Iraqs Inconvenient Truth :: Iraq War News Updates

Friday, 30 November 2007 By Norris Jones
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

BAGHDAD — If you build it, they will come.  And when a new primary healthcare center (PHC) recently opened between Baghdad and Fallujah, come they did in record numbers.  Dr. Mohammad Gassan said at the old clinic they were seeing 75 to 150 patients daily. Today they are treating 250 to 450 patients daily.

“Some mothers are walking miles to bring their sick infants here,” he said. Through word of mouth, residents have heard that a new facility has opened with new equipment and they want the very best for their families, so they are willing to come from long distances to get here, he continued. “With the weather getting cooler, the most common ailment we’re seeing is upper respiratory infections including colds and flu.”

The clinic is open six days a week, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Physician’s assistant Sa’ad Naji Fayadz, who is in charge of the clinic’s respiratory department, points out that the project was delayed for more than two years and people kept asking, “When will it be finished?”

The delays continued and the situation did not improve “until we got rid of the insurgents.” He said the community was very grateful when construction restarted and the new facility finally opened earlier this month. “It’s very beautiful. Everything is as it should be and we’ve never seen a place like this in our lives,” he added.

Navy Cmdr. Steve Frost with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers knows from personal experience the turnaround in that community. “In April, as we were exiting the unfinished facility, we had a 40-minute gunfight there during which one of our vehicles was destroyed by an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade). Today, you have mothers coming up, inviting you to hold their babies, a big step for Iraqis. It is truly rewarding to see the smiles on their faces and this has been well worth the effort.” Frost is overseeing the construction of 30 new PHCs in Baghdad Province and 11 PHCs in Al Anbar Province.

The new facility includes a birthing center where an average of four newborns are delivered each week. “We monitor expectant mothers with regular monthly checkups, keeping an eye on their blood pressure, weight, blood and urine analysis,” said Nurse Sumaya Hamid Rashid. “If any problems arise, we provide treatment.” One of the goals of Iraq’s 142 new primary healthcare centers is reducing Iraq’s overall infant mortality rate. So far, 67 of those PHCs have been turned over to the Ministry of Health, 33 are open to the public, and the overall program is 95 percent complete.

Sumaya said that because of the large influx of new patients, they have asked the Ministry of Health to consider extending their hours with the eventual goal of offering round-the-clock healthcare. She said area residents are “proud and happy to see their new facility. Every day more and more people come. It’s benefiting our entire community.” Currently six doctors, four dentists, and 14 nurses make up the medical team there.

The 1,940-sq.-meter single-story medical facility (a C-level clinic, the largest of three types of PHCs being built) provides medical and dental examination and treatment rooms, X-ray capabilities, testing laboratory, pharmacy, vaccinations, an emergency department, newborn nursery and ultrasound room, a labor and delivery department, a laundry and sterilization area. The $1 million project includes a water treatment system and diesel generators for emergency power.

“This is great,” said Lt. Col. Doug Lougee, 2nd Battalion Surgeon with the 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. “Just a month ago it was an empty building and now it’s one of the pillars of the community. The clinic has been packed and it’s really gratifying to see that they now have their own medical home that they can come to,” he continued. “The clinic staff is wonderful. We know them all, and they’re working hard for their people.”

Friday, 30 November 2007

TIKRIT — Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers recently led a raid into an area of Ad Dawr with Iraqi police (IP) and a small contingent of U.S. Soldiers to put a stop to insurgent activities there.The 1st Battalion of the 1st Brigade, 4th IA led the pre-dawn raid into the area to capture insurgents and disrupt illegal traffic checkpoints used by those insurgents to rob and kill local Iraqis. The IP provided security for the team. The U.S. Army Military Transition Team (MiTT) of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division provided guidance and support for the IA, who planned and executed the mission.

Maj. Jackie Kaina of the 1st Brigade, 4th IA MiTT said the operations are driven by intelligence, which is mostly gathered by the IA. The mission was coordinated by the IA when an informant who had been ostracized by the insurgents came forward with information.

The operation, called Hellstorm, was a success in that the IA captured several of the High-Value Individuals on their list, and in the process seized several vehicles used in the illegal operations. They also discovered an emplaced improvised explosive device (IED) hidden under a bridge. The MiTT called in a U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, who detonated the IED in place.

The IED is one of the reasons that the MiTT accompanies the IA on larger operations. Their mission is to train, advise and mentor the IA. They bring with them capabilities like aeromedical evacuation, air weapons teams and other military assets that the IA doesn’t have yet, said Kaina.

The present-day IA formed in 2005 when it transitioned to an actual Army, Kaina said, who worked with IA Soldiers during his last deployment.

“As an Army they have come a huge way since 04-05,” said Kaina. “They have come a lot further than I thought they would. Two years later, I really didn’t think they would be at this point. Maturity-wise, the officers act like officers, and the NCO corps is starting to grow.”

Since his last deployment with the IA, Kaina said he has seen them grow by leaps and bounds.

“Their improvement is in their command and control,” Kaina said. “Now they are much more objective focused and much more professional. They are very visible—that is one of the biggest improvements. To the Iraqi populace, they know who the IA is.”

Kaina said that he believes that at this point, The IA is mature enough on the ground that they are taking the lead, and the U.S. forces are no longer in the lead by any stretch of the imagination. The MiTT is there to assist if the IA needs it, but it is the IA making the decisions and conducting the missions on their own.

The IA is already conducting daily patrols and company-sized raids on their own, without the help of the MiTT.

“They are very much in the lead and very much taking control,” Kaina said. “Where before they would have come to us and asked what to do next. Their leadership has matured to the level at which they no longer need to ask us those questions, they have done enough, know enough and are successful enough to know where they are going.”

(By Spc. Eric A. Rutherford, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

In Other Recent Developments Here:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — As a new unit transitions in, the Hawr Rajab Concerned Local Citizens group continues to provide Coalition forces with a helping hand in providing security for their city.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — A house-borne improvised explosive device was destroyed near Maderiyah on the afternoon of Nov. 25.

Friday, 30 November 2007 By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON — Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have taken “huge steps forward” in growing and moving toward independent operations, a senior commander in Iraq said yesterday.

And they’ve made this progress despite fighting a war on their own soil and working through an immature bureaucracy, said British Army Brigadier S. M. Gledhill, deputy commanding general for the Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq. The command is charged with helping the Iraqis to organize, man and equip their force and to develop the ministries of Defense and Interior.

“Fundamentally, Iraqis are now taking ownership of the battle space themselves. I think this is an extremely positive move and it really demonstrates their capability,” Gledhill said to a group of Internet journalists and “bloggers” in a conference call.

“An increasing number are moving into the leading role, and I have every confidence that over the next 12 months Iraqi battalions and brigades will increasingly take the lead in the battle space,” he said.

