History > 2006 > USA > War > Iraq (II)

An image of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's body

was shown by the U.S. military Thursday in Baghdad.

APTN        NYT        8.6.2006

 U.S. Strike Hits Insurgent at Safehouse        NYT        8.6.2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-iraq.html

Violence Grows,

Killing 52 Iraqis,

in Face of Security Plan

August 31, 2006
The New York Times
By DAMIEN CAVE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 30 — Shootings and hidden bombs at a market, a gas station and an army recruiting center killed at least 52 Iraqis on Wednesday, continuing a wave of sectarian violence that has defied stepped-up efforts to halt its spread.

In the deadliest attack, a bomb inside a vendor’s cart exploded just after 10 a.m. in the Shorja market, Baghdad’s oldest and largest bazaar, killing at least 24 civilians and wounding 35, Interior Ministry officials said.

Earlier, just south of the capital, in Hilla, a bicycle rigged with explosives blew up near an army recruiting center, killing at least 12 people, the authorities said. A car bomb near a gas station in Baghdad also killed two civilians and wounded 21 people, including five policemen, who had rushed to the scene in response to a blast a few minutes earlier.

Gunmen in Baghdad killed a senior Justice Ministry official, Nadiya Muhammad Hasan, her driver and a guard. The motive was unclear, but senior officials have frequently been targets of killings in recent months.

The authorities also found 13 other bodies in various locations in the city. With at least 11 additional civilians killed throughout the country, the tally of Iraqis killed or found dead on Wednesday reached 65, according to Iraqi officials.

The rash of attacks — reflecting a spike in violence that has claimed roughly 200 lives since Sunday — came despite a new security plan for the capital, on a day when the top United States general, George W. Casey Jr., in Iraq said Iraqi forces could take over security as early as next year.

“I don’t have a date,” General Casey said in Baghdad. “But I can see — over the next 12 to 18 months — I can see the Iraqi security forces progressing to a point where they can take on the security responsibilities for the country, with very little coalition support.”

Three years into the war, American and Iraqi officials have grown increasingly eager to show progress. In recent weeks, they have repeatedly trumpeted evidence of a decline in killings this month after increases in June and July.

Yet the bloodshed of the past few days suggests that the gains might be temporary.

Americans have not been spared. The United States military said Wednesday that a marine from the First Armored Division was killed in action on Tuesday in Anbar Province.

Military officials also said two American soldiers were killed in an attack on a Stryker vehicle on Sunday in western Baghdad, not four as it had reported earlier. The total number of American service members killed that day remained at nine, though.

This month, 60 American service members have been killed in Iraq, up from 43 in July and nearly even with the 61 killed in June, according to Coalition Casualty Count, a Web site that tracks military fatalities. In all, more than 2,600 American men and women in uniform have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war, according to the Department of Defense.

The toll for Iraqis is far higher, with an average of more than 100 killed a day in June and July by spreading sectarian violence, according to Iraqi government figures.

Statistics for August have not been released, but the attack at the Shorja market was just the latest attack in a crowded area that seemed aimed at killing as many civilians as possible.

The explosion destroyed scores of makeshift stalls, sent smoke towering over buildings and spread body parts through the streets.

Ali Jasim, 47, a yogurt vendor at the market, said that he narrowly missed being killed and that two brothers of a restaurant owner and four cardamom vendors were among those killed. “One of the women’s sons was getting married tomorrow,” he said.

A few hours after the explosion, piles of debris had been swept to the curb. A funeral procession flowed through the street, carrying one of the victims of the bombing.

Some of the mourners and bystanders blamed the United States, echoing a belief among some groups of Iraqis that the American government initiates the violence to justify its occupation. Others, like Raheem Kadem, 44, a high school gym teacher from Sadr City, a Shiite neighborhood, blamed Iraqi officials.

“Where is government?” he asked. “Why have the politicians left the people to face their destiny while the government hides behind the walls of the heavily protected Green Zone?”

“Things are getting worse,” he said.

Iraq’s defense minister, Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassim, met with the governor of Diwaniya and other local leaders in an effort to shore up support for the government after his troops clashed for 14 hours on Monday with Shiite militias.

He announced that there would be a ban on weapons, though he offered no plan for enforcing it, and said that when rival Shiite factions had disputes with forces in the area, they should ask him to intervene.

The battle was one of the worst internal conflicts in recent memory, pitting Iraqi troops against members of the Mahdi Army, loyal to the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, and other militias.

The Iraqi police and army officials said Wednesday that the death toll from that battle had increased, to 23 soldiers and 13 civilians.

General Casey said Iraqi forces “gave much better than they got,” but his assessment could not be verified. He said the clash was not a setback for the army and the government did not intend to back down.

“The battle may be over,” he said. “But the campaign to clean that city up and to restore it to Iraqi government control isn’t finished.”

Khalid al-Ansary and Qais Mizher contributed reporting for this article.

    Violence Grows, Killing 52 Iraqis, in Face of Security Plan, NYT, 31.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/world/middleeast/31iraq.html

Commander Optimistic About Iraqi Forces

August 31, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:04 a.m. ET
The New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The top U.S. commander in Iraq expressed optimism Wednesday that Iraqi forces are making enough progress to provide their own security within 18 months. But violence showed no sign of abating, with 66 people killed nationwide, including 24 in a Baghdad market bombing.

The U.S. military also reported Wednesday that a Marine was killed in action the day before in the volatile western Anbar province.

Gen. George Casey said Iraqi troops were on course to take over security control from U.S.-led coalition forces, a move that would bring the foreign forces a step closer to withdrawal from the country.

''I don't have a date, but I can see over the next 12 to 18 months, the Iraqi security forces progressing to a point where they can take on the security responsibilities for the country, with very little coalition support,'' he said.

That takeover would not mean U.S. troops leaving immediately. It is part of a U.S. military plan to hand over responsibilities, move into large bases and provide support while Iraqis take the lead. A U.S. drawdown would start after that occurred.

His comments came even as violence surged in the capital and elsewhere, undercutting claims by U.S. and Iraqi officials that a Baghdad security crackdown has lowered Sunni-Shiite killings, which had risen in June and July.

On Monday, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said the murder rate in Baghdad had fallen by 46 percent from July to August and ''we are actually seeing progress out there.'' That figure could not be independently confirmed.

U.S. officials attributed the fall in sectarian killings to a major security crackdown launched Aug. 7. About 8,000 U.S. troops and 3,000 Iraqi soldiers were sent to the capital to search homes systematically and patrol the streets.

Similar operations have curbed violence for limited periods of time in the past, only to have killings flare again once American forces left.

A bomb struck one of Baghdad's largest market areas, where food, clothing and household goods are sold, killing at least 24 people and wounding 35, police said.

In Hillah, 60 miles south of the capital, a man posing as a potential army cadet left a bomb-laden bicycle outside a recruiting center, killing 12 people, police said. Insurgents often target Iraqi army and police recruits as a way to discourage volunteers.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed a family of five in Buhriz, 35 miles north of the capital, when a roadside bomb struck their car. Bombings and shootings elsewhere in the country killed another 25 people, according to police.

Ten bodies also were found -- five dumped in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, and the others in the capital.

Still, Casey said he was optimistic about security in Iraq and he said an operation to crack down on violence in the capital was producing results -- although more needed to be done.

''I'm pleased with the progress to date, but we have a long way to go,'' Casey said. ''And we're not going to let up until we get where we're going and bring security to the neighborhoods of Baghdad.''

Asked if Iraqi forces were capable of taking over completely after the 12 to 18 month period, allowing U.S.-led coalition forces to withdraw, Casey said that would depend on the situation at that time.

''I'm not sure yet,'' he said of the Iraqi security capability. ''And we'll adjust that as we go. But a lot of that, in fact the future coalition presence, 12 to 18 months from now, is going to be decided by the Iraqi government.''

The coalition has been training and equipping Iraqi forces, and Casey said they are now ''75 percent'' along the path of being able to operate alone.

''There's still more work to do for them to become independent,'' he said, adding that ''during that process, they will still have our support and our substantial presence here to assist them.''

Casey also said the U.S. was troubled by an incident in which Iraqi soldiers in the south mutinied and refused to be deployed to Baghdad for a massive security operation under way in the capital, and by the looting last week of a base that British forces had turned over to Iraqi authorities.

This week's bloodshed included some of the fiercest fighting in months between the Iraqi army and Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Monday's battle in the town of Diwaniyah left 73 people dead -- 50 militia and 23 soldiers, the prime minister has said.

Al-Sadr led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004 but later emerged as a major political figure. His influence has gradually been increasing in Shiite-dominated Diwaniyah, although he appeared to distance himself from Monday's fighting, describing it during a meeting in Najaf as ''individual acts.''

Casey said disarming militias was essential.

''The primary threats to Iraq's security are the terrorists and the death squads. And both of those threats have to be addressed if Iraq is going to progress,'' he said.

Associated Press reporters Qais al-Bashir, Sinan Salaheddin, Rebecca Santana and Patrick Quinn contributed to this report from Baghdad.

    Commander Optimistic About Iraqi Forces, NYT, 31.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Rumsfeld Says War Critics Haven’t Learned Lessons of History

The New York Times
August 30, 2006
By DAVID S. CLOUD

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 29 — Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that critics of the war in Iraq and the campaign against terror groups “seem not to have learned history’s lessons,” and he alluded to those in the 1930’s who advocated appeasing Nazi Germany.

In a speech to thousands of veterans at the American Legion’s annual convention here, Mr. Rumsfeld sharpened his rebuttal of critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq strategy, some of whom have called for phased withdrawal of United States forces or partitioning of the country.

Comparing terrorist groups to a “new type of fascism,” Mr. Rumsfeld said, “With the growing lethality and the increasing availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?”

It was the second unusually combative speech by Mr. Rumsfeld to a veterans group in two days and appeared to be part of a concerted administration effort to address criticism of the war’s conduct.

On Monday, Mr. Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney gave separate speeches to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno, Nev. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to the American Legion Auxiliary on Tuesday and President Bush is to address veterans later this week.

Mr. Cheney, too, spoke of appeasement at an appearance on Tuesday at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, reciting a passage that echoed verbatim one of his stock speeches.

“This is not an enemy that can be ignored, or negotiated with, or appeased,’’ he said. “And every retreat by civilized nations is an invitation to further violence against us. Men who despise freedom will attack freedom in any part of the world, and so responsible nations have a duty to stay on the offensive, together, to remove this threat.”

Mr. Rumsfeld’s speech on Tuesday did not explicitly mention the Democrats, and he cited only comments by human rights groups and in press reports as evidence of what he described as “moral or intellectual confusion about who or what is right or wrong.”

In many previous speeches, including some before groups of veterans for whom World War II is a sacred memory, he has compared the government of Saddam Hussein, and the violent resistance since it fell, to the Nazis, and warned explicitly against appeasement there or in the broader campaign against terrorism, comparing it to the error of appeasing Hitler.

While he did not directly compare current critics of the war in Iraq to those who sought to appease Hitler, his juxtaposition of the themes led Democrats to say that he was leveling an unfair charge.

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a former Army officer and a Democratic member of the Armed Services Committee, responded that “no one has misread history more” than Mr. Rumsfeld.

“It’s a political rant to cover up his incompetence,” Senator Reed, a longtime critic of Mr. Rumsfeld’s handling of the war, told The Associated Press.

Mr. Reed said there were “scores of patriotic Americans of both parties who are highly critical of his handling of the Department of Defense.”

Mr. Rumsfeld, speaking just weeks before the fifth anniversary of 9/11, also took on criticisms of the administration’s approach for combating terrorism outside Iraq, like the use of wiretaps without warrants. “This enemy is serious, lethal and relentless,’’ he said. “But this is not well recognized or fully understood.”

    Rumsfeld Says War Critics Haven’t Learned Lessons of History, NYT, 30.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/washington/30rumsfeld.html

U.S. Attorney General Arrives in Baghdad

August 29, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:18 a.m. ET
The New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- At least two dozen bodies, many bearing signs of torture, were found dumped in Shiite areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, and the government almost doubled the death toll from clashes this week between militiamen and Iraqi forces, saying 73 people had died.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales met with Iraq's deputy prime minister in Baghdad in a visit he said was to promote ''the rule of law.''

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office announced that 50 gunmen loyal to firebrand anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had been killed in clashes in the southern city of Diwaniyah with the Iraqi army, which lost 23 troops.

The death toll was significantly higher than the 40 people initially reported to have been killed Monday before a deal between the Shiite militiamen and the government ended a fierce, 12-hour street battle. Diwaniyah was calm Tuesday, residents and officials said, but an explosion at an oil pipeline south of the city killed at least 27 people. The cause was unclear, but police said people had been siphoning oil, which can cause accidental explosions.

In Baghdad, police said they found the bodies of 24 people who had apparently been tortured and shot before being dumped in two locations.

Eleven of the bullet-riddled corpses, their hands and legs bound, were found near a school in the Shiite dominated Maalif neighborhood in southern Baghdad, police said.

The bodies of another 13 people, believed to have been aged between 25 and 35, were found dumped behind a Shiite mosque in the Turath neighborhood in western Baghdad. All were handcuffed, showed signs of torture and had been shot in the head, said police 1st Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razaq.

After meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, Gonzales, an architect of America's heavily criticized prisoner of war policy, told reporters that his visit was meant to help ''promote the rule of law and also help promote security in this great country.''

''There are great ambitions for this country. Those ambitions cannot be realized without security, and that will be very, very important.''

He reiterated the ''commitment of the United States government in helping you achieve your dreams for this country.''

Monday's fighting in Diwaniyah was some of the worst in recent months between the Iraqi army and Shiite militiamen loyal to al-Sadr. At least 10 civilians were killed before the cease-fire was reached.

''Life is back to normal, the shops are open and Iraqi police and soldiers are deployed everywhere in Diwaniyah,'' said police Lt. Raid Jabir, contacted by telephone.

Leaders of the tribes to which the dead combatants belonged held reconciliation talks Tuesday to prevent retaliatory attacks, Jabir said.

Coalition helicopters were flying over the area on Tuesday, said Sheik Abdul-Razq al-Nidawi al-Sadr representative in Diwaniyah.

Abbas Gahat, a grocer in Diwaniyah reached by telephone, said all shops were open in the city, although some were damaged. ''Life is back to normal as if nothing took place,'' he said.

Jabir said the police and Iraqi army had deployed throughout the city and the militiamen had withdrawn from all the areas they had seized.

The violence ended after the provincial governor, accompanied by eight provincial council members, traveled to the holy city of Najaf, west of Diwaniyah, to meet with al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr's influence has gradually been increasing in Shiite-dominated Diwaniyah,

He is already popular in large parts of southern Iraq, particularly in Najaf and the surrounding area. He also wields considerable influence in some areas of Baghdad, especially in the slum of Sadr City.

The Mahdi Army twice confronted U.S. forces in 2004. Al-Sadr's movement holds 30 of the 275 seats in parliament and five Cabinet posts, and the cleric's backing had helped al-Maliki win the top job earlier this year.

Many Sunnis have expressed disappointment that al-Maliki has not moved to curb Shiite militias, especially the Mahdi Army.

American forces also have been wary of confronting the militia because of al-Sadr's influence over the government and the Shiites, who are in a majority in Iraq.

Although Diwaniyah's streets were quiet Monday, Jabir said 34 people had been killed and another 45 injured in the nearby pipeline explosion. But Diwaniyah Gov. Khalil Jalil Hamza said the death toll was inflated. He said 27 people had been killed and 15 others injured.

A huge fire was hampering rescue efforts, Jabir said.

The cause of the blast was unclear, but locals had been siphoning off fuel from the pipeline for years, he said.

In the town of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, three mortar shells, two rocket-propelled grenades and a bomb exploded at an al-Sadr office almost simultaneously, killing two guards and destroying the building, Diyala Province police in the city said. Baqouba is ethnically mixed but has a Sunni majority.

It was not immediately clear whether there was any connection to the fighting in Diwaniyah.

The U.S. military reported two new U.S. military deaths Tuesday. One service member died in fighting in Anbar province west of Baghdad Sunday and another died Monday of wounds sustained in a vehicle accident in Balad north of Baghdad, the military said.

At least 2,631 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The military also said that soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, part of 12,000 additional troops brought into Baghdad to crack down on violence in the city, seized a weapons cache in a southern Baghdad school. Another unit helped free two Iraqi kidnap victims.

Associated Press writers Jalal Mudhar, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Qais Al-Bashir and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.

    U.S. Attorney General Arrives in Baghdad, NYT, 29.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

U.S. Ambassador Says Iran Is Inciting Attacks

August 12, 2006
The New York Times
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 11 — Iran is pressing Shiite militias here to step up attacks against the American-led forces in retaliation for the Israeli assault on Lebanon, the American ambassador to Iraq said Friday. Iran may foment even more violence as it faces off with the United States and United Nations over its nuclear program in the coming weeks, he added.

The Iranian incitement has led to a surge in mortar and rocket attacks on the fortified Green Zone, said the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad.

The four-square-mile Green Zone, protected by layers of concrete blast walls and concertina wire on the west bank of the Tigris River here, encloses baroque palaces built by Saddam Hussein that now house the seat of the Iraqi government and the American Embassy.

The Shiite guerrillas behind the recent attacks are members of splinter groups of the Mahdi Army, the powerful militia created by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, Mr. Khalilzad said.

The splinter groups have ties to Iran, which is governed by Shiite Persians, and to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite Arab militia in Lebanon that has been battling Israel for a month, the ambassador added.

There is evidence that Iran is pushing for more attacks, he said, without offering any specifics. But he acknowledged that there was no proof that Iran was directing any particular operations by militias here.

“Iran is seeking to put more pressure, encourage more pressure on the coalition from the forces that they are allied with here, and the same is maybe true of Hezbollah,” Mr. Khalilzad said in an interview Friday in his home inside the Green Zone.

His remarks are the first public statements by a senior Bush administration official directly linking violence in Iraq to American support of Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, and to growing pressure by the United States over Iran’s nuclear program. Until now, American officials have not publicly drawn a direct connection between Shiite militant groups here and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Mr. Khalilzad’s comments also reinforce the observations of some analysts that the rise of the majority Shiites in Iraq, long oppressed by Sunni Arab rulers, is fueling the creation of a “Shiite crescent” across the Middle East, with groups in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon working together against common enemies, whether they be the United States, Israel or Sunni Arab nations.

Despite the recent attacks by the splinter groups, Mr. Khalilzad insisted that the most powerful Shiite leaders in Iraq had not yet pushed for more violence against the Americans, even though Iran would like them to. That includes Mr. Sadr, he said.

“Generally the Shia leadership here have behaved more as Iraqi patriots and have not reacted in the way that perhaps the Iranians and Hezbollah might want them to,” Mr. Khalilzad said.

Iran and Hezbollah want the Iraqi Shiite leaders “to behave by mobilizing against the coalition or taking actions against the coalition,” he added.

In their public addresses, the top Shiite leaders in Iraq have forcefully condemned the Israeli assault on Lebanon, much more so than senior officials in Sunni Arab countries. Denunciations have come from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric here, from Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and from Parliament, which called the Israeli airstrikes “criminal aggression.”

When Mr. Maliki visited Washington last month, Congressional leaders pressed him to denounce Hezbollah as a terrorist group, but he dodged the request.

The mercurial Mr. Sadr has come closest of the Shiite leaders in hinting that Iraqis might take up arms in support of Hezbollah. He said in late July that Iraqis would not “sit by with folded hands” while Lebanon burned, and on Aug. 4 he summoned up to 100,000 followers to an anti-Israeli and anti-American rally in Baghdad.

Most of those who showed up were angry young men, many swathed in white cloths symbolizing funeral shrouds and some toting Kalashnikov rifles.

On Friday a senior cleric in Mr. Sadr’s movement, Sheik Asad al-Nasiri, told worshipers at Mr. Sadr’s main mosque in Kufa that “the Zionist entity’s power has been broken and has been weakened in the battle.” He asserted that “the resistance has given the best examples of bravery and sacrifice.”

Sympathy with Hezbollah is not limited to the radical fringe. As images of the destruction in Lebanon continue flickering across the Arab television networks, many ordinary Iraqis say they would join what they call a holy war against American-backed Israel.

Mr. Khalilzad said Iran could stoke more violence among the Shiite militias as the end of the month draws nearer. That is expected to be a time of high tension between Iran and the United States, because a United Nations Security Council resolution gives Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend its uranium enrichment activities or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has insisted that Iran will pursue its nuclear program.

Mr. Khalilzad said, “The concern that we have is that Iran and Hezbollah would use those contacts that they have with groups and the situation here, use those to cause more difficulties or cause difficulties for the coalition.”

If the United Nations adopts another resolution against Iran after the Aug. 31 deadline, he said, that “could increase the pressure on Iran,” and “Iran could respond to it by further pressing its supporters or people that it has ties with, or people that it controls, to increase the pressure on the coalition, not only in Iraq but elsewhere as well.”

Some military analysts cast the Israel-Hezbollah war as a proxy struggle between the United States and Iran, and prominent conservatives in Washington have called for American military action against Iran.

William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, said on Fox News last month that the Bush administration had been “coddling” Iran and that the war in Lebanon and Israel represented “a great opportunity to begin resuming the offensive against” militant Islamists.

Here in Iraq, the Iranian-backed Mahdi Army rose up twice against the Americans in 2004, and American and British forces have stepped up operations recently against elements of it, raiding hideouts and engaging in pitched battles in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad and in the area around Basra, the southern port city.

On Monday, American forces called in an air attack during a raid in Sadr City. Prime Minister Maliki, who depends on Mr. Sadr for political support against rival Shiites, denounced the raid, saying he had never approved it and that the Americans had used “excessive force.”

American military officials have given few details about ties between Shiite militias here and Iran or Hezbollah, except to say they believe that Iran has given technology for lethal shaped-charge explosives to Iraqi militias. Iran may have passed on the technology via Hezbollah, some officials have said.

Western security advisers confirmed Friday that there had been a recent spate of mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone, known to some as the International Zone. It is unclear whether anyone was wounded or killed by the strikes. A spokesman for the American military, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, declined to give details.

“We aren’t interested in discussing attacks on the International Zone, their effectiveness or who may be responsible,” he said in an e-mail message.

Leaders in the Sadr Organization say parts of the Mahdi Army are not under their control. Those rogue elements, they say, carry out attacks without guidance from Mr. Sadr or his top commanders.

Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi contributed reporting for this article.

    U.S. Ambassador Says Iran Is Inciting Attacks, NYT, 12.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/12/world/middleeast/12iraq.html?hp&ex=1155441600&en=7e1356a07e563a96&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Bush condemns attempt to blow up Iraqi Islam site

Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:18 PM ET
Reuters

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush condemned on Friday a suicide bomber's attempt to blow up one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines, which he called a symbol of peace throughout the world.

The suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 120 Thursday near the Imam Ali shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf.

"On behalf of the American people, I join Iraqi leaders of all communities who have condemned this barbarous action in the strongest possible terms. To the Iraqi people, I pledge the commitment of the United States to helping your new government bring peace and security to all areas of your country," Bush said.

The United States is attempting to keep Iraq from sliding into a civil war in which sectarian violence could kill thousands of Iraqis.

Newsweek reported this week that if Iraq does collapse into a full-scale civil war, Bush would withdraw U.S. troops to get them out of the cross-fire and would need no prompting from the U.S. Congress to do so.

U.S. involvement in Iraq is expected to be a key issue in November congressional elections.

"The terrorists in Iraq have again proven that they are enemies of all humanity. Yesterday, they targeted innocent civilians in Najaf near a holy Muslim shrine -- and a symbol of peace throughout the world," Bush said.

He hailed the police officers who gave their lives stopping the bomber outside of the shrine.

"We also mourn the loss of every innocent life in this atrocity and other atrocities perpetrated in Iraq in recent months," Bush said.

    Bush condemns attempt to blow up Iraqi Islam site, R, 11.8.2006, http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-08-11T181746Z_01_N11298502_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-BUSH.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-7

'War Tapes' Doc Features Soldier Footage

August 11, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:46 p.m. ET
The New York Times

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- The Humvee hits an Iraqi woman crossing a busy road at night. The driver pulls over and turret gunner Spc. Mike Moriarty watches helplessly as supply trucks runs over her, spreading her body parts across the road -- and we watch with him.

That is the power of ''The War Tapes,'' a documentary edited from more than 800 hours of film shot by several members of the New Hampshire National Guard in Iraq's deadly Sunni Triangle.

''Watching 10 transport trucks go over her like a rag doll ... hearing the sound of that Humvee hitting her -- I'll never forget it,'' Moriarty said in an interview.

The movie was the brainchild of director Deborah Scranton of Goshen, who got an offer to embed with a Manchester-based company of the 172nd Mountain Infantry Regiment, thanks to a previous documentary she had made about World War II veterans from New Hampshire.

Instead, she persuaded 10 guardsmen in Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion to take cameras to Iraq and film, while she guided and encouraged them via e-mail and instant messaging. Scranton believes it is the first film directed over the Internet.

Five guardsmen stuck with the project from March 2004 to February 2005, mounting the cameras on their Humvees or interviewing other guardsmen. Several others also contributed footage. Three are featured prominently on camera: Moriarty and Sgts. Zack Bazzi and Stephen Pink. Scranton and her crew also filmed the three and their families during the men's training, their deployment and for 10 months after their return.

Scranton says she had no political agenda: She simply wanted Americans to see the soldiers' experiences, whether good, bad, ugly or heroic.

''I believe in the power of empathy,'' she said. ''So often, people see a soldier and they see an armed cipher.''

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, director of ''Baseball'' and ''The Civil War,'' gave Scranton the award for best international documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in May. He calls the movie a ''remarkably clear-eyed view of what's going on there.''

''She's just dropped us right onto the front lines,'' he said. ''It's not overtly political, so it gathers everybody in. It allows you to have thoughts and conversations across what is an ever-increasing political divide in our country.''

Yet the film is not apolitical. The guardsmen express a wide range of views about the war and their chief mission: protecting Army contractor KBR's supply trucks from attacks and roadside bombs.

Halliburton Co., which owns KBR, and its former chief executive, Vice President Dick Cheney, come in for their share of criticism, as does the media's portrayal of the war.

The movie also portrays the soldiers' conflicting reactions and insights.

Moriarty, 36, an aircraft mechanic, supports President Bush and the war, but thinks the military spends too much time trying to be nice. Instead, it should take control of areas plagued by insurgent attacks, even if that means ''nuking'' the whole country, he says just after being fired upon.

Iraqis ''respond to one thing, and that's ferocity,'' he said in an interview last month. Yet he calls the Iraqi woman's death one of the most traumatic events of his tour.

Bazzi, a Lebanese immigrant who speaks fluent Arabic, said he ''loves being a soldier'' and had no qualms about following orders, but thinks the war is probably not in the United States' best interests.

''There's nothing un-American, unpatriotic or wimpy about being against the war. There's nothing patriotic about blind conformity,'' he said in an interview. ''I've earned my opinion. I spent a year in a combat zone.''

Now a staff sergeant, he was the only one of the three to re-enlist following the Iraq deployment. Before joining the Guard, he served in the Army, which he sees as an honorable institution that rises above partisan politics.

''The Army is a tool: It can be used for bad wars and good wars. ... You can only hope your leaders send you to the right war, if there is such a thing,'' he said.

Bazzi, 27, is finishing a degree in international affairs and psychology at the University of New Hampshire, which he said he could not have done without service-related financial help.

When he's not in action, Bazzi comes across as a detached, humorous observer of the war's ironies and incongruities. Pink, on the other hand, appears outraged by injustices large and small and conflicted about the war, the media and his role.

In one scene, he describes his feelings about being sent to guard the bodies of several insurgents killed by members of his unit. He says he's glad they're dead and he envies those who killed them. Pink's video footage was withheld by the company commander, but the movie shows the dead Iraqis in still photos Scranton got from an anonymous guardsman.

Bazzi and Moriarty like the movie, but wish it included more footage of their patrols so civilians would understand the fear and stress soldiers in Iraq face every day -- even at their home base, Camp Anaconda, a target of daily mortar attacks.

Moriarty said he was disappointed the movie didn't include his footage from Veterans Day 2004, after mortars injured three KBR workers behind a mess hall where he had just finished eating. He hopes a television series will pick up where the movie left off.

''There were three guys all blown apart in back,'' he said. ''That was a powerful message that should have been in the film: Soldiers don't go on holiday, they don't get a break. That was our Veterans Day. But that's what really made our Veterans Day, was saving those three guys.''

------

On the Net:

http://www.thewartapes.com

    'War Tapes' Doc Features Soldier Footage, NYT, 11.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-The-War-Tapes.html

Three Americans killed in action in western Iraq

Updated 8/9/2006 5:28 PM ET
AP
USA Today

BAGHDAD (AP) — Three American soldiers were killed Wednesday in the Sunni insurgent area west of Baghdad, and Iraqi officials said about 1,500 people died violently last month in the capital — many shot execution-style by sectarian death squads.

The soldiers were assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, a U.S. statement said. The brigade operates around Ramadi, capital of Anbar province where support for the Sunni insurgency is strong.

In addition, two Americans were missing Wednesday after a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down the day before in Anbar province. The helicopter crashed in an unspecified body of water and divers were searching for the missing troops, the military said. The crash was not due to hostile fire, the U.S. said.

The deaths brought to at least 17 the number of American service members killed in Iraq this month. All but five died in Anbar, indicating the ongoing threat from Sunni insurgents at a time when attention has been focused on violence between Sunnis and Shiites in Baghdad.

On Wednesday, deputy Health Minister Sabah al-Husseini said about 1,500 violent deaths were reported last month in the Baghdad area — excluding members of the U.S.-led coalition.

The assistant manager of the Baghdad morgue, Abdul Razzaq al-Obeidi, said 1,815 bodies were brought in last month, and about 85% had died violently. The biggest cause of violent deaths was gunshot wounds, mostly in the head, he told the Associated Press.

Head shots are generally associated with death squads that roam the capital seeking victims from the rival Muslim sect. Violence between Shiite and Sunni extremists has been surging since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra.

Four people were killed and five wounded when fighting broke out late Wednesday between gunmen and residents of a Shiite community in north Baghdad. police Lt. Salim Ali said. Sporadic clashes were continuing, he said.

Four people were killed and 16 wounded in an explosion late Tuesday at a Shiite mosque in Baqouba, a religiously mixed city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Several nearby buildings were damaged.

In a statement Wednesday, the Shiite Endowment, which takes care of Shiite shrines in Iraq, blamed "terrorists" for the blast and demanded that government forces protect places of worship in the area — scene of numerous car bombings, kidnappings and armed attacks by Sunnis and Shiites.

The rise in sectarian violence has dashed U.S. hopes that installation of the national unity government would set the stage for a significant drawdown in the 127,000-member U.S. military force here.

Instead, the U.S. military is rushing 12,000 American and Iraqi soldiers to Baghdad to regain control of the streets from Sunni insurgents, Shiite militiamen, criminals and freelance gunmen.

U.S. officials have refused to say how many reinforcements have arrived in the capital, although some of them have been seen patrolling a tense Sunni neighborhood in west Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters Wednesday that the buildup would take place gradually and the new operation needs the cooperation of the Iraqi public to succeed.

"They have to be involved. The Iraqi people have to want this to work. If they are not involved ... then there is no solution," Caldwell said.

His appeal reflects the private frustration of some U.S. officials that Iraqis are reluctant to provide information on gunmen hiding in their neighborhoods.

More significantly, many of the sectarian militias responsible for the violence are linked to political parties that are part of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, which took office May 20.

Some U.S. officials have said Iraqi commanders themselves are frustrated over what they consider a lack of support from politicians.

Maliki, a Shiite, strongly criticized a U.S.-Iraqi raid Monday on a Shiite neighborhood in which three people were killed. The raid was directed at the stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, an ally of the prime minister.

Caldwell defended the operation, saying U.S. and Iraqi forces tried to avoid civilian casualties and escalated the use of force only after drawing heavy fire from gunmen.

Caldwell said "these death squads, the anti-Iraqi elements" were hiding "within the civilian population" to make it difficult "to get to them without inflicting casualties on civilians."

"They know exactly what they're doing by where they're placing themselves," he said.

    Three Americans killed in action in western Iraq, UT, 10.8.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-08-09-baghdad_x.htm

Sixty percent of Americans oppose Iraq war: poll

Wed Aug 9, 2006 8:33 AM ET
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sixty percent of Americans oppose the U.S. war in Iraq and a majority would support a partial withdrawal of troops by year's end, a CNN poll said on Wednesday.

It was the CNN poll's highest number opposing the war since fighting began in March 2003, a figure that has risen steadily since then, according to the Opinion Research Corp. survey conducted last week on behalf of the cable network.

The poll showed 36 percent of respondents said they were in favor of the war -- half the peak 72 percent who supported the war as it began, said the poll of 1,047 Americans.

The telephone survey, which had an error margin of 3 percentage points, showed 61 percent believed at least some U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2006.

Voter anger over the Iraq war, plagued by insurgent and sectarian violence with a daily civilian death toll, was cited in the Connecticut Democratic primary defeat Tuesday of U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who strongly backed President George W. Bush's war effort.

    Sixty percent of Americans oppose Iraq war: poll, R, 9.8.2006, http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-08-09T123239Z_01_N09244898_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-POLL.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-L3-Politics+NewsNews-4

Soldiers 'hit golf balls before going out to kill family'

· US military court told of brutal attack in Iraq
· Evidence from colleague describes rape and murder

Tuesday August 8, 2006
Guardian
Ryan Lenz, Associated Press in Baghdad

US soldiers, accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, drank alcohol and hit golf balls before the attack. One of them grilled chicken wings afterwards, a criminal investigator told a US military hearing yesterday.

Benjamin Bierce interviewed one of the accused, Specialist James Barker who made a written statement in which he recorded graphic and brutal sexual details of the alleged assault on March 12.

Mr Bierce was testifying on the second day of the hearing to determine whether five soldiers must stand trial for the rape and killing of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, her parents and five-year-old sister in the town of Mahmudiya.

It is among the worst in a series of cases of alleged misconduct. Specialist Barker's signed statement was submitted in evidence. He is accused, along with Sergeant Paul Cortez, Private Jesse Spielman and Private Bryan Howard of rape and murder. Another soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is accused of failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have participated.

Former private, Steven Green, was discharged from the army for a "personality disorder" after the incident and was arrested in North Carolina in June on rape and murder charges. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

Yesterday, Private Justin Watt testified that Private Howard told him, before the incident, that Private Green, Sergeant Cortez and Specialist Barker had planned to rape a girl, and Private Howard was to be the lookout. Another investigator, Michael Hood, told the hearing that he interviewed Private Spielman, who denied shooting or having sex with anyone. He was given a lie-detector test and passed.

According to Specialist Barker's statement, Private Green not only raped the girl but also shot her and her family after telling his comrades repeatedly he wanted to kill some Iraqis. Mr Bierce said that on the day of the attack, Specialist Barker, Sergeant Cortez, Private Spielman and Private Green had been playing cards and drinking Iraqi whisky mixed with an energy drink. They practised hitting golf balls, Specialist Barker's statement said.

Specialist Barker made it clear Private Green was very persistent about killing some Iraqis. At some point they decided to go to the house of the girl they had seen passing by their checkpoint. Specialist Barker also said that when they arrived at the house, the father and the girl were outside. Private Spielman grabbed the girl while Private Green seized her father and took them into the house.

Private Green took the father, mother and the younger sister into the bedroom, while the girl remained in the living room. Specialist Barker wrote that Sergeant Cortez pushed the girl to the floor, and tore off her underwear. Sergeant Cortez appeared to rape her, according to the statement. Specialist Barker then tried to rape the girl, Mr Bierce said. Suddenly, the group heard gunshots. Private Green came out of the bedroom holding an AK-47 rifle and declared: "They're all dead. I just killed them," the statement said.

Private Green put the gun down, then raped the girl while Sergeant Cortez held her down. Specialist Barker claims Private Green picked up the AK-47 and shot the girl once, paused, then shot her several more times. Specialist Barker said he got a lamp and poured kerosene on the girl. She was set on fire, but he does not say who did it. He does not say if Private Howard or Private Spielman took part in the rape. The statement says he grilled chicken wings back at their checkpoint.

The case has increased demands for changes to an agreement that exempts US soldiers from prosecution in Iraqi courts. Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has demanded an independent investigation.

    Soldiers 'hit golf balls before going out to kill family', G, 8.8.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1839522,00.html

4 G.I.’s Tell of How Iraqi Raid Went Wrong

August 7, 2006
The New York Times
By PAUL VON ZIELBAUER

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 6 — When the burst of machine-gun fire stopped, two of the three Iraqi men were dead, their bodies chewed by bullets sprayed at them by two American soldiers a few yards away. But a third man, brains spattered on his face, was somehow still alive and, with eyes closed, was gasping for air.

Specialists Juston R. Graber and Thomas A. Kemp, surprised to hear gunfire after securing the rural swatch of land northeast of Baghdad, ran over to find the three Iraqis lying in the dirt. Their squad leader, Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, also arrived and inspected the three bodies. A squad medic came on the scene, quickly examined the man who was still moving and declared him beyond help. Then, according to sworn statements of what Specialists Graber and Kemp later told Army investigators, Sergeant Girouard said, “Put him out of his misery.”

What happened in the minutes before and after the three Iraqis were shot on May 9 are at the core of the military’s case against Specialist Graber and three other members of the Company C, Third Brigade, 187th Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division. All four soldiers have been charged with murder. All have denied any wrongdoing.

Their case is now the subject of a military hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to recommend that the soldiers go before a court-martial.

In more than a dozen sworn statements made to Army investigators and obtained by The New York Times, the four accused soldiers and several other members of Company C recollected their roles in the assault on a remote island in Tharthar Lake, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Taken together, their accounts provide the first detailed narrative of their combat experience, one part of a much broader mission against insurgent forces that day known as Operation Iron Triangle.

Specialist Kemp later told the investigators that he did not believe in “mercy killings,” and walked quickly away. But Specialist Graber, transfixed, lingered over the dying man, according to his statement.

He lifted his M-4 rifle to his waist, curled his finger around the trigger and fired at the man’s head. He missed, he told investigators later, striking the dirt. He raised his rifle again, this time bringing its muzzle within four feet of the man’s cheek. The bullet pierced the blindfold the man was still wearing. “I felt that it was the humane thing to do,” he wrote in a sworn statement in mid-June. His shot was the last of hundreds fired by two Company C squads during the morning assault.

Several soldiers have said in sworn statements or testimony at the hearing that senior officers, including the Third Brigade commander, Col. Michael Steele, told them in a gathering the night before the raid to kill any military-age male they encountered on the island, where 20 fighters loyal to Al Qaeda were thought to be.

In a statement to investigators, Colonel Steele has denied giving any such order. On Friday, he declined, through his military lawyer, to comment for this article.

In June, the Army charged Specialist Graber with one count of murder. Three others in his squad were charged with the murders of the three Iraqi men after detaining and handcuffing them. They are Staff Sgt. Girouard, Specialist William B. Hunsaker and Pfc. Corey R. Clagett.

An Army special investigator is weighing what punishment, if any, to recommend to the 101st Airborne commander, Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Turner. If their cases proceed to courts-martial, they could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

But a review of more than a dozen statements of several other members of Company C reveals an Army unit caught between their superiors’ prediction of a fierce battle and the scant resistance of the Iraqis they found during the three-hour assault.

In the predawn darkness, about 20 soldiers from Company C’s Third Platoon boarded Black Hawk helicopters before dawn with orders to raid a group of houses on the southern end of the island in Tharthar Lake. Six Iraqi Army soldiers accompanied them.

“Hit the first house, kill all military-age males, hit any secondary houses, then stand by for follow-on missions,” was the way Sergeant Girouard described his squad’s mission to investigators in a May 29 statement. But all they found at the first landing zone were two empty homes and a pump house. Around 6:30 a.m., Sergeant Girouard’s squad landed about 70 yards southwest of the second house, several miles north of the first. As the squad approached, Sergeant Girouard fired his M-4 rifle at a man in a window. Sgt. Leonel Lemus, Specialist Hunsaker, Specialist Graber and Pfc. Bradley Mason also fired. At the front door, Sergeant Girouard sent an Iraqi Army soldier, Sgt. Hamed Muhammad, into the house first. Pouring in behind him, guns ready, they found three Iraqi men hiding behind two women, a tactic Qaeda fighters were known for, several soldiers said.

The squad moved the women into a separate room and took the three men outside. The man shot by the window was lying on his back, bellowing in pain from gunshot wounds to his midsection and right arm. Soldiers dragged him outside, where the squad medic, Specialist Micah Bivens, performed first aid. Two minutes later, Specialist Bivens pronounced the man dead, Sgt. Kevin Ryan wrote in his May 29 statement.

Sergeant Muhammad testified at the hearing for the accused soldiers last week that the man seemed to be 70 to 75 years old. Soldiers zipped him into a black body bag.

In front of the house, Private Mason searched the three men, two of whom wore what soldiers called a “man dress,” a dishdasha. Specialist Thomas Kemp recorded the men’s names: Ahmed Farhim Hamid al-Jami, Ziad Jasem Hamid and Nahad Yasim Hamid Gumar.

The tactical search, a core discipline in an infantry soldier’s training, would later become a point of contention at the hearing for the four soldiers accused of murder. Private Mason, in testimony last week, said he had thoroughly searched all three. “If there was a dollar bill on them, I would have found it,” he said.

Specialist Graber and Private Mason guarded the three detainees, who were now lying outside face down with their hands bound behind their backs. Private Mason was sent into the house to watch the women. As the three men were being bound, Private Clagett, on an earthen berm 50 yards north of the house, saw a mud hut with people inside.

As the squad approached the hut, a man, later identified by soldiers as Shajeed Wayied Shelish, came out holding a 2-year-old girl in front of him. Sergeant Girouard tried to shoot the man but could not. “I could not properly engage him because as I moved my weapon, he moved the baby and put the baby in front,” he told investigators on May 29.

Several soldiers detained Mr. Shelish and found “several children and women” in the hut, Sergeant Ryan said. Most of the children were about 7 or 8 years old, Sergeant Muhammad testified. Sergeant Girouard grabbed the girl.

Back at the first house, Specialist Bivens and Corporal Helton photographed the four Iraqi men. Sergeant Girouard radioed First Sgt. Eric Geressy and told him they had killed one man.

Sgt. Armando Acevedo, another member of Company C on that day’s mission, later told prosecutors that he heard Sergeant Geressy reply, “We’re bringing back these detainees when they should be dead.” Sergeant Geressy denied saying that.

About that time, Sergeant Lemus and Private Mason told investigators, Sergeant Girouard appeared to have second thoughts about the four detainees in custody. “He mentioned that First Sergeant Geressy transmitted over the radio that the detainees should have been killed,” Sergeant Lemus wrote in a sworn statement in June.

Sergeant Girouard gathered Sergeant Lemus, Specialist Hunsaker and Privates Clagett and Mason around him in a room in the house and, according to Sergeant Lemus, laid out a plan: Specialist Hunsaker and Private Clagett were would kill the detainees after cutting off their wrist ties and ordering them to run away. Sergeant Lemus and Private Mason told investigators they wanted no part of the plan and left.

Several minutes later, Sergeant Girouard dispatched 6 of his squad’s 10 soldiers to secure a pickup zone for an incoming Black Hawk, 70 yards southwest of the house. That left Sergeant Girouard, Specialist Hunsaker and Privates Clagett and Mason at the house. Specialist Hunsaker and Private Clagett were guarding the three men, who were blindfolded, seated and had their hands restrained with zip ties behind their backs.

Sergeant Girouard walked Mr. Shelish, the man they had taken from the mud hut, toward the pickup zone, handing him to Corporal Helton. Minutes later, Private Mason, inside the house with the two women, heard Specialist Hunsaker shout an expletive. He and soldiers at the landing zone then heard fire from Private Clagett’s machine gun and Specialist Hunsaker’s M-4.

Sergeant Ryan and Corporal Helton saw the three men sprinting barefoot toward the mud hut. “That was followed by gunshots as the men fell,” Sergeant Ryan wrote in a sworn statement.

Private Clagett and Specialist Hunsaker told investigators they had cut the flimsy wrist ties off all three detainees at once — a procedure considered tactically unsound — to replace them with thicker plastic cuffs that would not break. They said one man had suddenly attacked Specialist Hunsaker with a knife as a second man punched Private Clagett.

Sergeant Girouard radioed his report to headquarters, saying he no longer had three detainees but three “K.I.A.’s” — killed in action.

    4 G.I.’s Tell of How Iraqi Raid Went Wrong, NYT, 7.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07mission.html?hp&ex=1155009600&en=a81f137ebbb00e5d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Baghdad’s Chaos Undercuts Tack Pursued by U.S.

August 6, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 5 — Over the past year, as American commanders pushed Iraqi forces to take over responsibility for this violent capital, Baghdad became a markedly more dangerous place.

Now the Americans are being forced to call in more of their own troops to bring the city under control.

The failure of the Iraqis to halt the slide into chaos in Baghdad undercuts the central premise of the American project here: that Iraqi forces can be trained and equipped to secure their own country, allowing the Americans to go home.

A review of previously unreleased statistics on American and Iraqi patrols suggests that as Americans handed over responsibilities to the Iraqis, violence in Baghdad increased.

In mid-June 2005, Americans conducted an average of 360 patrols a day, according to statistics released by the military. By the middle of February this year, the patrols ran about 92 a day — a drop of more than 70 percent. The first Iraqi brigade took over a small piece of Baghdad early last year. Now, Iraqi soldiers or police officers take the leading role in securing more than 70 percent of the city, including its most violent neighborhoods. They control all of Baghdad’s 6,000 checkpoints.

Even after the attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22 unleashed a wave of sectarian violence, the American patrols remained at a level lower than in the past. At the end of July, Americans were patrolling Baghdad 89 times a day — a quarter of their patrols in mid-June last year.

Thirteen months ago, Baghdad had about 19 daily violent events, like killings. Today, the daily average is 25 — an increase of more than 30 percent. Many of these attacks cause more than one death; some cause many more, like the rampage by Shiite gunmen in western Baghdad last month that left as many as 40 people dead.

On Thursday in Washington, senior American military commanders pointedly warned that Iraq was heading toward civil war.

To stop the slide, the United States has decided to double the number of American troops in the city, to about 14,200 from about 7,200.

American officials have declared Baghdad the country’s “center of gravity,” an arena that must be won if they are to succeed. The Americans and Iraqis say they are also preparing to bring in more Iraqi troops and spend at least $50 million for jobs and public services like electricity.

The decision to increase the number of American forces in the city appears to reflect a conviction that only American troops can bring the city under control.

“If we were willing to accept the high levels of casualties that occur in the city each month, then the Iraqi security forces could have continued handling the situation,” said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the spokesman for the American military in Iraq. “We can handle it at the levels we have. But if we want to reduce the violence, then we bring more forces into the city.”

American commanders say the greater violence in Baghdad does not necessarily suggest that the Iraqi forces are failing. Iraqi police officers and army soldiers are competent, the Americans say, but the explosion of sectarian violence has been of a scope and virulence that could overwhelm any army.

“I don’t think we moved too quickly,” General Caldwell said of putting the Iraqis in charge of Baghdad. “I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the sectarian violence.”

Some independent observers say the Americans have a point — that the job of trying to secure a city of seven million people plagued by terrorism, sectarian violence and crime is a task of a magnitude that has never been attempted by a modern army. Some wonder whether the additional 7,000 American troops bound for the city will be enough.

“I don’t believe this operation was designed to turn a corner,” said Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “I believe it was designed to stop a civil war.”

Putting Iraqi forces in the lead in various parts of the city, American commanders say, frees American troops to support the Iraqis in the most violent neighborhoods.

The number of Iraqi troops and police officers has steadily grown since the beginning of 2005. About 42,000 Iraqi police, army and paramilitary forces now patrol the capital.

In addition to 7,200 American forces, more than 1,000 American advisers are spread throughout the Iraqi police and army.

Still, since March, when the Americans and Iraqis began the first of two major operations to bring Baghdad under control, violence there has increased.

The United Nations said an average of 100 Iraqi civilians were being killed each day in Iraq, “the overwhelming majority” of them in Baghdad.

On the streets, the tallies are borne out in flesh and blood. Each day, the bodies pile up at Baghdad’s main morgue: burned with acid, riddled with bullets, blindfolded, handcuffed, drilled with holes.

For much of the city, the Tigris River forms the sectarian boundary, the Sunnis on the west and the Shiites in the east. Many Baghdad residents will no longer stray from their own neighborhoods. Shops in most neighborhoods close by 2 p.m., if they open at all. Gun-toting militiamen from the Mahdi Army roam the streets unmolested.

Gauging the performance of the Iraqi security forces is difficult. Every night, the American military sends e-mail messages announcing that Iraqis have raided insurgent hide-outs, detained suspects or thwarted suicide bombers.

“I tell you this personally,” said Brig. Gen. David D. Halverson, the deputy commander of the American division that oversees the capital, “the Iraqi forces have stood up and fought very well.”

Indeed, in some places, Iraqi troops have shown promise. On Haifa Street, where the first Iraqi brigade took over last year, the troops brought stability to the neighborhood in a way that American soldiers had failed to do by themselves.

Over all, though, their performance seems spotty. The Iraqi Army seems more disciplined and professional than the police, and seems to receive more respect from the Iraqi people.

The Iraqi police officers, who far outnumber Iraqi soldiers, seem mostly hapless, often standing by as mayhem swirls around them.

One day late last month, for instance, a group of 10 armed men stopped traffic in the Tarbiya neighborhood of Sadr City and stormed a streetside shop.

As the scene unfolded, two police vehicles drove by, with a clear view of the kidnapping under way. They did nothing. Minutes later, the armed men led an Iraqi shopkeeper to one of their cars and took him away.

Neither the Sunni insurgents nor the Iranian-backed Shiite militias seem to fear Iraqi police officers or soldiers.

In the Baghdad neighborhoods of Dawra and Amariya, for instance, Iraqi soldiers and policemen are often unable to retrieve the bodies of civilians or their own men killed in gun battles because they fear they will be attacked. The Americans often have to retrieve the bodies; the insurgents leave them alone.

The mixed quality of the Iraqi security forces lies at the heart of the capital’s chaos, some Iraqi leaders say.

“We have to have the courage to admit that there are structural problems in the way the security forces were recruited,” said Barham Salih, the deputy prime minister. “There has not been enough attention paid to quality, nor to leadership. Command and control remains a problem.”

Many of the militiamen now terrorizing the capital are directed by the very political parties that control the Iraqi government, he said.

“It’s an open secret that needs to be confronted head-on,” Mr. Salih said. “The status quo is profitable to too many in the political elite of this country.”

American commanders say they are planning to embark on a plan to secure one neighborhood at a time. They say they are optimistic about it, in part, because it does not rely exclusively on military force. Iraqi and American leaders are preparing to spend $50 million to put Iraqis to work and restore basic services like electricity and water that are absent from much of Baghdad.

The new plan is the brainchild of Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the deputy commander of American forces in Iraq, who has long argued that the political and economic components of defeating an insurgency are as important as lethal force.

“We are pulling out Coach Chiarelli’s playbook, and we are finally going to implement it,” General Caldwell said.

The Americans and the Iraqis say they hope to see results within 90 days.

Qais Mizher contributed reporting for this article.

    Baghdad’s Chaos Undercuts Tack Pursued by U.S., NYT, 6.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/world/middleeast/06baghdad.html?hp&ex=1154923200&en=bcb052da1167fab8&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Washington Memo

‘Civil War’ Is Uttered, and White House’s Iraq Strategy Is Dealt a Blow

August 6, 2006
The New York Times
By JIM RUTENBERG

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 — Late last year, during a major address in Annapolis, President Bush introduced a new phrase for his Iraq policy: “Plan for Victory.” With those words emblazoned on a screen behind him, he laid out a possible exit path for American troops, who would gradually cede control to their Iraqi counterparts.

But that phrase has all but disappeared as scenes of horrific sectarian violence have streamed onto American television screens unabated. And when the United States commander for the Middle East, Gen. John P. Abizaid, addressed the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, his testimony that “Iraq could move towards civil war” if the strife would not end overshadowed any talk of victory.

Those two words — civil war — further complicated what was already a daunting challenge for the administration: convincing battle-weary Americans that the war was winnable while acknowledging the grim reality of the bloodshed.

Bringing the public back behind the Iraq campaign has been a fundamental White House goal for at least the last year, crucial to reducing public pressure to withdraw troops before the White House believes the mission is complete. It would also bolster the Republican Party’s prospects during Congressional elections in November.

But the administration is to a point still battling early expectations — created in part by its own officials and supporters — that the fight would be relatively easy. And it must essentially make a retroactive argument that the campaign will be long and hard, with stakes that no longer address the threat of unconventional weapons that were never found, but, rather, the prospects for the fight between democracy and Islamic extremism in the Middle East.

Since the war began more than three years ago, the administration and its supporters have discussed it in terms that have progressively tamped down expectations. The long-derided terms like “greeted as liberators” (Vice President Dick Cheney) and “cakewalk” (former Reagan arms control official Kenneth L. Adelman), as well as talk of an insurgency in its “last throes” (Mr. Cheney), are a thing of memory. Now, mixed with optimism are statements from President Bush that “the violence in Baghdad is still terrible,” and from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the United States had made “tactical errors, thousands of them.”

But on Thursday, the administration faced a blunt warning about the possibility of a civil war in Iraq from one of its military leaders.

For some who have watched the public relations campaign closely, General Abizaid’s statement — which did include an assertion that Iraq would ultimately avoid a civil war — represented a tacit acknowledgment that there was no use spinning this conflict.

Yet it also risked feeding public calls to leave Iraq when Americans are especially supportive of a speedy troop withdrawal if the conflict devolves into an internal Iraqi war.

“ ‘Civil war’ is sort of a proxy term for wars we cannot win,” said Christopher F. Gelpi, a professor of political science at Duke University who has worked on gauging opinions on Iraq with Peter D. Feaver, a fellow Duke professor who took leave to become a special adviser to the White House, helping to hone the “Plan for Victory.”

“The problem they’re facing is there’s only so much their rhetorical strategy can do to reshape public perceptions of the very real events that are out there, and right now those events are very bad when thousands of Iraqis are being killed every month,” Mr. Gelpi said.

Underscoring just how hard the job of putting an optimistic face on the war is proving to be, the staunchest remaining supporters are voicing pessimism about the prospects under the administration’s current approach, increasingly calling for Mr. Bush to engage in a new and more aggressive strategy.

“Those of us who still back the war are worried and alarmed,” said William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, an early proponent of the invasion. “We need to win the war and if it’s not going well we need to change strategy.”

On The National Review Online Web site last week, a former speechwriter for President Bush, David Frum, another longtime supporter of the war, said that if the United States did not change its policy by significantly increasing troop levels, “Baghdad — and therefore central Iraq — will in such a case slide after Basra and the south into the unofficial new Iranian empire.” Then, he predicted, “American troops will be free to stay or go, depending on whether we wish to deny or acknowledge defeat.”

Mr. Frum criticized as insufficient a plan Mr. Bush announced last week for an increase of troops in Baghdad — brought from other parts of Iraq — to help quell the violence in the capital.

In the current political climate, there is little appetite among voters for an increased troop presence. In the latest New York Times poll, 56 percent said the United States should set a timetable for withdrawal; 33 percent said it should do so even if it means handing Iraq over to insurgents.

Dan Bartlett, the White House counselor, said Mr. Bush’s hands would not be tied in Iraq by domestic politics. “You want to have as many people as supportive of this effort as possible,” he said in an interview. “But at the end of the day the commander in chief is going to make the decisions, and at the end of the day he’s going to defer to commanders on the ground — not the swings of public opinion.”

Mr. Bartlett said the administration would spend the fall explaining the strategy in Iraq, describing success as certain and providing “the necessary context and consequences and stakes in the fight,” which the administration has defined as creating the democratic conditions needed to defeat terrorism.

He acknowledged, “The images coming out of the Middle East are unsettling and obviously contribute to the anxiety.”

The theory when President Bush unveiled the “Plan for Victory” was that Americans would accept casualties if they could see a path to victory. For now, roadside bombs and suicide attackers are certainly clouding that vision.

    ‘Civil War’ Is Uttered, and White House’s Iraq Strategy Is Dealt a Blow, NYT, 6.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/washington/06memo.html

Editorial

A Timetable Isn’t an Exit Strategy

August 6, 2006
The New York Times

As America’s military experience in Iraq grows ever more nightmarish, it is becoming clear that President Bush’s strategy comes down to this: Keep holding to a failing course for the next 29 months and leave it to the next administration to clean up the mess.

That abdication of responsibility cannot be allowed to continue at the expense of American lives, military readiness and international influence. With the Republican majority in Congress moving in perpetual lock step behind the White House, the job of pressing the issue has been dumped in the laps of the Democrats. Unfortunately, they have their own version of reality avoidance. It involves pretending that the nightmare can be ended by adopting a timetable for a phased withdrawal of American troops.

Mr. Bush’s cheerleading encourages the illusion that it is just a matter of time and American support before Iraq evolves into a stable democracy. The Democratic timetable spins a different fantasy: that if the Iraqis are told that American troops will be leaving in stages, at specific dates, their government will rise to the occasion and create its own security forces to maintain order.

The Iraqi government has not failed to develop adequate police and military forces of its own because it lacks the incentive. It has failed to do so because it is weak and divided, because its people are frightened and because the strongest leaders in the country are the men who control sectarian militias. A phased withdrawal by itself would simply leave the American soldiers who remain behind in graver danger, and hasten what looks like an inevitable descent into civil war.

Democrats are embracing the withdrawal option because it sounds good on the surface and allows them to avoid a more far-reaching discussion that might expose their party’s own foreign policy divisions. Most of all, they want an election-year position that maximizes the president’s weakness without exposing their candidates to criticism. But they are doing nothing to help the public understand the grim options we face.

The only responsible way out of Iraq involves all the things President Bush refused to consider on the way in. That means enlisting help from some of the same Arab neighbors and European allies whose opinions and suggestions were scornfully ignored before the invasion. Getting their assistance would be a humbling experience. Americans may feel the war is going badly, but they have not been prepared to acknowledge failure.

America’s allies have an interest in not seeing Iraq turn into a hive of terrorists and a font of regional instability. However, before other nations become involved they would certainly insist on a laundry list of American concessions, from a share in war-related business for their contractors to an all-out United States push for a renewed peace process among Israel, the Palestinians and their neighbors.

A serious plan for disengagement from Iraq is not well tailored to the campaign trail. Real withdrawal will be messy and unpleasant. Even under the best of circumstances, it could well end in disaster. But the country cannot afford another election cycle of bipartisan evasions.

    A Timetable Isn’t an Exit Strategy, NYT, 6.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/opinion/06sun1.html

Sheehan will try again to meet with the president

Updated 8/5/2006 7:38 PM ET
USA TODAY
Richard Benedetto

CRAWFORD, Texas — Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004, begins her summer peace vigil here Sunday, only seven miles from President Bush's ranch.

Bush came to the ranch for a 10-day respite last Thursday and plans to stay until Aug. 13.

Sheehan, who will arrive here from a trip to Jordan, where she met and talked with Iraqi families, said she will once again seek a meeting with the president.

" I want to ask him why he continues to stay in Iraq when the killing gets worse every day. I want to continue to hold him accountable," she told USA TODAY in a phone interview from Jordan.

She said she also wants to tell Bush what she has heard from the Iraqi families — their problems and their needs.

"One of the things they want is a timeline for U.S. troops to get out of their country," she said.

Sheehan came to Crawford last August seeking a meeting with Bush and setting up a camp on the road to the president's ranch. Hundreds of peace activists and war protesters followed her down, making her encampment a media magnet that beamed stories and pictures of the protest around the world. Her protest triggered a counter protest by supporters of the war on the final weekend of August.

Bush, who met with Sheehan in 2004 at Fort Lewis, Wash., along with other parents of troops killed in Iraq, but refused to meet with her last summer, saying he disagreed with her call for an immediate pullout. However, he did send administration aides to meet with her, however.

On Friday, White House press secretary Tony Snow held out little hope that Bush would give in this time. He said there were "no plans" for any meetings this time with Sheehan, presidential or otherwise.

Snow said that with the White House focused on hammering out a United Nations resolution that would end hostilities in the Middle East, he said the subject of Sheehan had not risen to that level.

And then, in a nod to the searing 100-degree temperatures here, Snow added, "I would advise her to bring water, Gatorade, or both."

Bush spent part of Saturday meeting at his ranch with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Stephen Hadley as they monitored U.N. negotiations on Lebanon.

Sheehan will kick off her vigil Sunday morning with a prayer service and a press conference, which will be staged on five acres of vacant land she bought about one mile down the road from the center of Crawford, a quiet town of about 700 residents. Sheehan will stay in a tent on the land, which still has no running water and electricity.

On Saturday, a handful of volunteers braved the heat and white gravel dust kicked up by visiting cars to pitch tents and putting up signs. One sign at the entrance said. "Welcome Home Camp Casey," the name, after her son, Sheehan gave to her encampment last year.

Also on the land were hundreds of small, white wooden crosses, symbolizing the graves of Americans killed in Iraq.

    Sheehan will try again to meet with the president, UT, 5.8.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-05-sheehan-crawford_x.htm

Accusations

G.I. Crime Photos May Be Evidence

August 5, 2006
The New York Times
By ROBERT F. WORTH and CAROLYN MARSHALL

On March 13, a group of American soldiers sitting at a checkpoint south of Baghdad were asked to look into a horrible crime: a 14-year-old Iraqi girl had been raped, then killed along with her family in their house nearby in Mahmudiya.

The soldiers knew the house. They had been there only the day before, military prosecutors now say, committing the crime.

Those soldiers, along with others from their checkpoint, walked over and took detailed forensic photographs of the charred and bullet-riddled bodies, as if it were a routine investigation of an insurgent attack, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Now, those photographs are likely to serve as evidence in the military’s prosecution of the case, which opens a new chapter tomorrow when an Article 32 hearing, the rough equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, begins in Baghdad for five soldiers accused in the crime.

The case, which was first widely reported in June, raised alarm about the military’s conduct, infuriating Iraqis and setting off a public bout of shame and soul-searching for the American command. And as details trickle out, a troubling picture is emerging of an Army unit numbed by months of extreme combat stress and left at one of the deadliest security checkpoints in Iraq without experienced leaders — a point that will be central in building a legal defense, lawyers in the case say.

Many questions persist about the crime in Mahmudiya. Prosecutors initially said that only two of the accused soldiers had raped the girl, and that Steven D. Green, a private who was discharged in May after a psychiatric evaluation, was the ringleader. It now appears that at least three soldiers, including Mr. Green, raped her, according to a legal memo filed by a military magistrate. Prosecutors now believe the other two soldiers raped her first and later set fire to her dead body, two lawyers involved in the case said.

At the time, the men’s squad leader and the overseeing platoon commander — both highly respected leaders — were on leave, said a sergeant in the same company as the men. He provided some details through e-mail on condition of anonymity.

“I know none of that would have happened if he was around,” the sergeant said of the squad leader.

At least one staff sergeant in the unit repeatedly complained that checkpoints were under-manned, said David P. Sheldon and Capt. James D. Culp, lawyers who represent Specialist James P. Barker, one of the accused men. He and Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, Pfc. Bryan L. Howard and Sgt. Paul E. Cortez have been accused of rape, murder and arson. The fifth soldier in the hearing, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is accused of dereliction of duty for not reporting the crime, but he is not thought to have been at the house. Mr. Green is being tried in civilian criminal court.

Even relatives back home knew the men were stretched. Pfc. Shane Hoeck, a soldier in the unit, shared his worries with his brother Cody, 16, in frequent e-mail messages.

“They lost so many guys they don’t have enough manpower to cover things,” Cody Hoeck said in a telephone interview.

The military is still trying to determine whether the rape and killings in March have any connection to the torture and murder of three soldiers from the same platoon in June. Insurgents posted a video on the Internet last month showing images of two soldiers who had been kidnapped and castrated, one of them headless, and called it revenge for the rape.

In both episodes, soldiers appear to have been left on their own in violation of standard military procedures — a fact that has led to an investigation into possible lapses of supervision in the broader company that the men’s platoon is part of: Company B of the First Battalion, 502nd Infantry, with the 101st Airborne Division.

The men’s unit had already gained a reputation as the “hard luck platoon” among the soldiers stationed in the area around Mahmudiya, one of the most violent towns at the heart of the Sunni Arab insurgency.

“You have to understand, the civilians here do not like us,” the sergeant said. “They had a good life before we came here. It is 100-percent Sunni. They all work against us even when they act like our best friends.”

Specialist Barker’s lawyers have made it clear that they will argue that commanders had exacerbated an already stressful environment by stationing him, and other soldiers, at the same dangerous checkpoint for weeks at a time.

In February, soldiers were ordered to spend up to 30 days at a time at the checkpoint — eating and sleeping there — instead of the routine three- to five-day rotation, several lawyers familiar with the case said.

At the same time, the commander of Company B, Capt. John Goodwin, was on the verge of nervous collapse and was sent to Baghdad for several days of “environmental recuperation,” Mr. Sheldon said.

The checkpoints south of Baghdad are deadly, and the one the accused men were at was among the worst.

On Dec. 10, about three months before the rape, an Iraqi man in civilian clothing walked up to it, greeting and shaking hands with one of the soldiers on duty, according to relatives and lawyers of men in the unit. The Iraqi then raised a pistol and shot two sergeants in the head, fatally wounding them. Seconds later, Private Spielman shot and killed the attacker. Mr. Green, who was also at the scene, threw one of the wounded sergeants onto the hood of a Humvee and struggled to keep him alive during a frantic ride to the base.

All told, between September and June, at least 17 members of the battalion were killed, 8 of them from Company B, and dozens were seriously wounded. In February, morale took another hit when a fire broke out in the abandoned factory being used as makeshift barracks. No one was injured, but the fire destroyed most soldiers’ personal items, including clothes, toiletries, journals, music players and family photographs.

“We thought, ‘What else can go wrong?’ ” Captain Goodwin told the military publication Stars and Stripes after the fire. “But then I thought, ‘I don’t really want to ask that question.’ ”

The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Thomas Kunk, concerned about battle fatigue, stress and the resiliency of his men, began sending soldiers home in December for several weeks of leave. Even Colonel Kunk, 48-year-old decorated combat leader, was beginning to feel the weight of the losses. He recently admitted to his brother, Peter, that the last 10 months had been his hardest tour in Iraq, Peter Kunk said.

Such stresses have become a common feature of the war in Iraq. Still, cases where soldiers have been suspected of snapping under the pressure have been extremely rare.

Alcohol may also have been a factor in the Mahmudiya rape and killings. According to the charging documents, on the day of the crime, at least some of the accused soldiers were drinking at their checkpoint before they went to the house.

While military rules prohibit the use of alcohol on base, and certainly in combat, soldiers can easily obtain it in Iraq, either through disguised packages from abroad (often plastic bottles of mouthwash), civilians who visit bases or Iraqis.

Last year an Army private was shot and killed by a fellow soldier in Iraq, and witnesses in that case have said the shooting was preceded by an evening of heavy drinking. The most recent Pentagon survey, in 2002, found that after years of decline, alcohol abuse was on the rise.

“The military is very much aware that they have an alcohol problem,” said Dr. Genevieve Ames, a senior research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation whose work has been financed by the Defense Department.

Whatever the outcome of the coming hearings for the accused soldiers, the Iraqi outrage at the Mahmudiya case and other recent accusations of abuses has become a political problem for the Pentagon. Prosecutors are expected to highlight that problem, calling Iraqi witnesses to show the crime’s effect on the town. Several Iraqis are scheduled to testify at the hearing, and military officials have ordered that those portions be closed to the public, citing the Iraqis’ concern that any publicity would endanger them.

Specialist Barker’s lawyers have filed a motion contesting that decision. They have also accused government investigators of forcing a misleading confession from him.

If the Article 32 hearing proceeds to courts-martial, as expected, the trial would most likely be held at Fort Campbell, Ky. The misconduct cases are rarely discussed among family and friends who are awaiting the return of the soldiers, due home as early as September.

Kirk Semple contributed reporting from Baghdad, Iraq, for this article.

