1 600 gefallene US-Soldaten im Iraq
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Another statement issued later said that the U.S. occupation authority allocated extra $500,000 to furnish 10 of the city's schools with modern supplies.
But Diwaniya residents dismissed the U.S. and Iraqi government reports of great improvements in the standard of municipal services, complaining that official figures of expenditures and rehabilitation of infrastructure were exaggerated.
"There isn't a grain of truth in all this talk of reconstruction, and it is in contradiction to the situation on the ground," said Ammar Jaber. “The rosy picture being painted of public works projects being carried out in the city is easy to disprove,” he added."Statements are one thing, but reality is something else. Conditions are worsening, not improving". The U.S. and the Iraqi puppet governments were allocating the money, "But that's as far as it goes," Hayder Abedali said adding that most of the allocations are filched due to widespread corruption.
Other town’s residents have an even grimmer perspective of the situation- They accuse the Occupation Authority and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government of lying.
"These statements are false and contrary to the facts on the ground," said Qassem Mansour from the town of Al Hamza. "There is only large-scale deterioration of the already collapsing infrastructure. All those in charge of the situation in the country are to blame," said Mansour.Also Shamkhi al-Hussein, another city resident, said that the official statements on reconstruction were making him "sick.""There is no transparency and no accountability. For this reason the province is descending into chaos as far as the provision of utilities is concerned," he said.
Vice President Dick Cheney's old employer, Halliburton Co., is one of the early winners of contracts for reconstruction work at the war-raged country.
The Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton, the energy giant formerly run and still largely influenced by Cheney, had been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to put out oil fires and make emergency repairs to the devastated country’s oil infrastructure. And the American President asked Congress for $489.3 million for repairing damage to Iraq's oil facilities, much or all of which could go to Halliburton or its subcontractors.
The scandal-plagued Halliburton had previously announced it owes the U.S. government over $27.4 million after it was revealed that it had overcharged for the meals it supplies to the U.S. military in Iraq. Another scandal was the discovery of bribery on the part of Halliburton agents who overcharged the military $6.3 million for fuel delivered to bases in Iraq and Kuwait.
Halliburton’s series of scandals only form the tip of the capitalist iceberg – just business as usual for U.S. imperialism- Those scandals are in no way unique to Halliburton, or even the U.S. government. Also it’s not the first time a U.S. firm cashed in on U.S. foreign policy. Bush’s admin has long been known for running several banks and organizations, all tax-funded, to assist the U.S. foreign investment.
http://www.aljazeera.com/
Und übrigens Bloomberg gestern:
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Justice Department filed the first criminal charges against a contractor receiving Iraq reconstruction contracts, according to court documents.
Philip H. Bloom, 65, funneled at least $693,000 in bribes and kickbacks through bank accounts in Iraq, Switzerland, Romania and the Netherlands in the year through January 2005, according to the documents filed yesterday. The money then went to at least two unnamed U.S. government officials and their spouses in exchange for reconstruction work valued at over $3.5 million, the documents show.
Philip H. Bloom, 65, funneled at least $693,000 in bribes and kickbacks through bank accounts in Iraq, Switzerland, Romania and the Netherlands in the year through January 2005, according to the documents filed yesterday. The money then went to at least two unnamed U.S. government officials and their spouses in exchange for reconstruction work valued at over $3.5 million, the documents show.
§Bloom appeared in U.S. District Court in Washington where the papers were filed, marking the first charges brought as a result of audits and follow-up probes by Special Inspector General Stuart Bowen. The office was established by Congress in late 2003 to oversee the spending of almost $30 billion in appropriated U.S. tax dollars and funds controlled by the Iraqi government. The contracts to Bloom's firms were Iraqi dollars.
``This is the first case and there will be more,'' said Bowen's spokesman James Mitchell. The case was the result of a joint task force of agents with the Inspector General, Treasury Department and Department of Homeland Security, he said.
``Bloom conspired with U.S. government contract employees and military officials to obtain fraudulently government contracts which were awarded for the reconstruction and stabilization of Iraq,'' wrote Inspector General Special Agent Patrick McKenna in an affidavit filed with the federal court.
Bloom's firms did business as Global Business Group, GBG Holdings and GBG-Logistics Division, the affidavit said.
`Rigged Bidding'
``The investigation has revealed that contracts were awarded to businesses controlled by Bloom through a rigged bidding process, that work was ordered by certain of Bloom's co- conspirators and that such contracts were authorized for payment in some cases without any performance of the contracts by Bloom's companies,'' McKenna wrote.
One of the ``co-conspirators'' is identified as a public official performing as comptroller and funding office for the now defunct Coalition Provisional Authority's South Central Iraq region.
This official ``rigged'' the contract awards through the creation of fake, excessively high bids that justified the awards to ``low bids'' to Bloom's companies, McKenna wrote.
The affidavit listed nine tainted contracts, including four worth $1.3 million to renovate, landscape and equip a library in Karbala.
``Bloom directly paid or arranged for the payment of bribes, kickbacks and gratuities amounting to at least $200,000 a month,'' McKenna wrote.
The kickbacks were filtered through the Credit Bank of Iraq via the National Bank of Kuwait, Bank Hoffman AG in Zurich, and Garantibank International N.V. in Amsterdam.
