So ... if the UN decides to leave, have the terrorists and thugs won? Talk amongst yourselves, after reading the story in VOA:

The United Nations has reduced its international staff in Iraq to less than 50 because of security concerns.

Speaking to reporters in New York Monday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard did not provide an exact number of foreign U.N. workers for security reasons. But he said the size of foreign staff in Iraq will continue to fluctuate.

The United Nations had more than 600 staff in Iraq before the August 19 bombing of its headquarters in Baghdad. The suicide car bomb attack killed 22 people, including the head of the U.N. mission, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

That attack prompted U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to order the staff cut back. He ordered a further cut back last week following another suicide bombing near Baghdad's U.N. office.

Yo, y'all. How 'bout that headline from the New York Times. Really? SHOCKER. Yeah ... the Senate, me, you, our moms, and the rest of the electorate. All right, all snarky commentary aside, here's the lead:

Senate Republicans, bowing to what appears to be a Senate majority, said Tuesday that they had begun exploring a compromise that would require Iraq to repay at least part of the $20.3 billion in reconstruction aid the Bush administration wants to spend.

A large loan to Iraq, though strongly opposed by the administration, reflects the growing objections to the White House plans from many Republican lawmakers and almost all Democrats, who do not want to use taxpayer money to rebuild a country sitting on billions of dollars in oil reserves.

From CNN:

A civilian translator who worked with the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was arrested Tuesday after immigration officials at Boston's Logan Airport found what are alleged to be classified materials in his possession, U.S. officials confirm.

The FBI was called to make the arrest after U.S. immigration officials found a man identified as Ahmed Melhalba carrying CD-ROMs and paper documents allegedly related to the detainees.

Melhalba is the third person arrested in what appears to be a widening investigation of possible espionage at the base where suspected al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists are held.

A story which illustrates both the heights of investigative journalism, especially self-checking, and the depths to which some "journalists" sink.

From the ABC's MediaWatch programme which has been less than enthused about Australian and American policy in Iraq, comes a story about some journalists, also at the ABC.

We've been given a copy of Gina Wilkinson's unedited camera tapes.

Here's what we saw on the news:

The missiles are filled with volatile rocket fuel and two hundred kilograms of high explosives. Locals fear their children could be injured or their homes destroyed by these deadly weapons.
- ABC TV News, 19 August 2003
- Watch video >

But why were those children standing on the missile launcher? So Gina could film them. Here's what the camera tapes reveal.

- You want to show the children on there?
Gina Wilkinson: Yeah, that would be good. Yeah, if they don't mind.
- (trans) You want them to stand over there to be filmed?
- (trans) Come on sweetie. What's her name?
- Noona
- (trans) I'm worried about them.
- Sit. Sit on this.
- (trans) I'm worried about them.
- (trans) Sit on the edge.

Gina Wilkinson: Please God, don't let this thing explode now.
- ABC Camera Tape
- Watch video >

According to the Federation of American Scientists the V-75 SA-2 "Guideline" has 135 kg (over 250 lb) of High Explosives in the warhead, and worse, one of the storable fuels in it is Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid, a deadly, corrosive poison.

Hat Tip : Tim Blair, one of Media Watch's staunchest critics.

From the Agence France Presse (AFP), via News Limited :

US forces killed a 10-year-old Iraqi child and wounded a 25-year-old man when they opened fire Monday on hundreds of demonstrators who pelted them with stones in Hawija, west of Kirkuk, a hospital director told AFP.

Hussein Dakhil Ahmad was killed by US soldiers, said Dr Jassem Abdullah Jiburi at Hawija hospital, 50km from the northern Iraqi city.

He said that 25-year-old Meaad Abdullah was hit in the heart and transferred to a hospital in Kirkuk.

The US army did not immediately confirm the report.

The casualties occurred when around 500 protestors carrying portraits of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein took to the streets of Hawija and began pelting US soldiers with stones, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

A later report, also from the AFP, via The Australian :

US forces today denied Iraqi claims that they had opened fired on a demonstration, killing a 10-year-old boy in Hawija west of the northern city of Kirkuk.

