Men rest after digging graves for Mehdi fighters who were killed in clashes in Baghdad, in a cemetery in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad March 29, 2008. The death toll mounted on Saturday in fighting in Baghdad where U.S. forces have been drawn deeper into an Iraqi government crackdown on militants loyal to Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish (IRAQ)
“Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner . . . said that the operation wasn’t against the Mahdi Army, only against outlaws who didn’t honor Sadr’s freeze. . . .
“The situation on the ground suggested otherwise.”
Time’s Charles Crain calls the U.S. position on the Basra campaign “a charade” that “may end badly.” He writes: “The U.S. military has been very careful to say that the current offensive by the Iraqi government in southern Iraq was simply ‘enforcement of the law in Basra.’ It was not directed against the Mahdi Army. . . . The U.S. maintained that line today even though it was clear that the ‘criminal gangs’ battling government forces in Basra were identifiable as elements of the Mahdi army.”
And Crain raises an important question: “So far the U.S. has mostly stayed out of the fighting, preferring to let the Iraqi government and Iraqi troops take the lead. Bergner would not comment on whether the Americans would become involved more directly if the Iraqi government could not complete its Basra operation. ‘I would say,’ he said, ‘that’s a very hypothetical question at this time.’
…
“During a briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday, a British military official said that of the nearly 30,000 Iraqi security forces involved in the assault, almost 16,000 were Basra police forces, which have long been suspected of being infiltrated by the same militias the assault was intended to root out. . . .
The assault has also sparked continuing violence by outraged Mahdi commanders in other major cities, including Baghdad, where the sprawling urban slum called Sadr City forms the militia’s power center in Iraq.
Most casualties in Basra were civilians caught in the cross-fire, hospital officials said. The heaviest fighting outside Basra appeared to be taking place in Kut, where officials said 10 people had been killed and 31 wounded, mostly by mortar shells.
There were also deadly clashes in Diwaniya, Hilla and Amara, and the booms of rocket fire rattled Baghdad all day. James Glanz
If armies are outlawed, only outlaws will have armies…Basra is a key power base, both economically and politically. We may take it, but we don’t have the troops to hold it. We can’t even afford to try at this point. And with half the Iraqi forces comprimised by essentially being related to local tribes, the so called police( I think they wear their Mahdi army uniforms underneath their police uniforms, with velcro strips down the sides for quick tear offs like strippers), success will be tenuous at best.
If this is a US play for Petraous testimony in a couple weeks it is a dumb one, If it is Maliki inspired for election advantage this fall it seems rather desperate, though maybe a realistic view of the chances of continued US military support for his faction next year under a Democratic White House.
The US is providing air support for an all out civil war in the south, denying it, and all while trying to take credit for “progress”, another “major turning point” but down playing the opposition by deriding them as thugs and criminal…acheiving the coveted Pentagon award for bravery while lying out of both sides of your mouth…
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The white killer whale spotted in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands sent researchers and the ship’s crew scrambling for their cameras.
The nearly mythic creature was real after all.
“I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it,” said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. “It was quite neat to find it.”
The whale was spotted last month while scientists aboard the Oscar Dyson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship, were conducting an acoustic survey of pollock near Steller sea lion haulout sites.
It had been spotted once in the Aleutians years ago but had eluded researchers since, even though they had seen many of the more classic black and white whales over the years.
It likely is not a true albino given the coloration, said John Durban, a research biologist at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. That’s probably a good thing — true albinos usually don’t live long and can have health problems.
Durban said white killer whales have been spotted elsewhere in the area twice before: in 1993 in the northern Bering Sea around St. Lawrence Island and in 2001 near Adak in the central Aleutians. There have also been sightings along the Russian coast.
While Alaska researchers have documented thousands of black and white killer whales in the Bering Sea and the Aleutians during summer surveys, this was something new and exciting, Durban said.
“This is the first time we came across a white killer whale,” he said.
The scientists observed several pods over a two-week period. The white whale was in a family group of 12 on a day when the seas were fairly rough. It was spotted about 2 miles off Kanaga Volcano on Feb. 23.
The ship stayed with the whale for about 30 minutes.
“Everybody actually came out and was taking pictures,” Fearnbach said. “It was a neat sighting for everybody.”
The whale appeared to be a healthy, adult male about 25 to 30 feet long and weighing upward of 10,000 pounds.
Our apologies Melville…Now about that whaling conference…
Sixty-eight people were killed in twin bomb attacks on a shopping area in central Baghdad, Iraq’s interior ministry has said.