The payments started in January 2004 and extended through Jan. 27 of this year, the papers said. The last payment was $6,400 sent to a jeweler by Bloom on behalf of one contracting official, according to the documents.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- As debate raged in Washington about the U.S. military in Iraq, suicide bombings killed dozens of people Friday in Baghdad and near the Iranian border in Khanaqin.
The Khanaqin carnage occurred when two suicide bombers detonated near or inside two Shiite Muslim mosques, Iraqi police said.
The U.S. military said 55 people were killed and 80 wounded, while Iraqi police reported 65 dead and 85 wounded. There was also a search on for a possible third suicide bomber.
Also Friday, two suicide car bombings in Baghdad killed at least six people near a hotel, police said. (Watch security camera video of suicide car bomb -- :30)
Khanaqin is a Shiite-Kurdish town about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Baquba.
The attacks took place around midday when the mosques likely were full of worshippers for afternoon prayers.
The American military said it is sending troops to investigate.
In Washington, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a leading Democratic hawk on defense issues, sparked a firestorm of debate Thursday when he called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
The announcement marked a significant political turning point for Murtha, a Vietnam War veteran who in 2002 voted to authorize the deployment of U.S. forces to Iraq.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan compared Murtha with anti-war filmmaker Michael Moore and echoed earlier statements by House GOP leaders in accusing him of "surrender." (Full story)
Bombing on tape
In the Iraqi capital Friday, at least six people were killed and 40 wounded when two suicide car bombs detonated near a central Baghdad hotel and the Interior Ministry compound, emergency police said.
The attack blew out windows and caused structural damage at the Hamra Hotel -- popular with Western news organizations and contractors.
Apartment buildings on either side of the hotel were damaged extensively, and one has since collapsed, said U.S. Col. Edward Cardon, commander of the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.
Iraqi firefighters, police and troops were conducting a rescue operation to find five people believed trapped, he said. A U.S. tank was being used to move debris during the search.
The two suicide bomb attacks appeared to be coordinated.
The U.S. military said security camera footage showed a 16-passenger white van approaching a security wall on the back side of the hotel complex and detonating at 8:12 a.m.
Twenty seconds later, a second vehicle detonated at roughly the same spot, the military said.
The method is similar to that seen in the October 24 bombings at the Palestine Hotel outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Cardon said. But "the security wall did what it was supposed to do, which was protect the hotel," he said.
The attack "was the result of somebody trying to cause a huge loss of life," Cardon said.
Multiple car bombings are rare, he said, and one of the hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq; however, Cardon said, it was too soon to speculate on who might be responsible. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Other developments
Three civilians were injured Friday when a car bomb targeting a U.S.-led coalition forces convoy detonated in Kan'an, east of Baquba, an official at the Baquba Joint Communications Center said.
U.S.-led fighting to drive insurgents from the western Iraqi town of Ubaydi has been the toughest so far of the military offensive called Operation Steel Curtain, an American commander said Thursday. More than 200 suspected insurgents have been killed since the offensive's November 5 launch, including 89 in Ubaydi, said Col. Stephen Davis.
A doctor and head of a Baghdad hospital was shot dead Thursday inside his clinic in the Abu Ghraib district of western Baghdad, said an Iraqi police official with Baghdad emergency police. Four gunmen stormed Dr. Kadhim Abbood Alwash's clinic and shot him to death, said Qassim Allawi, a Health Ministry official. Alwash was head of Karama General Hospital in Baghdad.
Two U.S. soldiers died Thursday in separate vehicle accidents in Iraq, the U.S. military said. One died in an accident south of an oil refinery about 125 miles (202 kilometers) north of Baghdad and a second soldier died in an accident during a combat logistics patrol north of Tal Afar, the military said. According to U.S. military reports, 2,082 American troops have died in the Iraq war.
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Eine Untersuchung durch die irakischen Behörden sei möglicherweise nicht ausreichend, sagte Arbour. Die internationale Beteiligung könne zu mehr Objektivität beitragen.
Die irakische Regierung hatte eine Untersuchung der jüngst aufgedeckten Folterfälle angekündigt. US-Truppen hatten am vergangenen Wochenende 173 offensichtlich misshandelte inhaftierte Männer und Jugendliche in einem Bunker des Innenministeriums in Bagdad entdeckt. Nach dem Skandal in dem US-geführten Gefängnis Abu Ghraib sieht sich nun auch die verbündete irakische Regierung mit Foltervorwürfen konfrontiert.
Auch sunnitische Politiker hatten eine internationale Untersuchung gefordert, weil Behauptungen laut geworden waren, schiitische Milizen mit Verbindungen zum irakischen Innenministerium seien verantwortlich für die Misshandlungen
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Prisoner abuse reports are dominating the news in Iraq, but poverty is also producing shocking images - of families living on rotting garbage dumps.
"We are lost people. Nobody cares about us," said Moussa Jabr, as flies swarmed around his young children's faces near rotting food, slimy plastic bags and empty tin cans piled high.
A violent uprising and security crackdowns have generated headlines but overshadowed many of the social and economic problems plaguing Iraq since US-led troops toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 with the promise of democracy and prosperity.
Unemployment runs high and bloodshed is keeping investors away from the battered economy, forcing some Iraqis to eke out an existence by sifting through garbage for scraps of food.
Families like the Jabrs fear there is no way out.
"We want Iraq or the rest of the world to notice us," said Jabr, who lives near a festering dump on the edge of Baghdad.
