Iraq War News

The US war in Iraq is a "lost battle" says the Managing Director of the Saudi National Security Assessment project. The violence-ravaged nation's "dire" plight seems certain to see it shatter along ethnic lines, said Nawaf Obaid. The damning analysis, unveiled in a presentation at a two-day conference on US-Arab relations here, sees violence in Iraq getting worse and alleges large-scale Iranian "interference" there is set to grow.

"It is already a lost battle," said the adviser to the Saudi government at the annual policymakers conference of the National Council on US-Arab Relations.

The question in Iraq is not "if the US succeeds -- it has failed by every single measure that you can think of," said Obaid, private security and energy adviser to the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Turki al-Faisal.

"The failure is only compounded by the fact that we just don't know what the endgame is," said Obaid, head of the Riyadh-based independent consultancy which advises the Saudi government. AFP, WASHINGTON Nov 02, 2006 more

Missing: 505,093 weapons given to the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense but only 12,128 serial numbers were properly recorded. The weapons include rocket-propelled grenade launchers, assault rifles, machine guns, shotguns, semiautomatic pistols and sniper rifles. They didn't provide spare parts, maintenance personnel or even repair manuals for most of the weapons.

The report

was provided by a federal oversight agency, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction at the request of Senator John W. Warner.

Just 29 percent of Americans approve of the way President George W. Bush is handling the war in Iraq, a New York Times/CBS News polls says. Americans cited Iraq as the most important issue in deciding for whom they would vote Nov. 7. Only 20 percent said they thought the United States was winning in Iraq. ...

Among registered voters, 33 percent said they planned to support Republicans and 52 percent said they would vote for Democrats.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted Friday through Tuesday with 1,084 adults, including 932 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus three percent. UPI 11/01/06 Washington Times.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki disagreed

Wednesday with American notion of a timetable for stabilizing Iraq. His comments contrasted with the message given Tuesday by the top two United States officials in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who said the timetable for political measures had been accepted by the Iraqi government.

“I want to stress that this is a government of the people’s will, and no one has the right to set a timetable for it,” Mr. Maliki said at a news conference broadcast on Iraqi television.

INTERVIEW: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki by USA TODAY's Rick Jervis
The problem we are facing is the way the army, police and security forces were formed by the multinational forces, during (former Coalition Provisional Authority chief Paul) Bremer's time. These forces were built randomly, and that led them to be weak and infiltrated by militias. So now we have two responsibilities: Fixing the structures wrongly formed by MNF-I (Multi-National Forces-Iraq) and, at the same time, dealing with militias and terrorists. The main step

is to fix the problems we have within the Interior and Defense ministries and within the intelligence agencies. 10/15/06

Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, attributes increased U.S. deaths to the clearing of Iraqi neighborhoods

. “We are out more aggressively engaged in the city at this point than we were just a month ago,” he said at a news conference last Thursday. “Coalition forces are being much more active in going out and looking for these folks, these death squads and elements that are associated with the sectarian violence.”

Since the neighborhood sweeps started at the beginning of August, guerrilla attacks — against military and civilian targets alike — have risen about 23 percent across the capital, according to American military statistics.

Australian and British military leaders: Iraq increases terrorism.
AFP , SYDNEY, Oct 16, 2006

Australia's defense force chief at the time of the invasion of Iraq said in remarks published yesterday that he now believes the war has increased the threat of Islamic militancy.

The comments by retired general Peter Cosgrove come just days after Britain's army chief caused a furore by saying British troops in Iraq are exacerbating security problems around the world.

Coup Rumors in Baghdad
Top officials of the Iraqi intelligence service have discussed a plan in which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would step aside in favor of a five-man ruling commission that would suspend parliament, declare martial law and call back some officers of the old Iraqi army.

"Baker Looks to Change Course on Iraq"
Baker, a Republican strategist and fix-it man for the Bush family, is also the dominant co-chair of the Iraq-Study-Group which will tell Bush—after the election—to change course and divide Iraq into three parts.

To prove that the invasion of Iraq did not increase global terrorisam, President Bush authorized the release of an intelligence report

saying "Anti-US and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise ... (and) could prompt leftist, nationalist, or separatist groups to adopt terrorist methods to attack US interests."

The report, prepared by 16 US intelligence agencies, sees corruption, injustice and fear of the West and Iraqi war as the main factors in the spread of terrorism.

UN reports describe increasing civilian abuse in Iraq. Women and children are especially endangered. "Honor killing" of women by relatives, are increasing.

The report

, prepared by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, said a breakdown of law and order threatens the fabric of life. Militias, death squads, organized crime and people who are "taking the law into their own hands" are filling the vacuum left by a central government incapable of providing stability.

http://zfacts.com/p/510.html | 01/18/12 07:17 GMT
Modified: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 16:44:36 GMT