Tag Archives: Baghdad

Fingers from 5 Hostages Were Delivered to U.S. officials

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American Hostages

Above: American Hostage

BHAGDAD- U.S. authorities that are located in Baghdad had received severed five fingers that are supposedly the finger of the 5 hostages that were taken for more than a year ago in Iraq, as U.S. officials had informed media last Wednesday.

Notifying the families of the 5 captives as FBI is thorough in their investigation for development, U.S. officials however stressed to media that sources should be remained unknown since leakage of information to the public is not allowed.

The fingers had been verified as belonging to the following American hostages in Baghdad:

Jonathan Cote of Florida

Joshua Munns of California

Paul Johnson Reuben of Minnesota

Bert Nussbaumer of Austria

Ronald J. Withrow, an American who was kidnapped separately from others.

Information leading to where, when and how the fingers had been obtained by the U.S. officials had not been available. The relatives of the missing Americans said that they have been informed weeks ago confirming the DNA of the hostages but had not the details had not been given.

The first group of hostages that were held captives were composed of 4 persons which one of them was John Young, authorities had confirmed that the not one of the DNA found was from Young.

Young mother Sharon DeBrabander said, “I certainly don’t understand why my son’s wasn’t found. What does that mean?”

The other hostage, Withrow is a computer specialist that was kidnapped at a fake checkpoint are near southern Iraqi of Basra on the 5th of Janauary 2007. There was very little data pertaining to details of the said abduction however Withrows translator and driver was found dead the next day of the abduction.

The father of Joshua Munns had said, “All we have right now is prayers. I don’t know how to make head or tails of what’s going on. Are they still alive? A whole bunch of stuff goes through your head.” Joshua has spent his past 2 birthdays in captivity.

Every Monday there’s a telephone conference to update the relatives of the hostages about the subject matter. Although relatives sometimes complain that they have sometime been kept in the dark regarding ongoing investigations, authorities of the FBI told them that confidentiality is needed to bare the integrity of the investigation.

The hostages had made hostage videos in December 2006 and January 2007 in which they pleaded to U.S. to set free the Iraqi prisoners and to pull out all troops from Iraq. In both videos the hostages were in good condition saying that they have been treated well in their place of captivity.

There was no information pertaining that there was demand for money, and the group that held the hostages had remained to be unclear.

Authorities and the people involved in the case are trying to see the positive of what the fingers meant. Saying that the fingers symbolized that the captives are still there and that they are ready to make deals soon in negotiation in excanhge of the captive’s release.

12 American Soldiers Dead In 3 Days

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US Soldiers in Baghdad
Above: Two American soldiers patrolling Baghdad

Three American soldiers were the latest victims of recent attacks in Southern Iraq. The soldiers, who were at the Combat Outpost Adder near Nasiriya, were killed from a barrage of rockets that peppered their small base early morning Wednesday. Two other soldiers and a civilian were wounded in the attack. This brings the death toll to 12 in 3 days.

One American soldier died by a roadside bomb in his patrol near Diwaniya yesterday; eight died in a pair of bomb attacks the day before: three in Diyala and five in Central Baghdad.

According to the Associated Press, the total death toll of American soldiers in Iraq is now at 4,000.

The recent increase in attacks are believed to have been started by a call from Iraqi tribal leaders, former politicians and intellectuals for United Nations control in the region. The call for UN support will prove to be helpful in the cause of US troop reduction and their eventual departure from the country. In my opinion, these recent attacks are a show of force from the terrorists: to instill fear that the region is not safe for US and moreover UN forces.

“We believe that the only opportunity left for Iraq to be saved from a dark, but not inevitable future, is to engage the international community represented by the United Nations,” said the letter addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in Cairo. “Such a step will allow the American troops to leave and the occupation to be brought to its end.”

The letter made in the collective efforts of Iraqis under the leadership of Adeeb al-Jadir, Ahmed Al-Haboubi and Nouri Abdel Razak Hussein. These politicians were overthrown by Saddam Hussein in 1968. in 2003, when the Americans arrived, they were part of the liberal anti-regime opposition.

The UN pulled out in August of 2003 when a suicide attack targeting their group killed civilians and one of the UN representatives.

“Violence has increased dramatically over the past few days,” said a 33 year old father and civilian named Haitham Ismael of Western Baghdad.