    G.I. Crime Photos May Be Evidence, NYT, 5.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/world/middleeast/05abuse.html?hp&ex=1154836800&en=44e8a81db991992c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Military Justice

Prosecutor Calls Accused G.I.’s War Criminals

August 5, 2006
The New York Times
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER

TIKRIT, Iraq, Aug. 4 — A military prosecutor called four American infantrymen “war criminals” on Friday for killing three Iraqi men in a raid in May after handcuffing them, “cutting them loose, telling them to run and shooting them.”

But a lawyer for one of the accused soldiers said the three Iraqi men “got exactly what they deserved” and urged a military investigator to recommend that murder charges filed against the four be dismissed.

The lawyers’ statements were part of summations given at the conclusion of a military hearing to weigh the evidence against the soldiers, all members of Company C, Third Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

The lieutenant colonel presiding over the hearing, held during the past four days in a makeshift room at an American military base here, must determine whether to recommend that the charges proceed to a court-martial. The recommendations, made to an Army major general who will decide how to proceed, may take several days or weeks.

The soldiers have denied any wrongdoing. Three of them — Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, Specialist William B. Hunsaker and Pfc. Corey R. Clagett — said they shot the Iraqi men in self-defense after the three escaped from plastic “zip-tie” handcuffs, assaulted two of the soldiers and fled.

Specialist Hunsaker and Private Clagett are accused of spraying the three men with automatic weapons fire as they ran away, barefooted and toward no obvious cover. Sergeant Girouard is accused of devising a plan to kill the men that involved cutting their cuffs off, punching Private Clagett and cutting Specialist Hunsaker to give the appearance of their having been attacked by the men, and then allowing the two soldiers to kill the men from several yards away as they ran, pulling off their blindfolds.

A fourth soldier, Specialist Juston R. Graber, was accused of “mercy killing” one of the three Iraqi men as he lay dying, with a head shot that pierced the man’s blindfold. Specialist Graber admitted killing the man in a sworn statement given to Army investigators.

The deaths occurred during an assault on May 9 on several houses on a narrow spit of land near a lake in the volatile Sunni Arab region northwest of Baghdad. The region is regarded as among the most dangerous in Iraq for coalition forces to patrol.

Paul Bergrin, a Newark lawyer who represented Private Clagett but argued the summation for all four defendants, said they followed the rules of engagement, set by their brigade commander, to shoot all males of military age that they came across. The commander, he said, had warned their platoon that they would be attacking a known stronghold of Al Qaeda that had recently repelled a Special Forces unit and killed one of its members.

“They went to a hot L.Z.,” Mr. Bergrin said, using the military slang for landing zone, “with the thoughts that they were going to fight terrorists, Al Qaeda and insurgents.”

He said the Iraqi detainees used a large knife to cut themselves free and attack the soldiers before being shot dead. “They got exactly what they deserved,” he said.

“Sergeant Girouard does not have the type of character or integrity to orchestrate this,” Mr. Bergrin added. “Hunsaker is an excellent soldier, nothing but accolades. Private Clagett is a kid; he’s a 22-year-old, immature boy. He does not have the character and integrity to carry out this kind of immoral actions.”

The prosecutor summarizing the case against the four soldiers said their account defied reason. He said Sergeant Girouard had sent the other squad members away, leaving only Specialist Hunsaker and Private Clagett to guard the three detainees, violating tactical procedures.

“Where were these three barefooted detainees running?” Capt. Joseph Mackey asked. “There was nowhere of concealment to go.”

The rules of warfare, he said, are clear about the detention of prisoners.

“Once we detain these people, it became our duty to protect them,” he told the presiding officer, Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr. “Didn’t matter who they were before. Didn’t matter if they were terrorists.”

Earlier in the hearing, known as an Article 32, an Iraqi Army sergeant testified that Company C soldiers had killed an elderly man with gunfire as they approached the house containing the three men they later detained. The dead man was “about 70 to 75 years old,” said Sgt. Hamed Muhammad, one of four Iraqi soldiers with the American squad. His account may raise questions about the legality of that killing as well, because the man was not “military age.”

    Prosecutor Calls Accused G.I.’s War Criminals, NYT, 5.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/world/middleeast/05tikrit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Military

6 Marines Are Charged in Assault

August 5, 2006
The New York Times
By CAROLYN MARSHALL

Military prosecutors have charged six marines in a new abuse case involving the assault on an Iraqi civilian in Hamdaniya, the city at the heart of an separate murder case that led to charges against eight American servicemen in June.

The Marine Corps announced the new allegations late Thursday, bringing assault charges against six members of Company K of the Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where two other high-profile abuse cases are under investigation.

The latest assault case came to light in May, as the Naval Criminal Investigative Service looked into the killing of another civilian in Hamdaniya on April 26, said Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Camp Pendleton spokesman. That killing led to charges against a Navy corpsman and seven marines. Three of those marines are also charged in the new assault case.

According to the charge sheet, the six marines attacked the Iraqi civilian near Patrol Base Bushido in Iraq on April 10, “striking him on the face, head and torso with a force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm.” One of the marines is also charged with assaults on two other men. He was accused of choking one civilian and placing a loaded pistol in the mouth of another.

The six men charged by the corps were identified as Lance Cpl. Saul H. Lopezromo, Pfc. Derek I. Lewis, Lance Cpl. Henry D. Lever, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas and Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. The latter three are confined in the Camp Pendleton brig on the unrelated charges in the April 26 murder in Hamdaniya.

Victor Kelley, a civilian defense lawyer representing Corporal Thomas for both the new assault charges and the continuing murder investigation, described the latest allegation as “false and wrong.” He said Corporal Thomas was “legally not guilty and factually innocent.”

Mr. Kelley, a lawyer with the National Military Justice Group in Birmingham, Ala., questioned the timing of the assault charges, and suggested that the case was a strategic legal maneuver by Marine Corps prosecutors, perhaps to gain information about the April 26 murder case.

“My sense is that the government is trying to put pressure on someone to save his own skin and rat on his brothers,” Mr. Kelley said. “The government is frustrated because so far, that has not happened.”

The victim of the April 10 assault has been identified as Khalid Hamad Daham, a man that one defense lawyer said was a “high value individual,” and therefore fair game.

Sergeant Hutchins was also charged with assaulting Hassam Hamza Fayall by choking him, and Ali Haraj Rbashby by placing the pistol in his mouth.

Colonel Gibson said investigations into the Hamdaniya killing and the killings of 24 Iraqis in Haditha were still open. No charges have been filed in the Haditha case, but the base has been preparing for what may be three hearings in the Hamdaniya killing. The hearings could start in late August.

    6 Marines Are Charged in Assault, NYT, 5.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/world/middleeast/05marines.html

100,000 March Against U.S. and Israel in Baghdad

August 4, 2006
The New York Times
By DAMIEN CAVE and KIRK SEMPLE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 4 — More than 100,000 followers of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched today to show support for Hezbollah, denouncing Israel and the United States for the violence in Lebanon.

The protesters filled 20 blocks of a wide boulevard and dozens of side streets in the Shiite-dominated Sadr City section of the capital.

Waving Lebanese flags and posters of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, the protesters chanted, “No, no, no, Israel, no, no, no, America,’’ challenged Americans to fight them in their neighborhoods, and called on Hezbollah to strike at Tel Aviv.

The fighting in Lebanon has caused a rift between the United States and the Shiite parties that lead Iraq’s new government, which feel a strong solidarity with Hezbollah, also a Shiite group. Mr. Sadr was one of the first to denounce Israel for the conflict, saying last month that “we will not sit by with folded hands before the creep of Zionism.” He also accused the United States of culpability in the bombardments because of its close relationship with Israel.

More recently, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other leading Shiite figures have strongly condemned Israel for its attacks.

Mr. Sadr’s power has long rested on his ability to mobilize large numbers of Shiite residents of the city’s slums and other cities in the country’s south. Today’s demonstration could be seen as a similar show of force.

The demonstration comes at a time of rising tension between the American military and Mr. Sadr’s organization. In recent weeks, American and Iraqi forces have conducted a series of raids on bases of Mr. Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army, and have arrested some of its leaders.

On Thursday, American troops opened fire on a vehicle carrying armed Shiites to today’s demonstration, killing as many as two occupants and wounding others.

While details remained murky, the American military command said in a statement that the occupants of the van had first fired at the watchtower of an American military base near the town of Mahmudiya.

Today’s rally was attended by several members of the Iraqi Parliament who defended Mr. Sadr and the Mahdi Army.

Falah Hasan Shansal, a member of Parliament who serves as Mr. Sadr’s spokesman, denied charges leveled by Sunnis and the American military that the Mahdi Army has been involved in the skyrocketing number of reprisal killings that has shaken Baghdad in recent months.

“These are false accusations made against Sadr and the Mahdi organization,’’ he said, then paused as the sound of an exploding bomb in the distance was heard.

“This is the violence. This is the terror. It’s all being done by Baathists and takfiris,’’ Mr. Shansal said, referring to extremist Sunni groups.

One speaker at the rally compared Hezbollah’s fight against Israel to the Mahdi Army’s clashes with American forces in Najaf in 2004. “This month is the anniversary of the Mahdi victories in Najaf and other provinces,’’ he told the crowd, saying that the fighting in Lebanon was leading to a new round of resistance.

Many people in the crowd said they had come from other cities to participate, by bus or taxi. Raheem Hashem, 33, said that he had shared a taxi with three other men from the city of Kut in the Shiite south. “Both the Lebanese and the Iraqis are on one side, and we are ready to sacrifice here and there,’’ he said.

Barefoot boys in camouflage T-shirts scampered after men handing out posters of Mr. Nasrallah, grabbing at them as if they were candy. “I can’t wait to put it up,’’ said Mustafa al-Basim, 13, who had won a scuffle for a poster. “Everybody wants to put them up in their house.’’

Elsewhere in Iraq, officials in Mosul imposed a curfew until Saturday morning after gun battles broke out between the police and insurgents following a bomb explosion that killed four officers. Today’s demonstration was peaceful. On rooftops and in the crowd, men and boys waved guns in the air without firing shots. Mr. Sadr had warned in a speech on Thursday against violence, calling on his followers to “wear your shrouds and stand up to support your struggling and patient brothers in Lebanon and Iraq.’’ Some members of the crowd today did exactly that, dressing in white burial shrouds.

Mr. Sadr is among the country’s most powerful politicians. In the legislative elections last December, his bloc won at least 30 of 275 parliamentary seats, making it the equal of any political party in Iraq.

His currency rose in 2004 when he led two rebellions against the Americans. Though his fighters were ultimately crushed in those conflicts, his resistance, and his defiance of an American warrant for his arrest, accorded him great status, particularly among impoverished Shiites.

Since then he has transformed his organization into one similar to Hezbollah, with an armed wing — mainly young men ready to spring into action, Kalashnikovs in hand — and a political movement that includes the leaders of several important ministries.

Both the Mahdi Army and Hezbollah have strong ties to Iran, and all three subscribe to a similar Shiite theology.

Khalid W. Hassan and Wisam A. Habeeb contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article; an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Najaf, and John O’Neil from New York.

    100,000 March Against U.S. and Israel in Baghdad, NYT, 4.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1154750400&en=2ed2aa2f410efc99&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Six Marines charged with assault in Iraq

Updated 8/4/2006 1:18 AM ET
AP
USA Today

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Six Marines accused of injuring civilians in the Iraqi village of Hamdania in April were charged Thursday with assault.

Half of the men were already being held on murder charges in an unrelated case. Military officials said that the assaults were uncovered during an investigation into that slaying.

A seventh Marine, an officer, is expected to be charged next week in the assault case, according to Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, the Marine Corps' defense coordinator for the western United States.

The nature of the assaults was not described.

Charged Thursday were Lance Cpl. Saul H. Lopezromo, Pfc. Derek I. Lewis, Lance Cpl. Henry D. Lever, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas and Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., officials said.

Hutchins, Thomas and Shumate were among eight servicemen previously charged in the April 26 slaying of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad, an Iraqi civilian, officials said.

All six Marines in the assault case were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division while in Iraq. They are currently assigned to the Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.

Attorney Joseph Casas, who represents Pfc. John Jodka III, one of the men charged in the Awad slaying, said that probe uncovered separate incidents in which Marines are accused of misconduct.

Casas had not seen the latest charge sheets in the assault case, but is familiar with an almost 600-page investigation report compiled by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

He said it details incidents where Marines are accused of extracting information from suspected insurgents, or "high-value individuals."

"The charges are going to be about the nature and method with which these Marines obtained information," Casas said. "It will probably be that they used physical force."

The seven Marines and one Navy corpsman charged in Awad's slaying are being held in the Camp Pendleton brig. Investigators say that without provocation they went into Hamdania, took Awad from his home, tied him up, put him in a hole and shot him.

After the killing, according to investigators, the troops placed an AK-47 assault rifle in Awad's hands and put a shovel in the hole to make it appear he was an insurgent planting explosives.

In coming weeks, a military hearing will be held to determine whether the eight should face trial.

    Six Marines charged with assault in Iraq, UT, 4.8.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-03-marines-charged_x.htm

The Fighting

U.S. Says Soldiers in Baghdad Fired on Shiites Who Had Shot at U.S. Base

August 4, 2006
The New York Times
By KIRK SEMPLE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 3 — American troops opened fire Thursday on a vehicle carrying armed Shiites to an anti-Israel demonstration in Baghdad, killing as many as two occupants and wounding others, officials said.

While details remained murky late Thursday, the American military command said in a statement that the occupants of the van had first fired at the watchtower of an American military base near the town of Mahmudiya.

American troops returned fire, the statement said, and more than an hour later, Iraqi troops at a checkpoint captured the van and found two dead men in the back with AK-47 and PKC assault rifles.

An official at the Interior Ministry said the vehicles’ occupants were followers of the militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, who has called for a mass demonstration on Friday against Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon. Charismatic and decidedly anti-American, Mr. Sadr counts millions of disaffected poor Shiites among his constituency.

According to the ministry official, only one person was killed in the shooting, and 16 were wounded.

Mahmudiya has been a location fraught with tension for American troops in recent months. Four American soldiers and one former soldier have been accused of raping a 14-year-old girl there and killing her and three family members.

The van was passing through Mahmudiya on its way to Baghdad from the southern Shiite town of Hilla, said Sahib al-Ameri, an official in Mr. Sadr’s movement.

The shooting comes at a time of rising tensions between the American military and Mr. Sadr’s organization. In recent weeks, American and Iraqi forces have conducted a series of raids on bases of Mr. Sadr’s restless militia, the Mahdi Army, and have arrested high-ranking militia leaders.

American commanders say they are intent on destroying the country’s death squads, Sunni and Shiite alike, that have fomented the sectarian violence ravaging this country.

Mr. Sadr’s militia has been blamed for many of the abductions and killings of Sunni Arabs, though officials in Mr. Sadr’s organization have denied any institutional involvement in these crimes and say they are attributable to rogue elements operating beyond their control.

Thousands of Mr. Sadr’s supporters from Shiite-dominated cities in southern Iraq began converging on the capital on Thursday in anticipation of the rally. They boarded buses decorated with pictures of Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, which set off the current fighting with a cross-border raid.

The Sadr supporters waved Iraqi and Hezbollah flags and chanted “Death to America! Death to Israel!” wire service reports said.

Israel’s offensive in Lebanon is highly unpopular among Iraqis, and Mr. Sadr was among the first politicians to condemn Israel’s actions publicly, warning last month that his followers would “not sit by with folded hands before the creep of Zionism.” He also accused the United States of culpability in the bombardments because of its close relationship with Israel.

American and Iraqi security forces were bracing for enormous crowds at the rally, which is planned for Friday afternoon in the teeming working-class neighborhood of Sadr City, the cleric’s main stronghold here.

Sadr City demonstrations in the past have been intense and full of anger but generally free of violence. Israel’s three-week-old offensive, however, in addition to the recent government raids against the Mahdi Army, has exacerbated anger and resentment among Mr. Sadr’s followers.

In his call for the demonstration, which he issued Tuesday, Mr. Sadr seemed to anticipate violence — by his opponents, however, not by his followers.

“I know very well the dangers of holding demonstrations in our beloved Iraq, from the enemies of God and Islam,” he said. “But it is our duty and our love for martyrdom and to die for the sake of God that is calling us to support truth and its people. If any of you seeks heaven, then here are the open doors. Wear your shrouds and stand up to support your struggling and patient brothers in Lebanon and Iraq.”

Mr. Sadr is among the country’s most powerful politicians. In the legislative elections last December, his bloc won at least 30 of 275 parliamentary seats, making it the equal of any political party in Iraq.

His currency rose in 2004 when he led two rebellions against the Americans. Though his fighters were ultimately crushed in those conflicts, his resistance, and his defiance of an American warrant for his arrest, accorded him great status, particularly among impoverished Shiites.

Since then he has transformed his organization into one similar to Hezbollah, with an armed wing — mainly young men ready to spring into action, Kalashnikovs in hand — and a political movement that includes the leaders of several important ministries.

Both the Mahdi Army and Hezbollah have strong ties to Iran, and all three subscribe to a similar Shiite theology.

Buses full of supporters left Thursday from several southern cities, including Basra, Najaf and Hilla. The Associated Press reported that a convoy of about 20 buses, accompanied by police vehicles, had moved out of Basra carrying young men, many of them draped in white cloth to symbolize their willingness to die as martyrs.

Sporadic guerrilla violence continued to erupt around Iraq on Thursday. In the deadliest attack, an improvised bomb concealed in a pile of garbage exploded in central Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding 32, the Interior Ministry official said.

Khalid W. Hassan contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Najaf.

    U.S. Says Soldiers in Baghdad Fired on Shiites Who Had Shot at U.S. Base, NYT, 4.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04iraq.html

Intelligence

Senator Faults Bid to Classify Report on Iraq

August 4, 2006
The New York Times
By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 — The Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee lashed out at the White House on Thursday, criticizing attempts by the Bush administration to keep secret parts of a report on the role Iraqi exiles played in building the case for war against Iraq.

The chairman, Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, said his committee had completed the first two parts of its investigation of prewar intelligence. But he chastised the White House for efforts to classify most of the part that examines intelligence provided to the Bush administration by the Iraqi National Congress, an exile group.

“I have been disappointed by this administration’s unwillingness to declassify material contained in these reports, material which I believe better informs the public, but that does not — I repeat, does not — jeopardize intelligence operations, sources and methods,” Mr. Roberts said in a statement issued Thursday.

One completed section of the Senate report is said to be a harsh critique of how information from the Iraqi exile group made its way into intelligence community reports, said people who have read the report but spoke on condition of anonymity because it is still classified.

The second section compares prewar assessments of Iraq’s unconventional weapons programs and its links to terrorism with what American troops and intelligence operatives have found since the war began in March 2003.

The two parts of the report will not be made public for weeks, and neither is likely to present conclusions very different from past investigations into faulty prewar intelligence. Yet the current dispute is a sign that more than three years into the conflict, emotions remain raw over the role that the Iraqi group and its leader, Ahmad Chalabi — who was close to Pentagon officials and Vice President Dick Cheney — played in the administration’s decision to wage war against Saddam Hussein.

The group’s role in building the case against Mr. Hussein has been the source of fierce ideological arguments in Washington for years. The report also concludes that the group did provide useful information regarding the disposition of Iraq’s military. In the end, four Republicans on the committee and all seven Democratic members approved of the section of the report about the group. Four Republicans voted against it.

Congressional officials said Thursday that they were puzzled by White House efforts to keep large portions of that section classified. Mr. Roberts pledged in his statement to maintain the pressure to declassify all of the Senate’s conclusions.

“This Committee will not settle for anything less,” he said. “Neither will the American people.” A spokesman for the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, whose office is in charge of the declassification, declined to comment.

The committee approved the other section of the report 14 to 1.

    Senator Faults Bid to Classify Report on Iraq, NYT, 4.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04intel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Sen. Clinton calls for Rumsfeld's resignation

Fri Aug 4, 2006 1:54 AM ET
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign, after accusing him of "presiding over a failed policy in Iraq."

Clinton's spokesman confirmed the senator said President George W. Bush should accept Rumsfeld's resignation.

Clinton, a possible 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing earlier in the day, ripped into Rumsfeld for his handling of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

"We hear a lot of happy talk and rosy scenarios, but because of the administration's strategic blunders and, frankly, the record of incompetence in executing, you are presiding over a failed policy," Clinton said.

"Given your track record, Secretary Rumsfeld, why should we believe your assurances now?" she asked him in a tense exchange.

Iraq is caught in the worst sectarian violence yet seen and faces the threat of civil war, two of the United States' senior generals said on Thursday, three years after the invasion.

"Sectarian violence probably is as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular," Army Gen. John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate hearing. "If not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war."

Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, the most senior U.S. military officer, also said there was a "possibility" of civil war in Iraq, where the violence has claimed about 100 lives a day.

While a number of Democrats have called for Rumsfeld's resignation, Clinton until now had stopped short of that.

Rumsfeld had planned to skip the committee hearing and instead hold a closed briefing with the full Senate, until Clinton publicly called on him to testify in the open forum.

She argued that senators and the American people "should hear directly from the top civilian leader at the Pentagon, the person most responsible for implementing the president's military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan."

In his opening statement, Rumsfeld thanked the committee for inviting him to testify, and added, "Senator Clinton, thank you for seconding the motion."

    Sen. Clinton calls for Rumsfeld's resignation, R, 4.8.2006, http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-08-04T055421Z_01_N03285395_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-RUMSFELD-CLINTON.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-L3-Politics+NewsNews-2

U.S. Generals See Growing Threat of Civil War in Iraq

August 3, 2006
The New York Times
By DAVID STOUT
 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 — Two senior American military commanders said today that the wave of sectarian bloodshed in Iraq has heightened the danger that the country will slide into all-out civil war.

“I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I’ve seen it, in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war,” Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of United States forces in the Middle East, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

A similarly sobering assessment was offered by Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said he can envision the present situation “devolving to a civil war.”

“But that does not have to be a fact,” General Pace added. In the long run, he said, peace in Iraq depends not just on American forces helping the Iraqis secure their own country but on Iraqis of different heritages deciding that they “love their children more than they hate each other.”

General Abizaid, too, said he remained hopeful. “Am I optimistic whether or not Iraqi forces, with our support, with the backing of the Iraqi government, can present the slide to civil war?” he asked rhetorically. “My answer is yes, I’m optimistic that the slide can be prevented.”

But the tone of the hearing, coinciding as it did with the continuing carnage in Iraq and the Israeli conflict with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, was not one of optimism. Nothing in the testimony of the commanders, or in that of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, pointed to an early withdrawal of United States forces.

“We can persevere in Iraq, or we can withdraw prematurely, until they force us to make a stand nearer home,” said Mr. Rumsfeld, appearing before the panel after sharp criticism of his earlier intention not to go to Capitol Hill. “But make no mistake: they’re not going to give up whether we acquiesce in their immediate demands or not.”

Mr. Rumsfeld said, as he has many times before, that the possibility of pulling out some American troops depended on the judgment of ground commanders. He counseled patience, from the lawmakers and their constituents. “Americans didn’t cross oceans and settle a wilderness and build history’s greatest democracy only to run away from a bunch of murderers and extremists who try to kill everyone that they cannot convert, and to tear down what they could never build,” he said.

General Pace sounded the same theme: “Our enemy knows they cannot defeat us in battle. They do believe, however, that they can wear down our will as a nation.”

But the committee chairman, Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, signaled that political support for the conflict could be fraying. “I think we have to examine very carefully what Congress authorized the president to do in the context of a situation if we’re faced with all-out civil war and whether we have to come back to the Congress to get further indication of support,” Mr. Warner said.

When General Abizaid was asked about the prospects for reducing American forces in Iraq by the end of the year, he replied, “It’s possible, depending on how things go in Baghdad and how Prime Minister Maliki and his government grab a hold of the security situation.” The general said he was confident that the Iraqis understood that the United States military commitment to Iraq was not open-ended.

In any event, Mr. Rumsfeld said it was difficult to gauge the ideal number of troops the United States and its allies should have in Iraq. Too many troops, and the Iraqis would see them as occupiers, leading to more unrest. To few, and the violence could spiral out of control. “There’s no rulebook,” Mr. Rumsfeld said.

The valor and sacrifice of America’s sons and daughters serving in Iraq was praised by Senator Warner and the committee’s ranking Democrat, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, along with other panel members.

But the session was full of sharp, and occasionally angry, exchanges. For instance, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, accused Mr. Rumsfeld of being inconsistent over the months in his assessment of the military situation.

“Senator, I don’t think that’s true,” Mr. Rumsfeld said, declaring that the senator would have “a dickens of a time” documenting her assertion that he had been overly optimistic in the past. But Senator Clinton did not back down, and she said she would introduce evidence of her assertion into the committee record.

And Senator John S. McCain, Republican of Arizona, who is a firm supporter of the campaign in Iraq, voiced concern about the effects of shifting of United States troops into Baghdad, thereby lessening troop strength elsewhere. “What I worry about is, we’re playing a game of whack-a-mole here,” the senator said.

Mr. McCain had pointed exchanges with both generals, who conceded that events had taken them by surprise.

“General Pace,” the senator said, you said there’s a possibility of the situation in Iraq evolving into civil war. Is that correct?”

“I did say that, yes, sir,” the general replied.

“Did you anticipate this situation a year ago?”

“No, sir.”

“Did you, General Abizaid?”

“I believe that a year ago it was clear to see that sectarian tensions were increasing,” General Abizaid said. “That they would be this high, no.”

The general gave a positive evaluation of the 275,000 members of the Iraqi police, border security and military forces who had completed training. “They are much improved, and they continue to improve every month,” he said.

Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who graduated from West Point and served in the Army for 12 years, said that under Mr. Rumsfeld’s tenure the Army had been stretched beyond its capacity, a situation he called “a stunning indictment of your leadership.”

“It think it’s an inaccurate statement,” Mr. Rumsfeld shot back, going on to say that the situation was more complicated than Mr. Reed had suggested.

    U.S. Generals See Growing Threat of Civil War in Iraq, NYT, 3.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-rumsfeld.html?hp&ex=1154664000&en=c38661723bdada83&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Grief and Sacrifice Reach Into the Halls of Congress

August 3, 2006
The New York Times
By DAVID STOUT

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 — “We loved him dearly, and we’ll miss him more than words can ever express,” said a man from Montana on Tuesday upon learning that his nephew had been killed in Iraq.

Words like those have been uttered thousands of times in big cities and tiny towns, heard mostly by friends and relatives. But the man from Montana is Senator Max Baucus, so his words attracted more notice.

Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus of the Marine Corps, dead at 28, was “like a son to Senator Baucus,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said Tuesday on the Senate floor.

“Our family is devastated,” Mr. Baucus said after the Defense Department announced that Corporal Baucus, of Wolf Creek, Mont., was killed in combat on Saturday in Anbar province. Three other marines from his battalion were also killed there Saturday, according to the department.

Phillip and Katharine Baucus would have celebrated their first wedding anniversary on Aug. 19.

Since the Vietnam War era, it has been common to say that wars are begun by powerful men whose sons stay home, while the sons of men and women with calluses on their hands and dirt under their nails cross oceans to fight, and perhaps to die.

In his scathing 2004 documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Michael Moore said that only one of the 535 members of Congress had an enlisted son in Iraq. He was referring to Senator Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Dakota, whose son Brooks served with the Army in Bosnia, Kosovo, South Korea and Afghanistan as well as Iraq before coming home.

Mr. Moore’s assertion may have been true at the time, especially since he referred to enlisted troops as opposed to officers. But the recent words of the senior senator from Montana, a Democrat who voted to authorize military force in Iraq, showed how grief can invade the halls of Congress as well as the living rooms of Main Street.

And while the cliché about who goes to war and who does not holds some truth, there have always been notable exceptions, on Capitol Hill as elsewhere.

Lt. Sam Bond of the Marines has just returned from Iraq “much to his father’s relief,” as an aide to the father put it on Wednesday. Lieutenant Bond saw combat in Fallujah. His relieved father is Senator Christopher S. Bond, Republican of Missouri.

Another relieved father is Representative Duncan Hunter, a Republican of California who heads the House Armed Services Committee and who served in the Army in Vietnam. His son, Lt. Duncan Duane Hunter, served two tours in Iraq with the Marines.

Alan Wilson, the oldest son of Representative Joe Wilson, spent a year in Iraq as a captain in the Army National Guard. The congressman, a South Carolina Republican, also has a son who graduated from United States Naval Academy, another in the Army National Guard and still another who will join the R.O.T.C. when he enters Clemson University this fall, Kim Olive, an aide to Mr. Wilson, said Wednesday.

Lt. Perry Akin served a year in Iraq as a combat engineer in the Marines, returning to the United States last fall. His father is Representative Todd Akin, Republican of Missouri.

And Maj. William Bunning, an Air Force electronics-warfare officer who is one of nine children of Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, served in Afghanistan as well as in the first Persian Gulf war.

During World War II, Senator Leverett Saltonstall, Republican of Massachusetts; Gov. Herbert Lehman of New York, a Democrat; Joseph P. Kennedy, the former ambassador to Britain; and Harry Hopkins, one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s closest advisers, had a son die in the war.

A White House aide, who requested anonymity because his information was preliminary, said Wednesday that he knew of no top Bush administration official who had a relative who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For generations, it has been common for the children of generals and admirals to follow their parents into service. That was true for Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, whose father and grandfather were admirals.

Mr. McCain, who was a Navy pilot in the Vietnam War and spent more than five years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese after being shot down, has been a strong supporter of the Iraq campaign. The choice, he has said, is simple: “Withdrawal and fail, or commit and succeed.”

Mr. McCain’s youngest son, Jimmy, who is 18, has just joined the Marine Corps. “I’m obviously very proud of my son,” the senator told Time magazine, “but also understandably a little nervous.”

    Grief and Sacrifice Reach Into the Halls of Congress, NYT, 3.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/washington/03family.html

Detainees

G.I.’s Say Officers Ordered Killing of Young Iraqi Men

August 3, 2006
The New York Times
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER

TIKRIT, Iraq, Aug. 2 — Four American soldiers from an Army combat unit that killed three Iraqis in a raid in May testified Wednesday that they had received orders from superior officers to kill all the military-age men they encountered.

The soldiers gave their accounts at a military hearing here to determine if four colleagues should face courts-martial on charges that they carried out a plan to murder the three Iraqis, whom they had seized after an assault on what they were told was an insurgent stronghold northwest of Baghdad.

Their testimony gave credence to statements from two defendants that an officer had told their platoon to “kill all military-age males” in the assault, regardless of any threat they posed. That officer, Col. Michael Steele, has declined to testify, an unusual decision for a commander.

The four soldiers charged in the case, from Company C, Third Battalion Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division, said they had fired on the three Iraqis after they broke loose from plastic handcuffs, attacked two soldiers and tried to escape.

Military prosecutors accused the unit’s leader, Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, of orchestrating a scheme to cut the men’s’ handcuffs, shoot them as they fled and then have two soldiers inflict injuries on each other to cast the killings as self-defense.

Sergeant Girouard and three other soldiers — Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, Specialist William B. Hunsaker and Specialist Juston R. Graber — are charged with murdering the three Iraqis.

In his testimony on Wednesday, Pfc. Bradley Mason of Company C said that on May 8, the night before the raid, Colonel Steele told soldiers to “kill all of them.”

Three other soldiers gave similar testimony. First Lt. Justin Werheim said Colonel Steele had told 100 soldiers before the raid, “We’re going to hit the ground shooting and kill all the Al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents.”

Under cross-examination, Pfc. Jason R. Joseph said Company C soldiers had been told that their rules of engagement were to “kill all military-age males that were not actively surrendering.”

Capt. Jason A. Sienko, who had recommended that charges be brought against the four defendants, told military prosecutors, “We were to kill or engage any males on the island that were military-age.” The only exceptions, he said, were any men “actively surrendering” or men who could not be killed without harming civilians.

But Captain Sienko also said Colonel Steele had told his men not to kill indiscriminately.

“Colonel Steele specifically said during our combined arms rehearsal that we’re not just going to the island and shoot everyone,” Captain Sienko said. “Make sure you have well-aimed shots. Make sure you’re killing people that need to be killed.”

The four soldiers’ accounts on Wednesday varied slightly, about what the orders for engaging the enemy were, or who issued them. Taken together, though, they reinforced accusations that ranking officers had approved broad use of deadly force.

“We are now talking about the possibility of command responsibility, not just unlawful orders and simple murder,” said Gary D. Solis, a former military judge and prosecutor who teaches the law of war at Georgetown University.

Colonel Steele, who led the 1993 mission in Somalia later made famous in the book and film “Black Hawk Down,” has a reputation for aggressive measures. In Iraq, as a commander involved in harrowing assaults against insurgents, he inspired the use of “kill boards” to track how many Iraqis each soldier had killed over time.

On the bottom of Company C’s kill board, Private Mason said, was a phrase to inspire soldiers in combat: “Let the bodies hit the floor.”

Three other Company C soldiers also testified Wednesday about directives they said they had received from senior officers urging them to kill Iraqi men during the raid.

After the May 9 episode, according to testimony on Wednesday, Specialist Hunsaker and Sergeant Girouard threatened at least one soldier, and Private Clagett admitted to staging the Iraqi detainees’ escape as a pretext to kill them.

Private Mason said Specialist Hunsaker had approached him and said that “if he goes to jail, that he’ll kill me.” Around the same time, Private Mason said, Sergeant Girouard told him “that if I say anything, he’d kill me.”

Private Joseph told prosecutors that in late May, Private Clagett admitted that the soldiers had staged the Iraqis’ escape and intentionally killed them. “He told me they cut the detainees loose, and shot them,” he said. “Him and Specialist Hunsaker.”

Sgt. Brian D. Hensley, a squad leader who missed the May 9 assault because of a knee injury, also testified that Private Clagett had told him that the Iraqis’ attack on them was fiction. “I was frozen,” Sergeant Hensley said. “I didn’t know Private Clagett to be that kind of person.”

Civilian lawyers for Private Clagett and Specialist Hunsaker said the four accused were scapegoats for superior officers who had ordered them to kill almost without question. “There’s not a scintilla of credible, logical evidence to prove that they did anything wrong,” said Paul Bergrin, Private Clagett’s lawyer.

The hearing, known as an Article 32, is to continue Thursday. At its conclusion, the investigating officer will recommend whether the soldiers be acquitted, proceed to a court-martial or face a lesser punishment.

Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from New York for this article.

    G.I.’s Say Officers Ordered Killing of Young Iraqi Men, NYT, 3.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03abuse.html

Pentagon officials: Haditha probe to support accusations against Marines

Updated 8/2/2006 12:22 PM ET
AP
USA Today

WASHINGTON (AP) — Evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

Agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have completed their initial work on the incident last November, but may be asked to probe further as Marine Corps and Navy prosecutors review the evidence and determine whether to recommend criminal charges, according to two Pentagon officials who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity.

The decision on whether to press criminal charges ultimately will be made by the commander of the accused Marines' parent unit, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif. That currently is Lt. Gen. John Sattler, but he is scheduled to move to a Pentagon assignment soon; his successor will be Lt. Gen. James Mattis.

The case is one of several involving alleged unjustified killings of Iraqi civilians that have emerged this year, damaging the military's reputation for humane treatment of civilians and triggering calls by some Iraqi leaders to end the arrangement under which U.S. troops are immune from prosecution by Iraqi authorities.

The Marines initially reported after the Nov. 19, 2005 killings at Haditha that 15 Iraqi civilians had been killed by a makeshift roadside bomb and in crossfire between Marines and insurgent attackers. Based on accounts from survivors and human rights groups, Time magazine first reported in March that the killings were deliberate acts by the Marines.

A criminal investigation was then ordered by the top Marine commander in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer.

A parallel investigation is examining whether officers in the Marines' chain of command tried to cover up the events. The probe, which has not been made public, faults some officers for failing to pursue obvious discrepancies in the initial reports about what happened in Haditha and for not launching an early investigation.

Public attention on the Haditha case grew after Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a former Marine, asserted publicly on May 17 that he had learned from Marine Corps officials that innocent Iraqis had been killed "in cold blood."

Lawyers for Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, one of the Marines under investigation, argue in a lawsuit to be filed Wednesday in federal court that Murtha falsely accused Wuterich of murder and war crimes. The suit maintains that Pentagon officials "who have briefed or leaked information to Mr. Murtha deliberately provided him with inaccurate and false information" and that the congressman subsequently "has made repeated statements .... that are defamatory" to Wuterich and his fellow Marines.

Among the other cases of alleged deliberate killings of Iraqi civilians, eight Marines have been charged with premeditated murder and other criminal acts in connection with the killing of an Iraqi man in Hamdania on April 26. Also, five soldiers and a former soldier have been charged in the March 12 rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya.

    Pentagon officials: Haditha probe to support accusations against Marines, UT, 2.8.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-08-02-haditha-report_x.htm

US Marine accused in Haditha case to sue Murtha

Wed Aug 2, 2006 10:11 AM ET
Reuters
By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine suspected in the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, will sue Rep. John Murtha for libel after the war critic made public comments about the case and accused the serviceman of murder, attorneys said on Wednesday.

Lawyers representing Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 26, said Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, made false, misleading and defamatory statements.

The case, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, says Murtha's statements in the press about the case have pressured the Pentagon to pursue charges against Wuterich and other Marines, and to use them as "scapegoats" to prove that allegations of atrocities committed against Iraqis will be pursued, "no matter how baseless."

"The false, misleading and defamatory statements disseminated by Mr. Murtha portray ... Wuterich as a cold-blooded killer, untrained and falling victim to stress, as well as being involved in a cover-up of the tragic events of November 19, 2005," the Marine's lawyers say in the court filing.

"Mr. Murtha has intentionally disseminated with malice his hearsay version of the events of November 19, 2005 with knowledge of the false and libelous nature of the statements contained therein and/or with gross negligence or reckless disregard for the truth," the suit states.

A spokeswoman for Murtha declined to comment, but said the congressman would release a statement later on Wednesday.

Wuterich is suing for damages of at least $75,000, a public apology and an injunction prohibiting publication of allegations against the Marine.

U.S. Marines, including Wuterich, have been accused of killing unarmed Iraqis in Haditha last year. An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the role of the Marines in the killings could lead to murder charges.

The Haditha case is just one of many in which U.S. servicemen are suspected of killing Iraqi civilians.

Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, has commented extensively about Haditha. In May, he told ABC News there was "no question" the U.S. military tried to cover up the Haditha killings, and that he would not "excuse murder."

In the court filing, which Wuterich's attorneys said would be filed on Wednesday, many of Murtha's comments in the press are recounted. According to the filing, for example, Murtha said on NBC, "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Wuterich is represented by Washington-based lawyers Mark Zaid and Neal Puckett.

    US Marine accused in Haditha case to sue Murtha, R, 2.8.2006, http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-08-02T141134Z_01_N02208483_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-HADITHA.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-L3-Politics+NewsNews-2

Soldier Says Comrades Threatened Him

August 2, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:28 a.m. ET
The New York Times

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -- A U.S. soldier testified Wednesday that four of his colleagues accused of murdering three Iraqis during a raid threatened to kill him if he told anyone about the shooting deaths.

Pfc. Bradley Mason, speaking at a hearing to determine whether the four must stand trial, also said that their brigade commander, a veteran of the 1993 ''Black Hawk Down'' battle in Somalia, told troops hunting insurgents to ''kill all of them.'' Mason is not one of the accused.

The alleged killings May 9 near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, have dealt another blow to the reputation of U.S. soldiers over their conduct in Iraq and fueled anger against their presence.

U.S. soldiers and Marines have been accused of a string of civilian deaths in Iraq, including the alleged massacre of dozens in Haditha. Another hearing is scheduled later this month over allegations that five U.S. soldiers raped and killed a 14-year-old girl.

Mason testified that Spc. William B. Hunsaker threatened him a day after the alleged killings. He said he was accosted by Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard and Pfc. Corey R. Clagett on May 29 when he was on his way to the Criminal Investigation Division.

Asked what was said that was of a threatening nature, Mason replied that Girouard told him: '''If you say anything, I'll kill you.' I took them pretty seriously.''

Girouard, Hunsaker, Clagett and Spc. Juston R. Graber are accused of murder and other offenses in the shooting deaths. The first three are also accused of obstruction of justice for allegedly threatening to kill Mason.

The accused soldiers and Mason are members of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

Mason said that before they embarked on the search mission, the rules of engagement were explained and clearly spelled out by brigade commander Col. Michael Steele.

''He (Steele) just said that the rules of engagement were that 'we get to kill all the male insurgents,''' Mason said.

''Kill all of them,'' Mason quoted Steele as saying. When asked who those people were, Mason said ''insurgents, terrorists.''

''He (Steele) said that this was declared a hot area and that some special forces had been there before, and they got knocked out, so they sent us in,'' Mason said.

Describing the events of May 9, Mason testified that he was with the four accused during a raid on a house with an objective ''to catch all the bad guys.'' On entering the house, the unit found and detained three men hiding behind two women.

He said soldiers found one handgun, one AK-47 automatic rifle, and many gun parts and bullets.

Mason quoted Girouard as saying that Clagett and Hunsaker were going to kill the three detainees.

''They just smiled,'' he said.

''I told him (Girouard) that I'm not down with it. It's murder,'' he said. Immediately afterward, he heard gunshots, he said.

Clagett's civilian lawyer, Christopher Bergrin, has said he intends to call Steele to testify during the hearing. Steele has apparently signed a statement invoking his right not to testify.

Steele, then a captain, took part in the 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, that killed 18 U.S. troops -- the basis for the ''Black Hawk Down'' book and movie -- and led to the failure of a U.N. peacekeeping mission there two years later.

Mason said the squad's 1st sergeant would tell soldiers they did a good job if they killed an Iraqi. Mason said he believed it was a competition for kills.

''I know he said good job after we killed one of them,'' he said.

    Soldier Says Comrades Threatened Him, NYT, 2.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Soldiers-Hearing.html?hp&ex=1154577600&en=ac9e02f981a2d773&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Report Condemns Iraq Reconstruction Plan

August 2, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:49 a.m. ET
The New York Times

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The beleaguered Iraq reconstruction effort was beset by problems from the very start, a new report finds:

For several months before the war, government agencies didn't consult each other on what they were doing because their work was classified.

The report is a chronological review of American contracting and purchasing efforts starting in the summer of 2002 for post-invasion relief and rebuilding.

''It is a story of mistakes made, plans poorly conceived or overwhelmed by ongoing violence,'' said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. ''And of waste, greed and corruption that drained dollars that should have been used to build schools, improve the electrical grid, and repair the oil infrastructure.''

The report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., is being presented Wednesday before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Collins chairs.

The 140-page report starts the chronology noting there was limited coordination of contract and purchasing efforts from the summer of 2002 to January 2003. The war started in March 2003.

''This lack of coordination in early planning was attributable, in part, to the fact that much of the activity was classified,'' it said.

The report's recommendations include setting up single contracting procedures in such environments, setting up deployable systems ahead of time and testing them, designating a single agency to coordinate all contract activities in theater.

This report is the latest by Bowen in a number of days that detailed project delays and cost overruns in Iraq.

Bowen also said in his quarterly report released late Monday that a long tradition of corruption among Iraqi officials also hampers progress.

Corruption is ''a virtual pandemic in Iraq,'' threatening rebuilding efforts, international aid and citizen confidence needed for a fledgling democracy, he said.

He cited an Iraqi official who estimated that corruption costs the country $4 billion a year, as well as a recent survey indicating a third of Iraqis polled had paid a bribe to get products or services in the past 12 months and that they had a ''core mistrust'' of the army and police.

''Unless reforms are put in place, corruption may jeopardize the political stability of the new government,'' said an audit included in the quarterly report.

It also said that teams being created to help local government leaders out in the provinces with the next phase of reconstruction don't have enough security or supplies or staff.

''The deteriorating security situation has had a particularly deleterious effect on the establishment of the U.S. provincial reconstruction teams,'' Bowen said.

Bowen's office was created by Congress and reports administratively to the departments of State and Defense as well as writing a quarterly report to Congress.

------

On the Net:

Special Inspector General Iraq Reconstruction: http://www.sigir.mil

    Report Condemns Iraq Reconstruction Plan, NYT, 2.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Iraq-Reconstruction.html

Montana Senator’s Nephew Is Killed in Iraq

August 1, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:56 p.m. ET
The New York Times

HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- A nephew of Sen. Max Baucus serving in the Marines was killed in Iraq during the weekend, the senator's office said Tuesday.

Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus, 28, died Saturday during combat operations in Anbar province, the Department of Defense said. It did not immediately release further information.

In a statement, Baucus, D-Mont., said the family was ''devastated by the loss.''

''Phillip was an incredible person, a dedicated Marine, a loving son and husband, and a proud Montanan and American,'' the senator said. ''He heroically served the country he loved and he gave it his all.''

Phillip Baucus, of Wolf Creek, was part of a Marine Corps battalion based at Twentynine Palms, Calif. He was married last August at the ranch his parents operate between Helena and Great Falls.

Max Baucus voted to authorize war in Iraq in 2002. Earlier this summer, he joined other Democrats in voting to begin a phased redeployment of troops from the war-torn country by year's end.

Baucus is in his fifth term in the Senate.

    Montana Senator’s Nephew Is Killed in Iraq, NYT, 1.8.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Baucus-Nephew-Killed.html

Pentagon Extends Tour for 4,000 Troops, Increasing Number in Iraq

July 30, 2006
The New York Times
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 29 — The tours of 4,000 American soldiers who had been scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks have been extended for up to four months, signaling that there would almost certainly be no significant troop pullout before the year’s end, military officials and analysts said Saturday.

The extension is part of the new security plan that President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced last week in Washington. The plan entails sending thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital from elsewhere in Iraq to bolster the forces here. Since the new Iraqi government was installed in May, sectarian violence has spiraled out of control in many parts of Baghdad.

Of the 4,000 troops ordered to stay beyond their standard one-year tour, 3,500 are from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, currently based in the northern city of Mosul, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman. The other 500 come from other units.

A separate military statement on Saturday used slightly different numbers. It said 3,700 members of the 172nd Brigade were being sent to Baghdad. The eight-wheel Stryker vehicles the brigade uses are smaller and more maneuverable than the Bradley fighting vehicles and M1 Abrams tanks, making them better suited for urban combat.

The new security plan allows almost no room for significant troop withdrawals by the end of 2006, Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in an interview on Saturday.

If any troop pullout takes place in the coming months, “it would be so cosmetic that it would be meaningless,” he said. “It would be statistical gamesmanship.”

“People are now talking about 2009 as the goal for achieving really serious security,” he added.

The issue of when troops should be withdrawn has stirred political debate and pressure, especially with midterm elections coming in November. Several leading Democrats in Congress have pressed for a deadline of the end of the year for withdrawing most troops, and some Republicans are also calling for a significant drawdown by then.

The top American commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., recently drafted a plan that projected sharp reductions in troop numbers by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September. Under the plan, two combat brigades scheduled to rotate out in September — roughly 3,500 soldiers per brigade — would not be replaced. But given the new focus on Baghdad, such a move would be almost impossible.

As of Saturday, there were 127,000 American troops in the country, Colonel Johnson said. Numbers fluctuate when units overlap while rotating in and out of Iraq. So the total troop level will rise above 130,000 as new units rotate in and the 4,000 troops are held here longer.

The 172nd Stryker Brigade was deployed to Mosul in August 2005. The brigade had been preparing to return to its home base, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, when the Pentagon ordered a tour extension.

Many military officials have said that asking soldiers to serve more than a year at a time in Iraq grinds away at morale and motivation. That effect is one of the reasons the Marines usually do six- or seven-month tours here rather than a full year, which the Army prefers. In the spring of 2004, morale plummeted among soldiers of the First Armored Division when they were asked to stay beyond their yearlong tour in order to quell a Shiite uprising.

At the time, the First Armored Division had already spent a year trying to gain control of Baghdad, one of the most dangerous assignments in the country. Units were then sent to the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala to battle the Mahdi Army, the militia founded by Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric.

The new Baghdad security plan calls for adding at least 4,000 American troops and 4,000 Iraqi security officers in the capital. There are now 9,000 American troops, 8,500 Iraqi soldiers and 34,500 Iraqi police officers in Baghdad.

The military said Saturday in a written statement that “the duration of the temporary deployment of these Iraqi and coalition forces in Baghdad will be determined by conditions on the ground.”

Mr. Maliki announced his original plan to take control of Baghdad shortly after he was installed in office in late May. Iraqi forces operated checkpoints all over the capital and slowed traffic to a crawl. But suicide bombers and death squads stepped up the pace of killings. In June, more than 100 civilians were killed per day in Iraq, many in the capital.

On Friday, one of the country’s top Shiite leaders, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, called for Iraqis to wrest control of security from the hands of the Americans. Mr. Hakim presides over the main Shiite political bloc and oversees the Badr Organizaton, an Iranian-trained militia. He has been pushing to carve the country into three large autonomous regions.

Ripples of violence could be felt across Iraq on Saturday. The coach of the national soccer team resigned on Friday because of threats, sports officials said. The coach, Akram Ahmed Salman, turned in his resignation in Erbil, the Kurdish city where the team is training, said Abdul Khalak Massoud, the financial secretary of the Iraqi Football Federation.

Mr. Massoud said Mr. Salman had received two phone calls within two days warning him that his family would be killed unless he quit. “It’s so weird,” Mr. Massoud said.

Violence against athletes and sports directors has been on the rise in recent weeks. Earlier this month, gunmen abducted the chairman of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee and at least 30 other officials and bodyguards in a brazen daylight raid. Before that, Iraq’s national wrestling coach and several top tennis players were killed in separate attacks.

In the volatile oil city of Kirkuk, a car bomb exploded across the street from a gas station, killing at least four people and wounding at least 18.

In Baghdad, a worker at Yamouk Hospital said the hospital had received 8 bodies and 18 injured people from various attacks.

Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi contributed reporting for this article.

    Pentagon Extends Tour for 4,000 Troops, Increasing Number in Iraq, NYT, 30.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/world/middleeast/30iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Audit Finds U.S. Hid Cost of Iraq Projects

July 30, 2006
The New York Times
By JAMES GLANZ

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 29 — The State Department agency in charge of $1.4 billion in reconstruction money in Iraq used an accounting shell game to hide ballooning cost overruns on its projects there and knowingly withheld information on schedule delays from Congress, a federal audit released late Friday has found.

The agency hid construction overruns by listing them as overhead or administrative costs, according to the audit, written by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent office that reports to Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department.

Called the United States Agency for International Development, or A.I.D., the agency administers foreign aid projects around the world. It has been working in Iraq on reconstruction since shortly after the 2003 invasion.

The report by the inspector general’s office does not give a full accounting of all projects financed by the agency’s $1.4 billion budget, but cites several examples.

The findings appeared in an audit of a children’s hospital in Basra, but they referred to the wider reconstruction activities of the development agency in Iraq. American and Iraqi officials reported this week that the State Department planned to drop Bechtel, its contractor on that project, as signs of budget and scheduling problems began to surface.

The United States Embassy in Baghdad referred questions about the audit to the State Department in Washington, where a spokesman, Justin Higgins, said Saturday, “We have not yet had a chance to fully review this report, but certainly will consider it carefully, as we do all the findings of the inspector general.”

Bechtel has said that because of the deteriorating security in Basra, the hospital project could not be completed as envisioned. But Mr. Higgins said: “Despite the challenges, we are committed to completing this project so that sick children in Basra can receive the medical help they need. The necessary funding is now in place to ensure that will happen.”

In March 2005, A.I.D. asked the Iraq Reconstruction and Management Office at the United States Embassy in Baghdad for permission to downsize some projects to ease widespread financing problems. In its request, it said that it had to “absorb greatly increased construction costs” at the Basra hospital and that it would make a modest shift of priorities and reduce “contractor overhead” on the project.

The embassy office approved the request. But the audit found that the agency interpreted the document as permission to change reporting of costs across its program.

Referring to the embassy office’s approval, the inspector general wrote, “The memorandum was not intended to give U.S.A.I.D. blanket permission to change the reporting of all indirect costs.”

The hospital’s construction budget was $50 million. By April of this year, Bechtel had told the aid agency that because of escalating costs for security and other problems, the project would actually cost $98 million to complete. But in an official report to Congress that month, the agency “was reporting the hospital project cost as $50 million,” the inspector general wrote in his report.

The rest was reclassified as overhead, or “indirect costs.” According to a contracting officer at the agency who was cited in the report, the agency “did not report these costs so it could stay within the $50 million authorization.”

“We find the entire agreement unclear,” the inspector general wrote of the A.I.D. request approved by the embassy. “The document states that hospital project cost increases would be offset by reducing contractor overhead allocated to the project, but project reports for the period show no effort to reduce overhead.”

The report said it suspected that other unreported costs on the hospital could drive the tab even higher. In another case cited in the report, a power station project in Musayyib, the direct construction cost cited by the development agency was $6.6 million, while the overhead cost was $27.6 million.

One result is that the project’s overhead, a figure that normally runs to a maximum of 30 percent, was a stunning 418 percent.

The figures were even adjusted in the opposite direction when that helped the agency balance its books, the inspector general found. On an electricity project at the Baghdad South power station, direct construction costs were reported by the agency as $164.3 million and indirect or overhead costs as $1.4 million.

That is just 0.8 percent overhead in a country where security costs are often staggering. A contracting officer told the inspector general that the agency adjusted the figures “to stay within the authorization for each project.”

The overall effect, the report said, was a “serious misstatement of hospital project costs.” The true cost could rise as high as $169.5 million, even after accounting for at least $30 million pledged for medical equipment by a charitable organization.

The inspector general also found that the agency had not reported known schedule delays to Congress. On March 26, 2006, Bechtel informed the agency that the hospital project was 273 days behind, the inspector general wrote. But in its April report to Congress on the status of all projects, “U.S.A.I.D. reported no problems with the project schedule.”

In a letter responding to the inspector general’s findings, Joseph A. Saloom, the newly appointed director of the reconstruction office at the United States Embassy, said he would take steps to improve the reporting of the costs of reconstruction projects in Iraq. Mr. Saloom took little exception to the main findings.

In the letter, Mr. Saloom said his office had been given new powers by the American ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, to request clear financing information on American reconstruction projects. Mr. Saloom wrote that he agreed with the inspector general’s conclusion that this shift would help “preclude surprises such as occurred on the Basra hospital project.”

“The U.S. Mission agrees that accurate monitoring of projects requires allocating indirect costs in a systematic way that reflects accurately the true indirect costs attributable to specific activities and projects, such as a Basra children’s hospital,” Mr. Saloom wrote.

    Audit Finds U.S. Hid Cost of Iraq Projects, NYT, 30.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/world/middleeast/30reconstruct.html?hp&ex=1154318400&en=73cfd3a2aeaf9597&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Partisan Divide on Iraq Exceeds Split on Vietnam

July 30, 2006
The New York Times
By ROBIN TONER and JIM RUTENBERG

WASHINGTON, July 29 — No military conflict in modern times has divided Americans on partisan lines more than the war in Iraq, scholars and pollsters say — not even Vietnam. And those divisions are likely to intensify in what is expected to be a contentious fall election campaign.

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows what one expert describes as a continuing “chasm” between the way Republicans and Democrats see the war. Three-fourths of the Republicans, for example, said the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, while just 24 percent of the Democrats did. Independents split down the middle.

“The present divisions are quite without precedent,” said Ole R. Holsti, a professor of political science at Duke University and the author of “Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy.”

The Vietnam War caused a wrenching debate that echoes to this day and shaped both parties, but at the time, public opinion did not divide so starkly on party lines, experts say. The partisan divide on Iraq has fluctuated but endured across two intensely fought campaigns in which war and peace — and the overarching campaign against terrorism — have figured heavily. Each party has its internal differences, especially on future strategy for Iraq. But the overall divide is a defining feature of the fall campaign.

The White House’s top political advisers are advancing a strategy built around national security, arguing that Iraq is a central front in the battle against global terrorism, and that opposition to the war is tantamount to “cutting and running” in a broader struggle to keep America safe.

After three years of conflict, Democrats argue that the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq should not be equated with a stronger, safer America. Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, said recently, “Nearly everywhere you look — from the Middle East to Asia — America’s enemies have been emboldened by the administration’s mismanagement of Iraq.”

The voters, at times, are even more impassioned. Representative Henry J. Hyde, Republican of Illinois and chairman of the International Relations Committee, said that voters, pro or con, were treating the war the way they treated the mention of Richard M. Nixon in the 1974 post-Watergate midterm campaign. “Nobody is tepid on this issue,” said Mr. Hyde, who is planning to retire.

Many experts and members of both parties say they worry about the long-term consequences of such bitter partisan polarization and its effect on the longstanding tradition — although one often honored in the breach — that foreign policy is built on bipartisan trust and consensus.

“The old idea that politics stops at the water’s edge is no longer with us, and I think we’ve lost something as a result,” said John C. Danforth, a former senator and an ambassador to the United Nations under President Bush.

Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said, “There used to be some unwritten rules when it came to foreign policy.”

These divisions do not run across foreign policy. The latest poll shows no comparable partisan gap, for example, in attitudes toward the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Capitol Hill, even as lawmakers position themselves furiously over Iraq, they produce big bipartisan majorities on issues like this week’s nuclear deal with India or last week’s resolution expressing support for Israel.

But compared with past conflicts — from Vietnam to the war in the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan — the war in Iraq evoked strong partisan passions from the start.

“I’m a child of the 60’s and the Vietnam War,” Judy Smitko, a 63-year-old retired college professor and Democrat in San Diego, said in a follow-up interview to the New York Times/CBS poll. “It’s their country. It’s their own decision. Unfortunately, we’re in it, but I believe we should be out of it in 18 months.”

Bernard Thompson, a 72-year-old retiree from Corsicana, Tex., said Mr. Bush was “coming to grips with this worldwide threat, and we’ve got to stamp it out if we are going to survive.”

Mr. Thompson, a Republican, added: “The point is, we’re at war. Just think of what would have happened if the country had turned on Roosevelt.”

An analysis by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that the difference in the way Democrats and Republicans viewed the Vietnam War — specifically, whether sending American troops was a mistake — never exceeded 18 percentage points between 1966 and 1973. In the most recent Times/CBS poll on Iraq, the partisan gap on a similar question was 50 percentage points.

The poll was based on telephone interviews conducted July 21 through July 25 with 1,127 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

The overall shift in public opinion on the war largely depends on how independents fall — and lately, they have been agreeing more with the Democrats, said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center.

Christopher F. Gelpi, a political scientist at Duke, said the only partisan divide that came close to the division over Iraq occurred during President Ronald Reagan’s military action in Grenada, but it was much smaller.

Experts cited several reasons for the extent of this partisan divide: Mr. Bush is a polarizing president in an intensely partisan age, they say. Gary C. Jacobson, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego, said, “The divisions on the war exacerbate the divisions on Bush, and the divisions on Bush exacerbate the divisions on the war.”

Democrats are generally more skeptical about the use of force, especially without broad international support, and the course of the war has seemed to justify their doubts.

Republicans have been fiercely loyal to Mr. Bush for his handling of the fight against terrorism and see Democratic critiques as counterproductive to that effort.

Partisan passions have also been heightened, some analysts said, by the use of national security issues in the past two campaigns.

Democrats recall the 2002 campaign against Senator Max Cleland, Democrat of Georgia, as a turning point. Mr. Cleland, a triple amputee who was awarded a Silver Star in Vietnam, was defeated after an advertising campaign that accused him of being soft on national defense, at one point flashing images of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

Democrats say the Republicans repeatedly broke the old rules, treating national security as a wedge issue to make Democrats look weak and unacceptable, especially in 2004. “George Bush decided to make foreign policy partisan in a way that Ronald Reagan or the first George Bush never did,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said, “The divisions over Iraq and national security are the house that Karl Rove and George Bush built.”

But Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said the war and national security were entirely appropriate issues for election campaigns.

“I don’t think we’re politicizing the war,” Mr. Mehlman said. “I think the fact is that there are legitimate and important differences, and it is the job of a campaign to clarify between individual candidates on what is the central question our nation faces, which is, How do you win this global war on terror?”

Mr. Mehlman said presidents from both parties had used war as a campaign rallying point throughout history. But, he said, national security has been especially important to the Republican Party since the Reagan days, as Democrats in the post-Vietnam era have become increasingly antiwar.

He said it was Democratic leaders like Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who had broken the old rules, embracing defeatism, “which I think is not only bad for American troops, but I think for their party.”

Three months before the midterm elections, the exchanges are already rough. In Ohio, Senator Mike DeWine, a Republican, recently ran an advertisement showing the World Trade Center towers and accusing his Democratic challenger, Representative Sherrod Brown, of “weakening America’s security” by a series of votes on issues like financing for intelligence programs.

Ohio Democrats responded with an advertisement that said Mr. DeWine “failed us on the intelligence committee before 9/11” and on “weapons of mass destruction.”

In independent interviews, two senior Republican strategists said that the war on terror — with Iraq as its central front — had been the single most effective motivator for base voters in internal party polls this year. Even so, some strategists said the continued violence in Iraq was a drag on many of their candidates, especially in moderate districts.

Among Republican voters in the latest Times/CBS poll, only 49 percent said they believed that the United States was winning the war, and 41 percent said neither side was winning.

Analysts in both parties say the intensity of Democratic feeling against the war will be a powerful motivator in this fall’s elections. The sentiment is perhaps most apparent in the Connecticut primary challenge to Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, a strong supporter of the war.

A variety of experts in both parties said they worried about the aftermath of intense partisanship.

“This era in general feels excessively partisan, and national security has been put right into the mix of intense partisan debate,” said Thomas E. Donilon, a lawyer and a former assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration. “And it’s a mistake in terms of the president developing support for his position on these tough issues.”

Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, who until June 2003 served as director of policy planning for the State Department, said all nuance got lost in a campaign debate.

“You end up with very stark choices: quote, stay the course, versus, quote, cut and run,” Mr. Haass said. “And in reality, a lot of policy needs to be made between them.”

Many experts, though, said they were not sure what would change the current political climate. “It’s hard to repair the breach,” said John Podesta, former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.

Megan Thee and Marina Stefan contributed reporting from New York for this article.

    Partisan Divide on Iraq Exceeds Split on Vietnam, NYT, 30.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/washington/30war.html?hp&ex=1154232000&en=db934dc08125cdd5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Shiite Leader Criticizes Plan for Stronger U.S. Role in Iraq’s Security

July 29, 2006
The New York Times
By KIRK SEMPLE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 28 — One of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite leaders criticized the current security strategy on Friday and said that Iraq’s forces, rather than those of the United States, should be in charge of stabilizing the country.

During a rally in the southern Shiite holy city of Najaf, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the largest Shiite bloc, said that the worsening security situation was caused by “carelessness” and “wrong policies.”

He called for “handing over the security dossier to the Iraqi apparatus and stopping the interference in its work.”

Mr. Hakim, who leads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, has said that Iraqi forces should have more responsibility for the country’s security. But his criticisms on Friday were particularly acute because they came only three days after President Bush and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced an agreement to significantly strengthen the American military presence in the capital.

Mr. Hakim’s remarks also seemed intended to put pressure on Mr. Maliki, a fellow Shiite but a fierce political rival.

American and Iraqi leaders have struggled to break the cycle of sectarian bloodshed that has steadily worsened in recent months, particularly in Baghdad. Mr. Bush’s announcement on Tuesday was a tacit acknowledgment that a new security strategy for Baghdad, initiated by Mr. Maliki last month, had failed.

American officials have tried to shift much of Baghdad’s policing to Iraqi forces. But while publicly praising the maturation of the Iraqi military and police, American officials have privately acknowledged that progress has been much slower than anticipated.

Much of the recent violence has been driven by sectarian death squads, some operating within Shiite-controlled security forces and Shiite militias tied to political parties. Mr. Maliki has pledged to disband the militias and clean the ranks of the police and the military of militia influence.

Mr. Hakim has said in the past that he wanted established militias, including his own Iranian-trained Badr Organization, to have more authority in securing the country. But on Friday he appeared to back away from that stance, saying he supported Mr. Maliki’s vow to disband them.

The American military command, seemingly eager to demonstrate success in its fight against insurgents, issued an unusually long statement on Friday describing what it called a “daylong battle” last Sunday in a town south of Baghdad. The statement said American and Iraqi forces killed 33 “terrorists” in the firefight.

According to the statement, the clash began when gunmen attacked an Iraqi police post in Musayyib and seized police vehicles and weapons. American troops responded and came under fire from around a small mosque, including by rocket-propelled grenades fired from inside the mosque, the statement said.

An American AH-64 Apache helicopter blew up a fuel truck that American officers believed was carrying explosives, the statement said, and an Abrams tank destroyed a building being used as a bunker by at least six gunmen. American and Iraqi troops traded small-arms fire with the insurgents for several hours, the military reported.

Lt. Col. Patrick Donahoe, commander of the First Battalion, 67th Armor, described the insurgent attack as “coordinated, sustained and complex.”

In scattered violence on Friday, a mortar shell exploded near a Sunni Arab mosque on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding six, government officials said. The attack occurred despite a four-hour driving ban intended to curb violence in the city. Mortar crews often use vehicles for easy escape.

The attack was among several that concentrated on civilians and security forces, though violence appeared to be sharply lower than on most other days this month.

Four marines were killed in Anbar Province on Thursday in two separate attacks, according to the American military command. One of the marines was assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, and the other three were with the First Brigade, First Armored Division.

The bodies of three Sunni Arab men who disappeared several days ago were found in a boat on Friday, each with a bullet in the head, according to a police official in Baquba, north of Baghdad.

The bodies of five men kidnapped Thursday in Baquba were found Friday on a farm in that city, according to the police official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution.

The United Nations and the Iraqi government formally began a campaign on Friday to attract more countries and international organizations to help rebuild Iraq.

The campaign, the International Compact With Iraq, aims to draw a coalition of countries to help develop economic, political and security reforms that will, in five years, establish Iraq as a “united, federal and democratic country” that is “well on its way to sustainable economic self-sufficiency and prosperity,” according to a statement issued by the Iraqi government and the United Nations.

    Shiite Leader Criticizes Plan for Stronger U.S. Role in Iraq’s Security, NYT, 29.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/29/world/middleeast/29iraq.html

3 Marines killed in Iraqi province

Posted 7/28/2006 11:21 PM ET
AP
USA Today

BAGHDAD (AP) — Three U.S. Marines assigned to the Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division have been killed in action in Anbar province, the U.S. military said Saturday.

The Marines died Thursday, according to a U.S. statement. No further details were released.

Both Army and Marine units operate in the Ramadi area of Anbar, and individuals from both services are sometimes attached to units from the other.

The latest deaths bring to 40 the number of Americans who have died in Iraq in July.

A prominent Shiite politician called Friday for Iraqi forces to play a greater security role and for an end to "interference in their work" — an apparent reference to U.S. efforts to curb abuses by the Shiite-led Interior Ministry.

The remarks by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who heads the country's biggest Shiite party, came as the U.S. military drafted plans to move up to 5,000 U.S. troops with armored vehicles and tanks into Baghdad in an effort to quell escalating violence.

Al-Hakim told thousands of supporters at a rally in the southern city of Najaf that the Americans should turn over more security responsibility to the Iraqis and stop "the interference in their work."

He said the surging violence was due to "being lax in hunting down terrorists and upholding the wrong policies in dealing with them."

Sunni extremists and Saddam Hussein loyalists, al-Hakim said, are to blame for the violence. However, he also endorsed the government's pledge to disband militias, including those affiliated with Shiite politicians.

Al-Hakim, the former commander of the feared Badr Brigade militia, has long complained the Americans have interfered with Iraqi forces' efforts to crack down on Sunni insurgents and al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists.

Those complaints grew more frequent after U.S. troops raided an Interior Ministry lockup last November and found prisoners showing signs of torture. At the time, the ministry was controlled by al-Hakim's party and it still wields considerable influence although the ministers were changed in May.

Members of his Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq have been suspicious of U.S. and Iraqi government peace overtures to Sunni insurgents and have privately complained that top Sunni politicians have intervened to free suspects picked up in Baghdad.

Al-Hakim spoke a day after a complex attack including rockets, mortars and a car bomb killed at least 31 people in Karradah, a mostly Shiite district in central Baghdad where al-Hakim and other top leaders of his party live.