"Somebody within the crowd shot him (the boy), not US forces. US forces did not fire into the crowd," said 4th Infantry Division spokesperson Major Josslyn Aberle.

[...]

Maj Aberle disputed the doctor's account of the protest, describing the demonstration as "some sort of salary dispute".

"The demonstration was not anti-US, nor pro-Saddam," she said.

US soldiers had seen that the boy was wounded at the demonstration and offered him treatment, but the child's mother refused and opted to take him to the local hospital, Maj Aberle said.

The soldiers then visited the hospital and saw the boy sitting up in bed, but locals later paraded a black flag through the town and accused the Americans of shooting the child dead, Maj Aberle said.

The army was unable to confirm if the boy had truly died, she said, but added those Iraqis charging that US troops had shot the child were trying to stir up trouble.

Peut-etre les AFP reporteurs aussi?

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Our "Winds of War" coverage of the global war on terror is a separate briefing today.

Top Topics:

• Even Lebanon's Daily Star is beginning to talk about the good news in Iraq: "In mid-summer, I spent over a month in Iraq. What I found there did not correspond to what was being reported...." Yes, says Dean as he offers a comprehensive collection of links on the subject - we've noticed that. Oskar van Rijswijk explains why it happens. Or is it self-inflicted by the CPA? Or both?

• In resonse, Frank of IMAO has become serious for a change - and unveiled one of the best ideas of the war. We've been publishing a number of those soldiers' writings and links, from Afghanistan, Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 3ACR in the Sunni Triangle post-war, and post-war reports from Tikrit. We're going to keep doing that, and also help Frank & co. while we're at it. (Hat Tip: Cold Fury)

• One of the things that's very different about Iraq is that it's a tribal/kinship society, not a civic society like the U.S.A. The difference matters.

Other Topics Include: Fallujah fighting; U.S. Marines polling; WMD summary; Iraq's Shi'ites; Iraq's odious debts - a U.S. blunder; Reports on Iraq's legal system, infrastructure & industry; Doing business in Iraq; America & Europe; Baghdad Museum report; Which cards have we captured; Support the Troops. Iraq and the 2003 Tigers; Iraqi toy drive; Free the Generals!

read the rest! »
 

[Fox news]

Iraqi security forces and U.S. military police on Monday teamed up in Tikrit in the hunt for guerrillas behind a series of deadly attacks on American troops — the largest joint raid to date.

Also Monday, residents reported scattered, heavy gunfire north of Khaldiyah, a town west of Baghdad in the so-called "Sunni Triangle."

U.S. troops backed by attack aircraft, tanks and helicopters battled Iraqi resistance fighters near the town after a roadside bomb killed one soldier and wounded another, U.S. officials said.

Full story....

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A United States soldier has been killed and another wounded when guerrillas attacked a military convoy in a restive area west of Baghdad, a US military spokesman said.

Another soldier was wounded in the attack, Lieutenant Colonel George Krivo told reporters in Baghdad.

He said the incident took place at around 3:10pm AEST in the town of Habbaniya, about 70 kilometres from the capital.

"There was an engagement this morning. It was an IED (improvised explosive device) attack on a convoy," Colonel Krivo told a news briefing.

"There was a coalition soldier injured and one coalition soldier killed in action."

After the explosives attack, soldiers exchanged fire with guerrillas at the scene for several hours, Colonel Krivo said.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Six US soldiers have been wounded in a bomb attack on a convoy in the hotspot town of Fallujah, 50 kilometres west of Baghdad, a US military spokesman.

Colonel Kevin Gainer said a convoy from the 82nd Airborne Division was hit by an "improvised explosive device" on Highway 10 at 7:30pm AEST Sunday while travelling in the city.

The area, part of a Sunni Muslim tribal belt with allegiances to ousted president Saddam Hussein, has been the scene of persistent attacks against US-led coalition forces.

Colonel Gainer said some of the men were treated at a first aid station while the rest were evacuated to a nearby hospital and were in a stable condition.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

An Iraqi official working on how to draft a new constitution for the occupied country has escaped an assassination attempt, an official of the US-installed Governing Council said.