Most civilians in Iraq have been living a comparatively “peaceful” life given the circumstances of the recent years. These recent attacks have thrown their hopes for a better situation out the window.

The people of Iraq are living in fear again. Memories of violence from a year ago are coming back in true form. And the promise of American troops leaving the region is not helping to calm their senses.

Many believe that their own government cannot control even the Shiite or Sunni militants, how much more the al Qaeda.

“I think militant groups, whether Shiite or Sunni, will not disappear,” said a 55 year old father and teacher named Naji Hassan Yassin, a Sunni. “They do this (disappear) only when there are troops on the street. But they will return when they leave. How long can we keep all these American troops on the ground?”

“I’m 100 percent certain that if the U.S. forces leave now, the situation will become very explosive,” said the teacher. He is currently residing in Amariyah with his family of three children. He fears that the al Qaeda will return to his hometown and once again take control of their lives.

Al Qaeda Bombs Crowded Baghdad Market

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Karadah Bombing

Above: Al Qaeda’s bomb blast

A crowded, predominantly Shi’ite Baghdad shopping area was bombed twice by suspected al Qaeda on Thursday at around 7 in the evening.

The first attack, according to police, was a roadside bomb that was detonated on a street in the central Karadah district. The area was filled with vendors and their customers since Thursday is already weekend for Muslims. Women and children were among the more than 50 casualties; 120 plus more were injured.

The second attack, which came only a few minutes later, was detonated by a suicide bomber as people were making their way around in confusion and panic due to the earlier commotion. Compared to the initial blast, the subsequent bombing proved to be much more powerful.

Only three days ago, two bomb blasts in central and eastern Baghdad killed 19 people. A month ago, two women terrorists bombed populated Baghdad bird markets and killed more than 100 people. Below is a picture of one of the attacked bird market.

Below: After the explosion

Bird Market Bombing

“Terrorists of the al Qaeda network targeted innocent people again,” said Major-General Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for Iraqi security operations in Baghdad.

U.S. military officers and Iraqi officials both agree that this was the work of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, the perpetrator for most large scale terrorist bombings.

Thursday was the same day that the U.S. military planned on withdrawing 2,000 troops from the city. This was part of the proposed reduction of U.S. troops by General David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq. Since the arrival of the 30,000 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, violence has dropped by 60 percent. The 2,000 troops will be coming from that same brigade.

The soldiers were brought to Iraq precisely for the purposing of quelling the sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.

Conspiracy theorists believe that the attack was timed in absolute perfection – making way for a possible delay in the withdrawal of the 5 U.S. troop brigades from Baghdad. But a U.S. military spokesperson said that the troop reduction will continue as planned and all the 5 brigades will be out of Baghdad by July of this year.

Suicide Bombing Continues in Iraq

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Suicide bombings and bombings against the coalition troops continued in Iraq, there were news of bombings in different places in the country. A female suicide bomber entered a crowd of 200 police recruits and detonated a bomb. The bomb killed 14 persons and injured several others. This happened in the Muqtadiyah city which is some 60 miles to the northeast of Baghdad.

There were also attacks on the coalition soldiers. There were reports of three soldiers killed when a roadside bomb detonated in the city of Baghdad. Another US soldier was killed in a combat in Anbar province of Iraq.

There were reports of gunfire throughout the city of Baghdad for the complete day, there was also some fierce fighting by US troops with two sunni-dominated groups in the city. Empty firing throughout the city, was on during the day, however the target was unclear.

There were also reports that a US helicopter came in the scope of ground fire and had been landed down, however there are no confirmed reports about this incident, since this incident is still under investigation by the military officials.

There were also massive rallies held in two Shia cities called by Moqtada Al-Sadr, there were tens of thousands of people participating in these rallies. The rallies were held for coalition troops to leave the country and go. Though personally Sadr did no attend the rallies, the rallies were held specifically as a show of power against the archenemy U.S, and the coalition troops. This was also a kind of show of power for the police forces and Iraqi army. The day of the rallies was to mark the fourth anniversary of fall of Baghdad.

Though these were similar to the sentiments spoke in Japan by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri-Al-Maliki, who said there was no time-table required for the troops to leave Iraq, it was necessary to see how confident they were to take control of the situation in Iraq, and that the coalition forces would go as it was their democratic right.

