Us And Iraq Troops Are Mounting Major

13 Killed in Hibhib
US-Iraqi Operation in Samarra’

US and Iraq troops are mounting a major operation in the northern Sunni Arab city of Samarra, intending to uproot the “Islamic State of Iraq,” which sympathizes with the goals of al-Qaeda. The city has witnessed two major attacks on an crucial Shiite shrine that have contributed to destabilizing the rest of the country, and recently guerrillas assassinated the mayor.

On the spinning of US military deaths in Iraq for the corporate media, the intrepid Brian Whitaker gets it.

Gareth Porter casts doubt on the allegations that the Iranian government planned out the Karbala raid on US troops, showing the process whereby innuendo became established as fact.

Paul Kraig and David Schorr argue that the focus of US policy in Iraq should be to limit the fall-out to the region of having a failed state in Iraq.

McClatchy reports that police found 24 bodies in Baghdad’s streets on Thursday. Of Diyala, it reports, “Around 11.30 am, a suicide car bomb targeted a police check point at Hashimiyat area ( 20 km north of Baquba) killing four policemen and injuring three others. Four people were also killed including the head of Hibhib communications department with some members of his family.”

Reuters reports on political violence in Iraq on Thursday. Major incidents:

‘ BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber drove a car bomb into a police station in the northern town of Hibhib as recruits lined up to join the police force, killing 13 people, police said.

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi army killed 11 insurgents and arrested 35 in Iraq in the last 24 hours, the army said in a statement.

KIRKUK – Police found the bodies of five brothers, all day labourers, who had been kidnapped near al-Rashaad district 40 km southwest of Kirkuk a day earlier. A sixth brother, six or seven years old, was found nearby unharmed.

TIKRIT – U.S. soldiers discovered a mass grave on July 31 near the village of Muhbabiya in Diyala province north of Baghdad that contained 17 bodies, including those of women, children and elderly people, the U.S. military said. All were believed to be Sunnis. Villagers blamed al Qaeda militants. . .

JBELA – Three people were killed and two wounded in clashes between a tribe and insurgents in the town of Jbela 65 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad. An Iraqi army patrol responding to the incident was hit by a roadside bomb that wounded two soldiers, police said. . .

BASRA – A roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two others when it targeted their patrol near the southern city of Basra on Wednesday, the U.S. military said. . .’

—-
More material on Iran & the Palestinian Authority, at our group blog..

At the Napoleon in Egypt blog, more of that PBS documentary on his life.