[angelize56]

Originally Posted by gbrumb

It was a rhetorical question really.

I knew that! But one deserving of an answer nonetheless!

Nice weather you're having!!

[linskyjack]

Less we forget, there is a war going on in Iraq---one that is going nowhere fast.

nsurgents Attack Iraq Interior Ministry

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 34 minutes ago

Insurgents launched a surprise attack on Baghdad's heavily guarded Interior Ministry building Monday, killing two police officers and wounding several others, officials said. In southern Iraq, two British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.

Insurgent casualties were unknown in the rare daylight assault, which began soon after sunrise and lasted about 15 minutes. Thunderous explosions could be heard in the center of Baghdad as insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons.

At least four U.S. Apache and Black Hawk helicopters flew over the area in central Baghdad after the firefight, including one with large Red Cross signs on the fuselage.

The Apaches were later joined by U.S. Army patrols in armored vehicles combing the streets to try to hunt down the attackers.

The two British soldiers died when their armored Land Rover was destroyed by a bomb in the Zubeir area, about 12 miles west of Basra. The deaths brought to 95 the number of British military personnel killed in Iraq.

In the northern city of Tal Afar, bodies of three district leaders were found Monday, police said. The three had turned down demands by insurgents to cooperate in their fight with U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Eight Iraqi civilians — including five children — were killed in fighting there Monday, said Dr. Abdul-Aal Kamal of the Tal Afar hospital. Fighting was reported Monday in the western part of the city.

On Sunday, U.S. troops killed seven insurgents in Tal Afar, including six who fired at the Americans from a mosque, the U.S. command said. Iraqi officers said insurgents controlled the center of Tal Afar and their ranks included fighters from Yemen, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command said U.S. jets launched airstrikes on insurgent positions near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, dropping two 500-pound bombs against an insurgent staging area.

The statement also said an Air Force Predator aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles against a mortar firing position near Balad. The statement did not say when the attacks occurred. Elsewhere, the command said Air Force F-16s were in action in the Hit area but gave no other details.

U.S. and Iraqi officials hope the new constitution, which goes to the voters in a referendum Oct. 15, will in time help pacify the insurgency by luring Sunni Arabs from the insurgency. However, Sunni negotiators rejected the constitution and vowed to defeat it in the referendum.

On Monday, Iraq's president said he and the other top Kurdish leader had agreed to changes in the draft constitution to mollify concerns among Arab countries that the wording in the charter loosened Iraqi ties to the Arab world.

The language at issue describes Iraq as an Islamic — but not Arab country — a concession to the non-Arab Kurds who form about 15 percent of the Iraqi population.

In a statement released by his office, Jalal Talabani said he and Massood Barzani agreed "to accept some amendments deemed vital for the Islamic and Arab worlds concerning the Arab League because Iraq is a founding member in the Arab League."

Talabani did not specify what changes in the language had been agreed to by him and Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Some Iraqi officials said last week that the changes could keep the description of Iraq as an Islamic state but add wording about Iraq having been a founding member of the Arab League.

Talabani also expressed frustration that no Arab government has designated an ambassador to Iraq despite assurances received months ago that they would. But the kidnap-slaying of top envoys from Egypt and Algeria in July clearly delayed the move.

The government also hopes that the trial of Saddam Hussein, due to begin Oct. 19, will help quell the insurgency by exposing crimes of his regime. But Saddam's legal advisers complained they don't have enough time to prepare a defense in time.

"How can one review thousands and thousands of pages in just a matter of a few days?" Abdel-Haq Alani told The Associated Press by telephone from London. "This court has been deliberating with the evidence for the past year, but it has been keeping it away from the defense, which is not fair."

The co-defendants include Barazan Ibrahim, the ousted regime's intelligence chief and Saddam's half brother; and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. The others are lesser figures in the Saddam-era intelligence services or ruling Baath Party.

In other developments:

• Baghdad police said 13 civilians were killed overnight or early Monday in several separate incidents. Four civilians died in a car bomb attack on a military convoy.

• Four civilians died and four others were injured when several mortar rounds hit their neighborhood early Monday in the town of Baqouba north of Baghdad, police said.

• Eight civilians were killed in a car bombing in Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, authorities said Monday.

• About 1,500 people rallied in the mainly Sunni town of Ramadi to protest the draft constitution.

[LANMaster]

Hanoi Jane, Mama Moonbat, and Lord Haw Haw

Jane Fonda has canceled her anti-war bus tour, and chosen to team up with two of the most hateful, bigoted “progressives” on the modern scene—Mother Sheehan and George Galloway: Fonda Puts Brakes on Bus Tour.

