In matters great and small. From CENTCOM :

The MNSTC-I Direct Recruit Replacement program graduated its largest class of Iraqi Army recruits to date Feb. 5 at An Numaniyah, Iraq. The DRR program began in November 2004. The class of 2,867 graduates will serve with the 3rd and 5th Divisions of the Iraqi Army.
[…]
An even larger class of the DRR program totaling 3,500 recruits is scheduled to begin mid-February.
[…]
The DRR course trains the prior military recruits in weapons, security procedures, patrolling, checkpoints, first aid, and basic field and fighting skills.

Also from CENTCOM :

The Iraqi Highway Patrol graduated 49 recruits from the interim Highway Patrol Academy in Al Mehaweel Feb. 6.

The officers completed a three-week training course combining components of police ethics and policing in a democratic society with the operational skills needed by the IHP in preparation for their mission to secure the nation’s highways. A strong emphasis was given to firearms training and vehicle mounted patrolling.

Tasked with providing law enforcement and security along Iraq’s highways and major roadways, the IHP will also respond to incidents involving anti-Iraqi forces, foreign terrorists, car bombs and attacks on convoys. Currently, there are approximately 600 highway patrol officers on the force, which is slated to reach 6,300 officers in July 2006.

The next IHP course, scheduled for mid-February, will include a train-the-trainers block of instruction in which Iraqis will be trained as instructors. These instructors will then conduct future training courses for the IHP.

For those not yet paying attention, the career of CNN EVP and Chief News Executive Eason Jordan is imploding in blog-time over comments he allegedly made at the World Economic Forum about the US military targeting and killing journalists. Kevin McCullough got this response from the network:

Many blogs have taken Mr. Jordan’s remarks out of context. Eason Jordan does not believe the U.S. military is trying to kill journalists. Mr. Jordan simply pointed out the facts: While the majority of journalists killed in Iraq have been slain at the hands of insurgents, the Pentagon has also noted that the U.S. military on occasion has killed people who turned out to be journalists. The Pentagon has apologized for those actions. Mr. Jordan was responding to an assertion by Cong. Frank that all 63 journalist victims had been the result of “collateral damage.”

It was the first thing we (Hugh Hewitt, Jon Lauck, and the other bloggers) were talking about at the Campaigns & Elections panel this morning, and Jon even went so far as to ask Judy Woodruff for her view (she said it was news to her).

Ahhh, the astute Mr. Hewitt. He forecasted at 10:30 this morning (EST) that the story would break mainstream soon, and sure enough, I return home to find that Malkin, Kerry Spot, Rosen, and others are all over the story … and I turn on the TV to see Kudlow asking Ann Coulter for her view. [Update on this: Reynolds has posted a link to the clip; tip to Hugh.]

Things move fast in this world, no?

I’m posting this on the Iraq page because Iraq is the context for Jordan’s comments (whatever they might resolve to be).

I’m not going to try to report the story here. To track it, start with Hugh and scroll. Follow his links, although I’ll link to Malkin here as well, as she had the moxie to call Barney Frank and David Gergen today and get their two cents.

And if you want to track the thing in real time, just do the Google News search. Of note: Google news is now pulling blog posts. The first cite that came up with my search: this post at PoliPundit.

Funny world, this blogosphere. Eason Jordan, welcome to the future.

Update: Of course, I should give a proper link to this post from this very blog, where the always attentive Mr. Alan E. Brain posted the story at 11 a.m. EST yesterday morning.

Update 2: How much is it breaking in the ‘sphere? To the tune of about 900 posts. David Sifry, you genius …

Update 3: And in the interest of appropriate credit, it seems La Shawn Barber has been on this thing for some time …

Update 4: And don’t miss Chester at Easongate.

Update 5: The semi-official World Economic Forum Weblog has only one post on Eason. It’s a group blog, authored (it seems) by several of the bloggers in attendance. From the Eason post:

Senator Dodd’s statement, “Senator Dodd was not on the panel but was in the audience when Mr. Jordan spoke. He – like panelists Mr. Gergen and Mr. Frank – was outraged by the comments. Senator Dodd is tremendously proud of the sacrifice and service of our American military personnel.” is perhaps the clearest statement from a major figure present at the meeting. Thank you, Senator Dodd for at least expressing what I felt as well, and for adding some real weight to this issue. If the WEF suppresses the video, the chaff thrown out by CNN and Eason supporters may obscure and cloud all of this to a lack of contextual understanding by audience members. Let’s be clear: that is a load of bull. What was said was clearly understood, and no amount of reverse engineering can undo that. If you shout fire in a crowded theatre and then try to say that what you really meant was for someone to just turn down the air conditioning, it just does not fly.

Update 6: There are now 1,147 blog posts citing “Eason Jordan” [as of 6:54 am est 2/8/05)]

Update 7: The story is starting to break in MSM. See reports at the Boston Globe, Washington Post, New York Sun, National Ledger, and the Washington Times. Larry Kudlow also posts his two cents:

If the story is correct, CNN should have already fired Jordan. If the story is not true, Jordan or CNN must provide the counter-evidence.

This episode is worse than Rathergate. Dan Rather, Mary Mapes, and others at the CBS Evening News are biased liberal journalists. But I have no reason to believe that Rather is unpatriotic. And yet, Rather & Co. were dismissed. The fact that Jordan still has a job says very bad things about CNN.

From the AP :

Iraq’s electoral commission says it has received more than 100 complaints of irregularities. It has formed an independent team of three lawyers to investigate
[…]
“There are political parties that have contested the legitimacy of the election process even before the voting started,” election official Adel al-Lami said. “It’s because they know they won’t get many votes.”

On Sunday, hundreds of Iraqis - mostly Assyrian Christians and Turkomens - shouted slogans and waved Iraqi flags outside Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone to protest alleged irregularities in Mosul that they say prevented tens of thousands from voting.

Because of the security situation, many international monitors watched the election from nearby Jordan. Much of the voting and ballot counting was done in the presence of party representatives with their own agendas. And critics say Iraqi monitors, however impartial, had little experience.

One of the first public complaints came from Iraq’s president, Ghazi al-Yawer, who told reporters that tens of thousands of people in Mosul were unable to vote because of insufficient ballots. Al-Yawer’s base is in that northern city, which has a largely Sunni Arab population and significant Kurdish and Christian minorities.

His ticket is faring poorly in the early vote count nationally.

The ballot shortage in Mosul meant many Sunni Arabs and others who wanted to vote could not.
[…]
The scope of the problem remains unclear, but several politicians claim hundreds of thousands were disenfranchised in the city and surrounding province. An investigation is under way.

“There are centers that opened and yet did not get enough ballots, which proves there were bad intentions,” said Meshaan al-Jubouri, a Sunni Arab politician.

He claimed election officials were among those who “didn’t want the Sunnis to vote so that the Shiites could score a fake victory.”

Al-Jubouri is demanding that an international commission investigate the Mosul complaints and another election be held. The commission denies any move to disenfranchise voters but has ruled out a new election.

In the oil-rich city of Kirkuk - home to Arabs, Kurds, Turkomens and Christians - some groups accused Kurdish parties of packing the rolls with Kurdish voters from elsewhere. The Kurds say those voters were forcibly expelled under Saddam Hussein and have a right to return.

Countering those charges, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan official Rizgar Ali claimed ballot boxes were stuffed in favor of a largely Arab faction in Hawija, which also ran short of ballots.

Hawija, about 25 miles southwest of Kirkuk, is predominantly Sunni Arab and the scene of recent insurgent activity. But Ali said small-scale violations would not undermine the elections.

“This is the first experience for the Iraqis, who have very little experience in democracy and elections,” he said. “Don’t worry about Kirkuk.”
[…]
In Diyala province, Gov. Abdullah al-Jubouri said he and his list of candidates were not even on the ballot.

“There are political currents that wanted to create sectarian strife in the province,” said the governor, a Sunni Arab.

Al-Lami, the electoral commission official, said the governor never submitted his final candidate list.
[…]
Al-Lami said there were complaints that the Najaf governor used the police and Iraqi National Guardsmen to urge voters to support his list and to attack commission workers in the city.
[…]
Al-Lami said the vote’s credibility could not be judged before complaints were investigated.

“The vast majority thinks the elections were a success,” he said.

Sorry about the extensive snippage, but there’s so much unsubsantiated Doom and Gloom Opinion that picking out the few hard facts (ones that generally don’t support the Cassandra-like spin of the article) took a bit of doing.