A statement posted late Thursday on an Islamist website claimed responsibility in the name of the al-Sahaba Soldiers, a part of the Sunni extremist Mujahedeen Shura Council which also includes al-Qaeda in Iraq. The statement said the attack was "in response to Shiite crimes."

Al-Hakim's speech marked the third anniversary of the death of his elder brother, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, who was killed by an al-Qaeda-linked car bomb attack in Najaf.

Al-Hakim's party is a major player in the Shiite coalition of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The comments reflect divisions not only within the Iraqi government but among Shiites on the best way to cope with sectarian violence, which U.S. officials now believe is a greater threat to democracy in Iraq than the Sunni insurgency.

The insurgency and the sectarian attacks are essentially two fronts of the same conflict — the struggle for power between Iraq's two major religious sects unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion that swept away Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime in 2003.

Many Sunni Arabs feared they would be marginalized in the new Iraq by the long-oppressed Shiites and Kurds who rose to power behind coalition tanks. Shiite activists believe many Sunnis would like to restore Saddam-style rule.

Years of vicious attacks by religious zealots, including members of al-Qaeda in Iraq, have sharpened the sectarian gulf. Shiite militants struck back after the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine, triggering a wave of tit-for-tat attacks.

A four-hour vehicle ban reduced violence Friday, the main Muslim day of worship. The ban has been imposed on Fridays for weeks to prevent bombings of mosques.

Nevertheless, four people were killed and nine were wounded when a bomb exploded near a Sunni mosque in southeast Baghdad, police Capt. Ahmed Ali said.

Gunmen killed two civilians who worked for U.S. troops in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown 80 miles north of Baghdad, police said. And in the nearby town of Beiji, a man who worked for the railroad was shot and killed.

    3 Marines killed in Iraqi province, UT, 28.7.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-07-28-iraq-marines_x.htm

Sergeant Tells of Plot to Kill Iraqi Detainees

July 28, 2006
The New York Times
By ROBERT F. WORTH

For more than a month after the killings, Sgt. Lemuel Lemus stuck to his story.

“Proper escalation of force was used,” he told an investigator, describing how members of his unit shot and killed three Iraqi prisoners who had lashed out at their captors and tried to escape after a raid northwest of Baghdad on May 9.

Then, on June 15, Sergeant Lemus offered a new and much darker account.

In a lengthy sworn statement, he said he had witnessed a deliberate plot by his fellow soldiers to kill the three handcuffed Iraqis and a cover-up in which one soldier cut another to bolster their story. The squad leader threatened to kill anyone who talked. Later, one guilt-stricken soldier complained of nightmares and “couldn’t stop talking” about what happened, Sergeant Lemus said.

As with similar cases being investigated in Iraq, Sergeant Lemus’s narrative has raised questions about the rules under which American troops operate and the possible culpability of commanders. Four soldiers have been charged with premeditated murder in the case. Lawyers for two of them, who dispute Sergeant Lemus’s account, say the soldiers were given an order by a decorated colonel on the day in question to “kill all military-age men” they encountered.

Many questions remain about the case, which is scheduled for an Article 32 hearing on Tuesday in Iraq. But whatever the truth about that day, Sergeant Lemus’s sworn statement — which was obtained by The New York Times — provides an extraordinary window into the pressures American soldiers face in Iraq, where wartime chaos and the imperative of loyalty often complicate questions of right and wrong.

When investigators asked why he did not try to stop the other soldiers from carrying out the killings, Sergeant Lemus — who has not been charged in the case — said simply that he was afraid of being called a coward. He stayed quiet, he said, because of “peer pressure, and I have to be loyal to the squad.”

The mission that led to the killings started at dawn on May 9, when soldiers with the Third Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division landed in a remote area near a former chemical plant not far from Samarra, according to legal documents and lawyers for the accused soldiers. It was the site of a suspected insurgent training camp and was considered extremely dangerous.

Just before leaving, the soldiers had been given an order to “kill all military-age men” at the site by a colonel and a captain, said Paul Bergrin and Michael Waddington, the lawyers who are disputing Sergeant Lemus’s account. Military officials in Baghdad have declined to comment on whether such an order, which would have been a violation of the law of war, might have been given.

The colonel, Michael Steele, is the brigade commander. He led the 1993 mission in Somalia made famous by the book and movie “Black Hawk Down.”

The two lawyers say Colonel Steele has indicated that he will not testify at the Article 32 hearing — the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing — or answer any questions about the case. Calls and e-mail messages to a civilian lawyer said to be representing Colonel Steele were not returned.

It is very rare for any commanding officer to refuse to testify at any stage of a court-martial proceeding, said Gary D. Solis, a former military judge and prosecutor who teaches the law of war at Georgetown University.

During the raid, the soldiers discovered three Iraqi men hiding in a house, who were using women and children to shield themselves, Sergeant Lemus said in his statement. The soldiers separated out the men, blindfolded them and bound their hands with plastic “zip ties,” restraints that are not as strong as the plastic flex cuffs often used in Iraq.

Then, Sergeant Lemus told investigators, his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, was told by another sergeant over the radio, “The detainees should have been killed.”

The man accused of making that remark, First Sgt. Eric J. Geressy, has denied it. In his own sworn statement, he told an investigator that during the radio call, “I was wondering why they did not kill the enemy during contact.” But he added, “At no point did I ever try to put any idea into those soldiers’ heads to execute or do any harm to the detainees.”

Sergeant Lemus gave investigators the following account of what happened next: About 10 minutes later, the squad leader gathered Sergeant Lemus and three other soldiers in a house nearby, telling them to “bring it in close” so he could talk quietly to them. Sergeant Girouard spoke in a “low-toned voice” and “talked with his hands,” making clear he was going to kill the three Iraqis.

“I didn’t like the idea, so I walked toward the door,” Sergeant Lemus said in his statement. “He looked around at everyone and asked if anyone else had an issue or a problem.” No one spoke.

Soon afterward, Sergeant Lemus recounted, he was standing near the landing zone when he heard shouts and bursts of gunfire. He saw the detainees running and then falling to the ground. He walked back to the scene and asked Sergeant Girouard what happened.

“But he couldn’t answer,” Sergeant Lemus said. “He just looked at the bodies and had this frozen look on his face. I asked him where my guys were, and he stuttered that they were in the building,” getting first aid.

Sergeant Girouard has been charged with premeditated murder, a capital offense, as have three other soldiers: Specialist William B. Hunsaker, Pfc. Corey R. Clagett and Specialist Juston R. Graber. Private Clagett and Specialist Hunsaker are accused of actually shooting the prisoners.

Mr. Bergrin, the lawyer who represents Private Clagett, and Mr. Waddington, who represents Specialist Hunsaker, dispute Sergeant Lemus’s account. They say the prisoners broke free as two soldiers were fixing the zip ties, which were coming loose. They say the prisoners stabbed Specialist Hunsaker and punched Private Clagett before trying to flee.

But in his statement, Sergeant Lemus said he heard from the accused soldiers that it was Sergeant Girouard who cut Specialist Hunsaker in an effort to make the stabbing story sound plausible. He believed it, Sergeant Lemus said, because “they both have Ranger school backgrounds and they are pretty close friends,” and he added, “They would always talk about the French Foreign Legion and renegade mercenaries running around from country to country.”

Three days later, Private Clagett “told me he couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Sergeant Lemus recalled. The private asked how Sergeant Lemus had responded to seeing dead bodies and shooting the enemy during his time in Iraq.

“I told him it was all right that he felt like that,” Sergeant Lemus said. “He was really stressed because when he slept the few hours he did, he dreamed about it over and over.”

Two initial investigations of the killings by commanders found no wrongdoing. It is not clear who eventually came forward to tell commanders that there was another version of what happened on May 9.

At one point, Sergeant Lemus said in his statement, Sergeant Girouard gathered the men who had been present before the killing and told them “to be loyal and not to go bragging or spreading rumors” about what had happened. Sergeant Girouard added that “if he found out who told anything about it he would find that person after he got out of jail and kill him or her.”

Sergeant Lemus said he laughed off the threat at the time. But there may have been other threats. In addition to murder, the four accused soldiers are charged with threatening to kill Pfc. Bradley L. Mason, one of the men in the squad, if he told what he knew about the shootings.

    Sergeant Tells of Plot to Kill Iraqi Detainees, NYT, 28.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28abuse.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Series of Woes Mar Iraq Project Hailed as Model

July 28, 2006
The New York Times
By JAMES GLANZ

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 27 — The United States is dropping Bechtel, the American construction giant, from a project to build a high-tech children’s hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Basra after the project fell nearly a year behind schedule and exceeded its expected cost by as much as 150 percent.

Called the Basra Children’s Hospital, the project has been consistently championed by the first lady, Laura Bush, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and was designed to house sophisticated equipment for treating childhood cancer.

Now it becomes the latest in a series of American taxpayer-financed health projects in Iraq to face overruns, delays and cancellations. Earlier this year, the Army Corps of Engineers canceled more than $300 million in contracts held by Parsons, another American contractor, to build and refurbish hospitals and clinics across Iraq.

American and Iraqi government officials described the move to drop Bechtel in interviews on Thursday, and Ammar al-Saffar, a deputy health minister in Baghdad, allowed a reporter to take notes on briefing papers on the subject he said he had recently been given by the State Department.

The United States will “disengage Bechtel and transfer program and project management” to the Army Corps of Engineers, the papers say. Bechtel, the State Department agency in charge of the work and the Health Department in Basra all confirmed that the company would be leaving the project, but the reasons are a matter of deep disagreement.

The Iraqis assert that management blunders by the company have caused the project to teeter on the verge of collapse; the American government says Bechtel did the best it could as it faced everything from worsening security to difficult soil conditions.

A senior company official said Thursday that for its part Bechtel recommended that the work be mothballed and in essence volunteered to leave the project because the security problems had become intolerable. He also disputed the American government’s calculation of cost overruns, saying that accounting rules had recently been changed in a way that inflated the figures.

The official, Cliff Mumm, who is president of the Bechtel infrastructure division, predicted that the project would fail if the government pressed ahead, as the briefing papers indicate that it would. Because of the rise of sectarian militias in southern Iraq, Mr. Mumm said, “it is not a good use of the government’s money” to try to finish the project.

“And we do not think it can be finished,” he said.

Beyond the consequences for health care in southern Iraq, abandoning the project could be tricky politically because of the high-profile support from Mrs. Bush and Ms Rice. Congress allocated $50 million to the Basra Children’s Hospital in late 2003 as part of an $18.4 billion reconstruction package for Iraq. Now the government estimates that the cost overruns are so great that the project will cost as much as $120 million to complete and will not be finished before September 2007, nearly a year later than planned. Some other estimates put the overruns even higher. Kadhim Hassan, general director of the Basra Health Department, said the project would be no more than 40 percent complete once the original $50 million, much of which is going to subcontractors, had been used up. He said little work had been done for months.

While Bechtel pointed to security problems in delaying the project and increasing its cost, the Iraqis generally rejected that view.

“The pretexts given by Bechtel to the Iraqi government to justify its failure in finishing the project are untrue and unacceptable, especially the ones regarding the rise in security expenses,” said Sheik Abu Salam al-Saedi, a member of the Basra provincial council.

Western engineers were seldom seen at the project, Mr. Saedi said, adding that it was simply mismanaged. Mr. Saffar, of the Health Ministry in Baghdad, and an Iraqi contractor in Basra both asserted that Bechtel’s use of a complicated chain of subcontractors was part of the problem.

Bechtel hired a Jordanian company, for example, to oversee work by local Iraqi construction companies. The American government wasted money by going through such a complex chain of companies rather than working directly with the Iraqis who would do the work anyway, Mr. Saffar said.

“Our counterparts should have full faith in the Iraqi companies,” Mr. Saffar said.

That kind of turmoil was far from the minds of planners and supporters when the hospital project was conceived and promoted. Mrs. Bush and Ms. Rice were unwavering supporters, and Project HOPE, a charitable organization, planned to provide at least $50 million in medical equipment.

In a gala for Project HOPE last October, Mrs. Bush praised the project, describing its plan for 94 beds, a state-of-the-art neonatal unit, a linear particle accelerator for radiation therapy and CAT scanners. Ms. Rice added that the hospital “will make a real difference, a life-saving and lasting difference, to the thousands of children and their families.”

But like so many other reconstruction projects in Iraq, the hospital was blindsided by changing realities on the ground. Once considered a relatively tranquil section of Iraq, the south has become increasingly dangerous with the rise of Shiite militias in the past two years — so much so, said Mr. Mumm, the Bechtel official, that construction was often forced to shut down.

With those delays came increasing costs as the company absorbed the expenses of housing, feeding and protecting its work force while the work sat idle, Mr. Mumm said. One consequence was that the nonconstruction costs usually referred to as overhead or administrative costs skyrocketed.

Bechtel estimated that as much as 50 percent of its expenses on the project were overhead costs, which were paid with American money separate from the $50 million construction contract.

David Snider, a spokesman for the United States Agency for International Development, the State Department agency in charge of the project, said that technically, Bechtel’s contract was not being terminated because the contract did not actually require the company to complete the hospital.

“They are under a ‘term contract,’ which means their job is over when their money ends,” Mr. Snider said. So despite not finishing the hospital, he said, “they did complete the contract.”

A confidential report commissioned by the development agency criticizes it for failing to properly account for all of the costs of building a functioning hospital. The agency is likely to face further criticism as it seeks additional money to complete the hospital as part of an Iraq reconstruction program that has increasingly come to be seen as overpriced and ineffective.

The State Department briefing papers describing problems with the hospital project say the United States has been approached by Spain with a potential offer to donate some of the money needed to finish it. If that money is not forthcoming, the papers say, the United States will shift funds now allocated to the crucial oil infrastructure reconstruction to complete the hospital.

An Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Basra, Iraq, for this article.

    Series of Woes Mar Iraq Project Hailed as Model, NYT, 28.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28basra.html?hp&ex=1154145600&en=352bab4793ff87a4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

For Hussein, a Long Trial Ends in His Absence

July 28, 2006
The New York Times
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 27 — The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven other former officials on charges of crimes against humanity ended after nine months on Thursday with closing arguments from the final two defendants. The chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, said he and four other judges would announce their verdict, which could carry the possibility of death by hanging for Mr. Hussein, on Oct. 16.

The former Iraqi dictator and the seven others, mostly high-ranking officials of his Sunni Arab-led government and military apparatus, are charged with orchestrating the execution of 148 men and boys in the mostly Shiite village of Dujail in 1982.

Mr. Hussein was not in the courtroom on Thursday, having made his final arguments on Wednesday through court-appointed lawyers whom he has repudiated. His own lawyers have boycotted the trial since July 10 to protest his treatment and the legitimacy of the entire proceeding.

The trial, the first of two for Mr. Hussein on charges that he ordered the mass killing of Iraqis, ended on a day when more than 50 people were killed or found dead in Baghdad and gunmen in military uniforms stole the equivalent of $650,000 from a bank’s armored car.

A car bomb and a rocket attack that collapsed a small shopping mall in the relatively peaceful Karada neighborhood killed 32 people and wounded 101 others, an Interior Ministry official said.

Nineteen bodies were also found in various parts of the city, he said, all showing signs of torture. In the Baladiyat neighborhood, near the vast Shiite slum known as Sadr City, gunmen kidnapped five traffic police officers, said the official, who was given anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.

The robbery took place near the city zoo in the middle of Baghdad shortly before noon, as men wearing Iraqi military uniforms and driving military vehicles halted the armored car, bound the drivers and security guards and drove away with 1 billion Iraqi dinars, an Interior Ministry official said.

It occurred just as Iraq and the United Nations announced a new agreement to tackle corruption and create a more stable environment for foreign investment.

The daylight robbery by men wearing Iraqi uniforms was brazen even by Baghdad’s increasingly lawless standards, and raised further questions about rogue elements in the nation’s security forces. The cash was being transported by a convoy of vehicles for the Warka Bank for Investment and Finance, a private bank with headquarters here, the Interior Ministry official said.

In court, the two defendants presenting closing arguments on Thursday were Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi vice president under Mr. Hussein, and Awad al-Bandar, the former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, which approved the Dujail executions. Mr. Bandar, looking frail and arguing the most minor points with Judge Abdel-Rahman, gave a closing apologia that lasted more than two and a half hours.

Several times, after Mr. Bandar’s outbursts lambasting his court-appointed lawyers or the judges, Judge Abdel-Rahman ordered Mr. Bandar to be quiet. At one point he ordered courtroom security guards to place the gesticulating Mr. Bandar back into his seat.

With the close of the trial, Judge Abdel-Rahman and the four other judges, whose names have not been made public to protect them against assassination, will now decide whether the evidence is strong enough to prove guilt.

Judge Abdel-Rahman told the defense he was obligated to view the evidence in a light that was most favorable to the defendants. The main thrust of the arguments Mr. Hussein made in his defense — in between his frequent and lengthy digressions on the legitimacy of the court, the judge and the American invasion of his country — was that he did not know about the killings.

Iraqi procedural law, which governs the trial, requires that the judges be satisfied there is “proof to a moral certainty” that a defendant is guilty, said Michael A. Newton, a Vanderbilt University law professor and expert in international criminal law who helped train the judges now deliberating the defendants’ fate.

He criticized the boycott by Mr. Hussein’s chosen lawyers as detrimental to his case, and praised the court-appointed lawyers. “Their arguments were very capable and very comprehensive, they were focused on the details on the case,” he said in a telephone interview here. “I think they were very effective arguments, from a defense perspective.”

The end of the trial is not the end of Mr. Hussein’s days as a defendant. Regardless of the verdict in October, and whatever the sentence, he and six other former government officials will stand trial on charges of killing at least 50,000 people in eight military operations in 1988 in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

In Thursday’s violence, the car bomb and rocket attack in the Karada neighborhood, a religiously mixed commercial district considered one of Baghdad’s safest, looked like an attack by Sunni insurgents.

A statement posted late Thursday on an Islamist Web site claimed responsibility in the name of the Sahaba Soldiers, a part of the Sunni extremist Mujahedeen Shura Council, which also includes Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, The Associated Press reported.

The force of the car bomb split the Chevrolet sedan in two, set two nearby pickup trucks on fire and blew out the windows of three-story apartment buildings on either side of the street. Jassim Muhammad, who owns a carpentry shop across the street, blamed the Americans for the lack of security.

“What we have been through is by their hands, because of the bad security situation,” he said, guarding his overturned Kia pickup from the young scavengers who ripped wires, gears and other parts out of the Chevrolet for resale.

Khalid W. Hassan contributed reporting from Beirut for this article, and Ali Adeeb and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Baghdad.

    For Hussein, a Long Trial Ends in His Absence, NYT, 28.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html

Final Summations Given in Saddam Trial

July 27, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:54 a.m. ET
The New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Lawyers gave their closing arguments Thursday for the last two defendants in Saddam Hussein's trial, and the chief judge adjourned the proceedings until mid-October when the ex-president and two top lieutenants could be sentenced to death.

Saddam was not in court because his court-appointed attorney presented closing arguments Wednesday. The defense team has boycotted the trial since last month to protest the killing of lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi. He was the third defense lawyer slain since the trial began in October.

The ousted president and seven others have been on trial since Oct. 19 for their alleged roles in the killing of Shiite Muslims in Dujail following an assassination attempt on Saddam there in 1982. The prosecution has asked for the death penalty for Saddam and two others.

The final two defendants to appear in court for closing arguments were former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Awad al-Bandar, who presided over the revolutionary court that sentenced Shiites in Dujail to death or imprisonment in the crackdown.

Both defendants said they would not accept their court-appointed lawyers, who nonetheless presented summations maintaining that the government had failed to establish a link between their clients and the killings and human rights abuses in Dujail.

''I refuse these procedures and I will not present my own defense,'' Ramadan told the judge. ''I do not know who this lawyer is, or his name.''

Ramadan said he could produce ''1,000 people from Dujail'' to testify that ''they never saw me there.'' He also complained that the government had done little to find the killers of the defense lawyers, adding that ''if I left prison now, I could find the killers in five minutes.''

In his closing, Ramadan's court-appointed lawyer said there was no evidence tying the former vice president to the events in Dujail.

''He had no role in the arrest of the people of Dujail ... There is no evidence of his involvement in the case,'' said the lawyer, whose identity was withheld for security reasons.

Ramadan was the commander of the Popular Army, established in the early 1970s as the militia of Saddam's Baath Party. The lawyer said that even if the Popular Army was involved in the Dujail events, no evidence had been presented showing that Ramadan issued any orders.

Speaking after the closing, Ramadan criticized the lawyer for dwelling so much on the Popular Army, saying his role was primarily training and he had no direct control over the units, which were under the control of local Baath party leaders.

''It's not even an issue of how strong or weak my influence was over the Popular Army,'' he said. ''The fact is, I had no control over it to begin with.''

Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman accused the boycotting attorneys of taking money from their clients and not defending them.

''They're sitting abroad now generating fame by issuing political statements on television stations as if this case is a political one. This behavior will harm you, the defendants. This is a criminal case, not a political one,'' Abdel-Rahman said.

The five-judge panel adjourned until Oct. 16 to consider a verdict.

Saddam is due to stand trial Aug. 21 in the bloody suppression of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s.

Following Wednesday's session, Michael A. Newton, an associate professor of law at Vanderbilt University law school, praised the performance of Saddam's court-appointed lawyer, saying his argument ''was solid and based on law.''

''The (defense) attorney yesterday gave the best argument that could be made based on the evidence and the law and that is the essence of a fair trial,'' said Newton, who said he trained all the Iraqi High Tribunal judges and lawyers.

Speaking to reporters at the court Thursday before the beginning of the trial, Newton described the lawyers as ''courageous'' and said their roles ensured ''the due process of a fair trial.''

He criticized Saddam's original defense team for boycotting the proceedings, saying they ''have an ethical duty to be in court and to be prepared to represent their clients and I believe they abandoned their ethical duty.''

''They should be ashamed for abandoning their ethical duty to come to court and argue on behalf of their client.''

    Final Summations Given in Saddam Trial, NYT, 27.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Saddam-Trial.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Defiant Hussein Hails Insurgents and Clashes With His Judge

July 27, 2006
The New York Times
By DAMIEN CAVE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 26 — Saddam Hussein, looking thinner but healthy despite a nearly three-week hunger strike, said Wednesday that he had been forced to attend his own trial and that he preferred to be shot, not hanged, if found guilty.

On yet another violent day in Iraq, with more than 20 people killed or found dead in Baghdad, Mr. Hussein offered what could be one of his final doses of public defiance. He praised insurgents attacking Americans. He denounced the court as illegitimate. He rejected the charge that he and his seven co-defendants had ordered the execution of 148 men and boys in Dujail after a supposed assassination attempt in 1982.

Mr. Hussein’s main defense lawyers have boycotted the trial since July 10 to protest the proceedings, and on Wednesday court-appointed lawyers offered closing arguments. They said there was not enough evidence to show that Mr. Hussein had ordered the killings.

“Has it been formally proved that the defendant Saddam Hussein had formal control over the state organs?” asked one lawyer, who was not named, and whose voice was distorted to protect him. “Was the formal control also real control?”

The arguments were often overshadowed by their client’s interjections. When the first defense lawyer rose, Mr. Hussein pointed and said: “You are my enemy. You are an enemy to the Iraqi people.”

The chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, repeatedly turned off Mr. Hussein’s microphone. In some cases Mr. Hussein continued shouting, yelling to the judge at one point, “A thousand men like you can’t even touch my finger.” At others times he turned away and prayed.

In one of the sharpest exchanges of the five-hour session, Mr. Hussein said that, like others, he heard the gunshots regularly ripping through Baghdad, which he seemed to consider a sign of resistance. “If America is able to fight the people, let it fight the people,” he said.

Judge Abdel-Rahman immediately interrupted, “Are you provoking the killing of people by car bombs?” Mr. Hussein said he was concerned only with ridding Iraq of “the aggressive invaders.”

“If the killing leads to their expulsion,” he said, “I urge that.”

Judge Abdel-Rahman snapped back, his voice rising. “If you are urging to kill Americans,” he said, “let your friends of the mujahedeen attack the American camps and not blow themselves up in the streets and public places and cafes and markets. Let them blow up Americans.”

The judge’s outburst was another sign of Iraqis’ growing exasperation with the spreading violence. At least 14,338 civilians died violent deaths in the first six months of this year, according to a United Nations report.

For Iraqi and American leaders, Baghdad in particular has become a concern. The American military reported last week that the capital averaged 34 attacks a day, many involving multiple casualties. On Tuesday, the White House promised to send 4,000 more soldiers to secure the city of six million to eight million.

Two Pentagon officials said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was likely to delay the departure of 3,000 to 4,000 American soldiers who are scheduled to rotate out of Iraq in coming weeks. The delay, which is expected to last a month or more, would help commanders increase the number of American soldiers in Baghdad without creating gaps elsewhere in Iraq, the officials said.

The violence in Iraq continued on Wednesday. In Baghdad, a brigade of the Iraqi Army killed 6 people and arrested 27, according to Iraq’s state-sponsored television news.

One person was killed in a mostly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded at 7:30 a.m., an Interior Ministry official said. In Nahrawn, on the southern outskirts of the capital, the local police chief and his brother were killed when gunmen opened fire at noon.

A half-hour earlier, Brig. Abdullah Hamood Shuala, a senior Interior Ministry official, was kidnapped in north Baghdad. Fourteen bodies were found throughout the city with their hands tied and gunshot wounds to the head or chest.

Elsewhere, an American military policeman was killed in combat north of Baghdad on Tuesday, the United States military said. In Baquba, gunmen attacked a police patrol and killed two people, the authorities said. In Kirkuk, a car bombing killed at least one.

At the trial in Baghdad, Mr. Hussein said that if convicted and sentenced to death, he deserved to die by firing squad because “Saddam Hussein is a military commander and should be shot by bullets.”

An American official close to the court said that Mr. Hussein was being tried as a civilian, and that under the law governing the case he faced death by hanging if found guilty and the conviction was upheld on appeal.

He also said Mr. Hussein was required by law to appear during this phase of the trial.

A final day of closing arguments is scheduled for Thursday, after which the court is expected to adjourn until a panel of five judges reaches a judgment, possibly in the fall. A second trial of Mr. Hussein is planned for late August. It involves charges of genocide in the killings of 50,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988.

Mr. Hussein has been on a hunger strike since July 7, prompting the authorities to start feeding him with a tube last Sunday. After Wednesday’s session he finally decided to eat. According to the American official, Mr. Hussein left the court just after 4 p.m. and immediately ended his hunger strike with a meal of beef, rice and Coca-Cola.

David S. Cloud contributed reporting from Washington for this article, Qais Mizher from Baghdad, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Kirkuk, Iraq.

    Defiant Hussein Hails Insurgents and Clashes With His Judge, NYT, 27.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/world/middleeast/27iraq.html

Military Analysis

Battle for Baghdad Boils Down to Grabbing a Slice at a Time

July 26, 2006
The New York Times
By MICHAEL R. GORDON

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 25 — The Bush administration’s announcement on Tuesday that it will shift more forces to Baghdad is much more than a numbers game. It reflects a new strategy to reclaim control of the Iraqi capital and a new approach for deploying the troops.

The plan is to concentrate on specific neighborhoods rather than distribute the forces throughout the city, control movement in and out of sectors of the capital and try to sweep them of insurgents and violent militias.

In effect, the scheme is a version of the “ink blot” counterinsurgency strategy of grabbing a piece of terrain, stabilizing it and gradually expanding it. Only this time the objective is not a far-flung Iraqi city or town, but the capital, the seat of the fledgling government and home to some seven million Iraqis.

The plan has risks. It will divert American military police from deploying to Anbar Province, where the insurgency continues to rage. And an increased presence of American troops on the ground in Baghdad, where insurgent attacks have soared, carries the potential of more American casualties.

But Baghdad in military parlance is the “center of gravity” for the larger effort to secure the country.

Restoring security in a capital that is tormented by sectarian strife and lawless militias is such an essential task that American commanders are willing to accept a greater degree of risk elsewhere.

Sending in additional troops is an implicit acknowledgment of what every Iraqi in Baghdad already knows: Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s original Baghdad security plan has failed.

In the past two weeks, more Iraqi civilians have been killed than have died in Lebanon and Israel.

The additional American forces sent here will include units equipped with Stryker armored vehicles, military police and, essentially, what is left of the American military’s reserve in Kuwait.

To demonstrate that the burden is being shared equally, half of the additional 8,000 troops that will be sent are to be American and half Iraqi.

By securing the city a sector at a time, American and Iraqi commanders hope to allow the Iraqi government to restore essential services and build support and legitimacy among an anxious public.

Once the areas are stabilized, the Iraqi police are to be brought in to maintain control, freeing the American and Iraqi military to extend their reach elsewhere. The Iraqi police are to be accompanied by American military police, who will act as advisers and trainers.

The Americans and the Iraqis are likely to start with the easiest sectors, calculating that they need to demonstrate a measure of success before taking on the most contested areas. Even as they expand their control the American and Iraqi forces will maintain the ability to conduct raids in less secure areas of the city.

The war is a contest of moves and countermoves, and the insurgents and the militias that the new American and Iraqi forces will confront can be expected to strike back.

Some of the forces that are now to go to Baghdad, like the military police, were earmarked for volatile Anbar Province in the west. Building a new police force in the Sunni-dominated Anbar region has been a critical part of the American counterinsurgency effort there. Diverting military police to Baghdad will make that already difficult mission in Anbar even harder.

But it is a trade-off that American commanders are prepared to accept. There are 117 police stations in the Baghdad area, which is where the American command has made its main effort.

“Baghdad is truly a must-win,” said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the senior spokesman for the military command here. “The prime minister has stated it. General Casey has stated it. We have to win in Baghdad. We don’t have an option.”

Mr. Maliki’s original Baghdad security plan entailed the deployment of some 51,000 troops and police officers — including 7,200 American soldiers — and the establishment of new checkpoints.

“In the first 30 days of the Baghdad security plan there was a very slight downtick in the amount of violence,” said a senior American officer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. “Everybody had very high expectations. They thought it would bring it down dramatically.”

But the violence continued unabated and is now at a high. There has been a vicious cycle in which terrorist bombings have encouraged the Shiites to expand their armed militias, which have in turn alarmed the Sunnis, some of whom have made common cause with the most fanatical insurgents. The spiral of sectarian attacks has become more worrisome to the American command than the insurgency.

There is now a realization that the prime minister’s first plan relied too much on untested Iraqi troops and the Iraqi police. Hence, the increase in American troops and the American military police.

The Stryker units that are being sent will provide the military with a wheeled armored vehicle that can maneuver more easily through the city than a tracked vehicle like an M-1 tank or a Bradley fighting vehicle.

For all the talk of new military deployments, however, the plan will depend mightily on parallel moves by Mr. Maliki’s government to improve the lot of ordinary Iraqis. This is, in the final analysis, an approach that will require the careful synchronization of military, political and economic moves — no small challenge for an Iraqi administration that is still struggling to develop its capacity to govern.

The American and Iraqi forces may temporarily stabilize a neighborhood, but the ultimate loyalty of its residents, many of whom have been sitting on the fence even while they have been desperate for security, will reflect the government’s ability to demonstrate that there are tangible benefits for cooperating.

    Battle for Baghdad Boils Down to Grabbing a Slice at a Time, NYT, 26.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/world/middleeast/26military.html?hp&ex=1153972800&en=76db9dbb88c15880&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Baghdad Chaos Pushes Bush to Shift U.S. Troops

July 26, 2006
The New York Times
By JIM RUTENBERG

WASHINGTON, July 25 — Saying the security situation in Baghdad remained “terrible,” President Bush announced an agreement with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki on Tuesday to significantly strengthen the United States military presence in the city.

The announcement, presented at a joint news conference during Mr. Maliki’s first visit to the White House since taking office in May, was a tacit admission that the Iraqi government had not succeeded in bringing stability to the capital, and that any major withdrawal of American troops soon remained unlikely.

Under the new security plan, devised by American military commanders in consultation with the Iraqis, some 4,000 United States troops would move into Baghdad, to join the same number of Iraqi counterparts. The United States has about 128,000 troops in Iraq, approximately 7,200 of them in Baghdad, according to military officials there.

“Obviously, the violence in Baghdad is still terrible, and therefore there needs to be more troops,” Mr. Bush said at the news conference, held in the East Room after a morning meeting with Mr. Maliki in the Oval Office. “Our military commanders tell me that this deployment will better reflect the current conditions on the ground in Iraq.”

For both Mr. Bush and Mr. Maliki, the mood at the White House was starkly different than the one at their meeting in Iraq last month. Then, Mr. Bush, flush with the thrill of a surprise landing in Baghdad and the recent killing of a top leader of Al Qaeda, had embraced Mr. Maliki’s election and the formation of his unity government as a new day for Iraq.

Mr. Bush had hailed Mr. Maliki by saying he was impressed with his strategy for taking control of his nation. Hundreds have died in violence in and around Baghdad since then.

Though Mr. Bush frequently repeated his optimism on Tuesday, his comments were laced with grim acknowledgments that the brutality that remains part of daily life in Baghdad was obscuring signs of progress.

And at what was described as an historic moment — a visit by a democratically elected Iraqi leader to the White House — Mr. Maliki was, if anything, somber.

The visit was also marked by new differences between the leaders, each of whom faces political complications related to the evolving relationship: Mr. Maliki is under pressure at home to bring any United States military personnel accused of wrongdoing under Iraqi justice; Mr. Bush came under fire from Democrats for Mr. Maliki’s comments denouncing Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, which the Iraqi Parliament called criminal.

Mr. Maliki sidestepped a question about his position on Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia attacking Israel, but in his opening remarks he called for an immediate cease-fire, a break from Mr. Bush’s position that Israel can only end its attacks after Hezbollah does.

Mr. Bush said, “We had a frank exchange of views on this situation,” and that he had told Mr. Maliki that he only supported a sustainable cease-fire, administration shorthand for a truce that addresses the disarming of Hezbollah. Mr. Bush also said he had reiterated his support for the Lebanese.

Some Democrats said Mr. Maliki should not be permitted to address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, as he is scheduled to do, if he was not willing to speak out against Hezbollah.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said addressing Congress was an honor reserved for few — past speakers have included Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa — and should not include someone whose statements directly contradict United States policies on issues like Hezbollah.

“I will lose a lot of confidence in Maliki if he doesn’t denounce what Hezbollah has done,” Mr. Reid said.

But in a late afternoon briefing with reporters, the national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, asked about the Democrats’ comments, said he hoped the debate over Lebanon would not eclipse Mr. Maliki’s visit, in which he was to spell out his plans for Iraq’s future.

White House officials were careful to call the troop plan for Baghdad a repositioning, rather than a redeployment that would require an increase in overall forces in Iraq.

Under the new arrangement, the additional troops would come from other parts of the country. They would join Iraqi counterparts to focus on the insurgency neighborhood by neighborhood. The announcement followed the White House’s acknowledgment last week that a security plan Mr. Maliki announced in June had failed to produce the desired results.

Officials seem to have decided that the previous plan was too diffuse. It relied on a security force of roughly 51,000 — including the 7,200 Americans — and checkpoints devised to snare militia members, but violence continued unabated.

The Iraqi authorities have reported hundreds of killings in the past two weeks alone, mostly in Baghdad. Iraqi government figures released by the United Nations last week showed that 2,669 civilians were killed in May and 3,149 in June.

Violence continued to torment Baghdad on Tuesday, as security forces and civilians came under attack in scattered episodes around the city. Twelve people died, five of them civilians, in the bloodiest attack reported, a car bomb explosion.

Mr. Hadley, the national security adviser, said the failure of the initial plan forced the administration to move to what he called “Phase II.”

But other officials said there was no Phase II in the previous plan.

“This is more like Plan B,” said one of Mr. Hadley’s associates, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss internal policy matters. “Six weeks ago, we were talking about pulling American troops back from the city streets, not putting more of them out there.”

Democrats picked up on the plan to criticize the administration.

“This is a stunning sign that the administration still isn’t being candid about Iraq’s escalating civil war and the failure of Iraqi security forces to stand up on schedule,” said Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts.

But Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the move was a necessary step to securing Baghdad.

“It’s simply a realization that we’ve got to have a further strengthening of the United States component there,” he said. “The security of Baghdad can tip the scales to achieving a self-sufficient democracy, or losing in Iraq. The eyes of the world look at the situation in Baghdad, and as things are improving in other areas, in Baghdad we’ve not seen that measure of success.”

Mr. Bush had acknowledged as much when he said earlier, “In the midst of all the violence in Baghdad, sometimes a success is obscured.”

Mr. Hadley and other officials pointed to the recent transfer of Muthanna Province to local control, and said there had been increases in oil production and the supply of electricity to homes.

But Mr. Maliki said he was most worried about continued sectarian violence, adding at the end of the briefing, “God willing, there will be no civil war in Iraq.”

Aside from addressing Congress, Mr. Maliki is scheduled to accompany Mr. Bush to Fort Belvoir, Va., to a lunch with troops and their families, so, Mr. Bush said, “We can thank them for their courage and their sacrifice.”

David E. Sanger and Kate Zernike contributed reporting from Washington for this article, and Kirk Semple and Edward Wong from Baghdad.

    Baghdad Chaos Pushes Bush to Shift U.S. Troops, NYT, 26.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/washington/26prexy.html

Antiquities

U.S. Helps Recover Statue and Gives It Back to Iraqis

July 26, 2006
The New York Times
By BARRY MEIER and JAMES GLANZ

One of the most important treasures looted in the ransacking of Iraq’s national museum three years ago has been recovered in a clandestine operation involving the United States government and was turned over to Iraqi officials in Washington yesterday.

The piece, a headless stone statue of the Sumerian king Entemena of Lagash, was stolen in the days after the fall of Baghdad. In the wake of the looting, American officials came under sharp criticism from archaeologists and others for failing to secure the museum, a vast storehouse of artifacts from civilization’s first cities.

The Entemena statue was taken across the border to Syria, and put on sale on the international antiquities market. Thousands of looted artifacts that remained in Iraq — from tiny cylinder seals to the famed Warka Vase — have since been returned to the museum, and a few pieces have been turned over by foreign countries, including Italy and the Netherlands. But the Entemena statue, estimated to be 4,400 years old, is the first significant artifact returned from the United States and by far the most important piece found outside Iraq.

American officials declined to discuss how they recovered the statue, saying that to do so might impair their efforts to retrieve other artifacts. But people with knowledge of the episode described a narrative that included antiquities smugglers, international art dealers and an Iraqi expatriate businessman referred to as the broker who was the linchpin in efforts to recover the piece and bring it to the United States.

Since early June, the statue has been in an art storage warehouse in Queens. American officials had planned to turn it over to the Iraqi government at a public event, said Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. That opportunity presented itself yesterday when the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, visited Washington, where he discussed security problems in Baghdad with President Bush.

In interviews over the weekend in Baghdad, Iraqi officials expressed relief that the statue of the king, which had stood in the center of the museum’s second-floor Sumerian Hall, had been found. But the same officials voiced frustration at what they said was the slow pace of international cooperation on the recovery of artifacts.

“I’m overwhelmingly happy,” said Liwa Sumaysim, the Iraqi antiquities minister. “We hope we get it soon so it goes back in the Iraqi museum, where it belongs.”

A spokesman for the antiquities ministry, Abdul Zahra Talqani, said the ministry first received word of the recovery about two months ago. He said hopes had been raised in the past, after reports of the recovery of the statue in Iraq, but those pieces turned out to be clay copies that had also been looted from the museum.

In June, not long after the statue was brought to the United States, two antiquities scholars were taken to the Queens warehouse, known as The Fortress, to authenticate it. The statue, which is made of diorite, a hard, dark rock similar to granite, was encrusted with dirt, suggesting that it might have been concealed during its sojourn in Syria. In addition, there were fresh chips along parts of its stone surface that did not appear in historical photographs, indicating recent damage.

Mohsen Hassan, an expert at the museum’s commission on antiquities, said that the statue, which weighs hundreds of pounds, was the heaviest piece stolen from the museum and that looters probably rolled or slid it down marble stairs to remove it, smashing the steps and damaging other artifacts.

The statue of Entemena of Lagash is among the most important artifacts unearthed in excavations of Ur, an ancient southern city. The king is dressed in a skirt of tasseled sheepskin and his arms are crossed in prayer. Detailed inscriptions run along the figure’s shoulder and back.

The statue was found headless when originally excavated, and experts say its head might have been lopped off in ancient times to symbolize Ur’s emancipation from Lagash.

One of the experts who authenticated the statue, John M. Russell, a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, said it was not only archaeologically significant but also striking because the king’s muscular arms were sculptured in a lively, naturalistic style. Earlier sculptural styles were cruder, he said.

Efforts to sell the statue began not long after it was stolen, said people with knowledge of the episode.

Hicham Aboutaam, an antiquities dealer who owns galleries in New York and Geneva, was approached while visiting Lebanon and shown a picture of the statue to gauge his interest in buying it, those people said. Initially, those holding the statue were seeking millions for it, one person said. Mr. Aboutaam soon discovered that it had been stolen and did not pursue the deal.

It is not clear precisely when or how Mr. Aboutaam — who pleaded guilty in 2004 to a federal charge of falsifying a customs document related to a different artifact — informed federal officials. He and his brother and business partner, Ali Aboutaam, declined to answer specific questions about the episode.

Last year, federal prosecutors in New York contacted Hicham Aboutaam and expressed interest in trying to recover the statue, said one person with knowledge of those events. Mr. Aboutaam agreed to help. Subsequently, he or his brother made contact with an Iraqi expatriate businessman now living in Europe. Soon, that businessman, who was referred to as the broker, became the pivotal figure in securing the statue.

Little is known about the businessman other than that he is involved in construction. But he began to shuttle among Iraq, Syria and other countries to make contact with those holding the statue and to negotiate its turnover. It was not known whether money had been paid to those holding the statue or whether promises had been made.

When asked what would be done with the statue, Mr. Hassan, the museum official, did not hesitate.

“We will fix it and put it in the same place where it was,” he said, adding that security had largely been restored at the museum, which is close to notorious Haifa Street in a district that periodically erupts in violence.

But a tour of the building over the weekend, granted reluctantly by Mr. Hassan, raised questions as to how the museum could function while housing valuable artifacts like the statue. A walk down a corridor toward the Sumerian Hall, for example, ended abruptly at a concrete wall, which someone had crudely crosshatched with a fingertip to simulate bricks. Mr. Hassan awkwardly conceded that four times since the invasion, he had been forced to wall off the collections as the only reliable means of preventing further looting.

He said he most recently put walls up a couple of months earlier after a mass kidnapping close to the museum gates. “When things get better,” he said, “we break it.”

    U.S. Helps Recover Statue and Gives It Back to Iraqis, NYT, 26.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/world/middleeast/26antiquities.html

Military towns giving rise to Iraq war critics

Updated 7/25/2006 3:52 AM ET
USA Today
By Kathy Kiely

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Cupped in a dark green hollow of the Allegheny Mountains, this hard-luck city is far more familiar with floods than the desert. Yet, in a way, it's a crucial battleground of the Iraq war.

Southwestern Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District is a fiercely patriotic area, where storeowners still decorate their windows for Memorial Day and hang banners to welcome home returning soldiers. Military veterans account for more than 15% of the population.

So it has come as something of a shock, both to his neighbors here and colleagues in Washington, that Rep. John Murtha is leading the charge for a pullout from Iraq. A plain-spoken former Marine who has represented this district for 32 years, Murtha says it's his closeness to the troops that motivated him.

"I felt like I had to speak out," he says. "I go to the hospitals every week and see kids blown apart. ... There's times you've got to realize it isn't getting any better."

Some of the most pointed critiques of the administration's policy in Iraq are coming from lawmakers who represent constituencies with close ties to the military. Their criticism underscores how widespread concerns about the war have become, even in areas where support has been strong for President Bush or the troops.

Some examples:

•Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. Shortly after the war began in 2003, Jones attended a Marine's funeral at Camp Lejeune. He recalls it in vivid detail, down to the toy dropped by the fallen soldier's 4-year-old son and the gunnery sergeant who picked it up. "I'm seeing a boy who will never know his daddy, a wife who will never see her husband on this Earth again," says Jones, one of the few Republicans to call for a troop pullout.

•Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. From a state that traditionally sends high numbers to the military, Byrd calls himself "the last man out of Vietnam" because of his staunch support for that war. Yet he was one of the earliest critics of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Byrd calls Bush's policies "arrogant" and "reckless."

•Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn. In a debate last month in the House of Representatives, Gutknecht defended the U.S. presence in Iraq. "Now is not the time to go wobbly," he said. He visited Iraq last week hoping to meet some of the 2,900 Minnesota Guard and Reserve members stationed there, and returned shaken. "It's a much more dangerous place than I thought," says Gutknecht.

Now he's calling for a phased U.S. troop withdrawal and more Iraqi involvement in enforcing security.

"I don't think 'stay the course' sells," Gutknecht says.

Reaction from voters back home has been mixed. In North Carolina, Jones thought he might draw a Republican primary opponent, but he didn't. Non-partisan political analysts Charles Cook and Stuart Rothenberg don't consider him seriously threatened in November.

In Minnesota, Democrat Tim Walz, a 20-year National Guard veteran who is running against Gutknecht, contends the congressman's reassessment of the war is coming in response to questions that he has been raising. "There's a war going on. We're losing soldiers daily," says Walz. "What is the plan to win? What is the plan to bring them home?"

Republican John Raese, Byrd's challenger in West Virginia, is taking the opposite tack. He says Byrd's votes in favor of troop withdrawal "give comfort to the enemy." Both Cook and Rothenberg say Raese faces an uphill battle, and the candidate himself acknowledges that he needs to prove "there's a race in West Virginia."

The bellwether may be in Pennsylvania. Murtha has two Purple Hearts from Vietnam and a history as a Pentagon advocate as the top Democrat on the military spending panel. His background has made him a potent administration critic. "He gave the rest of us credibility," Jones says of Murtha.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, a close friend, agrees: "Jack Murtha has changed the debate in this country. He knows of what he speaks."

Murtha has also drawn the most sustained Republican fire. Vice President Cheney has singled out Murtha for criticism in campaign speeches.

Diana Irey, Murtha's Republican opponent, says she entered the race because of the congressman's criticism of the Iraq war. She's making it a central issue of her campaign.

"People are really outraged," Irey said during a walking tour of Kittanning, a town where flags fly from lamp posts along the main street and stores display fatigues and photos of local veterans in their windows.

Irey, a Washington County commissioner, has raised more than $300,000 and assembled a team of experienced national GOP operatives to run her campaign. This in a district that Murtha routinely has won by better than 2-to-1 ratios. In 2004, the Republican Party didn't even bother to field a candidate.

The district's voters are what used to be called Reagan Democrats. "They're very conservative: pro-life, 75% Catholic, pro-sports, pro-gun," says state Republican Chairman Robert Gleason.

Murtha is popular in the district, even with local Republicans. One reason: the federal largesse that he has been able to command as a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. It has been a welcome boost in a district struggling to recover from a massive loss of manufacturing jobs.

"I'm not so sure Johnstown wouldn't be a ghost town without what he's been doing," says Gleason, a local businessman.

Even so, Gleason predicts that Irey will "get more votes than anyone who ever ran against Murtha," citing "a negative undercurrent because of his stance on the war."

Among potential voters, opinions are mixed. At a GOP rally in Kittanning, Cliff Ridinger, 47, says he has voted for Murtha before but doesn't "like some of his views lately on the war." His mother, Elva Westlake, 66, says she's leaning toward Murtha. "I like what he's done for senior citizens," she says.

Others side with Fred Hoffman, a Bethlehem Steel retiree who says he admires Murtha's outspokenness. "We shouldn't be over there in the first place," says Hoffman, 71. "Bring those fellas home to take care of their own."

    Military towns giving rise to Iraq war critics, UT, 25.7.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-24-lawmakers-war_x.htm

Op-Ed Contributor

Our Corner of Iraq

July 25, 2006
The New York Times
By PETER W. GALBRAITH

WHAT is the mission of the United States military in Iraq now that the insurgency has escalated into a full-blown civil war? According to the Bush administration, it is to support a national unity government that includes all Iraq’s major communities: the Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds. O.K., but this raises another question: What does the Iraqi government govern?

In the southern half of Iraq, Shiite religious parties and clerics have created theocracies policed by militias that number well over 100,000 men. In Basra, three religious parties control — and sometimes fight over — the thousands of barrels of oil diverted each day from legal exports into smuggling. To the extent that the central government has authority in the south, it is because some of the same Shiite parties that dominate the government also control the south.

Kurdistan in the north is effectively independent. The Iraqi Army is barred from the region, the Iraqi flag prohibited, and central government ministries are not present. The Kurdish people voted nearly unanimously for independence in an informal referendum in January 2005.

And in the Sunni center of the nation and Baghdad, the government has virtually no control beyond the American-protected Green Zone. The Mahdi Army, a radical Shiite militia, controls the capital’s Shiite neighborhoods, while Qaeda offshoots and former Baathists are increasingly taking over the Sunni districts.

While the Bush administration professes a commitment to Iraq’s unity, it has no intention of undertaking the major effort required to put the country together again. During the formal occupation of Iraq in 2003 and 2004, the American-led coalition allowed Shiite militias to mushroom and clerics to impose Islamic rule in the south, in some places with a severity reminiscent of Afghanistan’s Taliban.

To disarm militias and dismantle undemocratic local governments now would bring the United States into direct conflict with Iraq’s Shiites, who are nearly three times as numerous as the Sunni Arabs and possess vastly more powerful militias and military forces.

There are no significant coalition troops in Kurdistan, which is secure and increasingly prosperous. Arab Iraqis have largely accepted Kurdistan’s de facto separation from Iraq, and so has the Bush administration.

In the Sunni center, our current strategy involves handing off combat duties to the Iraqi Army. Mostly, it is Shiite battalions that fight in the Sunni Arab areas, as the Sunni units are not reliable. Thus what the Bush administration portrays as “Iraqi” security forces is seen by the local Sunni population as a hostile force loyal to a Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad, installed by the American invaders and closely aligned with the traditional enemy, Iran. The more we “Iraqize” the fight in the Sunni heartland, the more we strengthen the insurgents.

Because it is Iraq’s most mixed city, Baghdad is the front line of Iraq’s Sunni-Shiite civil war. It is a tragedy for its people, most of whom do not share the sectarian hatred behind the killing. Iraqi forces cannot end the civil war because many of them are partisans of one side, and none are trusted by both communities.

For the United States to contain the civil war, we would have to deploy more troops and accept a casualty rate many times the current level as our forces changed their mission from a support role to intensive police duties. The American people would not support such an expanded mission, and the Bush administration has no desire to undertake it.

The administration, then, must match its goals in Iraq to the resources it is prepared to deploy. Since it cannot unify Iraq or stop the civil war, it should work with the regions that have emerged. Where no purpose is served by a continuing military presence — in the Shiite south and in Baghdad — America and its allies should withdraw.

As an alternative to using Shiite and American troops to fight the insurgency in Iraq’s Sunni center, the administration should encourage the formation of several provinces into a Sunni Arab region with its own army, as allowed by Iraq’s Constitution. Then the Pentagon should pull its troops from this Sunni territory and allow the new leaders to establish their authority without being seen as collaborators.

Seeing as we cannot maintain the peace in Iraq, we have but one overriding interest there today — to keep Al Qaeda from creating a base from which it can plot attacks on the United States. Thus we need to have troops nearby prepared to re-engage in case the Sunni Arabs prove unable to provide for their own security against the foreign jihadists.

This would be best accomplished by placing a small “over the horizon” force in Kurdistan. Iraqi Kurdistan is among the most pro-American societies in the world and its government would welcome our military presence, not the least because it would help protect Kurds from Arab Iraqis who resent their close cooperation with the United States during the 2003 war. American soldiers on the ground might also ease the escalating tension between the Iraqi Kurds and Turkey, which is threatening to send its troops across the border in search of Turkish Kurd terrorists using Iraq as a haven.

From Kurdistan, the American military could readily move back into any Sunni Arab area where Al Qaeda or its allies established a presence. The Kurdish peshmerga, Iraq’s only reliable indigenous military force, would gladly assist their American allies with intelligence and in combat. And by shifting troops to what is still nominally Iraqi territory, the Bush administration would be able to claim it had not “cut and run” and would also avoid the political complications — in United States and in Iraq — that would arise if it were to withdraw totally and then have to send American troops back into Iraq.

Yes, a United States withdrawal from the Shiite and Sunni Arab regions of Iraq would leave behind sectarian conflict and militia rule. But staying with the current force and mission will produce the same result. Continuing a military strategy where the ends far exceed the means is a formula for war without end.

Peter W. Galbraith, a former United States ambassador to Croatia, is the author of “The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End.”

    Our Corner of Iraq, NYT, 25.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/opinion/25galbraith.html

Top Iraqi’s White House Visit Shows Gaps With U.S.

July 25, 2006
The New York Times
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 24 — When Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki visits the White House on Tuesday for the first time, he is expected to make requests that clash sharply with President Bush’s foreign policy, Iraqi officials say, signaling a widening gap between the Iraqis and the Americans on crucial issues.

The requests will include asking President Bush to allow American-led troops in Iraq to be tried under Iraqi law, and to call for a halt to Israeli attacks on Lebanon, according to several Iraqi politicians, and to a senior member of Mr. Maliki’s party who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak for the prime minister.

Mr. Maliki is also expected to demand more autonomy for Iraqi forces, though he will not ask for a quick withdrawal of the 134,000 American troops here, the officials say.

The growing differences between Iraqi and American policies reflect an increasing disenchantment with American power among politicians and ordinary Iraqis, according to several politicians, academics and clerics. Sectarian violence has soared despite the presence of the Americans, and recent cases where American troops have been accused of killing civilians or raping Iraqi women have infuriated the public.

Mr. Maliki and other top Shiite leaders also want to maintain strong ties to Iran, whose influence is rising across the Middle East, officials say.

Mr. Maliki, who was installed in May, presides over a relatively weak government, divided among Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish blocs that oppose one another on important issues. There are even deep splits within the leading Shiite bloc and Mr. Maliki’s political party, Dawa.

To forge unity and win the confidence of the Iraqis, officials say, he has to take some stands that conflict with those of the White House, while relying on the American military to ward off the Sunni-led insurgency.

But in Washington, administration officials said they viewed Mr. Maliki’s public breaks with American policy positions as proof that he was his own man leading his own government, and was not a prop of the Americans.

“We hope he comes with his own plan,” said a senior administration official, who requested anonymity because of a general policy limiting public comments in advance of presidential meetings.

Mr. Maliki also depends heavily on the American government for financial aid; he will almost certainly express appreciation to President Bush and Congress. Even many Sunni Arab leaders now say they need American troops to remain here to prevent the country from sliding into full-scale civil war.

But one issue on which Iraqis agree is that American troops should no longer receive legal immunity. Pressure for Mr. Maliki to negotiate an end to that immunity has been growing, especially in light of an inquiry into the killings of 24 civilians in Haditha and the prosecution of a rape-murder case in Mahmudiya. The Bush administration, though, has strongly resisted allowing American troops to be tried under international or foreign laws.

“He will talk to the American side about immunity,” said Mahmoud Othman, a senior Kurdish legislator. “The Iraqi people are really complaining about it.”

Alaa Makki, a legislator from the main Sunni Arab bloc, said: “There is a lot of pressure on the prime minister on that issue. It will make people feel the Iraqi government is doing something for them.”

Several American officials said Monday that they also expected Mr. Maliki to raise the issue of immunity, but added that there was little prospect the administration would agree.

Another thorny subject is amnesty for Iraqi insurgents, an idea that Mr. Maliki has made the centerpiece of his political program. He has to balance demands by some Iraqi leaders to give amnesty to insurgents who have attacked American troops, with fervent opposition from American politicians to any such policy.

“I personally think whoever kills an American soldier in defense of his country would have a statue built for him in that country,” the speaker of Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a conservative Sunni Arab, said at a news conference on Saturday. “The parties that we cannot conciliate with are those who deliberately killed an Iraqi citizen.”

Tensions have also risen over Mr. Maliki’s break with President Bush on the Israeli assault in Lebanon. Iraq, a predominantly Shiite nation, has denounced Israel’s retaliation against Hezbollah, a militant Shiite group supported by Iran. By contrast, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, predominantly Sunni Arab nations, have been restrained.

By siding with Hezbollah, Mr. Maliki stands to gain popular support here. On Monday he delivered his strongest condemnation yet of Israel in a radio interview with BBC in London, where he was meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“I can’t find enough justification for what is happening,” Mr. Maliki said. “The destruction of the infrastructure is not even consistent with the rules of war, even if we can say there is a war. I will talk about the issue in a way that we try to reach a cease-fire and start negotiations.”

Barham Salih, a deputy prime minister of Iraq, called Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon on Monday to pledge $35 million for relief efforts, an aide to Mr. Salih said.

Here in Iraq, scores of civilians are dying every day, many in Baghdad, despite a security plan promoted by Mr. Maliki for the last six weeks that has put 7,200 American and 50,000 Iraqi troops in the capital.

“It has not achieved its objectives,” Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said of the plan. American commanders have said more troops will be moved from other parts of Iraq to Baghdad as part of a new strategy President Bush might announce during Mr. Maliki’s visit.

“There’s chaos, terror and bad services, especially electricity,” said Khamis al-Badri, a former professor of political science at Baghdad University. “But you can’t just blame Maliki. You have to blame all the political forces that are participating in the government.”

With Iraq needing American troops more than ever, Mr. Maliki may have to water down the demands he makes, Iraqi officials said. On the immunity issue, for example, Mr. Maliki could end up asking for an Iraqi presence at American-run trials involving Iraqi victims, rather than a complete end to immunity, Mr. Othman said.

Yet the anti-American forces pulling on Mr. Maliki are formidable. His political group, the Islamic Dawa Party, relies on support from the organization of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, who led two rebellions against the Americans in 2004. American and British forces have been cracking down on Mr. Sadr’s militia in recent weeks, and Mr. Sadr called on Mr. Maliki last week to cancel his trip to Washington.

Mr. Sadr controls important ministries and at least 30 seats in Parliament. One word from him can send thousands of armed men into the streets. Because of that, and because of Mr. Maliki’s close ties to Sadr politicians, he could ask President Bush to roll back the American military’s recent offensive against the Sadr militia, Iraqi officials said.

As for amnesty, many Iraqi leaders, especially Sunni Arabs, say the violence will continue unless pardons are given to those who say they took part in legitimate resistance against foreign occupiers.

To appease American politicians, Mr. Maliki has said he does not endorse amnesty for insurgents with American blood on their hands. But when meeting with President Bush, some Iraq officials say, Mr. Maliki may have to broach the subject.

“There should be less limitations on amnesty,” Mr. Othman said. “If you say anybody who has killed Americans or anybody who has killed Iraqis cannot get amnesty, then who should get amnesty?”

David S. Cloud and Jim Rutenberg contributed reporting from Washington for this article, and Mona Mahmoud and Qais Mizher from Baghdad.

    Top Iraqi’s White House Visit Shows Gaps With U.S., NYT, 25.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/world/middleeast/25maliki.html?hp&ex=1153886400&en=fcae7bb1a6b8e409&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Group: U.S. commanders encouraged abuse after Abu Ghraib report

Updated 7/23/2006 7:39 AM ET
AP
USA Today

NEW YORK (AP) — The group Human Rights Watch said in a report released Sunday that U.S. military commanders encouraged abusive interrogations of detainees in Iraq, even after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal called attention to the issue in 2004.

Between 2003 and 2005, prisoners were routinely physically mistreated, deprived of sleep and exposed to extreme temperatures as part of the interrogation process, the report said.

"Soldiers were told that the Geneva Conventions did not apply, and that interrogators could use abusive techniques to get detainees to talk," wrote John Sifton, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The organization said it based its conclusion on interviews with military personnel and sworn statements in declassified documents.

A Pentagon spokesman, Cmdr. Greg Hicks, said he wasn't aware of the report, but noted the military is reviewing its procedures regarding detainees following a Supreme Court ruling that the Geneva Conventions should apply in the conflict with al-Qaeda.

The Bush administration had previously held that certain enemies, including terrorists, were illegal combatants and not protected by those rules.

The conventions prohibit "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."

Human Rights Watch focused much of its report on a detention facility called Camp Nama at Baghdad International Airport.

One soldier, whose name was withheld from the report, described a suspected insurgent being stripped naked, thrown in the mud, sprayed with water and then exposed to frigid temperatures in an attempt to soften him up for interrogators.

Commanders, the soldier said, seemed confident that their treatment of prisoners was legal.

He described computerized authorization forms that had to be filled out before subjecting detainees to strobe lights, loud music, extreme heat or cold, or intimidation by barking dogs.

The allegations of abuse at the camp were first reported in March by The New York Times.

    Group: U.S. commanders encouraged abuse after Abu Ghraib report, UT, 23.7.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-23-detainee-abuse_x.htm

Saddam Hussein Receives Medical Attention

July 23, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Saddam Hussein was hospitalized Sunday on the 17th day of a hunger strike started to protest courtroom procedures and the killings of defense lawyers, the chief prosecutor in his trial said.

Jaafar al-Moussawi said he visited the prison Sunday where Saddam and the seven other co-defendants are held and was told that the ex-president's health "is unstable because of the hunger strike."

"We took him to hospital and he is being currently fed by a tube," al-Moussawi told The Associated Press. He refused to identify the hospital.

Asked if Saddam's health had improved, al-Moussawi replied: "No, it is not stable yet."

Saddam, 69, and three others -- presumed to be co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim, Taha Yassin Ramadan and Awad al-Bandar -- have been refusing food since dinner on July 7 to protest the Iraqi High Tribunal procedures and security for their defense attorneys, three of whom have been slain.

The action was launched after the June 21 slaying of Khamis al-Obeidi, the third member of the defense team to be assassinated since the trial began in October. The defense team has blamed Shiite militiamen for al-Obeidi's death.

In a letter to the court, the defense said it wanted U.S. authorities to provide security for the lawyers and their families. It also demanded a 45-day recess to allow it to prepare closing statements and a promise from the court that it would be allowed to take as long as it wishes to present its final arguments.

Court spokesman Raid Juhi said the defense had rejected an offer of the same security precaution given to the judges and prosecution lawyers: residence inside the Green Zone, the fortified Baghdad neighborhood where the court is located.

Saddam and the others are charged in a crackdown on Shiites in the town of Dujail following a 1982 assassination attempt against the Iraqi leader. Final summations have begun, and the next session is set for Monday.

Court officials have predicted that verdicts would come in mid-August. Saddam and the other three top defendants could face execution by hanging if convicted on the charges.

Saddam also is set to go on trial Aug. 21 for a 1980s crackdown that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds.

    Saddam Hussein Receives Medical Attention, NYT, 23.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/world/worldspecial/23saddam-wire.html?hp&ex=1153713600&en=a9666c257b028781&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Officer Faces Court-Martial for Refusing to Deploy to Iraq

July 23, 2006
The New York Times
By JOHN KIFNER and TIMOTHY EGAN

SEATTLE — When First Lt. Ehren K. Watada of the Army shipped out for a tour of duty in South Korea two years ago, he was a promising young officer rated among the best by his superiors. Like many young men after Sept. 11, he had volunteered “out of a desire to protect our country,” he said, even paying $800 for a medical test to prove he qualified despite childhood asthma.

Now Lieutenant Watada, 28, is working behind a desk at Fort Lewis just south of Seattle, one of only a handful of Army officers who have refused to serve in Iraq, an Army spokesman said, and apparently the first facing the prospect of a court-martial for doing so.

“I was still willing to go until I started reading,” Lieutenant Watada said in an interview one recent evening.

A long and deliberate buildup led to Lieutenant Watada’s decision to refuse deployment to Iraq. He reached out to antiwar groups, and they, in turn, embraced his cause, raising money for his legal defense, selling posters and T-shirts, and circulating a petition on his behalf.

Critics say the lieutenant’s move is an orchestrated act of defiance that will cause chaos in the military if repeated by others. But Lieutenant Watada said he arrived at his decision after much soul-searching and research.

On Jan. 25, “with deep regret,” he delivered a passionate two-page letter to his brigade commander, Col. Stephen J. Townsend, asking to resign his commission. “Simply put, I am wholeheartedly opposed to the continued war in Iraq, the deception used to wage this war, and the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership,” Lieutenant Watada wrote.

At 2:30 a.m. on June 22, when the Third Stryker Brigade of the Second Infantry Division set off for Iraq, Lieutenant Watada was not on the plane. He has since been charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with one count of missing movement, for not deploying, two counts of contempt toward officials and three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer.

Lieutenant Watada’s about-face came as a shock to his parents, his fellow soldiers and his superiors. In retrospect, though, there may have been one ominous note in the praise heaped on him in his various military fitness reports: he was cited as having an “insatiable appetite for knowledge.”

Lieutenant Watada said that when he reported to Fort Lewis in June 2005, in preparation for deployment to Iraq, he was beginning to have doubts. “I was still prepared to go, still willing to go to Iraq,” he said. “I thought it was my responsibility to learn about the present situation. At that time, I never conceived our government would deceive the Army or deceive the people.”

He was not asking for leave as a conscientious objector, Lieutenant Watada said, a status assigned to those who oppose all military service because of moral objections to war. It was only the Iraq war that he said he opposed.

Military historians say it is rare in the era of the all-voluntary Army for officers to do what Lieutenant Watada has done.

“Certainly it’s far from unusual in the annals of war for this to happen,” said Michael E. O’Hanlon, a senior fellow in military affairs at the Brookings Institution. “But it is pretty obscure since the draft ended.”

Mr. O’Hanlon said that if other officers followed suit, it would be nearly impossible to run the military. “The idea that any individual officer can decide which war to fight doesn’t really pass the common-sense test,” he said.

Lieutenant Watada conceded that the military could not function if individual members decided which war was just. But, he wrote to Colonel Townsend, he owed his allegiance to a “higher power” — the Constitution — based on the values the Army had taught him: “loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.”

“Please allow me to leave the Army with honor and dignity,” he concluded.

Lieutenant Watada said he began his self-tutorial about the Iraq war with James Bamford’s book “A Pretext for War,” which argues that the war in Iraq was driven by a small group of neoconservative civilians in the Pentagon and their allies in policy institutes. The book suggests that intelligence was twisted to justify the toppling of Saddam Hussein, with the goal of fundamentally changing the Middle East to the benefit of Israel.

Next was “Chain of Command,” by Seymour M. Hersh, about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. After that, Lieutenant Watada moved on to other publications on war-related themes, including selections on the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the so-called Downing Street memo, in which the British chief of intelligence told Prime Minister Tony Blair in July 2002 that the Americans saw war in Iraq as “inevitable” and that “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”

Lieutenant Watada said he also talked to soldiers returning to Fort Lewis from Iraq, including a staff sergeant who told him that he and his men had probably committed war crimes.

“When I learned the awful truth that we had been deceived — I was shocked and disgusted,” he wrote in the letter to his brigade commander.

There were efforts to work things out, Lieutenant Watada said. The Army offered him a staff job in Iraq that would have kept him out of combat; but combat was not the point, he said.

Lieutenant Watada said he had volunteered to serve in Afghanistan, which he regarded as an unambiguous war linked to the Sept. 11 attacks. The request was denied.

In public statements, Army officials warned Lieutenant Watada that he was facing “adverse action” in the days leading up to his decision to refuse to go to Iraq. Charges were filed only after he showed insubordination, they said; his insubordination included giving interviews.

“This was a call of his commander, after he decided that Lieutenant Watada’s action required these charges,” said Joe Hitt, a Fort Lewis spokesman.

When Lieutenant Watada’s mother, Carolyn Ho, learned of his decision, she was caught off guard, she said. Her son, an Eagle Scout who grew up in Hawaii, had always admired the Army.

“I tried to talk him out of it,” Ms. Ho said. “I just saw his career going down the drain. It took me awhile to get through this.”

Now, she said, “I honor and respect his decision.”

Two officers who served with Lieutenant Watada in South Korea also voiced support for him in telephone interviews arranged by Lieutenant Watada, though they made it clear they did not share his views on Iraq.

“He was a good officer, always very professional,” said one of the officers, Capt. Scott Hulin. “I personally disagree with his opinion and his stance against the war. But I personally support his stand as a man, to be able to do what his heart is telling him.”

