Gorilla’s Guides

Note to Americans they don’t hate you for your freedoms they hate you for starving, maiming, and murdering their children.

This posting is available for download as a PDF follow this link to get the PDF: 2007 Year In Review June 1st to June 29th

June 1, 2007

• “Well done I hope you’re fucking proud of yourselves”

June 2, 2007

Summary:

• Despite a heavy American presence the curfews that the Americans and greenzone goverernment troops attempted to impose there has been renewed very heavy fighting between armed groups in Amiriyah, Baghdad.
• In a major escalation of the campaign to destroy key bridges throughout Irak bombers destroyed about half of the Sahra bridge over the the al-Adham river near Touz Kourmatu
• British forces will withdraw from their occupation of Irak by the end of this year.
• In the second such incident this week an armed group kidnapped today Saturday, three greenzone government soldiers from the Facilities Protection Service in an armed ambush south west of Kirkuk.
• Green zone government security during the past 48 hours, have seen 11 of their number killed, including one officer, and 15 others wounded, including one officer in combat missions in Baghdad.

Scenes From An Iraki Childhood - Diyala

1. Mohammed Mahmoud Azzawi was 11-years-old. He was killed on Saturday, June 2, 2007 by a U.S airstrike this morning on the Al-mafraq district of central Baqubah. He was one of the 3 civilians killed. Five other civilians were wounded the Joint Coordination Center said. The lady mourning over his body is his grandmother.
2. A mother kisses her son’s forehead in Baqubah hospital Saturday June 2nd 2007. The boy was one of five civilians wounded by a U.S airstrike this morning on the Al-mafraq district of central Baqubah.

   

3. Two other children Karim Suhail Abedand, and Jassim Khalaf who were cousins were killed the photograph at the link shows there mothers mourning over there blanket wrapped corpses at Baqubah morgue.

June 3, 2007

• IRAQ: Local tribes in south set up schools

June 4 2007

“It seems to me sometimes that even the memory of happiness is gone from my life. But today I was going through Firdous Square. I saw the photograph to the right being taken and stood and watched the children play in the waters of the fountain in front of the Mosque.

For a while today while I watched I remembered happiness and was happy.”

• Summary June 4 2007:
• The political war of words between Turkey and the Kurds continued to heat up today.
• Iraki Muslim scholars held a conference at which they founded an organisation to promote Muslim and Iraki unity.
• Twenty eight bodies were discovered in Baghdad.
• 76 unidentified and unclaimed bodies were buried brought from a morgue in Baghdad and buried in al-Wadi al-Jadid bringing the total of such funerals in al-Wadi al-Jadid since May 2006 to 2560.
• There is yet another operation being mounted to pacify al-Fadil in central Baghdad.
• 8 green zone government soldiers and 4 green zone government police have been wounded.
• Two civilians killed and the wounding of ten others in a bomb in Zafaraniyah. Two brothers shot dead in Zafaraniyah.
• Abdullah al-Aadhab the local leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq armed group and his deputy killed in a raid in Adhamiya northern Baghdad.
• In Kirkuk the city’s police force detained a gang of three members accused of abduction and murder and freed the gang’s hostages. One of the three gang members is a policeman
• In Basrah the “permanence” of the British “reforms” of the police was clearly demonstated by an announcement from the green zone government interior ministry that they were forming a new police regiment of 250 members to be recruited: “under the [procedural] controls in place at the Ministry of Interior.”
• A suicide truck bomber attacked the home of local police brigadier Brigadier Ali Attallah near Mosul wounded 11 people in the attack including two of the Brigadier’s nephews.

The founding conference for the Union of Muslim Scholars in Iraq, which was held in Baghdad under the title “Muslim scholars unity symbol for Iraqi people unity” and attended by more than 130 religious character, including Sunnis, Shiites and Kurdish leaders, agreed to leave the union membership open for all Iraqi scholars .

The so-called Islamic Army released a video of the two captured American soldiers. A speaker on the video said:

“Fearing the occupying army will continue its searches, harming our Muslim brothers … (the Islamic State in Iraq) decided to settle the matter and announced the news of their killing to cause bitterness to God’s enemies”

The American army of occupation said it is studying the video. I have uploaded three screengrabs from the video which you can see by clicking the links or the thumbnails in the list below. The files are large and may take time to load on a slow connection. They are sufficiently large to be able to clearly read the text in the documents which appear to me to be authentic.

Screen grab 1:

Masked fighters standing in front of a chart.

Click here or click the thumbnail to see full size.

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Screen grab 2:

Part of what appears to be an identification document with signature shown. Click here or click the thumbnail to see full size.

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Screen grab 3:

What appear to be Geneva Convention identification documents for the two captured soldiers. Click here or click the thumbnail to see full size.
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• IRAQ: Reporters Without Borders calls for special unit to protect journalists

June 5, 2007

 

Christ On a Crutch

I despise him root and branch. He exemplifies everything that’s gone disastrously wrong with the U.S.A and her armed services. If you want the perfect example of the callously criminal way in which the U.S government, armed forces, and yes her most of her people regard Irak and her people - oh yes sand niggers are people, didn’t you know? Major General William B. Caldwell IV is it. I talked a bit about him and his appreciaton of art on the old site:

• Iraq: Situation continues to worsen, local governorates overwhelmed - UNHCR | Iraq
• Irak’s Exodus Of Pain

June 5, 2007 Continued:

Summary:

• The petroleum workers strike in Wasit is escalating.
• 33 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad today. Thus, the total number unidentified corpses that were found in Baghdad since the start of June  until now is 119 was found. Last month the month May 2007 were found a total of 750 unidentified bodies in Baghdad alone.
• The green zone government and parliament both talked tough.
• An American armoured patrol has been bombed in al Amil.
• Also in al Amil the American invaders raided the green zone government police station
• And the American AP news agency finally got around to noticing that the Americans are bombing Iraki civilians from the air again.

