Retaliation for earlier assault?

BAGHDAD, September 25 – An already startling morning resulted in a bomb attack on a busy highway in Baghdad. In this insurgent attack at least ten elite commandos of the Iraqi forces were killed but a clear count of the total amount of deaths and injuries is not yet available as chaos still rules the neighborhood where the strike took place.

The early morning started with tension in Sadr City, that part of Baghdad that is controlled by the Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr. Surprisingly also one of the safest parts since the social control is incredible and militants patrol the streets day and night. Reportedly six pick-up trucks with special Iraqi commandos and six Humvees with special U.S. forces arrived at the local mosque looking to arrest a member of the militant army. Alleged witnesses say that the special troops then opened fire on the crowd after they found out the man they were looking for was not around, six deaths and at least seven casualties were the result.

In the early afternoon a similar pick-up truck as seen in this assault was targeted by a suicide bomber on a busy highway in Baghdad. The truck with elite commandos in the back was struck by a minivan that pulled up to the side when at the same time the driver detonated the explosives. Witnesses have reported at least ten of the elite commandos as killed but the highway is still scattered with burning metal and dazed citizens so final reports are not conclusive yet.

Even Republicans will be strict

WASHINGTON, September 24 – It looks as though President Bush has to be really sure about the second nominee for the Supreme Court because this one won’t get in so easily. The Democrats will of course play hardball on the next nominee, but a few highly-ranked Republicans have indicated that they will not agree with just anybody, seems like Bush has a rocky road ahead this time.

Bush’s approval ratings have shown to be the lowest since he took office, John Roberts simply got a “free pass” because he was replacing an extremely conservative judge. Senate Republican strategists have indicated that most Republicans are growing more and more willingly to defy the President’s strategy. Many of them already didn’t agree on important issues like stem cell research, Bolton’s appointment as Ambassador to the U.N. and of course the war in Iraq.

So if the next nominee as much as leans to the left or the right Bush can count on a tough battle in the Senate, especially because this nominee will replace Sandra Day O’Connor, often the swing-vote on many ethical matters of great importance. Republican defection would of course offer cover to the Democrats willing to oppose the new nominee as well, all in all it’s crystal clear that George W. Bush has to make a solid call on this one.

Yet another lie revealed

WASHINGTON, September 23 – The Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) has revealed that the U.S. and Iraq government are false in stating that the number of foreign insurgents is “huge” and that most of them are Saudi’s. They released a report which featured in “The Guardian” saying that foreign terrorists are not the backbone of the insurgents, yet only four to ten percent of the insurgents are foreign. The total estimated amount of insurgents in Iraq is about 30,000 to date.

They also devastated the reports that most of these foreign insurgents come from Saudi Arabia, the list that CSIS composed is as follows: “Algerians are the largest group (20 percent), followed by Syrians (18 percent), Yemenis (17 percent), Sudanese (15 percent), Egyptians (13 percent), Saudis (12 percent) and those from other states (5 percent).” CSIS compiled this report from various intelligence services in the Gulf region.

The report also reveals that most of the militants were not radicalized before the invasion of Iraq but became terrorists because of the coalition that invaded Iraq. They are repulsed by the idea that an Arab country is occupied by a non-Arab country and the catalyst that encourages them to fight the troops consist mainly from the horrible images of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

The report shines light on the fact that the insurgents are not Hussein-loyalists at all but simply Sunnis who do not trust a Shiite-led government. Concerns are raised over the many foreign fighters ho return to their home countries after gaining vast amounts of terrorist knowledge. It is believed that these newly acquired skills like the ability to make bombs, engage in armed combat and the “real world” terrorist experience will be used to terrorize European countries and perhaps even the United States.

Confirmation on schedule

WASHINGTON, September 22 – The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted in favor of John Roberts’ nomination for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The votes were divided by 13 against five. All ten Republicans voted in favor of course and three Democrats sided with them to back Roberts’ nomination. It is expected that the full Senate, which will probably vote sometime next week, will follow this voting round and thus confirm Roberts as Chief Justice.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, senior Democrat on the panel, and fellow Democratic Senators Russell Feingold and Herbert Kohl, both of Wisconsin, voted in favor of confirmation. Among the Democrats who voted against Roberts is Diane Feinstein of California, she explained that she felt that Roberts neglected to take the many chances he had to speak out clearly against changing any precedents, like the legendary Roe v. Wade case.

It is surprising to see that there isn’t even unity among the Democrats, the chamber’s top Democrat Harry Reid spoke out against confirmation earlier yet the committee top Democrat Leahy voted in favor of Roberts. This division says enough about the reason why Roberts couldn’t be stopped, if the Democrats cannot even internally agree on such an important issue how could they ever put a stop to confirmation hearing like this?

Learning from Bush?

BAGHDAD, September 21 – It was almost ridiculous to see the poor attempts to sweet talk what took place in Basra on Monday. Defence Secretary John Reid staged a public display of affection with the Iraqi prime minister, trying to emphasize that there is no harm done and they’re all still friends.

He urged that there was no such thing as “fundamental breakdown of trust” and that everyday life as normal would continue. The training of Iraqi forces and support in security issues are still continuing and Reid says there is no reason not to. The Iraqi prime minister added his two cents by saying that in the current situation with foreign forces located allover the country an incident like this was likely to happen. Funny thought isn’t it?

Meanwhile in Basra over 500 protesters gathered, among them many armed policemen, to demonstrate against the British violence and demanding a trial for the SAS soldiers. In Baghdad the interior minister denied that Brigadier Lorimer’s statement was correct. Lorimer has said that the Iraqi police handed the two special agents over to the British Forces yet the interior minister accuses him of spreading this false information to cover up his order to storm the police station where they were held captive and freed subsequently. One can expect this is not the last we’ll hear from this.

Violence continues

BAGHDAD, September 20 – Tuesday the U.S. military announced the tragic deaths of five U.S. soldiers. Four of them were killed in two roadside bombings near Ramadi, an insurgent-controlled city, the fifth was killed in a similar attack just north of Baghdad.

In northern Iraq the city of Mosul was the scene of four more U.S. deaths, one diplomatic security agent and three private security agents were killed by a suicide bomber. Marking the spot of disaster a crater lies in the middle of the road.

This raises the total death toll of the U.S. military to a staggering 1,904 deaths since the beginning of this dreadful war in Iraq. At least 1,483 deaths were the cause of hostile actions with the majority lying at firefights followed by bombings as a close second. Roadside bombs have increased in popularity and the detection of them is still virtually impossible. These improvised bombs keep advancing in technique and so far the terrorists are still a step ahead of the military forces.

Today is just another sad day in a week that started off by massive bombings and assassinations throughout the entire country. Al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, Al-Zarqawi ha declared an all-out war on the Shiite majority and of course the U.S. Forces will not be neglected.