All in all it was a day of violence throughout Iraq, meanwhile, U.S. has conquered insurgents up to the number of 150, this happened after a two week operation against insurgency, with the insurgents, rocket propelled grenades, hand launchers; automatic machines guns, sniper rifles, anti tank mines, etc were also seized from the insurgents.

In a surprising twist, almost all Iraqis are regretting Saddam’s fall, since their lives have been difficult ever since Hussien was captured. People have lost all faith in American troops, for people of Iraq it has become difficult to make both ends meet. Saddam’s fall has brought only violence and destabilization in the country and has been a reason for the killings of tens of thousands of Iraqis. For all Iraqis things have gone to the worst with no means to earn money and live a decent life.

All Iraqis have a feeling that in order to remove one tyrant, they have made way for several tyrants into Iraq, thus creating a vicious circle where peace is nowhere near them.

Helicopter confusion in Iraq

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There was news of a U.S. Helicopter being shot down near Latifiya in Iraq. However, the number of casualties is not yet known. There are also questions whether the helicopter exploded or was only damaged. Eyewitnesses say that ‘the helicopter was shot, moved right and left and landed down very hard, there was no explosion heard’.

 

It is being considered that the militants used anti-aircraft guns to fire at the helicopter. This incident has spurred fears that the militants have studied the flight pattern of helicopters or have access to advanced weapons.

There was a casualty of four British and four American soldiers being killed at a roadside bomb attack. This incident took place in the city Basra’s western edge. Ever since the war started there has been a heavy damage to the life and military assets of the U.S. There have been at least 50 military helicopters damaged and there have been at least 3400 deaths from the coalition. The war has also resulted in deaths of at least 665000 Iraqi people. Though the deaths of military personnel are counted by the U.S. there is no exact information available about civilian deaths in Iraq.

There has been a decrease in number of attacks on the coalition troops ever since there was a major security operation carried out in Baghdad.

US citizens are weary of the war now and would like to know whether it will ever end, since there have been large number of casualties in this war. Though there is going to be a phasing of troop withdrawals the U.S. government has not stated the timetable since it believes that the enemy cannot be controlled and measured through a time table.

There are more combat units preparing to leave for Iraq, the president of U.S. agreed that the suicide bombing were a horrible truth and there was a general doubt in the minds of Iraqi people whether or not U.S. would find success in the war.

According to Bush the enemy is a dangerous one and he is therefore resolved to protect the American people from such enemy, he also called the enemy ‘pure evil’. The strategy used by the enemy to wait is dangerous for the troops operating there as well as for the security of the country, therefore there cannot be any withdrawal until the enemy is defeated.

There is a rift between the type of war funding to be provided where some of the Senate leaders are in favor of providing war funding only for three purposes, for targeted counterterrorism operations, training and providing equipment to Iraqi security forces and for protection of the U.S. security personnel and the infrastructure.

However, some are not in favor of this war funding saying that this would cause the troops to move away from cities like Baghdad and into the interiors where the local people will then get an upper hand again and would provide ethnic cleansing in these areas of the country.

Curfew to be imposed for a shorter duration in Iraq

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There has been an optimistic improvement in the reduction of sectarian violence in the city of Baghdad, this is the reason why the security agencies in Baghdad and another city of Mosul are going to ease out the curfew timings for a period shorter by three hours. The curfew will now be imposed from 2200 to 0500 Baghdad timings.

Taking a look at the situation, there are plans of removing concrete barricades put during the war time, this will facilitate the movement of people, making it easier to move around the city. US has moved in 30000 more troops in the country to facilitate the security arrangements. According to US, troops the things of most concern are the car bombs which are kept at important places and which make the most damage.

There has been drop of sectarian killings by over 27% in March than in February. This drop of casualties is only in Baghdad and not in the surrounding areas in Iraq. However, it has been agrees that the violence situation is not so good in the rest of the country and the security forces have not got the results they expected from the peace process.

There are also doubts that there are certain politicians involved in militancy, there were two suicide vests found in garbage bins near Baghdad’s green zone recently. The latest news about the sectarian violence in Baghdad is the abduction of 22 shepherds from the desert near the city of Karbala, the shepherds were Shias and had traveled to a greener part of the desert near Amariyah, which happens to be dominated by Sunnis, though six of them did manage to escape in a pick-up truck.

In another incident two senior members of the Sadr movement were killed by the Radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr only because they did not walk out after US military chief David Petraeus arrived at a dinner function. They had been sacked following the incident.

