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Good News from Iraq Report- The Weekly FishWrap

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Lt Fishman sends this week's open source round up.

1) Sunni Insurgents Battle in Baghdad
Residents of Western Neighborhood Join Groups' Fight Against Al-Qaeda in Iraq

By John Ward Anderson Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, June 1, 2007; A11

BAGHDAD, -- Sunni residents of a west Baghdad neighborhood used assault rifles and a roadside bomb to battle the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq this week, leaving at least 28 people dead and six injured, residents said Thursday.The mayor of the Amiriyah neighborhood, Mohammed Abdul Khaliq, said in a telephone interview that residents were rising up to try to expel al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has alienated other Sunnis with its indiscriminate violence and attacks on members of its own sect."I think this is going to be the end of the al-Qaeda presence here," Abdul Khaliq said of the fighting Wednesday and Thursday, which began over accusations that al-Qaeda in Iraq had executed Sunnis without reason.The Baghdad battle is evidence of a deepening split between some Sunni insurgent groups and al-Qaeda in Iraq, which claims allegiance to Osama bin Laden. Although similar rebellions occurred in Diyala province earlier this year, the fighting this week appears to be the first time the conflict has reached the streets of Baghdad.

Abdul Khaliq said he hoped U.S. forces would stay out of the fight. "But if the Americans interfere, it will blow up, because they are the enemy of us both, and we will unite against them and stop fighting each other," he said.In the western province of Anbar, which is predominantly Sunni, tribal leaders have formed an umbrella group, the Anbar Salvation Council, to join with U.S. and Iraqi troops in a common fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq, which used to dominate the province. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said at a news briefing Thursday that 12,000 Anbar residents have joined the Iraqi security forces in the first five months of this year, compared with 1,000 in all of last year.Tribal leaders say they are signing up because they oppose al-Qaeda in Iraq's extremist ideologies and its attacks on local residents, but critics of the council say the U.S. effort in Anbar amounts to backing one private army against another.In an attack clearly meant to intimidate the tribes, a suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest blew himself up Thursday among 150 recruits waiting to enter a police compound in the Anbar city of Fallujah, killing 25 people and wounding at least 20, said Ayman Hussein Zaidan, an official at Fallujah General Hospital.In a second suicide attack Thursday in Anbar, six people were killed, including three policemen, when a car bomb exploded at a telephone exchange in Ramadi, the provincial capital about 60 miles west of Baghdad, said Col. Tariq al-Dulaimi, a local police chief. He said seven police officers and two bystanders were wounded in the blast. The Amiriyah neighborhood, located near Baghdad International Airport in the western part of the capital, has been hit hard by rampant violence, a lack of services and the expulsion of Shiite families. It is considered a virtual no man's land. Problems arose on Tuesday when the Islamic Army, a powerful Sunni insurgent group, posted a statement at a local mosque criticizing al-Qaeda in Iraq for killing dozens of other Sunnis in Fallujah and Baghdad "on suspicion only," without sufficient evidence that they had done something wrong, according to a copy sent to The Washington Post. The message warned al-Qaeda in Iraq to stop the practice, which it said could lead to clashes between them.Late Wednesday afternoon, according to residents reached by phone who would not be quoted by name for security reasons, an armed group scrawled graffiti on a school wall reading: "Down with al-Qaeda, long live the honest resistance." When al-Qaeda in Iraq members came to wipe away the writing, a roadside bomb exploded nearby, killing three of them, residents said.Al-Qaeda in Iraq then attacked a mosque associated with the Islamic Army, killing the group's leader, Razi al-Zobai, and four other fighters, complaining in a statement that the Islamic Army had become involved in the political process in Iraq, residents said. In retaliation, the Islamic Army attacked a mosque associated with al-Qaeda in Iraq, killing one of the group's leaders, known as Sheik Hamid, and four other members, including Waleed Saber Tikriti, a doctor who treated al-Qaeda in Iraq's wounded, residents said.On Thursday, al-Qaeda in Iraq reinforcements arrived from other Baghdad neighborhoods, residents said, and furious fighting erupted between the groups, lasting about four hours. Nine fighters from al-Qaeda in Iraq and six from the Islamic Army were killed, according to Abu Ahmed al-Baghdadi, an Islamic Army leader reached by telephone. He said six civilians were injured by a mortar round fired by al-Qaeda in Iraq "criminals."Baghdadi said about 40 members of al-Qaeda in Iraq fought a force of 30 fighters from the Islamic Army and the 1920 Revolution Brigades, another Sunni insurgent group. The latter two groups were aided by local residents who oppose al-Qaeda in Iraq, he said.Despite being outnumbered, the Sunni insurgent leaders asserted, they had a significant advantage over al-Qaeda in Iraq because its members were staying in abandoned Shiite houses that were well known, while the Sunni insurgents were blended among the population.Late Thursday, a senior Iraqi army official in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Qasim Atta, said on state-run al-Iraqiya television that calm had returned to the neighborhood.