The Thursday blasts left another 130 people injured, officials said.
Funerals are taking place in the mainly-Shia district of Karada - the scene of the bombings.
The second bomb hit a crowd of people, including emergency workers, who had gathered to help after the first blast, causing the high death toll.
No-one has claimed to have carried out the attack, but Iraqi and US security officials are blaming al-Qaeda in Iraq.
“The whole place was a mess. Wounded people were crying for help, and people started to run away.”
Of course on cable the current “big story” on cable news is some woman who works for Sen. Obama called Sen. Clinton a “monster”. Horrors…let’s ask some wingnut twit from Clownhall her informed opinion on Democratic politics…
If things are going so well in Iraq, why isn’t Wolf Blitzer doing live shots from “the Red Zone”???
It is still a war right? Big, big story them war type things…maybe they’ll cover it someday…Ooops, sorry, Brad Pitt has a hangnail…roll some file footage while we warm up the “choppers”…
Remember last week’s Senate Line in which we praised Republicans for finding self-funding candidates to challenge potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents in New Jersey and South Dakota?
Well, scratch that — at least in New Jersey.
Developer Anne Evans Estabrook removed herself from the race against Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) today just two days after suffering a minor stroke.
“Make no mistake, until Monday I was ready to fight for the Republican nomination and the chance to defeat Frank Lautenberg,” Estabrook said in a statement. “I have never backed down from a fight and I am convinced we would have been successful.”
Without a really rich candidate, the Repukes are gonna have much of a shot , New Jersey requires buying ads in New York and Philly. Very expensive…there are no network stations in Jersey. So unless they find a filthy rich replacement Lautenburg can go on vacation ’til October…
The Democrats are looking good for 60 seats this fall, haven’t counted lately but I was thinking 62, or maybe that’s Tim Russert’s IQ, I forget…
The Iraqi and American governments believe that al-Qaeda militants have regrouped in Mosul, after being displaced from Baghdad and many other parts of the country.
Just 30km (20 miles) away from Mosul is the line which divides Iraq’s safest region from one of its most dangerous.
Security at the checkpoint into Kurdish territory is strict. Soldiers from the peshmerga, the Kurdish fighting force, stop cars and people who try to enter from the neighbouring districts. Few are allowed in.
“Now Mosul is worse than Diyala province, worse than Baghdad and worse than Anbar province. It is the worst place in the whole of Iraq”
With the Repuke Prez Primary finally over, this might be Chimpy’s last chance to go on a killing spree…Of our guys…Cheney prob’ly figures this is a good time to pass 4,000 dead Americans…
Another dramatic election night has left the contest for the Democratic nomination more unsettled than ever, while clearing the way for Republican Sen. John McCain to make his case to general-election voters largely unchallenged — for now — by attacks from the other party.
Buoyed by primary victories in three states last night, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) presented herself today as the Democrat most likely to defeat the Republican nominee for president in November and raised the prospect of joining forces with Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) — as her vice presidential running mate.
Im in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a lear jet.
Newsreader Carol Barnes is unlikely to survive after suffering a massive stroke, devastated friends have disclosed.
The ITN journalist was rushed to the intensive care unit on Sunday night at the Royal Sussex County Hospital near her Brighton home after falling seriously ill.
The 63-year-old’s family are understood to be keeping a vigil at her bedside but doctors fear the worst.
A friend told MailOnline: “It is very serious indeed and things are not looking good. She has not been given long. Everyone is absolutely devastated.”
Miss Barnes is one of the best-known faces in broadcasting and anchored the News at Ten and Channel 4 News over the course of two decades.
Yet another Super Tuesday, and I’m sorry to say, I’m about Super Tuesdayed out. Or is this Critical Tuesday? Judgment Day? Rivalry Week? March Madness?
In difficult times, people love to say, “This too shall pass.” But maybe this is an exception. I don’t think the campaign will ever be over.
Already there is buzz that Clinton is in this for the duration, even if she has a rough time today in Texas, Ohio and the two rounding-error states.
Watch her tonight: At some point she’ll say, “On to Wyoming!”
The Pennsylvania Primary is only 7 weeks away, my friends.
If Clinton loses there will be pressure from party leaders for her to drop out. But she might invoke the Huckabee rule, which is, you stick it out until the other guy has the required number of delegates. Or maybe she’ll fight all the way to the convention, and even beyond — because you don’t really know FOR SURE the result of an election until the hand goes on the Bible on Jan. 20, you know?
[Mental note: Figure out likely location of Clinton Government In Exile.]
