1 600 gefallene US-Soldaten im Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's president forecast on Tuesday that British troops could go home by the end of next year but, on another day of killings, Britain's visiting foreign minister cautioned against leaving a "security vacuum".

Iraq's parliament, meeting for the first time after a summer recess, extended a state of emergency, granting Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki extraordinary powers for another month to tackle a Sunni insurgency and sectarian bloodshed.

The monthly renewal of Maliki's emergency powers came as gunmen shot dead four Shi'ite pilgrims, the U.S. military reported the deaths of three more of its soldiers, and Baghdad police found seven bodies with gunshots to the head.


While Washington and London continue to stress the growing independence of the three-month-old sovereign Iraqi government, the U.S. ambassador weighed in to a row over dropping its Saddam-era flag that has prompted talk of secession by ethnic Kurds. President Jalal Talabani said there must be a new flag.

"Unilateral steps by regions or parties on this issue are inappropriate and do not have the support of the United States," U.S. envoy to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said, adding that Washington was committed to "Iraq's unity and territorial integrity".

The Kurdish regional government has banned the use of the Iraqi flag on public buildings as a symbol of oppression under Saddam Hussein. Maliki has demanded the use of the national tricolor and said only parliament can decide on a new flag.

One of parliament's main tasks during the new session will be to decide how federalism in the new Iraq should work. The Kurdish north is largely autonomous, but Talabani stressed on Tuesday that Kurds were not interested in independence.

Asked after meeting Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett for a date when some 7,000 British troops could leave Iraq, Talabani said: "In my personal opinion, by the end of 2007."   Continued...

 

BASRA (Reuters) - A roadside bomb blasted a British patrol near the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Monday, killing two soldiers and seriously wounding a third, a British military spokesman said.

The soldiers were attacked as they escorted a reconstruction team near al-Dayr, 15 km north of Basra, Major Charlie Burbridge said. A fourth soldier suffered minor injuries.

The explosion blew the soldiers' armoured vehicle off the road, ripping the roof apart and crumpling its front, Reuters reporters at the scene said.

A Royal Navy Sea King helicopter evacuated the bodies and the wounded as Danish troops secured the area.



The deaths brought to 117 the number of British soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The Ministry of Defense in London earlier reported that the blast had been followed by machinegun fire, but Burbridge said the shooting had been a separate incident.

The mainly Shi'ite south, where 7,000 British troops are based, has been far more peaceful than Sunni-dominated and ethnically mixed provinces in the center of the country, but there has been a surge in violence in Basra in the past year.

A senior British commander said last month Britain may cut its force in half by the middle of next year after handing over security responsibility for the south to Iraqi forces.

 

Yesterday, the U.S. command reported that two Marines and a sailor have been killed in fighting in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, and one of Iraq's most violent, bringing to eight the number of American troops killed in combat in Iraq since Sunday.

The three soldiers, according to the U.S. military, were all assigned to Regimental Combat Team Five.

According to residents' accounts, the U.S. Army has almost totally lost control over the volatile al-Anbar province, which includes cities like Ramadi and Fallujah; the area called the Sunni Triangle where ?insurgency? has been at its worst.

According to an article published yesterday on Iraq-War. Ru, Al Anbar province and the area surrounding it have witnessed the worst of military occupation, and the strongest resistance.

The U.S. occupiers inflicted great damages on Fallujah and much of cities like Haditha and al-Qa'im in Ramadi, but real control over the area seems to be in the hands of local resistance, the article added.

And with losing control over this province, the U.S. seems to be gradually losing control over Iraq as a whole.

"We are talking about nearly a third of the area of Iraq ," Ahmed Salman, a historian from Fallujah told IPS. "Al-Anbar borders Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, and the resistance there will never stop as long as there are American soldiers on the ground."

Salman described the U.S. military as working against itself, noting that the local resistance is gaining control over the province.

"Their (the U.S. forces?) actions ruin their goal because they use these huge, violent military operations which kill so many civilians, and make it impossible to calm down the people of al-Anbar."

"No government official can do anything without contacting the resistance first," government official in Ramadi told IPS.

"Even the governor used to take their (the resistance) approval for everything. When he stopped doing so, they issued a death sentence against him, and now he cannot move without American protection."

Haditha, Ramadi, Fallujah and the Iraqi capital became the scene of relentless and violent attacks in recent weeks, with several armored vehicles destroyed, and dozens of U.S. occupation troops killed in the al-Anbar province, Iraqi witnesses and the U.S. Department of Defence can confirm.