2) Awakening in Babil

Bill Roggio, Fourth Rail http://billroggio.com/archives/2007/05/awakening_in_babil.php

2) « Iraq Report: Kidnapped by Mahdi; Salahadin Salvation attacked | Main | Iraq Report: Babil Awakening, Al Qaeda-Iran Liaison Captured»

A pro government tribal leader is targeted in Babil; the four provinces around Baghdad have established an Awakening movement The formation of the regional Awakening movements--the groupings of anti-al Qaeda tribes, community leaders, and insurgent groups--threatens to stymie al Qaeda in the largely Sunni regions of Iraq. Al Qaeda has targeted the leaders of the Awakening movements in Anbar, Diyala and Salahadin provinces, and has now taken a shot at the newly minted Awakening movement in Babil province. Military and intelligence sources have informed us that the formation of the Babil Awakening is underway, however there was little information to confirm this via open source. Omar Fadhil, one of the two authors of Iraq the Model, informed me today that he has seen reporting on the formation of a Babil Awakening in the local Iraqi press. Also, the Kuwaiti News Agency provided confirmation today when it reported an assassination attempt on Sheikh Obeid Al-Masoudi, the chief of the Al-Masoudi clan in the city of the Iskandaria. "Unknown gunmen" stormed Al-Masoudi's home, and "targeted him and his wife with volleys of automatic gunfire." He and his wife are reported to be in critical condition. "Sheikh Al-Masoudi has recently established an alliance with several tribes in Babel Governate, south of Baghdad, reminiscent to the pro-government tribal alliance in the province of Al-Anbar, west of the Iraqi capital," KUNA reported. "He, along with other tribal chiefs, signed an accord prohibiting spilling of Iraqi blood, rejecting any breach of person's honor and barring aid to insurgents. They have also prohibited attacks on religious sites and supported the government's national [reconciliation] process."Today's attack on the leader of the Babil Awakening follows an assassination attempt on Sheikh Hamad al-Hasan, the leader of the Salahadin Salvation Council, on Tuesday. Four of his family members were killed in the attack.Awakening movements have now been effectively established in the four provinces surrounding Baghdad. The Government of Iraq is funding the military arm of the movements, and incorporating the local tribal forces into provincial police forces. This movement is an integral part of the attempt to secure Baghdad and the outlying belts, where al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents have established networks from which they launch deadly suicide attacks inside the capital. The movements in Babil, Diyala, and Salahadin are still in their infancy, and the Iraqi government and Multinational Forces Iraq must take care to protect their leaders and support their efforts in the military, political, economic, and reconstruction spheres.

3) Iraqi Kurds take charge of own security http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070530183630.leppgqfg&cat=null

by Mathieu Gorse June 1, 2007 AFP In a blaze of pomp showcasing Kurdish military muscle, US forces handed over responsibility for security in Iraq's three northern provinces to the Kurdish regional government on Wednesday. Iraq's Kurds have long cherished separatist ambitions and, while officials said the region will work closely with the national government in Baghdad, the symbolism of the moment was not lost on the former guerrilla fighters."It's a sort of independence," Colonel Shadman Ali of the peshmerga, the Kurdish security force, told AFP. "We are very glad and proud and have been waiting for this day for so long. It gives us a great source of hope." Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk provinces are ruled by the Kurdish Regional Government, which has its own executive and ministries and has been spared much of the unrest wracking the rest of Iraq."Today is another success in the process of rebuilding Iraq," Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said at a ceremony in his capital, Arbil. The handover was followed by a parade of Kurdish soldiers, including an all-female martial arts display."This is the result of the experience of 16 years," he said referring to Iraqi Kurdistan's history of de facto independence since the 1991 Gulf War weakened Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's grip on the mountainous north. Organisers had planned to raise the Iraqi national flag to symbolise the transfer of authority but many Kurds wanted to raise their own regional flag, a horizontal tricolour of orange, white and green with a golden sun motif. In the end, no flag was raised. Controversy erupted in September when regional Kurdish president Massud Barzani forbade the flying of the Iraqi flag in the Kurdish region -- a move taken as a sign of the region's separatist ambitions. "Kurdish forces are Iraqi forces," National Security Advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie emphasised forcefully to AFP as rank after rank of Kurdish soldiers, commandos, special forces units and police marched by. Emblazoned on the soldiers' shoulders was the sunburst Kurdish flag. Seven Iraqi provinces, including Najaf, Muthanna, Dhi Qar and Maysan, now have responsibility for their own security -- a third of the total. The United States hopes to add more as Iraqi forces grow in capability. "Reinforcing the security of Kurdistan is reinforcing the security of Iraq," insisted Rubaie. Unlike the rest of the war-torn country, the Kurdish provinces and their comparative security have attracted the interest of foreign investors, which has fuelled a construction boom in the region's cities. "You're an example for the rest of Iraq," Major General Benjamin Mixon, the commander of US troops in northern Iraq, told the assembled dignitaries. Turkey, which has a large and restive Kurdish population of its own, has long expressed dissatisfaction with the increasing autonomy of Iraq's Kurds.Ankara accuses Iraq of allowing the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of using the region as a rear-base to launch cross-border attacks. Public pressure on the government to step up the fight against the PKK mounted after a bomber blew himself up on May 22 in a busy shopping centre in downtown Ankara, killing six people and wounding 121.

4) Security in northern Iraq aids economic opportunities http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom2/FrontPage%20Stories/Security%20in%20northern%20Iraq%20aids%20economic%20opportunities.aspx May 29 U.S. Army story by Maj. Juanita Chang 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment IRBIL — International businessmen representing more than a dozen companies continued traveling through northern Iraq in search of economic opportunities Friday. In northern Iraq economic promises have boosted confidence in the population, international businessmen and investment potential.The group traveled the stable northern region of Iraq and met with local business leaders, members of chambers of commerce and key government officials as some arranged for return trips to begin projects.“I was very impressed with the enthusiasm, zeal and passion of the Kurdish people and their government,” said Subhas Sircar, regional vice president of Marine Middle East, Mediterranean and South Asia Insurance Company Ltd. A lot of work needs to be done in a short amount of time, but we look forward to supporting them in their endeavors and being partners in their progress, Sircar added. Irbil is the capital of the Kurdish region, Iraq’s fourth largest city and was seen by investors as a secure and economic hotspot with a 400-store mall, world-class hotels, amusement parks and a zoo.“Projects such as this are our response to the destructive activities of terrorists,” said Nechervan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government. “Whatever they do, the terrorists cannot stop our progress.”Along with the economic boom in the area, an international airport with high level security measures lands flights daily with direct routes to popular hubs such as Vienna, Stockholm, Amman, Dubai and Amsterdam. According to the businessmen, a huge potential for investment dwells in Iraq’s northern region.Some apartments in the area were selling at $130,000 per apartment.The business executives also stopped in Dahuk and Salaymaniyah, Iraq, to be greeted by provincial governors and given a tour of their respective cities in hopes of luring investors to the area.The Iraqis in this northern region have come together and worked as a unified group to achieve these common goals. Leaders of business and industry praised the KRG for setting the conditions for future prosperity. Photo: A view from the tenth floor of the new Naz City Apartments in Irbil, located near the new state-of-the-art convention center and Irbil International Airport. A group of international investors traveled the stable northern region of Iraq and continued to meet with local business leaders, members of chambers of commerce and key government officials as some arranged for return trips to begin projects Friday.