A former roommate of Lieutenant Watada, First Lt. Bernard West, offered similar remarks.

Lieutenant Watada had two assignments in South Korea. One was as the executive officer of the headquarters battery, the other as a platoon leader of a unit of multiple-launch rockets. His evaluations were glowing.

“Exemplary,” said his executive officer fitness report, which Lieutenant Watada provided to a reporter. “Tremendous potential for positions of increased responsibility. He has the potential to command with distinction. Promote ahead of his peers.”

His evaluation as a platoon leader also called him “exemplary” and said he had “unlimited potential.”

Under the military system, the charges against Lieutenant Watada will be reviewed in an Article 32 hearing, the rough equivalent of a grand jury hearing. If there is a court-martial hearing, it will probably come in the fall; the maximum penalty would be a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and seven years in prison, according to a news release from Fort Lewis.

A spokesman for the Army, Paul Boyce, said that as far as he knew, Lieutenant Watada would be the first Army officer to be court-martialed for refusing to go to Iraq.

    Officer Faces Court-Martial for Refusing to Deploy to Iraq, NYT, 23.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/us/23refuse.html

More Troops to Be Deployed in Baghdad, General Says

July 22, 2006
The New York Times
By MICHAEL R. GORDON

CAMP FALLUJA, Iraq, July 21 — The top American commander for the Middle East said Friday that the escalating sectarian violence in Baghdad had become a greater worry than the insurgency and that plans were being drawn up to move additional forces to the Iraqi capital.

“The situation with sectarian violence in Baghdad is very serious,” Gen. John P. Abizaid of the Army, the head of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Friday. “The country can deal with the insurgency better than it can with the sectarian violence, and it needs to move decisively against the sectarian violence now.”

The new Iraqi government announced last month that it was stepping up security efforts in Baghdad. The killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who led Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, also prompted hopes that the tide of violence might subside.

But an intensifying cycle of sectarian attacks and revenge killings by Sunni and Shiite groups have engulfed the city. Many residents have been fleeing the capital. Two months after the new Iraq government took office, the security gains that “we had hoped for have not been achieved,” General Abizaid acknowledged.

General Abizaid flew to Camp Falluja to meet with Marine commanders who oversee the vast Sunni-dominated Anbar region in western Iraq. The region is one of the most violent in the country. Insurgents’ attacks here seem to be as numerous as ever. But the prospect that sectarian strife could set off a broader civil war that would overwhelm Iraq’s capital has been a greater worry for top American commanders.

Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander in Iraq, had been meeting with Iraq’s defense minister, Abdel Kader Jassem al-Obeidi, to hammer out a plan to improve security. The plan includes more troops in the Baghdad area, Iraqi as well as American.

“There is a very serious effort to make sure that it is not just weighted with additional U.S. capability, but also additional Iraqi capability,” General Abizaid said. “Clearly, it will require that we move whatever combat power that the commanders on the ground there think is appropriate, whether Iraqi or American. And I think it will be a combination of both.”

The shifting of additional forces to the Baghdad area is expected to come at the expense of troop levels in other parts of the country. It is not yet clear whether the increased violence will prompt American commanders to modify their longer-term plans for troop reductions.

General Casey developed a plan that called for cutting the number of American combat brigades in Iraq to 12, from the current level of 14, by September. He also envisioned potentially shrinking the number of combat brigades to 10 this year. But that plan hinged on progress in the security situation.

Not all the steps to improve security are military. General Abizaid said that political steps were also needed, including a plan for national reconciliation, the disarming of militias and reform of the police.

“Definitely one of the things that is not going well is the national police and police reform, and it needs to be carefully looked at,” he said. “You can’t allow sectarian politics to influence the ministries.”

    More Troops to Be Deployed in Baghdad, General Says, NYT, 22.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/world/middleeast/22abizaid.html

The Trial

In a 5,000-Word Letter, Hussein Blames Bush, Iran and Israel Supporters for Iraq’s Troubles

July 21, 2006
The New York Times
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 20 — Saddam Hussein’s defense lawyers on Thursday released a letter Mr. Hussein recently wrote in prison that tries to convince the American people that the United States should leave Iraq because President Bush misled them into a deadly quagmire.

The 5,000-word letter is a rambling treatise outlining what Mr. Hussein asserts are the false reasons the Bush administration used to justify the war in Iraq, from illicit weapons to links with Al Qaeda. Mr. Hussein said he had written it at the behest of Ramsey Clark, the former United States attorney general who serves on his defense team.

Mr. Hussein blames Iran and pro-Israel interests for helping lead the Americans into war. He invokes the specter of the Vietnam War and the spirit of Mao, saying the Chinese revolutionary is “laughing in his grave because his prediction has been fulfilled and America is a paper tiger.”

The letter is dated July 7 and was handed by Mr. Hussein to Mr. Clark, said Rasha Oudeh, the office manager for Mr. Hussein’s eldest daughter.

“People of America, the misfortunes that have afflicted you and afflicted our Arab nation and within it our heroic people — including the breakdown of America’s standing and reputation — were only caused by the reckless behavior of your government and by pressure from Zionism,” Mr. Hussein wrote, according to a translation of the letter e-mailed to reporters by both his defense team and an insurgent Web site.

“The massacres and blood that now flows in the streets and countryside of Iraq in torrents — the responsibility for that falls on America before all others,” he added.

The release of the letter came on the 14th day of a hunger strike by Mr. Hussein and three of his co-defendants. Mr. Hussein and seven other men, including his half-brother, have been on trial since October for the imprisonment and executions of 148 men and boys from the Shiite town of Dujail. The victims were killed after what Mr. Hussein said was an assassination attempt on him in 1982.

The trial is in its closing stages. Arguments are expected from the defense lawyers, but the main lawyers and defendants have been boycotting the trial for various reasons.

Lt. Col. Keir-Kevin Curry, a spokesman for the American-run detainee system, said Thursday that Mr. Hussein was in “relatively good health” and was being monitored every day by medical professionals. He said Mr. Hussein had rejected all his meals but drinks coffee with sugar, and water with nutrients.

The American military had no immediate comment on the letter, Colonel Curry added.

In the letter, Mr. Hussein said an American general tried to use intimidation and threats against him after his capture, and “tried to bargain with me, promising to let me live if I agreed to read in my own voice and sign a prepared announcement that was shown to me.”

“That stupid announcement called on the people of Iraq and the courageous resistance to lay down arms,” he wrote. “They said that if I refused, my fate would be that I would be shot like Mussolini.”

A week after that conversation, Mr. Hussein said, a group of Americans came to speak to him, saying they were from an American university. “I confirmed to them that Iraq didn’t have any of the things the American officials claimed,” Mr. Hussein wrote.

Mr. Hussein sought to portray himself as a humanitarian in the letter, telling the American government to designate a neutral country where insurgents could hand over American prisoners “rather than executing them as currently is said to be taking place.” That appeared to be a reference to the capture and killing of two American soldiers last month in the town of Yusufiya.

The letter ends with a final bit of advice: “Save your country, esteemed ladies and gentlemen, and leave Iraq.”

    In a 5,000-Word Letter, Hussein Blames Bush, Iran and Israel Supporters for Iraq’s Troubles, NYT, 21.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/world/middleeast/21saddam.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Iraqi Death Toll Rises Above 100 Per Day, U.N. Says

July 19, 2006
The New York Times
By KIRK SEMPLE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 18 — An average of more than 100 civilians per day were killed in Iraq last month, the United Nations reported Tuesday, registering what appears to be the highest official monthly tally of violent deaths since the fall of Baghdad.

The death toll, drawn from Iraqi government agencies, was the most precise measurement of civilian deaths provided by any government organization since the invasion and represented a substantial increase over the figures in daily news media reports.

Contributing to the trend cited by the United Nations, a suicide car bomber killed at least 53 people and wounded at least 105 in the holy Shiite city of Kufa on Tuesday after he lured a throng of day laborers to his van with the offer of work.

The attack, one of the bloodiest this year, struck at the heart of Shiite Islam — Kufa is a stronghold of the powerful Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and the site of a major shrine — and aggravated sectarian fury.

United Nations officials said Tuesday that the number of violent deaths had climbed steadily since at least last summer. During the first six months of this year, the civilian death toll jumped more than 77 percent, from 1,778 in January to 3,149 in June, the organization said.

This sharp upward trend reflected the dire security situation in Iraq as sectarian violence has worsened and Iraqi and American government forces have been unable to stop it.

In its report, the United Nations said that 14,338 civilians had died violently in Iraq in the first six months of the year.

United Nations officials said they had based their figures on tallies provided by two Iraqi agencies: the Ministry of Health, which tracks violent deaths recorded at hospitals around the country; and Baghdad’s central morgue, where unidentified bodies are delivered, a vast majority of which met violent deaths.

Each agency issues death warrants for the bodies it receives, government officials say, and there is no overlap between the two populations of victims.

The United States government and military have not made public any specific figures on Iraqi civilian casualties or said whether they are keeping count. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq published the new tallies in its bimonthly human rights report, issued Tuesday. It was the first time that the United Nations had published combined death statistics from the two agencies.

According to the report, 1,778 civilians were killed in January, 2,165 in February, 2,378 in March, 2,284 in April, 2,669 in May and 3,149 in June.

The totals represent an enormous increase over figures published by media organizations and by nongovernmental organizations that track these trends.

The Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent Web site that uses news reports to do its tallies, reported that at least 738 died in June, and another 969 the previous month.

The United Nations report said that in recent months, “the overwhelming majority of casualties were reported in Baghdad.”

The capital has been the focus of raging sectarian violence, particularly since the bombing in late February of a major Shiite shrine in Samarra, which set off several days of bloodshed, widened a rift between the Sunni Arab and Shiite communities and stoked fears that the country was sliding toward full-scale civil war.

The Ministry of Health under Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari had not fulfilled requests by the United Nations for civilian casualty statistics, officials said.

“There has been a great deal of sensitivity there and a great deal of concern about providing figures,” Gianni Magazzeni, chief of the human rights office of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, said in an interview.

Mr. Magazzeni praised Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for his efforts to address human rights concerns “more forcefully” than his predecessors.

“There is a greater willingness of the new government to be more forthcoming,” he said. “The more information we have, the more information we can provide — including the number of people who have been violently killed — the more the government and others will be able to take action and address some of these issues.”

The attack in Kufa on Tuesday occurred near a major Shiite shrine, at an intersection where men, down on their luck and out of work, would gather each morning hoping that someone would hire them for a day of manual labor and the promise of a small wage.

On Tuesday, a man drove up in a van, leaned out of the window and made an offer of work, witnesses said. As the men pressed in close, and some started to climb in the back, the driver pushed a detonator and the van exploded, witnesses said.

The blast scattered bodies and street vendors’ carts, blackened nearby walls, dyed the ground red with blood and ignited pandemonium in the street. When Iraqi police officers arrived, the crowd pelted them with stones. According to The Associated Press, many demanded that the militia loyal to Mr. Sadr, the cleric, take over security of the city.

Mr. Sadr counts an enormous following among the Shiite poor and dispossessed in Baghdad and southern Iraq. The militia loyal to him, the Mahdi Army, has been blamed for many recent kidnappings and assassinations of Sunni Arabs.

Kufa and the nearby Shiite holy city of Najaf — because of their predominantly Shiite populations and tight control by Shiite militias and the Shiite-dominated security forces — have largely been spared the sort of sectarian violence that has ravaged mixed cities like Baghdad and Baquba.

But Tuesday’s attack, coupled with several other suicide attacks this year in Kufa and Najaf, suggested an ominous deterioration in security even in Iraq’s demographically homogenous areas.

The attack underscored the futility, at least in the short term, of the government’s latest efforts to short-circuit the vicious cycle of sectarian violence that has defined life in Iraq.

Iraq’s elected officials condemned the attack, which came a day after dozens of gunmen believed to be Sunni Arabs rampaged through a mostly Shiite market area in the town of Mahmudiya, killing at least 48 civilians and wounding scores, according to police officials.

The prime minister vowed to find and punish those responsible for the Kufa attack, according to news agencies.

The Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab organization, issued a statement urging the country “to be wise and rational instead of drifting into the abyss,” and called upon the country’s political and religious leaders to meet and discuss ways “to lead Iraq out of this dark tunnel.”

“God knows what comes next,” the statement said.

Assad Abu Ghalal al-Taiee, the governor of Najaf Province, blamed the attack on insurgents from the volatile region south of Baghdad that includes Mahmudiya and Latifiya, where Sunni Arab fighters have frequently clashed with security forces and Shiite militias.

“These two towns are exporting terror to Najaf and other provinces,” he said. “If we do not provide a solution, all the areas close to them will be a target for the terrorists who come from there.”

The American energy secretary, Samuel W. Bodman, who met with Iraq’s oil and electricity ministers in Baghdad, had a rosy view of progress here since his last visit in 2003.

“The situation seems far more stable than when I was here two or three years ago,” he said in an interview in the fortified Green Zone. “The security seems better, people are more relaxed. There is an optimism, at least among the people I talked to.”

Violence scarred other parts of Iraq on Tuesday, as well. A homemade bomb exploded near a garage outside Kirkuk, killing eight people, including six police officers, according to Brig. Hamid Abdul al-Jibouri of the Iraqi Army.

In Falluja, gunmen invaded the home of a police captain and shot him dead, the police reported. Four police officers in Baquba were killed by gunmen, a police official said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. And in Mosul, gunmen killed a recruit for the Iraqi Army, another police official said.

Paul von Zielbauer contributed reporting for this article from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Falluja, Kirkuk, Kufa and Mosul.

    Iraqi Death Toll Rises Above 100 Per Day, U.N. Says, NYT, 19.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?hp&ex=1153368000&en=6c076f1256a16662&ei=5094&partner=homepage

    Related > http://www.uniraq.org/documents/HR%20Report%20May%20Jun%202006%20EN.pdf

Wave of Violence in Baghdad Puts 3-Day Death Toll Past 100

July 12, 2006
The New York Times
By KIRK SEMPLE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 11 — More than 50 people were killed in Baghdad on Tuesday in violence that included a double suicide bombing near busy entrances to the fortified Green Zone, scattered shootings, mortar attacks, a series of car bombs and the ambush of a bus with Shiite mourners returning from a burial.

Tuesday’s killings, many of them apparently carried out with sectarian vengeance, raised the three-day death toll in the capital alone to well over 100, magnified the daunting challenges facing the new government and deepened a sense of dread among Iraqis.

Many of the attacks, particularly those in neighborhoods primarily populated by one religious group or another, bore the hallmarks of sectarian militias, both Sunni Arab and Shiite. Militias now appear to be dictating the ebb and flow of life in Iraq, and have left the new government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and his American counterparts scrambling to come up with a military and political strategy to combat them.

Mr. Maliki has a security strategy for Baghdad, put in place a month ago, that features a constellation of new checkpoints.

Also on Tuesday, Wisam Jabir Abdullah, an Iraqi diplomat posted in Iran who was visiting Baghdad, was kidnapped from his home by gunmen, an Interior Ministry official said. The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The worsening security crisis in Baghdad and several neighboring provinces, which many Iraqis are saying feels like a low-grade civil war, prompted lawmakers on Tuesday to summon the interior and defense ministers to address Parliament on Thursday, said Jalal Adin al-Saghir, a senior official in the country’s largest Shiite political bloc.

During the current spike in the violence, Mr. Maliki has been restrained in his comments. On Monday, he made an appeal for national unity during a speech in Iraqi Kurdistan, and during a press conference in Erbil on Tuesday, he dismissed the notion that the country was descending into civil war.

“I don’t see the country falling into a civil war, despite the regrettable activities of certain people who ignore that Iraq is united,” the prime minister said, according to Agence France-Presse.

At least eight more people were slain in insurgent attacks outside the capital, including the wife of a provincial governor, who was killed by a bomb while treating patients at her gynecology clinic. But Tuesday’s violence was largely concentrated in Baghdad.

The country’s largest Sunni bloc said that in the interest of promoting calm, it would end its 10-day boycott of Parliament. Sunni legislators suspended their participation on July 2 after a colleague, Tayseer Najah al-Mashhadani, was kidnapped. Many Sunnis have blamed the abduction on the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to the cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

Mr. Sadr and his deputies, however, have denied any involvement.

Alaa Makki, a Sunni leader, said in a telephone interview that the bloc’s decision to participate once again was influenced by Mr. Sadr, who on Sunday issued an appeal for harmony and the convening of a special meeting of Parliament to address the sectarian bloodshed.

The sudden surge in violence began Sunday morning when a group of Shiite gunmen appeared on the streets of a predominantly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad and began executing people. This vigilantism appeared to come as retribution for the bombing of a Shiite mosque the day before.

It was closely followed on Sunday by what seemed to be retributive car bomb attacks against another Shiite mosque.

Estimates of the number of killings in Baghdad on Sunday ranged from at least 30 to more than double that number. And at least 30 died in violence on Monday, officials said.

In Tuesday’s most deadly attack, two pedestrians wearing vests made of explosives blew themselves up near a restaurant outside the walls of the Green Zone, within a few hundred yards of three busy entrances, Iraqi and American officials said. Soon after the initial blasts, a hidden bomb was detonated nearby, adding to the carnage, the American military said. Some Iraqi authorities said the third explosion was caused by a car bomb.

At least 15 Iraqi civilians and an Iraqi police officer were killed in the explosions, and 4 people were wounded, according to the American military command.

In an Internet posting, two prominent insurgent groups claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council in Iraq said it was behind the two suicide bombings, according to SITE Institute, which monitors jihadist postings on the Internet. The Islamic Army in Iraq claimed in a separate posting that it was responsible for the third explosion, which it said was a car bomb, according to a translation provided by SITE.

The claims raise the possibility of a coordinated strike by the two groups, though they do not have a history of working together and, moreover, are thought to be rivals.

The Islamic Army said it had struck in revenge for the rape and slaying of an Iraqi girl and the killing of three other family members in Mahmudiya. Five American soldiers, and a recently discharged soldier, have been implicated the case.

In a predominantly Sunni area of Dawra, a district in southern Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Shiite mourners from the holy city of Najaf, where they had buried a relative, government officials and family members said. The gunmen pulled 10 people from the bus and executed them, the Interior Ministry official said.

An hour earlier, in Taji, north of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed another bus, killing one person and wounding five, the official said.

Two mortar grenades hit a Shiite mosque in Dawra, killing 9 and wounding 11 civilians, the Interior Ministry official said.

In other violence, a family of five — a father, mother, grown daughter and two teenage sons — were found beheaded in a predominantly Sunni sector of Dawra, according to an official at Yarmouk Hospital, the main medical facility in western Baghdad.

The police and hospital officials also reported that four car bombs around Baghdad killed at least 7 people and wounded at least 18.

Gunmen raided a company’s offices in the upper-middle-class Mansour neighborhood, killing three employees and wounding three, officials said.

According to the official at Yarmouk Hospital, five bodies were discovered early Tuesday in Jihad, the neighborhood where dozens of people were reportedly executed by marauding gunmen on Sunday. It was unclear when the victims had been killed.

In Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, a time bomb exploded in the clinic of Ameera al-Rubaie, the wife of the governor of Salahuddin Province, according to Agence France-Presse, which quoted the local police. Dr. Rubaie, a gynecologist, was killed and four of her patients were wounded, the police said, according to the wire service.

In Baquba, north of Baghdad, the mayor of the Um Al Nawa district was assassinated by gunmen, the ministry official said. In the Shiite holy city of Karbala, a drive-by shooting killed two workers in the central market, according to the Interior Ministry official.

An engineer and his bodyguard were assassinated on their way to work in Kirkuk on Tuesday morning, according to Col. Adel Zain Alabdin of the Iraqi police. A car bomb in Mosul killed two people and wounded four, the police said.

Wijdan Mikhail Salim, Iraq’s minister of human rights, said in a telephone interview that a government commission had been formed to study the possibility of scrapping a law that granted American troops immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

In the trial of Saddam Hussein, the judges heard the closing arguments of two defendants, Abdullah Kadhum Ruweed and his son, Mizher Abdullah Ruweed, two local Baath Party officials from Dujail, a predominantly Shiite village.

Mr. Hussein and seven co-defendants are accused in the torture and execution of 148 men and boys in the village in 1982.

Reporting for this article was contributed by Hosham Hussein, Qais Mizher and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Baghdad, Iraqi employees of The Times from Kirkuk and Mosul, and Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi from New York.

    Wave of Violence in Baghdad Puts 3-Day Death Toll Past 100, NYT, 12.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/world/middleeast/12iraq.html?hp&ex=1152763200&en=1693c1564a261989&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Iraq Civilian Toll Spikes to Nearly 6, 000

July 19, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:16 a.m. ET
The New York Times

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Nearly 6,000 civilians were slain across Iraq in May and June, a spike in deaths that coincided with rising sectarian attacks across the country, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The report from the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq describes a wave of lawlessness and crime, including assassinations, bombings, kidnappings, torture and intimidation.

Hundreds of teachers, judges, religious leaders and doctors have been targeted for death, and thousands of people have fled, the report said. Evidence suggests militants also have begun to target homosexuals, it said.

''While welcoming recent positive steps by the government to promote national reconciliation, the report raises alarm at the growing number of casualties among the civilian population killed or wounded during indiscriminate or targeted attacks by terrorists or insurgents,'' the U.N. said in a note accompanying the report.

In the last two days alone, more than 120 people were killed in violence in Iraq. In the worst attacks, fifty-three perished in a suicide bombing Tuesday in Kufa, and 50 were slain Monday in a market in Mahmoudiya.

According to the report, 2,669 civilians were killed in May and 3,149 were killed in June. Those numbers combined two counts: from the Ministry of Health, which records deaths reported by hospitals; and the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad, which tallies the unidentified bodies it receives.

The report charts a month-by-month increase in the number of civilians killed, from 710 in January to 1,129 in April. In the first six months of the year, it said 14,338 people had been killed.

The report's figures were higher than some other counts, but even the U.N. said many killings go unreported.

According to an Associated Press tally based on its daily reporting, at least 1,511 civilians were killed, in May and June, with at least an additional 289 police and security forces killed.

The AP tally showed that from January through June 2006, at least 4,191 civilians were killed. The minimum number of police and security forces casualties in that period was at least 805 killed. The AP figures do not include insurgents.

It was unclear whether the tally from the Medico-Legal Institute included only those who were killed as a result of violence.

The spike in casualties comes despite the formation of a unity government, which took power on May 20. U.S. officials had hoped it would make good on promises to disband Shiite militants and bring Sunni insurgents into the fold.

Yet, as the report said, parts of Iraq have seen ''collusion between criminal gangs, militias and sectarian 'hit groups,' alleged death squads, vigilante groups and religious extremists.''

It also details the rise in kidnappings, particularly of large groups of people. On May 17, for example, the report said 15 Tae Kwon Do athletes were kidnapped in western Iraq.

''There is no news regarding their whereabouts,'' the report said.

Women report that their rights have been rolled back by extremist Muslim groups -- both Shiite and Sunni. While under Saddam Hussein's largely secular regime, women faced few social restrictions, they say they are now barred from going to market alone, wearing pants or driving cars.

And children are frequently victims, perishing in large crowds or sometimes even targeted themselves, the report said.

''Violence, corruption, inefficiency of state organs to exert control over security, establish the rule of law and protect individual and collective rights all lead to inability of both the state and the family to meet the needs of children,'' it said.

The government still has not pursued many allegations of torture and other inhumane treatment in prisons and detention centers, the U.N. said.

    Iraq Civilian Toll Spikes to Nearly 6, 000, NYT, 19.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Civilians.html

A Platoon’s Mission: Seeking and Destroying Explosives in Disguise

July 12, 2006
The New York Times
By MICHAEL R. GORDON

HIT, Iraq, July 11 — When American soldiers take to the road they pray they avoid the roadside bombs that seem to explode every day in Iraq. Sgt. First Class Timothy Faust has a very different goal: he hopes to find them.

Sergeant Faust’s Demon Platoon has the “route clearing” mission for Company A, Task Force 1-36. That is the somewhat understated description of an operation that involves driving into a veritable no man’s land in hostile Anbar Province to uncover mines, buried artillery shells and all manner of explosive devices, often under sniper fire.

The Pentagon has spent millions of dollars on technology to counter the bombs, which the insurgents have continued to install at a furious rate. But as a recent trip with Demon Platoon showed, detecting the bombs — improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s, as the soldiers call them — is often a matter of memorizing the location of trash heaps, bomb craters, dirt mounds and construction sites in Hit, a garbage-strewn city of 40,000.

A vivid example occurred Saturday, as Sergeant Faust interviewed an Iraqi shopkeeper about who might have planted several mines that were found the night before. Nearby, a member of his platoon noted a fresh pile of debris. “That was not here before,” Sgt. John Martin said.

Sergeant Faust looked at the pile through his rifle scope and yelled, “Get out of here.” With that, the soldiers, the shopkeeper and a reporter and a photographer for The New York Times scampered around the corner toward the platoon’s Humvees.

An hour and a sniper attack later, an Army explosive-ordnance team drove up in a huge armored truck and directed a small robot to place plastic explosives, called C-4, on the pile. The soldiers plugged their ears as the blast thundered through the city streets and a fountain of flame shot into the sky.

Observing the 30-foot ball of fire, Sergeant Faust reported on the radio that his platoon had found an I.E.D., probably one in which explosives had been packed in an acetylene tank to magnify the power of the blast. It was the 71st bomb or mine the platoon had uncovered since it arrived in Hit in February.

Hidden bombs have become the insurgents’ primary weapon, and the number of explosives they plant is an important measure of their activity and determination to fight. The number is on the rise nationwide.

In June, there were 1,481 I.E.D. attacks throughout Iraq, and 903 instances in which the bombs were found and neutralized, according to figures compiled by the American military in Baghdad. That is a sharp increase since January, when there were 834 such attacks and 620 cases in which the bombs were found before they exploded.

Many soldiers rate an explosion from one of the bombs as the war’s most frightening experience.

“It jerks you around,” said Pfc. Daniel Rullo, 21, a medic from Binghamton, N.Y., with Company A. “You squeeze your hands to make sure you are still alive. Lots of times the vehicles fill up with smoke. It is the worst feeling out here, worse than getting shot.”

The battle between the insurgents and the American forces is a grim contest of measure and countermeasure. Armored Humvees and other defensive measures have considerably improved the Americans’ ability to survive the bomb attacks.

In addition to Kevlar helmets and body armor, each soldier is equipped with special gear to protect against bomb explosions: glasses that deflect flying debris, called ballistic glasses; fire-resistant gloves; and combat earplugs.

In a kind of arms race, the insurgents have responded to the American protective measures by stepping up the frequency and power of the bombings.

The bunk next to Private Rullo’s lies empty. It was occupied by another medic, Pfc. Nolan Howell, who was returning in an armored Humvee from a Demon Platoon mission when he was wounded by shrapnel from a planted bomb. Three artillery shells had been stacked in a mound so that the blast would be channeled to the side of the vehicle.

Iraq had a vast arsenal of weapons before the war, few of which were adequately guarded in the chaos that followed the fall of Baghdad. The insurgents have a seemingly inexhaustible supply of artillery shells, mortars and other explosives for making the bombs.

In April, one of the task force soldiers made a wrong turn while on patrol and spied a half-buried artillery round. By the end of the day, American troops had yanked 2,000 artillery rounds out of the ground. It was a field of potential bombs.

“I told the soldiers that finding a cache in and of itself is not going to solve the I.E.D. problems,” said Lt. Col. Thomas C. Graves, the commander of the task force. “Why caches are good is they may lead us to intel that may get to the guy that is laying the I.E.D.’s.”

Reflecting the insurgents’ inventiveness, the bombs in Hit come in a wide variety. Some are “command detonated,” connected by wires to a detonator or triggered by electronic signals. There are bombs and mines that are set to explode when a vehicle drives over them.

The task force is trying to pinpoint the insurgents who are planting the bombs, and has conducted raids to find them. But as soon as one insurgent cell is broken up, another seems to move in. The level of bomb attacks has been generally constant in the Hit area since February. But there appear to be more strikes in the city and fewer on some of the major routes leading in and out.

Either way, what the troops call route clearing is as busy a mission as ever. Sergeant Faust, 35, who was born in Georgia and calls Frederick, Md., home, was trained as a tank platoon sergeant and considers “tankers” a special breed of soldiers.

“We can do anybody’s job, but nobody can do ours,” he said.

Demon Platoon notes proudly that it finds about 80 percent of the concealed bombs on its routes.

The other week, Sergeant Faust was knocked flat on his back when an I.E.D. exploded just moments after he had tossed a few glow lights on the ground to identify the location for the explosive-ordnance team.

It is a team effort, however, with plenty of risk to go around. Specialist Travis Tiffany, 21, has endured two explosions in less than a month but never hesitates, Sergeant Faust says, “to go outside the wire” of his Army base.

Early Saturday morning, before finding the bomb, Sergeant Faust and a team of soldiers in four Humvees left Company A’s base, a dilapidated train station on the outskirts of Hit. The platoon, preparing for a mission to clear a route, halted in front of a blue mosque.

Someone had spied a filled-in crater, either an I.E.D. or a resident’s attempt to fix the road, and Sergeant Faust could not take any chances. Snipers fired three rounds as the soldiers waited for an Army explosive-ordnance team to arrive and blow up the crater. As the platoon drove on, it approached the street where several mines had been detected the night before.

The soldiers got out to talk to local residents, while a nearby Iraqi maintenance crew worked unperturbed on a broken water main. Its truck displayed a white flag.

That’s when Sergeant Martin noticed the unfamiliar stack of debris, and the explosives team returned with its robot to blow up the pile. The large blast and wall of fire that followed provided confirmation that the platoon had found what it was looking for.

“Now that, gentlemen, was an I.E.D.,” Sergeant Faust said, with obvious satisfaction.

    A Platoon’s Mission: Seeking and Destroying Explosives in Disguise, NYT, 12.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/world/middleeast/12military.html

Rumsfeld Makes Unannounced Visit to Iraq

July 12, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:46 a.m. ET
The New York Times

BALAG, Iraq (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday on an unannounced visit to an air base north of Baghdad that the new Iraqi government is not yet ready to decide on security issues that will determine the pace of U.S. troop reductions this year.

Speaking to reporters on a flight from Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said the Iraqis are embarked ''on a comprehensive review'' of their security requirements, as well an effort to reconcile Sunni and Shiite groups to broaden political support for the government.

Asked how long that might take, he said, ''I don't talk deadlines.''

There now are about 129,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and U.S. officials have expressed hope that the total could be reduced to 100,000 by the end of the year, with further cuts in 2007. Rumsfeld's remarks suggested that the timing and scope of troops cuts is still in doubt.

Rumsfeld was met at his airplane by Gen. George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq.

The secretary was holding a town hall style meeting with troops at the air base and later meeting with Iraqi and U.S. military and civilian officials.

    Rumsfeld Makes Uannounced Visit to Iraq, NYT, 12.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Rumsfeld.html

Violence

Insurgent Group Posts Video of 2 Mutilated U.S. Soldiers

July 11, 2006
The New York Times
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 10 — Insurgents posted an Internet video on Monday showing the mutilated corpses of two American soldiers abducted in June and found murdered days later during a search by American and Iraqi forces south of Baghdad. A message with the video says the soldiers were killed out of revenge for the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl in March, a crime in which at least six American soldiers are suspects.

The video is the first released during the war that shows detailed and graphic mutilations of American soldiers. It also deepens the mystery surrounding the rape and killing of the Iraqi girl and the slayings of her parents and younger sister.

American officials have said that the soldiers implicated in that crime are from the same platoon of the 502nd Infantry as the two abducted soldiers, but investigators have yet to draw a direct link between the events.

“We present this as revenge for our sister who was dishonored by a soldier of the same brigade,” says a message in Arabic on a title card at the start of the nearly five-minute video. Militants had learned of the crime early on and “decided to take revenge for their sister’s honor,” the message says, according to a translation by the SITE Institute, which tracks jihadist Internet postings.

It is questionable whether the soldiers were actually killed out of revenge. Iraqis around Mahmudiya, where the rape and murder took place, believed at the time that the girl and the other three victims — her younger sister and parents — were killed by other Iraqis in sectarian violence, according to the mayor of Mahmudiya and American military officials. The mayor said the possible involvement of American soldiers only became apparent on June 30, when the American military announced it had opened an investigation into the crime.

The two abducted soldiers were Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. They were kidnapped on June 16 when insurgents ambushed a traffic checkpoint they had set up in the hostile town of Yusufiya, near Mahmudiya. A third soldier was killed during the ambush. The military is investigating why the soldiers were operating alone in a vehicle outside their base, something virtually unheard of in Iraq.

The video shows two white bodies with tattered green Army uniforms drenched in blood. One of the soldiers has been decapitated, and the head sits next to the body, whose chest has been cut open.

The bodies lie on a bridge over a river, and at least three pairs of sandaled feet belonging to insurgents cluster around them. At one point, an insurgent’s arm picks up the decapitated head. Another insurgent steps on the face of the other soldier.

The video also plays old audio messages from both Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who was killed in an American airstrike in early June. An umbrella group associated with Mr. Zarqawi, the Mujahedeen Shura Council, put out the video.

The soldiers’ bodies were discovered by American troops on a road around Yusufiya booby-trapped with homemade bombs. An Iraqi defense official said at the time that the soldiers had been “brutally tortured.”

The video emerged on a day when at least 30 Iraqis were killed in a spiraling cycle of sectarian violence, and after the American military released the names of five of the soldiers implicated in the rape and murder investigation. The military announced that the five soldiers had been charged and would now face court martial hearings. On June 30, a discharged private first class, Steven D. Green, was arrested by federal authorities in North Carolina for his role as the ringleader of the group and is scheduled to be arraigned in August.

Sergeant Paul E. Cortez, Specialist James P. Barker, Private First Class Jesse V. Spielman and Private First Class Bryan L. Howard have been charged with rape, murder and arson in the March 12 episode, the military said Monday.

Sergeant Anthony W. Yribe has been accused of dereliction of duty for failing to report the crime. “He was not there that day, but afterward had some tacit knowledge of it, as alleged,” said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell IV, a spokesman for the American military.

All five soldiers are being held in Iraq. The 502nd Infantry is part of the 101st Airborne Division, but has been deployed south of Baghdad and attached to the Fourth Infantry Division.

Two bombings in a Shiite enclave killed at least 10 people and injured dozens on Monday, while gunmen executed seven civilians in a bus in a Sunni Arab neighborhood, plunging Baghdad into another round of daytime sectarian violence.

At least 13 Iraqis died in other shootings and bombings around the country, bringing the day’s death toll to at least 30 and highlighting the immense challenges facing the new government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Such attacks have become the hallmark of what many Iraqis now call a low-level civil war.

The two explosions in the Sadr City neighborhood, a vast Shiite slum in eastern Baghdad, appeared to be retribution for a particularly brutal episode on Sunday in which Shiite militiamen rampaged through the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Jihad, pulling people from their homes and cars and shooting them in the head.

The death count from that violence has fluctuated wildly, with some Iraqi officials reporting more than 40 killed, while an American military spokesman said Monday that American troops knew of no more than 14 deaths.

The first bomb in Sadr City went off at about 9:40 a.m., inside a commercial building on a strip of shops and homes. A second bomb, planted in a car, exploded five minutes later as people were rushing to the scene, witnesses said. The explosions shattered the windows of storefronts for blocks around. Four cars erupted in flames.

“We want security,” said a white-bearded man, Lefta Enayid, as he hobbled around the charred scene in a robe. “We don’t want the government to remain handcuffed. We want the government to fight those who set off the car bombs. We’re so sick of this.”

On July 1, a suicide car bomber roared into a street market in Sadr City, killing at least 62 people in the deadliest explosion in Iraq in months. Sadr City is the home of the powerful Mahdi Army militia, and Sunni neighborhoods were raided by armed groups and attacked with mortars for days afterward.

The British ambassador to Iraq, William Patey, acknowledged on Monday that sectarian violence was on the rise. “Yesterday’s deliberate shooting of civilians in Baghdad’s Al Jihad district, last week’s bombing in Sadr City and an increasing number of sectarian killings are all horrific acts which the British government absolutely condemns,” he said in a written statement.

In a speech in Iraqi Kurdistan, Mr. Maliki called for unity among Iraqis without specifically addressing the latest round of killings. “Our fate is to work together to defeat the terror and the mutineers of our political process,” he said. “This can be achieved only by unity and adherence and commitment to the Constitution.”

Inside the fortified Green Zone, the trial of Saddam Hussein resumed, but in the absence of the top defendants. The lawyers for Mr. Hussein and three co-defendants said they were boycotting the proceedings unless a long list of demands were met, including improved security for the lawyers.

Mr. Hussein and seven co-defendants are being tried for the executions of 148 men and boys from the Shiite town of Dujail following what Mr. Hussein called an assassination attempt on him in 1982. The trial has been plagued by the killings of at least three defense lawyers, as well as a judge and his son.

The trial has entered its final phase, with the defense scheduled to make its final arguments this week; a verdict is expected in the fall.

On Monday, two minor defendants, Ali Dayih and Muhammad Azzawi, both former Baath Party officials from Dujail, made their arguments.

Mr. Azzawi, once a farmer in Dujail, defended himself by saying: “I am a man of honor and well raised, from a good origin, and it would not suit me to do such acts.”

Hosham Hussein and Mona Mahmoud contributed reporting for this article.

    Insurgent Group Posts Video of 2 Mutilated U.S. Soldiers, NYT, 11.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/world/middleeast/11iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Report: Group claims U.S. soldier revenge killings

Updated 7/10/2006 9:59 PM ET
AP
USA Today

BAGHDAD (AP) — An al-Qaeda-linked group claims it killed three U.S. soldiers last month and mutilated two of their bodies to avenge the rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman by troops of the same unit, an institute which monitors extremists websites said Tuesday.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council made the claim in a 4:39 minute video posted on the Internet which included the mutilated bodies of two of the soldiers attacked June 19 near Youssifiyah southwest of Baghdad, according to a statement by the SITE Institute.

The institute released still pictures from the video showing two of the American dead, one of whom had been decapitated.

According to the institute, the statement by the insurgent group said the video was released as "revenge for our sister who was dishonored by a soldier of the same brigade."

Two sergeants are among five American soldiers charged in the March 12 alleged rape-murder and the killing her parents and a younger sister. The U.S. military released the identities of the suspects Monday.

A previously discharged soldier had been arrested in the case last month and charged with rape and murder.

According to the SITE Institute, the statement by the insurgents said that as soon as fighters heard of the rape-slaying, "they kept their anger to themselves and didn't spread the news."

"They decided to take revenge for their sister's honor," the statement said. "With Allah's help, they captured two soldiers of the same brigade as this dirty crusader."

The Mujahedeen Shura Council is an umbrella organization of several Islamic extremist groups, including al-Qaeda in Iraq. It claimed responsibility for shooting down a U.S. Apache helicopter in the Youssifiyah area in April.

U.S. investigators had said there was no evidence linking the deaths of the three soldiers last month to the alleged rape-slaying.

Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, Spc. James P. Barker, Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman and Pfc. Bryan L. Howard are accused of rape and murder and several other charges as alleged participants. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

A fifth, Sgt. Anthony W. Yribe, is charged with failing to report the attack but is not alleged to have been a direct participant.

The five will face an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, to determine if they should stand trial.

They are charged with conspiring with former soldier Steven D. Green, who was arrested in the case last month in North Carolina. Green has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and four counts of murder and is being held without bond.

The U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, declined to comment further on details about the attack, saying the investigation continues.

"But they obviously had enough information in the initial investigation to go ahead and charge those four soldiers all with alleged rape, rape, obstruction of justice, housebreaking, arson and the other offenses," he told reporters in Baghdad.

Spielman, of Chambersburg, Pa., is a 2002 graduate of Chambersburg Area Senior High School.

His mother, Nancy Hess, told WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Pa., on Monday: "I don't believe the charges and I'm still proud of him." She said her son always wanted to be a soldier.

According to an FBI affidavit filed in Green's case, he and at least two others targeted the young woman and her family for a week before the attack, which was not revealed until witnesses came forward in late June.

The soldiers drank alcohol, abandoned their checkpoint, changed clothes to avoid detection and headed to the victims' house, about 200 meters (yards) from a U.S. checkpoint in the "Triangle of Death," a Sunni Arab area south of Baghdad known for its violence, the affidavit said.

The affidavit estimated the rape victim was about 25. But a doctor at the Mahmoudiya hospital gave her age as 14. He refused to be identified for fear of reprisals.

Green is accused of raping the woman and killing her and the three other family members, including a girl estimated to be 5 years old. An official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that Green set fire to the rape victim's body in an apparent cover-up attempt.

Iraqi authorities identified the rape victim as Abeer Qassim Hamza. The other victims were her father, Qassim Hamza; her mother, Fikhriya Taha; and her sister, Hadeel Qassim Hamza.

The March 12 attack was among the worst in a series of cases of U.S. troops accused of killing and abusing Iraqi civilians.

U.S. officials are concerned the case will strain relations with Iraq's new government and increase calls for changes in an agreement that exempts American soldiers from prosecution in Iraqi courts.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded an independent investigation into the case, which comes after a series of allegations that U.S. troops killed and mistreated Iraqi civilians.

    Report: Group claims U.S. soldier revenge killings, UT, 10.7.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-07-10-group-claim_x.htm

Saddam, Lawyers Cite Security in Boycott

July 10, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:48 a.m. ET
The New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Saddam Hussein and his lawyers announced a boycott of his trial Monday, citing bias and lack of security, even as the defense for lower-level figures in the trial gave their closing arguments.

The lawyers for Saddam and three of his top co-defendants said they would not attend the trial to protest the slaying last month of Khamis al-Obeidi, one of the top members of the defense team by gunmen who kidnapped him from his home in Baghdad.

Saddam notified the chief judge in a letter that he too would boycott because the court ''lacks the lawful proceedings that are well established in international and Iraqi law.''

''There's a deliberate attempt to convict us as a result of a malicious American desire, aided by disgusting collaborators in Iraq,'' Saddam wrote in the letter sent Sunday and provided to The Associated Press by his lawyers.

The move came as the trial entered its final phase, with the defense presenting its closing arguments. Two lower-level defendants, Ali Dayih and Mohammed Azawi, made their final statements before the trial adjourned until Tuesday, when more defendants will be heard.

The boycott raises the likelihood that Saddam will not make a final statement when his turn comes, expected later in the week. If his lawyers are still boycotting, the court will appoint lawyers to make Saddam's final arguments, court spokesman Raid Juhi said.

In his letter, Saddam denounced Iraq's government as collaborators and signed the letter as ''president and commander in chief of the holy fighting armed forces.''

''We did not become rulers of Iraq by American political or financial support,'' he said. ''We were not brought to power by their warplanes and tanks, but by our will and the will of our great people.''

He said the collaborators ''think that if they convict us of what they call 'crimes against humanity,' they will keep us out of Iraqi affairs.''

Saddam and seven former members of his regime are charged with crimes against humanity for a crackdown against Shiites in the town of Dujail launched after a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam. They are accused of arresting hundreds of people, torturing women and children and killing 148 people sentenced to death for the attack on the former Iraqi leader.

After the defense arguments, the court will adjourn for the judges to consider their verdicts, expected by mid-August. The eight face possible execution by hanging if convicted, although they can appeal.

The defense team for Saddam, Barzan Ibrahim, Taha Yassin Ramadan and Awad al-Bandar -- the case's top defendants -- said they were boycotting the trial unless a series of conditions were met, particularly better security in the wake of al-Obeidi's slaying.

Al-Obeidi, one of Saddam's lawyers, who was abducted from his Baghdad home on June 21 and found shot to death hours later on a street near the Shiite slum of Sadr City. He was the third defense lawyer to be killed since the trial began in October.

''Everyone is afraid,'' another defense lawyer, Najib al-Nueimi, said from Qatar. ''We will not attend until our conditions are met.''

He said the defense also wants a longer adjournment to give time to prepare final arguments, saying al-Obeidi's slaying distracted them from their work.

''We have all gotten threats. What do you expect us to do? Lawyers have closed down their offices and gone into hiding and taken their families to Jordan,'' al-Nueimi said.

At the start of Monday's session, chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman said he had received the defense's requests but dismissed them, saying some were out of the court's purview, others ''violate the law.'' He did not elaborate.

Abdel-Rahman expressed his regrets over al-Obeidi's death, saying the court ''strongly condemns any attack against lawyers or against any of those working in this court.''

He said the court had appointed lawyers to replace those who were not present.

In a new security measure, the faces of the lawyers of Dayih and Azawi were not shown in the television broadcast of the trial as they made their arguments Monday and their voices were electronically altered -- unlike previous sessions in which the defense lawyers were openly shown.

Dayih and Azawi were the only defendants in the courtroom, and Abdel-Rahman said that was because each defendant would be called in individually for closing arguments.

The two former local Baath Party officials in Dujail have been accused of writing letters to security officials informing on Shiite families after the shooting attack on Saddam's motorcade. Some of those they allegedly informed on were imprisoned and later killed.

The prosecution has asked that Azawi be acquitted, admitting it did not have enough evidence against him, and has asked for a more lenient sentence against Dayih.

Dayih stood and denied any role in the crackdown, saying he was ''feeling pain and agony to see myself accused with crimes against humanity.''

''Who am I to be tried today as a senior official of the former regime? I was a simple employee and low-ranking Baath Party member,'' he said, repeating his claim that he was a postgraduate student in Baghdad at the time of the crackdown.

He said signatures alleged to be his on informant letters produced by the prosecution were forgeries.

Azawi also denied any role, saying, ''I swear by God almighty I didn't have any problem with anyone in Dujail. ... I'm well-known man and magnanimous one.''

Court officials have said they expect verdicts to be issued before a second trial of Saddam begins on Aug. 21. In that trial, Saddam and six other former members of his regime face charges of for the Anfal Campaign in the 1980s that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds and saw thousands of Kurdish villages razed.

Associated Press correspondents Lee Keath in Cairo, Egypt, and Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

    Saddam, Lawyers Cite Security in Boycott, NYT, 10.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Saddam-Trial.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Marine recruiter in 'Fahrenheit' mourned

Posted 7/9/2006 12:32 AM ET
AP
USA Today

LAKE ORION, Mich. (AP) — He was a stern-faced sniper — and a soft-hearted Marine who handed out candy to kids in Iraq. He was a warrior who wrote poetry about life and death.

He was featured in Michael Moore's anti-war documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," portrayed as an overzealous Marine recruiter who targeted poor kids.

But Staff Sgt. Raymond Plouhar was far more complicated than that.

And it was that complicated man who died in Iraq in late June, as he served with some of the same men he had recruited years ago. It was that complex man who was buried Friday, by a family that honored his service but would never forget his humanity.

"He had a huge heart," says his widow, Leigha.

Plouhar was a Marine for 10 of his 30 years, but he had dreamed of joining the military ever since he was a little boy who liked to watch "M-A-S-H" on television and dress in fatigues and a camouflage shirt.

He entered the Corps straight out of high school, was trained as a sniper and traveled the world — Bosnia, Sudan and Israel. He had a ramrod posture and a fierce pride in his appearance: He once ironed his uniform and polished its brass buttons for two hours before allowing his mom to photograph him.

"He told me lots of times that he learned what could be accomplished .. if you put your heart and soul in it — and he put his heart and soul in the Marine Corps," says his father, also named Raymond. "He was gung-ho from the time he signed his name until the day he died."

His signature was a memorable one.

His birth certificate read Raymond James Byron Anthony Charles Plouhar — he was named after all his grandfathers. He followed a long family tradition of military service that included a grandfather who earned a Purple Heart in World War II and an older sister, Toni, who was in the Army.

Plouhar carried a Bible from his grandfather, Raymond, to Iraq. He kept it in his left shirt pocket next to his heart. Tucked inside was a photo of his wife and their two sons, Raymond, 9, and Michael, 5.

As devoted as he was to the Marines, Plouhar had a full life outside the military. He liked to hunt and camp, take canoe trips and fish with his boys.

He was known as a charmer, a good talker, a champion of the underdog (always defending and befriending kids picked on in school) and though he was trained to fight and kill, he preferred the role of peacemaker.

"He didn't like turmoil," recalls his mother, Cynthia. "He wanted everybody to be happy, to get along. ... He'd say 'Life's too short to sweat the small stuff.'"

As family members gathered last week in their lakefront home 30 miles north of Detroit, they lined the walls and windows with photo collages that tell Raymond Plouhar's life in chapters.

There's the grinning kid with the protruding ears (a coach once joked he looked like a Volkswagen with the doors open) proudly holding up the bass he caught.

There's the sturdy athlete grappling with an opponent around a wrestling circle and posing in the green-and-white football uniform of the Lake Orion Dragons.

There's the young man in love, sitting with high school sweetheart, Leigha, on his dad's Harley on their way to the prom, then years later, together again, he in Marine blue, she in white, on their wedding day.

Then there's the tough-minded Marine in helmet and combat gear — doling out candy from a plastic bag two months ago to schoolchildren in Iraq.

"He admired the Iraqi people," his father says. "He said, 'Dad, even though I can't understand a word they're saying, if we were back home ... we'd be buddies.'"

Plouhar was killed on June 26 by a roadside bomb in Anbar province in his second tour of duty in Iraq, weeks before he was to return home. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Plouhar's family says he had no qualms about returning to Iraq and he believed conditions had improved since his first tour in 2005.

"I never worried," Leigha says, "because ... in my head, he was indestructible and nothing could ever happen to him because he was so good at what he did."

His mother says her son preferred to be at the center of the action. In an undated entry in a blog on MySpace.com, Plouhar said "you can call me crazy" but he liked being in Iraq. "Someone has to do it plus I love what I do," he wrote.

Plouhar did step back from active duty for four years and worked as a recruiter in Flint so he could donate a kidney to his uncle.

It was as a recruiter that Plouhar was seen in Moore's award-winning "Fahrenheit 9/11." The segment shows Plouhar and another Marine in a mall parking lot in a depressed suburb of Flint; it suggests the two men were cynically hunting for poor teens to sign up, rather than go to a wealthy suburb where they'd likely be rejected.

Plouhar's father says his son told him he had been misled and believed he was being filmed for a documentary that would appear on the Discovery Channel. (Moore's office didn't return calls or e-mail messages seeking comment.)

"He cried when he found out what it really was," his father says. "He never dreamed that it was going to be something to slam the country, which he dearly loved."

The movie, to be precise, is primarily a criticism of the Bush administration's actions after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

And yet, the elder Plouhar also says he doesn't see anything wrong with his son's actions. "If you really watched just the part with my son in it," he asks, "how could you not say that he was standing tall and proud?"

His parents say they've seen only the segment featuring their son. Leigha Plouhar says her husband asked her not to watch the film — and she never has. Nor has Stephen Wandrie, his friend of 20 years, who says Plouhar was hurt by the film, but told him:

"'You know what? I know what I do is good for this country and every one of those people I'm recruiting — those guys are my brothers.' "

In the past month, the bloodshed that has become part of the daily life in Iraq seemed to edge closer and closer. He was shaken up in two explosions.

Two weeks before he died, his mother says, he called and she could hear the strain in his voice. But he tried to be reassuring. "He said, I'll be all right. I don't have much longer. ... I'm ready to come home. I'm ready."

And yet he seemed prepared for the possibility he wouldn't.

In a poem he sent to his family last year — a poem now enlarged to floor-to-ceiling size, and covering a wall of the Plouhar home — Plouhar said he knew he could die serving his country and was ready to make the sacrifice.

"I will leave my loved ones, my kids, my wife ...," he wrote. "Do not feel pity for me, for this is my choice. ... This is me. This is who I am. I am a Marine to the very end."

    Marine recruiter in 'Fahrenheit' mourned, UT, 9.7.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-09-fahrenheit-marine_x.htm


 

U.S. Military Braces for Flurry of Criminal Cases in Iraq        NYT        9.7.2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/world/middleeast/09abuse.html

U.S. Military Braces for Flurry of Criminal Cases in Iraq

July 9, 2006
The New York Times
By ROBERT F. WORTH

No American serviceman has been executed since 1961. But in the past month, new cases in Iraq have led to charges against 12 American servicemen who may face the death penalty in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians.

Military officials caution against seeing the cases as part of any broader pattern, noting that the incidents in question are isolated and rare. But the new charges represent an extraordinary flurry in a conflict that has had relatively few serious criminal cases so far.

As investigators complete their work, military officials say, the total of American servicemen charged with capital crimes in the new cases could grow substantially, perhaps exceeding the total of at least 16 other marines and soldiers charged with murdering Iraqis throughout the first three years of the war.

Some military officials and experts say the new crop of cases appears to arise from a confluence of two factors: an increasingly chaotic and violent war with no clear end in sight, and a newly vigilant attitude among American commanders about civilian deaths.

At least five separate incidents involving the deaths of Iraqis are under investigation, setting off the greatest outcry against American military actions since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. By far the best known of the cases is the one in Haditha, where marines are being investigated in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in November. No charges have been filed in that case, but some say news of the incident may have helped bring some later cases to light.

"Unusual criminal acts raise the level of concern, whether in the military or among civilians, and with increased concern comes increased reporting," said Gary Solis, a former marine who teaches the law of war at Georgetown University.

In April, Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq, issued an order that specified for the first time that American forces must investigate any use of force against Iraqis that resulted in death, injury or property damage greater than $10,000. Maj. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for the American command, said he knew of no clear link between General Chiarelli's order and the recent homicide investigations.

But Major Breasseale said that General Chiarelli, who took over day-to-day military operations in Iraq in January, has made clear to subordinates that he puts a high priority on avoiding and scrupulously reporting civilian casualties. American commanders in Iraq will be scrutinizing civilian deaths more intensely as the United States moves toward transferring authority to Iraqis, Major Breasseale said. Details about the five incidents under investigation are still emerging, and none of those charged have yet had an Article 32 hearing, the military's equivalent of a grand jury proceeding.

The incidents are far from the only ones in which American forces killed Iraqis. But serious criminal charges in such cases have been rare until now. In many earlier cases, the killings have been found to be justifiable, and the soldiers or marines in question have often been handled through administrative or nonjudicial processes.

The last soldier to be executed was John A. Bennett, hanged in 1961 after being convicted of the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl.

In the Iraq war, when soldiers or marines have been charged, convictions — and harsh sentences — have been rare. Of the 16 American servicemen known to have been previously charged with murder, only six were convicted or pleaded guilty to that charge, and none received the death penalty. In all, 14 service members have been convicted of any charge in connection with the deaths of Iraqis and have received sentences as varied as life in prison or dismissal from the service.

Among the new incidents, all five took place in central Iraq, in areas where the Sunni Arab insurgency is firmly entrenched despite years of effort to quell it by American and Iraqi forces. To some, that is the only thing that seems to link them.

"This is a war in which soldiers and civilians are constantly mingling, and they often don't understand each other," said Loren B. Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute. "The enemy has a conscious strategy of demoralizing U.S. forces by disorienting and confusing them. Against that backdrop, the number of alleged atrocities is quite low compared with other conflicts in the past."

In Vietnam, a much longer conflict, 95 American soldiers and 27 marines were convicted of killing noncombatants.

Some of the men under investigation in Iraq had done multiple tours in Iraq, and that, too, may have played a role.

"They can become almost numb to the killing," said Charles W. Gittins, a former marine and a lawyer who has represented marines accused of murder in Iraq. "The more you're in it, the more you want to live through it. You think more about preserving your own life than about what's the right thing to do."

In many of the cases where American troops killed Iraqi civilians, they were later found to have acted within their rules of engagement. Some of those cases became notorious, at least in the Arab world.

In Falluja in November 2004, for instance, the freelance journalist Kevin Sites filmed a Marine corporal shooting an apparently wounded and unarmed Iraqi in a mosque. The videotape generated a frenzy of negative publicity, but in May 2005 a military review cleared the corporal, stating that he had acted within the rules of engagement.

The definition of murder can be far more elusive in a war zone than in civilian life. In some previous criminal cases, soldiers or marines have claimed they acted in self-defense or carrying out mercy killings.

Cpl. Dustin M. Berg of the Indiana National Guard, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for killing his Iraqi police partner, said he acted because he feared his partner was going to shoot him.

In 2004, Staff Sgt. Johnny Horne said he killed a wounded 16-year-old Iraqi boy to put him out of his misery after a gun battle with Shiite militants.

Sergeant Horne pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder and was sentenced to three years in prison, later reduced to one year.

In the heaviest penalty yet issued in the Iraq war, Sgt. Michael P. Williams was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of premeditated murder last year in the killing of two Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. The sentence was later reduced to 25 years.

"I think there's a recognition that these are weird environments," said Eugene R. Fidell, a specialist in military law. "The danger is, carried to an extreme, that can mean throwing the law books out."

The flurry of new cases has taken on a high profile in the news media and public discussion. The barriers to conviction, though, will be formidable. Recovering credible evidence in Iraq's chaos can be very difficult, and Iraqi witnesses are open to challenge.

"There's going to be very little forensic evidence," Mr. Gittins said. "Jury members who have served in Iraq know that it is pretty common for Iraqis to lie to Americans. Also, the military pays the relatives of civilians who are killed — so they have an incentive to lie."

Some members of the military juries are likely to have served in Iraq, and are familiar with the chaotic atmosphere surrounding any decision to use force. "The presumption of innocence is going to reign supreme," Mr. Gittins said.

    U.S. Military Braces for Flurry of Criminal Cases in Iraq, NYT, 9.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/world/middleeast/09abuse.html

Three U.S. soldiers killed in Anbar province

Updated 7/8/2006 8:43 AM ET
AP
USA Today

BAGHDAD (AP) — Three American soldiers were killed Saturday in fighting in the western province of Anbar, the U.S. military said. They were the first U.S. fatalities reported in Iraq in four days and only the eighth so far this month.

A U.S. statement said the three were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and died due to "enemy action" in the predominantly Sunni Arab province. No further details were released.

Also Saturday, gunmen in two cars stopped a vehicle in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, forced the two passengers to get out and killed them in front of horrified bystanders, according to police Lt. Maithem Abdel-Razaq.

In the same neighborhood, gunmen opened fire on a Shiite family as it was moving out of the city, wounding five members, police said. Dora has a mixed Sunni-Shiite population and has become one of the most dangerous areas in the capital for sectarian violence.

Elsewhere, gunmen Saturday killed three people working in an ice cream shop in the mostly Shiite Baghdad neighborhood of Nahrawan, police Lt. Fikrat Mohammed said.

Police also reported finding two bodies in separate locations in eastern Baghdad. They were believed the latest victims of sectarian death squads.

Meanwhile, gunmen in two speeding car fired Saturday on a Sunni mosque in west Baghdad's Ghazaliya neighborhood. Mosque guards returned fire and the attackers fled, police Capt. Jamil Hussein said.

The incidents occurred a day after at least 17 others died in a wave of bombings and mortar attacks against mostly Sunni mosques in the Baghdad area and northern Iraq. A Sunni cleric was also kidnapped in the capital, a Sunni official said.

Sectarian violence has forced thousands of Iraqis to move to different neighborhoods or cities where their sect is predominant. The Interior Ministry estimated earlier this month that nearly 4,000 families — or about 23,670 people — have been forced to relocate to other neighborhoods in the Baghdad area alone.

On Friday, U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden said the "jury's still out" on whether Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will clamp down on sectarian militias blamed for much of the spiraling sectarian violence.

Earlier Friday, Iraqi forces backed by U.S. jets and soldiers raided the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City in what appeared to be a crackdown on unauthorized armed groups. U.S. officials said 30-40 "enemy fighters" were killed or wounded, but residents claimed up to 11 civilians died.

During a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Biden, who is visiting Iraq, said the spread of armed militias was one of the main challenges facing Iraq and an especially tricky one for the Shiite prime minister. Some of the biggest militias are Shiite.

"It remains to be seen whether he's willing to take the kind of chance and make the kind of effort to begin to deal with the militias," Biden said. "The jury's still out on that."

Biden said he was also reserving judgment on al-Maliki's national reconciliation plan, which includes an amnesty for some insurgents. The prime minister hasn't specified who they might be.

"Amnesty in the context of an overall plan that is nationwide ... makes sense," Biden said. "But if that amnesty were to include some of the more outrageous thugs and perpetrators of essentially war crimes, then I don't think that will fly."

    Three U.S. soldiers killed in Anbar province, UT, 8.7.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-07-08-iraq_x.htm

An Internet Lifeline for Troops in Iraq and Loved Ones at Home

July 8, 2006
The New York Times
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

With mortar shells exploding near him sometimes twice a day in Ramadi, Iraq, Sgt. Mark Grelak found a way to shut out the heat, the noise, and all the demands of his job — sweeping the local highway for bombs left by insurgents. In a tiny space in his barracks, he would flip open his laptop, adjust his Web camera and watch his daughter Katie take her first halting steps.

From 6,000 miles away, Sergeant Grelak, 35, drew flowers with Sara, Katie's older sister, and witnessed, almost in real time, her first day of preschool. The soldier and his wife, Jennifer, 26, even bought a house in Baltimore together, e-mailing pictures and appraisals back and forth. Through instant messaging, they discussed the new landscaping and camping equipment as if they were sitting just across the kitchen table from each other.

"Do you care if I take out the crape myrtle?" Ms. Grelak messaged him in March.

"Why not leave it for now," her husband suggested.

Later, she messaged, "If you have some time, take a look on eBay for a tent. I'd like to go camping this year."

Military deployments have a way of chewing up marriages, turning daily life upside down and making strangers out of husbands and wives. But for this generation of soldiers, the Internet, which is now widely available on bases, has softened the blow of long separations, helping loved ones stay in daily touch and keeping service members informed of family decisions — important and mundane.

Most soldiers deploy with a laptop in hand and a hookup to the Internet in their barracks. Others, particularly those with young children, pay for Web cameras, a trend that began in earnest two years ago.

Mental health experts and military commanders say that the tens of millions of dollars spent on technology in Iraq for Internet cafes, computers and Web cameras have helped ease the isolation of soldiers' lives, as well as the turbulence of coming home, an often-bumpy transition from combat to kiddie pool and from commanding to compromising.

"It's rejuvenating," said Sergeant Grelak, an Army National Guard soldier who was gone for 18 months and is now at Fort Benning, Ga., awaiting his release from active duty. "It keeps you from getting detached from the person you left behind. You go outside, and you run the risk of getting shot and blown up. That changes people. If I didn't have that connection, I would feel like a stranger."

Those who benefit most are often families with young children, said Jaine Darwin, a psychologist and the co-director of Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists, based in Cambridge, Mass., which counsels reservists and families. "They make families much more connected to the soldiers. A voice is not the same as seeing a person," Ms. Darwin said.

Military spouses were once left to make all child-rearing, household and work decisions by themselves for months at a time; telephone calls were simply too brief, unpredictable and expensive. Now the burden is a little less lopsided and an answer is only a few hours away.

The constant communication makes for fewer unpleasant surprises after couples reunite, though there can be a downside: It brings the anxieties of the living room into the war. "Who wants to hear that your daughter got a tattoo?" Ms. Darwin asked. "Any piece of news that makes you preoccupied is not good for you in a war zone."

Sergeant Grelak, for example, became alarmed when he learned that Katie had an ear infection. "I had to be a shoulder for Jennifer," he said, but, he added, "I was 110 percent concentrating."

Ms. Darwin pointed out that soldiers, for their part, can have too much Web access between missions "and it's quite disruptive to a family," she said. "It poses a hard conflict between the wish to get every moment they can with their soldier and the need for life to go on. Talking to your soldier can become a full-time job."

Internet cafes with computers began to spring up at military camps during the crisis in the Balkans in the 1990's, but mostly in fits and starts. Since then the military and private organizations like the Freedom Calls Foundation have spent millions of dollars to wire camps in Iraqi war zones. The Defense Department alone has spent more than $165 million in the past two years to set up cybercafes in Iraq. In 2004, they began with 36 cafes, and now there are more than 170. The use of satellites has made the job considerably easier. Freedom Calls, which raises private funds to build satellite links and provide communications hardware for soldiers in Iraq, has enabled 30,000 service members in four camps to reach relatives free in the past two years, setting up live teleconferencing to broadcast the births of babies, birthday parties, weddings and graduations. About 1,000 families in the United States have been equipped with screens in their homes.

"A person can now keep his commitment to his family and keep his commitment to his country," said John Harlow, the executive director of Freedom Calls.

Specialist Kevin Groll, of the Michigan National Guard, took a virtual seat at the Thanksgiving Day children's table last year, a Groll family tradition. The family Web camera was positioned right next to the children's table. "Boy, you did it again," Specialist Groll joked with his mother, Vicki Groll. "I'm not even near the kiddies, and I still had to sit at the table. The kids just loved it."

While the divorce rate for returning soldiers remains relatively high, a testament to the difficulties of war and the number of pre-deployment leaps to the altar, commanders agree that the Internet has helped morale considerably. Yet such easy access to families also poses problems in terms of controlling the release of classified information. Service members are not allowed to discuss where they are going, what they are carrying, how they will get there or how long they will stay, for example. All communications on a base are typically shut down after a casualty or injury is reported until family members can be contacted, which can take anywhere from a few hours to two days.

Web logs relating to official duties must be registered with a service member's chain of command, but personal Web pages set up by people back home can run into trouble.

One mother, Robin Vaughan, whose son was a military policeman in Iraq and who created a Web site for people who wanted support and information about the unit, said soldiers and their relatives were told not to view her site because it was not an official, registered site.

But monitoring all calls, e-mails and Internet traffic is impossible, so to a large degree, the military relies on self-censorship. "It's a big challenge," said Maj. Sean Wilson, a public affairs officer at Fort Drum, N.Y.

"Soldiers are naturally proud of what they do. They want to tell somebody about it."

Juggling home and battle can prove stressful. The immediacy of the Internet allows little time for reflection, and rather than let a bad mood pass, a spouse may rush to the computer and rant, which is not always wise, Ms. Darwin said.

Rumors, too, can run rampant, even those about infidelity, she added. And not hearing from someone can be painful and frightening, on both sides of the divide, particularly when daily e-mail contact has been the rule, the families said. Breakups via the Internet do occur, in a contemporary equivalent of the Dear John letter.

Sherri Cropper, 30, said she e-mailed her husband, Sgt. William Cropper, in Iraq every day. It was her way of making sure he was all right. But it also helped her to cope with the demands of what seems the equivalent of single motherhood, and to express how she was changing, becoming more independent. "It did ease the transition a lot," said Mrs. Cropper, who lives at Fort Drum. "It wasn't bam, in your face, there are a thousand things that went on and I will sit here in the next two days and talk you to death."

The happiness of a reunion tends to wear off quickly, she said. "Then, it's, 'O.K., you missed nine months of baby-sitting and I'm out of here,' " Mrs. Cropper added. "I think this gives the person who is deployed a good grasp or perspective on how it will be when you get back."

Dixie Clark of Harrisburg, Pa., said she was lucky to get a quick phone call once a month from her husband in the 1980's when he was a marine.

Recently she had three family members to fret over. Her two oldest sons and her husband, all Army National Guardsmen, were all deployed to Iraq at the same time, posted to the same base.

This time around, she routinely watched her "three guys" on a Web camera. Once when a mortar shell hit the camp, Mrs. Clark e-mailed one son and demanded that all three appear in front of the camera to assure her that they were fine.

"My son comes running into the barracks saying, 'Mom is on the Internet and she wants us to get up there; she has to see everybody,' " Sgt. First Class James Clark Sr. recalled. "I didn't even know he had a Webcam set up at that time. We all huddled up and said, 'Here we are.' "

Every day, Mrs. Clark and her husband sat down for a 90-minute round of instant messaging, which cost a pittance compared with telephone calls.

They planned the renewal of their wedding vows together online. He chose the menu — chicken, roast turkey and broccoli and cheese. And when things went wrong with the house, she knew that an answer was a few hours away. "Honey, where is the furnace?" she messaged him. "I ran out of oil."

Colin Moynihan contributed reporting for this article.

    An Internet Lifeline for Troops in Iraq and Loved Ones at Home, NYT, 8.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/08/us/08FAMILY.html?hp&ex=1152417600&en=5f40992366f0ccb3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Reconstruction

U.S. Officer Reported Ready to Plead Guilty in Bribery Case Involving Iraq Building Contracts

July 8, 2006
The New York Times
By JAMES GLANZ

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 7 — A senior Army Reserve officer who is a former California police chief smuggled $120,000 in stolen cash out of Iraq and accepted a sport utility vehicle in a series of bribes for helping steer construction contracts in Iraq to an American businessman, court papers filed Friday said.

