Iraq War Videos

German Television Documentary: "Iraq War - Germany as U.S. Informant"

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 02:16:05 +0100

Saddam Hussein's defense plan

Background

"Two German intelligence agents in Baghdad obtained a copy of Saddam Hussein's plan to defend the Iraqi capital, which a German official passed on to American commanders a month before the invasion, according to a classified study by the United States military. In providing the Iraqi document, German intelligence officials offered more significant assistance to the United States than their government has publicly acknowledged. The plan gave the American military an extraordinary window into Iraq's top-level deliberations, including where and how Mr. Hussein planned to deploy his most loyal troops. [...] But the German government was an especially vociferous critic of the Bush administration's decision to use military force to topple Mr. Hussein. While the German government has said that it had intelligence agents in Baghdad during the war, it has insisted it provided only limited help to the United States-led coalition. [...]"

Excerpt of a New York Times article from February 27th, 2006.

The Video

1) The video "Iraq War - Germany as U.S. Informant" was part of a broadcast of the television newsmagazine "Frontal 21" on the German state channel "ZDF" ("Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen"). The segment was aired on September 23rd, 2008. The official website can be found here.

IED Attack (XVIII) Against U.S. Humvee - December 2008

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:21:20 +0100

IED Explosion south of Baghdad

Background

"[...] Military leaders knew the dangers posed by roadside bombs before the start of the Iraq war but did little to develop vehicles that were known to better protect forces from what proved to be the conflict's deadliest weapon, a report by the Pentagon inspector general says. The Pentagon 'was aware of the threat posed by mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) & and of the availability of mine resistant vehicles years before insurgent actions began in Iraq in 2003,' says the 72-page report [...]. Marine Corps leaders 'stopped processing' an urgent request in February 2005 for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles from combat commanders in Iraq's Anbar province after declaring that a more heavily armored version of existing Humvee vehicles was the 'best available' option for protecting troops, the report says. [...]" - Excerpt of an ABC News article from December 9th, 2008.

The Video

The video has been attributed to the Iraqi insurgent group "1920 Revolution Brigades", who has claimed responsibility for the attack. It apparently took place south of Baghdad on December 22nd, 2008. The publication of the video was accompanied by the following statement from the insurgent group:

"The name of God the Merciful - Fight them with your hands and God will punish them and helps you Ikhozhm them and recovered the people believing - Repentance: 14

"Thank God initiated recruited for jihad, memory and symptoms of religion and the country and prayed for Mustafa chosen from among the subjects and his family and companions initial guidance and direction

"After: God has supported the brothers were in the twenty Revolution Brigades categorically south of Baghdad, to be able to destroy armored Stryker of the American occupation forces detonated an explosive device, resulting in the destruction of the wheel to fall of its crew dead and injured - Thank God

"Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar
The Glory to God, His Prophet and the believers
Tnsuna not in the interest of Daikm

"Jihad and Change Front, Brigades, Information Office, Monday, the argument is 24, 1429, 22/12/2008"

IED/EFP Attacks Against U.S. Military Vehicles - May 2008

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:39:28 +0100

EFP attack in Baghdad

Background

"[...¦] Numbers of Iranian-made "explosively formed penetrators" (EFPs) in Iraq decreased in recent months, reflecting an apparent decline in Tehran's support for Iraqi insurgents, a US general said Thursday. 'The EFPs are way down - I am talking about terms of a dozen, 20 in Iraq in a month from maybe 60, 80,' US Army Lieutenant General Thomas Metz told journalists. EFPs are a deadly type of shaped charge that is particularly effective at penetrating armor. Metz, director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), [...] said the EFPs have been deployed against US forces with lethal effectiveness. 'They have represented over time probably five percent of IEDs, and would represent as much as 35 percent of the casualties.' [...¦]"

Excerpt of an AFP article from December 11th, 2008.

The Video

1) The video is an excerpt of a documentary from the Lebanese tv channel "Al-Manar" on attacks on U.S. military vehicles by the Iraqi Shia insurgent group "Asayab Ahl Al-Haqq". All of the featured attacks apparently took place in the Al-Karkh district of Baghdad during the month of May in 2008. The date of the tv broadcast is not known.

U.S. Department of Justice Press Conference on Blackwater Indictment

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:13:31 +0100

The 5 defendants in federal court

Background

"[...¦] Five former Blackwater Worldwide security guards indicted on voluntary manslaughter and other charges in connection with killings in Iraq were released on their own recognizance Monday after a court hearing. The charges, which the Justice Department announced Monday, stem from a September 16, 2007, shooting that killed 17 Iraqis in a Baghdad square. A judge ordered the ex-guards to appear for another court hearing in Washington on January 6. The 35-count indictment charges each of the former guards with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. Prosecutors do not believe they have enough evidence to bring manslaughter charges on three of the 17 deaths. [...]"

Excerpt of a CNN article from December 8th, 2008.

The Video

1) The video shows an excerpt of the official press conference from the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C., during which the charges against the five Blackwater employees were announced to the meida and the public. It was produced and aired on December 8th, 2008 by the Cable Network News (CNN).

Jeremy Scahill talks about Blackwater

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:27:15 +0100

Jeremy Scahill in 2006

Background

"[...] The often overlooked subplot of the wars of the post-9/11 period is their unprecedented scale of outsourcing and privatization. From the moment the US troop buildup began in advance of the invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon made private contractors an integral part of the operations. Even as the government gave the public appearance of attempting diplomacy, Halliburton was prepping for a massive operation. When US tanks rolled into Baghdad in March 2003, they brought with them the largest army of private contractors ever deployed in modern war. [...]."

Excerpt of an article by Jeremy Scahill from March 15th, 2007.

The Video

Author Jeremy Scahill speaks in Chicago at "Socialism 2007: Socialism for the 21st Century". The video was filmed by Paul Hubbard on June 16th, 2007. The Title of Mr. Scahill’s presentation: "Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army".

U.S. Aerial Attack in Syria

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:41:12 +0100

Covering the Dead after U.S. attack in a Syrian village

Background - Abu Kamal, Syria, October 26th, 2008

"Thousands of people demonstrated Thursday in the Syrian capital, Damascus, in a protest, apparently stage-managed by the government, against the American military raid across the Iraqi border into Syrian territory on Sunday. [...] Syria has said eight civilians were killed in the raid on Sunday, and has described the attack as "terrorist aggression" by the United States. But American officials said the raid, by American helicopter-borne forces, killed an Iraqi militant responsible for running weapons, money and foreign fighters across the border into Iraq. [...]

Excerpt of a New York Times article from October 30, 2008.

The Videos

The first video is clip from a Syrian state-affiliated website (syrianews.com), which was broadcasted on October 27th, 2008. The footage was later transcribed and translated by the "TV Monitor Project" from the "Middle East Media Research Institute" (MEMRI TV) and put on their website. The second video is footage from a cellphone, apparently from an unknown local resident of Sukkariyeh. It was shot on October 26th, 2008, the day of the attack.

Anti-US Demonstration in Baghdad

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:09:34 +0200

Mass demonstration against US forces

Background

"[...] Anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraq’s parliament to reject a pact that would extend U.S. presence in Iraq for three years as tens of thousands of his followers marched through Baghdad’s streets Saturday to reinforce that demand. The large turnout points to trouble ahead for the U.S.-Iraqi security deal as Sunni and Shiite lawmakers weigh the political risks associated with the far-reaching agreement. Waving Iraqi flags and green Shiite banners, protesters chanted slogans condemning the pact. The demonstration in the mostly Shiite eastern part of Baghdad was staged under tight security, with army soldiers and police manning checkpoints along the route. ‘I am with every Sunni, Shiite or Christian who is opposed to the agreement ... and I reject, condemn and renounce the presence of occupying forces and bases on our beloved land,’ al-Sadr said in a message read to the crowd on his behalf by a senior aide. [...]"

Excerpt of an Associated Press article from October 18th, 2008.

Background

1) Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr take part in a rally in Baghdad, Iraq, to protest a draft U.S.-Iraqi security agreement. The mass show of opposition comes as the United States and Iraqi leaders try to build support for the accord that would extend the presence of American forces in Iraq beyond the end of this year. – October 18th, 2008 - Hadi Mizban/AP;

The Video

1) The video contains two news feeds from Reuters and CNN, which were aired on October 18th, 2008.