Jalal al-Din al-Sagheer, a prominent Shiite, escaped unscathed when his car was attacked as he was driving home in a Baghdad suburb at around 9:00pm AEST on Sunday, Muhannad Abdul Jabbar said.

"The incident happened yesterday," said Mr Jabbar, an official in the Governing Council's press office.

"He has not been injured, he is okay."

He added that Mr Sagheer was attending a meeting on the constitution today.

Both successful assassinations have also been against Shi'ites.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

The Pentagon mobilised 15,000 fresh troops for duty in Iraq as the US military announced it had found large caches of weapons, including missiles, near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

Four US soldiers were meanwhile wounded in two separate bomb attacks, a military spokesman said.

Sergeant Mark Ingham said an attack on US troops with an "improvised explosive device" (IED) occurred about 11:00am (local time) in the town of Iskandariya, 45 kilometres south of the capital.

Their conditions were not immediately known.

Sergeant Ingham said another two soldiers were wounded at Taji, 10 kilometres north of Baghdad, by an explosion at 9:45am (local time) and were evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital for treatment.

After long insisting no more US soldiers were required to secure Iraq, the Pentagon said Saturday that 10,000 troops were being mobilised in two national guard brigades for a force rotation and it put 5,000 more on standby as US calls for international troop contributions go unheeded.

[Fox News]

American troops uncovered one of the largest caches of weapons to date near Saddam Hussein’s birthplace after attackers fired rockets on a U.S. compound in Iraq's capital.

The cache found Saturday near Tikrit included 23 Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, 1,000 pounds of plastic explosives, grenades, grenade launchers, rockets, a mortar and mortar rounds. It was among the largest caches found there since American troops arrived in April, according to Maj. Mike Rauhut of the 4th Infantry Division.

In Baghdad, Iraqi police found a much smaller cache late Saturday, recovering about a dozen small rockets, grenades and mortar rounds. The warheads had been removed from the rockets, suggesting they were to have been used in fabricating small roadside bombs that have caused casualties among U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians.

Full story...

AP reports something interesting:

U.S. forces in Iraq are holding 19 suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, the American civilian administrator said Friday.

The suspected al-Qaida members are among 248 non-Iraqi fighters being held by the Americans in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer said in a Pentagon news conference.

Bremer said authorities determined the suspects' al-Qaida links through interrogations and documents the suspects were carrying. He said he did not know what countries they came from.

The largest number of foreign fighters--123 of the 248--came from Syria, Bremer said. The next-highest numbers came from Iran and Yemen, he said, adding he did not have precise figures for those countries.

The flow of terrorist fighters into Iraq is the biggest obstacle to the peaceful reconstruction of the country, Bremer said. The fighting between anti-American elements and U.S. forces hasn't hampered the reconstruction effort so far, though, he said.

Reconstruction of Iraq is critical to the global war on terrorism, he added.

"We don't want Iraq to become a breeding ground for terrorism in the future," Bremer said.

Hmm.

(Hat tip: Steven Taylor)

Cross-posted at OTB

From the Sydney Morning Herald :

With the bloodshed mounting in Iraq, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan ordered some UN staff to leave the country temporarily, his spokesman said.

The announcement will be a blow for countries such as France, which have been calling on the United Nations to have a greatly expanded role in the running of post-war Iraq.

"This is not an evacuation, just a further downsizing, and the security situation in the country remains under constant review," Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

"This is the secretary-general's decision. It is for him and him alone to make," Eckhard said.

The United Nations had already drastically slashed staff in Iraq after a suicide bombing at the UN's Baghdad headquarters that killed 22 people, including top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.

The world body had around 650 international staff in Iraq before that attack, a figure later cut to 100.

A second bombing at the Baghdad office on Monday killed an Iraqi security guard. Eckhard said Annan had made the decision on Thursday and the pull-out began Friday.

"Today, there remain 42 in Baghdad and 44 in the north of the country, and those numbers can be expected to shrink over the next few days," Eckhard said.