Jane Fonda told me yesterday she’s scrapped plans for anti-war bus trip next March. As well, Fonda will be making only two appearances this month on another rally with controversial British politician George Galloway, not the eight that were widely misreported in the press yesterday.

Why the change of plans? Certainly, Fonda is still very much against the war in Iraq and in favor of helping our troops there. But she said that she didn’t want to distract people from Cindy Sheehan’s bus trip, already under way and gathering support. ...

Fonda will appear with Galloway — who is vehemently anti-George Bush — in Madison, Wis., on Sept. 18 and in Chicago, Ill., on Sept 19. She told me that “what the right wing has done to Sheehan is despicable.”

Her own decision not to stage a bus tour came because she wants Sheehan’s to succeed without messages being mixed. “I would be a distraction,” she said, “and the vacuum has been filled. That said, I plan to speak out and write some op-ed pieces but no bus tour.”

[angelize56]

More on the GOOD NEWS out of Iraq!

Hallums Family Elated by Rescue in Iraq

Wednesday, September 07, 2005 12:54 p.m. ET
By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Former hostage Roy Hallums' ex-wife said she told him "our prayers were answered" after he called from Iraq with news that he had been rescued by the U.S. military 10 months after he was kidnapped.

"I was just telling him about what was going on," Susan Hallums told CNN. "He didn't know about New Orleans. ... He was very sorry for all the people there."

Coalition troops rescued Hallums on Wednesday morning in an isolated farmhouse 15 miles south of Baghdad, according to the U.S. military.

"I can confirm he's been released," his 53-year-old ex-wife told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview from her home in Corona. "Considering what he's been through, I understand he's in good condition."

A family Web site was topped with a headline: Roy IS FREE!!!!!! 9/7/05.

Hallums, 57, was working for the Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Co., supplying food to the Iraqi army, when he was kidnapped Nov. 1 from a Baghdad office.

He was seized along with two other foreigners after a gunbattle in the upscale Mansour neighborhood. An Iraqi guard and one attacker were killed. A Filipino, a Nepalese and three Iraqis also were abducted but later freed.

In a January video released by his kidnappers, Hallums had a shaggy beard and a gun pointed at his head. The family sent fliers to Iraq that, in English and Arabic, offer a $40,000 reward for information leading to his safe release.

The Pentagon statement said information from an unidentified Iraqi detainee led to the rescue. More than 200 foreigners have been abducted in Iraq since the war began in March 2003; more than 30 have been killed.

Susan Hallums said she and her husband of 30 years divorced a few years ago but remained good friends. They have two daughters.

"It was just so wonderful to hear his voice," Mrs. Hallums told CNN. "My little granddaughter that's 8-years-old, she talked to him and told him she had a celebration in her head."

She said the family was hoping he'll be home this weekend.

"Thank God that our prayers were answered and that God saw him through this ordeal, and he's going to be coming back and he said he didn't want to be anywhere else, he wanted just to stay home," she told CNN.

In the military statement, Hallums thanked his rescuers and said he was in good health.

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/s...toryId=1086620



Doing a test to see if edit works in a thread this long, worry not, I didn't change anything.

[angelize56]

Sep 9, 10:38 AM EDT

Pay Dispute Shuts Down Baghdad Airport

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The Baghdad International Airport, Iraq's only reliable link to the outside world, was closed Friday in an embarrassing pay dispute between the government and a British security company, and the Interior Ministry said it was sending troops to reopen it.

The brewing standoff could involve American forces in a confrontation with Iraqi troops. An official close to the dispute said the U.S. military had joined security forces from the British company at a checkpoint to block Iraqi Interior Ministry troops. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of negotiations.

The U.S. military said it could not confirm that U.S. troops had taken up positions at the checkpoint on the dangerous airport road.

The airport is located about 10 miles west of Baghdad, linked to the city by a four-lane highway that is notorious for insurgent attacks and described by the State Department as one of the most dangerous roads in the world.

Officials say about 15 civilian flights use the airport daily for both domestic and international travel. The flights are operated by Iraqi Airways, Royal Jordanian Airlines and three companies operating out of the United Arab Emirates - Jobotier, Ishtar and Tigris airlines.

There is service between Baghdad and Basra, Sulaimaniya and Irbil in Iraq as well as Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. It also is used for cargo flights.

Built by the French, the facility was called Saddam International Airport before the Iraqi leader's fall. During the March 2003 invasion, U.S. troops seized the airport quickly as they approached Baghdad, then used it as a staging ground for their final sweep into the capital.

