Here is the news
Guantanamo general dropped from Pakistan post
When the Pentagon announced in March that Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan, it reflected the military’s aim to put a crisis-tested veteran in a critical job at a pivotal time in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
But nearly two months later, the military has quietly canceled the assignment of General Hood, a 33-year Army veteran who was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the United States prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The decision to withdraw General Hood’s assignment has not been announced, but it appears to reflect the widening shadow that the military prison at Guantánamo is casting over American foreign policy.
While the United States considers Pakistan a close ally in its counterterrorism efforts, the accounts by Pakistanis who have returned to Pakistan after being held at Guantánamo Bay have added to anti-American sentiment in the country.
Several leading Pakistani military and foreign affairs commentators denounced General Hood’s selection in recent weeks, calling on their new government to block his appointment. In interviews this week, American military officials said they had reluctantly concluded that General Hood’s effectiveness could be seriously hindered, and that his personal safety might even be at risk if he were to take up the post.
New York Times, 9/5/08
US walks tightrope with al-Sadr
The U.S. military has tied itself into a verbal knot as it tries to avoid further inflaming tensions with Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr while confronting members of his Mahdi Army militia.
U.S. forces battle almost daily with Shiite militiamen in Sadr City, including Sadr loyalists, but commanders are careful to avoid blaming the Mahdi Army for the violence.
"This is focused on the criminal groups," the chief U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, said at his most recent news briefing on April 30. When U.S. commander Gen. David H. Petraeus alluded to violence in Sadr City during a visit to London on Thursday, he did so without naming any group, only referring to "the militia in and around Sadr City."
The military says politics has nothing to do with its shift away from publicly blaming the Mahdi Army. It denies that it is a political maneuver aimed at trying to sway Sadr to maintain his truce, frayed though it may be.
Other military officials see the political and social role of Sadr's group as a reason to avoid pointing a finger at him. The Mahdi Army has roots in Baghdad and serves as a local social service organization. Sadr loyalists hold 30 seats in the national parliament, and the Mahdi Army is part of the political movement known as the Sadr Trend.
"The Mahdi militia is a political organization," said Army Capt. Alan Boyes, whose base is a former butcher's shop in Sadr City's Jamila neighborhood. "Now, do I believe political groups should have militias? No, but that's the way things are in Iraq."
Los Angeles Times, 7/5/08
Police and medical staff arrested in Sadr city
Iraqi soldiers yesterday detained dozens of policemen and closed down a hospital suspected of treating Shiite militiamen in a Baghdad stronghold of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
Iraqi and US security forces have been battling Mahdi Army fighters in Baghdad since late March. The upsurge in violence has underscored the fragility of Iraq's security at a time when US troops in the capital are reducing their numbers.
The soldiers detained 42 policemen suspected of collaborating with "outlaws" yesterday, an officer of Baghdad's security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi's office said.
Iraq's police are being seen as infiltrated by Shiite militiamen, using the cover of their uniforms to mount attacks.
The soldiers also raided the Mohammed-Bakr Hakim hospital, arresting 35 workers, including orderlies and cleaners, and forced its closure, said hospital chief Dr Yassin al-Rikabi.
Scotsman, 7/5/08
Families flee Sadr city
Families have begun to leave Sadr City over the past several days, trickling into the grounds of a sports stadium in Baladiat, which is on the western edge of Sadr City.
The families, who lived near the front lines of the fighting and the wall being built by the American military to partition the neighborhood, said they had fled because their children were terrified of the bombing.
As many as 1,500 families are expected to go to the area in the next few days, said Abu Wa’il, the informal mayor of the refugees who live in the area. Some came as recently as two days ago and others have been there for several years, squatting in abandoned buildings.
The army will provide tents for the refugees, he said, but there appeared to be no latrines and it seemed doubtful that there would be enough water to supply so many families.
New York Times, 7/5/08
The madness of the Iraq war...
Insanuty is defined as repeating one mistaken action again and again, each time expecting a better result that never comes. Prime example: the United States in Iraq. Washington perceived a weapons of mass destruction threat from Saddam Hussein, but instead of responding with diplomacy - internationally coordinated weapons inspections - it went to war.
When Saddam Hussein was toppled, the initiative should have passed from the Pentagon to a State Department-led program of stabilization and reconstruction, but instead a crudely violent military occupation was begun. Diplomacy was once again rejected.
Today, the United States, fearing a geo-political setback that will undercut the broader "war on terror," is putting the diehard goal of military "victory" ahead of the diplomatic initiatives that alone can enable the reconstruction of Iraqi society.
The needed spirit of cooperation among Iraqi factions, and from other nations, will never materialize as long as the United States pursues the fantasy that its armed might will at last prevail. Once again, diplomacy is being rejected in favor of war. This is insane.