Ramadi residents reported many attacks in their city. They say that the U.S. soldiers appealed to Iraqis in al-Anbar to stop targeting them, promising to dismantle their bases in Haditha and Habaniyah (near Fallujah) soon.

But Iraqi police Brigadier-General Kahtan al-Dulaimi from Ramadi rejects the idea.

"I do not think that is possible," Mr. Dulaimi told IPS. "I believe no local unit could stand the severe resistance of al-Anbar, and it will be the last province to be handed over to Iraqi security forces."

Al Anbar province witnessed the death of the largest number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

At least 964 U.S. troops have been killed in al-Anbar province, according to the group Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army and Marine engineers started levelling a half-kilometre stretch of low-rise buildings opposite the centre.

"They are trying to create a separation area between the offices of the puppet government and the buildings the resistance are using to attack them," a Ramadi resident said. "But now the Americans are making us all angry because they are destroying our city."

"We're used to taking down walls, doors and windows, but eight city blocks is something new to us," Marine 1st Lt. Ben Klay, 24, said in the U.S. Department of Defence newspaper Stars and Stripes.

Fallujah residents report daily battles between Iraqi-U.S. forces and the resistance fighters.

"The local police force which used to be out of the conflict are now being attacked," said a resident who gave his name as Abu Mohammed. "Hundreds of local policemen have quit the force after seeing that they are considered a legitimate target by fighters."

"The U.S. Army seems so confused in handling the security situation in Anbar," said historian Salman. "Attacks are conducted from al-Qa'im on the Syrian border to Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad, all the way through Haditha, Hit, Ramadi and Fallujah on a daily basis."

"A contributing factor to the instability of the province is the endless misery of the civilians who live with no services, no infrastructure, random shootings and so many wrongful detentions," he added.

 

Bagdad (Reuters) - Bei einem Autobombenanschlag in der irakischen Hauptstadt Bagdad sind am Mittwoch acht Menschen getötet worden.

38 weitere Menschen wurden verletzt, als der Sprengsatz auf einer Hauptstraße im Norden der Stadt während des Berufsverkehrs gezündet wurde, wie die Polizei mitteilte. Eine zweite Bombe sei detoniert als die Polizei den Tatort im Bezirk Kahira abgesperrt habe. Dabei sei jedoch niemand zu Schaden gekommen.

Militante sunnitische Gegner der schiitisch geführten Regierung des Landes verüben immer wieder Anschläge auf belebten Straßen oder Plätzen im Irak. Derzeit ist die Lage jedoch zusätzlich angespannt, weil am Freitag ein wichtiges Schiiten-Fest ansteht, zu dem hunderttausende Gläubige erwartet werden. Deswegen sei mit weiteren Anschlägen in den kommenden zwei Tagen zu rechnen, hieß es in Kreisen des irakischen Innenministeriums.


 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush vowed on Tuesday to prevent al Qaeda from setting up a violent, radical Islamic empire based in Iraq, which he said was Osama bin Laden's ultimate goal.

"We know what the terrorists intend to do because they've told us -- and we need to take their words seriously," Bush said in a speech liberally laced with quotes from bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks five years ago which killed around 3,000 people.

As he sought to bolster support ahead of November elections, Bush also released a White House national strategy for combating terrorism that said Americans are safer five years after the attacks but "we are not yet safe."


Delaware Democratic Sen. Joe Biden said release of the new report showed that even the White House now acknowledged its previous strategy had failed.

"The president has squandered the opportunity to unite the country and the world, instead he has divided both," he said.

White House officials denied Bush's speech and the report were driven by election politics. Recently, the president has returned to one of his time-tested themes, accusing Democrats of being soft on terrorism as he tries to help Republicans retain control of the U.S. Congress.

Addressing the Military Officers Association of America, Bush said Islamic radicals would like to obtain nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction in order to "blackmail the free world and spread their ideologies of hate."

"If we retreat from Iraq, if we don't uphold our duty to support those who are desirous to live in liberty 50 years from now, history will look back on our time with unforgiving clarity and demand to know why we did not act," Bush said.   Continued...

 

"I'm not going to allow this to happen and no future American president can allow it either," he said.

Bush quoted extensively from bin Laden's videotaped messages and writings, comparing him to 20th century dictators like Russia's Vladimir Lenin and Germany's Adolf Hitler.

BIN LADEN LETTER

He cited in particular a letter from bin Laden to the former Taliban ruler, Mullah Omar, that coalition forces found in Afghanistan in 2002.


