, “around the oil city of Kirkuk four people were killed and 15 wounded in two bomb attacks.”
Gunmen killed the director of the projects in the ministry of labour and social affairs Dheya al Jodi while he was leaving his house in Atifiyah neighborhood in north Baghdad around 7:00 a.m.
Around 1:00 p.m. two mortar shells hit al Jaish club building (the Army Club) in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad. No casualties reported. Another mortar shell slammed into the area near the neurosurgery hospital in Bab al Sharj neighborhood in downtown Baghdad at the same time. No casualties reported.
Two civilians were injured when a mortar shell hit al Muheet Street in Kadhemiyah neighborhood north Baghdad around 2,45 p.m.
Three civilians were injured when a mortar shell slammed into a house in Karrad Maryam neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 3:00 p.m.
Two civilians were killed and five others were wounded when a Katyosha rocket hit New Baghdad neighborhood in east Baghdad around 3:15 p.m.
Diyala
A female suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest detonated herself among members of Sahwa (awakening council members) in Abo Saida village north of Baquba city around 7:50 a.m. one sahwa member was killed and five others were wounded
Three members of the Iraqi army were injured when a roadside bomb targeted their vehicle in Baladroz district east of Baquba city around 10:30 a.m.
Three civilians were killed in three attacks by insurgents in three different neighborhoods in Jalawla town northeast of Baquba city around 11:15 a.m.
The director of Sadiyah town Samir al Sadi was injured in an IED explosion that targeted his convoy while he was leaving the building of the directorate in downtown Sadiyah town around 12:20 p.m. one of the guards were killed and two other civilians were injured.
The supporting office of Qazanya district tribes east of Baquba found six unidentified bodies in a deserted house in one of the villages of Qazanya.
Nineveh
A suicide truck bomb tried to attack one of the centers of the Iraqi army in Nahrawan neighborhood in west Mosul city around 7:00 a.m. the soldiers launched an RBG7 shell and exploded the truck before it could reach the center. The driver of the truck was killed and an Iraqi soldier was injured.
An Iraqi soldier was killed and five others were injured when a suicide car bomb attacked their check point in al Yarmouk neighborhood in west Mosul on Tuesday afternoon. ‘
Baghdad has been roiled for the past three days with major fighting between Iraqi government/ US forces and the Mahdi Army militia in east and north Baghdad, leaving 45 militiamen dead and an unstated number of Iraqi troops. At one point on Sunday, the a Mahdi Army company nearly took a government checkpoint in the northeast, and the US had to bring in a tank to save the Iraqi army unit.
Guerrillas launched numerous mortar and katyusha rocket attacks on Monday. Reuters reports: “A mortar round landed behind the Rashid Hotel in the Green Zone government compound, wounding five people including a child, police said . . . Five people were wounded in a mortar attack in Abu Nawas street in central Baghdad . . . Three mortar bombs landed on a police station in Jazair district, eastern Baghdad, wounding three policemen . . . A mortar blast wounded one person in the Mansour district, western Baghdad . . .”
The alleged flow of arms from Iran to south Iraq has not in fact increased in recent months (and my own suspicion is that US authorities mistake some black market arms selling for Iranian-government supplied weaponry). So why does the Bush administration and Pentagon stridency about Iran go up an down without reference to any facts on the ground? Seems to me that they deploy charges against Iran in an Orwellian way, as a tool of diplomatic pressure, when it suits them.
McClatchy profiles Brg. Gen. Qassem Suleimani of the Quds Force within the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. It is a good story, but it reflects the breathlessness of Green Zone conspiracy theories. For instance, some American alleged to the reporters that Suleimani engineered the victory of the Shiite religious parties in January 2005 over Iyad Allawi. Allawi had been appointed by the US, was an ex-Baathist, and a known CIA asset. He was defeated by a coalition list of Shiite parties that had struggled against Saddam Hussein and were endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Attributing their defeat of Allawi to the Quds Force is just silly. Likewise, the allegations of extensive Iranian spying on Iraq or of bringing in “Hizbullah” from Lebanon (for which there is no good evidence) are unproved and the premise is unnecessary. If the Badr Corps was until recently part of the Iranian military, as the authors concede, then you don’t need to posit a lot of phantom Iranian agents who are providing intelligence on Iraq to Tehran. Badr, Ahmad Chalabi, and other supposed US assets are double agents, guys. If Iraq were crawling with Iranian agents, the US would have more Iranians in custody than it does (last I knew, it was like 5 diplomats).
AFP draws aside the curtain on the micro-economy of the struggle between the Islamic State of Iraq of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and local clans in Iskandariya south of Baghdad, which centered on the region’s fish farms. The article also gives evidence that al-Baghdadi, who the US military maintains is a fictive personality created by foreign fighters to give themselves Iraqi legitimacy, is a real Iraqi person with a history in the Iskandariya area. The US is mostly fighting Iraqis in Iraq, but is reluctant to have this fact become known.
