Al-Jazeerah: Cross-Cultural Understanding

www.ccun.org

www.aljazeerah.info

News, September 2008

 

Al-Jazeerah History

Archives 

Mission & Name  

Conflict Terminology  

Editorials

Gaza Holocaust  

Gulf War  

Isdood 

Islam  

News  

News Photos  

Opinion Editorials

US Foreign Policy (Dr. El-Najjar's Articles)  

www.aljazeerah.info

 

 

 

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.


US Soldier, 7 Iraqis Killed in War Attacks, New Iraq Second Most Corrupt Country in the World, According to September 23, 2008

Editor's Note:

Only God knows how many Iraqis are killed everyday. The following represents part of the reporting but readers are advised that the actual number of deaths should very much exceed what's reported.

Concerning deaths of US soldiers, only those US citizens who die in Iraq are included in the statistics. There are no published statistics about US soldiers who die of their injuries after that. There are no published statistics about the deaths or injuries of the private army soldiers (security contractors), or about those without US citizenship.

It is noteworthy that May 20, 2008 news reports showed that death squads which execute Iraqis on daily basis are no longer hiding themselves. Previously, Sunni leaders pointed to Mahdi Army and Badr militiamen as the perpetrators. Now, death squads are composed of the US-recruited Sahwa fighters and policemen.

On September 6, 2008, news reports mentioned the killing of nine Iraqis who were arrested by Al-Muthanna Brigade of the Iraqi Army stationed in the city of Al-Falloujah. There corpses were found with bullets shot on their heads and chests. This incident is evidence that the sectarian-based Iraqi forces have been functioning also as death squads, which killed Iraqis for suspicion of belonging to resistance organizations, without any legal procedures or trials.

Despite the fact that there are scores of organizations involved in the Iraq war, the Iraqi government officials prefer to refer to them as Alqaeda gunmen for propaganda purposes, as mentioned in the June 4, 2008 news report. For accuracy purposes, the term "Alqaeda gunmen" may be replaced with "Iraqi fighters."


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


Tuesday, September 23, 2008


amsi.org reported the following news:

- A woman was killed, seven other women were injured by a bomb blast near their home west of Ba'aqouba. These were returning internal refugees.

-
A US soldier was killed in an attack by light arms in Salman Bek area.

- An Iraqi soldier was killed, three were injured in a bomb attack west of Mosul.

- A US-recruited Sahwa fighter and his son were injured in an attack.


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

Iraq among countries with highest levels of corruption - report

September 23, 2008 - 04:32:59
BAGHDAD /Aswat al-Iraq:

Transparency International ranked Iraq second among the countries showing the highest levels of perceived corruption.

Transparency International’s (TI) 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), launched today, highlights the fatal link between poverty, failed institutions and graft.

The Transparency International CPI measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on different expert and business surveys. The 2008 CPI scores 180 countries (the same number as the 2007 CPI) on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to ten (highly clean).

Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden share the highest score at 9.3, followed immediately by Singapore at 9.2. Bringing up the rear is Somalia at 1.0, slightly trailing Iraq and Myanmar at 1.3 and Haiti at 1.4.

Similarly, statistically significant improvements over the last year can be identified in Albania, Cyprus, Georgia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, South Korea, Tonga and Turkey.
SH (P)/SR

Body found in eastern Mosul

September 23, 2008 - 06:49:27

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq:

Policemen found an unidentified body, while a bomb exploded targeting a police vehicle patrol in two separate incidents in Mosul, a security source said.

“Policemen found an unidentified body in Sena'at al-Karama region in eastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.
“The body shows signs of gunshot wounds to the head,” he noted.

“The corpse was sent to the forensic medicine department,” he also said.
The source said a sound bomb exploded while a police vehicle patrol was passing in al-Jazaer neighborhood in eastern Mosul, without leaving casualties.

Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.

SH (S)/SR

9 family members killed, wounded in Diala

September 23, 2008 - 06:40:37

DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq:

A woman was killed and eight persons, from the same family, were wounded on Tuesday after gunmen blew up their house in Baaquba, an official security source said.

“A woman was killed and eight persons, including six women, all from the same family, were injured when a suspected al-Qaeda group blew up their house in al-Katoun neighborhood in central Baaquba,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.

“The house, which was completely destroyed, belongs to a displaced family which just returned to the house,” he added.

Diala province, a mix of Sunnis and Shiites, extends to the northeast of Baghdad as far as the Iranian border. Its capital is Baaquba, 57 km northeast of Baghdad. It covers an area of 17,685 square kilometers (6,828 sq mi).
A large portion of the province is drained by the Diala River, a major tributary of the Tigris.

Because of its proximity to two major sources of water, Diala’s main industry is agriculture, primarily dates grown in large Date Palm groves. It is also recognized as the orange capital of the Middle East.

In January 2008 Operation Phantom Phoenix was launched in an attempt to eradicate the remnants of al-Qaeda network following the Diala province campaign between 2006 and 2007.
SH (S)/SR

U.S. army detains 6 “Special Groups” gunmen in Baghdad

September 23, 2008 - 07:07:11

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

The U.S. army on Tuesday announced its forces arrested six “special groups” gunmen during a security operation conducted in Baghdad.

“Soldiers of Company B, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, detained five suspected special groups criminals at approximately 1:30 a.m. Sep. 23, during an operation in the Risalah community of the Rashid district, ” said a U.S. army statement received by Aswat al-Iraq.

“At approximately 2:30 a.m., Soldiers of Co. A, 4th Bn., 64th Armor Regt., attached to the 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B, detained a suspected criminal in the Risalah community located in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad,” the announcement added.

Special Groups is a language used by the U.S. army to refer to Shiite groups trained and financed by Iran to launch attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces. Iran has denied all the charges.
AM (P)/SR

News Summary

September 23, 2008 - 01:54:39
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

Following is a summary of news reports posted until 0400 p.m. Baghdad local time Tuesday:
 
* Politics:
 
BAGHDAD - Iraqi newspapers gave prominence in their Tuesday issues to the security situation in the country and the spate of assassinations on the Iraqi street.
 
AMMAN - Some Arab newspapers on Tuesday continued their criticism of the current U.S. administration’s policies in Iraq, which they argue have only resulted in more disasters and more suffering for the Iraqi people.
 
* Security:
 
DIALA - Two civilians were killed in an explosive charge attack that ripped through Diala province, a local police source said on Tuesday.
 
BAGHDAD - Four civilians were wounded on Tuesday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in northern Baghdad cit, an Iraqi police source said.
 
BABEL - One civilian man was killed and two others wounded, all of them from the same family, on Tuesday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their vehicle north of Hilla city, a security source said.
 
BAGHDAD - One civilian man was killed and two others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED), the second of its kind today in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a police source said.
 
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi parliamentarian on Tuesday blamed Iran and the Kurds for the declining security situation in Diala, an accusation described by a Kurdistan Alliance spokesperson as an attempt to “add fuel to the flame.”
 
DIALA - A leading member of al-Qaeda network was captured in a search raid conducted jointly by the Iraqi police and U.S. army in Diala province on Tuesday, a security source said.
 
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s interior ministry on Tuesday said it has hired 2,000 Sahwa (Awakening) fighters in Diala since Operation Bashaer al-Khair (Promise of Good) started in the province late last July.
 
AmR (R)/SR



Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

 

 

 

 

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent ccun.org.

editor@ccun.org