CBS/60 Minutes Documentary on "Curveball"

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:45:17 +0200

Curveball aka Rafid Ahmed Alwan in 1993

Background - Broadcast from November 1st, 2007

"Did Saddam Hussein have weapons of mass destruction? No, he did not. We’ve known that for some time now. So where did the intelligence come from that he was building up his arsenal? Fantastically, the most compelling part came from one obscure Iraqi defector who came in and out of history like a comet. His code name, ironically, was ‘Curve Ball’ and his information became the pillar of the case Colin Powell made to the United Nations before the war. Who is Curve Ball and how did he fool the world’s elite intelligence agencies? 60 Minutes spent two years, and traveled to nine countries, trying to solve the mystery. We talked to intelligence sources, to people who knew Curve Ball and to people who worked with him. [...]"

Excerpt of CBS/60 Minutes transcript from November 4th, 2007.

Video Credits

The television documentary on "Curveball" was produced by Draggan Mihailovich for CBS/60 Minutes. It was aired on November 1st, 2007 in the United States. The transcript was published on the Internet on November 4th, 2007. CBS Interactive Inc. owns the copyrights for the video.

Aftermath of the Baiji Killings

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 14:04:06 +0200

Afir strike: victim Killed Iraqi boy

Background

"A local Iraqi police chief Thursday accused the U.S. military of killing seven Iraqi civilians, including at least one child, in a helicopter strike in northern Iraq. [...] A relative of the dead, Fulaiyh Shimmari [...] said the family had gathered in the evening after receiving word that one of their members was about to be released from U.S. custody. ‘We saw the U.S. Humvees surrounding the houses of our family, and then U.S. choppers dropped soldiers on the gathering of cars and people,’ Shimmari said by telephone. ‘The guests and relatives panicked. Some of them fled on foot like me to their houses and others took their cars and escaped.’ Shimmari said three of the seven people in a vehicle targeted by the helicopter were killed, including a child. Four people on foot were shot and killed as they fled, he said. [...]"

Excerpt of a Los Angeles Times article from May 23rd, 2008

Video Credits

1) The video was shot shortly after the killings took place on May 20th, 2008 by one of the inhabitants of the near-by village Al-Mazraa. At the end of June 2008, the footage was distributed via the internet along with information about the events and the names of seven victims:

Family Members and Friends Killed as They Waited for Relative’s Release

On May 20, 2008 in the village of Al Mazraa, near Baiji, Salahuddin Province, Iraq

Eight relatives and a neighbor on their way to a homecoming party for a detainee released from Camp Bucca were shot and killed by American soldiers as they waited on the road outside the neighborhood. American soldiers were conducting raids in the area, so neighbors had warned the family to stay away from the area until the patrol was over.

As the two car convoy was waiting nearby, an American helicopter nearby opened fire on the vehicles. As the vehicles were hit, the drivers attempted to seek cover, but both vehicles were repeatedly shot and disabled. The helicopter landed but instead of assisting those shot and needing medical help, the American soldiers killed any survivors and then wrote numbers on the foreheads of some. Several children including a young girls body are clearly visible, and the wounds suffered by the men are horrific. The vehicle is clearly shot with many rounds and the seats and road is covered with blood. Iraqi police were called to the scene to remove the bodies, and some video footage was taken. It is clear that these people were unarmed civilians.

American troops did eventually enter the house where over 50 Iraqis were gathered for the homecoming party, and the soldiers proceeded to destroy furniture and belongings as they conducted their search. No one in the house was harmed.

The names of those killed:

Sabah Rasheed Matrood

Saab Rasheed Matrood

Kamel Badr Daher

Ali Badr Daher

Udei Badr Daher

Fateh Haref Nouar

Abdul Rahman Kamel Badr

The 2005 Camp Bucca Riots

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 13:21:21 +0200

U.S. military police shooting

Background - Camp Bucca in 2005

"Prisoners at a US-run detention camp in southern Iraq rioted on April 1, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed on Monday following a denial of the incident by the US military. ‘There was a riot at Camp Bucca on April 1. An ICRC delegation was there that day on one of its regular prisoner visits and it is now following up the situation,’ said Christophe Beney, the head of the ICRC’s Baghdad delegation. Earlier, a representative of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr’s movement had revealed that some detainees rioted at Camp Bucca on Friday after one of them had been denied medical treatment. [...]"

Excerpt of an Agence France Presse article from April 5th, 2005.

The Video

The video captures the shooting of non-lethal bullets by U.S. military police against rioting Iraqis at the Iraqi prison facility Camp Bucca, compound 7 & 8 during the year 2005. The exact date is unknown. It was filmed by a member of the military police, Joseph E. Rey.

Al-Jazeera Interview with Muqtada Al-Sadr - March 29th, 2008

Sat, 5 Apr 2008 23:39:06 +0200

Muqtada al-Sadr in March 2008

Background

"[..] Muqtada al-Sadr, making his first public appearance since May, said in a TV interview aired Saturday that he was in almost total control of the Mahdi Army and that the ‘liberation’ of Iraq was his militia’s chief goal. The radical Shiite cleric also said the impact of the U.S. presence on Iraq was more negative than that of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party, ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Al-Sadr alleged that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a fellow Shiite, was as ‘distant’ from the people of Iraq as Saddam's Sunni-led regime. [...] Al-Sadr’s interview with Al-Jazeera, conducted in an undisclosed location, came as violence was on the rise as part of a nationwide backlash by the Mahdi Army to the government’s attempt to crush Shiite militias and criminal gangs in the southern port of Basra. [...]"

Excerpt of an Associated Press article from March 29th, 2008.

The Video has been broadcasted by Al-Jazeera on March 29th, 2008 and which has since then been re-distributed in excerpts via the Internet by "MEMRI TV", the TV Monitor Project of the "Middle East Media Research Institute" in Washington, DC. The full interview from the Al-Jazeera youtube channel can be seen here (no subtitles).

EFP Attack (I) Against U.S. Military Convoy - December 2007

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:18:31 +0100

EFP hits an U.S. military vehicle

Background

"[...] When the United States military command accused the Iranian Quds Force in January of providing the armor-piercing EFPs (explosively formed penetrators) that were killing US troops, it knew that Iraqi machine shops had been producing their own EFPs for years, [...]. The record also shows that the US command had considerable evidence that the Mahdi Army of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had received the technology and the training on how to use it from Hezbollah, rather than Iran. [...] British and US officials observed from the beginning that the EFPs being used in Iraq closely resembled the ones used by Hezbollah against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, both in their design and the techniques for using them. [...]"

Excerpt of an Inter Press Service article from October 27th, 2007.

The Video

1) The original video was distributed through a CD Rom by the Iraqi Shia Insurgent group "Asaeb Ahlul Al Haqq" aka "Imam Ali Brigades" in January of 2008. According to the group, the video features attacks, which have been carried out in several regions of Iraq such as Kalpia, Aboudecer and Karkh during the end of 2007. Excerpts of the video footage, as shown on this page, were then later included in a short report from February 25th, 2008 by the Lebanese television station "Al-Manar TV".

Background on EPFs

2) From wikipedia: "An explosively formed penetrator (EFP), also known as an explosively formed projectile, a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is a special type of shaped charge designed to penetrate armour effectively at stand-off distances. [...]

"A conventional shaped charge generally has a conical metal liner that projects a hypervelocity jet of metal able to penetrate to great depths into steel armour; however, in travel over some distance the jet breaks up along its length into particles that drift out of alignment, greatly diminishing its effectiveness at a distance.

"An EFP, on the other hand, has a liner in the shape of a shallow dish.The force of the blast molds the liner into any of a number of configurations, depending on how the plate is formed and how the explosive is detonated. Sophisticated EFP warheads have multiple detonators that can be fired in different arrangements causing different types of waveform in the explosive, resulting in either a long-rod penetrator, an aerodynamic slug projectile or multiple high-velocity fragments. A less sophisticated approach for changing the formation of an EFP is the use of wire-mesh in front of the liner: with the mesh in place the liner will fragment into multiple penetrators. [...]"