The officer, Lt. Col. Bruce D. Hopfengardner, has offered to plead guilty to charges of conspiracy, bribery and money laundering for his role in the bribery and kickback scheme, the court papers say.

The case has resulted in three guilty pleas, with officials expecting more.

Colonel Hopfengardner would be the first senior Army officer to plead guilty in the case, which investigators at a federal oversight agency uncovered.

Two other senior Army Reserve officers, Lt. Col. Debra Harrison of Trenton and Lt. Col. Michael Wheeler of Amherst Junction, Wis., have been arrested, and court papers suggest that at least one higher-ranking officer is implicated.

The case involves a conspiracy that took shape in late 2003 and reached its peak in 2004, a chaotic time when contractors were routinely paid with stacks of $100 bills seized from Saddam Hussein's government or derived from Iraqi oil proceeds.

Ginger Cruz, deputy inspector general at the oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said the involvement of senior officers in stealing Iraqi money was especially troubling.

"For all of the bravery and dedication, it was a corrupting environment," Ms. Cruz said in an interview at the American Embassy here. "And for those few who were corrupt, we would hope that the punishment serves as a strong message to the Iraqis."

She said that for the first time, the fraud division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had agreed to send agents to Baghdad to work with the special inspector general's office on corruption. Ms. Cruz said that 86 cases were under investigation and that the caseload was a prime reason that the F.B.I. had joined the effort.

Messages left with Colonel Hopfengardner's lawyer were not returned late Friday. No date for a hearing on his plea has been set.

Two civilians have previously pleaded guilty in the case, Philip H. Bloom, the businessman at the center of the ring, and Robert J. Stein Jr., an official with the American provisional government in Hilla, in southern Iraq, at the time.

Although the entire ring, which secured fraudulently obtained contracts over a wide area south of Baghdad, has been embarrassing, Colonel Hopfengardner's role may prove to be particularly damaging, because his responsibilities revolved around training and equipping Iraqi security forces.

The court papers say Colonel Hopfengardner helped Mr. Bloom obtain many contracts relating to building the main police academy and training center in the region in early 2004, as well as other contracts for mobile command posts and demolition work.

The inspector general has reported that after Mr. Bloom had obtained his contracts, he often performed little or none of the work.

The weakness of the Iraqi security forces has been an issue across Iraq, but it was a particularly crucial factor in the Hilla region, where in April 2004 the main insurgency broke out and the Iraqi forces retreated in disarray. It is unclear what specific effects the fraudulent contracts for the police academy had, but Colonel Hopfengardner was also involved in at least one other failed program to equip the Iraqi forces, said American officials who were in the region at the time.

On the other hand, the court papers suggest that tension between Colonel Hopfengardner and others in the ring may have had a hand in unmasking it. While Colonel Hopfengardner received the sport utility vehicle, a Yukon Denali with features like a leather interior, and at least $175,000 in money sent electronically to accounts he controlled, the papers suggest, he wanted more.

In an e-mail message with the subject line "HOT," Mr. Stein told Mr. Bloom that the colonel had just stormed out of an office after demanding an additional $60,000 in bribes, saying he had not been paid what had been promised. "I sent the funds a week ago," Mr. Bloom replied. "Tell him to stop acting like a child."

    U.S. Officer Reported Ready to Plead Guilty in Bribery Case Involving Iraq Building Contracts, NYT, 8.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/08/world/middleeast/08reconstruct.html

A Crackdown

Joint Raid Captures 2 Linked to Rebel Shiite Leader

July 8, 2006
The New York Times
By KIRK SEMPLE

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 7 — Iraqi soldiers backed by American troops and military aircraft stormed a building in a Shiite slum here early Friday, killing or wounding between 30 and 40 gunmen and capturing a high-level Shiite militia commander accused of attacking Iraqi and American troops, the American military command said.

American and Iraqi authorities did not disclose the identity of the captured militia commander, but residents said the building that came under attack was a base of operations for a man known as Abu Deraa, a top commander of the Mahdi Army, the restless and potent Shiite militia that answers to the militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

In a concurrent operation on Friday, Iraqi police officers captured Adnan al-Unaybi, who, according to the American military command, is in charge of a wing of the Mahdi Army operating in Babil Province, south of Baghdad. The military said in a statement that he was accused of smuggling weapons, bankrolling terrorism, attacking American troops, inciting sectarian violence and "spying for two foreign governments." The statement did not identify the two governments.

Taken together, the raids were a rare strike by the Shiite-led government security forces against forces linked to Mr. Sadr, and suggested that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki was making good on his vow to crack down on Sunni Arab and Shiite militias alike in an effort to halt the accelerating cycles of sectarian violence that have begun to cleave Iraq into ethnic enclaves.

Mr. Sadr's militia has frequently been accused by Sunni Arab leaders and American officials of kidnapping and killing Sunni Arabs, sometimes in retaliation for similar crimes against Shiites by Sunni death squads.

But the Shiite-dominated government has been hesitant to tangle with Mr. Sadr, in part because of his wide political and social influence. He commands a vast Shiite following, and his allies control at least 30 of Parliament's 275 seats and several important ministries, making him one of Iraq's most powerful political leaders.

In the last large-scale government raid aimed at Mr. Sadr's allies, Iraqi forces, with the support of American troops, raided a Shiite mosque in Baghdad frequented by his followers, killing at least 16 people. The March raid infuriated Mr. Sadr's community and members of the national Shiite political leadership, who were appalled that soldiers had stormed a place of worship. But American officials said the building was not a mosque, but rather a citadel for Shiite militiamen to stage attacks against government forces.

Some Shiite leaders criticized the Friday raid and warned that it could provoke Mr. Sadr's followers to take up arms against government security forces. In 2004, Mr. Sadr led two bloody revolts against American forces.

"This attack seems to be a green light for another uprising," Fattah al-Sheik, a legislator and representative of the Sadr movement, said in a telephone interview, adding that the people in the teeming, impoverished neighborhood of Sadr City "are in a state of readiness and are very angry and upset." But he noted that Mr. Sadr had urged his followers to remain calm.

Neighbors who witnessed the Sadr City assault said the firefight began about 1:30 a.m. It lasted 43 minutes, according to American officials, as government forces overwhelmed militia members with the help of an American aircraft that fired three 105-millimeter rounds.

At least 13 people were killed, including women and children, and 39 were wounded, according to an official at Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City, who requested anonymity out of concern for his safety.

American military officials said they could not confirm whether any civilians had died in the attack. "There are no known civilian casualties which the Iraqi forces observed," Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, a top American military spokesman in Baghdad, said during a press briefing. "Doesn't mean there weren't any, but there were no observed Iraqi civilian casualties from this operation."

Maj. Todd Breasseale, another military spokesman, said in a telephone interview that government troops and aircraft attacked only those people who were firing weapons at them.

The American military command said the intended target of the operation was captured, along with four other suspects. The main suspect, the command said in a statement, is the head of "multiple insurgent cells in Baghdad," and is accused of attacking Iraqi and American government forces; kidnapping, torturing and killing Iraqi citizens; and smuggling weapons from Syria into Iraq to "facilitate his efforts to splinter away from his current insurgent organization."

Wusam al-Bahadali, 28, a midlevel member of the Mahdi Army, said in an interview in Sadr City that Abu Deraa had not been detained during the raid and that he remained at large.

In an eruption of what appeared to be sectarian violence on Friday, at least four mosques came under attack around the country, according to the police. In the deadliest of those attacks, at least 9 people were killed and 63 wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque in northwestern Mosul, according to Iraqi police officials there.

In a southwest neighborhood of Baghdad, a car bomb detonated outside a Sunni mosque, killing two people and wounding one, said an official with the Interior Ministry, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

New agencies reported that a mortar landed near another Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad, killing three and wounding seven, and that a concealed, homemade bomb exploded as worshipers were leaving a Sunni mosque in Baquba, in Diyala Province, killing one person and wounding four.

The attacks occurred despite a four-hour ban on driving on Fridays in the capital and Diyala Province intended to help forestall attacks against mosques on the day of prayer.

Mr. Maliki, the prime minister, has made cracking down on sectarian militias, especially those tied to political factions, one of his priorities, and has vowed to remove weapons from all but the hands of authorized government forces.

In the criminal case involving Steven D. Green, the former Army private accused of raping an Iraqi teenager and killing her and three family members, a military official disclosed Friday that three other soldiers still under investigation include a sergeant, a specialist and a private first class.

The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about these details, said all four men were in the same platoon, which is part of the First Battalion, 502nd Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division.

Khalid al-Ansary and Hosham Hussein contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Mosul.

    Joint Raid Captures 2 Linked to Rebel Shiite Leader, NYT, 8.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html

The Review

General Faults Marine Response to Iraq Killings

July 8, 2006
The New York Times
By ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID S. CLOUD

WASHINGTON, July 7 — The second-ranking American commander in Iraq has concluded that some senior Marine officers were negligent in failing to investigate more aggressively the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians by marines in Haditha last November, two Defense Department officials said Friday.

The officer, Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, concluded that in the deaths, including those of 10 women and children and an elderly man in a wheelchair, senior officers failed to follow up on inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the initial reporting of the incident that should have raised questions.

General Chiarelli faulted the senior staff of the Second Marine Division, commanded at the time by Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck, and the Second Regimental Combat Team, then headed by Col. Stephen W. Davis, and recommended unspecified disciplinary action for some officers, said the two defense officials, who have been briefed on General Chiarelli's findings. They said they would discuss the report, after being promised anonymity, because it showed that the military takes these incidents seriously and fully investigates them.

"He concludes that some officers were derelict in their duties," said one of the officials, who declined to identify which or how many officers were singled out.

If Marine commanders are found to have been negligent in pursuing the matter, the punishments could range from a relatively mild admonishment to a court martial that potentially could end their military careers.

It was not clear Friday whether General Huck or Colonel Davis, or Maj. Gen. Stephen T. Johnson, the senior marine officer in Iraq at the time, would be personally implicated. But if they were to be disciplined, they would be among the most senior American officers punished since the Iraq war started in early 2003.

An officer who served in Iraq with the Second Marine Division at the time of the killings in Haditha noted that a spate of recent cases in which American troops were being investigated for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians — including the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and the killing of her family in Mahmudiya — had raised concerns that commanders may be under pressure to make an example of Marine officers in the Haditha incident.

"We're all waiting anxiously to see how this one gets taken on," said the officer, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to talk about the unit or any part of the investigation. "Major General Huck is about as thorough and detailed a guy as you are ever going to see."

In a brief statement issued from Iraq on Friday, General Chiarelli's headquarters said he had finished reviewing a lengthy investigation by Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell of the Army into the actions or absence of actions by Marine leaders in Haditha, as well as the training that marines had received and the command climate their superiors had fostered.

But the statement gave no details of General Chiarelli's findings or recommendations, which will now be sent to his boss, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top commander in Iraq. A senior Pentagon official said it could be several days before Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld receives a complete briefing on the matter, and before a redacted version of General Chiarelli's findings are made public.

In addition to General Chiarelli's review, a separate inquiry by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is examining whether crimes were committed when a squad of marines killed the 24 Iraqi civilians after a roadside bomb killed a member of the Third Platoon of Company K, Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment, in the early morning of Nov. 19.

In April, when the Third Battalion returned to Camp Pendleton, Calif., from Iraq, the battalion and company commanders were relieved of their commands for what their commander said was "a lack of confidence in their leadership."

According to one of the defense officials, General Chiarelli embraced all of General Bargewell's findings and expanded upon some of them. In one instance of a missed opportunity to investigate further, the official said, General Bargewell noted that the comptroller of the Second Marine Division, who was responsible for making condolence payments to families of the Iraqis killed, told the unit's staff judge advocate that additional investigation was needed. That review never happened, and the Marines paid a total of $38,000 to families of 15 of the civilians killed.

In his own set of conclusions, General Chiarelli recommended that American forces in Iraq receive additional counterinsurgency training both in the United States before deploying, and once in Iraq. "From your basic recruit to commanders, he's calling for a refinement of the counterinsurgency approach," said one of the defense officials.

Since the military inquiries into the Haditha killings began, the accounts given by some marines involved and their lawyers have conflicted in important details with descriptions of what investigators have found, officials familiar with their findings have said.

After the roadside bomb went off, marines who survived the explosion said they believed they were under sustained attack and that they were entitled under their rules of engagement to use lethal force as they searched surrounding houses for those who they believed were responsible for the bombing.

But investigators and townspeople told reporters that the marines overreacted to a fatal roadside bombing and shot the civilians, only one of whom was armed, in cold blood. The 24 Iraqis killed included five men in a taxi and 19 other civilians in several houses, which marines and their lawyers say they cleared using grenades and blind fire.

But investigators have also concluded that most of the victims in three houses died from well-aimed rifle shots, not shrapnel or random fire, according to military officials familiar with the initial findings. The houses where the killings took place show no evidence of the violent room-clearing assault described by the marines and their lawyers, the officials said.

General Bargewell was assigned by General Chiarelli to look at how commanders responded to the incident, including whether there was any attempt at covering up what happened or whether discrepancies in accounts of the incident should have been investigated.

Marine commanders in Iraq have said that they became aware within two days of the killings that civilians had died from gunfire, not from the bomb explosion. They told investigators that they did not view the discrepancies in accounts of what happened as unusual in the aftermath of combat and that they had no reason to think at the time that any civilians had been killed deliberately.

    General Faults Marine Response to Iraq Killings, NYT, 8.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/08/world/middleeast/08haditha.html?hp&ex=1152417600&en=528869c8cb36ada0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Bush calls alleged rape-murder 'despicable'

Updated 7/7/2006 12:46 AM ET
AP
USA Today

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush, calling the alleged rape of an Iraqi girl and the murder of her and her family by a U.S. soldier "a despicable crime, if true," said Thursday that Iraqis will learn about the openness of American justice.

Steven D. Green, a former Army private with the 101st Airborne Division, pleaded not guilty to charges Thursday. Green and other soldiers were accused of targeting the girl after seeing her near the Iraqi town of Mahmoudiya earlier this year.

"These are very serious charges and what the Iraqis must understand is that we will deal with these in a very transparent, upfront way," Bush said during an interview broadcast on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"People will be held to account if these charges are true," Bush said. He later added: "People will be brought to justice. There will be absolute justice if this person is guilty."

The president said he was concerned about how the allegations might color perceptions of American troops.

"What concerns me is not only the action and, you know, if this is true, the despicable crime, if true. But what I don't want to have happen is for people to then say, well, the U.S. military is full of these kind of people. That is not the case. Our military is fabulous."

Bush said the Iraq government has the right to be concerned about how the case is handled. "But they've got to be comforted in knowing ... that we will deal with this in a way that is going to be transparent, above-board and open," he said.

Earlier Thursday, Bush questioned whether some of Iraq's neighbors were working against the fledging Iraqi government.

"We, of course, are concerned that some in the neighborhood may want to derail the progress of a free Iraq," he said. "And that is troubling and something that we'll work on."

The president spoke after meeting in the Oval Office with Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, who gave him an update on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's first trip in office to visit his Persian Gulf neighbors.

The United States pushed hard for al-Maliki's trip to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. While al-Maliki received red-carpet welcomes, the leaders privately made clear they will help the Iraqi government only if he does more to reach out to Iraqi Sunnis. The Gulf nations are dominated by Sunni governments leery of Shiite and Kurdish dominance of Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Bush also expressed concern about foreign intervention in Iraq, an apparent reference to Iran and Syria. U.S. officials accuse the two nations of turning a blind eye to the influx of violent militants. Both Syria and Iran have denied the claims, saying it is difficult to fully patrol their porous borders with Iraq.

"Zal is concerned about foreign influences in the country, as am I," Bush said.

Bush said Khalilzad gave him a "realistic" briefing on the situation in Iraq.

"On the one hand, he said they've got a good government — goal-oriented people who are working to achieve certain objectives," Bush said. "And I know that you've been impressed by Prime Minister Maliki's determination to succeed and his willingness to lay out a commonsense agenda and then hold people to account.

"Zal also said it's still a dangerous place because there are people there that will do anything to stop the progress of this new government."

Khalilzad, who went on the trip with al-Maliki, called Iraq the defining challenge of the time. "What happens in Iraq will shape the future of the Middle East, and the future of the Middle East will shape the future of the world," Khalilzad said.

    Bush calls alleged rape-murder 'despicable' , UT, 7.7.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-07-bush-iraq_x.htm

2 American Officials Apologize for Crime

July 7, 2006
The New York Times
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 6 — The United States ambassador and the top American military commander here together issued an unusual apology on Thursday for the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and the killing of her family, saying that the crime, in which at least four soldiers are suspects, had injured the "Iraqi people as a whole."

The statement came just hours after Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said at a news conference that he might ask the American military to scrap a rule granting foreign soldiers here immunity from Iraqi prosecution. Such a move would be a direct rebuke to the Bush administration, which has fought tenaciously to ensure that American soldiers are exempt from local or international laws when serving on foreign soil.

"I'm about to talk to the multinational forces to reach solutions that will put an end to such practices," Mr. Maliki said of criminal behavior by soldiers. One possible course of action, he said, would be to "revise the issue of immunity."

"Our people cannot tolerate that every day there is an ugly crime such as that in Mahmudiya," he added, referring to the market town near which the four Iraqis, including a young girl, were killed on March 12.

Mr. Maliki's assertion, which followed similar remarks he made in Kuwait on Wednesday, signaled the growing furor within the Iraqi government over the latest crime. The incident first became public last week, when the Fourth Infantry Division announced that it was investigating the involvement of American soldiers in the rape and slayings.

The rise in political tensions came as sectarian violence continued in Iraq. A suicide car bomber rammed his sedan into a Shiite shrine in the holy town of Kufa, killing at least 12 people, including five Iranians, and injuring dozens, Iraqi officials said. Iraqi and American forces have generally maintained tight security around the southern holy sites of Najaf and Kufa, to which Shiite pilgrims, including many Iranians, flock by the thousands.

The strongly worded apology issued Thursday night by the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., and Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad revealed the deep concern among American officials over the criminal episode's potential to damage the entire American project in Iraq.

"We understand this is painful, confusing and disturbing, not only to the family who lost a loved one, but to the Iraqi people as a whole," the two senior officials said in a written statement. "The loss of a family member can never be undone. The alleged events of that day are absolutely inexcusable and unacceptable behavior."

The statement is all the more unusual because no soldiers have been convicted yet or even formally charged. On Monday, a recently discharged Army private, Steven D. Green, 21, was arrested in North Carolina on suspicion of rape and murder. Three soldiers, some of whom are reported to have admitted their roles in the crime to investigators, are confined to base in Mahmudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad, and their weapons have been confiscated.

Mr. Green was moved Thursday to Louisville, Ky., where, in a half-hour hearing in which he pleaded not guilty, a federal judge ordered continued detention for him. Prosecutors said that Mr. Green, who was discharged from the Army in May before his suspected role in the case was discovered, is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 8 in Paducah, Ky.

The mayor of Mahmudiya, Mouayid Fadhil, said in a telephone interview on Thursday that American military investigators wanted to dig up the victims' bodies. But Iraq's Justice Ministry must first determine whether exhumation is allowed under Koranic law, he said. The victims' relatives are also reluctant to divulge the burial site out of shame over the fact that one of the dead, a girl as young as 15, was reported to have been raped by at least two American soldiers, the mayor said.

Sexual assault is considered one of the most heinous and shameful crimes in Muslim society; even mentioning the subject is often considered taboo. "We don't want to talk about this," Mr. Fadhil said. "She was raped."

The debate over exhuming the bodies could complicate the military investigation. American military officials declined on Thursday to talk about specifics of the investigation, but prosecutors undoubtedly want detailed forensic evidence to build as strong a case as possible against the suspects. The victims were examined by doctors at the local hospital months ago before being buried, Mr. Fadhil said, but the Americans want to check the corpses for themselves.

The victim in the suspected rape was Abeer Qassim Hamzeh. The others killed were her younger sister, father and mother, Mr. Fadhil said.

The case is one of at least five in which the military is investigating or prosecuting soldiers in the killings of unarmed Iraqi civilians. Four were announced in June alone. The Mahmudiya case is the only one that involves the rape of an Iraqi, making it especially incendiary.

In another case, in which marines are suspected of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November, the second-ranking American officer in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, has completed his review of an inquiry into whether Marine officers tried to cover up the shootings and is expected to announce his findings and recommendations in the next few days, said two military officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the findings have not been made public.

Mr. Maliki said at the news conference on Thursday that the Iraqi government would conduct its own inquiry into the Mahmudiya crime.

But Iraqi courts have no power to prosecute the soldiers. An order issued under the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which ruled Iraq after the American invasion until June 2004, said that foreign troops, missions and their consultants here are immune from Iraqi law. Orders issued by an occupational authority usually expire when the authority leaves, but the Iraqi Constitution has extended the decrees.

Mr. Fadhil said that a committee of local officials was prepared to carry out its own criminal investigation but was awaiting orders from the national government. "Now, the subject has many dimensions," he said. "It's become an international affair."

Complicating matters, "the family doesn't want to say where the bodies are," he added. "The family didn't involve the police when the crime took place. We found out about it only when the Americans revealed it."

The American military began its investigation after a soldier described the crime in a counseling session in late June and said he had been involved. American soldiers were notified by Iraqis of the crime on March 12, the day it took place, military officials said. But the Iraqis who had stumbled on the bodies had speculated that other Iraqis had done the killing, since the area is a caldron of sectarian violence. So the Americans did not think of investigating then, officials said.

A senior American commander in Mahmudiya visited Mr. Fadhil and other local officials on Thursday and "expressed sorrow for the killing of the family and the behavior of the soldiers," Mr. Fadhil said.

He added that the local investigative committee intended to examine the victims' home. The American soldiers are accused of trying to cover up the crime by burning both the body of Ms. Hamzeh and the house. But the body was sufficiently intact for local doctors to find multiple bullet wounds, Mr. Fadhil said.

The violence in Iraq on Thursday threatened to ignite further sectarian bloodletting. The suicide car bomb in Kufa had been following two buses carrying Iranian pilgrims and was detonated when the pilgrims disembarked, said Capt. Salem Ghanem, the assistant director of tourist security in Najaf, which adjoins Kufa. Iraqi vendors who had gathered around the pilgrims were among the victims.

The explosion ripped into the two buses and left behind pools of blood, shredded shoes and bags with food that the pilgrims had been carrying.

Officials in the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Kufa are hoping that religious tourism will help strengthen the local economy.

In Baghdad, two car bombs exploded near a high school, killing at least three people and injuring six. Gunmen in the town of Musayyib shot up a minivan, killing two girls who were just 4 and 6 years-old. Police found two bodies in the insurgent stronghold of Hawija; both the victims had been handcuffed and tortured.

In his afternoon news conference, Mr. Maliki said that the government has decided to ban all political activity on university campuses because of rampant violence.

He also said that a police force with thousands of members assigned to protect government buildings and other installations was filled with criminals and murderers. The declaration was an unusually blunt acknowledgment of the corruption that has plagued the Iraqi security forces. "It didn't really protect the ministries," he said of the force, called the Facilities Protection Service. "On the contrary, it turned into a partner in the killing."

Reporting for this article was contributed by Mona Mahmoud in Baghdad, Iraqi employees of The New York Times in Najaf and Kirkuk, and David S. Cloud and Eric Schmitt from Washington.

    2 American Officials Apologize for Crime, NYT, 7.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?hp&ex=1152331200&en=655ebeb83c867923&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Drones reshaping Iraq's battlefields

Posted 7/6/2006 10:36 PM ET
USA TODAY
By Tom Vanden Brook

WASHINGTON — The use of unmanned surveillance planes over Iraq has soared, revolutionizing the way U.S. troops wage war and crowding the skies above Iraq.

The Army says that before the Iraq war started in March 2003, it had 14 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); it now has about 700 in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them small.

In 2003 and 2004, the Army flew the aircraft about 1,500 hours per month, the Army says. In the past year, the aircraft flew 9,000 hours a month.

The unmanned scout planes and sensor systems have made it easier to spot insurgents and roadside bombs, thus saving American lives, Pentagon officials and experts say. Using the aircraft, troops can often get an instant picture of what lurks behind the next hill or building. "One can argue that the standard equipment for a Marine or infantryman now is the helmet, rifle, boots and UAV," says Christopher Bolkcom, a defense expert for the Congressional Research Service.

Pilotless aircraft have changed fighting much as night-vision technology did in the 1980s and 1990s, says Col. John Burke, project manager for the Army's UAV program. "It's very seldom that you see a revolution in warfare like this."

The increased use of drones led to a midair collision with a helicopter in 2004, the Army says. No one was hurt. Bolkcom says there have also been several near misses. "Collision avoidance is an issue that they haven't quite gotten the hang of yet," says John Pike, a military analyst at GlobalSecurity.org.

The aircraft are more common because they're easier to use. An 18-year-old soldier can learn how to launch and fly a Raven and avoid midair collisions in eight hours, Burke said. The controls look "very much like a PlayStation controller," he says.

In previous wars, troops found the enemy by patrolling until they bumped into them, Pike said. Now U.S. troops can peek beyond the horizon. "They have gone bonkers over them because they work."

THE AIRCRAFT IN ACTION

The Raven, a hand-launched aircraft with a 4-foot wingspan, spotted an insurgent roadblock that had prevented Iraqis from reaching a polling place. U.S. tanks and armored vehicles then cleared the intersection.

A Shadow aircraft, which is larger than the Raven, detected an insurgent position and identified it with a laser pointer. An Apache attack helicopter locked on to the laser target and killed the insurgents.

Insurgents had been lobbing mortar rounds at U.S. troops for several days, but their precise location was unclear. A drone allowed U.S. crews to watch the area for three days. When the insurgents resumed firing, the Army killed them with artillery fire.

Source: U.S. Army

    Drones reshaping Iraq's battlefields, UT, 6.7.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2006-07-06-uavs-iraq_x.htm

Insurgency Hotbed

In Ramadi, Fetid Quarters and Unrelenting Battles

July 5, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

RAMADI, Iraq, July 4 — The Government Center in the middle of this devastated town resembles a fortress on the wild edge of some frontier: it is sandbagged, barricaded, full of men ready to shoot, surrounded by rubble and enemies eager to get inside.

The American marines here live eight to a room, rarely shower for lack of running water and defecate in bags that are taken outside and burned.

The threat of snipers is ever present; the marines start running the moment they step outside. Daytime temperatures hover around 120 degrees; most foot patrols have been canceled because of the risk of heatstroke.

The food is tasteless, the windows boarded up. The place reeks of urine and too many bodies pressed too close together for too long.

"Hey, can you get somebody to clean the toilet on the second floor?" one marine yelled to another from his office. "I can smell it down here."

And the casualties are heavy. Asked about the wounded under his command, Capt. Andrew Del Gaudio, 30, of the Bronx, rattled off a few.

"Let's see, Lance Corporal Tussey, shot in the thigh.

"Lance Corporal Zimmerman, shot in the leg.

"Lance Corporal Sardinas, shrapnel, hit in the face.

"Lance Corporal Wilson, shrapnel in the throat."

"That's all I can think of right now," the captain said.

So it goes in Ramadi, the epicenter of the Iraqi insurgency and the focus of a grinding struggle between the American forces and the guerrillas.

In three years here the Marine Corps and the Army have tried nearly everything to bring this provincial capital of 400,000 under control. Nothing has worked.

Now American commanders are trying something new.

Instead of continuing to fight for the downtown, or rebuild it, they are going to get rid of it, or at least a very large part of it.

They say they are planning to bulldoze about three blocks in the middle of the city, part of which has been reduced to ruins by the fighting, and convert them into a Green Zone, a version of the fortified and largely stable area that houses the Iraqi and American leadership in Baghdad.

The idea is to break the bloody stalemate in the city by ending the struggle over the battle-scarred provincial headquarters that the insurgents assault nearly every day. The Government Center will remain, but the empty space around it will deny the guerrillas cover to attack. "We'll turn it into a park," said Col. Sean MacFarland.

Ramadi, a largely Sunni Arab city, is regarded by American commanders as the key to securing Anbar Province, now the single deadliest place for American soldiers in Iraq. Many neighborhoods here are only nominally controlled by the Americans, offering sanctuaries for guerrillas.

While the focus in Baghdad and other large Iraqi cities may be reconciliation or the political process, here it is still war. Sometimes the Government Center is assaulted by as many as 100 insurgents at a time.

Last week a midnight gun battle between a group of insurgents and American marines lasted two hours and ended only when the Americans dropped a laser-guided bomb on an already half-destroyed building downtown. Six marines were wounded; it was unclear what happened to the insurgents.

"We go out and kill these people," said Captain Del Gaudio, the commander here. "I define success as continuing to kill the enemy to allow the government to work and for the Iraqi Army to take over."

Government Mostly in Name

That day seems a long way off. The Iraqi government exists here in little more than name. Last week about $7 million disappeared from the Rafidain Bank — most of the bank's deposits — right under the nose of an American observation post next door. An Iraqi police officer was shot in the face and dumped in the road, his American ID card stuck between his fingers.

The governor of the province, Mamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani, still goes to work here under an American military escort. But many of the province's senior officials deserted him after the kidnapping and beheading of his secretary in May.

The previous governor was assassinated, as was the chairman of the provincial council, Khidir Abdel Jabar Abbas, in April. At a meeting of the provincial cabinet last week, only six of 36 senior officials showed up.

"The terrorists want to keep Anbar people out of the government," said Taha Hameed Mokhlef, the director general for highways, who went into hiding last month when his face appeared on an American-backed television station here showing him in his job. He has since re-emerged. "My friends told me that the terrorists were planning to kill me, so I went to Jordan for a while," he said.

The Iraqi police patrol the streets in only a handful of neighborhoods, the ones closest to the American base. In the slow-motion offensive that has been unfolding, in which the Americans have been gradually clearing individual neighborhoods, nearly all of the fighting has been done by American marines and soldiers, not the Iraqi Army.

The 800-member Third Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment, which until recently was responsible for holding most of the city on its own, has lost 11 marines since arriving in March. Commanders declined to disclose the number of wounded. Over all in Iraq the number of American wounded in action is roughly seven times the number killed.

Be Polite, and Ready to Kill

One of the "habits of mind" drilled into the marines from posters hung up inside: "Be polite, be professional and have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

The humor runs dark, too. On a sheet of paper hung up in the Government Center, marines wrote down suggestions for their company's T-shirt once they go home. Most are unprintable, but here is one that got a lot of laughs: "Kilo Company: Killed more people than cancer."

The marines at the Government Center have held on, but the fighting has transformed the area into an ocean of ruin. The sentries posted on the rooftops have blasted the larger buildings nearby so many times that they have given them nicknames: Battleship Gray, Swiss Cheese. The buildings are among those that will be bulldozed under the Green Zone plan.

"Aesthetically it will be an improvement," Lt. Col. Stephen Neary said.

Holding the place has cost blood. A roadside bomb killed three marines and a sailor on patrol here in March. Another marine was shot through the forehead by a sniper, just beneath the line of his helmet.

The number of Iraqi casualties — insurgents or civilians — is unknown and impossible to determine in the chaotic conditions.

As in the rest of Iraq, the insurgents' most lethal weapon is the homemade bomb. The bombs virtually cover Ramadi: an American military map on display here showed about 50 places where roadside bombs had recently been discovered. Two weeks ago a marine sniper was killed by a homemade bomb when he ran from a house where he had been spotted.

Bombs Nearly Everywhere

Sometimes it feels as if the bombs are everywhere. On a single hourlong patrol one night last week, a group of marines spotted two likely bombs planted in an area that is regularly inspected, meaning that they had been laid within the previous few days.

One was hidden under a pile of trash. Another was thought to be under a pair of gasoline cans that had been set in the middle of the road. The marines spied them with their night vision glasses; without them, it is likely that the Humvees would have run over them.

Indeed, the marines often manage to spot bombs — covered in trash, made of metal and wires — in streets that are themselves covered in trash, metal and wires.

"Right there, look at that," Gunnery Sgt. John Scroggins said from the passenger seat of his Humvee, pointing to the street.

And there it was: a thin metal tube, with a long green wire protruding and sticking into the pavement, almost certainly a bomb. The pipes typically contain what is called a pressure trigger, which closes an electrical circuit — and detonates a bomb — when crushed by a vehicle. The Humvee was about two feet away when the marines spotted it.

Some of the marines have been hit by so many bombs that they almost shrug when they go off. On Sunday a Humvee carrying four marines on a patrol dropped off a reporter and photographer for The New York Times at the Government Center. The Humvee rumbled 100 yards down the road and struck a bomb. No one was killed, and the marines returned to base as if they had encountered nothing more serious than a fender bender.

"It's my fifth," said Cpl. Jonathan Nelson, 21, of Brooklyn. "It's the best feeling in the world to get by one and live — like bungee jumping."

In the end, whether the Americans can succeed in bringing security to Ramadi will depend on how much support they can draw from the Iraqis.

Many Iraqi civilians have spent the last three years caught between the two warring camps, too afraid to throw their lot with one group or the other. It is, by nearly all accounts, a miserable situation, with individual Iraqis often simultaneously under threat by insurgents and under suspicion by the Americans.

Many complain of bad treatment and unjustified killings by both sides. That civilians have been killed here is beyond dispute, but the circumstances are nearly impossible to verify.

Qais Mohammed, 46, owned a dress shop across the street from the Government Center but moved away when the Americans set up and the fighting began. Then a mortar shell hit his home and he moved with his wife and 10 children to a refugee camp outside the city.

Fed up with conditions at the camp, Mr. Mohammed and his family moved back to the city not long ago, into a seedy little place much reduced from the comfort he once knew.

"We do not want gold, or dresses or the food of kings," Mr. Mohammed said. "We want to live without fear for our lives and our kids. These days neither your tribe nor the police can protect you. It is the jungle law."

The marines say their highest priority is winning over people like Mr. Mohammed, even at the cost of letting insurgents escape. Indeed, the marines seem far less aggressive than they were during their earlier tours here, when the priority was killing insurgents. Now they seem much more interested in capturing the loyalty of the residents.

Civilians in the Middle

Iraqi civilians, by and large, did not seem to fear the American marines as they passed on patrol. When the Americans rumbled past, the Iraqis often continued whatever they were doing: talking, sitting, standing, eating. The children held up their hands for soccer balls, and occasionally a marine would toss one to a child.

"Football! Football!" the children cried.

"The people are in the middle, between us and the insurgents," Lance Cpl. Sean Patton said as he wheeled his Humvee through a neighborhood downtown. (He says he is a great-great-grandnephew of Gen. George S. Patton.) "Whoever is friendly, they will help."

A few moments later, Corporal Patton and his men were reminded of just how bewildering this city could be. As he turned slowly down a street, all the Iraqis milling about, maybe 30 people in all, suddenly disappeared.

"They're going to hit us," the corporal said, convinced that the crowd had been tipped off to the presence of a bomb or an impending attack.

When the Americans left the street, the Iraqis returned.

Corporal Patton turned onto the street again, and the people vanished a second time.

"We're going to get hit," he said, bracing himself.

The attack never came.

    In Ramadi, Fetid Quarters and Unrelenting Battles, NYT, 5.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/world/middleeast/05ramadi.html?hp&ex=1152158400&en=104e94f70fcc90a0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Addressing Soldiers, Bush Denounces Early Pullout in Iraq

July 5, 2006
The New York Times
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

FORT BRAGG, N.C., July 4 — In a rousing Independence Day speech to hundreds of soldiers and their families, President Bush warned on Tuesday that setting an artificial timetable for withdrawal of Iraq would be "a terrible mistake" and took the rare step of mentioning the precise number of war dead.

"I'm going to make you this promise," Mr. Bush told a cheering throng under a blistering late-morning sun. "I'm not going to allow the sacrifice of 2,527 troops who have died in Iraq to be in vain by pulling out before the job is done."

Speaking against the backdrop of a 15-foot-high bronze statue of a paratrooper nicknamed Iron Mike, the president brought approving yells from the crowd when he reminded it that special-operations forces from Fort Bragg were the first to arrive on the scene after the bombing that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Qaeda leader in Iraq.

"They administered compassionate medical care to a man who showed no compassion to his victims," the president said. "And when this brutal terrorist took his final breath, one of the last things he saw was the face of an American soldier from Fort Bragg, N.C."

Earlier, Mr. Bush met members of the special-operations command, including an Army pilot who was present at the capture of Saddam Hussein outside Tikrit and then flew Mr. Hussein by helicopter from there to a base in Baghdad.

The president looked surprised when the pilot, whose name was not released by the base, gave his account. "Did you really?" Mr. Bush asked. "Good job."

After the brief trip here, Mr. Bush left to return to the White House for the Fourth of July celebration, which this year will double as a birthday party for the president, who turns 60 on Thursday. [Aides had kept details of the party under wraps all week, but on Tuesday night they said that Mr. Bush, wearing a red and white Hawaiian shirt and casual slacks, celebrated in an East Room dinner with friends, family and staff members and dined on fried chicken, Cajun shrimp, biscuits, salads and a three-tier chocolate cake.]

    Addressing Soldiers, Bush Denounces Early Pullout in Iraq, NYT, 5.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/washington/05bush.html

Bush Thanks Troops for Service in Iraq

July 4, 2006
The New York Times
By CHRISTINE HAUSER

In a speech marking Independence Day, President Bush thanked American troops for their service in Iraq and elsewhere, rousing thousands of soldiers to applause by saying that they were winning the war, but warning them that it was far from over.

Mr. Bush, speaking at Fort Bragg, a major Army base in North Carolina, said that since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in an American airstrike last month in Iraq, there have been 190 raids by coalition troops in Iraq, 700 enemy "operatives" have been captured and 60 or more killed. He said fresh intelligence had helped American forces keep the pressure on terrorists, and that the United States would continue to strike at their networks.

"There is more work to be done in Iraq", Mr. Bush said.

Speaking to an audience estimated at 3,500, with live television coverage of his remarks, Mr. Bush took advantage of the platform to praise an American commander who was injured and then returned to his troops in Afghanistan, and to urge Americans to volunteer to support soldiers in the field.

As he had in previous speeches, Mr. Bush again cast the American military's participation in Iraq as part of a broader American campaign against terrorism around the world, emphasizing the importance of the American deployments in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and promised the troops "the resources you need" to succeed.

"You are winning this war," he said, before adding later: "Prevailing in Iraq is going to require more tough fighting; it's going to require more sacrifice."

Mr. Bush added that it would be a "terrible mistake" to set an "artificial timetable" for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, saying that such a step would undermine morale and send the wrong message to the enemy.

"I'm going to make you this promise: I'm not going to allow the sacrifice of 2,527 troops who have died in Iraq to be in vain, by pulling out before the job is done," Mr. Bush said.

Standing under a towering statue of "Iron Mike," depicting an airborne trooper who has just finished a combat jump, Mr. Bush delivered his speech as violence persisted in Iraq with the kidnapping of a deputy minister in the Iraqi government. American troops are also facing a resurgence of Taliban resistance in some parts of Afghanistan.

Some 5,688 soldiers from Fort Bragg are deployed around the world: in Iraq, Afghanistan, Central and South America and throughout the Pacific Rim. The base is home to the XVIII Airborne Corps and the army's Special Operations command.

Overall, 45,000 soldiers are stationed at the fort, the second largest base in the United States. Fort Hood in Texas has about a thousand more soldiers, according to Tom McCollum, the base's deputy public affairs officer.

After his speech, Mr. Bush had lunch with the troops, serving himself salad and macaroni, and calling out greetings to soldiers as photographers and reporters hovered nearby.

He also met the Army pilot from the 160th Special Operations unit who flew the helicopter that carried Saddam Hussein away from the site of his capture in Iraq.

"Did you really?" Mr. Bush said, when he met the pilot, according to a pool report. "Good job."

Soldiers presented him with a birthday cake after he had eaten lunch. Mr. Bush will turn 60 on Thursday.

American military deaths, including those of Department of Defense civilian contractors, since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq reached 2,530 as of June 30, according to the Defense Department. Nearly 18,700 American soldiers have been wounded in action, the department said.

    Bush Thanks Troops for Service in Iraq, NYT, 4.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04cnd-prexy.html?hp&ex=1152072000&en=424c2b660402c8f1&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Ex-G.I. Held in 4 Slayings and Rape in Iraq

July 4, 2006
The New York Times
By DAVID S. CLOUD and KIRK SEMPLE

WASHINGTON, July 3 — A recently discharged Army private has been arrested on charges of raping an Iraqi woman and killing her and three family members four months ago in their house, federal prosecutors said Monday.

The former soldier, Steven D. Green, 21, had recently been discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder," the prosecutors said. They said Mr. Green and other soldiers had discussed the rape in advance and carried out the crimes after drinking alcohol, leaving a checkpoint and changing from their uniforms into black clothing.

A criminal complaint made public by the prosecutors on Monday charged that Mr. Green shot the three family members, including a child, with an AK-47 assault rifle found in the house in Mahmudiya before he and another soldier raped the woman. Citing interviews with unnamed participants, the document alleges that Mr. Green, his face covered with a brown T-shirt, then "walked over to the woman and shot her several times." It says the soldiers returned to the checkpoint with blood on their clothes and agreed that the episode was "never to be discussed again."

Mr. Green, who appeared in federal court on Monday in Charlotte, N.C., was arrested there on Friday, the prosecutors said. The documents they made public provided the first official account of the rape and killings, whose broad outlines emerged last week after American military officials in Baghdad said they were investigating the incident. The military originally thought Iraqi insurgents were responsible after several Iraqis approached an American checkpoint and said a family had been killed in their home, the charging documents said.

The rape victim was identified in the American court documents as a 25-year-old woman, but there have been conflicting accounts of her age. In Iraq, the mayor of Mahmudiya said Monday that the rape victim had been only 15 years old.

The mayor, Mouayid Fadhil, said that those killed included the rape victim's parents and her 7-year-old sister, and that the attackers also tried to set the rape victim's body on fire, apparently in an effort to cover up evidence.

American officials said they could not confirm that the house had been set on fire by soldiers. But the complaint refers to crime scene photographs, including one showing a "burned body."

The case is one of five recent incidents in which American military personnel have come under investigation for killing unarmed Iraqis, and it is the first in which an alleged participant has been charged in civilian courts, which prosecutors said was necessitated by Mr. Green's discharge.

A White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said: "The president has full confidence in the military to investigate alleged crimes and to punish anyone convicted of abhorrent behavior that dishonors the proud traditions of our military. He will not comment on ongoing investigations so as not to prejudice the outcome; however, he believes that 99.9 percent of our men and women in uniform are performing their jobs honorably and skillfully and they deserve our full appreciation and gratitude."

The charges were brought against Mr. Green after public disclosure of the investigation last week led prosecutors to fear he might try to flee, said Marisa Ford, an assistant United States attorney in Louisville, Ky., where the charges were brought.

The prosecutors said Mr. Green was likely to be transferred next week to Louisville, a four-hour drive from Fort Campbell, Ky., where his unit, the 101st Airborne Division, has its headquarters.

Cecilia Osequera, a public defender who represented Mr. Green at his court appearance Monday, declined to comment.

The case is in federal court because the crime was committed abroad. The Army is considering whether it could reactivate Mr. Green in order to allow the military to prosecute him, rather than leaving the case to civilian authorities, an Army official said. If convicted in either military or civilian court, Mr. Green could face the death penalty, prosecutors and Army officials said.

Military officials have said they first learned about the rape and killings last month, after Mr. Green left the Army. He had received an honorable discharge after only 11 months in the service because of what the charging documents described only as a "personality disorder." His departure was unrelated to the incident, the Army official said, adding that he had no more information about Mr. Green's disorder.

Army officials and prosecutors said that, before his arrest, Mr. Green might have been planning to attend a funeral service Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery for Specialist David J. Babineau, one of three soldiers ambushed at a checkpoint in Yusufiya in June. Two other soldiers who survived the ambush were taken prisoner by insurgents and later killed and mutilated.

Though Mr. Green and the three ambush victims reportedly came from the same unit, the 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, so far, the Army official said there was no evidence that the Americans had been abducted in retaliation for the rape and killing of the Iraqis.

Other participants in the crimes are likely to be charged by military prosecutors and face court-martial, a prosecutor involved said.

At least three other soldiers suspected of involvement in the rape and killing of the Iraqis are being held in a military base in Iraq, but several soldiers interviewed by prosecutors, identified in charging documents only as "sources of information," said that Mr. Green was responsible for the killings and that he and another unidentified soldier, referred to as a "known participant," committed the rape.

The incident came to light last month after soldiers in the regiment were undergoing "a combat stress debriefing" related to the ambush of three Americans, the charging documents said. After entering the house, the compliant alleged that Mr. Green herded family members into a back bedroom and closed the door. After shots were heard, he emerged, telling the other soldiers, "I just killed them. All are dead," according to one unidentified soldier.

Participants in the attacks later told another soldier who had remained behind at the checkpoint to "dispose of the AK-47 in a canal across the street," the document says.

The Iraqi mayor, Mr. Fadhil, said the body of the rape victim, Abeer Qasem Hamzeh, had multiple bullet wounds and burn marks. Her sister, Hadeel, was shot in the head, he said, reading from a hospital report; her father, Qasem Hamzeh Rasheed, who was in his mid-40's, suffered head trauma; and her mother, Fakhariya Taja Muhassain, was shot several times.

Three sons were at school at the time of the March 12 attack, the mayor added.

An American military official, who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, said investigators still had no firm ages for the family members and said the rape victim had been classified by Iraqis in Mahmudiya as an "adult." But in Iraq, girls who have reached child-bearing age are often referred to as adults.

American military officials announced their investigation into the attack last week and said they were pursuing allegations that soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment were involved.

A committee of Iraqi officials opened its own investigation into the case on Saturday after conversations with the American military, Mr. Fadhil said. The committee includes Mr. Fadhil, a judge from Mahmudiya, the director of the town's hospital, the local police chief, a member of the Mahmudiya town council and a representative from the Iraqi Army, the mayor said.

An Army spokesman, Maj. Todd Breasseale, said the American authorities welcomed the development. "We would encourage any civilian judiciary or any civilian legislative arm to explore their own investigation," he said in a telephone interview. "That's what a free and open government system does. We wouldn't even think to hinder it."

David S. Cloud reported from Washington for this article, and Kirk Semple from Baghdad. Mona Mahmoud contributed reporting from Baghdad.

    Ex-G.I. Held in 4 Slayings and Rape in Iraq, NYT, 4.7.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/us/04arrest.html?hp&ex=1152072000&en=4d0bc116d2e076c6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

    Related http://news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/iraq/usgreen63006cmp.html

An anti-war activist dressed as the Grim Reeper
demonstrates in front of the White House in Washington July 3, 2006.
REUTERS/Molly Riley

Anti-war protesters begin July 4 fast        R        3.7.2006
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=
2006-07-04T001123Z_01_N03375286_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-PROTEST.xml

Anti-war protesters begin July 4 fast

Mon Jul 3, 2006 8:12 PM ET
Reuters
By Amanda Beck

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About 150 protesters sat in front of the White House on Monday to savor their last meal before starting a hunger strike that some said will continue until American troops return from Iraq.

The demonstration marking the Independence Day holiday was organized by CodePink, a women's anti-war group that called on volunteers to abstain from eating for 24 hours from midnight on Monday.

Some protesters said their fast would continue beyond July 4th.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, said she would drink only water throughout the summer, which she said she would spend outside President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

"This war is a crime," Sheehan told a crowd of clapping, cheering protesters. "We represent millions of Americans who withdraw their support from this government."

The demonstrators crouched in the muggy evening next to a piece of pink plastic, spread down the road as a table and table-cloth in one. It was covered with wilted pink sunflowers and plates of vegetarian curry, white rice, and beans.

The demonstration aimed at highlighting the costs of the war, in which more than 2,500 U.S. soldiers and thousands of Iraqis have died, said CodePink spokeswoman Meredith Dearborn.

"We have to put our own lives on the line, and I'm willing to do that," said activist Diane Wilson, who pledged to fast until the United States withdraws from Iraq.

Dearborn said 2,700 other activists nationwide, including actors Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, would work as a relay team passing the fast daily from one to another.

    Anti-war protesters begin July 4 fast, R, 3.7.2006, http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-07-04T001123Z_01_N03375286_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-PROTEST.xml

Bin Laden Hails Slain Al - Zarqawi As 'Lion'

June 30, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:14 a.m. ET
The New York Times

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Osama bin Laden defended attacks by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi against civilians in Iraq, purportedly saying in a taped Web message Friday that the slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader was acting under orders to kill anyone who backs American forces.

Bin Laden paid tribute to al-Zarqawi in a 19-minute audio message posted on an Islamic militant Web site. The message has narration by a voice resembling bin Laden's as a video shows an old photo of him in a split-screen next to images of al-Zarqawi taken from a previous video.

In the message, bin Laden demands President Bush hand over the body of al-Zarqawi to his family and effusively praises the Jordanian-born militant, often in rhyming couplets. His voice sounded breathy and fatigued at times.

''We will continue to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan to run down your resources and kill your men until you return defeated to your nation,'' he said, addressing Bush.

It was the fourth message purportedly put out this year by bin Laden. All have featured his voice in audiotapes. New video images of him have not appeared since October 2004.

The authenticity of the video could not be immediately confirmed. It bore the logo of As-Sahab, the al-Qaida production branch that releases all its messages, and was posted on an Islamic Web forum where militants often post messages. Typically, the CIA does a technical analysis to determine whether the speaker is who the tape claims and the National Counterterrorism Center analyzes the message's contents.

In the tape, bin Laden addressed ''those who accuse Abu Musab of killing certain sectors of the Iraqi people,'' referring to the campaign of suicide bombings by al-Zarqawi's followers targeting Shiites. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a June 7 airstrike northeast of Baghdad by U.S. warplanes.

''Abu Musab had clear instructions to focus his fight on the occupiers, particularly the Americans and to leave aside anyone who remains neutral,'' bin Laden said.

''But for those who refused (neutrality) and stood to fight on the side of the crusaders against the Muslims, then he should kill them whoever they are, regardless of their sect or tribe. For supporting infidels against Muslims is a major sin,'' he said.

Al-Zarqawi's strategy of attacking Shiite civilians in an attempt to spark a Shiite-Sunni civil war in Iraq raised criticism even among some fellow Islamic extremists, and was apparently a source of some tension between him and al-Qaida's central leadership, to which he had sworn allegiance.

In July 2005, bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri reportedly wrote a letter to al-Zarqawi criticizing his attacks on Iraqi Shiite mosques and civilians, saying they hurt the mujahedeen's image. The Egyptian-born al-Zawahri also asked al-Zarqawi for money, according to the U.S. military, which said it intercepted the message.

Al-Zarqawi apparently brushed off the criticism as he continued to attack Shiites.

Any tension between al-Zarqawi and al-Qaida's command appeared to have faded this year because al-Zawahri issued three videotapes in which he effusively praised al-Zarqawi -- including a tribute video last week similar to bin Laden's Friday.

The tribute videos appear to be part of an attempt by al-Qaida's leadership to tout their connection to al-Zarqawi, who emerged as a hero among Islamic extremists with his dramatic attacks in Iraq and even stole the spotlight from bin Laden and al-Zawahri.

Bin Laden's mention of ''instructions'' to al-Zarqawi could be aimed to show the al-Qaida in Iraq leader was under his command.

''Al-Zarqawi's story will live forever with the stories of the nobles, so don't cry over one who is not missing,'' bin Laden said. ''He can teach the world a lesson on how to seize freedom ... and how to resist tyrants.''

''Even if we lost one of our greatest knights and princes, we are happy that we have found a symbol for our great Islamic nations, one that the mujahedeen will remember and praise in poetry and in stories secretly and aloud,'' bin Laden said.

Bin Laden said Bush should return al-Zarqawi's body and that Jordan's King Abdullah II should allow the militant's family to bury him. The Jordanian government has said it will never allow al-Zarqawi to be buried in his homeland because of a November triple suicide bombing his followers carried out in Amman hotels that killed 60 people.

''What scares you about Abu Musab after he's dead?'' bin Laden said, addressing Abdullah. ''You know that his funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the extent of sympathy with the mujahedeen.''

    Bin Laden Hails Slain Al - Zarqawi As 'Lion', NYT, 30.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Bin-Laden.html?hp&ex=1151726400&en=b095c9120e31980c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Iraq War Ends Silently for One American Soldier

June 29, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

RAMADI, Iraq, June 28 — A soldier was dead, and it was time for him to go home.

The doors to the little morgue swung open, and six soldiers stepped outside carrying a long black bag zippered at the top.

About 60 soldiers were waiting to say goodbye. They had gathered in the sand outside this morgue at Camp Ramadi, an Army base in Anbar Province, now the most lethal of Iraqi places.

Inside the bag was Sgt. Terry Michael Lisk, 26, of Zion, Ill., killed a few hours before.

In the darkness, the bag was barely visible. A line of blue chemical lights marked the way to the landing strip not far away.

Everyone saluted, even the wounded man on a stretcher. No one said a word.

Sergeant Lisk had been standing near an intersection in downtown Ramadi on Monday morning when a 120-millimeter mortar shell, fired by guerrillas, landed about 30 paces away. The exploding shell flung a chunk of steel into the right side of his chest just beneath his arm. He stopped breathing and died a few minutes later.

The pallbearers lifted Sergeant Lisk into the back of an ambulance, a truck marked by a large red cross, and fell in with the others walking silently behind it as it crept through the sand toward the landing zone. The blue lights showed the way.

From a distance came the sound of a helicopter.

Death comes often to the soldiers and marines who are fighting in Anbar Province, which is roughly the size of Louisiana and is the most intractable region in Iraq. Almost every day, an American soldier is killed somewhere in Anbar — in Ramadi, in Haditha, in Falluja, by a sniper, by a roadside bomb, or as with Sergeant Lisk, by a mortar shell. In the first 27 days of June, 27 soldiers and marines were killed here. In small ways, the military tries to ensure that individual soldiers like Sergeant Lisk are not forgotten in the plenitude of death.

One way is to say goodbye to the body of a fallen comrade as it leaves for the United States. Here in Anbar, American bodies are taken first by helicopter to Camp Anaconda, the big logistical base north of Baghdad, and then on to the United States. Most helicopter traffic in Anbar, for security reasons, takes place at night. Hence the darkness.

In the minutes after the mortar shell exploded, everyone hoped that Sergeant Lisk would live. Although he was not breathing, the medics got to him right away, and the hospital was not far.

"What's his name?" asked Col. Sean MacFarland, the commander of the 4,000-soldier First Brigade.

"Lisk, sir," someone replied.

"If he can be saved, they'll save him," said Colonel MacFarland, who had been only a few yards away in an armored personnel carrier when the mortar shell landed.

About 10 minutes later, the word came.

"He's dead," Colonel MacFarland said.

Whenever a soldier dies, in Iraq or anywhere else, a wave of uneasiness — fear, revulsion, guilt, sadness — ripples through the survivors. It could be felt on Monday, even when the fighting was still going on.

"He was my best friend," Specialist Allan Sammons said, his lower lip shaking. "That's all I can say. I'm kind of shaken up."

Another soldier asked, "You want to take a break?"

Specialist Sammons said, "I'll be fine," his lip still shaking.

Sergeant Lisk's friends and superiors recalled a man who had risen from a hard childhood to become someone whom they counted on for cheer in a grim and uncertain place.

"He was a special kid," Specialist Sammons said. "He came from a broken home. I think he was divorced. I'm worried that it might be hard to find someone."

He said he would write a letter to the family — to whom it was not clear just yet.

Hours later, at the landing zone at Camp Ramadi, the helicopter descended. Without lights, in the darkness, it was just a grayish glow. With its engines still whirring, it lowered its back door.

The six soldiers walked out to the chopper and lifted Sergeant Lisk's body into it. The door went back up. The helicopter flew away.

The soldiers saluted a final time.

In the darkness, as the sound of the helicopter faded, Colonel MacFarland addressed his soldiers.

"I don't know if this war is worth the life of Terry Lisk, or 10 soldiers, or 2,500 soldiers like him," Colonel MacFarland told his forces. "What I do know is that he did not die alone. He was surrounded by friends.

"A Greek philosopher said that only the dead have seen the end of war," the colonel said. "Only Terry Lisk has seen the end of this war."

The soldiers turned and walked back to their barracks in the darkness. No one said a word.

    Iraq War Ends Silently for One American Soldier, NYT, 29.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/world/middleeast/29soldier.html?hp&ex=1151640000&en=5bc40bdce40c4e8b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Marine in 'Fahrenheit 9/11' killed

Updated 6/28/2006 12:49 PM ET
The Associated Press
USA Today

A Marine and one-time recruiter who appeared in Michael Moore's documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 has died in a roadside bombing in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Raymond J. Plouhar, 30, died Monday of wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Iraq's volatile Anbar province, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

Plouhar, who was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., had taken four years off from active duty to serve as a recruiter in Flint after donating one of his kidneys to his uncle. He is seen in the 2004 film approaching prospective recruits in a mall parking lot.

"It's better to get them when they're in ones and twos and work on them that way," he says in the film.

Although Plouhar willingly appeared in the movie, which is critical of the Bush administration's actions after Sept. 11, his father said Plouhar didn't realize it would criticize the war.

"I'm proud that my son wanted to protect the freedom of this country whether we all agree with the war or not," he said.

Plouhar grew up in Lake Orion, about 30 miles north of Detroit.

He is survived by a wife and two children, ages 5 and 9. They live in Arizona.

    Marine in 'Fahrenheit 9/11' killed, UT, 28.6.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-06-28-fahrenheit-marine_x.htm

Iraqi Says Attacks on U.S. Won't Be Pardoned

June 28, 2006
The New York Times
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and JOHN F. BURNS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 27 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said publicly on Tuesday for the first time that attacks on American soldiers would not be pardoned under the rules of a new Iraqi amnesty plan.

In his first meeting with Western journalists since he became prime minister a month ago, Mr. Maliki sought to allay concerns raised by many in the United States that the plan, which he unveiled Sunday as part of a broad effort to reduce insurgent violence, could lead to pardons for some who had killed American soldiers and spur attacks on American units.

Americans, he said, came to Iraq to help make it free. "Therefore, out of respect for their contribution to Iraq," no pardon will be offered to their killers, or to insurgents who have killed Iraqi soldiers and police officers, he said.

It was the most unequivocal statement by any Iraqi official about the amnesty, which had caused confusion among Iraqi political leaders as well as American officials since it was announced in broad terms on Sunday.

The amnesty is part of a "national reconciliation" program that Mr. Maliki, a Shiite, offered in an effort to find a political solution to the violence that continues to kill dozens of people a day, a vast majority of them Iraqi civilians. Iraq now has an elected government with a four-year term, but it has failed to improve security here in the battered capital, where Sunni and Shiite militias continue to kill with impunity, and some neighborhoods have sunk into conditions resembling anarchy.

Insurgent violence on Tuesday claimed the lives of 21 Iraqis and 2 American servicemen, and wounded an additional 41 people. The American military also announced the deaths of 2 service members killed Monday in fighting in Anbar Province.

Mr. Maliki was at pains on Tuesday to explain his reconciliation plan, which emerged from long consultations with the competing political blocs in his national unity government, but drew criticism for the vagueness of its amnesty provisions. They reflected the deep divisions in the government.

Religious Shiites strongly opposed amnesty for Sunni insurgents, while Sunni Arabs said it would be meaningless without provisions to encourage insurgents to disarm. The Americans strongly favored reaching out to the insurgents, but opposed anything amounting to a pardon for rebels who participated in killing Americans, more than 2,500 of whom have died in the three-year war.

Despite the vagueness of the amnesty terms, Mr. Maliki said the plan had drawn widespread interest from groups important to its success, including members of political militias, tribal groups, religious leaders and insurgent groups. He would not identify the insurgent groups.

Asked to identify the sort of groups and individuals who would be eligible, he cited Iraqis who had carried out "sabotage" against the government, though only "minor" acts, as well as to those who had joined the insurgency out of hostility for the American-sponsored political process but had not killed anyone. He said it also would apply to members of the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein who renounced that allegiance. Insurgents who face trial over attacks would be eligible for pardons if they were found not guilty of any killings.

"Whoever can prove himself innocent of murder in the judicial process will be allowed to join the political process," he said.

Allies of Mr. Maliki have said that the amnesty, presented by American officials and the prime minister's aides among many initiatives that would give momentum to the new government, reflected his relative political weakness.

"Maliki's intentions are good, but he is not free to do as he likes," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of Parliament. "He is part of this Shiite bloc, and they don't believe in this initiative to begin with."

Also on Tuesday, American military commanders released new details about three American servicemen killed by insurgents last week near Yusufiya. Maj. Gen. James Thurman, the commander of American forces in Baghdad, said 8,000 American and Iraqi troops followed a trail of "evidence," in a power plant, in a pickup truck there and on a canal road that helped lead to the bodies of two of the soldiers who had disappeared after an attack on June 16. The third soldier, who was killed in the initial attack, was found in the canal, he said.

"We did not know the demise of the two soldiers at that point," he said. Also on Tuesday, the Iranian Fars News Agency reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran would visit Iraq to meet President Jalal Talabani. A spokesman for Mr. Talabani, Kameran Qaradaghi, said he had no details about the visit.

Marine Won't Be Punished for Song

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) — The United States military will not punish a marine who performed a graphically violent and obscenity-laced song to a laughing and cheering crowd of fellow soldiers in Iraq, making light of killing Iraqis, the Marine Corps said Tuesday.

The Marines two weeks ago began a preliminary inquiry into whether the marine, Cpl. Joshua Belile, who returned home from Iraq in March, had violated military law or rules by singing the song, a four-minute video of which was posted on the Internet.

"No punitive action will be taken against Corporal Belile, and there will be no further investigation," said Maj. Shawn Haney, a spokeswoman at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina.

Sahar Nageeb and Omar al-Neamicontributed reporting for this article.

    Iraqi Says Attacks on U.S. Won't Be Pardoned, NYT, 28.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html

Military

Troops to Stay in West Iraq, General Says

June 26, 2006
The New York Times
By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, June 25 — American troop levels in western Iraq, one of the most dangerous parts of the country, are not expected to decline as part of a plan to make sharp reductions in American combat forces in Iraq by the end of 2007, a top general said Sunday.

"I see no reductions in American forces in Al Anbar into next year, at least through next summer, because of the restiveness there," said the officer, Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, who oversees marines in the Middle East and Central Asia. He was speaking about the western province of Anbar, the center of the Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq.

"Al Anbar is going to be one of the last provinces to be stabilized," General Sattler said in a telephone interview from western Iraq, where he is visiting marines as well as American and Iraqi commanders.

Currently, about 28,000 of the 127,000 American troops in Iraq are in Anbar Province under Marine Corps command. Securing the region, as well as building new political institutions and an economy, has lagged behind other parts of the country, and American officials are loath to cut American troops there now. The forces in the west include 19,000 marines and 7,000 soldiers.

According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon last week by the top commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007. At the end of that year, the United States would still have responsibility for the Iraq capital and the area west of Baghdad.

American officials emphasized that any withdrawals would hinge on continued progress, including the creation of competent Iraqi security forces, a reduction in Sunni Arab hostility toward the fledgling Iraqi government and the assumption that the insurgency will not expand beyond Iraq's six central provinces. General Sattler projected that the 10,000 trained Iraqi security forces now in Anbar would double by year's end.

The new details about plans to draw down troop levels came after a two-week campaign by Republicans — backed by senior White House and party political strategists — to paint Democratic Congressional resolutions seeking timetables for withdrawal as calls to "cut and run."

On Sunday, Democrats said that their attempts to seek a timeline had been vindicated by the president's own military planners.

Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic candidate for president who introduced a resolution calling for troop withdrawal that was defeated last week, said Sunday in a statement: "These plans look an awful lot like what the Republicans spent the last week attacking. Will the partisan attack dogs now turn their venom and disinformation campaign on General Casey? What will the Republican Congress say to Prime Minister Maliki?"

Some lawmakers said the plan's assumptions might be unrealistic, making deep reductions in American troop levels difficult. "Given current events in Baghdad in particular reported on every day, quite apart from Anbar Province, the violence is horrific," Senator Richard G. Lugar, an Indiana Republican who is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday on the CBS News program "Face the Nation."

American troops recently ringed the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi with new checkpoints and outposts in an effort to break the grip insurgents hold on that city. Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, has been the scene of some of the fiercest regular battles between United States troops and insurgent fighters.

General Sattler said the United States and its Iraqi allies had no intention of carrying out an offensive in Ramadi similar to the late 2004 assault on Falluja by the Marines.

A senior Marine officer, interviewed earlier this month by e-mail, said American commanders voiced worries that some of the newer Iraqi units might not be willing to fight in Ramadi.

"The concern is that once the common Iraqi soldier gets the word, a number of them will not be available," said the senior officer, who was granted anonymity to discuss confidential military assessments because he is not authorized to comment publicly. "If the Iraqis bring more than 50 percent of their manning levels to the fight, I will be surprised."

Jim Rutenberg contributed reporting for this article.

    Troops to Stay in West Iraq, General Says, NYT, 26.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/world/middleeast/26military.html

Iraq WMD red flags ignored, ex-CIA aide tells paper

Sun Jun 25, 2006 1:36 AM ET
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former CIA officer says he made repeated efforts to alert top agency officials to problems with an Iraqi defector's claims about the country's mobile biological weapons labs but he was ignored, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

CIA officer Tyler Drumheller said he personally crossed out a reference to the labs from a classified draft of a U.N. speech by Secretary of State Colin Powell because he recognized the source as a defector, code-named Curveball, who was suspected to be mentally unstable and a liar.

Drumheller told the Post he was surprised when a few days later, on February 5, 2003, Powell told the U.N. Security Council that "we have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and rails."

"We thought we had taken care of the problem, but I turn on the television and there it was again," said Drumheller, the CIA's European operations chief before retiring last year.

He described repeated attempts to alert top CIA officials to concerns about the defector before Powell's speech.

He said he also issued warnings before President George W. Bush's January 28, 2003, State of the Union speech that included Bush statements about Iraq's mobile labs "designed to produce germ warfare agents."

The warnings had no visible impact on then-CIA Director George Tenet, the paper said, who vouched for the accuracy of the mobile lab claim in briefing Powell before his speech. Tenet now says he learned of the problems with Curveball much later and received no warnings from Drumheller or anyone else.

The influence of Curveball in U.S. claims about Iraqi bioweapons programs has been described in reports by the Los Angeles Times and a commission on U.S. intelligence failures, the Post said, but Drumheller's first-hand account added new details of the CIA's embrace of a source whose credibility was unraveling.

The paper said the source was living in Germany, where the country's foreign intelligence service had granted him asylum and immigration permits for his family in return for details on one of President Saddam Hussein's long-rumored weapons of mass destruction programs.

The German intelligence agency BND passed the defector's stories to the Americans, but when pressed by the CIA it said nothing had been verified. Drumheller said a German official told him at one point, "I think the guy is a fabricator."

"He said, 'We also think he has psychological problems. We could never validate his reports,'" Drumheller told the Post.

When Drumheller relayed the warnings, it sparked a series of contentious meetings with other CIA analysts who believed reports from the source, whose name has never been revealed.

    Iraq WMD red flags ignored, ex-CIA aide tells paper, R, 25.6.2006, http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-06-25T053201Z_01_N25335359_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-POST.xml

Hussein Thinks He Will Get Death Penalty but Sees Escape Hatch, His Lawyer Says

June 25, 2006
The New York Times
By EDWARD WONG

AMMAN, Jordan, June 24 — Saddam Hussein has no illusions, his chief lawyer says. As he sits in his prison cell reading the Koran and writing poetry, Mr. Hussein knows the inevitable is coming — a death sentence handed down by the Iraqi court trying him on charges of crimes against humanity.

"Saddam Hussein is convinced of this," the lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said in an interview here. "He's told us many times we won't be able to change this. He knows the sentence has been issued from Washington, and if there's an even greater punishment than the death sentence, he'll get it."