Bin Laden wrote that al Qaeda should launch a media campaign to tell Americans "their government would bring them more losses, in finances and in casualties," and that they are being sacrificed for big investors, "especially the Jews."

Bush said al Qaeda's vision was to create a "unified totalitarian Islamic state that can confront and eventually destroy the free world."

Bin Laden has declared Iraq "the capital of the caliphate," said Bush, who has often faced criticism for trying to tie Iraq into the broader "war on terrorism."

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the losing presidential candidate in 2004, responded that if Bush had killed bin Laden in late 2001, "he wouldn't have to quote this barbarian's words today."

"Afghanistan is slipping back into chaos, Pakistan is one coup away from becoming a radical Islamic state with nuclear weapons, Iran is closer to a nuclear arsenal, and Iraq has become a recruitment poster for terror," Kerry said.   Continued...

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said it executed 27 "terrorists" in Baghdad on Wednesday after they were convicted of murder and rape.

The convicts came from a number of Iraq's 18 provinces, the government said in a brief statement issued late on Wednesday.

"The death penalty was carried out on 27 terrorists in Baghdad, they were executed after the criminals were convicted in Iraqi courts for carrying out acts of murder and rape," it said.

 

Erneut zehn Tote bei Bombenanschlag in Bagdad

zurückBei der Explosion einer Autobombe sind heute im Osten der irakischen Hauptstadt Bagdad mindestens zehn Menschen getötet und 17 weitere verletzt worden.

Der Sprengsatz detonierte der Polizei zufolge vor dem Eingang einer Tankstelle für Polizeifahrzeuge. Unter den Opfern seien neben Polizisten auch Zivilisten, die nahe dem Anschlagsort in einen Verkehrsstau geraten seien, hieß es.

27 wegen Anschlägen gehängt
Gestern wurden im Irak 27 wegen Terrorakten verurteilte Straftäter hingerichtet. Die größtenteils aus dem Irak stammenden Terroristen seien gehängt worden, teilte ein Sprecher des Innenministeriums mit.

Sie seien zum Tode verurteilt worden, weil sie irakische Zivilisten angegriffen hätten. Die Anordnung für die Exekutionen sei vom irakischen Vizepräsidenten unterzeichnet worden.
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Irakische Regierung untersagt el Arabija Berichterstattung

zurückDie irakische Regierung hat der Bagdader Redaktion des arabischen Fernsehsenders el Arabija für einen Monat die Berichterstattung untersagt.

Die Polizei sei gestern in den Räumen des Senders erschienen, um die Anordnung durchzusetzen, erklärte el Arabija. "Wir wurden nicht offiziell über das Verbot informiert, und wir wissen nichts über die Gründe", sagte Bürochef Dschawad Chatab. Der Sender hat seinen Hauptsitz in Dubai.

Bereits vor zwei Jahren war das Bagdader Büro des arabischen Fernsehsenders al-Jazeera geschlossen worden. Der irakische Ministerpräsident Nuri el Maliki rief die Medien im Juli auf, zurückhaltend über die Gewalt im Land zu berichten, um Extremisten nicht in die Hände zu spielen.

Maliki kritisierte, manche Fernsehsender zögen Kapital aus der Berichterstattung über die Opfer von Anschlägen. Die Regierung werde gegen alle Sender vorgehen, die gegen entsprechende ethische Richtlinien verstießen.
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neuen Al-Qaida Chef im Irak...


(CNN) -- The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq urged his followers to kill at least one American in the next two weeks using a sniper rifle, explosive or "whatever the battle may require," according to an audiotape that aired Thursday on Al-Jazeera.

The Arabic news network identified the man on the tape as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, however CNN was unable to independently verify his identity.

Al-Muhajer took command of the terror network's partner group in Iraq after an American airstrike killed its former leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in June, U.S. officials say.

Al-Muhajer, which means "the immigrant," is the pseudonym adopted by Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian militant believed to be an expert at making car bombs, U.S. officials say.

"I invite you not to drop your weapons, and don't let your souls or your enemies rest until each one of you kills at least one American within a period that does not exceed 15 days with a sniper's gunshot or incendiary devices or Molotov cocktail or a suicide car bomb -- whatever the battle may require," the speaker says on the tape.

The recording is more sophisticated than past tapes released by al Qaeda in Iraq and includes sound effects such as a lion's roar, machine gun fire and a sword being unsheathed.

Producers at times used echo effects on al-Muhajer's voice and included snippets of inspirational songs and verses from the Quran.