Boston Globe, 5/5/08
...and the cost
US President George W. Bush on Friday formally asked lawmakers for 70 billion dollars to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into early next year, when his successor takes over.
The request came as Bush's previous 108 billion dollar request for the wars has languished in the US Congress, which is controlled by Democrats who oppose the US involvement in Iraq.
The monies include 45.1 billion dollars for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, 3.7 billion to expand and train Afghan security forces, and two billion to bolster Iraq's security forces.
The request also seeks three billion dollars for classified activities.
AFP, 3/5/08
Iran rejects 'meaningless' talks with US
Iran accused U.S.-led forces on Monday of a "massacre" of the Iraqi people and said further talks with Washington about improving security in its neighbour would be meaningless now.
The Foreign Ministry statement effectively puts on hold any new meetings between the two old foes, which last year held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze lasting almost three decades.
Iraq has repeatedly said it does not want its soil to become a battleground for a proxy war between the United States and Iran, which are also at loggerheads over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iraqi officials have expressed growing frustration that a fourth round of talks has failed to get off the ground.
"Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by the occupying forces," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference.
"Concerning this situation, talks with America will have no results and will be meaningless."
Washington Post, 5/5/08
US hits hospital in Sadr City
A major hospital in Baghdad's Sadr City slum was damaged Saturday when an American military strike targeted a militia command center nearby, the U.S. military said.
The rocket strike near Sadr Hospital injured 30 people, shattered the windows of ambulances and sent doctors and hospital staff fleeing the scene, hospital officials said.
That hospital and another major facility in Sadr City had already taken in 25 dead bodies between Friday afternoon and 10 a.m. Saturday, when the strike occurred, hospital officials said. None of the injuries was life-threatening.
The U.S. military is facing growing criticism over what residents describe as mounting civilian casualties in Sadr City, a densely populated slum of some 2.5 million people.
Hartford Courant, 4/5/08
Turkish airstrikes target kurds
Turkish air strikes in northern Iraq this week left more than 150 Kurdish rebels dead, the Turkish army says.
"According to initial estimates, this operation allowed us to neutralise more than 150 terrorists," the army said in a statement on its website.
But a PKK spokesman, Ahmed Danees, told the Reuters news agency only six rebels died and they were from a faction fighting against Iran.
BBC News, 3/5/08
More US troops to Afghanistan
The Pentagon is considering sending as many as 7,000 more American troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from NATO allies, senior Bush administration officials said.
They said the step would push the number of American forces there to roughly 40,000, the highest level since the war began more than six years ago, and would require at least a modest reduction in troops from Iraq.
The increasing proportion of United States troops, from about half to about two-thirds of the foreign troops in Afghanistan, would be likely to result in what one senior administration official described as “the re-Americanization” of the war.
New York Times, 3/5/08
US airstrikes in Somalia
US war planes killed an Islamist rebel said to be al-Quaida's leader in Somalia and up to 30 other people yesterday in Washington's biggest blow so far against the insurgency that has been raging since 2007.
The rebels said Aden Hashi Ayro - who led al-Shabaab militants blamed for attacks on government troops and their Ethiopean allies - died in the first major success for a string of US airstrikes on Somali insurgents in the past year.
The US central command confirmed it was behind the attack: "We are committed to the global war on terror and the pursuit of terrorists wherever they operate" said Colonel Cheryl Law.
Ayro's death is likely to bolster the western-backed Somali government's efforts to stem a rebellion that has been gaining ground.
Guardian 2/5/08
CIA preparing public for Iran attack
The CIA accuses Iran of 'facilitating the killing' of US troops in Iraq in what is seen as another attempt to prepare the public for war.
In a Wednesday lecture, CIA Director Michael Hayden claimed that slaying US military forces has become the political strategy of Iran's highest governmental officials.
His comments come at a time when a recent CBS report indicates that the US Defense Department had ordered military commanders to develop new war plans against Tehran, a claim echoed by top American analysts.
"I believe George Bush and Dick Cheney plan to take care of Iran before they leave office," former CIA analyst Ray McGovern said in an interview published in the Charleston Gazette on Wednesday.
PressTV, 1/5/08
UK withdrawal from Iraq delayed
A decision on whether British troop levels in Iraq can be cut will be taken over the next two months, according to the US's top military commander in the country. But General David Petraeus insisted the immediate focus had to be on maintaining the improved security situation in Basra.
Speaking after talks with Gordon Brown in Downing Street, Gen Petraeus said they had considered the issue of how long the UK force strength needed to remain at around 4,000.
"The answer is right now we don't know," he said. "How long that stays is something we need to work out in the course of the next month or two as we look at the so-called troop-to-task analysis."
Press Association, 1/5/08
For stories before this date see our archive page