From CENTCOM :

The Commander’s Emergency Response Program assists Iraqi citizens by supporting and developing local programs and institutions.
[…]
The projects must not exceed $500,000 and must demonstrate an important public need. To date, 44 projects have been completed with 58 more in progress or in the process of being submitted. More than $17 million has been spent or allocated by CERP for these important, community enhancements.

In fact, the program has been so successful that Iraqi Interim Government officials have agreed to fund and administer 17 projects previously slated for funding by CERP. These projects, totaling $5.9 million, include drainage improvements, irrigation, school renovations, and the construction of a fine arts institute.
[…]
In Taji, four villages are being touched by a program to provide 12 school buses and more than 9,000 school uniforms. As the Ministry of Education is enforcing uniform standards for all female students in primary and intermediate grade levels, now many less fortunate Iraqi girls will be able to attend school. According to U.S. Army Col. Richard Hatch, MNSTC-I SJA, “This is one the best uses of CERP money I have seen yet.” Twenty schools will benefit from the $429,000 program. The buses and uniforms will be procured through local vendors. Planners expect delivery by the end of February.

In An Numaniyah, the Haji Jalal Women’s & Pediatric Hospital will receive funding for clinic supplies including: ultrasound equipment, a centrifuge, refrigerators, an incubator, oroscopes, ophthalmoscopes, stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers, nebulizers, various monitors and other useful medical equipment. The $176,000 project is underway.

In Al Kasik, nine important projects are in the works including renovating the village school, constructing a road from the village to Temarat, constructing an elementary school, building four clinics, repairing the village well, stringing a power line and building a water factory, a soccer field, and a park for children.

From CENTCOM :

Soldiers from the 102nd Iraqi Army Battalion were working a checkpoint north of Al Hawd when they discovered Abdullah Mohammed Khalif Al-Jaburi, brother of the Mosul chief of police, in the truck of a vehicle being searched. The two people in the vehicle were detained and Khalif was returned to Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.

From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard says the suspension of Benon Sevan and another official are the first steps in what is likely to be a lengthy disciplinary process.

”Both are expected to receive by Wednesday official letters which outline the internal charges against them,” he said.

“They then have two weeks to respond, at which time the administration will take it’s final decision on appropriate sanctions.”

From CENTCOM :

The Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq is using the “Small Rewards” program to collect information or non-lethal assistance that results in the capture of a person, weapon or documents on a wanted list.
[…]
Rewards are given to foreign nationals and Iraqi citizens, including members of the Iraqi army and police, who provide qualifying information.
[…]
The Small Rewards Review Board studies each nomination packet and makes recommendations on whether the packet qualifies for a reward. If the information or non-lethal assistance meets the criteria, the Board makes recommendations for the final reward amount.
[…]
There is no established reward amount, as each nomination packet that is submitted is considered separately based upon its overall strategic value and impact.

The Board’s chairman, also the approval officer, can authorize an award of up to $2,500. Once rewards are approved, the reward monies are normally received by the informant within 48 hours.

Information leading to the capture of more expensive munitions or wanted terrorists can net up to $50,000. Rewards from $50,000 to the top award of $200,000 must be approved by the Defense Department. Larger rewards require additional approval and take 45 days for payment. Informants may choose cash or an in-kind benefit as a reward under the Small Rewards program.

Iraqi security forces remain eligible for the rewards through April 2005 as long as the information received was not a direct result of their normal duties.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A huge blast in Baghdad has killed at least 21 people and injured 27 queuing to enlist in the army, while two more people were killed in blasts outside the capital.

Dozens of Iraqi men were queuing up at the army recruitment centre outside a base in western Baghdad when a suicide bomber wearing a belt of explosives walked into the queue and set off the device.
[…]
Meanwhile, Police Lieutenant Colonel Fares Mahdi said a civilian died and six others were wounded, including three women, when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in Shurgat, 300 kilometres north of the Iraqi capital.

All casualties were reportedly from the same family.

In another bomb attack, one soldier was killed and another wounded when their patrol was targeted by a roadside bomb in Dhuluiya, 70 kilometres north of Baghdad.
[…]
Gunmen opened fire on Mithal al-Alusi’s car, missing him but killing his two sons.

“Yes, my two sons died and my bodyguard as well. It was a gunfire attack on my car near my house in Baghdad,” the 52-year-old politician said.

Mr Alusi had been an adviser for maverick Shiite politician Ahmed Chalabi.

From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

United States military police threw a mudwrestling party at a prison camp in Iraq and a woman who took part has been found guilty of indecent exposure and demoted, US military has said.

Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson says at least three female guards stripped to their underwear and wrestled each other in a paddling pool full of mud in the grounds of Camp Bucca, the biggest US camp for detainees in Iraq.

Several guards who watched the wrestling have been reprimanded for failing to intervene.

The party took place on October 30 last year, when one US military police battalion, the 160th, was about to hand over responsibility to another, the 105th.

Officers from both battalions were involved and photographs were taken.

A prison guard found the photos sometime later and handed them over to the camp’s commanders.

From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Four Egyptian telecom engineers kidnapped in Baghdad have been released, Egyptian embassy sources and a spokesman for their company say.

”They were released this afternoon at around 6:30pm [local time],” Orascom spokesman Shamel Hanafi said.

“They are in good health and no ransom was paid. They should be leaving the country tomorrow early in the morning.”

From Reuters, also via the ABC :

An Iraqi group that claims it is holding an Italian journalist kidnapped in Iraq says it will release her soon because she was not a spy, a statement on an Islamist website says.

”Since it has become absolutely clear that the Italian prisoner is not involved in espionage for the infidels in Iraq, and in response to the call from the Muslim Clerics Association, we in the Jihad Organisation will release the Italian prisoner in the coming days,” the statement said.

It mentioned by name Giuliana Sgrena, a journalist with communist Rome newspaper Il Manifesto who was snatched as she conducted interviews near Baghdad University on Friday.

The Muslim Clerics Association, a group of Iraqi clerics seen as influential among insurgents, had called for her release.

It was not possible to verify the statement, which like previous statements on Sgrena appeared on a site not used by the main Iraqi rebel groups.

The claim was not accompanied by a picture or video of the captive or any identification papers.

Updating a previous post, from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

In a statement posted on the Internet, Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said two suicide bombers from his group Al Qaeda in Iraq were behind the attacks.

In the first, a suicide bomber walked up to a queue of Iraqi policemen waiting for their salaries in Mosul and detonated his explosives belt.
[…]
Moments later in Baquba, north of Baghdad, at least 11 people died when a suicide attacker rammed a car packed with explosives into the main police headquarters.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A representative of one of Iraq’s most powerful Shia leaders, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad al-Fayad, has issued a statement demanding that the Koran be the reference point for all government legislation.

The statement says the national assembly should reject any law contrary to Islam.

A spokesman for the supreme leader of Iraq’s Shia, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has told the French news agency AFP that he endorses the statement.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from Iraq that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. This briefing is brought to you by proud new papa Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended and Andrew Olmsted of Andrew Olmsted dot com.

TOP TOPICS

• Insurgents killed 22 Iraqi police officers and soldiers in a night raid in Baghdad. With the elections in the bag, the insurgency may be turning its focus to Iraqi security forces with the hope of delegitimizing the new government before it can even take the reins.

• Terrorists kidnapped four Egyptian engineers in Baghdad, illustrating both their intent to continue the fight and their willingness to harm their coreligionists in a desperate attempt to further their cause.

Other Topics Today Include: A Democratic Iraq’s first national hero; ordinary Iraqis take a stand; an Iraqi theocracy(?); winners of the Iraqi election; Carnival of the Liberated; antiwar talking points; a different Arab election.

Read the Rest…

Twenty-five Iraqis died and scores were injured Monday in attacks on a hospital in Mosul and a police post in Baquba, officials said.

At a police station at a Mosul hospital, mortar fire killed 11 police and wounded six others, police said.

The attack at Jumhuriya Hospital took place around 10:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. ET).

A suicide bomber set off explosives outside the hospital building among a group of Iraqi policemen, hospital Director Tahseen Ali Mahmoud al-Obeidi said.

[…]

Also Monday a car bomb detonated in front of a Baquba police station, killing 14 police and police recruits, police told CNN.

In another account of the incident, the U.S. military said 15 civilians were killed in the attack with another 16 wounded.

More…

From the New York Times :

In one scene, the videotape shows three kidnappers with guns and a knife, preparing to behead a helpless man who is gagged and kneeling at their feet.