On the tape, al-Muhajer blasts Iraq's Sunni Muslim community for cooperating with the Shiite-led and American-backed Iraqi government. He calls for unity among Muslims, "so the word of God can be the highest, and the word of the infidels the lower."

"Our enemy has united its sides against us, and isn't it time to unite, you worshippers of God?" al-Muhajer asks.

The full statement is more than 18 minutes long, and al-Muhajer is introduced in a voice similar to one that introduced al-Zarqawi in previous tapes, said counterterrorism expert Laura Mansfield.

There is no way to tell for certain if the speaker is al-Muhajer because there is no previous recording of his voice to compare it with. But there are "striking similarities" between Thursday's tape and other tapes released by al Qaeda in Iraq shortly after al-Zarqawi's death, she said.

Shootings, blasts kill at least 20
Insurgent attacks ripped across Baghdad on Thursday. At least 20 people were killed and 24 bodies were found dumped in the capital -- killings that bore the hallmarks of sectarian violence.

The bodies were found in various neighborhoods, police said. The dumping of these remains has been linked with Sunni-Shiite retribution killings.

In the bloodiest attack, at least 10 people were killed and several others were wounded when a suicide car blast occurred near Iraqi emergency police headquarters in the southeastern neighborhood of Alwiya, emergency police said.

Three vehicles and nearby shops were damaged in the bombing. Officers were refueling their vehicles in an industrial area behind the police station when the attack took place, police said.

In northern Baghdad, three people were killed and 13 others wounded when a car bomb exploded Thursday morning near a joint police and army patrol in the Qahira neighborhood, a Baghdad emergency police official said. (Watch what happens on a deadly day in Baghdad -- 1:35)

A suicide car bomb also detonated outside a fueling station close to the Iraqi Interior Ministry complex in central Baghdad's Bab al-Shurji district, police officials said. Two police officers were killed and 23 other people were wounded, including six police officers, a source said.

In southern Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, two police officers were killed in a drive-by shooting. Three police officers were wounded when two roadside bombs exploded there.

In western Baghdad, a civilian was killed and four police officers were wounded when a roadside bomb struck a police patrol. Also in that part of the capital, gunmen killed a doctor while he was on his way to work at Yarmouk Hospital.

In southwestern Baghdad's neighborhood of Amil, a roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded 13 others.

In addition, gunmen Wednesday night kidnapped the nephew of Iraqi parliament Speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani in northwestern Baghdad. Ahmad Al-Mashhadani was abducted in the Hurriya neighborhood, police said.

Earlier Wednesday, al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab, had warned colleagues in parliament that Iraq will collapse by year's end if warring groups fail to reconcile.

Other developments
? The Iraqi government Thursday shut down the Baghdad offices of Al-Arabiya, a popular Arabic television station, Al-Arabiya spokesman Najib Ben Cherif said. Authorities did give a reason, he said, only that the government had ordered the offices closed for a month. The Baghdad bureau chief, Jawad al-Hattab, said he learned about the closure from Iraq State TV, which said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office issued the order.

? The Iraqi government has begun taking operational control of its military from the U.S.-led coalition. A handoff ceremony was held Thursday, naming al-Maliki as commander in chief. Iraq's air and naval forces and one of its 10 army divisions -- about 10 percent of the military -- now are under Iraqi control. More units are expected to be transferred at a rate of up to two divisions a month.

? Two U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed Wednesday in Iraq, the U.S. military said Thursday. One soldier was shot and killed "while executing a mission" in northern Iraq. A second died from "injuries sustained from enemy action" in Anbar province. The Marine died of "wounds sustained from enemy action," in Anbar, the military said. The number of U.S. troops killed stands at 2,657 since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

 

LONDON (Reuters) - A British soldier has died from injuries sustained during a shooting incident in Iraq, the Ministry of Defense said on Friday.

A spokeswoman said the soldier, from the 58 Battery of the 12th regiment of the Royal Artillery, was wounded in an attack in al Qurna in the south of the country on Tuesday and died of his injuries on Thursday.

"His injuries were so serious that, despite the best treatment available, the medical team involved were unable to save him," the ministry said in a statement.

Britain has some 7,000 troops in mainly Shi'ite southern Iraq, which has generally been calmer than the center and north of the country. The spokeswoman said 118 British soldiers had now died in Iraq since the start of the conflict.

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's government on Friday defended its decision to close the Baghdad bureau of Al Arabiya television for "sectarian" reporting, despite criticism from media bodies which called the ban an assault on press freedom.

