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April 29, 2005
Possible Zarqawi Tape Vows Attacks on U.S. Forces
Seems our friend AZ is showing his teeth in a new audio tape (presumably him) vowing attacks on the United States. Newsday: An audio tape purportedly by one of America's most-wanted insurgents in Iraq, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, that was posted Friday threatens more attacks against U.S. forces there and warns against collaborating with Americans. Yes, dignity. It's SOOOOOO dgnified, cutting off the heads of innocents, yes? I digress. Also, I find it interesting that the AP headline for this story reads Multiple Attacks Kill 14
Insurgents carried out a series of attacks in Baghdad (search) on Friday using car bombs and mortar rounds, killing at least 13 Iraqis and wounding 50, officials said. A car bomb killed another Iraqi soldier near the southern city of Basra . April 28, 2005
Akbar Sentenced to Death for Grenade Attack
A military jury sentenced Sergeant Hasan Akbar to death for the 2003 murders of two officers in a grenade attack at an Army camp in Kuwait. Iraqi Parlimentarian Slain
From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : Gunmen shot dead a member of Iraq's Parliament outside her house in Baghdad on Wednesday, according Iraqi police. April 27, 2005
Data from Zarqawi's Computer
The New York Post reports that Information from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's laptop computer revealed the Jordanian master terrorist has been expanding his jihad network outside Iraq and is emerging as al Qaeda's preeminent global military commander. Denmark Extends its Commitment
From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : Denmark will keep its troops in Iraq for at least eight months after their current mandate expires at the beginning of June, the Foreign Ministry said. April 26, 2005
More Than 130 Insurgents Detained In Iraq
The Associated Press reports that a series of raids across Iraq this week resulted in the detention of more than 130 suspected insurgents. Weapons and munitions were also seized. From California Yankee. Zaqarwi's Narrow Escape; Computer Captured
From the ABC (the US network) via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : US forces recently failed to capture Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq but found his laptop computer and seized some of his money, the American Broadcasting Corporation reports. Soldiers Cleared Over Italian Hostage Rescue Fiasco
From Reuters via the ABC : US investigators have found that American troops who shot dead an Italian agent at a Baghdad checkpoint on March 4 committed no wrongdoing and will not be disciplined, an Army official said. Zarqawi narrowly escapes
ABC News reports Zarqawi, leader of the Iraqi “insurgency”, narrowly escaped capture today leaving his computer in his escape vehicle which was captured. Let's hope the Army has some good Digital Forensics people… Aussies Arrive in Iraq
From Kyodo of Japan, via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : A 43-member advance team of Australian security troops have arrived in Samawah in Iraq, where the main party will engage in activities to maintain public safety, including protecting Japan's Self-Defence Forces stationed there. Possibly just returning the favour. There are many still alive who can remember when British, Dutch and Australian soldiers were “guarded” by Japanese forces, rather than the other way round. The Japanese engineers are the ones building bridges now. Definitely an improvement. 4 More Detained Over Helo Downing
Updating a previous post, from Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : The US military says troops have detained four more men suspected of involvement in the downing of a civilian helicopter in Iraq last week. AP Cameraman Killed in Mosul
From the Washington Times : A television cameraman working for The Associated Press was killed Saturday when gunfire broke out after an explosion in the northern city of Mosul. An AP photographer was wounded in the same incident. April 25, 2005
Bombings Leave 23 Dead
A vehicle packed with explosives was driven into a crowd gathered in front of a popular ice cream shop in Baghdad's western al-Shoulah neighborhood Sunday, police Maj. Mousa Abdul Karim said. Minutes later, as police and residents rushed to help the victims, a second suicide car bomber plowed into the crowd. At least 23 people were killed and 41 wounded, officials at two hospitals said Monday in an update of the casualty numbers. Good News from Iraq, 25 April 2005
Note: Also available at the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. With thanks to James Taranto and Joe Katzman, and to all of you for your continuing support for this year-long now project. Recently, British Broadcasting Corporation decided to conduct a little vox populi around Iraq:
The results were surprising, certainly for the BBC, whose attitude towards the liberation of Iraq has always been at best lukewarm. They were surprising for me too, not so much in what the seven Iraqis had to say, but that the BBC still chose to run the story. Here's Saad, 32, sound engineer from Basra: “Iraqis are feeling better. They are breathing the air of freedom. They read, watch and say what they want. They travel, work and receive a living wage. They use mobile phones, satellite dishes and the internet, which they did not even know before… As for terrorism, we are now beginning to unite against it and to defeat it.” Noura, 32, computer engineer from Baghdad and a Christian: “While we lost security after Saddam's fall, we gained our freedom and a chance to build a new society.” Nada, 32, government worker from Mosul: “We never imagined that the Turkmen community would have a political party representing them in Iraq, but this is happening now.” Kaban, 31, electrical engineer from Baghdad: “There have been many changes since the fall of Saddam's regime, but the most important change was that we feel free… However, those who say that security was better in the past are completely wrong. It is true we did not have suicide car bombings in Saddam's era, but our homes did not feel safe from the intrusion of Saddam's security men, who came in the middle of the night to kidnap, kill or rape.” Waala, 25, schoolteacher from Baghdad: “The Sunnis in Iraq do not live in isolation from the political and social circles of life, as many people outside Iraq seem to believe. Nothing has affected our relationships with each other - we face the same problems. This applies to Sunnis or Shia, Christians or Muslims, Arabs or Kurds. Unfortunately, the refusal by some Sunnis to participate in the elections was the cause of some political isolation.” Imad Mohammed, 25, university graduate from Baghdad: “I am no longer worried about losing my dignity or my life. And I am also getting a higher income, like most Iraqis.” Yes, the sample is hardly representative, and the concerns also expressed by the seven interviewees are many, most notably the still precarious security situation. But the sense of new-found hope and optimism cannot be easily dismissed, particularly since it also seems to be reflected in other interviews, opinion polls, and changes on the ground. Here are some stories from the past fortnight that you might have missed. Winds Iraq Report: Apr 25/05
Welcome and a pleasant ANZAC Day to you! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET 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. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com. TOP TOPICS
Other Topics Today Include: Patrol Day; coverage of Madain; the terrorists change strategy; reconstruction highlights; will Hussein face the death penalty; Sunnis moving to democracy; Carnival of the Liberated; the Iraq War takes on the British elections; Hasan Akbar convicted…. but his mother pleads his case on Winds of Change.NET April 24, 2005
Myers Challenges Editors to Tell Full Story in War Coverage
From Defencelink.mil : The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff encouraged newspaper editors today to tell America the full story of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apologies for a link to a military site dealing with events of last week, but a Google News Search shows that a speech by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the US's media on their bias wasn't worth publishing. Kudos to the honourable exceptions : the Pakistani PakTribune, the conservative MichNews, the Australian Big News Network, i-Newswire, the Military family Network, the Iraq War-supporting BlackAnthem.com, and the Christian Watchman Herald of Texas. The observant will notice a few omissions. Not just “the usual suspects” such as the New York Times or Washington Post, but even the Washington Times and all of the small-town newspapers that usually run stories that most MSM don't want published. Of the MSM, only the Indianapolis Star reported this. Their complete coverage is as follows: Editors heard from President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and California Sen. Barbara Boxer. That's it. US General Relieved of Command
From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : The US Army has relieved Brigadier General Jani Karpinski of her command amid evidence of dereliction of duty in the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal. Tipoff leads to Arrest of Helo Shootdown Suspects
From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) : The US military says it has detained six Iraqi men in connection with the shooting down of a commercial helicopter this week in which 11 people were killed, including six Americans. April 23, 2005
Roadside Bombs Kills 9 Iraqi Soldiers, Wound at Least 20
A roadside bomb hit an Iraqi army convoy on the western outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday, killing nine soldiers and wounding 20 others, police said. A driver of a civilian car was also killed after the blast, as Iraqi soldiers opened fire randomly. April 22, 2005
Video Claims to Show Murder of Copter Crash Survivor
The Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for shooting down a helicopter Thursday and killing all 11 people onboard — one of them apparently slain in cold blood after surviving the crash. April 21, 2005
River Corpse Mystery