June 7, 2007

• Aswat Al Iraq Journalist Murdered In Mosul
• Voices of Iraq (VOI) correspondent Sahar Hussein al-Haydari was killed on Thursday afternoon in al-Hadbaa neighborhood in Mosul by unidentified gunmen.
• Minutes after they left their home, nearby bombings sent shrapnel flying at the family, injuring his three daughters Arsalan, 14, Suzan, 12 and Ban, 9.

Reports from Irak June 7 2007 Summarised From Arabic

Summary:

• Green zone government prime minister Maliki tried to shore up te Diwaniyah peace agreement yesterday.
• Aswat Al Iraq’s correspondent in Mosul has been murdered.
• University lecturers in Karbala University are to be assigned bodyguards and given weapons permits to protect themselve.
• 7 university students all of the Obeidis were kidnapped near Khalis.
• Two bombings in Sadr City killed at least 5 and wounded at least 15.
• Also in Baghdad green zone government guards ran out of ammunition during an attack on their building in Bai’ia - they were rescued by residents who joined in the fighting and chased the attackers away.
• Yacoub Yousef’s body along with those of his 3 sons have been found - he was accountant in the port company in Basrah
• A child was wounded in crossfire between green zone government forces and gunmen who set up a fake checkpoint in Babil governorate. The body of an investigating magistrate has been found.

June 8, 2007

• Al Sadr’s Interview
• Qurnah Market Bombing:

  Fatah Basha Mosque Destroyed In Second Bombing Attack

  The bombing toll of the double bombing of the mosques and Husseiniyah in  Kirkuk has risen to five dead and 26 wounded  45 casualties. 19 people are dead 26 wounded (Earlier reports gave lower casualties.) The bombings both targeted worshippers at Shiite mosques south of Kirkuk.

  Two police commanders killed a third wounded

  Police commander’s family abducted

June 9, 2007

• Water Crisis Hits Baghdad

June 10, 2007

• IRAQ: Iraq’s displacement crisis continues to worsen, UNHCR says

June 11, 2007

• Bridge Bombing Campaign Escalates Further

June 12, 2007

• The “Iraq Without Violence Network” have released their report on Monday on violence against civilians in Irak during the first five months of this year. The report makes for grim reading.
• IRAQ: NGO warns of rising rates of child labour

June 13, 2007

• Reports From Irak June 13 2007 Summarised From Arabic - Askariya Shrine Attack
• The Al-Askariya Shrine in Samarra one of the most sacred sites for Shiite Muslims in the world was bombed again today. The shrine had recently had responsibility for its protection transferred to special troops of the Ministry of The Interior. (Source: link to Arabic language report ) The shrine contains the tombs of the 10th Shi’ite Imam Ali l-Hadi (”the guided”) and his son Hassan al-Askari the 11th Shiite imam. The shrine is connected to the shrine of the 12th Shi’te Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi, known as the “hidden imam,” Many Shi’tes believe al-Mahdi will return as a saviour and for this reason you will often hear him referred to as Muhammad “al Muntazar” (”the awaited”). The shrine is considered by Shia Muslims to be one of the holiest places in the world and many make pilgrimages there. Like many places revered by the Shia it was severely damaged in the 1991 uprising and Saddam’s soldiers were frequently photogaphed posed in front of Mosques and Husseiniyahs exulting in the destruction and the humiliation felt by the populace. This coupled with the massive repression unleashed by Saddam in the south remains a source of lasting bitterness.
• Bridge Bombing Campaign Escalates Further - Updated with 3rd bombing
• Reports From Irak June 13 2007 Summarised From Arabic Part 2 Ztigon Bridge Bombing
• IRAQ: Mahmoud Rafid, Iraq, “I have to keep working despite being sexually abused”

June 14, 2007

• IRAQ: Sectarian violence and displacement follow Samarra attack

June 15, 2007

• Five cities in Anbar still without electricity
• People fleeing violence in Iraq have begun to move into atrocious makeshift camps on the fringes of cities such as Najaf, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.
• Reports From Irak June 15 2007 Summarised From Arabic

  There were two major developments in Irak today. We lead first with the sermon in Karbala by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s representative Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie. He made it clear that he had reliable information that the authorities new an attack was planned and denounced the complacency. He also raised the sovereignty issue and revealed that Karbala was also threatened. This is important because it follows up on the earlier statements made by the Grand Ayatollahs. It represents a major threat to the legitimacy of the Maliki regime.

  There were many sermons on the bombings today including one in Najaf by the SCIRI leader and one in Kufa by Al-Sadr’s representative. We haven’t reported on those as they were entirely predictable in content.

  The second major incident was the bombing of the tomb of Talha Ibn Ubaid Ilah, a companion of The Prophet (PBUH) whose tomb and shrine are in al-Zubair, this is a major place of pilgrimage for Sunni Muslims from all over the world. How much of a disaster for the Maliki “government” it is may be judged by following the link to the Aswat Al Iraq Arabic language report - it got more than 1000 hits by early in the day and was still rising a few minutes ago - beyond 1,400 nearly 24 hours after the event.

