Basically, this is an information dump for links about the War in Iraq. The Iraq War debate is a long and convoluted one, and I'm pinning it here for people basically to dump links that they like to source often. Often bookmarks can get cluttered, and keeping links can become inconvenient, not to mention looking through the backtrails of the forum. So here is where you can just dump Iraq links that you might use later. This isn't so much a place to debate Iraq as it is just a convenient information archive about Iraq. Anybody can feel free to post links here.
What follows is my stuff:
http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/new/docume.../s-2004-435.pdf
http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/new/docume.../s-2005-351.pdf
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...tacodalogin=yes
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...06/345qrbbj.asp
http://www.cnsnews.com/specialreports/2004/exclusive17.asp
http://www.cnsnews.com/PDF/2004/enPage17.pdf
http://www.cnsnews.com/specialreports/2004/mustardgas.asp
http://www.cnsnews.com/specialreports/2004/anthrax.asp
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2005/n...51107-5075.html
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Prot...06/380eerto.asp
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...8astht.asp?pg=2
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...05/850ikvwv.asp
http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/The...ork/111705.html
http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A76_0_2_0_C/
http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A75_0_2_0_C/
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports....E20041004a.html
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/008190.php
http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/m...ddamarticle.pdf
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/index.html
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1199662004
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/SC7564.doc.htm
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/fe...ml?id=110005133
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...04/259gqzrw.asp
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/A...04/248eaurh.asp
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...04/152lndzv.asp
http://www.nationalreview.com/mccarthy/mcc...00507011134.asp
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMD...open&of=ENG-JOR
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2590265.stm
http://www.factcheck.org/article222.html
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...tacodalogin=yes
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...tacodalogin=yes
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...06/345qrbbj.asp
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/fe...ml?id=110007584
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...05/880qqeoh.asp
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...05/884ygeya.asp
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh...ws/general.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Pak_facility
http://www.iraqwatch.org/un/unscresolutions/s-res-687.htm
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/iraq/956-tni.htm
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...4yqqnr.asp?pg=1
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/SC7564.doc.htm
I repeat, this is not a thread to discuss the Iraq War, it is just a thread for anybody to dump info that they often link to, or want to keep around.
Full Version: Iraq: Information
Good article nomad posted about a possible Israeli strike on Iran: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1920074,00.html
Another good one: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/fe...ml?id=110007677
And a story on the yellow cake from the American Thinker: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=4661
and the history of the IAEA and Iraq: http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Booklets/.../iraqindex.html
Another good one: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/fe...ml?id=110007677
And a story on the yellow cake from the American Thinker: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=4661
and the history of the IAEA and Iraq: http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Booklets/.../iraqindex.html
Anybody have a PDF document of the Volcker report? I'm trying to find one.
IRanian polls: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2294509.stm
QUOTE (FatsoHopper @ Dec 27 2005, 11:21 AM)
Thanks for the link. Very logical and interesting.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/04/...main/index.html
36 killed, 40 wounded in Iraqi funeral blast
Attackers destroy 20 fuel tankers north of Baghdad
Wednesday, January 4, 2006; Posted: 8:47 a.m. EST (13:47 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed 36 people and wounded 40 others at funeral procession in northeast Iraq, authorities said.
The blast was one of several deadly attacks across Iraq on Wednesday.
The attack on the procession occurred at 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) in Muqdadiya, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, officials said.
Those attending the funeral were on foot when the bomber mixed in among them.
The funeral was for Mohammed al-Bakka, nephew of Ahmed al-Bakka, head of Muqdadiya's Dawa party and director of the town.
Ahmed al-Bakka survived an assassination attempt Tuesday, but a bodyguard and his nephew were killed.
Dawa is the party Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Earlier Wednesday, five people were killed and 15 wounded in a car bomb attack on an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad. The casualties included police officers and civilians.
The attack occurred about 10 a.m. in the Kadhimiya neighborhood.
About an hour afterward, Iraq police commandos battled insurgents for about 30 minutes in western Baghdad's Gazaliya neighborhood.
The firefight left one commando dead and 17 other people wounded, including 16 commandos.
Also Wednesday, Three people died and 11 more were wounded when a parked car bomb remotely detonated in an attack on an Iraqi police commando patrol in southern Baghdad's al-Dora neighborhood, Baghdad police said.