But the spokesman underlined that thousands of local staff were still at work in Iraq and that the United Nations would keep up its operations to the greatest extent possible.

"We have 4,233 local staff at work so with some international supervision, it's assumed they can continue carrying the essential humanitarian activities we have going on now," he said.

So at the moment the "UN" presence is about 50 Iraqis per UN supervisor, and soon to be 100. No Evacuation here.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

The United States says it intends to set a six month deadline for an Iraqi constitution that would lead to elections and a new government next year.

American Secretary of State Colin Powell told the New York Times the US would like to put a deadline on Iraq.

He says the country has six months and, while it will be a difficult deadline to meet, the US must get them going.

In the interview, Mr Powell raised the possibility of the Iraqis themselves setting a timetable in the near future.

He says the US Government has asked Iraqi leaders to estimate how long it would take them to write a constitution and conduct elections.

Mr Powell predicted there would be a quick answer to that question.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq has killed a US soldier and wounded two others in the northern oil centre of Kirkuk.

The US military says the attack happened late last night.

[...]

Meanwhile, eight Iraqi civilians have been killed and 18 wounded when a mortar bomb fell on a crowded square in Baqubah, north-east of Baghdad.

"Eight civilians were killed and 18 wounded when a mortar round hit the al-Burtuqala market at approximately 1708 GMT," a US military spokeswoman told AFP.

She said US soldiers rendered first aid and evacuated the wounded to a nearby hospital.

There were no casualties among US-led forces.

The bomb fell on the al-Burtuqala square, a teeming area in the centre of Baqubah, 70 kilometres from the capital, filled with shops and cafes.

[...]

In Baghdad, mortar fire which targeted a US military position in the capital wounded at least 10 Iraqis late Thursday, Iraqi police said.

"At least 10 Iraqis were injured in a mortar attack on a US army position which missed its target and hit houses in the Al-Rissalah district", a police officer told AFP Friday.

He said the casualties had been taken to Al-Yarmuk hospital.

Looks like US Soldiers are now too difficult to target, so they're forced to go after random civilians.

Per Gallup survey:

* * *

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Nearly two-thirds of Baghdad residents say the removal of Saddam Hussein was worth the hardships they have endured, a report said Wednesday [September 24, 2003].

* * *

A bomb has exploded in a hotel complex where US television network NBC has offices in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

At least one person, a Somali security guard, has been killed and two others wounded in the explosion which occurred at the Aike Hotel.

Iraqi police said a bomb had been placed in a hut that housed the hotel generator.

It is the first time Western media in Iraq has been specifically targeted since the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

More from The BBC...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Aquila al-Hashimi, the first member of Iraq's American-picked Governing Council to be targeted for assassination, died Thursday, five days after she was shot in an ambush. In the latest attack on foreigners in Baghdad, a bomb exploded outside a hotel housing NBC staff, killing a Somali guard and injuring a Canadian sound engineer....

...so says the former Iraqi (Dis-)Information Minister. From The Australian :

US bombing did not target the places where Saddam Hussein was sheltering during the Iraq war, according to the former Iraqi information minister Mohammad Said as-Sahhaf.

The former Baath official said the ousted president made his first wartime speech from a house close to his main palace.

"Only once did the bombing target an area 400 to 500 metres away" from where Saddam had been staying, "in a simple villa at the edge of the Zahra neighborhood" of Baghdad, Sahhaf told Abu Dhabi Television.

At one point, Saddam stayed for "five consecutive days in al-Amirat street of the Mansur neighborhood," but it was never hit by the US bombers, Sahhaf told the channel in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi in the second of a series of interviews to be aired over several weeks.

[...]

Sahhaf said Saddam, who wrote his speeches himself since "some time in the 1980s," had made his first televised address of the war on March 20, hours after a pre-dawn US attack aimed at killing him, from a house adjacent to the main presidential compound in Baghdad.

Updating a previous post, The Australian reports some bad news :

The Iraqi politician who narrowly escaped assassination this week is at risk of dying from complications, Iraq's Governing Council chairman Ahmad Chalabi said today.

He said Akila al-Hashimi, one of three women on the council, was in a very critical condition following Saturday's gun attack in Baghdad.