Yet Mr. Hussein refuses simply to submit to the fate that awaits him, Mr. Dulaimi said, for he believes there is a way out. According to Mr. Hussein's logic, President Bush will use the court's sentence as leverage to try to persuade him to tamp down the insurgency, so desperate are the Americans to stanch their losses. Mr. Hussein believes the Americans might even reinstall him as president of Iraq, his lawyer said.

"He'll be the last resort; they'll knock on his door," Mr. Dulaimi said, tapping a pair of gold-rimmed glasses against his knee. "The United States will use this sentence to pressure Saddam to save it from its mess."

Such are the thoughts that appear to be meandering through the mind of Mr. Hussein, 69, as his first trial nears its end. Though the idea of salvation may seem quixotic at best, the latest in a long line of delusions that have helped land Mr. Hussein where he is today, Mr. Dulaimi asserts that Mr. Hussein's hopes do not lie merely in the realm of fantasy. On the contrary, he said, it is the Americans who are now beginning to wake up from a dream world, realizing that their invasion has delivered Iraq into the hands of conservative Shiites in both Iraq and Iran.

"The Iranian influence is a threat to American interests," Mr. Dulaimi said. "The only person standing in the face of Iran, which is an enemy of America, is Saddam Hussein."

Since October, Mr. Hussein and seven co-defendants have been standing trial for the imprisonment and executions of 148 men and boys from the Shiite village of Dujail following what Mr. Hussein said was an assassination attempt there on him in 1982. Lawyers for each side are making closing arguments, but the trial continues to be racked by violence, raising questions about whether justice can be delivered in the middle of a war zone. The latest convulsions occurred Wednesday, when a lead defense lawyer, Khamis al-Obeidi, was abducted from his home in Baghdad, beaten and executed.

Mr. Obeidi was the third defense lawyer to be killed since the trial started. Some witnesses said Shiite militiamen carted Mr. Obeidi, a Sunni Arab, through the streets of a vast Shiite slum in eastern Baghdad before executing him. Mr. Dulaimi said he first heard the news when another lawyer called him in the early morning in Amman. "Straightaway I called his wife," he said, "and she was crying and shouting."

Mr. Dulaimi, 44, also a Sunni Arab, spoke in a two-hour interview in a private home here in the Jordanian capital, where he spends most of his time. Perched on the edge of a baroque sofa, dressed in a black pinstripe suit, he tried to lay out the mentality of Mr. Hussein, the failures of the American war and the travails of the defense lawyers. He leads a team of a dozen that includes a Lebanese woman and a prominent American.

The most obvious problem is security. Mr. Dulaimi accused the Iraqi court of bearing responsibility for all the assassinations linked to the trial. It has refused to give adequate protection for the lawyers and others, he contended, and perhaps even directly aids the Shiite militias. "They hate Saddam and the Baath Party," he said of the judges.

American officials say that the leading defense lawyers have been offered safe accommodations in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, or, as an alternative, 24-hour protection by Interior Ministry bodyguards.

But Mr. Dulaimi said that the lack of security had forced him to move to Amman and to fly into Baghdad only for trial sessions. Even then, he will stay only in the Green Zone, where the courthouse is located. His wife and seven children move from house to house in the provincial capital of Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold, rarely staying in one place for more than a night, he said. Mr. Dulaimi is from the largest tribe in that province and studied law at the university in Ramadi.

"My family believes in justice and they're sympathetic," Mr. Dulaimi said, when asked whether his family wanted him to drop the case. "My wife knows that when a nation is occupied, the price of its liberty is great."

Mr. Dulaimi said he had proposed to the American government that each lawyer get $500,000 to cover the cost of guards, housing and transportation. He said Ramsey Clark, the American lawyer on the defense team, had passed this request on to American officials several times, but had received no answer.

No arrests have been made in any of the trial-related assassinations, including those of a judge and his son, also a court employee. Some American officials strongly suspect that members of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party may have played a role with the aim of discrediting the court. Indeed, each killing has been followed by an upsurge of demands, from Western human rights organizations as well as Baathists, for the trial to be moved out of Iraq.

Judges on the court bristle at any suggestion that they have failed to meet the needs of the defense lawyers, much less collude with militias to have the lawyers killed. Raid Juhi, the chief investigative judge, said in a telephone interview that the court had offered Mr. Obeidi, the slain lawyer, the protection of policemen, but that Mr. Obeidi had refused because he distrusted the Shiite-run Interior Ministry. The court paid Mr. Obeidi to hire his own bodyguards.

"He said, 'I don't need police, I need my people,' " Mr. Juhi said. "We treated them as policemen in terms of benefits and salaries."

Mr. Dulaimi said there had been a dozen attempts on his own life in Baghdad, mostly in drive-by shootings. But here in Amman, he seemed unconcerned about the possibility of death. Unaccompanied except by an American reporter, he walked into the street on Friday evening to hail a taxi. "I will defend him even if I am martyred," he said of Mr. Hussein.

Mr. Dulaimi said he had never met Mr. Hussein before taking the case and had never received any favors from the former president. (Some court officials gossip, without evidence, that Mr. Dulaimi is an ex-intelligence officer.) A criminal lawyer since 1992, he said he had approached the imprisoned Mr. Hussein out of a desire to defend the legitimate ruler of Iraq and expose the sham of the American occupation. He claimed Mr. Hussein had no money to pay his lawyers, though it is well known that Mr. Hussein's daughters in Amman have supported the lawyers.

Mr. Hussein may believe there is no way to avert a death sentence, but the lawyers will not slink away without making their final arguments, Mr. Dulaimi said. One strategy is to try to persuade the court that the prosecutors have wrongfully accused Mr. Hussein of nearly a third of the 148 deaths — 45 are still alive or died under other circumstances, Mr. Dulaimi said. (Officials have accused the defense of falsifying evidence to make that claim.)

As for the others? Mr. Hussein did order their executions, and had every right to do so, he said.

"They deserved to die, according to Iraqi law," Mr. Dulaimi said. "They were part of an illegal organization, plotting to kill a president, and they killed some of his bodyguards. They were threatening the stability of the country."

Ranya Kadri contributed reporting from Amman for this article, Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi from New York, and John F. Burns from Baghdad.

    Hussein Thinks He Will Get Death Penalty but Sees Escape Hatch, His Lawyer Says, NYT, 25.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/world/middleeast/25lawyer.html

4 U.S. Soldiers Die; Cleric Is Freed After Protests

June 25, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 24 — Three American soldiers were killed in combat here, and a fourth died from injuries unrelated to fighting, the military said Saturday, bringing the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq this month to 46.

One of the Americans was killed early Friday when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in central Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

Two others were killed Saturday morning by a bomb that went off while they were on a foot patrol south of Baghdad.

The area south of the capital has been unusually violent this week, after insurgents captured and killed two American soldiers. The soldiers were taken prisoner on June 15 after an ambush, and their mutilated bodies were found four days later, bearing signs of torture.

The American military dispatched 8,000 soldiers to look for them, and in the process stirred up a flurry of guerrilla activity.

At least one other American soldier has been killed in the area since the capture of the Americans.

The fourth American died Friday afternoon in an incident that was not related to combat, the military said, adding that it was opening an investigation into the death.

None of the soldiers were identified.

In Tikrit, American forces detained, then released a senior Sunni cleric after protests there.

The detainee, Sheik Jamal Abdul Karim al-Daban, a high-ranking cleric known as a mufti, was released after many workers staged a strike and several hundred local residents demonstrated over his detention, witnesses said.

"The sheik is a very cooperative and neutral man," said a senior member of the Salahuddin Provincial Council, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he feared that he would be killed.

"He has issued so many fatwas forbidding the killing of police and army recruits, and the selling of oil on the black market," the council member said. "I do not know the reason behind the arrest."

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has said he hopes to curb the killings and other attacks through a national reconciliation plan. He is expected to unveil his plan Sunday in a presentation to Parliament.

    4 U.S. Soldiers Die; Cleric Is Freed After Protests, NYT, 25.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/world/middleeast/25iraq.html

Solution: Break Up Iraq; Reality: It's Not So Easy

June 25, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

LET it break up. It seems a simple enough solution.

Iraq's three main groups — the Shiite Arabs, the Sunni Arabs and the Kurds — are killing each other with greater ferocity than ever, and the Americans are playing referee.

A number of American officials and experts, weary from the bloodletting, are giving renewed attention to proposals to let the regions of Iraq break into their own parts.

In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, argues for a variation of sectarian division — a loose federation of three largely autonomous regions that might help stop Iraq's slide into civil war while avoiding a complete breakup of the country.

As attractive as the idea of dividing Iraq into sectarian regions sounds, it has one big problem: Especially in Iraq's urban areas, it could be a bloody affair. (Mr. Gelb acknowledges this, but says the risk of violence is no greater than under other solutions proposed for Iraq.)

From afar, it might seem that drawing new borders between Iraq's main groups could be accomplished fairly easily. Each group predominates in a different part of the country: Sunnis in the west, Kurds in the north, Shiites in the south. In the north, the Kurds, with their own language, army and regional government, have already gone their own way.

But in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Mosul, there are no clear geographical lines separating the main groups. A breakup into ethnic regions or states would almost certainly increase the pressure on families to flee the mixed neighborhoods to be closer to members of their own group. Shiites to Shiites, Sunnis to Sunnis. Ethnic cleansing is already happening in Iraq, but still at a relatively slow pace.

As the maps here show, Iraq's main groups — and even smaller ones, like Christians and Turkomans — now live together in many places. While the Tigris River acts as a broad ethnic boundary in both Baghdad and Mosul — Sunnis on the west and Shiites on the east in Baghdad, and Sunnis on the west and Kurds on the east in Mosul — there are large pockets of each group on both sides of the river.

Trying to divide those cities could result in the expulsion of tens of thousands of people from their homes, maybe more. That is not a pretty process: the neighborhoods around the edges of Baghdad have already experienced a lot of ethnic cleansing — mainly Shiites being forced from their homes. Many of these families have fled to refugee camps in central Baghdad. The individual stories told by these families are heartbreaking. Not everyone survives.

Kirkuk is the most complicated Iraqi city of all. It is divided into three main communities: Arab, Turkoman and Kurd. Within those there are many subgroups — Sunni and Shiite Arab, Sunni and Shiite Turkoman. As in both Baghdad and Mosul, there are pockets of Christians scattered throughout.

In Kirkuk, the main issue is how to rectify the expulsion of tens of thousands of Kurds by Saddam Hussein in the 1980's. The houses emptied by the fleeing Kurds were filled by Arab families lured north by Mr. Hussein's regime. Since the fall of Mr. Hussein, tens of thousands of Kurds have been streaming back, mostly living in squalid camps on the city's eastern side. Splitting this city — and its oil reserves — would probably come down to power. In all likelihood, that wouldn't be pretty, either.

    Solution: Break Up Iraq; Reality: It's Not So Easy, NYT, 25.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/weekinreview/25filkins.html

U.S. General in Iraq Outlines Troop Cuts

June 25, 2006
The New York Times
By MICHAEL R. GORDON

WASHINGTON, June 24 — The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007.

Under the plan, the first reductions would involve two combat brigades that would rotate out of Iraq in September without being replaced. Military officials do not typically characterize reductions by total troop numbers, but rather by brigades. Combat brigades, which generally have about 3,500 troops, do not make up the bulk of the 127,000-member American force in Iraq, and other kinds of units would not be pulled out as quickly.

American officials emphasized that any withdrawals would depend on continued progress, including the development of competent Iraqi security forces, a reduction in Sunni Arab hostility toward the new Iraqi government and the assumption that the insurgency will not expand beyond Iraq's six central provinces. Even so, the projected troop withdrawals in 2007 are more significant than many experts had expected.

General Casey's briefing has remained a closely held secret, and it was described by American officials who agreed to discuss the details only on condition of anonymity. Word of the plan comes after a week in which the American troop presence in Iraq was stridently debated in Congress, with Democratic initiatives to force troop withdrawals defeated in the Senate.

The commander met this week with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Friday, General Casey and Mr. Rumsfeld met with President Bush at the White House. A senior White House official said that General Casey did not present a formal plan for Mr. Bush's approval but rather a concept of how the United States might move forward after consulting with Iraqi authorities, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

"The recent conversations that have taken place are all designed to formulate our thinking in concert with the new Iraqi government," said the White House official, who declined to discuss specific cuts. "What this process allows is for General Casey to engage with the new Maliki government so it can go from a notional concept to a practical plan of security implementation over the next two years."

Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters on Thursday that no final decisions would come on troop withdrawals until General Casey consulted with the new Iraqi government. "We expect that General Casey will come back and make a recommendation after he's had those discussions, which he has not yet had," he said.

Proponents of General Casey's approach described it as a carefully synchronized plan to turn over authority for security to the new Iraqi government. The administration has repeatedly said that American troops will begin to stand down as Iraqi forces stand up and begin to assert control. Although the planning for 2006 is advanced, officials say the projected withdrawals for 2007 are more of a forecast of what may be possible given current trends than a hard timeline.

But critics of the Bush administration handing of the war question whether the ambitious goals for withdrawing troops are realistic given the difficulties in maintaining order there. The insurgency has proven resilient despite several big military operations over the years, and previous forecasts of significant troop withdrawals have yet to materialize.

Now, after criticizing Democratic lawmakers for trying to legislate a timeline for withdrawing troops, skeptics say, the Bush administration seems to have its own private schedule, albeit one that can be adjusted as events unfold.

If executed, the plan could have considerable political significance. The first reductions would take place before this falls Congressional elections, while even bigger cuts might come before the 2008 presidential election.

According to accounts by American officials, General Casey's briefing identifies four main threats in Iraq: Al Qaeda, criminal groups, Iranian support for violent Shiite organizations and ethnic and sectarian strife over the distribution of power.

In the general's briefing, the future American role in Iraq is divided into three phases. The next 12 months was described as a period of stabilization. The period from the summer of 2007 through the summer of 2008 was described as a time when the emphasis would be on the restoration of the Iraqi government's authority. The period from the summer of 2008 though the summer of 2009 was cast as one in which the Iraqi government would be increasingly self-reliant.

In line with this vision, some cuts would begin soon. The United States has 14 combat brigades in Iraq, plus many other support troops. Under the plan, the Unites States would shrink this force to 12 combat brigades by September. This would be done by not replacing two brigades that are scheduled to be withdrawn: the First Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division and the Third Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division.

A combat brigade would be kept on alert in Kuwait or elsewhere in case American commanders needed to augment their forces to deal with a crisis. Another brigade would be kept on a lesser state of alert elsewhere in the world, but still prepared to deploy quickly. As a result of these arrangements, the plan to bring the combat force down to 12 active brigades in Iraq is being called 12-1-1.

Still further reductions might be made by the end of the year. By December, the number of American combat brigades in Iraq would be 10 to 12. As with the September reduction, a brigade would be kept on alert and another brigade would be ready to deploy.

According to the projections in General Casey's briefing, the number of combat brigades would shrink to seven to eight brigades by June 2007 and finally to five to six brigades by December 2007.

At the same time the number of bases in Iraq would decline as American forces consolidated. By the end of the year the number of bases would shrink to 57 from the current 69. By June 2007, there would be 30 bases, and by December 2007 there would be only 11. By the end of 2007, the United States would have three principal regional military commands: in Baghdad and the surrounding area, in Anbar Province and the west and in northern Iraq.

The reduction and consolidation of the American force is contingent on the growth and expansion of the Iraqi forces. According to the plan, the Iraqis are to have five army divisions that will control their own swaths of territory in Iraq by September. By December, that number is to grow to nine. A 10th Iraqi Division is to take on an operational role in the dangerous Anbar Province in western Iraq in the spring of 2007.

Estimating the precise number of American troops that may be deployed in Iraq at the end of 2007 is difficult, one officer said. A reduction of eight combat brigades would shrink the number of combat forces by about 28,000 troops. But that does not mean that the reduction in the remainder of the force would be proportional. Troops would still be needed to deliver supplies and staff headquarters. Also, the American military would continue to help the Iraqis with logistics, intelligence, training and airstrikes.

But the reduction in combat brigades would have an importance beyond troop numbers. The American strategy is to gradually shift the responsibility for fighting the insurgency to the new Iraqi military and to encourage the Iraqi forces to secure the nation's territory. Arranging for the Iraqis to take on increasing combat role is the key to reducing the American military presence in Iraq.

As American forces draw down, a growing number of provinces are also scheduled to revert to Iraqi control. Prime Minister Maliki has said that his government will take over responsibility for security in Muthanna Province this summer. Located in southern Iraq near Kuwait, Muthanna is the most peaceful of the southern provinces.

Officials said General Casey's briefing did address the long-term American presence beyond 2007. At the end of that year, the United States would still have responsibility for the Iraq capital and the area west of Baghdad, two of the most violent areas in the country.

Asked for comment on the general's meeting with Mr. Bush, a White House spokesman said in a statement: "The president has clearly stated he will listen to the commanders on the ground. We are constantly evaluating our posture and the growing capability of the Iraqi security forces.

"As we move forward, we will closely work with the new Iraqi government as they develop plans to take more and more responsibility for securing their country and providing for the Iraqi people. The president appreciates the opportunity to meet with Secretary Rumsfeld and General Casey to forge a way forward with the new Iraqi government."

    U.S. General in Iraq Outlines Troop Cuts, NYT, 25.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/world/middleeast/25military.html?hp&ex=1151294400&en=e7b313b95d1640d2&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Senate Rejects Calls to Begin Iraq Pullback

June 23, 2006
The New York Times
By KATE ZERNIKE

WASHINGTON, June 22 — The Senate on Thursday roundly rejected two Democratic proposals to begin pulling troops out of Iraq, as Republicans and Democrats staked out starkly different positions heading into Congressional elections this fall.

The more far-reaching measure, calling for all United States combat troops to be withdrawn within a year, failed 86 to 13, with no Republican supporters.

An alternative, backed by the Democratic leadership and calling for troop withdrawals to begin by the end of the year without setting a deadline for complete withdrawal, was also defeated, 60 to 39, with one Republican voting with the Democrats and six Democrats joining the Republican majority.

With a Republican-controlled Senate, Democrats had expected the loss, but even in defeat, they declared themselves on the same side as the majority of Americans.

"The Republicans stand alone that there should be no plan and no end in Iraq," said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader. "They want an open-ended commitment, and the American people and the Senate Democrats cannot agree to an open-ended commitment."

Republicans lined up squarely behind President Bush, whom Senator John W. Warner of Virginia lauded during the debate as the most "resolute" he has known. Mr. Warner said supporting the president would be "one of the most of the important votes" senators would cast.

"Future generations of Americans will look back upon this very moment to determine how two branches of our government, the legislative and the executive, today stand side by side, honoring those who've given their lives," said Mr. Warner, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The debate in the Senate, like one in the House last week, was highly emotional. Republicans taunted Democrats for "cutting and running." The Democrats themselves struggled, and failed, to come to a consensus about how fast to pull out troops. Several senators began the debate by calling for an end to partisan rancor. But more ignored that call.

Democrats, believing that polls show a majority of Americans want troops to begin coming home, mocked Republicans after the vote as being a "rubber stamp" for Mr. Bush.

"Whatever the White House wants, all the Republicans but one are in lockstep behind," said Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee and a sponsor of the amendment without a fixed date for withdrawal.

In nearly 12 hours of debate, Democrats argued that three years of war had cost too many lives and too much money, and that Iraqis would take charge of their country only if the United States withdrew what Democrats characterized as a "security blanket."

Republicans portrayed Iraq as the center of the war on terrorism, and said pulling out any troops would leave a void that would be filled by insurgents and terrorists. The Republican leader, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, called any troop withdrawal "dangerous, reckless and shameless."

"Withdrawal is not an option," Mr. Frist said. "Surrender is not a solution."

The Bush administration, recognizing that the war will be a major issue in the elections in November, worked hard to make sure that Republicans in Congress stood up for the war.

White House officials met with Congressional leaders to persuade them to speak forcefully in its favor, and the Pentagon sent a 74-page "prep book" to Congressional Republicans outlining "rapid response" talking points to help them counter arguments that the war had been based on flawed intelligence or had been badly executed.

Senate Democrats stood after the vote in front of a giant poster with the headline "The Bush Plan on Iraq" over a big, blank space. And they dismissed Republican accusations that the Democrats were divided.

"We may disagree or agree but we've got a plan," said Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. "Republicans are totally united in a failed policy."

Democrats repeatedly cited an opinion article published this week by the Iraqi national security adviser, saying that the removal of American troops would help Iraq, legitimizing the Iraqi government in the eyes of its people.

They argued that committing so many troops to Iraq was weakening the military's ability to fight in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

But Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said Afghanistan should offer a lesson, because the Taliban — and later Al Qaeda — took root there after United States forces withdrew in the 1980's.

The Democrats' first amendment, sponsored by Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, would have required all combat troops be pulled out by July 2007. The senators argued that only a firm timetable would prod the Iraqis to take control of their own country.

"All of us support the troops," said Mr. Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. "The best way to support the troops is to get this policy right."

The Democratic leadership preferred the bill sponsored by Mr. Levin and Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, which was a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution calling for troops to begin leaving Iraq this year, and for Mr. Bush to present Congress with a plan for a complete withdrawal of combat troops.

Last year, Senate Democrats and Republicans joined to overwhelmingly pass a resolution declaring that 2006 would be a "year of significant transition" toward making Iraq sovereign. Democrats said their amendments voted on Thursday were merely refining and carrying out that promise.

But the Republicans said they could not cooperate this time, and none of them crossed lines to vote with the Kerry-Feingold proposal. One Republican, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, voted for the Levin-Reed amendment; Mr. Chafee is in a tough re-election fight in an area where antiwar sentiment runs high. (Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia did not vote because he was absent following surgery.) Six Democrats voted against the Levin-Reed amendment, including Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.

    Senate Rejects Calls to Begin Iraq Pullback, NYT, 23.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23cong.html

For Diehards, Search for Iraq's W.M.D. Isn't Over

June 23, 2006
The New York Times
By SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, June 22 — The United States government abandoned the search for unconventional weapons in Iraq long ago. But Dave Gaubatz has never given up.

Mr. Gaubatz, an earnest, Arabic-speaking investigator who spent the first months of the war as an Air Force civilian in southern Iraq, has said he has identified four sites where residents said chemical weapons were buried in concrete bunkers.

The sites were never searched, he said, and he is not going to let anyone forget it.

"I just don't want the weapons to fall into the wrong hands," Mr. Gaubatz, of Denton, Tex., said.

For the last year, he has given his account on talk radio programs, in Congressional offices and on his Web site, which he introduced last month with, "A lone American battles politicians to locate W.M.D."

Some politicians are outspoken allies in Mr. Gaubatz's cause. He is just one of a vocal and disparate collection of Americans, mostly on the political right, whose search for Saddam Hussein's unconventional weapons continues.

More than a year after the White House, at considerable political cost, accepted the intelligence agencies' verdict that Mr. Hussein destroyed his stockpiles in the 1990's, these Americans have an unshakable faith that the weapons continue to exist.

The proponents include some members of Congress. Two Republicans, Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania held a news conference on Wednesday to announce that, as Mr. Santorum put it, "We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

American intelligence officials hastily scheduled a background briefing for the news media on Thursday to clarify that. Hoekstra and Mr. Santorum were referring to an Army report that described roughly 500 munitions containing "degraded" mustard or sarin gas, all manufactured before the 1991 gulf war and found scattered through Iraq since 2003.

Such shells had previously been reported and do not change the government conclusion, the officials said.

Such official statements are unlikely to settle the question for the believers, some of whom have impressive credentials. They include a retired Air Force lieutenant general, Thomas G. McInerney, a commentator on the Fox News Channel who has broadcast that weapons are in three places in Syria and one in Lebanon, moved there with Russian help on the eve of the war.

"I firmly believe that, and everything I learn makes my belief firmer," said Mr. McInerney, who retired in 1994. "I'm amazed that the mainstream media hasn't picked this up."

Also among the weapons hunters is Duane R. Clarridge, a long-retired officer of the Central Intelligence Agency who said he thought that the weapons had been moved to Sudan by ship.

"And we think we know which ship," Mr. Clarridge said in a recent interview.

The weapons hunters hold fast to the administration's original justification for the war, as expressed by the president three days before the bombing began in 2003. There was "no doubt," Mr. Bush said in an address to the nation, "that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."

The weapons hunters were encouraged in February when tapes of Mr. Hussein's talking with top aides about his arsenal were released at the Intelligence Summit, a private gathering in northern Virginia of 600 former spies, former military officers and hobbyists.

"We reopened the W.M.D. question in a big way," said John Loftus, organizer of the conference.

In March, under Congressional pressure, National Intelligence Director John D. Negroponte began posting on the Web thousands of captured Iraqi documents. Some intelligence officials opposed the move, fearing a free-for-all of amateur speculation and intrigue.

But the weapons hunters were heartened and began combing the documents for clues.

Mr. Gaubatz, 47, now chief investigator for the Dallas County medical examiner, said he knew some people might call him a kook.

"I don't care about being embarrassed," he said, spreading snapshots, maps and notebooks documenting his findings across the dining room table in an interview at his house. "I only brought this up when the White House said the hunt for W.M.D. was over."

Last week, Mr. Gaubatz achieved a victory. He presented his case to officers from the Defense Intelligence Agency in Dallas. The meeting was scheduled after the intervention of Mr. Hoekstra and Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, second-ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Weldon spoke with Mr. Gaubatz last month in a lengthy conference call.

Mr. Hoekstra "has said on many occasions that we need to know what happened to Saddam's W.M.D.," his spokesman, Jamal Ware, said. Mr. Hoekstra "is determined to make sure that we get the postwar intelligence right," Mr. Ware added.

The authoritative postwar weapons intelligence was gathered by the Iraq Survey Group, whose 1,200 members spent more than a year searching suspected chemical, biological and nuclear sites and interviewing Iraqis.

The final report of the group, by Charles A. Duelfer, special adviser on Iraqi weapons to the C.I.A., concluded that any stockpiles had been destroyed long before the war and that transfers to Syria were "unlikely."

"We did not visit every inch of Iraq," Mr. Duelfer said in an interview. "That would have been impossible. We did not check every rumor that came along."

But he said important officials in Mr. Hussein's government, with every incentive to win favor with the Americans by exposing stockpiles, convinced him that the weapons were gone.

Mr. Duelfer said he remained open to new evidence.

"I've seen lots of good-hearted people who thought they saw something," he said. "But none of the reports have panned out."

The hunt clearly appeals to the sleuth in Mr. Gaubatz, who was in the Air Force for 23 years, much of it investigating murder, drug and other criminal cases for the Office of Special Investigations. He retired in 1999 and worked as an investigator for Target, the retail chain, but soon returned to the investigations agency as a civilian.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Mr. Gaubatz spent a year learning Arabic and in February 2003 was sent to Saudi Arabia and then Iraq after the war began.

Stationed near Nasiriya, he and a colleague headed out in a utility vehicle at 6 a.m. and spent their days talking with anyone they saw — Bedouin tribesmen, farmers, hospital workers, former military officers, police officers and city bureaucrats.

Eventually, by his account, Iraqis led him to four places where they said they thought that chemical weapons were hidden in underground bunkers or, in one case, under the Euphrates River.

"We were very excited," he recalled. "We could hardly wait to get back and do our reports."

An official of the investigating agency who was granted anonymity to discuss a former employee said Mr. Gaubatz was known as "a gung-ho, good agent."

When the sites identified to him were not searched, he said, he called the 75th Exploitation Task Force every other day, and later the Iraq Survey Group, pleading with whoever answered to send a team with heavy digging equipment.

He recalled: "They'd say, 'We're in a combat zone. We don't have the people or the equipment.' "

His informants grew angry. "They said, 'We risked our lives and our families to help you, and nothing's happened,' " Mr. Gaubatz recounted.

He was disillusioned.

"I didn't imagine it would be a battle to get them to search," he said. "One of the primary reasons for going into combat was the W.M.D."

Mr. Gaubatz came home in mid-July 2003, and settled in with his wife, Lorrie, a teacher, and their daughter, Miranda, 7. He continued to lobby for searches, but his Iraqi informers and Air Force colleagues have told him that there were no searches, he said.

At his two meetings last week with officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency — meetings that the agency confirms occurred but will not otherwise discuss — he reviewed satellite photographs of the supposed weapons sites with the officers.

"They're very interested," he said.

Yet, he added, "I'm still afraid they might not follow through."

He has revised his Web site to put the nation on notice. "My Web site will remain open," he wrote, "until the sites are searched."

    For Diehards, Search for Iraq's W.M.D. Isn't Over, NYT, 23.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/us/23believers.html?hp&ex=1151121600&en=e22c5b2cac53e56d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Casey: U.S. forces in Iraq to shrink

Posted 6/22/2006 6:51 PM ET
AP
USA Today

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. commander in Iraq predicted on Thursday that the size of the U.S. fighting force will shrink this year, although he said he had not made new recommendations to his Pentagon bosses on the size and timing of any cuts.

"I'm confident that we'll be able to continue to take reductions over the course of this year," Army Gen. George Casey told a Pentagon news conference with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at his side.

Rumsfeld said Casey had not yet had sufficient time to consult with the new Iraqi government, but that in any case the size of the U.S. force is likely to rise and fall in coming months, depending on political and security conditions.

"It will very likely not be a steady path down," Rumsfeld said. "It could very likely be a drawdown with an increase." Noting that there now are 126,900 U.S. troops in Iraq, he said: "It could very well go back up at some point. It very likely will go down and up and down and up depending on the circumstances and depending on the need."

Casey, who said more than once last year that he expected to see "fairly substantial" U.S. troop reductions during spring and summer of 2006, noted that the force has dropped from about 138,000 in March to 126,900 now.

"Whether that's 'fairly substantial' enough, I'll leave to your judgment," he said. "As I said, I think there will be continued gradual reductions here as the Iraqis take on a larger and larger role."

Casey also said that members of the Sunni insurgency have been reaching out to the new Iraqi government, giving U.S. military commanders opportunities to forge communications with the resistance groups.

Casey said the U.S. military and the Iraqi government "have several different strands of contacts going on, and there are opportunities in that regard we just haven't had before." He did not elaborate. He also said the insurgency has grown more complex in recent months, and he complained that it has been assisted by Iranian special operations forces who provide bomb materials, weapons and training to Shiite extremists in southern Iraq.

"They are using surrogates to conduct terrorist operations in Iraq both against us and against the Iraqi people," Casey said. "It's decidedly unhelpful." He added there has been a "noticeable increase" in the problem since January, but he could not quantify it.

Casey also said Iran has become the main source of materials to make makeshift roadside bombs that regularly kill U.S. troops as well as Iraqis. "Those primarily come from Iran," he said. "We're seeing attacks and we're finding more of them. So it's coming in from, we believe, Iran."

The Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday soundly rejected two Democratic attempts to urge withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, including an amendment to begin pulling out by the end of the year. GOP lawmakers accused the Democrats of wanting to abandon Iraq before the mission is complete, while Democrats said it is time for changes in Bush's failed Iraq strategy.

Asked about the wisdom of setting a fixed date for the start of a U.S. troop withdrawal, Casey said he opposed that approach.

"I feel it would limit my flexibility," he said. "I think it would give the enemy a fixed timetable. And I think it would send a terrible signal to a new government of national unity in Iraq that's trying to stand up and get its legs underneath it."

    Casey: U.S. forces in Iraq to shrink, UT, 22.6.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-22-casey-troops_x.htm

Casualties

New Guidelines are Reducing Iraqi Civilian Deaths, Military Says

June 22, 2006
The New York Times
By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON, June 21 — An average of one Iraqi civilian every day was killed by coalition forces during 2005 in incidents at checkpoints or roadblocks or alongside convoys, according to statistics compiled by the United States military in Baghdad.

That high number of civilian deaths so angered fresh commanders who arrived in Iraq at the start of the year that a three-star general ordered an internal review, resulting in new guidelines.

Thus far in 2006, the number of Iraqi civilians killed at checkpoints, roadblocks or along convoys has dropped to an average of one per week, according to the military.

The new measures, intended to lessen the chance for violent confrontations between American troops and innocent Iraqis during the daily routines, are distinct from the high-profile criminal investigations into killings of innocent Iraqis during combat operations.

But they are part of an effort initiated by Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the No. 2 American officer in Iraq, to find ways to carry out the military mission while minimizing brutal actions that wound or kill innocent Iraqis and anger and alienate the population.

The actions of American troops have earned the outrage of the new Iraqi government as well. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki lashed out at what he criticized as the "regular occurrence" of violence by American troops against Iraqi civilians.

General Chiarelli earlier this year described plans to delay firing warning shots by requiring signs, hand signals, strobe lights and even lasers to make sure civilian drivers approaching checkpoints can see the Americans clearly, especially at night.

Commanders across Iraq have been ordered to investigate all instances that result in the death or serious wounding of an Iraqi civilian, or that cause property damage of $10,000 or more, said Lt. Col. Michelle Martin-Hing, spokeswoman for the Multinational Corps-Iraq. Previously, it was not required policy to investigate all such episodes.

Colonel Martin-Hing said the initiatives also included a number of steps intended to illustrate American respect for Iraqi culture.

She said that troops had been told that when it was necessary to handcuff a suspect during a search or a raid, it should be done away from family members so as not to humiliate or anger those who are not detained.

    New Guidelines are Reducing Iraqi Civilian Deaths, Military Says, NYT, 22.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/world/middleeast/22casualties.html

Relatives Describe Young Men Determined to Serve Country

June 21, 2006
The New York Times
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

When Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, came home from Iraq to South Texas for three weeks in May, his family was taken aback by his transformation, though they kept their thoughts quiet.

"He was very nervous," said his aunt Maria Vásquez. "He had never smoked, and he had started smoking, chain smoking. He was waking up in the night, very disturbed. He couldn't sleep well. He was very nervous, very jittery."

Private Menchaca, who was a newlywed, told his mother and his aunts that, although he was still glad he had enlisted in the Army, life in Iraq was difficult. They got the feeling that, privately, Private Menchaca, who grew up straddling the border in Brownsville and its two cultures, was dreading having to go back.

Just recently, he said, there had been an attack on members of his unit and he had lost all his clothes. They burned in a fire. He had only the uniform on his back.

"He said, 'Send me things: wipes, soap, Oreo cookies,' " she said. "He loved Oreo cookies."

In Oregon, Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, lived an altogether different life, far from the southern border, in a tiny Oregon farming town called Madras. He had an eye for a good spot to fish, a knack for hunting and a passion for fixing battered pickup trucks.

Private Tucker said in a voice mail message from Iraq, that his mother saved and released to the public, "Just going on a little vacation and I will be back before you know it."

Last Friday, Private Menchaca and Private Tucker were ambushed at a military checkpoint in Yusufiya, an area south of Baghdad riddled with insurgents. The two soldiers, who survived a shootout, were seen being taken away by insurgents. Their relatives, who were visited over the weekend by Army casualty affairs officers with word of the unconfirmed killings, are still awaiting DNA confirmation of the deaths.

If the two soldiers had one thing in common, it was their determination to join the Army and fight in Iraq, believing it to be the right thing to do. It is a message they tried to impress on their families, who worried incessantly about phantom snipers and hidden bombs. "I'm going to defend my country," Private Tucker said in the telephone message. "Be proud of me."

Just recently, Private Tucker told friends and family that he would be going to a more dangerous, remote section of Iraq, where he would be unable to call or send e-mail messages.

Rick Allen, the former mayor of Madras who hired Private Tucker, known as Tommy, as a teenager to work for him at his gas station and convenience store, said there was nothing that Private Tucker liked more than his dirt bikes and his tools. He also played the piano and loved music, his family said. "He was a determined kid," Mr. Allen said. "A tough kid."

Private Tucker's family lives on a stretch of highway just off the town center. On Tuesday, friends and family members sat in front of the house as police officials warned off reporters and onlookers.

Just before enlisting, Private Tucker, who made friends easily, worked in construction, but with his life a little out of focus, he decided to enlist in the Army, joining up last July. He was stationed at Fort Campbell and became a member of the 101st Airborne Division, where he met Private Menchaca.

During his whirlwind visit to Texas, Private Menchaca was matter-of-fact about the difficulties of his mission in Iraq. He talked about how he slept in vacant buildings, without plumbing or electricity, how he and the other soldiers shared batteries to run their electrical equipment. "He was not complaining," said Sylvia Grice, 37, a cousin. "He was not whining. He was just telling it like it is."

Private Menchaca made it a point to carve out time for his extended family on both sides of the border, spending time with his mother, his brother, his cousins, aunts and uncles in Houston, Matamoros and Brownsville. He also spent time with his wife, Christina, 18, whom he married without telling his family last September, one month before shipping out.

A high school dropout who later earned his graduate equivalency diploma, Private Menchaca had been unhappy working in Houston at a gas station. He decided to join the Army, hoping it would lead to a job as an immigration agent, and told his family Christmas Day, 2004 that he planned to enlist; they tried to talk him out of it. Private Menchaca's brother had served in the Army and had not enjoyed it, Mrs. Vásquez said.

But Private Menchaca insisted, and the family came around. He scored so high on his entrance test that he was given the option to bypass the infantry, said his cousin, Gabriela García. He chose not to do that. Instead, he signed up in March 2005 and wound up in the 101st Airborne.

Ms. García said her cousin reveled in the "challenge, the training, the camaraderie, the structure."

"We think of Kristian as a hero," said Ms. Grice. "You know, he didn't have to do this. He believed in what he was doing."

Maureen Ballaza contributed reporting from Houston for this article, and Jesse McKinley from Madras, Ore.

    Relatives Describe Young Men Determined to Serve Country, NYT, 21.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/21/us/21relatives.html?hp&ex=1150948800&en=b65366aa36c71a78&ei=5094&partner=homepage

U.S. Says 2 Bodies Retrieved in Iraq Were Brutalized

June 21, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 20 — The American military said Tuesday that a search team had found what appeared to be the remains of the two American soldiers captured by insurgents last week during an ambush south of the capital, and a senior Iraqi defense official said the two men had been "brutally tortured."

An American military official in Baghdad, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that both bodies showed evidence of "severe trauma" and that they could not be positively identified. The search team spotted the bodies on Monday night, but it took 12 hours to get to them because soldiers had to make their way through "numerous" bombs along the road leading to the bodies, and around the bodies themselves, the official said.

Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the American military spokesman, said "the remains" were found Monday night near a power plant in the vicinity of Yusufiya, about three miles from the site were the Americans had been captured by insurgents.

General Caldwell declined to speak in detail about the physical condition of the bodies, but said the cause of death could not be determined. He said the remains of the men would be sent to the United States for DNA testing to determine their identities definitively.

That seemed to suggest that the two Americans had been wounded or mutilated beyond recognition.

"We couldn't identify them," the American military official in Baghdad said.

Maj. Gen. Abdul Azziz Mohammed Jassim, the chief of operations at the Defense Ministry, said he had seen an official report on the bodies and that he could confirm that the two Americans had been "killed in a very brutal way and tortured."

"There were traces of torture on their bodies, very clear traces," General Jassim said. "It was brutal torture. The torture was something unnatural."

The general said that he was unable to give any more details.

The American military official said that one of the bombs planted on the road leading to the bodies exploded when it was struck by an American vehicle, but that no one was injured.

"They were intentionally targeting the recovery force," the American official said.

The bodies of the two Americans were not damaged by the bombs, the official said.

The identities of the two missing soldiers were released on Monday: Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. A third soldier, Specialist David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed when insurgents attacked the three at a traffic checkpoint.

General Caldwell said the military was investigating how three young, low-ranking soldiers ended up alone on a road in Yusufiya, a town regarded as one of the most hostile in all of Iraq.

According to Iraqis living in the area, the three soldiers, who were manning a traffic checkpoint, became isolated when several of their comrades chased a group of insurgents into the orchards off the roadside. At that point, the Iraqis said, a group of seven or eight masked guerrillas attacked the three, killing Specialist Babineau and capturing Privates Menchaca and Tucker. The Iraqis said they believed that insurgents had intentionally staged the first attack to divert most of the Americans and isolate the three.

"There was a single vehicle there with three Americans soldiers when they came under attack," General Caldwell said. "We do know that the chain of command is looking at the entire situation."

Without going into detail, General Caldwell said it was clear that the two Americans had been killed in a violent way and not from wounds received during the initial battle with the guerrillas.

"Due to the condition of their bodies, we do not believe it was by natural cause of death," he said. "It did not appear that they had been mortally wounded and moved to a location and died."

General Caldwell said the men's families in the United States had been notified that the bodies of their kin had been found. He said the Army hoped that further testing would reveal the causes of death as well.

"It pains us to realize what fellow servicemen go through," General Caldwell said in a briefing here. "Please keep both of these families in your prayers."

The American military did not release information about the identity of those who it believes may have captured the American soldiers.

An Internet statement, posted Tuesday under the name of the Mujahedeen Shura, said the successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" the two Americans. The Mujahedeen Shura, an umbrella group, claims Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as a member. The Arabic word used in the posting, "nahr," denoted the cutting of the throat, and it has been used by jihadi groups when they have beheaded their victims.

The authenticity of the statement, like many that are posted on the Internet, could not be verified. The provenance of this one was called into question by SITE, a Washington group that tracks Islamic militant groups.

Rita Katz, the group's director, said she believed that the message was a fake, given the manner and place in which it was posted on the Internet. Indeed, the message disappeared from one jihadi Web site, Al Hesba, shortly after it appeared.

"There is a straightforward way that Al Qaeda posts their messages," Ms. Katz said. "This was not theirs."

On Monday, the Mujahedeen Shura said in a statement posted on the Internet that it had captured the Americans, but it provided no evidence that it had them in its custody. The group said it would provide more news in a few days. Ms. Katz said she believed that message was authentic.

Mr. Zarqawi, the head of al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, was killed in an American strike in a village 35 miles north of here on June 7. His successor, according to the group, is Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who the Americans say is an Egyptian who has been fighting here since 2003.

A team of 8,000 troops, American and Iraqi, was assigned to search for the missing soldiers.

General Caldwell said they had encountered several bombs during their search, and also several guerrillas. One American soldier was killed and 12 were wounded during the search, he said.

This was not the first time that insurgents had planted bombs intended to explode when Americans came to recover remains, the American military official said. After insurgents shot down an American helicopter earlier this year, a team sent to recover the bodies and wreckage found 19 bombs on the road leading to the site and around the wreckage itself, the American military official in Baghdad said.

The American military goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure that its soldiers are not captured. The only other soldier captured in this war was Pfc. Keith Maupin, who was taken prisoner by insurgents in April 2004. A video showing Specialist Maupin in his army fatigues, and in the captivity of insurgents, surfaced shortly after his capture.

In June 2004, Al Jazeera, the Arabic language TV station, broadcast a video showing a person being shot. Al Jazeera said insurgents claimed the victim was Pfc. Maupin, but the man's face was not visible on the screen. The military says it is still searching for him.

Also Tuesday, the military said it was continuing its assault on the leadership of Al Qaeda, saying it had killed one of its senior leaders, Mansur Sulayman Mansur Khalif al-Mashhadani, an Iraqi, in an airstrike Friday morning near Yusufiya.

American forces had been tracking Mr. Mashhadani for some time, General Caldwell said, and then moved Friday to take him prisoner. When he tried to escape in a car, the general said, the Americans called in an airstrike to kill him.

General Caldwell said the military believed that Mr. Mashhadani, who they said was in his late 30s, was the "religious emir" for all of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. The general said Mr. Mashhadani had been captured by American forces in July 2004 while serving in a similar capacity for two other insurgent groups, Ansar al-Islam and Ansar Al Sunnah. He was released in the fall of 2004, General Caldwell said, when "he was deemed not to be a threat to Iraqi citizens or coalition forces."

In Ramadi, the contested city west of Baghdad, local Iraqis reported a calm day, three days after Iraqi and American troops set up what they called a "security perimeter" around the city.

In his news conference on Tuesday, General Caldwell said Iraqi and American troops had entered the southern part of the city around the stadium, which has been the site of clashes. The Iraqi and American forces took up positions inside and around the stadium and set up barricades there.

General Caldwell said that the recent military activity did not amount to a full-scale invasion of the city, of the type the Marines undertook of Falluja in November 2004. He described the current operations as more limited, with the goal of allowing the Iraqi police and other security forces to "regain control" of the city. Ramadi has not been under the control of the Iraqi government or American forces for many months, and insurgents roam freely in some areas.

Still, both the American and Iraqi military seemed to leave the door open for stepped-up operations in the future. "There is currently no plan for a large-scale operation in Ramadi," General Jassim said.

Reporting for this article was contributed by Sabrina Tavernise, Mona Mahmood and Khalid Hassan in Baghdad, and an employee of The New York Times in Ramadi.

    U.S. Says 2 Bodies Retrieved in Iraq Were Brutalized, NYT, 21.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/21/world/middleeast/21iraq.html

The ugly truth about everyday life in Baghdad (by the US ambassador)

CONFIDENTIAL MEMO
FROM: US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Baghdad
TO: Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
SUBJECT: SNAPSHOTS FROM THE OFFICE
SENSITIVE

Published: 20 June 2006
The Independent

1. Iraqi staff in the Public Affairs sector have complained that Islamist and Militia groups have been negatively affecting daily routine. Harassment over proper dress and habits is increasingly persuasive. They also report power cuts and fuel prices have diminished their quality of life.

Women's Rights

2. Two of our three female employees report stepped up harassment beginning in mid-May. One, a Shia who favors Western clothing, was advised by an unknown woman in her Baghdad neighbourhood to wear a veil and not to drive her own car. She said some groups are pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even at its most conservative.

3. Another, a Sunni, said people in her neighbourhood are harassing women and telling them to cover up and stop using cell phones. She said the taxi driver who brings her every day to the green zone has told her he cannot let her ride unless she wears a headcover. A female in the PAS cultural section is now wearing a full abaya after receiving direct threats.

4. The women say they cannot identify the groups pressuring them. The cautions come from other women, sometimes from men who could be Sunni or Shia, but appear conservative. Some ministries, notably the Sadrist controlled Ministry of Transportation, have been forcing females to wear the hijab at work.

Dress Code For All?

5. Staff members have reported it is now dangerous for men to wear shorts in public; they no longer allow their children to play outside in shorts. People who wear jeans in public have come under attack.

Evictions

6. One colleague beseeched us to help a neighbor who was uprooted in May from her home of 30 years, on the pretense of application of some long-disused law. The woman, who is a Fayli Kurd, says she has nowhere to go, but the courts give them no recourse to this new assertion of power. Such uprootings may be response by new Shia government authorities to similar actions against Arabs by Kurds in other parts of Iraq. (NOTE: An Arab newspaper editor told us he is preparing an extensive survey of ethnic cleansing, which he said is taking place in almost every Iraqi province, as political parties and their militias are seemingly engaged in tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq.)

Power Cuts and Fuel Shortages a Drain on Society

7. Temperatures in Baghdad have already reached 115 degrees. Employees all confirm that, by the last week of May, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours without. By early June, the situation had improved slightly. In Hal al-Shaab, power has recently improved from one in six to one in three hours. Other staff report similar variances. Central Baghdad neighborhood Bab al-Nu'atham has had no city power for over a month. Areas near hospitals, political party headquarters and the green zone have the best supply. One staff member reported a friend lives in a building that houses the new minister; within 24 hours of his appointment, her building had city power 24 hours a day.

8. All employees supplement city power with service contracted with neighborhood generator hookups that they pay for monthly. One employee pays 7500 Iraqi dinars (ID) per ampere to get 10 amperes per month (75,000 ID = $50/month). For this, her family gets eight hours of power per day, with service ending at 2am.

9. Fuel queues. One employee told us that he had spent 12 hours on his day off waiting to get gas. Another staff member confirmed that shortages were so dire, prices on the black market in much of Baghdad were now above 1,000 ID per liter (the official, subsidized price is 250 ID)

Kidnappings, and Threats of Worse

10. One employee informed us that his brother-in-law had been kidnapped. The man was eventually released but this caused enormous emotional distress to his family. One employee, a Sunni Kurd, received an indirect threat on her life in April. She took extended leave, and by May, relocated abroad with her family.

Security Forces Mistrusted

11. In April, employees began reporting a change in demeanor of guards at the green zone checkpoints. They seemed to be militia-like in some cases seemingly taunting. One employee asked us to get her some press credentials because the guards held her embassy badge up and proclaimed loudly to passers-by "Embassy" as she entered. Such information is a death sentence if heard by the wrong people.

Supervising Staff At High Risk

12. Employees all share a common tale: of nine employees in March, only four had family members who knew they worked at the embassy. Iraqi colleagues who are called after hours often speak in Arabic as an indication they cannot speak openly in English.

13. We cannot call employees in on weekends or holidays without blowing their "cover". A Sunni Arab female employee tells us family pressures and the inability to share details of her employment is very tough; she told her family she was in Jordon when we sent her on training to the US. Mounting criticism of the US at home among family members also makes her life difficult. She told us in mid-June that most of her family believes the US - which is widely perceived as fully controlling the country and tolerating the malaise - is punishing the population as Saddam did (but with Sunnis and very poor Shia now at the bottom of the list). Otherwise, she says, the allocation of power and security would not be so arbitrary.

14. Some of our staff do not take home their American cell phones, as it makes them a target. They use code names for friends and colleagues and contacts entered into Iraq cell phones. For at least six months, we have not been able to use any local staff for translation at on-camera press events.

15. We have begun shredding documents that show local staff surnames. In March, a few members approached us to ask what provisions would we make for them if we evacuate.

Sectarian Tensions Within Families

16. Ethnic and sectarian faultlines are becoming part of the daily media fare in the country. One Shia employee told us in late May that she can no longer watch TV news with her mother, who is Sunni, because her mother blamed all the government failings on the fact that Shia are in charge. Many of the employee's family left Iraq years ago. This month, another sister is departing for Egypt, as she imagines the future here is too bleak.

Frayed Nerves and Mistrust

17. Against this backdrop of frayed social networks, tension and moodiness have risen. A Sunni Arab female apparently insulted a Shia female by criticizing her overly liberal dress. One colleague told us he feels " defeated" by circumstances, citing the example of being unable to help his two-year-old son who has asthma and cannot sleep in the stifling heat.

18. Another employee tells us life outside the Green Zone has become " emotionally draining". He claims to attend a funeral "every evening ". He, like other local employees, is financially responsible for his immediate and extended families. He revealed that "the burden of responsibility; new stress coming from social circles who increasingly disapprove of the coalition presence, and everyday threats weigh very heavily ".

Staying Straight with Neighborhood Governments and the 'Alama'

19. Staff say they daily assess how to move safely in public. Often, if they must travel outside their neighborhoods, they adopt the clothing, language, and traits of the area. Moving inconspicuously in Sadr City requires Shia dress and a particular lingo.

20 Since Samarra, Baghdadis have honed survival skills. Vocabulary has shifted. Our staff - and our contacts - have become adept in modifying behaviour to avoid "Alasas", informants who keep an eye out for " outsiders" in neighborhoods. The Alasa mentality is becoming entrenched as Iraqi security forces fail to gain public confidence.

21. Staff report security and services are being rerouted through " local providers" whose affiliations are vague. Those who are admonishing citizens on their dress are not well known either. Personal safety depends on good relations with "neighborhood" governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. People no longer trust most neighbours.

22. A resident of Shia/Christian Karrada district told us "outsiders" have moved in and control the mukhtars.

Comment

23. Although our staff retain a professional demeanor, strains are apparent. We see their personal fears are reinforcing divisive sectarian or ethnic channels. Employees are apprehensive enough that we fear they may exaggerate developments or steer us towards news that comports with their own world view. Objectivity, civility, and logic that make for a functional workplace may falter if social pressures outside the Green Zone don't abate.

(This is an edited version of the memo)

    The ugly truth about everyday life in Baghdad (by the US ambassador), I, 20.6.2006, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1090904.ece

Missing G.I.'s Are Found Dead in Iraq

June 20, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

BAGHDAD, June 20 — The Iraqi military said today that the bodies of two American soldiers missing since Friday were found this morning outside the town where they were captured and that the two bodies had marks showing that they had been brutally tortured.

An American military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, said that the remains believed to be those of the missing soldiers were spotted last night in the vicinity of an electrical plant in Yusufiya, but due to the "unstable condition" of the area they were not retrieved until this morning.

While General Caldwell provided few specifics about the conditions of the remains, an Iraqi military official, Major General Abdul Aziz Mohammed, said that they had been "killed in a brutal way and tortured."

The soldiers were identified by the military on Monday as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. A third soldier, Specialist David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed when insurgents attacked the three at a traffic checkpoint.

CNN reported from Houston today that the Menchaca family had been informed that the body of their son had been found.

The two soldiers disappeared Friday night in an ambush southwest of Baghdad, and the military has been searching vigorously in and around Yusufiya with a force of 8,000 American and Iraqi troops.

General Caldwell said that an investigation was taking place into the events that led to the attack on the three men, who were alone in a Humvee.

Due to the condition of the bodies, he said, "it did not appear that they had been wounded mortally and moved to a location and died."

During the search, the military has encountered roadside bombs and so they waited until daylight to retrieve the bodies after sending in an explosives team.

"We have found the bodies believed to be our soldiers, and taken them back in our custody," General Caldwell said.

One American soldier was killed and 12 wounded during the search since Friday, General Caldwell said.

Ibrahim Obeidi, a spokesman for the Iraqi ministry of defense, said that soldiers had discovered the two bodies in the village of Jarf as-Sakhr, which is on the outskirts of Yusufiya.

A message posted Monday on a Web site of the Council of Holy Warriors, which says it oversees Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and seven other militant groups, said, "Our brothers in the military wing" had seized the soldiers near Yusufiya, the town where the military began its search. "We will provide you with more details on this incident in the next few days," the group said.

Today the same group suggested in an Internet message that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir had killed them, using a word for slaughter that is commonly understood to mean beheading, news agencies reported. Mr. Muhajir is the man who was named as the successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in an American airstrike earlier this month.

American military officers said last week that they believe "Abu Hamza al-Muhajer" is the pseudonym for a man named Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian who they said had trained in one of the terrorist camps in Afghanistan run by Al Qaeda in 1999. The military said Mr. Masri is a founding member of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and had become one of Mr. Zarqawi's closest remaining associates.

In a separate posting on Monday, the same group said it had kidnapped four Russian Embassy employees in the upscale neighborhood of Mansour in early June. The group gave the Russian government 48 hours to withdraw from Chechnya, a rebellious Muslim republic within Russia, and to release Muslim detainees from Russian prisons.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Monday, called for the release of the embassy employees.

Since Friday, troops had searched 12 villages, detained 34 Iraqis and conducted 12 cordon-and-search operations, the military said. Troops were supported by fighter jets and pilotless Predator drones.

Sabrina Tavernise and Richard A. Oppel Jr. contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article; Peter Kiefer contributed reporting from Rome; and John O'Neil and Christine Hauser contributed reporting from New York.

    Missing G.I.'s Are Found Dead in Iraq, NYT, 20.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/world/20cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1150862400&en=4dff42fe4eea893b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Missing Soldier's Uncle Criticizes U.S.

June 20, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:58 a.m. ET
The New York Times

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- As the families of two missing soldiers waited to hear if two bodies found Tuesday were their loved ones, the uncle of one lashed out at the government, saying it didn't do enough to bring the men home safe.

''Because the U.S. government did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid for it with his life,'' Ken MacKenzie, uncle of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, told NBC's ''Today'' show.

U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the military has recovered what are believed to be the remains of two missing soldiers, but he said the cause of death was ''undeterminable at this point.''

A member of the Army's casualty assistance office was meeting with Menchaca's mother Tuesday morning and said it could take two or three days for DNA tests to be completed.

Menchaca's mother, Maria Vasquez, was sobbing when she answered the door of her Brownsville, Texas, home. Her niece, Felipa Gomez, said the family had been watching television news reports of the Iraqi military announcement.

''She's hanging in there,'' and still holding on to hope that Menchaca will make it back alive, Gomez said. ''She might be frightened, but she won't show it.''

Sgt. 1st Class Jesus Rolnmedina, who spoke with her, said the bodies ''had a lot of trauma.''

The first report that the soldiers had been found came from Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, who announced that the bodies of Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Army Pfc. Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., had been discovered on a street in Youssifiyah, just south of Baghdad.

The two soldiers had been manning checkpoints when they were attacked Friday and another soldier with them was killed.

A group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed Monday it had kidnapped the two soldiers, but it did not name them and the U.S. military was skeptical of the claim. The group posted another statement found on the Internet Tuesday saying it had killed the two.

''I think the U.S. government was too slow to react to this,'' MacKenzie said Tuesday. ''They should have had a plan in place.''

MacKenzie said the government should have offered a $100 million reward and offered to exchange mujahideen detainees for the soldiers' lives. The government seized enough money from Saddam Hussein to afford it, he said.

The military has said more than 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops were searching for the missing men.

In Tucker's hometown in Oregon, yellow ribbons adorn the trees and store reader boards offer prayers of hope for his safe return.

A spokesman for the Tucker family, Oregon National Guard Sgt. Randy Everett, said Tuesday they had not heard any specifics from the military but that they were expecting the worst.

Tucker's relatives declined interviews but released the text of a phone message Monday that Tucker recently left on an answering machine, telling his mother to be proud of him.

''I'm defending my country,'' Tucker says on the recording. ''Tell sis and my nephews hello for me, I'm OK, I'm on my way.''

The family said in a statement Monday that their son had joined the military because he wanted to ''do something positive.'' They also sent their sympathy to the family of Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., who was killed in the attack.

Lyndsay Kowaleski, a high school classmate of Tucker's, described ''a sense of helplessness'' after learning Tucker was missing.

''Our hearts are broken with our friend being in this situation,'' she said.

    Missing Soldier's Uncle Criticizes U.S., NYT, 20.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Missing-Soldiers.html

Reconstruction

Army Cancels Contract for Iraqi Prison

June 20, 2006
The New York Times
By JAMES GLANZ

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 19 — The Army Corps of Engineers said Monday that it had canceled a $99.1 million contract with Parsons, one of the largest companies working in Iraq, to build a prison north of Baghdad after the firm fell more than two years behind schedule, threatened to go millions of dollars over budget and essentially abandoned the construction site.

The move is another harsh rebuke for Parsons, only weeks after the corps canceled more than $300 million of the company's contracts to build and refurbish hospitals and clinics across Iraq. A federal oversight office had found that some of the clinics were little more than empty shells and that only 20 of 150 called for in the contract would be completed without new financing.

But the prison, originally scheduled to be completed this month, appears to be the largest single rebuilding project canceled for failing to achieve its goals under the $45 billion American rebuilding program for Iraq. The corps said Parsons officials had recently estimated that it could not be completed before September 2008, and would cost an additional $13.5 million.

"I have other contractors that hold to their schedules," said Maj. Gen. William H. McCoy Jr., commander of the corps' Gulf Region Division. "And when they hold to their schedules, there's no problem."

In the case of the prison contract, General McCoy said, "I've got to stop the bleeding."

The corps says it intends to complete 3,700 rebuilding projects. But that number is much smaller than once planned and there is no independent overall assessment of their success. For example, among the water and sanitation projects, only 49 of the 136 projects originally envisioned are expected to be completed, according to Stuart W. Bowen Jr., who leads the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent federal oversight office.

The move over the prison contract pushes further into the open a series of bitter disagreements between Parsons and the corps over who is ultimately responsible for the failure of its rebuilding projects. When a senior Parsons official was informed by telephone that General McCoy had released word of the cancellation, the official replied, "He would, wouldn't he?"

The official referred a reporter to Parsons corporate headquarters in the United States for permission to conduct an interview for attribution about the development. But the request was turned down, and the company released a brief statement through a spokeswoman instead.

"Parsons performed our work in Iraq in conformance with the contract terms and the direction given to us by the U.S. government," said the spokeswoman, Erin Kuhlman, by e-mail. "We're extremely proud of our dedicated employees who have performed very well under extremely difficult and dangerous circumstances."

Another corps official, Col. Andrew Q. Knapp, said that even the new September 2008 completion date cited by Parsons was not realistic because the company had stopped working on the site two months ago. "So the date's kind of meaningless," Colonel Knapp said.

The company declined to clarify why it had stopped the work.

The largest single project previously canceled in Iraq appears to have been a $75.7 million dollar contract that called for KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root, to restore a set of oil pipelines across the Tigris River.

The loss of business for Parsons in Iraq may not be over. General McCoy said a broad review of Parsons' work in Iraq had turned up problems in sector after sector. According to news releases on the Parsons Web site, the company has received contracts worth as much as $4 billion in Iraq.

Parsons' contracts with the corps called for building and refurbishing scores of police stations, border forts, fire stations, courthouses, prisons and Iraqi government buildings. "We found overruns in almost every case," General McCoy said.

Corps officials also said that they had asked the company to explain delays and overruns on another prison project, south of Nasiriya, for which it has an $82.7 million contract.

Mr. Bowen, the inspector general, said after he issued a pair of scathing reports on the clinics that he intended to review all of the Parsons work in Iraq. Mr. Bowen's reports said the $243 million program to build 150 clinics would complete only 20 unless new financing were found.

In some cases, the reports found, the clinics were little more than empty shells of uneven bricks and concrete that were already crumbling into dust. But those reports focused much of their criticism on what they called the failure of the corps to exercise proper oversight of the work.

Shortly after those reports were issued, General McCoy canceled the clinics contract, and shortly thereafter voided a $70 million Parsons project to refurbish 20 hospitals in Iraq. General McCoy said Sunday that he had found $62 million in his budget to finish the remaining clinics by letting construction contracts directly to Iraqi companies.

The general said he would also contract directly with Iraqi companies to finish the 1,800-inmate prison, the Khan Bani Saad Correctional Facility. Colonel Knapp said that about 40 percent of the project had been completed and that what was in place appeared to be sound.

"It's just primarily cost and schedule," Colonel Knapp said of the reasons for canceling the Parsons prison contract. "There's an urgent need for prisons right now for the country of Iraq, and it's simply not getting there fast enough."

An inspection team led by Mr. Bowen visited the Nasiriya prison project in May and found that the workmanship was good but that the construction schedule had slipped by nearly a year for reasons no one there could explain. General McCoy said he was aware of Mr. Bowen's findings and asked the company for an explanation.

"We've given them about 10 days to come back to us," General McCoy said.

    Army Cancels Contract for Iraqi Prison, NYT, 20.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/world/middleeast/20parsons.html?hp&ex=1150862400&en=bb88b37ba23335a9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Senators Debating Iraq Measure

June 20, 2006
The New York Times
By KATE ZERNIKE and CARL HULSE
 

WASHINGTON, June 20 — Republicans defeated a Democratic measure calling for an investigation into waste and fraud in military contracts today as the Senate engaged in an emotional debate over the Iraq war.

By a 52-to-44 vote, the Senate rejected the proposal by Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, calling for a panel like that headed by then-Senator Harry Truman that uncovered many abuses in military spending during World War II.

Mr. Dorgan said military spending is the worst it has ever been "right now — right now! I think the American taxpayers are being fleeced."

Mr. Dorgan offered several anecdotes, including one about 25 tons of nails that he said had been buried in the sand simply because "someone ordered the wrong-sized nails. It doesn't matter — the American taxpayer is going to pay the bill."

The senator focused on Halliburton, the huge company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney that has become a favorite target of Democrats alleging favoritism and waste in the awarding of Pentagon contracts in Iraq. But Mr. Dorgan said there was plenty of blame on both sides of the aisle. Supervision of military spending, he said, is "the one area where all of us have failed."

In urging defeat of the Dorgan amendment to a military-spending bill, Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who heads the Armed Services Committee, said supposed abuses like those cited by the Democrat could be investigated by the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, various inspectors general or the Government Accountability Office, without setting up a Truman-style panel.

Before the vote, Republicans tried to deflate Democratic attempts to turn a harsh spotlight on the entire war, with Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona declaring, "The strategy there needs to be to win, not withdraw. Withdrawal follows victory."

Setting up the Senate debate over the war, leading Democrats fashioned a non-binding proposal calling for American troops to begin pulling out of Iraq this year. They avoided setting a firm timetable for withdrawal but argued that the Bush administration's open-ended commitment to the war would only prevent Iraqis from moving forward on their own.

Coming the week after partisan and often angry House debate over the war, the Senate proposal was carefully worded to deflect any accusations that the Democrats were "cutting and running," as their position has been depicted by Republicans. The Democrats behind the measure did not even use the term "withdrawal," and talked about how to guarantee "success" for Iraq, not about any failures of the war.

"The administration's policy to date — that we'll be there for as long as Iraq needs us — will result in Iraq's depending upon us longer," Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, who has been designated by the Democratic leadership to present the party's strategy on Iraq, said on Monday. "Three and a half years into the conflict, we should tell the Iraqis that the American security blanket is not permanent."

The resolution was cobbled together by moderate Democrats trying to smooth over differences within the party. The minority leadership has tried to distance itself from a proposal by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts setting a mandatory deadline for American combat troops to be out of Iraq by the end of this year, a limit that Mr. Kerry modified only marginally on Monday. Some Republican lawmakers and the White House pointed to that proposal last week in attacking Democrats as inconsistent and weak on national security.

Mr. Levin's resolution did nothing to stop the Republicans' ridicule, with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky dismissing it in a Fox News interview as "cut and jog."

"The last thing you want to do when you have the terrorists on the run is give them notice that you're going to leave," said Mr. McConnell, the Senate's No. 2 Republican.

President Bush spoke similarly at a Republican fund-raiser here Monday night, asserting: "An early withdrawal would embolden the terrorists. An early withdrawal would embolden Al Qaeda and bin Laden. There will be no early withdrawal so long as we run the Congress and occupy the White House."

The Democrats said their measure, which will be debated this week as an amendment to a military policy bill, built on a resolution that passed the Senate last year with wide support from Republicans. Democrats said they hoped this earlier resolution, which pledged that 2006 would be a year of "significant transition" toward an independent Iraq, would be followed by some Republican backing for the latest one.

But Senator Warner, who as chairman of the Armed Services Committee was crucial to the adoption of last year's resolution, did not stand with the new proposal Monday.

"In this form, I could not support it," said Mr. Warner.

Republicans said they were still exploring how to respond to the Democrats' latest approach. They are sensitive to the needs of senators in tough races, and therefore may bring an amendment of their own to express support for the troops in Iraq, giving those senators a chance to cast a vote backing a resolution instead of simply fighting one.

Such an amendment was the essence of the measure that House Republicans proposed last week, on which they prevailed.

But Senate Republicans also said they were inclined to debate the Democratic resolution head on. So, in contrast to the more predictable House debate, the Senate showdown could bring a more serious exchange of views on how best to deal with the war.

In any event, the resolution failed to satisfy Mr. Kerry. Late last week he said he was withholding his amendment in hopes that Democrats could find a "broad consensus." But on Monday he altered his proposal only slightly, to set the deadline for July 2007 instead of Dec. 31, 2006.

The Levin amendment would leave some American troops, focused on counterterrorism and training Iraqi security forces, in place. But it calls for troops to begin moving out of Iraq by the end of this year, and for the president to submit a plan to Congress by then outlining preparations for further redeployment. Mindful of accusations that they are trying to micromanage a war from half a world away, the Democrats said they wanted to leave the "speed and pace" of the withdrawal to military commanders.

"This amendment is not cut and run," said Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who joined Mr. Levin in proposing it. "This is not about a date certain. This is about getting the president to do the job correctly, something he has failed to do for the last three years and three months."

The resolution calls for an international conference to determine ways to secure Iraq and the region, and offers steps the Democrats said the Iraqis needed to make to take charge of their own country: sharing political power and economic resources among different groups, disarming the militias and rooting out disloyal members of security forces.

"As long as we're there to do this heavy lifting," Mr. Reed said, "even though they want to do it themselves, they won't do it."

    Senators Debating Iraq Measure, NYT, 20.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/washington/20cnd-cong.html?hp&ex=1150862400&en=d766b89996c321b9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

The Former Leader

Prosecutor in Hussein Trial Calls for the Death Penalty

June 20, 2006
The New York Times
By JOHN F. BURNS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 19 — Saddam Hussein uttered only two laconic words — "Well done!" — on Monday as the chief prosecutor at his trial demanded that Mr. Hussein and three top associates be given the death penalty for their role in the persecution of a mainly Shiite town after an assassination attempt Mr. Hussein said was made against him there in 1982.