"If al Qaeda wanted reporters to work for it, it could do no better than the reporters for Arabiya," Yasseen Majeed, media advisor to Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said, a day after cabinet voted to close the channel's Baghdad bureau for a month, accusing it of promoting Sunni Muslim insurgent violence.

Arabiya, a pan-Arab satellite network watched by millions in Iraq, rejected the charges. Spokesman Nasser al-Sarami said its reporters adhered to objective reporting. He said Iraq had not informed the channel which story had prompted the ban.


"We have been trying to contact the Iraqi government on their reason ... but our calls have not been answered," he said at the station's headquarters in the Gulf emirate of Dubai.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists added its voice to other international media groups in condemning the decision by a government that is sponsored by the United States and which says it is working to instil democratic values.

"The arbitrary closure of Al Arabiya's Baghdad bureau flies in the face of the Iraqi government's promise to uphold freedom of the press," Executive Director Joel Simon said.

"In a democracy, police do not walk into a television station and stop broadcasts without warning or explanation."

U.S. officials have so far declined to comment.  
 

In comments made to Iraqi state television, Majeed singled out Arabiya's "provocative" coverage of a daylight rampage by gunmen in July through a Sunni Arab neighborhood in Baghdad, an event that heightened sectarian tensions in the city.

He also said Arabiya exaggerated the effects of an explosion near the Interior Ministry last month and accused it of "bias" in reporting on debates in Iraq over the autonomy of federal regions, an issue that causes fierce argument.

Iraq's now dominant Shi'ite Muslim politicians have previously accused media based in other Arab countries where Sunnis dominate, of sectarian bias against them.

Arabiya's rival, Qatar-based Al Jazeera, remains barred from Iraq after a ban imposed two years ago by the U.S.-backed interim government.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the ban on Arabiya, enforced late on Thursday when police shut down the office, was in line with Iraq's right to reinforce internal security.

"The government has long been patient with Arabiya's reporters going beyond the limit," he said, adding the channel had ignored past government warnings.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, who controlled all media, Iraqis have seen a profusion of newspapers and television.

Many of these are controlled by political factions, and Iraqi journalists, who have seen dozens of colleagues kidnapped or killed, complain of intimidation by some officials. Aside from outright threats, some journalists have been taken to court by police and other authorities for defaming them.   Continued...

 

Angabe lt. Pentagon:


http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf  

Seinerzeit auf dem Flugzeugträger. Und so einen haben sie noch ein zweites Mal gewählt.

Die kriegen den Terror einfach nicht in den Griff. Kein Wunder, dass sich für die US-Army immer weniger Freiwillige melden.  

sondern sind typen, die se in irgendwelchen slums weggefangen haben, die sonst verbrecher hätten werden müssen, um was zum fressen zu haben.  

Aufregung
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/.../AR2006091001204.html
"We haven't been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically -- and that's where wars are won and lost."The "very pessimistic" statement, as one Marine officer called it, was dated Aug. 16 and sent to Washington shortly after that, and has been discussed across the Pentagon and elsewhere in national security circles. "I don't know if it is a shock wave, but it's made people uncomfortable," said a Defense Department official who has read the report. Like others interviewed about the report, he spoke on the condition that he not be identified by name because of the document's sensitivity.
Devlin reports that there are no functioning Iraqi government institutions in Anbar,leaving a vacuum that has been filled by the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has become the province's most significant political force, said the Army officer, who has read the report. Another person familiar with the report said it describes Anbar as beyond repair; a third said it concludes that the United States has lost in Anbar.  

der westlichen Provinz im Irak Richtung Jordanien,wo die Sunniten überwiegen,wird ernst genommen,weil er als einer der besten Intelligence Officers der Marine gilt,der geradeaus sagt,was er denkt.Sein Bericht folgte kurz nachdem bereits General John P. Abizaid, der höchste  U.S. commander for the Middle East,geschrieben hatte,dass nach seiner Einschätzung der Iark in einen Zivilkrieg abrutscht.Der Bericht ,der bisher der Washington Post nicht im Original vorliegt,wird zitiert von Leuten,,die ihn gesehen haben.Devlin warnt ,dass der Krieg in der Provinz Anbar ,die 30% des Iraks umfasst ,zwar militärisch nicht verloren wurde, aber politisch.Es gebe keine funktionierenden Regierungsstellen in Anbar,das Vacuum sei von Aöl Quaida gefüllt worden,das die bedeutendste politische Kraft im Irak geworden sei  

"I am often asked why we are in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks," Mr Bush said. "The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat. My administration, the Congress, and the United Nations saw the threat - and after 9/11, Saddam's regime posed a risk that the world could not afford to take.