In the past year, the ISF have rocketed to nearly a half million, including both the police and Army. The 158,000-member armed forces are expected to grow to 190,000. The police forces number more than 300,000, Gledhill said. A year ago, the police forces numbered less than 200,000, and the armed forces were about 135,000 strong.

Between the Army and National Police, 191 Iraqi battalions are in the fight, with more than half operating without Coalition force support, he said.

This progress has come as U.S. forces put more into developing training infrastructure in the country. A combat training center about 50 miles east of Baghdad can train a brigade at a time. Plans are for each Army division to have its own training center that will be able to host battalion-level training.

Now is the time to develop logistics capabilities that have not kept pace with the combat forces, Gledhill said.

“As the size of the force and the nature of it matures, we need to put in place a proper functioning logistics system. It’s partly in place, but not entirely,” he said.

Some of the higher level maintenance for Iraqi equipment now is provided by contractors who are paid by the United States. “Clearly that’s not something that can carry on for much longer,” he said.

He called the ISF logistics efforts problematic and fragile. But, he said, “that was not a surprise. We have been … focused upon producing combat units to get them into the fight as a first priority.”

Plans are to deliver “considerable enhancements” to the logistics capabilities over the next year. For example, each IA division will have its own logistics support base in its operating area, offering supply and maintenance services. Now units have only regional support that is no longer capable of serving the expanded force, Gledhill said.

More depots will be built, offering maintenance and wheeled- and tracked-vehicle repair.

In the next 18 months, the Iraqis will become self-sufficient with their own logistics capabilities, Gledhill predicted.

Another growth area for the force has been developing the bureaucratic processes within the Defense and Interior ministries, which Gledhill called immature. But, he said, the war and the expeditious growth of the force have made it a challenge to develop even the most basic services.

Now, monthly progress is measured by an objective process developed jointly with Iraqis. Basic functions are evaluated, such as the ability to acquire material and field it, the ability to recruit, train and equip and the ability to pay its force. The results are assessed with the Iraqis, and focus areas are decided, Gledhill said.

When Gledhill arrived, the ministries were almost totally dependent on Coalition support, he said. Now most are capable of performing nearly independently.

“In the past eight months, it is quite clear that there has been steady improvement … in both ministries,” Gledhill said. “It’s definitely moving in the right direction. But there’s still a lot work to do.”

Friday, 30 November 2007 By Cpl. Ben Washburn
1st Infantry Division Public Affairs

BAGHDAD — Despite being on the ground only one month, Soldiers currently operating in the southern region of the Iraqi capital have hit the ground running.

The “Tuskers”, 4-64th Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, attached to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), 1st Infantry Division, continued their efforts to improve the life of Iraqi citizens, visiting two schools in the Saydiyah neighborhood, Nov. 26

The improvements in the Sunni neighborhood are important to Harker Heights, Texas, native Col. Ricky D. Gibbs, commander of the 4th IBCT.

“I want to be sure the government is taking care of all the people,” Gibbs said.

With students lined up outside holding welcome signs, the Soldiers first stopped by the NationalReconciliation High School for a ribbon-cutting ceremony which marked the reopening of the school.

Inside the school, which stands away from the city, there is new paint, windows, and electrical wiring. The renovation of the school was the result of efforts by the “Tuskers” and the “Vanguards” of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd BCT, 1st Inf. Div., which redeployed home to Germany earlier this month.

Smiling school girls gathered in groups outside and asked the Soldiers in broken English, “What’s your name?”

One Soldier said he was able to see the results of his hard work.

“It makes you feel good because you see how they were before, and the better the area gets the better it makes you feel because it means you are doing your job,” said Staff Sgt. Jonathan Haynsworth, a native of Lake Wales, Fla., and member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment.

Just a short walk from the National Reconciliation High School sits the Ishtar Elementary School, tucked away in a block of buildings, providing stark contrast to the stand-alone campus of the larger school just yards away.

Again, Soldiers were met outside by the student body and the school administrators. The Soldiers greeted many of the students outside, shook their hands and communicated with universal hand gestures.

The children received new backpacks from the Soldiers as a sign of friendship.

“We’ve made friends with the people in the area, which in doing so has drawn the fighters and terrorists from the area,” Haynsworth said.

With Iraqi national police (INP) present in this Sunni neighborhood, Iraqi security volunteers assisting with security and Coalition forces working with local leaders, the area is a symbol of the transformation that is taking place all across Baghdad.

“Before, the INP couldn’t come in here; now that we’re friends, there’s no problem with the Shia and the INP coming down here in this area,” Haynsworth said.

The opening of the school is a result of the increased security in the area. The citizens, as well as Coalition forces, are safer, he added.

“When we came here I believe it was May, June, timeframe,” he said. “Since then, we’ve not had one small arms fire incident from this area here, period. No improvised explosive strikes, no small arms fire.”

Kurt Wilson’s “Tribute”

Andrew Acosta’s “Iraqi Army: Patriots 4 Freedom”

“Hold On To Your Toodles”

Najaf, 28 November 2007 (Voices of Iraq)

Top Shiite Cleric Ali al-Sistani urged Shiites to protect their Sunni brothers and defend them, head of south Iraq’s scholars body said on Tuesday.

Shiekh Khaled al-Mulla said at a press conference held in Najaf after the visit made by a delegation of Sunni and Shiite clerics to al-Sistani, “The top cleric asserted on the sanctity of Iraq’s blood, urging Shiites to protect and defend Sunnis.”

Sistani said in the two-hour meeting “I’m a servant for all Iraqis and there is no difference between Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, or Christians.”

“Sistani also warned Iraq’s clerics of enemies’ plots to differentiate between Iraqis,” Sheikh Mulla said.

Preparations are currently underway to hold the first national meeting between Shiite and Sunni clerics in the city of Najaf. The delegation consisted of clerics from Iraq’s Kurdistan, Basra, al-Nasriyah, and Falluja.

Najaf lies 180 km south of Baghdad.

Washington, 28 November 2007 (Kuwait News Agency (KUNA))

US President George W. Bush urged Iraq’s neighbors to offer more support for Iraq as the country moves forward politically while seeing improvement in security.

The remarks came during a meeting late last night at the White House with Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim, Head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, who is in Washington on an official visit a day after President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki signed a declaration outlining the nature of the long-term bilateral relationships and the presence of US troops in Iraq.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the meeting, the second between the two since last December, tackled “the importance of the need for support from Iraq’s neighbors as Iraq moves forward.”

The two sides also discussed security improvement in Iraq as the death toll among US troops and violence witnessed sharp drop in the last two months.

They discussed “the improving security situation in Iraq and the improvements that have occurred,” Perino said.

US President George W. Bush urged Iraq’s neighbors to offer more support for Iraq as the country moves forward politically while seeing improvement in security.