Mr. Hussein's riposte echoed his attitude throughout the eight-month trial, at which he has frequently said that the outcome has been predetermined by American and Iraqi officials. During the trial, the 69-year-old former Iraqi ruler has said several times that he expected the death penalty, that the prospect held no fears for him and that, in any case, he has "escaped death" so often that he expected to do so again.

The prosecutor also demanded death sentences for Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Mr. Hussein's half-brother and former chief of the Mukhabarat, the secret police; Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former vice president and leader of a militia known as the Popular Army associated with Mr. Hussein's Baath Party; and Awad al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, which handed down death sentences for 148 residents of Dujail, a town 35 miles north of Baghdad that was at the center of the brutalities described at the trial.

Jaafar al-Moussawi, the prosecutor, urged the acquittal of Mohammed Azawi, one of four low-ranking Baath Party members from Dujail who were charged as accomplices. He said the judges should "minimize the punishment" of three other defendants, Abdullah Ruwayid, his son Mizhar Ruwayid, and Ali Dayeh Ali. They were accused by the prosecution, along with Mr. Azawi, of helping Mr. Hussein's secret police round up townspeople after the shooting during Mr. Hussein's visit to Dujail.

With his mitigating arguments on behalf of the four Dujail men, Mr. Moussawi narrowed the court's focus to Mr. Hussein and his three associates. They are charged with crimes against humanity for offenses that included the executions; the deaths under torture of 46 men and youths who had already been killed when Mr. Bandar's court sentenced them to death; the deportation of 399 other townspeople, including women and children, to a remote desert detention camp; and the razing of a vast acreage of orchards and date palm groves around Dujail.

Mr. Moussawi said the trial had shown that falsification was central to everything Mr. Hussein and his associates did. He said evidence had shown that even the assassination attempt had been faked, with a weak volley of gunfire aimed at Mr. Hussein's motorcade from a nearby orchard as it passed through Dujail set up in advance to justify cracking down on Shiites at a time when Mr. Hussein had begun a war with Shiite-ruled Iran. "The assassination attempt was a Machiavellian invention by Saddam Hussein," he said.

Similarly, he said, the trial presided over by Mr. Bandar had been "a trial only on paper." He said it had been a proceeding with no defense lawyers, no presentation of evidence, few written records, no appeals and 20 youths among the 148 sent to the gallows who were under the legal age of 18 for execution. On top of this, he said, were the death sentences passed on 46 people who had already been killed, which he described as "a sort of second death sentence."

At the session on Monday, Mr. Hussein was mostly, and uncharacteristically, subdued. With the Dujail trial now in its closing stages, and less than a month remaining before the judges are expected to adjourn to consider their verdicts, he listened intently, in his shapeless gray suit and tieless white shirt, to the prosecutor's summary of the evidence against him and his associates, occasionally stroking his bearded chin or taking notes on a yellow legal pad. Even his ritual insistence that the court recognize him as Iraq's lawful president was stilled.

The prosecutor said Mr. Hussein's actions, and those of his associates, fit the international standard for crimes against humanity, a "widespread and systematic" persecution of a civilian population. He said Mr. Hussein ordered the roundup of civilians in Dujail, and, directly or through bodies he controlled — including the presidential office and the Revolutionary Command Council of the Baath Party — approved the executions, the promotion of intelligence officers involved in the crackdown, and the destruction of the Dujail orchards and groves.

Citing the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders that followed World War II, Mr. Moussawi said Mr. Hussein and his associates had no right to claim immunity, as they have before the court, for actions taken in their official capacity. He said Mr. Hussein — "this criminal," as he referred to him more than once — met the standard of "command responsibility" set down at Nuremberg. "He was responsible for these crimes, either because he knew about them, or because they were carried out under orders he had personally approved," Mr. Moussawi said.

The prosecutor cited several provisions in Iraqi criminal law as it stood under Mr. Hussein — including Section 406a, still valid — that provided the death penalty for premeditated murder. "The prosecution asks for the maximum punishment for these defendants," he said. "They showed no mercy, even for women or children, and even the trees in the orchards were not safe from their repression. The law provides the death penalty for these offenses, and we demand it be applied in the cases of these men."

Officials of the special court, known as the Iraqi High Tribunal, have said that any death sentences upheld on appeal will be carried out by hanging. But that eventuality, at least for Mr. Hussein, could still be many months, or even years, away.

He has already been identified as a defendant in a second case, involving the killing of 50,000 Iraqi Kurds in the so-called Anfal military campaign that began in 1988 and involved chemical weapons attacks and wholesale purges that sent entire village populations to execution in mass graves. That trial is expected to begin while the Dujail case is in recess later in the summer.

The Shiite leaders who now dominate the government have said they want Mr. Hussein and his associates to go to trial in a third case under preparation, involving the killing of at least 100,000 Shiites when Mr. Hussein put down an uprising in southern Iraq that followed the Persian Gulf war in 1991.

    Prosecutor in Hussein Trial Calls for the Death Penalty, NYT, 20.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/world/middleeast/20saddam.html

Detainees

Murder Charges for 3 G.I.'s in Iraq

June 20, 2006
The New York Times
By THOM SHANKER and SABRINA TAVERNISE

WASHINGTON, June 19 — Three American soldiers suspected of killing three detainees in Iraq and then threatening a soldier with death if he reported the shootings have been charged with premeditated murder and obstructing justice, Army officials said Monday.

The accused soldiers, two enlisted men and a noncommissioned officer, also face charges of attempted murder, conspiracy and threatening in connection with the deaths of the three detainees on May 9, the Army's documents showed.

One Defense Department official said investigators had evidence that the soldiers had released the detainees deliberately before they were shot, apparently to have a pretext for killing them as they fled.

In Iraq on Monday, an Islamic militant group linked to Al Qaeda said it had captured two American soldiers listed as missing, but it offered no proof, and American military officials remained skeptical. The two soldiers disappeared Friday night in an ambush southwest of Baghdad, and the military has organized a force of 8,000 American and Iraqi troops to find them.

The three soldiers charged by the Army were identified as Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, Specialist William B. Hunsaker and Pfc. Corey R. Clagett. A conviction of murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice can carry the death penalty. A conviction of attempted murder carries a maximum punishment of life in prison, as does a conviction of conspiracy. A conviction for wrongfully communicating a threat carries a maximum term of five years.

The victims remained unidentified and were listed on the charge sheets only as male detainees apparently of Middle Eastern descent.

The three soldiers, assigned to the Third Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division, were jailed in Kuwait last Thursday to await hearings to determine whether they would face courts-martial, officials said.

The charge sheets list a number of instances in which the suspects are said to have threatened another soldier with death if he assisted investigators. The charge sheets quote the suspects as saying to the soldier, a private first class, " 'I will kill you if you tell anyone,' or words to that effect," and " 'You better not talk or I will kill you,' or words to that effect."

Military officials said over the weekend that the allegation of wrongdoing was raised by an enlisted soldier. Military officials said the soldiers suspected in the killings initially asserted that the three detainees had died as they were trying to escape.

The shootings occurred near the Muthanna Chemical Complex along the Tharthar Canal, in southern Salahuddin Province, a restive Sunni Arab region in north-central Iraq, according to the military statements.

Military officials said the shootings came during a joint American-Iraqi raid of suspected insurgent positions inside the chemical complex.

Few other details were available.

"On the day the alleged murders occurred, the unit commander ordered an inquiry to determine the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the three detainees," the military said in a statement.

Regarding the search for the two soldiers who have been missing since Friday, a message posted Monday on a Web site of the Council of Holy Warriors, which says it oversees Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and seven other militant groups, said, "Our brothers in the military wing" had seized the soldiers near Yusufiya, the town where the military began its search.

"We will provide you with more details on this incident in the next few days," the group said.

It was not clear whether the assertion was true: the group's posting was unusually brief and did not say precisely where the soldiers had been seized. It offered no pictures of the soldiers.

In a separate posting, the same group said it had kidnapped four Russian Embassy employees in the upscale neighborhood of Mansour in early June. The group gave the Russian government 48 hours to withdraw from Chechnya, a rebellious Muslim republic within Russia, and to release Muslim detainees from Russian prisons.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Monday, called for the release of the embassy employees.

An American military spokeswoman said the military was investigating the claim about the soldiers, but an American official in Baghdad cautioned that the military viewed the Web statement with some skepticism. It contained only information that could have been easily gleaned from news articles on the Internet.

Also, the official said, the council is an umbrella group and does not itself have the fighters needed to carry out an attack like the one it says led to the soldiers' capture.

The sweeping search continued for the soldiers, identified by the military on Monday as Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. A third soldier, Specialist David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed when insurgents attacked the three at a traffic checkpoint.

Since Friday, troops had searched 12 villages, detained 34 Iraqis and conducted 12 cordon-and-search operations, the military said. Troops were supported by fighter jets and pilotless Predator drones.

A resident in Karagol, the village that appeared to be closest to where the soldiers were taken, said the Americans had shut off all water and electricity in the town.

The troops appear to have met some resistance. Since Friday, three Iraqis identified as insurgents have been killed, the military said, and seven American soldiers have been wounded.

Another Internet posting surfaced Monday in which Ansar al-Sunna, a militant group operating in northern Iraq, said it had captured an Iraqi woman serving as a translator, Salma Gasem Hamadi, a Shiite who the group said was working for the American military in Tikrit.

The posting included a chilling warning for translators in the area to "leave your work immediately before we get you," according to a translation provided by the SITE Institute, a group that tracks militant Web sites.

In Rome on Monday, three Italian prosecutors requested the indictment of an American soldier for the shooting of an Italian intelligence agent, Nicola Calipari, who was killed by gunfire at a checkpoint in Iraq last year, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

According to the report, the Italian prosecutors have asked that the soldier, identified as Specialist Mario Lozano, a member of the New York National Guard, stand trial on charges of murder and attempted murder.

On March 4, 2005, just after securing the release of an Italian journalist who had been kidnapped in Baghdad, Mr. Calipari was killed when the car carrying him and the journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, came under fire at a checkpoint.

A spokesman for the United States Embassy in Rome said the embassy had not been contacted about the indictments and declined further comment.

Also on Monday, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Iraqi troops would assume full responsibility in July for security in Muthanna Province, where British forces oversee a multinational force of Australians and Japanese troops. Muthanna would be the first of Iraq's provinces outside of the Kurdish north to be under full Iraqi control.

In all, 13 Iraqis were killed and 36 wounded Monday in violence in Baghdad and in Diyala Province, north of Baghdad, Iraqi authorities said.

Thom Shanker reported from Washington for this article, and Sabrina Tavernise from Baghdad. Reporting was contributed by Richard A. Oppel Jr., Mona Mahmoud and Omar al-Neami from Baghdad, and by Peter Kiefer from Rome.

    Murder Charges for 3 G.I.'s in Iraq, NYT, 20.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/world/middleeast/20iraq.html?hp&ex=1150862400&en=b5471483711e2340&ei=5094&partner=homepage

2 Missing U.S. Soldiers Are Sought in Iraq

June 18, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 17 — American soldiers on Saturday went house to house, scanned the streets from helicopters and dove into irrigation canals to try to find two of their comrades who had been reported captured by insurgents in an ambush south of the capital.

The two Americans, who were not identified, were taken prisoner at dusk on Friday by a group of masked guerrillas who mounted a surprise attack on their Humvee near Yusufiya, a town that is a stronghold of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Iraqis in the area said.

The American command in Baghdad confirmed that two Americans were missing on Friday after insurgents attacked a checkpoint they had set up on a canal crossing near the Euphrates River. One soldier was killed in the attack, which appeared to be an elaborate lure intended to isolate part of the force.

"We are currently using every means at our disposal on the ground, in the air and in the water to find them," said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the spokesman for the American military.

According to Iraqis in the area, who were interviewed by telephone from Baghdad, the two American soldiers who survived the gun battle were led away by the insurgents to a pair of cars.

Hassan Abdul Hadi was tending to his date palms and apple trees near the village of Karagol when he heard gunfire and explosions. When he walked to the road, he spotted an American Humvee, he said.

"I was shocked to see the Humvee — nothing seemed to be wrong with it," Mr. Hadi said. "Then I heard the men shouting 'God is great!' and I saw that they had taken the Americans with them. The gunmen took them and drove away."

At the time of the attack, the American soldiers were at a traffic control checkpoint on the edge of Karagol. According to the Iraqis, the checkpoint was guarded by about a dozen American soldiers who had arrived in three Humvees.

The checkpoint came under fire from insurgents operating from the fruit groves that line the road. The Americans in two of the Humvees took off in pursuit as the insurgents retreated into the groves, possibly to lure them in, the Iraqis said, leaving one Humvee and only three or four American soldiers at the checkpoint.

The checkpoint then came under attack from another direction by a group of seven or eight guerrillas, wearing kaffiyehs over their faces and black track suits, the Iraqis said. At least one of them carried a heavy machine gun, and two of them carried rocket-propelled grenades.

Minutes after the two Americans were taken away, a team of Americans arrived and began searching door to door in the area, the Iraqis said. By Saturday morning, the search had intensified, with soldiers scouring the area, helicopters surveying the landscape from above and divers going into canals, the American military said in a statement.

"The Americans are going house to house, detaining any men they find," said Yusef Abdul Nasir, who lives in Jurf Al Sakhar, a village next to Karagol. He said he had heard rumors that the soldiers were being held in Jurf Al Sakhar.

Mr. Nasir said the Americans were threatening to hold the men they had detained unless the two soldiers were turned over. There was no way to independently verify Mr. Nasir's report.

The American military in Iraq goes to extraordinary lengths to keep its men out of enemy hands. Soldiers never travel alone, nor do individual vehicles; it is not clear whether leaving the lone Humvee behind defied engagement guidelines.

"Make no mistake: we never stop looking for our service members until their status is definitively determined," General Caldwell said.

The apparent capture of the two Americans raises the specter of their public exploitation at the hands of insurgents. Other Americans, including civilian contractors, have been videotaped while they were mistreated, tortured or killed.

The last American soldier known to have been taken prisoner was Specialist Keith Maupin, who was captured by insurgents during an ambush of his convoy in April 2004 near Falluja, west of Baghdad. The Arabic news network Al Jazeera broadcast a videotape that purported to show Specialist Maupin being shot from behind. But the victim's face was not shown in the tape, and the American military has not confirmed his death.

The area around Yusufiya, where the two soldiers disappeared, has been the scene of heavy fighting between American troops — many of them Special Operations commandos — and insurgents believed to be connected to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. That group's founder, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in an American airstrike last week, and the American military said that information about his network had been found in safe houses in and around Yusufiya.

In May, a huge gun battle unfolded when American Special Operations commandos stormed a suspected insurgent safe house in Yusufiya. The Americans said they had killed 25 insurgents and had also lost two airmen when insurgents shot down their MH-47E Night Stalker transport, a sophisticated variant of the Chinook helicopter that is used in Special Operations missions.

In interviews conducted earlier this year, Iraqi insurgent leaders told The New York Times that Karagol, the village near where the two Americans appear to have been captured, was under the control of Al Qaeda.

The search for the Americans came on a day of widespread violence across the capital, with most of the attacks apparently carried out by insurgents. There were seven attacks in all: one suicide bombing, a mortar attack, three car bombings and the explosions of a bomb placed under a pushcart and a bomb placed inside a minibus. Thirty-eight Iraqis were killed and 75 wounded, the Interior Ministry said.

The attacks broke a spell of relative calm in the capital after the beginning on Wednesday of a citywide security crackdown by American soldiers and Iraqi security forces in the aftermath of Mr. Zarqawi's death.

The pushcart bomb exploded in the Haraj market, near the Tigris River in central Baghdad. The bomb went off in the middle of a line of pushcarts, which impoverished Iraqis use to hawk mainly secondhand clothing. The explosion, which killed 5 civilians and wounded 25, scattered human bodies, broken carts and burned clothing up and down the street and against the shop windows that line the street.

On many days, the violence here seems to unfold without pattern or reason. It struck the local Iraqis who gathered at the Haraj market as senseless, too.

"Only the poor people work here," said Tariq Abd Zein, 35, who sells secondhand shoes. "I don't understand the meaning of bombing this market."

Khalid Hassan and Mona Mahmood contributed reporting for this article.

    2 Missing U.S. Soldiers Are Sought in Iraq, NYT, 18.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html?hp&ex=1150689600&en=002b9db28217c386&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Contradictions Cloud Inquiry Into 24 Iraqi Deaths        NYT        17.6.2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/17/world/middleeast/17haditha.html?hp&ex=
1150603200&en=d24949f9866653f5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Contradictions Cloud Inquiry Into 24 Iraqi Deaths

June 17, 2006
The New York Times
By JOHN M. BRODER

This article was reported by John M. Broder, David S. Cloud, John Kifner, Carolyn Marshall, Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, and was written by Mr. Broder.

What really happened in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005?

On that day, marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians, including 10 women and children and an elderly man in a wheelchair. But how and why it happened and who ultimately bears responsibility are matters of profound dispute.

Interviews with marines who were present that day or their lawyers, Iraqi residents who witnessed the attack and military investigators provide broadly conflicting accounts of the killings. This article, based on those interviews, does not resolve those discrepancies. But it does lay bare the task facing investigators as they try to square the accounts with ambiguous forensic evidence, and suggests that the work will be hindered by the passage of time, the tricks of memory and the fog of fast-paced action at several different locations in Haditha, a tense Euphrates River valley city, seven months ago.

Investigators and townspeople have said that marines overreacted to a fatal roadside bombing and shot the civilians, only one of whom was armed, in cold blood.

Marines and their lawyers, who are only now beginning to speak out after months of harsh portrayals of their actions, contend that they believed they were under a concerted attack, and entitled under their rules of engagement to use lethal force against those who they believed were responsible for a roadside bomb that killed a marine.

The 24 Iraqis killed included 5 men in a taxi and 19 other civilians in several houses, where, marines have contended, their use of grenades and blind fire was permitted under their combat guidelines when they believed their lives were threatened.

However, investigators have found evidence that the men in the taxi were not fleeing the bombing scene, as the marines have told military officials. Investigators have also concluded that most of the victims in three houses died from well-aimed rifle shots, not shrapnel or random fire, according to military officials familiar with the initial findings.

The houses where the killings took place show no evidence of the violent room-clearing assault described by the marines and their lawyers, the officials said.

The bodies have not yet been exhumed for autopsies, and defense lawyers can be expected to challenge the narrow use of photographic evidence on these points. But according to two people briefed on the investigation, one member of the Marine squad at Haditha, himself closely tied to some of the deaths, is now cooperating with investigators.

The Army general investigating allegations of a cover-up has submitted his report to Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq, the military announced yesterday, but its conclusions have not been made public.

There is little dispute over how the events that led to the deaths of the civilians began. A 13-man squad of the 3rd Platoon of Company K, known as Kilo Company, set off before dawn on Nov. 19 from its Haditha headquarters, Fire Base Sparta, to help replace some Iraqi Army troops at a combat outpost about three miles to the south. The squad, in four Humvees, was returning to Sparta heading west along a route the members called Chestnut Road.

A Bomb in the Road

About two miles from their base, an improvised explosive device, or I.E.D., buried in the road exploded under the fourth vehicle, instantly killing Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso. Two other marines, Lance Cpl. James Crossan and Lance Cpl. Salvador Guzman, were seriously injured.

What happened immediately after the bomb hit, and over the next four to five hours as the squad dispersed and called in reinforcements, remains in dispute. Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, the leader of the squad, told his lawyer, Neal A. Puckett, that he had quickly set up a defensive perimeter around the convoy and called in the casualty report. He said he had seen a white car, now usually referred to as a taxi, containing a driver and four young men. The marines suspected that those men were spotters for the bomb.

Several marines approached the car, shouting commands in broken Arabic. According to Sergeant Wuterich's account, the men jumped out of the car and disobeyed orders to stop. The marines shot and killed them.

But residents watching the episode from nearby homes have told contradictory stories.

Some described the men as students on their way to a technical college in Baghdad, and said they had been shot while still sitting in the car. Others said they had been pulled from the car, ordered to lie on the ground and then executed.

According to Mr. Puckett, Sergeant Wuterich and his men believed their rules of engagement permitted them to shoot men of military age running away from the site of an improvised explosive device.

Two people briefed on the investigation said Thursday that evidence gathered on the shooting of the taxi passengers now appeared to be the most at odds with the account given by marines through their lawyers.

One Defense Department official said photographs indicated that the positions of those corpses — and the pooling of their blood — can be viewed as sharply inconsistent with the marines' version that the Iraqi men were shot as they fled.

"We may not know for sure what happened, but it doesn't look like there was any running involved," said the official, who would only discuss the inquiry on the condition of anonymity because the matter remains under investigation.

A second person who has been briefed on the inquiry said that "there was no question" that the taxi shooting "is the most problematic" and that Navy investigators were focusing on the actions of one particular marine in the squad, although no charges had been filed.

The marines have said they believed they were coming under small-arms fire from a house on the south side of the road. A four-man "stack" of marines, led by Sergeant Wuterich, who up to that point had no combat experience but was the senior enlisted man on the scene, broke into the house.

They found no one in the first room, but heard noises behind a door. A marine with experience in the deadly house-to-house fighting in Falluja a year earlier rolled in a grenade and another marine fired blind "clearing rounds" into the room, Mr. Puckett, Sergeant Wuterich's lawyer, said.

The technique is known as "clearing by fire," said a marine who was with a nearby squad that day but who asked not to be identified because his role in the events is under investigation. "You stick the weapon around and spray the room," he said. "It's called prepping the room."

He added: "You've got to do whatever it takes to get home. If it takes clearing by fire where there's civilians, that's it."

Many of the marines in Kilo Company had served on their previous deployment in Falluja, which had largely been cleared of civilians before they entered, and where permissive rules of engagement were in force. But Haditha was a different combat environment, with insurgents intermingled with civilians. In training between the two deployments, marines were taught how to protect civilians, and were instructed on more restrictive combat rules.

Months of Violence

Haditha, deep in Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, had taken a heavy toll in marines that spring and summer. In August, six scout-snipers from an Ohio reserve battalion were ambushed and killed on patrol.

Two days later, 14 more were killed when their amphibious track ran over antitank mines stacked three high. Four others were killed early in a fierce firefight inside a hospital, where insurgents hid behind patients.

"Saying who's a civilian or a 'muj' in Iraq, you really can't," the marine said. "That's how wishy-washy it was. This town did not want us there at all." Mr. Puckett, the lawyer, said that the marines in Haditha believed that they were operating within established rules when they cleared the house.

When the smoke cleared, however, the marines found seven civilians dead, including two women and a 4-year-old boy. Two young children survived the attack by hiding under a bed, the children told reporters later. Another child and an woman escaped.

The marines saw a back door open, Mr. Puckett said, and believed themselves to be in "hot pursuit" of an insurgent gunman. They burst into a second house, using assault rifles and grenades to clear a room, killing eight civilians, including two women and five children ages 3 to 14.

This account, however, does not square with the survivors' recollections and the conclusions of the military's preliminary investigation led by Col. Gregory Watt of the Army.

For several reasons, Colonel Watt does not believe the marines' version is accurate, according to a military official who has been briefed on the investigation but who would not discuss it on the record because it was not yet complete.

Colonel Watt has interviewed more than two dozen people, including all the marines in the First Squad, their reinforcements and Iraqi civilians in Haditha, including the morgue director.

Some marines told Colonel Watt they were let into the houses they entered; others said they conducted forced entries, the military official said. Colonel Watt was also troubled by the fact that marines did not change their tactics after discovering that they had killed unarmed civilians in the first house, the official said. A dozen more civilians were killed after the first encounter.

The wounds of the dead Iraqis, as seen in photographs and viewed by the morgue director, were not consistent with attacks by fragmentation grenades and indiscriminate rifle fire, Colonel Watt found. The civilian survivors said the victims were shot at close range, some while trying to protect their children or praying for their lives. The death certificates Colonel Watt examined were chillingly succinct: well-aimed shots to the head and chest.

Inconsistent Evidence

In addition, if the marines had violently cleared the houses using automatic weapons and fragmentation grenades, there would be lots of damage and bullet marks in the walls. Early investigators said they found no such evidence, although the walls may have been patched before they arrived.

As this was going on, a Marine quick-reaction force was trying to make its way to the bomb site. So was another unit, a nine-man squad led by Sgt. Francis Wolf, a young but experienced combat veteran, and joined by Capt. Lucas McConnell, according to a corporal who was with the group.

Members of this squad gave differing accounts of their actions. One said that they quickly came under fire. "All we knew was, there's a big firefight," one marine in this group told his lawyer, Paul L. Hackett, a major in the Marine Reserves and an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress from Ohio in a special election last fall. "You just heard it everywhere, medium, heavy machine gun fire."

The marine represented by Mr. Hackett added: "This whole section of the city is a kill zone. We're getting shot every time we turn around."

But a corporal from this same group, who had been badly wounded in Falluja but was able to return for a second deployment, said there was intermittent small-arms fire that did not appear to him to be directed at his patrol. The other marine may have been hearing the First Squad's action about 700 yards up the road at the bombing site and thought they were under fire, he suggested.

After clearing the second house, Sergeant Wuterich realized there had been a significant number of civilian deaths, and reported to the platoon's operations center that there had been "collateral damage" from the operations, according to his lawyer. He estimated the dead as 12 to 15 Iraqis. Investigators are looking into whether and how a junior officer, who was monitoring the action from a nearby observation post, passed along the report of civilian casualties.

Before the episode ended, marines killed four more men in a third house, one of whom was armed with an AK-47, according to Mr. Puckett's account. Another squad shot a 45-year-old man who they said appeared to be carrying a weapon, but who actually was using a cane. Groups of marines came to the scene throughout the day to evacuate the wounded and bundle up the dead.

Regrets and Cautions

When they found civilians had been killed, a marine said, Sergeant Wuterich "was pretty torn up about it. He was pretty remorseful." Captain McConnell, the same marine said, refused a request later that day to have a tank fire on a house considered threatening, saying: "There could be women and children. We've had enough women and children die today."

The next day, the Marines issued a press release stating that 15 Iraqi civilians had been killed in a bombing in Haditha and that marines had killed 8 insurgents after they opened fire on Kilo Company. That statement has not been corrected or retracted.

About a dozen enlisted marines, including Sergeant Wuterich and Sergeant Wolf, who engaged in or witnessed the shootings are under investigation for possible charges ranging from dereliction of duty to murder. A number of their superiors, up to the division level, are also under scrutiny for failing to report the events accurately and respond appropriately.

Two mid-level officers, including Captain McConnell, have already been relieved, for reasons not yet made public.

Gary Myers, a lawyer who has been retained by a marine under investigation in the Haditha shooting, said he had been told by his client that the marines were operating within existing regulations. Mr. Myers suggested that responsibility should be placed on the commanders who approved those rules of engagement, and not on the soldiers on the ground at Haditha. "I don't want to see these marines isolated and vilified," he said.

John M. Broder reported from Los Angeles and Camp Pendleton, Calif., for this article; David S. Cloud, Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker from Washington; John Kifner from Cincinnati; and Carolyn Marshall from Camp Pendleton.

    Contradictions Cloud Inquiry Into 24 Iraqi Deaths, NYT, 17.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/17/world/middleeast/17haditha.html?hp&ex=1150603200&en=d24949f9866653f5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Pentagon Study Describes Abuse by Units in Iraq

June 17, 2006
The New York Times
By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, June 16 — United States Special Operations troops employed a set of harsh, unauthorized interrogation techniques against detainees in Iraq during a four-month period in early 2004, long after approval for their use was rescinded, according to a Pentagon inquiry released Friday.

The investigation is the last of 12 major inquiries to be made public that focus on allegations of detainee abuse by American personnel in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the first to focus on Special Operations troops, who operate with more latitude than other military units. It detailed harsh treatment that continued at isolated bases even after the abuses first surfaced at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Special Operations interrogators gave some detainees only bread or crackers and water if they did not cooperate, according to the investigation, by Brig. Gen. Richard P. Formica of the Army. One prisoner was fed only bread and water for 17 days. Other detainees were locked for as many as seven days in cells so small that they could neither stand nor lie down, while interrogators played loud music that disrupted their sleep.

The inquiry also determined that some detainees were stripped naked, drenched with water and then interrogated in air-conditioned rooms or in cold weather. General Formica said it appeared that members of the Navy Seals had used that technique in the case of one detainee who died after questioning in Mosul in 2004, but he reported that he had no specific allegations that the use of the technique was related to that death.

Despite the findings, General Formica recommended that none of the service members be disciplined, saying what they did was wrong but not deliberate abuse. He faulted "inadequate policy guidance" rather than "personal failure" for the mistreatment, and cited the dangerous environment in which Special Operations forces carried out their missions. He said that, from his observations, none of the detainees seemed to be the worse for wear because of the treatment. "Seventeen days with only bread and water is too long," the general concluded. But he added that the military command's surgeon general had advised him "it would take longer than 17 days to develop a protein or vitamin deficiency from a diet of bread and water."

General Formica's review focused on the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Arabian Peninsula, which included soldiers from the Army's Fifth and 10th Special Forces Groups. It did not cover the actions in Iraq of more highly classified Special Operations units, including Delta Force and some Navy Seal groups, or other specialized units including Task Force 6-26, a subject of extensive allegations of misconduct that were reported by The New York Times in March. General Formica recommended eight changes, including more training for Special Operations interrogators, minimum standards for detention conditions and new policies regulating the use of indigenous forces who worked with those in Special Operations. Pentagon officials said Friday that all eight had been carried out.

General Formica said that the Special Operations forces mistakenly used 5 of 12 interrogation techniques between February and May 2004 that Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, then the top commander in Iraq, had withdrawn in October 2003 because military lawyers had found they were too harsh. "It is regrettable," General Formica said in an interview at the Pentagon with three reporters on Friday. "But they were erroneously given the wrong policy."

General Sanchez had approved the harsher techniques, like blaring loud music and using military dogs to frighten Iraqi captives, in September 2003. But confusion over use of the techniques became widespread, even after they were barred a month later except when approved by General Sanchez. Many of the American captors at the Abu Ghraib prison have also said they believed the techniques were authorized, even without General Sanchez's approval.

The report made public on Friday was a heavily redacted copy of the 75-page classified document that General Formica completed 20 months ago. Members of Congress were briefed on it about a year ago. The Pentagon had refused requests since then from The New York Times and other news organizations to provide a declassified version of it. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had promised that declassified versions of all major inquiries would be made public, but this one was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Senior Defense Department officials said General Formica's review was not intended to be a wide-ranging evaluation of Special Operations' detention and interrogation practices. General Formica conducted interviews regarding three separate episodes of alleged detainee abuse involving Special Operations, some of them referred from another Army inquiry by Maj. Gen. George R. Fay. General Formica also reviewed the findings of seven other instances that had been previously investigated.

General Formica said there was no physical or medical evidence to substantiate allegations by several members of an Iraqi family that American interrogators at Abu Ghraib in December 2003 had beaten and slapped them, and then sodomized them with a water bottle. In addition, he said, the family members were known to be insurgent sympathizers. In a second case, General Formica said two Iraqi detainees at a safe house in April 2004 were fed only bread and water for 13 and 17 days, respectively. But he said allegations that a former Iraqi policeman and an Iraqi-born Lebanese interpreter, both working with the Americans, had beaten and kicked them were unsubstantiated.

General Formica found that in the third case at a Special Operations outpost, near Tikrit, in April and May 2004, three detainees were held in cells 4 feet high, 4 feet long and 20 inches wide, except to use the bathroom, to be washed or to be interrogated. He concluded that two days in such confinement "would be reasonable; five to seven days would not." Two of the detainees were held for seven days; one for two days, General Formica concluded.

Of the seven other previously investigated cases, General Formica concluded that allegations in two were unfounded and that one did not involve Special Operations, the report said. In two other cases, investigations were still pending when General Formica completed his report in November 2004. A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, said Friday that those inquiries had been completed, but that he would not comment on their findings.

General Formica said in the interview on Friday that he believed that the Special Operations troops thought they were following authorized procedures, and corrected them after he pointed out their error. "I didn't find cruel and malicious criminals that are out there looking for detainees to abuse," he said.

    Pentagon Study Describes Abuse by Units in Iraq, NYT, 17.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/17/washington/17formica.html?hp&ex=1150603200&en=5943f444831cfd1e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Military loosens conditions on Marines in brig

Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:43 PM ET
The New York Times
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military has loosened the conditions under which it is confining seven Marines and a Navy corpsman as it investigates the fatal shooting of an Iraqi civilian in April, the U.S. Marine Corps said on Friday.

The service members, held in pretrial confinement at the Camp Pendleton brig in California since May 24, had been in "maximum" custody, restrained with handcuffs attached to a leather belt and leg cuffs any time leaving their cells, officials said.

The base said in a statement that has been changed to "medium-in" custody with no such restraints while inside the brig facility. Any time outside the brig, however, they will be restrained with handcuffs attached to a leather belt. They now also will get visits on weekends and holidays and one hour of daily recreation without restraint, the base said.

In the April 26 incident in the town of Hamdania, military criminal investigators are examining whether the Marines and corpsman fatally shot a 52-year-old disabled Iraqi man in the face, then planted a rifle and a shovel next to his body to make it appear he was an insurgent placing a roadside bomb.

Defense lawyers have said they expect the military to file murder and kidnapping charges, and say investigators have threatened them with the death penalty.

The military initially misidentified the town where the shooting took place as Hamandiyah but has since corrected it.

It is a separate case from the November 19 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha in which other Marines are suspected.

    Military loosens conditions on Marines in brig, NYT, 16.6.2006, http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-06-17T024257Z_01_N16303741_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-MARINES.xml

Congress Erupts in Partisan Fight Over War in Iraq

June 16, 2006
The New York Times
By ROBIN TONER and KATE ZERNIKE

WASHINGTON, June 15 — The House and the Senate engaged in angry, intensely partisan debate on Thursday over the war in Iraq, as Republicans sought to rally support for the Bush administration's policies and exploit Democratic divisions in an election year shadowed by unease over the war.

It was one of the sharpest legislative clashes yet over the three-year-old conflict, and it came after three days in which President Bush and his aides had sought to portray Iraq as moving gradually toward a stable, functioning democracy, and to portray Democrats as lacking the will to see the conflict through to victory.

In the House, lawmakers moved toward a vote on a Republican resolution promising to "complete the mission" in Iraq, prevail in the global fight against terrorism and oppose any "arbitrary date for withdrawal." In the Senate, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to shelve an amendment calling on the United States to withdraw most troops by the end of this year, although Democrats vowed to revisit the debate next week.

Both actions were carefully engineered by the Republicans in charge, and for the moment put both chambers on a path to rejecting Congressional timetables for withdrawal .

House Republicans asserted that their resolution was essential to assure American troops and the world that the United States was behind the war in Iraq and the broader struggle against terrorism.

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois opened the formal debate on a war that, the government announced Thursday, had claimed the lives of 2,500 American troops. "It is a battle we must endure and one in which we can and will be victorious," he said of the fight in Iraq and beyond. "The alternative would be to cut and run and wait for them to regroup and bring the terror back to our shores."

He said the American troops in Iraq knew their cause was noble. "It is time for this House of Representatives to tell the world that we know it, too, that we know our cause is right and that we are proud of it." Democrats, divided over the wisdom of the war but more or less united in condemning Mr. Bush's management of it, countered that the Republican resolution was a political ploy, "a press release for staying the course in Iraq," as Representative Jane Harman, Democrat of California, put it.

At the start of the debate, Representative Ike Skelton, Democrat of Missouri, asked for a moment of silence to recognize the 2,500 American military deaths in Iraq. Many lawmakers talked about visiting the troops, in Iraq and in hospitals, and about the toll in death and suffering.

Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat and Vietnam War veteran whose call for a speedy withdrawal of troops transformed the debate last year, rose repeatedly to tell Republicans, "Rhetoric does not solve the problem." He added: "We need a plan. It's not enough to say stay the course."

Referring to the sectarian violence cleaving Iraq, Mr. Murtha said, "They're fighting each other, and our troops are caught in between." The House, which debated the resolution for more than 11 hours on Thursday, is scheduled to vote on it on Friday. The Senate debate will continue into next week.

Five months before the November elections, partisan passions ran high. Republicans argued repeatedly that their Democratic opponents lacked the toughness to confront terrorism, returning to themes that they used successfully in 2004. "Many, but not all, on the other side of the aisle lack the will to win," said Representative Charlie Norwood, Republican of Georgia. "The American people need to know precisely who they are." He said: "It is time to stand up and vote. Is it Al Qaeda, or is it America?"

Democrats countered, at times with barely controlled fury. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, described the war "as a grotesque mistake." She and others said Congressional Republicans were simply trying to "trap" Democrats, not engage them in a true debate. The resolution Republicans offered could not be amended, but only voted up or down.

Democrats in the Senate cried foul when Republicans forced a vote on a withdrawal amendment originally developed by Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. Mr. Kerry had held off from seeking a vote on it, while working with other Democrats to seek a broader consensus. But Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican whip, simply scratched out Mr. Kerry's name, replaced it with his own and offered it for debate. Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, characterized the amendment as "cutting and running."

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, one of many Senate Democrats who oppose Mr. Kerry's amendment, rose to declare, "There are two things that don't exist in Iraq: cutting and running, and weapons of mass destruction." Mr. Reid moved to remove the amendment from consideration, and his motion was approved by a vote of 93 to 6. Senate Democrats promised to return next week with additional amendments on an exit strategy for American troops.

Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, portrayed the vote to table the amendment as a declaration of support for the fledgling Iraqi government. "This sends a good message that the United States government opposes, overwhelmingly, a cut-and-run strategy."

But Democrats said the vote was just a political game. "It's just kind of a jump-ball, stick-it-to-them kind of thing," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.

Democrats have been divided over a deadline for the withdrawal of American troops. Last November, they rallied around legislation, which passed in an overwhelming bipartisan vote, that declared 2006 should be a "year of significant transition" in Iraq. In both chambers, Democrats have been trying to arrive at language that goes beyond that, but stops short of a firm deadline.

In a highly unusual attempt to influence the debate, the Pentagon sent a 74-page "prep book" to several members of Congress, outlining what it called "rapid response" talking points to rebut criticism of Mr. Bush's handling of the war and prewar intelligence. The Pentagon sent the book to Democratic leaders on Wednesday night, apparently in error, then sent an e-mail message two hours later asking to recall it.

The resolution under debate in the House declares that the United States and its allies are "engaged in a global war on terror, a long and demanding struggle against an adversary that is driven by hatred of American values and that is committed to imposing, by the use of terror, its repressive ideology throughout the world." It also declares that "the terrorists have declared Iraq to be the central front in their war against all who oppose their ideology."

Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, asserted that "the war in Afghanistan was the response to the terrorist attacks" — not the war in Iraq.

The combination of the popular and unpopular in this resolution — support for the troops, combined with an endorsement of the administration's policy and a rejection of any withdrawal deadline — left many Democrats in a bind as they headed toward Friday's vote. But some Democrats argued that it left Republicans in a bind, too, committed to an open-ended presence in Iraq.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting for this article.

    Congress Erupts in Partisan Fight Over War in Iraq, NYT, 16.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/washington/16cong.html?hp&ex=1150516800&en=32cb688fdc46e41a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Excerpts From the Debate in Congress About the War in Iraq

June 16, 2006
The New York Times

Excerpts of remarks made by the House Speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, at the beginning of the debate Thursday on a resolution about the Iraq war:

"This resolution is about more than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is about a global war to protect American ideals, and the democracy and values on which this great nation was founded. This resolution, Mr. Speaker, like this war itself, is about freedom.

"Just 12 days ago I returned from Iraq. I can tell this House that the morale of our fighting men and women there is sky high. They are not suffering from doubt and 'second guessing.' And they certainly are not interested in the political posturing about the war that often goes on in this city. They know why they are there. They know they are liberators doing good and they believe passionately in their mission. It is not possible to talk to these men and women without being inspired by their courage, their determination, their professionalism, and their patriotism.

"I came home from Iraq believing even more strongly, that it is not enough for this House to say, 'We Support Our Troops.' To the men and women in the field, in harms way, that statement rings hollow if we don't also say we support their mission...

"While I was in Iraq, I met with Prime Minister al-Maliki as well as my counterpart, the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament. We talked about the birth of democracy in Iraq.

"I looked the Speaker in the eye and I said, 'Mr. Speaker, I admire you. The Iraqi people represent an ancient civilization, but your democracy is just beginning. Your challenges are great but so too are your opportunities.'

"I urged the Iraqi people to look forward and not back; to listen to the voices of reconciliation, not division; I urged them to choose unity. They told me that they were succeeding in putting together a Unity Cabinet, and shortly after my return they announced the names of the last three ministers that deal with critical security issues.

"Each Iraqi official I met with, even the Iraqi Speaker, who originally viewed the US presence in Iraq negatively, thanked me for the help America has given their country. He went further and urged us to stay with them while they build up the capacity to take over the task of providing security for their people.

"Today in Iraq we are working together with Iraqi patriots, men and women elected by their fellow citizens. Along with brave Iraqi soldiers and police, we are moving toward the day when the Iraqi government on its own has the strength to protect their people; a day when our men and women and their coalition partners, can come home. The 'stand up' of this new Iraqi government, which is the fruit of three elections where Iraqi citizens held up their ink stained fingers and resisted intimidation, brings us closer to that day.

"President Bush told us from the beginning that this road would not be easy. We have lost many American lives and each one is precious to us. Our fighting men and women remain committed to the effort. Active duty retention and recruiting is meeting or exceeding all objectives. We are making progress toward our goal but the battle is not over. It is a battle we must endure and one in which we can and will be victorious. The alternative would be to cut and run and wait for them to regroup and bring the terror back to our shores.

"When our freedom is challenged, Americans do not run. 'Freedom is the very essence of our nation,' President Reagan said in 1990 when a section of the Berlin Wall was presented to his Presidential Library. He continued, 'But even with our troubles we remain a beacon of hope for oppressed peoples everywhere.' President Reagan also observed that freedom is not passed on at birth. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on and that is happening. Freedom is being handed on. Our soldiers, sailors, coastguardsmen, airmen and marines are serving proudly and bravely in harsh conditions, far from their families.

"When I was there, I told them their task was important and how proud we all were of their service. But frankly, our men and women in uniform did not need to be told. In fact, it is we who should listen to them.

"They know their sacrifices on foreign shores are keeping the battle against the terrorists out of our cities. They know that by going into harms way, they are keeping American freedoms safe. They know they are helping a proud but brutalized people to throw off tyranny and stand tall once again. They know they are liberators not occupiers. Our men and women in uniform know all this and they are proud of it. It is time for this House of Representatives to tell the world that we know it too, that we know our cause is right and that we are proud of it.

"Stand up for Freedom, adopt this resolution."

Excerpts of the prepared text of a statement by Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the House Democratic Whip, in opposition to the Republicans' Iraq resolution:

"This year — 2006 — should be a year of transition in Iraq. And, it is my expectation that the United States will be able to reduce the American troop deployment over the ensuing months and transfer the risks and responsibilities to the duly-elected government of Iraq.

"Today, it is regrettable that this Republican majority seeks to exploit the critical issue of national security for political advantage. The resolution before us — like the Hunter Resolution that was debated last December — was drafted solely for political reasons. As Majority Leader Boehner explained, its purpose is an opportunity to create 'a portrait of contrasts between Republicans and Democrats.' For our country's sake and for our troops' sake, the majority should have offered a resolution that sought unity, rather than division.

"There are provisions in this resolution, of course, with which all of us agree. I, for one, strongly share the resolve to prevail in the war on terror. However, this resolution misstates the facts about why the Bush Administration instigated our military action against the Hussein regime in 2003. It paints a picture of Iraq today that does not comport with the reality on the ground. And, it ignores the fundamental responsibility of this Congress to conduct meaningful oversight of the Administration's conduct of this war.

"The political motivations underlying this Resolution have been laid bare, and thus I will be forced to vote 'no.' The American people will not be deceived by this exercise today..."

    Excerpts From the Debate in Congress About the War in Iraq, NYT, 16.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/washington/16cong-text.html

In a briefing in Baghdad today, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, a military spokesman,
identified Mr. Zarqawi's probable successor as Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

Karim Kadim/Associated Press        NYT        June 15, 2006

 U.S. Portrayal Helps Flesh Out Zarqawi's Heir        NYT        16.6.2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/world/middleeast/16iraq.html
 

U.S. Portrayal Helps Flesh Out Zarqawi's Heir

June 16, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 15 — American military officers on Thursday put a face on the new chief of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, releasing a photograph and details of the man they say succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after he was killed in an airstrike last week.

In a news briefing, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the American military spokesman here, identified Mr. Zarqawi's successor as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian who he said had trained in one of the terrorist camps in Afghanistan run by Al Qaeda in 1999.

Mr. Masri, he said, was a "founding member" of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and had become one of Mr. Zarqawi's "closest remaining associates." The group is believed to be responsible for dozens of suicide attacks and car bombings across Iraq that have killed thousands of Iraqi civilians.

General Caldwell said Mr. Masri — the name means "the Egyptian" in Arabic — was the same person as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, whom Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia declared as its new leader in an Internet posting this week. Both names are thought to be pseudonyms. Shortly after Mr. Zarqawi was killed, American officials predicted that Mr. Masri was the likely successor.

In the photograph released Thursday, the man the Americans claim to be Mr. Masri is wearing a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arabic headwear, and sporting a wispy mustache and goatee. He seems a young man, perhaps in his late 20's, and he is not smiling. He is staring directly into the camera, as if sitting for a passport photograph. American officials said they believed Mr. Masri to be in his late 30's, suggesting that the photograph is old.

The Americans said Mr. Masri joined the Egyptian militant group Islamic Jihad in 1982 and went to Afghanistan in 1999 to train in the Farouq militant camp, where he learned about explosives.

Islamic Jihad was headed by Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor who later became Osama bin Laden's deputy in Al Qaeda. The Farouq camp, set up by Mr. Zawahiri and Mr. bin Laden, was one of the main Qaeda training camps before it was bombed by the United States in October 2001.

General Caldwell said he was not sure whether Mr. Masri had developed a relationship with either Mr. Zawahiri or Mr. bin Laden.

But, the general said, it was in Afghanistan that Mr. Masri developed a relationship with Mr. Zarqawi.

Mr. Masri, he said, came to Iraq in early 2003 and helped to set up the original cell in Baghdad of what later became Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. More recently, Mr. Masri was a senior operational commander for the group, supplying suicide bombers and car bombs. He was responsible for all operations in southern Iraq, General Caldwell said.

Mr. Masri is believed to be operating in Baghdad, he said.

The link between Mr. Masri and Mr. Zawahiri is intriguing, in part because of a letter that American officials captured last year that they said they believed was written by Mr. Zawahiri to Mr. Zarqawi. In that letter, Mr. Zawahiri, believed to be hiding along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, questioned Mr. Zarqawi's emphasis on killing Shiite civilians, suggesting that such killings alienated Iraqis and detracted from the larger goal of driving out the Americans.

That raises the possibility that the leadership of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia could be contemplating a change in tactics.

Earlier this week, a man identifying himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer — who the Americans believe is Mr. Masri — issued a statement through a jihadi Internet site pledging to continue attacks against "crusaders and Shiites."

Still, American officials said they believed that Mr. Zarqawi's death had disrupted the leadership of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and that a struggle for control of the organization might be under way.

General Caldwell suggested that others in the organization might be challenging Mr. Masri, including Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Mujahedeen Shura, or Council of Holy Warriors, an organization that claims to oversee Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and several other militant groups.

"As we continue looking at the Al Qaeda network, there is no question that it is in some kind of disarray and disorganization at this point," General Caldwell said.

The Iraqi government released what it said was a document drawn up by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia that showed the difficulties being endured by insurgents in Iraq. The document called for efforts to sabotage America's relationship with Iraq's Shiites — and to start a war between America and Iran — to salvage the prospects of the insurgency.

The document said the insurgency was being weakened by the American program to train Iraqi security forces, as well as "massive attacks and arrests," the disruption of insurgents' financial networks and the launching of a propaganda campaign that was prompting Iraqis to believe that the insurgents were acting against the public interest.

"Time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance," the document said.

"We mean specifically attempting to escalate the tension between America and Iran, and America and the Shiites in Iraq," the document said.

There was no way to verify the authenticity of the document. General Caldwell said it came from a "mass storage device" discovered in a raid carried out before the airstrike on Mr. Zarqawi.

In Washington, White House officials played down reports out of Iraq that as a way to promote unity, the new government would consider granting amnesty to those who had attacked American troops.

During a news briefing with reporters on Thursday, Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, urged patience, noting that the Iraqis were still working through their unification plan.

"They have talked of steps to try and get people into the — to lay down their arms and come into the political process," he said.

"They've talked about dealing with the issue of militia," he added. "They've talked about a kind of truth and reconciliation commission on the approach of South Africa, and they've talked about amnesty. But that's kind of the level of discussion."

For the first time, American officers offered a detailed timeline of the airstrike that killed Mr. Zarqawi. Though the Americans declined to discuss the details, the sequence of events suggested the presence of a mole inside Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia who tipped off the Americans about Mr. Zarqawi's location inside the house where he was killed.

According to the timeline, a critical moment leading up the attack came at 4:18 p.m., about two hours before the airstrike. That was when a vehicle containing two people pulled up to an unidentified Iraqi house near the one in Hibhib where Mr. Zarqawi was waiting. One of the people in the vehicle was Sheik Abd al-Rahman, Mr. Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, whom the Americans had been tracking. Mr. Rahman went inside.

Five minutes later, another vehicle arrived at the same house. The identities of those in the second car were not disclosed. But, according to the timeline, Mr. Rahman drove away 23 minutes later to meet Mr. Zarqawi.

The first meeting at the undisclosed location, General Caldwell said, was the main tip-off that Mr. Rahman would soon be going to see Mr. Zarqawi, the Americans' ultimate target.

The purpose of this first meeting, it appears, was for Mr. Rahman to be told of Mr. Zarqawi's exact location, and whether it would be safe to go there. Until that time, it is unlikely that Mr. Rahman even knew where Mr. Zarqawi was.

"This is the first time where we saw Rahman move to a meeting location, moving from his vehicle inside another place," General Caldwell said. "That was a movement along a path that eventually took him to the safe house."

Fourteen minutes after leaving the first house, Mr. Rahman arrived at the house in Hibhib, where Mr. Zarqawi was waiting for him. He got out of his vehicle and walked inside.

The meeting went on for about 45 minutes, officials said, when an unidentified vehicle left the safe house with two passengers. Mr. Zarqawi and Mr. Rahman were still inside.

Shortly thereafter, the Americans ordered an F-16 pilot to drop two 500-pound bombs on the house, killing Mr. Zarqawi, Mr. Rahman and four others, including a young girl.

Asked whether the vehicle that left the house before the airstrike contained the mole, General Caldwell offered an intriguing answer.

"We have been asked not to talk about any of the individuals who left the place, or where they may have ended up or where they are today," he said.

John F. Burns contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article, and Scott Shane and Jim Rutenberg from Washington.

    U.S. Portrayal Helps Flesh Out Zarqawi's Heir, NYT, 16.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/16/world/middleeast/16iraq.html

After Iraq Visit, Bush Urges Patience

June 14, 2006
The New York Times
By CHRISTINE HAUSER

Just hours after he returned from a surprise visit to Baghdad, President Bush said today that more "sacrifice and patience" would be needed from the American people as United States troops stay in Iraq to support the new government there and to continue to fight the insurgency.

He also said the new Iraqi government was concerned that "America will lose its nerve" in Iraq, and he warned that an early withdrawal of American troops would be a major setback to the fight against terrorism.

The message from Mr. Bush today suggested that although certain milestones have been achieved in Iraq, including elections, the formation of the new government and the killing of the most-wanted terrorist leader in the country, the American mission now included broader measurements of success, such as helping the new government "sustain", "govern" and "defend" itself, words that he repeated several times during the White House news conference.

Mr. Bush said that a key issue still remained about whether Iraqis were capable of standing up to the job before American troops could be drawn down.

"Our policy is stand up, stand down," but not too soon, Mr. Bush said. "We will support this Iraq government."

He said the policy of the United States was to "help them succeed."

Mr. Bush arrived back in Washington early this morning. He told reporters he was fighting fatigue from jet lag. But as he spoke at the podium at the White House, he forcefully gestured when he made his points, while several times he tried to engage reporters, commenting about one man's sunglasses or praising another reporter, apparently not a regular at the briefing, for his question.

Mr. Bush's news conference today was another big-ticket appearance in what has been now a days-long, orchestrated attempt by the White House to seize on the recent news in Iraq — the killing of the terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, last week and the final formation of the government — and turn it to its advantage.

Mr. Bush's visit to Iraq on Tuesday came in the middle of what the White House had billed as a two-day "war summit" at Camp David. And the president's briefing today, in the Rose Garden, was announced just a couple of hours before it began.

The moves come as Republicans sharpen their attacks on Democrats over the war, accusing them of wanting to "cut and run" in the face of a tough enemy.

Mr. Bush said that the recent debate about troop withdrawals was part of American society, but that it worried Iraqis because American forces provided a "sense of stability."

"No question there are concerns about whether or not the United States will stand with this government, and I can understand why." he said.

"And I'm concerned that an enemy will hear the wrong message. And then I'm also concerned that there are people inside Iraq who have yet to make up their mind as to whether or not they want to help this government succeed, or maybe, just maybe America will lose its nerve, and therefore, something else — a new team may show up," Mr. Bush said.

"And so I made it very clear to the Iraqis — and I'm going to make it clear to them again right here — that we're going — we'll stay with them and help them succeed."

Republicans in the House of Representatives are planning to introduce a resolution this week declaring Iraq a central part of "the global war on terror" and criticizing any move to set "an arbitrary date" for the withdrawal of American forces.

The proposed resolution comes as Democrats are having an intensive debate over a party position on the war.

This week, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts is calling for a withdrawal of most American combat troops by the end of the year, combined with a summit meeting to find a political and diplomatic solution to Iraqi's internal strife.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, was booed and met with shouts of "bring them home" from an audience of liberal Democrats here on Tuesday when she argued against setting such a deadline.

Mr. Bush used his news conference today to outline his strategy going forward, saying that "progress is hard to see" in Iraq. It was one thing, Mr. Bush said, to say that the United States "got" Mr. Zarqawi, and another to meet the new Iraqi prime minister and believe he can make the right decisions. He also said, "Don't count on us leaving before the mission is complete."

Mr. Bush said that in his talks with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and his cabinet, the two sides discussed ways that the United States could help the new government. He said that Mr. Maliki wanted to improve Iraq's judicial system and that American justice officials would help them.

The United States Treasury Department is sending teams of experts to help Iraq's system become accountable and transparent, Mr. Bush said, while the secretary of agriculture will also play a role in Iraq's broader goal of economic reconstruction.

Mr. Bush also mentioned several times that Iraqi electricity networks needed to be fully functioning, and that the United States would continue in that endeavor.

American troops are keeping up the pressure on foreign fighters and Iraqi insurgents, while also taking part in the first phase of a security plan by Mr. Maliki in Baghdad today, the president said.

Jim Rutenberg contributed reporting from Washington for this article.

    After Iraq Visit, Bush Urges Patience, NYT, 14.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/world/middleeast/14cnd-prexy.html?hp&ex=1150344000&en=d081d31973dc6fa0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

U.S. General Rebuts Account on Zarqawi Beating

June 12, 2006
The New York Times
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 11 — The top American commander in Iraq on Sunday rejected as "baloney" an account by an Iraqi witness who said a dying man resembling Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader, had been beaten by American troops after warplanes demolished Mr. Zarqawi's safe house with a pair of bombs on Wednesday evening.

The air assault north of Baghdad in the village of Hibhib, near Baquba, was quick and fierce, but did not immediately kill Mr. Zarqawi. The American military now says he died as troops were trying to save him, after initially saying they found him dead when they arrived.

"Our soldiers who came on the scene found him being put in an ambulance by the Iraqi police, they took him off, rendered first aid, and he expired," the American commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., said on "Fox News Sunday." He said Mr. Zarqawi "died while American soldiers were attempting to save his life."

In Hibhib, a neighbor who gave his name as Muhammad said that after the second bomb was dropped, he rushed to the home and helped to drag a heavyset man, who he now believes was Mr. Zarqawi, away from the rubble. "He was still alive," said Muhammad, who had given similar accounts to other news organizations.

A few minutes later, he said, the Iraqi police loaded the man into an ambulance, and American troops arrived soon after that, taking the man out of the ambulance and putting him on a stretcher and clearing all Iraqis away. The Americans demanded to know the man's name, and then one struck him with his rifle butt, Muhammad said. The Americans loaded the body of Mr. Zarqawi and several others into helicopters and flew away, he said.

Asked about the allegation of a beating, General Casey said, "The way I respond to the comments of the alleged Iraqi who saw what went on there is, that's baloney, and we've already gone back, looked at it." He also said "the idea that there were people there beating him is just ludicrous."

Another person who identified himself as a witness to Mr. Zarqawi's final moments, interviewed Sunday on Al Jazeera satellite network, made no mention of soldiers striking the man and suggested that American soldiers tore open his clothing in what appeared an effort to revive him.

"The Americans came afterward, they took him out of the ambulance, put him on the ground, and ripped his dishdasha," the witness, Ali Abbas, said in the interview on Al Jazeera. "They were pressing on his chest, wanting him to speak or to respond, and they brought a bottle of water but he didn't take it."

Mr. Abbas also said the Americans handcuffed the police on the scene, took their shirts off and searched them.

American officials finished their autopsy on Mr. Zarqawi on Sunday and said they would release results on Monday. The senior American military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, has said that Mr. Zarqawi's wounds "were not superficial wounds at all," but that there were no gunshot wounds.

General Caldwell has also said he did not know if Mr. Zarqawi had been inside or outside the house when the bombs were dropped — a missing piece of information that could help explain why he was able to survive blasts that killed five other people inside.

Mr. Zarqawi's death did not appear to slow the pace of mayhem in the country. Nearly 40 people were killed in violence on Sunday, including 7 Iraqi soldiers and a civilian who died when a suicide car bomber attacked a checkpoint near Baquba, The Associated Press reported.

The group formerly headed by Mr. Zarqawi, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, vowed in a statement issued with other insurgent groups to "prepare for big operations" that will "shake the enemy." The statement did not say whether the group had decided on a new leader, but it did vow allegiance to Osama bin Laden, saying "his soldiers in Iraq" will bring him joy.

On CNN, the Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, called the statement a "propaganda ploy."

"They're trying to make up for the huge loss and the disorientation they're suffering from, because there is a huge vacuum of power now within Al Qaeda," Mr. Rubaie said on "Late Edition."

In the southeastern city of Amara, one British soldier and several Iraqis were wounded when British forces fought a gun battle with local guerrillas early on Sunday.

According to a British military spokesman, mortars struck the British camp around 2 a.m., and troops drove into the city to arrest those responsible. They came under fire and fired back, said the spokesman, Maj. Sebastian Muntz, hitting a number of Iraqis. Reuters quoted an Iraqi police official as saying five Iraqis were killed.

The soldiers began to return to their base, but an armored personnel carrier got stuck in a ditch, and one soldier was wounded, while they worked to pull it out, Major Muntz said. The soldier is expected to survive, he said.

Reporting for this article was contributed by John F. Burns, Khalid W. Hassan, Mona Mahmoud, Sahar Nageeb and Sabrina Tavernise.

    U.S. General Rebuts Account on Zarqawi Beating, NYT, 12.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/world/middleeast/12iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Lawyer: Marine denies Haditha massacre

Updated 6/11/2006 8:42 AM ET
USA Today

WASHINGTON (AP) — The lawyer for a sergeant who led a squad of Marines during an incident that left civilians dead in Haditha, Iraq, says his client insists his unit was following military rules of engagement, did not intentionally target any civilians and did not try to cover up what it had done.

No one has yet been charged in the Haditha case, which centers on allegations that a small number of Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment killed 24 Iraqi civilians — included unarmed women and children — on Nov. 19 after a roadside bomb in the town killed one of their fellow Marines.

Neal A. Puckett told The Washington Post in a story for Sunday's editions that Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told him several civilians were killed when his squad pursued insurgents firing at them from inside a house after the bombing.

He quoted the sergeant as describing to him a house-to-house hunt that went wrong in the midst of a confusing battlefield, but denying any vengeful massacre.

"It will forever be his position that everything they did that day was following their rules of engagement and to protect the lives of Marines," Puckett told the newspaper. "He's really upset that people believe that he and his Marines are even capable of intentionally killing innocent civilians."

The Post characterized Wuterich's version of what happened at Haditha as the first public account from a Marine who was on the ground when the shootings occurred, which it said has led to an investigation looking into possible murder charges against a half dozen Marines.

A separate investigation is examining whether Marines tried to cover up the shootings and whether commanders were negligent in failing to investigate the deaths when they were reported to them.

Haditha residents have said innocent civilians were executed, including some who begged for their lives before being shot.

But Puckett said Wuterich told him in initial interviews over nearly 12 hours last week that the shootings were the unfortunate result of a sweep for enemies in a firefight.

The Post said lawyers for two other Marines involved in the incident say Wuterich's account is consistent with what their clients have told them.

Gary Myers, an attorney for a Marine who was with Wuterich that day but not further identified, told the Post the Marines followed standard procedures when clearing houses, using fragmentation grenades and gunshots to respond to a perceived threat.

"I can confirm that that version of events is consistent with our position on this case," Myers told the Post. "What this case comes down to is: What were the rules of engagement, and were they followed?"

Kevin B. McDermott, who is representing Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, the company commander who was relieved of duty after the incident, told the Post that Wuterich and other Marines informed McConnell on the day of the incident that at least 15 civilians were killed by "a mixture of small-arms fire and shrapnel as result of grenades" after the Marines responded to an attack from a house.

The lawyer told the paper McConnell told him that he had reported the high number of civilian deaths to his superiors that afternoon and that within a few days the battalion's intelligence chief gave a PowerPoint presentation to higher-up Marine commanders.

"Everywhere up the chain, they had ample access to this thing," McDermott said.

Puckett gave this account to the Post, based on his interview with Wuterich:

Immediately after the roadside bomb, Marines noticed a car full of "military-aged men" near the bomb site who ran when ordered to stop. Marines opened fire, killing four or five men.

The unit subsequently came under fire and a corporal identified the shots as coming from a specific house. A four-man team, including Wuterich, kicked in the door and found a series of empty rooms before hearing people behind one door. They kicked that one in, tossed a fragmentation grenade into the room and one Marine fired a series of rounds through dust and smoke, killing several people.

Even though they realized they had killed men, women and children, they saw a back door ajar and believed insurgents had moved to a second house. The Marines moved to the second house, kicking in the door, killing one man inside and then using another grenade and more gunfire to clear another room full of people.

Still having not found the insurgents, Wuterich told his team to stop and headed back to reassess the situation with his platoon leader, realizing that a number of civilians had just been killed.

    Lawyer: Marine denies Haditha massacre, UT, 11.6.2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-10-marine-haditha_x.htm

Terrorists Trained by Zarqawi Went Abroad, Jordan Says

June 11, 2006
The New York Times
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and SCOTT SHANE

AMMAN, Jordan, June 10 — At the time of his death, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was still trying to transform his organization from one focused on the Iraqi insurgency into a global operation capable of striking far beyond Iraq's borders, intelligence experts here and in the West agree.

His recruiting efforts, according to high-ranking Jordanian security officials interviewed Saturday, were threefold: He sought volunteers to fight in Iraq and others to become suicide bombers there, but he also recruited about 300 who went to Iraq for terrorist training and sent them back to their home countries, where they await orders to carry out strikes.

There have been scattered reports that Iraq had become a training ground, but Jordan's assessment was the first to offer firm numbers.

Of a range of intelligence experts in the United States, Europe and Jordan interviewed about Mr. Zarqawi's reach, only the Jordanians offered such detail.

Counterterrorism officials in the United States said that they, too, had seen a flow of terrorists into Iraq from other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, seeking training under Mr. Zarqawi and his associates.

But they said that they believed the "bleed out" of people trained and sent home to await orders was probably significantly lower than 300.

Steven Simon, a former National Security Council staff member now at the Council on Foreign Relations, said: "My sense is that the next step might have been mobilizing his recruitment networks to attack Europeans. That's one reason I think his death makes a difference."

The Jordanians have a particularly strong intelligence focus on Mr. Zarqawi, a native of Jordan. Their security services have been following him for nearly two decades, scrutiny that strengthened after he took credit for sending suicide bombers into three Jordan hotels last November, killing dozens. King Abdullah II then authorized the creation of a new intelligence unit called "Knights of God," hoping to challenge not only Mr. Zarqawi's activities, but also his claim to be doing God's work.

Members of the new intelligence unit were dispatched into Iraq and neighboring countries and ordered on the offensive in what was more than a battle — practically a personal conflict — between Jordan's intelligence unit and Mr. Zarqawi.

The Jordanian officials agreed to speak about his work, his organization and the operation that eventually killed him on the condition they not be identified because of the covert nature of their work.

They said that they picked up Mr. Zarqawi's whereabouts two months ago and were able to confirm the United States' own intelligence that located Mr. Zarqawi on the day he was killed.

They described Mr. Zarqawi as a strong organizational leader who changed routines when any of this followers were arrested, and who set up operations in Syria, Iran and Libya that funneled volunteers into Iraq.

As the insurgency became increasingly driven by Iraqis, Mr. Zarqawi expressed an interest in spreading his reach globally, in effect challenging Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri as the leader of a global terrorist war.

Authorities across Europe have identified dozens of young militant Muslim men who have either left Europe to fight in Iraq or have been stopped while planning to do so. American forces in Iraq have said at least three French nationals are among the dozens of foreign fighters they have captured there.

German authorities, meanwhile, have arrested 18 suspected members of the radical group Ansar al-Islam and the Zarqawi network since December 2004, including three Iraqis charged with plotting to assassinate Ayad Allawi during a visit to Germany last year, when he was Iraq's prime minister.

The only attacks outside Iraq known to be directed by Mr. Zarqawi were in Jordan, said an American counterterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity because his agency does not permit him to discuss such matters on the record. Those attacks include the 2002 murder of Laurence Foley, an American diplomat; a foiled plot in 2004 to attack the United States Embassy and Jordanian intelligence headquarters; and bombings of three Amman hotels in November that killed 60 people.

"I think he really operated regionally in the Middle East," a senior French counterterrorism official said. The official, who asked not to be named in discussing intelligence, said he did not think Mr. Zarqawi's death would have a noticeable effect on the threat in Europe.

But French counterterrorism officials said they found Mr. Zarqawi's handiwork in a Chechen-trained terrorist cell in the suburbs of Paris that was broken up in December 2002. Chemicals, bomb-making materials and a chemical weapons protection suit were found in the men's possession, together with elements for a remote control detonator. The Jordanian officials said that Libya and Tunisia had recently acted against Zarqawi operations.

They said that because Mr. Zarqawi was such a strong leader, they believed Al Qaeda in Iraq would break into smaller groups that would be easier to combat. "He was a decision maker and nobody would disagree with him, one official said. "We expect that the organization will splinter and will get weaker."

But Mr. Zarqawi's international reach depended in part on amorphous factors, like his appeal to young recruits that some say has only been enhanced.

Death, some say, is exactly what his followers want, because in their understanding of Islam, nothing is more coveted than to die a martyr. "Each mujahedeen is seeking to be killed, to have Allah's satisfaction, and he is looking to have high-class status in paradise, in heaven," said Marwan Shehadeh, an Islamist activist and researcher in Jordan.

Mr. Shehadeh cited slogans proffered by the followers of Mr. Zarqawi, including two crucial ones: "Our credibility comes by our leaders being killed," and "Those of us who die, go to heaven. Those of you who die, go to hell."

Lorenzo Vidino, the author of "Al Qaeda in Europe," published last year, said he believed that Mr. Zarqawi's death did not necessarily end the threat posed by the recruitment channels he helped set up.

In April, Italian authorities uncovered a group of North Africans who had traveled to Syria to join Mr. Zarqawi's fighters in Iraq, said Mr. Vidino, who is an analyst at the Investigative Project, a Washington counterterrorism research group.

"The gatekeepers in Damascus told them, 'We don't need you in Iraq. It's better if you go to Italy and do something there,' " he said.

Michael Slackman reported from Amman, Jordan, for this article, and Scott Shane from Washington. Souad Mekhennet contributed reporting from Morocco, Ariane Bernard from Paris and Mark Mazzetti from Washington.