5) Iraqi and Coalition Forces clear Muqdadiya Thursday May 31By Multinational Division – North PAO http://www.mnfiraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12100&Itemid=1

TIKRIT — Twenty-four suspected insurgents were detained and one cache was discovered in the Molameen and Baloor neighborhoods near Muqdadiya, Iraq, during a joint Iraqi army and coalition operation Tuesday.Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 5th Iraqi army, led the operation and were supported by Soldiers from 6-9 Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. The goal of the mission was to clear the area of insurgents and to provide a safe and secure environment for the people throughout the Muqdadiya Qadah.“This mission was another example of how the IA is becoming a legitimate, credible force,” said Capt. James Locklear, commander for Troop B, 6-9 ARS. “They continue to improve and take more of a lead with every mission that we do.”During the operation, a cache of improvised explosive-device making material was discovered including multiple propane tanks, timers, command wire, batteries and terrorist propaganda. Iraqi soldiers were responsible for clearing two objectives independent of coalition support.“This operation showed Iraqi security forces as a unified force, giving credibility to both the Iraqi army and police while comforting the good people of Muqdadiya,” said Locklear. “There is no doubt the Iraqi army is effective at planning and conducting missions.”

6) SIX TERRORISTS KILLED, VBIED DESTROYED, 18 SUSPECTS DETAINED http://www.mnf-iraq.com703.270.0320/0299 June 1, 2007 Release A070601 BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition Forces killed six terrorists and detained 18 suspected terrorists in operations targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq Thursday and Friday.North of Fallujah Thursday afternoon, Coalition Forces conducted an operation to capture suspected terrorists allegedly associated with al-Qaeda senior leadership. Coalition Forces attempted to stop their vehicle, but when the suspected terrorists resisted, Coalition Forces used proper escalation of force measures and engaged the vehicle with automatic weapons, killing three men. Inside the vehicle, Coalition Forces found two mortar rounds, a rifle and an approximately 100-pound improvised explosive device. The vehicle and heavy explosives were safely destroyed on site.While Coalition Forces were at the scene, they received small arms fire from a nearby orchard. Taking appropriate self-defense measures, the ground forces engaged the armed terrorists, killing three. Coalition Forces also found grenades and assault vests in the orchard.In a follow-on operation Friday morning, Coalition Forces detained one suspected terrorist in a building north of Fallujah for his alleged ties to al-Qaeda senior leaders. Also Friday, Coalition Forces targeted an al-Qaeda in Iraq commander allegedly involved in IED attacks against Iraqi and Coalition Forces southwest of Baghdad Friday morning. Ten suspected terrorists were detained for their ties to the senior leader.Two coordinated operations in Taji targeted an al-Qaeda senior leader and his network. Coalition Forces detained seven individuals linked to a group allegedly responsible for mortar and rocket attacks against Coalition Forces; IED and vehicle-borne IED attacks across western Baghdad; and the bombing of the Sarafiyah bridge.““We’re continuing to target al-Qaeda in Iraq, and these terrorists are failing to evade us,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. “The kill or capture of terrorists gives the people of Iraq the opportunity to build a peaceful country where deadly terrorists do not exist.”

7) Iraq to Set Up National Oil Firm Al Alam News - [30/05/2007] http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3842 The Iraqi parliament will vote in weeks on founding the state-owned National Iraqi Oil Company, former Iraqi Oil Minister said on Tuesday."The main goal of the new Iraqi oil and gas bill is founding a National Iraqi Oil Company which can regulate the oil and gas sectors which suffer from lack of coordination between several decision maker and administrative units" Ebrahim Bahr Al Uloum said in remarks to alalam TV.He added that several Iraqi political groups see the oil and gas bill as a plan to distribute the income of oil exports, but insisted that the bill has 4 goals including reviving the National Iraqi Oil Company, setting a structure for the Oil Ministry, coordinating the government and oil producing provinces and specifying the position of foreign investors. Bahr Al Uloum described the oil as the main income of Iraqi nation and emphasized that giving the exclusive managment right of the National Iraqi Oil Company as well as controlling foreign investments could ensure a just sharing of wealth from Iraq's oil reserves between the whole Iraqi nation. Regarding to existing protests over the bill, the former minister said that the parliament can reform or even change the bill as needs necessitate.