The remarks came during a meeting late last night at the White House with Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim, Head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, who is in Washington on an official visit a day after President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki signed a declaration outlining the nature of the long-term bilateral relationships and the presence of US troops in Iraq.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the meeting, the second between the two since last December, tackled “the importance of the need for support from Iraq’s neighbors as Iraq moves forward.”

The two sides also discussed security improvement in Iraq as the death toll among US troops and violence witnessed sharp drop in the last two months.

They discussed “the improving security situation in Iraq and the improvements that have occurred,” Perino said.

Begin the Debate
By M. Zuhdi Jasser
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/challenges.php?id=1385607

Islamism is a veiled political insurgency

Last month, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released specific concerns about the Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia. The USCIRF raised a number of issues of concern for American security in their October 19 release not least of which is the operation of a school for high school age children, The Islamic Saudi Academy, on American soil in northern Virginia administered and funded by a foreign embassy. The USCIRF also specifically brought attention to hate and violence against other faiths expressed in some of the texts used at the Academy.

The Commission press release stated, “Several studies, including by Saudi experts themselves, have pointed to serious concerns that these texts encourage violence toward others, and misguide the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the “other.” This is only one example poignantly raised by the USCIRF on the heels of their recent trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a nation whose metastatic Wahabism is arguably the primary cancer cell in global militant Islamist ideology. It should, however, just be the first step in an American journey toward a public accountability for “Islamic” educational institutions in the United States.

Islamic education or Islamist education?

America’s public attention to the curricula and texts of Islamic parochial schools should not only be limited to this single foreign school on our soil, but also more comprehensively to the curricula of all Islamic schools in the United States. This is not about profiling much as Islamists may try to say in their protestations to this debate. But rather it is about understanding the penetration of an ideology which consciously and subconsciously teaches the superiority of a political system of governance at odds with the American political and justice system. This is also centrally relevant in the conflict against militant Islamism. At odds with the American way of life is not only the more obvious militant ‘jihadist’ fringe component of political Islam but also the less obvious, more pervasive and more insidiously dangerous movement of political Islam as a way of life.

For the Islamic educational institutions in America founded only with the purpose of teaching our Muslim children the love of God, righteousness, Islamic theology, pluralism, humanitarianism, character, humility, charity, and other personal religious principles as it applies to God, I see no threat to our freedom in the U.S. However, the more relevant questions are how these institutions of Islamic education handle topics of American government and law. As an anti-Islamist Muslim, I am waiting anxiously to hear a public debate about what is taught in their U.S. history and government classes as compared to the Islamic jurisprudence classes of these “Islamic” schools. The schools around the country are all relatively new and wasting no time in creating a generation of students which are more likely than not to be defenders of Islamism over anti-Islamist systems based in universal liberty. While only a minority of Muslims send their children to these schools, they are a growing and significant minority countered only by a silent majority of Muslims.

Most American Muslims are not products of Islamist education

Having grown up in a small Midwestern town, I am a product of K-12 and undergraduate public education in northeastern Wisconsin. While I mostly learned the personal rules of my faith and theology from my family and weekend school at the mosque in my youth, I gained the foundations of my appreciation for the sanctity of our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and American legal system through that Wisconsin public education system. For example, I recall participating in the American Legion Constitution contest- an annual competition of Wisconsin high school students best able to memorize the U.S. Constitution. Islamic schools will similarly have Koran memorization contests which are also admirable, but will they also have Constitution contests? More importantly will their government classes teach primary allegiance to it over the Koran in as far as guiding documents for governments?

Permeating my own educational experience was the preeminence of America’s pluralism and Constitutional legal system based in individual liberty over all other systems from communism to fascism to theocracy. I was taught the value of criticizing authority and proving my ideas in the public arena of debate. Do Islamic schools teach their students to question the authority of their imams (teachers)? The Enlightenment was taught as a liberation of the human mind over the suffocation of the theocrats. How do Islamic schools teach Enlightenment compared to an Islamist theocratic society?

It is time to discuss in a comprehensive public manner, the context in which Islamic parochial schools teach Islamic history. Is the Islamic state and its history with a caliphate, Islamic dynasties, and Islamic law taught to naïve Muslim children as the ‘glory days’ of Islamic dominance? Or was it simply a period of historical advancement in the context of mankind’s evolution toward the far more free and humanitarian western societies of today based in real religious liberty?

This historical paralysis is manifested in two basic areas. First, Islamic law as it exists in our Muslim theological texts today is frozen in basically the 13th or 14th Century when ijtihad (modernization of Islamic law) ended. Additionally, do these Muslim youth learn in their formative years that access to government and political leadership should be open to every citizen equally regardless of faith or religious education (as it is in the west)? Or do they contrarily learn that government and rule-making is the domain of the self-appointed Islamist scholars (ulemaa) who seek to control societal law?

Schooling which teaches the ‘preeminence’ of a sharia-based legal system (Islamic jurisprudence) over any other governmental system should raise profound concern in non-Muslim and Muslim Americans about the creation of an insidious political insurgency.

Discerning Islamist from non-Islamist Schools - a guide to begin the debate

The only way to counter such an insidious ideological insurgency is for us as a nation to undertake a far-reaching analysis and public discussion about what students at these Islamic schools are actually being taught about ‘sharia’ law and its role in the society. Here are a few questions American communities may want to pose to principals and curriculum coordinators of local Islamic schools in order to understand whether the school has a political agenda in its teachings or not.

1. How does the school teach American history and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights? What is taught about the struggle of our founding fathers against theocracy? Is European Enlightenment ideology taught? Are students encouraged to learn from non-Muslim philosophers especially those who influenced our founding fathers and taught liberty and freedom?
2. Are students taught that sharia is only personal or that it also specifically guides governmental law? Does their answer change whether Muslims are a minority or a majority?
3. Do they view non-Islamic private and public schools as part of a culture of ‘immorality’ and decadence since they are not Islamicized or can non-Islamic schools be morally and equally virtuous?
4. Do they teach their children that ‘being American’ and being ‘free’ is about moral corruption or is being American and free about loving the nation in which they live and sharing equal status before the law regardless of faith tradition?
5. Is complete religious freedom a central part of faith and the practice of religion? In the Islamic school, how are children treated who refuse to participate in school faith practices?
6. Are the children taught Muslim exclusivism with regards to the attainment of paradise in the Hereafter? From that, are the children also taught that government and public institutions must thus be ‘Islamic’ in order for the community as a whole to be able to enter the gates of Heaven?
7. How are student discussions, debate, and intellectual discourses approached regarding American domestic and foreign policy? Do the teachers have a political agenda? Does that agenda demonstrate a dichotomy between Islamist interests and American interests?
8. Is the historical period of Muslim rule of Spain (Andalusia) taught in the context of the history of the world during the Middle Ages or is it looked upon as superior to current day American ideology even after the advances of the Enlightenment?
9. Is the pledge of allegiance administered every day at the beginning of the school day?

