{"article":{"id":116603,"heading":"9\/5 Iraq: More dead in Iraq clashes","author":"Lee Siu Hin","created":"2004-09-07 06:11:09","modified":"2004-09-07 06:11:09","last_modified":"Tue, 07 Sep 2004 13:11:09","article":"

By: Iraq Watch - Peace No War Network

September 5, 2004

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News Summary:

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb Saturday outside the Iraqi police academy in the northern city of Kirkuk as hundreds of trainees and civilians were leaving for the day, killing at least 20 people and wounding 36, authorities said, in the latest attack designed to thwart U.S-backed efforts to build a strong Iraqi security force ahead of January elections.

Saturday's Kirkuk bombing was the latest in a string of attacks specifically targeting Iraqis working for the U.S.-backed interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

Insurgents see police as collaborators with coalition forces, who are struggling to restore order. Militants have blown up police stations all over the country, gunned down officers in drive-by shootings and battered police stations with mortar barrages and rocket-propelled grenades.

Separately, U.S and Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents in northern Iraq on Saturday after launching an operation to destroy an alleged militant cell in the town of Tal Afar, the U.S. military said. At least nine people were killed and 50 injured, hospital officials said.

Meanwhile, Iraq's tough-talking new prime minister was one of U.S. and British intelligence agencies' most trusted sources for information about Saddam Hussein's government, former officials say. He has taken a hard line against militants, threatening them with military action while pressing for negotiations to have anti-government militias lay down their arms, and make sure to shut down the Baghdad's Al-Jazeera office for ever.



Peace No War

Latest News from Iraq

1) More dead in Iraq clashes (Al-Jazeera)

2) U.S. Assault Likely Before Jan. Elections (Associated Press)

3) New Iraqi PM a Trusted Source for CIA, MI6 (Associated Press)

4) Iraq Closes Al-Jazeera Office Indefinitely (Associated Press)

==============================================================

1) More dead in Iraq clashes

by Aljazeera + Agencies

Sunday 05 September 2004 10:06 AM GMT

http:\/\/english.aljazeera.net\/NR\/exeres\/0FC0394E-E608-49C7-8A82-5ED251118D46.htm<\/a>



Many Iraqis have been killed and scores injured in country-wide clashes between occupation forces and the resistance on Sunday.

At least four Iraqis were killed and 19 wounded as US occupation forces renewed their attacks on the northern town of Tal Afar.

Local sources also reported heavy fighting between Iraqi fighters and US forces in western suburbs of Mosul, with US forces encircling the area.

And in other incidents, two blasts north of Baghdad left at least six Iraqis and one US soldier injured, while clashes are continuing in the capital's Sadr City district.

In the town of Tal Afar, near Mosul, al-Tahhan called on the Iraqi government \"to intervene to end this massacre, save the city from the dangerous consequences of the clashes and allow families to return to their homes\".

\"The victims are usually innocent civilians,\" the doctor added.

Many families have fled the fighting for Mosul and nearby villages. On Saturday, at least 13 people, including women and children, were killed and 60 others wounded as clashes erupted in the town.

Critical condition

\"Most of the injured are in a critical condition, forcing us to send them to Mosul due to a shortage of surgeons in our hospital.\"

He said the number of casualties was expected to rise as resistance fighters are patrolling the streets and occupation helicopters are hovering over the city.

The doctor said hospital staff are finding it difficult to reach the injured as ambulances \"are coming under random gunfire\" by occupation forces.

The fighting began after US troops and Iraqi forces encircled al-Sarai and Hasankul districts in the town.



Car blast

Elsewhere, a car bomb exploded near a US military patrol on Sunday in the town of Dujail, some 40km north of Baghdad, wounding a US soldier and two Iraqi civilians, the US military said.

\"The soldier was evacuated to a coalition medical centre and is in stable condition,\" said Sergeant Robert Powell, spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division. The Iraqis were treated at the scene, he added.

He said US forces detained three suspects in a nearby building. Witnesses saw one vehicle on fire as American troops sealed off the road.

And at least four more Iraqis were injured after an explosive device detonated on the main road west of Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, Aljazeera has learnt.



The explosion targeted a US military patrol but there have been no immediate reports of casualties among occupation soldiers.