An Iraqi police commando was among the dead, and six commandos were wounded in the 3 p.m. attack, the official said.
Meanwhile, attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns Wednesday to destroy 20 fuel tankers in two attacks on a convoy traveling from a refinery in Baiji to Baghdad, an official with the Salah al-Din Joint Coordination Center told CNN.
The first attack took place in Tikrit, where gunmen hit a tanker with an RPG and killed the driver. An hour later, gunmen attacked the same convoy in Mashahda, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, destroying 19 more tankers, the officials said.
The fate of those 19 drivers was unknown, the official added.
Six killed in in Bayji air strikes
Air strikes Monday in Bayji north of Baghdad killed six members of a single family, Wamir abd el-Wahab, according to a spokesman for the Salah ad-Din provincial governor's office.
El-Wahab said three other family members were seriously wounded in the attack and the father and a daughter survived relatively unharmed.
The house, the spokesman said Tuesday, was flattened. "Why are they hitting civilians?" el-Wahab asked.
A spokesman for the U.S. military said air operations had taken place in the area overnight but had no further details. He said the incident was under investigation.
In a statement, the military said it conducted 58 air missions over Iraq on Monday, including one strike by U.S. Navy F-14s "in the vicinity of Bayji."
"The F-14s strafed the target with 100 cannon rounds and expended one precision-guided munition with successful effects against insurgents placing an improvised explosive device," the statement said, but it wasn't clear whether that was the attack in question.
None of the other missions in the statement were in the Bayji area.
In a separate statement covering only the Bayji incident, the military said an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft spotted three men "suspected of emplacing an improvised explosive device" late Monday, and "close air support" was called in.
"The individuals left the road site and were followed from the air to a nearby building," the second statement said. "Coalition forces employed precision guided munitions on the structure. Local Iraqi police were the first authorities at the scene to conduct post-event response."
--------------
i hope end this soon
36 killed, 40 wounded in Iraqi funeral blast
Attackers destroy 20 fuel tankers north of Baghdad
Wednesday, January 4, 2006; Posted: 8:47 a.m. EST (13:47 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed 36 people and wounded 40 others at funeral procession in northeast Iraq, authorities said.
The blast was one of several deadly attacks across Iraq on Wednesday.
The attack on the procession occurred at 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) in Muqdadiya, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, officials said.
Those attending the funeral were on foot when the bomber mixed in among them.
The funeral was for Mohammed al-Bakka, nephew of Ahmed al-Bakka, head of Muqdadiya's Dawa party and director of the town.
Ahmed al-Bakka survived an assassination attempt Tuesday, but a bodyguard and his nephew were killed.
Dawa is the party Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Earlier Wednesday, five people were killed and 15 wounded in a car bomb attack on an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad. The casualties included police officers and civilians.
The attack occurred about 10 a.m. in the Kadhimiya neighborhood.
About an hour afterward, Iraq police commandos battled insurgents for about 30 minutes in western Baghdad's Gazaliya neighborhood.
The firefight left one commando dead and 17 other people wounded, including 16 commandos.
Also Wednesday, Three people died and 11 more were wounded when a parked car bomb remotely detonated in an attack on an Iraqi police commando patrol in southern Baghdad's al-Dora neighborhood, Baghdad police said.
An Iraqi police commando was among the dead, and six commandos were wounded in the 3 p.m. attack, the official said.
Meanwhile, attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns Wednesday to destroy 20 fuel tankers in two attacks on a convoy traveling from a refinery in Baiji to Baghdad, an official with the Salah al-Din Joint Coordination Center told CNN.
The first attack took place in Tikrit, where gunmen hit a tanker with an RPG and killed the driver. An hour later, gunmen attacked the same convoy in Mashahda, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, destroying 19 more tankers, the officials said.
The fate of those 19 drivers was unknown, the official added.
Six killed in in Bayji air strikes
Air strikes Monday in Bayji north of Baghdad killed six members of a single family, Wamir abd el-Wahab, according to a spokesman for the Salah ad-Din provincial governor's office.
El-Wahab said three other family members were seriously wounded in the attack and the father and a daughter survived relatively unharmed.