June 16, 2007

Bodies of Iraq tae kwondo squad found in desert

June 17, 2007

• IRAQ: Plight of refugees worsens as Syria, Jordan impose restrictions

June 18, 2007

• IRAQ: Threats, violence in Baghdad threaten new wave of displaced
• I was cooking for him but he was already dead
• BAGHDAD, As Noor Muhammad, 36, was cooking dinner for her family in their Baghdad home two months ago, she heard her son scream from the living room. He had just seen his father dead on TV.

Reports From Irak June 18th 2007 Summarised From Arabic

Summary:

• There are confirmed outbreaks of rabies in Both Basrah and Wasit governorates.
• 6 green zone government soldiers were killed, 16 wounded and six armoured transports set in flames in clashes that went on for 5 hours near Khalis — the soldiers were part of a relief column.
• Three major bombings in Fallujah. 
• Fighting in Dhi Qar.(There is what WNA The Independent Iraki News Broadcasting Service describes as “lively” fighting in Dhi Qar.)
• Diyala is seeing major engagements.
• There is very heavy fighting in Basrah and Maysan.
• Nouri Al Maliki’s public mental meltdown continued in full cry.
• There are major political rows between the green zone government and the Sadrists in Wasit and with the Governorate council in Karbala.
• Not to be outdone the Saudis continue to have ill-disguised panic attacks about the violence in Irak spilling over and toppling them.
• 33 unidentified bodies have been recovered in Baghdad today 3 of them were women. 
• Kirkuk has started to boil over and the Ztigon bridge bombing has drastically reduced the ability of green zone government forces to respond. as a result the bombing campaign against the power grid has been stepped up.
• Several major bombings in Baghdad.
• Reuters Alertnet has no less than 28 news reports out of Irak today.
• And Moldavia has sent 11*  soldiers from an engineering unit to Irak help in the American crusade to resubjugate the ungrateful Iraki sand niggers surge.

June 19, 2007

Caught In A Whirlwind With Fire Baghdad June 19th 2007

June 20, 2007

• Caught In A Whirlwind With Fire Baghdad June 20th 2007
• O God! Pardon our living and our dead, the present and the absent, the young and the old, the males and the females.
• There will be no posting today — funerals
• Khalil

June 21, 2007

• The coffin is for his mother who was killed in a bomb attack. He’s waiting for relatives to come back with her body. If you look at the coffin you can see that it’s been used before.
• I wish the officials taste the pains of the poor civilians. I wish they drink from the same glass of pain that we drink from everyday. I wish they live in fear just like we do. I wish them the worst and may God make my wishes true.
• Iraqi Labor Leaders Blame US for the Bloodshed in Iraq and say Get Out!

June 22, 2007

• With their colleagues dying in record numbers, Iraqi journalists face an unenviable choice — stay and risk becoming another statistic of unrelenting violence or leave and endure economic hardship and isolation abroad.
• Chilling stories from the Madhi Army
• Despite some tactical successes, U.S. voters are increasingly convinced that U.S. forces will be unable to restore stability in Iraq. As political disillusionment with the Iraq war gradually forces a troop drawdown, attention is turning to the likely consequences for Iraq and the region of a reduced U.S. military presence after 2009.
• Thanks to U.S. invasion, the Tigris River has turned into a cemetery of floating bodies. The murderous militias and death squads – which the invaders brought with them and nurtured – see the depths of the Tigris as a perfect place to hide their sectarian killings of innocent Iraqis by dumping the bodies of their victims there.

June 23, 2007

• Iraqi Voices Series

June 24, 2007

• Al Kauther carries a brief report on Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) announcement that their programme in Jordan can now take 100 cases a month.

  Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) left Iraq in November 2004 as targeted attacks on international aid organisations meant it was no longer possible to work directly in Irak, they now supply desperately needed medicines to hospitals in Irak and work with the Jordanian Red Crescent in providing medical care to victims of attacks . There they treat patients such as 8 year old Ahmed:

• Bombing of shrines…early war in Anbar?
• 138

June 25, 2007

• Al Mansour hotel bombed as Sheikhs from Anbar are holding a meeting inside.
• Reports From Irak June 25th 2007

  A massive bomb detonated by a suicide bomber in the heavily guarded Al Mansour hotel in Al Kharkh (Western side of the river). Killed 12 people and left scores injured. The hotel is very heavily guarded and has stringent security precautions. The force of the blast was such that rescuers found 5 bodies “caked to their seats” according to Nahrain.com’s report.

  Major General Ali Hamid, member of the leadership of joint operations who works in the Office of the Adjutant General of the green zone government armed forces was among the wounded he is described as having been seriously lacerated. The security guards of the hotel, among them members of the police have been arrested.

  “The names of (five) tribal chiefs who were killed in the blast are: Sheikh Fesal al-Kaaood, one of al-Bounamr tribe’s sheikhs, Sheikh Tareq al-Essafi of al-Bouasaf tribe, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Fahdawi of al-Bofahd, Sheikh Hussein al-Shaalan al-Khezaai of Khuzaa tribe and Sheikh Aziz al-Yaseri of al-Bouyasser tribe,” a police source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

  “A number of tribal chiefs were wounded in the attack, including Sheikh Ali Khaliefa, Sheikh Ryah al-Elwani and Sheikh Daham al-Ubeidi,” the source added. A police source said earlier that the death toll from the suicide bomb attack had risen to 12 dead, including six tribal chiefs.