Bad to worse
When Saddam's agents destroyed their homes in the Shia-populated marshlands of southern Iraq, the Jabrs and others moved to Baghdad looking for work. Money was scarce and life only got worse after the Iraqi leader was ousted.
Everyday they comb Baghdad neighbourhoods for trash, hoping to find valuables to sell or leftover food. They fill plastic bags with trash and bring them to their dump. Birds and cows also pick through the waste as US helicopters fly overhead.
Iraq's harsh living conditions
seldom make news headlines
With no electricity, such families seek refuge from winter cold and blistering summer heat in small huts made of cooking oil cans, bits of drift wood and mud.
Water is gathered from dirty, leaking pipes nearby and carried in plastic jugs on donkeys.
The harsh conditions rarely make headlines in the Iraqi or foreign media, whose attention is now focused on a group of prisoners found locked in an Interior Ministry bunker.
Baghdad, where more than three million Iraqis live, is not the only place where the desperately poor struggle to survive.
In the southern city of Najaf, about 100 families occupy more than 50 tent-like shelters built of tin and plastic bags on top of a sprawling garbage dump.
Dollar a day
"I work with my parents collecting garbage," said eight- year-old Saad Hassan. "I sit every day and I collect string, tin cans and other useful things.
"After finishing my work I make a ball from string and play with the other kids living here. I wish I could study in a school in Najaf," he said.
Violence is keeping investors out
while unemployment runs high
Mukhalad Khidir earns just over a dollar a day collecting iron and metal cans to sell to factories, the same work he did during vacations when he was a soldier in Saddam's army.
"These days, after the fall of the regime, nobody comes from the government to see the tragedy we are living in," he said.
The US-backed Iraqi government has repeatedly promised to stamp out the raging uprising and revive the economy. But few Iraqis, including the Jabr family, expect that to happen any time soon.
"We heard promises. But we live here and around us we hear bombs. All we have got is American tanks," said Moussa Jabr.
Here is a list of some of the deadliest bomb attacks in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein:
Aug 19, 2003 - A truck bomb wrecks United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Aug 29, 2003 - A car bomb kills at least 83 people, including top Shi'ite Muslim leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.
Feb 1, 2004 - 117 people are killed when two suicide bombers blow themselves up in Arbil at the offices of the two main Kurdish factions in northern Iraq.
Feb 10, 2004 - Suicide car bomb rips through a police station in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad, killing 53.
Feb 11, 2004 - Suicide car bomb explodes at an Iraqi army recruitment center in Baghdad, killing 47.
March 2, 2004 - 171 people are killed in twin attacks in Baghdad and Kerbala.
Feb 28, 2005 - A suicide car bomb attack in Hilla, south of Baghdad, kills 125 people and wounds 130. It was postwar Iraq's worst single blast.
July 16, 2005 - A suicide bomber in a fuel truck near a Shi'ite mosque in the town of Mussayib, near Kerbala, kills at least 98 people.
Sept 14, 2005 - A suicide bomber kills 114 people and wounds 156 in a crowded Shi'ite district of Baghdad, while gunmen kill 17 north of the city.
Sept 29, 2005 - 98 people are killed in three coordinated car bomb attacks in the mixed Shi'ite and Sunni Arab town of Balad.
Nov 10, 2005 - A suicide bomber blows himself up in a crowded Baghdad restaurant frequented by the security forces, killing 35 and wounding at least 25. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility.
Nov 18, 2005 - At least 74 people are killed and 150 wounded when suicide bombers blew themselves up inside two Shi'ite mosques in Khanaqin. A local council member said that the death toll could rise further.
Wahnsinn kann man da nur sagen...
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Bei einem Autobombenanschlag im Süden von Bagdad sind heute Früh mindestens 13 Menschen getötet worden. Etwa 15 weitere Menschen wurden bei der Explosion auf einem belebten Markt verletzt, wie ein Vertreter des Innenministerims mitteilte. Weitere Details waren vorerst nicht bekannt.
Erst gestern waren bei Selbstmordanschlägen auf schiitische Moscheen im Nordosten des Landes 77 Menschen getötet worden. Zudem hatten Selbstmordattentäter bei einem Anschlag auf ein Hotel in Bagdad mindestens sechs Menschen mit in den Tod gerissen.
Die Anschläge drohen vor der für Dezember geplanten Parlamentswahl die Spannungen zwischen den Religions- und Bevölkerungsgruppen im Land weiter zu verschärfen.
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Die in der Kongress-Kammer dominierenden Republikaner hatten die Beschlussvorlage am Freitag selbst eingebracht, um die Gegner des Irak-Kriegs zu diskreditieren. Das Votum sei veranlasst worden, um die Unterstützung für die Truppenpräsenz im Irak zu demonstrieren, erklärten die Republikaner.
Die Demokraten kritisierten die Abstimmung als politischen Trick und Angriff auf ihren Abgeordneten John Murtha.
Dieser hatte am Donnerstag gefordert, die US-Truppen so schnell wie möglich abzuziehen, weil sie im Irak nichts mehr erreichen könnten. Die Äußerungen Murthas hatten den Druck auf US-Präsident George W. Bush weiter verstärkt, die Soldaten nach Hause zu holen.