"Her life is threatened by complications from her wounds as a result of the attack," Mr Chalabi said at the UN headquarters in New York.

Ms Hashimi was ambushed by gunmen who lobbed a bomb and sprayed her car convoy with machine-gun fire in the first such attack on an Iraqi official of the US-installed administration.

She underwent two stomach operations and was taken to a US medical facility.

UPDATE : Worse news I'm afraid.

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's Iraq Report and "Winds of War" coverage of the wider conflict is brought to you by Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis.

Top Topics:

• Representative Jim Marshall (D-GA) has recently returned from a visit to Iraq - and he isn't impressed with the media coverage of it. He was joined in that criticism by colleagues from both parties, incl. Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) and Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MISS). Glenn Reynolds was ahead of the curve, as usual. (Hat Tip: Trent Telenko)

• An attempted mass casualty suicide bombing at the UN headquarters has left 2 dead and raised serious doubts about the future of the organization in the country. ICT has the details. The FBI is on the case.

• As we've said before: [1] Send Toys! Here's how to help, and what to send. (it seems The Chief had a predecessor Wiggles, too, in the aftermath of WWII); and [2] Please step up to the Chief's other request, and help us get the Generals released!

Other Topics Include: Al-Jazeera gets the boot from new Iraqis; Baghdad's unusual hit CDs; Spanish take over in Najaf; Northern front proggress; Terrorists attacking commuter buses, cinemas; The WMD hunt; Another Ba'ath Poker surrender; Support the troops.

Read the rest of Dan's Iraq Report... »

Read Dan's Winds of War Briefing »

An explosion has ripped through a cinema in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing two people and injuring up to 20 others.

The cinema was showing a pornographic film at the time of the explosion, witnesses said.

Islamic militants are known to oppose what they call "immoral" movies and have attacked some cinemas in post-war Iraq for showing them.

More from the BBC...

From the AFP via the Sydney Morning Herald :

Iraq's most cherished antiquity, the 5000-year-old Warka Mask, has been found after being looted during the anarchy that accompanied the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April.

Captain Vance Kuhner said the mask was found after an intensive search by US troops and Iraqi police that led them to a farm just north of Baghdad. It was discovered buried under 15 centimetres of dirt.

"A tip-off came to the museum, we were given an address that led us to a juvenile, then an older man and eventually the culprit. Then it took a week of negotiations," Captain Kuhner told AFP.

"It's pretty much untouched. We believe it changed hands several times after its theft. It is still in excellent condition."
[...]
It was among the five most precious pieces still missing since the museum was sacked.

Jaaber Kalil Ibrahim, Iraq's director general of antiquities, said about 13,000 pieces are still to be found, 32 of them of great value, out of 15,000 pieces stolen from the collection of 170,000 artefacts.

From The Australian :

"The French have been utterly opportunistic from the very beginning on this issue," Mr Howard told reporters in Sydney today, following a speech by Mr Chirac to the United Nations.
[...]
"It may suit countries like France now to say you shouldn't do anything without a new Security Council resolution, but countries like France haven't always adopted that attitude in the past."
[...]
"Let's call a spade a spade: because of the authority they exercised as a permanent member of the Security Council, countries like France made it impossible for the Security Council and the United Nations to do their job," he said.

"They were perfectly happy to see American and British troops and a smaller number of Australian forces exert pressure on Saddam Hussein before the war started, but then they weren't prepared to join the collective action.

"Now they are criticising those who were willing to do what the world I'm sure is relieved was done, and that is to rid the world of Saddam Hussein."

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Iraq's US-installed Governing Council has banned the Arab satellite TV stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya from covering official activities for two weeks, a statement said.

It said the action was taken as a "warning" to the stations and other broadcasters for allegedly inciting anti-US violence.

The action stopped short of closing their bureaus in Baghdad as announced earlier by a government spokesman.

"Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya will temporarily be excluded from any coverage of Governing Council activities or official press conferences, and correspondents of the two channels will not be allowed to enter ministries or government offices for two weeks," it said.