Certainly, this analysis and exposure would not be in any way to limit the freedom of Muslims to establish and operate these private educational facilities. But rather, quite the contrary, with exposure of the political Islamist agenda of many of these schools, Islamist schools will be slowly marginalized or obligated to reform. Then the non-Islamist and anti-Islamist schools will flourish while teaching reasoned pluralistic Islamic thought wholly compatible with the foundational principles of America.

It is not too much to expect schools operating on American soil to manifest an ideology which is not politically anathema to the founding ideals of our nation.
To read the rest of this article, click here.

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American Congress for Truth

P.O. Box 6884
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
member@americancongressfortruth.org
http://www.americancongressfortruth.org

Every day, American Congress for Truth (ACT) a 501c3 non-profit organization is on the front lines fighting for you in meeting with politicians, decision makers, speaking on college campuses and planning events to educate and inform the public about the threat of Islamofascism. To maintain and bolster our efforts, we need your continued solidarity, activism and financial support. We are only as strong as our supporters. We thank you for helping us carry on this important work.

Mosul airport to reopen soon, first flights for pilgrims

Ninewa, 27 November 2007 (Voices of Iraq)

Four years after being converted into a U.S. military base, Mosul International Airport will soon reopen for civilian flights and will launch its first flight for pilgrims traveling to the holy land in Saudi Arabia.

Ninewa Governor Darid Muhammad Kashmola told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that preparations are underway to reopen Mosul airport and indicated that the inaugural flight will carry pilgrims to Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

In a phone call with VOI, Nour al-Din al-Hayali, a member of parliament from the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), said that he had committed himself to raising the issue of the Mosul airport in the Iraqi parliament. “This structure is Mosul’s lungs and vital artery for local resident who are willing to travel to Baghdad and abroad, especially given the current difficult circumstances facing road transport,” al-Hayali indicated.

Meanwhile, the media director in Mosul said that preparation work on the road leading to the airport and the terminals will soon be completed. “Work includes a project to line the road with trees, which we embarked upon on Saturday,” the director added.

An official source from the Iraqi Airways, the national airline of Iraq, said that preparations are in their final stages. “Extra electricity lines and X-ray scanners have been installed, and a new staff has been appointed,” according to the source.

Moreover, several meetings were held between the Hajj (Pilgrimage) Authority and Iraqi Airways to coordinate pilgrimage flights, scheduled to start on December 2, 2007.

Iraqi Airways is currently updating the airport’s construction and equipment, including the terminals, watchtowers and other facilities, the source added.

Established in the 1950s in southern Mosul, the airport operated civilian flights until 2003, when the Multi-National Force (MNF) turned it into a military base. Only recently has the U.S. forces made the decision to hand it over to Iraqi authorities.

Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

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A major campaign for reconstructing Iraqi provinces

26 November 2007 (Iraq Directory)

Minister of Works and Municipalities, Riyadh Ghraib, announced the launch of a major national campaign for reconstructing Iraq’s governorates, in the course of his visit to Aziziyah district, stressing that the allocation of five hundred billion dinars is not sufficient to cover municipal projects throughout the country.

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Trade Bank of Iraq holds series of training sessions for Iraqi ministries

27 November 2007 (AME Info FZ LLC)

The Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) today confirmed its launch of an important new series of training sessions for Iraqi ministries, after the success of the three-day intensive training session the Bank hosted over the summer in Istanbul.

Financial and legal training of this level is unprecedented in Iraq and is testimony to the Trade Bank’s leadership role in updating Iraq’s banking system.

Hussein Al Uzri, chairman of TBI, said: ‘we are proud to be the full-sponsor of such vital training events, the results of which should make a big contribution towards improving Iraq’s adherence to the latest in international standard practices. TBI is committed to developing and modernizing Iraq’s economy and believes that the training of Iraqi ministries in contemporary financial and banking procedures will go a long way in achieving this.’

At TBI’s training conference in August, 35 representatives from the major importing Iraqi ministries attended and were trained by professionals from JPMorgan Chase (the lead bank in TBI’s Operating Consortium) and Dallal & Associates law firm. The session covered the central topics of International Trade Dynamics, Contracts, Commercial Letters of Credit and Documentary Credits; delegates were also engaged in case studies, exposing them to latest developments in international trade.

TBI plans to hold its next training session in the coming months.

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47 billionaires in Arab world

27 November 2007 (AME Info FZ LLC)

The Arab world now boasts a record 47 billionaires, according to the annual Arabian Business Rich List.

The list of the world’s 50 richest Arabs contains a record number of new entries, with the entry level to become a member of the world’s most exclusive club having risen to $700 million from $520 million.

The new tycoons are mainly from Iraq and Syria.

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428 billion Iraqi Dinars for Nineveh Province

27 November 2007 (Al SumariaTV)

Duraid Kashmoula, Nineveh province governor announced that the government allocated 428 billion Iraqi Dinars for his province in 2008 budget for provinces development.

The governor added that intensive meetings took place with the heads of administrative units in the districts and the regions of the province in order to identify their needs and plans and to take the projects they’ve planned for 2008.

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City of Peace to be Middle East economic center within a few years

Plan for 55 major projects and tunnels worth $400 million to convert Al-Rasheed Camp into global trade hub or sports center

The government will soon open the way for international companies to in 55 large projects in the capital Baghdad, in an effort to develop the city of peace and make it an important economic and commercial center in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has recently allocated the sum of one billion 800 million dollars to the Baghdad secretariat and the ministries that contribute to the implementation of service projects in Baghdad for reconstruction during the next year. The Secretary of Baghdad, engineer Sabir Al-Isawi, revealed that the year 2008 will witness a leap in the quality of services and giant projects will be implemented spanning the next three years. According to his statement, “A strategic plan has been put [in place] to build important projects to improve services, and the map of the province will be changing through building 15 crossroads, bridges and tunnels costing $400 million, as was announced [currently] the invitation of 9 international companies to implement the project of Al Rusafa water, which will cost $ 3 billion next year,” noting that other water projects in other regions will also be built to complement the renewal and rehabilitation of water and sewage systems and prevent draining of sewage into the River Tigris.

Al-Isawi continued that plans include building residential complexes, hotels and entertainment sites on the banks of the Tigris, plus large parks similar to Al-Zawra, and seek to involve the private sector. He pointed out that in coordination with Baghdad Council the secretariat will emphasize vertical housing complexes in the next year’s plan. 90 billion dinars have been allocated to build the first complex of 4000 housing units, with the second set at 6000 units. Three sites have been nominated: Al-Baladiyat, Al-Sadr City and Al-Karkh, with the plan encouraging vertical building rather than horizontal expansion, for best use of free space in the city.