In einer in dieser Woche veröffentlichten Umfrage haben 63 Prozent der befragten Amerikaner Bushs Irak-Kurs kritisiert. 52 Prozent der Teilnehmer sagten, die US-Truppen sollten sofort oder innerhalb der kommenden zwölf Monate nach Hause zurückkehren.
In the deadliest of Saturday's attacks, a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle near crowded condolence tents during the funeral of a Shi'ite tribal sheikh in a town north of Baghdad.
Police Colonel Muthaffar Aboud said 35 people were killed and around 50 wounded in the attack in Abu Sayda, near Baquba, a violent city about 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Earlier, another suicide car bomber targeted a crowded market in the Diyala Bridge area of southern Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding around 20, the Interior Ministry sai
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Another soldier from the 101st died in a U.S. hospital in Germany of injuries suffered two days ago when his vehicle was deliberately rammed by an Iraqi car near Beiji, the U.S. command said Saturday.
At least 2,090 members of the U.S. military have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
In Cairo, Egypt, Shiite and Kurdish delegates stormed out of an Iraqi reconciliation conference, infuriated by a speaker who branded them as U.S. sellouts. They were persuaded to return after an apology.
The walkout highlighted the sectarian and political divisions at the all-party gathering, which the Arab League called to prepare for a bigger meeting to be held later in Iraq.
"They are insulting the Iraqi people and they are insulting the constitution on which several million Iraqis have voted," Shiite legislator Jawad al-Maliki told reporters outside the chamber after the brief walkout. "They want the situation in Iraq to go back to the way it used to be so that the mass graves can return."
In Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said police and U.S. soldiers surrounded a house before dawn Saturday after reports that Al Qaeda in Iraq members were inside, said Brig. Said Ahmed al-Jubouri, a Mosul police spokesman.
As a fierce gunbattle broke out, three insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture. Five more died fighting, while four police officers also were killed. Al-Jubouri said officials were attempting to identify the dead insurgents.
In Baghdad, the U.S. command confirmed the fire fight and said 11 U.S. soldiers, nine Iraqi army troops and one policeman were wounded. The U.S. statement put the insurgent death toll at seven.
Since Friday, at least 125 Iraqi civilians have been killed in bombings and suicide attacks. They include 76 people who died in near-simultaneous homicide bombings at two Shiite mosques in Khanaqin along the Iranian border. Four people have been arrested, including one believed to have been planning another suicide attack, a security officer in Khanaqin said.
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"Wir setzen den Kampf so lange fort, bis wir den Sieg errungen haben, für den unsere tapferen Truppen kämpfen", sagte Bush am Samstag bei einem Besuch in Südkorea. Bush hatte bereits zuvor wiederholt bekräftigt, dass die US-Truppen so lange im Irak bleiben sollen, bis die irakischen Kräfte selbst für Sicherheit im Land sorgen könnten.
Einen Zeitplan für den Truppenabzug aufzustellen, käme einer "Anleitung für eine Katastrophe" gleich, sagte Bush am Samstag weiter und zitierte damit einen hochrangigen US-Kommandeur im Irak. So lange er Präsident sei, werde die US-Strategie im Irak von dem besonnenen Urteil der Militär-Kommandeure vor Ort geleitet, fügte Bush hinzu.
Am Donnerstag hatte der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete John Murtha die US-Regierung aufgefordert, die US-Truppen so schnell wie möglich aus dem Irak abzuziehen. Ohne die Sicherheit der Soldaten zu gefährden, würde dies schätzungsweise sechs Monate dauern, sagte Murtha. Bereits zuvor hatten mehrere Abgeordnete der oppositionellen Demokraten von Bush Auskunft über das geplante Ende des Irak-Einsatzes gefordert. Einen regelrechten Zeitplan haben bisher aber nur wenige verlangt.
Die Forderung Murthas steigerte die Spannungen zwischen den beiden politischen Lagern und veranlasste Abgeordnete von Bushs republikanischer Partei am Freitag in Washington zu einem taktischen Manöver: Sie brachten selbst einen Antrag zum Abzug der Truppen aus dem Irak ein, der - wie zu erwarten war - im Repräsentantenhaus auf eine klare Ablehnung stieß. Die Demokraten kritisierten dies als politischen Trick und Angriff auf Murtha. Die Republikaner erklärten, das Votum sei veranlasst worden, um die Unterstützung für die Truppenpräsenz im Irak zu demonstrieren.
Am Samstag bezeichnete Bush den Einsatz im Irak erneut als den entscheidenden Kampf im Krieg gegen moslemische Extremisten. Diese wollten den Irak als Ausgangspunkt für einen totalitären Staat nutzen, der von Spanien bis Indonesien reichen solle, sagte Bush. In einer in dieser Woche veröffentlichten Umfrage haben 63 Prozent der befragten Amerikaner Bushs Irak-Kurs kritisiert. 52 Prozent der Umfrage-Teilnehmer sagten, die US-Truppen sollten sofort oder innerhalb der kommenden zwölf Monate nach Hause zurückkehren.
Bush ist auf einer einwöchigen Asien-Reise und soll nach seinem Besuch in Südkorea nach China weiterreisen.
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The attack began with an improvised explosive device detonating next to the marine's vehicle in the town of Haditha, 220km northwest of Baghdad, on Saturday, the US command said on Sunday.
Fifteen civilians were also killed by the blast, which was followed by an attack with small arms, the statement said.