In the next, it is one of the kidnappers who is in detention, his eyes wide with fear, his lips trembling, as he speaks to his interrogators.

“How do I say this?” says the kidnapper, identified as an Egyptian named Abdel-Qadir Mahmoud, holding back tears. “I am sorry for everything I have done.”

In the first week after the elections, the Iraqi Interior Ministry and the Mosul police chief are turning the tables on the insurgency here in the north by using a tactic - videotaped messages - that the insurgents have used time and again as they have terrorized the region with kidnappings and executions.

But this time the videos, which are being broadcast on a local station, carry an altogether different message, juxtaposing images of the masked killers with the cowed men they become once captured.
[…]
…officials in Mosul, short on manpower, apparently hope the psychological force of the broadcasts will help undermine the insurgency, making its fighters appear weak and encouraging citizens to call up with their reactions or information about those still at large. A program loosely based on “most wanted” crime shows in the United States is also being developed, a Mosul television official said.

From the Toledo Blade :

Mr. Jordan told a panel that the U.S. military had killed a dozen journalists in Iraq, and that they had been deliberately targeted. When challenged, Mr. Jordan could provide no evidence to support the charge, and subsequently lied about having made it, though the record shows he had made a similar charge a few months before, and also earlier had falsely accused the Israeli military of targeting journalists.
Mr. Jordan’s slander has created a firestorm in the blogosphere, but has yet to be mentioned in the “mainstream” media.

Until now, which is why we’re reporting it.

From the Washington Times :

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, during a discussion on media and democracy, Mr. Jordan apparently told the audience that “he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by U.S. troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted,” according to a report on the forum’s Web site (www.forumblog.org). The account was corroborated by the Wall Street Journal and National Review Online, although no transcript of the discussion has surfaced.
[…]
In November, as reported in the London Guardian, Mr. Jordan said, “The reality is that at least 10 journalists have been killed by the U.S. military, and according to reports I believe to be true journalists have been arrested and tortured by U.S. forces.”

From Reuters via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

The count so far puts a religious Shiite coalition in the lead with two thirds of the poll, based on results from 35 per cent of voting centres.

Buoyed by the strong showing, a top Shiite official told Reuters the Shiite alliance would insist on the job of prime minister in the new government.

The post is now held by Iyad Allawi, whose bloc is in second place. But this could change as votes from the Kurdish-dominated north are counted, reducing his chances of keeping his job as a compromise candidate.

“Shiites want the prime ministership, we are insisting on it and will not give it up,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Hamed al-Bayati, who is a senior official in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

SCIRI is a key player in the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite bloc, which has polled 2.2 million of the 3.3 million votes counted so far from 10 of 18 provinces.

Dr Allawi’s Iraqi List has about 18 per cent, but the Kurds are still awaiting the results in their three northern provinces, where turnout was high and is expected to secure them a powerful voice in the new 275-seat National Assembly.

The Electoral Commission said the final results would be ready within the next few days and at the latest by February 10.

Spokesman Farid Ayar warned there would then be nine days to resolve complaints before the results were certified.

FOX:

Four Egyptians working for a mobile phone company were abducted Sunday by gunmen in Baghdad, and Islamic militants threatened to kill an Italian journalist by Monday unless Italy agrees to withdraw its troops.

[..]

The four Egyptians were seized early Sunday near the Mansour (search) district of western Baghdad, the official said on condition of anonymity. They worked for Iraqna, a subsidiary of the Egyptian firm Orascom Telecommunications, which operates the mobile phone network in Baghdad and central Iraq.

Six other Egyptians working for Iraqna were kidnapped in two separate incidents in September. All were ultimately freed although Orascom said at the time that it was committed to continuing its work in Iraq.

The Italian journalist was kidnapped Friday by gunmen who blocked her car outside Baghdad University. Giuliana Sgrena, 56, is a veteran reporter for the left-wing daily Il Manifesto.

Two separate groups are claiming responsibility for the kidnapping of Sgrena:

An Islamist militant group in Iraq claimed responsibility for kidnapping an Italian journalist and threatened to kill her by Monday, following a kidnap claim from another group, according to an Internet statement.

The statement, which could not immediately be authenticated, was signed by a group calling itself the Jihad Organization. It threatened to kill Giuliana Sgrena by Monday if Italy did not withdraw its troops from Iraq.

A group with a similar name, the Islamic Jihad Organization, claimed Friday also to have taken Sgrena and set a 72-hour deadline for Italy to remove its troops, but did not specifically threaten to kill her.

“We in the Jihad Organization … announce that we will implement God’s law (kill) on the Italian prisoner Giuliana Sgrena after 48 hours if the Italian government, headed by the criminal Berlusconi, does not announce it will withdraw (troops) from Iraq,” said the statement dated Saturday.

More here..

Thanks to Australian RadFem and UltraLeftist Blogger HakMao, you can now Give Fascism the Finger.

Badges, Fridge Magnets, and Coffee Cups are all available. Lest you think that Hell has frozen over and she’s become all Capitalistic of a sudden, in a scathingly brilliant move that will appeal to both Left and Right, Marxist and Right-Wing Death-Beast alike, all proceeds ($2 per mug, and $1 per button/magnet) will be split between the IFTU (Iraqi Federation of Workers Trade Unions) and the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party. (You know.. the bloggers behind Iraq the Model- the guys who met a bloke called George W. Bush recently…).

Finally, something we can all agree on, Red-state, Blue-state, Gay, Straight, even Australian. Let’s all Give Fascism the Finger together.

From CENTCOM :

The Soldiers and personnel based in Iraq will be able to take a back seat ride next month as the 3rd Infantry Division Soldiers coming to replace them have started to arrive and team up with their couterparts in theater as part of the transition of command gets underway.

Over in the medical aid station at the division logistical support area in Camp Victory the transition has already began as medic Soldiers from the advanced party of 3rd Inf. Div. arrived and are working with the 1st Cav. medics to prepare themselves for the eventual handover next month.

Medics from Headquarter and Headquarters Support Company, Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Inf. Div. are the Soldiers calling the division medical aid their new home. They moved in to the building Jan. 26 to learn from the medics working there.
[…]
Helping the 3rd Inf. Div. medics along, the medics from 1st Cav Div. are showing the Soldiers how to get medical supplies outside of the Camp, introduce them to the other aid stations working in the area, and the overall running of the medical aid station, its hours and where everything is located inside of it.

“The medics that are arriving are doing a good job,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Rankin, Headquarters Company, 1st Cav. Div. “One of them has already screened and treated a few patients in his first three days here.”

“This makes me confident that they will be able to do the job here when we’re gone so the transition here should go smoothly,” he said.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty of work for the replacement units coming in. Also from CENTCOM :

You only have to look as far as the smiles on the children’s faces to know that the Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, have made a difference in the Rustamiyah community.

”We have made a big impact on the kids,” said New Orleans, native Staff Sgt. Eldred Stewart, a squad leader with Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team.
[…]
“When we first took over this zone, we noticed it was a very impoverished area,” said Livingston, Calif., native Capt. David Haynes, Alpha Battery’s commander. “Some of the largest problems were a lack of essential services, the difficulties traversing the zone of responsibility because of the condition of the roads and the economic prosperity of the citizens of the zone. There is no sewage system to speak of so we focused on water.”

“The water delivery system was sub-standard so we contracted for water to be distributed. The trucks run everyday delivering 200,000 liters of water per day to the residents. A long-term project is to work [sewer] pipes into the zones but that is a long way off and will be picked up by our replacements,” Haynes said.

It’s not so much re-building now, it’s building essential infrastructure that has never existed in the first place.

From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A roadside bomb Friday killed three civilians driving in a truck carrying vegetables at Ishaki, about 100 kilometres north of the capital, police said.

Two other civilians were killed by booby trap bomb as they drove behind an Iraqi army convoy.

On Thurdsday night, two Iraqis were killed in a similar attack near Baiji, an oil refinery 200 kilometres north of Baghdad, police said.

An Iraqi soldier and a rebel died in a clash at Dhuluiya, which erupted after an insurgent attack on an Iraqi army patrol, the military said.

And from CENTCOM, 3 deaths in separate attacks, one in Northern Babil :

A soldier assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action yesterday while conducting security and stability operations in the Northern Babil Province.

One in Mosul :

One Task Force Freedom Soldier was killed and another wounded when their convoy was hit with a roadside bomb while on patrol south of Mosul on Feb. 3. The attack occurred at about 2:00 a.m.