IED Attack (XVII) Against U.S. Humvee - January 2008

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:46:55 +0100

2008: IED Explosion

Background

"A soldier killed over the weekend south of Baghdad was the first American casualty in a roadside bomb attack on a newly introduced, heavily armored vehicle, a military spokeswoman said Tuesday. The V-shaped hull of the huge MRAP - Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected - truck is designed to deflect blasts from roadside bombs, a weapon that has killed more American soldiers than any other tactic used by Sunni insurgents and militia fighters in Iraq. The soldier who died Saturday was the gunner who sits atop the MRAP vehicle. Three crew members tucked inside the cabin were wounded. The vehicle rolled over after the blast and it was not clear how the gunner died - from wounds in the explosion or in the subsequent roll-over. Maj. Alayne P. Conway [...] said the attack and the death were under investigation. [...]"

Excerpt of an Associated Press article from January 22nd, 2008.

The video was distributed over the Internet by the insurgent group "1920 Revolution Brigades" in late January 2008. It does not feature the attack, which is mentioned in the background article. The location and the exact date of the attack is not known.

IED Attack (XVI) Against Iraqi Military Vehicle - November 2007

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:21:40 +0100

Another IED Attack in Mosul

Background

"Al-Qaeda fighters have been pushed toward eastern and northern Iraq where violence is now the highest in the country despite an overall decline in attacks, a senior US officer said Monday. ‘What you see is that the enemy is shifting,’ Major General Mark Hertling, the new commander of Multi-National Division North, told reporters here via video link from Iraq. [...] ‘Whereas all types of attacks, but specifically IEDs (improvised explosive devices) have decreased throughout Iraq ... the north has the highest number of attacks in all of Iraq,’ Hertling said. The general said bombs account for more than half the attacks in his area of responsibility, but their number has dropped sharply in recent months from 1,830 in June to 900 in October. [...]"

Excerpt of an Agence France Presse article from November 19th, 2007.

The Video

The video was distributed over the Internet by the insurgent group “Islamic State of Iraq” in early December 2007. According to an accompaning statement to the video, the attack featured a new type of roadside bomb, which had been manufactured by the group.

Al-Jazeera Documentary on the Thar Thar Killings (II)

Sun, 4 Nov 2007 20:12:36 +0100

Bullet-riddled house after US raid

Background

"The United Nations has called for a ‘vigorous’ investigation into a US air raid that killed 15 Iraqi women and children last week. The call comes as the first pictures emerged in the aftermath of the attack, which took place north of Baghdad on Thursday. US forces expressed regret over the loss of civilian life but said they sent in helicopters after ground troops came under fire from al-Qaeda fighters. [...] The US admitted six women and nine children were killed along with 19 fighters. Villagers say they have buried 24 people but do not know what happened to the others who they said were taken away by the Americans. [...]"

Excerpt of an Al-Jazeera article from October 14th, 2007.

Car Bomb Attack (VI) Against Base of Iraqi National Guard - October 2007

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:58:13 +0200

Car bomb attack against IGN base

The video was distributed over the Internet by the insurgent group "al-Furqan Foundation of the Islamic State of Iraq" on October 8th, 2007. According to the group, the "martyrdom attack" targeted a "base hosting national guards in Diyala (Sa’ad Ibn Abi Waqas district)".

Background

"[...] Footage of a suicide bombing targeted a base of Iraqi National Guard members in Diyala, Sa’ad bin Abi Waqas district, is contained with a 3:57 minute video issued to jihadist forums today, Monday, October 8, 2007, by al-Furqan Foundation of the Islamic State of Iraq.

"The undated attack shows the suicide truck bombing from three angles, and is indicated to have struck a house which the National Guard converted into a base. Following the massive explosion, the camera captures the rescue effort by enemy forces.

"The video is within the group’s series, ‘Hell of the Romans and Apostates in the Land of Two Rivers (Mesopotamia/Iraq)’. [...]"

News article by the SITE Institute from October 8th, 2007

CNN Documentary on Blackwater Killings - September 19th, 2007

Mon, 8 Oct 2007 01:35:40 +0200

Destroyed car after shooting
Photo by Associated Press

The video is a short documentary on the killing of Iraqi civilians by the U.S. mercenary firm "Blackwater" on September 16th, 2007. The video was produced by CNN and was aired on September 19th, 2007.

Background article

From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths

By James Glanz & Alissa J. Rubin
New York Times
October 3, 2007

Baghdad, Oct. 2 - It started out as a family errand: Ahmed Haithem Ahmed was driving his mother, Mohassin, to pick up his father from the hospital where he worked as a pathologist. As they approached Nisour Square at midday on Sept. 16, they did not know that a bomb had gone off nearby or that a convoy of four armored vehicles carrying Blackwater guards armed with automatic rifles was approaching.

Moments later a bullet tore through Mr. Ahmed’s head, he slumped, and the car rolled forward. Then Blackwater guards responded with a barrage of gunfire and explosive weapons, leaving 17 dead and 24 wounded - a higher toll than previously thought, according to Iraqi investigators.

Interviews with 12 Iraqi witnesses, several Iraqi investigators and an American official familiar with an American investigation of the shootings offer new insights into the gravity of the episode in Nisour Square. And they are difficult to square with the explanation offered initially by Blackwater officials that their guards were responding proportionately to an attack on the streets around the square.

The new details include these:

- A deadly cascade of events began when a single bullet apparently fired by a Blackwater guard killed an Iraqi man whose weight probably remained on the accelerator and propelled the car forward as the passenger, the man’s mother, clutched him and screamed.

- The car continued to roll toward the convoy, which responded with an intense barrage of gunfire in several directions, striking Iraqis who were desperately trying to flee.

- Minutes after that shooting stopped, a Blackwater convoy - possibly the same one - moved north from the square and opened fire on another line of traffic a few hundred yards away, in a previously unreported separate shooting, investigators and several witnesses say.

But questions emerge from accounts of the earliest moments of the shooting in Nisour Square.

The car in which the first people were killed did not begin to closely approach the Blackwater convoy until the Iraqi driver had been shot in the head and lost control of his vehicle. Not one witness heard or saw any gunfire coming from Iraqis around the square. And following a short initial burst of bullets, the Blackwater guards unleashed an overwhelming barrage of gunfire even as Iraqis were turning their cars around and attempting to flee.

As the gunfire continued, at least one of the Blackwater guards began screaming, "No! No! No!" and gesturing to his colleagues to stop shooting, according to an Iraqi lawyer who was stuck in traffic and was shot in the back as he tried to flee. The account of the struggle among the Blackwater guards corroborates preliminary findings of the American investigation.

Still, while the series of events pieced together by the Iraqis may be correct, important elements could still be missing from that account, according to the American official familiar with the continuing American investigation into the shootings.

Among the questions still to be answered, the official said, is whether at any time nearby Iraqi security forces began firing, possibly leading the Blackwater convoy to believe it was under attack and therefore justified in returning fire. It is also possible that as the car kept rolling toward the intersection, the Blackwater guards believed it posed a threat and intensified their shooting.

Blackwater has said that its guards were fired upon and responded appropriately.

Witnesses close to the places where most of the Iraqi civilians were killed directly facing the Blackwater convoy on the southern rim of the square all give a relatively consistent picture of how events began and unfolded.

The Blackwater convoy was in the square to control traffic for a second convoy that was approaching from the south. The second convoy was bringing diplomats who had been evacuated from a meeting after a bomb went off near the compound where the meeting was taking place. That convoy had not arrived at the square by the time the shooting started.

The events in the square began with a short burst of bullets that witnesses described as unprovoked. A traffic policeman standing at the edge of the square, Sarhan Thiab, saw that a young man in a car had been hit. In the line of traffic, that car was the third vehicle from the intersection where the convoy had positioned itself.

"We tried to help him," Mr. Thiab said. "I saw the left side of his head was destroyed and his mother was crying out: ‘My son, my son. Help me, help me.’"

Another traffic policeman rushed to the driver’s side to try to get her son out of the car, but the car was still rolling forward because her son had lost control, according to a taxi driver close by who gave his name as Abu Mariam ("father of Mariam").