Sadr City clashes

Meanwhile, clashes and the US bombing of civilians are still continuing in Sadr City, a spokesman for the al-Mahdi Army has told Aljazeera.

\"The clashes have erupted due to the US forces and Iraqi government violation of the truce, arrest operations, storming of safe houses and restoring bloody talks rather than peaceful ones\", said Abu Thar al-Kinana.

Al-Kinani pointed out the safe houses were home to \"disarmed people who have nothing to do with the ongoing operations\".



\"We hold the Iraqi government and the US forces responsible for those provocative terrorist actions, causing bloodshed and massacres in the safe al-Sadr City.\"

The spokesman also said \"they (US forces) have also pursued al-Mahdi Army members who have sought peace and wanted to solve the crisis in the city.\"

Warning

Al-Kinana warned that \"if the uprising breaks out again, it will be in all Iraqi governorates, not only Sadr City.\"

\"One of the points we have agreed on is that US forces do not enter this city except for reconstruction purposes,\" al-Kinani said.

However, the spokesman pointed out that US forces \"have reinforced their armoured vehicles in the city, surrounded it and carried out vast arrest operations.\"

\"America is still working according to its terrorist mind that wants to manage the whole world and eliminate any peace operations in order to be the number one in committing crimes and causing bloodsheds,\" he added.

====================================================

2) U.S. Assault Likely Before Jan. Elections

By JIM KRANE

.c The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. assault on one or more of Iraq's three main ``no-go'' areas - including Fallujah - is likely in the next four months as the Iraqi government prepares to extend control before elections slated for January, the U.S. land forces commander said Sunday.

Army Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz's announcement came after a month that saw attacks on U.S. forces reach an average of almost 100 per day - the highest level since the end of major combat last year.

Metz, the No. 2 American military leader here, said Iraq's upcoming general election is the next major milestone in Iraq.

The U.S. military will work to regain control of rebel strongholds and turn them over to Iraq's fledgling security forces so elections will be seen by Iraqis - and the world - as free and fair.

``I don't think today you could hold elections,'' Metz said during an interview with three reporters at Multinational Corps headquarters near Baghdad International Airport. ``But I do have about four months where I want to get to local control. And then I've got the rest of January to help the Iraqis to put the mechanisms in place.''

An American military offensive will be needed to bring the toughest places to heel, Metz said.

The rebel-held western city of Fallujah is the biggest obstacle, he said. The next biggest problem, in U.S. military terms, is Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad - and also in guerrilla hands.

Metz believes the easiest of the three troublespots to regain control is Baghdad's Shiite Muslim slum of Sadr City. Parts of the neighborhood of 2 million remain the fiefdom of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters have wired it with hidden bombs and booby traps, U.S. officials say.

Besides these centers of rebellion, large sections of Iraq remain beyond government control and out of reach of elections. These include Sunni Muslim areas north and west of Baghdad and, perhaps, southern Shiite cities like Basra, where sections resist U.S. or British troops.

Assaults to retake these areas could be done consecutively or simultaneously, Metz said. He said one or more might be solved through negotiations, with leaders warning that their cities face a devastating U.S. offensive if the insurgents don't stand down.

``If you're a leader in a town ... do you want to have to go rebuild it because it got destroyed, because foreign fighters came to hang out in your city? They can help us make these decisions,'' Metz said.

The general also said the Americans' August siege of Najaf could be considered a model for subduing rebel-held areas.

U.S. and Iraqi officials consider the three-week battle a success, although it left the Shiite holy city in ruins with hundreds of Iraqi fighters and civilians dead and nine Americans killed. Al-Sadr's defeated militia fled and the city is now under government control.

Across Iraq, August saw the highest number of attacks on U.S.-led forces since major combat ended in May 2003. The U.S. military counted 2,700 attacks last month, averaging 87 per day.

By contrast, July saw 1,600 or 52 per day. In April, the deadliest month of the war, there were 1,800 attacks on American and allied troops, or 60 per day.

Separately, the U.S. military acknowledged that previous estimates placing the number of Iraqi guerrillas at 5,000 were too low. A military spokesman said Sunday that Iraq is beset by up to 12,000 full-time insurgents, a number that swells when part-timers are active.