"The world is safer because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power."

ist die Welt wirklich sicherer geworden oder sind das die Worte eines unfähigen Politikers,der nicht zugeben kann ,wie er im Irak und Afghanistan rumgezündelt hat wegen amerikanischer Wirtschaftsinteressen?  

jeder normal denkende Mensch weiss mittlerweile, dass die Welt durch den Irak-Einmarsch viel unsicherer geworden ist....würde sogar behaupten, der Al Qaida hat der Einmarsch gewaltig in die Karten gespielt...aber der Georgy lügt munter weiter...

füx  

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A Kurdish villager testified Tuesday that he fled an attack by Saddam Hussein's forces 18 years ago, leaving behind his mother and two sisters. Years later, their identity cards were discovered in a mass grave, he said.

"Congratulations! you are in a cage, Saddam," witness Ghafour Hassan Abdullah said as he stared at the ousted president. Hussein later lashed out at "agents of Iran and Zionism" in the courtroom and vowed to "crush your heads."

Abdullah, 29, gave the chilling account during the trial of Hussein and six others for their roles in Operation Anfal, the 1987-88 campaign to suppress a Kurdish revolt in northern Iraq during the final stages of the war with Iran.

Hussein has insisted that the crackdown was directed against Kurdish guerrillas who were allied with Iran in the 1980-88 war.

If convicted, Hussein and the other defendants could face death by hanging.

Abdullah told the court the attack was launched in February 1988 against his village near the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya. Iraqi planes gave cover to advancing ground troops, who shelled Kurdish communities with artillery, he said.

"At night, I heard the screaming of women and children," he said. He said he fled to neighboring Iran, but that his mother and two sisters went missing. Years later, their ID cards were found in a mass grave near Hatra, he said.

Abdullah asked rhetorically why the Kurds, a non-Arab minority, was suppressed under the ousted regime.

"Why? Because we are Kurds. Why did all disasters befall on us? Because we are Kurds."

He turned to Hussein and said: "Congratulations, Saddam. You are in a cage." He demanded compensation for the loss of his family.

Hussein listened silently to the witness. But he lost his temper when one of the lawyers described Kurdish guerrillas, known here as peshmargas, as freedom fighters.

"You are agents of Iran and Zionism. We will crush your heads," Hussein shouted.

Before the judge cut off his microphone, Hussein demanded that the word peshmarga, Kurdish for sacrifice, be stricken from the trial record. He said the Kurdish guerrillas were rebels and "in any country in the world where there is rebellion, the authorities ask the army to defeat it."

The prosecution demanded that Hussein's statement be considered a confession. The presiding judge initially rejected but took note of the request when the prosecution threatened to walk out.

During the session, Hussein also demanded "neutral" experts who were not American examine the identities of the witnesses and the bodies of people allegedly found in mass graves.

Another witness, Kurdish farmer Mahmoud Hama Aziz, said he lost a brother in fighting with Iraqi forces in 1987, months before their village was razed.

"They (Iraqi forces) stole everything in the village, then burned it down," he said in Kurdish, through an Arabic translator.

He said he fled with two friends to the Iranian border, leaving behind a sister-in-law and her five children who later went missing. In 2004 he identified bodies of four of them found in a mass grave in northern Iraq.

The witness also demanded unspecified "compensation" and to be allowed to retrieve the remains of his relatives.

Tuesday's session is the fifth since Hussein's trial on genocide charges against Kurds opened on August 21.

On Monday, Hussein accused Kurdish witnesses of trying to create ethnic divisions by alleging chemical attacks and mass arrests in their villages during the Anfal crackdown that the prosecution says claimed up to 180,000 lives. (Details)

Hussein is awaiting a verdict on October 16 in the first case against him -- the nine-month-long trial over the killings of 148 Shiites in Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt against him there. In that case as well, he and seven other co-defendants could face the death penalty.

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The commander of the U.S. Marine force in Iraq on Tuesday denied his troops had lost control of the vast province they patrol, after newspapers reported his intelligence chief had written a bleak report.

A division led by U.S. Marines has faced some of the highest casualty rates in Iraq patrolling the vast western desert of Anbar, Iraq's biggest province and a center of the Sunni insurgency.

The Washington Post reported that officials who have seen a study by the Marines' top intelligence officer in Iraq say he described the situation in the province as lost. Iraq's Shi'ite-led government holds no sway there and the strongest political movement is the Iraq branch of al Qaeda, it concluded.