Several U.S. bases remain around the airport, including Camp Victory, where Saddam is believed to be imprisoned awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

Lekic reports that the airport shouldn't be closed for long. (watch for dating)

Iraqi officials said they were sending troops to reopen the facility because its closure was illegal.

"This issue is related to Iraq's sovereignty, and nobody is authorized to close the airport," acting Transportation Minister Esmat Amer told The Associated Press.

He said the Cabinet approved the dispatch of Interior Ministry troops to take over from the London-based Global Strategies Group, which had provided security since last year.

Amer said the government had been trying since January to renegotiate a $4.5 million monthly contract that Global had signed with the defunct U.S. Coalition Provision Authority. The CPA gave sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government in 2004.

This was believed to be the first serious dispute involving a Western contractor since the U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein. The United States has managed to keep its forces in Iraq - now at about 140,000 - to a minimum by hiring contractors for vast amounts of work the military normally would do. Congress has routinely complained that oversight is lax and the U.S. government is routinely overcharged.

Global said its workers would continue securing the facility but had suspended other operations because the Transportation Ministry, which owns the airport, was six months behind in payments. All flights in and out of Baghdad were suspended, it said.

"We're in continuing dialogue and we're hoping it'll be resolved as soon as possible," company spokesman Giles Morgan said. He declined to talk about specifics of the dispute.

Amer confirmed Global had not been paid since contract talks resumed around Jan. 1.

In June, Global suspended airport operations for 48 hours for the same reason.

The company also manages security at the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad - home to Iraqi government offices, parliament, and the U.S. Embassy. It has about 1,100 employees - mainly former Nepalese and Fijian soldiers. About 500 Global workers staff the airport.

In the northern city of Tal Afar, a key insurgent staging ground near the Syrian border, the Iraqi army said it arrested 200 suspected militants - three-fourths of them foreign fighters.

A joint U.S.-Iraqi military operation encircled the city and reported heavy fighting with insurgent forces for several days. Tal Afar is about 260 miles north of Baghdad and 35 miles from Syria.

Most of the estimated 200,000 residents have fled this predominantly Turkmen city, where 70 percent of that ethnic group is Sunni Muslim - the sect that dominates the Iraqi insurgency. The U.S. military said it killed seven insurgents in the past two days amid growing indications the joint force was preparing to intensify the operation.

The sweep came as election officials tallied figures from three Sunni-dominated provinces, where the voter registration was extended a week in preparation for the Oct. 15 nationwide referendum on the new constitution.

"Turnout was unbelievable and people were very enthusiastic, especially in Fallujah and Ramadi," said Farid Ayar, an electoral commission spokesman. Those cities are Sunni insurgent bastions in Anbar province, which stretches west from Baghdad to the Syrian, Jordanian and Saudi borders.

The large voter signup suggests minority Sunnis are mobilizing to defeat the draft charter, a marked tactical shift from January, when their boycott of the parliamentary election handed control of the 275-member National Assembly to Shiites and Kurds.

The new basic law was approved and sent to voters by a coalition of Shiites and Kurds, over the objections of Sunni representatives, who fear it would allow the country to split into sectarian and ethnic mini-states. That could cut Sunnis out of Iraq's enormous oil wealth.

The very Sunni clerics who railed in January against an election "under foreign military occupation" are urging their people to take part in both the referendum and the parliamentary balloting in December.

Rejection of the charter would mean elections in December for a new parliament under the rules of the interim constitution approved in March 2004. The new parliament would start the entire process of drafting a constitution from scratch.

Meanwhile, former U.S. hostage Roy Hallums, who was rescued Wednesday from an isolated farmhouse near Baghdad, left Friday for the United States, the military said.

Hallums, 57, formerly of Newport Beach, Calif., flew out of a U.S. Air Force base at Balad aboard a C-17 transport, a statement said. He was working for the Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Co., supplying food to the Iraqi army, when he was kidnapped Nov. 1.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

[angelize56]

Originally Posted by AcaCandy

Doing a test to see if edit works in a thread this long, worry not, I didn't change anything.

I didn't think you would! Test successful I assume!

Candy: I was thinking....maybe a mod could pm the starter of threads over 5000 and ask them to open the 2nd thread...then that member's name stays as the thread starter!

[AcaCandy]

I'll tell you what, you can be in charge of that. If the thread starter gets it reopened and requests a close on the older one before the BOTGAL gets to it, good deal

Here's an update on the airport deal:

Baghdad airport reopens, first flight leaves
Sat Sep 10, 2005 5:25 AM ET



BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Baghdad airport reopened on Saturday, the airport's director said, after a dispute over unpaid bills led to the cancellation of all flights on Friday.