  The official al-Iraqi satellite television also said that Poet Rahim al-Maliki, a program producer and presenter for the TV channel, was among them.

  “The bomber was wearing an explosive belt and blew himself up inside a hall where leaders of clans from the Sunni province of Anbar were meeting,” a police source said. A spokesman for the U.S. army said that “preliminary reports assert the killing of six tribal chiefs.”

  Sources various including: Aswat Aliraq (English) and the Arabic report here Following the Mansour Hotel bombing armed clashes took place between Sunni militias and tribesmen. Green zone government Ministry of the Interior officials are making contacts with a number of tribal leaders to urge them to take control of the situation to prevent the clashes becoming tribal feuds. In a related story Al Melaf point out that the American initiative of arming tribesmen is unconstitutional.

  Sheikh Dulaimi a leader of the powerful tribe in Al-Anbar said in an interview that there are differences between various Sunni forces. Dulaimi said in an interview to journalists after the explosion, that differences occurred recently between Sunni forces and that these had reached the level of fighting, and assassination operations, including the recent operation. Dulaimi refused to divulge the name of these forces. [Readers will recall the recent operation in Baghdad involving fighters allied with the Americans and that their leader said he had infiltrated what he described as “plain clothes agents” to carry out targeted assassinations. Note to American readers — failed attempts at “divide and rule” lead to something called “blowback” the Dulaimi’s are a very large and powerful tribe they also have a well earned reputation for being warlike. Once they find who ordered the actual bombing they are likely to vent their displeasure on the root cause of the feud arising.]

• Well it’s like this. Football supporters, the ones who buy tickets and turn up for matches, in Irak tend to be young and poor, quite a lot of them wear black when they’re not wearing a football shirt and jeans — and they’re expecting trouble. (See remarks about recruiting sergeants.)
• Don’t Ever Do That To Us Again
• 13129

 

• 

13129

13129 malformed children have been born in Iraq in the last five years. Their deformities have been caused by American Depleted Uranium munitions used in the American led 1991 “Desert Storm” war with Irak launched after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The war saw heavy use of depleted uranium rounds by American and British forces and was followed by a punitive sanctions regime enforced by the United Nations primarily at America’s behest. The sanctions included preventing Irak from importing drugs for the treatment of cancers and birth defects. The current war on Irak was launched on the pretext that Irak was failing to comply with sanctions and had weapons of mass destruction.

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it.

–60 Minutes (5/12/96)

Source: “We Think the Price Is Worth It”

Does “peace” mean that your aunt does not weep as she talks of how the young couples she serves ask her after the X-Ray

Well is it a child or is it a monster?

And how she curses the Americans who littered our land with Uranium munitions and then denied us the cancer drugs. Because we needed to be,

contained.

We sand niggers who had been abandoned to the tyrant you had supported for years needed to be,

contained.

Source: Gorilla’s Guides » Blog Archive » What will we talk about today you and I?

According to the green zone government Ministry of Health the numbers of maimed children born with defects in Irak after the United States used over 940 thousand depleted uranium rounds in the war with Iraq in 1991 in the last 5 years is 13129.

The report from Al Melaf gives the statistics from a Ministry of Health briefing on the number of children born with birth defects since 2001 as 13129 in total.

The number of deformed children born last year was more than 1919.

Ninewa (Nineveh) province, has the highest number of children born maimed as 411.

Baghdad is next with 372 children born distorted.

Basra has seen the birth of 300 distorted children .

Between 30 to 40 children per month are born with defects attributed to their mothers inhalation of radioactive dust from depleted uranium rounds. The American army used depleted uranium during the last war and this was confirmed by a German team who visited Irak recently and were able to obtain a missile which proved after checking that the American forces used depleted uranium.

Editor’s note:

The full text of the report from Al Melaf contains interviews with parents and accounts their children’s deaths. I haven’t had the time to translate them. They can be found here.

Readers will recall that Albright was Secretary of State (Foreign Minister) under President Clinton. They may also recall that current American Senator and presidential candidate Senator Hilary Clinton was a willing participant in the Clinton “two for the price of one.” electioneering which helped bring her husband to the White House.

I have been unable to find any expression of concern by Senator Clinton either for the fate of the children affected by DU or the sanctions regime which denied cancer and other drugs to treat those children or even any expression of concern about the health of American soldiers in that war affected by DU dust. I did however find plenty of coverage of her remarks about how she would not withdraw American troops from Irak.

Senator Clinton’s campaign recently launched an campaign advertisement in which her concern for ex-President Clinton’s health was highlighted.

A video report Paying The Price: Killing The Children Of Iraq on this topic can be viewed below the link will open in a new window. The report lasts 1 hr 15 min 4 sec the film was made before America launched the current war on Irak.

Note to Americans they don’t hate you for your freedoms they hate you for starving, maiming, and murdering their children.

markfromireland

June 26, 2007

Reports From Irak June 25th 2007 UPDATE Reports From Irak June 25th 2007 UPDATE 2

You get absolutely no prizes for guessing which “foreign intelligence bodies” Sheikh Dulaimi was talking about. Hint for the hard of comprehension they don’t speak this language or this one. Anger in Anbar following the slaughter of tribal chiefs

June 27, 2007

• Reports From Irak June 27 2007

  The campaign of bombings of sites of major religious significance continued with the bombing in Kadhimiya in Baghdad.

  The bridge bombing campaign in Baghdad continued with a suicide attack on one of the checkpoints at Jadriya bridge this evening that killed one policeman, wounded three others, and damaged the bridge.