"Iraqi army soldiers and marines returned fire killing eight insurgents and wounding another," the statement added.
At least 2091 members of the US military have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Mosul gun battle
In Mosul, 362km northwest of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said police and US soldiers surrounded a house before dawn on Saturday after reports that al-Qaida members were inside, said Brigadier Said Ahmad al-Juburi, a Mosul police spokesman.
Since Friday, 125 Iraqi civilians
have been killed in attacks
As a fierce gun battle broke out, three armed fighters detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture.
Five more died fighting, while four police officers were also killed.
Al-Juburi said officials were attempting to identify the dead attackers.
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Iraks Präsident will mit Aufständischen sprechen
Der irakische Präsident Talabani hat sich auf einer Konferenz in Kairo bereit erklärt, Gespräche mit Anführern des bewaffneten Widerstands zu führen. Zugleich sagte er, religiöse Extremisten und Ex-Baathisten dürften keine Rolle in der irakischen Politik spielen.
Kairo - "Wenn diejenigen, die sich selbst als irakischen Widerstand bezeichnen, mich kontaktierten, würde ich das begrüßen", sagte Talabani heute in Kairo. "Ich würde keinen Iraker zurückweisen, der mit mir reden will. Aber das heißt natürlich nicht, dass ich akzeptiere, was er sagt."
AFP
Präsident Talabani (im März im Irak): "Befinden uns nicht unter Besatzung"
In der Vergangenheit hatten bereits andere irakische Regierungsmitglieder erklärt, sie seien bereit, mit solchen Aufständischen zu sprechen, die nicht für das Töten von Irakern verantwortlich seien und ihre Waffen niederlegen wollten. Als weitere Vorbedingung für Verhandlungen hatten sie verlangt, dass die potenziellen Gesprächspartner zunächst ihren Einfluss unter Beweis stellten, indem sie einen Halt der Gewalttaten durchsetzten. Der Präsident Jalal Talabani hatte sich bisher jedoch noch nicht zu solchen Überlegungen geäußert.
Talabani hält sich zurzeit in der ägyptischen Hauptstadt Kairo auf, wo eine Konferenz irakischer Politiker stattfindet. Es handelt sich um ein Vorbereitungstreffen, das die Arabische Liga ausrichtet, und dem eine größere Konferenz in Bagdad folgen soll, sobald die für Dezember angesetzten Wahlen im Irak vorüber sind.
Stürmische Seznen in Kairo
Talabani erklärte auf der Pressekonferenz weiter, er habe bislang noch keine solche Kontakte gehabt. Bereits gestern, bei der Eröffnung der Konferenz, hatte er gesagt, religiöse Extremisten, die Gewalt ausübten, und Baathisten könnten keine Rolle im politischen Leben des Irak spielen. "Unter keinen Umständen beinhaltet unsere nationale Einheit die Mörder und Verbrecher aus den Reihen des alten Regimes, die uns Massengräber hinterlassen haben, oder die takfiris (islamische Extremisten, die andere Muslime für ungläubig erklären)", sagte er.
Deswegen blieb heute zunächst unklar, auf welche Gruppen sich das Gesprächsangebot des Präsidenten bezog. Er unterschied allerdings drei Gruppen von Aufständischen: "Terroristen", solche, die das Regime Saddam Husseins wieder beleben wollten, und solche, die alle ausländischen Truppen aus dem Land haben wollten. "Zu letzteren sagen wir, dass nicht miiltante Operationen der Weg sind, sondern politischer Dialog und demokratische Methoden". Der Irak sei jetzt ein offenes Land, in dem jeder seine Meinung sagen dürfe.
Bush lehnt sofortigen Abzug ab
Die Konferenz hatte gestern mit einem Disput über die Rolle der britischen und US-amerikanischen Armeen im Irak begonnen. Talabani erklärte, sein Land befinde sich mitnichten unter Besatzung und es wäre ein Desaster, sollten die Truppen schnell abziehen. Zuvor müsste eine irakische Armee aufgebaut werden. Transportminister Salam al-Maliki, der zum Lager des schiitischen Anführers Muktada al-Sadr zählt, widersprach und erklärte, der Abzug der ausländischen Truppen sei die grundlegende Forderung seiner Organisation. Er forderte einen Zeitplan für den Abzug und drohte mit einem Rückzug der Delegierten, falls die anderen Parteien nicht mehr Flexibilität aufbrächten.
US-Präsident George W. Bush bekräftigte derweil am Rande seiner Asienreise, dass ein sofortiger Abzug aus dem Irak ausgeschlossen sei. "Der vorzeitige Abzug hätte schreckliche Folgen", sagte Bush heute in Peking zu Reportern. "Irak ist die Frontlinie im Krieg gegen den Terrorismus, und es ist unerlässlich, dass wir diese Schlacht gewinnen."
Unterdessen soll in Washington bereits ein Papier des Kommandeurs der Truppen im Irak, General George Casey, mit mehreren Abzugsszenarien kursieren. Unter den Optionen seien auch solche, die einen Beginn des Abzugs Anfang nächsten Jahres vorsehen, berichtete der Sender CNN. In dem Plan sei jede Truppenbewegung an zahlreiche Bedingungen geknüpft. So müsse die irakische Armee unter Beweis stellen, dass sie die Sicherheit ohne US-Hilfe gewährleisten könne.