And one in Bayji

One Task Force Danger Soldier was killed and seven wounded in an improvised explosive device attack on a Multi-National Forces combat patrol near Bayji at 4:25 p.m. on Feb. 4.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Four Iraqi soldiers died when a booby-trapped motorcycle exploded next to their patrol in the southern city of Basra.

The powerful blast tore their car apart and shattered the relative calm in the British-controlled south.

Meanwhile, a US patrol has been hit by a roadside bomb near Baiji, north of Baghdad.

The United States military says two soldiers died in the attack.

And two Iraqi children have been killed by a landmine in the Sunni Muslim city of Samarra, north of the capital.

Sgt. Javal Davis, who admitted abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in late 2003, was sentenced Friday to six months in a military prison and given a bad-conduct discharge from the Army.

A nine-man military jury deliberated for about 5 1/2 hours before sentencing Davis, a former Abu Ghraib guard who earlier this week confessed to stepping on the hands and feet of a group of handcuffed detainees and falling with his full weight on top of them.

More…

A new, partial tally of votes Friday from Iraq’s landmark elections showed a Shiite coalition whose leaders have close ties to Iran rolling up a strong lead over other tickets, including that of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi .

The United Iraqi Alliance, which has the endorsement of Iraq’s top Shiite clerics, won more than two-thirds of the 3.3 million votes counted so far, the election commission said. Allawi’s ticket was running second with more than 579,700 votes.

More…

Lance Cpl. Allan Klein, 34, was one of 31 U.S. service members killed Jan. 26 when his troop transport helicopter crashed in Iraq. They were part of a team providing security in the run-up to that country’s first free election in decades.

Today at 11 a.m., Klein’s parents will say good-bye to their son at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Roseville. They needed a place to hold a luncheon after the service, and on Monday, they called Athena Banquet Center on Gratiot.

They didn’t know then that Youil Ishmail, who owns the Roseville hall, had voted the day before in the very election Klein gave his life to secure. They didn’t know that, at age 46, the man everyone calls Louie had for the first time been able to freely choose the leadership in the land of his birth.

So when Ishmail heard it was the mother of a slain Marine on the phone Monday, he didn’t hesitate.

“This Marine give his life for me to go and vote,” he said. “This is the least I can give this lady, just to give her some comfort.

“I tell her, ‘Everything. I will take care of everything. It doesn’t matter how many come.’ “

Read the rest…

Gunmen kidnapped an Italian journalist in Baghdad Friday, the latest in a series of brazen abductions but the first since Iraq’s election.

Giuliana Sgrena, a journalist with Rome daily Il Manifesto, was snatched from the street as she conducted interviews near Baghdad University, police sources and diplomats said.

Gunmen pulled up alongside her vehicle, forced her driver and an Iraqi journalist with her out of the vehicle at gunpoint and then drove off with Sgrena, the sources said.

Read more….

Annan Orders Disciplinary Action After Report:

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for disciplinary action against the chief of Oil-for-Food after a report released Thursday said the program head had “seriously undermined” the integrity of the United Nations.

—

U.N. Moves on Oil-for-Food Charges:

[Anan] initiated disciplinary action against the former head of the program, Benon Sevan, a now-retired undersecretary-general and a 40-year veteran of the world organization, accused of soliciting oil allocations. Similar action was initiated against another U.N. official Joseph Stephanides, accused of improper contract allocations under former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

—

Iraq Demands Justice on Oil-for-food Diplomats:

Anyone who stole from the UN’s oil-for-food program for Iraq must stand trial and the money be repaid to the Iraqi people, Iraq’s human rights minister said yesterday.

Bakhtiar Amin praised Thursday’s report by Paul Volcker, former head of the US Federal Reserve charged with probing corruption in the program, and said it showed even UN dignitaries were not above robbing the poor for profit.

“It shows that some so-called dignitaries had not an iota of shame in their bones, no conscience and no morals,” Mr Amin said. “They profited as parasites on the misery of an impoverished nation.”

Updating a previous post, from New Scientist :

A video purportedly showing the moment a British military airplane was shot down by Iraqi insurgents is almost certainly bogus, say defence specialists who studied the footage.
[…]
Defence experts say the wreckage seen in the video shown is consistent with that of a Hercules C-130, but dismiss the rest of the video as a crude propaganda attempt.

”I think the video is bogus,” says Peter Felstead, editor of Jane’s Defence Weekly. “The missile footage has just been grafted onto the front. And it looks like a surface-to-surface missile to me.”

Jim O’Halloran, editor of Jane’s Land-Based Air Defence, agrees. He says the pointed shape of the missile and the way it launched suggests it was a surface-to-surface Multiple Launch Rocket System missile, possibly the Katyusha type used by the Israeli army. He adds that such a weapon would not be effective against an airborne target. “What they’re showing did not kill a C-130,” O’Halloran told New Scientist.

But some of the wreckage footage itself may also be suspect, as it is shot in daylight. The airplane crashed at 1635 local time, leaving just an hour before sunset for someone to reach the wreckage and start recording. The images could not have been captured the following morning, as British forces had arrived at the site by this time.

I didn’t report this when it first came out, as I awaited a second-source confirmation. I now have it.

From the Sydney Morning Herald :

Amar Ahmed Mohammed was 19 years old. But the fact that he had the mind of a four-year-old did not stop the insurgency’s hard men as they strapped explosives to his chest and guided him to a voting centre in suburban Al-Askan.
[…]
Unlike the hundreds of others in the region who knowingly volunteered for an explosive death, Amar died because he did not know. He had Down syndrome.

On most days, Amar would slip out of his parents’ house and wander the streets of the Al-Askan neighbourhood until dusk when, usually, a friend or neighbour would bring him home. On Sunday, when his parents, Ahmed, 42, and Fatima, 40, went to vote with their two daughters, they left him at home as usual.
[…]
One of Amar’s cousins, a 29-year-old teacher who asked not to be named, claimed the insurgents must have kidnapped him. “He was like a baby,” he said. “He had nothing to do with the resistance and there was nothing in the house for him to make a bomb. He was Shiite - why bomb his own people?”
[…]
“I have heard of them using dead people and donkeys and dogs to hide their bombs, but how could they do this to a boy like Amar?”

Apparently, Amar triggered the bomb before he got to the intended target. No one else was hurt or killed.

Clarification of this last point is available from Iraq The Model :

Eye witnesses said (and I’m quoting one of my colleagues; a dentist who lives there) “the poor victim was so scared when ordered to walk to the searching point and began to walk back to the terrorists. In response the criminals pressed the button and blew up the poor victim almost half way between their position and the voting center’s entrance”.

I couldn’t believe the news until I met another guy from that neighborhood who knows the family of the victim. The guy was reported missing 5 days prior to elections’ day and the family were distributing posters that specified his descriptions and asking anyone who finds him to contact them.

One more thing. The last paragraph of the SMH story :

Unconfirmed reports of insurgents co-opting two other people with Down syndrome (both plots were foiled) suggest that Amar’s death was part of a deliberate city-wide plan, rather than the action of a rogue unit.

And from Iraq The Model :

When a relative of mine (who has a mental handicap due to an Rh conflict at birth) told me a month ago that a group of men in a car tried to kidnap him as he was standing in front of the institution he periodically visits to get medicine and support waiting for his brother; I thought that he was imagining the whole story.
He said that they tried to force him into the car telling him not to be afraid and that they’re from the “mujahideen and not going to hurt him”. My relative, despite his handicap was moved by his survival instinct and managed to run away.

Hat Tip : Tim Blair.

UPDATE : More confirmation from Roads To Iraq :

I would like to confirm the ITM post about the terrorists used a kidnapped child with “Down Syndrome” with bombs attached to him to attack a voting center in “Baghdad Al-Jadeedah”.
My parents live in “Zayouna” district which is very near to the accident and they saw everything on their way to the voting center, the story is true 100% and I can’t add anything more than what Omar told only “who low people can be?”

The residents of a small Iraqi village have killed five insurgents who had attacked them for voting in last weekend’s national elections.

Several other insurgents were also wounded.

The insurgents raided the village of al-Mudhiryah south of Baghdad after warning its inhabitants not to vote in the election.

The villagers fought back, killing five of the insurgents and wounding eight others.

The insurgents’ cars were then set alight.

Al-Mudhiryah’s tribal sheikh says his people are sick of being threatened by Islamic extremists.

Love this story.