The secretariat will involve the private sector in the Baghdad development plans of the capital in line with the investment law, and give sufficient guarantees for Iraqi or foreign capital used in building commercial centers, tourist places, multi-storey markets “Malls” and restaurants. Hinted at was the existence of a plan to convert the former camp of Al-Rasheed into a sports city, world trade center, or a housing complex, including about 55 projects in which the private sector could participate.

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3rd round of negotiations on Iraq-EU association deal – official

Baghdad, 27 November 2007 (Voices of Iraq)

An Iraqi delegation is currently in the Belgian capital Brussels for a fresh round of negotiations on the association agreement between Iraq and the European Union (EU), an Iraqi foreign ministry official said on Monday.

“The Iraqi delegation, which arrived five days ago in Brussels, will have lengthy negotiations before inking the partnership agreement with the EU,” Muhammad al-Hadj Hammoud, an undersecretary of Iraq’s foreign ministry, who leads his country’s delegation to the meetings in Brussles, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone.

“The partnership agreement falls within the EU’s support for Iraq’s political process and re-building through trade ties between the two sides,” said Hammoud.

He added that the delegation will also discuss cooperation in the economic, industrial, scientific, technological, cultural, energy and health fields as well as combating “terrorism.”

The first round of Iraq-EU negotiations on the partnership deal was launched in November 2006, while the second was held in June 2007.

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Iraq’s civilization painted on Baghdad walls

Iraqi artists turn ugly concrete blocks into stunning paintings, earning residents’ praise.

By Michel Moutot

Baghdad, 27 November 2007 (Middle East Online)

Unending stretches of concrete blocks set up to prevent insurgent attacks have virtually walled in Baghdad, but in the process have also created a canvas for artists to paint Iraq’s natural beauty.

The wall sections, each nine metres (30 feet) long and two metres (seven feet) high, are part of the vast network of concrete blocks and concertina wires that carve up the capital, where bloody attacks are still a daily occurrence.

Dubbed “concrete caterpillars” by the US military, the walls have in some places boxed in entire neighbourhoods and markets to protect them from bombings.

However, Iraqi artists, backed by the municipality which wants to spruce up the city, are now using them as canvases on which to paint images from Iraq’s thousands-years-old civilisation.

And thanks to their efforts, the violence-wracked, debris-strewn capital is finally being giving a splash of colour.

“We have changed these dreadful barriers into a beautiful canvas,” says artist Ahmed, 45, while painting a concrete block near the Baghdad governorate building on the west bank of the Tigris River.

Ahmed, who declined to give his family name, is drawing a scene from the 1920s, of a cart and farmers entering Baghdad from its large western entrance — something unseen these days.

“Most of Iraq’s painters have fled,” says Ahmed, explaining his mission.

“Our children are growing without anything colourful. Our role is to introduce a little art into their lives so they know there is something more than just violence.”

He has been given a broad brief.

“The municipality wanted us to paint scenes from the city’s daily life. I am free to choose what I want to paint.”

Ahmed says most residents appreciate what the artists are doing and sometimes even stop by and praise their work.

“But of course sometimes there are people who say it would be better to put the money into repairing the electricity grid rather than into pots of paints,” he adds with a smile.

The most striking work on the blast walls is to be seen on the road from Baghdad international airport into the city, where dozens of painters are busy drawing the entire history of the archeologically rich country.

The first piece to catch the eye is a large painting of the Babylonian emperor Hammurabi with a princess, who is draped in gold and jewels, beside tall palm trees and against a backdrop of the ruins of the ancient city.

A private company working at the airport has agreed to sponsor the decoration of a four kilometre (2.5 mile) stretch of the wall.

The company provides paint and other materials and pays 20 dollars a day to each artist, many of them students from an arts college in Baghdad who keep a large book containing pictures from Iraqi history on hand for inspiration.

Ahmed Ali, 21, dressed in overalls and holding a brush in one hand is among the group.

“I am happy to make my country look beautiful,” he says.

“These walls by themselves are dreadful and depressing. It is necessary to do something to make them bearable. This long wall is the first thing foreigners see when they come to Iraq.”

Nearby is Najji Hussein, 60, a professor from the arts college who is supervising a group of students putting the finishing touches to a large painting.

“For them, this is a good practical experience,” Hussein says.

“And for the country, it is a window on our history and our civilization.”

Artistically striking as they may be, Hussein wants the walls to be quickly dismantled once peace returns to Baghdad.

“The thing that really upsets me are the coils of barbed wire on the walls,” he says.

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, captured 13 suspected insurgents during a nighttime air assault mission in Sayafiyah, a small village outside of Salman Pak, Nov. 24.One of the detainees was a high value individual (HVI), who was a member of al-Qaida in Iraq wanted for weapons smuggling and financing attacks on Coalition forces in Salman Pak and Al Ja’ara.

“According to our intelligence, the insurgent we apprehended was an expert bomb maker and VBID (vehicle borne improvised explosive device) maker,” said 1st Lt. Matthew Barwick, from Lanham, Md., fire support officer for Co. B. “By apprehending him, we have taken a very dangerous person off the streets and made the area safer.”

During the course of the operation Co. B Soldiers cleared eight houses and barns while searching for the suspects.

“The operation went perfectly,” said Spc. Lyle Johnson, from Comanche, Okla., an indirect fire specialist in Co. B. “We cleared all of our objectives and got the No. 1 HVI and 12 of his partners. We did all of this without firing a shot, so I’d say it was a good operation.”

The 1-15th Inf. Regt. is part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March.

(By Spc. Ben Hutto, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs)

In Other Recent Developments Here:

MOSUL — The Qayyarah Bridge, which spans the Tigris River in Iraq’s Nineveh Province, was repaired and opened to traffic just three days after a section was destroyed by a truck bomb, Nov. 23.

BAGHDAD — Based on a tip from a concerned citizen, Iraqi Security Volunteers in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah District led Soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division to a building containing a large weapons cache, Nov. 24.

Tuesday, 27 November 2007 By Norris Jones
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

FALLUJAH — Nearly 450 Iraqis are currently working to get Fallujah’s first-ever sewer system operational by next summer.  That number is expected to soon grow to a construction force of 700 Iraqis. The $85 million project includes a collection system, trunk mains, pump stations and a wastewater treatment plant processing 40,000 cubic meters daily (10.5 million gallons).

“People are happy because our community is safer now and there are more American projects creating jobs in different areas,” said Awaf Abdul Rahim, construction manager at the wastewater treatment plant. “It’s helped Fallujah’s unemployment. When the security situation improved earlier this year, we were inspired to work hard. Our construction crews became more serious and active and are now getting more done.”