The house, the spokesman said Tuesday, was flattened. "Why are they hitting civilians?" el-Wahab asked.
A spokesman for the U.S. military said air operations had taken place in the area overnight but had no further details. He said the incident was under investigation.
In a statement, the military said it conducted 58 air missions over Iraq on Monday, including one strike by U.S. Navy F-14s "in the vicinity of Bayji."
"The F-14s strafed the target with 100 cannon rounds and expended one precision-guided munition with successful effects against insurgents placing an improvised explosive device," the statement said, but it wasn't clear whether that was the attack in question.
None of the other missions in the statement were in the Bayji area.
In a separate statement covering only the Bayji incident, the military said an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft spotted three men "suspected of emplacing an improvised explosive device" late Monday, and "close air support" was called in.
"The individuals left the road site and were followed from the air to a nearby building," the second statement said. "Coalition forces employed precision guided munitions on the structure. Local Iraqi police were the first authorities at the scene to conduct post-event response."
--------------
i hope end this soon
At least 134 killed in attacks across Iraq
80 killed in one bombing
Thursday, January 5, 2006; Posted: 7:02 p.m. EST (00:02 GMT)
Relatives outside a hospital grieve over a victim of a suicide bomb attack in Karbala, Iraq, on Thursday.
Image:
WATCH Browse/Search
Bombers strike near a holy site, police recruits (3:08)
Bomber kills dozens at Iraqi funeral (1:36)
RELATED
Gallery: 134 killed in a single day
• Iraqi baby to get treated in U.S.
• Interactive: Pictures from Ramadi
• Interactive: U.S. troops in Iraq
SPECIAL REPORT
• Timeline: A new government
• Flash: Government structure
• Chart: Iraq's National Assembly
• Interactive: Iraq's population
• Coalition Casualties
• Special ReportYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Iraq
Baghdad
Unrest, Conflicts and War
or Create Your Own
Manage Alerts | What Is This? BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In the deadliest day in Iraq in nearly four months, at least 134 people were killed and scores were wounded by insurgent-bomb attacks, authorities said Thursday.
In Ramadi, 80 people were killed and dozens wounded when a bomber detonated near an Iraqi police recruitment and screening drive, according to a U.S. Marine news release.
About 1,000 people were waiting in line to apply for positions on the reconstituted Iraqi police force, officials said.
Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, where, just before the elections, U.S. and Iraqi military forces conducted several operations aimed at rooting out a strong insurgency there.
A blast in Karbala, a Shiite holy city, killed 45 people and wounded dozens more on Thursday morning in a pedestrian mall that runs between the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas holy shrines, police spokesman Rahman Mishawi said.
The area has been closed off and police are investigating, Mishawi said.
Karbala, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, has been relatively free of violence for the past year.
Among the 134 dead were five U.S. soldiers with Task Force Baghdad, according to a U.S. military news release.
The soldiers were patrolling in the Iraqi capital when their Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb, the release said.
With the deaths, 2,187 U.S. service members have been killed in the Iraq war.
Meanwhile in central Baquba, four police officers were killed and another four were wounded about 9 a.m. when insurgents ambushed a police patrol using small arms fire, authorities said.
Thursday's death toll marks the deadliest day for Iraq since a spate of suicide car bombings and other attacks killed 153 people and wounded more than 300 on September 14.
Asked if the attacks were a sign that the December elections had failed to diminish the insurgency in Iraq, Gen. Peter Pace said the opposite was true.
Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that with each of the country's three elections, voter turnout increased, indicating that "the terrorists failed at each of their primary missions of stopping the vote."
"What's clear to me is that each of the elections has been a major blow to al Qaeda," Pace said at a Pentagon news conference Thursday. "I think what you're seeing now is a continuing attempt to disrupt the proper formation of the Iraqi government, and I'm confident they will fail."
Spike in violence
The attacks marked a second day of widespread violence in Iraq.
The most deadly incident on Wednesday was in Muqdadiya, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber killed 36 people and wounded 40 others at funeral procession, officials said.
Those attending the funeral were on foot when the bomber mixed in among them.
The funeral was for Mohammed al-Bakka, nephew of Ahmed al-Bakka, head of Muqdadiya's Dawa party and director of the town.