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Es sei sehr unwahrscheinlich, dass der Bericht zutreffend sei, sagte ein Sprecher des US-Präsidialamtes am Sonntag in Washington. Ein US-Regierungsvertreter, der namentlich nicht genannt werden wollte, erklärte jedoch, dem Bericht werde dennoch nachgegangen.
Im nordirakischen Mossul waren am Samstag nach offiziellen Angaben acht Aufständische in einem Gefecht mit US-Truppen getötet worden. Vier weitere Aufständische wurden verletzt. "Es laufen Ermittlungen, ob Sarkaui unter den Getöteten war", sagte der Regierungsvertreter. Er machte keine näheren Angaben.
Sarkaui ist der Anführer des irakischen Ablegers der Extremisten-Organisation Al-Kaida. Die USA haben ein Kopfgeld von 25 Millionen Dollar auf seine Ergreifung ausgesetzt.
Dem Jordanier Sarkaui werden zahlreiche Anschläge im Irak zur Last gelegt. Zuletzt hatte sich seine Gruppe zu den Selbstmordanschlägen auf Hotels in der jordanischen Hauptstadt Amman bekannt, bei denen in diesem Monat 50 Menschen getötet worden waren.
In den vergangenen Monaten hatten die US-Truppen die Ergreifung mehrerer Sarkaui-Verbündeter vermeldet. Im Mai hatte es Spekulationen gegeben, Sarkaui selbst sei bei Gefechten mit US-Truppen schwer verletzt worden. Die Gerüchte bestätigten sich jedoch nicht.
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British soldier has been killed and four wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq's southern city of Basra, the British military says.
"We can confirm there was one fatality and four injured," British army spokesman Major Steve Melbourne said.
The blast on Sunday hit an armoured four-wheel-drive vehicle in the northern district of Maakal, sending it crashing into a wall, according to pictures taken at the scene.
In London, the Ministry of Defence confirmed the incident and said it was under investigation.
Ninety-eight British soldiers have been killed in Iraq, including 65 in hostile action, since the US-led invasion in March 2003, according to an AFP toll.
North of the capital, Diyala provincial police said a car bomb targeting U.S. Humvees killed five civilians and wounded 12 bystanders in the town of Kanan. At least 145 Iraqi civilians have died in a series of attacks over the last four days, including two bombings at Shiite mosques and another at a funeral.
In Baghdad, three people, including one police officer, were killed by gunmen, police said Monday.
Over the weekend an American soldier near the capital and a Marine in the western town of Karmah were killed in separate insurgent attacks, the military said.
During the intense gunbattle with suspected al-Qaida members on Saturday, three insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture, Iraqi officials said. Eleven Americans were also wounded, the U.S. military said.
Police Brig. Gen. Said Ahmed al-Jubouri said the raid was launched after a tip that top al-Qaida operatives, possibly including al-Zarqawi, were in the house.
However, Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, said Sunday that reports of al-Zarqawi's death were "highly unlikely and not credible." Eyewitnesses in Mosul said the U.S. military, which had cordoned off the area around the two-story house, left the area early on Monday.
"We have no indication that Zarqawi was killed in this fight and we continue operations to search for him," Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman, said Monday.
Al-Zarqawi has narrowly escaped capture in the past. U.S. forces said they nearly caught him in a February 2005 raid that recovered his computer.
The U.S. military also said Sunday that 24 people - including another Marine and 15 civilians - were killed the day before in an ambush on a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in Haditha, west of Baghdad in the volatile Euphrates River valley.
The three American deaths brought to at least 2,094 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday on ABC television's "This Week" that commanders' assessments will determine the pace of any military drawdown. About 160,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq as the country approaches parliamentary elections Dec. 15.
The Pentagon has said it plans to scale back troop strength to its pre-election baseline of 138,000, depending on conditions. Rumsfeld said the number of Iraqi security forces, currently at 212,000 troops, continues to increase.
Rumsfeld also said talk in the United States of a quick withdrawal from Iraq plays into the hands of the insurgents.
"The enemy hears a big debate in the United States, and they have to wonder maybe all we have to do is wait and we'll win. We can't win militarily. They know that. The battle is here in the United States," he told "Fox News Sunday."
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Einer der Überlebenden berichtete, die Familie sei auf dem Weg zu einer Beerdigung gewesen. Die US-Soldaten hätten sich genähert und das Feuer eröffnet: "Als wir versuchten ihnen Platz zu machen, schossen sie." Die Kugeln seien von vorn und von hinten in dem Bus eingeschlagen. In Reuters-Aufnahmen waren die in einer Leichenhalle in Bakuba aufgebahrten toten Kinder zu sehen. "Es sind alles Kinder. Sie sind keine Terroristen", rief ein Angehöriger. Der Kleinbus wurde nach Polizeiangaben von den US-Soldaten weggebracht.
Iraker haben wiederholt US-Soldaten vorgeworfen, an Kontrollstellen auf Zivilisten zu schießen. Die Soldaten ihrerseits sind wiederholt Ziel von Selbstmordattentätern geworden, die in ihren Fahrzeugen auf Armeeposten zurasten.
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Iraqi leaders call for pullout timetable
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Reaching out to the Sunni Arab community, Iraqi leaders called for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of resistance.
The communique - finalized by Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders Monday - condemned terrorism but was a clear acknowledgment of the Sunni position that insurgents should not be labeled as terrorists if their operations do not target innocent civilians or institutions designed to provide for the welfare of Iraqi citizens.