UPDATE: The bomb has killed two: an Iraqi policeman and the suicide bomber himself.

[CNN]

A suicide bombing Monday near the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad left an Iraqi security guard and the bomber dead, a U.S. military spokesman said. It was the second bombing in two months to target the U.N. headquarters in the Iraqi capital.

"A bomb went off from inside of a car, killing two individuals -- one being the bomber," said Capt. Sean Kirley, a U.S. Army spokesman, of the explosion that took place at a checkpoint on the perimeter of the U.N. compound.

"No damage was done to the U.N. building. No coalition forces were killed or injured that we know of, at this point," he said.

Doctors at nearby al Kindi hospital said 16 to 18 people were brought in for treatment following the explosion -- four in critical condition, who were transferred to other hospitals.

Full Story....

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Andrew Olmsted (JK: That's "Major Olmsted" now), and is split into this Iraq Report and a briefing on the Wider War.

TOP TOPICS

• Porphyrogenitus posts another excellent after action report from a Lieutenant Colonel serving in Tikrit, Iraq, discussing the trials and lessons learned.

• What did the media know, when did they know it, and how much did they hide? Glenn Reynolds notes reports the media was covering up some (much?) of what they learned in Iraq in order to curry favor with the Iraqi government. Lots of links, incl. the BBC affair, Burns allegations, Judge Walters' comments, and first-hand reports from the field that are consistently at odds with the media picture we're getting. You have to wonder: what else is the media unwilling to report?

• Max Boot has written an excellent article recounting the key events of the Operation Iraqi Freedom and tying them into the new American Way of War. (Hat tip: Richard Heddleson).

Other Topics Include: Assassination attempt on GC member tries to put women in their place; Iraqi blog-fight over Najaf bombing; Crazy Lt. Col. or blessed?; Being gay in Iraq; U.N. maneuverings; France's imperial war; German reconciliation; Barone, Warren & Hanson; Lileks' double-barreled fisking; 'Fat Bastard' apparently added to Ba'ath Poker Deck; Support the Troops; SEND TOYS!

read the rest! »

[Fox News]

Three U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq -- one by a roadside bomb, two others by a mortar attack, the military said.

The bomb blast occurred about 60 miles west of Baghdad. A 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldier was killed in the explosion while riding in his Humvee.

Also west of Baghdad, attackers fired two mortars on the Abu Ghraib prison at about 10 p.m. Saturday, killing two U.S. military police officers and injuring 13 others. Two mortars hit, the military said. It said no inmates were injured, but gave no further details.

The deaths brought to 303 the number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq.

Full story...

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

There has been widespread condemnation of an attack against one of Iraq's most high-profile female politicians.

Akila Al Hashimi was shot four times not far from her Baghdad home.

Eyewitnesses say Akila Al Hashimi and three of her bodyguards were wounded when six men opened fire and then threw grenades at her vehicle.

Ms Al Hashimi is in a serious condition after undergoing emergency surgery.

[...]

Prior to joining the governing council, Ms Hashimi held a senior position in Iraq's foreign ministry under Saddam Hussein.

From the AP :

Saturday's attack came at 9 a.m., when gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade on al-Hashimi's car soon after she left her house in western Baghdad, members of her security detail said. The grenade missed, and the attackers opened fire with assault rifles.

Al-Hashimi, critically wounded in the abdomen, was rushed to the al-Yarmouk Hospital for surgery and was later moved in a convoy of American armored vehicles and military ambulances to the U.S. military hospital at Baghdad International Airport. Three of her bodyguards were also wounded.

There, she was reported in stable condition. "She is fine," said Haitham al-Husseini, an adviser to Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Three US soldiers have been killed and a further 13 wounded in attacks in Iraq.

Seventy-nine US soldiers have now died due to hostile fire since major combat in Iraq was officially declared over on May 1.

A US military spokeswoman said two soldiers were killed and 13 wounded, all prison guards, when two mortar rounds struck the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, on Saturday evening.

Abu Ghurib jail was a notorious prison under Saddam Hussein where many political prisoners were held.