The US Pentagon is suspending a campaign to influence the retired military talking heads who come on television in the US, after the NYT blew the whistle on it. Reuters notes: “Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, also said some of the analysts appeared to be working for defense contractors, raising a potential conflict of interest.” You always suspected these things about corporate media coverage of Iraq, but seeing it in cold black and white is bracing. I have more than once been put opposite some sunshine peddler on radio or television and wondered whether the person was on the take.
- Around 11 pm Sunday, 4 mortar shells hit the Green Zone (IZ) in central Baghdad. No casualties reported.
- Around midnight, 3 mortars hit the intelligence headquarters in Baladiyat neighborhood (east Baghdad). No casualties reported.
- Around 3 am, three mortar shells hit Mamil neighborhood. Five people were injured in that incident.
- Around 8 am, a mortar hit the Green Zone (IZ) in central Baghdad. No casualties reported.
- Around 10 am, a mortar hit the area beyond the Sa’aa restaurant at Mansour neighborhood (west Baghdad). Two civilians were injured in that incident.
- Around 1 pm, 3 mortar shells hit Al-Jazaer police station in Sadr city. Three policemen were injured with some damage to the building.
- Around 1:30pm, An American warplane targeted a Hino truck which was carrying Katyusha missiles at Al-Qanat street (east Baghdad). Two people were injured in that incident.
- Around 2 pm, a motor bicycle bomb targeted Sahwa members (also known as Sons of Iraq). One member was killed and three others were injured.
- Around 2 :15 pm, a roadside bomb targeted a civilian car (Toyota Pick up ) which was carrying technicians employees of the power supply service on the high way of Nahdha neighborhood (north Baghdad).Three of the employees were injured in that incident.
- Around 2:30 pm, a roadside bomb targeted the Sahwa members check point at Adhamiyah neighborhood (north Baghdad) near Qasim Abu Al-Ghas restaurant .Three members were injured in that incident.
- Around 4:30 pm, a Katyusha missile hit Al-Sadeer hotel in Karrada neighborhood (central Baghdad).No casualties or damage recorded as it was in the garden of this hotel.
- Around 5 pm, a mortar shell hit an area behind the Rashid hotel in the green zone (IZ) which is a residential compound .Five people were injured in that incident including a child.
- Around 5 :30 pm, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in Amil neighborhood (west Baghdad) .No casualties reported on the American side .While we have four civilians injured in that incident including a child and woman.
- Police found 6 dead bodies in Baghdad today: 4 were found in Karkh bank of Baghdad ; 1 in Kadhimiyah, 1 in Hurriyah, 1 in Dora and 1 in Yarmouk. While 2 were found in east Baghdad (Risafa bank); 1 in Ur and 1 in Jisr Diyala.
Diyala
- Around 4:30 pm, gunmen of the Qaeda attacked Al-Bayjat village (south of Baquba ). The residents of the village who join the Sahwas (Sons of Iraq) councils resisted them and killed five gunmen including a leader.
Kirkuk
- Sunday night, gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi army soldier at Tuz Khurmatu (south of Kirkuk).The soldier was killed at once and the gunmen ran away.
Basra
- Before noon, gunmen killed a Sadrist leader at Timimiyah neighborhood downtown Basra. Also his wife was injured as she was with him walking home. ‘
The campaign appears to have been launched in part to protect the Green Zone (site of government offices and the US embassy) from incoming mortar fire. Nevertheless, on Sunday as a sandstorm descended on the capital, the Green Zone faced a barrage of mortar fire:
‘ Thunderous explosions resounded throughout the evening as rockets or mortar shells slammed into the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad. . .
Sirens wailed in the Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and much of the Iraqi government on the west side of the Tigris River. The public address system warned people to “duck and cover” and stay away from windows.
The U.S. Embassy confirmed the area was hit by indirect fire, the military’s term for rocket or mortar attacks, but said it had no immediate word on casualties.’
There were also clashes between forces loyal to the al-Maliki government and Mahdi Army militiamen in parts of Baghdad.
The USG Open Source Center translates a sermon of Shaykh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbala’i from last Friday. His remarks indicate his discomfort, despite being a supporter of the al-Maliki government, both with the planned Bush-al-Maliki ‘agreement’ on US-Iraqi relations (which many Iraqis fear will detract from Iraqi sovereignty) and with the al-Maliki- US campaign against Sadr City (which he blames on the lawlessness of the Mahdi Army):
‘ “Shaykh Abd-al-Mahdi al-Karbala’i, imam and preacher of Friday sermon in Karbala, said that the long-term agreement, which will be signed with the United States, should not conflict with national sovereignty. He urged the officials to take the sensitivity of this issue into consideration.”