The Post said it was the first time a senior U.S. officer had filed such a pessimistic assessment from Iraq, and described it as having had an impact among policymakers in Washington.

But Major General Richard Zilmer, commander of the 2nd Marine Division, said the press reports "fail to accurately capture the entirety and complexity" of the situation in Anbar.

"The classified assessment, which has been referred to in these reports, was intended to focus on the causes of the insurgency. It was not intended to address the positive effects Coalition and Iraqi forces have achieved on the security environment over the past years," he said in a statement.

"In areas where the presence of Iraqi Security Forces is combined with an effective local civil government, we have seen progress made. Not just in the area of security, but in economic development and the establishment of social order and public services," he said.

The statement did not indicate which parts of the province he believed had effective local government. Anbar includes such present and former battlegrounds as Falluja, Ramadi, Haditha and Qaim in the Euphrates valley, sites of some of the heaviest fighting since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.  
 

According to the New York Times, the report described Falluja, which the Marines recaptured from insurgents after two major battles in 2004, and Qaim near the Syrian border as comparative bright spots.

The rest of the province "lacks functional governments and a respect for the rule of law", the Times said.

It said the report had concluded an additional division, some 16,000 troops, would be needed to back up the 30,000 in the province to prevent the situation from getting even worse.

Otherwise "there is nothing (the Marine command) can do to influence the motivation of the Sunni to wage an insurgency," the paper quoted the report as saying.

 

TREFFEN IN TEHERAN
Iran und Irak rücken zusammen
Die früheren Kriegsgegner Irak und Iran wollen enger zusammenarbeiten. Irans Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinedschad bot Regierungschef Nuri al-Maliki an, für mehr Sicherheit im Irak zu sorgen. Beide vereinbarten auch eine gemeinsame Erschließung von Ölfeldern.

Teheran - Es gehe vor allem darum, Sicherheit und Stabilität im Irak herzustellen, sagte Ahmadinedschad heute nach einem Treffen mit Maliki in Teheran. "Die Sicherheit im Irak zu verbessern bedeutet die Sicherheit und die Stabilität in der ganzen Region zu stärken", sagte Ahmadinedschad bei einer gemeinsamen Pressekonferenz mit Maliki. Die iranische Regierung biete dem Nachbarland "unsere gesamte Erfahrung beim Wiederaufbau" an, sagte der iranische Präsident.


DPA
Maliki (l.) und Ahmadinedschad: Schulterschluss in Teheran
Der Erweiterung der Beziehungen zwischen Bagdad und Teheran stehe nichts im Wege. Die Beziehungen zwischen dem Irak und Iran gingen weit über normale nachbarschaftliche Beziehungen hinaus, sagte Ahmadinedschad.

Maliki sprach von einem nützlichen Treffen in zahlreichen Feldern und einem "Wendepunkt" in den bilateralen Beziehungen. Iran sei für Bagdad ein "wichtiges" Land. Die Länder vereinbarten eine engere politische und wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit.

Ursprünglich war erwartet worden, dass Maliki die Regierung in Teheran darum bitten würde, sich nicht in interne Angelegenheiten seines Landes einzumischen. Dies hatte ein Regierungssprecher angekündigt. Während Malikis zweitägigem Besuch sollen Abkommen in den Bereichen Handel, Energie und Verkehr geschlossen werden. Bald soll es Flugverbindungen zwischen den beiden Ländern geben.

Iran will dem Nachbarland auch beim Wiederaufbau der Ölindustrie helfen. Beide Staaten wollen nun bei der Erschließung von Ölfeldern zusammenarbeiten. Eine entsprechende Vereinbarung solle in den kommenden Monaten unterzeichnet werden, sagt Iraks Öl-Minister Hussain al-Scharistani der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters. Dabei werde es um grenzüberschreitende Vorkommen zwischen den beiden Nachbarn gehen. Zudem werde der Irak Rohöl zu iranischen Raffinerien pumpen. Dazu würden beide Länder eine Pipeline bauen.

Unter dem früheren irakischen Präsidenten Saddam Hussein führte der Irak in den 80er Jahren einen achtjährigen Krieg mit dem Nachbarland. Auf beiden Seiten starben hunderttausende Soldaten.

Die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung im Irak ist genauso wie in Iran schiitisch. Unter dem gestürzten Ex-Präsidenten Saddam Hussein, einem Sunniten, wurden die Schiiten unterdrückt. Jetzt beäugen viele sunnitisch geführte arabische Staaten den Aufstieg der Schiiten im Irak und mögliche enge Kontakte zum Iran misstrauisch.