Then Blackwater guards opened fire with a barrage of bullets, according to the police and numerous witnesses. Mr. Ahmed’s father later counted 40 bullet holes in the car. His mother, Mohassin Kadhim, appears to have been shot to death as she cradled her son in her arms. Moments later the car caught fire after the Blackwater guards fired a type of grenade into the vehicle.

The taxi driver was a few feet ahead of Mrs. Kadhim’s car when he heard the first gunshots. He was aware of cars behind him trying to back out of the street or turn around and drive away from the square. He tried frantically to turn his car, but ran into the curb.

Unable to escape, he pulled himself over to the passenger side, which was the one not facing the square, opened the door and crawled out, flattening his body to the ground.

"The dust from the street was coming in my mouth and as I pulled myself out of the area, my left leg was shot by a bullet," he said.

Accounts in the initial days after the event described Mrs. Kadhim as holding a baby in her arms. It now appears that those accounts were based on assumptions that the charred remains of Mrs. Kadhim’s son were mistaken for an infant.

By then cars were struggling to get out of the line of fire, and many people were abandoning their vehicles altogether. The scene turned hellish.

"The shooting started like rain; everyone escaped his car," said Fareed Walid Hassan, a truck driver who hauls goods in his Hyundai minibus.

He saw a woman dragging her child. "He was around 10 or 11," he said. "He was dead. She was pulling him by one hand to get him away. She hoped that he was still alive."

As the shooting started in earnest Jabber Salman, a lawyer on his way to the Ministry of Justice for a noon meeting, described people crying and shouting. "Some people were trying to escape by crawling," he said. "Some people were killed in front of me."

As Mr. Salman tried to drive away from the shooting, bullets came one after another through his rear windshield, hitting his neck, shoulders, left forearm and lower back. "I thought, ‘I’m sorry they are going to kill me and I can do nothing.’"

Iraqi investigators believe that during the shooting Blackwater helicopters flew overhead and fired into the cars from above. They say that at least one the car roofs had bullets through them. Blackwater has denied that its helicopters discharged any weapons.

Minutes after the first shootings, a Blackwater convoy arrived at the other side of the square, where civilian traffic was also backed up, and shot into cars, according to an Iraqi official who is a member of the investigation committee set up by the Iraqi government.

"I found three people from that incident in Khadimiya hospital," the Iraqi official said. "One died and two were injured. Why is the private security shooting again in this area?"

Two weeks after the events that claimed the life of Mrs. Kadhim and her son, her husband, Haithem Ahmed, her daughter Mariam and her younger son, Haider, are still bewildered.

"My son was very gentle, very clever," Mr. Ahmed said, looking down at the floor of the police investigation center where he had come to give more details at the request of Iraqi investigators. "He was easy to be around. He planned to be a surgeon."

"She is a beautiful woman," he said of his wife, speaking as if she were still alive.

Then he looked at a picture of his son, captured on a memorial video made by a friend and stored on Haider’s cellphone camera. Seeming to forget there was anyone else in the room, he spoke to the video image.

"I am waiting to meet you in paradise," he said.

Qais Mizher contributed reporting.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/world/middleeast/03firefight.html

IED Attack (XV) Against U.S. Humvee - July 2007

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:00:17 +0200

Exploding U.S. military vehicle

The video was published by the Iraqi insurgent group "Islamic Army of Iraq" in July of 2007. The group claimed responsibility for the attack. The exact date is unknown. The attack apparently took place in Jaif al-Sakhr.

Background article:

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2007-3/20070813.htm

Jamming Systems Play Secret Role in Iraq

By Peggy Mihelich
Cable News Network
August 13, 2007

A silent, invisible battle is being fought against roadside bombs in Iraq. Though the military doesn't like to advertise their use, electronic jamming systems are playing a key role in neutralizing the threat.

"Any weapon we had against IEDs, [improvised explosive devices] was utilized including jamming technology," said Jason Spencer, 29, an Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, engineer who served with the Army in Iraq in 2005.

Vehicle mounted electronic jammers attempt to block a signal going to a radio-controlled IED. The military also uses portable backpack jammers.

"The sophistication of IEDs definitely increased during my time in Iraq," said Spencer. "There was a definite increase in remote detonation."

A signal going to a remote-controlled IED operates on a radio or infrared frequency.

Jamming devices, known as Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare, or CREW systems, attempt to intercept or block a signal before it reaches its intended target, preventing detonation.

One common method is barrage jamming, which knocks out a broad range of radio signals. However, it also knocks out communications used by U.S. troops putting them at increased risk.

"Ideally what you want to be able to do is have something that can grab very precise signals, capture the signals and render them irrelevant without knocking out your own communication," said CNN military analyst retired Army Brig. Gen. James "Spider" Marks.

These technologies represent the last line of defense, Marks said. "We don't want to give our potential enemies an understanding of what we are doing to counter their efforts," he said.

Along with jammers, troops use air surveillance, robots, blast-resistant vehicles and mine rollers as countermeasures. PhotoSee counter-IED technologies in Iraq »

IEDs are the No. 1 source of U.S. and alllied casualties in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. From July 2003 to July 2007, 1,565 coalition forces were killed by IEDs, according to iCasualties.org.

"We dealt with hundreds of IEDs while in theater," said Spencer. "IEDs were always on our minds during every patrol."

Spencer says IEDs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. "From a simple mortar round on the side of the road with a fuse and a wire running to a push-button, to complex explosives poured into concrete (shaped like curbs) with remote detonators and booby traps."

Most roadside bombs are remotely detonated using common household devices: cell phones, garage door openers, burglar alarms, key fobs, doorbells, or remote controls for toy cars.

"Our enemy hides in plain sight. He buys his bomb parts in stores. It's standard commerce," said Marks.

U.S. forces are dealing with an adaptive, innovative and flexible enemy, according to the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO, which is leading the counter-IED effort for the military.

As insurgents modify their devices to outwit the military, the military in turn adapts its own jamming technologies.

Many companies have been tapped to supply jammers to coalition forces. JIEDDO is interested in technologies that can be used in the field within two to eight months - "light speed" in Defense Department terms.

The Army's main CREW system is the Warlock Duke, a vehicle- mounted radio jammer developed by Syracuse Research Corporation. It's capable of jamming most radio-controlled IEDs, according to the Pentagon.

The Navy, which oversees the CREW program, contracted BAE Systems to produce 3,800 wearable jammers to be fielded in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2008.

Canadian firm Med-Eng is building jammers for the Marines, reports military contractor General Dynamics.

By the end of 2007, JIEDDO will have funded more than 30,000 jammers for Marine and Army units. They have spent $1.6 billion on jamming technology for this fiscal year.

"This gear saves lives every day," wrote retired Gen. Montgomery Meigs, director of the Joint IED Defeat Organization, in a column titled "On the Offensive: The Battle Against IEDs."

One in six IEDs causes casualties in Iraq, JIEDDO reports. To remain effective the enemy "must expose himself more and take higher risks to do his ugly work," Meigs said.

In January, the Government Accounting Office launched a review of JIEDDO and its efforts to counter IEDs. The Defense Science Board criticized the agency for focusing too much on defensive countermeasures "to which the enemy quickly adapts, making these efforts less effective," in an April 2006 report.

JIEDDO is fully cooperating with the GAO, said Col. Dewey Ford, director of strategic communications for JIEDDO. He added that Congress has long supported eliminating the IED threat.

JIEDDO said it is aggressively going after the bomb makers, working to destroy their networks. The agency acknowledges that the mission won't be achieved merely by technical means.

"The best way to counter the IED threat is through understanding the network that allows an IED to even be assembled," said Marks, who supports JIEDDO's work.

"I'd rather have the guy who is going to put that IED in place get killed long before he's even part of the network. And I don't want him to know how I found him out because I want to find out where all his buddies are and kill them too."

External link: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/13/cied.jamming.tech/#cnnSTCText

Interview with 2 U.S. Iraq War Veterans

Thu, 9 Aug 2007 17:18:48 +0200

Iraq War Veterans Lemieux & Rieckhoff
Excerpt of the Henry Rollins Show

The video is an excerpt of the original television interview with Jason Lemieux and Paul Rieckhoff, which was aired on the "Henry Rollins Show" of the "Independent Film Channel" (IFC) on June 15th, 2007. The excerpt was originally posted on youtube on June 16th, 2007 (external link). Information about the program can be found on the website of the Henry Rollins Show (external link).