The leaders agreed on "calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces ... control the borders and the security situation" and end terror attacks.
The preparatory reconciliation conference, held under the auspices of the Arab League, was attended by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers as well as leading Sunni politicians.
Sunni leaders have been pressing the Shiite-majority government to agree to a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops. The statement recognized that goal, but did not lay down a specific time - reflecting instead the government's stance that Iraqi security forces must be built up first.
On Monday, Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr suggested U.S.-led forces should be able to leave Iraq by the end of next year, saying the one-year extension of the mandate for the multinational force in Iraq by the U.N. Security Council this month could be the last.
"By the middle of next year we will be 75 percent done in building our forces and by the end of next year it will be fully ready," he told the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera.
Debate in Washington over when to bring troops home turned bitter last week after decorated Vietnam War vet Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and estimated a pullout could be complete within six months.
In Egypt, the final communique's attempt to define terrorism omitted any reference to attacks against U.S. or Iraqi forces. Delegates from across the political and religious spectrum said the omission was intentional. They spoke anonymously, saying they feared retribution.
"Though resistance is a legitimate right for all people, terrorism does not represent resistance. Therefore, we condemn terrorism and acts of violence, killing and kidnapping targeting Iraqi citizens and humanitarian, civil, government institutions, national resources and houses of worships," the document said.
The final communique also stressed participants' commitment to Iraq's unity and called for the release of all "innocent detainees" who have not been convicted by courts. It asked that allegations of torture against prisoners be investigated and those responsible be held accountable.
The statement also demanded "an immediate end to arbitrary raids and arrests without a documented judicial order."
The communique included no means for implementing its provisions, leaving it unclear what it will mean in reality other than to stand as a symbol of a first step toward bringing the feuding parties together in an agreement in principle.
"We are committed to this statement as far as it is in the best interests of the Iraqi people," said Harith al-Dhari, leader of the powerful Association of Muslim Scholars, a hard-line Sunni group. He said he had reservations about the document as a whole, and delegates said he had again expressed strong opposition to the concept of federalism enshrined in Iraq's new constitution.
The gathering was part of a U.S.-backed league attempt to bring the communities closer together and assure Sunni Arab participation in a political process now dominated by Iraq's Shiite majority and large Kurdish minority.
The conference also decided on broad conditions for selecting delegates to a wider reconciliation gathering in the last week of February or the first week of March in Iraq. It essentially opens the way for all those who are willing to renounce violence against fellow Iraqis.
Shiites had been strongly opposed to participation in the conference by Sunni Arab officials from the former Saddam regime or from pro-insurgency groups. That objection seemed to have been glossed over in the communique.
The Cairo meeting was marred by differences between participants at times, and at one point Shiite and Kurdish delegates stormed out of a closed session when one of the speakers said they had sold out to the Americans.
Suicide Bomber in Iraq Kills 21
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A suicide car bomber killed 21 people in northern Iraq on Tuesday after insurgents lured police to the scene by shooting an officer, officials said. A mortar shell fired at a U.S. ceremony sent the U.S. ambassador and the top American commander scurrying for cover.
The suicide bomber struck on a busy commercial street in Kirkuk, a mixed Arab, Kurdish and Turkoman city in an oil-producing region 180 miles north of Baghdad. About half the dead were police who rushed to the scene after gunmen killed a fellow officer.
In addition to the 21 dead, another 24 people were wounded, according to police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader.
The attack was the latest in a wave of spectacular suicide operations which have killed more than 160 civilians since Friday, most of them Shiites.
American military casualty tolls have also been on the rise. In the latest reports, the U.S. command said a soldier was killed Monday by a roadside bomb near Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad.
Two other soldiers from Task Force Freedom were killed Saturday by small arms fire while on patrol in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, a U.S. statement said.
Those deaths raised the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003 to at least 2,096, according to an Associated Press count.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States may not need the number of troops it has in Iraq "all that much longer," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said amid reports the Pentagon may pull back three combat brigades.
With political pressure building on U.S. President George W. Bush to shift course in Iraq, U.S. officials are trying to reassure Americans that sufficient progress is being made in training Iraqi forces to possibly permit some U.S. troops to leave.
"I suspect that American forces are not going to be needed in the numbers that they're there for all that much longer, because Iraqis are continuing to make progress in function, not just in numbers, but in their capabilities to do certain functions," Rice told CNN on Tuesday.
She said "the number of coalition forces is clearly going to come down because Iraqis are making it possible now to do those functions themselves."
Rice's comments come after a bitter debate on Capitol Hill about Bush's Iraq policy, including a demand by one of the most hawkish members of the U.S. Congress, Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, that U.S. forces withdraw immediately.
The Washington Post said on Wednesday that barring any major surprises in Iraq, the Pentagon tentatively plans to reduce the number of U.S. forces there early next year by as many as three combat brigades, from 18 now, but to keep at least one brigade "on call" in Kuwait in case more troops are needed quickly.
Quoting several senior military officers, the Post said Pentagon authorities also have set a series of "decision points" during 2006 to consider further force cuts that, under a "moderately optimistic" scenario, would drop the total number of troops to fewer than 100,000 from more than 150,000 now, including 10 combat brigades, by the end of the year.
A U.S. Army brigade has between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers.