Obwohl die USA die Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Ländern offiziell unterstützen, wird auch dort ein möglicher Einfluss Irans auf die schiitische Regierung gefürchtet. Im Zusammenhang mit dem Konflikt um das iranische Atomprogramm und der harten Haltung der USA wird befürchtet, dass Iran die Gewalt gegen die US-Truppen im Irak schüren könnte.

Nach dem Treffen mit dem iranischen Präsidenten war ein Gespräch Malikis mit dem geistlichen Oberhaupt Irans, Ajatollah Ali Chamenei, geplant. Morgen soll Maliki, der seit fünf Monaten im Irak als Ministerpräsident im Amt ist, den einflussreichen ehemaligen Präsidenten Akbar Haschemi Rafsandschani treffen. Möglich sei außerdem ein Gespräch mit dem Generalsekretär des höchsten nationalen Sicherheitsrates, Ali Laridschani, sagte ein irakischer Vertreter.

Einige schiitische Politiker im Irak haben enge Beziehungen nach Teheran. Maliki, der der schiitischen Sawa-Partei angehört, hatte in den 80er Jahren während Saddams Herrschaft in Iran gelebt.





 

Washington (Reuters) - US-Präsident George W. Bush hat erneut zur Unterstützung des Irak-Kriegs aufgerufen und damit Kritik der oppositionellen Demokraten hervorgerufen.

In seiner Fernsehansprache zum fünften Jahrestag der Anschläge vom 11. September beschwor Bush die Bevölkerung, den "Krieg gegen den Terror" auch als "Kampf um die Zivilisation" zu begreifen. Zugleich drohte er Al-Kaida-Chef Osama Bin Laden Vergeltung an.

"Was immer auch für Fehler im Irak gemacht worden sind, der schlimmste Fehler wäre zu denken, dass uns die Terroristen in Ruhe ließen, wenn wir uns zurückzögen", sagte Bush, dessen Ansprache am Montag zur besten Sendezeit ausgestrahlt wurde. Die Sicherheit der USA hänge "vom Ausgang des Kampfes in den Straßen von Bagdad ab". Die USA hätten noch einen schwierigen Weg vor sich. "Diesen Krieg zu gewinnen, bedarf den entschlossenen Anstrengungen eines vereinten Landes. Daher müssen wir unsere Meinungsverschiedenheiten beiseite schieben und zusammenarbeiten, damit wir die Aufgabe erfüllen, die uns die Geschichte gestellt hat", sagte Bush.

"Amerika wird Sie finden und wird Sie der Gerechtigkeit zuführen", sagte Bush an die Adresse Bin Ladens. Der Islamist gilt als Drahtzieher und Auftraggeber der mit entführten Flugzeugen verübten Anschlägen auf das World Trade Center in New York und das Verteidigungsministerium bei Washington. Eine vierte Maschine, dessen Insassen sich offenbar gegen die Entführer zur Wehr gesetzt hatten, war im Bundesstaat Pennsylvania auf ein Feld gestürzt. Bei den Anschlägen waren fast 3000 Menschen getötet worden. Von dem Al-Kaida-Führer fehlt seit Jahren jede Spur. Kurz vor dem Jahrestag waren Videoaufnahmen aufgetaucht, die ihn im Kreise der Selbstmord-Attentäter zeigten.

Bushs Rede stieß auf scharfen Widerspruch der Demokratischen Partei, die darauf hofft, bei der Wahl im November die Mehrheit in beiden Häusern des Kongresses zu erobern. "Der Präsident sollte sich schämen", sagte Senator Edward Kennedy. Bush habe den Tag der Trauer dazu benutzt, um mit seiner Rede für den Irak-Krieg zu werben, statt der Toten zu gedenken. "Dabei hat er selbst gesagt, der Irak hat mit dem 11. September nichts zu tun", erklärte Kennedy.

Unmittelbar nach den Anschlägen hatte die überwältigende Mehrheit der US-Bevölkerung die Politik ihres Präsidenten gut geheißen und auch den Krieg gegen Afghanistan unterstützt, dessen Taliban-Regierung der Al-Kaida Unterschlupf gewährt hatte. Die Unterstützung für den Irak-Krieg, den Bush 2003 begonnen hatte, ist dagegen erheblich niedriger, und der Präsident kämpft im Wahlkampf für den Erhalt der Mehrheit seiner Republikanischen Partei in Repräsentantenhaus und Senat.