Background article:

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2007-3/20070807-1.htm

Shelters Take Many Vets of Iraq, Afghan Wars
Also housing those from earlier eras

By Anna Badkhen
Boston Globe
August 7, 2007

Northampton - After Kevin returned from Iraq, he spent most nights lying awake in his Army barracks in Hawaii, clutching a 9mm handgun under his pillow, bracing for an attack that never came.

His fits of sleep brought nightmares of the wounded and dying troops whom Kevin, a combat medic, had treated over 16 months of suicide attacks and roadside bombings. He kept thinking about an attack that killed 13 of his comrades. He hated himself for having survived.

Soon he was drinking so heavily that the Army discharged him. He moved back in with his parents in Narragansett, R.I., and drank even more, until they asked him to leave. Less than two years after he returned, Kevin became one of a growing number of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who are now homeless.

"I lived in my car, at the Wal-Mart parking lot," said Kevin, who asked that his last name not be published because he is considering reenlisting. He has been staying at a homeless shelter in Northampton since early July.

Kevin's tailspin encapsulates a little-researched consequence of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As more troops return from deployments, social workers and advocates expect the number of the homeless to increase, flooding the nation's veterans' shelters, which are already overwhelmed by homeless veterans from other wars.

"It's a major problem that's not going away anytime soon," said Cheryl Beversdorf, director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans in Washington, who estimates that hundreds, perhaps thousands of troops who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are living in shelters.Kevin's story illustrates the lagging response of overburdened government agencies to the needs of troops returning from wars, said Jack Downing, who runs the shelter where Kevin and four other veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are staying.

"The general public believes that when a vet comes home, he's well taken care of," Downing said. "That's a horrible misunderstanding."

No one keeps track of how many of the 750,000 troops who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 are homeless. Peter Dougherty, director of homeless programs for the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, said 300 veterans of these conflicts have asked the agency for help finding shelter in the last 30 months. Beversdorf's agency has helped 1,200 homeless veterans of the current wars.

This reflects only a fraction of the total number of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, said Amy Fairweather, who works with Iraq war veterans at Swords to Plowshares, a private organization based in San Francisco that assists veterans. Last year, her agency's five shelters in California helped 250 such veterans, she said.

She said it is impossible to know how many veterans have not asked for help and are "crashing on their friends' couch, in a car, in a park ... [or are] people who live in a church."

Social workers say combat trauma is responsible for the plunge into homelessness for many veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Unable to cope, veterans turn to alcohol and drugs, lose their jobs and the support of their family and friends, and end up on the streets, said Larry Fitzmaurice, whose homeless shelter in Boston is currently providing beds to seven veterans of the Iraq war.

Mental problems "really interfere with the ability to maintain a stable relationship, to maintain a secure employment," Fairweather said.

Army studies have found that up to 30 percent of soldiers coming home from Iraq suffer from depression, anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder.

Dougherty and other specialists who work with homeless veterans say the pattern of homelessness has changed. The approximately 70,000 veterans of the war in Vietnam who became homeless usually spent between five and 10 years trying to readjust to civilian life before winding up in the streets, he said. Veterans of today's wars who become homeless end up with no place to live within 18 months after they return from war, according to Dougherty.

Dougherty said the Department of Veterans Affairs is supposed to recognize and address combat trauma and help the new generation of veterans readjust in civilian life. But he acknowledged that many veterans "become homeless because there is not a support system."

"There are more services available to veterans returning today, but I still don't think there's enough," said Allison Alaimo, who works at the shelter for homeless veterans operated by Massachusetts Veterans Inc. in Worcester. Alaimo said her shelter has hosted a few veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

Joe, who also stays at the Northampton shelter, sustained a traumatic brain injury during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when he manned a 155mm howitzer for the Third Infantry Division.

"My first time killing somebody was very devastating," he recalled, saying that he fired at a minivan carrying a family of 12 unarmed civilians. "Just one woman survived."

Joe said he spent his first year back drinking, abusing drugs, and going AWOL from his military base at Fort Stewart, Ga. He said he was trying to shut off the horrible fits of screaming and violence brought on by his brain injury and his memories of the most disturbing moments of his war.

"Two months after I'm back from Iraq I'm shooting heroin," said Joe, staring into space at the shelter, where he has been staying for three months. Since he was discharged from the Army in 2004, he has been living in shelters and abandoned houses and staying with relatives and friends. He stole and dealt drugs to support his habit. He asked that his full name not be used because he has a criminal record.

Kevin said that at least two of his friends have become homeless since his deployment with the 25th Infantry Division ended in 2005. One stayed in Hawaii, "because you've got beaches you can sleep on," Kevin said. The other, he said, moved to the Salt Lake City area, "because out there, if you're homeless, you get meals, you get money" from Mormon charities.

As the wars continue, the number of homeless veterans is "going to radically swell," Downing said. Downing and others who work with homeless veterans said the government is not prepared to assist those troops; a recent report by the Government Accountability Office said there are some 200,000 homeless veterans and only 15,000 beds for them at shelters. At least 9,600 more beds are needed, the report said. No government agency provides permanent housing for homeless veterans, said Beversdorf.

"We're just the fallout, you know?" Joe said in the garden of the shelter. Under the trees, several homeless Vietnam War veterans stood in the shade, smoking in silence. "We fall through the cracks."

External link: http://tinyurl.com/2p8tzk

IED Attack (XIV) Against U.S. Meerkat Vehicle

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 01:49:15 +0200

IED attack on U.S. Meerkat Vehicle

The video was published by the Iraqi insurgent group "Jaish al-Mujahideen" in July of 2007. The group claimed responsibility for the attack. The exact date and location of the attack is unknown.

Background article:

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2007-3/20070728.htm

Homemade Explosives Latest Trouble for U.S.

By Drew Brown
Stars and Stripes
July 28, 2007

Kalsu, Iraq - Insurgents in Iraq have begun using a lethal combination of homemade explosives and large buried bombs that have resulted in a series of catastrophic attacks against U.S. troops.

U.S. military officials say that in recent months they've seen a rise in the insurgents' use of "HME," or homemade explosives, made from fertilizer and other commercially available items. U.S. troops are also encountering more "deep-buried" bombs than at any other time in the past four years.

It's unclear if there is a direct correlation between the increased use of homemade and deep-buried bombs. Military officers who specialize in tracking bombs say that in 30 percent to 40 percent of all blasts in Iraq, the composition of the explosive mix and their method of ignition remain unknown.

Both homemade and deep-buried bombs appear to be used almost exclusively by Sunni insurgents. Shiite extremists specialize in the use of the "explosively formed projectile," or EFP, which U.S. commanders in Iraq say are being supplied by elements of Iran's hard-line regime.

Although EFPs and deep-buried bombs make up only a small percentage of all bomb blasts in Iraq, they are responsible for most casualties, experts say.

"EFPs and deep-buried IEDs constitute about 14 to 15 percent of all IEDs in Iraq, but they cause the vast majority - about 75 to 85 percent - of all casualties," said Navy Cmdr. Tom Lang, electronic warfare officer for the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, which operates south of Baghdad.

More than 3,600 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the war began. Nearly 1,500 have been killed by IEDs, according to independent researchers with Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

According to the group, which compiles its statistics based on Defense Department press releases and news accounts, 88 U.S. Soldiers were killed by IED blasts in May, the worst monthly total so far in the war.

In Sunni-dominated areas from Diyala province northeast of Baghdad to regions south of the capital, U.S. commanders routinely describe deep-buried IEDs as the biggest threat to their troops.

Commanders say insurgents are using the explosives specifically to target tanks, Strykers, Bradleys and other armored vehicles that are built to withstand heavy blasts.

"It's a trophy kill," said Maj. Kevin Luke, commander of the 2-5 Military Transition Team, in Diyala province.

In Diyala alone, where fighting has raged since many Sunni militants fled Baghdad earlier this year, deep-buried bombs have been used in several devastating attacks.