A military source told The Associated Press in July that as many as 20,000 total participate in attacks.

Metz didn't rule out allowing elections in Iraq's government-held areas without participation by voters in rebel strongholds like Fallujah. He said polling was critical in Iraq's three biggest cities, Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. But smaller cities could be left out, he said.

``That's not our intention,'' he said. But ``I'd envision the Iraqis could have an election. And if a piece of cancer in the country like Fallujah didn't participate, it would still ... be a legitimate election.''

The vote is a massive undertaking. Some 10 million eligible voters need to be registered and around 9,000 polling places across the country must be set up and protected. Candidates, who have yet to begin campaigning, need to be able to move across Iraq.

09\/05\/04 16:56 EDT

====================================================

3) New Iraqi PM a Trusted Source for CIA, MI6

By MATT KELLEY

.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iraq's tough-talking new prime minister was one of U.S. and British intelligence agencies' most trusted sources for information about Saddam Hussein's government, former officials say.

Ayad Allawi, once a member of Saddam's Baath Party, spent nearly three decades in exile and more than a dozen years as a key figure in the opposition to Saddam's government. Allawi's Iraqi National Accord became a conduit for defectors and sources from Saddam's government, particularly the military.

Now Allawi is the leader of the appointed Iraqi interim government struggling to assert its authority and its independence from the United States. He has taken a hard line against militants, threatening them with military action while pressing for negotiations to have anti-government militias lay down their arms.

The Iraqi prime minister has said he's proud of his contacts with Washington and other governments and claimed he worked with ``at least 15'' different intelligence agencies during his years in exile.

``We do not feel ashamed of being in touch ... to get rid of the evil regime of Saddam,'' Allawi said in June.

His cloak-and-dagger background includes a failed assassination attempt by an ax-wielding intruder at his home near London and a role in fomenting an unsuccessful coup attempt against Saddam in 1996. But until just a few months ago, a more reserved Allawi had been overshadowed by the flamboyant Ahmed Chalabi, who headed the exile Iraqi National Congress.

Chalabi fell from grace this spring amid allegations his group alerted Iran that the United States had broken a secret Iranian communications code. Chalabi denies that.

Officials at the Central Intelligence Agency have been wary of Chalabi for more than a decade not only because of his 1992 fraud conviction in Jordan but because he never seemed to offer good information, former CIA operatives say.

The spy agency trusted Allawi because he had better sources in Baghdad than other prominent exiles like Chalabi, said Judith Yaphe, a CIA Middle East analyst during the first half of the 1990s.

``Over the years, Allawi's contacts were proven to be real, while Chalabi's were never what Chalabi told us,'' said Yaphe, now a fellow at the Pentagon's National Defense University. ``I have a feeling that, even if he may have been passing information that turned out to be wrong, he seems to have been fed better stuff.''

Some of Allawi's information did turn out to be spectacularly wrong.

In 2002, his Iraqi National Accord put British MI6 intelligence operatives in touch with a military officer in western Iraq who said chemical weapons may have been delivered to front-line units. That officer's claims helped form the basis for the now-discredited assertion by the British government that Saddam could have chemical weapons ready to use within 45 minutes.

Allawi's group also gave MI6 a letter purporting to show that Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta received training in Iraq from now-dead terrorist Abu Nidal in 2001. The FBI's timeline of Atta's movements before the attacks show no gaps that would account for such a trip.

Chalabi and Allawi are cousins by marriage and, according to a Chalabi spokesman, went to primary school together. They have been longtime rivals, however, clashing over the best way to overthrow Saddam. Allawi favored a coup by disaffected Iraqi military officers, while Chalabi proposed a popular revolt. Separate attempts to do both failed.

Chalabi, also a member of the former Iraqi Governing Council, supported Allawi's elevation to prime minister. Chalabi's representatives now offer only mild criticism of Allawi's Baath Party past.

``Allawi has a coup mentality typical of the Arab world,'' said Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress in London.

Allawi, then a medical student, joined the Baath Party in the 1960s, while Saddam was a lower-level party official. Allawi remained a Baath member after traveling to London for further studies in the early 1970s before quitting the party around 1975.