June 28, 2007

• There are several major incidents in Baghdad today.

June 29, 2007

• Al-Sadr cancels march to Samarra Reports From Irak June 29th 2007
• The public criticism of the Maliki regime’s performance by the religious establishment continued unabated — Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s representative warned during his Friday sermon in Karbala that leaving Irak’s borders open to weapons smuggling would undo any progress in the security situation. During the sermon he also wondered what had happened to all the money allegedly spent on the armed forces saying:

  “$ 19 billion was spent to build the security organs .. Where is this money gone? Either it was stolen or … … the figures are exaggerated. “

May 1, 2007

• Small Increase In UNHCR Funding For Syrian Refugee Assistance Efforts
• Iraqi Refugee Doctors In Syria Welcome Contribution For Hospitals
• Residents come together to help displaced families

May 3, 2007

• 43% of Iraqis live in absolute poverty – government report
• Baghdad Christians flee as violence against them mounts See also follow up posting made May 4th Iraqi Christians under threat in Baghdad

May 4, 2007

• Beleaguered Iraqis now fear their own security forces more than the insurgents

  “Be careful,” warned a senior Iraqi government official living in the Green Zone in Baghdad, “be very careful and above all do not trust the police or the army.”

  He added that the level of insecurity in the Iraqi capital is as bad now as it was before the US drive to make the city safe came into operation in February.

  The so-called “surge”, the dispatch of 20,000 extra American troops to Iraq with the prime mission of getting control of Baghdad, is visibly failing.

• To do this they have fostered sectarianism and ethnic hatreds. They have especially done this in Kirkuk a city which has always been mixed. I am a product of such a mix, my mother is Kurdish my father Arabic. These days that would make me and my family a target for the American backed peshmerga “government” and its peshmerga “police”.

May 6, 2007

• I saw my fiancé and father killed on my wedding day
• Regional conference unlikely to end violence, say analysts
• The reality is a little very different.

  The bombing in Al Bai’aa south-west Baghdad today has killed at least 30 and wounded at least 80.

  In Adhamiya and Sadr City for several nights now the Americans have launched missile attacks from helicopters on densely populated civilian areas

  Only 40 percent of Marines and 55 percent of U.S. Army soldiers deployed in Iraq say they would report a fellow serviceman for killing or injuring an innocent Iraqi, a Pentagon report released on Friday shows

May 7, 2007

• Families begin to flee Baghdad suburb as US-led forces strike
• EU preparing new aid for Iraqi refugees
• I cry every time a man has sex with me and they usually hit me because I am crying. After I do it, my boss gives me a good quantity of glue and around US $3 dollars for food. I know what I’m doing is wrong but it’s better than living with daily beatings from my father for not bringing him enough money, — Sami Rubaie - 12 year old child prostitute.

  See also: Getting Tougher on The Streets and Death In A Garbage Dump

• Iraq: ICRC steps up humanitarian response

  See also: International Committee of the Red Cross report: Iraq: civilians without protection: The ever-worsening humanitarian crisis in Iraq

May 8, 2007

• Kufa Bombing (Again) “The bombing this morning in Kufa follows the familiar pattern. Kufa has been bombed repeatedly.”   Note: The AFP report referred to in this posting is no longer on AFP’s site. It can be found here: Bomb dents Iraqi govt’s credibility 
• River Tigris becoming a graveyard of bodies
• Americans Bomb School 7 Children Dead 3 Wounded.
• Together for Humanity

  “Today May 8th 2007 is Red Crescent/Red Cross Day.

  The work is vital and ever increasingly difficult and dangerous. Red Crescent staff and volunteers are routinely targeted by all sides in Irak. Yet they continue to tirelesly and selflessly devote themselves to working for and with the Red Crescent/ Red Cross trying to help the victims of this horrific and barbaric war.

  Many have died doing so, the fate of the kidnapped Red Crescent workers remains “unknown.”

• Conservative estimates place increases in infant mortality following the 2003 invasion of Iraq at 37 percent. From: State of the World’s Mothers 2007 (pdf) — Page 25 — Save The Children
• 144 of the 275 green zone parliament call for withdrawal of foreign troops and demand a freeze on their numbers. They sign a legislative petition requiring green zone government to seek approval from parliament before it requests an extension of the U.N. mandate for foreign forces to be in Iraq due to expire at the end of December 2007.

May 9, 2007

• Drug abuse among children on the rise “Nowadays, you can find drugs being sold near school entrances in many districts of the capital and some children even smuggle drugs into school.“
  Related: 
  • Mentally handicapped children used in attacks
  • Children lured into drugs and prostitution
  • Fadhel, “Stealing is the easiest job in Iraq today”
  • Child beggars proliferate in Baghdad

May 10, 2007

• Thousands of poor children in Iraq are forced to work to help their families. Many of them work in one way or another for a variety of armed groups that operate in the war-torncountry.
• It is even more ridiculous to to try to pretend that the Iranians are smuggling arms into Sadr city. I fought in the war with Iran and like most Irakis I lost many of my family in the war with Iran. I have little love for the Iranian government. I can and have said many bad things about them what one cannot say is that they are stupid.

May 13, 2007

• 40 x 4.5 = 180
• Ten-year-old Majdy Imad says he cannot stand being an orphan anymore:

  “I don’t sleep well, I don’t feel like eating. The only thing I need is someone to take care of me. I understand that I will never meet my family again but I hope someone needs a son to look after. I promise I’ll be a good boy, do homework, help them with chores and never make them sad.”