Bush has consistently said that U.S. forces would stand down when Iraqi forces stand up. He hinted at the possibility of a troop drawdown on Sunday in Beijing.
"As the Iraqi security forces gain strength and experience we can lessen our troop presence in the country without losing our capability to effectively defeat the terrorists," Bush told reporters.
Bush is under pressure to change course in Iraq after the deaths of more than 2,000 Americans there and an unending train of suicide bombings. Continued
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Iraq insurgents kill senior Sunni leader
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms broke into the home of a senior Sunni leader on Wednesday and killed him, his three sons and his son-in-law on the outskirts of Baghdad, his brother and an interior ministry official said.
Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyem was the leader of the Sunni Batta tribe and the brother of a parliamentary candidate in the Dec. 15 election, the official Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi said. Another of the slain man's brothers said the family has been attacked before.
"A group of gunmen with Iraqi army uniforms and vehicles broke into my brother's house in the Hurriyah area and sprayed them with machine gun fire, killing him along with three sons and his son-in law," said his brother, Nima Sarhid Al-Hemaiyem. "His eldest son was assassinated one month ago in the Taji area, northern Baghdad, when unidentified men shot and killed him."
Al-Mohammedawi said government forces were not involved and the investigation was focused on insurgents.
"Surely, they are outlaw insurgents. As for the military uniform, they can be bought from many shops in Baghdad," he said. "Also, we have several police and army vehicles stolen and they can be used in the raids."
The slaying follows a big push by U.S. officials to encourage Sunni Muslim participation in the upcoming election, which will install the first non-transitional government in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. Some Sunni-led insurgent groups have declared a boycott of the election and have threatened politicians who choose to participate in it.
The Batta tribe is one of Iraq's largest Sunni tribes from the area north of Baghdad, where they are influential. Dozens of people went to al-Hemaiyem's home, where the bodies were laid out, wrapped in blankets before the funeral.
Also on Wednesday, the U.S. military announced a new operation with Iraqi troops in predominantly Sunni western Iraq. The operation launched Tuesday in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, is aimed at preventing insurgents from interfering with voting there, a U.S. military statement said. It is the third operation in Ramadi since Nov. 16.
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Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called on Iraqis to demand a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops, stressing that the US is responsible for Iraq's suffering.
Khamenei made his call as he welcomed the visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Tuesday.
Khamenei also argued it was the US that was to blame for the ongoing violence in Iraq, amid efforts by Talabani to win Iranian help in tackling the security situation.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran holds the American government responsible for the suffering of the Iraqi people and all the crimes and assassinations now being committed in Iraq," Khamenei was quoted as saying by official media.
"The presence of foreign troops is damaging for the Iraqis, and the Iraqi government could ask for their departure by proposing a timetable," Khamenei said, adding: "The US and Britain will eventually have to leave Iraq with a bitter experience."
Khamenei told Talabani, the first Iraqi head of state to visit Iran in nearly four decades, his country "would be empowered by the development, security, independence and the empowerment of Iraq".
Ties between Iran and Iraq's new authorities have been close, with Baghdad's new government dominated by Iranian-backed Kurdish figures such as Talabani and Shia parties that were backed by Tehran during Saddam Hussein's rule.
Iraqi political analyst Awni al-Qalamchi has said the Iranian statements are designed to tell the US that Iran is a key player in Iraqi politics.
"Iran helped the US occupying Iraq, just like other Arab countries, hoping to benefit politically and financially," he told Aljazeera.net.
"It gained great influence in Iraq when all the political parties it backs ascended to power.
"But when the US realised Iran had become more influential than it should be, it tried to put limits to it.
"Khamenei's statements aim to tell the Americans that Iran is still there and can cause you a headache in Iraq.
"I think Khamenei's statement does not reflect Iran's real position and ambitions in Iraq."
Despite Talabani's statements denying Iran's involvement in Iraq's internal issues, the visit is seen as an attempt to put more pressure on Tehran, whose relations with the US have come to a standstill because of Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Talabani and Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied in joint statements the US-UK accusation that Iran is interfering in Iraq's internal affairs.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran holds the American government responsible for the suffering of the Iraqi people and all the crimes and assassinations now being committed in Iraq"
Ali Khamenei,
Iran's spiritual leader
Talabani said he was confident Iran would provide Iraq with essential help in combatting "terrorism in Iraq".
"Iraq's President Jalal Talabani does not enjoy the freedom to make his own decisions. We all know that he cannot make any move without US approval," Iraqi political analyst Fadil al-Rubei told Aljazeera.net.
"What is the secret behind promoting Iran's innocence from the US's accusations? I believe that it is a deal.
"The US will help polishing Iran's stained image among Iraqis, in return Iran would send its murderers and killing squads to fight the Iraqi resistance in Falluja and other western Iraqi cities," he said.
Ali al-Awsie, a member of the ruling Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), hailed Khamenei's statement, stressing it reflected the hopes of every Iraqi.
"Khamenei's statements come after the Iraqi national reconciliation conference in Cairo, where all Iraqi factions agreed on asking the US occupation for a withdrawal timetable," he told Aljazeera.net.
But the Iranian-backed SCIRI and other ruling parties in Iraq do not want foreign troops to leave before powerful and effective Iraqi forces are deployed.
"We seek effective guarantees that the situation will be properly maintained after the occupation troops are gone," al-Awsie said
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