In Baqouba, a deep-buried bomb exploded May 6 underneath a Stryker carrying troops from the 3rd Stryker Brigade's 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. The blast killed six Soldiers and a Russian photojournalist. The bomb was buried in a sewer line that ran underneath one of the city's main markets.

A deep-buried bomb on Memorial Day killed six 6-9 Armored Reconnaissance Squadron troops near Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baqouba, when it exploded underneath their Bradley.

"The Soldiers were clearing [the area]; they were using every single mitigating factor," said Maj. Jeff Settle, the 6-9 Armored Reconnaissance Squadron's executive officer.

Another deep-buried bomb on May 18 in Tahrir, near Baqouba, killed three Soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division's 1-12th Combined Arms Battalion.

"We travel these roads thousands of times, then suddenly a catastrophic IED goes off," said Lt. Col. Morris Goins, the 1-12th's commander.

During Operation Arrowhead Ripper, an offensive launched June 18 to clear insurgents from Baqouba, U.S. commanders were so wary of the deep-buried threat that troops conducted only foot patrols until the city's streets and alleyways had been thoroughly scouted and cleared.

More than 100 bombs were destroyed during the first two weeks of the offensive, including several sites that were known or suspected to contain deep-buried explosives. Many were eliminated by artillery and airstrikes.

In Operation Marne Torch, which began June 15 south of Baghdad, and Operation Marne Avalanche, which began July 15, commanders have taken a similarly cautious approach.

"If it looks bad, we just blow it up," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of Task Force Marne, which is spearheading the two operations.

According to Col. James Adams, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division deputy commander, troops have discovered at least five other deeply buried bombs and have been tipped off about at least three others since Operation Marne Torch began.

Brigade commanders say they are also finding a significant amount of homemade explosives.

According to a civilian Army contractor with expertise in explosives, insurgents in the region are switching to the use of homemade explosives because the components are readily available and U.S. forces appear to have been successful in interdicting the flow of conventional munitions.

"They're going to HME because they don't have the access to the munitions like they did before," said the contractor, who asked not to be identified because it's against his company's policy.

The contractor said HMEs are also relatively easy to make. Common components include fertilizer, nitric acid, acetone and "any kind of oxidizer."

"HME has been around for some time, but it's becoming more prevalent because it's cheap, and they can make large quantities of it," the contractor said.

Capt. Don Braman, commander of the 25th Infantry Division's Troop B, 1st Battalion, 40th Cavalry Regiment, said his forces encountered virtually no homemade explosives last October when they arrived near Adwaniyah, a predominately Sunni area just south of Baghdad. By February, however, they began to see it more and more.

Since then, his troops have discovered at least two sites where homemade explosives were being manufactured and three other sites used for drying a fertilizer-based explosive.

"At first, we didn't know what it was," Braman said. "They spread the stuff out so that it doesn't look incriminating."

Braman said insurgents then add gasoline and another chemicals to create the explosive mix.

"They dry it out and pack it into a five-gallon can, and that's their bomb," he said.

"Until you've been here for a long time, I don't think people really give [the insurgents] credit for what they can do," Braman said.

External link: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,143977,00.html

Firefight between Insurgents and U.S. Troops in Diyala Province

Sun, 8 Jul 2007 01:40:33 +0200

Insurgents fire a rocket
Video screenshot

The video clips was released by the insurgents group "Ansar Al-Sunnah" in late June of 2007. The video was shot in the Diyala province during the attacks by U.S./Iraqi forces against local insurgents.

Background article:

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2007-2/20070619-1.htm

Analysis: US-Iraqi Assault in Diyala

By Jim Muir
BBC News
June 19, 2007

The new operation launched by American and Iraqi troops in Diyala province and its capital Baquba, just north of Baghdad, is one of the biggest campaigns undertaken by US troops since the invasion in 2003.

Codenamed Arrowhead Ripper, the operation involves some 10,000 troops - probably around 6,000 US and 4,000 Iraqis - lifted in by helicopters and backed by massive firepower in the shape of tanks, artillery and close air support.

The first focus of the operation seemed to be on the western quarters of Baquba itself, where fighters from al-Qaeda and likeminded radical Sunni groups have become deeply entrenched in recent months, with government control and services withering away.

First reports from the US-led coalition said 22 "anti-Iraqi forces" had been "engaged and killed" in the early hours of the assault, which began in earnest overnight on Tuesday.

An Iraqi military spokesman later said that 11 "terrorists" had been killed and 21 arrested.

'Civilians trapped'

There was no official acknowledgement of civilian casualties.

But the head of Baquba's emergency services told the BBC not long after the operation began that at least 12 civilians had been killed by the end of the first day, including three women.

He said that there were certainly more civilian casualties, but ambulances were being prevented by US troops from going in to evacuate them.

A number of houses had been destroyed, and there were fears that civilians might be trapped in the rubble.

People had been told by Iraqi army loudspeakers to keep off the streets and stay indoors.

Operation priorities

The goal of the operation, spelled out by the commander of coalition forces in the area, Brig Gen Mick Bednarek, was "to destroy the al-Qaeda influences in this province and eliminate their threat against the people".

US military commanders made it clear that this meant killing or capturing Sunni militants rather than allowing them to escape, regroup and return once the heat was off, as has happened elsewhere in the past.

Part of the plan seems to be to bring about a swift restoration of Iraqi government services and activities, which have been virtually suspended in some areas for months, with provincial council budgets largely unspent.

One of the priorities, Gen Bednarek said, would be "getting the Iraqi ministries engaged to provide fundamental goods and services, such as food, fuel, displaced persons support, and education".

'Anti-al-Qaeda council'

The collapse of state services left a vacuum which insurgents were able to exploit in Baquba, just as both Shia and Sunni factions have done - and continue to do - in parts of Baghdad.

Filling that vacuum with state authority will clearly be a crucial part of the campaign to prevent the insurgents from staging a comeback once the focus has moved on.

In Baquba, US forces had also already been pursuing a tactic which has apparently paid off in Anbar province, west of Baghdad.

Insurgent activity in Anbar has dropped off noticeably since some of the local Sunni tribes and groups turned against the al-Qaeda-related radical Islamist factions, some of which are believed to have moved over to Baquba and Diyala province as a result.

A "Diyala Salvation Council" has been established, similar to that set up by Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar, to resist al-Qaeda and support the government.

Some former insurgents from nationalist Sunni groups - such as the 1920 Revolution Brigade - are reported to have been armed by the US military in exchange for co-operation against the outside Islamist militants.

'Surge' in Baghdad

US officials are clearly hoping that a combination of vigorous military action, the revival of government services and bringing on board hitherto alienated sections of local Sunni opinion may succeed in keeping the hardcore Sunni radicals out.

The Diyala campaign is part of a broader strategy of tackling a whole belt of territory circling Baghdad, into which it is believed some of the activity of both Sunni insurgents and Shia militias has been displaced by the four-month-old security "surge" in the capital, now coming to its peak.

Although US troop levels, at around 160,000, are now as high as at any time since the invasion, American commanders say it will be some time before the effect is felt.

The American ambassador, and the commander of US forces, are to report to Washington in September with a preliminary assessment of how the plan is going, in both military and political terms.

The stated aim of the "surge" is to "buy time" for Iraqi leaders to take steps towards national reconciliation, which have been slow in coming.

US commanders admit the crackdown has yet to achieve many of its objectives.

As the latest bomb attack in Baghdad - the most deadly for over two months - underlined, the "surge" has not managed to prevent bombers from carrying out spectacular outrages.

The number of bodies being found in the streets of the capital, believed to be mainly those of Sunnis abducted, tortured and killed by Shia militias, has also been on the rise again, after dipping in March and April.

Police said that in the past 24 hours, 21 bodies had been found. On some recent days, the number has been 30 or above. Before the surge, it was often above 50.

External link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6769391.stm

IED Attack (XIII) Against U.S. RG-31 Nyala Vehicle

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:49:51 +0200

IED Attack in Falluja
Screenshot from the video

The featured video has been produced and distributed via the Internet by the Iraqi insurgent group "Islamic State of Iraq" (ISI). The exact date of the attack is not known, but it probably happened shortly before the video was released over the Internet on June 6th, 2007. The location is Falluja.