8) Iraqi and US troops battle Al Qaeda in Amariyah Jun 1 07:52 AM US/Eastern By SINAN SALAHEDDIN Associated Press Writers BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraqi and U.S. troops fanned out in a devastated Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad on Friday, residents said, adding they were holed up in their houses under a curfew that was imposed to restore calm after days of internal fighting between insurgent groups.The developments were the latest in an apparently growing Sunni insurgent power struggle as U.S. and Iraqi officials try to isolate the terror network by turning other militant groups and tribal leaders against it. The tactic has proven successful in the western Anbar province, once considered the heartland of the Sunni insurgency, and Washington and the Iraqi government are trying to replicate it elsewhere.Northeast of Baghdad, an al-Qaida-linked suicide bomber blew himself up Friday in a house sheltering members of the rival 1920 Revolution Brigades, killing two of the other militants and wounding four in the strife-ridden city of Baqouba, police said.Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday that U.S. military officers were talking with Iraqi militants—excluding al-Qaida—about cease-fires and other arrangements to try to stop the violence. He said he thinks 80 percent of Iraqis, including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militants, can reach reconciliation with each other, although most al-Qaida operatives will not.Abu Ahmed, a 40-year-old Sunni father of four in Baghdad’s Amariyah neighborhood, said he was among a group of residents who joined in the clashes with al-Qaida fighters on Wednesday and Thursday—fed up with the gunfire that kept students from final exams and forced people in the neighborhood to huddle indoors.Ahmed denied being a member of any insurgent groups but said he sympathizes with “honest Iraqi resistance,” referring to those opposed to U.S.-led efforts in Iraq but also against the brutal tactics of al- Qaida.“Al-Qaida fighters and leaders have completely destroyed Amariyah. No one can venture out and all the businesses are closed,” he said. “They kill everyone who criticizes them and is against their acts even if they are Sunnis.”“What al-Qaida fighters do is not jihad (holy war), these acts are just criminal ones. Jihad must be against the occupation, Shiite militias and those who cooperate with them,” he added. “Those fighters are here only to kill Iraqis and not the Americans. They are like cancer and must be removed from the Iraqi body.”Other residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution, said the clashes began after al-Qaida abducted and tortured Sunnis from the area, prompting a large number of residents, many members of the rival Islamic Army armed with guns and rocket- propelled grenades, to rise up against the terror network.Official casualty figures were not immediately available. But a local council member, who declined to be identified because of security concerns, said at least 31 people, including six al-Qaida militants, were killed and 45 other fighters were detained in the clashes. Lt. Col. Dale C. Kuehl, commander of 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, who is responsible for the Amariyah area of the capital, confirmed the U.S. military’s role in the fighting in the Sunni district. He said the battles raged Wednesday and Thursday but died off at night.Although al-Qaida is a Sunni organization opposed to the Shiite Muslim-dominated government, its ruthlessness and reliance on foreign fighters have alienated many Sunnis in Iraq.The U.S. military and the Iraqi government congratulated Amariyah residents for standing up to al-Qaida.“Government security forces are now in control of the Amariyah district,” Iraqi military spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi was quoted as saying by Iraqi state TV. He also lauded “the cooperation of local residents with the government.”Saif M. Fakhry, an Associated Press Television News cameraman, was shot twice and killed in the turmoil in Amariyah on Thursday. Fakhry, 26, was the fifth AP employee to die violently in the Iraq war and the third killed since December.He was spending the day with his wife, Samah Abbas, who is expecting their first child in June. According to his family, Fakhry was walking to a mosque near his Amariyah home when he was killed. It was not clear who fired the shots.The explosion in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, came as residents said al-Qaida is trying to regain control of the central Tahrir neighborhood from the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a group composed of officials and soldiers from the ousted regime who have allied themselves with local security forces against the terror network.Mustafa Hadi, a 30-year-old man who lives in the neighborhood, said the insurgent group had set up several checkpoints and commandeered houses that have been vacated by Shiites and others fleeing the violence.“These soldiers use empty houses as resting places,” he said. “At night they ask the residents to light a bulb outside their homes to make it easy for them to watch the area.”

9) Iraqi Residents seek U.S. help to fight off al Qaeda By Sinan Salaheddin ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20070531-103432-3253r

Published June 1 BAGHDAD -- A battle raged yesterday in western Baghdad after residents rose up against al Qaeda and called for U.S. military help to end random gunfire that forced people to huddle indoors and threats that kept students from final exams, a member of the district council said. Elsewhere, a suicide bomber hit a police recruiting center in Fallujah, killing as many as 25 people, police said -- although the U.S. military said only one policeman was killed and eight were wounded. Three policemen and three civilians were killed and 15 civilians were wounded when a suicide truck bomber struck a communications center on the western outskirts of Ramadi, said Anbar provincial security adviser Col. Tariq Youssef Mohammed. The U.S. military also reported the deaths of three more soldiers, two killed Wednesday in a roadside bombing in Baghdad and one who died of wounds from a roadside bomb attack northwest of the capital Tuesday. At least 122 American forces died during May, the third-deadliest month of the Iraq conflict. A top U.S. commander said the military is working more aggressively to forge cease-fires with Iraqi militants and quell the violence around Baghdad, judging that 80 percent of enemy combatants are "reconcilable." Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters by video conference that he is pressing his military officers to reach out to the tribes, some small insurgent groups and religious and political leaders to push them to stop the violence. U.S. forces backed by helicopter gunships clashed with suspected al Qaeda gunmen in western Baghdad's primarily Sunni Muslim Amariyah neighborhood in an engagement that lasted several hours, said the district council member, who asked not to be identified for fear of al Qaeda retribution. But the council member said the al Qaeda leader in the Amariyah district, known as Haji Hameed, was killed and 45 other fighters were detained. Members of al Qaeda, who consider the district part of their so-called Islamic State of Iraq, were preventing students from attending final exams and forcing residents to stay in their homes, the councilman said. U.S. forces also continued a search for five Britons who were kidnapped Tuesday in Baghdad, as well as for two soldiers who have been missing since a May 12 ambush south of the capital.