Peter Collins, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is the project manager overseeing the work. “The long term benefit is huge. At the moment Fallujah’s raw sewage is flowing into the EuphratesRiver, polluting it, impacting communities downstream who depend on it as a drinking source,” Collins said.

Apart from the Iraqi work force, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has 35 Iraqi engineers visiting the various project sites daily, checking on the quality of the ongoing construction and encouraging worker safety.

Collins says the new treatment plant will have the capacity to serve Fallujah’s needs until 2025, even if the community has a 50 percent growth in population (from 200,000 to 300,000 residents).

“People in Fallujah may not fully appreciate the impact of this project because they have never lived in a sewage-free city. Next year there will be no wastewater flowing in the streets and their children will be able to play safely outside,” Collins said. “It represents a monumental step forward and that’s what motivates us as we work to achieve that goal.”

 November 22, 2007

Iraqi and US troops detained 81 suspected extremists during a three-day crackdown in Diwaniyya, where rival Shiite militia are ranged against each other, a statement said Wednesday. The US military statement quoted Major General Othman Ali Farhud, commander of the Iraqi Army’s 8th Division, as saying that several weapons caches were seized during the November 17-19 operation on the central city codenamed “Operation Lion’s Leap.”

“The northeast quarters of Diwaniyya, where the operation was conducted, were under control of criminal and militant groups,” Farhud was quoted as saying, adding that the troops had suffered no casualties.

Iraqi security officials said 3,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen, supported by tanks and hundreds of US and Polish troops, launched the assault Saturday to flush out Shiite militants from the city.

They said on Monday that in the first two days of the operation 49 militants loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were arrested.

Witnesses said the city of more than 1 million people had been placed under curfew and US aircraft had dropped leaflets urging locals to cooperate in locating militant hideouts.

The US military said Wednesday Iran must prove over time it that it was committed to stemming the flow of weapons into Iraq, adding a note of caution

after a warming in Washing-ton’s tone toward Tehran.

US officials have softened their rhetoric toward Iran this month since US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he understood Iran had given Iraq behind-the-scenes assurances that the flow of weapons would stop.

“We are thankful for the commitment that Iran has made to reduce the flow of weapons and explosives coming into Iraq,” Lieutenant General James Dubik, head of US military efforts to rebuild Iraq’s security forces, said Wednesday. He added it had made some contribution to cutting violence in Iraq. Iraq Updates

George Washington On Thanksgiving

November 21st, 2007 Posted By The Bashman From Pat Dollards Blog

The dude was a warrior who loved God and Country…

Proclamation of National Thanksgiving

George Washington

City of New York, October 3, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

____

Happy Thanksgiving all… ~Bash

*Video Marked As: Mature (Cursing)
“IED on my buddys patrol in Iraq”

Stop before you gripe

By Michelle Malkin • November 21, 2007 07:56 AM

My column this week (reprinted below) reflects on pain, compassion, gratitude, and some simple Thanksgiving advice. Feel free to share your favorite Thanksgiving traditions, recipes, and prayers here. I’m making a Thanksgiving tree with my kids. We trace their hands on colored construction paper, write down the things they’re thankful for, and tape up the tree and the hand leaves in the dining room. My kids are my greatest blessing.

Cherish every moment.

***
Stop before you gripe

Before you blow your top about the holiday hassle at the airport, the long lines at the grocery store, all the hours you’ll spend cooking and cleaning, the uninvited guests who are crashing hubby’s football party, and the endless Christmas shopping list that awaits, just stop.

Stop and think of the Johnson family.

Michelle Malkin’s Article Continues HERE…And It Is A MUST READ!

___

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL…And our prayers are with the Johnson Family!

Iraqs Inconvenient Truth

Wednesday, 21 November 2007 By Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Mills
3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division

CAMP STRIKER — Nearly every time Army Chief Warrant Officer Michael Pruitt flies his Apache here, his brother, Army Capt. Joseph Pruitt, knows exactly what’s happening to him, good or bad.  Both brothers’ wives, in turn, also have a finger on the safety and wellbeing of their husbands and brothers-in-law.

The four Pruitts — Michael, a pilot with 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment; Joseph, battle captain, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB), 3rd Infantry Division; and their wives, Capt. Kristi Pruitt, support operations officer, 603rd Aviation Support Battalion, and Capt. Alicia Pruitt, personnel officer, 4th Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment — are stationed here together with the 3rd CAB, a situation that brings both benefits and a decided downside.

“It’s very cool to be here together,” said Kristi, Michael’s wife. “But it also has a separate sacrifice.”

With most close family relationships, there is a separation during deployment. Spouses and siblings are most often at home, far away from the day-to-day dangers of deployment to a war zone. The Pruitts don’t experience that separation, said Kristi, who hails from Oviedo, Fla.

Joseph, from Peachtree City, Ga., works in the 3rd CAB tactical operations center as the battle captain, a position which gives him a front-row seat to everything happening in the 3rd CAB’s operating environment.

“I know when (Michael) is flying,” said Joseph, admitting that he sometimes worries about his brother. “But if (Alicia) flies, I do the same thing.”

At the same time, Joseph said, he realizes they are Soldiers and there isn’t room for compromising the mission by worrying too much.

“If something were to happen, I don’t think it would hit until after the battle drill,” Joseph said.

On the flipside is the fact that the Pruitts work in different battalions and are on different schedules, explained Michael, also a native of Peachtree, Ga. It’s good to be able to see each other, he said, but it is sometimes difficult not being able to spend quality time with each other.

While all four Pruitts acknowledge they are able to spend more time together than many other Soldiers and their families, it’s almost like being teased with their close presence and not being able to fully experience it.

“We don’t see each other really very much,” Michael said. “We see each other maybe once a week.”

The other issue this raises, said Alicia, a native of Fort Kent, Maine, is that soldiering becomes your life. That translates to having no pets, having to rent out your house during deployments, and having no kids.

“We can’t just decide to have babies,” she said. “We have to work around the Army’s schedule.”

Coming here together in one brigade wasn’t exactly planned, the Pruitts said. Joseph and Alicia met early on in their careers.

“We kind of ran into each other in (officer basic course), but we really didn’t start dating until Korea,” Joseph said.

Joseph and Alicia were married before moving to the 3rd Infantry Division, where they said they found a pair of slots open; those positions happened to be with the 3rd CAB, where Michael had also moved.

Michael and Kristi subsequently met during a deployment here in 2005, when they were both with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, of the 3rd CAB. In early 2007 the 3rd CAB was given the word to deploy here again in May, but they would leave 3-3 Aviation behind, Kristi said. At that time Kristi and Michael were dating, and to keep from being moved to other posts elsewhere in the world, and probably being separated, they decided to transfer to the battalions that were deploying.

Kristi said they weren’t engaged at that point, so their planning was tentative at first.