Ahmed al-Bakka survived an assassination attempt Tuesday, but a bodyguard and his nephew were killed.
Dawa is the party of Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Earlier Wednesday, five people were killed and 15 wounded in a car bomb attack on an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya. The casualties included police officers and civilians.
A short time later, Iraq police commandos battled insurgents for about 30 minutes in western Baghdad's Gazaliya neighborhood.
The firefight left one commando dead and 17 other people wounded, including 16 commandos.
Also Wednesday, three people died and 11 more were wounded when a parked car bomb remotely detonated in an attack on an Iraqi police commando patrol in southern Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, Baghdad police said.
An Iraqi police commando was among the dead, and six commandos were wounded in the 3 p.m. attack, the official said.
Meanwhile, attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns Wednesday to destroy 20 fuel tankers in two attacks on a convoy traveling from a refinery in Baiji to Baghdad, an official with the Salah al-Din Joint Coordination Center told CNN.
The first attack took place in Tikrit, where gunmen hit a tanker with an rocket-propelled grenade and killed the driver. An hour later, gunmen attacked the same convoy in Mashahda, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, destroying 19 more tankers, the officials said.
The fate of those 19 drivers was unknown, the official added.
Other developments
A homemade bomb damaged a main pipeline carrying oil from the country's largest refinery in Baiji to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, Kirkuk's police chief said.
U.S. President George W. Bush and his top aides met Thursday with more than a dozen former secretaries of defense and state at the White House, Reuters reported. Bush said he would "take to heart" the suggestions the former policy makers had for the U.S. strategy in Iraq. (Full story)
One of 23 Iraqi detainees being transferred from the western Iraqi town of Rutbah to a nearby U.S. base died Wednesday, according to a U.S. military statement released Thursday.
CNN's Cal Perry, Barbara Starr and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/05/...main/index.html
80 killed in one bombing
Thursday, January 5, 2006; Posted: 7:02 p.m. EST (00:02 GMT)
Relatives outside a hospital grieve over a victim of a suicide bomb attack in Karbala, Iraq, on Thursday.
Image:
WATCH Browse/Search
Bombers strike near a holy site, police recruits (3:08)
Bomber kills dozens at Iraqi funeral (1:36)
RELATED
Gallery: 134 killed in a single day
• Iraqi baby to get treated in U.S.
• Interactive: Pictures from Ramadi
• Interactive: U.S. troops in Iraq
SPECIAL REPORT
• Timeline: A new government
• Flash: Government structure
• Chart: Iraq's National Assembly
• Interactive: Iraq's population
• Coalition Casualties
• Special ReportYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Iraq
Baghdad
Unrest, Conflicts and War
or Create Your Own
Manage Alerts | What Is This? BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In the deadliest day in Iraq in nearly four months, at least 134 people were killed and scores were wounded by insurgent-bomb attacks, authorities said Thursday.
In Ramadi, 80 people were killed and dozens wounded when a bomber detonated near an Iraqi police recruitment and screening drive, according to a U.S. Marine news release.
About 1,000 people were waiting in line to apply for positions on the reconstituted Iraqi police force, officials said.
Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, where, just before the elections, U.S. and Iraqi military forces conducted several operations aimed at rooting out a strong insurgency there.
A blast in Karbala, a Shiite holy city, killed 45 people and wounded dozens more on Thursday morning in a pedestrian mall that runs between the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas holy shrines, police spokesman Rahman Mishawi said.
The area has been closed off and police are investigating, Mishawi said.
Karbala, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, has been relatively free of violence for the past year.
Among the 134 dead were five U.S. soldiers with Task Force Baghdad, according to a U.S. military news release.
The soldiers were patrolling in the Iraqi capital when their Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb, the release said.
With the deaths, 2,187 U.S. service members have been killed in the Iraq war.
Meanwhile in central Baquba, four police officers were killed and another four were wounded about 9 a.m. when insurgents ambushed a police patrol using small arms fire, authorities said.
Thursday's death toll marks the deadliest day for Iraq since a spate of suicide car bombings and other attacks killed 153 people and wounded more than 300 on September 14.
Asked if the attacks were a sign that the December elections had failed to diminish the insurgency in Iraq, Gen. Peter Pace said the opposite was true.
Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that with each of the country's three elections, voter turnout increased, indicating that "the terrorists failed at each of their primary missions of stopping the vote."
"What's clear to me is that each of the elections has been a major blow to al Qaeda," Pace said at a Pentagon news conference Thursday. "I think what you're seeing now is a continuing attempt to disrupt the proper formation of the Iraqi government, and I'm confident they will fail."
Spike in violence
The attacks marked a second day of widespread violence in Iraq.
The most deadly incident on Wednesday was in Muqdadiya, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber killed 36 people and wounded 40 others at funeral procession, officials said.
Those attending the funeral were on foot when the bomber mixed in among them.
The funeral was for Mohammed al-Bakka, nephew of Ahmed al-Bakka, head of Muqdadiya's Dawa party and director of the town.
Ahmed al-Bakka survived an assassination attempt Tuesday, but a bodyguard and his nephew were killed.
Dawa is the party of Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Earlier Wednesday, five people were killed and 15 wounded in a car bomb attack on an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya. The casualties included police officers and civilians.
A short time later, Iraq police commandos battled insurgents for about 30 minutes in western Baghdad's Gazaliya neighborhood.
The firefight left one commando dead and 17 other people wounded, including 16 commandos.
Also Wednesday, three people died and 11 more were wounded when a parked car bomb remotely detonated in an attack on an Iraqi police commando patrol in southern Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, Baghdad police said.
An Iraqi police commando was among the dead, and six commandos were wounded in the 3 p.m. attack, the official said.
Meanwhile, attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns Wednesday to destroy 20 fuel tankers in two attacks on a convoy traveling from a refinery in Baiji to Baghdad, an official with the Salah al-Din Joint Coordination Center told CNN.
The first attack took place in Tikrit, where gunmen hit a tanker with an rocket-propelled grenade and killed the driver. An hour later, gunmen attacked the same convoy in Mashahda, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, destroying 19 more tankers, the officials said.
The fate of those 19 drivers was unknown, the official added.
Other developments
A homemade bomb damaged a main pipeline carrying oil from the country's largest refinery in Baiji to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, Kirkuk's police chief said.
U.S. President George W. Bush and his top aides met Thursday with more than a dozen former secretaries of defense and state at the White House, Reuters reported. Bush said he would "take to heart" the suggestions the former policy makers had for the U.S. strategy in Iraq. (Full story)
One of 23 Iraqi detainees being transferred from the western Iraqi town of Rutbah to a nearby U.S. base died Wednesday, according to a U.S. military statement released Thursday.
CNN's Cal Perry, Barbara Starr and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/05/...main/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/war.tracker/index.html
WAR TRACKER
A day-by-day look at the war in Iraq, archived after President Bush declared on May 1 that "major combat operations in Iraq
WAR TRACKER
A day-by-day look at the war in Iraq, archived after President Bush declared on May 1 that "major combat operations in Iraq
GOOD NEWS about the war in Iraq from unbiased source:
http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/updates/
Highlights:
USAID renovated the law library at a northern Iraqi university as part of the Higher Education and Development (HEAD) program.
The new resources and study area have allowed students to re-connect with international law and pursue aggressive research on topics including terrorism, Islamic law, and media crimes. “We are winning their hearts while enriching their minds” said Kimberly Morris, the chief of party for DePaul University, one of USAID’s partners implementing higher education reforms at several Iraqi universities.
A central Iraqi community takes action to improve sanitation.
In one neighborhood in central Iraq, community members came together to fix the problem of trash in public areas. They felt the debris was impeding the return of an optimistic atmosphere. The ITI grant provided the labor costs, cleaning equipment, and garbage bins necessary to clean the targeted area. This cooperative effort dramatically improved sanitation in the area, benefiting over 1,000 local citizens.
Canal cleaning brings widespread benefits.
Under the previous regime, the agricultural canals fell into disrepair. Because the channels fill with silt, much of their water-carrying capacity is lost, lowering productivity. Most farmers do not have the technical skills, nor do they have the financial resources to pay to clean the canals.
Military and USAID team up to help small businesses in Iraq.
In Baghdad, military civil affairs and USAID’s Izdihar project recently coordinated to provide two days of training in financial planning and business association management to 18 small business owners from the Al-Rasheed and Al-Karradah chambers of commerce.
http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/updates/
Highlights:
USAID renovated the law library at a northern Iraqi university as part of the Higher Education and Development (HEAD) program.