First there were reports that as many as 200 people were being held hostage in the mixed Sunni-Shia village of Madain. Iraqi government security forces backed by US troops arrived in strength on Monday. They encountered no resistance and found no trace of hostages or hostage-takers. There followed articles that the hostage reports may have been exaggerated. Yesterday there were reports that 50 bodies had been pulled from the river. This of course was thought to confirm the original hostage story. The BBC reports that the story is even more complicated. The 50 plus bodies didn't show up all at once:
So the identity of the bulk of the victims is still not clear. It's not known whether the victims are all Shia Muslims, abducted and murdered by Sunni militants. The killing may not have been one-sided. We may never know. From California Yankee. Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar Found Guilty
Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in the grenade and rifle attack in which he killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war. From California Yankee. Civilian Chopper Shot Down in Iraq; 11 Killed [Updated]
A commercial helicopter contracted by the U.S. Defense Department was shot down by missile fire Thursday north of the Iraqi capital, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry said. All nine people on board, including three Bulgarians, were killed, officials said. Update: The death toll is 11, wtih six Americans among the dead. April 20, 2005
Oil-For-Food Investigators Resign In Protest
The Associated Press reports that two senior investigators with the committee probing corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program have resigned in protest, saying they believe a report that cleared Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion operation was too soft on the secretary-general From California Yankee. Iraq Prime Minister Allawi Survives Assassination Attempt
Reuters reports that Iraq's prime minister Iyad Allawi escaped an assassination attempt on Wednesday night when a suicide bomber in a car attacked his convoy. According to Reuters, Allawi was unhurt. More Than 60 Bodies Found in Iraq
The bodies of more than 50 people have been recovered from the Tigris River and have been identified, President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday. The bodies were believed to have been those of hostages seized in the Madain region earlier this month. Car Bombs Leave Six Dead in Baghdad
Three homicide car bombs, including one targeting a U.S. convoy, and several shootings left at least six Iraqis dead in Baghdad on Wednesday, as a weeklong surge of violence by insurgents continued on the streets of the capital. April 18, 2005
Winds Iraq Report: Apr 18/05
Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET 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. This briefing is brought to you by Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com. TOP TOPICS
Other Topics Today Include: Iraqi blog explosion, frontline photos, more photos, progress in Falujah, women-owned companies get contracts, reconstruction highlights, Iraqi government moves forward, British exit plan talks, Poland and Ukraine withdrawing, attacks on heels of Runsfeld visit, aid worker killed, 41 Kuwaitis found in grave, and more. April 17, 2005
American activist dies in Iraq blast
A woman who founded a humanitarian group to aid civilian casualties in Iraq has died in a car bombing in Baghdad, officials said Sunday. Iraqi Security Forces Free Hostages in Raid
Iraqi security forces raided a town in central Iraq and freed some 15 Shiite families being held hostage on Sunday, an official said, after Sunni militants threatened to kill dozens of captives unless all Shiites left the area. April 15, 2005
Will a Korean Connection Bring Down Kofi Annan?
Tongsu Park, a Korean national charged yesterday in New York for brokering corrupt oil-for-food contracts, has told the Joongang Ilbo that he is considering a deal with U.S. prosecutors to testify against corrupt U.N. officials, and that Kofi Annan is among those targeted for possible prosecution:In a telephone interview from Japan, Mr. Park, 70, told the Joongang Ilbo that he had been offered a plea-bargain from the U.S. federal prosecution in return for testifying before a U.S. court. “I am seriously considering the offer,” Mr. Park said. “The prosecutors only accused me of acting as an unregistered agent, and have not pressed official charges against me yet.”The federal complaint (HT: counterterrorism blog) alleges that Park conspired to violate 18 U.S.C. sec. 951, which requires agents of foreign governments to register their agency relationships with the Attorney General. According to the Joongang Ilbo story, Park admitted to having been paid by Saddam's governmnt for lobbying. It was not clear whether the lobbying to which Mr. Park referred consisted of the same activities described in the complaint. The complaint charges that Park received at least $4 million from the Iraqis for brokering oil-for-food deals, and for lobbying and bribing U.N. officials who shaped the program's terms at its inception. Park's partner—whom the New York Times names as