• Casualties from the bombing of the police patrol close to the al-Sulaymaniya Restaurant in Wathba Square near at the entrance al-Sadriyah marketplace are now confirmed at 12 dead and 41 wounded. 9 of the dead are civilians and three are police of the confirmed wounded 37 are civilians and 4 police. The toll is still rising.
• Main Incidents Irak May 13 2007 from Arabic

May 14, 2007

• Thousands flee upsurge in violence in Diyala province
• Incidents In Irak May 14th 2007 - (”Fruit farms, what a novel explanation.”)

  Basra Danes:
  Gunmen raid schools in Khalis for second day running

  Other Violent Developments:

  • Three policemen were killed in an attack in Baqubah an American raid and search in Muqdadiyah resulted in the arrest of 15 suspects.
  • (Nouri Al Maliki says the surge in violence is because of fruit farms (see end of posting))
  • Two American soldiers were killed and two others wounded in Anbar and Salah al-Din on Sunday, Four thousand American troops are searching for the three soldiers abducted during an attack by gunmen two days ago south of Baghdad according to an American army statement.
  • In Baghdad Three Sadrist MPs were detained in the Green Zone close to the parliament by Occupation forces. (English report here )
  • A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber targeted the checkpoint in al-Liqah square checkpoint operated by the Green Zone National Guard, killing two soldiers killed and 4 wounded.
  • A roadside bomb this afternoon, targeting an American patrol in Al-Amel neighborhood in western Baghdad destroyed a Hummer there are known to be casualties but their number is as yet unknown.
  • An ambush involving a bombing targeted an American armoured patrol as it entered the base in Rustamiya (south-east Baghdad) one armoured vehicle was directly hit and completely destroyed.
  • The bombing in the busy Maryam market that targeted an Iraqi police patrol in Zafaraniya, (southern Baghdad, killed one civilian and wounded 13 others, including four policemen.
  • A car bomb parked inside a garage in al-Karrada, (central Baghdad,) killed one man and wounded four others. A car rigged with explosives went off a short time later in Palestine street, eastern Baghdad, killing one man and injuring three others.
  • American forces have killed a commissioner in the Iraqi police in Abu Disheer, a suburb south of Baghdad. An American patrol opened fire on commissioner Kazim and killed him on the spot. He had received a call from from families in Abu Disheer, a suburb of Doura asking him to assist in the transfer of cases to a nearby hospital.
  • Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Monday afternoon on civilians in a minibus in al-Mekanik southern Baghdad, killing eight passengers and injuring four the wounded were taken to al-Yarmouk Hospital in Baghdad
  • In Wasit two civilians were shot dead 4 bodies one of them of a woman were recovered in Kut. The demonstrations by Wasiti farmers protesting that they cannot gather the harvest because of a lack of fuel continued today.
  • Six unidentified bodies have been found in different parts of Fallujah.
  • Gunmenn forced patrons to leave the internet cafe in central Fallujah at approximately 17:00 hours and set fire to the premises.
  • In Maysan a former member of the dissolved Baath Party was killed in central Amara by unidentified gunmen. ( There is a version of this report on Aswat al Iraq in English)
  • Also in Maysan In Talafar a bomb planted in al-Abadiya, south of the district Talafar, killed the two civilians who were passing nearby according to a statement by Brig. Ibrahim Jassem al-Juburi.
  • In Al Qaidisiyah’s capital an intelligence branch officer and a soldier were killed in two separate sniper attacks in Diwaniyah, 3 civilians were killed by a bomb.
  • Two bodies were found in Mosul.

May 15, 2007

• IRAQ: Child mortality soars because of violence, poor health care
• Incidents In Irak May 15th 2007 Summarised from Arabic

May 16, 2007

• Whither orphans in Kut?
• IRAQ: Educational standards plummet, say specialists
• Incidents In Irak May 16th 2007 Summarised From Arabic
  • There have been violent clashes all day in Mosul, and all over Mosul. The city is now under curfew.
  • Also in Ninawa the bridge at Badush has been destroyed in a twin suicide bombing attack.
  • Still in Ninewa there has been yet another jail break five prisoners killed two policemen and managed to escape jail while being moved from jail to al-Tasfirat hospital this afternoon.
  • In the southern governorate of Dhi Qar there are intensive efforts being made to halt thefighting in al-Nassiriyah between the Mahdi militia and the SIIC (SCIRI) dominated, green zone government forcess.
  • A child was killed and two other people were injured when a protest meeting in Basrah about the deteioration in the electricity supply was fired upon. According to the report witnesses said it is not clear who fired. (This is often code for it was the police who opened fire.)

May 16, 2007

• Whither orphans in Kut?
• IRAQ: Educational standards plummet, say specialists
• Incidents In Irak May 16th 2007 Summarised From Arabic
  • There have been violent clashes all day in Mosul, and all over Mosul. The city is now under curfew.
  • Also in Ninawa the bridge at Badush has been destroyed in a twin suicide bombing attack.
  • Still in Ninewa there has been yet another jail break five prisoners killed two policemen and managed to escape jail while being moved from jail to al-Tasfirat hospital this afternoon.
  • In the southern governorate of Dhi Qar there are intensive efforts being made to halt thefighting in al-Nassiriyah between the Mahdi militia and the SIIC (SCIRI) dominated, green zone government forcess.
  • A child was killed and two other people were injured when a protest meeting in Basrah about the deteioration in the electricity supply was fired upon. According to the report witnesses said it is not clear who fired. (This is often code for it was the police who opened fire.)