FOX:

The man who ran the U.N. Oil-for-Food program “seriously undermined” the integrity of the United Nations, a U.N.-authorized investigation of the troubled program found in a report released Thursday.

The report found that Benon Sevan broke the rules by allegedly trying to obtain oil vouchers from Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. Sevan has been accused of receiving about $1 million worth of lucrative oil vouchers but he has denied any wrongdoing.

“Our conclusion is he placed himself in a serious conflict of interest,” Paul Volcker said at a news conference. “Our investigation continues into what other implications there may be if any.”

The finding represents the first time a high-level U.N. official has been implicated by the investigative panel headed by Volcker (search), a former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Full report (pdf)

[See also this post]

Insurgents struck back with a vengeance following a post-election lull, killing at least 28 people, including two Marines, in a burst of attacks, waylaying a minibus carrying new Iraqi army recruits, detonating car bombs and gunning down police and Iraqis working for the U.S. military, officials said Thursday.

[…]

gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying Iraqi contractors Thursday to jobs at a U.S. military base in Baqouba north of the capital, killing two people, officials said. Insurgents fired mortars at a U.S. base in Tel Afar, near Mosul, killing two civilians Wednesday night.

A car bomber struck a foreign convoy escorted by military Humvees on Baghdad’s dangerous airport road Thursday, destroying several vehicles and damaging a house, Iraqi police said. Helicopters were seen evacuating some casualties, witnesses said. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.

Insurgents ambushed another convoy in the area, killing five Iraqi policemen and an Iraqi National Guard major, police said. An Iraqi soldier was killed by gunmen as he was leaving his Baghdad home, officials said.

Also, the bodies of two slain men wearing blood-soaked clothes were found in the western insurgent stronghold of Ramadi. A handwritten note tucked into the shirt of one of the men claimed the two were Iraqi National Guardsmen.

In the south, gunmen overran a police station in the city of Samawah, killing an Iraqi policeman and injuring two others Wednesday night, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. Japanese troops are based outside Samawah.

A car bomb exploded at a house used by U.S. military snipers in Qaim, near the Syrian border, witnesses said. U.S. troops opened fire, hitting some civilians, the witnesses said. A U.S. military spokesman had no immediate information.

A roadside bomb exploded near the car of the governor of Anbar province Thursday in Ramadi. Gov. Qaoud al-Namrawi was not harmed, but a woman was injured when his guards opened fire.

Both Marines were killed in clashes Wednesday in Anbar province, which includes such restive cities and towns as Ramadi, Fallujah and Qaim.

More…

From MSNBC, buried in a story about an “assisted suicide” bomber who survived:

Al-Shayea claimed the Iraqi police even had Zarqawi himself under arrest in Fallujah last October, but despite a $25 million reward; and perhaps not knowing whom they had; they let go the most ruthless and notorious killer in Iraq. (According to the deputy minister, security officials who have checked the circumstances now believe that may well be true.)

Assisted Suicide, you may ask?

Twenty-one-year-old Ahmed Abdullah al-Shayea had come to Iraq from Saudi Arabia to join the infamous terrorist known as Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in a holy war against the American infidels. On Christmas morning, 2004, he got his first assignment, to park a tanker truck full of explosives near the high walls around the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad. He didn’t know that four fellow terrorists in a Jeep Cherokee following a safe distance behind held the remote-control trigger. When they pushed it, an explosion thundered across the city, killing 10 Iraqi policemen. But al-Shayea, unlike scores of other bombers who’ve been vaporized beyond recognition, was blown through the windshield and, against all odds, survived.

See previous post.

From CENTCOM :

Iraqi air force officials welcomed the arrival of two UH-1H Huey helicopters Feb. 1 to Taji Air Base.

The completely refurbished helicopters will provide airlift support and important troop-moving capabilities for the growing Iraqi air force command. A gift from Jordan, this is the first in a series of scheduled deliveries to occur during the next 12 months. A total of 16 UH-1H aircraft are slated to arrive in Iraq by February 2006.
[…]
Currently, 14 Iraqi pilots are fully trained and awaiting additional flight instruction from their U.S. advisory support team (AST) pilots. Flight training will continue for the next several months until all 48 Iraqi pilots are certified. In the meantime, maintenance training will commence for the engineers and ground crews.

A few days late, as people have been too busy covering the election.

From CENTCOM :

Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were able to defuse a roadside bomb following a tip received through the Joint Coordination Center in northern Iraq Jan. 28.

The tip came from an Iraqi citizen who had called the Joint Coordination Center to inform them of the bomb planted in northeastern Mosul. Only four days ago another tip in the same area resulted in a roadside bomb being defused.

From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Rebels have killed 12 Iraqi soldiers near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, according to an Iraqi military commander.

The 12 soldiers were travelling back from their jobs guarding oil pipelines when they were ambushed on the road between the villages of Azab and Zaraquiya, 85 kilometres west of Kirkuk, said General Anwar Amin.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Iraqi soldiers have started to take over combat positions held by United States troops in the northern city of Mosul.

It is the first move to replace US forces with Iraqi troops in areas outside the capital, which are regarded as insurgent hot spots.
[…]
As the Iraqi soldiers dug in, American troops pulled out.

US military chiefs say the Iraqis will take primary responsibility for security in Mosul, but that American troops would still offer back-up if needed.

From the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A senior Iraqi minister has told the ABC he would like Australia to boost its forces in Iraq.

Iraqi Minister of State Adnan Janabi wants multinational forces to replace American troops, who he accuses of being insensitive to Iraqi culture.

Mr Janabi, a leader in the Sunni Muslim community, says the presence of American troops in his country was acting as a magnet for foreign insurgents.
[…]
Meanwhile, [Australian] Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says increased involvement in Iraq by European countries will not necessarily lead to a withdrawal of Australian troops.

Mr Downer has been meeting with NATO and French officials over the last few days and says he is heartened by their willingness to contribute to training programs for Iraqi security forces.

However he says that does not mean Australia will be withdrawing its troops already involved in training in Iraq.

“It would be an extraordinary thing for Australia to abandon the training task at this critical time straight after the election, when we’ve got even the French talking about, if not sending trainers into Iraq, at least sending them into neighbouring countries in order to conduct training,” he said.

“As a matter of fact we may have been ahead of the pack on this issue.

“

From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Gunmen … killed two policemen near Baquba, an Interior Ministry source said.

In Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, four civilians were injured in a gunfight between police and gunmen, the source said, adding that police in the town also caught a suspected “terrorist” leader.

South of Baghdad in Hilla, capital of Babil province, a police major and his driver were shot dead and one policeman was gunned down north of Baghdad in Tamiya, the source added.

Police in Diyala also captured an Iranian who confessed he came to Iraq to fight the US army, the source said.

Meanwhile, an oil pipeline linking two of Iraq’s major refineries was attacked near the restive Sunni city of Samarra north of Baghdad, police and oil sources said.

The pipeline linking the Baiji refinery north of Baghdad to the Dura refinery in the capital was hit by two bombs which exploded and caused a fire, police lieutenant colonel Mahmud Mohammed said.

“The sabotaged pipeline has a capacity of 7,000 barrels per day,” an official at the Baiji refinery told AFP, without specifying the extent of damage or how long repairs would take.

Iraq’s leading Sunni Muslim clerics said Wednesday the country’s landmark elections lacked legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the balloting, which the religious leaders had asked them to boycott.

[…]

In its first statement since the balloting, the Association of Muslim Scholars said the vote lacked legitimacy because of low Sunni participation. The association months ago urged Sunnis to shun the polls because of the presence of U.S. and other foreign troops, and insurgents threatened to kill anyone who voted.

Iraqi officials have acknowledged voting problems, including a ballot shortage in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul, which have substantial Sunni populations and which also may have contributed to a low Sunni turnout.

More…

From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

A bomb explosion has killed an Iraqi soldier while two civilians were killed by another bomb intended for a US military patrol.

Security sources said both attacks took place in the Sunni Triangle, an insurgent stronghold north of Baghdad.

One soldier was killed and another wounded when an Iraqi Army patrol was the target of a bomb attack around dawn near Dhuluiya, about 70 kilometres north of Baghdad, the army said.

Late on Tuesday, a bomb apparently intended for a passing US army patrol killed two civilians driving in a car at Dijla, about 30 kilometres north of Baghdad, police said.

From Reuters via The Australian :

Saddam Hussein did not vote in Iraq’s historic election, but he could have done if he had turned up at a polling station, officials said today.