Some critics say they suspect Allawi was working for Iraqi intelligence during those early London years; Allawi has denied that.

``All students outside the country had to be approved by the Iraqi security services,'' said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi exile and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies in London.

``I'm no part of any Iraqi movement. But to say he had blood on his hands as a paid agent (of Iraq) is not right,'' Alani said.

Allawi clearly was out of Saddam's favor by 1978, when an intruder believed to be an Iraqi agent broke into Allawi's home in the middle of the night and hacked him with an ax, nearly severing a leg. Allawi spent months in the hospital recovering.

Allawi developed strong ties to MI6 in Britain during the 1980s, when the United States was friendly with Saddam because of Iraq's war with Iran. After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, though, Allawi set up the INA with help from MI6, the CIA, the Saudi Arabian government and others, several former U.S. officials said.

``The fact that he broke with Saddam before the worst kind of repression took place in Iraq was in his favor,'' said former Ambassador David Mack, who worked with Allawi as a State Department official in the 1990s.

Allawi's group helped foment a coup attempt against Saddam in 1996, but Iraqi agents discovered the plot and dozens of alleged plotters were arrested and killed. The prime minister's critics say that showed Allawi was untrustworthy.

``Allawi's one chance for glory, the coup in 1996, failed miserably,'' said retired CIA agent Warren Marik, who worked in Iraq. ``He'd long claimed close ties with the Iraqi army, but the coup failed and no one marched on Baghdad.''

Despite their long-standing relationship, U.S. and British agencies won't be pulling the strings now that Allawi is in power, Mack and CIA analyst Yaphe said.

``He's a known quantity, but once someone is in power that known quantity can turn out to be not that kind of person. We knew nothing about what (Egyptian president Hosni) Mubarak and Saddam would be like once they took power,'' Yaphe said.

Associated Press Writer Tom Wagner in London contributed to this report.

09\/06\/04 03:04 EDT

=============================================================

4) Iraq Closes Al-Jazeera Office Indefinitely

By BASSEM MROUE

.c The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Iraqi government shut down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad operations indefinitely on Saturday, extending a one-month closure order imposed after the pan-Arab channel was accused of inciting violence.

Officials at Al-Jazeera reacted with outrage, but did not say how it would respond to the order.

``This decision runs contrary to pledges made by the Iraqi authorities to pursue a policy of openness and to safeguard freedoms of the press and expression,'' a statement from the station said.

Iraq's Ministerial National Security Committee said in an e-mail statement sent to The Associated Press that it had decided to extend a suspension ordered Aug. 5 because al-Jazeera had failed to offer an explanation of its editorial policies.

``Based on this lack of respect for an official government order,'' the committee extended the ban ``until a time when Al-Jazeera TV headquarters sends an official response,'' the English-language statement said.

The station's spokesman, Jihad Ballout, said the office in Baghdad was stormed by Iraqi security forces hours before the order was announced.

``Members of the Iraqi security forces attacked our office, although it's been closed for nearly a month now. They took photographs and sealed it,'' Ballout said. ``They positioned nearly 14 security officers outside Al-Jazeera.''

Police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were unaware of any raid.

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said last month that the government had convened an independent commission to monitor Al-Jazeera's daily coverage ``to see what kind of violence they are advocating.''

The Iraqi statement said the committee will wait until Al-Jazeera comes forward with an explanation before making its next move.

It was not the first time Al-Jazeera faced problems in Iraq.

Iraq's now-disbanded Governing Council, in place during the U.S. occupation, banned the station's reporters from entering its offices or covering its news conferences for a month in January because it had reportedly shown disrespect toward prominent Iraqis.

The network has been criticized by a number of senior U.S. officials for its coverage of the war on Iraq and for being an outlet for al-Qaida terror network by broadcasting videotapes and audiotapes purportedly from Osama bin Laden or his aides. Al-Jazeera has denied the allegations.

Unlike Arab state-run media, Al-Jazeera airs views of local opposition figures and their criticisms of their countries' rulers. That has brought the the station in problems with authorities in other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and the former Iraqi regime.

Since its August suspension, Al-Jazeera has depended on other media organizations for news and footage to cover Iraq, and has not formally worked here.



09\/04\/04 19:30 EDT



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