    Terrorists Trained by Zarqawi Went Abroad, Jordan Says, NYT, 11.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/world/middleeast/11jordan.html?hp&ex=1150084800&en=1018da444879c996&ei=5094&partner=homepage

At Site of Attack on Zarqawi, All That's Left Are Questions

June 11, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS and JOHN F. BURNS

HIBHIB, Iraq, June 10 — In the ruins of the palm-shaded home where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi spent his final moments lay the scraps of a life.

There was a leaflet from the Council of Holy Warriors, the militant organization that Mr. Zarqawi's group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, claimed to have joined.

A page from an Arabic edition of Newsweek magazine, dated May 2, fluttered in the dirt. A flattened carton of Crown pineapple juice lay nearby. A half-used tube of Deep Heat balm offered "Fast Relief From Muscle Aches and Pains."

The bits and pieces scattered Saturday through the ruins in Hibhib were the remains of the American airstrike that killed Mr. Zarqawi and five others Wednesday, when a pair of 500-pound bombs obliterated the brick house and left a crater 40 feet wide and deep.

"A big hole, sir," said Sgt. Maj. Gary Rimpley, 46, of Penrose, Colo., who reached the scene shortly after the bombing.

On Saturday morning, the bodies were gone, including the body of a girl. The rubble had been picked over for the most useful bits of intelligence. Even the crater had been mostly bulldozed and filled in.

Along with the scraps, it was mostly questions that remained.

Chief among them was how Mr. Zarqawi, the terrorist leader killed Wednesday in the airstrike, could have survived for even a few minutes after the attack, as American officers say he did, when everything else around him was obliterated. Concrete blocks, walls, a fence, tin cans, palm trees, a washing machine: everything at the Hibhib scene was shredded or blown to pieces.

It seemed puzzling, too, given the destruction and the condition of the other bodies, how Mr. Zarqawi's head and upper body — shown on televisions across the world — could have remained largely intact.

With rumors circulating in the Iraqi news media that Mr. Zarqawi had begun to run from the house as the first bomb struck, American officials said Saturday that two military pathologists had arrived in Iraq to perform an autopsy on his body to determine the precise cause of his death.

The results from the autopsy, and Mr. Zarqawi's precise location at the time of the airstrike, will be disclosed soon, an American military official said. American officials said he had suffered no gunshot wounds, trying to dispel suggestions that someone had delivered a coup de grâce at the scene.

At a briefing in Baghdad on Saturday, the American command's chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, reversed an earlier announcement he had made and confirmed that one of the dead was a small girl, age 5 or 6.

The general said three of the victims were men, including Mr. Zarqawi, and two were women. The general said he had no information to confirm or deny Iraqi news reports that had suggested that one of the women was Mr. Zarqawi's wife, and the girl his child.

Hints of their presence, or perhaps of the presence of former tenants, were also scattered through the ruins: a rose-patterned dress, a pair of women's underwear, a leopard-print night gown, a child's shoe.

At the first briefing on the strike on Thursday, General Caldwell said that there were seven victims, five men and two women, but he changed that to say that there were only six dead, among them three women, and he denied news reports that a child had been killed.

Other changes in the American command's account of the bombing have included the initial assertion that Mr. Zarqawi was killed outright by the bombs. On Friday, General Caldwell said that the terrorist leader had lived long enough to be put on a stretcher, and had died shortly afterward of his wounds.

General Caldwell said the changing details were a result of the confusion typical in the immediate aftermath of military operations. "There is no intention on anybody's behalf to engage in deception, manipulation or evasion," he said.

He noted that in any military operation in which "there is a high possibility of people not coming back alive, they don't stop to write some detailed report," and that the first accounts that reached headquarters are "never going to be 100 percent accurate."

Three days after the raid, new details continued to emerge.

From accounts given at the Saturday briefing, it became increasingly clear that the attack on Mr. Zarqawi was hurriedly organized, involving split-second decisions in the last minutes before the bombs were dropped.

General Caldwell said "painstaking" tracking of Mr. Zarqawi's spiritual adviser, Sheik Abd al-Rahman, in a period of two or three weeks before the bombing, meant that Mr. Rahman was under close surveillance as he traveled to the house at Hibhib on Wednesday afternoon. But he said the Americans had no indication before the sheik arrived at the house where he was going, and knew that Mr. Zarqawi was there only when Mr. Rahman arrived.

At that point, the general said, there were no coalition ground troops positioned near the house. Similarly, he said, the United States Air Force F-16 fighter jet that dropped both bombs was one of two aircraft that were on a "routine mission" in the area, with no planning for the bombing, when they were ordered to carry out the attack immediately. One of the jets was refueling from an aerial tanker, so the mission fell "to a single bird," he said.

In Hibhib, Lt. Col. Thomas Fisher, in charge of a group of American soldiers patrolling the overall area, said he was ordered late Wednesday to get his men as quickly as possible to the site, what was described as a "time sensitive target." His earliest soldiers got there 90 minutes after the airstrike; an American commando team had already come and gone. "We didn't know it was Zarqawi," Colonel Fisher said.

General Caldwell declined to say how Mr. Rahman was being tracked, or how exactly the American command knew once he reached the house that Mr. Zarqawi was there. But from what he did say, the strong implication was that the Americans were relying on a combination of remotely piloted surveillance aircraft and electronic intercepts of the phone being used by Mr. Rahman.

The combat camera images of the attack released on Thursday showed a large white dot circling the target area at relatively low altitude before, during and after the bombing, the characteristic signature of a reconnaissance drone.

General Caldwell said that the surveillance of Mr. Rahman in the past month had shown that there was a pattern in what he did when he was preparing for meetings with Mr. Zarqawi. "We knew that he did certain things" when preparing for a meeting, the general said, "and all these things in fact happened when he arrived at the house and went inside."

The general gave no details, but accounts circulating in Baghdad in recent days, citing unnamed Iraqi officials, have said that Mr. Rahman, apparently wary of using a cellphone because of American monitoring, relied on a Thuraya hand-held satellite telephone when calling Mr. Zarqawi. One of the features of satellite phones is that a caller usually has to be outside a car or building when he makes the calls, in order for the handset to have a direct line to the satellite.

The aerial drone appeared to have provided the geographic coordinates that were crucial to the bombing, and possibly the laser beam that guided the first bomb. General Caldwell said that the first bomb dropped by the F-16 pilot was a GBU-12 laser-guided bomb, and that it was guided to the target by a laser beam that was independently directed at the house.

The second bomb, which the general identified as a GBU-38, was guided to the target by pinpoint coordinates that the pilot had to program into his weapons system, and the generals said these coordinates came from an "overhead asset," apparently the drone.

The general said that the delay between the first and second bombs was 96 seconds, the time it took for the pilot to plug in the coordinates, and that the pilot's orders were to drop both bombs. When asked who gave the final order for the attack, and whether it was given by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander in Iraq, General Caldwell paused. "Just before the bomb was dropped, General Casey was informed," he said.

The decision for an airstrike rather than a ground assault was made largely because American officers viewing images of the area were concerned that Mr. Zarqawi could escape. From the house in the palm grove, General Caldwell said, Mr. Zarqawi "had a 360-degree option" to get away.

Eventually, he said, the American military would have "an amazing story to tell" about the operation, one that involved weeks of assembling an intelligence jigsaw, some of it drawn from high-technology tracking of Mr. Rahman, some of it "good old human intelligence" gathered from Iraqis and other sources, which he did not name.

Asked if it were true that Jordanian intelligence officials had been crucial in identifying Mr. Rahman as the key to hunting down Mr. Zarqawi, as some Jordanian officials have claimed, the general was evasive. "We could not have done this without our coalition partners and the support of all our partners in the global war on terrorism," he said.

Mr. Zarqawi could hardly have picked a more secluded hideaway. The house outside Hibhib sat about 400 yards off the main road and was accessible only by a dirt road. The building lay in a grove of date palms, with the nearest house about 300 yards away. An irrigation canal ran along the property.

The American and Iraqi soldiers guarding the site on Saturday said they were not surprised that Mr. Zarqawi had chosen the area. American and Iraqi troops rarely patrol the area, in large part because it is so remote. The local residents, the adults, anyway, do not smile and do not wave, the American soldiers said.

"People in this area like Zarqawi," said Adil Abid Hussein, 33, an Iraqi soldier guarding the house.

Dexter Filkins reported from Hibhib for this article, and John F. Burns from Baghdad.

    At Site of Attack on Zarqawi, All That's Left Are Questions, NYT, 11.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/world/middleeast/11scene.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Mark of Z

Most Wanted Now: War-Weary Sunnis

June 11, 2006
By JOHN F. BURNS
BAGHDAD, Iraq


IN the war's first year, American commanders made so much of his role in the worsening insurgency that they developed their own wry, self-mocking way of referring to him. He was "the Z word," the villain-for-all-occasions, the default to turn to whenever American commanders looked for causes and patterns in a conflict that, at the time, they had only begun to figure their way through.

He was the devil's pimpernel — now in Falluja, now in Baghdad, now in Mosul. He moved undetected across a map that was an obstacle course of checkpoints and curfews and roadside explosions and traffic back-ups behind American military convoys — enough to make a nervous wreck of the most placid traveler, let alone a man sharing with Osama bin Laden the grim distinction of a $25-million American bounty on his head.

A suicide bomb here, a beheading there, an assassination somewhere else — scores of them across Iraq, American intelligence concluded — were the work of a sullen-faced, heavyset Jordanian by the adopted name of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In swoops by American and British special forces, dozens of his aides were killed and captured, their faces posted on colored charts distributed at news briefings in Baghdad under the heading, "AQIZ Degradation," denoting, wishfully, the breakup of Al Qaeda in Iraq (Zarqawi), the killing machine he led.

So often did American generals predict his demise, and in the face of such ceaseless bad news, that one day last year the credibility gap at the American command's weekly press briefings led to one of the war's best-remembered exchanges. The spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, had produced yet another handsome chart, arresting in its array of named silhouetted figures inside red-framed boxes, like head-and-shoulders targets on a shooting range.

These were the men of Mr. Zarqawi's network, dead or detained. If accurate, the chart seemed to portend just what Gen. Lynch said, big trouble for Al Qaeda. So the general, a Texan who allies a liking for Jack Daniels and Harley-Davidsons to a distaste for vapid thinking, was not pleased when a reporter asked how it was possible for so many Qaeda loyalists to be eliminated, and for the group's killing to be unabated.

At the time, Qaeda violence had prompted American commanders to identify Mr. Zarqawi and the Qaeda network — not the secular insurgents spawned by the toppling of Saddam Hussein — as their principal enemy. "Ma'am," the general said, advancing on the questioner, "the reason Al Qaeda is continuing to spread its terror across Iraq is because Abu Musab al-Zarqawi" — here he paused, as if savoring the self-parody and signalling the futility of any answer — "just...ain't...payin'...attention."

On Wednesday, Mr. Zarqawi's attentions were fatally elsewhere when a United States Air Force F-16 wheeled in the evening sky above Hibhib, 35 miles north of Baghdad, and dropped two 500-pound bombs on a safe house where he was meeting with his "spiritual adviser," Sheik Abd al-Rahman.

Now, with him dead, the question is whether the hoped-for degradation of the Qaeda network will materialize, and begin to break the effectiveness of terrorist groups under his leadership. If so, there will be another question: whether such a decline might help the Americans reach out to potentially more moderate Sunnis and convince them there is a place for them in the American vision for Iraq. Will it, most importantly, reduce assassinations — for example, those that have targeted Sunni politicians who try to bring insurgents into the political process?

Mr. Zarqawi's network lost no time in vowing to carry on. And from the experience of the war so far, it seems at least an even bet that an octopus-like Qaeda network, seemingly able to grow new tentacles to replace those it loses, will continue to bedevil the Americans, fed by a generation of young Muslim men from the Middle East, North Africa and Asia who are ready to travel down the chain of mosques and safehouses that ends, often, with a suicide bombing in Iraq.

Still, Mr. Zarqawi, like Mr. bin Laden, was no ordinary leader. His brutality was allied to an organizing genius, a personal, if fiendish, charisma and, until last week, a Houdini-like ability to survive. It is an amalgam that has produced many of history's worst tyrants, and American commanders are banking on there being no Qaeda heir quite so pathologically equipped for the task.

As American forces fanned out last week on raids against other Qaeda targets in the Baghdad area, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top American commander, was working on a long-range plan. His strategy in the past year has been to concentrate on the Zarqawi militants, seeing them and their plans for an Islamic caliphate in Iraq as the gravest threat to the American enterprise here. For him, Mr. Zarqawi's death was a vindication of a strategy that has had its detractors among American officers in Iraq and in the Pentagon.

Although smaller in numbers than the secularist, Sunni Arab insurgency that seeks to restore Sunni minority rule, the Qaeda-linked groups have been responsible for most of the "spectacular" attacks on mosques and marketplaces and other densely-populated targets.

General Casey and fellow American commanders see these as the root cause of Iraqis' disillusionment with the democratic institutions America is trying to build. Now, they hope, something has changed. By going after the Qaeda groups, and concentrating on renewed efforts to build security in Baghdad, General Casey hopes to foster an atmosphere in which the new government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki can begin to govern effectively and rally public support.

But even if the Qaeda network crumbles, the Americans and their Iraqi allies will still confront the challenge of the homegrown insurgency. The Casey plan assumes that a core of the Sunni Arab groups, those fighting for the restoration of Mr. Hussein or of Baathist rule, will have to be defeated, eventually. That, he believes, will be easier for the new Iraqi forces, and any remaing Americans, if Islamic militants are defeated first.

The plan sees negotiations as the key to dealing with the largest group among the "former regime elements," who account for most of the 50,000 or more insurgents — Iraqi nationalists opposed to American involvement here, tribal leaders who see their status threatened by Western-style democracy, and Sunnis who remain unreconciled to Shiite majority rule.

In the Casey plan, developed with Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, the hope has been that opening talks with the Sunni insurgents will become easier. Earlier this year, for example, militants gunned down the brother and sister of Tariq al-Hashemi, a former officer in Mr. Hussein's army and now a vice-president whom the Americans see as one of the best hopes for an accommodation with moderate elements of the Sunni rebels.

Similar hopes now rest on the new defense minister, Abdul Qadr Mohammed Jassim, who was a general in the Hussein army but was dismissed in 1994 and jailed for his opposition to the Kuwait invasion. Hopes that he might help the Maliki government build bridges to the Sunni insurgents rose when he and the Shiite nominees to head two other security ministries, interior and national security, won sweeping approval from the new parliament less than an hour after Mr. Zarqawi's death was announced. Mr. Jassim has said he will do all he can to speed reconciliation with the insurgents.

But the darker possibility is that even moderates in the Sunni insurgency will remain opposed to Shiite rule, even when mitigated by power-sharing arrangements of the kind built into the Maliki government, with its 40-man cabinet composed of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds in proportion to their seats in Parliament. If so, the insurgent groups that now effectively control much of Anbar province, to the west of Baghdad, as well as other stretches of the so-called Sunni Triangle, are likely to fight on, maintaining alliances with the Qaeda terrorist groups, and risk locking the Americans into an intractable war.

    Most Wanted Now: War-Weary Sunnis, NYT, 11.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/weekinreview/11burns.html

ILLUSTRATION FOR TIME BY TIM O'BRIEN

The Death of Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi        June 19, 2006
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1202938,00.html

Index: June 19, 2006 Vol. 167 No. 25
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601060619,00.html

Profile

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Lived a Brief, Shadowy Life Replete With Contradictions

June 9, 2006
The New York Times
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader killed Wednesday in Iraq in an American airstrike, was always something of a phantom, to the American military, to the Iraqi people he was supposedly fighting for and even to the men and women who grew up with him in his native Jordan.

His life story was riddled with contradictions: he was close to Saddam Hussein, he was fighting Mr. Hussein; he had two legs, he had one; he was Palestinian, he was Jordanian; he was right-handed, he was left-handed; he was a cunning leader, he was an illiterate brute.

As the Iraqi insurgency increased, American military officials increasingly blamed Mr. Zarqawi for the bloodshed. Military officials portrayed him as a global threat on the scale of Osama bin Laden and shared letters they say he wrote urging sectarian war in Iraq. However, several people who knew Mr. Zarqawi well, including former cellmates, voiced doubts about his ability to be an insurgent leader, or the leader of anything.

In a way, Mr. Zarqawi had always lived in the shadows. He was born in 1966 in Zarqa, an industrial city known as Jordan's Detroit, which is essentially a sooty appendage to the affluent and glitzy capital, Amman.

He grew up in a concrete block house of seven girls and three boys. The family was not especially religious. His father was a healer. His mother struggled with leukemia. His birth name was Ahmed Fadeel al-Khalayleh.

Growing up, Mr. Zarqawi was average in every way. He played soccer in the streets. He did fine in school. He went to the mosque every once in a while. He was short and thick, with dark eyes and dark hair.

But one thing that did stand out was his temper, which led to many schoolyard fights.

"He was not so big, but he was bold," said a cousin, Muhammad al-Zawahra, in an interview two years ago, when Mr. Zarqawi's family still spoke with reporters.

At 17, family members said, Mr. Zarqawi cut his last class and hit the streets. He also hit the bottle and started getting tattoos. Those tattoos would be among the distinguishing marks that American soldiers initially used to identify Mr. Zarqawi after he was killed. He had so many tattoos that friends in the neighborhood called him "The Green Man." Around that time, he was arrested and accused of raping a girl, Jordanian security officials have said.

By his mid-20's, he was totally adrift and, like so many other young, uneducated men in the Arab world at the time, he found his cause in Afghanistan.

But he got there a little late. He arrived in Khost, in eastern Afghanistan, in 1989, after the Russians had pulled out. So Mr. Zarqawi became a journalist, traveling the Afghan countryside, interviewing guerrilla fighters and writing about all the glorious battles he had missed.

He returned to Jordan three years later a changed man and fell in with a militant Islamic group called Loyalty to the Imam. He was caught with assault rifles in his house and arrested.

His lawyer at the time said Mr. Zarqawi told authorities he had found the guns in the street.

"He never struck me as intelligent," said the lawyer, Mohammed al-Dweik, in an interview in 2004.

Mr. Zarqawi thrived in prison. He strutted around in Afghan dress and a woolly Afghan hat and doled out chores. He became serious and religious and sat for hours on his bunk bed bent over a Koran, former inmates said, trying to memorize all the verses. He worked on his body, too, curling barbells made from olive oil tins filled with rocks.

In March 1999, he was released under a general amnesty for political prisoners. According to his brother-in-law Saleh al-Hami, for a moment Mr. Zarqawi flirted with thoughts of a normal life and even talked of buying a pickup truck and opening a vegetable stand.

But the next year he drifted back to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, this time with his ailing mother. Friends and relatives said Mr. Zarqawi was devoted to his mother, planting a kiss on her forehead whenever he walked in the door.

While he was in Pakistan, Jordanian authorities identified him as a suspect in a foiled terror plot against a Christian pilgrimage site, and Mr. Zarqawi decided to disappear into the wilds of Afghanistan. Some foreign intelligence officials said he set up his own terrorist training camp, with the tacit support of Mr. bin Laden. It was around this time he took up his nom de guerre, with Zarqawi a reference to his hometown of Zarqa.

United States officials said he was wounded in a missile strike when American forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001.

He then went to a loosely controlled part of northern Iraq, and before the Iraq war, American leaders, including then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, asserted that he was sheltered by Mr. Hussein and therefore was a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. American officials later admitted this was wrong, along with other details of Mr. Zarqawi's life, including the original claim that he was Palestinian (he was a member of an old Jordanian tribe) and that he had lost a leg.

In the summer of 2003, Mr. Zarqawi was alleged to have masterminded the first big suicide attacks in Iraq. By that winter, he was emerging as one of the most lethal threats the American military faced. He was accused of making targets of Iraqi civilians and beheading Nicholas Berg, the young American killed on videotape by masked insurgents in May 2004.

But in Amman there were questions. The killer on the Berg video cuts with his right hand. At least two of Mr. Zarqawi's old cellmates insisted he was left-landed.

Mr. Zarqawi eventually swore allegiance to Mr. bin Laden, according to statements on the Internet, renaming his group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. But it was never clear how close he was to Mr. bin Laden, who some intelligence sources said did not approve of his ruthless attacks on Shiite civilians and the efforts to fan a sectarian war. Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zarqawi are Sunni Muslims.

Much of Mr. Zarqawi's story remains mysterious, with records spotty and many relatives unavailable. His mother died in 2004 and her last wish, one of the few relatives willing to be interviewed said, was for him to be killed in battle, not captured.

    Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Lived a Brief, Shadowy Life Replete With Contradictions, NYT, 9.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/world/middleeast/09zarqawi.html?hp&ex=1149912000&en=db8a8d5c704f0881&ei=5094&partner=homepage

The Internet

The Grisly Jihadist Network That He Inspired Is Busy Promoting Zarqawi's Militant Views

June 9, 2006
The New York Times
By SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, June 8 — Over the last two years, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi established the Web as a powerful tool of the global jihad, mobilizing computer-savvy allies who inspired extremists in Iraq and beyond with lurid video clips of the bombings and beheadings his group carried out.

On Thursday the electronic network that he helped to build was abuzz with commentary about his death, with supporters posting eulogies, praising what they called his martyrdom and vowing to continue his fight.

One Qaeda ideologist who calls himself Lewis Attiya Allah declared that Mr. Zarqawi's death was a "victory" for Islam, saying, "Allah chose him" and "We are all al-Zarqawi," according to the SITE Institute in Washington, which tracks militants' Web postings.

An online jihadist publication called Sada Al Jihad, or Echo of Jihad, declared, "Our nation can provide more sons," adding, "The day of revenge is coming soon, very soon."

The flood of Web tributes, their tone more defiant than sorrowful, reached an audience that Mr. Zarqawi had greatly expanded.

While other militants, from the Chechen separatists to Hamas Palestinians, had built Web sites to spread their message, Mr. Zarqawi and his aides were the first to take full advantage of the technology.

Mr. Zarqawi's Web propaganda generated and probably embellished his reputation in the Iraqi insurgency. But it also helped secure the Internet as a center of terrorist recruitment and instruction, partly supplanting the role of old Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, according to counterterrorism officials and analysts.

In recent months, his video messages and vivid images of violence have been posted on multiple computer servers to avoid downloading delays, with one version designed for viewing on cellphones.

"I would call him the Alexander Graham Bell of terrorist propaganda," said Evan F. Kohlmann, who follows militants' Web sites at GlobalTerrorAlert.com. "It's a new day for these groups because of him."

In April, when Mr. Zarqawi posted a video that showed his face for the first time, sympathizers posted translations of his speech within hours in English, German, French, Dutch and other languages.

A London man, Younis Tsouli, who was arrested on terrorism charges in October, is believed to have played a critical role in spreading Mr. Zarqawi's communiqués, which the authorities say have helped incite homegrown terrorist plotters and suspects in many countries, including the 17 men arrested last week in Canada.

"While Osama bin Laden traditionally relied on Al Jazeera and the media to disseminate his propaganda, Zarqawi went straight to the Internet, which enabled him to produce graphic videos that would never have been shown on the mainstream media," said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute.

Videotape that showed a masked man, thought to be Mr. Zarqawi, as he beheaded an American businessman in Iraq, Nicholas Berg, in 2004 became a gruesome model for others seeking similar notoriety. Videos later posted in Thailand showed people being beheaded by militants "who looked into the camera and said one word: 'Zarqawi,' " Mr. Kohlmann said.

Since his first communiqué appeared on a jihadist Web forum in April 2004, Mr. Zarqawi's media operation has posted hundreds of others, often with video clips. Lasting only a minute or two, the clips gave jihadist oratory far more immediacy: masked snipers shoot at American soldiers; a suicide bomber's car speeds toward an armored personnel carrier before disappearing in a fireball; a bomb detonates in a truck convoy, with drivers fleeing the flames.

Sometimes Mr. Zarqawi's media efforts, overseen by an associate who calls himself Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, were more ambitious. An hourlong video released in 2004, called "The Winds of Victory," collected pictures of suicide bombings and other attacks in a slick production that was serialized on jihadist Web sites.

Volunteers abroad have played an important role in distributing the material. Mr. Tsouli, the man arrested in London, and believed to be the Web operator using the online name Irhabi 007 (irhabi is Arabic for terrorist), became known worldwide for duplicating and posting Mr. Zarqawi's messages.

"If a beheading appears on a Web site, it can sometimes be taken down in seconds," said Gabriel Weimann, a professor at the University of Haifa in Israel and the author of "Terror on the Internet." "But if someone like Irhabi downloads it and posts it all over the Web, the message gets out."

What appears to be surveillance video of Washington monuments on Mr. Tsouli's computer was also found in the possession of two Georgia men arrested in March and April, according to a law enforcement official who spoke only on condition of anonymity. The Georgia men, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee and Syed Haris Ahmed, in turn, had contacts with some of the 17 men arrested in Ontario last week.

"Very often these people don't know one another," Mr. Weimann said. "But they're all connected on the Net."

    The Grisly Jihadist Network That He Inspired Is Busy Promoting Zarqawi's Militant Views, NYT, 9.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/world/middleeast/09web.html

The Raid

How Surveillance and Betrayal Led to a Hunt's End

June 9, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS, MARK MAZZETTI and RICHARD A. OPPEL JR.

This article is by Dexter Filkins, Mark Mazzetti and Richard A. Oppel Jr.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 8 —Muhammad Ismael, a 40-year-old Iraqi taxi driver, was standing outside his home in the tiny village of Hibhib on Wednesday evening when something unusual caught his eye.

Three GMC trucks, each with blackened windows, rumbled past his home and toward the little house in a nearby grove of date palms that for more than three years had stood abandoned.

"It was something very strange," Mr. Ismael said in a telephone interview on Thursday. "That house is always empty."

Meanwhile, in Baghdad, American military commanders believed that they had at last cornered their most coveted prey: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist whose murderous onslaught against Iraqi civilians and American troops had made him the most wanted man in all Iraq.

For the first time, the Americans believed, they had a source deep inside his terrorist group. Mr. Zarqawi, the source told them, was in the little house in the palm grove.

American jets were in the sky above.

In recent weeks, American officials say, they had begun following a man who they believed could lead them directly to Mr. Zarqawi: his "spiritual adviser," Sheik Abd al-Rahman. A member of Mr. Zarqawi's network, captured by the Americans, had told them the sheik was Mr. Zarqawi's most trusted adviser.

Some weeks ago, American officials said, they began tracking Mr. Rahman with a remotely piloted aircraft, hoping he would lead them to their quarry.

"This gentlemen was key to our success in finding Zarqawi," said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the spokesman for the American military in Baghdad. "Through painstaking intelligence effort, they were able to start tracking him, monitoring his movements and establishing when he was doing his link-ups with Zarqawi."

Yet for all the excitement, one critical piece of the puzzle still remained: The Americans might be able to track Mr. Rahman, but how would they know when he was meeting with Mr. Zarqawi?

The Americans had gotten close before, but Mr. Zarqawi had always managed to get away. He was an elusive and wary figure who knew well how much the Americans relied on high technology to track down suspects: he and his men refrained from using cellphones, knowing how easily they could be tracked. Instead, American officials said, they relied on handheld satellite phones, manufactured by a company called Thuraya, to communicate with one another. The Thurayas were more difficult to track.

Indeed, what the Americans had always lacked was someone from inside Mr. Zarqawi's network, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, who would betray him — someone close enough and trusted enough to show the Americans where he was.

According to a Pentagon official, the Americans finally got one. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the raid are classified, said that an Iraqi informant inside Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia provided the critical piece of intelligence about Mr. Rahman's meeting with Mr. Zarqawi. The source's identity was not clear — nor was it clear how that source was able to pinpoint Mr. Zarqawi's location without getting killed himself.

"We have a guy on the inside who led us directly to Zarqawi," the official said.

In a news release on Thursday morning, American military commanders hinted strongly that a member of Mr. Zarqawi's inner circle had pointed the way. "Tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network led forces to al-Zarqawi," the release said.

Iraqi officials confirmed that Mr. Zarqawi had indeed been sold out by one of his own.

"We have managed to infiltrate this organization," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser. He declined to elaborate.

Just how the Americans were able to get the information from the source was also unclear. In an interview, a Jordanian official close to the investigation said the mission that killed Mr. Zarqawi was a joint operation conducted by the Americans and Jordanian intelligence. The source inside Mr. Zarqawi's group, the Jordanian official said, had been cultivated at least in part by Jordanian intelligence agents.

"There was a man from Zarqawi's group who handed over the information," the Jordanian official said.

Back in Hibhib, Mr. Ismael again noticed something strange. Of the three GMC trucks that had pulled up to the house in the date palm grove, only two stayed. One of them drove away and never came back.

Whether the departing GMC contained the source who tipped off the Americans about Mr. Zarqawi's location is unknown.

In addition to the human source, American officials said they used several different methods to track Mr. Zarqawi and Mr. Rahman: they said they also relied on "electronic signals intelligence," communications intercepts that allowed someone to track the location of, say, the user of a satellite telephone.

For the first time, American officials believed they had located Mr. Zarqawi with absolute certainty.

"There was 100 percent confirmation," General Caldwell said.

In Baghdad, American military officials decided to carry out a military operation. At a stroke, they called in a pair of F-16 fighter jets. Commandos from Task Force 145, the antiterrorist unit, moved into Hibhib and surrounded the grove.

Based in Balad, the secret task force has launched a number of raids in recent weeks that military officials say have been particularly successful in capturing or killing crucial members of Mr. Zarqawi's network, as well as netting documents that provided the basis for more raids.

One raid, carried out in April in Yusufiya, a town south of Baghdad, came especially close to capturing Mr. Zarqawi. According to Pentagon officials, Special Forces commandos detained a handful of his operatives and might have just missed Mr. Zarqawi himself.

In Hibhib, Mr. Ismael, the taxi driver, said American soldiers began swarming the town, seemingly coming from nowhere, with some soldiers sliding down ropes dropped from Black Hawk helicopters. His account largely tracked with the one offered by the American military.

"The entire village was seized," Mr. Ismael said.

As the American commandos took up positions, Mr. Ismael said, someone from inside the house in the date grove began shooting. The Americans returned fire, Mr. Ismael said, but the firefight did not last long.

One of the F-16's, now in position over Hibhib, released a laser-guided 500-pound bomb.

The decision to bomb Mr. Zarqawi was made in large part because military officials feared he might escape again if American and Iraqi forces moved in on the ground, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said during an appearance at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"They came to the conclusion that they could not really go in on the ground without running the risk of letting him escape," he said. "So they used airpower and attacked a dwelling he was in."

Seconds later, Mr. Ismael said, a second bomb landed on the house.

"The entire village was shaking underneath our feet," Mr. Ismael said.

Video taken by an aircraft above showed a giant explosion that sent plumes of smoke, dust and debris high into the air.

Mr. Zarqawi was dead by the time American commandos got to the house, General Caldwell said.

Five others died in the airstrike: Mr. Rahman, one woman, one child and two other men, General Caldwell said. The identities of the four were not known.

Mr. Zarqawi's body was taken to an undisclosed location where an examination found scars and tattoos that matched those he was known to have. A fingerprint test came back at 3:30 a.m. positively identifying him, and DNA tests should also be returned soon, General Caldwell said.

Pictures of Mr. Zarqawi's body released by the military showed that the top of his shoulders, his neck and his face were intact, with heavy contusions on the left side of his face.

"We had wiped off a lot of the blood and other debris because there was not a need to portray it in any kind of dehumanizing his body," General Caldwell said.

Back in Hibhib, Mr. Ismael said, American and Iraqi soldiers ordered everyone into their homes. There was another airstrike several hours later, he said.

When he awoke Thursday morning, Mr. Ismael said, he could hear the Iraqi police cheering.

"We have killed Zarqawi!" Mr. Ismael recalled them saying. "We have killed Zarqawi!"

Dexter Filkins and Richard A. Oppel Jr. reported from Baghdad for this article, and Mark Mazzetti from Washington. Michael R. Gordon contributed reporting from Brussels, Mona Mahmood from Baghdad and Souad Mekhennet from Algeria.

    How Surveillance and Betrayal Led to a Hunt's End, NYT, 9.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/world/middleeast/09raid.html?hp&ex=1149912000&en=25d0e9ccfd9a7e6d&ei=5094&partner=homepage



 

After a Long Hunt, U.S. Bombs the Leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq        NYT        9.6.2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/world/middleeast/09iraq.html?hp&ex=1149912000&en=000b1d1ae1d65eb3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

The Target

After a Long Hunt,

U.S. Bombs the Leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq

June 9, 2006
The New York Times
By JOHN F. BURNS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 8 — With two 500-pound bombs that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on Wednesday evening, American forces eliminated Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq and boosted the flagging confidence of American officials and the new Iraqi government as they moved into the fourth brutal year of warfare here.

But the American officials themselves offered an immediate warning against overstating the impact that the death of Mr. Zarqawi, the most wanted insurgent in Iraq, would have on prospects that American and Iraqi forces can gain the upper hand in the conflict. Among other things, they said they expected Al Qaeda to name a successor to Mr. Zarqawi quickly from among his closest aides.

The killing of Mr. Zarqawi and five others gathered with him in an isolated safe house north of Baghdad was announced on Thursday morning, and ended a long and often dispiriting hunt for the 39-year-old terrorist leader. Mr. Zarqawi had become an almost mythic, if widely hated, figure among American troops, still more so among Iraqi Shiites who were his main victims.

The Jordanian-born militant carried a $25 million American bounty for his role in directing many of the conflict's most brutal attacks, including scores of suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Still, most Iraqis, as well as American military commanders and diplomats, appeared too chastened by the war's relentless shocks to hail his killing as a decisive turning point.

"Zarqawi is dead," President Bush said at an early morning announcement, "but the difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues. We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him."

Less than 18 hours after Mr. Zarqawi's death, Iraq's new Parliament broke a long deadlock and approved nominees for three important cabinet posts, the ministers of defense, interior and national security. The appointments filled a void that had become increasingly worrisome for American officials here, who saw rival politicians' squabbling over the posts as a troubling sign of weakness for a government that desperately needs to show it can curb sectarian killings, placate an angry Sunni minority and bring to heel rogue militias.

Indeed, one of Mr. Zarqawi's key aims, and main legacy, was the effort to inflame the sectarian passions that the new government has to cool, and American officials said he appeared to have laid plans to see that his campaign continued in the event of his death. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, an aide to the top American commander here, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., told reporters at a briefing about the attack that United States commanders had identified the man most likely to take over as Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, an Egyptian militant who uses the nom-de-guerre Abu al-Masri. Gen. Caldwell said Mr. Masri had been in Iraq since 2002, and had played a major role in organizing suicide bombings around Baghdad.

In an effort to convince skeptics inclined to doubt that Mr. Zarqawi had finally been hunted down, after narrowly eluding United States forces at least twice in the past 18 months and mocking them in a series of increasingly defiant audio and videotapes posted on Islamic militant Web sites, Gen. Casey told reporters that Mr. Zarqawi's body had been identified by the American forces "by fingerprint verification, facial recognition and known scars."

At his briefing, aides to Gen. Caldwell mounted on an easel a large, blown-up photograph of Mr. Zarqawi's face in death, with a small facial scar, closed, puffy eyes, a straggly black beard and what appeared to be minor fragment wounds, and said that examination of the corpse had shown other scars and tattoos that tallied with intelligence about the Qaeda leader gathered before the attack. The general said the American command had also sent DNA samples from the body to a laboratory outside Iraq for checking against other DNA material that would tie the corpse to Mr. Zarqawi. The results of the test were expected within 48 hours.

But the most decisive confirmation of the death came, ironically, from Al Qaeda itself, in a series of death notices posted on Islamic Web sites that had been mouthpieces for Mr. Zarqawi in the past. The messages hailed the terrorist leader's death, describing him as a martyr and mujahid, or Islamic warrior, and saying that his death was a matter of joy for Mr. Zarqawi himself, for his followers, and for all Muslims. "We herald the martyrdom of our mujahid Sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and we stress that this is an honor for our nation," a statement signed by one of Mr. Zarqawi's deputies, Abu Abdul Rahman al-Iraqi , said.

In Washington, a senior military intelligence official said late on Thursday that the intelligence obtained in raids on 17 targets after Mr. Zarqawi's death would probably lead to a series of raids in the next several days aimed at dealing a crippling blow to the insurgency.

"On a scale of one to 10, the intelligence gathered was about an 8," said the official, declining to give specific details and speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject for attribution. "The next 36 to 48 hours will be very crucial in prosecuting other targets. Our goal now is to target as many Qaeda members as possible and keep them off balance."

If anybody here needed a caution about the impact of Mr. Zarqawi's death, beyond the fact that American troops have killed and captured more than 160 of his closest aides and commanders in the past two years without significantly blunting the violence inflicted by his followers, it lay in the precedent of Saddam Hussein's capture on Dec. 13, 2003. Mr. Hussein's arrest in a stifling underground bunker near his hometown of Tikrit was greeted triumphantly by American and Iraqi officials at the time, but it proved only a brief interlude on the path of worsening bloodshed.

The lesson learned by top American officials was that in Iraq, it is almost always safer to underestimate the significance of the rare incidents of good news, so often have they been followed, sometimes within days, by new setbacks and shocks.

At a joint news conference here announcing the killings, Gen. Casey struck a cautious note about the impact Mr. Zarqawi's death is likely to have on the war, as did Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, and Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the first prime minister in Iraq's new permanent government.

The parliamentary session that approved the new ministers had been scheduled on Monday, more than 48 hours before Gen. Casey gave the final go-ahead for United States Air Force F-16's to drop the two bombs that obliterated the isolated safe house at Hibhib, 35 miles north of Baghdad, where Mr. Zarqawi was hiding.

Iraqi and American officials said it was coincidence that Mr. Maliki had timed his move to win parliamentary approval for the new ministers after the bombing strike that eliminated the man who was Public Enemy No. 1 among most Iraqis.

But chance or not, the congruence of the two events appeared to help the prime minister win speedy approval for his nominees from rival political blocs that seemed set on a filibuster only a few days ago. One of the nominees, Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassim, the new minister of defense, is a Sunni Arab and a former army general under Mr. Hussein who was jailed for seven years in 1994 after voicing criticism of the Iraqi dictator's invasion of Kuwait.

As recently as last Sunday, Mr. Jassim's nomination appeared doomed by opposition within the dominant Shiite bloc in the new Parliament to Mr. Jassim's former membership in Mr. Hussein's ruling Baath party. But that obstacle was lifted on Thursday, and the new mood of consensus carried over to an easy approval for the Shiite nominees for the interior and national security posts. Named as interior minister was Jawad al-Bolani, a former colonel in Mr. Hussein's armed forces, where he served as an engineer until retirement in 1999. The new national security minister is Sherwan al-Waili, another former military engineer, who retired from the Hussein forces in 2000.

Within hours of winning parliamentary backing, the new ministers were thrust into their first challenge, planning for a major security crackdown in Baghdad that Gen. Casey, Mr. Khalilzad, Mr. Maliki and their aides have been working on intensively since the new government took office on May 20.

The crackdown, no details of which have been publicly discussed, will offer an early test of the impact that the killing of Mr. Zarqawi is likely to have on violence that has been Al Qaeda's hallmark.

Gen. Casey and Mr. Khalilzad set a wary tone at the news conference with Mr. Maliki that confirmed the rumors of Mr. Zarqawi's death. Gen. Casey, nearing the end of his second year as the overall American commander here, and faced with levels of violence that have sent more than 6,000 bodies to the Baghdad morgue in the first five months of this year alone, was mostly stony-faced as he described the killing as "a significant blow to Al Qaeda and another step toward defeating terrorism in Iraq."

He added: "Although the designated leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq is now dead, the terrorist organization still poses a threat as its members will continue to try to terrorize the Iraqi people and destabilize their government as it moves towards stability and prosperity."

Mr. Khalilzad, the ambassador, was similarly circumspect. "Zarqawi's death will not by itself end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important step in the right direction," he said. Mr. Maliki struck a more upbeat note, setting off cheers when he opened his remarks by saying, "Today, we have managed to eliminate Zarqawi." Arab media and analysts said Thursday that Mr. Zarqawi's death dealt a blow to his operations in Iraq, but would probably not quell growing sectarian strife there. "This will be a blow to the morale of Al Qaeda of Mesopotamia, but it is a temporary setback that will not damage them structurally," said Mohammad Salah, the Cairo bureau chief for the Pan-Arab London-based newspaper Al Haya. Dia Rashwan, an expert on militant Islamic groups at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Egypt, said, "Terrorism and the insurgency are smaller threats than the growing sectarian strife." On the streets of Iraq's major cities, there was little of the frenetic celebration that met Mr. Hussein's capture. On Thursday, the most visible signs of celebration came in Shiite neighborhoods that were the victims of Mr. Zarqawi's effort to provoke civil war between Sunnis and Shiites — an effort that led to Qaeda-linked terrorists relentlessly attacking Shiite mosques, weddings and even funerals.

In Shiite areas of Baghdad, the police joined arms in traditional tribal dances inside the safety of their heavily guarded compounds. In the Khadimiya district in the center of the capital, Shiite women and children handed out chocolates to soldiers of the new, American-trained Iraqi Army, and worshipers visited shrines to offer prayers of thanks for the death of Mr. Zarqawi. In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, people shook hands in the street.

One man in Mosul, Laith al-Lool, a 32-year-old veteran of Mr. Hussein's army, offered a laconic and bitter elegy for Mr. Zarqawi. "The ghost of death has disappeared," he said. Another man in the same neighborhood seemed equally pleased. "I've heard no news more pleasing than this since the arrest of Saddam," said Tarik al-Saati, 36. "It's a blow to all of those who have challenged the American forces," said Kareem Allaw, 37, an accountant. "Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of all the miseries that have overtaken this country."

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington for this article, and Abeer Allam from Cairo.

    After a Long Hunt, U.S. Bombs the Leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, NYT, 9.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/world/middleeast/09iraq.html?hp&ex=1149912000&en=000b1d1ae1d65eb3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

News Analysis

A Leader Is Eliminated, but Insurgency Is Likely to Carry On

June 8, 2006
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 7 — By finally eliminating Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the American military and its Iraqi allies have killed the man who put a face on the Iraqi insurgency.

The question now looming over Mr. Zarqawi's death is how large a blow it deals to the guerrilla movement he helped drive to such bloody limits.

The most likely answer, according to American and Iraqi officials and experts who have been following Mr. Zarqawi, is this: While his death could degrade the ability of his group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, to mount bloody suicide and car bomb attacks, and it may set off a bloody succession struggle, the insurgency and sectarian war that he helped ignite will carry on without him.

It was Mr. Zarqawi, in letter obtained by American forces in 2004, who first called on that Sunni insurgents to turn their sights on Shiites, saying that a "sectarian war" was the only way they could win in Iraq.

The bloodlettting in Iraq's mixed Sunni-Shiite cities, like Baghdad, is now unfolding so quickly that it appears to have a life of its own, with hundreds of burned and bullet-riddled bodies turning up each week at city morgues. And the Sunni-led insurgency is so diffuse and so broadly based that it seems unlikely to be stopped by one death, even that of its most visible leader.

"Zarqawi may be gone, but the conflagration that he set alight continues to burn," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorist expert at the Rand Corporation in Washington. "That is the reality. He has already set in motion powerful forces that won't necessarily stop just because he is dead."

Unlike some terrorist leaders — like the man he claimed to follow, Osama bin Laden — Mr. Zarqawi went beyond providing just inspiration and public relations for his movement. He fought on the front lines with his men.

Indeed, American and Iraqi officials believe that Mr. Zarqawi probably played a central role in planning some of the bloodiest and most spectacular attacks that his group carried out here: the suicide bombing of the United Nations headquarters in October 2003; the bombings on the Ashoura holiday in March 2004, which killed more than 140 Shiite pilgrims; and the destruction of the Al Askari shrine in February, which set off a wave of sectarian killings that has not yet abated.

But the Al Qaeda organization that Mr. Zarqawi leaves behind in Iraq is a far-flung and decentralized collection of semi-autonomous terrorist groups, each operating more or less independently. To date, at least 60 different groups have carried out attacks against Iraqi and American targets under Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia's name. Experts say these groups can probably continue to carry out attacks, if perhaps not with the same audacity as Mr. Zarqawi.

Dozens of other insurgent groups in Iraq have little or no relationship to Al Qaeda, including some of the largest, like Ansar Al-Sunnah and the Islamic Army of Iraq. Indeed, some of them are Al Qaeda'a deadly rivals. They, too, will probably carry on.

What is more, Mr. Zarqawi, a Jordanian, had apparently begun to hand over the leadership of his organization to Iraqis.

He had also begun to set up what his comrades described as a framework for a future Islamic government in Iraq: In January, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia announced that it had joined the Council of Holy Warriors, a collection of seven insurgent groups headed by an Iraqi, Abdullah Al-Baghdadi.

Most of the senior leaders around Mr. Zarqawi are now believed to be Iraqi; American officers said recently they had killed 161 members of the organization, many of them foreigners.

Some experts doubted whether Mr. Baghdadi really exists, and whether Mr. Zarqawi had ever relinquished day-to-day control of his organization.

"Zarqawi was under pressure to hand over power to Iraqis, and like most Arab leaders under pressure to democratize, he created a false parliament," said a senior Iraqi intelligence official, speaking of the Council of Holy Warriors. "He was still in command."

Some Iraqi officials said they expect a bloody struggle for control of Al Qaeda now that Mr. Zarqawi is dead. One sign of cracks in the group's unity came when American officials, in their statement announcing Mr. Zarqawi's death, said they had relied on "tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network."

Mowaffak Al-Rubie, the Iraqi national security advisor, confirmed this in an interview. "We have managed to infiltrate this organization," he said, declining to elaborate.

Even though the details were unclear, some experts believe that such an intelligence coup by the Americans and the Iraqis could lead to lead to a bloodletting inside Al Qaeda, as surviving members begin to suspect one another and fear for their lives. A similar thing happened among the senior leaders of the terrorist group clustered around Abu Nidal in the 1980's, when assassinations of senior members ignited a bloody struggle in the ranks, Mr. Hoffman said.

"This is the best way to undermine a terrorist group," Mr. Hoffman said. "Information that sows internal discord and disloyalty has a radiating effect in the organization. That could set in motion the unraveling of Al Qaeda."

    A Leader Is Eliminated, but Insurgency Is Likely to Carry On, NYT, 8.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-assess.html?hp&ex=1149825600&en=a0ab2f5a8156d92d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Statement by U.S. Forces in Iraq

June 8, 2006
The New York Times

The following is a statement by Gen. George W. Casey Jr. announcing the death of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi in the following statement during a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad :

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Coalition Forces killed al-Qaida terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and one of his key lieutenants, spiritual advisor Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, yesterday, June 7, at 6:15 p.m. in an air strike against an identified, isolated safe house.

“Tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network led forces to al-Zarqawi and some of his associates who were conducting a meeting approximately eight kilometers north of Baqubah when the air strike was launched.

“Iraqi police were first on the scene after the air strike, and elements of Multi-National Division North, arrived shortly thereafter. Coalition Forces were able to identify al-Zarqawi by fingerprint verification, facial recognition and known scars.

Al-Zarqawi and al-Qaida in Iraq have conducted terrorist activities against the Iraqi people for years in attempts to undermine the Iraqi national government and Coalition efforts to rebuild and stabilize Iraq. He is known to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis.

Al-Zarqawi’s death is a significant blow to al-Qaida and another step toward defeating terrorism in Iraq.

“Although the designated leader of al-Qaida in Iraq is now dead, the terrorist organization still poses a threat as its members will continue to try to terrorize the Iraqi people and destabilize their government as it moves toward stability and prosperity. Iraqi forces, supported by the Coalition, will continue to hunt terrorists that threaten the Iraqi people until terrorism is eradicated in Iraq.”

    Statement by U.S. Forces in Iraq, 8.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/08statement.ready.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

U.S. Strike Hits Insurgent at Safehouse

June 8, 2006
The New York Times
By JOHN F. BURNS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 8 — Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in an American airstrike on an isolated safe house north of Baghdad at 6:15 p.m. local time on Wednesday, top American and Iraqi officials said today. Islamic militant Web sites linked to Al Qaeda quickly confirmed the death, saying Mr. Zarqawi had been rewarded with "martyrdom" for his role in the war here.

At a joint news conference with Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the top American military commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., said Mr. Zarqawi's body had been positively identified by fingerprints, "facial recognition" and "known scars."

Six people were killed in the strike: Mr. Zarqawi, his spiritual adviser and four other people including a woman and a child, the military said. The strike had been accompanied by a ground assault involving American and Iraqi troops.

The announcement of Mr. Zarqawi's death, shortly before noon today in Baghdad, 4 a.m. Eastern time, marked a major watershed in the war. With a $25 million American bounty on his head, the Jordanian-born Mr. Zarqawi has been the most-wanted man in Iraq for his leadership of Islamic terrorist groups that have carried out many of the most brutal attacks of the war, including scores of suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. In his late 30's, he had been named "Prince of Al Qaeda" in Iraq by Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda's fugitive leader.

"Today, we have managed to put an end to Zarqawi," said Mr. Maliki, who took office three weeks ago at the head of Iraq's first full-term government since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. He said the death should be a warning to other insurgent leaders.

"They should stop now," he said. "They should review their situation and resort to logic while there is still time."

Mr. Maliki, the prime minister, said the raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader had taken place in an area known as Hibhib in Diyala province, which stretches north and east of Baghdad to the Iranian border. The area, 55 miles north of Baghdad, has drawn intensified American military activity in recent weeks in response to a new wave of sectarian killings, including one on Sunday in which Sunni Arab gunmen pulled 20 people, including 7 high school students, off minibuses near Baquba, and killed them.

General Casey said an American airstrike had targeted "a single dwelling in a wooded area surrounded by very dense palm forest" five miles west of Baquba, and that "precision munitions" had been used, a phrase that usually refers to laser-guided bombs or missiles. Scenes shown on BBC's World Service television showed a large pile of rubble, apparently from a concrete-framed building of at least two stories, set in an area bounded by palm trees.

The BBC footage showed Iraqi villagers clambering over the rubble, with no sign of American or Iraqi troops. The villagers pulled an array of belongings from the 10-foot-high pile of cinder blocks, twisted concrete pillars and steel reinforcing words, and laid them out on the bare earth beside the obliterated building. Cooking utensils, torn carpets and a child's green T-shirt were visible, as was the wreck of a white, Japanese-made pickup truck.

A CNN broadcast showed youths picking up a child's sandal and a stuffed toy after the airstrikes, which took place in a neighborhood of about 50 buildings, all in close proximity.

The senior American military spokesman in Iraq, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, speaking at a news conference in Baghdad, said the identities of the woman and child killed in the strike had yet to be confirmed.

A framed image of Mr. Zarqawi's face after he was killed was displayed at the briefing, as was an aerial video of the two air strikes by F-16 jets, which dropped 500-pound bombs. General Caldwell said dirt and rubble had been cleaned off Mr. Zarqawi's face before the photograph was taken. He also said that Iraqi security forces had been the first to arrive at the scene and that Mr. Zarqawi's body had been removed.

General Caldwell said it took many weeks of painstaking exploitation of intelligence, until Wednesday night they had "definitive, unquestionable" knowledge of Mr. Zarqawi's location for the first time. He said after Mr. Zarqawi was killed forces went after other targets in 17 simultaneous raids in Baghdad and on the outskirts, obtaining a "treasure trove" of information.

Mr. Maliki said the attack that killed Mr. Zarqawi had resulted from a tip that came from Iraqi civilians in the area, which lies in a province, Diyala, that has an evenly balanced population of Shiite and Sunni Arabs, as well as Kurds.

The British prime minister, Tony Blair, at a news conference in London, paid tribute to the role played in the attack by coalition intelligence agencies.

"There has been very close cooperation, of course, between everyone — I mean, the Iraqis, the coalition intelligence services and so on," Mr. Blair said..

President Bush, speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House, gave another hint of what happened by thanking American special forces for their role. "Special operation forces, acting on tips and intelligence from Iraqis, confirmed Mr. Zarqawi's location, and delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq," Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Zarqawi, whose adopted name was taken from the town of Zarqa in Jordan where the insurgent leader was raised, had assumed an almost mythic status for his long run of terrorist attacks and statements issued on Islamic militant Web sites that declared his goal to be the establishment of a new "caliphate" in Iraq. The term is taken from the term given to the vast areas of the Arab world that came under strict Islamic rule within 100 years of the death of the Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century A.D.

After twice narrowly escaping capture by American troops in the past 18 months, Mr. Zarqawi became increasingly bold in recent months, issuing videotaped speeches on Islamic militant Web sites, vowing victory against the "crusaders" who had invaded Iraq, meaning American, British and other Western forces. The speeches also called on Sunni Arabs to kill "converters," meaning Iraqi Shiites, effectively inciting civil war here.

American military commanders have said that Mr. Zarqawi personally beheaded some of those kidnapped by his followers, and identified him as the mastermind of one of the first major suicide bombing attacks, a strike in August 2003 that destroyed the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad and killed 22 people, including Sergio Viera de Mello, the head of the United Nations Mission here.

A message posted by Al Qaeda on one of its Web sites, confirming Mr. Zarqawi's death, vowed to continue what it called "the holy war" in Iraq. "We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahid sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," the message said. It was signed by a man calling himself Abu Abdel-Rahman al-Iraqi," who was identified as the deputy "emir," or leader, of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The atmosphere at the news conference announcing the killing of Mr. Zarqawi was reminiscent of a similar occasion on Dec. 13, 2003, when L. Paul Bremer III, the head of the American occupation then ruling Iraq, announced the capture of Saddam Hussein in a stifling underground bunker near Mr. Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, 100 miles north of Baghdad.

The mood then was one of triumph, with Mr. Bremer declaring "Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him!" and American military commanders describing the capture as a major turning point in the war. Those hopes were quickly disappointed as the insurgency rapidly worsened, and Mr. Hussein, now on trial in Baghdad, has used the courtroom dock as a platform to encourage the insurgents to intensify their attacks on American and Iraqi targets.

This time, the mood of the American and Iraqi leaders was more cautious, though Mr. Maliki, opening the news conference with the formal announcement of the Zarqawi killing, was greeted by celebratory shouts and cries of "Peace Be Upon Him," the traditional Islamic obeisance to the Prophet Mohammed that Muslims make at moments of joy or special significance.

General Casey, nearing the end of his second year as the American commander here, confined his remarks to a spare summary of the raid that killed Mr. Zarqawi. Unsmiling in his rimless spectacles, the 57-year-old general shook Mr. Maliki's hand vigorously after the Iraqi leader made the formal announcement of Mr. Zarqawi's death, but otherwise seemed at pains not to overstate the significance of the moment.

Mr. Zarqawi, he said, "is known to be responsible for the deaths of thousands" with his terror attacks, and his death would be a major blow to Al Qaeda.

But he added a sober note, saying that "although the designated leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq is now dead," hard fighting in the war lay ahead. "This is just a step in the process," he said.

The American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, took a similar approach. Smiling broadly, the 55-year-old envoy described Mr. Zarqawi's death as "a great success for Iraq" in its war with terrorists, and congratulated General Casey, "whose forces carried out this very vital mission." In a personal nod to General Casey, he noted that the American commander "has been here now for more than 700 days" — an oblique way, perhaps, of saying that Mr. Zarqawi's death marked a rare upturn in the war for the force of 135,000 American troops General Casey leads, who have lost more than 2,400 soldiers dead and more than 17,000 wounded, with no end to the war in sight.

"Zarqawi was the godfather of sectarian killing in Iraq," Mr. Khalilzad said. "He led a civil war within Islam and a global war of civilizations."

To this, the ambassador added a note of caution. "Zarqawi's death will not end the violence in Iraq," he said, "but it is an important step in the right direction." He said it was also an important step for the Maliki government, new in power and facing an uphill struggle to bolster the flagging confidence of Iraqis in the ability of the Baghdad leadership to bring an end to killing that human rights groups say has cost at least 30,000 civilian lives, and possibly many more.

But "there will be difficult days ahead," Mr. Khalilzad said. He added, "I call on Iraq's various communities to take responsibility for bringing sectarian violence to an end, and for all Iraqis to unite" behind the Maliki government, which, though dominated by figures from Shiite religious groups, has a cabinet composed of representatives from all three of Iraq's principal ethnic and religious groups, Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

For Mr. Maliki, a Shiite, the killing of Mr. Zarqawi brought immediate political results in the form of parliamentary approval, immediately after the news conference, of Mr. Maliki's nominees for the vacant security posts in the cabinet, the ministers of defense, interior and national security. After the prime minister's repeated failures to win agreement of contending groups within the government on earlier nominees, he stood at the lectern in the Parliament chamber and presented the three men who emerged from weeks of overlapping vetoes by the main Sunni and Shiite political groups.

Named as ministers were Gen. Abdul Qadr Mohammed Jassim, a former general under Saddam Hussein who was jailed in 1994 and sentenced to seven years imprisonment, as minister of defense; Jawad Kadem al-Bolani, a 46-year-old Shiite engineer who was a member of Saddam Hussein's armed forces and became a member of the Iraqi Governing Council in 2003, as minister of the interior, responsible for the police; and Shirwan al-Waili, a 49-year-old Shiite with a background in military engineering who was arrested in the Shiite uprising after the first Persian Gulf war, as minister of national security.

In line with an agreement reached several weeks ago between Sunni and Shiites groups, General Jassim, who has until recently been commander of land forces in the new American-trained Iraqi army, is a Sunni Arab, and Mr. Polani, the interior minister, is a Shiite. Both men stressed in remarks to the Parliament that they had no ties to any of the rival political parties in the government, a qualification that American officials had insisted on after the former government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was virtually immobilized over allegations that the interior ministry was sheltering Shiite death squads targeting Sunnis.

Christine Hauser contributed reporting from New York for this article.

    U.S. Strike Hits Insurgent at Safehouse, NYT, 8.6.2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1149825600&en=d6d9b3b68ae5cc4a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

President Bush read a statement in the Rose Garden on the death of Zarqawi.
"Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again," Mr Bush said.
"Iraqis can be justly proud of their new government and its early steps to improve their security."

Matthew Cavanaugh/European Pressphoto Agency        NYT        8.6.2006

U.S. Strike Hits Insurgent at Safehouse        NYT        8.6.2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=
1149825600&en=d6d9b3b68ae5cc4a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Statement by the President on Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

June 8, 2006
7:31 A.M. EDT

The White House
Rose Garden
Washington, D.C.

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Last night in Iraq, United States military forces killed the terrorist al Zarqawi. At 6:15 p.m. Baghdad time, special operation forces, acting on tips and intelligence from Iraqis, confirmed Zarqawi's location, and delivered justice to the most wanted terrorist in Iraq.

Zarqawi was the operational commander of the terrorist movement in Iraq. He led a campaign of car bombings, assassinations and suicide attacks that has taken the lives of many American forces and thousands of innocent Iraqis. Osama bin Laden called this Jordanian terrorist "the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq." He called on the terrorists around the world to listen to him and obey him. Zarqawi personally beheaded American hostages and other civilians in Iraq. He masterminded the destruction of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. He was responsible for the assassination of an American diplomat in Jordan, and the bombing of a hotel in Amman.

Through his every action, he sought to defeat America and our coalition partners, and turn Iraq into a safe haven from which al Qaeda could wage its war on free nations. To achieve these ends, he worked to divide Iraqis and incite civil war. And only last week he released an audio tape attacking Iraq's elected leaders, and denouncing those advocating the end of sectarianism.

Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again. Iraqis can be justly proud of their new government and its early steps to improve their security. And Americans can be enormously proud of the men and women of our armed forces, who worked tirelessly with their Iraqi counterparts to track down this brutal terrorist and put him out of business.

The operation against Zarqawi was conducted with courage and professionalism by the finest military in the world. Coalition and Iraqi forces persevered through years of near misses and false leads, and they never gave up. Last night their persistence and determination were rewarded. On behalf of all Americans, I congratulate our troops on this remarkable achievement.

Zarqawi is dead, but the difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues. We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him. We can expect the sectarian violence to continue. Yet the ideology of terror has lost one of its most visible and aggressive leaders.

Zarqawi's death is a severe blow to al Qaeda. It's a victory in the global war on terror, and it is an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide of this struggle. A few minutes ago I spoke to Prime Minister Maliki. I congratulated him on close collaboration between coalition and Iraqi forces that helped make this day possible. Iraq's freely elected Prime Minister is determined to defeat our common enemies and bring security and the rule of law to all its people.

Earlier this morning he announced the completion of his cabinet appointments, with the naming of a new Minister of Defense, a new Minister of the Interior, and a new Minister of State for National Security. These new ministers are part of a democratic government that represents all Iraqis. They will play a vital role as the Iraqi government addresses its top priorities -- reconciliation and reconstruction and putting an end to the kidnappings and beheadings and suicide bombings that plague the Iraqi people. I assured Prime Minister Maliki that he will have the full support of the United States of America.

On Monday I will meet with my national security team and other key members of my Cabinet at Camp David to discuss the way forward in Iraq. Our top diplomats and military commanders in Iraq will give me an assessment of recent changes in the political and economic and security situation on the ground. On Tuesday, Iraq's new Ambassador to the United States will join us, and we will have a teleconference discussion with the Prime Minister and members of his cabinet. Together we will discuss how to best deploy America's resources in Iraq and achieve our shared goal of an Iraq that can govern itself, defend itself and sustain itself.

We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continued patience of the American people. Yet the developments of the last 24 hours give us renewed confidence in the final outcome of this struggle: the defeat of terrorism threats, and a more peaceful world for our children and grandchildren.

May God bless the Iraqi people and may God continue to bless America.

END 7:37 A.M. EDT

    Statement by the President on Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, White House, 8.6.2006, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060608.html

2pm update

Iraq terrorist leader Zarqawi 'eliminated'

· Picture of dead body shown
· US: killing a 'good omen' for Iraq
· Blair says death a blow for all al-Qaida

Thursday June 8, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke and agencies

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, has been killed in a US airstrike, the Iraqi prime minister announced today.

Zarqawi, an iconic figure who acted as the axis of insurgent operations against the Iraqi government and US-led forces, died in a military operation targeting a house in Baquba, 30 miles north-east of Baghdad, last night (watch the US military video here).

News of his death was announced at around 8.30am by Nuri al-Maliki, and was greeted by applause from his audience.

"Today, Zarqawi was eliminated," Mr Maliki said. "Those who disrupt the course of life, like Zarqawi, will have a tragic end," the Iraqi prime minister said. He warned that "whenever there is a new al-Zarqawi, we will kill him".

Mr Maliki said the Jordanian-born militant and seven aides were killed in a house in the volatile province of Diyala.

The air strike came after US forces acted on intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by local residents. Mr Maliki dismissed earlier reports of a Jordanian role.

The US military later released a photograph apparently showing a bearded Zarqawi with his eyes closed and blood on his face, and said visual identification had been confirmed by scars and tattoos as well as finger-printing.

The results of DNA analysis are expected within the next two days.

The picture was released at a press conference at which Major General Bill Caldwell, a spokesman for the US forces in Iraq, gave further details of the strike.

He said two F16s from the US air force had dropped two 500lb bombs on the house after it was established that Zarqawi was inside.

Maj Gen Caldwell said six people died in the raid, including a woman and a young person. Only two have so far been identified.

Zarqawi, aged around 39, was blamed for leading foreign insurgent fighters in Iraq in strikes against Muslim Shia targets.

He was believed to have masterminded the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003, and to have personally beheaded the British hostage Ken Bigley in October 2004.

Zarqawi headed US-led forces' most wanted list in Iraq. There was a $25m reward for his capture - the same as that offered for the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden.

Death is 'good omen' for Iraq

The US ambassador in Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the leading US commander in the country, General George Casey, were with Mr Maliki when he made the announcement.

Dr Khalilzad said Zarqawi was the "godfather of sectarian killings and terror in Iraq", describing his death as a "good omen" for Iraq and the new government.

General Casey confirmed Zarqawi was killed in an air strike. The US ABC news network said the body had been identified by fingerprints and facial recognition.

Tony Blair and the US president, George Bush, both said Zarqawi's death was a major setback for al-Qaida.

"A blow against al-Qaida in Iraq is a blow against al-Qaida everywhere," Mr Blair, speaking at his monthly news conference, said.

"I don't think there is any doubt that he was the hands-on leader of al-Qaida in Iraq but there are other people who will want to continue the killing. They also know that our determination to defeat them is total."

Mr Bush welcomed news of Zarqawi's death. Speaking in Washington, he said: "He turned Iraq into a place where al-Qaida could wage war against free nations."

Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed the death of its leader in a statement on the internet. It vowed to continue its holy war.

"We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," the statement, signed by Abu Abdel-Rahman al-Iraqi, identified as the deputy leader the organisation in Iraq, said.

"The death of our leader is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."

Zarqawi had taunted US-led forces in Iraq for many years, rousing his followers with a series of messages released on the internet. He was wounded and came close to being captured several times, but evaded his pursuers.

In recent weeks, Baquba has seen a surge in sectarian violence, including the discovery of 17 severed heads in fruit boxes. It is near the site of a sectarian killing last week in which masked gunmen murdered 21 Shias, including a dozen students.

Mr Maliki said last night's operation was the second time in 10 days that Zarqawi had been targeted.

"Since a week or 10 days ago, there was intelligence information about the presence and movements of this big criminal," he told al-Arabiya television. "There was a previous attempt to kill him but it didn't succeed. Then we succeeded, thanks to God."

Today's announcement came six days after the terrorist leader appeared in a videotaped message, in which he claimed Iraqi Shia militants were raping women and killing Sunnis. He said the Sunni community must fight back.

US and Iraqi forces had been hunting for him using a picture obtained about 18 months ago when they arrested his alleged driver and bodyguard.

In April this year, Zarqawi appeared publicly for the first time since the insurgency began three years ago.

In a video posted on the internet, he spoke directly to the camera. Dressed in black, and with his chest covered in ammunition pouches, he appealed to Iraqi Sunnis to support his fight against US-led troops and their Iraqi supporters.

Caution urged in aftermath of killing

Despite today's successful operation, two bombs in Baghdad killed 15 people and injured 36 others this morning. The blasts came as some urged caution about the impact of Zarqawi's death.

"Whether it makes much difference to the overall level of violence is dubious, because he was responsible only for a small amount of the terrorist attacks," Lord Garden, a former assistant chief of defence staff, said.

"It looks as though they had good intelligence and were able to get the timing right. It is obviously a successful military operation, and one which has become increasingly difficult because of the controversy when they attack the wrong target."

Experts said intelligence about Zarqawi's movements had improved over the past year as frictions between foreign fighters and domestic militants grew.

Rosemary Hollis, the director of research at Chatham House, said Iraqi militants were becoming fed up with Zarqawi and foreign insurgents operating in their country.

"They were increasingly against Zarqawi because he set Arabs against Arabs. He was both fanatical and a foreigner," she said. "Iraqis believe he was a pursuing a case against their own and perhaps, in the fullness of time, would have dealt with him."

She said she believed today's operation would have been based on information supplied by Iraqis and Jordanian intelligence sources.

According to the Observer writer and al-Qaida expert Jason Burke, Zarqawi grew up in a rough city, becoming involved in theft, violence and possibly sexual assault.

"He went to prison, where he became involved in radical Islam. He was released in an amnesty and went to Afghanistan where he set up his own training camp," Burke told Guardian Unlimited.

Once the Taliban had been defeated by the 2001 US invasion, Zarqawi returned to the Middle East and set up in Iraq.

In the past year, he moved his campaign beyond Iraq's borders, claiming to have carried out the triple suicide bombing of hotels in Amman that killed 60 people last November.

He also claimed to have carried out other attacks in Jordan and a rocket attack from Lebanon into northern Israel.

US forces believe they narrowly missed capturing him in February last year in a raid on his vehicle west of Baghdad. His driver and another associate were captured and his computer, along with pistols and ammunition, seized.

In May last year, Zarqawi was thought to have been shot in western Iraq near the Syrian border. Two major US invasions of Falluja in 2004 failed to find him.

Jordan tried Zarqawi in absentia, sentencing him to death for planning attacks in his native country. Intelligence officers in Morocco and Turkey had also implicated him in high-profile suicide attacks there during 2003.