However, notwithstanding, these incidents the security forces are trying to extend this security drive to the other parts of the country through extensive peace efforts. There are certain success stories, the provinces of Dhi Qar and Muthana are the ones which have assumed complete control of their security. The province is now looking forward for some investments and also trying to interest tourism industry.

This is the type of development that the coalition army is interested in getting in Iraq since now everyone seems to be eager to leave Iraq to the Iraqis. The security forces are trying to train the Iraqi security forces so that they will be independent. Though some of the militia are ex-criminals who have attained the position of militia in the country. There are almost one third of such people in the force. There are discrepancies like forcefully having to hire people who are illiterate because of their connections. Though they are trying to fight out these discrepancies there is little that they can do to set things right.

Iraqis rally, call for U.S. forces to leave

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Iraqis rally, call for U.S. forces to leave NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people waving Iraqi flags staged a peaceful rally in the southern city of Najaf on Monday to demand the withdrawal of U.S. forces, four years to the day since Baghdad fell to invading American troops.

The streets of the Iraqi capital itself were largely empty after authorities clamped a 24-hour ban on vehicles to prevent any insurgent attacks, especially car bombings. The anniversary comes as Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government is trying to avert full-scale civil war between majority Shi’ites and minority Sunnis who were dominant under Saddam Hussein. Sunni and Shi’ite clerics marched alongside each other in Najaf. U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox said that four years ago U.S.-led forces had “liberated Iraq from Saddam’s republic of fear.” That had allowed Iraqis to exercise their democratic rights and stage protests such as the one in Najaf. “While there have been substantial accomplishments, the first four years have also been disappointing, frustrating and increasingly dangerous in many parts of Iraq,” he said. The protesters in Najaf were responding to a call by powerful anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who blames the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 for the country’s woes and wants a timetable set for a U.S. troop withdrawal. Waving red, white and back Iraqi flags, marchers choked the 7 km-long road between Najaf and neighboring Kufa and clogged streets leading to Sadrayn Square, the main rallying point. Many had come from Baghdad and Shi’ite towns and cities in the south. Sadr was not at the rally. He has kept out of sight since the Baghdad crackdown. The U.S. military says he is in Iran, but his aides insist he is still in Iraq, possibly Najaf. His ability to muster such a large gathering was a signal to the Iraqi government and Washington that, despite his absence from public view, he is still a force to be reckoned with. The young cleric, popular among Iraq’s Shi’ite poor, led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004 but has since become a major political player. His movement holds a quarter of the seats in the ruling Shi’ite Alliance. Washington accuses his Mehdi Army militia of fuelling sectarian violence and says it is now the biggest threat to peace in Iraq, a charge he denies. SADDAM STATUE Speaking against the backdrop of an Iraqi flag, a senior Sadrist, cleric Abdelhadi al-Mohammadawi, called on U.S. forces to leave. His speech was interrupted by the periodic chorus of “Leave, leave occupier!” and “No, no, to the occupation.” “We demand the exit of the occupier and withdrawal of the last American soldier and we also reject the existence of any kind of military bases,” he said. U.S. President George W. Bush has insisted U.S. troops will not leave until Iraqis can take over security and has repeatedly rejected setting a timetable for withdrawal. While Iraq has a new U.S.-trained army, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government is still heavily dependent on American firepower and logistical support to combat the Sunni insurgency. In November, the U.N. Security Council renewed the mandate of the U.S.-led forces in Iraq until the end of 2007. “This protest is our demand for sovereignty because we will not stay quiet on the issue. The Iraqi government can handle everything and there is no need for the occupiers to remain and continue killing innocents,” said Mohammed Hamza from Baghdad. Four years ago to the day, the world watched as Iraqis, helped by U.S. soldiers, toppled Saddam’s 20-foot (six-meter) statue in Baghdad’s central Firdous Square. A crowd trampled over what was left of the statue and danced for joy. Saddam had vowed to defeat the U.S.-led invasion launched on March 20, 2003, but his forces offered little resistance as U.S. forces thrust deep into the heart of the Iraqi capital. By then the war had cost 96 American dead, 30 British dead and unknown thousands of Iraqi military and civilian casualties. Four years on, those tolls have soared to more than 3,270 U.S. soldiers killed, 140 British soldiers, 124 from other nations, and tens of thousands of Iraqis. Ten U.S. soldiers were killed at the weekend.