Al-Karbala’i says: “We hope that the Iraqi officials will be very alert to the sensitivity and seriousness of the unresolved issues in these talks. These issues affect the Iraqi sovereignty in the security, political, and judicial fields. The brothers should pay attention to the sensitivity and seriousness of these unresolved issues, which would perhaps shackle the Iraqi people, the current government, and the coming Iraqi governments in a way that encroaches on the sovereignty of the country and people in these important aspects. Any loss in Iraq’s sovereignty should not be accepted, whether in the security, political, or judicial fields.”
The report says: “In his Friday sermon, Al-Karbala’i called on the government to take urgent measures to alleviate the suffering of Al-Sadr City’s citizens who were harmed by the outlaws’ crimes.” ‘
- Two roadside bombs targeted an Iraqi Army foot patrol near Filis restaurant in Mansour, downtown Baghdad killing 1 officer, injuring 4 servicemen and 2 civilians.
- Roadside bomb targeted a US military convoy in al-Amin neighbourhood, east Baghdad. No casualties were reported.
- A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber targeted a National Police patrol in Shaab Stadium intersection killing 3, injuring 14 both civilians and police.
- Clashes broke out between security forces and gunmen in Um al-Maalif, Bayaa district, southwest Baghdad late Saturday, and continued through the night. 1 civilian was killed, 15 were injured, 4 of whom were children.
- A roadside bomb targeted a US military convoy near the Assyrian Party headquarters in Zayuna, east Baghdad. No casualties were reported.
- Around 4 pm, 3 mortars hit the industrial compound in Amil neighborhood(west Baghdad) .One person was killed and 7 others were injured. Later,Clashes took place in the neighborhood which became in a siege till the time of having this report posted .
- Around 4 pm, 3 mortars hit Baladiyat neighborhood (east Baghdad) targeting Wahran intermediate school .Five people were injured in that incident.
- Around 5 pm, a car bomb targeted an Iraqi patrol at Jamaa neighborhood (west Baghdad) near Mulla Hweesh mosque .One soldier was killed and eight others were injured including 5 civilians .
- Around 4:30 till 6 pm, eight mortars shells and rockets hit the green zone (IZ) downtown Baghdad. No casualties reported.
- Around 5 pm, 6 mortars hit Kadhimiyah neighborhood (north Baghdad)at Al-Muheet street .One person was killed and 6 others were injured.
- Police found 6 dead bodies in Baghdad today: 4 were found in east Baghdad(Risafa bank) ; 3 were in Ameen and 1 was in Mashtal . While 2 were found in west Baghdad (Karkh bank); 1 was in Dora and 1 was Bayaa.
Nineveh
- A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest targeted an Iraqi Police patrol in Qassim al-Khayat Square, downtown Mosul at 8 pm Saturday, killing 6, 4 of them civilians and injuring 5, 3 of them civilians.
- Gunmen killed 1 civilian in al-Maash market, central Mosul at 8 am.
- In the morning, a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol at Al-Zihour neighborhood (east Mosul).Two civilians were injured in that incident.
- Before noon, gunmen opened fire one of the houses in Al-Quds neighborhood in downtown Mosul city. Two people were killed in that incident (a woman and a man ).
Diyala
- A roadside bomb targeted one of the headquarters of the Popular Committees at Mualmeen neighborhood in central Baquba. Three people were injured in that incident.
- A mass grave was uncovered in an orchard in al-Gubba area, al-Abbara district, 15 km to the north of Baquba at 2.15 Sunday by Iraqi Army and Sahwa council members. The mass grave contained 50 bodies in an advanced state of decomposition.
Kirkuk
- A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in al-Quds Street, al-Tiseen neighbourhood, south Kirkuk city on Saturday. The explosion injured 3 policemen.
Tikrit
- 1 woman killed,2 men and 2 children injured in an explosion of a car bomb in al-Qadisiyah neighbourhood, northeast Samaraa city, 120 km to the north of Baghdad. The car was parked near some concrete blast walls and was detonated by remote control at 1.30pm.
- Around 9:30 pm, gunmen opened fire on two police officers in downtown Tikrit .Police announced a curfew in the city till a further notice.
Anbar
- At dawn , 9 gunmen attacked Al-Khaldiyah police station(25 km east of Ramadi) with light and mid weapons . One gunman was killed and two others were injured who were captured by police with the rest of the group when police opened fire on them. Also two policemen were injured in that incident. ‘
The other two parts of Bill Moyers’ interview with Reverend Wright are below.
Journalism should be about explaining things and setting them in context, not about ‘gotcha’ moments. As the Web becomes better at video, we bloggers will set up our own networks, and people thirsty for the real back story will come to our sites. (Big Corporate Media knows this, which is why they want to kill the internet by getting rid of Net Neutrality). Moyers is one of the few major interviewers who eschews the gotcha for real news. Our country would be much impoverished without him.
US politicians who keep saying that Afghanistan is the good war would be well advised to consider whether the mission there is actually clear, whether it can be accomplished, and whether it is worth blood and treasure. Afghanistan is an enormous, rugged country riven with tribal and ethnic rivalries, and standing up a strong central state friendly to US and European interests is not going to be easy.
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