The former dictator was eligible to vote as an Iraqi citizen with no criminal record.

Despite being accused of crimes against humanity and genocide, he has not been convicted.

“If Saddam had wanted to vote he would have been entitled to do so, but he would have had to go to a polling station in person,” said Farid Ayar, spokesman for Iraq’s Electoral Commission.

If you’ve not yet seen it:

Flash required; make sure to turn on your speakers.

Tip of the hat to Unsecured Line in the Forum.

AP

Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners.

The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants’ statements, included a photo of what appeared to be an American soldier in desert fatigues seated with his hands tied behind his back. A gun barrel was pointed at his head, and he is seated in front of a black banner emblazoned with the Islamic profession of faith, “There is no god but God and Muhammad is His prophet.”

A statement posted with the picture suggested the group was holding other soldiers.

“Our mujahadeen heroes of Iraq’s Jihadi Battalion were able to capture American military man John Adam after killing a number of his comrades and capturing the rest,” said the statement, signed by the “Mujahedeen Brigades.”

“God willing, we will behead him if our female and male prisoners are not released from U.S. prisons within the maximum period of 72 hours from the time this statement has been released,” the statement said.

The claim, carried on the Web site ansarnet.ws, could not be verified.

14:05 EST UPDATE
Reuters

A little-known Iraqi insurgent group said on Tuesday it was holding a U.S. soldier and threatened to kill him within 72 hours if Iraqi prisoners were not released, according to an Internet statement.

“Our mujahideen … have managed to capture the American soldier John Adam after killing a number of his colleagues,” said the Mujahideen Squadrons in the undated statement.

It carried a picture appearing to show a U.S. soldier sitting in front of a black banner with a rifle pointed at his head. The authenticity of the claim, which did not say where the man was seized, could not be verified.

“We will cut his throat in 72 hours if our male and female prisoners in the occupation jails are not released,” it said.

A group using the same name, Mujahideen Squadrons, last month claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Brazilian engineer in Iraq.

Insurgents in Iraq, including al Qaeda’s wing in Iraq, have been waging attacks on U.S.-led forces since they invaded the country in 2003.

14:10: Kevin Aylward and Drudge have this picture:

14:35: Both Kevin and Rusty have questioned the authenticity of the photograph based on two factors:
1. the size of the person’s head
2. the fact that the weapon used is an American rifle rather than an AK-47

14:42: James Joyner weighs in and agrees with Evan Kohlmann and others that the picture looks fishy. A comment by Michele on Kevin’s post points to this G.I. Joe action figure that looks alot like the “soldier” in the picture.

15:05 EST: Backcountry Conservative was experiencing technical difficulties. The server my site is on had to be rebooted by my webhost.

15:07: Michele has put the picture and the action figure’s picture side by side at A Small Victory.

15:15 EST: CNN (via Conservative Friends) also is now casting doubts on the photo’s authenticity.

Marks, a retired Army general, said he has several questions about the photograph’s authenticity.

A flak jacket the man is wearing in the picture has an unfamiliar kind of piping or trim along its edges, Marks said. The man’s open-legged pants, as opposed to gathered hems, seem odd, he said.

Marks also questioned what appeared to be camouflage paint on the man’s face. “We have not used camo paint with conventional forces serving in Iraq,” Marks said.

15:22: The question now becomes whether or not this was a hoax perpetuated by an American emulating Benjamin Vanderford or by someone in Iraq.

15:50: Kevin is looking for the first mainstream media outlet to mention the fact that the picture appears to be a G.I. Joe action figure.

15:56: Matt Margolis has another interesting photo comparison.

16:00 EST
Associated Press

The U.S. military said Tuesday that no American soldiers have been reported missing in Iraq after a Web statement claimed that an American soldier had been taken hostage.

The authenticity of the statement and photo could not be verified, and Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci of the U.S. military’s press office in Baghdad said “no units have reported anyone missing.”

[…]

But questions were raised about the authenticity of a photo purporting to show a hostage with a gun to his head. The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless.

Liam Cusack, of the toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA, inc., said the image of the soldier portrayed in the photo bore a striking resemblance to a military action figure made by the company.

Other coverage:
Google News

Other blogging:
The Moderate Voice
Ramblings’ Journal
Memeorandum
Andrew Cochran
Wizbang—more
The Jawa Report
Outside the Beltway
In the Bullpen
Conservative Friends
Speed of Thought
Ace of Spades HQ
Daily Kos
The Corner
Blogs for Bush
A Small Victory
Croooow Blog

Cross-posted: Backcountry Conservative

From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Four people have been killed and six wounded during a riot at the US-run Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq, the US military said in a statement.

”The violence erupted after a routine search for contraband in one of the camp’s 10 compounds,” the statement said.

“The riot quickly spread to three additional compounds, with detainees throwing rocks and fashioning weapons from materials inside their living areas,” it said.

The military said that after unsuccessful attempts at defusing the crisis through verbal warnings and use of non-lethal force, guards engaged the detainees to quell the riot.

From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Three US marines have been killed in combat south of Baghdad, the US military has said.

”Three US Marines were killed in action and two others wounded on January 31 while conducting security and stability operations in northern Babil Province,” the statement said.

IPS appears to be an established news agency with a Third World emphasis. It’s not known what their biases are, if any.

Needless to say, this story has received attention from sites like DemocraticUnderground.

However, there are few other news sources discussing this story.

The Washington Post devotes just fourteen words to it in the story “Iraqis defy insurgency”: “Despite rumors that food rations would be taken away if residents failed to vote…”

And, from a Washington Post special correspondent:

(Note that that’s from Tikrit, while the IPS report mentions voters in Baghdad.)

This story not directly related to the Iraq vote gives a clue to why this rumor (if it was indeed just a rumor) could be believed: …All Iraqis were required to vote during Saddam Hussein’s reign. Embassy officials told the students that Iraqis who refused to vote for Saddam lost their jobs or food rations…

In a statement posted on an Islamic Web site, the Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Islam claimed responsibility for Sunday´s downing the plane north of Baghdad. The statement´s authenticity could not be immediately confirmed.

The group claimed its fighters tracked the aircraft, “which was flying at a low altitude, and fired an anti-tank missile at it.´´

The plane went down hours after polls closed in Iraq while flying from Baghdad to the town of Balad.

“Thanks be to God, the plane was downed and a huge fire and black clouds of smoke were seen rising from the location of the crash,´´ said the statement posted Sunday.

A spokesman for Britain´s Ministry of Defense said he could not confirm Ansar al-Islam´s claim. “People on the ground are investigating,´´ he said on condition of anonymity.

Established after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Ansar al-Islam is one of Iraq´s older extremist groups and it has been linked to al-Qaida.

More…

Also:

Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera aired a video on Monday that showed insurgents walking amid the wreckage of an airplane that was said to be that of a British C-130 that crashed in Iraq Sunday.

From The Australian :

Iraqi shopkeepers in western Sydney said yesterday their support for the Iraqi election was endangering their lives after four people were injured in a shooting provoked by the poll.

Some community leaders blamed fundamentalists sympathetic to al-Qa’ida for the attack.

One man is in a serious condition in Westmead Hospital and three others suffered ricochet wounds during the shooting on Sunday night.

More than 100 people were involved in the brawl on Auburn’s main street, damaging shops and two cars.

They gave rather better than they got, till someone brought out a shotgun.

Iraqi community leader and voter Kamil Alhamid said the attackers were men from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Lebanon, but not Iraq.

Ahl Albait secretary Mr Alhamid said the assailants were fundamentalists sympathetic to al-Qa’ida and the terrorist group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Sunday’s attack followed a protest outside Auburn’s polling booth on Saturday that halted voting for an hour. The protesters yelled anti-Shi’ite slogans at voters, took their photos and threatened them.

Sheik Naji said the protesters shouted “vote and die” at the voters, exactly the same threat shouted at voters in Iraq.

See previous post.

Abdul Auglah said he was upset the violence was happening in Australia.

Speaking as an Australian, so am I. Rather more than merely “upset” though, and no doubt the AFP (Australian Federal Police) and ASIO (the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) will be doing something about it soon-ish.

Perhaps this should be in the Politics section, but as all the perpetrators used it as an excuse to criticise the UK’s Iraq policies, it fits here.

From The Australian :

When a sheet of paper covered in doodles was found on Tony Blair’s desk at the Davos World Economic Forum, handwriting experts delighted in analysing it, concluding the Prime Minister was stressed and under pressure.