May 17, 2007

• American And Green Zone Government Troops Attack Fallujah Hospital

  also:

  “Readers will note the similarity to the other truce agreements such as the one in Diwaniyah which markfromireland wrote about here on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 see also: December 23rd News From Iraq Translated and Summarised From Arabic by the late Laith Abu Mohammed, For Once I Believe General Casey (Diwaniyah Update) and “If fighting erupts again, and this is very likely, we will have a very bad situation”  ”

May 18, 2007

• Reports From Irak May 18 2007 Summarised From Arabic

May 21, 2007

• IRAQ: Sunni extremists threaten to kill Christian converts in north
• IRAQ: Nafisa Ridwan, Iraq - “Mine is a dirty and miserable life”

  “I used to dream of a marriage with a white dress, flowers and a good husband. But now I’m marked all my life and will have to be content with different men who will just use me and then drop me either at home or on the street where they found me.

May 22, 2007

• More than 150 people have been severely affected by severe diarrhea, fainting because of contamination water supply for the water supplied in the districts south of Diwaniyah
• Al Amil bombing.
• Thirty-eight-year-old Muhanned Sulaiman, says he cannot forget the day insurgents cut off most of his tongue after he decided to stop working for them.
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have reaffirmed their professional, secular and humanitarian principles after accusations they were “missionaries in disguise”. The accusations were that Christian missionaries in Kurdistan have been using aid to entice young Muslims to convert to Christianity.

May 24, 2007

• So far this week Gorilla’s Guides team members have attended 23 funerals.
• Iraq: Domestic violence against children on the rise
• “The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I’m about to introduce them to it.” - ( mother and daughter edition.)

May 28, 2007

• Bombing of the Abdul Qadir al-Kilani Mosque 24 killed and wounded 90.

May 29, 2007

• IRAQ: UN report highlights plight of over 800,000 IDPs
• “Bombing casualties have soared in Baghdad today. Gunmen in police uniforms have kidnapped a group of Westerners. 10 U.S. soldiers were reported killed. The campaign to isolate vulnerable American outposts has intensified. The Sadrists have rejected the American-Iranian talks as illegitmate and an interference in Iraki affairs.”
• Among the bombings Al Tayaran market was bombed again (Aviation square).

May 30, 2007

• After the May 29th truck bombing of the Mosque and Husseiniyah in al-Amil (southwest Baghdad) bodies are still being dug from the collapsed buildings and according to hospital spokesemen the death count from the attack is still rising as seriously wounded people brought to hospitals yesterday die of their wounds.
• IRAQ: Women forced to give up their jobs, marriages
• Women’s Rights Shrink - The Talibanization of Iraq

  (This posting includes a link to a panel discussion featuring Yanar Mohammed, as well as other women leaders from around the world and links to these organisations helping women in Iraq for those interested in helping we suggest you visit the websites of Global Fund for Women, MADRE and Women for Women International. 

• Two journalists were murdered in Irak one in al-Anbar and one in Maysan. 4 senior customs officials were abducted in a part of Salah Ad Din governorate that has not had any green zone government security presence for five months. The pay of an army unit was stolen in Karbala. 23 unidentified bodies were found in various parts of Baghdad. There have been numerous incidents in Diyala including one in Al Khalis when gunmen “dressed in police uniforms” then stormed the hospital and shot four brothers dead. And in Arbil the American invaders transferred “responsibility” for security in Irak’s Kurdistan region to the Kurdish Peshmerga
• IRAQ: Adeela Harith, Iraq “I have to scrounge around rubbish bins to feed my children”
• According to a study entitled The Increase in Cancer Cases as Result of War Debris - published in early May by Basra University Medical College with input from researchers at the Ministry of Health - cancer-related diseases are now one of the main causes of a large percentage of deaths in the southern provinces.

January

January 03, 2007:

• Sheik Hamed Mohammed Suhail al-Tamimi kidnapped while attending a funeral near Abu Ghraib taken to al-Shula and thrown from the top of a building-

January 06, 2007:

• Baghdad’s police chief Major General Ali al-Yasseri survived an attempted assassination attempt by car bomb in Karrada  one civilian killed six people wounded, including three members of the police chief protection force.
• Maliki announces “Fard Qanoon”
• Battle of Haifa Street begins - 30 fighters killed in pitched battle with green zone government troops, in the first day of fighting, 4 times that number were killed over the course of the fighting which lasted 4 days.
• 27 corpses found in near the Sheikh Maarouf cemetery in the central Baghdad area of al-Allawi.
• Iraqi journalist’s body found in Baghdad.

January 08, 2007:

• Green Zone Government Deny That Badr Brigade And Peshmerga Will Take Part In Forthcoming Attack On Baghdad.
• Displaced families in the capital, Baghdad, pleaded with the Iraki Red Crescent Society to continue supporting people displaced as a result of violence. The Red Crescent suspended its activities in Baghdad after 36 people were abducted, 30 of them Red Crescent staff members, on 17 December, 2006.
• IOM Iraq estimates that more than 250,000 people have been displaced in central and southern Iraq since 22 February, with about 1,000 people being displaced on a daily basis over the past few months.

January 09, 2007:

• The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) warns that the scale of internal displacement in Iraq was beyond the capacity of humanitarian agencies, including UNHCR.
• Death In A Garbage Dump.