10) Sadoun Street receives facelift in Baghdad Monday, 28 May 2007 http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12064&Itemid=1

By Maj. Sean Ryan 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY — Sadoun Street in Baghdad was an important commercial district with many “chambers,” or street vendors peddling their goods daily on both sides of the bustling streets. Sadly, the narrow lanes that key lodgings like the Palestine and Baghdad hotels call home became targets of car bombs in recent years. Abu Nuwas once provided the waterfront property with fish markets, cafes and shops that catered to locals and visitors from all facets of life. Only a stone’s throw from the historic Abu Nuwas Market, the two parallel streets became synonymous with good times. In addition to the numerous chambers, Sadoun Street was a boulevard lined with watch shops, kebab restaurants and theaters.To help quell the rash of car bombs, temporary concrete barriers were emplaced for the safety of the Iraqi people by Coalition Forces on Sadoun Street. The high concrete blocks run approximately half a mile and separate traffic on both sides.The residents in the neighborhood accepted the safety facets of the barriers, but decided to make it look a little more like home if the barriers were there to stay.Today, the t-wall barriers that stand over 10 feet tall and five feet wide are unmistakable, as the concrete has been formed to replicate an artist canvas. The beautiful murals depict the daily lives of Iraqis with multiple water scenes like fishing in the waters, herding livestock, an array of animals and ships at sea.surface is concrete at first glance.Commissioned by the Baghdad Municipalities, 140 men were pulled from local areas, and employed to paint the barriers. Mainly in their late teens and early 20’s, the men were hired in hopes of expanding their art knowledge, painting skills as well as giving the economy a boost.One local store owner said the barriers are already bringing more customers into his small restaurant that had been decimated since the violence started.“With the bombs going off and then concrete walls separating the street, no one could walk or cross the street before,” the restaurant owner said. He said he was barely making it, but now people are stopping to look at the walls and getting a bite to eat in the process.Another local business owner of a carpenter shop between Sadoun and Abu Nuwas streets said he hasn’t really worked since the barriers went up. He said in the previous eight years before the barriers, he had always been busy.He said he’s very happy the walls were painted and people stop and look.Also, he said the clean-up on adjacent Abu Nuwas Street should help the entire neighborhood come back to prominence like the old days.Under Operation Fardh Al-Qanoon, also known as the Baghdad Security Plan, the Abu Nuwas Market is going to be re-opened for public use. This should mean more customers for Sadoun Street merchants, as well.The rebuilding of Abu Nuwas Street has already begun as repairs on sidewalks, parking renovations, street cleaning, trash removal and overall beautification has started. In addition, barrier removal plans are being conducted by the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, currently operating as part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.Maj. Anthony Judge, the executive officer for 1-504th PIR, who is spearheading the barrier project said opening the market will help stimulate the economy by providing Iraqis with jobs. Due to this barrier removal, some businesses are able to view the Tigris River for the first time since 2004 and plan on reestablishing their businesses and lives. Judge said the process of returning to normalcy is the goal of the revitalization projects, adding that it is something the Iraqi people dearly need to see and taste again.

11) Bumar wins Iraq training contracts Financial Times - [30/05/2007] http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3843

Poland’s Bumar arms manufacturer is scrambling aboard the latest trend in the industry, branching out from supplying bullets and tanks to getting involved in services – in this case training Iraqi special forces troops in Poland.The company is also confident of winning a contract to send Polish teams to Iraq to train Iraqi soldiers in the use of Bumar’s Dzik armoured vehicles, says Waldemar Skowron, the company’s acting chief executive.Slawomir Kulakowski, head of the Polish Chamber of Armaments Producers, says Bumar is following the example of other prominent military services companies such as Blackwater of the US.This should be an area of growing importance for Bumar. Poland’s former defence minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, was an advocate in Poland of the current trend in the US military of farming out as much work as possible to civilian contractors, leaving soldiers to concentrate on fighting. His replacement, Aleksander Szczyglo, has not publicly questioned his predecessor’s ideas.
The $25m Iraqi service contract is part of a larger series of deals to supply the beleaguered Baghdad government with as much as $400m of equipment, says Mr Skowron.
“Iraq needs weapons quickly. Once the government decides it wants something, it wants it right away,” says Mr Skowron, who was in Iraq with Mr Szczyglo earlier this year.
Bumar has already sold about $400m worth of weapons and equipment to Iraq under a series of contracts signed in 2003.The Polish commercial effort in Iraq will be helped by the appointment of a new ambassador to Baghdad, retired general Edward Pietrzyk. Warsaw has been disappointed with Iraqi contracts, a sore point because Poland was one of only four countries to take part in the initial invasion in 2003, and continues to maintain a military presence there despite widespread opposition in Poland. “We feel we have more right to do business in Iraq than countries not in the coalition, but we realise we still have to win these contracts,” says Mr Skowron.The possible Iraq contracts are just part of Bumar’s successes in the developing world, where its sturdy but relatively cheap weapons sell well.