"The Iraqi Airways flight to Dubai took off at 12.00 with 56 passengers on board," Zaid al-Saraf told Reuters.

The airport closed on Friday after a private British company that polices it closed the passenger terminal, saying it had not been paid for six months.

But a spokesman for Global Strategies Group, whose staff are the only officials at the airport qualified to screen bags and passengers, said on Saturday that the government had agreed to pay half the money owed.

"We went back on task at 8.00 this morning," Giles Morgan told Reuters, saying Global had received a letter from the government guaranteeing payment.

"Pending payment we will carry on providing security services," he said.

A spokesman for Royal Jordanian Airlines, the only international passenger airline apart from Iraqi Airways which serves Baghdad, said two flights were standing by to take off from Amman after the reopening of the airport.

Most airlines continue to shun Iraqi airspace because of security concerns. Those that do fly in avoid making a gentle descent to minimize the risk of being shot down by surface-to- air missiles while flying over insurgent-held territory.

Instead, aircraft fly directly over the airport and make a rapid spiral descent, a "corkscrew dive," to avoid danger as much as possible.

Friday's shut-down was the second time Global had closed the airport in three months.

Iraqi troops were sent to the airport on Friday in an attempt to keep it open.

Despite the closure, Global continued to guard the airport against insurgent attacks as normal on Friday.

The airport was closed for two days in June in a similar row that led to new talks between the Transport Ministry and Global.

One of many private firms providing security to the military, government and private organizations, Global has some 2,000 security personnel in Iraq.


http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...archived=False

[angelize56]

Originally Posted by AcaCandy

I'll tell you what, you can be in charge of that. If the thread starter gets it reopened and requests a close on the older one before the BOTGAL gets to it, good deal

I'll take the challenge! You can close this thread now!

[AcaCandy]

But it has only 1089 posts

[AcaCandy]

Pakistan Offers to Build Security Fence

Tuesday September 13, 2005 1:46 AM


AP Photo NYAR101

By BARRY SCHWEID

AP Diplomatic Writer

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Chafing under criticism that Pakistan is not doing enough to counter terrorism, President Pervez Musharraf offered Monday to construct a security fence to deter incursion of militants and drug merchants from Afghanistan.

Musharraf made the offer at a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that was expanded to 75 minutes from the 30 minutes originally planned. It sets the stage for President Bush's meeting with the Pakistani leader on Tuesday.

``We don't ever want anybody to say Pakistan is not doing enough,'' Foreign Minister Khurshid M. Kasuri said. The minister said he was ``fed up'' over such allegations.

Declining to say whether Rice expressed support for the idea, Kasuri said ``she heard us out'' and was ``very appreciative'' of Pakistan's desire to help stop infiltration from both sides of the border with Afghanistan.

Later, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, ``We think it is important that Pakistan and Afghanistan take up this idea.''

``We would be pleased at some point to be part of the discussion if they think it is a good idea,'' McCormack said on behalf of Rice, who flew back to Washington to attend Bush's meeting Tuesday at the White House with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Osama bin Laden, head of the al-Qaida terror network who has eluded U.S. and other efforts to capture him, is believed to be hiding in the border area.

Kasuri said the fence would be designed to deter infiltration in both directions, but as envisioned by the Pakistan government there would be arrangements for controlled crossings.

``Pakistan has nothing to hide,'' he said. ``And we are fed up with people who say Pakistan has to do more to counter terrorism.''

On Friday, Musharraf told The Associated Press that his government has proposed building a barbed-wire fence along the border to help keep Islamic insurgents from crossing the area freely. The border itself is vast, running for more than 1,500 miles.

Kasuri did not specify the form a fence would take, such as barbed wire or solid material. The route the barrier would take has not been decided, he said. Kasuri said the aim would be to screen out warlords and narcotics trade as well as terrorists.

``We have a very strong interest in peace and stability in Asia,'' he said.

Rice made no statement after the meeting and there was no official U.S. reaction.

The assembly of more than 170 world leaders to mark the United Nations' 60th birthday gives Rice a unique opportunity to advance U.S. foreign policy goals on several difficult fronts.

Success is by no means assured. While the United States is the largest contributor and the world's only real superpower, it cannot count on the United Nations for automatic support.

Rice's lobbying, and Bush's appearance before the world body Wednesday, come at a moment when the United States is looking unusually vulnerable to foreign eyes following Hurricane Katrina's devastation and international opposition to the war it is fighting against insurgents in Iraq.