Background article:

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2007-2/20070523-3.htm

US Losses in Iraq Spike from IED Attacks

The improvised roadside bombs have proved a lethal tool for insurgents this spring.

By Gordon Lubold
Christian Science Monitor
May 23rd, 2007

Washington - The number of American troops killed by homemade bombs in Iraq has nearly doubled this spring, since the "surge" of forces began, a stark reminder of the dangers there and a trend that intensifies pressure on the Pentagon agency charged with defeating the bombs.

As of Tuesday, the Defense Department confirms that 377 service members have been killed under hostile circumstances since Jan. 1 - with 265 of those deaths, or 70 percent, attributed to improvised explosive devices. That rate represents the average normally attributed to deaths from the bombs, called IEDs.

But the trend line is not good. In each of the past two months, the share of deaths attributed to IEDs has jumped to 83 percent, according to Pentagon data.

The simple explosives are hidden in cars, planted in the ground, or strapped to suicide bombers. But over the past month insurgents have begun placing them in trucks to achieve greater impact, Defense officials say.

The actual number of service members - including soldiers, marines, and other troops - killed by IEDs rose from 39 in January to 78 in April. As of last Saturday, 48 more American service members have been killed by IEDs since the beginning of May, including seven who died Saturday (six of them in one attack in Baghdad).

The result is more scrutiny for the Pentagon organization that some believe should lead the effort to minimize the use of the improvised explosive device, eliminate the No. 1 killer of US troops, and thereby fundamentally change the nature of the war for US forces in Iraq.

That is an enormous order for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), created as a task force to defeat IEDs in 2004 and formalized as an agency last year. It has spent more than $6 billion so far but has been criticized by some in Congress for not spending enough - or showing that it is getting results.

The soft-spoken head of the agency, Montgomery Meigs, a retired Army four-star general, acknowledges that his organization could do better at getting the word out. But it is spending its money, and it's having an effect, he says.

"We are making steady progress and playing our role in helping units deal with this problem," he says.

Some of the data that would show the agency's successes is classified, Mr. Meigs says. That leaves him able to provide little publicly that would illustrate just what the organization has achieved in the past few years. Still, his main argument for JIEDDO's effectiveness is that the number of IED incidents causing troop casualties has generally remained steady since January 2004, while the number of IED attacks has increased dramatically.

"The amount of casualties has remained about the same. It's got peaks and valleys, but it's stayed about the same. But the number of IEDs has steadily gone up," he says during an interview in his office not far from the Pentagon. "And the proportion of the IEDs that we find - and that are ineffective or blow up and nobody's hurt – has gotten larger, so this is the important chart."

Additionally, it is taking the enemy six times the number of attacks to kill just one coalition force member, Meigs says.

As for congressional criticism that the JIEDDO hasn't spent enough of its budget - $4.4 billion in fiscal 2007 if Congress honors its full request this year - Meigs says the organization has spent the money.

In fact, he says, the agency has committed almost all its current funding, which means it has paid other agencies for equipment and services - and those agencies have in turn spent about 70 percent of those funds in a short time.

That's not good enough for Rep. Adam Schiff (D) of California, an appropriator who remains concerned that the JIEDDO isn't having enough effect. Insurgents have made more progress than has the IED-fighting organization, he says. "You still have an increase in casualties at the end of the day," he says. "That's the most disturbing fact."

The JIEDDO has redirected much of its budget to focus on defeating terrorist networks that plant IEDs. In part that's because the agency has already bought much of the jamming, radio, and other equipment used to defeat IEDs. It's also a sign that attacking the source of the trouble may a more effective approach to the problem. It also helped to spearhead an effort to build trucks that can withstand such explosions. So-called Mine Resistant Ambush Protection vehicles have become the focal point of force-protection initiatives in the Pentagon now.

The efforts leave many officials to ponder the possibilities of altering the course of the war. "The country needs to focus on one thing and that is defeating IEDs," says a Defense official. "If we could figure that out, we could change the face of the war."

External link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0523/p01s04-usmi.html

The Lynching of Du’a Khalil Aswad/Demonstration of Iraqi Women

Wed, 16 May 2007 00:45:11 +0200

Stoned to death for the ‘honor’ of men
Du’a Khalil Aswad

Background - April 7th, 2007

"[...] On 7 April, [17-year-old Du’a] returned home after she had converted to Islam in order to marry a Sunni Muslim who was also a Kurd. She had been told by a Sunni Muslim cleric that her family had forgiven her for her elopement and conversion.

Instead she was met in Bashika by a large mob of 2,000 people led by members of her family. What happened next was captured in a mobile phone video. It shows a dark-haired girl dressed in a red track suit top and black underwear with blood streaming from her face. As she tries to rise to her feet she is kicked and hit on the head with a concrete block.

Armed and uniformed police stand by watching her being killed over several minutes. Many in the crowd hold up their phone cameras to record the scene. Nobody tries to help her as she is battered to death. [..]" - Excerpt of a "Counterpunch" article from May 8th, 2007.

The Lynching Video

1) The video was shot with a cellphone by un unknown participant and henchman of the murder of Du’a Khalil. Present during the murder were apparently male members of Du’a Khalil’s family and other men, possibly, firneds of the family. Judging from the video and from the news articles, at least 1,000 men participated in the murder of Du’a Khalil. - April 7th, 2007 - Bashika, Iraq.

The Demonstration Video

2) Iraqi women held a protest over the killing of Du'a Khalil Aswad, 17, from the minority Kurdish Yezidi religious group, who was stoned to death last month apparently as punishment for her relationship with a Muslim teenager. - May 2007 - Mosul, Iraq.

BBC Documentary on Abu Sifa/Isahaqi Massacre

Sun, 6 May 2007 23:47:24 +0200

Destroyed house after aerial attack
Video Screenshot

New ‘Iraq Massacre’ Tape Emerges

BBC News
June 2, 2006

The BBC has uncovered new video evidence that US forces may have been responsible for the deliberate killing of 11 innocent Iraqi civilians.

The video appears to challenge the US military's account of events that took place in the town of Ishaqi in March.

The US said at the time four people died during a military operation, but Iraqi police claimed that US troops had deliberately shot the 11 people.

A spokesman for US forces in Iraq told the BBC an inquiry was under way.

The new evidence comes in the wake of the alleged massacre in Haditha, where US marines are suspected of killing up to 24 Iraqi civilians in November 2005 and covering up the deaths.

The incident is being investigated by the Pentagon.

The US military has announced that coalition troops in Iraq are to have ethical training following the furore surrounding the alleged killings.

For the next 30 days, they would receive lessons in "core warrior values", a military statement said.

The news of ethical training for US-led troops is likely to be greeted with cynicism by many Iraqis, the BBC's Ian Pannell in Baghdad says, as the troops have long been accused of deliberately targeting civilians.

Cross-checked

The video pictures obtained by the BBC appear to contradict the US account of the events in Ishaqi, about 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on 15 March 2006.

The US authorities said they were involved in a firefight after a tip-off that an al-Qaeda supporter was visiting the house.

According to the Americans, the building collapsed under heavy fire killing four people - a suspect, two women and a child.

But a report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building.

The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds.

The pictures came from a hardline Sunni group opposed to coalition forces.

It has been cross-checked with other images taken at the time of events and is believed to be genuine, the BBC's Ian Pannell in Baghdad says.

External link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5039420.stm

IED Attack (XII) Against U.S. Nyala Minesweeper Vehicle

Sun, 6 May 2007 13:04:30 +0200

IED destroying U.S. minesweeper
Video screenshot

The featured video has been produced and distributed via the Internet by the Iraqi insurgent group "Islamic State of Iraq" (ISI). The exact date and the location of the attack are not known, but it probably happened shortly before the video was released over the Internet on April 25th, 2007.

Background article:

http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2007-1/20070430-1.htm

Iraq Insurgents Bomb Minesweeper

Wired News
April 30, 2007

Iraqi insurgents are continuing their claims of being able to beat American bomb-fighting gear. The latest: a video from the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), announcing "the first use of a new IED designed to target minesweepers in Iraq," IntelCenter reveals. "The group’s al-Furqan Media released a written statement, dated 25 Apr. 2007, and a 1'36" video showing the first use of the device against a US RG-31 Nyala minesweeper. The IED has been dubbed by the ISI, ‘The Sweeper of Minesweepers.’"