12) Iraqi Kurdish region to take charge of own security SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq, 28 May 2007 (AFP) http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/17792

At a ceremony Wednesday in the regional capital Arbil the commanders of the peshmerga - former anti-Baghdad guerrillas and now staunch US allies - will be handed responsibility for three northern provinces. "This week, the responsibility for security in the Kurdistan region will be officially transferred from multinational forces to the peshmerga affiliated with the regional government," said Jabar Yawar, a Kurdish military spokesman. Iraqi Kurdistan's autonomous government will take charge of security in its mountainous northern region this week in a transfer of command from the US-led coalition, officials said. The peshmerga are former Kurdish rebels who have been incorporated into the Iraqi and Kurdish armed forces in the four years since a US-led invasion toppled Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein. Yawar said the decision was made during a meeting held in Baghdad between Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, and senior US military leaders. The US military confirmed the handover in an invitation to the event sent out to local media. "The Kurdish Regional Government will hold a transfer of security ceremony, to highlight the return of the entire region from the coalition force to the government of Iraq," the invitation says. While turning regional security responsibility over to mainly Kurdish forces, the agreement requires them to coordinate with Iraqi state and US-led forces, according to Kurdish officials. The US statement said "the Kurdistan Regional Government was deemed ready to assume security responsibility in the region." The decision comes at a time of growing tension between Iraq's Kurds, who are pursuing greater autonomy, and the country's neighbors, principally Turkey, who oppose anything resembling Kurdish independence.

13) U.S. frees 42 Iraqi captives in raid http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-iraq28may28,1,4114173.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage&ctrack=1&cset=true U.S. forces raid an Al Qaeda in Iraq site north of Baghdad, acting on a tip from locals. By Alexandra Zavis Times Staff Writer May 28, 2007 BAGHDAD — U.S. forces freed at least 41 kidnapped Iraqis during a raid Sunday on an Al Qaeda hide-out northeast of Baghdad, the military said. Some of the victims had broken bones and appeared to have been tortured.The raid came on a day when at least 64 Iraqis were killed or found slain in violence across the country, and the U.S. command announced the deaths of two more American soldiers.Acting on a tip from local residents, U.S. forces in violence-racked Diyala raided a compound in palm groves south of the province's capital, Baqubah. There were conflicting accounts of the number of Iraqis freed, with some officers putting the figure at 41 and others at 42. Individuals believed to have been guarding the site were seen fleeing, but none were detained, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, a spokesman for U.S. forces in northern Iraq.Some of the captives appeared to be suffering from heat exhaustion. Others gave harrowing accounts of being hung from the ceiling and tortured, said Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, another military spokesman. Evidence of abuse, including broken limbs, appeared to back up their account.Some of the captives said they had been held for as long as four months, Garver said. Most were middle-aged men, but one said he was 14.The hostages slept in crowded rooms with dirty blankets and pillows; rotting food was scattered around the mud-and-cement compound, the U.S. military said.The victims were taken to a safe location and getting medical treatment, the military said.The insurgent hide-out was near Buhriz, a Sunni Arab village about five miles south of Baqubah, U.S. and Iraqi officers said. Diyala, a religiously mixed province neighboring Baghdad, has long served as a redoubt of Sunni Arab insurgents fighting the U.S. military and the Iraqi government. U.S. officers believe insurgents fleeing a crackdown that began in February in the Iraqi capital also have sought sanctuary there, leading to an escalation of violence. An additional 3,000 forces have been deployed there to help rout them.U.S. officers said the tips that led to the operation were evidence that residents were turning against the insurgents in their midst."This is a sign that the people are fed up with [Al Qaeda in Iraq] doing bad things to good people," Donnelly said. "They are communicating a very strong message: We are fed up with this, and we are not going to sit back and do nothing and die."Military officials said the operation, launched on tips from residents, showed that Iraqis in the turbulent Diyala province were turning against Sunni insurgents and beginning to trust U.S. troops."The people in Diyala are speaking up against al-Qaida," said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.

14) Seven hostages rescued in Baqubah Sunday, 27 May 2007 http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12050&Itemid=1

BAQUBAH — Coalition forces rescued seven kidnapped victims during a three-day operation in Chibernat, a village north of Baqubah, Wednesday. Coalition forces also discovered more than 10 caches, nine improvised explosive devices and detained 11 suspected insurgents throughout the course of the operation.The caches consisted of rocket-propelled grenade munitions, small-arms weapon systems, approximately 200 loaded AK-47 magazines, IED-making materials, grenades, mortar rounds and a suicide vest.Iraqi Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division and U,S Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, attached to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, conducted the target-driven operation to eliminate the insurgents’ perceived safe havens throughout the area and secure the population of Chibernat.“We continue to aggressively target the enemy, destroying the insurgents’ perceived power base and depleting their supplies,” said Col. David W. Sutherland, 3-1 Cav. commander and senior U.S. Army officer in Diyala.“They offer nothing but death and destruction, and will be brought to justice,” he added. While clearing the neighborhood, Soldiers from Company B, 5-20 Inf. Regt., rescued seven local residents, to include an Iraqi Police captain, who was held hostage.Approximately 100 meters from the site, the security forces discovered nine civilians who were killed prior to their arrival.The freed hostages were taken to the Provincial Joint Coordination Center to provide a detailed account of their experience.According to the victims, who were taken from Muqdadiya, Balad Ruz andBaquba, insurgents associated with the Islamic State of Iraq were responsible for their kidnapping and the killing of the other nine citizens in the house.During the interview, the freed hostages said if the Soldiers would have arrived an hour later, they would have been killed by the terrorists.The detainees were transferred to a facility for further questioning.“The discovery of caches and IEDs during this operation proves that the terrorists do not have safe havens within Diyala,” Sutherland added. “We will continue to be persistent, and provide a safe and secure environment to the innocent people throughout this province.”(Courtesy story by Multi-National Division – North)