January 10 2007:

• A plane carrying 35 people crashed during landing at Balad airstrip near Baghdad yesterday, killing 32 and injuring one, with the remaining passengers missing.
  The plane was trying to land at a US military base 80 kilometers north of Baghdad when it crashed. The Moldova-registered Antonov-26 plane had taken off from an airport in Turkey’s southern city of Adana and was carrying construction workers from the Kulak construction company. Adana Governor Cahit Kirac said preliminary reports suggested that the crash was due to bad weather.
• 11 pilgrims returning from the haj ambushed and murdered by gunmen who ambushed the convoy of pilgrims on a desert road 120 km west of Karbala.
• U.S. forces took over a residential complex in Rawa town, Anbar province, as a new base.
• Jaffari gave the game away.
• Bush announces new strategy, the “surge”, that includes an additional 20,000 troops.

January 13 2007:

• Al-Shorja arson attack.
• Al Anbar : Al Qaim : Communications Centre Taken Over And Blown Up - Fighters took over the communications centre in Al Qaim they took the guards prisoner placed explosives and blew it up.

January 14 2007

• A Very Surprising Story On Aswat Al Iraq

January 15 2007:

• 80 unidentified murder victims whose bodies were found in Baghdad buried in Karbala.
• The botched hanging of Barzan al-Tikriti  by the green zone government who used the western method of hanging resulting in his decapitation caused disgust even among those with reason to hate him.
• Baghdad municipal council reports that more 600 Baghdad municipal employees have been killed and a far larger number wounded. Street cleaners are particular targets.

January 16 2007:

• At least 15 civilians were killed and 33 others wounded on Wednesday afternoon when a car bomb was detonated in Sadr city.
• Sixty-five people are killed in car bombing of Al-Mustansiriya University.
• At least two policemen were killed and 39 others were wounded on Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged car outside a police station in central Kirkuk.
• An armed group on Wednesday kidnapped the municipality chief of Baghdad’s district of al-Mansour and killed four bodyguards.

January 18 2007:

• Students and lecturers at Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad have formed a task force to clean up the damage caused by the bombing in which at least 60 students and staff lost their lives and 132 were wounded. Also in Baghdad the casualty toll from the bombing of the bus station at mid morning is now risen to 3 known dead and 17 known injured - all civilians. In Baghdad the green zone government announced that they would install 4 check points with surveillance cameras to control monitor main entrances to the capital for traffic from the provinces.
• First Chlorine bomb.

January 20 2007:

• Interview With Moqtada Al Sadr - Translated by Parvati Roma of DarkMirror
• 13 American troops killed in helicopter downing.
• Five U.S. soldiers were killed and three others wounded in an attack on the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center (PJCC)

January 22 2007:

Massive series of bombings on markets in Baghdad.

The massive bombings in central Baghdad are the main story of the day. So far there have been three updates posted, mostly of increases to the toll of dead and wounded. At the time of writing the toll from these two bombings alone was:

1. At least 115 dead.
2. At least 170 wounded

The bombs at Saadoun St. in al-Bab al-Sharqi exploded in sequence at 12:30 and 12:32 and were cascaded - timed to cause panic, maximum devastation, and casualties amongst those present. The location in one of the busiest parts of central Baghdad is important to understand not only the scale of devastation but the purpose of the attacks:

• There are two markets involved, the area is predominantly Shia but what is important is that the markets involved are so important that their customers come from all over Baghdad and are a mix of both Sunni and Shia.
  1. al-Haraj.
  2. al-Sanak
• Both markets are close to al-Tahrir Square and Tayaran squares.
• The al-Haraj bomb was in a parked car it exploded at 12:30.
• The al-Sanak bomb exploded two minutes later as the driver drove into the milling crowd .

January 25, 2007:

• Rape As A Weapon Of War

 January 28 2007:

• Battle of Najaf.
  • The spokesman said “Iraqi security forces clashed on Sunday at dawn with followers of an armed group called “Supporters of Ahmed al-Hassan” just outside Najaf.”
    The fierce clashes erupted, the spokesman pointed out, when the security forces raided al-Zarga area to arrest Ahmed al-Hassan.
    “The area is now under siege by the Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops,” Deiabil added.
    Earlier, a security said Iraqi security forces clashed on Sunday at dawn with followers of an armed group called “Supporters of Ahmed al-Hassan” in the Shiite sacred city of Najaf.
    The security source added “the assault was to arrest the group leader Ahmed al-Hassan but the strong resistance led the Iraqi forces to ask for support from the U.S. troops.”
    According to the agreement that transferred the security responsibility to the Iraqi army in Najaf on December 25, the Iraqi security forces may ask for support from the U.S. forces.
    He added “the U.S. forces immediately took part in the offensive while U.S. choppers and warplanes bombed the resistance pockets in the area.”
    “The clashes left casualties from the two sides (the forces and the followers),” said the source but declined to give a specific figure.
    “Ahmed al-Hassan Supporters” is an extremist Shiite armed group that sought leadership over other Shiite groups after its leader claimed to be a deputy of the Shiite twelfth Imam, the Awaited Mahdi.
    Al-Zarga area, the stronghold of Ahmed al-Hassan Supporters, is a rural area that is located outside the Shiite sacred city of Najaf.
    Only last week, Iraqi security forces launched a wide-scale campaign to stem this extremist group
• Six mortar rounds landed shortly before noon on al-Khulood secondary school for girls in al-Adel neighborhood, killing five students and wounding over 20.
• al-Qahira bombing.

February

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