“I was the one who brought it up initially, and (Michael) had heard of a job opening up in 1-3 and said, ‘OK, I’ll volunteer, too,’” Kristi said. “So I guess it was to stay together.”

They married by proxy wedding through the state of Montana during this most recent deployment.

“I love the way it is now,” Kristi said. “When (Michael) vents to me I know exactly what he’s talking about. I know not to overreact, and he’s really good about doing the same thing. It’s like we speak the same language, you know, the whole military language thing.”

The bond they share, say the Pruitts, goes beyond the bond among Soldiers. It has deep roots in family and the love they feel for each other.

“I look up to them,” Alicia said of her family here. “I only worry when they worry. It’s comforting that they are here.”

Wednesday, 21 November 2007

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE — When service members here have to go “outside the wire,” they sometimes have an extra set of eyes watching over them.Concealed and usually from a long distance away, the members of the 506th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron’s Close Precision Engagement Team (CPET), also known as the Tiger Team, observes, provides intelligence, and, if necessary, neutralizes threats.

The Tiger Teams consist of Air Force security forces counter-snipers whose expert marksmanship and ability to practically stay invisible allow them to sneak up to an enemy undetected.

“A large part of our job here is reconnaissance for the Army and sometimes agents with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) detachment here,” said Staff Sgt. Curtis Huffman, CPET non-commissioned officer in charge.

“When they have a mission outside of the wire, we’ll set up near that location about an hour or more before they get out there. Concealed and out of sight, we are able to observe the area and give them real-time intel before they even arrive,” Huffman said.

Through direct communication with the mission commander, the sharpshooters let the team know how many people there are in the area, their exact location, if there are any weapons, or if the people seem to be hiding anything. That way, they know exactly what to expect before arriving at the location.

“Close precision engagement provides us with the ability to see into the future,” said Special Agent Christopher Church, OSI Detachment 2410 commander. “They provide us with a situational awareness that we would not have without them. Having them watch over us during missions makes an enormous difference.”

The sharpshooters’ skills also help save lives during counter-improvised explosive device (IED) and counter-indirect fire (IDF) operations.

“We respond to routes that get hit by IED a lot or an area that is known for launching IDF (attacks),” said Huffman, who is deployed from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. “We’ll set up somewhere concealed along that route or that area, where we can watch people setting stuff up so we can get them before they can hurt our guys. We could be there from (24) to (72) hours.”

CPET members also respond to their own comrades. If security forces members on patrol or on a post perceive suspicious activities in the area, they can call on the team to come out and, using their trained eyes, optics and night-vision capability, determine if there is an actual threat.

Each sniper team consists of two people – the spotter and the shooter. The spotter’s responsibility is to determine things like the distance to the target, wind direction and then provide the shooter with corrections, which are adjustments on the rifle.

“Spotters do all the mathematical equations for range estimation, windage, everything from start to end,” said Airman 1st Class Matt Leeper, CPET member, also deployed from Eielson. “The spotter definitely has the more difficult job. Your spotter has to be quick and accurate when giving the corrections. There is no time for the shooter to think twice. Your spotter is always right.”

The Air Force has about (350) trained sharpshooters. To become a counter-sniper, one has to be a security forces member, have proven marksmanship abilities and accomplish three weeks of training at Camp Robinson, Ark.

“The school is physically and mentally very challenging,” Leeper said. “You are learning from the first day you get there. The first few days are in a classroom, and then you are on the range shooting.”

This is where the students are introduced to the M-24 sniper rifle, the military version of a Remington Seven Hundred.

“The trigger squeeze on this weapon is a lot lighter than the M-4, and it also has a lot more kick,” Leeper said. “Your shoulder gets roughed up at school, where we fire more than (100) rounds a day.”

Though shooting is only a small part of their job at Kirkuk, it’s often the most important aspect.

“Only about (5) percent of our job is taking that shot, and the other (95) percent is intelligence gathering,” he said. “But when you are in a situation where you have to neutralize a threat, you can’t really think about anything except you have positive ID on that target, they have a weapon or you know they are placing an IED. You put that target in your crosshairs, you imagine it’s just a blank target at your school house and you pull the trigger. You don’t have time to think about anything else.”

The counter-snipers accomplish many missions at Kirkuk, but they find the most rewarding thing is being able to watch over soldiers or OSI agents.

“This is the reason why I joined,” Leeper said. “When we are out there giving them info and providing cover, I feel like I’m doing my job. I don’t feel like I deserve a medal — nothing like that. This is what my job is and what I joined to do. I joined to come to Iraq, and I went through sniper school to be an asset to the Air Force.”

(Story by USAF Staff Sgt. Markus M. Maier, U.S. Central Command Air Forces Combat Correspondent Team)

In other Recent Developments Here:

•   BAGHDAD — Coalition forces killed six terrorists and detained 10 suspects today during operations targeting terrorist networks in central and northern Iraq.

•  CAMP LIBERTY — The 514th Medical Company, out of Ft. Lewis, Wash., executed the first in a series of basic medical skills initiatives which include casualty first aid and evacuation training with Iraqi Soldiers at Camp Liberty Nov. 11.

San Francisco To Issue I.D.’s To Illegals

November 20th, 2007 Post From Pat Dollard’s Blog

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco will give resident identification cards to illegal immigrants under a plan approved on Tuesday amid a fierce nationwide debate on granting privileges to undocumented aliens.

In a 10-1 vote, the city’s board of supervisors — the equivalent of a city council — approved giving identification cards to all residents, including illegal immigrants. The move makes San Francisco the largest U.S. city to back such a plan.

Residents will be able to obtain the resident cards by presenting photo identification and proof they live in the city, such as a utility bill. It was unclear if the new cards, which will be accepted at libraries and health clinics, will carry photos.

Such a move had been expected from San Francisco, which is famously liberal. Earlier this year, Mayor Gavin Newsom said he would not allow city officials and employees to assist immigration raids by federal authorities seeking up people who had committed crimes or disregarded deportation orders.

San Francisco, which declared itself a “sanctuary city” in 1989, also this year launched a program to provide medical care to uninsured residents regardless of their immigration status.

At the state level, California’s Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed bills that would allow undocumented aliens to obtain state identification cards, including driver’s licenses.

By contrast, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, proposed giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses. But he was forced to drop the plan last week due to overwhelming opposition, even from presidential candidates from his own party like Hillary Clinton.

Military to bring charges, AP complains;

Update: “MNF-I possesses convincing and irrefutable evidence that Bilal Hussein is a threat to security and stability as a link to insurgent activity”

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 19, 2007 04:48 PM

***
Update 11:50pm Eastern: Via the AFP, the US military reveals some details…

The US military has filed a formal complaint with an Iraqi criminal court accusing a detained, award-winning Associated Press photographer of being a “terrorist media operative,” the Pentagon said Monday.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said the military made the complaint about Bilal Hussein, who has been held for more than 19 months without charges in US military custody, to Iraq’s Central Criminal Court.