The new resources and study area have allowed students to re-connect with international law and pursue aggressive research on topics including terrorism, Islamic law, and media crimes. “We are winning their hearts while enriching their minds” said Kimberly Morris, the chief of party for DePaul University, one of USAID’s partners implementing higher education reforms at several Iraqi universities.
A central Iraqi community takes action to improve sanitation.
In one neighborhood in central Iraq, community members came together to fix the problem of trash in public areas. They felt the debris was impeding the return of an optimistic atmosphere. The ITI grant provided the labor costs, cleaning equipment, and garbage bins necessary to clean the targeted area. This cooperative effort dramatically improved sanitation in the area, benefiting over 1,000 local citizens.
Canal cleaning brings widespread benefits.
Under the previous regime, the agricultural canals fell into disrepair. Because the channels fill with silt, much of their water-carrying capacity is lost, lowering productivity. Most farmers do not have the technical skills, nor do they have the financial resources to pay to clean the canals.
Military and USAID team up to help small businesses in Iraq.
In Baghdad, military civil affairs and USAID’s Izdihar project recently coordinated to provide two days of training in financial planning and business association management to 18 small business owners from the Al-Rasheed and Al-Karradah chambers of commerce.
Iraq Reconstruction Update
http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/updates/
Iraqi credit officers learn new lending methods for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
USAID programs help establish olive orchards in eight governorates.
A series of Iraq Transition Initiative (ITI) grants restored irrigation systems in 27 villages in northern Iraq.
USAID partner conducts training on NGO roles in a parliament.
http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/updates/
Iraqi credit officers learn new lending methods for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
USAID programs help establish olive orchards in eight governorates.
A series of Iraq Transition Initiative (ITI) grants restored irrigation systems in 27 villages in northern Iraq.
USAID partner conducts training on NGO roles in a parliament.
Here's a great blog that focuses a lot on the war in Iraq and elsewhere: Peace Like a River.
US journalist Jill Carroll, released almost 12 weeks after being abducted at gunpoint in Baghdad, has appeared on Iraqi television and said she had been treated well during her ordeal.
"I am happy to be free. I just want to be with my family quickly," a composed Carroll, wearing a headscarf, on Thursday told Baghdad Television, a local channel run by the Iraqi Islamic Party at whose office she was dropped off by her captors.
US officials voiced relief at her liberation, saying there had been no negotiation with the kidnappers who snatched Carroll off a Baghdad street on January 7 after killing her interpreter.
In her first interview since being released, Carroll said that during her entire period of captivity she was only allowed to move "between my room and the bathroom".
"I was allowed to read a newspaper only once and watch the television once just to make me aware of what was happening outside," said the 28-year-old freelance journalist who worked for the Christian Science Monitor.
"I had very good treatment. They never hit me. I was kept in a safe place with nice furniture, plenty of food. I was allowed to take showers."
Great relief
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, expressed "great delight and great relief" at Carroll's release, while the Monitor's editor Richard Bergenheim said: "This is an exciting day. We couldn't be happier."
The US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said "no US person had made arrangement with kidnappers" for her release, adding, "by US person I mean members of the US mission here".
Carroll: I just want to be with
my family quickly
He said at a press conferece in the high-security Green Zone which houses the US embassy that Carroll was now in safe place and with "her friends in a place not far from here".
He said she had already spoken to her father and "as I can see she is in great spirit and in good health".
Khalilzad that after being informed of her release "we made arrangements for her safe transfer to a safe place with assistance from US elements".
"There has been no formal debriefing of Carroll," the ambassador said. "We will do what she wants to do."
Tariq al-Hashimi, the Islamic Party chief, who first announced her release, told Carroll during the television interview "do not forget the Iraqi people".
"What the Iraqi Islamic Party is giving you today is the teaching of Islam," Hashimi said and handed Carroll a Koran, Islam's holy book, as the camera rolled.
Emotional appeal
Her release came a week after US and British forces rescued three other Western hostages who had been held captive in Iraq for almost four months and followed an emotional appeal by Carroll's twin sister Katie on Wednesday.