ISI said in the statement, "A so-called minesweeper was completely destroyed after we heard the spokesman on behalf of the so-called Baghdad security plan say that the Iraqi forces have received equipment and special systems for the detection of mines and explosives. The soldiers of the Islamic State of Iraq specializing in the hunting of minesweepers used for the first time a special explosive manufactured to be used on Iraqi minesweepers.

"The testing of the explosive on an American minesweeper proved to be very successful. We wish to point out [to the Iraqi government] that this operation is an attack on a minesweeper of the American forces; can you then imagine what would happen to your petty vehicles? The soldiers of The Islamic State [of Iraq] are happy to use this newly-made bomb, dubbed ‘The Sweeper of Minesweepers,' on a wide scale in the Islamic State [of Iraq]. We say to the apostate army, expect what will afflict you, for this only the first drop in a rainstorm."

The Marines recently announced that in 300 attacks since last year, no troops died while riding in the next-gen armored vehicles which, like the Nyala, have bomb-deflecting hulls. Of course, the right kind of explosive will destroy even the most heavily-armored vehicle; look at what happened to that British tank last week.

Mostly likely, ISI’s "special explosives" which targeted the Nyala are "explosively-formed projectiles." Those are the "superbombs" which the Pentagon has been claiming are Iranian-made - but many, including DANGER ROOM’s David Hambling, believe are being constructed in Iraq.

The bigger concern, however, is how well have insurgents been able to counter American bomb jammers - either through command-line detonation, laser-triggering, or some kind of new radio-frequency device? A reliable method could wreak havoc on American forces.

External link: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/iraq_insurgents.html

Sniper Attacks (III) Against U.S. Troops

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 23:55:04 +0200

Target of Iraqi snipers: U.S. soldiers
Screenshot of the video

The video was published on the Internet by the Iraqi insurgent group "Jaish al-Mujahideen" in February of 2007. The group claimed responsibility for the attacks. The exact dates and locations of the attacks are unknown.

Drive through "Liberated" Ramadi

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:50:17 +0200

Destroyed but "safe": Ramadi

The video has been shot during a patrol tour of Ramadi in April of 2007. It was produced by U.S. soldier Krista Finley from the unit HHC 1 BDE 3 ID. The original title of the video was "The city of Ramadi - Images of Buildings and People in Ramadi, Iraq"

Suicide Bomb Attack on Iraqi Parliament

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:14:52 +0200

The aftermath of the attack
Photo by Ceerwan Aziz/Reuters

The video is footage from al-Hurrah television. A Shiite member of the Iraqi parliament, Jalaluddin al-Sagheer, was giving a television interview when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the canteen of the Iraqi parliament.

Mass Demonstration in Najaf against U.S. Forces

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 02:55:22 +0200

Iraqis protest against the occupation
Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye

Moqtada Rallies Shia to Demand Withdrawal of Foreign Troops

By Michael Howard
The Guardian
April 10, 2007

Wrapped in the Iraqi flag and chanting anti-American slogans, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shia snaked into the holy city of Najaf yesterday for a protest rally to mark the fourth anniversary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein and to demand the ejection from Iraq of US and British troops.

The huge procession of mainly men and young boys had braved the roads from Baghdad - and towns across southern Iraq - to march from the holy city of Kufa to Najaf, one of Shia Islam's most sacred sites. Flanked by hundreds of Iraqi police, they shouted "Yes! Yes! Iraq. No! No! America" amid a sea of banners and Iraqi flags. "We were liberated from Saddam. Now we need to be liberated again," read one placard. "Stop the suffering, Americans leave now," demanded another.

The march was a show of strength by the powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who had called for a peaceful mass protest to express opposition to "Iraq's occupiers". Ali Hussein, a member of Mr Sadr's al-Mahdi militia from Baghdad, said that about 1m-1.5 million supporters of Mr Sadr had taken part, though police estimates gave a figure of less than a million. [...]

Video footage by "Sky News".

BBC Documentary on Haditha Massacre

Sun, 1 Apr 2007 00:00:31 +0200

Murderer in Uniform - Justin Sharratt
Photo by Lucien Read

The video is a short BBC News documentary, which was aired on December 21st, 2006, when the U.S. military announced the upcoming military proceedings against eight U.S marines in connection to the Haditha massacre of November 2005.

Congressional Testimony by Valerie Plame Wilson (Excerpt)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:50:01 +0200

Valerie Plame Wilson at hearing
Photo by Larry Downing/Reuters

"[...] Valerie Plame Wilson testified today that the career she loved as an undercover C.I.A. agent was 'over in an instant' when her role was disclosed in the summer of 2003. Speaking in public for the first time about the episode that touched off a scandal in the Bush administration, Ms. Wilson told a House committee that her undercover status 'was not common knowledge on the Georgetown cocktail circuit,' as some people have suggested. Nor did she recommend her husband for a now-famous trip to Africa as some of the couple’s critics have asserted, Ms. Wilson said. Ms. Wilson said she felt as though she had been ‘hit in the gut’ when her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, dropped a newspaper on their bed on the morning of July 14, 2003, and she saw that the columnist Robert D. Novak had mentioned her C.I.A. status in passing. [...]"

Excerpt of a New York Times article from March 16th, 2007.

Urban Combat in Falluja

Tue, 6 Mar 2007 02:11:19 +0100

U.S. troops 'liberating' Falluja

The video features urban street fighting in Falluja during November of 2004. The producer of the video is unkown but most likely a member of the U.S. forces.

Interview with Iraqi Police Rape Victim - February 19th, 2007

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 03:23:34 +0100

Scene from the Interview
Video by Al-Jazeera

"Al Jazeera has reported statements by a Sunni woman that she was raped by three Shia-led police force members after she was detained over the weekend. Iraq's prime minister ordered an investigation into the allegations made by the 20-year-old married woman on Monday, but a senior Iraq police official has disputed the claim. In a statement, Nuri al-Maliki said he "has ordered that the severest punishment be meted out to everyone that's involved in the incident". [...]

The video features an interview with the rape victim.

Firefight between U.S. Troops and Insurgents in Ramadi - 2006

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 02:01:58 +0100

Scene of a firefight in Ramadi

The undated video, which was probably shot in 2006, was recorded by U.S. troops during a firefight with insurgents in Ramadi.

Shooting Down of U.S. Sea Knight Helicopter in the Al-Taji Region - February 7th, 2007

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:42:06 +0100

After the missile attack

On February 7, 2007, the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) posted a communiqué on the Islamist websites and later published the video, in which the group claimed responsibility for the downing of a U.S. Chinook helicopter in Iraq on the same day. According to the message, around 10:40 AM an "Islamic State in Iraq air defense unit" had targeted the helicopter in Al-Karama, destroying it completely. Apparently, it was a Sea Knight helicopter that went down - and not a Chinook.

Shooting Down of U.S. Apache Helicopter in the Al-Taji Region - February 2nd, 2007

Tue, 6 Feb 2007 01:51:15 +0100

On February 4, 2007, Islamist websites posted a 3.5-minute video titled "American Apache Downed in Al-Anbar District Northwest of Baghdad, in the Al-Taji region."

The video was produced by Al-Furqan, the media company of the insurgents group "Islamic State of Iraq", and is part of a series called "The Hell of the Byzantines [i.e. Christians] and Apostates in Iraq."

IED Attacks (XI) Against U.S. Troops in Al-Anbar Province - December/January 2007

Sun, 4 Feb 2007 03:02:52 +0100

The individual 3 video clips were released by the insurgents group "Islamic State Mujahideen of Iraq" in January of 2007. The locations of two of the attacks were near the village Hasiba Al-Sharkia and near the town Ramadi.

Iraq: IED Attack (X) Against U.S. Military Convoy - January 2007

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 01:40:50 +0100

The "Jaish Al-Mujahedeen" insurgents group released the video in January of 2007 and claimed responsibility for the attack. No date was given. The attack happened at a U.S. military base west of Baghdad, according to the group.