Iraqi-American businessman Samir Vincent—later became a confidential government informant and implicated Park. According to Paragraph 9 of the Complaint, Park was instrumental in Iraq's efforts to shape the oil-for-food program into a one that would be amenable to Iraqi skimming, manipulation, and misuse from its inception. One of Park's functions in this regard was conveying multimillion-dollar cash payments to high U.N. officials who could influence oil-for-food's terms. Iraqi agreement was a prerequisite to its cooperation with the program. The complaint alleges that between 1993 and 1995, Park and his partner lobbied senior U.N. officials to agree to terms favored by the Iraqi officials who employed Park, and that they also arranged meeting between Iraqi and U.N. officials to discuss the program's terms. The New York Times also reports: The complaint also charges that Mr. Park met with a second, unnamed senior United Nations official and made a substantial investment in a company belonging to the official's son. Park also allegedly worked with a former U.S. official to lobby for terms favored by Iraq. The Iraqi government's failure to pay Park and his partner the full agreed amount resulted in a series of letters and trips to Iraq, which in turn created a paper trail that helped the authorities to trace the scheme. It also led to a disagreement between Park and his partner that proved fruitful to federal prosecutors. U.S., British, and Bulgarian companies are also implicated. In the oil-for-food scandal, the Iraqi government chose middlemen, such as Mr. Park, to sell Iraqi oil at discounted prices. The middlemen were expected to pay the Iraqi government “surcharges” for the right to conduct this trade, giving Saddam Hussein's regime access to extra funds he could use for arms, personal luxuries, foreign influence, and maintaining his machinery of state control. The middlemen then sold their Iraqi oil vouchers at a profit, using a portion of the proceeds to purchase food and humanitarian supplies. Agencies that were responsible for inspecting and delivering the food and supplies often failed to catch the delivery of spoiled food and medicine in practice. Some contractors completely failed to deliver goods after being paid for them. One of the inspection firms, the Swiss-based Cotecna, hired Kofi Annan's son Kojo, for which it paid him $300,000. The United Nations also received a substantial commission for administering the program. A recent U.N. investigation found that a senior deputy to Kofi Annan ordered the shredding of several boxes of key oil-for-food audit reports. Annan claims to have been exonerated by the report, but several key U.N. officials, including Annan, have already been tarnished by the scandal, as the New York Times reports: This is not Mr. Park's first encounter (must-reading for Korea watchers) with U.S. authorities over allegations of corrupt lobbying (HT: Instapundit). Park figured prominently in the 1976 “Koreagate” scandal, which led to ethics charges against a congressman and findings that 186 others took bribes(!), and ultimately, to Park's indictment on “36 federal charges including bribery, failure to register as a lobbyist and making illegal political contributions.” The Joongang Ilbo reports that Park “was acquitted in return for his testimony,” which sounds like a slightly-off way to say that the charges were dismissed. April 14, 2005
3 Indicted in U.N. Oil-for-Food Scandal
A Texas businessman is one of three people who were being indicted Thursday as part of the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program, FOX News has confirmed. DVDs and CDs for the Troops
I received the following email from a Marine sergeant in Iraq: My name is SSGT Jerry Jeffrey and I'm a Marine currently in Iraq till Oct 05 and have approx 30 Marines that work for me. We really enjoy watching movies and listening to music to help combat the bordom during down time. We work 12-14 hour days and enjoy kicking back and relaxing to a good movie or cd. Please add our unit to your list to recieve dvd's, and cd's.THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT She has the mailing address for this troop, and you can get it by sending her a note. To prevent Virginia from getting more spam, I won't post it here. But stop by the Dynamist to get the addy if you're interested in sending something along. Twin Car Bombings Kill 18 in Baghdad
A pair of car bombs exploded near government offices in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing 18 and wounding three dozen as insurgent attacks against the nation's nascent security forces left at least eight others dead. The bombs detonated in quick succession about 200 metres (yards) apart on a busy street packed with traffic. A Reuters cameraman said children were among the dead. April 13, 2005
Video Shows U.S. Hostage
A man believed to be an American contracter who was working in Baghdad was shown in a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television Wednesday. More here: An American hostage in Iraq urged the U.S. government in a video to negotiate with his captors to save his life, Al Jazeera television reported on Wednesday. |