Experts who examined the tangle of boxes, circles, loops and notes on debt and trade variously described Mr Blair as “struggling to concentrate” or “not a natural leader” and “stressed and tense”.

But there was a problem.

The doodles, it later transpired, were nothing to do with Mr Blair but were the work of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who shared a table with Mr Blair at the summit.

“Somebody from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has said that the notes are from Bill Gates rather than from Tony Blair,” a spokesman from Mr Blair’s Downing Street office said today.

“We were surprised nobody bothered to ask us about this when the paper was made public last week because the writing is obviously not the prime minister’s,” he added.

Psychologists and graphologists drafted in by a number of British newspapers even noted how “Blair’s” handwriting had changed for the worse since he first won election as British Prime Minister in 1997.

“We look forward to psychologists reassessing their conclusions of how these characteristics ascribed to the Prime Minister equally apply to Mr Gates,” the Downing Street spokesman said.

See (for example) articles by the Times, the Evening Standard, and the Independent.

But no-one does a retraction with more grace than The Times.

09:24 High Turnout in Baghdad Points to Early Success

10:24 Amid Attacks, a Party Atmosphere on Baghdad’s Closed Streets

18:26 Insurgent Attacks in Baghdad and Elsewhere Kill at Least 24

20:50 Attacks in Baghdad and Elsewhere Reportedly Kill Several Dozen

The article itself didn’t change over the period, just the Headline the NYT editors chose to put on it.

Hat Tip Ann Althouse.

The Iraqi elections are over and, by all accounts, ended reasonably successfully. While I refused to engage in the kind of calculus of killing that some had set into prior to the voting (discussions of how many people have to die for us to consider it an “unsuccessful” election), I will be quite frank and say that based on what I heard while I was in DC for the inauguration that the US was expecting Zarqawi or “Z-Man” as they call him in military circles (a reference, or so I understand it, to a transvestite from a 1970s X-rated film) to hit them with everything he had. As in, people were talking quite seriously about between 500 to a 1,000 casualties and this was just in defense circles.

When Brigadier General Erv Lessel was talking about a spectacular terrorist attack on the elections just 6 days ago, he was talking about 9/11 or equivalent level attacks. It is for that reason that I think it’s best that we take the time to fully appreciate what we were going up against here so we can understand the full magnitude of what has just been accomplished.

• To Begin With… Election Aftermath
• What Didn’t Go Wrong
• Recent Changes in the Insurgency
• Whither Zarqawi (and his Organization) Now?
• Oh, and on the “Good” Professor Cole…

Note: Also available at the “Opinion Journal” and Chrenkoff. Big thanks to James Taranto and Joe Katzman for their support, and to the growing band of readers and fellow bloggers who send suggestions and spread the good news.

It happened. And they did it.

In scenes unimaginable only two years ago - and scorned as impossible, undesirable and impractical for months - millions of ordinary Iraqi men and women braved terrorist violence and came out to vote for their future government (for a brief election fact file see here).

• The Election
  
• Society
  
• Economy
  
• Reconstruction
  
• Humanitarian Aid
  
• The Coalition Troops
  
• Security

Update to this story

A British C-130 military transport plane crashed Sunday north of Baghdad, scattering wreckage over a large area, officials said. At least 10 troops were killed, Britain’s Press Association new agency said.

The crash occurred at around 5:25 p.m. about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, said a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense .

Press Association quoted unidentified military sources saying the death toll was “around 10” and it was “highly unlikely” to be more than 15. A Ministry of Defense spokesman said late Sunday that military officials were still trying to reach families of those involved.

This story reports “up to 15” dead.

Via AP:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq was unable to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to government ministries, which lacked financial controls, security, communications and adequate staff, an inspector general has found.

The U.S. officials relied on Iraqi audit agencies to account for the funds but those offices were not even functioning when the funds were transferred between October 2003 and June 2004, according to an audit by a special U.S. inspector general.

The findings were released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. Bowen issued several reports on the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the U.S. occupation government that ruled Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004

Read the whole thing.

The Iraq elections are just the first step on the road to democracy. Coming up:

• The 275-member transitional National Assembly will first choose a largely ceremonial president and two vice presidents. They, in turn, will pick a prime minister and a Cabinet that must be ratified by the assembly.

• The assembly, elected for an 11-month term, will draft a permanent constitution.

• Iraqis will hold a national referendum in October to accept or reject the constitution.

• If the document is approved, Iraqis will vote in December for a permanent government under the constitution.

• If the document is rejected, Iraqis will repeat the whole process, voting for a new transitional assembly to draft a new constitution.

[Soure: AP]

Text of the President’s address:

Today the people of Iraq have spoken to the world, and the world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East.

In great numbers, and under great risk, Iraqis have shown their commitment to democracy. By participating in free elections, the Iraqi people have firmly rejected the anti-democratic ideology of the terrorists. They have refused to be intimidated by thugs and assassins. And they have demonstrated the kind of courage that is always the foundation of self-government.

Some Iraqis were killed while exercising their rights as citizens. We also mourn the American and British military personnel who lost their lives today. Their sacrifices were made in a vital cause of freedom, peace in a troubled region, and a more secure future for us all.

The Iraqi people, themselves, made this election a resounding success. Brave patriots stepped forward as candidates. Many citizens volunteered as poll workers. More than 100,000 Iraqi security force personnel guarded polling places and conducted operations against terrorist groups. One news account told of a voter who had lost a leg in a terror attack last year, and went to the polls today, despite threats of violence. He said, “I would have crawled here if I had to. I don’t want terrorists to kill other Iraqis like they tried to kill me. Today I am voting for peace.”

Across Iraq today, men and women have taken rightful control of their country’s destiny, and they have chosen a future of freedom and peace. In this process, Iraqis have had many friends at their side. The European Union and the United Nations gave important assistance in the election process. The American military and our diplomats, working with our coalition partners, have been skilled and relentless, and their sacrifices have helped to bring Iraqis to this day. The people of the United States have been patient and resolute, even in difficult days.

The commitment to a free Iraq now goes forward. This historic election begins the process of drafting and ratifying a new constitution, which will be the basis of a fully democratic Iraqi government. Terrorists and insurgents will continue to wage their war against democracy, and we will support the Iraqi people in their fight against them. We will continue training Iraqi security forces so this rising democracy can eventually take responsibility for its own security.

There’s more distance to travel on the road to democracy. Yet Iraqis are proving they’re equal to the challenge. On behalf of the American people, I congratulate the people of Iraq on this great and historic achievement.

Thank you very much.

Bloomberg reports that as many as 8 million voted in Iraq’s election:

“The streets of Baghdad were not soaked with blood” said Farid Ayar, spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, at a Baghdad news conference broadcast by Cable News Network as polls closed. The commission said turnout was about 60 percent, down from an earlier estimate of 72 percent.

From California Yankee.

From Hammorabi:

Great day!

It is the birth of freedom and democracy in Iraq!

It is a great festival!

Today only we may announce the victory!

Today we hit back in the heart of the terrorists and the tyrants!

Today is the day in which the souls of our martyrs comforted!

Today those who were killed in Iraq or wounded among our friends from the USA and other allies, who helped us to reach this day, are with us again to inscribe their names with Gold for ever!

Today we challenged the killers and terrorists and foot on them with our shoes!

Many people walked long distances to vote in a most civilised way!

People asked for more time to enable them to vote!

One woman was crying because she can not reach the requested polling station to vote!

In many parts the police helped citizens to take them with their cars to the polling stations!

Read the whole thing…

Newsweek, once you get past the headline, has a fascinating article about a Saudi who survived his homicide bombing and provided information that lead to the capture of a number:

He wasn’t supposed to live, and the way he tells the story today, this “suicide bomber” wasn’t quite ready to die. Twenty-one-year-old Ahmed Abdullah al-Shayea had come to Iraq from Saudi Arabia to join the infamous terrorist known as Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi in a holy war against the American infidels. On Christmas morning, 2004, he got his first assignment, to park a tanker truck full of explosives near the high walls around the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad. He didn’t know that four fellow terrorists in a Jeep Cherokee following a safe distance behind held the remote-control trigger. When they pushed it, an explosion thundered across the city, killing 10 Iraqi policemen. But al-Shayea, unlike scores of other bombers who’ve been vaporized beyond recognition, was blown through the windshield and, against all odds, survived.