Carroll's captors had set numerous deadlines threatening to kill her if US-led forces failed to release all female detainees in Iraq.
She had appeared in three videos broadcast on Aljazeera and other Arabic channels since she was abducted.
At least 430 foreigners are known to have been taken hostage in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion, and a number of them have been killed. The hostages include around 40 US nationals, some of them Iraqi-Americans, according to the US embassy.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1EE...3B08CC929B0.htm
"I am happy to be free. I just want to be with my family quickly," a composed Carroll, wearing a headscarf, on Thursday told Baghdad Television, a local channel run by the Iraqi Islamic Party at whose office she was dropped off by her captors.
US officials voiced relief at her liberation, saying there had been no negotiation with the kidnappers who snatched Carroll off a Baghdad street on January 7 after killing her interpreter.
In her first interview since being released, Carroll said that during her entire period of captivity she was only allowed to move "between my room and the bathroom".
"I was allowed to read a newspaper only once and watch the television once just to make me aware of what was happening outside," said the 28-year-old freelance journalist who worked for the Christian Science Monitor.
"I had very good treatment. They never hit me. I was kept in a safe place with nice furniture, plenty of food. I was allowed to take showers."
Great relief
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, expressed "great delight and great relief" at Carroll's release, while the Monitor's editor Richard Bergenheim said: "This is an exciting day. We couldn't be happier."
The US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said "no US person had made arrangement with kidnappers" for her release, adding, "by US person I mean members of the US mission here".
Carroll: I just want to be with
my family quickly
He said at a press conferece in the high-security Green Zone which houses the US embassy that Carroll was now in safe place and with "her friends in a place not far from here".
He said she had already spoken to her father and "as I can see she is in great spirit and in good health".
Khalilzad that after being informed of her release "we made arrangements for her safe transfer to a safe place with assistance from US elements".
"There has been no formal debriefing of Carroll," the ambassador said. "We will do what she wants to do."
Tariq al-Hashimi, the Islamic Party chief, who first announced her release, told Carroll during the television interview "do not forget the Iraqi people".
"What the Iraqi Islamic Party is giving you today is the teaching of Islam," Hashimi said and handed Carroll a Koran, Islam's holy book, as the camera rolled.
Emotional appeal
Her release came a week after US and British forces rescued three other Western hostages who had been held captive in Iraq for almost four months and followed an emotional appeal by Carroll's twin sister Katie on Wednesday.
Carroll's captors had set numerous deadlines threatening to kill her if US-led forces failed to release all female detainees in Iraq.
She had appeared in three videos broadcast on Aljazeera and other Arabic channels since she was abducted.
At least 430 foreigners are known to have been taken hostage in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion, and a number of them have been killed. The hostages include around 40 US nationals, some of them Iraqi-Americans, according to the US embassy.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1EE...3B08CC929B0.htm
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/04...ile.ap/index.ht ml
Iran: High-speed underwater missile test-fired
Sunday, April 2, 2006 Posted: 1607 GMT (0007 HKT)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran announced its second major new missile test within days, saying Sunday it has successfully fired a high-speed underwater missile capable of destroying huge warships and submarines.
announced its second major new missile test within days, saying Sunday it has successfully fired a high-speed underwater missile capable of destroying huge warships and submarines.
The tests came during war games that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have been holding in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday at a time of increased tensions with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.
The Iranian-made underwater missile has a speed of 223 miles per hour, said Gen. Ali Fadavi, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy.
That would make it about three or four times faster than a torpedo and as fast as the world's fastest known underwater missile, the Russian-made VA-111 Shkval, developed in 1995. It was not immediately known if the Iranian missile, which has not yet been named, was based on the Shkval.
"It has a very powerful warhead designed to hit big submarines. Even if enemy warship sensors identify the missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high speed," Fadavi told state-run television.
It was not immediately clear whether the ship-fired missile can carry a nuclear warhead.
The new weapon could raise concerns over Iran's naval power in the Gulf, where during the war with Iraq in the 1980s Iranian forces attacked oil tankers from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, prompting a massive U.S. naval operation to protect them. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is based on the tiny Arab island nation of Bahrain in the Gulf.