It has been taken over by the US and they are holding there both security detainees and ordinary criminals.

No detainees were killed.

The third US soldier died in a roadside bomb attack in the town of Ramadi, west of the capital Baghdad, the US military says.

From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A big explosion rocked central Baghdad late Friday and a huge cloud of smoke was seen rising from the direction of Martyrs' Square, where the American military maintains a base.

The explosion shook the Palestine Hotel about 2 1/2 miles away from where it was believed to have occurred.

No other details were available.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Former Iraqi defence minister Sultan Hashem Ahmad, one of the 55 most wanted officials of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime, has reportedly surrendered to US forces in the northern city of Mosul.

An official from the Iraqi Human Rights League (IHRL) has told a news conference Ahmad gave himself up in Mosul after US promises that he would be well treated.

"There was no political or material price" for his surrender and "his name will be struck off the list of 55," (IHRL's) Daoud Baghestani said, adding the operation was coordinated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani.

The US military in Iraq was not immediately available for confirmation of the report.

UPDATE: Now being reported by the BBC, but it may be true nonetheless. From the Beeb's front page:

Saddam Hussein's former defence minister is taken into custody - but three more US soldiers die in an ambush.

Main story here.

From The Asian Wall Street Journal, via The Australian :

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said today that a visit to post-war Iraq has convinced him that Iraqis are embracing freedom and heading toward democracy, and pledged that U.S. forces would stay until the country is fully democratic.

"But it will take time and money to finish the job,'' Powell wrote in an opinion article published by The Asian Wall Street Journal. He cited "serious remaining problems'' in restoring the country's infrastructure, fighting its security threats and fostering a stable democracy.

US President George W. Bush has requested billions of dollars from Congress for Iraq efforts and his government is urging other nations to chip in.

Powell, in his statement, cited a conference next month in Madrid at which countries are expected to "pledge additional assistance for the Iraqi reconstruction.''

"Iraqis are on the road to democratic self-government,'' Powell wrote.

"We will stay as long as it takes to turn full responsibility for governing Iraq over to a capable and democratically elected Iraqi administration.''

"What I saw there convinced me, more than ever, that our liberation of Iraq was in the best interests of the Iraqi people, the American people, and the world,'' he said, adding that Iraqi's government council is taking its first step toward drawing up a democratic constitution.

Tikrit = Ramallah? From MSNBC:

In an apparent search for pointers on how to police a hostile population, the U.S. military that's trying to bring security to Iraq is showing interest in Israeli software instructing soldiers on how to behave in the West Bank and Gaza, an Israeli military official said Thursday.

You are not reading this!! From the Straits Times (Singapore):

Iraq's former information minister told an Arab television network that ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made tactical mistakes in planning to fight the United States and had never considered going into exile to avert a war.

Mr Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who won cult status during the US-led invasion of Iraq for hurling anti-American insults and outlandish claims of Iraqi victories, is expected to appear in four more episodes of the Abu Dhabi TV programme Al-Sahaf's War.

Appearing calm, he said Saddam was wrong to put military zones under the control of civilians, including his trusted aides and his son Qusai. He also insisted that 'chemical weapons and missiles were destroyed in the 1991 war'.

From Reuters; here is the full story:

Iraqi guerrillas killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded two others in an ambush near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit late on Thursday, a U.S. military spokesman said.

Lieutenant-Colonel William MacDonald said the three soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were killed in small arms fire 8 km (5 miles) south of Tikrit when they were inspecting a suspected weapons site.

From the Kansas City Star / AP:

Top American scientists assigned to the weapons hunt in Iraq found no evidence Saddam Hussein's regime was making or stockpiling smallpox, The Associated Press has learned from senior military officers involved in the search.

Smallpox fears were part of the case the Bush administration used to build support for invading Iraq - and they were raised again as recently as last weekend by Vice President Dick Cheney.

But a three-month search by "Team Pox" turned up only signs to the contrary: disabled equipment that had been rendered harmless by U.N. inspectors, Iraqi scientists deemed credible who gave no indication they had worked with smallpox and a laboratory thought to be back in use that was covered in cobwebs.