15) Ex-SEAL vies to fortify U.S. combat trucks

By W. Thomas Smith Jr. SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published May 29, 2007 http://washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20070529-121008-5939r WINSTON SALEM, N.C. -- Former Navy SEAL Chris Berman is building two versions of an armored combat vehicle competing for a piece of the MRAP pie. MRAP is a U.S. Defense Department acronym for the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle design that soldiers want and contractors are bidding on to build in great numbers. Mr. Berman, who operates Granite Tactical and Granite Global Vehicles, is one such contractor. But he'll argue, it's not about money. It's about saving lives on Iraq's deadly highways. On the morning of March 31, 2004, Mr. Berman -- then a SEAL Reservist and Blackwater security officer -- was driving in the south of Iraq near Umm Qasr when he received a satellite phone call that literally changed his life. His friend, former SEAL Scott Helvenston, and three other Blackwater contractors -- Wesley Batalona, Jerko "Jerry" Zovko and Michael R. Teague -- were northwest of Mr. Berman's position escorting a convoy through the city of Fallujah. Driving in two unarmored thin-skinned Mitsubishi Pajeros (the same type of vehicle Mr. Berman was in), they were ambushed by insurgents. The shocking attack led to a subsequent U.S. Marine-led assault on Fallujah. Mr. Berman had originally been scheduled to be with the ill-fated team in Fallujah but was reslated at the last minute to another detail escorting civilians to Camp Bucca. "I knew I had to try and save lives," he says. Today, Mr. Berman operates Granite Tactical in North Carolina and Granite Global in Kuwait, two companies building three types of fully armored combat vehicles: One, "the Rock" (his original vehicle produced in Kuwait, which sells for $175,000 and is currently in Iraq service with private contractors and the Defense Department), and the other two -- "The Rock Security Vehicle" and "The Rock Mine Ballistic" (both produced in North Carolina, at $300,000 and $450,000, respectively). Granite vehicles include heavy armor and a V-shaped hull for mine and blast protection; rocket-propelled grenade and nuclear, biological and chemical protection; ballistic glass; heavy twin machine-gun top-mounts for 360 degrees of fighting capability; interior space for eight to 10 armed soldiers with all of their equipment, and plenty of speed -- capable of cruising at between 65 and 75 mph with bursts up to 85. "The two we're building in North Carolina ... exceed the specifications of many of the armored vehicles currently in Iraq," says Mr. Berman. "They are because we took a matrix of all the competition and designed something equal to or greater than. There really is an advantage to being the last boy in the game. We looked at the others' race scores, and knew what we had to come up with to win." But the race isn't over, and Granite's vehicles aren't the only armored combat vehicles and "gun trucks" currently running up and down the streets of Iraq. But Mr. Berman contends his vehicles have more blast protection than any vehicles in their class currently operational in Iraq. "We also have greater lethality because we have the ability to support more guns, and we have more speed and greater performance," he says. Other contenders competing to win lucrative Pentagon contracts to build MRAP vehicles -- perhaps hoping to replace up-armored Humvees for the military -- include Force Protection, which manufactures the Cougar and the Buffalo; General Dynamics with its RG-31; and Labock Technologies with its Rhino Runner. Textron Marine and Land Systems' Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) was recently excluded from the MRAP bid program after military testers said it failed to meet certain requirements. Textron, however, plans to continue developing the ASV in hopes of getting back in the process."MRAP is a response to one dimension of a very complex threat -- mine blast -- that's being presented by a very intelligent and agile foe," says Clay Moise, Textron MLS' vice president of business development and strategic planning. "Protection is only one of the critical dimensions in the formula -- protection, mobility, transportability and lethality -- that ultimately makes up a relevant vehicle for our soldiers."

15) Improvements in Anbar Province

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june07/alanbar_06-01.html

Iraq's western Anbar Province is undergoing shifts in military and political power as Sunni Arab militants continue to battle with al-Qaida insurgents. A journalist and a former military official discuss the region's struggles.

David Wood


	David Wood The Baltimore Sun

	About six months ago, the tribal sheikhs... got together and they decided, "OK, we don't like the Americans, but what we really don't like are these foreign insurgents who are fighting here under the rubric of al-Qaida in Iraq."

A better situation in Anbar

RAY SUAREZ: For an on-the-ground assessment of the situation in Iraq's largest province, we're joined by two men who visited there last month. David Wood is the national security correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, and former Marine Captain Bing West, he's now a correspondent for the Atlantic magazine and has written two books about the war. David Wood, let's start with you. Contrast the conditions day-to-day in Anbar now with what you saw in your last reporting trip late last year.

DAVID WOOD, National Security Correspondent, Baltimore Sun: Ray, the difference was, this time I could walk around, albeit with body armor and a helmet. But when I was there in December, I was always in a very heavily armored vehicle, which drove quite fast and didn't stop.

This time, I walked around. I spent an entire day with one of the tribal sheikhs, had lunch at his mother's house, felt totally at home.

RAY SUAREZ: Bing West, did you see the same change?

BING WEST, Correspondent, The Atlantic Magazine: Yes, picking up on what David said, the big difference now is that you have much more a political outreach on the part of the tribes than I've seen in the last four years. In fact, last night, when you were interviewing Ambassador Neumann about Afghanistan, I thought he could have used the words "Anbar," because the politics are now coming to the fore in a way that no one expected a year ago.

RAY SUAREZ: So, David Wood, when he says politics, what's going on, on the ground in Anbar, that explains this change that the two of you have seen?

DAVID WOOD: Ray, what happened -- about six months ago, the tribal sheikhs, the traditional political leaders of Anbar province, got together and they decided, "OK, we don't like the Americans, but what we really don't like are these foreign insurgents who are fighting here under the rubric of al-Qaida in Iraq. And so basically they said to the Marines in Iraq, "Look, we don't like you guys, but we hate them even worse. So we're going to join you to fight against them, and then we'll come after you guys." And the Marines were like, "We're fine with that, because as soon as we get rid of the insurgents, we're out of here."