Cmdr. Jeff Breslau of the 5th Fleet said no special measures were taken by U.S. forces based on Bahrain in reaction to the Iranian war games, even after the latest missile test.
"They can conduct excercises whenever they want and they frequently do, just as we do. We conduct excercises throughout this region," he told The Associated Press by telephone.
On Friday, the first day of the war games, Iran test-fired the Fajr-3 missile, which can avoid radars and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. The Guards said the test was successful.
More than 17,000 Revolutionary Guards forces are taking part in the weeklong maneuvers. On Sunday, paratroops practiced a drop in an attack on a mock enemy position, and warships, jet fighters, helicopters and sophisticated electronic equipment were used in other exercises.
Iran, which views the United States as an arch foe and is concerned about the U.S. military presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, says the maneuvers aim to develop the Guards' defensive capabilities.
Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and test locally made equipment such as missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.
The missile tests and war games coincide with increasing tension between Iran and the West over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.
The United States and its allies believe Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but Tehran denies that, saying its program is for generating electricity.
The U.N. Security Council is demanding that Iran halt its uranium enrichment activities. But an Iranian envoy said its activities are "not reversible."
Iran launched an arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane.
Iran: High-speed underwater missile test-fired
Sunday, April 2, 2006 Posted: 1607 GMT (0007 HKT)
Iran: High-speed underwater missile test-fired
Sunday, April 2, 2006 Posted: 1607 GMT (0007 HKT)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran announced its second major new missile test within days, saying Sunday it has successfully fired a high-speed underwater missile capable of destroying huge warships and submarines.
announced its second major new missile test within days, saying Sunday it has successfully fired a high-speed underwater missile capable of destroying huge warships and submarines.
The tests came during war games that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have been holding in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday at a time of increased tensions with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.
The Iranian-made underwater missile has a speed of 223 miles per hour, said Gen. Ali Fadavi, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy.
That would make it about three or four times faster than a torpedo and as fast as the world's fastest known underwater missile, the Russian-made VA-111 Shkval, developed in 1995. It was not immediately known if the Iranian missile, which has not yet been named, was based on the Shkval.
"It has a very powerful warhead designed to hit big submarines. Even if enemy warship sensors identify the missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high speed," Fadavi told state-run television.
It was not immediately clear whether the ship-fired missile can carry a nuclear warhead.
The new weapon could raise concerns over Iran's naval power in the Gulf, where during the war with Iraq in the 1980s Iranian forces attacked oil tankers from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, prompting a massive U.S. naval operation to protect them. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet is based on the tiny Arab island nation of Bahrain in the Gulf.
Cmdr. Jeff Breslau of the 5th Fleet said no special measures were taken by U.S. forces based on Bahrain in reaction to the Iranian war games, even after the latest missile test.
"They can conduct excercises whenever they want and they frequently do, just as we do. We conduct excercises throughout this region," he told The Associated Press by telephone.
On Friday, the first day of the war games, Iran test-fired the Fajr-3 missile, which can avoid radars and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. The Guards said the test was successful.
More than 17,000 Revolutionary Guards forces are taking part in the weeklong maneuvers. On Sunday, paratroops practiced a drop in an attack on a mock enemy position, and warships, jet fighters, helicopters and sophisticated electronic equipment were used in other exercises.
Iran, which views the United States as an arch foe and is concerned about the U.S. military presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, says the maneuvers aim to develop the Guards' defensive capabilities.
Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and test locally made equipment such as missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.
The missile tests and war games coincide with increasing tension between Iran and the West over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.
The United States and its allies believe Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but Tehran denies that, saying its program is for generating electricity.
The U.N. Security Council is demanding that Iran halt its uranium enrichment activities. But an Iranian envoy said its activities are "not reversible."
Iran launched an arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane.
Iran: High-speed underwater missile test-fired
Sunday, April 2, 2006 Posted: 1607 GMT (0007 HKT)
BenT
You don't get it do you? The "weekly standard" is a pro-zionist neocon paper, written exclusively by the people who engineered this massacre in Iraq (so called war)... its like asking the fox what happened in the the chicken coop last night!
You don't get it do you? The "weekly standard" is a pro-zionist neocon paper, written exclusively by the people who engineered this massacre in Iraq (so called war)... its like asking the fox what happened in the the chicken coop last night!
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