Taken to a hospital with third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body, al-Shayea was thought to be just another bystander wounded in the blast. But when police got a tip the second week in January that men were willing to offer money to get him out, or kill him, the cops got interested. If terrorists wanted him, so did they. “Our intelligence agents kidnapped him from the hospital,” says Brig. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, deputy minister of the Interior for intelligence affairs. Speaking to NEWSWEEK at his heavily guarded headquarters in Baghdad last week, Kamal described the scene. Al-Shayea was brought into the office swathed in bandages and propped up on a makeshift seat without a back. A pillow was put on his lap to ease the pain of his burned arms. Then the interrogators began their questioning, threatening to hand al-Shayea to the Americans, and at one point putting him on the phone with his father in Saudi Arabia.

[. . .]

General Kamal says information supplied by al-Shayea helped Coalition forces round up several of Zarqawi’s key lieutenants within a matter of days.

From California Yankee.

A series of loud explosions rocked central Baghdad today – more than an hour after polls closed in the historic Iraqi elections.

The cause of the blasts could not be determined but they appeared to come from the west of the city.

MSNBC TV is reporting that figure as the official estimate. Some journalists on the ground have noted a gut reaction that the estimate is high

MSNBC TV: British C-130 transport has crashed in Iraq. Down 25 miles NW of Baghdad. No news of casualties, but wreckage is widely scattered.

FOX News is reporting that someone threw a grenade into a Mosul polling center. Five U.N. soldiers were injured, but apparently no fatalities. No suspect was caught.

The attack occurred after the polls closed.

Liminal writes:

I cannot tell you how happy I am that my family did not go to vote.

He also notes:

I was just listening to bbc and this is what i hear as they interview people live as they are in line to vote. A small but significant translational error follows:

bbc dude: “Who are you going to vote for?

iraqi dude: Ayad Allawi.

bbc dude: Why are you voting for Allawi?

iraqi dude: Yaani, zain, kh’osh rijaal…[I mean, he’s a good guy]

translator: He can control the government, the country…

Notice how the Iraqi dude didn’t say a damn thing about “control[ing] the government, the country”…So, does Allawi’s party have “special” translators giving scripted answers? Or does the translator not speak Arabic? WTF!

Anyway, like I said before…whatever.

out

A suicide attacker killed three people and injured 13 others in central Iraq when he boarded a minibus bound for a polling station in Babil province, the Polish military said.

The blast rocked a minibus carrying voters to a polling station near Abu Alwan, the military said in a statement. An investigation into the incident has been started, it said.

No further information on the attack was immediately available.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Iraq elections are “going better than expected” Sunday, despite conflicting reports about the extent of voter turnout in areas plagued by intimidation and violence.

“Every indication is that the election in Iraq is going better than expected,” Rice said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“What we’re seeing here is the voice of freedom,” Rice said in the first response to the election from the Bush administration.

“No, it’s not a perfect election,” Rice conceded, but she called it a positive development no one had foreseen three years ago when Saddam Hussein was still the dictator of Iraq.

More…

/RANT ON/

And while I’m at it … 60 , 70, 80 percent turnout under threat of death and violence? And here in the States? Forty to 60%, each major election cycle, like clockwork.

This blogger stands in humble awe of the Iraqis who today risked everything … everything … to exercise their francise. From them, there is a lesson for us all.

/RANT OFF/

The polls in Iraq have closed, ending the country’s first open elections in more than 50 years and setting a course for what U.S. officials hope will be a long democratic future.

More…

Alaasmary at Sun of Iraq:

Election Day

Election Day
Today we vote, today is a democracy birthday.
The people lines are very long, We heard explosions voice but we vote.
I’m very happy today, long live Iraq, long live love and long live democracy.
I will post more images here.
A suicide explosion in Al-Mansor city, Al-Sader city and in New Baghdad city near election center , but the Iraqis still insistent to vote.
We will crush the terrorists.
The democracy will win.

MSNBC TV (no link): Turnout is only 1% in Ramadi, but is closer to 5% or 6% in the province as a whole (the most violent and restive part of the country.

Iraq the Model:

We had all kinds of feelings in our minds while we were on our way to the ballot box except one feeling that never came to us, that was fear.
We could smell pride in the atmosphere this morning; everyone we saw was holding up his blue tipped finger with broad smiles on the faces while walking out of the center.

I couldn’t think of a scene more beautiful than that.

Read the whole thing…

No news here — just an observation. Early this morning, in the predawn light, a dusting of new snow on the ground, I was busily switching between 5 … 10 … 15 different browser windows, each displaying the blog of a different Iraqi.

Then it struck me: How remarkable. How remarkable my process was, compared to early 2003. Remember early 2003? We were all reading one blog, more than any other: Where is Raed? Salam had us all linking and loading and commenting in the build up to the war. The only Iraqi blogger out there … such a hero, at the time, for posting from behind the Saddam Curtain.

And now? Now there are dozens … over a hundred … Iraqi blogs. For the occupation, against, in Arabic, in English, old, young, doctors, women. Look at the list … look at them all, posting their views and bringing their doorsteps to the doors of the world.

Whatever you think of the war, this you can’t deny: citizen journalism is alive and well amongst the fertile crescent.

From Ryan of Cigars in the Sand, blogging from Iraq.

Every Iraqi who woke up this morning was faced with this calculus:

“Some voters today will, without a doubt, be killed either on their way to vote, waiting to vote, or actually voting. Will I risk my life today for democracy?”

And they Iraqi people have answered loud and clear: Yes. These men and women have been waiting their entire lives to make this kind of political statement.

I can’t even begin to accurately capture the excitement in the air. When I’ve visited the polling station this morning (3 times, so far), I’ve seen nothing but smiles. And that is with the sound of bombs in the distance. Let’s forget all the differences we have in the United States for one day, and celebrate the amazing resilience of the Iraqi populace.

Lots more. Start at the top and scroll down.

At a polling place in eastern Baghdad, an Iraqi policeman in a black ski mask tucked his assault rifle under one arm and held the hand of an elderly blind woman to guide her to the polls.

Fathiya Mohammed shrugged off the incessant threats of violence and donned her head-to-toe abaya before heading to her neighborhood polling station in the small town of Askan south of Baghdad.

“This is democracy,” the elderly woman said proudly, holding up a thumb stained with the purple ink used to mark those who had voted. “This is the first day I feel freedom.”

The elections will also give Kurds a chance to gain more influence in Iraq after long years of marginalization under the Baath Party that ruled the country for 34 years.

“This proves that we are now free,” said Akar Azad, 19, who came to the polls with his wife Serwin Suker and sister Bigat.

An Iraqi election official said Sunday that 72 percent of eligible Iraqi voters had turned out so far nationwide.

The official, Adel al-Lami of the Independent Electoral Commission, offered no overall figures of the actual number of Iraqis who have voted to back up the claim.

Al-Lami said the percentage of registered voters who had gone to the polls in some Baghdad neighborhoods was as high as 95 percent.

More…

Also:

Close to 66 per cent of registered expatriate Iraqis have so far voted in 14 countries.

The International Organisation for Migration says the largest turnout was in Jordan, where 72.9 per cent of Iraqi exiles registered to vote have done so.

A total of 186,619 people in the Middle East, North America, Australia and Western Europe have registered to take part in the election.

Voter turnout in the 2004 Presidential election in the United States was 60%.

Iraqi polls were to close an hour earlier Sunday as violence swept the country during the first free general election in more than 50 years.

Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem al-Shaalan told the Dubai-based al-Arabiya news channel at least 27 people were killed Sunday, but he insisted “we are satisfied with the current security conditions.”

His comments came shortly after six suicide attacks were reported across the country and as mortar grenades targeted polling stations.

A spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, Farid Ayar, did not give a reason for closing the polls at 5 p.m. local time instead of 6 p.m., but officials privately said it was due to the increased incidents of violence.

More…

The Iraqi Central Election reports that election turnout Iraqi province of Nadjaf reached 80%. The total number of the registered voters in the province is 500,000.

Chrenkoff has a nice roundup of E-Day here, with his typical Polish/Australian flair.

WSTM has a roundup of perspectives from regional news sources:

People across the Middle East are voicing cautious optimism about Iraq’s elections.
An Abu Dhabi daily newspaper is jubilant, declaring “The new Iraq is born today.” Other newspapers are more guarded, concerned about the deadly chaos.

Qatar’s daily says, “We don’t want to drown in optimism.” The paper says attempts to democratize are “not held in such an atmosphere.”

Saudi Arabia’s Arab News newspaper calls the vote a historic moment for Iraq and a “much needed victory for moderation.”