16) Baghdad clashes point to rift in Sunni Arab insurgency

Nationalists battling Al Qaeda in a district of the capital are fed up with indiscriminate bloodletting and extremism. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-iraq2jun02,1,5852585.story?coll=la-news-a_section

By Ned Parker, Said Rifai and Saif Hameed, Times Staff Writers June 2, 2007

BAGHDAD — Fighters allied with Al Qaeda battled Iraqi civilians and a nationalist insurgent group in the Amariya neighborhood of west Baghdad this week, in the latest indication of growing internal strife in Iraq's troubled Sunni Arab community.The clashes in the suburb, home during Saddam Hussein's rule to elite civil servants and military officers, appear to be a spillover from the fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq in the neighboring province of Al Anbar and Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib.In recent months, Sunni Arab tribal leaders have turned against the militant group, expressing disgust over the large number of civilian deaths at the hands of extremists.The bloodshed began Wednesday, reportedly over an Al Qaeda-imposed ban on traffic that prevented children from taking their exams. Police said U.S. and Iraqi forces intervened, with ground forces and helicopter gunships.Fearing new clashes, resident Abu Mohammed, 36, said he had stayed home Friday, slipping out once on the side streets to the bakery. His covert journey took three hours and broke a curfew. "Today, the fighting ceased, we didn't hear a single gunshot. The U.S. forces are deployed in all Amariya."The neighborhood has become a stronghold for Al Qaeda in Iraq since late 2004, when militants fleeing a U.S. offensive in Fallouja turned the district into their enclave.Under their reign, life had become unbearable, Abu Mohammed said. Barbers closed their shops, afraid they would be killed for giving "American-style" haircuts. People were terrified of ending up one of the bodies that lay on the street for days, the dogs eating them.The tensions have risen since October, when Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters joined forces in an umbrella group called the Islamic State of Iraq in a bid to command the whole Sunni insurgency.Abu Ibrahim, a 40-year-old commander with the nationalist insurgent group known as the Islamic Army, said Al Qaeda fighters had started to assassinate former Iraqi military officers. Abu Ibrahim accused the Sunni extremists of being bankrolled by Iran and killing former officers for them as well."We deduced that they are doing so on the behest of the Iranians in order to continue receiving funding and weapons while pursuing their own agenda," he said."I could confidently say that we have the upper hand because the majority of people here want Al Qaeda out," Abu Ibrahim said. "There has always been tension between our organization and Al Qaeda. We never agreed with their methods of operation, killing civilians and carrying out operations regardless of large collateral damage."Abu Ibrahim said the fighting started Wednesday when Al Qaeda killed an Islamic Army envoy sent to ask the group to leave the area.At least two bystanders were killed in the running battles on Amariya's Honey Street, which connects the neighborhood's two main roads, Abu Ibrahim said. A cameraman for the U.S.-funded Arabic satellite news channel Al Hurra was killed Thursday during the fighting.A representative of the Anbar Salvation Council, the organization of tribal leaders against Al Qaeda in western Iraq, said it had activists in Amariya who encouraged people to stand up against the radical Islamists.Al Qaeda and rival insurgent groups appear nervous about the emerging schism, fearful the Americans and Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority will exploit it.A Sunni militant group called the 1920 Revolution Brigade issued a statement Friday on the Internet condemning the Amariya clashes after some residents said the armed faction had joined the fight against Al Qaeda. The commander of the 1920 Revolution Brigade was assassinated by Al Qaeda militants in March."We have received information and are very pained due to the internal fighting between our brethren in Amariya. This is not supposed to be happening during these stressful times. Our rifles should be aimed at the occupation and sectarian militias," the statement said.The group said it had suffered from "internal strife" in the past but had learned from its mistakes.
Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno told reporters Thursday that U.S. military commanders hoped to cut deals locally with insurgent groups as they try to stabilize Iraq.Counter-terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University speculated that the death of Al Qaeda in Iraq founder Abu Musab Zarqawi a year ago had paved the way for the revolt against the group's domination of the Sunni insurgency.

1) Special forces deploy in Afghanistan http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Special-forces-deploy-in-Afghanistan/2007/05/30/1180205309153.html#

May 30, 2007 - 1:14PAustralia's special forces task group is now fully deployed inside Afghanistan and intent on making life uncomfortable for Taliban insurgents, defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston says.But Air Chief Marshal Houston declined to give a Senate estimates committee hearing many details of their planned activities.He said the insurgents had proved adept at use of the internet."We have announced the deployment of the special operations task group but I won't be saying too much about the way they conduct their operations because as we have seen, the Taliban have a great capacity for gaining information," he said."If we say something over here in Australia, they exploit the electronic media, particularly the internet to find out what we are saying."For reasons of operational security I don't want to say any more than our special operations people will be doing operations that will make the Taliban extremely uncomfortable."Australia currently has some 500 troops engaged in reconstruction work in Oruzgan province of south-central Afghanistan.With the special forces deployment, plus the deployment of a RAAF air traffic control unit and two extra army Chinook helicopters next year, Australian force numbers in Afghanistan will exceed 1,000 by early 2008.Air Chief Marshal Houston said the special forces troops now in Afghanistan had been involved in multiple missions since September 11, 2001.Most recently members of the Special Air Service Regiment and Commando Battalion operated in Afghanistan for a year to last September.Under current plans, the special force task group will stay in Afghanistan for two years with personnel rotating every four months or so.Air Chief Marshal Houston said Australian troops had been performing vital community reconstruction work around the Oruzgan province capital Tarin Khowt."It really wins the hearts and minds of the people we support," he said.As well, Australian soldiers have conducted five construction tradesmen courses training 42 people, five general maintenance courses graduating another 42 and trained 100 Afghan National Army engineers.