Rice's drive to pressure Iran to resume negotiations on its nuclear program is a key test. Any U.S. resolution in the U.N. Security Council to censure Iran or to impose sanctions runs the risk of being vetoed.

Pakistan appealed, meanwhile, for a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Kasuri said at his news conference Pakistan was a friend and neighbor of Iran.

Rice is appealing openly to China and Russia, which have veto power, to join in sending a ``unified message'' to Tehran.

Russia remains dubious about having the council take up the issue. On Friday, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko called it a hasty step.

Rice is also trying to advance two Mideast goals: pressure Syria to keep hands off Lebanon and to spur Israel and the Palestinians to use the momentum of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza to move toward creation of a Palestinian state.

She plans to meet with Arab and European leaders on Syria as a U.N. inquiry explores whether Syria played a role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafil Hariri last February in Beirut.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has canceled plans to attend U.N. sessions.

On Mideast peacemaking, the goal of a Palestinian state already has the support of most U.N. members. Rice will meet with U.N., European and Russian officials who joined the United States in devising a blueprint or roadmap for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

On another front, U.N. reform, U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton and Rice are seeking management changes and new approaches on terrorism and human rights. The outlook is uncertain.

McCormack said Monday there was no consensus on management reform, human rights and terrorism.

Rice met Monday with American Jewish leaders, Tanzanian Foreign Minister Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and officials of 10 South Asian countries.

McCormack said Rice told Foreign Minister U Nyan Win of Burma, who attended the Asia meeting, that ``it is important that Burma undertake both human rights and political reform. Burma is out of step.''

She also participated in a ceremony marking the signing of a pact with Georgia that extends $293.5 million in U.S. development aid over the next five years to the former Soviet republic.

Rice said 54 percent of Georgians who live outside the capital, Tbilisi, are impoverished and the money would be used to build roads, to rehabilitate a gas pipeline and to help launch small businesses.

President Mikhail Saakashvili said Georgians have always admired America and that his government has moved the country away from a corrupt past.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...273837,00.html

[LANMaster]

Electrical Substations to give new life to Sulaymaniyah


Polli Keller
Gulf Region North
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers



Mosul, Iraq – Three electrical substations scheduled for completion in March 2006, will give new life to Sulaymaniyah residents and local industry. The $12.6 million project consists of constructing, renovating, and restoring three electrical substations located within the city.
The three substations will provide 79,000 KW of power to 25,000 local homes and double the capacity of power to the industrial district.

According to David Crumpton, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sulaymaniyah resident office engineer, “The ability to produce the double capacity of power to industry will enhance manufacturing capacity and, consequently, boost the local economy.”

Forty-five local Iraqis are employed during the initial phase of construction and renovations. This number will grow as the projects progress. Eighteen people will be employed to operate and maintain support for these facilities once they are complete. An Iraqi company is building the substations under the direction of an American contractor.

For people of the industrialized world, life without reliable electricity is unthinkable. In Sulaymaniyah, it has become the way of life for many. The construction of these three electrical substations will help alleviate the extreme power shortage in this country.

In addition to the new construction and renovation projects in the Sulymaniyah Province, the Gulf Region Division, Sulaymaniyah Resident Office, also manages construction and renovation of several primary and secondary schools and clinics.

Currently, there are 78 new construction and renovation projects ongoing in the region.

http://www.grd.usace.army.mil/news/r...con100105.html

[LANMaster]

Iraqi Leaders Reach a Deal

The political process moves forward in Iraq

Link

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi leaders reached a breakthrough deal on last minute changes in the constitution Tuesday, and at least one Sunni Arab party said it would reverse its rejection of the document and urge its supporters to approve it in next weekend’s referendum.

The deal boosts the chances for a constitution that Shiite and Kurdish leaders support and the United States has been eager to see approved in Saturday’s vote to avert months more of political turmoil, delaying plans to start a withdrawal of U.S. forces.

U.S. officials have pushed the three days of negotiations between Shiite and Kurdish leaders in the government and Sunni Arab officials, that concluded with marathon talks at the house of President Jalal Talabani late Tuesday.

The sides agreed to a measure stating that if the draft constitution is passed, the next parliament will be able to consider amendments to it that would then be put to a new referendum next year, Shiite and Sunni officials said.

A top Sunni negotiator, Ayad al-Samarraie of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that if the current parliament approves the measure, “we will stop the campaign rejecting the constitution and we will call on Sunni Arabs to vote yes.”

[AcaCandy]

http://forums.techguy.org/t397808.html

Marlene has asked that this thread be closed, and for everyone to continue there.