“We believe Bilal Hussein was a terrorist media operative who infiltrated the AP,” he said. “MNF-I possesses convincing and irrefutable evidence that Bilal Hussein is a threat to security and stability as a link to insurgent activity.”

Morrell said an investigative hearing into the case by the court is scheduled to begin on or after November 28.

Hussein was detained April 12, 2006 after marines entered his house in Ramadi to establish a temporary observation post and found bomb-making materials, insurgent propaganda and a surveillance photograph of a US military installation.

Morrell said Hussein, who was part of an AP photo team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005, had previously aroused suspicion because he was often at the scene insurgent attacks as they occurred.

He said other evidence, which he would not describe, came to light after his detention “that makes it clear that Mr. Hussein is a terrorist media operative who infiltrated the AP.”

Continued At: Michelle Malkin’s Blog

Tuesday, 20 November 2007 By Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp
1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

CAMP TAJI — A senior leader of the Iraqi Army (IA) along with Government of Iraq officials from eight ministries; Sunni and Shia tribal sheiks and other leaders met with the people of Sab Al Bor recently to discuss and highlight resettlement initiatives and progress as a result of sustained security throughout the city.

IA Lt. Gen. Abud Qanbar, commander, Baghdad operations command; Dr. Ahmed Challabi, Operation Fahrd Al Qanoon (OFAQ) Services Committee chairman; Saabar Nabact Al Asaway, deputy governor of Baghdad; Ahmed Abdul Ameer Abd, the deputy Minister of Oil; Maeen Al Kathamy, head of the Provincial Council; and Maj. Gen. Wajih Hameed, Kharkh area commander, were a few of the guests and speakers. Other guests at the meeting included sheik Hassan Al Sudany, a representative of the Grand Ayatollah Sistani—the most prominent religious Shia leader in Iraq, and deputy ministers and representatives from the Ministries of Health, Housing, Education, Commerce, Interior for Police Affairs, Municipalities, and Agriculture.

Local City Council leaders and sheiks hosted the event while Multi-National Division-Baghdad senior leaders from the 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and members of the brigade’s Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (EPRT), Baghdad EPRT 5, were on hand to assist in facilitating the meeting.

The event began at a Joint Security Station (JSS) where U.S. and Iraqi press engaged in a question and answer session with the government panel and a town hall-type meeting allowing Concerned Local Citizens group members of the city to express their concerns on essential services and other issues.

Once the town hall meeting closed, the government leaders, IA officials and tribal sheiks walked the streets of the city to tour a local medical clinic and discuss shortfalls and challenges facing the public health system. From there, the leaders traveled to the Al Balquis School where they met with local educators.

After returning to the JSS, the leaders dined together and talked about plans of action to restore essential services.

The government officials then visited a local water pumping station and another local school.

Over the course of the event, some of the main topics of discussion included the improvement of essential services and public works in order to entice displaced citizens to move back into their residences and the city. In addition, the government officials looked at the way ahead for bringing jobs into the area; fixing roads, the hiring of doctors and nurses to staff medical clinics, hiring certified teachers for local schools, creating new systems to collect and control trash and sewage, and efforts to provide drinking water—which is in short supply—to the city’s residents.

Lt. Gen. Qanbar said that since his last visit to the area, security in the region has increased which has allowed for a more stable environment.

“The people of Sab al Bor will return to their homes as long as this continues,” Qanbar added. “In order for the people to stay and the city to prosper, essential services and public works must be improved. This is the only way in which resettlement will work in the area.”

Dr. Challabi of the OFAQ services committee, who served as the keynote speaker during the event, said he was very receptive to the concerns of the local citizens and looked forward to finding ways to help them with the problems they face due to the lack of essential services in the city.

After receiving a list of issues which are in need of attention in the area, Challabi agreed to sign a series of promissory notes to ensure that the city is allocated the resources it needs from the Iraqi government to improve essential services and bring jobs to the area.

Challabi also directed Sab al Bor’s city manager to hire a work brigade of (500) to (1,000) local citizens within each district to pave the roads and to help resource jobs for the city.

Brig. Gen. John F. Campbell, Multi-National Division-Baghdad’s deputy commanding general for maneuver, concluded the event, addressing the council members and government officials about the ‘irreversible momentum’ in the initiative of resettlement and progress in essential services in Sab al Bor and Iraq as a whole, while also stressing the importance of collaboration and partnership between the local council members and Iraq’s ministerial representatives.

“This has to be a joint effort but, ultimately, an Iraqi solution,” said Campbell in his closing remarks.

Tuesday, 20 November 2007 Multi-National Force – Iraq Press Desk

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces killed (12) terrorists, detained five suspects and found two bodies Sunday and Monday during operations targeting al-Qaida networks along the Tigris River Valley here.

During coordinated operations east of Samarra, Coalition forces targeted al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) propaganda operations and several senior terrorist leaders. As the ground force approached the target area, they were immediately engaged by armed men. Responding in self-defense, Coalition forces called for supporting aircraft, who engaged the enemy, killing five terrorists.

During the firefight, several armed men maneuvered inside a nearby building and continued firing on Coalition forces. The ground force returned fire killing five terrorists. Upon further investigation, the ground force discovered an (AQI) detention facility containing the bodies of two additional men bound in shackles and believed to have been executed prior to Coalition forces’ arrival. Information on the individuals held in the detention facility is not available at this time.

Coalition forces also found suicide vests on three of the killed terrorists and a weapons cache, including rocket propelled grenades, rockets and anti-aircraft weapons. Coalition forces detained one suspect during the operation.

During operations In Mosul, Coalition forces killed a wanted individual believed to have been a senior leader in Mosul’s terrorist security network. Reports indicate the wanted individual planned attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition forces, which included multiple suicide car-bombing attacks. Reports also indicate he purchased weapons and explosives for the terrorist network. As Coalition forces approached the target building, an armed man emerged. Perceiving hostile intent, the ground force engaged, killing the terrorist, who was later identified as the wanted individual by one of the building’s occupants. Two suspects were also detained during the operation.

Coalition forces targeted an al-Qaida in Iraq car-bombing network facilitator during operations south of Baghdad late Sunday. Coalition forces called for supporting aircraft to engage a vehicle associated with the targeted individual. The vehicle was safely destroyed and Coalition forces assessed one terrorist was killed by the precision air strike.

In another operation south of Baghdad, Coalition forces detained two suspects while targeting members of AQI in Arab Jabour believed to be responsible for attacks against Iraqi and Coalition forces.

“We will relentlessly pursue terrorist leaders who try to deny the Iraqi people a future of their choice,” said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesman. “Car-bombings and other attacks against innocent I